Chapter Twelve – In Attempt to Strike Fear OR I Get No Respect
Nick couldn't believe the crap his rash decisions left for him to deal with. Regardless of his "death" he was far too recognizable in any semi-populated area. Until he found a way to solve that issue, he was happy he was able to get Adam to join him. For the past couple weeks, he'd been planning and tracking the poachers, attempting to untangle the web they operated under.
In the past week since Adam's arrival, they were able to resupply and learn one valuable piece of information from Steven Stone. The group was not like the fabled "villains" of the past. They operated under a clear chain of command, had no issue with responding with violence and appeared to have recruited jaded trainers and the remnants of the Magma and Aqua. Nick had assisted in the dismantling of the two teams a decade ago. Since that time, other than small copycat crimes the groups had been silent.
Nick and Adam contemplated the information, knowing it likely meant something much worse was on the horizon. The only chance they had was to capture and interrogate a member and see what they could learn. It was risky, Nick and Riley had busted up a small camp of theirs and the battle damn near killed them. Nick gave Adam most of the details, other than the fact his daughter had assisted. The two men began scanning news articles and police reports trying to identify a pattern. After hours of pouring over the data points, one place seemed the most likely.
Adam and his friend, the "disgraced" former Champion mounted their Pokemon and took flight to Fortree City. Over the past six months, eleven trainers had gone missing and countless thefts and muggings were reported on the route east of town. Adam went to town and gathered his team. He knew they could run into anything, so he didn't hold back. Pixel, the Flygon – his starter and vicious dragon. Cinder the Talonflame, Juice the Luxray, Max the Bisharp, Rip the Gengar and Shredder the Kabutops. They'd been fighting and exploring for years, he needed the team he trusted.
As Adam returned to his friend, they took to the sky in the cover of darkness looking for any light or campfire that may lead them to their objective. An hour into their search, they found what they were looking for. Four campfires, all centrally located in a small clearing in a woods surrounded by a few makeshift cabins. This wasn't a group of trainers, and Nick couldn't recall approving any operations this far north.
The men descended a half mile from the camp and readied their teams. To say they were prepared to fight off dozens of trainers with the strength of their teams would be an understatement. Nick brought his power group, rarely did he have them all with him at once whether for Championship battles or exploring. The last time they'd all been out together was the dismantling of Magma and Aqua, destroying Archie and Maxie single handedly.
He looked at his team as he gave his final instruction. Buddy the Champion Empoleon was obviously there, along with him were Chroma the Metagross, Drago the Salamance, Terra the Torterra, Rupert the Houndoom and Yaka the Togekiss. Rare, powerful, ruthlessly efficient. They'd all been involved in search and rescue missions, clandestine sabotage and the brute force crushing of enemies of Hoenn.
Nick walked to his longtime friend and confirmed the plan. "I'll make the main assault, my team will all be involved. We will strike the closest cabin and level it, hopefully flushing out the poachers in chaos. Chroma will subdue a poacher, the remainder will have the choice to surrender. If they don't comply, we only need one prisoner for information..." He hoped it didn't come to that, but witnesses were not an option, and he was highly recognizable in the criminal world.
Nick led the way, approaching the camp with his Salamance above, ready to dispatch of anyone fleeing by air. "Rupert, this is all you pal. Make it quick." The Houndoom was invisible in this darkness, silently approaching the nearest cabin. A wave of heat radiated from the hell hound, moments later an apocalyptic crash of fire tore through the shoddily crafted cabin. It was quickly reduced to a smoking heap, and Nick advanced quickly.
"Holy crap, look at all of them, take the right side and don't let them slip away." He shouted towards Adam, preparing to try and diffuse the situation. "I'll give you one chance to surrender, if you do I guarantee I'll let you live. Resist, and may the gods have mercy on you." His team knew what to do and he had faith Adam would handle his business.
"Who are you? Whoever you are, you've attacked the wrong men, I hope you've made right in life, because this is where yours ends." With a barrage of light, Pokemon were released throughout the camp.
