Chapter 48: A Game of Shadows
The stage is set. Tia and Morty stand on opposite ends of the park with Pokeballs in hand. The night air is cool and the sky is pitch black with nothing but the moon's luminosity providing light on the two. Tom himself sat on a bench watching as the battle is about to unfold. Both Tia and Morty's eyes shine, reflecting the moon's eerie glow.
"I'll save you the speech. This is an official league match; you get it by now." He smirks and calls out his first Pokémon. His Misdreavus emerges and floats in the shadows on the night.
Tia smiles and decides to go with something as little different. "I know this is your first battle, but give it your best Scyther." Scyther emerges and he is more than eager to battle. Scyther sharps each blade against the other and slashes at the air. "Let's waste no time: Fury Cutter!" Scyther quickly complies and soars towards Misdreavus.
"Straight to the offensive huh?" Morty smirks as Misdreavus dodges with finesse. "Hex!" Morty's command was simple, but he was carefully analyzing every possible outcome.
A mass of dark energy flies towards Scyther. "Dodge it Scyther and follow up with Pursuit!" Tia's commands didn't seem to quite get through to Scyther though. Instead of dodging Scyther batted the Hex out of the way and slashes at Misdreavus with Pursuit. Tia looks stunned, "I said to dodge Scyther." Scyther just turns up his nose.
Morty's even a little surprised. "You just catch that one? He doesn't seem to like you very much." His comment unnerves Tia, but she continues anyway. Rather she would if Scyther hadn't ready let out another Pursuit taking everyone by surprise. "He's definitely not the most patient Pokémon." Morty comments as Misdreavus takes another hit.
"Scyther we can't just charge blindly." Tia tries to connect with her new Pokémon, but Scyther is having none of it. He aims for Misdreavus once more, but Morty was prepared.
"Astonish!" Misdreavus's eyes glow and the ghost rams into Scyther making him flinch. "Now Hex!" The attack was quick, but didn't have a lot of power behind it. Regardless, Misdreavus managed to damage Scyther which is all Morty wanted. Scyther quickly responds with a final Pursuit knocking Misdreavus out cold. "Scyther is strong, if not a little reckless." Morty says nonchalantly as he calls out his next Pokémon. "Come on out Haunter." His Haunter comes out and easily blends with the night sky. While still visible it is clear that his Pokémon was in its natural element. Scyther once again charges blindly at his foe. "You know Scyther you should really listen to your trainer. Sucker Punch." Morty calmly responds to Scyther's predictable attack pattern and counters it with a strategy.
The attack from Haunter surprises Scyther with a powerful blow before he could even attack. This on top of the damage already done to him by Misdreavus quickly knock out Scyther. Tia calls him back without a word. She looks disappointedly at the Pokeball, but continues on. "Flaaffy, you're up!" She calls out her Electric Type to combat the ghost next. "Be careful of that Sucker Punch." She cautiously decides her next move. In the meantime, Haunter is more than happy to attack with Night Slash after Night Slash. Flaaffy's speed was Tia's best bet at the moment. "Okay Flaaffy use Thunder Wave." Flaaffy is far more in sync with Tia's plans and sends a wave of electricity at Haunter. Sparks fly and Haunter appears to stagger a bit.
Morty chuckles, "Not bad, so you're the calm and calculating type too. Betrays your normal personality, but whatever." He is amused by this, but didn't let up for a second. "Haunter use Night Shade." Despite Haunter lagging behind it still manages to drop an over casting shadow to hit Flaaffy.
Flaaffy stammers after the attack and is immediately back on the offensive. "Flaaffy hit it with a Cotton Spore." Balls of fluff fly off all around Flaaffy and hurl themselves at Haunter. Suddenly Haunter is surrounded by fluff that is sticking to it and further impeding the ghost's movement. "Now let's see you avoid this one. Thunder Shock!" Tia's strategy works flawlessly as the severely slowed Haunter tries to evade the crash of lighting that flew off of Flaaffy and right at it. The entire park lights up in a blitz of light before fading in an instant. Haunter barely stood as static fly off of it.
Morty smiles, "Sorry Haunter, looks like we have no choice, Curse." Morty orders his severely weaken Pokémon. Haunter nods acceptingly. A spike manifests in front of it and plunges into Haunter. The Ghost faints, but not before a shadowy aura surrounds Flaaffy. Morty smirks calling out his next Pokémon. "Go Gengar!" Morty's final Pokémon comes out and immediately creeps into the shadows.
Tia wastes no time targeting it with a Thunder Wave in hopes to slow it down. Flaaffy can't seem to keep an eye on the target. "Keep an eye out for it Flaaffy." It's at this point she notices Flaaffy was taking damage despite not getting hit. "Oh no, I almost forgot about that Curse. Flaaffy we need to be fast. Morty's trying to wear out the clock."
