Chapter Three: LEVEL 10 PART 3 OF 3
My final challenger for the Baby level came in, and It was a young hiker, somewhere in his early 20's. Oh and he wasn't... Fat.
He had on the normal hiker garb; light brown boots, brown vest over green shirt, a black backpack at the back of the room- I think he said something about having the tower's many flights of stairs being the same as a mountain- That was probably full of equipment and maybe even rocks.
Is that a Geodude I see in there?
Aaaanywaaay, he told me his name was Anthony and I was ready to have Jaws wreck his team of rock/ground types. There was the possibility that he had a Machop...
"Go, Jaws!"
Please be a Geodude... Please be a Geodude...
"Go, Machop!"
Dang it.
"Ice Beam!" I ordered, wanting to end this quick, not seeing Anthony's smirk as anything serious...
"Thunder Punch!"
Double dang it!
"D-dodge!" I hastily commanded, but it was a bit too late.
The Machop had braved the cold of Jaws' Ice Beam and slugged it with a fist full of electricity, really hurting Jaws.
"Dig!"
"Detect! Whack when it comes up!"
Oh, come on!
The Machop went still as a statue while I took a free precious seconds to think of a plan. Detect was a move that tensed the body like a spring, so much so that it could react to stimuli the very moment that it appeared, making sure the Pokémon dodge the hit. The problem was that it wore the Pokémon out quick, so it couldn't do that much until it relaxed.
My idea was to prevent that. Bingo.
"Attack!" I yelled loudly, pointing at the Machop though my Pokémon couldn't see me.
Dusty took the feint and concentrated on the battle intensely, leaving me to stamp my boot in peace, alerting Jaws to the new plan.
At the ninth second, my Pokémon burst out of the ground like a shark from a gory film, except the fact that he had been out of range. The Machop immediately turned on a dime with a Thunderpunch at the ready, but it couldn't hit anything, losing the Detect status.
Now was my chance.
"Ice Beam Frost!"
"Power-Up PUNCH!"
We both watched as the Machop fairly flew through the beam, heading towards Jaws and slugging him in the jaw. Jaws bounced on the floor twice and lay still, groaning a bit. I instantly returned him, hoping that he hadn't been knocked out, before sending out a Pokémon I should've used from the get-go...
"Hooooooooot!" Gahoole hooted, flying high.
"Peck!"
"Return! Geode!"
"H-Hypnosis!"
My quick save saved Gahoole; the Geodude was already curling into a Rollout, and the hypnotic waves put it to sleep immediately.
"Return! Jaws!"
"Return! Machop!"
Damnit all! Anthony was smirking at me smugly. If I switched in to Gahoole, the Thunderpunch would strike him down...
"RETURN! Kiara!"
"Return! Geode!"
"Go! Jaws!"
"Go, Machop!"
"Kiara, Hidden Power!"
"Go, Geode!"
Success! The Steel-type Hidden Power burned right through to the Geodude, dealing a good amount of hurt.
"Flash!"
"Rock Polish!"
We both shielded our eyes from the blinding light coming from Kiara, and when it died down, I saw an incredibly smooth and sleek Geodude staring unfocused at Kiara.
"Hidden Power!"
"Dodge! Use Mud Sport!"
The ground of the floor was soon covered in a black slime that Geodude coughed up. I thought it was a Poison move at some point, until I saw the Geodude dive into it, using Rollout and its new speed to gather a coating of mud which deadened the impact of the Hidden Power, though it still pushed it back a bit. Kiara would have a very hard time moving on that slop or discharging electricity at all...
"Attract!"
"Rock Throw!"
Kiara missed her steps and the earthy smell of the mud messed up the pheromones, meaning that a rock went zooming at my poor Pokémon's face at an alarming speed.
I slightly panicked, but I knew a sacrifice was to be made. I mouthed the word 'sorry' to Kiara...
"Spark the ground!"
The rock hit her face hard, probably breaking her delicate nose, but she had done her job. The ground around her had caked a bit, making it manageable.
"Again!"
"Magnitude!"
