I spent another day in Lavaridge at Flannery's place after our gym battle to learn from her how to handle the charmander species. It is not easy, seeing as they can be quite temperamental if not handled properly, and the huge amount of information that Flannery taught me made my head spin. But I managed to grasp the main points.
I also have to put my foot down and tell the rest of my team that, NO, they will not be doing the initiation tradition by pranking charmander. Charmander is still a baby at a week old and it would be plain bullying. The rest of my team are also fully evolved pokemon and I'm not sure if they have enough control of their powers to not hurt a baby pokemon when executing their prank. They can have their prank when charmander evolves or when he grew up from the baby stage, whichever comes first.
Another reason why I temporarily banned the pranks on charmander was because the way he looks at me is so cute. He will look up at me with those big eyes, and the way he looked at me full of adoration made my heart melt. He will also follow me around similar to how a child will follow his mother and is curious at every little thing. I would have hugged and carried him around everywhere until Flannery told me that it would be best to let him walk around on his own power so that he can get used to his body faster.
I cannot bear to subject him to pranks at this point in time, not when he is so cute. Flannery's right, charmander is a cute little critter.
I was facing a problem of trying to find a nickname for charmander as nothing came to mind. I was on the verge of pulling my hair until lunch time came, and I have to feed my pokemon. I poured the pokemon food into my their individual bowls, including charmander's, and was about to dig into my own food when I saw charmander looking at it quizzically.
"Charmander is still a baby, Velda. He doesn't have teeth to help him chew yet, not until about a week later. He can only consume some liquid food for now."
Upon Flannery's remark, I went up to charmander and gently pried his mouth open. She's right, charmander doesn't have teeth at all.
An idea for charmander's nickname suddenly hit me. I remembered a movie back in my previous life called 'How to train your dragon', and the protagonist named his dragon "Toothless" simply because he mistakenly thought that it doesn't have teeth the first time he fed him. The situation I'm facing now is kind of similar, just that charmander really did not have any teeth yet in this case.
That's how charmander got named Toothless, I hope he won't eat me alive in the future for giving him such a childish name.
Toothless is actually not as hard to handle as I thought it will be. The main reason is because he is still a baby, and he sees me as some sort of mother figure to him. The challenge will present itself when he grows out of the baby phase, and starts to get temperamental. The charmander species are proud and stubborn. They respect power. To command them, you cannot present yourself as weak, and you have to give them the respect that they deserve. This treatment is similar to how trainers will use to befriend dragon types, it's just that charmander and their evolutionary line happen to need the same treatment as to how you treat dragons. What is considered as "weak" differs for each individual pokemon, but it is widely accepted that by being confident and unwavering in the face of adversity should be enough to not fall into the "weak" category for most of them. Flannery said that I should not have any issue in the respect part, the only problem will be their huge ego and stubbornness, which will mellow out once they truly acknowledge your strength as a trainer. She stressed to me that the process of taming a charmander is usually not so simple, but Toothless happened to be an impressionable baby so I had it easy.
Before leaving Lavaridge, I spent some money to purchase several TMs. I decided to splurge our money on this purchase as the reason why we had such a difficult time in facing Flannery was due to the fact that we do not have a diverse enough range of moves. Secondly, there happened to be a sale at Lavaridge's pokemart and I have sufficient money to buy a few reusable TMs. After some consideration, I bought Solar Beam, Stone Edge, Roost, Ice Beam, and Scald. These are TMs that can be used by at least more than one of the pokemons on my team, other than Scald. I wanted to buy Blizzard as well, but it is similar enough to Ice Beam that it would be a waste to buy two similar TMs. I decided to buy Scald for Bigblue as he had surprisingly few water type moves despite being a water type. He only knew Water Gun, Whirlpool, and Muddy Water currently. Water Gun and Whirlpool don't do enough damage and people rarely use them at this stage of the gym circuit. Muddy Water is a strong attack, but lacks the precision and accuracy that we sometimes need in battle. Scald have both accuracy and power, and also have the added effect of burning its foes if the user got a good hit in, so it seemed like a good buy.
I still spent 16,000 pokedollars on the TMs despite the discount from the sale. But it is still worth it as they are all reusable TMs and they are moves that are often used in the higher levels of trainer battles. The only downside is that I'm nearly broke, again.
I have to find ways to earn money fast, and hope that the remaining 3,000 pokedollars that I have on me can last me as long as possible.
After my Lavaridge gym challenge, I need to go back to my hometown in Petalburg for the fifth badge, and there are many options to travel back. I could purchase a teleport service, but I would really be broke after that. I could also ride on Flamel's back and go through Route 111, avoiding the desert this time, and slowly follow the main routes that trainers used to make my way back home.
What I am dying to try, is to fly back home on Snap's back. He is now big enough to fly me around on his back since he evolved into a flygon.
I spent another 1,000 pokedollars from the remaining 3,000 pokedollars to buy a saddle. It is adjustable and can be fitted on almost any pokemon. It also have the benefit of being able to be stored in a pokeball together with the pokemon that it is being fitted on, much like a held item. Held items are banned in official trainer battles and the Ever Grande Conference, but they are often used outside official battles. Members of ACE, Rangers, and the LSDF often give their pokemon held items to aid them in their duties, and sometimes the items can help save the lives of the pokemon that are holding said items. I still have not figured out how some items work. Leftovers, for example, looked like a half-eaten apple no matter how I looked at it. Yet it can help restore a pokemon's health over time.
I just chalked it up to pokemon logic and left it there.
Snap also seemed eager to be able to have the chance to fly a long-distance flight. I took awhile trying to figure out how to properly fit the saddle on him, and Snap looked like a true professional flyer with a saddle on its back once we were done with it. I zipped my jacket and placed the go-googles, that I bought before traversing through the desert, over my eyes. I had made sure to wear my jeans for this occasion to complete my flying attire, different from my usual preference of wearing dresses or skirts when I am in cities or towns.
Flygons are a peculiar species. For one, despite being classified as a dragon and ground type pokemon, they look more like a bug type pokemon, especially when it is at the vibrava stage. Flygons have large red covers that protects their eyes from the sand of the desert, and it is these covers that made it look like a bug type. Their egg group, surprisingly enough, or not, depending on how you look at it, belongs to the bug egg group. Flygons also have the Levitate ability, that makes it immune to ground type move and gives it some sort of flight capability even without the use of their wings. Their nimbleness in the air is due to the fact that they can use their wings and Levitate ability in conjunction to pull off complicated air maneuvers. A long time ago, flygons are also known to desert nomads as "The Desert Spirit", as their wings produces a singing sound when they are flapped. It is quite nice to listen to actually, if you sit down and take the time to listen. However, if you ever hear the same sound in the desert, it is best to run away in the opposite direction. Flygons also uses the sound from its wings to attract prey to their location so that they can hunt for food.
Flygons are also the master of sandstorms, they can call the sands to do their bidding with a flap of their wings. This ability of theirs almost made scientists classify its ability as Sand Stream, until Levitate was discovered instead.
What is not well-known is that flygons can fly very fast. They are not as fast as other dragons like dragonite, salamence, or even garchomp (although there are people who argued that garchomp glides through the air instead of flying, hence it is not capable of true flight), but they are still fast. What took us three weeks to travel from Mauville to the end of Route 113 only took Snap a single day to fly me from Lavaridge to Mauville.
I was a little cold and blue from being high up in the air and flying at high speeds, but the time we saved from travelling was worth it.
I stayed a night at Mauville, and popped by Wattson's gym the next morning. He had nothing better to do due to the recent lack of challengers that managed to make their way to him, so he challenged me to another battle, this time a friendly one with no stakes attached. Wattson did not possess any pokemon on the intermediate level, so we made do with his pokemon that are on the lower end of the Elite level.
Needless to say, he wiped the floor with me.
It was a good battle nonetheless, and I picked up a few things from that battle, so it wasn't for nothing.
