CHAPTER 16 – A LILAC MERCY
DING!
"Blaziken, use Flamethrower!" Leoric ordered, throwing his arm forwards. With the roaring crowd behind it, Blaziken loosed a spire of scorching flames from its mouth, the tremendous heat of the attack igniting the short grass in a straight line to Clefable.
"Throw it away, Clefable! Psychic!" was Anabel's response, and her Fairy Pokémon sheathed itself in a shimmering blue aura. It held its hands out almost like it was about to try and catch the incoming stream of fire, and a moment later the same aura had encompassed the Flamethrower's front. Not to be denied an opening strike, Blaziken powered up the attack, forcing Clefable to resort to simply buffering the attack with a Psychic shield.
When the Flamethrower made contact with the shield, it speared off at a slight angle, deflected over Clefable's shoulder. The Normal-type winced as the roaring flames licked at its arm and face, but it was for the most part unharmed from Blaziken's powerful opening attack.
"Water Pulse!" Anabel yelled. She needed to get on the offensive as quickly as possible, so Blaziken wouldn't be able to get into a rhythm of attacking. Clefable cupped its tiny hands in front of its body, and a spinning ball of blue water appeared in the space. It quickly grew to the size of a rockmelon, and with a whoosh Clefable sent the ball rocketing across the field.
"Quick Attack," said Leoric, pretending to stifle a yawn. Blaziken sped off as fast as a lightning bolt, a communal gasp arising from the crowd as it disappeared from view. With no target, the Water Pulse simply crashed into the ground where Blaziken had been, exploding amidst a shower of dew and grass.
Ash started forwards in his seat out of surprise, almost hitting his teeth on the railing. "Wha… where did Blaziken go?" he stammered, comically checking between left and right in a vain attempt to establish the Fire-type's location. He just couldn't keep up. He turned to Ari, and to his utter amazement found the boy untroubled by Blaziken's speed. Ari's eyes were flicking back and forth across the field, somehow managing to keep track of Blaziken's every move. How—?
"Double Team, evasive formation!" Anabel fired, down on the field. With a graceful spin and a twirl, Clefable sent a shower of golden particles into the air. Its body distorted and fizzled in the air like a faulty hologram before it split apart into six identical figures, and at once the six fairies spread out, standing in arbitrarily random places on Anabel's side of the field.
"What's with the formation?" Ash asked, tilting his head towards Ari but not daring to take his eyes off the battle.
"She's playing the odds, making sure Blaziken can't hit more than two Clefable in one move," he explained concisely, drawing imaginary lines across the field with a finger. Indeed, no matter what path he made, at most there were two Fairy Pokémon standing on it. At least she knows that she can't just put her Pokémon in a line and expect Leo to pick them off one by one…
"Blaze Kick!" Leoric barked.
In a flash, a fireball materialised on the centre circle, rocketing towards Anabel at a terrifying pace. Without giving Anabel or the crowd any viable reaction time, the fireball speared straight through two Clefable off to Anabel's right. Both were clones, dissolving into the air. Neither Leoric nor Blaziken were disappointed in the result, and with good reason. The tremendous speed of Blaziken's failed attack had generated a massive sonic shockwave, which tore through the stadium like the breath of god in Blaziken's wake and knocked the rest of the Normal-types clean off their feet.
Three disappeared along with their fellow copies, but the real Clefable appeared unfazed by the sonic strike. Performing a lithe backflip in the air, Clefable managed to steady itself before hitting the ground, gently floating back down to earth. Up in the stands, Ash and Ari heaved a relieved sigh that Clefable hadn't been hurt by the attack. Ari knew that if Blaziken had landed a hit with its Blaze Kick, it would've put Anabel in a position she couldn't have recovered from.
A momentary lapse in Clefable's concentration revealed a grimace in its otherwise plain expression. Noticing it, Leoric took charge again.
"Blaziken, roast it with a Flamethrower!" he said, and his trusty Fire-type sent a second jet of fire blazing a mid-air trail straight for Clefable.
"Cancel it out with a Water Pulse, Clefable!" Anabel called out.
