Chapter 21; befriending a predator
Sonic woke up as he hand ached from his cut the previous day. Groaning he got up and took a look at the scratch as he changed his bandage. It wasn't deep. As he took his pokemon out of the city to begin training to fight the next gym leader, he was called by Jet.
"What's good bro?"
"Hey bro. Heading off to train".
"What happened to your arm?"
"Oh I got cut yesterday".
"What craziness did you get yourself into this time?"
"When I get to the clearing I'll show you. Oh also I met Mike again".
"Really? How'd he seem?"
"Like a totally different person. More joyful. And much stronger. Dude almost beat me with 3 pokemon".
"3 against 4 and you almost lost?!"
"Yeah. I have a lot of work to do to keep up. Good news is…" Sonic said sending out the first pokeball as he turned the camera to face Alakazam that was sent out "I helped him evolve his haunter and he helped back".
"Alakazam! So cool! I've never seen one before! I usually see kadabras only!"
"I know. Alakazam has peeked in terms of the moves it could learn on its own so I evolved it. Soon enough I'm sure we'll find its mother as well" Sonic said as he prepared to throw the next pokeball.
"Also this one grew too" he said sending out blastoise.
"Blastoise too? Your team is stacked! How did it evolve so fast?!"
"We fought something very powerful" Sonic said as he brought the moltres wing in sight of the camera. Jet was silent for a moment then gasped.
"You saw moltres again?!"
"I didn't just see it. I battled it. I tried to catch it as well but it escaped. It granted me its wing as a token of acknowledgement".
"So cool!"
"And something else crazy too" Sonic said as he sent out raichu and nidorino "after the battle another pokemon appeared. A flying red pokemon. Not moltres. But it healed my pokemons' as well as Moltres wounds".
"What?! A new species?! I got to check it out! I'll contact Tails and Knuckles to get some research done as well".
"Cool. Oh and last thing. How I got the scratch" Sonic said sending out his 5th pokemon.
Pinsir emerged and immediately got into agro mode as blastoise immediately stepped in front of it to prevent it from attacking Sonic. As raichu tried to deescalate the situation, Sonic was able to give Jet a clear view of his newest catch.
"WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?!" Jet asked loudly partly impressed, partly shocked and partly terrified.
"The safari zone. I wandered into its nest. A pokemon collector/hunter helped me the first time and taught some tricks to get around the rule of not using battling as a way to catch pokemon".
"You do know this thing is savage right? Can you really trust it?"
"I'll earn its trust. Even predators can form bonds with humans we've seen it before".
"Ok. Be careful though. Again this thing can be dangerous".
"As long as it's only dangerous in battle for my opponents, it'll be fine. Got to go. I have to get myself acquainted with it. Talk later bro. Give mom and dad my love" Sonic said as he hang up. Slowly approaching blastoise's back he motioned it to get out of the way. Pinsir was locked in a face-off with raichu as they used brick break and iron tail respectively, not one of them giving in at all.
"Oh boy" Sonic thought as he raised his hands to get their attention "everybody calm down we're all friends here".
Pinsir's eyes turned to him and broke off the contact with raichu attemting to slash at Sonic. However raichu's static kicked in exactly before the pincers touched him though he had already ducked out of the way. As Pinsir stood there paralyzed Sonic knew he had to make a choice. Having identified one of the berries he carried as a cheri berry which he had learnt could cure paralysis he pondered feeding it to Pinsir in an attempt to gain its trust. Raichu dashed to him and grabbed his foot trying to stop him.
"Buddy it's ok. Trust me".
Raichu hesitated but let go. It took a battle stance as Sonic approached the paralyzed Pinsir. Alakazam watching it all happen was ready to use its psychic power to lift and immobilize Pinsir. Blastoise and nidorino were looking visibly worried.
Sonic knelt in front of the pinsir which looked at him with savage eyes. It growled in what seemed like anger. Sonic offered it the berry as the pincers clicked threateningly. Pinsir slowly approached and Sonic put the berry slowly into its mouth. As the pinsir ate and the effect of the paralysis wore off, everybody was ready for a battle. Pinsir however just looked at Sonic in deep thought before clicking its pincers and growling as it walked a bit further away and tried to uproot a tree. Sonic thought about recalling it but stood in front of it to stop it instead.
