John's Team
Tyrant - Slaking
Vordt - Ursaluna
Smough - Snorlax
Klee - Blissey
Port - Mantine
Zephyr - Pidgeot
Klaus - Wyrdeer
Luna - Clefable
Pixel - Porygon
The New Normal – 2-11 – Karen vs Wattson
The next day, I somehow found myself seated in the audience stands in the Mauville Gym. As I blinked away my confusion, I recalled that I had apparently overslept and nearly missed Karen's match against Wattson. Fortunately, and slightly degradingly, I was forcibly dragged out of my room by an impatient Karen to the spectator stands.
I didn't even realize I was so tired when I went to bed last night. Perhaps I had slept restlessly the previous night because I was too caught up in my own thoughts and excitement about my match against Drake? I had done some good planning and training, after all.
Regardless, I pulled myself out of my thoughts and I focused on the battle that was playing out in front of me. Currently, Wattson was finishing up on a 3-badge battle against a new trainer and Karen's turn was next in line.
The battle was simplistic, and I saw that the trainer wasn't really good enough to put up a fight against Wattson's Electabuzz. The trainer's Pokémon just wasn't trained enough and was too slow to respond to the trainer's commands. Sure enough, I watched as Wattson's Electabuzz Thunderbolt the trainer's Ponyta, knocking it out and finishing the battle.
However, I felt a spark of inspiration as I saw Wattson's finishing move get replayed on the massive television that hung above the arena. I had been struggling to figure out how I would continue training Pixel in order for it to learn how to utilize its Electric type attacks, since I didn't have any Pokémon that really specialized well enough in Electric type moves for them to Pixel.
Sure, Klee, Luna, and Klaus all knew Thunderbolt and Thunder, but I wasn't too confident that they were the best teachers for Pixel considering that they only learnt those moves through TMs. I had been planning on using TMs as well on Pixel for it to learn its Electric type attacks but seeing Wattson's battle in front of me gave me a different idea.
Being a Pokémon that was capable of moving through cyberspace, I knew that Pixel was effectively living data turned into a Pokémon. That meant that it had perfect memory and could replay a scene that it had witnessed in its own head as many times as it wanted with perfect recollection. Thus, I thought that if I released Pixel right now and had it watch the upcoming battle between Wattson and Karen, it could probably pick up a few techniques on how to make use of Electric type attacks.
Nodding to myself, I released Pixel into the stands, which fortunately the people sitting next to me barely noticed.
"Pory? Porygon?" Pixel asked curiously as it looked around the Gym in wonder. I supposed that this was the first time for it seeing so many people crowded together in an area before.
"Yes, this is a Gym battle, Pixel." I explained, "I want you to study the upcoming fight between Wattson and Karen and record it for you to use later. Maybe you can learn how to make use of Electric type attacks by studying how Wattson does it."
Pixel buzzed in agreement and settled into my lap just in time for Karen to make her entrance on to the arena.
"And for our next battle! We have an exciting 3v3 8-badge battle between challenger Karen and Gym Leader Wattson! Each trainer is allowed 1 switch!" The referee announced, and I felt Pixel squirming in my lap out of excitement.
Personally, I thought that Karen likely had this battle in the bag. But I kept my expectations low as to avoid any unwanted surprises.
"Trainers, are you ready?!" I could see the both of them nodding and they released their Pokémon, "BEGIN!"
"Sneasel, you're up."
"Electrode, go get'em. WAHAHHAHA!"
Immediately after both Pokémon landed on the field, they instantly started circling each other and making use of their high speeds. I noticed that, despite how agile Sneasel was, Wattson's Electrode was still noticeably faster.
"Ice Shard into Agility!"
"Magnet Rise and Agility! Get faster!"
Both Pokémon wrapped themselves in a pink glow as Sneasel quickly fired off sharp shards of ice that sped towards the Electrode, but they were easily dodged as the Electrode started levitating into the air and began bouncing around the arena. They had both boosted their speed, but Electrode was getting so fast that it was almost impossible to follow with your eyes.
