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She lost sight of the Gallade.[break][break]

“That'll get in the way,” but at least she was allowed to have the first move. Bailey Cooper kept her hands tucked in her pockets—her foot drumming against the battleground as her options started to rotate in her mind. The maze would not work in her favor. Gallades were psychic, right? There was too much bullshit that the Gym Leader could try and pull.[break][break]

Her Togekiss' patience was running thin.[break][break]

The Sergeant caught the dirty look that Tink shot in her direction. “Hey, don't rush me, alright? It's your ass that would get kicked,” but there was no point wasting her time trying to think of a plan—Bailey had never been a strategist. The faster she could get to an actual brawl, the better.[break][break]

“Use Aura Sphere,” and she would just have to let the sphere guide Tink through the maze. The fairy nodded at her suggestion, projecting her energy to form the blue, spectral sphere. The attack would immediately deploy, launching through the tight bends and turns, seeking the enemy. Even if their view was obscured, the sphere would not stray—it would know where to go.[break][break]

[break][break]

Tink would take to the air, positioning herself above the maze as she sought a better view. "Keep it up. It won't be able to hide for forever," and she never let her eyes stray from her fairy, sensing that the battle would not be that easy.

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“Fuckin' knew it,” Bailey grumbled under her breath as the Gallade used teleportation. One moment, the psychic pokemon was within the depths of the maze. The next moment, he had warped to the same height as her Togekiss and was now attempting to grapple with the fairy-type.[break][break]

The Sergeant cupped a hand to her mouth, unfazed as the Aura Sphere bent its path to pursue the airborne target. Togekiss may have been in the line of fire, but a move like that would pose little threat to the flying fairy. “You know the drill,” because it was easy for people to forget that the young Sergeant had experience with situations like this.[break][break]

She had been a trainer for fourteen years—that experience had to manifest somehow.[break][break]

Bailey Cooper was wearing her sunglasses as Tink started to glow. The pale skin of the Togekiss seeming to come to life with a sheen of white that would have burned to the touch, like pressing a hand to a light bulb as it prepared to shine.[break][break]



She flashed like a strobe light, emitting a light that was so bright that even Bailey flinched from behind her polarized lenses. It would have been blinding. If the Gallade chose to maintain its grip, it would have been blinding and burning.[break][break]

Bailey's voice cut through the air. “Bring 'em down!” Her finger cut its own path, going down with a sharp snap of the wrist.[break][break]

The Aura Sphere was fast approaching.[break][break]



The Gallade's grip may have restricted Tink's movement, but that couldn't stop her from falling. The very same energy that had manifested the Aura Sphere and the Dazzling Gleam would encircle the fairy-type, empowering it with a suddenly burst of momentum that would have shot her downward, straight to the ground, at a neck breaking speed.[break][break]

If the Gallade had held on, it would have been dragged along for the ride—and Togekiss would have flown straight into the approaching sphere, attempting to drag both of them into the oncoming attack, hoping that the physic pokemon had been temporarily blinded by the gleam.[break][break]

It would have struck the Togekiss, but the fighting-type move would have only drawn a grimace from the fairy—she had a good deal of resistance to attacks of that nature.[break][break]

And the ground would be fast approaching—a crash landing. She was going to drive both of them into the ground.[break][break]

Bailey grimaced. “Oof,” but knew that Tink would be able to take a fair share of abuse before she would have to intervene. The marshmallow-looking pokemon was far more sturdy than she appeared.