"No. Don't uproot it".
Pinsir's pincers grabbed Sonic's sides before any of his pokemon could react. For a moment Sonic expected to feel them slashing him in half. Pinsir however showed obvious hesitation. After a moment it released him and just walked to the tree. It then shook it with its pincers causing berried to drop to the ground. Nidorino went to take one but Pinsir stopped it as they stared each other down. Sonic petted nidorino.
"I have some for you pal. Give our new friend some space" he said as they left pinsir alone.
After the first contact and a quick round of berries, the team started training, the pokemon battling each other to not only increase their power output but at Sonic's suggesting to try and sharpen their reflexes in order to dodge attacks. Pinsir observed silently and after a while, when it was sure everyone had forgotten it was there dashed at nidorino using brick break again. Raichu, drowning in adrenaline, easily blocked the attack and slammed pinsir with iron tail knocking it down. Pinsir got back up and slammed raichu back, curling and rolling in on itself holding raichu which took damage but broke free after a while landing a thunder punch at pinsir. Sonic identified the move but scanned the duo repeating the process with his pokedex.
"Last used moves?"
"Last recorded moves. Thunder punch and submission"
"Woah what? This thing knows submission? Isn't that a move they learn when they are at an advanced level of power?" Sonic wondered in surprise as he searched through the dex entry trying to see what kind of bug moves it could learn. To his disappointment it could only learn fury swipe and could only learn it by tutoring. However there were several other moves that made it a fascinating choice.
"Maybe I can't use it as a bug type, but a mixed type moveset on a bug type of such power has a lot of potential. Though for the time being I doubt it will obey me" Sonic thought silently.
In the meantime Alakazam and blastoise had managed to separate raichu and pinsir. Nidorino however was looking at them saddened that it couldn't do a lot to help. It approached Sonic, having warmed up to him during their travel to Fuchsia.
"What's is it nidorino?"
Nidorino pointed at his backpack lying on the grass. Sonic realized what it was thinking.
"You want to…"
"Nido".
"Why all of a sudden? We have had the stone for a while but you didn't pursue it until now" he said more to himself than to nidorino. Nidorino merely looked back at the bigger pokemon compared to it with the exception of raichu.
"Oh. You feel left out?"
"Nido" Nidorino growled in a bit of sadness.
"Nidorino" Sonic said kneeling to meet it in the eyes as raichu and pinsir had broken free from the grasp of Alakazam and blastoise and were clashing again "just because you're smaller at this point doesn't mean you're less strong or less important to the team. The choice must be yours alone" he ended his phrase.
"Wait a minute" he thought to himself "did I just sound like Ash right now?" he wondered as he considered whether or not to evolve nidorino.
"Hmmm" Sonic thought "to be honest evolving would make you less agile and the stall strategy wouldn't be as effective. But on the other hand we could have you fight back instead of dodging and just wait for the opponent to faint. And plus evolving will allow you access to earthquake when we visit mr Fuji again" he commented taking out the moon stone from his bag and laying it on the grass.
"The choice is yours nidorino. Go through with it only if you're sure".
He didn't give it the choice solely because of Ash's reasoning of their pokemon having their choice on the matter. Sonic and nidorino were working well already and the first would have no problem with the latter evolving right before learning earthquake. On the other hand having a fully evolved team sounded cool. And a small part of Sonic was dying to know what shiny Nidoking looked like.
Nidorino wasted no time. It immediately touched the stone and began glowing as the stone was absorbed into its body.
The other 4 pokemon all looked, even raichu and pinsir who stopped fighting and observed, pinsir showing no sign of surprise. Raichu, blastoise and alakazam however were surprised at this sudden turn of events.
The shape of nidorino became bigger and bigger until the glowing stopped and a sky-blue nidoking emerged as it roared, its roar piercing its teammates' ears and sending pidgeys flying from the trees.
"You look badass!" Sonic said in excitement.
