Chapter 55:
Creature of the Volts
Ash and I were having an epic stare down.
The first one to look away would show weakness and would lose the staring contest. I had no idea why we were doing that but he started it and I wasn't about to back down.
"You and Fay are really good together, very impressive." Ash complimented me.
"Thanks, you were also doing great, really had me in a pinch."
"What can I say, I love battling."
Dawn yawned from the sidelines, "Can you two continue already?"
"Fine," Ash sighed as he shot me an apologetic shrug.
"I suppose."
Clearly, Dawn did not understand the true value of trash talking during a match.
Ash looked away.
I won!
I won.
I drew my gaze away from Ash and turned to look at Fay. "Can you still go on?"
"I can." Fay replied but I doubted she could a whole lot more damage.
"Pikachu, I choose you!" Ash pointed at the battlefield.
Pikachu stepped forward onto the battlefield, walking on all fours, holding his tail high and his eyes fixed on Fay.
"Fay stay in there." I said dryly.
"Go!" Brock shouted.
"Pikachu use Quick Attack!"
Pikachu ran towards Fay faster than any Pokémon we had battled before
"Counter!"
Fay put her hands in front of her body but before she could activate her Counter Pikachu slammed into her.
Damn that rodent was fast.
"Iron Tail!" Ash shouted, determined to continue his attack.
"Metal Claw!"
Pikachu spun around in the air and his tail began to glow. He brought it down on Fay in a downwards arc.
Before it could hit her Fay slid underneath Pikachu and hit him in the back with a series of slashes.
"Hit the ground!" Ash yelled. "Follow it up with an Electro Ball!"
I saw Pikachu grit his teeth as Fay hit him. His tail kept glowing and he continued the downwards swing of the tail.
His tail slammed down on the ground.
The earth exploded, large chunks were thrown up into the sky by the force.
Both Pikachu and Fay were launched upwards by the blast and I couldn't help but let out a small curse.
While it may seem like Pikachu's attack had put both Pokémon on even footing (or lack thereof), it was the opposite of true.
Pikachu still had attacks that could be used in the air while Fay was practically helpless in the air.
She had no ranged attacks and none of her moves could help her land or affect her own path on the way down.
She was very vulnerable.
Quick Attack could only be used if Fay stood underground while using it, right now Fay couldn't even defend herself properly.
Pikachu twisted his body so he was facing Fay and revealed a large orb of lightning that had been generated on his tail.
"Try to use Metal Claw to defend yourself!" I weakly offered knowing it was futile.
"Pika-chu!" he shouted as he launched the orb towards Fay. It crackled with energy as it traveled towards her.
The sphere connected and Fay let out a cry as she was consumed by the lightning.
Her entire body spasmed and I saw her eyes roll back.
It dissipated a second later.
Everything Pikachu had blasted up in the sky fell down including the two Pokémon.
Pikachu managed to land on all fours while earth rained down from the sky. Before Fay could hit the ground I recalled her, already deciding that she wasn't going to battle anymore.
She was consumed by the beam of the Pokéball just as she was about to hit the ground.
I glanced at the Pokéball in my hand.
Briefly I considered saying she shouldn't have underestimated Pikachu but to be honest there was nothing Fay could have done better, based on the lack of moves she had she did everything she could.
"Take a good nap, you deserve it."
I shrunk the Pokéball and pocketed it.
{Don't worry.} Luna smiled at me, {I can win for you.}
We shared a short nod before Luna stepped over the line and entered the battle.
"Ready Ash?" I asked him.
"You bet." He replied excitedly.
"Okay Luna, this will be the day we waited for. Don't hesitate and victory will be ours!"
"Ralts!" Luna slammed her two hands together and sent a challenging look at Pikachu.
"Pikachu, give it all you got!" Ash balled his fist, "Full force Volt Tackle!"
And it seems that Ash wants to go all out from the start. Fine by me.
Pikachu began to run towards Luna, first slow but he became faster with every step.
Electricity began to light up every step he took and he left behind a long streak of electricity. The lightning Pikachu generated began to sparkle around his body in big arcs, lashing out violently with big sparks striking near him.
