Chapter Ten:

Breaking Pride

Afternoon (12:12 P.M.), Marrón Cavern

After he had bid farewell to Chase and his grandpa, he had entered the cavern, and made good progress since.

Despite his expectations of meeting various Rock-types, the type of Pokémon Jackie found most abundant in the cave were Steel-types.

He found little complaint in having Runt battle the various steel-types that attacked them, and he especially found it helpful whenever he took down a Magnemite, since that would raise his Sp. Atk Evs.

Be this as it may, the overwhelming assault of the Steel-types in conjunction with the Cyndaquil's lust for battle soon depleted Jackie of all his healing items.

"You're doing great, Runt!" Jackie cheered the Cyndaquil on as they continued down the cavern, the fire on his back providing their seeing light as Jackie pedaled slowly behind him on his bike. Even if you're still not listening to me.

"(Of course I am.)" Runt answered arrogantly, but his arrogance was just a cover up for the self-loathing he felt after suffering his first defeat. I could have won if Jackie hadn't… no. He shook his head in dismissal of the thought. Jackie didn't do anything that could have caused me to lose, blaming him would be stupid.

To this, he would admit, that it was his own fault? He would never admit that, he was far too stubborn.

He grimaced. I need to get stronger! To do that, I'll need stronger attacks. Ones that will bring my foes to their knees in agony! An attack that won't hurt my enemies is of no use to me!

Jackie smiled as he pedaled along, "We're almost there, Runt! Just a little more to go!"

"Hmhmhm," the sound of chuckling reached their ears.

"Huh?" Jackie and Runt looked up at the source of the chuckling: it was a Mawile, who stood atop a rocky outcropping.

Mawile was a bipedal pokémon with a pale, yellow body and black arms and feet. Its legs were covered in a thick, fur-like material that resembled some kind of bell bottom pants or a skirt. The top of its head had a black, hair-like covering with an inverted widow's peak and two floppy ear-like protrusions. Its defining feature, however, was the pair of large, black jaws that emerged from the back of the black covering. There was an oval yellow spot on the upper jaw, which had six teeth in comparison to the lower jaw's four. This was not to say that it didn't have a mouth on its face.

With the smile of a cat, the Mawile hopped down in front of him, her red eyes scanning over them.

Jackie didn't know much about Mawiles, but he could tell there was something abnormal about this one.

He opened and held out his Pokédex, which read out the entry for Mawile as the data appeared onscreen.

Mawhile, the Deceiver Pokémon. Its steel jaws are actually horns that are fully articulated. Don't be fooled by its cute appearance, or you won't last ten seconds.

Ignoring the spelling error in the Pokédex entry, Jackie's eyes settled on a particular piece of information that was listed.

The normal height of a Mawile was 0.6 meters metric, 2'00" standard.

But this Mawile was more than a foot taller, standing at 1 meter metric, 3'03" standard.

Jackie gulped. So this is must be that mutant Mawile those guys were talking about.

He let out a sigh, "At least Runt has a 2x type advantage, so a few Embers should take her out."

Runt glared at the large Mawile, who was more than twice his size, "(What are you looking at?)"

The Mawile, who was female, glared back at him, still smiling like a kitten, "(You, shorty.)"

The small Cyndaquil gritted his teeth in annoyance, "(Yeah, I'm short, but that doesn't mean I can't kick your ass!)

"(Hmhmhm.)" the female Mawile chuckled again, "(Be that as it may, you're in my territory, so I must ask you to leave.)"

Runt bared his teeth, "(Screw that! It's fightin' time!)" using Tackle, he rushed forward and jumped at her.

Only to stopped in his tracks by her right hand!

"(W-What?!)" Runt and Jackie stared at her in amazement.

Her cat smile widened into a brutal grin, "(What? Did you really think that would work?)" her grip on his head tightened, causing him to shriek in pain as she lifted him up and threw him at the rocky outcropping that she had appeared from.

"RUNT!" Jackie screamed as he pedaled over to where his partner had slammed into the rocks, "Are you okay?"

"(Of… course!)" Runt grunted as he picked himself up, his body covered in bruises, "(I'm not done yet!)"

The Mawile's brutal grin stretched into a sadistic smile, "(Oh really? I find your arrogance amusing, but know this: when I'm through with you, you're going to be crying. I will make you cry like the winy little bitch you really are!)" she charged at them, and Runt, shaking off his injuries, rushed forward to meet her.

"Runt!" Jackie called out worriedly to his partner, "Please, use Ember! She's a dual-type Steel and Fairy! It'll do twice the damage! Use it with Smokescreen!"

