Daphne Hawthorne
“Good luck out there,” she told the other trainer, waving lazily and heading back out the door, feet carrying her back to the training gym. Entering again, she took note of a trainer she had missed before. Three and a leader, huh? It was probably going to be rather time-consuming, but worth it. Well, the last bit was idle speculation, but well… she certainly hoped it was worth it. Solid foundations were important in the unpredictable environments of the wild, as many a field research trip with her dad had taught her well.
Meandering over to the free trainer, she smiled in reply to his wave. “Me next, huh?” he asked, and she nodded the affirmative.
“Looks that way,” she replied with a shrug, and he laughed, tossing a pokeball into the ring much more casually than Oyoh had.
Daphne noted that his pokemon was a meowth, though honestly a much better-looking specimen than the overweight, lax creature she had at home. She'd always been a sucker for the sad-looking ones, which this pokemon most certainly was not. "Right, well... guess we probably ought to give it another go, eh Tiberius?" she asked, flicking her wrist and sending the ball spinning out onto the ring. Tiberius appeared, recharged from the pokemon center.
Jaiden sent out his meowth without hesitation, who together had choreographied their attack strategy; be very, very fast. "Bite!" Jaiden called out. His meowth began running very fast, baring teeth cloaked in a black aura. It made a small leap at Tiberius, ready to attack.
"It's okay, Tib, you can take it," Daphne informed the horsea, who was looking around frantically as though he wanted to dodge. The attack rating for meowths was not really all that great, and Tib's defense was one of his biggest strengths, along with special attack, which she fully planned on utilizing. "Give it a Bubble for its trouble, slow it down a bit," she instructed, and the little seahorse braced himself, readying the attack and launching it when meowth got close enough.
Meowth had speed, which was its greatest asset. This fleetness allowed it to charge through the bubbles, not without taking damage though. In the end, meowth had bitten into horsea, while getting wet in the process. Meowth did not let go though, the bite was continued longer than normal, and meowth began to run with it, like a cat with its prey.
"Quick attack!" Jaiden called out, his meowth finally dropping Tiberius before running in a circle to gain momentum. When it was ready enough, meowth charged at the horsea once more.
When the cat pokemon's jaws latched on to his tail, Tiberius cried out, and Daphne flinched. "Bubble right in its face," she urged, and the dazed pokemon did his best to comply. Best to use that close range any way they could. The meowth released Tiberius, and started running in a circle. "Stay steady," Daphne instructed, "and use your time for a Smokescreen." It was pointless to try and hit something moving that fast, but obscuring its vision? At this range, Quick Attack would probably still hit, but maybe not head-on or for full damage. "Put some space between you as soon as you can, then use Bubble again."
Meowth was blinded by the smokescreen. Horsea's aim was amazing, and if a smokescreen could have a critical hit, it would have. The meowth was hit in the eyes with the black bomb, it still released its smoke, but now meowth was temporarily blinded. It ran into a wall in its disorientation and hurt its head, right where it had previously taken a Bubble.
Meowth was hit with more bubbles, its health running low. "Try to run around and hit horsea!" Jaiden called out, not sure how to handle the situation. Meowth followed orders and began to run around in the smoke. It blindly charged at empty space, but with its blindness, came a reckless attitude. This battle would be hard to win for meowth, so it was all or nothing. Its speed was increased, along with the recklessness of its attacks.
That had worked... better than she'd expected. Blinking in what appeared to be dull surprise, Daphne smiled slightly. "Excellent, Tiberius. Now be careful. Keep moving, short bursts of bubble and then move again. Don't let it find you by feel." A lesson she'd learned most thoroughly last time. Tiberius, tail sore but otherwise still ready to go, ducked and wove, spraying meowth with shots from different ranges and directions, taking care to randomize his patterns. He was clipped by one quick attack, because he'd gotten too close, and because of meowth's increased stats, it hurt, but he moved away as quick as he was able and took a moment to reposition, further away and listing to the left, before he took another shot.
The bubbles, for the most part, missed. Meowth was extremely fast, taking damage from some bubbles, but otherwise, blindly dodging. With the increased speed, meowth's eyes were clearing out, giving him a blurry vision. The smoke was quickly clearing up, and meowth got a glance of a small blue body, charging at it with its claws glowing for a scratch.
If Tiberius was going to finish this battle, it had to be fast.
Daphne realized that meowth was regaining its sight, and chewed her lip, thinking. Her strategy was usually patience, but right now they needed to act quickly. "Tiberius... hit it with everything you've got." The Horsea stilled, waiting for meowth to get closer, then took a deep breath and used another bubble, this one with enough force to propel him backwards and away from the oncoming claws.
Both Tiberius and meowth were pushed away from each other, the horsea repelling from it's attack, and meowth from the force of the bubbles. It was a critical hit, and one that meowth could not take.
Meowth lay on the floor, unconscious and fairly doused with water. Jaiden was much more receptive to the defeat than Oyoh, and even gave Daphne a handshake after the battle. She took his hand after a beat. “Nice battle,” she supplied, a tad awkwardly, but he brushed it off with a grin. Turning, she collected Tiberius again, happy to see that aside from his tail, this battle was actually an improvement over the previous one. Her little horsea looked rather pleased with himself, and she patted his head with muted affection. “Well done, Tib.”
Daphne defeated Jaiden!
Tiberius gained EXP!
Tiberius grew to Level 7!
Daphne received 500 pokedollars!
Tiberius gained EXP!
Tiberius grew to Level 7!
Daphne received 500 pokedollars!
Since Tiberius wasn’t so injured this time, Daphne stopped off at the mart again before hitting the pokemon center. Ideally, she’d be able to handle the next trainer and the gym leader in one shot, and save them some time. Who knew what kind of unpleasant things were happening to trainers along the route while they trained, after all? Plus, the effort of running back and forth to the Center and constantly bothering Nurse Joy was not something she really wanted to expend. So using her prize money, she stocked up a bit more and then returned to the Center, handing Tib off once more.