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There was a line. Not a long one, as not many people stuck around to sign up when the motherload of obesity stepped up. Ma, as she was called, had arrived in Castelia. The line? For an annual eating contest. Maybe it was people's imaginations, but the ground appeared to quake with her steps as she approached the end of the line.

"Name please?"

"Ma."

"No, miss, your real name."

"Ma." Impatiently said.

"Can I see your I.D."

"Here you go." She handed it over and the man checked it. It did indeed say Ma as her first name. He handed it back and wrote it down.

"You'll take seat one." No, really, the place practically evacuated when she joined the line, the only people left was the audience.

((Feel free to sign up, people.))

As soon as the Eevee hit the earth, Chari lifted her foot and stomped it down, hands moving out to her sides, then upwards; the banjo dropped, disregarded.

Not quite so easy, then. Good.
The Torkoal's feet rose, and around it, the cloud thinned, as if pushed by a breeze; the soil around him dried, subject to profound heat, and cracked, desert-like.
Salem's head emerged from the earth....
Chari gave a wordless, inarticulate scream, and stamped again.

Let's see how she likes this.
Friar Sand gave a deep-throated, reptilian roar, its foot slamming down.
At the impact, the earth rang like a bell, cracking and splitting, radiating outward; the Eevee's upward momentum, as the soil fell away around its feet, began to flag. Friar Sand was suddenly standing on an isolated tower of ground, surrounded by chasms, and the Eevee, on nothing at all; within the chasm, flying rock, sharp as daggers, was flung about in the teeth of the earthquake.

The short-lived canyons were collapsing.

Friar Sand roared again, a scream of primordial rage, echoing like thunder. As the smog settled down, seeping into the earth- heavier than air- sparks began to grow in his vents. Small puffs of gas, seeping in, flared and burned.

Chari, her face fixed in a rictus grin, lifted both arms and closed her hands into fists, then opened them wide, flaring.

Unless she could escape both the closing earth and the flammable gas, Salem was in trouble.

Fleya let out a sigh and rubbed her head lightly,"I think it will be easier to walk plus more leg room compared to the bus." She says moving to the doorway and onto the bridge. She would soon make her way across the Skyarrow bridge and into Castelia City. Once back into the salt water scented city she would head into town heading for one of the shops to restock and trade some of the goods she picked up.

"Uppercut," Henrietta said. It wasn't a pokemon move order, but the strategy was clear.

Darumi swung himself up, using Kai's grip as a hold, his body shifting, he'd use his other hand, extending it and pushing against Kai's incoming thrust, tiny fingers gripping longer ones, his body twisting as he moved above Kai's arms.

And now Kai was completely exposed, his arms below Darumi who hurdled the mere inch between them with the force of a jump, head still ignited, he'd swing it out for Kai's jaw.

Mere inches away, there was no time for Kai to do something other than dodge before dodging.

So, as the smoke poured out, Kai's jaw would be caught by the fist. Why? Because the timeframe didn't allow Kai to move at such speeds to do whatever he wanted in set up.

Kai's body would thus fall backward as Darumi emerged over the cloud of smoke. All he had to do to ensure a hit on the falling Kai was blast everything, right?

So, Kai would hit the ground and Darumi would give him no time to return to his feet, instead releasing the wide fire attack, Incinerate, to hit him and his escape routes.

Salieri folder her arms and twitched her nose behind her bandanna. The cloud was a nuisance. It put Salem in constant danger and it stopped her from being able to get a clear view of what Chari was doing. From here, it looked like she was dancing. Crazy old lady…

Then the cloud separated at the center, and for a brief moment Salieri viewed what looked like an earthquake occurring as her Eevee came up from the ground towards Friar Sand. “Looks like she doesn’t know her own strength-“

Wait, that’s not her move.

As Salem realized the ground around her was shifting out of her way, and that she had lost enough momentum that she couldn’t reach the Torkoal with her attack, her eyes widened. The brown pokemon flailed in the air in a naïve attempt to swim through it to get to Friar Sand and dodge the flying rock shards, but found herself falling shortly after.

Thinking fast, Salem got a tentative grip on the side of one of the chasms. It was slippery, but she would be able to pull herself up onto solid ground with a ravine in between her and her enemy.

Salieri squinted as the cloud began to recede into the earth. The cloud had another purpose? Her mind raced a mile a minute to try and figure out what was going on. And then she realized all too late.

She ripped her bandanna off her face and lurched forward, screaming at her Eevee. “Move!”

Salem poked her head up over the chasm when she heard the order. Curious, she looked down behind her at the sparks flaring through the smog cloud. She gulped.

[Oh boy.]

BOOM!

The cloud exploded into a blazing mass, blowing Salem sky high. Smoke lined her frame as she fell back to earth near Salieri, rolling to her side and struggling to get up. Salieri grit her teeth.

That set up…damnit, we walked into that trap from the beginning. Salieri returned to her usual smirk, although she looked more impressed than arrogant. The Battle Girl tried not to let her expression show her true feelings. “Not a bad move, Chari! Salem, can you still go?”

Salem braced herself, getting back on all fours and nodding slowly. The attack had taken out more than half of her hit points. Salieri doubted she could take another. But she was still trying, and that was what mattered.

“Okay! Get to the sweet spot!”

