Someone else found their way into the training center and Cap tensed, waiting for... well, something. Their eyes were supposed to lock in epic drama or something, right? Instead, she seemed troubled. His face fell. This wasn't the intense challenger Cap had pumped himself up for, and for a moment he was left floundering.

"Y-yeah, of course," he said, leaning to look out the doorway to make sure no one was following her. "I was just waiting for someone. Are you okay?" He couldn't keep the concern out of his voice. Cap had to remind himself that he didn't know this woman—despite the fact that they were both members of the same organization—and that meant no prying questions. Or, at least, not too many prying quetsions.

Katherine Fairburne

"Well, I wasn't waiting for anyone in particular—" he started, but she was already looking toward the flyer he'd placed in the training room itself. Cap couldn't keep the wince off his face. "Yeah, that's the thing. It seems kind of silly now that I'm standing here just kind of... waiting for someone to show up." It was somehow even more embarrassing now that the flyer was back in his line of sight. He had enough friends, he could have called any of them up for a proper battle. Or, hell, he could have wandered around in the back routes looking for one of those too-intense people who insisted on fighting strangers.

Shit, he was one of those people now, wasn't he?

He swallowed hard. "I've been out of practice on the battle front for a while. Longer than I'd like to say." Something in him had to believe that over-explaining things would improve her certainly terrible opinion of him. "I don't know why I put flyers up, I gotta be honest. I just moved to Hoenn not too long ago and I haven't really made too many connections yet—" Lies, lies, lies. "So I figured maybe I could make it a combination fighting practice and... social mixer?" Nailed it. A flush started to creep up his neck, but he had to laugh anyway. "No one else has shown up."

Katherine Fairburne

Cap's sheepish grin only grew as she talked. He gave a half-hearted shrug as if to pass off the blame. Usually he was good with people, and truth be told that's what he'd been leaning on. If anyone had showed up looking for the battle, he'd just do what he always did: turn on the charm. Well... the "charm". Fuck, he would have figured it out, right?

"I'm Caprice Isaac," he said with a grin. "Most folks call me Cap, but you better believe I'm here for a dope nickname. Or a shitty one, I've had my fair share of both." He followed her lead, pulling two Pokeballs out of his jacket pocket. The flash of red light faded to reveal a Pikachu dwarfed by a robust Nidoqueen. Nemesis curled a fist and pounded her other palm, staring down the Malamar. How dare that fish be taller than her.

"Two versus two. Sounds like a plan." Cap's typical confidence was wavering, but he took a breath and stepped back to give the Pokemon some space. "Ready when you are."

Katherine Fairburne

She wasn't fucking around. Cap appreciated that. There was no sense in practicing if she was going to take it easy on him. He did, though, feel a knot settle in his stomach for the beating his Pokemon were about to endure. That was usually the thing that thew him off the most about battles. He clenched his fists and steeled himself as the first attack flew. He needed this—they needed this.

Rangi snarled as the sludge hit him. He stumbled backward, the goo splashed across his body. He shook himself hard, flinging the sludge off him in little droplets. "Rangi, uh, Thunder!" The Pikachu's cheeks sparked and crackled as energy filled his body before exploding outward. Nemesis was caught up in the blast, but it was ineffective against her Ground typing. "Nemesis, bite one of them!" It didn't take much more direction than that. The Nidoqueen launched herself at the Malamar, opening her mouth to clamp with a Poison Fang.

notes: pikachu uses thunder on malamar and vespiquen; nidoqueen uses poison fang on malamar.

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1-50 to badly poison malamar

Katherine Fairburne