บท 21: Overdrive
Ren walked to the four specialists, who were sitting at the table, chatting about important stuff. She wasn't focused on their talks, but what she was putting her eyes on was Ellix, her next opponent in the Pokemon league. She was aware of the stories she heard when she was in the Vermillion city Pokemon center, smart and cunning, were the words that the assistant described to him.
She knows that Yoake isn't a tough opponent, and luck was the one that helped him to get the badge, so she didn't assume that Ellix is easy to beat.
She is standing on the frame of the hallway entrance, thinking of different strategies to defeat Ellix. She has a robust team, upon which it decimated both Brock and Misty's team. Even though she may have the strongest team, she is aware that Ellix would have a trick on his sleeves. Brock and Misty are easy to due to primary knowledge from trainers before but Ellix? He's the new guy, and no one knows how to counter or fight him properly. His Unovan skills and mindset would give her a lot of trouble, knowing about Unovan culture, they are very good at Pokemon battles.
"Hey Ren, wanna join us?" Erika invited the trainer to their talks as soon as she saw her standing on the door frame. The trainer stopped her 'battle' thoughts and quickly phased to her casual self.
"Sure." Ren smiled as she accepted the invitation of the specialist. She walked to them and sat on the floor as the other four specialists do.
"So, Ren. Since we didn't talk much when we met at my gym, mind if you properly introduce yourself?" Misty asked the trainer, to which she complied.
"I think you already know my name by now… I'm twelve years old, recently moved to Pallet city for business reasons but I came from Goldenrod City, Johto, and this is my partner, Gengar." She raised her hand and pointed to her shoulders. As soon as she mentions Gengar's name, the Pokemon appears behind her. The Pokemon felt like it came from nowhere, and suddenly appeared once called.
"Wow, you managed to evolve it. How?" Brock asked her as he was mesmerized by the Pokemon, which was crossing its hand and was behaving for the entire time.
"I bought a trade stone, and evolved him as soon as possible," Ren answered the specialist's question.
"Interesting…" Brock ushered as he was too fixated with Gengar.
"That's a good rivalry between you and Yoake huh? He has a Gardevoir while you have a Gengar, Gardevoir is a Psychic fairy while Gengar is a poisonous ghost, one typing has an advantage over another. It feels like a match made in heaven, don't even mention about you two's questionable fashion sense." Misty bicker. This made the other three specialists take notice, and this made Ren feel uncomfortable.
"Well, it's safe to say it's just a pure coincidence," Ren argued as she tried to find an explanation for odd coincidences.
"You sure?" Misty skeptically asked. Ren sighed and decided to roll her eyes. She decided to ignore Misty's question and headed on to ask Ellix so she could battle him earlier.
"Mister Ellix, may I know what time your gym is open?" Ren asked the blonde, upon which he looked at the time, and realized that he had to head back to the gym.
"Around 10, are you planning to challenge me?" Ellix assumed that the trainer had plans to challenge him, and she nodded.
"Alright then. Erika, it seems that we might have to go." Ellix stated as he stood up from his sitting, took his bag, and looked at everyone. Ren also stood up and followed Ellix.
"Okay then, take care along the way. How about you two?" Erika looked at Brock and Misty after bidding farewell to both Ren and Ellix. Before Ren left, she decided to bow as a sign of respect and quickly left as she followed the blonde specialist.
"Oh, us? I think we'll stay here for a while." Brock answered, Misty, fromPokedexas she agreed with his statement.
The two boarded on the train that is heading to Vermillion city, they sat on the seats that are near the exit of the train with Ren sat on the seat near the window while Ellix was at the inner seat.
"Are you related to Yoake or something?" Ellix asked Ren. The trainer was too busy looking at the outside as the train moves at a quick phase, Ren lately noticed the specialist's question, and answered it without looking at him.
"Nein." She said in a deeper voice than her usual voice. Ellix raised his eyebrow as he was skeptical about it, and the coincidence that Misty mentioned earlier just puts more fuel on his burning question.
"Okay then." Ellix sighed as he put his headset on his ears, and listened to her favorite music as they waited for their stop.
It was now 9:30, and they finally arrived at the gym. Ren, looked at the building as she hold a grip on her bag, Ellix, on the other hand, was looking at the building like it was nothing, he is aware of the dark secrets that this building used to have, and no matter how he tries to remove it, its presence is still there.
"Here, we are." He sighed as he pushed the door of the building, Ren followed him as well. They entered the building and noticed that no one was there, not even his desk manager.
'Hmm.. getting late, again.' He mumbled in his thoughts as the absence of his desk manager would give him some issues, especially on paperwork and appointments.
