Decoda Vs. Rocky (NOT CANON)

Time to brush up my battle writing with this one shot!  I'm still finishing Rocky's story and BtTG is still going on, so this fic's setting is vague for a reason, but let's just say they're both pretty far into their journeys at this point.  Either way, thought this would be fun, but it was pretty distracting.  ^^;  Whoops!  Hope you enjoy some action with a bit of dialogue and backstory thrown here and there!

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“You put on a good poker face, but I can tell you’re still nervous,” the redhead grinned, running his fingers through his bangs in an upwards motion.  “We’re battling outside a Pokemon Center after all, so don’t be too concerned about them!"

“You’re only talking like that to stall,” the brunet returned, withdrawing one of her Pokeballs from the pouch on her hip.  Each of them she had a small detail engraved on the red part of the sphere to help determine which one she was grabbing.  This one had an upwards facing triangle on it.  “Just select someone - I know you’re waiting to see who I choose first."

“It’s true!  You have me figured out!” Decoda admitted, throwing back his head a little as he chuckled.  “Alright, so on three, we’ll send one out at the same time.  Ready?  1…2…3!"

Both trainers whipped out their respective monsters from the capsules that contained them.  Rocky had chosen a roaring Talonflame, spreading her wings as far as she could.  The embers that fell from them glittered like firecrackers as they hit the ground beneath her, and her talons scraped the battlefield in the hopes to intimidate her opponent.  Before her was Decoda’s beaming Chimecho, the white and pink Psychic type jostling around as if it were stretching and getting ready for the fight.

“See!  It was pretty fair of a match-up anyway!  Nobody’s got any type advantage here,” Decoda stated, watching Rocky pout and fold her arms across her chest.

The girl then huffed, “If I didn’t catch you, though, you probably would have chosen Golem."

The boy across from her shrugged and explained, “Well, regardless, it’s your job as trainer - or director, or whatever you called yourself earlier - to deal with the obstacle, and if that means making a substitution, then that’s fine!  Only in some Gym Battles we change up the rules, but I’m not quite there yet.  So let’s start this fight off with Psyshock!!"

Chimecho suddenly surrounded herself with bright purple crystals, teeming with energy.  She fired the attack as quickly as possible, but the Talonflame she faced took to the air before any of the projectiles made contact.  Decoda seemed surprised that Rocky remained silent and let her Pokemon make the next move - Flying high into the sky.  It wasn’t ordinary for trainers to leave their Pokemon to make their own decisions in combat, so maybe that’s why she had a problem with Decoda choosing an advantageous opponent for her speedy bird?  Although this puzzled him, he felt like this was going to be an interesting challenge to take on.

“It could dive down on you at any moment, so let’s maintain an Uproar!” Decoda commanded, a bead of sweat slowly falling from his cheek.

As Chimecho began making an Uproar, her cries loud and piercing, the Talonflame tried to avoid the noise but couldn't fly too far before it started taking damage.

Rocky grit her teeth in frustration and covered her own ears with her gloved hands, as she had to unavoidably send her down to fight.  "Flarin, pick up speed to take minimum damage with Flame Charge!  Go for as long as it continues the Uproar!"

The Fire/Flying type shot down in burst of red hot flames, her cries almost matching Chimecho's.  Faster and faster she went, darting down and colliding with the opposition.  Although Chimecho was hit, she continued the Uproar attack, keeping up the pressure on the speedy bird Pokemon.  Once more, Flarin dove down into the Psychic type, enough to finally shut her up.

Decoda winced as he watched Chimecho fall to the ground, but shake herself out of it and float back up.  She was known for taking hits exceedingly well!  On the other side, Flarin looked quite scary; her large wings flapped rhythmically as she remained in the air.

"We've gotta slow this one down!  Use Extrasensory!” he told his partner, lunging forward in excitement.

Chimecho followed his orders directly, her black eyes glowing a bright gold and firing an outstretching beam of swirling purple and gold light at her foe.  Before Rocky could tell her Pokemon how to avoid the move, Flarin tried to speed her way around the attack with another Flame Charge, but failed and was caught in the rays of light.  With a hold on the red and gray Pokemon, Chimecho used her psychic power to slam Flarin into the ground, kicking up dirt and dust like a faux Sand-Attack.

“So, why do you let your Pokemon do all the thinking for you?  Isn’t it enough that they have to perform the moves themselves?” Decoda asked his challenger, watching her eyebrows furrow from across the arena.

“What’s a good move from my safe and still perspective, may not be the best move for a moving target.  We battle like this because we can cover each other’s weaknesses!” Rocky defended, her voice increasing in pitch the more agitated she became.  She made it quite far with this style, and it worked for her and her Pokemon.  “It’s worked for us for almost two years now, and we don’t plan on changing that!  Flarin, Steel Wing!!"

As if the furious bird fed off of Rocky’s anger, the bright glow of her Steel type attack came forward at Chimecho too quick for her to dodge.  Decoda called out to his friend to see if she would get up from that attack, but once Chimecho hit the ground, she fainted.  On her way back to her trainer, Flarin flipped around in the air, proud of her victory.

