5. Eevee vs Cufant

Margret and Robert stood facing each other about twenty meters apart with Cufant and Eevee facing each other five meters in front of their trainers. Mariah and Dennis stood off to the side watching nervously. They were both confident Robert would pass but couldn't help feeling nervous now that it was time.

"You can make the first move, after you do that will be the start of our battle." Margret announced, showing how confident she was. Robert nodded and looked to Eevee and took a deep breath. He couldn't help feeling a little nervous, not about passing the test but the battle itself. Margret was a strong enough trainer to be an instructor at the junior league and was no doubt very experienced in the process of how to raise Pokémon. While Robert had his experience from his past life, that was of little help in a real battle like this.

"Alright Eevee, let's kick things off with a growl"

"EEEEEEVVVV". Eevee let out a bellow that produced small visible ripples in the air around it. a dull blue light briefly surrounded Cufant, indicating its attack was cut. Margret smirked, "alright Cufant use mud shot and get close to Eevee". Cufant lifted its trunk and shot a ball of mud straight at Eevee and then charged over while shooting more blobs of mud. "Eevee dodge with quick attack and use copycat". Eevee's speed increased dramatically in short bursts, easily dodging all of Cufant's attacks.

Margret's smile froze a little seeing this. She didn't expect him to be able to pull off a workable strategy so early in the battle. Eevee already had the advantage in speed and with quick attack, Cufant would never be able to catch it. To avoid being hit by too many status debuffs, she wanted to try and lower its speed with mud shot and then close in. it would appear this is what Robert was waiting for.

Robert was indeed hoping for this. Robert couldn't remember exactly what moves Cufant learns but he remembered it could learn very few long-range moves. Eevee itself only had swift and he was hoping to provoke a better one out of Cufant to copy, knowing that even if Eevee did get hit it wouldn't do too much damage. Unfortunately due to Eevee's lack of target practice and still needing to dodge Cufant's attacks, it only hit Cufant twice so far.

Margret could see the battle heading in a bad way and needed to change tactics. "Cufant protect then iron defence." Cufant stopped trying to chase Eevee and a clear wall appeared in front of it. it then glowed with a silvery light before a red glow took over. It took two mud shots from Eevee to break Cufant's protect, by then Cufant was done with its move.

Robert was surprised protect didn't last just one move. It seemed to work more like it blocked a certain amount of damage rather than a very brief impenetrable defence. It seems that some moves work differently than they did in the games.

"Alright hit it with a Bulldoze." Cufant raised its two front legs that flickered with a light brown light. It then stomped down hard, causing ripples in the ground around Cufant like a stone thrown in water. Eevee had no way to dodge this move in time because of the AOE and was hit, interrupting it mid mud shot and cancelling it. Right after it was hit Eevee briefly glowed blue and its speed dropped a little.

"Now let's catch it with a rollout." Cufant then jumped up a little, curled into a ball and started spinning forward at an incredible speed. As soon as it hit the ground it kicked up a cloud of dust behind it and shot after Eevee. "Use quick attack to dodge again." Eevee shot out of the way with a white glow trailing behind her.

"Keep the rollouts coming Cufant." After Cufant missed, it jumped up and landed on its feet only to go into another rollout and chase after Eevee. Robert noticed that this time Cufant was a little faster and realized that rollout didn't just get stronger after each use, it also got faster. "dodge with quick attack again then hit it with mud shot"

Eevee shot out of the way again and tried hitting it with a mud shot. Unfortunately, Cufant was too fast after going into its third rollout and Eevee missed. Worse still was Eevee had no time to use quick attack and wasn't fast enough to dodge without it. Eevee was sent flying and hit the ground. "Race over and hit it with rock smash Cufant." Eevee was hit hard and having trouble getting up from the blow. Before it could recover it was smashed with Cufant's trunk that had an orange glow on it.

"Eevee!" None of his Pokémon had been through such a tough battle or so badly hurt before so Robert couldn't help but scream out. Eevee hit the ground hard. Robert was amazed that it still managed to struggle its way up. He was sure that Eevee would have run out of HP after that rock smash. Seems he underestimated the boost given after breaking past a hard level block.

"How about we call an end to it here," Margret called out. Although Eevee could stand it was obviously running exceptionally low on HP. Robert looked at Eevee and hesitated a little. Vulpix was definitely the most prideful of the two but Eevee was far more stubborn. Robert knew there was no way it would want to give up now. Eevee still had its eyes on Cufant, waiting for its next command. Margret's words did not affect its determination at all.

Although it pained him to see his Pokémon like this Robert knew that if he wanted to be a trainer this would not be the last time. He gritted his teeth and said, "no, we will keep going till one of us falls." Margret nodded a little at the response, Robert cared very much for his Pokémon but was still determined enough to keep battling.

"Alright then, Cufant use rollout." Cufant kicked up another cloud of dust as it shot after Eevee. "Eevee quick attack to dodge then mud shot." Cufant was still in the first rollout and hadn't built up speed yet so Eevee managed to hit it after it flipped and landed on its feet.

Cufant stumbled a little after being hit. This was the third mud shot it had been hit with and it was starting to get low on HP as well. "Finish it with a bulldoze Cufant."

"Eevee use copycat." Cufant lifted its feet and slammed the ground producing those ripples again. Right after Eevee did the same thing. As the ripples spread out and met in the middle they actually cancelled each other out. Margret was rather shocked seeing that Robert could think of something like this mid-battle and pull it off. Robert himself wasn't sure if it would work but if Eevee was hit then it would be over. Although he lost mud shot it was worth it.

"Alright Eevee use swift then close the gap with quick attack and end it with bulldoze"

"Cufant use protect then rock smash" Eevee opened its mouth and shot out a barrage of stars at Cufant. It then shot at Cufant with a white trail behind it. Cufant bellowed as it made a clear wall in front of it. As soon as it did swift arrived and crashed into it, the wall was soon covered in cracks but managed to hold on. As soon as swift finished Eevee itself slammed into the wall with its quick attack, finally shattering it. the second it landed it smashed its feet down. Just as its feet touched the ground Cufant's trunk came slamming down.

Both Pokémon were knocked back and promptly fell to the ground, both unconscious. The battle had actually ended in a draw. Robert quickly raced over to Eevee and cradled her in his arms, "you did well Eevee. time for you to have a rest." Robert then returned Eevee to its Pokéball. "vull" Robert turned his head to see Vulpix looking at him worried. Robert smiled a little and said, "Eevee is ok. She just needs to rest a little and mum will heal her up." After comforting Vulpix Robert looked up to see Margret had already gone over to Cufant's side and was returning it to its ball.

Margret then looked over at Robert, and for the first time since they met let out a smile. "Robert Leone, congratulations on joining the junior league."