A/N: So close(127/150). Let's reduce this week's target to 143 then. 143 power stones to get two bonus chaps.
Deal? Deal.
.......
"Go, Machop."
"Dazzle them, Sweety."
A Machop appeared on the field- near Mike- and flexed its arms roaring out its name.
'Bad starting position,' I thought and looked at the second Pokemon.
A Snubbull took the other side of the battlefield, very near to its trainer, eliciting coos from a couple of girls walking by.
No one was watching the match when I came, but after the two Pokemons took to the field a small crowd gathered.
The crowd was divided into two groups- boys and girls, each group supporting a Pokemon in a very stereotypical manner.
The fairy-type Pokemon tilted its head up, looked down at the Machop, and licked its face, causing more coos from the crowd of female viewers.
I walked near to the battlefield and asked permission to be the referee.
Mike smiled widely on seeing me and nodded.
"Thank you," the girl said doing a light curtsy.
I raised my hand indicating the start of the battle.
"Close in! Mac" called Mike.
"Show them your charm, Sweety," the girl called out, smiling with a superior look.
The Machop sprinted towards the fairy-type at which the pink dog glowed with fairy energy and clutched its hands shyly lowering its head, staring at the incoming Machop with a sweet and innocent expression.
"Ma…chop.." the Machop stumbled and stopped on seeing the Snubbull act cute.
"Hmm! Bulk up," Mike ordered not at all deterred.
"Charm again."
The Snubbull chased its tail a couple of times glowing pink.
"So cute.." murmurs echoed from the female viewers.
I think heard the same remarks from the boys' side too but they got suppressed quickly.
Ignoring the crowd, I looked at the battlefield.
The Machop started running again as the fairy trainer ordered.
"Mimic."
The Snubbull flexed copying the Machop but it still looked cute, like a chubby child flexing.
'Damn, the Snubbull has increased its attack and defence while the Machop has its attack lowered two times and has one enhanced defence,' I thought noting the buffs and debuffs.
It was my first time seeing a full-on status battle.
I turned to see how Mike was faring only to see him grinning.
The grin never left his face after the start of the battle. I waited for the melee clash, expecting to see the reason for his confidence even when his Pokemon attack power got drastically reduced.
"Dazzling gleam," ordered the girl smiling.
"Revenge," Mike ordered baring his teeth, knowing his Machop was too close and had too much forward momentum to dodge.
Pink energy coalesced around the Snubbull as it became a mini pink sun on the field making the Machop cry- it was too close.
The Machop shied back from the glow.
"Jump and take your revenge Machop," ordered Mike.
The Machop jumped into the dimming pink glow and crashed into the Snubbull getting a cheer from the boys in the crowd.
"Fire Fang."
"Steel punch."
The Machop's fist glowed and it punched the Snubbull. The Snubbull held its ground and bit down on the Machop, its fangs glowing with fire.
"Machop, Form-1," Mike shouted, making the Machop flinch and gain distance from his foe.
"Dazzling gleam," the girl ordered again.
Machop jumped back, safely escaping the range of the fairy-type move.
"Tch," the fairy-type Pokemon trainer pouted on seeing the Machop escape.
"Form-1-steel, Go!" Mike roared.
"Fire Fang, again."
The Snubbull leapt at the Machop.
The Machop sidestepped and dove a glowing fist into her spine, making the pink fairy crash.
The Machop followed with a low sweep sending the Snubbull skidding across the ground and chasing after it.
"Again!" the girl called out.
The Snubbull fangs glowed with fire and ran towards the Machop.
This time instead of leaping, the Snubbull tried to corner the Machop to maul it.
The Machop danced around the Snubbull, dodging its mouth, sending it toppling with a low sweep again.
The Snubbull easily stood back up using its front paws to stop its fall.
If it was any other bipedal Pokemon it would have taken more time to get back up, giving Machop enough time to capitalise on the fallen Pokemon's openings.
But no such luck as the low centre of gravity of the Snubbull had it getting up quite easily, without any delay.
"Use Fire Fang! I don't believe my Pokemon can't touch yours," the girl spoke, glaring at Mike.
The Snubbull ran towards the Machop again.
The Machop toppled the dog Pokemon again just like before.
"Again!" she shouted stubbornly.
Crash.
"Again."
Crash.
"Aahg!" the girl shouted exasperated.
The battle clashes between the Machop and the Snubbull were like a mix of Bullfighting and a martial artist exploiting the flaws of his slow-moving noob partner.
