Chapter 6: Metchi Town Battle

"I FINALLY FOUND YOU!" Moon shouted, startling a wild Magnemite within the small passageway to Route 4. Upon his arrival, he had bumped into a hiker who asked him for a favor to capture a steel type Pokemon. Which he had graciously accepted, not realizing just how impossible of a task finding one Magnemite would be.

The magnet pokemon beeped a bit in frustration before launching a sonic boom. Moon quickly dodged it before tossing out Ambio. The Delta Aipom quickly lept into action and unleashed a quick shadow punch on the floating magnet. The punch pushed the magnet back before it shook itself off and fired back with a thunder shock. Which Ambio disappeared into the shadows to avoid before striking quickly with a hand slap.

With the floating magnet distracted, Moon quickly threw a dusk ball, which bumped into the magnet and captured it with very little effort whatsoever.

"Thank Arceus." Moon grumbled, picking up the ball. "That took WAY longer than it should have, I can't believe it."

He returned his Delta Aipom and made his way out of the Suntouched Gateway cave. His quick stroll down Route 4, occasionally being stopped by wild Sudowoodo led him back to the rest-stop house stationed in the middle of the route.

Quickly locating the hiker who gave him the task, he approached the man with the dusk ball.

"Hey, I got that steel type you were looking for. Sorry it took so long."

The man chuckled. "Thanks a lot kid, you're honestly too kind." The man took the dusk ball and pocketed it, before reaching into his backpack and pulling out a different pokeball. "Here, take this Pokemon as a thank you. I found it on my mountain travels in Holon back in my youth. It's a feisty little fella, and I'm sure it'd be happier with a trainer to match its energy."

Moon nodded and took the pokeball from the man. After restocking on his own supplies, he made his way outside. Before glancing at the pokeball with interest. Pressing the release button, he let the Pokemon develop onto the route ground in front of him. Boy was he shocked at the result.

The Pokemon in question appeared to resemble Scyther. Unlike his other Delta Pokemon teammates. This Scyther looked a lot closer to its actual brotherend, well, except for the fact that it was now a bright sky blue color. And the four…wings? Now they looked more like icicles than wings. However, the scythe blades for limbs that it had still looked sharp as ever. As Moon reached out to touch its head, he immediately got a chilling sensation on his body.

"SCYTHER!" The Delta cried as it honed its blades. No less than had it done that, then it immediately darted past Moon and quickly swiped a poor Seedot into oblivion, the small acorn went flying across the route, where it landed in the water with a plop.

"No need to be so aggressive." Moon chuckled at the Delta Scyther. Taking out his pokedex, he scanned the frozen bug.

Scyther (Delta Species)

Classification: The Ice Cleaver Pokemon

Type: Ice and Fighting

Abilities: Hustle, Super Luck, or Ice Cleats (Raises a Pokemon's speed in a hail storm).

Additional Info: A Delta Species discovered by EchoTheThird. Its scythes are immensely sharp but also very fragile, and can easily be shattered when hit from the side. Unlike its counterpart…nothing of interest happened when exposed to a Metal Coat. I theorize that perhaps a different item is necessary to undergo its evolution into Scizor.

Known Moves: Vacuum Wave, Ice Shard, Haze, Focus Energy, Pursuit, False Swipe, Agility, Low Sweep, Ice Ball, and Slash.

"Nothing happened when exposed to a Metal coat huh?" Moon questioned, looking up at the Delta Scyther, which was now standing in front of him with a neutral expression. "I guess that means you don't evolve into an Ice and Steel Type eh?"

Delta Scyther did not look very amused at his remark.

"Oh lighten up, you're probably leagues better than Crabominable…well…assuming Hustle doesn't screw your ability to hit things over."

"Scy Scy."

Moon simply shrugged and returned the Delta Pokemon to its ball. "Alright then, onwards to Metchi Town!"


Metchi Town, as it turned out, was a quiet town. Very peaceful, built along a river side. The Pokemon Daycare was located here, and the town seemed very tightly oriented. Though, Moon noted that, just upstream, you could make out an old abandoned building that no one dared go near. Though, his interest in it vanished with the realization that the door was locked.

"What is this? A post game place?" He mumbled, sitting at the Pokemon Center waiting for his team to be healed.

The familiar dinging sound alerted him that his team was fully restored, upon thanking the nurse he went to make his way towards the exit before he was stopped.

"Hey Moon!" He jumped up before recognizing the voice and his head turned to see Nora by the bookshelves.

"Oh, hey Nora!" he replied. "I assume your Orion battle went well?"

"Sure did, I guess you must've been at the rest stop longer than me. I've been waiting here for a bit, you know?"

Moon rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah…I got…side tracked…" Not wanting to explain the embarrassingly long time he spent looking for a Magnemite he immediately gave to a hiker.

