Chapter 4: The Delta Disadvantage

Eric looked over to Roxie and tugged her a little closer by the sleeve. She looked a little disgruntled, but she knew it must be important if he was pulling her over. After a bit of bending over so he was as close to her ear as possible, he whispered, "Roxie, those are Delta Pokemon!"

Roxie's eyes bugged out as she looked back at the two Pokemon that Wes had released from his pokeballs. Both Pokemon looked pretty normal, so she said, "What, how can you tell? … Better yet, can you tell what type they are?"

Eric brushed back his hair so that Roxie could see his right eye. She noticed it right away, but it looked a little… different. As Eric took his hand away, he said, "Your sister said it worked kind of like her Eye, but only with Delta Pokemon." He smiled at his battle partner, for she was absolutely astounded. "Oh, and the Espeon is Psychic slash Steel and the Umbreon is Dark/Steel."

Roxie's mind-boggled look disappeared from her face, and she suddenly looked confident. "If Wes gave you a Fire or Fighting Pokemon, we have it made. Go ahead and toss it out already, I think Wes is watching." She broke her gaze with Eric, flung back her hair, and tossed out the pokeball containing Florina with perfect grace. The Furret appeared in a flash of dim-red light as the pokeball bounced back into Roxie's hand.

Eric's hand trembled, this would be his first Pokemon battle; would he be any good at it? He knew which Pokemon were most effective against which and which were least effective against which, but there had to be more to battle strategy than that. Eric threw out his pokeball with so much less grace than Roxie that he almost tripped. His Pokemon didn't come out in a flash of red, but in an odd clock pattern… a Timer Ball. The ball flew back into Eric's hand, and a smile pulled over his face as he saw the Pokemon, A Combusken. Exactly what Roxie had said would help them the most.

Wes looked over to Eric and Roxie and said, "I suppose you've figured out all about Sunshine and Moonfire by now, haven't you?" The smile on Eric's face slipped into a look of confusion. "Oh, no, I'm not psychic or oddly good at hearing, Rui left her walkie-talkie onto my channel when you guys were talking about it in Holon. No need to worry though, this is only a practice battle so I'm letting you 2 take the first move."

Eric looked over to Combusken and got a feel for it. It seemed all to ready to battle, and very happy to. "Combusken, use a … uh…", but he couldn't remember the right attack to say at all. He just concentrated on the most powerful attack he could think of and it slipped out, "Sky Uppercut? … On Umbreon!" The Combusken was almost unsure of what to because of the uncertainty in its trainer's voice, but it followed through anyway. It ran up to Umbreon with amazing speed, almost a blur. When it finally got to its target, Combusken threw a punch to its jaw, sending it slamming into the ceiling.

Meanwhile, Roxie screamed out, "Surf!" to her Furret. Out of nowhere appeared a gigantic wave that smashed into Espeon, and Umbreon when it fell back down to its place on the battle field. Slowly the wave was absorbed into the dirt below it and it all disappeared.

Wes took a few moments to think, then said to his opponents and 'students', "A good turn for you, Eric. Just sound surer about yourself so your Pokemon can be sure of you. But you," he turned his head to Roxie, "forgot something that could have saved a lot of trouble. Remember that you" Roxie though for a few moments, then remembered and slammed her hand onto her forehead. Wes smiled and said, "Don't worry, you'll have a chance to redeem yourself. Anywho, lets get on with this. Sunshine, Psychic on Combusken and Moonfire, Attract on Combusken!"

The Espeon took a sick hold on Combusken with its mind and flung it into a wall. Combusken was in deep pain, but it didn't really notice. All it could see now was the Umbreon luring him in with her perfect eyes and slender, delicate moves…

Roxie was ready to make up for her stupid mistake. She looked over to Florina and said, "Okay, this time we're going to lend a helping Hand to Combusken." Florina scurried over to Combusken and crawled up it. Eventually she made her way onto Combusken's arm and hung onto it.

Eric didn't really understand what this would do to help the battle, but he went on. He figured finishing off Umbreon would be more important than getting rid of Espeon, so he ordered, "Lets give Umbreon another Sky Uppercut!" Although it was reluctant to do so this time, Combusken dashed up to Umbreon just as it had before and threw its punch to her jaw. Right before impact though, Furret flied off of Combusken's hand and hit the Eeveelution. Before it even have a chance to recover, Combusken finished the Pokemon off with its heavy punch. Moonfire laid still on the ground with an x in one eye and a swirl in the other.

Wes returned his fallen comrade with a little nod of thanks. He looked over to the other battlers again to make his turn report. "I think you guys are getting a better hang of this, but maybe it would have been better just to have Furret and Combusken attack seperately in case my plan of infatuation worked. Plus, I have Sunshine wide open for another good, super effective attack on Combusken. On that note, lets give 'im another Psychic." Sunshine had a little more fun with its Psychic this time, it made Combusken to a little dance before smashing it into a second wall.

Roxie shook her head as she thought, Combusken's going to get knocked out this turn if we can't finish this. Lets see, a fire attack would be more effective on Espeon, so…"Okay, another Helping Hand, but for a Fire attach this time!"

Eric felt stupid for not thinking of it before Roxie did. Of course Fire would work better than Fighting on Espeon, Espeon was also a Psychic type. At least he knew a good Fire attack that would work well in this situation. "Use Flamethrower after that Furret is in position," he said gingerly to his Pokemon. He still had to get used to that idea, his Pokemon.

Furret waited right under Combusken at it let out a jet of flames that started to dance their way over to Espeon. Furret rode that jet and smacked Espeon, then the flames licked it up and knocked it out. All of the pokemon remaining on the field were returned, making the room glow oddly red and tic for a moment.

Wes walked over to Eric and shook his hand with a casual smile. "You have a natural talent for this, I can tell. Just remember that defense can be as important as offence. Any attacks that can paralyze or freeze will help you out immensely in that area." Eric offered the Timer Ball back to Wes, but he shook his head, "No, you keep him, I think he likes you."

The ball didn't stay in Eric's hand for long though, because Roxie plucked it right out. She also took Moonfire's and Sunshine's pokeballs. "I'm going to the Center to heal these guys," she said as she walked out of the room. Wes and Eric stared down the hallway with blank, confused looks on their faces. Eventually they turned to see each other and laughed.
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Sidenotes:
-In case your wondering, I named this chaper The Delta Disadvantage because even of the pokemon have new types and some new type advantages, they also gain type disadvantages.
-For any of you that actually play the card game, I know that Delta Pokemon are supposed to get weaknesses and resistances from thier original types, but I like it more my way. >.>