Meditite could not help but be assailed with unwanted memories as she walked beside Marcus up the pathway to the top of the artificial plateau that dominated the Rock Gym. She clenched her fists, ready to battle. Marcus had said that he would send her out first this time.
She was ready, she knew. The team had trained for this battle; they'd learned new moves, increased their old ones' power, and made strategies to take advantage of the moves Grant had revealed his Pokemon had.
And yet her stomach still churned with anxiety.
"Good to see you again, Marcus," Grant greeted. "I hope you don't mind if I enforce a three-on-three this time."
"Not at all," said Marcus.
"Good," said Grant. "Well, I seem to recall that you like to get things started quickly, so how about we do that very thing?"
A flick of his wrist revealed the Binacle that had beaten Shellder last time.
"Meditite, you're up." At Marcus's quiet words, Meditite stepped into the arena to face the Binacle.
The Binacle clearly recognized her; all four of its eyes narrowed and its clawed heads clenched. Meditite crouched, getting into a fighting stance and focusing her Psychic energies.
"Claw, Water Gun!" Grant cried.
"Claw Blast!" The Binacle obeyed, firing a jet of Water energy from one of his heads. Meditite closed her eyes, calming her emotions and forcing her anxiety down.
She had a battle to win.
"Psychic Avoidance!" Meditite felt her body shift to the left and heard the Claw Blast strike the floor where she had been. Her mind was now focused, sharpened, capable of projecting more energy into attacks.
Meditite's eyes flashed open. "Psychic Blast!" she cried, raising a hand.
"Withdraw!" Grant commanded. At once, Claw's heads drew back into its shell. To an untrained eye, the Binacle now looked like an ordinary stone, one that would be passed by. Meditite knew that the move wasn't just for stealth, of course, thanks to Shellder's similar use of the move.
Indeed, the stony shell seemed to absorb the worst of the Psychic Blast.
"Stay back," Marcus commanded. "Get ready for it to attack."
Grant grinned. "Seems you've learned from last time," the Gym Leader said. "But you're not the only one who's brought some new tricks to the table! Claw, Rock Tomb!"
"Claw Barrage!" Even without a visible mouth, Meditite could tell the Binacle was smirking as it concentrated, breaking off several pieces of stone from the plateau and raising them up. Then it launched them straight at Meditite.
But Meditite had faced Kriesh's Flurry Impact. This was nothing.
"Psychic Dodge!" Meditite cried, leaping forwards. Indeed, the Psychic energy guided her, sending her flying between the oncoming stones, twisting her body away from one as it winged past her head. The stones clattered uselessly to the ground as Meditite charged, foot swathed in Fighting energy. "Fighting Trip!"
"Slash!" Grant cried. With a cry of "Claw Slash!", Claw hurled himself at Meditite, one of his clawed faces glaring at Meditite while the other drew back, claws glinting with energy and ready to score across Meditite's face. But even as they closed on one another, it was clear that Meditite was faster, her reflexes more defined.
Her foot slammed into Claw's body before the Binacle's claw even touched her face.
Even as she felt a flash of pain from kicking the Binacle's rock-hard body - clearly she hadn't put enough Fighting energy into the strike to properly cushion her toes - Meditite smiled at the sight of Claw tumbling onto his back with a pained grunt. But, thanks to that pain, she stumbled as her foot touched the ground. And that stumble was not something that went unnoticed.
"Rock Tomb!" Grant cried. "Then Slash!"
Meditite almost tapped into her psychic energies again, but thankfully her natural speed was just enough for her to dive out of the way of the clumsily-fired Rock Tomb that came from the fallen Binacle. But that dive had given Claw enough time to rise, and Meditite looked up just in time to see Claw's other head coming down on her, that head's two eyes narrowed with fury.
"Fighting Strike!" Even as Meditite's palm flew up to defend, she knew instinctively that she'd put too much power into the strike. So it was that while Claw was knocked onto his back again, this time with an audible cracking noise, Meditite had to grab at her wrist as it exploded in pain.
Meditite groaned, partially in pain and partially in exasperation. She'd been able to do the technique properly late last night, so why had it failed her now?
The answer came almost as quickly; last night she'd been able to prepare for its usage for as long as she wanted. But a quick Fighting Strike was still beyond Meditite.
Right. Stick to normal melee attacks for that kind of thing.
"Water Gun, double up!" Grant's next order rang out as both Meditite and Binacle rose, the Rock-type Pokemon wincing as he did so. Clearly, he'd taken significant damage; this battle shouldn't go on for too much longer.
