I reacted quickly, sending a stream of fire towards the Venomoth, but it shimmered a moment, splitting into 3 identical Venomoths, my fire striking the middle one, which vanished without a trace. I blinked, recognizing the technique as Double Team. I hastily sent a Thunderbolt at another Venomoth, which also faded. My momentary distraction enabled the remaining one, the original, to fire a beam of multicolored energy, which struck me forcefully, causing me to feel slightly disorientated, even as I was flung into a tree.
"Dragon!" Spark yelled worriedly, then glared at the large purple insect. "Me no like mean bug! Me squish you!" he said, jumping at the Venomoth, undoubtedly with the intention of stomping on it, but the venomous insect calmly batted its wings, creating a strong enough wind to repel the Pichu. Spark jumped back to his feet and tried again. "Me squish!" he shouted as he leapt. Again the Venomoth repelled him with wind. "Squish!" Spark yelled, jumping again. For the third time, the Venomoth blew him backwards.
"Stop playing with it and take it down!" the Hunter ordered. I shook my head, shaking off my momentary disorientation caused by the Psybeam. The Venomoth was distracted enough for me to shoot a large burst of fire towards the bug, but it abruptly split into 3 as my fire approached, the flames eliminating one of the clones. The reason for the split became clear as Spark sent a small thunder shock at another clone, shocking himself slightly as he did so. However, Spark's electricity caused the hit Venomoth to jerk slightly, the other vanishing. I smiled slightly, despite my annoyance at the tactics the moth was employing.
"Nice one, Spark!" I called, unleashing another wave of fire at the bug Pokémon. The Venomoth shook off the electricity, still oblivious to the impending flames, which engulfed it. The inferno was cut short by a wave of psychic energy deflecting the fire around its scorched body. I scowled, but was still pleased by the damage inflicted.
"Nice hit," the Venomoth praised me and I raised an eye scale at it. "What? Can I not congratulate my first worthy opponent in a long time?" it asked. I got the impression it was a female, which was slightly unnerving.
"You're weird, but let's continue," I replied simply, sending another wave of fire in its direction, but it once again split into three, the stream of fire missing all three copies. "That's really getting annoying," I added seriously.
"That's part of my strategy," the three Venomoths said simultaneously, sounding almost like an echo. "I will refrain from using poison attacks on the young one. It could be dangerous," she added thoughtfully.
"Thanks. I'm fair game, though?" I asked sarcastically. The Venomoth chuckled, which scared me because of the almost friendly tone to it, so unlike the usual evil chuckle of most of my enemies.
"I tend to avoid using poisonous attacks on most of my opponents. However, I may require such techniques to defeat you, in which case I will not hesitate long to use such techniques," the Venomoth replied. This time I noticed that only one of the 3 copies was speaking, the far left one.
"Just checking," I replied, slightly amused by this unintentional slip. I assume the Venomoth also noticed the slip, but seemed to be hoping that I hadn't noticed. I smiled inwardly, preparing my Hyper Beam, wishing to take down the bug in one move. The 3 Venomoth narrowed their eyes at me.
"You're taking quite a risk, aren't you? You drain a great deal of your energy in order for one attack," the three Venomoths said calmly. "It'll leave you open for me to counterattack, should you miss," they added.
"I know. I feel lucky though," I replied smugly, sending the Hyper Beam at the far left Venomoth, whose eyes widened in shock before the beam hit it...and the struck Venomoth vanished. "Oh no..." I muttered to myself.
"Nice try, but you shouldn't take such a risk without knowing for sure your opponent made an error," explained the Venomoth, and the other copy vanished. I panted, already feeling exhausted from the energy expended.
"Good work, Venomoth, now take him out while you have the chance!" the Hunter yelled. The Venomoth stared at the human for a moment before laughing.
"Easy for him to say, when he's not doing the work," she said with a gentle laugh, sending a Psybeam at me, once more causing me to become disorientated, and slamming me into the same tree as before. "I hope you can still put up a fight, otherwise it'll seem like it was too easy." she added, sending yet another Psybeam towards me, but I managed to duck, the beam creating a dent in the trunk of the tree, which sizzled softly upon impact.
"You're pretty strong. What's your name?" I asked her, still breathing hard. The Hunter looked majorly confused at this comment, but I ignored him.
"I am usually just called Venomoth," she replied seriously. "I am unnamed, but I am fine with that," she explained. "Now, shall we resume?" she asked and I nodded, thankful for the momentary breather. "I shall now hold nothing back," she added, smiling slightly.
"Neither will I. May the best Pokémon win," I said.
"I wish you luck," she replied. I was taken aback by this, but nodded in reply, sending a Thunder wave towards Venomoth, who dodged quickly, retaliating with a spray of purple powder. I reacted quickly sending a Flamethrower into the powder, igniting it, causing Venomoth to jerk backwards quickly to avoid the flaming powder.
"Nice try," I said. Spark backed away from the fight nervously, but watching with enthusiasm.
"Same to you," Venomoth replied kindly. Actually, her friendliness was scaring the hell out of me. We were basically trying to injure each other, yet we were having a friendly conversation, as if we were friends in a fun competition. We stared at each other for a few moments until the Hunter lost patience.
"Finish him off!" he shouted to Venomoth, who glanced at him incredulously before returning her attention to the battle at hand.
"Tell him to shut up for me," she joked, sending a Psybeam towards me, which I countered with a Thunderbolt. The projectiles collided, causing an explosion. Both of us were within the blast radius and were thrown backwards. Venomoth struck a tree, while I hit the ground, skidding painfully. "Ow, that hurt," she commented lightly.
"Agreed. Let's try that again," I replied, sending a Flamethrower in her direction. She countered with another Psybeam, tearing through my fire attack, but I twisted my coils out of the way just in time.
"Nicely done," she commented. "However, I'm afraid I shall be forced to end this battle here. Hyper Beam!" She glowed, charging the beam rapidly. I followed suit with my own Hyper Beam and there was a tense silence as both of us charged our beams, draining more of our energy into the powerful beam. Then, as if by some invisible signal, we simultaneously released them. Twin beam fired towards the other, striking in midair. There was a bright flash and then an explosion of energy, creating a shockwave that sent both of us backwards, slamming into trees with a loud thud. I groaned, amazed that I was still conscious. Venomoth wasn't as lucky, and was very clearly unconscious.
The Hunter smirked triumphantly, pulling a gold colored Pokeball from his waist. "Hunter Ball, go!" he said, grinning widely. I knew of Hunter Balls, for the Rockets had developed the technology after Silph Co's Master Ball, although rumor had it that the Rockets had eventually succeeded in duplicating the technology. Hunter Balls were an early attempt, and while they didn't guarantee capture, they ensured that the captured Pokémon was going to have a hell of a time breaking out, making it the perfect tool to catch me. "You're all mine, Dragonair!" the Hunter sneered and pulled back his arm to throw the Hunter Ball.