Pokemon Rebellion

Familiar Foes

After a solid sleep through the morning, Armaan, Zaid, and Chloe woke up feeling revitalized. Da-Wei spent the entire time on watch and was ready to continue on their journey. Chloe suggested to Da-Wei that he should at least take a short nap to recharge but he kept denying that he was tired. As he started walking, the rest of them followed him and didn’t press him on the issue.

Few hours had passed as they ventured through the forest. Da-Wei suddenly stopped walking and held out his arm signaling everyone to halt. Armaan, Zaid, and Chloe weren’t sure why they stopped but Da-Wei told them that he could sense someone or something watching them. Chloe jumped in front of him, “Alright that’s enough Da-Wei! Your lack of sleep is finally making you extremely paranoid! Let’s just take a quick rest and-” From their blind side a ‘Dark Pulse’ was aimed towards Chloe but Zaid intercepted the attack by jumping in front. Upon taking the attack, he fell with his back to the ground.

Armaan quickly rushed to see if Zaid was ok while Da-Wei and Chloe jumped into defensive formation to protect them. With swirly eyes and in a bit of a daze Zaid replied, “I’mmmm oooookkkkkk,” still breathing but unable to battle. Both Da-Wei and Chloe were anticipating that Darkrai had returned to finish them off. However, as Armaan examined the damage sustained by Zaid, he noticed the attack was significantly weaker than that of Darkrai’s. It was an attack that was meant to be a warning shot.

With one of their teammates down, their attacker revealed himself from out of the trees, The Night Rider had returned. “Still think I’m crazy and just paranoid?” Da-Wei directed his rhetorical question to Chloe. They were both ready to initiate an attack but Armaan held them back to speak with their foe:

Armaan: Hey Night Rider long time no se-

Night Rider: Leave this place now! You are trespassing on land that is not yours.

Chloe: Wow he’s very friendly…

Da-Wei: And whose land does this belong to exactly?

Night Rider: That is none of your concern, leave this forest now while I’m still feeling generous.

Armaan: We don’t want to hurt anyone. We just need to find the meteorite and we will be on our way.

Night Rider: You what?! Do you even know what the meteorite is?!

Chloe: Totally! It's a space rock!

Armaan: Wait, what do you mean?

Da-Wei: Don’t listen to him Armaan. General Corrin warned us that the Night Rider will fill your head with lies and deception. He uses cheap tactics like that sneak attack earlier to try and get his advantage.

Night Rider: Guess that makes my decision a lot easier, I will finish all of you right here. And I won’t hold back like that last attack.

Chloe and Da-Wei immediately blitzed at the Night Rider. They knew under their current condition, they wouldn’t win a battle of endurance. Both threw a fury of punches that were all easily evaded. Da-Wei attempted to kick his target from the right, only to have his leg grabbed and be tossed aside. Chloe used the opportunity to strike a low sweep attack but the Night Rider jumped above her. She left herself wide open and he attempted to strike her with the katana. Chloe reacted quickly by rolling aside causing the weapon to impale into the ground. Before the Night Rider could recover and pull his sword out, Chloe grabbed both his hands and held them tight, keeping the katana stuck to the ground. “Haha, we got you! Let him have it Da-Wei!” Chloe shouted as she kept their opponent from escaping. Directing his left gauntlet to the ground Da-Wei propelled himself like a missile towards his target. He was flying at incredible speed with his right fist out looking to end the battle in one punch!

They had the Night Rider in check but a ‘Dark Pulse’ was fired near the ground Chloe was standing, causing her grip to weaken. This allowed the Night Rider to headbutt Chloe in the nose followed by kicking her in the direction of Da-Wei. This forced Da-Wei to change his trajectory as he barely missed Chloe and ended up crashing against a tree. Chloe managed to pick herself up but Da-Wei was extremely exhausted. He was barely able to stand and their problems only compounded as the pokemon responsible for disrupting their attack had finally appeared beside its trainer, it was an Absol.