This time, both of Claw's heads fired streams of water at Meditite, a torrent of Water energy that Psychic Dodge would easily avoid-
No. That was what Claw was expecting. Meditite saw the Binacle moving as if in slow motion even as she pivoted to the left; Claw lunged almost instantly. "Claw Slash!" he cried.
Meditite grinned and leaped forwards.
A sharp pain lanced through her shoulder as the double Water Gun burst against it, spraying her with water, but she continued on. "Fighting Strike!" she cried, this time making sure to flood only the required amount of energy into her hand.
No more, no less.
"Withdraw!" Grant cried.
Claw's eyes widened as he beheld Meditite charging straight through his double Water Gun. "Claw Recede!" he bellowed, assuming his stony form once more, clearly hoping to defend against Meditite's Fighting Strike by sheer defense.
But Fighting Strike had broken pebbles. And that was all Claw was in this form; a pebble, to be broken.
Binacle's body crunched under the Fighting Strike, but this time there was no blowback; Meditite had put the perfect amount of Fighting energy into the attack. A low groan emanated from Claw as he reeled under the super-effective attack. His twin heads reemerged from his shell as he fell to the ground; a swift glance told Meditite that the Binacle was completely unconscious.
She rubbed her shoulder with a wince of pain as Grant recalled his first Pokemon. Her head was free of pain, thankfully; she hadn't had to use too much Psychic energy against Claw.
"All right, Iceberg, you beat her last time!" Grant cried, releasing the blue dinosaur Pokemon. "Let's see if you can do it again!"
Iceberg let out a frosty sigh as she gazed upon Meditite. Meditite glared back, soundlessly daring her to make another disparaging comment about Fighting-types.
Thankfully, Iceberg remained silent on that front, instead setting her stance.
"Thunder Wave!"
At that command from Grant, Iceberg reared up onto her hind legs. "Wave of Paralysis!" she cried, firing off what Meditite now recognized as Electric energy.
The snarling visage of Ripper momentarily broke into her thoughts. She forced it away, concentrating on the electricity as it shot towards her, expanding as it went.
"Psychic Dodge!" Meditite leaped over it, augmented by a discharge of Psychic energy, and landed in a crouch. She followed up with a Psychic Blast, aiming to do the same thing that she'd done to Claw.
But Iceberg was quick to remind Meditite that she was much more of a ranged fighter than Claw. "Beam of Dazzlement!" she cried, and Meditite was forced to leap to the side again. "Burial of Stone!" came the follow-up, forcing out another Psychic Dodge in order to slide under the flying rocks.
In the moment where the rocks were flying over her head as she slid, Meditite's ears registered Grant's next order. "Thunder Wave!"
She tried to get up fast enough to move out of the way, but it was no use; by the time she was up the Thunder Wave was on top of her, and she felt that sickening feeling of her limbs locking up, preventing her movement.
"Take Down!" Grant ordered gleefully.
Marcus seemed to register that there was no dodging this one. "Endure!" he cried. "You know what to do!"
Meditite gritted her teeth. Psychic Endurance, she thought, unable to get the words out of her frozen mouth.
"Break off!"
What?
"What?" Marcus clearly was just as surprised as Iceberg skidded to a halt, allowing the energy she'd gathered around herself to dissipate.
"That combo hit Iceberg pretty hard last time," said Grant. "But the thing about Bide? It reflects damage twofold; if there's no damage, there's no reflection."
Meditite beheld her body was glowing white. Huh. She'd always assumed that Bide's white glow represented it powering up, but apparently it was just an aura that showed that Bide was being used.
Iceberg waited patiently. Meditite tried to force herself to move, but paralysis had too tight of a hold on her. She was stuck fast.
The white glow faded, the Psychic energy dissipating back into Meditite's body.
"Now Take Down!" Grant ordered. Iceberg's grin was far more predatory than her usual expression as she lunged, energy gathering around her head as she lowered it towards Meditite's stomach.
This was going to suck.
Shellder's Pokeball hissed open, dumping out on a field he instantly recognized.
He didn't recognize the Pokemon standing in front of him, though. It almost looked like Skorupi, if Skorupi was taller, had a much longer neck, was blue, and wasn't covered in spikes.
Okay, so maybe it didn't look very much like Skorupi.
"Hi!" Shellder greeted, wanting to know more about this strange Pokemon. "I'm Shellder! Who are you?"
The Pokemon gave Shellder an odd look. It was something Shellder was somewhat used to.
"I'm Iceberg," she said at last, although her voice held a tint of reluctance to it. "Shall we?"
"Shall we what - oh, right, we're supposed to be fighting! Water Burst!"
Marcus, who had clearly been about to give a command, stopped dead as Iceberg was struck head-on by the attack before she or Grant had been ready.