Morty laughs, "Smart girl. Why waste my Gengar's strength when he can safely hide as your Pokémon slowly faints." Morty's plan was deviously brilliant and hiding in the shadows definitely gave him a huge advantage over her.
Tia stops and thinks for a moment. She glares at Morty and looks to Flaaffy. "Flaaffy turn around." She says stoically while Morty gives her a leery look. "Use Thunder Shock." Her command is met with confusion because she was now in direct line of sight for the attack. Flaaffy trusts her trainer nonetheless and fires of another burst of lightning. The bolts fly past Tia without her even so much as flinching. Without turning to see the results she looks at Morty. "You knew I'd be so focused on the battle that I'd never think to look behind me. I'd be too on edge to try and take my eyes off Flaaffy would be too risky." Tia assumes this was his plan all along and the staggered Gengar flying past her proved it.
Morty cracks a smile and claps, "Damn, you really are a top notch trainer." He looks at Flaaffy who was now barely standing. "Shadow Punch," his voice is menacing and dark to match Tia's intensity. Flaaffy goes down and Tia calls her back expecting nothing less. "Go Quilava. It's time we finish this." Quilava's fiery quills burn brightly illuminating the battlefield with the light din of his flames.
Tom just sat silently watching the two fight it out. Every subsequent battle Tia learned and grew stronger like her Pokémon. She was thinking in new and inventive ways and retooling her strategies to match her opponent. He felt a twinge of excitement as they battled and couldn't take his eyes off them. In a way he's reminded of his own youth, when he was just a kid starting out in the world.
"Too bad you're Pokémon's a walking candle while mine can hide all he wants." Morty brags and has Gengar hide once more.
"Ember!" Tia's abrupt command takes him off guard and hits Gengar as he tries to flee.
"Gengar looks like we're not going to get much chance to hide. So follow up with a Shadow Punch." Gengar flies forward with a shadowy fist and intimidating eyes fixated on Quilava.
"Before they connect use Flame Wheel." Quilava spits out fire which surrounds him and shields him from Gengar's attack and does a nice amount of damage itself. "Give it another Flame Wheel." Quilava curls up in a ball and spins towards Gengar this time to hit him not to block.
"Not so fast, Sucker Punch." Gengar quickly punches Quilava as he spun, but this didn't break her Pokémon's momentum for a second as he proceeded to plow right into Gengar. "Gengar Lick," Morty begins to look worried as Gengar licks Quilava in a vain attempt to paralyze him.
Quilava continues to roll around the battlefield while Gengar is forced onto the defensive. "Okay Quilava use Smokescreen." Quilava stops and shoots out a thick haze that is making sight nearly impossible at night. "Now keep using Flame Wheel into you hit Gengar." This was a simple command and a very effective one. Within seconds Quilava found Gengar and kept bashing into him. This was definitely unorthodox even for Tia, but it goes to show she knows how to utilize every move she has at her disposal.
The smoke clears and all that remained was Quilava and a fainted Gengar. Morty nods his head, "Well done, I gotta say this has been a great battle Tia." He begins to say before she cuts him off.
"We're not done." Her eyes were cold and sharp as her tone. This piqued both his and Tom's interest.
"What do you mean? I'm out of gym Pokémon." Morty explains, he obviously wasn't going to use his personal Pokémon for this battle.
She shakes her head, "I got my badge, but I want one more battle." She points to him and calls back her Quilava. "Against Darkrai." Her bold declaration takes them all off guard.
Morty himself is stupefied. "Tia there's no way you'd win you know that right?" He tries not to sound condescending, but she's could never expect to beat a legend with her team.
"Then there's nothing to worry about is there?" She continues to goad him.
He starts to consider her challenge, but the decision is made for him when Darkrai releases himself from the ball. He looks to his nightmare Pokémon and nods, "Alright, we accept." He says coolly as Darkrai waited for her to call out her Pokémon. "Go ahead and grab your strongest Pokémon. We can wait."
"Go Venasaur," Tia didn't miss a beat and calls out her first Pokémon who was itching for a battle.
Morty looks on in surprise, "You had this planned from the start?" He was even more impressed than before.
Tia nods and looks over at Tom. "You should leave Tom." She notices him shaking.
He tries to control himself, but Darkrai was getting to him. "No, I refuse to miss this battle." His normal toothy grin was replaced with one of a slightly more twisted nature. He laughs more manically as he slowly becomes more unhinged. To hide his expression he dawns his X mask.
Tia nods, "Alright Venasaur know this will be our toughest battle yet, but we can do it. Let's beat a legendary Pokemon!" She has the honor of making the first move. "Petal Dance!" Venasaur unleashes a flurry of razor sharp blades. Darkrai evades them with ease as he move. Darkrai's movements were so fast it was as if he was fading in and out of reality.
