Lyra pushed through the waist-high snow stubbornly, not letting the intense cold affect her. Her Typhlosion followed closely behind, providing both warmth and a calming presence. Both were quite necessary, considering where she was; on Mount Silver.
The deadliest mountain in the known Pokémon world. This wasn't because of the sheer drops contained inside, or the random cracks in the ground that led deep into the earth, or the tendency for ledges to crack apart because of minute pressure. Although these were pretty bad in itself. It was because out of every mountain, this one had the worst Pokémon in existence on it.
Groups of Onix burrowed through the entire mountain, leaving caves that would eventually collapse upon themselves, bringing unfortunate Pokémon and lost trainers with it. Packs of Sneasel hunted almost everywhere, using their superior speed to take down Golbat, Zubat, and the unlucky trainer. Flocks of Golbat populated in the thousands, their poison strong enough to kill a trainer or untrained Pokémon within seconds. And, if someone was really unlucky and stupid, they would come across a Tyranitar nest, and die slowly. Overall, it wasn't a place someone would live in.
However, a powerful trainer was said to be on top of it. Some said it was Red, the champion who had disappeared years ago after disbanding Team Rocket (temporarily). Others said it was an ancient warrior, immortal and still alive from the times when Kanto and Johto were a mismatch of tribes, and Pokémon weren't even kept in pokeballs.
Lyra was betting on Red, if Blue's information was anything to go by.
She climbed up a final incline, though she was unaware of this. Slowly a peak of red made itself clear. As she climbed up the final step, she found herself facing the Champion of Kanto.
They stood there for a second, both not saying a thing. Red was facing away from her, hands in his pocket, but his Pikachu was sparking eagerly. Eventually, Lyra spoke up.
"Did you know I was coming?" Lyra asked him.
"Hard not to when half the mountain's being blown up by your Typhlosion." Red teased back at her. Lyra's jaw nearly dropped.
"You talk?" She said. Everything she had ever heard about him indicated that he never spoke to anyone but his mother.
"Of course. It's just that no one ever wanted me to." Red said. This, Lyra understood. She barely spoke as well, since most strangers in the areas she went to preferred to speak first without the expectation of anything beyond yes/no answers. It was usually up to the newcomers to initiate a conversation beyond this. A strange custom, to be sure, but a common one in the Pokémon world.
"I understand." Lyra said honestly. Red turned around, a grin stretching across his face. Lyra shivered. From where she was standing, it looked disturbingly similar to a grin on a wood carving of a Gengar she had seen back Ecruteak City. That was the only way to put it.
"I guess you came to challenge me?" Red asked her. Lyra nodded breathlessly, suddenly scared of what this might entail. Red ran away from her several paces, moving seemingly effortlessly through the deep snow. A few seconds later, there was about a little longer than a football field's length between them.
"Try not to hit me!" Red said maniacally. It had been too long since he had talked to another human being, or even battled one.
"Typhlosion, go on." Lyra said. Typhlosion leapt forward, flames rising out of its back. The snow melted, leaving a ring around the fire Pokémon. Lyra felt a swift breeze that had resulted from the mixture of warm and cool air.
Without a sound, a goliath of a Pokémon appeared from the sky. Before Lyra could react and order something, a Snorlax fell onto Typhlosion, in a Body Slam attack.
"Typhlosion, Blast Burn!" Lyra ordered quickly, wanting to knock out the Snorlax as quickly as possible. Snorlax did so, launching the giant Snorlax into the air and causing a giant wave of energy to slam through the area, knocking snow and air past herself. She grinned- it had been too long since she had fought in anything other than a League arena. Faintly, she heard Red's Pikachu yell, and found that grin disappearing.
Typhlosion was slammed into the ground by Snorlax again, having just used Giga Impact, having been unable to dodge due to using Blast Burn. Lyra cursed, but then smiled again. Snorlax would have to rest as well.
"Typhlosion, one more time, use Blast Burn." Lyra said confidently. No Pokémon that wasn't strong against fire could take two Blast Burns from Typhlosion.
