A/N; Here's your regularly scheduled chapter. The next one is, of course, available for free on pa-atreon. You'd have to kick a few over to me to read the rest early, but don't be scared, they'll find their way up here in time.
Have fun. Enjoy the read.
"Rock Throw" Lee commanded suddenly. His machoke blurred into motion. Smashed its fists against the ground and ripped off a boulder that it threw at my bird. Quicksilver dodged it with little fanfare, but I had to blink back my surprise. How strong was this Machoke? It had to have held back against Broly. I doubt Broly could have taken as many hits as he did if they all came with that type of strength.
The Machoke didn't stop at one boulder though. He was ripping up the arena floor bit by bit and sending each rock at my bird. It seems that Lee was underestimating Quicksilver's speed because my bird dodged every attack that was sent at him with contemptuous ease.
The fighting type eventually realized he wasn't going to catch my bird that way and decided to switch things up again. He threw up another boulder and when it was mid-air, he blasted it with a focus blast that somehow sent all the shrapnel flying towards Quicksilver. I ordered him to use Gust to blow the rocks back where it came and t use Aerial ace while the machoke was distracted.
It worked beautifully. The rocks flew towards the fighting type, and he crossed his hands to block them. While he was distracted, he was crashed into by over a 100 pounds of bird. He went down and didn't stand again.
The next pokemon Lee released was a buff heracross. I returned Quicksilver and released Kisame to the field. The dry ground was a bit uncomfortable for her, but she needed to adapt there was no better place to do it than in battle.
She followed my preferred strategy of keeping the Heracross at a distance by burying it in moves. Kisame was undoubtedly the most powerful pokemon on my team and she showed it. The Heracross was good, don't get me wrong. It was agile and well-trained but Kisame was the storm. She fired off ice beams and water guns at blistering speeds to harry it while it moved and whenever it stayed still for more than a second or two it got a hydro pump for it's trouble. It was only a matter of time.
I was sure of my victory till Lee gave an unexpected command. "Dig" He said in that flat tone of his. The heracross went straight underground. I tried to have Kisame aim an attack into the hole before it got too far but she missed. That's a reminder that we needed to work on her accuracy. She was good but there were lots of times she could have ended the battle with a well-aimed shot.
I returned her and sent Quicksilver back out. The challenger had three substitutions and far be it from me to refrain from abusing them. Quicksilver kept to the skies as per my instructions to wait out the Heracross. It came up to attack with a signal beam and Quicksilver ended it with a Brave bird.
The day was mine. Lee crossed the battlefield with virtually no trouble. He didn't like to speak much, I could tell. Either that or he just had nothing to say to me. I took my badge and left the gym for the pokemon centre. Broly needed to be healed after that battle.
After dropping Broly off at the centre, I headed to the outskirts of the city to meet my new acquisitions. It's worth mentioning that Saffron was yet to become the sprawling metropolis it was in the anime. It was literally no different from the rest of the region. Maybe a bit more industrious that Cerulean and Pewter, but on the same level as Viridian.
I got to an appropriate clearing and decided to do the pokemon introductions one at a time. I released the Charmander first since it would probably be easier. He got out of the pokeball and stared me in the eyes. I kept eye contact with him while silently demanding he submit. I'd read in a book that this was pretty much the only way to subdue a dragon, and even without the typing, this Charmander was clearly a dragon. The book also contained a disclaimer that you shouldn't do this to wild pokemon unless you had the means to defeat it.
The Charmander kept up the staring contest for what felt like five minutes and then he looked away. Phew! I thought that would never end. You're probably calling me insane for not being scared of the fire lizard that could kill me. The thing was, I had it's pokeball in a death grip. I'd definitely be able to return it before it attacked.
I spoke a few words to the Charmander and it was raring to go. The bit I added about becoming strong enough to challenge it's father must have been particularly incentivising judging by rhe roar it let out at that.
I returned him after christening him 'Igneel' and released the Dusknoir next. It wasted no time in diving towards me. I was barely able to hit the button to return it on time. Let's try this again. I released him a bit farther and he did the same thing. I returned him. It happened four more times with him trying to make portals to escape the last two times before he got the hint and just stayed in one place. Good. I'd be able to address him now.
"Hello. My name is Donnell Oak. I'm your new trainer. Broly, that is my scyther, defeated you at the tower-"The Dusknoir dived at me at that and almost got it's hand on my face by the time I returned it. I tried releasing it farther away and returning it when it misbehaved to get it to calm down again but it didn't work. I gave up after the tenth failed attempt and resolved to get Broly to deliver another beatdown to this pokemon later, when he was strong enough which might not be for a while.
I clipped the ball on my belt and released Igneel, Kisame and Quicksilver to get some training done. I increased the gravity on Quicksilver's brace and had him fly around dodging Kisame's attacks. She'd improve her accuracy by trying to hit him and he'd improve his speed even more.
I chose to focus on Igneel for this session. He was essentially the baby of the team. The pokedex told me he had the moves, ember, bite, growl, dragon breath and scratch. He also had dragon rush as an egg move. His ability was Solar Power, which wasn't as dues ex machina at blaze but could be useful with enough imagination. (1)
I had him use the moves he knew first of all. His dragon breath was amazing, but the rest of his moves were normal for a first evolution pokemon. He was barely six months old after all. I had him running around the forest in an improvised obstacle course. I had Kisame keep half an eye on him to make sure he didn't set fire to the trees surrounding us. I decided to settle down and meditate before Quicksilver landed right in front of me and squawked at me in a threatening manner. The rest of my pokemon also stopped what they were doing to stare at me and approach.
