Chapter 14: VS Team Aqua Captain Taryn (Part 2)

I'm back, people! First of all, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanza, Happy Festivus, or Happy whatever holiday you celebrate!

A big thanks to Ignore for following and favoriting and reviewing this fanfic! And a very big thanks to all of you wonderful readers whom have viewed this story over 1,000 times!

TheSignOfLibra: Yes, I promise that sometime this week I'll get to reading the fanfic. It won't be tomorrow - my family's coming over to celebrate, and knowing them they'll be here all day long - but sometime between this week Tuesday and next week Monday I'll review it. I totally agree with the notion of traveling companions making things interesting, and I appreciate your suggested character but I think I'm going to pass on giving Sapphire a human traveling. It's not that I have anything against the character bio you submitted, it's just that she's on the run from her parents and May and Brendan, so she wants to avoid humans as much as possible. That's why she doesn't spend a lot of time in cities. Plus she's a major loner, so she's not going to just suddenly agree to having another person follow her around the region. I might write Brook in as like a recurring trainer, perhaps as one that's on her gym challenge and matches wits with Sapphire a few times as a result of them running into each other occasionally. So I think Brook'll be in here, just not as a permanent travelling partner. Is that okay?

Disclaimer: I own nothing official!


"Start things off with a Stun Spore." Taryn commanded. Beautifly nodded before expelling a glittering cloud of yellow powder, flapping her wings hard to send it sailing towards Swampy.

"I don't think so! Swampy, use Water Gun!"

Swampy could have been a sniper the way he managed to nail Beautifly right in the face with his Water Gun. The blast of water also managed to coat the majority of the spores in enough moisture to cause them to harmlessly fall to the ground, the paralytic substance on them dissolving and then being washed away. It was easy for Swampy to dodge the rest of them. Undeterred, however, Beautifly repeated the move, and then used Gust to disperse the spores all over the battlefield. Swampy had nowhere to run, and soon felt a tingly numbness creeping into his limbs. The paralysis wasn't too bad at first, but as he opened his mouth to use another Water Gun - Sapphire knew that using Tackle against a flying opponent would be a bad idea - his jaw suddenly locked in place.

"Go on, fight it Swampy! I know you can do it!" Sapphire desperately called, hoping that her words would be enough to snap her Pokemon out of it. Taryn laughed.

"Sorry kid, but your words can't do anything to help him." She declared. "Beautifly, use Absorb while that Mudkip is immobile."

As Sapphire watched in horror, Beautifly zipped over to hover right above her faithful friend. A green glow surrounded the butterfly, and moments later tendrils of that same energy drifted down to sink into Swampy. The little Mudkip cried out in pain as the super effective Grass type move drained his energy away, replenishing Beautifly's health.

"Swampy, I know you can fight it!" Sapphire shouted. "Use Water Gun!"

"Get out of there and use Gust to finish it off!" Taryn ordered, no doubt feeling a bit threatened at the Pokemon's accuracy. Swampy was quite weak to begin with, and the wicked winds that Beautifly managed to whip up were quite powerful. They assaulted the little Water type, who shook off the paralysis long enough to open his mouth wide. Swampy would have made a sniper proud with his shot, which was unable to be deterred by the Gust. The force of the winds blew the Pokemon away, fainting him. However, the shot he managed to snap off soaked Beautifly, forcing it to put a greater effort into flying. Torrent had activated as well, causing Swampy's last attack to deal extra damage. Beautifly was on her last gasp.

Sapphire sent out Shade next, planning on having the Pokemon use Icy Wind to take out the Bug and Flying type. Sadly, Taryn recalled the soaking wet butterfly into her Pokeball, pulling it away from danger. Curiously enough, the Aqua Captain didn't send out Makuhita just yet, perhaps thinking that since Shade was so weak Dustox would be able to beat it.