"Follow me, and can you give me your trainer card?" He asked as he handed out his hand to the trainer. Ren begins to snoop on her bag, takes out her Pokedex, and hands it to Ellix.
"Thanks, please wait for a minute," Ellix said as he grabbed the Pokedex, and headed to the desk as he filed an appointment for Ren. As she waits for him to file the appointment, she looks around and notices the changes from the interior of the gym.
"This used to have an army-themed gym, right?" Ren asked the blonde.
"Yup. My uncle was a fanatic of the army, and so, he designed this gym to somewhat army styled battlefield, however, he has one big mistake on his hand." Ellix explained. This made the trainer quickly look at him after mentioning the word 'mistake'.
"What mistake?" She asked in curiosity.
"Well, Due to the place having a military-themed, it was inevitable for the place to have soil on the floor, you know, where soldiers used to train. And having soil or open ground would open up opportunities such as Pokemon being immune to Electric by just digging their tail to the ground. So, when I took over this place, I changed it so that future challengers won't use that old tactic." Ellix explained.
"I see." The impressed trainer stated as she continued to look around.
"Alright, follow me." Ellix called out the trainer as he stood up from the desk, walked to her, handed back her pokedex, and told her to follow him as they went to the battlefield. Ren nodded and followed the specialist. They walked upstairs and headed to the ballroom, where they will fight.
Both are aware that they are tougher than they look. Ellix remembered the conversation he had with Misty and Brock earlier, he can tell that Ren is good at Pokemon battles, even better than Yoake. Ren, on the other hand, heard some important facts from the assistant in the Pokemon center, hearing the many failures of trainers before her, is eye-opening as she can tell Ellix's differences to the other two specialists.
Both know they shouldn't underestimate one another.
"Here we are," Ellix said as he pointed to the floor below them, it was none other than the room that Yoake also fought in. However, there is one key difference, the tiles of the floor aren't there but they were replaced with two disks, the disks that you often see on a DJ's table.
"Shall we?" Ellix asked the trainer.
"I'm ready when you're ready," Ren told the specialist with full confidence. Ellix likes that style of attitude, trainers who are fully confident with their skills, even if the opponent may be harder than they thought.
The two walked downstairs and went to their position on the battlefield. Ellix walked up to his Control tower, where he usually goes when there is a party or battle. The tower was, of course, elevated from the ground, and this allows him to see properly in the battle, then Ren.
"I was told by Misty and Brock that you're a tough opponent," Ellix stated as he placed a disk on one of the platters.
"And I can assure you, I'm far stronger than Yoake." Ren confidently told the specialist.
"We'll see," Ellix smirked.
Ren calms down for a moment, slowly breathing in the cold air of this room, and taking it out. She closes her eyes as she tries to find serenity before chaos will happen later on. The lights turned off, and this made Ren open her eyes. From the once white lights that were emitted from the ceiling to a purplish neon being glittered to the ground. The two big disks on the floor glowed in purple while the floor began to shine.
"I haven't used this set-up for a while. Let's see how you can handle an overdrive." Ellix told the trainer.
"Bring it on!" Ren shouted to the specialist.
"Alright…"
"POKEMON GO!"
As the charisma of battle began, both trainers threw their respective Pokemon on a battlefield that Ren barely knew about.
"GOLEM! GO!", "EMOLGA! SHOW OUR STRENGTH ON THE BATTLEFIELD!"
A giant Pokemon appeared from Ren's side of the battlefield. It has a huge boulder as its body, and with its arms and feet sticking out of it, it also has a brown and roundish head, it was a Golem, the final form of Geodude. On the other hand, the known and the most annoying Pokemon appeared from Ellix's side, small yet annoying, the Emolga.
'A Golem? It seems that she is far prepared for Yoake, huh?' Ellix thought to himself as he saw the giant Pokemon on the other side.
"Golem, start with a roll-out.", "Emolga, double team!"
Golem quickly turned into a ball, and it began to roll toward the Emolga. The small Pokemon begins to duplicate itself as it tries to dodge the large boulder that is rolling toward them. One by one, its clones were being crushed but the original one managed to be safe from harm. Golem didn't uncurl itself as a ball, knowing that Ren will use roll-out once more.
"Another Roll-out!", "Iron Tail!"
Like its predictions, Ren reused roll-out, but this time, it's deadlier and more effective than the first one. It began to roll once more toward Emolga, but the little Pokemon has also come to an offensive point. Its tail began to glow in silver color, and it flew toward the rolling behemoth. It tried to hit it with its iron tail but due to how strong the armor was and add the fact that it was rolling toward it, it's easy to tell that Golem managed to dodge deadly damage.
