[FIN] "The Week"

[Blood_Goddess]

"F'yer pokemon see it, then attack it." Jerome told him, stopping and looking over at the two Ghost types. "Do ya know any f'there attacks?"

It seemed a little late to be asking that, as soon as he finished there was a harsh breeze down the hall, hitting everyone in it in the face.
warm and stifling, as a Lampent appeared from thin air, staring at the two Rockets and their pokemon.  

[insidiousEnigma]

"....Ah, not really." Zacharie admitted sheepishly. "Shuppet!" Jabari gave a sharp warning before a warm, unpleasant breeze blew his hair back from his face. Well...s**t. He hadn't thought to learn the different moves that Jabari could do and all he knew was, "...Knock off? That's one of Shuppets' attacks, right?" He asked the older man. He vaguely recalled reading it in a book after he'd found Jabari but...that had been a long time ago and he hadn't taken in too much outside of what the Shuppet would eat and their stereotypical behavior.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Jerome shrugged, showing that in all honesty he had no idea, though by the impression he was giving it didn't look like it matted too much anyway, at least not to him.
"Might wanna be somethin' ya look into. They give ya a Rocket dex yet?" He asked, pulling out the black device with a red R on the cover.

"But man ya know, jus' do whatever works, get those two in there and take it down." He suggested, Bro nodding in agreement.

"TAKE IT DOWN!" the Jirachi cheered

The Lampent gave a noise of indignant before charging forward toward the Shuppet.  

[insidiousEnigma]

"Ah! Oh, um....Jabari...dodge it!" Zacharie sputtered out, shoulders tense with nervousness and indecision. "Shuppet." Rolling his eyes, Jabari easily moved to the left to avoid being hit. "Now um...hit it?" The Shuppet gave him an incredulous look but pushed the Lampent so it wasn't heading in Zacharie's general anymore. "Essex um...." He looked down in bewilderment at the Gastly, who stared back at him with the same expression, before looking over to Jerome. "...I don't...know?" Jabari let out an irritated string of what was sure to be curses.

He complained, moving out of the way of the charging Lampent again. Essex wailed, moving to hide behind the teen.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Jerome held the Rocket Dex out to Zacharie to use, "Scan yer 'mon, an it'll show ya what moves he knows." Jerome told the Trainee, keeping half an eye on the back and forth the Shuppet was having with the wild pokemon.

The Gastly was the one that didn't seem to be doing very well, Jerome smirked lightly, knowing that one was going to be the challenge.  

[insidiousEnigma]

Zacharie took the offered Rocket Dex and quickly turned to scan Jabari, who was weaving and bobbing around the angry Lampent. "I was right, it is called Knock off!" The teen exclaimed excitedly, proud to have remembered. "It just slaps away the target's held item?" He looked up to look at their target in confusion. "...He's not holding anything." He puzzled over that for a moment, that certainly didn't seem like a particularly useful move. Was the Lampent supposed to be holding something? "Shuppet Shup!" Jabari startled him out of his thoughts with his angry shouting. "Ah, right!" He turned the Rocket Dex to the cowering Gastly next. "Essex...use Lick." He said slowly, blinking owlishly from behind his bangs. "Gast Gaaaaaaastly!" The was the whined response. "Essex, I said use Lick!" Zacharie said firmly. It wouldn't have worked on Jabari, but it seemed that it would work for Essex. Letting out a startled "Gastly!", Essex hurried over to where the Lampent was trying to get Jabari and promptly licked the back of its small body. "...Ew."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Oh man, this was definitely a first battle, from the pokemon who didn't quite know what they were doing, the ill confidence and the trainer scrambling to figure out how to organize everything.
Jerome hung back, letting him figure it out though, Zacharie seemed to be taking the initiative and jump right into it.

The Lampent didn't seem to like the attacks, or the fact that it was being ganged up on two to one at all.
narrowing its beady eyes it threw its arms out to the side, as a wall of shadow thrusted forward toward the two pokemon, Night Shade attack.  

[insidiousEnigma]

Essex, who had had his fair share of run ins with hostile pokemon seemed to brush off the attack while Jabari reeled back. The attack just served to further irritate the Shuppet. The Gastly sent out a Confuse Ray while Jabari released a Night Shade attack of his own. Zacharie stood not too far away, anxiously shifting his weight from one foot to another as his eyes scanned over the Rocket Dex Jerome had handed him. "Ghost fighting ghost...this is absolutely ridiculous." He muttered to himself, more worried for his pokemon than annoyed.  

[Blood_Goddess]

When the confuse ray hit the enemy it reeled back, wobbling back and forth in mid aid as it tried to stabilize itself and attack the other ghosts. That all seemed rather out of its capability at the time though as the pokemon when veering off, bouncing off the walls and floor, sent crashing back into the far wall when the night shade hit it, promptly bouncing face down into the ground.

Jerome glanced over at Zacharie "hn?" He grunted for clarification as to what he said.  

[insidiousEnigma]

Zacharie gave a worried exclamation as the Lampent went spiraling down the hallway. "Oh Lord, is it okay?!" He hadn't thought that his pokemon would hurt it that badly! "Shuppet Shup-pet Pet!" Jabari screeched, obviously upset that the teen was concerned about an enemy pokemon rather than his own. The purple haired teen ignored his angry pokemon though and instead turned to Jerome. "Will it be okay? It won't die, will it?" He asked worriedly, his gaze flicking back over to the injured pokemon lying face down on the ground.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Naw man, calm down." Jerome said, arching his eyebrow and nodding toward the Lampent who flopped onto the ground, its arms outspread and unmoving.
"S'a pokemon battle, they're stronger then ya think."

He made a gesture toward the Lampent as it started to pick itself up, and sink back into the ground.
"Never been 'n a battle before, huh."  

[insidiousEnigma]

The teen gave a sigh of relief as he watched the Lampent pick itself up and disappear through the floor. "...I'm glad it's alright." He certainly didn't want to seriously injure any pokemon, even if they did start it. "You never know...what if it had preexisting injuries and that fight had made them worse?" He argued, though he was already moving towards his own pokemon. One of which was complaining loudly about his trainer.

other pokemon. What the hell?!>

"You guys did really well." Zacharie praised the two ghost pokemon, a fond smile twitching at the corners of his lips. Essex was more than happy to receive his praise and showed so by floating in quick circles around the teen's head. Jabari, while he continued to grouse, was also rather pleased with himself and the praise he had gotten. "This was the first time Jabari and I have ever battled." He confirmed as he absently started patting down his pockets. "And if you don't mind...I'd like for it to be the last for today." While he had felt a pleasant shot of adrenaline at the encounter, he didn't think his nerves could handle another one. "We've been out for awhile...I should probably get a pokeball for Essex..."

As they left the old building behind, Zacharie couldn't help but feel a little bit proud of himself (and his pokemon of course). While it hadn't been very coordinated and he'd been panicking the entire time, he had essentially just won his first pokemon battle. The first of many, he knew. But he couldn't help but think, with a small, hidden smile, that with his friends close by...he was definitely on his way to becoming a better trainer.