It was fair to say that Nero had spent a decent amount of time inside the game by now. Whether he'd done anything useful with that time was debatable of course, what with how many hours he'd wasted just walking around... but no-one could begrudge him that. Hell. he'd have paid good money for a walking simulator on its own, so having a whole Pokemon game attached to it was a bonus really.

In between going on hour long strolls around the artificial scenery of the early game areas, he'd at least dug into the game mechanics a little more too. A few catches, some upgrades, even an evolution for his starter now too. He felt like he was really hitting his stride, especially with how the tutorials had shaken his confidence more than actually improved it in the end. But there was still one thing he hadn't done since then... Battles.

Being defeated by the rival had not only been humiliating but a little bit frightening. Not in the sense that he feared any real repercussions, but in the fact that was surely supposed to be the easiest battle in the game and he'd failed it. Did that mean all other battles were going to be impossible too?

Maybe that was why he'd spent so much time just walking around - hard to fail at that, in-game at least. But enough time had passed that the sting of the defeat had numbed into the background, and Nero felt confident enough to make a second attempt. Against a player this time though, which was... risky. But new players were marked, weren't they? He just needed to flag someone down who hadn't been in the game for too long yet.

He'd made his way to the arena and hunk around awkwardly until he spotted somebody who seemed to fit the bill. "Hey," he called out not overly politely towards the player with 'searching for battle' hovering above their head. "I'll battle you. One on one, yeah? Let's do it."

Josh Devlin <3

It seemed he'd picked the right player, as the person he's spoken to respond with great enthusiasm. Almost worryingly so actually - was that a sign that they were stronger than they looked? He'd said he was low level, and as Nero peeked at the stats that he could pull up on his new opponent, he could see that his join date was recent... It was probably fine then, unless it was a new account of an old player, or someone had traded their high level Pokemon to him if that was even a thing you could do in this game. Or maybe someone had just loaded him up with bytes so that he could buy all the upgrades straight away so that even if he was inexperienced he'd have the brute force power behind him to-

... He was overthinking this. As always. Paranoia was a powerful drug once you'd let it get a hold of you.

Shaking off the whirring thoughts, Nero hit the 'accept' button that flashed up in front of him, and the area around him shifted and morphed into a battlefield instead. Something simple: a rocky floor with seating all around it, though there were no onlookers positioned in them that he could see. Good. He liked simple. It meant he could focus on the battle itself.

While he had a few options at his disposal now, Quilava was the only one with any actual battling experience. He may have lost the rival battle, but his starter had won against a few wild Pokemon now, so he clearly knew what he was doing. Besides, it was the Pokemon he felt most attached to, as was usually the case in these sorts of games.

Sending the fire type out onto the field then, it took only a few seconds for the battle to get underway, the opposing trainer's Charmander launching an Ember straight towards them. Unprepared for how quickly things were happening, Quilava didn't move in time, and had in fact only moved a single paw when the flames collided with his fur. Flinching slightly, he shook off the heat that at least didn't bother him as much as it would another type, and readied himself to retaliate.

His starter knew what to do on his own, and had in previous circumstances launched into attacks without command, but this time he waited, seemingly sensing Nero preparing to give an order behind him... or else the AI knew when a player character was acting and when they weren't. "Right back at them, Quill," came the trainer's voice, followed by a flurry of Embers from the Quilava this time. The same attack from each side felt like a good way to sense who had the advantage here, if either side did indeed. Could they just brute force this out, or was it going to take a little more strategy than that to win?

Josh Devlin <3 | Prompt used: use a fire or electric-type move

Speed definitely seemed to be on the opponent's side in this match, but raw power... Well, that was still up for debate. The Ember attack from the Quilava had landed well, and while the opposing fire type hadn't seemed all too bothered by in ineffective attack, it had still made an impact. The force of it had been visible even if the aftermath had been nothing but a shrug. It gave Nero hope, even if it reminded him that fire moves were not necessarily the way to go in this particular match.

His gaze was fixed on the Charmander as he awaited the next move of the battle, right up until the other trainer spoke. Nero's attention shot up in surprise at the order being given. A dragon move? Wasn't this guy a new player too? How did his starter know dragon moves so soon? Had he gotten a TM or something? How? Damn, had Nero been right about this all being a trick, was this player actually way above him?

Just as his anger began to flare at being tricked into an 'unfair' battle and his fingers began to curl into fists instinctively, the Charmander launched its attack and... nothing happened. Well, something did - an attempt was certainly made, but it could hardly be considered successful. It was like the flames had petered out before they'd even made contact, more of a sad little splutter than a dragon's ferocious breath. Both Nero and Quilava stared in surprise at the half-attack that hadn't made any impact on the health bar that was floating above Quill. Was that... a strategy? Was Dragon Breath a two turn move in this game like Solarbeam or something? It couldn't have just been a... mistake, could it?

Honestly, he didn't have time to dwell on whether it was or wasn't. He'd already lost precious seconds of the advantage that this gave them; he wasn't about to waste the rest of it as well. "Quick Attack," he blurted as fast as he could get the words out, and the Quilava leapt into action again, darting forward as fast as his little legs would carry him, aiming to collide with the Charmander before it had a chance to recover and try for a different move instead.

