Pokémon Crimson
Chapter 36: This Last Challenge
(Jason Fremont)
Terry's room was just a room, and the fact that Jason found that weird was telling. It was undeniable, though—after Olivia's ice rink and Wyland's relic-strewn voodoo land Jason had pictured his third Elite Four fight taking place inside a Power Plant or within the walls of a giant battery. Instead it was a bare, gray arena, stripped of anything superfluous.
Terry was there, too, just standing. There was no weird song-and-skate entrance, no awkward small talk exchanged. No words at all, Jason reminded himself. Yet on top of that Terry also seemed to be deliberately stable and still, as if she wanted to make up for her more flamboyant companions and balance things out.
Initially Jason's urge was to stay silent, too, but then he stopped short. She must get this all the time, he thought, imagining how many challengers must come through here with some sort of subconscious parrotting of her condition and simply use gestures and expressions to get their point across.
Jason cleared his throat and spoke in a loud, carrying voice. "Thank you for accepting my challenge." He lifted his first Pokéball. "I'm ready when you are."
Terry gave him a slightly crooked smile and lifted her own Pokéball. Then she counted down on her fingers with him—3, 2, 1.
A Raichu that bordered more on orange than yellow appeared on her side of the room but was almost immediately blocked out by the hulking mass of Jason's Rhyhorn. Jason repositioned to see the battlefield better and Terry gave a rasping, hissing sound through her teeth. The Raichu shivered from ears to tail and grew, if Jason was not mistaken, shinier.
What is that? he wondered, already realizing how difficult this fight could become if he had to use guess work when it came to the less obvious attacks. Could that possibly be Reflect?
"Tackle!" Jason called to Rhyhorn, preferring to dive right in and see what he was getting himself into. Rhyhorn reared back briefly on two legs, then galloped forward, lowering his horn in preparation for a full-frontal strike. The room thundered with his footfalls.
The Raichu waited for the last possible second, then leapt up and out of the way. Before it had even landed Terry made a "shhh" sound and Raichu sent blasts of nearly invisible force that struck Rhyhorn in the side. Rhyhorn bellowed at his fleeing target and Jason groaned inwardly. Gotta be Swift. Man, screw that move.
"Horn Attack!" Jason ordered, and Rhyhorn leapt up and collided with Raichu's falling form. The sound was like a powertool rattling against metal inside an orchestra hall and Jason slapped his hands over his ears. Definitely Reflect, he confirmed, sure that the armored skin Raichu seemed to be sporting was not going to be broken through so easily.
Terry brushed one palm against the other, the sound a cue for Raichu, and then the impossibly tiny Pokémon was latching onto Rhyhorn's chest, heaving, and hefting Jason's Rock-type up in the air. Jason's mouth fell open. Seismic Toss? he thought in disbelief, sure that the small creature would be crushed beneath the weight of his rhino any second now. Then Raichu chucked him and Rhyhorn bellowed as he sailed a very respectable distance through the air.
Jason covered his ears in advance this time, but even through that the slam of his Pokémon striking the ground was deafening. Jason felt it rattle through each of his bones and crashed his teeth together, catching his tongue in the process. He tasted copper and managed to yell out, "Stomp!" around the residual ringing that was vibrating through the room.
Rhyhorn scrambled upright and charged the Raichu again, which was dodging and weaving to avoid his next move. Then Rhyhorn stomped down on the rodent's tail, pinning it in place, and reared up to bring his other foot down upon it. There was a sickening, terrifyingly loud series of cracks and Jason blurted out "Stop!"
Terry lifted her hand, fist forward, and Jason somehow understood that meant for him to wait. He didn't care if she was willing to let her Pokémon get demolished beneath the weight of an opponent that was too much for it, but he wasn't going to stand by and let it happen. He was running to check on the fight when Terry's next non-verbal command lead to a perfectly intact Raichu delivering a loud, smacking Skull Bash to Rhyhorn's underbelly. Jason backpedaled as Rhyhorn jerked back and roared and Raichu scampered away.
It wasn't shiny anymore, and then Jason got it. Just cracked the shield, he told himself, letting out a sigh of relief. "Horn Attack, then!" he called, and Rhyhorn was able to bash the retreating Pokémon more directly this time.
Terry whistled and Raichu scampered back, limping slightly, for a heal break. "You too!" Jason called to Rhyhorn, who lumbered his way, snuffling and huffing in indignation. While each trainer healed their Pokémon Jason eyed the Raichu and its glossy, but now normal-looking fur. To have a version of Reflect that so closely hugged the Pokémon's body must have come from lots of training. Jason couldn't even fathom how much.
When both combatants were back on the field Terry made a "pop!" sound and Raichu crouched, then rocketed forward at Rhyhorn too fast for Jason's slower Pokémon to dodge. They collided and Raichu squeaked with pain, slightly hurt from the recoil of the trumped-up version of Tackle that was Take Down.
To be honest, Rhyhorn only looked slightly hurt as well. His Pokémon's skin was tough, and Jason capitalized on the stumbling moment of uncertainty the dazed Raichu was experiencing to order another Tackle that hit target this time.
Terry made the "shhh" sound again and Raichu back-flipped and hit Rhyhorn with half a dozen more Swift strikes in rapid succession. Rhyhorn groaned angrily and Jason paused for a second before ordering Fury Attack. Why doesn't she just use Swift all the time? It's a sure hit.
Rhyhorn jutted forward and tried to spear Raichu with his horn five separate times, and all but one glancing blow missed. By the time Rhyhorn was done, Raichu had landed directly on his back and was clinging to his craggy skin. Rhyhorn bucked and thrashed and when Terry socked one fist into the palm of her other hand, it was the call for a Mega Punch directly to Rhyhorn's eye.
If Rhyhorn wasn't pissed before, he sure was now. Jason hollered "Headbutt!" and Rhyhorn dove his entire body towards the ground, trying to pin Raichu between his bulk and the floor. Then Terry's rasping hiss command sounded and in an instant Raichu's skin-tight armor was back. Rhyhorn gave a huge roar of pain as he landed, not on a soft Pokémon, but on a Pokémon-shaped boulder that didn't yield an inch.
"Stomp again!" Jason ordered, no longer worried that he'd hurt this Pokémon while it was wearing that kind of force field. Terry made a sound like "shhhhah" and at first Jason thought it was the command for Swift. When nothing apparent happened and Rhyhorn landed his Stomp squarely to Raichu and the shield, Jason knew it must be a passive technique. But what is it? he wondered, noting that at least Rhyhorn had Raichu trapped. "Stomp again!" he ordered, but he completely missed Terry's next command in the splintering, cracking sound of the second shield breaking.
Raichu was on the run now, scrambling away from Rhyhorn and scampering on all fours to put some distance between them. "Tackle!" Jason ordered, and Rhyhorn managed to snap the Pokémon's tail up in his jaws and stop his progress long enough to land a solid, hard tackle that threw the electric mouse into the far wall of the arena.
Raichu zapped Rhyhorn, evidently out of sheer reflex, as it flew. It did nothing to the Rock-type, merely filling the room with a crackling, popping sound, but then Raichu rebounded off the wall and flung itself at Rhyhorn, humming and glowing with a bright red energy that took Jason completely off-guard.
