The Lesson of Type Advantages

Cuddles had curled up in a ball, and Nikola was lazily sitting on her Pokemon like it was some kind of terrifying bean bag chair. She appeared to be in a disheartened mood, much unlike her usual happy self. Her Pokemon ran rampant among the grounds, chopping and blowing things into oblivion.

You could have blamed it on the blazing heat being caused by the burning planks of wood that Mossy had caught on fire with her newly learned Heat Wave attack, but in all honesty she was simply still a bit sour over losing to Shiloh.

The only people she ever lost to were her parents, but then again no one ever won against her parents. Nikola kept forgetting that the island hosted the best trainers around. She hadn't thought she'd be such a poor sport about it, but the feeling of defeat was just so foreign to her...

She probably inherited it from her mother, on that thought. Even though she appeared to be the polar opposite of Tesla when she was her age, they probably had more things in common then what would appear at first glance.

In the meantime, Mrs. Poppins the Pinsir appeared to be terrorizing some girl.

The young woman's steps were slow and steady as she traveled quietly to the training ground, her face buried in a book and one of her pokemon scuttling quietly behind her. "The mushroom on Parasect's back is known for giving off a variety of different spores. Some are chemically well known, able to poison or paralyze it's victims." The adjusted her glasses and peered in closer to read the words, not looking ahead of where she had been going and near crashing into a tree, but able to swerve away at the last moment. This didn't throw her off her tempo, though. "There are many different chemicals that this pokemon can give off, many not discovered. Researchers have recently proved medicinal strength behind some of these chemicals, confirming the value of certain remedies used by the Chinese for many years..."

Marie paused from her walk finally, reaching one of the fields. She looked down at her own little parasect, giving him a curious look. "Medicine, huh? I didn't know you could do that." The pokemon didn't seem to give much of a response, seemingly staring at something ahead, but she didn't mind. She closed her book and let out a determined smile, "We'll just have to form some experiments later, won't we~?"

It was kinda hard to explain what went down in those next few seconds. It was nice, with her pokemon and her little pose and everything, totally worth the Kodak moment. Though, a pinsir came flying in out of nowhere, getting in Marie's face and buzzing a tad too close for comfort. All Marie's parasect did was let out a threatening 'hiss' like sound as the girl freaked out, dropping her library book and trying to bat the stranger away from her. What the fawwkkk? ;A;

The Pinsir just got closer, clicking its two pincers on its head together and its strange sideways mouth making a buzzing sound. It lowered its head at both Marie and the Parasect as if it was a Tauros ready to run down the idiot who waved the big red flag around.

Nikola looked up for just a second to see Mrs. Poppins preparing her signature wrestling move that had resulted in the tearing of many a teddy bear in her youth, the Tear-This-Hoe-In-Half.

She didn't call it that of course. Nikola swearing, even mentally, would be an out of place thing to any of the people who knew her or any strange mind-readers who could somehow hear swearing in her thoughts.

It has been recorded in the Pokedex, after many casualties in the name of Pokemon research, that a Pinsir is able to shatter logs and pick up things twice it's own size with its horns.

And if for whatever reason Pinsir cannot tear its foe in half, it will use its antlers to swing them around and toss them against the hardest thing in a five mile radius. For these reasons, Pinsirs are generally treated with respect by their trainers in fear of their loyal Pokemon nicely relieving the trainer of their bottom half.

Nikola on the other hand, was rich and absolutely insane enough to live this long with such a Pokemon.

While Mrs. Poppins might have been a threat at that moment, it just so happens that Pinsirs are unable to stand the cold since they live in jungles, presumably living this long by X-Scissoring researchers trying to record their hunting techniques. It's also very difficult to get a Pinsir in the first place, being only available to the general poor public through the Safari Zone or by somehow gambling enough to buy one at a Game Corner, so there weren't many who are in a situation where they'd know what to do against a Pinsir.

As a precaution against getting sued, Tesla and Pierce had invested in the lovely product Blizzard-In-A-Can. It was mainly advertised to people as a kind of overpowered Pepper Spray being the rarity of the Bug Pokemon, but it fit the niche nicely.

Nikola awkwardly ran over in her blue and white striped sweater and shorts, spraying like crazy.

Mrs. Poppins, before she could give Marie a drastic height reduction, froze in the spot when Nikola finally reached her. She was panting a bit, and the commotion had even stopped the total destruction of the Training Grounds long enough for Nikola's Pokemon to start going after their master at a rather alarming pace.

