Chapter 11: Dry Ice
After the destructive attack of Conkelcario, everyone in the group decided to take a break for the rest of the day. Since the beast hadn't done too much damage, the gym was still open to challengers on Monday. There should have been a celebration for their victory, but the condition of Lucario and Conkeldurr had extinguished any possible enthusiasm that the group could've had.
Jimmy felt especially guilty since he usually thinks of himself as a careful person. When things don't go according to plan, he blames himself for not thinking things through.
His self-esteem only got worse when they heard back from the hospital later that night that Lucario had passed away. He now felt that he was responsible for the death of a Pokemon. From that point, he just decided that he was worn out from the day and turned in early. Everyone else just hung around and played Cornhole with their Pokemon outside. Though, it was a little unfair since Casey and her Electabuzz were extremely accurate with their throws. Eventually, it turned dark and everyone went in.
Everyone went into their respective rooms and bid goodnight to each other. Inside the boys' room, Vincent got into his bed before he heard a voice; "Think he'll be okay?"
Vincent looked at Khoury, who was looking at a sleeping Jimmy; "I hope so. He always feels like it's his fault when things go south. I think he's just mad at himself for Lucario's death. He needs to realize that everyone is responsible, and that if we hadn't attacked it, many people would have gotten hurt."
Khoury nodded and looked down, his head filled with thoughts; "Do you think that Lucario's death is really our fault?"
Vincent sighed, Khoury had just asked the same question he kept thinking about; "I'm not completely sure. If it were a normal Pokemon, I would say no. When a normal Pokemon is too tired to battle, it takes a lot more attacks to even get the possibility of the Pokemon perishing. But this mutant thing put both Conkeldurr and Lucario in a really bad medical state when we had just barely knocked it out. There's so much we don't know about it, so I can't say it works the same way as other Pokemon."
Khoury frowned, slightly disappointed; "Yeah, I figured you wouldn't know, I was just hoping I could get a little positive input."
"Well, If you're looking for positivity, I'm not your dude." Vincent answered.
Khoury nodded solemnly; "Yeah... I suppose not." He got into his bed and pulled out a book. It had a dark violet cover with black streaks running across it.
Curious, Vincent turned his head towards the younger boy; "What 'cha readin'?"
"Hmm?" Khoury responded before fully processing Vincent's question; "Oh, it's called Lavender Hue by Yohann Fuji."
Vincent tilted his head; "Never heard of it, but I don't read much anyway. What is it about?"
The younger boy provided a brief summary to Vincent; "It's a horror about Lavender Town. You know, that town in Kanto with the Pokemon Tower?"
Vincent wasn't expecting Khoury to say that it was a horror; "You like horror?"
Khoury was a taken aback by the older boy's response; "Yeah. Problem?"
"Nothing, just didn't take you for someone who liked that genre." Vincent answered honestly.
The group nerd just shrugged in response; "I guess I come off that way to a lot of people, but I do honestly enjoy the concept of frightening the audience. Though for me, it's hard to find horror that isn't cheesy or straight-up bad."
"Yeah, that's actually what I was referring too, which was why I was surprised in the first place." Vincent explained.
"Ah, ok."
Silence followed, both boys unable to think of anything else to talk about.
Eventually, Vincent gave up, "I'm going to get some rest. Please dim your light."
The younger boy nodded, "Gotcha."
Khoury turned down the light on his Pokegear and Vincent shuffled himself under his covers and instantly crashed. The dark green-haired boy stayed up half an hour longer reading his book before turning off his light and going to sleep.
Though, in the middle of the night, he sometimes heard some shuffling inside the room.
Next Morning, Monday, July 28th, 7:03 AM, Mahogany Town
Jimmy opened his eyes, not feeling rested at all. He kept waking up in the middle of the night, unable to sleep. Still half-asleep, he slid off the mattress and trudged over to the door. Vincent and Khoury were already up, presumably to eat breakfast. Though, he wasn't sure why they didn't wake him.
After opening the door, he walked down the hallway, too drowsy to properly pay attention to his surroundings. When he reached the breakfast area, he noticed his friends at a table for six, with a filled plate already at his place.
He figured somebody in the group have gotten a plate of food for him. He sat down, the group finally noticing his presence.
Lyra flashed a smile at him, "Morning Jimmy. Sleep well?"
"Morning Lyra. And nope."
"Did you ruin your sleep schedule then?" she asked.
"Bold of you to assume that it wasn't already ruined."
