Ch 10: Peltagrow Gym Finale
"Not bad, Adam," Zach finally broke the long silence that had followed after I'd knocked out his Pokemon. He recalled Heliolisk to the pokeball with an unreadable expression on his face. "You've definitely been training your Tropius, at the very least. I'll admit - you've gotten better."
"I already told you that." I know I was being a dick, but Zach had a tendency to naturally bring out the competitive, nasty side of me.
"Well, I've decided my next Pokemon. And I'm going with Diggersby."
"I'm sticking with Tropius."
Tropius was clearly worn down and exhausted from defeating Heliolisk, and it was clear he was in no shape to beat a Diggersby. I decided to simply use him as fodder to gauge the Diggersby's attack style.
A flash of crimson escaped Zach's pokeball, and the 6 foot tall brown bunny hopped out with its buck teeth flashing in a menacing scowl, its whiskers probing the air around it curiously. Its small arms looked too short to reach much, but its gigantic ears which moreso resembled an extra set of powerful arms were more than intimidating. Even though I'd seen it and battled this thing before, it dawned on me for the very first time that this Diggersby was the strongest Pokemon I'd ever been face to face with. This was going to be even more of a challenge than the Heliolisk.
Diggersby was crouched, ready to pounce at a moment's notice, its face focused and mad. Tropius was too tired to even take to the air; he simply stood on his side of the field, panting, and keeping its eyes on Diggersby.
"Ready?" Zach brought me out of my thoughts.
"Yeah." I answered.
"Let the battle commence then."
"Tropius, Razor Leaf it in its fat stomach!" I ordered.
"You know what to do!" Zach responded confidently, despite being down 2-3.
Tropius reeled its leafy wings back, then struck them forward, blowing out its bullets of sharp leaves at the bulky bunny. Diggersby sidestepped it with ease, hopping to the right side of the field and avoiding the barrage of plants. In one quick motion, the Diggersby reeled one of his threatening ears back, scooped up a pile of the cement floor beneath him, and chucked a large piece of rock at Tropius, who was too weakened to even try to dodge it.
The Smack Down move landed right on Tropius' left wing, chipping it and causing Tropius to cry out in pain while his legs gave out beneath him and he fell on his side to the floor. Without even needing another order from Zach, the Diggersby quickly approached the fallen Tropius, all the while suspending himself in the air using his own ears as temporary stilt legs. Just as he reached Tropius, Diggersby unleashed a fully powered Bulldoze, and trampled his giant ears right over Tropius, who had clearly been knocked unconscious from the pain as he wasn't screaming anymore. In one final act of brutality, Diggersby batted Tropius' body across the field with one ear so that my Pokemon landed right in front of me, blood pouring from its wings and face.
"Well. Score's even now. Two to two. Pick your next Pokemon." Zach said with a smirk, clapping proudly for his ugly, Frankenstein-esque stuffed animal looking 'mon.
I thought carefully about my choice. This was likely to be the decision that would cost me the gym battle, depending on his final Pokemon. There was Skorupi, the one who had been with me from the very beginning and had proven to be a reliable battler. But Skorupi was limited to poison, bug, and dark moves, with the hardest thing I had to hit this thing being Pin Missile. And Diggersby could just Smack Down my Skorupi for a super effective hit and keep its distance chucking rocks the whole battle.
Or I could go with Kabutops, who could hit Diggersby hard with Aqua Jet. But Diggersby could hit back just as hard with Bulldoze. Kabutops was certainly much faster and more agile than my Skorupi, but Skorupi was bulkier and could eat up hits more. Ugh, I could just sense some innate gut instinct that this decision would cost me the match. Beads of sweat were running down the back of my neck and my forehead, leaking into my eyebrows as I tried to think logically about the pros and cons of which Pokemon to choose until Zach called out that I had to choose one already or I'd be forced to forfeit.
"Alright. I choose Skorupi."
Zach's eyebrows cocked high into the sky as a small purple scorpion-looking Pokemon emerged on my side of the field, hissing violently at the bulky bunny on the opposite side. Diggersby didn't look the least bit concerned about his new opponent; he remained hunched, ready to strike the moment the battle began.
