”SubonicXP”
Mission: A Shadow of a Shadow Pokemon
Threat Level: Yellow, possibly Orange.
We have discovered some disturbing repercussions from Shadow Mewtwo's actions inside the Fairy Realm. Apparently while connected to the realm via Magearna, Shadow Mewtwo was not only able to feed off the realm's corrupted energy but also was able to drain the Shadow energy from Shadow Pokemon the world over. While Shadow Pokemon are a threat we seek to eliminate we do not wish to see these Pokemon harmed or worse, which apparently Shadow Mewtwo's actions left several casualties. Check your SNAG for the location of a known 'drained' Shadow Pokemon, these weakened Shadow Pokemon were easy for us to track down thanks to research on the Soul-Heart. These Shadow Pokemon, while still a threat to the environment, are in an incredibly weakened state and are no longer able to put up much resistance, making their capture relatively easy. Find them and bring them, this is an opportunity we can't pass up to get them out of the wild. (Note: If you do not wish to keep a Shadow Pokemon you do not have to in order to do this mission. In fact you may bring in several but keep only one if you wish.)
Threat Level: Yellow, possibly Orange.
We have discovered some disturbing repercussions from Shadow Mewtwo's actions inside the Fairy Realm. Apparently while connected to the realm via Magearna, Shadow Mewtwo was not only able to feed off the realm's corrupted energy but also was able to drain the Shadow energy from Shadow Pokemon the world over. While Shadow Pokemon are a threat we seek to eliminate we do not wish to see these Pokemon harmed or worse, which apparently Shadow Mewtwo's actions left several casualties. Check your SNAG for the location of a known 'drained' Shadow Pokemon, these weakened Shadow Pokemon were easy for us to track down thanks to research on the Soul-Heart. These Shadow Pokemon, while still a threat to the environment, are in an incredibly weakened state and are no longer able to put up much resistance, making their capture relatively easy. Find them and bring them, this is an opportunity we can't pass up to get them out of the wild. (Note: If you do not wish to keep a Shadow Pokemon you do not have to in order to do this mission. In fact you may bring in several but keep only one if you wish.)
Wren read over the papers in his hand, sitting in the kitchen with Kaya, Lykas and Odd at the other sides, each with their own paperwork. “So Sub’s sending all of us on this mission, huh?” He asked, his nerves seeming a bit more frayed than normal.
“Looks like it.” Kaya replied, pushing his helm’s visor up on top of his head so he could see more clearly, mismatched eyes roving across the papers in his hand.
“It’s because there are so many of these depowered Shadow Pokemon and they’re scattered all over the world…” Lykas replied. “Honestly sounds kinda fun.” He admitted. “Besides, I have the chance to let Chinami battle again to work the virus out of her system.” He couldn’t deny the likely pay for this job wouldn’t be the only good thing with that bonus tacked onto it.
“Sure… He also made sure we got a big box of Pokeballs to split between us for this.” Odd added, pulling a handful of minimized Pokeballs from the box in the middle of the table and shoving them into his bag.
“So where are we all going?” Kaya asked, curious.
“I’m worried about mine…” Wren replied. “I’m supposed to be heading toward Mt. Ember in some place called ‘One Island’ in the South Sea... I looked it up and it’s loaded with Fire-types…” He admitted with no small amount of apprehension.
“Wanna trade? I’m being sent to Mount Lanakila in Alola.” Lykas asked. “It looks like it’s mostly Ice and Steel-types but the big one listed is a special request from the Ula’Ula Island Kahuna, Nanu.” He handed the paperwork to Wren to look over so the other man could decide for himself.
“What’s a...Drampa?” He asked as he read over the papers, finding the part about the special request from Nanu.”
“Never heard of it…” Odd replied with a shrug.
“Oh! I’ve heard of them!” Kaya exclaimed. “My brothers used to love this old movie called ‘The Neverending Story’ with a Drampa named ‘Falkor’ as part of the main cast!” The hybrid explained, pulling out his SNAG and looking up the Pokemon’s info on the built-in Pokedex. “It’s a Dragon-type Pokemon native to Alola with a normally friendly disposition and an inborn endearment for children and small Pokemon.”
