Reckless
Blue smirked when he saw who Red sent out next to battle. "Well well well, look who it is."
"Espeon," Leaf said as she pondered on whether or not to return her Golduck back to its Poké Ball.
"And look who the little runt chose to face it," Blue commented on Ethan's own Pokémon.
After deciding to let Golduck stay out with her, Leaf turned her attention to the battlefield. "Heracross. An interesting choice," she said. "It's a Fighting-type Pokémon, so it has a disadvantage against Espeon. But it's also a Bug-type, which means Espeon is disadvantaged against it, in a way."
"Exactly. This should be good," Blue remarked. The two of them watched eagerly as Blue readied himself to start his timer whenever one of the Trainers gave a command. But then...
"What the heck? Why aren't they doing anything?" Blue wondered aloud after about fifteen seconds. "Is the runt seriously letting Red have the first move?"
"That won't be good," Leaf muttered.
Sure enough, Red was done waiting for Ethan, and then he gave his command to Espeon. Blue snorted. "Heh, finally. 'Bout time," he said as he started his timer and officially started the match. He and Leaf observed the battle closely, and a few moments later they saw Heracross flying away from Espeon after it was hit by a Psychic attack.
"That'll teach him to recklessly attack Red like that," Blue mumbled.
"Psychic." They heard Red's command, and the two of them watched in silence as Espeon moved around the battlefield gracefully, trying to land another hit on Heracross, who was fleeing upwards into the sky.
"Heracross, into the forest! Lose it in the middle of the trees!"
Blue and Leaf spun in place as Heracross zoomed past them and into the surrounding cluster of trees with Espeon in tow. Blue now faced the forest and witnessed a high-speed chase between the two Pokémon.
The young man whistled. "Whew, they sure can move fast."
"But I think it's more impressive that Espeon can keep up with Heracross who's flying all over the place," Leaf noted.
"Uh-huh. Boy, has that little thing grown so much."
Leaf looked up. "Are you having second thoughts?"
"Who, me?" Blue responded as he saw Ethan run to edge of the forest. "Nah, I was just thinking about the amazing results of its training with Red, that's all."
"Sure you are..." Leaf chuckled as Blue said something to Ethan. She then turned her attention to the multitude of branches that were falling all over the place as Heracross turned and swerved without ever losing Espeon. Espeon... You've gone through so much, but now look at you.
And then Heracross made a sharp turn, still chased by Espeon. "You know, I think Ethan's a little bit surprised," Leaf said. "He fought Snorlax and then Blastoise: two slow but tough and powerful Pokémon. Now he's up against a small, sleek fighter that can strikes fast and hard."
"So you're saying the runt probably didn't think Red had a Pokémon like Espeon in his team?"
"Just a thought." She shrugged. "Espeon's battling style is very different to the rest of the Pokémon in Red's team."
Blue laughed. "Well yeah, I guess technically you're right."
They then witnessed Heracross stumbling in midair as it collided with a branch that Espeon severed, and nearly got blasted away with another direct Psychic attack if it wasn't for Ethan quickly ordering an Aerial Ace to escape.
There was a staring contest between the two Pokémon on the field for a while, before Ethan called for a Focus Punch attack. Blue and Leaf were both taken by surprise.
"What is he up to..." Blue wondered about the younger Trainer's choice of attacks as Heracross motionlessly focused, when Red quickly retaliated with a Psychic attack. But then Ethan ordered an Aerial Ace attack and Blue understood.
"Ooh, not bad. Not bad at all," he said, rubbing his chin. "He used the mechanics of how Aerial Ace works to his advantage."
The young woman nodded. "Aerial Ace requires the user to speed up by moving up and down in a flash," she said as Espeon got hit by both Focus Punch and Aerial Ace. "By telling Heracross to focus, he drew his opponent in to attack, and then used the speed from Aerial Ace to dodge and give it uninterruptible time to finish the required pre-attack focus."
"And not to mention it means he gets in two hits for the price of one move, and... OUCH!" Blue exclaimed when Espeon was struck by Heracross's large horn. "That has got to hurt!"
"Wow, I'm impressed." Leaf fixed her hat. "For once, Ethan's taking the lead in the battle."
And then came the Hyper Beam from close range, much to Ethan's surprise. Blue whistled again. Ethan's Heracross was knocked down.
"Megahorn again!" Ethan commanded after his Heracross got up, which it immediately did. In response, Red barked an order for his Espeon to dodge, but it was still unable to move.
"Blue!" Leaf exclaimed. "Did Red... Did Red growl just now?"
"I know! I heard it too," Blue replied, equally surprised. He was sitting on the edge of his branch again, watching the intense match. "The runt's actually drawing an emotional reaction from the guy. Amazing."
Heracross flew fast, but then it crash-landed as its Megahorn attack missed. Blue let out a breath. "Oh man, that was close!"