Typhlosion seemed to hear this and lit up in an explosion again, lighting up the field once more. The ground was now a mix of rocky, unstable footing and slush. Lyra strained her eyes, noting that Red wasn't taking out a pokeball to return his Snorlax.
Overconfident, isn't he? Lyra thought to herself. This was soon dispelled, when the smoke cleared.
Snorlax was barely hurt, the fire only leaving a slight scorching of its fur. It patted its belly, waving away the smoke, while the unmoving Typhlosion looked at Snorlax in shock.
"Crunch." Red ordered. Snorlax opened its mouth an obscene amount and chomped down, swallowing Typhlosion all the way to the middle of its body, and started to shake it viciously.
"Typhlosion, break out with Swift." Lyra ordered, panicking. The way that this Snorlax was shaking Typhlosion didn't seem like a Pokémon battle, it seemed like a wild Houndoom attempting to tear meat off of a Mareep. Red turned to his Pikachu and whispered something, the Pikachu relaying an order to Snorlax. Snorlax nodded and dropped the unconscious and wounded Typhlosion.
"Sorry." Lyra whispered sadly, returning the defeated Pokémon. She looked up at the Snorlax. She had never seen a Pokémon with that much endurance…
The reason hit her like a train. Thick Fat, the trait in Snorlax that allowed it to resist fire and ice. It may have even snuck an Amnesia or two in there to better resist the attack.
"Hitmontop, Triple Kick." Lyra yelled. The Hitmontop sped toward Snorlax and hit it thrice, but it only seemed to jiggle the Pokémon's belly. Before Lyra and Hitmontop could react, it blasted forward with a Body Slam, crushing Hitmontop. Before Hitmontop could move, Snorlax used Body Slam again and crushed the Pokémon. Snorlax rolled itself off of the fighting Pokémon gently, revealing another knocked out Pokémon.
"Dragonite, Extremespeed." Lyra said, nearly snarling as she returned her Hitmontop. It had been a long time since anyone had ever pushed her this hard. Her Dragonite flew forward and smashed into Snorlax.
"Draco Meteor." Lyra ordered. The Dragonite obeyed, blasting Snorlax point-blank before it could react. Once again, an explosion flew through the battlefield, and once again Lyra was unable to see anything. She strained her eyes, and to her relief saw the Snorlax flat on the ground, a slightly injured Dragonite standing above it.
"Your Snorlax is defeated, you should probably return it." Lyra told Red, who was motionless. Her Dragonite suddenly yelled, nearly hitting Lyra as it was thrown through the air. She looked in shock, sure that the Snorlax was back up, but it was still out like a light.
"Dragonite, what happened?" Lyra asked concernedly, as her Dragonite zoomed in with another Extremespeed. It slammed into the Snorlax hard, causing Lyra to wince.
"It's knocked out Dragonite, stop attacking it!" Lyra ordered. For some reason, Dragonite continued to disobey her, preparing to launch another point blank Extremespeed, before the Snorlax slammed into Dragonite with a Giga Impact, and then falling to the ground once more. Again, a realization hit Lyra like a rogue train. Snorlax was using the most obvious moves it would have in its repertoire; Rest and Sleep Talk. Lyra cursed, whether she lost or won this battle was irrelevant. She would have to talk to her Pokémon and apologize for her idiocy afterwards.
"Dragonite, Draco Meteor from the air." Lyra ordered. Dragonite ascended and fired, raining draconic ball of energy after draconic ball of energy upon Snorlax. Lyra paused for a second, as did the fighting, when an incredibly loud noise ripped through the air. Lyra winced empathetically for her Dragonite- that Snore attack was murderous.
The Snorlax was awake now, though it was bruised by the Draco Meteor. It started to fire Ice Beams, getting startling close to hitting Dragonite while it zoomed around in the air.
"Extremespeed, then Thunder Punch." Lyra ordered, hoping this would be enough to finish off Snorlax. Dragonite zoomed in, slamming into Snorlax too fast to react properly, before going back in again with a large Thunder Punch. Flashes of electricity flew from the spot, before Snorlax finally toppled over. Lyra was about to order another attack in a fit of deep paranoia before the large Pokémon was returned by Red. Without a word, he sent out a leviathan.
