Chapter 3 – Supersonic

If anyone had told me this morning that I would be running for my life by lunch time, I would have had more to eat for breakfast. I jumped over a log and heavily landed on the damp forest soil, without stopping my course. A few instants later, I heard a heavy "thunk" followed by cracking wood noises. The brelooms were still hot on my trail and that log learned that the hard way. The poochyena was now running ahead of me, acting as my guide through the foliage and that was a big help. As pearls of sweat started dripping down my face, I started pondering my next move. Hopefully, Fitz, Floral and Bran were able to get help. But at the same time, I didn't expect them to be able to make it in the next five minutes. I needed to find a way to buy myself the wait time required. The distance between us wasn't big enough for me to hide from them but I was also running out of steam. Could I just face them head on with the poochyena? No, that wouldn't work because the poochyena is a dark type. Their anatomy is solely developed for sneaking upon their prey and hitting them first. This means they don't have the biological defenses needed for sustained physical fighting. In contrast the brelooms are faster because evolved and they hit hard since they're fighting types. That battle was over before it started. While I was wondering what other possible options were available to me, I suddenly heard a voice. First, I thought I misheard so I didn't pay it much mind but then I clearly heard a full word. Somewhere ahead of me, I could hear people conversing. Their voices were echoing in the sea's breeze that was blowing harder and harder in my direction. My face brightened. Getting to people meant getting help. Considering the situation, we were in, the only ones who would still be roaming the forest would be rangers. Finally, after everything went wrong, things were taking a good turn. I signaled poochyena to fall on me and with my newfound hope, I got new blood coursing through me. I adjusted my course slightly to the right and started running like a madman. Not before long, I forced my way through a large natural hedge and landed on a trail going west. Powerful gusts of wind made me think that it probably led to one of the many bluffs overlooking the sea. But as expected, about thirty meters ahead of me stood two human silhouettes. It was two men, slightly taller than me and dressed in some kind of uniforms. They had dark overalls that ended in grey gloves on their hands, boots, and a beret to top the outfit. The one to the right was holding a silver briefcase while the other had some sort of pouch-like back in the back strapped around his hip. The noise I made coming out of the bushes caught their attention and they quickly turned around to look towards me. There seemed to be some kind of red symbol printed on the front of their top garment, but the combination of the low visibility and the distance between us prevented me from clearly identifying what it was. To my knowledge, that wasn't the uniform of the Hoenn rangers, but rangers had many special units, and this could have been one of them. Relief exploded on my face, as, still out of breath from the last sprint, my face was now drawing a joyful grin. My legs gave up and I fell to my bottom while struggling to catch my breath. They kept staring at me from a distance, but I was acting weird, and I would have kept my distance from myself in this situation. 

- A kid? Why is there a kid here? one of the men started.

- I don't know, the other one answered.

A moment passed before the second one burst in a twisted laughter:

- Wait, is this guy skipping school?

- No way. He is wearing a sports uniform from the local school isn't he.

Then, suddenly addressing me in an amused tone:

- Hey you! You've got some nerves playing the thug so early. Didn't your parents tell you to behave?

I don't know if that was a joke, but they both found it very funny and caught a fit of something I'd call severe cackling, not laughter. Judging by our interaction so far, these people seemed to ignore why I was in the forest. How could they not know that we were in the middle of our practical exercise before hell got loose? Weren't the Rangers in charge of the logistics of this exercise? But I brushed my thoughts away because I recalled that I didn't have the time to make a conversation with them.

- I am one of the students that took part in the practical exercise in the forest. Everyone else has evacuated but I was cornered by two brelooms and they are about to emerge from the bushes to your left!

- Exercise? the guy on the left echoed back to me. Wait, are you telling me that kids from the school were in the forest this morning?

A concerned look appeared on his face as he slowly turned towards his comrade and was about to say something to him. But he didn't get the chance because suddenly, a breloom surged from the thicket on his left. I don't know how they sneaked upon us like this but none of us saw it coming. I saw the guy slowly turn his head in terror to face the angry pokemon, before getting heavily walloped by one of the breloom's arm and sent flying up the trail. He landed heavily on his back and slid on the ground a couple meters before stopping.

- Marco! his teammate screamed.

