6 The Battle

"Yo! Pipsqueak are you the one I have to battle?" he shouted.

"I don't see any Pipsqueak here," I replied, calmly.

" Oh! Fiesty! Don't waste my time, I have better scorers to battle in other cities. Luck can take you only so far and now your luck is up, Pipsqueak." 

Nurse Joy came from her desk after seeing him enter the  Pokemon Centre.

"Hello, I am Trainer Lucas from the League. Good to see you." He said to Nurse Joy and turned to me again and continued what seemed to be a monologue, somewhat monotonously. 

"Maybe my colleagues may pity you, but I always say only aspirants with scores above 99.9 percentile are worth something".

"So, say Goodbye to your chance at Elite Pokemon egg. You aren't going to defeat me and no way I will recommend a lucky loser like you."

I was stunned, for the first time in my life I felt angry.

The league trainer laughed aloud on seeing me angry. For a moment I thought I saw a surprised expression flicker across his face, but then it was gone and all that remained was his cocky smirk, which I was going to wipe off his face.

He started walking toward the back of the Pokemon Centre with Nurse Joy following him, smiling apologetically at me.

The Aura doused my anger making me calm.

'Now is not the time for me to act on emotions, no matter how I like experiencing them,' I thought and started following Joy and mumbled.

"Well, even though the aura is messing with my head. It is at least helpful in this type of situation."

The justification felt hollow, but I learned to play with the card's life dealt with and not whine.

After reaching the Battlefield, on the backside of the Pokemon Centre, I saw him occupying one of the trainers' stages in the field, it was a small Dias, with a bag in his hand.

The battlefield was an open area, with marked borders, roughly double the size of a basketball court.

  Shaking the bag in his hand, he asked me to pick a ball from the pack.

It was a small bag with colourful balls in it.

The ball I withdrew had the number 13 embossed on it.

After noting it, he typed something into his Pokedex…?

Suddenly a Pokeball appeared next to him in the air. Catching the Pokeball, he tossed it to me. 

I caught it on reflex.

As I was getting over my shock, he started moving towards the dias on the opposite side.

I was flummoxed and didn't know what to do.

There were no rules about J.I.E battles in the PokeNet. All I could find was that you have to battle with a randomly chosen Initiate-ranked Pokemon(Awakened).

So, I didn't know if releasing my Pokemon before the battle started was against the rules.

But seeing Lucas walking to the other dias made me think that this was a test of some sort.

'He left the dias, but from his early arrogance sending me to the other dias is more up his alley. This is a test and I need to know more about my Pokemon and its moves,' I reasoned and decided.

"Here goes nothing," I mumbled and released my Pokemon.

A Zubat came out.

I looked at Nurse Joy and at Trainer Lucas, to see whether they would start shouting ' You are disqualified',

But thank Arceus's curly tail, they did not. 

My whole thought process took less than 2 seconds and after taking in the awakened Zubat I spoke, deciding to not rush into things to not come across as rude.

"Hello, we are going to battle in a while, are you ready." 

"Zubat..bat" The Zubat did a loop in the air calling out its name excitedly.

"Okay, I have a few questions, fly up if the answer is yes and down if the answer is no," I spoke quickly.

With a semblance of a plan forming in my mind, I asked.

"Can you hear me, even if I don't shout when you are in the field?"

The Zubat floated Up.

Great, great.

Zubat does not have good Damage moves in its early stages, hopefully, it learned good TM moves.

Recalling what I studied on Zubat and what I know from Earth, I started calling out move names.

  "Hypnosis," the Zubat moved up. 

'Jackpot.' I cheered.

"Screech," the Zubat moved down.

"Confuse Ray," the Zubat moved down.

"Haze" Up.

"Times Up, Loser," Trainer Lucas called out.

I didn't know what to make of Trainer Lucas's insults and opinions, so I decided on my usual method, which is tossing it to the back of my mind, to think about it later. 

I still bristled at the insult and waited, after my Zubat flew onto the field, he released his Pokemon.

The red light formed into a sturdy Pokemon with four arms and two stubby legs.

"Grav.." The Graveler rumbled.

'The hell,' I cursed.

"Remember my name when you cry yourself to sleep tonight, Pipsqueak" Trainer Lucas hollered.

As I was thinking about my strategy, Joy started the countdown.

After the battle started, I spoke loudly.

"Use Haze, and let's build up your speed by Agility".