The rolling boulder managed to hit Emolga at good damage, nearly fainting it in the process. Ellix was aware of this and began to plan a new way to avoid Emolga's inevitable doom, and so, he decided to use the move that trainers used to be annoyed with, Volt switch.
"Roll-out!", "Emolga, Volt switch!"
The Emolga quickly charged to the rolling Golem, even though its electric powers didn't manage to damage Golem, it did damage something else. As soon as the Emolga hit Golem, it quickly returned to its Pokeball, on which Ellix threw his second Pokemon on the battlefield. Ren quickly noticed that it began to rain on the battlefield, she quickly looked up and saw the different sprinklers on the top, sprinkling the water down to the ground.
"Right on time," Ellix said as the Pokemon appeared as his second ace in the group, a Zebstrika.
"Scheisse." Ren quickly realized the severity of the situation.
"I'm guessing you already know what this means, right?" Ellix asked the trainer as the rain quickly stopped. The battlefield was covered in puddles of clean water, and Golem was covered in water as well.
Golem's ground type would be useless in the situation, and Ren has no choice but to either change her Pokemon or risk Golem fainting and opening a possibility for her loss. Knowing Zebstrika is faster and stronger than Golem, she knows the risks.
'I have to think. I can't use Golem since he's open for any electric type moves due to him being covered in water, I can't use Leafeon since Zebstrika might have flame charge, and I can't even use Dodrio…" Ren thought as she tries to find a Pokemon in her team to use as a way to counter Zebstrika, and from those options, she decided to use her main ace, Gengar.
"Golem, you did great but I need you to return," Ren told Golem as she withdrew him from the battlefield, returning to the fine comfort of its Pokeball.
"Alright, Gengar, let's see how you've grown," Ren called out her ace to the battlefield. The purplish Pokemon appeared from her back and quickly flew to the field as it prepared for an attack.
'He already showed me two of his Pokemon… but I need to know his third.' Ren thought to herself.
"ZEBSTRIKA! Use Pursuit!", "Gengar, protect!"
With the words of its trainer, Zebstrika quickly charged to Gengar with a dark aura on its body, Gengar on the other hand, formed a purplish sphere around it, protecting him from Zebstrika's pursuit. He managed to form the sphere on time, as the Zebstrika nearly hit him, but thanks to the shield, it managed to stop the Thunderbolt Pokemon.
"Gengar, use Brick-break!", "Zebstrika, you have the strength! use Spark!"
Like Pursuit, Zebstrika charged to the ghost Pokemon once more but its body began to spark yellowish electric charges. Gengar prepares its stance as it waits for Zebstrika to hit him. Ren has big faith in Gengar, and she knows that the Pokemon she has been with, trained, and grind for the past few days, and she doesn't want him to lose after all of his hard work.
Zebstrika managed to hit him but in return, he punched and kicked the Pokemon in the chest. The 'Thunderbolt Pokemon' was thrown to the other side of the field, leaving Gengar with a decent amount of damage but also a bit of spark on its body.
"Gengar, are you alright?" Ren asked the Pokemon as she saw him struggle standing up, he was paralyzed. Ellix quickly noticed this and saw an opening as he was aware that Paralysis was a devastating blow for anyone who doesn't have Paralyze heals.
'I knew this would happen.' Ren thought to herself as she saw her best friend struggling all the while, Zebstrika was standing up.
'With the puddles on the floor and a paralyzed Gengar, Zebstrika can take advantage of this.' Ellix thought as he saw the current situation of the battle.
"Gengar, use this!" "Zebstrika! run to the puddles and charge!"
Ren shouted to her Pokemon as she threw a Paralyze heal to the Pokemon, he quickly took, drank it, and slowly, the sparks on his body disappeared. While he was healing, Zebstrika charged once more, but this time, its hooves touched the puddles, causing increased damage of Electric-type moves.
"Quick! use Protect!"
Ren told her Pokemon to quickly use Protect as she can see a fatal blow from Zebstrika. However, it was too late, the Zebstrika managed to Gengar once more, nearly throwing him to Ren as he tried to stop himself by grabbing the floor. Even though the floor was a bit slippery, friction managed to prevail and stopped the thrown Gengar.
"Gengar, give a decisive blow! USE SHADOW BALL!", "Zebstrika! use Pursuit!"
Gengar, with all its strength, began to levitate like the ghost he usually does. A few meters above, he began forming black balls that are the size of your usual basketball and threw them toward Zebstrika. Since it was now flying, the Zebstrika couldn't manage to hit him, and from the continuous throw of Shadow balls, he fainted.
"Not bad. You two have a big synergy, huh?" Ellix asked the trainer as he withdrew Zebstrika to its Pokeball.
