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 Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2024 3:28 am
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Aden's panic at the start Reno looked to be in would be brief, yet still feel like months had passed. But, it'd all wash away in an instant to be replaced with a desire to test that prosthetic arm's durability when Reno casually grabbed the arm and got it back into place. "You know, I'm surprised no one's ripped that arm right back off of you to smack you with it," he remarked, sighing in relief all the same. He'd take being slightly annoyed at a joke over serious harm any day and besides, Crystal seemed to share the sentiment of delivering a light smack to the head.
"Anyways, yeah, let's keep going. With hopefully more eyes on the road this time... hm?"
In the midst of all this, a Fidough within the area had grown curious about what was going on. While most would flee at such a sign of potential danger, this one would give a curious yip before looking and sniffing around the trio. Had it not been for that and a feeling that suggested less a dog and more a walking bakery treat that escaped well before going in the oven- nevermind it sprouting legs to accomplish such a feat- he wouldn't have thought anything of their presence.
"Hey? You're not anything I recognize..." He remarked, keeping a wary eye as he took out his SNAG. He managed to get into the Pokedex app on it before stopping himself, figuring that data wasn't likely to be there. Figuring there wasn't too high a chance of them causing much trouble, he'd look over to Reno and Crystal again, trying to keep a more mental eye on the pup in the meantime. "Right, Levincia. Reno, is your bike still good?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2024 7:51 pm
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Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2024 8:42 pm
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Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2024 11:44 pm
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"You know? I'll take my chances with the hoverboard," Aden remarked, about to get on it and take off himself since Reno seemed to waste no time in trying to leave him or Crystal in his dust. "See if this hoverboard can't keep up with you two."
But whenever Crystal took off herself, Aden's attempt to do the same would be stopped by the dough-like puppy that made themselves known. Only, now they were trying to climb on the hoverboard and to his legs, barking like they were expecting something and making Aden stop himself for the sake of the Pokemon's safety. "What? What're you looking for?" He asked, trying to gently push the pup away and sitting down to rummage through his stuff, only for them to try and go into his backpack. "Are you hungry? I've probably got a few berries you can have or something- no. Down."
Quickly, he'd pick them up and set them back down. "If you're good and stay still, I'll give you a few berries. Alright?" A happy hop followed in response, letting Aden sigh in relief. "Good, now let's see... oh. These should work?" Taking a few Oran Berries out and holding his hand out, he'd keep an eye on the Pokemon's reaction as they padded over and curiously sniffed at the berries. He wasn't terribly worried, with the worst that might come is the Pokemon expecting more food. Chances were, he figured, they'd be sated with the offering and probably leave to go about their business. They did seem to sniff around and give a curious bark, though. A question of "more?" that Aden picked up on quickly.. to which he shook his head.
"No, that's all I've got, I'm sorry," he remarked. "I've gotta go. You can find your way home, right? Ugh, catching up's gonna be rough..."
With that, Aden got back to his feet, onto the hoverboard, and took off. Unknown to him, just as the Fidough dejectedly started to walk off, a Dunsparce would pop out of the ground. Were they privvy to the whole thing? Was it bad luck? Whatever the case, there was now a poor pup flying in the air, seemingly in the same direction Aden just went...
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Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2024 9:33 am
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Posted: Tue May 14, 2024 8:25 pm
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Posted: Tue May 14, 2024 9:01 pm
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Posted: Tue May 14, 2024 9:25 pm
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Posted: Wed May 15, 2024 7:53 pm
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Posted: Thu May 16, 2024 12:37 pm
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Posted: Wed May 29, 2024 5:46 pm
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Combusken and I continued on the lesson for a while longer, as I tried to make sure that he could unleash that strike rather consistently. He’s still rough around the edges, but he’s getting there. Its about what I expected at this point. It finally came to a point where I decided to give Combusken a rest for the night and do finally what I promised while I still had time. Try to do work with the others. As I started to try to figure out how to start this impromptu training session with the rest of my Pokémon, I perked up and took notice out in the darkness beyond the court a couple of kids, two guys, one girl it looked like, probably not too much older than Tristen, was causing all manner of noise, not caring what was going on in the immediate area. I didn’t expect anyone to still come looking to find out what was going on since it was still out in the wide spaces of the park, but that wasn’t the thing I was worried about.
“…move along…” I silently said as I started to stash Combusken’s Pokéball. Much to my chagrin, the teenagers started to make their way onto the concrete courts. As they came in, I started to get a better look of them…they did seem to have pieces to the academy’s uniform, from either house. The shirt, the pants. The tie looked like it was part of the uniform but apparently modified. A spot picked out on the tie had the coloration bleached out in the shape of a star. Or is that a patch ironed on? Couldn’t tell. But then…more stuff that were not part of the standard dress. A motorcycle helmet, goggles with the eye pieces shaped like stars, the sleeves of their shirts and their helmets branded with some sort of star shaped logo. Wait, Clavell told the Snagems about these before we took our separate ways for the time being. Were they those juvenile punks causing trouble? Christ, I was not up for this…and worse, I thought the group headed this way took care of them the other day. Or I would have assumed by now.
“Hey hey hey…what do we have here? A hybrid……a bird man. Heh, though…don’t really know what the heck he’s supposed to be though.” The first male spoke up.
“Hey, he looks like that thing that Ms. Raifort wears around her neck…” the girl spoke up. I didn’t really say anything on that one; feeling just a tick more irritated knowing that someone didn’t know what an Articuno was, something surely at the very least would have been taught in school if they had bothered paying any attention, let alone staying around.
“Hey, he’s wearing an Uva uniform…dude, an adult taking classes? Guess they let anyone into the academy.” the third one stated. I still stayed silent, crossing my arms. The three started to surround me, as they started to look me up and down as if I was some sort of zoo animal on display, and I couldn’t help but to stare in a little confusion as much as agitation. I couldn’t help but to wonder where they were getting this bravado from, but it wasn’t flying with me. It did remind me though; I think I’m going to run around in my normal clothes perhaps starting tomorrow. These school uniforms can go to hell for as all I care.
“Either way, you new here? You gotta be if you’re out here like this.” The first one spoke again. I still didn’t move, keeping my arms crossed, and didn’t utter a word.
“Yea, no one comes out here; at least no one comes out here unless they’re looking for trouble.” I still wouldn’t reply.
“Hey, buddy, why you staring at us like we’re stupid?” the other male spoke then.
“Well, its been one minute and you haven’t really given me any reason not to yet. Honestly, you three in such an extremely short time, effectively immediately the moment you got within earshot, tried to strut around like you own the place, with levels of too dumb to live that I see all too often. Provoking a hybrid, let alone an adult, and one that could leave you ice statues with little to no effort.”
“Say whaa?” the first guy stated. “Chief, I don’t know who you think you are, but I am betting that you don’t know who we are.”
“Apart from Team Star, presumably, just an annoyance…and presumably dispersed because of a raid on one of your bases this area.”
The three tensed up, seriousness starting to get thick. “You know something about that? You were part of that?” the girl spoke up.
“No, I’ve been running around the region for the past two days. I just only know of it. And I was under the assumption you guys high-tailed it out of here by now.”
“We’ll, you’re wrong!” the second guy then spoke. “We got more than one base! We can count on each other to pick up another’s slack or back up our friends!” I continue to stare in confusion; so…the Snagems that went after the base near here didn’t actually disperse them? What did I just miss? “What? Cat Pokémon got your tongue?”
“Nothing; just left me thinking for a second. Either way, the hell you want? Because if you’re out to run me off, you’re deluding yourself. I planned on staying out here for a little while longer.” I told them. The three of them stared at me in confusion; they were practically gobsmacked that there was one standing in rather blatant defiance. I wasn’t scared of them, had no reason to be. They were being bullies, and even had the gall to do that to an adult. I’m convinced they were allowed to go about doing this for some time, similarly to the Skulls back in Alola. The whole mentality of if you pay them no mind, they’ll get bored and move on. Yea, a lot of good that did; they took over a whole entire town uncontested, and their solution to that? Put up a stupid wall. This is a repeat of that whole situation in essence as far as I could tell and it severely pissed me off. God, is it just me or has parents grown more apathetic over the years?
“Buddy, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re actually looking for a fight.” The first male stated.
I sighed but then I thought about it. A realization. I was out here for training…and I got a bunch of training dummies here. If I could crack a grin, even a slight one, I probably would have by now. “Maybe…maybe I am.” I said. The three looked at each other; I could tell the looks on their face. The audacity of this guy, they’re probably thinking. While I didn’t have my full power party, I’m fairly certain that I could take the likes of them. Their only primary strength were in their numbers to what I am to understand; it was how they were able to get away with what they could before the academy decided to get more drastic in their means of quelling whatever threat they were to them. It still sucked that we were dragged into the academy’s mess, but whatever, there was an opportunity there, so I had to take it. “So, what is it going to be?”