Cuddles the Scolipede led the way, Scolipedes being naturally fast to catch their prey.

"SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" it screeched, acidic purple liquid flying from its two horns and fangs as it began to bear down on the two trainers.

To anyone who wasn't Nikola it would have looked like the five non-Blizzarded Pokemon were looking for some easy prey.

The moment she had finally gotten a clear head was probably the worst time of all to really look up, or the best, depending on whether or not looking would save her arse or not. Honestly, what had poor Marie done? She had just been on her merry way and was completely clueless as to why this thing insisted on challenging her.

Clearly a bit nerved, the grass-type trainer stared the bug down, her amber eyes flickering uncertainly. Surely, wild pokemon like this didn't float around on the island. Where was it's trainer? Surely close by? No one here could be so irresponsible to let such a poorly trained pokemon run around trying to snap people into two ... right? ;A;

... Maybe not. She wasn't fond of taking the chance. With wide eyes, the girl took several nervous steps backwards. "P- Parasect, use protect!" The pokemon obeyed, immediately scuttling before it's owner and letting out a large screeching sound. Not a moment later, a large, flimsy-appearing shield appeared around the two of them; radiating a strange green glow, barely able to be seen through for the first few moments.

Marie bent over and picked up her book, gritting her teeth. Alright then. If it was a battle that this thing wanted, then a battle is what it would get. She stared down the pinsir, the fear and uncertainty in her gaze now replaced with recollected composure and determination. 'Go ahead and make the first move.' she silently dared.

Thankfully, though, it wouldn't have to come to that exactly at this moment as the woman who seemed to be it's trainer sprinted over and sprayed it down, leaving the entire thing fallen and frozen. You know that great and wonderful composure that she had had a few moment before? Oh, yeah. Totally gone, now. Completely out the window.

She could only stare dumb-foundedly, wondering where the mini-blizzard had come from and who this chick was. And, much more evidently, the horrifying raid of gigantic bug pokemon who had come storming after.

The young woman let out a terrified little shriek, falling back unto the ground and dropping her book again, seemingly forgetting that she was behind her parasect's protect shield. The purple liquid that had squirted out had slid harmlessly off the sides of the bubble.

"I - I - uh... welluhhh..." Marie stuttered, for a few good moments, at a total loss of words. She shook her head again, frowning and trying to put on a strong appearance, but was innerly freaking out, she glared the other trainer down. "Look, I don't know what I did, I'm sorry! But - Could you p- please call off your pokemon?! I- I don't really want to get eaten today..." Her voice trailed off to a low mutter.

Nikola looked surprised for a couple moments at the odd behavior, but she regained that signature smile once again. "Oh, I'm really sorry!" she apologized, a big smile on her face. A big oblivious smile. Her expression and tone made it seem like she was apologizing for splashing a bit of her drink on Marie's shirt instead of apologizing for nearly murdering the poor girl.

She seemed quite confused at Marie's suggestion as Nikola's team came to a stop behind her. The Bug trainer tapped twice on her upper leg lightly and everyone except for Cuddles suddenly were consumed by a red light and returned to her rather pockets of her rather short shorts for the season. She had wanted a trainer belt for practicality instead of having three Pokeballs bulging out of each pocket, but she feared that she'd look like an ordinary adventurer who probably didn't have much money.

"Mrs. Poppins is really friendly, I'm sure she's just in a bad mood today. She always gets like this when..." Nikola tried to think of when Mrs. Poppins was in a bad mood, but to think of that she had to remember a time when Mrs. Poppins was ever in a good mood when around other people. She decided not to continue the thought and instead put her hand out. "My name's Nikola! And this is Cuddles!" she exclaimed, introducing herself.

"SKREEEEEEE!" Cuddles also exclaimed.

Nikola had noticed the Parasect among all this and gave a small squee but said nothing afterwards. After all, Bugs were her specialty and the Parasect was one of the cutest things she had laid eyes on, second to Cuddles of course. And by cute, it was absolutely atrocious looking with its dead beady eyes and Kingler-like body, the mushroom being the crown jewel of ugliness. It was just something that happened to appeal to Nikola. While she absolutely adored the Parasect, she could never see herself replacing someone on her team for one.

It has been confirmed by researchers who survived long enough from their time studying such terrible creatures as Pinsir that the mushroom on a Parasect's back is a parasite that sucks energy from the bug host. It does all the thinking and forces the Parasect to live in damp places for the comfort of the mushroom and not the Bug. If Nikola had known this, she might have broken down crying. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, most of her Pokemon knowledge had been whitewashed by private tutors over her lifetime.