The audience gave appropriate noises of 'oohs' and 'aahs' as they admired Electrode's speed. It was nothing more than a blur. It was obvious that Karen's Sneasel had no chance of out speeding the Electrode, and it needed to switch tactics.
"Electro Ball!" Wattson ordered, and a small orb of electricity rocketed towards Sneasel. All the while, Electrode didn't even slow down and was still continuously racing past the battle arena like it was a speeding pinball.
"Detect and Icy Wind!" In a feat of impressive acrobatics, Sneasel dove and spun past the rapid Electro Ball and fired off an Icy Wind in a wide cone that managed to almost cover half of Wattson's side of the arena. Despite all of its speed, Electrode wasn't ready for the unexpectedly large cone of ice that was coming its way, and it failed to dodge out of the way in time and was struck and slowed by the chilling gust of wind.
I could understand Karen's plan, she needed to slow down the Electrode with Icy Winds before her Sneasel got overwhelmed by its' blistering fast speeds.
"THUNDER! Don't let it continue!"
"Keep up the Icy Wind and Metal Claw into the ground!"
Sneasel immediately stabbed a metallic claw into the ground just as a loud BOOM resonated across the arena. Sneasel was struck dead-on by a huge bolt of Thunder that he failed to dodge. However, by using Metal Claw and stabbing into the ground, Sneasel had managed to mitigate some of the damage by dispersing some of it into the ground, though he still had to end to endure through and brunt a majority of the damage from that powerful bolt of Thunder.
I frowned slightly at that; it was a very high-risk strategy to use and was notoriously unreliable, since you risked paralysis every time you attempted it.
Remarkably, Sneasel didn't falter despite his injuries and continued maintaining his Icy Wind, catching the Electrode in a net of chilling winds that caused it to become increasingly slower as it tried to manoeuvre through the Icy Wind.
"Thunder again! Stop it!"
"DIG TO DODGE!" Karen shouted and Sneasel stopped its Icy Wind and barely scrambled underground in time to dodge the next Thunder, which created another loud boom that caused cracks to appear from the impact area.
"Agility again, Electrode, maintain your speed!" Despite having fired off multiple powerful Thunders, the Electrode hardly looked winded as it began wrapping itself in a pink glow once again.
"Taunt it and Ice Shard!" Sneasel quickly popped up from the ground and fired off a faint blast of Dark energy that wrapped around the slowed Electrode, causing its expression to morph into one of pure anger as it no longer bothered to use Agility and instead dove straight through the incoming Ice Shards to the Sneasel.
"Electrode?! Calm yourself!" Wattson shouted out but Electrode wasn't listening to its trainer, being too angry and tunnel-visioned to care at the moment.
"Ice Shard again and get close to it!" Sneasel obeyed and shot another round of Ice Shards at the incoming Electrode that it also didn't bother dodging. Instead, the Electrode instinctively fired off a Discharge and exploded with electricity, sending out a powerful shockwave that spread throughout the arena and it was only contained through the psychic shields.
"Get close and Metal Claw the ground!" Sneasel continued his charge as he raked a Metal Claw through the ground despite the oncoming burst of electricity, which allowed him to power through the shockwaves as it helped divert some of the incoming Electric damage and dispersed it into the ground. I could see Sneasel wincing in pain as he charged through the shockwave but was lucky enough to avoid paralysis. It was another high-risk move, but now it paid off as Sneasel was now in striking range of the Electrode.
"Damn! Get back, Electrode!" Wattson ordered, but Electrode still refused to listen, and Wattson changed his order, "Fine! Then Discharge again!"
"Ice Punch, Sneasel!" Electrode once again charged up for another Discharge, but just as the Electrode was about to release its stored electricity, Sneasel smashed its Ice-infused claws into its face and interrupted its attack. Coupled with the Icy Wind and multiple Ice Shards that it had taken, Sneasel's Ice Punch caused ice to begin rapidly spreading across Electrode's shell as it was beginning to freeze over.
Seeing Electrode was about to freeze over, Wattson recognized that the battle was over as Electrode was unresponsive to his commands and had no way of preventing itself from being frozen. Thus, he steadied himself and calmly employed his last resort.
"Explosion."
