Chương 56: 5.2 Entree

Aaron's Pokemon - Artoria (Kirlia) - Jeanne (Flaaffy) - Durvasa (Mankey) - Cloud (Egg) - Magellan (Chikorita) Entree 5. 2 Aaron Fulan Rustboro City Gym Leader Roxanne was quite pretty. She dressed far more conservatively than most, preferring long skirts and professional blouses to more casual garb, but she had an understated charm that complemented her composed and nurturing aura. She stood across from me with a gentle smile, pokeball in hand.

Lisia and Chaz sat in the spectator stands, along with a handful of others who had nothing better to do with their time this early in the morning. The two of them looked on with polite interest; they were here for me, not the battle itself. I couldn't help but think that this was nice, having friends. I could see why people went on gym challenges in little cliques. Magellan was squeezed between the two, and looked rather unhappy about it.

It wasn't that he didn't like them per se; Lisia had quickly won him over with her generosity when it came to poffins and other treats. She was a firm believer in positive reinforcement as a training method and seemed to have a never-ending supply of snacks for her pokemon. She openly admitted that since she didn't walk through the routes, other than hotels, snacks for her team were the biggest drain on Uncle Wal's credit card. No, he was annoyed at the undue attention he was drawing.

Not only was he a rather rare, Johtoan starter, he was also clearly crippled. Given his rather battle-hungry personality, the fact that this was a major battle, and one he didn't get to participate in, also stuck in his craw something fierce. I found it a little humorous that his continued irritation with his fellow audience only made them pay more attention to him. He, like every other chikorita, smelled great, like flowers and pine and fresh-cut grass.

The more annoyed he became, the more his pheromones filled the air around him. It wouldn't get in the way of the battle, but the gym's stands had never smelled better.

"Are you ready, challenger?" the referee called. At my nod, he launched into his perfunctory speech, all things I'd known coming in. I noticed that his speech was almost verbatim as I remembered from my textbook.

"Then let the battle begin!" He lowered his arms, bringing the two, red and green flags down. Gym leaders had immense power and independence when it came to the running of their gyms, to the point that they could bestow badges through a challenge and not a battle if they chose. Because of this, not all gyms bothered with referees, especially at the lower-badge battles. This adherence to procedure was one more thing that was emphasized in the Rustboro Gym. There was more to battling than just combat tactics.

Conference rules for official battles were designed to be fairly intuitive and fair to both sides, but mistakes happened and complications arose. Referees had to be trained somewhere and other than Ever Grande City, Rustboro's trainer school, the adjacent vocational division, was one of several places where they could be officially licensed. As such, these recorded battles served the dual purpose of acting as real-world examples of good and bad referees. We released our balls at the same time.

"Graveler, it's time!" Roxanne called. She started with a light, underhand throw, releasing her pokemon practically at her feet. I opted for the same. Distance could only help, or so I thought.

"Jeanne." Jeanne popped out of her ball with a customary cheer, little, stubby arms hailing the sun.

"Flaaf!"

"Oh, that is unfortunate," Roxanne said sympathetically. I looked at the field with trepidation. Already, I was at a massive disadvantage. I could stay in and commit. Theoretically, it was possible for Jeanne to output so much electricity that she completely overwhelmed the rate at which the graveler naturally grounded electricity. That would let her deal damage against a ground type pokemon, albeit diminished greatly. However, this was a graveler, a respectably powerful rock type. I didn't think that was likely.

I had faith that Jeanne was the overall stronger pokemon in a vacuum, but the type disadvantage was too steep. She wasn't so much stronger that she could overcome such a big handicap. That said, switching had its own problems. First, I only received one per match and there were plenty of dual rock and ground type pokemon. Dodging this particular matchup was no guarantee that Jeanne's next battle would be any more favorable.

Onix, rhyhorn, or even a larvitar if she was feeling particularly gung ho today were all possibilities. Second, it would give the graveler time to set the field to its preference, something that rock types excelled at. At the third badge, Stealth Rock, Sandstorm, and other terrain-shifting moves were fully on the table, not to mention shit like Rock Polish that could make the graveler a far greater threat. I had to stay in. Roxanne waited quietly, allowing me to gather my thoughts.

