"Senta, you still have two matches," Cissy's father called when he saw Senta recall Blastoise. "Come back and finish the battle."
Reiji recalled Lucario as well. One appearance per Pokémon was enough. Let each of them show its face, fight once, and that was fine.
"Rai-nii, why did you call it back?" Senta asked, surprised.
"I want each of them to get a turn." Reiji took out another Poké Ball.
This time, he was going to read Senta again. The kid would probably send out another Water type.
"Go, Gyarados!"
"Zzip!"
Accelgor appeared on the field and immediately found itself staring at a massive Pokémon roaring in its direction.
What a temper.
That said, it did not feel much from Intimidate. Compared with the Intimidate from its own teammate, this Gyarados was not all that scary.
"Accelgor?" Senta's heart sank when he saw Accelgor stand there without flinching. Was it not affected by Intimidate?
"Gyarados versus Accelgor. Second match, begin!"
"Gyarados, Flamethrower!" Senta gave the order the moment the match started, throwing away all hesitation.
"Accelgor, eat the Berry."
Reiji planned to end this quickly. Accelgor could hold its own, but the weight difference between it and Gyarados was enormous. If Gyarados did not have a x4 weakness to Electric, he would not have sent Accelgor out at all.
"Zzip!"
Accelgor always carried a Berry on it. Any Berry would do. As long as it lost its held item, Unburden would activate.
It swallowed the Berry in a flash. The moment the item was gone, its speed doubled, shooting past 200 base Speed.
Gyarados's Flamethrower could not touch Accelgor after that sudden burst of speed. Accelgor added Agility on top of it, raced around behind Gyarados, leapt high, and punched it square in the face.
"Graaah!"
Gyarados cried out as the blow knocked its head sideways and slammed it to the ground. There was electricity in that punch.
"Senta, Accelgor is fast," Cissy's father finally said, unable to keep watching in silence. "If you want to hit it, you need to slow it down first."
"I know that!" Senta snapped, frustrated. "But how am I supposed to slow it down?"
"Accelgor, keep attacking. Mud Shot to block its vision, then Toxic."
Reiji was not going to wait for Senta to figure it out. He pressed the advantage immediately.
It would still be hard for Accelgor to beat Gyarados in close combat with Hidden Power Electric alone. Better to poison it first and make the win safer.
"Zzip!"
Accelgor spat out five or six shots of mud, splattering them across Gyarados's eyes. The moment Gyarados tried to clear its vision, Accelgor darted onto its face, grabbed its huge mouth, and spat Toxic straight inside.
"Now! Gyarados, forget your eyes! Use Flamethrower!"
"Graaah!"
Gyarados's eyes were covered in mud, so it could only follow Senta's voice and fire Flamethrower blindly.
But Accelgor had already used its speed to climb onto Gyarados's back. It took a deep bite of green energy from Gyarados's body.
Mega Drain wrapped around the still-spraying Gyarados and pulled away its strength.
Flamethrower could not reach Accelgor. Its mouth burned from the Toxic, its eyes were blinded, and the pain of having its energy drained from its back pushed it over the edge.
Gyarados went berserk.
"Graaah! Raaah!"
It began thrashing and firing attacks wildly. One blast shot straight toward Cissy and her father.
"Slowking, take it outside and calm it down," Cissy's father said, rubbing his forehead.
Slowking used Confusion to hold Gyarados and carried it out of the Gym.
Senta had lost this one too. If a Pokémon lost control during a match and its Trainer could not bring it back under control, the match was an automatic loss.
"Senta still needs real battle experience." Cissy's father sighed to himself. "In that situation, he should have used Blizzard to control the field. The storm would have slowed Accelgor down, and the cold would have made it harder for a Bug-type Pokémon to move. Two problems solved at once."
Then he called out, "Senta, you still have one match. From now until the tournament starts, you'll act as temporary Gym Leader. Any Trainers who come to challenge the Gym will battle you, and the Gym match format will be changed to normal Pokémon battles."
"I know, Dad." Senta sounded deflated.
He knew he had performed badly. Even his father could not stand watching anymore.
But he really could not beat Reiji. He was too strong. Now Senta finally understood how the Trainers at the Indigo Plateau Conference must have felt when they faced him.
