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When Freya arrives, Noah is quick to greet her. Rain, mud and all. He isn't disturbed by the tracks. The drip of droplet on gym floor. Such messiness is a brief and welcome wrinkle to the mundane; it is a suggestion that the region continues a little longer... in spite of drought, rain, rocket and apocalypse.[break][break]

"Welcome, welcome! Totally honoured to have you here, Ms. Morningstar." Noah says. The formalities are cut by the occasional squeak of sneaker against flooring.[break][break]

Gym trainers come to attend to her. They come to receive her wet coat, should she desire to relinquish it.[break][break]

"I'll lead you to the ring." Noah says as they walk. "Don't worry about the mud. People track it in all the time. Kinda futile to clean it after every single challenger... you ready?"[break][break]

He asks, hands against heavy double doors that lead into the arena.

[attr="class","bottom"]freya morningstar [break]
POG TY FOR PATIENCE / CAN START BATTLE RIGHT AWAY IN YOUR POST IF YOU WANT (VIA SMALL TIMESKIP) OR IN NEXT ROUND[break][break]

"oh." and relinquish it she does, albeit slightly awkwardly. she shrugs out of the oversized coat and turns her attention back to the gym leader. he walks with languid yet confident strides; again, she's overcome with the realization that here is another passing ship in the span of their careers. 

aside from silph and ivanov, he's one of the longest-standing and reliable gym leaders the region has seen. 

said realization should be daunting, but it only makes her lips curl. she thumbs lyune's ball thoughtfully as the gym doors yawn open. the field is a ring, caged and cramped. she'd known as much when submitting her pokemon.

fafnir will excel, but... she glances down. lyune is enormous. his strength lies in his ability to throw his weight around. curiosity, however, has gotten the better of her. if he's to keep his edge, he'll need to fight backed into a corner. he'll need to fight at a disadvantage. 

so within those bars, he's the first to emerge. he shudders at the enclosure, hissing violently, eyes narrowing at their adversary. 

freya walks around his bulk until she can see noah on the adjacent side. a braid falls over her shoulder as she nods - ready.

noah faber

freya sends out lyune

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"damn, your salamence is beautiful." noah says, both hands palm up as if to appraise the weight of its battle-worn experience. "you're not gonna make it easy for me, huh?"[break][break]

from the other side of the ring, noah whips his pokeball against the cage. the capsule cracks open; a red bolt lunges outward like light streaming from the crystalline heart of a geode.[break][break]

a FLAMIGO manifests on the field. staring with a deranged eye, the pokemon's body is lithe and squiggly: a diminutive dash of pink before draconic excellence.[break][break]

in this moment, the flamigo reminds noah of himself.[break][break]

the ring bell dings.[break][break]

"minnie, move in quick! cover your advance with AIR SLASH!" [break][break]

the bird ascends from the canvas with a feral caw. as it soars toward freya morningstar's SALAMENCE, it swings its neck to and fro like a pendulum-scythe to deliver scathing, potentially flinching blades of wind.

[attr="class","bottom"]freya morningstar [break]
FLAMIGO uses AIR SLASH on SALAMENCE while APPROACHING[break][break]

rather quickly, it is apparent that this will become a test of endurance for the centuries-old dragon. as well as a test of patience and, most importantly, control. his nostrils flare and smoke pours from them as the acid in his throat drips in anticipation, catching on embers. the onslaught comes quickly and he has no room to move out of the way.

"i could say the same for you," she says with a grin.

scythes of air beat down on his hardened scales and his claws flex, tail lashing. the iron bars clang, but do not bend. though typically unaffected by flyers, this one hits hard. 

the air finds its way into old, exposed wounds where his scales have ceased to regrow. lyune flinches, drawing his wings in as tightly as he can to his body; their leathery frames are most vulnerable to the attack.

"steady, lyune." when it comes in for its next attack, that is when they will strike.

noah faber

lyune flinches!

