"You just stay there and watch, little guy."
I neatly placed Fafnir onto the fencepost nearest to my side of the battlefield. Asch was going to participate in the battle so supervising the little dragon tyke would have to be put on pause for now. Fafnir apparently didn't like that though and frantically looked for my Charizard until I convinced him that he was going to be battling and that he was going to be observing just to catch a glimpse of what was in store for his future.
I only hope that the battle won't scare him into running away should it get too heated.
The Laramie Family's land was abundant and that meant that even they weren't above having a couple of standard battlefields on their property. Though they were recent additions that Lara's father implemented due to past authorized practice battles ruining the land's terrain beyond repair.
"Ya got this, Luke!" Lara cheered.
"Give her hell lad!" Mr. Laramie grunted.
"Fight well, Auntie!" Janine cheered just as loudly as Lara.
I smiled at the mixed clamoring of spectators that worked at the ranch to come and watch. Eventually, we got ourselves a little crowd forming around the wooden fenced perimeter of the battlefield. Mr. Laramie, Lara, Janine, Mrs. Laramie, and hell even a filth covered Dario was amongst the rabble watching our battle.
Guess this won't be much of a private battle anymore, huh?
Coughing, I steeled myself and confidently stood at my end of the field. I faced Aya, who silently stood with her arms crossed and eyes closed, centering her mind on the imminent conflict.
The remaining fifteen minutes was ticking down, and I ran through all of the data that I could scrounge up in such a short timeframe.
Aya Kawakami. 15 years old. Poison Type Specialist (Obviously). Holds 8 Kanto Gym Badges (5 Major Gyms & 3 Minor Gyms) and fell out of the Indigo Conference as a Top 64 contender. Began her ascent up the Ace Trainer Leader boards at the age of 14.
That was it. I can infer a lot from that data such as Koga being such a strict teacher whose methods of training his sister have begun to pay dividends for her career as a trainer. Either way, I was basically battling a Koga-lite trainer. Which meant I couldn't be careless against someone who's made it their prerogative to emphasize their typing's lack of brute strength in exchange for sheer strategy and status effects.
Brock, our referee stood in between the field, looking at the two of us with practiced impartial stoicism. "This will be a 3 on 3 match between Aya Kawakami of Fuchsia City and Luke Ketchum of Pallet Town! Each combatant is allowed three substitutions! The last trainer's pokémon left standing will be winner!"
He looked at both of us. "Trainers, are you ready?" Aya's eyes finally opened and revealed a determined gleam just before nodding at our referee along with me. "Then begin!" Brock shouted, waving both of his arms down.
"Pierce the heavens!" / "Dance in shadow!"
I snapped to grab the pokeball at my belt and chucked my choice of battler high up into the air. I narrowed my eyes as another pokeball joined my own at the same elevation. Dartz, my hot-blooded Beedrill emerged out onto the field with a loud buzzing of his wings as one of his stingers was passionately thrusted into the air.
However, emerging just before him in a ball of light was a large moth-like creature with large-spanning wings and body colored with various shades of purple. "Veno-venomoth!" She's leading off with her starter?
"Agility!"
"Vanish then Dance!"
I had to restrain my surprise as Venomoth up and just vanished with no sign of a blur unlike my Beedrill, who enthusiastically zipped through the skies with unrelenting fervor. A second later, Venomoth then popped back into sight just a few feet ahead of where Dartz once hovered just before beginning to do a beautiful dance. That wasn't just its speed at play just now, was it?
"Quiver Dance, huh?" I whispered to myself then snapped my fingers directly at the dancing moth pokémon. "Behind you! Use Swift!"
"Evade!"
My Beedrill did a quick turn mid-flight before erratically swinging his stingers at his opponent and emitted a boundless stream of star-shaped rays at the Venomoth. The speed of Aya's starter was amazing but it couldn't quite dodge getting pummeled by the never-miss attack.
"Aerial Ace!" Ensconced in streaks of white energy, Dartz crossed the vast distance in skies to close in on Venomoth. His tensed stinger twitching just to skewer his opponent.
"Guard!" The attack landed with a loud bang that echoed down to the ground. I clicked my tongue as Dartz's stinger was blocked by a well-timed Protect. Once the barrier registered the attack, Venomoth was now left open for an attack.
"Fury Attack!"
"Multiply and Dance!" Illusionary copies of the dancing Venomoth surrounded Dartz, who tirelessly shot his stingers through the first illusion.
"Cease!" Dartz stopped mid-jab and awaited my orders. Letting him continue would just tire him out. "Use a 360-degree Swift spin to flush out the real one!" Like a bullet hell game, my Beedrill sprayed out countless projectiles to that either ran through the illusions or were tailing the main target that broke formation to avoid the hail of stars.
Them hitting was an inevitability but let's add some more dakka just to overwhelm them. "Use Pin Missile!" Needle-like projectiles soon joined the star-projectiles but proved less likely to hit than Swift.
"Take half of hits then Vanish and Seduce!" Aya's order caused her Venomoth to eat some of Dartz's hits before it vanished once more. The rest of Swift quickly fizzled soon after. Looks like she's aware enough to know that after the certain threshold of the attack has landed, the rest of the attack will soon cease to be. It wasn't a surprise that others before me had employed Swift upon her so often that she'd consider this risk.
Also, seduc-?
"…!" I gasped as Venomoth materialized in front of my shocked Beedrill. Dartz jumped in surprise before reflexively digging into his instincts to pierce his close-in-range foe with an Aerial Ace. "No, Dartz look away its Attract!"
