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Searching Far and Wide - 93
🕑 Added 2024-11-06 17:52:33 +0000 UTCTeams:
Pierce Lawson:
- Narcissa, Beedrill
- Orion, Onix
- Cygnus, Kadabra
- Bellatrix, Gyarados (Shiny)
- Andromeda, Vaporeon
Lillian Dale:
- Root, Bulbasaur
- Talon, Spearow
- Gem, Geodude
- Star, Cleffa
- Cinder, Vulpix
Saffron City IX
‘Melee Barrage,’ he started with, simple but effective.
What was that combo? Teleport plus any physical move that Cygnus felt like using. Pierce did suggest focusing on Foul Play and maybe Focus Punch if there was a solid chance. Those were the moves that would deal the most damage the most effectively. Thunder and Ice Punch both had effects they were likely to apply, from paralyzing to freezing. Alas, those weren’t quite reliable enough to be worth it when compared to pure damage.
Maybe once Cygnus mastered those more thoroughly, but as they were, that’s how things stood.
Unfortunately, his kadabra only got a single teleport and Foul Play attempt going before he was hit with something. Pierce wasn’t very sure what it was, but it involved Girafarig turning and using its darker side, coating it on dark purple energy. ‘Poison or Ghost?’ he hazarded a guess, but that was far from a definite thing. Energy color varied on a number of factors, many times not at all related to the type used.
Judging by the way Cygnus’ attack faltered though, Pierce thought it a fairly safe bet to say that it was Ghost, Bug or Dark type.
“Astonish,” his kadabra informed him, having teleported away after his Foul Play failed to land. There was wariness and a hint of annoyance reaching through the link, but Pierce was quick to push it away from both himself and his pokemon.
‘You can soldier through that,’ he told his pokemon, because there was no way for them to approach this fight without taking risks. Sure, Astonish’s Ghost typing would be annoying and likely to cause issues, but Cygnus at least wasn’t overly affected by the fear effect the move carried. He wasn’t likely to get interrupted, flinch or otherwise react now that he knew the move was there. His mind was too sharp for that. ‘Still though… Confusion bait,’ Pierce said, narrowing his eyes and glancing towards Sabrina for a single moment.
Nothing was shown to him there, expectedly. If he wanted to get a read on things, he might as well just look at the field and the opponent pokemon. The Leader wasn’t going to give him anything to work with, evidently. Not something that was disappointing, on account of it being something he knew would be the case, but it’d have been nice if it weren’t the case…
Watching Cygnus follow the order and going for a Confusion attack that would either fail or be really weak, Girafarig and its trainer seemed to fall for it. Interrupting the move midway through it, his kadabra Teleported right at the side of the opponent, arm pulled back. Normally, they’d have targeted the back of it, but Girafarig’s two heads each had actual brains and independent thought. The closest thing to a blindspot was the side and even then it was obviously not quite as good as being behind it.
Regardless, the attack didn’t fly forward immediately though. Instead, it gathered energy and then gathered some more. Then Focus Punch flew forward.
‘Land,’ he prayed in his mind. Alas, his thoughts were ignored as the girafarig moved away just in time. ‘Flash Foul,’ he ordered immediately, not even letting the failure get a single second in his mind. He needed to stay focused, stay in the fight. It was no time to get emotional.
His team needed him and his mind.
So, he watched with wide eyes, concentrating on what he had to do, keep Sabrina out and the strategies coming. He looked for anything that might give them an edge, but the field was flat and empty. It was just two pokemon going at it. Moves were all they had. ‘Maybe not all though,’ he mused, eyes narrowing as he saw Foul Play fail once more and Girafarig going for another Astonish.
‘Flash Feint and Thunder the front head,’ he ordered, his hand balled into a fist. Maybe they could pile up damage on one of the heads and return to facing an opponent with an actual blindspot. Both Thunder and Ice Punch could work with that, but Thunder Punch was the move that Cygnus had learned first and thus the one that he’d mastered the most. ‘Yes,’ he cheered, pumping his fist as they finally got a solid hit in. ‘Flash Double Feint and Thunder the front head again,’ he ordered.
Another Astonish was coming their way, but it didn’t quite land on account of Cygnus teleporting too quickly for it to. Furthermore, even when Girafarig tried to adapt to the feint, the second feint didn’t let it. Pierce’s lips pulled up into a sharp grin.