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The WIDE GUARD had defied Bailey's expectations. “Tch. Thought it'd be another teleport,” and her eyes were cast to her Togekiss as she picked herself up from the ground, trying to shake off the damage from the PSYCO CUT and the crash landing—the Sergeant could see the cut and how it oozed.[break][break]

The fairy could not be allowed to accumulate any more damage—not when the fight was so young. If she wanted Tink to outlast her opponent, there would have to be a change in strategy. It would be difficult against an opponent with high utility and high combat potential... but the fairy-type pokemon had a few tricks up her sleeves.[break][break]

“Let's cut to the chase,” and she had seen the Gallade dive back into the sanctuary of the hedges. It was time to take the gloves off. It was time to show why fighting against a Togekiss could be a complete nightmare. “Use Air Slash.”[break][break]



She swept with her wings, sending forth the attack with trained precision. The thin, wisk-like blades would manifest with each wing beat, stretching out from Tink like a cone. The sharpened air would easily decapitate the hedges, decimating a large portion of the maze as the wing blades stretched—and something about this attack would seem sharper than the average Air Slash, as if something had influenced its potential.[break][break]



A pause.[break][break]

“Again,” and the attack was executed twice, further damaging the maze as hedges slacked and slumped to the ground after being cleaved—it would be too much damage for a gardener to ever hope to repair. The hedges would just have to be regrown.[break][break]

It was time to apply pressure.[break][break]

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[break]

They could not relent.[break][break]

Bailey Cooper cannot tell if her Togekiss' succession of attacks were successful. As long as the Gallade played defensively and used the maze as cover, she would just have to guess. “You can't let up,” and her eyes narrowed as she scanned the line of hedges, noting which hedges were struck down.[break][break]

If they could chop down the entire maze, then... there would be nothing for the Gallade to hide behind.[break][break]

Something burst from the maze, catching Bailey's eye as it soared toward her fairy-type. After executing the two consecutive AIR SLASHES, the fairy was only barely able to maneuver out of the way of the second Psycho Cut, wincing as a portion of her wing is clipped.[break][break]

But it would take more than that to stop this assault.[break][break]



“Don't leave anything standing,” and Bailey Cooper felt a tinge of sympathy as another wave of air sliced through a row of the maze.[break][break]



Tink ignored the blood that oozed from the slow accumulation of cuts that raked her white, pale flesh. She could take it. She could push through it.

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[break]

Bailey watched as another section of hedge fell to the wayside, leaving the Gallade exposed. The Air Slash had hit its mark and achieved the wanted effect. It gave the Sergeant the chance to switch her gaze from the psychic fighter to Tink as the marshmallow pokemon tried to catch her breath. The continued sequence of attacks must have been exhausting.[break][break]

It had served a good purpose.[break][break]

“You still good to go?” Tink scolded Bailey with her eyes. “Aight. Go for it,” and she raised her hands in defeat, letting the fairy do as she pleased.[break][break]

[break][break]

Magic Coat was cast; it shimmered its rainbow-like hue as the energy encased the Togekiss in a tightly fit shell. Extreme Speed to close the distance. Defense and then offense. They couldn't count on the same strategies. It was time to change it up.[break][break]

[break][break]

“Now the real fight can start...” and she can feel her fingers twitch, itching to see how this would progress.

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[break]

The Extreme Speed had made its mark.[break][break]

Bailey Cooper had retrieved her own capsules. Tink's pokeball rested in one hand... and she bounced the other, knowing that the time was drawing near for the swap out. “Least there's no more hedges...” the Sergeant muttered under her breath, knowing that the rest of the fight could be straight-forward; a slobber-knocker, like a Fighting-Type Gym embodied.[break][break]

The Gallade had picked itself up from the ground as Togekiss coasted low to the ground, circling her opponent; it was not the damage done to the Togekiss that worried Bailey, but the exhaustion that came from the overuse of Air Slash. Pushing her into a second fight would be unwise—she would get sloppy.[break][break]

“Get ready for it!” Because the Gallade was already closing in, ready to execute another Psycho Cut.[break][break]

The Feint would be wasted, because Tink would make no effort to dodge.[break][break]

Bailey Cooper had instilled a lesson in her pokemon: if they hit you, you hit them back twice as hard. The rainbow-sheen of Magic Coat had faltered, but only because something was glowing underneath—a deceptive tactic that only revealed itself when the attack was struck.[break][break]



And the bright strobe blinded Bailey, forcing her to shield her eyes as she awaited the final outcome.

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