"Wurmple, tackle!" The first order of the battle was shouted together by both Simon and Nick. Their two identical Pokemon charged, colliding hard in the middle of the clearing. Both Wurmple staggered backwards, the tackle attacks doing major damage.
"Wurmple, we'd better keep our distance, so use Poison Sting!" Nick shouted to his Pokemon, who quickly obliged by leaping forwards, with its spiked tail pointing forwards.
"Perfect!" Simon smiled, "Use string shot before it launches that attack!" Simon's Wurmple shot sticky silk from its mouth, entangling Simon's Wurmple and making it fall, helplessly, to the ground. Simon grinned, but looked to see Nick still smiling.
"Wurmple, keep that poison sting coming!" He shouted. His Wurmple launched the poison sting, despite its spiked rear end being encased in silk. The small purple poisoned darts ripped through the string shot, freeing Nick's Wurmple from the silk. Simon gasped. To have ripped through that string shot so easily, his Wurmple must be pretty powerful.
"Don't worry, Wurmple!" he shouted, "it's still slightly tangled up, so tackle it, quickly!"
"You tackle too!" Nick shouted to his Wurmple, and once again, the two Pokemon collided in the middle of the clearing. This time, both trainers knew that one would not be walking away. The two Wurmple stood, staring each other down, and finally, Nick's slowly keeled over and fainted. Simon's Wurmple gave a small squeak of triumph, and then it too fell over, unconscious.
"A double knockout," Nick Smiled. "I guess you had better meet my next Pokemon. Let's go, Magby!" He threw his next pokeball, and a small, red, humanoid, Pokemon materialised opposite Simon.
"What's that?" he gasped, raising his Pokedex
"Magby, the Live Coal Pokemon
Magby's state of health is determined by observing the fire it breathes. If the Pokémon is spouting yellow flames from its mouth, it is in good health. When it is fatigued, black smoke will be mixed in with the flames."
"Well by the time we've finished," Simon said, "It'll be impossible to see behind the smoke! Let's go, Pidgey!" he sent out his Pidgey, who quickly took to the sky.
"Magby, start with Smokescreen!" Nick ordered, and Magby immediately shot jet black smoke from its mouth, cloaking the entire battlefield.
"Now, he shouted "Use Ember!" Magby opened its mouth again and fired white-hot embers at Pidgey, hurting it badly. Pidgey dropped a few feet, but managed to regain its height with some furious flapping.
"Come on, Pidgey, you can take it!" Simon encouraged "Try using sand attack!" Pidgey dropped, scraped the floor with its wing and threw up sand into Magby's face, temporarily blinding it.
"Magby, use Smog!" Nick commanded, and Magby shot out a jet of poisonous gas, but being blinded by the sand attack, it missed completely.
"Pidgey, take it down with a barrage of Tackles!" Simon shouted triumphantly, and Pidgey obeyed, battering Magby more and more, until, finally, Magby slumped to the ground, defeated.
"Return, Magby," Nick said, clearly disappointed, "You've done well, Simon, but there's no way you can beat my final Pokemon. It's time, Dratini!" He threw his last Pokeball, and out came a long, snake like Pokemon with fins on its head. Simon held out his Pokedex.
"Dratini, the Dragon Pokemon.
The existence of this mythical Pokémon was only recently confirmed by a fisherman who caught one."
"I suppose its like you told me at the Pokemon centre," Simon said, "Dratini are pretty rare, and as a dragon type, it's probably quite strong too. That doesn't matter though - Pidgey, show it your sand-attack!"
"Stop it with Twister," Nick said, surprisingly calmly. As Pidgey dived to scoop up sand, Dratini spun its tail quickly, generating a powerful whirlwind which picked up leaves and stones before heading straight towards Pidgey, battering it out of the air. Pidgey fell gracelessly, unconscious before it even hit the ground. Now, the battle was one-on-one, and Simon only had one Pokemon left.
"Pikachu, don't let me down now!" Simon shouted as he released the small yellow rodent from its Pokeball. "Now, start with Thunder wave!" Pikachu quickly zapped Dratini with a blue bolt of electricity, paralyzing it completely. But then, as Simon watched, Dratini shook slightly, and in one swift movement, it threw off its skin, shedding it completely to reveal a new skin underneath. And what's more, Dratini no longer seemed to be paralysed.
"Dratini's shed skin ability allows it to recover from status conditions" The Pokedex chipped in. Simon gritted his teeth, but then shouted: "Let's just attack it then, Pikachu, use tail whip!" Pikachu leapt at Dratini, spun around and slapped it hard with its tail, weakening its defence.
"Dratini, immobilise it with Wrap attack!" Nick called, and Dratini sprung back into action, almost completely encasing Pikachu with its own body.
"Pikachu, you've got full body contact, so use Thundershock, maximum power!" Simon shouted, and Pikachu zapped Dratini with all of its might, doing some major damage.
"Pikachu, Thundershock! One more time!" Simon shouted.
"Dratini, unleash your Dragon rage!" Nick called. Pikachu fired another b lightning bolt, while Dratini fired a powerful beam of energy. The two powerful attacks collided in midair, causing a large explosion that threw both Pokemon backwards. Pikachu, barely managing to hang on, skidded backwards on its feet, while Dratini, wearied by the earlier Thundershock and devoid of any feet to ground itself with hit the ground hard, bounced, then hit the floor one more time and skidded to a stop at its trainer's feet, knocked out. Pikachu, battle-weary but overjoyed ran back to Simon and leapt into his slightly hesitant arms. Seeing Pikachu's power had made him a little wary about what would happen if it was angry at him, but for now, he brushed away the bad thoughts and returned his companions enthusiastic hug. On the other side of the clearing Nick was consoling his Dratini. Looking up, he called to Simon:
"The shiny Budew is yours - you won it fair and square" Both Trainers turned to where the Pokeball was sitting. Or rather, where it had been sitting. It had completely disappeared.
"Where is it?" Simon shouted in panic. Nick looked around, looked up, then chuckled slightly and pointed to the sky, where a lone Hoppip was flying into the distance, having recovered and flown off unnoticed during the battle. Clutched between its four stubby feet was a Pokeball.
"Those stupid Hoppip!" Simon grumbled. He had been grumbling during the last half-hours walk, while Nick had been trying hard not to laugh.
"Come on," Nick said, "We're almost out of the mystifying forest now; there'll be even more, different Pokemon at the next place we visit. You might even find another shiny"
"Really?" said Simon, his face lighting up.
"Well, no" was the reply. "Most people never see any shinies at all, so I seriously doubt you'll be lucky enough to see two." Simon looked at him angrily for a second, the stopped, smiled and burst out laughing. He had found an incredibly rare and pretty tough Pokemon, only for it to be stolen by a very common, fairly weak Pokemon. He might not like it, but it would sure be one helluva story to tell. His spirits somewhat lifted, Simon continued out of the Mystifying Forest surrounded by his partners and friends.
(Aww what a corny ending, lol)