I feared the worst. There were stories of people being severely injured by pokemons before, but they were mostly rumors and it seldom occurred in real life. But that had to have broken something. I saw Marco squirm on the ground for a bit and try to lift himself up, but as soon as he put weight on his right arm, he fell back down, grabbed it and started screaming atop his lungs "my arm!". Upon closer inspection, you could actually see the bone poking outside and several streams of blood making their way down his arm. I went silent in terror and guilt. These people didn't act like rangers in any way since I met them. Not to forget that they also didn't seem to know about our morning exercise in the forest. Were they just two innocent passersby that I just dragged into my problem? And now one of them was injured because of me. I felt tears accumulating in my eyes and forcing me to close and divert my gaze for a bit. The man on the ground kept screaming in pain, and that triggered yet another angry breloom war cry. I reopened my eyes as the second breloom calmly stepped out of the thicket and jumped in between me and them. I was the original target, so it automatically locked on to me. That realization made me jump back on my feet and take a step back. The situation had now reached a critical point and my options were even worse now than earlier. I started thinking of a way to fix this mishap. Could I somehow attract their attention again and drag them away with me? No, this time, they were already involved with someone else, and by the look of it, the first breloom, was not done with Marco and his friend. Unbeknownst to me, Marco had stopped wailing. Past the body of the giant anthropomorphic mushrooms looming onto me, I saw him slowly come up to his feet again, breathing heavily.

- Marco are you okay? the other guy asked his friend.

- I am fine, he uttered in between two breaths.

Then he continued after a short pause:

- These bastards. I didn't think we would get caught by them. Doug, get the thing ready while I buy you the time.

The guy named Doug suddenly looked down at the briefcase he was holding and then looked back at Marco. I saw him silently nod his head, before dropping to his knees and putting the briefcase next to him. He opened it and appeared to be fiddling with the contents, but I couldn't see clearly from my position. His actions attracted the breloom that was closer to Marco. It turned around and hinted that it wanted to go towards Doug, but Marco intervened.

- Wait a minute you bastard. I am not done with you.

While his right arm rested limp on his side, I saw his left arm disappear behind his back and come back holding a pokeball, probably from the inside of his pouch. He pressed the button and tossed it – well more like he intently dropped it to the ground - in front of him. In a flash of light, the ball opened and in a strident hurling, a silhouette appeared that started hovering about two meters above the ground. While in total height it was about the size of a nightstand, the purple flying pokemon's body was only half of that; the other half being two tails-like appendages. Two things that stood out to me were, one, its wings, featherless and bony, and two, the extra-long pointed teeth that lined up the inside of its mouth. Without a doubt, that man just conjured a zubat from a pokeball, meaning he was a trainer, not a ranger. The flying mob floated nonchalantly back and forth in front of Marco and then let out a strident cry that made my ears ring a little.

- You wanted to play right, breloom? Then let's dance!

As if it had understood what the man said, the breloom, let out a growl and leapt forward targeting the zubat. 

- Zubat, fly over it and use supersonic!

Before the zubat could move an inch, the breloom was in the air, closing in on him fast with his paw extended, as to hit. That was probably a mach punch. But somehow, the zubat anticipated the hit and spun on itself left to right, creating a motion that drew in and dodged the hit. The breloom started falling back to the ground while the zubat was now flying around its back. The zubat then emitted another very high-pitched cry, vibrations of which I could literally see distorting the air until they silently stroked the back of the head of the breloom. But the breloom was not done attacking. Just as it was going to fall, it curled its tail underneath himself and used it like a spring to propel itself backwards, towards the zubat yet again. Then in an acrobatic reverse cartwheel mid-air it faced its opponent and took a kicking stance. The whole thing seemed to happen in slow motion but at the same time, so quickly that the zubat was left totally defenseless. The breloom's flying kick was going straight for its target. Or so I thought because the craziest thing happened next. Just as the kick was about to land, the breloom's tail violently swung sideways, but even weirder, its target was not the zubat. In fact, it didn't even look like it was aimed at the zubat at all, but instead it swung in the air before lashing into the flank of the breloom itself. The breloom just walloped itself, and it was a genuine resounding hit that knocked it off its jump kick course and it crashed loudly into the bushes under the zubat, in a choir of cracking twigs and torn leaves. After a minute of sad growls, the breloom managed to lift itself off the ground. It was covered in contusions: its cap was ripped open on one side, while the tip of one of the claws on its left arm broke off and two of the seeds at the end of its tail popped off. All these injuries were oozing a semi-clear liquid. Brelooms being plants, that could have been its blood. Or was it its sap? Nevertheless, it took a lot of damage and was greatly hurt. Before I could stop myself, I heard myself in awe speak a single word: "How"? The angry growls of the second breloom and the cynical laughter of Marco and Doug were the only answers I received. A minute later, Marco voiced his second command:

- Now, use leech life!

