With Sasuke's help, I was slowly able to stand on my feet, despite almost being turned into a porcupine by that Poison Sting attack. I grunted as I glared back at the enemy. That was deadly. He wasn't just aiming to hurt me, but to destroy me. If I had been a tad late on shielding my face, who knows what kind of damage it would've done. However, I blinked at Ariados gasping at me getting up.
"What? Impossible…" Ariados was able to get out.
"Hm? What are you blabbering about now?" King said with an annoyed look.
Ariados then glared at me and yelled, "How!? What on earth are you!?"
All of us blinked in shock as Naruto fired back, "He's a Pikachu! Can't you see that?"
"Don't try to fool me! I've faced many prey! A Pokémon of that Pikachu's size should've fainted after getting hit by that many needles! And considering how much poison I packed onto those things, there is absolutely NO WAY he should even be alive!" he yelled.
My eyes widened as everyone looked at me. You mean to tell me he fired so many needles covered in so much poison… I should be either unconscious… or DEAD!? Was he pulling our legs and trying to make us look like fools? I just looked down at my injuries. They were supposed to kill me?
"If that was the case, then how come Thomas was able to stand up just now and stay awake?" Batsu asked curiously, "Did you maybe misfire or miscalculate your attack?"
"You brat! Don't you DARE sell my attacks short and ineffective!" Ariados yelled then turned to me, "You! Pikachu! What kind of defense or technique did you use to stop my attack!?"
I blinked with a sweatdrop down my forehead and repeated, "Uh…. Technique?"
Zev eyed me and muttered, "Unbelievable… so, that whole time, you did nothing?"
I shook my head and said, "All I did was cover my face… I got hit fair and square… but now that everyone mentions it, my body where the needles hit me… I don't feel pain anymore…"
It was true. My arms and stomach, where the needles penetrated my skin, was no longer sore. During that whole time, I somehow felt healed, like the attack never happened. I suddenly snapped out of it when I heard a growl lead up to a roar.
"Why you little brat! How dare you mock my strength!" Ariados yelled, "I'm gonna kill you!"
"Everyone, be ready!" Sasuke yelled, as Ariados fired more Poison Sting attacks at us.
I quickly rushed backwards and began running away from the wall to the middle where everyone was leaving. Although he was attacking everyone, he seemed to be focusing on two people the most: me because of apparently unintentionally insulting him by surviving, and King because of his extreme disadvantage to the Charmeleon.
"Hahahaha!" King laughed, "Coming after me first! Why's that; feeling a little bit pressured, are we!?"
"Shut up! Don't get cocky with me!" Ariados yelled as he used Pin Missile, a faster attack.
King did a front flip and a cartwheel to dodge the attacks, which gave Naruto a good opening to use an attack he was charging. He quickly released a Shadow Ball and fired directly at Ariados. The spider quickly did get hit, but was able to endure most of the damage when he blocked it. As he removed his quard, he saw Naruto bare his fangs and used Bite on one of his legs. He grunted in pain as he tried to shake him off. Soon, Naruto did a backflip as Batsu appeared behind, forming a Force Palm with his right arm and threw it forward.
Ariados was unable to react as the palm of the Riolu slammed into his face and created pain. As Zev struggled to get out of the web, Sasuke charged up a Water Pulse attack. Batsu timed the attack as Ariados raised one of his legs to strike. Batsu blocked the attack, allowing him to flip back as the Water Pulse from Sasuke flew closer.
However, Ariados didn't seem to feel frightened or threatened. He suddenly just ran up his web so the Water Pulse attack missed. We all gasped as he then fired Poison Sting attacks at us. I dodged by rolling to the right and when I got up, I noticed that everyone else had gotten away safely too. I looked to see that Ariados was grinning and chuckled.
"I almost forgot. You indeed may have more members and an advantage at elemental types, but you see, when I'm on my web… nobody can truly touch me," Ariados said, "My speed is greater when I'm on it, so be careful on where you throw your attacks… or you may just hit this Gro- AAHH!"
I blinked in shock and relief as a huge flame connected onto his right side. I looked over to see King grin confidently as his mouth smoked and he glared at the spider.
"Yeah, keep talking," he said, "I'll fry you up in a heartbeat!"
"Why… you little BRAT!" Ariados roared as he glared at King.
He then out of nowhere launched Pin Missile at the Charmeleon. King saw that he wouldn't be able to dodge it in time, so he quickly covered his face and was hit with the attack. He grunted in pain as he withstood the pain. As he looked up, he found that a large amount of String Shot had been fired at him. It wrapped around his mouth, preventing fire attacks, and wrapped around his arms, pinning them to his body. With that, King fell on the ground and was trapped in web.
The Charmeleon growled as he struggled and tried to free himself. Ariados laughed at his helplessness as he looked at him.
"You can't fry me if you can't move or open your obnoxious trap!" he said, turning to us, "Now, you will all be just like these two."
