Episode 52: The seed pokémon
"Well, Jacob, this is it," Niko said, turning to his rival-friend.
"Yeah, guess so. Best of luck, mate," Jacob replied, holding out his hand. Niko looked him in the eyes and returned it.
"Same to you," Niko smiled warmly. They both walked to opposite ends of the stadium and met once again on the battlefield, with a judge standing in between them. The rules were the same as the previous round. Moments later, the judge allowed them to send out their pokémon.
"Pidgeot, let's go!" Niko commanded.
"Skarmory, you're up!" Jacob shouted, also summoning a flying pokémon. "Hmm…a pidgeot. Nice choice, Niko. I've never fought a pidgeot before. This should be interesting. Skarmory, use steel wing!"
"Pidgeot, dodge and use sky attack!" Niko commanded. The bird pokémon launched into the sky like a rocket, reaching high enough into the air that even skarmory could hardly see its opponent. Suddenly, the flying type descended back down at an ever-quickening pace. It slammed into skarmory, causing both pokémon to crash into the battlefield below.
"Niko…" Jacob said in awe, "what the hell was that?"
"My pidgeot, that's who!" Niko smirked. "Can you keep up?"
Jacob nodded at the challenge, also smirking. "Challenge accepted! Skarmory, use drill peck!"
"Pidgeot, dodge and use quick attack!" Niko commanded. The two birds continued to exchange blows, wing attack for steel wing, quick attack for drill peck. Neither seemed to give in. Niko certainly didn't use sky attack again. He was reserving that for later.
"Skarmory, use steel wing!" Jacob commanded. The steel type's wings began to glow a light gray color as it rushed towards pidgeot, whose own wings were glowing from its wing attack. The attacks collided, both reeling back from the force of their attacks.
"Pidgeot, return," Niko said, substituting his flying type. "You've done well, but I want to save you for later. Hitmonchan, let's go!"
"Oh, Niko," Jacob teased. "You know Elliot would scold you for doing this, right?"
Niko chuckled under his breath. "Fully aware. But I'm not reckless enough to do this without a plan in mind."
"Wouldn't expect anything different. Skarmory, use drill peck!"
"Wait for it, hitmonchan…" Niko muttered. The punching pokémon nodded, focusing on its opponent. Seconds later, skarmory was upon them, and the two struck. "Hitmonchan, thunderpunch!"
Hitmonchan's fist generated electricity as it collided with skarmory's beak. The resulting explosion from the combined force of the two attacks launched both skarmory and hitmonchan backwards., both pokémon falling on their backs.
"Hitmonchan, you can get up, let's go!" Niko said. He had a good feeling about his chances here, and didn't want to pass up the opportunity to win. "Use fire punch!"
"Skarmory, get up and use steel wing!" Jacob commanded. The armor bird rushed forward as well. The two pokémon collided once more, only hitmonchan was able to land an attack—a fiery fist that smacked skarmory in the face once more, causing it to crash down onto the ground.
"Skarmory is unable to battle, hitmonchan wins! Jacob will use his second pokémon!"
"Politoed, let's go!" Jacob commanded. "Use whirlpool!"
"Hitmonchan, dodge the move and use thunderpunch!" Niko commanded. However, the punching pokémon couldn't escape the swirling pool of water arising underneath it. Hitmonchan quickly got caught up in the whirlpool, spinning around violently. "Use thunderpunch!" Niko shouted.
The fighting type electrified its fist and slammed it against the wall of the whirlpool. The water and electricity reacted, creating an explosion that sent hitmonchan hurtling high into the air. Niko commanded it to use thunderpunch on politoed, who was directly below, but the frog pokémon got out of the way, allowing for hitmonchan to collide with the ground.
"Politoed, use doubleslap!" Jacob commanded. The water type waddled over and slapped the punching pokémon, who was laying on the ground trying to get back on its feet. In retaliation, hitmonchan's boxing glove began to glow white, and it tried to use mega punch, but politoed dodged and used ice punch, slamming it into the fighting type, knocking it onto its back.
"Hitmonchan is unable to battle, politoed wins! Niko will send out his next pokémon!" The judge stated.
"Pidgeot, let's go!" Niko commanded. "Use wing attack!"
