[ti]spawn[/ti]sweet boy we already know you're bad at this

Heaving in a deep breath and letting it out again, Adrien considered the Pokeballs at his belt before he decided to simply wade into the swaying grass around him. Exochomper had been doing most of the battling so far, and that was fine, but he'd like to get a little more power on his Ponyta if he could. Wildfyre would need the boost if he was going to keep going forward, especially if he was going to try to cover for his Totodile's weak points, and that meant battling to level up. He'd just need to see exactly what it was he was facing off against first before he picked which of his team he wanted to work on this time.

He heard a Rufflet's cry and turned about, one ear twitching, only to catch sight of it flying too far off to even target with his UI. (Huh. He wondered if Nintendo was planning on doing a version a Pokemon Snap with this program - it would be a fairly interesting rework of the game, all things considered.) Considering it just as good a direction as any, he started winding his way through the grass in that direction, to see what popped out at him before he got there.

The Duraludon was faster than it seemed, veering itself out of the way of the Ponyta's charge forward at the last moment, so that only the edges of her flames caught its body. She let out a loud cry as she barreled forward, slamming into the wall it had pulled itself out of and stumbling back. "Wildfyre!" Adrien cried, but she just shook herself out, mane flaring back to life again.

She pawed at the ground for a moment before darting forwards again in another Flame Charge, as though she were the Tauros they'd recently caught rather than a simple Ponyta.

"-going to keep missing," he sighed loudly as she did exactly that, the Duraludon repeating the exact same manuver it had before to avoid the Ponyta's flames.

Honestly, at this rate, the other Pokemon wasn't even going to have to attack to win the battle, and Adrien huffed, his tail flicking behind him irritably at the thought. "Focus, Wildfyre, focus!" he called out. "Use an Ember this time, if it's just going to keep dodging you!"

The Duraludon was prepared this time, when the flaming grasses were flung its way, and it lumbered out of the way as best it could - but not good enough, as even the edges of the grasses that nicked the outer side of the Steel-type Pokemon were enough to make it cry out, sporting another burn on its side. "Give it another Ember!" the Trainer instructed. "After that, you'll probably have slowed it down to actually hit it!"

<Ta!> Wildfyre snorted and kicked up another wave of grasses, as instructed, flinging them up into the air in a mockery of a smokescreen, to give herself a bit of cover.

"Man, I really wish I had a screenshot command for this," Adrien murmured as he watched his Pokemon burst through into that powerful Flame Charge - and it really was powerful, as she slammed directly into the other Pokemon to a loud sizzle of metal turning molten around her, burning the skin underneath.

But her attack didn't come without a price. It put her directly in range of those powerful arms, and the Duradulon roared as it slammed them into her, claws glinting with a light that-

Oh. Oh, it was a Dragon type. Huh.

Wincing as he heard Wildfyre scream out as she darted back, his ears flattening against his skull, he reconsidered his approach. "Use a Leer, then another Ember! Keep your distance!"

<Ta,> she agreed, lifting her head to shoot her opponent a nasty look before she breathed out another low burst of flames into the grasses around the Duradulon.

Almost as soon as he'd managed to heal Wildfyre back up again, he tapped through the prompts to warp back to The Surge Steppes - after all, sure, he already knew that warping to heal didn't cause the Pokemon to despawn, but he didn't know if there was some kind of time limit or anything on that, so he wasn't particularly eager to push that.

No harm, no foul. When he let Wildfyre back out of her Pokeball, she snorted and pawed at the ground, seemingly none the worse for wear for her experience. If anything, she had that same foul look in her eyes from earlier - if it wasn't a Leer, Adrien was pretty sure he didn't know what one was - before she darted forwards in another Flame Charge, ready to repay her opponent for the earlier knockout.

Another rush, coming together before parting again, two jousters leaving their wounds on each other-

But like the previous charges before, the Duraludon grew wise to the tactic and used it against the Ponyta, planting itself and raking its claws down her side again. She cried out even as she rounded out the charge, her flanks heaving and blood showing from the sides, even if it didn't drip down from that - too graphic, apparently, for a Pokemon game.

"Let's try another Ember this time!" he instructed, to her incredulous snort. "C'mon, you made progress with that!

The Ponyta snorted, but she supposed he did have a point, so with a deep breath in, she then breathed out a flurry of embers back into the grasses.