She let out a small laugh while Jimmy gestured to the plate in front of him, "Is this for me?"
Vincent, who sat to Jimmy's right, smirked. He put his left hand over the plate in a protective manner; "Nope, all mine." Then he switched his attention to everyone else; "You know what? Every edible thing on this table is mine, understand?"
Jimmy knew he was joking, but he decided to annoy his friend anyway. He picked up a biscuit that was on his plate and took a big bite.
Vincent's face scrunched up while everyone else laughed; "Hey! What gives?"
"It was on my section of the table."
"Doesn't mean you can take it from me!"
"Is it yours though?"
Vincent opened his mouth to say something, then closed it.
"Thanks for protecting my food though, I'm aware that it would have been in danger of being eaten by another member of our group." Jimmy said, gesturing towards Casey, who gave the boy a 'why me?' look in response.
Vincent just grunted in response to Jimmy's 'compliment'.
"Hey, who got me this food anyway?" Jimmy asked, curious to know who was kind enough to get stuff for him.
Without making any noises, nearly everyone at the table pointed at Marina, who raised her hands up in confusion, "What's with the ominous pointing? It's not that big of a deal."
Jimmy flashed a tired smile at his blue-haired friend; "Thanks Marina, that was really nice of you."
"Happy to help. Like I said, no biggie." she answered casually.
Deciding to change the subject, Jimmy turned to the person on his left; "Ready for your gym battle Lyra?"
The brunette girl perked up at the mention of her name; "You betcha! I'm going to wipe the floor with Alias-"
"Alien." Casey corrected.
Khoury facepalmed.
Lyra nodded; "Alien. Thank you my astute companion."
Khoury facepalmed again, "This is getting out of hand... now there are two of them."
Jimmy chose to ignore Casey's comment and smiled at Lyra's enthusiasm; "That's what I like to hear! I'm sure you'll be able to beat him with that attitude!"
"Yep! And it's all thanks to Casey's help!" Lyra answered.
Khoury couldn't help but notice a lack of his name; "Just kill me now..."
Lyra frowned at him; "Hey now, don't die Khoury, I need you..."
Khoury perked up, she had never said that to him before...
"...I need you because I don't have enough room to hold the TM case." Lyra said, finishing her sentence.
Casey and Vincent unable to contain themselves, both busted into boisterous laughter.
Jimmy snorted, also laughing, "Ouch Khoury... again."
Even Marina, who usually rolled her eyes at stupid jokes like this, couldn't contain a small giggle.
Meanwhile, Khoury was actually laughing too, he knew a joke was coming after Lyra's seemingly genuine comment.
Jimmy smiled at the lighthearted scene. Everyone else seemed to have recovered well from the events of the day prior, something he still needed to work on.
Unfortunately, the mood didn't last, as the news reporter on the television caught everyone's attention; "-providing more information on the attacks that happened yesterday."
A single word stuck out to everyone: 'attacks'. That meant more than one thing happened yesterday.
"Around 4pm yesterday, three strange Pokémon attacked in different places around Johto. After further study, these creatures were discovered to be hybrids between two known Pokémon." The news reporter explained. "In Mahogany Town, a hybrid between Lucario and Conkeldurr attacked, destroying a Pokémon center and being subdued by a few of the local trainers not long after."
Everyone in the group had already known this, what they were really interested in came next.
"In Cianwood City, a hybrid of Gyrados and Steelix attacked from the sea. This beast was extremely powerful and took hours for dozens of trainers and policemen to defeat it. Chuck, the Cianwood gym leader, was among them along with Bea, another gym leader from a different region. Even with these two immensely powerful trainers, the beast took a very long time to defeat."
Everyone shuddered when they saw the photos of the segmented beast. This thing was way bigger and scarier than Conkelcario was. Defeating Conkelcario only took 10-20 minutes, they couldn't even imagine having to take hours to defeat a beast like that. Lyra in particular was frightened by the size of the beast. The negative experience with Jasmine's Steelix played in her mind again, but she didn't freak out too much.
"But the most destructive of these hybrids appeared in Cherrygrove City. It was a dangerous combination between Cradily and Cursola. It used long roots to disrupt underground pipe and electrical systems. By the time the beast was defeated, Cherrygrove City was already nearly uninhabitable with the loss of electricity and sewage leaks. It will take a week before everything in the city returns to normal."
A few photos of the beast were shown on screen. It wasn't nearly as terrifying as the Gyrados and Steelix combo, but the amount of roots and ghostly branches was still unsettling to see. The beast itself didn't actively seem to be attacking either. It actually looked like it was sleeping. But this just went to show that discreet attacks that crippled the opponent could be more devastating than an all-out assault.