Lyra's jaw nearly dropped. She had an adult Lapras, and no Lapras that she knew about grew this large. It nearly took up the entire length of the space between them. Instead of a friendly face that met her, the Lapras had a cruel predatory gaze. Lyra nearly shuddered in fear. This Pokémon's shell-spikes were as large as Lyra was. She had heard about Lapras being endangered. This Lapras didn't look like it would ever have to fear a predator beyond something like a legendary. Two Pokémon Centers could probably fit inside the Pokémon's gullet.
"I can't fight that!" Lyra screamed in near hysteria. Red laughed loudly, his voice carrying itself across to Lyra.
"Sure you can, just put a little distance between you and Lapras. Her Surf attacks are tsunamis." Red said hysterically. Lyra just shuddered. If that Pokémon's attacks scaled with its size, she could believe it. The Nurse Joy at the Pokémon Center that was at the base of Mount Silver had warned her of strange instant floods that had plagued Mount Silver in the last few years. This must have been the origin of those floods.
"I'm going to have two Pokémon out, but one of them is going to have me up in the air." Lyra yelled at Red.
"Great, I'll do the same." Red said. He sent out a vaguely red shape that Lyra assumed was his Charizard. It carried Red into the air, roaring its name.
"Dragonite, carry me into the air." Lyra said. It followed these orders, flying her into the air as she sent out her Pokémon that would fight this monster.
Red strained his eyes, trying to figure out what this Pokémon was, before finally recognizing it. Not too many trainers used this one. This, he decided would be interesting.
"Toxic." Lyra whispered in Dragonite's ears for the dragon to pass on. Dragonite roared, and Lyra's Pokémon unleashed a huge amount of purple. She quickly returned it, not a second too soon- a Hydro Pump the width and height of a two-story house blasted past where her Shuckle had just been.
Lyra shivered. Even with that Toxic weakening his Lapras, this would be difficult. She sent out her Gyarados, the rare shiny Pokémon roaring in an attempt to Intimidate the Lapras. It sort of worked- the Lapras looked at Gyarados like an actual opponent, rather than prey. Lyra just shook her head. Her Gyarados was larger than the average Gyarados, and was still dwarfed by the massive bulk of that large Lapras.
"Dragon Tail!" Lyra ordered, before the Lapras could attack. Gyarados hit the Lapras, initially doing nothing, until the effects of the move slooooooooowly took effect. Lapras tried to resist the pull of the move, but instead seemed to decide to fire a Thunderbolt instead, deeply hurting her Gyarados. Lyra winced at the damage she knew that would do to her Pokémon.
When the Lapras finally flew into the pokeball (Lyra doubted she would ever see something that big other than the Lapras fly like that) Red sent out another Pokémon, surprising Lyra by flying back to the ground and sending forward his Charizard. Lyra followed suit and landed, keeping out her Dragonite in case she needed to fly back into the air.
"Gyarados, Aqua Tail." Lyra told it. Gyarados did so, and to Lyra's surprise the attack hit, the Charizard choosing to take the heavy damage. She pondered this momentarily, knowing that Red's Charizard wasn't a tank- another Aqua Tail would bring it down. Her confusion was solved when her Gyarados groaned, the snarled cry of pain echoing through the battlefield. She looked at the smoking tail, and realized what had happened- Charizard had neutralized Gyarados's incredible physical strength with a sneaky Will-O-Wisp. At this, she nearly broke down in frustration. Would she be allowed to do anything without it being turned completely against her?
"Hyper Beam!" Lyra yelled desperately, knowing that the earlier Thunderbolt combined with Gyarados's burn would soon have it out of order. Gyarados followed through, hitting the injured dragon before it could fly away. Stone chips flew through the air, the Hyper Beam having displaced an obscene amount of the summit. Red had had to hide behind a rock to dodge the explosion, the attack having taken place closer to him than it was to Lyra. He returned his Charizard wordlessly, before sending out his Lapras. Gyarados barely managed to move in time before the bulk of the Lapras could smash into the sea serpent.
