Chapter 34: Strategy
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Ren's thoughts began to race.
He had to be more versatile with his spirit usage.
Ren thought back to his days of training his spirit.
'I should be able to do it…' He thought.
Pure red spirit congealed outside of his body.
'Rope'
Ren visualized the aura stretching out into thin strips, before coiling around one another in a uniform pattern.
At the same time, Ren constantly moved his body around, avoiding being pierced by the [Earth Thorn].
The Ralts followed after him like a shadow.
'You aren't even in danger, right?' Ren asked the Ralts.
Unlike him, the Ralts was able to float a small distance above the ground for an extended period of time.
'I don't want to lose you.' The Ralts replied calmly as if it was the most logical response in the world.
'Loose me?' Ren thought inwardly.
They had just met!
Ren did not have the time to ponder the Ralt's strange words. He continued, to formulate the rope.
'More…' Ren thought. He did not have enough rope.
The Ralts activated another ability.
[Spirit Transfer]
Ren could feel his spirit recharging.
He looked at the Ralts puzzled.
It was giving him his spirit? Why would it do that?
The Ralts just stared back at him.
They were just temporary allies!
Ren once again shook away his thoughts.
He felt that continuing to think about the Ralt's actions would be fruitless.
He used the spirit that the Ralts had transferred to continue creating his rope. Rope floated in the air around him.
The Oranguru roared.
[Earth Power]
Earth raised of the ground at coated its body in a thick armor.
It raised its bloody club into the air and charged!
Ren observed the charging Oranguru.
This would be the final confrontation. This would decide it all!
The rope surrounding him was large enough.
'Ralts… can you use 'Psybeam' again?' He thought.
'One more time.' The Ralts replied.
While charging, the Oranguru simultaneously controlled the Earth to form sharp thorns.
The thorns scraped past him, occasionally injuring him.
Although he was able to avoid most of them, occasionally one of the thorns would pierce him, leading to his injuring piling up.
The Oranguru was confident. With its Earth Armor, it would be able to protect itself from any of the spirit attacks of the snake.
Ren prepared the rope that he had formed around his head.
'As soon as I tell you to, use 'Psybeam', ok?' Ren commanded the Ralts.
'Ok.' The Ralts obediently replied.
Ren waited.
This time, he would take the Oranguru down!
The Oranguru rapidly covered the distance between them.
'Three meters… two meters…' The Oranguru did not continue charging forward, rather opting to move to the side.
It had learnt its lesson the previous few times. It did not want to be 'stunned' again.
Ren clicked his teach.
'I will distract him… You float above its head and use your skill!' Ren exclaimed.
With an affirmative 'ok', the Ralts used its skill [Float] to raise its body higher and higher.
Although it could sustain being about 50 centimeters of the ground for more than 15 minutes, going any higher than that would require more energy.
That was why the Ralts had to be quick!
Ren stayed still, keeping the Oranguru's attention on him.
The Oranguru smashed down its club.
Ren could not use any complex spirit constructs to attack nor could he move out of the way.
He had to give the Ralts enough time to prepare her move.
In a span of a few milliseconds, Ren had formed a shield with whatever left over remaining energy he had.
It was not the right time to use his rope.
The Club smashed past the rope and onto Ren.
Ren did not budge.
The Club pressed into him.
'Shit…'
He could feel his body slowly being crushed, as his scales ruptured.
Still, he had to keep the Oranguru in position.
[Psybeam]
The Ralts finally activated its skill.
A flood of Red light hurtled towards the Oranguru's head.
The Oranguru's mind went blank. The force behind the club diminished. The Oranguru's spirit reserves were nearly depleted. After fights with several high level Pokémon in a row, the Oranguru only had very limited gas in the tank left.
The Oranguru used the last drops of its spirit to protect its mind.
Ren willed the rope to coil around the Oranguru's neck.
Ren put all of his mental forces into this simple action.
The Oranguru gradually regained consciousness.
It could feel something.
Death and darkness.
Something was killing it.
It peered down.
A piece of rope was coiling around its neck, suffocating it. The Oranguru grip on its club loosened.
It was sure that with its strength, the rope would be easily crushed. It desperately clutched its neck, trying to breathe again.
What was happening? Where did its strength go?
The Oranguru finally noticed. Its strength… it was dwindling. Memories flashed through its mind. Even when it attempted to crush the snake, its muscle power had been weaker.
Ren maintained the rope around the Oranguru's neck.
'So you finally noticed, huh?' Ren thought.
Over the course of the battle, Ren had constantly poisoned the Oranguru. Finally it was paying off!
With the Oranguru's depleted spirit and depleted strength, it was Ren's chance!
'Fucking die…' Ren commanded.
With a renewed pressure, The rope around the Oranguru's neck raised into the air.
The Rope continued to tighten, as the Oranguru's struggled became more and more frantic.
***
Memories flashed through its eyes.
Was it going to die here today?
Was this the end?
Since the beginning, it had been strong.
The Strongest.
It had hunted Pokémon one after the other constantly getting stronger.
It had trained it body and skills constantly to the limit, fighting against opponents of equal standing.
With the natural potential of its body, it had always come out on top. It had always won against others.
It was a winner.
It was a ruler of the weak.
That was until the Oranguru had met it.
It could still remember those cold eyes.
A monster.
They were the eyes of a true monster.
A monster that had beaten him to a pulp.
The fight did not cause the Oranguru to feel humiliation. It did not make him angry.
It was in this fight that the Oranguru had first felt fear.
It was branded. It became the property of the creature; a slave.
It was tasked with guarding and salvaging materials on the outermost mountain for its master.
It had continued this monotonous life for a few months. Even when the others that were born with him left, he was forced to stay through his connection to his master.
He had to stay and live on the mountain for many cycles.
Then, when the Oranguru had nearly given up all hope, it had found it.
A berry.
It gave the Oranguru a sliver of hope.
This was a rare berry.
The Oranguru did not even consider passing it to his master.
If it could consume the berry… if it could transcend past Level 5 and pass the great chasm that blocked many Pokémon, it would have a chance.
A chance to take back its pride!
The Oranguru cared for the tree day after day, observing as the Berry continued to mature.
It could tell that it would be special.
Finally, in the last few days, the tree had communicated with him.
It had told him that it needed flesh and blood!
It would attract the surrounding Pokémon and it would be the Oranguru's duty to kill them and give them to the tree.
The Oranguru thought of it as a chance. A chance to exceed its limits.
Now…
'Failed…'
The Oranguru had failed. It was going to die.
The Oranguru could see the darkness closing in on his eyes.
He stared the eyes of the Ekans in the corner of its eyes.
Determined.
Just like himself at one point in his life.
Now… it was but a husk of its former self.
In the last few moments of the Oranguru's life, the Oranguru felt something that it never felt before.
It felt a sense of desire.
Not for itself. It wanted the Ekans… the monster that had killed it become the victor. It wanted the Ekans to kill the 'monster.'
The Oranguru's mind went blank.
***
Finally, after nearly a minute of struggle, the Oranguru's body finally went limp.
After ten more seconds, Ren finally released his hold on the Oranguru's neck.
Ren collapsed onto the hard earth.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone