Ch 64. Continuation of the battle

(Unedited)

"And here I was saying I was getting serious. It seems I still underestimated you. I think it is time to call out my two ace pokemon. Let's finish this match."

Leaf returned Ninetales to her pokeball, apologizing softly for a disappointing battle, Leaf called out her pokemon. It was a nightmare. The very image of this pokemon brought up recurring memories, though the color it had was different from the other.

A deep dark purple, bipedal pokemon appeared on the battlefield. It had a big smile on its face, like most of the pokemon from its species had. It laughed in excitement as it stared at Lapras and Ares with glee, hoping for a good battle.

The pokemon Leaf had called out was a Gengar.

Clenching his fist hard, Ares quickly returned Lapras to her pokeball.

He had to remind himself this was not the same Gengar, multiple times repeatedly before he calmed down. He was stronger now. He could handle this.

Getting out his own pokemon, Umbreon appeared on the battlefield.

Seeing his opponent, Umbreon grimaced in distaste at the opponent he had to battle against. Talk about match-ups. It seems he could finally see if his training with Mew and Lucario paid off. Let's see if he was a match against a Gengar, a Champion level pokemon at that.

"Oh my, great choice. A dark-type is surely one of the weaknesses of a ghost-type. Don't think this will be easy though, as my Gengar is strong."

Leaf shared a glance with her Gengar, who immediately sunk into the shadows, its movements going undetected.

Umbreon glared at where Gengar had previously been, on guard for the dangerous ghost pokemon.

"Too bad Ares, as my Gengar has tons of experience in dealing with dark-types. We've got a perfect counter for them."

Leaf pointed her finger towards Umbreon, the same smile turning into a wide smirk.

"Get it, Gengar."

The shadow below Umbreon suddenly enlargened, as two big red eyes appeared just below Umbreon's feet. A pink red tongue licked Umbreon from head to toe, a shiver running over Umbreon's back. As if a shot of electricity went through his body, Umbreon's movements became slower, as a current ran over his body.

Shit, paralyzed.

Seeing the predicament Umbreon was in, he was just glad for one thing.

As soon as the paralyzation kicked in, Gengar screamed out as he emerged from the shadow, the same electric current running over his own body.

Synchronize worked like a charm when it mattered.

"Umbreon, time to use your new move. Skill swap."

Smirking, Umbreon got closer to Gengar, who was still recovering from its sudden status condition. Shooting out some kind of energy, Umbreon could feel his ability, Synchronize, being replaced by another. From his knowledge, the only ability Gengar had would be Cursed body.

While Umbreon was attacking, in the midst of swapping their abilities, Gengar took the offensive, a bright pink light shooting towards Umbreon.

The attack, Dazzling Gleam, hit Umbreon on the side.

Umbreon yelped in pain, staggering backwards as the damage he had taken wasn't small. Yet he smirked in delight, as he could feel the temporary ability kick in. Dazzling Gleam was disabled.

Gengar could feel he was unable to use his best dark-type counter, the smile fading a bit from his face. Now his moveset was at a severe disadvantage, as he did not have any other moves that were as effective as Dazzling Gleam.

"Gengar, Perish Song."

As a last option, Leaf smiled at Ares tauntingly, daring his to switch out. They hadn't agreed to any such rules as to forbid switching. It would be the best for them both, so she was now forcing his hand. Win the battle against Gengar and let Umbreon faint or they could both switch out.

Ares just waited for Umbreon to decide, his option quickly made clear as he attacked fiercely with a dark pulse, sending the offending Gengar staggering backwards. Ares still had time to call back Umbreon, enough time for Umbreon to deal some good damage.

Seeing Ares refused to call back his pokemon, Leaf let Gengar stay in as well, the battle eventually coming back to a endurance test. Which pokemon would faint first. She loved the thrill of it, even as her Gengar was now at a disadvantage. She wouldn't back down so easily.

Both sides relentlessly attacked, not letting down in the slightest. When enough time had passed, both pokemon staggered, falling down on the ground. Though they had both fainted, Ares could see a happy smile on Umbreon's face. It seems Umbreon was satisfied with the results so far.

"Not the best result, but it seems your pokemon learned something good. We are getting somewhere if there is progress. Let's see how much improvement you can get fighting my Blasty."

Calling out her final pokemon, Blasty the Blastoise appeared at Leaf's side, the canons on its back readjusting themselves as they pointed towards Ares. Both of them waited for Ares to take out his own pokemon to fight her last pokemon.

With Leaf's strongest pokemon on the field, Ares couldn't help but want to return the gesture in kind, calling out Lucario who had been patiently waiting for this exact moment.

Both pokemon measured the other up, getting ready to attack.

"We shall make the starting move. Blasty, use Rain dance."

Leaf excitedly called out, a strategy already on her mind. While the othe tow battles had their type match-ups, this one didn't have a particular strong or weak typing. The odds were evened, even if her Blastoise was on a whole different level than her son's Lucario.

In the midst of her starting move, two figures appeared next to professor Oak. Ash and Gary were standing on the side line, watching the battle intently.

"Go get him, mom! Don't lose to mom, Ares!"