The zubat echoed the command with its signature strident cry and flew all while zigzagging towards the breloom. The latter was up and technically in fighting stance, but it seems it was too hurt to actually do anything. After it had ascertained that its opponent was not going to fight back, the zubat suddenly dived onto the right leg of the breloom and in flash, plunged its teeth into its flesh. The breloom let out an agonizing cry then staggered around and fell on its behind. It got vampirized for about a half a minute during which its face showed nothing but pain. Once satisfied, the zubat flew off the breloom's leg and went back to floating around a few meters off the ground. In a grieving last effort to get back up and a heartbreaking low growl, the breloom fell face down, and its human-sized body soon laid there motionless.

- And that is how you do a pokemon battle! Marco said, marking his victory by vigorously raising high his left fist.

I must admit, I was impressed. The battle I just witnessed was nothing like the naïve luck-won combat I had earlier. It was so well planned and so one-sided. But the action was far from over. In a stomping fit of rage, the second breloom, that both Marco and I seemed to have forgotten about, quickly closed the distance between it and the zubat. The zubat was totally distracted by the KO breloom on the ground and did not see the other one coming straight at it. It leapt and in a similar motion to the defeated one, it went for a flying kick – which, unsurprisingly - landed on the zubat. In a slamming noise, the zubat got kicked backwards and sent into a tree bark into which it crashed loudly before letting out a wimpy growl. But just as it started falling to the ground, it somehow managed to hold itself up the bark by closing its wings and tail appendages on the tree. It looked bruised, but otherwise mostly okay. I would expect that attack to do much more damage to it, especially since it is so small and got knocked back after a surprise attack. Marco looked worried for a minute, but as soon as he also realized that his zubat was doing fine, he smirked.

- Nice sucker jump kick. It would have probably defeated any normal flying pokemon, but not in this case. My zubat has a poison attribute meaning that its skin and muscles are very elastic. Powerful precise strikes that are the proper of fighting pokemons won't have much effect on zubat.

While it all made sense to me, I don't think the breloom cared much for the lesson. In fact, it was already preparing for its next attack. But Marco was ready this time. He sent his zubat in for a supersonic attack again. Its cry made visible perturbation in the air again and stroke the breloom straight in its face. The breloom took a defensive stance with its arms crossed in front of it and its eyes closed.

- Gotcha! Now to watch it hurt itself in its confusion while zubat drains it dry.

This is where I understood what his ace card was. The zubat's supersonic was able to confuse its opponent, resulting in them hurting themselves instead of the opponent. That was the reason why that breloom suddenly attacked itself earlier, before crashing and hurting itself more. He made it defeat itself and he was trying that strategy against this second breloom too. But Marco barely finished his sentence before the breloom reopened its eyes and looked to the zubat, with fiery anger burning out of its pupils. In one movement, it was in the air again, ready to attack. Marco probably didn't see this, but the breloom tossed something behind itself before moving into the next attack. I was in its back, so it landed close enough to me that I could see what: a green stalk still attached some amount of pinkish fruity flesh. The remains of a berry that the breloom must have eaten. 

- Ha! Look at it running straight to my zubat, with no idea it is about to self-destruct! Marco said, amused. Just like last time, leech life!

The zubat complied with the order and flew backwards a little to attempt to dodge the incoming hit, but the breloom used its tail as a third leg to boost its jump towards the zubat. It closed in so fast I saw the zubat stop flapping its wing in surprise, right before the breloom converted the momentum of its movement into a lightning-fast punch that dropped the zubat on the ground. It bounced and rolled around in the soil a couple times and ended up right at the legs of an even more surprised Marco. That looked like a really painful hit, and I thought the zubat would be done for, but just like Marco said, the zubat was enduring these martial arts moves quite well. The small flying mob restarted flapping its way back to its usual combat height the second it stopped rolling. Marco's smirk came back, as the zubat prepared for another shot of its supersonic attack. Now there was about ten meters of distance between the two pokemons. When the sound vibrations were released, I could see them going on towards the breloom and came to this realization: this move wasn't very fast, and you can clearly see the waves coming towards you in a cylindrical-shaped air tunnel. If I, a human could see it, then the breloom could too. The only reason the zubat hit them pretty much every time was because they were too close to see and dodge it. Contrary to my thinking, the breloom, started running straight into the wave tunnel headed for it. Marco's face lit up. If the breloom got confused this battle would turn out just like he expected. But I guess this was a rampaging pokemon's fight and maybe they weren't thinking their actions through; just instinctively defending themselves. This battle was decided – but, and I can't stress this enough – not in the way both Marco and I expected. Right before it made contact with the sound waves coming towards it, the breloom suddenly sprung itself up and over them in an alto move, using both its legs and tail. The breloom fell to the ground and resumed its run straight towards the zubat. To our surprise, and especially to the zubat's, it wasn't running into the supersonic. Its goal was to close-in on the zubat while it was defenseless. Since it just attacked, the zubat wouldn't be able to react in time nor counter before the breloom got to it. Five quick steps later, the breloom was in the air again, and this time, it didn't take an aerodynamic stance like it did the two previous times to land the kick and the punch. It just jumped slightly higher than its target and moved its cap-head backwards. Having seen that move recently, I guessed that it was going for a headbutt. The giant mushroom cap slammed into the zubat, knocking it out of the air and sending it flying five meters behind Marco. The zubat's wings stopped flapping as it went backwards and curled up around it as it plummeted to the ground and stopped moving. Headbutt was a brutal full body attack, not a refined martial art move so the zubat's special conditions didn't help it withstand that. In another flash of light, it disappeared and went back into the pokeball it came from, inside Marco's only available arm.

