"And for the next round of the Kalos Pokemon League Tournament, we have Marcus Grayson up against Brian Duke!" April cried. "Marcus is coming off a first-round bye, while Brian already has one victory under his belt, courtesy of his fast and tricky Jynx!"
"All we know about Marcus is that he has a Medicham for an ace," Steven observed. "Good taste, if I do say so myself."
"What, the local Pokemon not to your liking?" April asked jokingly.
"I didn't say that," Steven defended.
Drapion watched from his Pokeball as Marcus stepped into the stadium. Across the field, which this time around was covered in loose boulders, the Trainer known as Brian was emerging from the other stadium entrance. Brian was thin, with dark hair and a nervous expression on his face, though one that was less nervous than earlier. Drapion had watched him battle; his Jynx was tough, but his Beedrill had gone down easy.
With Marcus's team adequately prepared for Jynx, this battle shouldn't be too difficult. Hopefully.
"We're on a Rock field for this battle," said April, "which should make Steven happy." Steven scoffed. April continued, "Brian has revealed three of his Pokemon, with a Beedrill and a Hitmonlee in addition to his Jynx. This means that Marcus has an advantage going into this battle, but let's not count Brian out!"
Dan, the referee, raised a hand from the sideline. "This will be a three-on-three battle. Trainers, meet in the middle of the field for the coin toss."
Marcus and Brian stepped up to one another. Marcus was a little taller than Brian, so he had to reach down slightly to shake his hand. "Good luck," Brian said, much less stutteringly than when he had delivered the message to his first-round opponent.
"Thanks, you too," said Marcus.
"As the Trainer coming off the bye, Marcus will call the coin toss!" Dan announced.
Drapion wriggled in his Pokeball. What was with all these formalities? He just wanted to get into the fight. Was that really so difficult?
"Brian will release first!" Drapion realized he'd missed the coin toss itself. Brian and Marcus stepped away from each other, returning to their sides of the field.
Brian's first release was the Beedrill from the last battle. It buzzed threateningly, clacking its stingers in preparation for the battle. Last battle it had fallen without taking down any of its opponent's Pokemon. Clearly, it intended to rectify that.
Marcus's hand went for Kriesh's Pokeball, but then he hesitated. Clearly, he'd realized the exact same thing Drapion just had; Kriesh would probably take down the Beedrill with ease, but that would be inviting Jynx in. Bringing in Houndoom would be able to take down both Beedrill and Jynx, but likely Brian's third teammate would be strong against Fire to cover against such an obvious weakness, forcing Marcus to switch out.
Drapion grinned in anticipation as Marcus released him onto the field. Drapion let out a retaliatory snarl at the Beedrill, claws clenching in readiness.
"And Marcus's first Pokemon is a Drapion!" April's heralding of his arrival felt good, Drapion wasn't going to lie. He could get used to that. "It certainly looks strong, and its Dark typing is strong against Jynx. If Marcus's Drapion can beat this Beedrill, Brian will not want to switch in his Jynx. A good first pick from Marcus - if, that is, his Drapion can handle Brian's Beedrill."
"Battlers…" Dan inhaled. "Begin!"
"Swarm him!" Brian wasted no time in giving his first order. Beedrill rose into the air. "Swarm!" he buzzed, summoning five copies of himself. All six Beedrills lunged forwards, wings both real and illusory beating at insane speeds.
Drapion had expected Beedrill to hang back and send out his copies, or perhaps do that Needle Burst technique. It took him a moment to remember that this was not Stinger. This Beedrill was obviously less experienced with its Swarm ability. At present, he was using it like Double Team, simply creating illusionary copies to try and confuse his opponent, rather than the solid duplication and overwhelming onslaught that Stinger had been able to utilize.
Drapion smirked. This was going to be a piece of cake.
"Pin Missile!" Marcus ordered.
Drapion raised his claws and fired off a Pierce, sending a single flying spike at each of the oncoming Beedrills. The real Beedrill instantly changed direction, flying upwards to avoid the spike aimed at him, while the five illusionary Beedrills dissipated under the rain of fire.
"An impressive counter to Beedrill's primary tactic," Steven mused from the commentator's box.
Beedrill raised both his stingers. "Needle Barrage!" he buzzed, unleashing a rain of stingers laced with Bug energy upon Drapion.
"Battle Armor!" Drapion snarled, raising one arm to intercept the oncoming stingers as he thickened it with his chitin reserves. He felt the faintest of stings as Beedrill's Needle Barrage impacted on his Battle Armor. "No Escape!" Drapion growled, retaliating with a burst of Dark-type rays.
"Swarm!" Unfortunately, Beedrill was smart enough to summon four copies in front of himself. Each of them took a ray and dissipated, but took the ray with it, leaving the real Beedrill unscathed.
"It seems that these two battlers are at a stalemate!" April commented.
"Cross Poison!" Marcus ordered.
"X-Scissor!" Brian countered.
Both Drapion and Beedrill crossed their arms and fired out an X-shaped burst of Poison and Bug energy, respectively. "Blast!" "Stinger Burst!"
The two attacks slammed into each other, creating a spectacular explosion of energy that delivered a flurry of "Whoa!" from the crowd but yet again failed to damage either Pokemon.
"Beedrill, keep up the barrage!" Brian cried. "His guard will break eventually!"
"Not if yours breaks first!" Marcus retorted. "Drapion, keep going!"