Wren looked over the information on Kaya’s SNAG for a moment before nodding. “Well, according to this information, I think I could handle this mission better. Several of my Grass-types have moves that can be more effective on Ice-types than Fire-types.” He admitted. “You’re sure you don’t mind going to One Island, instead?”
“I’m overloaded with Water-types. I’ll be find in the Sevii Archipelago.” Lykas replied. “Where are you two going?” He asked, looking at Odd and Kaya.
“If I’m looking at this map correctly, I think I’m heading to Unova; The area around Mistralton City and the Celestial Tower seems to have been affected by Shadow Mewtwo’s presence in the Fairy Realm.” Odd replied, holding the papers out for Kaya to check over for Wren to verify for him.
“Yep. That’s definitely what it says.” Wren replied, wondering for a moment why Odd needed the map if it told him where he was going in writing.
“I’m heading into Johto, myself. The Ice Path in the Northeast seems to have gotten hit by the spreading infection as well.”
Lykas could only shake his head. “This virus really is a plague… If Shadow Mewtwo was it’s progenitor, it’s been allowed to wander the globe far too freely. It’s managed to get out of Hoenn at this point. We need to keep it contained as much as possible.”
“Good luck, boys!” Kaya declared as he stood up and head out the front door. As close as HQ was to the Ice Path, he planned on just letting Tomoe carry him there. Sooner or later, he’d figure out exactly how he pulled off that levitation trick in the Fairy Realm and that would make some short term travel a bit easier on him as well as the Togekiss. Regardless of his thoughts on the matter, the hybrid was gone out the door in a matter of minutes, heading skyward on his loyal mount.
“Stay strong and keep safe, gentlemen.” Lykas told the others as he called out Mykel and the pair teleported away in an instant. They were off on their grand quest already.
“Looks like it’s my turn to depart. Focus on the job, Wren. Don’t let that nagging worry you always have get in your way, alright?” He told his fellow Channeler, leaving HQ before calling out Dissonance. The mighty Golurk picked his trainer up and the pair was gone in a matter of moments, flying off through the sky.
“Well, that leaves me.” Wren decided, calling for Claydol. The Clay Doll Pokemon arrived fairly quickly and in a flash, the pair were gone, ripped through time and space by the Psychic-type’s power.
~~~Over the Rainbow in Alola!~~~
Wren’s Team
”Pokemon”
”Team Info”
Hemlock – Male
Ability: Sand Veil
Needle Arm
Spiky Shield
Dynamic Punch
Ingrain
Aconite – Female
Ability: Storm Drain
Leech Seed
Worry Seed
Bullet Seed
Spiky Shield
Asphodel – Male
Ability: Sap Sipper
Megahorn
Jump Kick
Horn Leech
Odor Sleuth
Nutmeg - Female
Ability: Oblivious
Stomp
Teeter Dance
Aromatic Mist
Magical Leaf
Cassava - Male
Ability: Infiltrator
Fairy Wind
Rage Powder
Strength Sap
Silver Wind
Caladium - Male
Ability: Contrary
Razor Leaf
Synthesis
Leaf Storm
Dual Chop
Arriving in on Ula’Ula Island, Wren looked around to determine where he was, saw that he was near a Pokemon Center and immediately went inside in search of one thing every Pokemon Center had, PC aside, -the region map-. Alola’s map was a little bigger than the average region map thanks to each island having it’s own zoomed-in section surrounding the larger map of the region as a whole. But, he did figure out where he was and where he was going pretty quickly. “Wow… Claydol got me this close?” He asked himself, finding the marker on this map that would indicate his current location that showed he was in a place called “Tapu Village” at the moment. According to the map, it looked like it was pretty close to Mount Lanakila -right at the base, in fact- which Nanu’s report seemed to be claiming was where most of the Shadow Pokemon in the region were being spotted.
Pulling a coat out of his bag, the man threw it on and headed out of the building. Swiftly making his way toward the mountain looming above the small village, he paused as he got nearer. He could feel cold air blowing down from the mountainside. “There’s going to be snow up there, isn’t there?” He asked himself.
“Yer damn right there’s snow up there, son! You better put some shoes on them feet or ya ain’t gonna have any toes long before ya come back down.” An old man responded to his personal query from nearby.
