A Ninja's Way
Emily began to tell Red some tips about fighting the Fuchsia City Gym for she had the chance to challenge him before Red.
"He specializes in Poison types so you need some Pokemon that are a good matchup for that," she said as the duo walked towards Red's next gym battle.
"That's all what you're telling me? Just what type of Pokemon he uses?" Red was hoping to here what strategies he uses or what secret weapon he has.
"Of course that's all! I'm not going to spoil his secrets and not get the chance to see you squirm," Emily snapped back.
Red rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the support, Emily."
"That's what I'm here for," she flashed a smile.
-"Yeah, this should be fun to watch,"- Zexal murmured. His tiny egg-like body shuddered remembering what succeeded in his battle with this particular gym.
Emily took Red to a building that was built in the style of an old fashioned traditional Japanese building. Red would have thought that Emily was playing a trick on him if it weren't the large sign that officially declared it was the Fuchsia City Gym, which still cast some doubt on Red. Sliding the fragile rice paper door, which looked as a poor material chosen to keep intruders from getting in to Red, the two teens stepped in.
The interior was just as elegant as the outside of the building. Traditional Japanese decoration was everywhere. More rice paper doors jotted along the walls hiding more rooms behind them.
It seems like the Gym Leader has made this more like his home, Red thought. The traditional harmony was broken with the huge battle arena in the middle where the roof was as high as it needed to be for a Fearow to move around comfortably. The floor was all made up of dark wood tiles that stopped once it reached the battle arena which was one level below the floor and covered in hard packed dirt.
"So you wish to challenge the Fuchsia Gym?" said a deep voice right behind Red.
"Eaahh!" Red jumped surprised. He slid on the polished wood and fell face first into the floor. He weakly turned around and saw a tall man standing in front of the door.
Teal haired man with ninja clothes similar to Janine's only his where blue and he had on a red scarf. He looked upon Red with intimidating teal eyes.
"Hehe, you must be the Fuchsia Gym Leader," Red said embarrased getting back onto his feet.
The ninja held his stern look not a bit amused by the situation. "When you're ready, head towards the challenger's section," he said in a gruff voice and in a flash disappeared right before his eyes.
Red instantly looked back and saw Koga was now standing in the Gym leader's box arms crossed, strict look and had his long scarf flapping around his neck without the assistance of any wind.
"Hehe, good luck!" Emily chirped running to take a seat on the wooden bench set on the side for spectators.
Red couldn't respond fast enough before she left him to his battle. Red recomposed himself to face the Gym Leader. He felt Koga's stern gaze pierce his body as he drop down to the battle grounds and made his way to the challenger's rectangle.
"It will be four Pokemon each and once all four of a trainer's Pokemon are defeated then they lose this battle," Koga stated the rules. He raised a pokeball prepared to battle.
Red turned to the only spectator who also had a small fox cub in her lab. He reached for a Pokeball.
The sliding of rice paper door stopped him midway from releasing his Pokemon. Out stepped a young teenage girl in her purple ninja outfit looking a bit weary.
"Already, got a challenger this early," Janine yawned her eyesight a bit blurry.
"A fine trainer to be up early to face the challenge," Koga remarked. "Something that you should learn from him."
Her father's snide remark woke her up. She wiped away the blurriness and took another look at the challenger.
"You!" Janine abruptly shouted.
"Hey, Janine!" Red smiled back.
"You're one of the idiots who took my chance to capture those crooks but no and them you let them get away!" Janine accused.
A vein popped in Emily's forehead. "Are you calling me the other idiot!?" She shouted.
"Oh and it's the red head that thinks she knows how to deal with criminals. If it weren't for you than they wouldn't have gotten away," Janine huffed.
"It was you who actually let them get away," Emily barked back with anger that could have melted her wooden bench.
It was Janine's turn to become furious as she chewed on her scarf to try to contain herself. "Who told you that I lost them?"
"It was all over the morning news that the authority of the Safari Zone failed to stop two members from escaping. The Rocket Executives!"