Destruction was unleashed in the desolate camp. Fires blazed, torrents of water blasted through buildings and trees, the earth was split as the ground types waged battle, and lives were lost. Nick and Adam's teams fought with brutal efficiency, effortlessly dispatching the under trained and over matched villains. Buddy and Terra drew attacks from all around them, effortlessly tanking the damage and returning it in exaggerated force. As a stream of fire would approach the grass type, Buddy would step in and dispatch the threat, drowning the source of the flames. When lightning would be directed towards buddy, Terra easily absorbed the energy and split the ground with his earthquakes.
Buddy and Terra easily handled the brunt of the poachers, laying waste to anything that moved. Adam and his team had their own mission, hold the right flank and capture a prisoner. Holding the flank was easy, Pixel ripped open a chasm to slow down their attackers while Juice and Shredder launched their ranged attacks from the safety of the other side. Adam finally released Rip, knowing this chaos was an amusement park for the demonic Gengar.
"I need you to bring me one alive, do as you must to the others." He almost felt sympathy for the poachers. Any trainer of a Gengar knew the only way to evolve them from a Haunter was for them to take a life in a serious act of evil. Once Rip evolved he craved the opportunity to experience it again. Rip was rarely allowed out of his ball if they weren't home or in a desolate area. Tonight, he'd have his fill.
The Gengar slipped to the shadows, making his way to the hopeless poachers. Adam thought he heard a scream, but the sound died faster than his ears could catch up. Seconds later Rip emerged from his shadowy realm with a ghost white captive. Chroma came and quickly teleported the shell shocked man to a safe location and stood guard. Rip went back to the battle, ready to unleash carnage.
Screams. Cries of fear. Pure terror. If you could listen to a recording of an old war recording with soldiers pinned down by snipers, shells exploding all around them and tanks advancing on their position, Adam imagined this is what that'd sound like. Gradually the screams lessened in quantity, and a few minutes later they'd died out completely.
Nick and Adam quickly swept the area for survivors. Finding none, they went through the rubble searching for anything to help them in their search for answers. The only thing they found that may be salvageable was a map. There were a few points of interest marked on the map, but they were unsure if they were more camps or potential targets. At least they had a lead on how to interrogate the prisoner.
Quickly recalling their teams, they mounted their dragons and took to the sky. Drago lead the way back to their small camp where the prisoner awaited. As the men neared their camp, Nick called out to Adam. "This is most likely going to get pretty ugly, you aren't a man of violence. I can't in good conscience force you to participate, but I need your sharp mind to help me pry. Can you stick this out with me?" Nick was hoping he could, Adam was typically level headed under pressure. Nick had a habit of going too far if he thought it was necessary, but this was their only lead and his death would end their crusade.
"I'll be fine. I think we should have Rip give him a recounting of his comrades fate, and then if necessary, just have Chroma extract any memories he deems necessary. I know extraction is outlawed in the civilized world, but with what we just did that'd be the smallest infraction on our rap sheet." Adam was clear to his purpose, gain information and hopefully without further blood shed.
The men landed at their camp, and without a word Adam released his Gengar. Rip had a simple way of striking fear into his prey. A simple hypnosis, and then projected the memories or visions into their minds with a nightmare. It was overly simplistic in theory, but its effectiveness couldn't be argued. After twenty minutes of reliving the death of his associates, the man broke into tears pleading for his survival.
"Tell me what your organization is, and how I can find who is in charge. In return, you'll have your memory wiped of this incident and you'll be turned over to the authorities. Resist and my Metagross will rip as much of your brain as needed, if you survive you'd be a potato. Make your choice, I have things to do." Nick had clearly done this before, nobody delivers an ultimatum with that level of coldness without prior experience.
"After Archie and Maxie died battling the Champion, the teams split. I'd been a low level follower of team Aqua. I thought we were fighting for the availability of water and protection of our environment, by the end I realized how misguided Archie had been. Unfortunately, leaving the group was not an option while Archie was around. Once he was gone, I tried to go straight. I got a job at an environmental protection foundation, pursuing my passion of maintaining our planet. My luck sucks, and a year later I'd run into some sizable debt as I tried to stay on the right path. A guy I knew from Aqua offered me a position with his new gang. All I had to do was forge Trainer ID's for the group and I'd be paid handsomely for my effort. I found out later the group was stealing caught Pokemon and sold internationally, I swear I didn't know when I began." The man was hysterical, clearly believing the world was against him.
