We've got some more battles to explore! But in the meantime, while our heroes are fighting at the river bank again, let's pay a visit to our favorite ninja as he fights against Keahi and his Shadow Pokemon! He was able to beat Keahi in their last match, but someone as smart as that is surely prepared for Dokukage's tricks now! Will he be able to keep the advantage? Remember to review!
KedharS: The pace has really upped now that we're in a war.
Arbiter8991: Yeah they'll have to find a way to deal with her at some point.
ZenoZen: No problem, take all the time you need. And yes, this is definitely the longest arc to date. But it seems fitting, since this will be the last opportunity for many of these characters to shine.
Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Indeed, Mason is a man of culture. He has all the maids.
Hyphenman: Yep, there are definitely a lot of tough battles ahead. Hopefully everyone will be able to stay safe.
Tambry96bj: Yeah, Kiana not having pokemon may be a problem.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 1152
While the matches with the trainers at the river were winding down, an entirely different battle was taking place, in the middle of town.
"Kagemusha," Dokukage ordered his Golisopod, "razor shell."
"Gol!" Kagemusha shouted, raising his claw. He sharpened his shell and covered it with water, and charged at the two hovering swords.
"Kaho, reflect," K ordered. His Doublade hovered in the air and crossed their blades, forming a defensive barrier that deflected Kagemusha's swing.
"You're not the only one who can boost your pokemon," Keahi boasted. "With reflect, your Golisopod's physical moves won't be able to land a scratch on Kaho!"
"Obviously," Dokukage murmured. His real thoughts on the matter were a little less objective. This is a real pain in the ass… and due to being a Ghost type, it's not like we could use brick break to tear down that barrier. But it's not like that's the only solution, either…
"Kagemusha, u-turn," he ordered. Kagemusha threw himself against the barrier and returned to his pokeball as Dokukage considered his options.
"Ame, you're up," he decided, sending out his Masquerain. The tiny bug fluttered into the air, the intimidating pattern on her wings reducing the strength of the two swords.
"Yeah, of course you'd want to do that," Keahi smirked. "I thought you ninja were supposed to be all about trickery and surprise? Using a pokemon like that is no surprise at all! You're too predictable, Dokukage!"
This guy really talks a lot… and predictable? …Well, yeah, that's just true. My signature strategy is using baton pass, once someone figures that out, it's kind of hard to shake the label of "predictable". Dokukage was a one-trick Ponyta and he knew it. He did his trick well and was proud of his pokemon and their skills, but he wasn't going to win any competitions for creativity.
That suited him just fine, though.
"Ame, use stun spore," he ordered. Doublade were already incredibly slow pokemon. If he could reduce their speed even further, then it would give him ample time to increase Ame's stats and prepare to start passing the boosts onto other pokemon.
"That won't work," Keahi promised. "Shadow sneak!"
"Doublade," Kaho hissed, both swords sinking into the shadows to avoid the cloud of yellow dust drifting towards them. The two blades of shadow shot towards Ame, circling around her in different directions before emerging to stab her from both sides.
"Masquerain!" Ame cried in pain.
"Shadow sneak may not officially be a 'Shadow Move' but it's certainly effective," Keahi said. "But how about a taste of some real power? Kaho, use shadow break!"
"Doublade!" The two swords moved in unison, cloaking their blades with malevolent energy. They shot towards the Masquerain again.
Shit, this was what I was worried about, those Shadow Moves are a pain in the ass! Dokukage wanted to scream. How is it fair that a move can be super-effective against any type?! That's just cheating, damn it!
"Ame, double team," Dokukage ordered. Thinking fast on his feet, he had Ame create multiple copies of herself. The Doublade slashed through several of them, but completely missed the real thing.
Keahi didn't appear bothered by that, though.
"The last time we fought, you overwhelmed my Shadow Pokemon by using tricks like these," he stated calmly. "I lost my cool back then, because I was too arrogant. I assumed that Shadow Pokemon were the ultimate weapons, and that there was nothing that could be done to defeat them. But you proved me quite wrong. I won't make that mistake a second time. I'm going to carefully defeat your strategy at every turn."
