Chapter 45: Undeserving and Unforgiving
Noibat and Scorbunny charged straight in. Scorbunny jumped and came down with a blazing spinning side kick. Noibat jumped in with a dragon rush. Steenee blocked Scorbunny’s attack with double slap while Roselia lit the area up with dazzling gleam. Noibat did a fake out and immediately flew back, shooting an air cutter blade straight into the attack. The attacks grinded against each other like the sound of a buzz saw before exploding, covering all the Pokémon in dust. Noibat flew back from the explosion, quickly recovering and laughing that it couldn’t quite gauge its new power yet.
“Scorbunny?!” asked Ceailean, “Are you okay?” The dust cleared quickly and showed that everyone was blown back a bit from the explosion. Roselia’s expression was full of anger and it charged aggressively at Noibat. “Use screech!” Noibat screeched a disorienting sound. Roselia stopped dead and tried to cover its ears. “Now dragon rush!” Noibat lunged ahead and kicked straight into Roselia’s stomach, sending it flying back deep into the nearby park.
Scorbunny back-flipped away from Steenee’s double slap before it noticed what happened to Roselia. Steenee called out to it and ran to help. “Don’t let it get away! Quick attack!” Scorbunny glowed with white energy and gave chase.
Ceailean moved to follow, but then something caught his eye. An employee brought a box to restock the fruits on display. He was trying to explain to his manager what he was there for, but the manager’s eyes were fixed on Ceailean, worrying about what kind of trouble he would bring. The employee shrugged and continued with his work, cutting the box with a box cutter. Ceailean got an idea.
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() Roselia soared through the air, eventually being bashed against the side of the playground. It fell onto the wood chips and was quickly surrounded by concerned children.
“It’s a small pokemon.”
“Are you hurt? Do you need some help?”
Roselia looked around and found that it couldn't see because all the kids were in the way. It yelled at them to move and blasted every direction with magical leaf. The kids were peppered with the attack and they ran away screaming. Noibat flew with a dragon rush chop, yelling about how Roselia shouldn’t pick on kids. Roselia sprouted huge power whip vines and caught Noibat’s wing, telling it to mind its own business. It then threw Noibat at a nearby climbing structure.
Steenee showed up at the playground and tried to find Roselia. Scorbunny showed up soon after and jumped off the side of the structure to hit Steenee with a roundhouse. Steenee backed away, but Scorbunny kept up the pressure. They dove under the playground structure, Steenee doing the best it could to dodge every attack it could. Scorbunny then gave a big forward kick, but Steenee dodged and swung around the telephone pipe, giving Scorbunny a bash upside the head with a double slap. As soon as Scorbunny hits the ground, Steenee swung itself into the air and planned to hammer down a zen headbutt on its back.
“Use quick attack to roll away!” shouted Ceailean. Scorbunny flared up with white energy again and rolled away before Steenee landed the attack, leaving a crater in the wood chips. Steenee kept up the pressure and jumped towards Scorbunny again with double slap. “Bounce!” Scorbunny jumped straight towards Steenee and tackled it up into the air, crashing down on the plastic roof of the playground. “Blaze kick!” Scorbunny stood up and raised its fiery foot to bash Steenee in. But Steenee kicked Scorbunny’s other foot, making it lose balance and slide down the slippery plastic.
Noibat found itself tangled in the ropes of the climbing structure, giving Roselia the perfect target for magical leaf. Roselia showered the entire structure with a storm of magical leaves, peppering Noibat with the attack. The leaves flew through like razors and cut all the to bits. Noibat touched it out and exploded into dragon rush to repel the attack as soon as it was free. Roselia anticipated this and charged in with dazzling gleam. Noibat thought fast and blasted the ground with air cutter, using the explosion to blast itself into the air.
Roselia surged through and missed, but didn’t give up. Its attack flashed with a sharp sound, sending Roselia up into the air. Noibat flapped its wings as hard as it could, thrusting itself upwards. Roselia blasted itself upward by flashing the attack again, this time making it visibly smaller. Noibat, out of options, screeched as loud as it could. The sound made Roselia’s ears hurt like it couldn’t imagine, but it powered through.
It collided with Noibat, shredding its dazzling aura like wet paper before enveloping the both of them in an explosion. The two fell and crashed on the ground, sending wood chips flying up into the sky.
Scorbunny fell on the rocking bridge just as Noibat crashed. It grasped the iron bars asking if it was okay. Steenee slid off the roof, telling Scorbunny to pay attention. It swung its head, covered in psychic energy. Scorbunny gasped and sidestepped out of the way. Steenee bashed against the rocking bridge, making it cave in which made Scorbunny lose its balance. Steenee swung around and double slapped the back of Scorbunny’s head, sending it to the other side of the bridge. When Scorbunny landed, the bridge rocked again, making Steenee struggle to stay up.
