Chapter 10:

Counter Attack

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Confession time, I am a proud coward.

When things get too tough I will run and resort to cheating, live to fight another day you know?

Work your way up and play it safe, no need to be a hero if you die trying.

However I couldn't run, Ralts and I were most likely too slow to outrun an Umbreon.

I had a pocket knife in my left pocket and I had picked up the throwing knife, though I had no idea how to efficiently use it.

Ralts knew two moves, Confusion and Disarming Voice.

Confusion would work on Raticate but not on Umbreon.

Raticate would be a challenge on its own, being fully evolved and more experienced it would be very hard to beat Raticate. However Raticate in the end was most likely a simplistic enemy, I don't see a Raticate pull of some bullshit strategy anytime soon.

Umbreon however was the biggest threat, considering Pokémon Types, I was at a disadvantage because Ralts could only use Disarming Voice on it, which wasn't strong enough to fight a fully evolved Umbreon for more than a second.

Raticate was a dangerous foe but a relatively simple one, like a knife was dangerous but simple. Umbreon would be an entire kit of weapons, all to be used to its own desires. I had no idea what kinds of attacks it knew but I doubted that the man would be this confident if his Umbreon only knows Tackle.

Umbreon was in every way more versatile, smarter and more powerful than both Raticate and Ralts. Also Umbreon looked generally very cool but that's beside the point.

I tried to view this problem from another angle.

If I could only remove the Team Rocket grunt from the equation it would almost be doable, almost being the keyword.

Point was; this guy looked way more competent than the two I had fought in the forest.

There had to be a solution, every puzzle had one and if it doesn't have an answer you brute force it.

Someone had sent me to this world (or something), there was no point in sending someone to another world if said person dies within a week.

I was hoping for a legendary Pokémon to show up, maybe one of the Legendary Beast from Jotho, Mewtwo hunting down the remnants of the organization that created him or maybe the Swords of Justice would show up and protect my Ralts (and by extension preferably me).

No one came, well that sucks.

The way to the hospital was blocked and I was pretty confident that turning my back to these guys would sign my death warrant.

If only the Team Rocket guy would vanish…

I considered throwing the knife I had picked up but throwing a knife was vastly different from throwing a rock, besides this person was skilled with a knife himself. It would be arrogant to think I could beat him at his own game.

A plan began to form. Not a good one, not even a complete plan but it was at least something.

I stared at the grunt in front of me, he was smiling like a psycho.

Ralts stood in front of me staring at both Pokémon, ready to battle at my command.

I enlarged the Pokéball in my right hand, "Well Ralts, it seems like we won't be able to practice Disarming Voice with Alex."

Ralts nodded, thinking she understood the hidden message: Use Disarming Voice on the Team Rocket guy.

Before she could do it however I pressed the button in the middle of the Pokéball and recalled her.

Ralts let out a panicked cry as the red light engulfed her and she was transported back into the Pokéball.

It was clear she didn't want to be recalled but there was no point in keeping her out.

I felt the ball twist violently in my hand, she was trying to break out of it but I kept it closed.

"Maybe later," I said, I had no idea if Ralts could hear it but I hoped she could. People in the anime and in this world continuously talked to their Pokéball, so I assumed she would be able to hear it.

With another press the Pokéball shrunk in my palm and it stopped shaking.

Did she understand it?

I put the shrunken Pokéball away in my pocket and moved my knife to my right hand.

"What are ye! Stupid! Puttin' ya Pokémen away like tha!." The Team Rocket grunt talked with a thick accent.

I know that you are a villain but can you please not try to sound like one?

"Who are you and what do you want from me?" I asked angrily.

"Ya know who we are! Ya attacked our team mates and now it's time for payback." He answered again with his weird accent, it couldn't be his real voice right?

"I don't even know who you are." I lied.

The man chuckled, "Stop playin' dumb brat, we know ya sabotaged our mission and it's easy to find ya with hair likes yours."

I silently cursed my hair.

I shifted my position to be more relaxed, inside however I was shitting myself.

"So you did manage to find me?" I asked nonchalantly, "and why go after me anyway?"

"It's simple kiddo," he licked his lips, "Ya mess with us and we mess with you!"

That's it? Simple payback?

"You're here to kill me?" I stated.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"It's about sending a message. If we don't, other stupid brats like ya might think they stand a chance and we can't have that."

I held the knife in my hand and prayed this would work.

"I would say nothing personal," the grunt spoke, "but I'm gonna enjoy this one!"

"Well," I answered with a smile of my own. "Then I won't have to feel guilty about returning the favor."

I retraced my right arm, preparing to throw the knife. The man grinned and he seemed to know what I was about to do.

"After all, those who kill should prepare to be killed!"

And with those dramatic words I threw the throwing knife at the man.

It was a sloppy throw.

I threw it holding the shaft instead of holding the blade between my index and middle finger and the results showed.

As the knife was thrown towards the man it didn't spin properly, instead it pathetically twirled through the air without a clear direction.

Still, it would have hit the man, not hard but still a hit.

The man for his part moved out of the way, leaning to the left like he was in the Matrix or something.

As the knife moved past him I saw him smirk at me, a sadistic gleam in his eyes; he was enjoying this humiliation.

The knife landed harmlessly behind him.

"Well that was disappointing." The man grinned.

Raticated cried out its own name while Umbreon kept silent.

"You can say that again pal," I said with a smirk of my own.

A woosh sound and a flash came from behind him and he turned around in surprise.

I wasted not a single second, I drew my pocket knife and flipped it open, next I made a mad dash towards him as he was distracted by what was going on behind him.