"That was five years ago. Since then I've been promoted to the head of distribution in Hoenn. I take stolen Pokemon from across the world and sell them here. That camp you just destroyed literally finished being built two days ago. We have a map in my cabin with our planned targets and drop points." That's what the map was for, drop points meant they'd be able to meet more of these creeps.
"Thank you for your honesty. Last couple questions, what is your group really trying to do and who is your leader." Adam cut in, he needed to make sure they had a solid lead to follow.
"As far as I know poaching is a small arm of the organization. I've heard of mercenary work, bribery and corruption with politicians, attacks on government buildings and even infiltration of the League itself. The group has had many names, the only one that's stuck through the years is Team Rocket. As far as our leader, I don't know. I've never met him, but I do know he's from Kanto and was a pretty big deal in the trainer world in his time. That's all I know, I swear." The man had officially outlived his usefulness.
"Chroma has verified your honesty, sadly I am unable to personally turn you into the authorities. They think I'm dead, and even if they didn't, I attacked the new Champion and punched the League President in the face. Clearly I won't be making my presence known to them, which means you also won't be seen." Nick nodded to his Togekiss and gave the nod.
Yaka fluttered towards the man, outstretched its lips and planted a Draining Kiss on the man. Within seconds the life force had been stolen from his body, leaving behind a pale shriveled pile where the man once sat. "I know I said I'd let him live, but he's had over a decade of bad deeds, he had his chance to reform and failed." Nick turned and walked away. They may be able to steal a couple hours of sleep yet this evening before they needed to move out.
The following morning the men made breakfast and Adam flipped on his radio. Reports of the destroyed poachers camp had already been reported to authorities and made their way to the air waves. As the men listened in, Adam began to plan their next step.
"The way I see this, we have two options. Option one, lurk around the drop points and pray they haven't been watching the news. There is no way they'll show if they have heard about last night. Option two, use the mans memories to point us to wherever he was prior to coming here. Chroma clearly read his memories, and should be able to help us find a base of operations."
"Once we've got that, send the info to Steven Stone, and have him leak slightly different plans to each of the League members. We should be able to monitor them without being caught, and hopefully that'll help smoke out who the corrupted ones are and clean them out." Smart plan, misinformation campaigns have been going on since the beginning of time, they still happen because they still work.
"I like it. I'm sending Chroma directly to Steven. Chroma and Steven's Metagross can share information with ease in close proximity, their essentially an intelligence network with their linked psychic capabilities. We should return to your place for a few days, let our team rest and recover. I could use a break too, these past days have really taken their toll.
The men finished their breakfast and broke camp, leaving no trace of their presence other than the dehydrated body of the Rocket member. Mounting their dragons, they quickly made their way to their destination. Adam couldn't wait to see Crystal, and although the subject matter was unpleasant, they had a lot to talk about.
Riley finally woke up and looked around the room. 5:30 am – she'd slept for 18 hours. Time to get up and grab her team, she had some Pokemon to sell or trade, and training to do. She was going to be battling Brawly soon, and he was a master of the fighting type. She had no obvious advantages, quite the opposite in fact. Asher was weak to fighting attacks, as was Joy and Kek. Crash would be OK, as would Cole. Brawly held 3 on 3 battles, so she needed to decide which of her 3 susceptible Pokemon would be joining in battle, and train like hell.
"Good morning Nurse Joy, may I have my team please?" Riley grabbed the pokeballs off the tray Nurse Joy had presented and made her way into town. First stop? The Trader's Guild. She had Pokemon to sell, and she still held out hope for coming across a Charmander or equally rare and powerful Pokemon.
Riley noticed very few people in the building as she made her way to the trading area. She searched the boards hoping to find a Pokemon that caught her eye. There were a ton of Pokemon on consignment, and as she scanned the list, only one caught her eye. Listing 85 was the one she wanted, so she made her way to the front desk.
"Hello ma'am, I saw listing 85 on the consignment board and wanted to see how much they were asking." She tried not to get her hopes up. At times there would be great deals, and sometimes a Rattatta would be listed for ten thousand dollars, it was always a crap shoot.
