A tense standoff ran through the room, and it seemed like no one wanted to be the first to set off the chaos that was bound to erupt. The hiker trainers slowly reached for the belts of Pokéballs at their waists, but they seemed to be hesitating on sending anything out. Come on, live up to your trainer archetype and throw out something ground and rock-based that will be immune to an angry zap-spider's electricity! Then again, perhaps the problem wasn't the spider itself in their eyes, but the aftermath that came alongside jumping in to help. One couldn't exactly pop out a Diglett and let them burrow through the floor, and an Onix would wreck the entire entryway with us all in it being the giant rock-snake it was.
The students only avoided sparking off the conflict by sheer virtue of being too terrified to move. The male student was stiff as a board on the couch still, while the female student remained where she had been standing now that her Ariados wasn't nudging her toward the door. The striped spider seemed almost too terrified to move itself, let alone push its trainer to escape.
Mable didn't look much better than the students. For all her talk of being my trainer now, she was very much out of her element in a sudden and violent situation like this. Dedenne was hiding behind her, peeking around her side and eyeing the Galvantula's arcs of electricity with wide eyes. If even the electric-type was looking wary of the energy being released in random arcs between the yellow spider's limbs, it was looking bad.
I frantically tried to flip through my acquired forms in my head as the sparking intensified. This calm before the storm couldn't last longer than a few seconds, and I was going to have to get involved just to keep Mable safe. Even though I know my wishing for something to happen couldn't have caused this, she was here because I asked her for a favor, so it was my fault she was in the middle of this. But... I realized that I didn't have any ground-type forms available at all... did I? Bunnelby doesn't get its ground typing until it evolves, right? Think, think... Right, you idiot! Geodude's part ground! You were just asking the hikers to do what you can do yourself!
Starting the transformation, though... should I do it now? I still had hope that the Pokémon Center would be able to de-escalate the situation somehow. Maybe a Chansey that could come out and try to play mediator, or one of the aura-reading Pokémon, or the telepathic ones... I'm really not greedy for new forms this time, I just don't want to have to go up against a giant spider, even if I can eliminate the risk of getting shocked senseless.
It was only then that I realized that the arcs of lightning off the Galvantula's legs were growing more frequent over the short moments that it had paused after its entrance, and its eyes were no longer locked strictly on the Ariados. It may have chased the other spider here, but now that there were others around, it was flicking its many-eyed attention between assorted trainers and even myself as well. The glow of transformation formed over me as I tried to shout out in time. "GET DOWN!" 'DITTO!' It hadn't been just standing there, it had been using Charge to build up the power of its opening move!
I was able to get the transformation off at the same time as a violent burst of electricity in crisscrossing lines burst from the Galvantula in its signature move, combining electricity with its webbing in a electrifying, practically unavoidable Electroweb. The webbing all but dissolved under the intense sparking that it conducted along, so it wouldn't last more than a moment, but that moment was long enough to deliver its high-charge payload to the surroundings. It didn't seem to care about the risk to the humans in the area, going completely berserk.
Throwing myself into the attack's path, the webbing snared against my new rocky form briefly, sizzling away ineffectually. It kept the attack from landing on Mable and Dedenne, but everyone else in the room also had to fend off the attack. One of the hikers managed to get a Pokéball out in response, shouting "Rhyhorn, we need cover buddy!" The rock-rhino materializing cracked the floor's tiles with a sharp crunch as both hikers threw themselves to the floor behind the rock and ground type's bulk. The Rhyhorn snorted like a bull, narrowing its stare at the rampaging Galvantula.
Nurse Joy dove down behind her desk, all the computers on the top bursting in a shower of overloaded display screens and sparking as they absorbed far too much electricity. The lights in the room blacked out again. Backup generator or no, the webbing-blast that hit the ceiling burst the bulbs themselves, throwing the room into moderate darkness. There was light coming in through the glass doors in the entryway and the windows along the walls, so everyone could still see well enough... but it did make the flashing light emitting from the Galvantula stand out all the more.
The students fared the worst of the group. The Ariados overcame its fear when its trainer was in danger and it rushed forward to take the brunt of the blast, but both students cried out sharply in pain as stray traces of electrified webbing landed across them. Their muscles tensed and convulsed, the boy slumping over on the couch he hadn't ever managed to leave, and the girl fell to the floor behind her Ariados. The striped spider was down for the count in one, legs twitching erratically as it lay sprawled on the floor. Holy Miltank... just how strong was that attack to completely shut down the Ariados like that?
So far in this world, I hadn't ever experienced seeing true battle-hardened Pokémon, or anything that seemed to indicate the concept of 'leveling up'. I had assumed that meant that battling was just a matter of practice and knowledge. With enough experience, that's how you earned a place at the top. Being trickier, smarter, or more versatile than your opponents. I was very, very wrong. All of those might be useful, but you needed power, and this Galvantula oozed it.