Clefable's hands were already moving when it heard Anabel's order, and within a second it had formed another large ball of spinning blue energy. As Blaziken's Flamethrower bore down on it, Clefable hurled the Water Pulse round-arm style, sending the orb racing forward to meet the jet. With a bang and a hiss of steam, Blaziken's Flamethrower evaporated the Water Pulse on contact, denying the Water-type attack the chance to reach Blaziken's side of the field.
Fortunately for Anabel, the Water Pulse had served its intended purpose, mutually annihilating the Flamethrower attack and leaving Clefable unharmed. She'd caused a chip in Blaziken's momentum, and now she had to capitalise on the shift. But she couldn't afford Leoric knowing about the move, until it was too late.
Clefable, grab Blaziken with Psychic!
A cunning glint sparking to life in its bright eyes, Clefable shrouded itself in that same vivid blue aura as before, and Leoric's irises dilated in surprise as he recognised the shroud. He desperately tried to shout an order to Blaziken, but his lips had barely parted before Clefable threw its arms to the side.
"Get out of there!" he yelled. Blaziken only had enough time to tense its legs before its own body was trapped within the same blue outline as Clefable, the Psychic attack completely immobilising it.
"You know what to do!" Anabel smirked, and her loyal fans rejoiced in the order, eager for Clefable to land a powerful blow against its opponent.
Mirroring its trainer's victorious expression, Clefable gave a light twitch of its hands, the crowd watching on as Blaziken rose unwillingly off the ground. The Blaze Pokémon struggled against the intangible bonds suppressing it, but even if it could break through, it had nothing to jump off. The immobilised Blaziken watched on as Clefable slowly closed its hand into a fist. The bonds around Blaziken tightened, like gradually being crushed under an ever-increasing mountain of soil from all directions. A pained cry caught in Blaziken's throat as Clefable squeezed down tighter.
Content with the strength of its attack, Clefable flicked its wrists, sending Blaziken rocketing across the field to a booming, communal cheer from the attending crowd. Blaziken crashed into the boundary wall with a loud crunch and slid down onto the grassy field, an impressive dent in the metal wall above its head a testament to the force behind Clefable's powerful Psychic attack.
"Alright, Clefable! Hit it with a Water Pulse while it's down!" Anabel rallied.
"Blaziken, springboard manoeuvre!" countered Leoric.
A third sphere of water was already collecting between Clefable's hands as Blaziken's head jerked upwards. A feral smirk cracked onto the Blaze Pokémon's face as it planted its legs against the boundary wall, assuming a position like a sprinter ready to race. Anabel saw the change in stance out of the corner of her eye. It took her a second to realise what was about to happen, but when she did—
"Drop the Water Pulse, Clefable!" she screamed in the miniscule moment before Blaziken took off. The water ball hadn't even begun to fall before Blaziken pounced. The Fire-type streaked across the arena like a heat-seeking missile, swinging around and aiming a flame-sheathed leg straight for Clefable's face. "Defend with Meteor Mash!"
Clefable's top-notch reflexes were the only thing that kept it from being pulverised by Blaziken's sonic kick. The Normal-type threw a golden, shimmering arm forward in a powerful jab to meet the incoming bullet that was Blaziken, the two attacks clashing with the sound of shattering glass. Clefable's arm was knocked back by the sheer momentum of Blaziken's kick, snapping the limb back amidst a shower of sparkling stars, but the impact had done enough to stop Blaziken's charge. Blaziken was forced to drop one leg to the ground to steady itself.
Then the Blaze Pokémon pivoted on its grounded leg, taking barely a split second to complete a full revolution and swing a second devastating Blaze Kick into Clefable's jaw.
"Clefable!" shrieked a horrified Anabel as her Pokémon was sent skywards like it had been shot out of a cannon.
"Time for a meteor move, Blaziken! Sky Uppercut!" Leoric ordered, pointing to the ascending Fairy Pokémon. Blaziken stooped down low, and then launched itself after its hapless opponent, closing in on Clefable with terrifying speed. Twenty thousand eyes watched on as Blaziken caught up to Clefable as the latter began to give in to gravity. The two Pokémon seemed to hover at the tip of their trajectories for a long time, and it was only made the more painful for Anabel to watch as Blaziken cocked an arm back.