"85, ah yes, that's a three year old male. They are asking six thousand for him. Unfortunately the trainer who listed him is currently off the grid, so any haggling or bartering will need to wait a few weeks. If you really want him, it'll have to be at full price." The woman seemed to know her stuff.
Riley released Crixus, needing some guidance on the matter. The mental buzz instantly began, "Crixus, I can either sell the Pokemon we fought to catch, or I can list them for trade. I most likely won't be bringing whatever I trade for with me immediately, and other than one Pokemon listed for trade, same goes for a purchased Pokemon. So here's my proposition, would you like to barter on the internet for your first chosen student, buy one from here, or leave it up to chance?"
Crixus realized what was being offered. The first official sign she was going to keep her word, he would be able to train Pokemon of his choosing. "It was bad luck that I got injured, and the best of luck to be offered to you as a guide. I'd like to leave it to chance. I don't see the honor in buying a Pokemon when we are able bodied." Wise choice he thought to himself, leave it to the universe to decide his fate.
"Here's the only stipulation, the Pokemon I was searching for and caught in the caves will be joining you to train." Suck him in with the carrot, then beat him with the stick. Just like her Dad. The Gallade smiled, he could read her thoughts, he knew this was going to happen ten seconds after they left the cave.
"Ma'am, I've decided I'm not going to purchase #85. My mentor here has a strong sense of honor in catching and raising your team, and this way we'd be cutting corners if we just bought one. I do appreciate your time on that. I'd like to post my Golbat for sale for six thousand. Here's my information to transfer the funds whenever a sale has been made." With that the girl and her knight made their way back to the Pokemon Center.
"OK Crixus, moment of truth." The Gallade slid the Geodude's pokeball into the slot and prepared himself. He gave Riley the go ahead, and she clicked confirm. The ball was vacated, and she gave it to Crixus. "You'll be able to use that and catch your own. I'll have a full team, so when the capture is made, it'll be transported to the PC back home, where you can withdraw him for training." She smiled, letting a Pokemon capture another Pokemon was definitely off the beaten path.
Riley felt the Pokedex buzz. His Pokemon was ready for pickup. "It's time, are you sure you are ready for this?" The girl smiled, took her Gallade's hand and made their way to the front desk. "Here's your Pokemon sweetie, good luck." Nurse Joy smiled as the duo made their way outside.
"The honor is yours Crixus. Just point the ball where you'd like it released, press the release button and wait. It's really easy." She was nervous, but the knight did as directed. With a flash of light, Crixus' new meaning for life took form.
"You have got to be kidding me." Riley could not believe her eyes. Life has a way of playing cruel tricks, but this may be it's crowning achievement. "I've wanted one my whole life, and you get one just like that?"
"Charmander, the fire Pokemon. Charmander fight furiously, but must be mindful of their tail flame. If it's extinguished the Charmander faces death." Crixus didn't typically show emotion, but the grin he was sporting was unreal. "I understand this is quite unfair, I'd be happy to give him to you and try again, I will not hold you to your word on this." Crixus knew Charizard's were amongst the fiercest Pokemon in existence, and he now had the opportunity to train one.
"That's OK Crixus. He is yours. You must name him, recall him and tend to him. While you are with me I'll need to hand him over for healing etc.. but in the wilds he may remain outside of his ball as much as you'd like. I can't officially make you a trainer, but consider this your starter." Riley meant everything she said, even if she was holding back an immense amount of jealousy.
"You were true to your word, so I will name him True. He's already accepted this name, and is ready to begin. We should head back to your room now, I believe you have a gym battle to prepare for." Crixus recalled his Charmander, and lead the way back to the front. The two entered the center and decided to raid the breakfast that was being set out in the cafeteria.
Breakfast in bed was a pretty good plan. She woke up Heidi, handed her some breakfast and flipped on the news. "Cabins were destroyed and there are confirmed casualties. This was not a sanctioned action by the League, any information can be reported to the League Office. The destruction points towards a highly trained vigilante, any information leading to the arrest of the suspect will be compensated handsomely.
In other news, Steven Stone has issued a brief statement condemning the rogue operations, calling them cowards and criminals." Riley grabbed her Pokedex and sent a message. "Watch the news when you get a chance, pretty interesting this morning."