Taryn called for another Poison Powder - she certainly did enjoy playing with status conditions - but by now Sapphire had gotten the hang of dodging the deadly scales. Shade's Icy Wind attack made quick work of both the poisonous substance and Dustox, forming delicate little snowflakes from the powdery scales and freezing the Moth over. Had she managed to withstand the hit the ice on her wings would have slowed her considerably, but this powerful attack, compounded with her previous injuries, was enough to faint her. Taryn had officially lost her first Pokemon.

The Aqua Captain had a stunned look on her face as she called her fallen partner back, before frowning and sending out Makuhita. Sapphire almost called Shade back, but a snarl from the weasel drew her attention. Shade, despite the fact that Makuhita was strong against it, had a nasty snarl on his face. He wanted revenge for his fallen partners. The Dark and Ice type was fully aware that he could not win against the Fighting type, but he sure was going to dish out some serious damage before he fainted.

Respecting her first Pokemon's wishes was perhaps a foolish move, but Sapphire cast her lots with Shade, ordering an Icy Wind. Makuhita's thick fatty layer would reduce the damage, but some of that was cancelled out by the fact that Sneasel, being an Ice type, received a small boost of power for his Ice type moves. More importantly, not only would Icy Wind slow and already extremely slow Pokemon, it would allow Shade to remain at a distance from the Fighting type. Sapphire was confident in her Pokemon's abilities to get out of Makuhita's range in mere moments.

That assumption was correct, as the slowed down Makuhita had trouble getting close to Shade. The bitter cold winds didn't do nearly as much damage as Sapphire wanted, but every little bit counted. Sapphire knew that eventually Shade would tire, and with the earlier struggle he had been a part of he reached his limit rather quickly. Soon Makuhita was within striking distance, and though the weasel cleverly deflected part of the Arm Thrust that Taryn called for using Scratch the super effective move fainted him.

Not wishing to expose Shade to the elements in his weakened condition, Sapphire chose to return him to his Pokeball. Taryn, too, switched out for Beautifly, even as her opponent sent out Beldum.

"Stun Spore again!"

"Iron Head!"

Beldum rushed forward, their head becoming harder than iron, ready to slam into the weakened Beautifly. As fast as they were the Steel and Psychic Type managed to hit first, But Beautifly struggled to the end, and even as her last bit of strength faded away she managed to launch the powdery yellow substance that quickly coated Beldum. The poor Pokemon looked as if they had been coated in dandelion pollen, but this substance locked his muscles up in the same way that Swampy's had.

"Quick, use Iron Defense!" Sapphire called, and thankfully Beldum managed to strengthen his resistance to any and all physical moves by hardening his outer steel plates. Moments later, Beautifly fluttered weakly to the ground, out cold.

Now it was two on one. Beldum had lost perhaps half of their health, but nonetheless was in fighting condition. As for Dancer, she hadn't even fought yet. Makuhita, on the other hand, had about half of his strength remaining too. But with as much natural strength as he had, it wasn't saying a lot that he had lost only half of it. Three quarters would have been much more preferable.

"Makuhita, finish it off using Arm Thrust!" Taryn called out in a bit of desperation as her final Pokemon came out. It had been a while since a battle had raged this far out of her control. Normally anyone that dared to stand in her way had been obliterated by now. But even though this girl that had named herself Alpha had raw talent, her skills and strategy were severely lacking. She wasn't battling with her head, and hopefully that would be enough to enable Taryn to win.

Makuhita rushed forward, even as Sapphire called for another Iron Defense. Her luck held out, Beldum was able to raise their defenses even more. But before they could dodge it the Makuhita was upon them, slamming his palms down onto their body as the Fighting Type's arms thrusted forward.

"Beldum, fire off a Zen Headbutt!" If Beldum could smirk at their trainer's words, they would have. But as they began to power up the super effective attack, the paralysis flared to life and forced them to stop. Sensing this, Sapphire frowned.

"Alright then, switch over to Iron Head." For some reason the Steel Type was able to follow through with this order, dodging another blow from Makuhita and careening into the Pokemon's head. Makuhita was dazed, but Beldum was on their final breaths. One more Arm Thrust, one that Beldum tried to dodge but failed to as the paralysis affected him again, and they were down on the field, unconscious.