"I know what you mean," Leaf agreed. "But that was to be expected. Using powerful moves like Megahorn is like swinging a two-handed sword: the sheer force of the attack means it'll deal a lot more damage, but that also makes it harder to aim. Great power is sometimes hard to control."
"That's right. Tough break for the little runt," Blue said, looking at Ethan, who was understandably frustrated. He almost managed to strike Espeon at its weakest. Then Red called for a Morning Sun and everything became a whole lot worse for Ethan.
"Man, I'd hate to be in his shoes right now," Blue commented flatly.
"Red's always aware that Espeon isn't big on defense, and that's why he taught it Reflect to ward off physical hits, because it's already tough against Special moves," Leaf said, right as Red told Espeon to set up another Reflect. "Just like that."
"Yup. And just in case his opponent somehow managed to get in a few good blows to Espeon, he kept the Morning Sun technique around."
"I wonder what Ethan will do now..." Leaf wondered.
"Heracross. Toxic."
"Toxic? Well I sure didn't see that coming," Blue said as Heracross sprayed Toxic all over the battlefield, hoping to poison Espeon. "So now he's trying to wither Espeon down?"
Leaf scratched the side of her head. "The thing is, Espeon has the Synchronize Ability, which means Heracross will get poisoned too if it hits," she said, right as Espeon slipped on the snow and got sprayed with Toxic and glowed purple with poison, followed by Heracross. "And again, like that."
"The runt did this before, right?" Blue asked.
"Yes, when he was up against an opponent he couldn't beat with strength alone. Ethan opted to beat it by poisoning," Leaf answered. "Odd that a powerful fighter like Heracross would know a defensive move like that, but then again, Ethan never was the type to rely on pure strength alone."
"Unlike someone I know during the earlier years of their Pokémon training career," Blue remarked playfully, earning him a glare from Leaf.
Then Heracross unleashed a blood-curdling battle cry and its body became consumed in a crimson aura that lit up the morning sky. One look at Heracross's now-red eyes and Blue grinned.
"Oh, so that's what he was aiming for!" he exclaimed in understanding. "He did that on purpose. Not a bad trick at all, for a runt."
"Guts," Leaf simply said. "Ethan knew that Espeon would passively pass the poison on to Heracross, and that it would activate its Ability, greatly increasing its prowess with physical moves."
"Which is actually quite brilliant," Blue acknowledged. "The move Toxic badly poisons the target, but Synchronize only passes that on as regular poison." He then paid careful attention to Espeon, who had just been struck by an Aerial Ace more powerful than usual. "With that, he's made sure that the poison will take down Espeon at a faster rate than it will Heracross."
"Yeah, but it's a risky ploy, don't you think?" Leaf asked as Espeon ran back into the forest, with Heracross close on its tail. "Even though Heracross is only poisoned by normal poison, and Espeon by bad poison, Heracross is already pretty tired. And it can't heal, unlike Espeon."
"You got a point there." Blue nodded. "Even if Espeon's worn down first, it can always use Morning Sun, provided Red can find an opening to do so." He kept a careful eye on the Pokémon that's being repeatedly struck by Guts-powered Aerial Aces. "But then again, if Heracross keeps up that pressure, Espeon might just get pushed to its very limit."
"I suppose. And it's clever for him to tell Heracross to stick to Aerial Ace, which will never miss. Boosted by Guts, I think even Red and Espeon will find this challenging." Unlike Blue, she was paying more attention on the pursuer. "But Heracross has already been struck by a Psychic and a Hyper Beam and hasn't healed. I doubt it can keep up this pressure for long."
After a couple more hits, the Reflect barrier wore off. "Whoa!" Blue and Leaf exclaimed at the same time.
"Finish it off quick with Megahorn!"
"What? No! Bad move!" Blue murmured a yell as Heracross attacked and missed again. Espeon's body shone once more as it healed its wounds atop a tree branch.
"Tch, what an idiot! He got caught up in the heat of his own fury of attacks and miscalculated Espeon's ability to evade!"
"Why are you getting all worked up over this?" Leaf inquired, honestly curious. "Are you actually rooting for Ethan?"
Blue then looked back at her. "Aren't we supposed to? Isn't his chance at victory the whole reason we invited him here?"
Leaf opened her mouth to argue, but then she thought about how correct his answer was and suddenly she blushed with embarrassment. "Right. I forgot about that. Ahahahaha..."
Blue looked away, towards the field, where Espeon and Heracross are now. "You never change. When it comes to your boyfriend," he emphasized the word 'boyfriend', "you're pretty quick to forget the important stuff, Leaf."
"He's not..." she started, but then changed her mind. "...whatever."
Blue silently took a quick peek at Leaf, and picked up the intense sadness in her eyes. Maybe I shouldn't have said that, he thought.
The two observers watched in silence as the two battling Trainers carefully considered how to possibly end this match fast, since both their Pokémon are exhausted, though Heracross was visibly more worn out.
