Daphne Hawthorne
Route 4
Route 4
A level 6 Bulbasaur appeared!
Daphne had let her eyes drift shut slightly, and so when she opened them again and saw a Bulbasaur sitting there, she was suitably surprised. Rather than freaking out or yelling and startling the poor thing, she was for a moment unsure what to do. It seemed to be minding its own business, but then she really didn't want to be by herself when it discovered her presence. Surreptitiously as possible, she released Tiberius and motioned for silence, looking over at the grass pokemon.
It would be a tough battle if it came to it, given the types involved, but Daphne was pretty sure their training had paid off enough to make it doable. Slowly rising to her feet, she tried to be as nonthreatening as possible. "Hello, Bulbasaur," she muttered, hoping to alert the creature to their presence.
Unfortunately, Bulbasaur was indeed startled by Daphne's voice, and jumped backwards into a battle position. Seeing Tiberius, the Pokémon charged ahead for a full body Tackle, coming in quickly towards the Horsea.
Backpedaling to place distance between herself and her much more battle-ready pokemon, Daphne directed Tiberius to use smokescreen and try and throw off the Bulbasaur's accuracy. Chances were, they weren't going to be able to do much damage here, but a little misdirection would buy them time. A cloud of fog doused the immediate area of the battle, and Daphne found herself standing against another tree, waiting to see what the Bulbasaur would do.
The Bulbasaur's somewhat instinctual attack was not well aimed or thought out to begin with, and Smokescreen's effect made his Tackle miss entirely. The Pokémon had charged blindly through the Smokescreen, but once it turned around it realized the futility of another rage-induced charge at the speedy little seahorse. Instead it looked carefully for the seahorse through the Smokescreen, watching patiently and forsaking an attack to in order to try to determine the location of the Horsea.
Daphne peered through the haze with a squint. It looked like the Bulbasaur was waiting patiently now, a tactic she could appreciate. Of course, if she didn't attack, the battle would never go anywhere, but maybe a distraction of another kind was also in order. Searching around on the forest floor, she found a palm-sized stone and lobbed it towards some bushes, producing a rustling sound. "Bubble, and quickly," she told Tiberius, and the little pokemon exhaled a torrent of bubbles, moving positions immediately afterward, both hoping that Bulbasaur would have been sufficiently distracted by the extra noise. Bubble wasn't going to be very effective, but it was the only attack move they had.
Bulbasaur maintained its focus as it rushed Horsea after seeing the direction the Bubble came from. It took the Bubble fairly easily due to it being not very effective, but Tiberius's superior power made it hurt a lot more than it should have. Bulbasaur managed to get of its Tackle attack on the sea horse, pushing him backwards and out of the Smokescreen. Bulbasaur stood its ground in front of the cloud, trying to guard it from reentering the smoke and forcing it to have to generate another.
Daphne chewed her lip as she assessed the situation. It would seem that this Bulbasaur didn't yet have any of its grass-type moves, so that meant all Tiberius would have to do was endure enough Tackles to slowly wear away at the other pokemon's HP. The Smokescreen tactic didn't seem to be working so well, and Leer wasn't going to help since Bubble wasn't a physical attack. She was going to have to consider taking Tiberius to the move tutor in town for situations like this. For now though...
"Bubble again, and try to get back into that Smokescreen, Tib." He complied without hesitation, shooting a stream of spheres and trying to simultaneously skirt Bulbasaur and disappear back into the cloud.
The Bulbasaur was proud, and stood firm against the Bubble when it should have tried to dodge. It took Tiberius's attack hard, but managed to use Tackle against him as he moved toward the cloud, pushing him away. However, it was clear that despite his type advantage, Bulbasaur's energy was beginning to wane. It crouched, breathing heavily in front of the cloud of smoke, struggling impressively, but mostly in vain, to keep in the battle.
Daphne had to admire that kind of persistence. It wasn't really a trait she had, and she refrained from directing Tiberius to attack again. Instead, she reached for one of the spare pokeballs at her waist. She could do with a little more help, and though grass-types weren't her favorite, there was something formidable about this little one that would not be dismissed. "Looks like it's my turn to do some of the work," she mumbled in what might have been a resigned sort of way. With a precise flick of her wrist, the pokeball was sent flying for the Bulbasaur, making contact with the tired creature's forehead.
The Pokéball flashed open and the Bulbasaur was sucked inside. The ball shook violently as the creature attempted to escape, wanting desperately to win the battle... the settled as the Pokémon resigned itself to its fate!
Daphne caught the wild Bulbasaur!
Level 6 Bulbasaur
Gender: Male
Nature: Rash
Ability: Overgrow
Moves: Tackle, Growl
Held Item: Oran Berry
Grasping the now-occupied pokeball in a hand, Daphne smiled down at Tiberius. "Guess we're not alone, now," she pointed out, and her pokemon trilled, apparently pleased with the development. "Well, come on then; I suppose we ought to get Atlas to the Center, and you also..."