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"aw shucks." the banter freya reflects bubbles against noah's shy smile. [break][break]

noah watches the salamence draw its wings close. he's unfamiliar of what the dragon defends. which vulnerabilities lay behind its leathery cape. however, noah understands that the movement is purposeful and deliberate. [break][break]

this is no flinch-induced recoil.[break][break]

noah is trained in such ways too.[break][break]

"don't stop!" noah shouts, lifting a fist. "DOUBLE KICK. try to strike his head!"[break][break]

the flamigo swivels around with its long legs. one kick attempts to help the bird pokemon climb up lyune's wings, while the second kick seeks a landing on the dragon's skull.

[attr="class","bottom"]freya morningstar [break]
FLAMIGO attempts to use DOUBLE KICK - first kick to lift bird up to be in kicking distance of salamence's head for the second kick.[break][break]

the gale summoned by the pale pink bird is subdued and still lyune lies in wait. his trainer looks hungrily upon the field, her human adversary completely forgotten as the bird flies upward and into lyune's blind spot. freya's tongue presses to her teeth. lyune's forks from his mouth. 

and as the second kick comes down, freya's sharp hiss makes lyune's pupils narrow. tensed muscles, coiled like an elastic band, snap all at once and his serpentine neck twists. an array of jagged teeth flash, cheek fins expanding. 

the low whistle in the air is abruptly cut off as fire catches in the dragon's throat, billowing past his open maw.

noah faber

lyune is hit at least once by double kick
lyune uses flamethrower

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at the flash of fangs, the flamigo's neck lunges in reverse. but the flames come quickly, a wreath of scarlet heat wrapping around the bird's body.[break][break]

feathers burn. the flamigo's unnerving yellow-ringed gaze cringes with pain.[break][break]

"chop the neck!" noah shouts.[break][break]

the bird flips backward, wings flapping once to keep it in the air. its head swings toward salamence's neck like a pendulum blade for a THROAT CHOP.[break][break]

hopefully, it would stifle the flames enough for the flamigo to retreat. but the flamigo's on its last leg.[break][break]

it cringes again, this time with a BURN.

[attr="class","bottom"]freya morningstar [break]
FLAMIGO HIT + BURNED / VERY HURT / THROAT CHOPS SALAMENCE[break][break]

he's done well this far out of his depth. freya loses focus on noah entirely, too enraptured watching her companion's wings ripple in frustration. her own shoulder blades tense; if she would allow it, he would burst through the bars and take to the air. 

as it stands, he bites around the embers in his mouth, spitting as the flamigo moves to deliver a devastating blow to his thick neck. freya tongues an order in a language of their own and brilliant shimmering scales coalesce from his belly armor, crawling desperately up the side of his neck. 

the last ditch protect rewards him with a cushion to the blow, but still a shudder lances its way down his body. he stumbles to the side, hissing angrily.

"your bird packs quite the punch," she comments. smoke still plumes from its scorched feathers. 

noah faber

lyune uses protect (somewhat successful)
is bad off

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"yeah, there's gotta be something in paldean water. she's nutso." noah says of the flamigo.[break][break]

however, before the bird can act again, a twinge of fire wreathes its pink plumage. the BURN takes it down to the canvas with a thud. still, before it loses consciousness, the flamigo's yellow eye twitches as it defies forced rest.[break][break]

the bird is recalled.[break][break]

"happy to see you represent hoenn's dragons with your friend there."[break][break]

noah says with a grin. he tosses his pokeball and an annihilape emerges from the cracked capsule. it lands on the ring with a heavy crash.[break][break]

"guess you're repping hoenn in a way!" the gym leader shouts his command immediately after: "move in quick! use THUNDERBOLT!"[break][break]

the ape surges forth, chains rattling from one of its wrists as a bolt of electricity cackles from the cuff.