And like her first move, Salem jumped at Friar Sand with a Quick Attack. This time she flipped through the air, becoming a blur of a brown wheel while positioning her tail to slam on top of Friar Sand’s skull. Just like in tbe beginning.

If she got off her hit, the plan would be to climb on top of the Torkoal’s back from there with her previous momentum. Chari had said before that the vent there was grown over. Which was why the Torkoal used his side vents.

Salieri assumed this meant it was a safe zone to attack from. But now that she saw what Chari was capable of, she was beginning to give her plan some seconds thoughts.

Chari nodded her head, pleased at the results of her tactic; all had operated more or less as planned. And, very likely, would continue to do so. Salieri offered her congratulations- gracious, but a poor quality in a warrior.
"I'm pleased you find it so, dear; it's nothing special, really."

She drew her forearms together, as if shielding herself from a blow, as the Eevee made her rapid way across the field.
She has enormous velocity; but momentum is only a friend if you control it.
The brown blur streaked towards the Torkoal, unstoppable. Friar sand, meanwhile, appeared to withdraw slightly, eyes tightly closed; deep within him, a drum-like rumble could be heard, as of a meditating monk.
A sharp eye might just have discerned a discoloration in the air around him, like a heat shimmer.

Salem's motion continued, a few feet away from the fire-type....
And rebounded, slamming into a dome of force that crackled with crimson light. Friar Sand sat in the center of it, unharmed, and still in its meditative state, shifting slightly to make sure a chasm was between itself and the Eevee when it completed its newly revised trajectory- not an especially potent defense, but a point to consider, nonetheless.
"Patience, dear...that's the key..."

Chari drew her arms apart and to either side, palms upward, as if lifting something- whatever move that signified, it couldn't be anything good, but Salem would have a short while to head it off, if she could recover from the failure of her swift strike.

Now was the moment the battle hinged on moments and swift decision; the Eevee heavily injured, but the Torkoal- beneath his hard exterior- not without a scratch or two as well.
_____________________________________________________

In a little-regarded cellar, not far away, but far enough...

Phobos was floating upside down, single eye fading to a pale pink of despair. Matters were not going entirely according to plan.

Her attempts to teach Deimos how to use her technique had, at first, met with nothing but brief bursts of pure spiritual energy, or brief flares- surprisingly, in hindsight- of pure flame.
Hours later, he had managed to produce a fitful, purple-tinged flare. Just one- once. He was, doggedly, continuing to practice, and occasionally a burst of fearful violet radiance testified to limited success. Very limited.

Phobos, realizing he could learn little more directly, had retired to attempt her mistress' modifications to the technique.
Rendering the flames ethereal- able to pass through objects- had not, in most respects, been difficult, although the process had left her feeling...drained. The resultant flames, however, had simply hovered, fading in and out of sight, where they were created.

Concentration was growing difficult, but she had reached into herself, tendrils of black smoke roiling around her. She closed her great single eye...

And beheld another plane. The objects in the cellar- crates and discarded mattresses- appeared as outlines, black-on-black; the flames she had created, however, flared a brilliant white, dancing...yes, dancing. Like Chari danced. Like something alive. She reached out, slowly, bemused, and drew them close to her bony face...they faded through it, with a sensation like an embrace, but unlike....and felt her strength return. She turned her gaze on Deimos.

Deimos was a bonfire of glittering diamond highlights; and inside him, brief flares of muddy gray...
She floated towards him, startling him- drew him close, like a lover- which, in a way, he was. Her touch clarified the flame within him, brightened it, sharpened it.

They stood face-to-face, and between them, a flame grew; she opened her eye and beheld it...a sphere of light, like a candle seen through fog. Even in her ordinary vision, it held that dancing, capricious quality. When she drew near, she felt it reach out to her.

Yes dance burn yes mother yes your enemies to burn yes your heart to enkindle yes mother

A note like a song rang out between the two, and more spheres, smaller, but still dancingly alive, flared into existence and jumped their way across the cellar, fading in and out of sight.

Yes mother yes love yes always dance yes all to burn all to burn all to burn for you mother yes

Friar Sand's immobility suddenly flared into movement; his head reared, his massive beak opened, in a soundless shriek; his eyes, beneath heavy ridges of bone, were the deep red of banked coals.

There were chasms, on every side- directly in front of the Torkoal, behind, to the sides, spreading out in every direction, on all sides of both combatants; now sealed, for the most part, but still present.
Each of them began to give forth a baleful red glow, as the bubble of energy began its flight.

In Friar Sand's eyes, events moved at the tempo of flickering flame; swift and sure. In the air he could see the currents of oxygen, waiting to be concentrated, brought into crimson life.
In the earth he could feel the moving-rock, far below; the heart of the planet. Beating in time with his own. He reached out, drew it up; brought it close.
The ancient thoughts echoed like a drumbeat.

Come to me, heart of the earth; come to me, stilled-flame, moving-rock.
The chasm just before his face vomited forth a torrent of molten rock, a geyser of heat and light.

A lava plume.

The bubble of gas impacted, and was consumed.

Channeled by the cracks in the earth, guided by the earthquake's aftermath, the magma burst forth on every side, fitful spouts and sputtering fountains of tar-like rock and glimmering liquid flame.

The expression on the Torkoal's face might well have been a smile.