Castelia Arc: Fallen For It
"You're kidding!" Stan cursed, withdrawing his Golbat. "You annoying... bastards!" Jack just sighed and withdrew his Liepard.
"It was your choice to piss us off," Mari reminded them kindly. The two of them scowled as a big beefy guy came up to them. "Let me show you what it means to mess with the wrong guy," he growled. "I'm Ralf and the highness here is mine. You little sewer rats are going to pay for your insolence. Arcanine, Nidoking, make them pay!" He sent out his powerful looking Pokémon. Mari crossed her arms. "Another Arcanine. My dad has one of those. Hope this one is stronger than the last one whose ass we kicked." Jacky pulled out her Pokédex and scanned them. "Nidoking- The Drill Pokémon. Final form of Nidoran. Evolution of Nidorino. Nidoking's thick tail packs enormously destructive power. With one swing, it can topple a metal transmission tower. Once this Pokémon goes on a rampage, there is no stopping it. Arcanine- The Legendary Pokémon. Evolution of Growlithe. There are so many old tales about them that they're called legendary Pokémon, but there are way more of them around than you'd expect", the Pokédex informed her. "This really doesn't sound good, though..." Jacky commented. "We have to be careful." She withdrew Luxio and sent Medicham into battle instead. Mari followed her lead. "Let's go, Gabite!" The dragon growled when it saw Medicham at its side and narrowed its eyes. Medicham ignored it. "Why did I know this would be an issue again..." Jacky sighed.
"Those two need to learn to get along for once." Mari said, shrugging. Ralf looked at her. "Am I supposed to laugh now, or what? Do you really want to continue on, you little pests? You'll regret it soon enough! Arcanine, Flamethrower!" Arcanine threw its head back and sent a barrage of flames at them. "Protect!" Jacky commanded. Medicham intercepted the flames and blocked them,before dissolving the shield again. "Now Brick Break on Nidoking!" Medicham ran forward and pummeled the slow Nidoking, who really didn't have much room to move in the narrow alley, with hard blows and danced around it. Nidoking roared angrily and made the ground shake with Earthquake. Arcanine sent another Flamethrower at it, but it was suddenly stopped by blue fire. Gabite's Dragon Rage forced the attack to dissipate. Medicham leapt into the air and did a backflip before landing in front of Jacky again. However, it faltered slightly on the trembling earth. Nidoking dashed off with Mega Horn and hit it hard. Gabite, meanwhile, took Arcanine under attack with Rock Tomb at Mari's command. Medicham held its chest. "Come on, Medicham! Attack with Shadow Ball!" It righted itself again and sent one at Arcanine. This dodged both, Gabite's rocks and Medicham's Shadow Ball, then rammed the dragon to the ground with Flame Wheel. Gabite growled irritably. "Psychic!" Medicham' eyes lit up and Nidoking froze. Medicham lifted it into the air with concentration, then hurled it at Arcanine. Both of them went down. "You're strong enough, Medicham, to be able to take any hit! You're not alone, we'll win this fight together!" Jacky shouted to the fighting-type Pokémon. Gabite straightened up again and it was visibly incensed. Mari was already afraid that, at any moment, it would haphazardly attack the opponents again as if stung by a wild Beedrill. "Dragon Claw, Gabite!" she shouted, so she could at least keep the Pokémon under control. Gabite bared its teeth and shot forward. It tore its claws across Nidoking's chest. It reared back with a roar and flicked its tail, but Gabite was out of reach again. Arcanine got back onto its feet and shot at the already wounded Medicham with Extreme Speed. As it ran, its mouth filled with flames. Medicham stood on one leg and put his hands together at chest level. "Medicham, what are you doing?!" Jacky exclaimed, aghast, as a green shield appeared in front of the Pokémon, the flames bounced off, and Arcanine ran into it. Medicham leapt into the air. Nidoking charged at Gabite with Thrash, but the dragon just seemed to think Nidoking's wild stomping around was silly. Especially since Nidoking kept bumping into the walls. Gabite stamped its foot on the ground and used Earthquake itself, bringing Nidoking down. A glowing blade formed in Medicham's hand. It drove down on Arcanine and slashed at it. The fire-type Pokémon backed away. "That was Psycho Cut!" Jacky recognized excitedly, and Medicham landed back on the ground. Arcanine growled and then double-teamed. Many illusions appeared around it. "Make Medicham jump again!" Mari shouted to Jacky. "I have an idea!" Jacky nodded. "You heard her!" Medicham pushed itself off the ground and bounced off the walls to gain height. "Earthquake!" Gabite reared up, causing the earth to tremble once again. Arcanine's illusions fizzled out as it finally collapsed. Nidoking shrieked. "Nidoking is ours!" Jacky shouted energetically. "Psycho Cut!" Medicham somersaulted and used the momentum for an attack. "Nidoking, Horn Attack!" Ralf shouted, but Mari and Gabite supported Medicham. Gabite stopped Nidoking from charging forward by hurling rocks at it. Some hit the Poison Pokémon in the head. Seconds later, Medicham's attack hit, the blade shattered against its back, and Nidoking went down. "That was good teamwork!" Mari commented. "You two are really brilliant.",
"You think so?" Jacky grinned. "I think you've got Gabite under much better control already!",
"I hope it stays that way. Dragons are stubborn.",
"Are you guys almost done talking?!" Ralf, who withdrew his Pokémon and pulled out two more Poké Balls, growled. He still wasn't done with them, as it seemed. "Looks like I'm going to have to use my aces to finally stuff your big mouths! You two really are little pests!",
"He should try that on Dino, I think the moron really needs it." Mari commented, which made Jacky laugh. "Hey, don't ignore me!" Ralf yelled.
