Humbling Experience (2/3)

->A/N: It took a while to write this. Reason being? Well... Here's a word of advice- Don't try and race people while wearing sandals ...Learned that the hard way.

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"…Bramble?"

Serebyi put her hands on her hips, affronted. "What's wrong with Bramble? It's a cute name."

"I wanted to name him Cuddly because he's so cute but he didn't like that one. Isn't that right, Bramble?" She recovered quickly, expertly avoiding Ferrothorn's pointy bits while hugging it.

Ferrothorn huffed, used to its trainer's shenanigans.

Izan snorted at her affections. "Yeah, never mind. Bramble is 100% a better name than Cuddly. Maybe-"

His sentence was interrupted by Sandshrew hopping off his shoulder gracefully, calmly walking up to the behemoth of a grass-type Pokemon.

Despite being so much smaller, she somehow managed to look like she was looking down on the Ferrothorn as she spoke.

"Sand. Shrew sandshrew sand. Sand, sand."

Whatever she said, Ferrothorn was having none of it. "Erro." was all it said before sitting down and closing its eyes, completely ignoring Sandshrew.

One didn't have to know Sandshrew for long to know that she wouldn't take kindly to that type of reaction.

And judging by how her lips curled in anger, Izan was sure she was about to fly off the handle.

Stepping in before that happened, he went on one knee before speaking. "What's up Sandshrew, what's the problem?"

Unlike her interaction with Bramble, her demeanor towards Izan was like a child speaking to their parent. She animatedly gestured to the few remaining rocks the Ferrothorn had set up.

'Her ego is gonna get us in trouble one day.' Izan couldn't help but think, ignoring the thought right after. Her pride was her main motivation for training and battling at the moment. Until that slowly or abruptly changed, chastising her would only be detrimental.

Or at least, he hoped that was the right decision.

It took a minute but he spoke when the message she was trying to convey finally clicked. "Ah, you wanna learn [Stealth Rock], don't you?"

Nodding emphatically, Sandshrew pointed at Serebyi this time.

Izan looked over to Serebyi with a helpless look on his face. What he saw almost made him facepalm.

Standing upright stroking her invisible beard, Serebyi was nodding to herself as if she was a sage. "Hm… What to do, what to do… I can't exactly stay in this mortal plane for too long…"

Seemingly playing up the act, she reached into her kimono and pulled out a dark yellow scroll. "Yes, a solution. I can't exactly stay in town to have Bramble teach her, but I can give you this scroll if you win."

Thoroughly confused, and more than a little exasperated, Izan raised his eyebrow. "And what exactly is that scroll? And win what?"

Seeing an opportunity, her constant smile grew bigger. "Let this young mistress educate you, then. This is a TM scroll. It is what people used to teach Pokemon moves before technology made things more compact.

Simply put, it is filled with the essence of a ground-type move. When a Pokemon reads it, they are imparted with the knowledge of that move."

'Interesting. Not useful information, but learning about history is always interesting. Why does she even have one of those?' Izan wondered before shaking the thought away.

"And win… what?" Izan repeated, not that impressed with the TM. While TMs were useful and quite expensive, she presented the scroll as if it was much more.

Her smile turned mischievous for a moment before it shifted back to innocently happy. "Win a Pokemon battle, of course."

Annoyed with her not getting to the point, Izan rolled his eyes heavily. "Against who? You?"

"RRROW!!"

As if on cue, the forgotten Fearow cawed mightily, blowing away the dust that hadn't yet settled from the earlier blast.

Even with all the cuts and bruises it had from being violently slammed into the ground, it stood straight up with a fierce scowl, lightly panting. It was on its last legs.

"No, against him. Or, her? …Against that. You'll need to beat that." Serebyi's cheer whittled off as she confused herself over the Pokemon's gender.

In contrast to her nonchalance, Izan stepped back in alarm.

Fearow was a Pokemon that evolved at level 20. Or it should if the games were anything to go by. But even if it evolved levels earlier, it was a Fearow.

It was miles stronger than his Sandshrew. Especially considering Sandshrew was between levels 3 and 7.

"Are you insane? Sandshrew is not fighting that, she'd get destroyed!" he blurted out.

Serebyi rubbed her chin in thought. "Hm… yeah, you're right. It might be a bit too much for her right now."

Sandshrew looked hurt for a moment at their conclusions, but her expression changed to wariness as Fearow started to move forward slowly.

Izan sighed in relief that she had dropped it. 'She's a B-Class trainer, of course, she has to have some common sens-'

"So let's even the playing field a bit! Bramble, use [Leech Seed] please~!" Serebyi sing-songed.

Ferrothorn slowly opened its eyes and jumped into the air, pointing its vines toward Fearow and shooting multiple small seeds into its feathers.

The seeds, implanted in the Fearow's long feathers, exploded into vines that connected and slowly drained the bird of its energy.

Looking over and seeing innocently smiling Serebyi's face, this time he did facepalm.

"Slowly draining its health won't make this any easi-" He began, fully intending to refuse to fight.

