gratitude

[the_very_best]

Bella flies away. She visits her parents, hits up the guild for matches and wins enough to pay her guild dues, and tools around random wilderness beating up on the wildlife.

She doesn't really expect to hear from Sherlock and Tony again.

Comments

[the_very_best]

"All right." Bella returns Zag, puts him on a spot on her string of them, names his ball, "One," and the one on the other end, "Six."

[bitofafiction]

"One two three four," says Sherlock, producing four Pokéballs.

[the_very_best]

"And - how do we get random numbers out of the computer?"

[bitofafiction]

"We ask nicely, of course," he says, loading a Pokétch app.

[the_very_best]

Bella waits. She doesn't think she has that one.

[bitofafiction]

She doesn't!

Sherlock says, "Random number between one and four, please," to his Pokétch.

It displays 3.

[the_very_best]

"What do I get?" Bella asks.

[bitofafiction]

"Random one to six," says Sherlock.

2, says his Pokétch.

[the_very_best]

"Okay. And our second and third tosses?"

[bitofafiction]

Bella gets 5 and then 4; Sherlock gets 4 and then 2.

[the_very_best]

"All right then."

Bella's first random toss is Fireflower, who is raring to go.

[bitofafiction]

Sherlock tosses Mycroft, who copies the Rapidash complete with mimicking her attitude.

[the_very_best]

Fireflower is offended. She's fierce when offended. There is considerable stomping and attempts at poisoning involved. Fireflower's also the one holding the Leftovers, which is a slight edge, and more so in a prolonged fight.

[bitofafiction]

This is definitely a prolonged fight.

[the_very_best]

Fireflower finally ends it with a vicious kick.

"Rapidashdashdash," she snorts.

[bitofafiction]

"Don't be rude," Sherlock says mildly, and throws his Porygon-Z.

[the_very_best]

"Rapidash," snorts Fireflower, and she hits the ineptly nicknamed You with a gout of flames.

[bitofafiction]

"We can't help the way we're made," Sherlock murmurs, and You hits back.

[the_very_best]

Fireflower goes down, but not without a fight. Bella's next toss is Branch. Branch knows a self-healing attack and can hang in there for a good long time, especially against You's defensively-oriented attack array. Long enough. Branch has no commentary on the situation, besides the occasional "Saw!" that roughly translates to "Rar! Gonna get you!"

[bitofafiction]

You holds its own nevertheless.

[the_very_best]

"Buck," says Branch unhappily as he succumbs to a particularly well-placed Tri Attack which outmatches the damage he was able to heal with his last Horn Leech.

Bella's next toss is Rachis. "Here's hoping your last toss is Irene and not Watson, but either way I can make you work for it," she says, and because You was most recently pretending to be Grass type to resist Horn Leeching, an Air Slash makes short work of the Porygon-Z.

[bitofafiction]

Sherlock's last toss is Watson.

[the_very_best]

"Of course. Of course it's him. You get out of range, Rachis," says Bella, snapping her fingers, and the Pidgeot flies high.

Rachis does her best to stay out of range, but her timing's not perfect, and a Thunder Wave leaves her grounded when Watson Thunderbolts her, and it only takes two instances of that before she's out of commission.

"Almost," says Bella ruefully. "Rachis could've taken Irene."

[bitofafiction]

"And yet," says Sherlock, collecting his Zebstrika.

[the_very_best]

"Mean old random number generator," laughs Bella. "Stuck my flier with your zapper. Oh well."