Seething, Drapion launched a renewed volley of attacks at Beedrill: Pierce, No Escape, and Blast came from him in equal measure, but Beedrill was clearly an expert at defending, routinely sending out Swarm clones to take Drapion's attacks and countering every Blast Drapion sent at him with a Stinger Burst. Beedrill then returned fire with more Needle Barrages, a few Dark-type rays of his own, and a glob of Poison energy that Drapion had to use Block to defend against.
It took an entire minute of this senseless stalemate before Marcus gave another order just as another wave of Beedrill's Swarm clones fell to Pierce. "Infestation!"
"Grasp!" Drapion snarled just as Brian cried, "Dodge!"
Beedrill flung himself sideways as Drapion fired an expanding cloud of Bug energy upwards. But Beedrill was not quite fast enough. The edge of the cloud caught Beedrill, and Beedrill let out a pained groan as Bug energy began to eat into him.
The commentators were quick to praise the move, but Drapion tuned that out. He only concentrated on one thing; Beedrill, being hit by continuous waves of pain, was descending to the ground.
"Charge him!" Marcus ordered.
"Beedrill, Acrobatics!" Brian cried.
"Swarm! Wing Strike!" Beedrill again charged Drapion in the midst of five illusory copies, a surge of Flying energy gathering around all six Beedrills. Drapion was already lunging forwards as they closed in on him. He hauled back and swung one of his arms, aiming to slash through the swarm.
It almost worked.
The clones popped, but Beedrill himself was too fast, especially while enhanced even further by the Flying energy surrounding him. He twisted above Drapion's arm and delivered a stinger-strike to Drapion's shoulder before Drapion could activate Battle Armor. Drapion let out a pained snarl and swung again, only for Beedrill to dance out of the way. "Needle Barrage!"
"Battle Armor!" Drapion growled. "No Escape!"
At this close range, Drapion could block the hastily-aimed Needle Barrage with his chitin reserves, but Beedrill had no room to defend with his swarm-clones, and Grasp meant that Beedrill suffered another wave of pain just as he endeavored to avoid No Escape. The four Dark-type rays slammed into Beedrill, knocking him to the ground.
"Drill Run!" Brian cried.
Beedrill twisted. "Ground Stinger!" he buzzed, lunging forwards rear-stinger-first. "Protect!" Marcus ordered. Drapion raised a Block in Beedrill's path, deflecting the wicked strike.
"Slam!"
"Acrobatics! Get out of there!" Brian yelled. As Beedrill surrounded his body with Flying energy, Drapion slammed one massive arm down on Beedrill, but barely missed as Beedrill sped to the right. But he'd reckoned without Drapion's tail. Drapion spun, tail lashing, and drove it straight into Beedrill, sending him flying straight into one of the Rock Field's boulders.
Drapion twisted, ramming his left arm forwards to strike the winded Beedrill, clamping his claws tightly around Beedrill's body. Beedrill struggled, but could not escape Drapion's grip.
"Um…um…Infestation!" Brian ordered haltingly.
"Stinger Grasp!" Drapion was completely caught off guard by the blast of Bug energy Beedrill fired at him. He snarled in pain and fury, but kept his grip on Beedrill. Beedrill gulped as Drapion glared at him. "Prey," he growled, raising his claws once more.
"No!" Brian cried, but nerves had gotten to him and he gave no more orders as Drapion lifted Beedrill up and slammed him into one of the many boulders on the Rock Field. Then he rammed his other arm into Beedrill's face and began digging in. His poison wouldn't work, but he didn't care; he just ripped and tore at Beedrill's body with his claws, savaging the helpless bug.
"I forfeit Beedrill!" The cry and subsequent recall was inevitable. Drapion smirked. After Stinger, that Beedrill had been effortless by comparison.
Once it got into melee range, it stood no chance.
"Now that was an impressive showing from Marcus's Drapion," Steven remarked. "And Jynx won't want to get anywhere near a Dark-type. Hopefully Brian's third has a good answer for that Drapion, otherwise this will be a quick battle."
Brian clenched his fists. "Flygon! Get out there!"
Murmurs arose from the stands. "It seems Brian's next Pokemon is a Flygon!" April announced. "And that's a dangerous pick for that Drapion. Drapion's Dark/Poison typing gives it only one weakness, but that weakness is Ground, and Flygon is a perfect Pokemon to exploit that weakness!"
"Drapion, come back," said Marcus, clearly not wanting to keep Drapion out against this Flygon. Drapion did feel slightly disappointed that he hadn't even gotten to fight Flygon, but understood that type disadvantage was something Marcus wanted to avoid.
Especially since he'd also packed a Pokemon with immunity to Ground.
"Marcus switches out his Drapion for…a Fearow," said Steven. "An interesting decision. The Ground immunity will be useful. It looks like this will be a battle of the skies."
"Now remember," said April, "for those of you who don't know, because of the Endless Switch Rule, Marcus cannot switch back to his Drapion now unless his Fearow is knocked out!"
Drapion watched closely as Kriesh flapped her wings and rose into the air. "Levitate," Flygon intoned, doing the same.
"Sandstorm!" Brian ordered.
Flygon's wings flapped madly. The Ground/Dragon-type echoed his Trainer as a surge of Rock energy swept out in all directions, whirling into the air to cover the battlefield in a swirling hurricane of sand. Kriesh winced as sand dug into her feathers, while Flygon seemed completely unaffected.
