Maya and Karvinne arrived at Karvinne's destination early in the afternoon. It was... a pitch black dark cave. Maya took one step inside, then decided Karvinne was crazy.
"Why would you want to go in here?"
"Oh, there are many pokémon inside that I haven't caught yet!" Karvinne said, bristling with excitement, and walked straight past Maya inside.
She turned on a flashlight and tried to see her surroundings. Maya didn't really see where she was going. Suddenly, she heard Karvinne gasp.
"What is it?"
"Look, over there!"
The pink haired girl pointed with the flashlight, to reveal a strange looking stone... no, wait. "That's... not a stone, is it?"
"No, it's a Bronzor!"
"What's a Bronzor?"
"Oh, use your pokédex, will you?" Karvinne responded impatiently.
Maya obliged and pointed the black box toward the Bronzor. The pokédex informed her that it was a psychic and steel pokémon, and rather rare at that.
"I'm going to catch one!"
"With your Ledyba, or what?" Maya shot out before she could stop herself.
Karvinne gave her an angry grin but then seemed to stop to think. "Now that you mention it... I don't think I have a pokémon that can fight it successfully. What about you?"
"Me!"
"Yes, you and Sneasel or Poliwag can probably fight it without problems! And then I can catch it? See it as your pay for me fixing shelter for the night for you!"
"Aak.... well, alright," Maya said. Hmpf, I would have done it anway, she then thought, sending out Parade. He came out from the pokéball and raised... raced back behind Maya's legs.
"Oh, what now? Don't tell me you're afraid of darkness. You're supposed to be a Dark pokémon!"
"Snea..." Parade gave in and moved forward. He didn't really know towards what, though. His vision in darkness was great, he just didn't see anything up ahead.
"It's gone," Karvinne said.
"What is?"
"The Bronzor, of course."
But it wasn't. A strange sound was heard to the left of the pink haired girl, and something shot forward out of the darkness and made her fall over and scream. The flashlight fell to the ground and stupidly lit up a big cliff in front of itself.
"KARVINNE!!?" Maya shouted, finding herself in complete darkness.
"I'm here! Aaah! It's the Bronzor!"
"Parade, Quick Attack!" Maya commanded, hoping she was right when assuming he could see better than she could.
Parade flew past Karvinne and tackled the Bronzor with blinding speed. The big, floating steel flake wobbled backwards in the air... but wasn't very hurt.
"Did it work?" Maya's voice came floating.
"What did work? I can't see anything! Grab the flashlight already!" Karvinne shouted back.
Parade shook his head and sighed at the blind humans. Then, Bronzor came back. It lit up its eyes, closed them... and when it opened them, they shone brightly in a purple color and he gave the Sneasel a deathstare as it sent out its magically mental powers at it in a Confusion.
Maya stumbled towards the flashlight, only to realize Karvinne had dropped it downwards somehow; it lay on a cliff more than a meter down above some kind of... rift. Maya shuddered and backed away again.
"Maya, something is happening... Bronzor is attacking Sneasel!"
Maya spun back but didn't know what to... wait! The nifty thing she had bought at the market in Cherrygrove! She pushed the little button on her watch, and a light almost brighter than the flashlight's lit up the area. Wonderful! And then she saw Parade. Not wonderful!
Bronzor was using a mental attack on him. Parade stood completely still. Then Bronzor moved forward for a Tackle.
"Nooo, Parade!"
But things weren't what they looked like. Just before the Tackle hit, Parade's face turned into a mean grin. The Bronzor was surprised, but couldn't stop its momentum. Parade took a leap, evaded the metal flake as it came flying, and gave it a strong, good Scratch on the back, sending the Bronzor down into the rocky floor.
Maya walked up to Karvinne and helped her up. "What just happened?" she asked the older girl.
"Of course, why didn't I think of that!" Karvinne said, smiling now. "Sneasel is a Dark type. They are highly resistant towards mental manipulation! A weak psychic pokémon like this low level Bronzor couldn't even touch Sneasel with its Confusion!"
So that's how it is? Maya thought and turned back to the pokémon. Parade's pink fur glittered in her watchlight ((OOC: I'll just call it that xD)) and he blinked at her, happily, and then stared at the Bronzor, who just got up into the air again. It hovered eerily before them.
"Alright then! Parade, use Scratch!"
Parade jumped up and struck with its strong claws, but Bronzor was very much prepared this time. It mimicked Parade's evasion from its own Tackle, and simply spun to the side to avoid this Scratch. But it hadn't fully understood that its mental abilities didn't bite the Sneasel yet. It tried another Confusion, its eyes beginning to glow.
