Familiarity. [Jericho]

[rain]

Despite his ongoing love affair with the indoors, Kay had to admit that fresh air was definitely a good thing for both his health and his sanity, the latter more due to his constantly nagging mother than anything else. His Pokémon were far from complaining, but he supposed that being allowed the freedom to wander the city was a nice break from training and battling in the gym like they usually did.

However, the Haven City gym leader was beginning to wonder just how much freedom he should allow his Pokémon, particularly when Aerodactyl returned from a flight with something furry and disturbingly bloody stuck between his razor-sharp jaws. Kay was perfectly fine with Aerodactyl being carnivorous - after all, he had to eat to survive, did he not? - but he made it a point to tell him that, if he gets a lawsuit the next day about the untimely death of someone's pet, the fossil Pokémon wasn't going to get any sympathy from him.

Aerodactyl merely snorted in response, knowing full well that Kay the big softie wouldn't follow up on that threat.

Not that said lawsuit would happen in the first place.

When Aerodactyl took off again for another round of wandering the skies, fully intent on preying upon another unfortunate rat just to annoy his trainer, Kay sighed and leaned back on the bench to watch his tail disappear behind the clouds. "Sometimes I wonder if I really have control over him," he said quietly to his Sudowoodo standing motionless on the ground a meter away from the bench. Of course, Sudowoodo didn't say anything. He never did. The most sound Kay had ever heard from the tree-like Pokémon was an incomprehensible roar, and that was only in the presence of water, or anything else that spat water.

Sudowoodo's silence was oddly comforting though. Maybe it was because it meant that things were normal that morning - the streets were nearly empty, his mother was cleaning the house, he had been able to avoid a haircut from her for yet another day, and he was outside on a bench, reading in the glorious tranquility of the early morning hours. Everything, from the fluffy white clouds floating above, to the dirt and dust under his shoes, and even Aerodactyl's faint shriek resonating from somewhere in the distance, seemed to be perfectly normal.

The content smile reappearing on his face, Kay stretched out his legs and returned his attention back to his book.

[danylle]

It would be an understatement for Jericho to say that Haven looked a lot different than Reinshaw town. Reinshaw was lush and green because of all the rain, but Haven was… clean. Too clean maybe. It looked sterile. Jericho was used to wet streets and mud, everything here was sparkly white and polished.

Why was Jericho so far from home? It was simple enough. An old man on the outskirts of Haven had a story about Raikou. And Jericho loves to research stories and myths about Pokémon. He jumped at the chance to go hear about it. He had Blaze, his Rapidash, take him as fast as the old fire horse could. He sat with the old man, who mostly retold the same part of the story again and again, changing minor details each time; ie, it was sunny, it was raining, it was snowing. He went on to say he saw Raikou at the top of a mountain/hill/in the middle of a valley. All in all, the story had little reliability, but Jericho humored the old man, and the named his way into town, to get a bite to eat, rest his Pokémon, and maybe flirt with some cute girls. They always loved to hear that he was a gym leader. They loved it even more when he admitted that he was empathic—it made him look more sensitive to them, and more mysterious, two things the girls always loved.

Jericho was currently walking down the street, Venus, his Espeon, was right by his side, like always. She trotted beside him, continuously looking around at the city she hadn’t seen before. Jericho did travel from time to time, but he had never been to Haven, and he didn’t travel as often anymore since he had a gym to run.

“It’s too bad the story didn’t pan out…” Jericho rubbed the back of his head, “I want to see a legendary Pokémon… any of them… just once.”

“Pe- Peon!” Venus completely agreed with the idea, and gave her trainer and friend a big Espeon smile. If it would make him happy, then she’d be happy… and it’d be interesting to feel the emotions from such a Pokémon.

Jericho was headed back toward the end of town from which he entered, slowly. He had nothing else to do in town really, but he was really hoping to see a pretty girl before heading out. And what do you know, he saw just that. There was a young, pretty girl with long black hair sitting under a tree, her nose in a book. He grinned, and Venus immediately pawed at his leg, trying to draw his attention. He ignored her though, she was usually jealous of his advances, and he strolled right on over to the pretty girl, leaning on the tree she was sitting under.

“So, what’s a pretty girl like you doing sitting here all alone?”