"Rock Slide!" Brian cried.
Kriesh's eyes widened as Flygon twisted to glare at her. "Sand Barrage!" he snarled. Kriesh dove, arcing downwards to avoid the Rock energy that Flygon sent at her.
"Hyper Beam!" Marcus ordered.
Kriesh twisted in midair so that her beak was facing Flygon. "Beam Impact!" she cried, not even bothering to use Sniper. But Brian was quick to react. "Earthquake!" he ordered.
"Sand Quake!" A burst of Ground energy exploded out of Flygon's body, slamming into the Hyper Beam and dissipating it into nothingness.
"A fantastic use of Earthquake!" April cried. "Using the Sandstorm, Flygon was able to focus that Earthquake to defend against Fearow's Hyper Beam!"
"Sand Barrage!" Flygon cried. Kriesh lunged, darting through the sandstorm to avoid Flygon's renewed Sand Barrage.
Kriesh was evading nicely, but the sandstorm was still digging into her. Another wince made that painfully clear even as she artfully dodged Flygon's blasts of Rock energy.
"Kriesh, get in close!" Marcus ordered.
Kriesh arced upwards, wings flaring, and hurled herself at Flygon. "Dragon Beam!" Flygon cried, but Kriesh was quick, twisting out of the way of the blast of Dragon energy Flygon fired at her and continuing her charge.
"Sky Impact!" Kriesh cried.
"Sand Slam!" Flygon bellowed.
Kriesh and Flygon cannoned into each other, a clash that Kriesh seemed to get the worst of. She fell, landing on the ground, on her feet but clearly wounded. Flygon continued to hover in the air courtesy of Levitate.
Unlike Cryogonal, Flygon's use of Levitate seemed limited to just allowing him to fly. Yet what he lacked in Ability versatility, he more than made up for in power. Kriesh's Sky Impact had clearly dealt at least some damage judging by Flygon's pained expression, but between the Sandstorm and Flygon's Sand Slam, Kriesh had taken far more. She glared up at Flygon, not yet out but recognizing that getting in close was going to be more difficult than anticipated.
"Pursuit, then try again!" Marcus cried.
Kriesh rose into the air. "Flurry Impact!" she screeched, lunging upwards again even as she fired off the Dark-type rays.
"Stop those rays!" Brian ordered. "Then Dragon Rush on that Fearow!"
Flygon's eyes narrowed. "Sand Tomb," he growled, gathering a sphere of flying sand between his claws and hurling it forth. It expanded as it flew, engulfing the oncoming Flurry Impact in a net of Rock energy. Above the resulting explosion of energy leaped Kriesh, wings spread wide. "Beam Impact!"
"Dragon Slam!"
Flygon was already lunging forwards, surrounding his body with Dragon energy, as Kriesh opened wide and exhaled a Beam Impact straight at him.
"Flygon!" Brian screamed as Flygon flew headlong into the Beam Impact. Somehow, he managed to keep going for a few seconds, slowing more and more as he forced himself through the teeth of the massive blast, but then he stopped completely as the last of the surrounding Dragon energy broke down in the face of the Beam Impact. Flygon disappeared in an explosion of energy, one that sent the surrounding Sandstorm flying, the sand plummeting to the ground, its swirling broken by the clash.
Kriesh hovered in midair, staring at the explosion. Her feathers were covered in little pinpricks of blood from the sandstorm, and she was breathing heavily, but triumph glinted in her eyes. Drapion smirked himself. With Flygon down, it was 3-1; they could beat that stupid Jynx no problem, especially since Houndoom hadn't even-
"Dragon Slam!"
And then Flygon lunged out of the explosion, body bruised and still smoking in places from the explosion but with a renewed aura of Dragon energy surrounding him. Kriesh's eyes widened and she made to dodge, but before she could do more than twitch Flygon slammed into her stomach. The crack as at least one of her ribs, possibly more, broke under the impact made Drapion wince. Kriesh folded around Flygon's head, gasping in shock and agony.
"Stone Edge!" Brian cried.
"Kriesh, no!" Marcus cried as Flygon, with a bellow of "Sand Slam!" formed a jagged spike of Rock energy and rammed it straight into Kriesh's face. Kriesh fell, going limp as she tumbled to the ground. Marcus recalled her before she hit, thankfully.
"And Flygon's impressive Rock-type coverage means that Marcus's gamble did not pay off." Steven's remarks now infuriated Drapion. The stadium had watched Kriesh's fall; they didn't need exposition on how Kriesh had failed! A part of him recognized that he was being hypocritical, but it still hurt to listen to Steven chatter about Kriesh's loss. "It seems that the shoe is on the other foot now. With his Drapion weak to Ground, if Marcus's third Pokemon isn't good against Flygon, he might wind up in the exact same situation as Brian's first-round opponent."
Marcus sighed, clearly thinking madly, as Flygon landed back on the ground, drinking in Brian's praise. Drapion knew as well as Marcus did that Houndoom would not be good against Flygon. He also knew that Houndoom was Marcus's counter for Jynx. Drapion was supposed to be the backup, just in case Houndoom failed.
And so he was unsurprised when Marcus sent him back out.
"And Marcus sends his Drapion out on the field again!" April cried. "Remember, the Endless Switch Rule is not being violated, since Marcus's Fearow has been knocked out. As such, this is a fair switch!"
