Here is Chapter 15! (originally to be 17) I changed one of Scyther's moves, and I made the change in the previous chapter. I also edited this to be a three-on-three match, which I also did in the previous chapter. I hope you enjoy! :D And wish me a happy birthday (4/8) A.N. chapters were taking up space, so 4 and 15 are gone. PM any ideas that you think would make the story interesting.
The bright light of the evolution still blinded the surroundings, so it wasn't possible at the moment of who was evolving; Ash prayed that it was Dratini, but he had a feeling that it wouldn't be because he had not battled much with her. He didn't even know her exact level, but he didn't dismiss the fact that it was possible. He had heard of spontaneous evolution where Pokémon evolve to defend themselves against a stronger opponent, but whether or not it was true was not fully supported nor disputed because it was hard to test out such a theory since the amount of controlled variables hindered cooperation on part of the subjects...or something on that score.
Then...the beating of wings. This sound confirmed his suspicion of who evolved. There was no way that it could be Dratini, since she would not be able to fly until reaching Dragonite. The light disappeared and the results of the evolution appeared. It was...
"Veno...veno!" said the Pokémon who no longer was a purple fuzz ball but rather...
"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Akio with a taunting voice. "Did you really think that your Dratini was gonna evolve? If so, it would have put up a much better fight! Now, just try and stop Venomoth's wrath! Your Pokémon may be rarer and more valuable, but mine is much more powerful and will smash yours to the ground!"
"Ughh, this kid doesn't know when to shut up," said Ash under his breath. He looked towards Dratini and noticed that her eyes were filled with swirls, indicating that she had been knocked out. "I was hoping that she was the one who had evolved, but I can tell she is still too weak. In her evolved form as Dragonair, she will have an advantage towards the water, electric, fire, and grass gyms and-Wait a minute," thought Ash as he turned his glance towards Erika.
"Akio wins this round," said Erika with a frown as she looked at her defeated friend. She handed Ash some medicine to use after the round was over and he gladly accepted it. Somehow, Ash couldn't shake a feeling that was in the pit of his stomach, but he would have to wait until the match was over before confronting the question running through his head. Both he and Akio were both evenly matched; they both had a defeated Pokémon in their party, and Akio had seen all three Pokémon but Ash didn't know what the final Pokémon the bug catcher had. Maybe it was a Caterpie or one of its evolutionary forms?
"Would you stop daydreaming and get to fighting already?" shouted Akio with a derisive tone followed by a chuckle. "I can't wait to see you surrender and beg for me to stop!"
The ebony-haired boy clenched his fist in anger and aimed his Pokéball towards his dragon starter and called her back. He decided that Riolu wouldn't stand against a psychic attack, so he knew what would be the best move; not that he had a lot of options left.
"Come on out, Scyther, vindicate your fallen ally!" shouted Ash as he threw the ball against the ground, hoping that he could get revenge for Dratini; Venomoth looked strong, but luckily, being part flying gave Scyther an advantage against the winged insect, so long as he avoided that Confusion attack.
Scyther came out of his Pokéball and looked at his transformed opponent; this excited Scyther since he would be able to vent his anger at the former fuzz ball for confusing him with a move as cheap as Supersonic, plus, it would get him in prime form and that much stronger.
"Venomoth, stun spore!" issued Akio as he watched the Venomoth fly with great speed (almost enough to give Scyther a run for his money) to the green mantis and flapped its toxic grey wings, exuding greenish-brown powder that scattered in a wider range than that of Venonat's. Plus, it moved across the battlefield at a faster rate.
"Use agility to avoid it! The use the added momentum to launch a quick attack!" commanded Ash, and with ninja-like stealth, Scyther dashed across the battlefield, becoming as swift as a bolt of lightning and using this velocity to ram into Venomoth with a quick attack. The attack succeeded and knock the moth Pokémon about four feet backwards from the impact, closing its eyes as it recovered.
"Nice critical hit, Ash!" cheered Erika from the sideline, causing a smile to appear on Ash's face as well as a boost in confidence.