With a move that made even Leoric wince, Blaziken slammed a fist into Clefable's stomach. Clefable's eyes shot open as all the breath was driven out of its body, but they didn't see anything except the clear blue sky as it ferociously plummeted back the way it came. A sickening collision ensued between the Normal-type's soft body and the hard ground, and the ground split apart upon impact, obscuring Clefable from the two trainers as the crowd leapt to their feet. Leoric's Pokémon did the opposite, bending its legs to soften its landing just feet away from Clefable.
Only two bodies knew of the Fairy Pokémon's condition, and Blaziken raised a fiery fist high and in full view of the crowd as a token of its victory, whilst Anabel sighed and let her chin fall to her chest. The stifled screams of her Pokémon inside her head had been extinguished. She knew what it meant, but it didn't make it any easier to swallow.
Naturally, the referee had no such qualms about the battle's result. After craning his head to confirm it, he nodded at Leoric and raised his red flag for the second time in the match. "Clefable is unable to battle! Blaziken is the winner! Mr. Reiger receives one point! Also, as the overall winner of the match, he will receive this match's bonus point!"
"Go, Leo, go!" chanted a large portion of the crowd, punching the air as one as Blaziken was returned to its PokéBall after fist-bumping its trainer. Leoric gave them a grin and a few air punches of his own in recognition of the support.
"He really knows how to get the crowd on his side, doesn't he?" Ash mused aloud, knowing that Ari wouldn't be able to hear him over the din surrounding them. What he wasn't prepared for was the sight of Ari consulting his phone rather than watching the battle as he turned around. "Uh, what're you doing?"
"Phone got an alert," Ari grunted, frantically typing away at the keypad. "The bracket's other match just ended, so I'm checking the result to see if—gah! Son of a—!" He broke off mid-sentence with a loud and frustrated groan. Ash could've sworn he saw Ari punch his seat in anger.
"What's wrong?" he asked, shuffling back in his seat a fraction. He didn't know Ari particularly well, but somehow he could tell that this little outburst wasn't something Ari was prone to.
"The other match was a whitewash," answered Ari with a sharp frown. The boy shoved his phone back in his pocket and stood up. He grabbed the railing with one hand, leant over as far as he could and used his free hand to give a piercing whistle that screeched at Ash's ears like nails on a chalkboard. "Leo!" Ari roared, now waving at his friend to get his attention. The crowd around him misinterpreted the urgency in his voice, seeing it an attempt to restart the chant. So they did just that and stockpiled on Ari's 'supportive call'.
"You might wanna sit back down, Ari!" Ash yelped as he saw one of the stand's many security guards paying close attention to Ari's antics. Ari ignored both Ash and the security guard and made another frantic gesture in an attempt to grab Leoric's attention.
Down on the field, the trainer in question plucked a PokéBall off his belt. Since Anabel had sent a Pokémon out first in the last battle, it was his turn. He'd already won the match and the bonus point but he still wanted to send a message to whomever he was battling next round. And nothing was quite as intimidating as facing someone completely undefeated from the first round. Besides… he thought, smiling down at the PokéBall grasped between his fingers, I haven't used you so far in the tournament. You could use a warm-up or two before the finals roll around to get the blood flowing.
He was halfway through the motion of throwing the PokéBall forward before his eyes caught sight of something. He froze mid-action when his keen vision found none other than Ari waving at him from his right, half-turning his head to get a better look. Ari wildly tried to signal something to him, a hand thrust far out in front of him. Through a squint, Leoric only barely managed to decipher the hand gesture Ari was giving him amongst the multitude of fanatics around him.
A whitewash, eh? Leoric sighed inwardly when he saw Ari holding three fingers up at him. Reluctantly, he returned the PokéBall in his hand to his waist. "Sorry, buddy," he apologised to the ball as his hand drifted away from it. The ball shook restlessly on his belt. "How's about a joyride after the battle to make it up to you?" he asked it. He didn't wait for an answer as he pulled another PokéBall off his belt, but the first ball seemed satisfied with the compromise, ceasing its activity as Leoric threw its ally forwards.
