Post by WILLOW on Sept 7, 2016 23:10:53 GMT
| sweat licks at her palms. this could prove to be a mistake. her pokemon are strong. they've always been strong, but she's been training them day in and day out. extreme physical exertion is the only thing that can lull her to sleep these days. a constant state of exhaustion has made her eyes darker, hair unkempt. she's not as put together as she used to be. but she'll be damned if she's still not a successful pokemon trainer. after only a few weeks with her new partners, she's learned their rhythms, trained them to work together until they could read each others' eyes, twitches, steps. but still, she fears bringing her unevolved team up against stronger, badder foes. they need this. the world is unkind and unfair. and not every battle they're going to face will be evenly matched. so she needs them to know that a victory is a victory, even if you manage only by the skin of your teeth. her dragon types are formidable opponents and surprise glimmers in the back of wake's eyes when he sees she's sent her bagon out first. the pokemon is softhearted for a dragon type. his obedience is near perfect, though she still has her work cut out for when it comes to his likeness for hesitation. the first he sends out is a quagsire. small pools dot around the cave-like structure of the arena, though the opposing water-type is sent out on land. "aeris, focus energy." the bagon's offensive stance shifts; tension slides from his frame like water, even as the quagsire readies a move ordered from wake. when the mud bomb comes crashing down near the bagon, the dragon-type has already finished his power-up move and dodges it with ease. mud splatters along a rock face and aeris charges forward, head bowed. the headbutt is clean and lands square in the quagsire's stomach, but the stocky pokemon takes the blunt of the hit with ease and thrusts its weight to the side to slam the bagon away with its thick tail. water sprays from under aeris' feet as he's dragged sideways, but he holds his ground. dragon breath bursts forth from his maw upon willow's orders and the purple flames singe the quagsire. it flinches under the cloud, though once it recovers, it moves in for a tail whip to bring down aeris' defenses. "take it and use crunch." she'd seen his sidestep, nature telling him to dodge, and the hesitation is only a moment. once his defenses are knocked down, he shoulders the quagsire's lanky frame aside and digs his fangs into its neck. the water-type lets out a moan of pain and sags forward. aeris releases it and then wake withdraws it. "good. come back." red light flashes. in her previous battles, she's pushed her pokemon, had them fight the opposing party members one after the other, but she needs to be careful. "take a short rest, aeris," she murmurs down at the pokeball. she withdraws two more and this time, she waits to see what wake throws first. the sight of his gyarados, this time released in one of the pools, makes her cringe. brows furrow in concentration, indecision flashing on her face, but then she releases her skrelp. the poison-type is ridiculously small compared to its opponent. both square off in the pool. she takes a couple steps on the battlefield to get a closer view, calls a word of encouragement out to lyune. red eyes flash and she smiles. they won't get through this fight with brute force. so she goes back to the day she'd caught him and orders a double team. the skrelp's body shifts and wavers and as copies of itself duplicate, he shifts and seethes in the water. the gyarados' head sways as it tries to discern which skrelp is the real one. its tail lashes in the water and then it snaps forward, dragon rage glancing down its body with a sheen of blue. it dives towards a couple of the skrelp and willow, eyes on the real one, waits until the gyarados has sunk under the water to say, "toxic." purple liquid seeps through the skrelp's pours and the cloud envelopes the underwater gyarados. the pokemon thrashes as soon as the cloud touches its skin and it lets out a roar once the poison sinks in. brine comes swiftly and skrelp is left badly injured as waves left from the gyarados' wake crash against the shore. she reaches for a ball to pull her skrelp back in, but she's not finished yet. she calls for another double team instead. the gyarados rears its head as it prepares for a bite, but when it comes down, its jaws snap through one of the clones. the gyarados' tail lashes angrily, fitfully, because none of the clones are attacking. all swim through the water in an array of different patterns as the poison slowly takes its toll on the larger foe. but before the gyarados can be felled the poison effects, it finds the real skrelp. red light flashes out right before its jaws can snap down. willow replaces the pokemon with her next. the ground shark has to totter back on the soles of his feet to stare up at the gyarados. the angry creature spits water when it rounds on its next opponent, but willow can see the toxic has taken its toll. its movements are sluggish and wrought with pain. "get in close and finish it with slash." the gyarados waits until romeo is close enough. its body shivers as it attempts to deliver one last blow. jaws hook around romeo's ankle, but a slash to the face brings the pokemon down. a splash resounds as the gible lands in the water and willow stiffens when wake immediately sends his floatzel out into the pool. the sand dragon struggles to pull himself back to land. "get out of there." his claws grasp against the rock face, but the floatzel approaches too quickly. voice rasped, she desperately calls out, "sand tomb!" claws rake, scrabble for purchase as he attempts to haul himself out of the pool. he bellows out angrily and a sandstream whips up around him; the grains twist together and form a makeshift vine. little damage is done to the floatzel, but it distracts it long enough for gible to haul himself out of the water. the floatzel emerges with ease, pushes itself to its paws as it waits for its trainer's orders. "wait for it, romeo." her skin prickles when wake calls ice fang. water type moves may not damage her dragons, but ice could prove deadly, especially a bite delivered from the floatzel. romeo bows his head; she can feel his anxiousness from where she stands, but she keeps her lips pursed, waits until the last minute to say, "dig!" he lurches forward; rocks crumble under his claws and the floatzel soars overhead as he disappears right out from under it. he emerges not a moment later with a strike to its underbelly, follows up with a swift rake of dragon claw to its side. dazzling stars spray from one of the floatzel's outstretched palms and the swift forces distance between them. he knows he needs to get close to use his moves. but from what it seems, the floatzel is also at a disadvantage. she doubts baiting it will work again so she sends romeo in headfirst, only the oncoming dragon claw gets turned into another dig when he gets close. floatzel dodges the wrong move and suffers the consequences when he rises from the ground again. but this time it's prepared for a counter. frozen fangs sink deeply into romeo's fin. he lets out a cry and tries to pull away, but after a few seconds of struggling, he goes limp. she returns him, bites the inside of her cheek. aeris is sent back out. the bagon is still breathing hard, but his short rest has brought life back into his eyes. she knows they only have one shot at this. "watch out for its ice fang. get as close as you can and use dragon breath." it could be the wrong call, but she doesn't say anything else once the pokemon on the field start moving again. floatzel jettisons forward; some of the water on the ground gathers as it charges with brine. aeris stops his running and opens his maw again. blue flames charge towards the oncoming floatzel and willow sinks her teeth into her lip. the opposing water pokemon comes close, but halfway through the inferno, its strength fails and it collapses. aeris' knees wobble and then he falls to them, head bowed, breaths uneven. willow returns him and murmurs a quiet thank you.      @mod used gible, skrelp, and bagon for this battle the longest fucking post |
