Why Are They Called Dog Fights If Dogs Can't Fly
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God damn this thing is hot, I had a burn on my tongue from the first bite due to my impatience, but in my defense food is the best when its scalding. Especially cheese and meat, fuck I love carnival food.
It was greasy, salted, and had a myriad of mysterious ingredients that probably barely passed the definition of 'edible'. There's some weird white vegetable bits in here that are slightly undercooked, do I know what they are? No. Am I eating them any way? Yes.
And oh man the bread, just the right amount of soaked to-
"ON THE GREEN SIDE, ALICE THORN OF DELLITOWN!" Oh shit that's right I'm in the middle of something aren't I, fuck hold on I can eat the rest of this before he's done. "ON THE RED SIDE, TERRY OSWALD! TRAINERS SELECT YOUR POKEMON!"
I quickly shoved the last three or four bites in my mouth, took a big swig of some root beer flavored sports drink (it's weird I know) and fumbled for someones pokeball as I attempted not to choke on cheese and hubris.
"READY," He called out with absolutely no regards to my frantic chewing, "BATTLE!"
I tossed out what ended up being Lukes ball, I was going for Mark again but whatever. And it looks like it was my lucky break as well. The kid, who couldn't have been older than eleven, sent out a yanma.
The giant red dragonfly burst forth with a high pitched call, its wings buzzing so fast that the only things that revealed their presence was the slight shimmer of the surrounding lights bouncing off of them.
Luke gave an enthusiastic cheer at his new environment and the people watching. The steady flapping of his wings beyond silent beneath the excited murmur of the crowd.
"Fuper fonic." I spit out from my mouthful of tasty tasty grease and bread.
"SIGNAL JAMMER!" Wait, what is signal jammer?
Luke let out his high pitched almost squeal as the yanmas wings started to raise in pitch and oh mY GOD WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT NOISE!? It sounds like when you hold a microphone to a speaker except it's plugged into Satans ASS!
My hands clasped over my ears in an effort to stop the nauseatingly discordant ear fucking me and the entire crowd were receiving. Oh Arceus's Flaming Cock what the FUCK is Signal Jammer?!
It cut off abruptly, leaving a ringing in my ears and a pounding in my head that I was positive would annoy me for the rest of the round. My vision seemed almost stark and I could feel every individual thread of my clothes scratching at my skin all at once, the flavor of cheese in my mouth suddenly made my stomach churn and I spit it out. Whatever sounds that were making it to my brain were horribly attention catching and just made me even more sick to my stomach to hear. The feeling was like someone jabbing my brain with a needle over and over again, infuriating, disorienting and borderline painful.
I bleatingly realized that I had been Confused by whatever that was, the symptoms were all there but they were fading fast. I must have caught the edge of the effect or something, it wasn't nearly as harsh as it was supposed to be and I could still focus on what was happening.
The yanma had split into copies, Double team, and it wasn't a beginner with the move like the cat had been. Each illusion moved separately, curling and swooping through the air as my bat shook off the effects of super sonic. His species was a bit more resistant to it than most, due to zubats tendency to use the move as they swarmed, but not immune.
I couldn't tell which was real let alone track them with my eyes, and the shadow trick proved useless as well since they all seemed just solid enough for each to have there own. That's fine though, Lukes a golbat, his echolocation should be able to sus out the real one.
"Echolocate, find the real one!" He spun in a tight circle as he let loose a wave of sound just outside of my hearing. Or, at least he was trying to.
That horrible sound was back, quieter and not nearly as brain fuckening as before but Luke reacted to it all the same. Ok, I think I'm starting to get the picture, whatever it's doing is negating sound based techniques.
Which is super fucking bad for me.
The bug took the moment of confusion to snap into a quick attack and strike my bat before disappearing into the swarm again. The attack was light and fast, meant to wear him down more than hobble him. Hit and run strats made sense for it, it was fast but it looked fragile, one solid hit should take it down, two at most. The problem was catching the damned thing.
Alright new tactic.
"Whirlwind, knock it off kilter!"
He twirled with practiced ease, dragging large amounts of air currents with him that quickly evolved into a cyclone. Bits of dust and debris from the fields floor was swept up with it, though not enough to have any significant impact. The wind picked up rapidly before being reined back in to the field, Luke has been using this move since before I met him, and with my guidance he had honed it into a versatile weapon.