"Darkrai's speed is one of his strong suits. He's arguably one of the fastest legendary Pokémon out there." Darkrai is now right in front of Venasaur holding his hand up. "Dark Pulse." A wave of darkness pours over Venasaur; sending her flying backwards. "Shadow Force," Morty instructs Darkrai. Morty's whole personality turned dark and cold as the haunting void of Darkrai's eyes.
Tia is unnerved greatly, but tries her hardest to maintain her cool. She sees Darkrai slowly slipping into the ground. "Oh no you don't. Venasaur grab it with your vines." Venasaur stretches out her vines and wraps them around Darkrai's arm pulling him out and hurling him to the ground.
Morty looks amazed, "I've never seen someone stop Shadow Force like that. Very impressive; this will be a fun battle." Morty definitely wanted to see her fullest potential. Darkrai recovers and flies forward once more with another Dark Pulse.
Tia was prepared this time. Venasaur recovers, "Jump back and hit him with Petal Dance." She keeps up her strategy. This time with more success. Venasaur isn't as fast as Darkrai, but Tia's timing was perfect and left Darkrai wide open.
"Darkrai use Haze." Darkrai extends his hand once more and coats the arena in a veil of haze that sent chills up Tia's back. "Now use Shadow Force." Darkrai is deep in the haze and uses the chance to sink into the shadows.
Tia smiles, "Frenzy Plant!" Venasaur stands her ground and surrounds herself in thorny brambles on all sides. One of these brambles manages to hit and uproots Darkrai. Venasaur had more than enough power to make up for the lack of speed. "Now hit him with an Energy Ball!" She felt her victory getting ever closer. Her heart was racing from the excitement of going toe-to-toe with a legendary Pokémon.
Darkrai quickly slips back into the haze as he awaits Morty's next command. "Use Dark Void!" He goes for Darkrai's signature move. Venasaur is enveloped in darkness and dragged down before being put to sleep. Tia gasps while Morty just smiles triumphantly. "Now finish this with a Nightmare!" Darkrai flies up to Venasaur as another shadow passes over her and begins feeding on her nightmares dealing a substantial amount of damage. Tia's Pokémon faints and she quietly calls her back. "That was a good battle Tia, I never would have imagined you'd been able to take on Darkrai like that." Morty gives her his highest praise.
Tia smiles weakly and collapses. Tom quickly runs up and catches her. He breathes heavily, "You're exceeding everyone's expectations every day." He says to her quietly while his voice trembled. Tom looks to Morty. "She's not there yet, but someday she will be." He holds her up and starts to walk off.
"So she's a pseudo-legendary trainer." Morty laughs and gives Tom a hand holding her.
Tom smirks under his mask, "Yeah, yeah I guess you could say that. All I know is that she's a cut above the rest." She's grown immensely right before his eyes. She used to be a simple girl with no real knowledge of how to be a trainer to practically an expert battler in such a short time. He slowly calms down and removes his mask revealing his exhausted expression and sweat streaming down his face.
"I can see why my sister and you are so fond of her." Morty laughs and helps take her back to the center. Morty hobbles along with Tom while they carry Tia. They both couldn't help but laugh at how peaceful she looked. "This is probably the quietest I've ever seen here so far." Morty's remark gets a chuckle out of them both.
Tom lets the silence sink in a bit more before he finally speaks up, "Hey Morty, I'm sorry I've always been so ridiculously competitive with you." Tom confesses to probably one of his biggest faults.
"Hey, you have nothing to feel bad about. You have to be when you're around me. Otherwise, I'll be the competitive prick." The two laugh and continue on. They lay Tia down in bed at the center. Thankfully, not many people were around so it wasn't too awkward when they walked in. "Think we should get her changed or something?" Morty wasn't sure if they should just leave her lying on the bed.
"So you can cop a feel in her sleep? I don't think so." Tom knew Morty's true intentions, they were practically all over his face.
He raises his hands defensively. "Whoa, you've got it completely wrong. I would never do that." Tom didn't quite believe him though as he glared at him. "Fine, we'll leave her as is." Tom takes Morty's arm and pulls him out of her room and back into the main room.
"Thanks for the help, but you should probably get back to the gym now." Tom advises him as he checks the clock. Morty nods and steps out. Tom follows close behind and takes a seat. He sits and lets this all sink in for a moment. He begins to laugh uncontrollably. "This is getting really interesting." He was getting some twisted joy out of all this.
Thank you all for reading and I hope you all enjoyed. Please do not forget to leave a review with your thoughts on the chapter and the series as a whole. Well, this was certainly an interesting chapter for sure. I'm really happy with how this turned out. Tia and Morty's battle I feel is kind of a turning point in the series where I really stepped up my game in terms of making more dynamic and interesting battles, especially when it's a battle between two more powerful Pokemon like this one was. I don't think it was too surprising that she lost, but still I'm hoping it at least kept people guessing until the end.
