Episode 26: Eyes of flesh, body of steel
Niko sat in their usual booth in the pokémon center. While JJ, Brittany, and Fay were in light conversation with one another (and occasionally their pokémon), Niko sat silent, slowly getting through his salad, as he didn't feel like eating much. In the wake of his loss to Jasmine, he wasn't entirely sure how to feel. On one hand, he had expected it to be one of his toughest gym battles yet, and so a loss made more sense in this case. On the other hand, however, a loss is a loss. It was the first major loss since the Indigo League. Getting through the previous four gyms (even Whitney's) seemed to be a boost to Niko's spirits in light of his Top 32 finish in Kanto.
To say he felt distraught would be slightly incorrect. "Numb" probably best described his feelings at this particular moment. And, due to the numbness, Niko wasn't sure how to proceed. He knew he needed to come up with another battle strategy, but wasn't entirely sure how he would do this.
Finishing his salad, he stood up out of the booth and proceeded to grab his pokémon before heading out.
"Where're you off to, Niko?" JJ asked, leaning over to get a better look at his friend.
"To the beach. I want to do some training."
"Say, when do you plan on re-matching Jasmine?" Fay inquired.
"Probably tomorrow. We need to get to the Whirl Islands, don't we? That's in a week or so, and I can't imagine it's a quick ride."
The other three nodded at this, not disagreeing. In fact, while Niko went to train, the other plotted their next steps.
JJ pulled out the pamphlet and map, examining it. "So, I think we agreed to go to Cianwood first and then off to Mahogany after, right?" Fay and Brittany nodded. "Well, then that means we have to travel across the ocean. Cianwood, on this map at least, looks kinda like an island."
"How long will it take to get there?" Fay wondered.
"Probably a week or so. But the Whirl Islands look like they're just north of Cianwood, so it'll take most of our journey to just get there. So if we left tomorrow or the day after, we'd make it for the tournament I think."
"Works for me. We should go to the store tomorrow after Niko's gym battle and collect some stuff for the road."
"Indeed. Also, since we don't seem to have any reliable way of travel, I can ask to get gyarados back and we can travel on it to the Whirl Islands and Cianwood. Sound good?" Fay proposed. JJ and Brittany both nodded in agreement.
The sun was midway between the top of the sky and the surface when Niko took totodile, yanma, and hoothoot out to the beach. For a couple minutes he sat in the sand, watching the water pensively. He then turned to his pokémon, all of whom looked more curious than ever.
"I'm sorry for your loss guys. Our loss, rather. I knew this was going to be difficult, but I had no idea how difficult a steelix would be," Niko finally said in an unusually calm, but still slightly disappointed, voice. "We're re-matching her tomorrow, and instead of doing any hardcore training I just want to talk with you three, since I know you're all perfectly capable of standing toe-to-toe with that steelix. Especially you, totodile."
The big jaw pokémon returned Niko's beaming glare nervously. It was clear it felt a lot of the responsibility for this loss. Its trainer noticed this rather quickly.
"You shouldn't blame this on yourselves, okay? It was really my fault. I direct you guys to battle; that's my job. And I know that I need to step up in that regard if we're ever going to do well in the Silver Conference.
"So, let's just focus on the rematch. We know she uses a magnemite and steelix. None of you have any advantage against magnemite, but yanma seemed to do rather well, so we're keeping you at the front, alright buddy?" yanma proudly took charge of this responsibility, which made Niko smile for the first time since the loss. He was truly proud of the bug type and how it performed against the odds. "Alright then, if yanma can defeat magnemite then that leaves all three of you to take on steelix. Totodile, you're my last hope in that fight, as you're the only one that has the moves to win. Hoothoot, yanma, I hate to say these kinds of things, but I want you both to be the fall guys for this. That means you're going to fight until you faint," Niko finished that last sentence by looking like he was retching, as if disgusted by those words. "And totodile will go in for the kill.
"Yeah, I know it's basically the same strategy, but we need to do as much damage to that steelix before totodile gets in. And, buddy," he said, turning to the big jaw pokémon, "you're going to need to show me how great your evasion is. That steelix is very skilled with its tail. What got us last time was the shock wave, which took you off of your balance and left an opening for steelix to finish you off. We both need to be more aware when that happens, because we're sure that they will do it again. Got it?"
Totodile nodded quickly, a look of certainty in its eyes. Niko nodded, looking more satisfied than he had been since they'd arrived in Olivine City.