“That was rough.  Don’t worry, Chimecho, we’ll finish this soon,” Decoda exhaled calmly as he returned her to her capsule.  Replacing her ball back on his belt, he quickly reached for his next choice.  “Now that the first reveal is over, I’ll use whoever I see fit!  Golem, let’s rock!"

Rocky’s small smile dropped when the other trainer’s Golem rolled out onto the field.  Stomping his feet aggressively, the Rock/Ground type creature was ready for a good fight.  Flarin looked at Rocky to see what she’d recommend against this beast, but the trainer was fresh out of ideas.  No Flying attacks would work, and Flame Charge wouldn’t be effective in the least.  She was down to one last option.

“Flarin, use that speed you gained and go for Steel Wing, just like before!” Rocky told her partner, the Talonflame’s shining wings solidifying into spear-like appendages.

Decoda took this opportunity to command Golem.  “You can take it - shower her side of the field with Stealth Rock!"

The boulder-sized Pokemon quickly shot out a plethora of sharp rocks onto the field, not quite aiming for the bird, but the general vicinity which it had flown from.  As Flarin drew close and inevitably collided with the large target, Golem grabbed ahold of her and chucked her back several feet.  While the attack landed and she did do some damage, Golem’s incredible defense made it nearly impossible for him to feel anything but a fraction of pain.

“How you feel, Golem?  Ready for Stone Edge?!”  Decoda yelled, his first partner roaring in approval.  Raising several pillars of rock from the ground, Golem made it nearly impossible for the bird to speed past each one, especially when they just kept getting wider and higher into the sky!

Rocky then called out, “Flarin, tuck in your next Steel Wing and defend!” but it was too late.

Flarin couldn’t make it high enough to escape that last pillar and fell from its peak.  Trying as hard as she could to get up, the bird Pokemon couldn’t find the strength to make it another minute.  As the Rock/Ground type’s move dissipated, Rocky felt the urge to rush to her friend’s side, and even made a step forward, but hesitated.  Looking back up at Decoda, she knew he was studying her movements.  He knew how to read her although they had just become acquaintances.  She had a feeling he’d be willing to berate her for walking onto the field like that after one loss, considering he did not.  Now wasn’t the time to be angry, but to be smart.

She then held out Flarin’s ball and absorbed her defeated ally back inside.  Switching the ball she held by shuffling around inside the bag on her hip, she felt the engraving of one that would easily take out her next obstacle.  With a three circle pattern depicted on this ball, Rocky tossed out her beautiful Lilligant.  During her entrance twirl, however, the Grass type stubbed her feet on one of the Stealth Rocks Golem had previously thrown out.  Thankfully, it wasn’t much damage, but it certainly put the ladylike Pokemon in a bad mood.

Raising his eyebrows and hands on his hips, Decoda commented, “I didn’t think you had a Grass type on you.  She’s a beaut, though.  I wonder what she’s capable of?"

“More than just being pretty, if that’s what you’re implying,” Rocky snapped.

Irked by her reaction, Decoda replied, “You take so much offense for your battling and Pokemon!  Have you been criticized so intensively before?  Or maybe someone actively discouraged you?"

“Too long of a story for right now!” a red-faced Rocky snorted, nodding to Lilligant, who had turned around for instructions.  “Brighten things up with Sunny Day, Lilligant!"

Outstretching her leafy arms, Lilligant’s move intensified the heat and light around the arena.  Her floral crown began to glow a bright light as a result of bringing such weather to the field, which triggered something in Decoda’s mind.  He had to bring this one down quickly or she could do some serious damage to his team!

“Golem, Smack her Down to the ground and follow up with Earthquake!” he screamed, getting a bit nervous for her next move.

Golem could only go so fast, tucking in his arms, legs and head and rolling towards the powered-up Grass type.  Rocky didn’t need to tell Lilligant her next move, because she already figured out how to deal with it.

Dodging the first and second attempt at bringing Lilligant down, the dancing Pokemon used her speed and began to charge up an Energy Ball attack.  Golem was able to detect this change in movement, and halted his rolling to ground-pound an Earthquake attack.  The sudden shaking not only knocked both trainers on their backsides, but shook Lilligant off her feet and sent her attack flying and exploding into the air.  She didn’t have much longer before the intense sunlight faded, so she had to try again.

“Way to go, Golem!!  Keep it up!  I’ll stay down here where it’s safer!” Decoda laughed, getting excited at the thought of taking down such a well-put-together strategy.

“Don’t worry about using Energy Ball, just use Grass Knot!” Rocky directed as she stumbled to her feet, immediately getting Decoda to stop laughing on the other side of the playing field.

With Lilligant using Grass Knot on herself first, to keep herself rooted during the next attempted Earthquake, she waved her arms outward again and managed to trip the heavyweight Golem with a thick set of vines just before it began rolling again.  Instantly, the bulky Rock/Ground type was knocked out, grumbling in pain and defeat.  It didn’t take long for Decoda to reach for his hair and pull on it in frustration.

“COME ON, YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS?!” he wailed, grinding his teeth as he withdrew his Pokemon.  He pouted, knowing that even with his tank of a monster, the type match-ups weren’t exactly in his favor during that round.  Though, now that that one of his Psychic types and one of his Ground types were down for the count, he had to think extra carefully on how to finish this match.