"Gyarados, Flamethrower." Lyra yelled, not wanting to give Lapras a chance to attack. The fire washed over the leviathan, causing a scream of pain to wash over the entire battlefield. Lyra's eyes flew open.
"Flamethrower again!" Lyra yelled. The fire washed over Lapras, causing it to squeal in pain before picking Gyarados up with a surprise Psychic and tossing it away.
"Well, there goes that." Lyra muttered to herself in defeat. This Lapras was strangely weak to fire, but Red had just knocked out her best prospect. She took out a pokeball to return her Gyarados, before it suddenly roared and flew at Lapras, fire spewing form its mouth. Lyra's spirits soared. She might not be able to win this battle, but she could take down this monster.
This sudden turn in fortune seemed to displease Red, because it earned his first order to his Pokémon that wasn't said through another Pokémon.
"Lapras, get over that ember and use Blizzard." Red told his writhing Pokémon. Its trainer's voice seemed to awaken Lapras's attention, and it blasted Gyarados with an unimaginably large white-wash of snow. Lyra's Dragonite, which had been standing next to Lyra that whole time flew in front of Lyra, its wings extended as far as possible in order to shield her. Lyra watched in amazement and slight horror as Dragonite's wings frosted up, the dragon giving a slight whine. Even with her Pokémon shielding Lyra from the Blizzard, she still felt the slush beneath her flash-freeze. After what seemed like forever, her Dragonite relaxed and gave Lyra a view of the battlefield again.
Her Gyarados was frozen solid, icicles running down the strange whiskers on either side of its face.
"Lapras, use a weak Thunderbolt to defrost her Gyarados." Red ordered sportingly. Lyra watched as the "weak Thunderbolt", which looked like a Thunderbolt from Lt. Surge's Raichu hit Gyarados, melted the ice. It also allowed the Gyarados to seize up from all the voltage, paralyzing it slightly before the sea serpent fell over.
Lyra shuddered, looking at the Lapras. Sure, it was poisoned, the Toxic effect doing slightly more damage as the time passed, but it still had at least enough time to battle for another minute or two. She considered this for a second before sending her Shuckle out once more. If she played this smartly, she could draw out the battle long enough to bring down the Lapras.
"Lapras, Surf." Red ordered. Lapras moved incredibly fast, rising up in the air one second, a wave under it the next, and flying at Shuckle last.
"Protect!" Lyra yelled as she was pulled out of the way by her Dragonite. It was just in time, as her feet skimmed the crest of the wave. She watched the water wash over the entire area, knocking sand, rock, and ice loose. It was as if the entire peak of Mount Silver had become a river. It wasn't the first time she had appreciated the power of Pokémon to control the elements, but it would be one of her more memorable experiences.
Lyra watched the ground below, Lapras sitting where she had just been. This made her realize what Red had just risked in what he was pulling.
"Are you trying to get me killed?" Lyra screamed to Red as Dragonite flew her over the Lapras so she could see her Shuckle.
"Lapras would have picked you up if you didn't get out of there fast enough." Red screamed back at her. Lyra just shook her head and looked down. To her pleasure, Shuckle was still standing, undamaged by the Surf. Sure, it was shivering in extreme fright, having just weathered a tsunami followed by a wash of ice and rock, and then rolling out of the way of the big-ass Lapras, but it was pretty much undamaged.
"Power Split!" Lyra yelled in triumph. Orbs of power flew out of Lapras and entered Shuckle.
"Hydro Pump." Red yelled. Lapras fired again, but to his shock Shuckle was able to use Protect instinctively, for the second time in a row. Also noticeable was that the Hydro Pump was a lot smaller, only about half as large as before.
"Stone Edge Shuckle." Lyra told her Pokémon. Several rocks flew at Lapras, far larger than any Shuckle had ever thrown before. Each one was about a quarter the size of Lapras's head. They all struck true, hitting Lapras's soft chin. For a dramatic moment, Lapras shrieked in agony, in an almost musical fashion. Lyra watched this in amazement, before Lapras's neck finally dipped, and it closed its eyes.
