[@Rune_Alchemist]

Infernape looked down at Ralia with a bit of surprise when the flower was pulled out, the fire monkey slowly reaching down to pick up the flower with two fingers. While the received had been confused rather than anything else, the gift had been accepted and Infernape was now staring down at it while Ralia ran off. It’s thought process went something in the direction of “well, suppose it’s alright”.

The Chimchars were very curious about the fairy Pokémon that came running to them, having spent most of their lives in this mountain and castle. They were totally up for playing, jumping about showing off how well they could scale buildings or just poke their new guest. Of course, with Teleport, Ralia could keep up with them even if they jumped up on the roofs of the castle buildings.

Anise held out her arm and accepted Ritz with a smirk, looking to her. [color=e04f4f]‘Good luck,’[/color] she’d remark before being thrown the jacket, which she looked a little perturbed by but folded it to hold under her other arm. [sub][sub][color=e04f4f]‘What am I, a caddy? Eh, for this time…’[/color][/sub][/sub]

Numerous things factored into the battle that followed. One being that Claire’s 5’7’’ matched against Pangoro’s 6’11’’, his 300 pounds versus hers probably less than half, the fact Pangoros are strong enough to send trucks flying, and that doesn’t even mention how this Pangoro became the king of a Fighting-type fortress while being weak to Fighting (somehow). Claire quickly got a sense of how powerful those punches were when they swirled by, and that was with him holding back as to not destroy her on the spot if he hit.

That said, she could still grab the beast! While Pangoro was huge, there were holds she could take, pins she could attempt, but the king here was an experienced wrestler that had seen a lot of battles in his own right and knew what moves to make to get out of the pins, and with that Claire had to get out of the way as to not end up countered by a being twice her size. Still, Pangoro enjoyed the tussle, a wide smile on the panda’s face as he maneuvered past Claire’s holds and swung to grab her in turn.

Around them, the Fighting-Pokémon and humans were watching intently and excitedly, many of the Pokémon and definitely Pangoro’s henchmen were shouting support to their king. So, Claire definitely had the majority of the audience against her…

[color=db845c]‘GO, CLAIRE! SHOW THEM WHAT WE HUMANS CAN DO! YOU CAN DO IT! I BELIEVE IN YOU!’[/color] … Maple was shouting her support from over there, positively bouncing on the spot and for some reason taking extreme passion in supporting the person her team was just fighting, her Pokémon catching on and the fire-types started howling and tooting for her support. Anise was more of the kind to stand there with focused eyes and silent support for right now, while Ellyn was looking on with a doubtful expression, taking the moment to apply a potion or two to her own Pokémon.

Eventually, however, Claire’s decidedly human stamina wouldn’t be able to keep up with Pangoro’s waves and counters, and after a particularly good pin on the panda that had the audience on edge, he managed to grab her and pin her down in a counter-attack she couldn’t see coming, and that was it. There was no getting out of Pangoro’s pin.

There was shouts of hurrays from Pokémon all around, a single ‘awww’ from Maple, and otherwise just respect for what had happened from the rest.

Pangoro grinned. The panda clearly had fun, and chuckled after Claire’s little admission of defeat. 

[color=9e9d9e]‘Goro!’[/color] he replied, before releasing her and standing up. He looked to one of the Panchams nearby, and nodded to him. [color=9e9d9e]‘Pangoro!’[/color]

The Pancham blinked a bit in surprise, but then saluted and darted forward to Claire. He held forth a small little rock, carved into a medallion with a decent-but-not-good engraving of this castle on it. On the back was the middle of a Pangoro paw-print, as much as could fit. It had been punched in.

[center][color=6ecff6][i]Claire obtained Castle Medal![/i][/color][/center]

There was some applause from and impressed-sounding shouts (though not as fierce as when Pangoro had won) from the Pokémon around, Lucario and Conkeldurr included. Maple totally joined in. 

[color=db845c]‘YOU WERE GREAT, CLAIRE! YOU SHOWED THEM! YOU ALMOST HAD IT!’[/color] … For some reason, Maple was crying over Claire’s loss over there, and her Pokémon joined in with sad-sounding howling and tooting.

The noise eventually quieted a bit, as Pangor looked out over the audience of Fighting-Pokémon and announced.

[color=9e9d9e]‘PAN! Pangoro, pan!’[/color] … Whatever that meant, the Pokémon in the crowd quickly went to action, starting to pick up their fainted companions and carrying them further along the castle street on the way upwards. They were now completely ignoring the humans around. Pangoro gave Claire one more smirk before himself starting to tread off, if Claire didn’t say something to stop him or otherwise, his henchmen Panchams dashing after.

Anise took the moment to approach Claire and help her to her feet if she hadn’t gotten up on her own.

[color=e04f4f]‘That was pretty good, considering what you were up against,’[/color] Anise said, handing back Claire’s jacket when she got up again. [color=e04f4f]‘Hector would be ecstatic. That medal is a symbol of respect in Mt. Strength. Pangoro seems to have liked you.’[/color]

[color=db845c]‘That was amazing! You’re wonderful, Claire! You make me wish I had spent more time improving my body…!’[/color] Maple was still crying happy tears. 

[color=507173]‘Maple, do look around before you relax,’[/color] Ellyn said to her companion, eyes fixed on two particular Pokémon around them. 

[color=db845c]‘Huh? Why?’[/color]

Yeah, while Pangoro had left and so did Conkeldurr and Breloom if Claire didn’t stop them, Lucario and Infernape was very much here and glaring at Maple and Ellyn. Ellyn looked just a little on the edge by this, but remained quiet. Maple smiled at them, though looked a little unsure. [color=db845c]‘Um, is this an indication of something? Hahaha…’[/color]

While Maple tries to consider her way out of that one, Anise is just going finish what she intended on saying.

[color=e04f4f]‘I brought you here because there are many different kinds of Fighting-Pokémon here that could potentially be convinced to join a trainer. They know one of the best ways to get really strong and become renown around the world is by being a champion for a trainer. I didn’t predict we’d be pulled into something like this, though,’[/color] Anise shared, looking around at the battle damage and all the Pokémon running about now that it was over. Conkeldurr and some Timburrs that appeared from upper floors were already bringing materials to repair, seems like that was their job.

Anyways. What would Claire do now?