Few things gave Devine greater pleasure than the sight of an adversary's smug expression crumbling before his very eyes. Well, a number of things served as close competition, but when it came to simple, emotional pleasures, such imagery was divine.
The Leafeon's smirk widened further, showing off both fangs for the onlookers to enjoy. Circe hadn't yet realized the depth of her folly, so puzzlement and skeptical wariness were the dominant expressions on her face, but that would soon change. Leaf's physical traits were not particularly impressive, but when augmented by Devine's power and mentality, there was no accomplishment beyond his reach.
Devine focused energy into his body and spun on his heel so swiftly that he was little more than a blur of tan and green. His tail blazed with green energy a moment before cutting across Circe's body. The Salazzle recoiled with impressive agility, but a thin gash opened along the purple scales of her left thigh, deep enough to cause pain, but too shallow to spill blood. Devine's golden-brown eyes flicked towards the wound, unfazed by the relative ineffectiveness of the attack.
Circe's eyes narrowed, and Devine smirked, relishing the shift in the poison lizard's demeanor. She was coming around to recognizing him as a potential threat. Funny how a simple Leaf Blade tended to have such an effect.
"Seraphina," Circe stated to the air, prompting the bone-wielding Pokemon to glance in their direction. "Be a dear and entertain our other friend. I'm afraid I'm going to have to discipline this little one."
The Marowak gave a curt nod and lunged towards Astrid, swinging her newly retrieved bone club towards the Absol's hind legs. With reflexes bordering on precognition, Astrid pivoted her body and deflected the blow with her enlarged scythe horn. The recoil from impact knocked Sera slightly off-balance, and Astrid gleefully tackled the Marowak to the ground, her tail wagging with unrestrained enthusiasm as they wrestled one another for control. Devine would very much have liked to spectate, but the Salazzle was unfortunately of greater importance.
Circe crouched down onto all fours, her pale purple eyes gazing intensely at Devine. Her tail swished above her head, and purple-red flames erupted along the underside of the appendage, perhaps intended to be an expression of dominance or for intimidation, but ultimately a fruitless effort.
"Might be a species cultural thing, but got to say, getting on all fours and raising your tail isn't typically a show of dominance among quadrupeds," Devine commented, flashing Circe a single-fanged smirk.
"Devine!" a female voice admonished, her words echoing within his head like a telepathic message, but Devine paid it no mind. He was far too excited to be bothered by the objections of his peers. He could tolerate Nettles badgering him, since she was Leaf's dominant consciousness, and had the greatest claim, but he preferred if she at least wait until he acted out of line before trying to rein him in. Until that point, her protests were little more than an untimely nuisance.
Circe opened her maw and spat a burst of flame in his direction, but Devine rolled sideways to avoid it, maintaining momentum until he landed back on his feet. Circe launched another fire burst towards him, but Devine didn't bother to move this time, watching with blatant amusement as the spear of flame soared past his shoulder to harmlessly strike the wall behind him.
The Salazzle blinked, evidently taken aback by how easily he had seen through the adjustment to her aim, but the surprise didn't last long. With a shrieking battle cry, Circe spat a barrage of fiery projectiles towards him, each launched at a different height and angle than the previous one, thinking this would ensure at least one would strike true. Devine grinned as energy flooded into his body.
The fiery bullet hell tactic was...amusing, but ultimately misguided and wasteful. A pale green aura engulfed his body, and time seemed to slow down all around him, so that he could clearly distinguish where each of the fiery spears were positioned. The first was coming at him head-on, so he nonchalantly stepped to his left. Circe had obviously anticipated such a dodge, so the second and third spears were on either side of the first attack, but as fast as she may have been in launching her fireballs, the fact remained that they had not been fired simultaneously, a detail he intended to exploit. Devine took a few steps forward, until he had gone past the first projectile, at which point he stepped back to the right, putting him just a few feet ahead of his starting position, with the first fireball behind him, and the second and third projectiles on either side of him.
The heat of the flames singed his tan fur as they soared past him, and Circe had been so focused on overwhelming him with a scattershot of projectiles that the majority of her remaining fireballs failed to come anywhere near his final position. By the time she realized her mistake, she was out of breath, and had no time to prepare another attack before Devine pounced and slammed the Salazzle's head against the stone floor with his body weight.