Bide! he thought in a sudden moment of clarity, and even as he shouted for Rhyhorn to dodge, he knew it was no good. Raichu released the stored energy directly at his Pokémon, and when the haze of red cleared, Rhyhorn was on his side, twitching feebly and smoking from the residual heat.
Jason clenched his jaw, thankful that he had a hefty supply of Revives left. He returned Rhyhorn and sent out Alakazam, barking out the order, "Dodge it!" while he unclasped one of the Revives from his belt.
The Raichu couldn't use any Electric-type moves during the initial fight, but now it was free to do whatever it wanted. Alakazam teleported wildly away from fast, brutal strikes of lightning that scored down from the ceiling to the floor, angled in diagonals from the corners of the room, and breeched the distance between both walls horizontally. Jason swore to himself and injected Rhyhorn's ball with a Hyper Potion, discarding the empty Revive and doing his best to hurry. If his mind wasn't made up before, it was now. I am going to need Rhyhorn for almost all of these fights.
Alakazam howled and staggered, hit with a bolt that appeared right as he teleported into his new location. Faced with a decision, Jason shouted out, "Recover!" to his Pokémon, wanting his health to return at least slightly before a swap-out. When the next bolt struck home, too, and Alakazam shuddered and dropped to one knee, Jason knew it was either recall him as he was or be trapped on Death Row.
Jason recalled his Alakazam in a surge of red and re-deployed Rhyhorn, who was shining and rejuvenated, pawing at the ground and ready. Terry gave the order for Swift and Rhyhorn took the damage before charging straight ahead for a Horn Drill. The Raichu, already tired from its nonstop fighting, went to dodge and didn't anticipate Rhyhorn adjusting for exactly that. The strike hit true and the Pokémon flew across the room, feebly attempting to get back to its feet before it gave up and slumped back down.
If it had been Jason's Pokémon he would have swapped it out and healed it rather than see it go down. Terry, unlike Olivia and Wyland, didn't seem to be such a fan of switching out once she had decided a course of action.
Her next Pokémon solidified into the spheres and bolts of a Magneton, and at once Jason could hear a distant, electrical hum, like someone had left Edith's old television on in between stations. It was barely perceptible but Jason still could hear it.
"Fury Attack!" he called to Rhyhorn, taking his first turn, and Rhyhorn leapt forward, aiming for the floating metal Pokémon with his horn. The Magneton dodged so fast Jason's eyes skipped trying to follow it and a knot of irritation tightened in his stomach. Electric types were so fast… Jason's own Pokémon didn't tend towards that particular skill at all. Fearow could be quick, and Alakazam could teleport, but every other Pokémon Jason had was average in the speed department or, like Rhyhorn, actually slower due to bulk.
Still, this was better than the alternatives he had for now. Terry snapped her fingers three times, in a triangle shape, and Magneton flickered and vanished before reappearing behind Rhyhorn. Rhyhorn started and kicked backwards in shock, but apparently the move wasn't a combative one. When Rhyhorn's next Horn Drill missed so badly that it looked like his Rock-type was moving in slow motion, Jason knew what it had been.
Goddamn Double Team, he thought venomously. Just what I need, now it's even faster.
Magneton, for its part, was not attacking yet. Terry was snapping her fingers over and over, giving it the command to increase its speed and agility more and more, and as Rhyhorn missed a Tackle and a Fury Attack without even coming close to his target, Jason knew it was a losing battle.
Dammit, he thought, recalling Rhyhorn and giving Venusaur's Pokéball a brief squeeze. You can do this, buddy, he thought, before chucking the ball into the center of the room.
All at once Magneton was singing a different tune. Sparks shot between the positive and negative poles of its magnets and before Venusaur could move out of the way a huge, blanketing wave of electricity zapped out and netted him, briefly filling the room with a slight scorching smell. Venusaur was barely injured when the light cleared, though—what he was, however, was paralyzed.
Thunder Wave, Jason thought, unable to stop himself from guessing at what moves were what in his head. "Sleep Powder!" he called to Venusaur. Trade you a status effect for a status effect.
Venusaur puffed out a huge cloud of powder that the Magneton dodged, but as it spread steadily there was nowhere left to hide. Terry retreated to avoid the stuff while Magneton reappeared in the midst of it, jerking and giving off an electrical, glitchy sound before it crashed to the ground.
Terry whistled and Jason realized with a small amount of surprise how quickly he was picking up her nonverbal commands. She was signaling a cease fire so Magneton could be woken up with a Full Heal, and Jason sighed. "You too," he said to Venusaur, unclasping his own Full Heal from his belt. If she was going to rid her Pokémon of its status effect Jason sure as hell wasn't going to keep Venusaur handicapped in this fight.
When the fight resumed Terry gave an upward-inflected whistle and Magneton made almost the exact same sound as it twirled and hummed. Then a huge beam of distorted, wild waves burst out of it and flooded the room at large, and Jason clasped his hands over his head and hunkered down.
His head was swimming when he looked up again, and Venusaur was tilting dangerously to one said. It had to have been some sort of confusion move, either Confuse Ray or Supersonic, and Jason groaned. "Sleep Powder!" he called, crossing his fingers that Venusaur would be able to perform.
At first it seemed that he was going to be able to do it. He took the stance to fire powder from his flower, but then a flurry of Razor Leaves erupted instead. It turned out not to be a terrible thing—the leaves spread so far and wide that once again the Magneton had nowhere to hide and couldn't avoid taking damage. Magneton zapped Venusaur with Thunderbolt, which only seemed to make his Pokémon roar at it in displeasure.
"Sleep Powder, one more try!" Jason called, really wanting that sleep effect. This thing was too damned quick to hit unless Jason relied solely on area of effect strikes, and those weren't quite packing enough punch. When Venusaur fired out Razor Leaves again he grumbled in frustration, very aware that he was fucking up.
When Terry stomped her foot on the ground Jason thought she was just pissed for a second. Then he realized it was another attack order—and he paid dearly for his second of hesitation.
Magneton crackled, hummed, and then—Jason was convinced—exploded. The sound tore through Jason's head and he doubled up around the pain, half expecting blood to spout from his eyes, nose and ears. Head buzzing horribly, Jason wondered, not for the first time, if there was any compensation for irreparable hearing damage, concussions, and other injuries done to challengers by the E4. Terry very well might be deaf as well as mute for all the reaction she gave to the horrific attack—Sonic Boom, if Jason was going to put money on it.
Venusaur was reeling as bad as Jason was. Jason groaned out a sound he couldn't even properly hear himself, but ordered Sleep Powder one last time.
Somehow Venusaur heard him, but what came out instead of the white powder he was hoping for was the violet Poison Powder. Either Venusaur was extra confused after that blast or he was suffering some minor hearing loss, too.
Gotta just stick with leaves, Jason told himself, bracing for whatever came next. No other choice.
Terry made a sound like "seeee!" by hissing air out between her teeth and Magneton began to whirl and grind once more. Jason cringed, waiting for the assault, and what happened instead was unmistakably Screech—a metallic version of it.
Now she's just trying to make me deaf, Jason thought spitefully, grinding his teeth and covering his ears so hard his head was beginning to ache. It did absolutely nothing to block out the sound—although the real horror of this noise was not the sound at all. It was like metal grinding on metal, something he could feel in his skin, and Jason, who had never understood why people hated nails on a chalkboard, got it fully now. He supposed on some level this was a form of karmic retribution for all the times he had done that in primary just to piss people off. Every hair on his body seemed to be standing on end, goosebumps traveling up and down his arms.
