do these three even have synergy? do they even have the right personality for a fighter? thoughts brought kyle to a panic, but it wouldn't cloud his reasoning. he does not allow for it to happen.

on the bright side, she wasn't going on the offensive yet. he uses the opportunity to get a feel of his pokemon before making any real moves. if she likes to turtle her way, kyle should be able to retaliate with his own turtling.

"chansey, light screen! eelektross, coil!"

a protective screen appeared before the chansey and in front of the eelektross at her bidding, stopping the acid-induced freezing winds with it. the eelektross doesn't flinch and gets ready for the next attack once the opportunity presents itself.

kyle ponders on what he'll get the togepi to do.

"togepi, extrasensory."

no target was called. kyle gets to judge his pokemon's choice depending on her target. she chooses the piplup. eyes would glow as she released an unseen energy towards it, a blast appearing out of nowhere by its feet.

he is prompted with an academic question. he is aware of the nature of the gym leader, but he did not expect her to apply it in the gym challenge.

"the basic stuff," he answers. "i don't really care much about them though."

he knows some of their names, but he does not know enough for him to even attempt to make an estimate the extent of their power. he is somewhat aware of the ones at johto though, but since it was less of a bother to not say anything, he does not recognize the need to mention it.

"chansey, defend with egg bomb."

the light screen persists and filters part of the bubblebeam as it went through it. the eelektross continues to ready his body with coil, shrinking itself to make enough space for the chansey to throw an egg bomb at the incoming attack while still being behind him.

the collision results in an explosion, shaking up dust from the area and covering the visuals with a cloud of dirt. rain would wash it away soon, but it gives a window of time for them to use it as cover.

not like it mattered.

"togepi, keep on doing that."

kyle assigns no target for it for the second time. another instantaneous explosion with the use of extrasensory would appear by the piplup's feet once more. he takes note of his togepi's target selection and tries to piece the workings of her psyche.

he watches intently at the battle, ready to set out another order when it's needed. these were pokemon he has not battled with before. he didn't know whether to trust their own judgement or not.

he is asked if he knows about the beast in the cave of origin. he had read stories and played games relating to myths before, but most of them were in a fantasy setting and did not directly relating to any real life setting. kyle makes guess with a pokemon he knows that is a legend, not paying full attention as it was needed somewhere else.

"i'unno. lugia or something?"

• gravity active (3/5)
• safeguard active (3/5)
• light screen active (2/5)
• eelektross - atk/def/acc (+2)

the three of them were bunched up for a reason.

the ongoing light screen lessens the effects of icy wind. chill clung onto them, but the heat of the battle gets them riled up.

intensified gravity would have made it difficult to move around, but the pair still managed to maneuver around it easily. a testament to their abilities, he assumes. nonetheless, minute movements were all it took for everyone to switch around in between each other.

"defend!" was his command as he saw them move, gated by the lack of time to give more proper orders.

the eelektross moved to protect the togepi from the hit as the egg pokemon moved back. bolstered defenses made it easy for him to tank, though what made the trainer impressed was the guts and pride to do it on his own.

i like this one. i'll keep him around.

the chansey's current gravity intensifies as she feels the threat coming towards the group, one of the tell tale signs that she's in distress. her immediate reaction is to get defensive and use heal pulse on the main tank.

and this one's not stupid! how nice.

with the initial hit taken care of, kyle eases into a more controlled commandeering of his pokemon. hands on his pocket and his back arched lazily to a slouch, his excited demeanor contradicts the posture he assumes.

"togepi, focus on your target. eelektross, wild charge on brionne."

togepi keeps on targeting the piplup from afar with extrasensory.

electricity coats the electric fish pokemon. they closed the distance themselves, and all the eelektross needed to do was to attack accurately. with coil and gravity, it was an easy feat. with its strength, it moves easily despite the gravity and lunges towards the nearby opposing pokemon.

aqua ring and the rain only proves to be detrimental this time as water makes it easier to conduct electricity.

it was hard keeping his mind on two things consecutively. still, he attempts not to be rude and answer the question. his eyes stared directly in front of him, though they remained on the battlefield instead of olivia.

"i am. i'm a verdanturf boy through and through," he answers. "it's just, uh, the first legend that came to mind."

he'd spotted an entei before. he wouldn't be surprised if legends from other regions traveled to other regions as well.

• icy wind hits eelektross (-5.5%), chansey (-2.2%), togepi (-9.7%)
• eelektross tanks the hit for the togepi
• STAB boosted, rain boosted, huge power activated aqua tail hits eelektross (-46%)
• chansey uses heal pulse on eelektross (+50%)
• togepi uses extrasensory on piplup - 66% more accurate due to gravity.
• eelektross uses wild charge on brionne - 100% stronger due to stat boosts, 50% stronger due to STAB, 100% stronger due to super effectiveness, 66% more accurate due to stat boost, 66% more accurate due to gravity
• gravity active (4/5) - acc (x5/3)
• safeguard active (4/5)
• light screen active (3/5)
• eelektross [98.5%] - atk/def/acc (+2) spd (-1)
• chansey [97.8%] - spd (-1)
• togepi [90.3%] - spd (-1)

then it was two versus three. kyle eases up a bit.

the azumarill comes in for an attack after being thrown by the brionne. super luck gives the togepi a chance to dodge it in an unconventional manner when she takes a step back in an effort to move out of the way. she trips backwards, gravity pulling her down right away, and getting her out of the way.

"extrasensory, togepi. wild charge, eelektross."

the togepi summons a burst of explosion before her to knock back the azumarill to where she came from. the eelektross awaited and met the water-type there, ready to zap with wild charge.

"chansey, heal pulse on eelektross"

the chansey's tops off the eelektross from the recoil damage it took.

he is prompted by the talk of a gym leader. "n-no. not yet." was there a gym leader? "i'll, uh, check it later then." he knew that alex was going to step up as the temporary champion and leave his gym position vacant, but there has been no official announcement yet.

maybe he's just not reading the news.

a brow was raised at her at her inquiry. "arcanine's regarded as the legendary pokemon in the pokedex. does that count?" he could already hear the follow up questions should he mention his meeting with entei. he had no answers for those questions even if he wanted to, unfortunately.

• icy wind hits eelektross, chansey, togepi
• togepi dodges the aqua tail
• togepi uses extrasensory on azumarill to knock it back - 66% more accurate due to gravity
• eelektross uses wild charge on azumarill - 100% stronger due to stat boosts, 50% stronger due to STAB, 100% stronger due to super effectiveness, 66% more accurate due to stat boost, 66% more accurate due to gravity
• chansey uses healing pulse on eelektross
• gravity active (5/5) - acc (x5/3)
• safeguard active (5/5)
• light screen active (4/5)
• eelektross - atk/def/acc (+2) spd (-2)
• chansey - spd (-2)
• togepi - spd (-2)