A twitch ran through Devine's body, and he immediately leapt away from Circe, a moment before her scales ignited. Heat licked at the pads of his paws, but the psychic warning had ensured his escape from a more painful outcome. He landed gracefully behind the dazed Salazzle, smirking nonchalantly as she rose onto her hind legs, her tail lashing violently behind her.
Circe turned towards him, and he saw that her smug expression now lay in ruins, replaced instead by a frustrated glare that thrilled Devine to his very core. Her eyes had narrowed to slits, but what she still hadn't seemed to grasp, however, was the ineffectiveness of her pheromones on Devine, because she was still expelling wisps of the sweet-smelling fumes. Maybe she had noticed the way he kept eyeing and sizing up her figure, but she was mistaken if she believed he was entranced by her sireny ways. She had a beautiful body, sure, and Devine relished the opportunity to simply look her over, but he was beyond her ability to manipulate.
A smirk tugged at the Leafeon's muzzle. Even discounting what had happened to Shadow, he was obligated to punish her for even attempting to twist him to her will. It was time for him to take this match to the next level.
Devine drew in a deep breath and focused. His body shimmered briefly, and a sphere of sunlight rose into the air, bathing the entire chamber with rays of light. The Leafeon's body drank in the sun as eagerly as a wanderer coming across an oasis in the desert, revitalizing his drooping sprouts and leaves. Leaf had not yet learned how to utilize Sunny Day for himself, but it hadn't taken Devine long to figure out how to mimic Frost's use of the technique, although he had to admit that kissing Flake's tail for pointers had been a profitable venture on its own. Ever since Devine had realized how much Leaf depended upon sunlight to function at his best, picking up the technique for his own use had been top priority in his book. Now the time had finally come to see the results in action.
Circe's eyes narrowed further, and she regarded the Leafeon with even greater caution than before. An eternity seemed to pass during the brief moments they spent sizing one another up, but the sounds of scuffling in the background kept Devine's perception of time rooted in the present.
"Um...Sunny Day also boosts Fire-type attacks," Briar pointed out worriedly, the male's voice echoing within his mind in a similar fashion to Nettles' earlier message, but at the same time, it sounded slightly far away, as if Briar was talking to him from across the room instead of at a closer proximity.
That detail aside, Devine was briefly confused as to why such information might have been relevant, even when paired against a Fire-type opponent, but a sudden increase of room temperature alerted him to the problem. He chanced a glance over his shoulder and saw that Astrid's Marowak opponent had immediately capitalized on the appearance of sunlight, as the ends of her bone club were now blazing with intense green flames.
Astrid was not faring well at all. Her strength was visibly waning, despite the persistent surge of blue-green energy engulfing her body. Every movement she made seemed to be causing her physical pain, disrupting her focus, and making her movements sluggish, which may have been the only reason Sera hadn't been defeated already. With a smug grin, the black Marowak hurled the bone club towards the Absol, the baton spinning so rapidly that it seemed to be an enormous wreath of ghostly fire.
With noticeable strain, Astrid countered by launching a Dark Pulse from her mouth, tendrils of darkness crackling around the greater sphere like static, and the two projectiles met in mid-air. At first, the attacks seemed to be struggling to push against one another, but it didn't take long for the bone to break through the sphere of darkness and continue on to whack Astrid in the forehead, despite a last-ditch effort to deflect the Bonemerang with her horn.
Astonishingly, Astrid did not keel over on the spot. She staggered back a few paces, tears of pain trickling from her eyes, but despite all odds, she remained standing. Sera caught the bone club in her paw on its return trip and blinked incredulously at the Absol. Then Astrid's body swayed, and although she briefly regained her balance, she ultimately tipped sideways and hit the ground limply. The energy surrounding her body immediately dispersed, and the transformed features reverted to normal.
Devine felt a surge of emotion rushing through his chest, a byproduct of Nettles' indignant anger, and even without hearing any comments from his peers, he had a feeling that Briar was trying to calm her down. They had already known that Astrid was likely to fall at some point, due to the instability of the energy she was tapping into, but that didn't make it any easier for the emotional subconscious to swallow.
