The ball continued to fumble on the floor, soon it clicked. Damion grinned,
"Haha! No one shocks Damion Sugimori and gets away with it." The boy snickered as he picked up the ball, he peeked inside to see the Mareep angrily thrashing inside. Small sparks starting to seep through the ball, shocking Damion's hands.
"Ow! Calm down Mareep!" The boy shouted, this pokemon was rather mischevious. Taro happily clung onto Damion's right shoudler as he began to walk down the road once more. Hoot and Mareep were nestled in their pokeballs.
"So Taro, I hope you know this, but...we need to get stronger." The boy frowned, Taro nodded his head. Damion continued to walk down the road, his eyes closed as he listened to his music.
Damion began to input information of Mareep into the pokedex. He picked up the pokeball to see the Mareep still thrashing inside.
"What's with this thing?" The boy quizically looked inside the pokeball. Damion got used to the tiny sparks shocking his waist and hand, so it didn't bother him as much any more. The boy finally stopped walking when he reached the southern end of the route, he sighed and recalled Taro.
"Okay, now. We're gonna give this a shot." Damion said, with a press of a button, Mareep was out of its pokeball. The pokemon immediately stuck its nose in the air away from Damion, the boy proceeded to crouch down to get eye level with the pokemon and just squinted his eyes.
"Alright, we're companions now. Alright? Which means we need to work together." Damion spat out. The Pokemon continued to not notice the trainer, the boy sighed.
"Either way, we need to work together. Or else you get hurt, and you don't want that...do you?" The boy raised an eyebrow at the pokemon. The Mareep's eyes opened wide and it sweatdropped,
"Ha! Alright then, we're a team." The boy grinned, "As a team member, you need a name...Sprink! Alright, your name is Sprink!" The boy snapped his fingers.
"Oi! Trainer boy!" A petit girl called out to Damion. He looked up to see a small girl climbing up from the rolling hill that was ahead. She had dirt splashed on her face and on her clothes, she obviously was on a journey.
"Umm. Me?" Damion pointed at himself, the Mareep scoffed at the presence of the girl. Damion chuckled slightly as the girl came up to him, she wore a nice matching green and gold outfit with nice brown hair and blue eyes.
"My name is Camper Lizzy! I'm gonna challenge the Violet Gym, so I need some battles. AND YOU'RE GONNA GIVE THEM TO ME!!!" The girl shouted out.
Damion was taken aback, this girl seemed very...high maintenece.
"Ha. Don't worry about it, I'll be happy to oblige. I'm Damion." Damion snickered, the girl pointed at Damion.
"Good, cause when I win I'm sure you won't be happy anymore!" The girl was very confident, a braggart of a girl.
Lizzy grinned. Damion stared back wordlessly, Lizzy threw her pokeball into the air. It exploded, revealing a spiky, purple-shelled, Shellder. The pokemon's abyss-like head, with its sunken eyes and pink tounge, was very stunning. It lumbered a few steps forward, stopped, and cried melodiously.
"SHELLderrrr…."
"Go, SPRINK!!!!"
*image removed*
SHELLDER:
LEVEL 13
TYPE 1/WATER
TYPE 2/NONE
ATTACKS:
MIRROR COAT
WITHDRAW
SUPERSONIC
ICICLE SPEAR
Damion threw his own pokeball into the air, and his newly captured Mareep erupted forth in an arc of red light. Upon seeing her opponent, Sprink's fur swelled up until it resembled a thunder cloud. Her growl resonated across the field, and Shellder mumbled in return.
Lizzy ordered an attack first, quickly.
"Shellder! Withdraw!!!"
Damion sniffed. Lizzy knew that Sprink knows Tackle attack. The camper was taking pre-emptive measures for only one type of attack, so Damion would have to attack with the other type.
"SPRINK! Thundershock!!!"
Sprink fluffed her cloud-like fur and loosed a blot of voltage that zapped and scorched the defensively-curled Shellder. The water type staggered and Lizzy, instead of looking worried, smirked evilly.
"SHELLDER!!! Mirror COAT!"
Damion snarled. Shellder enveloped itself in a shining sheet of gold light, and the light grew brighter as it detached from the body of the pokemon, a shimmering patch hanging in midair.
