Inferna had barely even finished speaking when Celes charged, shooting forward with a burst of speed that Sorin wouldn't have thought possible under normal circumstances. He groaned internally at Celes' seeming lack of strategy. One could not simply race at Inferna recklessly, especially if they hadn't even taken the time to feel out the Charmeleon's tactics.
Inferna's reflexes were superb, as always, and her stance shifted immediately. Sorin wanted to shout a warning, but to his surprise, Celes jerked backwards at the last second, Inferna's claws slashing the air barely a hair's breadth from the Flareon's ears.
Sorin exhaled, releasing a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. Had the Flareon not reacted accordingly, the Charmeleon's claws would have connected and left one hell of a mark, if not worse. Inferna herself seemed surprised by her failed strike, because she didn't immediately follow through with another blow or jab, giving Celes precious time to retreat another few paces.
Sorin, on the other hand, kept his eyes on Inferna. He had no delusion of actually defeating the Charmeleon in battle. Combat was not his forte, and he already could tell that Celes was no champion-to-be, either. She was reckless and headstrong, spurred on by emotion and stubbornness rather than any real strength. If what she said of her clan was true, he doubted they devoted a lot of time to battle training, meaning she probably didn't have much practice against a real opponent.
Inferna's blue eyes glinted wickedly, and Sorin took a deep breath in a vain effort to calm his nerves. It had been several years since he had actually fought Inferna, in what he initially had assumed was a casual sparring match, only to swiftly discover that 'casual' was not a word in the Charmeleon's vocabulary. Her viciousness was unparalleled by any other Pokemon he had met, before and after. She was a dedicated claw combatant, and seemed to revel in seeing the damage her claws could inflict upon her opponents.
If there was anything positive to be said for Inferna, it was that her bloodthirstiness had its limit. She was utterly merciless, but to his understanding, she never aimed to fatally injure her opponents, nor severely cripple them. She much more preferred the ability to gloat and taunt a beaten, injured foe than to permanently disable them. Sorin suspected she liked the notion of rematches too much to risk eliminating potential entertainment.
Inferna dashed towards Celes and feinted a jab towards the Flareon's shoulder, then abruptly spun on her heel, sweeping her burning tail beneath the fire Eon's forelegs. Celes stumbled, but even as she recovered her footing, Inferna seized the tuft of fur on the top of her head firmly in her left claws. With a triumphant grin, Inferna raked the claws of her right paw viciously across Celes' cheek, forging a crimson gash that leaked tears of blood to match the pained tears in the Flareon's eyes.
Anger coursed through Sorin like electricity, and he pitched his body towards the two Fire-types. Inferna's attention was entirely held by her opponent, presuming that 'victim' wasn't a more appropriate term. Without time to form a coherent plan of attack, Sorin struck with the only thing he had at his disposal - his entire body. He spread his wings wide and collided with the Charmeleon, immediately wrapping his cloud-like wings around her as tightly as a child would hug a stuffed animal.
The amusement in Inferna's eyes went out as swiftly as a campfire flame smothered by a mountain of dirt. For the next few agonizing seconds, she seemed completely taken aback. Sorin had seen that kind of blank uncertainty before. Nothing was quite as effective for soothing a raging temper than an Altaria hug. It was almost funny to see that even Inferna was not immune to the overwhelming softness of an Altaria's wings wrapped around her like swaddling blankets.
Almost.
The blank look was rapidly replaced with cold annoyance, and Inferna opened her mouth. Sorin realized what was about to happen moments before it did, but with his wings draped so tightly around Inferna, he had absolutely no change of disentangling himself before she struck. A blast of flame erupted from Inferna's mouth, intensified seemingly by her anger alone, and the cloud dragon yelped in pain as the fireball scorched his face and neck. A second fireball forced him to release his grip on the Charmeleon, and he cringed as her claws struck him in the gut immediately afterwards.
Blue eyes burned with contempt and Inferna twisted her claws cruelly, glaring into Sorin's eyes as she withdrew her paw. Sorin gasped sharply, shielding his torso with one of his wings, and using the other one to stem the bleeding.