"Ready to continue?" Zach asked in an almost catcall voice, overconfident at the sight of yet another unevolved Pokemon.
"Yep," I responded simply, focused on the Diggersby with the same watchful eye as Skorupi.
"Alright, begin."
All four of us in the gym immediately tensed up, shoulders hunching and preparing for the unexpected. Zach had never seen my Skorupi battle, and despite it being a baby Pokemon, there was a toughness and vigor that Skorupi carried in his presence that was undeniable. After all, my Skorupi had yet to lose a battle in the four months I'd had it. But there was still the solid fact that this Diggersby was undeniably the strongest Pokemon I had faced up to this point. It was fast as hell and it hit like a truck.
"Diggersby, start this off with a Bulldoze." Zach ordered, and his Diggersby immediately reacted to the order, rising up on its gigantic ears again. It began charging toward Skorupi, creating tremors along the gymnasium floor each time one of its ears stomped into the floor.
Skorupi wasn't sprightly and couldn't dodge moves as swiftly as Tropius or Kabutops could. He was bulky, and was forced to eat up hits in order to force the opponent to come in close.
"When it gets close, you know what to do!" I told Skorupi, the way I'd rehearsed with him just in case it had ended up being him battling Diggersby.
Just as Diggersby got within arms-reach of Skorupi, it lifted one of its great ears up toward the sky, preparing to slam it down on my Pokemon. Skorupi braced his small body for the impact, planted his little feet into the wooden floorboards, and struck his poisonous tail straight upward to meet Diggersby's ear halfway. The two pinsirs on the end of Skorupi's tail jabbed hard into the tip of Diggersby's ear, which caused the bunny to howl in pain and come crashing down right on top of Skorupi. Skorupi's pinsirs sunk deeper into his ear and from the purplish hue radiating around Diggersby's body, it was clear that Skorupi had unintentionally poisoned him. Diggersby scampered away to put some distance between the two of them, breathing heavily from his failed attack and begining to show signs of the initial tremors of being poisoned.
"Diggersby! Bounce off the walls and build up some momentum!" Zach tried a new tactic, revealing his Diggersby's third move. Bounce. A quick search on the Pokedex informed me it was a flying type move, and flying moves are super effective against bug mons.
The bunny bounded high into the air, soaring toward the bleachers of the gymnasium, then catapulting off of those straight toward the ceiling. With perfect aim, at reaching the peak of the gymnasium, Diggersby bounced straight off of the ceiling like a whizzing bullet, crashing straight down on top of Skorupi. Despite me calling out for Skorupi to dodge, Diggersby connected and Skorupi went skidding along the gymnasium floors until he slowed to a halt against the bleachers. Despite being on the other side of the gym, Skorupi's eyes were clearly shut tight in pain and concentration as he pulled himself up so he could stand straight.
"Skorupi, Leer then Pin Missile!"
"Diggersby, Quick Attack!"
Skorupi had the advantage of being on the other side of the gym from the mutant bunny, so he could get off his Leer quicker. There was a flash of blinding light like the unexpected flash of a camera in one's vicinity, but Diggersby's surprising speed for being a bigger mon caught Skorupi off guard, and Diggersby managed to power through the convulsions of pain over being poisoned and he got off his Quick Attack before Skorupi could even fire off a hit, knocking Skorupi high up into the bleachers to where he found himself in one of the top stands. He was already looking bruised and battered and it was clear we were on the losing side at this point, despite my initial confidence over Tropius besting Heliolisk.
I needed to change the tide of the battle now or it was clear my team was going to be overwhelmed by the sheer power of his Diggersby.
"Diggersby, Bounce up there and let's end this," Zach called from across the gym. Diggersby momentarily winced in pain from the poison wearing him down, but he obeyed, and leaped toward the bleachers once more.
"Skorupi, slide underneath the bleachers!" I responded, thinking of the only tactic I could think of: bleed Diggersby out and wait for the poison to take him down before he beat Skorupi down with sheer strength.
Skorupi managed to wiggle his body in the small opening between the seat and the footrest and found himself in the iron jungle of metal poles underneath the bleachers just as Diggersby landed directly above him and began pounding away at the bleachers with his ears, the veins underneath them glowing purple as the poison rushed through his blood.