Although Devine himself experienced little, if any, of the residual anger on a personal level, his drive to continue the battle with Circe intensified. Even in a pacified state of awareness, Leaf craved retribution for Astrid's defeat, in addition to his pre-existing desire to avenge Shadow's injury. It was clear to Devine that, on some level, Leaf consciously recognized that he was all that remained who could fight, and that was what the young Leafeon wanted to do, more than anything else at the moment. He wanted to fight, and deliver a sound beatdown to those who had harmed his friend and brother.
Devine licked his fangs eagerly as he turned his attention back to Circe. If that was what Leaf wanted, then who was he to deny him the ability to achieve those desires? It didn't matter if the drive came from Nettles' passionate emotions, or his own selfish whims, the desires Leaf carried within his heart would always inspire Devine to take action. Pale green energy surrounded the Leafeon's body as he continued to soak in the revitalizing rays of the solar sphere.
"And here I thought you couldn't possibly muck things up worse than you already did," Devine mused, setting his jaw to expose his right-side fang to the Salazzle, and then growled, his fur bristling and his overall demeanor becoming significantly more feral and aggressive. "You could have avoided all of this by simply committing to an arrangement, like I wanted, but now you've gone and caused Astrid to over-exert herself...and it just so happens that I'm personally invested in her well-being."
"Be careful, Devine," Briar warned seriously. "Don't lose sight of the goal. You are making this an endeavor for your own satisfaction, rather than actions that benefit the whole."
"And what's the harm in that?" Devine retorted softly, vaguely aware of the fact he was speaking aloud, but unconcerned by the implications of doing so. "It is the end result that matters, but if I enjoy myself a little in the process, what difference does that make?"
"You're going to mess up Leaf's maturing process," Nettles answered nervously. "N-not everything you do at the reins gets filtered out, and while I know that the uh...instinctive desires are your territory, you're too heavy-handed, and that's going to trickle down and confuse his emotional development!"
"I concur," Briar stated, and Devine rolled his eyes. Leave it to Briar to try to come off as smarter or more insightful than the rest of them. Briar was the only one of the trio to have not yet evolved, which made his insight come off as under-developed or childishly naive at best. He may have been the 'eldest' of the consciousness trio, but that in no way made him the one with the most influence.
What did Devine care if Leaf got a small taste of normal instincts? Circe had flooded the room with female pheromones, and even if Leaf did not consciously understand the significance of the chemical, his body was maturing to the point where it soon wouldn't matter whether he understood biology or not - instinct trumped all. The sooner such instincts developed, the better off Leaf would be, either because it would force Shadow to address the matter, or it would encourage Leaf to actively seek answers, when he was still at an age where asking questions of authority figures was not deeply embarrassing. Understanding would lead to preparing and coping, which would lead to a healthier future.
Battle instincts were not much different. Leaf needed to be able to understand when emotionally-charged behaviors were inappropriate. Nettles was impulsive and emotional by nature, and it should be Briar's role to correct those behaviors by establishing a moral code dictating when or how those emotions should be handled. Otherwise, Leaf would either repress the emotions until Nettles snapped under pressure, or he would need to tap into Devine's power on a regular basis.
It was deliciously ironic, really, that everyone seemed to believe that Briar was the voice of reason among the trio. He was the mediator and moral compass for the young Leafeon, but that did not make him the logic-minded member of the three. Morality was a set of restrictions, loosely connected to emotions and feelings of empathy, but morality was not inherently logical.
A twitch ran along Devine's spine, bringing his full attention back to the battle at hand. Circe had seized the moment of his distraction as an opportunity to spit a concentrated glob of purple gunk towards him. Disregarding common sense, Devine charged forward with a burst of speed, ducking under the projectile, and then he slammed his head against the Salazzle's stomach. Circe grunted and stumbled back a pace, only to immediately spin on her heel, her tail glowing with an intense blue aura. Devine sensed the threat in time to retreat, but Circe's bonus momentum from stumbling gave her the edge, and she whacked her tail against his side with enough force to throw him partway across the room.
