Chapter 184 – Punching Up

Chapter 184 – Punching Up

CHAPTER 184 - Punching Up

Honey continuously spun around Vespiquen, and it would slowly build up until she wasn't even visible in battle. I only had two days to study her, so I knew only her moves and a few of her tactics, but none of that mattered when she didn't even fight with moves most of the time anyway. She was too skilled for what she did to be put in a box as rigid as that.

I couldn't afford to stay still no matter how heavy my entire body felt. The longer I waited, the more we were at a disadvantage. Vespiquen excelled at prolonged fights and her survivability as a bug type was second to none.

"Thunderbolt!" I yelled.

Electabuzz whirred, his arms spinning around until electricity burst forward. Zachary didn't bother responding. Instead, honey coalesced in front of Vespiquen with a single thought from her. The Thunderbolt simply fizzled out inside of the liquid as the small screams of hundreds of... drones that infested her honey rang out throughout the arena. The center of the honey cooked, darkening until it turned to black sludge, but it was quickly replaced with fresh supply. Arceus, this thing was disturbing to fight.

"E-Swift. Protect when it attacks you," I exhaled.

A dozen electrically-charged stars appeared above Electabuzz, and he sent them forth with a grunt. If honey was enough to block electric type attacks, I wanted to check if Swift would break through. Vespiquen's gem shone, and honey packed itself so tightly together that the stars simply stopped and disappeared with a small explosion, as if they'd hit a brick wall.

"Attack Order. Scatter," Zachary said.

I bit my lip and immediately ordered Electabuzz to Protect. I knew what attack was coming, and it'd come so fast that nothing else would work.

The solid honey exploded outward in thousands of pieces that glittered under the arena's harsh lights. Vespiquen screeched, and the fragments shed any extra weight, becoming sharpened spikes mid-air while the waste liquified again and returned to orbit her. The spikes whizzed directly toward Electabuzz, but the electric type didn't waste any time. The first shards broke against Protect, but Vespiquen kept them coming, simply opting to exhaust us until she could break through.

Of course, I knew that was the most likely scenario. They would have been dumb to just stop attacking right away, which is why I'd had Electabuzz work on this ever since our battle at the Café Cabin for this in case we ever got overwhelmed again.

"Discharge!" I yelled.

Unlike the battle with Chase, this one was instant. As soon as the Protect fell, electricity burst out of Electabuzz. Vespiquen couldn't control honey itself, but she used the things that swarmed inside of it as building blocks to do whatever she wanted with it. The damage from Discharge fried all of them up and I ordered Electabuzz to get close. Keeping our distance was the safest play, but it wouldn't work in the long term so long as Vespiquen could use Defend Order so expertly.

The electric type blurred forward, but he inexplicably began to slow around halfway through the arena. Honey that had scattered on the floor clung and solidified around his feet, forcing him to free himself using more bursts of electricity.

"Attack Order. Scatter and delayed Pillar," he said.

They were less, but they were still many. More fragments of honey sharpened and hurtled toward the electric type, but that wasn't what I was worried about. An enormous amalgamation of honey built up into a ball in front of Vespiquen and then elongated toward Electabuzz. With little time for Protect, he hastily threw himself to the right to dodge the massive attack. Sharp needles burst out of the pillar, some stabbing him in the leg while others liquified and crawled all over him, just overwhelming him with its sheer weight.

"Don't panic! Discharge!" I hurriedly yelled.

Electabuzz's eyes sharpened as he found my voice amidst the incessant buzzing and another wave of electricity surged out of him. The honey lost its life, but the pillar was still raring to go. There were too many shapeless drones inside of it to make it lose form, and Vespiquen constantly renewed its supply from her combs. More honey continued to slow, stab or simply block Electabuzz's way as he desperately struggled forward. Each time, a Discharge or a Protect would buy us a few seconds. Sometimes, I would order a Thunderbolt in hopes of catching the bug type off guard, but she was always ready to block any attacks. By the time Electabuzz made it ten feet away from Vespiquen, he was covered in a mixture of honey and blood from head to toe.

His fist lit ablaze for a moment, burning away the liquid on his hand, and then he collapsed below her.

I gulped as I recalled him with a small apology. I could have switched him out for someone else, but I needed to save them for when I would use Sunshine and I had really thought that we'd at least manage to get a few good Fire Punches in. I could have pulled on the dragon type here, but I wanted to try one last thing.

I sent out Pupitar onto the field, and she announced her presence with a yell, seemingly unaffected by how disturbing Vespiquen was. The bug type ignored her outburst, content to keep pumping out as much honey as she needed.

She would never run out.