The bridge rocked back and forth as both Pokémon struggled to stay up. The two then moved up to meet each other in the middle. Scorbunny opted to jump, using the iron bars as a stable platform to swing a kick using quick attack. Steenee blocked using double slap. The force made Steenee sink into the bridge, but then it rebounded, allowing it to overpower Scorbunny, throwing it back. Scorbunny kept up the pressure by bouncing back when the bridge rocked again, jumping in with an overhead blaze kick. Steenee caught Scorbunny’s flaming foot with its appendages. Scorbunny thought fast and swung its head forward with quick attack, bashing Steenee’s nose in. Steenee reeled back in pain, covering its nose with its arms. It scoffed and kicked Scorbunny back.
Scorbunny tried to get its balance back on the violently rocking bridge. But Steenee has had enough. It bashed its side of the bridge with a hammerfist double slap, bouncing Scorbunny high in the air. Steenee jumped after it, wrapped its appendages tightly around Scorbunny’s body, and piledrived it deep into the wood chips.
“Scorbunny!” called Ceailean. Scorbunny cried out in pain. Steenee didn’t let go however, opting to continue bashing Scorbunny’s body into the ground. Steenee wore a wicked smile and cackled in between each slam. “You bastard!” Ceailean stepped forward, wanting to fix the issue himself. But right as Steenee wound for another big slam, an air blade exploded on its back, flinging both it and Scorbunny away from each other.
Steenee dug a trench into the wood chips as it slid to a halt. It growled angrily and asked who would dare attack it. Noibat called itself out proudly, panting and pointing its wing at Steenee as if it were an arm cannon.
Scorbunny tumbled across the wood chips and stopped right in front of Ceailean’s feet. “Scorbunny! Are you okay?!” Ceailean held Scorbunny up by its head, seeing it wincing in pain. It coughed hard as it tried to get its breath back. “C-Can you keep going?” Scorbunny’s eyes flashed open. It hopped out of Ceailean’s arms and tried to stand on its own. But after a second, Scorbunny was forced to take a knee as another wave of pain rushed through its body.
“Scorbunny! Don’t push yourself. We should take it a little slower.” Roselia appeared behind Noibat, agreeing with what Ceailean said. It then punched Noibat in the back and blasted it away with magical leaf. Noibat careened through the air and crashed next to Scorbunny and Ceailean. Scorbunny ran over to its side and asked if it was okay. Noibat rubbed its head and groaned, jokingly saying that Roselia was pretty mean.
Steenee and Roselia linked up and stared down Ceailean’s Pokémon. Noibat noticed and was quick to stand back up. All Pokémon were out of breath and made sure to stay a considerable distance away from each other. Noibat chuckled. It held its shoulder and spun its wing around, asking if Steenee and Roselia were having fun. Their eyes widened. Roselia grit its teeth in anger and yelled at Noibat, asking why it wasn’t taking them seriously.
Noibat looked confused. It slumped its wings and scratched the back of its head. It explained that it was having fun. It had been a long time since it had to push itself so much. Scorbunny was even a little confused at Noibat’s attitude, saying that they were in a serious battle. Noibat knew that of course, but it just couldn’t help it. The intensity, the stakes, the coolness, Noibat could enjoy any battle it was a part of. Steenee and Roselia gave Noibat disgusted looks and called it a freak. Noibat smirked. Perhaps it was, but the fact of the matter was, it was having fun and they were not. It’d take that as a win any day. Noibat then bent down and began to charge its dragon rush energy.
Steenee and Roselia both assumed battle stances. Noibat exploded out with a purple wave rushing through the town, returning its dazzling aura. Noibat cricked its neck and sighed, saying that even though it was having, it wasn't having as much fun as it could have been having. Steenee and Roselia were quite the downers. Steenee swung its hair around aggressively, saying it didn’t give a crap and to just get out of their way.
Noibat stretched its wings some more. It looked over to Scorbunny, telling it that this was the point of no return. They were going to have to try the hardest they’ve ever tried before, so now was the last chance to back out. Scorbunny threw it arm to the side, declaring that it wasn’t going anywhere. In fact, it was offended that Noibat would even ask such a question. Noibat chuckled and stared down Steenee and Roselia.
“Idea! Noibat! You use air cutter! Scorbunny, you use quick attack!” said Ceailean. Noibat shot an air blade towards the enemy pokemon, but it fell short, exploding just in front of them. The two brace as they try and keep the dust out of their eyes. Then immediately after, Scorbunny rushed through the dust cloud using quick attack. It jabbed a kick at Roselia, to which it barely had enough time to block. Scorbunny then rushed over to Steenee with an overhead kick, to which it barely blocked as well.
Scorbunny rushed back and forth between the two, thrusting any kick it could in their direction. But they got more acclimated to its moves and had a better time blocking them. Steenee then swung a lariat with its appendage, clipping Scorbunny upside the head as it flew past Steenee.