The gravel-like texture of the stone tiles and debris left a painful scrape along his tan fur, but Devine couldn't be bothered to check whether or not he was bleeding before another warning bell sounded from the back of his mind. Acting on instinct, Devine rolled sideways, gritting his teeth to stifle the pain of rolling over the coarse texture of the floor, but the maneuver proved sufficient, and a fireball struck the place he had been occupying a moment before. Devine winced as the air temperature rose by several degrees. A second fireball followed close behind the first, and Devine rolled again, this time maneuvering his body to get behind one of the stone pillars scattered around the room, putting a barrier between himself and the poisonous lizard.
Pain seared from the scrapes and future bruises left upon his body, but Devine shook himself to force the thoughts aside. His golden-brown eyes flashed with annoyance, and he licked his right-side fang absently. The limitations of Leaf's body were becoming painfully evident, something he scarcely noticed during his previous instances at the helm. In those situations, his control had been restricted to a brief window of time, none of which had required extensive use of combat abilities.
That said, if there was anything that Devine prided himself on more than anything else, it was his adaptability. It was in his nature to be self-indulgent, and in pursuit of such simple pleasures, he was the most willing to experiment, or push for his peers, and Leaf by extension, to try something new or risky. The advantage of such adaptability was that if often enough suited the interests of his peers as much as his own. Neither of them could have taken out Diablos in the forest, or have willingly engaged Circe. Those tasks had been left for him, because he alone had the traits necessary to accomplish them.
With a smirk, Devine stepped boldly out from behind the cover of the pillar, and stepped confidently towards Circe. The Salazzle's mouth curled into a wicked smile, evidently pleased to see that he wasn't running and hiding like a child.
"Is it possible to get a high off your pheromones, love?" Devine wondered nonchalantly. Circe cocked one eye inquisitively, but the way her mouth was twitching may as well have been an affirmative. "Tsk, dangerous tactic...what happens if a male opponent defeats you?"
"I don't like where this conversation is going," Briar said seriously, but Devine ignored the interruption. Contrary to what Briar presumed, that was not the point of the Leafeon's question.
"Males are subservient to their Salazzle mistress, dear," Circe answered matter-of-factly. "They do only what I permit, and act only as I wish. A rebellious male is always dealt with and punished as appropriate, if not by their mistress, then by their peers."
"That's what I thought," Devine practically purred. "If I defeat you, every male in range will seek me out and retaliate."
"That's right. Rewards exist solely for the obedient," Circe crooned, her tongue flicking like a snake's, tasting the air as if to judge the potency of the surrounding fragrance.
Devine's smirk widened, showing off both of his fangs. "We shall see," he stated simply.
The Leafeon focused, and the sphere of solar energy hovering overhead dipped down and became re-absorbed into his body. Almost immediately, the shimmering green energy that surrounded his body intensified, and Devine cringed as the Leafeon's metabolism accelerated, converting the solar energy into fuel for his body, and expelling clean oxygen as a byproduct. Given enough time, this would purify the air tainted by the Salazzle's poison, but for now, all he needed was to clear his head a little bit.
Devine lunged towards Circe, moving far faster than he had earlier in the battle, to the point where Circe lost sight of his movements entirely. He was at her side in an instant, and his tail glowed with faint pink energy, right before he spun around and slashed the glowing leaf across her thigh.
A deep gash opened across the Salazzle's scales, and she dropped to one knee, a pained hiss escaping her throat, but not a drop of blood was spilled, for the burning energy that coursed around his tail had sealed the wound as swiftly as it had been opened. Nevertheless, the searing pain experienced by the victim was considerable.
"What the hell was that?" Circe demanded, clutching the wound with one of her long-fingered paws. Tiny wisps of smoke rose up from the gash, as if it had been burned by something acidic.
"You know...I don't think there's a true equivalent," Devine mused thoughtfully, and he grinned at her bewildered expression. "It was a Leaf Blade infused with psychic energy."
"You're a Leafeon, you can't use Psycho Cut," Circe hissed, her eyes narrowing.
"Oh, I know," Devine answered nonchalantly. "It's not really a Psycho Cut, though. It's literally Leaf Blade infused with psychic energy. I've been trying to come up with a name for it...leaning towards 'Devine Blade', which seems egotistical, but I think it's pretty appropriate considering its base. You just can't really tell it's a Leaf Blade at its root because your scales resist Grass-type techniques."
"Leafeon can't use Psychic-type attacks," Sera interjected, brandishing her bone club aggressively in his face, one end of the baton igniting, but Devine didn't so much as flinch, despite the proximity of an active flame.