"We have no idea where these beasts came from, but there are theories that they could be tied back to the recent surge of Team Rocket appearances, we don't know anything for sure though."
The mention of Team Rocket drew in the attention of the group. They hadn't even considered Team Rocket being responsible for creating the hybrids. Based on the immorality of combining two Pokémon together in the first place, they seemed like a likely culprit.
"That's all we know so far. Thankfully, there were no causalities, but we have to be prepared in case more of these mutants show up. That's all from us today. We will now switch over to-"
Everyone tuned out the TV when it stopped covering the mutants. They were in complete shock after hearing that there were three attacks and not one.
Jimmy in particular, who was still not coping well from the events of the day prior, turned completely pale.
"Should... we postpone my gym battle and search for information on this?" Lyra asked, though, rather reluctantly.
Vincent shook his head, "Nah, you waited an entire day for this, we can find out more later. Unless anyone disagrees. Does anyone disagree?"
Nobody objected.
Lyra, feeling energized, jumped out of her seat excitedly; "All right!"
9:01 PM, Mahogany Town Gym
After finishing their breakfast and exiting the Pokémon Center, the group walked to where the Mahogany Town Gym was located.
Lyra, who was at the front of the group, pushed through the foggy glass doors, unleashing a wave of chilling air. The interior of the gym was much like the outside: artificial snow and ice covering everything in sight. The only thing that wasn't covered in snow and ice was the bleachers positioned to the right of the entrance.
A figure approached them from ahead. He had snow-white hair and looked like he was in his late 20's. Judging by the irritated expression on his face, the group figured that the man was Alias, the gym leader.
"Hello! My name is Lyra, are you the gym leade- uhhh..." Lyra began before trailing off in surprise.
Alias ended up being a lot shorter than the group expected as he drew closer. He was shorter than most everyone in the group, except for Casey. Based on Whitney's description of him, they had expected the man to be much taller and intimidating. Not that short people couldn't be intimidating, but being able to look down at your enemies gave people more of a reason to fear you.
Alias, who was obviously used to this, clenched his teeth in anger. "Is something wrong?" he asked.
Lyra shook off the initial surprise to address the potential disaster in front of her; "No sir, sorry for being rude. Are you Alias, the gym leader?"
He gave her a cold stare that sent chills down everyone's spines. "Yes, I am Alias, are you here for a gym challenge?" he asked, a little calmer than before, but still offended by the initial reaction of the group.
"Yes, I would like to battle for the Frostbite Badge." Lyra answered respectfully, resisting the urge to lean down to get a better look at Alias, as that would offend him even further.
Another icy glare made contact with Lyra's eyes before the gym leader eventually sighed; "Alright, let's battle. How many badges do you have?"
"Five sir."
"Alright, I'll go grab the appropriate Pokémon for this battle, I will be back out in a minute." he answered before walking to a door located to the back left of the gym.
Lyra's friends walked over to the bleachers to sit down while Lyra herself positioned herself on her side of the battlefield.
As Alias looked over the Pokeballs in the backroom, he took a second to look at the 3 balls on a stand labeled as "6th". However, after a few seconds of contemplation, he ignored it, and angrily picked up the Pokeballs placed on the "8th" stand. He had been on a loosing streak for a while and really wanted to win a battle against a challenger for once, even if he had to cheat to achieve it.
Once Alias took his place on the ice-covered battlefield. A referee walked out and positioned himself to the side of the ice sheet.
"This will be a 3-on-3 gym battle between Lyra the challenger and Alias the gym leader. Only the challenger may make substitutions. Trainers, reveal your Pokémon!"
"Girafarig, battle time!" Lyra said whilst opening a pokeball. Out came a medium-sized horse-like Pokémon with a normal head on its front and an extra one located to its back.
"Stage 1 of frostbite: Frostnip. A warning of what's to come if you don't warm up. The skin turns red." Alias said ominously, confusing everyone. Then he returned to his normal attitude; "Let's defeat them Dewgong!"
A seal-like creature with a horn came out of his pokeball.
"Battle... begin!"
"Set up with Nasty Plot!" Lyra commanded.
"Bring the Hail in!" Alias told Dewgong.
Girafarig concentrated on its target and focused. Nasty Plot was a move that behaved almost identically Swords Dance, but instead increasing the power of more long-ranged/energy based moves rather than physical moves.
