[S][C/Alicia] Forged Anew

Alicia's remark hit Josh like a wrecking ball. "...Ohhhhhh..." he droned on. This was very much not good. Giyun was completely berserk before, and would likely be unable to hold back. Such a strong dragon would be able to hit right through whatever chintzy armor the amateur could craft.

"Good. Cause once I evolve again, we're gonna go back to the Forgotten Nexus and have a barbecue with those bugs," Ares boasted, knowing the kind of terrible destructive force a Charizard could loose. Mega Evolution gave them incredible power, particularly against electric Pokémon by eliminating a common weakness.

"That's why I brought him!" Josh confirmed as he worked the metal into the shape he wanted it to be, one piece at a time. With KINDLER mastery, he and his Charmeleon could stoke the flames hotter than Alicia could, letting them get the shape exactly the way he wanted.

Ulysses' AQUA RING turned to steam upon contact with each piece, cooling it and eliminating any potential fire hazards from their work. After they had cooled off, Josh donned his new armorset, looking like a hero from a fantasy novel. He had nailed its balance, both in spreading the weight across much of his body and the protection the shining mail offered him. There were just two problems with it.

No head protection and no back protection.

Josh was embarrassed; he had forgotten to do the back half. And with Ares running low on energy, he couldn't ask the Charmeleon to fire up the forge again. He swept his mistake under the rug, citing his speed. "It'll slow my Pokémon down more than it needs to. Besides, who's gonna be fast enough to hit me from behind?" A hollow retort, but one nonetheless.

Alicia was right, though; there was little better way to test out the armor than with a good old-fashioned brawl. The boy withdrew Ares for Luna, the Liepard proudly running her motor before facing the Ironsmith-in-training. "I think she'll be a good opponent for you," Josh said as he got used to walking around in his new gear. "PLAY ROUGH with her, but not too rough!" With a loud growl, the Liepard zipped toward Alicia and tackled her. Were she to knock her over, she would try to kick at the Gardener and put a claw or two in her armor's gaps!

The Lord of Distortion, Giratina... what a fun companion that would be. Being able to warp between dimensions, travel through the ethereal, and burst out of it at the speed of a use of SHADOW FORCE... it sounded amazing. "Why do so many of the best ride Pokémon have to be legendary..." Josh mused. Alicia was right, though. "You are right, though. This means I'll need to track down a Pokémon or few with Extreme Speed themselves. How much practice that will take, though... Quick Attacks are already so fast." Even his short hair would fly like a banner at such velocities. "Bolter mastery helps, but for that level... I'll just have to put the reps in."

The bright light blinded Luna and caused her to lurch back, the two of them a safe distance from one another. "Need to keep going, or have you figured it out enough?" Josh asked, the Liepard stretching before returning to her trainer's side. "Don't forget to save enough energy for me, too."

The clanging beams of steel forming Giyun's body indeed made Josh flinch, intimidated from the anticipation of being on the receiving end of the most powerful attacks her friend's entire team was capable of delivering. Tikani's ELECTRO DRIFT was too fast for even Josh to run from, but lacked the raw power that the steel-type dragon's physical attacks boasted.

"Blondie?" Josh asked before turning to Alicia. "How much Yu-Gi-Oh! Season 1 have you been watching? I haven't heard that insult in ages!" Without waiting for a reply, he bravely faced the Duraludon, his mist-laden hands shaking. With fingers spread wide, a cold wind burst from both his palms and enveloped Alicia's Pokémon: the spell of BUFU. Basic as it was, it was still ice-elemental, and dragons didn't like ice much. "Maybe that'll slow you down some!"

The combination of Giyun's melee and ranged attacks not only knocked Josh to the ground, but it messed him up. Badly. The force of the beam, hitting him at an oblique angle, caused him to turn around, exposing his unarmored back to the METAL CLAW. Depending on Alicia Westfield 's gore settings, she may have seen blood sputtering out of Josh's back, his claws bouncing off his spine. Were his pain thresholds not on a lower setting, he wouldn't have had the strength to reach for Ulysses' Poké Ball and have him engage in convalescent care with a dose of LIFE DEW.

"...Maybe I should unequip Player before our next brawl," Josh moaned as his wounds slowly, but visibly, began to close. The next piece of armor he crafted, he was definitely making sure to hammer out both sides of!