18 Friend and Rival

Hitmonlee and Magnemite just appeared on the battlefield.

"Fake out!" Corin screamed without waiting for Folker to strategize. He's not even sure that Hitmonlee already learned it. He gambled on the idea that Hitmonlee already has it on its movepool.

He's already on his last Pokemon while Folker still has two. The fighting type Hitmonlee has the type advantage over the steel/electric type Magnemite. Even if Hitmonlee wins this round, there's still the poisoned Scyther left which has the type advantage over Hitmonlee.

Magnemite is also quite a troublesome opponent to have as there's always a chance for his Pokemon to be paralyzed. Not to mention that this is Corin's first battle with Hitmonlee and he's not yet familiar with its moves. He would definitely be the one to control the battle, not leaving Folker the chance to retaliate.

Fake out is a priority move that would attack an unprepared opposing foe but only once. In addition, the Pokemon using must also have a higher speed stat compared to the opposing foe. Lastly, there's another condition for it to work.

Hitmonlee quickly moved forwards in response to Corin's command and launched a kick towards the unprepared Magnemite. The move successfully hit and caused Magnemite to flinch.

"Follow it up with a Double Kick!" Corin screamed. This time, Corin is at least sure that Hitmonlee already has Double Kick on its movepool. He received Hitmonlee from the Fighting Dojo, surely they must have already trained it with this move, right?

Folker frowned as he looked at Hitmonlee kicking Magnemite twice without giving Magnemite a chance to retaliate. Fortunately, his Magnemite endured Hitmonlee's barrage of kicks which gave time for Folker to gamble on a move.

"Magnemite, use Thunderwave!" Folker screamed. Just like Corin, he's not sure that Magnemite already has it on its movepool but he thought that Magnemite has a high chance that Magnemite already learned Thunderwave. After all, what Magnemite doesn't know about Thunderwave?

The steel figure quickly launched a weak electric charge at Hitmonlee's figure. Hitmonlee was hit by the Thunderwave at point-blank range.

'Tch, this is why I hate Electric type pokemon!' Corin thought to himself as he clenched his teeth in frustration.

"Double kick, again!" Corin screamed.

Hitmonlee quickly tried to launch another kick but before he could hit its opponent, a weak jolt of electricity appeared on its body, causing it to flinch for a few seconds.

"Magnemite, use Thundershock!" Folker screamed.

Magnemite charged electricity and tried to hurl it at its foe but without waiting for Corin's next words, Hitmonlee launched Double Kick as soon as it was able to move from Paralysis.

Magnemite was hit by a Double kick, messing up its aim, causing it to miss Thundershock. It soon fell down with its eyes spiraling.

"Magnemite is unable to battle!" The referee said as he raised the red flag on Folker's side.

Looking at the fainted Magnemite, Folker sighed and called it back to its Pokeball.

"You did your best, Magnemite. It's enough that you paralyzed it to begin with" Folker muttered as he held Magnemite's Pokeball, not intending to waste Magnemite's efforts on weakening Hitmonlee.

He then called Scyther back to the battlefield. As soon as Scyther appeared on the battlefield, purple fumes rose from its bitten shoulder, causing its eye to twitch.

Nevertheless, Scyther endured the Poison and let out a sharp cry as it looked at Hitmonlee.

"Wing attack!" Folker screamed immediately. He already learned from his earlier lesson that he should not take too long to strategize. Not to mention that Scyther is in a poisoned state, he can't waste anymore time.

Scyther flapped its insect wings and coated it with Flying type energy as it hardened its wings and attacked Hitmonlee.

"Dodge it, Hitmonlee!" Corin urged Hitmonlee to dodge it after he sensed the threat of Scyther's attack.

However, Hitmonlee didn't listen to Corin's words. Instead, it kicked the ground lightly and hurled sand at Scyther's face. Scyther's face was hit with sand and stopped its move for a bit and shook its head. Purple fumes once again rose from its shoulder.

'Is that sand attack?' Corin thought as his eyes lit up for a moment but he shook his head afterwards. Sand-attack is a ground type move. It was just a regular sand-attack, not imbued with ground type energy.

A regular sand attack would only serve to annoy its opponent. The real sand-attack, imbued with ground-type energy, would lower the opponent's accuracy.

Corin couldn't help but praise Hitmonlee's quick thinking. It doesn't matter that Hitmonlee disobeyed Corin's orders. After all, he just received Hitmonlee from the Fighting Dojo.

It's understandable that Hitmonlee wouldn't listen to its new trainer's words. It's already good enough that Hitmonlee chose to obey his earlier words. There's still plenty of time to 'discipline' Hitmonlee into obeying his every order.

"Quick, use Tackle!" Corin screamed, without missing the chance to attack Scyther.

This time, Hitmonlee obeyed Corin's words and charged a full body-tackle towards Scyther.

However, Scyther just fiercely looked at Hitmonlee's attack, without intending to dodge. Hitmonlee was a bit intimidated as Scyther just looked at it with a scary face but Hitmonlee didn't stop its attack.

"Wing attack, NOW!" Folker screamed.

Scyther once again flapped its wings faster as it coated it with Flying type energy and hardened it.

It was super effective! Hitmonlee fell down with its eyes spiraling.

Looking at Hitmonlee's fainted figure, Corin sighed.

However, not long after Hitmonlee fainted, purple fumes rose from Scyther's shoulder. Scyther also fell down with its eyes spiraling.

"Hitmonlee and Scyther are unable to battle. The battle between Folker and Corin is a draw!" the referee said as he hurled both flags on his hands.

Folker's eyes lit up and approached Corin's figure closely. He then raised his right hand and shook hands with Corin.

"So, what's it gonna be? We both owe each other a favor or just leave it as if nothing happened?" Folker said as he smiled. He couldn't help but admire Corin.

Corin also smiled and said "I guess we both owe each other a favor?"

"Is that so?" Folker said as his eyes lit up.

"Let's be friends-" Corin said.

"You're gonna be my rival-" Folker said at the same time as Corin.

They both looked at each other with surprise on their faces and laughed at the same time.