".4, use Agility!" Orange exclaimed as the Caffeine Pokémon was released from its Poké Ball. Before the glow had even faded, .4 started zipping energetically around the battlefield, gibbering excitedly and incoherently as Exeggutor tried to keep an eye on it- a harder feat than one would think for something with a total of six eyes.
"Exeggutor, use your Psychic attack now!" commanded Phil.
"Tor," replied all three of Exeggutor's heads as all six eyes glowed a light blue, sending a ray of blue light across the whole battlefield. .4 screeched in discomfort as the Psychic attack struck it.
"Hang in there, .4!" Orange called out. "Try your Wing Attack!"
"Eeeeee hee hee hee!" cackled .4 as a pair of purple, blocky wings erupted forth from its back. The Pokémaniac-type then darted forward, colliding with Exeggutor's trunk, the sheer speed with which it flew sending Exeggutor stumbling backwards.
"Barrage attack!" Phil ordered.
"Dodge it with TM05!" shouted Orange.
As Exeggutor fired off a wave of glowing white orbs from its leaves, .4 zipped forward, flying towards Exeggutor once more, though this time, as its blocky wings retracted into its body, it suddenly veered off to one side, and suddenly became invisible.
"Exeggu?!" exclaimed Exeggutor as all three heads glanced around, trying to catch sight of their diminutive adversary.
"Take it out, .4!" Orange called. "TM28 attack!"
Three consecutive small explosions rent the air from behind Exeggutor, sending it tumbling to the ground as .4 became visible once more.
"Exeggu... tor," gasped Exeggutor as it tried and failed to get back up.
"Nice job, .4!" Orange grinned as Phil called Exeggutor back to its Poké Ball.
"That .4 of yours is well trained," said Phil as he prepared his next Poké Ball. "Exeggutor's usually good for taking out at least one Pokémon."
"Heh, thanks," grinned Orange as .4 did three or four dozen very rapid loop-de-loops in response to the compliment. ".4's the first Pokémon I ever caught."
"Very touching," nodded Phil. "But let's see how your .4 stacks up against Tangela! Go!" he shouted as he threw the new Poké Ball, releasing the Grass-type out onto the battlefield.
"Wing Attack!" Orange called out.
"Tangela, Bind it!" shouted Phil.
"Taaaang!" exclaimed Tangela as a pair of teal vines unraveled themselves from the tangled mass of his body and flew forward. .4, however, deftly swooped and dove in midair, evading the vines with remarkable skill before sprouting its blocky wings once more and slamming them into Tangela, sending it skidding backwards.
"Good job, .4!" said Orange. "Now let's try out that new move we've been practicing!" Red and Violet exchanged surprised glances at this.
"Did you know anything about Orange working on a new attack with .4?" Violet asked.
"I barely know anything about .4, period," responded Red, shrugging his shoulders.
".4! Dragon Rage now!" Orange called. In response, .4 twirled around in midair with dizzying rapidity before unleashing a stream of mystical blue fire from its diminutive body. Tangela screeched in discomfort as the Dragon-type move tormented its tangles of tentacles.
"Mega Drain!" Phil roared.
"Tang taaaang!" Tangela replied before its eyes took on a light green glow. Almost immediately, a similar glow came over .4's body. Now it was the Caffeine Pokémon's turn to screech in discomfort as Tangela slowly started to drain its energy.
"Come on, .4!" Orange encouraged his Pokémon.
"Now use your Sleep Powder attack!" Phil shouted.
"Tang Tangela!" screeched Tangela as it shook its vines, sending a plume of blue dust flying. Though .4 made to evade it, this did not work; the Caffeine Pokémon fell to the ground, and started emitting rapid, high-pitched snores.
"Rrrrgh!" Orange grunted.
"SolarBeam! Now!" commanded Phil.
As the topmost vines on Tangela's body began to glow brightly, Orange furiously dug through his backpack, and produced his Poké Flute from within.
"No, don't you dare," Violet said warningly. "You promised."
