Q&A

Is this Feather Head?

- Kinda. This is the Gym Battles and maybe (not yet decided) the Contests Battles of Priya Cinaed. They follow Feather Head but I didn't put them in the main story as to not drag it out. Still, I really like imagining up battles so I will be writing them all and putting them here.

What is Feather Head?

- For first time readers of my work, Feather Head is my main story featuring Tobius Wright's Pokémon journey with his troublesome Murkrow. .net/s/5670448/1/Feather_Head

So then who is Priya?

- Priya is a Fire-type trainer from the Orange Islands out to collect both badges and contest ribbons. She's the second-to-main human character of Feather Head. Her starter was the Vulpix, Atria.

This chapter is from before Priya met Tobius. She'd spent most of her time as a trainer just training and exploring. She'd finally found a Pokémon to add to her team; Deimos the Houndour. The only other Pokémon she has are Atria the Vulpix and Ferno the Arcanine (this is also pre-egg or contest ribbon). Enjoy :)

Priya stood at her side of the field. This was the first Gym she'd ever been in and she couldn't help but feel minuscule. The battle field was filled with tall grass and thick trees around the border. The perfect home for Bug-types. She wished the battle wasn't being film but it was either on-screen and money winnings plus TM, or off-screen and you just get the TM. Airing battles was how Gyms made their money. Well, television time and seats. Priya looked down to see her Vulpix eying the people who watched from the spectator stands around the field.

"Don't mind them, Atria," Priya said to her Vulpix. "This is just another battle. Just us."

"Vul!" Atria barked at her trainer. She looked a little relieved as she returned her gaze to their opponent.

"You sure you want to do this? I mean, there's a reason most trainers take me on second," Bugsy taunted.

"I'm sure," Priya called. She was a Fire-type trainer after all. It made more sense for her to start here. Besides, Bugsy couldn't be that much older then she was. How hard could this be? The crowd cheered and Atria became distracted once more.

"This official Gym battle between Bugsy the Azalea Gym Leader and Priya Cinaed, the challenger from Pyre Island, is about to begin. The Hive Badge is at stake. This will be a three-on-three match," the referee called from the sidelines. "The challenger may substitute her Pokémon but the Gym Leader may not. On my command both sides will release their first Pokémon simultaneously and the battle will commence immediately. And," the referee raised his hand while both Priya and Bugsy raised their Pokéballs, "GO!"

"I choose you, Spinarak!" Bugsy called as out popped his Spinarak.

"Blaze up, Deimos!" Priya called as she released her Houndour.

"Dourrrrrrr," Deimos growled.

There was a pause while both trainers waited for the other to make the first command. Priya decided to go first.

"Okay Deimos, Ember!" Deimos responded immediately with his small flames.

"To the trees with String Shot!" Bugsy ordered. With surprisingly quick reflexes the Spinarak shot sticky strings from its mouth which hit the closest tree. It quickly pulled itself towards the branch and out of Ember's path.

"Ember, again!" Priya shouted. The Spinarak had not stopped as it shot another string from its spinneret to another branch and continued to move around the field as such.

"Dour," Deimos barked. Ember after Ember missed and Deimos was getting increasingly irritated.

"Hold off, Deimos. Lets wait for that thing to come to you," Priya ordered. The annoyed but still obedient Deimos closed his jaw with an audible clamp and gave a throaty growl.

"Looks like they're wising up, Spin. Poison Sting!"

"Spin, arak," the still swinging Bug-type launched a Poison Sting attack.

"Dodge!" Priya called. Her Houndour leapt out of the way.

"Slow 'em down with String Shot, Spinarak."

"Spinarak!" It swung towards Deimos and released a String Shot. Deimos sidestepped the first but the Bug-type launch two more that covered a good amount of space. Deimos' paws became covered in sticky String Shot goo.

"Drr!" Priya's Houndour growled in irritation. It tried to keep an eye on its opponent while attempting to remove the mess.