"Well, since we've bumped into each other here, I might as well show you this." Nora grabbed his hand and dragged him over to the back of the bookshelves, where she pressed a cleverly disguised button, taking the two of them into a sort of tunnel network with multiple doors.

"Um…excuse me?"

"Oh, don't think about it too hard." Nora replied. "This is the secret base network. It's essential for every trainer to have. You can train your Pokemon's EVs, use a Move Reminder, Battle, Trade, and do all sorts of neat things in here."

"I…I see…" Moon replied. "Why…did you bring me here? Isn't Metchi your hometown?"

"Yeah, it is." Nora replied, rubbing her green hair. "However, I needed to talk to you about something…before we had our battle. We are rivals, and need to keep each other on our toes. I know Mew isn't with you yet, but I still want to try and use Celebi."

"Seems fair enough, a 600 base stat total mythical against my put together team of first and second stages." Moon muttered under his breath. Shaking himself so that Nora would hear him he just asked. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Oh well…uh…" Nora blushed. "You see, Celebi told me that Damian seemed like a trustworthy ally. So I uh…may have told him about Celebi and Mew."

Moon couldn't even be too mad at this point, Damian had seen Mew once before when they first met each other. And it wasn't like Damian was the type to turn traitor if he looked up to the Augur taking down all those cultists. His only concern came from Damian's inability to seemingly keep his mouth shut.

"Okay…what did Damian think?"

"That's sort of the problem." Nora replied. "I don't think he fully understood how important Mew and Celebi are. So it might be better if you talk to him next time you see him. I'm sure he's trustworthy enough, I told him in here where nobody ever really comes. Just want to make sure he understands coming from two people."

"Yeah…I can talk to him." Moon replied glumly.

"Great!" Nora replied. "Okay…now let's have our little practice battle. Without the trainers' school limitations, I expect us to have a full on fight."

Moon followed the green-haired girl through the base network before she pulled him into another door, which guided them into a small little laboratory looking setting with a battlefield.

"Okay Moon," He blinked in surprise as Nora just sprinted over to the opposite end. "Let's have some fun, okay?!"

"Sure…"

"Go Honedge!"

"Sahara! Battle Stance!"

The cursed sword with a blue eye developed in front of Nora as Sahara emerged from her Pokeball.

"Sahara! Bulldoze!"

The Delta Grimer spread itself across the battlefield before smacking it with its hands. A large rumble began to fill the area as Honedge darted forward. It quickly slashed through the sandy Grimer. However, Sahara simply rebuilt itself backtogether.

Sahara unleashed a Sandy tornado as Honedge disappeared into the shadows to dodge. The Honedge then emerged from the shadows and stabbed the Delta Grimer upwards. It then grabbed onto itself and unsheathed the blade from its holster, firing off a quick moving Aerial Ace.

"Fire Punch!"

Sahara quickly recovered and surrounded one of its tiny sandy fists with fire, punching the sword into a spike smash in the ground. Sahara landed on top of the sword before it could move, surrounding it with sand before once again smashing the ground, unleashing another close and personal bulldoze.

"Don't give up yet Honedge!" Nora called.

No sooner had she called it out than Sahara was quickly blasted off the sword in another dastardly shadow sneak. Before charging at the pile of sand, ready for another Slash.

"Foul Play!"

Sahara blinked before her hollow sandy eyes flashed black as she moved past Honedge with a swipe, before landing on the ground and rebuilding herself back up. Honedge stayed in place in the air, before it dropped its sheath and fell to the ground.

Nora returned the haunted sword to its Pokeball.

"Okay, Golbat! Go!"

The evolved Zubat with its large open mouth emerged from its Pokeball. Flapping its wings in a menacing way.

"Okay Sahara-"

"Mean Look! Then Air Slash!"

Golbat's eyes flashed bright purple before it unleashed a fast blast of blue slashes from its wings. Blasting Sahara backwards, the Delta Grimer collapsed into a puddle as Moon returned it.

"Fair enough…okay, Whiteout, Battle Stance!

The Delta Scyther emerged from its Pokeball and flashed its scythes in a menacing way as it looked up at its opposing bat foe.

"Wing Attack!"

"Bulk Up!"

Whiteout quickly flexed the best it could with its scythe hands as Golbat's wings flashed a pale blue color and dove towards the scyther. Whiteout quickly crossed its scythes in a blocking manner as Golbat collided with it. Pushing the Delta Scyther back, but ultimately not doing much else than that.

"Use Haze!"

"Ice Shard!"

Golbat let out a haze of black fog from its oversized gaping mouth as Whiteout fired four shards of ice from its icicle wings. The haze melted the shards of ice into water that splashed against the ground, before Golbat came flying towards the Delta Scyther once again with its glowing wings.

"Focus Energy! Then use Slash!"

