Gelatino95
Not a tool
Chapter XXXVII: Eli’s Chance
“Poliwhirl, the tadpole pokémon. It has two well-developed legs that allow it to walk outside of water with relative ease. Its skin is covered in an oily fluid which not only speeds it up when swimming, but also allows it to slip out of the grasp of prey.”
“Frillish, the floating pokémon. It makes its home several miles below the surface of the ocean. It comes near the surface to catch prey, which it paralyzes with poison and carries down to its lair.”
Hydra’s side of the gym was now full of new pokémon. Relicanth was in the middle, still able to battle, while on either side of it was a short bipedal blue pokémon with a prominent spiral design on its abdomen and a taller pink floating pokémon which had several tentacles, two of which were longer and served as its arms. Each one sat still and patiently awaited orders.
“All right, Relicanth,” started Hydra, “you’re pretty weak right now, so we better stick to long-range attacks. Try Water Gun on the Archen.”
“Try to dodge it, Archen!” called out Kenny to his reclining pokémon. “Then finish it off with Ancientpower!”
From the other side of the room, Relicanth took in a long breath and spit out a stream of cool water which arced over the battlefield gracefully. Upon seeing this, Archen got up and hopped out of the way, barely able to dodge the attack. Archen then glared at the Relicanth and prepared an attack of its own; glowing stones began to form around Archen’s body, and once it thrust its arms forward, the rocks hurtled through the air. Relicanth prepared another water gun in the nick of time and started spraying frantically at Archen. However, Relicanth was still hit by the oncoming rocks and fell over on the spot.
Overcome with pride, Archen didn’t even notice the stream of water coming toward it. Soon enough, Archen was soaked to the bone with ice-cold water and started shrieking in surprise. “Archen! Are you okay?” cried out Kenny. Archen didn’t reply and instead shook its body, sending water drops flying everywhere. It glared out at its enemy with rage.
“Okay, Sunflora,” said Clair to her pokémon, which was sitting idly while the battle was going on without it. “Let’s try another Solarbeam while it’s still bright.” Smiling and nodding in agreement, Sunflora stood in a defensive pose and froze its body. The pokémon sat perfectly still like a statue while it began to glow a faint green.
“Oh, no you don’t!” exclaimed Hydra with fury. “Not THIS time! Poliwhirl, distract the Sunflora with a Doubleslap attack!”
Giving a salute, Poliwhirl sprinted forward and landed in front of Sunflora. Just as it was about to raise its hand, Archen gave out a shrill screech, grabbing the pokémon’s attention. Archen began to run toward Poliwhirl madly, preparing an attack, while Poliwhirl simply made a defensive pose.
Letting out a war cry, Archen leaped high into the air and raised its feathered arm, ready to deliver a crushing blow to the enemy’s head. Poliwhirl grimaced at the assailant approached. Finally, Archen landed on the ground and landed a swift blow to Poliwhirl’s head.
…However, nothing seemed to happen. Poliwhirl looked up in surprise to see that Archen’s outstretched fist was on its head, but there was no pain at all. Chuckling, Poliwhirl grabbed Archen by the neck and threw it back in front of Kenny, allowing it to limply sprawl on the ground. Finally, Poliwhirl began to slap Sunflora in the face repeatedly, causing its green glow to disappear completely.
“Now, Poliwhirl! Finish it off with a Water Gun at close range!” Hydra smirked as she watched Poliwhirl let loose a high-pressure stream of water directly at the shaken Sunflora. The sun pokémon slid back across the ground, attempting to shield itself from the painful volley, but to no avail. Sunflora’s head slumped on the ground, unconscious. Poliwhirl turned around and walked back toward Hydra, giving a salute. “Excellent work, Poliwhirl,” praised Hydra.
“Sunflora, return,” moaned Clair. “Well, there goes my only grass-type.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got this covered,” reassured Eli from next to her. He gave her a thumbs-up and looked back at his Lileep, firmly rooted in the ground. “Okay, Lileep, show that Poliwhirl who’s boss with an Energy Ball attack!”
Lileep gave out a chirp from somewhere inside its purple carapace. The pokémon lowered its head so that it was pointed straight at Poliwhirl across the field.
“Get ready to dodge it, Poliwhirl,” ordered Hydra. Poliwhirl lowered its eyelids and got into a nimble stance. “Frillish!” At her trainer’s voice, the pink floating pokémon turned and looked at Hydra. “Get ready to fire off a Sludge Wave.” Frillish nodded cheerfully. Still smiling, it swirled its tentacles in front of it and created a small purple ball in the air.
Meanwhile, thin beams of green light were coming out of Lileep’s body. Soon enough, a glowing green orb was thrust out from inside and began to meander toward Poliwhirl. As the ball approached, the target did an impressive jump into the air and landed safely away from the attack. However, when Poliwhirl turned around, so did the Energy Ball. It was too late to dodge; the ball had already hurtled into Poliwhirl’s body and exploded on it, sending Poliwhirl flying and landing on the dirt ground, unable to get back up.
Lileep whistled happily at the sight of Hydra recalling her fainted pokémon disdainfully. However, it then noticed that Frillish was building up a rather large orb of purple energy. Its persistent grin widened as it threw its tentacles apart, causing the purple ball to explode into several waves heading for Lileep. Eli’s pokémon tried to throw itself out of the way, but it was still rooted firmly into the ground and could only swing its upper body around. Lileep’s meager efforts to dodge were in vain, however. Several purple waves were converging on Lileep and striking its body, coating it in a putrid purple liquid. Lileep’s eyes dimmed and it began to swirl about uneasily, but it shook itself and came to its senses quickly.
“That’s the spirit, Lileep,” said Eli with a twinkle in his eye and a grin adorning his face.
“Looks like I get to take care of this guy,” commented Clair, pulling out a poké ball. “I think a ghost-type would work perfectly against something like Frillish. So let’s go, Haunter!” Clair cast out the ball into the battlefield before her and a bright white light flooded the room.
…And standing on the floor was a small gray dinosaur with an excessively large cranium. Cranidos looked around the gym curiously, then looked back at Clair, smiling at her look of confusion.
“Oh! That’s right!” Clair slapped a hand on her forehead. “I put Haunter in storage to make room for Cranidos!”
“That’s right, and Cranidos is your second pokémon, so you can’t change it!” Hydra was beaming at the misfortune of her adversary.
“All right, we may as well make the best of this. Cranidos, use… uh… I don’t know what moves you know.” Clair shrugged sheepishly. “Just use any good move you know.” Cranidos nodded in agreement. As expected, it lowered its head, scraped its feet off the ground to kick up some dirt, and began to charge forward at surprising speed. Frillish didn’t even try to escape the oncoming attack and simply watched as the pokémon approached her.
Cranidos was now close enough to make contact with Frillish, but instead of striking it and sending it hurtling across the room, it passed right through like thin air and kept running forward uncontrollably, eventually crashing into the wall of the gym. The entire area reverberated with the impact, shaking some leaves off the nearby trees and creating an audible splash in the lake near the battlefield.
“And that’s your second mistake,” commented Hydra arrogantly. Clair looked her in the eye and saw the same overwhelming pride that her sister had. “Letting a baby pokémon make its own decisions? Cranidos doesn’t know that normal-type moves like Headbutt don’t affect ghost-types yet.”
Clair was prepared to respond with a furious rant, but took in a deep breath and sighed. “I know. That was my mistake. I should check what moves Cranidos has so I can train it better.” With that, Clair pulled out her pokédex and started looking at it as Cranidos returned completely unscathed from its violent impact, shaking its head.