"Alright, good then. Hoothoot, are you okay being the fall guy for this?" The owl nodded, albeit with a slight hint of hesitation. This made Niko worry a little, and wondered if he might adjust his strategy accordingly. "Let's do some quick evasion exercises before we head back to the group, shall we?" His team cheered as they went for a quick run and worked on Fay's simple dodging exercises. A half an hour later they went back to the pokémon center to see the rest of the group sitting in the lobby, chatting a bit. They noticed Niko by the time he sat down next to JJ.
"How're you feeling?" Brittany asked, looking concerned.
"Better. We talked for a bit and decided on a strategy. Or, well, kind of the same one, but talking it through helped I think. Then we did some light training. What have you all been up to?"
"We finalized the plans to go to Cianwood. Tomorrow after you battle we're going to the store to get supplies. It'll be a week-long trip to the next city, not counting the Whirl Islands. Fay is also getting gyarados to ferry us over," Brittany said, summarizing their conversation from earlier.
"Sounds good, I guess," Niko said, nodding his approval as well.
The following afternoon, the group arrived back at the Olivine gym for Niko's rematch. Jasmine, as expected, was awaiting their return. Formalities were quickly exchanged before the match began.
"Magnemite, you're up!" Jasmine said calmly. It wasn't until steelix show up that she truly got fired up.
"Yanma, let's go!" Niko said, also trying to remain calm. "Double team!"
"Magnemite, use sonicboom!" Jasmine commanded. The magnet pokémon spun around, unleashing a sonicboom attack in every direction, eliminating many of the copies. Luckily the real yanma was able to escape, and proceeded to use a sonicboom of its own. The attack landed, and magnemite fell backwards a little, but hardly seemed phased.
"Yanma, use double team and sonicboom!"
"Magnemite, thunderwave!" Jasmine said. The sonicbooms collided with the thunderwave, negating both attacks.
"Yanma, go in for a quick attack then!" Niko shouted out. The dozen or so yanma copies shot forward at magnemite, who deflected with another thunderwave, eliminating all but the real one, who came from above and used a close-range sonicboom, launching magnemite into the ground. Once again, though, it was down, but not out.
"Magnemite, use thunderbolt!" Jasmine shouted out. She was fired up earlier than usual, it seemed. Yanma was able to evade the attack, albeit barely, before launching another round of sonicbooms at the ground. This time, magnemite started to show signs of exhaustion from the barrage of attacks.
"Yanma, finish it off with quick attack!"
"Magnemite, thunderbolt!" Jasmine commanded. Yanma, who was far quicker than magnemite, slammed into the electric type, causing both to collide with the ground, and left magnemite defeated.
"Magnemite is unable to battle, yanma wins! Jasmine will now send out her second pokémon!" the judge declared.
"Steelix, I choose you!" The gym leader yelled out, now ready to fight. "Use rock throw!"
"Dodge with double team, yanma!" Niko shouted. The clear wing pokémon duplicated itself a dozen times, shifting around so that steelix couldn't determine which one was real.
"Steelix, use rock throw repeatedly to get rid of the copies!" Jasmine ordered. As the iron snake did this, each yanma copy attacked, either using a sonicboom or quick attack. The rocks eliminated most of them, eventually revealing the real yanma. "Now, use screech!"
Steelix bellowed out an ear-piercing scream that shook the gym. Yanma, who had no real way of plugging its ears, flew around in the air chaotically, trying to escape the sound. Steelix then, in the confusion, used rock throw. This hit yanma and caused it to fall to the ground right next to Niko.
"Yanma! Are you okay?" Niko said, worried at the state of his bug pokémon.
The clear wing pokémon struggled to get up, ultimately succeeding at doing so and beginning to fly back into the air.
"Your yanma has gut, Niko," Jasmine said, smiling earnestly at her challenger. "I like that. It's making this match rather fun!"
Niko turned slightly red at this compliment, but it went away as fast as it appeared. "Yanma! Use double team and quick attack!"
"Not this time! Steelix, iron tail the copies!" Jasmine shouted out, throwing out her hand as a gesture. The iron snake obeyed, unleashing its powerful tail at the dozen yanmas that attacked. Once Jasmine noticed that the real one was once again above her, she called out a rock throw. Steelix launched the rock vertically at yanma, who was very close to the rock at the time of launch. The bug type flew into the ceiling, ultimately crashing into the ground; it was defeated.
