Another fairly short Redux chapter, again because of the lack of things to work with. I have ideas on how to expand the rest of the pure battling chapters and even a few new plot twists but this is one of the two that I just can't fiddle with too much. Well, that was the idea anyway. We found out Pika's name and gender earlier than before. And, if you read the original, you'll figure out what the 'squawk' is.
Summery time: Flame ends up fighting the Pikachu after already being weakened in the previous battles, naturally he isn't going to back down. And it doesn't look like the yellow rat is going to back down either.
Episode Five: Last Reptile Standing (Redux)
I felt like shouting and swearing at the Bellsprout but the fact that I was suffocating made that impossible. So I did the next best thing and slowly moved my tail so that it was underneath the vine that was choking me. As my vision started to blur and my legs became heavy, I managed to flare up my tail flame and the Bellsprout's grip pulled away enough to me to slip my claws under the vines and rip them off of my throat.
I was stuck on all fours for a few seconds, having to catch my breath, but the moment that I had recovered enough to stand upright then I turned on the Bellsprout. It yanked its vines out of my paws at the order of its Trainer before lashing out again. I raised a paw to my throat, preventing it from being able to wrap around and choke me again. Those few seconds were enough time for me to get another fireball ready but I ended up accidentally swallowing it back down as something brown and blue smashed into the weed.
Squirtle was crushing the plant underneath him, which I found slightly amusing. On top of that, he was definitely unconscious. The main clues to that revelation were the facts that he was drooling, twitching and the fact that he didn't care when an electrical attack came out of no where and belted the water type. There was a bit more twitching, this time the Bellsprout joined in, before both Pokémon lay still. Twin beams of red shot forth, one from each Human, and sucked up their respective Pokémon.
Which left just two Pokémon standing; just plain ol' me and the Pikachu. I smirked to myself as I slowly turned to face it. I knew that it couldn't keep up the electrical attacks for long, whereas I could keep blasting away with fireballs for hours if I had to. And it didn't have claws, I did. In other words, I had an advantage in terms of damage. On the other paw, I knew that Pikachu were buggers to actually hit. They were a lot more agile than I was. But there was always a way around that, namely setting fire to the ground so that it runs out of places to run.
Of course, just as I was about to put that plan into action, things went horribly wrong. The Pikachu's Trainer yelled out an order, one that the rat Pokémon obeyed without thought. I barely had time to register what the girl Human had yelled out before the Pikachu rammed into me and I went sprawling over the ground. Face first in the dirt, fantastic (please note, sarcasm. I'm a very sarcastic person, if you couldn't tell)
"Quick attack, let's see you keep up with that!" The Pikachu boasted as I slowly pushed myself back up. I frowned to myself, the voice it used told it was a female, they were the worst ones; loud, generally insulting and just plain messed up in the head. (Not like us noble fire types, we'd just rip your head clean off instead of insulting and yelling it first)
"Just what I needed, another self-centered brat," I growled, loud enough that the Pikachu would barely be able to hear.
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It got a reaction, her cheeks were sparking with what I presumed was rage. Hell, I didn't know, those things would throw out sparks for anything. I only knew for sure that I had hit a mark after it hit me again, this time with a fairly nasty slap. I took a step back, rubbing my cheek scales with one paw and ducking under a second slap before getting way out of range of those paws. That had hurt, slightly. Not much but it did sting a little. Well, it stung enough to warrant me sending a fireball straight into the Pikachu's face. (like I needed a reason, although she did have it coming) Which she managed to dive clear of, I found her lack of manners rather insulting.
And so a contest of dodging and blasting started off between the two of us. Her with 'Thundershock' and me with my good old fashioned fireballs. Not one of those 'official moves' that I'm supposed to have but they had a much better range than the puny 'Ember' attack that Moron kept wanting me to use. Yes, fire breath is powerful but the range is cruddy and I can't keep it up for very long. Plus it's pretty knackering. A snapshot with a fireball is not, something the Pikachu found out when it had to leap over one to avoid another two that I'd fired the second after.
"Pika, hit it with a Tail Whip!" The Human girl yelled out, I had to cock an eyescale at that order; the name too. Yeesh; and I thought that Moron was unoriginal... (I would later learn that it was Humanity at a whole that was the problem)
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Still, what was worse was that the Pikachu actually listened to that order and spun around, looking to smack me with it. I pre-empted her and caught her tail in mid-swing. The stupidly shaped thing was caught firmly in my claws, yet the Pikachu laughed. Then it hit me, 'it' being a fair chunk of electricity that came straight down the tail I was holding and through my entire being. I would have let go but my paws were refusing to listen to my commands and clenched tighter. The only reason the shocking stopped at all was because the yellow rat had to stop and catch her breath.
I managed to get my pulsing muscles to listen to me again, dropping the thunderbolt shaped tail before spinning around and smacking her between the eyes with my own.
"See how you like it," I growled as I held the tail flame to her forehead, watching and smelling the burnt fur. I had to stop too, eventually, after she tried to belt me again and I was forced to leap back or take the Thundershock.
"You are going down, lizard boy," she snarled in reply.
"Step over here and say that, rat face," I countered with a smirk. There went the cheek sparking again, so predictable.
"You think you can take me?"
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Any further banter was stopped by a loud and eerily familiar squawk coming from far above and the Pikachu looked up. I didn't, I was too busy darting forwards. She looked down just in time to get a nice punch straight on the snout.
"Oooh, nice one," came some rare praise from the voice in the back of my mind as I followed up the punch with a nice and firm grip on both of her ears and yanked the rodent into the air. She swung there, howling slightly as her Trainer yelled out an order that I couldn't hear over the damn screaming.
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I figured it out though, using my amazing deduction prowess once more. Yeah, she started electrocuting me again. And this time it was really hurting, the repeated abuse of the day was starting to take its toll on me. Yet there was no way in hell that I was going to let her go without a goodbye present, so I fought my way through the endless mass of pain and slammed my forehead onto hers. There was a crack, she hit the floor.
"Whooo. I kicked your tail!" I muttered, staggering slightly as my legs suddenly decided to feel out of sync. Then they decided to not feel anything and just collapsed, taking me with them. A few seconds before I blacked out, I was aware that the Pikachu was out cold as well. I'd taught her a valuble lesson, never underestimate a Charmander's headbutt. We have very solid skulls.
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"Oh boy, are you going to have one hell of a surprise when you wake up," the voice in my head said, just as I slipped into unconsiousness. I didn't even have time to wonder what that was supposed to mean.