Wren sighed and opened his bag once more. From somewhere near the bottom of the man’s bag of holding, he hauled out a pair of shoes that looked practically brand-new. “I hate these things…” He told himself as he dug out some socks to go on under them. Sitting on the ground for a moment, he pulled his socks on, followed by his shoes. Once they were laced up and tied so they wouldn’t come loose, the channeler hauled himself up onto his newly shoed feet, groaning partway up. “Ugh...I’m getting too old to be sitting on the ground, anymore…” He told him, stretching out before he headed toward the mountain again, ignoring the warnings of the old man that had called out to him before. He had a job to do now and he wasn’t going to let his worries stop him. Odd’s warning to not do so was for good reason. The young man had already learned about his anxieties and worry stopping him from going all out.
Heading on to the mountain, he found himself standing at the base of a huge elevator that seemed to be fairly well maintained. “I didn’t expect -this- to be here… Seems to be more advanced than the rest of the region…” Stepping onto the elevator platform, he walked up to the control panel, looked it over and easily enough figured out how to make it work. “Simple enough.” He decide, clicking the button marked with an upward arrow. Ascending heavenward, Wren watched the towering mountain top grow closer, inch by inch.
The cold air was already beginning to burn his lungs as the elevator came to a growling stop. Wren took a long, slow, deep breath to adjust to the frigid air and, as he exhaled, he began to walk along the path on the mountainside. He watched a multitude of local Pokemon playing in the sparse patches of cold-resistant grasses not far away but left them to their own devices for the moment. These Pokemon weren’t the ones he was after. “GRAY, keep your scanner active and help direct me toward any sources of Shadow energy you can pick up in the area.” He told the AI as he walked, holding up his SNAG as he spoke to it. “Lykas and Odd explained to me that you can do that while we were prepping.
”And why can’t you just do it yourself? You are a channeler, aren’t you?” GRAY retorted, though he started the scan anyway.
“I still haven’t figured out that whole ‘energy sensing’ thing other channelers seem to be able to do.” Wren replied. “I don’t have any kind of training.” He admitted to the AI.
”So if I don’t help you, you’re going to wander aimlessly until you freeze to death.” GRAY summarized snarkily. ”Well, if you’re dead, you’re not contributing anything so I suppose I don’t have much choice.” Wren continued walking the mountain path once GRAY went silent until, after a a few minutes, he found himself near the entrance to a cave. ”I’m picking up a Shadow Pokemon just up ahead, though only faintly.” GRAY spoke up as he did, alerting the dreadlocked man to keep his eyes out for any signs of it.
Creeping into the cave, Wren watched for signs of life and listened for the sounds of battle. If there was a Shadow Pokemon here, it was probably still trying to fight everything around it, weakened or not. Everything he’d learned about the Pokemon indicated they would attack just about anything until purified. It wouldn’t take long for him to make out the sounds of a swarm of beating wings and a lot of screeching. Heading toward the sound to investigate, he found the reason.
A Horde of Golbat had descended upon a strange blue creature that was thrashing around, trying to drive the bats away. “Uh oh…” Wren pulled a Nest Ball from his belt as he started to lunge into the room. ”Wait! That’s the Shadow Pokemon I was sensing! Drampa can already be incredibly dangerous if threatened.” GRAY snapped as Wren started to move. ”It’s under the effect of the Shadow Virus so chances are it’ll see you as a threat and attack the moment it sees you.”
“Then I’ll have to weaken it a bit more and catch it before it sees me. But I can’t just let those Golbat keep attacking it like that. They’ll get themselves infected if I don’t stop them!” Wren retorted, the final comment almost growled at himself as he clenched his empty hand into a fist. He’d only just realized that his own Pokemon ran the same risk if he wasn’t careful. If only Lykas was here with his immunizer…
“Bah!” Grabbing another two Nest Balls from his belt, Wren released all three Pokemon at once. “Cassava, use Rage Powder! Get all of their attention!” He instructed his Hoppip. “Aconite, use Spiky Shield to protect us from any of Drampa’s attacks so we don’t have to worry about the virus as much.” The Maractus nodded as she stood in front of Cassava just as the Hoppip sprayed a huge cloud of crimson spores out over the horde of bats and the Dragon they were bullying. “Nutmeg, I want you to use Stomp on them as soon as you get the chance!” Nutmeg nodded as well, standing back and watching for an opening.
