Chapter Twenty - The Clever Poisoner

"Bellsprout, now!" Jazz called out. Bellsprout sucked in a huge amount of air into his flowery mouth, then spat it out as a growing plume of expanding dust.

Falkner across from her stared for a moment. "Pidgey, Gust," he said.

Jazz grit her teeth. It was a direct counter to her move, and a decent one at that. She wished she had some clever plan to overcome it, but there was nothing. The arena was wide open, and even the first part of Gust ripped the powder apart, scattering it.

Some would reach the crowd, but Bellsprout's poison wasn't so dangerous as to be a threat, not with just some tiny amount. Still, the referee's drowzee tossed up a thin psychic barrier over the audience. Nothing for Jazz or Falkner.

"Again," Jazz said. "Root yourself in."

"Bell!" Bellsprout called back before taking another big breath and spewing more Poison Powder.

The Gust came in then, much faster than the ones Abe had managed, charged with more glimmering-white Flying-type energy. Bellsprout ducked down, weathering the attack, but not well. Slices of wind cut into his leaves even as he made himself small.

Jazz glared. A Grass-type against a Flying-type was a terrible matchup, and she knew it... but she needed Falkner to lower his guard, just a little... "Now, Bellsprout!" she said.

"Bell!" The wind settled, and in that moment, the air in the arena stilled for a moment. Bellsprout spewed more poison powder into the air, this time behind him, towards Jazz.

Falkner made a faint scoffing noise.

Jazz had him. She glared harder, then raised Bellsprout's pokeball and recalled him. She quickly switched to Sage's. "I'm sending out my next pokemon," she said to the referee who nodded along.

"Gas!" Sage said as he appeared. He spread out, then floated gasily towards the spot they had trained for him to move to. "Ga-ha-ha-hastly," he chuckled.

It was going to work!

"Trainer Jazz has switched out her Bellsprout for her Gastly," the referee said. "Batttle... begin!"

"Pidgey, Gust again," Falkner said.

"Hypnosis!" Jazz snapped.

It took the pidgey something like ten seconds to build up its Gust. Sage's hypnosis took half as long to take effect. The bird's eyes went heavy and it abandoned the attack halfway through before circling around towards the ground.

"Gastly, now," Jazz said. "Smother it!"

Falkner raised one eyebrow as Sage floated across the arena, surprisingly slowly. The ghostly pokemon settled around the pidgey. Hypnosis wouldn't keep it asleep forever, not in a fight, and certainly not if the pidgey was hurt.

Gastly chuckled, but he kept it quiet, because within his gas was a full load of Bellsprout's Poison Powder. The dusty poison settled around the pidgey who breathed it in quietly.

Falkner caught on, then, and hummed. "Nice trick," he said as he recalled pidgey. The bird was poisoned, it would be taking some damage, even in its pokeball. It wasn't extremely effective poison, or really all that strong, but if she stalled, when he next released it, there was a good chance it would be weaker, and a decent chance it would still be asleep. "Go, Pidgeotto!"

"Sage, smother it, fast!" Jazz said.

This was where her second deception came in. Gastly had moved slowly earlier. That was a ruse. He jerked upwards, floating out towards the Pidgeotto that was still only now coming out of its ball.

"Dodge!" Falkner said.

The pidgeotto rolled to the side and cut through gastly's ghostly body. Jazz bit her inner lip. Had it been poisoned? She couldn't tell. "Hypnotize," she said.

"Windy Quick Attack," Falkner said.

The pidgeotto spun around surprisingly quickly then shot through Sage just as he was starting to use Hypnosis. The movement was accompanied by a few streams of Flying-type energy. Not enough to actually harm Sage, but enough that the move punched a small cone through his gas. The Pidgeotto swooped upwards, gaining altitude. When Sage finally got around to using Hypnosis, the bird pokemon was out of range.

Jazz wanted to curse. "Confuse Ray, quick!"

"Gust, keep moving," Falkner said.

She winced as the pidgeotto shot across the arena, gathering a powerful wind with its motion that whirled around and behind it. The wind cut through Sage, hurting him a little.

For all of his resistance to physical attacks, he was on the weaker side when he was hit by type energy like that. "Try again Sage, I know you can do it!" Jazz said.