"FALL BACK NOW!" Karen yelled out. I could hear the audience scream as I watched Sneasel hurriedly backpedal away from the Electrode as he tried to scramble away to avoid Electrode's desperate Explosion, but it was no use. Wattson had evidently trained his Electrode very well in the art of exploding, and the Electrode Exploded quickly and without hesitation. The resulting blast created a wave of force that quickly erupted from the Electrode that the psychic shields struggled to maintain itself as they flickered briefly at the incoming blast.
Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, the result of Electrode's explosion was a double knockout as Sneasel couldn't avoid the blast radius in time.
"Both trainers' Pokémon are unable to battle! Each trainer has 30 seconds to send out their next Pokémon!" I looked at Karen as both trainers withdrew their Pokémon, and I noticed that she didn't look unhappy at Sneasel's fainting. Perhaps she had expected something like this to happen? I guess that when you're dealing with an Electrode, expecting it to Explode is a reasonable thing to plan around.
I watched as she tapped a Pokéball with her finger briefly before sending it out.
"Let's go, Pupitar! Show your training!"
"Ampharos, show them what you got! Wahahahah!"
I sat up with more focus as I adjusted Pixel on my lap, I wanted to see how Pupitar would stand up in an actual battle and if his training with my Ursaluna had led to him improving.
"Trainers, are you ready?!" Both nodded, "BEGIN!"
"Pupitar, Earthquake!"
"Get in the air, Ampharas! Dragon Pulse!"
As Pupitar started to hop up and down as it began to shake the earth, to our collective shock, Ampharos had coiled up its tail and sprung up into the air, using its tail to bounce off the ground and managing to avoid a large portion of Pupitar's Earthquake. Ampharos landed surprisingly gracefully just as the Earthquake petered out and fired off a Dragon Pulse straight towards the Pupitar.
"Protect!" Pupitar was quick enough to form a shield in front of himself that managed to block the Dragon Pulse.
Just from that one exchange, it was obvious to any adequate trainer that this battle would not be anywhere close to the battle of speed between Sneasel and Electrode. Both Pupitar and Ampharos were much slower Pokémon that weren't able to dodge attacks nearly as well, but instead traded that speed for power.
"Dragon Pulse again!"
"Dark Pulse, Pupitar!"
A torrent of powerful Dark energy exploded outwards from Pupitar that crashed against Ampharos' incoming Dragon Pulse. The two bursts of energy struggled against each other as they pushed each other back and forth as they vied for dominance and each Pokémon strained to break through the other's attack.
"Aerial Ace and dodge to the side, Pupitar! Then Stone Edge!" Just as it appeared to be a stalemate, suddenly, Pupitar cut off its Dark Pulse and launched himself through the air with his Aerial Ace, eliciting gasps of surprise from the audience as they watched the unusually nimble Pupitar deftly fly past and dodge Ampharos' Dragon Pulse.
Ampharos tried to track Pupitar with its Dragon Pulse but a barrage of rocks from Pupitar's Stone Edge crashed into it before it could do so. Ampharos stumbled backwards and cancelled its Dragon Pulse, and Karen capitalized on the opportunity.
"Earthquake, Pupitar!" Pupitar slammed into the ground in front of Ampharos, unleashing a powerful point-blank Earthquake that Ampharos couldn't dodge in time. Ampharos quickly lost its balance as the ground began to shake heavily and it fell over with a shriek of pain as it endured through the Earthquake.
Unfortunately for Karen, Pupitar's lack of proficiency in using Ground type attacks was a flaw that reared its head at this very moment, as despite taking the supereffective Earthquake Ampharos was still not out of the fight just yet, which caught Karen and Pupitar off-guard.
"Ampharos, get up and Dragon Tail!"
"Protect-"
Pupitar only managed to create a partial shield that was quickly cracked and shattered by the hammering blow from Ampharos' tail that broke through the shield and slammed into Pupitar, cracking his shell, and hurling him across the arena until he crashed against the psychic shields. It was a heavy blow, but Pupitar managed to scrape himself off the ground and continue the fight. He wasn't out yet either.