"That wasn't a Dragon Claw," Inferna whispered coldly. Sorin could only nod mutely. Dragon Claw would have done significantly more damage and caused him enough pain to leave him writhing. The Charmeleon snorted, then stepped away from the fallen dragon Pokemon, returning her focus to Celes, who had recovered from the earlier assault.
The Flareon lunged at Inferna, and attempted to dart around her with a burst of speed, but either the Quick Attack was poorly executed, or Inferna predicted the movement, because Celes tumbled across the grass painfully instead, courtesy of the Charmeleon's outstretched leg. Inferna snickered.
"You two are utterly pathetic opponents," she sneered mockingly, even as Celes stumbled back to her feet. "I expected entertainment if I was fighting two-on-one."
"Then back off if we're so boring," Celes snapped. Inferna smirked.
"And miss the chance to crush you into the dust?" she mocked. The Charmeleon extended her arm forward and flicked her claws towards herself in a 'bring it on' gesture, a wicked grin spreading across her muzzle. Celes growled, her fur bristling.
"Stop it!" Sorin urged, but the Flareon paid the warning no mind. She barreled forward, flames emitting from her mouth and licking at her paws, the heat of the fire somehow adding a burst of speed to her charge.
Inferna grinned and darted forward, facing the charge head-on. The two Fire-types collided, and tumbled to the ground together. All Sorin could make out was the flashing of claws and gnashing of teeth as they clawed and bit at one another like feral Pokemon. He was abruptly very glad that he was the only Pokemon witnessing this, because he didn't fancy the consequences of observers making commentary or inevitable puns.
Because really, how many male Pokemon could resist the opportunity to call the situation 'hot', and then grin like idiots?
Celes let out a yelp as Inferna kicked the Flareon away from her, both of them now sporting a number of scratches, but it appeared at a glance that the close proximity had prevented either of them from taking greater injuries. Inferna's scales were tough enough to withstand the Flareon's teeth and claws, and the Flareon's thick fur was enough padding to keep the Charmeleon's claws at bay if she couldn't use them to their maximum effectiveness.
Inferna was grinning eagerly, in sharp contrast to Celes' exhausted panting. Sorin winced. It seemed that Celes didn't have that much stamina in battle, either, whereas Inferna would have significantly higher energy reserves. This all but confirmed his theory that Celes had not received a very good battle education at her clan, and he had no idea how long she had been traveling before she had stumbled upon him.
"Okay, stop, break it up!" Sorin urged, double-checking his wound to check if it was safe for him to lift off the ground again. The injury stung, but the bleeding had stopped, at least for now. Still, it would be better to wait a little longer before trying to go airborne again, so his best bet was that they wouldn't need physical intervention.
"I will, but she has to concede," Inferna sneered. Celes gave her a withering look, and Sorin could clearly read 'over my dead body' in the Flareon's eyes. "Unless she's stupid enough to insist on being torn apart," Inferna added.
Celes hissed something under her breath that Sorin didn't hear. Inferna seized the Flareon's left ear and yanked her head up, leaning in close with a menacing growl.
"What was that? I don't think I heard you right," Inferna snarled, tracing a claw threateningly across the Flareon's throat.
Celes' eyes widened, and for yet another first since Sorin had met her, she seemed terrified out of her wits. She stammered for a few seconds, her eyes darting about desperately. Sorin froze in place, not even daring to get involved.
"I...I surrender?" Celes managed, her voice squeaking nervously.
"Damn right you do," Inferna sneered, releasing the Flareon's ear, and Celes flopped to the ground, whimpering in pain. Sorin tensed as Inferna turned towards him, but she merely smirked and then tapped her tail against the Flareon's muzzle. "Pay up."
"What?" Celes squeaked, but she was regaining a little of her composure.
Inferna's eyes glinted wickedly. "Kiss my tail."
"...seriously?" Celes wondered, regarding the Charmeleon's tail with the same wariness that one might show towards an Ekans.
"It's what I said, isn't it? If you didn't like my bargain, you could kiss my tail after I've crushed you," Inferna sneered. "Or did I not crush you enough?" she asked, flexing her claws idly.