"Mooooth~!" Aaaand it was too late, a wink from Venomoth was all it took for my pokémon to lackadaisically drop their stingers and messily float about in a love-stricken daze.
"You may be young to understand this Luke Ketchum, but a Kunoichi must possess more than just clever tactics and speed. They must also allure their enemy into a false sense of security then strike when the moment is right!" exclaimed Aya as she pointed straight at my love-sick Beedrill. "Sleeping Powder!"
Shit.
"Dartz!" My cries failed to reach my infatuated pokémon who was getting spritzed with heavy doses of the moth pokémon's sleeping powder. Soon Dartz's loud buzzing came to a stop and his limp body was making a quick fall to the ground.
"DARTZ!"
"Venomoth finish it with Air Slash!" Double shit and the status effects of Quiver Dance were still active.
I kept calling and calling for my pokémon to awaken from his forcibly induced slumber, yet nothing reached him. Until a stray thought from the early days of my journey, particularly my first trek through Viridian Forest came to mind. Days when Asch, Sparrow, and I would encourage our old timid Weedle buddy rushed to the forefront of my mind.
Along with memories of an old anime that I would forever hold in my heart no matter which lifetime I would find myself in.
Usually, Dartz was fast enough to dodge status effects like this but against someone like Aya who has to compensate for her pokémon typing's lack of power with speed and trickery, we were severely outclassed.
However, they didn't outclass us in two other categories: Being obnoxiously loud AND annoyingly persistent.
"JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, DARTZ!?" I bellowed out, catching everyone off guard. I jabbed my finger to the sky. "WEREN'T YOUR STINGERS GOING TO BE ONES TO PIERCE THE HEAVENS!"
It was a gamble to see if my pokémon's will could overcome its induced slumber just before it could hit the ground and be critically damaged by Venomoth's enclosing Air Slash. Silence ensued before Dartz's buzzing renewed once more except LOUDER.
My Beedrill rapidly clicked to themselves in what I can assume was a roar before righting itself just in time from barely hitting the ground and narrowly avoiding the Air Slash.
"There we go!" I laughed and clapped my hands in exhilaration. Whew, so glad that worked. Aya didn't look as happy as before (or well she didn't seem so relaxed anymore). Good, that means our unpredictability was throwing her off her game. Lets keep doing that. "Now lets show them how a real Drill works! Quick obnoxiously go into Aerial Ace into Drill Run!"
Faster than my eyes can follow my Beedrill zoomed right up after Venomoth, he spun his body with rapid speeds that quite frankly resembled a DRILL. Too bad it didn't sound like one though.
*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*
The battlefield was polluted with the irritating buzz of Dartz's wings. Even for me it can make my skin crawl and cause me no small amount of headaches. The same couldn't be said for Venomoth, who seemed unfazed by the move which was apart of its typing. Except the move wasn't supposed to damage Venomoth.
"Gaaaaaaaaaagh! My ears!"
"I can feel my brain buzzing!"
"Make it stooooop!"
"Venomoth! Vani-!"
*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*
Lets see just how effective of a battler Venomoth was when it couldn't listen to its trainer's commands. In a panic, Venomoth looked to its trainer for commands it couldn't hear then at the impending Bee-Drill of death coming straight for it.
"V-Ven…!" I was disappointedly shocked yet a little impressed that Aya's starter chose to take the brunt of the super effective attack than it all just scrape on by with a last minute dodge to the right. The bug type piteously crooned as its right side to its right was critically damaged. Each flap of its wing was weak and could barely keep up with the other to keep it afloat.
Once the attack had landed, Dartz stopped his spinning and buzzing to resume his pursuit after his descending foe.
"Aerial Ace, Dartz finish it!"
"Baton Pass!" My eyes widened in horror as Aya narrowed her eyes to me. Oh no…
"Follow through with Aerial Ace then use Pursuit!" My Beedrill zipped straight for Venomoth yet could barely graze it before it vanished. Dammit! Quiver Dance really buffed it up that much that it still possessed more speed than Beedrill even when that injured?
"With Baton Pass employed, Aya Kawakami still retains her three substitutions!" Brock declared much for sake of announcing the rule to the crowd than it was for me. I already knew of this rule from my Gym Battle and a couple against some trainers in the preliminaries of the Indigo Conference. Baton Pass was a beloved move amongst Conference trainers who didn't want to give up their sweet 3 substitutions.
There wasn't any patched rule that says that there was a limit to how many Baton Passes can be employed but like any other move, whether the pokémon was fast enough to execute it before getting blasted by a faster opponent kept it from being a major game changer.
Baton Pass was just the perfect technique for the likes of Koga and Aya to exploit to ensure their hard-earned set-ups didn't go to waste.
"Bring terror to the skies!" Aya's pokeball cracked open and released another airborne combatant to face my Beedrill, a rather intimidating Crobat.
Yeah, nope. I wasn't going to entertain a Quiver Dance enhanced Crobat in a straight up battle. "U-tur-!"
"Air Slash!" I winced and lamented my Beedrill's suffering as the sharpened sickle of compressed air inflicted so much damage upon him. That pokémon was fast; I didn't even get a chance to finish my command. "Brave Bird!"
Are you kidding me!?
"Dartz use Double Team to evade!" My command reached deaf ears as Beedrill shuddered and unfortunately succumbed to Air Slash's induced Flinching before getting blown out of the sky by the flaming four-winged bat pokémon.
