A Dark Encounter
Blaze was trying to read the situation, but he was struggling to find any way to take back the lead in this match. Hextilda's Zoroark seemed to have been used to fighting in a sandstorm, and the Larvitar's typing was buffed by the Sandstorm that was going on. He was pushing his hands through his hair in frustration, completely unsure of what to do.
Blaze, I suggest we double team the Zoroark first off. Growth will increase my special attack and if Amy uses Fairy Wind we can whittle away its health over time. I'll tell you if I need to use Mega Drain, but once I'm buffed enough we switch to poisoning Inditius. Then I'll focus Zoroark, and I'll tank the attacks for Amy unless it is a Flamethrower.
"Amy, you got that?" Blaze spoke through the Sandstorm, enough for the Flabébé to hear through the roaring sand, but not so much that Hextilda could hear over the other side of the arena. She didn't need to know that Gertrud was calling strategies as well.
"Alright, Gertrud, you use Growth. Amy, Fairy Wind on Sienna. We should be able to do this." Through the sandstorm, Gertrud turned around and the two of them smiled at each other. This was going to work.
Up in the stands, a glass barricade had gone across the top of the battle so that the spectators didn't get annoyed by the change in weather. For the convenience of the spectators, a split screen was showing both sides of the battlefield, with Blaze, Hextilda and their Pokémon clearly visible.
Persephone was cheering for Blaze. Certainly he couldn't hear her through the glass and sandstorm, but she knew that he had just gotten much more confident. Gertrud and him must've thought of something, but she didn't know. When they were this in sync, Gertrud wouldn't let anyone but Blaze and whoever needs to hear it. She was feeling a bit left out.
There was another girl who had pulled up next to her. She had decided to come and watch this battle as well for some reason. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to be Persephone, would you?" The girl spoke to her. She had her hair dyed blue and a frilly dress that made her look about three years younger than she likely was.
"Yea, why?" Persephone looked at the girl, curious about why she was suddenly so interested in her.
The girl grinned back at Persephone. "Well, my name is Florent Chapuis. We are opponents after these two. I look forward to battling." The girl named Florent walked over to the other side of the stands, still grinning at Persephone.
Persephone looked back at the screen and saw a rock flying towards Gertrud. The Roselia was crossing her arms, trying to reduce the amount of force the rock would have on her body. It didn't do much good as the rock sent her flying into the wall behind.
"Damn, Gertrud, are you alright." Blaze screamed out to his partner Pokémon. She closed the rose on her right hand up for all except one on the outside to make and almost thumbs up sign. "Good, keep using Growth."
I'm almost at my limit for that, we should probably switch up. Blaze nodded to Gertrud.
"Alright then, Gertrud, Poison Sting on Inditius."
My pleasure. The Roselia jumped as hard as it could up onto Blaze's shoulder. It just managed to reach his shoulder. Gertrud than propelled herself at the Larvitar. The Sandstorm was dying down now so it was a lot easier for Gertrud to aim her strike.
A small barb poked out of Gertrud's right flower. She was starting to decelerate slightly, but she was still at a high enough speed that the barb should pierce its rock hide. The Larvitar was prepared to block it, but as Inditius went to swipe Gertrud's hand out of the way, she pulled it back, then jabbed it forward again when she was in close range. A direct strike, Inditius was almost certainly poisoned.
The Sandstorm cleared up and Blaze could see the whole field again. The glass over the field lifted up and he could hear Persephone cheering for him. He let a smile creep over his face, he might really have a chance to pull this off.
Over the other side of the field, Hextilda was looking at her Pokémon with worry. Even if she hadn't seen the strike that hit Inditius, the way the Larvitar was clutching his chest, she could tell Inditius had been poisoned. Sienna was doing better, but given that Inditius was soon going to be on his last legs.
