Fennekin barked happily, delighted I had picked him and jumped up into my arms.
"Welcome to team Cosmo Fennekin!"
I greeted my new pokemon companion, scratching behind his ear lightly. I stood back up, with Fennekin still in my arms, and turned to Rage.
"I made a good choice didn't I?"
I asked, looking for her approval. Rage seemed both bored and disinterested, if not a bit disgusted at Fennekin, making me clutch my pokemon a bit more tightly in defensiveness.
"I can't say for sure, you're the one who chose Fennekin. I have a bit of bad blood with that particular pokemon. My starter was Chespin and my rival always loved proving that his pokemon could crush mine in battle." She explained her distaste and I nodded in understanding, of course she would hold a little resentment.
Rage turned her unsettling glare away from Fennekin, who seemed relieved, and focused on her Cyndaquil with a much softer look, murmuring something to him softly.
"Well let's see if you made the right choice right now, shall we?" She asked, lowering her Cyndaquil to the ground with a determined look.
"D-Do you mean a battle!?" I gasped at the older girl who waved a hand nonchalantly, looking slightly exasperated at having to explain her actions to me.
"Well," she started, looking from her Cyndaquil to me with a small smirk.
"Battles are the best way to learn, and you, darling, have a lot to learn, don't worry, it'll be over pretty quick." She stated and an immediate shot of determination rushed through me, I'll show her!
I pressed my fist to my heart at her smugness and let my Fennekin down, he also looked to be revved up, ready for this battle.
"A-Alright then! Let's go Fennekin!" I ordered and the battle started with my shout of: "Go on and use Scratch!"
Fennekin rushed at Rage's Cyndaquil but both the older girl and her Cyndaquil seemed perfectly calm.
"Cyndaquil, use smokescreen and dodge, then retaliate with a tackle."
She told him, not shouting or raising her controlled voice over her normal speaking level. Cyndaquil puffed his little cheeks out and huffed and immediately his side of the battle was enshrouded with a thick black smoke, leaving Fennekin unable to see his target.
The fox pokémon skidded to a halt in the dark smoke to avoid injuring himself and then, out of nowhere, Cyndaquil dived out from the quickly dissipating smoke, landing a tackle and sending Fennekin reeling back to our side of the battle area. Rage seemed smug, her Cyndaquil still focused.
"Right, now go for another tackle!" She commanded, gazing at me with her unsettling red eyes. Cyndaquil came charging to our side of the 'field' and I was almost helpless.
"Quick, Fennekin get out the way!" I called but it was too late, her Cyndaquil smashed into Fennekin and hopped back.
"Great! Now ember!" Was Rage's next command and a small burst of flame was the finishing move, tearing from her Cyndaquil, who's back even seemed to be ablaze. Fennekin fainted, falling to the ground with a little 'thud' and I quickly rushed to my pokemon.
"Fennekin! Fennekin! Are you alright?" I begged the downed Pokémon who was huffing little defeated breaths. Rage came over to us, her Cyndaquil munching on a poképuff on her shoulder, that must've been a reward. She grabbed a potion spray bottle out of her messenger bag and with one spray, Fennekin looked as good as new.
"There's no need to panic Cosmo, its quite clear you were going to lose from the start, my Cyndaquil has quite a lot of levels of experience over your Fennekin."
She explained, standing from her crouched position beside us and leaning on the wall of the bridge we battled beside.
"We could've won! Don't be so sure of yourself!"
I exclaimed while giving Fennekin a consoling pet to his head. Rage gave a disbelieving little scoff as she reached up to scratch her Cyndaquil under his snout.
"By the way, Rage?" I asked and she 'hmm'ed' a little to show me she was listening.
"Wasn't Cyndaquil on fire during the battle?" I asked and she seemed to remember something, scratching around in her bag quickly until she pulled out a pokédex and shoved it into my hands.
"Here, that should tell you all you need to know about every pokémon you come up against." She stated and I held it up to Cyndaquil.
