bryan was late, but nina didn’t mind. she was simply glad he’d agreed. his avatarship had surely made him popular and busy. he also seemed to be a man of very few words.[break][break]

”hey,” she greeted back, staring. his bi-colored eyes were striking; same as when she’d approached him before. he was someone to look up to, and the fact that they shared this oddity in common, which she had been quite self-conscious about previously, was exciting in a way.[break][break]

after a beat, she added, ”thanks for coming.” as though it had been a concern his agreement to train her personally might be too good to be true. now, she just had to prove she had the potential.[break][break]

her own mismatched gaze shifted over to the grimmsnarl. not wanting to waste his, she reached for a pokeball.[break][break]

”i was thinking i’d use an alolan vulpix i got recently.”

[attr="class","ooc"]bryan delarosa [break]

the vulpix was released.[break][break]

frail. it was a concerning word at first, but the beast was a fairy-type trainer, wasn’t he? [break][break]

when he continued, she nodded. her decision was good after all. paired with her water and ice-types, her fairy-types would surely prove effective. this was strategy. [break][break]

”i use fairy-types a lot, but also water and ice-types. vulpix isn’t a fairy-type, yet… but she knows a fairy-type move i’ve never seen before...” he’d see it soon enough.[break][break]

seeing bryan sit, she tentatively did the same, waiting for him to demand that she stay standing, but not wanting to be disrespectful.[break][break]

when given the first move, nina nodded.[break][break]

”okay, vulpix. let’s start off strong with ICE BEAM!”[break][break]

0 to 100, the vulpix took off, not remaining in place even as its small jaw cracked open to send out its second most damaging attack.

[attr="class","ooc"]bryan delarosa [break]

at the beast’s comment, nina went red in the face and froze. despite his smile, and his assurance, she still wondered if it had still been the wrong move. was he messing with her? then, she kicked herself for being self-conscious. such was a curse she couldn’t seem to shake. one day.[break][break]

tank it? her brow furrowed and she watched closely for a hint of what was to come next. why not dodge? and what would their next move be? aurora veil would do no good. there was no snow.[break][break]

they’d not been expecting STICKY WEB. it hit, and the vulpix was covered in quickly hardening meringue. ”quick, shake it off!” and the fox shook, but it didn’t manage to free itself.[break][break]

”that’s okay, vulpix. just stay where you are. use EXTRASENSORY!”[break][break]

the space between opponents vibrated and glowed with the blur of malicious psychic energy, breaking the distance for the now lagging little fox.

[attr="class","ooc"]bryan delarosa [break]

slurpuff barely looked like it’d taken any damage at all. her eyebrows rose into her periwinkle bangs, both surprised and impressed by the pokemon’s resilience. the beast held up to his reputation. [break][break]
when a sticky web shot out, nina was willed to her feet as though pulled as well, lifted by the urgency to react. [break][break]
”fight it!”[break][break]
but the slurpuff had the fox in its grasp, reeling it in for a beating. each wailing hit connected perfectly from the seasoned fairy-type. vulpix could hardly hold its ground, until it collapsed.[break][break]
”no! get back up, vulpix! you can do it!”[break][break]
there was a moment of silent desperation. nina was reaching for a pokéball when the vulpix suddenly found the strength to get back up. she watched, in awe as it then began to glow brightly. its shape transformed, growing taller, and tails elongating.[break][break]
”ninetales?”[break][break]
nina grinned, a fist clenched as she hung onto new hope. it wouldn’t end this quickly.[break][break]
”okay! use that move you showed me!”[break][break]
pink energy began to glow around the weakened newly evolved ninetales. it was small at first, but when its jaw cracked, the light was almost blinding. utterly powerful, it was now the most devastating move in her arsenal.

[attr="class","ooc"]bryan delarosa [break]

she was impressed with the outcome, to say the least. it showed on her face. bryan’s grin was validating and contagious.[break][break]
she was even more surprised when it became apparent the move was unfamiliar to him.[break][break]
“i… don’t know. i’ve been trying to figure it out.”[break][break]
the attack wasn’t in her book on fairy-types, nor any of the books she’d paged through at the library. she had determined herself that she had to be missing something. a description hadn’t read right. she wasn’t identifying something accurately.[break][break]
but if rocket’s own strongest fairy-type trainer had never seen the move before, maybe it really was new.[break][break]
ninetales remained out of its pokéball, looking triumphant as its opponent was returned.[break][break]
“i got her from the hatchery that popped up a while back. apparently there were a lot of weird pokemon coming out of there, and then the place just... disappeared. maybe it's like, a mutation or something?”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]bryan delarosa [break]

infinity energy. like the stuff that was in the crystablooms. the stuff that was in all of them, supposedly. lifeforce, that her ninetales could channel into a powerful attack—while somehow remaining fine at the end of it. [break][break]

of all the books she’d picked up lately on fairy-types, this was in none of them. as a matter of fact, not a single one of these phenomena had appeared in any book on pokémon that she’d come across.[break][break]

”yeah, the feebas i got from there glows too.” it was pretty, but weird. kind of spooky, now that she realized what a mystery all of this was.[break][break]

”so… what’s going on at that hatchery, then? do you think it’s natural, or do you think maybe they… did something to them?”

[attr="class","ooc"]bryan delarosa [break]