"We'll see," was Dokukage's only reply. This fucking asshole…
"Aerial ace," Keahi ordered.
Kaho reunited, turning both blades towards the swarm of Masquerain. Then they disappeared. They reappeared seconds later, dispersing the copies into vapor as the real Ame cried out in pain.
"With aerial ace, they can move so fast that it doesn't matter how many duplicates you make," Keahi said. "And we'll do it again."
"Obviously," Dokukage muttered. "Ame, baton pass!"
"Masquerain!" Ame returned to her pokeball as the Doublade made another pass at her, their blades slicing through air.
"Calling her back so quickly?" Keahi smirked. "Are you sure? Did you manage to stack any benefits whatsoever?"
Dokukage was able to control his temper pretty well. Years of training as a ninja had taught him how to balance his emotions. But Keahi was really starting to irritate him. Not because he was countering Dokukage's baton pass strategy, but because his taunts were just obnoxious.
"Higurashi," Dokukage sent out his third pokemon of the match in less than ten minutes, his Ninjask. The small pokemon buzzed, dancing through the sky as his Speed Boost ability increased his speed even higher.
"Of course you'd use that one," Keahi rolled his eyes. "Just because Kaho doesn't have the speed to keep up, that doesn't mean we won't try. Shadow wave!"
The Doublade swung their bodies, sending blades of shadow energy towards the with Higurashi's speed it was easy to evade the attacks, and he danced around the pokemon with minimal effort.
"I suppose that's good enough for a warm-up," Keahi decided. "Now, aerial ace! And you WON'T be dodging this one, no matter HOW fast you go!" Keahi had prepared for this fight well. He knew all about how Dokukage would use his pokemon's speed to evade his opponents. But that was why he was using Kaho. His pokemon's ability was No Guard, an ability that meant every attack was certain to hit, regardless of who used it. With that in consideration, he could rely on the power of Shadow Moves and other super-effective hits to wear down Dokukage's fast but fragile pokemon.
"Doublade!" Kaho turned their swords towards Higurashi and disappeared, slicing through the air to get at the speedy little bug.
"Protect," Dokukage ordered. A barrier of light appeared around Higurashi, and the swords bounced right off of it!
Behind his mask, Dokukage was smiling. "We don't need to dodge," he assured Keahi. "Now Higurashi, use baton pass!"
With another boost to his speed, Higurashi was gone, and Dokukage was quick to replace him with yet another pokemon, his Accelgor.
"Kagerou, use water shuriken," Dokukage ordered immediately. With his Accelgor's incredible speed, coupled with the boosts from Higurashi, there was no way that Doublade was dodging this! Dokukage was certain of it.
"Accel," Kagerou nodded. Blades of water formed on the extensions of his skin, and he flung the barrage of shuriken at the two swords.
"Kaho, use swords dance," Keahi ordered. Kaho clashed their swords against each other and swirled through the sky, slicing through what water blades they could. They were still on the receiving end of a decent onslaught, however, so it wasn't like their tactic was perfect. But they'd more than offset the attack decrease from Ame's intimidate. "Now, use shadow mist!"
A dark fog of miasma billowed across the battlefield, surrounding Kagerou.
"With shadow mist, your Accelgor's evasive abilities have been sharply reduced," Keahi explained. "No matter how much you might treasure his speed, it won't matter in a situation like this! We can still hit him easily!"
He doesn't need to use shadow mist because of the No Guard ability, Dokukage recognized. No, the reason for that is because he's planning ahead. The mist will keep clinging to my pokemon, regardless of which one I baton pass to. So even if that Doublade faints, his next pokemon will have no difficulty hitting eiter…
Keahi smirked. "Now use shadow break!"
"Doublade!" Kaho shot towards Kagerou, covering their blades with dark aura. Surrounded by mist as he was, Kagerou didn't have much room to dodge.
But Dokukage had trained him better than that. "Substitute," the shinobi ordered, and Kagerou disappeared, replaced with a log.
