TEAM
Lochness - Swampert
Leviathan - Gyarados
Juggernaut - Palafin
Britney - Toxapex
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"Looks like it's finally your time to shine, Britney," William said, hand hovering over the Heal Ball he had caught Britney with.
Despite the aggressive styles of Lochness and Leviathan, not all of his Pokémon had very aggressive and brutal methods of victory—they simply made use of their strengths. And Britney's strengths were much different than all-out attack.
Britney's strengths lay in her defence and ability to poison, to be exact.
"Go, Britney!" And out came Toxapex. The blue Pokémon floated on water as though it were land, using its 12 starfish-like legs as its stable steady support.
"Pincer!" Juan called out. A Crawdaunt appeared from the pokeball. it had a nasty look in its eyes and smashed its pincers—which had a few scars—together. It sounded like metal clashing against one another. It grated his ears.
Attack vs defense eh? Let's see which one will give out first.
"Use Toxic Spikes!" beneath its two front legs— which revealed its face—a toxic orb of purple poison energy was formed and shot into the air. Like a firework, it exploded into dozens of different streams of purple which shot down towards the ocean below.
"Don't let them hit the floor, triple Bubble Beam!" Juan exclaimed. From both of its pincers and its mouth, a steady rush of bubbles was released, spiraling and twirling in the air as it clashed with the poison lines.
However, as this was going on, Britney released another Toxic Spike into the air, and another wave of poison rained down on the battlefield. It was too much for Crawdaunt, and as the poison hit the floor, it slowly seeped into the water, turning it into a deadly battlefield filled with toxic mines.
Eventually, days would pass and slowly the poison would dissipate and become almost inconsequential. The abundant water type energy would slowly drown out the poison. But for now, it was deadly.
"Spikes are up! Retreat your Pokémon!" Matt shouted, waving his hand backwards towards the rest of the team.
"Retreat!"
"Back up!"
Unlike with the normal ground, spikes had much different interactions with water. Water was free flowing, ever changing, and when you combine that with toxic spikes it becomes nearly impossible not to be poisoned. It slowly spread and seeped through the water making avoiding it almost impossible.
Across from William, Crawdaunt stumbled as the poison took effect in its blood. And now that the poison was lingering in the water, he knew just the perfect follow-up.
"Now, use Surf!"
"Toxa!" the Pokemon cried.
A large wave of water slowly rippled upwards, and— carrying all of the poison from the toxic spikes— made its way towards Crawdaunt.
"Pincer, use Hydro Pump!"
There was another powerful blast of water, and like the Red Sea— the water parted before Crawdaunt, leaving him relatively safe. Now that he was poisoned he needed to take the advantage.
With Toxapex's lackluster attack and speed statistics it would be a battle of attrition to see who survived the longest.
"Swords Dance Pincer!"
"Use Pin missile!" William shouted.
"Ignore it! Keep using Swords Dance!" Crawdaunt was hit by the spiked missiles, but he shrugged them off and continued to set up.
William tutted his teeth. Ignoring all forms of defense and focusing only on attack? Fine by me. I'll just level the playing field.
"Iron Defence!" William told Britney. Toxapex stood still, sharpening its defense just as Crawdaunt finished bringing its attack boost to 6. Britney finished a single Iron Defense, but just as she was about to finish the second Crawdaunt was on her.
SLAM
Britney curled up safely in its legs just as a pincer slammed down on her with terrifying force. The reverberation caused the waves to shake—it sounded like a hammer hitting steel—only in this case, the steel had yielded slightly, as judged by the bruise forming on Toxapex's legs.
Britney's legs were extremely durable—against both special and physical attacks—but against a Crawdaunt with a 6 in attack, even with Britney's 2 from Iron Defense, the attacks did a lot of damage.
"Stay in your shell! Don't expose your face! Use Recover as much as you can!" If the Crawdaunt managed to attack her face, it would be over in an instant. It didn't have the defense her legs did.
Crawdaunt continued to rain down attacks on Toxapex—Crab Hammers, Knock Offs, and just pure power. Every so often it flinched as poison took its turn on him, but that only seemed to motivate it even more to finish Toxapex off. And it was about to—but just as it was about to happen, William called:
"Endure!"
The next attack slammed into Toxapex. Survived.
Poison took its turn.