"Poison Sting again, Spinarak!"

"Spinarak!" the Bug-type squeaked as it again swung towards Deimos and let loose its attack.

"Ember at those needles!" Priya called while mentally hoping that her idea would work.

"Dour!" Deimos barked with his Ember attack. Not only did the Poison Sting get cancelled by the Ember but some of Deimos' flames struck the little Bug Pokémon.

"Spin," Bugsy's Pokémon cried as it retreated back to a tree.

"Full powered Ember!" Priya ordered when shes aw that the Bug had lost it's dodging speed.

With a devilish smile Deimos took in a deep breath and released his Ember attack with flames a little bigger in size. With a weak cry of pain the Spinarak fell to the grass. Priya sort of heard the referee call the win but her mind was a sea of 'I can't believe we're winning our first ever Gym battle!'

"Awesome job, Deimos!" Priya called with a small jump of excitement.

'Vul, vulpix," Atria called, imitating her trainer's jump.

"Hound!" Deimos barked. He looked very pleased with himself and let out a winners howl.

"Now don't get ahead of yourselves," Bugsy called. "Go, Scyther!"

"Scyther!" cried the tall Bug-type.

Crap, Priya thought to herself.

"Scyther, use Quick Attack!"

"Dodge, Deimos!" But her Houndour was too slow. Moving almost too fast to see, the Scyther hit twice before Priya called, "Ember!"

"Double Team and Agility!" Bugsy called. "Just try an peg my Scyther now."

"Scyther, Scy," Scyther called as it seemed to split into three clones which each sped around the field. Deimos growled nervously.

"Scyther will have to come to you Deimos. When it attacks grab it with Bite!" Priya ordered. Deimos crouched into a ready stance.

"Wing Attack!" Bugsy called. His Scyther clones came at Deimos from three different angles at once.

Priya had been sure that would work but, not that she could see with her human eyes, Deimos had both aimed to Bite a clone and entirely missed. With a high pitched yelp Priya's Houndour flew to the side and rolled through the tall grass. The Scyther clones continued to circle the battle field. Still, Deimos was stubborn and refused to accept defeat against a Bug so he pushed himself back up. Priya knew she shouldn't have made that previous move. She had acted stupidly and now Deimos looked like he'd collapse at any minute. Better late then never.

"Prepare Counter!" She called. Deimos nearly tripped but steadied himself and started to glow with Fighting-type energy.

"U-Turn, Scyther!" Bugsy ordered as he held up two Pokéballs.

"Scyther!" The attack hit. Deimos, too weak to use Counter, flew into the air before hitting the ground hard. The Scyther glowed red and returned to its Pokéball as another Pokémon came out. Priya barely noticed who the new combatant was or that there was a no switching loophole. All she could process was how beat up her knocked out Houndour looked.

"I'm so sorry Deimos. Return."

"And that's why bugs are the best," Bugsy said with a laugh. That was enough to snap Priya out of her train of thought. Like a flip of the switch her sadness turned to red hot anger directed at the Gym Leader. This was his doing. He would pay. Unknown to Priya the same red hot anger burned within her growling Vulpix as well.

"Show that thing who's boss Atria."

"Vul!" The Vulpix jumped high into the air. She somersaulted and landed gracefully with her head held high and her tails spread out and waiving just slightly. The crowd roared at the Contest-like entrance though none could see exactly how the Vulpix had landed as the tall grass, which had only been up to the Houndour's neck, concealed her.

"To the trees, Metapod!" Bugsy called. With a leap and a String Shot the Metapod pulled itself to a tree branch. It now had a clear view of where Atria was.

"Wait for it Atria," Priya said. Her Vulpix growled in acknowledgment.

"Iron Defence, Metapod"

"Pod."

"Wait for it..."

"Vullllll..."

"Now show 'em what an iron hard Tackle feels like!"