“Come on, Frillish, let’s show these fools a real gym battle,” declared Clair. Frillish, still smiling, bobbed up and down to show its agreement. “Now, let’s teach that baby Cranidos a lesson with Scald!” Frillish chortled and turned back toward the other side of the field. Clair was still preoccupied with her pokédex and Cranidos was looking at Frillish curiously, head cocked to one side.
“Archen!” shouted Kenny. His lax pokémon looked up and grunted slightly. “Quick! Go out there and get Frillish before it hurts Clair’s pokémon!” Seemingly uninterested, Archen rolled back over to its side. “Come on! Use Wing Attack!”
Finally, Archen came to attention and got up on its feet groggily. It scanned its target and prepared the attack. Letting out a screech, Archen began to sprint forward. Frillish looked to the side and saw the approaching enemy. The floating pokémon held up its two long tentacles in a defensive pose. Archen flew up in the air and lifted up one of its wings. Finally, it flew down on the Frillish and slammed down as hard as it possibly could with its feathered arm. However, there was no visible effect; Frillish didn’t budge an inch despite having been hit by Archen’s crushing chop. The smile came back onto its face and Frillish lashed out with a tentacle, tossing Archen onto the ground.
“Okay, what is going on?” demanded Kenny. Archen limply walked back up to him. “This is the second time in a row that Archen’s attack hardly did anything. I demand an answer!”
“I don’t know, just talk to the scientist guy when we’re done,” commanded Clair impatiently. “Now, Cranidos, do you know any moves besides Headbutt?” Cranidos looked up at her and wordlessly cocked its head. “Darn it. I should have known. Now how are we going to beat this thing?”
“Don’t worry, I got this!” shouted Eli. “Come on, Lileep, use another Energy Ball!” Lileep immediately lowered its head again and started charging.
“Oh, no you don’t! Frillish, hit it with another Sludge Wave!” barked Hydra. Frillish complied and began forming a small poisonous orb between its arms.
However, Lileep had already prepared its attack. A ball of green light flew through the air toward Frillish, who was still charging its attack. The Energy Ball flew right into Frillish’s compact ball of poison, causing it to explode all over its creator. Frillish was now coated in a poisonous fluid, but was largely unaffected by it, more damaged from the Energy Ball. Unable to hold on any longer, Frillish floated toward the ground and shut its eyes.
The room was filled with silence. Three pokémon stood with each of their respective trainers on one side of the field, while Hydra stood alone on her side. Nobody spoke. Hydra looked forward pensively and didn’t move.
“…Did we win?” asked Kenny hesitantly.
“I wouldn’t quite say that,” replied Hydra. “I still have one pokémon left.”
“Well, come on! Let’s get on with it already!”
“Fine, then.” Hydra showed little emotion as she reached for another poké ball. This one, however, was black with two yellow stripes running down the front, connected on the top. Hydra looked at it for a few seconds as if in a trance, and then cast it out into the battlefield like she did with her other pokémon.
The ball broke open in mid-flight and released a pokémon from within. The unusual pokémon that emerged resembled an alien of some sort, a little bit taller than Hydra. Its body was clad in a red and cream-colored carapace and two eyes peered out from dark sockets. The creature lifted up a massive red claw at the end of its arm and snapped it shut, creating a reverberating cracking sound. The three pokémon on the other side of the field winced as it did this; even Archen was shocked out of its daydream. The strange pokémon chuckled with a low, rumbling voice upon seeing its opponent’s reactions.
Kenny pulled out his pokédex to examine this intimidating creature. “Crawdaunt, the rogue pokémon. It has a violent disposition which compels it to challenge other pokémon. Because of this, others tend to vacate bodies of water where Crawdaunt live.”
“We’ve got this in the bag,” exclaimed Kenny, looking over at Clair. She was worried for the safety of her pokémon against a fearsome foe like Crawdaunt. Cranidos, however, simply stared at Crawdaunt blankly and shifted its head around restlessly. “She’s on her last pokémon, and we still have a ton left.”
“Yeah…” Clair frowned and looked at her clueless pokémon.
Kenny, on the other hand, saw his Archen standing on its feet rather than reclining on the ground. Its arms hung limply by its sides. “Well, at least you’re not resting any more. Let’s finish this battle, Archen!” Archen looked up at Kenny, eyelids lowered.
Kenny bent his head back and looked over at Eli, standing all the way at the other side of the field. He was in front of his Lileep. The pokémon had receded its glowing eyes further into its body and was shivering slightly. Eli looked concerned. “Hey, Eli!” called Kenny with his hands cupped to his mouth. Eli turned quickly to his side, meeting Kenny’s gaze. “Let’s overwhelm it with two attacks at once. Have your Lileep use Energy Ball!”
Eli nodded in acknowledgement. “All right, you heard him,” ordered Eli with a semblance of confidence. Lileep brought its glowing eyes out and looked up at its trainer. “Use Energy Ball on that Crawdaunt!”
Kenny looked on as Lileep began to charge up an attack. He glanced back over at his own pokémon. “Okay, Archen, no time to waste! Wing Attack!”
Archen shakily began to run forward. It looked over and saw Eli’s Lileep blasting a bright green ball of energy and kicking back from the force of the attack. Archen picked up its pace to match the speed of the attack.
Hydra appeared undaunted. She grinned maliciously as she formulated a plan. “Okay, Crawdaunt, let’s try a Vicegrip…” Crawdaunt lifted up its claw and chuckled. “…On the Energy Ball!” Looking somewhat confused, Crawdaunt looked away and instead pointed its claw at the green ball flying toward it.
When the ball was close enough, Crawdaunt closed its eyes, cringing, and clamped down with its claw. A moment later, it opened up an eye and peered out. It saw the bright green orb of energy spinning around in the clutches of its claw. After gazing at the ball in wonderment, Crawdaunt looked over and saw Archen getting closer by the second. The rogue pokémon thought fast to attack the oncoming enemy. It reared up its claw and tossed the Energy Ball like a baseball, causing it to collide with Archen, who was just about to deliver an attack.
The Energy Ball exploded violently, spraying green matter all over the room which quickly dissipated. Archen flew back several feet from the attack and landed at Kenny’s feet, sprawled out over the ground and unable to move.
“Holy cow! That was amazing, Crawdaunt!” congratulated Hydra. She raised a closed fist behind her pokémon. In response, Crawdaunt bumped her hand with its claw.
“You did okay, Archen,” mentioned Kenny with a smile as he recalled his pokémon. “Looks like I only have one more chance. Hmm…” Kenny contemplated and scratched his chin, looking up at the menacing crustacean before him. “I could use Primeape since it’s a dark-type, but Crawdaunt has a pretty hard shell and I don’t want to risk having Primeape’s paw chopped off by those pincers… Hey, I can use Rotom! He’s fast and he can attack from a distance! Perfect!”
As Kenny grabbed for a poké ball off his belt, Hydra was scheming and formulating her plan. “Crawdaunt,” she commanded with a whisper, “get ready to hit it with a Bubblebeam as soon as it comes out.” Crawdaunt nodded and waited patiently for the poké ball to open.
“Rotom, I choose you!” called out Kenny as he heaved the ball through the air. It burst open and Rotom’s cheery form came out, bouncing in the air happily.
Meanwhile, before Kenny could deliver a command, Crawdaunt opened up the mouth on the front of its carapace and let loose a flurry of small bubbles which hurtled through the air violently and surrounded Rotom’s body. The poor electric-type flailed its blue arms around in an attempt to pop the bubbles.
“We can do this, Rotom!” called out Kenny. Rotom managed to calm down a little and became attentive to its trainer’s orders. “Try using Thunderbolt!”