"Mawile, prepare to charge!"
"That was a close one," Ari mumbled as he dropped back into his seat. He looked over and gave a meek, apologetic handwave to the guard who'd been observing him before returning his eyes to the field. Leoric's small Steel-type waddled onto the field, the colossal jaws sprouting out of its head snapping angrily at the crowd behind it.
"Uh… what was that all about?" asked a thoroughly confused Ash.
"Since the other match was a whitewash," Ari began to explain, his eyes on Anabel as she filtered through her options, "If Leoric won this battle, Anabel would be knocked out of the tournament on countback. I was just letting Leoric know."
"I get that," Ash said as Anabel chose a Pokémon and picked up the Pokémon's ball. "What I don't understand is… why?"
"Oh," responded Ari. He was saved the worry of an explanation by Anabel's fortuitous timing. The Salon Maiden revealed her counter-selection to the world, and finally Ash saw a Pokémon of hers that he was familiar with. An enormous, golden-brown head dominated the Pokémon's thin vulpine frame, and the species' trademark twin silver spoons were clutched firmly between the Pokémon's sharp claws as its eyes locked onto Leoric's Mawile.
"Alright, go Alakazam!" cheered Ash loudly as the referee spelt things out for the two trainers. Ari, on the other hand, was staring intently at Leoric and his Mawile. He was oblivious to Anabel's quizzical eyes as the latter's attention was momentarily torn between the two boys. The bell's third and final 'ding' snapped her attention back to where it was supposed to be, however.
Not wanting to let Leoric get a leg up on her again, she jumped into action. "Alakazam, Psybeam!"
"Sucker Punch!" Leoric grinned, having been expecting Anabel to open with offense.
Before Alakazam could take aim at Mawile or even point a spoon at it, the Deceiver Pokémon slashed an arm in Alakazam's direction. A blade of black energy sliced through the air and into Alakazam's midsection in the blink of an eye. The Psi Pokémon staggered backwards a step but a quick jolt of its psychic powers steadied itself.
"Now follow it up with Fake Tears!" continued Leoric as Alakazam refocused for the Psybeam. This time Alakazam got as far as charging the Psybeam attack, but when it saw the smaller Mawile hunch over and break down into hysterical sobbing it paused. Mawile looked to be in serious pain, its face straining in agony as fresh tears streamed down its face. And when Alakazam saw the visible pain in Mawile's large, round eyes, it just couldn't bring itself to torture the Pokémon by striking it down. It was all well and good to hit a wounded opponent in battle, but this was different.
"Alakazam!" yelled Anabel, trying to snap her Pokémon out of Mawile's deception, but to little avail.
Mawile stumbled forwards with its head in its hands. Tears seeped through the cracks between its fingers as it sought the comfort of the tall Pokémon across the field, limping haphazardly towards the Psychic-type. Alakazam relaxed slightly as it drew closer. It didn't know why, exactly, but it felt like it needed to help the distressed Pokémon. Tenderly, Alakazam reached a hand out.
"Vicegrip!"
"Alakazam, look out!" warned Anabel. Mawile dropped the charade in an instant and pounced at Alakazam with a mid-air twirl, the enormous steel jaws atop its head cracking a sinister smirk before snapping shut around Alakazam's outstretched hand. The appendages bit down with such force that Alakazam could feel the spoon bend slightly in its hand, and the Pokémon cried out in pain at the bone-crushing power behind the Vicegrip attack.
"Shake it off with Fire Punch!" Anabel ordered with a grimace.
Quickly recovering from the sneaky attack, Alakazam rounded on the Deceiver Pokémon, fire in its eyes to match its free hand. With a pained grunt Alakazam swung the flaming fist into the softer part of Mawile's body. Mawile cried out in genuine distress this time as Alakazam's Fire Punch connected with its unprotected cheek, a flood of red-hot pain surging through the small Pokémon's body and forcing it to relinquish its ironclad grasp on Alakazam's hand. The Steel-type dropped to the grassy ground with a nasty scorch mark on its cheek but was unprepared for what happened next.