He took two balls from his belt, lifting them up simultaneously in each hand as if he were comparing them.  Rocky began to sweat from her position, not sure what else he had up his sleeve.  His expressions changed for the next few moments depending on which orb he held up, from thoughtful to concerned.  The tension built more and more the longer he did this, Lilligant worriedly looking to her frustrated trainer for help.  It was then that Decoda chucked out the ball he held in his right hand and shouted, “Delcatty!  Outshine your opponent!!"

The dainty, yet dashing dance the cat-like creature entered with wasn’t that intimidating to Lilligant, but the Grass type didn’t have much time to pull of any more super-charged moves.  She’d have to waste more time to set up another Sunny Day and risk getting knocked out.  Right off the bat, she launched an Energy Ball at the Delcatty, but the Normal type side-stepped and was showered with dirt and dust from the move hitting the ground beside her.

Furious, the Delcatty hissed at her foe, nixing the delicate demeanor she carried upon leaving her capsule and switching into a threatening pose.  Decoda’s eyelids lowered as his smile widened.  “Let’s show these girls you can be strong and pretty, too!  Use Strength!"

Glowing a bright red light, the Delcatty charged forward at the Lilligant, displaying great speed and power once she collided into her.  Rocky gasped when she saw that Lilligant caught herself using Grass Knot; tripping herself on purpose as she was nearly knocked out of the arena, she managed to tuck in her long arms and twirl back into the center of the court.  She panted after pulling off such a risky stunt, glad she had the time to do it.  Decoda and Delcatty blinked in unison, looking at each other with great surprise.  This girl had endurance!

“Lilligant, use the rest of your sunlight to heal yourself!” Rocky ordered, taking this opportunity to give her Pokemon another chance.  Lilligant did as instructed, seeming to absorb all the remaining bright sunlight in the sky.  The intense heat subsided and Lilligant’s speed decreased, but at least she had some stamina back.

“MAN!  I have GOT to get me a Grass type!!  So nifty and so cute!!” Decoda whined, Delcatty sighing at the dramatic pose he made towards Lilligant.  “But for now, we must defeat you, my fair lady!  Delcatty, Double-Edge!"

Sprinting forward with greater confidence, now aware Lilligant was slower, the cat-like Pokemon slammed right into Lilligant and used her large grass skirt to kick off of.  This knocked Lilligant down for a few moments, but as she turned over on her side, she glanced at Rocky, who gave her a confident nod of approval.  Her orange eyes narrowed, glaring at the purple-furred foe.  Instead of getting up, however, she then pushed off the ground and began to roll across the battlefield, firing small Energy Balls every time she turned around!

“When you get to the end, get up and heal once more!” Rocky called out, Lilligant still rapid-firing at the Delcatty that was leaping all around the arena.  It was desperately trying to dodge the barrage of green orbs coming for it, and while a few of them successfully hit, it didn’t do enough damage to knock her down.

Decoda, obviously hearing the other trainer’s strategy, told his Pokemon, “Don’t let her get to the edge!  Use Return!”

The purple-furred monster rushed underneath a few more attacks before getting close to Lilligant, and fueled by the powers of friendship, she body checked Lilligant far out of the battle field.  Rocky couldn’t help but run to her Pokemon this time.  Arriving by her partner’s side, Lilligant held up a leafy arm to Rocky and touched her bicep gently before fainting.  Rocky inhaled deeply as she returned her friend to her ball, exhaling as she got up and walked back to her side of the field.

Of course, the redhead had to comment.  “So you don’t give commands, you just nod and suggest things… You run to them when they faint… You act defensively when I say something about these things…"

“And…?” Rocky raised her eyebrows, selecting her next choice from her bag.

“You’re really in-tune with your partners, aren’t you?"

Rocky stopped and looked at him from across the battle ground.  She was expecting another criticism from him, but was surprised to hear something positive instead.  Her guard was still up, however, so she wondered if there was a catch to him responding this way.  “I-Is that a bad thing to you?"

“Bad?  Nah,” he smiled.  Even though he was frustrated with how she defeated two out of five team members, he was still having a good time learning and practicing with someone that was so different from the style he was used to.  “It’s a lot better, actually.  I mean, it’s kind of easy to read you, personally, but your Pokemon… When they do something without you telling them, that’s really interesting and challenging.  It’s like they know they’ll be okay, because you’re watching them try their best.  You’ll have to tell me your secrets if I win!"

Rocky lightly sighed, her dimples showing as she smiled.  “If you win, I’ll tell you some things, fine.  But we’re just halfway there!” she shouted, unleashing a twinkling Carbink.  The Rock/Fairy creature chirped pleasantly as her gems shimmered in the daylight, getting a good look at the situation.  The mood was nearly killed for the Pokemon however, when she stubbed her crystal on a Stealth Rock, but Crysteria punted the rock aside and narrowed her eyes.  Now she was really ready to fight!

The musician seemed to squeal as he witnessed the precious little Rock type.  “OOOOoooooohhh, look at this one!!  Where do you find such cute Pokemon?!"

“Crysteria was my second capture in the Kalos region!  She helped save me from a collapsing cave, but she won’t be saving you!  Ancient Power!” Rocky exclaimed, the stoney creature manifesting several rocks around herself and throwing them at Delcatty.

