Nimh

“This is gonna be good.”

The Leader nodded his agreement, having seen some of Wally’s battles on tv. The boy definitely knew what he was doing.

“Kedri, may I borrow some X Accuracy?” Wally asked.

“What, not gonna raise your Pokémon’s attack?” the redhead sneered. “There’s no way your weak little team will beat mine without a lot of help.”

“We’ll see, won’t we?” Wally replied pleasantly, and Kedri supplied him with the requested items.

The green-haired trainer took his place at one end of the arena and released Kyogre, mentally running through the list of attacks Nimh had given him.

The redhead stared. He’d never seen a Pokémon like that before, but it was obviously a water-type. He released his Magneton and gave it an X Accuracy, thinking he’d be able to take it down with a well-aimed Zap Cannon, but before he could even give the command a stream of water shot across the Gym and slammed into the magnet Pokémon with enough force it left a deep dent in the wall it hit. Magneton was down for the count.

His attention snapped to the boy across from him. No longer did Wally look the sweet, defenseless boy he originally took him to be; he had that gleam in his eyes that told he wasn’t messing around. With a snarl he sent out his Gengar and used Hypnosis. Kyogre put up quite a fight but eventually succumbed and fell asleep.

Not having anything that would wake the sleeping Pokémon, Wally had no choice but to recall it. With a smile he sent out Delcatty. “Faint Attack.” He commanded, and it wasted no time to execute the move. Gengar tried to avoid it, but took the hit full-on anyway.

“Hypnosis!” the trainer commanded, knowing Gengar’s Shadow Ball would have no effect whatsoever.

“Faint Attack again.”

Gengar was out.

“Damn it...” the redhead cursed, glaring at the other trainer. He pulled out another Pokéball. “Alakazam! Psychic!”

Kedri winced at this. Psychic Pokémon had poor defense, but that Alakazam’s special attack was through the roof. Delcatty wouldn’t stand a chance.

“Go Roselia! Toxic!”

The redhead swore to himself and pulled out an Antidote, but Wally would have none of that. “Petal Dance!” He was forced to stay back and watch as the poison and the attack quickly took his Alakazam out. He sent out Crobat and commanded it to use Wing Attack.

Wally tried to call Roselia back, but the attack hit too quickly, knocking out another of his team. He sent out Magneton. Crobat threw a Confuse Ray at it, and Wally winced. That wasn’t good. He gave his Pokémon an X Accuracy, ordered it to use Zap Cannon, and hoped for the best. It worked.

The redhead sent out Sneasel.

“Damn it! He’s saving that damned Feraligatr for last!” Nimh growled, ready to storm out and aid his friend but Kedri held him back.

“He’s only got two Pokémon left. None of Sneasel’s attacks will affect Magneton very much, and if it snaps out of confusion soon enough, that Sneasel will go down without a problem. Wally still has over half his team left, he’ll be fine.”

Nimh sighed but conceded, knowing Kedri was right. Sure enough, Magneton’s confusion didn’t last very long and another Zap Cannon took that Pokémon out too.

The redhead smirked and sent out his last, and strongest, Pokémon. Wally ordered another Zap Cannon, and stared in amazement at the speed Feraligatr moved with. He never though a Pokémon of that size would be able to move so fast. It used Screech, then quickly fired a well-aimed Hydro Pump. Another of Wally’s team out.

Wally recalled his fainted Pokémon, wondering which of his last two usable Pokémon to send out. Altaria’s Sky Attack did a great deal of damage, but it took a while to charge up and no doubt his opponent’s Pokémon would use that opportunity to knock Altaria out. Gardevoir didn’t have much for defense, but.... It had enough speed to use Double Team before that Feraligatr could hit. If he could just raise her evasion enough to use Calm Mind, this would be a cinch.

“I call Gardevoir.” He decided after a minute, and sent out the psychic Pokémon.

“This’ll be too easy... Feraligatr, Bite!”

“Double Team.”

The water Pokémon lunged to attack, and in the blink of an eye found itself surrounded by no less than four copies of its enemy. It blinked in surprise and looked around, trying to decide which was the real Gardevoir.

“Calm Mind.”

With a snarl the Feraligatr snapped at one of the Gardevoirs surrounding it, only to find it was the wrong one. The copy vanished.

“Gardevoir, again!” The four figures moved in synchronization, once again using Calm Mind. Wally coughed into a fist, all the yelling unsettling his lungs.

“Damn it Feraligatr, get that thing already!”

The croc roared in frustration, Biting at another copy, then another. Two left, and now it had a good chance of actually getting in a hit.

“Psychic!”

The real Gardevoir’s eyes flashed a bright blue, and before Feraligatr could attack it found itself against a wall.

“Great! Now take it out!”

The water Pokémon looked up, its head still spinning from the last attack, and used Hydro Pump. Why wouldn’t she just faint already??!

Gardevoir looked amused as the stream of water came her way and she lifted her hands, forcing Feraligatr’s attack back on itself. It hit its user, quickly followed by Psychic, and with a grunt Feraligatr fell.