Being cautious would never work, and Zach's Vespiquen would shut us down no matter what we tried to do. We had to try something new.

"Fly!" I yelled.

Like a jet, Pupitar expunged some of the compressed air inside of her and flew toward Vespiquen quicker than they'd both expected. She had never fought in public since evolving, so I knew that I was catching him off-guard.

"Defend Order. Layers."

In an instant, ten thick walls of honey grouped up in front of Vespiquen and anchored themselves against the floor for structural support.

I quickly yelled. "Iron Defen—"

But she was already doing it. Her cocoon shimmered, becoming harder than steel as she easily destroyed every single wall in her way and rammed against Vespiquen's abdomen, crushing it and tearing it completely. Honey and things poured out of the huge, gaping wound as Vespiquen screeched in agony. Unable to stop herself, Sweetheart crashed against Kadabra's barrier, kicking up dirt and rocks.

"Focus! Heal Order!"

The drones grew more and more numerous, crawling out of her every orifice and building her body back. The honey solidified around her and plugged the huge hole as the dark drones sewed it all back together until the bug type was as good as new, albeit the portion of her abdomen that had just been healed appeared fragile and paler than the rest of her body.

I felt a glimmer of hope bud inside of my chest. "Again!"

"Fill those vents, Vespi."

The bug type hissed as more honey dripped out of her comb. Pupitar took a few seconds to situate herself, but she was quick to get back in the air before the liquid could clog her vents. This time, there were no barriers to stop us. Pupitar flew forward and—

"Toxic."

The bug type angled her abdomen forward and a glob of poison splashed against Pupitar's shell. It would go away if the fight lasted long enough thanks to Shed Skin, but right now? The poison dripped inside of her cocoon and into her eyes. Pupitar missed Vespiquen by a large margin and honey slowly filled her vents, grounding her permanently. I'd been tunnel visioning so much on the honey that I hadn't expected him to do anything else.

I recalled her before more damage could be done. I couldn't be stingy with my swaps. Not after what she'd done to Electabuzz.

I exhaled as I wiped the sweat off my brow. She'd taken only a single hit and could regenerate herself plenty of times if she wasn't overwhelmed. I didn't have much of a choice any longer. I grabbed Sunshine's Pokeball and sent him out. The honey at his feet immediately burned as enormous flames ignited on his shell and he raised the temperature, leaving only squealing drones that he stepped on without remorse.

This was our first real battle, and I couldn't help but feel somewhat nervous.

"There he is," Zachary grinned, his innocent face twisting with excitement. "Power Gem!"

Turtonator was slow, so dodging her attacks was out of the question, but he was durable.

"Shell Trap and Smokescreen!" I ordered in quick succession.

Eight bright orbs appeared around Vespiquen. With a screech, the bug type sent the gems hurtling toward Turtonator. In a quick, smooth motion that I knew would surprise Zach, Sunshine spun around as his shell glowed with a sinister red, all while he continuously spat out huge quantities of smoke that soon surrounded his entire body.

I didn't see the Power Gem hit him, but I heard them. Each created a subsequent explosion that spread the Smokescreen across our side of the arena.

"Now Flamethrower!" I yelled.

"Defend Order!"

The stream of flames emerged from the smoke. Its speed took Vespiquen by surprise, but she didn't hesitate to clog its path with honey. The liquid caught on fire, first turning dark brown and then into a charred black as it crumbled and bubbled on the floor. The heat had an effect on Vespiquen, but she'd managed to block the attack. I clicked my tongue and ordered another one not to let them rest, and each Flamethrower came from another location through the smoke in order to not let them track us.

Flamethrower was powerful, but it didn't have the extra oomph needed to break through that many layers of honey. If we tried to approach, then Vespiquen would no doubt hit us with Toxic, Power Gem or Air Slash. That left me with either Flash Cannon or Dragon Pulse, but I knew there was only one right answer—

"Gust. Clear the smoke."

I usually had a lot more time than this to think, especially with how quick I'd gotten at it. Vespiquen fanned her wings and the powerful Gust easily started to blow the Smokescreen high into the sky.

"Dragon Pulse," I ordered.

We needed to strike before it was all gone. The red-tinted Dragon Pulse broke through the remaining Smokescreen, and this time it easily broke through all of Vespiquen's hastily erected barriers. The bug type's arm's entire body was engulfed in the hot draconic energy and caught aflame, but a shout from Zachary got Vespiquen to extinguish the flames with Heal Order. It wasn't a pretty affair. Honey wasn't water, and it wasn't working that well, only slightly attenuating the flames.

"Again!"