"Stick that in my face again, and I'll find a new place for you to stick it," he warned the Marowak crisply. "And I assure you, I'll enjoy it FAR more than you will."
Sera's jaw dropped as she recoiled from the Leafeon, but the aggressiveness of her stance did not lessen in the slightest. She twirled her bone club in her paw, watching him through narrowed eyes.
"Show me that move again," Circe ordered, and Devine bristled at her tone. "I'll make it worth your while," the Salazzle insisted.
"No, you won't," Devine retorted, and his eyes flashed. "You had your chance to make me an offer; the time for negotiations is long over."
"Have it your way," Circe sneered, and she spun on her heel, her tail again glowing with the intense blue light. Devine kicked off the ground, leaping over the Salazzle's tail and descending upon her as she completed the spin, his own tail shimmering with the same pink and green energy as before. Without the slightest hesitation, he slashed his tail across her torso, leaving a deep gash across her midriff. Like before, the burning energy sealed the wound shut without spilling more than a little blood, but the pain was severe enough for Circe to fall backwards, both paws clutching her wounded gut. Devine landed on top of the poison lizard and shoved his forepaws against her shoulders, going through the motions of securing a pin, albeit one she could probably break out of by virtue of her being almost twice his size and weight.
"Ignite your scales at your own risk," he growled, making eye contact with Circe and leaning in uncomfortably close, brushing the scales of her neck with his fangs. He would definitely be able to sense such danger in time to retreat and then retaliate, and he doubted Circe would actually be so dense as to assume he was bluffing. He had already demonstrated multiple times during this battle that he had some sort of precognitive abilities, and if she hadn't put the pieces together by now to understand he had access to psychic powers, then she was hopelessly stupid.
"Fine, I admit defeat," Circe said, in the tone of someone who was forfeiting a match out of boredom, but her purple eyes glinted mischievously. "And what are you going to do now that we've proven that I'm...beneath you?" she asked, flicking her tongue.
"Devine. Devine. Devine. Devine," Briar rapidly recited, adjusting his inflection with each repetition of his name, making it nigh-impossible to block out. Devine rolled his eyes. He had no idea when Briar had discovered that unpredictable sounds were harder to ignore than a consistent drone, but he was not amused by how this knowledge was being applied.
"Nothing," the Leafeon answered nonchalantly. "Maybe just linger for a minute to savor the victory, and maybe cop a feel of your tail when I depart, but-"
"Her tail's ugly!" Nettles protested, sounding legitimately offended.
"Nettles, that's far and away the least effective justification for your objection," Briar sighed. Devine smirked and again brushed Circe's neck with his fangs, but paused as a brief chill passed over his body, and Sera inhaled sharply. He glanced curiously over his shoulder and saw that eerie blue energy had surrounded the Marowak's body, and Sera's breathing was slightly labored, her eyes wide with bewilderment.
"Did you just try to Spite me?" Devine asked incredulously. Sera didn't say anything, but her glare was answer enough. With a smirk, he refocused upon the Salazzle pinned beneath him. "Ooh...was that why you wanted to see my custom technique again? To have her leech my strength?"
"No, I just wanted to see it again," Circe answered, blowing a wisp of poison into his face, only for the smoke to seemingly rebound, and her nostrils twitched. "You're a far more interesting opponent than I imagined," she mused.
"Mm...and you were about par for what I expected," Devine replied casually, growing bored enough to release Circe from his pin, but true to his word, he caressed the Salazzle's long tail from its base to the tip before moving away from her. He knew he was going to receive an earful from his peers for that, but as far as he was concerned, it was totally worth it. "Now get-"
He paused mid-sentence, his ear twitching at the sound of voices nearby, and footsteps descending the spiral staircase leading into this room. Both Circe and Sera stiffened for a moment, the Salazzle rolling over on all fours and then rising onto her hind legs.
"Ah, the humans have finally followed the trail here," Circe crooned, clapping her paws together lightly.
Devine growled and moved to take a defensive stance beside Shadow. If that little twerp Marcus even considered throwing a Pokeball at his unconscious brother, then he would gladly 'remind' the youth about what happened the last time he tried that crap in front of him.