Venus hung her head. This wasn’t going to go well. If only Jericho could sense the emotions from Pokémon as well as humans, like she could. He’d save himself a lot of trouble.

words: 519
tags: Kay
notes: here we go!
outfit: something like this

[rain]

Even the perceptive Kay, who was normally familiar enough with Sudowoodo to detect even the smallest changes in his face or posture, didn't see the Pokémon's slight smile, or notice that he was shaking slightly as if suppressing a fit of laughter. All the gym leader could tell in the back of his mind was that there were footsteps nearby, but he was too absorbed in his reading to pay much attention to where they were headed.

Sudowoodo, on the other hand, could see the stranger making his merry way over to Kay and had a very good idea of what he was planning to do, judging by the silly grin on his face, but he didn't make a motion to interfere. The Rock-type was very good at remaining still, able to perfectly imitate a small innocent tree... except in the winter, when the unchanging vivid green balls on his hands gave him away. But throughout the other three seasons, hardly anyone took notice of him when he performed his mimicry, and the present situation wasn't an exception.

To Sudowoodo's great delight, this talent also allowed him to avoid getting involved whenever his trainer got stuck in an awkward situation. It was highly amusing to just stand by and watch him struggle; Kay's life the way he was, especially when it came to romance, was better than a sitcom. Much, much better.

“So, what’s a pretty girl like you doing sitting here all alone?”

Unless there was actually some female stalking around the area unbeknownst to him, Kay was fairly certain that the random flirtatious comment had been directed at him. He sighed quietly. Oh dear. Not again.

"I'm afraid you're mistaken, sir," he said automatically, his eyes flickering over the top of his book to steal a glance at the newest unfortunate victim of his appearance. "I'm - oh, wait, hold on..." He was just on the verge of divulging the crucial information when the other man's face distracted him at precisely the wrong moment. Sudowoodo shook even more violently at this hilarious new development, but he barely managed to withhold his enjoyment. "You look familiar... are you from Reinshaw? That town is right nearby this one, is it not?"

[danylle]

As soon as the “pretty girl” spoke, Jericho realized something here was off. The girl’s voice didn’t sound like a girl’s voice at all. But the hair, the skin, the… okay, the chest was a little flat… could it be?

Venus sat down next to Jericho, and gave him a look at that ‘I tried to warn you’. Jericho grinned and scratched at the back of his head sheepishly.

“I should listen to you next time, Venus.”

Her response was another look that just screamed “duh”.

Jericho turned back to the guy and then just happened to notice the odd tree nearby, a Sudowoodo. Jericho was always good at spotting Pokémon in hiding. The only ones he couldn’t find were Kecleon, but then again, how can you see something that is invisible? Somehow Venus could, but then again, she was a psychic Pokémon, she could sense the emotions and sometimes, he guessed, their thoughts. All he could do was get a reading on the emotions from another human. The Sudowoodo seemed to think Jericho’s advance was funny, though it barely moved. Was this guy its trainer? Or was it wild? It didn’t seem too scared of them if it was wild. Whatever the case, Venus was enjoying the scene too, though she knew Jericho had been a little bi-curious in the past. It would still be entertaining to watch.

“Oh, well…” he grinned again, “I’m not that picky… if you’re not.”

Yes, Jericho just hit on him and didn’t even know his name.

"You look familiar... are you from Reinshaw? That town is right nearby this one, is it not?"

“It is, and as a matter of fact, I am. I’m Jericho, the Reinshaw Gym Leader.” A grin stayed plastered on Jericho’s face. This always impressed the girls…er… yeah. Hopefully it would impress him too.

Venus just decided to keep out of this one, and look around the area. She spotted the Sudowoodo a lot sooner than Jericho did, and wasn’t meaning to be rude, but figured it was trying its best to hide for a reason, so she’d just pretend she hadn’t noticed it yet. She decided to focus instead on its trainer, the guy Jericho had been hitting on. This was going to be an entertaining day.

words: 379
tags: Kay
notes: sorry its a little bland!
outfit: something like this

[rain]

By the look on his face, it seemed that the stranger had managed to figure out his mistake by himself, and Kay was slightly relieved by this; he had to clarify his gender so many times throughout his life that the line had lost its awkwardness, but it did get tiring after the first couple hundred misunderstandings.