Kaho brought their blades together and sliced the log to pieces, leaving Kagerou safe, and a fair distance away, at that.
"Nicely done," Dokukage nodded to his Accelgor. But in a situation like this, I'd say we need a pokemon that can better take a hit. The problem is, if I switch to Muramasa, he won't be able to do much fighting back with his physical moves. That reflect is really a pain…
Ultimately, Dokukage decided to stick with his usual game plan. With Kagerou's speed and the use of substitute, he had a pretty good edge regardless. Keahi might SAY he was planning on taking down the baton pass strategy, but in practice that wasn't an easy thing to achieve.
"Kagerou, use acid armor," Dokukage ordered.
"Accel," Kagerou nodded. He began to secrete a wet substance across his skin that would heighten his defensive abilities and cause Kaho's blades to slip right off him.
"So your plan is to boost your defense, huh?" Keahi scowled. "Well, it's a good trick, but that's all you CAN do, use tricks! Our attacks will still hit, and when they do, they'll cripple! Now, for our trump card, use shadow panic!"
"Doublade!" A malevolent aura burst out of the Doublade and struck Kagerou, causing the Accelgor to freak out. He skittered away in a panic.
Dokukage wanted to shout out to his pokemon, but he refrained himself. He couldn't lower his façade, he needed to project an aura of composure.
"Shadow panic is our trump card," Keahi boasted. "Using this move, the enemy pokemon becomes struck with fear and confusion at the horror of a Shadow Pokemon! But the one downside is that it doesn't always work. Some pokemon are able to evade it. But not right now!"
"Because of your Doublade's No Guard ability," Dokukage noted. "That's quite an effective combo you've prepared."
Inside he wanted to scream ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! IN WHAT UNIVERSE IS THAT FAIR?! A CONFUSION ATTACK THAT CAN'T BE DODGED?! BULLSHIT!
He couldn't let that show, though.
"And now that your Accelgor is confused, it doesn't matter that you've raised his defenses," Keahi continued. "We can strike him at our leisure! Shadow break!"
"Doublade!" Kaho shot towards Kagerou, covering themselves with shadows to strike at the stunned and helpless pokemon.
"Kagerou, dodge with substitute!" Dokukage shouted. "Then use yawn!"
"Accelgor!" Kagerou disappeared, and a log took his place, which Kaho sliced through easily. But when the Accelgor reappeared, he did so with a yawn loud enough to make even swords feel sleepy.
"Now, use protect," Dokukage ordered. Kagerou created a green barrier of light to hide behind and wait safely for the sleep to take hold.
"Impossible!" Keahi sputtered. "There's no way that a pokemon could perform such a precise execution of moves while under the influence of confusion!"
"You're right of course," Dokukage agreed. "But then… Kagerou was never under confusion in the first place."
"What?!" Keahi couldn't believe it. "But due to No Guard, there's no way your Accelgor could have avoided the attack!"
"And he didn't," Dokukage agreed again. "Your shadow panic move it as it was supposed to. It just didn't do anything. And the reason for that is because of the persim berry I gave Kagerou before the match began."
Keahi couldn't believe what he was hearing. "…A persim berry?"
Dokukage nodded. "I see you know of it. Yes, persim berries have such strong flavors that any pokemon who eats one is immediately brought back to a state of clarity."
"But why would you give your Accelgor of all pokemon such a thing?!" Keahi couldn't understand the logic behind it. "After all, you had no idea that we would be fighting today! Or that I would use shadow panic on you! So how-!?"
"Do you really believe that?" Dokukage asked, narrowing his eyes. "You should know by now, Keahi. A shinobi is always prepared. I knew that Samarra would be attacking, and of course I knew that you were working with her. So I made sure to give Kagerou a persim berry this morning. And when she did attack, as I knew she would, I went straight for the house. Because I knew that you would be there to block our path."