“Dragon rush!” shouted Ceailean. Noibat flew through the cloud with both of its wings flaring up with dragon rush energy and bashed into Steenee with its wings in a cross. Steenee reeled back from the attack. Roselia aimed its flower to help, magical leaves jutting out from them. Scorbunny then rushed over in the blink of an eye with quick attack and shoulder tackled Roselia away. Scorbunny raised its arm to Noibat as a sign of camaraderie. Noibat raised its wing as well and nodded before they both went to handle their respective Pokémon.
Steenee stood up right as Noibat came into view. It swung with a dragon rush wing chop, but Steenee somersaulted away. Noibat smirked, taunting Steenee with its wing, daring it to attack. Steenee’s blood boiled. It ran over shouting and wailing double slap as much as it could. Noibat blocked each and every attack with its dragon rush wings. Then on one attack, it parried Steenee’s attack, sending it off balance and allowing Noibat to spin around and kick Steenee straight in the stomach with dragon rush. Steenee spewed out spit and it gagged in pain. Noibat spun around again and roundhoused Steenee on the side of the head, sending it flying in a tailspin. Noibat quickly followed up by shooting two verticals air blades in Steenee’s direction, each carving trenches in the wood chips as they traveled. Steenee recovered just in time to turn sideways and squeeze between the two.
The attacks zipped right by, eventually passing through where Scorbunny and Roselia were duking it out. Roselia was having trouble keeping Scorbunny at bay. It would block an attack, only for Scorbunny to swivel around and attack again. Quick attack, blaze kick, they just kept coming. Roselia blasted magical leaves, only for Scorbunny to burn straight through them. Then it would try to power whip Scorbunny off its feet, only for it to jump up and rush in again with quick attack. Roselia had enough and blasted Scorbunny back by slamming its flower on the ground and using dazzling gleam. Scorbunny flew back from the blast, but it was able to land on its hands and spin around back onto its feet.
Scorbunny then noticed something. Roselia was out of breath and heaving. Scorbunny asked Roselia if that dazzling attack took a ton of energy to use. Roselia was shocked for a moment, only for it to quickly turn back into anger. it yelled at Scorbunny, telling it to try and get away from what was coming next. Scorbunny raised its arms to guard.
Roselia punched the ground with its flower and a huge vine sprouted out from the ground. The vine wrapped around its body and held it up high into the sky. Roselia’s eyes seemed to glimmer as it floated in front of the waning moon. It spun around and shot magical leaves in every direction. So much so that the ground became dotted with shadows. Roselia spread its arms to showcase its ultimate move. The sky was absolutely covered in magical leaves. Roselia twisted its wrists and all the leaves pointed their tips right Scorbunny. Scorbunny gasped just as Roselia trust its arms forward, shooting all the leaves down upon Scorbunny.
“Get out of there Scorbunny!” shouted Ceailean. Scorbunny darted off, leaving scorching footsteps behind. The magical leaves however, all joined up into a huge stream and followed Scorbunny tightly. “They’re like homing missiles!” Ceailean tried to think of a solution, then he set his eyes on one. “Scorbunny! Take shelter behind the playground!” Scorbunny nodded and rushed behind a plastic display under the playground.
The magical leaf stream bashed into it hard. Several hundred thuds sounded like it was a machine gun. Scorbunny took a sigh of relief, only for a leaf to pierce through the thin hollow plastic, startling it. Another pierced through, and another, giving more leeway for more leaves and leaving Scorbunny with less cover by the second. “Damn it! How do I get you out of there?” Ceailean looked around. He saw Roselia up in the sky in front of the waning moon. Its eyes were closed and its arms waved around, guiding the leaves.
“It’s distracted!” Ceailean said to himself. He looked over to Noibat. It was blocking more of Steenee’s attacks, But then suddenly, Steenee used low sweep, knocking Noibat off its feet and making it face plant on the ground. Steenee wound up and thrust its head for a zen headbutt slam. But Noibat exploded into a full body dragon rush, repelling the attack. Steenee stumbled back while Noibat stood up, ready to attack again.
“Damn, no good. Screw it, I can’t just let it sit there!” Ceailean cupped his hands around his mouth. “Scorbunny! I need you to get ready to run as fast as you can!” Scorbunny desperately asked what he was planning as more leaves pierced through the plastic. “Look, I need you to run as fast as you can and use blaze kick on that!” Ceailean pointed to the base of the vine Roselia was being held up on. He looked up to see if Roselia heard him, there was no reaction.
Scorbunny nodded, anything that would get it out of its situation. “Okay, 3, 2, 1, go!” Scorbunny darted off right as the plastic display collapsed on its side. Scorbunny sped through the entire playground, eventually coming up against the vine. Its foot ignited into flames and it kicked as hard as it could through the vine. The fiery kick cut through it like butter, getting Roselia out of its trance-like state. “Now pull it down!” Scorbunny grabbed the vine and tugged Roselia back down down to the ground, slamming it down.