Now perhaps interactions with this man would be slightly less painful.

He gave a small start when he realised that the stranger wasn't alone, and his gaze swept over the small, lavender-coloured feline that had accompanied him - an Espeon, whose nickname was apparently "Venus" and who evidently had known that Kay was a male all along. Something sparked in Kay's knowledge-hungry mind; was it because she was a Psychic-type Pokémon, or because she was a Pokémon, period? It seemed that a lot of these creatures had better intuition than most humans did... maybe it was some sort of sixth sense? He made a mental note to look into that later when he had the time.

“Oh, well… I’m not that picky… if you’re not.”

So much for being less painful.

"Pardon me?" Kay said incredulously without thinking, the book nearly slipping out of his hands as this second flirtatious comment pierced through his wandering thoughts. "Oh - I, uh... excuse me," he added quickly afterwards with a cough, in a feeble attempt to make up for the random outburst of rudeness.

A subject change was more than welcome. "Ah - gym leader? Well then, no wonder... I'm a leader as well, of Haven City here." Shutting his book, he swiftly got back onto his feet and gave Jericho a polite bow, a customary way of greeting others that Kaoru had instilled in him from a young age. "Kay Maeda. It's a pleasure to meet you, Jericho." Sudowoodo couldn't help rolling his eyes, and even the usually staid Kay thought that was a rather stuffy response to the other leader's introduction. But what else could he say? Social dexterity was not something that he grasped very easily.

(WC: 370)

[danylle]

So, apparently this guy wasn’t swinging the same way Jericho did. Oh well. His reaction was priceless though. Jericho couldn’t hold back his laugh. Even Venus got a chuckle out of it. Jericho quickly muttered an apology, between giggles. He just couldn’t help it. The look on the other guy’s face was priceless. Kirlia would get a kick out of this. Venus would tell her all about it, Jericho was sure.

“Sorry, I’m sorry.” Jericho said when he could finally calm his laughter, “Your face was priceless.”

"Ah - gym leader? Well then, no wonder... I'm a leader as well, of Haven City here."

“Well, what a coincidence. I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you earlier. I don’t really keep up with the other gym leaders since gyms tend to pass hands fairly often. I focus on running my own.”

Venus took another look around the area, and shifted uncomfortably. She was used to grass under her paws, not stone. She much preferred Reinshaw, she decided. And the grassy field of the gym, with the large man-made waterfall that her trainer used for meditation. It had a dual purpose of providing an area for water Pokémon to battle in. Her friend Slowbro was one of these Pokémon. He was a nice addition to the team. No one who came to the psychic gym was expecting a strong physical attack.

"Kay Maeda. It's a pleasure to meet you, Jericho."

“Uh… same to you, Kay.” Jericho was a little thrown by the sterile reply. Was everything in this town so trim and proper? Weren’t there any rambunctious wild Pokémon?

Venus shifted again. It was rare, but every now and then she wanted to battle. Just every now and then. She’d much rather curl up in Jericho’s lap after a long day, but right now, she felt antsy. Maybe it was the town, maybe it was the other Pokémon she could sense, maybe it was because she just heard that this new potential friend or rival was also a gym leader like her trainer. Yeah, it was most likely that last one.

Jericho couldn’t sense emotions from Pokémon like he could people, but he knew exactly what Venus’ stance meant. He smirked a little.

“I think we got off to the wrong foot here. And I believe my dear friend Venus here has a great idea on how to fix this. Why don’t we have a battle?”

words: 403
tags: Kay Maeda
notes: omg, plot! lol
outfit: something like this

[rain]

His face? Priceless? Well, Kay was pretty certain it was now that it was heating up and was probably flushing a violent shade of pink. God, why did he have to react this way whenever he was embarrassed?

He understood what Jericho meant about the unpredictableness of gym leadership, but simply nodded in agreement, quite reluctant to say anything else in case he made himself look stupid again.

"Uh… same to you, Kay..”

Jericho's bewildered reaction to his introduction caught him off-guard, and despite his self-consciousness, Kay raised a fist to his mouth and laughed; evidently, Jericho wasn't very used to the orderliness that the city (and admittedly some of its inhabitants, such as the leader himself) exhibited. "I'm sorry if you feel uncomfortable," he said lightly, "but it isn't always like this. Things do get... chaotic around here, with the presence of the right people. Or Pokémon." Aerodactyl the hyperactive immediately came to mind and Kay gave an amused sort of sigh, shaking his head.