Machop was nothing but an agile blur dancing around the pink fairy, always dodging the Snubbull, that too with apparent ease.
"Dazzling shift," the girl ordered with clear irritation in her voice.
The Machop instinctively crouched to jump back on hearing her order, most likely associating the sound with its earlier pain of getting roasted.
"Dust kick."
Mike shouted most likely guessing what the combo move does.
The Snubbull glowed like it was going to use a Dazzling gleam but suddenly shifted to use charm. However, the cute act got interrupted as the Machop kicked sand at its eyes and darted towards it.
Mike successfully disrupted the combo.
'He shouldn't take the risk of guessing the combo,' I thought but I couldn't argue with the results though.
The girl took deep breaths and face palmed, before ordering.
"Scary Face."
The Machop shuddered seeing the Snubbull sneer at it cruelly, eliciting high-pitched gasps from the crowd.
A small smile graced the fairy-type face trainer as she ordered.
"Back and Scary face."
"Dust Kick."
The Snubbull jumped back at an angle dodging the dust aimed at it and sneered in mid-air, pulsing with a white glow.
"Again," the girl ordered.
"Form-2, steel. Don't let up," Mike ordered.
The Machop shivered and closed in as the dog smiled cruelly at the fighting Pokemon.
"Now! Fire Fang."
The Snubbull ran to meet the speed-debuffed Machop as everyone waited with anticipation.
Crash.
"How?" the fairy-type trainer growled, as the Snubbull was sent crashing onto the ground again.
"Again!" she ordered with a stubborn tone.
Crash.
The Snubbull got toppled again.
If the reason for the Snubbull biting dust before can be attributed to the difference in speed, it was pure technique this time.
The Machop shadowed the pink dog, twisting and turning, always on its back ready to capitalise on an opening.
'It's like a Kungfu master fighting a normal person in the Kungfu movies,' I thought marvelling at the Machop's technique.
"Mimic," the girl changed the order making the Snubbull use its tiny legs to do a leg sweep.
The Machop jumped at that and punched straight at the fairy Pokemon's head, making it drop like a sack of potatoes.
"No, my Sweety," cried the fairy trainer as the boys cheered.
I started the countdown. As both Pokemon are unawakened, a countdown is used to declare a winner.
"3"
The Snubbull stood and shook its head, making the girls cheer.
' I don't think she is going to win,' I thought glancing at the haughty-looking fairy trainer.
"Form-2, steel, again" Mike shouted, pouring cold water over the girls and the trainer's enthusiasm.
The Machop shadowed the Snubbull again, making me pity the pink dog.
This time the Machop caught the scruff of the fairy dog from behind and tossed it into the sky and drove a steel fist as it descended.
The Stubborn dog turned in mid-air catching the Machop's fist in its firey maw.
"Stick to the form, Mac. Leer and pummel it," Mike shouted with a hint of anger in his voice.
The Machop brought the Snubbull stuck on its hand near to its face before using leer.
The Machop glowed with fighting energy before starting to thrash the life out of the fairy Pokemon.
'Revenge, Huh!'
The Stubborn dog still didn't leave the Machop's hand.
"Trainer Mike, order your Machop to stop," I suddenly shouted noticing a slight sag of its body and the absent firey glow in the Snubbull's mouth.
Mike gritted his teeth and glared at me.
"First Warning," I shouted, calmly staring into his eyes.
"Mac Stop," he ordered on seeing me not backing down.
The Machop stopped hitting the Snubbull and stood with the Snubbull hanging loosely on its fist, most of the Snubbull's body lying still on the ground.
"3"
"2"
"1"
"Trainer Mike wins the match with a warning. The warning will be reviewed by the Dexs and decided whether it stays in his record," I announced to the crowd and the trainers.
The girl recalled her Pokemon and started running. Most likely towards the onsite Nurse Joy, leaving her Dex behind.
"Calculating." Multiple robotic voices suddenly spoke, giving me goosebumps.
All our Dexs spoke simultaneously- mine, Mike's and the Snubbull trainer's.
It was a feature of the Dex; it records everything happening around an active battlefield.
You will have to switch on the battle-monitoring feature of the Dex if you want to participate in a battle or even referee a match.
"The warning will be stripped of the record, considering the circumstances it was given in," the Dexs echoed each other giving a sci-fi vibe.
'Porygon, huh! Make sense,' I thought noticing the change in the Dexs voice.
The crowd dispersed as the Dexs announced their decision.
