Fuse

What I need most of all right now is practice in actual Pokemon battling. After all, even if I have 12 Pokemon on my side, I can't just expect them to do all of the work.

I'll be damned if I actually have to put in the effort to learn every move that my team could do.

…Well, yeah, I could do it. But I feel as though I could just trust my team to pick the correct moves.

What I need to actually learn is how to call out to my Pokemon what looks like they need to do. I'd assume it's like coaching, but I didn't really pay attention to the coaches in sports.

So basically, backseating. Telling my Pokemon the obvious stuff like dodging, the tactics they might want to use. And also probably start learning how the hell does my beast master class work. Like, how many buffs can I give to my Pokemon?

Lily has the same class as I do. And, if I recall correctly, some type of psychic class. If I don't prepare myself for the fullest, I'm gonna be walking in with a glock while Lily holds an AR.

Winnable, but disadvantaged.

So, staring down Allister, I decide that now is the perfect chance to test out my skills, "Hey, so you have your full team with you right now, right?"

I noticed that the guy had 6 Pokeballs on his belt, so that's what I just assumed.

Allister nervously put his right hand on one of his Pokeballs and confirmed, "That's right… Why do you want to know?"

I didn't answer his question because I knew what I was going to do, "Alright, you're fighting me."

With no warning, I rushed behind him, grabbing him by the stomach as I revealed my wings.

"What the-" Allister couldn't even grab onto his Pokeballs to throw them because I immediately jumped into the air in the direction of the gym stadium.

If I recall correctly, I can dynamax there, right? So I want to test out if I can dynamax California, and make it look as though I had the God of Thunder on my side.

…Ah, Thundurus was a real Pokemon, huh? Oh well, I don't have him.

Allister was struggling for a few moments, but he quickly realized that if I let him go, he would fall to his death.

And so, I made it to the middle of the stadium where all of the stands were empty because nothing was going on today.

I dropped Allister off on the other side of the field as I took the other side.

Then, I took my Rotom phone out.

I realized this earlier, but the Rotom phones work just fine without the internet. So I could show off my fights to my friends in other worlds.

"Start recording this fight," I told my phone.

"Yes sir!" My Rotom phone replied.

…Hold on, now that I think of it, maybe I should give my phone a name? It is technically one of my Pokemon after all…

"By the way, your name is now… Vermont," I randomly decided. Small state for a small Pokemon, right?

Vermont chirped, "Yes sir!"

With that handled, I told Allister, "Alright, let's battle."

Allister blankly replied, "You're crazy… And scary… Why?"

"It's for training," I replied back as I handled Texa's Pokeball, "I have someone I need to beat, so I have to become stronger."

I think my Bagon is about ready to evolve into a Shellgon. So, I'll let it do that in this fight.

…Actually, now that I think of it, shouldn't it have evolved by now? It feels like someone forgot to let Texas do that…

My odd thoughts were cut off as I saw Allister hold out one of his Pokeballs.

It was time to fight.

Quest Obtained.

[Gym Battle!]

Description: Your Pokemon journey is just beginning! Can you prove that you can become a Pokemon master?

Objectives: Win your first gym battle.

Rewards: 10,000 Pokedollars, 2 gacha tokens, 1 random Beast Master skill.

Yeah, this quest looks like it was made for people actually going through a Pokemon region properly and not whatever I'm doing.

I threw out Texas and Allister threw out Dusknoir.

So, the first thing I noticed was that Allister's Dusknoir was level 60.

All of my Pokemon were like, level 40s at best.

Yeah, this Beast Master class really needs to carry my ass here.

Allister seemed to notice the difference in our power as well and he asked, "...Are you really facing me with that Pokemon?"

I scoffed, "You're still losing."

So, if I want to give a power boost to my Pokemon, I have to shout. Can I possibly create an omniboost for this?

[Your Control Rank is not sufficient enough to create this skill!]

Ah, damn.

Well, Hunter's roar already did the entire Power rank stuff, so speed and strength. All I would have to do is roar twice for maybe like, a beast's trap or something, for a magic rank boost.

[Beast's Intellect - Shouting allows you to increase your beasts' magic rank temporarily.]

Oh damn, that actually worked.

"Alright Texas, push forward!" I shouted, getting my shout skills to activate.

There was no visible level increase, but hopefully, that should help Texas avoid getting one-tapped.

"Dusknoir, use phantom force," Allister calmly commanded as Dusknoir disappeared into the ground.

Ah, shit.

"He's going to appear from the ground, start moving randomly," I said, causing Texas to start erratically moving around, always staring at his back, "Once he comes out, dodge his attack and bite him back."

