Hitori and Kita warily looked over the Greedent as he was momentarily distracted by his evolution. It only lasted for a few seconds before he turned his attention to the two and began to charge forward. Despite the new form, it was obvious that he was slower as a Greedent than as a Skwovet. "Ah, I-icy wind," Hitori reacted first, stuttering out a command to her partner while Kita was more distracted by her Pikachu currently lying injured on the ground.
"Eevee, Helping Hand with Whismur! I'm going to help Pikachu!" Kita gave her order before running forward, already digging a potion out of her bag. Eevee meanwhile let out a cry before running up to Whismur who was inhaling for her attack. As Eevee got closer, Whismur flinched and took two steps to the side to keep some distance from the still unfamiliar Pokemon.
Eevee responded by walking up a few more steps and beginning to cheer and jump around Whismur. As Whismur let out her attack it came out stronger, the winds were faster, the teal-ish hue a deeper color, and the grass freezing over more than just being covered in a layer of frost. The stronger wind hit Greedent who flinched for a moment but continued, now in a more determined march rather than a run.
Even that only lasted for another few seconds before the evolved Pokemon stopped and instead sucked in air before scrunching his body up, a faint glow appearing on his gut. "T-that's a move r-right?" Hitori asked herself more than anyone as she tried to figure out what to do next. Whismur continued her attack and now the Greedent was just sitting there taking it, does she continue? Stop and use something else?
Kita meanwhile had picked Pikachu up and brought her back behind Whismur and Eevee where she was kneeling and applying the potion. Again, Greedent sucked in air causing the glow on his belly to intensify. For a while, it seemed as though everything would work out easily for the two trainers. Whismur's icy wind kept Greedent back and soon Pikachu could aid in attacking from a range.
Then Greedent made his move, the glow from his gut moved up to his cheeks which had puffed out. Opening wide he let forth a ball of pure energy that flew fast ripping through the icy wind and exploding out as it reached Whismur and Eevee. It was only Eevee reacting quickly and pushing Whismur out of the way that kept both of them from being knocked out at once. The explosion of light was strong enough to rip up the grass and leave a small crater behind.
As the dust settled, Eevee was laid out on the ground covered in bruises and unconscious. "Eevee!" Kita cried out as she got up to get to Eevee, Pikachu still in her arms. Whismur meanwhile was quick to get back onto her feet. However, confidence was quickly draining from the Pokemon to keep battling. Something both trainers were feeling just as much, Hitori reconsidered just throwing the food and running away.
Now that the icy wind was no longer slowing Greedent down he began his approach once more. Hitori fumbled with her pocket as she searched for where she had put Whismur's Pokeball, she'd return and leave the bag and just run. She stopped her searching when Whismur spoke up with angry cries as she stomped back and forth in agitation.
For a moment Hitori was confused as to why Whismur was so agitated, sure she must have been mad about getting hit and having her food stolen, especially since Whismur was a bit of a glutton. But the only times she saw her partner like this was- 'Ah!' Hitori thought as she realized. When Greedent had been a Skwovet he had used bite, a dark type move against her. "W-whismur, echoed voice, r-run to the side y-you're faster," Hitori slowly called out finding a thread of confidence through her partner.
Whismur let out a surprisingly loud cry and took a few steps forward before crying aloud. Hitori was on time putting her headphones on this time, even if she flinched when she realized that Kita and her Pokemon were both now clutching their ears to try and dampen the volume. Ahh she'd have to apologize later for being so insensitive! Greedent covered his ears as well and shifted his approach to a run now aimed a Whismur specifically.
Greedent was only able to somewhat close the distance before Whismur had stopped her crying only to scurry away just as Greedent committed slamming his weight towards the other normal type. Quickly making a bit of distance before crying out again, a touch louder this time. This time Greedent approached a touch slower keeping his hands to his ears, a much dimmer white glow appearing on his gut.
"H-he's g-going to use that attack again! B-be ready to dodge," Hitori called out nervously considering how much damage it did last time. While Whismur didn't give any indication of hearing Hitori over the noise she was making, as Greedent opened his mouth wide and fired off a smaller ball of white energy Whismur jumped away the moment Greedent stopped to attack.
"Y-You're doing it Hitori! I'll get my Pokemon healed up as soon as possible!" Kita chimed in spurred into action by the display of Hitori and her Whismur handling the situation. Not that there was much for her to do considering she was already in the middle of applying the potion to her Eevee. Her Pikachu already starting to lose the bruises from the attack and standing on her own.