On the other side of the field, Dewgong clapped its flippers together as gray clouds started to gather near the ceiling. Small balls of ice started dropping, which would give Alias an advantage, since Ice-types thrived in this type of weather.
Lyra knew that the Hail would start damaging Girafarig, so she needed to deal as much damage as possible before the Psychic/Normal-type could no longer continue; "Use Energy Ball!"
Girafarig formed a green ball in its mouth before launching it at the Water/Ice-type.
"Use Aqua Jet to escape and attack!" Alias commanded, simultaneously attempting to evade and attack.
Dewgong surrounded itself in a veil of water and took off with high speed, easily avoiding the Grass-type attack and making its way to the Long Neck Pokémon.
Lyra decided to take advantage of the Sea Lion Pokemon's closer proximity to counter-attack; "Use Energy Ball again!"
The Psychic/Normal-type opened its mouth and created another Energy Ball. But the Water/Ice-type avoided that one too and slammed into Girafarig's side, causing the latter to stumble from the impact.
Now that Dewgong was behind Girafarig's front head, Lyra decided to show off the Long Neck Pokemon's true potential: "Use Energy Ball once more!"
Once again, the Psychic/Normal-type created another ball of nature energy, but this time, it came from its rear head.
Surprised by the sudden change in attacker, Alias didn't attempt to counter and let Dewgong get hit, dealing a lot of damage.
On the stands, most of the group raised their eyebrows. "That's a smart strategy." Casey commented, she hadn't heard Lyra say anything about this yesterday.
Khoury nodded; "Girafarig may not be Lyra's most powerful Pokemon, but it is very strategic with its ability to see and attack an opponent without having to change direction. Normally, the rear head of a Girafarig is very hard to command due to its small brain capacity. Lyra managed to figure out a method of commanding the main head, who would send a message to the smaller brain, who would then issue the attack. It was difficult since the rear head still had an independent mind of its own."
"That's interesting... what do you think of that Jimmy?" Vincent said as he turned his head back to where Jimmy and Marina were sitting.
...he found Jimmy asleep on Marina's shoulder.
Upon being noticed, the blue-haired girl nudged Jimmy to wake up, interrupting the boy's deep slumber.
"Huh? What's going on?" Jimmy asked whilst checking his surroundings.
"Not enough sleep?" Vincent asked.
"Nope."
Vincent shook his head, disappointed, "Yikes. Well, try to stay awake man, this is important to Lyra."
Jimmy yawned and nodded, "I'll try."
Then Vincent shifted his attention to Marina and gave her a silent stare.
"What?" she asked, acting oblivious.
"Nothing."
Back on the battlefield, Alias was visibly impressed by Lyra's unique usage of her Pokémon, but it was soon replaced with anger. He couldn't lose, especially when he was using Pokémon way above Lyra's level.
Then Dewgong's body started to glow a faint green, which caused the Ice-type gym leader to smirk. Dewgong's Ice Body ability was finally kicking in.
Ice Body was an ability that healed a Pokémon while it was hailing, which was one of the main reasons why he summoned Hail in the first place, but the weather was also beneficial to him for other reasons.
"Use Blizzard!" Alias commanded, hoping to deal a lot of damage to the opposing Girafarig.
"Energy Ball!" Lyra shouted, attempting to counter.
Dewgong clapped its two front fins together sent an air wave of snow and ice towards the Long Neck Pokémon. The Psychic/Normal-type created another ball of nature energy from its back head and fired it at the Sea Lion Pokémon. However, the Blizzard was far too strong and easily overpowered the Grass-type attack. Girafarig's back head widened its eyes in surprise before being hit with a massive temperature drop. Both of its head gritted their teeth as their body temperature fell.
Once the onslaught ended, Lyra could clearly see that her Pokémon was in pain. The Ice-type attack had completely overpowered her counter. She needed a plan, because Alias was definitely planning on using that move again.
Until she developed a plan though, she just needed to attack as much as possible to avoid being hit by Blizzard again; "Use Shadow Ball!"
"Drill Run right through it!"
Girafarig created a ball of dark, swirling energy and shot it at its opponent. On the other side of the field, Dewgong tucked its head in so that its horn was at its forefront. Then it jumped up and spun like a drill towards the Ghost-type move. The two attacks crashed into each other, both fighting for dominance over the other. Then the Shadow Ball dispersed, leaving the Long Neck Pokémon wide open for an attack.