Janine shook her head furiously. "At lease I tried to get them back while you guys idly stood back not helping," she said.
"We were held back! You know what, Red? Screw it! I'll tell you what techniques this man uses so she can see her dear daddy fail," Emily said.
"Ha, even with his secrets revealed he still won't be able to defeat my father, the greatest gym leader of all," the female ninja said.
Red held a hand to make Emily stop. "No need to Emily," he said. "I'll handle this on my own from now on."
Janine smirked. "This will be fun. I'll stick around to see this fool get trampled on." She took the bench opposite of Emily to become a bystander. She stuck her tongue at Emily who responded by doing the same and pulled down the skin under her eye.
Koga sighed heavily rubbing a finger between his forehead. "Let's continue this, challenger." Red nodded and both released their pokemon at the same time.
"Standby for battle Pikachu!" Red shouted while Koga silently released his own.
Pikachu appeared before a large purple moth and got ready for battle.
-"Alright, it's been a long time since I had a gym battle!"- Pikachu said enthusiastic.
Sensing his pokemon's eagerness Red went straight to an offensive approach.
"Thunderbolt that Venomoth!" Red ordered.
"Put him to sleep Venomoth with Sleep Powder," Koga commanded.
Pikachu was first to do his move shocking the poison-bug Pokemon. Venomoth endured the shock and released the Sleep inducing powder from his dusty wings. The wide range of the powder nearly covered Pikachu's side if the field making nearly impossible to escape.
The substance entered Pikachu's body to almost immediately take affect. His body wavered in drowsiness ready to topple over any minute.
-"Well shit-" Pikachu collapsed on the floor sound asleep.
"Hehe well there was no way he could escape that," Red sheepishly said.
"You idiot now you gave him the perfect chance to set up!" Emily shouted at Red.
Koga continued before Red could ask what she meant.
"Quiver Dance."
Red watched helplessly as Venomoth flew higher in a pattern as if he was performing a dance with a few twirls. His wings brightened with a bright light and began to pick up speed.
"Never heard of such a move," Red wondered out loud a bit entrance by the spectacular performance.
"Well, you should be more educated on Pokemon moves if you want to become a Pokemon Champion," Emily harshly said. "Its a move that raises the users speed, special defense as well as special attack."
"What?! That sounds like the most overpowered stat boosting moved I've ever heard," Red remarked.
"Hey stop helping your moron of a boyfriend," Janine insulted from her bench.
"That moron is not my even close to my view of a boyfriend," Emily snapped back. "But it's okay to feel like that everyone has partner if you never had one."
"You little punk," Janine hissed.
"Calm down girls," Red weakly intervened a bit hurt from being called a moron.
Venomoth continued to setup while Pikachu slept. Red thought he couldn't rely on the fact that Pikachu will wake up and plus his Special Attacks won't be doing much.
"Sorry pal, I know how bad you wanted to fight but I need to take action now," Red muttered returning his electric rodent.
"Baton Pass now Venomoth." Koga ordered as Red took his time to switch Pokemon.
Venomoth fluttered down from his elaborate dance. His whole body suddenly glowed a bright red color. The glow left his body to come together and create red baton. Venomoth then dematerialized to return back into his respective pokeball with no help from Koga.
Koga threw a pokeball onto the field to release a large purple blob onto the field. The new foe stretched out a sludge covered arm with bits oozing onto the ground to grab the glowing baton and took on the same eerie glow as it before returning to normal.
Red didn't understand what happened but didn't bother to ask as he sent out his strong physical attacker Gabite.
Gabite took an interest in his slimy foe. It didn't have any definite body shape but vaguely had a head with two eyes and large arms.
"Muk: the
Red held his nose nauseated by the stench Muk produced. Koga didn't seem bother by the smell as well as Janine idly watching the match. Emily had to cover her nostrils as well as Zexal.
Gabite stood their completely still. Not even batting an eye which was unsettling to Red for he usually was lively when he appeared. Prancing around, trying to bite everything in sight.
