Chapter 18 – Fire fight
“Tonight on the evening news, the lead story on Mars industry’s new delta class space shuttle only on Vulpix twenty four,” said a commercial on the television in the Pokemon centers lounge as Jason went over his Team one last time trying to decide one and for all who to use in the upcoming gym battle. He was expecting the format to be three on three so both Masamune and Daichi where a shoe in since they were both super effective against fire types leaving the last slot open to dispute.
Dare he risk using Kouken who was afraid of fire but training hard to overcome said fear or stick with the safer option of using Fuu? It could very well be the final push Kouken needed to push his burden aside one and for all but it could also backfire on him costing him the battle and unlike in Dewford he didn’t have time to stick around and train for a rematch.
Suddenly Jason perked up as he sensed a known energy signature close at hand as the doors to the Pokemon center slid open and Katina walked in. His passive sensing range was nowhere near his active one but it was nice to see that it improving over time from his training since only a few short weeks ago he might not have noticed that his friend was around even after she entered the room.
“Oh hey Jason, did you see the great contest yesterday?” Katina asked in a friendly tone at which Jason noticed that she now had three ribbons tied to the right side of her purple tank top were as last time he’d seen her she’d only had two.
“There was a contest yesterday?” Jason asked in shock wondering how he hadn’t heard about this information sooner. If he hadn’t been busy dealing with Shaymin earlier he might have made it here to register in time or failing that if he hadn’t had to deal with that smuck from Team plasma he would have at least been able to watch in in person.
Lord knew what he could learn just from watching the more experienced Katina in action from the sidelines considering how much he had already picked up from her during the match in the first contest. He never would have come up with the idea to develop the still in progress Aura shield if he hadn’t seen her Serperior Aina using leaf storm in such an unexpected manor.
“Yep, you missed me beating the pants off some Julia kid,” Katina said with a light laugh. “Tough I have to admit she put up quite a fight. I haven’t lost that many points in one match since my second year back in Johto,” she added wistfully with more than a little admiration in her voice causing the blood to drain from Jason’s face at the thought of the two girls teaming up for the doubles league.
“I’ve got to improve more and fast,” He thought to himself as he shoot to his feet determined to whip the floor with this gym leader quickly and then move on to the next contest so that he could catch up to the number of ribbons Katina as soon as possible. He was about to excuse himself when he stopped the question he had been asking himself unexpectedly bubbling up to his lips.
“Katina what do you do when you’re not sure which of your Pokemon to use in a match?” Jason asked, feeling somewhat surprised by the words that had come out of his mouth. He hadn’t been intending to ask her for advice so why had he? Katina paused considering the question carefully for a long moment before finally answering.
“Whenever I’m really really not sure I default to my starter Pokemon. Remember that your starter Pokemon has was your first and been with you the longest, your bonds together stronger than any steel it will often go above and beyond to help you achieve your goal,” Katina explained. “But remember not to become over reliant on them. Default to your starter too much and your other Pokemon will never prosper and grow like they would have otherwise stunting their potential,” she added cautioning tone.
Jason nodded as he mulled over her advice taking the words to heart before glancing at the clock cursing lightly in his mind as he realized that he was running late for his appointment.
“Sorry gotta run, thanks for the guidance,” he said as he took off at a run dashing through the doors and heading across the street to a wooden building that looked like it was part of a hot springs resort which he supposed it probably was on the side given that the other gyms he had run into on this region each ran its own business during the off hours between challenges to generate income.
“Hum I wonder what sort of business Brian plans to run once he opens up his own gym,” Jason thought idly to himself as he entered the building to find a young crimson haired woman in her mid-twenties waiting for him impatiently with her hands on her yukata covered hips.
“Don’t you know you’re not supposed to keep a lady waiting?” the woman said jokingly as she lead Jason down a long hall way to an courtyard battlefield. But rather than a standard flat plane this one had a large bowl like depression strewn with boulders in the center. “The name is Flannery and I’m expecting a white hot battle from you challenger Jason,” she said as she read off his name from a small appointment book she had mysteriously pulled from out of her sleeve. Flannery clapping her hands lightly and an adult Julia appeared wearing a similar yukata as the gym leader rather than the standard battle judge uniform as she took her customary spot at the side of the battle field.
“This will be a four on four match with only the challenger allowed to substitute,” explained referee Julia causing Jason to wince. All this time he had been getting ready for a three on three and now they’d had to break the pattern on him. Still he had been training with Masamune rather extensively for the upcoming contest so hopefully he would be able to pull some extra weight for the rest of the team.
“Let’s start with a warm up, go Slugma,” called out Flannery as she sent out a red creature that resembled a living blob of lava.
“If it’s a warm up you want then I’ll go with you Daichi,” called out Jason as he sent out his Baltoy only to blink in surprised and confusion as Flannery burst out laughing.
“Dai for great and chi for earth or for wisdom that’s clever,” Flannery snickered out as she whipped a tear from her eyes from laughing so hard.