I have no idea if Texas knew of any dark type move, but today is a great day to find out.

After a few seconds, Dusknoir appeared back on the battle field.

In front of Texas.

Because both Texas and I thought that phantom force would cause the attacker to appear behind the target. But of course, that was not how it worked.

Dusknoir straight up punched Texas in the face as it was turning to face it.

Being knocked back, I shouted back, "Get your footing! Don't let him punch you again!"
"Use ice punch!" Allister shouted at the same time.

Okay, so if that ice punch landed, Texas is done for. Can I pretty please get an skill that helps me boost evasion?

[Evade That! - Once this skill is used, your beast is guaranteed to dodge 1 attack. This skill works only once every 5 minutes.]

Skill creation is truly a wonderful ability to have.

Using my new skill, Texas successfully dodges Dusknoir's ice punch and manages to bite Dusknoir.

Dusknoir cried out in pain as it turned incorporeal for a moment, throwing Texas off.

Because of course a ghost type Pokemon can just do that. Great.

Texas quickly falls back to avoid a counter attack without my command, as I figure out what the hell is the correct option.

Just quickly observing the Dusknoir, Texas did some damage. But not a lot of damage. It would take like 10 more attacks of that caliber for Texas to actually defeat Dusknoir.

So, this is a losing fight. That probably goes for most of my Pokemon as well…

Except…

"Texas, I think I'll call you back," I said, getting a confused look from him, "You wanna evolve first?"

Texas simply looked back to the Dusknoir.

Looks like the answer was a yes.

Allister went back to commanding Dusknoir as he told his Pokemon, "Just keep trying to hit him with ice punch… One hit will knock him out."

Wow, that really shows me how he thinks of us. What a bitch.

"Texas, use whatever ranged attacks you have to stay out of his way," I said, preparing to put Texas back into the Pokeball after he evolved mid fight.

As Dusknoir started to fly in Texas' direction, he threw a dragon rage at Dusknoir, successfully hitting it squarely in the chest.

It wasn't enough to stop the Dusknoir, but it did make it slightly stumble.

Texas quickly rebounded and began to shoot out more dragon rages, but Dusknoir dodged the majority of them.

In no time at all, Dusknoir had reached where Texas was standing despite his best efforts to back up.

"Dodge it!"

"Hit it!"

Alas, the level difference was too much and Texas took an ice punch directly to the face. A super effective hit. But Texas held on because he's Texas.

On his own, Texas hit Dusknoir with one last attack, crunch.

Dusknoir had to retreat again due to not wanting to take the risk of getting hit by another crunch. But as Dusknoir retreated, Texas began to glow.

Texas was evolving into a Shellgon.

Allister recognized what was happening and he accordingly barked, "Don't let him evolve!"

Dusknoir went as fast as it could- But everyone knows that Dusknoirs are all slow as Hell, so it was futile as Texas was engulfed in light.

Just a moment later and Texas evolved into a Shellgon.

"Retreat if you want to tap out, otherwise, kick his ass, Texas!" I shouted out encouragingly. But it looks as though my shouts don't stack buffs which is a shame.

Texas chose to advance forward, just as slow as it was before.

"Dusknoir! Hammer him down with another ice punch!"

"Texas, dodge that."

Amazingly, even with the fact that Shellgon is slower than Dusknoir and not having my guaranteed evasion hit active, Texas managed to dodge the attack.

Just a moment later, Texas leapt at Dusknoir's face and landed one last final crunch.

And he had landed a critical hit.

Dusknoir falls to the floor, his body out of energy to fight.

So, Texas just won against a Pokemon that was 20 levels higher than it. I may be a Californian, but God damn I love my country.

Texas similarly falls down to its stomach, but since it already won the fight, I don't feel that bad.

I returned Texas to his Pokeball, "Good work, dude."

Allister does the same, commenting, "He became much stronger after you shouted… Should I be concerned?"

I waved him off, "Maybe you should. Either way, we still have 5 Pokemon, don't we?"

Effectively, I only had 3 now. My Tinkaton and Larvesta are in no shape to fight considering that one was born less than a week ago and the other was also probably born not that long ago.

So, it's up to my newly found Kingambit, and Braviary and Regieleki to handle this team of 5.

Allister calls out Runerigus, so I decide to call out Washington, my Braviary.

I patted Washington on the back as I told him my game plan, "Washington, I don't know if you know this move, but I need you to spam brave bird."

I knew my Pokemon were great because Washington just gives me an unamused look. He definitely did not want to spam brave bird.

"Well, if you have something better, feel free to try it," I said in response, crossing my arms defensively.

