"Good morning Mr. Clayton."

Sam greeted Oscar before holding out his hand to shake, his usual greeting. The fact that they were going to be engaged in battle wasn't much of a bother one way or the other to Sam. He'd learned to grow a bit more fond of the idea of battling, mostly because of the positive battle experiences he'd managed thus far.

"I would prefer you didn't hold back. I'm bound to lose this battle either way. Imagine the humiliation I would undergo if you weren't holding back and I lost."

Whether or not Oscar catches that he means this as a joke or not is really Oscar's call, but, he does mean it in jest. His tone's just so flat and void that who really can tell anymore other than his mother? And even then, she's always a little at a loss with hsi humor.

oscar clayton

Seeing Zule had Sam's eyes lighting up a little bit. Oscar was one of the few people, ironically, that Sam could let his guard down around. He wasn't entirely sure why either. Even at Mt. Pyre. Maybe it was because when Sam had tried to make his speech, Oscar had been the one to commend him on doing a good job.

Sam hates public speaking.

Getting to battle Oscar in the tournament, and to see that ever helpful chandelure again with the beautiful coloring, it has Sam a bit more excited about the fight.

"I'll showcase my own memorable pokémon, then."

It wouldn't be giving him a type advantage, but disadvantage instead. But at the same time, he didn't mind. So he pulled out a heavy ball and released what was once a small little beldum pulling a cart; his metagross.

The churning of metal rang through the stage, four giant taloned feet landing on the ground. The mouth of this beast opened, a metallic whine ringing out as a roar.

"It's grown quite a bit since you last saw it."

oscar clayton

// Sam sent out METAGROSS

Those spiraling bits of fire were all too familiar to Sam. He knew a will-o-wisp when he saw one. So, he took a deep breath and prepared himself for the worst. His metagross was, in fact, now burned. That'd be fine. Metagross wouldn't last a full fire assault from that chandelure, so he'd take that opening while he could get it.

"Meteor mash."

That way, metagross wouldn't have to get terribly close.

With a glow, the earth around the chandelure would raise. With the magnetism of the metagross and the psychic energies collected, the ground became makeshift meteors which the metagross crashed into the chandelure to execute the command, a METEOR MASH.

"We won't be holding back either, Oscar."

oscar clayton

the way that ghost swayed out of view had sam furrowing his brows. he wasn't sure what that thing had planned, but he knew it wouldn't be good.

the smog forming had sam raising his shirt up to block his nose, mostly out of habit. he'd dealt with a lot of smokescreens and smogs in his day during the war.

that made him sound like an eighty year old man, it's fine.

sam could see that the burn was also beginning to take its toll on the metagross' body, causing a metallic sizzle to partner with the magnetic grind.

"seek it out, confuse it before it has a chance to land a hit."

metagross' eyes began to glow then. a wave of psychic energy was sent out to swirl and mix that smog around, in an attempt to cause CONFUSION.

oscar clayton

the smog wouldn't have even been needed with how that hex was amplified by the metagross' burn. the smog had literally just been a distraction. or an attempt at one.

enraged, the metagross began fixating on the cause of it and barreling toward it at top speed. while that wasn't super fast, it was enough to get close and deal out a ZEN HEADBUTT, right?

sam watched in amusement as his metagross' rage got the best of it. could it really be blamed? it'd been hexed.

really, he was fighting envy. that ghost was a beautiful piece of work and he wanted to get several litwick and chandelure to light the grave sights of mt. pyre.

oscar clayton

that inferno... metagross wasn't going to last. not with the way that burn was cutting his physical attack in half. the chandelure was the winner, now, both sam and metagross knew it.

"last ditch effort."

the metagross' lights in its eyes were starting to fade, flicking in and out, like a pulse. finally they gave a great glow, one last METEOR MASH as it began to loose consciousness, fainting.

sam doubted it would lead to a draw, but, who knew.

oscar clayton

the metagross' lights finally went out, body a limp bunch of parts on the ground with no magnetic field active while it fainted.

sam recalled his metagross and kept his hoodie up enough to breathe through the small bits of smog that were still clearing on his side. with a wave, he moved closer. the wave was to get the smog to go away.

"well done. i'll have to get a chandelure of my own, i know that much."

he wanted some of the whole litwick line, so that he could use them for lighting around mt. pyre. maybe he'd contact a breeder, but they were so expensive...

oscar clayton