“I’ll show you clever, go Daichi use mud-slap,” ordered Jason causing the statue Pokemon to dig its hands into the ground and pull up to clumps of dirt that it tossed at the living blob.
“Too slow,” laughed Flannery as the Slugma effortlessly jumped and weaved out of the way of the attack without even needing to be ordered to dodge. For something with slug in its name it was surprisingly agile. “Hammer it with Flamethrower,” She ordered as the blob opened its mouth unleashing a great gush of flames which bored down on the living statue at high speed.
“Defend with rapid spin,” countered Jason as his Pokemon began to twirl around almost as it was dancing, the speed of its rotation causing the fire to splash harmlessly off in five different directions one of which splashed near Jason who was trying his best not to flinch away as the attack died off as the Slugma paused to catch its breath.
“Now’s your chance Daichi, use ancient power,” called out Jason. Baltoy’s eyes blinked red in acknowledgement as it held out its hands as his entire body began to glow with a bright white light almost forcing the humans in the room to shield their eyes as the radiance flowed down the statues body pooling into a large silver of energy that it promptly hurled at its foe.
The sliver ball crashed into the lava blood with a loud bang sending the creature flying into the far wall of the courtyard with a sick splosh like sound resembling jello hitting the floor after it had been dropped. A thin trail of smoke issued from Baltoy’s hands as it hovered in the air waiting for his next order as the ref ran over to the blob to check on it before shaking her head no.
“Slugma is unable to battle," referee Julia declared.
“Wow now that was quite an eruption of power,” declared Flannery who was practically purring in joy as she returned her Pokemon to its Pokeball. “Speaking of eruptions what do you think of this one?” She said as she sent out a large red turtle like Pokemon that breathed smoke out of its nostrils then stomped its foot in a challenge to Boltoy.
“With a shell like that I bet its defence is high. I better close in before attacking if I want to damage it,” thought Jason to himself. “Alright Daichi get in there and use ancient power again,” He called out causing his Satatue Pokemon to rush forward like a bullet train, its body glowing white as it prepared to fire off another shot only to suddenly veer off and crash into a nearby bolder.
“What the!” exclaimed Jason in shock.
“Aw darn,” Flannery sighed in disappointment. “Those Baltoy sure pack a lot of punch but their bodies are too small to contain much energy so they usually don’t last long,” she explained as Daichi’s eyes blinked rapidly on and off like a low power indicator on a battery.
“Darn I had no idea you had a time limit like that,” commented Jason as he recalled his Pokemon. “Still you took at least one of them down so good job. Masamune can take the rest from here,” Jason said confidently as he sent out his Oshawott.
“You aren’t about to put a dampener on this battle! Sunny day,” declared Flannery as her Torkoal began to stomp its feet rapidly as it danced around for a few seconds causing the clouds overhead to part aside letting more sunlight stream into the court yard.
“Darn,” thought Jason with a scowl. He hadn’t been expecting a weather manipulating move like that but he should have been since it would reduce the base power of all water attacks by fifty present while in affect. Flannery was a gym leader, of course she would take measures like this to compensate for her Pokemon’s weakness.
As Torkoal stomped once more in defiance Jason couldn’t fail to note how low to the ground the turtle Pokemon was as it stood at the bottom of the bowl like depression giving him an idea of how to take it on since brute force seemed ill advised.
“Masamune use aqua jet to climb into the sky,” Jason called out. His Oshawott grinned as water surged around his body launching him several feet into the air before he suddenly cut off the move launching him out of the self-propelled stream and into an flying arc high above the creator.
“Great now use Water Pulse combined with Ice beam repeatedly,” Jason shouted. Holding out a hand Masamune formed a sphere of water with it then blasted it was a lance of blue energy with the other turning it into a miniature iceburg which he tossed down at the Torkoal before throwing another and another. Because he was throwing the attacks as fast as he could Masamune was sacrificing speed for accuracy and none of the icicle boulders struck the mark as they fell harmlessly around the Torkoal.
“Trying to pin us in are you? Clever, but not clever enough. Torkoal blast your way to freedom with overheat,” ordered Flannery with a sweep of her arms.
Blasting smoke from his nostrils in reply as the red spots on its shell began to glow brightly before it opened its mouth emitting a brilliant white flame with a secondary reddish orange flame spiraling around it, the sheer effort of this move generating a large plume of smoke from its back as the flames struck the ice around it melting it effortlessly only for Jason to grin in response.
Torkoal’s overheat was indeed very hot but not hot enough to transform solid ice to steam instantly. One moment the Turtle had been standing on dry land and the next it found itself drowning as the melted ice turned the depression into the ground into a small hot spring.
“Dang didn’t expect that,” exclaimed Flannery as Torkoal flailed around helplessly in the water forcing her to recall it since it had no way of extracting itself as Masumune touched down gently on the edge of the pool side.