"Razor Leaf!" he shouted to Venusaur before the audio assault was even done. Venusaur happily obliged, flinging leaves every which way, and as a particularly large clump of them smacked straight into Magneton it blessedly stopped its wailing. Terry snapped her fingers, just once, and the room hummed and thrummed with building power. There was a crack, a pop, and the smell of roasting ozone, but nothing else.
Jason and Venusaur were left in absolute confusion for a second before he realized what must have happened. Wow, Thunder even fails like this when E4 Pokémon use it, he realized, finally understanding Amaris' growing frustration with that move that his own Jolteon so often struggled with. "Leaf it again!" Jason shouted.
Magneton was trying to learn how to dodge the leaves—Jason could tell because it was trying new techniques each time it came up against this move, spinning to try to deflect them, hopping around wildly like it was trying to evade raindrops, or in this case, swinging sharply from left to right to try to reduce the number that hit. It still took damage—about the same amount as each previous time, if Jason could judge—but when Terry's next single snap rang through the room this time the Pokémon didn't miss.
The bolt of electricity that scored down from the ceiling and through Venusaur to the floor made a current of displaced air rush past Jason, billowing through his clothes and hair. Venusaur roared and Jason shouted, unable to believe he hadn't thought of it before, "Seed it!"
Magneton, however, was far better at dodging Leech Seeds than it was at dodging leaves. When all of them sprayed uselessly against the ceiling and floor Jason realized he might be facing a KO before he had a chance to swap out.
Magneton's next move was out of the left field. Terry snapped the fingers on both hands simultaneously and Magneton emitted a choking, dense cloud of oil haze from deep within, where its gears met. The haze settled low across Venusaur's skin in gloppy, messy swatches. Venusaur let out a booming cry of frustration, though Jason didn't think he was poisoned. He'd learned that it was difficult to poison a Pokémon that held toxic powder in its back.
Still, Venusaur was gunked up and bogged down. Jason returned him, just grateful at this point that he still even had health leftover. Then he swapped to Nidorino, knowing this was a gamble but needing to at least buy a little time.
Magneton countered instantaneously with Thunder and Jason's Pokémon was not quick enough to dodge aside. Nidorino brayed and bucked as Jason shouted "Fury Attack!" over the din. Nidorino jerked but galloped at his target, thrashing and slashing wildly at it with his claws, horn and back spines. Magneton ducked out of the way of absolutely all of it and the only word running through Jason's mind like a never-ending ticker-tape was fuck.
Magneton's retaliation was the thick, carpeting web of Thunder Wave and Jason's internal cursing increased. Nidorino shuddered as the status effect took root in his body and Jason sucked in a breath, agonizing over his choice for a split second. "Pin Missile!"
Nidorino turned his spines towards his opponent at once and fired off more of his barbs than Jason had ever seen him let fly before. His Pokémon was clearly pissed and as multiple purple needles harpooned Magneton, getting trapped awkwardly in its gears, Jason let out a slow breath. Area of effect, he reminded himself, a mantra now.
Magneton rumbled and rattled, the sound of some kind of generator inside it beginning to work. "Watch out!" Jason called, and Nidorino coiled his legs beneath him, ready to dive.
It didn't do any good. Thunderbolt struck too quickly for him to evade it. The attack was less brutal than Thunder and hit in a smaller circumference, but it still hurt his Pokémon very clearly. Jason closed his eyes for a moment, trying to call upon some moment of insight.
When Nidorino's next Pin Missile missed by at least ten feet Jason called him back for a heal break. Jason rubbed down his Pokémon's less spiky parts and dropped his voice to a low murmur, audible only to his Pokémon's large ears. "I'm sorry, buddy. You're gonna have to do the best you can for a while, alright? Just dodge whatever you can dodge."
Nidorino pawed the ground to show he was ready and Jason pricked himself giving his first catch a brief hug. His stomach twisted as he sent him back out.
"Swift" was a familiar attack sound now, and Jason cursed under his breath at the move that Nidorino could never dodge. He jabbed a Hyper Potion stim into Venusaur's Pokéball and jerked so hard he almost dropped everything on the floor. A second later he knew why.
A bolt of Thunder cracked down from ceiling to floor and Nidorino, caught in the blast, gave out a shrill cry. Jason's heart was kicking against his ribs as he recalled his nearly-fainted Poison-type and swapped out for Venusaur at last.
"Leaf him!" he shouted, even as the Magneton jolted another Thunderbolt at Venusaur. "Just keep it up, steady stream! Don't stop!"
Venusaur lived up to the command and the battle dissolved from a turn-by-turn one into a more chaotic free-for-all. Terry, for one, didn't seem to mind. She gave a rapid series of clicks, snaps and whistles that had Magneton weaving, ducking, zapping and trying for another Toxic attack against Venusaur. Venusaur rolled away, ready this time, and Jason was struck by the brief knowledge that he would never get used to how awkward his starter looked falling into a rolling dodge. Thunder Wave struck home and Venusaur trembled against its paralyzing effects, but refused to relent even an inch with the Razor Leaves. Swift struck, unavoidable, but Magneton was shorting out now. Sparks were flying from its whirring, clattering body and strange, glitchy sounds were increasing by the second. One final burst of dinner-plate sized leaves knocked the Pokémon out of the air and buried it as a trail of smoke rose steadily from its form.
Even as Terry recalled Magneton Jason returned Venusaur as well. Rhyhorn took the field next, his go-to guy for testing out these Electric-types. At the very least Rhyhorn could take a good number of hits while Jason healed up Venusaur, if it came to that.
A Jolteon materialized and Jason breathed a short sigh of relief. At least this was something he had some experience with, from all the training he'd done against Amaris'.
Rhyhorn started off with his standard Fury Attack, rushing forward to test his new opponent's speed. The Jolteon was fast, but not as devastatingly fast as Magneton. It leapt out of the way but got clipped in its hindquarters and snarled as it spilled to the ground messily. It leapt back to its feet as Terry made a "fshhhh" sound, which at first Jason thought was an order for Pin Missile. The Jolteon was taking that sort of stance.
Instead of a few large barbs of its spiked fur, though, the dog shook itself violently and flung a dense haze of fine, barbed burs straight at Rhyhorn's face. The broken pins and shards struck Rhyhorn before his Pokémon could properly brace for it and Rhyhorn bellowed and screeched, stampeding in pain.
"Take Down!" Jason ordered, knowing the bigger, messier version of Tackle would be harder for this Jolteon to avoid, and he needed something inexact and sweeping since his Pokémon could not yet see. Jolteon ran to the side but Rhyhorn changed his direction and caught it in the side. Jolteon yelped and sprawled across the floor, but when Terry hissed out twice between her teeth Jolteon bristled and leapt with so much more speed and maneuverability than it had had before.
Fuck, Jason thought, groaning internally as Rhyhorn's next move didn't even come close to hitting. Agility or some crap.
Knowing that this was his Rock-type's greatest weakness, Jason whistled to give his spooked Pokémon a heads up before he returned him and swapped out for Alakazam. The Jolteon, evidently unhappy to see that particular opponent, scrambled backwards, for all appearances looking like a Pokémon about to book a hasty retreat to gain safe distance.
