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Pokemon: Storm Clouds Ch. 14

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Dan’s head hurt.  It hurt a lot.  He opened his eyes, but shut them again immediately; the whole world looked watery and swimmy, like he was submerged in a pool.  Closing his eyes didn’t help the pain, though; it simply made him more aware of every painful pulse that throbbed through the tender lump on the side of his skull.  What happened, again…?

He remembered speaking to Rico, finding out that Giovanni’s lieutenant was actually on their side…oh, how his head ached…he borrowed Rico’s team and sent his own to help secure the prisoners’ locations while he and Suzanne went on to confront Sabrina…and then…

Dan and Suzanne had followed Rico’s instructions to the ultramodern apartment complex that housed Sabrina and other Saffron bigwigs.  The building was like a work of art, a titanic gold spiral grappling to the heavens and glittering in the sun.

Walking inside, the duo climbed the stairway up to the floor that housed the treacherous Gym Leader, since the elevators were not working.  Before they could make it to the top, however, the stairs had burst from beneath their feet, and a massive rocky snake—an Onix—erupted from beneath them, its roar overpowering their senses as they fell down the wrecked stairwell.  Landing painfully on the bottom of the passage, Dan’s vision began fading away as the Onix spiraled down to him and Suzanne, and a cruel figure dressed in a suit the color of blood strode up to him.  Even as Dan’s vision shrunk away and he slipped into unconsciousness, he recognized that man…Giovanni…

Suddenly, he was alert, and wide awake.  Giovanni!  He got the jump on us!  I have to warn the others!  But as he leapt up, the top of his head stuck painfully against a procession of cruel metal bars, sending pain shooting through his skull.  Dan gave an involuntary cry and sunk down to the bottom of his cage—for that’s what it was—clasping his head as tears formed in his eyes.  Nearby, a man’s voice began cheering, its roughness nearly butchering the words that it formed.

“Heheh, looky tha’, th’poor fellow’s gone n’d woke hisself up!  Looky him cry lika littul babe!  Heheh!”  A rough-looking man in a Team Rocket uniform with the smell of stale beer on his breath was pointing a fat finger at Dan and chortling.  Nearby, Dan saw to his shock two other similar cages, holding Officer Suzanne and Rico.  No!  Then, Erika and my pokemon must be…  He looked in vain for the cages holding his other friends before his surroundings caught his eye.

He appeared to be in a dilapidated but still magnificent arena, ancient and carved out of stone, which was sunk below the ground.  Grand statues of humans and pokemon, both equally fierce, dominated the locale.  On the floor some manner of action was taking place.  As far as he was, with vision still hazy from the lump on his head and his eyes not yet adjusted to the plain, flickering light that barely illuminated the sunken coliseum.  Eventually, though, he was able to make out what was happening on the bottom.

It astonished him.  Giovanni was seated in an ancient chair that almost looked a throne, and was commanding a Tauros in a battle.  The bull’s opponent was…Armor, Dan’s Muk?!   Even more curious was the woman commanding Dan’s pokemon; Erika!

The rough-looking grunt taunted Dan through his bars.  “So, ya noticed, hav’yer?  Yer slaves’n yer littul girlfren’ are fiyting for yer free-dum; yer’s an’ all them others!  Heheh!  But looky there; th’boss’s slaves’r mowing over yer teams lika rockslide mows over-a squabblin’ babe!  Ya got n’chance n’hell, man!  Heheh!”

Dan turned back, squashed, but with some hope.  Please, he pleaded desperately to no one in particular, Please let them win.  Don’t let that evil man get what he wants; we must win!  We must!

---

Armor was having a difficult time.  The cocky Tauros was a powerful opponent, despite being heavily wounded by both Nemo and Nightshade; it was the bull’s disrespectful treatment of his two friends that had angered the Muk enough that he rushed to the middle of the arena nearly the moment the Oddish had fainted, ready to avenge his friends.  Armor was certain that if he could manage to land one single blow to his opponent—just one!—that the bull would faint.  However, that was proving to be a challenge; the Tauros, while wounded, was still much faster than Armor could ever hope, and was a crafty strategist besides; and all this without taking into account that Giovanni was guiding his pokemon with a minimalistic but highly effective set of orders, while Erika was nearly clueless to how Dan’s pokemon were capable of battling.

The Tauros dashed up for another hit-and-run attack to Armor’s body; though most physical attacks were useless against the Muk, his body being liquefied poison, the hard cartilage that  made up the bull’s horns and hooves allowed him to strike safely without fear of toxic retaliation.