Hydra yawned. “Crawdaunt, let’s show this foolish boy how to really battle. Use Night Slash.” Almost immediately, Crawdaunt raised one of its pincers, which glowed an eerie dark purple color. With a maniacal chuckle, Crawdaunt began to move forward rather slowly.
“Ha! You’ll never make it in time,” taunted Kenny. “You can do it, Rotom!” Rotom, still encased in a prison of bubbles, was glowing fiercely and building up a massive amount of energy. Finally, it grunted and let go of its pent up power, sending out a bright blue shock wave through the air. A bright flash momentarily blinded everyone in the room. When vision returned, there were no longer any bubbles surrounding Rotom, but Crawdaunt was still approaching closer and closer.
“Whaaat?” screamed Kenny, his jaw dropping. “How come Thunderbolt didn’t do anything?” Right at this moment, Crawdaunt raised its claw and swiped at Rotom, creating a black slash through the air as it did so. Rotom reeled over from the attack and fainted on the spot.
“Don’t you ever learn?” giggled Hydra. “Remember our last battle, when your Rotom released all its electricity into the water that Kabutops created? Well, it’s the same thing here. Rotom did execute its attack, but all the electricity flowed into the bubbles around it. It’s just science, Kenny.”
Kenny grumbled and returned his Rotom. “Dang it. I’m out.” Kenny slumped on the floor and sat down, much resembling his own lethargic Archen.
Clair was empathetic with Kenny’s loss. However, she came to her senses when she saw her Cranidos begin to scrape its feet on the ground in an intimidating manner. “No, Cranidos!” she called out with concern. “I didn’t tell you to attack!” Completely ignoring its trainer, Cranidos snorted and dashed toward the Crawdaunt which was now close to its side of the field. The pokémon’s skull collided with Crawdaunt’s resilient armor and created a deafening clanging noise. Crawdaunt didn’t even flinch and lowered its eyelids at the tiny dinosaur at its feet. Without hesitation, it lowered its claw and gripped Cranidos’s domed head, lifting up its entire body. Cranidos cried out and flailed its body, but to no avail.
Crawdaunt snorted at the pokémon in its grip and cast it aside without a second thought, walking back toward its side of the field. Cranidos soared through the air straight toward its trainer. Clair held out her arms and caught the pokémon, consequently falling flat on the ground with the pokémon still in her grip. Lying on the ground, Cranidos weakly raised its head, eyes barely open. Unable to hold on to consciousness, it rested its head on Clair’s chest.
Clair pushed the head butt pokémon off her and returned it to its poké ball. “Oh well, looks like I’m out too.” She rested her hands on the ground and looked over at Kenny, who was doing the same. Clair reared her head and looked back over at Eli, who was by himself now. “It’s all up to you, Eli!”
Eli cringed a little bit upon hearing these words. He hesitantly peered over and observed Kenny and Clair, both sitting on the ground and waving to him. Eli, eyes wide with fear, gulped and assured himself, “…It’s all up to me now. I can do this.” Lileep was sitting in place and waving its body around a little. Crawdaunt glared at the pokémon and hit its claws together with a resounding hollow noise.
“Why don’t we get this battle over with quickly?” suggested Hydra tauntingly. Crawdaunt laughed malevolently. “Go use Vicegrip on that Lileep.” Crawdaunt walked toward its opponent on command.
“Oh, man, what do I do?” muttered Eli in a panic. He tried to think of a battle strategy, but his mind was preoccupied with the ominous form of the giant crustacean heading for his pokémon. His mind couldn’t process anything. Eli looked down at Lileep, which was peering up at him rather than awaiting the oncoming attack from Crawdaunt.
Finally, Eli was able to speak up. “Lileep, try Acid!”
Lileep’s black body receded into its purple shell. Once Crawdaunt grew close, a small burst of purple fluid shot out of Lileep’s body. As its head emerged, Crawdaunt was coated in a dripping fluid. However, its shell was easily able to withstand the attack and the pokémon simply brushed it off. Crawdaunt snapped its claws, and then reached down for the narrow part of its opponent’s body. Lileep cried out in a shrill voice, flailing around helplessly as Crawdaunt tried to pry its roots loose from the ground. Eli could do nothing but watch in horror while his pokémon was brutalized right before his eyes. He couldn’t think of anything to say that would help.
Lileep refused to wait for commands and began to extend its pink tentacles, which wrapped around Crawdaunt’s claw. The tentacles shook violently, detaching Crawdaunt from the pokémon. While Crawdaunt prepared another attack, Lileep ducked its head inside its body and pointed itself at the opponent like a cannon. It then let loose with a point-blank Energy Ball attack which struck Crawdaunt directly in the abdomen. The rogue pokémon was jostled backward a little from the attack and roared in pain, but managed to stay on its feet and shrug off the attack.
“No more fooling around!” shouted Hydra with a hint of irritation in her voice. “Finish it with Crabhammer!”
Crawdaunt glared at its foe. Lileep ducked its head in a little at the enemy’s gaze. Its eyes filled with fury, Crawdaunt didn’t hesitate to raise a tentacle up in the air and smash it down on Lileep’s head with sickening force. The power of the attack threw Lileep straight out of the ground; its roots were now exposed, along with its whole body which landed on its side on the ground. The purple roots on Lileep’s feet shortened and returned to their normal state. Simultaneously, its glowing yellow eyes blinked out and it ceased to move.
“…Oh.” Eli took out Lileep’s poké ball and returned it without comment.
“So, do I win yet, or do I have to smash some more of your pokémon?” asked Hydra from across the room.
“No, I still have another pokémon I can use,” replied Eli. He looked down at his belt and carefully contemplated what to choose next.
“What? Are you serious?” exclaimed Hydra irritably. “You’ve been battling this long and you haven’t lost a single pokémon until now?!”
“That’s right.” Eli finally pulled a ball off the end of his belt. In a half-whimpering voice, he said, “All right, Banette, don’t let me down…” Eli threw the ball in his hand and out came one of the newer additions to his team. Banette floated a few feet above the ground and looked around, hissing at the sunlight pouring through the windows on the ceiling.
“A ghost-type, eh?” commented Hydra. “Good thing my Crawdaunt has Night Slash. I sure hope you’ve been training that thing.”
“Actually, this is Banette’s first battle with me,” responded Eli quietly.
“Are you serious?” exclaimed Hydra amusedly. She put her hands on her hips and bent forward tauntingly. “You’re using two pokémon that you’ve never trained before in your gym battle? How experienced are you guys anyway?”
“Experienced enough to beat five of your pokémon!” shouted Kenny from the floor.
Hydra pretended not to hear him and commanded, “Crawdaunt, let’s get this over with quickly. Night Slash.”
Eli watched pensively as Crawdaunt drew closer, its pincer glowing purple. Banette looked back at its trainer, patiently awaiting an order. Eli waited for Crawdaunt to approach dangerously close, towering above the petite figure of Banette.
“Quick, Banette, Faint Attack!”
Just as Crawdaunt was about to slash at the opponent, Banette spun around and disappeared into thin air. Crawdaunt smashed its claw down on nothing. Looking confused, Crawdaunt looked around. As it did so, however, it cried out when Banette appeared behind it and slammed it in the back. Banette couldn’t help snickering as Crawdaunt turned around and glared at it furiously.
“Don’t let it get to you, Crawdaunt!” reassured Hydra. “Hit it with Crabhammer at close range!”
“Yeah, right!” retorted Eli with a new found battle spirit. “Banette, Faint Attack again!”