As useful as Double team was, it had certain insurmountable quirks that the user would have trouble overcoming. One was that the clones were unaffected by their surroundings unless they were struck with enough force, that means that they completely ignore air currents. And incase your wondering how I know so much about the move its because I browse the pokedex alot for certain topics. I remembered how much a pain in the ass it was in the anime so I decided that I should have some counters to it.
I wasn't gonna be done in by some naruto shadow clone bullshit.
The path of most stayed true, completely oblivious to the ridiculous winds passing through them, all but one at least. Yanma was struggling to fight the zephyr, wobbling and being blown in odd directions but holding its vague flight path. Lukes predatory eyes picked out the new behavior as well, and was already on its tail, flying through his own Whirlwind like he was born for it.
"SWIFT!" I did my best to shout over the growing howls of wind and crowd, who were just loving the aerial dog fight. Fortunately whatever Signal jammer was didn't block off all sound and he could still hear over the screaming winds that he rode through them.
The unstable stars rushed forward as he swung his wings like blades, twisting and snagging on the wind but heading dutifully towards their target all the same.
The bug snapped around, displaying some impressive flight control as they, in a single motion, blasted the stars with some form of loud booming shockwave, detonating them, and then dove with a Quick attack to get away from Luke and dive back into their swarm of copies.
This kid wasn't like the first two trainers I fought today, no, he took this shit seriously. Even now I could see him past the Double team and dust, his brow knit in concentration as he judged how best to take out the enemy golbat. Honestly it kind of got my blood pumping, here was a trainer who knew what he was doing and was countering me at every step of the way. It made want to kick his ass, but like, in a competitive way.
Alright hotshot, you've dealt with me half assing this, but how will you do when I go full stupid.
"THROW AIR CUTTERS INTO THE WIND, SHRED EVERYTHING!"
Luke abandoned the chase, slinging out glowing sicles everywhere, the splitting whistle of them sliding between the air merely added to the sounds of cheers and the roaring tempest. The white shining blades caught the wind aimless and deadly, ripping through fake bugs as more and more were added. Suddenly nowhere in the arena was safe for either side, not with a flurry of razors twirling through a hurricane.
Air cutter was a simple move, a thin current of air reinforced with energy in the shape of a blade. With enough training the blade can be constructed to as thin as just a few atoms, making it one of the sharpest things a pokemon can make, though it has trouble keeping momentum after initial contact due to its nearly nonexistent mass.
What followed was a gorgeous display of acrobatic skill. Yanma had finally been slowed down and held up by enough obstacles that Luke could easily catch up as they both danced around singing knives of wind. Each trading blows of glowing Quick and Wing attacks, flashing with conflicting energy as the clipped, countered, and struck at each other.
Finally as both were starting to wear the other out, yanma from landing so many light hits and Luke from the few glancing but heavy blows he had managed. The bug suddenly reacted far faster than it had through the exchange, snapping away and behind my bat just before a sweeping strike that would have ended the fight then and there. It must have used some unknown move there, minor premonition was not unheard of in pokemon and it would explain some of the ridiculous reflexes they had shown.
It was too fast, its unique wing structure allowing it perfect flight control more like a high end drone than a living being, and with a flick and a crackling whir shattered the sound barrier once more. Aimed directly at the back of Luke's skull who was still recovering from the wild haymaker he had attempted a mere instance ago. Such a loud sound based move would end the battle without doubt, his hyper sensitive ears turned against him in a ironic display of power.
Barely perceptible but seen all the same, a wild air cutter slipped between the two just as the crack of Sonic boom rang out. A burst of light and a warping bang rang through the air followed by a whine that I could feel in my teeth.
The yanma dropped, the explosion having knock its sense of balance off for just a few moments, but a few was enough. Lukes comparativly heavy frame smashed into theirs like a brick, teeth cracking exoskeleton as he bit into the bug. Both fliers plummeting to the ground. The next instance was brutal and impossibly fast, my bat battering the insect with Wing attacks as he refused to let go of his opponent. The yanma squealing out Super sonics and blasting Sonic booms that struck the protective barriers seperating them from the audience in a vain attempt to get away from the predator.
A dusty thump signaled the end of the fall. Luke let go as soon as they had stopped struggling, showing far more sportsmanship and courtesy than Mark had in his fight. There was a beat as we watched the limp bug for significant movement, any sign that it would get back up.