Grant's eyes narrowed for a moment. Then his expression burst into merriment. "All right, we'll play it that way! Iceberg, Rock Tomb!"
Soaking and clearly irritated, Iceberg wasted no time in plucking stones from the surrounding ground and hurling them at Shellder in a wave.
"Ice Flurry!" Shellder retaliated with a burst of icy projectiles, fired from his own shell instead of from the arena. The momentary grin on his face, however, died as the rocks struck the ice and shattered them, continuing on with only slightly slowed movement.
"Okay, that didn't work…Impenetrable Shell!" Shellder summoned his impenetrable shell barrier in front of himself, and was profoundly relieved when the sound of thumping indicated the Rock Tomb had bounced off it.
"Shellder, Icicle Spear's not going to work!" Marcus pointed out. "Get in close! It wants you far away!"
"Easier said than done!" Grant retorted. "Rock Tomb again! Don't let it close in!"
Shellder dropped Impenetrable Shell and leaped forwards, noticing that Iceberg was too busy summoning more rocks to stall him. If he could just get there before she did it-
Wait a minute. Did he even need to?
"Sonic Burst!" he cried, stopping right in the center of the arena.
Marcus looked puzzled. "What are you - Grant, cover your ears!" he cried, recognizing Shellder's intent mid-sentence.
Both Marcus and Grant clapped their hands to their ears as Shellder breathed in and exuded a scream.
Sonic Blast was an odd move. Underwater, Pokemon didn't communicate normally; instead, they made conversation via what humans called 'sonic waves'. Shellder had only learned what it did above-water when a group of fairly brutish-looking humans passed by in a boat.
They'd been carrying nets and some kind of odd rod with string and hooks dangling from it, but Shellder hadn't paid much attention to those. He'd just surfaced next to them and said 'Hi there!'
This had somehow resulted in those humans falling off their capsizing boat, screaming in agony and clutching their heads. Shellder had naturally assumed this was the human way of greeting others for the next three months, and had decided to try copying that when he next met a group of humans. That next attempt had wound up with him meeting a Trained Gyarados who crossly explained what was actually going on.
Ultimately, the explanation boiled down to that aboveground, communication was done through mouth-movements and sounds made with one's throat, whereas the standard underwater communication was in fact loud and very painful for others to hear. Painful enough, in fact, to oftentimes scramble one's mind, leaving them dazed for several seconds.
And so it was that Iceberg stumbled, shaking her head in confusion.
Shellder launched himself forwards once more. "Defensive Shell Impact!" he cried, withdrawing into his shell even as he threw himself at the dazed Iceberg.
With a nasty crack, he bounced off, landing on the ground with a rather heavy impact. Shellder reopened his shell to see what had happened, and was rewarded with the furious eyes and cracked forehead of a very angry Iceberg.
"Slam of a Thousand Icebergs."
"Impenetrable Shell!" Shellder squeaked, summoning up the barrier right in front of him. Another crack sounded, even nastier than the last one, followed by a loud thud. Shellder dropped the Impenetrable Shell to see Iceberg on the ground, completely out cold, the crack in her forehead even larger than before.
"Um…whoops?" Shellder sidled up to Iceberg. "Are you…all right?"
Grant let out a hearty guffaw. "Can't say I was expecting that! All right, Chomper, you're the last one, and he's still got two left! You're gonna have to work hard on this one, buddy!"
Chomper appeared directly in front of Shellder.
Shellder looked up. "Whoa, you look really vicious," he observed. "And really big! Way bigger than that last one looked at the start…oh, wait, I'm standing on your side of the arena. Sorry."
Chomper looked down at Shellder. "Okay, how did you manage to beat Iceberg?"
"Well," said Shellder, "first I shot water at her, and then she threw rocks at me, and I tried to fire some ice spikes at her, but that didn't work, so-"
"Just…" Chomper cut Shellder off. "...just get back to your side of the field, and let's get this over with."
"Okay!" Shellder chirped, turning and walking back to his side of the field.
Chomper waited patiently for Shellder to reach his destination.
Shellder arrived where he had started his bout with Iceberg, then turned around. "Okay, ready?" he asked.
Chomper gave a nod.
"It's got Protect, so be careful!" Grant cried. "Rock Tomb and then close in! Overwhelm it!"
"Stay away from this one!" Marcus countered. "Dodge or block that Rock Tomb, then bombard it!"
"Impenetrable Shell!" Shellder saw no reason not to use the technique. Again, the rocks bounced off, landing about three feet in front of Shellder.
"Prehistoric Slam!" Chomper snarled, charging across the arena.
