After travelling for a few minutes, they came across a relatively small clearing in the forest.
"Can I get my sword back?"
"No. We had a deal."
"Fine. Fine."
Setting Yellow down near a tree with his bag, he patted her head when she looked at him to reassure her. With Eevee and Pikachu keeping guard over her, he went back to the center of the clearing with the sword strapped to his belt with the scabbard.
Facing Samurai in the middle of the clearing, Ash said, "Let's go over the deal again, shall we?"
Sighing, Samurai said, "I will not forget about it, you know."
"There is no harm in going over it again so that both of us have an agreement."
"Fine. We will have a two-on-two battle, and the winner gets to keep the sword. Irrespective of the winner, I, Samurai, will lead you out of the forest towards Pewter as an apology for attacking you. Can I get your name now?"
"Well, that's the gist of the deal and no."
"We do not even have a referee to judge the match."
"Did you get a referee when you battled the other trainers?"
"Fair enough. This will be a two-on-two battle, and the trainer whose Pokémon faints loses. Go, Pinsir!"
Out of the thrown Poké ball came a bipedal Pokémon with a wide, dull-brown body divided into segments by thin lines. On top of its head is a large pair of gray, spiky pincers. In its mouth are many long, flat teeth arranged horizontally, and it has triangular eyes. Its legs are short and thick, while its arms are long and thin. It has three claws on each hand and foot; two of its toes face forward and one backward.
"Pinsir, the Stag Beetle Pokémon. A Bug-type Pokémon. Pinsir can use its pincers to crush, toss, bludgeon, or tear opponents; lift things twice its weight; and shatter logs. Captured prey is kept in place by the piercing thorns and sheer strength of Pinsir's horns and will not be released until they are torn in half. Pinsir's horns are quite flexible. It enjoys tree sap. Pinsir lives deep in the temperate forests and jungles, where it burrows underground or hides in the treetops on nights cold enough to render it immobile. Pinsir are known to judge each other based on their pincers. The pincers determine its popularity with the opposite gender based on how thick and impressive it looks."
"A Bug-type, huh. Pidgeotto, I choose you!"
"Geotto!"
Coming out of her ball, Pidgeotto gave out a war cry.
Both the trainers and their Pokémon waited for the other to make a move or anything that would signal the start of the battle. While Pidgeotto was looking down on Pinsir from above the ground, and Pinsir was staring at the bird's location, both trainers were thinking about the move that the opponent would use.
Pikachu, Eevee, and Yellow watched with bated breath, waiting for the battle to start.
Within a few moments of no action, a leaf carried by the gently blowing wind flew and deposited itself on the floor right between the two parties.
"Quick Attack, Pinsir!"
"Pidgeotto! Gust into dodge and keep your distance."
Pinsir poured energy into his legs and charged at Pidgeotto, not giving her a moment to start using Gust. She was pushed back and lost her balance in the air.
"Pidgeotto!"
"Vice Grip, Pinsir! Finish this!"
"Tuck in and dive. Sand Attack!"
Pidgeotto used her imbalance, tucked in, and dove towards the ground, dodging the Vice Grip, and landed on the ground after righting herself. She used Sand Attack on Pinsir's eyes while he was falling on her to continue his attack. Blinded, Pinsir lost his balance. Pidgeotto dodged and flew out of the way.
"Gust!"
Pidgeotto used Gust in the air on Pinsir while he was falling to increase his speed of descent, and he crashed into the ground. The gust and gravity combined to increase the damage he sustained.
Pidgeotto kept her distance as Pinsir recovered and came back to his feet.
"Steel Wing!"
"Harden!"
Pidgeotto gathered energy in her tightened wing muscles and dive-bombed at Pinsir with vengeance to hit him while Pinsir gathered and spread out the energy throughout his body, hardening his exoskeleton.
THWACK.
Pidgeotto's Steel Wing produced less damage than intended as Pinsir increased its physical defense.
"Pinsir, Bind!"
"Pidgeotto, Sand Attack, and Steel Wing on his legs, and use Quick Attack to get out of there!"
Pinsir started extending his hands and pincers to bind and capture Pidgeotto, but she used Sand Attack on Pinsir again, covering his eyes and temporarily blinding him with the additional effect of lower accuracy. Pidgeotto used Steel Wing on Pinsir's unbalanced legs, tripping him and using Quick Attack to fly out of there before any retaliation came along.
"Pinsir!"
By now, Pinsir had fallen on the forest floor and was raising itself from it while panting and glaring at the bird. Pidgeotto was breathing heavily now.
"Focus Energy, Pinsir!"
"Keep your guard up, Pidgeotto!"
"Now, Pinsir!"