“Alright, I got this.” The female spoke up. She would walk around. “You think you can think low of Team Star?” she then would strike a pose, her arms waived about in front of her, as if trying to draw the shape of a star it looked like, then quickly pulled out a Pokeball. “How about I show you a world of hurt!” I took out a Pokeball with nary a word further. I was going to get training one way or another, so might as well make some use out of these upstarts. “Murkrow! Go!” The ball hit the ground and out came a rather familiar bird. Plenty of these that hangs around Jhoto in the dead of night. Guess they’re fairly commonplace in Paldea as well, if I had to take a guess.
“Vulpix! Get to it!” I shouted, tossing the Pokeball out onto the battle field. In a flash, out came the snow white fox ready for battle.
“What…in the world?” one of the guys spectating spoke up. The girl looked confused as well.
“What? Haven’t seen an Alolan Vulpix before? Maybe should have stuck to the classes.” I said.
“I don’t need any school to beat that thing or you!” the Team Star girl yelled out. I couldn’t help but to roll my eyes. “Murkrow! Night Shade!” The Murkrow crowed out, letting loose an ethereal wave that started to bear down on Vulpix. It didn’t look that strong however. It warranted a wince out of Vulpix, but nothing more.
“Vulpix! Aurora Beam!” I commanded. As the Murkrow tried to press its advantage with its Night Shade, Vulpix howled out, firing a beam towards the bird, blasting it, not only stopping its Night Shade but causing severe damage to the Murkrow. The bird went into a hard tumble and hit the ground fairly hard, unable to recover from the attack.
“Wait-wha? Ice attacks!? You cheap-…Murkrow! Come on! Get up!” The Murkrow managed to push itself up, shaking its head a fair bit, but then got itself ready to go again. I couldn’t imagine Murkrow taking too many attacks like that. “Use Wing Attack!” The Murkrow fluttered up and started to rush for Vulpix. So far pretty bog standard and no Paldean tricks that I could see. I started to stare with a bit of confusion.
“Vulpix, shoot it down! Aurora Beam again!” I said.
“Murkrow! Look out! Weave around those! Don’t get hit by that!” the trainer shouted. As the Murkrow started to dive for Vulpix, Vulpix once again started to fire off its Aurora Beam. The Murkrow fluttered about, trying to weave around the shots. While it wasn’t the most maneuverable bird, it was doing okay of avoiding getting clipped by the icy attacks, but it wasn’t trying to advance now. It was nearly panicking, desperate to not get shot again. I found it rather odd…so much so in fact, I think I know why that was so. “Vulpix! Icy Wind!” I shouted. The Vulpix quickly hopped back to gain a little bit of distance after its last Aurora Beam attack then fired off its biting gale towards the bird. The stinging ice pelts the Murkrow, the bird crowing out in agony.
“Murkrow!” the female Star trainer shouted. With the relentless ice attacks, the bird wasn’t able to keep pace with the Vulpix. It flopped on the ground, unable to put much more of a fight. “Yea, kinda saw that coming. When that Night Shade attack didn’t do that much, I had the feeling that you haven’t put Murkrow in that many fights. Or if you did, you probably had help…perhaps to the point that Murkrow’s help didn’t even matter.”
“Oh shut up! What do you know, anyways!?” the girl shouted back. I could tell she was practically fuming over the entire situation.
“Plenty. I battled plenty to know an inexperienced Pokémon when I see it. Between the bog standard attacks, the fact that it got downed by two attacks, despite it being super effective they were the weaker sorts, and the fact that you didn’t get Murkrow to do anything other than try to go for frontal attacks with not even so much as any feints, jukes, or some Pokémon attacks to do…well, anything that could even remotely try to get a leg up on my Vulpix…hell, when it was looking at getting shot by more Aurora Beams, the bird looked like he was in a near panic! Got any more like that or are you done wasting my time?” I said.
“Murkrow! Return!” the Star grunt shouted, recalling the bird back to the Pokeball. Vulpix was still pretty good for the battle, only taking minimal damage so far. I wasn’t going to bother bringing another out if I could help it. Maybe Vulpix could single-handedly run off this entire entourage at this rate. As she stashed her Murkrow’s Pokeball, she took out another one, tossing it out onto the battlefield. “Let’s try this! Impidimp!” With a flash following, the ball released a Pokémon that I had to admit that I only knew only vaguely. Impidimp…I know that these things were in the Galar region. I guess that they were here in Paldea as well. These lanky Pokémon were pretty much known to be a rather mischievous bunch; not too dissimilar to say Sub’s Sableye. Though I couldn’t honestly tell you too much of what they’re capable of doing. Whatever the case, I don’t have any reason to get Vulpix to come on back. I’ll have Vulpix tough it out a bit. She’s doing pretty good, and so far, this Star girl is coming off rather ametuer. We’ll just have to see.
“Vulpix! Icy Wind!” I shouted.
“Impidimp, Confide!” she would shout. The Impidimp would quickly dart out of the way of the icy wind attack. Vulpix furiously tried to follow the target, but it quickly got around the fox and latched on tight. Vulpix squealed out, surprised over the development and quickly tried to kick off the imp. The Impidimp started to chatter all sorts of things which made Vulpix hesistate for a couple of seconds. With a sly grin, the Impidimp quickly leapt off the fox, driving its head into the pavement as the Impidimp springboarded off almost rather gymnast like. It didn’t really hurt that much, but it was to drive Vulpix off its game.
“Vulpix, shake it off! Aurora Beam!” I shouted. The Vulpix fired off its Aurora Beam, but I started to notice something. Whatever that Pokémon did, it was stopping Vulpix’s Aurora Beam from having as much kick as it should. It was all the more apparent when the Aurora Beam hit its mark, but it wasn’t making the Impidimp reel back as much as I was hoping it would.
“Impidimp! Use Assurance!” The girl shouted. I nearly went wide-eyed. Okay, this girl wasn’t that much of an ametuer after all. She figured out that Vulpix was mostly a specialized attacker and after crippling Vulpix’s power in that with that Confide, she went on ahead and had Impidimp take the attack. Now she had a crushing blow heading Vulpix’s way.
“Vulpix! Move!” I shouted. Vulpix got on guard, leaped back as the Impidimp tried to launch itself onto the fox. Impidimp slams down on the pavement where Vulpix was, cracking the rock, then rushed for the Vulpix once more. “Vulpix! Disable!” I shouted. Vulpix once again leaped back as the Impidimp tries to attack the snow fox. Once the Impidimp makes impact, Vulpix fanned its tails out and glared at the imp. A cold chill whipped around the Impidimp, which made Impidimp seize up. The imp tripped and fell onto the pavement. “That ought to take care of that for a moment…Vulpix, use Aurora Beam!” I shouted.
“Impidimp! Sucker Punch!” the girl shouted. As Vulpix started to ready the icy shot once more, the Impidimp scrambled up and rushed for the Vulpix. The fox quickly was slugged by the imp, making the Aurora Beam fly off in a random direction and sent the fox tumbling back from the attack.
“Crap! Vulpix!” I shouted. “Are you alright!?”
Vulpix managed to pull itself back up, but it was wincing a fair bit. That attack rocked Vulpix harder than anticipated. “Keooo.” Vulpix spoke up.
“Impidimp! Bite it!” the girl shouted. The Impidimp rushed over, jaws at the ready to clamp down on Vulpix.
“Vulpix! Use Icy Wind!” I shouted. Vulpix unleashed another biting gale towards the imp. The Imp charged right into the icy attack, but the attack made the Impidimp stop. That said, it still didn’t look like that it was causing the kind of damage I needed it too. That Confide from earlier must still be doing a number on Vulpix. Worse, I know for a fact that Disable Vulpix managed to get on this thing isn’t going to last for too much longer. I’m pretty certain that getting caught by that was not going to end well for Vulpix. “Now! Use Ice Shard!” I called out to Vulpix. The Vulpix started to rush towards the Impidimp, chunks of ice starting to form about it. The shards were then launched towards the Impidimp, all in order to try to keep the pressure up.
“Impidimp! Look out! Sucker Punch!” she shouted.
The Impidimp darted out of the way of the attack, the ice shards driving down into the concrete where the Impidimp once stood. The Impidimp then made a hard pivot, rushing towards Vulpix. As Vulpix skidded to a stop, it quickly tried to look around, trying to get the target back in sight. “Vulpix! Incoming!” I tried to warn, but she would quickly get slugged by the Impidimp once more. The Vulpix yelped out as it tumbled across the battlefield from the strike. Vulpix managed to stand back up but it wasn’t feeling the greatest now. Worse, I started to notice that the Impidimp was starting to feel a bit more springy in its step. I had the feeling the Disable has worn off about now. Vulpix wasn’t going to make it like this.
“Impidimp! Try using Bite again!” the girl commanded.