"Ice Flurry!" Shellder retorted, summoning five ice spikes and firing them at the charging Chomper.
Chomper simply bulldozed through them; though he clearly felt the impacts, the two-legged Pokemon ignored them as he lowered his head and continued charging, wreathing his feet in energy as he did so.
"Defensive Shell Impact!" Shellder leaped forwards, realizing that there was no getting out of the way. Chomper was moving too fast.
He barely saw Chomper stop dead and raise one of his massive feet. All Shellder knew was that he was suddenly flying backwards through the air, his shell spinning as he flew.
"Dragon Tail!" Grant called.
Chomper howled something else, and then the telltale hiss of a Pokeball indicated Shellder was now not on the field anymore.
Shellder poked his head out, unsure of what had just happened. Had Marcus recalled him? Had-
Oh, wow, this Luxury Ball was comfortable. Shellder allowed himself to relax, completely forgetting about the battle.
Skorupi landed on the field; he immediately saw Chomper standing right in front of him, his back to him, tail covered in dissipating Dragon energy.
"Pierce," he growled, summoning Bug energy to his spikes and preparing to launch them at the stupid rock dinosaur.
"Not yet, Skorupi!" Marcus called. "It's common etiquette to allow the opponents' Pokemon to retreat back to their side upon a new release."
"While you're right about that," Grant corrected, "in the case of moves like Roar or Dragon Tail, it doesn't count as a new release. So your Skorupi was actually correct in that instance."
"Oh," Marcus said dejectedly. "Sorry."
"Don't be too hard on yourself, it's a fairly obscure rule," said Grant. "That said…Chomper, Rock Tomb!"
"Dodge it, and get in close!" Marcus cried.
Skorupi seethed as he lunged forwards, scooting under the Rock Tomb. Marcus's mistake, no matter how supposedly understandable it was, had cost him the first move.
Whatever. He'd win anyway, type disadvantage or not. Meditite had beaten a Vivillon; Skorupi could beat this stupid rock dinosaur.
"Rip," he snarled, striking out at Chomper with Dark energy-tipped claws, gashing the rock dinosaur's leg. "Rend." He followed that up with Dark energy-laced jaws; while he'd been practicing Poison energy, and would have preferred that, he wasn't comfortable enough with it yet.
It clearly hurt all the same, judging by Chomper's pained snarls. "Get it off you!" Grant called. "Stomp, then Bite!"
Chomper lashed out with a foot wreathed in energy, catching Skorupi in the side. Skorupi stumbled but kept his footing. "Inject," he snarled, unleashing his Poison energy-tipped tail into Chomper's belly.
He didn't see if the poison had taken effect or not before Chomper's jaws closed around his midsection.
Skorupi struggled, but could not get clear as his feet left the ground. Chomper let out another snarl, triumph mixed with pain.
"Finish it!" Grant cried.
Pain exploded around Skorupi's midsection as Chomper began to crunch down on Skorupi. Skorupi gritted his teeth. He would not lose to this thing again.
He glanced to the side, seeing that several of his spikes were inside Chomper's mouth. "Pierce," he snarled, firing them off. Chomper roared in pain, opening his jaws wide as the spikes hit true, sticking in the roof of Chomper's mouth. Skorupi plunged to the floor, landing on his feet; he glanced up to see Chomper's open mouth in the air before him.
A perfect target.
Skorupi grinned wickedly. "Grasp."
A spray of Bug energy flew from Skorupi's body right into Chomper's mouth.
The howl that Chomper emitted made his earlier roar look pathetic by comparison as Grasp ripped into every bit of flesh it could find. Grant stared, shock rendering him wordless, as Chomper collapsed to the ground, shaking his head wildly, even beating it against the floor, desperately trying to free his mouth from the pain that wracked it.
Skorupi began to advance on the helpless Chomper, spikes glowing with Dark energy. "Time ta finish ya off. Prey."
And then Chomper disappeared into his Pokeball.
"Come on!" Skorupi growled in irritation.
That irritation was momentary, though, as Grant sent no new Pokemon out. Skorupi looked back at Marcus to see his Trainer with the most ridiculous grin on his face.
Oh. He'd just won the Gym Battle.
Then Grant began laughing. "Well, that was the most unconventional finish I've seen in a long time!" he cried through fits of laughter. He took a deep breath and straightened himself. "Then again, between that and your Shellder, you seem to be quite a fan of unconventional strategies!"
"I can't claim any credit," said Marcus. "That was all them."
"Well, regardless," said Grant, "you have most definitely improved. And you clearly deserve the Cliff Badge."