Sudowoodo wriggled a bit in anticipation when Jericho suggested a battle, and his trainer threw him a furtive glance. "I believe Sudowoodo would like that as well," he agreed with a small smile, "but it would have to be one on one, since my other-"

"Daaaaac!"

Kay was just as startled by Aerodactyl's abrupt arrival as anybody else, but he looked remarkably unsurprised by the mangled, bloody lump clearly visible in the Pokémon's jaws when he landed.

"You're doing this just to bother me, aren't you?" he asked, knowing full well that the answer would be a flat-out delighted "yes" through a mouthful of dead creature.

Refusing to give Aerodactyl the overreaction he wanted, Kay calmly turned his attention back to Jericho. "I do apologise for his behaviour. Um, would... would you mind a double battle? I've never really had an opportunity to try my hand at it with these Pokémon..." He wasn't sure how well he and his newer gym Pokémon would fare in an unfamiliar two-on-two match, but he figured the experience would be worth it, whatever the outcome.

(WC: 391)

[danylle]

Jericho nearly jumped from his skin when he heard the loud cry of a Pokémon out of the blue. Venus, like always, knew before Jericho that a Pokémon was in the area. As it was, she was somewhat hiding behind Jericho from the prehistoric Pokémon. Its size, and the fact that it was currently eating something that was alive moments ago, had her a little on edge.

Jericho, however, had a much different response.

“Whoa! That’s an Aerodactyl! Awesome! How did you get it? It’s so cool!”

Venus watched the carnivore closely for a moment before looking up at her ranting trainer. He was really all this excited over some giant scary bird? She tried to remember… it was in a book he used to read when they were both little. He used to call it ‘semi legendary’. He gave that name to a few Pokémon he considered almost legendary for one reason or another.

Jericho straightened up after his moment of gushing, and just carefully looked over the Aerodactyl. He’s never seen a real live one before.

“Kay, you just made my day.” He grinned, “You’re just about the coolest guy I know now.”

"I do apologise for his behaviour. Um... do you mind a double battle? I've never really had an opportunity to try my hand at it with these Pokémon."

“Double match huh? Sounds fun. Alright, where’s a good place we can battle?”

Venus was nearly jumping at the thought of a battle now. She got excited fairly quickly. She wondered who she’d get paired with in this battle. Considering who she’d be battling, she was hoping it’d be Alakazam. He was the stronger of the group and she really wanted to win.

Jericho was very excited at this idea. First he gets to see an Aerodactyl, now he’d get to battle one too! This was going to be fun for him no matter how the battle went.

{words: 321}

[rain]

Aerodactyl was quite pleased with Jericho's compliments, and as if compelled to validate them, he tossed his head up and swallowed his snack much more theatrically than usual. Then he smacked his lips and stared ravenously down at Venus with a mischievous glint in his beady black eyes. "Why hello there, cat," he greeted her shrewdly. "Mighty tasty little thing, you look like. Ain't it such a shame -" he leaned in to bring his huge face right up to the Espeon's - "that you're off-limits... ah well. Maybe this battle'll let me get a quick bite outta ya."

"Please stop that," Kay requested to his Pokémon, yanking Aerodactyl's tail to bring him away from Venus, though it was more in concern for the Espeon's comfort level than anything. He had kept careful watch over Aerodactyl's hunting habits for four years, and not once did he actually kill an owned Pokémon or anything bigger than a Rattata; there had been close calls of course, but a loud screech and a blast of dragonbreath from Vibrava always set him straight.

In fact, the fossil Pokémon was, surprisingly, never too difficult to keep restrained, even in the beginning when Kay had first revived him. Quagsire and Vibrava were always much stronger and better trained than their (ironically) younger prehistoric teammate and could keep him in check, but actually training Aerodactyl had been a three-year-long nightmare. The difficulty in getting the Pokémon to listen to anything was probably the reason why Kay's friend Kira refused to add a second Aerodactyl to her team, and instead gifted the piece of old amber she dug up to him.

“Awesome! How did you get it? It’s so cool!”