"Yeah, but-"
"Orange-"
"But .4-"
"You promised-"
"Screw the promise-"
"Taaaaang!" bellowed Tangela as the Vine Pokémon unleashed its SolarBeam attack- a powerful and brightly glowing blast of concentrated sunlight, nearly plowing .4 into the ground. As the attack ceased, .4 was lying at Orange's feet, smoking slightly, and not moving at all.
".4, return," sighed Orange as he aimed the Poké Ball so as to allow the beam to suck .4 back into the sphere. As he prepared another Poké Ball, he shot Violet a nasty glare. He then threw the ball, calling out "Fearow! I choose you now!"
In a flash of light, the ball unleashed Orange's Fearow, who immediately rose high into the air, floating effortlessly in midair, barely needing to flap its wings.
"Tangela, use Swords Dance!" Phil shouted.
"Fearow, Take Down!" Orange called.
"Feeeeeaaaaaarooooooowww!" screeched Fearow as it dove down at the now spinning and glowing Tangela. As Tangela ceased spinning, it was immediately sent flying backwards as Fearow tackled it hard.
"Follow up with Fury Attack!" Orange commanded.
"Tangela, Body Slam!" said Phil.
Fearow flew at Tangela once more as the latter jumped into the air, ready to slam its entire body weight down on the Beak Pokémon. As this happened, however, Fearow abruptly shifted direction, and started furiously pecking at Tangela in midair.
"Come on, Tangela! Bind now!" Phil called desperately.
"End it! Peck attack!" Orange yelled.
As Tangela extended a pair of teal vines, Fearow delivered one final blow with its cruelly pointed beak, sending Tangela tumbling to the ground, completely unmoving, its tangled vines sagging in defeat.
"Return, Tangela," said Phil as he held out its Poké Ball.
"Nice job, Fearow," Orange grinned happily. Fearow cawed loudly and proudly in response as it rose higher into the air, now circling over the battlefield.
"Nice job indeed," nodded Phil as he prepared his third and final Poké Ball. "But let's see how Fearow can deal with Victreebel!" he added, shouting that last word as he heaved the ball, unleashing aforementioned Grass/Poison-type into the open.
"Be careful, Fearow," Orange advised his Normal/Flying-type. "That thing's got a vicious Wrap attack. We'll stick to long range attacks for now. Use Razor Wind!"
"Use Acid!" called Phil.
As Fearow flapped its great wings, sending gusts of sharp, cutting wind at its opponent, Victreebel lifted the large leaf up off its mouth and unleashed a massive stream of dark, corrosive fluid from within, causing Fearow to screech in pain as the Poison move hit.
"Fearow!" Orange called in concern.
"Victreebel, use your Razor Leaf attack now!" Phil commanded.
Victreebel screeched in response as it swung the smaller leaves on the sides of its body around, sending multiple sharp leaves whizzing through the air. Fearow, still reeling from the acidic assault from earlier, made no effort to dodge this, and the leaves struck it hard. Screeching again, Fearow fell to the ground.
"Fearow, quick, use your Take Down!" Orange called desperately.
"Wrap!" Phil shouted, almost before Fearow hit the ground.
Victreebel was almost as quick to respond as his trainer was, its brown vine already snaking around Fearow's body and squeezing hard.
"No! Fearow, you can get out of there!" Orange exclaimed.
However, after several minutes of futile struggling, it seemed as though Orange's words had no truth to them. Fearow did emerge from the vine's grip, but only after Victreebel loosened it, allowing Fearow to tumble to the ground, where it lay unmoving.
"I am really starting to hate Wrap," grumbled Orange as he withdrew Fearow. "Really starting to hate it." He then took another Poké Ball and threw it. "Let's go, Q!" he shouted.
The ball split open, and Q was unleashed into the air. "Kyuuuu," it called softly.
"Hah!" Phil roared with laughter. "You really think that's wise, boy? Sending a Water-type to battle a Grass-type?"
"Watch yourself," grinned Orange. "You think that's wise, getting so cocky when you're using a Poison-type against a Psychic-type?"