And then Red ordered a Reflect, and only for two seconds did that fool Blue. Unfortunately, Ethan fell for it. "NO!" Blue shouted, but it useless: Ethan told Heracross to immediately use Aerial Ace. I know he's worried about Heracross and wants to finish the battle before it faints, but falling for his own trick?
As Blue had predicted, Red wasn't actually going to use Reflect, and it seemed like Espeon knew about it, too. A simple switch of command to Hyper Beam and Blue knew it was over. A bruised, beaten, and battered Heracross taking a full-force Hyper Beam at point blank.
"HERACROSS, NOOOOO!" Ethan screamed in terror, watching his beloved Pokémon get flung far away from the battlefield out of its control, unconsciously falling down fast from the sky and away from Mt. Silver.
Blue shook his head as he figured out what Red was doing in an instant: he drew Ethan in with his command of Reflect, fully knowing that Ethan would react without hesitation because he wanted to make good use of the time Heracross is still able to fight with Guts. It was just like when Ethan used Focus Punch to draw Espeon's attention earlier.
As soon as Heracross was close enough, it was only a matter of using Hyper Beam at the right time. It was a gamble on Red's part, too: if he had been a second later in ordering the Hyper Beam, Heracross's last Aerial Ace would've landed and then, keeping in mind the fact that Espeon's badly poisoned, who knew what would've happened.
Those two reckless Trainers, he thought, disgusted with the fact that they're both so similarly unpredictable. I hate that kind of battling, where your win or loss depends on nothing but luck.
"No," Leaf suddenly said to Blue. "Red has more than just luck now. He has enough experience to be able to adapt to battles quickly, knowing precisely when to do what at who." Then she looked at Blue and smiled gently. "Of course, to us normal people, it'd seem like he was betting on the whole maneuver."
She just read my mind!
"Blue!" Ethan called to him all of a sudden, snapping Blue out of his thoughts. He had already left his spot and ran towards the edge of the mountain, trying desperately to get closer to his Pokémon in the sky.
"I lost! This round's Red's! Stop the timer!" he shouted as he took out his Poké Ball and arrived at the very edge of the mountaintop summit. He aimed it at Heracross and called it back.
"Return, Heracross!" With that, a thin red ray of light shone from the middle of the Poké Ball, but it failed to reach the Pokémon.
"What?"
He tried again, but he missed. The third attempt was no different. "No, it can't be..." Ethan fell on his knees in despair, tears welling up. Heracross was shot and flung back so far away that it was falling from the sky at an incredibly fast rate but it was out of the reach of its Trainer's Poké Ball.
"Heracross, no... Dear Ho-oh, please no..."
Heracross was going to fall out of the sky and off Mt. Silver!
"Golduck, Confusion!" Leaf shouted, surprising Ethan who didn't realize the older Trainer was already beside him with her Golduck. The Duck Pokémon raised both of its arms toward the sky and, with a sharp cry, used the amazing telekinetic power of Confusion to stop Heracross's fall, even though it was so far away.
"Ethan, stop wasting your time and send out a flying Pokémon now!" she ordered him. "Golduck won't be able to keep this up for much longer."
"But, but... Gliscor's out cold."
"And your Noctowl?"
"Too small. It's even smaller than Heracross."
"Let's go, Fearow!" Blue shouted from behind them accompanied by a loud 'PING', and suddenly Blue was on a big brown bird Pokémon flying off into the distance, in the direction of Heracross.
His Fearow flew so fast that the two of them managed to reach the psychically-suspended Heracross in three seconds. As soon as Leaf was sure Heracross was safe in Blue's hands, she let her Golduck stop the Confusion.
Blue and Fearow then swiftly made their way back. As soon as they were back on Mt. Silver's summit, he carefully stepped off Fearow's back and handed over Heracross to its Trainer.
"Here, Ethan," he said, uncharacteristically soft.
"Thank you Blue! And thank you, Leaf!" Ethan replied, his eyes already tearing up at his uselessness for the third time today. He then whispered to Heracross.
"Hey buddy, are you alright?"
Heracross opened its eyes and, though it couldn't move, blinked. Ethan smiled. Relieved, he returned his Pokémon to its Poké Ball. "Take a good long rest, Heracross. You fought really well."
Ethan then controlled his breathing. Blue returned Fearow to its Poké Ball as well. "Just so you know," he said, "this round ended at two minutes and forty four seconds."
The younger Trainer said nothing, before standing up and headed back to his spot, with Blue, Leaf and her Golduck behind him. "Okay. Let's just start the next round."
Leaf looked at Blue, who nodded in return. Then they walked back to their tree, the nearest one to the battlefield. As the morning sun continued its climb the horizon, Blue sat back down on his usual branch.
"Both Trainers ready?" he called out. Red nodded silently. Ethan gave a thumb's up.
"Then let the challenge resume. Round 4, begin!"