The four of them went out back. There was a small arena there for battles/practice. The boys were surprised at the suggestion of a double battle, but their mother interjected. "That sounds wonderful, it's been awhile since I've seen one of those!" The large woman bounced towards the referee's circle. Both boys looked at each other and shrugged. Could be interesting at least. Kee's Houndour was already nearby. "Hey, Houndour. You up for a battle?" The black dog jumped up and bounded over, eager to show his strength. Aaron looked over in the distance, searching the treeline. Finding something, he whistled. "Trevenant...you want to show off?" One of the "trees" turned around and started to bound over to them. Once there, Trevenant started to "flex" and try to look intimidating. He just looked goofy in Aaron's and Keenan's eyes.

Both Pokemon went on in, Houndour much more calm and collected, where Trevenent tried to "crack" his knuckles and clearly excited for a fight. Both boys stood in the trainers' boxes. "I think we're ready whenever you are, Noah!"

a flexing trevenant in some senses is a charming in some ways. creepy in others. the gym leader grins still, sensing that the boys' partners were as excited as they were. the beginnings of a journey always carried with it, a green-glinted wind propelled by naivety and ever sprawling possibility.

noah gestures to his electrike, the other hand tossing out a pokeball. a hitmonchan grunts, whipping a few practiced punches into the air beside the green dog.

"good!" he nods to the other's mom and as his face turns to the toral boys, his gaze becomes electric. "glen! HOWL!" after, he calls to his hitmonchan, "move ahead of glen! look for an opening for a BULLET PUNCH on the trevenant!"

his electrike howls on cue as the hitmonchan nimbly advances toward the other side with raised fists.

[attr="class","pkspr"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon electrike"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon hitmonchan"]

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Keenan Toral

Noah sent out a Hitmonchan and his Electrike. The boys' mother simply nodded and said the magic words. "Battle Begin!" The gym leader didn't waste any time, and had the electric type use howl. That would increase his attack power. Normally, Kee might mirror the move when using Houndour...but decided not to. Instead, he watched his little brother, seeing how he would respond to Hitmonchan's fast attack. Aaron didn't waste time. "Trevanant, use Horn Leech." From the tree's forearm, a glowing wooden spike would form, and the grass and ghost type would trade blows with the Hitmonchan, getting hit at the midway point on the trunk.

Trevenant was the powerhouse between the two, and not much that Noah had could potentially harm it. Still...since Hitmonchan was here...

"Houndour, use Fire Fang!" The fire type went around Trevanent and lunged at the Hitmonchan, aiming for either arm or leg, with glowing red fangs. Kee's hope was to give Aaron an opening for his Trevanent to use either his Wood Hammer or Phantom Force attacks on it. The older blonde knew Aaron had been working extensively with his Pokemon...always had since the day he got them. Surely their attacks would be really strong by now.

noah faber

as the hitmonchan and trevenant trade blows, the electrike is darts forth. maw open, fangs crown flame as a FLAME BURST erupts from the canine's throat. the fire moves toward keenan's houndour as it lunges to assist aaron's trevenant.

"oh, i like the confidence you two." noah says. "a lot of people let their nerves get them from the start."

the electrike moves in close to its partner in the aftermath, snarling at the other dog. paws tense on the grass as noah shouts another command.

"cover for glen! move close to him!"

his hitmonchan scrutinizes the trevenant. with raised fists, the fighter backs up as noah's electrike taunts the other canine, daring it to act.

[attr="class","pkspr"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon electrike"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon hitmonchan"]

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Keenan Toral

The Flame Burst didn't quite hit Houndour, since the dog saw it and stopped, but he still got grazed. Not that it did much damage. Trevanent was more affected by it, also having been caught slightly by the explosion. Both boys showed that they were related not just by blood by their looks, but also by sharing the same smirk at the comment. "Well, we're also tossing the best that we have at you too. We have faith in our partners." Aaron nodded along with his brother's own comment. The green electric type got close with the fighting type, snarling at Houndour, who simply stared back, like he was very much unimpressed. And almost cold.