Then the moment of clarity Jason had been praying for earlier struck him like a bolt out of the blue. In a stunning moment of absolute certainty, he knew what was coming next. "Back up!" he shouted to Alakazam, and it was only because his Pokémon obeyed him instantly that disaster was avoided.
The Thunder attack struck from nowhere with absolutely no warning. Alakazam was so close to it that he pinwheeled backwards in surprise and teleported an additional ten feet back to give the move more space. Terry was looking at him with an impressed sort of critical look from the corner of her eye, but Jason shook it off.
"Psychic!" Jason shouted to Alakazam, and a second later the entire room was slammed with roiling waves of energy. Jolteon howled and Jason felt a surge of relief—this attack was very effective. For the first time in the battle he wondered if this could be the moment Terry would chose to swap team members.
It happened again before Jason was even aware it was upon him. "Teleport!" he shouted to Alakazam, though he had been about to order him to stand his ground a second ago. Alakazam obeyed and it struck again, right in his vacated spot—a crackling, charring bolt of Thunder.
Jason felt his head spin for a second before his inner voice talked him down. It's logical, he reasoned as Alakazam poised himself lower, unscathed from a second attack that should have hit him point-blank. Electric types strike fast, it makes sense that you tell your Pokémon to move around a lot. That's it.
He just really wished Terry wasn't smiling at him right now.
Alakazam blasted the room with Psychic again and Jolteon yelped so loud Jason's stomach turned slightly from the noise. Swap, already, he silently urged her, though he knew he should be happy to have the upper-hand so utterly.
She didn't swap. Instead she ordered Pin Missile, which Alakazam turned out to be unable to dodge at all. He teleported aside only to land directly in a new patch of needles that blasted up against his side. She's AOE-ing me now, Jason thought, intrigued momentarily by how the tables had turned.
"Psychic again!" he ordered, and after Jolteon dodged left, dodged right, and howled in agony as it was hit regardless, Terry whistled for it to return for a heal.
Jason looked at Alakazam's turned back as his Pokémon used his psychic energy to pluck the needles out of himself. He didn't need a Recover break just yet, so Jason waited it out, knowing that this meant the next move was theirs.
"Psychic again!" Jason ordered, closing his eyes since it was starting to give him a headache. The room had been more wavery and unclear than it had been tangible and stable for the past minute straight. Once he was pretty sure the move was done Jason opened his eyes, expecting to see the piteous sight of Jolteon crouched down and shuddering from the onslaught.
He opened his eyes just in time to get a Flash attack straight to the face instead.
"Gah—fack!" Jason shouted, some kind of extremely accented curse word in Jason-is-now-blind-eese. "Psychic, Psychic!" he shouted while he doubled up and squeezed his eyes shut around the starbursts of light dancing behind his lids. The attack didn't require Alakazam to see his target and Jason could follow the progress of the fight at least minimally past the stinging and watering in his eyes. The yelp from Jolteon was a give-away.
His hairs stood on end the second before it struck yet again and Jason shouted "left!" to Alakazam just as he struggled to prise open his burning eyes. The bright, blurry flash of electricity that struck right where his Pokémon had been marked the third time in a row he had predicted an electrical strike before it hit, and through the pounding headache forming around his temples, Jason knew he couldn't deny it any longer.
He was just good with Electric Pokémon. He had been avoiding this type his whole life, refusing to catch them, barely even fighting against them, and while a large part of it had been to avoid reminders of his father and the Gym, another part of it had been for this exact reason. He had a knack for it, an innate talent, and he was unable to stop the bitter thought that flickered into his mind. Dad would be proud.
Jolteon went down on the next Psychic, but Jason couldn't drum up any happiness about it. "Stay," he told Alakazam, his streaked vision slowly returning. He could see Alakazam rubbing his eyes, too, and the flash of light that solidified into Terry's next Pokémon.
It was an Electabuzz, and it was scarred up, too—Jason wondered if this was the Pokémon that had been involved in whatever accident had befallen Terry. Still, there was no time to debate it too deeply. "Psychic!" Jason shouted, and as the Electabuzz curled in on itself but groaned in pain as the attack struck, Jason felt a short little blitz of happiness. This is still working so well.
Terry pounded her fist into her palm twice, which Jason thought for sure would be a combative move, but instead Electabuzz closed its eyes and lifted both hands before it, erecting a wall of hazy, shimmering light. Light screen? he wondered, the specifics of that move escaping him. All he knew was it wouldn't hurt his Pokémon. "Psybeam!" he ordered Alakazam, not wanting to wear him out by using Psychic over and over. Alakazam landed a direct hit that passed directly through the square of light and struck Electabuzz right in the chest. It was sent sprawling and Jason had to wonder what the point of its screen even was.
This Electabuzz was the slowest opponent he had been up against so far. When it reared up, charging its fists with jolts of energy, and flung itself forward for a Thunder Punch, Alakazam teleported out of the way with ease. Wonder if I should swap to Rhyhorn, Jason thought, but decided against it. Alakazam was doing swimmingly so far.
His next Psybeam sank right through the ineffective Light Screen once again and Jason wracked his brain to try to figure out what the hell that move even did. It wasn't like Reflect—that had been actually useful for Terry's Raichu. Perhaps it didn't block against Psychic moves? Alakazam jumped out of the way of another Thunder Punch, but this time when Electabuzz's fist struck the floor instead, the very stone they stood on buckled, cracked, and popped with flying dust.
"Jesus!" Jason exclaimed, unable to help himself. "Uh, Psychic!" he said again, swapping back to his Pokémon's more powerful move. He knew he needed to be judicious about how often he used this move—it had never before happened to him in battle, but he had heard that overuse of certain techniques could cause those moves to crap out and stop working.
Electabuzz was worn and staggering, but its next—missed—Thunder Punch broke another hole in the floor so much bigger than the last one that it was more in the category of "fist-made crater." Jason stared, open-mouthed, at the damage. How was that hit so much stronger than the last? he asked no one, trying to figure out what he was missing. It's tired, too…
When the Electabuzz didn't go down on Alakazam's next attack, Jason was stunned. It had to be holding on by only a fraction of its health now, and all at once Jason's nerves started acting up. She's playing at something, he realized with absolute certainty, and braced himself for what that could possibly be. Is it going to explode or something?
There was the inaudible, barely perceptible crackling again, the hairs on his arms standing up, and Jason knew that Thunder was coming. "Side!" he shouted to Alakazam, and when his Pokémon dodged left the bolt struck him right where he had just appeared. Terry had anticipated this. Alakazam's entire body jerked and convulsed in the fifteen-foot wide circumference of the pure, gold energy and when it faded he was left in a crumpled heap. Jason knew he wouldn't even hear if he ordered a Recover now—it was a one-hit KO.
Light Screen, Jason thought dully as he recalled Alakazam, the ball flashing KO as if to mock him. Boosts the special attack of the Pokémon using it—and gets stronger each time a special attack is used against it. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, overcome with how stupid he'd been. He had been feeding this opponent more firepower all along, assailing the shield with Psychic-type moves. Jason sent out Rhyhorn and shoved his failure aside, refusing to let it derail him.