"But an odd one," said Steven. "I'm getting the feeling that Marcus was not prepared at all for a Flygon. Understandable, considering how Brian hadn't revealed it until now. But I'll bet that his mystery third Pokemon is not good at all against Flygon."
Drapion readied himself for a difficult battle. His one advantage was that Flygon was definitely badly damaged. Taking a full-force Beam Impact from Kriesh straight to the face had clearly not done Flygon any favors, and that combined with the earlier Sky Impact had left Flygon battered. If Flygon stayed on the ground, Drapion had a chance to simply close in and beat Flygon into submission before the Ground/Dragon-type could overcome him.
But if Flygon managed to get into the air, the battle was likely already over. As Drapion had seen with Kriesh, Flygon had ample aerial abilities, and unlike Kriesh, Drapion was not immune to Ground-type moves. He had no doubt that Flygon, in the air, would be able to counter all of Drapion's ranged attacks, break through his guard, and ultimately bring him down.
"Flygon, hit him with an Earthquake!" Brian called, sounding a lot more confident now.
"Block!" Drapion growled, raising a chitin barrier to deflect the Sand Quake Flygon sent at him. "Blast!"
"Sand Slam!" Flygon retorted, sending another jagged spike of Rock energy flying at the X-shaped blast of Poison energy Drapion fired from his arms. The two attacks slammed into each other in yet another explosion of energy.
Exactly as Drapion wanted.
See, he would have liked his Blast to hit, of course. But the explosion gave him cover, cover that would be quite important against this Flygon. And so as the explosion faded, Drapion hurled himself through the remnants, arms drawn back and ready to swing.
"Dragon Claw!" Brian cried.
Drapion leaped, claws glistening with Dragon energy, and met Drapion's Slam with a strike of his own. Somehow, Flygon's attack held against Drapion's, even though Drapion's was far larger. Drapion hissed in rage. "Battle Armor!" he snarled, gathering as much chitin as he could around the tip of his other arm. "Slam!"
Flygon twisted to meet it even as Brian cried, "Get back!" The Ground/Dragon-type tried to do both at once, holding up his claws as a shield as he stepped backwards, but Drapion's clublike arm broke through his guard and caught Flygon straight in the face with a brutal crack. Flygon tumbled to the ground, rolling to a stop.
"What a move from Marcus's Drapion!" April cried. "Perhaps Brian and his Flygon got a little too overconfident there! As we've seen many times, type advantage alone doesn't give you a victory!"
Irritatingly, despite the announcer's praise, the move wasn't enough to finish Flygon. The Mystic Pokemon rose to his feet. "Levitate," he growled.
No!
Drapion hurled himself forwards as fast as he could. "Grasp!" he snarled, unleashing an expanding wave of Bug energy at the rising Flygon, anything to distract Flygon from moving higher. "Sandstorm!" Flygon snarled, retaliating with a similar blast of Rock energy that met the Grasp in midair. The two attacks broke against each other, the energy dissipating, and Flygon continued to rise.
Drapion leaped, punching his arm forwards, reaching as high as he could, trying desperately to catch Flygon before the Mystic Pokemon was completely out of reach.
"Dragon Beam!"
Flygon's attack came too late. Even as Drapion took the blast of Dragon energy straight to the face, his claws ripped across Flygon's stomach. Drapion, completely off balance due to his leap, fell onto his back as his face erupted in pain. But Flygon fell as well, losing concentration on Levitate from the pain; the Ground/Dragon Pokemon plummeted to the ground next to Drapion.
Drapion slowly rose to his feet to gaze upon the fallen form of his foe, barely listening to the announcers' praise for his move. Thank Arceus he'd made that leap. There was no way he'd been able to defeat Flygon if he'd gotten into the air.
But, somehow, Flygon began to rise from the ground again, every muscle in his body trembling. Drapion stifled a furious snarl. What was it going to take to bring this thing down for good?
"Finish it off!" Marcus ordered as Flygon rose to his feet. "Ice Fang!"
"Earthquake!" Brian cried.
Drapion lunged, forming Ice energy across his jaws as he did so. Flygon sent another wave of Ground energy at him, but again Drapion raised a Block, deflected the attack, and continued to rush Flygon. Quickly, Flygon twisted as Drapion hurled himself forwards; Drapion saw Flygon's tail, covered in Dragon energy, coming straight at his face.
"Dragon Tail!"
A renewed burst of pain exploded across Drapion's shoulder and then he was flying, uncontrollably, barely able to heed his surroundings. He knew what Dragon Tail did, remembered it from Grant's Tyrunt all those weeks ago. He knew he was back in his Luxury Ball. As the immediate pain began to ebb, Drapion heard the telltale sound of a Pokeball opening. That would be Houndoom being forcibly released from his Pokeball. The announcer began to speak, and it took Drapion a moment to register what they were talking about.
"…a Houndoom," Steven's voice was saying. "That would explain quite a bit. Clearly, Marcus wanted to be fully prepared for Brian's Jynx, but it seems he may have been a little overprepared. However, Flygon has definitely taken some major hits. This battle isn't done yet."
"Houndoom, Dark Pulse!" Marcus cried as Drapion, his body still aching, clambered up to the crack in his Luxury Ball to watch the battle.
"Sand Quake!" Flygon, still grounded, unleashed a wave of Ground energy to counter Houndoom's Dark Surge. It took a bit more exertion than it had previously; between Kriesh and Drapion, Flygon had definitely taken quite a few hits. One more good hit would most likely finish Flygon off.