"A-ah um t-thanks G-Greedent is s-slow so we should focus on how fast o-our Pokemon are," Hitori shared her plan with Kita, even if they could barely hear each other over Whismur's continued assault. Timing their discussion between attacks where Whismur was dodging rather than using echoed voice.
Greedent looked as though he was slowly being worn down, but as he was just starting to look winded, he came to a stop and clenched his body up, bringing the glow in his gut up once again. Whismur stopped her attack standing at the ready to avoid another, larger blast like the first. There was a pause as both sides seemed to wait for the other to make the first move. Then Greedent made an audible swallowing noise as the glow disappeared, replaced by a green light washing over the Pokemon. As the light faded, any injury the Greedent had taken had all by disappeared in an instant.
With a confident cry, Greedent immediately began to charge the light once more. Learning to better understand his new form as time went on, like how rather than try to catch Whismur he'd be content to stay and fight from a distance. "Quick Attack! Both of you!" Kita called out.
The hit-and-run strategy of Whismur's had turned Greedent around so when Kita's command came out, Eevee sped forward and tackled Greedent from behind. There wasn't enough power to knock Greedent off balance but it was enough to distract him as he was immediately turning to slam into Eevee. Only for Eevee to dash away in time for Pikachu to ram into him now from the side. Again, he turned towards his attacker, this time his teeth taking a dark hue as he snapped at the Pikachu, but the electric type was also fast enough to dodge back.
"P-pound," Hitori called out, a second or two later, Whismur had closed the distance and slammed into Greedent as well. This time before Greedent could even fully turn to face Whismur, Eevee was slamming into him with another quick attack. This quickly became a pattern, no matter who Greedent tried to turn and attack, they'd dodge and he'd take two more attacks from the others.
Even Greedent's attempts to dodge the attacks were met by avoiding one, only for another to hit him from another direction. The white glow on his gut continued to build up, but as he took attack after attack, he swallowed the energy once again, using that stored energy to heal himself rather than attack. It may have only been delaying an inevitable defeat, but it was giving Greedent time.
Time spent further acclimating to his evolved form. Eventually, Whismur went in for a pound, ramming against Greedent's large curled tail. Only, as she hit and nudged the evolved Pokemon forward, did an orange glow of a fighting-type move splinter over Greedent's body where he was hit. This time, the retaliation wasn't delayed, Greedent's tail rocketed out like a fist, countering Whismur's attack with his own. Sending Whismur flying back with a heavy-looking bruise and a pained yell.
"W-Whismur!" Hitori shrieked out. Unprepared for the change in reaction, Eevee and Pikachu both used quick attacks to ram into Greedent, again creating cracks of orange light over Greedent's body. Both of them suddenly get knocked back by Greedent's tail whipping around into them. Greedent took a moment to swallow once again, healing off the damage their attacks did just as the orange light faded away.
"Pikachu! Eevee!" Kita called out. As she and Hitori took a step towards their downed Pokemon, Already the three of them were pulling themselves up with determined looks in their eyes. Whismur in particular looked especially determined. She began to stamp her feet for a second or two before letting out a loud howl. The sound was visible with small red lines in the air rippling out from the normal type's mouth.
Hitori blinked as she realized what it was, Whismur had used howl. An idea then began to form, that the attack that hit Whismur must have been Counter. "K-Kita, c-could you, um h-have Pikachu distract Greedent? I-I think I have a plan," Hitori asked. While Greedent wasn't approaching, it was taking the time the other Pokemon were taking to get up to build up the glow in his gut once again.
"E-eh? Of course, I just need to not get hit by that blast right? Pikachu is pretty fast," Kita replied. "Pikachu you heard right? Use thunder shock, but focus on dodging if the Greedent attacks!" She quickly turned to her own Pokemon. With a cry, Pikachu nodded and dashed forward towards Greedent, electricity building up in her cheeks.
"R-r-right, W-Whismur, H-howl again and again," Hitori commanded. Whismur stopped her howl for a second before going right back to howling, her Eevee stood at the ready, unsure of what part he'd be playing. As the sound of the howl washed over the Eevee, around the edges of his and Whismur's form a red glow began to slowly form.