"Politoed, ice punch at the ready," Jacob muttered to his pokémon. Politoed nodded, and as pidgeot was about to approach, the frog pokémon's fist froze up and it was about to strike. However, the bird pokémon cancelled its attack at the last minute, instead halting itself low enough to the ground to use sand attack. Politoed threw its hands in front of its eyes to protect from the sudden wave of dirt aimed at its face.
"Pidgeot, use wing attack!" Niko commanded. At close range, the flying type slammed into politoed with its wings glowing, dragging the water type along the ground. "Now use quick attack!" Pidgeot then sped up its attack, launching forward, only a foot or so parallel to the ground, dragging its opponent along with it. They both slammed into the wall, with pidgeot flying back out of the crash, ready to continue the fight.
Politoed crawled out of the indent it made in the wall and looked up at pidgeot. Its fist froze again, and with incredible leg strength, it leapt into the air at its opponent. Pidgeot dodged the move, choosing to shoot high into the air.
"Pidgeot, use sky attack!" Niko shouted, raising his hand high into the air.
The bird pokémon descended almost as quickly as it ascended, crashing into politoed as it was using ice punch. However, the force of the sky attack overpowered ice punch, and thus dealing more damage to politoed.
"Politoed is unable to battle, pidgeot wins! Jacob will send out his second pokémon!" The judge declared.
"Politoed return. You did great. Marowak, you're up!"
"Pidgeot, be careful. This marowak is pretty tough," Niko cautioned his trusty flying type. Pidgeot nodded without looking back at its trainer. "Now, use wing attack!"
"Marowak, fire punch!" Jacob commanded. Like with skarmory and hitmonchan, the two pokémon rushed at each other, wing meeting fist. The pokémon collided with each other, only pidgeot seemed to have taken more damage, as this was now the third pokémon it had faced off against, and was understandably exhausted. Marowak then turned around and used thrash on its opponent, kicking and punching a tired pidgeot.
"Pidgeot, use sky attack!" Niko commanded.
"Marowak don't let it get away! Use fire thrash!" Jacob shouted.
Before pidgeot was about to take off, marowak grabbed onto its talon and slammed it back into the ground. Its fist and bone on fire, it thrashed at pidgeot, beating it up enough to ultimately defeat it.
"Pidgeot is unable to battle, marowak wins! Niko will now send out his final pokémon!" The judge declared.
"Ivysaur, let's go!" Niko shouted. This was it. Him and ivysaur, just as it was before against Fay. Only this time, Niko fully intended on winning. "Use razor leaf!"
"Marowak, fire punch the leaves away!" Jacob commanded. The bone keeper pokémon's bone lit up on fire as it batted the leaves to either side. It then stared down the seed pokémon for a moment, awaiting its trainer's orders.
"Ivysaur, use stun spore!" Niko commanded. The seed pokémon nodded, emitting yellow spores directly at its opponent, who spun its bone to create a counter wind that repelled the spores. "Hmm…alright, then. Ivysaur we're going to have to go in. Run forward and use razor leaf!"
"Marowak, wait…" Jacob said, again waiting for the right moment. "Now! Use fire punch!"
Marowak rushed forward, its fist on fire, and landed a punch on the seed pokémon's head. However, in return ivysaur released a stun spore that temporarily paralyzed the bone keeper pokémon.
"Ivysaur, use razor leaf now!" Niko commanded. The grass type, reeling from the fire punch that hit it atop the head, fought through the pain and released a series of sharp leaves at its opponent, who, although stunned, reeled back as well. Niko smiled. He was doing well.
"Niko, this has been a great match, dude," Jacob shouted across the field. "But we're going to end this, right here, right now. Marowak, use fire thrash!"
Marowak, released from the effects of stun spore, shot forward and thrashed at ivysaur, its limbs and bone on fire. Ivysaur wailed as the fire dealt damage to it. In what seemed to be the final blow, ivysaur was hurtled back several yards. It collapsed onto the ground, exhausted from the beating it just took.
"Ivysaur is unable to battle! Marowak is the—huh?" The judge stopped abruptly as ivysaur got back up.
"Ivy…saur. Ivysaur…" The seed pokémon muttered, its voice cracking a little.
"You can do this buddy. We're not about to give up, right?" Niko stated determinedly. Ivysaur turned to its trainer and nodded. The sun directly above it, the seed pokémon began to glow a light green color. "Synthesis?" Niko asked. He hadn't commanded anything; ivysaur was doing this all on its own.