“This is getting interesting Jason. Now I’m really fired up!” Flannery exclaimed as she took out a premier ball. “I had this one specially imported from Sinnoh for me. I’m sure he’ll give you a warm reception,” she joked as she sent out a Monferno. The small monkey like Pokemon hoped up and down on one of the boulders inside the pool excitedly at being called upon and Jason grinned at the sight. There were several Pokemon in Hoenn he knew very little about, but he knew plenty about Monferno like the fact that it was a fire/fighting type.
“Return Masumune take a rest, this is a job for Fuu,” Jason said confidently as he switched out to his Swellow who folded in one wing and took a bow before assuming a fighting stance.
“Ooh, aiming for the secondary type weakness eh? Will it be enough?” taunted Flannery.
“We’ll just have to see about that. Fuu quick attack,” ordered Jason causing the large bird to dart forward like a high speed arrow only for the monkey Pokemon to suddenly dig a hole into the ground and dive down it at the last moment causing Fuu to swoop harmlessly past.
“Where did it go?” thought Jason as his eyes swept over the battle field only to widen as he sensed where the fire monkey had gone. “Behind you…”’ he started to say as Fuu began to whirl around but it was too late as the Monferno burst out of the ground and decked the bird in the chest with a mighty sky upper cut making the Swellow reel.
“Now use dig again before it can recover,” ordered Flannery.
“Stop it with arial ace,” cried out Jason. Snapping open her eyes Swellow performed a upside down loop slamming into the Monkey’s chest peak first just as it was about to dive back into the hole it had popped out from sending it flying high into the air.
“Now finish it with air slash,” shouted Jason excitedly as Fuu flapped her mighty wings sending a series of shuriken like projectiles flying into the monkey’s body enveloping it in smoke as they impacted with a series of hard thuds. A moment later the Monferno fell to the ground, it’s eyes swirling as it let out a low moan.
“Monferno is unable to battle. The gym leader is down to her last Pokemon.”
“Wow that was scorching. Let’s see if I can turn this around with a blaze. Go Magcargo,” Flannery said as she sent out something that looked similar to the first Pokemon see had sent out, only this blob had a hard rocky shell on its back.
“Hum… the evolved form of Slumga huh? Not sure what it can do so I better approach it cautiously.” Jason thought. “Alright Fuu bombard it with air slash,” he advised. Fuu pulled back her wings to launch a second assault only for Flannery to grin.
“You’ve never seen a Magcargo before have you? Let me introduce you with a Rock slide,” she ordered as the fire slug’s shell began to glow before suddenly several rocks formed around it and shot out towards Swellow ripping straight through the wind made shrunken like they were wet tissue paper before crashing into the bird sending it crashing out of the sky.
“Swellow is unable to battle,” called out the Referee making Jason snap his thumb in mild disappointment. Still he had to admit Fuu’s downfall had given him valuable information about the enemies typing since now he knew for sure that Magcargo was part rock type rather than simply suspecting it based on its looks.
“Easy pickings,” he muttered to himself as he sent out Masamune once more sure that the water type would make short work of anything four times weak to it only to blink in surprise that the Magcargo had vanished. Jason looked to the left then the right before looking up in confusion finding nothing in either direction and it certainly couldn’t have dived into the hot springs.
“Where did it go?” he thought to himself as suddenly the Magcargo’s head popped up from the hole Monferno had dug.
“Solar beam,” called out Flannery with a knowning grin as Magcargo popped open its mouth and unleashed an intense laser without any prior charge up thanks to the effects of sunny day.
“Slash it with Freeze Blade,” called out Jason as Masamune grabbed hold of his scallop and swung it hard frost spewing from it as he combined Razor shell and ice beam and swung out cleaving the beam of light in two even as the beam pushed him several feet back scorching him heavily. Masamune thumped his chest in triumph at having overcome the enemies attack as he sheathed his sword in preparation for a quick draw and glared out at the Magcargo which stuck out it’s toung defiantly before vanishing back into the hole.
“I don’t think so case it out with Water pulse,” ordered Jason as Masamune stood over the hole and tossed a throbbing orb of water down the crevice only for nothing to happen moments later when Jason had been expecting the slug to have been blasted out the other side.
“There have been countless holes dug here by Pokemon in the past. I never did bother to fill them all in,” Flannery taunted. Realizing that the Slug could pop up from an unexpected place Jason cursed knowing that his Oshawott would be unable to take another ponding like before.
“Quick dive into the water,” he ordered. If Flannery’s Pokemon could hide underground then he would have his hide under the water. The minutes ticked by as the two trainers stared off knowing they were in a stalemate where the first to make a move would likely be the first to go down. Jason glanced up at the sky and grinned. If he could just hold out a little longer until sunny day wore of then he would be able to strike far faster than the Magcago could charge up another solar beam.