"Touché," admitted Phil. "Well, let's see how this works out. Victreebel, Stun Spore!"
"Q, Water Gun!" Orange called out.
As Victreebel expelled clouds of yellow dust from its mouth, Q unleashed a stream of water from one of the corners on the front of its cube-shaped body. The dampened spores fell to the ground, falling far short of their intended target.
"Now use Headbutt!" Orange commanded.
"Victreebel, use your Wrap attack now!" shouted Phil.
Q charged forward, ramming Victreebel hard. In retaliation, Victreebel's vine snaked forward, preparing to coil itself around Q.
"Dodge it... and use Disable!" Orange grinned.
Q shot up into the air like a rocket, evading the approaching vine completely, and then a pink glow came over its whole body. A similar glow appeared in Victreebel's eyes as it retracted most of its vine.
"Fine," growled Phil. "We don't need to use Wrap! Victreebel, Mega Drain attack-"
"Confusion!" shouted Orange.
"Kyuuuuu," sang Q as it unleashed a ray of blue light from one of its corners. Victreebel shrieked and screeched in agony as the super-effective move hit. Once the attack ceased, the Flycatcher Pokémon promptly toppled over.
"Nicely done," nodded Phil as he withdrew Victreebel and made his way across the battlefield. "Your Pokémon are all well trained, and you've more than earned this." With that, he handed Orange his own Arbor Badge, in addition to another TM for Mega Drain.
"Sweet," Orange grinned as he accepted the items.
"OK, my turn now," said Violet as she walked over to the battlefield, stepping on Orange's foot as she did so. Though it looked like an accident, Red could've sworn he saw a sly smirk momentarily cross Violet's face as Orange hopped up and down, clutching the foot tightly and roaring various obscenities. At the sound of this, Q appeared to blush (the majority of its front became tinted red for a brief moment, anyway), and then it quickly tapped the Poké Ball on Orange's belt, withdrawing itself.
Across the battlefield, Phil had already returned to his position and healed his Pokémon. "Ready?" he asked.
"You bet," said Violet as the two each prepared a Poké Ball. Then, they threw them simultaneously.
"Exeggutor!" shouted Phil.
"Skulls!" yelled Violet.
In twin flashes of light, Phil's Exeggutor and Violet's Koffing materialized.
"You got kind of a disadvantage there," Orange pointed out in what Red perceived as a deliberately obnoxious manner.
"Type advantage isn't everything," replied Violet. "Skulls! Sludge attack now!"
"Koffing!" replied Skulls as it unleashed a forceful stream of black gunk from its wide, grinning mouth.
"Exeggutor, Reflect!" shouted Phil.
"Exeggutor," chanted the three heads of the Grass/Psychic-type as a shimmering wall of light materialized before it. Most of the Sludge attack splattered against the wall, but some of it managed to get through, causing Exeggutor to groan in discomfort as it became poisoned.
"Fight back with Psychic!" ordered Phil.
"Skulls, Mimic!" Violet commanded.
The skull-and-crossbones design on Skulls's body flashed briefly, and then both the Koffing and the Exeggutor fired off waves of blue energy, each one cancelling the other out. Though they were able to maintain this for several minutes, Exeggutor was groaning under the combined strain of continual Psychic usage and the poisoning from Sludge. Both Pokémon stopped their Psychic attacks, and stared across the battlefield at each other.
"Tor... Tor..." panted Exeggutor.
"Skulls, Tackle it now!" Violet commanded.
"Exeggutor, Barrage!" said Phil.
Koffing zipped across the battlefield, and before Exeggutor could even begin to react, plowed the arboreal adversary down to the ground, slamming into it with great force.
"Exeggu... tor," gasped Exeggutor as it briefly struggled to get up, ultimately failing.
"Nice job, Skulls," grinned Violet.
"Koffing, Koffing!" replied Skulls, grinning wider than ever before, just as its body became bathed in a bright white light.
"Oh, COME ON!" Phil exclaimed as the Koffing started changing shape. "How many times am I gonna have to put up with enemy Pokémon evolving mid-battle?!"
