Chapter 16: Battle with Lance (4) - Swinging for a homerun

Chapter 16: Battle with Lance (4) - Swinging for a homerun

I resized a greatball from my hip and for half a second Lance perked up. Ah, so he had noticed that Titans pokeball was a greatball variant, had he? He was twitchy for my Ace to arrive. This match obviously was getting to him a bit if he was on the lookout for my starter pokemon as much as I was for his. Seems I might have shaken his cage with my early success.

Go Bertha! I shouted.

From the ball a large form emerged from mid-air to land on the ground with a quake rocking the arena.

From the light, a large bipedal, grey and rust-brown coloured pokemon emerged. She was a heavy beast covered in rugged armour that shifted with careful steps, each footfall causing a feeling of the world shifting as she adjusted her stance. On her head, two horns buzzed as they whirled to life. You couldnt notice it as much, but her fingers could also spin up like smaller, if blunter, drill rotors. She raised her arms and roared at her entrance.

RHY! RHYPERIOR!

OH!? WHOS THAT POKEMON?! The commentators were leaning forward in shock. The air in the arena seemed to grow thin as a thousand lungs gasped in surprise.

Another commentator took up the silence as an invitation, WHATS THIS!? NOT ONLY DOES HE HAVE ANCIENT POKEMON, BUT HE ALSO HAS AN ULTRA-RARE POKEMON! SOMEONE CALL A PROFESSOR! WHO IS THAT POKEMON!? The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñòv€l-B1n.

I had been forced to spend almost two weeks searching up and down Mt. Mortar during the offseason to have her evolve. I had yet to encounter another trainer to have one so I was probably way ahead of the curve with getting my Rhydon a Protector or, rather as Id found, a magma alloy hood that sparked her evolution.

Lance narrowed his eyes but didnt react otherwise. His Dragonite flourished its head back and forth in agitation. The referee glanced at both Lance and me before raising his flag. Begin!

Ascend!

Track it Bertha, I ordered.

My pokemon lifted her head and slowly swiveled her head around. Now, Stone Edge, She raised her arms and swaths of stone the size of normal Gravellers rose off the ground before being compressed into mere head-sized boulders. They launched upwards far faster only for Dragonite to dance around them, the dragon easily weaving in and out of danger despite Berthas best attempts.

I scowled at the dancing Dragon. Apparently the break had done it a great favor in allowing it to somewhat regather its energy.

Rocks roared through the air but the Dragonite was like a leaf on the wind. Lance allowed this for a long minute before nodding to himself as the barrage stopped.

Rest, he called out firmly.

His Dragonite didnt question him and instead shut its eyes while in mid-air. Notably, it did not stop flying and instead maintained its altitude.

Stone Edge, I ordered. This seemed oddly disrespectful of Lance. The move was good to use in case his pokemon got worn down like Don had achieved but it should have made it a sitting duck.

This time the rocks soared up, closing on the slumbering dragon. Only for the pokemon to twitch a wing and fade to the side out of the strike zone.

I could only watch on in shock as each wave of Rock that followed was almost as easily evaded.

A twitch or flap of the wing that saw it slowly losing altitude. A few rocks scrapped along the Dragons side but none of the rocks struck cleanly, allowing the damage to actually occur.

I looked down to see a very smug-looking Lance watching me. I clicked my tongue.

A fusion move.

A move that was created from combining two or more moves together. This was a sign of just how highly trained this pokemon was in a speciality. Lance would have had to hone it in this move above all others. I had to admit it was an amazing trump card to pull during a high-stakes match. Then hed combined it with rest. I suspected it might have been a flying-type move, rest and detect or sleep talk all merged together. There would be entire threads about this reveal on the pokenet later.

He must have trained this pokemon extensively to be able to evade in its sleep even to that margin. I could probably continue to fire up at it with Berthas Stone Edge and get it to where it would be if Lance hadnt achieved Rest but that was not taking into account how much energy it would take out of Bertha.

There would be nothing stopping him from getting off another rest. I needed to force his hand.

I needed to swing for the stands with a home run.

I swept my arm up. Bertha! Stop the barrage and hang ten! Bertha snorted, the equivalent of a giggle for her. Around her, small boulders dropped to the ground showing shed relaxed her control of them. Instead of grasping for rock, water rose up from the grates and surged towards her. The crowd shouted warnings, worried about some form of treachery.

Instead of fearing the water, Bertha grinned as she stepped back. Her position dropped into a wide stance as the wave surged up more like a tsunami.

It rose high and Bertha popped up on the top with her arms crossed. Her maw stretched wide as she stunned an entire stadium with her unexpected move.

THAT ROCK POKEMON IS SURFING! I CANNOT BELIEVE MY EYES! screamed the commentator over the roaring water.

ITS PUT HER IN RANGE! cried out the other commentator, having caught what I was aiming for. If the attacks were too easily read and avoided, I simply needed to close the distance. Something that Lance was not going to oblige me with.

