[ti]open[/ti]003 — Fight Me!

An eyebrow raises into an arch, quirking in the most unimpressed manner possible when the stranger decides to get him involved in this stupid fight despite his earlier refusal. Who does this man think he is? If only for a second, Muin considers just ignoring him and walking away, but then the obvious truth comes to light in his mind: this is probably the easiest and fastest way to get this tutorial over with so that the NPC stops pestering him. He just has to let this other guy do most of the work. As far as Muin is concerned, that's called working smart.

"Hm. I suppose I could look pretty while helping you instead." Sarcasm drips off every word, only to be enhanced by the delightfully British lilt with which they're spoken and Muin's sheer stoicism through it all. He's the picture of perfect calm: simply smoothing down his coat and turning to look at Your Rival before reaching for the golden sphere from which his Pokémon of choice is summoned.

While Muin may care little for flair, the fox might as well be the opposite. Nine beautiful tails sway in the air, and from the very moment its paws touch the ground, it assumes a fighting stance — hackles raised while staring at Your Rival with a flaming gaze.

<'Yo, am I beating up this punk? Nice.'>

"You have a fully evolved Pokémon?! That's not fair!"

Muin stares at him, somehow even more unimpressed than before.

"Yes. So?"

"Wha— You're done for! Chimchar, Blitzle, let's show them that nothing can beat our sound!"

Life is rarely fair, but apparently this NPC hadn't been coded to be aware of that lesson. Still, at least he does release two Pokémon to fight those of the trainers... and of course he does a stupid air guitar riff when throwing the Pokéballs and everything. When seeing it, Muin sighs. Could this get any more exasperating?

It's hard to tell who's more annoying: this NPC or his supposed battle partner.

Speaking of whom...

"Well? First move is yours." He tells Kazuki, clearly waiting for the other to begin the battle. The clock is ticking.

It occurs to Muin at that very moment that the player's rival is supposed to have a name; a name beyond 'Your Rival', that is. In many of the games that are part of the franchise's core series, players are allowed to name their rival, and Muin can't help but wonder if that's what is happening here. Has the game not prompted them to do just yet? Did the rival glitch out because him and Kazuki are fighting the same? Or, perhaps—

"I have a name, use it." Speaking of names, Muin's response to being called 'princess' comes swift and final, and when the tall Gardener looks at the man at his side, he's utterly and completely deadpan. Unfazed. Not intimidated, not scared, not apologetic, and definitely not a friendly face. He is, however, as calm as ever — a perfect picture of stoicism.

The same cannot be said for his Ninetales.

<'Huh?!'> Is his immediate response to the much larger Pokémon's question, almost sounding offended that she would even ask. <'Well... Yeah! They're asking for it.'>

Now bristled, Fern takes it upon himself to strike first, flames emerging from his maw and shooting out directly towards the small electric horse, threatening to INCINERATE.

<'Ha! Take that!'>

"Blitzle!" Your Rival cries out.

"...I think I may have skipped the part where you get to name him." Muin muses out loud, clearly unaffected by the scene before him. Does he even care? Not really. He just wants the battle to be over with (and by extent the tutorial in general). "Oh well."

It's not like the rival's name matters anyway, right? At least that's what Muin determines with a slight shrug.

"Muin." He doesn't give Kazuki's question the privilege of even a single extra word, his teasing being acknowledged as ignorance and foolishness. Why do the hot ones always have to be so dumb? Naturally, the response he gives also sounds nothing like any of Kazuki's attempts, marked by a Celtic lilt that most people would probably confuse with Irish. He decides to do his quest companion a kindness then, educating him on this simple matter: "It's 'Moo-n' in most dialects. It's a letter in the Ogham alphabet, Old Irish."

He doubts Kazuki actually cares, but he had asked, so there's his answer.

