Chapter Seven: Learned Something New Today
Instantly, the battle began and it started with a powerful blast of water from Sapphire's side of the pond, shooting Gin with a strong Water Gun. Her friend crossed his arms in an shield-like fashion, blocking his face from the pressurized water. She had definitely gotten stronger or he was really weak as the water's force was sending him back a few inches. Gin used his thick tail to slam into the ground, steadying himself before moving out of line of her attack. From across the pond, he fired at her with his Bullet Seed, missing her just a few inches as she deftly dodged it. The Mudkip took shelter behind one of the surrounding trees as Gin's barrage of seeds weren't letting up. He rushed over while firing, surprising her when he came into view, then pelted her with his attack. It had taken a good amount from her HP, but she showed no signs of slowing down, picking up speed while running and darting about around him.
It had been a long time since they had done something like this and both were very low leveled at the time. However, Gin still fretted secretly, worried that his attacks wouldn't do enough damage to end their sparring. The Treecko was then ripped away from his thoughts when Sapphire made it close to him, smacking him with her tail. He quickly gathered his thoughts and pushed them away in favor of what was happening now.
His sessions with Kurrin were definitely a lot tougher, but his friend had shown great signs of of growth just going based off of her speed alone. She was quick on her feet, so Gin could not let his guard down. He matched her own speedy movements with some of his own, the two rushing about their battlefield. Gin used another Bullet Seed attack, this time, hitting Sapphire dead on and sapped another chunk of her HP away. Being a Grass-type did always leave him with a bit more of advantage as she was a Water-type, but neither wanted to bring it up. For him, it'd sound too...was privileged the right word? Sapphire, despite the type advantage, kept up her spirits and used Water Gun while she began closing the space between the two of them. Gin, once again, guarded himself from the watery blast, but it obscured his vision, leaving him open. With a noise he couldn't pinpoint was either a battle cry or yelp from her, the Mudkip suddenly stopped her water assault with a different attack, hitting Gin right in the face.
The thick substance felt heavy and left Gin blind as his eyes struggled to reopen.
"W-What is this?!" Gin tried wiping at his face vigorously, but to no avail was the substance clearing up. He could pick up the cocky tone laced in her words.
"It's my newest move, Mud-Slap." She beamed, happy to display her newly taught attack. With that said, she made her move, striking Gin with hit after hit. With a Tackle here, and Water Gun there, the Treecko was flung around the battlefield like a rag doll. After another powerful Tackle, he was sent into the trunk of a tree, a grunt lined with slight pain had escaped his lips as he crumbled to the ground. Sapphire, at this point, had exuded a lot of her energy and was panting, watching Gin to see if he'd move. "You know," She began in between breaths. "You could always forfeit."
Gin wanted to move, wanted to get back up, but his body had taken too many direct hits, a few were a bit more critical than others. He felt weak. In his mind, he thought of Kurrin and their training sessions. His teacher, as he recalled, never struck him repeatedly, occasionally, he'd only get hit with a few of his attacks, but none were like this. None were HP draining like this. Was this how a real battle was? His previous matches with Sapphire were never like this, her attacks were never like this, but apparently she had grown stronger. Yet, here he was, just now using enough power to inflict actual damage. If anyone were to get left behind, he thought, it would surely be him. He was the weak one.
Sapphire slowly made her way over to him, cockiness transformed into slowly growing concern. Did she really hurt him? She didn't mean to, she figured she wouldn't have to hold back since he was training underneath Kurrin, the strongest Pokemon they knew! The Mudkip stopped a few steps away from him when she finally saw him stir in his position. Relief washed over her instantly.
"Jeez, you scared me there for a second, Gin!" She let out a relieved giggle, but stopped herself when she saw her friend snap his eyes open. She attempted to speak again, but froze up when Gin's breathing became ragged, growing more intimidating and lit with a bluish hue. "G-Gin..?" She now backed away a few steps as the light inside his mouth grew more brighter.
The Treecko didn't seem to hear her scream when he released the pent up beam in her direction. The strong blast sent her spiraling far from where she just stood, engulfing her in the painful light. It scorched her body as if it were fire, but it clearly was not as she was not being cooked alive like it would have if it were a Fire-type blast. Instead, the mysterious attack left her feeling paralyzed, but sent pain throughout her body at the same time. Her scream was deafened out by the blast and finally came to a stop when she fainted.
The powerful exhale of the attack stopped, leaving thin trails of smoke in its wake that trailed out from Gin's mouth, the light quickly weakening until it was gone. What happened, he thought when his thoughts finally came back to him, why does my mouth feel like it's on fire? His eyes stung a bit, but he kept them open, surveying the scene. His vision stopped on the small body a good distance away from himself, unmoving and clearly damaged, even from where he stood. Gin's heart raced wildly and words couldn't leave his lips for a moment, so he acted with his body rather than his voice. He rushed over as fast as he could and dropped to his knees beside Sapphire's body, trying to do his best as to stay calm. How did this happen? They were just sparring a second ago, then... He couldn't remember, he recalled Sapphire's voice, but no words came to mind. Then, nothing. His hands shakily went to her body and touched her, noticing how tight all of her muscles were. She was paralyzed, at least he assumed so based on the lessons he received from Kurrin. From the lack of movement and reaction to his touch, he also assumed she fainted from whatever that had happened.
Sapphire needed serious help, so he quickly, but carefully, gathered the fainted Pokemon onto his back as he made a straight pathway towards the berry shop.