The leaves closed in on the both of them. “Now get out of there!” shouted Ceailean. Scorbunny was about to move, but it saw Roselia about to move out of the way as well. Scorbunny shook its head and ran towards it. Roselia stood up, only for Scorbunny to grab it tightly, full nelson. Roselia tried to get away, even pleading with Scorbunny by saying it would get hurt too. Scorbunny said that was all part of the plan. Roselia gasped and watched as the leaves came surging in.
“Scorbunny! What are you doing!?” shouted Ceailean. Scorbunny closed its eyes tightly and braced for the worst. Roselia had no other choice. It exploded into dazzling gleam, flushing Scorbunny with its energy. Scorbunny yelled in pain, but it stood firm. Roselia tried to shake it off, to no avail. The stream of leaves bashed into the dazzling gleam. The attack lowered in range and intensity as the leaves poured in. They burned and withered as they hit the attack, but they kept getting closer.
Roselia could feel its stamina diapering. It tried desperately to keep the attack back, gritting its teeth, tensing its body, squeezing its eyes, all as hard as it could. But the moment came when Roselia just couldn’t take it anymore. It gasped as the dazzling gleam vanished in a flash. Only a second later did the remaining weight of the magical leaves come crashing down. The ground was peppered with tiny explosions like a string of firecrackers.
Steenee dodged another air blade from Noibat when it noticed Roselia getting pummeled by the attack. It called out to Roselia and immediately ditched Noibat, running over to the plume of dust. Noibat shouted at Steenee, telling it to come back. Noibat then shot an air blade. Steenee turned around and bashed it away to the side.
Steenee went up the impact site. All the wood chips had turned into dirt and what remained were charred. It ran up to Roselia, its body curled up and beaten. Steenee held up Roselia’s head and asked if it was alright. Roselia weakly nodded. Steenee looked up and saw Noibat looking at it. Noibat said that it turned out Steenee did have a heart after all. Steenee stood back up and grit its teeth, telling Roselia that it was time for some rejuvenation. Roselia nodded, thinking the same thing.
Steenee propped Roselia up on its feet. Roselia was barely able to stand up, but it managed somewhat. It then put its flowers together and began to concentrate. Noibat knew what was going and quickly launched an air blade. Steenee dug its appendages into the ground and pulled a huge slab of it, blocking the projectile. It was too late. A drop of blue water-like energy hit the ground. In an instant, Steenee and Roselia were bathed in this energy and their wounds started to disappear. Noibat scoffed and crossed its wings, stating that this was starting to get complicated.
Steenee started to cackle. Roselia moved around its shoulders in a rolling fashion, its fatigue seemingly being washed away. Steenee hopped in place, almost dancing as it gained a new pep in its step. The two then set their sights on Noibat. Steenee laughed, saying that Noibat now had no choice of winning. Noibat only gave a stern look and slowly asked if that's what it really thought. Anger welled up within Steenee, still wondering why this Noibat won’t cower in fear.
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Suddenly, the dust cloud blew away as a new red fiery aura burst into the scene. Scorbunny stepped up before them, covered in an intense fiery red energy. Ceailean looked from afar. “That’s blaze.” he said to himself. Scorbunny proudly announced that it didn’t matter how many times they healed themselves, Steenee and Roselia will be going down. Steenee placed its hands on its hips and told Scorbunny to prove it.
Scorbunny’s eyes focused in and charged ahead at blazing speed. Its foot burst into deep red flames as it swung for a kick. Steenee swung to block it with double slap, but Roselia took over and blocked the attack with power whip instead. It stalled Scorbunny just long enough for Steenee to figure out that blocking wasn’t going to work. Scorbunny shouted and pushed through, searing through the vines like they were nothing. It cut through and kicked Steenee square across the face, sending it in a tailspin out of the crater.
Roselia was shocked, but Scorbunny largely ignored it and gave chase to Steenee. Noibat then stepped up, saying that it would be Roselia’s next opponent. Roselia stood ready to fight.
Steenee tumbled across the ground, coming to a halt near a merry-go-round. It stood up to face Scorbunny, but it only caught a blur as Scorbunny rushed past it. Steenee turned around to see where it went, only to see now that the merry-go-round was spinning rapidly. It turned back around to get its face caved in by Scorbunny’s double blaze kick as it swung around on the merry-go-round. Steenee was sent flying back so fast that it crashed straight through a wooden bench, stopping only when it's back hit a tree, causing several twigs and leaves to fall. Scorbunny used the momentum of the merry-go-round to launch itself forward, running full speed ahead with quick attack, its body igniting into flames. Steenee got back up and met the attack with zen headbutt. The both of them grinded their foreheads together in an attempt to over-power each other. Scorbunny yelled and kept trying to run forward, its feet sliding against the ground. But they got faster and faster until they were noting but a blur and digging a hole into the ground while flinging debris everywhere behind it.