With that, I noticed that both Pokémon were pretty badly injured. Pupitar's shell was chipped and cracked in a few places, and it wobbled unsteadily as he tried to keep himself upright. On the other hand, Ampharos had an eye that was sealed shut from its injuries and had a plethora of scrapes and cuts that were littered throughout its body.
Both Pokémon and trainer were now staring the other one down as they both dared the other to make the first move. I knew that this was a critical moment in the battle. Both Pokémon were far too tired and hurt to carry out any more complex manoeuvres, and so it was now a battle of endurance to see who had more left to give.
Karen's impatience broke their stare down as she ordered the first move.
"Pupitar, Dark Pulse. Win for me."
"Ampharos, Hyper Beam. Match it."
The air grew tense. This was it.
Pupitar's Dark Pulse shot forwards and once again crashed against Ampharos' Hyper Beam as both Pokémon were once again locked in a stalemate as they tried to overpower the other's attacks. It was a test of willpower, strength, and raw determination.
The other audience members and I all held our collective breaths as we watched their two bursts of energy push back and forth against each other as they both tried to overwhelm the other. I heard a few people muttering about how surprised they were about the power of Pupitar's Dark Pulse, which I supposed Karen had focused on training instead of its Ground type attacks.
I didn't even know how much time had passed as I continued to stare fixedly at the two rays of energy that were still locked together in a battle of wills, but I knew that something had to give soon. Sure enough, Ampharos must have been more injured than it appeared as its Hyper Beam started to falter and was being pushed back by Pupitar's Dark Pulse. I took a quick glance at the Ampharos and noted that it was breathing heavily and was exerting itself to its very limits. It looked like seconds away from falling over.
Suddenly, Ampharos' collapsed in exhaustion, causing Pupitar's Dark Pulse to rapidly shoot forwards, blasting the Ampharos back into the psychic shield and pinning it to the flickering shields momentarily. Pupitar quickly cut off his attack as soon as he recognized that the Ampharos was knocked out.
A collective silence surrounded the Gym for a moment as the audience took time to process what had just happened before it was broken by Wattson.
"WAAHAHHAHA! That was a great battle, lass!" Wattson shouted out as he withdrew his Ampharos.
I couldn't hear Karen's response as she was interrupted by the referee and the shouts of excitement from the crowd.
"Ampharos is unable to battle! The Gym Leader has 30 seconds to send out his next Pokémon!" I could barely hear the referee's announcement as the audience erupted with cheers and shouts at the conclusion of that epic battle. I looked around and saw that most of the audience members were standing up and applauding Karen's Pupitar, and some of them even had their phones out and had likely recorded the final exchange.
I wondered if I would be seeing Karen's Pupitar show up on the Pokénet? That'd be great for Karen's popularity and bringing her into the public spotlight. I looked down at Pixel who I had almost forgotten was on my lap and watched as it buzzed in excitement at the match. I guess it was finding these sorts of high-level matches entertaining. In that case, I should probably bring it to more matches.
I pulled myself back from my idle thoughts as I heard Karen's announcement that she was retiring for Pupitar. Understandable, it was far too tired to put up any sort of fight against Wattson's next Pokémon.
"Challenge Karen has retired her Pupitar! Both trainers now have 30 seconds to send out their next Pokémon!" Before the referee had finished speaking, both trainers had already sent out their next Pokémon.
"Come, Magnezone."
"Houndoom. It's your turn."
My eyes shot up in surprise as I saw Karen send out her ace. How did she guess that Wattson was going to send out Magnezone? I looked towards Wattson and noticed that he had a slight frown on his face; I guess he knew that this was a bad matchup for him.
Unfortunately for Wattson, poor type matchups would be the least of his problems.
"BEGIN!" "Fire Blast!" The moment the referee announced the start of the battle, Houndoom charged forwards and a pulsing ball of flames shot out of her mouth. Houndoom's flames burned with such intense heat that I could feel it even through the temperature regulation of the psychic shields.
"Magnezone! Magnet Rise! Dodge it!" Magnezone levitated itself into the air as it swerved around Houndoom's Fire Blast, causing it to explode powerfully on the psychic shield, but Karen wasn't done yet.