She called out to her Pokémon. "Sienna, Flamethrower again on Amy, Inditius, Rock Throw on the same target." The Zoroark nodded and spewed flames from its mouth at Amy. The little Flabébé tried to make it die down with Fairy Wind, but just as she was about to use the move, a rock came flying right at her and hit her. Amy lost concentration and the flames surrounded her.
"Amy! Are you all right!" He could hear the Flabébé little cry, she sounded like she was just about done. Inditius was looking like he was just about done to. As the flames died down, Amy was breathing heavily. She was pretty much done, any more and she'd be knocked out.
"Amy the Flabébé is unable to continue the battle, please return her to her Pokeball." The announcer spoke over the speakers. Blaze did as he was told. "Remember, in an actual battle, Pokémon will continue until they have been knocked out."
Blaze nodded to the announcer and put Amy's Pokeball at his belt. "Damn it, I'm so sorry Amy." He sighed before looking back at the battlefield. "Gertrud, Inditius is on his last legs. Use Mega Drain."
Gertrud shot a vine at Inditius and wrapped around the Larvitar's chest. It started glowing as it sapped energy from Inditius and healed Gertrud. As soon as the vine retracted itself, Inditius fell down, completely unconscious.
"Inditus the Larvitar is unable to battle. The battle is now one on one." Hextilda returned her Pokémon to its Pokeball and grinned.
"This is where it gets interesting. Let's see who comes out on top, Gertrud or Sienna." She looked at Zufi and nodded. "All right, Sienna, use Hidden Power!" The Zoroark roared and balls of steel appeared around him. Sienna pushed her arms out towards Gertrud and the metal balls slammed into her.
Gertrud grinned. She looked like she was getting pumped up. This is starting to get fun. Gertrud ran straight for Sienna and jumped up on the Zoroark's shoulder.
"Gertrud, Poison sting, now!" The barb shot out of Gertrud's rose as if it were an assassin's blade. She jabbed the barb into Sienna's shoulder. The boosts from Growth made the Zoroark take much more damage than in normally would. Sienna didn't get poisoned by the attack though.
"Hah, you're going to lose this. Sienna, shake off Gertrud and use Extrasensory." The Zoroark shook back and forth like a wet Stoutland, eventually sending the Roselia flying into a wall. Then the Zoroark moved her arms as if she was crushing something.
Gertrud's face was in visible pain. The attack was doing a large amount of damage to Gertrud, especially due to her Poison typing. Even through the pain though, there was a slight grin. Blaze was her trainer, she had confidence that the two of them would be able to pull through. And now she had a chance to fight back.
"All right, Gertrud. Use Mega Drain." A vine shot out of the Roselia's right rose hand and wrapped around Sienna's neck. It started glowing just like it had prior and Gertrud breathed a sigh of relief. The Zoroark was powerful, but the fact the Gertrud had gotten up enough Growth with Amy tanking blows meant she could fight at about the same amount of power.
Before Sienna even got a command from her owner, she started charging at Gertrud for a close range Flamethrower. Hextilda clearly saw what Sienna was planning and she called out the move as if it had been her telling the Zoroark what to do. "Sienna, Flamethrower."
With very little time to react, Gertrud was just barely able to avoid, but she wasn't able to get on of her arms out of the way in time. The Roselia winced in the pain, but quickly got back into the swing of the battle, the attack leaving no secondary effects. Blaze and the Roselia both knew that if Sienna was able to force a burn or a flinch, then this battle would be over in an instant.
Blaze, the Zoroark is an experienced battler, she seems to be able to start up a move before he trainer calls it out. Blaze nodded at Gertrud before responding out loud.
"Well then, that just means we have to be on our toes just a bit more. Use Poison Sting, see if we can turn the tide of this battle." There wasn't a great likelihood of Sienna getting poisoned from this attack. Even though he had read that the attack poisoned around 30% of the time, he doubted that Gertrud would be powerful enough to cause the Zoraork to be poisoned.