Steenee then got an idea. It grabbed Scorbunny’s face with its appendages and lifted it off the ground. Scorbunny now found itself without any ground to move on. Steenee flipped around and suplexed Scorbunny’s head straight into the ground. It then used low sweep to kick Scorbunny’s face, sending it sliding across the ground.
Noibat and Roselia were exchanging attacks. Noibat shot an air cutter, only for Roselia to dodge and fire back with magical leaf. The two got closer to each other with each exchange, until finally Roselia got a clean shot and fired. It was a trap however. Noibat exploded into 50% dragon rush and the attack bounced off like bullets. It then ran forward as fast as it could, jumping into Roselia’s arms before bashing its head in with a dragon rush coated headbutt. The both of them tumbled, but Noibat recovered first and began charging a strong attack. Roselia saw this and quickly got up. Noibat launched the attack, sending a huge vertical air blade. Roselia knew it was bad new and it narrowly dodged it. The air blade tore a path through the wood chips, grass, and even the sidewalk. Eventually colliding with a tree and slicing it in half. Roselia was shocked at the power. Noibat laughed at the absurdity, now feeling very proud of itself.
Roselia looked back with an angry face. It placed its flower on the ground, causing a huge vine to sprout out from the ground and wrap around Noibat as it was laughing. It struggled to get itself free. Roselia tightened its grip before throwing Noibat away.
Steenee picked up Scorbunny by the head and tossed it in the air as well. Scorbunny and Noibat collided with each other in mid air and fell straight down. Steenee and Roselia quickly approached to follow up. Scorbunny and Noibat struggled to their feet. They then looked at each other and nodded. Scorbunny’s foot burst into flames while Noibat’s wing flared up with dragon rush. Right as Steenee and Roselia were about to attack, Scorbunny rolled over Noibat’s back and bashed Roselia’s power whip vine into the ground, tearing it to bits. Noibat ducked under Scorbunny and collided with Steenee’s double slap.
Roselia’s vine burst into flames and quickly traveled down the length of it before Roselia could cut it off. The flames torched Roselia's right arm and turned the edges of its flowers a crisp black. Roselia wailed in pain as it blew on its flower to try and put them out.
“Good job Scorbunny! You burned it!” said Ceailean. Steenee heard what he said and looked. Horror washed over its face as it saw Roselia’s precious flowers torched black. Steenee stepped back from Noibat’s attack, making it stumble before kicking it away with low sweep before dashing off towards Scorbunny. Noibat sat up and called to Scorbunny, telling it to watch out. Scorbunny turned around for only a second before it was met with a huge swinging uppercut to its jaw. It was flung straight up into the air, its whole body spinning wildly.
Steenee called out to Roselia, pointing up to Scorbunny. Roselia knew what to do. It placed its flowers on the ground and a huge vine coiled up right underneath Steenee’s feet. After a moment, the vine sprung Steenee high up into the air like a spring.
Scorbunny stretched out all its limbs and steadied itself in the air, but then it saw Steenee rocketing towards it. Noibat tried to fly up to help, but more vines sprouted out of the ground and wrapped around its body. Noibat growled in annoyance as it looked over its shoulder to see Roselia staring right back, completely out of breath. Noibat pulled harder, but Roselia doubled down and tugged on the vine hard, whipping Noibat down on the ground and pinning it there. Noibat could only watch as Scorbunny helplessly fumbled in the air.
Ceailean stepped forward. “Scorbunny! I’m gonna take over so listen close!” Scorbunny nodded, not really having much choice. Steenee’s head shined with a pink energy. Ceailean focused his eyes. “Use blaze kick directly parallel to your body!” Scorbunny was a bit confused, but it didn’t have time to receive clarification. It made its best guess and kicked as hard as it could with its ignited legs. The attack moved Scorbunny ever so slightly, just enough for Steenee’s zen headbutt to just clip the ends of its heels. Scorbunny began to fall, now with Steenee overhead. Steenee spun around like a top and used zen headbutt again, priming itself to hit Scorbunny like a drill.
“When I tell you, hit Steenee’s hair with blaze kick, opposite the way it's spinning!” said Ceailean. Scorbunny nervously nodded and its legs burst into flames once more. Steenee got closer and Ceailean watched, trying not to break his own nerve. “And… NOW!” Scorbunny swung its strongest roundhouse, catching one of Steenee’s hair-like appendages. Steenee stopped spinning, dead stop, and its body was whipped straight from the whiplash. “Now straight down!” shouted Ceailean. Scorbunny spun around, carrying Steenee by the foot and smashed it straight into some roof tiles across the street with its knee.
Steenee gasped in pain, but it grits its teeth, ready to show Scorbunny no mercy. It flipped its whole body using its pinned appendage as a pivot and kicked Scorbunny in the face with low sweep, pushing it away. Steenee stood up quickly and screamed in frustration, telling Scorbunny to just keel over and submit already. Steenee’s appendages and legs glowed white and orange respectively with the powers of double slap and low sweep. It swung its appendages on the roof like whips, hurling and kicking roof tiles right at Scorbunny.
