Chapter 3
Rivals
"Thunder Punch." Lucas clenched his fists as he stood by and watched Cinder struggle.
Battered and bruised Cinder rushed from one branch to the other, electricity crackling in her right fist. Her opponent, a speedy zubat darted between one spot in the air to the other. This was the third and hopefully last Pokémon the trainer had. A young boy in a ninja costume named Tony.
Every single one of his zubats had been crazy strong.
"Zubat use Air Cutter, finish her off." Tony yelled, clutching some kind of knife in his hand.
The purple and blue bat's wings glowed with silver light and a sharp gust of wind launched from them. Cinder dropped herself from the branch and hung by the tips of her fingers as the attack barely missed her head. She then pulled herself up and jumped from the branch, her electric covered fist connected with the belly of the zubat sending both of them spiraling down to the ground.
As they fell Cinder grabbed the Zubat by the wings and fired a point blank Ember into its mouth. Using the bat Pokémon to break her fall Cinder did a black flip and landed in front of Lucas.
Lucas took a brief moment to look over Cinder's condition. She had several bite marks and bruises from the previous battles. One of the oozed a purple puss which he needed to take care of as soon as possible.
Tony recalled the unconscious Zubat. "Your chimchar is quite tenacious but I still have one more Pokémon left."
Cinder made 'a bring it on' motion before flinching and grabbing her shoulder with one arm.
Lucas raised his hand. "Wait, let's stop now." Cinder glared back at him but he ignored it. "I don't think we can survive another battle." He then looked at her. "Not without serious injuries."
Tony put his knife away and crossed his arms. "If you say so. How about we forgo the prize money. You did beat three of my Pokémon with just your one."
"You sure?"
"Pretty sure." Tony walked over and extended his hand. "Good fight."
Lucas shook the ninja's hand. "Thank you too."
Without another word Tony left and Lucas glanced at Cinder. "Come on, let's find a spot to settle down and get your wounds treated."
They found a nice clearing in the wounds about five minutes from where they battled Tony. Cinder used her ember to clear a small area where Lucas set up his tent. It was late in the afternoon of their first day out from Snowpoint and he was tired.
"Cinder, let me get you treated."
Cinder glared at him and chittered pointed at where they just were.
"Really you want to talk about that now?"
She crossed her arms then winced. Lucas smiled at her. "How about we do that while I cure your wounds? I don't want you to be in pain."
She mulled it over for a second before nodding, she sat in front of him as Lucas took out a bottle of antidote and a potion one.
"I don't know what other Pokémon he had but even if it was another zubat, you were already in a lot of pain and struggling with the last one." Cinder chittered. Lucas sighed. "Of course you could've taken it but why risk you getting really hurt. Those Pokémon were really high level and it wasn't even our first battle of the day. You have to pace yourself."
Cinder winced as he applied the antidote, the purple puss evaporated as the strong medicine came into contact with it. He then sprayed the potion on her other wounds. Once Cinder was healed he put the medicine away and brought out a bowl of Pokémon food he bought that were made for fire types. He filled Cinders bowl then took out a dried oran berry and a small cheese grater and sprinkled some over it.
"Here, eat something and we'll settle in for the night."
As Cinder dug into her food Lucas took out his own lunch, a pair of sandwiches with some chips. While he ate he pulled out a small notebook and started writing his notes about Cinder's battles that day. It was a habit he picked from his dad, thoughts needed to go into paper or you would forget them sooner rather than later.
Tony had been their third opponent. The first one they lost completely. The guy had a raichu and she basically cooked Cinder in under five minutes. Their second opponent had a psyduck of all things and while Cinder struggled for a moment a quick session of thunder punches secured their win. And then there was Tony.
Cinder had speed and strength to get in close and fight her opponents and has clearly developed a preference for close quarter combat. Lucas mused while chewing on his sandwich. She also seems to like using Fire Punch with left fist and Thunder Punch with her right, there might be something there for a combination attack.
I need to develop her range options without compromising her current battle form. He pulled out the pokedex and went over the moves he could teach Cinder. There were several options but it would take time to learn. Right now the best option he could see was to teach her Flamethrower, it was something they could do on the move and wouldn't impede their traveling speed.
He saw several videos of the move being performed and devised a plan to have Cinder gain initial mastery by the time they got down from the mountains.
His battle partner finished her meal and then sat on his lap to look at the videos. She then shook her head.
"What do you mean no?" He finished his sandwich and put the bowls away.
Cinder punched the air several times as if to make her point.
"Yes, your fists are powerful but what if you land an opponent like today's zubats? We might not have trees where you can jump and reach them." He stroked her furry head. "You need a balanced arsenal if you want to defeat any opponent you want."
Cinder chittered for several seconds.
"Really? You'll just punch them to death? And what if they fly or swim away."
Cinder punched the sky.
Lucas laughed. "How about we try it my way for a little bit and see what you think."
After a few more minutes of coaxing, Cinder agreed to learn Flamethrower. "Good, now we have to discuss our first Gym Battle. It's about two and half weeks away on Eterna City. We're going to be battling Gardenia and she is a grass type trainer."
Per Sinnoh League regulations, gym leaders have to match the strength of their teams in accordance with how many gym badges their challengers have. And they have to post online the team they will use for first badge challengers as a way to help them prepare.
Gardenia's First Badge Team consisted of two Pokémons.
Cherubi and Turtwig.
A special attacker and a tank/physical attacker.
He tapped the pen to his lips. While Cinder had the clear advantage when it came to typing. Battles were more complex than that and one with the strongest trainer in the city even more so. I couldn't depend on Cinder alone.
A rustling of leaves caught his attention. Both he and Cinder looked up to see a bipedal Pokémon. Bluish-black with three bright red feathers for its tail and a single one on its left ear. On its forehead and chest are oval, yellow gem-like protrusions. Its red eyes glared at Cinder and it pointed a claw at her.
