[u][b]Estelle[/b][/u]
Brittanium City

You stick around for just a little while to listen to the commencement ceremony before heading out with a skip in your step. What's there to say other than that you're excited for this? The dazzling performances and battles you've been watching online for the past week straight have been all you've been able to think about. It's gotten to the point where you're kept awake at night imagining ways you and your pokemon could do the same, about their abilities, typing, moves, everything. After all, the key to a perfect performance is in not cutting corners!

Still, no matter how grand your goals, the reality of the situation is that you're still a novice trainer. You want to dive right in to training for the performances you dream of, but even if your pokemon had the tools to learn them now, you fear you won't even have the experience to direct them. Battles are performances and performances in the pokemon world are competitive rather than strictly cooperative. You can't rely on your opponent to give you the opportunity to shine, and you've never actually battled to begin with.

You're not sure where you should even start, so you end up doing a little bit of sight-seeing to get your bearings, grabbing a few maps along the way, before finally winding up at the park in the center of Britannium City. It's not as if this was the first place you intended to go, but it's the first place to catch your eye with the excitement of pokemon battles all around. You make your way to the most interesting one you see and watch the back-and-forth of it from the sidelines.

Immediately, the differences in experience between you, the trainers before you, and the professional trainers in videos online are readily apparent. You can at least say you recognize the obvious areas in which these trainers are less experienced than gym leaders or champions, but they also exhibit an adaptability to the flow of battle that you find yourself struggling to keep up with. A lot of the professional trainer videos involve overwhelming their opponent with devastating efficiency, but in a more evenly-matched battle, there's a ton of back-and-forth. You start to put yourself in their shoes, imagining your own responses and options, when a young voice calls to you out of the blue.

"Hey lady, you like pokemon battles?"

You turn to find a young boy holding a pokeball, also watching the battle before you. "Why, yes, I've taken quite an interest in them." Without thinking, you take out one of your own pokeballs, thinking about finding someone to challenge in this park.

The boy saves you the trouble. "You're a pokemon trainer, right? Then you have to battle me!"

You only have time to give him one confused look before he backs away to a more open position and sends out his Rattata. It would appear that Youngster Mikey has challenged you to a battle! You can't help but admire his enthusiasm, so you oblige, turning away from the battle you were just watching to have one of your own.

[hider=Estelle vs. Youngster Mikey]
"Go! Xi-on!" You send out your Ponyta, who makes a dazzling entrance, letting out an adorable cry as colors stream through its mane.

"Rattata! Tackle!"

He wastes no time coming at you. Xi-on has one defensive option you can try, so without any alternatives, you call out to it, a little unsure of yourself. "Quick! Agility!" Ponyta understands your intention and avoids Rattata's attack, quickly confounding it with movements so fast that it's difficult to track. When you realize that Rattata and your opponent are also having trouble keeping up, you snap out of it your hesitation. Moments like these can decide battles, after all. "Xi-on, Fairy Wind!" She obliges, coming to a quick stop behind Rattata and unleashing a sparkle-filled gale, buffeting Rattata and locking it down. Wanting to keep the pressure up, you come up with an idea, and immediately try to put it into action. "Now, Xi-on! Use Confusion on the Fairy Dust!" She understands immediately. Her horn lights up, and all the sparkling particles that come with Fairy Dust freeze in the air around Rattata before being launched at it, striking it mercilessly from all directions.

"Rattata!" The youngster cries out, but it's clear at this point he's flustered. He eventually gives the command for another Tackle, but by then it's too late, and Rattata is knocked out. He quickly withdraws Rattata, and stares at the pokeball for a moment before reaching for another one. You didn't expect your first battle to be this one-sided, and it's kind of making you feel bad.

"Nicely done! Return, Xi-on!" You withdraw your Pokemon as well, hoping to give your other pokemon some time in the spotlight. You've already explained your intentions to them before arriving here, and it'd be a shame to leave some of them out of the action. "Go, Sepher!" You send out your Froakie, who quickly assumes a fighting stance with three limbs on the ground.

You took your eyes off of Youngster Mikey, so you're not sure if he's still sore about his Rattata, but he's smiling and looks pumped-up all the same now, so you brush off your reservations. He throws his next pokeball, "go get 'em, Pidgey!" 

Last time, he took the initiative, but you're determined to take it this time. "Sepher, Quick Attack!" Sepher obliges, taking off quickly and landing a solid blow on Pidgey, sending it reeling.

