Chapter 31: First Loss (Edited)
Matcha City was not an overcrowded city but it had its perks. It was really peaceful and with 'Rodon sea' connecting the trade routes, people could enjoy delicious foods. Axel was relaxing on a beach with all of his Pokemons doing their own things.
Nidoran seem to be playing on the beach as it was the first time it had seen it. Shedinja was meditating taking full advantage of the beautiful sound of sea waves. Weedle seemed to be eating. Gogoat seemed to be sunbathing, minding its own business like a boss. And Charmander was pranking other trainer's Squirtle. It was chasing Charmander with a water gun.
'That is a funny sight', Axel thought laying down on a beach.
But soon something unexpected happened. Charmander attacked Squirtle with 'Ember' and Squirtle dodged it. The ember landed on the jeans of Squirtle's trainer.
'Charrrr..', shouted Charmander hurriedly and started running towards Axel. Squirtle used 'Water gun' on its trainer to control the damage. But the damage had already been done. The damage was done to the trainer's pride.
"What the fuck???", the trainer shouted.
Axel could see a man, probably in his late 20s, with burnt pants near his crotch taking heavy steps towards him, angrily. The man had a mustache and a long brown beard. Because of 'Water gun' the man looked like a drenched crow. It looked really funny. Axel had to cough a few times so that he would not laugh.
"Hey kid, look what your Pokemon did to my pants. Do you have anything to say about it?", said the man angrily.
"I am sorry about that but it is just a baby Pokemon. I hope you forgive him?", said Axel in a polite tone.
"Char… Charmander" Charmander was hiding behind its trainer's legs by this point cause the man looked scary.
"Why should I forgive it? Don't they teach you how to control your Pokemon? Huh.. People like you make the reputation of trainers like crap. Compensate me… give me 10000 Poke dollars now and I will think about forgiving you", said the man with pride as if he was Mother Teresa.
"10000??? That thing doesn't cost even cost 200 Poke dollars. Why are you ripping me off? You talk about the trainer's reputation and you bully people?", Axel was angry now.
Granted it was Charmander's mistake but this man was clearly out of line.
"10000 Poke dollars is not for pants.. It is for my reputation. What if my fans see this, take my pic, and post it on the internet? I would be a laughing stock. 10000 is a very low price, I should have asked for a million Poke dollars", shouted the man.
"Yeah, you would have fans if Satan goes to heaven. I challenge you to a battle. If I win, you will apologize and if you win I will give you 10000 Poke dollars", said Axel.
The man didn't know who Satan was but he knew it was an insult. So he readily accepted the challenge.
"It will be 2 on 2 Pokemon battle. The trainer could change their Pokemon in between. Let's start then… you are up Squirtle." "Sqqqirtleee…" shouted the Pokemon with a battle stance.
"My name is Axel. What is yours?" .
"Hump.. You don't deserve to know my name.", said the man.
"Let's do this Marcus.", said Axel…
"Shedinja…", said Marcus and got ready.
###
"Marcus, use 'Gust'", said Axel.
"Shed.."
"Squirtle 'Withdraw' ", said the man.
Squirtle came back to its hard shell.
'Gust' didn't have any major impact on it. It just flew for a couple of meters.
"Marcus, use 'Shadow sneak' and then 'Tackle' immediately.", said Axel in a hurry.
"Squirtle, dodge it, and use 'Water gun'".
This Squirtle was fast. 'Shadow sneak' didn't connect and Shedinja was hit with 'Water gun' instead. But, alas, 'Water gun' didn't have any impact on Shedinja due to its broken ability.
Without any instruction from Axel, Shedinja used 'Hypnosis'. This was a move they had discussed before. If 'Wonder guard' ability comes to play then Shedinja will immediately use 'Hypnosis' as an unexpected move. Squirtle realized this used 'Withdraw' immediately but it was also a baby Pokemon. It didn't know that 'Hypnosis' is a sound wave move and would affect it even if it used 'Withdraw'.
Level 6 'Hypnosis' was too much for a baby Pokemon, so it felt drowsy and came out of its hard shell.
"Marcus, use 'Hypnosis' again, then 'Dream eater' and finish it with 'Tackle' " said Axel.
The second 'Hypnosis' made the poor Pokemon in a complete sleep state, 'Dream eater' ate almost a quarter of its health and 'Tackle' was the final blow.
"Come back Squirtle, you did a good job. Though you are young, you seem to be a capable trainer. So I will fight you with my main team. Go Venasaur!!", said the man.
A large squat, quadrupedal Pokémon with bumpy, blue-green skin came into view. Its height was double that of a normal Venusaur. Its height was almost 4 meters. That was more than 13 feet tall. When it emerged, the beach started to change. Grass and small plants sprouted covering the entire battlefield making the battle area grassy terrain. This was not an uncommon ranked Pokemon, neither rare nor elemental one but a full-fledged Pseudo- king ranked Pokemon.
"Venusaurrrr….!!!" it roared.