Though Kay found Jericho's gushing quite amusing, he wasn't sure how to go about answering the question. "Um... a friend gave it to me. Er - gave him...?" Technically, Aerodactyl wasn't even a Pokémon yet at the time of gifting, just a piece of amber, and had therefore been an "it" until he was revived in Rustboro. The only reason Kay had that opportunity in the first place was because he was visiting his father's family in the city, but he wasn't very comfortable explaining the events leading up to that when he and Jericho only just met, and then there was the chance that he might say something strange and completely wrong again and Jericho would quite possibly think that he was -

A firm slap upside the head startled him out of his worried thoughts. "Calm your shit down, wouldja?" Aerodactyl scoffed at the sight of his trainer's flustered expression. "And c'mon, hurry up, I wanna get this battle started with already."

They complimented each other well, Kay and Aerodactyl, able to rein each other in when the other got too far. Silently thanking his Pokémon for getting him back to his senses, the gym leader tried to compose himself and gave a small, bashful smile at Jericho's "coolest guy I know" comment. "Sorry... um, thank you for that? Right - ah, I think right here should be fine... or maybe..." He moved several meters to the left, far away from the towering buildings of the city. "There aren't any buildings around, so as long as things don't get too messy, I believe this will work. We are on the outskirts of Haven, so..."

Aerodactyl fluttered impatiently on the spot as he waited to see their second opponent, while Sudowoodo finally relented on his mimicry and walked over to stand beside his partner, his features remaining completely deadpan.

(WC: 662)

[danylle]

Jericho walked over to face Kay, making sure they were far apart enough to get this battle going. He had a big decision to make now. Who to battle with? Venus was pokemon number one, she was ready to go and wasn't going to allow Jericho to refuse her. He didn't blame her after the odd confrontation between her and the Aerodactly. He didn't know what exactly happened between them, but he could tell it wasn't very friendly. He liked to let his pokemon handle their own problems though, so unless the Aerodactly had actually hurt her, he was going to just let it be.

Alright, so he was going to be fighting Aerodactyl and Sudowoodo. The easiest choice would be to bring out Slowbro. His 'Surf' attack would be more than enough to take out at least the Sudowoodo. Aerodactly might be able to dodge it, but it'd still be a much easier battle this way. Question was, did Jericho want an easy battle? He's weigh all his options first.

Okay, how about Alakazam? He was Jericho's strongest pokemon, that was for sure. But then again, he did have a tenancy to show off and Jericho wasn't sure if he wanted to risk taking the chance of losing because he wanted his attacks to look pretty.

Kirlia? Maybe. She was good in battles, even if her stats were low in comparison. Jericho couldn't wait to evolve her into a Gallade, it'd make batles so much more entertaining. He just needed a Dawn Stone to accomplish his task.

Lunatone.... hm. That was an interesting idea. Venus and Lunatone had never battled together before, but then again, she was so shy that Jericho thought that she would run at the sight of the Aerodactyl. She was very timid for a rock pokemon.

Alright, Jericho made up his mind. He grabbed the little red and white ball off his belt and gave it a carefree toss.

"Slowbro, time for battle!"

The fairly large water type appeared as Jericho caught the tossed pokeball. Unlike most Slowbrows, Jericho's never looked "slow". He looked right at Kay, then to his pokemon, and got into a stance that looked like he was ready to charge into battle at any time. Jericho sighed softly to himself. This was all due to his past trainer who used to treat him so poorly. It wasn't natural for a Slowbro to act so... active. It reminded him of a Snorlax refusing food. It was both horrible and amazing, the things that a pokemon could do when treated poorly.

Jericho had more than the sheer power and type advantage in mind with picking Slowbro. He needed to socialize like a normal pokemon again.

"Venus, Slowbro, lets do this."

{words: 469,~~ Notes: just check the links on under my siggy for pokemon details}

[rain]

Kay wasn't very bothered by Jericho's choice of Pokémon. Admittedly, he was a bit disappointed that he was going to have a type disadvantage, but it wasn't as if he wasn't prepared for this; countless trainers had previously walked through Haven's gym doors under the assumption that they could simply swamp the leader with their Water-types and get it done with, a quick and easy battle. Kay never really understood why people thought specialists weren't aware of their weaknesses and wouldn't think to devise counters for them.