[attr="class","bottom"]freya morningstar [break]
FLAMIGO FAINTS / ANNIHILAPE SENT OUT & USES THUNDERBOLT[break][break]

it makes her wonder just how much potential her baxcalibur has. now, though, is not the time or the place to contemplate these things - lyune is bad off. flakes of translucent scales fall as the rest of his hastily built protect sheds off of him. 

what the hell is that thing? 

she's slow to call and her hesitation is what costs her and lyune both. the primeape bounds forward and the hair on freya's arm rises as electricity sparks. lyune, likewise anticipating another close quarters punch, misses his snarling bite by a mile.

she grimaces. you're repping hoenn in a way!

the thunderbolt sizzles as it connects with his bared shoulder blades, crackling as it hits the metal supports on his wing. he bellows in pain, thumping that wing agitatedly into the ground.

freya does not let the attack finish scorching its way down his body. he's recalled in a sudden flash of red light. in his place is fafnir. in the time it takes for them to swap, she looks the creature over desperately for any sign of its typing.

all she knows is she can't give it space to move like that again. 

"move in, faf. fire punch!"

noah faber

lyune is recalled as he faints
fafnir sent in
fafnir uses fire punch
freya goes HUH at monke

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noah can not discern her grimace through the cufflinks. the bolt and wing. not that it would matter; should he have seen her wince, he would have landed on some other assumption.[break][break]

"take the hit, leonard!" [break][break]

the annihilape huffs and receives the punch head on. a hard thwack forces the ape staggering back. from the dragonite's fist, a wreath of flames flares on its tough fur.[break][break]

"good!" noah says, his smile teetering the rope between masochistic and mischievous. "RAGE FIST!"[break][break]

anger pumps in its veins. makes the blood heavy. the annihilape charges forth with brutish speed. with a crazed face, it leaps onto the ring's chain-link wall, using it as a rattling launch pad before diving toward the dragon with a raised, dense fist.

[attr="class","bottom"]freya morningstar [break]
ANNIHILAPE PUNCHED / RAGE FIST ON DRAGONITE ATTEMPTED[break][break]

the ape is quick and spry. she's little doubt it could duck under fafnir's lumbering steps in comparison. but instead noah calls for it to take the hit. fafnir's flame-wreathed fist connects with leonard. tendrils of its fur flutter up, tinged with fire, and her follow-up call shifts drastically when she realizes its wan complexion is reminiscent of a dragapult. 

in such close quarters, fafnir would have seen backlash, but the hyper beam she'd about to cry from her lips is swallowed back down.

now the tables must turn. fafnir stands stolidly, fists still raised, wings half-flared and awaiting orders. the monkey rattles the cage and freya licks her lips.

whose rage is more devastating?

"show it fury." purple light sizzles up fafnir's spine, spilling out underneath his scales. his draconic core plumes. a primal hunger explodes from him as they come together in a tangle of catastrophic rage. he swings, blow after blow, and freya knows only one of them will walk away from this when it's all said and done.

noah faber

fafnir is hit
fafnir uses outrage

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noah's whole body leans forth. he craves to see how the dragonite and its trainer will respond. with nowhere to hide, with no distance to salvage, one must stand their ground.[break][break]

that is how noah feels, after all. feels on hoenn. after having been displaced for so long, the gym leader refuses to pull the tiniest roots he has set in this region's soil.[break][break]

the gym leader calls upon his annihilape to meet the challenge. draconic fists meet haunting haymakers. the barrage almost feels as if it'll meet no end.[break][break]

but eventually, the annihilape falls: caught by the dragon's relentless rampage after a risky PHANTOM FORCE.[break][break]

noah recalls his annihilape. he presses the warm pokeball against his cheek, a proud smile gracing his sweaty face before he pockets it.[break][break]

he leaves his podium and saunters over to freya. in his hand, the knockout badge catches stagelight beams.[break][break]

"hoo! you showed me what's up." noah rolls his arms. cracks his neck. "and you showed me exactly what i wanted to see for the knockout badge. your dragonite and salamence were some of the fiercest dragons i've ever seen."

as he reaches for a water bottle, he says:[break][break]

hoenn's lucky to have them."

[attr="class","bottom"]freya morningstar [break]
ANNIHILAPE FAINTS[break][break]