"I can see that your Scyther has a high attack stat as well as speed," began Akio, "but he's gotta be about half the level of my Venomoth, and things are just getting started. I have the upper hand here! Now use confusion!" Venomoth lifted Scyther up and threw him against a tree and caused a lot of leaves fall, piling on top of Scyther. He got up and shook the foliage off him and gritted his teeth at Venomoth and let out a small growl in anger.
"Use another quick attack, Scyther!" ordered Ash, and with impressive speed, Scyther tackled Venomoth again, although it did not flinch as far back as last time. Ash did not know how much stamina the Venomoth had, but if he were to guess, he would say that Scyther had probably knocked down about a third of its health.
"You took that attack easily!" yelled Akio with a triumph tone. "Now return the favor with confusion yet again, and use tackle while you're at it." The same ominous glow engulfed Scyther's entity and Venomoth hurled the struggling mantis into the ground.
The mantis recovered his position and stood back on his legs. "Scy...ther..." he said in anger. Ash had a feeling that the bipedal insect could probably endure at the most two more of those psychic attacks.
His offense lies primarily with that Confusion attack, thought Ash. It's not just about winning, it's allowing the Pokémon to rise to their maximum potential. I feel like I'd be letting down the whole team if I lose, but...
"Hurry up, for crying out loud!" wailed Akio with impatience. "If you're going to spend that much time thinking, you should be a philosopher, or a researcher, not a trainer, loser!"
"Would you please shut your mouth, kid!" shouted Erika as she gave a brutal glare towards Akio. The bug catcher gulped and he and Venomoth both sweat-dropped at her and stepped back a little as Erika approached Akio. "Forgive my language," she resumed, staring at Ash with an almost apologetic look, "but it was necessary for this moment. Do you treat your Pokémon the same level as you do Ash? I mean, you just had an encounter with Team Rocket, but that doesn't mean you have the right to treat your opponent in such an awful manner!"
"I-I don't always treat people and Pokémon like this!" started Akio defensively. "It's just that I'm particularly acting like this because I'm trying to prove to Team Rocket that they shouldn't have underestimated the power of bug Pokémon, and you can't raise them, or any type, for that matter, without showing discipline. You should keep that in mind, too, Ash, 'cus it'll definitely help you along the way!"
His brash language and tone...he's just trying to make me lose focus and...Wait, that's it! thought Ash. A brilliant idea just came to his mind and he snickered. "First use focus energy!"
Scyther did not hesitate and mediated for a few seconds and concentrated on his strength, getting even more pumped.
"Quick, use confusion and tackle like I said, Venomoth, before he gets to make another move! And slam it hard into the same tree you did Dratini when you were Venonat!" shouted Akio. The moth's eyes began to glow a whitish hue and enveloped Scyther in the same light as he was lifted from the ground.
"Just what I wanted you to do!" said Ash with a laugh as he watched the moth hurl the mantis towards the treel "Orient yourself so your feet push against the tree!"
Scyther did as Ash told him and he was able to turn his body around and ricocheted against the tree, amplifying his velocity to surpass any speed he has ever achieved.
"Wow, he's so fast!" exclaimed Akio as he and Venomoth both tried to keep his eye on Scyther, but the blur was next to impossible to maintain focus on. You can even hear the wind that Scyther was generating from his swift yet graceful movements. Venomoth, who kept swaying its head from left to right to target its opponent, was getting dizzy from trying to keep up with Scyther and signs of confusion were visible in its eyes.
"Looks like Venomoth got dizzy trying to keep up with you, Scyther. Now, give him a wing attack! For Dratini's sake!" shouted Ash with a smirk. Scyther's wings both glowed with white light and extended them both out and glided across the forest as if he were a fighter jet about to take off.