Meanwhile, Pikachu had engaged Greedent having hit the evolved Pokemon head-on and looking to have dealt enough damage to force him to spit up the energy before it could get too large. But as they started to get into a rhythm Greedent glanced over at Whismur and Eevee, understanding that something was being planned before them. With his next blast of energy, he aimed it at them instead.
"Milcery Aromatic Mist!" Kita called just as she threw a Pokeball out. Responding right as she emerged between Greedent and the other two Pokemon, Milcery began to spin around releasing the pink mist all around herself. As the blast of energy reached the mist, it was visibly dissipating in the short distance it traveled. Even as it collided with the fairy type, Milcery's form stretched as it took the brunt of the attack. But it did not splatter or break holding surprisingly strong against the attack.
"K-Kita, could you maybe, um use thunder wave to s-stun Greedent? T-then have Eevee a-attack with Whismur?" Hitori asked.
Kita blinked at the request but slowly pieced together the strategy. Slapping her forehead with her palm she let out a 'duh' noise. "Got it, Pikachu, thunder wave! Eevee, you heard Hitori! Time your Quick attack with Whismur!" Kita gave her order.
"Whismur, pound after a little more howling," Hitori added. Right away the three Pokemon jumped into action, Pikachu getting in a little bit closer before unleashing the electric attack with a swipe of her tail. Whismur continued to howl making the glow around Eevee and herself reach a deeper, brighter color. Finally, Eevee let out a confident cry before getting ready to dash at a moment's notice.
At the glow reached as far as it was going to go, Whismur began to run forward joined by Eevee taking a longer route to circle around Greedent with his faster speed. Already the red glow was starting to fade from both Pokemon. Greedent, seeing their approach curled his body up fully intent on taking the attack and countering like before.
But as the two normal types got closer, Greedent suddenly jolted and loosened his body from the shocks from the paralysis. Seeing their chance, Whismur and Eevee took this as their chance to attack. From the front, Whismur kicked off the ground leaving a small depression in the ground as she flung forward like a missile. Slamming into Greedent, for the first time the evolved Pokemon was knocked off his feet and flung back, a deep orange glow emanating from the point of impact.
Before Greedent could hit the ground behind him, Eevee appeared above him and with a spin slammed down into him. Greedent was knocked down with enough force to kick up a large dust cloud on impact. Eevee leaped out of the cloud and took a spot next to Whismur and Pikachu as the red glow was now back to a faint level. All of them standing at the ready in case Greedent hadn't fainted yet.
Hitori and Kita both held their breath as the cloud of dirt and dust slowly drifted away. Revealing Greedent lying on his stomach in a small crater, his face visible, clearly and decisively knocked out. "W-we did it! I can't believe it that was so hard!" Kita cheered while Hitori fell to her knees as every bit of energy and confidence she had been bringing out left her at this point. Seeing that it was safe, the three Pokemon slumped down as well to catch a breather. Though Milcery who hadn't been returned was looking as though it was going to slap Greedent around for daring to hurt her.
"W-why h-help m-me?" Hitori asked as she could finally wonder about Kita's appearance. Without her, she'd have been bullied by a pack of Skwovet.
"Ah well after our battle I went to go heal Milcery right? Well, I thought we'd train together or something, but like when I found you, you were busy with Whismur. So I went to a different spot to try and train with my own Pokemon. I just happened to see you when you were carrying snacks. So I thought we could talk and train together then. Then well, I saw you get attacked, and from there I mean," Kita was happy to share the entire story energetically, ending her words by gesturing in the fainted Pokemon's direction to emphasize the last of her words.
"A-ah, o-okay," Hitori said as she was feeling quite overwhelmed. Not just of Kita speaking so fast and seeming to get closer the more she talked, but just in general. Idly she wondered if her whole journey was going to be like that. Wouldn't it just involve more nice scheduled battles? That was why they had gyms right?
You wouldn't have a situation where you'd accidentally lock eyes with someone, and they'd run right up to you and start demanding to fight. Not even giving you a chance to respond before they were letting their Pokemon out to attack. Then when you'd lose they'd demand money like it was a mugging. "I'm sorry this is all I have," Hitori suddenly said as she held out a handful of coins she had as the change from her shopping trip.
"Eh!? What? Money? Huh? No, you don't need to pay me for helping you, I should be thanking you as dumb as that might sound! I got a lot of training with my Pokemon today!" Kita said suddenly jolting from Hitori's actions.