The trouble would be landing said good hit.
Houndoom was letting fly with all manner of ranged attacks, but Flygon was countering them easily with blasts of Ground, Rock, or Dragon energy, blasting away flames and dispersing darkness. A Poison Tongue was deflected with similar ease. "Sand Quake!" Flygon cried, sending another wave of Ground energy at Houndoom, but a quick Dark Surge was enough to stop the Sand Quake in its tracks.
"Sandstorm!" Flygon bellowed, unleashing another swirling mass of Rock energy from his body. Drapion seethed as he saw the little flying pieces of Rock energy begin to dig into Houndoom's skin. Now he was in the same position as Kriesh; all his attacks would simply be countered, while the Sandstorm slowly chipped away at his health until a couple of attacks were enough to bring him down.
As the announcers began to exposit that exact situation, Houndoom lunged at the still ground-bound Flygon. Flygon's response was a Sand Slam, but Houndoom managed to leap out of the way of the flying blast of Rock energy.
"Dragon Rush!" Brian cried.
Flygon glanced back at his Trainer for a moment. Drapion had to agree; getting in close was exactly what Houndoom wanted. If Flygon wanted to win this, he would have to leverage his Ground and Rock-type attacks and keep Houndoom at a distance, not charge in and risk getting struck by a brutal attack.
But his Trainer had given the order. And so Flygon's body flared with Dragon energy. "Dragon Slam!" he snarled, lunging straight at Houndoom with claws outstretched.
"Solar Beam!" Marcus ordered.
Houndoom's claws dug into the ground as his Power Herb glowed. In half a second, a flood of Grass energy came to his jaws. Houndoom glared at the charging Flygon, who had seen the attack coming and was desperately trying to lunge out of the way. But his momentum was too much for him.
"Solar Surge," Houndoom growled.
As it had against Kriesh's Beam Impact, Flygon's Dragon Slam held up for a few seconds against the blast of Grass energy. But, like before, there was just too much energy to fully withstand. As the last shreds of Dragon energy dissipated and Flygon screamed in agony, Brian raised his Pokeball and finally recalled the Mystic Pokemon, signaling a forfeit.
Drapion sighed with relief. Now Jynx would have to come out against Houndoom, a death sentence for the Ice/Psychic-type. Flygon had been scary, but-
"Go, Hitmonlee!"
Wait, what?
"And in a surprising turn of events, Brian hasn't even brought Jynx to this battle!" April exclaimed. "Considering Marcus's strategy seems specifically tailored to counter Jynx, this is huge for Brian! Now he has a Fighting-type against two Dark-types, one of them weakened! Every time we think this battle is over, our contestants show us that it's anything but!"
Despite April's praise, Brian's nervousness seemed to have returned, for he gave his first order to Hitmonlee with a quiver in his voice. "R-Rush him! Double Kick!"
Hitmonlee hurled himself forwards, sprinting across the Rock Field with feet glowing with Fighting energy. "Flame Tongue!" Houndoom snarled, meeting him with a wave of Fire energy. To Drapion's surprise, Hitmonlee lunged into the teeth of the blast. "Reckless!" Hitmonlee cried. "Foot Style: Double Kick!"
Energy blazed around Hitmonlee's body as he hurled himself straight into the Flame Tongue, charging without heed to the Fire energy. Houndoom's eyes widened in shock a second before Hitmonlee lashed out. One foot slammed Houndoom's head to the side; a second knocked him to the ground as Hitmonlee landed artfully, surprisingly unscathed.
"My Reckless Ability gives me a personal barrier of energy as long as I am moving," Hitmonlee growled. "Only when I am stationary am I vulnerable. Otherwise, your attacks will do nothing to me."
Houndoom rose from the ground, shaking his head to clear the pain. "Don't make me laugh," he snarled. "I see those slight burns on your body. You can negate some damage, sure, but not all of it."
"Enough to deal with you and that Drapion after," Hitmonlee retorted. "Reckless! Foot Style: Jumping Kick!"
"Dodge!" Marcus cried. Houndoom leaped sideways, barely avoiding the attack, as Hitmonlee hurled himself forwards, his energy barrier reforming around his body. "Foot Style: Rolling Kick!" Hitmonlee cried as he landed, turning his missed move into a swift roll and hurling himself at Houndoom again.
"Flame Surge!" Houndoom roared, unleashing an even larger torrent of Fire energy at the oncoming Hitmonlee. Again, though, it was not enough to break Hitmonlee's charge, and once more Hitmonlee's kick sent Houndoom flying.
As Steven exposited on how Houndoom was being thrown around the arena and about how Marcus needed to think of a better strategy, Drapion realized that there was no way Houndoom was going to win this.
Houndoom was an offensive powerhouse. His Dark and Fire attacks were difficult to withstand, and his coverage was immense after the pre-Tournament training session. He would have been able to demolish Beedrill, but Marcus had wanted to keep Houndoom a secret for Jynx and use Drapion first.
But defensively, Houndoom was lacking. He could hold his own in a ranged duel, using his attacks to thwart those of his opponents. But against this Hitmonlee who could simply bull-rush his way through Houndoom's attacks and retaliate with powerful Fighting-type moves, he was simply outclassed.
So Drapion began to think of how he could beat this Hitmonlee.