As Marcus stepped over to Grant to take the badge the Gym Leader was holding out, Skorupi sighed contentedly. That had been quite fun, and to be honest, it felt really good to have won that.
Remember, you'll rarely remember your victories. But you'll always remember your defeats.
Skorupi forced that particular memory away. He did not need his good mood spoiled.
"Congratulations, all of you," said Marcus. "That was really awesome."
Meditite beamed. So did Shellder. Even Skorupi was grinning, deservedly so from the story he'd already told twice.
The cool evening was a perfect backdrop for the celebratory mood that pervaded the team. They were sitting on a small hill overlooking the beach, eating dinner; tomorrow, they would begin their trek to Shalour City, home of the next Gym Leader, a Fighting-type Trainer named Korrina.
Meditite found herself especially excited for that; it occurred to her that she hadn't met another Trained Fighting-type in battle yet. This might even prove an opportunity to learn more about her Fighting-type abilities. And hopefully, she'd be able to finally perfect Fighting Strike before the Gym Battle.
Tomorrow, training would continue. But tonight, the team had more than earned a rest.
"You met him?"
"That's what I said, Celosia," said Lysandre. "Sycamore was insisting that he receive some kind of reward for his bravery."
Ripper scoffed. Bravery? That Trainer had been cowering at the edge of the forest for the entire battle while that Archeops and Fearow had done all the work. Even the Meditite had only done as much damage as it did through a cheap shot.
"And you gave it to him?" Celosia asked furiously. "His Pokemon sent my poor Ursaring to the infirmary! It'll be days before he can fight again!"
"It was just Luxury Balls, Celosia," said Lysandre. "I didn't give the idiot a Mega Ring or anything like that. Besides, I need to keep up appearances. If Sycamore or, Arceus forbid, Diantha finds out about my association with Team Flare, we're finished."
A pause. "Now," said Lysandre, "how is our operation going?"
"We caught sixty-two Pokemon," Celosia reported, "nice healthy ones, too."
"I meant the other operation," Lysandre growled, sounding not unlike Ripper.
"Oh! Oh. Nothing major yet, but we've gotten some leads that Xerosic's team is investigating."
"Acceptable," said Lysandre. "Leave. And…I hope that your poor Ursaring gets better."
Celosia snorted. "Come along, Ripper," she ordered, stomping out the door. Ripper followed.
His flank still smarted from that 'Psychic Retribution' thing, and he could still feel his face stinging from that Archeops raking him across the face with those stony talons. But he smirked all the same.
If those idiots thought they'd seen the last of him, they were wrong. Because Ripper was not one to allow an injury to go unavenged.
And this would be no different.
Lysandre, finally alone, slumped at his desk. "If there was ever a word to not describe that Ursaring of hers, poor would definitely be it," he grumbled. "Still…sixty-two Pokemon is quite an acceptable number. But we need more for the plan to work."
He sighed. His fingers touched a Pokeball, releasing a lithe Mienshao into the room.
"Stealing Pokemon…" Lysandre sighed. "Sometimes I wonder why I even bother."
He felt Mienshao psychically seep into his mind, its rudimentary Psychic potential honed over many years. We all made the decision, Lysandre. We all accepted the consequences. It hurts us, too. But it is necessary.
"The Fighting-type speaks the truth."
The harsh voice came from above Lysandre. Lysandre and Mienshao looked up, both their expressions darkening. "You heard Celosia," he said. "Progress on the secondary mission is proceeding."
"Proceeding?" replied the harsh voice. "Stalled, is more like it. That Xerosic of yours has been chasing leads for a year now. How hard can it really be?"
"Patience," Lysandre advised. "He's getting closer."
"He had better be," replied the voice. "Because I am not the most patient individual, Lysandre. I will wait. My master commands it. But know that if I don't see results soon…"
Lysandre instinctively recalled Mienshao as fear turned his blood cold.
"...then you will see firsthand just how limited my patience is."
Second arc done! And with that, while I have technically not finished my backlog in its entirety, the rest of my backlog is basically scattered scenes and outlines, some of which are woefully obsolete.
This is a roundabout way of saying that I'm going to have to start writing chapters from scratch for the next arc.
While I could continue my daily update schedule, with respect to all of you, I value my sanity a little too much. So I'm going to slow down a bit.
My plan is to try updating every other day for a bit and see how well that works, then increase or decrease as needed.
Apologies for the shorter chapter, but the arc was basically finished; this was more of an epilogue than anything, and I decided I'd rather keep it the way it was than needlessly pad it out for the sake of increased length.
Also, please do drop a review letting me know how this arc turned out. Your feedback is valued.
See you in a couple days for the start of the next arc, titled "Strength"!