[Pokémon] Preparation (short story)

[kraine]

This is a little RP excerpt that I was a little proud of. :p It's my gym leader character Kraine Murdock, who I RP over at Caterwaul.

Kraine Murdock​

"Burdock, stop bothering him." Kraine didn't have to look up from her book to know when her playful tropius was bugging Ahadi, her scyther. The two scarcely got along as well as the rest of the team outside of battle. Ahadi was often quick to anger, being protective and not quite fond of play. It was this that made him an invaluable protector of their gang and positively lethal in battle.

Kraine's eyes slowly traced over the leading edge of the glider drawing she was studying. It shifted out of focus as she began to daydream about her last intermediate team battle. She had won, but it was a close match. Too close, in her opinion. Pierce had made a few mistakes since he kept focusing only on his attacks rather than the big picture of the battle. It was time to train.

But.. oh, ****. Where did she put her pokeballs again? She was shaken out of her thought process by Somewhere, her xatu, teleporting quietly by her side and placing three pokeballs on her lap. "Somewhere, you always know, don't you?" Kraine laughed and scratched his scaly feet. Somewhere closed his eyes and Kraine could feel his happiness. He was an interesting bird, alright. It was he who had found her during her travels. He rarely left her side, though he got along well with the other pokemon. "Alright, you can stay here while I train with Pierce. Actually, I'll need you to help." Kraine told him softly. "Everyone else, aviary please. I need to train a bit."

Her veteran pokemon flapped and stalked off into the large aviary that was installed for them in the Rue Gym. Kraine stepped out onto the gym floor, littered with rocks and ramps for her to use to keep up with her birds in battle. She grabbed Pierce's pokeball and tossed it into the air. The golden pidgeotto burst out of his pokeball with the same energy he seemed to mass-produce at all times. He landed on the top of a burnt stump next to Kraine and began to preen.

"Pierce, you and Somewhere are going to battle." Pierce stopped his preening and looked at Kraine with disbelief. Somewhere was not only much more experienced than him, but also had a strategy that seemed to foil him every time. "I know what you're thinking. But this is going to get you to think ahead. He knows what you're going to do. You need to anticipate that and make a plan that will work even if he knows what it is." Pierce nodded and squared off against Somewhere, who had waddled onto the gym floor.

"Start," said Kraine. Pierce took to the air while Somewhere remained on the ground, eyes closed. He seemed to deliberate. Good, Kraine thought. He's thinking rather than going by impulse. The pidgeotto began to flap his wings hard, and he sent two powerful gusts of wind to one side of the xatu. "Great, Pierce, now use aerial ace!" Kraine ran alongside the bird as he shot towards Somewhere, who attempted to teleport out of the way, but ran out of room to do so. Pierce hit Somewhere on the shoulder, knocking him back.

"Pierce, that was awesome! You knew Somewhere wasn't going to teleport into an attack, so you took up the field with gust and used an accurate attack to pin him. See what happens when you take time to think?" She patted him on the head and sprayed a potion on Somewhere's bruise. "Just do that in a battle and we'll win by a longshot."

The three then sat on the sidelines of the gym and shared some fruit. "Speaking of," Kraine said, "I wonder who will challenge us next."