As for the last match, Senta did not think he could win that either. He threw out his final Poké Ball anyway.
"Go, Slowking!"
"Ruu!"
Umbreon jumped straight onto the battlefield.
Against a Psychic-type Slowking, this was exactly its kind of matchup.
"Uh?" Reiji was still holding a Poké Ball, ready to throw. He had not expected Umbreon to leap in on its own.
Wasn't this bullying a little too much?
"Umbreon?" Senta had never seen this form of Eevee before. Judging by the color, it was probably Dark type.
It looked cute.
Unfortunately, as an opponent, cute did not help.
"Oh no. Slowking doesn't know Miracle Eye. How am I supposed to fight this?"
Reiji turned to Cissy's father, asking silently whether this counted. Umbreon had entered a little late, after all.
"Just start," Cissy's father said, waving helplessly.
He did not care about the timing. Senta was going to lose anyway.
"Slowking versus Umbreon. Third match, begin!"
"Slowking, Psychic-type moves won't work. Use Fighting-type moves. Teleport!"
After two losses, Senta no longer felt as stiff as he had at the start. The warm-up was over. Now he could actually connect what he had learned to the battle.
So this was why his sister had made him copy all that theory.
Some of it was for fighting Pokémon he countered. Some of it was for situations where he was the one being countered—like now.
"Umbreon, Dark Pulse," Reiji called as Slowking vanished.
"Ruu!"
The instant Slowking disappeared, Umbreon turned and began gathering Dark-type energy. The moment Slowking reappeared, Umbreon fired Dark Pulse.
Boom, boom, boom!
Dark Pulse collided with Drain Punch and exploded, throwing up smoke across the field. Umbreon and Slowking were both blown back.
But the instant Slowking was sent flying, it used Teleport again and vanished. Umbreon lost track of it once more.
"Umbreon, stay sharp. The moment Slowking appears, use Taunt."
Teleport really was annoying. They needed to lock down Slowking's movement.
"Ruu!"
The instant Slowking reappeared, Umbreon stuck out its tongue and made a ridiculous face at it.
"Yaa?"
Slowking stared at Umbreon, blank-faced, then scratched its head as if wondering what on earth this little black fox was doing.
"Rai-nii, my Slowking has Oblivious. Taunt doesn't work on it." Senta finally smiled again.
Reiji had made a bad read. Senta had clawed back a little ground at last. Even if he still lost, at least it would not look completely awful.
"What? Oblivious?" Reiji saw Slowking's complete lack of reaction and immediately understood. "Umbreon, use Torment!"
"Ruu!"
Umbreon dropped the stupid face at once and cried out at Slowking. An invisible wave of Dark-type energy settled over it.
"What? Torment? You can do that?" Senta's smile collapsed after barely two seconds and moved right back to Reiji's face.
"Yaa?"
Slowking heard Umbreon's cry, and an ominous feeling swept over it. Something was wrong.
It could not use Teleport.
"Good. Now, Dark Pulse!"
"Ruu!"
Umbreon opened its mouth again and fired a stream of spiraling dark energy at Slowking.
"Slowking, if you can't Teleport, use Protect!"
Senta wanted to test whether Teleport was really sealed.
Slowking tried, failed, and raised Protect instead. Torment prevented it from using the same move twice in a row, so Teleport was off the table for the moment.
Boom, boom, boom!
The chain of dark energy slammed into Protect, each hit bursting against the barrier. Slowking blocked all of it.
But Umbreon had already rushed in with Quick Attack. Dark energy gathered around the small fangs in its mouth, and it bit down on Slowking's arm.
"Yaa?"
Slowking looked at its raised arm. A small black fox was hanging from it.
Its brain had not quite received the pain yet.
Several breaths passed.
Then Slowking's mouth slowly opened.
"Yaa! Ow, ow, ow!"
Its telepathy shouted the pain straight into everyone's head. Reiji and everyone else on the field heard it clearly.
"Uh… Umbreon, let go and use Dark Pulse."
Reiji scratched his head awkwardly and had Umbreon switch back to ranged attacks.
"Ruu!"
Umbreon released Slowking, dropped to the ground, and fired another Dark Pulse.