Riley's Pokedex rang "Riley, don't message us any longer. From now on only phone calls if it has anything to do with our recent activities. Keep texts to general check ins etc... we don't know if they are watching texts and emails. I know they don't have the capabilities to log phone calls." The Champion was paranoid and most likely pissed he was now a "coward." Something he'd need to discuss with Steven, he may be "dead" but he was not a coward.
As Riley lay in bed, slowly getting over the food coma from one to many waffles, she made the decision. She'd be using Kek in her battle with Brawly tomorrow. Joy had already evolved, and while powerful, had terrible evasion skills. Riley began working on a plan to make the Sandile invisible while remaining in plain sight.
Riley told Heidi they should train separately for the day, and meet up in the evening to discuss the strategies for their gym battle the following day. Riley had one stop to make, and then it was non stop training time.
"That'll be four thousand Hun. Thank you for your business, please stop back!" It must be terrible to have to pretend to be happy to customers like the cashier just had to Riley. Maybe they really did like their job, but probably not.. Riley quickly thanked the worker and made her way out of town.
"I've got a new toy for you to play with buddy." Riley slid the TM into the Pokedex, applying the TM to Kek's pokeball. It's not like he could hear her, but it felt like the right thing to do. With the transfer completed, Riley released her dark crocodile.
"I've taught you a new move with this fancy machine here.. It'll take a bit of practice to get it figured out, but it will be the reason you win your battle tomorrow. We will stay here all day, perfecting the move and different strategies along with it." It was going to be a long day, but she was ready.
As the sun began to set, Riley finally decided to call it a day. She had been battling the Makuhita and Machop in the area for over six hours, and Kek was as ready as he could be for the fighting type gym. She quickly packed up, recalled Kek, and made the walk back to the center.
"Thanks Nurse Joy, I've got my gym battle tomorrow, so I want to be sure they are all in perfect condition." She handed over her team and made her way to the cafeteria. She quickly grabbed a plate, loaded it with spaghetti a salad and as many cookies as she could fit in one handful. She decided to skip the dining room and head straight to her room for dinner.
As she entered, she noticed Heidi just finishing her meal. "Great minds think alike, glad you are up here. Tell me about your day while I eat!" Riley was looking forward to hear how Heidi had planned to attack the gym.
"9:45. How did it get so late already? Guess talking battling is a lot more time consuming than I had thought. Lets try and get some sleep, tomorrow is a big day." Riley flipped off the lights and the girls tucked into bed. Crixus remained, meditating between the doorway and the girls. Just like every night, he'd be there to guarantee their safety.
Heidi awoke to the sound of an alarm, she wasn't ready to get up yet but knew she had to. She looked to Riley's bed, empty. As Heidi got up to stretch, she noticed the bathroom was vacant. "Guess I have to shower." She quickly rushed through the shower and got dressed. As she made her way back into the room, Riley and breakfast were waiting.
"I wanted you to sleep as long as possible so you were ready for today. Grabbed a light breakfast in case you get a bit nervous. I grabbed my team, and am ready to go whenever you are." Riley was ready to break the doors down and proclaim the gym her own. She had dreams of the battles, the back and forth slug match they were apart to take part in. It was time. Heidi scarfed down her breakfast and the girls left their room, ready to conquer.
"Welcome to the Dewford Gym. Today we are offering two different options for battle. You can battle in the arena, or you can battle on the beaches. The Stadium is fit on the north side to open up for the ocean view, so either choice is acceptable." The Receptionist smiled and showed them to the waiting room. Riley quickly made her decision, she'd be taking the fight outside to the elements. Heidi had no preference, so she chose the arena. She was first up, and two minutes later she was called to her podium.
"Welcome challenger Heidi to the Dewford Gym. My name is Brawly, and this is my gym. No potions and no switches for either of us. Your Pokemon remains on the field until it faints, defeats all opponents or you recall. If you recall, it is unable to return to the field. Seeing as this is your first gym battle, you'll be battling two on two against my newbie team." Damn she was nervous, and she could barely make out what he was saying from all the noise. Were they always this loud?