"But how…"
"It's in your nature," Dokukage explained. "You like being sneaky and striking people when they least expect it. You're the type who loves to ambush other people, isn't that right? That's why you use Shadow Pokemon, to attack people while they're down. So I knew that if I ran ahead of the others, then I would get into a confrontation with you."
"And… you knew that I would use shadow panic?" Keahi was stunned. It wasn't a tactic he'd executed in his last match against Dokukage, so how could he have predicted it?
"Of course I did," Dokukage said, rolling his eyes. "Your Doublade's ability is No Guard, after all. That was more than enough to tell me what you planned to do."
"How?!"
"Because I did my research. Ever since our last battle, I've been learning all I can about different Shadow Moves. Mainly, I focused on shadow panic, since it's the perfect tool for countering my strategy. And given the fact that you're undoubtedly a sore loser about our last encounter, I had no doubt that you'd try and use that move to get even with me, and defeat the strategy that humiliated you. So then it just came down to which pokemon I would send out against your Doublade. The answer to that was obvious, of course, my Accelgor. So I gave Kagerou the persim berry, and let the rest play out just as I expected it to."
"But then why did you keep changing pokemon!?" Keahi demanded. "Sending out a bunch of different pokemon like that, why? If you just used your Accelgor from the start, then-!"
"Misdirection," Dokukage sharply cut him off. "Theatrics and deception are crucial tools in a shinobi's arsenal. That's why I used Kagemusha, Ame, and Higurashi first. I wanted to fool you into thinking that you had me on the ropes. That way, you'd get arrogant, and send your pokemon in for a reckless attack that would result in them falling asleep. And now… no more No Guard."
Keahi ground his teeth together. All this time I spent getting ready… are you saying this guy was more prepared than I was?! How many levels of thought is this fucker even on?! It pissed him off to no end. He prided himself on being a scientist with a sharp head on his shoulders, and he'd been completely found out by some loser in Naruto cosplay.
This guy…
"In the end," Dokukage concluded, "your preparation simply couldn't be compared with mine, that's all there is to it!"
YOOOUUUU!
Keahi might have been enraged at Dokukage's little deduction, but someone else was thoroughly impressed.
"My… I had no idea that this ninja was such a clever foe," Samarra said. "He might not be on my level in terms of intelligence, but I'd say he's quite smart himself."
"He's nothing!" Keahi snapped. "Ignore him, I'm going to squash him like the Bug type pokemon he uses!"
"Don't be too hasty, that's how you got into this mess in the first place," Samarra chastised her friend. "Only a fool fails to recognize intelligence in his foes. You might not like it, Keahi, but that Dokukage boy outsmarted you. Now you have to turn the tables and outsmart him."
"I was already planning on doing that," Keahi muttered under his breath. He didn't really have much of a choice. He was already starting to feel sleepy. Even with his connection to his Doublade, he couldn't force Kaho to stay awake. He had to switch him out.
At the same time, Samarra was thinking to herself, it appears I underestimated that ninja quite a bit. Someone with that level of preparedness, being able to pull of such tactics so masterfully… yes, I simply must make him one of my friends!
Dokukage cautiously watched Keahi recall his Doublade to the pokeball, resisting the urge to visibly sigh with relief.
GOD, THAT WAS SO FUCKING LUCKY!
That situation had almost turned really bad.
Thank god Alcea gave us all berries to eat today! If Kagerou wasn't such a slow eater, he might have finished off his breakfast a long time before the match started, and we would have been screwed! But what were the odds that the last berry he was saving for later was a persim berry?! That was almost really bad!
Dokukage was trembling with terror, grateful to Alcea, grateful to his Accelgor, and most of all he was grateful to whatever fortune deities were watching over him from above, that had granted him the eloquence to completely deliver that bullshit he'd thought up in 10 seconds with such conviction in his voice.
Dokukage's done it again! Using his skills as a ninja, and surely not luck and BS, he managed to overwhelm Keahi and break part of his strategy! But will Dokukage's luck- err, preparations, hold out? Or will Keahi and Samarra be able to defeat him? This is a really tense battle, and hopefully our ninja has a few more tricks like that one up his sleeve!