“Smash the rocks with Wake Up Slap!” Decoda directed, the cat-like Pokemon’s paws becoming white with energy.  She smashed away the pieces of earth with her paws as fast as she could, but was hit by a few of them.  Thankfully, she was taking minimal damage so far, but it was unknown how much more she could take.

Seeing how Delcatty handled the Ancient Power, Crysteria remained in place as she switched up her attacks.  Now using Power Gem, her opponent was stung when she tried to Slap away the move.  The glowing Rock type move kept hacking away at the Normal type, forcing the Delcatty back farther and farther onto Decoda’s side of the field.

“She’s just trying to tire you out with all this running!  Use Strength and knock her out first!” Decoda yelled, watching his agile Pokemon leap over another set of Power Gems, surrounded by a red glowing light.

When she made contact, Crysteria lowered her body into the ground, rooting herself with her sharp bottom crystal; this made sure she wouldn’t fly out of the arena, similar to Lilligant using her Grass Knot to hold herself in place.  Delcatty was only able to slide her back a few feet before Rocky’s words reached them.

“Stone Edge, right underneath it!”

Delcatty gasped, but by the time it decided to jump back and escape the attack, Crysteria had already launched the Pokemon into the air and dealt massive damage.  To add insult to injury, Crysteria hopped up the glowing stone pillar and leapt at the cat-like creature.  Smacking it Down to the ground with a fierce tackle, Decoda was sure his partner would get up, just like before...

Unfortunately, upon landing, Delcatty couldn’t move.  Proud of her victory, Crysteria landed opposite the defeated monster and began twirling around her half of the arena.  Rocky was proud of her too, sighing in relief; having so many weaknesses made training Crysteria difficult, but it was moments like these that felt good to see.  Of course, her opponent wasn’t quite so pleased with this outcome.

“My Del, you battled so well!  Though, now I feel compelled to practice with you some more,” he said, withdrawing her with one hand and wiping the sweat off his forehead with the other.  “This is getting ridiculously predictable!  If I’m not careful, the patterns are gonna predict my loss!"

As he juggled the ball containing his next choice, Rocky piped up, “Decoda, I thought you said you were a Rock and Ground type trainer?  Yet you’ve shown Psychic and Normal types, too."

Decoda blinked.  “That’s right, I did tell you that!  That was when I first started my journey though.  After a while of training with some friends and focusing on my music, I guess that’s not how it turned out!"

“I’ve never heard of a future Gym Leader with a variety of types like you have, though."

“Why would that stop me?  If there’s no one else like me, then I’ll be one-of-a-kind!” Decoda grinned, whipping out his fourth Pokemon of choice.  A giant Metagross shook the ground beneath it as it landed on the field.  It’s massive legs towered over the Rock/Fairy type, and it’s glowing eyes seemed to stare into her soul.  Despite this, Crysteria remained unafraid.

Rocky held her hands close to her heart, watching her little friend show no signs of giving up.  She then looked up at another one of Decoda’s heavyweights.  It was clear he favored the bigger beasts, as they hit harder and held on longer in battle.  Rocky had always wanted to try and raise one herself, seeing how powerful they could become during her run of the Kalos League.  However, she was caught staring for too long, and the tease-happy Decoda called her out on it.

“You like what you see?” he chuckled.  "When I first got it as Beldum, it was kind of runty and not very strong at all.  After it evolved, though, I’d like to argue that we’re pretty powerful!  I’d sure love to see the looks on our doubter’s faces now!  Hahahaha!!  Metagross, show them your strength with Metal Claw!"

“Crysteria, on top of it, let’s go!” Rocky commanded.

Even though Metagross began to crawl quickly towards the puny Pokemon, all four of its sharp steel claws glowing with white hot energy, Crysteria just managed to hop up on top of its body.  She rapidly Smacked herself Down into Metagross’, hoping to hack away at the large metal monster as she did Delcatty.  These actions, however, were hardly doing a thing!

Decoda excitedly pumped his fist into the air.  “Sorry, girls!  You had a nice strategy, but we’re about to roll you over!  Rock Smash, Metagross!”

The Steel/Psychic Pokemon then tucked all four of its legs in and began to float lightly in the air, just a couple feet above the ground.  The space given was just enough to turn its body upside down, dropping Crysteria onto the battle field first.  Before she could hop or roll away, Metagross smashed its body on top of her, twice over.  Rocky screamed as she heard her defeated Pokemon cry out in pain.  Metagross got off the fainted Pokemon and uprighted itself, backing off as Rocky ran over the crater containing the knocked out Carbink.

Picking her up and cradling Crysteria in her arms, Rocky brushed off the some of the dirt and dust from the Pokemon’s face.  Weakly, the Carbink smiled with her eyes, tiny tears trickling down her face.  Rocky’s lips quivered, on the verge of tears herself.

Worried he severely hurt the creature, Decoda then asked, “Is she okay?  I mean, defeat is one thing, but… it’s not critical, is it?"