Gary yelled, cheering on the both of them.

"You can do it Ares!'

Ash followed up, the excitement from Gary being infectious.

Ares chuckled, as the situation on the battlefield began to change. Dark, massive rainclouds had formed above their head, as large water droplets began to fall from the sky.

Lucario grunted in annoyance, the water making his fur clam and drenched.

"Then we shall get ready as well. Lucario, Aura weapon."

Lucario nodded, forming a pair of spiked knuckle guards around his hands. The shiny blue aura made the spikes seem extra sharp.

Rushing forward, Lucario began to assault Blastoise with a multitude of fast-moving punches, intending to overwhelm Blastoise with his speed.

"Blasty, withdraw."

Pulling his head and limb into his shell, Blastoise managed to block all of the attacks with his shell. He could hear Lucario's heavy attacks colliding with his shell, which held steady under the powerful attacks.

"Hydro Pump"

With Lucario still attacking, Blastoise sent a strong hydro pump out of the canons on his back, which were shoddily aimed, but still made Lucario back off a bit. Backing off, Lucario was faced with another challenge. Blastoise had begun to spin around at a fast pace, covering the whole battlefield with a torrent of water. It was as good as impossible to dodge. If he used protect, it would only last for a few seconds, breaking soon after it formed.

He didn't have any moves to counter the attack either. If he wanted to deal with it, he needed to strategize, play it smart to keep the turtle from attacking. To do that, he would need to unbalance Blastoise, something he would only be able to pull off if her got close enough.

"Strategy: devide and conquer."

With those simple words of Ares, Lucario formulated a decent plan on how to go about it. Forming a small army of himself with Double team, Lucario closed in again, getting close enough to execute his plan.

Forming a vacuum on each of his hands, all the clones used Vacuum wave, pushing the torrent of water back far enough to get Lucario a small window to turn the tide of the battle.

Rushing in before Blastoise could continue, Lucario formed a Bone rush, ready to smash Blastoise upwards.

"Hydro Cannon!"

The blast of water stopped, as Blastoise's head poked out, a swirling mass of water blasting out of his cannons straight towards Lucario.

Lucario braced himself, positioning his Bone Rush in such a way that he could deflect it upwards.

Bone Rush and Hydro Cannon collided, creating a high pitched screaching noise. Both attack fought to overpower the other. Unfortunately a ground type move was destined to lose to such a strong water type move.

Bursting the Bone rush apart with force, the hydro cannon collided against Lucario, who could only decrease the damage he took with a Protect. It only held for a second before breaking, though the damage had been decreased, enough for Lucario to tank the hit.

Having been pushed backwards, Lucario was covered in wounds and bruises, panting heavily as he almost fell to his knees.

It seems the opponent was still too strong for him to beat, but he would definitely get a hit in.

Lucario grunted, forcing himself to remain upright and once more ran towards Blastoise. Blastoise's cannons focussed on Lucario. Even if he couldn't move for the moment, due to the Hydro Cannon, he was sure he would be fast enough to stop Lucario in his tracks. He had enough battles under his belt to calculate his recharge time.

Seeing water already forming in the cannons of Blastoise, Lucario grimaced, knowing he wouldn't be on time to get up close.

But he didn't have to, if it was just to get a hit in.

Forming an Aura Sphere on one of his paws again, Lucario blasted it forward at lightning speed, appearing in front of Blastoise almost immediately. Blastoise wanted to avoid, yet halted when he noticed the trajectory wasn't about to hit him.

Moving his head just a bit to the side, Blastoise avoided a head on impact. Blastoise almost smiled, only for the Aura Sphere to enter one of his cannons in which he was charging a Hydro Pump.

The Hydro Pump and Aura Sphere collided, causing an explosion in the cannon's of Blastoise, making him stagger back in pain. Glaring at Lucario, Blastoise stalled in shock, as Lucario had fallen to the ground, already fainted.

It had taken everything out of Lucario, to face a pokemon that much stronger than him, but Lucario had injured Blastoise greatly, a achievement Lucario was satisfied with. Enough for him to let his consciousness fade to black.

"Ha....hahahaha! How interesting. You've got guts son! Your Lucario well trained. He should be strong enough to face Giovanni if he can cause damage to my Blasty."

Leaf yelled, returning a huffing and unsatisfied Blastoise to his pokeball.

Walking up to Lucario, Ares began to give first aid, spraying a few potions and bandaging Lucario up. Lucario wasn't severely injured, fortunately. He would need to rest for a few days though, as this battle had taken a lot out of him.

"Your pokemon that faced me should be ready to battle Giovanni and take part in the league. Professor Oak will see about the rest of your pokemon."

Leaf smacked Ares on the back, handing an Sitrus berry to Lucario, who had just woken up.

"Time to get moving, let's train the rest up as good as you can before you leave. The professor should have something to talk about with you too. Something about a box you left with him. Go on, it seems the kids and him are waiting for you."

Leaf pushed Ares towards the others, a big grin on her face as the excitement from before was still pumping heavily through her body. She wanted to battle some more, something she and her pokemon would have to fix themselves. Blue wasn't home after all, otherwise she could have battled him and lose spectacularly.