Electabuzz charged, and though it was the slowest of Terry's Pokémon so far, Rhyhorn was the slowest of Jason's by far. He could pick up wicked speed when allowed to charge, but his dodging skills were slim to none. Electabuzz snagged Rhyhorn and hauled him up in the air, ready to toss him just as he had been before. Rhyhorn, knowing this and flailing wildly to get free, struggled and almost toppled the Electabuzz from the sheer power of his thrashing before the Electric-type flung him into the far wall. Even as Rhyhorn scraped across the floor, leaving a huge chasms of dents, Jason took note: that little Raichu could throw farther than this one.
"Fury Attack!" Jason shouted, and Rhyhorn gladly charged, wild and uncoordinated, landing hit after hit against the Electabuzz with his considerable horn. How is it not down?! Jason thought with a violent disbelief bordering on offense, but Terry was forced to call it back for a heal even as he finished his inner tirade.
Rhyhorn was fine, so Jason and he waited it out. Our turn again, he thought with a surge of glee. Jason called for Horn Drill, wanting a one-hit KO and, almost more importantly, wanting to keep using Normal-type attacks only against this Electabuzz. He knew logically the Light Shield effect was probably over, but he was absolutely not going to chance it. "Keep it up!" he shouted, giving Rhyhorn the go-ahead to Horn Drill to his heart's content for the foreseeable future. If he could get just one direct hit, no Reflective armor to block it, no dodging out of the way, this move was his ace in the hole for taking an entire Pokémon out of the game in one second.
Electabuzz suddenly showed an annoying propensity for dodging. It was like it knew this was serious business and it wouldn't be able to bounce back from Horn Drill. Terry made a coughing sound and Electabuzz caught Rhyhorn's horn with both hands and—Jason's stomach plummeted—attempted a Counter strike to redirect the force back at his Pokémon. "Roll!" Jason shouted, something he was sure he'd never seen Rhyhorn do in his life, but his Pokémon understood the gravity of the situation. Rhyhorn dropped straight down and flailed, awkwardly jerking himself aside, and the re-directed force blasted a hole in the room even deeper than the two craters from Electabuzz's Thunder Punches. Christ! Jason thought, putting a hand over his thundering heart for a moment.
Electabuzz was going to retreat but Jason knew they'd never have another chance like this. "Again!" he shouted, and Rhyhorn didn't even bother standing. He slid himself forward towards Electabuzz, which saw him coming and tried to dance out of the way. Then Rhyhorn jerked his head, knocked the Pokémon prone, and slammed it straight in the back with the point-blank Horn Drill Jason had been so yearning for. He didn't think anything had ever been more satisfying in his life.
Terry took a moment to study him as she unhooked her next Pokéball from her belt. She wasn't taking her sweet time or anything, the way Olivia had between her fifth and sixth Pokémon, so Jason didn't feel the need to nag her about it the way he had with the first member of the Four. The Raichu that was deployed next was orange, just like the first one had been, and Jason frowned at it, wondering.
"Horn Drill!" he called, just to see how quick it was, and when the Raichu flipped out of the way with ease and cloaked itself in skin-tight Reflect armor, Jason had to ask. "... Is this your first one?"
Terry shook her head and lifted two fingers to him. Somehow Jason knew exactly what she meant—they were probably from the same litter, maybe raised and trained together. It was amazing how clear she managed to be for having such simple gestures.
Jason heaved a small sigh and, just to be sure, ordered a final Horn Drill to test the waters. It was the same problem as before—the Raichu was simply way too fast. "Sorry," he called to Rhyhorn, who pawed the ground slightly. "Stick it out for just a bit!"
While Jason was reviving Alakazam Rhyhorn took a Skull Bash and Body Slam, and while it was from a small skull and a small body, with that extra armor Rhyhorn was looking worn soon enough. "Back!" Jason called, slapping his knee for Rhyhorn to come back for a Hyper Potion. He deserved to at least return to his ball feeling a little less crappy. Rhyhorn took one last Swift before Jason could recall him, but he wasn't particularly concerned. He estimated his Rock-type was still at 75% health at least.
Though Alakazam was healed, Jason paused. When Venusaur appeared out on the field instead, Terry tilted her head to him, curious. He wanted to try something.
Venusaur was hit with the rocking, intertwined threads of Thunder Wave immediately, and Jason heaved a loud, petulant sigh as his Pokémon entered the battle with a shiny new paralysis effect. "Vine Whip!" he called, and he was correct—Raichu dodged left, then right, then left again, looking like it was no big thing.
Terry slammed one fist into the other and Raichu leapt at Venusaur, who tried to backpedal and weave away. The rodent redirected its leap and landed a painful Mega Punch straight to Venusaur's face—and got a puff of Sleep Powder straight into its face in retaliation.
Jason hardly had time to whoop and holler. Terry removed a vial from her belt and lobbed it into the middle of the arena, where it deployed in a salty, dense aura of Awakening solution. Jason's eyes watered as some of it drifted his way, and the prone Raichu gave a rather adorable squeaky sneeze as it snapped to.
Venusaur had the advantage though, and scooped it up in his vines before it could do anything. With a cracking whip he chucked it into the far wall where both the wall and the Pokémon's Reflect shield cracked.
Raichu dove back in for a Body Slam and all Venusaur could do for his next turn was roar in frustration and twitch miserably, the victim of his status effect. Jason sighed and whistled him back for a Full Heal.
Venusaur sighed in relief as Jason sprayed him down, making sure to get his face—the part of his body that had taken the most beating, too. Jason patted him on the forehead and grinned down at his starter before sending him back into the fight—and into a Mega Kick straight to the face.
"Really?" he asked Terry, annoyed. Venusaur knew what to do while Jason was grumbling and blasted Leech Seeds in a sticky, wide net while the Raichu was in close quarters. The mouse dodged and weaved, but got slapped in the back of the head with a thick web of the stuff. Jason grinned, actually shocked that it had worked.
Thundershock was next, and while Venusaur bellowed in displeasure, the seeds already glowed and transferred health back to him. "Razor Leaf!" Jason ordered, falling back to his reliable AOE now that he had hit the Pokémon with the one attack that mattered.
He was right—Raichu hated Razor Leaf. It frantically jerked its body left and right, dodging two, but then froze at the sheer onslaught of more leaves that were coming and got slammed by almost all of them.
Thunder, Jason thought again, knowing it was coming. "Move!" he shouted to Venusaur, but he was just too slow—without the ability to teleport at a word, Venusaur could only execute half a roll before he was struck with the rippling, wavering bolts of electricity that struck from sky down. It was the one, glaring downside of using his starter. Venusaur's body hummed with healing energy, but he was still edging into the lower end of his HP.
Jason let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead. "Sorry, buddy," he said, recalling Venusaur for Alakazam. Alakazam was quick, could self-heal, and was already going to benefit from the pre-seeded Raichu—if Jason played his cards right, this would go exactly his way.
"Dodge it!" he called, and Alakazam hopped forward instead of to the side this time, avoiding the Thunderbolt that scorched to the left of his original position. Jason beamed, a surge of pride tearing through him. Atta boy, he thought, then shouted, "Psychic!"
No matter how quick Terry's Electric-types were, none of them so far had been quick enough to dodge an encroaching wall of warbling, heated mental energy. The Raichu snarled and executed Swift, which Alakazam tried to teleport away from as if on autopilot. He was hit mid-hop and returned to the room staggering from his wounds. Yet he had barely righted himself when the Leech Seeds sapped Raichu again, offering him up a warm glow of healing powder. Raichu was looking distinctly sick now.