Once again, Crawdaunt raised up its claw to attack, and once again, Banette was able to disappear right before the attack connected. At this point, Crawdaunt was frustrated beyond belief and couldn’t help stomping on the ground in fury and grumbling. Crawdaunt’s blind fury made it totally forget that it was still under attack, so it was surprised when Banette punched it from behind once more. Banette was beside itself with laughter, watching the Crawdaunt become more and more infuriated.
“Looks like we can’t risk any more short-range attacks,” commented Hydra. She then noticed, however, that her Crawdaunt was stomping around in rage without listening to a word she said. “Crawdaunt! Pay attention!” Crawdaunt snapped its head over in her direction, glaring at her with bloodshot eyes. “That Banette is trying to annoy you! Don’t let it take advantage of you! Now, try using Bubblebeam on it.”
Crawdaunt snorted, attempting to get over its frustration. It then took in a deep breath and blew out a plethora of bubbles into the air. Banette adeptly maneuvered around the bubbles, managing to dodge most of them. The attack harmlessly filled the room with bubbles which periodically popped. Banette readied an attack of its own without waiting for orders. It reared its head, took in a deep breath, then let loose with an ear-piercing shriek which filled the room. Everybody covered their ears, including Crawdaunt. When Banette was done screeching, Crawdaunt began to mumble irritably again.
“Nice Screech attack, Banette!” congratulated Eli. Banette cooed at its trainer’s praise.
“It’s now or never, Crawdaunt,” exclaimed Hydra. “This battle is lasting way too long, so let’s finish it up as soon as we can. Just go try another Crabhammer!”
Crawdaunt began to approach and glared at Banette, grinning evilly. It raised a claw and prepared its attack.
“You know the drill, Banette,” yawned Eli. “Faint Attack.”
Banette grinned at its enemy mischievously. As Crawdaunt approached, Banette whirled itself around and shrouded itself in a black cloud, ready to disappear out of the way. However, nothing happened. The black cloud dissipated. Confused, Banette tried again. The same thing happened. In a panic, Banette looked at the Crawdaunt approaching quickly, then looked back up at its trainer.
“You can’t use Faint Attack?” asked Eli. “Probably out of energy. I guess we shouldn’t have used it so many times…”
“Yes!” exclaimed Hydra with an overwhelming sense of success. “We’ve got this, Crawdaunt! Hit it with all you’ve got!” Crawdaunt grinned as widely as it possibly could, ready to finally defeat its torturous prey.
Banette braced itself for the attack. It peered out at the enemy, seeing Crawdaunt’s claw still raised. All of a sudden, Banette smiled. Crawdaunt was confused for a second. In the blink of an eye, Banette’s body became a dark blur as it rushed forward and struck Crawdaunt with great force. The rogue pokémon roared loudly and toppled backward, eventually falling on its back. Crawdaunt flailed around its limbs in an attempt to right itself, but to no avail. The crustacean’s limbs went stiff and straightened out as Crawdaunt’s eyes closed in their dark sockets.
“…What?” said Hydra, stricken with disbelief.
“Holy crap!” exclaimed Eli. “I think we won!” Jumping up and down ecstatically, Banette turned around and rushed toward Eli and wrapped its short arms around his chest. Eli looked at the pokémon wrapping him in a hug and stopped. “Okay…” he said slowly. Banette released its grasped and turned around, chuckling at the pokémon curled up on the ground.
"Was that a Sucker Punch attack?" asked Eli. Banette nodded at him and beamed. "...Wow. You sure are a valuable addition to my team, Banette."
Hydra walked forward and crouched next to her fainted pokémon. She gently stroked its stiff exterior and looked at its eyes shut tight. “Good job, Crawdaunt,” she whispered.
“Hey, so, do we get our badges yet?” inquired Kenny, standing up and dusting himself off.
“Huh? Oh, yeah,” said Hydra. She dug into her pocket and pulled out three small pieces of blue metal. She tossed them out and they clattered on the ground. Kenny picked up the one closest to him and examined it; its design consisted of blue wave patterns superimposed over each other. “Those are your Tide Badges. Have fun with ‘em. Oh, yeah, I also have something else.” Hydra procured three blue discs and tossed them out like Frisbees. Each one landed in the hands of a participating trainer. “Those are TMs with Bubblebeam. I hope you like ‘em. See you.”
“…Bye, then,” said Kenny hesitantly. Hydra didn’t respond or even acknowledge him. She got up and recalled her Crawdaunt, then walked away to some other part of the gym.
“Jeez, she’s not even going to congratulate us or anything?” complained Clair. “What a sore loser.”
“She was really into that battle, wasn’t she?” commented Kenny. “She probably has a bit of an attitude problem like her sister. It just comes out more when she’s battling, I guess.”
“How about Eli?” said Clair cheerily. Eli stiffened his shoulders. “You really saved our butts out there, didn’t you?”
“…Yeah…” responded Eli with a faint smile.
“That was your big chance right there, and you took advantage of it,” chimed in Kenny. He violently patted Eli on the back, causing him to wince. “I’m proud of you.”
On the way out the door, the trio passed by Duosion, who was sound asleep on the ground. Kenny promptly kicked the pokémon awake, his foot sinking into the green jelly. “Wake up, you fat slob,” he said as he planted his foot into Duosion’s side.
“Zzzzzzz… huh, wha?” said Duosion as he was jostled awake. “Don’t do that, man! And don’t call me fat, either. It’s just baby fat.” Duosion tugged on a piece of loose skin on its body. “So, what happened? Did you lose spectacularly?”
“Not even close,” retorted Kenny with an uncontrollable grin. “We won, all thanks to this guy right here!” Kenny gave his cousin another violent pat on the back.
“Eli? Seriously?” asked Duosion in disbelief. “Wow, that’s unexpected. So, did Hydra turn out to be a total jerkwad like her sister?”
“A little bit, but she managed to control it pretty well,” answered Clair. “I guess it runs in the family.”
The four of them were just about to go through the sliding glass door when it burst open on its own and in came a boy who collided violently with Kenny. The boy irritably fixed his slick black hair. He finally sneered with a thick Mexican accent, “Get out of the way, tontos! I’m here to win me a gym badge, and you’re certainly not going to stop me!” He pushed his way through the rest of the group and marched through the gym.
“Gee, what a hothead,” complained Kenny, regaining his composure and stepping out the door.
“I hope he gets eaten alive by that Tentacruel,” chimed in Duosion with a smirk.
The group finally stepped out of the gym and they were met by a cool ocean breeze that came from the nearby expanse of water. This part of Goldport was like an entirely different town than the part facing away from the ocean. Kenny stretched out his arms and inhaled deeply.
“So, where to next?” asked Kenny.
“We’re definitely going to need to stop at a Pokémon Center after a tough battle like that,” answered Eli. “After that, I suggest we head to the next town with a gym…”
“…Which would be Silver Spring way on the other side of the region,” finished Clair.
Kenny contemplated. “So, looks like we’ve got a lot of walking to do.”
“Or floating, in my case,” grinned Duosion.
Kenny pointed a finger at the sardonic pokémon. “You better shut your pie hole, or I’m going to ride you like a horse all the way across the region.”
“Whoa, jeez,” replied Duosion defensively, holding its palms up. “I was just trying to lighten the mood.”
“Well, clearly it’s not working.” Kenny turned on his heel and started walking in one direction. He waved his hand and shouted, “Come on, let’s get going as soon as possible!”
Kenny kept walking and didn’t look back to see Eli and Clair staring at him blankly. “…Does he realize that the exit to Goldport is to the north?” said Clair hesitantly.
“Clearly not,” answered Duosion.
Clair clicked her tongue. “He’ll find out eventually. Come on.” The remaining group walked in the opposite direction, up a street and toward the glittering gates of Goldport.