Suddenly Masamune bopped up to the surface, his eyes spinning as he pulled himself up onto a rock and out of the water causing Jason to blink in surprise only for his eyes to widen in revelation as he realized that his Oshawott was used to cold water not hot and had gotten light headed from prolonged exposure to the hot springs the same way that a human would have.
“Solar beam,” said Flannery as she realized what was going on at the same time as Jason and moved quickly to take advantage as Magcargo unleashed another laser that shot into the Oshawott hard sending him tumbling end over end into the nearby foliage at the end of the courtyard.
“Oshawott is unable to battle, the challenger is down to his last Pokemon,” declared referee Julia making Jason break out into a nervous sweet. He had been counting on Masamune to carry the rest of the battle and now he had to make an impossible choice on which of his two Pokemon to use.
Aoki would work well against Magcargo’s secondary rock type but was in turn weak to Magcargo’s primary fire typing. Kouken on the other hand would have been perfectly suited for the situation except for the fact he might freeze up in fear. If this had been the start of the battle it would have been worth the risk since he would have had other Pokemon to fall back on but now it was all or nothing. Undecided Katina’s words abruptly echoed in his head.
“If you’re not sure default to your starter Pokemon,”
“Right here goes nothing. You can do it Kouken,” said Jason trying to project a confidence he didn’t truly feel as he sent out his Rilou who flinched at the sight of the fire Pokemon sticking its head out of the ground. But then Kouken gritted his teeth and pulled himself into a fighting stance.
“Well it’ been fun Jason but things just aren’t hot enough anymore to hold my attention. Let’s finish this Magcargo,” Flannery said with a yawn as the slug Pokemon launched another Solar beam before Kouken had a chance to close in on it.
“Block it with Aura shield.” Jason said. He’d had a chance to tinker on the move it since it had failed in the last gym battle and this time he was sure it would work. Well mostly sure anyhow as Kouken held his hands out plams flat towards the enemy as he formed an Aura sphere between them catching the beam and causing it to splash harmlessly off the energy field as it splintered into a rainbow of seven colored light that would have scored Jason high marks if this had been a contest.
“Now Kouken counter attack,” Jason started to say as the solar beam died off but the Magcargo had already dived back into the hole. “You can run but you can’t hide,” Jason remarked as Kouken closed his eyes sensing for the enemy’s position before ramming the aura sphere he was holding into the ground causing it to crack and split apart revealing a very startled Magcargo.
“Ho, maybe I was wrong about this battle cooling down after all,” remarked Flannery in amusement as Kouken began to rush forward so that he could begin to unleash a can of woop *** on his foe. “Flamethrower,” she snapped out
Recovering from being uncovered Magcargo’s head whirled towards the Rilou as he opened his mouth and spat out a torrent of flames. Kouken’s eyes widened in panic as he aborted his attack run and quickly rolled to the side as the flames shot past barely missing hitting his shoulder by a mere centimeter. Pulling himself up to his feet Kouken winced and hit his head with his right paw cursing himself for his weakness as his foe quickly slimmed its way out of the crater and onto the edge of the poolside.
Jason frowned thinking quickly. The longer this fight went on the less Kouken would be able to keep a lid on his fear increasing the chances he would freeze up at a critical moment. But no matter how hard he struck it would be hard to overcome that sheer defense unless. Noticing how closely the Magcargo was to the hot springs Jason smirked as he came up with an idea.
“Agility,” He called out as Kouken blurred and began to rush forward jumping out of the way of another flamethrower as he closed the distance between the two Pokemon until they were only a scant meter apart.
“Now use Aura sphere to propel yourself,” called out Jason. Gasping in surprise as he realized what his trainer was asking Kouken grinned as he whirled around and tossed an aura sphere directly into the ground in front of him then riding the shockwave as it exploded rocketing into the Magcargo with a flying body check that send both Pokemon tumbling into the drink.
A moment later Kouken jumped out of the hot spring landing on the water’s surface and balancing on one foot on as he raised his hands and other legs in an attack stance waiting for his foe to surface but it proved unnecessary that the Magcargo splashed about helplessly unable to swim just like the Torkoal had been before it.
“Magcargo is unable to battle, the challenger wins the match,” declared referee Julia as Flannery recalled her Pokemon with a sigh before breaking into a wide grin.
“You really got me by making good use of the battle field around you. The way you battle…you’d make a pretty good coordinator Jason,” complimented Flannery as she tossed him a Heat badge.
“You don’t know the half of it,” Jason joked back as he grabbed hold of the badge and held it tightly knowing that it meant another bump in his budget and a step closer to getting the Motorcycle he had been thinking off since Offer Jenny had given him a ride to Verdanturf. Perhaps he ought to offer Katina a ride to thank her once he got it to thank her since it had been her advice that had enabled his win.
With his business in Lavaridge concluded Jason figured it was time to hit to road one more and make his way to Fallarbor Town. He had his forth contest to participate in and a ribbon to win if he was going to keep moving along he chosen path and catch up to the back he was chasing. Failure was not an option.
