Grass Continent ~ Treasure Town Beach

[Adamhuarts]

"I'll fight alongside Brisa! Alright then, count me in!" Cynthian said with a rush of excitement. Brisa was a very strong and capable woman, that much Cynthian knew and looked up to about her. That's right, as long as he teams up with her...

The rush of excitement then froze as his flowers tensed. Brisa... even Astrid and Cabot were strong and capable, but was he? What does Cynthian bring to the table? Will he cower in place while Brisa takes the full brunt of the battle? Cynthian took a deep breath and forced a smile.

"I'll... try not to slow you down too much."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"You won't," said Brisa. Her voice was kind, if a little brusque.

She pulled up close and spoke quietly by his ear. "Focus on status and support moves at first, and use grass attacks on Cabot. If you've learned to use radiance then so much the better, just don't do what I did and blow yourself up. And leave Astrid to me; she's mine."

She turned to face her opponents and grit her teeth. This was going to be tough. She'd seen Cabot's power in the 'real' fights the posse had won, and while she hadn't had a proper spar with Astrid yet somehow, she knew the gal knew a trick or two.

And they were all gonna use radiance, weren't they? Aw, wind and fuckin' weather, this was gonna hurt.

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot looked over to Astrid. "Hey Astrid, remember the first move you used as part of our plan?"

The Cranidos gave her a confident nod, hoping she understood what he meant.

 

[TheGOAT]

"And leave Astrid to me; she's mine."

Just out of the corner of her ear, she caught the end of that.

Oh…? Her gaze wandered over towards Brisa. The fluff on her head shifted in the wind ever so slightly. Interesting.

Cabot looked over to Astrid. "Hey Astrid, remember the first move you used as part of our plan?"

The Cranidos gave her a confident nod, hoping she understood what he meant.

A curt nod. She remembered vividly.

Then, she retreated five paces backwards, and five more for good measure. She was already hopping in place, getting her blood running, loosening her muscles, locking into her surroundings—staring down the dunes, lasering in on the Roselia and Shinx. For the next few minutes, they were her opponents.

“Ready to eat some sand?” she called, sticking out her tongue.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Sure," called Brisa, "'cause I've got no idea how it tastes!"

Her fur sparked and glowed as she warmed up in her own way, staring down Astrid all the while. Darn, but she was pretty.

 

[Adamhuarts]

She pulled up close and spoke quietly by his ear. "Focus on status and support moves at first, and use grass attacks on Cabot. If you've learned to use radiance then so much the better, just don't do what I did and blow yourself up. And leave Astrid to me; she's mine."

Cynthian nodded at those instructions without so much as an argument. A chill went up his petals when he glanced at Cabot. Never has Cynthian feared a friend so much in his life, especially remembering the crazy things Cabot was able to do in their last major battles.

"I'll wait for your signal..." he finally muttered to Brisa.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"On three!" cried Brisa.

"One. Two. Three!"

She opened the fight with a quick wave of electric power, seeking to paralyse her opponents immediately. Thunder Wave was no Radiant... whatever that move she'd used was. Radiant Arrest, maybe. But it was familiar, and dependable.

 

[Virgil134]

As soon as Brisa shouted "Three!", Cabot focused, thinking back to how he used his Radiant powers right here on the beach a few days ago. The Cranidos soon began to glow bright as small rocks materialized around him, forming a defensive barrier on all sides. He then dug in his feet, ready to take on his opponents.

 

[TheGOAT]

––And on a dime, Astrid pivoted towards her ally, focusing her energy towards him. Through some ethereal force, the aura surrounding Cabot pulsed in her vision and then expanded around herself, exactly the same.

A palatable numbness shot across every extremity. Instantly, her limbs felt lighter. It was like gravity had let off the pressure just a tad.

And just in time! She ducked and rolled to the side with newfound limberness, the thunder wave glancing off of her shoulder. Her fur stiffened up briefly, but the feeling wasn’t strong enough. At this rate, could take a couple more of those if she reacted quick enough…

Carefully, she began to approach, shifting her weight constantly in case she needed to leap out of the way again.

 

[Adamhuarts]

Cynthian fired a yellowish plume of Stun Spore the same time Brisa fired off her thunder wave, then a wave of panic rushed over him when Cabot used his Radiance.

The Stun Spores clung the the floating rocks with barely any of it reaching Cabot himself.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Cynthian said, gulping.

 

[Virgil134]

A few of the spores got through the rocks, though not enough to have any effect on Cabot beyond a small cough. The Cranidos waved the rest of the spores out of his face before he jumped back and called up several large stones from the ground behind him.

"I hope you guys are ready!"

Cabot motioned his arm forward and flung a hail of rocks at Brisa and Cynthian.