Rocky shook her head, gently stroking the head of the exhausted Pokemon.  She then reabsorbed her back into her respective ball and dashed back over to her place on the battle field.  “Sh-she’ll be okay!  She’ll be just f-fine!  You said yourself, we’re at a Pokemon Center, so as long as we don’t take too long, I-I shouldn’t worry, r-right?” Rocky stammered, pocketing the capsule in exchange for one with three angled lines engraved on the surface.

Decoda let out a loud sigh in relief.  “That’s good to hear.  I don’t mean to be so agro with your team, but sometimes we get carried away!”  Metagross nodded deeply in agreement to his statement.  Decoda knew that some battles like this were meant for good old fashioned competition, nothing more.  He knew others liked to battle for more cruel reasons, but never wanted to venture down that road, himself.

Likewise, Rocky didn’t enjoy getting into fights where the outcome could be far worse.  She had her fair share of such ordeals, but in the back of her mind, understood that those kinds of battles wouldn’t just vanish overnight.  That was a large part of the reason why she worried the way she did.  Thankfully, her partners always seemed to recover, no matter how long it took for them to return to normal.  That alone made her feel lucky.

“I get it!  I’m sorry if I seem so unconventional the way I retrieve them!” she replied, wiping her eyes free of fresh tears.  “I just care too much!"

Throwing her fifth combatant out onto the field, Decoda’s blue eyes lit up with eagerness.  Coming from inside the red and white ball was a familiar face - Rocky’s special partner, Greninja.  Picking himself up from his graceful entrance pose, Greninja folded his arms across his chest and tilted his head a little to glance at his companion.  Decoda and Metagross observed their speechless communication from their place on the battle field; Greninja’s tongue flicked in apparently specific directions, while Rocky shrugged and nodded in response.  He seemed to sigh with reluctance before returning his slit-eyed gaze towards his opponents.

“Here comes that frog!  I must admit, I’m really excited to finally battle him!  When we first met, he was the first one I saw you with, and I have to say, that ‘conversation’ you had just now has my interest piqued!” Decoda exposited, making the female trainer blush.  Decoda then, feeling the stimulation through his body and forcing him into motion, pumped his arm into the air and yelled, “Let’s tear it up with Cut!"

“It crushed Crys with two moves, so don’t let it touch you!” Rocky shouted at her partner, knowing that even though Crysteria had taken damage before Metagross was unleashed, it still had enough physical attack power to destroy one of her sturdiest teammates.

Greninja’s pink eyes opened up just when Metagross was closing in with sharp claws and a near perfect aim.  Greninja dodged the move with a backflip just before the metal monster sunk its heavy claws into the frog, only to trip on a Stealth Rock and be slashed in retaliation with a roundhouse-Cut from Metagross’ back legs.  It didn’t do too much, but it certainly hurt.  Thankfully for him, this left the Steel/Psychic type open for a Water Pledge attack.  When the fountains summoned from the Water/Dark type painfully shot the heavy Pokemon into their air, Greninja drew a glowing purple blade and Night Slashed the creature on its way down.

Furious and feeling pressure from this monster’s speed, Metagross acted without Decoda’s direction and tried to use Psychic to maneuver its opponent, but failed.  Thanks to his immunities, Greninja was still able to move, even with Psychic’s traditional blue aura wrapped around his body.

“This is why we work together, Metagross!” Decoda screamed, knowing this wasted a good chance to use a more effective move.  “Use Rock Smash, instead!"

“Keep up the pressure, hunny!!” Rocky cried out, getting much more fired up during this round than any of the previous ones.  Half of it was because of who she had on the field, but the other half was because she knew she only had one more to go...

This time, Metagross did as it was told, waiting for Greninja to get up close before clamping down on his Night Slash with one arm and punching his body with another.  The frog slid back, clutching his stomach in pain, glancing back at his partner for motivation and strength.  With her fists raised up near her face, she clenched down hard on her grip; that was enough to tell him try another Water-based attack, since Extrasensory wouldn’t be quite so effective on this Psychic-type creature.

Metagross paced its half of the field in wait for its foe’s next move.  When Greninja loosely swung his body close to the ground and bolted forward, teasing the larger monster and forcing it to prepare for another Night Slash, Metagross was shocked to witness a Hydro Pump coming straight for it.

“Use Psychic to divert the water!” Decoda commanded, swinging his arm outwards, telling his Pokemon which way to go.

In the nick of time, Metagross redirected the water to the right, blasting it against the wall of the Pokemon Center rather than into its face.  As the stream finished, Metagross yet again left another opening for Greninja to rush in with the previously predicted Night Slash.  Slicing through the rest of the water and across the face of his foe, the Water/Dark type landed some incredible damage.  However, just before Greninja could jump back and away from any close range physical attacks, Metagross grabbed him by the scarf and slammed him into the ground. The Steel/Psychic type then repeatedly Rock Smashed the Pokemon’s struggling body into the dirt.

Decoda clearly saw that Metagross was mad at Rocky’s partner, and across the field, she began to scream in agony watching her companion be pummeled by this fierce beast.  On the fifth Rock Smash, Greninja successfully blocked with his arms and kicked Metagross up with his legs.  Even if it was just a little kick up, the space was enough for Greninja to roll out backwards and onto his side of the field.  The frog was clearly badly damaged and straining himself to stay up.  It was also obvious that Metagross, having used so much power trying to take its enemy down, was also tiring from this standoff.