Whiteout's eyes flashed a red color as white light surrounded him, before his scythe arms glowed. He jumped up towards the big bat with reckless energy and slashed it through the mouth, knocking the bat to the ground.

"While it's down! Ice Shard!"

Whiteout once again unleashed the four shards of ice from its icicle wings that smashed into Golbat, knocking the bat back to its trainer where it stopped moving.

Nora returned her big blue bat to its ball with a satisfied smile. "So much for getting that early Crobat huh?" Moon chuckled

"Trapinch! Go!"

The little orange antlion once again emerged from Nora's pokeball with a determined expression in its beady black eyes.

"Can't swap you out Whiteout. So Just do your best, okay?" Moon asked, Delta Scyther looked back and nodded its head.

"Alright then. Bulk Up!"

"Trapinch use dig!"

Whiteout once again braced itself as Trapinch burrowed its way underground. Making way for a guessing game.

Whiteout leapt up and its icicle wings buzzed a little keeping it in the air. The little orange Antlion emerged from the ground with an explosion as it clamped down on Whiteout's foot. The Delta Scyther let out a hiss as it kicked around.

Rocks began to emerge from thin air and Whiteout quickly tried to avoid them while kicking its way to get the little antlion off of it. However, Trapinch held on tightly like it would die if it let go. Whiteout eventually gave up and quickly rushed under one of the falling rocks from the sky, the rocks collided with both it and Trapinch and spiked them into the ground.

Both Pokemon quickly pushed themselves up with grunts and heavy breathing.

"Trapinch use Superpower!"

"Whiteout! Ice Ball!"

Trapinch surrounded itself with a red glowing aura as it kicked off the ground to tackle Whiteout with all of its strength. Whiteout developed an iceball in its scythe hands that kept growing and growing. Just as Trapinch was about to smash into him, the Delta Scyther launched the massive Ice Ball. Trapinch smashed into it and Whiteout and a massive explosion was unleashed across the secret base battlefield. As the dust settled, both Pokemon were found on the ground with swirls in their eyes.

Moon returned his Delta Scyther as Nora returned her little Antlion.

"Okay, Irwin! Go!"

"Go and get them Swadloon!"

Nora's evolved grassy cocoon emerged from its pokeball as Irwin developed in front of Moon, the Croconaw brace itself.

"Sunny Day!" Nora said.

"Irwin! Dragon Dance!"

Despite being inside, the sun began to glow brightly and the heat started to kick up as Irwin did a tiny little dance and bounced around as a red aura surrounded him.

"Seed Bomb!"

"Ice Punch!"

Both pokemon quickly moved in very blinding speed, much faster than you'd first expect looking at them. As swadloon launched seeds at the bipedal blue crocodile who quickly dodged them as they exploded against the ground.

Irwin got close to the cocoon as its first turned ice cold and punched the cocoon back. Swadloon skidded against the ground and buzzed its antennas together as bright green light buzzed off it. Irwin crossed his arms as the Bug Buzz pushed the bipedal crocodile back with a heavy force.

"Metal Claw!"

Irwin's claws turned to solid steel as he kicked towards the cocoon bug. Swadloon's eyes flashed as a barrier of light surrounded it and Irwin's claw simply bounced off of it.

Irwin was grabbed by a shot of string from the bug once the barrier before it was suplexed behind the cocoon with a loud smash. Swadloon then turned up to the sun as its antennas flashed and green light surrounded it.

Irwin grunted as it stood up. Suddenly, a bunch of blue light surrounded it as Irwin began to grow. Its tail grew bigger, and its body developed into a more muscular shape. The red spikes on its head grew and its mouth and teeth became sharper. Its claws also got bigger.

"GATOR!"

"Irwin evolved into Feraligatr!" Moon cheered. "Alright! Let it rip Irwin!"

Irwin's large claw was surrounded by ice as it unleashed a vicious punch. The punch smashed Swadloon's cocoon body and fired it backwards in an ice prison. The ice collided with a wall, smashed into pieces, and the cocoon collapsed on the ground.

Nora sighed as she returned the Swadloon.

"Celebi! Go!"

The little pink pixie emerged from its pokeball and leered down Irwin, despite a massive size difference.

"Leaf Storm!"

The pink fairy surrounded itself with a massive hurricane of leaves and launched them at Irwin. The blizzard of leaves lifted the poor gator into the air and Irwin landed on the ground with swirls in its eyes.

"Fair and balanced." Moon muttered. He returned Irwin and watched as Nora called Celebi back, replacing it with a Floette. The little fairy with a flower floated happily.

"Okay, Sunny go!"

Eevee emerged from its pokeball and happily yelped.

"Okay, Floette! Use Grassy Terrain!"

The battlefield was immediately surrounded with a bright green grassy field as Sunny looked around confused.

"Use Return!"

