"Hey babe," he returns in stride. They're far enough apart on a raised platform to afford some sense of security for the trainers and any onlookers, but it's comically overdone for the Slowbro and eventual Corphish who take up only a fraction of the field of play. His cheeks flush at the attention he's getting, though he tries not to let it show.

Even with Rowan he couldn't help being stoic.

"I won't." Adrian would take him to metaphorical pound town in the absence of the real deal. Corphish click-clacked against the floor as it crawled towards the center of the arena in dozens of tiny, shuffling movements that looked tiring.

"Hmmm. Maybe I should lose then, so I can pick the place," he suggested in a mock tone, hoping it might fluster Rowan. And because Adrian himself could be picky.

Rowan Wrynn

"What do they know," he spits out snidely, but he's glad Rowan isn't dispirited by his lack of enthusiasm. Adrian never liked fighting for a crowd; all the jeering could get annoying, but the applause? That more than made up for it. He might've iterated on his feelings further, but Rowan pressed the advantage quickly.

"Give 'em the old one-two," he clenches a fist and pumps it upwards, setting his pokemon on its own offensive. A clean double hit first stalls the Slowbro's momentum against one pincer, while the other knocks it from the side, thwarting Slowbro.

Rowan Wrynn

Rowan made the mistake of coming off patronizing, which chaffed Adrian's ego. Despite this, he was impressed by the Slowbro's concentration and fortitude, the former of which spoke highly of its trainer. Though he wouldn't sing him any praises yet, it stuck out to him while the fighting continued.

It wasn't so strange to see Slowbro and Rowan take a more defensive strategy; it played well into a Slowbro's strengths. But even so Adrian could only hope that Rowan would, in the future, recognize when and when not to use that move. And it only fed into his narcissism more when they taunted him with their closing remark.

"Well, yeah," he replies awkwardly, struggling between how he felt as a trainer and how he felt as their boyfriend. Adrian wanted nothing more than to coddle and adore his most preferred of company. But in this ring, he adhered to a different code. They were both here to get something out of this fight, one way or another. For most, it was victory. To knock anyone down who stepped up to you.

"Knock Off." While the Slowbro fixated on its mental prowess, it left its vulnerable, fleshy vessel exposed, allowing the clickety-clack of his Corphish to approach them completely uncontested. Letting his aura bleed out involuntarily, he augmented the Corphish' powers, granting it a boon of darkness.

Rowan Wrynn

"I didn't." His tone was deadly serious. Adrian hadn't an inkling as to the nature of Slowbro's possessions, and had knocked its mega stone away from it by happenstance. Yet that was why he held Dark-type pokemon and moves in such high esteem; they were uncannily convenient. But he wasn't here to laud over his specialties. He needed to focus up for the fight—

Psychic would have no visible effect on the Corphish steeped in darkness.

Well, that's awkward...

"Corphish, taunt it back into range," he would prompt of the crustacean, ignoring the momentary lull in combat and sense. It would be passing strange for anyone watching, though perhaps they would attribute it to Slowbro's oafish, slow-on-the-uptake disposition. If pressed, he supposed he may have to come clean with Rowan...

They'd think he was crazy, or worse.

Rowan Wrynn

"Protect yourself!" Why didn't I think of that before? It honestly may have been easier to dismiss at that point, but it was too late for deceptions. As the Razor Shell winded around to slap the Corphish, it would catch the attack with two upraised claws—

—And promptly get knocked over, sent tumbling a few yards.

"That's one really fat Slowbro." It had punched through the protection, though Corphish was quick to scuttle back to its feet and approach the pink, oafish creature staring back at him goofily. Although mildly incredulous, Adrian was more fixated on excusing the earlier question. Maybe I can say he was evolving? But there was one snag...

He looked down to Corphish, whom seemed wholly unchanged.

Rowan Wrynn

"Okay, sorry." He'd really only meant it was a compliment, it just came out wrong.

He sounds like a broken record. It wasn't the first time he'd said that phrase to evoke ZEN HEADBUTT as a response from his Slowbro, though he couldn't dwell on the mildly humorous facet as he realized Rowan was probing Corphish's unseen ward.

If only to excuse the mishap, he'd uttered once more: "Protect!" It failed.

And yet Corphish was there, seemingly unaffected by the headbutt save for being physically buffed by the plump, squishy cranium of the dopey hermit crab pokemon.

Rowan Wrynn

Adrian sucked his teeth. So cheeky.~ He'd address that later, in private.

The blanket of darkness over Corphish couldn't last. Adrian bears witness to the regression, stunned at the sudden change. It was convenient if nothing else, Rowan wouldn't find anything to scrutinize any further, but he knew full well it was about to be grabbed by Slowbro's telekinesis. "Crabhammer into the ground and hold there!"

In theory, it would be able to clench upon the ground after smashing through the sandstone layer beneath it, hopefully finding a foothold to grab upon and avoid being flung by the Slowbro's PSYCHIC. It was enough to momentarily stymie the attack, but it strained Corphish' diminutive tendons, threatening lasting bodily harm.

Yet through sheer persistence the psychokinetic powers wrested Corphish free before flinging it against the sand, its CRABHAMMER breaking apart the rough terrain where it crashed, mitigating the impact. "That could've definitely gone better for us..."

---

Rowan Wrynn