“What the hell?! Scorbunny get out of there!” said Ceailean. Scorbunny gasped at the sight of the attack. It backflipped away from the first few tiles, each cracking with the sound of shattering ceramic and bricks. Steenee didn’t let up and flung even more tiles. Scorbunny bobbed and weaved, though each successive one was getting more panicked and sloppy. Then Steenee launched a tile a bit too hard and it shattered before it even got airborne, but the shrapnel flew right into Scorbunny’s eyes. It stumbled back, trying to quickly wipe its eyes clean. But Steenee tackled it straight off the edge of the roof and piledrived Scorbunny straight into the sidewalk.
“Scorbunny!” shouted Ceailean. Scorbunny gasped in pain before then being thrown across the street into the wall of the park bathrooms. It tried to get back up, but Steenee caught up too fast. Steenee lunged with double slap and began pummeling Scorbunny into the wall. Hit after hit, Scorbunny’s face was bashed against the wall, cracks forming and spreading with each one. Steenee laughed maniacally and told Scorbunny to sleep, submit, disappear even. If only it didn’t have to play hero, then it would’ve been spared all this pain.
Noibat was now furious. It wasn’t going to hold back anymore. It exploded into 100% dragon rush, disintegrating the vines around its body and flooding the entire area in purple light. Roselia covered its eyes from the flash. By the time it could look back, Noibat was already halfway towards Steenee. Roselia wanted to give chase, but then it got an idea. It looked at Ceailean, who was running towards the bathrooms to see what was going on. Roselia looked at its charred flowers, nodded, then slipped away towards the newspaper box.
Steenee bashed Scorbunny against the wall one more time before it noticed Purple light heading its way. Noibat swung its wing imbued in dragon rush as hard as it could at Steenee’s head. Steenee dodged out of the way just as Noibat’s wing punched a hole in the concrete wall. Steenee grabbed Noibat’s wing and swung it against the wall. Before it could attack, Noibat kicked it away and then followed up with a bash with the back of its wing before grabbing Steenee and pinning it against the wall. Steenee tried to counter attack, but Noibat burst into 100% dragon rush, making Steenee’s appendage bounce right off. In a split second, Steenee felt the crushing weight of dragon rush blast it straight through the wall, tumbling across the bathroom floor, then crash back out by bashing the door open.
Steenee was on the ground, battered. It looked up and saw Noibat at the other end of the hole in the bathroom. Steenee clawed at the sides of its face in frustration. It was so annoyed and fed up with fighting already. But then it smiled, at least Scorbunny was dealt with already. Noibat looked at Scorbunny. It was laid against the wall, wincing in pain and unable to stand. The blazing aura covering its body has disappeared. This made Noibat even more mad. To think Steenee would go as low as to use roof tiles as weapons. It had no words. It exploded into dragon rush again and charged in.
Ceailean then ran up. “Noibat wait!” But it was already gone. “Damn it!” Ceailean then ran over to Scorbunny. “Are you okay?!” Scorbunny tried to stand, but the pain was too great and it flopped back down against the wall. “It’s okay! Be still, you’ve done more than enough today. Let’s hope Noibat can finish it today.” Scorbunny sadly lowered its head and agreed. Ceailean took out its pokeball, ready to recall it. But then a looming object over Ceailean’s head got its attention. It yelled out in warning, pointing desperately.
Ceailean looked back to see a whole newspaper box flying his way. “Oh shit!” He grabbed Scorbunny and dodged rolled out of the way just as the newspaper box smashed against the wall, breaking the plastic like glass and severely damaging the metal exterior. “What the hell was that about-!” Just then, vines sprouted out of the ground and wrapped around his whole body. One wound up around his neck especially tightly. Roselia walked out of the darkness, looking absolutely livid.
“So I see you found out.” said Ceailean, somewhat smiling. “I can also see that you don’t tend to cope with bad news very well.” Roselia scoffed and pulled Ceailean all the way down to the ground. Ceailean struggled against it, trying his best to not crush Scorbunny under his body. Roselia went up face to face with Ceailean and demanded to know where Fomantis was. “Oh, you’re looking for them? They’re already long gone. As soon as I cut the unattended box from the vines, I placed Fomantis on the first trailer truck I saw straight out of town. You ain’t getting anywhere near it now!” Roselia was unamused. It picked up the newspaper box and smashed it down near Ceailean’s head, telling him to stop lying.
“Hey, I’m sure you’re a pretty reasonable Pokémon. So why don’t we just let this go and - Ah ha, gotcha!” The vines snapped away from Ceailean's body, surprising Roselia. Then he swung at it with a box cutter, to which Roselia barely dodged in time. Roselia then swung the newspaper box at Ceailean, but he rolled away before it smashed into him. He got up and dodged another swing of the box, this time knocking down a sign.