"Ha haaaa!" Violet laughed triumphantly as the glow faded, revealing a pale lavender Pokémon hovering in Skulls's place. It greatly resembled a Koffing, but without the perpetual grin. In addition, a smaller second head protruded from its left. This smaller head had a yellow circle where the larger head had a skull and crossbones.
"Weezing, the Poison Gas Pokémon, and the evolved form of Koffing," said Violet's Pokédex. "Weezing eats the dust, germs, and poisonous gases given off by toxic waste and garbage. On rare occasions, it forms by two Koffing fusing together where two kinds of poison gases meet."
"Weezing weez," groaned both of Skulls's heads simultaneously.
"Exeggutor, return!" scowled Phil as he held out the ball which withdrew the fallen tree. Once Exeggutor had re-entered its ball, Phil heaved another one out onto the battlefield. "Go, Tangela!"
"Heh," Violet sneered as Tangela materialized. "With a Weezing by my side, there's no way we're gonna lose! Skulls, Sludge attack!"
"Weeeez," bellowed Skulls as each head unleashed a stream of sludge.
"Quick, Tangela! Swords Dance!" shouted Phil.
"Taaaaangela!" exclaimed Tangela as it proceeded to spin furiously in place, its entire body emitting that silvery glow. So rapid was this spinning that the streams of sludge ricocheted off. Once Skulls stopped its attack, so did Tangela.
"Skulls, use Psychic now!" ordered Violet.
"Body Slam it!" Phil commanded.
It was clear that Skulls's earlier use of Mimic was still in effect, for it unleashed a wave of blue light from the skull-and-crossbones design on its larger head. Tangela, however, expertly jumped over the attack and slammed into the Weezing from above, sending Skulls down to the ground.
"Weez... Weez," Skulls groaned as it unsteadily rose back into the air. Every few seconds, what appeared to be electricity sparked across its body. Each spark was accompanied by a pained wince.
"Skulls is paralyzed," Red muttered. "This isn't looking good."
"Skulls, you can do it!" Violet pleaded. "Use your Sludge attack!"
"Tangela, it's time for the big finish!" declared Phil. "Hyper Beam!"
"Tangelaaaaaaaaaaaa!" screeched Tangela as it unleashed a blast of pure destructive force in the form of a beam of yellow light from within the tangled mass of vines that was its body. Though Skulls opened its mouths to unleash Sludge, it never got the chance as the Hyper Beam connected. The Weezing was thrown forcefully backwards by the force of the move, and came to rest at the ground at Violet's feet, unconscious.
"No!" Violet groaned as she withdrew her Weezing. "What the hell? I had the type advantage!"
"Type advantage isn't everything," Orange piped up.
"Orange?" hissed Violet.
"Yes?"
"Shut up."
"Next Pokémon, please," smirked Phil.
Violet groaned in exasperation before throwing another Poké Ball. "Tombstone, go get it!"
Tangela started to look somewhat wary as Violet's h Poké materialized, floating motionlessly in midair. "Poké..." it said in an eerie, echoing voice.
"Where's your Hyper Beam now?" Violet smirked as Phil and Tangela exchanged uneasy glances. "Oh, wait. Doesn't work on a Ghost-type, now, does it? Aww, did I mess up your big strategy?"
"Tangela! Stun Spore it!" snapped Phil.
"Tombstone, use HM02!" shouted Violet.
While Tombstone seemed to not respond, Tangela shook its vines, preparing to fire off a cloud of yellow dust... and then Tangela's eyes began to droop. The Vine Pokémon started to stumble about, as if having trouble keeping its balance.
"No! Tangela, come on!" Phil exclaimed.
"Let's wrap this up," grinned Violet. "Lick attack!"
One of the small black squares which made up the strange, blocky pattern on Tombstone's body slid open like a mouth, and a long pink tongue shot out, giving Tangela one long slurp. At this, Tangela fell over backwards and moved no more, just as the h Poké withdrew its tongue back into its body.