After the battle with Wattson, I decided to fly from Mauville to Rustboro as Rusturf Tunnel, the tunnel that connects Verdanturf and Rustboro, is not completed yet. I need to get to Rustboro to revive my root fossil into a lileep or cradily.
We took another day to fly to Rustboro. The flying experience is much better this time around as we flew slower and the airspace in this part of Hoenn is more suited for flying. The feeling when you looked at the ground from high up in the sky feels so magical.
I can show you the world. Shining, shimmering splendid~
I can understand how Aladdin feels now when he went for that magical carpet ride. The experience is truly magical, very different from what you see within the confines of a plane. The flower fields of Verdanturf was a very beautiful sight from the air, and I snapped a few pictures from Snap's back (no pun intended) to show my parents when I get back home later.
The cost to revive my root fossil is astronomical. It amounted to more than 1,000,000 pokedollars when everything is factored in. Even for an Elite trainer, this is not a small amount.
The root fossil was identified to be a lileep fossil, and I had to call my parents for financial help. Luckily, the cost is nothing compared to the financial wealth that the Vera family had accumulated over many generations. I have to admit, it feels good to be born into a rich family where cost isn't an issue for almost anything. Dad and Mum were excited at the prospect of trying to breed a prehistoric pokemon and by the end of my call with them, they were already planning on how to breed lileep.
I'm not sure if it is possible to even breed a lileep with 'modern' pokemons considering that all their prehistoric counterparts have been wiped out, and trainers with prehistoric pokemon were rare in the first place. But if anyone can do it, it will be my parents. The revival process takes a week to complete, so I decided to drop by the Rustboro gym to visit Roxanne.
Roxanne was excited to see me again, and we spent some time at Chansey's Cafe to catch up. I shared the details of my journey with her, and she was particularly impressed at Bigblue's mastery of rock type techniques. I spent the rest of my free time to help her with the Trainer's School, and to teach my pokemon new moves with the TMs I possessed.
Currently I have the TMs for Rock Tomb, Protect, Bulk up, Shock Wave, Overheat, Solar Beam, Stone Edge, Roost, Ice Beam and Scald. A total of 10 TMs and most of my team can learn a few of the TMs I have on hand. The only problem is that currently Scald can only be learned by Bigblue, and that no one on my team is capable of learning Bulk Up, so the TMs are just sitting in my TM case and collecting dust.
Toothless will have to wait until he is at least two weeks old before I start his training, even then it will just be light training, nothing too vigorous, and he will certainly not be taught moves from the TMs yet. During our stay in Rustboro, I taught Flamel Overheat and Solar Beam. Bigblue have learnt Stone Edge, Ice Beam, and Scald. Snap diversified its moves with Solar Beam, Roost, and Stone Edge. Kel had to learn the most number of moves, starting with Rock Tomb, Protect, Shock Wave, Stone Edge, and Ice Beam. Dolly was temporarily exempted from all these as I wanted her to master the moves that she had learnt from her previous trainer, before moving on to other moves that she could learn from my TMs. Toothless just sat beside me and watched as the other members of the team trained, and I could see the excitement in his eyes.
There is a need to clarify here that knowing how to use the move through TM is not the same as mastering the move. Yes, the moment I activated the Overheat TM on Flamel, Flamel will know how to use Overheat. But can he control the intensity of the flames? Can he control the output so that it is strong enough, but not at the risk of overexerting himself? Can he use the move without losing control of the flames? Can he even summon enough power to use the move in the first place?
All the finer details in perfecting a single move is what separates the truly Elite trainers from the average ones. Even a simple Rock Tomb can be used in many other ways other than trapping its opponents. Bigblue uses Rock Tomb for defensive purposes and applied the theory behind it to control the properties of the ground together with his ground type techniques. His mastery of Rock Slide was based on what he learnt from Rock Tomb. Flannery's magcargo uses Stone Edge, which is an advanced rock type move with devastating offensive powers, to get around its mobility issue. There are many uses to a single move so long as you have the imagination to invent them.
By the end of week-long stay in Rustboro, my team still did not manage to master their new moves. It was within my expectations, I would be surprised if they managed to master all these advanced moves within a week. Their hard work did pay off, and now they are at least proficient in using it without making rookie mistakes.
I also collected my revived lileep from the scientists at Devon Corporation, who informed me that lileep is a female, a rare gender among her species.
Lileep is a quiet pokemon, and she does not like to move much other than swaying on the spot. When she does want to move, however, she prefers to move by using the tentacles on the top of her head to swing herself around like how an infernape moves through trees, provided she has something to hold and swing to. On flat terrain, she just pushed herself off the ground with her extended tentacles and "walked" with them. She can use the four stubby leg-like root appendages to move around, but it is not her preferred choice when it comes to movement as it is too slow. I'm not sure if this particular way of moving around is typical of her species or it's just the peculiarity displayed only by my lileep, there are too little information regarding her species.
Despite being a part rock type, lileep loves being in the water. Studies have revealed that their species used to live on the sea floor, ambushing unsuspecting prey by ensnaring them in their tentacles before devouring them. Luckily, she seemed to enjoy pokemon food more than capturing and eating live prey, so I do not need to worry about it ambushing the pokemons on my family's farm when I get back home.
Lileep is not a baby pokemon like Toothless, so the rest of my pokemon (excluding cute little Toothless, I don't want them to corrupt him with their antics just yet) deemed her as fair game when it comes to the pranking tradition. However, no matter what they try, lileep just seemed unaffected by their antics, and so the rest of my pokemon stopped the pranks after a while.
I spent two whole days trying to think of a name for lileep, and I decided to name her Lily in the end. She is classified as a sea lily pokemon, and the lily flower is usually used for funerals to symbolise that the soul of the departed has received restored innocence after death. Lily, like me, had died once, and was revived once more into this world. I'm not sure if she experienced the "restored innocence" part, at least I don't think I did. I'm not even sure if she remembered her previous life, but I think that the name Lily really suited her.
A revived pokemon together with a reincarnated trainer, it has a nice feel to it.
Lily seemed really happy when I asked if she liked the name I chose for her, and wrapped me gently with her tentacles while gurgling happily. Flamel panicked and thought that she was going to eat me at that moment, and chaos ensued for a short while until I managed to calm everyone down. On the upside, Lily seemed more willing to mingle and interact more with the team after having her own nickname instead of swaying on her lonesome.
"I'm HOOOMMMMEEEE!" I shouted as I opened the doors to my house. Thankfully, the journey back home from Rustboro is only a few hours long by flight thanks to their close proximity. It has been slightly more than five months since the start of my journey and I've been starting to miss home.
"Vel!" Mum ran out from inside of the kitchen and embraced me with a tight hug. It was nearing lunchtime and I did tell them that I should be able to make it back home around lunch. I can already smell the aroma of the food that she is cooking.
When Mum finally released me, it was just in time as Fang ran into the house from the back door and barreled into me, gently knocking me onto the floor and playfully licking my face as I laughed. I saw Dad approach us out of the corner of my eye and I turned to face him.
"Hi Dad."
"Hello Velda." Dad replied as he gently picked me up from the floor and ruffled my hair, a gesture that he only used on me. It felt like that I had never left. I felt at home.
"Lunch will be ready in about 10 minutes. How about the both of you go feed the pokemons?" Mum hollered from the kitchen, and I could hear the 'clang, clang' sound of her cooking together with the sizzling sound of fire.
Dad and I made our way to the farm at the back of our house. I released my entire team out of their pokeballs and Dad whistled at the sight of it. He took a long look at Lily, probably thinking of how to breed it, before turning back to me.
"That's an impressive team you have there, Vel. Are you thinking of being a Generalist?"
"You know I never cared about such things. But at this rate, I probably will be one." I stood beside him, rocking on the balls of my feet. "I could be anything actually, I have two fire types and two ground types. When you look at it this way, I could easily be a Fire Specialist or a Ground Specialist. Still, I don't think I am going to specialise in anything, so I will probably be a Generalist like Vance and you."