The one thing I started to notice was that she was heavily reliant on counter attacks for this Impidimp. And it was quicker on the draw to use statuses than Vulpix was. For that matter, I started to realize that I needed to expand on what Vulpix could do if I could here in the near immediate future. She did have a couple of Ghost attacks that I could call upon, but barring that, I needed to help her to do something else. In the meantime, though…I needed to figure out how to cripple this blasted imp. “Vulpix! Confuse Ray!” I shouted.
The Impidimp started to rush for Vulpix, trying to jump on and clamp down on the fox. Vulpix was trying to get into a position to where to let loose its flash, but between being hurt by this Impidimp and its relentless attacks, it was becoming harder and harder to do. “Impidimp! Don’t let up! Don’t let that thing let that attack go!”
“Alright, screw that then…Spite it!” I shouted.
As the Impidimp continued to try to bite down on the fox to finish the ice type off. Vulpix retaliated on its own. A hard wave of its six tails, letting loose a wave of ice and ethereal power, rushing by the Impidimp, perhaps through it. The notion left the Impidimp surprised for a moment, tripping the Pokémon, nearly falling on top of Vulpix if it hadn’t hopped back at the last second. It had a momentary loss of energy out of nowhere. As if its entire rhythm was disrupted. “Confuse Ray!”
“Impidimp! Look out!” A ghastly flash of light fell down upon Impidimp as it picked itself off the ground. It suddenly found itself without balance. Multiple images of Vulpix was starting to be seen before its eyes. Confusion started to set in.
“Aurora Beam!” I called out. As it tried to get ready to dodge, it couldn’t figure out where to dodge to. Confusion gripped the Pokémon fiercely. The Aurora Beam rang out on the battlefield, blasting the imp back.
“Impidimp! Try Assurance!” The Impidimp shook its head, trying to clear the confusion and dazzling lights still pulsing in its eyes. It started to rush in the general direction of Vulpix, and like before it leaped up and tried to slam down on the fox, greater the force than what was just dealt to it. Vulpix managed to get away from the attack, noting the Impidimp missed wide from the attack, stumbling over and hurting itself in its confusion. “Hurry! Get up, Impidimp! Its right there! Bite it!” she then started to command. The Impidimp’s trainer’s plan was starting to fall through. Their tempo was thrown completely out of whack.
“Vulpix! Another Aurora Beam!” I shouted. As the Impidimp tried to clear its mind, trying to go for another Bite in the process, the Vulpix fired another shot, giving something the imp to chew on. With that final shot, the Impidimp started to struggle to get back up, but finally it fell back, left seeing stars still. It didn’t have any will to keep going.
“No! Impidimp!”
“That’s game, Vulpix! Nice work!”
“Keeeo!” it shouted, but then it wince after it yelled out in celebration. She perhaps needed to take a break at this point.
“You got any more that you want to toss at me or what?” I then asked the Star girl across the battlefield.
“…you…you…”
“Hey! Chill!” one of the male Star grunts started to come over. “You’re done. I got this…get back Impidimp. I’ll take care of this.” Reluctantly, the girl recalls her fallen Impidimp and stands aside. I’d recall Vulpix, giving thanks in the process.
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Posted: Wed May 29, 2024 5:47 pm
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“So, the valiant hero, huh?” I spoke up to the second of the Star Trio that decided to challenge me. “Buddy, I don’t know what story you think you’re in, but this is not going to work out the way you think it is, especially if your friend there is any hint to what goes on in Team Star’s training regimen.”
“And what do you know, huh? That Vulpix barely made it out away from Impidimp.” He said to me. Little did he realize that was a rather lofty justification.
“Perhaps, but take into consideration that I am rolling with a team that I am trying to get battle experience for. I knew what I was getting into. In fact, over the past couple of days, it has been the most they’ve actually battled for as long that I had them. I’ve honestly got vastly stronger Pokémon than these; I’m trying to get these guys into the fold as it were. Worse when you take into consideration that none of you seem to have seen a Vulpix before, never mind the fact that mine is a variant out of Alola, which she apparently thought it was such a good idea to keep a Murkrow out against.” I said. “Honestly, you sure skipping school here is a good idea?”
“…wait, you have even stronger Pokémon!? Why are you dealing with those runts then!?”
“Because I actually give a care about all the Pokémon I have. I try desperately hard not to show favorites.” I said. “The fact that you have to ask just shows the depths of your ignorance. Though I guess I can’t complain too much. You guys are doing wonders for trying to get some battles in before our next gym match.”
“Wait, you’re using us!?” The girl then spoke up once more, a bit stunned.
“Well, you three volunteered so willingly.” I said.
“Geez! Just how much of a joke does he take us!?” the third Team Star grunt shouted from the sidelines. “Hey, man! Stomp on him already!” he then called out to his cohort.
“Or you can leave and stop wasting my time. Your call.” I then said to him.
With the grunts provoked all the more, the second Team Star member was ready to battle. With his weird pose to lead off, just as the girl did before him, he takes out a Pokeball and tosses it out onto the battlefield. “Sableye! Go!” he shouted, tossing a ball out onto the battlefield. In a flash, out came onto the battlefield a familiar Pokémon, all too familiar thanks to Sub. Though, I had my doubts this thing was anywhere near as cracked as oh fearless leader’s.
“Zigzagoon! Get to it!” I called out. I tossed out another Pokeball out onto the battlefield and out came the black and white Galarian Zigzagoon out onto the field, tongue out and ready to go.
“What kind of…you’re just full of weird Pokémon, aren’t you!?” the Sableye trainer shouted.
“No. Not really.” I said, crossing my arms. “Now you done complaining or are we doing this?” I asked. That said, in retrospect this might be a tough fight. Zigzagoon doesn’t have that much that it could straight up fight a Sableye with. Maybe an Assurance here, a Pin Missile there. Perhaps the occasional Knock Off. But nothing that can cause extensive amounts of damage in a hurry. Nothing out right super effective, and worse, I haven’t really focused too hard yet in getting Zigzagoon to learn much beyond what I know his arsenal to be. Barring that, I remember the normal type variants like one would see in Hoenn knew Odor Sleuth, but the Galarian variants don’t seem to have any such tendencies for that, which is a shame. It honestly would be very helpful right about now. Conversely, while a Sableye’s ghost attacks were a lost cause to Zigzagoon, I do know very well they had a bunch of other tricks they could use. This was probably going to get a little rough…
“Zigzagoon! Use Pin Missile!” I shouted.
“Fake Out, Sableye!” The Star member commanded. As Zigzagoon fired off the flurry of pins, the Sableye slinked into the very shadows covering the court. Before he could get a read as to where that Sableye was, Zigzagoon was smacked virtually out of nowhere, sending him tumbling a little across the battlefield pavement. The Sableye was there where Zigzagoon got hit, chuckling over the Zigzagoon’s misfortune.
“Gee, never saw that before…” I said. “Zigzagoon! Knock Off!” Zigzagoon was quick back to his feet. He scrambled across the field leaping up and went to come down on the Sableye, turning the mischievous grin completely upside down on the ghost.
“Sableye! Use Night Shade!” the Sableye’s trainer then commanded. Quickly the Sableye went to blast Zigzagoon with its ethereal attack, but Zigzagoon plowed through it as if it wasn’t even there. Zigzagoon drove down upon the Sableye, driving its head onto the battlefield.
“Wait what!?”
“Part normal type, genius!” I shouted to him. “Zigzagoon! Pin Missile!” Once again, Zigzagoon’s fur started to spike out more than normal. The flurry of pins started to bombard on the Sableye, needing the ghost.
“Alright then! Let’s try this! Sableye! Confuse Ray!” As the Sableye was bombarded, it quickly retreated into the shadows, having Zigzagoon to drive its needles into the pavement. Zigzagoon barked in amazement, then tried to look around, trying to find where the Sableye rushed off to.
“Zigzagoon! Watch it! Its coming!” I shouted. Out from the shadows, the Sableye unleashed its ghostly flash, dazzling Zigzagoon in its wake. “…here it goes…” I said, seeing Zigzagoon uneasy on his feet. The world spinning about him. I was already in a rough spot sending Zigzagoon against a Sableye, this was making it worse.
“Sableye! Now use Fury Swipes!” Fury Swipes? On a Sableye? Okay, I know I had my excuses with Zigzagoon, but yeech. Then again, I probably have been dealing with Sub and his Sableye for far too long. Or have just been dealing with more extreme battling in general. Perhaps my expectations were too high still.
“Zigzagoon! Look out!” Try as Zigzagoon might, he couldn’t even so much as could tell where Sableye was coming in from, let alone where it possibly is in its confusion. With one harsh pounce, the ghost extended its sharp nails on its hands and started to swipe away at Zigzagoon. Each slash dug in deeper than the last, Zigzagoon yelping as it struggled to get the ghost off of him. “Zigzagoon! Use Assurance!” Trying to fight through the confusion, the Zigzagoon manage to flip off the ghost. Zigzagoon tried to follow up but much to my dismay, the confusion had a tight grip still. Zigzagoon ended up tripping and hurting itself in a panic.