Now it was time to switch things up.
‘Flash Foul, front leg,’ he ordered. Sabrina likely had already figured out what they were doing, so that’d be less expected. He’d thought about targeting the other head or a back leg instead, but those sounded like too obvious to switch to from their already too obvious strategy. He needed to be careful. He needed to give Cygnus the best chances…
The attack landed, but in this third time there was no shame for the Girafarig. After all, it pulled back its body and kicked Cygnus before he could even finished pulling back from his punch. A kick that carried dark-colored energy and Pierce was sure that meant-
“Assurance,” Cygnus informed him and yeah, that was about what he’d guessed. He’d thought it was a Dark type move and he was right. “That hurt,” his kadabra added and he nodded, acknowledging the information. There’d be time to worry later… right? “Right. Let’s win,” Cygnus confirmed.
Pierce wanted to stop and worry anyway, he truly did, but he pulled on Cygnus’ determination, bleeding through the link. It gave him strength to ignore the damage his friend had sustained in favor of the victory in sight. Narcissa had already lost, Andromeda was hurt and Cygnus… Cygnus needed to do well. Then all the fighting, the work and the injuries would be worth it.
Pierce had to make that happen.
Taking a deep breath in, he locked on the path forward as he saw Girafarig move, not at all waiting for them to think things through.
‘Teleport,’ he ordered, taking a more direct approach. Sabrina couldn’t read his mind and the orders didn’t take longer, considering he just had to think them. So, Cygnus followed immediately, dodging the Shadow Ball that their opponent had thrown at them. ‘Teleport,’ he repeated, this time with different intent which Cygnus followed all the same, flashing right at the girafarig’s side. ‘Punch,’ he commanded, his own hand twitching, as if wanting to mimic the move. Maybe that’d get the thought across faster, who knew?
He was a little too focused to bother keeping appearances.
They had to win.
The hit didn’t land, but he made Cygnus move away before Girafarig managed to get Astonish on him. His pokemon couldn’t stop moving, or he’d take damage. Too much damage. He was tiring himself out a little at a time with all the Teleport usage, but that was better than getting hit with a Ghost or Dark move. Hell, with girafarig being Normal type, Pierce wouldn’t put it past the pokemon to know a Bug type move too.
He remembered that type’s lines having plenty of options.
‘Teleport, Foul, Teleport, Teleport, Thunder, Teleport, Teleport, Teleport, Teleport, Focus, Teleport, Thunder,’ he commanded, almost afraid of closing his eyes as the battle went on. Cygnus continued flashing around, sometimes getting a hit in, sometimes missing. They couldn’t quite avoid Girafarig forever though, and it eventually got another Assurance in.
The seconds tickled by and so did Cygnus’ energy along with his and Girafarig’s metaphorical health bars.
“Shame,” Cygnus told him in between Teleports at a distance. He sounded weary. “I don’t think I can take both out,” the kadabra thought to him and Pierce grinned grimly. He’d imagined that was the case, from what little bled through their link. “Let’s finish this one.”
‘All out then,’ Pierce decided and both of them gave mental nods.
So, after a single second that it took him to take a deep breath in, they got started.
Cygnus teleported once more, but it was a feint. When Girafarig turned to do something, its own body – or strength, really – was turned against it with Foul Play. His kadabra didn’t stop there though, no. Another Foul Play was used when the double-headed pokemon tried to get up. A third soon followed and they didn’t stop there.
It didn’t take long for Sabrina and her pokemon to catch up, but the Astonish that were used to as a response weren’t enough. They weren’t as easily countered with Foul Play, but they were also less effective at disrupting Cygnus. The barrage continued with two minds going against two minds and, eventually…
“Girafarig is unable to continue,” the referee called. Wearily, Cygnus floated himself towards their side of the field. It was a testament of how on his last legs he was that he didn’t walk, let alone teleport. They had won, however, and nobody was taking that win from him. Two down, one to go. Narcissa was out, Cygnus was almost so and Andromeda was scratched.
Things were looking… Not as good as he’d have hoped, but certainly not bad.
“I’m not done,” Cygnus said and Pierce nodded. That determination, he could understand it. He could feel it and he had to respect it. That was why he didn’t choose to switch. There was no point in antagonizing his own pokemon for that. Not when he was so resolutely standing, ready to go out fighting like the Fighter that he was. “Now you are getting it.”