Gabite's eyes widen realizing something. His body trembled as Muk lifted up his larger left hand towards the dragon.
"Shadow Sneak then Toxic," Koga ordered.
Red acted quick. "Gabite dodge the attacks and go in for a Dragon Claw!"
Gabite exploded when he saw Muk move. -"Ice Cream man! You look more delicious than what friends say!"-
Muk gave him a weird look before continuing, The shadow his large arm produced extended behind its original position and it shot out towards Gabite at near blinding speed. It was difficult for Gabite to dodge who tried to jump to his right but the shadow peeled itself from the floor and struck Gabite right in his right leg.
The pseudo dragon-ground type tumbled onto the ground after being hit during mid jump. He sprawled ground in slight pain. He looked up to see Muk opened up his mouth wide open revealing a dull blue tongue. A bright purple substance began to build up in his mouth before he closed his mouth.
Red decide to change Gabite's order. "Go underground Gabite and use Dig!"
Gabite used his claws to create a small hole in the floor that crawled into right before Muk spat out his Toxic with a fair amount of force. The poisonous liquid splashed onto the ground right next to the hole staining the dirt.
Koga remained calm in the situation. "Don't simply think that my Muk will be an easy target to hit. Minimize Muk."
Muk a hunk of water pollution that was wider than five feet lost half of its body. He crawl to the side leaving half of his body in its original position. The rest of him quicker now slid farther from it.
A claw ripped through the middle of the sludge and a gasping Gabite jumped out. He coughed and hacked to spit out bits of purple chunks from his mouth. It was obvious that he tried to eat Muk's body.
-"Ack! You don't taste as good as friends said it would,"- Gabite said in disgust. He shivered in disgust clenching his hurt stomach. Something else managed to get into his body making feel some pain throughout his body and dropped to his knees.
He's expressing symptoms of being poisoned, Red observed. Could it be...
"Now I see why you decided to Baton Pass into Muk," Red concluded. "With higher special defense, he doesn't have to worry about special attackers. However, physical attackers would give him a harder time if his body wasn't made out of toxic waste."
Koga nodded with a smile. "But you realized far to late. All Muk has to do is out stall Gabite with poison wearing him down. His smaller as well with boosted speed which will make him a harder foe to take down."
"We'll see about that. Gabite, get yourself together and Dragon Claw him!"
Gabite charged Muk head on again with Dragon Claw ready. He swiped at the puddle of sludge only managing to make a small gash in its side as it sped away.
"Gunk Shot!" Koga held two fingers towards Gabite as to show him where.
Dirt purple vile rose up from Muk's mouth as he looked like he was ready to devour Gabite. His target turned to face him before being blasted onto his back with a powerful blast of filth. The foul substance made Gabite go crazy more so than the heavy damage it caused.
-"This icky-icky smell is terrible!"- He roared furiously. His never before seen anger surprised Red and Emily as he swiftly jumped onto his feet with detestation in his eyes.
-"You didn't taste that good at all and you still cover me in your disgusting ice cream flavor!"- he continued to rant. –"For that I will destroy you! Awful desserts like you should disappear from this world!"- Gabite dove into the ground on his own decision leaving Red lost for words.
"Futile," Koga slightly smirked. He raised his two fingers to his lips looking straight ahead. "Minimize."
Muk repeated the process of dividing his body in half leaving the dead weight behind as a decoy. A sickening process it was before he crawled away to a safe distance.
"Your Gabite's senses have been disoriented by Muk's sludge that it will near impossible for him to get Muk. That also gives him the chance to increase his defenses. Heighten your physical defense with Acid Armor, Muk," Koga serenely said.
"Don't doubt him yet," Red said having faith in his digging Pokemon. "I have my confidence that won't fail me. He has been through many battles with me at him side and I know enough that he will do all it takes to succeed."
"A bold statement but let's see if your Pokemon won't let you down," Koga replied.
Muk sighed as his body secreted a special type of acid that hardened to form a stronger coating. -"That dimwitted fool will never catch me if he was dumb enough to believe that I was food."- His eyes suddenly lit up.