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"Gasssstly!" Sage roared and then fired another Confuse Ray just as the pidgeotto was coming in again. It hadn't let go of its Gust, instead using it to shoot around the arena with a small pair of twisting tornadoes behind it. Weak ones, but still.

The Confuse Ray hit, she saw it make contact with the bird.

Then the Gust hit too, and Sage groaned as he was blown apart. When it passed, the ghost reformed himself, but he was in a bad state.

"Gastly is unable to battle. Trainer Jazz, please call out your next pokemon!" the referee said.

Jazz recalled Sage. Ideally, she'd take the entire thirty seconds she had to toss out her next pokemon, but... she had to trust that the Confuse Ray had landed. It wouldn't work forever. "Go, Bellsprout!" she said.

Bellsprout landed, then slumped. He was still in a bad state, and it wouldn't take much to take him out of the fight. But there was a chance!

"Bellsprout! One last go! C'mon! All the powder, make it thick, then get ready to wiggle, alright?"

"Bell bell! Sprout!" the little pokemon said before disgorging a torrent of powder above himself.

"You fought surprisingly well," Falkner said. "But I'm afraid this is it. Pidgeotto, Gust."

The bird glanced back, then down to the cloud of powder before nodding. It beat its wings, but Jazz noticed that the beat was irregular. Was that some poison kicking in? The confusion? The bird took flight again, Gust following it, and it dove down towards the spore cloud... "Now!"

Twin vines, glowing green, whipped out of the cloud and smacked the bird in the face. It squawked, spun, then was caught up in its own move, the wind and Flying-type energy spinning it around and around. Some of the spore cloud was torn away, revealing a running Bellsprout who was even now dodging to the side as quick as he could.

The pidgeotto ended its mid-air cartwheel with a dull thump into the ground, right in the Poison Powder cloud. A chance!

"Vine Whip, quick and hard, Bell!" Jazz shouted.

"Bellsprout!" the little pokemon shouted back. He flicked his whips out, the tips snapping and cutting into the bird pokemon as it tried to rise.

"Pidgeotto, Tackle it!" Falkner said.

"Sleep Powder!"

The various powder moves, the whipping, and the confusion did the bird in. Jazz felt all the adrenaline pour out of her as the ref spoke up.

"Pidgeotto is unable to battle. Gym leader, please call out your next pokemon!" the referee said.

Wait... She stood up. He still had a pokemon!

Falkner recalled the pidgeotto, and on his side of the arena appeared a sleeping pidgey whose entire body was shaking with tiny coughs.

Bellsprout looked at the pidgey, then back at Jazz. The poor little bird pokemon was not in a great state.

"Uh," Jazz hesitated. "Should I attack it?" she asked.

Falkner paused, then shook his head. "No, and I appreciate the question. Referee, I'm recalling Pidgey. She's too injured to continue."

"Acknowledged. The winner of this battle is trainer Jazz Poison!"

There was some clapping, a single boo that was cut off early from the Falkner fanclub, and then a loud whistle and cheer, sprinkled with a few happy "Bun! Bun! Buns!" from her friends.

Jazz grinned, she'd done it!

The platform she was on lowered, and when it hit the arena, she ran ahead and scooped Bellsprout up. "Bellsprout!" the flower cheered as he wiggled in her arms.

"We did it!" she said before giving his cheek a peck.

"Bellllll," Bellsprout mimicked fainting even as his flower gained a reddish tint. He looked a little rough, and she knew he'd need some time in a centre, but it wasn't so bad that she wanted to rush there.

"Congratulations," Falkner said. "That was some impressive tactical thinking. I wouldn't have expected that matchup to work as well as it did."

"Thank you, sir," she said. She met his eyes and wondered if he remembered her. But... no, he passed a thousand trainers every year, she'd just be another face in the crowd.

"Well, you deserve this," he said. "Your very own Zephyr Badge. Wear it with pride. Ah, and you can receive your other rewards from the reception. Abe should take care of you." He handed her a small piece of shiny metal that felt far too light for what it represented.

"Thank you! Umm rewards?"

"A TM, as well as a few pokedollars. Both should help you on your journey, young trainer."

Yeah, he'd definitely forgotten her name, but she was too happy to care.

Next, it was Broccoli's turn, and if it was this hard for her, she couldn't imagine what it would be like for her friend.

***