The quintet of bats turned their focus onto Cassava as soon as he used his Rage Powder, their anger peaking as they did. Something had interrupted their planned feast on the bully and there was no way they were going to let that go unpunished. The five bats quickly released a barrage of attacks upon their foe. One loosed a Swift, another an Air Cutter, the third released an Air Slash, still another using Venoshock and the last belching out a Haze to mask their incoming assault. Aconite jumped into action at this point. As the various attacks came flying, she threw her arms up and conjured a thick shield of green energy. The four offensive moves came in hard, striking almost simultaneously. The Spiky Shield managed to block the first three as they hit all at once but the Air Slash came just far enough behind that as the shield broke, it race through the hole.
“Not today, devil bat!” Wren exclaimed, conjuring a thicket of thick, thorny vines between Cassava and Golbat. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to stop the blade of air as it sliced right through the vines. “Silver Wind!” Wren exclaimed at the last possible moment. Cassava responded instantly, kicking up a whirlwind filled with silvery spores. The air blade was caught up in the whirlwind and spun around the Hoppip for a moment before it was released, launching right back at it’s point of origin. The bats screeched and scattered to avoid the blade and that gave Nutmeg the opening she needed to attack. Leaping into the air, she came down atop the lowest of the Golbat, Stomping on it’s head. Using the flying bloodsucker as a springboard, she jumped off just as it lost it’s aerial bouyancy and proceeded to do the same to the other four. Not one of them saw it coming, still fleeing from the returned Air Slash and, thus, looking away as their fragrant assailant slammed them into the rocky earth below with increasingly practicing Stomps.
When the horde hit the floor and Nutmeg landed, the sweet lolita Pokemon performed a cute pirouette and bowed politely. Unfortunately for her, they weren’t done and wanted payback even more now.
“Draaaaaam…” Drampa roared from behind them, eyes narrowed as it glowered at the group. The dreadlock-like extensions on it’s head quivered and sparked for a moment before it unleashed a Shock Wave at the bats. The lightning leapt from one to the next as the dragon channeled the electricity longer and longer. Once the final bat was struck and twitching, the dragon roared again, spitting an icy gust from it’s maw. The swirling winds engulfed the horde, building ice slowly upon their wings. By the time the Icy Wind had stopped, the bats could hardly move, let alone fly away. Drampa refused to let up, however as it inhaled once more and this time spit and shimmering wave of incredible heat towards the near-frozen Golbat. The Heat Wave washed over them like a sizzling curtain, resulting in multiple burns on each of them.
“That’s enough!” Wren shouted, recalling Cassava and Nutmeg for the moment. The whole camp of Golbat clambered up at last, the ice on their bodies melted by the heat, and quickly flew away, squeaking from the pains of their burns occassionally. “Aconite, use Bullet Seed!” As Aconite nodded and took aim, Drampa turned it’s focus to the one who’d interrupted it. With an angry roar, it rushed toward Wren with Dragon energy licking the air around it, burning up the incoming seeds before they could make contact.. It’s Outrage would not be stopped! “I said… THAT’S ENOUGH!” Wren roared back, his artifact’s flower wilting as he sacrificed the energy saved within it to power up the vines his conjured around Drampa. The things that grew around the Placid Pokemon were not the fleshy green things that normally answered his call but thick, wood-like roots coated in hooked barbs. The hooks dug into the dragon’s scaly hide and when the vines settled back into the earth, they drug the enraged beast into it with them until they could pull no more. The rampaging Dragon continued to thrash around for a bit longer, Heat Wave after Icy Wind after Heat Wave spitting from it’s maw as it tried to free itself. “Hold.” He told Aconite as he carefully approached Drampa.