The light flew toward Sprink speedily.
Damion yelled his order with concerned urgency.
"Sprink!! GROWL!!!!"
Sprink lowered her head, then released a piercing scream in the air. The attack slowed as it split off into four sections, each missing the electric-type pokemon by a mere hair and colliding instead with the ground.
Lizzy looked mildly surprised, as did Shellder. Both pokemon and trainer had not expected Sprink to dodge the Mirror Coat. Only a few pokemon could nullify the attack, and they either relied on their parrying skills, like a Kabutops or Scyther, or their speed, such as a Dodrio or Rapidash.
It had been pure luck, Lizzy decided.
Her face fell and became a flat line, a flat canvas upon which nothing would be painted.
"Shellder! Icicle Spear attack, now!"
"Sprink! Use Tackle and close in to Shellder!"
Shellder gathered chilly energy inside its mouth, and let loose a barrage of shimmering white crystals. Spitting out the ice rapidly, the shell pokemon endeavored to hit Sprink before the Mareep came too close. Sprink slid on the slippery grass, disappearing from view as she advanced forward, yard after yard.
Quite suddenly, the Mareep felt her body freeze in mid-stride, falling to her side as the ice and cold enveloped her fur and blood, slowing her heart rate to the merest beat.
"About time." Lizzy sniffed, and Tai knit his eyebrows together. He hated tight spots like this.
"Shellder, TACKLE ATTACK! AND MAKE IT LAST!!"
Shellder heaved its body forward, sliding forward easily. As it closed in on the frozen Mareep, it pointed its shell narrowly, the spiked shell looking more menacing when its being pointed.
With a swift bow of its head, Shellder struck the Mareep's body.
Shellder tried to grind the Mareep's body between its pronged shell, and the ground, but instead found itself tackling a block of ice.
The electric type had kicked up a patch of ice after her de-frost, lodging it in Shellder's mouth and successfully stalling the water type as it attempted to crush the ice and free its shell of obstruction.
"Now! Thundershock!"
Sprink stood on the tips of its feet as it launched a stream of electricity which struck the Shellder right on its shell. The water type fell to the frosty grass with a thud, Damion grinned as the girl withdrew her Shellder.
Sprink winced at the pain from the ice attacks and nearly fell over.
She quickly threw her second pokeball in the air,
"ODDISH!!!"
"Go, HOOT!!"
*image removed*
ODDISH:
LEVEL 12
TYPE 1/GRASS
TYPE 2/POISON
ATTACKS:
ABSORB
SWEET SCENT
ACID
"Oddish, Sweet SCENT!!!"
"Peck!"
Lizzy quickly understood her disadvantage and quickly ordered her Oddish to release a smooth and rich pink spray. The air became thick with a nice-smelling air that entered the bird's smelling sense.
Hoot quickly flapped its wings and rocketed its body towards the grass pokemon, beak first. The bird began to peck at the grass type, horrible damaging it.
"Gah! Oddish! ACID!"
"Hypnosis!"
Oddish spewed out a spray of gunky purple material that sprayed over the bird, the material dripped on the pokemon's feathers. Hoot quickly launched a ring of azure energy that put the pokemon to sleep.
Hoot's movements were slowed by the toxic slude, the bird pokemon being damaged the longer its out.
"Tackle! Then Peck!!" Damion ordered, Hoot quickly leaped over at the Oddish and launched its body at the Oddish. Sending its sleeping body a few yards, Hoot then proceeded to peck at the grass pokemon.
Hoot nearly keeled over due to the poisoning, but stood strong.
Lizzy quickly recalled her pokemon and readied her third, Damion released Taro before her.
"Finish it, Taro!!"
"Giget!"
*image removed*
PIDGEOTTO:
LEVEL 15
TYPE 1/NORMAL
TYPE 2/FLYING
ATTACKS:
AGILITY
SUBSTITUTE
BODY SLAM
MIMIC
A gray-scaled Larvitar's legs braced themselves. Pidegot's maroon plumage, danced in the light wind that accompanied the arrival of the bird pokemon. Her talons opened and closed, wings resting at her sides, ready for takeoff.
"What an odd choice." Damion mused, staring at Giget. "Already, it seems I have the battle in the bag."
