Castelia Arc: Mortal Fear
"Do you think you can still fight, Medicham?" Jacky asked the Pokémon, which had nevertheless taken considerable damage from Zorua's direct hit. It nodded doggedly. Mari looked at Skarmory. "We'll start as usual. Agility!" Skarmory's body glowed.
"Stay focused, Medicham!",
"In a moment." Skarmory's body glowed again before it began circling over Medicham like a bird of prey watching its target, waiting for it to become inattentive, then swooping down. "Swift!" Skarmory sent stars at Meditalis from above. "Repel them! Psycho Cut!" Medicham formed a curved blade in its hand and repelled the hail of stars with it. Then, it enlarged the blade even more and hurled it at Skarmory. But this was a wasted effort. The agile Skarmory easily dodged the blade and then crashed into Medicham at high speed. His Aerial Ace hit it with full force. "No!" Jacky shouted. It hit the ground and tried to stand up again, but it lacked the energy. It gave up trying and slumped down powerlessly. Skarmory flew back to Mari and landed on the ground. "I guess that would make it one to one," Mari remarked.
"I'm so sorry, Medicham!" Jacky ran to it. "I should have withdrawn you... Get some rest." She withdrew her Pokémon and put on a depressed face for a moment. Flying-type Pokémon were Medicham's greatest enemies. Especially because they were agile, nimble, and could operate outside of Medicham's attack range. And Skarmory had a sturdy and iron-hard body that made it hard to break through its defenses. It could endure a lot of damage. None of her Pokémon could match this defense power or even surpass it. She only had one chance. "Luxio! Fight me!" Her Luxio landed on the ground in front of her. Skarmory rose back up into the air. Mari knew that Luxio could definitely be dangerous to her. It was an Electric-type, extremely fatal to flying-type Pokémon. "We should be careful with this opponent, Skarmory." she said. Skarmory nodded, letting out a sharp cry. "Charge, Luxio!" Jacky shouted. Luxio's body lit up and sparks flew around.
"Agility!" Mari commanded, and Skarmory increased its speed even more. She knew it had to be fast if it wanted to dodge Luxio's lightning. "Discharge!" Jacky stretched out her hand. A whole wave of electricity spread out and hit the steel bird with full force. Skarmory shrieked and lost its balance. It managed to catch itself with its wings and land on the ground without hurting itself. This attack had hurt it badly. That was a problem. A pretty big problem, actually. "You okay, Skarmory?" The bird nodded and managed to lift itself back into the air. Jacky suddenly didn't have a good feeling. "Watch out, Luxio." she instructed it.
"Steel Wing, Skarmory!" Skarmory's right wing shimmered as if coated in a layer of chrome. It swooped down and raced past Luxio on the left, the attack hitting the Electric Pokémon so quickly that it barely had time to react. Agility in its third stage was incredibly difficult to face already, but what Jacky didn't expect was that Skarmory would take advantage of its momentum and launch a fury-like attack. With Aerial Ace, it targeted Luxio over and over again, giving it no respite, let alone room for an attack of its own. It tried to keep its balance and squinted painfully. Sparks leapt from its fur. "Swift!" Skarmory turned and hurled stars at Luxio with its wings. It was hit and staggered. "Now Steel Wing! Let's finish this!", "Kyaaaaaaaaah!" The steel-type Pokémon shot forward again. "Our chance!" Jacky shouted. Luxio, while trying not to succumb to the attacks, had used Charge in-between Skarmory's violent attacks. It ducked its head. "Thunder Fang!",
"LUUX!" As Skarmory came closer, Luxio grabbed at it and buried its teeth in its wing, discharging all of its energy. Skarmory shrieked out and flapped its wing violently to free itself. This attack didn't do as much damage as the Discharge from before did, but it definitely wasn't just a little shock. Skarmory's claws lit up and it lashed out at Luxio, which eventually did back away and let go of it. "Jump on its back!" Jacky commanded. Luxio hissed and did as instructed before Skarmory, whose right wing had been injured, could regain height. Bravely, Luxio discharged energy and both Pokémon went down. Skarmory was no longer stirring. Both had been knocked out. That last attack had taken all of Luxio's strength. "You've earned a rest, Skarmory", Mari praised her partner, withdrawing it. Jacky also withdrew her Pokémon. "Get some rest, Luxio. You did great!"
Mari picked a third Poké Ball from her bag. "Last round." Jacky nodded and took out hers. "Noibat, let's go!",
"Gabite!" Growling, the dragon appeared on the field.
"Okay, Noibat," Jacky called out to the little bat, "This is your second battle! Stay as focused as you were in the first one, and nothing can go wrong!" It nodded and fluttered up and down in glee.
"Ready, Gabite?" Mari asked. Gabite let out an intimidating roar. Noibat wanted to follow suit and roar menacingly as well, but all that came was a shrill squeal that hurt everyone's ears quite a bit. Gabite looked at it questioningly, as if it had never heard that sound before... Or it had just sounded so funny that the dragon was genuinely unimpressed with its opponent. "I guess that was nothing..." Jacky giggled awkwardly, and Noibat flapped its little wings in embarrassment. Mari stretched out her arm and Gabite shot forward so fast that Noibat cried out in fright. A Dragon Claw attack slammed it violently to the ground. "Repeat!" Mari commanded. Gabite raised its slender arm to strike again. "Screech!"
Noibat took a panicked breath and let out a loud cry. Gabite seemed irritated at first, then indifferent. It seemed to take the scream as a fear reaction. "Dragon Rage!" Mari shouted. Knarksel spat blue flames at Noibat. "No reaction?" Jacky's eyes snapped open in exasperation. Normally, the Pokémon were always a bit flustered when they heard the scream, but seemed to mistake it for something else. That was bothersome. Noibat whined fearfully and crouched down on the ground. Gabite growled and the little bat covered its head with its wings. "What's wrong with it?" Mari asked in wonder. "It's too scared..." Jacky's eyebrows drew together dejectedly.
"Oh..."
The young trainer lifted Noibat up and it buried its head in her shoulder, trembling.
"Oh dear..." Mari sighed and then withdrew Gabite before exchanging the dragon for Kirlia. The fairy landed gracefully on the field. "Is that better?" Seeing Kirlia's familiar face, Noibat calmed down again. "Much better. Thank you, Mari. I owe you one." Jacky rubbed her wrist as Noibat dared to get back into the fight.