"My Lapras is unable to battle." Red yelled to her, returning the giant Pokémon. For the first time in several minutes, the field was clear again.
"Return your Dragonite briefly, and then you can send it out again." Red yelled to her. Lyra was suspicious with this request, but did so, Red doing the same for his Pikachu. For a moment, the field was quiet, when his Pikachu rambled forward. Lyra nearly smiled at his choice, but then instantly tamed it. Red knew what Shuckle was best at, and obviously had a plan for it.
"Safeguard." Lyra ordered, deciding to play it safe.
"Agility." Red ordered in response. His Pikachu started to zoom around like crazy, zipping near to Shuckle before flying away, teasing the slow Pokémon.
"Encore." Lyra ordered confidently. Shuckle clapped its feelers briefly, a strange energy flying through the field. Pikachu was now caught in a trap of using Agility. It was faster than her Shuckle anyway, so it wouldn't matter how fast it got.
"Keep going." Red said, as if he had a choice. Lyra was suspicious with this, wondering what he was planning. Was he going to Baton Pass? No, Pikachu couldn't learn Baton Pass. She reviewed the last minute of the battle. Lapras passing out dramatically, Pikachu coming forward and using Agility.
Red had done something. He wouldn't need Agility for attacking Shuckle. He was delaying for some reason.
She was brought out of her musings by the sudden collapse of Shuckle. Pikachu stopped moving, skidding to a stop in front of Lyra's Shuckle. It poked her Shuckle, before chirping loudly to Red.
"Your Shuckle has fainted." Red yelled to her, much to Lyra's shock. She was almost paralyzed with curiosity, and even a little… fear? Why was she so afraid of Red? He was just a good Pokémon trainer, wasn't he?
"Ok, I've got to know. How did you do that?" Lyra asked. Red grinned again, making Lyra shiver at his freakish, Cheshire grin once more.
"Maybe I'll tell you once this is all over." Red said in response. She just nodded silently before returning her Shuckle. She looked to her Dragonite, who was shivering still from Lapras's Blizzard, and was still injured from the battle with Snorlax.
"My Dragonite is unable to battle. It got injured from the Blizzard earlier." Lyra yelled to Red.
"Sorry about that. How about I withdraw my Snorlax from battling, since I hit your Dragonite when it wasn't battling?" Red offered.
"I thought it was defeated!" Lyra nearly shrieked. Red laughed at this, making her somewhat upset. He sent out the fat Pokémon, which stumbled out and stood up. She was horrified to see it was still standing, albeit with a similar bill of health to her Dragonite.
"Withdrew it before you could finish it off." Red said, shrugging.
"Ok, let's just call it unable to battle, like my Dragonite." Lyra said weakly. Red nodded and returned it, before sending out his Pikachu once more. Lyra fingered her last pokeball. Inside was her strongest Pokémon, the only one that could turn this battle around still. She paused for a second, before thinking of something.
"Is your Charizard able to battle still?" Lyra asked him.
"He probably could, but I'll keep him on standby to taxi us down the mountain when I've beaten you." Red said, his confidence grating on Lyra's nerves.
"We'll see about that." Lyra said. She was lucky her Shuckle had used Safeguard earlier- paralyzing this Pokémon would mean losing the battle. This was her last resort, something she rarely used, a Pokémon that she normally considered an unfair advantage. She shrugged at this thought. If anyone could defeat it, Red could.
"Lugia, Aeroblast." Lyra said, a silver whir flying out of the pokeball one second, an explosion happening around Pikachu the next. She saw the electric mouse barely dive out of the way, being hit by the shock of the explosion, before zipping away with Agility.
"Thunder Wave." Red ordered, before blinking in surprise as the move disappeared in midair. Pikachu barely managed to step out of the way of another Aeroblast. He flashbacked to Lyra ordering her Shuckle to use Safeguard. Red grinned. Time to surprise her.
"Volt Tackle." Red said. Lyra was more than a bit confused at this- how did he expect his Pikachu to reach Lugia when it was flying full speed through the air, only pausing to throw a half-second Aeroblast?
