Day 70: Revenge of the Onion

To head back, I need to hit the switch to disable the blue web again.

Outside the Gym, I -

 I'm stricken with the uncanny sense that something astonishing is about to happen. I go to the Pokecenter to prepare for what's to come.

 Next, I head west for Illex Forest, the area I previewed a few weeks ago.

"Is it true that Team Rocket has

returned?

What? You beat them? Hah!

Quit lying.

Are you serious?

Then let's see how good you are."

 Astonish is legitimately useful for once! Since it's ghost type, it does decent damage to Gastly.

 Good ol' curse. Never worth it for the enemy. Another Astonish finishes him off.

 Scary Face lowers Rhianna's speed, but Croconaw is faster to begin with. Basically a free turn.

 Vine Whip is not as effective as I'd like it to be. It takes off less than a third of his HP and Rhianna, being a literal twig, can't take much punishment. This is excellently demonstrated in the next turn...

As you can see, Croconaw takes off well over half of her health. I try using a super potion to heal her, but Croconaw bites her again and puts me right back where I started.

I go for the same gambit as yesterday - sacrifice Kyle for an extra turn to heal Rhianna in the background.

What I forgot is that yesterday it worked because Quilava fainted. So yesterday he came into battle during a brand new turn. By switching with Rhianna still alive today, I basically send him to die for no reason. Sorry, Kyle.

 I'm forced to make a move I didn't want for obvious reasons.

 Fortunately, Croconaw's obsession with Scary Face once again works in my favor. I'm using quick attack, so no matter how slow Quilava gets, she'll always attack first.

 Thankfully Passerb didn't have a potion in store at this point. Croconaw faints and Passerb readies his final Pokemon, Zubat.

The Zubats duel fairly for awhile, with bites and such, until...

 Once again, I'm not putting up with confusion. Ever. I bring out Quilava again to sidestep the situation.

 Thank god. I finish Zubat off with an Ember.

 Insightful.

"Pokemon, Trainers.

It doesn't matter who or what.

I hate to see them hanging around.

That goes for Team Rocket, too.

They think they are big and tough

as long as they are in a group.

But get them alone, and they're weak.

I hate them all.

You stay out of my way.

You won't be an exception

if you get in my way."

That paper-thin personality is kind of adorable.