Hello, again.
This time, the matches won't be quite so 'clean.' They'll still be matches, but the boundary between official match and street fight will be closer than the others so far (although the other 'clean' will be in Hinata's fight).
And as for the flashback of Nikorra vs. Isaribi, the main thing Nikorra's up against is Isaribi's resentment, not her fists.
Don't own Naruto or Pokemon.
Pokken Round 4
The Konoha contingent wondered just what Kurotora, Hinata, and their respective opponents would bring to the table, though they doubted it would completely compare to what happened during Nikorra's match with Isaribi the previous day.
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"Begin!"
Isaribi instantly went on the attack with "Ice Beam!" and her running right after it.
Nikorra responded by ducking down, lunging forward, grabbing the girl, spinning, and tossing her away for a quick breather. "Calm down, will you?"
Isaribi growled. "Not when I can finally deal with you. All I wanted was to be human again!"
"Human's a matter of perspective, you stupid girl! Flamethrower!" Nikorra retorted, punctuated with a stream of flame. "I still consider myself as such!"
Isaribi dodged the fire. "But you weren't some freak that no one cared about."
Nikorra deadpanned stupendously as she caught Isaribi's arm. "I was originally the Container of the Nine-Tails, a guy, and born on the night of the Kyubi Attack. I've got you beat."
Nikorra gut-checked her, followed by a "Shadow Claw!" that grazed her face, forcing Isaribi back. The Zoroark Were'mon then turned curious. "Real quick, do you happen to know the name of the person who told you they could cure you?"
A bit off-set, Isaribi replied "Not really, but they were in a hidden lab in Sea Country."
One look at Anko got Nikorra to sigh. "Girl, you've been had. He lied to get you to work for him."
"Liar!"
"Then why did Anko Mitarashi, Orochimaru's former student, recognize the location you mentioned?"
The last thing Isaribi knew before waking up in the infirmary was herself looking in curious confusion at said women, wondering What does she have to do with any of it?
XXXXX
Unfortunately, all they could really do was hope Anko could get through to the girl.
Not to mention that it was Kurotora's turn, followed by Hinata, so they did need to focus on the present.
Kurotora stood bipedal, and with a pale, gray body. He bore a bright red crown and collar made of wide feathers, a single, thinner feather on each ear, two tail feathers and three claws on each paw. A yellow, oval marking rested in the center of his forehead. His eyes are red with three eyelashes, and four fangs protrude from its upper jaw.
His opponent was a draconic, bipedal Pokémon, primarily orange with a cream underside from the chest to the tip of its tail. It had a long neck, small blue eyes, slightly raised nostrils, and two horn-like structures protruding from the back of its rectangular head, with twin fangs visible in the upper jaw when its mouth is closed. Two large wings with blue-green undersides sprout from its back, and a horn-like appendage juts out from the third joint of each wing, with a single wing-finger is visible through the center of each wing membrane. Its arms were short and skinny compared to its robust belly, and each limb had three white claws. It also had stocky legs with cream-colored soles on each of its feet. The tip of its long, tapering tail burned with a sizable flame.
Sai's look of concern started the conversation about the upcoming fight. "I'm not too sure Kurotora can win this."
"It'll be rather tough, considering Charizard's type advantage and air superiority." Nikorra acknowledged. "But he should be able to at least make Charizard work for it, as long as he keeps his wits about him."
"Though he does have land speed going for him." Hinata added. "So he'll be tough to hit."
That calmed Sai down just in time for the match to begin, with Charizard "Flamethrower!" from the air and Kurotora dodging. "Ice Shard!"
That turned out to be a test shot, seeing as he then "Agility! Icy Wind!"...from right below.
Charizard bugged out as he fell, clearly in pain, while most of the onlookers sweatdropped.
"Really?" Nikorra asked out loud for at least the group.
When Charizard finally recovered enough for it, he glared. "What the hell, dude! I may be a Fire type, but there was no reason to hit me there of all places!"
Kurotora shrugged. "Had to ground you somehow-Icicle Crash!"
The smaller Pokemon flipped into the air and pushed a sizable chunk of ice down towards Charizard, who couldn't counter in time to melt it enough. The following "Night Slash!" was caught without a problem, though.
"My turn. SEISMIC TOSS!" Charizard shot up, carrying Kurotora, before spinning once and throwing the Dark-Ice type to the ground. This caused a cloud of dust to form around the resulting crater (though it wasn't too big).
A few moments later, though, Charizard felt something wrong with his wings as a weak chuckle came from Kurotora. "You lose."
Charizard figured out what was wrong when he felt his wings suddenly give out, sending him careening into the ground: the joints were somehow iced over.
Kurotora struggled to get up to a kneeling position, and pointed a claw at Charizard. "Dark Pulse."
It hit just right to knock the Fire-Flying type out, though it did leave Kurotora unable to get back up without assistance.