“Stop fighting. Please.” He begged the Pokemon as it continued to thrash about, draconian flames beginning to burn at it’s own scales as it Outrage swelled. “Let me help you!” He urged the Placid Pokemon, barely dodging it as the beast unleashed an Icy Wind aimed at him. “You have to stop resisting me!” He told the creature as he pulled a Nest Ball from his pocket. He’d have preferred something more likely to ease it’s heart but from what had been explained to him things like Luxury and Friend Balls didn’t work on Shadow Pokemon like they were supposed to so his standard choice was going to have to do here. Drampa continued to thrash, still, roaring as the hooks and barbs of the Brambleguard dug into it’s tenderized flesh. “Aconite, use Leech Seed.” Wren finally directed.
Aconite nodded and produced a pair of seeds from her “ears”, launching them onto Drampa between the vines. The seeds sprouted quickly, crawling along the Dragon’s body beneath the vines Wren has pinned it with. Once they had covered most of the creature’s body, they began to glow with a crimson light, sapping the life from it. Wren sat behind Drampa, where it couldn’t see him as easily and watched it struggle to resist.
“Draaaaaam!” It roared at last, twisting it’s long neck to look backward, over it’s own shoulder and breathing an intense draconian flame toward the Channeler. Wren was surprised the see the Pokemon’s mind cleared enough to think through it’s actions already and didn’t react at first, prompting Aconite to rush to her trainer’s side and use Spiky Shield. She barely got there in time but wasn’t able to block out the flames with the move. The Dragon Breath was too close by the time she arrived. Despite her best attempt, she took the blast with her own body, staggering for a moment and twitching momentarily as the ancient magic within the flames left her momentarily paralyzed.
The Brambleguard was incinerated by the blaze but the active Leech Seed continued it’s work until, just as Drampa began to take a deep breath, the beast faltered. Wren took the chance when he saw it. Drampa was truly weakened, finally. Tightening his grip on the Nest Ball in his hand for a moment, he quickly but carefully threw it at the Dragon-type.The Pokemon was hit and immediately ensnared by the device. The Ball fell to the ground with a soft clatter, amplified by the emptiness of the cave, wobbling on the cavern floor for a moment before it pinged, signalling a successful capture.
“I’ll work hard to purify it…” He told himself before turning to check up on Aconite. “Are you going to be alright?” He asked the cactus Pokemon. Between her bouts of twitching, she nodded, shivering slightly. “We’ll get you healed up before too long. Hold tight for me and I’ll keep you out of battle as much as I possible can until we get you to a Pokemon Center.” He assured his friend as he recalled her to her own Nest Ball.
That went surprisingly well…” GRAY quipped as Wren began to look around again.
“You sound like you’re unimpressed.” Wren retorted.
”Because I am unimpressed. While you managed to scrape through that encounter by some miracle, I assume that has less to do with your abilities and more to do with Drampa’s confusion after that Outrage.” GRAY snapped back, scanning the area for more Shadow Pokemon.
“You’re probably right but I’m not going to complain.” Wren replied, unfazed by the AI’s snark at the moment. He was just thankful that battle hadn’t gone any worse. “Well, according to Nanu’s report, Drampa would have been the most dangerous of the Shadow Pokemon here. The rest all appear to be completely unevolved and mostly Ice-types.” He told himself. Following GRAY’s directions, Wren managed to find the remaining infected Pokemon. It looked like they were all part of the same colony that had been staying mostly in the same area and fighting one another to the point of complete exhaustion. When he found them, he discovered two Alolan Vulpix, an Alolan Sandshrew, a pair of Snorunt and a lone Vanillite piled up around the interior of a small cave with a hole in the ceiling.
All six Pokemon exuded tangible auras of Shadow energy but they were all so exhausted from their constant battling that Wren was able to catch all six of them with the Pokeballs he’d grabbed from the supply crate Sub had provided before leaving HQ.
”That appears to be the last of the infected, for the moment at least.” GRAY spoke up at last. ”I’d tell you you did a good job but I did most of the work so don’t hold your breath.”
Wren rolled his eyes and called for Claydol to come pick him up. Using the coordinates in his SNAG, the Psychic-type was able to Teleport to him with relative ease and carried him home in short order.
