Aya, Akito and Dava vs Flannery!
Dava, Aya and Akito stood on the rocky floor in the big cave under Mt Chimney, pools of lava around them with Slugma creeping about and just ahead of them on some large rocks in the middle of it all: the former gym leader of Lavaridge Town, and one of her pokémon. Camerupt.
"Flannery!" Dava burst out with a relieved smile at last. "We're so glad to see you here! We only wanted to go down from the mountain without waiting forever for the cable car, but this cave only seems to lead deeper and deeper in under the mountain..."
The elite four member stepped down from the cliffs, coming closer to them, with a raised eyebrow. "You were heading through these caverns to get to Mauville?"
"Yes, exactly!"
"But the way you are going, you will end up north. Near the northern edge of the Desert."
The trainers looked at each other. Neither of them had really known which way the tunnel would lead; it had been a chance. Finding Flannery certainly was a streak of luck, then.
Flannery laughed and reached for a pokéball. Sending the Camerupt - who had been staring blankly at the three trainers - back into its pokéball, she finally walked up to the trio with a look that was growing increasinly mischievous.
Dava recognized it; that was how Dani looked now and then when she wanted to play a joke or use Dava in some way. And the reason Dava knew what that looked like was that she knew that she herself looked the exact same as her twin sister when she felt the same. Only, she actually went through with her deeds, as opposed to how Dani was too just and fair to play it dirty.
"I could help you out, of course," Flannery said, smiling deviously. "I know these tunnels well, and the Slugma are all my friends and wouldn't attack us. But... I'm actually down here to train, and I'm not really done yet. So if you want my help to get out, you need to help me train first. Battle me!"
Dava was surprised. Flannery was a member of the elite four! There was no way they were ready to battle her now. At least not she. She had hardly learned how to manuever a pokémon in a dirty battle as opposed to the sweet, careful showbattles of pokémon contests. Maybe Akito and Aya were more experienced though?
Aya couldn't help but notice her eyes widen at the challenge. Sure, she was confident in her abilities despite it being early days in her journey but she wasn't sure that even the three of them together could defeat Flannery. Any degree of success against such a skilled trainer though... would be such a huge boost at such an early point in my travels... and I can't exactly pass up a challenge like this.
"What are the conditions?" Aya asked cautiously, fighting back her excitement so she could keep a clear head. Flannery smiled, a vigorous air about her, before responding to the less experienced trainer.
"You each use one pokemon at the same time against one of mine"
Aya couldn't help but grin back slightly, she didn't think they could win but she would certainly try. "Fine by me, ready Ladon?"
"Axew!"
"What about you guys?"
Fight Flannery? Aw, come on! was the first thought that came in Akito's mind. Here was a Elite Four member and he was nothing but a novice trainer. He wasn't sure about Dava and Aya. But at the end of it they were not experienced trainers. Flannery on the other hand was an Elite Four member. He then thought. It would be an excellent opportunity to battle Flannery and improve his battling skills. It would help him later on when he challenged the Elite Four. Then he contemplated what pokemon he would send. Hercules would be weak against fire types, so he said "I'm in it. I'll be using Vulcan."
Vulcan poked his head out through Akito's head before realising that Akito had asked him to battle. He then came out and rubbed his leg on the ground threatening Flannery. "How sweet. I remember my Camerupt when he was a Numel." Flannery laughed. Vulcan then growled as he threatened to fry Flannery.
"What's your pokemon Dava?" questioned a very worried Akito. He didn't show any worry on his face but his limbs felt stiff.
"Aah... I'll..." Dava stuttered. She felt somewhat weak after seeing Aya accepting the challenge head on. Usually, Dava was the one to never back down. But this was kind of an unusual situation. She swallowed and put on a brave face. "Duke will do well," she said.
Her Geodude blinked and turned around to face Flannery, hovering closely above his trainer's head.
Flannery looked over the trio of beginners, the familiar sense of anticipation that came with every battle making her feel like leaping on the spot. Adrenaline coursed through her veins - sure it would probably be easy but the thrill of a battle was always the same... even if she would prefer it to be longer.
"Alright the, I'll use this guy then." Flannery tossed a pokeball int the air and in a flash of near-blinding white light a figure emerged. Far taller then any of the trainer is the room, sharp claws and red, yellow and cream coloured fur. A Blaziken, and it looked raring to go... albeit disappointed with its competition.
"Let's get right into this!" Flannery called, unaibale to fully hide her excitement "Blaze Kick on the geodude!"
Aya watched in awe as the tall bird-like pokemon leap for Duke from where it stood, preparing to slam one of its powerful legs (now engulfed in flames) into the small rock type. Dava gasped, not fully ready for the battle to start so abruptly. She had honestly thought that the stronger trainer would have let them have the first move. But apparently that wasn't Flannery's style.
