Chapter 41: In An Ocean Of Jeopardy
He couldn't bring himself to grin in such a dire situation, but a surge of confidence suddenly found its way to his chest.
"Starly!" His hands were cupped as he shouted upwards. "Use Double team in a circular fashion then combine Hercule's Ice Beam with your Whirlwind! Create momentum then stop Double Team and rotate while you use Whirlwind!"
Starly shot herself upwards yet again, her image splitting into six illusions of herself that formed like a 'hexagon' formation, this time positioning herself in the middle of her adversaries deliberately as she began to flap her wings madly, taking aim at Golbat.
As Hercule's Ice Beam arc through from his belly yet again, the wind from Whirlwind immediately carried the icy air forward. Although Ice Beam already traveled at a fairly decent pace when Hercule was using it, the extra momentum from the blast of fierce gust that Starly had let loose carried the ice-type move forward far more quickly, and therefore, forcefully, than normal. Although Golbat just barely avoided the attack, the two Zubat behind it weren't so lucky, shrieking in agony as the fast moving air assaulted their bodies. It could have been the brute force of the wind blast pounding against their bodies, or it could have been the freezing cold air from the makeshift 'Icy Wind' that the Whirlwind was carrying along with it, enveloping them and painfully coating parts of their bodies with a thin layer of ice. Either way, both Zubat fell to the ground, unconscious, and down for the count.
And the rest of the group soon followed. Although Golbat had initially evaded the attack, it was immediately hit full force as Starly spun around in midair, rotating several times as the brutish, icy combination of Whirlwind and Ice Beam collided with every bat in the air. The Starly was spinning around as fast as she could, rotating herself, and, by extension, the combination attack that she and Hercule were both using together, at high speeds and leaving their opponents with very little time to adapt.
Soon every Zubat was coated in ice, falling to the ground in unceremonious defeat.
Only Golbat remained. Weakly but defiantly all the same, the larger bat continued to flap its wings as it struggled to maintain its aerial balance. Ice layered several parts of its skin, and it was very clearly bruised from the repeated rounds of getting assaulted by the brutish force of Wind Blast, which had smacked it into the rocky walls at least twice, if not more.
Starly and Hercule glared at their mutual rival's tenacity, but showed no signs of pessimism. It was very clear who was in control now.
Suddenly, something abruptly dumbfounding occurred. Hercule's entire body seemed to glow for a moment, as Hercule suddenly gained ground. It let out a tiny roar of a dauntless - unfazed and oppressive. Before anyone knew it, Hercule began to shine bright silver, as his physical self condensed into pure energy, before expanding in size.
"That whippersnapper's pokemon is evolving." Agent Com gritted his teeth in frustration. That Poliwag was well trained, commendable since it came from a rookie, it goes to show how talented a trainer the gray-haired teenager was. Now that it began to evolve, their problem now has heightened. He has to finish this, immediately.
When the light died down, in place of a Poliwag, was a Poliwhirl.
Cinder couldn't help himself smiling at that, despite their situation.
And he could see Storm and the rest of his allies grinning at the sight too.
If only the evolution had come at a less stressful time.
As Hercule, the now newly evolved Poliwhirl, landed near Starly, who exchanged smiles with her quickly before returning his attention to Team Rocket, the grunts and the agent was distracted for a second.
"Steel Wing, Starly!" And Cinder took quick advantage of that as he gave the final order. Letting out a brief, but triumphant shriek, Starly blitzed towards her opponent. Carried by the momentum of Quick Attack, Starly slammed her metallic wing into the large bat's face with all of the muscle that she could muster.
The solid, blazingly fast moving metal was overkill for the already wounded bat. Sent flying through the air at a record pace, the Golbat was unconscious mere moments before colliding head first with the stony walls, and had no chance of changing that as it dropped to the ground.
Starly remained in the air as Com blanched pathetically. Looking around him, Cinder saw that all of the Poochyena had been defeated.
But neither he, nor Korrina and the lokemon allowed themselves to smile.
"Damn this!" The agent backed away a hit as he eyed the victorious team. Snarling with anxiety, he raised his voice across the room. "Everyone! Send out another wave!"
Cinder and Korrina braced themselves as their respective pokemon all remained in their fighting stances, but no such reinforcements came.
"I'm… out!" Announced one of the soldiers.
"Me too!" Another one.
To Cinder's relief, a chorus of announcements erupted from the enemy grunts, none having any pokemon left to send out.
The teenagers still didn't smile, though. Not when Team Rocket was still active, and certainly not while Com enlarged one, final pokeball.