Block would be invaluable. Not only would it deflect those Fighting-type moves, but it would also arrest Hitmonlee's momentum, and as Hitmonlee had helpfully explained, depriving him of momentum and therefore movement would remove his energy barrier. He could use Dig, but he didn't know whether Hitmonlee had Earthquake or not. With the amount of Pokemon who had or could have that move, Dig was rapidly becoming far more difficult to use.
The fight would come down to Hitmonlee's speed. If Hitmonlee could get clear of Drapion's retaliatory strikes after being stopped by Protect, there would be no way for Drapion to win barring luck. If he couldn't, it was over for him, as with Hitmonlee in Drapion's grasp, Reckless was completely removed as a factor and Drapion could simply beat him with Prey.
"Shadow Surge!" Houndoom's Ghost-type attack impacted straight into Hitmonlee's Reckless-formed energy barrier, and though Hitmonlee shivered under the blast he kept going. Another kick sent Houndoom reeling. By now, the Fire/Dark-type had bruises all over his face and upper body and was trembling as he stood yet again.
"Inferno!" Marcus ordered.
"High Jump Kick!" Brian shouted at the same time.
Hitmonlee rushed Houndoom yet again, leaping into the air with body aglow. "Foot Style: Finishing Kick!" he cried. Houndoom, for his part, glared at the oncoming Hitmonlee with exhausted defiance in his eyes. "Flame Surge!" he roared, meeting Hitmonlee with yet another torrent of Fire energy from his maw.
As before, Hitmonlee leaped into the attack, taking it without too much trouble as he arced down towards Houndoom. But something changed. Even as Hitmonlee's foot slammed straight into Houndoom's temple, his form shivered slightly as a rolling flame washed up his body. Houndoom collapsed, unconscious, as Hitmonlee landed, but the Fighting-type Pokemon staggered as he did so.
Drapion had no idea what was going on, but thankfully, the announcers did.
"It seems that Marcus's Houndoom has left an enduring mark on his opponent!" April cried. "That Inferno appears to have burned Brian's Hitmonlee! That burn will deal constant damage and massively impact Hitmonlee's power! This could be crippling!"
Brian's eyes widened. "Hitmonlee, no! Stay strong!"
Hitmonlee grunted in pain as a fresh burst of flames flickered across his body.
"Drapion, it's up to you," Marcus said softly, sending Drapion out for the third time this fight.
Drapion remembered what it was like to be burned. Hitmonlee's muscles would be spasming as the burn depleted his strength and sapped his energy, and all the while he would be in constant pain. April was correct. A burn was crippling to a Fighting-type like Hitmonlee.
Houndoom had fallen, but he'd ensured that Drapion could finish it.
"Hitmonlee, Close Combat!" Brian cried. He knew as well as Drapion did how much the burn ruined his strategy. Hitmonlee's only chance against Drapion now was to launch the most powerful attacks he could and hope to finish Drapion off before the burn could overcome him.
"Reckless!" Hitmonlee cried, charging Drapion with Fighting energy engulfing his entire body. "Foot Style: Kick Barrage!"
"Block!" Drapion snarled.
Hitmonlee leaped into the air, one foot drawn back, and lunged as Drapion manifested his chitin barrier.
Hitmonlee's kick rammed against the chitin barrier. Then another came, and then another. Five, ten, twenty kicks landed, slamming one after the other into Drapion's Protect. But the Block held, even Hitmonlee's rapid-fire strikes unable to break the impenetrable barrier.
Hitmonlee backflipped off the barrier, landing smoothly and instantly staggering again from his burn. "No Escape!" Drapion snarled as his Block went down.
"Dodge, and High Jump Kick!" Brian cried.
Hitmonlee lunged sideways. It wasn't fast enough to outpace the No Escape, but it was fast enough that he managed to activate his Reckless barrier before the rays hit. All four rays glanced uselessly off the barrier as Hitmonlee swiveled, hurling himself again at Drapion.
"Battle Armor!" Drapion growled, concentrating as much of his chitin reserves against the incoming kick.
"Foot Style: Finishing Kick!"
Hitmonlee's foot slammed into Drapion's gathered chitin. Even with the combination of Drapion's defense and Hitmonlee's burn, Drapion still felt pain wash across his shoulder. But he did not stagger. Instead, Drapion held against the attack. Hitmonlee held still a heartbeat too long. The Fighting-type's Reckless barrier faded a second before Drapion twisted, sending his tail lashing into Hitmonlee's side.
With all the accumulated damage from Houndoom's flames and the burn, it was simply too much.
Hitmonlee's body flew straight into one of the boulders and slumped to the ground, motionless. Brian cried out, but it was halfhearted; he knew that Hitmonlee was finished, and with him his time in the Tournament.
"And Marcus's Drapion brings it home," said Steven. "An impressive performance from Marcus's team takes him to the Top 64. Congratulations to both Trainers for a well-fought battle."
Drapion basked in the praise, barely registering Brian recalling his Hitmonlee and retreating from the field. Marcus recalled Drapion a few seconds later, clearly pleased and relieved himself.
"Good job, Drapion," Marcus whispered. "And Kriesh and Houndoom…I know you can't hear me, but good job to both of you as well."
Marcus retreated from the stadium, the cheers of the crowd fading as he stepped further and further away from the arena.
They'd met Marcus's parents again outside of the stadium. Sarah and James had been quick to congratulate Marcus on his performance, praising this move and that good decision until Marcus thanked them, then pointed out that he did need to heal up his team. Sarah and James then withdrew with a few last-second congratulations, allowing Marcus to finally abscond to the Pokemon Center.