I inhaled sharply as I took in my pokémon's falling form. Bruises and burns everywhere with even his inert wings looking a little charred. So, I returned him before he hit the ground then nodded to Brock to confirm Dartz's withdrawal from the battle. As my friend made the announcement, I assessed my options during the fifteen second period afforded for trainers to select their next pokémon.
I may be down to two pokémon, but Dartz did exceptional damage to her Venomoth. This Crobat was another story though. I'm not even surprised that she has one considering that she's had four years since her start as a trainer to properly earn enough of its affection to evolve. If her starter was already slippery enough to use Teleport and Quiver Dance to keep out of our range, then I'm sure that this Crobat will have its own tricks left to surprise me with.
"Luke Ketchum of Pallet Town, you are down to seven seconds to choose your next pokémon!" Brock loudly warned.
Right, may as well just release him and see where this goes. After all, I promised him a good battle, didn't I?
"Let's charge up Thor!" My laughter as I released Thor onto the field was only matched with his own excited guffawing. The crowd excitedly murmured at the prospect of seeing one of the "newly" discovered evolution of Electabuzz battle it out with their very eyes.
"Vire! Vire Vire Vire Vire!" My mono-electric type vigorously whirled his arms, a building charge began to form on the two protruding bulbous shaped antennae on his head. Aya's Crobat warily flew a little higher as sparks of Thor's electricity was beginning to arc up into the sky.
The typing advantage was now mine as Aya narrowed her eyes at my pokémon then back to her Crobat, her hands twitched toward her belt before stopping altogether to do some sort of handsign that seemed to calm her down.
"Accelerate and search for an opening!" Aya ordered and Crobat began zipping in the air at growing speeds while circling around Thor, who continued to vigorously rotate his arms.
"Forget charging up and use Taunt!" Aya's frown deepened as my Electavire deeply growled and tauntingly waved his hand up to the Agility stacking Crobat in the sky. The four-winged bat pokémon angrily screeched and furiously glared at my electric type yet did not go into a frenzy right off the bat, which spoke well of Aya's training to retain its budding anger and refrain from outright giving into their fury.
"Sludge Bomb!"
"Dodge!"
Thor happily cartwheeled out of the way from the mass of vile toxic sludge that Crobat spat at them. "Keeping firing, Crobat! Until your rage is spent!" Where was she going with this? Electavire kept dodging each Sludge Bomb, one after the other. Each Thunderbolt that I ordered from him was swiftly dodged by his swift opponent.
Is she seriously just going to keep attacking until Taunt runs out?
Well since Crobat's so dead set on targeting Electavire…
"Thor, lets show them our Solar Flare!" My Electavire happily laughed at my hidden command and raised both of his hands toward the sky in Crobat's direction.
"Crobat, be on guard!" Crobat quickly retreated higher into the sky. Their eyes never leave my pokémon. Good, they fell for it. Thor quickly framed his hands around his face and released a blinding flash of light that had everyone, including myself, flinch.
"That was Flash?" I heard Aya exclaim from across from me. My eyesight was filled with spots as I tried rubbing them. Sucks that using my goggles would have been an obvious tell for that hidden command.
I blindly snapped my fingers to the sky, uncaring whether or not I was pointing in Crobat's direction. Thor was immune to his own flashy techniques so my trust in him was rock solid. "Discharge, go!"
"U-turn!" Aya bellowed in desperation. The panicked flapping of Crobat's wings were soon drowned out by Thor's roar, the booming sound of his Discharge, and the smell of ozone.
The ground shook and the psychic barriers trembled and strained to contain the sheer disgorging of Thor's bountiful reserves of electricity. I felt the hairs on my body stand up as the blast of power flashed out in barrage of thunderous clapping. If the Flash surprise from earlier didn't cause everyone to flinch back, then I was positive that they were reeling from this.
My sight slowly returned to me as I heard Thor's laughter emit itself from the field. Now that could be either a good or bad thing. It turned out to be a very bad thing because he was giving props to the newly switched Venomoth that took flight in the sky. Thor was basically commending them for successfully dodging his attack by a hair's breadth. The hexagonal field of Protect lowered itself around the struggling Venomoth.
"Tch! Well, that's just perfect…" I groaned. "Well at least its still damaged." I took note of Aya's starter's shaky flying. Dartz really messed them up good with that Drill Run of his.
"Envenom the field!" Venomoth released purple spikes to embed themselves into the field, setting up Toxic Spikes. Well, that's just even better…
"Shoot it out of the sky with Thunderbolt!" I snapped back with my order.
"VIIRE!" Thor thrusted one arm forward and launched a lance of electricity at Venomoth. Aya's attempt to command it to "Vanish"/Teleport was just as slow as her pokémon, who took the powerful blast of thunder and came out of it a smoking, unconscious husk of a pokémon. She returned it before hitting the ground and whispered something to its pokeball with a heartfelt smile.
"Venomoth is unable to battle, Thor wins! Trainer Aya, please select your next pokémon!"
Resolutely nodding to herself, Aya pulled out a safari ball, and released a much bulkier pokémon. "Entrench them Nidoqueen!"
"QUEEEEEEEEEEN!" Roared the hulking female variant of the Nidoran species. They were in good condition too, but by her size and the fresh new shine on her scales with no signs of any scarring, this pokémon was just now recently evolved.
"Since when did she get her hands on a moon stone!?" Lara screamed from the sidelines followed by Janine proudly announcing something for the crowd to hear.