'I can easily tell that these two have a strong sense of connection.' Ellix thought as he observed the two. He decided to throwback Emolga since both can damage one another.
"EMOLGA! RETURN TO THE BATTLEFIELD!" "GENGAR! SHADOW BALL ONCE MORE!
As soon as the Emolga was thrown on the battlefield, it was hit by Gengar's shadow ball. This caught Ellix off-guard as he wasn't expecting Gengar to be stronger than earlier.
"tsk. Emolga returned." Ellix hissed as he withdrew Emolga. With only one more Pokemon, he has to give everything he has just so that Ren must lose.
"There is one thing that Misty and Brock didn't tell you about," Ren uttered as she looked at Ellix with a serious look.
"And that is?" Ellix asked the trainer.
"The more the longer the battle is, the stronger my Pokemon gets. Both Misty and Brock failed to understand that memo." Ren stated.
'I see, so she's a complete opposite of Yoake. He goes with a blitz while she goes for the long run.' Ellix thought. This causes him to smirk as he finally knows the reason for the power spike that Gengar gained, he may not know the reason why Ren's Pokemon has that ability, but he can now assure himself that he has to finish this quickly.
"I see. Well, then trainer. Victory is right before your eyes!" Ellix said as he embarked on the final moments on the battlefield. He threw his last Pokemon in the battle, and this was for the first time to see this Pokemon in action.
And that Pokemon was an Eelektross. It has a long narrow body, a mouth that is big enough it swallows a fist in one go, two fingerless arms but with three claws each, and it has a fin behind its head and tail. This Pokemon, like the other two Pokemon of Ellix, wasn't native to Kanto. Ren doesn't know much about the Pokemon due to it being a foreign monster, and also, not much-known data was recorded for it.
"A levitating Electric Pokemon seems like your gym is truly anti-ground type." Ren described the entire scenario in one go and it seems that Ellix was pleased about it. She noticed that the Pokemon levitated at the same height as Gengar, thus allowing him to damage her Pokemon.
"Let's end this, once and for all." Ren confidently told the specialist.
"Gengar! use a Shadow ball!", "Eelektross, use crunch!"
Gengar began to prepare another shadow ball, while Eelektross levitated toward Gengar with its mouth open for taking a bite out from the shadow Pokemon. With one hand busy, Gengar tries to stop the Eelektross from crunching him, even though his left arm is weaker than his right arm, he tries to fight back.
With enough time, the shadow ball was now ready to be used. He threw the shadow ball to Eelektross, causing it to be flung down back to the ground.
"Eelektross! Use Thunderbolt!", "SHADOW BALL!"
The Elefish Pokemon began to charge up, and from its charging, a few bolts of electricity were passed on to the leftover puddles on the battle. As he continues to charge up, the stronger the bolt from the puddles slowly becomes, causing a few lighting to emerge from the small puddles. Eelektross began to control those lighting, and slowly combine it into a more powerful thunderbolt. While that was happening, Gengar also increased the power of his shadow ball.
As the maximum power was reached, both Pokemon threw powers at one another, and once they collided, it caused an explosion. Ellix quickly hid from his tower by ducking while Ren looked away with her hands covering her eyes. Both humans covered their sight, leaving the monsters as the only ones who knows the outcome.
Eelekstross was expecting Gengar to faint but no, Gengar managed to survive by surprising him and throwing his last shadow ball.
-
"Would you look at that?" Ren admired the badge as she looked at it after defeating Ellix. This was her first time seeing the Thunderbolt badge on hand, and from that excitement, she put her badge back on her satchel and continued walking.
Gengar appeared behind her but this time, it decided to shrink itself as it clings onto his friend's shoulder. Ren smiled at her Pokemon as she was planning to reward him, and his colleagues.
"Seems like someone deserves a four-cheese Pizza?" Ren playfully asked Gengar. This caused him to be overwhelmingly excited as four cheese pizza is his favorite.
"Alright then, let's go!" Ren excitedly embarked.
White trainer happily walked to the train station, but while walking, Ren felt that she was being followed, and so, she turned around. She noticed that a couple of men in black quickly turned away.
As soon as she noticed them, they quickly walked away and were never to be seen again. Ren rolled her eyes as they were annoying for her, so forgot about them and continued as they celebrated their victory.
A/N: Hello everyone, the author here. I just want to say... don't worry I'm (barely) alive, just busy. Sorry for the two weeks no updates, I'll be sure that I got back in the usual chapter per week. And Yes, this is for the first time, we are in Ren's POV. In this fanfic's history, this is the first time we looked at Ren's perspective, expect that there will be more!
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