I had seen it in the anime and in the Detective Pikachu movie and it was supposedly his strongest attack, or the strongest attack any Pikachu could learn and I was eager to see it with my own eyes.
And as it turns it out, it wasn't like in the anime at all.
God was it a monstrous attack.
Pikachu wasn't just leaving behind a trail of lightning, he became lightning.
An entire funnel of black clouds and huge arcs of thunder trailed behind Pikachu, engulfing the small Pokémon partly.
It was like Pikachu was running away from a storm front, instead of being the literal eye of the storm.
The size of the storm trailing behind Pikachu was nothing to scoff at. The storm clouds had big flashes of lightning shooting out of the storm funnel, striking all around Pikachu seemingly at random, making half of the battlefield too dangerous to teleport to.
Pikachu had become a literal storm that was charging towards us and I could tell with one glance that there would be no shelter for the storm.
Yeah, I might have underestimated the situation a bit more than I thought.
"Blockade." I told Luna.
I had prepared a special counter plan for this attack but it was rather resource intensive, not finished yet and definitely not safe.
But it was the only way to escape Pikachu's Volt Tackle, seeing there was no spot to teleport to except above and that would only give Pikachu the time to prepare another attack.
Luna glanced back at me to give me a confident smile before turning to face the rampaging Pikachu.
She pointed her finger at him. There was no fear on her face, despite the fact that he was very close to striking her.
A second later the ground underneath Pikachu disappeared.
A perfect square had been teleported out of the ground and reappeared in front of Luna, forming a small but thick wall of earth to defend herself.
Pikachu let out a surprised cry as gravity suddenly tried to pull him down. To my surprise Pikachu didn't fall, instead his momentum carried him over the hole and somehow managed to bridge the gap.
Next moment Pikachu slammed into a wall of earth and stone.
It didn't stop him.
Pikachu kept running into the wall like he was running on top of a treadmill, his head butting into the wall.
The storm behind Pikachu increased in intensity and electricity began to drill into the blockade.
Cracks began to form and Luna took a hesitant step back.
"Disarming Voice now!" I said, dismissing the last step of blockade, seeing how it wouldn't hold up.
Luna opened her mouth and unleashed a scream on the wall.
It shattered under the force of soundwaves and electricity and for a brief moment, all the pieces were thrown towards Pikachu.
The storm was stopped for a brief moment under the constant pressure of the scream.
"Chu!"
Pikachu broke through.
A white flash followed and a spearhead of electricity tore into Luna.
Before she could even let out a proper cry of pain, the entire storm behind Pikachu flowed forward and submerged Luna into a sea of ash black clouds.
It began to funnel around her and white flashes traveled through the inky black clouds.
The entire storm uncharged all at one on Luna with a blinding flash.
All the energy turned into a spiral of blue lightning that shot up into the sky with Luna at the base of the beam.
It was like the Shine had been in Jubilife City but a smaller version.
A loud thunder roar crashed into my ears and I physically faltered as I felt the shockwave in my bones.
It lasted a total of three seconds before it completely disappeared, leaving no trace of the storm.
A deep crater was revealed with a small humanoid in the middle of it.
Black scorched earth surrounded Luna, still smoking from the heat.
I could only stare in surprise and pure shock.
"Ash wins." Brock couched when neither I nor Ash spoke.
Pikachu walked towards Luna and stared at her, he softly poked her cheek. "Pika?"
I had no idea what to say.
Ash must have seen the shock on my face.
"Sorry," Ash muttered, looking at his feet. "I think we got a bit too excited. When I saw your battle in Oreburgh City I assumed Ralts could take a Volt Tackle."
I swallowed. "No, it's cool."
I didn't expect to win, but this was vastly different from what I had imagined it to be. I had imagined a long battle in which Ash and I fought at our best, trying to counter each other at every turn.
A true battle of the minds.
But this was not a battle.
This had been a one hit KO for Luna, an inevitable loss.
A battle we had lost from the first move.
