Chapter 34: Battles
As we walked through the camp, Amanda spoke about her Charmander without a break.
I now knew so many useless things about her Pokemon from how much temperature it prefers to how many scratches it likes and its sweet spots too.
Shaking my head at the blabbermouth, I looked at Madlyn to see her soldier through Amanda's lesson on her Pokemon without any change in her expression.
'I guess, she would have been already adapted to tuning out the useless information, she travels with her after all,' I thought subtly increasing my pace.
I was reaching my limit as Amanda's incessant talk was irritating me, especially since I wanted Charmander as my starter.
"Here we are," I forcibly yelled pointing at the battlefield I used yesterday.
"Same rules as before," I shouted running to the other side of the battlefield.
"But no Dragon meat for you, whether you win or lose," Amanda shouted back, making me pause.
'Damn! I totally forgot about it on the day Cet awakened. Now I have two options- shamelessly eating it or waiting for a special occasion,' I thought before shaking my head and focusing as Madlyn started the countdown.
"3"
"2"
"1"
Nia took to the skies as Charmander appeared on the other side of the battlefield.
"What?" Amanda's and Madyln's voices overlapped, while Amanda's voice was of surprise, I think Madlyn was angry.
Her voice was slightly different from her previous cold no-nonsense voice.
"I will explain after the match," I yelled, making Amanda harumph.
Madlyn started the match, glaring at me.
Nia observed the fire-tailed lizard, tilting her head as she landed before me.
Taking the initiative, I shouted.
"Water gun, Rapid fire."
"Metal claw, Liza," Amanda called out.
The Charmander elegantly danced around the water guns and used its metal claws to sunder the water guns she couldn't dodge.
'Hmm, even after dispersing the water gun with its claws, it is taking light splash damage,' I noted.
Seeing the Charmander advancing through the hail of water guns, I spoke.
"Water pulse."
"Dragon Breath," Amanda shouted.
Both Pokemon took deep breaths before releasing their attacks.
The purple beam of fire clashed with Nia's water pulse.
The attacks cancelled each other.
"Smoke screen and run through, Liza," Amanda shouted.
Suppressing my smirk at her command, I waited as the smoke occupied the battlefield obscuring the vision of both Pokemon.
"Water pulse," I ordered.
A Pulse of water formed around Nia, disturbing the smoke around her before getting launched.
The water pulse parted the smoke as it darted through the battlefield, giving me a clear vision of the battlefield.
"Char.." the Charmander cried out as the smoke cleared on the impact of the water pulse.
It used its metal claw to reduce the damage.
"Tch," I clicked my tongue seeing this.
"Bubble beam, spread them, Nia," I called out.
Bubbles appeared from Nia's beak and started floating on the battlefield.
"Dragon breath, clear them all" Amanda shouted.
"Bubble beam type 2," I ordered, seeing Amanda counter my earlier plan.
Nia released the bubble onto the battlefield again, but this time they formed multiple clusters on the battlefield compared to the wall of bubbles before, indirectly blocking the Charmander's way.
A hush fell on the battlefield as the bubbles swayed gently in the wind, glittering like pearls in the sunlight.
"Ember and go through them, Liza," Amanda yelled gritting her teeth.
I, who was waiting for this yelled.
"Up and Bubble beam onto the Charmander while it's busy, Nia."
Nia flew into the air before I completed speaking and aimed at the Charmander.
Bubbles shot towards the Charmander as it fired ember at a cluster present on the battlefield.
"Go forward, Liza."
Charmander braved through the field with excellent footwork dodging quite elegantly but still taking damage now and then.
"Finish it, Brine" I called out.
"Pride's punch, Liza" Amanda yelled for a combo move, giving me a bad feeling.
As Nia glowed with azure colour, stealing the light from the surroundings, the Charmander rushed to close the distance between them.
Nia fired the brine directly onto the coming Charmander.
"Huh! I won."
It seems I spoke hastily as Nia completed her attack, the Charmander was still kicking and jumped towards Nia its claws sparkling with electricity.
"Ni.."
Before I could speak, the Charmander punched Nia dealing with x2 super effective damage.
"Water gun, Nia" I called as both Pokemon fell from the air.
The Ducklett turned its head towards the Charmander not caring about its fall.
Just as Nia was about to launch the water gun, a red light touched the Charmander making it disappear.
I ran into the battlefield seeing Amanda recall her Charmander.
Nia tumbled onto the ground not able to stop properly after firing the water gun.
But she stood up looking very weary after the thunder punch, I recalled her after spraying some potion and made my way towards Amanda, who was looking down due to her defeat.
As I came near her, she clapped her cheeks and smiled mischievously.
"You water types are going to give me and Elizabeth a trauma with all these defeats," she said.