But two turns had passed. Slowking could use Teleport again, and it vanished before Dark Pulse landed.
"Umbreon, Snarl!"
"Ruu—raah!"
The instant Umbreon sensed Slowking reappear, it turned toward that direction and roared. A wave of purple-black energy surged toward Slowking.
"Yaa!"
Slowking had only just emerged when the sound and Dark-type energy hit it together. It clutched its head and escaped with Teleport.
But the moment it appeared again, Umbreon caught it with Torment. Teleport was sealed once more, and another Dark Pulse was already coming.
Cissy's father sighed. "If you spend the whole fight defending, one mistake is all it takes. Bad matchups really are hard."
There was not much he could do about this either. Psychic-type moves were useless. Slowking could only break the field apart and use the environment to attack Umbreon.
"Senta, recall Slowking and take your Pokémon for treatment. Your sister's next."
"Slowking, come back."
Senta recalled the unconscious Slowking and headed to the treatment room. He would heal his Pokémon first, then come back to watch Cissy's battle against Reiji.
Cissy stepped into Senta's previous position and took out a Poké Ball.
She had been looking forward to this battle for a long time.
Hopefully, Reiji would not hold back.
"Both sides, send out your Pokémon," Cissy's father called, taking over as referee.
"Go, Pikachu!"
"Go, Pidgeot!"
Reiji threw out Pidgeot, then saw a Pikachu on the field staring at him in a daze.
A moment later, it ran straight toward him and jumped into his arms.
"Pika! Pika-pi!"
The moment Pikachu saw Reiji, it recognized him. It had slept beside him several times before and had missed him, so it charged over and buried itself against him.
"Uh… what's going on?" Reiji caught Pikachu on instinct.
What was with this Pikachu? Why was it so close to him?
Was there some kind of mistake?
"Ruu? Ruu-ruu?" Umbreon was curious too. Why was Pikachu acting so familiar with Reiji?
"Pika-pi! It's me!" Pikachu nearly cried when Reiji failed to recognize it.
Reiji had fed it delicious food before. He had even built a new home for all of them.
"Ruu! I remember now." Umbreon finally realized who it was.
This was one of the clone Pikachu.
"Ruu?" Umbreon asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Pika-pika…" Pikachu said it was a long story, then shortened it as much as it could.
The clone Pokémon had been bored out of their minds at the lakeside cabins and wanted to see the outside world. Quite a few of them had felt the same way.
When they tried to leave, Farfetch'd discovered them and stopped them. But they were determined, and Farfetch'd could not exactly force them to stay forever. In the end, it could only let them choose for themselves.
Just as they were about to leave, Butterfree told them that if Pokémon wanted to move around in the human world, they needed a Trainer. Otherwise, they would be caught and locked up. They might even be served on a dinner table and eaten by humans.
In other words, Butterfree had told them a Pokémon horror story.
Back on the deserted island, Reiji had scared Butterfree the same way. Now Butterfree was using that trick on the clone Pokémon that wanted to leave.
Farfetch'd knew Butterfree was messing with them, but it did not stop it. Reiji had told Farfetch'd to watch over the clone Pokémon. If they wandered off and got lost, Farfetch'd would have no idea how to explain that to him. A little scare from Butterfree was probably for the best.
The horror story worked. Most of the clone Pokémon backed down immediately.
But it did not scare Gyarados at all.
Gyarados dug open an underground river, slipped through it into the sea, and left on its own.
The remaining clone Pokémon were frightened by Butterfree's story and decided they needed Trainers after all. Butterfree then thought of the Trainers at the Gym: Cissy and Senta. There were perfectly good Trainers right here.
Farfetch'd helped too. If the clone Pokémon were going to be caught anyway, then being caught by Reiji's friends was better than being taken by strangers.
So when Cissy came to the orchard, Pikachu and the others snuck in and stole oranges. Cissy caught them in the act, battled them, and caught them properly. Everything went smoothly, and they successfully infiltrated the Gym.
Now that Cissy was their Trainer, Pikachu and the others could go see the outside world without worrying about being caught and eaten by humans.
Reiji had no idea the clone Pokémon had gone through all that just because they wanted to see the world.
He turned to Slowking beside him.
"Slowking, what happened?"
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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