In spite of all the battling he'd done, Drapion hadn't actually taken too much damage. Kriesh and Houndoom were out for the next battle, which would be taking place later today. But the Pokemon Center employees simply gave Marcus a couple Super Potions for Drapion's injuries, which led to where Drapion was now, standing in one of the many training fields surrounding the stadium as Marcus painstakingly sprayed one of the Super Potions onto the bruise left by Brian's Hitmonlee.
"Hey."
Marcus and Drapion both turned to see Brian standing a few feet away. The weedy Trainer looked somewhat nervous, but quickly gathered himself. "I'm…sorry for running off so fast back there. Just want you to know…that was a good match."
Marcus smiled. "Thanks. I'm not going to lie, you played me pretty well. I seriously thought you'd bring Jynx."
Brian gave a small smile himself. "Yeah, Jynx took a few nasty hits in the first round, and the Pokemon Center employees advised she take the morning off, so I decided not to push it. Flygon was my second catch, so I thought he'd be enough."
"Funny, Drapion was mine," said Marcus.
Brian made a noise that might have been a chuckle but was too short and quiet for Drapion to really tell. "Anyway, I have to go," he said. "I promised…a friend that I'd come home as soon as I could, and…"
"I get it," said Marcus. "See you, Brian, and thanks for the battle."
Brian retreated, leaving Marcus and Drapion alone once again. It took a few more seconds for Marcus to realize that the Super Potion he was squirting had run out at least ten seconds ago.
"Whoops." Marcus dropped the Super Potion bottle. At that point, his Pokedex chimed. Marcus pulled it out.
"Hey, they've already updated the KPLT Grades website!" Marcus said excitedly. "Let's check out how well we did!"
Drapion did not care much for the KPLT Grades website. It was too analytic for his taste. But he obediently stepped over to look at Marcus's Pokedex as he pulled up the website and scrolled down to the newly-placed entry.
Brian Duke: If the Tournament was won purely on strategy, Duke would have gotten an A with ease, using a surprise Flygon to completely disrupt an opponent who prepared extensively for his Jynx. Unfortunately for Duke, he had to actually battle, and in that he fell apart. His Beedrill was practically dead weight, making the battle a two-on-three very quickly, poor management of his Flygon resulted in a loss that really should have taken a lot more effort from his opponent, and an unlucky burn on his Hitmonlee ruined any plan Duke had for a comeback. Great plan, poor execution. Grade: C+
Marcus Grayson: Grayson massively overprepared for a Jynx that his opponent didn't even bring, putting him on the back foot against a Flygon that could have, with better management, landed him in the exact same position as Duke's first-round opponent. But his team barely managed to get their Trainer out of the hole he'd dug; his Fearow managed to deal vital damage to Duke's Flygon, his Drapion was a consistent presence that showed off some impressive power against all three of Duke's team members, and his Houndoom (with a little bit of luck) was able to essentially finish the match despite facing multiple type disadvantages. Grayson's team was ultimately strong enough to get the win, but it was far too close for comfort, and if their Trainer keeps being outplanned like that, he likely won't be in the Tournament much longer. Grade: B-
Marcus put the Pokedex down with a disappointed expression. He sighed. "Well, I guess I shouldn't have expected much better," he admitted. "They're right. I was sloppy."
Drapion swung his head around to look at his Trainer. "We won," he growled. "It doesn't matter. Battle's over. When ya win a battle, ya don't look back an' think about how ya could've done better. Ya accept the win an' move on. Got that?"
Though he couldn't understand a word of Drapion's speech, Marcus seemed to get the general gist, or at least he was quick to click off of the KPLT Grades website.
The next step was, of course, to figure out which Trainer they'd be battling next. A quick check of the bracket told Marcus and Drapion that the next Trainer Marcus would be facing was a girl named Connie whose ace was registered as a Tyranitar, and over her first two battles had also revealed a Skuntank, a Shiftry, and a Zweilous. Apparently, she'd battled after Marcus, and the battle had clearly just ended, because it hadn't even been entered on the KPLT Grades website. Her first battle was, though; she'd scored an A-, cleaving through a Gogoat, Palpitoed, and Pidgeot while only losing Skuntank in the process.
Marcus had scarcely began to think of the strategy he'd use for dealing with Connie when Drapion, staring at Marcus, caught a flash of pink out of the corner on his eye.
Drapion gestured with his arm. Marcus turned, seeing what Drapion had seen; a Trainer that was quite clearly Connie stepping out of the stadium, looking quite drained. She was fairly tall, wearing a black tank top with a strange white-and-pink logo in the center, and had hair dyed bright pink, just like her picture in the bracket.
She quickly moved into the nearby Pokemon Center helpfully situated next to the stadium entrance. Marcus looked at Drapion. "What say we meet the competition?" he asked. Drapion nodded.
Marcus recalled Drapion and rose to his feet, moving towards the Pokemon Center himself.
The Pokemon Center was, like all Pokemon Centers, about as shiny and clean as an oiled Gorebyss. It looked even cleaner due to the fact that, since it and another Pokemon Center across the way were reserved for the participants in the Tournament, Connie was currently the only non-employee inside, standing with hands on her hips as a nurse looked over her three Pokeballs.
"Well," the nurse said, "good news is, your Skuntank's the only one that will be out for the next battle. Your Zweilous and Shiftry should be good to go."
