Third battle Pt. 2

Smaug snorted again before they both focused on Arthur as he released their next opponent. A Nidoking appeared on the field and Smaug promptly snorted finding this opponent lacking compared to his last one not that she could blame him. Compared to Abomasnow, the Nidoking they were faced with was rather lackluster given its relatively small size telling them both that it had probably only recently evolved likely during the last month before the Conference. While probably powerful due to the hormones rushing through its body and the new power rushing through its body, Nidoking likely didn't have the skill needed to stand up with the opponents it'd be facing, but they'd still need to be carefully. Arthur spoke, "You may have taken down Abomasnow, but Nidoking won't be such an easy opponent to face."

"Smaug, be careful with this one," Vali warned as something about this battle seemed off and she offered Smaug a looked when he turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow, "I'm serious, Smaug. Think about this carefully, we're in the third round of the Prelims. One doesn't get here by being careless and Arthur just sent out what looks like a semi-newly evolved Nidoking. I'm not planning on sending out Idril at all even if I had an awesome plan during the third round of such an important competition unless something was going on," They both looked at the fidgeting Nidoking and Smaug's eyes narrowed, "Keep your distance no matter what, I want you to pound it with every long distance attack possible. Keep an eye out for whatever they're planning, Big Guy. I don't want you to get hurt,"

Smaug nodded and took off into the air as Vali tried to think of what exactly Arthur could be thinking. The battle began with Smaug using Dragon Pulse earning shouts of surprise once more. Nidoking growled and attempted to rush towards Smaug with a crackling fist causing her eyes to widen. Arthur let out a low chuckle as Smaug avoided the clumsy attack with easy and hit Nidoking with Dragon Pulse, "So you've realized what my plan is thanks to Nidoking's impatience, I can't say I'm surprised since he's become such a handful after his evolution. I had hoped he'd keep it a secret for a bit longer since I wished to test you a bit more before revealing my plans."

"It's your own fault for using such a newly evolved pokemon in a battle of this level," Vali replied making Arthur's eyes widen, "It's easy to tell given his size and level of regression. Looking at him just a bit more closely, I'd say you evolved him within the last three weeks, right?"

Arthur nodded with a shake of his head, "He did though that was more due to him finding my moon stone then me giving it to him. I had planned to wait, but he wouldn't wait. Did your Raichu do the same?"

"Not at all, he was actually patient," Vali replied as Nidoking released a Thunderbolt in reply to Smaug's Dragon Rage, "Still a rather bad idea to use him in this competition, he's only got a few more of those in his system if that. The Nido-family don't have the largest electrical storage. It's a lot smaller compared to a member of the Rhy-family who have metal within their skull that can actually keep an electrical charge going and attract ambient electrical energy," Arthur made a face and she flushed a bit, "I live by a pokemon professor and tend to attend his lectures. It's one of the things I enjoy most other then taking photographs, so I tend to know a lot about pokemon. Random facts and stuff like that,"

"Photography?" Arthur asked with a raised eyebrow, "You're a photographer?"

"I do have to make some kind of money on the road other than battles and I enjoy taking pictures," Vali shrugged lightly, "It's a rather fun hobby. If I could, I'd go to various regions just to take picture of various locations, pokemon, and battles. I'm planning on coming to the next one of these things just to take pictures since they're bound to be amazing,"

Smaug ended the battle fairly easily though it took getting in close to knock Nidoking out with an Steel Wing. Smaug managed to avoid getting poisoned thanks to the steel-type energy coating his wing, but it was still closer than she'd like. Arthur returned his pokemon and looked at his pokeballs carefully before choosing his next pokemon. Arthur spoke as he released his next pokemon, "I didn't think that it would come to this, but my friend it would seem it was time. My our bond be strong enough that victory will be assured! Starter versus starter. My shield versus your dragon."

Vali recognized this pokemon to be, Chesnaught, one of the three Kalos starters. Chesnaught is a bipedal, mammalian Pokémon with some plant-like features. On it's belly and fringing its face, Chesnaught has fluffy white fur and the the fringe on its face looks quite a bit like a small beard. It has a small pink nose with a three-pointed patch of brown fur extending up its short snout and four pointed teeth. On top of its head is a plate of beige armor similar to a helmet. It possesses a prominent domed armor-like shell similar to that of a chestnut which is where is likely got the first part of its name. The armor is beige with four large spines jutting out of the back. The armor is trimmed with red and green bands; the green is on the outermost edge. There is an additional spine protruding from the armor over each of Chesnaught's shoulders, which are connected by a green breastplate. Its body is colored similarly to the shell, and its long limbs and tail are banded with plates of armor. The top surfaces of the tail and arms are protected by green armor, and each arm has two small spines. It has three brown, clawed digits on its hands and feet. Its hands can fuse together to create a spike-covered 'shield'.

