C042 - The second battle for the meadow

Twice as many Ariados as the last attack arrived this time around. Pete felt his back sweating a little at that revelation.

Worst of all, at least to Pete as a human who wasn't the biggest fan of spiders, was the Ariados that was much, much bigger than the rest. Instead of having the size of a go-kart, this one was almost the size of a small car. He hadn't seen any pokemon with the so-called giant-gene yet, but he somehow doubted that was what he was seeing.

All pokemon species were slightly different from each other in that regard, but most bug pokemon shared that they did indeed grow with age. And if that was true, this Ariados was likely a decade or two old. Which meant it was powerful because as a pokemon species of predators, there was no way this Ariados survived constant hunting by being a weakling.

"Okay, team, get ready. Golurk and Nidoking, I want you as vanguard like we discussed. Keep up the Ponyta and Growlithe, I want you to power up Rapidash whenever her Flashfire ability cools off. Rapidash, only target groups. Your big moves will be needed early and especially on the flanks. Solosis, I want you to use Heal Pulse as often as you can the moment Nidoking and Golurk start taking damage," Pete ordered once more.

He had already explained the overall strategy to them since Jasmine and her pokemon weren't here, but it wouldn't hurt to do it again.

"Everyone, look alive. Keep in mind to come to me immediately in case you get poisoned. And Girafarig, try to use this fight to get the move Psybeam down. That should be the first step to you learning Twin Beam and evolving," Pete advised once more as everyone got into position.

Two massive Sandstorms were started and slowly enhanced each other as Golurk and Nidoking got closer to the spider pokemon slowly leaving the forest.

The Vileplume and Bellossom flanked both of them as they formed a defensive line with them to cover Pete and his other pokemon staying behind.

A few Ariados were fearless or simply impatient and started running toward the two biggest obstacles in front of them. But that turned out to be a huge mistake. Both pokemon had learned the move Rock Throw since the last fight and immediately smashed a couple of pokemon to death before the fight properly started.

Last fight, Golurk was still a Golett. But this time, he showed everyone how much power he had gained since two nights ago. Once an Ariados using Agility and Double Team got closer, Golurk showed the move Fire Punch which one-shot the Ariados and hurt several pokemon behind it by sheer force of the body crashing into them as well as the flames burning the pokemon.

The Ariados didn't get a chance to relax or replan, though, because the Fire Punch was the prelude to more fire. The fire move Inferno was a very low accuracy move in the games. The same is true for this world, but it simply had enough area of effect in this situation that Rapidash hit quite a few pokemon with this literal inferno of fire.

And then Growlithe and Ponyta hit the pokemon with a few Embers once more, so Rapidash unleashed a second Inferno on another side shortly after. After that, it was time for Rapidash to regain a bit of stamina and prepare for the next big attack.

They should have gotten a bit of time with Rapidash's brutal fire attacks, but the Ariados tribe was undeterred. The big one in the back simply ordered more pokemon to try and get through the defensive line, kill the back line, and then get rid of the pokemon fighting them from two sides.

Almost a dozen Ariados used Dig at the same time to get to Pete, but not even half of them reached the group and resurfaced on the other side because Golurk had stomped its foot to smash the sneaky pokemon under it into paste with Stomping Tantrum.

Its vastly superior ground affinity not only allowed Golurk to sense them using ground type energy below him but also overpower them and use the ground against them.

The four Ariados that did reach Pete and his group were in for a rude awakening. Three Farfetch'd teamed up to immediately take care of one of them, and with flying energy coated leeks, it was a short fight.

One Ariados was squished between two Miltank using Rollout and sandwiching the spider pokemon between them.

Then there were the two Minccino helped by Zorua, who all used multi-attack moves in quick succession, not giving the enemy Ariados any time for retalation.

That left the last Ariados who revealed himself closest to Pete. Blitzle ran at it and combined Horn Attack, which it was taught to by Rapidash, and Wild Charge.

The Ariados survived, but that was when two Timburr slapped its head with their two-by-fours in what looked like a very weak Brick Break, followed by two gears of Klink flying at it with the move Gear Grind where both Klink gears put the torso of the pokemon in a sort of vise.