Before the girl could utter another command, the Sea Lion Pokémon slammed into it's opponent. The Psychic/Normal-type stumbled backwards and collapsed from the impact.
"Girafarig!" Lyra cried out in worry.
Dewgong backed away after its successful attack while the Long Neck Pokémon stood up, definitely harmed from the attack, but far from being defeated.
Deciding that Dewgong was close enough to get an another attack in, Alias commanded the Sea Lion Pokemon again; "Use Drill Horn again!"
Dewgong reared its head again and prepared to ram into the Long Neck Pokemon with it's horn again.
Not wanting her Pokemon to get hit again Lyra panicked and made a rash decision; "Use Psychic!"
Fortunately, Lyra quick thinking paid off and Girafarig unleashed a large amount of psychic energy from its body sending the Water/Ice-type backward. It skipped across the ground before skidding to a halt a few dozen feet away.
"Huh, I guess Dewgong was too close for Girafarig to execute a targeted Psychic, so he resorted to just unleashing the power instead of concentrating it. He was able to keep Dewgong away because of that" Lyra thought to herself.
Suddenly, a lightbulb lit up inside of the girl's head, she had an idea to counter Dewgong's Blizzard now.
Since Girafarig was no longer in close quarters, Alias changed back to long-ranged attacks; "Blizzard!"
The Sea Lion Pokemon clapped its flippers together once again as another wave of snow and ice formed and made its way towards the Psychic/Normal-type. This time, Lyra had a counter-attack.
"Run through it using Psychic to shield yourself!"
Girafarig's eyes glowed blue as it surrounded itself in psychic energy. Then it started galloping towards the wall of snow, this time blowing the particles away from it. The defense wasn't perfect, some parts of the attack were two strong and managed to damage the Long Neck Pokemon. But by the time the attack had ended, Girafarig had taken far less damage compared to last time.
Alias was visibly surprised by this, but kept his composure and attacked again; "Use Aqua Jet!"
"Energy Ball!" Lyra commanded.
Dewgong surrounded itself in a veil of water and lunged at the Long Neck Pokemon with high speed. Girafarig powered up another green sphere of nature energy and held it in its mouth. As soon as the Sea Lion Pokemon was inches from Girafarig's face, the Psychic/Normal-type unleashed the Energy Ball from point-blank range, sending the Water/Ice-type flying backward.
"Keep up the pressure! Use Shadow Ball!" Lyra commanded, hoping to knock Dewgong out.
Alias growled angrily, "Aqua Jet! Take it out!"
The Water/Ice-type quickly recovered from the super-effective hit and surrounded itself in water again, dodging the sphere of ghastly energy that Girafarig had just shot at it.
Lyra raised an eyebrow in confusion. Didn't he already try this? Puzzled, she ordered the same counter-attack she used before; "Energy Ball again!"
The Long Neck Pokémon created another ball of nature energy and launched it at the Sea Lion Pokémon's face. However, his target learned its lesson and redirected itself momentarily to dodge before changing trajectory again to slam into Girafarig.
The Psychic/Normal-type stumbled back from the direct attack, but didn't fall, he wasn't going to be taken out so easily.
"Use Psychic and slam it on the ground multiple times!" Lyra commanded her Pokémon, hoping to knock Dewgong out.
Girafarig's front eyes glowed blue and focused on its opponent. The Sea Lion Pokémon felt an invisible force pick it up and force it to the ground with a ton of force. Then without giving it time to recover, Girafarig continued to pick it up and slam it to the ground until the Water/Ice-type could no longer battle.
The referee raised a hand; "Dewgong is unable to battle, Girafarig is the winner. The gym leader may now reveal their second Pokémon!"
To say Alias was angry was massive understatement. The ice-type gym leader was seething mad. His Dewgong was specifically trained to take on trainers with 7 badges, and it lost to a trainer with 5 badges. His anger blinded him from considering Lyra's strategy as he returned Dewgong and blamed it for being weak. No one heard him scold the Sea Lion Pokémon.
Then the man pulled out another Pokémon and calmed himself; "Stage 2 of frostbite: Superficial frostbite. Blisters may appear after you warm up. Your skin turns white."
Once again, the ominous message provoked a bunch of stares and weird looks from everyone in the room.
Then, as if he had never spoken the strange phrase, he switched back to his normal, agitated self and threw his next pokeball; "Crush them Weavile!"
A medium-sized bipedal Pokémon revealed itself from the Pokeball. It was mostly black, but there were a few parts of itself that were red or white. It's sharp claws on its hands and feet were white. The rest of its body was red: ears, tail, scarf, and a headdress-like protrusion coming from its head.