"Don't get cocky!" Lizzy shouted, and her finger jabbed toward the battlefield.
"Giget! Start things off with an Agility!"
"Taro, Rock Slide." The trainer commanded softly.
The Pidgeotto's lithe body moved at lightning speed, evading the summoned boulder shower with barely a hair's width to spare. Taro continued to growl deeply, the boulder falling from the cliffs besides them.
"NOW GIGET! BODY SLAM!!!"
Giget closed in. The impact of the slam sent Giget flying backwards, while Taro retained a few inches of lost ground and a stinging headache.
A chuckle bubbled up from Damion's throat.
"And what exactly was the purpose of that, Lizzy? Entertainment? Maybe a bit of self-destruction orientation?"
Lizzy smirked. "Look again, Damion."
Taro's body had slowed, and his movements were jerky, almost mechanical. His mouth opened and closed in short bursts.
"Larrr….vit…aaarrr…"
"Paralyzed." Damion murmured, raising an eyebrow and looking back at Lizzy.
"Impressive. Not much can paralyze a rock pokemon, even a Body Slam." The Dragon Master mused, and the girl across from him smiled.
"Taro! Rock SLIDE!!"
"GIGET! Agility!!!" Saber yelled.
Taro's horn glowed as an extremely large boulder was hurled at the birdd. Giget's speed was enough to evade the boulder itself, but it wasn't enough to escape the intense shower of smaller boulders which broke off from the main rock. Her outer feathers began to break off, scratches on the skin below the feathers.
Lizzy saw that the ashen feathers were affecting Giget's mobility. The Pidgeotto began to lose her control over her reflexes, and by the time her feathers were falling off in chunks, her steering capabilities were almost non-existent.
She wouldn't be able to evade for long.
"GIGET! Use Mimic and follow it up with a Substitute!!"
Giget treaded air. She closed her eyes and concentrated, and a small black mist flew from Taro's head to settle in her own bird skull. Giget had temporarily attained the ability to use Rock Slide, but she had no time to use it now. She compacted her energy into making a life-size doll of herself, feeling her real body disappear into the air around her.
Now Damion had no choice but to attack her clone. And in Taro's weakened state of paralysis, a direct attack, which was the only thing that would make the Substitute go away, could take quite a while.
"Damn!" Damion swore, and then composed himself.
"Taro! Bite the Substitute and make it disappear!" Damion ordered.
"Giget! Let's give him a taste of his own medicine! USE ROCKSLIDE!!"
The Substitute raised its arms, and summoned a boulder. Taro, who was nearing the doll slowly, was consumed by the boulders, and his paralysis was only made worse by the attack.
"GIGET! ROCK SLIDE!" Lizzy ordered again, taking advantage of Taro's immensely slowed speed.
Damion's face was impassive as his pokemon was assailed with three more blasts of boulders before Giget's Mimic finally wore out.
Taro reached the Substitute, worn and tense, and fell upon it tiredly. The Substitute vanished in a puff of smoke, and Giget's real body returned.
"C'mon, Taro!" Lance yelled. "Let's finish this with a ROCK SLIDE!!!"
The boulders came again, a sea of them. Giget swooped and dived, her falling feathers making her control weak and frail. She let her guard falter for a second, and was crushed beneath rubble and rock.
"GIGET!!!" Lizzy screamed. But the bird pokemon did not rise, with a sudden strike of her pokemon, the Pidgeotto was recalled.
Both trainers promptly sat down, "Return, Taro!" Damion quikcly threw the pokeball, and captured it as it returned.
"GOOD BATTLE!!" The girl shouted across the battle field, Damion breathed heavily and nodded.
____________________________
"Well then, goodbye Damion. You've got my PokeGear number?" The camper looked up at Damion and smiled.
"Yup, don't worry Lizzy. I've got it." The girl smiled up at her senior.
"Goodbye junior!" Damion grinned as the girl walked to Violet City, too bad the gym is currently closed. The boy smiled as he continued down the road, most of his pokemon were gravely injured because of that battle.
"Good work guys.." Damion smiled warmly as he walked into the sunset, for the first time... Damion felt compassion...
► TO BE CONTINUED