The Hitmonchan also stared down Trevanent, who was ready to close it for a fist fight. But Aaron remained mostly stoic. "Trev, use Ingrain, and take root." Two of the tree's legs seemed to have dived underground, though rustling as it established a root system could be heard from above ground. Trevanent was also something of a tank for Aaron, between the litany of recovery moves that it knew. Luckily, absorbing the nutrients from the ground would also heal it enough to recover from the Flame Burst earlier.

Kee knew Trevenant was the trump card of theirs. Hitmonchan could easily knock out Houndour due to its type advantage. The dogs had to fight. But it won't just be a close range battle, and Kee wasn't going to let Houndour get drawn in, either. "Houndour, use Smog, let's see if we can poison Glen." Hopefully they'd get lucky. The black dog spewed poisonous gas from his mouth that would do relatively little damage if it hit any of the other two Pokemon, but there was a chance at poisoning either one.

noah faber

a purple gas emerges from the houndour's maw. in this open field, the gas disperses quick. noah's electrike whimpers as the poisons are quick to penetrate its young body— and before the mauve miasma can linger any further, the electrike and hitmonchan move against the wind's flow.

the trevenant may have rooted itself, but noah is quick to focus targets. he shouts, "scare the houndour, glen!" to his hitmonchan, he commands, "get in close, throw some punches- then RAPID SPIN him into the air!"

the electrike rushes in between hitmonchan's legs and ROARS. through the intimidating timbre of a growing electrike's cry, noah's hitmonchan darts in with its fists— but suddenly drops. like a break dancer, it swings its legs around for a RAPID SPIN, hoping to catch the houndour by the belly to toss it upward.

"faith's good!" noah says. "you got the first step down!"

[attr="class","pkspr"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon electrike"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon hitmonchan"]

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Keenan Toral

The smog quickly consumed Electrike, but he was the only victim. Open field and all. Still, just one was good enough for him. Nonetheless, Glen countered with a Roar attack, which almost made Houndour switch out. Only for the Hitmonchan to come in and start breakdancing. An interesting Rapid Spin that sent Houndour flying. "Houndour!" "Leech Seed." Aaron's cold voice rang out at the same time as Keenan's. The tree puffed out some seeds, and sent them flying at both Glen and Hitmonchan, hopefully infecting them. If it did manage to succeed, the seeds would burst into vines and start sapping their strength, and heal Trevenant. The poor pupper landed hard on the ground, and struggled to get back up. But he got back up nonetheless. Kee was a bit shell shocked at how strong that attack was. And Rapid Spin wasn't known to be a powerful attack.

"Guess that's a gym leader for you..." He whispered more to himself. Then Aaron snapped at him. "Kee, focus." Nodding at his younger sibling, Keenan decided on range. "Houndour, use Ember!" Houndour opened his maw, and shot out several balls of flame at Glen. Keenan had a worried expression over his friend, while Aaron was more focused and stoic.

noah faber

as the seeds are sprayed into the air, the gym leader's voice rises to match them. he squats, hands on his knees as he surveys the field with an electrifying stare.

"glen!" noah cries. "leap and WILD CHARGE through the seeds! burn them before they can touch you!"

the electrike barks, leaping into the air as its body is coiled with electricity. as it leaps through the shrapnel of seeds, it lunges through the flame and expanding vine toward the houndour...

in the meantime, the hitmonchan rushes in for the trevenant. a seed attaches itself to the hitmonchan's shoulder, blossoming into a vine. huffing, the martial artist CLOSE COMBATS the trevenant's trunk, fists a red barrage.

"listen to your brother! focus is key, buddy!"