"What?" Koga saw that Muk was stirring in a bizarre way that he has never seen before.
The ground beneath Muk exploded with brute force and a blue dragon emerged from underneath. Muk landed on the ground with a loud smacking sound like pudding hitting the floor but barely conscious. Gabite wavered a bit feeling dizzy from the toxic in his body yet kept the determination to keep on moving to finish off Muk.
-"I'll get you ice cream man,"- Gabite murmured before he fell straight into the ground as the result of the poison.
-"You were a weird fellow but you did put up a good fight,"- Muk muttered before his too lost conscious.
Janine jumped up from her seat. "Hey that's not fair! My dad could have won if your Gabite didn't get lucky with that hit he got at the end!"
Emily too jumped from her seat to defend the man she was rooting for. "What are you talking about? How could he have gotten lucky in the end with that attack? He knew where he was so that couldn't counted as luck."
-"And stop yelling at Emily!"- Zexal added
Red looked up to Emily after recalling Gabite. "I don't she's talking about Gabite getting a hit on Muk, but how he hit him. Gabite managed to get a critical hit with his Dig."
Emily stepped back feeling a bit in denial. "There's now way that could have mattered since it was a super-effective move from your Gabite."
Red ran a finger across the rim of his hat. "Believe it or not Emily, that critical hit was what helped me because he was slightly damaged and yet he had on Acid Armor to buff the hit. Koga would have still kept his Muk if he didn't get that lucky hit."
Koga just stood there as the teenagers argued among themselves arms crossed. "That may be the case but a gym leader must not dwell too much on these critical hits. The fact is my Pokemon is down and that only leaves me to reveal my next one."
Red smiled already grabbing a pokeball from his belt as Koga mysteriously made one appear in his hand.
"Pidgeot, standby for battle!"
Pidgeot emerged above the field and glided down trying to show off his new set of head feathers. His sharp gaze locked on with Venomoth who has come out for a second time.
"This time you won't be able to put him to sleep," Red said fixing his hat. "So, we won't let you set up."
"I intend to work around that," Koga switched to an unnecessary ninja pose as he talked. "Toxic Spikes, Venomoth."
Doing a quick twirl, shark spikes covered in poison were thrown at Pidgeot. He flew up high to avoid it and the spikes scattered randomly on Red's side of the field.
"You should have stopped that when you had the chance," Koga said earning Red's interest. "That wasn't intended for Pidgeot but to poison the next few Pokemon you sent in that touch the Poison Spikes."
"How was I suppose to know that?" Red exclaimed.
"Knowledge is as important as strength, strategy and skill," Koga coolly replied.
The devious deed being done, Red decided to focus on defeating Venomoth. "Pidgeot, Brave Bird quick."
With a cloaks of fire, Pidgeot dashed towards the stationary Venomoth beating his large wings away.
Koga waited for a bit. "Confusion."
Pidgeot was close enough for Venomoth to fire a weak psychic blow that threw Pidgeot off balanced. He fell to the ground but didn't get poison for he was on the gym leader's side of the field.
"Now Quiver Dance."
Not wasting a second, Venomoth flew higher to dance from safety.
"Pidgeot, Dart Pierce him now!"
Pidgeot dusted his wings from the dirt before disappearing right before Koga's eyes. Quick as ever, Pidgeot was able to sneak behind Venomoth. He tackled him down with the super effective move with deadly accuracy.
"I see. A combination with the speed from Quick Attack and great accuracy of Aerial Ace. It looks well done," Koga praised. He returned Venomoth who couldn't handle the combo.
Wow a combo attack, Janine thought impressed. Never seen someone use that against my dad before. Janine stopped to shake her heads. Don't praise the challenger.
"Weezing will be able to handle this better."
Red's high emotion drastically fell. A Weezing? I had enough of Weezings mostly because Team Rocket uses them.
The Pokemon full of air pollution appeared with its depressed look. It didn't look that much different than any other Weezings he met.
