[player]http://k007.kiwi6.com/hotlink/pquczd8ixr/23._xxxxx.mp3[/player]
It came as no surprise to anybody that Bastion was dealt a finishing blow, but seeing her beast taken out still brought a twitch to Annie’s eye. At the very least, things weren’t looking completely hopeless. With one of Alec’s Pokemon down, something close to a smile returned to her face, marred and masked by the tough battle before her. “I thought this would be an easy match, but you’re really making me work for this.” Her sentence was punctuated by the thud of a Forretress hiding the ground, unable to force itself upright.

“Sturdy as ever, Bas. Don’t worry, we’ve got this.” A few words of motivation were enough to bring out her smirk as she returned the Pokemon. Her final Pokemon took its place – a fierce-faced Lucario. He shifted into a fighting stance, but Annie’s commands stopped him short of moving in. “Hold tight, Cairo. Quake, use Dig!” When the Excadrill dived into the ground, his claws and head combining to form one oversized blade, there was no question as to why he was the Drill King. “Wait. Aren’t we up high? …I sure hope this floor is thick, because I don’t have repair money.”

She kept a careful eye on the Goodra. If it was anything like her Escargoo, the forecast was about to get hectic…

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Trixie arrived at the table first, or rather into it. The Whimsicott glided into a power-slide, dunking herself face-first into the thing. Her trainer’s lack of surprise as she approached told that this was par for the course. “You know, that made a lot more sense when there was food for you to dive into.” Apparently unharmed, the cotton puff bounced up onto her feet, turning one way to beckon Annie over, and then swivelling around to wave to the strangers.

“Hey! Nice to see a familiar face here. Some of these guys are weird.” Annie settled herself into her feet, an open palm brushing Trixie and her oversized mane aside until it stopped blocking her trademark grin. “What brings you to this place? You’re looking for love already?”

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[player]http://k007.kiwi6.com/hotlink/pquczd8ixr/23._xxxxx.mp3[/player]
Goliath didn’t need any further orders. With his prey trapped in his grasp, he’d already decided that only one of them would walk out of the scuffle. The heart of the sandstorm only partially obscured the sight of two titans thrashing about, with Annie’s dinosaur undeterred by the Iron Defense. If one Ice Fang didn’t do the trick, then two had to make a dent. Another Outrage forced him to read his head back, and for a moment it seemed that their battle had come to an end… He raised his head again, mustering the ice shards within his mouth, but the pain caught up to him before he could commit to one last attack. Goliath lay back on the floor, defeated, but his end did nothing to quell the sands.

Annie’s gaze was elsewhere. The Flamethrower was expected, and in the absence of a living shield, her prediction had lessened what could have been a knockout blow. Another rush of fire could take him out of the fight, and even by (or especially by) gym leader’s standards, Alec didn’t seem keen on letting her Pokemon stay standing. “You’re going out like a champ, Bastion! Get up there with a Gyro Ball!”

The mass of shell that was Forretress wasn’t well known for its speed, which could only help it when it came to using the move. He launched himself into the air, rapidly spinning until its body was but a blur of pink and red. 120 kilograms of spinning steel was dead-set on slamming into the Salamence’s back, with no regard for a counterattack or the toxic spikes waiting for them below.

That left the trainer, purse-lipped, to regard her fallen fighter. “Did your job well,” she muttered, returning him to his Pokeball. In his place, an Excadrill was summoned. Another Pokemon immune to the weather, Quake immediately set his sights on the Salamence. “Get ready, buddy. We got the slow set-ups out of the way. Now I’ll need you to kick some butt.”

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The Chansey that followed was a pleasant surprise, but not one that particularly helped them. She’d had Fortuna for much too long to dare thinking of adding another egg Pokemon to the party, even if they kept popping up in her life somehow. “Take a left,” she called to her mount, though she doubted Celeste would miss a pink ball in their path. The last thing that she needed was her Pokemon to think that she wasn’t paying attention.

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Celeste looked ahead, trying not to let that blunder dent her faith on her trainer. It showed, because the Rapidash was almost as bad at her trainer at masking her emotions, but the look could only strengthen Annie’s resolve. A determination to keep her eyes peeled paid off when she found her first target’s ears sticking out of the grass. “There’s one coming up that we’re gonna catch, alright? Can you get it?” Her stallion neighed, but showed no signs of slowing. As they sped past, Psychic dragged the little fox out of the brush and along for the ride with them. The little thing only had a few seconds to realise what was happening before a Pokeball made it a member of the Camp.

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“Yours too?” Wide-eyed shock soon gave way to laughter. “Okay, I feel a lot better now! I’ve got a Rapidash, Celeste, and ever since she evolved she’s gotten a real fat head! My Glimmer’s a lot better about it, but she has her moments too. Good to know that’s just kinda how they are sometimes. I was starting to think maybe I was raising them wrong.”

That was Rudi’s cue to pause her dance again, placing both hands on her stomach. It took Annie a few seconds to realise this wasn’t a dance move, but in fact, a message and a reminder. “Oh, alright. Professor, I think it’s about time that we move on! Rudi’s feeling hungry, and I haven’t figured out how we’re going to get lunch yet… So I should probably get on that!” The Ludicolo slapped both hands against her belly in agreement.

With a quick wave (Annie to Florian, and Rudi to the wild Pokemon), the two set off. Rudi made it all of seven steps before she started dancing again, and earned a silent stare from her trainer.

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She nodded to the woman, several times in a row, before turning back to her partner Pokemon. “Great job as always, team. I’ll see you for dinner, alright?” With that, both were returned to their Pokeballs. Annie, it seemed, felt comfortable enough with the near-stranger to let her Pokemon handle any surprise attacks.