We didn't get a chance to banter more as Allister decides to go ahead with the matchup despite the type disadvantage of ground against flying.

"Runerigus, knock up the ground at Braviary!"

He can do that?

Washington immediately flies into the air, trying to avoid all of the stones thrown at him by the enemy Runerigus.

And yes, he succeeded. By flying up.

"Washington! Just stay up there until everything falls back down!" I shouted, also giving Washington all of the buffs I can give it.

Unfortunately, that was when I realized Runerigus was no longer on the ground. Instead, Runerigus was right next to a giant bit of rubble that had managed to make it all the way to where Braviary was hovering.

"Runerigus! Stone edge!"

"Washington!"

Washington was caught lacking as Runerigus stabbed a giant sharp stone straight into his side, forcing him out of the air.

As Washington crashed onto the disheveled floor, stones began to press into his skin as Runerigus used stealth rock in combination with ruining the floor.

Allister seemed very calm as he stated, "Stone edge him again."

Panickedly, I told Washington, "Dude! You have to put up a better fight than Texas did! At least get a brave bird in!"

Runerigus began to drop towards Braviary, arming another sharp stone that would be ready to destroy Washington.

But Washington was able to turn around and jump straight towards Runergius, catching him by surprise.

And so, Washington landed a brave bird directly against the shadow of Runerigus.

As Runerigus fell towards the ground, I shouted, "Turn around and do that again!"

"Runerigus! Get up and use protect!" Allister shouted, more desperate than he was the last time he spoke.

However, Washington was faster than Runerigus, and Washington nails another brave bird directly into the eye of the grudge Pokemon.

A 2 hit KO.

Washington calmly cried out, and I knew that Washington was about to faint. So, I let him back into the Pokeball.

I was going one for one against each of Allister's Pokemon. Which was not the ideal situation to be in given my circumstances.

…Also, I should probably take out my 2 baby Pokemon just to maybe watch and see what they do.

With that in mind, I know who I want as my last Pokemon, so I send out New Jersey, Hawaii, and Florida.

Kingambit, Larvesta, and Tinkatink take the field, and the two babies immediately figure out what's going on and start to rush behind me.

New Jersey looks at me confusedly, as if questioning why those two were here.

"Hawaii, Florida, you're just meant to pester whoever Allister sends out," I said, Hawaii seeming more scared somehow while Florida became super excited, "New Jersey, you're on offense."

America has taken in a few men of royal descent over the years. Kingambit should be fine with walking among my team as equals, right?

New Jersey accepts it, as he simply stares ahead at-

Oh damn it, Allister already set Chandelure onto the attack path.

Chandelure sends a flamethrower straight towards New Jersey. But New Jersey reacts by-

Ah, New Jersey just tossed Hawaii towards the flames, thinking he could absorb the fire.

Joy.

Somehow, Hawaii did absorb most of the flames and didn't die in the process. The bad news was that Hawaii was now in front of Chandelure unprotected.

And, unfortunately, the ground was still screwed up by Runerigus, so New Jersey couldn't get to Hawaii in time.

Florida, somehow, was able to use her little hammer thing and nail a mud shot straight into the flames of the Chandelure. The mud caused it to hesitate for a moment, and Florida began to laugh at the Chandelure.

Yeah, she is definitely a Florida. Slinging shit and laughing about it.

As Chandelure was busy burning the mud from its body, I shouted to command and buff, "New Jersey! Kowtow cleave!"

New Jersey jumps into the air to avoid the uneven terrain and comes down in an arc towards Chandelure, head first.

Before New Jersey could land the hit, Allister commanded, "Chandelure! Use phantom force to get out of the way!"

Chandelure was able to react fast enough, and the only reward New Jersey obtained was a dirtied head.

Chandelure reappeared next to Allister a moment later, deciding not to attack from behind.

"Phantom force is a cheating move," I bitterly said, not very happy about Chandelure just dodging that attack.

"Your Pokemon hit hard," Allister simply replied, "Chandelure, take the two baby Pokemon out of the equation using flamethrower."

Trying to get New Jersey to sacrifice himself? Dumb move, he's New Jersey.

I pointed towards Chandelure, "New Jersey! Ignore the direction where the fire is going and kowtow cleave again!"

Obeying my directions, New Jersey leapt above the flames, Chandelure too busy trying to attack Tinkaton to be able to move himself out of the way of the incoming attack.

Florida, meanwhile, ran to hide behind me.

I blinked, looking down at Florida's smug face, "What? Oh, you little shit-"

As Chandelure's flames engulfed my body, keeping Florida safe, Kingambit was able to land a clean blow onto Chandelure.