The fairy trainer came running back to take her dex as it was mandatory for the battle participants' Dexs to be present when a warning was given, making her leave it behind to tend to her Snubbull first.
I couldn't help but feel complicated looking at her retreating figure.
The girl most likely was waiting for a warning from her Dex to recall her Pokemon, which happens only after a Pokemon receives a serious injury.
'Stubborn, instead of trying to prevent the injury she was waiting for a Dex notification to withdraw her Pokemon,' I thought, even though I disliked it I couldn't find a fault in her thinking.
I would have done the same if my dex had the same feature.
But she didn't notice that her Pokemon was taking hits on vital spots, making her waiting-it-out approach too risky.
I had this urge to curse at her, but truthfully, she hadn't done anything wrong. She was just ignorant of the state her Pokemon was in.
Mike recalled his Machop, walked up to me and spoke.
"You did a good job, man. But you and I would have been having a different conversation if the Snubbull was not knocked out. You could have waited for Dex to ping her you know," he said with a strained smile on his face.
I spoke nodding my head.
"True but I noticed the Snubbull's eyes closing, its body sagging and the final nail was the disappearance of the fire-type energy glow near its mouth," I said hesitating whether to say that his Pokemon was hair's breadth away from killing the Snubbull.
"I was afraid Mac was going to get knocked off first man. I mean he tanked a super effective move and two normal effective moves," Mike spoke trying to explain the reason for his delay in following the referee's command.
"I know, she was waiting for it too, though, without the Leer in the end, the match would have gone in her favour," I said, still undecided about telling him.
"True, Mac was not supposed to forget his training which he did in two instances of the match, his father and my father are going to make us go through the reverse world for that though," he said with a hollow laugh.
"I wouldn't have called for a stop in any other cases, but your Machop was focusing too much on the Snubbull's neck, making me order for a halt," I said deciding that it was not my place to control information about his match, especially information concerning a life-or-death situation.
"Oh," he gasped and continued.
"I guess it was his instinctual response to pain. It was his first battle after all, " he said shuddering and taking deep breaths to calm down, the Snubbull could have died after all.
"I love you and hate you, man. My already tough training will turn into a punishment for me now, as I didn't notice that Mac was going for vital spots on an unawakened Pokemon," he said, trying to joke, but his hands started to shake making him wrap them around himself.
"Seriously, thank you," he said jumping in his place most likely trying to suppress his nervousness.
"I don't think I can look at battling with the same enthusiasm if I have innocent blood on my hands," he said slightly sniffing, looking upset.
'It's not your fault, the battle was happening well into the opponent's side. You couldn't have noticed," I said going for a hug.
He looked too shook up.
He clutched me tightly for a second and backed off.
"Thank you, man. I needed it," he said.
'Wow! I just hugged- no I initiated a hug.'
What I did just registered distracting some of my nervousness at nearly witnessing a death.
Shaking my head, I cheered myself and spoke.
"That's it for bad news. Now I have some awesome news for you, depending on whether you think a Farfetch'd will suit your team."
After seeing his battle and the way the Machop's power nearly tripled after it started using martial arts, I unwillingly concluded, that I couldn't bring the Farfetch'd to its full potential.
Hampering its growth and filling a slot in my team with a Pokemon of low battle power didn't seem like a wise thing to do.
"I would love to. Free-handed martial arts and sword arts are my favourite. And with a Farfetch'd, I will have a sparring partner and a different typed Pokemon as my ace," he said, gushing.
"Well, how about a Farfetch'd for you, an elite offspring to boot," I said waving the Farfetch'ds Pokeball at him.
"Don't even joke about it…. Let me check," he said, looking at my serious expression.
As I handed him the Pokeball, he took out his dex and started typing something in it.
A blue light came out of his Dex and scanned the Pokeball.
"Really, NightSlash! You.. you just wait here for a second, I will be right back," he said and sprinted away, handing me the Pokeball.
"Wai..," I called out, trying to stop him. But he sprinted away towards his room.
'Hmm! At least he seems excited about the Farfetch'd,' I thought as Mike came sprinting back again.
"Ha, my father agreed to pay 30% more on the highest auctioned Farfetch'd until now," he said grinning, most likely wanting to forget about how close to his Machop came to becoming a killer.
'The Farfectch'd is a welcome distraction, I guess,' I thought looking at him.