Nidoking was approached by its teammates except pinsir who returned to its pile of berries and began eating them. Nidoking had indeed become slower but could take attacks better than before plus now that it was a ground type it could be a good wall for possible electric opponents. Raichu and nidoking immediately sparred as raichu, its thunder punch now not working had to resort to mostly iron tail so that it would be an effective attack and not get poisoned by poison touch.
While the team trainer pinsir observed the silent. After a while it once again dashed using brick break again on nidoking. Nidoking tanked the attack this time, raichu not intervening fast enough, and fired sludge bomb on pinsir. The two pokemon clashed with immense strength, the ground shaking by the ferocity of their attacks. After pinsir tried using submission which nidoking blocked with protect, it lunged at nidoking, closing it within its pincers. Adding a sudden bit of pressure caused the nidoking to instantly faint.
"NIDOKING!" Sonic screamed in horror as he approached it.
Feeling for the pokemon's chest he felt a heartbeat. As raichu clashed with Pinsir again, thinking it had killed its friend Sonic remembered Pinsir knowing another move, far more powerful than submission. Deciding to test its theory he looked around and saw a boulder sitting by a tree.
"Raichu! Lure pinsir towards the rock!"
Raichu obeyed and pinsir lunged again ready to grab raichu with its pincers. Raichu dodged and as Sonic recorded, pinsir smashed the rock with its powerful pincers.
"Last recorded move; guillotine" the pokedex reported.
"Guillotine" Sonic whispered as he stepped in between his 2 pokemon.
"Stop!" he ordered them as Nidoking got up with a lot of effort helped by Alakazam. Raichu saw this and sighed in relief. However its attention turned soon back to Pinsir.
"Raichu wait. There is no point" Sonic said as he turned to pinsir.
"You are strong. And I can see that. Wild and untamable. And with a one-hit KO move too" Sonic said realizing that having a predatory pokemon like that wouldn't be easy and that a test had to be taken to see if there was hope for pinsir. Taking out pinsir's pokeball he placed it on a piece of the rock pinsir had just smashed.
"If you want out you can have it. I won't force you to be with us" Sonic said.
Pinsir approached the pokeball and grabbed it with its pincers. Sonic was fully ready to see the pokeball break from the pressure. It sucked that he would lose such a powerful pokemon but it was for the best.
Pinsir however just stood there looking at the pokeball after a few moments it placed the pokeball back on the rock and returned to its spot with the berries. Sonic's pokemon observed it silently as Sonic took back the pokeball and headed to use a healing item on Nidoking.
"So it won't make up its mind just yet" he thought after healing nidoking as he started packing up his stuff to return to town to rest. Time had passed and it would soon go dark.
Once he returned to the path leading to the city Sonic heard someone call out to him.
"Hey you!"
Turning around Sonic saw none other than…
"Gary" he said in surprise.
"So we meet again spikehead".
"Look if this about your defeat at my hands, I know I stepped over the line with the trashtalking. But you had it coming a bit too".
"Who cares about the trashtalking. You beat Ash and you think that makes you someone?"
"You know Ash?"
"Yes. And now I will prove that your performance against him and me was just a fluke".
"Look" Sonic tried to reason with him "Ash had it coming when he battled me. Don't come at me with the same attitude".
Gary was ready to answer back but noticed the Moltres wing hanging from Sonic's backpack which strangely emitted a small glow.
"No. No. NO! That can't be… Ash has to have lied. This can't be a feather of the legendary moltres!"
"Oh but it is" Sonic said confidently "you can come at me if you want but keep in mind not the same person I was in Vermillion. I am much, much better now".
Gary however had made up his mind.
"I'm not afraid of you! I will show why I will be the strongest trainer in the world! Go Arcanine!"
Arcanine came out of the pokeball and roared.
"So you evolved growlithe. Good. Go Alakazam!"
Alakazam came out of the pokeball and hummed in peace.
"Alakazam?! How? How can someone like you have a friend to help you evolve it?!"
