Despite the pep talk- actually, no, it was more like her saying that she would stand by the martial artist’s side- that Virah had given to Grene just now, she wasn’t exactly all that confident when it came to fighting the Rocket Grunt in front of them.

Because if before he could only issue barely coherent commands thanks to the wound on his side messing with his thoughts, now, it was patched and he was acting like a proper trainer- who, unsurprisingly, also knew how to fight dirty.

And the grunt clearly didn’t care about his Pokemon and at best, only saw them as disposable tools he could throw away after they died so chances are, if he needed to sacrifice his Raticate in order to win, then he’d do it and that’s…

… not really a good thing since the grunt is definitely aware of the rangers that Whitney told Galeforce to call and so, he’d fight like a cornered Ratata and that is not an easy battle to win.

Desperate times call for desperate measures- that’s the kind of saying that’ll fit the current situation Virah found herself in and that didn’t just apply to the grunt because by all means, she and her friends were also at risk here, and the smallest mistake can cost them their life.

Virah gulped and looked at both her friends, “do you guys have a plan?”

“You’re supposed to be the brain so I’m following yours if you have any,” Whitney responded with a nervous glance before commanding Kitten to use Fake Out on the Houndour.

The Pokemon was fortunately stopped from setting itself on fire but now Kitten could no longer use the move on Houndour again unless it was recalled, and if she did, then the Houndour would just get damaged and not debilitated like before.

“I agree with Whitney,” Grene nodded, “so if you’ve come up with something, I’ll follow your lead,”

Virah chuckled nervously, “yeah, I have a plan,” she lied and thanked Ho oh that her voice didn’t crack from the fear gripping at her spine and her racing heartbeat, “we need to-” Virah scanned the battlefield and got the beginnings of an idea, “- go and do a battle of attrition,”

“Against a Raticate?” Grene said in surprise, “at this level?”

Virah nodded resolutely, “we have no choice,”

“G-got it,” Grene nodded, “so what do we need to do?”

“Call Hollie back here,” at Virah’s command, Grene did so and the Machop trudged over to them while glaring at the Tyrogue next to the Rocket Grunt. Virah faced the Fighting Type, “Hollie, work with Nitro and try to intercept the Raticate as it runs towards us alright? I want you to protect me and my friends because we’re going to be its primary target,”

“Machop!” Hollie flexed her arms and placed a hand over her bicep before giving her a confident grin, “Machop!”

“I know I can count on you,” Virah nodded with a smile, “now then,” she turned to Nitro, “Nitro, I want you to use Poison Sting and try to predict the path that the Raticate will be running in, I say predict because it’s going to be using Quick Attack so it’ll be a hard shot but if it does that move enough while it’s poisoned, we’ll be able to tire it out,”

“Kakuna!” Nitro yelled in response.

“Be our shield then,” Virah grinned. The greenhead faced Whitney, “Whitney, tell Kitten to distract the Houndour as much as it could,”

“I’m already doing that,” the pinkette said.

“Make him use Sand Attack,” Virah suggested and she paused when she saw the pinkette’s confused look, “you… don’t know he has it do you?”

“No,” Whitney glared at the Meowth, “he never told me,”

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Virah scratched her head in frustration, “okay, it’s your job to know what kind of moves your Pokemon has but do that okay?”

Whitney nodded, “I can distract the Houndour easily,”

“Good,” Virah sucked in a lungful of air and prepared to shout, it was going to be painful for her Zubat but she needed the Rocket Grunt to think that they were just kids and her plans weren’t as good as they were- and truth be told, they weren’t.

But that was fine.

She could deal with this, she could improvise- and she has, multiple times in the past and she won.

‘Yeah, against school kids-’ Virah cut the thought and yelled out a command for Jet, “Jet! WING ATTACK ON THE HOUNDOUR’S EMBERS! DON’T LET IT START A FIRE SINCE THEY’LL USE IT TO ESCAPE!”

There, that should make their opponent focus on that particular fight- “wise kid, you sure you wanna stay like this? Rocket could use someone with your brain,”

There.