"You've gotta be kidding me…" The agent moaned in displeasure. "I'm really starting to hate children…"
Cinder dared to speak up. "Yeah, well you're the ones causing us trouble! Quit whining about losing fights that you started!" He was trying to sound intimidating, and was very clearly angry, but the color had not yet completely returned to his face.
"Zip it, brat." Cyan snarled as his finger shot out at the blunt toned boy. "You must really not want to leave these caverns alive, if you have a mouth like that."
Before another word could be said, they were greeted with the sight of the large, hulking figure that escaped the pokeball's flash of light.
Korrina and Cinder's eyes widened at the sight of the creature. Oh.... Oh-ho-ho-ho. The irony of their current predicament.
Really? Fafnir's second-staged evolution? A Gabite?
It was very clearly a dragon. Blue skinned. With red in the middle, and a light blue underside. On both sides of its head were appendages that looked like they could pass off as engines for planes. Each arm had a fin, as did its back and tail. Near both of its knees were spikes, and sharp claws occupied its feet.
An extremely intimidating dragon/ground-type pokemon native to the Sinnoh Region. They were infamously known for evolving into one of the most powerful and near-universally feared species of pokemon in the world: Garchomp.
"Say your prayers while you still can, children." Com leered nastily at the duo, having lost all of his patience with them. "Bet you haven't gone up against a dragon before, huh? Well, he'll be your last opponent."
As Gabite snarled ferociously, a horrible, monstrous sound escaping from his throat as Storm, Starly, Hercule, Hero, Aiz, Talon and Alpha all backed away in caution under his dreadful gaze, a startled Cinder felt a firm hand clasp his arm, and he dared to turn his head to see a tense Korrina shivering ever so slightly.
The color was completely gone from her face once again, her previous facade of bravado finally gone.
"I'm… scared." Her voice was weak, quiet. Terrified. She was acting on her subconscious, the memory of Cinder's promised words from when they were alone at that tunnel continued to echo on her mind.
He knew the frown on his face wasn't helping her mood. It was just vindicating her fear. So he put on a brave face and shielded her from the sinister eyes of Gabite.
Looking forward, and inclining her head upwards towards Starly and Hercule, Korrina practically screamed.
"Hercule! Starly! Use your combo from before!"
There was desperation in her voice. All of her childish, and lively self had been replaced by a desperate tone of despair as she attempted to end the fight as fast as possible. The only thing that she wanted being for all of this to end. Without them dying.
Icy Beam would be tremendously effective against Gabite. No doubt the mighty dragon was far stronger than any of their teammates, and Cinder wasn't sure if Reckless would be quite enough for Starly to match the behemoth's brute strength. Dragon's were famous for their raw power.
The ice-type move would practically be a necessity. And with Whirlwind greatly bolstering the force behind it…
Unfortunately, Com had other ideas as he quickly responded to the order.
The boy felt a pit in his stomach as the agent let out a counter command. Whatever he had planned wouldn't be good for them.
The rest of the team seemed to realise this just as much as he did, as did Korrina. Everyone began to brace themselves.
Gabite continued to leer. His fighting stance conveying its huge and menacing appearance.
"Use Flamethrower!" He called out to the dragon as Starly and Hercule fired their combo downward. Hercule's Ice Beam was now much more powerful, noticeably.
Gabite responded to the order by inclining his head upwards, a surging stream of fire escaping from his open maw. The powerful blast of frozen wind was met with the scorching flames, intercepted in an explosion as the shockwaves pulsed through the air.
Cinder snarled in frustration. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. It was only natural to teach a dragon/ground-type how to use fire so that it could counter ice.
Looking around him, the battlefield was filled with the unconscious bodies of the Poochyena and Zubat, with the Golbat lying down at the far end of the room.
It suddenly occurred to him why the Rockets hadn't recalled their defeated pokemon. The unconscious bodies throughout the room would force his and Korrina's's pokemon to avoid tripping over them as they moved throughout the battlefield.
The far larger Gabite had no such worries.
No doubt those unconscious pokemon could suffer serious injuries (or worse!) if they were to be hit by a stray attack or stomped on by Gabite… Was Team Rocket really going to leave them out and risk their well being just for a tactical advantage?
That answer, of course, was obvious. It was far from the worst thing they had ever done.
Instinctively, Cinder and Korrina backed further away from the fray. At the same time, Com gestured for his crew to move behind him, the group of Rockets all gathering in front of the entrance to the tunnel at the back of the room they were in. The towering adults fixated their stern gazes onto the two teenagers, as though they were attempting to intimidate them to make up for not being participants in the upcoming battle.