“Now how about you use a Knock Off! See how this guy likes it!” The Sableye rushes over as Zigzagoon continues to try to get out of its daze. The Sableye gives a hard swat at Zigzagoon, and while it got an agitated yelp out of Zigzagoon, the damage was rather minimal. “…he…didn’t seem to mind it that much…”
“Dark Type.” I then spoke up.
“Oh COME ON!” Shouted the Star Member.
“You haven’t taught your Sableye anything beyond what it learns naturally?” I asked.
“None of your business!”
“I’ll take it as a yes…” I said. Though I had to admit I am not in that much better of a position. I haven’t really gotten down to teach Zigzagoon much of anything nor do I know what he is capable of short of what I managed to coax out of him after getting him. He could use some other moves; I just need to really find out what he can do. Right at the moment, my advantage is that Sableye’s ghost typing is kind of gimping it, allowing Zigzagoon to do what he can with his Dark typed attacks. Problem is, the Dark attacks that I am aware of are situational and won’t cause extensive amounts of damage unless there is something favoring it; like Zigzagoon’s Assurance and Knock Off. Pin Missile isn’t the most reliable thing he’s got apart from that. Most of his consistent damaging attacks are Normal type; completely useless against this guy. I got the feeling if Zigzagoon is anything like his pure normal type cousins, things isn’t going to expand out that well until after he evolves…provided he can, that is. In the meantime, Sableye still has a fair bit of utility to call upon, like that Confuse Ray, that I know of and while its own ghost type attacks are useless, it could still try to do things. Though how much, I don’t know. A training session or two wasn’t in this guy’s schedule, apparently.
“Zigzagoon! Can you use Pin Missile?” Zigzagoon shook its head, finally clearing the haze and daze that gripped it so. It then hopped around, staring down the Sableye. Its fur spiked out and fired off another needle-like bombardment.
“Detect, Sableye!” Carefully, the Sableye started to see the incoming projectiles, almost as if a glint came about its diamond-like eyes under the moonlight above. The Sableye ‘danced’ about, leaping, skipping, ducking, weaving, trying to avert the multiple pins.
“Sableye, use Disable!” the Star trainer shouted. Quickly, as the bombardment started to ease up, Sableye, with another ghostly flash, Zigzagoon yelped and found itself cripped, unable to unleash more of its pins. “Good work! Now use Fury Swipes again!” Another Fury Swipes…yea, this guy is hard pressed to keep his little theme with the rest of his band and since Dark attacks aren’t going to do much, he’s trying to get whatever damage he could. We’re literally in a bit of a slug fest. Incidentally, I’m starting to guess that they’re dark type trainers if that girl with them is any indicator. Man, Sub would have a field day over these guys if they’re not doing the dark type justice.
As the Sableye went to slash away with its claws, Zigzagoon went and tried to move back, weaving and jumping out of the way that it could. “Zigzagoon! Move in!” I then shouted. I had to tip the balance back towards us instead of trying to fight over this stalemate. The Sableye then came around, managing to slash at Zigzagooon a couple of times. “Zigzagoon! Assurance!” As it fought through the swipes, Zigzagoon retaliated, coming down with a furious attack. A Dark type force enveloping the Zigzagoon, then came down, slamming down upon the Sableye, causing considerable damage to the mischievous ghost.
Sableye screeched out as the attack rocked its world. Despite taking such a strong hit, it managed to get back up and scramble back in a panic, not wanting to get hit by such a crushing attack again. “Zigzagoon! Knock Off!” I shouted.
“Sableye! Knock Off!” the trainer shouted. Zigzagoon and Sableye went in, and the two traded blows, the attacks practically bounced off themselves, the two Pokémon repulsing themselves. I needed to find a decisive blow somewhere. Once again, I could only lament the lack of an Odor Sleuth on Zigzagoon. Do what we can, I guess. Though that’s going to be somewhat harder with no Pin Missile…
“Zigzagoon, keep trying to use Knock Off! Keep up the pressure!” I shouted.
“Sableye! This isn’t working! Use Detect!” he then shouted. As Zigzagoon went to come down with another Knock Off, the Sableye weaved out of the way once more. “Fury Swipes!” he then shouted.
It then rushed in and almost without contest, it managed to claw away more at Zigzagoon, racking up the damage in short order. “Zigzagoon! Use Assurance!” I then shouted. With the ghost trying to pay back the pressure, Zigzagoon once again fought through the damage and smashes once more into the ghost. The ghost would get sent tumbling back fiercely then finally came to rest on the ground, finally out for the count. With the realization that both of our Pokémon’s movesets were apparently limited, I wasn’t up for any attrition like fight. One that the Sableye would eventually win, especially with the likes of Confuse Ray at its disposal. I had to get Zigzagoon to be a bit more reckless and try to take that Sableye with Assurance attacks. The Sableye and his trainer was looking out for Knock Off and Pin Missile, and I didn’t have anything much else beyond that. That said, the Sableye didn’t have too much either, given that his reliance of Fury Swipes, since Knock Off wasn’t too useful, and only a margin useful compared to any Ghost attacks it had. Zigzagoon just threw a wrench in this guy’s works just on typing alone, forcing him to fight in a way that he’s perhaps not accustomed to. That said, I don’t think I need to keep Zigzagoon out much more. Taking those attacks as he did have done a bit of a number.
“Augh! Sableye, no!” the Star trainer shouted out.
“Nice work, Zigzagoon! You stuck it out. Good work.” The Zigzagoon barked in approval of its praise. “Return for now. I’ll get someone else out for the moment. That one was a bit rough.” I told him. As I recalled Zigzagoon back to his Pokeball, the Salbeye trainer recalled his Pokémon, and it was clear on his face that he was a bit frustrated.
“So, got anything else you want to toss at me or is that it?” I then asked.
“Maschiff!” he then shouted, tossing another ball out onto the battlefield. In a flash out came a familiar sight. The angry looking hounds that I saw on the way to Cortondo. Bah, kind of wish that I had Zigzagoon come out against one of these things. That might have been a bit easier fight as opposed to dealing with that Sableye. Oh well.
“Alright then, go, Cubchoo!” I then called out, tossing out another Pokeball out onto the battlefield. As the ball pops open, a flash of light comes forth and out came the icy bear.
“Cub-chaa!” he spoke up, a sneeze soon to follow, accompanied by the long dangling mucus from his nose.
“Maschiff! Bite it!” His trainer shouted.
“Cubchoo! Watch it! Here it comes!” I then called out. As the hound went on hot pursuit. Cubchoo took a few steps back, trying to get ready to move as the angry looking hound lashes out. Cubchoo would manage to move aside as the Maschiff takes a leap, jaws wide open and jowls flapping from the momentum, ready to gnaw down on Cubchoo. As soon as the dog realized that it missed, it quickly pivots, in hot pursuit of the icy bear.
“Cub-chaa!” Cubchoo whines out as it continues to try to move out of the way. Unfortunately, there was no escaping the dog’s jaws. The Maschiff clamps down on Cubchoo’s arm. “CHAA!”
“Cubchoo! Calm down!” I shouted. “Make him choke on it! Ice Punch!” I shouted. Cubchoo started to flail about, trying to get the hound to let go. Get the hound loosen his grip, if only a little. The Maschiff clamped down as tight as it could, trying to pull back and drag Cubchoo to the ground. Cubchoo managed to flail once more, managing to break the Maschiff’s hold on him. “Go for it!” I then shouted.
“CUBCHAA!” Cubchoo shouted, his paw frosting up fiercely. He quickly turned and slugged the hound, sending it tumbling back, the Maschiff yelping when it got hit.
“Maschiff! Don’t take it lying down! Payback!” the Team Star member shouted. The Maschiff scrambled back up and got ready, giving a hard growl then rushed for Cubchoo again.
“Cubchoo! Move!” I then called out. As the Maschiff lunged out towards Cubchoo, Cubchoo dove out of the way, averting what would have been otherwise a crushing attack. “Cubchoo! Slash attack!” I then called out.
“Maschiff, Scary Face!” the star trainer called out. As Cubchoo tried to run after the Maschiff. The Maschiff turned around and gave a scowl, a rather piercing death glare and a growl to follow that got Cubchoo to halt in his tracks.
“Cubchoo! Push through! Its intimidation tactics! Go!”
“Maschiff! Use Take Down!” he then shouted. Quickly the Maschiff rushed for Cubchoo and once again lunged out, this time with great force, head first. The Maschiff smashes into Cubchoo, the poor bear’s eyes nearly bugged out on impact. Cubchoo gets sent flying back, hitting the paved battlefield into a tumble.
“Cubchoo!” I shouted. “Are you alright!?”
“Cub…chaa.” He spoke back, managing to push himself off the battlefield.
“That one rocked you good! Are you sure?” I called back to him. I wasn’t really good with that call of reassurance out of the bear.