Hextilda clearly didn't have this same idea, she commanded her Zoroark to get out of the way of the attack. She failed to notice that Gertrud hadn't launched herself like the last two time Poison Sting had been used. As Sienna started giving a sly grin, thinking the attack was going to miss, she looked over at where the Roselia should have ended up based on what she had witnessed of the battle, and was caught by surprise when Gertrud had stabbed her in the shoulder.
The Zoroark gave the grass Pokémon a malicious grin as it opened its mouth, preparing for a flamethrower. Hextilda called out the move as soon as she saw Sienna's intentions and this time it was a much more direct hit. The Roselia was practically coated in the fire this time. She tried to hold in her little scream this time and was panting at the amount of damage she had taken.
And this time there was a clear indication of a burn. There were scorch marks on Gertrud's back as well as on both of her hands. Well, Poison Sting was now out of the question, Gertrud wouldn't be able to do anything with her hands. Extrasensory wouldn't work on a Dark Type and repeatedly using Giga Drain, the Zoroark would eventually dodge it.
That was their only choice though.
"Alright, Gertrud, Giga Drain is our only choice now. I don't like our chances, but let's do this!" Hextilda and her Zoroark both gave a malicious grin. They knew this battle was over.
"As soon as the Giga Drain connect, use Flamethrower on the Roselia, got it Sienna." The Zoroark barked it's recognition before turning back toward Gertrud. The thorny whip had already shot towards Sienna before Gertrud realised she had fallen into a trap. It wrapped around the Zoroark as the Dark type created flames in the back of her mouth once again and shot them towards the little grass type.
Gertrud's Hp was staying at almost the same level, the energy being restored by Giga drain replenishing the Hp loss from the Flamethrower. Blaze was watching, knowing that the Giga Drain would run out before the Flamethrowe-
"Gertrud the Roselia is currently unable to battle. The winner of this battle is Hextilda and Sienna the Zoroark." Before Blaze had been able to finish his thought, Gertrud had been knocked out by the Flamethrower. Blaze rushed over to the Roselia that was lying on the floor and pulled out a faded yellow crystal and put it into Gertrud's mouth.
"I guess the battle has just burnt out." Zufi the Zorua rolled her little eyes at her trainer's bad joke. There was always a joke after battle. ALWAYS! Sometimes they were good, most of the time they are not.
Gertrud's eye's fluttered open as the effect of the Revive kicked in. Gertrud smiled before wincing at the lingering pain from her wounds. Sorry Blaze, I couldn't pull it off.
"Don't worry Gertrud, we both knew this was a losing battle." The Roselia giggled slightly before walking sluggishly over to Sienna and her trainer.
Good match both of you. I hope that Blaze, Amy and I put up a decent enough fight for you. Both Hextilda and Zoraork started laughing, less menacingly than they had acted during the fight. Even the Zorua on Hextilda's shoulder was giggling through telepathy.
"Don't be so formal about it. I enjoyed it. What about you Sienna?" The Zoraork nodded before rubbing the Roselia's head.
Hey, stop, that tickles. The Roselia spoke to everyone in the arena. There was a chorus of laughing through the match arena.
As Blaze and Hextilda walked forward to shake hands after the match, Persephone rushed into the room. She almost crashed into Blaze as she came to a stop.
"I'm going to assume you two know each other?" Hextilda looked at the newcomer to the arena quizzically.
Persephone nodded and smiled. "Yea, we've been friends for a long time. I'm probably his only friend… Oh yea, my name is Persephone."
Blaze was glad that he and Hextilda had just finished shaking hands, Persephone's comment turned him back into his shrinking violet personality. He probably would've appeared rude. "Damn it Persephone, don't say things like that in public. It's gonna make me look bad." Blaze was almost inaudibly mumbling now.
Persephone only just realised that she had probably screwed up saying she was Blaze's 'only friend'. "Oops, I didn't mean it like that Blaze."