The Night Rider thanked his pokemon and apologized to it for having to call it out. He was hoping to finish off his foes by himself. They turned their focus onto Chloe and Da-Wei. Not wanting them to escape, he called Absol to use ‘Mean Look’ to prevent them from moving. Chloe and Da-wei did everything in their power to break free of the paralysis but they could not. Slowly the Night Rider approached them with his blade ready to strike. As he swung the katana down, Armaan stepped in front of them and blocked the blade with his shield. From the side Greninja tried to surprise him with a ‘Night Slash’ but the Night Rider was able to push off against Armaan’s shield and escape the attack.

“Finally decided to fight, I see.” The Night Rider commented. “Greninja and I are ready for you this time!” Armaan shouted with confidence. Following up was Greninja dashing straight for the Absol. As Armaan was about to call for ‘Double Team,’ Absol used ‘Taunt’ forcing Greninja to halt its advance. Armaan was confused and attempted to call for ‘Double Team’ again but Greninja didn’t listen. Much like their last encounter it was acting on its own accord. It began charging at Absol with its ‘Night Slash’ but as it was about to connect, the Night Rider commanded Absol to use ‘counter,’ dodging the incoming attack and delivering double the damage back.

The effects of the taunt continued on, forcing Greninja to continuously attack but everytime, Absol would use ‘counter’ and severely inflict damage against it. Armaan kept calling out to Greninja but it was no use, his word could not reach it. “Looks like you learned nothing from our last battle. Pity I had hoped this match would be somewhat different.” said the Night Rider. After seeing enough, he commanded Absol to deliver the finishing blow on Greninja’s next attack. Greninja gathered all its rage and began running toward the Absol and as it was about to strike, Armaan jumped in the way and took the ‘Night Slash’ attack.

At that moment, everyone stood still and Armaan began to speak to Greninja: “I’m sorry Greninja, this happened to you because I’m not a very strong partner. I was unable to protect you when you needed me most. Not this time. This time I’m going to stand beside you until the very end.” As Armaan put his hand on Greninja’s shoulder the effects of the taunt was dispelled. Not only that, Greninja began to have a blue aura emitting from it and on its right hand was a water sword that was beginning to form. Armaan and Greninja weren’t sure what was going on but suddenly they felt as though their minds were one.

The Night Rider and his Absol were caught off guard. They both attempted to land a preemptive strike on Greninja before he could use its new power but Armaan quickly blocked their advance with his shield. Greninja then came and struck the duo with his water sword. At the last second, Absol managed to use its horn to mitigate the damage but they were still blown back from the sheer force of the attack. Greninja then followed up by dashing straight at Absol, waiting to use ‘counter.’ However, Greninja’s speed increased so much it suddenly appeared from Absol’s left, completely vulnerable to a critical attack. The Night Rider managed to intercept and partially block the brutal strike but they both still took damage from the impact. Seeing this as the perfect opportunity, Greninja readied itself for a finishing strike but before it could deliver the final blow, its power abruptly dissipated.

Something had broken Armaan’s focus as he could sense something approaching. Everyone could feel the ground shake and dust began swirling among them. Out of the forest emerged the behemoth pokemon, Tyranitar. It let out a deafening roar which created a raging sandstorm. Chloe and Da-Wei quickly ran to Zaid in order to regroup. They called for Armaan and Greninja to join them but the dust storm was hindering both their vision and hearing. The last sight Armaan saw of his team was the giant pokemon slamming its tail between them.

Suddenly Armaan began to have a sense of deja vu. This was similar to what he experienced in his nightmare from nights ago. While he was paralyzed in thought, the Tyranitar fired a massive ‘Hyper Beam’ right at Armaan. Greninja yelled in an attempt to grab his attention but he was completely lost in thought. As the beam was about to strike, the Night Rider kicked Armaan out of harm’s way.

Greninja seeing what the Night Rider had done rushed over to help him up. They looked to the side to see Armaan had fallen unconscious. The Night Rider called Absol to carry Armaan on its back. He then asked for Greninja’s help so that they could escape together. Greninja nodded in agreement, it used ‘Double Team’ to create clones of itself to confuse the mighty titan, allowing them to escape.