"Venomoth, snap out of it and use Supersonic! Don't let that wing attack hit you!" ordered Akio as Venomoth shook itself back to reality and began flapping its wings vigorously while emitting a high-pitch screech that seemed to echo all though the forest. The supersonic waves were visible and they glowed a bluish-white hue and they got bigger as they were emitted from the source; they first started about the size as a doughnut, but increased to the size of a hula hoop as they hit the ground. Erika had both hands on her ears while Ash was using only one.
"Ugh, that sound is so annoying!" said Ash as he was struggling to think clearly. "Scyther, avoid those sound waves and use wing attack from the other wing on them! Then take cover and unleash the other wing's energy on Venomoth." Scyther was confused by the command, but nonetheless he obeyed his master. He launched his bladed "arm" forwards, releasing a vertical white energy wave that was about a meter in length and collided with the sound waves, causing a collision of smoke that covered the area and hindering visibility.
"What's going on?" said Erika as she tried to look for the two Pokémon who were lost in the hazy smoke, rendering the battlefield virtually invisible.
"This isn't good," commented Akio as he scratched his head. "Venomoth can see in pitch black, but only in good visibility. He won't be able to see with all this smoke lingering about, so let's just blow it away! Venomoth, blow the smoke away with gust and spread out even more stun spore! We can't afford to lose!"
About five seconds had passed after Akio had issued the command, but there was not a single response on Venomoth's part. Akio was getting angry because he believed that his Pokémon was not obeying him. It wasn't rare for this Pokémon to disobey orders because coupled with the fact that he was given Venonat at level 29 and had him for only six days, and since the boy did not have even a single gym badge, the Pokémon did not give him full respect.
"Come on, Venomoth, this is no time to be lollygagging around! We got a Scyther to beat and-" Akio paused when he was able to see the reason why his Venomoth was not obeying him. There it lied on the ground, with swirls in its eyes, signifying that it had been knocked out.
"Yess!" shouted Ash victoriously as he clenched his fist with excitement. "That worked perfectly, Scyther!" Scyther responded by slowly nodding with a proud look on his face.
"NOOOOO!" shouted Akio at the top of his lungs as he started stamping the ground angrily. "You beat my best Pokémon, but I also thank you for allowing Venonat to evolve. I hope I can let Weedle evolve to Kakuna then to Beedrill." He aimed the Pokéball and called back Venomoth. "Good job, Venomoth, I'm really proud of you. I'll take you to the Pokémon center as soon as this battle is over."
"You should be quite proud of yourself, Akio," commented Ash with smile.
The bug catcher returned it and said, "As well as you should be with Scyther. Though it does bother me that your Scyther, who is probably half the level of Venomoth, was still able to win."
Ash wondered the exact same thing; it was something he had to look at later.
"Ready for the final one?" asked Akio with a smile.
"You bet!" chimed Ash as he watched his opponent select his final Pokéball from his pocket. "Come on out, Paras!" The lights glowed from the ball opening and out came a red hermit crab-like Pokémon with five mushrooms growing on its back. "Paras, Paras," it said without much emotion.
"Let me use Dexter real quick," muttered Ash as he pulled it from his pocket. He turned it on and saw a picture of Paras on the screen, but the one that the Pokédex showed had only two mushrooms.
"Paras, the mushroom Pokémon. They normally prefer damp, dark locations, such as caves or dark forests. Most Paras have only two mushrooms on its back, but some can have up to seven. These mushrooms are still used in traditional Chinese medicine."
"Shouldn't be too hard; I'll still use Scyther," responded Ash, thinking that this battle would be over not long after it even started.
"Begin!" said Erika from the sideline.
"Scyther, use agility!" stated Ash as Scyther instantaneously began zooming through the forest, although it was clear that he was not moving as fast as before, mostly due to exhaustion setting in. Scyther was moving so incredibly fast that it almost look like there was more than one of him.
"Paras, try to stop Scyther with spore attack!" ordered Akio. The mushrooms on Paras's back began shaking and began emitting greenish dust throughout the area.
"Scyther, kick up dirt with your forearms and block that powder!" issued Ash. Scyther eagerly began digging up dirt with his bladed forearms and hurled in the direction of the spores. The cloud of dust that Scyther created sent up a barrier that canceled the effects of the spores, causing the dust and powder to vanish.