"Now, Rest!" And it fell asleep—back to full health, but unconscious.
"Keep going!" Juan screamed.
Another hit.
Poison.
Another hit.
Another hit.
Poison.
In the span of less than half a minute, the crab Pokemon had already brought down Toxapex's HP to critical condition.
William closed his eyes, not wishing to watch, but just as the executioner's blade—the pincer—was raised, a final wave of poison washed over Crawdaunt, and the Pokemon fainted.
…
"You did well, friend." Juan withdrew Crawdaunt. William did the same with his Toxapex, just like with Juggernaut, it was in no fighting condition.
He looked up to the sky. By now the morning mist and dew on the ships had disappeared and the sun was shining brightly on him.
I need to end this quickly, the longer I'm here the more chance someone else notices what's happening. William thought.
"It's your turn, Lochness. Show them no mercy." and back out came the beast, ready to enact his trainers' will.
"You're up, Whiscash," Juan said.
The blue whiskered Pokemon emerged, the yellow "W" on its head gleaming under the sunlight.
Despite its usual derpy appearance, this one looked serious.
Across from William, Juan talked quietly to Whiscash. At first, William thought it was just some simple instructions—he was ready to take advantage of it—until Juan took something from his pocket and handed it to his Pokemon.
What was that?
Whiscash moved around, and William noticed something in its mouth. His mind connected the dots.
"Submerge, Lochness!"
"Belch, Whiscash! Do it now!"
A purple mess of poison, saliva, and berries shot out of Whiscash's mouth, soaring toward Swampert at a surprising speed. Lochness barely dodged by diving into the water, escaping the attack by a hair's breadth. If it weren't for William's quick thinking, that could have ended badly.
"Tch!" Juan exclaimed.
"Done with your party tricks?" William said coldly. "Let me show you what real strength looks like."
"Charge," William commanded.
"He's getting close! Take Down!"
"Protect."
Whiscash slammed into Swampert, but a glimmering, materialized barrier completely negated its effects.
"Brick Break. Double!"
Swampert straightened its fingers, honing them like blades, and swung both of them at Whiscash's sides as if attempting to behead it. Two hulking hands slammed into Whishcash, but it's thick body managed to protect it from serious harm.
"Water Pulse! Send him to the floor!"
"Counter it with Mud Shot!"
Streams of water and mud collided, creating a momentary breather for Juan in the battle. William looked across from him, smiling. Does it feel like you're suffocating?
Juan tried to unscramble his thoughts, searching for a way to break through.
But before he could—Lochness continued its assault. It was unrelenting, constantly pursuing its opponent. It glided through the water, eating up yards of distance each second.
"Body Slam!" William said.
"Counter with Zen Headbutt!"
Swampert's body collided with a burst of pink psychic energy—causing it to shatter. Whishcash reeled back in pain. While Whiscash was stuck reeling from the impact, Swampert kept moving, delivering punches.
William had raised Lochness the way he lived—both of them fighting for survival. They weren't performers or celebrities, they were survivalists, and that was something Juan had never fought. Someone with no reservations for mercy or what looked cool, just what did the job. Brutal, quick, but certainly not not clean.
"Get out of there!" Juan shouted desperately.
Whiscash tried to escape, thrashing its body, but Swampert wrapped his thick, muscular arms around the whiskered Pokemon, preventing its retreat.
"Earthquake!"
"Outrage!"
It was a battle of brute force.
Swampert shook violently, utilizing its power to tremor and shake while constricting and strangling Whiscash, who began to flail like a fish out of water.
The effects of Outrage took hold as Whiscash struggled, slamming itself against Swampert's grasp.
But Lochness remained steady. He continued to pass through thick, pure layers of whale fat as Whishcash thrashed and struggled against his body. The power of a localized earthquake vibrated through the fish's body.
William had taught his Pokemon to fight with moves, but also to make use of their anatomy and strength in other ways.
The same way snakes constrict their prey, the same way Leviathan used wrestling, he had taught Lochness to beat opponents into submission with bear hugs. His insane bulk and monstrous strength made it perfect for him, especially against creatures with no proper limbs to fight back sufficiently. Combine that with Earthquake, and you get something terrifying.
And by the looks of the slowing Whishcash, he was close to submission.
Slowly and steadily, Lochness powered through the Outrage struggle, and in the end Whishcash was the one left defeated.