“Tonight on the evening news, the lead story on Mars industry’s new delta class space shuttle only on Vulpix twenty four,” said a commercial on the television in the Pokemon centers lounge as Jason went over his Team one last time trying to decide one and for all who to use in the upcoming gym battle. He was expecting the format to be three on three so both Masamune and Daichi where a shoe in since they were both super effective against fire types leaving the last slot open to dispute.
Dare he risk using Kouken who was afraid of fire but training hard to overcome said fear or stick with the safer option of using Fuu? It could very well be the final push Kouken needed to push his burden aside one and for all but it could also backfire on him costing him the battle and unlike in Dewford he didn’t have time to stick around and train for a rematch.
Suddenly Jason perked up as he sensed a known energy signature close at hand as the doors to the Pokemon center slid open and Katina walked in. His passive sensing range was nowhere near his active one but it was nice to see that it improving over time from his training since only a few short weeks ago he might not have noticed that his friend was around even after she entered the room.
“Oh hey Jason, did you see the great contest yesterday?” Katina asked in a friendly tone at which Jason noticed that she now had three ribbons tied to the right side of her purple tank top were as last time he’d seen her she’d only had two.
“There was a contest yesterday?” Jason asked in shock wondering how he hadn’t heard about this information sooner. If he hadn’t been busy dealing with Shaymin earlier he might have made it here to register in time or failing that if he hadn’t had to deal with that smuck from Team plasma he would have at least been able to watch in in person.
Lord knew what he could learn just from watching the more experienced Katina in action from the sidelines considering how much he had already picked up from her during the match in the first contest. He never would have come up with the idea to develop the still in progress Aura shield if he hadn’t seen her Serperior Aina using leaf storm in such an unexpected manor.
“Yep, you missed me beating the pants off some Julia kid,” Katina said with a light laugh. “Tough I have to admit she put up quite a fight. I haven’t lost that many points in one match since my second year back in Johto,” she added wistfully with more than a little admiration in her voice causing the blood to drain from Jason’s face at the thought of the two girls teaming up for the doubles league.
“I’ve got to improve more and fast,” He thought to himself as he shoot to his feet determined to whip the floor with this gym leader quickly and then move on to the next contest so that he could catch up to the number of ribbons Katina as soon as possible. He was about to excuse himself when he stopped the question he had been asking himself unexpectedly bubbling up to his lips.
“Katina what do you do when you’re not sure which of your Pokemon to use in a match?” Jason asked, feeling somewhat surprised by the words that had come out of his mouth. He hadn’t been intending to ask her for advice so why had he? Katina paused considering the question carefully for a long moment before finally answering.
“Whenever I’m really really not sure I default to my starter Pokemon. Remember that your starter Pokemon has was your first and been with you the longest, your bonds together stronger than any steel it will often go above and beyond to help you achieve your goal,” Katina explained. “But remember not to become over reliant on them. Default to your starter too much and your other Pokemon will never prosper and grow like they would have otherwise stunting their potential,” she added cautioning tone.
Jason nodded as he mulled over her advice taking the words to heart before glancing at the clock cursing lightly in his mind as he realized that he was running late for his appointment.
“Sorry gotta run, thanks for the guidance,” he said as he took off at a run dashing through the doors and heading across the street to a wooden building that looked like it was part of a hot springs resort which he supposed it probably was on the side given that the other gyms he had run into on this region each ran its own business during the off hours between challenges to generate income.
“Hum I wonder what sort of business Brian plans to run once he opens up his own gym,” Jason thought idly to himself as he entered the building to find a young crimson haired woman in her mid-twenties waiting for him impatiently with her hands on her yukata covered hips.
“Don’t you know you’re not supposed to keep a lady waiting?” the woman said jokingly as she lead Jason down a long hall way to an courtyard battlefield. But rather than a standard flat plane this one had a large bowl like depression strewn with boulders in the center. “The name is Flannery and I’m expecting a white hot battle from you challenger Jason,” she said as she read off his name from a small appointment book she had mysteriously pulled from out of her sleeve. Flannery clapping her hands lightly and an adult Julia appeared wearing a similar yukata as the gym leader rather than the standard battle judge uniform as she took her customary spot at the side of the battle field.
“This will be a four on four match with only the challenger allowed to substitute,” explained referee Julia causing Jason to wince. All this time he had been getting ready for a three on three and now they’d had to break the pattern on him. Still he had been training with Masamune rather extensively for the upcoming contest so hopefully he would be able to pull some extra weight for the rest of the team.
“Let’s start with a warm up, go Slugma,” called out Flannery as she sent out a red creature that resembled a living blob of lava.
“If it’s a warm up you want then I’ll go with you Daichi,” called out Jason as he sent out his Baltoy only to blink in surprised and confusion as Flannery burst out laughing.
“Dai for great and chi for earth or for wisdom that’s clever,” Flannery snickered out as she whipped a tear from her eyes from laughing so hard.
