682 CH62 (676), First Gym Battle (9)

Enji/Arcanine triggered Sunny Day, which dissolved the rest of the Steaming Mist that had been hanging on until now. He was forced to then Teleport away to dodge the Focus Blast that passed through his previous position. "Copy," Stephanie directly followed up, and I had to suppress the urge to curse.

'Ember,' I immediately ordered over our telepathic link, hoping that Enji might be able to execute, or at least start the move before Lucario managed to copy Teleport. I did not think that intercepting Lucario's Copycat like that was impossible, and Ember's execution speed was the reason I ordered it even though it was not Enji's move with the highest mastery.

Nearly as soon as I gave the command, fire gathered in Enji's mouth/throat, and a second later he released a small volley of fire marbles. I clenched my hand/fist in elation when Lucario released a bunch of fire marbles as well instead of teleporting out of the way, which indicated that we successfully changed the target of Copycat from Teleport to Ember.

"X Rush," Stephanie followed up after that failure, and I did as well as soon as she uttered the first syllable. 'Double Team, then,' "Extreme Speed," I began telepathically before finishing with out loud. So, when Lucario rushed towards Enji at extreme speed with an energy club in hand, Enji split up into multiple copies of himself, which all became blurry once he used Extreme Speed as well.

The Enji that Lucario hit with his club while they split up broke apart, but Lucario did not stop at that and directly moved on to the closest Enji. 'Double Team again, then speed up again,' I ordered and Enji along with his copies, which had nearly halved in number at this point, briefly slowed down since they had to release Extreme Speed for the next bit. Enji released another batch of copies and they all sped up again, this time using Quick Attack, though their reduced speed allowed Lucario to destroy two more Enjis.

Lucario managed to destroy two more Enji copies before Enji switched back to Extreme Speed and reached his max speed. Once that happened, Lucario failed to catch another Enji since their speed was about the same. Not long after they reached a speed stalemate Lucario began to slow down, probably unable to keep up Extreme Speed, though he sped up again even if it was not as fast as before, which was normal since Lucario seemed to be maintaining Mach Punch purely as a movement technique.

'Enji, try to Heat things up as much as possible while you're running,' I instructed and Enji attempted to use Heat Wave while maintaining Extreme Speed. Well, he failed, totally at that since all he could release was an insignificant trickle of heat while also maintaining Extreme Speed. However, Enji did not give up and adjusted his approach instead.

He slowed down due to switching to Quick Attack, though that simply reduced his speed down to Lucario's current speed. Nonetheless, thanks to that switch, Enji was able to increase the trickle of heat he could release by a substantial amount, and even though it was still not a proper Heat Wave, Enji still ignited the air around him. He was able to leave a trail of fire wherever he passed, and thanks to his high speed, the fire spread through large parts of the battlefield. Moreover, each time he passed by the same place or close by, the temperature/heat increased, swiftly turning the battlefield into an oven.

While temperatures like this would likely not hurt Lucario, at least not yet, it would still increase the consumption of his stamina by a considerable amount, and if Enji could keep this up for a few more minutes, the heat itself would probably start to hurt Luacrio kind of like a passive Heat Wave or more like a Fire Spin maybe.

"Luke, stop chasing and use Quake, then raise a Rock Forest," Stephanie ordered once Enji began heating things up. 'Jump, then turn towards Lucario and release a,' "Heat Wave," I began to respond telepathically as soon as she said quake before saying the last bit out loud. Enji jumped up moments before Lucario triggered the Earthquake, and he did a turn while in the air before releasing a Heat Wave toward Lucario.

The Heat Wave carried along the fire and heat Enji had maintained until then turning into a veritable Fire Wave. The few stone slabs Lucario managed to raise were unable to stop the Fire Wave, and Lucario ended up being submerged in Enji's attack.

'Earthquake when you land and then Flare Blitz,' I ordered as Enji fell back to the ground, and Enji triggered the Earthquake the moment his fore paws impacted the ground. The shaking earth broke apart the stone slabs Lucario raised, leaving an open field between them. It also unbalanced Lucario a bit, while he was dealing with being roasted. Enji naturally directly followed up his Earthquake with Flare Blitz and began to rush toward Lucario.

"Counter," Stephanie ordered seconds before Enji slammed into Lucario, and Lucario delivered a counterpunch moments after Enji slammed into him. Both Pokemon were forced back by the respective impacts they suffered.

'Switch positions with a double, then,' "Flamethrower/F Blast," We ended up ordering at the same time. Our Pokemon did as instructed, and Lucario's Focus Blast ended up going through an Enji and his Flamethrower, while the real Enji attacked from Lucario's right.

Lucario endured the pain for a few seconds and stepped out of the line of fire. I was thankful that his Focus Blast got interrupted when it got hit by Flamethrower since I suspected that it might have been able to redirect it toward Enji if it had not sputtered out at the sudden pain. "Stone Edge/Flare Fang," we once again ordered at the same time.

