He stood in the middle of the crater, marvelling as the rocks soared above him. Flygon and Altaria swooped overhead, and, standing where he was, surrounded by the walls of Sootpolois, he felt like a frog looking out of a well. But while the city was beautiful, a marvelous feature of nature that was a joy to behold, he was not here to sight-see. No, he was here to do his job. Both of them, quite actually. A job had been posted for people to train some dragon pokemon. A notoriously difficult and tempermental pokemon type, he had his work cut out for him. But at the same time, he very much looked forward to the challenge.

Noticing a small group of Bagon harassing someone, he decided they would be the first target of his training. Releasing Encke, the pair wandered over. Noticing one of the Bagon turning around to attack the young man and Applin again, Encke opened his mouth, a spiralling gale of ice and snow bursting out of his gaping maw. The temperature around them dropped a few degrees as the [BLIZZARD] veered in front of the Bagon, cutting off it's charge and causing the group to back off a few meters.

"Hey kid, you might want to be careful with that Applin. Dragon types get pretty territorial when other Dragons are around." He grunted, his eye trained on the group of irritated Bagon. "You a new trainer?"

@derrick

He nodded at the younger trainers explanation. Seems the League wanted to give this person a trial by fire. Sending him to play with one of the most troublesome types, despite his lack of experience with them, was a bit of a nasty move. A grimace would flicker over his face, quickly being schooled into a more thoughtful expression, less Derrick thought it was aimed at him. No, it was annoyance at the League, moreso. This was how you ended up with Trainers disillusioned with training pokemon, or with a grudge against a certain type.

"I was a farmer." He gently tapped Encke with his foot, the Spheal puffing out another blast of frost. This time, it went through the middle of the group, splitting the Bagon apart as one dashed towards the pair, the other few hopping backwards away from the blast. "But, anyone can learn this, with enough practice." His expression soured once again, as his mind went back to how he had learned to fight with pokemon. "Dragons, being mostly reptiles, aren't fans of cold temperatures. With a few exceptions." He gestured to the Applin, continuing with "As a Grass Dragon, your little friend there is especially vulnerable. Luckily, few Dragon Types use Ice attacks themselves, so you shouldn't be too troubled against these."

The solo Bagon took a few steps forward, before suddenly noticing he was now outnumbered. Jim took a couple of steps back from the approaching Bagon, leaving Derrick in the forefront. Encke was staring down the remainder of the group, cold air misting from his mouth, keeping at bay. "Lets see how he does against a single encounter, while we're here." Seeing that Encke seemed to be occupied, and Jim retreating, the small blue dragon locked on to Applin, seeming to grin at Squeakz, small motes of [EMBER] falling out of its mouth.

((ooc: are you still using franky or is it a new FC for this character?

@derrick

Astonish? Interesting choice. Not a strong move, but it could sometimes surprise the other Pokemon. Unfortunately, it seemed that the Bagon was not as astonished as they would hope, shrugging off the move and spitting the miniature flames at the Applin. Understandably, the little dragon was pretty shaken. The Bagon seemed stronger than it naturally, and as a Grass Type, the embers were... dangerous, to say the least. Encke at least seemed to be having fun, the frost dissipating as the rotund little being used his exquisite rotundness to its full effect. Spinning in a circle, the Spheal rocketed forwards, his [ROLLOUT] scattering the Bagon he was playing with like pins before a bowling ball.

"Yep. Have you heard of the tabletop term Linear Fighter, Exponential Wizard?" His inner teacher unleashed, Jim didn't wait for a reply, continuing his mini-lecture. "Fighters growth is pretty standard, they're decently strong no matter what level they are. Dragon types, however, are Wizards." He crouched down, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small treat, tossing it to the Applin to try to cheer it up a bit. "As in, early on, they are shit. No offense." He gave the Applin a small smile, before standing up and pointing to the Dragon types roaming the area. "Notice how all the first evolution Dragon types, like these Bagon, roam in packs? That's why. Alone, they're not very powerful, and it's only when they evolve they truly come into their might, becoming some of the strongest pokemon that aren't out of Myth or Legend."

He grabbed a pokeball, releasing a second pokemon, Pythia. The Natu fluttered to the ground beside Squeakz. "He just needs a pack to roam with until he's self sufficient, and then he'll become an absolute wrecking ball." Pythia hopped forward a few steps, standing between the Bagon and the Applin, staring the blue dragon out. And nothing could out stare a Natu. A small glow surrounded her, a soft pink light that seemed to glitter, before it disappeared. "Pythia here will help Squeakz out. She just used [WISH], a delayed healing ability. She'll fly up in a few seconds, and if you get your little pal close to where she was standing, should help perk him right back up."

He held his hand out to Derrick, throwing him a good natured smile. "Only my actual students call me Mr. For an impromtu lesson like this, you can just call me Jim."

@derrick

The healing light engulfed the Applin as Pythia flew back to Jims shoulder. Though not completely healed from the ability, Squeakz would find himself far less battered from the Bagons previous attack. The pink glow would slowly fade, leaving the Applin looking far less like, well, a bruised apple. "Not as good as new, but a fair sight better than before at least." Though from how the dragon was acting, it seemed pretty unlikely to jump back into the fight with the Bagon. Might be an even younger pokemon than he initially thought. "But then again, another good skill to have is to know when not to fight."

He shoo'd the Bagon away. Seperated from it's pack, outnumbered, and having it's last efforts negated, the Bagon was already nervous. It took this opportunity to run away, back towards the pack getting playfully harassed by Encke. "Lets look for something that's a better matchup for your Pokemon, yeah?." He gestured for Derrick to follow him, and moved further into the Dragon-infested region. "What moves does Squeakz know? Has he learnt any Dragon-type moves yet?" He glanced towards the younger trainer, hoping that the Applin had something.

If not, well. It would be interesting, at the very least.

@derrick