No opponent at a conference would ever have given me this kind of grace. It was something I noted for later; I needed to learn to read the scene faster in the future. Still, Jeanne wasn't idle. My fantastic little lamb had begun to build up charge passively, as I'd taught her to do. When I snapped out of it, she was ready.

"Agility. Close in," I barked. It wasn't the order she expected, almost every battle began with Electric Terrain, but we didn't have that luxury.

"Graveler, Stealth Rock, please," Roxanne said. Her voice was calm and clinical. And why shouldn't she be? Jeanne had no choice but to cross the full battlefield to reach her pokemon. She'd get one usage of Stealth Rock, or any other supporting move, for free here. Graveler focused as several shards of stone, as big as my thigh, rose up into the air. They glowed white before launching themselves around my side of the field. There, they fell to the ground, seemingly inert, but I knew better.

Stealth Rock, like with many moves, didn't work exactly as in the games. There was no such thing as "entry hazards" because "hazards" were dangerous persistently. There was nothing stopping a pokemon from stepping on a caltrop mid-fight, not just when they emerged. By the same token, hazards could be cleared much more easily. One common option at higher levels of competitive battling was using a localized Earthquake to shatter nearby traps or Surf to sweep them aside.

In the case of Stealth Rock, I knew that those seemingly inert rocks would explode into jagged shards when triggered. Masters of the move could use them like proximity mines, covering huge swathes of the field. At this level though, these would likely only detonate upon direct contact.

"Don't touch the rocks. They explode," I told Jeanne. I'd already lost track of precisely which rocks were boobytrapped, but had no choice but to carry on.

"Rock Tomb, Graveler. Cut her off." Graveler grunted as it focused once more. White circles of light formed beneath Jeanne's feet as she ran. Pillars of stone rose, though far slower than I knew they could. Roxanne was holding back; she was using legitimate strategies, just with far more leeway afforded to the challenger. Jeanne bleated in annoyance. Her body glowed with a muted, blue aura as she sped up noticeably. The glow itself was proof of wasted energy, something we'd need to refine in the future.

Still, she was agile enough to dodge most of those strikes, only taking a handful of glancing blows from the assault. Then, as we drew closer, Roxanne said calmly, "Bulldoze." The graveler launched itself into the air. When it landed, its heavy body made an audible thud against the earthen battlefield. A shockwave carried through the dirt in all directions as the earth visibly rippled. But I'd seen that coming. Of course the graveler knew ground type moves.

And against an electric type too fast to hit normally, this was its primary option. The moment the words left Roxanne's mouth, I replied in kind.

"Jump. Onto the rock." Jeanne was responsive. She slapped the ground with her powerful tail, launching herself into the air. She alighted on the nearest Rock Tomb just as the graveler impacted the ground, using her opponent's own technique to shield herself from the super-effective move. Roxanne looked momentarily surprised by this before settling into a calm, approving nod. I wondered if she'd be using the recording in one of her classes.

"Don't stop," I called to Jeanne.

"Dive down with Fire Punch."

"Meet them head on." My flaaffy leapt down with a brave little bleat. Her fist ignited with a brilliant, orange flame. I knew it'd be ineffective, of course, but there wasn't much else I could do. It was either this or Pound because Jeanne didn't know Iron Tail. It was one of the moves on my list, but I hadn't had the spare time given the contest preparations. It quickly became apparent that Jeanne, though she was better in close quarters than a flaaffy had any right to be, couldn't do much against a graveler.

The graveler simply took Jeanne's punches before retaliating with its four arms, forcing her back with little trouble. That was fine. Not ideal, but fine. It allowed me to set expectations. Roxanne seemed like the type of person who allowed her challengers to make their mistakes.

"Jeanne! Praise the sun!" I shouted.

"Flaaf!" From the very moment she stepped onto the field, she'd begun to Charge. While Roxanne gave me the time to consider switching, she'd also given Jeanne enough leeway. And my little lamb had yet to launch a single electric attack. Her wool and tail-bulb were saturated with electricity. She unleashed all of that in a single, blinding flash. As close as the graveler was, it had no way to react to the sudden flashbang. Worse, graveler were cave-dwelling pokemon.