Hextilda looked at the duo with mild confusion. They were practically complete opposites, yet somehow they were friends. Sometimes she didn't understand people.
"Hey, if you want, maybe we could keep in touch. I'd like to battle you again at some point Blaze, and you to Persephone." Hextilda was about to leave before she realised she hadn't gotten anyway to keep in contact with the two of them. "So… what do the two of you have for communication? XTrnceiver, PokéGear, Pokétch"
Persephone quickly got out her XTransceiver and pulled up her number. "Here you go, and I've got Blaze's number in here as well." After Hextilda had copied the two numbers down into the notes on her Pokétch she held out her hand once more to Blaze.
"Well, it certainly was a good match. I hope we can have a good battle the next time we meet as well. Who knows, the next time we meet I could've taken over from Zen Darkwing at the Hearthome City gym." Persephone giggled at the thought of Hextilda as a gym leader.
Blaze smiled slightly before returning Hextilda's handshake. "Yea, although I'm doubtful that you're going to make it to gym leader that fast." His hair was covering one of his eyes, but he had looked back up at Hextilda. Persephone was looking awfully proud of Blaze.
Hextilda left the Pokémon field with a slight chuckle, waving at the two trainers before Persephone looked back up into the bleachers. She was looking for the girl who had been sitting next to her during Blaze and Hextilda's match.
"Hmm, where is that weird girl? I could've sworn we had a match together after Blaze… Whe-"
"Behind you." Persephone jumped. The frilly dress of the girl suddenly seemed ominous. Where the hell had she come from? "So, is this going to be a singles or doubles battle?"
Persephone looked down at her belt and frowned. She wanted to do a double battle, but she didn't have the same mind for strategy as Blaze did. To add to that, her two Pokémon didn't seem to like each other anyway.
"I think I'll have to go singles for this. My Pokémon don't seem to like each other very much." Florent gave a cute smile that gave Persephone chills. There was something off about this girl. Hextilda had been different, her appearance was frightening, but she seemed to have a really friendly personality. This girl was something different.
Persephone had read something a trend going around the Unova region where little girls who were… not quite right mentally… would dress up as little fairy tale girls and train fairy type Pokémon, often tending to scare the trainers they battle against. Florent suddenly seemed to exhibit that personality.
"Alright, do you want to go first or should I?" Florent asked, clasping both hands behind herself.
Persephone did her best to hide her slight twinge of fear on her face at this girl. Everything she did was just, too cutesy. "Karp or Ball, you call."
Persephone flicked her Pokétch to the Magicoin app and tapped the screen as Florent called Karp. He coin landed with a picture of a Magikarp face up, so the other girl would have made the first move. She looked up at the bleachers to see if Blaze was up there yet. She was surprised that Hextilda had stuck around to watch her fight as well.
Persephone smiled, poking the tip of her tongue out the side of her mouth. Hextilda waved back while Blaze gave his weird two fingered half salute which meant either goodbye or good luck depending on the situation.
"Go Snover." Florent sent the little snowman-like Pokémon onto the battlefield as its awkward looking legs sort of stumbled around. Once it got its footing, a hailstorm started up on the battlefield. Since the glass only covered the arena when a sandstorm was in play, the arena stayed uncovered and some of the hail was ending up in the bleachers.
Blaze get hit by a tiny piece and tried not to make the quick jolt of pain audible. Both Persephone's Pokémon were probably at a disadvantage here, since Spiny was weak to ice and Laxus would probably charge right though the damaging weather to attack and knock itself out without thinking.
Who was she going to pi-
"Go Laxus!" Persephone sent out her hyper little Shinx, and it instantly locked onto the fight that was in front of it.
"Shi-shinx." The electric lion cub was trying to intimidate its opponent with a little growl. It didn't do much, especially since the Shinx was not naturally inclined for intimidation.
