He takes the canteen, slurping down a swig of piping hot tea that nearly scalds his tongue.

"Thanks," is all he offers before handing it back over. He gives the Gym Leader a once over, curious as to the nature of her selection for an arena. There has got to be a reason, he decides, more than just wanting to avoid damaging the gym...

But then again it's reason enough, considering he'd brought along Icon for the battle. Even so he remained uneasy, but did his utmost to keep his cool. He gestured to the Gym Leader.

"Are you ready?" He gripped two separate pokeballs from his belt, tossing them out onto the field and waiting patiently for the Gym Leader to send out their best to try their worst.

The rules were simple. He didn't particularly like them, but they were easily understood. As it was his privilege as a challenger to make the first move, he had to consider it carefully, staring down the volcarona and beautifly cautiously. Intensely.

"Rover, poison powder." His vileplume complied, releasing a steady stream of poisonous pollen into the dimly lit environment that was thickest around the pokemon but began to waft across the terrain. Although it could be controlled, it was slow yet deliberate, working mostly as a deterrent as the substance drifted primarily towards the enemy volcarona. Then came Howitzer.

"Howitzer, howl." Adrian couldn't help but shudder at the sound, having developed an exaggerated fear of the dark and the alleged nightcrawlers that went bump in the night. But it allowed Howitzer to tap into her carnivorous roots, her stance quickly shifting as she lowered her center of mass, leering at the two creepy crawlers.

Even Rover seems inspired, for what good it'd do.

Adrian had thought of a counter, for Arcanine to use flamethrower to void the incoming attack, but it all happened too fast for him to react. Errant winds upended his pokemon, going so far as to even force a switch out of pokemon as the wind snagged at the pokeballs on his belt.

Howitzer became replaced by Tyranitar, marking an immediate shift in the battle as tyranitar's sandstream kicked up a raging dust bowl, disrupting the movement of the winds as it landed upon the field. It was convenient then that the Silver Wind had followed up the Whirlwind, allowing Vileplume to persist through the attack with nothing but a grazing wound.

He had to take command of the situation now.

"Icon, Rock Slide!" Tyranitar had become immersed in the storm, curling its tail back reflexively as it assessed its prey. With the tail curved backwards and tense, Tyranitar shifted its weight in a spinning motion, digging its tail into the ground with great force so as to unearth jagged stones with a swipe of its prehensile limb, hurtling a score of rocks through the low visibility sandstorm at its foes.

"Rover, keep producing your pollen." He couldn't expect much else from the pokemon in this situation. Tyranitar's sandstorm made his already limited options nigh useless. All he could do was try to get some mileage out of it before he fainted.

It would've seemed like everything was going his way, right up until Ayame's Beautifly and Lurantis combo knocked out Tyranitar in a single round. The silhouette of his pokemon lumbered backwards. With a flash of red-and-white, Tyranitar was returned to his pokeball. He did well, he reassured himself. It was a rough match up, but he'd taken out a tricky pokemon by his lonesome.

A commendable effort.

Howitzer took to the field, landing just beyond the reach of the sandstorm, where it stood vigil over the dust bowl; snarling fiercely in an intimidation display. Its focus was on the Lurantis, which it watched with keen interest. Curiosity, even.

Rover was yet within the sandstorm.

He pulled back his vileplume amidst the chaos of the sandstorm, hoping to take advantage of the poor visibility. It would've been difficult for Ayame to see what pokemon was sent out in its place, Reign's daunting figure released in a streak of red-and-white, taking to the skies overseeing the sandstorm. Out of sight, out of mind, he hoped.

Adrian knows that the sandstorm is as much a problem for both sides, and he takes a moment to contemplate his options. In the end he resolves to disperse it, rather than allowing their pokemon to battle as the sandstorm subsided, whittling down both their teams slowly in a battle of attrition.

"Howitzer, clear the terrain." Howitzer seemed to understand, exploiting its fire affinity and beginning to shimmer with heat, dispelling the sandstorm in a radiant flash that left the area illuminated by more than the moon's glow.

Ayame conducts herself with a certain grace that leaves her seemingly unfazed, which only gives Adrian cause for worry. Even as one of her pokemon faints and the other verges on collapse, her strategy is solid and he begins to feel cornered.

Not unlike a rat, his brain scurries for a solution.

"Howitzer, use Flamethrower against Lurantis," he's decided on doubling down on the newer threat, rather than leave Ayame's pokemon to muster its full strength while he's distracted. The jet of flames scorches through the brisk midnight air, the flames driving home against the Lurantis.

"And Reign, follow it up with Drill Peck!" He can only hope that Corviknight's infatuation, while keeping it from harming the source of its attraction, can still be relied upon to attack the other pokemon. Whether it chooses to obey and wrest its eyes from anything other than the fluttering charm of Beautifly remains to be seen.

Lurantis and Beautifly kept up with the pace of his offense, doing what they could to avoid taking the brunt of his attacks. Arcanine was forced back from the gale that Beautifly directed at it, strands of its dense fur blowing in the strong winds as it sliced through, its paws digging into the earth.

Lurantis matched Corviknight's attack, both of their moves aimed at the other's, the focal point of their power meeting where beak and sickle crashed against one another. Both pokemon were able to rebound from the collision, neither one worse for wear. It hadn't gone according to expectations.

"Howitzer, pin it down!" Reign would rebound from the collision, performing an aerial loop-de-loop maneuver that came crashing down towards Lurantis from above. Howitzer began to retake the ground it had lost, running up on the Lurantis and springing for it, meaning to crash down on it.

This was otherwise known as a dogpile.

"Again, Reign!" Where Beautifly was a nuisance, Lurantis was a powerhouse he didn't want to give any momentum to. He needed to clinch this knockout, and so he'd doubled down on the plan.

Except Corviknight caught a glimpse of Beautifly on the way down, halting its advance and admiring her from its aerial vantage... ...Motherf@#%!