“Cubcha!” He then shouted.
“Alright then….”
“Put it back down, Maschiff! Use Bite!” the Team Star member shouted out to his hound. The dog started to make its way over towards Cubchoo, scrambling before Cubchoo finds his second wind.
“Cubchoo! Here it comes! Icy Wind!” I shouted.
As the Maschiff started to get close and ready its muzzle for a mouthful of flesh and icy fur, Cubchoo breathes out a biting wind towards the Maschiff. The Maschiff stops its attack as the stinging ice starts to cake on it, managing to halt its attack for the moment. “Good, Cubchoo! Use Slash attack!” I then called out. Cubchoo then starts to rush forward, closing the gap himself between the hound and himself.
The Maschiff manages to look back, seeing the Cubchoo ready to swipe and strike down the Pokémon. The Maschiff leaps back as Cubchoo swipes away. Cubchoo was now the one on hot pursuit, trying to strike down the hound. “Maschiff! Use Dig!” he then shouted.
“Dig?” I asked, staring in confusion. Quickly the hound smashed through the pavement and dug down below the battlefield.
“Cubchaa!?” Cubchoo shouted.
“Okay, that’s a new one.” I said. “Good to know…Cubchoo watch it, he can come up from anywhere!” Cubchoo stepped away from the hole the Maschiff made, trying to look around. I was trying to get a good look of the battlefield, trying to help Cubchoo. Once Maschiff comes out of the ground, it was going to come out fast and swinging.
“Take him down, Maschiff!” the Pokémon’s trainer shouted.
As I tried to keep on the look out, Cubchoo would be the first to find out the hard way where it was coming from. Directly under him. “Cubchaa!?” Before Cubchoo was able to move out of the way, he was thrown off balance from the shifting ground underhim. The hound erupts from the ground as Cubchoo falls to the ground. The hound then comes down and pounces away at Cubchoo, biting and snapping away at Cubchoo. As Cubchoo flailed about to get the canine Pokémon off of him, the Maschiff manages to clamp down on one of Cubchoo’s arms again then started to bite down furiously, starting to drag the bear about.
“Cubchoo!”
“There you go, Maschiff! Don’t let go! Shake that bear around like a rag doll!”
“Cubchoo! Frost Breath!” I then shouted.
As the Maschiff started to try to drag and whip itself about to rack up the damage on Cubchoo, Cubchoo turned his head towards the hound and breathed out a harsher wind towards the hound. As it continued to stay locked on Cubchoo’s arm, it tried to endure the icy attack. “Cubchoo! Try using Flail!” I then shouted. Cubchoo manage to get back up and started to Flail hard, now doing the whipping about of the hound, slamming it against the floor, trying to do whatever it took to get the hound off of him. The hound then finally let go giving Cubchoo the opening he needed.
“Ice Punch!” I then shouted.
“Maschiff! Look out!” As Cubchoo lunged out with the frosted fist, the Maschiff in a near panic leaped out of the way, leaving the bear to hit the ground with its icy attack, leaving an icy patch in his wake. “Geez, that was close. Maschiff! Use Take Down!” he then shouted.
“Cubchoo! Incoming!” I then shouted. Cubchoo looked up, seeing the Maschiff barreling towards Cubchoo at full force, desperate to end the battle between the two of them. “Cubchoo! Get down!” Cubchoo flopped down onto the ground, having the hound leap over Cubchoo, averting the attack.
“Maschiff, keep at it! Don’t let that bear get away!”
“Cubchoo! Use Ice Punch!” I shouted. The Maschiff skidded to a stop after its missed lunge, but quickly turned about and started to scramble, getting traction once again towards Cubchoo to attack with its Take Down attack. However, Cubchoo was already running for the hound, its paw frosting up. The incoming attack made Maschiff hesitate, quickly trying to scramble backwards to avert the icy punch coming for it.
“Cub-cha!” Cubchoo shouted, slugging the hound once again with a furious ice punch. The Maschiff ends up taking a tumble, ice forming up on it as it did before it came to rest. Much to the star member’s chagrin, it was enough to take the fight out of the hound.
“No! Maschiff!” he shouted.
“Nice work, Cubchoo!”
“Cubcha!”
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Posted: Wed May 29, 2024 5:48 pm
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With the second of the trio defeated, I would give my congrats to Cubchoo and recall him back to his Pokéball. “So, eager to come at me like your friends here or what?” I asked the third Star grunt. “I won’t blame you for wising up and walking away. It isn’t like I got any interest in chasing you guys down.”
“Well, I would, but then you up and started to make us look like a joke.”
“…No one forced you to wear gaudy bike helmets, do weird poses, and take part of these Pokémon battles because for whatever reason you got some stupid arbitrary idea that this is your turf.” I said. “That was all on you. I was having a good time just on my own, training my Pokémon, and was going to be off not too long from now, but you three just had to pick the fight.” I said. “That’s not getting into how easily goaded you three are. Pretty freakin’ juvenile, honestly. If anyone is making Team Star, let alone you three yourselves, look like a joke, it’d be you three right now.”
“Really?” he then spoke up. “Maybe I can give you a change of mind.”
“As if that worked for your two friends there.” I said.
“Come on, you got this! He can’t have that much steam left, can he!?” the girl shouted.
“Show him what Team Star got!” the other sidelined Star member shouted.
“Go! Stunky!” he then shouted, tossing out the ball. Out onto the battlefield, out came a larger Pokémon that got me to grimace just a bit. A Stunky. While it shouldn’t be too much trouble, I couldn’t help but to sigh out.
“God, I was planning on taking a shower tonight, sure, but come on, I don’t need more of an excuse.” I said. “Ugh, fine. Mudkip! Go!” I then shouted, tossing the ball out onto the battlefield. As the ball lands, out in a flash comes Mudkip, ready to go.
“Mudddd.” It squealed out.
“Ugh, you really aren’t from here, aren’t you?”
“So it took about four Pokémon for you to get that idea?” I asked, staring in confusion.
“Whatever. Stunky! Use Poison Gas!” he shouted.
“Yep, typical! Mudkip! Back it up!” I shouted to it. The Stunky quickly turned up, its tail pointing up straight to the air. With a hiss out of the Skuntank, the Pokémon let off a harsh, thick smog which Mudkip was quickly to back away from. But as the gas started to fan out, Mudkip ended up getting caught up in it. One could hear the squeaking coughs coming from the dense gas cloud. “Blast it…”
“Now, Stunky! Use Venoshock!” he then shouted. He was going to be relentless; hell bent on putting on the fight that the other two had a hard time doing against me.
“Mudkip! You need to fight back! Water Pulse!” Mudkip fired off his Water Pulse attack just as the Stunky fired its Venoshock. I couldn’t let such an attack hit Mudkip if I could help it at this point. With Mudkip assuredly poisoned at this point, that could spell the end of Mudkip in this battle in a grand hurry. The attacks crashed against each other, leaving puddles of sludge all over the place.
“Skunky! Bite it!” he shouted.
“Mudkip! Take Down!” I commanded. As the Stunky made the dash, leaping up and ready to pounce on Mudkip. Mudkip quickly retaliated, meeting his bite with a full, reckless tackle, ramming into the Skunky with harsh force. It was a bit of a desperate call on my part admittedly. Mudkip was for sure going to be hurt making contact like that, and with the poison ever slowly sapping away at him, I had to try to take this Skunky down as fast as hopefully Mudkip could.
The Stunky took a hard tumble after the hard strike, but manages to get back on its feet relatively okay enough. “Mudkip, hurry! Use Water Pulse!”
As Mudkip got ready to fire the attack, the Star grunt had other ideas. “Stunky! Sucker Punch!”
“Mudkip! Hold on! Here it comes!” Mudkip tried to end the attack mid-way, but as it tried, the Stunky was already on Mudkip’s case, landing a harsh blow to the water Pokémon. “Crap…Mudkip, are you okay!? Can you keep at it!?”
Mudkip managed to get back up for the time being but right at the moment it was not going to be long before he wasn’t going to even have the strength to stand. The poison that he got caught up with has to be getting the better of him right now. I have to give this guy this much, he’s a bit better than the other two. “Mudkip! Use Supersonic!” I shouted. Mudkip then gave out a harsh, extremely high-pitched shrill. The Stunky fell over, trying to grasp at its ears as the shrill started to ring through its ears, trying desperate to stave off the confusion that was threatening to get the better of it.
“Bah, this isn’t getting anywhere! Mudkip! Rock Throw!” I shouted.
“Stunky! Knock Off!” the Star grunt shouted. Mudkip started to form a rock before it and fired it off towards the Stunky. However, the Stunky managed to get back up and gave a hard swat on the rock, smashing it back into dust. “Stunky! Fury Swipes!” he then shouted.
With claws extended, the Stunky made the hard mad dash towards the worn down Mudkip. “Mudkip! Use Water Pulse!”