Nothing.
"YANMA IS UNABLE TO BATTLE, ALICE THORN WINS!"
Oh Hell Yeah! Now that was a good battle, much more resistance from a bug than I expected as well. I didn't know a great amount about them seeing as how I don't own one, (Bob doesn't count, he was a dick), but I knew that they each had their own niches in battle.
Like grass types, they, as a group, didn't really excell at any one thing, but each individual species had its own strategy and speciality. While rare, a bug type master can be almost to as difficult to deal with as an elite generalist due to the varied roles they can play. Most people just overlook them because of their over abundance and even general fear of the over sized creepy crawlies.
I want one at some point, but I'm not sure what kind, except parasect. I'm not dealing with no fucking zombie bug, I'll have enough undead bullshit to deal with once I get my ghost, thank you very much.
Luke landed on my shoulder with a chipper trill and that ever present smile of his, dude had earned his keep for the night and I would be sure to reward him and the other for jobs well done after the tourney. For now I had to shake a trainers hand and pick his brain about whatever the hell that first move of his was.
I popped Jacks ball off of my belt to return him, only to realize that I had never actually released him to film the match. A glob of my half chewed carnival slop met my eyes instead of angry brown fuzz. Oops.
Well shit, I'm never gonna get those damn facility privileges from Rowan at this rate. I gotta stay on the ball with this kinda stuff.
I shook my head and quickly jogged to the sidelines where the trainer, Terrence or something, was already making his way to. We met in the middle and I gave his outstretched hand a hearty shake as I smiled at him.
"Dude, that was a good fight! Best I've had here so far."
He smiled at that, and returned the enthusiasm. "I saw your match against Jet, honestly I was a little nervous when I got put against you, but when I saw that golbat I thought I had a chance." He hung his head a little, not enough to look sad, just a bit disappointed with himself, "Guess not."
I quirked a brow at him, 'when he saw my golbat?' Whats that supposed to mean, Luke looked plenty strong. I voiced my question, the obvious insult that he'd delivered irking me more than just a bit.
"I didn't mean he looked weak!" He back pedaled immediately and lifted his hands in a placating manner, "See me and Yanma train alot at a nearby cave filled with zubats, so we have lots of experience against them."
"Oh." the anger dropped from my voice at his explanation, that made total sense, golbat were just essentially big buff Zubats. Though that does brings me to my next question.
"Is that where 'Signal jammer' came from." Fighting zubats that often would be difficult unless you could negate their Super sonic attacks. Sure one could build a resistance to it, but thats a pain in the ass. A technique to stop it all together could be just as effective and easier to do in the long run.
He nodded, "yeah, but thats as much as your getting out of me. Me and Yanma worked hard for that move and I'm not giving it up just because your curious."
I was afraid of that. Trainers all over the world have secret techniques and unique moves worked out for their pokemon, anything to give them an edge in battle. It was such a widespread tactic to keep advanced stuff like that hush hush that even in regions that allow books on the topic they have a hard time gathering enough data for even one issue.
However that doesn't mean theres not ways to learn them.
"Ill trade you a technique for it, I got this one called Dust up that is great for defense."
He hummed about that for a moment, before hesitantly nodding. "Lets talk details first, to make sure this is a fair trade."
I smiled, even if Dust up wasn't to his taste, I have an entire journal full of shit that I could use.
I was getting this move.
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Alice Thorn
May 4
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Team
Jack
Buneary
Moves: Pound, Foresight, Frustration, Sweetkiss, Defense Curl, Baby Doll Eyes, Quick Attack, Jumpkick, Shadow Ball, Low Kick, Swagger, Protect, Fire Punch
Ability Limber
Luke
Golbat
Moves: Absorb, Super sonic, Astonish, Bite, Whirlwind, Wing attack, Confuse ray, Air Cutter, Swift, Protect
Ability Inner focus
Karen
Cottonee
Moves: Abosrb, Fairy Wind, Growth, Leech Seed, Stun Spore, Mega Drain, Poison Powder, Protect, Swift, Razor Leaf, Cotton Spore
Ability Infiltrator
Mark
Scraggy
Moves: Leer, Headbutt, Sand Attack, Feint Attack, Swagger, Low Kick, Dragon Dance, Protect, Endure, Facade, Pay Back
Ability Moxie
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3318¥
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In Box
N/A
Sorry for the wait, writers block.
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