“Gym Leader Sabrina will release her last pokemon,” the referee called and Pierce held his breath. There was a flash of red light and… he cursed internally. ‘Oh, you absolute bitch,’ he thought bitterly. Of course she’d gone for the most annoying pokemon possible. ‘Did you plan for Narcissa to go down early or is this improvised?’ he wondered to himself.
Alas, he’d have to see how he dealt with the inkay that they were now facing.
Psychic and Dark type, only weak to Fairy and Bug type moves, which were out of the question for him as things stood. The only saving grace at the moment was that it also didn’t resist anything at all, even if it was immune to Psychic. No advantages and no disadvantages… At least, as far as Pierce knew. He wouldn’t put it past Sabrina to have some ace up her sleeve.
“Challenger Pierce, you can switch your pokemon now,” the referee called and Pierce half-smiled.
“I’m keeping him,” he said, because there was no need to think. The answer was obvious, or Cygnus would forever haunt him with this fact if he took him out. Thus, the fight was set, the last few moments of his Psychic type in the Saffron Gym Challenge. ‘You’ll want to go out with a bang, won’t you?’
“You know me too well, Helper-Voice,” his kadabra replied and he could hear the smirk on his voice.
With that decided, Pierce nodded firmly.
“Start!” the referee called and Cygnus immediately teleported.
And then he teleported again, then again and again and again. The flashes didn’t stop for even a moment in order to prevent any action from Inkay. If Cygnus was never still, then they couldn’t aim. That was what they were going for. Then they switched things up, with a single second here or there, as if he were about to throw a punch, but instead they teleported more.
This continued for several seconds, pushing to a minute, really.
‘There,’ Pierce called when Inkay turned a little too sharply to keep up. It rotated its body a little too much, its tentacles moving in just the wrong direction and its eyes darting to adjust for the slip up. That’s when the opening appeared and neither Pierce nor Cygnus let it slip by. He didn’t even need to command the move, because this was what they’d been waiting for.
He watched the whole thing as if it were happening in slow motion, if only a bit. Cygnus drew his fist back from the best spot. Energy gathered and shone around it. It stayed there for a long moment, simply getting stronger and stronger.
And then, it flew forward while Inkay tried to recover.
It didn’t manage.
Focus Punch hit it, even if not solidly on account of the Dark type having moved a little in the second it took Cygnus to deliver the hit. The squid-like pokemon was sent flying all the same, bouncing off the ground a bit and all. Pierce wondered if it was too optimistic of him to hope that would stack some damage on it too.
That was far from the end though.
Cygnus teleported once more, this time with no feints or anything. He just appeared on top of the inkay, drawing his fist back for another Focus Punch on the Dark type as it tried to recover. Which it did, waving one of its tentacles, covered in dark purple energy, towards Cygnus. His kadabra didn’t stop though, nor did he let the attack make him falter.
A second Focus Punch was delivered, this time solidly smacking Inkay against the ground.
Pierce’s shoulders sagged at that moment and he let out a breath through his nose. ‘You did well, Cygnus,’ he thought out loud, but those words weren’t heard. The connection had been cut off, after all, and he knew exactly what that meant.
“Kadabra is unable to continue,” the referee called and Pierce closed his eyes. Taking a deep breath in, he recalled his friend and held onto the pokeball for a long moment. ‘You did well, Cygnus,’ he repeated to himself, keeping his mind calm. Only Inkay left and it’d already taken two punches from his kadabra. They could win the challenge and he refused not to. “Challenger Pierce, please release your last pokemon.”
And that’s exactly what he did.
“Hey there,” he greeted Andromeda as she appeared and looked at Inkay. “Cygnus just went down. Only Inkay left and it took two Focus Punches,” he explained quickly, getting an acknowledging yip and a nod. “No weaknesses nor resistances. Just use whatever you feel like using unless I say otherwise,” he said and the vaporeon nodded again.
They were ready.
After a moment where the referee looked at both Pierce and Sabrina, she spoke once more.
“Start.”
“Move, Blast,” Pierce called immediately. All that Inkay had been able to show was a physical move, so, until proven otherwise, he’d assume that was their forte. Andromeda, the beautiful creature that she was, seemed to start moving while he spoke, which was just amazing. His pokemon really were doing amazingly.