Josh Devlin <3 | Prompt used: use a priority move

That looked like a good hit, a solid connection that must have done a good chunk of damage, and Nero even let out a quiet "Yes!" in a hiss to himself in response to it. Quill came to a halt again, though with far less grace and control than last time, stumbling over his own legs rather than anchoring himself with claws and spinning back into position. He was tired, approaching a limit he had not reached before, but they were still in the middle of a battle. He couldn't stop now, couldn't show weakness when the enemy was still up. He glanced towards his trainer, seeing the excited response to his last move in the tiny way that Nero's fist punched the air, and that made up his mind. He couldn't slow, couldn't stop. Not yet. Not until the Charmander was down and they had won.

Still, Nero was oblivious to the struggle that his Pokemon was going through. Sure, his health bar was low, but that just happened in battle, that was just part of it. No other game he'd played had had any sort of exhaustion mechanic or similar in it, so why should he assume something like that existed here? Because the tutorial had specifically warned him about it perhaps? Well he really hadn't been paying very much attention to those pop-ups - the game couldn't expect him to read all of that, surely.

All he could focus on then, was the seemingly weakened Charmander and what felt like an imminent victory. "Alright Quill, finish it off with a Flame Wheel!" It was a fire move, sure, but it was a forceful one, a more dramatic quick attack really, so it should still do enough. And if it didn't - well, he'd look a little foolish for declaring this to be a finishing move but otherwise, the Quilava should be able to take another round.

Trying to disguise his laboured panting, Quill nodded at the command and winced slightly as he shifted himself into a better position. One last move, one last attempt... hopefully.

Paws kicked into the rocky grand once more as flames began to build higher, curving in sweeping arcs around him until eventually the fire type's speed reached the right level. Curling up tightly into a ball, the flames connected in a sweeping wheel around the now rolling Pokemon as he launched a burning hot Flame Wheel attack towards the Charmander who seemed to be just... lying there? Was it already knocked out? Too late to abort the attack now though, and too late to respond as in a flash he saw claws reach up towards him.

His underbelly was covered by the shape of his attack, much like a real world hedgehog using its own protective methods, but in the Pokemon world, that didn't mean much. The sharp protrusions sticking in to his darker fur hurt just as much as an attack to his belly would have done, and it was still enough to have him flinching so dramatically that his legs popped back out of the ball shape that he had been maintaining. The flames petered out as he tumbled to a stop, paws trying to slow himself with little success so that he ended up skidding across the ground on his side until finally coming to a halt. He didn't get up immediately though, needing a moment to stop the world from spinning before that would even be possible. He could hear noises, a sound that was possibly his trainer's voice, though he couldn't tell what it was saying. Had he done good? Could he finally stop now? Or was there more still to come?

Josh Devlin <3 | Prompt used: fight through the pain

Nero had not paid any attention to the information about the arena that had popped up when they'd first appeared here. It was so automatic to just dismiss a pop up without even considering it, and doing so had left him in the lurch multiple times in this game already. Those pop ups told him vital information about the game's mechanics and settings, and yet the instinct to click the 'x' without a second thought always overrode any sense to actually read the damn things. Because of this very bad habit of his, he had missed the information about not waking the sleeping psychic Pokemon nearby - although realistically, he probably wouldn't have factored that into his attacks anyway. Nothing about this battle had screamed strategic thinking from Nero's side.

The Flame Wheel hit, even if the Smokescreen obscured Nero's view of it doing so. It was the light of the Pokeball recall that told him they had won, and Nero let out a cheer of victory, waiting for the thick smoke to clear out so that he'd be able to see Quill celebrating too. Except, he wasn't. As the arena cleared, the Quilava could be seen lying just on the other side of where the Charmander had been, panting and gasping for breath on legs too shaky to stand on. Nero frowned in confusion, stepping closer to see more clearly. His health bar wasn't at zero - it was in the red but he should still be up. What was the problem here? "Up and at 'em, Quill," he called, the concern making his voice sound more like a snap that the fire type tried his best to respond to. His legs wouldn't hold him though, and he crumbled back to the ground as Nero's brows creased even further. What the hell?

Before he could figure out what the problem was, a strange circle appeared between himself and his Pokemon, and a newcomer began to materialise. Nero stepped around it, still wanting to approach his starter Pokemon, but stopped when he saw the energy building around the Abra that had appeared. It looked like it was about to attack - or at least do something drastic, and this game had all sorts of weird features, didn't it? He didn't want to discover one of them now, so he called Quill back to his Pokeball and brought the UI up in front of his eyes.

He didn't indeed have a second Pokemon that he could fight this intruder with, but why on earth would he do that when he could just leave. "Good game," he said almost on reflex, before hitting the 'LEAVE ARENA' button that he'd located, and letting himself get whisked away into another area of the game while Josh was left to deal with the problem that Nero had awoken.

Josh Devlin <3