But he stopped himself, realizing that this might be a good lesson and growth opportunity for Sandshrew.

'It's not like it's impossible. Fearow should already have taken much more damage than it seems from that Stealth Rock alone. Plus with the [Leech Seed] constantly draining it, all Sandshrew would have to do is dodge.' He reconsidered.

Taking a look at Sandshrew's expression, she looked thoroughly frightened. Yet he watched as she looked at her hands, clenched them, and stood her ground.

'Dammit. This is probably a really bad idea, but an opportunity like this probably won't happen again. A B-Class trainer as a safety net? Not commonplace at all.'

'On top of all of that, Sandshrew can get a free ground-type TM. Even something as simple as Magnitude or Dig could be a huge advantage in the future.' He surmised.

He could feel that strange energy bubble up inside him as he made his decision. Either that, or he was hungry.

"Good luck~!" Serebyi said in the back, seeing his resolve.

But what he didn't see was the impassive face that Serebyi wore as she said it, her voice completely different from her expression.

"Fuck it, let's do this. Alright, Sandshrew, rush straight at it and get ready to jump back!" Izan said, focusing on Fearow completely.

"Shrew!" Sandshrew didn't miss a beat, already ready to battle.

On all fours, she dashed as quickly as possible even with her small legs. It wasn't fast by any means, readying itself to move at any moment.

"Now!" Izan shouted.

Sandshrew stopped all of its momenta with its hands, pushing itself backward with its stubby arms. Fearow's beak struck the spot where Sandshrew's body had been, piercing the ground.

In any other scenario, Sandshrew would've been too slow, but Izan made sure to yell the moment he saw Fearow readying itself to use [Peck].

"Good, now use [Sand Attack] quickly," Izan commanded, smiling as he did so.

Sandshrew's jump back flowed into the next move, rushing slightly forward to kick up dust right into the bird Pokemon's eyes.

Stubborn and unrelenting, Fearow opened its bloodshot eyes despite all of the dust in them, staring straight at Sandshrew.

Its rage building, it reared its head back while its beak shined with gray energy.

"Don't let it hit you, no matter what! Run away if you have to," Izan warned, wary of whatever move it was using.

'A single move could probably take Sandshrew out. All Sandshrew has to do was dodge and wait it out.'

Sandshrew heeded the advice, intently watching each one of Fearow's moves. It was too far to hit from that range, but there was no point in underestimating it.

"Row!" With a short caw, Fearow went into a flurry of pecks, each one piercing the ground and making rocks fly up. Yet as it did so, it began to move toward Sandshrew slowly.

'Most likely [Fury Attack]. No need to take chances though. Just have to let it tire itself out.'

"Go for a [Mud Shot] to slow him down. Then come back over here. This battle should be pretty easy." Izan deduced calmly.

Sandshrew, reaching the same conclusion about Fearow's stamina, puffed up before shooting balls of mud into Fearow's wings.

After eyeing that it would stick, Sandshrew nodded to herself before turning around to run closer to Izan.

"Rrow."

In an instant, Fearow changed its tune, blurring forwards as Dark energy seemingly pulled it forward and closed the distance.

With a feat of speed that was unmatched, it clasped its talons onto Sandshrew's back, pinning it to the ground.

Izan blinked. And then panic spiked through his body, his worry for Sandshrew reaching its peak.

"Use [Defense Curl], right fucking now!" He screamed, running toward the two as fast as his legs could take him.

Unlike in the games, Pokemon weren't virtually invincible. There was no HP bar. In battles, Pokemon became hurt. Maimed, injured.

Killed.

Fearow, noticing that its beak would take too long to pierce through Sandshrew's hide, began to mercilessly beat down on her with its wings.

Again, and again.

Over and over.

That mysterious energy that bubbled inside him from time to time surged outwards. It filled every part of his body, coursing through him like blood in veins.

The distance between himself and Fearow felt like it closed without a moment to spare. Like the planet spun to accommodate his mad dash.

"Get the fuck off her!" He screamed, his voice cracking as he slammed into Fearow with all of his body weight.

It wasn't powerful by any means, his body weight was relatively light and his jump into the air caused him to lose some potential force.

But the impact was just enough to push Fearow off of Sandshrew, who took the chance immediately and rolled away.

'Yes!' Izan celebrated. His only thought was to get Sandshrew away from certain death.

He didn't exactly think about what to do afterward.

The Fearow had had enough. Its bloodshot eyes took on a new definition of rage. The scowl that it had would probably haunt him in his dreams.

It reared its head back, the action making him realize he was about to die. He wasn't a Pokemon with super abilities, he couldn't dodge even if he jumped right at that moment.

'Ah, welp. At least Sandshrew is okay. Maybe this time I'll reincarnate into Naruto.' He joked to himself.

Fearow eyes hardened as it readied itself to pierce through him.

…And then its eyes rolled back into its head. It fell onto the ground with a loud thump, completely unconscious.

The vines that wrapped around its body radiated with a sinister green glow.