- Shit!

That was Marco. He went from being on the winning side to the now be at the mercy of the giant mushroom-like pokemon that was now standing way too close to him. And it wasn't happy. The breloom let out its signature angry growl and looked at Marco. The poor fellow started walking backwards but tripped on a branch and fell. The thought "I need to help him" crossed my mind. I looked down at the poochyena. After what we just witnessed, there was no chance that we could beat that pokemon. But maybe we could at least distract him enough for Marco to escape. I was about to give the order to poochyena when Doug interrupted me.

- Hey abominable shiitake!

The breloom stopped and turned around. Douglas, who spent the last several minutes furiously going through his silver briefcase, was now standing meters behind the breloom. He was holding some sort of item in his hand that I never saw before. It was an oddly shaped contraption, that looked kinda like a hair dryer, with a handle that ran into a cylindrical compartment with a red blinking LED on its side. There was some sort of trigger on the bottom that his index finger was laying against while there was a barrel about ten centimeters long going from the cylinder that he aimed towards the breloom. If he confronted an angry pokemon with that, then it must have been some sort of pokemon-repulsing device. Was it a repel dispenser of some sort?

- Doug! Marco said, while his terror faded into a scattered laugh. Took you long enough. I was seriously starting to be worried.

- Sorry, Marco. I don't know why we needed to carry this disassembled like this. It took me a while to put it together.

The breloom ascertained the device as a threat and left Marco alone. Now it was taking angry steps towards Doug. Doug didn't look worried at all, and he triggered the device. But all that occurred was a mechanical tick and then a series of series of three "beeps" in alarming tone. The breloom, being careful, stopped, but otherwise nothing happened. Doug looked confused. He pulled the device back and looked at it?

- Something's wrong?

- You imbecile! Marco lashed out. You forgot to load a cartridge.

- OH!

He turned around to look at the case that was now laying on the ground several meters behind him. Again, I was totally at loss and couldn't understand what was going on. The breloom, realizing there was no immediate threat, growled angrily and started running towards Doug. In turn, Doug ran for the case. But he barely was able to get to it and I saw his right arm going in attempting to grab something before the breloom got close enough and used its tail to knock the briefcase and all its contents away. The briefcase flew to the far left, dropping five or six colorful disc-shaped items and spreading them all around on the ground. Doug got knocked back as well but he didn't look hurt. He lifted himself up from the ground painfully. But he looked at his right arm and laughed.

- I am in luck today! he smirked.

He was holding a disc just like the ones that were thrown away in his right hand. This particular one had a coloration between red and orange, with a hole in the middle. Nothing seemed quite special about it. The breloom looked at him smiling and got angered again. It leapt in his direction. I was too far to intervene, and Doug didn't seem to be paying attention.

- Doug, Lookout!

But Doug didn't move; instead, he shook the hair-dryer thingy in his hand, and the cylindrical chamber revealed an opening, kinda like how old portable cd players opened on the side. He quickly slid the disc from his hand into the opening and closed it shut. The LED that was blinking red so far turned into a solid blue, and a computerized voice said something in the line of "cartridge loaded: Overheat". He pointed it to the breloom again right as it attempted to punch him, and I saw this finger pull the trigger. There was that mechanical "click" noise again but this time, a light started showing in front of barrel. The breloom instinctively decided to roll out of the way, right as a huge burning ball of flames burst out of the barrel of the device in a loud whooshing noise. The blaze went past the breloom and straight into nearby foliage where it incinerated multiple bushes and twigs before crashing loudly into a large bark and dying a concert of crackling branches – leaving only a cloud of white smoke and a lane of ashes. I started sweating because the air all around us heated up in a flash. The breloom, looked at the damage in consternation and started moving backwards. Doug, it, and I were now aligned, so it was getting dangerously close to me, but I don't think I was on its mind right now. That device wasn't a pokemon repellant. It was a weapon.