Miranda swallowed hard as she stood at the opposite end of the field from Erika, glancing hesitantly at the crowd of spectators along the sidelines she hadn't expected earlier. "Was it really necessary to invite the entire Gym to watch?" she inquired hesitantly to Samantha as the woman approached. The Orange Islander merely grinned broadly, ignoring the question. "Are you ready to go, then?" Samantha inquired, tossing her wavy red hair over her shoulder. Miranda sighed heavily and nodded, her right hand clenching the two golf ball-sized orbs that contained her pokemon. "Bring it on," she assured, glancing up to meet Erika's serene gaze from across the field that seemed to stretch out forever between. Samantha nodded and walked to the center of the sideline. Once there, the woman stood a little taller as she adjusted her blue and gold kimono before hiding her hands its sleeves and doing her best to imitate Erika's serene, contemplative expression. "This competition is between Gym Leader Erika of the Celadon City Gym, and Miranda of Lavender Town!" the woman announced, her voice carrying despite being barely raised, causing the crowd of on-lookers to cheer both challengers on, "The challengers are permitted to use two pokemon, both of which must be defeated to attain victory! This match also has no time limit, and those leaving the field of battle are disqualified. Challengers may begin when ready!" Miranda felt an embarrassed chill run down her spine as she felt so many eyes upon her, missing her queue as a flash of light indicated the release of Triffid. Looking up as she adjusted her grip to bring up the purple and white pokeball she held, Miranda gritted her teeth. "Nezumi! Come ye forth!" she commanded in a harsher tone that she'd intended, making a mental note to make it up to him later. 'Gee! Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this mornin'!' the rattata laughed, glancing over his shoulder at Miranda and giving her a toothy grin a moment later even as the huge plant sped towards him, using her six tendrils to move like some sort of peculiar arachnid across the field. Nezumi glanced back at the plant, though, as the victreebel let out a high-pitched wail before leaping high into air and using the light of the sun through the round skylight to hide herself from view. 'Oh man,' the rattata muttered, shielding his eyes as the huge dark shape of Triffid as she plummeted towards him, her gaping maw held open to devour him whole, 'We're all gonna die!' Miranda didn't hesitate, however, clenching her fists as she called out to the rodent. "Nezumi! Swiftness!" she ordered, her rattata barely taking a nanosecond to question the command before vanishing in a long purple streak that crossed half the field in an eye-blink. To her surprise, Triffid landed and scooped up a large mouthful of dirt just as Nezumi spun around on one hind-foot and grinned sarcastically back at the plant. 'Yo, Sprouts!' he called back, waving his fore-paws in the air as the crowd turned to look, most having missed the rattata's movement and had been certain that he'd been caught, 'Yer gonna have ta do better than that to get a piece of this rat!' Triffid glowered darkly at the rattata, spitting out as much of the soil as she could as Nezumi stretched out the sides of his mouth as much as possible and waggled his tongue at her. 'Foolish rodent!' the victreebel shrieked, giving herself a bit of a spin before sailing towards Nezumi, spinning like a top and letting her long tendrils fly out to form a green blur of a ring around her yellow center. Miranda's eyes widened as she watched Triffid spin faster and faster as she barreled towards Nezumi, her lack of a centralized nervous-system making it easy for the plant to not only avoid dizziness but also keep track of where the rodent was as gulped loudly and bounded off to the right. "Don't worry! I'll think of something!" the courier called out the rattata, receiving a chuckle from the crowd as most of them stood a little taller to watch. 