"Ain't gonna work!" Maya said, grinning similarly to her Sneasel. "Parade, Leer!"
Parade gave the purple-eyed Bronzor an intimidating stare, which cut the psychic type short, surprising it. "Great!" Maya called out. "Another Leer! And... dive down to evade that Tackle!" she added when she saw the Bronzor coming in again.
Parade tried to do as she said, but got hit in the head by the Tackle. He shook his head but managed to jump upwards instead, when Bronzor came in for yet another Tackle. It seemed to have finally understood that Confusion wouldn't work.
"Great! And keep Leering it!" Maya shouted, shaking her fist in the air.
"What are you thinking?" Karvinne asked.
"What do you think? That thing's defenses are as high as they get, so we'll have to lower it!"
"Why not shift to Poliwag?"
Maya's eyes grew stern. "Parade can do this."
Karvinne wrinkled her eyebrows and looked back at the battle, lit up by Maya's left hand.
Parade kept throwing powerful leering glances towards Bronzor, who got more and more agitated, but at the same time more and more unsure of itself, as the Dark pokémon managed to evade most of its Tackles. But Parade was getting tired, Maya noticed suddenly.
"It's time, use Quick Attack now!"
"Seeel!" Parade shouted and made a quick move, ending with an impact that threw the Bronzor into a rock. It... shuddered on the ground for a while before getting up! They had managed to lower the defenses!
"Great! Again!"
Parade assembled power to make another quick attack... but got captivated by Bronzor's eyes. They were so... intriguing. So... so very...
He was sleeping, standing up, before he knew it.
"What? Parade, what are you-"
"It's a Hypnosis!" Karvinne yelled, yanking Maya's arm and pointing at the steel pokémon.
"Not again," Maya grunted. "I hate that attack!" She contemplated about what to do. Would Parade get angry if she switched him out? Probably not. He was asleep.
"Fine then," she said, not really happy about it. "Parade, come back."
The pokémon minimized and got sucked into its pokéball. Then, Maya grabbed another pokéball from her belt and sent a pokémon out. "Balloon!"
"Wait, no, what? Has that pokémon even got attacks?" Karvinne said sceptically.
"Oh yes. We'll give Bronzor a taste of its own medicine! Balloon, you ready?"
The Hoppip took a leap into the air and hung there as she happily tweeted down to her trainer.
The Bronzor didn't seem to mind the change in opponents. It shot into the sky to Tackle the Hoppip. Quickly, Maya shouted: "Balloon, Confusion!"
"It knows Confusion?" Karvinne said, surprised.
Balloon concentrated on the bronze flake closing in, closed her eyes, and opened them just as it was about to hit her. A mental shock flew into the equivalence to Bronzor's brain, and he started wobbling. Spinning. He missed the Hoppip by a centimeter, and flew straight up into the roof of the cave, unable to stop spinning.
"Ouch, must have hurt even a steel pokémon, that!" Karvinne said. "Impressing!"
Maya smiled. "Great, Balloon! That's what we have to do! Use the surroundings to our advantage!"
The Bronzor didn't give up just yet, even though it was starting to look roughed up. It came back... but didn't use Confusion. Maybe it thought, since Sneasel was immune to it, that Hoppip was immune to mental powers as well? So much better for them!
"Balloon, let's finish this! Position yourself beneath Bronzor!"
Balloon only thought for a second before it understood what its trainer was thinking... Or maybe it simply followed orders without thinking. The Bronzor came in, downwards, for another Tackle.
"Balloon, Confusion, now!"
"Hooop!" she said as she closed her eyes and carried out the order. Bronzor graced her, before feeling a horrible sensation of being blinded. What was this? The next thing it noticed, it was crashing down into the rocky ground, making not a few cracks in the floor. But something also cracked inside the pokémon at the powerful impact. Too much... It fainted.
Maya pointed her watchlight towards the crash site. Bronzor lay still, a cloud of dust above it. She exhaled and formed a smile on her lips.
"Whoooooooohooooooo!" came Karvinne's obvious shout. "You beat it!"
"Good work, Balloon," Maya said, patting her as she came floating in the air. She had taken some damage from the last Tackle, but not seriously much. She settled herself on top of Maya's head.
"I almost feel bad for catching it now," Karvinne said, holding an empty pokéball in her hand. "Are you sure you don't want it for your team? It would make a great fighter, I think!"
Maya put her hand on top of Parade's pokéball, wondering if he had awaken by now. "No," she said. "I don't need it."
She watched as the Bronzor got sucked into the pokéball and got caught by the pokémon collector Karvinne. Good fight, Maya thought. That's what this is about, at least for her. Fighting and feeling alive.