"And what's wrong with bein' petty, huh?"

A woman strides out from the underbrush in front of them, confident grin on her face and a wild look in her eye. Her hands rest on her hip, where two swords clack against one another for the first time, the woman no longer taking care to muffle her footsteps now she'd blown her cover.

"Looks like I lucked out. You're that kid. This'll be easy enough."

She takes no care for theatrics. A flick of both wrists and her swords are in her hand. They shimmer in the light of the sun, relishing the chance to draw blood in broad daylight.

"Not a lotta honor in killin' kids, but a gym leader? Now there's a story!"

She lunges forward straight at the kid, as swift and as short as she could make her every movement, steel blades screaming as they cut through air.

Screaming for the taste of blood.

The sudden, new voice drew the boy's attention, the Oranguru looking over as well. It wasn't someone the Oranguru recognized, as she'd informed him, and she didn't sound all that friendly. A ne'er-do-well, maybe?

The two swords she wielded didn't dissuade him from that conclusion. Nor did her running towards him, her intentions made clear.

As she began to bound her way over towards him, the boy took a second to realize what he should do.

This one lacked the sense of urgency the real one should have. Not ideal in this kind of situation - perhaps he would be better for distracting people.

But the Oranguru was, ironically, quicker on the draw; a glow from her fan illuminating the area around them. A Trick Room surrounded them, giving the boy a chance to act.

"Killing people over that? Talk about petty."

It gave him a chance to take out a Pokeball, giving it a lazy throw - the ball flying off to the side.

"Whoops."

This one also had to work on his one-handed ball-throwing technique.

The Toxic Chain Oricorio that emerged wouldn't have had enough time to rush over and intercept - so the Oranguru Instructed the boy to act first; a glow from her fan would make it seem like the Shadow Sneak came from her, rather than from the boy's own shadow, as it rushed over to intercept the oncoming Rocket.

Oranguru set up a Trick Room

Hideo sent out Toxic Chain Oricorio - in the wrong direction

Shadow Sneak used to intercept Hana (looks like it came from Oranguru)

Aoki Hana

The shadows shift, and a trained eye catches their movement even if the brain does not register it.

The woman's hand shifts downward just in time, not to defend against the blow, but if anything, to catch it. The edge of her sword pointed at the ground as the attack emerges, Hana is buffeted to the side, letting out a silent curse.

"Hah! And again I ask, what's wrong with bein' petty?"

A wide grin crosses the woman's face.

Her second blade slips from her grasp, falling into the void of her shadow beneath her. A moment later, and it appears from the kid's own, striking out at him directly with a shadow sneak of its own.

The Shadow Sneak had been deflected, quickly retreating back to its (apparent) source - and was quickly follow-up by his attacker's own Shadow Sneak.

Seems like he wasn't dealing with some random thug with a blade Pokemon.

"Being petty's bad 'cause you could be doing something better with your time! Like not trying to kill kids!"

While the Trick Room didn't serve much advantage for either trainer, it was exactly what the Oranguru would need to outpace them; a quick Instruct told him exactly where to move to avoid the attack, narrowly dodging to the side; so narrow, in fact, that it almost looked like he should've been at least scratched by it.

But he evaded it unharmed.

The Oranguru pointed her fan towards the Toxic Chain Oricorio, who'd seemed otherwise content to just watch the fight unfold. Another Instruct forced him to act, blowing some Poison Pheromones in the Doublade's direction.

"Go read a book or something! Get a hobby!"


Poison Pheromones: The user attacks by wafting pheromones from its toxic chain. This also leaves the target infatuated and poisoned.

Oranguru Instructed Hideo to dodge

He did, indeed, dodge

Oranguru Instructed Oricorio to do something

Oricrorio wafts some Poison Pheremones at the Doublade

Aoki Hana

"What if bein' petty and killin' kids are my hobbies, eh?"

They were not. But she bets on the kid not knowing that.

Her sword does not meet its purchase. She pulls it from her own shadow with a shrug of her shoulder, readying it to defend against an attack, but instead, she's only met by a wall of perfume. She looks down, expecting it to have some foul effect on her blades. The one in her left hand seems to have some strange pull towards the bird, a faint anomaly, but nothing else.

Swords cannot truly fall in love. Neither can objects who are not biological be poisoned.

Hana looks at the dancing bird with a sigh, shaking her head. There's someone else.

"Nice moves, now check mine!"

Then, she leaps nearly ten feet into the air, blades seeming to carry her on the wind. Quick as a sparrow, she darts downward and brings both blades onto the newest addition to this little party. Her left sword seems to tug at her wrist as she goes, trying to get closer to the bird faster than the other.

She lets it, carrying all her momentum with it.

"Then you're a dime a dozen Rocket!"

He didn't know for certain if she really was a Rocket - but who else would try to go after a Gym Leader so violently?

And if not - hey, it could get under her skin.

The Oranguru Telepathically scolded the Oricorio for using such a useless move, but the bird merely scoffed at her; she didn't tell him what to use, merely to act.

Uxie did not like these Toxic Chain Pokemon. They were often disobedient, and they reminded them of those three that had been responsible for Azelf's initial death. Yet Hideo kept them around, so they'd have to make do.

And to be fair, he did draw the woman's attention away from the boy.

But he also wasn't much of a close-quarters fighter himself, and he did not look excited to have a sword-pokemon-wielding human jumping in his direction.

"Oricorio, blow her away!" the boy shouted - as if the Oricorio needed to be told to do so.

This time, when he waved his fans, an Air Slash was sent flying for the woman.


Ability - Intoxicating Fumes: All Wind Moves are guaranteed to poison targets upon contact with the exception of Tailwind and Sandstorm.

Oricorio used Air Slash on Hana

Aoki Hana