As the mighty fire pokémon got closer though, the miliseconds passing, Aya snapped back from her watching, ready for the battle to come.
"Dual Chop!" she ordered, Ladon leaping to Duke's aid knocking the Blaziken to the side - where it landed on its feet - with apair of glowing blue chops from his tiny arms.
Dava turned to stare unappreciatively at Aya while Flannery raised an eyebrow. "You're actually going to work as a team? I'm impressed. Blaziken, use Mirror Move and give the little dragon a taste of its own medicine."
Not good... a super-effective attack like Dual Chop will easily take Ladon out
" Vulcan use Tackle." ordered Akito. The tiny fire type charged at Flannery's Blaziken. It managed to prevent Blaziken from attacking Ladon but the Blaziken was obviously unfazed.
Training with Slugma might be fun...... but there's always such an awesome feeling battling other people thought Flannery. Her heart was pounding fiercely while she debated what move she had to choose. "Blaziken, use Quick Attack on the Numel."
Before any of the other pokemon could block the attack Blaziken moved as fast as lightning and smashed Vulcan back. Akito grimaced. Vulcan was probably fine but that would have taken a large chunk of Vulcan's hitpoints.
Aya watched as in a flash of speed the Blaziken sent Vulcan reeling.
What can I do? I can't use Dual Chop unless it is distracted enough and Leer and Scratch will do even less damage...
Dava felt disoriented. Akito and Aya were sending out attacks and Flannery's eyes gleamed as if she was really enjoying their imminent defeat. No. She hadn't started this journey to lose battles, at least not without trying. Duke glanced back at her and she nodded. Time to become better than her twin sister.
"Come on then!" Flannery shouted at them, smiling. Blaziken took an imposing fighting stance and swayed slowly towards the poor Vulcan.
"Duke, Magnitude!"
Duke didn't hesitate; a shudder of power went through his body before he smashed down into the ground with both his fists, transferring the built up power to the earth below them. The stone floor between Dava and Flannery started cracking up, and all the trainers and pokémon felt the ground shaking slightly, accompanied by a low rumble from the cave.
Dava almost fell over from the rumbling; she hadn't counted on it affecting anything around them. When she looked up, she saw that Blaziken was in the air. It had jumped up and avoided the attack, and was hovering almost gracefully as if defying gravity above their heads now. At least it felt that way to the onlooker, while in reality it was only there for a few seconds. Then came Flannery's next command.
"Blaze Kick on Geodude!"
The leg flared up. Dava's brain went into hyper mode. What could she do? What could hit it while it was in the... air...
"Rock Throw!" she called out. But Blaziken had jumped back up into the air already, maybe to avoid another Magnitude counter attack. If nothing else attacked it now when it was distracted by Duke, her rock pokémon would take serious damage. Type resistance didn't mean much when facing an opponent of such immense power.
If there was one thing you could say about Aya, it might be that she knew an opportunity when she saw one. "Dual Chop Ladon!"
The axew leapt into the air, tiny hands glowing a bright blue as he shot toward's Duke's aid. Ladon swung it's left arm first hitting the fearsome blaziken and causing it to lose it's balance in the air. With a crashing noise, the flaming foot of Flannery's pokemon slammed into the ground just before Duke, leaving an deep hole that is was now pulling it's leg from. Ladon then slammed the head of his larger opponent, disorienting him further as Ladon landed.
Dava didn't stare in a bad way towards Aya now. She suddenly felt like she realized what they were doing, what she was doing here. They weren't just showing off for a member of the Elite 4. They were cooperating. Aya wasn't mean when she made the Axew save Duke from getting crushed, as much as Dava would have liked to think so. She couldn't think so anymore. They were in this together.
"Now Jump up again, quickly!" Aya added, Ladon obeying without question.
One of you guys take the opportunity! Aya found herself hoping desperatly. Flannery merely looked amused.
"Flame Charge!" Flannery called. As a torrent of fire engulfed her blaziken cracks began to move from the hole it was now stuck in - and quickly.
"Hurry!" Aya yelled, not sure if she was talking to Dava or Akito.
If I don't act fast then Ladon's going to faint................. a thougt came into Akito's mind. Okay, Ladon's in mid air and that Blaziken's in the ground.
Dava reacted surprisingly fast too. The two trainers called out in choir:
"Vulcan use Magnitude!"
"Duke, Magnitude!"
The Numel's eyes glowed white. An aura surrounded him as he smashed the ground with his foot, right about when the Geodude's fists slammed into the ground once more. A miniature earthquake shook the battlefield and the Blaziken became distracted. So the fire around it disappeared but the Blaziken got out of the hole it was stuck in.
"Blaze Kick." Flannery called cooly.