It was now one on one as Sapphire recalled Beldum, thanking them for their hard work much as she had thanked her other teammates. Dancer was up, her lowest leveled Pokemon. One hit from the Makuhita would probably be enough to faint her. If it was any consolation, however, Makuhita didn't look good. His breaths were coming in short pants, and he appeared to be a little unsteady.

It wasn't like she could do anything else. Pulling out Dancer's Pokeball, she released the Psychic and Fairy type onto the field. Taryn almost burst out laughing when she was the low leveled Pokemon, but then thought better of it. After all, she had been a bit incredulous seeing a Beldum as one of Alpha's choices, and that Beldum knew moves that the species was normally incapable of learning. Perhaps this Ralts was stronger than she looked.

"Dancer, use Double Team."

"Makuhita, Force Palm attack now!"

Makuhita charged forward, while Dancer closed her eyes and focused. Suddenly white flashes filled the clearing, and there were four different Dancers in different places. Makuhita came to a stop, confused. Sapphire grinned.

"Again!"

Once more Dancer and all her copies began to multiply, and soon there were sixteen Dancers. One more brought the total up to thirty two, the maximum that Dancer could create at the time. Not bad for a level seven Ralts. Makuhita was getting confused as to which one was the proper target. Taryn appeared calm, but on the inside she was seething in frustration. She was not going to let cheap party tricks defeat her.

"Blow the fakes away with Whirlwind, Makuhita!" She barked. Makuhita smirked and began launching the attack, beginning to blow the doubles away.

"Quick Dancer, use Confusion while he's distracted!" Sapphire cried. Dancer began to focus her weak telekinetic powers on the Pokemon, sending a slight jolt of psychic energy throughout the Fighting Type's body. Makuhita paused in his attack, by this point having blown away half of the doubles. He resumed the Whirlwind, while Dancer let loose another jolt of energy. Makuhita grit his teeth - even though the attacks weren't powerful, he was dangerously close to fainting, perhaps two more would be enough to do him in - and forced the pain to the back of his mind. The Fighting type successfully managed to dispel all of the doubles, leaving the one that was closest to him remaining. There was the real Dancer.

"Finish this up with Force Palm." Taryn commanded, even as Alpha countered that with another Confusion. It was a gamble to be sure. Would the last attack be enough to faint the Makuhita?

Dancer poured all of her power into a final Confusion attack, striking Makuhita with everything she had in her. The Fighting type wasn't happy with his situation, but nonetheless forced his way through the attack to land a Force Palm on Dancer. He staggered backwards while the little Psychic and Fairy type cried out in pain. For a moment, no one moved.

Then Dancer and Makuhita toppled over, hitting the ground. They were both out cold. Taryn had a furious look on her face as she recalled Makuhita, while Sapphire ran over to Dancer and picked her up.

"You're going to be sorry you messed with Team Aqua today, Alpha." Taryn promised in a low voice that boiled with anger. "Eduardo, let's go. We have to report back to headquarters."

"Yes ma'am!" Abandoning the Devon Employee he ran over to the Captain's side. Together the two of them ran off into the trees. Straightening his tie and making sure the parts stored in his briefcase weren't broken, he walked over to Sapphire. The girl was still kneeling on the ground, her injured Pokemon held protectively.

"Excuse me, miss." He said rather hesitantly. "Are you alright?"

"...I lost…"

"I beg your pardon?" The Employee tilted his head to the side. Sapphire sighed and lifted her head to look him in the eyes, and the man was surprised to see that she had a fearful look on her face.

"Dancer fainted a split second before Makuhita did." She whispered. "I lost the battle."


And we are done! Sapphire has been handed her first defeat! So, what do you all think about this? You can leave any comments, constructive criticisms, compliments, questions, or outraged reactions in a review! Flames will be put out by Taryn's Beautifly by using Gust!