"Whishcash..."
With a heavy heart, Juan withdrew his Pokemon. He turned to William.
"You're a monster, you know that?"
William smirked. "You already said that. Did your private trainer school not teach you tactics like this? This isn't a fight for me, this is survival—this is humanity and Pokemon in its purest form. This isn't a contest— it's a war."
"They taught me respect—humility." Juan replied.
"Well, at least you can be humble in your defeat," William responded, laughing.
Juan remained silent.
He took out one final Pokeball from his belt. It was a Love Ball. Typical.
"Go, Serenity!"
The Milotic was big—not as big as Leviathan—but certainly no slouch either. That was surprising, given that Milotics were usually much smaller in terms of size.
"Looks like Lochness may have a challenge." William muttered under his breath.
"Here!" Juan called out to his Pokemon. He tossed out a small red orb, which his Milotic took into its mouth and swallowed.
A Flame Orb. So it must have Marvel Scale.
Unlike in the games, this was real life. A Pokemon was much more complex than just some numbers and words and pixels on a screen. Pokemon were extremely adaptable. If trained enough, a Pokemon could easily be trained to take less damage from certain types—though type effectiveness still remained, as it was ingrained in their DNA—and even slightly resist certain status effects. Put a Pokemon weak to Ice in the snowy mountains for a year, and they would obviously gain some type of resistance despite the inherent weakness.
So a Milotic with years—possibly decades—of training to specifically handle burns, the result spelled trouble for William.
Especially since Lochness is a physical attacker.
"Set up, Serenity." A blue ring of water began to form around Milotic.
"Amnesia." William said. "Follow it up with Mud Shot!" The projectile flew Milotic's way, however it simply coiled its serpent like body to expertly move out the way.
Lochness pushed forward.
"Alluring Voice!" Juan shouted.
The pink energy and sound passed through Lochness. The Amnesia boost from before helped tank the attack, but also was the cause for leaving him confused.
Lochness' eyes started spinning, and his body started tumbling through the sea like a Magikarp out of water. Milotic rushed forwards.
"Use Mudshot! The direction doesn't matter!" A spray of mud spun everywhere as if it were a spiral, shooting in all directions. Milotic slivered through the water, evading the attack. While Lochness was left confused, it wrapped and slowly coiled itself around its body.
Lochness snapped out of his confusion.
"Attract!"
"Don't fall for it!" William shouted. "Use Earthquake!" and Lochness began to tremor and shake. The same strategy he had used before to crush Whishcash was now the same strategy he was using to escape Milotic.
A Disarming Voice hit him, but slowly but surely that strength prevailed once again, utilizing the power of tremor and muscles to slowly pry off the Milotic coiled around its body. It grabbed its tail and flung her away.
"Mud Shot again, maximum output!"
"Protect!"
"Again!"
"Dodge it!"
It went into the sea again. William smirked.
There was a reason he was doing it so much. By now the sea was muddy, both on the surface and under the ocean floor. The waters would be murky and unclear and dangerous. Milotic would have a problem with that. Lochness wouldn't.
He looked towards Swampert. He knew the plan. Drag Milotic into the depths—into the dark—and finish her off.
A blue ring formed around Milotic and spun for a moment before disappearing. Healing wouldn't matter if you couldn't escape.
"Use Swift!"
"Dive!"
Lochness dove into the murky waters—its domain—below. It emerged a moment later, grabbing out at Milotic's tail.
"Confuse Ray!"
Before the attack could hit, Swampert dived back below into the waters.
"Behind you! Iron Head!"
"Block it with your hands!" William commanded. Lochness crossed its arms and braced itself.
Milotic's head collided with Swampert's bulky arms, both locked in a battle for supremacy. Milotic pushed his head forward, and Lochness' arms shaked under the pressure but didn't yield one inch of space.
"Now! Aqua Tail!" Milotic's tail suddenly gained a sharp edge of energy and whipped through the air.
It hit Lochness. He looked more annoyed than hurt. Grabbing the tail, he dived into the water below, bringing Milotic into the depths of the muddy water. Lochness could see—Milotic couldnt.
There was about a minute of thrashing in the ocean before Lochness emerged, setting down an unconscious Milotic. There was a level of respect to be had for fighting in the first place.
It was over. Juan had lost. William had won.
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A/N: Vote!