Dragonite! Awaken! Lance shouted as my pokemon reached ten meters away from the slumbering pokemon.

Dra? The pokemon replied sleepily.

I blinked in surprise. Had Lance not revealed his Kingdra before? I ran back through the potential teams I thought he might have access to and Id immediately added in the Kingdra along with the Aerodactyl. A pokemon that he apparently wasnt going to call out at all. Or did he not have it at all?

Had it appeared in the cartoon?

I watched the Kingdra bob up and down across from me. It stayed well away from the ice. Apparently, hed never been shown to use it during a public setting until now. Lance was looking at me with a frown before shaking his head. For once I was glad of my normally non-expressive and narrow eyes that made it tough to cold read me.

Mentally, I was pumping my fist up and down. Foreknowledge for the win!

Trainers! Are you ready!? shouted the referee.

I resumed my pose and nodded. Lance copied me.

Ready? Beg! Impact driver! I shouted before the referee could fully announce the start.

Bertha perked up at the order. Her feet slid apart and one arm rose up to point right at the ground. The other arm lowered to touch the ground as if shed just performed a three-point landing.

This wasnt just a pose for style though.

Ideally, I would not have had Bertha be the one to face Lances Kingdra. Ideally, it would have been Sanchez or maybe even Shin. That ship had long since been sailed by Lance holding the Kingdra in reserve. Apparently, because hed never before been forced to call upon it. I hadnt realized that however, and instead thought it might come out as his third or fourth pokemon. Instead, Id gotten powerhouses in Charizard and Dragonite.

Now I had it much later than I wanted it to be, where it might cause a lot of problems for me. Bertha was slow. She was a tank that could handle huge amounts of damage. More than almost any of my other pokemon.

Against a speedster like Kindgra I didnt like her chances with having to rely on ice beam. I doubted Surf would work in my favour. I might even lose if I wasnt careful. Unless I bucked up and swung for the stands again. Lance wasnt the only trainer that could create a Fusion move.

Use Dragons dance! shouted Lance. His eyes locked on the raised arm. He could tell something was up but he obviously wasnt sure how it was going to come into effect.

The arm began to hum as it vibrated. The drills on each finger spun up faster and faster as the arm pulsed slightly.

Hydropump! ordered Lance. From the mouth of his pokemon a torrent of water shot forward and slammed into Bertha. I let it, swallowing at the super effective move hammering into my pokemon. I wished I had another option that could see her deny Kingdra its speed. Instead, I held my pose and watched Bertha tank the hit. I clenched up and willed her to hang on.

Hold, Bertha!

She grunted. There was no doubt that she felt the hit but instead of the type advantaged attack knocking her out like it had with Lances Gyrados, she endured. Her feet were dug in, this was a move I had practised with her time and time again. She just needed to endure the coming onslaught.

Again! shouted Lance as he leaned across the railing. His gaze was locked onto the heavily vibrating arm as a whine filled the air.

Once more the Hydropump slammed into Bertha and she groaned, her body trembled now as she shuddered. Her eyes drooped. BERTHA HANG ON AND THIS FIGHT IS YOURS!

Lances eyes widened. Bide? Kingdra! END IT NOW!

I grinned. He only had it partly right. Bide formed only part of the move I was now using. Kingdra inhaled and I decided I needed to pull the trigger.

NOW BERTHA! IMPAC I didnt get the chance to finish as Kingdra shot out his Hydropump.

Before it hit, Bertha unleashed the stored potential energy she had been building up. Her arm drove through the ground and from the impact site a blinding flash of light exploded outwards.

The arena rocked. The hit landed more like a meteor crashing home rather than a pokemon move. I braced and leaned into the quake. Lances cape billowed outwards as he was hit by the shockwave. Around the arena, the damage absorbers shot into active states to take the hits.

The arena itself broke as fissures ruptured out from the point of impact. Canyons of the ground had been torn up revealing the underlying metal that stopped pokemon from merely disappearing into the ground during a match. Around the Kingdra, spiked boulders had slammed up and rammed into the pokemon.

The Kingdra flopped to the ground. Out cold.

The crowd roared to their feet, a clamouring mass of people that had been shaken up from the attack forcing them to stand. I could see some play backs of the crowd getting thrown about with Berthas attack.

OH!!!! BROCK UNLEASHES A ONE HIT K.O! shouted the commentator.

I exhaled in relief, only to hiss as a much larger body hit the ground. I looked up to see a ragged Bertha staring up at me with tired eyes.

You did good girl. Better than good, even. Rest now. I raised her greatball and returned her. She shut her eyes as the red beam of light touched her and let herself fall into sleep.

I eventually looked up from the greatball to see Lance still observing the field. His eyes roamed across the large canyons of damage, and he toyed with his greatball on his necklace. His gaze comes up to meet me and I can see that I have forced his respect now.

We dont make any move to actually deploy our next pokemon.

We turn away for the final reprieve. There will be no more breaks after this. The next fight would see us putting our pride on the line. This was a battle of starter pokemon.