Lyra recognized the body shape of it, and deducted that it was the evolution of Sneasel. Khoury had a Sneasel, so she was familiar enough with the Pokémon to recognize its evolution.
However, upon recognizing the Pokémon's identity, the girl returned her Psychic/Normal-type to his Pokeball. Weavile was part Dark-type, and battling one of those with a Psychic-type is practically a death wish since Psychic-type attacks had no effect on Dark-types.
Lyra took a second to choose what her next Pokémon should be. Both Marill and Blitzle knew Fighting-type moves, which were massively effective on Weavile, so she had a difficult time deciding.
Meanwhile, Jimmy stared at Alias's choice of Pokemon with wide eyes; "He's not supposed to be using that!"
Marina nodded, also surprised by the presence of the Sharp Claw Pokemon; "You're right... he should be using a Sneasel. why is he using Weavile?
"Maybe he was feeling extra angry today and decided to go all out?" Casey suggested.
"Maybe, but if that's the case, it's very impressive that Lyra was able to defeat that Dewgong, considering that it would be quite a few levels above her." Vincent analyzed.
Suddenly, a very frightening thought occurred to Lyra's best friend; "Guys... he's using stronger Pokemon..."
"Yeah I know... but what's the big deal about that? Sure it's stronger and would pose a much greater threat to-... oh no." Casey started saying before she realized how dire the situation was.
"Are there any Ice-types that could threaten a reaction out of Lyra?" Marina asked.
"Definitely, I know a few that would absolutely trigger a reaction." Khoury stated.
"We should sit on the very edge of the bleachers on Lyra's side." Jimmy suggested. "If she starts to freak out, one of us will go to her side. Any volunteers?"
Casey raised her hand first.
"Okay, let's go."
The group moved over to the spot on the bleachers closest to their megalophobic friend with Casey on the bottommost step.
Meanwhile, Lyra made her choice and threw a Pokeball; "Let's go Blitzle!"
The black-and-white Electric-type exited its place of residence and gave a high-pitched bray as electricity crackled around its body. It spread its four legs out, ready to battle.
Deciding not to waste any time, Lyra attacks immediately; "Use Thunder Wave!"
The white sections of Blitzle's body started glowing as electric activity started to rise around it. Then it released a small bolt that traveled towards the Sharp Claw Pokémon.
"Dodge it, then hit it with Triple Axel." Alias said calmly.
The Dark/Ice-type effortlessly moved out of the way and formed three sheets of ice in one of its hands, each one bigger than the last.
Lyra, unable to recognize the move, panicked and tried to counter the best she could, as she didn't know what to expect. "Try hitting it with Spark!"
The Electrified Pokémon increased the electrical energy around its body and rushed at Weavile with full speed. But before she could reach her target, the Sharp Claw Pokemon threw the smallest of the ice sheets it had created at her.
Unable to react in time, Blitzle was struck by the ice sheet, shattering the projectile and halting the Electric-type's movement. Weavile didn't give Blitzle time to recuperate as it threw the remaining sheets, each hitting successfully for more damage.
"Sorry Blitzle! Are you okay?" Lyra cried out in worry.
The Electric-type looked like it had taken a lot of damage from the three attacks, but it still nodded, determined to not go out so easily.
"Weavile is very fast, faster than Blitzle actually. I have to paralyze it somehow, so that its speed will be more manageable." Lyra thought to herself, attempting to think of a plan to slow the Sharp Claw Pokemon down.
Her thinking would have to wait as Alias executed another attack; "Psycho Cut!"
A long, sharp needle that glowed a magenta hue appeared in Weavile's hand. Then it rushed towards the Electrified Pokémon at full speed.
Unable to make a calculated decision in time, Lyra made a reflexive decision; "Use Flame Charge!"
Blitzle's body heated up as her entire body engulfed in flames. The Electric-type ran full speed ahead and collided with the Dark/Ice-type. Weavile winced in pain before slashing its opponent with Psycho Cut, sending Blitzle across the battlefield.
"Don't give up! Flame Charge again!" Lyra commands.
Blitzle stood back up and surrounded her body in flames again, then she rushed towards its opponent, only this time, she was moving much faster.
This occurrence finally got Lyra's mind working; "That's right! Flame Charge increases the user's speed! If I keep using it, Blitzle will be able to keep up with Weavile!"
"Shadow Claw!" Alias shouted, making his hands look like claws and slashing the air with them for added effect.
