Chapter Fifty-Six - Weedle Whacker

"Okay," Broccoli said as she stepped into the arena. Marill was bouncing in her grip. Seeing Jazz's fight on the screen in the waiting room, hearing the cheers... it really got her blood pumping. She imagined herself down there, smacking bugs down with ease. "Marill, you're going in first."

"Ma!" Yes!

"Un buneary?" Not me?

Broccoli shook her head. "I think I know how Bugsy starts his fights. He's done it twice now, and there might be a pattern to it. We'll see! But yeah, I think Marill will start. Bugsy seems to like sending his ace out second, so let's try and counter that with you, Choco. He won't be expecting Fireballs!"

"Bun!"

Marill nodded. She was a little disappointed that she wasn't the one that would take out Bugsy's ace, but that was okay. Choco was still a teeny-tiny bit stronger than she was... for now!

Choco went up onto Broccoli's head. The referee looked at that, but didn't say anything about it before he started his introduction. Marill paid close attention. She liked this part of the fights, where there were big announcements made.

"A warm Azalea welcome for the bug master! Bugsy! Taking on today's second hopeful in the arena, but will this one-badge girl make it past the bug master? Hailing from... Dirt! The one and only, Broccoli Bunch!"

There was clapping in the stands, and Marill felt herself swelling up. That was her team!

"Trainers, are you ready? This will be a two-on-three battle with two switch-ins. The death of a pokemon will result in the immediate cessation of any fighting and a possible disqualification from the league."

"We're ready!" Broccoli said, her voice projected across the room by some mysterious human technology.

"I'm ready," Bugsy replied.

"Send in your first pokemon!"

"Okay," Broccoli said. She aimed a pokeball at Marill, and Marill felt herself being swept up into it. A moment later she was out again, this time over their side of the arena. Across from her, a large worm-y pokemon, all beige and orange, with a mean looking spike on its head.

"Weedle! Weeeeeedle!" I'm Weedle! I'm going to kill you!

Marill blinked, then closed her fists tight. "Ma, marill." You can try.

"Battle... begin!" the referee called.

"Weedle, Poison Sting!" Bugsy shouted.

"Marill, avoid it!"

Marill bounced to the side, a smack of her tail on the ground helping her roll out of the way of a poisonous needle that zipped past where she had been. Close, but close didn't count, just like in tag.

"Now, Bubblebeam!"

Marill sucked in some air, then let it all out as a stream of bubbles charged with Water-type energy.

"Impressive," Bugsy said. "Poison Sting again, pop those bubbles, String-Shot once they're cleared!"

Marill's bubbles started to pop even before she had time to start weaving through them. The tricky bug! "Hit it directly with a Water Gun!" Broccoli suggested.

It was better than nothing! Marill waited until the bubbles between them were almost all popped and she had a good line of sight, then she fired a Water Gun right at the weedle.

It sputtered, but then fired a string of something sticky and goopy right back. Marill cringed, but the stuff was stuck all over her. It was getting into her fur! And it made her paws stick to her.

"Oh no. Clean it off if you can, but get in close!"

"Ma!" She shouted back before she started to run towards the weedle.

"Nope, Weedle, String Shot outta there!"

The weedle grinned, then with a shot of string up into the ceiling... pulled himself up and away with a swing before Marill could reach him.

She gaped for a second, then glared. Then she realized she'd forgotten to listen to Broccoli and use Cleaning magic on the gunk. Oops!

"Hmm, I guess it'll have to be at range. Bubble Beam again. Like in tag!" Broccoli called.

Marill grinned. She liked that trick! Firing another Bubble Beam, bigger and more bubblier than last time, she used the bubbles to run towards the weedle who spun around and started to fire Poison Stings into them. She felt one stab into her tummy and gasped in pain, but she wasn't going to go down so easy!

Bursting through one of the last bubbles, Marill leapt up and grinned down at the weedle. "Marill!" Got you!

A full-body belly-first Slam later and Weedle was out of the fight.

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"Weedle is unable to battle! Gym leader, call out your next pokemon!"

