[Cafe] Steel Wills

"No, I'm not spending all my funds on just coffee. You're just not taking the exchange rate into account"

A heavily garbed man sat on his own, a cup of coffee in hand, and an incomplete game of portable chess in front of him. One of his companions gave this for him to solve earlier this morning, it was helping stave off the pauses from the lengthy mouthfuls he was getting from mission control, and to keep his mind off of his surroundings for the time being, a little safe haven in the yet strange atmosphere of Altair. "I've had no shortage of merchandise flung at my general direction on the way down from the cruise, Corviknight dares not ask, but I'm certain she is interested in some of it...surely it can't hurt the budget", he lazily waved a knight about as he spoke discreetly, despite how heavily decorated he decided to walk into this quaint place, he didn't entertain much attention. The last thing he wanted to do was to make a-

Klein dropped his phone and reached for the badge in his chest, tapping a pokeball that brought his Corvinight to the fore, the steel bird already leaned forward and covering her trainer with her left wing. After a moment of confused nothing, the Pokemon left open some more space between her feathers for Klein to survey the ruckus at the entrance, it was...a single woman, clad in what appeared to be historical battle garb, seemingly browbeating the staff into compliance? By sheer force of, well, he couldn't exactly hear everything from back there, but it sounded like a lot. Was this...a regular ocurrence? The atmosphere looked tense, but not hostile, a mix of glee and restraint, he's familiar with the feeling. "...At ease", Klein let go off his breath and sighed as he placed the knight down, prompting Corvinight to quickly straighten its body up and fold her wings, keeping an untrustful eye of this boisterous stranger. "You've clearance, decompress a bit", the bird bawked and briefly glanced at Klein, he had gone through the trouble of getting her out of her Pokeball, his apology was to let her relax for a spell. The Pokemon shuddered and took whatever space toward the wall it could afford to give a hearty stretch, though it would be swift to return to poise if approached, despite Klein's best wishes.

Holding his cup of coffee tight, Klein realized he would have time to think about this position later.

As a pure accident, Corviknight was doing an excellent job at meeting Aventail's expectations, it was most conscious of its appearance and made sure every feather was sharp and shiny, and its vigil was unerring and firm, as to not be deterred by the curiosity of bystanders. She was, indeed, most proud of her efforts, though not necessarily amused in turn. Klein made eye contact with his bird throughout the exchange, and sensing the slightest twitch of indignation from his Knight, he made a slight gesture with his hand for her to remember to stay at ease. Even though it did not gel with Aventail's boorishness and was expressly asked to drop the act, the bird remained firm, refusing to appear nothing but statuesque in front of Klein's acquaintances. Ah well.

Klein lifted his cup in anticipation of this woman slamming her greaves on the table or something as they met across the table. She also seemed to be quite interested in historical accounts, albeit highly...romanticized ones. "Ah, I apologize that the most of my entourage won't meet your expectations", he clarified, only his Brozong remained among his team, the engineer of his current, now relatively diminished headache. "I-my name's Klein, at pleasure", he gave her a candid, if slightly botched introduction. "Afraid I'm not a big proponent on fate. I'm sure I'm not the only trainer with a Steel-clad Pokémon in this Café", he attempted to dispel the conversation. Perhaps she saw Klein beckoning his Corvinight at the same time she entered the cafe to be fate, while in truth, it was merely bad instinct and a practiced reflex.

Klein's glance glazed over to the right in curiosity, as if he could somehow look at his right eye this way, was she being literal?

He came back to as the woman disregarded public property with such gusto as to scramble a magnetic chess board, his Corvinight complained, but he remained calm, reckoning these tables were built for someone to carelessly hold someone's Aron. Klein picked up his chess board while this woman downed her coffee in haste, probably the most boorish part of this bizarre encounter yet, her throat must too be made of steel. Corviknight seemed eager, her wings twitching and slightly unfolding their razor sharpness, she and Klein exchanged glances as he sipped from his coffee, closing his eyes and reaching for his badge. "I'll consider it", he whispered, retrieving one of the Pokeball from it. The Pokemon gave a hard step and moved its wings in some sort of salute before being dismissed back into her Pokeball.

"We both travelled quite far for the same goal, it'd be quite fitting. So I will accept", Klein put away his chess board from his coat and retreived what seemed to be a large thermos, and listlessly poured the rest of his hot coffee into it, apologies to the barista, he wouldn't be savoring it as intended, but something about the whole situation urged him to just vacate the premises and handle this noble rabble-rouser, in a distinctly orderly, sportsmanlike way for once. He stood up and primed himself to follow at a brisk peace, at the very least he expected both of them to have the sense to vacate the small premises before deploying more heavyweight Pokemon into the locale.

