Ch.18

After the judges and Greta came out, a referee came out too. They told us to bring out our first Pokémon, and Leo immediately jumped into the battlefield. Each round is two minutes long. Greta threw a Pokéball with a tall blue armored Pokémon with one large horn coming out of its head, appeared. It was known as a Heracross, a bug, and fighting type Pokémon, which Leo has the type advantage and type disadvantage due to its dual typing. 

"Begin!" the referee says seeing us waiting for the referee to start the battle. 

"Leo use our intro!" I say and like normal Leo uses Leer and Howl, which do not reward points here. It will still give us an advantage though. 

"Heracross power up!" Greta says at the same time. With Heracross using Leer and Sword Dance at the same time Leo uses his moves. 

"Leo use Flamethrower!" 'But be prepared to counter with Flame Charge' I say to Leo who is charging up an extremely hot fire in his mouth. 

"Heracross use Endure and then Brick Break!" Greta says as Heracross holds his ground against the Flamethrower. 

The white-hot fire washes over Heracross as the large bug Pokémon grunts in pain from the attack. However, once the fire dies down we can see Heracross charging Leo with his fists radiating energy. Leo then charges toward Heracross with fire gathering around himself. 

The two Pokémon land their hits with Leo slamming into Heracross who grunts in pain again taking a few steps back from the hit. Heracross powers through the hit and hits Leo right in the side making Leo cry out in pain and be thrown back a few feet. 

"Round one over! Your scores will be announced after round three! Round two begin!" the referee says after this scuffle and the timer goes off indicating the first round ended. 

Leo was struggling to stand up as that hit on him was a critical one and he now has a limp. While Heracross looks to be in much better condition even though he has taken two super-effective hits. I can see the judges writing down the scores so far from this last exchange. Also, it seems Heracross is a Rank higher than Leo in the Earl Rank. 

"Heracross finish this with Close Combat!" Greta says seeing Leo is very injured. 

"Leo use Flame Charge to dodge and then keep your distance using Flamethrower," I say while hoping we can wear down Heracross more. 

Leo then growls as he gathers fire around himself and pushes through the pain to run away from the charging Heracross. Leo is able to run a few feet away from Heracross before releasing another hot jet of flames at Heracross. This makes Heracross finally cry out in pain as this time the attack was a critical hit. 

"Heracross use dig!" Greta says as Leo's Flamethrower dissipates to show a disappeared Heracross that dug underground. 

"Leo don't stay in one place keep moving around!" I say as Leo gathers more flames around himself and begins running around the battlefield. 

Greta seems to stare at this with a blank face waiting for Leo to stop, as he will tire out eventually. I try to think of something knowing this too and it seems I have one option. 

"You got this!" 'Run over to the whole and pour as much fire down it you can," I say to Leo who begins gathering his Flames in his mouth before running over to the hole Heracross dug and dumping an extremely hot almost blue in color Flamethrower down the hole. 

Greta grunts in annoyance as the ground shakes with Heracross jumping out of the ground with a jet of flames coming out of the ground right behind them. It was able to just dodge the Flamethrower on time. 

"Heracross Close Combat now!" Greta says with an annoyed face as Heracross closes the small distance between the Pokémon. 

Leo is in annoyance at seeing Heracross still standing and having not won the last few battles he has been a part of. Plus Primeape seeming to take the spot as the strongest on our team has finally pissed Leo off enough that he learned a new move. One that his species normally can not use, which is interesting in itself. 

This move is usually used by only two Pokémon, both of which are legendary Pokémon. They are Victini and Rayquaza, which in this world both are extremely rare to see having only been spotted several times over the history of this world. Leo learning the move unique to both of them has me extremely surprised. The move was called V-create, the strongest Fire Type move in terms of base damage. 

We all see blue flames appear on Leo's forehead that are so hot that we can feel it even through the protective barrier. Heracross stops his attack and covers his face while crying in pain just from being that close to Leo. Leo then lunges toward Heracross, headbutting Heracross with his flame-covered head. 

A loud explosion is heard as Heracross is sent like a rocket smashing into the invisible barrier with both its arms looking like they've been cooked for hours under high heat. Greta and myself look at Heracross with worry, as I feel guilty that Leo may have crippled Heracross. Then again this happens at times in Pokémon battles, the trainer of the Pokémon just has to know when to withdraw their Pokémon. 

Leo gives a howl of triumph seeing the unmoving Heracross, then Leo stumbles a bit before collapsing on the ground exhausted from using that move. Greta and I both run into the arena as I check on Leo who is giving me an exhausted but happy look at being able to win. I just pet his head and heal him up before carrying him out of the battle field laying him down next to where I stand while giving him his treats. 

"Ms. Greta, do you wish to continue?" the referee says as Greta is healing up her Heracross as best she can before returning it to their Pokéball. 

"Yes, though can someone take Heracross to the Pokémon Center," Greta says as the receptionist from earlier runs in taking Heracross's Pokéball rushing it to the Pokémon Center in town. 