Heidi slid her two pokeballs into the tray and readied herself. "BEGIN!" she didn't know who said it, but she heard it loudly over the speakers. Heidi released her trusty Mareep, ready to battle. Across the sand stood a familiar sight, Makuhita.
With a grin, Heidi and Nova began their plan. If everything went well, she wouldn't need to say a whole lot, they'd practiced this all day. "Go ahead Nova, show them what you've got." The electric sheep quickly burst with energy, launching the paralyzing electricity at the pudgy yellow sumo. The Makuhita attempted to dodge, but he wasn't quick enough. As the Makuhita struggled to make his muscles do as he wanted, Nova unleashed a barrage of thundershocks. To an outside observer, this looked like a bad thunderstorm rolling through the area, but Nova was rapid firing thunder shock after thunder shock, nine in total before the Makuhita was recalled from the field.
As the Gym Leader prepared his next Pokemon, the sheep took on the evolutionary glow. Where the quadruped lamb once stood, now a pink bipedal sheep had taken its place. As Nova began to pace, her opponent appeared. A Machop materialized and instantly rushed the newly evolved Flaaffy.
They hadn't game planned for the evolution, that'd have been impossible. Before Heidi had a chance to issue an attack, the Flaaffy launched into battle. Blinded by the energy from her Evolution, she was not responsive to Heidi's commands. The Machop began throwing punches and Nova returned them.
What should have been a strategic battle for Heidi turned into a slug fest. Machop through karate chops and low kicks, Nova countering with thunder punches and quick bursts of her discharge attack to push the fighter back. The fight lasted nearly five minutes before the Flaaffy tired, finally running out of adrenaline from the evolution. She took a hard karate chop to the chest, as she began to fall forward, Heidi recalled her friend.
Heidi knew her second Pokemon would easily dispatch the gassed Machop. Naga appeared on the arena floor, looking to Heidi for guidance. "Naga, you've got this. Evade just like we practiced, and when you are ready hit him with water guns." It took longer to give her orders than the remainder of the battle. Naga launched a water gun at the exhausted Machop, and it fainted. Heidi was victorious.
"Great battle little lady, haven't seen an evolution during battle in quite some time. Make sure you get that Flaaffy checked out at the center. When you release her next, give her a little space and let her adjust. Here's your winnings, the TM for Bulk Up and your badge!"As she looked at the tiny polished stone, she couldn't believe she'd done it. She looked up to thank Brawly, but he was already gone.
Heidi walked back into the waiting area to wish Riley good luck. As two two quickly hugged, Heidi made a decision. "I think I'm done with gym battles. After talking with Liz, I had decided to give them a try, but I think I'd like to give coordinating a shot. I'll still travel with you and battle when needed, but after seeing the way Nova reacted today, I think I'd like to concentrate on the beauty of Pokemon while I can."
Riley didn't have much time to process, she was called to the arena, now opened on the northern end overlooking the sea. "Hello Little Lady, I'm Brawly and this is my Gym. I see you have two badges already, so you'll be getting my second level team. It'll be a three on three battle, no items, no substitutions. If you recall a Pokemon it will be unable to return to battle. Any questions?" Brawly quickly rattled off the gyms rules.
Brawly released his Makuhita and Riley released her Sandile and gave him the first command. "OK Kek, you know what to do buddy. Show off that new move!" The Sandile quickly submerged himself in the sand. Seconds later, a fierce wind picked up, whipping the sand around the beach and into the arena. As the reflective barriers flexed at the fury of the storm, visibility dropped to near zero.
Brawly began trying to direct the fighting type towards the Sandile. Every time it got close, Kek would launch himself from the sand, land a crunch on the sumo and disappear back into his sandy sanctuary. After a couple of failed attempts, Brawly conceded his first Pokemon. "No reason to subject him to that kind of beating, my second Pokemon may prove to be a little bit tougher.." Brawly smiled as his Medicham took the field.
"OK Kek, keep that sandstorm up, and keep your distance." Kek dug in and continued his game of cat and mouse. As the psychic and fighting type began to meditate, Kek launched his first salvo. A Sand tomb, and a horrifyingly strong one. Typically an area roughly the size of the Pokemon was swarmed by a muddy vortex, immobilizing the opponent. This one stood roughly twice as tall as the Medicham, and much much more powerful.
