Part One, Chapter Five

Starring: Janet Harris, Sand-Cloud Pluff, Gelby Chu, Charlie, Chazz the charizard

'Janet!' said Sand-Cloud. 'You should know by now that types aren't everything. Chazz may be a fire-type but it's also one of the strongest pokémon you have.'

'She's right,' said Gelby. 'Type advantages are a great way to get the upper hand, but they're not the only way to win.'

'Yeah,' I nodded, turning back to my opponent. I knew that my friends were right, but I was still worried. I should never have agreed to this battle; the stakes were too high.

'If you're done with your moral support, we've got a battle to fight,' said Charlie. 'So let's get started. Staryu, Water Gun!'

I cringed as his pokémon stuck out its top point and shot a torrent of water at Chazz. The super-effective attack hit my charizard in the chest and made it cry out, dealing big damage and giving Staryu an early lead.

'OK Chazz, use Swords Dance!' I said. My charizard nodded, and spun around rapidly, sharpening its teeth and claws as it did so. I bit my lip, hoping the increase in its Attack stat would compensate for forfeiting the chance to use an offensive move.

'Fat lot of good that'll do you when your stupid charizard gets knocked out by my super-effective moves!' laughed Charlie. I narrowed my eyes. I knew Chazz wasn't stupid, and no one had the right to call it that!

'Now Staryu, use Ice Beam!' ordered Charlie. His pokémon launched a blast of ice at Chazz, and I gasped. So this staryu not only had water-type moves, it had ice-types as well. And the big danger about ice was that it could freeze the defending pokémon. This was bad. I didn't have any Ice Heals or Full Heals with me. If Chazz got frozen, it would be completely immobilised, and Charlie would win.

The ice attack hit Chazz, and my charizard stood there cringing, and for a moment I thought it had been frozen, but then it shook its head and took a determined step forward, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

'OK Chazz,' I said. 'Slash!'

'Char!' said Chazz, as it leapt towards Staryu and slashed at it with its sharpened claws. The water pokémon cried out and fell to the ground, its energy drained. The gem in its centre began to flash. Had it been defeated in one hit?

'Staryu, Recover!' said Charlie. His pokémon glowed for a moment, then leapt to its feet, its wounds gone.

'I hate that move!' I moaned. How was I supposed to beat a pokémon that could restore its own hit points?

'Janet, don't worry,' said Gelby. 'Remember, Recover only restores half of the pokémon's total HP! Chazz can still beat it. You do remember what Slash can do, right?'

I blinked. "What Slash can do"? But Slash was just an offensive move. It was a pretty powerful normal-type attack, but it didn't have any special properties like freezing or lowering the opponent's statistics. What did Gelby think was so great about it?

I turned around to ask her what she meant, but then I thought of something. The amount of damage dealt by an attack didn't just depend on types and statistics. There were factors that no stat could ever predict, like the actual force that a pokémon put into its attacks at any given time. If a pokémon really put its energy into the attack, it could get what trainers called a "critical hit".

That was it! The nature of the Slash attack meant that a pokémon needed to put a lot of physical force into the move, so it was more likely to be a critical hit! And when I took into account Chazz's Swords Dance increasing its Attack power . . ..

'Chazz, use your full power with a Slash!' I called.

'Again?' Charlie asked. 'That's so boring!'

But Chazz didn't seem to agree. It grinned, then leapt towards Staryu and began to thrash at it with its claws, full force. And when Staryu finally fell down, covered in scratches, it had fainted.

'No way!' Charlie exclaimed. 'That attack did nowhere near that amount of damage last time!'

'Never judge things by precedent,' the leader of the boys said. 'Pokémon battles are unpredictable, you should never expect the same effect twice.'

Charlie sighed, and held out his pokéball.

'Staryu, return,' he called sadly.

'OK Sean,' said the leader. 'Your turn.'

The other boy, a taller one with shoulder-length blonde hair, stepped forward.

'You ain't gonna beat me so easily,' he said.

'We'll see,' I said, as I held out my pokéball. 'Chazz, well done, now return.' I reached a hand into my backpack to choose my next pokémon. That battle had been close. Another few water or ice attacks and Chazz would have lost. I needed a battler with as few weaknesses as possible. And I knew who that was. 'Slothie, I choose you!'

I threw a greatball, and my strongest physical fighter materialised: my slightly undersized but no less powerful snorlax.

'Snorlax,' it smiled, happy to be out of its pokéball.

'Big deal,' said Sean. 'Your pokémon may be a lot larger than mine, but that don't mean anything. Krabby, go!'

He tossed a pokéball, and a small red crustacean appeared. It clicked its two claws together tauntingly.

'He's right Janet, size doesn't mean anything,' said Gelby. 'That krabby could be a lot stronger than it looks.'

I knew she was right, but it was hard to really feel cautious. Slothie could beat that thing easily. A little unevolved krabby was no match for a well-trained snorlax.

'Krabby!' said Sean. 'Start off with Bubblebeam!'

'Krabby!' said his pokémon, as it began building up bubbles in its mouth.

'Watch out for this, Slothie!' I prepared my pokémon. It nodded, but then all of a sudden, Krabby leapt up and blasted the bubbles from its mouth, sending them straight into Slothie's head. As they exploded on impact, my snorlax wobbled around unsteadily.

'Careful Janet,' said Gelby. 'Bubblebeam can lower the defender's speed.'

'What good's that gonna do against a snorlax?' I asked. Though Slothie was physically strong, I knew as well as anyone that it was slow.