"Brave Bird this guy to oblivion, Pidgeot." He thought it was going to be as simple as that.
"You better be more careful in dealing with Weezing," Koga warned. "Poison Gas, Weezing."
Hazardous gaseous poured out of Weezing's body to completely engulf himself in it. He chucked as he was now untouchable.
"Halt Pidgeot" Red stopped him before it was too late. "Don't think yet that having a Weezing will allow you to use poisonous gases to your advantage. Blow them away with Gust!"
"Just hold on there boy," Koga kept him from continuing. "Don't think that dispersing the gases will solve your problems because if you didn't know we are in an enclose area." Koga raised a hand as to show of his gym.
"And if I were to have Pidgeotto blow the gas away it would just spread out in the room which would be harmful for everyone," Red finished. "Why didn't you install ventilation in this building? You know your using toxic pokemon and yet that thought didn't even cross your mind?"
Janine answered for him. "It's because me and my father don't need to be afraid of the poisonous gas as long as we have…" Janine grabbed the loss clothing around her neck and pulled up to cover her mouth and nose," our clothing that can filter out the toxic substances in the air. These clothes are just to be stylish you know." Koga lifted his up just like his daughter did.
Red clenched his fists taking a quick glance at Emily who did seemed a bit nervous. "You're using cheap, underhanded tricks that any Gym Leader should never consider. Putting people's life at risk is not the way to go," Red lashed at Koga with angered tone. "Using poison to slowly take down an opponent as you hide and run away is not what an honorary gym leader would do either!"
"You shut the hell up, kid! My father is one of the top Gym Leaders in the whole Kanto region as well as the greatest ninja of our time!" Janine yelled with rage.
Koga however seemed unfazed by the slander at his title. "Cheap tricks you may call it that but these are the key strategies of my gym. This is the way I run things here for that is my ninja way," Koga stated. "I test not your skill but the connection of you and your pokemon. I frustrate opponents with my techniques to make communicating much harder between each other. I put the trainer at risk to see if a Pokemon has the heart to protect him over the simple order to win a victory. If you cannot bear to handle the way I do things here then you are more then welcomed to forfeit the match."
Silence fell upon the gym. Emily sat calmly at her bench hugging her Zorua tightly. Janine still had her burning gaze directed at Red. Red had his head hung low with the brim of his hat hiding the facial expressions he was making.
Red lifted his head not with an angered nor pained expression but one with determination. "I'm not ready to give up yet, Koga. I'm here to test the relationship of my Pokemon and. I have faith in them as they do the same for me and that is why I should go down easy."
Koga silently listened. "Very well then. Let's continue."
Red reanalyzed the situation. "Pidgeot, attack only with Steel Wing touching the poison."
-"And you're certain that I won't get poisoned?"- Pidgeot asked but knew he wouldn't get an answer. He did as he was told, flying to Weezing to assault him with steel coated wings. His larger wing span allowed him to reach through the smoke and hit him without much struggle.
"Thunder Bolt!"
Pidgeot tried to fly away but was struck before he could get out of range falling straight into the ground. He crashed into the dirt floor falling on top of his Steel Wing still active.
"Thunder Bolt again."
Weezing emerged from the fading poisonous gas breathing out more dangerous pollution. Pidgeot looked up in distress as he got up to become airborne but his left wing was caught in something. Looking down he saw that he still had Steel Wing active and it was now lodged into the ground with about two feet of his wing underground.
"Pidgeot abort Steel Wing and fly away," Red said.
-"Okay calm down,"- Pidgeot told himself as recovered from panicking. The steel sheen began to disappear but not before he was shocked again by a powerful Thunder Bolt.
-"Grr…huh,"- Pidgeot had his body tensed ready for pain but all he felt was a tingly sensation throughout his muscles. He did see sparks of electricity escaping from parts of his body but most of the sparks were coming from the steel tipped wing dug into the ground.
Red awed in the phenomenon. "He's transferring the electricity harmlessly into the ground," Red noted as all the Thunder Bolt was channeled into the ground.