During our conversation, my team took in the new sights of the place. Flamel recognised that he was home and neighed happily, eager to go galloping into the vast lands of our farm.
"Easy there, Flamel. You can run all you want later. Now you have to eat your lunch."
The entirety of the day was spent with my parents. We talked, and I helped out on the farm together with my parents. Technically, my parents do not need to work on the farm if they do not wish to, but they enjoy taking care of pokemon. More than a 100 workers were employed by my parents to work on my family's farm, some of them worked on our farm their whole lives since the days when the farm was ran by my grandfather. I knew most of them personally, and greeted them politely whenever I see them.
I spent my time at home preparing myself for the Petalburg gym challenge while spending quality time with my parents. Sadly, Vance was busy with ACE duties as usual and would not be back anytime soon. I will spend the mornings after breakfast training at a remote end of the farm with my pokemon until lunch. I spent the afternoons helping out on the farm with my parents, or if there is nothing to do, I will ride on Flamel's back to explore the farm like old times. This time around, we have more companions with us. Kel often ran beside Flamel, Dolly will sometimes ride on Flamel with me, and Snap will fly overhead us. The rest of the team do not have the speed to run with us and they will do their own things when I choose to ride on Flamel. Bigblue will either swim in a pool or lumber off somewhere. I presumed it went to find its fellow kin (I still don't know where my parents house the regional starters on our farm, or how they managed to keep it hidden from me for so long). Dolly will disappear into the shadows to hide in the cupboard in my room when the sunlight is too harsh for her. Toothless will play with the houndour pups or any other baby pokemons he can find while Lily will just find a sunny spot and sway in the sun. Sometimes when my parents do not need my help on the farm and when I don't feel like riding on Flamel, I will just lie down in the shade of the great oak tree where Whiskers used to make its burrow. My pokemon will lay around me and we will snooze until dinnertime. After dinner, we will continue our training until it is time to turn in for the night.
This routine continued for two weeks. Most of the training we had done was to master the new moves from the TMs. Dolly surprised me by managing to master Shock Wave on top of the moves she was supposed to master during the two weeks of training. Toothless had started training, but the trainings were very light. I only put him through target practice and evasion training, on top of trying to hone his mastery of his own flames. Lily is capable of battle, but she probably will only be good enough to battle gym trainers at this point. Lily had learnt and mastered Toxic from Dolly, Rock Tomb from the TM, together with Rock Slide from Bigblue, who was a great help in helping Lily master rock type techniques. Flamel taught her Sunny Day, which did not pose any problems for her, and she also learnt Solar Beam, which she mastered only after a day of training. She was passable at using Sandstorm after Snap attempted to teach her the move, but does not seem interested in using it. She is a natural with Protect and currently has the highest success rate in using the move successively among the team.
I first thought that Lily's forte was at ambush, seeing how her species hunted for their food. I was proven wrong when I realised that her true strength lies at being a defensive battler, and she is at her best when battling defensively. She is good at crowd control with moves like Confuse Ray, Astonish, Constrict, and Stealth Rock. If you add on to the fact that Lily will eventually gain the powers to shape the entire battlefield with rock techniques when she becomes a cradily, you have a prehistoric plant capable of changing the landscape at her whim. Lily also have no qualms in taking on more than one opponent in our mock battles. She lost more than she won, but that is mainly because there is a significant difference in combat prowess between her and the fully evolved members of the team. That will change when she evolves into a cradily in the future. Other than the crowd control Lily can dish out, what makes her such an outstanding defensive battler is that she has access to many recovery moves, like Ingrain, Mega Drain, Giga Drain, and even Recover. When she evolves into a cradily, she will have access to the Stockpile and Swallow combo, which is a recovery combo. Her defensive capabilities makes her extremely versatile, and I have no doubt that her unique abilities will allow her to carve herself an irreplaceable spot on the team when it comes to the Ever Grande Conference. Not that the other members of my team aren't strong, but I can already foresee that there will be battles that only Lily can fight given how unique her abilities are.
I also spent the time at home finding out more about the pokemons that Norman might use in my gym challenge. I could feel my head starting to hurt when I saw the pokemons that he is known to use.
The list of pokemons that he is known to use at the intermediate level are as follows: spinda, linoone, more than two different vigoroths, at least two slakings, blissey, kangaskhan (where did he get rare pokemons like blissey and kangaskhan!?), tauros, zangoose, exploud, staraptor, pidgeot, and sawsbuck. Half of these pokemon aren't even from Hoenn! And what is with his tendency to collect rare pokemons like blissey, kangaskhan, and zangoose! Each of them is worth a small fortune if you buy them from a breeding farm!
I have no idea on how to prepare for this gym challenge other than training, training, and more training. I also have no idea on what to expect when I finally face Norman. I could draw up a probability table from what I see in the forums, but I doubt that it will be much help. If this is the lineup he have at the intermediate level, I don't want to know what he actually uses at the Elite level, much less the ones on his main team.
No wonder so many trainers fell out of the gym circuit by the fifth or sixth gym. It is designed such that only the truly strong can pass.
I sighed, and dialed Vance's number on my xtransceiver, maybe he can give a helpful tip or two on how to face unpredictable opponents like Norman.
It is another beautiful day in Petalburg. The flowers are starting to bloom. They are not in full bloom yet, most of them are halfway there or on the cusp of blooming. The sun is shining brightly, not too harsh, but also not too little, it is just at the right intensity where it caresses your skin with warmth. The taillows are chirping. Not too loud, but soft enough that you can appreciate their singing voice. Petalburg is located next to the ocean, and the sea breeze cooled the interior of the room with a slight salty smell of the sea. Not too much that it feels like you are experiencing the roaring waves of the ocean, but gentle enough for you to feel the breeze brushing across your skin. Everything looks perfect. Everything seems to have the right balance.
What makes it truly perfect, in Norman's opinion, is that all these can be felt in the comfort of his living room, while he hugged his one year old daughter, May, with one arm as she curled up asleep by his side and he sat beside her on their couch. His wife, Caroline, is sitting beside him on the other side reading a novel in comfortable silence. Everything is not merely looking perfect, everything feels perfect, with the right balance.
Norman's other arm is scrolling through his Pokenav. Flannery had just sent a video of her battle with Velda Vera, a promising trainer that suddenly became the hot topic of discussion between all the other gym leaders. Roxanne, Brawly and Wattson had sent their videos of their battles with her in the gym leaders chat group before, and the battles were impressive considering she just started her journey. He only realised that he had sent a message to the group after watching Roxanne's video after he sent it. He had unconsciously typed and sent a 'Very impressive' while watching the video on his laptop. It surprised him as well, he does not have the habit of talking in chat groups, or messaging people in general.
This young trainer actually broke his well-maintained balance, albeit temporarily.
The subsequent videos sent by his colleagues were all impressive, and the gym leaders chat group have never been so lively in his short tenure as a gym leader outside of work related topics. Technically their videos of Velda can be considered as work related, but at this point it is more for their entertainment than anything else.
"What has gotten you so excited?"
Caroline shifted herself closer to him, peering at his Pokenav over his shoulder. She smiled at him, and he smiled back at her.
If there is one person in this world that can read him like an open book no matter what kind of mask he wore on his face, it would be her. She came into his life one fine day, broke any semblance of balance in his life, and built it back for him again. Whenever they are together, life became perfect and more balanced, something that he thought would never be possible. She made him a better man. Whereas he used to be cold and unforgiving, she soften the insides of his heart and brought out the best of him. She made him smile, which is a huge difference from the expressionless look that he was so used to wearing on his face. She brought out the more cheerful side of him, and made him laugh, something that he never thought he will experience again after the death of his family, who was killed in the crossfire during a spat between Team Magma and Team Aqua when they first moved to Hoenn from Johto. They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and in the span of a single day, he lost his parents and his older sister.
