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"Do all Pokemon do that?" Aranxia asked curiously. She knelt next to the two, mindful not to get too close to the fidgety Ponyta. "Will Eon and Ponydash do the same?"

Andarien looked up anxiously. "It's night time, Eon might if we have another spar," he said eagerly. "Mi, can we? Please? Even if it's not a bit battle, just something to see if Eon will evolve too?"

"It could be interesting," Jess smiled. "I've never seen them battle or spar or anything, even with how long we were on the ship."

"Oh, do let's go see," River said excitedly. "Come on, we've been on the ship for so long, I need some air if I'm going to sleep tonight anyways!"

Andarien nodded and stood up again.

"Come on, Eon, come on Pony," he called his Pokemon.

Ponydash followed him quickly, but Eon was rather enjoying his tongue bath (for so it almost seemed) and it took him a moment longer to get up again. If he were a cat, he would have been purring up until Andarien had called him.

River, Jess and Aranxia also followed, and since of course Jess and River were walking together, Aranxia walked with Miyuki.

"I hope there are no serious injuries," Aranxia murmured softly to her cousin as they headed towards the courtyard.

"I guess we'll find out," Aranxia said softly as they made their way into the courtyard.

It was quite cool outside now - cold, really - and a light snow was falling softly. But because of the walls, there was no wind, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Aranxia felt the cold most of anyone, despite the thick, warm dress she was wearing, and she rubbed her arms to warm herself. Perhaps they ought to have gone for some cloaks first, but if she went now, it was likely that everything would be over by the time she found her way to her room and back out here again. Jess and River didn't have that problem: they just stood very close together, and Jess put one arm around River.

"Let's go to the same spot where we were earlier," Andarien suggested, leading the way further into the courtyard.

It was dark out there; the only light came from the glow of candles in some of the windows, though what little moonlight there was reflected off the snow and gave enough light for them to see by.

Aranxia was already shivering, but she didn't complain as they made their way to the other end of the courtyard.

"You guys better wait over here," Andarien told Jess, River and Aranxia as they approached the paved area. He blinked when he spotted that Aranxia was shivering. "Oh ... Ponydash, use your flame body ability," he instructed the energetic Ponyta. "Keep the others warm."

Ponydash trotted over to stand just in front of the three, and suddenly his body burst into flame. It looked like he was on fire, though it wasn't having any effect on him. It worked, though: Aranxia quickly stopped shivering, and the orange glow of the flame illuminated the smile that was now on her face.

Eon stood next to Andarien and looked up at him, waiting for his instructions.

"I will," River offered.

Andarien nodded and stood facing Miyuki and Ai. "Ready, Eon?" he asked the Eevee quietly.

Eon turned to face Miyuki and Ai as well, and braced himself to begin. He yipped once to let Andarien know that he was ready.

"Go!" River shouted.

"Eon, quick attack!" Andarien shouted right away. He knew how the move had worked earlier that day, and he wanted to see a few things: first, if Eon would still be faster than Ai, considering the fact that she had grown; secondly, how Ai would react, since she was different now; and third, if it being night made any difference (he wasn't thinking yet that Eon hadn't yet evolved).

All of that aside, with Eon's speed, Quick attack was a good first move.

Andarien saw the difference in their speeds right away, and he knew that Eon was going to be hard put to win this battle. He wasn't ready to give up, though.

"Double team!" he ordered Eon, even before either pokemon had landed a quick attack.

Eon sped up even more and moved in irregular patterns, making it look like he was in multiple places at once, all the while making his way closer to Ai for the quick attack he'd begun. Ai was now three times his sizes but that didn't slow him down.

But Eon was used to quickly moving targets - did he not usually have Ponydash as his opponent? - and timing his move well, he threw himself at Ai, aiming to hit her directly in the chest for maximum damage.

"Bite!" Andarien shouted, now that Eon was nice and close. Hopefully he would get in one more attack before the pokemon distanced themselves for their next attacks.

Eon bared his teeth and aimed for Ai's nearest leg.

Eon's teeth sunk into Ai's leg, and when Ai turned around to bite him, he kept himself latched on to keep himself out of her reach.

"Don't let go!" Andarien shouted at Eon. "Scratch!"

Keeping his teeth tightly clamped, Eon bared his claws and scratched at whatever part of Ai he could reach.