It was as if Jason had been celebrating too soon. On his next order of Psychic Alakazam faltered a little on the delivery, and Jason realized with a jolt, oh shit, he's running low on Power Points. Raichu got called back for a Hyper Potion on its next turn and Jason groaned. Double shit.
"Alright, buddy," Jason called. "Swap to Confusion!" It wasn't nearly as powerful as Psychic, but those seeds were his ace in the hole and were at least helping him to chip away at Raichu's health.
Raichu fired Swift off at Alakazam, the seeds healed him, and Alakazam seamlessly delivered another blast of Confusion without Jason's command. When Raichu spun on one delicate foot and slammed into the ground, for a crazy second Jason thought he'd gotten a wildly overpowered, one-hit KO with Confusion, but then he understood. It's confused! he triumphed inwardly, falling in love with that technique all over again for this occasional side-effect.
Raichu, unfortunately, wasn't quite so baffled as to forget how to use Swift. Its attack struck and Jason called for, "Recover!" knowing that, healing seeds or no, Alakazam would need it.
This time Jason had warning, but he didn't realize what was going on quite quickly enough. Raichu's belly was glowing and thrumming, which baffled and intrigued him, and just as his face twisted into an expression of horror, the second Flash of the battle went off.
Jason doubled up and shouted a string of curse words out, not caring that he was cussing wildly in front of Terry. So, so blind, he inwardly groaned, calling "Confusion!" to Alakazam while he battled with his own side-effect, rubbing his palms into his eyes roughly. There was a little thump and a squeak of pain from Raichu and Jason went out on a limb and assumed it might have hurt itself in a moment of confusion.
God let this fight end, Jason thought desperately, pausing for just a second before he blurted out "Psychic!" to Alakazam. He prised his eyes open, wanting to watch how his Psychic-type delivered this move, and it seemed the short break from using it had done him some good. Alakazam warped the room, blasting Raichu with renewed, stronger energy, and the battered, bewildered rodent collapsed on its side. Or, at least, he thought it did—his eyes were still on fire. He did hear the sound of something returning to a Pokéball, eventually, and let out a shaky sigh.
Then it hit him in a rush of sheer incredulity. Is this her last Pokémon? he wondered dimly, staring at her as she released her final Pokéball from her belt. I haven't used Fearow or Psyduck yet, he noted, something he had been desperately wanting to avoid as they would both only succeed in getting very badly hurt here. Holy shit.
The final Pokémon emerged in a perfectly round whirl of red energy before it solidified into an Electrode. Wanting to get this over with and hit it with all he had, Jason cried out, "Psychic!" to Alakazam and watched as his Pokémon flat-out failed to do anything at all.
Jason's spirits plunged as Terry clicked her tongue twice. Electrode glowed for a second and Jason flinched, expecting Flash, but instead a momentarily alarming burst of energy flared out from the Pokémon towards his side of the Gym. It felt familiar and he couldn't figure out why until it washed over him—it was Psychic. It knows Mimic, he realized with a loud groan.
What was more, Alakazam was very able to be hit by Psychic energy. Having his own attack used against him hurt way more than any of the Swifts or Thundershocks had, and while Alakazam stumbled Jason faltered. Heal or attack? "Psybeam!" he called.
This one Alakazam could do, but Electrode dodged the narrower scope of the assault with relative ease. In fact—it moved out of the way so abruptly Jason blinked rapidly, confused. Sure, it could float, but it seemed unreasonably quick even on top of that. The next order was Swift—damn Swift to the darkest parts of hell—and Jason knew he had to order a Recover.
The Electrode vanished and Jason thought he was losing his mind. He hunted the ground for a substitute, stared at Terry to see if she'd recalled it—but it was simply nowhere. His confusion only lasted for a split second, though—the Pokémon reappeared right behind Alakazam, and though Jason shouted "Look out!" it was too late. Alakazam received a Sonic Boom straight to the back of the head and Jason felt the ground fly out from beneath his feet.
For a crazy, frantic moment Jason couldn't breathe. This is how I die, he thought in a detached, wondering way, until he realized he'd merely had the wind knocked out of him from a bad landing. Everything buzzed and everything ached, and as he rolled over a bout of nausea almost made him throw up right in the middle of an E4 challenge.
His poor, long-suffering Alakazam was face-down on the floor, barely moving. Jason groaned, coughed back bile, and recalled him, chucking Rhyhorn's ball into the arena instead. Need something that can withstand that, he thought to himself, jerkily trying to take his feet again. He's immune.
Jason had made it to his hands and knees and was trying to push himself upright when the Electrode let loose a second Sonic Boom and Jason slid backwards, diving forward to cover his head with his arms. His entire body went still around the pain and the even worse realization—he had fucked up, big time. Sonic Boom isn't an Electric-type attack at all, is it? he wondered with a vague, detached sense of fatalism. It's a Normal-type move.
"Horn Drill!" Jason croaked, and the second he gave the order he wanted nothing more than to travel back in time and take it back. No! he thought, squeezing his eyes shut as if he could erase what he'd just done by not looking. I should have recalled him.
Rhyhorn was charging, smoking from the Sonic Boom and trying for its direct-hit KO, but when Electrode teleported out of the way and used Mimic again, Rhyhorn was brought down by a redirected version of his own, devastating move.
You're kidding me, a part of Jason chastised himself as he fingered Fearow's Pokéball, his insides constricting with queasiness of many kinds. But he's fast, he might be able to dodge. I don't have a choice. Jason chucked Fearow's ball and, before it had even landed in the field, was fumbling with a Revive and Alakazam's Pokéball, preparing himself for the turn he needed to take.
When Fearow deployed Terry looked at Jason for one second with a deeply dubious, judgmental expression. Then she popped her tongue against her cheek and Electrode vanished, this time to be replaced by a small, Pokéball-sized substitute.
What… the fuck, Jason thought. It was a trap—it had to be. "Don't do anything!" he shouted at Fearow, jamming the trigger on the Revive to heal Alakazam.
Fearow was undeniably edgy. He hopped from place to place, ruffling his feathers, clacking his beak, and casting frequent, nervous looks back to Jason. Jason lifted his hand and tilted his chin low, keeping eye contact with Fearow the way he had realized he needed to in order to assert dominance. Stay, he mouthed, then, after confirming that the sub was staying perfectly still, jammed a Hyper Potion into Alakazam's Pokéball next.
The hell is going on? he wondered, staring as the substitute continued to just sit there. Jason took Rhyhorn's Pokéball off his belt next and unclasped yet another Revive, but he paused at the last second, his eyes flicking back to the battlefield. His eyes met Terry's and, of course, she gave absolutely nothing away.
It was so tempting. The substitute remained where it was, just waiting for nothing, 25% of Electrode's total health gone in the making of it. Jason was very aware of his own breathing, chewing on the inside of his cheek, and the way his pulse was thundering in his neck around the headache he'd developed from the constant light and sound.
Use it or lose it, Jason decided, and shouted out "Drill Peck!" to Fearow.
Fearow was beyond ready for this attack, having worked himself up into a state sitting around and doing nothing. He struck the substitute head on, rushing it in a whirling cry of feathers and beak, and it snapped in half.