Celes continued to look uncertain, and she glanced towards Sorin, her eyes silently begging for instructions. Sorin shrugged his wings and gave a slight nod. The Flareon sighed, then very hesitantly pecked the middle of the Charmeleon's tail and backed off extremely quickly. That seemed to satisfy Inferna, because she just smirked.
"Get the hell out of my territory, fluffy," she ordered, her cold blue eyes glittering with amusement. "Sorin will catch up in a minute."
Again, Celes met Sorin's eyes, and he nodded quickly, jerking his head in the direction of their destination. Without a word, the Flareon hurried away. Sorin never took his eyes off Inferna. Anxiety churned in his gut, followed by spasms of pain from his injury. Once again, he had no idea what Inferna was planning, and it made him even more nervous to be alone with her.
"Last time I agree to fight two-on-one," Inferna grumbled. "I thought it'd actually be challenging, but instead, it's just a chore. Got to watch two different people, make sure you're not interfering with your teammate or leaving yourself open."
"Isn't that the point? To split your focus as a challenge?" Sorin asked. Inferna scowled.
"No. Not when one of the opponents is pathetic, and the other is holding back because his teammate is stupid. You'd never be dumb enough to try that wing embrace against me normally."
"What did you expect from me?" Sorin asked, unable to keep the annoyance from his tone. "You know I can't beat you."
Inferna snorted. "I was going to give you a handicap to make things more fun."
Sorin gave the Charmeleon a skeptical look. "A handicap? Like what?"
Inferna considered him for a moment, then smirked. "A free Dragon Dance." Sorin blinked, and the Charmeleon's smirk widened. "You do have that technique, don't you? You'd have to, if Kuro's to be believed, because I sure don't."
Sorin's expression shifted from surprise to oblivious confusion in the span of a second. The name sounded vaguely familiar, but at the same time, he didn't recognize it. Which meant it probably was a name he had heard, but had never met the person, sort of like that Weavile that Kaito kept mentioning. Lin, or whatever her name was. It was so much harder for him to match names without faces.
"Who?" he asked.
"Tch. Never mind," Inferna snorted. "But that was going to be my offer. Would have certainly made the battle much, much more fun."
"Is the minute up now? Am I free to go?" Sorin asked nervously. He didn't like the glint in Inferna's eye, and although his wound had mended enough to actually trust his flight abilities, he wasn't fool enough to try to escape Inferna's presence without being dismissed.
"Yeah, get lost," Inferna said, waving her paw dismissively. Sorin waited a moment, half expecting her to retract the statement, but when it didn't happen, he nodded and carefully flapped his wings, lifting himself up from the ground and back into the air. As he turned to follow after Celes, Inferna's voice stopped him. "Oh, and Sorin?"
"What?" the Altaria asked warily, chancing a look over his shoulder at the Charmeleon.
"Feel free to come through on your way back. I'll let you both slide by unscathed."
Sorin narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Once again, he doubted that Inferna would be that accommodating, not without some sort of price or catch attached. Considering how disappointed she had been with this battle, the thought of her letting them go through her territory again with no strings attached was ludicrous.
"What's the catch?" he asked warily.
"Well, since you asked," Inferna drawled. "You can let her know I'm in the area."
"Why?" Sorin asked, his feathers bristling. He wasn't even going to pretend he didn't know what Inferna was talking about.
The Charmeleon snickered. "I assumed that was something she always wanted to know. Are those days over? How disappointing. I thought for sure she'd be itching for a rematch by now. So I'm encouraging you to send her my way, since you have the fortune of knowing my whereabouts."
"I'll think about it," Sorin retorted, in a tone that clearly communicated that he'd do no such thing. Inferna smiled coldly, an expression that was somehow more terrifying to witness than her smirk, or even a look of anger. Despite this, her words were still laced with amusement.
"Be sure that you do, Sorin. I'm looking forward to it, and it would be unwise to disappoint me."
The Altaria shuddered, and without another word, hurried after the Flareon. He wanted nothing more right now than to put as much distance between himself and the Charmeleon as possible. Only once Inferna was out of sight did he allow himself to slow down and refocus on his destination.
How was he even getting roped into these situations?