Klein took advantage of his acquaintance unerring charisma to do something more productive with the walk on the way there, continuing to fill mission control through text as he kept pace. It wasn't proper to text and traverse public places, so he resorted to expediently send codes rather than words. If anything, it gave him time to think about the position that his comrade gave him, of isolated pieces against isolated pieces, rather ironic, they surely have plenty of foresight, don't they? The sight of a decorated podium to combat still struck him as odd. To him, Pokemon battles were something to be finished quickly, efficiently, and discreetly, not highlighted in a pedestal, this is not how the world at large works, for reasons he had yet to reconcile with.

The train of thought had long arrived at its destination with him, however, it was time to focus on the task at hand. Klein reached for the badge on his chest, grazing them gently, it would be a shame that Brinestar tactics would not shine today, but it would only make the challenge much more important to overcome. A Pokeball released from his badge and into his hand, flung quite gently from below, releasing a much smaller profile in contrast to its grinding, towering opponent. The red faded away to reveal a sleek shade of blue, leaning forward at an almost prone slant, an amphibian assailant with a tongue as long as to wrap around its own body, and a stare as bold as his adversary, Klein's left hand bishop, Greninja, took the stage.

"As instructed, there is only one objective, there are no distractions. We make Brinestar proud", Klein clarified to his Pokemon, who tightened his stance as he heard the man's robes clench with the cross-armed salute of his hometown.

Klein's stance only relaxed slightly from his salute, his thumb and middle finger pressing against each other, as if holding something delicate. He was not shocked by the lightning attack, a competent combatant should be able to cover for their own blind spots. There wasn't much to think about, this was, after all, the opening, both him and his Pokemon knew its theory, regardless, Greninja awaited his command all the same, and Klein obliged.

"A2"

From his leaning position, Greninja threw up its arms, flipping a concealed array of bamboo mats to obscure the Steelix's vision and occupy its bite. While Greninja's Mat Block is often used to provide cover for his allies, it functions just as well to mask its movement as it dashed forward and to the left to flank the charging Pokemon, expecting the flying debris to occupy its jaws. "C1", Klein spared no time to follow up, his Pokemon's forearms glowing as they provided a stream of water to harry the Steelix with a swift barrage of Water Shuriken while it caught its bearings.

Klein wasn't much for talking in the middle of an operation, but he did acknowledge the compliment by holding his hat and returning a solemn nod.

Aventail's strategy was to complicate the battleground, a long term plan for what was pressumably a very resilient team, assuming it was truly an all metal ensemble. This was not how his own strategy operated, a weakness that would only amplify itself in this duel environment, he would have to keep the presure. "Push...", Klein reiterated, less an order and more of a reminder for his Pokemon to stay their course and continue attacking. Klein flinched briefly as Aventail demanded her Pokemon to perform Earthquake, it sounded like a terrible hazard to do indoors. It was fortunate that the steel titan was so thorough in its execution for Klein to aid his partner in the frontlines.

"F8!", Klein swung his hand with urgency, prompting his Pokemon to turn tail and dash in the opposite direction to gain momentum, before tossing its weight onto its four limbs before vaulting upwards with a gust of wind in a gravity defying spin, twirling in the air to reorient itself towards his opponent and seemingly hovering at the zenith of its jump. Acrobatics tends to be a high-flying, forward advancing, devastating strike that leverages Greninja's litheness, however, it would do little against Steelix's hide, and only compromise his reach advantage, instead, Klein ordered his Pokemon to retreat with it, as it would soon glide down in a controlled descent to find the least painful position amongst the fallout to return to solid footing.

Steelix's reach gives them an advantage of an open playfield, and Aventail seemed aware of it, it was time to offer a variation

"Be Ready To Hold!", Klein ordered, a strange thing to suggest to his Pokemon in freefall, and the most specific command yet. Greninja rolled its eyes in complaint, but agreed, maneuvering its fall. While the Pokemon's elaborate movements made its fall less predictable, it would alone not be sufficient to elude such a wide, trained swing. "B5!", Klein ordered with uncanny patience, his Pokemon unraveling his tongue from his neck, drawing in air before he let out a burst of thick gas that enveloped the air, using Haze to conceal its position, and alter it further at the last moment.

The Iron Tail would cleave this meager distraction, slicing the smoke in half, and doing little else. Mercadier would feel as if they hit their target, but there was no smoke-trailed frog Pokemon flying through the air, or even a substitute Pokedoll, as it might be famous for. The smoke closer to the ground began to dissipate, and it was...not there. Klein was silent, but unbothered, he lowered his hat, doing his best to not betray his partner's stratagem with his gaze, he must be dazed, so he needed a bit of time to afford. There would be stillness and silence, until one could hear a loud gasp...coming from Steelix's tail.

The trail of haze cleared, revealing a shocked, but conscious Greninja gasping for air. Avoiding the attack in full was not feasible, so instead, the frog pivoted his body to hand on to Steelix's uneven surface and cling to it to minimize the impact and approach it faster than it ever could with its own speed. "E1!", Klein ordered. It took his Pokemon a breath, but after a deep inhale that illuminated its mouth with teal energy, he let out a closer-range Ice Beam aimed at the Steelix's joint, seeking to hinder its movement.