However, the way Jericho's Slowbro held itself after being released was rather surprising. It looked eager and almost aggressive, far from how the species usually acted... but Kay supposed he wasn't really one to talk as he watched his Sudowoodo's reaction to this new opponent.

The Rock-type went berserk. Sudowoodo as a species were generally afraid of water and by extension things that spat water, and perhaps Kay's Sudowoodo was no different - but he preferred to handle the fear, not with avoidance as most others did, but with brutal violence. It was a useful characteristic when going on the offensive against Water-types, but Kay just wished that Sudowoodo would think before he charged at the offender with Wood Hammer.

"Crash into Sudowoodo."

Utterly perplexed, Aerodactyl just stared at his trainer.

"Agility, right into him, now!" Kay repeated sharply, loud enough for Sudowoodo to hear as well.

Well, Kay was supposed to have the brains. Without a further moment of hesitation, Aerodactyl sprang back up into the sky, rapidly gathering speed as he made a tight loop, and then barreled straight at his teammate's back in a purple blur. In that split second, the momentum of the collision practically threw Sudowoodo across the battlefield and directly towards Slowbro, his green club-shaped hands still outstretched and glowing dangerously.

(WC: 334)

[danylle]

Jericho had a very offensive approach to his battle style. He rarely used status moves, or moves like Disable. No, he’d rather inflict the damage faster so the battles ended faster. His Pokémon seemed to like this strategy too. It might be simplistic, but his Pokémon were able to handle it.

There wasn’t any time to react for Slowbro. No, the water Pokémon was too slow to dodge the super Wood Hammer. Fortunately, Venus was.

“Quick, Confusion Venus!” Jericho barked, and the feline jumped into action. She couldn’t fully stop it, perhaps it the Aerodactyl hadn’t helped strengthen it, she could have, but the attack still hit Slowbro. The water Pokémon took the grass attack full on in the belly, and growled at the Sudowoodo. He grabbed onto its thin arms, ready to attack. Jericho was afraid of this. Not only was Slowbro already low on health, but he was angry. Jericho needed to act before he acted all on his own and made things worse.

“Nice save Venus! Now, Slowbro, Surf!”

Slowbro was all set to obey. This Sudowoodo and the Aerodactyl have pulled a cheap stunt. Something had to be done to show them that he wasn’t going to be trifled with. He stomped down with a foot, giving the Sudowoodo a shove. Venus quickly jumped back out of the way. With a roar, Slowbro summoned the huge wall of water and it came tumbling down onto the battlefield. Anyone who came to a psychic gym wouldn’t be expecting a Pokémon with the brute strength of Slowbro. Just wait until they got a taste of his Zen Headbutt.

[WC: 281 without codes]

[rain]

There was no possible way Sudowoodo or even Aerodactyl could completely avoid that huge Surf attack. A small part of Kay's mind wondered if Venus had been hit by the water as well, but that was hardly important at the moment; making sure his own Pokémon were still standing took priority first.

"Agility, Copycat!" Time was precious and he didn't want to waste any specifying which command went to which Pokémon, or explaining the strategy he had in mind. It was obvious anyway, since both moves were exclusive to one movepool and all three of them knew perfectly well what they did.

As soon as Aerodactyl sped forward and skyward again, gritting his teeth in pain as he tore through the top of the giant wave, both he and Sudowoodo were outlined in a faint white glow and the latter scrunched up his face in utmost concentration. Not a single part of his body, not even his sore and slightly fractured arms, moved a centimeter when the water came crashing down, swallowing him up and out of sight.

Kay glanced up at Aerodactyl racing in circles across the sky, trying to recover from being thoroughly drenched. Perhaps it was better that he just stay out of the thick of the action now and dive in at the last second to deal the finishing blow. The white outline around his figure was still there, which meant that Sudowoodo hadn't fallen yet, however weak he may be... neither of them were very good at dealing with special attacks, but any moment now -

A brown blur abruptly vaulted out of the water at the same blinding speed that its partner had been going at... but then promptly plopped back in when gravity did its thing. Oops. Kay put a finger to his lips; he had forgotten that, with Surf swamping the entire battlefield in water, Sudowoodo wouldn't have any dry land to land on even with his temporarily newfound speed.