“I’ll show you clever, go Daichi use mud-slap,” ordered Jason causing the statue Pokemon to dig its hands into the ground and pull up to clumps of dirt that it tossed at the living blob.
“Too slow,” laughed Flannery as the Slugma effortlessly jumped and weaved out of the way of the attack without even needing to be ordered to dodge. For something with slug in its name it was surprisingly agile. “Hammer it with Flamethrower,” She ordered as the blob opened its mouth unleashing a great gush of flames which bored down on the living statue at high speed.
“Defend with rapid spin,” countered Jason as his Pokemon began to twirl around almost as it was dancing, the speed of its rotation causing the fire to splash harmlessly off in five different directions one of which splashed near Jason who was trying his best not to flinch away as the attack died off as the Slugma paused to catch its breath.
“Now’s your chance Daichi, use ancient power,” called out Jason. Baltoy’s eyes blinked red in acknowledgement as it held out its hands as his entire body began to glow with a bright white light almost forcing the humans in the room to shield their eyes as the radiance flowed down the statues body pooling into a large silver of energy that it promptly hurled at its foe.
The sliver ball crashed into the lava blood with a loud bang sending the creature flying into the far wall of the courtyard with a sick splosh like sound resembling jello hitting the floor after it had been dropped. A thin trail of smoke issued from Baltoy’s hands as it hovered in the air waiting for his next order as the ref ran over to the blob to check on it before shaking her head no.
“Slugma is unable to battle," referee Julia declared.
“Wow now that was quite an eruption of power,” declared Flannery who was practically purring in joy as she returned her Pokemon to its Pokeball. “Speaking of eruptions what do you think of this one?” She said as she sent out a large red turtle like Pokemon that breathed smoke out of its nostrils then stomped its foot in a challenge to Boltoy.
“With a shell like that I bet its defence is high. I better close in before attacking if I want to damage it,” thought Jason to himself. “Alright Daichi get in there and use ancient power again,” He called out causing his Satatue Pokemon to rush forward like a bullet train, its body glowing white as it prepared to fire off another shot only to suddenly veer off and crash into a nearby bolder.
“What the!” exclaimed Jason in shock.
“Aw darn,” Flannery sighed in disappointment. “Those Baltoy sure pack a lot of punch but their bodies are too small to contain much energy so they usually don’t last long,” she explained as Daichi’s eyes blinked rapidly on and off like a low power indicator on a battery.
“Darn I had no idea you had a time limit like that,” commented Jason as he recalled his Pokemon. “Still you took at least one of them down so good job. Masamune can take the rest from here,” Jason said confidently as he sent out his Oshawott.
“You aren’t about to put a dampener on this battle! Sunny day,” declared Flannery as her Torkoal began to stomp its feet rapidly as it danced around for a few seconds causing the clouds overhead to part aside letting more sunlight stream into the court yard.
“Darn,” thought Jason with a scowl. He hadn’t been expecting a weather manipulating move like that but he should have been since it would reduce the base power of all water attacks by fifty present while in affect. Flannery was a gym leader, of course she would take measures like this to compensate for her Pokemon’s weakness.
As Torkoal stomped once more in defiance Jason couldn’t fail to note how low to the ground the turtle Pokemon was as it stood at the bottom of the bowl like depression giving him an idea of how to take it on since brute force seemed ill advised.
“Masamune use aqua jet to climb into the sky,” Jason called out. His Oshawott grinned as water surged around his body launching him several feet into the air before he suddenly cut off the move launching him out of the self-propelled stream and into an flying arc high above the creator.
“Great now use Water Pulse combined with Ice beam repeatedly,” Jason shouted. Holding out a hand Masamune formed a sphere of water with it then blasted it was a lance of blue energy with the other turning it into a miniature iceburg which he tossed down at the Torkoal before throwing another and another. Because he was throwing the attacks as fast as he could Masamune was sacrificing speed for accuracy and none of the icicle boulders struck the mark as they fell harmlessly around the Torkoal.
“Trying to pin us in are you? Clever, but not clever enough. Torkoal blast your way to freedom with overheat,” ordered Flannery with a sweep of her arms.
Blasting smoke from his nostrils in reply as the red spots on its shell began to glow brightly before it opened its mouth emitting a brilliant white flame with a secondary reddish orange flame spiraling around it, the sheer effort of this move generating a large plume of smoke from its back as the flames struck the ice around it melting it effortlessly only for Jason to grin in response.
Torkoal’s overheat was indeed very hot but not hot enough to transform solid ice to steam instantly. One moment the Turtle had been standing on dry land and the next it found itself drowning as the melted ice turned the depression into the ground into a small hot spring.
“Dang didn’t expect that,” exclaimed Flannery as Torkoal flailed around helplessly in the water forcing her to recall it since it had no way of extracting itself as Masumune touched down gently on the edge of the pool side.