Mudkip once again reared back and fired off the water pulse attack towards the Stunky. The Stunky managed to veer off to the side, the attack splashing down. The Stunky then leaped over and pounced on the water type, swiping away with its claws. Mudkip started to squeal out as it tried to struggle out of the Stunky’s relentless attack. “Mudkip! Supersonic!” I then shouted. I had to try it again. Mudkip was running on fumes, that poison was going to claim him at any moment, and I did not really want to give these Star brats any thing to brag about…though admittedly, the last one was a bit selfish on my end. As the Stunky continued to wail away to put Mudkip down for good for this battle, Mudkip gave a screech out that made the Stunky rear back. Its head practically vibrating from the loud sudden shrill.
“Stunky! No!”
Mudkip managed to get back on his feet as the Stunky stumbled around, tipsy and deep in confusion. “Mudkip! Water Pulse!” I shouted.
“Stunky! Sucker Punch!” Mudkip formed his water attack and fired it off, and try as Stunky might to try to retaliate, it stumbled forward, leaving it a sitting duck to take the shot. The Stunky was fiercely splashed, sending it tumbling back.
“Mudkip! Take Down!” As the Stunky managed to start trying to pull itself up, Mudkip ran forward downfield, one last hurrah towards the Stunky. The water type made its reckless charge right into the Stunky, dealing the decisive blow it needed to.
“Stunky! No!” The Star trainer shouted.
“That’s it! Good job, Mudkip! Way to hang in there!”
Mudkip couldn’t bring itself to jump in victory. This battle was too hard fought, and I could understand that. I couldn’t blame him. Before I had the opportunity to recall it back to the ball, I noticed something out of the blue started to happen. Mudkip started to glow fiercely, lighting up the battlefield. It was the light of evolution. “…you couldn’t stand being too far behind Combusken, could you? I suppose that’s fair. All of you ever since that I started this thing had a bit of a thing with each other. Except maybe Zigzagoon…but he’s an oddball anyways.” I said. When the light dies out, I saw Mudkip now evolved. A Marshtomp. A cause for celebration had to go another time, because as soon as the evolution was over, Marshtomp fell over, once again showing that evolution didn’t necessarily fix anything that ailed a Pokémon. The damage was still there. The poison was still there. Without hesitation, I recalled Marshtomp back to his ball. “Thanks, Marshtomp. We’ll talk later.”
“Really!?” The star trainer shouted. “All of that and all it accomplished is allowing your Pokémon to evolve!? Are you serious!?”
“Yea, thanks for that.” I said.
Frustrated, the Star grunt recalled the Stunky and then took out another Pokeball. “Alright, enough of this. I didn’t want to have to do this…” he said, now starting to point to the other two Star trainers that I fought previously. “Honestly I was hoping those two was going to be more than enough, but it wasn’t going to happen, was it?” It got a rather displeased face out of the female of the trio.
“Not if I could help it. Bear in mind, you three started this, not knowing what you were going up against, probably figuring an easy mark to push around. Honestly, you three aren’t the sharpest, are you?”
“Funny choice of words.” He said, tossing his final Pokeball. “Bisharp!” he called out. The ball bursts open and out came a rather familiar Pokémon. A Bisharp, and a rather nasty looking one at that. It grinded its hands and forearms together, sharpening them, getting ready for the battle to come. It started to occur to me that this bunch apparently liked their dark types. Sub probably would be all over these guys, if I had to take a guess. Well, unfortunately, these three were in for the school of hard knocks courtesy of me.
“Hm…A Bisharp, huh?” I asked. I then took out the last Pokeball in my entourage. “Alright, Combusken, Midterm time.” I said. I then tossed out the Pokeball and out came Combusken back out of the Pokeball.
“Com-ba-sken!” Combusken shouted upon arrival.
“Bisharp! Night Slash!”
“Combusken! Slash it!” I called out.
The two Pokémon rushed for each other, the Bisharp’s sword like forearms started to eminate a dark power, Combusken steeled itself as best as it could. The two swiped with each other and their attacks clashed. The two locked arms, glaring at each other, pressing against each other, trying to gain leverage one way or another. Neither were giving any manner of inch.
“Bisharp! X-Scissor!” Two back-to-back generally ineffective attacks to the likes of a Combusken, let alone to my own. He honestly doesn’t know what Combusken is. Maybe I could use that to my advantage. Something to land a good enough hit and have Combusken to completely pressure the Bisharp, just like I did to that guy back at the port. All the same, in the meantime, the Bisharp shoved itself off to the side then stepped in, its arms now glowing a lime green color, then went to strike at Combusken. Combusken stumbled back a little, but the damage wasn’t really that great. I had to try to see if I couldn’t goad this Bisharp’s trainer into a false sense of security somehow.
“Combusken, use Aerial Ace!” I shouted. Get in pot shots, I thought. Nothing too strong, lure him in. Then we can see if I couldn’t get Combusken to show off its fire attacks and hopefully his newly learned Brick Break attack. Combusken rushed in and made a leap into the air then thrusted downwards feet first. The Bisharp stood his ground, holding up his arms to block. The impact was fierce, but nothing that apparently a Bisharp couldn’t weather. He pushed Combusken off of him.
“Bisharp! Slash attack!” he called out. The Bisharps forearms started to glow a harsh white, then came down on Combusken. Combusken tried to guard the strike himself, just as Bisharp tried to do to him, but unfortunately, Combusken couldn’t weather the blow.
“Combusken! Don’t get cocky with that! Those Slash attacks aren’t a joke!” I shouted. “Combusken, use Fire Pledge!” I shouted.
“Bisharp! Look out!” The Star grunt shouted to his Pokémon. Combusken breathed in then unleashed a roaring inferno which swept across the battlefield. The Bisharp got swept up in the Pledge’s wake, getting seared from head to toe by the Combusken. “I should have figured something was up when that X-Scissor didn’t do that much earlier! Alright change of plan! Bisharp! Rock Tomb!” The Bisharp furiously struck the ground and fissures started to form, then stalagties formed before it. Quickly in almost a swift motion, the Bisharp sliced the rocks and sent them flying off towards Combusken.
“Combusken! Move it!” Combusken tried to scramble, trying to avert the rock attacks, but one after another was cutting off Combusken’s escape. When Combusken started to run out of places to run, the Bisharp grabbed one final rock, rushed off across the battlefield, then took a powerful leap to drive down the final rock on top of Combusken, only to land on the other side of the rubble. Combusken, hurt, but undeterred forced himself from the rocks that had him wedged in. However, he was slow in trying to get around and out of the rock pile. “Combusken! Hurry!”
“Bisharp! Use Night Slash!” The Star grunt then commanded. The Bisharp rushed back for the pile, seeing his mark’s head come above the rubble. The Bisharp rushed in, its forearms starting to glow in a ebony state, leaped up and came down towards Combusken. With no where to dodge in any manner of hurry. All Combusken could do was brace himself as the attack came down, striking him and smashing the rocks under it. These attacks, while not super effective, was starting to add up faster than I was giving it credit for. Not to mention, I don’t know how much experience this Bisharp actually has, but if this Star trainer is any indicator, then it might have been for a bit. This Bisharp might be on a bit of a higher level and his trainer isn’t really letting the fact that he doesn’t know what a Combusken actually is deter him too much. Not unlike his other two partners behind him.
“Combusken! Get him off of you!” Combusken pushed the Bisharp off of him and gave a hard kick, making him rear back. One thing was for certain, I needed to get some fighting type attacks in this mix. “Combusken! Use Ember!” I shouted. Combusken fired off its flurry of embers towards the Bisharp making the Bisharp stagger back a bit, trying to save from being burned again.
“Bisharp! Use Slash attack!” As the embers continued to be fired off, the Bisharp quickly ran off to the side, then started to rush for Combusken, rushing near zigzaggedly, trying to avoid the embers as it quickly move in on its target.
“Combusken! Double Kick!” I shouted. As the Bisharp came down with its mighty Slash, Combusken weaved off to the side, the Bisharp missing his mark. Combusken quickly pivots and threw its leg right into Bisharp’s frame. With a resounding clang, one could have swore the Bisharp’s eyes almost bugged out.
“Bisharp!” His trainer shouted. Almost in shock from such a brutal hit. The second kick then came around, thrusting right into the Bisharp and kicking the Pokémon back fiercely. I could crack a grin right about now; Combusken was coming into his own rather well in his new form. However, that was only one minor victory in and of itself. We still needed to win this battle altogether. The Bisharp skidded against the battlefield a short way. The Bisharp laid there for only but a second, cringing from the attack. Shortly after, the Bisharp picked himself back up, and as quick as he was to do so, he staggered a little, having to readjust his footing. I could tell it – the Double Kick was not pleasant to him. This battle could still be won by either side, but now I put my proverbial cards on the table. The star trainer was not going to give Combusken the time of day if he could help it.
“Bisharp! Rock Tomb!” He then shouted.
