Before she could really do much else, though, she heard a girl's voice behind her, shouting for her to watch out. Did she bump into her by accident, who knows? But the girl looked confident, pretty powerful, and Ivy really wanted to sink her teeth into a nice good fight before resting up in Lavender Town. So, to match with the Arcanine, she tossed out Kirlia and Mienshao at once, with a dark grin on her face.
"What's your name?" She called out, cockily. "Wanna go at it?"
In response to the girl's dark facial expression, Naku cast her an annoyed scowl. "Call me Naku." Her glare was hard and she was clearly annoyed as she tugged another pokeball from her belt. "I'm willing if you are."
"I'm Ivy!" She cackled, feeling the little mental nudge of Kirlia's psychic link. They were all set. "Prepare to lose!"
In an instant, Kirlia teleported the Mienshao directly behind the flaming dog, prepared to smash into the ground and summon rocks. Kirlia herself cast psyshock on the Pokéball, trying to sabotage Naku before the enemy could even begin. Ivy herself held a cocky grin as she ran directly at Naku, ready to back Kirlia up with a well-aimed kick. Things were heating up. And she wanted to win this.
Inferno was unprepared for Mienshao's attack. He was smashed into the ground, his limbs sprawled in all directions. Though he attempted to recover quickly by scrambling to his feet, growling.
As Kirlia knocked Naku's pokeball away, Naku darted to the side, avoiding a kick to the face from the girl named Ivy. She cast a glance to the side and saw Inferno wasn't doing too hot. "Hit it with Extremespeed!" Extremespeed was a move that always attacked first, so Naku hoped that would help. "Hey Draco! I could use your help!" She called out to the pokeball on the ground, which had just been sitting there while Naku dodged any impending attacks from Ivy. In a flash of white and orange, out came Naku's Dragonite, raring to go.
The Extremespeed hit Setsuna hard, knocking the martial arts fox backwards. While Ivy kept the heat off of Kirlia, grabbing at Naku's wrist with a grin, before delivering a sharp knee to the gut, Kirlia took the opportunity to cast Heal Pulse on her ally, bringing Mienshao back up to full health, enough to catapult herself towards the fox, with a Hi Jump Kick. Kirlia then released the snowy maiden from it's ball, blending into the flash of white light, and instantly cast hail, tiny ice shards falling from the sky.
Naku couldn't help but gasp as a knee slammed into her stomach. Practically doubling over, she let out a few dry coughs before regaining herself. Quick as lightning, she tossed out another pokeball. Shade was standing before her weakened trainer, looking rather confused about the whole situation. "We need to get rid of that Kirlia! Faint Attack, go!" She pointed in Kirlia's direction before surveying the whole Meinshao-Inferno scene. The High Jump Kick hit Inferno hard, sending him backwards. He landed awkwardly, once again scrambling to his feet, but a bit slower this time. Naku gritted her teeth as she came up with a game plan.
"Draco, get rid of Meinshao. Thunderpunch, go!" Draco immediately responded and leapt to action. "'ferno! Extremespeed Firefang combo on Froslass!"
In the split second the orders were yelled out, Kirlia relayed the information to the whole team, and teleported behind Mienshao, who took the brunt of the Umbreon's faint attack. After that was the Arcanine, and Ivy jabbed Naku in the throat right as it connected into the snowy maiden. The Extremespeed did nothing, of course, but the fire did significant damage. Kirlia reacted perfectly in time, though, with another heal pulse. Froslass drove hail shards into the masive gargantuan Dragonite's eyes, hoping that would blind it enough for Mienshao to dodge and deal the finishing blow to the fire dog. And in the midst of it all, Ivy was having the time of her life, shielding her eyes from the hailstorm pouring down on them.
Naku's knees buckled and she dropped when the blow landed on her windpipe. She gasped and coughed painfully, barely able to focus on anything. But her vision cleared, and saw Inferno down, Draco scratching at his face and Shade waiting for orders. Letting out a sort of growl-like sound, Naku rolled away from Ivy and leapt to her feet. She almost fell over again, but stated up only because she willed herself to. She managed to return Inferno to his pokeball, but every order she tried to give came out raspy and quiet. Naku quickly tossed out Shockstep. Now that Inferno was down for the count, she would need some more power. Naku sent a commanding look in Shockstep's direction, and pointed to Kirlia and Meinshao. "Either one." She managed to say.
Shockstep nodded and darted forward, sending a large arc of lightning from his body as he barked in the directions of Shade and Draco, as if to tell them to get going and fight.
It was innately satisfying, seeing the immense fire dog finally fall to Setsuna's might. Ivy felt a sick, almost perverse sort of glee as it was returned to it's ball, and the Dragonite's attack averted. And Naku was right in her sights, prepared to rush forward for another assault. Froslass started shooting a torrent of Ice Beams at the dragon, while the Mienshao charged at the Umbreon, leaving Kirlia safely in back, ready to heal anyone whoo needed, and teleport in to protect someone, just in case things got bad.
"I'm winning." Ivy sneered, looking at her enemy. "Wanna give up, and start cryin' yet? Cuz this ain't over til you're begging on the ground!"
She rushed Naku again, this time aiming a fist to the gut.
"Never!" Naku hissed. Waiting until the last second, she sidestepped Ivy and stuck her leg out in hopes of tripping her. She looked back at the battling pokemon. She had swallowed hard plenty of times, but her voice was still raspy and it hurt to talk. "Shade!" She called out. Shade turned to look at Naku, who pointed her thumb in the direction of the ground. Shade then dove into the dirt, creating a small tunnel entrance behind her, much too small for Meinshao. Shade then burst from the ground behind Meinshao.