"Hmph, that is quite simple-degozaru! Father has acquired a large amount connections like-!" I blocked out the running commentary on the sidelines to realize just how much Aya has invested in putting me in a tight spot. Toxic Spikes was now in effect on the field and my Electavire was now going to face off against a Nidoqueen with the secondary type advantage of Ground.
Not to mention…
"V-Vire…Vire!" Thor coughed before quickly shaking himself off as the heavy smell of toxins from the released Sludge Bombs from across the field began to fill the air with its toxic odors.
She had her Crobat spam Sludge Bomb with Taunt on purpose, their intention was for the attacks to land, but Thor dodging seemed to also align with her strategy. I was in a tight spot yet…I couldn't find it in myself to freak out. This battle was just…so much fun!
"Electavire!" And Thor seemed to share the same sentiment.
"You ready to get all up in there, bud?" I chuckled as my electrical battle maniac let loose a joyous roar before raising up his fists. "Then get in there!" Thor blitzed straight for the Nidoqueen, who's haze hardened at her incoming foe.
"Fissure!" Aya's order nearly made my heart stop.
"RISE!" Electavire nodded just as Nidoqueen punched the ground with all of her strength. I widened my legs to avoid falling flat on my ass once the ground began to violently shake. The earth was split in twine from the One-hit KO technique, yet it did not land. Thor's charge was unhindered as he quickly flew straight towards the shocked Nidoqueen.
Well, flew was a bit of an exaggeration. The power of magnetism was one that I'm still to this day heavily studying. I didn't quite get to do Introduction to Physics, but I did have a basic foundation for magnetism that was fun to test out with the move Magnet Rise. Positive charges (Protons) and Negative charges (Electrons) attract each other while like charges repel each other.
Right now, Thor charged himself and the ground beneath him with like charges, repelling him from the ground and thus avoiding that super effective KO move.
"Nice try, Luke Ketchum! Nidoqueen use Smack Down!" A metallic golden orb of energy shot itself out of Nidoqueen's mouth toward my advancing Electavire, who cleverly executed an Iron Tail with one of his tails to bat the attack away. "Tch! Use Stone Edge to halt its charge!" Nidoqueen slammed one foot to the ground and formed a stone pillar that stood in Thor's path.
Thor's response was another Iron Tail, but the sudden pressure and light emerging from the stone's other side had me filled with dread. "Protect!" Just as my order went through, a powerful Hyper Beam tore through the large stone slab and pushed back the barrier protecting my Electavire. Thor rocketed a few feet away from his foe, but I didn't worry.
"Queen…Q-Queen…" Using a full-on Hyper Beam like that left Nidoqueen trying to recharge. Aya's eyebrow twitched as she impatiently looked to me for my obvious response. Huh, looks like she was annoyed with this loss in momentum.
"Get close and use Ice Punch!" Thor crossed the field once more and started wailing on the panting Nidoqueen with punches infused with the chilling power of ice. Each hit was super effective and had left Aya's Nidoqueen reeling back from the damage.
"Nidoqueen use Dig!"
"We won't let you escape! Thor make her Rise!" Before Nidoqueen look down, they were already sent up into the sky.
"What?" Aya gaped with wide eyes as her heavy pokémon was sent floating into the air.
"HOW!?" Someone from the sidelines screeched. They sounded familiar too, huh, I don't think its anyone important.
"Magnets!" I grinned as Thor all but laughed and heartily slammed his fist into his chest. "Magnet Rise is still in effect except now your Nidoqueen is gaining all of the benefits of levitating off the ground!" I always wondered why no one really tried to use moves like Gravity and Magnet Rise more creatively. You could literally remove an earth dependent Ground type from its home territory if you just practiced hard enough.
It was too bad that Thor still couldn't concentrate on maintaining Magnet Rise on himself and his opponent otherwise we'd have a field day of using like and unlike charges to continually keep pulling his opponent toward him in an unending slugfest.
But this will just have to do. "You've had your fill, Thor?" My Electavire rubbed his chin before happily nodded with a grin. "Good, then lets change it up a notch. Thor return." I used my first withdrawal to snag the very first pokeball given to my from my belt.
"What are you up to?" Aya muttered just loud enough for me to hear through her panicked floating Nidoqueen's cries. Thor carries a ton of electricity in him, so powerful that he's basically made the Power Plant back at home, his preferred place of residence along with the other electric types that gather around him as a result. So his magnetism was strong enough to be in effect even when he's withdrawn from the battle.
It won't last forever (last time we clocked this, it was just barely beneath a minute), but it didn't need to.
"Asch, I choose you!" I tossed my pokeball to the sky and emerging with his wings spread out was my first pokémon and partner, Asch. My Charizard surveyed the entire battlefield from above before keeping their gaze on the struggling young Nidoqueen below.
"Nidoqueen, use Thunderbolt!" The struggling pokémon complied but completely missed as Asch had the advantage of actually being mobile in the sky.
"Mega Punch." I crossed my arms and watched as Nidoqueen jolted in surprise just as Aya did before a darkening shadow descended and slammed a powerful fist into the female pokémon's face that they cratered the ground below them from the impact of their flung body. Except Nidoqueen slowly drifted back up to Asch, both her body and the ground's magnetic forces were still strong.
I nodded. "Go ham."