All the more reason not to disappoint them.
Thus, Pierce watched carefully as the vaporeon ran around, keeping her distance, and started shooting Swift at Inkay. Understandable choice, Pierce mused. Water Gun was weaker and Shadow Ball was too new, so he could understand why she went for that one when told that she could use whatever she wanted. Furthermore, Swift was extremely difficult to avoid.
‘Good job,’ he thought, his lips pulling into a smile. Alas, that was no time to relax. He needed to keep his mind sharp and on the battle. He was only guessing that Inkay’s range might be its weakness. There was no guarantee and that meant that he needed to be wary. Besides, sticking to a simple strategy had a lot of chances of backfiring.
“Keep going, add Modify,” he said and Andromeda expressed her agreement by using Growl. Status moves like those weren’t all that strong, but they were easy and simple, so they could use those much more freely. And it wasn’t like there was any drawback to those either, since even the energy usage was negligible.
‘What are you going to do now?’ Pierce wondered, staring at Inkay. There was no point in looking at Sabrina, after all, as he’d already confirmed. ‘You can’t get close enough to attack so what…?’ his inner musings were interrupted when, after a second Swift hit Inkay and further pushed it away, the Dark type decided to switch strategies.
Immediately, a ray of weird coloring and shape shot out. ‘Psybeam,’ Pierce hazarded a guess. If that wasn’t it, he’d bet it was some other Psychic type of move. He could be wrong, but he didn’t think he was.
He didn’t order Andromeda to dodge, but he didn’t really need to. She already had – and was carrying out – orders to Move, so she shouldn’t take the hit if she could avoid it. Sure enough, she didn’t… at first at least, because the ray followed after her. Psybeam or not, Sabrina was really out of options if she was doing that, because continued usage of moves like that one usually meant burning through the pokemon’s energy.
“Blast again, it’ll catch you eventually!” he called and Andromeda followed the order immediately, jumping as far away as she could before shooting Swift. She went to move away again, but she was one second too slow, one of her legs getting caught in the ray attack. That destabilized her at the same time that her Swift hit the inkay.
From there it was a battle of recovery… and she lost it, somehow. ‘God, that thing’s annoying,’ he thought, pursing his lips as he saw the disadvantage his pokemon would be in. He needed to do something to interrupt the attack that would surely follow and that was-
“Water Gun!” he called and Andromeda didn’t even need to fully get up before shooting. That move was almost instinctual for her, at that point, and he knew it. There was a reason why she could shoot it at him all the time and finely control the power of it every single time. It might not be that strong a move, but it was the one that she had the best handle on. She could shoot it however she wanted.
And that’s what she did, the water reaching Inkay just as it shot the ray attack again.
That’d have been great, but…
‘Fuck,’ he cursed as Andromeda was blasted again. Inkay was really good at keeping the ray going, it seemed, because the Water Gun certainly interrupted the thing… for all of a second before the persistent move just kept going. How to approach this now…?
Even though his mind raced, time didn’t stop passing and he couldn’t come up with something quickly enough. That meant that Andromeda was being attacked by the ray attack still and she was barely managing to dodge and shoot back a little. She was definitely losing the battle though. Evidently, Inkay was very good with that one attack, if nothing else.
‘Might as well push it, I guess,’ he decided, realizing that his vaporeon would be taken out before their opponent tired itself out through their strategy.
“Dash and Blast and Dash again!” he ordered and Andromeda followed through after recovering from the last hit. With a sideways Quick Attack, she shot Swift once more and then used Quick Attack again. Supremely wasteful strategy they’d come up with some time before, even worse than Cygnus spamming Teleport, but it was what they had. They couldn’t tank forever on an imbalanced battle of attrition. Thus, they’d have to change things up a little.
At least until they wore down Inkay, they needed to deal more damage. Andromeda could tank attacks like a champ, especially distance ones, but Pierce would rather not have her do that and nothing else. It left a bad taste in his mouth to just wait for the enemy to tire themselves out while leaving his pokemon to suffer. Especially – but certainly not exclusively – because there was no guarantee that they’d win even if they did do that.