'Oh yeah, like -that's- reassurin' or somethin'!' Nezumi shot back as Triffid changed course, requiring a fairly wide arc as Nezumi shot past her, once more becoming a purple blur before reappearing a short distance away. Across the field, Erika glanced up at the sky light above them as the sun's rays tilted and shined straight down onto the field. The Gym Leader smiled slightly, placing her hands behind her back and glancing back at her victreebel as she made another wide turn to follow the still fleeing Nezumi. "Triffid!" Erika called out, her clear tone intense yet undemanding as the entire field lit up with the sun's golden light, "Charge a solar beam!" Miranda gasped as the spiraling plant stopped her forward momentum, still spinning as she began absorbing sunlight, causing the victreebel's entire body to glow with steadily increasing golden light. For a moment, Miranda recalled the first and only time she'd seen the technique used. She remembered the being flung onto her back by the three-inch claws of the persian as the enormous feline had ripped into the thick cover of her poetry book, leaving it forever scarred. Then, as the hundred pound cat loomed over her as she held the then infant Nezumi against her chest protectively, dark vines had suddenly wrapped about the persian's forepaws and throat before the reassuring voice of Miranda's Father had shouted out in an angry tone, "Treeant! Solar Beam!" Everything had gone golden then, and somewhere over her own screams the girl had heard the sharp, pained yowling of the persian before the dark shape of its body leaped to one side and was released by the tendrils, allowing it to flee. Miranda smiled at the memory, remembering her Father stepping out of the golden glow, a concern look upon his face as he knelt down before her and extended his hands to her. "Did that horrible monster injure you, M'Lady?" he had asked, to which Miranda had replied, "Only my pride..." But the present quickly dispelled the memory, as six beams of golden light extended in different directions from the spinning top that was Triffid. The beams grew in width and luminescence, spinning strangely slowly in the opposite direction to the victreebel's rotation and extending nearly all the way to the side edges of the battlefield. "Nezumi!" Miranda exclaimed in a bit of a panic as the beam's arc dropped down, cutting a swath along the manicured grass and forming a rapidly closing circle of black, "Get out of there!" The rattata merely nodded nervously as he backed away from one of the on-coming beams, glancing over his shoulder as the circle was completed, his eyes widening as he noticed that three of the other four were circling back, catching up with the one coming towards Nezumi. As the six beams of light became two, the crowd of spectators held their breath, seeing the scissor effect Nezumi was about to get caught in. Glancing in Erika's direction, the rattata saw the human woman raise her arm high above her head, her expression unreadable. "Now!" the Gym Leader commanded, causing Triffid to let out a high-pitched wail of excitement as the two beams sliced towards one another. Nezumi, however, had other plans that didn't involve loosing. As the beams of light closed in on him, the rattata glanced down at his short front claws. 'This'd better work!' he muttered to himself, activating the adrenal gland that allowed for fast, sudden movements before leaping up and diving towards the ground. As the two beams of light swung together, a cloud of dust flew into the air where Nezumi had been, causing a gasp to issue loudly from the crowd as they drew as close to the outer edge of the field as was permitted. Miranda, meanwhile, stifled the shout that had escaped her throat by covering her mouth, waiting for the dust to clear before panicking too badly. But as it did, there was no sign of Nezumi, save for the gaping hole in the ground where he had stood, and beside it a small pile of dirt. The crowd cheered excitedly, and Miranda's hands dropped to her sides, a wide grin crossing the courier's face as Triffid stopped spinning and gave the hole in the ground a confused look. For a long moment, the field was silent as the crowd once more held their collective breath, half-knowing what was to come, but uncertain as to how it would happen. Miranda, however, bit her bottom lip, her fingers clenched as she tried to figure out just what it was Nezumi had just done, and whether or not it was good thing. Baring any problems with the technique, though, the courier wondered if he could do it again if he had to. Just then, though, the earth near the victreebel trembled. As Triffid turned to look, however, the small rise in the ground that had formed suddenly burst upwards, sending dirt flying in all directions. Somewhere amidst the chunks of soil, though, was the dark purple and white shape of Nezumi, his incisors gleaming as he grinned, hurtling towards the victreebel. With a wail of delight, one of Triffid's tendrils whipped around to smack the offending rodent out of the air. The rattata was too fast for her, though, and quickly bit down hard on the end of Triffid's tendril as it came within range. The crowd cheered once again as Nezumi hit the ground running, kicking in his adrenal gland again and again as he literally ran circles around