It was kind of funny and sad to see such a freshly evolved Nidoqueen get pummeled into the ground before bouncing back into Asch's barrage of Mega Punches. Memories of mom's own starter, Lizzie came to mind, but I dashed that thought entirely. Letting myself getting swayed into holding back by sentiment because of that would dearly cost me the match any others featuring Nidoqueen.
Still despite it all, Aya's Nidoqueen held up far longer than I thought before getting recalled. She tanked each of Asch's hits like a champ. I could see why Aya got her to join, she did lack the firepower and defense amongst her team of poison types.
"Crobat, go!" Now she was down to that pesky Crobat of hers. Welp, better take care of this before it gets bothersome with its speed. "Accelerate!" Nah, I'm not going to waste time playing Meowth and Pikachu with you.
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"Dig." I ignored the weird look I received from Aya as her Crobat built up its speed while my Charizard fell to the field and dug a hole through it. "5…4…3…2…1…and…" I mentally counted each second off to let Asch get deep enough.
"Rising Flare Blitz!"
*ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!*
The ground shook but it was from no earthquake, but the sheer roar of my starter, who started to release flames so hot that they began to incinerate the entire field. The pools of Sludge and the Toxic Spikes that embedded themselves to the ground were burned away. From the outsiders perspective, it would be incorrect to describe the battlefield being covered in flames, you'd have to describe it as the field being literal flames.
The psychic barriers groaned and strained from Asch's potent flames that it had even gotten me a touch bit worried that the rest would spill out. Then I remembered that Asch probably wouldn't go ALL out for a simple field clearing tactic. Sure, I had to steal the idea from Ash's match against Paul, but it was just too good to not exploit.
Eventually the blistering heat died down with the flames, and all that remained of the battlefield was the soot-stained ground and the blackened smoke that rose from it. In the sky, Crobat emerged from the growing black smoke surrounded by a hexagonal barrier.
"Protect again, eh?" It did make sense after all. You'd want to avoid getting trapped in a psychic barrier shaped box when things get a little too hot. Still though…
"It's a bit premature don't you think?"
"No, Crobat behind you!" Aya screamed. I wasn't surprised that the Kunoichi training under Koga would find no difficulty seeing through the dark depths of the smoke cloud from this distance.
Just as the effects of Protect lowered, Asch's claw emerged from the thick smoke screen behind Crobat, who barely reacted just in time to escape its face getting snatched. Fortunately, Asch had managed to snatch a wing before it could escape. Again, that Crobat was fast which was why we needed to occupy its attention and surprise it.
Digging below ground and using Fire Blitz fulfilled the side objective of clearing the field statuses on the off chance that I need to call Thor back in without him getting hurt or poisoned. Plus, it took the home field advantage away from Aya. However, the main objective was to simply force Crobat into one place and have Asch re-emerge amongst the rising flames to hide in the smoke then strike once the time was right.
"Hold on to them real tight Asch!" My Charizard's grip tightened which only served to make the Crobat screech and panic even more. "Now finish it with Thunder Punch!" Aya's eyes widened.
"Spray its eyes with Acid!" came her harried command but it was too late. Asch's electricity coated fist had already sent her Crobat hurtling to the ground with a heavy slam.
Once the dust cleared to reveal the twitching unresponsive poison-flying type for all to see, Brock quickly raised his arm in my direction to give the final announcement. "Crobat is unable to battle, and the winner is Asch. With the score of 3 to 1, the victor of the match is Luke Ketchum!" This got a round a cheers from the entire sideline along with the joyful whinnying of Epona and Lara's Ponyta. I didn't even miss the way that our impartial referee's smile broke out when he made the call.
With the psychic barrier generators turned off, Asch flew and landed straight in front of me. I chuckled as he lowered his head at just the right angle for me to rub the palm of my head against. "Great work as always pal." He grunted in delight as his tail swayed back and forth in joy. Honestly, I thought he'd outgrow me rubbing his head like this after he evolved from a Charmander, but it was nice to know that our time together made him less rough around the edges than some other Charmeleons and Charizards.
"You fought admirably Crobat return…" With a dejected sigh, Aya pocketed her fallen pokémon's pokeball and made her way across the field to me. Asch and I met her halfway where I gave her a customary and sportsmanlike handshake.
"That battle was well fought, Luke Ketchum." Aya smiled.
"Yeah, I had loads of fun." I nodded with a bit of a strained smile. "But can I be honest with you?"
"As the victor, I have little else to do but comply, wouldn't I?" Aya snidely smirked. Ah, so she must get what I'm about to say before I even say it. How cheeky of her.
"Well, if I'm going to be flat out about it… Battling you is just as annoying as Mr. Koga." I groaned.
"Why thank you." Aya lit up like a Christmas tree.
"Yeah, that wasn't a compliment." I shook my head. "It's just that your pokémon are super-fast and trying to work out methods on trying to slow them down on the spot was a challenge. I mean, how'd you even manage to make teaching a Venomoth teleport an actual freaking threat by adding it on top of its speed?"
"Oh…" Aya awkwardly looked to the side, her cheeks growing a light shade of red. "So, you figured that out?"
"Yeah, you guys basically teleported here on different ride than Mrs. Laramie. It would be pretty dense of me not to piece two and two together." Aya visibly flinched at my remark making me wonder if I was too blunt.
"…I…! I was not expecting a last-minute battle so please do excuse me for failing to conceal my secrets." She huffed.
"Oh, sorry I didn't mean to-." I winced.
"No, I was careless with my want for showing off in front of my niece. You were right to call me out on it." Aya solemnly bowed.