The grass type shook its head though, confusing its trainer. Niko then saw a bright green ball appear above ivysaur's red-pink bulb.
"What the…" Niko wondered. Suddenly it became clear to him. "Alright, ivysaur, let's do this. Jacob, I hate to break it to ya, but this match is over. IVYSAUR, USE SOLARBEAM!"
Ivysaur screamed out to the heavens as it unleashed a green beam of solar energy directly at marowak, engulfing the bone keeper pokémon. Even Jacob had to sidestep as the solarbeam hit the wall directly behind him. Jacob turned back to see marowak on its back.
"When did ivysaur learn solarbeam…?" Brittany asked. Niko's family all turned to her, smirking.
"That's all Jake," Niko's Dad said proudly, turning to the brown-haired 11-year old. Jake nodded, still fixated on the battle. "He taught ivysaur solarbeam while Niko was away. We chose not to tell Niko this, figuring that ivysaur would use it on its own."
"Wow…that's incredible! Niko is such a lucky guy…" Brittany replied, looking fondly on her friend.
"Marowak is unable to battle, ivysaur is the—oh what now!?" The judge stopped, again abruptly. Ivysaur was glowing bright white. Ivysaur grew several times its size, growing to a height twice its previous height, and a width several times its previous width. Its bulb had now bloomed into a pink, white-spotted flower, supported by a thick brown trunk surrounded by green fronds. All in all, it was a massive pokémon now.
The judge sighed. "Marowak is unable to battle, venusaur is the winner! The victory goes to Niko from Pallet Town!"
Niko wiped away a tear from his eye. He did it. He improved from his previous league performance. That was his goal the whole time, and he managed to do it, and alongside his first pokémon, who was now fully evolved. He approached venusaur, who looked back at Niko with a rather exhausted look.
"Venusaur…" he said, looking at the seed pokémon. "I'm SO proud of you. You did such a great job. I guess…words can't express how I feel right now," Niko then hugged venusaur around the neck.
Jacob approached shortly after. Niko released himself from the seed pokémon to see his rival's hand outreached.
"Good job, dude," Jacob said. Niko returned the handshake, and then embraced Jacob himself.
"Same to you, buddy. Same to you."
They reunited with the group, who were all waiting outside. Brittany was the first to embrace Niko. The brown-haired trainer, shocked from the sudden affection, slowly returned the hug. Fay and JJ both patted him on the back, as did his parents and Jake.
"Thanks everyone. But Jacob really put up a fight there. It was a fun battle."
"Agreed. Maybe my favorite one so far. Thanks again, Niko."
Fay and Cody's match was the last one of the round, in another stadium. The group all went to watch as the other pair of rivals approached the field. Once again the judge explained the rules and allowed the match to start.
"Kingdra, let's go!"
"Steelix, you're up!" Cody commanded. "Use rock slide!"
"Kingdra, dodge each one and use whirlpool!" Fay commanded. The dragon pokémon shifted around the dozen or so rocks being hurled at it, getting closer still to its opponent. It then conjured a whirlpool around the massive iron snake, engulfing it in the swirling water. Steelix roared as it felt the water touch its steel coat.
"Steelix, spin around and use iron tail!" Cody commanded. The iron snake whipped around, hitting the root of the whirlpool with its iron tail. The water move dissipated, and Cody was ready to follow up. "Use earthquake now!"
"Kingdra, brace yourself!" Fay shouted. "Use dragonbreath!" Once the battlefield stopped shaking, the dragon type released out a yellow-orange flame that hit steelix in the neck. "Now use smokescreen!"
A cloud of thick smoke appeared in the middle of the battlefield. Kingdra disappeared into it, moving along as if it were swimming in water. Steelix used iron tail to blow away the cloud by slamming onto the ground, but by the time it did, it was already too late. Kingdra appeared behind it and used whirlpool under it once more.
"Combine it with twister!" Fay commanded. While the whirlpool was raging around steelix, kingdra added the dragon move to the mix. Steelix tried to use iron tail to whip away the whirlpool, but adding the dragon element to it seemed to only strengthen the whirlpool.
