Heat licked at their cheeks as Jasper entered Melody's personal inferno. Neither they nor the pokemon held a single shred of a clue as to what they were walking into, but it certainly didn't wasn't this. Widen eyes and an agape jaw stared back at the gym leader as they both took in the sheer magnitude of the pressure her party exuded.

"What the fuckkkk...." They murmured. By then, the two Toxricities had lept down from the stage and was beginning to approach them. Jasper nibbed at their bottom lip. What do they do? Fight them head-on? No, that was looked down upon during the first box.

As the gears began to turn, their eyes flickered from the avian to the amphibians, back, and forth until an idea sprouted within their head. "Brave bird-- that should be effective, right?? We just gotta hit both at once..."

A sly grin soon lit their face. They had it. With a quick explanation, the trainer told their pokemon their idea of using Leaf storm to corral the two Toxricities together, then use brave bird immediately after. It wasn't their typical run and gun style, but it was worth a try. Who knows, maybe typing WOULD matter?

With a singular nod shared between them, the Decidueye flew to the sky and began preparing the storm of glowing leaves. He would then send it down towards the two toxricity, with the aim of pushing them together.

Jasper bit down on his lip as the frog duo easily recompose themselves back into an attack position. The way it stood, it was almost impossible for Ravioli to counter, as his full mind and body were overwhelmed with dodging the incoming electric sound waves. His eyes, wide and full of uncertainty, bounced from the gym leader to her pokemon, back to the gym leader. There was an opening left by the now distracted guitarist, but tackling her head on meant leaving behind his partner...

Worried eyes cast back to Ravioli. Damn it. If only he could send out some backup...

CAWWWW

In a millisecond, his attention was wrapped around the shrieking of his decidueye, worried if his outburst meant the worst. It didn't. In fact, it meant the opposite! As he glanced back upward, he was met with a face that screamed 'I'll be fine, you idiot'. The sight itself almost drew a chuckle from him -- of course, he knew he was worried about his dumb ass.

Jasper inwardly offered an apology for doubting his Pokemon's abilities, then made his way around the madness surrounding the trio of pokemon, and snuck towards center stage. If allowed, he'd only propel himself forward if deemed safe to do so and immediately search for the key behind this stage.

The first string feedback nearly gutted him. It was merely observational, as their methods were sacrificial more often than not, but having it repeated back to him... Well, it just reminded him of how irregular it was. Most people weren't forced to develop such lame habits.

But, before this realization could further seed itself in his stomach, the gym leader's melodic voice switch tunes and turned from one of lecture to congratulation. A wide smile soon infiltrated his cheeks as she outwardly commented on their bond as trainer and pokemon. If his childhood gave him anything positive, it would've been Ravioli - without him, he'd be nothing. Just a loser with a grudge against god.

"I won't haha..." Her words of caution created a tint of embarrassment across his cheeks, which he instinctively tried to rub out with the back of his arm. Then, when presented the badge, he called over Ravioli with a sharp whistle before taking another step towards melody. Together, the two reached out their arm. "We accept."