[attr="class","pkspr"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon electrike"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon hitmonchan"]

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Keenan Toral

The green pokemon electrified, and blasted through the seeds and flames towards Houndour. The black dog scooted just enough to avoid a direct hit, but it still scraped along his side. It was clear that Houndour wasn't going to last much longer. The attack has a little bit of recoil to it, but not a lot. And the electric type avoided getting seeded. Hitmonchan was not so lucky. Kee saw that Aaron relaxed a little, and narrow his eyes ever so slightly. A tiny tell that said that he thought they won. Or maybe Aaron won. Well, if it was going to be two on one, might as well play with luck and see if he can get a supporting role. "Use Smog again, on Electrike!" Houndour again let out a billowing cloud of poisonous gases, hoping to poison the little Pokemon, but also damage it some.

The rapid punches went right through Trevenant, doing nothing. Since the tree was also a ghost-type, and Noah hadn't used Foresight or a similar move on Trevenant yet. "Trevenant is a ghost as well as a tree. It's easy to forget when battling him. Fighting and normal type attacks won't have any effect on him without Foresight. Use Shadow Claw." Trevenant's hands was consumed in a semi-transparent, dark aura, and started to swipe at Hitmonchan. Fighting type attacks may not affect ghosts...but ghost type attacks do still harm fighting types.

noah faber

[newclass=.rndBG]--rndColor:#6f5e7b[/newclass]

"yep, i know! we're just closing the gap!" noah shouts, voice carrying quick over the field. "careful of lecturing in battle— and focus!"

as the lengthy dialogue whittles down to a command, his hitmonchan shifts in and out with its fast footwork. like a boxer, the fighter weaves in and out of the claws before dipping its shoulder, twisting its hips as it hurls BULLET PUNCHES toward the trevenant's trunk as if it were a punching bag.

as the SMOG wafts toward the electrike, noah's dog pokemon retaliates with a FLAME BURST. a bullet of fire fires from its maw, cutting through the smoke before expanding into an unfurling bulb of flame. the poisonous gas still buffets the electrike— but its determined barks despite its struggling limbs reveal that it won't go down without a fight.

"our dogs are well-matched, i think!" noah laughs.

another tick of poison causes the electrike to shiver.

[attr="class","pkspr"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon electrike"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon hitmonchan"]

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Keenan Toral

The Electrike got hit by the Smog, but Houndour also got hit by the Flame Burst. Despite that the move wasn't very effective against Houndour, the dog did keel over, swirled eyes of a fainted Pokemon. Deflated, it did look like it did poison Glen. His mother called out that Houndour was unable to battle. The elder blonde took out a pokeball and recalled his pupper. "Lecture or not, Ace is always focused. I've never beaten Trevenant once with Houndour or anyone else for that matter..." Still, the footwork on the Hitmonchan was pretty good, avoiding Shadow Claws like a champ. Certainly earning the gym leader title here. The taller blonde also blushed at the compliment, a lingering question on the tip of his tongue.

Aaron didn't flinch. The poison might finish it off, but with the misses on Hitmonchan, he could use the recovery and let Leech Seed do more work..."Finish Glen off. Horn Leech." From Trevenant's right forearm, a much longer branch formed and glowed green. The tree twisted and swept low, aiming a strike at Glen. Hopefully that would do it. If it did, it was time to start on the big guns. "Phantom Force." Trevenant disappeared in a dark portal underneath it. After a short time, he would reappear behind the boxer, with a backhand to complete the attack, hopefully catching him off guard enough for a solid hit, and the Leech Seed sapping a little bit more strength from the boxer.

noah faber

"humans can't multitask," noah says, his voice a wagging finger, "pokemon too!"

the weakened electrike is struck by the HORN LEECH with a loud crack. sparks crackle too, sputtering around glen's verdant shape in dour defiance. as the canine lands in an unconcious heap, noah's hitmonchan does not relent, summoning a STONE EDGE.

several large stones cascade around the hitmonchan's body, while the rest are tossed toward the attacking trevenant. as the attack subsides, the stones fall around the fighter like old ooyoroi embedded into the ground.

noah warns the hitmonchan in the time taken to take glen. as the portal takes the trevenant, the hitmonchan evades low by the fallen, pillars of the stone edge, RAPID SPINNING to toss the SEEDS away.

[attr="class","pkspr"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon electrike"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon hitmonchan"]

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Keenan Toral