Ekans' blow to the boulder made a solid impact – remind me never to piss off the living whip. That said, I could tell it was all muscle, no type energy, no Iron Tail. Ekans continued to bludgeon the boulder with his tail while I pondered the problem. I think we can rule out effort; Ekans is going full throttle. Possibly, it's impossible for a Pokémon to learn a TM move without the machine unlocking the necessary type energy. But if that’s the issue, we are screwed anyway. Which leaves what?
Maybe it's a specific way he has to move his body. 'Come here, Ekans, let me show you the secret hand signs of Iron Tail-no-jutsu.' I looked at Ekans in all his glory… right, no hands. Guess that’s out, too. What about visualization? He must have a store of the energy or access to it somehow if the move can be taught, but what if it’s less about forcing that reserve open and more about imagining how he needs it to act?
“Ekans, let's try something else.” He drops his tail, frustrated, and squirms over. I start untying the rocks from his tail. 'Thanks for nothing, Ash.' “What do you think about when trying to use the move?”
As he wiggles his tail around in relief, he ponders the question, eventually just lifting and slapping his tail down. “So, just hitting hard?” A slow nod confirms my suspicion.
“I want you to try doing the move again…” He gives the rocks that were tied to his tail an exasperated glance. “Ha, without those, buddy. I want you to take a second first and close your eyes. Envision your scales becoming denser.”
"Ekanss?"
"Imagine each scale thickening, hardening, becoming heavier," I explained. "Visualize energy flowing into them, turning each one into metal." Ekans seemed uncertain but slithered back to the boulder to try. He tentatively poked at his scales, as if testing their firmness. Closing one eye, then the other with a skeptical glance my way, he concentrated. I watched as his tail flickered slightly.
"There," I whispered, not wanting to break his focus. A few scales on his tail began to glint, reflecting the sunlight. It was subtle at first, but then they spread like mercury, flowing along his body towards the tip of his tail. As the metallic sheen covered the end of his tail, I called out, "Now, Ekans!" His eyes snapped open, and he whipped his tail forward, striking the boulder. The force, even without his full body motion, sent chunks of rock flying off into nearby trees. "Yes! That's it!" In my excitement, I rushed towards him, arms wide open.
"Ekansss!" he cried out joyously, colliding into my chest. We danced around in celebration, me trying awkwardly not to step on his 7-foot length. Eventually, a flush of embarrassment washed over me, and I gently nudged him away. Ekans, unfazed, slithered back to the battered boulder to practice the move again, clearly pleased with himself.
***
"It's okay, buddy, it happens to everyone." Ekans had tried the move multiple times after his first success. Unfortunately, he found that he either couldn't get it to work, it would take too long to concentrate making it useless in battle, or it didn’t have as much energy, making the blow somewhat lacklustre in comparison. So, there I was, sitting on the recent victim now chair, and rubbing Ekans' back.
"Ekans," he mumbled, annoyed, as he snacked on some rations I had got out for him. Not the premium Poké-kibble Brock probably cooks, but the guy at the store said poison-types are suckers for the sludge flavour. As I watched him stuff his face and get it absolutely everywhere in an attempt to gain a kibble beard, I decided the man knew his stuff.
"It will probably just take practice to build up your steel-type energy reserve, which will allow for more blows before exhausting yourself. I’m sure it will also get easier to pull on the energy and control its flow until it becomes instinctual." All guesswork: a Pokémon professor I am not, but it seemed to have boosted Ekans' mood a little.
Crunch, crunch.
"How are you not finished yet?" I looked down at Ekans to find a confused Pokémon who had finished all his food.
Crunch, crunch.
"What the…" I turned around to find my backpack where I had left it by the extinguished campfire, with a large purple furball, complete with wriggling brown feet, trying to fit its body inside. "...hell."
"Ekans?"
"No, it's not with us. Do you think I made a friend while you were asleep?" I received a patented Ekans shrug in response.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"You do realize that's your toxic waste they're chowing down on, right?"
"EKANSSS!!" My words were enough to shock Ekans into action. With the quickest movement I had ever seen from him, he slipped up beside the oblivious Pokémon, spun around, and slammed his tail into the unsuspecting beach ball, rolling it out of my backpack. Ekans let out a pained hiss as he watched the tumbling bug-type, made apparent by its two antennae and fly-like red eyes, roll away, leaving a trail of destroyed packaging and half-eaten toxic kibble in its wake.
While Ekans tried to recover mentally from his lost treasure, the Pokémon regained its wits and rolled to its feet, giving what I think was an affronted look. It stood a little above my waist, around three and a bit feet tall. "That's one big bug," I thought. "Anyone got a Wile E. Coyote level flyswatter?" I didn't recognize the Pokémon at first; it wasn't one I tended to use in the games. If only I had a Pokédex to scan it with, or some method of finding out its name to jog my memory…
“Venonat!” it spat around its two tusk-like fangs at Ekans and me for interrupting its meal. Or it could just tell me; that’s convenient.
“Venonat, I remember, I always considered it kind of useless.” It was a Bug-type that didn’t evolve quickly like the others, and by the time you got to it, you already had a fully evolved Bug Pokémon or better alternatives. I don’t remember them being in this forest, but it’s not crazy given the forest is famous for Bug-types.
Wait, did I say that out loud…
The wind exploded from my lungs as the furry water-sports equipment tackled me in the stomach when I wasn’t paying attention. I was bent over double and pushed back from the force. I ended up doing a few backward rolls in my own rather bad impression of a beach ball. Oh, please don’t tell me I cracked another rib already. When I stopped my tumble and managed to lurch onto my knees and take stock of the clearing, Ekans had already moved between me and the Venonat.