"Flamethrower, Wide!" Maintaining its' rapid approach towards Magnezone, Houndoom spewed forth a huge cone of flames that Magnezone couldn't possibly dodge with its meagre speed, even if it was levitating. Wattson clearly noticed this too as his eyes widened in alarm.
"Protect and Thunder!" Showing off its training, Magnezone was both able to deploy a shield while simultaneously firing off multiple Thunders. However, Houndoom was able to leap forward and dodge past each of the incoming bolts of Thunder as her flames managed to completely engulf Magnezone's shields and spilled across the sides and on to Magnezone's shell.
Magnezone futilely fired off more Thunders as it tried to interrupt Houndoom's Flamethrower, but Houndoom managed to nimbly dodge past each one and she continued with the pressure and maintaining the stream of flames that was steadily spilling past Magnezone's Protect shield and slowly consumed the Magnezone. Houndoom barely even looked like she had exerted herself despite her relentless attacks and dodges.
The situation was rapidly deteriorating for Wattson. I could tell that Magnezone didn't have the speed to avoid Houndoom's flames and Houndoom was too nimble to be struck by half-hearted attacks. Attempting to play defensive like this wasn't working, and Wattson knew it. I watched as his face slowly settle into one of calm determination as he uncrossed his arms and gripped his hands together tightly on the rails.
"Magnezone. Artillery Mode. Full offense." My eyes widened as I saw that Magnezone had dropped its Protect shield and became completely engulfed in Houndoom's flames. Before I could understand why it had done so, Magnezone began firing.
And firing.
And firing.
"PROTECT!" Karen quickly shouted out. I could see that Karen was gripping the safety rail in alarm as I watched in fascinated awe as bolts of Lightning rained across the battlefield, with large orbs of electricity and steel also shooting across the width of the arena and blasting large holes into the ground before a large beam swept across the field and added more scars on the arena.
Wattson's Magnezone was firing a barrage of Zap and Flash Cannons, Thunderbolts, and Charge Beams in an overwhelming array of attacks that flooded across the battlefield. I could barely tell what attacks were being fired as all manner of bolts and balls and lights flashed and whizzed across the battlefield. I was mesmerized as I watched all sorts of explosions rained across the arena.
Magnezone had completely abandoned all defense and movement as it continued firing attack after attack in an overpowering barrage that filled the arena. Fortunately, it appeared that Magnezone had also sacrificed its accuracy in order to fire off this many attacks in such a short period of time, but the sheer number of attacks were still so overwhelming that Houndoom had to dedicate all of her attention to dodging and blocking the incoming attacks.
Houndoom narrowly leapt past a Thunderbolt before quickly needing to put up a shield that barely blocked an incoming Zap Cannon, and even before the Zap Cannon could fully dissipate on her shield, a Flash Canon slipped past it and slammed into her side, causing Houndoom to stumble. She had no time to recover though as she quickly had to fire off another small plume of flames to block an incoming Electro Ball before she pivoted on the spot and shot off another Dark Pulse to shield against another Charge Beam.
Her Houndoom barely had time to breathe in between the attacks! It was utter chaos! The arena was so absolutely scorched with flames and electricity that it was adorned with scars and small craters from Magnezone's bombardment of attacks. The psychic shields surrounding the arena were tested to the very limits as they valiantly continued to protect the spectators from the onslaught of explosions and impacts.
Despite all of this, I saw that Houndoom was doing a commendable job continuing to evade and block Magnezone's attacks, especially considering the sheer volume of attacks coming her way. Although she certainly wasn't unharmed, I noticed that Magnezone was slowly faltering as it gradually began to tire. A minute had barely passed since the beginning of Magnezone's artillery fire of attacks, but it clearly could not maintain this bombardment for much longer, no matter how trained it was. And Karen knew it.
For a brief moment, Magnezone's attacks slowed down, and Karen immediately jumped on it.
"It's tiring! Fire Blast!" Taking advantage of the brief window of opportunity, Houndoom had the space to fire off a Fire Blast that flew unimpeded as it struck Magnezone, rapidly engulfing it in a prison of flames and interrupting its constant barrage of attacks. Magnezone shook desperately as it tried futilely to shake off the flames, but it was no use. And Magnezone was slowly scorched ablaze as it failed to escape from the cage of fire.