Perhaps Muin should be thankful that the battle soon turns chaotic and thus all too distracting, but of course, chaos has never been to his liking. He frowns slightly watching the Mudsdale's panic, but since the man next to him doesn't intervene, neither does he. Instead, he leaves Fern to his own devices, watching as the Ninetales attempts to avoid getting trampled by its supposed partner.

<'Yo, what the fuck?! Calm down!'>

It's not likely that the Mudsdale will listen, and knowing as much, Muin sighs, returning his attention to Kazuki.

"No, I have no interest in naming him." He's as blunt as always; he sees no reason not to be. After all, why should he care what the rival's name is? Unlike with the storyline in the mainline games, Muin seriously doubts he'll ever see the NPC again after this tutorial is completed. For the sake of completing it, they really need to fix this whole situation. "Fern, imprison the Chimchar."

It's not a manner of speech.

<'Oh! Good idea!'>

Jumping back in hopes of being out of the Mudsdale's way, the Ninetales stares at the little chimp, nine long tails bristling with psychic energy. His eyes glow in a bright fuchsia then, and when the glow fades, the Chimchar falls to the ground... apparently trapped in a cage it cannot get out of. An invisible one, at that. It looks like the Chimchar is trying to be an aggressive little mime.

Based on the move description, it should only work on the moves both Chimchar and Ninetales share, but when has UNOVR cared much about what a move can canonically do? For now, it serves as a good prison... for as long as it holds.

"Your turn." Muin tells Kazuki then. It's not a request.

A challenge, then?

Are you actually capable of helping? I doubt it. His amethyst stare seems to almost say.

No one in their right mind would ever think Muin to be the sort of person who likes a surprise and they would be quite right in assuming that. You see, he deeply dislikes unexpected things, so when Kazuki decides to flip the script, go rogue, or whatever you may call it, he is decidedly not a fan of that.

What does the princess do?

Well, for starters, he stares at Kazuki, almost as if he were wondering if the man is joking or just plain stupid. He stares at him for a whole fifteen seconds or maybe even twenty. Then and only then, after having decided that the handsome avatar must be Kazuki's way of making up for a lack of any other appealing qualities, he makes an ultimatum in a tone that leaves no room for argument:

"Absolutely not." Yes, Muin knows that this doesn't help with the perception Kazuki probably has of him. That of being high and mighty, haughty, and likely even condescending to the point of being referred to as 'Princess'. The thing is, though... Muin just couldn't care less. It's nothing he hasn't heard before and it doesn't change the fact that they do need to finish off the Pokémon of this "brat" NPC. "If I had any interest in fighting complete strangers for my own entertainment, I would have gone to the arena. I also don't take orders, Kazuki, and I don't care for your idea of fun."

Just like that, his attention turns back to the Pokémon, as if the man by his side were of no significance anymore. It's three against one now and that doesn't seem all that fair. Odds must be made closer to evens, and so he reaches for a Pokéball, because no matter what, Muin is determined to get this annoying tutorial over with here and now.

"Fern, turn your attention back to the Blitzle." He tells the ferocious Ninetales that had been growling at the draft horse Pokémon, sharp fangs in full display and ready to bite the moment Muin gives the order.

<'Tsk, I wanted a bite of the bigger horse, but I guess I can settle.'>

Before anyone can do anything to stop the Ninetales from charging after the juvenile zebra, another Pokémon is released from the sphere Muin holds: small, round, and seemingly harmless until a command quickly proves otherwise.

"Nin, use LEAFAGE as a distraction."

The Rowlet, for as cute as she looks, is diligent and deadly, rising in the air and flapping her wings to summon a gust towards the Mudsdale and Chimchar. In it, hundreds of leaves are carried along, sharp as razors and of a fresh minty smell too.

Muin's gaze fixes on the NPC then, but the poor boy seems bewildered by the sudden shift.

"That's no fair, you can't bring out another Pokémon! I'm supposed to be fighting you both!" Your Rival complains, throwing a tantrum. "Chimchar, get that ugly horse! We don't need help from no one!"

Implying he does need help from someone. Muin thinks, now even more annoyed than before. Few things in this world are worse than poor grammar, after all.