They really had to get rid of this Slowbro soon.

"Wood - oh." Kay didn't feel the need to finish since Sudowoodo was already at it once again, leaping at the Slowbro with Wood Hammer readied and quite clearly incensed at having to get wet. Hopefully, he would be able to land in the attack and possibly dodge something before the Copycat wore off... if he even lasted that long.

(WC: 403)

[danylle]

Jericho closely took the whole battle in. The Sudowoodo wouldn’t be able to take another Surf, but Slowbro couldn’t take another full Wood Hammer. Venus and Aerodactyl were still mostly fine, right now both trainers seemed to be focusing on the Pokémon who was the bigger threat to their side. Jericho refused to lose but knew Slowbro was done for now as Sudowoodo lunged. But maybe he could do something to help even out the playing field.

“Slowbro, counter with Zen Headbutt! Venus, help him out with a Psybeam!”

It was like they both had practiced the move before. As Sudowoodo came in to attack, Slowbro growled and lowered his head, using all his strength to hit the rock Pokémon at the same time he hit him. In the same time, Venus used the giant shell on Slowbro’s back side to leap into the air, and aim a perfect Psybeam at Sudowoodo. Venus landed lightly on her feet by Jericho’s side, waiting to see what would happen next. Unfortunately, Slowbro was obviously tiring.

“Come on Slowbro, you can do this buddy! We still have to get that Aerodactyl!”

Venus cried out to him as well, encouraging him, but it wasn’t to be. Two Wood Hammers, especially two that were supercharged with speed, just were too much. Slowbro dropped forward, knocked out. Jericho sighed. They still had some work to do. Jericho took out the Pokeball and recalled Slowbro, looking at it for a moment.

“We’ll get ‘em next time pal. Don’t let this discourage you.”

Jericho looked back up, focused on battle with only one Pokémon now. He really hoped the Sudowoodo would fall, it would make his job a lot easier.

{WC:282 w/o codes}

[rain]

Sudowoodo wasn't sure what was happening. All he knew was that he managed to hit the blasted Water-type and somehow got hit with... something in return, but his thought process ended there.

He was thrown back roughly onto the ground by the two simultaneous Psychic attacks... flipped, tumbled... and his rigid body finally came to stop with his face planted firmly into the dirt. Kay covered his mouth with his hands and looked on in concern; even though he watched his Pokémon battle on a regular basis and knew they would always return to perfect condition after a bit of healing and rest, he never managed to kick the habit of worrying himself sick whenever one of them fell. Sudowoodo was the worst offender, since his usual tactics involved getting up close to the adversary, painfully forcing himself to endure everything that was thrown at him, relying on low health to power an attack, and in desperate situations, sacrificing himself by literally blowing his body up.

The poor Pokémon certainly went though a lot more during battles than the rest of his team.

"Sudowoodo...?"

He didn't move. Kay quickly withdrew his empty Pokéball from his pocket and aimed the red beam at the other side of the field, returning his Rock-type back to safety. "Thank you... I'm sorry," he whispered, unsure whether or not Sudowoodo could hear him but feeling the need to express his apologies anyway. He definitely deserved it.

Aerodactyl groaned, swooped down, and cuffed his distracted trainer on the head with his wing before returning to the sky. "Dude, stop guilt-trippin' yourself and pay attention!" he shrieked down at him, and even though the words were incomprehensible to humans, the impatient tone clearly got the meaning across.

Kay's head snapped up and he blinked in surprise. "Oh - right - um..." There was still a battle going on. It was a one-on-one now, with both combatants being fairly speedy, but Jericho's Espeon had a bit of an advantage since she had the ability to attack from a distance. If they could just inhibit her long enough to get in one Crunch... it might tip the odds in their favour. His mind quickly ran through all the status moves that Aerodactyl knew. "Supersonic, Crunch!"

Aerodactyl instantly dove and shrieked again, but it was far from his usual impatient shouting; this time it was a deafening and painful sound that was emitted, almost akin to nails on a chalkboard, and Kay flinched, immediately shielding his ears with his hands. In contrast, Aerodactyl seemed quite unbothered by the torturous racket he was producing, and continued to fly straight at Venus with jaws wide open and an unmistakable air of delighted anticipation.

Bon appetite, little cat.

(WC: 463)