"Pound through those bleachers and Bulldoze!" ordered Zach.
Diggersby successfully smashed a hole in the bleachers, and after shuddering away another round of poison weakening him, the bunny jumped down underneath the bleachers to join Skorupi, who had been waiting for him and managed to get off a solid three Pin Missiles right into Diggersby's stomach as he descended through the air.
The attack caught Diggersby off guard, and he ended up landing on his back, knocking the wind out of him. Without any goading from me, Skorupi unleashed one last barrage of Pin Missiles, and with all five connecting. Diggersby was hit by them just as he was attempting to stand up to finish off Skorupi. For a moment, it seemed as if Diggersby had shrugged off Skorupi's final attack seeing as the bunny just stood straight up and took all five hits. But then, without warning, Diggersby shuddered in pain over another round of poison, and he fell backwards, unconscious.
Skorupi stood over Diggersby's body, breathing heavily but proud of his win no doubt. A white glow suddenly encompassed Skorupi, causing what appeared to be some kind of light show going on underneath the bleachers for a few seconds while Zach and I watched this moment that had taken so fucking long: Skorupi was evolving into Drapion, the poison/dark ogre scorpion Pokemon.
Silence filled the entire gymnasium as a newly-emerged Drapion proceeded to tear apart the remainder of the bleachers, freeing himself from the cage-like structure that had confined him, and Drapion proceeded to beat on his chest with his claws and roar into the sky of fallen stagelights from the battle with Heliolisk. But that little burst of energy he used to free himself was just enough to drain Drapion to his core, and the newly evolved Pokemon fainted right along with Diggersby in the middle of the arena.
"Things are getting more and more interesting," Zach broke the silence as we both recalled our fallen mons.
"I choose Kabutops," I released my final Pokemon, proud that I'd conserved my rock type for the finale and beginning to feel that rush of adrenaline and excitement when the win is so close, and Kabutops stood with his scythes up and ready for combat.
"Not bad. I choose Ditto."
Not even a blink of the eye later, there was an identical Kabutops standing in exactly the same pose as mine on the other side of the field, facing us.
"Shit," I commented quietly, taken off guard. Was this bad or good for me?
"Ready?" Zach asked for the last time.
"Ready," I answered.
"Aqua Jet!"
"Aqua Jet!"
Two powerful pockets of water encompassing both Kabutops simultaneously slammed into one another within seconds. When the water splashed to the ground, Zach and I saw the two Kabutops stabbing at each other and slashing recklessly with their arms against the other, but both types being composed of rock, their Slashes were doing little damage to one another.
"Sand Attack," I offered, and even though it was for my own Kabutops obviously, both of them proceeded to use the move on each other, clawing up dust from the ground with their scythes and attempting to throw them in each other's eyes.
"Stone Edge!" Zach shouted.
Little did he know, my Kabutops had not learned that move yet and so Zach was momentarily distracted by waiting for a move that would not come, and in that brief moment I seized my opportunity.
"Kabutops, Aqua Jet over to the spotlight! Use it against Ditto!" I said, remembering that the shattered spotlights scattered over the floor from Heliolisk's earlier Thunderbolts were made of steel, which could hit the Ditto harder than anything Kabutops could throw at it.
Being my fastest Pokemon, Kabutops reacted instantly, and I found him using his jet of water to quickly propel him toward the closest spotlight.
"Ditto, Rock Tomb him!" Zach had figured out that no Stone Edge was coming, and adjusted his order accordingly.
"Aqua Jet the spotlight into Ditto!" I countered.
It all happened so fast I almost missed it. There were chunks of jagged rocks descending from the sky that were headed straight for Kabutops. But my Kabutops was faster than a cheap imitation, and his Aqua Jet was strong enough to send the spotlight flying straight at the opposing Kabutops. Like a light switch illuminating the dark, the moment the spotlight whizzed right into Kabutops's face, the Pokemon transformed immediately into a pink, gelatinous Ditto that was quite clearly unconscious from the force of the spotlight slamming into its face.
I had finally won.