Battling; the best medicine!

Saibrah sat on a rather uncomfortable stone bench, located in the hub of Ward. Volcannon was laying leisurely at the bench's side, heat slowly drifting from its cannon. Rubbing his arms, Saibrah reflected on his recent encounter. ~I have to be more careful. Carrying Thura was a stupid idea, it kept me immobile and stiff. Be smarter with your Natrelmon, Saibrah.~

He wasn't in a good mood, a strange phenomenon for someone like Saibrah. ~Maybe a battle would cheer me up..~

Samuel walked through the streets of Ward, his broad shoulders hunched down to make himself less of an imposing sight. It didn't work, really. People still turned their heads to gape at the towering man. Samuel was used to it by now, but... he still didn't really like it that much. Of course, the shining Albion resting on his shoulder might have also been a contributing factor to the stares. He had come to realize that the tiny dragon was actually quite rare in these lands and was considered a great asset in breeding. This information caused Samuel to begin thinking that he might want to look into that kind of stuff...

But for the moment, he decided to take a quick rest in a square surrounded by benches. He saw, out of the corner of his eye, another trainer with a Volcannon just like his own sitting across the square.

Saibrah's head perked up as he saw the giant Samuel, with a small dragon perched upon his shoulder. Volcannon remained uninspired, but got up nonetheless as Saibrah sprang to his feet. "Hey, you! The one with the Albion!" Called Saibrah. It attracted some stares, but those people who were interested were quickly caught back up in their own, mediocre lives.

"Want to battle?" Saibrah was now only seven or eight feet from Samuel, Volcannon trotting behind, ridden with the ennui of Ward. As Saibrah moved, his bruises sent his back into a minute spasm, yet he showed no hint of it on his expression. "So? My Volcannon against your Albion. I need a battle to pick me up and you look like a good fight. Let's go." He was being rather abrupt, as desperate for a battle as he was.

The other trainer's callout made Samuel's head rise in surprise. He watched as the shorter man made his way through the thin crowd, Volcannon at his heels, towards where Samuel was sitting. At the other trainer's challenge, those who were still in between the two quickly got out of the way and made a rough square around the two. Obviously, Natrelmon battles were a great source of entertainment here.

Samuel stood up and simply nodded shyly at the challenge. It was a little rude how the other trainer was being so abrupt and demanding, but Samuel could use a battle as well. And Albion was definitely up for the fight. Before the battle began however, Samuel said quietly, "No spells, please." Those were his only words before Albion took its place a few feet in front of its trainer.

"No problem." Replied Saibrah, ordering Volcannon to stand a few feet in front of him as well. The total distance between Volcannon and Albion was about ten feet. "Heat Rush, Volcannon. But stay idle." He figured the purely offensive move would prove a good defense as well. Heat radiated from Volcannon's body, causing a few of the bystandards to back away.

~Albion flies.. That means Earth Shot, Stone Blades, and Singe Bullets are my only options for attack. I should remain on defense until the Albion gets close enough.~ Volcannon stomped its foot; time to battle.

Albion kept its position, hovering in the air just in front of Samuel. At its trainer's command, it opened its mouth wide and sent a beam of Light Breath directly at the docile Volcannon. The Heat Rush wouldn't be much of a defense for the armadillo-type Natrelmon, but the attack would not be too difficult to dodge.

As soon as the first wisps of Light Breath came from Albion, Volcannon instinctivley put up a slab in front of itself. The ground in front of it cracked as a slab grew, reaching the full height of three feet, the length of two, and a thickness of a few inches. "Move to the left, and use Stone Blades!"

The slab was enough to allow Volcannon to move to left left, out of the Breath's range. The slab cracked and disintegrated, the breath moving through and dissipating as it moved through the open air with no target.

As soon as it finished moving to the left, Volcannon twisted the earth on either side of Albion, creating two Stone Blades. These suddenly ejected from the ground, heading at Albion from both sides, diaganolly. These would be hard to dodge, Albion wasn't that high in the air, maybe six feet.

Even if it did dodge, an Earth Shot was coming directly at it, meaning going forward or back would result in it being hit by the Earth Shot.

"Up," Samuel commanded calmly in the face of all the attacks that were happening. With a bright flash of anger, Albion ascended a few feet, allowing the Earth Shot to pass harmlessly below it and the Stone Blades to collide uselessly together and fall back down to the ground. However, Albion's Light Breath had never stopped and, while it was not aimed at the Volcannon right as it came out from cover, it was quickly redirected. And because of the armadillo's slow speed, it would not be able to dodge out of the way without another shield technique.

Saibrah recalled Volcannon with a sigh. Fighting this Albion was useless. It could easily dodge and counter attack his land-based attacks. "I have to admit, I was a little impulsive, and it resulted in a loss." Commented Saibrah, looking at his feet and shaking his head.

"But every loss is a lesson, I guess. Sorry for the trouble friend, though I imagine Albion didn't mind the boost in strengh." He released Volcannon. By now, the crowd has disintegrated, returning to their bland, useless lives.

"But I wouldn't mind a rematch.. Can I get your number.. Uhh.. eh.." He was drawing a blank on the large man's name. He had been so brash and unreasonable about the battle, he had forgotten to exchange formalities.

As soon as the battle had started, it was over. The crowd gave a low sigh as the result was inconclusive, but still satisfied with their obsession over battling creatures. They began to disperse. Albion quietly returned to its master's shoulder and stayed there as Samuel patted it lightly on its small head.

He kept his face in a neutral expression even though he was inwardly chuckling at the smaller man's attempts to recall the name he had never asked for. Of course it was silly to simply jump into a battle like that. But, as Samuel contemplated, it would be nice to have someone's number to register in his PDA. He extended his huge hand to the other trainer. "Samuel," he said in a soft, baritone voice.