Always the same. Pitting the weak against her and her monsters. A good life lesson that nothing at all is fair when it comes to Rocket. You either work hard and eventually succeed, or die trying. And this was no different, except there was no death. Just a battle where she clearly had the upper hand.
As opposed to giving the guy a chance, she simply sent out one of her usual team, whatever ball she grabbed first, which happened to be her utterly ripped Houndoom - her most loyal and oh so favourite companion. Scarred in various places and with its fangs replaced by titanium implants, an illegal thing to do, it came as no surprise that the opposition didn’t stand a chance. The beast was made to destroy, even bite into sheets of metal if needed be, and with its fabled Thunder Fang move it posed a huge threat. But of course she had commanded it to use moves other than that one, so as to not obliterate the other poor Pokémon. A few Foul Play moves and it was over.
She had seen various people try to protect their partners during battle, but didn’t expect it from another Rocket. The Houndoom had used its vast speed to try for another full body attack as commanded moments before the human appeared in its line of sight, teeth and claws out, only to strike the other trainer. It was a good job the Teddiura was a low down target or else the guy would’ve been utterly floored by a full on tackle of sorts.
“Fair? Since when is anythin’ fair, mate?” She quips, arms folding. The Houndoom seems not to be phased by having hit the human, simply standing over him with its maw open, breathing steady. It hadn’t broke a sweat so to speak - If canines could even do such. “C’mere, Houndoom.” And the split second Shayan finishes speaking, it turns, striding to stand before her. It would look at its master, but it knows better than to turn its back on the opposition, so remains ready, head lowered, tiny pupils watching the human and Pokémon.
“Get up.” She says, tone rather blank and empty to match her face. “You ain’ let me finish off th’battle.”
Could she be so cruel? Perhaps. But as those next seconds tick by, she lowers her all too tall and firm stance, and exhales, rolling her eyes. Her muscular arms loosen also, dropping by her sides, instead her hands going into her pockets. So then she stands in her usual way, hunched and shady.
“A’ight. Fine. I win, wotever.” There’s no suggestion that she will approach and help the guy, however. She just remains in place, watching carefully, clocking every move in her mind, seeing how this person will react now. What he will do. What he will say. Calculating. Hey, perhaps he could even be worth her time in future. But time will tell. “Now get up.”
Ryou was particularly well acquainted with harsh blows to the shins, thanks in huge part to the piece of shit he had for a caretaker as a kid. Getting hit point-blank by a huge Pokémon’s move was however definitely a new kind of hurt he never imagined.
It took the grunt all of his willpower not to just collapse or tear up after the massive Dark-type rammed into his leg. He miraculously held on, with only the shake of his voice and a prickling wetness in his eyes betraying the full effect the Foul Play had on him.
He could at least comfort himself knowing what pain he just spared Artemis from, completely disregarding the fact even the smallest Pokémon was better equipped than most humans for handling such shocks.
The Teddiursa began yapping angrily, running to his side to reprimand him for the reckless unnecessary rescue. Wordlessly, Ryou reached for her Poké Ball and called her back, mentally asking her to forgive him. She was going to be mad at him for a bit, he could already tell. Her Ball was shaking in his hand as he put it back to his belt.
Having no Pokémon left on the field made his defeat official, and Shay, after reminding him they were not here to play fair, did not wait a single second to declare herself the winner.
That was frustrating. Horribly so. Why the hell would they put him against one of their elite members for a simple second-stage promotion? His hands closed into fists over his bruised leg, as he stared down at the dirty, fissures-covered floor of the indoor arena.
He did not get to contemplate his loss for long, however, as Shay ordered him to get up. Without looking up, Ryou slowly tried to rise to his legs. The right one, he could lift easily enough. The one that took the full blow of Houndoom’s move, however, he realized something was wrong with it. There was something hanging loosely through the tissue of his muscles, like the whole thing was threatening to detach itself.
Then he made the mistake of putting his foot on the ground, and it was very obvious by the way he bent down and rested a hand on his good knee while barely holding himself back from moaning that the attack did far more damage than he could have expected.
The pain didn’t make him dizzy enough to keep him from channeling his frustration into anger, though. As soon as he rose his head, the younger grunt was glaring daggers at his colleague and her Pokémon.
"Y-You broke my fucking leg! What the hell is your damage?!”
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