Every single other time Jason had seen Substitute used, the Pokémon had been left reeling and wounded when it returned to battle. It had been disoriented, a quarter of its health gone, and Jason would be able to fire off another attack or make a hasty retreat if he needed to.
Electrode burst out of its smaller self, a Thunder attack already charged. Jason shouted to his bird to dodge, but neither of them had been expecting it, and neither of them was ready. The bright, fiery bolt blasted Fearow, detaining it completely with voltage and spasms of light, and when the attack cleared Fearow was a charred wreck, a heap of feathers and smoke jerking feverishly on his side.
In Victory Road Jason had said that he was ashamed of himself, at least a little, every single day of his life. The yawning ache of loathing he felt marked one of the many times he had hated himself as well. He hated that he had taken the bait—he hated that his Fearow, already so jumpy and edgy, had been taken out so quickly and so brutally. Alakazam emerged on the field in front of him and Jason channeled that hurt, that rage and that tender, raw disappointment at Terry and her remaining Pokémon.
Swift struck Alakazam, would have struck him no matter what, and in a sharp bell of clarity Jason realized he'd been neglecting one of his Pokémon's lesser-used moves. "Disable!" he shouted.
Electrode jittered and made a sound like a computer on the fritz. Jason crossed his fingers that either Teleport or that thrice-damned Sonic Boom had been taken out. Swift struck Alakazam again and without hesitation Jason ordered a Recover.
He recognized Terry's sign for Mimic now and grit his teeth together, watching Electrode heal itself by copying Alakazam. He had grown to truly and deeply despise that move while battling Wyland's Gengar that had a propensity to copy anything it liked. They have to have a seminar about this, Jason thought, taking a chance and ordering Psychic. A weekly meeting to share techniques that piss off challengers the most.
Psychic was shaky and wavery, but it hit. Still, Jason thought as Electrode thrummed, he wouldn't be relying on it again. Electrode lit up like a nuclear explosion going off and Jason could have closed his eyes if he'd been just a second quicker with it, but as it was he was victim to the battle's third Flash attack.
Okay, he thought as he clenched his teeth so hard his jaw trembled. I have no one to blame for that one but myself.
"Confusion!" he shouted to Alakazam, who he could tell was just as blind as he was from his groaning and complaining. "Keep it up!"
There was no way to tell if it was hitting or not. Electrode didn't tend to make sounds of pain when it was hurt, and it could very well be teleporting away from each attack. Alakazam cried out in pain and Jason was momentarily stricken with panic at the idea that he couldn't tell at all what was happening. Was it Swift?"Recover!" he shouted.
He still couldn't see. This last attack, in keeping with the previous pattern, was so much worse than the ones he had seen used before. It was clear Electrode was her biggest and baddest, and Jason was left completely adrift. Her attacks were so quiet—already any of the clicks, clacks and whistles were being drowned out by the warbles of his own Pokémon's attacks and the much louder electrical zaps of the retaliating Electrode's. All Jason knew was that Alakazam was not doing well.
The next Sonic Boom knocked him out cold for a moment. The only reason Jason knew that this had happened was the fact that he jerked awake like he'd been in the deepest part of sleep, and when he did finally come to, he was sprawled across the floor again. The blast had moved him farther away, from what his recovering-eyes were able to tell him. He didn't have to look to know that it was over, though—Alakazam was down, he just knew. Jason jammed his Pokémon's ball and crumpled up on himself, focusing on breathing and being alive.
Who do I even have left? Jason thought, the words stringing together all wrong in his head. Concussion? he wondered, shaking his head out and clenching his eyes tighter shut. Venusaur—that's all I can do now, just Venusaur. There was no way he was going to let out Psyduck so his Water-type could meet the same fate as his Flying-type. Rather forfeit, he thought, and he jumped just about out of his skin when a rough hand rested gently against the side of his temple.
Terry's face was a blurry mess, and as Jason looked up he couldn't make out any of her features clearly except the symbol she put up with one hand—the classic OK? sign. Instead of leaping headfirst into his reply, assuring her he was not going to give up when she had only one Pokémon left and he had a belt full of Revives and Hyper Potions, Jason paused.
Should I? he thought, really and truly assessing himself. Terry had retreated a few steps, letting him regroup, and Jason blinked blearily down at his belt. I've come this far, but if I can barely hang on during the third fight, how am I going to handle the fourth?
And underneath it all he was so, so tired. The others probably hate me, Jason thought, not for the first time, but for the most coherent time since he had started this mad-dash through the Four. They've gotta know where I am by now. I wonder if Gina's started yet…
He was wasting time and he knew Terry should have been snapping her fingers, making him pick up the pace and decide. She was merely watching her Electrode, though, hands in her pockets, not facing Jason at all. Normally he would have balked over making a member of the Four wait for him while he had a mini-breakdown, but she seemed used to it. Perhaps one too many Sonic Booms did this to all her challengers.
Maybe it had all been coming to this to begin with. Maybe this was some sort of karmic retribution for having gone behind his friends' backs to get here. Jason rested his head down on his arms and wondered if his Pokémon would be disappointed if he threw the fight right now. It's either that or watch them get trashed, he thought.
The memory stirred and surfaced slowly, his bogged-down brain not understanding the context or significance at first. He was rubbing down Bulbasaur's plant, telling him somewhere—he couldn't remember where—that they could go home any time. He wouldn't make him fight if he didn't want to. Where was it?
The memory of Pewter Gym, his first real fight against an official challenge, swam forward before his eyes. Bulbasaur had looked at him like he was crazy. Then he'd dropped down to do some stretches and had proceeded to bring down an Onix twenty times his size.
Jason got to his feet without knowing how he managed it. Terry was watching him, probably waiting for him to topple over, but as the seconds ticked by and he didn't face-plant she slowly returned to her side of the arena, her Electrode tailing behind her.
Maybe she thinks I've got some awesome sixth Pokémon she hasn't seen yet, Jason thought, huffing out a quiet, pained laugh. Joke was on her.
Venusaur leveled Jason with a serious, steady stare as he deployed him into his side of the room. His face read, "are you sure you're up for this?" and Jason chuckled again, giving his starter a thumbs-up.
Terry was giving him an inscrutable look. She lifted her mangled eyebrows once, and Jason knew she was asking him the same silent question Venusaur was.
"Yeah," he said, his voice loud and carrying though it cracked halfway through from strain. "Let's do this."
Electrode fired off Swift and Jason shouted "seed it!" to Venusaur. Venusaur jerked from the strike and netted out his usual web of seeds, but Electrode teleported past them and countered with another Swift.
Damn, Jason thought, though his blood was thundering beneath his veins again, the heat of the battle rejuvenating him better than a straight stim of adrenaline. "Sleep it!" he ordered, and Venusaur leapt and puffed out Sleep Powder all over the Electrode, which wobbled but shook it off. It Swifted Venusaur again and Jason whistled for a heal break. He wasn't going to take any chances this time. The Electrode, he had hoped, would need to be healed too, but it had probably recently mimicked Alakazam's last Recover and was still doing fine.
Venusaur bounded back to the field but screeched to a halt as Electrode vanished, to be replaced by a substitute again.
"Hell no," Jason mumbled. He was not going to fall for that again.
Yet that left him with a very glaring question to answer—what could he do while he waited for the substitute to expire? He didn't want to cause any damage to it, not even with his AOE attacks—this Electrode was just waiting for that, banking on the element of surprise like it had last time. Jason wasn't going to play into Terry's hands by "triggering" this Pokémon one second sooner than he had to.