It was what drove him to join ACE, as only ACE operatives will go on the most dangerous of missions to apprehend these zealous fanatics and terrorists. He wanted to weed out all criminal activities in Hoenn, so that no one have to experience what he went through. He became cold and serious, so that he could focus and be the very best operative in ACE. He tuned his mind, heart, body, and soul to co-exist at the perfect balance, so that he could be the perfect weapon for ACE. A weapon that is capable of cleaving through its foes no matter what type of situation it found itself in.
Norman thought that this was how he will be living for the rest of his life, to be constantly in battle until he is too old to do so or he got himself killed in action. He was fine with it. He lived for the sake of destruction of evil. As someone who preached about balance, he knew that good and evil are two sides of the same coin. If one exists, so does the other. Evil can never be truly destroyed. That doesn't mean that he couldn't try to minimise or contain the damage that evil brings about. There are many things in this world that cannot be classified as purely 'good', or purely 'evil'. There will always be grey areas, and he will try to find an answer to these grey areas. He will try to seek out a perfect balance between black and white, between good and evil.
He was glad that Caroline pulled him out of that path of loneliness and destruction. His pokemon had tried to help, but none of them are able to drive their point across his thick skull unlike Caroline. She loved him, and he loved her. She never asked anything from him other than his company, and never requested for him to change for her. Norman knew that all Caroline wanted was a stable life with the man she loves even if she doesn't say it, but it is something that he cannot give her as long as he is in ACE. No one in ACE lives a stable life, that is a known fact. Norman loved being in ACE, but he loved Caroline even more.
Upon that moment of realisation, Norman promised Caroline that he will try his best to give her a stable life. He decided to resign from ACE. He had promised her, and he always fulfills his promise.
His resignation was a shock to all of ACE, and with a good reason too. ACE is made up of 17 different companies, each named after a pokemon type. Each company have a number of squads under it which made up the company. Norman was the commanding officer of the Fairy Company. Under his command, Fairy Company was one of the best companies in ACE. In strength, it only lost to Ghost Company, the strongest company in ACE under the leadership of Wallace, only by a slight margin. There were no surprises there. Wallace is someone who is strong enough to be the Champion of Hoenn, and he was even granted permission by the Hoenn League to have the authority to command the whole of ACE in times of emergency. Regardless, the power Norman possessed is nothing to scoff at. Norman's strength and accomplishment made him one of ACE's most valuable operatives, and it was why he was chosen to be the commanding officer of Fairy Company.
Norman's resignation caused a huge uproar in ACE as the operatives watched one of their 17 commanding officers, a position that only a few operatives can achieve in their lifetime, leave their ranks.
Norman led a happy life with his newly-wed wife after leaving ACE. There was no real hurry in finding a job, he had earned a fortune from his time in ACE and it would last them for a few years even if they spend frivolously. Still, Norman found himself wishing that he could continue battling strong foes.
His opportunity came when there was a vacancy for the position of gym leader at Petalburg. Norman quickly applied for it with his wife's support. His application was quickly approved by the Hoenn League, who were aware of his achievements during his time in ACE. They moved to Petalburg and settled down there. Being a gym leader granted him a stable job, which helped him fulfill his promise to his wife, and he can continue to battle worthy opponents. It was like he had the best of both worlds.
Norman was brought out of his thoughts when his wife tried to look at the contents displayed on the screen on his Pokenav. He shifted slightly to enable her to see better, taking extra care not to wake their sleeping daughter.
"It is a video of a gym battle. There is a trainer who have been achieving stellar results in her gym battles thus far. Every badge she earned was done by defeating the gym leaders in battle, and it has become a source of entertainment for us gym leaders to share the videos of our battles with her among ourselves. You might know her, she is the youngest child of the Vera family. Their family's farm is located here at Petalburg. This video was just sent to us by Flannery."
Caroline's eyes widened in surprise. "I don't know much about battling, but isn't it very difficult to defeat a gym leader, no matter what level of difficulty the gym challenge is supposed to be?"
"Almost impossible."
Caroline's mouth widened slightly in shock as she tried to process Norman's words. Unlike Norman, she is a pokemon coordinator, who performs at pokemon contests. She rarely did battles and only retired from her career as a coordinator after getting pregnant to look after May. But she also knew how hard it is to be a trainer, and Norman isn't one to mince words. If he said it is 'almost impossible', he really meant 'almost impossible'.
Norman chuckled at his wife's expression. "I haven't watch this video yet, you can watch with me if you are interested."
That was how they spent their next 20 minutes. Even if the battle was watched through a screen, it was exhilarating. May had woken up halfway through the video and even she was captivated by what she saw, even if she cannot understand what was happening.
"This trainer is coming to your gym." Were Caroline's first words to him after watching the video as she picked May up and hold May in her arms.
"Flannery was a little late in sending this video. It has been almost two weeks since the battle took place, so the trainer should be making her appearance here very soon."
"You are excited in facing her." It was not a question, Caroline knew for a fact that Norman is excited at battling Velda, even if there are no visible signs that betrayed his inner thoughts.
"I am." Norman admitted. "I was already impressed with her performance when I first saw her battle in Roxanne's video. The videos of her subsequent gym challenges did not disappoint me either. I have been awaiting her challenge for months." He was itching to go out and train to his heart's content at this point, he wanted to bring the best battle he could offer to Velda when she comes to his gym.
"Go out and train, you battle maniac, I know you are dying to do so." Caroline laughed. Norman planted a quick kiss on the forehead of his wife and daughter before exiting their house situated next to the gym. He thought of the pokemons he have on hand to deal with a trainer like her. Who would be suitable in facing her?
He walked into the greenhouse which is located at the back of his gym, where he housed most of his pokemon companions. They had been the best of friends and the most loyal of comrades to him for many years. They greeted him excitedly when they saw him, and when they knew that he was here for training, they formed up quickly and neatly into a small platoon, a habit they acquired from their days in ACE.
A behemoth of a slaking lumbered to his side. Judge, his starter, stood beside him, awaiting his command.
"A promising trainer will be here soon for our Balance Badge. She is of the intermediate level, age 11, most notable features are her blond hair and green eyes. The pokemon she uses in her gym challenges thus far suggests that she is most likely a Generalist." Most of the information Norman spoke of is not needed for an official battle, and the way he spoke was how he used to brief his operatives before going out on missions. He just can't seem to change certain habits that was so ingrained into him during his time in ACE, something that Caroline often teased him about.
Norman's gaze turned sharp, just like how it always did for every mission before he was deployed.
"I have thought of how we are going to face her, and this is how we are going to do it."
"Solar Beam!"
Lily gurgled, before charging up the light energy required to execute the move. Her Solar Beam stuck true and landed on the opponent's delcatty, who was defenseless as Lily had it all wrapped up in her tentacles.
That's the fifth gym trainer so far, two more to go.
The gym trainer congratulated me for the win and shook my hand, before leaving the room to heal his pokemon. The Petalburg gym challenge is way harder than any of the other gym challenges so far. I can no longer sweep through their ranks with a single pokemon. Lily was my main battler for this portion since she is not yet strong enough to face a gym leader's pokemon in battle. I still need the help from Flamel and Kel to handle some of the stronger foes, but it was nothing they couldn't handle. They have no problems in handling the gym trainers.
I am the problem.
After that gym trainer left, I bit back a whimper as I knelt down on the floor with one knee trying to fight through the pain my body is experiencing. My body had started to give me problems around the time when I was facing the third gym trainer. It was only a little discomfort at first, so I didn't ponder much about it. But it suddenly wrecked my entire body with such acute pains halfway into my battle with the fifth gym trainer. Of all times, my body chose today of all days to start giving me problems when it hasn't been troubling me for so long, other than Flannery's geyser shenanigans. It could have came yesterday, or tomorrow, or any other day, but noooo, it has to be today.
Lily moved closer to me and looked at me worriedly, she wanted to help me stand but was seemingly afraid that any physical contact would worsen my condition. I could just throw in the towel now and waited until my body got better, but we have been preparing for this challenge for days. We were doing fine so far, I will not let my body ruin our chances.
I stabilised my breathing and stood up shakily, leaning slightly on Lily for support.
