Chapter 11- Leafeon
Even with the urgency to which Elm had called his assistant, it had still taken 'Sarah' around ten minutes, much to the anxious professor's displeasure.
Yet time marches on and before long a brunette woman placed a pokeball and a leaf stone in front of me.
I clicked the activator and the small creature quickly materialized, soon regarding me with a curious expression and an adorable head tilt. 'Link us up, if you would Minato'
"Well hi there little lady, I heard around this place that you'd like to evolve?" I asked curiously, the Eevee seemed a little spooked. I was speaking in her mind as well as to her ears.
"Greetings hooman, well yes, that's the only reason I'm here after all. Though I wouldn't have minded becoming lightning like my mother, the idea that I could become something never seen before sounded like an opportunity I couldn't pass up, along with the rest of my litter." She replied As first impressions go, I'd say with certainty that this little Eevee was both intelligent and driven.
"Well, with your consent of course, please touch that stone right next to you," I said as I motioned towards the Eevee's right paw, she looked towards it and practically started vibrating. 'Bingo! Professor Connors's hardest and most grueling discovery to date!'
I preemptively scooted my chair back and shielded my eyes as the little one jumped onto the stone. A flash-bang went off inside the cafeteria.
"Leaf-leafeon!" Gone was the diminutive house pet, in her place was a creature that radiated the danger of a sharpened blade but also the comfort and allure of nature.
The puffy tail had turned into a blade of grass, as sharp as any sword. Her size easily tripled and roots and leaves of green energy slowly dissipated around the world's newest evolution.
"Oak is never gonna let me hear the end of this…" Elm said from the side, he mimicked a puppet as his strings were cut as he fell back into his chair. One of his aides chuckled slightly and placed a comforting hand on his hunched shoulder.
"Wow, I feel…. Powerful" Even her voice or…. Mind voice? She now sounded more mature, much like Torrent's voice and demeanor had changed after his evolution.
Gone was my lazy, chill deer. Now he was a strong silent type, focused completely on leading our journey.
"Human, I must battle. Fight me, " she asked or ordered, which raised my eyebrows. I chuckled a little but nodded and turned to Elm.
"What do you say, Elm? The lady would like to test her new skills. I'm game if you are." I asked with a smirk. I didn't fail to notice the frantic splashing from behind me, nor did I know what caused a continued thud heading straight for me. It seemed my most 'battle-hungry' Pokemon had heard me be directly challenged.
'Little Noel, always so eager but you may be out of your depth on this one. Yet the question remains if I should use this as a teaching opportunity. Either that or let Torrent or Minato participate in their first trainer battle.' I hummed to myself in thought as I felt a weight settle on my shoulder, it seemed the little seahorse was adamant as she growled at the Leafeon. It was more cute than threatening, but the thought counts.
"So not only do you show me up as a researcher but you also wish to beat me in a battle?" Elm asked, I nearly flinched before I noticed the sarcasm in this voice. "How long has it been….. Nearly six years now? Sure, let's have a battle." A fire had lit in Elm's eyes that nearly matched what I'd seen from him after he read my research report.
"What do you say, Leafeon, want to help an old man show up an upstart that's been turning my lab from a peaceful place into one of pure chaos," Elm asked only to receive a confident nod in return.
Elm's lab was a massive facility, easily the size of the abandoned one I'd hunkered down in when I found myself here. With all that space they didn't have a dedicated arena for battle, but they had plenty of testing rooms forfeited to apparently take a hyper beam from a dragonite.
Moments later Elm was standing sixty feet away from me, the newest Eeveelution standing proud and ready to test out her new powers.
'You sure about this little one? I won't stop you, but this will be a tough battle' I asked through the mental link that Minato now always kept established within our team.
'I'm not a child and I know type advantages well. An uphill battle, that's what I want!' She mentally scoffed and then proceeded to hop off my shoulder and headed towards the center of the room. I was honestly shocked, the scar above her right eye and the few on her torso seemed to gleam at this moment.
Her cuteness and hyperactive nature made me nearly forget that she was probably the most battle-hardened member of my team. How many years had she had to protect that Dragon Scale her mother had left her?
'Alright then! Victory or defeat, there is nothing else!' I smiled wide. Minato hummed at the declaration but the little horsea just continued to her spot, driven by trying to catch up to her mother no matter the cost.
'Noel, always keep your focus on her tail. Leafeons signature attack is leaf blade and her tail is the delivery method. I'm not doubting you but I doubt you'd be able to take one full-on.' I gave a brief game plan.
'Understood.' A simple curt answer, it seemed she either was extremely focused or was miffed about me treating her like a kid.
The 'judge' arrived, Elizabeth with two flags. It seemed I only had time for one more message.
'Remember what we've talked about, you are a zoner. Don't let her bait you into a melee or this battle will be over.' I advised, giving this battle everything I had as I knew Noel would as well.
Zoners were simply, long rage attackers. Comparable to mages in games. In Pokemon that usually meant they had low defense and high special attack. Minato and the Alakazam line were the prime examples of this.
Only her evolution to Kingdra would lead to a change, becoming more of an all-arounder with a specialty in long-range attacks due to her move pool.
"This exhibition battle will be a 1v1, it will be decided when either one Pokemon faints or a trainer calls a forfeit."She paused to give us a moment. "Are both trainers ready?" She paused again as she received both of our nods.
"Begin" she let the flags she held up fall, the moment they did Noel aimed her water gun downwards at an angle. Gaining distance immediately even without my order, was good.
"If they want to gain distance, attack now with a razor leaf!" Elm called much to my shock, yet it wasn't out of worry.
Noel easily put her balance training to the test, expertly dodging and weaving through the barrage of leaves.