He quickly took web and closed off Zev's mouth too, making him unable to attack or speak at all. He struggled more as he kicked his legs harder. Batsu suddenly came out of nowhere in front of him and got Metal Claw activated. He attacked him with a solid swing as we smiled confidently.
"Yes! Batsu's got him!" Naruto yelled happily.
Suddenly, Batsu stopped moving in the air. He gasped in shock as gravity wasn't claiming him back down to the ground. He soon tried to move, but was stuck in place. He was surrounded by a weird purple glow that made us become worried.
"That Ariados… knows Psychic!?" Sasuke said in disbelief.
The enemy laughed as he threw Batsu back onto a wall. The Riolu smashed into the wall hard and yelled in pain. Suddenly, String Shot was fired and pinned his body to the wall. He gritted his teeth and began trying to break free. Great. Now, half the team was unable to move. I watched Naruto growl and advance closer.
"Why, you!" he snarled as he ran towards the spider.
"Thomas, stay here," Sasuke told me as he ran after Naruto to back him up.
Ariados immediately shot Poison Sting attacks rapidly at them. They both did cross side jumps dodging the attacks, yet continuing to move forward. Both of them suddenly vanished, like at the beach battle with Skylar, and they suddenly appeared with two charged attacks of Shadow Ball and Water Pulse. Ariados gasped as he tried to react in time, but the attacks smashed into him.
It was then he unleashed a huge Pin Missile attack, causing both to be flown back. Luckily, they weren't hurt as they landed down on the ground safely. They once again charged as Ariados quickly fired a Pin Missile attack at ME! I widened my eyes as I quickly stepped back. Seeing the needles all miss me as I basically backflip, I was able to dodge all successfully. I looked up to see that Naruto and Sasuke had jumped up again to attack. However, Ariados had quickly seen them and launched String Shot at them.
Sasuke was able to flip away, but Naruto got hit and wrapped up in it. He landed hard on the ground near King and as both, Batsu, and Zev still struggled.
I saw my opportunity to go in for an attack and ran underneath that. I jumped into the air and came face to face with our enemy. I was surprised as much as he was that I was able to get to such heights at such speed. However, I didn't show him that. What I did show was my right fist as I swung it into his face. It connected! YES!
However, as I threw that punch, my body sort of turned to the left, causing my back to soon face him. What I didn't know is that he recovered quickly and quickly faced me with an evil look. He then fired a huge barrage of Poison Sting needles at my back. They hit me, causing me to be thrown face-first into the ground and roll a bit away.
Naruto gasped and yelled, "THOMAS!"
I felt that pain again; dang it, there were more needles this time. But I didn't care. I slowly got to my hands and knees and tried to push up to get on my feet. Suddenly, I felt my eyes get dizzy for a split second and my body feel sick.
Oh, dang it. Was this how it felt to be poisoned? It made my stomach nauseous. I hated this feeling. I could see only the ground and two furry orange feet run to me. I felt Sasuke hold me gently as he looked at my injuries. He suddenly gritted his teeth in fear.
"Oh, shoot… he's poisoned…" he muttered as he helped me up to my feet.
I grunted as my brother helped me to my feet. I winced as he pulled the needles out and helped me stay on my feet. We both then heard a laugh coming from Ariados as we looked up.
"Feeling a bit woozy? Oh, that's just a side-effect of being poisoned," he taunted us, "Now, come closer so that I can kill you before the poison can!"
Sasuke slowly bent down to me and whispered, "Thomas, I want you to slowly head back to the bag and grab a Pecha berry. I'll cover you. Hurry."
"No," I said back to him, "You can't handle him by yourself for that long! I won't even make it!"
"We have to try! Plus, Caterpie will be left alone. You need to go back and stay there so you can help him," Sasuke calmly explained to me.
"Hey… Pikachu…" We both heard as we looked up at Ariados, "I wanna ask you a few questions… before you die… Why? Why did you risk your life for this Grovyle?"
Zev's eyes were surprised as he stopped struggling for a bit and looked at me. He watched me closely as I stood up and listened to my enemy. When I took a look around in my blurry-vision eyes, everyone was looking at me interestingly. I blinked as I listened to Ariados.
"I mean, you have heard of what this Grovyle has done, right? He's stolen from many places and commited many thievery crimes. He doesn't deserve to have any mercy. He has no regret for anything he does? Why do you possibly have any excuse for saving him?" he asked.
Everyone looked at me, waiting to see me not give an excuse. I remember Zev looked into my eyes. I mean, don't get me wrong; he wasn't crying or afraid… but something in his eyes… it was like he was wanting to know why I cared so much about them. I then looked at Ariados and smiled.
"What; like you're perfect?" I asked.
"What did you say?" Ariados growled, as Zev blinked in shock.
"You just tried to eat a child," I said smirking, "Doesn't that make you bad? It doesn't matter what any of us have done; we all aren't perfect and do bad things and mistakes. And you made a big bad mistake of stopping us from rescuing Caterpie. Now, we will defeat you! So, GET READY!"
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