B-But I wasn't trying to though…
I better just steer away from this topic. "So about your Nidoqueen, I can tell that she's quite new to your team."
Aya nodded. "Yes, she's still…a work in progress. No, in fact, my utilization of her in combat has left me with results that are far from desired."
I had to agree. "You did great with raising her up and building up her defense, but she's a little slower compared to your other pokémon. Once you used that Hyper Beam, I was terrified, but afterwards when she was recharging, you sort of just expected me to attack."
Aya's face tensed as she groaned. "Call it a habit, my brother has always been one for punishing the slightest errors shown in battle as you may already know."
I nodded. "Yeah, he once used a Koffing to make Asch blow himself up." My Charizard growled in annoyance beside me. To provide context, Koga's Koffing caused Asch to KO after he had successfully taken out 3 out of Koga's 5 pokémon. It was interesting to learn that poison types that specialized in gaseous poison could manipulate their gases to produce concentrated carbon monoxide or propane.
"Upon realizing the consequences of using Hyper Beam to take advantage of my fake out, I simply expected to be punished for my mistake." Aya shrugged.
"True but…Nidoqueen…" I sadly looked down.
"Yes, I have to apologize to her later. She was the one who took the hits for my mistakes, not me. She's been working hard after barely evolving and my mistake has caused her to suffer a bitter loss. I will do right by her, I will." Aya vowed to herself with a steadfast nod.
I smiled. "That's good to hear, but why did you use her for the battle? Isn't she still new to your team?"
"Quite but I believed that she would be more than capable of giving your pokémon some trouble. Clearly, I was mistaken in underestimating last year's Conference Finalist. My apologies." Aya bowed.
"No, there's no need for that." I politely tried to wave it off.
"A part of me did unconsciously lower your overall skill and estimation as a trainer after your maddening last choice of pokémon to use against that foreigner so yet again the fault lies with me." Ah, so she's also part of the party that thinks I'm made for using Leonardo against my final opponent's starter, good to know.
"Although it did relieve me to know that you didn't field your Gyarados." Aya sighed in relief. "Watching it battle my brother was…frightening to say the least."
I shrugged. "Yeeeah, sometimes when strategy doesn't work against an old dog like your brother, brute force is just the way to go." Aya shivered at my reasoning but I chose not to mind it, Tempest was just the best like that sometimes. Heck he had even earned me that Soul badge after Asch lost to that Koffing.
"But that aside, I will oblige with the terms of the match and try to convince my brother of the Laramie family's fate. Do not worry, I take my losses seriously as I do in stride. If my brother will be immovable in his choice to overrule my decision, then I will be the unstoppable force that will make him consider my decision." Aya resolutely clenched her fist.
"Thanks." I smiled. "And sorry if this causes you any trouble."
"Why thank me then apologize? You are the victor and I agreed to the set terms if things were in reverse then you wouldn't find me so agreeable, now, would you?" Aya fired back.
"True, but still thanks Aya." I expressed my gratitude with a wide smile.
"Ahem! W-Well, if you are so insistent on giving me your gratitude then there is one thing that you can do for me before my departure." Aya coughed with a blush.
"Sure, you name it and I'll do it." I nodded as she took me by the shoulder and led me over to the rushing Laramies who were tired of waiting for us to go over to the sidelines.
"You see Luke Ketchum, there's a huge fan here who has been dying to meet you, or should I say…"
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"I wear a mask. And that Mask, its not to hide who I am, but to create what I am. I am the fiery retribution that bays for the justice of the innocent, I am the unrelenting vigilante of vengeance, I AM THE CRIMSON DESPERADO!"
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee~!" Janine squealed and happily bounced in place as she hugged the newly autographed photo of her hero.
After months of contemplating whether I should have thrown this costume away or not, I'm glad I chose to lazily put it off for Future Me to handle. Just making a little ninja girl squeal in jubilation at the sight of me dramatically mounted on Epona's back made the effort of fitting into the suit all the more worth it.
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"Thank you, lad, for-!" I quickly retreated back with Brock as Mr. Laramie tried to pull us in for another hairy hug. After Brock coughed up a chest hair from the first few dozens of hugs, we were both adamantly averse to fall into that hell again.
"No problem, Mr. Laramie! I'm just glad to help." I chuckled nervously.
"And I'm very thankful to you guys for letting come visit, sir." Brock smiled.
"Don't mention son, remember you two are welcome any time. There ain't no need for you to be gated out until I'm told that you're here. Pop on by anytime and we'll let you in with open arms." Mr. Laramie grinned.
"Thanks sir." We both nodded.
"And Brock you'd best take care of that Nidorino, ya hear?" Mr. Laramie's grin grew wider.
"I will sir." Brock meekly nodded with a smile as he tightly held onto the great ball carrying his newest capture. I did find it odd that there was a stray Nidorino following us around the farm, but it did make sense that it grew closer to Brock. He was the one to calm it down and feed it some of his spectacular cooking, one bite of Brock's homebrew of pokémon pellets was enough to earn him a new friend for life.
"And ya better make sure to come visit us soon you two!" Lara rushed over from behind Brock and I to pull us into a group hug with her in the middle of it. "A gal like me needs the company you know otherwise I'm stuck with blokes like Dario."