“Poliwhirl, the tadpole pokémon. It has two well-developed legs that allow it to walk outside of water with relative ease. Its skin is covered in an oily fluid which not only speeds it up when swimming, but also allows it to slip out of the grasp of prey.”
“Frillish, the floating pokémon. It makes its home several miles below the surface of the ocean. It comes near the surface to catch prey, which it paralyzes with poison and carries down to its lair.”
Hydra’s side of the gym was now full of new pokémon. Relicanth was in the middle, still able to battle, while on either side of it was a short bipedal blue pokémon with a prominent spiral design on its abdomen and a taller pink floating pokémon which had several tentacles, two of which were longer and served as its arms. Each one sat still and patiently awaited orders.
“All right, Relicanth,” started Hydra, “you’re pretty weak right now, so we better stick to long-range attacks. Try Water Gun on the Archen.”
“Try to dodge it, Archen!” called out Kenny to his reclining pokémon. “Then finish it off with Ancientpower!”
From the other side of the room, Relicanth took in a long breath and spit out a stream of cool water which arced over the battlefield gracefully. Upon seeing this, Archen got up and hopped out of the way, barely able to dodge the attack. Archen then glared at the Relicanth and prepared an attack of its own; glowing stones began to form around Archen’s body, and once it thrust its arms forward, the rocks hurtled through the air. Relicanth prepared another water gun in the nick of time and started spraying frantically at Archen. However, Relicanth was still hit by the oncoming rocks and fell over on the spot.
Overcome with pride, Archen didn’t even notice the stream of water coming toward it. Soon enough, Archen was soaked to the bone with ice-cold water and started shrieking in surprise. “Archen! Are you okay?” cried out Kenny. Archen didn’t reply and instead shook its body, sending water drops flying everywhere. It glared out at its enemy with rage.
“Okay, Sunflora,” said Clair to her pokémon, which was sitting idly while the battle was going on without it. “Let’s try another Solarbeam while it’s still bright.” Smiling and nodding in agreement, Sunflora stood in a defensive pose and froze its body. The pokémon sat perfectly still like a statue while it began to glow a faint green.
“Oh, no you don’t!” exclaimed Hydra with fury. “Not THIS time! Poliwhirl, distract the Sunflora with a Doubleslap attack!”
Giving a salute, Poliwhirl sprinted forward and landed in front of Sunflora. Just as it was about to raise its hand, Archen gave out a shrill screech, grabbing the pokémon’s attention. Archen began to run toward Poliwhirl madly, preparing an attack, while Poliwhirl simply made a defensive pose.
Letting out a war cry, Archen leaped high into the air and raised its feathered arm, ready to deliver a crushing blow to the enemy’s head. Poliwhirl grimaced at the assailant approached. Finally, Archen landed on the ground and landed a swift blow to Poliwhirl’s head.
…However, nothing seemed to happen. Poliwhirl looked up in surprise to see that Archen’s outstretched fist was on its head, but there was no pain at all. Chuckling, Poliwhirl grabbed Archen by the neck and threw it back in front of Kenny, allowing it to limply sprawl on the ground. Finally, Poliwhirl began to slap Sunflora in the face repeatedly, causing its green glow to disappear completely.
“Now, Poliwhirl! Finish it off with a Water Gun at close range!” Hydra smirked as she watched Poliwhirl let loose a high-pressure stream of water directly at the shaken Sunflora. The sun pokémon slid back across the ground, attempting to shield itself from the painful volley, but to no avail. Sunflora’s head slumped on the ground, unconscious. Poliwhirl turned around and walked back toward Hydra, giving a salute. “Excellent work, Poliwhirl,” praised Hydra.
“Sunflora, return,” moaned Clair. “Well, there goes my only grass-type.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got this covered,” reassured Eli from next to her. He gave her a thumbs-up and looked back at his Lileep, firmly rooted in the ground. “Okay, Lileep, show that Poliwhirl who’s boss with an Energy Ball attack!”
Lileep gave out a chirp from somewhere inside its purple carapace. The pokémon lowered its head so that it was pointed straight at Poliwhirl across the field.
“Get ready to dodge it, Poliwhirl,” ordered Hydra. Poliwhirl lowered its eyelids and got into a nimble stance. “Frillish!” At her trainer’s voice, the pink floating pokémon turned and looked at Hydra. “Get ready to fire off a Sludge Wave.” Frillish nodded cheerfully. Still smiling, it swirled its tentacles in front of it and created a small purple ball in the air.
Meanwhile, thin beams of green light were coming out of Lileep’s body. Soon enough, a glowing green orb was thrust out from inside and began to meander toward Poliwhirl. As the ball approached, the target did an impressive jump into the air and landed safely away from the attack. However, when Poliwhirl turned around, so did the Energy Ball. It was too late to dodge; the ball had already hurtled into Poliwhirl’s body and exploded on it, sending Poliwhirl flying and landing on the dirt ground, unable to get back up.
Lileep whistled happily at the sight of Hydra recalling her fainted pokémon disdainfully. However, it then noticed that Frillish was building up a rather large orb of purple energy. Its persistent grin widened as it threw its tentacles apart, causing the purple ball to explode into several waves heading for Lileep. Eli’s pokémon tried to throw itself out of the way, but it was still rooted firmly into the ground and could only swing its upper body around. Lileep’s meager efforts to dodge were in vain, however. Several purple waves were converging on Lileep and striking its body, coating it in a putrid purple liquid. Lileep’s eyes dimmed and it began to swirl about uneasily, but it shook itself and came to its senses quickly.
“That’s the spirit, Lileep,” said Eli with a twinkle in his eye and a grin adorning his face.
“Looks like I get to take care of this guy,” commented Clair, pulling out a poké ball. “I think a ghost-type would work perfectly against something like Frillish. So let’s go, Haunter!” Clair cast out the ball into the battlefield before her and a bright white light flooded the room.
…And standing on the floor was a small gray dinosaur with an excessively large cranium. Cranidos looked around the gym curiously, then looked back at Clair, smiling at her look of confusion.
“Oh! That’s right!” Clair slapped a hand on her forehead. “I put Haunter in storage to make room for Cranidos!”
“That’s right, and Cranidos is your second pokémon, so you can’t change it!” Hydra was beaming at the misfortune of her adversary.
“All right, we may as well make the best of this. Cranidos, use… uh… I don’t know what moves you know.” Clair shrugged sheepishly. “Just use any good move you know.” Cranidos nodded in agreement. As expected, it lowered its head, scraped its feet off the ground to kick up some dirt, and began to charge forward at surprising speed. Frillish didn’t even try to escape the oncoming attack and simply watched as the pokémon approached her.
Cranidos was now close enough to make contact with Frillish, but instead of striking it and sending it hurtling across the room, it passed right through like thin air and kept running forward uncontrollably, eventually crashing into the wall of the gym. The entire area reverberated with the impact, shaking some leaves off the nearby trees and creating an audible splash in the lake near the battlefield.
“And that’s your second mistake,” commented Hydra arrogantly. Clair looked her in the eye and saw the same overwhelming pride that her sister had. “Letting a baby pokémon make its own decisions? Cranidos doesn’t know that normal-type moves like Headbutt don’t affect ghost-types yet.”
Clair was prepared to respond with a furious rant, but took in a deep breath and sighed. “I know. That was my mistake. I should check what moves Cranidos has so I can train it better.” With that, Clair pulled out her pokédex and started looking at it as Cranidos returned completely unscathed from its violent impact, shaking its head.
