Chapter 6: Zack vs. Ted
I stood there, staring at my opponent as I waited for him to make a move, or at least make the move after his trainer called out the attack. But I'm just getting off track. Time to snap back to the battle. i tensed my muscles a bit when I heard Laura yell out an attack to Ted.
"All right, Ted!" she said. "Let's get in close with Fury Swipes again."
Ted smirked and from his position of leaning forward, he shot right up to me like a bullet and started swiping his claws at me, but I managed to dodge each attack that came at me, even though I was at a close quarter combat style of attack.
"Zack!" I heard my master yell. "Leap back and use Psychic!"
"Huh?" I asked, turning to my head towards him and about to wonder what Psychic was when I suddenly received a series of scratches upon my face, immediately forgetting that Ted was still attacking. Guess I'm easily distracted. That, or I have a one-tracked mind. I really couldn't tell. Maybe I was both.
I stepped back a few paces to recover, but didn't have the time to as I heard Laura yell out, "Now follow it up with Swift!"
I was immediately bombarded by the yellow stars coming out of Ted's crescent moon upon his head, leaving some cuts upon my body. Once the attack ceased, I felt my legs wobbling a bit. I drooped my head and suddenly began laughing, releasing it as I threw my head into the air.
"What's... funny?" I heard Ted asked. I managed to calm my laughter down and saw a look of confusion on his face now.
"It's just the thrill of the battle you're giving me," I said smiling. "Those were some lucky shots."
"Just do what comes naturally," Ted said. "Like I said."
"Right," I said.
"All right, Zack," I herd my master say. "Psybeam."
My smile died into a smirk as I released the rainbow colored beam at Ted who dodged it last second, or more like shifting his body to one side like he was swaying like a Bellsprout on a windy day, though his feet remained planted to the ground. The Psybeam completely missed him as he did so.
"Good job, Ted," Laura said. "Now use Dynamic Punch!"
"Dynamic... what?" Ted asked, taking a look back at his master. This gave me the opportunity to get in close with a Quick Attack and use Bite on him, which I did, clamping my teeth over his right shoulder. This caused Ted to make a painful grunting noise and being his attention ack to me as I bit down a little harder, causing Ted to wince, right before he closed his eyes and began humming some strange tune I wasn't familiar with.
"What's he doing?" I heard my master ask.
"You'll see," Laura said, prompting me to glance up at her. When I did, I saw that she was smirking for some odd reason. I began to realize that biting Ted was a mistake, for when I looked back down at him, his eyes were open and he was giving me one of those happy evil glares that meant that they had something wicked planned up.
"Uh-oh!" I thought as I looked up at his already glowing crescent moon again. And once more I was bombarded by the yellow stars. And being that I was in such close range, I took a lot of damage from the attack, even causing me to release my hold on Ted as I yelped and staggered back. Unfortunately, the attack didn't end there.
I managed to open my eyes again after wincing to see Ted already rushing up at me, a fist pulled back and rearing forward as he made a powerful connection in an uppercut motion, hitting the underside of my muzzle. I went flying into the air and was met by more yellow stars before landing flat on my stomach, the excruciating pain throbbing throughout my entire body.
"Ow!" I groaned as I managed to open an eye to see Ted cracking his knuckles.
"Mega Punch," he said. "Always does damage to my opponent, though not as more damaging than what Dynamic Punch can do, though I do have to learn it first."
I chuckled a bit, a grin tugging at my lips. Ted looked slightly confused as to why I was smiling.
"This sure is an exciting match," I said, beggining to concentrate some power directly to my mouth. "But I think it's high time to wrap this up."
"Indeed," Ted said as his crescent moon glowed again. Perfect.
In one smooth move, I opened up my mouth and spat a Shadow Ball directly at his head. The stars were just starting to come out when my attack reached him, exploding on contact. Ted was thrown back due to the result of the explosion. Man, that was going to be one nasty headache.
He lied there for several minutes. Silence was all around now as everyone watching the battle waited to see whether Ted would get up or not. Finally, after what seemed to be like forever, Ted rose a paw to his head and groaned. It took him a little longer to come around and finally get up. I could see his head leaning far to one side. That explosion took a lot out of him. It would have done the same thing to me too if I had something on my head that would explode like that. Wait, where's my mind wandering to?
I shook my head, focusing back on the battle before me as Ted slowly got up, still clutching his head. I heard Laura ask if he was all right. He didn't look it though. He looked as he if he was about to keel over.
"You all right?" I asked. "Maybe we should stop."
"No," Ted said, trying to keep his balance. "I'm fine. Just have a very bad headache, that's all."
"Ted, think you're up for another Mega Punch?" Laura asked.
"He looks beat," I heard my master said. "Maybe we should call this match a draw."
"Not yet," Laura said. "Ted's still good enough to fight. You're just underestimating him. Now Ted, let's straighten up and use Mega Punch once more."
"One sec.," Ted said, shaking his head a little. "Ah! There we go. Much better." He removed his paw from his head while his other paw balled up into a fist. Then he began running at me, pulling his fist back to cause a strike. An idea quickly popped into my head and I concentrated some power to my mouth again.
Ted neared and began swinging his fist forward when I suddenly opened my mouth, revealing anotehr Shadow Ball. Ted's eyes went wide upon realizing what was about to happen. Apparently, I realized what was about to happen to and could only stand there and watch as Ted's Mega Punch made contact with my Shadow Ball.
Another explosion occurred, sending us both flying back. I wasn't too sure what happened with Ted, but all i know was that I hit my back against something hard. Probably what Skitty hit her head on earlier. I slumped down to the ground, utterly exhausted. I focused my vision back for a brief moment to see that Ted was lying on his stomach this time, struggling to get up.
"That was a smart move," he said. "Stupid, but smart."
"Thanks," I said. "Guess we'll call this one a draw?"
"Until the next time we battle," Ted said as he finally gave up trying to get up and lied there. I smiled and even let out a small chuckle before I too followed in blacking out.