"You shouldn't judge someone without knowing everything about them" Sonic said "my friend was an actual challenge. Ash's Pikachu fell in one move. I can't say his entire team won't be a challenge since I have not seen it. So me if you will be a challenge".
"Arcanine fire blast!"
Arcanine released a jet of flames shaped like a star at Alakazam. Alakazam used its psychic power to redirect the blast dodging it.
"Alakazam show him a real move! Shadow ball!"
Alakazam fired shadow ball at Arcanine greatly damaging it.
"Weak! Extreme speed!"
"Extreme speed?!" Sonic said in surprise having never heard of that move.
Arcanine disappeared from sight moving like an orange blur. Alakazam tried to hit it with shadow balls and psychic but was unable to. Extreme speed connected resulting in a critical hit knocking Alakazam out with ease.
"No" Sonic said in shock at the power of the move.
"Ha I knew you were nothing. Using shadow ball with a psychic type. It takes a real trainer to know that moves used by a pokemon with the same type are stronger. It's called a same type ability boost Spike".
Sonic felt frustration crawl up on him again.
"Picked that up from Ash?!"
"Yes I did. Now hurry up and bring out your next weakling".
"Fine. I'll give you something to dread! Pinsir go!"
"Pinsir?!" Gary said in shock.
Pinsir emerged. Its pincers clicking threateningly and its deadly glare caused Arcanine to flinch despite pinsir not having an ability to affect its opponent.
"Pinsir demolish that arcanine! Guillotine!"
Pinsir however looked back at Sonic and proceeded to walk off the field.
"Pinsir?" Sonic said in shock as pinsir just grabbed nearby rock and smashed it.
"Pinsir we're in the middle of a battle" Sonic said in utter confusion. Gary started laughing hysterically.
"Pinsir if you want to smash, smash him!" Sonic said in anger as Gary wiped the tears off his eyes.
"You are such a moron. Don't you know powerful pokemon don't obey weaklings?!"
"Who are you calling a weakling?!"
"You. Obviously you can't assert your dominance to make it obey you. At least if you had more badges you would be experienced enough to handle it".
"Damnit he's right" Sonic thought calming himself down "Pinsir is too powerful for my current level. I need to build trust with it before it obeys me. Oh well" he said as sent out blastoise instead.
"What?! Your wartortle already evolved?!"
"Result of my battle with Moltres. You're lucky I wasn't able to catch it".
"W-Whatever! Arcanine sunny day!"
Arcanine used its move harnessing the sun's light to make the air around them hotter.
"Blastoise water pulse!"
Blastoise fired its move which shrank in size due to the heat allowing arcanine to dodge.
"Solar beam!" Gary said confidently.
Arcanine charged its solar beam but Sonic could tell that it would fire soon due to the surrounding heat.
"Protect!" Sonic ordered as blastoise blocked the attack successfully. Arcanine and Gary were left in shock.
"Don't stop now arcanine! Fire blast!"
"Rapid spin!"
Blastoise's enhanced defenses as well as its spinning rotation allowed it to easily tank the move.
"Solar beam!"
"Protect!"
The two pokemon repeated their earlier moves. At the end of the protect move the heat around them wore off as well as Arcanine had started getting exhausted. Sonic knew it was now or never.
"Water pulse!"
There was no dodging for the tired Arcanine. Just like with Alakazam the move was a critical hit resulting in it getting knocked out. Pinsir in the meantime observed silently.
"Arcanine return" Gary said returning it "you got lucky again! But your lack won't last forever! Go nidorina!"
A nidorina came out and Sonic still remembering the day he encountered his shiny nidorino could tell it was drastically different compared to its male counterpart.
"Nidorina poison sting!"
"Rapid spin"
Blastoise tanked the attack with its move, the poison stings not penetrating its shell.
"Not just yet! Thunderbolt!"
"Thunderbolt?!" Sonic said in surprise and before he could react the attack connected. Blastoise took a shocking amount of damage but was still standing.
"Return" Sonic said "you did well. Rest for a while. So you use a nidorina with thunderbolt? Let me counter with this!" he said sending out his shiny Nidoking which sparkled.
"What the?! A blue Nidoking?!"