"Snea. Snea. Sneasel."
Lucas grinned at it. "Well, here I was thinking of who I wanted to add to the team." He pulled out his pokedex.
Sneasel, the Sharp Claw Pokemon. This cunning Pokémon hides under the cover of darkness, waiting to attack its prey. Its paws conceal sharp claws. If attacked, it suddenly extends the claws and startles its enemy. A pair may work together to steal eggs by having one lure the parents away.
"Now what are you doing out here in the open?" I looked around but didn't see anyone else around.
Sneasel glared at Cinder and started arguing before pointing a claw at the side of its head. Cinder chittered back and they both started arguing.
"Um Cinder, you got any idea what's his problem?"
Cinder went to a patch of snow and with a finger drew a poor representation of…a swinub and a tree.
"We need to work on your drawing skills." Lucas said after a moment. "So you're saying when we battled that swinub this morning we what? Woke this guy from a nap or something."
Cinder nodded.
"Well it doesn't matter. I want him for our team, care to beat him to submission?"
Cinder spouted a few embers and cracked her knuckles. Lucas got up and pointed at the sneasel. "Cinder use Fire Punch."
Flames ignited around Cinder's left fist and she sped through clearing to the sneasel. The sneasel sneered and with blinding light. It got behind Cinder and hit her with its claws. Cinder crashed into the ground, her fist still ablaze.
"Careful with its Quick Attack."
Sneasels were generally faster than chimchars but Lucas wasn't about to let that stop him. Sneasel grinned and mocked Cinder. Cinder got up and nailed him with a flame covered uppercut.
The sneasel flew back and crashed into the snow.
"Cinder use Ember."
Cinder opened her mouth and a storm of fire pellets flew from it. The sneasel got up and blew a breath of chilling air. Both attacks met in mid-air and a cloud of steam exploded from the contact blocking Lucas view as it engulfed everything.
As the scene cleared both pokemon were in the middle of the field punching each other. Sneasels claws glowed with a metallic sheen while Cinder still used her fire punch. Both pokemon were bruised, burned and cut up but didn't look like they were ready to give up.
Punch. Claw. Punch. Claw.
"They're so focused on each other I could probably throw a pokeball and capture him." However, doing so would not have garnered him any favors given the sneasel's attitude.
Light burst from the sneasel's feet. "Watch out, he is going to use Quick Attack again."
Sneasel blurred, aiming her claws for Cinder's back. Cinder jumped, did a black flip and hammered a vicious Fire Punch to the back of sneasel's head, right on the bump it had.
The dark and ice type pokemon's eyes rolled to the back of her and it fell over. Lucas threw a pokeball at it. It shook once, twice before the final shake announced its capture.
"Yes! We did it!"
Cinder grinned before falling on her back.
"Oh, crap." Lucas quickly grabbed Cinder. "Hey, there girl. You did great." He carried her to his tent and pulled out the potion again. After a few quick applications Cinder was back on the mend.
"Feeling better?"
Cinder nodded then pointed at the pokeball and made a fist.
"Yeah, yeah, you beat it good. Now let's scan him to see what it knows before letting it out."
He pulled out the pokedex and scanned the ball.
This Pokémon is Male.
This Pokémon has the Ability: Keen Eye.
This Pokémon knows the following moves:
Scratch
Icy Wind
Quick Attack
Metal Claw
"Wow, he doesn't have a lot of moves but he is quite powerful." Lucas showed Cinder who rubbed her arm.
"Okay, time to meet him. Get ready in case you need to show a little force." Cinder cracked her knuckles.
Lucas release sneasel and the Pokémon rubbed the back of his head in confusion. Looking at the triumphant Cinder he growled.
"You know what happened don't you?"
Sneasel nodded, defeated.
"I like your attitude, you have the spark of battle in you." Sneasel looked up. "I want you to be part of our team, we're going to be facing a lot of tough opponents and I could use someone like you."
Sneasel pointed a claw at his chest. Cinder chittered at him. Sneasel growled at her and they both started arguing. If he didn't stop them soon, they would fight again.
"Okay, enough. You guys are teammates now, if you want to fight you'll do it during training." He put as much authority in his voice as he could.
Both Pokémon stopped. Sneasel growled something at him then pointed at Cinder. Lucas had a slight idea what he wanted.
"Yes, you can fight until you're both satisfied but first let me heal your wounds or it won't be a fair fight. Also would you like a name?"
Sneasel had a glint in his eye and he nodded. "Good, happy you're on the team. Now let's see how about Night? Nyx? Shadows? Arctic?"
Sneasel held up two claws after a moment. "Okay, Nyx it is."
Nyx then strode arrogantly to Lucas and pointed at its wounds as if it was okay for him to treat the pokemon's wounds.
Lucas fought hard not to laugh. Oh, great. I got another strong character on my team.
After applying the last of the potion bottle, he gave some generic pokefood to Nyx and settled in for the night. Soon Cinder curled up next to him on his chest while Nyx settled himself on his neck. Before long sleep took all three of them into dreamland.
That was a nice chapter. I'm really happy how it turned out. I'll admit I stared at the pokemon available on both route 217 and 216 for a long time before I decided which would be Lucas's first catch. Which leads to me the plans I have for his overall team. I want Lucas to filled his team as organically as possible, meaning he will be catching pokemon along the routes or cities that he visits. As to which pokemon he will be getting it will make sense more in future chapters. I already have his team picked out, I hope you like the choices I made. It will be very interesting and diverse team. Thank you for reading my story. And special thanks to those that favorite and follow. Remember to leave a review as it helps to know what you guys think about the story. Any questions feel free to PM.
Until Next Time
DF