Pidgeot released his wing from the ground all still in tact with a bit feather ruffed but nothing a little preening can't help. He watched in wonder as how he avoided a painful encounter by his clumsy mistake.
"Pidgeot, Brave Bird now that he out of his protection!" Red snapped out of his trance.
"Weezing, Smokescreen," Koga acted right away.
Pidgeot flew straight up as Weezing attempted to hide himself again however Pidgeot was able to pinpoint his location with his sharp eyesight. His Brave Bird was direct hit knocking Weezing out from his smoke as Pidgeot dropped back to recover from his recoil and coughed out the smoke.
"Poisonous Gas again." Weezing quickly restored his cover.
"That's not going to work, Pidgeot Steel Wing," Red ordered confidently.
Pidgeot assaulted Weezing with its Steel Wing not touching the gas himself.
Koga saw it wasn't going well for his Weezing and knew the end was nearing. "You did well, Weezing. Ours strategy was easily figured out by this challenger so lets atop all of this needless stalling. Destiny Bond," Koga softly mouthed at the end.
"Pidgeot, Brave Bird him to finish it," Red said excitedly seeing Weezing was coming into open air on his own account.
Pidgeot clocked himself if blue flames before launching at Weezing with full force. A purple glow glinted in his eyes as his victim approached.
"Red stop!" Emily exclaimed a bit too late.
Pidgeot collided head on with destructive power. Weezing let out a groan before floating down completely knocked out.
"What is it, Emily? I managed to take him out before he could do anything besides that weird glow," Red said cockily smiling at her.
"You shouldn't have done that," Emily bluntly replied. Her strange remark was soon answered.
Pidgeot suddenly collapsed on the ground without warning. A purple glow encircled his body for second before disappearing.
"What the hell just happen?" Red asked in disbelief. His Pokemon wasn't that hurt from the battle or were his injuries more serious than he thought.
"Destiny Bond," Koga said. "It bonds the soul of one Pokemon to another creating a short lived link. If the caster happens to faint before the bond wears off than the Pokemon linked to him will also go down with it."
"So that's what that eerie glow was," Red murmured feeling stupid.
"A word of advice to you, young man. If the bait is too good to believe, than it's obviously a trap," Koga told him.
Red couldn't help but feel insulted. But I did think that was strange for a Gym Leader to just let their Pokemon fain, Red thought scolding himself for not trusting his gut feeling. He didn't decide to dwell on his failure much.
"Down to our last one and I think I have a perfect counter to your strategies," Red boldly declared. "Nidoking, standby for battle."
Nidoking roared to announce his presence. -"Ah it feels good to finally be in a gym battle since like forever. Hmm-I feel a strange feeling under my foot,"- Nidoking lifted his foot to find the poison spikes where stuck under his foot but it looked more like the spikes were being absorbed by his body.
Koga took a moment to study poison type Pokemon. "So you thought that having a Poison type would be immune to my poisoning strategies," he said. "And as well to absorb the toxic Spikes."
Red blinked confused by the last tidbit. "Uhh- yeah to get rid of the Toxic Spikes."
"Liar!" Janine pointed an accusing finger at Red. "You couldn't have possibly known that!" Red rolled his shiftily to the side.
"Let's see if you picked the right match for my Crobat," Koga said throwing a pokeball.
"Cro-bat?" Red said feeling a bit sickened about the Zubats that he has faced in the past.
The lighter shade of purple bat appeared before him flapping about in four wings, two large ones and two smaller beneath that all connected to single body mass. Small stubby legs the looked useful only for perching the rest of its body was its glaring face with yellow eyes and red pupils as well as having its teeth bared at all times.
Crobat: the Bat Pokemon. A Pokémon that gained vastly enhanced flying performance by having its legs turn into wings, but more clumsy at walking. Crobat's wings have also developed a more powerful cutting edge for using Cross Poison and X-Scissor."
"Screech Crobat"' was Koga's first order as soon as Red put up his Pokedex.
"Focus Energy, Nidoking!" Red ordered with energy.