Marill glanced up towards where Bugsy was standing. In the meantime, she focused on making some energy appear in her hand and transforming it into Cleaning-type energy. It wasn't something that came naturally to her, but she was slowly getting better at it. Choco was stupidly somehow still ahead with that. It worked though, and she was able to start cleaning off some of those strings.

"Alright, let's try this, then," Bugsy said.

A pokemon appeared on his side of the field again, another beige-orange one, but this one covered in a thick cocoon with two mean eyes above it. It was larger than Marill was, but didn't look like it could move much. "Kaaaakuuna! Kakuna!" I'm Kakuna! I'm going to kill you.

"Ma ma ma, marill!" Yeah yeah yeah, same as the last guy!

Broccoli laughed. "You can do it, Marill!"

"Battle... begin!" the referee called.

"Kakuna, Harden!" Bugsy called.

"Marill, Bubble Beam tag, again!" Broccoli shouted.

Marill blew out another stream of bubbles. She was starting to get a little tired out, doing the same move over and over was fine when practising and she had a big pause every few minutes, but here? She was really pushing herself.

Still, her stream of bubbles came, and Marill ran along behind it.

"Harden again," Bugsy said.

The bubbles struck, and Kakuna just didn't seem to care much. Then, out of the bubbles came Marill. "Marill!" Get Slammed!

The kakuna flinched a little, but when she struck him and sent him rolling back awkwardly, it didn't take him out in one big hit.

"Harden again," Bugsy said.

"Give him a smack!" Broccoli shouted.

Marill did just that, spinning around and Slamming into Kakuna with her tail. Again the bug flew, but again, he didn't seem to care.

"Huh... Water Gun?" Broccoli suggested.

"Harden," Bugsy said, and there was laughter in his tone! He was making her look like a fool!

She spat a hard stream of water into the kakuna's face which did a lot of nothing. The kakuna seemed smug, of anything. "Ka ka ka kakuna, kaku kaku kakuna." Heh heh heh, when I'm out of here, you're dead.

Marill used Slam again, then again, but the kakuna just took it while laughing and even got another Harden in between blows.

"It can be a challenge to overcome a pokemon who is simply too tough to hurt," Bugsy said.

"Hmm, that's true, it's like punching a rock. But I believe in Marill! She's super strong, and if she did punch rocks, they'd break!"

"Ma!" Marill shouted. Broccoli was right, she was awesome, and totally able to break rocks if she wanted to.

In fact, she knew exactly how to do that!

"Maaaaaaaaa!" she shouted as she focused super-duper hard, her feet shifting into one of the first stances that Broccoli had taught her, her paws coming together over her tummy as she brought a heap of energy in and made it focus in her fist until it glowed.

"Is that... Kakuna, Tackle, quick!" Bugsy shouted.

"Kaku!" The kakuna leapt forwards, and in doing so almost distracted Marill from her focus... but it wasn't enough.

"Maaaaaaa riiiiiii!"

She surged forwards, all of her energy focused into her fist. It rocketed through the air, towards the kakuna who was charging at her still mid-tackle.

Her fist collided with his smug face with a hard wham!

The kakuna was catapulted back and across the arena, skimming over the ground to kick up a line of dust as he flew. Then he crashed into the far wall and laid there, eyes spinning.

"Uh, Kakuna is unable to battle! Gym Leader Bugsy, call out your next pokemon!"

Marill huffed and puffed some air, then shouted her victory with both paws raised as high as they could go. She was the best!

And then Bugsy's next pokemon appeared, and she wasn't so sure anymore.

Three times as tall as she was, maybe more, with a pair of drills for arms and the cruellest, meanest look she'd ever seen on its face.

"Beedrill!" Bee drilllll!" I'm Beedrill. I'm going to eat your insides!

Marill felt a full-body shiver and spun towards Broccoli. "Ma! Marill, ma ma marill rill?" Hey! Did you say you wanted Choco to have a chance?

"That's right!" Broccoli said. "Ref, I'm recalling Marill, and sending out Chaos Cuddles Cauliflower! Watch out, Bugsy, you're not ready for this one!"

***