"For what it's worth," Ash looked me in the eyes and shot me a small smile. "Your Pokémon did really well. Don't forget that Pikachu and I have been training for years and even competed in Leagues."
"He is right you know," Brock offered, "Ash's Pikachu is exceptionally strong, he had him for a very long time."
I nodded, not feeling better about it in the slightest.
Call it arrogance but I expected better from myself, it wasn't a rational thought but still.
"You are still a rookie trainer," Dawn offered.
"Thanks Dawn," I said sarcastically. Although she was right, it wasn't fun to hear it.
"Yet Ash and Pikachu battled you at full strength," Dawn continued. "He thought you could take it, he may be dense but he does understand battling."
"I'm not dense." Ash muttered, "But Dawn is right, I think you are already a great trainer. And I met a lot of people and Pokémon from all over the world. You battle on a whole other level, despite only having 2 very young Pokémon."
"Pikachu." Pikachu stared up at me, he stood on 4 legs and held Luna on his back. He must have carried her out of the crater while Ash was talking.
Pikachu lowered his back and carefully put Luna down.
I knelt down and cradled the small psychic in my arms, of course her heart was still beating, It would take a whole lot more to kill a Pokémon in battle but she had scared the shit out of me.
"You're right, Luna is weak."
"That's not what I am saying." Ash narrowed his eyes.
"Fay is weak," I almost felt her Pokéball burning in my pocket.
"I am weak! I mean, what did I think? I only started my journey and I don't even know most Pokémon moves and strategies."
I fixed my gaze on Ash. "But don't think that will stop me."
A promise had been made by me, to make Luna the strongest she could be.
"I won't stop, nor will Fay or Luna. We will keep going, despite the fact that we are weak. No, because we are weak. We cannot afford to stay still, we have to play harder and dirtier, smarter and meaner. I owe it to my them to do everything in my power to help them. It's a promise, don't think I've been defeated Ash."
Ash smiled.
"You won the battle but I will win the war."
The black haired boy and I shared a smile.
"I'll keep you to that," he answered.
"Pika." Pikachu wagged his tail in excitement.
I nodded sternly, not feeling happy but definitely feeling determined and motivated.
"Let's get you healed." I told Luna.
We left the devastated battlefield behind.
"Quite the speech." Fay didn't look at me as she spoke, instead she was watching the sleeping Ralts.
Luna needed, according to the nurse, a good night's rest to recover. She had tried to stay away after the nurse patched her up but her tiny body couldn't handle the tiredness and she had crashed down.
"You heard it?" I looked up from the laptop, surprised to see Fay start a conversation.
"Every word."
Now that made me feel awkward.
"Look," I began, hoping I could explain my sudden emotional declaration but Fay cut me off.
"Did you mean what you said?" Fay asked.
Her eyes changed from red to blue.
"Every word." I replied.
Fay nodded and put her head down on the pillow, "I think Luna heard what you said too."
Again I had no idea what to say.
"Your speech must have done something right, her Aura is stronger than before. Almost overflowing her body."
I glanced at Luna, personally nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.
'My Aura also increased in intensity." Fay revealed.
"Well, that's possible. I think Pokémon get stronger through hardships and the two of you did lose."
Fay closed her eyes. "I think it's because of you. Because of what you said."
I sniffed. "Nah, as I said, high stress correlates to a Pokémon's strength. I am pretty sure it's something like that."
"I don't think it's just the battle," Fay shared. "It's not the experience alone that made her stronger, nor is it all the training. I think it's because of you."
I yawned, "Still don't get it. I refuse to believe in friendship magic and all that kind of bullshit logic."
Fay stayed silent for a long time and I had the feeling I said something wrong.
"You might not believe in it, but others might." Fay whispered.
I stayed silent.
A/N Hope you liked this chapter. Worked hard on it. Also, thanks for notifying me on the error in Chapter 8, I fixed it.
Welp, don't feel like saying anything funny.
Review and favorite this story, you know the drill.
Also, there's a poll on my profile page on which you can vote who's best girl, Fay or Luna, It won't matter at all what you vote but I am bored and tired, yada yada. Vote, or not.
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