"I'm fine, Lily. Just a little pain, that's all."
I don't think Lily bought my explanation, but she helped me to stand properly before letting me lead the way to the next room.
Thankfully, the Petalburg gym challenge is not designed as a maze, I'm getting really sick of those. All it had were seven rooms, with a gym trainer in each room. The rooms each have a different name and are named after the seven aspects of battling. They are the Speed Room, Accuracy Room, Zero Reduction Room, Defense Room, Recovery Room, Strength Room, and One-Hit KO room. Each of the trainers that waited in these rooms specialises in the aspect of the room that they are stationed in. In case you were wondering, Zero Reduction in the Petalburg gym means that the "stats" of the pokemon, like offensive or defensive capabilities, cannot be lowered further, hence Zero Reduction. One-Hit KO does not refer to moves like Fissure or Sheer Cold, but the ability to strike critical hits on the opponents.
Right now, I only have the Strength Room and One-Hit KO room to finish before facing Norman.
I could go for the minimum and only clear three of these rooms to reach Norman. But I wanted to clear all seven rooms because Lily needs as much experience as possible in fighting through gym challenges. She had trained just as hard as the others and deserved to fight in the gym challenge just as much as the others do. I would have let Toothless battle as well, but he still has a long way to go before he could be of any help in gym challenges.
I gritted my teeth, placed my hand on the handle of the door leading to the Strength Room and used my other hand to wipe the cold sweat off my forehead. I had been through worse pains when I was younger, what I am currently experiencing is nothing. I cannot let my team down right now.
I pushed open the door, and spotted the sixth gym trainer waiting inside. Lily walked up into the arena, prepared for battle.
We are going to win this.
The pain got worse as I entered the final room. Norman stood opposite from where I was as I entered. We didn't converse as we completed the registration process, and I was glad for the silence. I am in no mood or condition for banter. The information from the forums were correct, and as expected, this battle will be a 5 vs 5 single battle, with a maximum of 5 pokemon on each side. I was about to send in my first pokemon when he furrowed his brows and spoke to me.
"Are you sure you are ok? You look rather pale."
"I'm fine, my skin colour has always been a little too light."
Norman continue to stare at me, like he was trying to see through my lie. He relaxed his posture as he held a pokeball in his hand. I guessed that either he didn't manage to find anything visibly wrong with me, or he didn't care.
Flamel appeared on the battlefield as Norman released his sawsbuck. Looks like my luck in gym battles had finally turned for the better.
"Burn it all!"
I usually do not pull off such reckless moves at the start of the battle, but I'm not sure how long my body can hold until I succumb to the pain. I intend to finish the battle as fast as possible. We have the type advantage, and I am going to make use of every advantage we have.
Flamel unleashed his flames and set the battlefield alight with fire. I wanted to let him use Sunny Day as well, but I am afraid that sawsbuck possess the chlorophyll ability, which raises its speed in sunlight. Sawsbuck dashed around, trying to find a way to get through the flames.
"Sand-Attack! Get rid of the fire! Then Double-Edge!"
Sawsbuck kicked up a huge amount of sand in Flamel's direction, and immediately charged through the dying flames with its horns pointing at Flamel. I wanted Flamel to use Bounce to escape into the air, but that will make him a vulnerable target as he is unable to change directions while off the ground. Time for plan B.
"Inferno! Then Flare Blitz!"
Flamel unleashed the hot flames of Inferno at sawsbuck as it came charging towards him. To sawsbuck's credit, it didn't flinch from the burns, and continue to charge straight at Flamel while getting caught in the fire. Flamel bathed himself in flames and met sawsbuck's charge head on with a Flare Blitz.
The two pokemon met in a collision that produced a shock wave that could be felt all the way from the challenger's box. The shock wave died down, and both pokemons were competing in a series of blows with their horns, trying to jab and pierce their foe.
"Megahorn! Throw it up!"
Flamel immediately lowered himself and managed to get his horn under sawsbuck's belly. With a powerful flick of his head, sawsbuck was sent flying into the air.
"Sawsbuck, Hyper Beam!"
Sawsbuck gathered energy at the front of his opened mouth in midair, and sent it blasting in a straight line at Flamel.
"Dodge it with Agility, then blast it up higher into the air with Flamethrower!"
In an impressive burst of speed, Flamel disappeared from sight as sawsbuck's Hyper Beam came crashing down where he once was. Sawsbuck attempted to redirect its Hyper Beam at Flamel, but Flamel is just too fast. Flamel had managed to master up to three consecutive uses of Agility before losing control upon evolution. There is no way for sawsbuck to hit him with Hyper Beam.
Flamel sent a huge cone of fire at sawsbuck once the Hyper Beam ended, sending it crashing into the high ceiling of the gym.
"Giga Impact!"
At Norman's words, sawsbuck reopened its eyes, pushing through the pain of its burns and used its powerful legs to push itself off the ceiling, hurling itself at Flamel at high speeds with the aid of gravity. That move will take Flamel out if it manages to make direct contact. We need to do something.
"Flamel, Protect! Full power!"
Flamel let out a cry as a thick greenish shield materialised before him. Sawsbuck crashed into it, and the impact created a huge crater when it landed on Flamel's shield. Sawsbuck reeled back in pain from its impact against the impenetrable shield. That have to hurt.
Sawsbuck is too close to Flamel for its comfort. This is our chance.
"Overheat! Roast it!"
The white-hot flames of Overheat washed itself against sawsbuck as it screamed in pain. Its suffering was cut short as Norman recalled it back to its pokeball.
That sawsbuck was good, it wouldn't have been that easy if we didn't have the type advantage.
There was a brief pause after that as Norman contemplate on who to send out next. It was a welcome break for me as I tried to fight back the pain in my body. The heat from the battle had just made the pains worse and it is taking every ounce of control that I have to not scream out in pain. I gripped the handrails tightly as sweat dripped down from my brow. Only four more to go, I can do this.
Norman sent out a staraptor. Not good.
"Return, Flamel! Come on out, Snap!"
Snap roared and took to the air, sizing up his opponent. I had thought about the gym battle long and hard while I was preparing for it. Snap will be my go-to choice if it ever comes down to an aerial battle. I know he won't disappoint.
"Sandstorm!"
Snap flapped his wings and immediately summoned a sandstorm to cover the entire battlefield. Step one complete.
"Screech-sonic! Then Sonic Boom!"
Snap sent out an ear-splitting screech which temporarily threw staraptor off-balance. Snap got a few Sonic Booms in and Staraptor was immediately on the run to avoid Snap's relentless attack. Supersonic probably didn't connect given how fluidly staraptor flew. Snap gave chase, spamming Sonic Booms and trying to cut off staraptor's escape route with rock type techniques. Snap eventually managed to corner Staraptor, summoning a Rock Tomb which staraptor crashed into.
"Dragon Claw!"
Snap's claws glowed with draconic power and immediately went to slash staraptor with it.
"Mirror Move!"
A translucent mirror appeared in front of staraptor, and the effects of Dragon Claw bounced back onto Snap, causing him to back off and roar in pain. Shit, as long as staraptor knew this move, I cannot use any dragon type attacks against it. Dragon type attacks are super effective on Snap.
"Endeavour!"
Staraptor slammed itself into Snap, and the both of them fell down into the ground of the arena, raising a cloud of smoke. This is the worst possible outcome for Snap. Right now, staraptor had managed to bring Snap into the same level of health as it is, destroying Snap's health advantage against it with Endeavour.
"Close Combat!"
Shit. Norman is not planning to give us any time to rest.
"Protect!"
Staraptor slammed against Snap's Protect, clawing and shrieking with its wings and talons. Snap was gradually pushed back as staraptor continued its assault on Snap at close range.
That was his mistake.
"Screech-sonic!"
Snap probably blew staraptor's eardrums apart from the horrible sound as it tried to pull itself away from Snap. I'm not going to let that happen.
"Stone Edge!"