“Come on, Frillish, let’s show these fools a real gym battle,” declared Clair. Frillish, still smiling, bobbed up and down to show its agreement. “Now, let’s teach that baby Cranidos a lesson with Scald!” Frillish chortled and turned back toward the other side of the field. Clair was still preoccupied with her pokédex and Cranidos was looking at Frillish curiously, head cocked to one side.
“Archen!” shouted Kenny. His lax pokémon looked up and grunted slightly. “Quick! Go out there and get Frillish before it hurts Clair’s pokémon!” Seemingly uninterested, Archen rolled back over to its side. “Come on! Use Wing Attack!”
Finally, Archen came to attention and got up on its feet groggily. It scanned its target and prepared the attack. Letting out a screech, Archen began to sprint forward. Frillish looked to the side and saw the approaching enemy. The floating pokémon held up its two long tentacles in a defensive pose. Archen flew up in the air and lifted up one of its wings. Finally, it flew down on the Frillish and slammed down as hard as it possibly could with its feathered arm. However, there was no visible effect; Frillish didn’t budge an inch despite having been hit by Archen’s crushing chop. The smile came back onto its face and Frillish lashed out with a tentacle, tossing Archen onto the ground.
“Okay, what is going on?” demanded Kenny. Archen limply walked back up to him. “This is the second time in a row that Archen’s attack hardly did anything. I demand an answer!”
“I don’t know, just talk to the scientist guy when we’re done,” commanded Clair impatiently. “Now, Cranidos, do you know any moves besides Headbutt?” Cranidos looked up at her and wordlessly cocked its head. “Darn it. I should have known. Now how are we going to beat this thing?”
“Don’t worry, I got this!” shouted Eli. “Come on, Lileep, use another Energy Ball!” Lileep immediately lowered its head again and started charging.
“Oh, no you don’t! Frillish, hit it with another Sludge Wave!” barked Hydra. Frillish complied and began forming a small poisonous orb between its arms.
However, Lileep had already prepared its attack. A ball of green light flew through the air toward Frillish, who was still charging its attack. The Energy Ball flew right into Frillish’s compact ball of poison, causing it to explode all over its creator. Frillish was now coated in a poisonous fluid, but was largely unaffected by it, more damaged from the Energy Ball. Unable to hold on any longer, Frillish floated toward the ground and shut its eyes.
The room was filled with silence. Three pokémon stood with each of their respective trainers on one side of the field, while Hydra stood alone on her side. Nobody spoke. Hydra looked forward pensively and didn’t move.
“…Did we win?” asked Kenny hesitantly.
“I wouldn’t quite say that,” replied Hydra. “I still have one pokémon left.”
“Well, come on! Let’s get on with it already!”
“Fine, then.” Hydra showed little emotion as she reached for another poké ball. This one, however, was black with two yellow stripes running down the front, connected on the top. Hydra looked at it for a few seconds as if in a trance, and then cast it out into the battlefield like she did with her other pokémon.
The ball broke open in mid-flight and released a pokémon from within. The unusual pokémon that emerged resembled an alien of some sort, a little bit taller than Hydra. Its body was clad in a red and cream-colored carapace and two eyes peered out from dark sockets. The creature lifted up a massive red claw at the end of its arm and snapped it shut, creating a reverberating cracking sound. The three pokémon on the other side of the field winced as it did this; even Archen was shocked out of its daydream. The strange pokémon chuckled with a low, rumbling voice upon seeing its opponent’s reactions.
Kenny pulled out his pokédex to examine this intimidating creature. “Crawdaunt, the rogue pokémon. It has a violent disposition which compels it to challenge other pokémon. Because of this, others tend to vacate bodies of water where Crawdaunt live.”
“We’ve got this in the bag,” exclaimed Kenny, looking over at Clair. She was worried for the safety of her pokémon against a fearsome foe like Crawdaunt. Cranidos, however, simply stared at Crawdaunt blankly and shifted its head around restlessly. “She’s on her last pokémon, and we still have a ton left.”
“Yeah…” Clair frowned and looked at her clueless pokémon.
Kenny, on the other hand, saw his Archen standing on its feet rather than reclining on the ground. Its arms hung limply by its sides. “Well, at least you’re not resting any more. Let’s finish this battle, Archen!” Archen looked up at Kenny, eyelids lowered.
Kenny bent his head back and looked over at Eli, standing all the way at the other side of the field. He was in front of his Lileep. The pokémon had receded its glowing eyes further into its body and was shivering slightly. Eli looked concerned. “Hey, Eli!” called Kenny with his hands cupped to his mouth. Eli turned quickly to his side, meeting Kenny’s gaze. “Let’s overwhelm it with two attacks at once. Have your Lileep use Energy Ball!”
Eli nodded in acknowledgement. “All right, you heard him,” ordered Eli with a semblance of confidence. Lileep brought its glowing eyes out and looked up at its trainer. “Use Energy Ball on that Crawdaunt!”
Kenny looked on as Lileep began to charge up an attack. He glanced back over at his own pokémon. “Okay, Archen, no time to waste! Wing Attack!”
Archen shakily began to run forward. It looked over and saw Eli’s Lileep blasting a bright green ball of energy and kicking back from the force of the attack. Archen picked up its pace to match the speed of the attack.
Hydra appeared undaunted. She grinned maliciously as she formulated a plan. “Okay, Crawdaunt, let’s try a Vicegrip…” Crawdaunt lifted up its claw and chuckled. “…On the Energy Ball!” Looking somewhat confused, Crawdaunt looked away and instead pointed its claw at the green ball flying toward it.
When the ball was close enough, Crawdaunt closed its eyes, cringing, and clamped down with its claw. A moment later, it opened up an eye and peered out. It saw the bright green orb of energy spinning around in the clutches of its claw. After gazing at the ball in wonderment, Crawdaunt looked over and saw Archen getting closer by the second. The rogue pokémon thought fast to attack the oncoming enemy. It reared up its claw and tossed the Energy Ball like a baseball, causing it to collide with Archen, who was just about to deliver an attack.
The Energy Ball exploded violently, spraying green matter all over the room which quickly dissipated. Archen flew back several feet from the attack and landed at Kenny’s feet, sprawled out over the ground and unable to move.
“Holy cow! That was amazing, Crawdaunt!” congratulated Hydra. She raised a closed fist behind her pokémon. In response, Crawdaunt bumped her hand with its claw.
“You did okay, Archen,” mentioned Kenny with a smile as he recalled his pokémon. “Looks like I only have one more chance. Hmm…” Kenny contemplated and scratched his chin, looking up at the menacing crustacean before him. “I could use Primeape since it’s a dark-type, but Crawdaunt has a pretty hard shell and I don’t want to risk having Primeape’s paw chopped off by those pincers… Hey, I can use Rotom! He’s fast and he can attack from a distance! Perfect!”
As Kenny grabbed for a poké ball off his belt, Hydra was scheming and formulating her plan. “Crawdaunt,” she commanded with a whisper, “get ready to hit it with a Bubblebeam as soon as it comes out.” Crawdaunt nodded and waited patiently for the poké ball to open.
“Rotom, I choose you!” called out Kenny as he heaved the ball through the air. It burst open and Rotom’s cheery form came out, bouncing in the air happily.
Meanwhile, before Kenny could deliver a command, Crawdaunt opened up the mouth on the front of its carapace and let loose a flurry of small bubbles which hurtled through the air violently and surrounded Rotom’s body. The poor electric-type flailed its blue arms around in an attempt to pop the bubbles.
“We can do this, Rotom!” called out Kenny. Rotom managed to calm down a little and became attentive to its trainer’s orders. “Try using Thunderbolt!”