Pinsir gathered energy in the muscles of his body, and instead of attacking Pidgeotto, jumped towards a tree and landed on its trunk with his feet. Orienting himself to look at Pidgeotto, Pinsir lunged at her from the tree by jumping. He looked as if he were flying. Pidgeotto used to aerial combat among her flock, barely dodging out of the way of the lunge, and oriented herself while keeping a close eye on her opponent.
Pinsir continued on its flight path and reached a tree on the other side.
"Vice Grip, just as we practiced."
"Pidgeotto, prepare to use Quick Attack to get out of the way of whatever they are about to do!"
Pidgeotto nodded her head and started gathering energy, and spread it slowly inside her body to use Quick Attack whenever necessary. This was what saved her from getting knocked immediately out of the round and possibly saved her life, too.
Pinsir had gone up the tree, which he had landed on, and started going up it. The trees near the league-registered path were shorter and thinner than the ones from the interior of the forest.
CRUNCH! SNAP!
Pinsir tore the top part of the tree with its strength and threw the part at the surprised Pidgeotto, who barely dodged out of the way of the projectile by using Quick Attack and diving towards the ground.
"Orient yourself and remember the training."
Thinking why Ash was telling her that in panic, Pidgeotto looked from the corner of her eye and saw that Pinsir was approaching her with his pincers open. Why would...?
"Vice Grip!"
Oh, that's why.
Using the grace of her Flying type and Quick Attack, she oriented herself fast while approaching and landed on her feet. She used Quick Attack to get out of the way of Pinsir's attack by running on the ground for a few feet.
Crash!
She did not know whether the sound was from the tree or the Pinsir.
"Turn around and Sand Attack!"
Oh, it was the Pinsir.
Turning on her feet, she used Sand Attack on the recovering Pinsir.
All four of them heard panicked yelps from one side and heard the crash of the tree. Turning around, they saw that the tree had crashed near the place where Yellow, Pikachu, and Eevee were.
"Everyone!"
With a panicked shout, Ash rushed towards them in the middle of the battle and hugged a trembling Yellow with Pikachu and Eevee. Ash just turned and glared at the approaching Samurai, who winced alongside his Pinsir.
"Sorry for that. I have trained Pinsir to throw the tree in any direction except the direction of the trainers after the battles with the previous trainers from Pallet Town. It would be better if you kept them behind you during the battle."
Still glaring at Samurai, he picked up his belongings and Yellow. Pikachu and Eevee were walking behind him as he went to the spot. Picking a tree behind him, he placed both his backpack and Yellow there. Yellow was glaring at Samurai and looked at him to say in a quiet voice, "Beat...him."
Ash shivered at her look and voice and promised himself not to get on her bad side.
Returning to his previous spot, he and Pidgeotto noticed that Pinsir had not removed the dirt from his face. Answering the questioning look that was sent towards him, Samurai spoke.
"My actions may not look like it, but I want a fair and honourable duel. It does not matter who wins the match; I have relinquished the right to wield the blade. I have taken the name of Samurai as a token of my appreciation of their honour. I always looked up to them as the ideal people to emulate. My ancestors were once samurai under the leadership of the Shogun and helped and fought alongside him to bring peace to the land. A few generations ago, my family had fled the land and come to Kanto to settle down here. The duty of a samurai is to defend the weak and the vulnerable, but I have strayed from that path, and my Pokémon, who are my living swords, nearly hurt an injured person. I may have lost my honor and pride as a Samurai, but I have yet to lose my pride in my skills as a trainer. I will not lose. I will not fail. Unknown Trainer, I, Samurai, no Ronin, challenge you to the last and final duel between us. May the best trainer win."
Pinsir stood in the place and bowed with dirt in his eyes and dents in his exoskeleton.
Pidgeotto looked back at her trainer, who nodded back.
"Are you just going to apologize and stand there the entire day, or are we going to continue with the match?"
Samurai, no, Ronin looked at Ash with gratitude and said, "Hai!"
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Both of them narrowed their eyes, and...
"Pidgeotto!"
"Pinsir!"
"Use Sand Attack!"
"Use Focus Energy!"
The dirt made it harder for Pinsir to attack accurately, but he used Focus Energy to get the extra boost in overall strength. Jumping towards a tree, he prepared himself.
"Pidgeotto, fly up and be prepared to dodge out of the way!"
Pinsir lunged at her and prepared to use Vice Grip. Pidgeotto, even after knowing what Pinsir was capable of doing, barely dodged out of the way of the flexible pincers.