On many a message board she'd come across during late night research and simple curiosity, Chesnaught had quickly gained the same fame as Camerupt when it came to unwary battlers who were unprepared for it. Unless you had a handy fire-type with a powerful enough fire attack to pierce through it's shield, you were not going to be able to get anywhere with one of those pokemon. It's why Kalos had found it's population of Chespin almost completely decimated much like Kanto's Bulbasaur and Charmander populations. Only in recent years had the population slowly begun to climb and even then it was rare Chespin was allowed to be used as a starter in Kalos, it was a surprise to see Arthur with a Chesnaught which meant he must be one of the lucky few that managed to get one somehow.

Chesnaught flared its arms as it appeared and bellowed before looking around the field. It caught sight of Smaug and got into a battle position. Smaug tail flame flared brightly as he roared and swept through the air to land in front of her. The two pokemon stared at each other for a few moment before launching forward as the announcer shouted, "What on earth was that staring contest about?"

"Your Smaug isn't one to back down against the unknown is he?" Arthur asked with an amused laugh.

Vali shook her head as she shook off her confusion over the small staring contest that had occurred, "No, he isn't. If it was his choice, he'd rush in and burn everything to cinders."

"So you're the reason he isn't doing what other Charizard's do," Arthur mused with a raised eyebrow, "Then again, who else could it be? This battle is definitely defying my expectations about you,"

"A good thing I hope," Vali watched Smaug hit Chesnaught in the face with a Fire Punch earning a small grunt, "Going into a battle with expectations will always lead to disappointment somehow,"

Chesnaught hit Smaug in the chest with Hammer Arm sending Smaug flying back with a loud grunt. Smaug used Dragon Rage and Wing Attack using the time Chesnaught took to weather both attacks to build up the time needed to use Smokescreen and Toxic coating as much of the field as possible before flying above it. He released Flamethrower causing the smoke to explode as Arthur shouted at his pokemon. The smoke that resulted cleared away revealed a burnt Chesnaught who's armored body definitely took a worse hit then Abomasnow had for reasons that she wasn't too sure about though she'd try to figure out at a later point in time. Adding onto the fact that the field was now mostly water due to the intense heat created by the attack, Vali was pretty sure she was probably going to keep the title 'Field destroyer' even if her last battle hadn't ended in the same thing happening.

Chesnaught shook itself with a low grunt before using Vine Whip and grabbing Smaug who burned the vines seeking him earning a loud growl. Chesnaught summoned more vines capturing Smaug and used Sludge Bomb as the Charizard managed to break free once more. Smaug was coated in the poison and quickly burned it away using the skill that he'd begun to learn via their attempts at Flare Blitz. Smaug resumed his attacks, but it became apparent that Chesnaught had managed to poison him as the shuddering purple aura slowly began to form. And with a time-limit in mind, Vali was able to see a side of Smaug that had only just begun to develop and she rarely got to see outside of times like this.

Ever since that gym battle on Cinnabar when Smaug's pain and rage managed to unlock that hidden well of power within him, they'd been working to bring that out of him again. It hadn't worked out too well as Smaug seemed to need a trigger to reach that hidden well of power and they just couldn't seem to find it just yet. It would likely have to wait until her training with the Lord of Flames for that secret to be reveled. But they had managed to find something that benefited them, Smaug managed to focus himself when some kind of limiter was introduce. A goal or a time-limit would let him ignore every distraction and only focus on what was needed. In this case, the distraction of the crowd and competition could be forgotten because he had a battle that needed to be won under a time-limit that had been introduced.

Smaug's attacks became focused and his flames that much hotter actually causing Chesnaught to let out pained grunts as the large pokemon was forced backwards a bit. Arthur spoke up about the change in Smaug, "What's going on?"

"You added a time-limit," Vali told him.

Smaug continued pressing forward on the attack forcing Chesnaught back dodging the attacks that the larger pokemon tried or cutting them off with a Flamethrower before they could fully form. Toxic was released every possible moment putting Chesnaught under a time-limit as well, Arthur let out an unintelligible string of words and took out Chesnaught's pokeball as she did the same with Smaug's even as the battle continued. Both of them watched carefully as the two pokemon continued to battle though she quickly returned Smaug after a few moments with Arthur doing the same. Arthur spoke in a warm tone, "I give up. It's clear that Vali would have won the rest of the battle what with having two fresh pokemon to my poisoned one. I would not put my partner in any further danger. Thank you for the battle, Vali. You and Smaug bother. I hope that we may battle again one day in the future."

"I do as well," Vali replied in a warm tone, "It was amazing to battle you, Arthur,"