the victreebel, quickly wrapping Triffid's tendril around herself, and entangling the plant's other limbs. Across the field, Miranda met Erika's gaze, the woman seeming privately amused by the turn of events, but no less undaunted. "Triffid, sleep powder," was all the Gym Leader said, her tone placid, yet tinged by curiosity. The sentient plant reacted to her mistress's command without question, growling angrily as she found herself paralyzed, and opened the thorny maw atop her body as widely as she could. An instant later and the plant expelled a cloud of silvery glittering dust that shot up into the air before slowly settling around herself and the offending rattata. "Nezumi! Get out of there!" called Miranda, jumping a little as the rattata gave a short nod, exhibiting another quick burst of speed and half-forgetting that he was still gnawing on Triffid's tendril. To everyone's surprise, the movement caused the victreebel to spin once again. This time, however, it was due to the swift unraveling Triffid's vine-like limb. When at last the tendril unraveled completely, though, Nezumi was flung upwards. Twisted around as best he could, and biting harder onto the tendril, the rattata managed to spin himself around and land on all fours at the outermost extent of Triffid's tendril. What Nezumi saw, however, nearly made him let go as he laughed at the sight of Triffid sailing up into the air, shrieking the entire way. 'Wow,' the rattata pondered with a smirk around the tendril in his mouth, 'I must be stronger than I thought!' But as Triffid sailed overhead, the crowd scattered amidst a chorus of frightened cries as the victreebel threatened to land where they had stood and thus be disqualified. 'Oh man, that's way too easy!' complained Nezumi, jumping up and landing with his feet firmly planted in the ground as he pulled back on Triffid's tendril with all his might. As the plant stopped in mid-air, jerked suddenly back by Nezumi's efforts, the crowd had to run for cover again as Nezumi swung his head to one side, sending Triffid arcing just over the group of ducking heads. A moment later, and Triffid crashed to the ground, safely within the confines of the battlefield, sending up both a cheer from the crowd and a thick cloud of dust as the victreebel face-planted. Miranda found herself laughing as she leaped into the air, clapping and cheering Nezumi on and finding herself not caring how foolish she looked. "Had enough, yet?" she laughed as Samantha hurried onto the field and leaned down to give Triffid a curious look. The victreebel opened her eyes and made an unpleasant sound in response to Samantha's questioning look, her leaves shaking as Triffid tried to bring herself to an upright position. Halfway there, however, Triffid glanced over at Nezumi, the rattata panting around the end of her tendril that still hung limply in his mouth. She then glanced up at Samantha and closed her eyes, making an unpleasant sound before falling back down into a reclining position and giving up. Samantha gave a short nod before standing up straight and turning to the crowd. "Triffid is unable to battle!" she announced, motioning melodramatically to the panting Nezumi as he spit out the tendril, "The first down goes to Challenger Miranda!" Miranda blushed as she heard the crowd cheer her on, and bowed her head a little to hide behind the tangles of her hair as she turned to face Nezumi who grinned back proudly at her as his opponent was suddenly enveloped in a curious crimson light. 'Eh,' the rattata chuckled in pokespeak shrugging nonchalantly, 'I didn't wanna cheese her out. Um, pun intended!' "Congratulations, Miranda!" called out Erika from the other side of the field, giving a small nod as her victreebel was converted into energy before being sucked back into her pokeball, "but you still have one more to go before you can claim victory." "We're ready when you are!" the courier assured with a wide grin, tossing her long hair over one shoulder. Her opponent nodded slowly and brought out a second pokeball. "Come forth, Audrey," said Erika simply, her eyes glancing down at the ball that rested in her open palm as it split open and released the curious little plant. 