'I don't know,' said Gelby. 'He might have some trick planned.'

I shrugged. His tricks would be nothing compared to Slothie's strength.

'Slothie, use Body Slam!' I said.

'Snor!' said Slothie, leaping into the air and crashing down on top of Krabby. It lifted itself to reveal a squashed, and very displeased, pokémon.

'Now Krabby, use Guillotine!' ordered Sean. I gasped. Guillotine!? I'd never encountered this move before, but it sure didn't sound good.

It didn't look good, either. Krabby opened one of its claws as wide as it could, and as it advanced towards Slothie I could see how sharp its edges were. Krabby then leapt at Slothie, its claw reaching out to Slothie's neck.

'Slothie!' I cried, but my snorlax already knew what it was doing. It leapt out of the way and narrowly evaded the attack. I sighed with relief and wiped the sweat off my forehead. I'd nearly lost for a second there . . ..

'So your pokémon dodged it,' said Sean. 'Big deal. My attack won't miss next time, that fat pokémon will never be able to dodge it twice.'

'Snor!' Slothie said defensively, narrowing its eyes. 'Snorlax lax!'

'Oh oh,' said Sand-Cloud. 'I wouldn't have called Slothie fat if I was you. That's gotta be the most weight-conscious snorlax I've ever seen.'

Well, she was right about that. I'd already had too many experiences with people calling Slothie fat and it getting out of control. But hopefully, I could use its anger to my advantage.

'Slothie, use-' I started, but cut myself off when I saw that Slothie had already started an attack. 'Slothie, what're you doing!?'

My snorlax was holding its mouth open, and in its jaws a ball of energy was being formed.

'No Slothie, don't use Hyper Beam!' I exclaimed, but it was too late for it to stop. Hyper Beam? No! Sure it was a powerful attack, but I couldn't afford to lose the turn required to recharge, not while I knew that Krabby was going to use Guillotine . . ..

There was nothing I could do. Slothie launched the energy beam at Krabby, and the little red pokémon was thrown back by the blast. It weakly got back to its feet, not ready to give up yet. Slothie took a step back and drew in a breath, trying to regain its energy. Oh no . . . with Slothie exhausted from using Hyper Beam, what if it didn't have the energy to dodge Guillotine? This could be all over for Slothie . . ..

'Krabby, Guillotine!' Sean yelled. His pokémon leapt at Slothie, its claw outstretched and aiming for my snorlax's neck again.

'Slothie!' I cried. 'Get outta the way!'

Slothie lowered its head, and instead of cutting its neck, Krabby slammed right into Slothie and fell back to the ground. I sighed with relief.

'You're lucky that Guillotine isn't a very accurate attack,' said Gelby. 'But Slothie still has to recharge its energy after using Hyper Beam . . ..'

She was right. Any moment now, Sean could order Krabby to use Guillotine again, and it could be all over. I gulped as I stared hopelessly at my snorlax. There was nothing I could do . . . or was there? Just because Slothie couldn't attack this turn didn't mean I couldn't help it out. I reached into my backpack, sorting through for an item that could help me out. I had a few Hyper Potions, but would good would they be if Krabby's Guillotine hit and KO-ed Slothie? I needed something that could help it dodge the attack.

'Slothie!' I called, pulling a bottle out of my backpack. 'Here, use this X Speed!'

'X Speed?' Sean laughed as I ran over to my snorlax and sprayed the substance onto its fur. 'What good is that gonna do? As soon as my Krabby's Guillotine hits, speed won't mean anything!'

Of course he was right, but speed meant a lot before Guillotine hit. I smiled. I'd encountered these "one-hit KO" moves before, and I was pretty sure I knew how to beat them by now.

'Krabby, Guillotine!' Sean commanded. His pokémon sharpened its claw and leapt for Slothie yet again, but I wasn't so worried anymore.

Before Krabby could even get near Slothie, my snorlax swiftly jumped out of the way and dodged the attack completely. Krabby crashed down to the ground.

'Impossible!' Sean exclaimed. 'How could it dodge Guillotine three times in a row!?'

'Maybe the first two times were by chance,' I said. 'But one-hit KO moves only work when the defending pokémon is too slow to dodge the attack. And thanks to X Speed, Slothie isn't that slow anymore.'

'Snor!' smiled Slothie.

'No!' Sean exclaimed. 'How could I have forgotten that!? I started with Bubblebeam to make sure your speed wouldn't be high enough but then completely forgot!' He shook his head. 'But it doesn't matter. I'll get you on the next turn.'

I smiled. No he wouldn't, because he wouldn't have a next turn. His krabby was getting weak, and Slothie had a move that could knock it out with no problems . . . and as the last move, I didn't need to worry about losing a turn to recharge.

'Slothie, Hyper Beam!' I called.

'No!' Sean exclaimed, but it was too late. Slothie shot a ray of energy at Krabby, and knocked it out completely. Sean sighed. 'Krabby, return.' He turned to his leader. 'I'm sorry, Jason. She's too good.'

'No she's not, you're too bad!' snapped the boy, Jason. 'How could you have forgotten the key to your own strategy? It's pathetic! You could have won that snorlax.'

I cringed. Even though I'd won, the thought of ever losing Slothie to those guys was still scary. I held my greatball out.

'Slothie, return!' I called.

'Now it's my turn,' Jason stepped forward. 'If you beat me, you get to keep my pokémon. But that won't be happening - I'll be the one to take your pokémon! So pick wisely!'