His Pokémon were clearly not expecting this, they were both staring wide-eyed as I ran towards them.

Behind the man the white flash formed into a small humanoid figure.

Ralts came out of her Pokéball and opened her mouth, her red eyes practically shining with anger.

I jumped over the Umbreon and Raticate who didn't even reach my tights with their small bodies.

A high pitched cry came out of Ralts' mouth and a funnel of high amplitude-audio waves crashed point blank into the Team Rocket member.

The man fell backwards but a second later I slammed into him, my momentum from jumping over his Pokémon still carrying me, I kicked him down and landed on top of him.

Before he could even recover from Ralts' Disarming Voice I slammed my knife between his shoulder blades and twisted it, his uniform offered some protection but not nearly enough to protect him from my knife.

He screamed and my hand became slippery thanks to his blood.

I was worried his scream would attract more attention, unwanted attention.

"Confusion now!" I yelled and the man was hit by a purple ray and fell silent.

I jumped off him and kicked him in the face. I considered grabbing the pocket knife but if I did that nothing would stop his wound from bleeding and he might die.

He was unconscious but not dead, I preferred to keep it that way.

I instead grabbed the throwing knife I had just thrown and turned around to prepare for round two.

The plan had worked which was a miracle, Ralts had done as I had hoped and the man had played his part perfectly.

Ralts' orders had been to hit the man with Disarming Voice but before she could do it I had recalled her into the Pokéball which had upset her.

"Later" I had said, hoping she would understand I was keeping her inside the Pokéball not to protect her but because I had a plan.

Next, I shrunk her Pokéball and clenched it in my palm and pretended to put it away in my pocket while I actually had it still in my hand.

It was one of those silly tricks you would find in a child's Magician box with 100 tricks and for some reason my mind thought it was important to remember it after 10 years.

One of those tricks was pretending to put a coin in your pocket and it would magically appear in your hand.

It was a dumb trick that I had learned and never used, until today.

I had moved the throwing knife to my right hand and at that point both items were in the same hand.

Step three, throwing it at the guy without him noticing I wasn't aiming at him and I was throwing a shrunken Pokéball at the same time.

My excessive foreshadowing of the throw added to the image of an overconfident child without an actual plan.

It wasn't all hope though, it was science too. I read somewhere that the human eye can only see a ridiculous small area and the rest is filled in by the brains by what we expect to see.

And that gamble had worked out, the man had dodged the knife and missed the shrunken Pokéball entirely.

The final part of my plan was to pin him between two attacks from both sides and hope that everyone would be too surprised to act.

And in the end it seemed my plan had worked.

What did Einstein say again? If you can't beat them, cheat them?

However there was no time to cheer because the second phase of the boss battle was about to unfold and I had no idea what to do.

Ralts took place in front of me, glaring at Raticate and Umbreon.

Shit, I had no plan for this part.

I didn't really stand a chance against either, maybe I could beat Raticate with luck and cheating but probably not Umbreon, let alone both at the same time.

Maybe I could try to fight with the knife but I suspected that it wouldn't do much harm considering Pokémon survived more lethal attacks on a regular basis.

What could I do, talk to them?

Well, Pokémon are sentient, some more than others, could I bullshit my way out of this?

"We're not looking for trouble," I tried weakly.

The Raticate took a step closer and opened its jaw threateningly, Umbreon followed but without making an obvious threat which was actually scarier.

"Raaallltss," Ralts murmured, urging me to decide on what to do.

A new idea popped up and I knelt down next to the unconscious man. Ironically enough the knife in his shoulder stopped him from bleeding to death which was quite more than he deserved.

I placed the throwing knife against his throat and looked at the two Pokémon, "One move and I will kill him."

They took another step.

I uttered a curse. seems like they hold no love for Team Rocket. Why would one though? I mean it's Team Rocket no one likes them…

Okay, time for my third attempt.

I hastily went through his pockets until I found what I was looking for, two Pokéballs. I enlarged them and stood straight and faced the two Pokémon again.

I considered recalling them but there was a chance they would break out and then I had no chance of winning at all.

I showed the two Pokémon their Pokéballs and they stopped walking.

"Your Pokéballs," I said, "I can crush them and give you two your freedom and we can all have a very nice day."

It was evening already but who cares?

Umbreon and Raticate gave me an awkward stare that made me feel uncomfortable.

"That's a yes?" I asked when none of them moved.

Umbreon and Raticate looked at eachother, apparently having a silent conversation, before gazing back at me.began Umbreon nodded and w

alking back all the while keeping its red eyes focused on mine.

First I thought they agreed but Raticate hadn't moved from his spot and Umbreon had stopped moving when he was 15 meters (50 Feet) away from us.

"Ralts?" Ralts asked, confused.

"Raaaaticate!" Raticate cried out and his claws came out.

"You want me to battle?" I asked Umbreon incredulously.

Umbreon nodded. Somehow I could feel it smugness.

"If I battle the Raticate you let us go?" I asked, still confused as hell.

Umbreon shook his head, a no.

"We have to win?" I guessed.

Umbreon nodded and glanced at the two Pokéballs in my hand before looking at me.

"If we beat Raticate and crush the two Pokéballs you let us go?" I tried and Umbreon nodded.

So it was testing our strength, welp this world is already insane, why not turn it up a notch?

Still it's the best chance I would get since this was at least a 1 on 1. Raticate would be hard to beat but not impossible. I wasn’t certain I could fight Umbreon as well.

"You think you can handle this Ralts?" I asked.

Ralts gave me a confident smirk and answered. "Ralts."

I turned my gaze back to Umbreon.

"Then let's battle!"