No, not me. Someone behind me. I turned around and a girl my age made her way out of the forest to join me. She was, pardon my French, fucking hot. Black hair that reached towards her waist, an angular beautiful face and legs that seemed to go on forever. Speaking of her waist though, I saw something that made me get my guard up. She had a pokemon belt. What was another trainer doing her? I chose this clearing simply because of how out of the way it was.
"Good day. My name is Sabrina. I hope I did not interrupt your training with my presence." Even her voice was beautiful.
"I'm Donnell. No worries. I'm surprised to see someone else here though. This place is pretty out of the way". I tried to fish for some information.
"I could say the same about you" She said with a small laugh that tickled my ears. "I was in the process of performing some training of my own before I spotted your magnificent specimen of a pidgeot. Would you do me the honour of granting me a battle?" She asked.
That came way out of left field. She'd seen my entire team so there was no chance I'd be surprising her in my selections. That meant nothing though. I'd take the challenge. "Sure. Do you want to go with a formal battle or an informal one?" I asked next. She's the first person I'd even considered the possibility of having an informal battle against.
Battles were basically grouped into formal and informal ones. Gym challenges were good examples of formal battles. Most battles that took place in pokemon centres also qualified as formal battles since we registered them on our trainer ids and made wagers through our phones or pokedexes (I was the only one with a pokedex).
She chose to have an informal battle so we took our places on opposite ends of the clearing after flipping a coin to decide who would send out their pokemon first. She started thing off by sending out an Alakazam of all things. The anime definitely didn't give it justice. This pokemon was tall, had yellow fur and most importantly, exuded a strong psychic presence like a weight on my shoulders.
I should have figured it out from the name and looks. I had been suspecting (I totally wasn't suspecting) but the powerful psychic gave it away. This was THE Sabrina. The powerful psychic gym leader of Saffron city. She clearly wasn't the leader yet. She was just a random trainer. A random trainer that I would be defeating.
I started the battle by sending out Quicksilver, I'd returned my pokemon to their balls to make space in the clearing. The moment the coin we'd agreed to use as the starting signal hit the ground, my bird was up in the skies and that's where things went wrong. He came crashing down almost instantly. Gravity, I suspected. It was a powerful move, and I was pinching myself for not considering the possibility. I wasn't able to give any orders before the Alakazam knocked Quicksilver out with a psybeam.
Fuck. Is this how the challengers I faced usually felt? I wasn't done though. Kisame was my strongest pokemon after all. I released her onto the field and she started her usual barrage. It wasn't useful against this opponent though. Sabrina's Alakazam teleported all around the field while firing psybeams. Kisame was nowhere near as agile on land as she was in the water and after a few minutes she was knocked out without even managing a single blow.
I'd lost. This was a very bad loss. The first true loss I'd ever suffered. I'd rationalized away the battle against the Rhydon herd to have been the result of poor planning on my part. That my pokemon and I were still strong. This battle showed how wrong I was. I looked up and I could see Sabrina's lips moving but I didn't hear anything.
I refocused my attention and said, "Sorry, could you repeat what you just said? My mind was elsewhere"
"I said that was a great battle. Your Milotic is really powerful. She was able to release so many attacks so quickly. I do not think anyone has been able to make Alakazam teleport in such a frenzied manner before." She complimented with a smile that made me weak in the knees
"Thank you." I got out over the sound of my shattered dignity. "I have to ask though, how many badges do you have? Because that Alakazam of yours is a monster" I was simply dying to know. How far along was she on her journey.
"I just received my license. I was actually on my way out of town when I spotted your Pidgeot. I apologize for my duplicity, but I realized that you might have been less willing to do battle if you knew I was a complete amateur and that this was my first battle" She admitted and then gave a bow out of politeness.
I returned her bow, wished her luck, and then made my way back to the pokemon centre with my mind whirling with thoughts.
AN; He just met his rival. No further spoilers.
(1) I messed around with the abilities a bit. Solar Power now isn't just a hidden ability but one that any Charmander can have. It's basically a toss-up between blaze and solar power.
Name; Donnell Oak
Age; 15
Hometown; Pallet
Next of Kin; Samuel Oak
Account balance; 2,170 Pokedollars
Pokemon;
Scyther (Nickname; Broly)- Male. Bug/Flying type
Moves; Signal beam, agility, steel wing, fury cutter, quick attack, slash, swords dance, and wing attack.
Pidgeot (Nickname; Quicksilver)- Male. Flying/Normal type
Moves; Brave bird, aerial ace, steel wing, agility, roost, hypervoice, gust, whirlwind, and thunderbolt
Milotic (Nickname; Kisame)- Male. Water type.
Moves; Brine, ice beam, hydro pump, dragon breath, dragon pulse, water gun, and bubble beam.
Charmander (Nickname; Igneel)- Male. Fire type.
Moves; Ember, dragon breath, scratch, bite, growl and dragon rush.