The Birds!

South of Issac's position, Ridley and his Natrelmon - mainly, his male Goll, the one he didn't have to return to Eien - were strolling along the plains. They weren't looking for anything specific - a wild encounter, a Trainer battle - but both of them were eager to test their skills. Suddenly, Goll squawked loudly, having just sighted Issac's Omu on the horizon.

Increasing his speed to a fast walk and just below a run, Ridley and Goll headed towards the Omu, and soon enough, Issac came into view. Goll flew ahead to greet the Omu, screeching loudly. Birds were naturally territorial, but the plains was neutral territory given the lack of trees, and Goll regarded the Omu warily rather than act aggressively.

"Challenger, would you like to battle? We both have birds of roughly the same growth and this is a clear, sunny and natural arena, where we would be on an even footing. What do you say?" Ridley called from his position, having stopped a few feet away from the resting Issac. Overhead, Goll squawked defiantly again, issuing a clear challenge.

"I am Ishmael Ridley, but I go by my last name." Ridley said slowly, carefully correcting the repetition that so often plagued his sentences. It wasn't easy to overcome such an ingrained habit, but he did it. Stepping back, he reflected upon the apparent confusion his opponent had. It might have been a clever diversionary tactic to appear inexperienced and confused - or it could be correct, but that didn't necessarily mean he was bad. Only the battle would show, however.

Goll flew towards Ridley and turned around, at the same height as Omu. "Let the battle begin." Ridley intoned, waiting for Issac to move.

"Goll, languid Gust! Then, weak-fast Aqua Shot!" Ridley called calmly, a second or so after Issac had said his command. Although the command was oddly phrased, and didn't quite make sense as far as the adjectives were concerned, Goll understood perfectly. It fired a weak Gust towards Omu, who had just started flying towards Goll. Meanwhile, Ridley stood ready to intervene with a Feeble Wall, as did Goll to dodge.

Then, as the Gust was halfway between them, Goll spat a weak, but very fast, Aqua Shot at the Gust. It collided with the Gust, and the trauma of the collision combined with the weak cohesion of the Aqua Shot combined the attack into around twenty droplets, which were carried onto Goll. It was extremely fast and, combined with the Goll's momentum, would probably make it a hit. However, it was weak, and not critically damaging.

Issac's retaliation was more or less identical to Goll's original move, but that didn't mean it was any less effective. "Goll, disrupt, rise and Aqua Shot!" Ridley said calmly, as Omu began to halt its forward movement in preparation to defend itself. Goll nodded, unnaturally adept at interpreting the implied meaning behind vague commands. It fired off another Gust, which would hit Omu's attack just as it began and, while not rerouting the attack or damaging the bird, would disrupt it for a good margin.

Then, Goll exerted enough effort to rise in the air, high enough to evade the retaliatory attack by a wide margin. Then, as the Gust met Omu's attack, Goll fired an Aqua Shot directly at it. Because, as had been stated, it was busy using Gust to reroute the attack to Goll's previous position (it could not change in time, given the wide distance between attack angles), it would be impossible for the Omu itself to block, although the Trainer could certainly intervene.

"Goll, intercept with Aqua Shots!" Ridley snapped, trying to hurry the Omu around so he could create a window of oppertunity with which to win. As the Goll rose over the combined Aqua Shot and Gust attacks, Goll moved forward, closing the distance between them and stopping around five feet away, on a diagonal. As Omu attempted to rise, Goll fired two Aqua Shots, one towards the front and the other above. They were placed so that if Omu moved forward or up, it would still be hit, but if it remained stationary, both Aqua Shots would clip it. It was possible given the shortened distance. It also wouldn't have enough time to dodge, given the high speed of Aqua Shot and the small distance. Meanwhile, Ridley remained ready to intervene with Feeble Wall.

After the Aqua Shot was fired, Ridley watched the Omu continue to rise and suddenly decided it didn't want it to get higher than Goll. Thus, he ordered Goll. "Goll, match Omu's speed and stay above it!" Ridley said calmly, not knowing Issac's strategy and not caring. As the Aqua Shot was blocked by the Feeble Wall, Goll complied and continued to rise. Because both birds were of equal level and build, it would be physically impossible for the Omu to get higher if Goll matched its speed, which it would.

However, Issac assumed that Goll could only dodge the Bullet Seeds by going left and right. "Goll, dive!" Ridley called briefly, Feeble Wall at the ready. Goll immediately stopped rising, as Issac hadn't specified how fast his Omu was going. Thus, they were both rising quite leisurely. Then, Goll plummeted, folding it's wings for extra speed. It dove smoothly under the Bullet Seeds and under Omu, shooting out the other side and looping in midair in order to regain its sense of direction. There was little the bird could timelapse.