~~~Water Doesn’t Boil Above Sea Level~~~
Lykas’ Team
”Pokemon”
”Team Info”
Sphynx
Ability: Rivalry
Discharge
Magnet Rise
Roar
Wild Charge
Mykel
Ability: Synchronize
Psychic
Moonblast
Teleport
Heal Pulse
Chinami
Ability: Torrent
Rock Smash
Razor Shell
Aqua Jet
Assurance
Fog
Ability: Hydration
Aqua Tail
Rain Dance
Sheer Cold
Perish Song
Cordelia
Ability: Rock Head
Yawn
Head Smash
Rock Polish
Muddy Water
Moor
Ability: Water Veil
Whirlpool
U-Turn
Tailwind
Defog
Lykas arrived at One Island thanks to Mykel and took a quick look around. “It looks like Bill is the one who sent this info to Sub. Honestly a bit shocking.” He said to himself as he looked over the paperwork. “But it looks like it’s just one major sighting for the moment. So hopefully this’ll be quick.” The hybrid decided. “Mykel, let’s see what we can do along the way.” He told his partner.
”You got it, boss!” Mykel agreed with a smile. Spreading out his mental awareness, the Psychic-type attempted to detect a large source of aggression and other negative emotions. “I can definitely feel something really angry coming from the mountain but I can’t figure out where at from this far away.” He announced, opening his eyes.
“Then we might as well start walking.“ Lykas decided for them. Mykel nodded and followed suit. The mountain’s base wasn’t that far of a walk from the small town by the shore that was the primary settlement here on One Island so the two made it practically in record time, uninterrupted despite them seeing a few wild Ponyta running through the grasses along the way other than a singular Geodude who felt it needed to prove something for some reason.
“Moor, use Whirlpool.” He’d directed as he released his Finneon into the water nearby. The little fish had followed directions and unleashed an immense, gravity defying whorl of water that dragged Geodude into it and nearly drowned the living stone before it managed to Selfdestruct. Being in the water, though, the explosion was greatly dimished and Moor was more surprised by his Whirlpool exploding in his face than he was hurt by the blast. The unconscious Geodude, however, would definitely feel the pain of blowing itself up. “See… I swear Geodude all seem to have some kind of death wish or something... They all blow up when wild ones battle, for some reason.” He told Moor by way of explanation. The little fish was upset that it didn’t get to battle longer than that but it did make him feel a tiny bit better to believe that Geodude were all cowards who would rather explode than battle properly. Lykas had recalled Moor after the battle and continued on his way.
Now that he was standing at the base of Mt Ember, looking up at the towering volcano, he heaved a sigh. “It’s about to get toasty…” Heading into the volcanic caves, he relied on Mykel to help guide him. Many of the local wild Pokemon seemed to be in hiding in here. The various Geodude that would normally be found were nowhere to be seen, tucked into nooks and crannies all over in an effort to hide from the wrath of the Shadow Pokemon. Not even the Machop and Machoke that normally spent their days training around the cave could be found. Where they were was anyone’s guess at the moment but Lykas wasn’t going to question it for the moment.
“This is creepy… I know it’s been years since the last time we were here but this place is deader than the Pokemon Tower…” Lykas quipped to Mykel, lilac eyes roaming the area. The shimmering, red light dimly illuminating the cave through the heat vents above only added to the spookiness of the place.
”That’s a morbid comparison, even for you.” Mykel replied, his own candy-colored eyes glancing over to his trainer as he continued trying to sense where the source of anger was coming from.
“Sorry?” Lykas responded, shrugging. “I just don’t like how lifeless this place is right now. Hoenn is still teeming with life despite being ground zero for the infection…”
”It spread so fast there because it was. Everything the virus got near was infected before it had the chance to flee. Mykel responded, freezing for a second afterward. ”I found it! Follow me!”
Lykas nodded and followed after Mykel as the Gardevoir quickly moved through the cave system. It didn’t take the pair long at all to find where they were going. “The infection’s spread since the report was sent to us…” Lykas realized upon finding the place. Sitting at the bottom of a shallow crevice were a Slugma, a Geodude, a Machop and a Ponyta all squaring up with one another. “Should we let them weaken each other and then catch them when they’re worn down or should we risk actually joining in the fight and getting involved?” Lykas asked Mykel.