 

[Adamhuarts]

Cynthian tried to dodge the flurry of rocks coming at him, but he was too paralyzed by fear to move.

The Rock Slide hit him like a truck on his head and abdomen and knocked the wind completely out of Cynthian. It strung incredibly, and the thought of striking back was the last thing he had in mind.

The green glow of Synthesis engulfed Cynthian immediately before he could even reach for his head and check for any bleeding. The healing took away most of the pain, but there was still a dull throb coming where he had been struck.

Fantastic. Either Cabot out damages his healing Synthesis, or Cynthian runs out of stamina first long before that. Cynthian bit his lips, trying to figure out what to do.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Sand and salt, the opening salvo had been next to useless. She was gonna have to get in close.

Brisa dove out of the path of the rocks and glanced back at Cynthian to see him recovering from a direct hit. Damn it, she needed to coordinate them both at once.

"Cynthian! Get past his defences!" she called, before vying for an opportunity to launch herself at Astrid. Her teeth and claws crackled with energy as she anticipated the physical contact, and the moment the vulpix' stance shifted, she leapt.

 

[TheGOAT]

She waited for any movement at all, anything that would suggest she would be met halfway, and—holy guacamole Brisa was fast!

Astrid reacted off of impulse alone, just barely in time. A thud! hit the sand where she’d been (pointlessly, in hindsight) dodging back and forth like she would do something cool. Instead, she nearly got pummeled. Of course things never actually played out like they did in her head.

Maybe, she thought, if anything would impress her new friend, it would be something that caught her off guard. She knew just the thing.

She looked back as she lowered her haunches to dodge again—even tried to sell a panicked look—and then promptly leapt… right at Brisa.

The good news? With a well-timed twist, she managed to get the leverage she wanted. Something sharp sunk into her thigh, but she grit her teeth through the pain. “Ngh—disable!” A light flashed in her eyes, her lungs stiffened from the effort, and it was done. The icy mist around her dug into Brisa’s fur as well, adding whatever chip damage it was worth.

The bad news—?

Oof!

Another millisecond passed, and the sheer force of Brisa coming at her registered fully. It was more than enough to stop her own leap entirely, and it wasn’t finished there. She bounced right back to where she started, slamming into the sand and rolling twice—staggered. Panicking for real this time, she fought for her breath and her balance.

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot glanced towards Astrid and Brisa's direction as the two seemed to be focused on each other. Cabot turned back towards to Cynthian when a new idea came to his mind, prompting him to look at Cynthian a teasing smile.

"Hey, Cynthian! How about you try to catch me if you can?"

With that, Cabot turned around and took off running, keeping track of Astrid and Brisa from the corner of his eye all the while.

 

[Adamhuarts]

What? Cynthian narrowed his eyes and wondered what Cabot's angle was. Why was he running off and asking him to catch him?

Not that it mattered. It was obvious Cabot was trying to pull of something, but maybe it'd give Cynthian a chance to land at least one strike too? A wave of yellowish green energy washed over Cynthian, and his body grew just a bit larger and energetic from the Growth.

"Here I come then!" Cynthian went for the chase against Cabot, running as fast as his legs could carry him. He gulped as he dreadfully anticipated what Cabot might wind up doing to him.

IT WAS A BAD IDEA. IT WAS A BAD IDEA. IT WAS A BAD IDEA—

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

The energy in Brisa's jaw fizzled out with the telltale mental tug of a psychic move. She winced at the familiar sensation. She cracked her jaw. Nothing. It looked like Thunder Fang was lost to her for now.

So, it was like that, huh? Alright! She didn't let up, coming straight for Astrid with a dark-powered Bite instead.

In her eagerness to take down her opponent, Brisa forgot something vital. There is a second opponent in a double battle, and they can attack you at any time...

 

[TheGOAT]

There was no time to gather herself. Pushed to the edge of her wits, she fell back on a last resort: simply taking the blow.

—Umph!

Rearing back her head as soon as Brisa landed on her (with the force of a Mamoswine, no less), Astrid pulled herself through the slicing pain just enough to charge a Weather Ball. She immediately slammed it down where she thought Brisa’s head was, then scrambled to her feet when the overpowering weight thankfully let up. With little more than a half-hearted glance back, she began to sprint at the incoming Cabot; she had seen him approaching, and now was as good a time as any to regroup.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

The Weather Ball landed, leaving Brisa staggered and disoriented. Her head hurt to shake clear. She was vulnerable!

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot lead Cynthian in an arc around Astrid and Brisa, keeping an eye on the two in the process as he waited for the right moment. Brisa had been focused on Astrid since the start of the fight, leaving her open to a well timed Assurance. As soon as Astrid fired her Weather Ball at Brisa, Cabot abruptly changed direction and charged towards Brisa, ready to ram into her with a headbutt trailing shadowy wisps.