Alakazam followed through with the Fire Punch, sheathing its injured hand in fire and driving an uppercut into Mawile's chin, catching Mawile completely unawares as the punch knocked it aside like a rag doll. A frown finally shook Leoric's upbeat expression as his Pokémon tumbled across the ground and landed upside-down between him and Alakazam.
"Psybeam, one more time!" pressed Anabel, and the crowd could smell an upset in the making, for they rallied behind Anabel's aggression. Alakazam thrust its dual spoons in front of itself, and they quickly began to glow with a shimmering rainbow hue.
"Hit it with Sucker Punch before it can get that Psybeam off!" said Leoric. Even in the normally embarrassing position Mawile was in, it still managed a wide-arm slash at Alakazam. Another blink and you'll miss it blade of black energy struck Alakazam in the chest and knocked it back a step. "Good shot, Mawile! Follow up with Flash Cannon!"
Alakazam was less than fazed by this second Sucker Punch, though, and it advanced a step to regain the territory it had lost as Mawile stole light from the surrounding area. A brief dimming of the field was cancelled out as Alakazam fired its Psybeam attack, and only a premature discharge from Mawile stopped the attack from scoring a direct hit, the weaker Flash Cannon spearing into the oncoming beam and negating it in a brilliant flash of rainbow light.
"Nice quick thinking, Leoric," commented Anabel quietly, knowing that she had the upper hand in the battle at the moment, and she decided to take advantage of Mawile's current lack of mobility. "Alakazam, settle down for a moment and use Calm Mind!"
"Mawile, get back on your feet!" Leoric barked to the upside-down Steel-type. Across the field, Alakazam shut its eyes and bowed its great head. A deep humming resonated from the Psi Pokémon to match the dull white aura encasing it as Mawile rolled over. By the time Mawile had found its feet – and not trodden on its steel jaws in doing so – Alakazam's aura had begun to fade back into nothingness.
Despite the disadvantage, Leoric wasn't disheartened that Mawile's inconvenience had let Alakazam pull off the Calm Mind. "Give it another Vicegrip, Mawile!"
Instead of faking injury to get Alakazam's guard down, Mawile took off at a full sprint across the field. Its large jaws flapped about in the wind behind it like an oversized ponytail as Mawile bore down on Alakazam. Sensing the approaching Pokémon, Alakazam's eyes darted open as its foe crossed the halfway line.
Psychic!
Alakazam jabbed an arm forwards, holding its spoon horizontally like a Roman emperor passing judgment on a gladiator. A furious blue shroud enveloped Alakazam, and Mawile's progress was brutally halted a moment later when the same thing happened to it. Brought to a complete stop by Alakazam's impressive Psychic, Mawile futilely struggled against the attack. Having already been fooled by the Pokémon's acting prowess, Alakazam was unmoved by Mawile's plight, instead raising its arm and lifting the helpless Steel-type high off the ground.
Almost as if to complete the metaphor Alakazam had created, the crowd surged forwards, perfectly mimicking a crowded coliseum baying for blood. So Alakazam gave them what they wanted, a roar of approval exploding forwards from the crowd as Alakazam gave Mawile the thumbs-down. A twitch of its hand sent Mawile crashing into the unforgiving ground, flattening the small Pokémon into the earth with a sickening crunch. Not satisfied with the impact, Alakazam lifted the dazed Pokémon up, only to slam it straight back into the ground. Again. And again. And again.
"Alright, Alakazam, that's enough for now," Anabel instructed, signalling for the Pokémon to stop its attack. The aura surrounding the two combatants quickly faded into the air as Alakazam ceased the Psychic.
On one side of the field, Alakazam was standing confidently and waiting for its opponent to return to its feet and continue the battle. On the other, Mawile was struggling to stand up again after having been subjected to the ground's hard countenance so many times. A testament to the resilience of his Pokémon, Leoric's Mawile eventually managed to find its feet and glare back at Alakazam. The bruises adorning its torso and assortment of scratches betrayed the damage it had received, but did nothing to quell the Steel-type's fighting spirit.
