Slowly and cautiously

===============================================================================================================

Team Rocket **** Emilia – I’ll defeat you in the name of justice and earn my freedom!

• Gloom – Capable, Healthy
• Mankey – Fairly Weak, Healthy
• Onix – Fairly Strong, Healthy
• Golduck – Fairly Strong, Healthy

===============================================================================================================

VS

===============================================================================================================

Team Rocket Boss – And I’ll put your talk of justice six feet under. Just like your dignity, ****.

• Dragonair – Strong, Healthy
• ???

===============================================================================================================

You retrieve your four pokeballs from your backpack and… wait, four? Where’s Dugtrio?

“Where’s my Dugtrio!?” you demand, still averting your eyes from the harsh light that the Rocket boss is hiding behind.

“Well?” the boss asks, pressuring her guards for an answer.

“There’s nothing missing. That’s her backpack! It’s all she had on her! If she ain’t got no Dugtrio in there then she didn’t walk in with one!”

*SMACK*

The woman grumbles. “I can’t tell if you’re an incompetent fool, or she’s been fucked so hard she forgot what pokemon she has. I do remember something about a Dugtrio. Did I battle one recently? It all feels so vague and… unimportant. You’ll just have to settle for what you have in your hands, my little cocksleeve. If it’s any consolation, none of my pokemon would have lost to a Dugtrio anyway.” You start to angrily respond, but she interrupts you. “Now then, Dragonair, go.”

You can’t see it, but you assume there’s a Dragonair in the room now. You’re still not happy about your missing Dugtrio but you can’t do much about it now. If you’re trying to stall for time, Gloom is a good choice, so you’ll start with him.

“Gloom, go!”

Both flashlights focus on your pokemon, giving away its position and hiding your opponent’s. You don’t know how to fight in the dark like this, and you’re the only one dealing with that handicap. This… this is gonna be really hard!

If you’re at this much of a disadvantage, you’d better take the first move, at least. “Gloom, use Stun Spore! Cover the room!” If you can’t see your opponent, you’ll just hit everywhere.

Yellow spores pour out from Gloom, quickly leaving the radius of the flashlights and drifting into the unknown.

“Dragonair, use Dragon Rage!”

…Nothing happens. Good, it must have had an effect! The Rocket boss growls as she realizes it too.

“Shake it off, Dragonair! Use Slam!”

With no way of seeing where its opponent is coming from, Gloom is caught off-guard when Dragonair rushes into the light and swings it tail. Gloom takes the full attack, but Dragonair is slow at withdrawing.

“Gloom, use Acid!”

Gloom is able to pelt Dragonair with poison goop before it flees out of sight. With any luck, it should be more **** to Gloom’s attacks now.

“Dragonair, use Dragon Rage!”

From a different direction, a purple ball of energy flies at Gloom, landing another direct hit. Gloom’s probably hurting right now, so…

You command, “Use Moonlight!”

Light suddenly floods the room, both restoring some of Gloom’s health and revealing the enemy’s location. Moonlight must be tricky for Gloom to use underground, so you’re glad he pulled it off. You’ll have to take advantage of this before the light fades away.

“Gloom, use Acid!” The move lands, so you urge Gloom to continue taking advantage of the light. “Keep going! More Acid!”

The boss huffs heatedly. “Disrupt it with Dragon Tail!”

Dragonair gets close before its paralysis kicks in again, limiting its otherwise strong attack to a light blow. Meanwhile, Gloom lands another hit with Acid. Both pokemon are looking worn now. Let’s keep up this momentum!

“Gloom, use Mega Drain!”

Before it can recover and attack again, the light starts to fade. Gloom loses its target and ultimately misses. Crap…

“Now Dragonair, finish off this plant with Dragon Rush!”

Gloom is suddenly hit with a barrage of attacks. Dragonair zips into sight in order to slam into Gloom, then vanishes, only to approach from a different direction. It’s too fast, and Gloom is knocked out before it can defend or counterattack. Your fingers tremble a bit as you return it to its pokeball.

The boss takes the opportunity to taunt you. “Your little shrub put up a better fight than I was expecting. But let’s hope that wasn’t your strongest pokemon, because Dragonair certainly isn’t mine.”

It’s not!? W-Well… maybe Mankey is the right choice here. Dragonair is already weakened a lot by Gloom, and Mankey probably won’t battle very well in the dark, so there’s no better time to use him than now.

“Mankey, I choose you!”