A large jagged rock appeared from the ground and hit staraptor in the chest and Snap followed up by slamming it back down into the ground with an Iron Tail he had learnt from an aggron on our family's farm. We are going to win.
"Flamethrower!"
Snap unleashed a breath of fire upon staraptor. I would have let him use Dragon Breath, but I was afraid of staraptor's Mirror Move, so this is the best ranged attack that we have for this situation. Snap did not master it yet by any means since he only picked it up from Flamel a few days ago, but it is good enough for him to cook his opponents.
"Brave Bird!"
In a seemingly impossible manner, staraptor quickly rose from the ground and crashed into Snap while being bathed in flames. They both collided into a large boulder that Snap summoned earlier during the initial part of the battle in a large cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, both were unconscious as they laid on the ground.
Damn it. We were so close.
Norman sent out a gigantic exploud just as I sent Bigblue into battle. Shit, an exploud.
"Boomburst!"
Exploud roared as the ground trembled and shook from the shock wave of the terrible noise. The shock wave from Boomburst sent Bigblue skidding back as I knelt down in the challenger box in pain from both the noise and my uncooperative body.
I shouted above the noise of Boomburst, hoping that Bigblue can hear me. "Scald! Burn his mouth!"
Thankfully, Bigblue managed to pick up my voice over all this din and sent a blast of scalding hot water straight at exploud. Exploud shifted its body and Scald only managed to hit its side, but we managed to inflict a burn on him. The effect of Boomburst had also subsided and noise levels had returned to normal. I stood up and gave Bigblue his next command.
"Earthquake! Then trap it with Rock Slide!"
Bigblue shook the ground even more violently than what exploud had managed to achieve earlier. Rocks appeared in the air as it came tumbling down to where exploud was, trapping it in a mountain of rocks. This brought us a brief respite, and I need to set up the battlefield for our own use.
"Bigblue, Stealth Rock!"
Numerous jagged rocks appeared and planted itself into the ground, hidden away from the naked eye. A large part of our training other than mastering the moves from the TMs was to also learn new moves from the pokemons in our family's farm or from each other, like Stealth Rock for Bigblue and Iron Tail for Snap. I haven't asked my team to master these moves yet, only requiring them to learn enough to be proficient in it. The mastering part will have to come later after this gym battle, I do not want to spend too much time on our fifth gym in the gym circuit.
Exploud freed itself from the mountain of rocks with Hyper Voice, sending the rocks flying in all directions and crashing against the psychic barriers of the arena. It looked battered and bruised, but still able to keep going.
I need to press on my advantage, I'm not sure if Exploud knew recovery moves like Rest, but I'm not going to give him the chance to use it if that is the case.
"Whirlpool!"
Exploud got sucked into the torrent of swirling waters as it spun around. It only lasted a few seconds, as the waters suddenly stopped swirling as a veil of psychic energy covered the waters and the waters was sent back at Bigblue.
How on earth did this exploud managed to learn Extrasensory!?
Bigblue was unaffected by the water as it crashed against him. He might as well be taking a shower. But that foiled whatever plans that I had cooked up against exploud as I had planned on making a swamp. I saw exploud winced as he lifted itself off the ground. The burned status from Scald must be taking its toll on it. Good, exploud is getting tired. It managed to stop a Whirlpool, I wonder if it can stop even bigger volumes of water?
"Bigblue, Surf! Drown it!"
Exploud might be able to free itself from Whirlpool, but I'd like to see it try freeing itself from the giant waves of water from Surf.
A huge wave of water came crashing down onto exploud as it tried in vain to protect itself from the raging waters. Bigblue rode the waves as exploud was dragged under it. We can finally deliver the finishing blow.
In the water, none of Bigblue's ranged attacks can get close to its targets. The physical power of rock type techniques will be diminished thanks to the buoyancy and density of water, that leaves us with the physical moves.
"Bigblue, Waterfall!"
Bigblue sped through the depths of the water and homed in on exploud as his target.
"Boomburst!"
To my horror, Bigblue was sent flying out of the waters and crashed into the ceiling of the gym before falling back down, dealing a massive amount of damage to Bigblue. How!? Boomburst wasn't that strong before! What changed?
I saw the waters receding and I widened my eyes in realisation. Sound moves faster in water than in the air. Damn it! I miscalculated! Of all times for the laws of physics to make its presence known! The effect of Boomburst got amplified when used underwater!
I saw Bigblue's Torrent ability kick in. We still have a chance, it's now or never.
"Solar Beam!"
Norman beat me to the punch as he commanded exploud to use Solar Beam. Exploud released the beam of light at Bigblue in such short notice that it makes it look as if exploud did not need the time to charge up the attack.
"Battering Ram!"
Bigblue used his powerful hind legs to hurl himself towards exploud with a Take Down, despite having a Solar Beam in the way, and flew through the air. Bigblue brought up the shield of Protect at the last minute and continued his charge, the momentum of Take Down bringing him closer to exploud while maintaining his hold on Protect to protect him from Solar Beam. I saw Norman's eyes widened visibly at this maneuver, and I gave a smirk.
The battering ram idea that I had for Flamel back at Mauville did not work, at least in practice, even after Flamel evolved. What I could do, is to chain two different attacks together to create a similar effect. Flamel will use Take Down to gain momentum, and when he gained enough speed, he will bring up the shields of Protect and ram into his opponents. However, the idea turned out to be better suited for Bigblue instead as Flamel is not proficient in the usage of this move horizontally on the ground, his anatomy did not really allow him to temporarily travel through the air horizontally without needing to move, and he can only use Take Down while running. Flamel is capable of vertical maneuvers of Battering Ram with Bounce, but we usually do not have the luxury of having that particular situation in our favour. I wanted to use it against sawsbuck earlier, but it retaliated with a strong Hyper Beam before we could pull it off. On the other hand, Bigblue is capable of launching himself horizontally off the ground and into the air like a missile with Take Down in almost any direction, as long as he had time to gather energy in his hind legs for a long-range catapult-like jump. The best part is that it can be used horizontally or vertically. So, the idea turned out to be better suited for Bigblue instead.
Time to turn the laws of physics back at Norman. Newton's first law: an object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force. This basically described the laws of inertia, that an object in motion will continue its motion unless it met a force of obstruction. Newton's second law: the force exerted by an object equals to the mass multiplied by its acceleration. An average swampert weighs about 80 kilos, and the acceleration from Take Down is frightening. The resulting force can only be more frightening. There is no Newton in this world, but his law from the previous world still applies in this world. The air resistance that Bigblue faced is negligible compared to the speed he is going, so technically after launching himself off the ground, it is the momentum from Take Down that carries Bigblue forward. Bigblue is not actively moving, just letting himself get carried by the momentum. Anyone remember one of the drawbacks of using Protect? The user cannot move. Well, Bigblue is not moving in this case, and he can gather enough focus to use a Protect while the momentum sends him flying closer to his opponent.
Bigblue crashed into exploud, and Bigblue pinned it to the ground.
"Hammer Arm!"
Bigblue swung his arm and gave exploud a strong, heavy blow on its head, taking it out.
Three pokemon down.
My breaths are getting shorter, and my legs are getting wobbly. There are two more to go and I really want to end this soon.
"Slaking! Come on out!"
The ground shook as slaking appeared for battle. The rocks from stealth rock flew from within the ground and struck it. Slaking wasn't even fazed.
This guy is tough, I can see that.
From what I knew, Norman is an expert on the slaking species. Slaking's ability is Truant, and the owner of said ability usually display this ability by needing time to rest in battle after delivering a single attack. This ability is almost exclusive to the slaking and slakoth species, and sometimes found in the durant species, although such cases are rare. However, for slaking's case, the Truant ability is prominent in its species because slaking's anatomy is weirdly built. Slaking cannot release energy in small, controlled bursts. Every attack it uses are all-or-nothing. Every single attack it launches at its opponent are over-powered, releasing all its pent-up energy in one go. After that, it have to rest to store energy for its next attack. This is why slakings are unable to fire off attacks consecutively. In the wild, this isn't a real concern. There are very little pokemon that can survive a fully powered attack by slaking. However, in trainer battles, this can be a setback despite the fact that slaking can launch over-powered moves. Elite trainers worth their salt can take advantage of the time slaking needed to rest to end the battle, hence slakings are not highly favoured among trainers. That's why Norman is so impressive. Not a single challenger thus far has managed to beat his starter, a slaking, in battle. The furthest anyone has gotten while facing off his starter in an official gym battle was to last six moves from his slaking before their entire team got wiped out.