Pinsir, upon reaching a tree, used Vice Grip to tear it and throw the part at Pidgeotto. Instead of going down as previously, she went up to dodge the projectile. The tree part never fell near Yellow, Pikachu, and Eevee, but Yellow's growl could be heard.
"Pinsir, that Pidgeotto will always dodge out of the way. Use Quick Attack and get personal!"
"Dodge, and Gust!"
Pinsir, narrowing his eyes, used Focus Energy again and leaped at a tree. Orienting himself to hit Pidgeotto, he used Quick Attack and leapt at her.
Under normal circumstances, he would have hit Pidgeotto, but the effects of lowered accuracy due to the Sand Attacks reared their ugly heads for him at that moment.
Pinsir had miscalculated the angle of attack of his flight and ended up missing Pidgeotto, who was a little higher than Pinsir's flight path. Using the opportunity, Pidgeotto turned and hit Pinsir with Gust, increasing his flight speed and making him lose his balance. His loss of accuracy made him lose the balance more. Unable to properly control his movements and disoriented, Pinsir landed on the forest floor with a crash.
When the dust from the crash settled, they all saw that Pinsir was unconscious. Samurai returned Pinsir to his ball.
"Thanks a lot, Pinsir."
Pidgeotto landed gracefully on the ground and started panting hard.
Approaching her, Ash said, "Good job, Pidgeotto. Do you want to go back into your ball, or do you want to stay outside and see the next round?"
Thinking about it for a bit, Pidgeotto nodded and perched herself on a branch of a nearby tree.
Taking out a Poké ball, Ash looked at Ronin.
"You ready?"
"Yes"
"Go Metapod!"
"Metapod, I choose you!"
Both of them blinked at the other's choice of Pokémon.
"Metapod, use Harden!"
"Metapod, use Electroweb!"
"HA! You are a total amateur to not know that Metapod does not learn any move other than Harden. Hey... Wait what?! How?!"
While Ronin's Metapod used Harden to boost up its physical defense, Ash's Metapod used Electroweb, a special Electric-type attack, on the other Metapod.
Ronin was flabbergasted at the turn of events.
"Use String Shot and keep on using it until I tell you so!"
Ash's Metapod used String Shot continuously on Ronin's Metapod, covering them entirely in it. Ronin was not able to recover fast enough to give any orders to his Metapod by the time his Metapod was covered in the threads of Ash's Metapod's String Shot.
"Metapod! If you can listen to me, use Harden!"
"Metapod, use Tackle just as we practiced!"
"What!"
Metapod used String Shot on the covered Metapod after boosting its physical defence by using Harden.
Ash's Metapod pulled itself towards Ronin's Metapod and hit it to send it skipping on the ground. After that, Ash's Metapod used the String Shot connected to Ronin's Metapod to swing it in an arc by turning in his spot.
"Please stop! My Metapod cannot battle anymore. I forfeit!"
"Metapod, stop!"
Ash's Metapod stopped his attacks and reeled the other Metapod towards him.
Reaching his Metapod, Ash took out his knife and cut open the strings that held Ronin's Metapod under Ronin's concerned eyes.
Ronin's Metapod was unconscious, but it did not suffer any further injuries.
"The String Shot must have acted as a cushion for your Metapod, and it prevented any further injuries."
Giving out a sigh of relief, Ronin nodded and returned his Metapod.
"So, I won."
"Yes, you did."
Ping!
Looking at his Pokédex, Ash got a notice that he had received 200 Poké dollars. Seeing Ash's confused face, Ronin told him that for all official battles, the winning trainer received an amount of money from the loser's account. The transfer is done through digital means, or you could be given hard cash.
Just before they were going to discuss the path to get out of the forest, they heard screaming from one direction and saw the bushes part.
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(AN: Sorry for the late update. I had gone into a depression while writing this chapter. Why? Because:
1. I lost the original content and had to write the entire thing again.
2. All official battles of the Indigo League are one-on-one.
3. Samurai, or Ronin, are honor-bound and will follow the previous one.
4. His Metapod only knows the move Harden. (Why?! Why does it only know Harden?!)
I had to completely scrap and rewrite the entire fight scene of this chapter because of the last three reasons. It was originally meant to be a double battle, and I had to change it to single battles. Due to this, I was unable to use the following which was in the previous version:
1. Use the hardened Metapod as a club by Pinsir.
2. Use the hardened Metapod as ammunition for an impromptu slingshot.
3. Use the hardened Metapod as a boomerang. (They look like one)
4. Use the hardened Metapod as a wrecking ball with the string shot replacing the iron chains. (Why does Samurai's, no, Ronin's Metapod not know String Shot?!)
5. Use the hardened Metapod as a blunt kusarigama.
Should I have him make an appearance afterwards where he might use this?)