Reeling from a horn blow, Armor shrank back, feeling no small amount of pain as the Tauros galloped back to a safe distance to warily eye the Muk once more.  That was how the battle had gone, mostly; the Tauros had stayed safely out of reach, lunging forwards for hit-and-run tactics every now and then, while Armor frustratingly tried to figure out how to hurt him.  The Normal-type was too agile to chase down, and his attacks were too fast to get in a counter-strike; projectile attacks were no good either, as he was at a good enough distance to have plenty of time to dodge once it became apparent that Armor meant to strike.

How do I hurt him, eh? Armor racked his brains as the Tauros stalked him warily.  Attacks don’t work.  Counter-attacks don’t work.  Projectile attacks don’t work.  They’re all useless!  What is there left?  Armor was an eternal optimist; he wasn’t close to giving up.  He knew that there had to be some way to win; he simply couldn’t figure out what that was!

Think, eh, think. Armor forced himself to focus.  Think back to Mister Dan’s training.  If regular strategies don’t work, then you…you, eh…mix and match!  That’s it!  Sure, regular attacking, counter-attacking, and projectile attacks weren’t working…but what about all three?

At that moment the Tauros raced forwards once more.  Knowing that this was the opportunity he needed, Armor lunged forwards to seemingly counter the bull’s blow.  Snickering, the Tauros briefly touched his hooves to the gound and leapt over Armor as he had done so many times before.  This time, however, Dan’s pokemon was ready; as the bull passed over him, Armor shot a stream of sludge out of the back of his body to the place where the Tauros would be landing.  Caught off guard and not expecting two simultaneous attacks, the Normal-type was struck by the slime and collapsed, his wound caked in the foul liquid.  Not leaving anything to chance, Armor followed through with a true tackle this time; too wounded to try dodging now, the Tauros was struck head on, collapsing to the ground in a heap to the sound of cheers from Saffron’s assembled citizens.

They didn’t stay happy for long, though; Giovanni recalled his Tauros with a furiously edged look to his face.  “Think you’re clever, don’t you,” he growled.  “Think you’re smart for subverting my plan without trying, for invading this sacred city, for managing to get lucky and forcing me to dig into the second half of my team.  Well, lucky simply doesn’t cut it against me, no sir!  I found out your weakness, you little pile of walking shit; you can’t handle anything fast!  And if you think you can use the same tactics over again…think twice!!</b>”  Giovanni roared as he sent out his fourth assailant, a hairy, ugly-looking ape with a pig’s nose and frightfully long appendages: a Primeape.

“Don’t let up!”  Giovanni roared.  “You’re faster than him, and there’s nothing he can do about it!  Be quick, strike strong, and watch out—he can attack at two places simultaneously!”  The Primeape gave a brief nod and then suddenly lunged forwards, delivering a quick and painful-looking punch to Armor’s face; the Muk shrunk back, groaning as Giovanni’s fighter leapt up in the air to deliver a devastating kick to the same area.

“Hold on one second,” Ruby said, “that isn’t right!  Armor’s made of poison; shouldn’t that big monkey be harmed just as badly from those punches and kicks?”

“I don’t know;” Missy responded warily.  “My first battle ever was against Armor, remember, and I wasn’t poisoned to the touch.  I think there are certain parts of his body—his face in particular—that are vulnerable to attack without the opponent fearing repercussions.”

“No!” Ruby bleated, showing rare genuine concern for her teammate.  “His big advantage is gone!”

Missy nodded in silent agreement.

Armor’s face had been bludgeoned so many times he felt dizzy; and, each time he tried to retaliate, the Primeape simply dodged and reappeared with an even more punishing blow.  Think…strategically, eh, he told himself woozily.  It’s the…only way…

As the Primeape reared his hand to deliver a particularly devastating punch, the Muk had a moment of clarity.  As its fist swung down in punishment, Armor softened his body; when the hit connected, he simply allowed himself to absorb the blow; the ape’s hand was swallowed by Armor’s toxic body.  Shocked and suddenly fearful, Giovanni’s Primeape tried desperately to free his hand, but to no avail; Armor wasn’t letting go.  His face now contorting in pain as toxins leeched into his skin and up his arm, the Primeape desperately reared his other hand and struck blow after lancing blow to his opponent.  Eventually, Armor’s light haziness turned to an almost inebriate daze, and he finally fell unconscious.  The Primeape desperately freed his arm with a pained grimace; it was raw and blistering, and looked as though it had been dipped in a vat of acid.