Nidoking lowered his head as he trained his brain to focus more clearly. He was so focused that he didn't even fall to the confusion that Crobat tried to bestow him. He looked up with an even more determinate look ready to break shit.
"Ice Beam that crazy bat," Red ordered. I guess it's still as annoying as its lower forms.
-"Try and dodge this,"- Nidoking grunted firing the icy beam from the tip of his horn.
-"Don't belittle my speed fool,"- Crobat replied. He few side ways in a matter that no normal bat could to dodge the Ice beam but his lower wing was skinned at bit by it. He dropped a down but caught himself just a few feet above ground.
"Rockslide now is your chance!"
Nidoking didn't hesitate to smash a thick arm into the ground to dislodged small boulders from the gym floor that were hurdled at Crobat.
"Break them with Steel Wing," Koga rapidly ordered.
Crobat slashed the rocks to pieces with his hardened wings. The rubble fell at his side as he returned high in the air to be able to have more time to dodge the Ice Beam.
However, this one is more powerful than the annoying bats I've face, Red acknowledged its strength.
"Time to put the challengers' wits to test," Koga said as if this was an actual test. "Crobat, Double Team around him."
Red had stopped himself from groaning. Double Team was the most annoying tactic to deal with for the near impossible chance of finding the correct one.
"Nidoking, we are going to have to wait for him to attack first see can tell which one is the real one," Red said in a disappointed tone.
"That's fine with us," Koga said. "Crobat, Brave Bird at your leisure."
-"I will take my time,"- Crobat asserted as he began to fly around along with his clones. Every single one lit on fire that strike a remarkable resemblance to Brave Bird. They flew around in a circle, one following behind another.
Nidoking's eyes adverted from one Crobat to another totally focused on finding the real one. They all were perfect copies of the original and precisely adopted an even fierier aura that brew like real flames at the same time.
One by one, the Crobats dropped from the sky all headed towards Nidoking with a fierce look. They disproportionately distributed themselves to make it harder fro Nidoking to land a clean hit on all of them.
"Ice Beam the incoming ones," Red ordered thinking it was best idea as of now.
Nidoking managed to snag the first few in the front but all turned out to be clones. He shifted to the right where there were more Crobats in numbers. He destroyed the fakes making his chances of finding the original slightly higher. He aimed his beam left and right trying to get as many as he could but the numbers where too many. A few managed to bypass his assault but they just turned out to be imposters.
A single Crobat however broke out of the formation when he was close enough to come around at his victim's vulnerable side. Nidoking immediately noticed its behavior and switched to focus his power on that single one. The Ice Beam collided with the real Crobat who didn't disappear as the others. However, the Ice Beam didn't do much to it as the Sky Attack aura prevented from going any further.
-"Don't think that something as petty as your Ice Beam can stop me!"- Crobat shouted ramming right into Nidoking's softer underbelly.
-"You bastard,"- Nidoking snarled. He was completely knocked onto his back with the powerful blow. Crobat emerged victorious with a slight smirk.
"Go back for a Zen Headbutt," Koga ordered.
Crobat nimbly turned straight around not missing a beat. His excellent flying skills kept him head of Nidoking who only started to get up. The top of Crobat's head began to glow bright pink as he lowered it ready to meet collision.
"Nidoking watch out!" Red shouted.
-"Don't worry about me, Red,"- Nidoking muttered under his breath back pointed towards to the incoming Crobat. –"I got this!"
The bulky guy snapped back to raise a claw at Crobat. He caught him spot on, his claws digging right into the top of Crobat's blinking head. Red sparks jumped out of his hand as Nidoking tried to resist the psychic attack.
Nidoking held back the need to cringe and held on tightly to his prey. He lifted him up and slammed him straight into the ground with crushing force he is well known for.
Caught under Nidoking's arm, the Zen Headbutt seized as Crobat struggled to escape. His wings flapped furiously kicking up some dirt around him but it was no used as Nidoking tightened his grip on the bat Pokemon.