Ethereal energy surrounded the Sharp Claw Pokemon's... well... sharp claws. In the blink of an eye, Weavile was already inches away from its opponent, ready to strike.
"Jump back to dodge!" Lyra commanded.
Blitzle, still surrounded by hot flames, quickly jumped back and narrowly avoided the Shadow Claw attack.
"Now turn around and Double Kick it!"
The Electrified Pokémon quickly spun around with its body still on fire and slammed her two hind hooves into the Dark/Ice-type. The force of the massively effective attack sent Weavile all the to the edge of the battlefield. Unfortunately for our heroine, it stood up, but definitely woozy from the powerful Double Kick.
Alias gritted his teeth in anger, he shouldn't be struggling against this trainer, but he is. He thought he could just attack her recklessly without much of a plan, but she was proving to be much tougher to deal with than he thought.
His thoughts were interrupted by Lyra; "Now use Flame Charge again! Keep speeding up!"
Blitzle engulfed itself in hot fire once again, rushing at Weavile even faster than before.
"Grab it by the neck and slam it to the ground!" Alias exclaimed.
Weavile raced towards the fast approaching Blitzle and grabbed its neck with its sharp claws, not caring about the fire that it was weak to, before slamming her to the ground and holding her there. The Electrified Pokémon winced in pain from the Dark/Ice-types sharp claws and brutal battling style.
The ice-type gym leader grinned, "Now let loose with Lash Out!"
Weavile's usually grinning face was soon replaced by that of pure rage. Dark energy started to swirl around the Sharp Claw Pokémon as it raised its unoccupied hand, ready to strike.
Lyra knew that this could end very badly if she didn't do anything; "Try increasing the power of your flames! That's sure to discourage it!"
Blitzle narrowed its eyes and concentrated on increasing the firepower it was exerting, attempting to get the Dark/Ice-type away from it. It was during this time that Weavile finally initiated its attack, continually striking the Electric-type with one hand while the other held her in place.
The Electrified Pokémon kept cringing with all of the damage she was taking, but she still held on, pouring more and more energy into her flames. She may not be a Fire-type, but she might as well be one considering how often Lyra had commanded her to use Flame Charge. She wasn't going to lose to this Weavile, not without a fight anyway.
On the other hand, Weavile was starting to really feel the heat. As an Ice-type, it was already weak to hot things, especially fire, but any Pokemon would be discouraged by how much energy the little Blitzle was emitting, except for Pokémon with the ability Flash Fire. However, even though it was taking way more heat than it should, it still kept going. Right now, its trainer was counting on it to take out this challenger's Pokémon, a little fire couldn't stop it now.
"Keep going! Prove you're the stronger one here!" Alias roared.
"Keep heating up! Get it off of you so that we can win this!" Lyra shouted as well.
At last, with one final display of power, Blitzle's flames blew her opponent off of her entirely. You couldn't see her body anymore through all of the fire. The inferno was so hot that even the group could feel the intense heat. The rest of the ice on the battlefield that wasn't already gone melted away.
A few seconds later, the fire toned down a little revealing a heavily breathing, but still standing Blitzle. Her red eyes only expressed one thing: Determination. She wasn't going to let herself or Lyra down. Not today.
Lyra smiled at her Electric-type; "I knew you could do it Blitzle! Now let's finish this! It's time we use our combo move!"
Blitzle smiled with confidence, knowing that Weavile was going down. The Electrified Pokémon brayed and surrounded itself in crackling, high voltage electricity, creating a jaw-dropping combination of fire and electricity.
Alias didn't show any signs of fear, and neither did Weavile, they weren't about to lose either; "Lash Out, full power!"
The Sharp Claw Pokémon roared its name as its entire body was now surrounded in dark mist. Its eyes were now completely red, with no pupils. There was only one thing on its mind: to knock out this pesky Blitzle.
Both Pokémon rushed towards each other, now at speeds that the audience could barely keep up with. Before anyone knew what was happening, they collided, generating a huge explosion.
...
Alias stared at the smoke, emotionless, waiting for the result.
...
Lyra balled her fist and held it over her heart in worry.
...
The group gaped at the battlefield with wide eyes, on the edge of their seats.
...
The dust cleared...
...
On one knee, stood Weavile, clearly in a great deal of pain.
...
Blitzle lay motionless with its eyes shut, no longer able to battle.
"Blitzle is unable to battle! Weavile is the winner! The challenger may now select their next Pokémon." the referee announced.