Virah huffed, “I’d rather not,” she denied, “I’d rather play fair and bond with my Pokemon than sit around with your kind,”

The grunt laughed, “your funeral then- Raticate, Quick Attack into Frustration, kill them.”

The yellow rodent glowed white and then turned into a blur that crossed the distance between them in a second-

“M-machop!” Hollie gritted her teeth as she held the hands of the Raticate, preventing it from going on a rampage with Frustration.

Virah blinked- “what?”

“Foresight,” Grene swiftly replied, she said it before Virah could even finish.

“Ah-” the poison specialist said dumbly, “Nitro! Poison Sting!”

“Hollie, hold that thing down,” Grene growled.

“Machop!” The martial artist’s Pokemon replied with a shaky but still confident grin.

“Kakuna!” Nitro sounded grateful as he replied to his ally’s proclamation and to show his appreciation, the two hands in front of him glowed purple and quickly shot out at the held down Raticate, shooting it with Poison Sting point blank.

“It’s poisoned!” Virah yelled in celebration as she listened to the strained breaths of the Raticate, “Hollie! Release it!”

“Machop!” Hollie, unlike what Virah expected of her simply letting go of the Raticate, decided to lift it off of the ground, and with lips her pursed from the strain of carrying the Raticate’s weight, she started to spin it around before tossing it away.

The Raticate landed with a painful cry before going into a roll that caused it to strike the trunk of a tree.

“Seismic Toss,” Virah said breathlessly, “okay- maybe that’s not the time,” she shook her head as the memory of Nitro learning Bug Bite flashed in her mind, “Jet! Continue preventing-”

“I got that covered,” Whitney said and at her words, Virah turned to the fight with the Houndour to see that it was going incredibly well, it didn’t have the ability to dust the dirt thrown by Kitten away from its eyes and was now painfully blind, and, it seems that Jet was even listening to Whitney’s orders, which was a good thing given that means her Zubat was more than just physical prowess.

Virah turned away from the Houndour haplessly shooting Embers at nothing and turned back to the Raticate, who was now circling them- well, no, it was walking back and forth while glaring at them from the front but that was all it could do, and the only thing that would change the fight would be the Tyrogue standing next to the Rocket Grunt but it looked like it was hesitating to go forward.

Mostly because of Grene-

“I can help you avenge your Dojo!” Grene shouted to the Tyrogue who tilted its head- she sighed, “you know… your family?” The martial artist explained, “I can do better than that farce of a trainer you’re protecting- better than that criminal,” Grene flared her Aura and the Tyrogue’s eyes went wide, “you just need to trust me,”

“Uhuh,” the Rocket Grunt replied with a drawl before recalling the Tyrogue, “this guy is merchandise,” he shook his head, “and someone wants to pay a lot for him so I can’t let you talk him out of helping me like that,”

Virah narrowed her eyes, “you know he can hear you?”

“Who cares!” The Rocket Grunt loudly exclaimed, “Raticate, Quick Attack and Frustration, tear that Machop apart if you have to,”

The Pokemon silently dashed forward with a speed that caused it to near Hollie in a second and then the Machop was tossed away with a single swipe of its tail and then the Raticate proceeded to spin around to face Virah again, a feral growl escaped its mouth and the viscous saliva drooling out of it caused the sound to rupture and crack, it sounded like a pained gurgle to Virah’s ear but she quickly pushed down her guilt and ordered Nitro to fight back with String Shot…

… which the Raticate swiftly dodged before going forward and Virah saw white, long fangs soaked in saliva- it took over her vision before something that glowed replaced them-

The Raticate stopped in place as Nitro’s evolving form stopped it from moving, then the light show died down to reveal that it was biting his drill.

The Raticate’s eyes went over to Nitro and for a second, they widened before they narrowed and it bit down even harder.

Nitro didn’t seem affected, and if he was, he didn’t let it show.

He let out a low growl.

“Bee-” his voice was as deep as his father’s though it didn’t have the “smoker’s crack” to it, “-DRILL!” His deep growl of a tone heigthened into his usually energetic yells and he swung his arm and tossed the Raticate away.

Virah looked in awe as her starter flew protectively in front of them, wings vibrating fast enough to cause the leaves by their feet to start flying away.