Nidoking gasped for some air as looked down on Crobat with a toothy smile. -"As for those annoying wings,"- Nidoking said in devious tone. He froze all four wings to the ground with his Ice Beam before he let go of him not worried that he will escape.
"That was bit risky Nidoking," Red said seeing Nidoking shake his right claw that had some minor burns on them. "But that was excellent work on your part."
"Amazing performance from your Nidoking but don't think that he has Crobat trap for his wings are blade themselves," Koga pointed out.
Crobat's face showed pain as broke free from the ice using Steel Wing to do so. He jumped up to stand on the lower wings nearly toppling over. He still had bits and pieces of ice on his wings but he still managed to stay upright.
-"That was rather quite ruthless,"- Crobat said to Nidoking trying to rid of the excess ice.
-"Hehe, yeah but there is no rule on how ruthless you can be in battle,"- Nidoking responded.
"Things are coming to an end, Koga," Red proclaimed. "Nidoking, attack him with another Rock Slide."
"Don't you see that Crobat can still break through your attack? Steel Wing once more, Crobat."
Nidoking jammed his slightly less injured fist into the ground to summon more boulders as Crobat prepared his steel attacks.
"Now follow up with a Horn Attack!" Red commanded.
Nidoking grunted feeling his bruises now that his Focus Energy has started to fade away. He didn't waste any more time and quickly ran after the boulders that Crobat has began to slash through. He lowered his head before going into a full charge heading straight to Crobat.
Slashing through the last rock in his way as well as getting rid the last of the ice from his wings, Crobat grinned at his success but then saw Nidoking's bulky mass right before him. His eyes nearly bulged out of his sockets as the horn pierce the center of his body. He was thrust aside like a simple rag doll with sickening crunch sound.
Nidoking dropped onto his butt right after he saw Crobat fall. He tended to his injuries that where flaring all over his body now that his brain were receiving the pain signals originally blocked by his focus.
"No! This can't be!" Janine shouted seeing her father return her Crobat. "How could you have let this child beat you, father?"
Koga didn't show much emotion to his daughter. "He won for had more strength than me, Janine. Don't go on about a childish tantrum for seeing me lose here. Take this as a sign that your father won't be always be able to protect you and you must trainer yourself to become stronger than I."
Janine was left wordless yet not convinced yet that this was fair to her. In her heart, she didn't want to become stronger than her father because she always wanted to look up to him. As a teacher, as powerful man, and as a gym leader that she held up highly.
"I'm sorry, father," she weakly murmured. Without a word she quickly left building in a flustered manner.
Red watched her leave so when he turned back he nearly yelped seeing Koga was a foot away from him.
"Even though you decided to insult me in my Gym for my tactics I still want to give you the Soul Badge with a sense of gratitude for a great battle," Koga said yet in a bland tone with a small smile. He produced a heart shaped badge that he handed to the young boy.
"Your soul glows just as bright even when everything spells despair and doom. Your persevering soul reflects on your Pokemon as well and to that I say you're on the right path to becoming a great Pokemon Trainer."
Red placed the badge in its rightful spot in his case.
"As for the TM that you won," Koga produced purple shaded CD. "It's Poison Jab which I didn't use in this particular battle but its Physical Poison-type move so use it wisely."
"Yeah that's great for certain Poison-Type I have," Red said eyeing his tired Nidoking before returning back into the Pokeball.
"Of course, and please excuse my daughter, she can be a bit hectic at times," Koga apologized for his daughter's behavior.
"Yeah we know," Emily spoke up having already walked up to Red. "Just don't expect her to be alive if she ever bothers me again."
"Hehe, let's not get to ahead of ourselves," Red nervously chuckled.
"No, I will hurt that girl if she ever gets under my skin." Emily said grabbing Red by the arm. "Now let's hurry up and heal those Pokemon of yours." She dragged Red out of the building.
Koga finally let out a long sigh once he was alone. "I wonder if the youth of today were harder to manage than the ones of in the old time." He ran hand through his dulling hair.