"Mawile, hit Alakazam with a Flash Cannon!" ordered Leoric, throwing an arm forwards. Though its body was battered, Mawile obliged and began stealing light from the arena once again. Anabel watched on as Mawile shaped the light into a large sphere of grey energy that grew slowly with each passing second.
"Finish Mawile off with Psybeam, Alakazam," she turned to her Alakazam, knowing that Mawile was at the end of its rope. Alakazam crossed its spoons in front of its face and pulsed Psychic energy through them, the silver objects flashing with the familiar rainbow energy as Alakazam aimed them at Mawile. The Steel-type narrowed its eyes at Alakazam in a show of defiance and attacked first.
With a nod of its small head, Mawile sent the Flash Cannon spearing across the field, the orb expanding as it swallowed up all the light that touched it on its way to Alakazam. Not to be outdone, Alakazam responded in kind and fired the Psybeam, the boosted Psychic-type attack blasting the Flash Cannon to smithereens and scattering the stored light in all directions. The scatter lit up the field within fifty feet of the impact, giving the crowd a perfect view of Alakazam's Psybeam striking Mawile clean in the head and knocking it into the ground with a dull thud.
"Mawile, are you okay?" yelped Leoric, peering anxiously over his Pokémon's horn-jaws to see the swirls in Mawile's eyes.
Not needing any further evidence, the referee swung his green flag into the air and pointed it at Anabel and Alakazam. "Mawile is unable to battle! Alakazam is the winner! M—!" his words were lost as the section of crowd closest to him burst into thunderous applause at Alakazam's victory. And none were more vocal than Ash or Ari, the two trainers overjoyed at Anabel scoring that all-important point that would see her through to the next round.
"Go Anabel!" Ash yelled happily, clapping a grinning Ari on the shoulder as the two trainers on the field recalled their Pokémon. Anabel looked to be extremely relieved to have pulled out the win, and took a few moments to say something to her Alakazam's PokéBall before she returned it to its spot on her belt. Leoric didn't seem too downcast about having lost the last battle, even if it had tarnished his trend of not giving any points to opposing trainers.
"So they're both through to the next round, right?" Ash asked Ari as the attendees around them started to filter towards the exits or surge closer to the front row for a better look.
"Yup," smiled Ari, confirming the score update on his phone and showing Ash. Indeed, Leoric was through in first place on ten points, with Anabel on five points alongside one of the other trainers. An asterisk beside Anabel's name signified that she had proceeded on countback, since she'd beaten the other five-point trainer in their corresponding match.
"Looks like they both got a good ending for the first round," nodded Ash, happy for the two trainers. In truth, he was thinking about whether the same thing could happen for both him and Ari.
"Let's hope the two of us get the same, am I right?" said Ari, winking at Ash as the latter turned to him in amazement. "Come on, let's go say hi to Anabel. I'm sure she'll be happy to see you. She's been looking forward to catching up with you for a while, from what I've heard…"
Not a bad way to finish a battle, if I do say so myself.
Thanks are to be extended to Dobi Boshi, Megalink1126, ShadowDragoon32, and severus6 for their reviews this last week. Kudos to severus6 for almost deciphering the meaning behind the chapter title, but alas, you were just a teensy bit off.
"Chapter 17 - React" will be released next Tuesday, since I'm easing back into a regular once-a-week updating schedule until the American academic year is over. Even though I'm an Aussie. I'm pretty sure there's a Sequential Art comic that explains my logic somewhere...
Now, the competition I was running for this chapter and the previous has been concluded, decided, and won. Congrats to Six String Bard for being the sneaky bastard who guessed the correct answer - BlazBlue - thanks to some well-timed help from his iTunes OST collections. For those wonder what the link was, the two titles were anagrams of track names from the BlazBlue OSTs. You should be able to figure them out with a teensy bit of research. Incidentally, several chapter titles so far have been anagrams that follow set themes.
With my tumblr in swing, feel free to ask me any questions you feel like which pertain to Crown. I'll be more than happy to answer as many of them as possible, whether they be asked here, through PM, or on tumblr. It's an author's job to keep their audience well-informed, after all.
As always, keep reading, and don't forget to review~