Cinder felt himself sweat a little under their gaze, forcing himself to look at Gabite instead.
It didn't help his mood in the slightest, but it was a lot more practical.
A flash of light briefly appeared in front of him and Korrina. On edge, the two children were startled in the moment, but a split second later, Storm was in front of them, ready to erect a transparent screen at a moment's notice, Reflect.
An anxious smile made its way to Cinder's lips. Even with everything going on, Storm was concerned for their safety. Two humans who had no moves or special powers to defend themselves with.
"Thank you… Storm."
A nod. Cinder would have seen the stern, determined glare on Storm's face if the young sheep was facing towards him.
Instead, Storm's eyes were locked fiercely onto Gabite, who was now inching his way towards Hercule and Starly, both of whom backed away cautiously.
A nudge from Cinder's elbow quickly brought Korrina's attention to her new friend.
"Don't even consider close-up combat for now." He stated firmly. "That behemoth would crush our pokemon in an instant."
Korrina nodded in understanding, but winced.
Storm had no ranged attacks that would work on Gabite. His ground/dragon-typing granted him absolute immunity to all electricity.
It mattered not. Cinder was right, after all. Getting in close would just make things worse.
"Keep your distance, everyone!" He called out quickly, as Com finally got tired of playing the waiting game and ordered Gabite to move.
The dragon was fast. Thankfully not too fast for Storm and Starly to avoid him with Agility/Quick Attack, but his speed was far greater than his bulk would make things seem.
Not that Cinder was surprised, at this point. Plenty of large pokemon moved a hell of a lot faster than one would ever realistically expect them too. He himself had even seen it firsthand with Brock's Onix.
The dragon raised a large claw, glowing a powerful pinkish-purple as he brought it down towards his two targets. The Dragon Claw collided with the stone floors as Storm, Alpha(Riolu), and Hero(Hawlucha) yelped in fright and leapt aside in opposite directions, small rocks being kicked up by the impact of Gabite's mighty blow.
A distressed Cinder was suddenly having flashbacks to the fight with Butch and Cassidy.
And just like with Aggron's, just one strike from that Gabite's mighty claws could be the end of it.
The image of Storm and his allies bodies being torn through like tissue paper filled Cinder's mind, and he could have sworn that his heart stopped for just the briefest of moments.
Aiz(Mienfoo) was responding, however, having already begun channeling up a Reflex alongside Storm. Hercule already had Ice Beam on the ready prior to Gabite's attack. He fired it at him while he retreated, the arcs of a much powerful blue beam of the icy cold attack colliding with the dragon's face just as the newly evolved pokemon's feet hit the ground.
The small explosion from the impact sent Gabite staggering back with a pained grunt, but there wasn't much visible damage done to the dragon's body from what Cinder could see.
Maybe if he was a bit closer to the action, but Cinder doubted that they'd be able to dish out all that much lasting damage with just once attack.
Thankfully, Korrina was following up. "Alpha(Riolu)! Rock Tomb!"
Her Riolu wasn't very skilled with 'dragon fighting' yet, so she was going with the next best thing.
Multiple gray rocks outlined in white energy form around Alpha, as he gestured with a strong motion towards their opponent. However, Gabite righted himself and lowered his head. Cinder winced as the dragon's head suddenly glowed and became coated in metal, Alpha's Rock Tomb bouncing harmlessly off of Gabite's Iron Head.
Turning his gaze towards the water-type now, Gabite kept his head lowered and charged forward. Alpha was caught off guard by the sudden offense, but Gabite was suddenly forced to change direction to avoid Starly's Whirlwind, carrying Hercule's Ice Beam.
As the powerful blast of frozen wind collided with the ground (and the unconscious bodies of a Zubat and Poochyena), Com called out a followup order.
"Dragon Pulse!"
Cinder's eyes widened at that. Dragon Pulse was a strong move. So was Dragon Claw, but unlike that move from before, this wasn't being aimed at the agile Storm, Alpha, Talon and Starly.
Gabite roared with great ferocity as a glowing, pinkish-red orb appeared in his mouth. Growing in size, it suddenly expanded into a large blast of light with dragon-like jaws at its front. The attack sailed over towards Aiz, who was safeguarding her straining at the side, the attack sailed at great speeds.
*Leave a review on what you guys thought of so far.*
*Shout out to my boy, Desertstorm out there, been a real homie. This chapter is for you and the readers who motivated me.*
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