Friendly Battle

Gabriel whistled as he strolled through the dark streets of Brookfell, tail swishing in the air behind him and ears flicking at every little sound despite the picture of calm that he was trying to present. The man had a single Pokeball magnetized to the belt around his waist as he scampered through the alleys and streets towards his destination, a calm confidence about him as his sharp eyes watched out for danger. This was Brookfell after all, and no matter how safe they tried to make it - it never really would be safe.

In no short order, Gabe found himself at his destination. An old abandoned factory on the outskirts of the upper city. Well, abandoned at one time. Now it was a hotbed for activity, lit up from the inside with LEDs and music.

Brookfell wasn't short of criminal activity. Far from it, in fact, just about every nook and cranny in the place held some kind of illegal activity if you squinted. This place was no exception, and even though it was pretty obvious and blatant in its appearance the cops wouldn't come here. They were far too scared for that.

Gabriel waltzed in with his head held high, on the contrary. He had to act like he belonged, like he was armed to the teeth and ready to fight to the death, or he'd be picked out and cornered most likely. He had no problem putting on that show, letting his long tail flick behind him if anyone dared look his way. He was here for one reason only, and he wasn't prepared to entertain anyone else.

"Gabe! Over here!" A familiar voice called out to him, and the man turned with a toothy grin to greet Dainsleif, the taller man stalking up to him with a grin of his own.

"Dain," Gabriel said with a nod, "Ready to go?"

"'Course," Dain said easily, turning halfway to gesture to a big ring off to the side of the crown where pink and blue lights illuminated, "Gotta get you and your Pokemon up to snuff." Gabe snorted, but the man was right. It was why he was here and he nodded firmly before making his way over to the ring. The Pokeball in his hand was a familiar weight as he waited for Dain to take his own place.

"I picked a fair fight for you," Dain announced, tossing a Pokeball into the ring, which hovered and ejected its occupant before returning to his hand. Shriekwing, the beautiful Venomoth Gabriel often fawned over, flapped its pretty purple wings as she hovered in the center of the ring, awaiting her opponent.

"You just wanted to make me jealous!" Gabe called out, a smirk on his face as he threw his own Pokeball. Invera, his massive Ice Venusaur, emerged with a loud thud as she landed in the ring and stared up at Shriekwing. The two pokemon knew each other, so they knew this would be a more friendly battle - which is exactly why Gabriel went to Dain to train.

"Alright, give her what you got!" Dain said, motioning for Gabe to continue.

"Alright Inerva! Let's show off with an Icy Wind!" The purpose of this fight was to practice new moves, so Inerva didn't immediately jump into action. The winds were slow to start at first, but after a minute or so Inerva had a blistering, flakey swirl around herself that she hurled at the floating moth in front of her. Due to how well telegraphed the move was, Shriekwing dodged with no issues, but Gabe wasn't disappointed. "Woo! Good job!"

"Nice one, make it faster and it'll hit for sure next time," Dain said from his side of the arena, which was slowly gaining a few onlookers. Both Pokemon were rather unique, and they weren't just little babies fighting. A crowd naturally formed to see the spectacle, even if it wasn't a real battle per say.

"Shriekwing hit her with an Astral Barrage!" Gabe gasped at the high-level move, looking at Inerva with a slightly worried expression. The energy of the move started to rain down around the Pokemon, who hunkered down under her big leaves made of crystal to try to avoid a serious amount of damage.

"Counter with a Glacial Lance Inerva!" This one had been the most difficult to wrap Inerva's head around, but the Venusaur grunted and nodded eagerly nonetheless. While she couldn't throw a lance, as Gabriel could, the vines from her big crystalized willow formed the ice and hurled it just as well. The icicle crashed into Shriekwing, who fluttered back with a small cry. "Nice!"

"Never seen a Venusaur do that one," Dain said with a chuckle, flicking some of his long multi-colored hair out of his face and over his horns, "Shadow Ball, Shriekwing!"

The Venomoth eagerly hurled a ball of pure shadow energy at the Venusaur, which Inerva couldn't dodge completely but did manage to hop out of the way for the most part.

"Let's give Blizzard a try! Cool this place down," Gabriel said with a smirk, his tail twitching behind him from the excitement of the battle. A couple of the onlookers cheered a little, clearly excited at this turn of events, though they could have been most excited about a free chill.

Inerva took a nice wide stance, roaring loudly into the arena as her crystal leaves began to shake and shimmer - releasing puffs of powder snow. The winds picked up after, swirling that snow around and creating a well-contained blizzard the size of the arena, the blue and pink lights dancing off of the particles beautifully. Shriekwing was lost in the blizzard, but Gabriel could hear her soft cries as she was buffeted by it.

"You little brat," Gabriel heard Dain say, though he couldn't very well see him anymore, "Shriekwing, counter with Ominous wind!"

The battle of winds began after that, purple misty wind fighting against the snowy powder. Gabriel held his arm up to protect his face from the swirling winds, though he knew it wouldn't do any real damage to him, as he watched for some kind of resolution.

In the end, the blizzard won, Shriekwing being pushed back against the wire of the arena as the winds died down. Gabriel, excited, wasn't about to give her a chance to get back up!

"Inerva, finish this with Freeze Shock!"

The Venusaur, now in the flow of battle, didn't hesitate. She charged forward, her body coated in a bright blue glow as electrical energy mixed with the freezing cold under her leaves, before slamming into Shriekwing and dispensing the charge into the Venomoth. The moth shrieked - Gabriel couldn't help but snort at the comparison - before slumping down to the floor of the arena.

"Damn, that was a cool one," Dain said with a grin as he walked over, smoothly a hand down over Shriekwings soft wing lovingly. The Pokemon looked up at him with big eyes, and he took her ball out to recall her. "We'll get her recharged soon, good job."

"That was a great battle, I think it helped us a lot," Gabriel said as he jogged over, patting Inerva's side as the Venusaur chirped happily and lifted her big head to him, "Tell Shriekwing thanks when she's rested."

"I will," Dain said, reaching out to pat Inerva as well, "Good job today. Keep practicing those moves until they're perfect, and you'll be a force to be reckoned with." Gabriel nodded, his cat ears flopping a little.

"We will. I'll call you for a rematch soon," Gabe pulled out Inerva's ball to recall her as well, holding out his free hand to give Dains a shake.

"You better, and next time I won't go easy on you," The older, taller man smirked easily, and Gabriel couldn't help but be a little nervous for that day.