Eira gave a soft laugh at Z's uneasiness as she remembered that not everyone had seen the softer side of Akane like she had, Akane had even sent a lot of gifts for the future prince or princess of Eirlys as well as Eira upon finding out that Eira was pregnant. "You have nothing to worry about, I was just messing with you. As far as I know, Akane thinks of you as an ally and has no plans of ever picking a fight with you. She may seem very harsh, but she is no fool and may actually care about you."
*I don't like cute things,* Grace grumbled, looking at herself with dislike since she was clearly a cute looking Pokemon. *I like things like you.*
"That's a relief," said Z, "after seeing her pokemon and battling her doom once, I've decided that she is one that I would not want to invoke the ire of." Sipping his tea, Z perked up, "there is someone I'd like to show you eventually. It's a new member of my team and a real powerhouse to boot."
Scorpio chuckled, *do not fear little one. Now, shall I show you around this place? I don't believe you ever got the complete tour. It really is a nice home and a nice city.*
"Really? I have a couple of new Pokemon that I don't think you've had the pleasure of meeting," Eira told him with a smile, taking a sip of her tea herself. "If you would like, maybe we could have a friendly battle? I think Bullet would enjoy having a battle after not doing so for so long."
*Yes please!* Grace replied excitedly, clapping her hands happily at the idea of getting to see this large place in person.
"Alright then," said Z, "I think I'd like that. How shall we do it? six on six?" Z always liked a good battle and knew that his team did as well, so this was a great way to spend the day in his opinion. He wouldn't even need to worry about battling for or to protect his badge.
*follow me then* said Scorpio as he began to walk, *don't get separated. It's easy to get lost here, now that the city has grown so much.*
"I believe my current party could handle a six on six just fine," Eira agreed with a grin, feeling giddy for some reason to be having a battle that wasn't meant for some badge or something. "I'll have to go find them of course, but I'm sure they will be plenty happy to have a battle with your team."
*I'll stay close!* Grace promised as she waddled after him as fast as she could, cursing her short legs as she moved.
(I imagine some sort of amulet or something since regis are supposed to be titans. Maybe a horn or something? I'm not too sure.)
"Alright," said z, "when do you want to do this? There's an open field we can use just outside the the city limits, so we won't have to worry about collateral damage." Z sipped his tea, "I haven't had a casual battle in a while. What rules should we implement?" Scorpio led Grace out the door and down the road into the city's residential district.
"We can start whenever we gather our Pokemon if you'd like," Eira told him before she finished off her tea, pleased that things were going well. Walrein took this as a cue to leave the room to go hunt down the rest of their party so Eira wouldn't have to walk around for too long. "I don't know much about battling rules, though I will admit that I am getting used to battling now. You are the gym leader, what would you suggest?"
Grace looked around at all of the new sights around her, amazed at how different this city was compared to her snowy home that she had lived in since she hatched in her mama's home.
Z smiled as he put his glass on the table, "how about one with no time limit, but anything else is allowed? I think that would work nicely. We can head out once we gather our chosen teams." Z finished the tea in his glass and offered to get more for eira.
Scorpio led Grace through the streets, keeping out of the way of the people in wagons, as motor vehichles hadn't reached the city yet, and eventually they arrived at the commerce district.
"That sounds perfect to me. The lack of rules will allow us to just have a battle at our own pace," Eira agreed with a nod, actually excited for this battle since her team hadn't had a chance to have a full out fight in so long. She refused having more tea, ready to find her team wherever they ended up separating to.
Grace was amazed at all of the people that were freely walking around the town, having never seen so many people in one place before, especially so many people that were selling different things.
Z smiled and decided to gather his team as well. He looked among his pokemon that weren't busy and picked out what he thought was a suitable team to go into battle. He made sure to grab his Mega Ring as well, just in case he needed it in the battle.
Scorpio brought grace to a stand that sold fruit grown in the mineral rich soil. The man owning the stand gave Scoprpio a large plump fruit and he offered it to the round pokemon.
Eira allowed herself to be mentally open towards Shimmer's access so that it would know to come back to her with the others of their team, knowing that Shimmer would gather everyone for her. She checked her necklace to make sure that her Mega Ring was there so she could use it with Cloud when it was needed for the upcoming battle, knowing full well that Z was going to push her team to the limit.
Grace happily took the fruit from Scorpio and was about to take a bite of it but was stopped by Shimmer calling to her telepathically, telling her to return to the villa to aide their Eira. *We have to go back. Mama and your Papa are fighting.*
*I hope you mean that in a good way,* said Scorpio with a bit of worry as he led her back to the house. He got a mental message from Alloy as well. Z waited for Scorpio to get back and had Alloy send a message to gather his team for the battle. It had been a while since his last battle with Eira and he wanted to make this one a good one. Z actually hadn't had a casual battle since his one on one against Akane after the contest in Houndoom Hall.
*I don't know, Big Brother Shimmer just told me to come back for a fight,* Grace admitted as she followed Scorpio back towards the villa with worry clear in her demeanor.
Eira couldn't help but be a little worried about the upcoming battle since she had never had a full out battle, even if it was for fun. She wasn't sure if some of her team were battle ready, but she trusted them to do their absolute best for her no matter what. She turned to Z with a small smile, hoping the gym leader also was nervous about their battle. "I hope I am not the only one nervous about this battle."
"Oh, I'm most certainly nervous," said Z, "after all, you are the only person who beat my gym and I don't have a counter for some of your more powerful partners."
Z chuckled, "I wouldn't worry too much. this is just a casual battle between friends. It's a way for us and our teams to catch up, though sparky would like some payback from walren. She's really been training to get stronger and wants to be able to punch through steel plates one day since she had to smash armored training dummies at Carvana Springs and bruised her hands."
*Let's get going then* said Scorpio, *I wouldn't want to miss a good battle.*
"Am I really the only one to have earned your badge? I would think that Akane would have jumped at the chance to come battle you," Eira said with a small laugh at the idea that the other queen would not come battle someone when she had the chance to do so with friendliness. "I believe Walrein would not like to repeat that battle, it took quite a lot out of him last time. I think Shimmer would be more of a challenge for Sparky since their speed would be more of a match. I'm impressed that she is training so hard, but I guess she must since she is the star of your team and you are the leader of this area, so you have to face whatever challenges come this way."