Plagued [Gym]

we burn in fire.
we burn in blood.
we burn in dreams.

This was going to be a more difficult challenge; Adrian had known that. After researching the locals there was knowledge that the typing of the gym was fighting. The dojo belonging to a pink haired girl who had a Lucario as a partner gave the woman bad memories. Regardless the knowledge was there, and while she had some concerns about challenging the gym she had gone into it prepared. Or at least she thought. Little did she know the gym was no longer in the same control that it once was. That should have been given away when the ranger located the gym. It was not a dojo but a normal looking building. Of course like most eager people she paid that detail little mind as she walked in.

“I’m here to challenge the gym,” Adrian announced right off the bat as she walked further into the building. The person that met her was not who she expected. The woman paused as she waited for the pink haired girl but upon introduction that they were the gym leader, all thoughts on strategy went straight out the window. Much to her dismay all that preparation was for naught. The first pokemon was sent out not long after the introductions, the first pokemon appearing being a Venasaur. Seeing the pokemon was surprising considering that aside from the Hearthome gym, the previous gyms had pre-evolved pokemon. Venasaur was also not a fighting type, and since she had fought the grass gym before, this one had to be poison. The gym leader, now recognized as Cassidy, called out the ranger on her hesitation on calling a pokemon out. Clefairy was the center of her strategy before, but at least this means that her pokemon would still have a decent advantage depending on the pokemon lineup.

Adrian’s first pokemon was sent out after that, her most recent pokemon appearing in a flash of light. The fire type gave a mighty roar to exert dominance on the field as he went into fighting position. As the challenger was allowed the first move, the ginger haired woman decided she wanted to end this quickly. “Nemelios, run up to it and use Overheat.” Point blank range. The lion complied as it ran up, the heat building in its body as it was ready to erupt. The order was called for Protect as the shields went up to block the damage as the fire type burst forth the flames. Adrian sucked her teeth. It was unfortunate but thankfully not the only plan for this beast. The venasaur tried to counter with toxic but the lion was agile enough to side-step out of the way as the flames in his mouth remained heated. Soon those flames would be put to use in Fire Fang as it bit into the grass type. A noise of pain reverberated in the room as the Venasaur was hit. The gym leader then called for safeguard if only to protect from burning right then and there. It was a good move considering but Adrian was not too concerned about causing burns. “Keep using Fire Fang and overheat while biting down,” The fire type was more than happy to oblige. While not as powerful as the first one the heat from his core burned valiantly on the grass type who could not escape the flames. As this persisted and it struggled to escape the pokemon fainted.

The gym leader did not look pleased as she returned her pokemon to is capsule. Clearly she decided that she wanted to counter and send out the next pokemon. The voluptuous poison queen rose from the light and instantly Adrian shook her head, “Nope. Nemelios, return.” While Nemelios was disappointed it disappeared with a flash of red light. In his place Tentacool appeared with an ominous sound. This was working out well so far much to the gym leader’s disdain, so much so that they ordered an Earthquake attack. Within seconds the Nidoqueen slammed a foot into the ground that caused the entire building to shake. Being a ranger the woman was trained and prepared for sudden natural disasters such as that so she was less bothered by it. Tentacool on the other hand looked like it was pained. With a huff, the woman thought about a counter attack. “Bubblebeam,” she called first with the water type complying as a stream of bubbles burst forth from its mouth. The Nidoqueen defensively used protect just like the first pokemon did. Admittedly that wasn’t what Adrian expected but it was fine. The bubblebeam’s droplets were still in the air and some leftover bubbles still floated about which meant this was a good time to follow up with the second move. “Ice beam, freeze it.” Another beam, this time frigid as the attack pushed forth right as Nidoqueen lowered the protect, striking it in the chest and freezing most of its body. Leaving not much else it could do, the Nidoqueen roared loudly as an attempt to get out of the situation and make it better. In fright the Tentacool returned to his pokeball to which the ranger shook her head. No matter. The pokemon that was sent out in defense was her most trustworthy one: Absol. “Sorry. Can you finish this up?” Barking an affirmative, the white furred pokemon prepared for battle. Without even so much as a word form Adrian, he initiated the attack and struck down the Nidoqueen with a Psycho Cut strong enough to shatter the ice that encased her.

Another down and it was down to the last pokemon for the gym leader. At this point it should have been a mere formality to finish the battle, at least that was the ranger’s thought. It showed how much trust that she had in her Absol which would be proven valid soon enough. That said the last pokemon was sent out and revealed to be a Gengar. The dark type sneered at the ghost as it gave a mocking laugh as if it did not care about the type disadvantage. Launching the first attack the familiar appearance of the energy blade slashing through the darkness at the ghost was blocked by another Protect. That was expected. That was the running theme in this gym apparently. Gengar then twiddled its fingers in the air as it stared at the Absol trying to make eye contact to cause him to sleep from hypnosis. Unfortunately Absol was not playing the game as he evaded looking directly into the eyes of his opponent. Instead it shot another Psycho Cut trying to get through and at the same time keep something between them to block eye contact. It worked out well this time around but a Venoshock was sent to counter attack. The second that was sent out the dark type vanished and reappeared behind the Gengar to sucker punch it… which was exactly what Gengar wanted. Its devilish smile grew louder as the punch hit the back of the ghost, yet Absol looked to be the one in pain. Gengar fell to the ground sure, but the disaster pokemon fell from high above as well, landing on his side as if he had gone limp. “ABSOL,” Adrian yelled as she ran over to her partner’s side. It was rare for the woman to yell like that out loud. Destiny Bond did its job. The ranger knew the battle was over and that Absol likely had no regrets, but it didn’t make her feel better about seeing her partner on the ground like this.

She had to do better than this for the future.