Rock and a Hard Place

Syndra took a breath as she watched the gym leader step forward. A female gym leader was a nice change of pace from the past gym leaders she took on. Respectable in the way the leader spoke, the green haired girl smiled. "Thank you for accepting. I'm sure I'll learn something from this battle too." The first pokemon that was sent out was a fairly common one. It should have been expected. Deciding she wanted to make a good impression and take on the gym with a storm, the trainer reached on her belt to throw out her first pokemon. The faithful grass turtle appeared and gave a hearty cry into the arena as he knew this was to be a battle. It had been awhile since the pokemon fought so he was eager to do so. "Let's start strong. Use Razor Leaf to flank and surround the geodude." Another cry formed as the grass type shook his back to rustle some loose leaves down to float downwards at his side. In a split second those placid leaves halted and shot like small green throwing blades at the rock type.

It was more effective than Syndra thought it would be. The leaves seemed to do major damage to the rock type but to her dismay it had not fainted yet. "Sturdy... right," she murmured under her breath as the gym leader ordered her own moves. Rocks were being chucked at the grass type and for the most part the turtle took the full brunt of it. He wasn't too bothered by the physical attack as he just winced lightly as some of the rocks pelted him. Not too concerned Syndra's eyes went to the rock type. With some luck hopefully this meant that the geodude now didn't have much energy left. This meant that even a small tap would cause it to faint hopefully. "Use Absorb." This time the leaves on the turtle's back began to glow as they began draining the nearby energy from its target. If the first was avoided the second would hit its mark for sure.

This was a weird pokemon that was for sure. Grotle didn't appear too concerned with it as he stomped his feet in preparation. The gym leader bragged about her fossil pokemon which didn't much faze Syndra but the other also wasted no time in starting the attacks. The first attack call didn't bother her but the second had. "Acid?" she repeated the move as the Lileep was taking root into the ground. When the poisonous glob was flung however Grotle was hit and cried out in pain. The leaves on his back began to wither and at that the trainer didn't want to keep Grotle out any longer. "Return," Syndra called out as she thrusted her pokeball forward to recall her pokemon. The trouble was now that she didn't know who to use.

Thankfully due to ingrain and knowing this was a rock gym, Syndra had some inkling of what to do. Taking out her next pokeball she chucked it out forward. In a flash of light her second pokemon appeared with an offhanded cry. The quill pokemon looked about however laying her eyes on the opponent had the Sandslash more interested this time around being called out which was good for Syndra. "Alright its roots are stuck in the ground. Use Crush Claw then Fury Cutter" This way she could test the two moves and see how the Lileep reacted to them. With some hope the Crush claw would lower the defenses for Fury attack to do more damage ideally. With newfound energy the ground type sped forward into the Lileep's face to bring down her sharp right claw into its dark face. Her other claw was positioned downwards to jab at the stem of the flower looking pokemon.

The acid attacks hit true on the ground type who felt the discomforting gunk on his body after his Fury Cutter attack missed. It didn't seem to affect her in the slightest however as she easily shrugged off the sensation, albeit her guard was somewhat lowered in the exchange. The trainer watched as the strange plant nimbly evaded the aim at the thin stem. Probably wasn't the best target but she was impressed with its proficiency at dodging without moving its base. It had to grow tired soon on the other hand and that was what the girl was counting on. "Don't let up. Cut it down."

Surprisingly to her the Sandslash had no qualms as she brandished her claws together. In close quarters with an immobile target, it was the perfect punching bag for the aggressive pokemon as she slashed her claws one after the other to hurt the Lileep. Hopefully if both hit then the momentum of the first would power up the second hit.

"Sandslash!" Syndra called out as large rocks began forming aiming for the ground type. While this was meant to warn her of the attack to dodge it, instead the arrogant pokemon took the attack straight on. By the end of it the attack left a small bruise that the pokemon overpowered by sheer will. Luckily the attacks so far were all things that the ground type resisted so the trainer didn't feel too uneasy with that. With her claws outstretched once more she tried another succession of Fury Cutter, the bug type move once again diving at the opponent. Instead of the stem however she went for the face like it had become a target.

Sandslash's attacks hit their mark and in some ways Syndra was relieved. That pokemon truly was overconfident and proud of her own power. For a moment she thought about switching her pokemon out back to Grotle though the appearance of the next pokemon stopped her. That was the iconic pokemon of this gym and if she recalled it could know some electric moves. Deciding against making the decision herself she let her pokemon decide. "Sandslash do you want to keep going?" The response she got was a cry of the ground type's name as the pokemon brandished her claws once more with her confidence showing through. With a sideways smile the green haired trainer nodded. She didn't see this ending badly.

Roxanne wasted no time so neither did she in trying to command her Sandslash. "Dodge what you can and then use Magnitude!" The rock type appeared before the ground type faster than anticipated and so it was inevitable that the Sandslash would get it and knocked backwards. She planted her feet on the ground so she ended up skidding a good distance on the field. The next follow up attack had the ground type side step away to evade effortlessly in a manner that looked as if she was trying to adapt to what the Lileep had done. Two stomps to the floor reverberated through the ground as the two Magnitudes were sent through the gym back to back.