The wave of earth that moved was so miniscule and weak that Kiara simple stepped over it. I'd say it was a four. Meanwhile, the earth around her had started to really dry, while the surrounding land around that had started to dry as well.
It seemed like Anthony got why it wasn't working well, and commanded a Rock Throw instead, taking out my fragile Shinx.
"Grr... Jaws! Flood!"
"Go, Machop! Thunderpunch!"
The Machop simply slipped on the muddy ground, which was enhanced by the water, and grounded itself...
...While I was safe and on 'dry' land.
"Get close with Power-Up Punch!"
"Keep hm at Bay! Water Gun"
The jet of water slowed the charging humanoid enough for him to trip on the floor again. Time to finish this dangerous tank.
"Ice Rink!"
The water in the ground partly froze, freezing mud and freezing the Machop to the ground.
"Get out of there!"
"Right! Let's help ya! Dig!"
There was silence for a few seconds and then almost in slow motion, Jaw 'broke through'; headbutting Machop out of the ice like a complete boss. The Machop landed on the ground with a crash and we didn't even need to look at the Status Monitor on the wall to know he was knocked out.
"Damn... Go Aron! Iron Head!"
"Punch through! Water Gun!"
"Protect! Roar!"
"Dig!"
It was a race against time, but I eventually lost; the menacing soundwave was powerful, and it knocked Jaws back before he could even get half of himself underground.
League Rules state that the 'Switch Moves' were to be followed as it would be in the wild, so I really urned the stunned and slightly scared Totodile to his ball. My only hope would be that Jaws would be okay before Gahoole got trashed.
"Rock Tomb!"
"Dodge! Hypnosis!"
"Iron Head!"
"Confusion!"
The psywaves we're deadened by the plating on the tiny Titan, but luckily, they had done their job. It was confused.
While it skidded along the floor and into the wall, I switched for Jaws. He was was screwed.
"Water Gun!"
"Protect!"
The water wash off like off a Ducklett's back.
"Dig!"
"Rock Tombstone!"
I was interested in what Tombstone meant, but I didn't want to find out at my expense.
Meanwhile, the Aron had already pushed a few mounds of dirt up and Hardened them into Rock.
Now, it was a waiting game...
Somewhere around the ninth second, my resolve broke, and I yelled for the attack.
Jaws burst out...
And got promptly whack-a-Digletted.
"Bwaah?"
"Figured you out. I'm a hiker, digging's my thing. Can't fool me with it.
My technique was to have Jaws not move anywhere at all. He would then jump out and score a Water Gun, ending the Steel/Rock type. He had predicted that somehow, and threw all of the slabs on my poor Pokémon's head, knocking him out. This would be tough.
"Damn..."
Wait a sec... The status monitors!
I looked, and what I saw was amazing...
Jaws burst through under the Aron and lightly held it in his mouth before channeling a Water Gun at point blank range.
I cried tears of joy as I was relieved that my Pokémon did this by himself.
"How?! Great... Geode..." The hiker yelped, tossing in his Geodude, which nearly got cleared in half by the Torrent Powered Water Gun.
With the battle done, he walked over to me.
"What happened?!"
"Uh, trade secret?"
The deadpan look that Anthony was giving me told me that I wasn't gonna fool my way out of this one.
"Okay, okay. He disobeyed me. I told him to hide in his home, which he did, but instead of firing a Water Gun at your Around, he fired a Water Gun skywards, jetting him down. Sure, the rocks hit him, but between him dodging, him reducing their speed with his water, and going in the same direction they were which nullified the speed completely, it was miniscule. While I was bawling and you were talking, he covertly dig away under your Aron and the rest is history."
"Oh... Dang it. You're good, kid. If your Pokémon can think for itself like that, you're good." Anthony said, grabbing his hefty backpack and jogging out.
Huh. The Geodude in his backpack waved at me. Well, I can't be rude. I waved back.
The Nurse Joy that cane in revitalized my Pokémon and lead me down to the lobby, where I changed my Pokémon and got a few minutes of respite.