If Pete didn't know any better, the Klink had combined the steel type move Gear Grind with Vise Grip, a normal type move. Which was a crazy thought because Klink was born this same day, but it already knew to not only combine moves but even moves with two different typings. Pete was also sure Gear Grind was one of the later moves it should learn, suggesting it was a more powerful steel move.

In that case, Klink turned out to be some kind of battle savant, just like Solosis. Pete doubted it was his suggestions, and his training disguised as playing that made his pokemon so powerful, so he got kind of lucky with all his pokemon so far.

The only pokemon to make a move yet were Sunkern and the Marill family, but that changed when the Ariados started attack the Vileplume head on.

One of the Marill used a clearly psychic move that Pete was sure it didn't learn from Girafarig or Solosis, which begged the question what that was. Was it Hidden Power? Why would a random Marill from some lake somewhere in the middle of nowhere know Hidden Power?

And then, the other Marill used Supersonic to confuse the Ariados into attacking each other. Pete was sure that was an egg move, too. What kind of pokemon bred to make these two Marill?

The fight went almost like the last one, and the Vileplume overwhelmed the enemy pokemon by combining Petal Blizzard on two flanks of the fight.

However, a good 80 Ariados, including the big one, had not yet joined the fight. When it looked like the spider pokemon sent to fight would not make it, the big Ariados screeched, and they all retreated to behind it. It made some noises towards Pete, his pokemon, and the Vileplume. From among them, the oldest Vileplume that Pete had met several times by now stepped forward. A few steps later, it looked to Pete and waved.

"Wait, we're negotiating? Already?"

Pete looked on in disbelief as Solosis gave him a confirmation in his mind and slowly flew forward herself.

"That's...way too easy, no? Either that's a scheme, or they'll demand something ridiculous," Pete mumbled as he followed Solosis. When he crossed Golurk and a panting Nidoking who had stopped using Sandstorm, the giant Golurk followed behind Pete silently as a guardian. Solosis threw a few more Heal Pulse on Nidoking for good measure as they passed.

The Ariados, if Pete could even judge the expression of such a pokemon, looked at him and Solosis with disdain. It was barely acknowledging their existence as it looked to the Vileplume and Golurk.

The Vileplume made some noises, and the Ariados responded as Solosis did her best to tell Pete what was happening.

'So the Vileplume had already asked for a ceasefire, and this tribe leader had come to see if they had the strength to even negotiate instead of being mere food trying to plea from their betters?'

As Solosis continued to explain, it was clear that even with the outcome of this fight, the Ariados tribe was reluctant to become moss farmers instead of eating fresh pokemon. And, all the deliberations ended in the Ariados wanting to decide the terms by trial of combat in a one-on-one duel.

Pete, as the one to want to start the talks for a ceasefire with the spider pokemon, was naturally the one who had to choose a fighter. The Vileplume had the natural disadvantage of not only fighting at night as grass pokemon but also the typing disadvantage of bug versus grass.

As Pete went over his options, he was sure Rapidash would be the best choice for the fight. But since the flaming unicorn didn't want to be a fighter as much as Nidoking did, Pete eventually settled on him. With ground/poison typing, he was more or less as good as immune to poison attacks and resistant to bug attacks. He knew rock and a single fire move for the typing advantage, and he had a trump card he could use only once to decide the fight.

"Alright. I agree to the one-on-one fight if you allow my fighter a five minute rest. After all he just fought while you watched your tribe lose," Pete demanded in a moment of rare bravado which he instantly regretted as the Ariados looked at him like a man would look when a fly lands on his food.

'Dear Arceus, was that the move Scary Face, or are they just naturally intimidating?'

Pete shivered a little as he went to Nidoking for a short pep-talk and some much needed berry supplements.

After feeding Nidoking an Oran, Leppa, and Lum Berry, Pete whispered some instructions to his Nidoking. The fire in his eyes for the chance to fight the tribe leader only ignited even brighter the more Nidoking listened to Pete.

"You got this, Nidoking. And remember to surrender if it's impossible. We don't know how powerful this pokemon is after all," Pete ordered once the five minutes were over.