“Not happening!” I then shouted. “Fire Pledge, Combusken!”
The Bisharp formed the rocks once more, ready to entrap Combusken within them, but Combusken was already ready and unleashing another roaring Fire Pledge towards the Bisharp. “Bisharp! Take cover!”
The Bisharp pressed against the pillars of rock it formed, the fires rushed around the rocks and by it, using its own Rock Tomb as a shield to its attack. “Combusken! Get in there!” I shouted. Combusken stopped its Fire Pledge attack then started to make a run for the newly formed rocks, leaping up on them to get over them and down on top of the Bisharp.
“Bisharp! Metal Claw!” The star trainer shouted. The Bisharp’s forearms started to glow silver and instead of lunging out towards Combusken, it smashed the rocks instead. Debris flew all over the place, some in Combusken’s way making fire type halt its pursuit. “Bisharp! Use Slash attack!”
“Combusken! Incoming!” Combusken before it could get its guard back up for the incoming attack, the Bisharp was already on his case, its forearms now a pure white, and came fiercely down on the fiery fowl. Combusken yelped out, the attack making a clean hit. COmbusken staggered back, bracing himself on one of the remaining rocks that remained.
“Keep it up, Bisharp! Take it out with another Slash attack!” he then shouted.
“Combusken! Here it comes!” Combusken looks up, seeing the Slash attack coming right for it. Combusken pushed off the rock and got out of the way, the Bisharp leaving a deep gash in the rock it made. “Combusken! Use Ember!” I shouted. Combusken quickly fired off another flurry of embers, this time catching the Bisharp in its wake. Each ember burning into its metal frame fiercely, causing more damage.
“Sucker Punch!” he shouted. The Bisharp quickly moved out of the rain of embers and started to make a hard, speedy rush over towards Combusken. I could tell it – he was trying to end this fight now. Combusken couldn’t take too many more hits and it was the best way he could get in close to do it. Bisharp are notoriously bad about ranged maneuvers. If this guy had taught anything else, it either wouldn’t be all that effective, not as much as Rock Tomb at least, and he’d probably would have used them by now if there were, especially in this situation and I already showed that Combusken and I wasn’t going to give them the time of day if we could help it.
The Bisharp quickly sped across the battlefield and rushed right for a darkness infused punch. Combusken stopped its embers and braced for impact. The attack was fierce, Combusken’s feet dug into the ground, making the fowl cough out from such a furious hit. However, the thing of it, that was our opening. Now or never. “Combusken! Use Brick Break!” I shouted.
“NO!” The Star trainer shouted.
“COM-BA-SKEN!” Combusken shouted, pulling all the way back then drove his fist right into the steel type. The Bisharp got sent flying across the battlefield by such a furious hit. It tumbled a good ways, then fell into a skid, before coming to a stop. The Bisharp tried to push itself back up, struggling after being rocked in such a harsh fashion. However, the Brick Break attack was too much. He finally succumbed to the burns and fierce blows dealt upon it.
“There you go! That’s how you do it! Nice work, Combusken!”
“Com-ba!”
The trio of Star trainers looked on in disbelief. Much to their disdain, this was a clean sweep of all the Pokémon between them, and while a couple of mine got pretty battered, they were still overall standing. “So, is there anything else or you still got more to throw at me?” I asked the three of them.
The three of them stayed silent, then looked amongst themselves. “We’re done here.” The Bisharp trainer stated, recalling his fallen Pokémon.
“But-“ The female of the group started, only to be quickly silenced by the Bisharp trainer.
“But what? You going to fight a hybrid with your bare hands? Shut up and lets go.” At the very least that guy knew when to fold them.
“Word of warning to you guys before you go.” I then spoke up. “You or any of your friends decide to pick a fight with me or if I see anyone screw with anyone in the fashion that you three tried to do tonight, I swear, I will find whatever hidey-hole you guys hang out at and I will deal with you all personally. You think you have problems with those going after your bases now? You have got no idea just who you are screwing with. This is no threat; it’s a guarantee. Spread the word however you got to. I am here just to take a gym leader challenge and I’ll be out of the region soon after and nothing more than that. Consider you three getting off easy, but I will not be lenient next time – I have no patience for bullies, let alone those that think they can punch well above their weight class.”
“Bullies!?” The other male in the group shouted. “Hey, I have you know-“ The Bisharp trainer quickly cut him off, quickly shoving him forward to keep him moving.
With the three leaving finally, I sighed hard then looked down towards Combusken, kneeling down towards him. “You did great, Combusken. In fact, the whole team did great. You guys are coming into your own, you know?” I gave Combusken a playful rub on his head. “Just wait until the rest of the team sees you guys after this is all over.”
“Com-ba!”
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Posted: Wed May 29, 2024 5:49 pm
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With a rather extended training session done and dusted, I ended up heading to the closest Pokémon center before going back to the hotel room for the night. With a team a bit banged up by a bunch of hoodlums, one of which practically collapsed to poison after his battle, I went on ahead to get them taken care of. I still wished that there were proper Pokémon Centers instead of these kiosks, but I suppose given the region, it was all they needed. Though I never will probably understand, if I am being honest.
As my Pokémon were being tended to, I sat down at a nearby table at the center to indulge in a Coke after a long training session. I checked my SNAG to see if there were any messages left and much to my confusion, I almost half-expected someone to have gotten in touch with me by now. Well, I did want to actually get in touch with some others…Tristen and Freth, especially. It’s been three days at this point. I started to go down the list on the SNAG and I started to debate with myself. I gave a sigh then just took the plunge. If they were busy, the worst I’d have to do was to leave a message for them to see later. Let’s just see how Tristen is doing…
It wasn’t long; got an answer near immediately. “Hello? Blizz?”
“Hey Tristen. How’s it going?”
“Oh, it’s fine.” He’d reply, albeit a little quickly at that, though nothing with enthusiasm.
“Did I catch you at a bad time? You busy right now?” I then asked, staring in confusion at my SNAG.
“No, I’m back in my dorm right now, trying to do some homework. I could use a break though; I’m actually kinda glad you called.”
“…is…everything alright?”
“Generally…? I mean…ugh…well, I am thinking Freth was right.”
“About what?”
“Trying to fit in.” Tristen then said. “I mean, I guess I’m doing it. I’ve made a few friends here now, but…”
“But…?”
“I got one here that is kinda giving me trouble.” He then admitted.
“A bully?”
“…not…really? I think? I really don’t know. I thought I was going to be friends with him too, but then a rumor started going around school about me and now he’s jealous or something of me.”
“A…rumor.” I said, trying to figure out where this was going.
“I’m thinking someone might know that I’m a Snagem. If not that, at the very least, they know I might be above par compared to a lot of students here my age.” He said. “I was trying to hide that from everyone, maybe let it on slowly and a lot more easier than just outright saying it. It wasn’t like I wanted to flaunt everything.”
“Bear in mind that we all had that one day before we all got separated.”
“Well, that’s what I thought too. But so far it doesn’t look like it.” Tristen said.
“Tristen, it’s a big school – someone had to have figured something out or seen something.”
“It wasn’t like I did anything much even then! Me and Castform got steamrolled by Reno and his team in that class.” he snapped back. “I didn’t think that made any good impression at all!”
“Well…regardless, so your issue is that you apparently made enemies just by merely existing in that class. Tristen, speaking as someone who’s been through that, there’s always going to be that someone.” I said to him. “Think what we do in Snagem, just grandiose more low scale. There’s always that one p***k that wants to do what he wants or gets upset for the most mundane reasons. Way you look, what you can do, blah blah blah. Or its just as you said, possibly jealous. If he wants to be better at it, then he's going to work for it, otherwise, he’s just a whiner. Nothing more. I can tell you that it will be annoying as hell; at times you’re going to want to slug that someone after school. I can tell you I’ve done that more than once, several times actually for technically justified reasons as far as school was concerned. But whatever the case, never be the first one who acts first. You know that, right?”
“I know.” Tristen said. “I just wish it didn’t have to happen this way at all.”
“I know. There’s all sorts in this world, at all ages. For better or for worse.” I said. “But overall, I imagine you’re doing fine. Like I said before, you got a head start that many in that school probably didn’t get. You’ll do fine. I still imagine a rough patch here and there, but nothing that you couldn’t overcome.”
“I guess.”
“You’ll be fine, Tristen. And who knows, you might win over whoever is giving you grief. Its probably not going to happen right away, but maybe.” It was silent between the two of us. Though I could honestly tell there was a lot going on in Tristen’s mind. “So, what has been going on?” I then finally asked, breaking the silence.
“Well, there’s a tournament going to be here in the school here in a couple of days.” Tristen said.
“This weekend? Really?”
“Yea, I only found out about it yesterday.” Tristen said. “I signed up for it.”
“That’s honestly surprising. You didn’t seem to be interested in doing anything like that unless it was on your own terms. I mean, it was the reason why you didn’t want to go on that Victory Road course, right?” I said.