“This is getting interesting Jason. Now I’m really fired up!” Flannery exclaimed as she took out a premier ball. “I had this one specially imported from Sinnoh for me. I’m sure he’ll give you a warm reception,” she joked as she sent out a Monferno. The small monkey like Pokemon hoped up and down on one of the boulders inside the pool excitedly at being called upon and Jason grinned at the sight. There were several Pokemon in Hoenn he knew very little about, but he knew plenty about Monferno like the fact that it was a fire/fighting type.
“Return Masumune take a rest, this is a job for Fuu,” Jason said confidently as he switched out to his Swellow who folded in one wing and took a bow before assuming a fighting stance.
“Ooh, aiming for the secondary type weakness eh? Will it be enough?” taunted Flannery.
“We’ll just have to see about that. Fuu quick attack,” ordered Jason causing the large bird to dart forward like a high speed arrow only for the monkey Pokemon to suddenly dig a hole into the ground and dive down it at the last moment causing Fuu to swoop harmlessly past.
“Where did it go?” thought Jason as his eyes swept over the battle field only to widen as he sensed where the fire monkey had gone. “Behind you…”’ he started to say as Fuu began to whirl around but it was too late as the Monferno burst out of the ground and decked the bird in the chest with a mighty sky upper cut making the Swellow reel.
“Now use dig again before it can recover,” ordered Flannery.
“Stop it with arial ace,” cried out Jason. Snapping open her eyes Swellow performed a upside down loop slamming into the Monkey’s chest peak first just as it was about to dive back into the hole it had popped out from sending it flying high into the air.
“Now finish it with air slash,” shouted Jason excitedly as Fuu flapped her mighty wings sending a series of shuriken like projectiles flying into the monkey’s body enveloping it in smoke as they impacted with a series of hard thuds. A moment later the Monferno fell to the ground, it’s eyes swirling as it let out a low moan.
“Monferno is unable to battle. The gym leader is down to her last Pokemon.”
“Wow that was scorching. Let’s see if I can turn this around with a blaze. Go Magcargo,” Flannery said as she sent out something that looked similar to the first Pokemon see had sent out, only this blob had a hard rocky shell on its back.
“Hum… the evolved form of Slumga huh? Not sure what it can do so I better approach it cautiously.” Jason thought. “Alright Fuu bombard it with air slash,” he advised. Fuu pulled back her wings to launch a second assault only for Flannery to grin.
“You’ve never seen a Magcargo before have you? Let me introduce you with a Rock slide,” she ordered as the fire slug’s shell began to glow before suddenly several rocks formed around it and shot out towards Swellow ripping straight through the wind made shrunken like they were wet tissue paper before crashing into the bird sending it crashing out of the sky.
“Swellow is unable to battle,” called out the Referee making Jason snap his thumb in mild disappointment. Still he had to admit Fuu’s downfall had given him valuable information about the enemies typing since now he knew for sure that Magcargo was part rock type rather than simply suspecting it based on its looks.
“Easy pickings,” he muttered to himself as he sent out Masamune once more sure that the water type would make short work of anything four times weak to it only to blink in surprise that the Magcargo had vanished. Jason looked to the left then the right before looking up in confusion finding nothing in either direction and it certainly couldn’t have dived into the hot springs.
“Where did it go?” he thought to himself as suddenly the Magcargo’s head popped up from the hole Monferno had dug.
“Solar beam,” called out Flannery with a knowning grin as Magcargo popped open its mouth and unleashed an intense laser without any prior charge up thanks to the effects of sunny day.
“Slash it with Freeze Blade,” called out Jason as Masamune grabbed hold of his scallop and swung it hard frost spewing from it as he combined Razor shell and ice beam and swung out cleaving the beam of light in two even as the beam pushed him several feet back scorching him heavily. Masamune thumped his chest in triumph at having overcome the enemies attack as he sheathed his sword in preparation for a quick draw and glared out at the Magcargo which stuck out it’s toung defiantly before vanishing back into the hole.
“I don’t think so case it out with Water pulse,” ordered Jason as Masamune stood over the hole and tossed a throbbing orb of water down the crevice only for nothing to happen moments later when Jason had been expecting the slug to have been blasted out the other side.
“There have been countless holes dug here by Pokemon in the past. I never did bother to fill them all in,” Flannery taunted. Realizing that the Slug could pop up from an unexpected place Jason cursed knowing that his Oshawott would be unable to take another ponding like before.
“Quick dive into the water,” he ordered. If Flannery’s Pokemon could hide underground then he would have his hide under the water. The minutes ticked by as the two trainers stared off knowing they were in a stalemate where the first to make a move would likely be the first to go down. Jason glanced up at the sky and grinned. If he could just hold out a little longer until sunny day wore of then he would be able to strike far faster than the Magcago could charge up another solar beam.