'Ooooh!' Nezumi taunted as he saw the oddish appear not far from Erika, 'Looks like the salad bar just opened!' "Let's make this quick, Nezumi!" laughed Miranda at that comment as the happily bouncing plant hopped towards the rattata, singing tunelessly to herself, "Give Audrey a taste of swiftness!" Nezumi gave a short nod of agreement and grinned as he lowered himself and concentrated on his adrenal gland. As he suddenly raced forward, however, the rattata let out a surprised exclamation, realizing a little too late that he'd exhausted that mode of attack. Wasting no time in capitalizing on the situation, Audrey laughed as she wobbled from side to side, shaking her leaves as she bounded past Nezumi and began to circle him, leaving a wall of glittery dust in her wake. "Hold your breath!" called Miranda, glancing around nervously as she tried to find the right words, feeling embarrassed by the ones that chose to issue from her lips, "Then do that burrowing thingy again!" Nezumi nodded as the oddish danced around him, filling the air with a veritable cloud of glittering pollen. Stealing a quick breath, the rattata concentrated on digging a hole as quickly as he could, surprised to find that the gland that controlled his swiftness technique actually had nothing to do with his ability to burrow. Before the dust had settled down upon him, Nezumi had become a blur of motion, vanishing beneath the field as Audrey glanced around curiously, calling out to the seemingly vanished rattata. "Fill the hole with sleep powder, dear," instructed Erika, her tone somewhat maternal, seeming to have infinite patience with the still youthful pokemon. Audrey glanced at her mistress and grinned happily, bouncing a bit before leaping up and falling upside down, her top half vanishing down the hole Nezumi had dug. She then laughed merrily as her submerged leaves waved about, sending out more and more of the thick cloud of pollen designed to put foes into a deep slumber. Miranda frowned as several seconds ticked by, tensing as she wondered if the maneuver had been such a good idea. But just then, the ground near by rumbled and began to buckle. "Here he comes!" she called out, suddenly reassured, "Looks like this isn't over yet, Erika!" Erika, however, merely smiling, her emerald eyes showing a hint of amusement as the ground finally broke and Nezumi flew up out of it. For a moment, he hung suspended in the air, the golden sunlight reflecting off his shiny coat despite the particles of dirt that still clung to his fur. But as he began to fall, the problem became immediately apparent. Nezumi had fallen asleep. "Amazing..." Miranda muttered as Nezumi landed with a bounce and Samantha rushed over to make sure he was all right. "Be careful not to underestimate your opponent, Miranda," Erika cautioned, a concerned look crossing her face as Samantha sighed heavily, "We all have the potential to be more than we appear." Samantha then stood up straight and turned towards the crowd as Miranda pulled out the rattata's pokeball. "Nezumi is unable to battle!" the redhead announced to the crowd, "This round to goes to Gym Leader Erika!" Miranda sighed heavily, pressing the button as the spectators cheered Erika on and Nezumi vanished into the crimson light. "That's gonna be one tough vileplume one day," she pondered, shaking her head as she held out a blue and white pokeball, "Oh well. Umi! Come ye forth!" Umi's serpentine form materialized a moment later, the dratini immediately raising an eyebrow at the sight of the dancing and singing Audrey. 'She's a bit embarrassing, but won't I underestimate her this time,' the little dragon promised. Her multifaceted eyes immediately gleaming orange as Umi's lips curled back to snarl menacingly at the little plant that had thwarted her so easily the first time. Miranda gave a sharp nod of agreement, her eyes narrowing as the oddish danced about, moving in wide circles and more or less spiraling towards the dratini. "Let's make this as easy on us as it was on her last time!" called out the courier enthusiastically, gaining a small cheer of approval from some of the people in the crowd, "Umi! Flame bolt!" <compare this to other times> Without hesitation, Umi reared up like a snake before spitting forth a small ball of flame that shot across the field towards the bounding oddish. As it approached, however, Audrey simply laughed and bounded out of the way, letting the ball of flame explode harmlessly behind her. 'Hold still already!' shouted Umi angrily, spitting out several more flame bolts, and setting off a series of small explosions that fried the remaining grass but did little to Audrey as she easily leapt and bounded away from each of the attacks. As the dust settled, and Umi frowned thoughtfully, squinting to see through it, the small, dark shape of Audrey suddenly leaped up before her, the oddish's exact distance obscured by the dust and smoke. 'Gotcha!' Umi exclaimed, firing off another blast of flame, her eyes widening as the bolt sailed right on through the image of the oddish, and Audrey popped up right beside her. 