"H-huh? Oh u-um, please ignore this sub-wimpod with this then!" Hitori said as she carefully laid the coins down and bowed before shuffling under the bench she was sitting at before.
"W-wait! I don't need any money or anything!" Kita tried to say.
"T-then I apologize for being so assuming! Please forgive me with this!" Hitori said offering the same small handful of coins for the third time. Eventually Kita, just kind of accepted the coins as it seemed to make Hitori visibly relax and smile. Kita just made a mental note to buy Hitori lunch or something later to give them back.
A few minutes later and they were checking up on their Pokemon, while they were all injured it didn't seem so bad that they needed to start running for a Pokemon center. But at the same time, they did both want to tend to their teams. So after Kita managed to convince Hitori to share phone numbers, they both went their separate ways for the day.
-
Greedent slowly picked himself up after recovering enough to return to consciousness. The first thing he did was look around for his fellow pack members, only to see that they had recovered first and run back to their burrows. He knew it'd be a bit awkward to return after his plan failed them for once. But now evolved he was certain he'd be able to secure more and more food for himself and the Skwovet.
Still heavily bruised Greedent slowly trudged his way back into the brush. A few seconds before entering the bush something caught his nose, a delicious cacophony of berries much like the kind that he failed to secure. With interest he turned around and followed the scent, it took him away from the bushes that lead to his burrows and into the stone area where humans lived.
It wasn't that far until he had found a nice out-of-way spot a pile of berries piled up so tantalizingly. 'Did another Pokemon gather them up? Ah well, More for me!' Greedent thought before he rushed forward to grab what he could carry before any Pokemon came to defend their stash. He quickly reached it and sniffed the berries closer, better safe than sorry. Nope, nothing wrong with them, fresh and delicious berries of every time he knows! There are even some he didn't!
Grabbing one of the berries, Greedent began to chow down on it. Unaware of the figure that approached him from behind. It was only once the figure was right behind him that he noticed, a sudden itching of his instincts. Even without seeing anything he knew he was in danger. But despite that, he turned around. Only to find a female human with a weird ball head staring down at him with an empty expression.
"Aye, you've caused quite a bit of trouble for those two haven't ya? Especially for someone so young" The female human said without moving her mouth. Greedent felt sweat trickle down the back of his neck as he considered if he could run with an armful at least. How did this human know of his raids? He didn't remember anyone like this nearby.
"Hmm? You're wondering how I know? I mean people talk y'know, told us bout wild Pokemon being more aggressive than usual. Now Noramlly it'd be rangers who'd come to give ya the boot back to the wilds. But you got me curious. So young but so strong, and smart. So you're either a real outstanding example of yer species, or…" The human continued, never once blinking.
It was too much for him, He turned around and grabbed as many of the berries as his tail could grab at once and started to bolt away. Only the moment he took a step there was a noise and only his instincts saved him, making him stop and back up as suddenly there was a hole in the stone where he would have been. The stone broke apart without so much as cracks forming around the hole.
Greedent for a moment considered the other directions, but as though responding to his thoughts a few more noises and additional holes suddenly opened in the ground in either direction of him. From above he saw a fully evolved Inteleon walking down the flat walls as though unbothered by gravity.
"Sorry bout that, guess that's bad cop as it would be, but I ain't lying 'sides I think you're smart enough to understand a good deal. Become my Pokemon and I'll be able to give ya all sorts o berries you'll never see if you just stayed in a town like this," The ball-headed woman explained as she knelt to be closer to eye level with him.
From her pocket, she pulled out a berry whose smell was so unique and tantalizing it made the pile of berries from before seem boring and mundane, not that he didn't want both. Then with her other hand, she pulled out a Pokeball, well one that was grey instead of red with additional bumps on it. "What do ya say?" She asked.
Greedent looked towards the Inteleon who had reached the ground and stepped from the wall to the floor holding her hand up with a lazy, casual smile. Then back towards the pile of berries the Trainer offered along with the Pokeball. This human was right though, he felt he was smart and if he could have all these berries then it wasn't much of a choice. He finally let out a small affirming cry and walked towards the trainer.
The human pulled her head off revealing that it was a mask and smiled at him before lobbing the ball at him. He didn't put up a fight as he was enveloped in a red light and entered the Pokeball. It shook three times before clicking and confirming his capture as his trainer's newest Pokemon.