"Fair 'nough." Connie's voice was accented strangely. Evidently she'd heard Marcus's footsteps, for she turned to look at him. "'Lo, P - wait, you're…" She snapped her fingers. "You must be my next opponent."
"How'd you guess?" Marcus asked.
"Only reason some random would be coming in here right now," said Connie. Her eyes narrowed. "Wait a sec…I recognize you. You're the boy with the Drapion."
"That I am," said Marcus.
"You've got good taste," Connie said with a smirk. "'Course, if you really had good taste, you'd be a Dark-type Trainer like…oh, look. Speak of the devil…"
For the Pokemon Center doors had opened as Connie spoke. Marcus turned swiftly. Drapion nearly lost his balance; quickly, he scrambled back up to the crack in his Luxury Ball.
His eyes beheld a pair of Trainers standing in the entranceway. One was another girl, clearly younger than Connie, wearing a pink dress covered mostly by a black vest with what looked to be metal studs and sporting a head of messy black hair. The other was a man with long, flowing, black-and-white striped hair, a similarly colored coat and boots, and a shirt with the same logo Connie had on her tank top. There was also a Pokemon standing between them, one Drapion didn't recognize at all that looked like a slightly skinnier, black, brown and yellow Dedenne.
"Connie," the man greeted. "Thought I might find you here."
"'Lo, Piers," said Connie. "Marnie. This is…the boy with the Drapion. He's my next opponent."
"Drapion, huh?" Piers asked. "What's your name?"
"I'm Marcus," Marcus answered.
"Connie's goin' to beat you and your team into the ground!" Marnie stated confidently.
Piers and Connie both held back chuckles. "Marnie, why don't you take Morpeko outside and give it somethin' to eat," Piers suggested.
"Right!" Marnie gathered Morpeko in both hands and rushed out of the Pokemon Center.
"Sorry 'bout her," said Connie. "She's a little young. Come a few years, though, she'll be takin' the Gym Challenge herself."
"I take it you're her family?" Marcus guessed.
Piers chuckled. "Not really. But in Spikemuth, we're all family. And I haven't got many Gym Leader duties, so I decided I couldn't very well miss one of my Gym Trainers takin' part in such an important tournament."
"You're a Gym Trainer?" Marcus asked Connie, his eyes widened. Then he turned to Piers. "You're a Gym Leader?"
"What, scared all of a sudden?" Connie's eyes twinkled.
"Um…no." Marcus's rebuttal was not at all convincing. Drapion sighed exasperatedly.
"Yes, I'm a Gym Leader," said Piers. "The Galarian Dark-type Gym Leader, to be exact. Connie here is a former Gym Trainer of mine, decided to strike out on her own. I don't blame her. Spikemuth's a little-"
"Don't say that, Piers," Connie interrupted. "Spikemuth's goin' to be fine. Just give it a little more time, and you'll see."
Piers sighed. "Ever the optimist. Look, Connie, good luck in your next match, okay? We'll be there, but I'd better collect Marnie before-"
"Aahhh! Morpeko, down!"
Drapion heard a distinctly furious snarl that sounded a lot like "HUNGRYHUNGRYHUNGRYMINEMINEMINE!"
"Before that," Piers finished, already rushing out of the Pokemon Center and leaving the door swinging in his wake.
Connie smirked again. "Yeah. I'm a former Gym Trainer. Sure, I may be a little less tough than other Gym Trainers at their full strength, but I'm no rookie. So Marnie maybe jumped the gun a little bit, but I am goin' to pound you and your team into the ground."
"We'll see about that," Marcus retorted. "See you on the field."
Connie grinned as Marcus stepped back through the Pokemon Center door. "We'll see about that…" Marcus muttered. "What kind of lame comeback was that?"
He strode back to the training field, passing Marnie and Piers as they struggled to catch a surprisingly monstrous-looking purple-and-black version of Morpeko without anything more than an inquisitive glance.
At the field, Marcus sat down and sent out Medicham, Cloyster, and Trevenant, all of whom had clearly seen the entire exchange.
"Right," he said. "Trevenant, since Connie's a Dark-type Trainer, you're going to have to sit this one out, okay?"
Trevenant nodded.
"Which leaves Drapion, Medicham, and Cloyster," said Marcus. "We don't have to worry about her Skuntank, but the rest of her team is fair game. Since she didn't use her Tyranitar in the last Gym Battle, from what I've heard, it's likely she'll use it against us. Now her team could be Zweilous, Shiftry, and Tyranitar, but she's definitely got other Pokemon as well, and I refuse to get blindsided like we did with Brian. Drapion, I need you to go with mainly Bug-type attacks for this one, and Medicham, use that Aura as much as you can. Cloyster, you'll be at a type parity with Dark, so just do what you do best."
"Sounds good," said Cloyster.
"All right then," said Marcus. "Let's start getting ready. Connie may be a former Gym Trainer, but we've faced Gym Trainers before. And sure, they weren't fighting at full strength, but then again, we're much stronger than we were when we fought them, right?"
This brought nods from his team. Marcus grinned. "You probably saw the KPLT Grades entry on the battle with Brian," he said. "It said my Pokemon were pretty strong, but that I was sloppy. Well, this time around, I'm going to prove them wrong."
Medicham raised an eyebrow.
"…about me being sloppy, I mean. Not about you being pretty strong."
"Thank you for the clarification," Medicham said telepathically.