'Howdy!' the oddish laughed, her leaves already twitching, sending up little silver sparkles into the air. 'Not this time!' growled Umi, her tail swinging around behind Audrey and wrapping tightly around the little plant before she could react. Audrey's beady little black eyes narrowed as Umi's multifaceted ones glowed a dark, dangerous red. 'That won't work on me! I haven't got lungs!' the oddish laughed as Umi began to squeeze her tightly, 'Besides, you're just making my job easier!' 'Don't bet on it!' spat Umi as Audrey's leaves began to wave from side to side, sending up the beginnings of a cloud of sparkling pollen. The oddish's confident smirk then quickly faded, her small eyes growing to three times their normal size as Umi coiled tighter and shifted her weight suddenly. "What are you-?!" began Audrey as the dratini grinned evilly before unraveling herself as quickly as possible in an upward direction. The crowd of spectators gasped as Audrey spun around several times before being launched high into the air as Umi's tail unwound completely. As the oddish let out a long, frightened shriek, she sailed higher and higher into the air, her small dark form seeming to vanish as she flew directly at the sun. For a long moment, all eyes were cast skyward, doing unpleasant things to people's retinas before a small dark shape began to tumble end over end back down to earth. The crowd gasped as the oddish fell, all eyes tracking her decent until Audrey hit the ground upside down, fortunately landing in one of the holes Nezumi had previously dug. As Audrey's legs worked quickly back and forth, flailing helplessly, the oddish's muffled voice complained loudly. For a pensive moment, Umi turned to Miranda who gave her an uncertain look and shrugged before smiling and pointing for the dratini to look back at Audrey. As everyone watched, a small cloud of glittering pollen shot up around the edges of the hole Audrey's head was caught in. Umi held her breath as she watched, rearing up like a venomous snake about to strike, the end of her snout crinkling as her eyes shifted in colour towards purplish curiosity. A heartbeat later, and Audrey's legs stopped their frantic twitching, their movement getting slower and slower until they at last stopped. A hush then fell over the crowd as Samantha then crept cautiously out onto the field, glancing apprehensively at Umi whose eyes shifted to a blue/green as she relaxed and tried to look cute. Samantha smiled at the dragon as she knelt before Audrey, turning her full attention to the oddish as the glittering dust settled. For a moment the woman frowned thoughtfully, poking Audrey curiously with her index finger before sighing heavily and standing up. With a quick glance and a wink in Miranda's direction that made the courier blush, Samantha turned around fully to face the crowd. "Audrey is unable to battle!" she called out, breaking the still silence, raising an arm to the crowd dramatically before pointing in Miranda's direction, "This round, and the battle goes to the challenger, Miranda of Lavender Town!" Miranda sunk a little further into her kimono to hide her expression as the crowd then began to cheer, quickly realizing that they were likely to cheer no matter who had won. "That suits this place," the courier chuckled, glancing at the sea of smiling faces before kneeling down to wave over Umi, the dratini's eyes glowing brightly golden in her elation. "Congratulations on your first victor, Miranda," called Erika as she moved swiftly across the field, but yet didn't seem to be running as she moved easily between the smoking craters left over from the battle. "Thanks!" the courier laughed, finding the whole thing a little overwhelming as Umi slithered back and forth to get her attention, quickly sliding up Miranda's arms and wrapping about her waist when the courier tried to hold her, "but I think this'll be my last official one." Erika nodded slowly, her smile far from fading. "Well, either way, I hope that this will remain a treasured souvenir, nonetheless," the Gym Leader replied, holding out her small, delicate hand to the girl. Miranda glanced down at the colourful object held in the woman's palm. The differing colours of the rounded edges of the flower-like gym badge glittering in the sunlight. "I see why they call it a 'rainbow badge," she replied quietly, a small chuckle entering her voice as she reached into Erika's hand and took it almost reverently. "But yes," the courier agreed, looking deeply into the woman's emerald eyes and smiling shyly, "It'll always remind me of my time here, and of everything you and Samantha have done for me. Thank you, Erika..."
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