[GYM] Pick your poison

[attr="class","jarcainetitle"]Pick your Poison

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[attr="class","jarcainetag1"]★

[attr="class","jarcainetag2"]@open

[attr="class","jarcainereply1"]
Caine hoped he was ready or this. He hadn't prepared for so long for nothing. He wanted to get his second gym badge and advance to become a spy. His eyes settled on the doors, thick and wooden, and with a set jaw, he pushed them open.[break][break]
The gym was surprisingly leafy, like a jungle. He hadn't expected it to have so many plants, much less be akin to a crowded jungle, but he'd have to adapt quickly if he wanted to defeat Cassidy.[break][break]
Caine soon found that he needn't have worried, for as he broke through the foliage, he encountered a large patch that was nearly barren except for patches of grass that grew around. At the far end stood a girl.[break][break]
Caine grinned and pointed at her. "I'm here to challenge you," he said. A simple statement. The girl glanced at him with a half-interested look and yawned.[break][break]
"Fine," she replied, stretching her arms upwards. "I'm Cassidy blah blah blah let's have a good match."[break][break]
Caine's smile wavered. She was the least enthusiastic gym leader he'd ever met. With a shrug, he pulled out a pokeball, releasing it at the same time as Cassidy dropped her own.[break][break]
In flashes of white light, two pokemon emerged. For Caine, he had chosen his newly acquired Gliscor, Valen. The gym leader had chosen a Nidoqueen, and the hulking pokemon glared at the two challengers.[break][break]
Cassidy waved the pokemon forwards lazily. "Go on, get 'em."[break][break]
The Nidoqueen roared at them and opened its mouth wide. A shot of ice spewed out from its mouth and skewered Valen, who shrieked in pain. Caine stared, flabbergasted, at the nidoqueen. It was a poison type! Why did it know an ice-type move? It was so uncharacteristic of gyms, and it was something that had completely foiled his calculations.[break][break]
Caine gritted his teeth, checking his gliscor to see if it was ok. The rocky bat gave a feeble nod and shot back into the air, retaliating with ice fang. The nidoqueen howled. The two pokemon used the same moves, creating dust everywhere. Caine coughed as he searched frantically for his pokemon. The dust cleared, revealing that both the pokemon had fainted.[break][break]
Caine was shaken. He hadn't expected to have his pokemon faint. Obviously, he'd gone up against a much tougher opponent than he expected.[break][break]
Casidy, on the other hand, looked bored. She recalled the Nidoqueen without a word and released another pokemon - a Gengar.[break][break]
"Finish off his next pokemon," she said. The Gengar giggled eerily, waiting for Caine to withdraw a pokemon.[break][break]
Caine gritted his teeth and sent out his eelectrike. Torrin swam in the air, baring its fangs at the opposing ghost type. "Charge beam!" Caine commanded. The eelectrike responded by sending out a bolt of electricity at the Gengar, who retaliated with Toxic. Torrin reeled back as it squealed, being inflicted by the poison in its system.[break][break]
Caine called the pokemon back, knowing that its poison status would be gone if he recalled it. Without another word, he sent out another pokemon. "Tenne, use hypnosis!" He watched as the attack hit the Gengar, whose eyes closed. The gengar began to snore loudly. Finally, some luck! Caine grinned. "Use Nightmare!" The gengar writhed as it was trapped within a nightmare. Except, it woke up soon after, and now it was angrier than ever.[break][break]
"Use Toxic!" Cassidy said suddenly. The Gengar responded, sending out an attack at Caine's gastly. The gastly tried to dissipate, but was unable to escape the attack, and Caine winced as the attack hit. However, Tenne held on, albeit by a thread. But as Caine looked at the other pokemon, he could see that it, too, was on the verge of falling.[break][break]
"Dark pulse!" Caine commanded. Tenne sent out a pulse of dark, shadowy energy at the Gengar. The Gengar disappeared into purple smoke and vanished. Caine could only watch helplessly as his own pokemon fainted due to poison.[break][break]
He'd already used three pokemon. He'd only expected to use three...how he'd underestimated this gym. Unawares, he must've gotten cocky when he defeated the other gym without nearly a hitch.[break][break]
Cassidy lazily tossed out another pokeball, but Caine noticed that it was the last one hitched on her belt. "Go, my Venusaur!"[break][break]
Caine grabbed his own pokeball and threw it onto the battlefield, summoning his charmander. He'd planned to evolve it before coming, but his confidence had gotten the better of him. Obviously he'd not planned well.[break][break]
"Byrn, use flamethrower!" The charmander let out a blast of fire at the venusaur, landing a super effective hit, but it didn't do much to dent the venusaur's strength. It retaliated by using solar beam. The small fire type grunted as it took the hit, but it wasn't very effective. Charmander released another blast of flame at the venusaur. Again, it didn't do much damage. The venusaur's next attack took down Byrn as it used venoshock to take down the small lizard.[break][break]
Caine gritted his teeth and whipped out another pokeball. "MERLIN!"[break][break]
From the pokemon emerged Caine's trump card - an Aggron. Merlin roared with rage and tilted its head, pointing its horns at the Venusaur. Suddenly, the temperature in the room chilled, dropping rapidly. Snow began to form and whip around, lashing at the venusaur's face. It howled with fury and used Solar beam. It was super effective, and Caine prayed that Merlin didn't fall. He could see that the attacks had done about the same amount of damage. Merlin used blizzard again, and the venusaur used synthesis to recover its hp. But it didn't recover much hp in comparison to the damage blizzard had.[break][break]
"One more time!" Caine yelled. Merlin roared -[break][break]
and missed.[break][break]
"Use Solar Beam!" Cassidy yelled. Merlin crumpled to the ground. Caine growled and released his eelectrike once again. His trump card was gone - he'd have to rely on luck now.[break][break]
"Charge Beam!" He cried. Torrin sent out another spark of energy at the Venusaur, but it used Toxic once again in retaliation. However, Caine could see that all it needed was one more hit. "Charge Beam!" he called again. Eelectrike responded, and the Venusaur fell onto its side with a loud groan.[break][break]
Breathing deeply, Caine huffed as he awaited the Gym Leader's response. Within, he felt elated - despite his failings, he's managed to...win? And he had two pokemon left![break][break]
He cast a glance down at his pokemon and grinned. "Great job, guys!"