Greta is now looking at me with a more serious look and I can see the anger in her eyes since her one Pokémon was extremely injured just now. I just ignore her look while praising Leo for his excellent job and learning a move thought to be only two legendary Pokémon know. 

"Challenger Lucas, you win the first battle for knocking out Ms. Greta's Pokémon. Now please send out your next Pokémon," the referee says as the judges tell the referee that I was the winner for the knockout. 

"Primeape, I know you can do this," I say as Primeape jumps onto the battlefield which repaired itself now looking as good as new. 

"Shedinja, break them," Greta says with some anger in her voice as a Pokémon resembling a cicada's shed exoskeleton with a white halo above its head appears on the battlefield. 

Seems she doesn't think Primeape can do anything against Shedinja as only super-effective moves can affect it. Thankfully Primeape just learned Rage Fist which means with one hit Primeape can end this battle. The two Pokémon stare at one another with defiant looks waiting for the battle to start. 

"Begin!" the referee says seeing everyone ready. 

"Shedinja, you know what to do," Greta says as the small insect Pokémon uses Sandattack at Primeape who is using his intro of Leer and Focus Energy. 

Primeape grows as sand gets in his eyes making him have a hard time seeing. Then just as Primeape is trying to wipe the sand from his eyes, Shedinja uses Confuse Ray which makes Primeape stop and stumble around like he is high on acid. 

"Shedinja uses Shadow Sneak and then Shadow Claw," Greta says as Shedinja disappears from its last location. 

"Primeape! Snape out of it!" I say as Primeape is stumbling around like an idiot, which is nothing I can really do about it. In this world using items in an official battle is not allowed and not really plausible since you would be putting yourself in danger by entering the battlefield. 

Shedinja then reappears behind Primeape using Primeape's shadow to basically teleport to. Then he lands a Shadow Claw which was a critical hit too, making Primeape grunt in pain and stumble forward while swinging wildly around himself. 

"Now keep the distance and wear him down with Shadow Ball!" Greta says as Primeape is just attacking the air around himself. With Shedinja already gone and preparing Shadow Ball. 

'Fuck this!' I think while forcing myself into Primeape's mind which is a jumbled mess and filled with almost endless rage. 

"Round one over! Your scores will be announced after round three! Round two begins!" the referee says just as I force myself into Primeape's mind. 

'Snap out of it!' I say while causing Primeape a headache to wake him up with two Shadow Balls having already landed on him. 

With the third Shadow Ball hurling towards Primeape, he snaps out of his confusion and punches the Shadow Ball away from him. Though now Primeape is very hurt and extremely angry. 

"Primeape use Taunt! Then Rage Fist!" I say right before Greta commands Shedinja to use confusion again. right 

"Shedinja use Confusion quick!" Greta says at the same time as me wanting to keep Primeape confused. 

Primeape begins spouting words that seem very offensive toward the smaller bug Pokémon. Which successfully pisses it off, ignoring Greta's latest command and charging up another Shadow Ball instead. 

Primeape then channels his anger into his fist as Ghostly energy builds over his fist. Shedinja sends out another Shadow Ball, as Primeape leaps over it at the last second dodging it with a loud bang from the Shadow Ball hitting the ground. Then Primeape punches Shedinja with all his anger and rage gathered in his fist smashing the small bug Pokémon. 

Shedinja is sent crashing onto the ground as Primeape hits him from above. Shedinja not even crying out in pain, as the small bug Pokémon was instantly knocked out. Primeape gives his battle cry of triumph while mocking Greta who was looking down on us earlier. 

"Challenger Lucas won the second battle and earned the Guts Symbol! Please hand the symbol over Ms. Greta," one of the judges says seeing Primeape knock out Greta's second Pokémon. 

"Very well…" Greta says while withdrawing Shedinja and giving me another look over. 

"You are tough after all! I like you!" Greta says with surprising happiness even though I thought she'd hate me now. 

Then she hands me a gold coin with what looks to be a Pokéball etched onto the front of it. On the back are the words 'Kanto Battle Arena'  and underneath them is 'The Guts Symbol'. I place them in my backpack where I keep my Gym Badges too. 

"So far we are the only Frontier arena outside the Hoenn Region. If you want to battle other ones, you will have to go there that is where the others are currently. I wanted to expand our group, so I came out here," Greta says to me as I put the Symbol away. 

"You seem like a Rookie Trainer, but you have got some really strong Pokémon. I bet you are going places in the next few years," Greta says to me while handing me a paper with a phone number on it, hers from the looks of it. 

"Add me and maybe one day we can rematch," Greta says to me as I just nod my head taking her number.

"Maybe," I say as she smirks at me. 

"Well, good luck out there!" Greta says as I take my leave and head over to the Pokémon Center to have Leo checked out. 

He was considered fine and just needed some rest. We then spent the rest of the day here in Silver Town, before waking up early the next day and heading toward Lavender Town. I decided we should spend a month in the wilderness before going to Lavender Town as that should give Leo enough time to finish absorbing the clump of Arcanine fur.