No, what brokered my surprise was the fact that Elm knew instinctively that Leafeon learns Razor Leaf upon evolution. Instead of making the mistake of trying 'absorb' which was the most common move leaf type Pokémon know.
Not Leafeon though, she couldn't use absorb, in the games that is. Who knew what was possible?
Yet what I realized as this battle continued is that Elm was surely once a powerful trainer.
"Now Leafeon close the distance with a quick attack, finish it with Leaf Blade Now!" He called out with vigor, the best combination of moves to both close the distance and capitalize on his Pokémon's strongest moves.
Except his rust had shown, it was also the most predictable combination.
'Now girl, stand your ground! Blast it back with a dragon breath!' I ordered, taking the risk.
Elm and Leafeon both seemed surprised by the drastic change in our strategy. Yet it seemed to work in their favor as Leafeon was already coming out her quick attack and took to the air, it was also much too late to change their tactic.
Leafeon began a spin using her momentum to bring her tail forward, which had already doubled in size and exhibited a bright green glow.
Yet she was nearly instantly sent flying back by a funnel of blue-colored flame. Yet Noel didn't get off scot-free.
Both Pokémon separated in an explosion of green and blue. Where Noel tumbled into a hop that landed her in her head, leafeon firmly placed her paws into the tiled floor. Ripping out gouges and cracking even more tiles from the explosion. Yet she remained standing, blue flames still clinging to her mane, but standing nonetheless.
Our gambit had failed.
"Now before it can regain its balance! Finish it with a quick attack!" Elm ordered. The leafeon gave a confirming yip, lowering itself and flexing its muscles. Only to be stopped dead, convulsing as a bout of static raked over its body.
Not even a one and three chance, thirty percent. The chance dragon breath had to proc a paralysis condition.
Yet it was that, that gave Noel the three seconds she needed to find her footing and blast a water gun directly under herself. Propelling her perfectly over the quick attack and back into the driver's seat of this battle.
'Great instincts, now finish it with a dragon breath!' I ordered and despite everything. A type disadvantage, a possible level difference, and hundreds of base stat points.
The leafeon was driven straight into the tiled floor, a blue explosion of flames masking her from view. The result is only known due to a red streak that passed through the flaming ball unimpeded.
"I believe that is enough, good battle, you surely have talent in this area of Pokémon as well. Your telepathic battle style is odd, not seeming from a practitioner of the arts that is. But when you manage to have a Kadabra as a starter it makes battling the seemingly silent opponent a tad infuriating" Elm conceded me the win and also praised me for my talent in battle. Which I took more pride in than my academic 'breakthroughs'.
Sure I had recreated 'psi shield bash', facilitating Wyrdeers resurrection. It was like having the answer to a math question from memory but having to show your work made you simply tweak the process until you arrived at the answer you knew was right.
Yet I would never feel shame, I had to use my meta-knowledge to my advantage and I would surely continue to do so. But I'd probably never feel the same pride from winning a battle and then 'discovering' a new evolution. Well until I managed to discover a new evolution.
"Thank you, professor, and good battle to you as well. If we didn't get that paralyze you would've had that in the bag" I thanked him and praised him much the same as he did me. Elm surprised me a few times with his skill in battle. I'd put away a few minutes tomorrow to search the web for Elm's battling history.
Though none of that mattered as much to me as the sea horse jumping up and down. Letting out cute cries of victory for a hard-fought battle. But what I caught sight of turned my blood to ice as I practically sprinted toward the excited horsea.
She was so excited I didn't even think she noticed she had a gash in her stomach and was losing 'blood'.
"Stop moving so much fool girl!" I scolded, as I ripped a potion from my pocket and began spraying it into the wound. Uncaring that the wound was filled by the blue liquid I continued to apply it to all of the scratches and scuff she received from this battle.
I sighed in relief as her wounds sizzled and quickly sealed up. A few hours to give the healing the time to set and she'd be fine by morning.
Smiling down at her I noticed an odd occurrence. She was still and seemed completely subdued. Feeling bag I quickly picked her up and spoke to her with what I'd just dubbed 'team chat'.
'Sorry to yell little one, I just didn't expect that leaf blade to take a chunk out of you. That was an amazing battle, you performed nearly perfectly. Every move you made was coordinated and planned. I'm proud' I voiced with a smile as I placed her on her spot, my right shoulder.
'Hmpt, as you should be.' She said and began to pout.
Usually, I would've messed with her about her cute behavior but a yawn from Elm caused me to focus back on the professor with a raised brow.
"Well, it's nearing midnight. What do you say we head back to the cafeteria and have a few drinks before I head home to the wife? You are old enough to drink right?" Elm asked as he began walking to the door, reminding me of his order for wine and cigars I had nearly forgotten about in all the excitement.
"Sounds awesome." I agreed and did a fast walk to catch up to him.
Name: Minato
Species: Kadabra
Type: Psychic
Level: 20
Ability: Inner Focus (Prevents Pokemon from flinching)
Moves: Psybeam, Confusion, Teleport, Reflect, Hypnosis, Calm Mind.
Name: Torrent
Species: Wyrdeer
Type: Normal/Psychic
Level: 22
Ability: Intimidate (Cause a Pokemon to slightly flinch in the presence of this Pokemon during battle. Lowering the opposing Pokemon's physical attack)
Moves: Tackle, Hypnosis, Stomp, Sand Attack, Bite (egg move), Double Kick (egg move), Psyshield Strike.
Name: Noel
Species: Horsea
Type: Water
Level: 22-(24)
Ability: Swift Swim (Raises a Pokemon's speed during 'rain'.)
Moves: Leer, Water Gun, Smokescreen, Twister, Dragon Breath, Aurora Beam (Egg Move)