NOVEL NEXT Chapter 16: Against the Villainous Duo!
Dante and Pikachu swept past the fourth and fifth floor of the dungeon in just two hours.
Standing in front of the entrance to the final floor, Dante and Pikachu looked at each other. Both of them were now level 12, with Pikachu gaining enough IQ to learn the IQ skill Status Checker.
Status Checker prevents Pikachu from using Status effect moves, such as Thunder Wave, when the opponent already has a status problem.
This can only affect Pikachu when he is battling on his own and doesn't have Dante to command him. Eating various gummies also increased a little bit of their stats.
Dante and Pikachu's current stats are:
Dante (Hisuian Zorua)
Type: Normal/Ghost
Abilities:
Super Luck (Increases the critical hit ratio)
lllusion (Can disguise as another Pokemon)
Level: 12 Exp: 5,155
HP: 42/42
Attack: 31 Defense: 26
Sp. Atk: 32 Sp. Def.: 27 Speed: 28
Item: None
Moveset:
- Leer
- Scratch
- Astonish
- Copycat
- Fake Tears
- Quick Attack
Pikachu
Type: Electric
Abilities:
Static (Chance to paralyze attackers that makes physical contact)
Lightning Rod (Draws Electric-type attacks and boosts Special Attack)
Level: 12 Exp: 5,150
HP: 53/53
Attack: 25 Defense: 23
Sp. Atk: 26 Sp. Def.: 23 Speed: 24
Item: None
Moveset:
- Thunder Shock
- Growl
- Grass Knot
- Tail Whip
- Thunder Wave
—
"When will the boss return? We've nothing to do here."
In the depths of Beach Cave, a Koffing was complaining while floating around in a circle.
"Relax~ the boss said he's talking with a prospective client. Kekeke, I believe the boss can 'persuade' them to give us more rewards. After that, we'll head out to a dungeon again."
"Ugh, I hope they give enough to finally build our own base. I hate staying in this damp space."
While Koffing and Zubat were talking, they suddenly heard footsteps coming from the stairway.
"Huh? Did the Stench run out? I'm pretty sure the boss and I made that stairwell permanently stinky?"
—
"Ugh! It stinks!"
Running down the stairs, Dante and Pikachu both complained.
They didn't notice anything wrong in the beginning. But as they reached the middle of the stairs, the stench from the surrounding wall became more and more unbearable.
Both of them ran desperately in order to quickly reach the end of the stairs, otherwise, they may faint even before they even meet the villainous duo.
After reaching the bottom, the first thing they saw was Zubat and Koffing, both staring at the two of them.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't our old friend, the big crybaby~"
Being faced with Koffing's taunt, Pikachu's momentum suddenly began to weaken. Feeling the pat on his back, he turned his head and saw Dante giving an encouraging look at him.
"Give, give me back what you stole from me!!"
"Oh? You mean this? Kekeke, we didn't really see anything special about this stone. Here, why don't you have it?"
"O-oh! Really!? Tha-"
"Sike! Kekekeke, you want this? Why don't you offer a price? We'll even give you a discount. How about 10,000 Poke?"
"You!"
Seeing Pikachu trembling in anger, Dante shook his head and said "It's no use talking with them. Let's just beat them and get your treasure back."
"Oh? Beat us? Hohohoho, nice joke."
"Pikachu, use Thunder Wave on Zubat!"
Dante didn't even bother to give them a response but instead directly started to attack.
With the strength gap between the two of their team, Dante's strategy is to weaken the opposite side first.
Thanks to their constant cooperation and Pikachu focusing on using Thunder Wave during the dungeon exploration, he was able to release it fast enough and Zubat was not able to dodge.
Dante led Pikachu to focus on attacking Koffing.
Zubat's main advantage is its fast speed. After being paralyzed, its threat to the two of them was very small. As long as he is paralyzed again before the effect wears off, he'll be no problem.
"You! How dare you launch a sneak attack!"
"Heh, says someone who attacked me from behind to steal my treasure!"
Seeing Dante and Pikachu approaching, Koffing quickly released Clear Smog around his body. Dante, who already opened Copycat at the beginning, saw all this. He stopped Pikachu and just let him launch a long range attack.
Meanwhile, he, who was no long range attack, decided to focus on attacking Zubat.
At this moment, Zubat was struggling to even stay in the air. Due to being paralyzed, he had a hard time moving his body, making even flapping his wings a difficult task.
"Pikachu, use Thunder Wave on Zubat again!"
Seeing Zubat slowly regaining control of his body, Dante commanded Pikachu. Before Zubat had time to get away, he was hit by another shot of Thunder Wave.
Dante decisively used Quick Attack to close the distance, then followed it with a combo of Astonish and Scratch repeatedly.
Koffing became anxious watching his partner get one-sidedly beaten. His body was also numbed from being hit by Thunder Wave and Pikachu's Thunder Shocks.
When Zubat finally fainted and Dante turned to focus his attention on him, his eyes hardened and his body suddenly swelled slightly.
When Dante saw the Normal type energy constantly accumulating in Koffing's body, his eyes widened.
"Pikachu! Get away from there!"
While shouting, Dante used Quick Attack to arrive beside Pikachu and threw him farther away.
Pikachu was confused about Dante's sudden action of attacking him.
*KABOOOM*
Pikachu felt a wave of air suddenly pushing him from behind. After somersaulting in the air three times, he turned around to see what was going on.
A huge amount of smoke covered his vision.
"Dante! DANTE!! ARE YOU OKAY!?"
Pikachu panicked and rushed inside the smoke towards Dante's last location.
*Cough* *Cough* "I'm fine. Luckily, I was able to turn into my Ghost mode in time."
With him constantly shifting from Normal to Ghost type, Dante can now almost instantaneously shift between the two forms.
He even had a feeling that, if he became proficient enough, he can constantly blend the Ghost and Normal energy in his body, letting him be immune to Normal type damage and still being able to use Normal type moves.
After the smoke cleared away, both of them saw a small crater where Koffing last floated. In the middle of the crater, they saw Koffing that had already fainted.
"Wait! What about my treasure? Don't tell me it got destroyed in the explosion!?"
Dante and Pikachu searched around the room to find Pikachu's treasure. Remembering that it was last held by Zubat, Dante searched around Zubat's body.
Being a part of an exploration team, Skuntank's team should possess an Exploration Bag given by the Explorer's Association. However, Dante was disappointed that Zubat didn't possess the bag. Maybe their leader Skuntank holds it.
"Hey, Pikachu! I found it!"
Dante found the stone held in Zubat's wings and handed it over to Pikachu. Pikachu looked at the stone in his hand in tears.
*Sniffle* "Thanks Dante. Without you, I-I don't think I'll even be able to make it past the first floor of this dungeon by myself."
"Heh, that's why we're partners. I help you in Dungeon Exploration, and you help me in Pokemon Trainer battles. This is just the beginning of our long partnership."
Wiping the tears from his eyes, Pikachu nodded firmly to Dante.
"Yeah! Partners!"
"Yeah! Now let's go eat all the Gummies in their stash!"
"Yeah!"
Possibly because they planned to stay here for some time, Zubat and Koffing stockpiled food in the corner of the room.
Dante and Pikachu ate everything they saved up and left no crumbs.