Buckle up, kids! It's time for an anecdote. Back when Percy was a little boy and his parents were going through their rocky divorce, he often spent long weekends and summer days at his uncle's home in the beautiful countryside of the Isle of Man. He has always loved that house, and as kid he especially loved spending time with his cousins and listening to all the stories his uncle would tell them, but... back then his uncle also had a cat, and let me tell you, Percy really fucking disliked that cat. Her name was Kiaull, the Manx word for 'music', but if you were to ask Percy, he would say that her constant screaming and yowling sounded more like a banshee's shrills. She was loud, mean, aggressive, and misbehaved too; having a tendency for chasing the kids around the house to bite and scratch then, and dropping every single fragile thing she could get her grimy paws on off high shelves just to get people's attention. His uncle had even resorted to bringing one of the spray bottles meant for the garden into the house, spraying her with water in an attempt to get her to stop. Naturally, no matter what anyone did, Kiaull continued being that way until she got old.

And why is this anecdote about a cat relevant to this moment?

Glad you asked! It's because Kazuki reminds Muin of that cat.

If he had a spray bottle full of water in his inventory, he would have used it by now, but considering that Kazuki's next move is to call out a Gyarados and have it use Rain Dance, such actions would have apparently been of little effect against this ever-growing nuisance. So, instead the Gardener clicks his tongue, and true to every British stereotype about their familiarity with rainy weather, he brings an umbrella out of his inventory. Now, listen, in Muin's defense: virtual reality game as this may be, he has always hated the feeling of the rain getting his hair wet, and his hair is much much longer in this place — gracefully falling in luscious silver locks amongst which bloom forget-me-nots.

Droplets hit the umbrella and slide off its impervious dome, but this does nothing to shield Muin from the mud that begins to form on the ground or from the constant splatter that comes as the battle goes on. Fern's once cream coloured paws are now brown and drenched, mud going all the way up his long legs. Of course, the Ninetales appears not to care about his condition, being more preoccupied with growling and snapping at the Mudsdale. When she charges, he braves the overwhelming power of the attack for the sake of sinking his sharp fangs into her leg, a FIRE BLAST exploding there and then. Muin had told Fern to focus on the Blitzle, but apparently the Ninetales had chosen to switch targets now that the smaller horse had been trampled.

As for his Rowlet... Nin flies up when the Gyarados appears, waiting for the command that comes next:

"Good gods, you must be twelve years old behind that avatar." Muin tells Kazuki before giving any further commands. A low blow, but arguably justified giving the behaviour of his current "quest partner". Plus, for all Muin knows, he's probably right. There's no way a grown man would actually act like this, right? "Nin, I'm tired of this. Put an end to it."

<'Ohohohoho...'>

Now, see, there's the thing: despite the fact that Muin has no interest in fighting random battles with strangers, he has put a lot of effort and care into building his team and upgrading his skill trees, and at the moment, his Sweeper tree is almost maxed out. This grants Nin the ability to perform multiple fast attacks that can be split amongst multiple targets, that she can Recoil to double her attacks' damage at the cost of increased strain, and it also means that once per battle, these attacks of hers can undergo a certain upgrade.

What was once Razor Leaves summoned by the flying Rowlet to attack both Kazuki's Pokémon and the barely-conscious ones of Your Rival bursts and explodes, thousands if not millions of sharp leaves slashing through the air towards all enemies in the field. The moment they hit, they detonate. The Z-MOVE BLOOM DOOM manifesting itself in countless explosions.

CONGRATULATIONS! [NPC] YOUR RIVAL HAS BEEN DEFEATED!

Inconsequential.

Muin had wanted the tutorial to be done and over with, but that had been before Kazuki chose to purposefully attempt to annoy him (successfully so, even if Muin refuses to admit it). So, now he looks only at him, still holding his umbrella and still addressing him calmly despite the chaos of their surroundings:

"Is this what you wanted?"