"Gah!" Phil exclaimed as he withdrew his Tangela. "This... just... GAH!" he roared as he threw his third Poké Ball, sending out his Victreebel.
"Heh," Violet chuckled. "I'd like to see what you plan to do here. Wrap's a Normal move. h Poké is Ghost and Poison. Wrap won't work. PoisonPowder won't work, if it knows it. OK, Tombstone, Night Shade attack!"
"Victreebel, try using Bide!" Phil exclaimed.
Victreebel crossed its leaves across the front of its body, and as the black energy bolt from Tombstone struck it, took on a bright glow.
"Tombstone! Confuse Ray now!" Violet ordered.
"h Poké!" replied Tombstone in that same eerie, echoing voice as before, as the entire front of its body seemed to melt, the pattern twisting and distorting oddly as a pale lavender light was cast onto the glowing Victreebel. Through the glowing, it now seemed to be moving erratically.
In spite of this, however, Victreebel shrieked loudly as it fired off the powerful beam of energy from its body, hitting the h Poké with twice the force of its own Night Shade. Thrown back by the sheer force of the attack, Tombstone reeled somewhat in midair for a moment.
"Steal that energy right back, Tombstone!" Violet called. "HM02 now!"
"Sleep Pow... der..." groaned Phil, for Victreebel had already slumped over on its side before the name of the attack had a chance to fully exit the Gym Leader's mouth.
"Wow," Red remarked, visibly impressed. "You didn't even need all three Pokémon, Violet!" Orange, however, merely grunted as Violet withdrew Tombstone, and Phil subsequently awarded her an Arbor Badge and a Mega Drain TM.
As the trio exited the Gym, Violet turned to Orange. "OK, you wanna tell me what that grunting of yours was about in there?" she asked.
"Oh, you want to know? OK," Orange said as he rounded on her. "I could've taken out that guy's team with just two Pokémon, too, you know? Hell, I might have only needed one! Maybe if somebodyhadn't stopped me from waking .4 up-"
"You made a promise that you weren't gonna play that Poké Flute," Violet replied. "No matter what."
"You know perfectly well that you forced me into that promise!" Orange shot back. "It was stupid and unreasonable-"
"Excuse me?!" demanded Violet. "I- can you even hear yourself when you play? It sounds like an angry mob of screeching Mankey! Or worse- like your snoring!"
"Oh, don't even start that one again," said Orange. Groaning and facepalming, Red led the way back to the Pokémon Center, not even bothering to try and break this one up. Thankfully, they had stopped bickering by the time they reached the center, and the sun had started to set. However, neither Orange nor Violet seemed to want to talk to each other now, and remained silent throughout their dinner.
"Guys, c'mon," sighed Red as the they handed their Pokémon over to the nurse. "You two are friends, and I don't like to see you two fighting like this."
"Fine, just as soon as Orange apologizes," shrugged Violet.
"Hmph," grunted Orange. "Well, don't worry, Red, this'll all be over as soon as Violet comes to her senses and apologizes to me for being unreasonable."
"This will all be over once Orange comes to his senses and apologizes to me," Violet said, determinedly not looking at Orange.
"And were I to apologize to Violet," Orange continued, looking anywhere but at Violet, "I don't even know what it would be that she could possibly expect me to apologize for. Trainers are well within their rights to use items in the middle of battles, after all."
Violet opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Though Red didn't dare voice this opinion, it seemed to him as though Violet was starting to realize that Orange actually had a valid point, and that she was in the wrong on this one. After a moment, she closed her mouth, then turned to glare at Orange.
"Well?" grinned Orange. "I'm waiting."
"Hm," Violet smirked. "Orange?"
"Yeah?"
In response, Violet grabbed the collar of Orange's shirt with both hands and pulled him in close to her. Red's eyes went wide and his jaw dropped as their lips met. Judging by what little of Orange's face Red could see, he was equally surprised, but he seemed to have no objection to this turn of events. About half a minute later, they separated.
"Shut up," Violet said at last, though with a grin on her face.