"Yanma is unable to battle, steelix wins! Niko will now send out his second pokémon!"
Niko thought for a moment. I don't want hoothoot to go in only to lose. That's strategic, but not right. They mean more to me than this. If I lose because I didn't use hoothoot first, then so be it. "Totodile, I choose you!" Jasmine smirked at this choice, as if she knew what exactly Niko was trying to do.
"Admirable. But that doesn't always win battles. Steelix, use rock throw!"
"Totodile, block it with water gun just like last time!" Niko commanded. He was right; the result of these two attacks was a draw, but they both knew steelix would be faster on the follow up. Jasmine commanded an iron tail sweeping across the ground.
Here, Niko took a page out of Fay's book and commanded totodile to jump onto the tail and run up the iron snake's body. It succeeded in doing so, only jumping when its opponent tried shaking it off. Oddly enough, this seemed to work, as totodile was able to maneuver in the air enough to land on steelix while still maintaining its balance. Niko knew this from the occasional training session where totodile exerted its exceptional balancing skills. He smirked; maybe they could win this without using hoothoot.
"Totodile, use water gun on its face!" Niko shouted while totodile was midway up the body of the snake. Fortunately, steelix reared its head towards the big jaw pokémon, and fell into Niko and totodile's trap: the attack landed, albeit accidentally on the eye. They didn't expect this, but it seemed to work out just fine. The iron snake pokémon cried out in pain. Hitting it with water normally was one thing—it seemed that hitting it in the eye was its weak point.
Wait a minute…Niko thought, the eye must not be made of steel. Is it…made of flesh? Or, rather, just a weaker substance than steel? That would make sense, with its steel acting as a mask of some sorts. Onix evolves with the metal coat, right? Yeah, it does. Then that makes sense! The eye is the weak spot here, since it might be for onix as well! His stream of consciousness, while lacking any structure, managed to solve the problem.
"Totodile, use water gun on the eye again!" Niko shouted out. Jasmine inaudibly gasped; they seemed to figure it out by pure luck.
"Steelix, iron tail on the ground!"
Niko and totodile both saw this coming, and the latter jumped at the opportune time to avoid the resulting shock wave. As it landed, it turned up to steelix and aimed a burst of water at the iron snake's eye. Once again it howled in pain as it closed its eyes and dove head first at totodile. This was Jasmine's last mistake, as it seemed, for totodile dodged the move and used a relentless water gun at steelix's eye, preventing it from opening out of fear that it might feel the same pain. However, it was still weak to water, being a ground type, and it took a significant amount of damage before whacking totodile with its tail.
Totodile slammed mouth first into steelix, nearly breaking its nose. As it was regaining its composure, steelix opened its eyes, stood back up and used a rock throw.
"Totodile, watch out! Dodge to the right!" Niko yelled out with caution. Totodile obeyed, but caught the resulting blast from the rock hitting the ground and fell off balance again. "Use water gun!"
"Steelix, use iron tail!" Jasmine shouted in retaliation. The two attacks seemed to hit simultaneously, with totodile hitting steelix with water gun as it got hit in the side by the sweeping iron tail.
Totodile tumbled across the battlefield, ending up at Niko's feet while steelix fell backwards, landing on its back. Both had fainted.
"Totodile and steelix are both unable to battle! Since Niko still has one pokémon remaining, he is the winner!" The judge declared.
Niko got onto one knee to pick totodile up. "Hey buddy…you did great out there. I'm really proud of you, you know that?"
Totodile once again nodded, clearly pleased with itself.
Fay, JJ, and Brittany joined Niko at the center of the battlefield alongside Jasmine. She turned to Fay first and awarded him with the mineral badge. He took it, examined it briefly, and looked back to see Niko accept his.
"Niko, I understand losing is tough. But I also noticed that you chose not to use one of your pokémon from before. Why was that?" Jasmine asked, granting Niko the mineral badge as well.
"If hoothoot battled before totodile, there was little chance of it winning. I didn't want to put it through that again, and so I chose to gamble with totodile instead. It seemed to work out as I had hoped, though."
"Well, nevertheless it was admirable. I think that alone earns you the mineral badge, in my opinion. Best of luck to both of you in your future endeavors. I look forward to seeing where you both end up," Jasmine said in her usual calming voice.
Niko and Fay thanked her and, alongside Brittany and JJ, walked to the pokémon center for a late lunch and then to the store, where they would prepare for their upcoming journey to the Whirl Islands.