Chapter 4: Something Stopped Us

Every trainer and Pokemon in Unova who now stands between me and my victory, will face a wrath and a fury the likes of which will shake the foundations of the region. I will not stop until I've won. Not now.

Not after all that s been taken from me.

The team was working to grind in the Complex. We found a back area, populated by fire Pokemon that we could fight with ease, and if a Magnemite showed up, we could always run. We were leveling fast, fighting new Trainers, and making some serious progress.

And then, while trying to walk away from another victorious Trainer fight, we got stuck in the dark grass.

For those of you who don t know, dark grass was something implemented solely for Gen 5. It worked like regular tall grass, but there was a chance that it could be a double battle that popped out instead of a single Pokemon, and the Pokemon in these fights were typically stronger than the others in the area.

We got caught in one of these double battles, against the worst combination the game could ve thrown at us, like it was some kind of prank; Koffing and Magnemite. Koffing had a bit of a higher Defense stat than I was comfortable with, especially with all of its attacks threatening to poison my Pokemon, and Magnemite was a Steel/Electric type. Not only did we not have attacks that could hurt it, but it had plenty of attacks that could hurt us. Catkyoin and Borb were the two that went out, because I had kept Nibbles in the back to avoid him having to fight nearby Fire-types, which were 4x-effective against him.

So now, we were in a bind. No, scratch that, we were far past in a bind. We were in life or death situation territory. My calculations ran through my head.

If we tried to flee the battle, and succeeded, that would be fine. No scratches, whatever. But it was a double battle; both Pokemon would have to flee, and the odds of them both succeeding were slim. If the fleeing failed, that would be it. We d be shot in our backs. But if we stayed and fought, we had a chance of winning. Borb was 11 full levels higher than the Magnemite. If he used Air Cutter, it would hit both of the enemy Pokemon, and not only that, but it had a high chance of scoring a crit, which meant, even if it wasn't very effective, it would destroy at least Magnemite. Add that to the fact that Borb s ability further increased his chance of crits, plus Catkyoin coming to back him up with Fury Swipes, and we should've had that Magnemite dead to rights, no question. Everything was supposed to have worked. I was rolling with weighted dice.

And I still got snake eyes.

First, Air Cutter didn't crit, even with the insanely high chances. Both enemies barely took any damage from the move, despite the massive level difference. On top of that, the Magnemite dodged Catkyoin s Fury Swipes. Every chance we had, everything that should ve worked, had been yanked from us like some cruel joke.

Magnemite went next. He blasted Borb with a Thundershock, and Borb he took it. He took that blast like a master. He still had a few HP left, and now our chance at attacking was gone, so running was now our only option

And then Koffing went last, and Tackled him.

And just like that, Borb was gone.

Everything had aligned in exactly the wrong way. Everything should have gone completely differently. But Unova was just playing with me, now. Letting me get my hopes up. Like a sick freak.

Down to Catkyoin and Nibbles, I knew there was no winning the fight. All I could do was try to run and hope we didn't get blasted. And of course, I succeeded.

And of course, not one enemy bothered me on the way back to the Pokemon Center.

It was all just a sick joke.

Being so nearby, I buried Borb next to Wotter, because there was no way in hell I was burying him in the courtyard of a factory. And there, staring at the two spots, two friends lost so close together there, I made a promise. With Catkyoin sitting next to me, and Nibbles on my shoulder, I made a promise. A promise that, no matter what came, no matter what happened, I was going to win. Come what may, be they new friends or new enemies or what have you, I was going to win this challenge. For them.

And so, with a heavy, heavy heart, my two Pokemon and I returned to grinding, ready to defeat Roxie, her Trainers, and anyone else who would try to stop us on the road to victory.