An inferno of flame seemed to engulf the Blaziken's right leg. It was only a few seconds till that kick struck Vulcan and that would probably be Vulcan's last hit in the battle. There was no time to use Magnitude and Tackle and Growl would probably prove to be futile. Akito closed his eyes and hoped that Ladon would use Dual Chop and break Blaziken's leg bone or something.
"How did that not work!" Aya felt quite helpless as Flannery's blaziken launched itself back at Vulcan. She was forced to think quickly, but the only idea she had was going to take too long.
"Sorry, Vulcan will have to take the hit." she then turned to Dava. "Get Duke to throw Ladon at Blaziken. Duke's strong so this should work out okay."
"Throw him? Right at the enemy? He'll be engulfed!" Dava protested wildly.
Please listen to me Dava, just once, Aya begged desperately inside her head, opening her mouth to voice it, even though she knew they had no time to argue.
Seriously. Just then a crazy idea came into Akito's mind.
"This may sound absurd but Vulcan use Growl!" Vulcan stared at Akito for a second before letting out a cry that would have made an Exploud proud. The Blaziken distracted once again cupped it's hand over it's ears and stopped. Akito could make out that nobody could stand the noise but he had to do some things for his pokemom. While the Blaziken was distracted, Akito looked pleadingly at Dava. That Blaziken would soon come and smash Vulcan's face as Vulcan's growl had considerably weakened.
The look Akito shot Dava told her enough. There was no time for arguing. Only action.
"Duke, Tackle!" she began, then put a hand on her pokémon's head to make it look up at her. "On its legs."
Duke nodded and shot away the moment Blaziken started to regain focus. However, it was too late. The rock boulder pokémon crashed with all its force into Blaziken's right leg, making it fall over with a cry of pain. It didn't matter what level you were at - a low blow is low.
The trainers rejoiced. It seemed like they had triumphed at last, with Blaziken on the stone floor, moaning. But Flannery shook her head with a chuckle.
"Flame Charge, full power," she said camly.
It was as if a switch turned in Blaziken's eyes. Without even getting up from the ground, it started growling and you could see its fists shaking from gathering power. Duke, Ladon and Vulcan all staggered back in anticipation. But they stood no chance.
When the shockwave of flaming air came, the trainers were just outside its blast range. They felt the hot breeze touch them, but were left without burns. The pokémon standing closer didn't manage so well. When the humans looked up after having shielded themselves from the blast, they were met with a terrible sight. All three smaller pokémon lay motionless on the ground, signs of burns on their bodies. It had not mattered that all of them had an innate resistance to fire moves. Blaziken was too strong.
"Duke!" Dava called out desperately and ran up to her fallen pokémon. The ground was scorching hot beneath her feet, and so was the Geodude's body.
Akito bit his lip. That Blaziken was too strong. He then walked over to Vulcan's side and sat beside him. There were burns all across the tiny pokemon's body and a look of shameful defeat on his face. Akito stifled a laugh. It was a bit funny looking at a Numel with a look of injury on his face. He returned Vulcan back to his pokeball and then felt across his own forehead. He was sweating. But he had enjoyed every bit of the previous battle.
Aya looked on in a amazement at the strength of the Flame Charge, it had been so powerful that the blaziken had not even needed to make contact as was customary with the move. The cavern was scorched in places and the trio's pokemon lay motionless suffering from burns.
"Sorry about that... I might have gone a bit overboard" Flannery called from across the room, returning her blaziken but Aya only had eyes for Ladon at that moment. She ran to the little dragon's side and quickly proceded to spray him with a potion and a burn heal.
"You did a really good job out there, you were really brave too." she encouraged her companion before returning him to with the confines of his pokeball. Aya hadn't really been expecting to win, but she couldn't help but feel disappointed and - shocking herself - she found herself quite angry with Dava.
If maybe she had listened and done what I asked instead of ignoring me and going crazy with Akito we could have at least done better. It was simple, hurl Ladon at the blaziken whilst it was distracted with Vulcan and hit with a boosted Dual Chop... then the others could have used Maginitude on the downed blaziken and done some serious damage! Or maybe that is just me being sour and overestimating Duke and Ladon's capabilities? Gah! I don't know but this Dava woman has been giving me filthy looks the whole time and now this?!
Aya pulled herself together, despite the rage in her head, and stood up.
"Thanks for battling with me guys" she said to Akito and Dava - trying to hide her animosity towards the latter "and thanks you for battling against us Flanenry! To think so early in our journeys we got to go head to head with one of the elite four!" she added.
Flannery grinned at her opponents
"You guys are welcome! The path behind me opens up onto a small plateau. From there you can head downwards to the right and no matter which path in that direction you take you will eventually get onto Route 112. You guys have a lot of potential I think, good luck with you on your journeys and I look forward to battling you again one day."
Dava was too bewildered to notice any feelings stemming from the other girl. She was still sitting down beside Duke and nodded while Aya and Flannery talked. That was a real battle.