"What? Steelix, use earthquake!" Cody commanded. Kingdra endured the attack and then added dragonbreath to the swirling mix of water and dragon elements. Steelix, now trapped in the attack, was unable to continue fighting. It collapsed forward onto the ground, defeated.
"Steelix is unable to battle, kingdra wins!" The judge stated.
"Steelix, return. Nice job, Fay. Didn't know you could do that,"
"Neither did I, actually!" Fay laughed nervously. "I guess we could call that move 'dragon whirlpool.'"
"I like it! Now, electrode, you're up!" Cody shouted, summoning his explosive electric pokémon. "Use thunder!"
"Kingdra, dodge it!" Fay commanded. "And use dragonbreath!"
"Electrode, use thunder repeatedly!" Cody yelled out. The ball pokémon kept spinning around in place, generating enough electricity to summon multiple thunder attacks in quick succession. Kingdra shifted around the field, dodging all of them and trying to land an attack. After two successive earthquakes, it was slightly exhausted at this point, but carried on, knowing that Fay depended on it to do well. It eventually got close enough that it was able to land a dragonbreath up close. The attack landed, but at a cost: electrode's thunder finally hit.
"Kingdra!" Fay shouted out. "Can you carry on?"
Kingdra turned to its trainer and nodded, albeit weakly. It turned to electrode to use dragonbreath one more time, but the ball pokémon generated a sonicboom that launched kingdra across the field within seconds.
"Kingdra is unable to battle, electrode wins! Fay will send out his second pokémon!" The judge declared.
"Sudowoodo, you're up!" Fay shouted out. "Let's start off with a rock slide!"
"Electrode, use thunder again!" Cody commanded. He knew that sonicboom wouldn't do much against a rock type, so electric moves would just have to do. For now, at least.
The powerful electric attack nearly hit the imitation pokémon, who was able to block it using rock slide. Sudowoodo, seeing an opening, ran forward at its opponent.
"Sudowoodo?" Fay asked, "What are you doing? We need to keep our distance!"
"Sudo! Sudo sudo woodo!" The rock type shouted out, running maniacally at its opponent.
"Heh, alright then. Electrode, use thunder right in front of you!" Cody commanded. Sudowoodo stopped in its tracks to use mimic, hoping for a move that would help it. Smirking a little, it let the thunder hit in front of the ball pokémon. It then proceeded forward again.
"Would you look at that, folks," the announcer began, "Fay's sudowoodo is acting on its own accord! Is it disobeying Fay, or is it actually smarter than it might look?"
Sudowoodo heard that and frowned a little. It briefly looked back at Fay and, for a moment, the trainer thought he saw his pokémon wink at him.
"You used mimic…" Fay realized. He also knew electrode's moveset. Oh, no… "Sudowoodo! Don't do it!"
"Electrode, use thunder!" Cody commanded. The ball pokémon quickly spun around, summoning a powerful bolt of electricity. Sudowoodo stopped as the thunder was being conjured and, with near-precise timing, unleashed a sonicboom that collided with the thunder as it was hitting the ground, emulating a small explosion. Sudowoodo lifted its branch-like arms to cover itself as electrode was tossed backwards in the direction of its trainer.
"…wow, sudowoodo," Fay said in awe. "That was incredible!"
The imitation pokémon turned to its trainer and smiled and waved back. It was clearly very proud of itself.
"But watch out!" Fay shouted. Sudowoodo turned around and saw electrode rolling towards it, glowing a bright white color. The rock type turned and sprinted as fast as it could in the opposite direction, only barely missing the worst of the explosion, and hurtling the imitation pokémon across the field.
"Electrode is unable to battle, sudowoodo wins! Cody will send out his final pokémon!" The judge declared.
"Donphan, let's go!" Cody commanded. "Use earthquake!"
"Sudowoodo, surround yourself in rock slide!" Fay commanded, hoping that the rocks would help buffer the impact. It didn't really, but sudowoodo did minimize some of the damage. "Alright, now use sonicboom!"
The rock type generated another wave of sonic energy that it shot at donphan, which hit the armor pokémon in the face, but hardly seemed to do any damage. Fay realized that it would have to attack donphan head on.
"Alright, sudowoodo, let's go. Use low kick!"
"Donphan, earthquake!"