“No problem, no problem! Let’s just slide out of here. New Mauville’s massive, from what I’ve heard, so there might be guys hiding deeper in, ready to jump us. Still, we did a lot of work at the front, and those electrics’ll think twice about settling in.” Annie strolled out into daylight, offering a wave to the Onix as they re-emerged. With a beast like Frankie in her ranks, perhaps it was no surprise that she’d recovered so quickly from her first encounter with an Onix.

From there, it was but a few minutes’ walk to the water’s edge, most of which Annie filled with words. Many, many words.
“Seriously, who would’ve thought that the electric-types would use not-electric moves?”
“Whereabouts are you headed from here? I bet you’ve got yourself a cool place to stay!”
“What’s being a ranger like? Is the pay good?”
“Frankie’s getting a lot better with people now! Thanks for only freaking out a little!”
“If Melody’s singing bothers you, you can ask her to stop! She’s really smart, and doesn’t mind too much.”
“What’s with you and all the tail Pokemon, anyway?”

Eventually (and perhaps fortunately, depending on how well Kaida took to Motor Mouth Mei), she ran out of land. Her Lapras was sent out, greeting the party with a gentle croon. The girl turned back to her senior. “Alright, Melody here could carry both of us, but I don’t know how comfortable you are with that. Either way, it’s only a few minutes from here back to the main route, and from there it’s not long to Regular Mauville.”

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[player]http://k007.kiwi6.com/hotlink/pquczd8ixr/23._xxxxx.mp3[/player]
Oh, Protect. Annie’s favourite least favourite move. “Practical, but super lame,” she scoffed, folding her arms as the glared at the shield. Her feeling towards the move didn’t change that it would bring an abrupt end to most of her battle plans. Only most, though. As long as Bastion was on the field, and the sandstorm chipped away at her enemies, all she had to do was run out the clock. With that in mind, it wasn’t too surprising that his words wouldn’t make her waver.

Goliath held steadfast as the gym leader gave his commands, shifting his glance back towards Annie. Her face had steeled, knowing enough from her own Kommo-o to realise that what came next was going to suck… But they could make the most of it. That was what Annie did best, after all. Still, there was something to be said for the man commanding his Pokemon to cross the field, without regard for the array of poisonous spikes she’d spread moments before. She wasn’t going to call him out on something that could only benefit her, but whether or not the poison would take hold remained to be seen.

“Dragon Dance.” The Tyranitar gained a glow to match the beast charging his way. “Get ready.” He snarled, staring down what was sure to be the source of a world of pain. “Grab him!” The sound of the dragon hitting dinosaur echoed throughout the hall, as did the roar of a Goliath greatly wounded. Ken succeeded in felling the beast, but he was only down, not out. Following through on his trainer’s orders, he wrapped his arms around the Kommo-o as he dropped, attempting to pull him to the ground, or at least on top of him, leaving him exposed to a-

“Ice Fang!” Bolstered by the Dragon Dance, and too arrogant to let the damage wind him, Goliath opened his maw wide. Glimmers of ice shards could be caught amongst his fangs before he sank them into the foe that dared challenge him… Even if he meant he didn’t have long left in the fight. Both trainer and Pokemon understood as much. In fact, the Tyranitar embraced it as a sign that the world knew it was a threat.

That left the unassuming Bastion, bound to be next on the chopping block. “Bas, get an Iron Defense going.” Cannons and eyes withdrew into a closed shell, which coated itself in a metallic sheen. It wasn’t quite as show-stopping as his partner’s wrestling show, but the Forretress had a part to play, and it was doing it well.

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[player]http://k007.kiwi6.com/hotlink/pquczd8ixr/23._xxxxx.mp3[/player]
If the wide-eyed look Annie and Bastion shared was any indication, they were off to a bad start. The Forretress had one glaring weakness, and Alec wasted no time in exploiting it. “Goliath!” She didn’t need to finish a command; training had taught the titan that that level of concern that early into a fight only meant one thing. It likely came as no surprise to the dragon tamer that a Tyranitar wasn’t the fastest of Pokemon, but his strength allowed him one mighty jump, landing in front of his partner to bear the heat. What should have been a critical blow for Bastion was much less so for the Armour Pokemon, but combined with the Clanging Scales that followed suit, he looked annoyed mere seconds into the battle. It wouldn't last long, for the sandstorm bolstered the defenses of a beast already lauded for its strength, but it was an early warning that the gym leader meant business.

Behind them, Annie could be seen biting her lip, if only for a second.. Concern and sympathy weren’t the traits that earned a Tyranitar’s respect, so neither of those would be voiced. “Alright, I see how this is gonna go. Bastion, Toxic Spikes!” The shell was even slower than his battle partner, but without legs, he made do with hopping out from behind Goliath. Its two frontal cannons fired violet orbs towards the enemy’s side, but they exploded short of reaching them, into an army of same-coloured caltrops. They sunk but a centimetre into the ground, seemingly settling themselves into the battlefield, and making themselves a stubborn presence on the enemy’s side if they hoped to cross over.

“Goliath, Rock Slide on Rex! Take him out of the sky!” In the absence of a cave wall, he raised his arms and summoned rocks out of nothing, several feet above his person. The array of rocks were sent flying towards the winged beast. Fortunately for Annie, boulders flew much faster than either of her Pokemon, but would it be fast enough?

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If there was one advantage to going fast that she didn’t account for, it was that most Pokemon weren’t in a rush to be trampled. Annie barely found herself with a second once the Applin came into view, but that was fine, for the little dragon had most certainly seen them. There was no mistaking the fear in his eyes as he launched himself out of the mount’s path. “Sorry!” Annie called, “but hey, as least we dodged it! Or.. it dodged us…”

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