“I was. But the rumors kinda stopped that. And given that the one I was mentioning to you is also going to be part of it and sort of in need to be stomped on by…well…someone that’s not the big champion in this school, I figured to just go ahead and try to take out several pidgeys in one go.”
“Big…champion?”
“There’s this girl in school named Nemona that is apparently good. Like super good.”
“Uh-huh?”
“One person told me that the only person in this entire region that has any shot at beating her is the…chairwoman? Of the Pokémon League?”
“Chairwoman? God, they really do perform things different here.”
“Yea, its like how you talk about that Red guy.” Tristen said.
“That’s…a hell of a bold claim, Tristen.”
“I figured you would say that.” Tristen said. “I haven’t seen her battle myself, but everyone is saying she’s unbeatable. She’s practically carrying the whole Naranja house on her back with her battling skills. Battling is all she ever thinks about, which that much I believe; she already challenged me to a battle when the rumors started going around. I figure to see if I can’t make it in the tournament to battle her at some point and get that over with as well.”
“Well, try your best. See what comes of it. You’ll do fine.” I said.
“What about you? Where are you at right now?”
“I’m in Artazon right now. I’ll be trying for the second badge tomorrow. Kind of gotten here slow than I thought I was going to. I may have underestimated a few things.”
“That tough?” Tristen asked.
“No, just getting from one place to another on foot.” I said. “You know, old fashioned trainer style.”
“Oh! That kind of reminds me. I found out something just recently that you might be interested in.” Tristen said.
“What’s that?”
“There’s an ice type Pokémon at the Glasedo Mountains if you’re heading that way. One native to Paldea; it’s a Dragon type too.” Tristen said.
“Glasedo? Hmm…god, enticing as that is, I don’t think I am going to find my way around in that area until I start going against the last gym that way.” I said. “Given what I learned before I left. As soon as I get done with Levencia, which at this point, who knows when that will be, I’m going to have to circle back just to head to Cascarrafa, because apparently the Pokémon around Glasedo is nearly like those you would find on Victory Road back home. And as much as the team with me is progressing along, that’s like…a lot too fast. I don’t think they’ll be ready by the time I find myself over there.
“Oh! You don’t have to do that!” Tristen said. “I found out that there’s a tunnel system that goes through the mountain! The Pokémon in there are not as strong as they are on top of it. It’s a common route that you can find if you find Zapapico. When you get through that tunnel system, you can take a break in Medali, which…is where another gym is, but you can go from there to Cascarrafa instead of taking the long way back around. Then maybe either go back to Medali. And those Pokémon I was telling you about are in those tunnels. You might find one in there.”
“Huh…not the craziest thing I heard. Hell, the travel path is similar to what happens with trainers when they find themselves going to the Cianwood City gym before going into the Olivine City gym back home.” I said. “Alright, I’ll try to keep it in mind. Thanks. So…heard anything out of Freth?”
“Ms. Raifort is starting to frustrate her.” He said. “They had to apparently fight a couple of gigantic Pokémon so far.”
“Wait, that dyna-whatever crap is here?”
“No, apparently there are these herbs that are making them super big. They made a mess around the mesas heading towards Artazon.”
“…I wondered why the place looked kinda wrecked and reeked of olives when I started to cross that area today…” I said.
“Yea, and apparently there’s a lot going on around that. I don’t know any details yet, Freth is supposed to be investigating it.”
“Chances are, she’ll probably say something before long then if its anything that needs to be dealt with. She’s long since learned not to screw around with anything like that.” I said. “I trust her judgment in all of that.”
“Hopefully its nothing to bad that they couldn’t handle on their own.”
“Here’s hoping.” I then looked up and saw the nurse at the kiosk center trying to wave me down. “Hey Tristen, Pokémon are done here at the Pokémon center. I’m going to go pick them up and turn in for the night. You take care, okay? And call if you need anything.”
“Okay, Blizz. Thanks for calling. I…kind of needed it.”
“Hey, its what I’m here for.” I said. “Talk to you later.” With the transmission over, I got up from the table, finishing off my Coke then got my Pokémon from the nurse. With a general clean bill of health, I took my Pokeballs back and then started to make my way off to the hotel for the night.
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Posted: Wed May 29, 2024 6:56 pm
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After getting back to the hotel room for the night, I released my Pokémon out in the room and let them enjoy themselves for the time being while they were generally still a size to be able to commune with each other in this kind of space. God knows once say Cubchoo evolves, whenever that is, he’d probably be best staying in a ball. Probably the same for Marshtomp and Combuskin whenever they finally evolve to their final states. It would kind of suck a little for them because it wasn’t until now they were able to do this in any capacity, but unfortunately, like most Pokémon in the entire entourage, they all couldn’t share the bed, let alone the bedroom to sleep for the night. As is the life in growing up.
With the six out and about in the room, they all got to see Mudkip, now Marshtomp, amongst them, all in their own right celebrating his evolution. It lasted probably about as long as it took me to take a shower and get dressed in pajamas for the night. It probably would have lasted longer as the bunch of them played with each other about in the hotel room, but the ‘festitivies’ would end up getting cut short by me, understanding that they had a big day tomorrow. Another gym battle to be had. Turning in for the night, I already felt issue. Marshtomp was basically forty pounds heavier now and taking a fair bit of room on the bed. A similar issue I had with Combusken. Resigned, before I turned in, I ended up having to group them together off the bed. The bed wasn’t going to be able to handle all of them and me on it. They didn’t like it, but it had to be done. To their solace, at least I got them a couple of blankets they could all share and sleep on.
The next morning, another round of a room service breakfast was served. The TV started to run in the background, the Pokémon was indulging in breakfast, getting ready for the day to come, and I had just finished myself, and dressed back in my normal wear. To hell with wearing that Uva uniform for much longer. I’m not taking any classes; screw it. And besides, the academy might thank me for it. I’ve been known to be a bit more of the rough and tumble type and clothes tend to suffer, especially if someone gets the wild hair to fire off a Flamethrower or something of that sort. At least my usual suit can withstand it. Incidentally, I felt better compared to the last couple of days, oddly enough. The team was coming along, and I had faith they were continue to grow stronger as we continue the gym tour. I actually felt a bit weird though, but in a good way, when it came to Tristen. A new feeling I never really truly realized. Tristen had issues, compared to what he’s dealt with under the Snagem banner, were actually extremely minor. Pressures in school and all of that. Weird as it for me to say, it was…oddly refreshing. I was…well…a parent. Not one that had to move heaven and earth to stop some super villain or anything of that sort, where every day it felt like where if it wasn’t a life-or-death situation or a massive shadow Pokémon plague, or anything of that sort, it was…someone that just needed reassurance. I could only imagine before long, Tristen is start going to wonder how to get girls. Sadly, I’d be the wrong person to ask about that one. All the same, I could only wonder how many people actually take this sort of thing for granted.
I do admit though in light of everything, I still had that nagging feeling behind me. That one that pressed me to just try to do this gym tour to begin with. Maybe I needed that call to Tristen more than he did. He was fine, after all. We haven’t had any major incident in a while now; maybe it was getting about time to hang it up. Ein was basically the big threat and anything right now as a result of that was going to be endemic and unable to be helped easily, that it was just going to be something that only time was going to take care of in some fashion or another. The only concern was perhaps that blasted Hunter in Freth’s head, but she hasn’t made any move that I am aware of since Freth went off in the Snowpoint area of Sinnoh. Maybe I could end up showing her that I can hang things up finally and she was completely unjustified in trying to kill me. I don’t know. I’ve been fighting for so long in such a fashion I am not sure if I actually know how to stop again. Just…simply retire back out to Mahogany Gym and finally take over the gym. It sounds nice, but…every time I think about it, I get paranoid. It literally only took two grunts with a stupid device and a name drop out of Sub to get me to move back with Snagem those years ago and I hadn’t necessarily looked back. Haven’t had any opportunity to. And now…when the opportunity is presenting itself…I don’t know if I can reach out to take it. Be able to keep it.
I was in a bit of a trance, sitting in a chair in the desk, staring at the wall in front of me. I would get jarred out of the trance just then, feeling something pressing against my leg. I looked down, seeing Vulpix on his hind legs, pushing on my leg to get my attention. “Keooo.” She spoke. Yea, its official, I need to keep at it. I would pick up Vulpix, sitting her on my lap and gave her a few pets, a few scratches around her ears and her neck.
I would then look over towards the other Pokémon who had apparently finished their breakfast, looking at me a bit concerned. “Sorry. Kind of got caught up there, didn’t I?” I asked them. “You guys good to go?” They all would all give their respective yelps and calls. They were ready. “Let’s get to it.” After getting the hotel room straightened it up at least pretty okay so there wouldn’t be any extra charges to go on my hotel bill after the fact, then checked out of the hotel. I would then start finding my way off to the gym for whatever it had ready for me.
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