Virah wanted to switch, Jet was in danger and out of all her Pokemon, he had the best chance at beating Bugsy's Scyther so preserving him should be a good idea.

But should she?

She had one extra Pokemon and the Scyther's stats had reset after the switch so it should be fine for her to put Diox in line and ask him to be a team player just this once but that thought didn't sit right with her.

'I'd rather not,' Virah concluded, 'he deserves so much more than being a simple sacrifice,'

She didn't know why she didn't want to do this for her newly acquired Ghastly, but she was leaning into it and whether she liked it or not, she needed to challenge herself and deal with this Scyther with actual skill.

So how would she go about it?

"Quick Attack! Don't let it get up!" Bugsy's order forced Virah to abandon her chain of thought and refocus on the battle at hand.

Before she could think any further, the Scyther above Jet buzzed its wings, in a sudden burst of speed, the glowing Bug Type crashed towards Jet.

With the speed of a meteor falling from the heavens, the Scyther struck Jet, kicking up a cloud of dust that blanketed the two of them in the process.

Virah looked at the screen to check if her Pokemon was alive and seeing green in his health bar was all she needed before she turned to the battlefield and called out U-Turn.

Jet was naturally faster than the Scyther so he was thankfully back in his Pokeball before his opponent could even start its attack.

With her heart pounding in her ears, Virah grabbed Nitro's Pokeball and tossed her starter out.

With Nitro back on the battlefield, Virah ordered her starter to chase after the Scyther and use Fury Attack.

Her Beedrill flew and the Scyther, ordered by Bugsy to use Dual Wingbeat, met him halfway.

They both struck, Nitro's drills stabbed at the Scyther, aiming for the head, abdomen, and thorax in quick succession. Slicer dodged one of the attacks, ducking away from the Drill before blocking another with a glowing scythe, then he did it again, the fourth Fury Attack struck him on the head, dizzying him for a moment before the last and final strike aimed at his abdomen connected.

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"Quick Attack!"

Slicer heard his trainer's call and he dashed out of Nitro's vicinity, he circled the Beedrill like a pack of Growlithe surrounding their prey, his eyes fixated on the Beedrill's stationary form.

With his ability, Nitro tracked his opponent's movements but that's only with his vision, he knew where the Scyther was, so it wasn't such a one sided fight but he was still at a disadvantage thanks to his body not being able to keep up with that of Slicer's.

Scolding himself for moving too slowly, Nitro blocked the knee aiming to hit his head with his drill, he got pushed back, destabilizing his flight for a moment.

A moment is all his opponent needs however and as the opposing trainer told his Pokemon to use Aerial Ace, Nitro prepared to lessen the incoming damage by repositioning himself.

He waited for his trainer's command as Slicer raised a glowing scythe, danger prickled at his senses as the Scyther began to swing down at him.

"String Shot!"

Nitro roared as a bubble of energy formed in the back of his throat, it went up his mouth and solidified, turning into viscous webbing that he spat out in a thick net, the point blank shot struck true and his opponent began to slow.

"Fury Attack!"

Heeding his trainer's words once more, Nitro strained himself and called energy into his drills, he blocked the Aerial Ace weakly but the damage wasn't as bad as if he tanked the attack.

Nitro began his counter attack, the energy building up in his drills and arms made him feel restless and tempted to strike at the Scyther in front of him.

"Dual Wingbeat!"

Nitro struck as the opposing trainer called that move out, his hit connected before the Scyther could empower his scythes, then his next was blocked, and then the next.

The energy in his drills died down but it seemed that Bugsy hadn't predicted that and he, seemingly trying to predict another Fury Attack to come out of Nitro, called his Pokemon to use Quick Attack to back down.

The Scyther glowed white and then retreated, far from Nitro's reach.

Virah watched the lucky exchange in relief, "okay," she heaved, "we're back in the game,"

She looked at her Pokemon and then at his health bar, both Nitro and the Scyther had taken considerable damage just now but it was Nitro who had less health, mainly because the Scyther's attacks were super effective against him.

"Nitro, Roost!" All she needed was one exchange, just one more and she'd win.

"Stop your attack and use Swords Dance!" Bugsy's energetic call was a second away from her command.

Virah looked at her opponent with narrowed eyes, he had been waiting for her to do that hasn't he? He wanted to set up!

Biting her lip, Virah looked at her Beedrill's health again, be was at slightly less than full health, which means it should be fine for her to use U-Turn to escape and switch over to Jet right?

Virah eyed the battlefield again and decided that was the right call, she eyed her Pokemon and inhaled.

"Quick Attack into Aerial Ace!"

"U-Turn!" Virah waited for the Scyther to be at least halfway through Nitro's position so that she knew that Bugsy had now committed, and sure enough, he was.

The Scyther wasn't told to stop and continued his advance towards his opponent, the Beedrill on the other hand began glowing green and with his speed being slowed down by String Shot a few turns prior, the Scyther couldn't attack Nitro fast enough and the Beedrill escaped back into his Pokeball in a flash of green.

Virah sighed, 'no health lost,' she thought in relief, 'good,'

She grabbed Jet's Pokeball and released her Zubat, the announcer's voice describing her choice entered her ears then and like always, she drowned it out, the echoing voice entered one ear and went out the other.

Jet stayed stationary from where he materialized, and Virah watched him before looking at his health bar…

'Should I use that?' She asked herself, 'I should,'

"Brave Bird." It wasn't a call of excitement, or one of adrenaline, it was an order with the tone that Virah expected her Pokemon to fall, and Bugsy knew that as well.

The Gym Leader looked at her and nodded, he knew that his Pokemon was slower than Jet, it already was before Nitro struck it with String Shot, but now that its speed got lowered even more, it's only expected to lose on an exchange that involves U-Turn.

"Aerial Ace. Attack the Zubat." Bugsy's tone mirrored Virah's.

The two Pokemon, knowing their fate, looked at each other and gladly powered up, Flying Type energy suffused their bodies and when the energy reached its boiling point, the tension suddenly snapped.

Like a bow string that has been released, the two Pokemon suddenly sped up, turning into light blue blurs as they dashed towards each other.

The two streaks of light collided in a loud boom, sending out two figures from the point of impact, when they landed on the ground and didn't get up.