"Uh..." Marie honestly hadn't the slightest clue of how to respond to that, this girl rushing over after that thing had tried to kill her - how could she look so incredibly happy... carefree... Was she insane? The young woman straightened her glasses and, once again, picked up her book, this time stuffing it into the bag that hung on her side, strapped around her shoulder. She got back up on her feet and brushed the dirt off.

When she looked back up, she was clearly relieved to see that most of the team had been withdrawn. Mrs. Poppins? Was that supposed to be some sort of joke? "Ah, it's alright, I guess..." She muttered quietly, brushing her hair with her fingers absent-mindedly.

At first, there was a bit of an awkward silence as she stared Miss Nikola's hand down through the protect shield before letting out a small sigh. Trusting the threat of manslaughter had passed, for now at least, the trainer bent down and patted the top of her pokemon's mushroom gently. The protect fell and she cautiously stepped forward, meeting Nikola's hand and shaking it gently. "M - Marie... My name is Marie, I mean..." The young woman rambled on.

It didn't take long for her gaze to travel upwards at - er - Cuddles. At first, she looked a bit fearful. After all, this was a pokemon known for it's serious aggression - known for it's relentlessness and harsh tactics. Still, Marie couldn't help but be a bit curious and caught in fascination. "A scolipede." She muttered, repeating all the knowledge she had of it out of her head as she studied the creature. "Native to the Unova region. Surprisingly fast for it's size, it attacks with the poisonous horns on it's head." The young trainer pushed up her glasses and stepped away from her pokemon and did a curious little dance around Nikola and Cuddles, wanting to see the towering bug-type from all angles. "It also represents Scorpio in the Unovian culture. This is really amazing!"

She wasn't sure what to make of the pokemon, exactly. All of her own were either from Kanto, Jhoto, or Hoenn. The two newest frontiers still remained a slight mystery to her.

Her eyes flickered back to her own pokemon as Nikola noticed him. Hum. Maybe she should explain the whole parasite-host relation to the girl, then again, obviously this girl was a bug trainer. She probably already knew. Marie found it simply facinating... and a bit depressing. When she had first caught the pokemon, it had been a cheerful and lively Paras. The mushroom on it's back hadn't bothered it too much, and they could easily be taken off too, if it ever came to that - but ever since parasect evolved it's been rather quiet ever since. Not so lively, almost like in a constant trance. It broke out of it sometimes, but...

Oh - that reminded her! Marie reached out of her bag and pulled out a spray bottle filled with water, giving the pokemon a few squirts. Parasect seemed rather relieved.

Her interest sparked back to Nikola and Cuddles, though, and a bit of determination came sparking back. "I bet this is rather strange to ask, since we first met and all, but do you think that perhaps we could have a - well, if you're not too busy, I mean..." A battle, really? Well, the best way to study a pokemon was to see it at it's peak with your own eyes, in her firm belief. She'd never outright demand one, though, that'd be just rude... (One reason she didn't particularly like her journey when she had first started it, all those people hiding out in the bushes ready to start screaming at you if you so much as crossed their path.)

"A battle?" Nikola finished for Marie, her smile getting impossibly large. "Of course! I'd love to!" Nikola turned back to the Training Grounds to see them smoldering with Volcarona's fire, rocks and sheets of metal smashed into oblivion by Pinsir and Heracross, the normal lines for a traditional battle all destroyed by Armaldo's rampaging.

It was a lovely sight.

But there was one field that wasn't destroyed, and that was the field where Nikola had been supervising. Well, supervising was an overstatement. She'd just been resting there and her Pokemon decided to destroy everything else.

"Come on!" Nikola said, already running towards the field. Cuddles scuttled easily next to her, taking its place on the field as Nikola took hers.

Marie, once again, looked slightly unnerved as Nikola stepped to the side, revealing the half-shattered training field. "O- Oh, my..." Ahaha. Look at all those rocks and fire~ And lovely metal. A grass-type trainer's favorite sight! And all those plant eating bugs to go along with it? Ahah...

... Fuck.

Oh, well. Suck it up, Marie, this was your idea. The young woman took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, taking a small pokeball out of her bag and putting her Parasect back in. She had the feeling that staying out of it much longer would make the poor thing uncomfortable.

Marie took more of her time heading to her own little box on the opposite end, eying cuddles and reaching into her side bag. "How many pokemon are we using?" She called and asked, "I have six!" She pulled out one pokeball of her choice, holding it close to her chest, feeling the sparks of anticipation.