The flames stopped a moment after, Hawaii standing on the sidelines, Florida behind me, and New Jersey standing over Chandelure's fainted body.

A one hit KO. I'm taking all of the credit for giving Kingambit the power buff. If it scaled to me, who took barely any damage from the flamethrower, I must give a lot of power to my Pokemon.

Chandelure was recalled, and that's finally one Pokemon that didn't get an equal fight and actually just won their fight.

Cursola comes out next, and I just told New Jersey, "Keep spamming kowtow cleave!"

As Kingambit flew into the air once more, instant regret was formed as Allister calmly stated, "Spirit bond."

Ah, shit. I forgot ghost Pokemon had that move.

New Jersey knew what was coming and tried to pull back his kowtow cleave, but Cursola shattered almost immediately anyways. Thus, the two Pokemon fainted.

Hawaii had gone back to be behind me and was cowering in fear, while Florida was probably thinking, "Damn, that wouldn't have been me."

"Sorry, my bad, New Jersey," I sincerely apologized as I pulled him back into his Pokeball, "I should've been on the lookout for that move."

Well, it looks like it's up to California to save the day once again.

I tossed out Regieleki, Allister shows off her Polteageist.

"California, can you spam agility and just cast electro ball once?" I asked, getting an affirmative beep from the legendary Pokemon.

Nice. I've always wanted to see this attack.

Allister had the same idea, "Polteageist, use shell smash until you get to his Regie's speed!"

…Does he think Polteageist can do it?

Either way, California began to dash around the battlefield, running circles around Allister and Polteageist and increasing its speed.

Polteageist, meanwhile, was breaking its shell multiple times as it became paper thin, as fast as it could be.

Seeing California literally casting mirror images and leaving after images of himself due to his speed, I knew to shout at him, "Alright! Now!"

"Stored Power!"

Sending off a powerful electro ball, it clashed with the power of Polteageist's stored power.

After 2 seconds of straight power clashing, the stored power won the duel and broke through the electro ball.

California was long gone from that direction, and shot another electro ball from behind Polteageist.

Knowing that they had it on their own, I simply stood by, doing all that I needed to do.

For the next minute, electro balls and stored powers clashed with each other as the two hyperspeed Pokemon attempted to break through each other to land a hit. Some battles, California's electro ball broke through. Others, Polteageist's stored power. But none of them could land a hit on each other.

Until, of course, I remembered this was the moment I was supposed to be a good trainer and remind California, "Oh, don't you have electro web?"

California briefly stalled in the air for a moment as he angrily beeped. But then he began throwing electro webs onto the floor, shocking anyone who would touch or fly above it.

And so, little by little, Polteageist's available room to move dwindled down to near nothing. Finally, in a vain attempt to dodge an electro ball, Polteageist tried to move quickly above an electro web. But the height it could catch was much higher than Polteageist expected and it was caught and immediately struck with an electro ball.

Silently, Allister recalled the defeated Polteageist back to his Pokeball.

"California! We're going to dynamax when Allister does it!" I shouted out, getting an affirmation from my Regieleki.

But then I realized, Gengar was already behind Allister. In fact it was gobbling down a bunch of…

…Hold on, are those X-Item boosts?
"Normally… This is considered cheating… Using stimulants to boost our Pokemon's strength in battle," Allister stated, holding up Gengar's Pokeball, "But since it's considered safe enough if you use it sparingly, and that you're a criminal… I don't mind it."

Ah, shit. That Gengar probably had an omniboost by now.

"California!" I immediately began the dynamax process at the same time as Allister.

Allister did his usual pep talk before triggering the dynamax, "Gengar... Gigantamax... Swallow everything in darkness…"

I didn't have anything as creative, so I shouted out, "California! Show him why you're named after the best state in the union!"

Our dynamax bands radiated power as we recalled our respective Pokemons into their Pokeballs, increasing the size.

With ease, I single-handedly threw California behind me without even looking. It was mostly just to flex on Allister, who did have a difficult time throwing his Gengar.

Growing in size, the field was set. A dynamaxed Regieleki and a gigantamaxed Gengar.

It should be easy, but an omni-boosted gigantamaxed Gengar wasn't anything to scoff at.

"California!" I pointed one of my pistols, Washington, towards Gengar, "Bring down the wrath of the heavens!"

"Gengar… Don't let them escape!" Allister shouted, obviously the most fired up he was today.

Now, while I would like to describe this a little more, the clouds were already in place for California to deal with. Meanwhile, Gengar had to create his pottery shards from scratch.

