[15] Zhorken vs Meursault (ref: pathos)

Pumpkaboo and amaura twitter tiny greetings at each other, hopeful to make this a quick and friendly battle - their first, after all, and they know each other as well as their new trainers. This entire thing is new to them, but it should all go well, right?

Eager to make sure of it, amaura closes his eyes for a moment, gathering up the energy for a thin green veil. When he opens them, the shield is there, barely visible reflecting in the bright sunlight. He smiles gently with a bit of pride …

… and WHAM - something strikes him on the side, bowls him over in his shock. He struggles quickly back to his feet; green energy is sliding off of him where it hit, and a tiny sore - a bruise - remains. He nibbles at his hide, trying to cover the wound somehow. Across from him, pumpkaboo grins madly. This battling thing is fun!

Fully amped, pumpkaboo bounces up and forwards, not the best mover around… It takes him a while to get any speed up, but eventually he’s bouncing with some gusto, enough for a small blur of green and orange to flicker behind him. The blur splits as he keeps bouncing, forming into identical twin pumpkaboos, and as he finally halts, there are now three of them, chittering at each other eagerly.

Amaura takes little notice. He’s still hoping to keep his guard up, especailly after that attack; maybe this’ll help prevent any more like that. Closing his eyes again, he draws up another shield, this one a gentle blue, a bit more solid than the last. He opens his eyes again, more confident than before, with two screens to protect him.

Now he finally eyes the clones pumpkaboo made, and reflects on his trainers commands. A bit more protection… alright… He looks about, drawing out the wind, the dirt, little bits of pavement and grit and gravel - anything, everything gets tugged up, pulled into the sky as the air shrieks to life. Though there’s little actual dirt or sand, there seems to be much of everything else - blades of grass, water, food pulled from children’s hands, balloons, all flying through the air at tumultuous speeds, whipping into the pokemon and people alike.

Pumpkaboo’s clones last only seconds before being struck by something - a passing snowcone, someone’s lost shoe - and though pumpkaboo seems a bit forlorn at their loss, he squints his eyes and looks skyward for some remorse. Mumbling something under his breath, he begs, prays - and the wind answers, slowing down, soon stopping entirely; the clouds part and a ray of sun shines down on him. Soon the single beam is joined by others, the clouds spreading and dispersing entirely to reveal the sun in all its harshness - strong, beating, overwhelming in its heat. Amaura begins to sweat beads of perspiration; why’d the wind have to go so soon…​

Bouncing eagerly in place, a bright shimmer begins to spread around Posadas, and quite suddenly the pumpkin bursts into flames. As if it were no big deal, Posadas pushes himself towards amaura, speeding up his bouncing as the flame around him grows, hotter and hotter with his increasing speed - and he slams sideways into amaura, the flames fading into the dinosaurs rocky side. Amaura snorts and stomps with frustration; not heavily injured, but definitely displeased.

A fading glitter is all that signals his screens disappearance while he turns his focus elsewhere - all his concentration, in fact, forming onto a tiny crystal orb, growing and growing before his open mouth. It grows so large he can’t contain it any longer, and explodes outwards towards the nearby Posadas, a concussion of light and ice that shocks the pumpkin sideways and several feet back on the pavement - so much brute force, it actually takes a while before the pumpkaboo can get his feet back under him, his eyes watering from pain. Amaura is panting from the effort, but a small grin spreads across his face - that was nice.

Still tired, he lifts his head up and brings with it another shield, this one clearly visible as a blue barrier around him. Posada rolls his eyes at the cowardice and sits down; might as well make use of the time he's got. He coughs a bit, hacking up some phlegm and bits of leaves he had stored in his stomach for just such a use, and piles it up, shaping it into something unrecognizable. Some more spit, bits of seeds and more leaves, and more shaping and patting, and it grows into something a bit more obvious - a tiny, misshapen pumpkaboo. Satisfied, Posada smacks the miniature, and it jumps to life, twitching beside its maker, ready to protect it from any harm.

Posadas grins, now that the protect is gone - the field is wide open! His cheeks blow up, like a hamster that’s stuffed its pouches full, then slaps them with his tiny hands, and a torrent of tiny bulletshots shoot outwards towards amaura’s thick hide. Though tiny, each one hits hard, and amaura yelps whenever one hits, trying to dance his heavy hooves to dodge them - but Posada’s accuracy is spot on. More hit than miss, until his cheek pouches run out, and he gives them one last smack - nope. Emtpy. Amaura lowers his head and glares at the pumpkin with sullen fury. He has to encore that?

Uhg… He closes his eyes, and when he opens them, they’re all gob-smacked with amazement at what he’d just seen. How beautiful, such tiny green beads of passion Posadas manages to create, and all for him! Surely, he must make more - more seeds! More seeds for everyone to enjoy! Posadas blushes and tries to cover his face; oh, he can’t handle this flattery, it’s too much for him. He didn’t expect that at all! Oh, he has to please his crowd… more bullet seeds, yes, more bullet seeds! If they must have it, he’ll provide!​

Still eager to show off his bullet seeds, Posadas gathered up some more from his stomach and spit them all out towards amaura. The dinosaurs eyes widened and he tried to flee, but they were too fast, pinging hard against his rocky shell, each hit like a solid punch. The pumpkin’s accuracy was spot-on; all of the seedlings seemed to hit their target, too amaura’s dismay, one even smacking hard into his icy crystals and leaving a shattering crack. He cried out at that one - it hurt bad. But it was the last one, thankfully, and he panted with relief.

Hopeful to avoid any more, he picked up a bit of speed, running heavily around the plaza. His hooves smacked hard with each step, shaking the cement below him, until his speed rose enough that he was barely touching the ground, an icy white blur dashing circles around the pumpkaboo - and he skidded to a stop, four amaura standing behind him. Posadas blinked, a bit dismayed. Who does he target now?

Perhaps this is a challenge, a way to show his bullet seed abilities even further. Alright - he’s up to it! He gathered more seeds and spit them out wide, aiming at all the clones. Spread thin, the bullets ripped through their targets, who disappeared with each hit - one, two, three - until smack, one hit something solid. Amaura cried with shock, but it was just one. No more seeds followed suit. Looking around, amaura realized he’d let his focus slip, and his clones had all faded. He lowered his head a bit in shame.

Oh well - he’d just have to make up for it. He took a brave step forward, ice crystals forming on his hide, his neck, centering around his mouth - forming into a tiny orb, similar to the one he’d built before, but a bit smaller. This one was much easier to maintain control of, and he unleashed it in a few tiny beams, criss-crossing their way towards Posadas - but at the last second, his substitute jumped in the way. The beams encased the miniature completely, and as it fell to the pavement, it crumbled into a thousand tiny shards. Posadas yelped and bounced back - his baby! Oh, his poor baby…

He looked up at amaura now, wondering why, why?? Why did he do that! Hadn’t he liked the show? Didn’t he do good? Maybe he needed more… One last time, he thought, one more bullet seed, maybe? He spit the last of his seeds towards amaura, and the poor dinosaur cried under their assault; with no other choice, he grabbed and ate his oran berry for its tiny bit of relief. He felt its warmth wash over him as the seeds stopped coming, grateful to have that at least.

He rose to stare down Posadas again. He’d hold nothing back now. Mouth open, another orb grew before him, unleashing towards the pumpkin, who now had nothing to shield him. It struck true, ice forming across his side, pushing with overwhelming force - Posadas shrieked at the cold, the pain. He knew now it was all a trick; amaura didn’t appreciate him at all. When the ice was gone, he opened his eyes, full of betrayal, to stare at amaura; he’d never trust him again.​