"Meta, pod!" The rock hard Metapod launched itself at its opponent.

"Side Iron Tail!"

"Vul!" Atria jumped and spun sideways as her tails glowed with Steel-type energy. With a loud clang iron hard Tackle met Iron Tail.

"What!" Bugsy cried as his Pokémon went spinning out of control. The Metapod hadn't taken that much damage but injury hadn't been the point.

"Flamethrower!" Priya ordered. The Metapod was still rolling along the battle field as Atria hopped back into the air and released her blast of fire. The Vulpix put everything she had into the attack which left a wide circle of cinders. At the center of the blackened area lay the sizzling Metapod.

The referee called it as Atria howled for joy and Priya did a little happy dance. Just one more to go.

"Your turn again Scyther, go!"

"Scy!" the Bug hissed as it returned to the battle. Unfortunately its height gave it an advantage in this field. Still, Vulpix didn't have those big ears for nothing.

"Lets win this quick, Flamethrower!" Priya called.

"I don't think so. Agility and Double Team!"

"Scy," the Bug called as it easily maneuvered around the flames before splitting into three once more. Once again three Scyther clones circled the battle field at blinding speeds.

"Fury Cutter!"

"Flamethrower!"

Flamethrower after Flamethrower missed as Scyther attacked then retreated then attacked and retreated. At first the cuts seemed it be ineffectual, but each attack was more powerful then the last.

"Iron Tail as a shield!" Priya ordered. With another loud clang the Fury Cutter met the steel tails that were being used defensively. The change was enough to momentarily throw the Scyther off.

"Quick Attack!"

"Vul!" Atria barked as her attack hit at close range.

"Flamethrower!" Unfortunately the slower flames were easily dodged by the Bug-type.

"Slash!"

"Vul..." Atria cried as she went sailing through the air. The attack had come at lightning fast speeds and impossible to avoid. The Vulpix then tried to stand up on wobbly legs before crashing to the ground.

"Return, Atria," Priya said as she returned her Vulpix to its Pokéball. She quietly added, "Thanks so much. You really did well."

"You might as well give up now. Not even your Fire-types stand up to my Scyther," Bugsy called.

"Scyther," the circling Bug clones agreed.

Priya smiled. "Blaze up, Ferno!"

"Arrrr!" The ferocious looking Arcanine growled as it landed on the field and snarled furiously at the circling Scythers. Even Priya could tell the Intimidation had worked as the Scyther's movements faltered a bit. The field's tall grass didn't bother this huge beast one bit.

"Slash, Scyther."

"Scy!"

"To the side and Odor Sleuth, Ferno!"

"Arrr." Ferno tried to move out of Slash's way but the attack still made contact. Luckily it wasn't a direct hit. The Arcanine took a deep breath in and Priya could tell he'd sniff out his target by the sharpness that appeared in Ferno's eyes.

"Slash again!"

"Scy!" the clones chorused as they turned around to attack again.

"Step and Aerial Ace!"

The large Arcanine had movements like a feline and managed to entirely dodge the Slash. Ferno seemed to fly over the field and hit the real Scyther, causing it to lose its balance.

"Fire Fang!" Priya commanded.

"Double Team!" Bugsy ordered. The Scyther split itself again but Ferno knew his target. Flame-cloaked fangs caught the Scyther around the waist. It went rigid with pain before going limp. Ferno uttered a dark growl before it flung the Pokémon at its trainer.

The Arcanine bounded back to his trainer as Bugsy gasped and the referee made the final call. Priya buried her face in Ferno's warm mane and scratched her Pokémon joyously. The crowd's cheering might as well have been white noise.

"So how 'bout a victory howl?" Priya asked, looking into one large Arcanine eye. Ferno gave her a giant, slobbery lick before leaping back to the center of the field. There, he reared up to his hind legs and let loose an echoing howl that reverberated throughout the stadium. In that moment he was as mighty as an legendary, and he made sure everyone knew it.