"Now Pidgey! Whirlwind!" Pidgey seems to do a midair spin at that, rolling with the momentum of Sepher's Blow before sending a powerful gust straight into Sepher with a flap of its wing. Sepher is send flying, blown off the ground and only coming to a stop as it crashes into a nearby tree. Ouch.

"Are you okay Sepher?" He stumbles off the tree and nods, though it certainly looks worse for wear. "Alright, then let's go for a water pulse!" Sepher runs back towards the original battling area before firing off rings of water.

Seeing it coming from a mile away, Youngster Mikey is quick to react. "Counter with Whirlwind!" Pidgey begins to blow away the rings of water, returning them directly to their sender

You see this as an opportunity. "Quick, Sepher! Go through them with Quick Attack!" Sepher looks back at you for a moment before attempting to literally jump through hoops. In your head, Sepher would deftly avoid the rings of water and attack Pidgey directly. What actually happens is Sepher goes through one of them, gets hit with the others, and then gets knocked back down by an impromptu Wing Attack from Pidgey.

Yikes.

"Sepher! Are you alright?" He stands up, and makes an irritated noise. Irritated because you asked too much of him? Irritated with himself? These questions would have to wait however, since Youngster Mikey is pressing the attack.

"Pidgey! Finish it with Quick Attack!" The Pidgey lets out a battle cry of sorts, coming at Sepher at high speed. You then remember Sepher's ability and come up with the perfect idea.

"Sepher! Use Lick!" Sepher looks back at you with another confused look. It tilts its head and then sticks out its tongue. You see its skin go translucent for a moment before it turns back to Pidgey. "Get ready to use Water Pulse!"

Pidgey comes and soars right through Froakie, as you expected. What you did not expect however is for Sepher to turn around, chase Pidgey down and then attempt to lick it. Needless to say, it was not very effective. "Pidgey! Wing Attack!" Pidgey slaps Sepher across the face, knocking it out. Hrmmm. That went a lot more poorly than when you were using Xi-on. You might have taken for granted how easily Xi-on understood your commands, but you'll have to ruminate on that later.

Youngster Mikey, meanwhile, is basking in his temporary victory. "How do you like my super cool Pidgey? My Pidgey is different from regular Pidgey. It's like my Pidgey is in the top percentage of all Pidgeys."

Although you can't help but feel slightly bitter at having your failure rubbed in by a schoolkid, you do your best to congratulate him all the same. "Well done, it certainly is a strong Pidgey. Although..."

You bring out the pokeball of your last Pokemon and give it a good toss, sending out Demetori, the Charmander. "Pride is a common tragic flaw for heroes. This isn't over yet!"

"Pidgey! Quick Attack!" Pidgey is quick to assault Demetori, landing a solid blow with its quick movements. Still, you aren't about to let it get away with that so easily, and you hope Demetori feels the same. "Ground 'em with Slash!" Demetori quickly takes a step toward Pidgey before it gets away and nails it with its claws, knocking Pidgey to the ground. "Follow up with Fire Fang!" Demetori roars adorably and pounces on the Pidgey, its mouth wreathed in flames. It takes a gnarly chomp into Pidgey, which prompts Pidgey to writhe and cry out helplessly under it. Pidgey puts up an admirable fight, truly belonging in the top percentage of Pidgey, but Demetori brutally pins it until it is unable to continue. It then dismounts Pidgey and lets out a celebratory roar before returning to you. You crouch down to pet him on the head. Its maintains a flawless poker face. "You did well. I'll get you a Poke Puff later, okay?" Demetori nods. He should really smile more. You return him to his pokeball and go back to thank Youngster Mikey for the battle.
[/hider]
Thankfully, he's a good sport, but he is pretty shocked by his loss. "Man, that's strange. I've beaten everyone else I've challenged."

"Have you fought many trainers?"

"No, but I always win against my friend!"

Hmm. "Well, still, thank you for the battle. It was a great experience."

"Oh sure, anytime! Oh, there he is now!" The youngster runs off towards another young boy who seems to have just arrived at the park. Cute kids. A decent warm-up. Still, you're not quite comfortable with battling yet. In any case, first thing's first, you head to the nearest pokecenter to heal up Sepher. Money is no object to you, but you figure you should take advantage of the pokecenter services anyway, considering they're so close by. As you get your pokemon back from Nurse Joy, you send them out in the lobby and offer them each a pokepuff to celebrate your first battle.

...Turns out you were wrong about Sepher. Although your intentions didn't get through to him like they did with Xi-on, he wasn't annoyed because of your orders, but because you kept asking him if he was okay or not while he was busy with battling. He has a point there, you guess. Truly, a learning experience.