Lucki

t

She recalled the dark type as Winona released a tropius.

"Go, Flare," Lucki decided.

"Body slam!"

"Dodge, quick!"

The tropius lowered its head and charged. Flare rolled out of the way as Winona called, "Stomp!" The grass pokemon reared up sharply, then struck Flare hard with one thick leg, pinning him.

"Ember!"

Still pinned, Flare shot a ball of flame directly into the underbelly of the tropius. It let out a cry and twisted to get out of the scorching heat, landing heavily on one side. Flare scrambled up, freed.

"Flamethrower!"

While the tropius was still struggling to get back on its feet, Flare hit it again, the flames engulfing half its body a moment.

"Earthquake!"

The tropius struck the ground with its forelegs. A second later the ground under Flare trembled, then shot upward. Flare's legs crumpled under him. He started to get up and half fell again.

"Another earthquake!"

The ground hit him again, tossing him several feet like ragdoll. He managed to get to his feet, moving unsteadily.

"C'mon, Flare, you've got the advantage! Use flamethrower again!"

"Fly!"

Flare inhaled, but the tropius had jumped upward as its wings began to beat, allowing it to become airborne a second before the stream of fire would have hit. It zoomed up to hover near the ceiling.

"See if you can hit it, Flare!" Lucki told him.

Flare shot another flamethrower upward, but the flames flickered out well before reaching the grass-flying pokemon. He tried throwing an ember attack upward, but the ball of fire guttered out along the way, dissipating barely three-fourths of the way there. Lucki sighed. I guess he's not strong enough.

The tropius dropped suddenly, executing the second half of the move. "Flare, use flamethrower, quick!" Lucki called, but he wasn't fast enough to manage before the tropius hit him headfirst, sending him tumbling almost out of the arena himself. He pushed himself halfway up with his forelegs and sent out a white blast of flame into the tropius. Its chest blackened and the wings on one side shriveled up. The grass type let out a cry and crumpled to the ground.