This was answered quickly as Pikachu started climbing through the air, stepping on faint transparent panels doing so. Lyra looked at this in shock. Pikachu was forming weak Light Screen moves as it went higher, going as fast as Lugia was thanks to the millions of Agility moves used. Normally, this wouldn't be possible with Light Screen, but with the amount of electricity surrounding Pikachu, the panels supported the mouse long enough to climb further. The sky was literally glowing yellow, Pikachu more closely resembling a yellow meteor than a flying mouse.
Pikachu closed the distance between it and Lugia, matching the Pokémon turn for turn. Lyra knew that her flying legendary could take the attack, but she needed Lugia to take out three of Red's Pokémon. She thought for a second about how to counter this, when a smile split across her face, one rivalling Red's own Cheshire smile.
"Punishment." Lyra said. With the amount of Agility moves Pikachu had used, it would be obscenely powerful. Red, while not recognizing this move was about to order his Pikachu to break off and use Thunderbolt instead, only for Lugia to hit Pikachu with its wing, a large amount of dark energy on the tips of its feathers. For a second, it seemed like the earth stood still, electricity meeting darkness, when the darkness won out. Pikachu was blasted forward, all power behind its Volt Tackle gone, hurt both by recoil and by the powerful dark move. Lugia instinctively dove down and use Punishment again on Pikachu, and then clipped the mouse one more time with Aeroblast before Pikachu hit the ground, skidding until it hit a rock that broke into a million pieces as it broke the mouse's momentum.
Lyra was horrified at this, afraid for a moment that she had killed the mouse. To her shock, Pikachu stepped out of the rubble, only moderately injured.
"How is that possible?" Lyra asked, her voice breaking as she yelled the question to Red. Not even his Lapras would have been able to take two full power Punishments in a row, followed by an Aeroblast and stand up so nonchalantly.
"My Lapras is a tank, sure." Red said, choosing to allow a temporary lull in the battle in order to give his Pikachu a break. "But I've been with my Pikachu for much longer." He chose not to mention how he had seen his Pikachu had blocked the second Punishment attack with a reactive Iron Tail. "Thunderbolt."
"Calm Mind." Lyra ordered. Lugia got hit by the Thunderbolt and screamed, only able to perform the Calm Mind move afterward.
"Ancientpower." Lyra followed up with. Rocks after rocks flew at Pikachu, only for the mouse to zoom by each one. No matter what, the move missed. Not that the purpose of the attack was a failure however- she saw a tell-tale sheen appear on Lugia's body, telling her that Lugia had gotten a power boost from using the attack.
"Damn." Red said to himself. That would make things harder. "Full power Thunderbolt." His Pikachu wouldn't be able to bring down this bird thing, but he would be able to soften it up enough for his Blastoise.
For the briefest second, Pikachu lit up the entire summit, yellow light flickering on the water, ice, and rock. Then lighting seemed to descend from the heavens, managing to hit Lugia. For a second, two, Lyra saw a more powerful electric attack than she had ever seen before, even from her Raikou. After the attack finally ended, Lugia flew down to the ground, panting for air, feathers singed at the tips. Red's Pikachu seemed to wobble for a bit before collapsing. Red returned his Pikachu to its pokeball (a rare occurrence) before sending out his Venusaur.
To his shock, Lugia flew off again, as if healed slightly. Then a thought hit him. That wasn't a small breather after the electricity, it was Roost. She had probably drilled her Lugia to Roost slightly in between an opponent switching Pokémon out.
Red smiled. This trainer was almost as devious as he was. Almost.
"Pikachu is unable to battle." Red told her. Lyra nodded, mentally telling herself one down, two to go.
"Venusaur, Energy Ball." Red ordered. Green spheres of energy started flying through the air, going so fast and accurately that Lugia was forced to move from side to side to dodge it.
"Lugia, just dive through it and use Psychic." Lyra told her Pokémon, knowing that Energy Ball wouldn't hurt very much, and that she could use Psychic to deal some heavy damage. Lugia did so, ignoring the glancing blows the attack did to its body.