The trainers were sweating now more than ever.  Their Pokemon were likely both at an equal standing in health, too.  It was difficult to plan an attack from either side; if Greninja dove in close, Metagross would only grab him and beat him down.  If Greninja used a long range attack, Metagross would deflect it or withstand it.  They would eventually run out of power, and the battle would end in a draw.

“We both have an advantage… but,” Decoda heavily exhaled, appearing almost as exhausted as Metagross.  All this excitement, cheering and screaming for both parties was certainly taking their toll on the directors.  “I don’t see a clear winner at this point…"

“I could play out all these scenarios in my mind, but all I see is loss,” Rocky panted, wiping away some fresh beads of sweat from her forehead.

However, her special partner didn’t like her assumption of immediate loss, and looked back at her angrily.  His eyes narrowed, he croaked out his disapproval and even turned his body around to face her.  As he spoke, he pantomimed things Decoda didn’t quite understand, yet Rocky responded accordingly through her facial distortions.

“I understand.  We are in this together,” Rocky eventually sighed, although displaying a tinge of upset through the quivering of her lips.  “So let’s use a combination… Water Pledge and Night Slash!”

Decoda’s eyes widened with shock as he observed the building attack.  The two beings on the opposing side of the battle field were breathing in sync, their eyes fixed on Decoda and Metagross.  Two funnels of water formed from the shuriken patterns on Greninja’s thighs, winding around his body faster and faster like a double helix swirl.  Nervous for what was to come, the redhead thought it would be best to attack now before it was too late.

“Then we’ll use a spinning Cut!  Give it everything you’ve got, Metagross!” the male trainer yelled to his Pokemon.

Powering up its claws, Metagross crawled forward faster than it had ever done, engaging into a quick spin like a Hitmontop.  Just before it made contact, Greninja drew a Night Slash’s blade and attacked head on with both of his moves acting in unison.  An explosive blast came from the collision, kicking up lots of dust and dirt and knocking both trainers off their feet.  Decoda felt a heavy object being pushed against him as he tried to get up, realizing it was Metagross’ huge body as he opened his eyes.

“M-Metagross!!” Decoda shouted, leaping to his feet and waving his arms around in an attempt to clear the dust away.  Hurrying around to the other side of the downed Pokemon, the Steel/Psychic type’s face expressed complete and utter defeat.  Decoda leaned down to rub the face of the injured Pokemon before pressing its red and white ball to it.  “Wow… Well, I did tell you to give it everything you had…"

On the other half of the playing field, Rocky had her arms wrapped around her defeated Greninja.  His eyes could barely stay open as he weakly returned her embrace.

“It’s okay, my muffin,” she whispered to him, leaving a light kiss on his scarf.  “You did so well, and because you evened the odds, I want to continue all the way to the end!  Thank you for your efforts, darling."

After a hoarse ribbit of approval, Greninja returned to his ball, leaving only the directors out on the field.  Both of them got up and returned to their battle spots, but now they only had one Pokemon left that was able to fight - their ace in the hole.

Their starters.

“I’ve only got one choice left, Rocky, my dear,” Decoda snarked, tossing up his final Pokeball in his hands.  “So after this, that’s the end!"

“I do too.  I don’t want to give up now!  My precious partners’ losses won’t be in vain!” Rocky exclaimed, ready to release her final Pokemon.  This capsule had three downward pointing arrows on the upper half.  However, just as she was about to launch the ball onto the field, the creature inside it prematurely made its entrance in a flash of light and a piercing cry of joy.

“HEEEEEEELIOLISK~!”

Decoda laughed so hard at the goof up, and the dancing Heliolisk that came from the ball, that he dropped his own capsule and set free a massive Swampert.

“OhoOhoOoops, ahahaha!  Sorry about that, ahahaha!!  Looks your Pokemon really made us both look like fools!” he sputtered, clutching his stomach, trying to contain all the noise he was making.

“Helios!!  Really?!  You just had to beat me to it?!” Rocky scolded, her face heated by embarrassment.  “You nut!  You have to ruin everything, don’t you?!"

“Hehehehey now, d-don’t be so angry!  He’s obviously just having fun!” Decoda defended with a chuckle.

Swampert looked on, unamused by this turn of events.  Immediately picking up on his opponent’s downer attitude, he stopped his pre-battle dancing and locked eyes with the massive mudfish.  Swampert detected his serious gaze and stared back, cracking a smirk.  She was curious to see how an Electric and Normal type like him could survive her incredible power.

“Ohohohoa, wow, things got quiet real fast!” Decoda relaxed, picking up the emotions of his partner before him.  "Now now, Swampert, let’s go easy for our first move - considering he can’t do a thing to you with that typing!  Waterfall!!"

Right on command, the blue Pokemon rushed forward with the brutal momentum of a cascading Waterfall and knocked her opponent straight into the air with a jaw-busting uppercut.  Rocky merely winced, even though both Decoda and his companion were sure this move would be critical.  Upon closer inspection though, and in the middle of the air, Helios looked down at Swampert while her fist was still connected to his chin.  His grimace turned into a grin within seconds and his yellow and black body started to radiate with green coloring...

