After Being Blue
Poke-ball 15: Bite
He was seething. But Red was always good at finding the buttons to push with him and pushing them hard. And, unfortunately, when he was angry, he didn't think very well.
Red wanted a battle? Then he was damn well going to get one. 'Exeggutor!' he snapped. 'Return!'
Espeon yowled. The coconut tree stomped and made the dirt fly up before it was recalled into the red light of its poke ball, but more than about the matchup, it was the fact that Exeggutor had been battling a long time and was out of moves – and he'd never planned to use a grass type Pokémon against the grass type gym leader anyway, so he hadn't brought an ether.
He hadn't been about to use Arcanine either. That'd been a cakework the first time around. On the other hand, Arcanine would love the idea of chasing Red's little fox around. And Bite wouldn't hurt if he needed an ace in the hole. Choice made, he enlarged the poke ball. 'Arcanine, go!'
Red snorted, and then curled into full-blown laughter. 'A fire type in a grass gym! How lovely. The sparks can catch fire and burn this place to the ground. Won't Erika be pleased?' Then, ignoring the curtesy of battle, he ordered a Future Sight.
Blue frowned. Future Sight was a new move in his arsenal and a pain in the butt. He'd need to keep an eye out for that. 'Flame Thrower!'
'Quick Attack!' And as Espeon jumped nimbly out of the way before coming in for an attack, Blue cursed the reminder of the grass type gym. He very well could set the gym on fire. And no way Bite was going to catch it if Extreme Speed couldn't. 'Dig!' he ordered.
Arcanine burrowed under the ground. Espeon landed on its feet and waited patiently. 'Where's Erika?' Blue asked, instead of ordering his next move.
'Why don't you find her?' Red said in return. 'After all, gym overrun by Rockets… She might be in big trouble…' But he was smiling as he said it.
'You never did take pleasure in others' pain,' Blue muttered. The sheer oddity of that dimmed his anger a bit. Red was being an idiot, as always. But there was something else, some reason he'd wanted Blue mad, wanted a fight.
'Aren't you going to do anything?' Red was frowning now. Maybe he could see the barbs he'd stuck into skin were falling out. 'Iron Tail!'
…wasn't it his Pikachu who knew Iron Tail. But Espeon slammed its tail into the ground and made it shake, and Arcanine howled in pain.
'Dammit,' Blue muttered. Arcanine was at a disadvantage on the surface with Espeon's extrasensory abilities as well. Arcanine hadn't been a good choice at all. 'Come – ' He stopped. Red and Espeon were waiting for something. Waiting… Red raised an eyebrow as their eyes met. Is that all you've got?
What did it matter right then what the backdrop was. They'd had plenty of battles before. Even for the seat of Champion and it hadn't mattered one bit until he lost.
I've got a whole lot more, and it's coming at you. 'Use Flame Charge!'
'Flame what?' Red asked, but he got his answer as the ground burned red and threw dirt and debris.
'Flame Charge,' Blue repeated smugly. 'New TM. Guess you haven't been keeping up with this stuff.'
'No,' Red agreed, though he had a vaguely impressed look on his face. 'Is Arcanine getting faster?' Espeon wasn't dodging as easily now.
'That's right,' Blue said, and wasn't this a wonderfully familiar feeling? The two of them having a typical rival battle, him with the smarts and Red with his fiery passion… 'Flame Charge is a physical attack that increases speed as well. And Espeon can only keep up so far. It can't use Iron Tail or a psychic attack at these speeds, either. You're down to just Quick Attack.'
'Quick Attack isn't the only thing in this game,' Red grinned.
Future Sight fell from the sky and struck them both, kicking up more dust and – smoke?
He really did set the gym on fire, trying to catch that Espeon of Red's.
Damn his pride for not using Bite or Pidgeot from the outset. And damn Red for making such a mess of things.
And damn Red thrice over for baiting him – even if he was the one who'd walked right into that even with a teaser warning.