Hydra yawned. “Crawdaunt, let’s show this foolish boy how to really battle. Use Night Slash.” Almost immediately, Crawdaunt raised one of its pincers, which glowed an eerie dark purple color. With a maniacal chuckle, Crawdaunt began to move forward rather slowly.
“Ha! You’ll never make it in time,” taunted Kenny. “You can do it, Rotom!” Rotom, still encased in a prison of bubbles, was glowing fiercely and building up a massive amount of energy. Finally, it grunted and let go of its pent up power, sending out a bright blue shock wave through the air. A bright flash momentarily blinded everyone in the room. When vision returned, there were no longer any bubbles surrounding Rotom, but Crawdaunt was still approaching closer and closer.
“Whaaat?” screamed Kenny, his jaw dropping. “How come Thunderbolt didn’t do anything?” Right at this moment, Crawdaunt raised its claw and swiped at Rotom, creating a black slash through the air as it did so. Rotom reeled over from the attack and fainted on the spot.
“Don’t you ever learn?” giggled Hydra. “Remember our last battle, when your Rotom released all its electricity into the water that Kabutops created? Well, it’s the same thing here. Rotom did execute its attack, but all the electricity flowed into the bubbles around it. It’s just science, Kenny.”
Kenny grumbled and returned his Rotom. “Dang it. I’m out.” Kenny slumped on the floor and sat down, much resembling his own lethargic Archen.
Clair was empathetic with Kenny’s loss. However, she came to her senses when she saw her Cranidos begin to scrape its feet on the ground in an intimidating manner. “No, Cranidos!” she called out with concern. “I didn’t tell you to attack!” Completely ignoring its trainer, Cranidos snorted and dashed toward the Crawdaunt which was now close to its side of the field. The pokémon’s skull collided with Crawdaunt’s resilient armor and created a deafening clanging noise. Crawdaunt didn’t even flinch and lowered its eyelids at the tiny dinosaur at its feet. Without hesitation, it lowered its claw and gripped Cranidos’s domed head, lifting up its entire body. Cranidos cried out and flailed its body, but to no avail.
Crawdaunt snorted at the pokémon in its grip and cast it aside without a second thought, walking back toward its side of the field. Cranidos soared through the air straight toward its trainer. Clair held out her arms and caught the pokémon, consequently falling flat on the ground with the pokémon still in her grip. Lying on the ground, Cranidos weakly raised its head, eyes barely open. Unable to hold on to consciousness, it rested its head on Clair’s chest.
Clair pushed the head butt pokémon off her and returned it to its poké ball. “Oh well, looks like I’m out too.” She rested her hands on the ground and looked over at Kenny, who was doing the same. Clair reared her head and looked back over at Eli, who was by himself now. “It’s all up to you, Eli!”
Eli cringed a little bit upon hearing these words. He hesitantly peered over and observed Kenny and Clair, both sitting on the ground and waving to him. Eli, eyes wide with fear, gulped and assured himself, “…It’s all up to me now. I can do this.” Lileep was sitting in place and waving its body around a little. Crawdaunt glared at the pokémon and hit its claws together with a resounding hollow noise.
“Why don’t we get this battle over with quickly?” suggested Hydra tauntingly. Crawdaunt laughed malevolently. “Go use Vicegrip on that Lileep.” Crawdaunt walked toward its opponent on command.
“Oh, man, what do I do?” muttered Eli in a panic. He tried to think of a battle strategy, but his mind was preoccupied with the ominous form of the giant crustacean heading for his pokémon. His mind couldn’t process anything. Eli looked down at Lileep, which was peering up at him rather than awaiting the oncoming attack from Crawdaunt.
Finally, Eli was able to speak up. “Lileep, try Acid!”
Lileep’s black body receded into its purple shell. Once Crawdaunt grew close, a small burst of purple fluid shot out of Lileep’s body. As its head emerged, Crawdaunt was coated in a dripping fluid. However, its shell was easily able to withstand the attack and the pokémon simply brushed it off. Crawdaunt snapped its claws, and then reached down for the narrow part of its opponent’s body. Lileep cried out in a shrill voice, flailing around helplessly as Crawdaunt tried to pry its roots loose from the ground. Eli could do nothing but watch in horror while his pokémon was brutalized right before his eyes. He couldn’t think of anything to say that would help.
Lileep refused to wait for commands and began to extend its pink tentacles, which wrapped around Crawdaunt’s claw. The tentacles shook violently, detaching Crawdaunt from the pokémon. While Crawdaunt prepared another attack, Lileep ducked its head inside its body and pointed itself at the opponent like a cannon. It then let loose with a point-blank Energy Ball attack which struck Crawdaunt directly in the abdomen. The rogue pokémon was jostled backward a little from the attack and roared in pain, but managed to stay on its feet and shrug off the attack.
“No more fooling around!” shouted Hydra with a hint of irritation in her voice. “Finish it with Crabhammer!”
Crawdaunt glared at its foe. Lileep ducked its head in a little at the enemy’s gaze. Its eyes filled with fury, Crawdaunt didn’t hesitate to raise a tentacle up in the air and smash it down on Lileep’s head with sickening force. The power of the attack threw Lileep straight out of the ground; its roots were now exposed, along with its whole body which landed on its side on the ground. The purple roots on Lileep’s feet shortened and returned to their normal state. Simultaneously, its glowing yellow eyes blinked out and it ceased to move.
“…Oh.” Eli took out Lileep’s poké ball and returned it without comment.
“So, do I win yet, or do I have to smash some more of your pokémon?” asked Hydra from across the room.
“No, I still have another pokémon I can use,” replied Eli. He looked down at his belt and carefully contemplated what to choose next.
“What? Are you serious?” exclaimed Hydra irritably. “You’ve been battling this long and you haven’t lost a single pokémon until now?!”
“That’s right.” Eli finally pulled a ball off the end of his belt. In a half-whimpering voice, he said, “All right, Banette, don’t let me down…” Eli threw the ball in his hand and out came one of the newer additions to his team. Banette floated a few feet above the ground and looked around, hissing at the sunlight pouring through the windows on the ceiling.
“A ghost-type, eh?” commented Hydra. “Good thing my Crawdaunt has Night Slash. I sure hope you’ve been training that thing.”
“Actually, this is Banette’s first battle with me,” responded Eli quietly.
“Are you serious?” exclaimed Hydra amusedly. She put her hands on her hips and bent forward tauntingly. “You’re using two pokémon that you’ve never trained before in your gym battle? How experienced are you guys anyway?”
“Experienced enough to beat five of your pokémon!” shouted Kenny from the floor.
Hydra pretended not to hear him and commanded, “Crawdaunt, let’s get this over with quickly. Night Slash.”
Eli watched pensively as Crawdaunt drew closer, its pincer glowing purple. Banette looked back at its trainer, patiently awaiting an order. Eli waited for Crawdaunt to approach dangerously close, towering above the petite figure of Banette.
“Quick, Banette, Faint Attack!”
Just as Crawdaunt was about to slash at the opponent, Banette spun around and disappeared into thin air. Crawdaunt smashed its claw down on nothing. Looking confused, Crawdaunt looked around. As it did so, however, it cried out when Banette appeared behind it and slammed it in the back. Banette couldn’t help snickering as Crawdaunt turned around and glared at it furiously.
“Don’t let it get to you, Crawdaunt!” reassured Hydra. “Hit it with Crabhammer at close range!”
“Yeah, right!” retorted Eli with a new found battle spirit. “Banette, Faint Attack again!”
