Ch 69. Giovanni vs Ares (3/?)

(Unedited)

(A/N: I'm taking a short break for like, two weeks tops, due to school and some private matters. Updates will restart after that. Anyhow, hope you enjoy the chapter)

With a strong pokemon like Metagross in front of him, Giovanni began to consider his best bet on how to go about this battle. With three of his pokemon already down, Giovanni didn't really have the luxury to take it easy. So far he had only taken down one pokemon of Ares, while the Metagross had taken out two of his.

Both of the pokemon were strong, very strong even. Who knows if Ares's other pokemon were the same or even stronger? He needed to take the lead back, one way or another.

Fortunately he had the perfect tool for that.

Yet he had to wait for a little longer. He needed to find out first what the beast in front of him could do. If he had to sacrifice two more of his pokemon, then so be it.

Calling out his Persian, the first thing that happened was the sudden movement of the Metagross, who rushed towards his Persian with pin point precision, a blazing purple energy around it.

Zen Headbutt it seems.

With gracefull movements, Persian dodged Metagross, staying out of range from its attacks. While Metagross was fast, it was not fast enough to outspeed Persian's lithe body and fast reaction speed.

With direct attacks not working as it was supposed to, Metagross switched tactics, keeping its distance from the Persian and began to attack from long range using Psychic and Flash Cannon.

It used the moves in such an odd way, that the Flash Cannon seemed to have a tracking function, as the Psychic bent the way it turned.

This gave Persian a hard time, as his movement speed did not help in any way with the attack that was following him. Even dodging behind the rocks form previous attacks didn't work, as the Flash Cannon seemed to defy gravity and kept sticking hot on his trail. Persian did not have a lot of moves to counter with either, as most of his attacks were physical in nature. Only one move would be useful, but it needed time to activate.

Something he did not have a lot of.

Directing his Persian in different directions, Giovanni gave his pokemon enough time to counter the Flash Cannon.

A strong Power Gem intersepted the Flash Cannon, making it implode on itself. Yet it was too early to rejoice, as Metagross continued to fire the Flash Cannons, without any sight it was tiring out at all.

It seems like stamina was not something this monster lacked.

Yet Giovanni had noted down the lack of speed past a certain point. The Metagross seemed to favor physical moves above special moves as well, something he could possibly exploit, if he played his cards well.

Now he just needed to find a weakness he might exploit even further, maybe a bad habit the Metagross had, that would bring it down.

One such opportunity showed itself when Persian began to launch his own attacks, cutting through the air with Aerial Ace to pounce on Metagross again and again, overwhelming it with the multitude of fast attacks.

That was one of the best points of Aerial Ace, as the attack never missed.

Now Giovanni just needed to observe, wait to see where the gaps might be.

At some point his eyes began to track a certain movement, a slight imbalance of the Metagross as it seemed to lean a bit more on certain parts of its body when it dodged or attacked. If he focussed the attacks on that spot, he might down it permanently for this battle.

"Dark Pulse"

One of the moves that would surely deal a lot more damage than previously. A card he had kept for the most opportune moment.

Giovanni smirked as he watched his Persian attack the weak points in Metagross's stance, making it stumble when it was hit, but that moment was all he needed to give it a bit more damage before his Persian was taken out.

A worthy sacrifice to take it down.

Coming closer to Metagross, which would be bad move if he wanted to settle the battle with Persian, a combined move of Foul Play and Dark Pulse were unleashed on the unstable for of Metagross. Metagross saw the Persian in his reach, stabilizing his form just enough to counter attack.

Dark energy and steel energy clashed as the combined move of Persian and a Meteor Mash from Metagross.

While both attacks were strong, the combi-move from Persian was just a bit stronger and broke through the attack.

While it was weakened, it still dealt a lot of damage, especially since it hit Metagross on one of its shoulders.

Pushing itself through the pain, the Metagross immediately returned another Meteor Mash, slamming the tired Persian to the ground.

Seeing his pokemon downed, Giovanni returned Persian to its pokeball, glad it had dealt enough damage.While Metagross might not appear weakened, Giovanni knew better. The signs might be small, but he noticed them.

Metagross could be taken down. Something he could handle with his Dugtrio.

Calling out his Dugtrio, Giovanni did not need to order his Dugtrio on what to do, as a plan he had formulated long ago was already being put in motion. It was one of the advantages of battling strong trainers on a daily basis. He could adapt and learn in and from any situation.

Dugtrio disappeared underground, appearing within a second below Metagross.

Metagross had not even noticed Dugtrio before it was too late.

With a tremor, a big gapping gully appeared below Metagross, the fissure big enough to swallow him whole. With its Magnet Rise already losing its effect, Metagross fell down inside of it, the earth energy clobbering it from all sides.

Making a desperate attempt to flee from it, Metagross managed to fly out of it, but that was the only thing it could do before it crashed to the ground.

The attacks from Persian and its previous battles taking more out of it than assumed.

Metagross was out cold, leaving Ares with four pokemon remaining.

Though he still had an advantage in numbers, Ares had a vague premonition Giovanni would not make his last pokemon easy to beat.

Calling out his Pidgeot, Ares prepared himself for the last part of his gym battle, not knowing how messed up it would eventually become.