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The Absol was silently, quickly, and entirely obedient to every one of Randy's order; the boy himself was a pretty good trainer, too, at least in M.A.'s eyes.

"Abby! Scratch!"

Oh, schnap, Daemyn can't dodge it that close. "Lessen it with leer!" The Houndour glared at the Absol right before its attack, causing it to hesitate and lose a chunk of its original power. However, the attack still struck home, and Daemyn still took a hefty blow; this Absol was strong, alright, in regards to its attack strength.

"Hurry, ember!" M.A. hoped to take advantage of that moment where the Absol was a bit off balance after having hit Houndour. Randy, though, countered immediately, calling out, "Abby, quick attack!"

The Absol disappeared from view with its speed, safely dodging the Houndour's attack and tackling it in the side. Daemyn spun on the ground. He got up hastily, though, to have M.A. know that he was far from done; this particular puppy had quite a bit of endurance, and mixed with that stubborn attitude, he wouldn't stop trying 'till he and M.A. were the victorious ones.

Another fiery shot sent Absol sliding a good distance back. The battle, at the time, was pretty much a draw -- neither Abby nor Daemyn could get an upperhand on the other, and both were landing blows that they couldn't handle for too much longer.

Daemyn panted, waiting for M.A. to give him a command; Abby seemed to do the same with Randy. Both trainers, however, were racking their minds for a good combination that could end the battle for good. Meanwhile, the rest of the Winstrates were sitting on a picnic blanket nearby, enjoying the battle and an after-lunch tea.

Everytime that Houndour leers at Abby, his attack drops, and it's been going down bit by bit -- then, that mutt howls, and /his/ attack goes up. Not good. But I've got a way to stop this! Randy thought furiously. "Abby, use taunt!" The Absol swung his head around, pawing the ground boredly, as if stating that Daemyn was nothing; at the same time, however, it kept eye contact, daring the pup to make a move.

It worked; Daemyn would attack directly from then on -- however, he was also pretty pissed, and that made him more vicious in battle. "Ember!" M.A. shouted, and Houndour consented immediately. Without stopping, he continued to collect fireball after fireball in his mouth, aiming them at the Absol roughly with only a short interval in between shots. With Houndour firing so much by using the last of his reserves, Randy's Absol could hardly find a way to get close without getting hit. And so, he kept using quick attack to avoid as many shots as possible, but anyone could see that he couldn't keep that up much longer -- neither could Daemyn, however.

Randy yelled, "See if you can get to him, Abby! Use one last Scratch, and we'll be there!"

M.A. grit her teeth. "Keep it going, Daemyn!"

The Absol recklessly ran towards Houndour, taking the shots full-on but charging on nevertheless. He couldn't let Randy down, no. . . And, to Daemyn's surprise, he had broken through the last ember, sending a crashing blow to the Houndour with his sharp claws.

Both Pokemon fell hard, sending up a cloud of dust. It cleared shortly, though, revealing Houndour on the ground and Absol standing up shakily. It looked as if Abby had won, but. . .

In just a moment, the Absol fell to the ground, finally feeling the effect of all those attacks he had taken just to get to Daemyn -- he was knocked-out at last. The little houndour, however, propped himself up, panting with a lopsided grin when he saw the Absol before him. Then, with a hoarse howl that sounded like a laugh, he hollered to the sky that he, Daemyn, had won his very first trainer battle!

"That's some Houndour you've got there, missy," Mr. Winstrate had said, patting the pup (although Daemyn didn't appreciate it one bit, and might've bitten his hand too, if M.A. hadn't seen this and pulled him away hastily). "With Absol's Pressure, I was sure he'd run out of attack PP pretty quickly, and I think he did -- but he struggled on brilliantly anyway, and ultimately won, am I correct?"

"Quite right, dear," Mrs. Winstrate had chimed in. Our former theory of his being used to family agreeing with him was supported just then.

"Well, I'll take you pass those boulders, now, Mary-Anne. Let's go, shall we?"

Mrs. Winstrate and her daughters chimed that they'd love her to come back soon. The eldest, named Teresa, had taken quite a liking to Mary-Anne and had promised to call if she found any new Pokemon food recipes (of which they had been chatting amiably about before the match during lunch). "Good thinking, Teresa!" Mr. Winstrate boomed, voluntarily taking M.A.'s orange PokeNav out of her hands and quickly entering their house number. "There! Come by anytime." Mary-Anne could only laugh and agree heartily; even if the jolly old man was a bit over-powering, she liked him anyway.

The smallest daughter had offered Houndour some berries, to replenish some energy -- she had noted that he didn't look like he'd make it through the short trip to Mauville from there. Mary-Anne thought so as well, and had him return to his Pokeball for the first time in her journey so far. "Rest up a bit in there, alright? We'll be there soon." Daemyn didn't resist, as he had done back in the beginning; maybe it was that he had gotten over his distate for the limited space within a Pokeball, or perhaps it was just that new-found connection he had with M.A. Then again, he could've just been tired, too.