Their eyes weren't as sensitive to light as, say, a golbat's, but a certain degree of heightened senses was a given. As soon as it reeled back, I recalled Jeanne.

"Referee, I am switching my pokemon."

"Understood. Challenger Aaron has withdrawn his flaaffy," he stated, more for the recording than anyone currently watching. Durvasa took the field, as far forward as I was allowed to throw the ball. It wasn't just to get him that little bit closer to his target; I'd forgotten where the Stealth Rocks were on my side of the field so the best I could do was to skip over as many of those hazards as I could. My mankey launched himself forward, quickly crossing the battlefield. It was interesting to watch.

He, like any other monkey, sprinted faster on four feet. Then, as he neared the graveler, his gait shifted so he was bipedal and he began to incorporate the bobbing and weaving motions he learned from Archie the hitmonchan. He got in three, rapid punches that rocked his opponent. Each blow chipped off bits of the graveler's stone armor, further adding to the blinded pokemon's disorientation.

"Graveler, enough! Bulldoze in all directions!" Roxanne called.

"Retreat onto the rocks," I countered. The graveler leapt into the air, but so did Durvasa. Rather than try to overwhelm his opponent directly, he flipped away like a gymnast. Then, when his aerial arc took him near a pillar of stone, he lashed out with his tail, catching himself against the rock. Another massive shockwave resonated through the earth. Durvasa was safe, but such was the graveler's power that the stone itself began to split and crack. My mankey didn't notice though.

Instead, he hooted and hollered at his opponent. I didn't speak pokemon, but I knew enough to recognize Encore by now. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Rollout, Graveler! Straight ahead," Roxanne said. To everyone's surprise but my own, the graveler disobeyed its trainer. It leapt into the air and used Bulldoze again. Roxanne clicked her tongue in frustration. A third shockwave shook the field. This time, the pillars nearest to the graveler shattered, breaking apart in the tremors. That wasn't much of a problem for Durvasa though. He was far too accustomed to leaping from treetops to be bothered by something like that.

He simply launched himself to one further away and continued talking shit in pokespeak.

"Focus Energy then Karate Chop from on high," I shouted.

"Man-Mankey!" he screeched. As his opponent leapt into the air for the fourth time, Durvasa did the same. His fist glowed with condensed aura. Then, with a vicious streak that would humble a salamence, he brought his fist down in an overhead smash, spiking the graveler like a volleyball. The referee waited for the smoke to clear before announcing our victory.

"Gym Leader Roxanne's graveler is unable to battle. Please choose your next pokemon."

"Encore was unexpected," Roxanne hummed.

"It's so nice to see a fighting type that isn't just brute force, though I see your mankey has plenty of that as well."

"Thank you, Leader Roxanne," I said, bowing slightly.

"Durvasa is a one of a kind."

"So I see. He's impressive. Let's see how he deals with this! Go, Nosepass!" Just because I loved the games didn't mean I had an encyclopedic knowledge of every pokemon. For the most part, my knowledge extended to competitive pokemon for tryhards, the things I learned in trainer school, and self-study subjects from my family library. Suffice to say, Rudolph the red-nosed moai didn't exactly feature in my studies. If I remembered right, its sole claim to fame in my past life was its evolution, probopass.

During the Sinnoh generation, it was one of two, fully evolved pokemon that had access to the ability, Magnet Pull. The other, magnezone, was much better and saw usage in higher tiers, leaving probopass as the only pokemon available to prevent steel type pokemon from switching out in lower tiers of competitive play. As for this pre-evolution, I had little in the way of concrete information, but I could assume it fought in a similar manner as its evolution.

I could expect Power Gem for sure, maybe Lock-On and Zap Cannon if Roxanne was feeling feisty today.

"It probably fights like Jeanne," I told Durvasa. I'd just have to treat it like a slow-ish turret.

"You know what to do."

"Man," he grunted. He was already moving. A subtle, white glow suffused his form. It was hard to see against his cream-colored form, but I knew it was there.

"Don't let him get close. All out assault!" Roxanne called. She knew that attempting to set up any kind of advantage here would be a mistake.