“He’s lost the use of that arm,” Missy whispered to Ruby, who nodded in agreement; the two seemed to have displaced their rivalry in light of the current dilemma.  “That’ll be a big disadvantage.”

“I wonder who’s next,” Ruby returned.  “Will she send one of us out…or does Erika plan on using one of her own fighters now?”

Their question was almost immediately answered as Erika flung out a poke ball.  “Go, Parasect!” Erika cried as her battler materialized on the floor and raised its pincers in an act of belligerence.

“You say you figured out Armor’s weakness by watching him battle,” Erika said with a small hint of cockiness; she was much more sure of herself now that Giovanni was down to his second half of fighters.  “Well, I figured out your pokemon’s weakness—poison!  You know what to do, Parasect!”

The insect raised its pincers in compliance, and a sickly-sweet, brilliant blanket of poison spores began cascading out from the Bug/Grass hybrid, covering and suffocating the air near it.

“Hah!” Erika taunted, apparently not phased by the murderous look on the face of Team Rocket’s boss.  “Your Primeape excels at speed and power, but there’s the weakness; he can only use physical attacks!  In order to come at my Parasect, he must first pass through the cloud of poison surrounding my pokemon; a prospect I think your battler does not relish, given the look of the wound on his arm!”  Indeed, the Primeape had shrunk back, his eyes looking fearful and unsure as he cradled the poisoned arm against his white fur.  “That means,” she finished with smugness, “that all we have to do is play the waiting game!”

Giovanni snarled.  “I decide how my pokemon battles, not it, and CERTAINLY not you, you silly little pretender!  How dare you lecture me on battles?! Primeape, attack that bug now!!”

The Fighting-type hesitated before leaping into action, but only for a handful of seconds; he apparently feared his master more than the poison cloud.  Jumping high into the air above the battlefield, the Primeape angled himself downwards for a kick; however, the moment he passed through the poison cloud, he began shrieking, and he clawed at his eyes with his good arm.  Erika’s Parasect caught the ape by the ankle with his pincer and slammed him into the floor; before the Fighting-type had a chance to react, he sent his other pincer careening across his attacker’s torso, leaving a wide and painful-looking cut that oozed blood.  Missy flinched despite knowing that she likely shouldn’t feel such empathy towards and enemy.

Erika’s Parasect, however, was not done; the hybrid pokemon hoisted the barely-conscious Primeape into the air by his ankle once more and slammed him into the arena floor again; this was as much punishment as Giovanni’s pokemon could take.  It fainted.

Giovanni recalled his downed fighter in a stony silence; his anger was so nearly tangible that his goons were silenced out of their usual jeers and boos by it.   Through the silence, Missy looked across the arena once more and saw to her astonishment Dan staring out his cage miserably.  How long has he been awake? Missy wondered.  Dan blinked dejectedly; a rough and drunken-looking Rocket grunt was leaning near his cage, whispering things to Dan that she couldn’t hear; however, given the man’s appearance and the look on Dan’s face, she fathomed a reasonable guess.  Don’t give up Dan, she silently encouraged him.  We haven’t, not yet.

Giovanni sent out his penultimate pokemon.  It was a Slowbro.

Erika eyed it warily.  “Why would he?” She said quietly; whether querying herself or addressing the pokemon, Missy couldn’t tell.  “It has a double weakness to mine; Water falls to Grass, and Psychic to Bug…He’s planning something.”

“Slowbro,” Giovanni mandated, “that thing is impenetrable so long as it has that damned cloud to hide out in…drag it out, won’t you?”  The Slowbro was suddenly surrounded by a purplish-pink aura as the Parasect suddenly began sliding across the floor towards Giovanni’s pokemon, and out of the poison cloud; from the shocked look on Erika’s face and the desperate grappling motion of the Bug-type’s slender legs, he was apparently moving against his will.

Missy groaned.  Oh great, she thought sullenly, another pokemon with weird powers.  The Hypno had been bad enough.

Erika suddenly got a look of extreme firmness on her face.  “Parasect, lunge!” she commanded; her battler, no longer fighting the psychic pull, instead used it to further its own momentum, bringing its claw up to deliver a slash to its prone opponent.  The Slowbro reacted remarkably fast for its species; the crustacean-covered tail of the creature suddenly spun around the side of its master, the Bug-type’s pincer bouncing harmlessly off the shell.

Giovanni smirked.  “Slowbro is a pokemon with more than one trick up its sleeve,” he gloated.  Erika was less than appreciative.

