Post by WILLOW on Sept 8, 2016 2:30:12 GMT
| she'd come for the shore, for the smell of salt and the smoke fumes from ships. she'd come to remind herself of the day she'd landed. forearms had hung lazily over steel bars, the channel water lapping below her. she'd tried to grasp for it, what she'd felt that day. the ghost of hope, doused with grief, regret, blame. she'd walked away, fingers pressed to her wrist. she tells herself this is the real reason she's here. she hadn't come to chase ghosts, because that would mean she's searching for answers. and she knows all she's going to grasp is smoke. byron is a seasoned fighter, one of the higher ranking gym leaders in the league, though she's more at ease than she has been with her other battles. her strongest pokemon holds the type-advantage after all. but echo comes out first. most of her moves are useless against his bronzor, but she's counting on one of them to take it down with ease. and it is easy. the dual psychic type starts the battle off with an attempted hypnosis, though willow calls a dodge in the way of dig. echo burrows underground. the bronzor's levitate keeps it calm and collected, waiting for the trapinch to burst forward, but it doesn't expect it when echo reemerges from behind one of the field's stalagmites, tiny legs scrambling as she charges forward. her wide jaws open as she springs and she crunches down hard on the bronzor with shadow-tinged fangs. the bite is damaging, but the bronzor still manages to shake her off, eyes narrowing as it throws an extrasensory her way. she cringes, shakes her head to rid herself of the psychic attack and, taking advantage of her close quarters, closes in ruthlessly with superpower. her head slams down against the bronzor and the pokemon shudders as it hits the ground. one down. it was an easy enough win and echo glances back to assure willow that she's fine to stay in the fight, but the dragon tamer shakes her head and withdraws her. alpha takes her place on the field, tail lashing in anticipation. she watches the flames sway back and forth, distracted until byron releases his steelix. her eyes sting then because it slaps its tail down against the ground and kicks up a sandstorm. alpha draws a clawed paw over his narrowed eyes. "flamethrower. use it as cover to get closer. i want you in close quarters." she's learned it's better to deal with larger pokemon in close combat where her own pokemon can make up for their loss in size with their agility. the flamethrower shoots towards it and blasts a wave of heat in the steelix's face. it ambles backwards away from the inferno, dips its snake-like head to confront the approaching charmeleon. crystals freeze over its mouth and willow shouts orders. alpha lies low, jumps to the side when it comes in for the strike. its icy jaws crack against the ground; a million tiny pieces of ice shatter at the same time alpha lurches in to deliver a fire fang. sharp jaws latch onto the steelix's exposed side and it lets out a bellow that forces willow to cover her ears. small cuts and abrasions have appeared on alpha's skin from the sandstorm, but it's clear the steelix is worse for wear. it readies a gyro ball and willow acts quickly. "flamethrower will finish it." alpha holds his ground and more flames spin outwards towards the steelix, engulfing its entire upper body with calculated precision. embers spark and burn, crackle and pop as the metal pokemon overheats. "good," she murmurs when the steelix faints. the sandstorm subsides. bastiodon is the last one left. as soon as it's out, she tells alpha to close the distance. but she misjudges the distance. and the damage alpha had taken during the skirmish with the steelix. he limps on one side and she realizes he must not have cleared the ice fang in its entirety. guilt is a twisted thing in her chest and she forces herself not to look away when the bastiodon's flash cannon strikes him down. he shakes as he gets to his feet, takes one step forward even when willow tells him to stop. his bad knee gives out and he barely catches himself before he trips. claws sink into the earth. i'm sorry. i'm so, so sorry. she murmurs this after she returns him, pinches the bridge of her nose as she steels herself back over. he'll be fine. her confidence is shaken. she sends aeris out. when the bagon is out on the field, byron orders the bastiodon to cover itself with iron defense. "move in now." the bagon's a physical hitter and allowing the bastiodon to get in more than a few of those defense raises could turn the tide of this battle pretty quickly. but luckily aeris is faster. he covers the distance with leaps and bounds, slashes out with dragon breath against the exposed strip of fur on the bastiodon's side. it makes a noise of complaint, but it doesn't stop the slick sheen of metal from sliding over its body as a second wave of defense. "circle it and use focus energy." the bagon's light-footed steps help it skirt around the heavier pokemon. it turns in place, frustration welling up in it when it can't focus on its target. ancient power in such close quarters nearly knocks the large rocks into itself, but small, sharp pebbles still manage to raze aeris' scales. his headbutt is dealing little to no damage, that much is obvious by the bastiodon's movements. luck comes, then, when aeris' focus energy kicks in as he uses dragon breath. the flames are twice as large and smolder against the bastiodon's side. the dinosaur pokemon stumbles backwards when the steel defense against his side starts to melt. "go in for the weak spot with crunch." aeris stumbles forward, claws scraping the ground. he clamps down hard against the bastiodon's exposed for and then sinks his teeth down even deeper. one seconds pass, two, and then aeris is standing alone on the field.      @mod used charmeleon, trapinch, and bagon 'i'm not gonna write a long post' |