"Power Gem!" As I'd thought, the nosepass began its assault right away. Hexagonal crystals of light formed around it before launching towards Durvasa. He was a tiny target though, only one third the height of the sentient moai and annoyingly agile. Durvasa bobbed a little, dodging the first gem by a single hair. He then turned that slight crouch into a tumble towards his left, narrowly dodging two more.

As he rose, a fourth gem caught him, landing a glancing blow against his crown that did more to stoke his ever-simmering anger than hurt him. He let out an infuriated screech and bared his fangs. The next three were not dodged; they were deflected. Fighting type aura clad his hands as he moved forward step by step. Truthfully, I didn't know what made Power Gem a "rock type" move.

I'd seen videos of pokemon that fired off straight beams of light, like persian from their jewels, while others, like this nosepass, made projectiles. The very idea of a rock type energy seemed paradoxical. And yet, there must have been something to that classification. Or, I hoped there was. Rock type moves were "not very effective" against fighting types in the games. I hoped there was something to that in real life as well. Durvasa turned this battle into one of attrition.

Rather than use Detect and Focus Energy to dodge, he was channeling that hyperawareness into finely honed aggression to slap aside his opponent's assault. Every projectile that got through his defense only made him angrier, more purposeful, until it seemed that an up close and personal confrontation would be inevitable.

"Discharge then Magnet Rise!"

"Rush it down!" The nosepass let out a grating noise, not unlike two rocks being ground together. After charging for two seconds, electricity poured out of its magnetic nose in a wave of golden light. Durvasa let out a howl of pain and rage. Electricity wasn't a projectile he could parry with physical force, not at his level at least, so he had no choice but to take the attack and keep going. Still, he trained with Jeanne. He was more than used to that bit of unfairness.

I saw his aura surge with crimson wrath that encircled a core of determined focus. His emotional aura always had a ruddy tinge of annoyance, both with the world and himself, but now, it burned like a bonfire. He ignored his smoking fur with practiced ease and blitzed the nosepass, murder in his eyes. The nosepass had not recovered from using such a powerful move when Durvasa fell upon him. My mankey landed a harsh Karate Chop square on its Rudoph nose.

Though the huge magnet didn't shatter into pieces like every other rock Durvasa punched, pokemon were made of sterner stuff, the nosepass definitely felt that. Durvasa allowed himself to fall into a haze of rage. He jabbed its nose two more times before falling to one knee and sweeping its stubby legs out from under it with a Low Kick. Up close like this, there was no chance for the nosepass to respond; Durvasa was too fast, too fluid for its clumsy swings to do anything.

"No! Magnet Rise!" Roxanne shouted. The nosepass groaned in pain but obeyed its trainer. Electricity flowed from its nose into its limbs as it slowly rose into the air. Durvasa screeched in anger as its opponent floated out of range. He managed to land a few more hits, but the bulky pokemon soaked up the damage without losing its concentration. Clearly, Roxanne had been preparing this one for its eventual evolution. Then, I got a wicked idea.

"Durvasa! Encore, again!" It took him a second to remember that I was here. The corona of rage that shrouded him made him slow to respond to outside orders. It was a failing, one I was still trying to train away slowly. He'd gotten better, but I still found it easier to leave him to his own devices except in crucial moments like this. Then, he processed what I was saying and a spike of vicious, vindictive glee tore through his anger. He glared up at the nosepass and howled yet more profanities in pokespeak.

Across the field, Roxanne muttered something under her breath, probably words inappropriate for children. She looked at me with tired resignation, conceding the bad call on her part. There wasn't a whole lot she could do here. Normally, had this been a proper conference battle, she would have used one of her switches, but she was a gym leader; she couldn't switch out as a handicap for us challengers. She could only watch as her nosepass continued to funnel as much magnetic energy into its limbs.

It floated higher and higher, exhausting itself greatly. It was not a steel type; save for its nose, it lacked any innate magnetic properties. Nor was it an electric type that could freely adjust such traits. No, as a pure rock type, using such a high-level technique repeatedly couldn't be easy, especially after that full-powered Discharge earlier. Sure enough, it kept this up for only three more minutes before crashing down with a heavy thud. Durvasa was on it in a heartbeat.