One move for one pokemon, every single move was a one-hit KO.
There are ways to get around the Truant ability, the most well-known one is by using Skill Swap in double battles with help from slaking's partner pokemon. The effects of removing Truant on slaking is like removing some kind of limiter, allowing slaking to battle without rest. However, such moves are not recommended. Energy has to come from somewhere. Firing off attacks consecutively without rest will severely drain slaking to the point of death. There are rumours that Norman's slaking is capable of surviving such a maneuver, but no one has been able to confirm it.
No one had managed to push Norman to that point.
This slaking is not his starter, but even Bigblue is not suitable to fight it in a contest of strength. No one on my team can, so I recalled him.
Nobody said that I need to face slaking in a contest of strength.
I released Dolly out of her pokeball as she floated into battle. I knew there was a high chance I would be facing slaking, the trademark pokemon of Norman, and I planned on letting Dolly battle it. Dolly's ghost type attacks are unable to affect it, but his slaking's normal type attack cannot affect Dolly too. That will limit his options and cut down his firepower. On the other hand, Dolly have many other moves in her arsenal other than ghost type moves. She is the most suitable in fighting slaking.
"Dolly! Anti-tank maneuvers!"
Dolly reappeared beside slaking from its shadows and used Toxic on slaking. Hex will not have any effect on slaking, so she settled for using a Dark Pulse and blasted it at slaking's face.
Slaking didn't even flinch.
"Get out of there!"
Dolly barely managed to make it out as slaking's Shadow Claw gouged out a huge crater in the ground, reshaping the arena in an instant. A normal Shadow Claw will only leave deep claw marks on the ground at most.
Such insane power, how did Vance survive an attack from a herd of slakings two years ago?
Slaking will not be able to attack for some time after that Shadow Claw, and Dolly took the opportunity to blast it with a combination of electric type attacks, hoping to numb its nerves enough to slow it down later on. She fired Charge Beams, Thunderbolts and Shock Waves while slaking just stood there like an immovable stone, her attacks leaving no traces of damage on it.
Just what do I need to take down this guy!? URGH!
My right hand clutched tightly onto the area of my shirt right above where my heart was. I don't think I can last much longer. I braced myself and saw Dolly glancing at me worriedly. I returned a pained smile and gave out my next command.
"Psychic!"
Dolly let out a wave of psychic energy that wrapped around slaking's frame and send it flying upwards before letting it crash onto the ground below. She levitated the rocks around the area and attempt to bury slaking alive.
Slaking merely gave an angry roar as it batted the rocks away and Norman gave out his next command.
"Shadow Ball!"
Any Naruto fans here? Remember how Kurama managed to form a tailed-beast ball inside Naruto's mindscape right after Naruto snatched away its powers on turtle island? Do you remember the over-sized tailed-beast ball formed by Kurama that eclipsed its entire body size?
You are looking at the Shadow Ball version of it here, except that there is an angry gorilla instead of a nine-tailed fox.
The Shadow Ball formed by slaking was so huge that it looked like a miniature black moon had appeared. Dolly had nowhere to hide. The debris scattered across the arena is not sturdy enough to block slaking's Shadow Ball. She cannot hide in the shadows as the ghostly energy from Shadow Ball will still harm her when it collides with the shadow.
There is only one thing she can do to defend herself.
"Protect!"
I love this move, it saved my team more than once in this battle. It is my best investment thus far and the price of the TM is not even as expensive as the other TMs that I bought.
The Shadow Ball slammed into Dolly's Protect. What I wasn't expecting was for the Shadow Ball to carry on its momentum without stopping and pushed Dolly back all the way to the edge of the arena until Dolly slammed into where the psychic barriers are.
Dolly emerged from the resulting smoke. She was protected from the Shadow Ball, but the force of collision against the psychic barriers had to be painful. If slaking fired off a few more of those, Dolly will get screwed one way or another.
"Dolly, return!"
I sent out Kel, and she immediately fired off several Night Slashes.
"Prediction tactics!"
Kel's eyes glowed briefly as the wind currents changed, and she continued her assault. Kel unleashed any and all attacks she knew. From Stone Edge, Ice Beam, Shock Wave, and the assortment of dark type moves she learnt before she joined me. Slaking took them all, and still looked relatively healthy. Wasn't it supposed to look at least a little affected by Dolly's Toxic?
After a bombardment of attacks from Kel, slaking is ready to attack again. Upon Norman's command, slaking prepared a gigantic Focus Blast the same size as his Shadow Ball previously. I grinned, it is just the move that I hoped Norman will use.
"Kel, Me First!"
Kel immediately unleashed a Focus Blast that is even bigger than slaking's and send it crashing into slaking, disrupting his focus on its own Focus Blast. A big explosion followed suit. Me First is an attack that steals the target's intended move and return it with an even greater power. I was banking on Norman to use a fighting type move on Kel, as that was her only weakness when it comes to pokemon typing, aside from bug and fairy types. It is unlikely that slaking will know and use bug or fairy type moves, so I was expecting something like a Focus Blast. The best part? Slaking's only weakness, typing wise, are also fighting type moves. Slaking will be feeling the effects of that Focus Blast, that's for sure.
To my utter horror, that monster of a slaking remained standing after taking that Focus Blast.
"Unleash Prediction!"
Right on cue, Razor Winds that Kel had previously prepared swirled. The blades of wind collided against slaking which caused it to take a few steps back. A Future Sight attack that Kel had also prepared beforehand unleashed itself as a wave of psychic energy onto slaking, who finally gave a scream.
Kel may be too tired to temporarily pull off any moves after that over-powered Focus Blast, but she can still direct the attacks that she prepared beforehand.
Norman frowned before shouting out his orders. "Feint Attack!"
Slaking immediately dashed across the arena and punched Kel, sending her flying and colliding with the debris. She was punched through the numerous debris and did not stop flying until she slammed into the psychic barriers. Kel laid unconscious on the ground, that Feint Attack took her out of the battle.
One move. Slaking took Kel out with one move, and it was a dark type move that Kel had a natural resistance to.
Just how strong is this slaking?
I sent out Flamel, that slaking could not be feeling too good after all the attacks it received from Dolly and Kel. Dolly's Toxic ought to have some effect on it, and it had been quite some time since he was inflicted with it.
"Sunny Day! Then burn it down!"
Flamel unleashed waves of flames as light shone onto the battlefield, increasing the potency of his flames. Slaking braved through the flames as it walked closer to Flamel as Flamel tried to keep his distance by increasing the output of his fire attacks. Flamel cannot face slaking in a melee fight. It was no use. Slaking slowly made its way towards Flamel and soon forced Flamel into a corner of the arena.
It was then I realised that Norman's slaking must have took too much damage to be able to continue battling for any longer, and it planned to take Flamel down with it.
I gritted my teeth. So this is how he wants to play it? Fine.
"Overheat! Full power!"
"Facade! Take it down!"
Flamel unleashed his Overheat again, this time on slaking, as slaking charged and punched Flamel into the ground, the Facade gaining extra power from slaking's poisoned status. Flamel didn't get back up, and slaking remained standing for a few seconds before succumbing to its injuries and fell face-first into the ground, unconscious.
Norman have one pokemon left, I have Bigblue and Dolly. This could go either way, and I really hoped that his next pokemon isn't another slaking.
He sent out a Blissey as it endured the Stealth Rock. Oh, come on.
Blissey will be one annoying foe to fight against, especially with all the recovery moves it have at its disposal.