“Parasect, poison!” she commanded.  As the Bug-type responded, pooling spores in the air about it, the Slowbro responded by blasting a shower of water towards its opponent; though the mushroom on the Parasect’s back absorbed the spray with no apparent consequences, the dampened cloud of spores surrounding Erika’s pokemon sunk to the floor.  Erika gasped, and Giovanni laughed.

“Wet pollen sticks together and is a threat to no one,” he taunted.  “Just like your Parasect is no threat to my pokemon.”  Seemingly on cue; the aura surrounded the Slowbro once again; Erika’s Parasect froze in place.  The Slowbro drew pack its fist with a painful deliberateness; it almost seemed to mock its opponent.  The punch, coming from such a slow creature, would have easily been dodged by most if not all pokemon under normal circumstances; bound as it was, the Parasect could only watch helplessly as the Slowbro swung its fist, connecting with his opponent’s tender underbelly, releasing the psychic bonds at the same time that the fist connected.  Erika’s pokemon was sent flying.  As it struggled on the floor—the Parasect was remarkably frail—Giovanni ordered one final attack from his pokemon.  “Chill it,” he said.

Erika gasped; Grass-types were weak to Ice attacks.  The frozen shards that flew towards her pokemon stuck true, skewering the great mushroom on its back.  Erika’s Parasect gave a momentary, pained squeal, and fainted.  Missy couldn’t help but shudder; after a run-in with Rico’s Shellder, she was none-too-fond of cold temperatures.

She recalled it with a veiled look on her face, but when she glanced up she was all determination once again.  “I still lead three to two,” she said simply.  Giovanni’s smile faltered a bit.  “And what better way to fight a Psychic than with a Psychic; go, Exeggcute!”  Erika’s new pokemon appeared to be a pile of light pink eggs with faces.

Giovanni gave a snort.  “Am I supposed to be frightened by this?  Holiday candy looks more threatening.”  The grunts behind him gave a handful of agreeing chuckles.

Erika’s determined look remained.  “You’re an uneducated bumpkin if you actually meant that,” she indicted.  “Like your Slowbro, my Exeggcute is much more than it appears.”

Suddenly, the eggs began levitating, their eyes becoming strange myriads of odd color.  The Slowbro gave a start and quickly reassumed the pinkish aura; both pokemon made unblinking eye contact with one another for nearly a full minute before the Slowbro collapsed, the aura fading; likewise the Exeggcute returned to the floor, their eyes normal again.

“A stalemate,” Giovanni grunted.  “They cancel one another out.  We’ll have to rely on their other abilities.”

“What other abilities?”  Erika pondered with an irking faked innocence.  Giovanni ground his teeth.

“This!  Use your ice attack!”

The Slowbro shot the same burst of shards at the eggs as it had at Erika’s Parasect; however, they scattered, all six eggs bouncing away in different direction.  The Slowbro tried—and failed—to follow all the paths at once, its head swerving drunkenly.

“Egg Bomb!” Erika ordered.  The separate eggs of her pokemon suddenly converged on their opponent, bludgeoning him powerfully; as they regrouped safely, the Slowbro dropped to its knees, heaving.

“Hit it again!”  Erika commanded; the Exeggcute once again split for a multi-pronged assault on its opponent.

“I warned you not to try the same trick twice,” Giovanni accused angrily.  “Slowbro, defend!”

Though the majority of the eggs struck true, the Slowbro did manage to maneuver one intro striking the shell on its tail rather than its body; the egg fell to the floor, stunned from the impact.  The Slowbro brought his foot down on the egg, slamming it into the ground; the faces of every part of the Exeggcute contorted in pain.

“I know more about Exeggcute than you believe,” Giovanni continued.  “Such as the fact that they each communally feel one another’s pain!  Ice attack on the weakened one!”

The Slowbro shot ice at the Grass-type trapped beneath its foot and this time, the attack struck home.  The egg head gasped and fainted, and so did its brethren.  Erika looked shaken.

We’re tied again, Missy thought before she realized the inevitable.  It’s down to Ruby and I.  One of us has to go against this monster…and whatever else he sends out after it.  The question was…

Which one?
Yep, it's an update! Way to go, right? :D :D

I'd complain about writing battle scenes...but you all know my feelings on the subject. :nod:

Pokemon is © Nintendo and Satoshi Tajiri; story and some characters are © ~deeman45.

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I AM DYING OF SUSPENSE. AT least I don't need to wait for any chapters to come out. :D