"I mean, he can't be that bad, Lara. He did apologize." I was surprised to know that guy had it in him to get on his knees to show how sorry he was. Sure, he ran off afterward but for him to swallow his pride like that did redeem him somewhat in my books. Still doesn't negate his earlier screw up though…
"Yeah, only because he saw just how scarily competent of a trainer you are and that he's nowhere strong enough to challenge you." Lara rolled her eyes. "Still…" Her eyes softened just a tad as she hugged me tighter. "Thanks Luke…for everything."
"Don't mention it, Lara." I soothingly patted her back.
"And it was a great time hanging out with you Brock, come around whenever you need answers to questions or a recommendation for somethin'."
"You bet I will!" Brock grinned.
Looking down the dirt road away from the Laramie Ranch was Asch conversing with Epona and Lara's Ponyta. They seemed to be talking about something, Lara's Ponyta begrudgingly lowered their head at Asch while my Charizard confusedly looked between the Ponyta and a blushing Epona. Huh, so was the little brother finally giving my starter his blessing or something, that's cute. Sometimes I wish I could be at two places at once so I can observe whatever little B-plot was happening away from my focus.
And through it all, poor precious Fafnir just couldn't help but continue to croon his admiration for my Charizard while firmly wrapped around Asch's long neck. Ever since the battle my little Dratini's been glued to Asch's side even more than usual. His display of power and the promise I made to him that he'd reach such a level soon raised his dampened mood to new levels. Now he was actually excited and eager to get started to train! I'd have to say that bringing him along proved to be just the thing he needed to understand the kind of path he'll being on to grow stronger beyond simply just filling his belly.
But my pokémon aside, we got everything ready to depart for the evening, we waved goodbye to the Laramies one last time before getting ready to take off. "Write me to tell me how things play out, okay!?" I yelled as Asch took off into the sky.
"Of course!" Lara yelled out.
"And I don't mean about your family's land and participation in the race! Spill the deets on how far you go with Aya!"
"Wh-Whut!? You big jerk, why I outta-!"
"Yeah, okay, bye!" I laughed through the rough winds batting against my body as we took off. "Welp, for a day where I didn't get to sleep in, I would have to say that its been quite produc-OW!" S-Something big just hit the back of my head! Panicking, I looked for what it was until I found a familiar brown boot slowly falling back to the ground.
"The hell?" I gaped at the impressive feat.
"You alright!?" Brock exclaimed from atop his Noctowl.
"Y-Yeah, I was just...surprised with how good of an arm that Lara has…!" I whistled, a part of me was half tempted to steer Asch back to snatch that boot and chuck it back at Lara, but...I chose against it. Her family now had a better chance of keeping their land and they deserved the chance to relish in that feeling. I'll just save annoying her for my next visit.
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"Home sweet home at last." I groaned as Asch and I lumbered our way back from Pallet Town's Pokémon Center. We were currently out late at around 8 PM after parting ways with Brock upon making it back near our home towns at 6 PM. We went our separate ways, then I arrived back home at 7:30 PM and headed straight to the Pokémon Center to heal my pokémon. After talking Garnet's ear off and hearing the news that I can pick up the once injured Tediursa that I caught soon, we made a beeline straight for home.
"Hope mom won't blow a gasket for being a little late for lunch." I groaned.
Asch grunted and shook his head.
"Yeah, knowing her, she'd be ecstatic to see me out and about like this…" I demurely laughed. Then I remembered something that had me grimacing in frustration. "Ugh, that's right we're going to have guests over today for dinner…" Yay, I get to be awkward around some strangers while trying to be relaxed to eat in our own home.
"Its probably that Aaron guy but I don't really know how to even fathom on approaching him in conversation…" I sighed. "Well at least with Mom and Ash there I won't be the only one he'll interact with, right, Asch?"
…
"Asch?" I blinked as we finally managed to reach the last stretch of the way home. The front yard was just a few feet away and Asch's heavy footsteps no longer were heard following after me.
I turned back to find my starter fiercely glaring at something, to which I followed his line of sight to spot…Ash playing with Cleo. Huh, now that is odd since that lazy cat hates do nothing but laze around all day (I ENVY HER!), but nothing about this should warrant Asch being that much on his guard.
"Yay, we can finally eat, Big Bro's here!" Ah, speak of the little devil and he shall rush over to greet you in nothing but his pajamas!
"Wassup, little bro!" I happily waved and met Ash halfway with a hug as he was meekly trailed behind by Cleo, who seemed to wilt even further as Asch's gaze lingered on h-.
Wait, hold on.
…
…
…!
That wasn't Mom's Persian!
No just now emerging from the nearby bushes around the house was the actual Cleo who seemed to be intently watching over Ash and whoever's Persian this was near him. Just what was-?
"Big bro, you'll never believe who came over for lunch today! Come on! They have so many cool pokémon! Lets go see them!" Ash excitedly tugged me toward the house, but I was too busy freaking out as I tried to keep keep that Persian in my sights.
It was male. Had patches of its fur burned away and was walking with a serious limp. Were it any other pokémon, then I would have felt pity for it, but no. That was a Persian that I have had the most misfortune of ever crossing paths with.
But why was it here?
My breath quickened as Ash had managed to drag me across the front lawn and through our front door where I was faced with two familiar faces. One of whom I've already met in this life and the other who I've yet to actually meet in person beyond my metaknowledge of the game and his past conference battles.
"Ah! Luke Ketchum, you are finally here. Ahem! Please excuse us for this abrupt visit in your home, I personally came over with my cousin to rectify some…undue transgressions inflicted upon you." Clair's scowl deepened as she refused to look either me or her cousin in the eye. She didn't seem too keen on talking to me. But I didn't really care about that right now. "Ah, but where are my manners. Again, I apologize so allow me to go first. My name is Lance Blackthorn and it's a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, Luke Ketchum."
