Breaking in the Building [OPEN]

Nicole thanked the person she had been talking to before she began to walk towards the building that stood just a little ways away from where she was currently.  She had come to Celosia to talk to Akane about something, only to find that she was out, and that she was currently at the reopened Gym that Celosia had.  At first she wasn't sure if she wanted to go, but she then decided that she could meet with the queen there...  And maybe...  Just maybe she would be able to battle her for the badge the Gym handed out.

She didn't mind the thought of going into a battle against the queen.  In fact she thought it might be a little bit fun.  And winning a badge would be a cool bonus.  Sure, her battle with Z still haunted her slightly, but she was sure that she could get over that to have a go at battling her, maybe, kinda, not-really, possible ally?  She still didn't know what the heck was going on with that.

When she finally reached the building, she walked up to the door, she cleared her throat and called out as loudly as she could: "Anyone here?"

“Hello Akane. Nice to see you again as well.” Nicole greeted the woman cheerfully… Well as cheerfully as she dared. She still wasn’t sure how to deal with the others mood swings. “The Ridge is running smoothly. And please, use my first name and drop the title. My last name is only there for nostalgia and the title is too formal.” She said in following waving her hands in front of her as though she was trying to wave the two words away.

When the question about her finding anything shiny registered she gave a small nervous laugh and shook her head. “Not really. No shiny things as of yet. I did find a fossil though. I awakened somehow as well. Maybe I’ll introduce you to Phoenix sometime.” She answered before turning slightly more serious. “I actually was coming here to talk to you about stuff pertaining to my contest hall and some of the things we never fully ironed out… But then I heard something interesting. How would you feel about a friendly gym battle first? Business can always wait in the face of some friendly competition right?” She asked giving a small innocent smile, though a flame could be seen in her eyes, one that symbolized the excitement she was feeling about possibly seeing her maybe ally’s strength.

Nicole followed Akane into the next room and watched as she released her Houndoom and her Flareon. It seemed she was in for an interesting battle. Looking at the strap of her backpack, a smaller and newer one than her normal one since she had been certain she wasn’t going to need the one she used for her exploring, she mused about which ones of her Pokemon she should send out.

“Interesting choices… That leaves me with a tough decision to make.” She said casually as she reached one hand up to grab the one Netball that was on the strap, as well as one of the normal Pokeballs. “But I think I have my Pokemon picked out. Kit, Loki, come out and introduce yourselves.” She said throwing the Pokeballs out. Instantly the form of a net came from the Netball while the normal red light came from the normal Pokeball as the two Pokemon she had called out were released.

Putting the two balls back on her backpack strap, Nicole watched as Kit and Loki shook themselves out and looked towards the other Pokemon in front of them. After a moment of this, Kit looked back at his trainer and gave her a slightly glaring look with a small huff and a monotone “Vapor” before sticking his nose up into the air and flopping down on the ground like a cat about to go to sleep. Nicole gave a sigh at this and face-palmed sure that this was going to either make the other woman think she couldn’t control her own Pokemon, or amuse her greatly.

Loki, on the other hand, moved to stand at her side, almost as though he was trying to hide behind her leg slightly as he watched the other Pokemon cautiously. Nicole merely had to move the hand that was in front of her face and look down at him once, to know that he was already putting on a hoax so that he could observe the other Pokemon better. Out of all her Pokemon he was the only one who seemed to be level-headed, despite some of his antics.

Nicole once more followed the woman’s example and moved to stand in the area designated for the challenger of the gym. Briefly, Nicole saw Akane’s eyes go to Loki and she instantly figured out what the other woman was hoping for. But was she ready to throw the other into battle? She looked over at Kai, who had moved to stand next to her when she had moved, then over at Loki whose eyes were trained ahead on the other Pokemon. Deciding to allow her Pokemon a chance to choose their match, she closed her eyes and held one hand out to the arena. “Who wants to go first?” She asked

There was a moment of pause before the sound of a scoff could be heard from the side Kai was on and the sound of his tail hitting the ground could be heard before it was accompanied by the sound of it slithering across the floor as he moved to take a battle position. Opening her eyes, Nicole gave Kai a surprised look before shrugging and turning her attention to Akane.

“Ready whenever you are, Queen Akane.”

Nicole gave a small laugh at that.  "Loki won't let me touch his fur.  It's his choice to have it messy."  She said before she watched Loki dance in place with a small canine grin on his face.  "Loki, Do you mind...?  There is all that nasty sludge on the ground and I don't want it in your fur."  She said simply.  Loki's face lit up at the comment as water began to flow out from below his paws for a Surf.  The water then began to grow in size until it was a gigantic tilde wave and it surged forward crashing into the ground with a large amount of force.  Since the Dark Pulse was in play, he couldn't see very well, but he could sure make a ruckus with his attack.  Nicole then gave a small smile and called out.  "Oh Loki, maybe you should disappear as well."  Loki's feet then immediately went to work as a hole formed underneath him and he disappeared into the earth with Dig.

Nicole merely smirked at the other woman and whistled loudly. As called by the whistle, Loki dug out of the ground right next to her, tail wagging. “I guess you weren’t paying attention to the dig pattern. Loki, Surf your tunnels.” She said, first addressing the queen in front of her, and then addressing Loki. Loki gave a small howl as water once more formed underneath him and began flowing into the hole created by the Dig he had just used.

From underneath the battle field a loud rumbling could be heard until little geyser like effects started happening all over the field where little holes seemed to have been dug strategically around. This allowed the water more access to Akane’s side of the field. The only holes close to where the Houndoom was standing were mere inches from where the Sludge was.

The fact that Loki was acting fine now, was the only thing hinting towards him not being poisoned, but Nicole knew he was a good liar, and so she knew she would have to keep an eye on him this next round to truly figure out or not.

Nicole’s worst fear was confirmed when Loki gave a small flinch even before the yelp of pain caused by the fire sent his way by the Houndoom hit him. This was not a good sign at all. Trying to think quickly, Nicole called out the first move that came to mind that had a chance of helping her poor Pokemon. Plus, since he was already poisoned, from the looks of it, the sludge would no longer do the poison damage, and only the slight physical.

“Hang in there Loki! Get away from the flames using Dig!” She shouted out, putting faith in her Pokemon that would be able to work, for just a while longer, with his new impairment. Taking Nicole’s command, Loki quickly dug down into the earth, but not before Nicole noticed he didn’t look so good after that last attack.