"Winner, Kurotora!" got Sai in particular to breath out in relief before moving to the infirmary to be there for his Pokemon partner.
Nikorra, in the meantime, whistled. "I know I wasn't directly doubting Kurotora, but still, that was surprising."
"I'll say." Sayuki agreed. "Somehow, he was able to freeze the wing joints on Charizard long enough during the Seismic Toss that all he had to do was aim the Dark Pulse correctly and win."
"Though his attitude towards hitting Charizard in the balls with Icy Wind detracts some, partly thanks to this being a tournament instead of life-and-death." Hinata reminded, then addressed Hikari. "Though if anyone tries anything with you, Hikari, that spot should be the first place you attack. As you saw, it hurts."
Hikari nodded, not needing to say anything. The results spoke for itself.
Nikorra kissed Hinata good and hard for that and as good luck for her upcoming match, followed quickly by Sayuki.
And considering what Pokemon she was about to face, she felt I need all the luck I can get.
Her opponent's a bipedal, draconian Pokémon that is primarily dark blue in color, with a red underbelly from the lower jaw to the middle of the abdomen, including the undersides of its arms. A patch of gold comes to a point below the red on its belly, and a golden star shape adorns the tip of its snout. Horn-like appendages adorned it's head, giving it an appearance similar to a hammerhead shark, helped along by its large mouth featuring razor-sharp teeth, a large dorsal fin, and another on its tail that resembles a shark tail-fin. The feet had three white talons, and each arm a single large, white claw for a hand. Curved fins sprout from the arms, creating wings that were surprisingly flight-worthy. Pairs of small, white spikes protrude from its upper arms and legs, and there are gill-like slits on the sides of the neck. The eyes were intense, with black sclerae and gold-colored irises.
However, two detail in particular got Hinata's attention when she had a proper look: the Pokemon, officially known as Garchomp, was female, and "Like what you see, huh?"
"Let's put it this way," Garchomp told her in a distinctly female voice, despite the minor rough undertone thanks to her typing, "humans aren't the only ones that find interest in both sides."
Hinata perked up a bit at that. "See Mistress after we're done here, and we'll see."
Garchomp returned an interested smile before turning serious again. They did have a fight to get to.
"Begin!"
The pair charged at each other, calling "Psychic!/Sand Tomb!"
Garchomp was sent flying, while Hinata was surrounded by swirling sand that stung. Didn't do anything to her clothes, though.
"For the record, not a big fan of sand baths." Hinata remarked when she managed to disperse it. "Maybe a special mineral mud bath, but not sand."
"Mud Slap." was the response, right to the face and chest.
Hinata deadpanned behind covered eyes. "Really? Now?"
"Hey, you said you preferred mud over sand." Garchomp laughed.
Hinata sighed, then launched the mud she was covered in back at her opponent, followed by "Swift!"
"Great." Garchomp braced herself for the barrage, arms crossed in front of her. When it was done, "I admit, I deserved that-"
She was cut off when she suddenly felt Hinata's palm on her stomach, aided by "Psychic!" as the Were'mon proceeded to pick the Pokemon up and slammed her into the ground.
Practically everyone had to wince at the resounding thud from the impact.
"Okay, to be honest, that had to hurt, and that's not something you'd normally expect from a Psychic type." Zygarde remarked about what just happened.
Garchomp kicking Hinata away, though, was much more expectable.
As the Pokemon picked herself up, she growled "So that's how it is. Game on, then. Dragon Rush!"
Kushina whistled, while Sayuki "I'm starting to wonder if they're actually in a Pokemon battle instead of something like a mud wrestling match."
"I think Hinata's more testing Garchomp, considering it's a girl." Nikorra responded. "Plus, it's a Dragon/Ground type. Dragons especially tend to need a bit of a stronger hand."
"Ah, the dominating via fighting. Forgot about that." Sayuki realized what Nikorra was talking about.
The exchange continued, both trading blows. Hinata, partly on account of her Pokemon side, surprised a good many that knew of Espeon.
It isn't exactly the endurance/physical type.
Doesn't stop them from getting into the spirit of things, though.
However, a few minutes later, the pair started slowing down, clearly running out of steam.
When they finally split to take a breather, Hinata panted out "Impressive."
"Same for you." Garchomp returned, panting just as heavily, only to stiffen upon hearing Hinata say You're in. "Psybeam!"
"Winner, Hinata!"
Hinata called out to Zygarde "You mind if I forfeit now? Running more or less on fumes here."
"Fair enough, so Kurotora will be heading to the final match."
That was Nikorra and Sayuki's cue to move and help Hinata get a chance to rest.
Kurotora: canon Sai had shown some issues in working with certain social cues/norms, so it isn't much of a stretch for a Pokemon partnered with Sai to have at least some similarities in that regard.
Hinata: combination of the mud to the face in the middle of a match, and understanding her opponent's typing. I mean, she is up against a DRAGON TYPE of all things.
That's all for now. Until next time, please R&R.
