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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]It was time for the tag team of a lifetime.[break][break]

When Gavin had asked Isaac about serving as Ashley's tag team partner, he couldn't have accepted more enthusiastically. Ash was his #1 bro, and the two had been assigned to the same branch of the upcoming war effort. For them, it was a match made in heaven. For their enemies, it would be a match made in hell.[break][break]

But that wouldn't mean a damn thing if the two of them weren't ready to work in sync. Sure, they were able to rough up some ghosts together. Big deal. It was fun as hell, but they were merely some wayward wilds making the lives of the rich and famous hell. Big deal! No, no. Isaac needed a taste of the real deal. And what realer deal was there than whatever Gavin could cook up?[break][break]

Ashley came in his workout clothes. Isaac came in something . . . different. In place of his usual skull mask was instead a hockey mask, several times more sturdy and betraying not a single inch of Isaac's skin. His silhouette was bulked out by a bulletproof vest and padded clothes, leaving him looking stronger and stockier than his actual weedy frame let on. There were also a helmet and a mantle by his side, but for the time being he left those off, wrapping the helmet in the mantle and putting it aside.[break][break]

Were it not for him pulling the mask aside and flashing a grin Ash's way, the other man may not have even recognized him. "I, uh. I think I misunderstood the dress code," he said, his tone of voice a little on the cheekier side. Then again, Gavin was Rocket's scariest motherfucker for a reason. Who knew if Isaac would need to test the new duds or not?[break][break]

Isaac's Pokemon were as concealed as he was. If Ash wanted to know who his bud was bringing to the battlefield . . . well, he'd just have to wait and see how this training went.

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Well, shit. This was an awkward impasse. Either Isaac tipped his hand early, or he basically committed insubordination. In front of Gavin Fucking Merlino. The former would basically give up the ghost on his strategy. The latter would have probably gotten a lesser Rocket killed. Would Gavin trust him enough to make him the exception? Gambling on it seemed risky, and yet . . .[break][break]

"Just trust me on this one."[break][break]

It would be a cold day in hell before Isaac ever chose to do things the easy way.[break][break]

Unfortunately, without an obviously-positioned Pokemon on the field, Gavin would go for the next best thing; Isaac himself. The trapping whirlpool rose around it, and were it not for his complete skin coverage the riptides would have already started tearing into his flesh. This was the risk of not having a Pokemon with him; the League wouldn't care if he was prepared or not. They would strike without mercy, pity, nor remorse, especially if he left himself so wide open.[break][break]

Good thing Isaac wasn't truly alone. Ash wasn't the only one to pick up a trick from THEO BECKETT. He was a man that inspired many things in Isaac; Fear, from how Ash had described him prior. Revulsion, from how much of Kanto he seemed to carry forth into an organization that had purged it. Even some awe, for nobody in Rocket seemed to command as much respect and authority short of Walsh himself.[break][break]

Yet today, his takeaway was that Theo knew his shit in a battle. And that was why, rather than obviously send a Pokemon onto the battlefield, Isaac had left his Dhelmise hanging in the space between spaces to emerge at just the right mooment. Like a rocket, Sanford burst forth from the Phantom Plane, a shadowy aura surrounding his body. Collision with Gavin's own Dhelmise seemed imminent.[break][break]

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Wreathed in the energies of the Phantom Plane as such, Sanford could do nothing to impact the Dodrio. Steel, timber, and algae alike phased through the bird as if it wasn't even there. Interesting.[break][break]

Equally interesting was the fact that the Eelektross was coiled up like a spring. It was tense. It was focused. And, rather than striking back at the foe it faced, it seemed to be biding its time all too patiently.[break][break]

Everything made sense once it launched itself Sanford's way.[break][break]

"Hurry! Back up!"[break][break]

The nice thing about Normal types was that ghost type techniques couldn't effect them. They simply phased through, as if the normal type wasn't even there. Normally, it was a downside, as Isaac had just faced when Sanford's attack did jack diddly squat to Gavin's Dodrio. Yet, now, with Sanford stuck between a bird and a hard eel, there may be strength to be found in one's limitations.[break][break]

The energy of the Phantom Plane wreathed back around Sanford. He dodged not upwards or outwards but instead through, his incorporeal body phasing through Dodrio as if it wasn't even there. And then, lingering behind Dodrio like the teasing remnants of a shadow, he finished fading into the space between spaces.[break][break]

Ashley would have to hold down the fort solo for a little longer. But with the element of surprise on his side, Sanford ready to strike from the shadows once more, and Eelektross potentially redirected into its own partner, Isaac was sure he could do a little bit of rope-a-dope.[break][break]

TEAL DEER;[break]
Phantom Force doesn't work on Normal Types?[break]
Good.[break]
Sanford readies another Phantom Force, taking advantage of this fact to dodge "through" Dodrio.[break]
His hope: Eelektross ends up hitting Dodrio instead.[break]
The downside: Ash is left playing rope-a-dope for a round.[break]

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Urk. Isaac had hoped Reinhardt would be able to hold out for a little while longer. Unfortunately, Gavin was full of surprises. Shadow Pokemon were so frighteningly strong that even a move as weak as Bind became agony, and a Flying type breaking out a move diametrically opposed to its nature was icing on the cake.[break][break]

Isaac wanted to apologize, but this was battle. Pokemon fought. Pokemon fainted. It was simply the nature of things. The best apology that Isaac could give was to prevent the Nidorino's sacrifice from being in vain. He needed to strike hard and strike decisively, especially while the slippery Eelektross was coiled around an enemy and held fast by poisonous barbs.[break][break]

Sanford came screaming from the Phantom Plane, rushing right past Eelketross. What had happened? Had he missed his strike at a critical moment?[break][break]

The thing about pulling the old strike out of hiding trick is that doing it once is enough to prepare an opponent. Once you've introduced Phantom Force to a battlefield, the possibility settles into an opponent's mind. If your Pokemon fades out of sight, or even just escapes notice, their next move could be Phantom Force from literally out of nowhere. And that went double when the move was used so recently, so freshly put on the table.[break][break]

That was why, instead of committing to the Phantom Force, Sanford's emergence from the shadows was a feint. Instead, as it shot past the Eelektross, it turned its body to the side and started to spin. It lashed much of its algal colony towards the shadow, seeking ring the eel's bell with a momentum-fueled Power Whip.

Of course, Gavin was the master of shadows. Even if his strike did hit home, Isaac knew that the Eelektross wouldn't be going down without a fight. He watched with bated breath, knowing that with Ashley already taking his lumps now it would be his turn to bear the brunt of its assault.[break][break]

So be it. There was no better teacher than experience.

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Sanford may have been on the ball, but a slow, heavy Power Whip had nothing on the speed of lightning. The Dhelmise's algal whips found only empty air. Judging by the scratches left behind on the training room tiles, a successful hit would have done some massive damage.[break][break]

How could Isaac be discouraged? He may have lost the trickster's war, but he looked a Shadow in the eye and made it blink first.[break][break]

"Only way to learn's by fighting someone who knows what he's doing, right?" Isaac asked. Just as he did with THEO BECKETT in an unfair brawl. Just as he did with Felix Gallagher in a sudden post-mission ambush. Just as he did with Zev Harcourt, each and every time they sparred. Just as his Pokemon did when they battled among themselves; at 50 strong, they were constantly exposing themselves to new lessons.[break][break]

The second Maple released her hold on the Dodrio, Sanford saw its chance. The two basically changed places, Sanford attacking the second the Eevee had rolled away. One hold was traded for another, a Whirlpool cascading around the Dodrio in much the same fashion as the one Gavin had smacked Isaac with earlier. The Dodrio could boost its power all it wanted; what use would that strength be if it couldn't reach its foes?[break][break]

It was just a shame that this wasn't really Sanford's battle of choice. With all of these birds on the battlefield, it wasn't a question of if one of them would be able to wear Sanford's defenses down but when. But who else was waiting in the wings? An Eelektross that could dance around its slow, deliberate attacks, and another Dhelmise that could basically beat it at its own game a thousand times over?[break][break]

Sometimes, staying in and seeing how much of a nuisance you could make of yourself was just the better solution.

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