The psychic struggled, but as the sandstorm grew stronger, the sand tomb did too. Kek dove back below ground, constantly bouncing from end to end of the arena to ensure he was never a target. Riley issued a crunch, and seconds later the croc chomped on the psychic, instantly KO'ing the poor fighter. Kek disappeared below ground, moments later the sandstorm subsided.
Brawly released his third Pokemon, and it was a doozy. Hariyama took the field, and Riley instantly recalled Kek. He had done a great job, but the sandstorm dissipating was the signal he was running out of energy to keep it going. He'd done more than she'd expected, and now it was her most unassuming team members chance.
Cole took form, slowly taking in his surroundings. He noticed the large fighting type, and laughed. A haunting, creepy, skin crawling ethereal laugh. The Litwick used its shadow sneak to disappear in the crevices of the arena hidden from the sunlight. The Hariyama began using its focus energy, visibly growing in strength.
Cole summoned the ghostly wisps of fire, expertly guiding them across the arena and towards their foe. The Hariyama managed to dodge the first three, but the last two struck home. Riley smiled, she only needed one, Willow Wisp was a guaranteed burn on the target, opening up a new weakness to continued heat.
The Hariyama quickly responded, thrusting its arms at the small candle. With nowhere to escape to, Cole took the blow. Fighting type wasn't very effective against ghosts, but this was a fully evolved Pokemon attacking a much weaker ghost. Cole took the hit, began to try and escape, and then dissolved into the air. Riley searched the arena for her ghost, but he was nowhere to be found. She tried returning him to his ball, but there was no response. Riley panicked, frantically screaming for Cole.
"First time seeing a ghost faint?" It was Brawly over the speakers. "Ghosts don't faint in the traditional sense, if they take too much damage, the energy that keeps their gaseous states intact is depleted. The physical form is lost, evaporating into the air. He's still here in spirit, in a day or two he'll be back in his physical form. I hate to rush you, but you need to call your third Pokemon or forfeit the battle."
Riley took a deep breath, made her best effort to collect herself and released her last Pokemon. Crash made his entrance known. With a loud roar, he he squared up and stared down his opponent. "Crash, try not to lose focus, he's very strong, so just remember the plan. Use Bide." Riley crossed her fingers, her time for strategy was over, she just hoped he was strong enough.
The Hariyama began its assault, a brutal karate chop striking the dino across it's face. A second strike followed quickly by a third. The Dragon was taking a beating, Riley wasn't sure how much more he could endure. She knew it would take a big blow to take down the Hariyama, but she had no idea of knowing when they'd reached that point. As the Hariyama hit the Tyrunt with an arm thrust, an audible crack rang through the arena. The dragon dropped to a knee, and Riley gave the order.
"Unleash, NOW!" The Tyrunt fought to stand, and charged the larger sumo. A beam of energy left the Tyrunt's mouth, smashing the Hariyama in the chest, lifting it off its feet and blasting it through the arena wall. Tyrunt pursued his prey, ready to finish it off. Tyrunt jumped high in the air, prepared for his finishing salvo. As the Tyrunt clamped down on the neck of the Hariyama, it disappeared into a flash of red. The Hariyama was defeated, and the Tyrunt roared victoriously.
"Hell of a battle kid. That Sandile is brutal, why'd you recall him? That sandstorm/sand tomb combo is insane, I'll keep my eyes open for that moving forward." The gym leader was proud of the young challenger. The hit and run tactics made sense to him, "what made you think it was a good idea to let a fully evolved fighter like Hariyama assault an unevolved Pokemon like that? That was either really dumb or really smart, I just can't figure out which one." He flashed a big smile as he handed her her winnings. "Looking forward to seeing you progress through the circuit, good luck out there."
Riley sat in the waiting room trying to regain her composure. Her previous two battles had been a breeze, and the first two Pokemon she battled today were easily dispatched. One Pokemon almost swept her, she knew she had gotten lucky. Riley met up with Heidi and went back to the Poke Center. Time for some rest and relaxation, they'd figure out their plan tomorrow.