Sewers III

"Oh, you gotta be shitting me!" Xena screamed walking into the room. "No, fuck you Jayden, you're not getting the treasure!"

The Grimer on the ceiling fell to the floor, splatting onto the ground before reforming properly.

"Heh, told ya to leave the sewers, you would have to give up on that thing of yours. We made the deal that I wouldn't hurt you or take it from you as long as I could use it too. But I make no promises about hurting you if you leave with that thing."

Dust stood at full height, towering over this new Grimer. "Is that so? You think you can hurt a member of my party without consequences?"

"Oh, a human? No way, you got a trainer? Someone who can one day surpass me actually let herself get caught? Now that's funny!" Jayden laughed to the point he nearly cried. Dust took the opportunity to Observe.

Species: Grimer (Blackwater Variant)

Type: Poison

Potential: 1 Poison, 3 Water

Ability: Blackwater (Any water type moves gain the poison subtype)

Sex: Male

Level: 22

Caution Warning: Threat Level Slightly<Wolf

Before Dust could go any further, the sewer water under Jayden began to rise. "Of course I can attack a member of your party without consequences. I can do anything I want in this sewer without consequences!"

The water under the variant slowly rose up, turning a deep purple, nearly black in this light.

"I was born higher than you scum, taste my Muddy Water!" And with Jayden's shout, all of the water in the room began flying at the trio in the center.

Dust simply stared in awe as he was bombarded on all sides by the acidic torrent. "You can't possibly be serious. And with such low potential?!"

Xena grimaced as she turned to Dust "We call him Old J because he's nearly 30 years old, after all. Though I've never seen him fight."

Chiki leaped up trying to dodge as much as possible but was still damaged by splashes of the acidic version of surf. Dust didn't fair well either, not wanting to waste more of his energy on dodging.

He felt a good bit of skin corrode before the water returned to normal level. "Why is this lower level Grimer stronger than the Kadabra we fought? Any ideas Chiki?"

"Check move expertise, Dust!" Chiki shouted, barely clinging to the wall by having used Metal Claw just before he was hit.

'Observe!'

Mid-High Moves: Muddy Water (4⭐)

"It's his Muddy Water! It's almost at the level of a High Move!"

Xena turned to the two, "What are you guys on about? You can tell his move mastery and level?"

""Shit."" Dust and Chiki looked at each other, before Dust yelled in agitation, "We'll explain later, fight now!"

"Xena, use Pound whenever we can make an opening! Chiki, ready a Stun Spore if you have the energy." And with that Dust used a Full Speed Step.

'That move is a bit of a misnomer considering I can choose anywhere between 0.001% and 15% of my energy to put into it.'

Because Dust still couldn't quite control more than about 2% of his energy going into the move at once without his legs nearly breaking, he put a bit less than that much in, hurtling at around 30 miles per hour toward Grimer.

Once he landed next to Jayden, ignoring the searing pain of the wind on his melted skin, Dust flew into the Gangnam Style, putting about 0.1% of his energy into each punch and kick.

"Hot damn, kiddo, ya got one hell of a punch!" However, this Grimer also knew Pound, fighting back against each of Dust's hits with a Pound.

Dust's attacks should have been rather unpredictable even though he wasn't that great with his village's fighting style, but somehow this Grimer could see through every attack.

This didn't mean Dust's punches were doing nothing; Grimer's hands were rather bloody. However, a lot of energy was being lost. This was not all according to plan.

Fortunately, as Dust leaped back with a Full Speed Step at 0.5% energy, Chiki's Stun Spore flew right into Jayden's face, covering his whole body and the nearby area in a bunch of spores.

Static jumped through them as they prevented Jayden from moving very well, both with electrical impulses sent into the afflicted pokemon's nerves and with their stickiness.

"Ya unfair pricks! Two on one isn't what I came here for!"

At that moment, Xena rose from behind him, blasting him in the back of the head with a fully charged Pound. "Three on one, shithead. *Ptooey*" Xena seemed to become a bit of a delinquent around this guy.

She had sneaked through the water and darkness, charging up the attack. And when it hit, the greyish-white energy shot Jayden flying toward Dust, and before Jayden could put up a shield of energy or even his guard, Dust sent a Full Force Punch down into Jayden's skull, charged with the insane amount of 8% of Dust's energy.

For most, this wouldn't be much, but with Dust, the punch left afterimages as a sickening crack resounded, Jayden's body splattering around Dust's arm.

"Not enough!" While his body had exploded around Dust's arm, Jayden was still not dead. Instead, he sent a water gun of acid point-blank into Dust's face, while his body also began to corrode Dust's arm.

With little he could do, Dust cried out in agony. His arm's bones were shattered from that much energy, and Dust, despite the situation, had to laugh at how similar to Midoriya's his current situation was.

"Chiki. Do it."

Dust had looked right into his partner's eyes as he mouthed, and Chiki felt a tear drip down as he nodded.

While Grimer was focused on melting the thing that had dealt an enormous amount of damage to him, Chiki came flying down with a Metal Claw.

Blood splattered all along the ground, some purple, some red, and Jayden screamed along with Dust. Chiki had cut down to Dust's already broken ulna. Only a few ligaments held Dust's arm on at this point, and the human had nearly passed out from the pain.

In a much worse situation was Jayden, as it was his neck that was nearly cut through. "I'll kill all of ya!!!" He shouted, his voice radiating across the entirety of Zone 22.

He was on his last legs, at probably 5 HP in game terms.

Yet, Jayden really hadn't used too much of his energy, rather his HP had tanked. Using Muddy Water, an enormous amount of acid rose up, the sewer water turning black once again, and Dust closed his eyes. 'I really hadn't expected death this soon after reincarnation. Guess I'm coming back, Lucifer.'

As the torrent's flow neared Dust, Xena jumped in front of him. "I thought you were supposed to be strong, human. And you're making me protect you? Get up!"

BOOM!

Xena slammed her fist into the ground, and the remaining water rose up in a Mud-Slap, punching at Jayden's massive tsunami. The two forces competed for around three seconds before xena's was utterly obliterated.

Dust, now standing, ripped his shirt off and tied it around his arm to keep it attached. "Yeah, well, you said you were nearly as strong as Old J, and obviously that was wrong."

Staring death in its face, Dust smirked. "I won't be breaking my promise, don't worry, Xena. You'll get out of here, treasure intact."

"GANGNAM BLITZ"

Dust focused 15% of his energy into each of his three available limbs, and even 10% to his neck, that 55% being the rest of all that he had.

As Dust spun, he felt more of his bones break apart, counting fully in his LeftRook soul to help him keep his composure. Like some unholy combination of the Rasengan and Eight Trigram Rotation, Dust's punches, kicks, and headbutts filled with power created a dingy, white, spiraling shield that blocked the entire onslaught of poisonous water. Some of it went upward, some left, some right, and some back at Jayden as Dust fell to one knee.

"Chiki, do it."

Mirroring his words from earlier, Dust mouthed the same again. But this time, Chiki's Metal Claw met resistance, as Jayden used Pound in opposition. Although the Grimer's hand was cut off in the exchange, he survived with 1 HP and a missing hand.

Just as he went to prepare a water gun, he saw something on Dust.

"Tch, as ya guys know, I can kill at least one of ya with an Acid Gun before ya take me out. So in exchange for yer lives and the girl's treasure, I'll take that rock in yer pocket."

He pointed to the Dusk Stone that Dust had.

"It's worth less than the treasure, so as ya can see, I'm feelin generous today. Deal?" Jayden flexed his mouth full of acid.

Xena held up her treasure, which was on the floor, and Dust inspected it.