“You guys are really this serious!? Using a whole ass newspaper stand to bash my face in?! Just who is Fomantis to you guys anyway?!” Roselia glared at Ceailean, remaining stoically silent. He then noticed its eyes shift slightly. A vine burst from the ground and reached out to grab Scorbunny. “Hey!” Ceailean slashed the vine with the box cutter, splitting it in two. “Don’t think I’m just gonna stand here and do nothing. Going for my Pokémon while they’re still down? I can’t sit still and let that happen.” Ceailean assumed a defensive posture, pocketing his box cutter. He readjusted his grip on Scorbunny. “Hold on tight okay.” Scorbunny nodded, gripping his shirt as tightly as it could.
Roselia swung the newspaper box. Ceailean dodge rolled over to the knocked over sign. He took this opportunity to plant his foot on the sign and tear it off the pole. He swung it in front of him. “Let’s see how this goes.” he said to himself. Roselia wound up and swung again, but Ceailean spun to the side and counterattacked with the pole. Roselia blocked the attack with its vines, calling the attempt weak and pathetic. It then thrust the newspaper box. Ceailean pressed the pole against it and rolled along it to get closer for another swing. But vines sprouted from the ground and caught his feet and made him fall to the ground, Roselia calling him slow.
Roselia swung to crush Ceailean, but he blocked the box with the pole. “Scorbunny! The vines!” Scorbunny quickly reached into his jacket pocket and desperately slashed the vines with the box cutter. Ceailean then shoved the newspaper box off himself, got up, and swung one more time at Roselia. But Roselia had enough and it used dazzling gleam. All Ceailean saw was a flash of pink before being thrown halfway across the park from the blast. He bashed into a tree, cushioning the impact for Scorbunny as best he could. But he writhed in pain on the ground, arching his back as it hurt top to bottom.
Before Roselia could advance, Noibat and Steenee crashed down from the tree tops. Noibat was on top and pummeling its dragon rush wings into Steenee’s face while it did its best to block as many of them as it could. Roselia acted quickly, ensnaring Noibat in vines and throwing it towards itself. Before Noibat could recover, Roselia blasted it with dazzling gleam, dissipating its dazzling aura and blasting it back near Ceailean. Noibat was quick to get back up, but more vines sprouted where it stood and pinned it to the ground tightly.
Ceailean cracked his eyes open, still rolling around in pain. “You’re really annoying, you know that?” he said to Roselia. Roselia flicked its flower, causing a vine to sprout and gag Ceailean’s mouth. It then walked over to Steenee and offered a hand. Steenee gladly accepted it and pulled itself up. Steenee dusted itself off and looked at Noibat, telling that it actually packs a bit of a punch. Noibat smirked, saying that it could tell because of Steenee’s roughed up face. Roselia scoffed and pulled the vines tighter, making Noibat grimace in pain.
Steenee turned to Ceailean and held out its arm, demanding to know where Fomantis was. “You weren’t there when I told Roselia, but like I said, I already-“Steenee used low sweep on Ceailean’s abdomen, knocking the wind out of him. Steenee shouted at him, saying that he was lying because if he did just leave Fomantis alone like that, they would’ve had it already and not need to be here. Steenee wound up for another kick, but Scorbunny pushed it away and spread its arms out in defense of Ceailean. “Scorbunny?” Ceailean asked, in awe of Scorbunny’s bravery.
Roselia shifted its arms, but Steenee told it to hold off. Scorbunny told Steenee to not come any closer. Steenee laughed, asking just what Scorbunny thought it could do. Noibat shared this skepticism, telling Scorbunny to stand down and it would take the two itself. Scorbunny didn’t like hearing this, now it had something to prove. It charged in recklessly using quick attack.
Noibat voiced its concern along with Ceailean. “No Scorbunny! What are you doing?!” Steenee smirked as Scorbunny approached. Scorbunny threw kick after kick, but all of them were slow and sluggish from the pain. Steenee had an easy time dodging each one until it eventually countered with zen headbutt, knocking Scorbunny to the floor. It then kicked Scorbunny into Ceailean with low sweep. “Scorbunny?! Are you okay?” Before it could answer, Steenee came up ready for another low sweep. Ceailean threw Scorbunny to the side and took the attack for it. He gagged from the pain, making Steenee smile.
Steenee continued to bash Ceailean, whirling double slap on the top of his head and asking over and over again where Fomantis was. Ceailean covered his head, trying to shield as many blows as he could. Noibat strained so hard against the vines, it was shaking. It then attempted to use screech, but Roselia wrapped more vines around its ears before it could even let out a peep. Scorbunny lifted itself to its hands and knees, begging Steenee to stop. Steenee only began to laugh hearing Scorbunny’s words and continued to wail on Ceailean.