Without any hesitation, a distressed Lyra ran over to her fallen comrade; "Blitzle!"
She ran to the battlefield, picked up her Electric-type, and cradled her in her arms; "Are you okay?"
Blitzle coughed, then opened her eyes, giving a small nod.
Lyra breathed a sigh of relief; "Thank goodness!"
Blitzle looked down, clearly disappointed with itself.
"Blitzle, don't look so sad, you were incredible out there." Lyra said, attempting to soothe her.
The Electrified Pokémon still looked ashamed.
"Don't worry, we still accomplished our goal." Lyra said while turning to their opponent. Electric streaks ran across Weavile's body, which the gym leader didn't notice. The Sharp Claw Pokémon was paralyzed now, and Alias didn't know.
"It's a sitting duck now, Marill will finish it off in your honor." Lyra said, making Blitzle smile.
Before being returned to her pokeball, Blitzle took one last look at Weavile, who gave her a nod as a sign of respect. At least it wasn't like its trainer.
Lyra immediately took out Marill's pokeball next. Before throwing it out, she whispered, "This is for Blitzle."
"Go Marill! Battle time!"
A small, blue, round Pokémon appeared from the red-and-white sphere. It had a long, zig-zagging tail with a blue sphere on the end and mouse-like ears.
"Finish this one off too Weavile! Triple Axel!" the Ice-type gym leader commanded.
Weavile created another set of three sheets of ice and raced towards Marill, though this time, it was much slower due to paralysis.
Alias, having not noticed Weavile's condition beforehand, was surprised by this; "Wh-wh-what? When did you-?"
"Iron Tail Marill!" Lyra commanded the Aqua Mouse Pokemon to use its newly learned move.
The Sharp Claw Pokemon threw each of the ice sheets at the Water/Fairy-type, attempting to hit it for large damage. But Marill merely swung around and destroyed each axel easily with her now hardened tail.
"Blitzle's combo move may look like a combination between Spark and Flame Charge, but Thunder Wave is actually included in the combo too." Lyra explained to Alias. "The move is a last resort since it drains Blitzle's energy, but it pays off if the move hits."
Alias angrily grit his teeth together, he was really starting hate this girl's battling prowess.
"Now Play Rough!" Lyra commanded.
Pink, glittering mist surrounded the Aqua Mouse Pokémon as she raced towards her opponent.
"Dodge it! then Psycho Cut!" Alias roared.
Even with the electricity coursing through its veins, Weavile still moved out of the way and generated another long, magenta-colored needle.
"Brick Break!" Lyra countered.
The pink mist disappeared as Marill changed her trajectory, now racing towards the Dark/Ice-type at full speed.
Weavile attempted to slash the Water/Fairy-type with its Psycho Cut, but the paralysis kicked in and stopped its movement entirely. Now completely open, Weavile could only watch as Marill leaped up and flipped her body forward.
"This is for Blitzle!" Lyra exclaimed.
Marill's tail collided with Weavile's head, immediately knocking the Sharp Claw Pokémon to the ground. Dust flung up in the air due to the force of the impact.
Everyone else watched the dust, eagerly waiting for it to disappear.
Eventually, the air cleared, revealing a fainted Weavile and a triumphant Marill standing over it.
"Weavile is unable to battle! Marill is the victor! The gym leader may now select their final-"
"Shut up! I know what to do!" Alias angrily interrupted, surprising everyone in the room.
Well, almost everyone, the referee just rolled his eyes, as if he was already used to this behavior.
Alias grunted and returned Weavile to its pokeball without another word.
Jimmy gestured to Casey; "Be ready."
The aforementioned girl nodded.
Alias looked down; "Stage 3 of frostbite: Deep frostbite. Tissue fails and you lose all senses in the affected area. Your skin turns black as your skin dies."
Nobody was phased by Alias's ominous phrase this time, they had come to accept it now.
The Ice-type gym leader picked up his final pokeball.
Casey stood up, ready to race to Lyra's side.
Alias threw the Pokeball.
...
Brown fur covered the Pokemon's body. It had a pig-like face, and large, white tusks.
Lyra's pupils shrunk as her face changed from that of determination to that of pure terror.
Alias's final Pokemon... was a 9-foot tall Mamoswine.
...aaaaaannnd that's the end of the chapter, sorry to leave it on a cliffhanger, but it was starting to get too long for one chapter.
Next up we'll finish Lyra's gym battle. How will she handle the Mamoswine?
Find out in the next chapter!
Chapter 12: Frostbitten.