"Using the environment to stop a move such as spore...that's brilliant!" exclaimed Erika.
"Not a shabby move, I must say," said Akio as he scratched his chin, "but I hope to defeat you! Paras, burrow your way underground!" Paras dug its way underground and remained there for the time being.
"Scyther can easily fly from a dig attack. Monitor its movement, and prepare an attack when it pops up!" retorted Ash. "It can't stay underground forever, so use the right moment to launch a quick attack and bring an end to this battle so we can go to Pewter City!"
Scyther was more than eager to emerge triumphant in combat, but it proved to be a difficult task to keep Paras within his site since it was buried some feet underground, waiting for the right moment to strike; it didn't matter how strong Scyther was, since it was possible for a proper strategy to take the mantis down, but Ash wanted to keep his wits about to ensure his win.
Akio stood there without much of an expression on his face; he knew that the moment Scyther landed an attack against Paras, it was game over, so he pondered the tactic used in a battle he saw on TV to get an advantage of the massive ninja insect Pokémon.
"Paras, head to the surface directly below Scyther!" ordered Akio, and Ash was wondering what angle he was working at with this plan since it would place Paras directly in line with Scyther, but...Akio was clearly devising a mischievous strategy, and Ash was wise not take the bug catcher lightly. After all, he did manage to teach a bug type an electric move, something that Ash would never have seen coming. But that's what give Pokémon battles the rush of adrenaline, the opponent keeping you on your toes-Ash was enjoying it already!
"I'm pretty confident that Akio is just trying to intimidate us; he sends out a Pokémon like Paras who may look weak, but don't let your guard down for even a second, Scyther!" cautioned Ash as he began to think of some way to combat the boy's He's bound to have some sort of trick up his sleeve. We won't give him the satisfaction of beating us!"
The ground started loosening up near the mantis's feet, almost startling him as Paras appeared from the ground and looked at the giant mantis. The hole that Paras just created was about 20 feet to the right of the original hole.
"Scyther, wing attack!" ordered Ash, and Scyther's wings glowed with energy and was about to hurl it towards Paras.
"Get back underground!" said Akio, and Paras went down the same hole again, barely able to escape the energy from the wing attack.
"Is that all your Pokémon is going to do, run away and not fight?" asked Ash somewhat surprised.
Scyther is much faster than that Paras, and it clearly doesn't have much of a chance in catching up. The only way that is possible is if a spore attack connects, but Scyther was easily able to stop it by kicking up dirt. So what's the purpose of going underground? Unless...he's intentionally using the holes for something...
Paras had just resurfaced as soon as that thought escaped Ash and the battle field was covered with three holes, each forming a triangle with sides of about 20 feet each. And Scyther was directly in the middle of it.
"Now! Do it!" shouted Akio as the mushrooms began to shake and create a huge cloud of spores to disseminate all throughout the area. And Scyther stood there, as if nothing was going on. Ash heard Erika gasped since she feared that the Paras was about to take down Scyther.
"Bet you didn't see that coming, did you?" laughed Akio as he watched as the fungal dust expanding through the air, coloring it a greenish hue.
Ash thought of a way to get the upper hand; although it did seem a little cheap, he did not want Scyther to be put to sleep in case there was another battle ahead, and merely for the fact that it would be embarrassing for something as small as a Paras to knock out something on the scale of Scyther...he just wouldn't let it happen!
"Return, Scyther!" said Ash as he pointed the Pokéball towards the mantis, but it didn't work. Instead...Scyther vanished!
Erika and Akio both gasped as they watched
"What just happened?!" said a puzzled Ash, looking for all over his Pokémon but finding nothing.
"It must have flown away," said Akio, just as confused as Ash.
They waited a minute in silence, wondering what happened until the spores disappeared. Akio sighed and just stared at Ash.
"Somehow, your Pokémon just vanished. Care to explain that?"