The flames eventually dispersed, revealing a completely exhausted and badly damaged Magnezone that didn't even have enough energy to maintain levitating and was littered with scorch marks. Magnezone let out a weakened buzz as, coupled with its injuries, it didn't have the energy left to continue maintaining its attacks.
I watched as Karen and Wattson stared at each other for a moment, before Wattson eventually let out a big sigh and withdrew his Magnezone. Wattson looked at Magnezone's Pokéball for a moment before muttering something that I couldn't pick up on and pocketed the Pokéball.
As he looked back up, he lost all traces of his earlier solemn expression as he once again adorned his signature easy-going smile.
"WAHAHAHA! That was an amazing showing, lass! I'm surprised you were able to endure past Magnezone's barrage! Truly impressive! I hadn't had such an exciting battle in a long time!" He laughed, and the audience joined in with their shouts of cheers. Pixel also seemed to really enjoy the match as it wiggled happily and excitedly alongside the cheers of the crowd, and I had to hold on to it tightly to ensure that it didn't accidentally jump out of my lap.
"KAREN! KAREN! KAREN!" I smiled as I heard some beginning to chant that Karen easily overheard and turned to face the audience. Of course, I joined in with the chanting while looking Karen straight in the eye as I saw her blushing slightly at the chanting. But Karen didn't let any embarrassment show on her face besides a faint blush on her cheeks as she waved back confidently towards the audience.
Hearing the chanting only reinforced my idea that Karen was now slowly entering the public eye. Idly, I hoped that recordings of Karen's battle against Wattson would spread on the Pokénet; it would do wonders for getting her recognized and as a way to show off her strength.
Wattson stood patiently as he allowed Karen to wave to the crowd and bask in the attention for a few moments before she turned back to face Wattson. They exchanged words that I couldn't hear, but I did see Wattson awarding Karen with the Dynamo Badge. I saw her giving a slight bow in thanks before she turned to me and gave me a happy smirk, which I returned.
I did consider getting up and introducing myself to Wattson at the moment, but I felt like I had enough on my plate with my upcoming battle against Drake as well as my plans with Devon Corp and Norman. It might be a missed opportunity, but I wasn't perfect, and I didn't really have anything I wanted to discuss with Wattson at the moment anyways.
Also, it was nice seeing Karen so happy and cheerful. She seemed to really enjoy the attention that she was receiving from the crowd as she continued waving to the crowd as she made her way out of the arena.
I hoped that this battle was the start of Karen's rise to fame.
A.N What did you guys think of Magnezone's barrage of attacks? I wanted to write something unique because I thought that these kind of 'big combo moves' would be more common in high level battles. I might not add too many of them in future battles, so this was just a kind of taster to judge your responses.
Also, this is going to be the last battle with Karen in the Gyms. I only wanted to show 2 battles, one to show Karen in her element with a minor curbstomp, and another where she struggles more against a harder opponent just to give a sense of where she's at strength wise.
Also, really enjoyed all of the speculation and comments from my last Interlude (and yes, that's what I'm calling those chapters from now on, sorry for any confusion). Also, uh, ever since the Drake Interlude I think I've accidentally gaslit everyone into thinking that Fairy types were about to dominate everything. That was never going to happen and I'm really sorry if I gave off that impression (I'll be more careful next time but wow I didn't expect everyone to focus on that!).
Fairy types are strong against Dragons, sure, but just like how just having an Ice type doesn't mean it's an auto-win (even if its 4x effective against Dragon/Flying), the same applies to Fairy. Dragons have other moves too and aren't about to be one-shotted just because of a type weakness.
Still, I am very appreciative of all the comments, as always, and I thank you for adding to the discussion. Though it does add lots of pressure for me to make the fight vs Drake as good as possible and live up to the hype, so I REALLY hope I can deliver.
And to anyone who wants to support me, please check out my p atreon at CartecTNN where you can read 8 advanced chapters! Thanks to those who have supported me already!