Once again, Crawdaunt raised up its claw to attack, and once again, Banette was able to disappear right before the attack connected. At this point, Crawdaunt was frustrated beyond belief and couldn’t help stomping on the ground in fury and grumbling. Crawdaunt’s blind fury made it totally forget that it was still under attack, so it was surprised when Banette punched it from behind once more. Banette was beside itself with laughter, watching the Crawdaunt become more and more infuriated.
“Looks like we can’t risk any more short-range attacks,” commented Hydra. She then noticed, however, that her Crawdaunt was stomping around in rage without listening to a word she said. “Crawdaunt! Pay attention!” Crawdaunt snapped its head over in her direction, glaring at her with bloodshot eyes. “That Banette is trying to annoy you! Don’t let it take advantage of you! Now, try using Bubblebeam on it.”
Crawdaunt snorted, attempting to get over its frustration. It then took in a deep breath and blew out a plethora of bubbles into the air. Banette adeptly maneuvered around the bubbles, managing to dodge most of them. The attack harmlessly filled the room with bubbles which periodically popped. Banette readied an attack of its own without waiting for orders. It reared its head, took in a deep breath, then let loose with an ear-piercing shriek which filled the room. Everybody covered their ears, including Crawdaunt. When Banette was done screeching, Crawdaunt began to mumble irritably again.
“Nice Screech attack, Banette!” congratulated Eli. Banette cooed at its trainer’s praise.
“It’s now or never, Crawdaunt,” exclaimed Hydra. “This battle is lasting way too long, so let’s finish it up as soon as we can. Just go try another Crabhammer!”
Crawdaunt began to approach and glared at Banette, grinning evilly. It raised a claw and prepared its attack.
“You know the drill, Banette,” yawned Eli. “Faint Attack.”
Banette grinned at its enemy mischievously. As Crawdaunt approached, Banette whirled itself around and shrouded itself in a black cloud, ready to disappear out of the way. However, nothing happened. The black cloud dissipated. Confused, Banette tried again. The same thing happened. In a panic, Banette looked at the Crawdaunt approaching quickly, then looked back up at its trainer.
“You can’t use Faint Attack?” asked Eli. “Probably out of energy. I guess we shouldn’t have used it so many times…”
“Yes!” exclaimed Hydra with an overwhelming sense of success. “We’ve got this, Crawdaunt! Hit it with all you’ve got!” Crawdaunt grinned as widely as it possibly could, ready to finally defeat its torturous prey.
Banette braced itself for the attack. It peered out at the enemy, seeing Crawdaunt’s claw still raised. All of a sudden, Banette smiled. Crawdaunt was confused for a second. In the blink of an eye, Banette’s body became a dark blur as it rushed forward and struck Crawdaunt with great force. The rogue pokémon roared loudly and toppled backward, eventually falling on its back. Crawdaunt flailed around its limbs in an attempt to right itself, but to no avail. The crustacean’s limbs went stiff and straightened out as Crawdaunt’s eyes closed in their dark sockets.
“…What?” said Hydra, stricken with disbelief.
“Holy crap!” exclaimed Eli. “I think we won!” Jumping up and down ecstatically, Banette turned around and rushed toward Eli and wrapped its short arms around his chest. Eli looked at the pokémon wrapping him in a hug and stopped. “Okay…” he said slowly. Banette released its grasped and turned around, chuckling at the pokémon curled up on the ground.
"Was that a Sucker Punch attack?" asked Eli. Banette nodded at him and beamed. "...Wow. You sure are a valuable addition to my team, Banette."
Hydra walked forward and crouched next to her fainted pokémon. She gently stroked its stiff exterior and looked at its eyes shut tight. “Good job, Crawdaunt,” she whispered.
“Hey, so, do we get our badges yet?” inquired Kenny, standing up and dusting himself off.
“Huh? Oh, yeah,” said Hydra. She dug into her pocket and pulled out three small pieces of blue metal. She tossed them out and they clattered on the ground. Kenny picked up the one closest to him and examined it; its design consisted of blue wave patterns superimposed over each other. “Those are your Tide Badges. Have fun with ‘em. Oh, yeah, I also have something else.” Hydra procured three blue discs and tossed them out like Frisbees. Each one landed in the hands of a participating trainer. “Those are TMs with Bubblebeam. I hope you like ‘em. See you.”
“…Bye, then,” said Kenny hesitantly. Hydra didn’t respond or even acknowledge him. She got up and recalled her Crawdaunt, then walked away to some other part of the gym.
“Jeez, she’s not even going to congratulate us or anything?” complained Clair. “What a sore loser.”
“She was really into that battle, wasn’t she?” commented Kenny. “She probably has a bit of an attitude problem like her sister. It just comes out more when she’s battling, I guess.”
“How about Eli?” said Clair cheerily. Eli stiffened his shoulders. “You really saved our butts out there, didn’t you?”
“…Yeah…” responded Eli with a faint smile.
“That was your big chance right there, and you took advantage of it,” chimed in Kenny. He violently patted Eli on the back, causing him to wince. “I’m proud of you.”
On the way out the door, the trio passed by Duosion, who was sound asleep on the ground. Kenny promptly kicked the pokémon awake, his foot sinking into the green jelly. “Wake up, you fat slob,” he said as he planted his foot into Duosion’s side.
“Zzzzzzz… huh, wha?” said Duosion as he was jostled awake. “Don’t do that, man! And don’t call me fat, either. It’s just baby fat.” Duosion tugged on a piece of loose skin on its body. “So, what happened? Did you lose spectacularly?”
“Not even close,” retorted Kenny with an uncontrollable grin. “We won, all thanks to this guy right here!” Kenny gave his cousin another violent pat on the back.
“Eli? Seriously?” asked Duosion in disbelief. “Wow, that’s unexpected. So, did Hydra turn out to be a total jerkwad like her sister?”
“A little bit, but she managed to control it pretty well,” answered Clair. “I guess it runs in the family.”
The four of them were just about to go through the sliding glass door when it burst open on its own and in came a boy who collided violently with Kenny. The boy irritably fixed his slick black hair. He finally sneered with a thick Mexican accent, “Get out of the way, tontos! I’m here to win me a gym badge, and you’re certainly not going to stop me!” He pushed his way through the rest of the group and marched through the gym.
“Gee, what a hothead,” complained Kenny, regaining his composure and stepping out the door.
“I hope he gets eaten alive by that Tentacruel,” chimed in Duosion with a smirk.
The group finally stepped out of the gym and they were met by a cool ocean breeze that came from the nearby expanse of water. This part of Goldport was like an entirely different town than the part facing away from the ocean. Kenny stretched out his arms and inhaled deeply.
“So, where to next?” asked Kenny.
“We’re definitely going to need to stop at a Pokémon Center after a tough battle like that,” answered Eli. “After that, I suggest we head to the next town with a gym…”
“…Which would be Silver Spring way on the other side of the region,” finished Clair.
Kenny contemplated. “So, looks like we’ve got a lot of walking to do.”
“Or floating, in my case,” grinned Duosion.
Kenny pointed a finger at the sardonic pokémon. “You better shut your pie hole, or I’m going to ride you like a horse all the way across the region.”
“Whoa, jeez,” replied Duosion defensively, holding its palms up. “I was just trying to lighten the mood.”
“Well, clearly it’s not working.” Kenny turned on his heel and started walking in one direction. He waved his hand and shouted, “Come on, let’s get going as soon as possible!”
Kenny kept walking and didn’t look back to see Eli and Clair staring at him blankly. “…Does he realize that the exit to Goldport is to the north?” said Clair hesitantly.
“Clearly not,” answered Duosion.
Clair clicked her tongue. “He’ll find out eventually. Come on.” The remaining group walked in the opposite direction, up a street and toward the glittering gates of Goldport.