Florent made a little squee sound. "Daww, Luxrays are so cute." Persephone was a bit surprised by the girl's reaction. Cool, Badass, Epic. Those were words that Persephone would associate with a Luxray. Cute… Not one of them.
She was about to voice her opinion to the girl before a weird glint in her eye told her not to. "Well, for now Laxus is a Shinx, so you just have to deal with it." Florent looked slightly peeved, but ignored the comment.
"So, you gonna start the match?" Persephone folded both her hands behind her head, waiting for Florent to make the first move.
Up in the bleachers, Blaze was quickly checking what Snover's moveset was. Powder Snow, Icy Wind, Razor Leaf and Protect. From what he saw, he guessed that Florent probably was a newbie and got the TM for protect because it would stop her Pokémon from getting hurt. He got the feeling she would probably abuse this move to make sure her Pokémon weren't hurt rather than those stall based idiots he sometimes watched in the Pokémon League matches.
Blaze tapped on Hextilda's shoulder to get her attention. "What would you do with this?"
The dark type trainer shrugged while thinking for a second. "Well, wish that my Pokémon was a dark type, then use Protect and see what Persephone attacked with first." Blaze noticed that Hextilda didn't seem as intimidating all of a sudden, even with her kind of pointy and dark theme with her clothing. She was quite friendly and she seemed to be into strategy like him. Maybe she would've made a good gym leader after all.
"I probably agree with you. With some background info on Laxus though, I know that the Shinx is going to ignore Persephone completely and go for a Spark." Hextilda smiled at the thought of seeing a rebellious Pokémon.
"I wish Luxrays were officially a dark type. I would train them if they were, they are so cool."
"Just cause you want to be the new Dark gym leader doesn't mean you have to exclusively train Pokémon that are Dark types, right? You could have a few other Pokémon that you like as well for fun battles?"
Hextilda shrugged. It was a really weird action to see with the pointed shoulders of her suit, kinda out of place. She stroked Zufi the Zorua as she spoke. "Dark types are my favourite though. They're misrepresented, that's what I like about them."
Back on the battlefield, Hextilda and Blaze's predictions both came true. Florent called out for Snover to use Protect while Laxus ignored Persephone's order to use Charge and used Spark instead, ramming into the protective barrier with full force thinking he could break it down.
Out of the corner of her eye, Persephone could've sworn she saw Gertrud on Blaze's shoulder facepalming… or, faceflowering… She wasn't sure. Either way, everyone agreed. Laxus was an idiot.
"Alright Laxus, use Roar. Let's see what her other Pokemon is." This time, the Shinx used Charge and built up electrical energy inside its fur. Persephone grew angry with the Pokémon. "Arceus damn it Laxus."
Florent looked quizzically at Persephone and Laxus. "You and your Pokémon have an interesting relationship. You'll never beat my cuties like that though."
Persephone was right, Florent was one of those weird girls. The emphasis on cute Pokémon practically confirmed it.
"Well, your move. And you realise that overuse of Protect wears down the barrier so it can fail, right?" Florent looked confused, as if she expected her Pokémon to be safe forever. She watched as pieces of hail fell onto the Shinx's forehead, leaving little scratch marks on the Pokémon and leaving damage.
Persephone saw them too, but was glad when she saw that Laxus had taken the initiative to hit the Snover with a tackle. The Protect Barrier was down due to overuse, so the Shinx was able to send the snowman Pokémon flying. There was a slight boost as well from Charge as well, but if this kept up, Laxus would faint from Hail damage before the Snover would be defeated. This Protect would be really annoying, as would be Laxus' inability to read situations. And Spiny would be weak to Snover in every way, which would be a problem.
Persephone thought over her situation. What would Blaze have tried to do in this battle? Probably try and convince Laxus to listen to her and force a switch with Roar if that ever happened. The problem was that Florent was going to keep using Protect. Even she wouldn't be able to predict when Protect would fai-
"Alright little Snover, use Powder Snow." As Florent called for her Pokémon's next attack, Persephone was caught off guard. She didn't expect the girl to switch to attacking moves any time soon. The hail around Laxus suddenly softened and blow towards him. While the snow wasn't very damaging in itself, the cold that Laxus would be feeling would definitely hurt.