In a battle between titans- Or at least, this particular battle- Who landed the first hit wins.

And Regieleki is the fastest Pokemon in the series.

Thunder descended upon Gengar, and everything in the air fell as Gengar diverted his entire attention to not get destroyed in one hit like Polteageist and Chandelure before him.

As the smoke cleared, Gengar was still standing.

"Gengar! Use max ooze!" Allister commanded as soon as he saw that Gengar could still fight.

"California! Dodge it!" I shouted back, activating my guaranteed dodge skill that just came off cooldown.

Yeah, cheating was fair play. Lily was probably going to do the same anyways, right?

Despite the poison welling beneath him, California was speedy enough to jump out of the radius. And he decided to go straight for attack #2, using his body to channel the max lightning.

This time, Gengar couldn't shield himself, and with 2 total hits, the fight was completely over.

Gengar's body exploded as his gigantamax form reverted back and fell to the floor, California reigning supreme.

In response to his defeat, all Allister said was, "...Crumbs."

Quest Completed!

[Gym Battle!]

Description: Your Pokemon journey is just beginning! Can you prove that you can become a Pokemon master?

Objectives: Win your first gym battle.

Addendum: Congratulations on your first gym badge!

Rewards: 10,000 Pokedollars, 2 gacha tokens, 1 random Beast Master skill.

[Beast's Sight - When using this skill, you can look out of the eyes of your tamed beasts.]

…Damn, that was kind of close. I literally only won because I was cheating with my skills and I had a legendary Pokemon on my side. Not to mention the type advantages with having Kingambit on my side.

Yeah, I would get destroyed if I fought Lily today. That isn't even a question, but…

I might go try to fight her anyways.

After all, I actually have to climb the genuine mountain itself to see how far away I am at the peak, right?

I sighed, "Even though I won, that was a close match."

California reverted to its normal form as it enjoyed the massive boost to agility by jumping around the perimeter of the arena several times.

Meanwhile, Hawaii and Florida, who I blatantly forgot to just recall, were cheering on the electron Pokemon.

At least they were having fun.

Walking up to Allister, he immediately surrendered, "I lost… You were much stronger than I thought you would be…"

"You too," I honestly complimented. I was almost getting my ass beat by a British twink. That's just sad, "Anyways, I have to go now. I recorded the entire fight, but that was mostly for my friends to see. Do you want it posted online?"

Allister confusedly looked up at me behind his mask, "Uh… No? Actually, wait… Maybe?"

I tilted my head, "Is that a yes or no?"

"...No. I don't want to encourage people to test their luck against you," Allister eventually decided, walking away as if he had permission.

…Wait a second, is he insinuating that the battle just now made me look way weaker?! What a dick!

But Allister walked fast, because he disappeared before I could even insult him back.

Ugh, that's going to put me in a sour mood for a while.

Before I go, I should just open my 2 new gacha tokens while my luck feels good…

Uncommon Item

[CD Player - An antique CD Player from an old era.]

Uncommon Class Upgrade Perk

[Elastic Body - Your body may be half slime, but it can be as elastic as you want it to be.]

Uncommon trash, wow, I was wrong.

With my mood even worse, I recalled all of my Pokemon and began flying with my own wings.

…You know, I really want to camp out, now that I think of it. Maybe the Glimwood Tangle has good camping spots inside it.


AN:

2nd weekend in July 2024, if you know, you know. Political violence is bad.

Anyways, this chapter was mostly practice for what should be the Fuse Vs Lily full fight at the end of this arc. And yeah, I don't think we're seeing a full team battle until that final fight. This shit sucked ass to write. But since I'm on a time crunch, this wasn't as good as it could've been.

The time crunch was because I'm lazy and put this off until the last minute, yes.

Seriously, letting Pokemons have levels might've been the worst decision on my part. Why are they all level 40 now? I should've just let them be ambiguous like Fuse's stats.

Also, apparently, the next federal holiday isn't until Labor Day, which is the birthday of this fic! Isn't that nice?

Which also means I've been writing this fic for a full year. Holy shit.

Anyways, next chapter will be a hangout chapter where Fuse picks up another Pokemon. But I want to write that chapter in 3rd person to see if I should change the formatting of the fic from 1st person to 3rd person.

I've been writing in 1st person for almost 3 years now, and 3rd person for almost 1 year. I gotta mix up the gamer formula of 1st person otherwise I might genuinely just burn out of writing 1st person lmao.

This fic went from a change of kinda serious to not serious and big 5k chapters to small 2k chapters. A change from 1st person to 3rd person 130k words into the fic is just par for the course lmao.