Ash said nothing and was left in silence, contemplating of what really did happen? All the sudden, a green blur appeared from nowhere and smashed into Paras and leaving all too quickly, knocking the mushroom Pokémon down! The poor Pokémon was on its back, defenselessly struggling to get up.
"What in the world was that?" exclaimed Akio. Then the blur stopped. It was Scyther!
"How...what...?" mumbled Ash, trying to find the right words to start his sentence. "You're okay, Scyther! What happened?"
"That looked like a double team in action!" shouted Erika. "I had a feeling I wasn't seeing things when I thought I saw another Scyther running alongside yours! I am theorizing that during agility, he made a split copy of himself to distract Paras and Paras was using that brilliant spore idea of yours on the copy, which is why Ash couldn't recall him. "
Ash looked at Paras, still unable to get up. "But Dexter didn't say he knows that move. Nonetheless, this battle isn't over! Scyther, wing attack!"
Scyther's wings began to glow, once again, as two waves of energy were being formed. Paras knew that it didn't have enough time to bury underground and accepted its fate as there wasn't any chance of escaping. It closed its eyes as the attack made contact, leaving the dual bug/grass Pokémon lie there unconscious.
"Paras is unable to fight! Ash is the victor!" said Erika.
"Paras? Paras?" said Akio as he rushed over to his defeated Pokémon and picked it up. "You defeated my first Pokémon, but...I'm honestly not mad. Because you have given me new hope to train even more and one day... to beat you. I admit defeat."
"I'm sorry about your loss," apologized Ash as he walked with his crutches towards Akio who had just finished clipping Paras's Pokéball to his belt.
"You don't need to apologize, Ash," said Akio with a smile. "I'm glad that Venonat evolved and I had a lot of fun. You said you were wanting to get to Pewter City, right?"
"That's correct," said Ash with a smile on his face and a pounding heart from all the excitement.
"I have a map that shows the fastest way to get through the forest. These different colored marks you see here are for different locations I have marked by using different colored cloths tied around the trunk of trees. Essentially, you are on the main road of where the ribbons are. Each mark you see on the map is about 200 yards apart to my best estimation. You are about 50 yards from the first one." He points in the direction of it, although they are unable to see it. "All in all, there are about 20 more you gotta follow. You should be there by sundown. "
"Thank you so much," started Ash, "and I hope our paths cross again some day."
"I anticipate it, and I wish you both the best of luck!" said Akio as he waved goodbye to them. Ash called back Scyther and he and Erika were off. About a minute had passed and the first flag was in sight.
"Pewter City, here I come!" shouted Ash with a voice that echoed through the trees. Erika giggled.
Four hours later...
The two finally made it to the other side of the forest and made it to a bluff there they saw the buildings of downtown Pewter City.
"I am so glad we are finally out of there," panted Ash as he laid down on a patch of grass and took in the view of Pewter City's skyline with some of the buildings reflecting the late afternoon sun. "I hope to never go through there as long as I live."
"Let's go find the nearest Pokémon center and get something to eat. I'm pretty hungry and thirsty," commented Erika as she helped Ash walk down a stone path that lead to the bottom and onto the street that entered the city.
Phew! That felt good to upload this. Lol. I humbly ask that you please read the following before submitting a review.
You're probably wondering why I suddenly changed the setting from Viridian Forest to Pewter City without details of what happened after the battle. The reason is because the story had been stalled in Viridian Forest for about six months and I desperately want a change of scenery. So the next chapter will take place in Pewter City gym, and I will take note to shorten the number of chapters for when they are going through a geographical obstacle, such as Mt. Moon or Rock Tunnel. Also, I don't know if the Double Team in this story is fully accurate with the anime/video games, but I hope you will overlook any errors I make. I will start writing much more frequently, (in comparison to the past few months) so please expect anywhere from at the most (hopefully) two weeks. Also, tell me who Ash's male companion should be in a review or PM. I still accept requests and Beta Readers if anybody is interested!
GPS