I would have to get better at anticipating danger. This was the second time I'd taken an attack instead of my much more durable Pokémon, if you included the Kirby special. As a light trickle of rain began to fall on the clearing and clouds gathered overhead, I knew we had to make this quick. I didn't want to catch a cold.
"Ekans, Leer!" Ekans' eyes flashed a more vibrant yellow for a second, and I saw the Venonat, which had started to rush towards Ekans, stumble a little. "Perfect, bud. Now, Wrap this up." Ekans shot forward, cocooning around Venonat and began to squeeze. It seemed like an easy victory…
"Veno!" I heard Venonat's muffled call from within the Ekans pyramid as a flash of red light seeped out between the cracks. Then, Ekans' body went limp, falling away as if his contracted muscles had turned to jelly. Venonat jumped out of the limp noodle's ring, then turned and used Tackle against Ekans' exposed head. Ekans' face rocked to the side with the blow.
"Ekansss." He hissed in pain and anger as he regained control of his body and slithered away to gain distance between himself and Venonat. Venonat, not ready to give up the advantage, began chasing Ekans for another Tackle. When Venonat got close, Ekans turned and raised up to take the blow on his chest, trying to wrap back around Venonat. However, when he tried to constrict, his body wouldn't respond, allowing Venonat to get in another blow. That little bastard…
"Ekans, Venonat used Disable on your Wrap; it won't work. Get your distance again." Ekans immediately started the cat and mouse game again. I could see the hits were starting to add up as Ekans moved slower than before. Venonat couldn't be that tough; this was my fault. I needed to give commands. You’re a trainer, Cain. What was I doing just watching as if this were a show? Ekans was out there, trying his best to protect me from a dumb bug. Was I just going to let life make decisions for me again, until I was passing out on a couch drunk, wishing I had made something of my life?
After mentally berating myself, I stood up and started acting like a trainer. I held my arms over my head to block some of the rain, which had picked up and was starting to drown out the battlefield.
"Ekans, use Iron Tail." I watched as Ekans built up the energy for the move as he slithered, slowing as he did. The type energy was not yet familiar to him. Once he had it flickering across his body, he turned to unleash it on the charging Venonat. The blow was too slow; he slipped in the mud and Venonat easily jumped back and dodged. Damn, Ekans still wasn't used to the weight of his tail with the Steel-type energy coating it; the swing to unleash the energy wasn't fast enough to catch Venonat.
"Think, think, think…" I noticed a stick on the ground, the kind kids would pick up and have lightsaber duels with. A thought popped into my head, and I ran for it, picking it up and getting behind Venonat so only Ekans could see me. I pointed to Venonat then myself, pushing my back up against a tree long enough for him to notice, then moved the rest of the way past Venonat until I skidded to a stop parallel to the side of my snake. Ekans had had to dodge a tackle from Venonat while I was running but kept his attention split between us. Once I was to the side of the duelling pair, I took a fencer's stance and made quick strike motions with my makeshift rapier, stepping forward with each jab and quickly returning the stick. Just a quick sting. I hope this is enough for you to visualise it, Ekans. It should be more natural than Iron Tail. I waited until Ekans dodged a tackle from Venonat and gave the order.
"Now, Poison Sting!" Ekans lightly coated his rattle in poison energy, which came quickly and solidified into purple barbs around a wasp-like stinger. Ekans curled his tail over his head and shot it forward in a quick jab like a scorpion's stinger, striking Venonat. The bug/poison type was resistant to the damage but backed off from the sudden offence, slipping in the mud themselves. Ekans shifted a little to the left and struck again. He kept up the quick strikes, some landing, some missing, and readjusting his aim and body, pushing Venonat back. Venonat struggled to get a move off with the onslaught of rapid strikes. That’s it, Ekans, almost there…
“Venonat!” Venonat let out a surprised yell as their back smacked into a tree Ekans had been guiding them to.
“Iron Tail!” I yelled out as Venonat tried and failed to retreat.
Ekans, who had started to gather energy when he saw Venonat was in position, let out another Iron Tail which crashed into Venonat with enough force to faint the Pokémon and crack the bark on the tree, leaving a solid impression from the impact.
“Ekans!” My partner cried out in victory.
I walked over, ignoring the pain in my muscles. I don’t think anything is broken, just sore. And stared down at the Bug. They put up a decent fight, I thought, as my fingers mindlessly brushed over one of my empty Pokéballs. Venonat began to stir and looked up at myself and Ekans looming over them, apparently not knocked out for long. Not surprising, Ekans only really got one good blow in, and the poison stings were likely resisted due to a shared typing.
I let my fingers fall away from the ball as my thoughts returned to Bug versus Rock and the futility of it. This fight only lasted that long because I was useless, right? Wait, did Venonat just look at my hand, disappointed, hurt even? Before I could reconsider catching them, there was a rumble above our heads and a flash of white bathed the forest.
“Fuck,” I grabbed at my eyes and turned to stare at the sky, which had fully turned grey as the great trees surrounding us rocked back and forth in the heavy winds. The rain increased until it was thundering down. I turned back to find Venonat had vanished as the storm now raging overhead made its presence known. I scooped up my bag, tossing anything salvageable back into it.
“Ekans, we have to find shelter now!” I yelled over the winds. Then I picked a direction and ran, hoping I had chosen the way back to the ranger station or could find some sort of shelter. Note to future self: download a weather app.