That could only mean one thing…

“Helios!  Use this to your advantage and Bulldoze it down!” Rocky directed loudly, making sure her starter could hear her over the sound of crashing water.

Swampert’s pupils shrunk as she felt the slippery lizard zip down her arm, smash into her stomach and brought her down to the ground with great strength.  The water dissipated as it spread out onto the field, and Helios leapt back from his opening move.  Allowing Swampert to shakily get up from her downed position, the distress in her eyes was equally displayed in Decoda’s.  Their bodies were both trembling, visible enough for Rocky to pick up on it and explain the situation.

“It’s a risky move to make, sending out an Electric/Normal type against a half Ground type Pokemon.  It cripples our move set by two attacks, but I give a lot of my confidence to Helios for two reasons,” she began, holding up a fist to them, palm facing outward.  Lifting up the first finger, she continued, “One: he’s crazy enough to try anything."

Swampert finally threw herself back up from the ground, roaring in frustration at the competition, then turning to Decoda with a nasty glare.  He shook his head rapidly and while his mouth moved like he was about to say something, he couldn’t muster anything up.

Rocky's second finger went up.  "Two: his ability is Dry Skin."

Helios body suddenly began to glow white and he charged forward at his foe, who could only lift up her powerful arms to block the oncoming Quick Attack.  As she took the attack, Decoda remembered something from the first time he and Rocky met...

Lifting up his Pokedex to the Water/Dark type Pokemon beside the brunette, Decoda commented to her, “That’s a Greninja?  It’s got a really interesting type!  The only Water and Dark type I’m familiar with is the Carvannah line!  Pretty fancy~"

“It’s really useful when we battle Psychic type Pokemon!  He’s got a great Night Slash, but an even better Water Pledge!” she smiled, blushing and clasping her two hands together over her chest.  Greninja shyly scratched his nose, blushing a little himself.

“It’s a little contradictory for me, but I’m really tempted to try out the power of a Water type someday,” Decoda mentioned, putting away his ‘dex.  “I mean, who’s heard of a Ground and Rock type trainer with a Water Pokemon on their main team, am I right? Heheh!"

“No, I think that would be a great idea!  There’s a bunch of them out there.  You can even try a dual type if that makes you feel more comfortable!  I know I’m doing my best to manage all these types,” she exposited, approving this idea 100 percent!

“Hey now, that’s not a bad idea at all!  No Electric type will stand a chance!  Not even for a moment!”

Feeling the sweat droplets fall from his cheeks, Decoda snapped back into the present day, watching his precious partner block a second Quick Attack.  He couldn’t believe she remembered that, let alone find a way for someone like Helios to fight one of his most powerful monsters!  He had to find a way to end the battle in his favor, but what could he do when three of Swampert’s four moves were Water attacks?!

“I wasn’t prepared for this… How could I have been, when a chance like this comes so few and far between?” he said aloud, making Rocky’s eyes widen.  “All we can do is… Swampert!  Make sure it doesn’t leave the ground and ‘quake it like crazy!"

Screeching fiercely in approval, Swampert baited Helios into a third Quick Attack, but after timing it just right, she grabbed onto his long tail mid-rebound.  With no remorse, she whipped him to the ground so hard, the earth shook beneath them.  She then slammed the ground around him, shaking him further into a world of pain.

This struck a major chord with Rocky’s heart.  Watching her first Pokemon being hurt so badly brought new fears to light; maybe this was a terrible idea after all!  Unless they could escape her grasp, he was done for!

“Helios!  Thundershock!  Just do it!” Rocky demanded, hoping her quick thinking would be enough to rescue her ‘little brother’ from danger.

Although he heard her, he waited until Swampert began to slow her Earthquake down to carefully peel himself from the ground and open up his black and orange tipped frills.  From there he blasted her with golden lighting, making her close her eyes and turn away just from the sheer brightness of the attack.  In this moment he recognized Rocky’s brilliance with this idea and smiled.  He used these few seconds to get out from under the beast and stumble away from her reach.  When the voltage cleared around Swampert’s body, she blinked - how could she have been so distracted by a move that didn’t do any damage like that?!

“No!!  How did you-?!  No!!” Decoda wailed, grabbing his hat off his head and starting to chew on its rim.  Through his grit teeth, he commanded, “GET HIM TO SLIP UP, DO ANYTHING YOU CAN TO GET HIM BACK INTO THE GROUND!!  BURY HIM, SWAMPERT!!"

“Helios, stay airborne for as much as possible!!” Rocky fired back, realizing that both trainers were now leaving it up to the Pokemon to act on their own accord - at least for the time being.

Rather than use her water to blatantly attack the swift creature, Swampert gushed enough water out onto the playing field to make it slippery to walk on.  With her powerful hands and toes, it was still fairly easy to run across such a doused field.  With her dashing forward at the yellow and black monster, Helios slid around enough to get his joints loose.  Timing Swampert’s Dive perfectly, he slipped right under her body and sprang up behind her to perform another Quick Attack.  That move slammed her face into the damp ground, which gave Helios enough time to use another Bulldoze.