Red smiled. This is where Venusaur's secret strength came into use. "Sludge bomb."
Lugia was fazed by the sudden explosion of poison on its flank, and quickly halted in midair in shock. This was long enough of a pause for Venusaur to nail Lugia twice more with Sludge Bomb before Lugia dived out of there. This, unfortunately was enough to poison Lugia.
Lyra cursed. She hadn't want to spam Aeroblast anymore, since it took a lot out of Lugia, but she had no choice.
"Aeroblast." Lyra yelled. Lugia unleashed the attack, only for Venusaur to disappear in a flash, and be replaced with a Blastoise that hurtled through the air using Rapid Spin, hitting Lugia's side. Before Lyra could react, Blastoise grabbed onto Lugia's wing, held on tight by using Strength, and then unleashed a point blank Flash Cannon.
This lead to both of them hurtling toward the ground, with Red being the only one who could actually recall his Blastoise and replace it with his Venusaur. Luckily for Lyra, her Lugia managed to right itself before impacting the earth.
"Leech seed." Red told Venusaur, happy over this boon Blastoise had given him. He had sent out Blastoise with the whispered request to "do some damage", and the turtle had more than delivered.
Large viney seeds enveloped Lugia, draining energy from its already weakened body. Poison coursed through the legendary Pokémon's veins. A lot of health was already gone in the first place. Lugia breathed hard, knowing it had lost. Even if it took down Venusaur here and now, it would be too weak to fight the full strength Blastoise. In a final, last ditch action to at least bring Venusaur down with it, Lugia used Psychic. A momentary wince of pain from Venusaur later, and Lugia collapsed.
For a moment, the battlefield was silent. Finally, Red started crossing over to Lyra, sidestepping the small (or in the case of the hole where Gyarados had let loose its Hyper Beam, large) craters. After a minute of walking, Red had his hand extended for Lyra to shake. She took his offer.
"Great battle." Red said. He hadn't felt that alive in a long time.
"Same." Lyra said, strangely happy over how the battle had turned out. She hadn't been pushed into a corner that badly since Whitney and her Miltank, when her Typhlosion had still been a tiny Quilava. For a moment, neither said anything, when Lyra spoke up.
"So what was with my Shuckle fainting mysteriously?" Lyra asked. At this, Red grinned widely. He debated telling her for a second, before deciding to as a consolation prize.
"You remember my Lapras fainting?" Red asked her.
"Yes…" Lyra said, not sure where this was going.
"Well," Red said, scratching the back of his head. "My Lapras actually used one more attack as it collapsed. Remember when it cried out?"
"Perish Song." Lyra said breathlessly. That was genius initiative on the part of his Pokémon. No other Pokémon's Perish Song was that deep, so only Red would have recognized it. That was why he had had her return Dragonite, and he Pikachu.
"Yeah, I was pretty proud of Lapras there. By the way," Red said, deciding to give away another secret. "My Pikachu is actually a lightweight to attacks."
"Then how did it take both Punishments?" She asked, surprised. "And the Aeroblast?"
"It took the first Punishment head on, although the Volt Tackle weakened it, I think. But the second attack Pikachu used Iron Tail to take the majority of the damage. As for Aeroblast, you ignore that Pikachu had been using Light Screen to climb through the sky. Pikachu still had protection from energy based attacks like that.
"Wow." Lyra said, trying to think of how her Ampharos could use a similar strategy. Red could see the gears running in her head and chuckled; it was remarkably similar to his own face when he was planning something.
"Why don't we talk more down at the Pokémon Center?" Red said, sending out his Charizard. The lizard looked huffy at Red's decision to keep him from the battle, but obediently allowed Red onto its back.
"Want a ride? I'm going to stop there anyway." Red offered. Lyra took his hand, grinning
"Sure." She said, settling in as the dragon soared down Mt. Silver, ignoring the hurricane-force winds that would normally deter the mightiest of Bird Keeper trainers. They descended, unaware of this being a beginning to a journey, rather than another part of their destination.