"Are you sure, you want the Farfetch'd? It doesn't have a known evolution," I said looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes! Professors are very near to finding an evolution for Kanto Farfecth'd by studying its Galarian counterpart. So, about the price…," he said trailing off.
The offered price was very generous, as the auction house also takes a cut out of the final amount.
I didn't want to auction the Farfetch'd as I wanted it will belong to someone who would help it in its path to power.
It didn't seem like it was the right thing to do- auctioning off a driven Pokemon who was challenging every trainer on the route and even came back for more after suffering a defeat.
Not to mention the ickiness of auctioning a Pokemon. I knew animals were sold and bought even in my previous life- I didn't have much contact with that though- But an auction seemed somewhat demeaning to a Pokemon which will develop sapience soon.
"I don't care about the money, I just want you to promise me you will help Farfetch'd reach its highest potential," I said staring into his eyes.
"It is a given, no Pokemon of mine will ever waste their potential," he said, conviction shining through his eyes.
I nodded at that. We finalised our deal and went through some legal mumbo jumbo with the help of our Dexs.
After completing our deal, Mike looked at the Farfetch'ds Pokeball with stars in his eyes.
"I don't believe my luck. I always wanted a Farfetch'd or a Honedge but with the Honedge so far out of our region, I was hoping to catch a Farfetch'd in my journey."
"I'd have counted myself lucky just snagging a regular Farfetch'd. But getting one with an egg move? The odds of a non-elite offspring—especially a Farfetch'd with no known evolution having an egg move are practically zero!" He gushed, brimming with excitement, hardly able to believe his stroke of luck.
"You are my lucky charm, Leo," Mike said, punching me in the shoulder.
"You could have gotten a Farfetch'd from the auction, right?" I asked.
"Yes, and it would have been a normal Farfetch'd though. In the past decade, there were only two times a Farfetch'd with an egg move was auctioned."
"The last year and 5 years before. My father offered you the extra 30% because the Professors are supposed to be nearer to finding the evolution compared to the last year," he said finally calming down.
"Hmm! Did you ever attend the auction before?" I asked, curious about the auction.
"Yes! Every year. They mostly sell Pokemon of different regions and some Kantonian Pokemon with egg moves. Last year, I continuously pestered my father about buying the Farfetch'd. But he was adamant about me not having a Pokemon until I turned ten."
"He is superstitious like that," Mike said shaking his head.
"What do you mean superstitious?" I asked confused.
"Oh! Some trainers think that having Pokemon before you reach 10 makes bonding with them take more time. I know how it sounds. But most of our stories of ancestors suggest this too." He said clearly disagreeing with the said stories.
"And do you know something suspicious about this?" he asked.
"What?"
"There are no research papers about it. Trust me I searched like a mad person last year after my father didn't buy me that Farfetch'd," he said gritting his teeth.
"Though my father stopped me before I could use his access to search. I always felt like my parents are not telling me something, you know," he said shrugging his shoulders.
'This again! It looks like he also doesn't have a clue about this 'Aura', only the royal duo and maybe Celia know,' I thought quite vexed at this mystery.
"I am going to start training the Farfetch'd in some basic sword stances. You can watch if you want," he said moving towards an empty battlefield.
"Huh!" he exclaimed, facepalming.
"Just a minute, I will be back," he said before running away, again.
He came back running with a duffle bag on his back.
"Ok, I am ready," he said and tossed a luxury ball.
"Medi," the yoga Pokemon said appearing in front of us.
"We have a new member joining our team, let's get ready to welcome them," Mike said before tossing the Farfetch'd Pokeball.
The Farfetch'd appeared on the other side of the battlefield- away from us.
"Far.." it said taking in its surroundings and pointing its leek at the Meditite.
"Medi-tite," the blue Pokemon took a battle stance at that.
"Psybeam, variant-2 and close in," Mike ordered.
The Meditite glowed with psychic energy for 2 seconds before firing a huge disc of psychic energy at the duck.
The Meditite fired a second disc of energy at the fighting duck and started running towards it.
The discs covered the Meditite from the sight of Farfetch'd.
'Hmm! The Meditite just spread the psychic energy instead of concentrating it and cut it into two parts, instead of a continuous one.'
"Awesome control," I exclaimed impressed.
The Farfetch'd dispersed the Psychic disc with huge swings of its leek using Nightslash, not noticing the Meditite behind them.
"Thunder punch, finish it," Mike called out.
.........................
Drop some stones, if you like this fic.
I will release the two bonus chapters whenever we cross 143 stones.
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