"I know you won't let that stop you," I said, quite familiar with the taste of defeat from yesterday.
"Keen eye, Huh!" Amanda asked with a strained smile, making me nod.
Because Amanda didn't consider Nia's ability into account, the match ended quite quickly.
"Pride's Punch?" I asked already with a faint idea of its combination moves.
"Endure and Thunder Punch," Amanda said still far away from her earlier bubbly self.
"I too lost for the first time yesterday, you know."
"Really? Who defeated you?" Amanda asked curiously.
"Celia, I will introduce you guys later," I said.
"Now don't cry! Don't cry!" Amanda spoke in a baby voice, trying to pat my head, mocking me.
Darting away from her, I yelled.
"Stop it!"
She continued her attempts to touch my head but stopped as Madlyn made her presence known.
Amanda took a meal package from her bag and handed it to me, but not before drawing me into a game of tug of war with the package as rope which she won by pinching my hand.
"Come on!" I groaned rubbing my hand and placed the package in my bag.
Amanda showed her tongue at me as I turned towards Madlyn.
I ignored Amanda and asked the blue-haired trainer.
"Do you wanna know how I got the Ducklett?" I asked as she stared at me.
"After a battle," she said moving away from me.
Amanda acted as the referee for our match and started it.
I sent out Nia again and a Squirtle took its place on the opposite end of the battlefield.
Nia stood on the battlefield ready for the battle and the Squirtle too had its game face on.
It was glaring at Nia.
"Water gun, Nia," I called out.
"Match it," Madlyn commanded.
Nia's water gun shot through the air towards the Squirtle, and the Squirtle too took aim and fired at the incoming water gun.
"Rapid fire," I ordered as the water gun cancelled each other.
"Move forward," Madlyn called out giving me a déjà vu.
The Squirtle walked towards the incoming water guns, using its shell as a shield to block some of them and dodging others with footwork that resembled a break dance.
The water guns splashed harmlessly against the Squirtle shell, as it slowly closed the distance.
The Squirtle sometimes braced for the impact and sometimes let the attacks slide off its shell instead of taking the full brunt.
Nia looked affronted at the ease the Squirtle was defending against her continuous water guns, she began firing with a glint in her eyes. The same glint which she has when she plays her mental aptitude games.
A water gun soared through the sky towards the Squirtle's head and the Pokemon retreated its head into its shell sending the water gun sailing above its shell.
As its head popped up again, a water gun hit the Squirtle on its head tossing it back.
'Clever, Nia sent two water guns back-to-back to conceal the behind one,' I thought as the Squirtle took damage in a split second, leaving no chance for its trainer to intervene.
"Water pulse, Nia" I called out trying to seize the chance.
"Rapid spin," Madlyn called out.
The water pulse clipped the rapidly moving turtle Pokemon sending it skidding back to where it started.
'Nice!' I thought seeing that the Squirtle had to cover the distance again to reach Nia.
"Rapid spin, forward," Madlyn called out again.
"Water gun," I ordered.
A water gun sailed through the air and slid off from the top of the rapidly moving turtle Pokemon's shell, not even causing it to shake.
"Again, Rapid fire" I called knowing Nia would have understood its previous mistake.
The water gun darted towards the Squirtle and hit it in the middle of its moving shell, causing it to lose momentum and unbalance the Squirtle.
Nia took advantage of the imbalance and crashed it onto the ground with another water gun, making the Squirtle sprawl out of its shell.
"Withdraw," Madlyn ordered again, but not before the Squirtle got hit with a water gun.
"Awesome," I thought seeing Nia not letting up the rapid-fire and scoring one more successful hit right into the big hole of the shell, making the shell spin.
Nia took deep breaths and ended her rapid fire.
"Life Dew," Madlyn looking at me with a slightly raised eyebrow.
Water bubbled from the shell giving off a blue glow.
"Oh! Come on," I muttered looking at the Squirtle using a recovery move, erasing most of the damage dealt by Nia.
"Bubble beam, type 3," I called out.
Nia fired swift bubbles, which impacted the ground in front of the holed-up Squirtle, tossing it on its back, and making it tumble.
"Rapid Spin, right yourself."
The Squirtle spun and stood on its legs, glaring at Nia.
I felt Déjà vu once more upon seeing the scene.
The battlefield became silent except for the sound of the bushes slightly swaying in the wind.
"Forward!" Madlyn spoke.
I nearly facepalmed at the same command.
'Let's see what she wants,' I thought ordering Nia into the air and wishing that I had a status-enhancing move other than Agility.
The Squirtle crossed the mid-range boundary of the battlefield as Nia looked down on it, hovering in the air.
"Ice Beam," Madlyn called out.
"Quick Att-" I tried to yell following her.
...….
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