The loud, otherworldly squeal from Josh's Sylveon was a double-edged sword. While it, combined with the COMEUPPANCE of Lasciel Elis 's Houndour, left the Hydreigon with just barely enough energy to fly, let alone fight back, it left all of the Dark-type Pokémon around her reeling. The wild Houndour the Hydreigon was preying upon was huffing and puffing. Komainu let out a painful howl that rattled Josh, still in the saddle, to the bone.

"I'm sorry - I thought we were out of range! Return, Komainu!" the Gym Leader apologized, withdrawing his Houndoom for Blinky, another saddled Pokémon. This one was a Jolteon, and a rather large one at that. Scurrying aboard the quilled electric-type capable of ludicrous running speed, he ordered his prized Pokémon to fire a pulse of THUNDER WAVE at the six-winged dragon. "Catch it or run, we better decide quick!"

---

ooc: skips!

Lasciel Elis

{WC: 144}
{PC: 7}

NAME          SPECIES        STATUS
Komainu       Houndoom       KO
Saber         Manectric      Good
Blinky        Jolteon        Good
Tiamat        Dragonite      Good
Basil         Leafeon        Good
Pinky         Sylveon        Good

Oof. Sometimes, a partner was just about as bad as an enemy. Her own Houndour had managed to deliver a blow to the bigger dark type, yes, but at the same time, the fairy’s attack hit it as well, causing the little one to stagger and fall to the ground after, evidently not having expected any of this.

But Lash was a pro. In her mind at least. She did not let that keep her down at all. Instead, with trained movements, she pulled both Houndour’s ball and an empty one out, threw the empty one at the Hydreigon while recalling her own Pokemon at the end of her little spinning motion. Granted, doing that in this body did leave her dizzy momentarily, but she caught herself reasonably well still.

At least well enough to complain. “I always pick catch! And try not to hit my Pokemon in training next time, Devlin.”


- catch attempt Hydreigon

Josh Devlin

[nospaces]
[break]

Lasciel Elis CAUGHT THE HYDREIGON!

Josh breathed a big sigh of relief when the Poké Ball containing Lash's new Hydreigon clicked shut. "What a sweat. Hydreigon are nasty," he remarked, feeling his mount take a deep breath, as well. "Good luck with her. Kokusho, my own Hydreigon, took me months before I could get him tame enough to work at my Gym. And even then, his reins are not for the faint of heart to hold." He still remembered the pain of that three-headed dragon flinging him off and thrashing him. With the threat neutralized, Blinky let out a mew of apology toward Lash and her Pokémon. "Of course!" Josh answered; while there wasn't a formal apology, the tone was there.

As the duo continued on, the dulcet tones of a wild Absol's voice, and a quite-large one at that, caught his attention. "Oh wow, those are rare," the Gym Leader mused aloud, pointing toward the wild. "I wouldn't mind having another for my Gym - one to have around in case Twilight and I are out and about." He took a different approach to this catch, knowing the species' tendency to be timid in the wild. Rather than battle, he slowly approached the singing Pokémon, impressed by the range of its voice. "You're really talented!" he called out to the dark-type when within close range, sliding down from his Jolteon and setting a treat at the feet of the Absol - one he would give to his own.

While it accepted Josh's offer, turning around to indulge in the spicy snack, the world around he and his Jolteon became dark as a moonlit night, crescent, eldritch blades hovering over both of them as though they were wielded by Death itself. The song Twilight sung was no ordinary song.

It was a PERISH SONG.

In a desperate attempt to stop the song's final note from sounding, the Gym Leader pitched an empty Poké Ball toward the wild. As it made contact, Blinky's screech made him come to the grim realization that it was too late. The black blade sliced cleanly across the front of the quilled Pokémon, felling her in a single blow. And Josh was next. He reached for Tiamat's Poké Ball, sending out the Dragonite in an attempt to put a body between him and the attack. It wasn't the Dragonite that the blade was after, though. It was him. Seconds later, he, too, succumbed to unconsciousness as the cutting void made contact with him directly.

As dangerous as Perish Song was, the move was almost never truly lethal. The Gym Leader would recover in due time. It was just a matter of how long. Tiamat, worried for her trainer, scooped Josh into her arms and started flying back toward Fallarbor.

---

ooc: catching Absol!

Lasciel Elis

{WC: 459}
{PC: 8}

NAME          SPECIES        STATUS
Komainu       Houndoom       KO
Saber         Manectric      Good
Blinky        Jolteon        KO
Tiamat        Dragonite      Good
Basil         Leafeon        Good
Pinky         Sylveon        Good

Well, yes. But also no. Frankly, Lash did not know how to feel about that compliment. She had talent, definitely, but this had not been talent. This had been experience and training. That person just thought it was all talent and no skill because he could not imagine her having invested a lot of time into this. Hence, it was kind of insulting to her previous efforts, in a way, but also genuine praise that was not entirely wrong.

Bothersome. All of it. She sighed. However, she was distracted before she could respond. While he saw some Absol, she noticed a nearby Marshtomp peeking out of the tall grass. By now, she had had to recall her Houndour for training, of course. But she was not going to let one of those slip through her fingers. Not as rare as Absol maybe – but the other already had called dibs on that and she was currently not in a state where it would be worth it to contest that – Marshtomps, or rather, Swamperts, were quite popular. Hence, she let out her Metagross and told it to Hammer Arm the ground type right away. Not the most graceful way to go about it, but she relied on the difference in strength here. It did serve to weaken it sufficiently enough to pitch a ball at the Pokemon.

However, she did not get to even see if that worked at first, since she heard a familiar note – one that saw her instinctively move away from the Absol and everyone else present. The Perish Song was not aimed at her, fortunately, so she managed to get out while both that supposed Gym Leader and his Pokemon were felled in one, well, fell swoop by an Absol that in turn was sucked into a Pokeball. “I don’t know if that is sad or comedic,” she said to her own Pokemon, though probably more to herself.

Then, she sighed. It would look real bad if she just left this guy here to be eaten by the next big Pokemon to come around. He was a bit of a pain in the butt, but probably did not deserve death. Not that she would risk herself defending him, of course. But as she looked around and saw no other threats, she beckoned Metagross to come closer and heave the bulkier person onto its disk-like body. However,  she stopped it before it could move dutifully towards the nearest Pokemon center they had passed about two hours ago, in order to do two things.
Pulling out two items from her side-bag, she wanted to go to work right away. Lash could already see it: “The mysterious coma-inducing prankster strikes again. Newest victim: Elite Ranger Devlin or Gym Leader Devlin (Goes by Josh)”. And if anyone asked, she would say that she saw a Jigglypuff flee the scene.

Sadly though, the Dragon already went to work rescuing him in the meantime, depriving her of that opportunity. A bummer, but she still got to work retrieving the Pokeballs. She probably would leave the Absol's at the nearest Pokecenter with his name. Not worth the hassle of stealing it when he knew she had been around, really.

---

Catching Marshtomp. Also, Anime reference