So, he was pretty happy to see his strategy proved to work well, ineffective use of energy notwithstanding. Andromeda didn’t get hit anymore and they were getting their own attacks in. Inkay was taking damage and they were avoiding it. Now it was a matter of if they could finish the battle like that…
Which turned out not to be the case. Andromeda was growing tired more than Inkay was getting injured and tired, much to Pierce’s frustration. Noticing that they weren’t getting any more hits in, Sabrina and her pokemon had resorted to countering their attacks with the ray attack taking out Swift. Now the only thing they were doing was wasting energy for a few attacks that managed to get through that defense.
Pierce was not happy with that.
So, he waited as things proceeded, looking for the right opening until it came.
“Dash and Strike,” he ordered then, taking a deep breath in. It was a bit of a gamble, but it might work. Andromeda charged in with Quick Attack this time, hitting Inkay and then immediately after following with Bite. “Shadow Ball!” he commanded and his vaporeon shot just that before their opponent could react. “Again,” he said.
The second ball, however, was met with the ray attack.
“Keep going!” he ordered and so Andromeda did.
If he was right and that attack was Psychic type energy, then they had the advantage on the continuous shooting. Sure enough, Pierce could have cheered as he saw Shadow Ball power through the ray much better than Water Gun had before. Just enough that Andromeda could get another attack going before the ray powered through.
Now they had the upper hand energy-wise.
The stalemate was in their favor and he knew it. His already present grin widened when he saw Inkay stop shooting and move to avoid the next Shadow Ball. That was enough to prove to Pierce that he was absolutely right. And there was no way he was letting this chance pass him by.
“Dash Strike,” he ordered again and Andromeda went for it like a pokemon possessed. Quick Attack followed by Bite and then- “Blast!” he said, not wanting to let up. He didn’t want to give them a chance to turn things around and Andromeda didn’t look like she could hold on for much longer. She was healthy enough, despite the hits she’d taken, but she’d burned plenty of energy. “Keep going!” he called, suddenly aware of how close they were and how fast his heart was pumping blood.
They were so close, just a little more.
Just a little bit more. Some more hits, holding on a little more and keeping themselves strong, that’s all they needed to win the challenge. It was practically at hand. They just needed to keep going a little more. They just needed to deliver one more Swift, one more Water Gun, one more Shadow Ball.
And then one more Bite came… and Inkay didn’t get up again.
“Inkay is unable to continue!” the referee called and he blinked, almost unable to believe his ears. Their opponent was, indeed, on the ground, but after the battles and with how tense he was… It was almost like his mind struggled to process the fact that the battle was over. Andromeda, on the field, was also still crouched, as if ready to keep going.
Then both of them looked at each other and Pierce grinned.
“You did it, girl!” he called incredulously, getting a just as incredulous yip from the vaporeon before she started approaching him at the same time that he rushed at her. “You won!” he told her with a grin. “All of you won,” he amended, because this was as much her win as it was Cygnus’ and Narcissa’s.
Andromeda headbutted him weakly.
“Fine, we won,” he replied, too happy to really care. “You were amazing. Good job,” he praised, hugging her and patting her head. “Look forward to the celebration for this, girl. I’m gonna spoil all of you,” he commented, getting a pleased purr from the Water type.
“You did well,” Sabrina said, at some point having walked until she was beside them. In front of her, the Marsh Badge floated before moving closer to him until he caught it. “You deserve that,” the Leader told him with a nod. “I look forward to talking with you, Pierce Lawson, but that’s something for the future.”
And with that confusing statement, the woman just turned and left.
Pierce would have dwelled on that for longer, but he had pokemon to take care off and a celebration to be had.
He’d come back to that later, he decided.
“Let’s go,” he said, grinning widely as he regarded Andromeda, patting her and chuckling when she licked his cheek.
[} Chapter End {]
Hey guys! How’s it going?
And that’s another Gym challenge done. Wonder if Pierce and his team will fall short in one of these, or if he’ll power through them with the power of friendship and pokemon battle-maniac-ness. That’s as much of a mystery for you as it is for me, guys, I swear.
Once again, battle scenes in general aren’t really my strong suit, so I hope I did a decent enough job.
Just as I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, of course.
Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ
Random Question: Anything interesting happening in your life right now? Nothing of note has happened to me for a while now, but that’s fine by me. No interesting times curse for yours truly.
See you.