So, really, that left him with only one option.
Jason sighed. "Uh, Growl," he said, bracing himself to be laughed out of the League.
Venusaur bristled, lowering his head and grinding his claws hard against the floor. Then he let loose a thunderous, deafening roar. It was pants-wettingly terrifying. Jason felt he had never been closer to having a heart attack in his life.
"Holy balls!" he shouted, the exclamation exploding on a laugh. He was sure if Electrode's substitute could look petrified, it would do so now. Terry was looking at him like he was a little touched in the head. His starter had come a long, long way from "grar."
Jason's own laughter was absolutely drowned out as Venusaur thundered and snarled at the substitute, which was considerably less impressed than Jason was. He spotted the fact that Terry had begun smiling at them at some point, shaking her head slightly. For just a moment everything lifted and brightened and Jason could breathe again.
When the substitute wore off on its own Electrode burst forward and rammed Venusaur with a version of Swift. Venusaur retaliated with a barrage of leaves which Electrode couldn't hope to dodge entirely.
"Charge!" Jason called, and Venusaur reared back, roared, and rushed Electrode. Jason hid his grin, just barely—let Terry think that he'd meant for his Pokémon to tackle.
Swift hit Venusaur and he retaliated with another booming, room-shaking growl. Jason grinned broadly, loving his vastly improved technique. Meanwhile he counted down in his head. Almost ready—
The room decelerated as Jason's eyes settled on Terry's worn, pock-marked hands. She had her arms spread and she was whistling—Jason couldn't hear it over the battle but he could see it, her teeth bared, lips pulled back to achieve the sound. She was going to clap and Jason's frozen world sped up again all at once.
"Now!" he screamed a split second before Terry's hands met in a loud, booming clap. Then Jason threw himself backwards, arms flung up over his face, and prayed he had been quick enough.
The world fractured and flamed up into pieces. Jason's back hit the ground and he tucked into a ball, the detonation washing over him in waves of heat and light.
Jason felt like he was trapped in time, each second painfully protracted while he did his best to scramble upright and look.
He'd had the good sense to close his eyes this time and so when he finally heaved himself up into a sitting position Venusaur was the first thing he saw—Venusaur, still standing, the residual energy hum of Solar Beam rising in heat waves from his petals. The breath left Jason's body as his eyes traveled to where Electrode lay, blackened and smoking. Even Terry had been thrown—she was pulling herself stiffly to her feet against the opposite wall, and only Venusaur, only his starter, remained on his feet amongst them all.
Terry let out a breath, recalled her Pokémon, and turned to look at Jason. She was squinting—the light and sound had been hard on her too—and then she smiled, a grimace that Jason knew was genuinely impressed and approving, and gave him a small nod.
Venusaur was exhausted, barely able to turn to give Jason a long, slow blink of affection, and then Jason was on his hands and knees again, reeling from crawling their way to this impossible victory through an avalanche of odds. When he finally pulled himself up, Venusaur's vine wrapping itself around his arm, Terry was gone.
Jason made it almost all of the way through the long hallway between the third and fourth rooms before he fell over. Weak, broken laughter warred with tears for dominance, and as he was useless anyway he took to healing his Pokémon, bringing every single one of them back to full health with trembling fingers. His rasping, half-delirious sounds flickered in and out of a black divide and he wondered if he was sleeping in short bursts, lying on his side in between rooms in the Indigo Plateau.
Someone nudged him and he jerked, coming to all at once, and he expected to see Terry or a League Official or maybe even one of his friends. Instead it was Alakazam bumping him gently in the side, and Jason frowned at him, not understanding.
"Did I let you out?" he asked in a ragged voice, feeling heavy-headed and slow. Alakazam just tilted his head at Jason, worried, and telekinetically lifted him up into a sitting position. "Or did you just break out of your ball to check on me?" he asked, chuckling as his flustered Pokémon sat down cross-legged in front of him, assessing his trainer.
For the first time since that morning Jason pulled out and powered up his Dex. It was slow, angry and a little water-logged from his fight with Olivia, and it looked like he'd landed on it once or twice in the last battle—there was a hairline crack running up one side of his screen now. When it finally booted up Jason looked up to Alakazam and smiled, feeling his chapped lips crack slightly with the expression.
"I'm fine," he mumbled, and Alakazam lifted an eyebrow at him. His Dex hummed multiple times in a row, something he'd been expecting, but the most recent messages that popped up were not ones of anger or interrogation. All three of them were from Gina.
you went, didn't you?
I'm glad.
Amaris and I are coming. let's do this.
Jason let out a fractured chuckle, wiping furiously at his eyes, and Alakazam shuffled over to put an arm around his shoulder. It was as if reading her messages summoned her—Jason could hear them coming down the hall suddenly, just mutters at first, but as he edged himself into a more comfortable position, lifting his finger to hush his already quiet Alakazam, he could make out more of what they were saying.
"I'm still fucking freezing," Gina groused, to which Amaris made a chuh sound.
"How could you be after Terry? She was the most difficult combatant by far."
"For Mr. Water-starter, yeah, maybe. Is that what took you so long?"
Jason knew there was a chance—a good chance—that they would be at least a little mad at him for the stunt he'd pulled, but he couldn't bring himself to care. As Gina and Amaris rounded the corner he pulled himself up using Alakazam for support and grinned at them, broadly and unabashed, blood from his split lip trickling down his face.
"Jason!" Gina screamed and Amaris jumped like he'd seen a ghost. Jason spread his arms and she charged him, laughing and hugging him in all the places it hurt. He winced and glanced over her back to Amaris, who was—
"You magnificent bastard," Amaris said, his broad grin looking so out of place on his normally petulant face. "You really made it this far without borrowing anything from anyone. Have to show us up, do you?"
Jason froze, confused, a second before he burst out laughing. Then he shoved Gina backwards and she yelped as she got locked in a three-way hug that Amaris very clearly did not want.
"I see you've been lobotomized by electric shock," Amaris commented, squirming as Gina caught on and laughed, squeezing them both tight. "And you've forgotten I have a rather large personal space bubble."
"Don't care," Jason said, but he released them and took a step back, still grinning so hard his face hurt. "So how mad are the—"
"Not really mad," Gina said, perfectly contrary to Amaris' assertion of, "Victoria and Gav are going to flay you."
Jason shook his head, lowering his face into his hands and letting out a sigh. "This is a lot rougher than I had hoped," he admitted. "Sort of wish I'd made off with Gav's Cubone. Or Haunter."
"No," Gina said, bright red from exertion and relief. "Can you imagine Haunter? He'd just try to make friends with everyone and get Thunderbolted in the face."
"We're almost done, though," Amaris interjected, glancing ahead. Jason looked over his shoulder, too, and saw that Alakazam was staring up into the rafters, evidently distracted by something. There was probably some Pidgey roost up above—the ceiling here was tapered high, and up in the darkest corners nothing could be seen at all. Jason reasoned it was because the last contender needed height—something that flew, maybe?
"Yeah," Gina said, heaving a short sigh that belied how tired she really was. "I mean, this is it… it was all for nothing if we don't beat this last challenge—"
A voice from above cut her off mid-sentence. "There is no way you will beat this last challenge."
Jason could not believe who it was.