”Let them duke it out on their own for a bit and then jump in to end it when they start getting worn out.” Mykel decided. It would be the safest course of action at the moment. It was supposed to have been just the one Slugma, originally. But it seemed the lava slug had spread the virus before their arrival, making this job harder than they’d been anticipating it would be. Lykas nodded and recalled Mykel as the fighting broke out below.
Flames, rocks and punches went flying only a moment later with Lykas barely dodging some of them as he ducked and rolled along the edge of the crevice they fought it. Slugma was the first to go down, tag-teamed by a combination of a Rock Throw from Geodude and a Take Down from Ponyta. Without letting the other three see him, Lykas tossed one of the Pokeballs from Sub’s supply crate down at Slugma. He sighed as it was ensnared and quickly contained. Geodude was the next to fall. Taking a punch from Machop triggered it’s apparently inborn reflex and it Exploded. The force of the explosion sent Ponyta flying, slamming it into the wall of the ravine and knocking it out as well but Machop managed to avoid being knocked unconscious, by some miracle. In the aftermath, Lykas tossed Pokeballs at both weakened Pokemon. Neither was truly down for the count, he was certain, but he felt it was best to take the chance while it was present. “And then there was one.” He announced to Machop as he dropped down into the ravine, scooping up the three Pokeballs containing the others it had been battling a moment ago with his tentacles.
Tossing out a Pokeball of his own this time, he released Chinami. The Dewott stared Machop down before she jumped into action all on her own. Using Aqua Jet to close the distance between herself and Machop, she made to close slam into the Superpower Pokemon’s torso. Machop was ready, though and grabbed the aerial Dewott, spinning her around with her own momentum further propelling the pair in the spiral Machop set in motion before it hurled into the nearest wall with a Vital Throw. It had been hit but it had given it the chance to strike back hard and fast with little chance for it’s assailant to escape.
“Dew…” Chinami growled to herself as she climbed out of the shallow indentation she’d left in the wall. Rushing in again, she used Aqua Jet a second time to get close but cut the waterworks as she drew near, drawing a paw back as Fighting energy swelled within it. Slamming the Rock Smash into Machop, the Fighting-type smirked as it drew back it’s own, far more skilled fist, and delivered an energy-infused uppercut that sent the Dewott sprawling via Revenge. “Dewott!” Chinami growled again, jumping up and spitting a small amount of blood from her mouth onto the cave floor. Both Pokemon swelled with Shadow Energy at the same time, the pair pouring the stuff into the air around them as they did. Two clouds of mist began to form, though Lykas could sense something was different between the two. Machop’s Shadow Mist spread outward, seeking to slow and hinder it’s enemy’s speed. Chinami’s Shadow Down, however, aimed to reduce Machop’s ability to defend itself. Unfortunately for the pair, the two mists mixed and mingled partway across the battlefield, beginning to cling to their users as well as their targets.
“Chinami, you need to think before you act!” Lykas called out, trying to assist.
“Dew dewott wott dewott!” Chinami snapped back over her shoulder, glowering at Lykas. It was his fault she was like this right now but that was why he was determined to keep her from getting hurt before she fought off the virus. Ignoring Lykas after that, she rushed toward Machop with her Razor Shell drawn, executing a deadly slash at the Superpower Pokemon as she got close. Machop wasn’t going to be stopped that easily, though. It used a perfectly time Knock-Off to disarm the Discipline Pokemon before countering properly with a Thunderpunch to her gut. Chinami coughed as the punch knocked the wind out of her but quickly recovered enough to grab her second scalchop and slash at Machop with Razor Shell again. This time, she hit. Machop was too close to evade it. The attack sent the Fighting-type staggering backward and clutching at it’s face.
“Maaa! Machop chop macho!” It screamed, angered by it’s adversary’s “cheap shot”. Lykas took the chance while it was unable to see and it’s defenses were weakened by Chinami’s mist to throw another of Sub’s Pokeballs at it. Catching the Pokemon went fairly quickly at that point. It was so distracted, Lykas thought, that it failed to even realized it was being caught. Once it was contained, he recalled Chinami and had GRAY scan the area for any more signs of Shadow Pokemon. When the AI came with with a report of no further signals for the moment, Lykas let out a sigh of relief and called for Mykel to take them home.