"Wrong. A shiny nidoking!"
"F-Fine! It makes no difference! Nidorina use double kick!"
Nidorina attacked Nidoking with double kick, not even phasing it.
"Getting up close without knowing if you can knock out my pokemon. Big mistake! Nidoking! Mud slap!"
Nidoking used the move to devastating effects. It was a lot stronger than when it was a nidorino. Nidorina fainted immediately despite the move's relatively low damage.
"Wha… how?!"
"Me and my pokemon trained hard for a long time ever since our first battle! You are no match for us!"
"Grr. Go eevee!"
"Eevee? Seriously? Ash ok, he is a bit dense and wants to win with a Pikachu. But an eevee? Three possible evolutions and you keep it an eevee?"
"Shut up! Eevee swift!"
Swift had little effect on nidoking.
"Sludge bomb!"
Sludge bomb knocked eevee out immediately. Gary recalled it fuming.
"Who's the weakling now? All you got left is your starter. Unless you have something else".
"Go graveler!"
"Still a graveler huh? No one to trade it with to help it evolve? Wish you had a friend now right?" Sonic threw Gary's words back at him.
"Graveler rock slide!"
Graveler unleashed its move sending rocks hurling towards Nidoking. Though it didn't take a lot of damage it slowly started adding up.
"Nidoking. Mud slap!"
Nidoking fired back at graveler but the rocks prevent the mud slap from reaching its target.
"Now graveler! Magnitude!"
Graveler used its move and got lucky using magnitude 10. Nidoking took so much damage that it fainted. Before Sonic could recall it however to his surprise Pinsir approached and helped nidoking up, as the two pokemon shared a moment and an unspoken understanding.
"Dude" Sonic thought "it fainted it before… and now it's helping it back up. So poetic" he thought as he recalled nidoking.
"Will you help me out to avenge nidoking?" he asked pinsir.
Pinsir simply turned around and walked away from the fight. Sonic slapped his forehead.
"Blastoise is too injured. Raichu it's all up to you!" he thought sending it out.
"You bring out raichu instead of blastoise? You're just as stupid as Ash".
"Oh you'd be surprise at our growth" Sonic said having already formed a plan.
"Graveler use rock slide!"
"Raichu dodge!"
Raichu dodged the incoming attack, using iron tail from time to time to deflect incoming boulders sending them on the ground around them.
"Magnitude!" Gary ordered sure that it was the end!"
"Quick attack!" Sonic ordered "and jump from the rock!"
Raichu dashed forward as magnitude was used. Before the wave of magnitude reached it, it jumped off of one of the fallen rocks, flying through the air and fast approaching graveler.
"Brick break!"
Raichu smacked graveler on the head hard. Sonic wasn't expecting graveler to faint immediately despite raichu's training in physical combat. But he was proven wrong as graveler toppled. Gary was at a loss for words.
"This can't be. This isn't right!"
"Bring out wartortle" Sonic said wanting to finish this battle soon.
"No point" Gary said in disappointment turning to walk away "wartortle stands no chance against your raichu".
"Hm. At least Ash was willing to fight the fight".
Gary turned around to answer but saw raichu and immediately changed his mind.
"I don't know how you got so strong but I'll show you. Next time we meet I will beat you".
"Just make sure you don't need saving from something or something" Sonic joked.
Gary gritted his teeth and walked away. Sonic did a high five with raichu as pinsir approached them slowly. Sonic turned to it as he took out its pokeball putting it on the ground.
"Have you decided?"
Pinsir walked up to the pokeball and for a moment it looked ready to grab it with the pincers. Instead however it touched the button with the pincers being recalled. Sonic felt a spark of joy in his heart at having befriended a predatory pokemon like that. Sending it out again he smiled.
"Welcome to the team" he said as he attempted to pet it. Pinsir simply dodged his hand, walked up to raichu and did a nod of acknowledgement while Sonic experienced a small version of a heartbreak when he was again ignored. He smiled again though as he looked at the duo.
"Hopefully soon" he thought as he motioned for the duo to follow him to the city hoping that someday soon pinsir would accept him entirely.