An Icy fog spread covering the half field and cutting visibility, I whispered in a low voice, immediately, not to be overheard by Lucas.

"Cancel Agility, use Hypnosis by using the mist as cover."

Pausing a second, I continued whispering.

I didn't even know if it had the agility move.

  "After it falls asleep use Steel wing, if you do not know steel wing, use Giga drain, if not absorb."

Trusting in the Zubat, I waited.

"Such rookie tactics, Pipsqueak," Trainer Lucas called out arrogantly.

" Never been in a battle before? Heh! You know they say you always remember your first" he taunted and spoke.

"Rolly, use rollout to spin and thin the fog."

'What a creative name' I thought sarcastically.

There was no movement from the fog, making Trainer Lucas call out the Graveler's name repeatedly.

There was no response.

After some time, the fog started dispersing and we both waited.

As the fog disappeared, the scene that greeted us was both surreal and just what I expected.

My Zubat was hanging on to the sleeping Graveler's backside, scattering a small number of green lights that periodically rose from the Graveller.

'Absorb,' I thought cursing my luck. 

I think it would have used the move absorb at least 3 times, estimating conservatively. 

With the Zubat being near to the Graveller, the travel time for absorb move got reduced and Zubat having full health led to no recovery of its health, but the damage is being done. 

'it's a Super effective move,' I thought cheering inwardly.

"Tricky Pisqueak are you? It doesn't matter. We will crush you," he muttered.

Silence pervaded the battlefield for a few more seconds and it broke as I ordered the Zubat, seeing the Graveler stirring from its sleep.

" Zubat, fly directly above the Graveler and use Agility." Hoping it knows the move, I mean any proper trainer would have made his flying-type Pokemon learn it, it's a fundamental utility move.

By the time the Graveler woke up fully, Zubat used agility. 

I cheered silently. 

"Rock throw, Graveller."Trainer Lucas shouted.

"Always stay directly on top of the Graveler, Zubat," I yelled.

I was trying to make the angle awkward for the Graveler, preventing it from throwing the rocks at full power, as it uses its hands to throw.

After ascertaining that Zubat could dodge the rocks easily with its enhanced speed, I spoke quietly.

"Use Supersonic between dodging, Zubat."

The first supersonic didn't do anything.

After the second supersonic attack, Trainer Lucas caught on and shouted.

"Use Rocktomb, Rolly."

I was afraid of this move and waited with bated breath as rocks started falling above Zubat, making it move frantically.

The rocks appeared in such a way that Zubat was at the centre.

As Zubat raced away from the rocks, it got brushed by a rock at the edge of the rock tomb move, making it spin and fall.

Zubat took a massive amount of damage from the move, even though it was a glancing hit. 

But it endured and stopped its uncontrolled descent 3 feet above and away from the Graveler.

The last of the rocks hit the ground, signalling the end of the move. 

I shouted.

"Use Supersonic one more time and fly up." 

  The Zubat started screeching before I finished my sentence and gained altitude.

With one eye still on the Graveler, I noticed it looking around confusedly.

I yelled in triumph.

" Use Air cutter" I shouted, hoping and praying.

The Zubat stayed stationary for a second and started beating its wings.

"Yes," I yelled again as the white wind blades assaulted the Graveler, churning up dust.

I noticed that the Air cutter move was used by Zubat while in a stationary position and hoped that this was enough to faint the Graveler.

As the dust cleared quickly, the Graveler looked like it was on its last legs and still confused.

I despaired. 

"Go behind it silently and use astonish and follow by Zen headbutt," I ordered quickly and quietly, confident that if it learned Hypnosis, then its trainer would have taught it Zen Headbutt.

'Time spent on learning to manipulate the psychic energy goes to waste otherwise. It is Zubat's egg move too, just like Hypnosis.'

As the Graveler Shaked off the last dregs of its confusion. Astonish landed making the Graveller flinch, as Trainer Lucas yelled, the Zubat headbutted the Graveler, knocking it off its feet.

'It worked.. it worked' I muttered in astonishment as I looked at the Graveler's swirly eyes.

I took the fight to melee, after the damage the Zubat suffered from the Rockslide earlier I don't think it can dodge another Rockslide, as effectively as before.

With Zubat having no proper ranged attacks, I risked it and …it worked.

I hollered loudly.

My first battle and I won against overwhelming odds.

" Graveler is unable to battle. The victory goes to Leon Ray and the Zubat." 

And yes, that is my name.