Leon tilted his head this way and that. “Still, Taft could use the confidence.” He smiled down at his Eevee. “Believe it or not, he’s not used to such ... well, positive feedback. Mostly because he’s never tried, to be honest. He tried competing a while back and the battle portion was his weakest category. Took the ribbon from us, and he’s hated battling ever since.”

Leon spoke without really thinking about how it might affect the flow of the conversation. In other words, he didn’t realize he was being a conversation hog. “I tried to convince him that it wasn’t the same as battling out here,” he waved around. “But he’s only just getting that.”

About then they were closing in on the exit. It was within sight, anyway. But before Leon could say anything else a Rhyhorn came out of the side of the cave. It’d come straight out of the wall, having collided with it and shook it’s head before snorting out air from it’s nostrils.

“Holy shit!” Leon called before moving over and checking Taft. “You alright??”

Taft peeked his head out of a few rocks before slinking out and making his way over to Leon. His journey over was interrupted by the Rhyhorn making eye contact. Her Scary Face was enough to freeze anyone in their tracks, Leon and Taft include.

“I know she’s intimidating,” he could tell her gender by the size of her horn. “But you’ve got this! She’s slow and only moves in one direction, you’ve got it.” He encouraged him before clenching his fist. “Let’s try and get on her good side, hm?”

Taft took from his trainer’s advice and moved in a bit closer, cautiously before batting his Baby-Doll Eyes at the Rhyhorn. She seemed momentarily effected by it, but then she couldn’t help but want to ram those eyes herself. With a snort, she started to paw at the ground before taking off.

“Quick attack!”

Taft followed the command, body fading from view as he quickly moved toward the creature and made contact with Quick Attack against the Rhyhorn's side as to avoid the Take Down.

“Bite down once you’re close enough!”

While the Quick Attack barely did any damage, once the Rhyhorn was close enough Taft could Bite down on the rock with his closing fangs, causing some damage against one of her legs. With a pained rawr, she turned to try and throw a Horn Attack at the small Eevee. But he was quickly able to dodge the large Pokemon before she could make contact.

“Great job! You’re doing so good! Bite again!” It was the only move Taft had that would make any scratch on the Rhyhorn’s tough hide.

Taft moved toward the Rhyhorn, aiming for the same leg and giving another Bite against the tough skin. After the howl from the Rhyhorn, she bent down and looked to the Eevee in defeat. Her leg was pretty well torn up and she limped in an attempt to attack once more.

“Try another angle,” Leon told Taft. “Don’t break her leg, but keep her from being able to ram you.”

Her horn was already glowing and Taft braced himself for the horn’s impact. Her Horn Attack and his Bite lit up the cave. Once Taft landed, he had a small stagger to his step, but the Rhyhorn was unconscious with a decent bite mark on one of her other legs.

“Yes!!” Leon rejoiced before running over and picking Taft up. “Look at you. That was a great job! Good job Taft!” He gave the Eevee a few kisses and grinned before looking to the Rhyhorn. Taft had injured it pretty badly, so he pulled a Pokeball out, tossing it toward the Rhyhorn and letting the ball clink to the ground, but it’d fallen behind some of the rocks.

“Oh, man...” he went to move closer but there was suddenly sand flying from the hole the Rhyhorn had created with her entrance. “What the-- what is that??”



taft. baby-doll eyes - quick attack - swift - bite - refresh
words. 682
notes. attempt capture. -1 pokeball. faylinn yur