Icirrus Arc: A Matter of Respect
"May I start?" the silver-haired boy asked politely, and Jacky nodded. "Sure.",
"Thank you kindly. Gothitelle, Future Sight!"
Jacky remembered Laslow's tactics. It hadn't changed since the tournament, but this trick was starting to get old. "Let's take it down, Noivern! Attack it directly and corner it!" Noivern roared and descended upon Gothitelle.
"Psychic." Gothitelle's eyes started to flow and Noivern was forcefully held back by an invisible power. It roared in frustration. "Now Double Slap!" Laslow's Pokémon teleported and appeared next to its foe before bombarding it with a series of harsh blows, making it crash into the ground below. "Immobilize it with Psyshock!"
Gothitelle raised its arms and several shards appeared around the dragon that protectively wrapped its wings around itself, trying to shield itself from the incoming attack. The sharp splinters rained down on Noivern, viciously digging into its wings. Crystals formed above them, announcing the lingering doom. "Just a moment more..." Laslow muttered as he looked upwards. The crystals quivered strongly as they threatened to fall. "Come on, Noivern!" Jacky screamed and the dragon lifted its head but yelped in pain as it tried to fly with its injured wings. It was utterly helpless on the ground. "Dragon Pulse! Try to destroy the crystals!" Noivern did as it was told, yet before its attack was able to crash into the projectiles of dread, Laslow intercepted it. "Psychic, Gothitelle! Hold it off!" Gothitelle's powers redirected the attack straight back at Noivern. The dragon roared... and then, it was over as the Future Sight attack crashed into it and defeated it on the spot. Jacky knew this was coming, yet there was no way to prevent it from happening. These crystals would shatter shields and render abilities inaffective. It even ignored the fact Psychic was usually blocked out completely by the dark type due to the properties it had, so she couldn't have prevented it even by switching into Absol. "Two to one", Laslow noticed.
"Crap..." Jacky withdrew Noivern. 'What am I going to do now? He's gonna destroy me with this...', she thought desperately, reaching for Absol's Pokéball. "Absol, go!" Absol landed on the ground and growled menacingly. "You've got me cornered, Laslow", she admitted. "But I'm not going to give up, and I'm not going to lose, no way! Slash, Absol!" Absol dashed off and struck at Gothitelle, but it teleported away. "Go after it, Absol! Don't let it breathe and don't let him withdraw it!" Absol growled and chased after the opposing Pokémon, keeping it on the move so it was impossible for Laslow to switch it out. 'She's trying to exploit the type advantage on her side this time', he thought to herself. 'I don't have many options there other than fighting back. Fine then...' He stretched out his arm, deciding to counter instead of staying on the defensive. "Double Slap, Gothitelle! Fight back!"
Instead of trying to flee, Gothitelle now became active and fended off Absol's clawed blows by blocking its strikes precisely and then waiting for a good opportunity to counter. Swiftly, it hit Absol's forehead, forcing it to back off. Absol growled before leaping at its opponent again with Psycho Cut, but Gothitelle caught its sickle between its hands. "...! What?" Jacky's eyes widened. She had widely underestimated Gothitelle's defensive capacity. "Double Slap again!" Laslow commanded. Gothitelle teleported to the right side and smashed a hit against Absol's temple before another one thundered against its back. Jacky gasped and suppressed a groan of pain. 'Why aren't my visions coming...? Damn it...!'
The next attack hit Absol's shoulder and it howled before it jumped back. "Double Edge!" Jacky shouted and her partner threw itself against Gothitelle, knocking it back harshly. That's when Laslow spotted the opportunity and withdrew it. "Enough, Gothitelle. Let's leave this to Sceptile!" He switched in his next Pokémon.
"Sceptile..." Jacky pulled out her Pokédex and scanned it to view the available information about this Pokémon. Sceptile was the evolved form of Laslow's Grovyle, which she remembered just too well. It's vicious Toxic technique had left an impression on her from when she faced off against Laslow the first time. It gave her a really hard time even back then, and now, it was fully evolved. This Pokémon was really agile and its main weapon were the razor sharp leaves growing from its wrists. They were sharp enough to effortlessly slash trees in half. No way she would let her weakened Absol face off against this opponent.
"Okay... Absol, come back." She withdrew it. "This isn't going to be easy... Alright, Medicham, let's face off against it!" Her Medicham took the field. Sceptile got into a fighting stance and the blades on his arms flashed dangerously. "We've been at this point before," Laslow remembered. "Back then, it was your Medicham against my Grovyle.",
"But Medicham has gotten much stronger!" Jacky said confidently and her Pokémon slammed its fist against its open palm as if to underline that statement.
"You may start this round", Laslow told her.
"Okay! Psycho Cut, Medicham!" Medicham formed a thin blade in its hand and then bolted at its opponent. "Dig, Sceptile!" His Pokémon buried itself in the ground, escaping Medicham's slice. Then, it shot from the earth and hurled it in the air like a ragdoll. Medicham gave a surprised gasp and then managed to perform a somersault, safely landing on its feet. "X-Scissor, Sceptile!" Laslow commanded and his partner lunged at the opponent with lightning speed. Medicham managed to block Sceptile's attack with Psycho Cut and braced itself against it, trying to push it back.
Yet, Sceptile backed off quickly before zigzagging across the field to attack again and ripping a poison-infused Leaf Blade across Medicham's arm. It gasped convulsively, but kept its composure and formed another Psycho Cut blade, slashing it across Sceptile's shoulder to force it off. "X-Scissor, Sceptile!" Laslow commanded. Sceptile narrowed its eyes and then jumped off the ground, performing an elegant spin in the air and slashing at its opponent. "Protect!" Jacky shouted, and Medicham blocked the attack with a green shield. "We don't have much time left, Medicham! Fight back quickly, the poison will otherwise...!"
At that moment, Medicham staggered as the toxins in its body clearly showed their effect. Sceptile buried itself in the ground again and suddenly appeared behind Medicham. The follow-up Leaf Blade struck its back. With a cry, the psychic-type Pokémon fell onto its knees and braced itself against the ground with shaking arms, its strength fading bit by bit as the poison sapped it more and more with each passing second. "Let's finish this, swiftly", Laslow said. "X-Scissor!" Sceptile's blades glowed again and it attacked the weakened Medicham, who raised its arms and shielded itself from its ferocious attacks again.
Eventually, it managed to force itself to its feet with all its might. "Shadow Shard, go!" Jacky shouted. Medicham shattered a Shadow Ball right in front of it, with the shards raining down onto Sceptile. It wasn't able to block them and hissed as they got stuck in its scaly skin. It shook them off before infusing its blades with poison once again and charging at Medicham. Medicham, armed with two blades, also charged into the melee and the two exchanged blows, but the poison weakened it more and more and it didn't take Sceptile long to break through igts opponent's defenses. It's X-Scissor hit Medicham's chest and forced it to forfeit. It collapsed on the ground. Jacky withdrew her Medicham, and she was three of five Pokémon down already, while Laslow had only lost one so far. It wasn't looking too good for her, but she didn't expect this battle to be easy either. She had had huge trouble against him the first time already, so it wasn't bound to get any easier in the future. "Laslow... You've gotten really strong... Much stronger than ever before. But I'm not giving up yet... Absol, let's go!" Absol landed on the ground in front of her, already a bit more recovered from the previous fight. "I have respect for you. I really do..."
Laslow smiled at that. "Heh... I respect you too. Both as a person and a trainer." He looked so good when he smiled... Was it the way it softened up his face, or the way it made his eyes light up? ... Why did Jacky let herself get distracted again by his good looks?! This really wasn't normal anymore!