"Hang in there Laxus!" The Shinx made a response that sounded almost condescending. "Arceus why would you give me such a pain in the ass as my first Pokémon?" Once again another condescending noise from the Shinx, this time slightly stuttered from the Powder Snow attack.
"Laxus, use Charge. Let's see what it does." The Shinx rolled its eyes and instead charged for Snover while coating electricity. It was using Spark instead. Why wouldn't the Shinx listen to her?
"I don't know why her Shinx does that. It got into a fight with a wild Sandshrew and wouldn't listen to her either." Blaze was half talking to himself, half to Hextilda. The dark type trainer had about as much of an idea about it as he did.
"Maybe Laxus is just overly strong willed and sees Persephone as weak." Both trainers saw the Shinx hit the Snover for next to nothing as Hail constantly pelted it. At this rate, Spiny probably had a better chance of winning.
Without Persephone even calling out a move, Laxus was once again charging at Florent's Snover with a Spark attack. Persephone felt like giving up this battle then and there. Laxus wasn't going to listen to her.
Florent called out for her Snover to use a Razor Leaf attack next, and leaves sprouted from Snover's body before breaking off and pelting Laxus. "What is wrong with your Pokémon? Don't you give your little cutie enough attention?"
Persephone had both hands covering her face now out of sheer embarrassment. Blaze had just pulled off a battle so well against Hextilda, even though he ultimately lost. She didn't even have a Pokémon willing to fight for her that wouldn't get creamed in one hit. Maybe if she weren't up against this Snover, Spiny would be useful.
"Snover, use Icy Wind to slow her Shinx down and then use Protect before the silly adorable thing attacks again." The Snover nodded at Florent and turned back towards Laxus. It moved its arms forward and the hail once again shifted form. This time is broke apart and blew past Laxus. The temperature of the wind caused frost to build up on Laxus' legs and slow him down.
Just as Florent said it would, Laxus came charging back at the Snover. However, the decreased speed due to Icy Wind allowed the Snover to form the barrier before Laxus could connect another Spark, not that it would have done very much.
"I surrender." Persephone said without a second thought. "I can't continue this battle, I have no way of succeeding." Laxus started charging for Florent's Snover for a final time as Persephone recalled the Shinx back into its Pokéball.
Florent looked disappointed. "Aww, and I was just starting to have fun. Oh well, maybe I'll face you again, and I'll get to show you my other cuties as well." She recalled Snover before skipping out of the arena.
Persephone still couldn't get over how creepy that girl was.
Blaze ran down to his friend, Hextilda following behind, curious to see what would happen. "Persephone, it's okay. Surrendering a losing fight is perfectly fine."
Persephone's eyes were tearing up. "I don't want to have to surrender every battle because Laxus is not listening to me! Arceus damn it why did I pick out such an idiot of a Pokémon!"
Blaze turned around and gave Hextilda a wave goodbye. The dark trainer got the hint and left, returning Blaze's wave. "Don't worry about it Persephone, I'm sure Laxus won't be that bad after a few battles."
*whisles* Damn, this took a long time to write. I needed to find some way to actually make the battle go on for less than two sentences like most In-Game battles would.
Once again, credit to my friend Derahex on Lake Valor for Hextilda. I really hope I didn't go too far in her personality, I kinda interpreted as a mysterious but humourous person. If I went too far I'll try and tone it down in future chapters.
Also, PhunnyStuff, I hope you aren't creeped out by what I created from your description. I used the Fairy Tale Girls from the X/Y and ORAS games as a basis for personality. Yea…
Next chapter… not sure. Probably a bit of Blaze on his own after the two split up… Don't expect it too soon.