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Even being immune to its primary attacks, I could feel my instincts screaming at me to run. It was even stronger than the sensation of fear that had hung over my head facing the Noctowl in the Santalune Forest. Intense, borderline-overwhelming terror coursed through me, and that was with the rigid, determined twist I felt to my emotions now that I was back in the rock-type's form. It was like staring down a mountain falling down toward me, and all I could muster was enough determination to face it anyway.
"Thanks for the cover, Dale! Sandshrew, get out here and help, we've got an electric-type to clean up!" The second hiker lifted himself off the floor behind the Rhyhorn and tossed out his own Pokémon to join the battle. This wasn't a tournament match, I'd take every last ounce of help we could get and be thankful for it. The two-foot dusty pangolin-like creature appeared in a flash of light and brandished its claws, snarling wordlessly in the Galvantula's direction.
"Let's go! Keep it off the humans, it's attacking recklessly! Pen it in and hold its attention!" I shouted out to my temporary partners, before making good on the demand myself as I tucked my arms into my sides and started rolling forward. The shell of rock that formed around my rolling body grew slightly as I started to build up momentum toward the Galvantula, spinning toward it with a Rollout attack. As much as it would have been more effective to build up momentum first, if I waited I was worried that it might have time to get another Charge set-up prepared.
"Right behind you, little guy!" The Rhyhorn's gruff, deeply rumbling voice called out after me. The thudding of a stampede followed after me as the Rhyhorn started to charge forward with its head held low, ready to ram its horn into the spider. Hopefully I can give the freight-train behind me a good set-up to land the attack.
"Sandshrew, Hone Claw into Slash!" One of the hikers called out a command, and the Sandshrew actually leapt up onto the Rhyhorn's back and rode it like a steed. Taking advantage of being driven straight toward the opponent, it scratched both hands off each other, the sound of claws raking along each other resembling the gentle caress of a knife across a knife as the energy sank into the claws to sharpen them.
The Galvantula wasn't going to just stand there and let us approach it, and even as enraged as it was it could tell that its electricity wasn't going to do any good in the current situation. Instead it opened its mouth as I approached it, and a viscous purple fluid burst from its mouth and clung to the rocky shell of my attack. Slowly eroding it, lessening the mass I was able to bring to bear to smash into it. Some of the gunk seeped in through the cracks and started to bubble and hiss against my stony hide, eating away at my arms. Considering it had to spit it up at me, that had to be Gastro Acid.
Despite not doing any proper damage or causing pain, it was wearing away the stability of my rocky exterior. One of Geodude's strengths was just how sturdy they were, as normally no one blow could take them out of a fight, holding on through sheer tenacity. But now that my hide was feeling almost fragile, I wasn't sure I'd be able to take advantage of that natural strength.
My Rollout slammed into the spider, the weakened shell of rock bursting. It felt like I had hit a brick wall, and the spider merely flexed one foreleg into the air and slammed it down atop me. I was crushed down into the floor hard enough to leave a semicircular indent in the tile, both arms raised overhead to catch the falling limb to keep it from crushing me further.
Fortunately, the distraction of dealing with me meant that the Rhyhorn had a free shot to slam its horn right beneath the Galvantula's chin, lifting its pressure off my body and sending it staggering backward several steps. The spider danced around on its many legs, looking dazed, and the Sandshrew leapt off the Rhyhorn's back to slash at the opponent's face before it could completely regain its bearings.
Galvantula cried out a shrill screech of pain as a clawed set of lines raked down the center of its face, forcing it to keep its central pairs of its eyes closed, glaring at the three of us arrayed against it with its other main two eyes. Despite the combo attack, it was still standing, even if it was wobbling unsteadily in place. "We just need to hit it a bit more, it can't keep up with all of us!" I cried out, slowly pulling myself out of the indent I had left in the floor, bits of rock flaking off my battered body.
The spider must have agreed, as it turned its full attention toward me and suddenly I felt a piercing agony erupt in my core. It was like someone had reached inside me and rearranged all my organs without care for where they wound up. A flow of energy was visibly connected from my body and being drawn into the Galvantula's mouth like it was slurping it up through a straw, and all I could do was lay on the floor and writhe. It had used Absorb to suck the energy out of me and rejuvenate itself! The central pairs of eyes opened again, recovering from the Slash across them, and the Galvantula looked steadier on its feet already. I was worse than ineffective, I wound up helping the enemy!
I could feel the edges of my vision darkening as I tried to stay awake and to haul myself back into an upright posture. I didn't even know that stupid spider could learn Absorb! Of course someone would keep a secret weapon for their type's only weakness, and it being yet more effective against the rock typing as well was just icing on the cake, one of bug's weaknesses. How are we supposed to stop this thing? If we back off, it can threaten the trainers, but all three of us are like walking health packs for the Galvantula if we give it even a moment of reprieve, and I'm already practically completely spent. Staying awake was just about all I could do.
Hey, remember that remark I made about being in an episode of an anime a while back? Yeah, if the protagonist wants to burst in through the front doors and save us, that would be great. No? Just checking. In that case, Arceus? I could use another miracle right about now. No? No luck on that one either? Great. Then I guess it's time for plan B. What's plan B? Bullshit something on the spot that holds out until more help gets here, of course!