Runt smiled as he heard this. Steel and Fairy? I didn't know that. Well, well, well, he's finally proving useful. As they were about to collide, he jumped above her. But I don't need a move that won't hurt my opponent! "(BUUUURN!)" he spat out a wad of fire at the Mawile, consuming her in flames.

He and Jackie smirked in victory.

And thus were justifiably surprised when the Mawile jumped upwards out of the flames, grabbed the dumbstruck Runt, and threw him down to the cold, hard, rock-covered ground.

"RUNT!" Jackie yelled to his partner in worry as the Mawile came back down to earth using Iron Head to slam into Runt's exposed belly, knocking the wind from him.

Grinning mischievously, the Mawile jumped back as the brutally battered Cyndaquil forced himself to his feet, "(Done yet?)"

Gasping for breath, and ignoring the pleading orders from his trainer to stop, Runt glared down at her, "(Of course… not!)"

"That's it!" Jackie yelled as he took out Runt's Poké Ball, "Runt, RETURN!" the ball split open, releasing an arc of red energy that streaked towards Runt, who avoided it by charging at the Mawile! "RUNT?!"

His charge, which consisted of little more than a limping jog, drew him closer to the Mawile, "(I… won't… be defeated!)" he gasped as he strained his muscles to move forward.

The Mawile's mischievous grin stretched back into her sadistic smile, "(Let's fix that.)" she ran forward, intercepting his charge, and, using Play Rough, rushed around him, dealing all sorts of devastating blows that caused a dust cloud to form around them, prohibiting Jackie from seeing what was happening.

He was lucky he couldn't.

The Mawile dealt Runt five strikes.

The first strike was a slash across his chest with her three claws.

The second strike she spun him around and belted him on the head, not hard enough to knock him out, but just enough to knock him to the ground.

The third strike she stomped her foot down on his back.

The fourth strike she lifted him up by the nose and slammed him down face-up on the ground.

The fifth and final strike she stomped him again, this time on his groin, eliciting a long, drawn-out scream of agony, which she openly relished as the dust cloud around them thinned.

With the dust cleared, Jackie could finally see the aftermath of Mawile's attack.

He wished he hadn't.

Runt was lying face-up in a beaten, bloody heap, sobbing piteously, tears of pain and agony running down his face as the giant Mawile stood triumphantly over him, ready to deliver the finishing blow.

"RUNT! USE SMOKESCREEN NOW OR YOU'LL DIE!" Jackie, drenched in cold sweat, screamed at the top of his lungs, causing the Mawile to turn her attention to him for a split second.

That split second was all Runt needed.

He breathed out a large cloud of smoke that obscured her vision, "(Kaa, kaa!)" surrounded by black smoke, she broke into a coughing fit, barely avoiding being run over by Jackie's bike as he pedaled past, grabbing Runt as he passed by.

When the smoke cloud cleared, she stared at the direction they had disappeared in, the opposite of where they had entered, "(So they got away.)" she smiled cheerfully as she went on her own way, "(At least I defended our territory, hmhmhm, Daddy will be so proud!)"

Jackie pedaled as fast as he could, trying desperately to reach the cavern's exit. He held the injured Runt tightly in one hand, both so he could keep an eye on his condition and to add extra impetus to his peddling feet.

"Don't worry, Runt," Jackie said soothingly, "I'll get you to a Pokémon Center A.S.A.P!" he looked up, and a smile spread across his face, "Look! I can see a light!"

Runt weakly raised his head. I'm... sorry... Jackie...

Afternoon (1:13 P.M.), Route 10 (Outside of Marrón Cavern)

"Well, ain't that a sight!" a young man in his mid-twenties said aloud as he walked across the route, gazing at the scenery. He stopped in front of a raised hole on a ramp-like structure in front of a cliff, "Ah… Marrón Cavern, such sweet memories, right, girl?"

"(If you can call them that.)" the fiery chicken shrugged.

The man frowned, "I wish we could have helped out at the Ranch we just passed," his shoulders drooped as he sighed, "Oh well, orders are orders,"

Just then, the sound of screaming reached their ears.

The man tilted his head in confusion, "Yo, Inferna, did you hear-"

He didn't get to say anything else, for at that moment, Jackie burst through the hole on his bike and launched off the ramp straight towards him, "Whooooah!"

The man's eyes widened as the bike came down at him, "OH SH*T!"

The bike never made contact.

There was a flash of blue light, and the bike was incinerated before collision.