Enji broke through the one Stone Spike Lucario managed to raise between them and slammed into Lucario using Flare Blitz. He did not let Lucario get away, despite the pain he suffered in the process, and directly switched to Fire Fang, biting onto Lucario's shoulder. His initial goal had been Lucario's throat, but Lucario managed to prevent Enji from latching onto there, so Enji was forced to bite onto his shoulder.

Lucario used his left fist to punch Enji in the side to force him to release Lucario, but Enji stubbornly kept his mouth shut and even began to shake his head in an attempt to worsen Lucario's wound. At this point, both Pokemon were already quite hurt and relatively exhausted, yet neither Pokemon was willing to relent.

I honestly did not think it would be able to use any proper moves, but Lucario actually released a point-blank Hyper Beam from his mouth which he aimed at Enji's head. The Hyper Beam hurled Enji away, though due to my doggo's stubbornness, a piece of Lucario's flesh/shoulder came along as well. More importantly, Lucario finally returned to normal, coming out of his mega-state.

On the other hand, a direct hit on his head like that hurt Enji quite a bit, especially in his current state, so he barely managed to stop himself from being knocked out. Lucario did not come out of that exchange in much of a better shape than Enji. Not only was Lucario's shoulder bleeding quite a bit, but other parts of his shoulder were a bit signed due to his own Hyper Beam. Not to mention that he was unable to summon any strength due to Hyper Beam's after-effect.

Meanwhile, Enji mustered all the energy he had left for a final attack. He rushed straight back at Lucario while channeling a Flare Blitz, and due to the short distance between the two, Enji slammed into Lucario seconds after he started running. The two tumbled on the ground for a bit before they came to a stop. Everyone watched with bated breath as Enji and Lucario tried to struggle onto their feet.

Enji managed to stand up first, but we could all see his legs shaking like crazy due to exhaustion and likely pain as well. Lucario meanwhile had only managed a half kneel at this point and as he tried to push himself up with a grimace on his face, he fell forward. His face came down on the ground with a thud and his body sagged, indicating that he was down for the count. Mere moments after Lucario slumped over, Enji's legs gave out and he followed suit as well.

"Both Lucario and Arcanine are unable to battle. Please recall your Pokemon and ready your next combatant," the referee announced after waiting for a few seconds. Once he said that both Stephanie and I recalled our Pokemon. "Good job, my boy," I said before putting his ball away. I saw Stephanie whispering something to her ball as well before she replaced it with the Pokeball of her next Pokemon. Meanwhile, I decided to stick to the plan and took out Ryujin/Gyarados' ball.

"Good job taking down Luke after he mega-evolved and broke through," Stephanie said with a nod of acknowledgment. "Nonetheless, this battle is far from over. You and your Pokemon better stay sharp or you'll end up losing after making it this far," she warned me again and the audience cheered at that with some of them chanting her name.

"You don't have to worry about us slacking. We'll give it our all right up until the end. I plan to leave with the Badge, and I'm confident that my Pokemon will win it for me," I returned full of confidence which caused some more cheers and I heard Mom start a chant for me as well.

"I like your confidence. Let's see if you can back that up," she said with a smile. Once she said that the referee asked us if we were ready, and we both confirmed that we were ready. Meanwhile, the audience began to calm down when the referee spoke up. "Alright, then release your Pokemon at my signal," he said before starting the countdown and as soon as he finished we called out our Pokemon.

"Stay Sharp, Mark," Stephanie said as she released her Pokemon, which as expected happened to be her Bisharp. "DD, Ryujin," I declared while releasing my dragon onto the field. Both Pokemon immediately executed their opening moves, with Bisharp performing a Sword Dance, while Ryujin started a Dragon Dance.

Nonetheless, while the two Pokemon were having a dance-off, their respective abilities and talents were activated as well. Ryujin's Intimidate as well as Alpha Predator activated, and they ended up triggering Bisharp's Defiant ability. As a result of this ability/talent chain, Bisharp actually ended up making a profit, and he left the exchange with his strength boosted twice. Adding Sword Dance on top of that meant Bisharp's strength had close to tripled from the get-go which was not good for us.

I really shouldn't have neglected Defiant just because there had been a chance that Bisharp could not have had it. Had I not forgotten/neglected that, Ryujin could have led with Taunt instead of Dragon Dance. That way I could have at least prevented Bisharp from raising his strength by another factor. Not to mention that Ryujin could have tried to reign in Alpha Predator, which would have ended with Bisharp only getting a 50ish% strength boost.

'Taunt, then Rain Dance' I swiftly corrected one of the mistakes I felt I made through telepathy, and Ryujin swiftly executed the move, preventing Bisharp from using any further stat-boosting moves. Well, along with any other nonoffensive moves.

"Taunt, then Air Slash," Stephanie ordered at nearly the same time as I gave my telepathic order. Obviously, my order was faster, so Ryujin completed his Taunt before Bisharp could, which stopped him from performing Taunt as well. Due to that Ryujin was able to use Rain Dance, while Bisharp had no choice but to move on to Air Slash.

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