And, exhausted and weary, it put up even less of a fight than last time. Soon, she recalled the nosepass with a shake of her head.

"That was a poor decision on my end," she admitted with a sigh.

"Well done using the gym's rules against me, challenger."

"Thank you," I said with a nod.

"Durvasa is quite cunning."

"He is, and exceptionally strong, too. You've trained him well. Luckily, my last pokemon excels at dealing with frontline bruisers like him. Go, Lunatone!" I sighed when I saw the crescent moon pokemon float above the field. I knew immediately that any hope of sweeping this match three-nothing was gone. I didn't doubt that this lunatone was at the third badge level. Roxanne wasn't the type to fuck with challengers by raising the difficulty cap just because she was a little frustrated.

That said, I also didn't doubt that she had several trickier pokemon like this across multiple badge levels. She was well within her rights to test the challenger's ability to battle a rock type that bucked stereotypes.

"Durvasa, that's a psychic type," I told him plainly.

"Do you want to stay in or bow out now?"

"Man. Mankey." He stared at me like I was an idiot. Of course he'd keep fighting. Tired, beaten up, but giving up never even crossed his mind.

"You're right. This is a good experience, win or lose."

"Key." Unfortunately, Durvasa's resolve didn't mean much against the lunatone. It could passively fly and saw nothing wrong with using Psychic at range. Durvasa tried to counter with Swift, but the lunatone's natural defenses were too much. Not two minutes later, I was forced to return Durvasa.

"May I ask you something, challenger?" Roxanne called.

"Yes?"

"Why did you allow your mankey to keep fighting? You knew the outcome beforehand."

"I did," I replied with a nod.

"At higher levels, the mankey line can learn different moves to close the distance and will be able to strike at psychic types, but not as he is now."

"So why did you let him stay?"

"He needs the experience. Losing is valuable too, wouldn't you agree, Leader Roxanne?"

"I suppose you're right."

"Well, that, and Durvasa would lose respect for me if I only threw him at opponents we both knew he could beat."

"That's true. Yes, it's important to consider the pokemon's personality. Please, send out your next pokemon."

"Alright, Jeanne, time to clean house."

"Flaaf!" Jeanne bleated enthusiastically. Her tail-bulb began to glow once again as she entered her Charge state. Roxanne clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"I won't be burned by that again. Lunatone, use Hypnosis!" She fell for it.

"Jeanne, Electric Terrain!" Jeanne stamped her foot and brought her tail down against the ground. She hadn't had the time to build up a great charge, but that was fine. She'd used the move for contests so often that Electric Terrain was second nature to her. A wave of golden light spread from her tail like the ripples on a calm lake. Electricity crackled against the ground and energized Jeanne even as the lunatone attempted to lull her into slumber. Then the match began in earnest.

Roxanne's lunatone was a lot like Jeanne in that both preferred to act as ranged artillery. It could fly, and that in itself gave it more mobility options than Jeanne, but the core of its battle style was the same. The two traded probing attacks, gauging each other's strengths. Jeanne had taken a few glancing blows from the graveler's Rock Tomb but was largely fine. Similarly, Durvasa had put forth a valiant effort with Swift, but couldn't do more than annoy the lunatone.

"Psychic!"

"Shockwave!" We called out our orders at the same time. Eight bolts of electricity arced through the air to strike the lunatone from multiple directions. The lunatone, despite having started to attack at the same time, was forced to turn the Psychic into a defensive field around itself. This was one of the downsides of Psychic, the move, not the type. The move went beyond mere telekinesis.

It was one of the more destructive attacks the average pokemon could learn, but it couldn't be used as readily as comparable moves from other types like Flamethrower or Thunderbolt. Mom explained it by comparing it to a virus or infection. The attacker used their psychic aura to infect the victim, then, depending on how much control they'd managed to usurp, could wreak havoc on the victim's body and mind.

Tearing organs from the inside out, disassociating the mind from the body, those were all possible if the psychic in question was powerful enough. Except, people weren't without protection. There was a reason most psychics weren't godlike entities. Mom used the virus analogy because in the same way everyone had an immune system, our natural auras protected us from psychic attacks.