The sound of the roar was so huge and intimidating that Axel's heart skipped a bit. The Pokemon had a threatening aura as it had been to thousands of bloody battles. Pseudo-king ranked Pokemon could change the environment to their liking passively like what Venusaur did.
This was the first time that Axel had even seen a Pseudo-ranked Pokemon. He already knew that he was going to lose but he would not give up that fast.
He chose Shedinja once again cause Shedinja was immune to most of the attacks and most importantly it was immune to grass and normal-type attacks. That was what Venusaur was known for.
Seeing the expression of Axel, the man smirked and said "You mess with Venu family, you get the thrones.. Venusaur, use 'Vine whip' and bring it closer."
"Marcus, use 'Agility' and dodge it fast" shouted Axel.
But Shedinja was not as fast as Venusaur. Though Venusaur looked extremely big, but its 'Vine whip' was as fast as lightning. It caught Shedinja in a flash and carried it towards itself. Though Shedinja was not hurt by 'Vine whip' cause of its 'wonder guard' ability it was still caught and could not resist.
"Venusaur, now use 'bite'"
"Fuck!! Marcus use 'Shadow sneak' and get out of there… use 'Hypnosis'", said Axel holding his heart on a stake.
'Bite' was a dark type move and is super effective against Shedinja. Since Shedinja had very low health, it would die if the move connects.
Shedinja blurred and immediately move towards the shadow of Venusaur, arriving at its back side. Since it was a beach on a sunny day, the only shadow there was, was of Venusaur, so it could not run very far away.
The moment Venusaur turned, it immediately used 'Hypnosis' with full power.
"Saurrrr…" roared the green giant again.
Yeah… 'hypnosis' didn't have any effect on it. Axel was stunned. The resistance of this humongous thing was extraordinary. The difference between an unranked Pokemon and Pseudo-king was starting to show now.
At this time the trainer from Venu family had a dark smile. He said "Hidden Power" and then Venusaur caught Shedinja in 'Vine whip' again bringing it closer. The flower on the backside of it glowed and an orange flame shot Shedinja in a point-blank range.
"No!!…." Axel said dropping down to his knees. The power of 'hidden power' varies for every Pokemon. It could be of any type except for Normal or fairy move. This 'hidden power' was a 'Flamethrower' and Shedinja had 2 times damage for it. Coupled with its low health and hit at a point-blank range, it was uncertain whether it was alive or not.
Axel felt that he had killed Shedinja. Shedinja had never lost a battle when it began its journey with him. Heck, it had never been hurt even once. Due to its 'wonder guard' ability, it was immune to most of the attacks and Axel was very selective in choosing its opponents. But Axel started to feel cocky and proud when using Shedinja and started to take risks like this.
---
Ding!
Endure has leveled up to 4
Ding!
Endure has leveled up to 5
Ding!....
....
Ding!
Endure has leveled up to 11
----
The mixture of dust and grass cleared slowly and the man threw something to Axel.
"Use this full restore fast.", he said. Axel caught the full restore and immediately used it in Shedinja. Poor Shedinja was barely breathing. Though Endure is a cheat move for Shedinja cause it would have an extra life cause of its low health.
But that was an attack by a Pseudo-king Pokemon at a point-blank range and 'endure' was only level 3 before. So, Shedinja was lucky that it was alive.
It took, 10 minutes for Shedinja to stabilize and Axel used another full restore on it given by the man, cause Axel didn't have any. Though in-game, full restore could fully heal a Pokemon, in reality, it was not the case.
Axel also calmed down a bit after this. When facing a Pseudo-king Pokemon, he was not calm and had taken a rash decision. He still wanted to battle though he knew he could not win and Shedinja was already out of danger. He knew he had to face this to know his limit.
"You are on Nidoran"
"Nidooo…" Nidoran came into the battlefield.
Though it was frightened, it was also angry cause this giant had hurt its friend. Seeing such a reaction from Nidoran, Axel became emotional.
'You have grown well Nido.', Axel thought.
"Nidoran, you the combination of 'Tackle', 'Quick attack' and 'Chip away'", Axel said. 'Quick attack' increases the speed, 'tackle' would hit hard cause it was already level 10, and 'Chip away' would look for an opening and strike continuously. This was the best strategy he could come up with.
Nidoran was using everything it got and hitting Venusaur with this combination. But Venusaur was not even slightly hurt. This was not cause it was very high level but the grassy terrain was passively healing Venusaur.
After 2 minutes of the combo, Nidoran was starting to get tired.
"Nidoran use 'Venom drench' and then 'Horn attack'." Axel changed the strategy.
Though Venusaur was a poison-type Pokemon, poison moves would also have an effect on it. But the minute Venom drench connected, Axel knew that it had zero effect on the green giant.
This was cause Nidoran was very low leveled.
"Okay Venusaur, let's end this. Finish up with 'Razor leaf'" "Venuu.."
Nidoran was hit with razor-sharp leaf, and was flown dozen meters back. It had fainted and the battle was over. Axel ran up to Nidoran to use hyper potion.
This was the first battle that Nidoran and Axel have ever lost.