Suddenly, Ceailean’s jacket began to glow a bright yellow. Steenee stepped back, confused. An agitated warbling started to sound out from behind Ceailean. Roselia then realized what was happening and flicked its arm out at Steenee. Fomantis then popped up from behind Ceailean and landed on his arm, covered in a bright yellow energy. It wound up before launching a huge beam of light right at Steenee’s face.
Ceailean covered his eyes from the harsh light. The ground under him shook from the sheer power. Fomantis fired the beam for as long as it could before its stamina gave out, making the beam whittle out like a drying stream. Fomantis fell on its arms, gasping for air. But then Steenee grabbed it by the neck with its appendage. Fomantis clawed at its neck as it desperately gasped for air. Steenee stood upward, supported by Roselia’s vines sprouting out of the ground. It was beyond angry and annoyed. It berated Fomantis for wasting so much of its time and making it try so much harder than it had to. It demanded that Fomantis just stand down and come with them so that this could be all over.
“Can’t you see it, Steenee?” asked Ceailean, his voice strained from the pain. “It clearly doesn’t want to go with the likes of you!” He thrust his arm as fast as he could and poked Steenee’s eyes out with his fingers. Steenee reeled back in pain, covering its eyes and dropping Fomantis on the ground. Ceailean picked it up and tried to make a run for it, but Roselia acted quickly and tied his foot to the ground with vines. Steenee growled in anger before sweeping Ceailean back down to the ground. It tried to pry Fomantis from Ceailean’s arms, but Fomantis gripped his arm tightly and Ceailean did the same with Fomantis.
“You’re not taking it, ya hear me!?” shouted Ceailean. Steenee grit its teeth and tried a different approach. It uppercutted Ceailean’s head with a doubleslap hammerfist uppercut, knocking the top of his body back into the tree. Steenee didn’t let up, moving close to bash Ceailean with every attack it had. Its eyes grew wild as all there was in its mind was the goal and the drive to complete it by any means necessary. Even Roselia watched with a slight bead of concern in its eyes.
Scorbunny struggled back up to its feet. It could barely even keep its balance, much less even keep its eyes open. Anger welled up from deep inside and gave it the energy to walk forward. It told Steenee to stop, no longer begging, now demanding. Steenee paid Scorbunny no mind and continued wailing on Ceailean, his arms and head getting more bruised. Scorbunny shouted slightly louder, telling Steenee to stop. It ran up as much as its pained body would let it and glowed white with the energy of quick attack. But Steenee gave Scorbunny no more than a glance before bashing it to the side. Steenee then continued to bash on Ceailean.
Noibat shouted at Scorbunny from its confinement, telling it to just stay down. Noibat would try to figure something out on its own. Scorbunny didn’t need to hurt itself so much. Roselia told Noibat to hush and gagged its mouth with a vine, to which it began to viciously gnaw on to try and break. Roselia looked down on it with disgust at how vulgar it was behaving. Scorbunny struggled back up on its hands and knees, a new unexpected anger welled up and escaped its mouth.
As loud as it could, it told Noibat to shut up.
Noibat was stunned and stopped gnawing on Roselia’s vines. Roselia stood by and watched, somewhat amused with where Scorbunny would go with its “useless” conviction.
Scorbunny was fuming at Noibat. What was that talk all about before, that it had to fight its own battles. Scorbunny was not going to be some helpless whelp who would sit by and let others fight its battles for it anymore. Ceailean was Scorbunny’s trainer too, it won’t stand by and let anyone hurt him for any reason. This was its fight too and it wasn’t going to give up until the end.
It stood up and faced Steenee’s back, telling it to stop. Steenee gave no response. Scorbunny yelled louder, Steenee continued on. Ceailean’s glasses then fell on the ground, its left framed arm breaking off. Scorbunny’s anger was now overflowing. It took a step forward and told Steenee to stop it, leaning forward putting as much effort as it could into that shout. Suddenly, something changed.
The sky grew dark and the street lamps began to flicker. Noibat and Roselia watched in awe as Scorbunny’s whole body began to glow a bright blue. It’s whole body became obscured and a burst of energy blew a wind strong enough to gain Steenee’s attention. It looked back at Scorbunny, its eyes flooded with blue light.
The blue energy swirled around Scorbunny like a whirlpool. Its obscured body began to change. Its ears grew longer and drooped down, its fur grew out more and up towards its face, and its limbs grew longer. Ceailean watched in awe. “I… I think I’ve seen this before.” Steenee growled at the prospect of having more things to deal with. It stepped towards Scorbunny, ready to beat it down again.
The blue energy burst away from Scorbunny’s body, revealing an entirely different pokemon. What was Scorbunny before was now this somewhat older interpretation of it. Sporting fur that somewhat resembled a red sports jacket, covering its mouth. It’s body stood more tensely and its expression was serious and hidden. Scorbunny opened its eyes, gleaming with a new red iris.
All the while, pointing the sharpest daggers directly into Steenee’s eyes.