But blissey is also Norman's last pokemon. I have a plan in mind, but Dolly is not going to enjoy this.
I sent Dolly out again. She still looked tired from receiving slaking's Shadow Ball, even if she managed to prevent direct damage to herself.
"Dolly, Suicide!"
Dolly howled as she disappeared into the shadows once more, and a painful yelp from blissey told me that Dolly had successfully used Toxic on it. I'm not sure if blissey knows any moves that can remove the poison from its system. But I know for sure that Dolly can place something on blissey that it cannot remove short of returning to its pokeball, which is impossible considering it is Norman's last pokemon.
Dolly reappeared on my side of the arena and gave a ghostly glowed as she shrieked. A ghostly energy that originated from Dolly entered blissey as it grimaced in pain. Thankfully, Dolly did not faint from the usage of that move.
I finally gave Dolly permission to use Curse, a part of her Suicide combo.
For any other pokemon other than ghost types, using Curse will simply raise both its offensive and defensive capabilities at the expense of lowering its speed. For ghost types, they have to sacrifice part of their health to inflict a curse on their target that saps away at the health of the opponent, slowly sending them to their doom. Using such a move has its drawbacks, as using it while the ghost is low on health can send the ghost straight to unconsciousness, or even death, if they used it while on extremely low health.
Blissey still remained very healthy while Dolly seemed to be on her last legs. Time to change that.
"Dolly, Pain Split!"
Dolly shot forward and collided with blissey. The effect is instantaneous. Dolly immediately retreated as the health she stole from blissey slowly healed her wounds while blissey cried out at having its health so forcefully taken away from it.
"Soft-Boiled!"
Blissey's egg glowed in its pouch as it healed itself back. It doesn't matter. Blissey can heal as much as it wants, Dolly will simply steal its health with Pain-Split or Snatch the next time. Blissey's health is still being affected by Toxic and Curse despite the heal, it is a waiting game now. All I need is to defend and steal blissey's health while waiting for Toxic and Curse to bring it down. I just have to play defensively.
"Shadow Ball!"
Blissey threw a Shadow Ball barrage at Dolly, who evaded with ease. Dolly fired back with a Charge Beam. How do I prevent blissey from using recovery moves? Oh wait, there is that move that she learnt not too long ago from Kel.
"Dolly, Taunt! Then Pain Split again!"
Dolly stole health from blissey again, but this time, there's no way it can heal itself with Taunt activated.
"Dolly! Use-ARGH!"
I was forced on my knees as a sudden increased wave of pain washed over me. I bit my lips and stood up, cold sweat dripping from my forehead. I cannot falter now.
Norman looked concerned at my condition and looked as if he wanted to pause the battle. I shook my head, and he nodded back after a short while. He respected my wish to continue the battle and barked out a command to blissey.
"Thunderbolt!"
Intense levels of electricity crackled over blissey's body as she sent it into the ground, ripping the arena from beneath and sent a wave of debris and lightning rolling in Dolly's direction.
"Protect!"
Dolly shielded herself from the attack. Dolly seemed impatient, as if she wanted to end the battle quickly. She most probably realised that my body cannot hold on much longer and the faster she ended the battle, the faster I can go and rest.
I was touched by Dolly's actions, but we cannot trip over our feet now.
"Dolly, focus! Don't worry about me now! Don't let our friends' effort go to waste!"
Dolly grudgingly followed my orders as she chattered from her location. My vision is darkening, and my senses are dulling, I'm trying very hard not to faint on the spot. I probably have 5 minutes, tops, before I succumb to whatever that ails me.
Maybe Dolly is right. I need to end this soon.
Blissey sent out an AOE Thunderbolt again. Dolly had nowhere to hide, unless she creates a hiding place for herself.
"Dolly, Phantom Force!"
Dolly vanished just as the Thunderbolt came roaring at her. Phantom Force is a ghost type move that allows the user to disappear and attack from another location. The attack from Phantom Force's will not affect blissey since blissey is a normal type, but all I wanted was to create a hiding space for Dolly.
Dolly appeared behind blissey, her own Thunderbolt crackling and primed to fire. She was about to blast blissey with it when blissey suddenly spun around and blasted Dolly with a Fire Blast instead.
"Shadow Ball! Don't let up!"
Blissey fired Shadow Balls after Shadow Balls, while Dolly tried to dodge blissey's assault and blocked unavoidable attacks. One Shadow Ball did manage to hit Dolly, and she spiraled in the air briefly before she righted herself.
"Thunderbolt! End it!"
Blissey was too close to Dolly, and Dolly was forced to fly high up in the air from the previous assault, making it impossible for her to dive back into the shadows in time. I don't think she can avoid this.
"Protect!"
Dolly tried to bring up a shield just as blissey's Thunderbolt shot towards her. Dolly was unable to gather enough focus for Protect as the shield sputtered and vanish. The Thunderbolt zapped Dolly and she laid on the ground in a smoking heap.
Fuck.
I sent out Bigblue, who is my only pokemon left for this battle. He is still terribly injured from his battle with exploud as his Torrent ability kicked in once again. I winced in pain, and this time I could not prevent the whimper that escaped my lips. My vision is getting blurry and I could hardly make out what is in front of me. My breaths are getting shorter and I could feel my heart working overtime.
Just one more minute! I cannot fall now! We've come so far! We need to win this! We can win this!
Seeing as how blissey somehow still looked healthier than Bigblue after the onslaught of attacks from Dolly and her Suicide combo, I decided to even the odds. I'm not sure if Taunt is still active after Dolly was taken down. I need to keep up the pressure in case Taunt's effect is gone. Time to give Norman a taste of his own medicine from earlier.
"Bigblue, Endeavour!"
Bigblue slammed into blissey and the Endeavour attack now left the both of them with equal amounts of health, which is not much. Blissey was starting to feel the toll of Toxic and Curse that Dolly had inflicted on it and struggled to remain standing on its feet. Bigblue seemed equally tired and looked as if he could collapse at any time. Both of them can be taken out with a single move from their opponent, it now boils down to a matter of speed. Surf would be better in terms of power, but it takes too long to execute. Only one move left then.
I struggled to stay conscious, and I think I saw Bigblue glancing at me worriedly through my blurry vision.
"SCALD!"
"SHADOW BALL!"
Norman and I both roared our commands at the same time just as our pokemons unleashed their attacks. Bigblue shot out a powerful stream of boiling hot water out of his mouth, empowered by Torrent while blissey threw a massive Shadow Ball at him. Bigblue suddenly swerved his head while still blasting water from his mouth and used the continuous stream of water from Scald like a baseball bat to hit the underside of blissey's Shadow Ball, knocking it away from him. He then pounced on blissey, roaring savagely and proceeded to punch blissey repeatedly with Hammer Arm.
Bigblue had decided to take the initiative to end the battle quickly in his own terms. If the Shadow Ball and Scald collided, they would have just cancelled each other out and the battle will just continue as it is until blissey fell to Dolly's Toxic and Curse combo. We would have won the battle either way. He could have waited it out and employed defensive tactics with his rock techniques and Protect, we had went through this scenario. Bigblue is fully capable of defending himself even in this state, but he does not want to drag it out any longer.
For my sake.
He wanted to let me witness our victory while I'm still conscious.
"Big...Blue..."
I could feel my legs weakening as I struggled to stand, my words slurred out of my mouth as I finally surrendered to the pain. My hands loosened its grip on the handrails as I saw Bigblue running towards me away from the fallen blissey, roaring worriedly at me. I could also make out Norman's blurry figure as he ran to where I was, and I think I heard him shouting at me to stay awake. My legs buckled, and I fell painfully onto the ground, but I was too tired to scream out in pain. All I could see were darkness as I heard muffled sounds around me. I used the last of my strength to fumble for Bigblue's pokeball. He might have won, but he is too injured, and it will be dangerous to leave him outside his pokeball for too long.
I managed to tap onto the release button on Bigblue's pokeball to recall him, and I knew no more.