"Defend Order. Encase yourself and stop his attacks!"

I bit my lip as honey rose from the ground and surrounded the bug type into a solid circle, leaving only a few small holes at the top for her to breathe as her eyes flashed with a twinge of purple. The Dragon Pulse crashed against the barrier, causing it to melt, but the attack somehow began to sputter. Vespiquen emerged from her cocoon a burned mess, and her angered screeches angered me to no end.

Infernape was incredibly quick, jumping over rocks with unmatched agility. The fire type slid across the floor and front flipped over a chasm, climbed a small hill that had been erected and then jumped toward Jellicent as electricity sparked around his fist.

I had thought that we'd been high enough in the sky for Infernape to only be able to hit us with ranged moves, but I was almost wrong. The Thunder Punch barely missed Jellicent, but Infernape's proximity allowed us to strike quickly with Water Pulse. The fire type grunted in pain, but he had barely suffered any damage. If only we'd started training Hydro Pump earlier...

Infernape spat out another Flamethrower on his way down. Jellicent was constantly evaporating and losing enormous quantities of water that he couldn't regain all that quickly, especially when the two ponds had been utterly destroyed by Sunshine's heat and Ampharos destroying the arena.

The sun was still shining, although slightly less.

"Shadow Ball and keep your distance. If they hit us with Thunder Punch, it's over!" I ordered.

Zach seemed content to keep hitting us with Flamethrowers. The problem was that our Shadow Balls were too slow at this height for them to hit an opponent as fast as Infernape while his attacks were quicker than Sunshine's and easily reached Jellicent. Luckily for us, the sun finally went down and Water Sport came back online.

But even then, I was at an impasse.

Infernape hid behind a boulder as another Shadow Ball crashed right where he'd been a second ago. He was threading the needle, but showed no signs of even tiring. Jellicent's body compressed as a powerful Water Sport shot him away from Flamethrower, now weakened by the lack of sun. We couldn't hit each other— but they would still eventually win. We couldn't approach out of fear of Infernape jumping up and hitting us with Thunder Punch, and he was too fast and nimble to outrun. We couldn't create a Night Shade or escape below ground either.

I was just stuck, but Princess would probably fare a lot worse than this. At least Buddy had survivability against fire type attacks, and I wasn't willing to bet that she'd be able to stop Infernape's attacks with Psychic when the heat was so potent.

Zachary was slowly winning and he knew it.

I had to do something.

"Get low," I said. "Whirpool to buy us time."

In a second, Jellicent solidified, deactivated his levitation and fell limp toward the floor. Infernape's face split with a wild grin as he hopped one-handed over a massive rock like it was nothing and then leaped over a ravine on all fours. Buddy released a thin stream of water that quickly grew into a massive Whirlpool.

"Ride it," Zachary said.

Infernape jumped into the water, content to be carried by the current and then ignited with such intensity that the attack could only be Flare Blitz. The water ten feet around him simply evaporated and a burst of electricity overtook Infernape's fist.

I hadn't expected him to do that, but we still bought enough time.

"Now!" I yelled.

A Night Shade emerged from below a chasm and hit Infernape with a weakened Water Pulse. The attack was too weak to send him flying, but caught the fire type so off-guard that the attack missed and crashed into the floor—

And he used it to pivot like a spinning top and hit Jellicent with his feet instead. The electricity ransacked through the ghost type's body and he let out a loud booming scream as he quite literally cooked from the inside.

There was only a pile of goo with two gleaming red eyes left. I bit my lip and recalled him. The leftover shade disintegrated, unraveling with a silent scream as the knots slowly untied themselves and the shade slipped back into nothingness.

Well, it was up to Princess now. I released her and she immediately rose high into the air once she saw the state the arena was in. Her small Fairy Wind already settled into the arena and would continuously chip at Infernape.

"Don't get close, he just took down Buddy with Thunder Punch," I warned. "Keep a barrier around yourself and Ancient Power. Spears. Make them spin."

Fifteen spears rose from the ground already half-formed and with a vicious spin. One by one, they flew toward Infernape, who broke into a run as he nimbly made his way back toward our half of the arena. The first two spears crashed against the floor, but it didn't take long for Princess to adjust her pitch. The third and fourth spears missed as well, but each got closer to Infernape as he closed the distance between them.

At the tenth spear, Togetic faked out Infernape by striking at his right to force him left and two other spears struck his leg and shoulder, still spinning to dig deeper. What I hadn't expected was for the fire type to simply pull the bloodied spears out of his body and chucked them at Togetic with incredible precision and strength. He surprised her so much that she almost got hit, but she quickly took back control right as the spear grazed her stomach. It did force her to abandon her last five, though.