"A-Ah, yes, likewise…" I dryly croaked out while shaking the offered hand of the potential League Champion of Elite Four member now in my home. He looked younger than his canon counterpart like most others did but he certainly was older than Clair and I considering he was a head or two taller than me.
"Were it not for business, I would have gladly visited last year's prospective rookie trainer that made it to the Finals last year on their first Circuit. I had even wanted to have a nice chat with you pertaining future matters, but I'm afraid that will come after my business here is done." Lance crossed his arms with a deep sigh. "Hopefully the dinner that your mother and the other guest are preparing will be an adequate palate pleaser to smoothen our talks out."
"O-Other guest?" I felt a pit in my stomach begin to form. "Someone else is here?" I looked down to Ash, who was still unaware of my silent distress.
"Yup-yup! They're in the kitchen helping mom and Kamina, she invited him over and showed me all of his cool pokémon!" Ash happily bounced in placed and waved his arms.
"Indeed, though he's lost his position and is still under investigation for the incident of his gym's razing, your mother saw fit to invite him alongside us to join you for dinner. I know that I am a broken record when I say this, but we must apologize once more for intruding." Lance bowed his head.
Clair snorted in derision. "There's no point to show such weakness in front of them. They offered to let us take part in their meal and we will. What will more apologizing accomplish?"
Lance's genial smile fell as if a bit of that familiar tension that Clair oozed out in Prof. Oak's lab returned just a bit. Clair flinched back as Lance coldly shot her a reprimanding glare. "To salvage of our pride and the weight of our honor. Something that you of all people should be doing about now lest the Grandmaster deems himself more up to the task to do it himself as he originally intended."
"Hmph!" Clair huffed and turned to look away from all of us, but I didn't miss the way that she trembled.
To be frank, I didn't give a crap about whatever this was since the kitchen held most of my attention. "Excuse me." I brushed past them with nary an answer to their worried queries (Lance and Ash) or their offended remarks (Clair). Right now, I needed to know why he was here!
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"Welcome, young challenger. As your final test, and the Gym Leader of Viridian City, I will serve as the gatekeeper to test your worthiness to enter the realm of the Elite."
"Ah, such animosity filled eyes are ill suited for a child your age. I'd have to say it's downright unnatural. Yet, I get the distinct feeling that the purpose behind that look isn't because of you being on the backburner of this match. Is there something that you wish to share, dear Challenger?"
"That Primeape is reaching it's limit. Rhydon put it down then bring that child to me, he knows something."
"That look…why do you of all people have to look just like him? Mewtwo, dispose of them."
"Hahahahahaha! What's wrong child? You've done well to train your Primeape! It is only fair for it to fall in battle after defeating the pinnacle of my team, Rhydon! Why the tears, boy? It accomplished it's task as any tool should, be glad that it actually accomplished something before it passed away."
"T-That Charizard is actually-!? Fine, to hell with it! Losing out on the chance to capture a Charizard that can keep up with my strongest asset will be worth enraging that old coward, Oak!"
"Your efforts are pointless. Persian would have made your departure quick and painless, yet you choose to die hard."
"No…no…nononono! NO!"
"This shouldn't be possible! How? How!? How are you able to push back a Legendary!?"
"STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE WITH THOSE EYES AND JUST DIE!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
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The sound of voices reaches my ears as I drew closer to the kitchen.
"Thank you so much for helping me with setting up the table." My mother's sweet melodic voice chimed along with the clatter of plates and cups being set down on our wooden dinner table.
"It is…the least that I could do…" My blood ran cold as the smooth, deep voice of the man that had once tried to kill me resonated out from the kitchen and was actually speaking with my mother. "It is proper etiquette to assist as the invited guest should our host be overwhelmed."
"Hm, for once I can't disagree with your sentiments. If only your other rules in regards to family weren't so…distasteful."
"Hm…"
"And now we're back to grumbling, I see. I guess that he was right about you being Mr. Grumbles."
"Hm…"
"And such a stick in mud too, right Kamina?"
"Sci…" My Scizor coldly growled before the sound of more dishes and cups were placed on
I calmed myself and took a deep breath. My nails were digging so hard into my hand that I was frightened that I would tear skin if I didn't keep my cool. Right now, I didn't need to go in hot. All I needed was to go cold in the face of whatever the fuck was happening in my family's own home.
And so, I took a couple of steps from around the entry way (and only exit) to the kitchen, to take it all in.
"Scizor…?" To see Kamina be surprised of my presence spoke volumes about how much of his focus was on this guy.
"Ah, Luke! You finally made it!" Any other day I would have loved to give mom my most heartfelt greeting but no, my attention solely laid on the lone man dressed like the freaking Godfather in our kitchen.
"Ah, Luke Ketchum. Its truly a marvel to see you after all these long months apart. Though I would very much appreciate it if a young boy like you refrained from looking so baleful. It really isn't natural for someone of your age, and it wouldn't do you and those you love any good to look at me that way." I stared right into his eyes, uncaring of the sole milky white that was surrounded by a blackened burn scar.
Taking a deep breath and exhaling it out, I spoke with more venom than I've ever had to speak with since I've been reborn in this new world as I spoke each word as deeply and as harshly as I could.
"Why the fuck are you here, Giovanni?"