Meinshao's attacking left Kirlia wide open, to which Shockstep took advantage of. Before even letting the pokemon know he was approaching it, he attacked from afar, another arc of yellow lightning streaking through the air. Draco was having some problems however. The Ice Beams were dealing a solid amount of damage. He needed an end move. Frostlass was weak from Inferno's previous attack. Naku whistled, now realizing it hurt less to whistle then talk. Draco turned and understood what Naku meant just by the look in her eyes. A small ball of light formed in Draco's tummy, and the ball grew larger until it rose from Draco and into the air. It soared upwards and exploded, causing hundreds of glowing rocks to rain from the sky, falling in all directions.
Mienshao reacted a little too late to the Umbreon digging underneath her. It let out a sharp cry as it crashed into the ground, almsot crippling it with the momentum she was flying at. Looking almost dizzy from the pain, the Mienshao blindly tackled at the Umbreon, and used the momentum from the impact to bounce just out of reach, but at this point, the fox was too far out from Kirlia to receive a Heal Pulse, and the psychic was already dealing with her own battle now, having just barely dodged an electric attack, thanks to the hail obscuring her. And above was Froslass against massive dragon, dodging most of the exploding rocks, but still took damage from others. It stumbled a bit in the air, and decided to link it's pain with the Manetric, attempting to split health. The Manetric also had to deal with a psyshock, and then Kirlia teleported to deliver one to the Dragonite as well.
Meanwhile Ivy tripped over the well placed foot, but luckily had her arm outstretched, bringing Naku down with her. Straddling the girl fiercefully, Ivy figured out the best way to end the battle. Naku's team couldn't win if she couldn't give orders, right? So the smaller girl aimed another punch before starting to wrap her hands around her throat.
Before Frostlass could split health, Draco came soaring towards her, an arm cocked back for a Thunderpunch. Shockstep, unaware of how much pain Draco had prevented, chased after Kirlia, bending his lightning to follow her until it hit. Shade landed on her feet just out of Meinshao's reach, and let out an eardrum-shattering cry, which made Draco and Shockstep cringe as they heard her Echoed Voice attack.
Naku growled as Ivy hit her with another punch. She was unprepared to have Ivy's hands wrapped firmly around her throat. Naku gasped as spots began dancing across her vision.
It was a split second sort of thing, but when she heard the pathetic mewl of Mienshao, finally defeated by the shriek of the Echoed Voice, Ivy's hands loosened. Was she really about to kill someone that had nothing to do with Team Rocket? Sure, the girl was an enemy, but this was meant to be a match for fun, not a desperate struggle to survive like she was used to. Ivy muttered softly, "you did good, guys." to her team before putting them back into their homes, safely in the red and white domes at her waist before getting off of Naku. She left Kirlia out though, enjoying at least a little bit the calming effect the green creature had on her. This was a little awkward, and she scratched at her neck uncomfortably before offering a hand to the girl to let her up.
"Sorry." She murmured, not looking the taller girl in the eye. "Lost myself. Used to trying to kill Team Rocket, forgot you weren't one of them. My bad."
Naku did not take the girl's hand. She dragged herself back to her feet, trying not to gasp like a fish out of water. Her pokemon had realized that the battle was over, and they scampered back to Naku's side. Shade and Draco looked a bit concerned, but Shockstep just sat there, waiting to be returned to his pokeball. She returned Shade and Shockstep, but let Draco stay out, mostly becaus he refused to go back. Naku just grumbed quietly and looked at Ivy. She couldn't help but mutter, "Sorry doesn't make it go away..." Naku sighed, and actually sat back down and began rummaging through her bag. "You should really learn how to control yourself."
The socially awkward girl looked at the alraedy forming bruises on her enemy, and was glad that at least the hailstorm had died down. Kirlia spun around for a quick Heal Pulse on the girl, and Ivy rubbed the green Pokémon again on the head, a little proudly. "Whaddya want, then?" Ivy asked the girl, the former enemy. "This is, well, awkward, okay?"
Naku felt a bit better all of a sudden. She cast a sarcastic glance in Ivy's direction. "Well, no shit. You almost just choked me to death." Naku then pulled her hand out of her bag. In her palm were a few small peppermint candies. She popped a few in her mouth and tossed a few to Draco, who ate the graciously. "Want one?" Naku asked, holding her hand out.
Ivy gratefully took it. More than just free food, the candy was a sign that maybe the girl was warming up to her- and random enemies alongside her war on Team Rocket was definitely not something she wanted. So she ate it, and saw the sun rising in the sky, dyeing the sky a deep, beautiful red, signaling a new day. And it was already pretty late to find a good hideout in Lavender Town and rest up, she had to stay on her toes. Chances are, the battle delay would make Jace worry the heck out, because she hadn't messaged him like she had promised. "Thanks." She sucked on the peppermint, the taste stimulating her tongue quickly. "Um. I'm headed to Lavender... I'll get us a place to stay, too. Explain myself, and all that..."
Ivy looked nervously back at the girl, uncharacteristic of herself. "I can teleport us into Lavender right now, if you wanted. Save time and energy, right?"
Above both girls, and unbeknownst to them, a Honchkrow scanned them as it flew by, almost invisible against the still dark sky.