Shortly into his Bulldoze, her realized the ground really wasn’t shaking anymore and all the water that was once spread over the surface had saturated the ground!  He couldn’t really use the mud like this, so he took off as Swampert was just getting up.  The mud was really starting to slow him down, and when he tried to jump, he found he couldn’t make it that far off the not-so-solid ground.  Swampert noticed his struggle and began to rush forward at him, blasting water at the area around his feet.  Even though some of the splashing healed the Pokemon, Helios was shocked to find he was sinking!

When he wrenched his feet free from the mud and began to run away from the sinkhole, he jumped high enough to get over Swampert, but she wouldn’t allow him to try another Quick Attack; using her tail to whack him down into the mud, Helios had a difficult time picking himself up again.  The mudfish seemed to cackle as she sloshed a wave of mud at the creature, knocking him down a second time.  Things weren’t looking good for him and Rocky couldn’t stand by in silence any longer.

“Helios!  You can do it!  I know its not much of a strategy, but you’ve got to get up in the air!  That’s the only way we can win!” Rocky screamed, clenching both of her fists.

The determination and faith he felt from her voice echoed through his mind.  Putting himself into perspective, he realized he was probably doing much better against this Swampert than any other Electric type could.  He had to do everything he could to win.

Using his tail to quickly build a tall pile of mud, Helios put pressure on it to make sure it was stable.  Swampert then figured out he was building a launching pad and charged up a Surf attack to try and knock it down, but by the time she released it, he’d already scaled it.  Leaping off as the water knocked out the mud pile, Helios landed right on top of Swampert’s head, hanging onto her top fins like reigns.  Though he looked beat, he grinned at her with narrow eyes.  She glared and roared at him, trying to reach up and grab him off, but she slipped and fell forward on her own muddy field.  Now was Helios’ chance to secure the win.

Hopping up into the air from the top of Swampert, Helios came down screaming as he Bulldozed Swampert into the mud deeper and deeper until there was a significant 6-foot crater in the field.  Both Decoda and Rocky yelled out each of their Pokemon’s names as they waited a few moments before they heard noises coming from inside the crater.

A little black hand reached up to the top of the hole slowly and shakily lifting out the rest of Helios’ body.  Rocky gasped loudly and immediately darted forward, slipping and falling into the mud as she scrambled to meet her Pokemon.  Decoda followed suit, albeit running much more carefully to discover that his Swampert had fainted inside the hole.  He clutched at his bare chest, feeling his heart sink from the loss, but slowly start up again when he heard her groan in pain.  Each trainer then helped their partners out of the hole and brought the two of them to a dry part of the field.

“I guess its pretty safe to say that you won,” Decoda exhaled, wiping the dirt off of Swampert’s face.  She was quiet and pouty, but still let him clean her up a bit.

“Thank you, Decoda,” Rocky smiled, letting Helios rub his face off on a towel she held.  “It came really close, though!"

“No way.  I should have known from the moment you brought him out.  Don’t try and label it like we even had a chance,” he replied, shaking his head with half a smirk.  “You’ve gotta give yourself credit - I’m the one who thought it was a good idea to mess with an ace!"

The brunette sat quietly for a moment before gasping lightly.  “Right!  Then I at least owe you an explanation on how I direct in battle!  That was the deal!"

Decoda held out Swampert’s Pokeball to his mudfish, before she accepted entrance to it.  “Sounds like a good idea to me, but let’s get our team and ourselves cleaned up first!  You can tell me about it while we’re having dinner."

Rocky too, put her Heliolisk in his ball for the time being.  “Y-Yeah, let’s do that first!” she agreed, happily.

In between freshening up themselves and their Pokemon, each party had time to cool off from the heat of the battle.  The two trainers were a lot less tense upon releasing their teammates in full and settling down to eat something on the inside of the Pokemon Center.  It was then that Decoda brought up the communication method once more.

“So if you battle without words, how do you train?  Do you just know what each other is thinking?  Can you see from their view, or maybe set up plays like a sports team?” he asked, munching on his sandwich, not sure if he’d even believe her no matter what answer he got.

“When I first started, Helios just kinda did whatever he felt like, so I wanted to work with what made him feel most comfortable,” she replied, swallowing a french fry.  “Flarin didn’t really start fighting until we were in danger, so she acted on her emotions too.  It was then that I figured I should just let them do what they saw fit until they asked me for help.  Of course, there’s been lots of times where letting them fight freely has gotten us into more trouble than when we started, but it does have its advantages, like being unpredictable in regulated battles!"

“So you let them have total control until they just up and ask you what to do?  Huh,” he blinked, looking over at his crew, chowing down on their own food.  He stared at Metagross a little longer than the others; it sounded like it was really enjoying the food!  “But like, when Metagross was getting legitimately mad at Greninja and wouldn’t stop beating on him, what do you then?"

“If they are overcome with a certain emotion, there’s no choice but to take them out of that mindset and bring them back into focus.  You have to remind them their smarter than that, that they’re strategists too,” she explained, watching Lilligant being complimented by Helios and Crysteria.  “That’s actually something I need to work on myself.  It’s the main reason I lost at the league."

“Is that so?” Decoda questioned, sipping his drink from a bendy straw.  “Well then, what say you and I train together?"

Both trainers smiled at each other.  “If you want to!” Rocky chuckled.

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The End! Hope it was as much fun for you to read as it was for me to write! Thanks for the read!! ^_^