Suddenly Masamune bopped up to the surface, his eyes spinning as he pulled himself up onto a rock and out of the water causing Jason to blink in surprise only for his eyes to widen in revelation as he realized that his Oshawott was used to cold water not hot and had gotten light headed from prolonged exposure to the hot springs the same way that a human would have.
“Solar beam,” said Flannery as she realized what was going on at the same time as Jason and moved quickly to take advantage as Magcargo unleashed another laser that shot into the Oshawott hard sending him tumbling end over end into the nearby foliage at the end of the courtyard.
“Oshawott is unable to battle, the challenger is down to his last Pokemon,” declared referee Julia making Jason break out into a nervous sweet. He had been counting on Masamune to carry the rest of the battle and now he had to make an impossible choice on which of his two Pokemon to use.
Aoki would work well against Magcargo’s secondary rock type but was in turn weak to Magcargo’s primary fire typing. Kouken on the other hand would have been perfectly suited for the situation except for the fact he might freeze up in fear. If this had been the start of the battle it would have been worth the risk since he would have had other Pokemon to fall back on but now it was all or nothing. Undecided Katina’s words abruptly echoed in his head.
“If you’re not sure default to your starter Pokemon,”
“Right here goes nothing. You can do it Kouken,” said Jason trying to project a confidence he didn’t truly feel as he sent out his Rilou who flinched at the sight of the fire Pokemon sticking its head out of the ground. But then Kouken gritted his teeth and pulled himself into a fighting stance.
“Well it’ been fun Jason but things just aren’t hot enough anymore to hold my attention. Let’s finish this Magcargo,” Flannery said with a yawn as the slug Pokemon launched another Solar beam before Kouken had a chance to close in on it.
“Block it with Aura shield.” Jason said. He’d had a chance to tinker on the move it since it had failed in the last gym battle and this time he was sure it would work. Well mostly sure anyhow as Kouken held his hands out plams flat towards the enemy as he formed an Aura sphere between them catching the beam and causing it to splash harmlessly off the energy field as it splintered into a rainbow of seven colored light that would have scored Jason high marks if this had been a contest.
“Now Kouken counter attack,” Jason started to say as the solar beam died off but the Magcargo had already dived back into the hole. “You can run but you can’t hide,” Jason remarked as Kouken closed his eyes sensing for the enemy’s position before ramming the aura sphere he was holding into the ground causing it to crack and split apart revealing a very startled Magcargo.
“Ho, maybe I was wrong about this battle cooling down after all,” remarked Flannery in amusement as Kouken began to rush forward so that he could begin to unleash a can of woop *** on his foe. “Flamethrower,” she snapped out
Recovering from being uncovered Magcargo’s head whirled towards the Rilou as he opened his mouth and spat out a torrent of flames. Kouken’s eyes widened in panic as he aborted his attack run and quickly rolled to the side as the flames shot past barely missing hitting his shoulder by a mere centimeter. Pulling himself up to his feet Kouken winced and hit his head with his right paw cursing himself for his weakness as his foe quickly slimmed its way out of the crater and onto the edge of the poolside.
Jason frowned thinking quickly. The longer this fight went on the less Kouken would be able to keep a lid on his fear increasing the chances he would freeze up at a critical moment. But no matter how hard he struck it would be hard to overcome that sheer defense unless. Noticing how closely the Magcargo was to the hot springs Jason smirked as he came up with an idea.
“Agility,” He called out as Kouken blurred and began to rush forward jumping out of the way of another flamethrower as he closed the distance between the two Pokemon until they were only a scant meter apart.
“Now use Aura sphere to propel yourself,” called out Jason. Gasping in surprise as he realized what his trainer was asking Kouken grinned as he whirled around and tossed an aura sphere directly into the ground in front of him then riding the shockwave as it exploded rocketing into the Magcargo with a flying body check that send both Pokemon tumbling into the drink.
A moment later Kouken jumped out of the hot spring landing on the water’s surface and balancing on one foot on as he raised his hands and other legs in an attack stance waiting for his foe to surface but it proved unnecessary that the Magcargo splashed about helplessly unable to swim just like the Torkoal had been before it.
“Magcargo is unable to battle, the challenger wins the match,” declared referee Julia as Flannery recalled her Pokemon with a sigh before breaking into a wide grin.
“You really got me by making good use of the battle field around you. The way you battle…you’d make a pretty good coordinator Jason,” complimented Flannery as she tossed him a Heat badge.
“You don’t know the half of it,” Jason joked back as he grabbed hold of the badge and held it tightly knowing that it meant another bump in his budget and a step closer to getting the Motorcycle he had been thinking off since Offer Jenny had given him a ride to Verdanturf. Perhaps he ought to offer Katina a ride to thank her once he got it to thank her since it had been her advice that had enabled his win.
With his business in Lavaridge concluded Jason figured it was time to hit to road one more and make his way to Fallarbor Town. He had his forth contest to participate in and a ribbon to win if he was going to keep moving along he chosen path and catch up to the back he was chasing. Failure was not an option.
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