Sinnoh Journey

Chapter 64 - Cloaked in the Snow

What Candice did next surprised Kyra, rather then sending out Piloswine, she sent out a Sneasel. Kyra's strategy was quickly falling apart, Candice had made her call exceptionally well.

"You didn't actually think I'd keep up my strategy 100% did you? I know just how intently you've been watching, I wasn't going to let you take full advantage of that," Candice commented.

Kyra was somewhat glad that Piloswine hadn't been sent in since it meant she could save Glaceon for Froslass and attmept to use Candice's strategy against her. The hail was still falling over the battle field, Kyra had nothing she could do about it apart from hope that it wouldn't cause Luxray too many issues.

Luxray was weary of being sent out into a Gym Battle again, she didn't want to risk running a repeat of what had happened in the last Gym Battle she had taken part in.

"It'll be ok Luxray, we'll be more careful this time. Just try and relax a little, you can enjoy this battle like how you used to enjoy Gym Battles," Kyra assured, helping Luxray to calm her nerves.

Luxray nodded and focused her attention on the battle ahead, putting her trust in Kyra's calls.

"You care so much for your pokémon, it's amazing. But that's not going to stop us giving our all. Sneasel, slide in and use Ice Shard," Candice replied, making the first move of the battle.

Sneasel nodded and slid across the ice covering the battle field, zig-zagging in an attempt to confuse her target into making a poor move.

Luxray kept her eyes on Sneasel, jumping away from her just as she lashed out with Ice Shard.

"Nice one Luxray, now use Thunder Fang," Kyra called, taking advantage of Sneasel being in close.

Luxray landed a powerful Thunder Fang on Sneasel, the attack not only dealing damage but also paralysing Sneasel in the process as Luxray threw her away.

Candice gasped, "Sneasel, are you alright?!"

Sneasel shakily got to her feet, clearly feeling the effects of Luxray's power. She didn't want to let her trainer down, but at the same time, she knew that her main strategy was now out of use. Being paralysed meant her movement was limited and sometimes she may not be able to move at all.

Kyra felt slightly guilty for having caused so much trouble to Sneasel with just one attack, but she also knew that battles like this was what being a trainer was about. She couldn't let the battle swing back into Candice's favor just because of sentimentality.

"Luxray, I want you to use Double Team followed by Discharge on Sneasel," Kyra said, letting Luxray choose how she attacked with Discharge so she didn't worry about hurting her trainer.

Luxray multiplied and surrounded Sneasel before powering up a Discharge, staying as far away from Kyra as possible as she made her attack.

"Sneasel, try and get Luxray away from you with Slash. Even if you just get one of the duplicates, that'll be fine," Candice called, knowing that Sneasel's ability would allow her to find the real Luxray.

Sneasel focused on the Luxrays and quickly found the real one, she lashed out with Slash and Luxray jumped backwards, stopping her Discharge attack from charging up.

Kyra was surprised that Sneasel had managed to find out which Luxray was the real one, especially with the paralysis already making things difficult for her. She wracked her brains for anything that Sneasel or Candice might have done, and then it clicked.

"Keen Eye, that's Sneasel's ability. There's no point in using Double Team since Sneasel will always hit Luxray regardless no matter how many duplicates there are," she realised, "Fine by us, we'll just use Discharge again without the duplicates."