Zachary ordered a Flamethrower that washed over Princess' barrier but still burned her. Her thin fur caught on fire and she began to panic, falling toward the ground like a meteorite. Her pained shrieks broke my heart, but I had a plan.

"Focus on my voice!" I yelled.

Beyond the flames, Infernape's never-ending grunts, the noise of the ground and the loudness of my own thoughts, I heard a single yes.

"Thunder Punch," Zachary said.

I waited. Waited and waited for the last second.

"Dazzling Gleam!"

Pink Mist was sucked into Togetic's body and then burst outward in an explosion bright enough to rival Ampharos' Thunder. The shock wave from the explosion threw Infernape back into one of the ravines, and the Dazzling Gleam had also somehow extinguished the flames. Princess tiredly rose back from the ground and gathered another set of spears, but Infernape didn't emerge from his hiding place.

What were they planning? Blast Burn could work, but was impossible without the sun at Infernape's current level. He didn't know Dig, so that was out too. Was he going to travel across that ravine and emerge from somewhere else to catch us by surprise?

"Watch that ravine," I warned. "Stay sharp."

Twenty seconds passed without a sound until Zachary called out for his Infernape. Twenty seconds was an eternity for nothing to be happening in battles. The fire type emerged from the exact same spot he'd gone down in with a Flamethrower already flying out of his mouth. They'd caught us off-guard again. The fire covered Togetic completely, but she freed herself with another Dazzling Gleam.

Infernape had already closed half of the gap by the same the attack was done.

"Finish her off, Thunder Punch."

"Moonblast—"

The fire type's fists hurled against Togetic's cheek, but a half-formed Moonblast hit him right in the chest. The bright, pink ball was full of impurities and small, but it was still Moonblast. The attack sent Infernape off, but my face fell when Infernape struggled back on his feet and Togetic did not. The flame on his head suddenly grew to a massive size, towering far in the sky as his eyes turned bloodshot. Infernape slammed his fists against the floor and yelled, demanding his next opponent.

Blaze had just come into play.

Tangrowth appeared in a flash of red and the battle immediately began again. Infernape had moved around a lot and gotten hit plenty, so his movements were sluggish. Angel rolled a massive boulder in front of him with Ancient Power to stop a Flamethrower and slowly surrounded himself with the attack in hopes of protecting himself from the flames.

"Flare Blitz. Break through the rocks," Zachary said.

"Bind your vines together and Spore attack!" I commanded.

Vines tied themselves together into structures thicker than my torso and pushed back against Infernape as tons of spores coated the surroundings and caught on fire. The grass type slammed his vine against Infernape with a powerful Power Whip, but the flames took hold and quickly spread. Tangrowth detached it before it could reach his main body. The vines writhed against the ground as Infernape burned everything in his way and rammed into Tangrowth with everything he had.

Angel rolled backwards, a quarter of his vines blackened and turned to ash, but Infernape struggled to keep going. He'd breathed in Poison, Sleep and Paralysis spores and they were no doubt having an effect now that he was so weakened.

The fighting type screamed, pointing at Tangrowth and then gave him a thumbs up as his voice slowly faded.

He was finally unconscious.

"Good job," Zach praised as he recalled his fire type. He'd probably thought that Infernape could finish us off with Blaze.

He sent out his Pidgeot next, but it was only a matter of time now. The bird was an absolutely massive specimen. Pidgeot large enough for their trainers to fit on them were rare, but this one was slightly larger than Maeve's Staraptor and I was confident that she'd be able to fit two of me.

Zachary muttered something under his breath

"Ancient Power!" I yelled.

I knew that Zachary always used Pidgeot's superior sense of hearing to take his opponents by surprise, and I would go down fighting.

Arcs of air broke against Tangrowth's rocks, but Pidgeot wasn't idle. She flew at a comfortable pace and was easy enough to track, but after her trainer whispered something, she suddenly sped up and spun around Tangrowth with incredible agility. It was like she could combine Talonflame's speed and Staraptor's maneuverability all at once.

A Twister formed, and Angel was stuck in the middle. He attempted to launch a few rocks into the sky with Ancient Power, but he didn't have Togetic's control. Even his vines had better range than his psychic powers. The Twister overtook him, kicking up dirt, dust, and rocks.

The end of the attack revealed his unconscious body. I took deep breaths as my heartbeat slowed and the tension in my body loosened. In the end, I'd taken down two Pokemon and slightly injured a third, but that was fighting with the type effectiveness at crucial moments...

There was a long way to go, still, but Arceus, that had been fun.