Or, perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that our auras maintained homeostasis, rejecting external influence to keep a certain level of status quo. In other words, whereas moves like Thunderbolt or Flamethrower were "fire and forget" attacks, Psychic directly pitted the user's mastery of psychic aura against the victim's innate resistance. That was why the move took so much longer to cast, especially when compared to Jeanne's Shock Wave, something she'd trained to snap off in an instant.

"Rock Polish into Psybeam," Roxanne said. To her credit, she realized that too and turned her lunatone into a swift dogfighter.

"Keep using Shock Wave. Gun it down." The lunatone let out an echoing hum as white light shimmered around it. I had no idea how "polishing" its surface made it faster, but it did. Though Jeanne's attacks curved to chase their target, it managed to avoid a few and block the rest. The two engaged in a fight that almost looked like a movie reenactment. There was the lunatone, a fighter jet that zipped across the sky, and Jeanne, a static, anti-air defense that tried to gun it down.

I was pretty sure I'd seen something similar in Star Wars. They were tiring but there wasn't much either Roxanne or I could do. Roxanne's lunatone undoubtedly knew a wider array of moves, moves like Light Screen, Moonblast, Cosmic Power, or even Moonlight. That last one especially would be a pain in the ass to deal with, which was why Jeanne and I couldn't let the lunatone rest for a moment. We had to severely punish the lunatone for doing absolutely anything except running and snapping off the occasional Psybeam.

Jeanne was flagging. Her stamina had improved a great deal, but it was far from infinite. And though the lunatone showed no physical signs of tiring, what with it being a fucking rock and all, I could see its aura just fine. It too was starting to tire. Maybe it was anticlimactic, but there was no definitive clash of finishing moves, no Kamehameha showdown that shook the whole building. In the end, Jeanne took a knee, panting like a dog in the summer.

The lunatone wasn't much better; its levitation had a noticeable wobble to it. The two pokemon gave everything they had but neither could defeat the other.

"Do you have one more Shock Wave in you?" I asked Jeanne. Her aura flared, as did her horns, but both fizzled out. The spirit was willing, but the body refused to respond.

"Flaaf…"

"That's okay, Jeanne. You've done well. Sometimes, matches end on decision, not knockout. Ref, I'd like to withdraw my flaaffy." The referee nodded.

"Very well. The challenger has forfeited his flaaffy. Please reveal your final pokemon." Roxanne cleared her throat gently.

"That won't be necessary. I too withdraw my lunatone. I think Challenger Aaron has more than earned the Stone Badge."

"Yes, ma'am. Gym Leader Roxanne is out of pokemon. Because the challenger has yet to release his third pokemon, Challenger Aaron is the victor." I crossed the field and picked up my lamb. She was getting a little heavy, what with all the muscle and wool. Arcs of residual electricity crawled up my arms but I ignored them with long practice to scratch her ears. She'd done well. The blind matchup into the graveler was unfortunate, but she'd managed to leave it blinded for Durvasa to make short work of.

Had she faced the nosepass, or the lairon I knew Roxanne had in her back pocket, I doubted she'd have had to force a battle of attrition like this. Well, we had room to grow. For starters, variety. I knew for a fact that flaaffy could pick up Power Gem. Dazzling Gleam, too. Maybe Confuse Ray for a little more versatility when dealing with especially tanky opponents. And of course, Jeanne could always learn Thunderbolt; she was certainly powerful enough by now.

Yes, now that she had some grounding in making electromagnetic music, it was time for her to refocus on the battlefield once more. Author's Note After the contest, a battle-heavy chapter. I've yet to fully decide how I want to integrate Aqua and Magma, but it's slowly coming together. Can you imagine, we haven't even touched on the proper plot of Hoenn yet.

Then again, I feel like this story is carried by Aaron's band of misfits, not some overarching need to have Groudon and Kyogre duke it out in a kaiju battle/ritual to summon the green nope-rope. Thank you for reading. To reach a wider audience, and because I enjoy a more forum-like setup to facilitate discussion, I like to crosspost to a wide variety of websites. You can find them all on my Link Tree: https: //linktr. ee/fabled. webs.