Sunny happily surrounded itself with glowing light as it rushed forward, tackling Floette with a heavy blow.

"Use Wish!" Moon's eyes widened as he watched Floette enter a prayer motion. Instantly, he knew exactly how this battle was about to go.

"Sunny, Double Edge!"

Sunny recklessly charged before Floette finished its prayer and smashed it into the wall where the flower fairy fell to the ground with swirls in its eyes.

Moon called Sunny back to its pokeball as Nora called Floette back to its ball and replaced it with Celebi.

"Ambio! Battle Stance!"

The Delta Aipom emerged from its pokeball and smacked its cheeks with a cheeky smile.

"Ancient Power!"

"Use Shadow Punch!"

Ambio's white tail glowed purple as it unleashed a punch. Celebi dodged it, however, the shadowy punch redirected itself and punched the mythical in the back, launching it towards the dead Aipom. Ambio quickly smacked it with its paws and spiked the fairy down with its tail. Celebi recovered before hitting the ground and quickly moved forward to avoid a hard fall.

Celebi's eyes flashed pink as a bit of psychic energy surrounded the dead Aipom and lifted into the air, before slamming him against the ground. Once, twice, three times, then, Ambio vanished into the ground on the fourth slam.

Celebi, in a panicked state, began looking, before Ambio jumped up and smashed its tail against the pink mythical, spiking the mythical Celebi into the ground with swirls in its eyes.

Nora gave Moon a small bit of applause as she returned her pink mythical to its ball. "Well done Moon, even without Celebi, I didn't stand a chance, I can see why Mew believes in you."

"Heh, thanks…" Moon said as he returned Ambio to its pokeball. "So…are we going to head to Vipik City together?"

The girl giggled and shook her head. "No, I'm going to do some more training, I'm sure you may have noticed my team is not very well equipped for a bug and poison gym eh?"

"It sure isn't…" Moon mumbled.


Yeah, so remember how I praised Insurgence for its boss fights teams actually being challenging. I forgot just how many of them, especially in the Early Game, were deliberately designed to PISS YOU OFF.

Case in point. Nora's Floette, with its speed and defense maxed out, alongside its base 95 special defense being boosted by an Eviolite, this thing in the early games just DOES NOT FUCKING DIE. Because it will set up Grassy Terrain, which heals it, use Wish, and then protect, rinse and repeat. And god help your soul if that Celebi is still alive, because she'll swap out and use Heal Bell to cure that Floette of Poison. If you think it gets easier on normal mode, you'd be half right as she doesn't have the eviolite, or protect on the Floette. But don't underestimate just how little damage you'll still be doing to it, especially this early on. The strongest Super effective move you can hit it with is a base 15 power poison sting off of a Nidoking or special steel moves on Magnemite.

Anyway, Delta Scyther joins the team. For anyone who's played Insurgence, you probably know what I'm about to say, but it is very unfortunate that you get Delta Scyther literally one route before what is basically agreed by the wider audience to be a top 5 Delta Pokemon, who also happens to be an Ice Type. And it doesn't help that you don't get access to the means of evolving it until the 3rd gym, by which point your team is well on its way to level 45. AND its preferred ability is Hustle, because, when it evolves to Delta Scizor, Hustle becomes adaptability. Let me tell you, as someone who has done various nuzlockes of this game. This is thing has cost me a run more than once because of Hustle. It doesn't help that its best option for physical stab is Icicle Crash either until you get access to the Ice Punch Move Tutor towards the end of the game.

Regardless, it's still a very interesting take on Scyther and Scizor. I'm certain anyone's who dabble with competitive pokemon knows that being an Ice Type kinda means you're gonna suck ass if you aren't introduced after Gen 8. So seeing the takes on Ice types here was quite nice, and believe me, you're GONNA WANT AN ICE TYPE playing through this game. Unfortunately, for Delta Scizor, the secondary type of the Ice Type you get literally one route after it makes it a far better choice for coverage and team building because it hits everything better than Delta Scizor will. Regardless, Whiteout will get his chance to shine.

Anyway, next chapter is going to have not one, not two, but three new Deltas join Moon. So it'll likely be filler, as this point in the game is where your team sort of hits that moment where everyone starts. evolving all at once. So maybe it'll be a montage style chapter filled with evolutions and new Team Members. Nothing too important to the story, I think it'll be one of the only chapters where neither a boss battle or story event doesn't happen.

Anyway, that's about it, if you have any thoughts, let me know, I'm always happy to here criticism. Even just a Nice Chapter goes a long way.

See you all, Next Time

Moon's Team:

Sunny - Eevee
Satanel - Delta Charmeleon
Irwin - Feraligatr
Shortcake - Delta Cake Dwebble
Cobalt - Riolu
Sahara - Delta Grimer
Ambio - Delta Aipom
Whiteout - Delta Scyther