"What did you say?" Mari asked. "Sorry, I don't speak stupid."
The guy became so red in the face it looked like it was going to explode. "Gliscor, Mandibuzz, show yourselves!",
"Ready for round two?" Jacky asked and Mari smiled. "Always. I'm already considering this as training for the Castelia Gym." She withdrew Gabite. "Well then, Skarmory! Show them what you can do!" The bird landed in front of Mari.
"Noibat, this will be our first battle!" Jacky shouted, sending out the little bat. The group of idiots around them looked puzzled at the little bat before bursting into laughter. Mari held out her arm with a sly grin. "Shadow Claw, Skarmory!" she shouted. Skarmory spread his wings and shot forward. Shadows curled around its claws as it wounded the astonished Gliscor directly with its first attack. It hovered backward with a scowl. Jacky, too, seemed confused. Was Shadow Claw an attack that a Skarmory could learn...? She had never seen Mari and Skarmory actually fight, but she was pretty sure Skarmory wasn't supposed to have that attack. Then the penny dropped. "Attract, Noibat! On Mandibuzz!" she commanded. Noibat winked with a cheeky giggle and hearts flew around the bird. Mandibuzz saw only hearts. "Shadow Ball, Skarmory!" Mari shouted, and Skarmory sent a dark ball at the distracted bird. "Tackle!" Jacky shouted, and Noibat shot forward. Both attacks found their target. As Gliscor tried to intervene with Air Slash, Skarmory described an arc in the air and threw itself against it with Feint Attack. It was thrown back and groaned loudly. "Gust, Noibat!" It flapped its wings eagerly, sending up a wind that pushed both opponents back equally. "Dig!" Mari shouted, and Ralf gaped stupidly as the steel bird disappeared into the ground. Apparently, these brainiacs didn't know about a certain Pokémon. Good thing. Jacky got an idea and was glad Skarmory was in the ground. "Screech!" The bat let out a bloodcurdling scream that made its opponents stagger and took a toll on their defense stats. Moments later, Skarmory shot out of the ground with Shadow Claw and hit Gliscor. It crashed to the ground and fainted. Mari grinned triumphantly. "Heheh...",
"Now Heat Wave!" Jacky shouted. Skarmory took cover behind Noibat as the bat sent hot air toward Mandibuzz. "Time to finish our little game. Isn't it, Zorua?" Mari asked. Skarmory's body flickered and Zorua's illusion vanished. "Shadow Ball!" Zorua yowled and attacked. The dark orb hit Mandibuzz in the stomach area. "And now Shadow Claw!" Zorua jumped off the ground and ripped its claws across the vulture's body. "Help them! Gust, Noibat!" As Zorua landed back on the ground, Mandibuzz was hit by a gust of wind. A critical hit. Mandibuzz hit the ground and was knocked out. Zorua giggled gleefully. "Zoruuu!" Then, it ran to Mari and jumped into her arms. "Hahaha! Way to go, Zorua! Did you see their faces?" Jacky laughed. "Yes! They were priceless!" Noibat snuggled up to her and Jacky grinned proudly. Ralf snorted disdainfully. "You damn...",
"Are we allowed through now? Yes or no?" Mari asked. Ralf hesitated, but when Jacky's Absol stepped forward and glared at him,he quickly stepped aside. "Thank you." Noibat swung onto Jacky's head and the two continued on their way.