Well. That was some reaction time. And a horrible plan indeed. Not to mention the fact that they'd revealed their ace-- literally. "Rogue! Rogue, sweetie, are you all right?" she cried out, clearly alarmed. This was always a failsafe way to break her nonchalant facade. On her side of the platform, the Sneasel clearly struggled to get up...
... It hurt. Rogue's body was shaking all over from the shock of the impact. Head bowed as she was hunched over, she winced. The lack of bulk did nothing to help soften her natural dual weakness to Fighting-type moves. To add insult to injury, this snot-nosed brat was taunting her Trainer... He had been, since the battle started. Coughing a bit, the Dark-Ice type hated herself... this was supposed to be her debut on the job with Raiza. It was always her Ghost-Fire type partner who often took the limelight in battle and even with Raiza. It was evident that he was the favorite, and Rogue had no grudges about it-- after all, Raiza had him ever since he was nothing more but an Egg. And here was her chance, finally. Here it was, only to be blown to snowflakes by this beetle on steroids. Lucifer... Toothless... She shook her head, trying to muster her strength in frustration. Those two pushed themselves for this event. Lucifer fell in the first round, and the Dark-Dragon shouldered the rest of the battle single-handedly to get the team to where they were... only for it to end here?
No. It wasn't over yet. She couldn't let them down-- Raiza, Lucifer, Toothless, and even little Achylx. It was never something she thought about often enough, but they were her first family in what felt like forever. The astonishment she felt that day when a dark blue-haired girl picked up her Pokeball and just gushed, fawning over her lovingly, as though they'd known each other for life... Like two friends reuniting. Something of the like.
It hurt... But... Pain was a message-- a really, really annoying and persistent message-- that could be ignored. That was something Raiza said once during training. And there was definitely a way to beat this herculean bug... slowly... easy does it... one leg up after the other...
"Rogue-- A-Are you sure about this?" came Raiza's choked up cry, as she watched the defiant Sneasel force herself into a crouch and... slowly, onto both shaky legs. Looking back and meeting the Trainer with hardened, glistening ruby eyes, the Dark-Ice type barely nodded, before turning to face her opponent. "... All right. Let's do this, then!" Rogue... I didn't know she was this resolute, Raiza thought, memories of training sessions where Lucifer and Toothless would be the ones to push themselves while the Dark-Ice type hung back, watching the two with concern. Even in conflicts between Achylx and Toothless, she would often step in as a mediator... As a result, the Trainer never thought Rogue the type to like fighting. I've sorely underestimated her. I've got to believe in her more. "Circle around out of Heracross' reach with Agility while blowing Icy Wind!" The Sneasel's eyes lit up, realizing that Raiza thought exactly the same thing she did. There was a way to beat this hulk of a bug. Putting the plan into motion, Rogue skated across the ice once more, almost a blur, while blowing gusts of frosty air at her opponent. It took all her strength and her body protested in agony, but she kept on going around and around, just out of the bug's appendages. What had to be done was to slow Hera down or at least her reaction time, so Rogue could move in for the kill-- she had one shot at this. Soon enough, it was as though Hera was trapped in a miniature icy tornado.