"Brace yourself, sudowoodo. You can do this!" Fay shouted out. The imitation pokémon continued to run forward on the aggressively shaking ground. It managed to land a low kick, but didn't succeed in surviving the attack.
"Sudowoodo is unable to battle donphan wins! Fay will now send out his third pokémon!" The judge declared.
"Return, sudowoodo. You exceeded my expectations. Typhlosion, I choose you!"
"What…?" JJ asked in shock.
"I wonder why he's choosing typhlosion, of all pokémon…" Jacob commented.
"I guess he has some sort of trick up his sleeve," Niko added, "he usually does."
Typhlosion turned to Fay and gave him a thumbs up indicating that they would win this. Donphan began with an earthquake, which knocked the volcano pokémon off balance, but oddly enough didn't seem to faze her much, at least on the surface.
"Donphan, use rollout!" Cody commanded. The armor pokémon leapt into the air, curled up into a ball, and rolled forward at its opponent.
"Typhlosion, use smokescreen!" Fay commanded, looking to block the attack, which halted donphan in its tracks, as it couldn't seem to see.
"Donphan, just use rollout to clear the smoke!" Cody yelled desperately. He didn't want to underestimate Fay. Not now. The ground type curled back up and rolled randomly around in the smoke cloud, intending on breaking it up as much as it could. It succeeded in doing so, but didn't noticed typhlosion until it was too late. The volcano pokémon rammed into donphan's side—where there was less armor covering it—with flame wheel. Donphan fell over, and typhlosion emitted a stream of fire at its underbelly.
"Typhlosion! Finish it off with flame wheel!" Fay yelled out. However, it wasn't exactly the "finishing move," as donphan was still able to get back on its feet and slam into typhlosion with a rollout or two. The volcano pokémon took a few steps back, distancing itself from donphan.
"This is it, Fay," Cody yelled out. "It's you or me now. You ready?"
Fay raised an eyebrow. "Of course, Cody. I'm always ready. Typhlosion, use flame wheel!"
"Donphan, earthquake!"
"You can do this, typhlosion! Endure the pain! Break through the wall!"
The volcano pokémon's body was exploding in flames as it ran on all fours towards donphan, strategically using the shaking ground as a way to build its momentum. It then rammed headfirst into donphan, pushing it backwards several feet. The force of the flame wheel seemed to have some effect, since when the dust cleared up, typhlosion was still able to get up, but donphan was not.
"Donphan is unable to battle, typhlosion wins! The victory goes to Fay from Pallet Town!" The judge declared.
"Yeah!" Fay said, pumping a fist into the air. "We did it, typhlosion!" The volcano pokémon wobbled over to its trainer, absolutely exhausted, and embraced him. "You did great. I'm really proud of you."
Back at the entrance to the battlefield, Fay's friends awaited him and Cody as they walked off the field. Brittany ran to hug Fay, while Niko, Elliot, JJ, and Jacob all went to congratulate him and Cody on a hard-fought battle.
"I don't know if you could hear it," Niko began, "but the announcer was losing his damn mind!"
"Heh, I heard bits and pieces. I was just too focused on the battle. Cody," Fay turned to his fellow black-haired trainer. "Good job, man. That was a tough match."
Cody shook his rival's hand. "Yeah, it was. I'm happy with it. A great way to go out, I think. I'd rather lose to you than some stranger."
Fay nodded, laughing with a slight hint of nervousness in his voice. The day now over, the group went to grab dinner in the dining hall before Goodshow announced the matches for the following morning. During dinner, they talked extensively about the battles they saw, and the ups and downs of the two rounds that were underway that day.
"Welcome ladies and gentlemen!" Colton Goodshow announced on the loudspeaker. "First of all, congratulations to everyone who battled in the two rounds today. We saw some incredible trainers and pokémon perform today!
"But now, we will be announcing the matches for the Top 16. Remember, these are full 6-on-6 battles, and will begin at 10am tomorrow morning. There will be two battles in each stadium, and then after a lunch break, we will finish with the Top 8 quarterfinals matches, which will be held in this main stadium. Now, without further ado…"
The 16 faces—including Niko's, Fay's, and Elliot's—all spun around until they were matched up. Everyone in the group looked around anxiously. They all seemed fixated on two faces placed right next to each other, and Elliot's off to the side.
Niko and Fay would be the second match in the main stadium.
