Pokemon: The PokeBrawler Chronicles (Chapter 3: Misery loves Company Part 2)

"now latys and gents let us see who will come out on top!? let us find out...... ready? FIGHT!"

Frank immediately dropped into his combat stance. He looked at Neos and shouted, "I'll give you the story after the fight!!" He then motioned with his hand for Neos to attack him.

There was a definite size difference between both human and Pikachu, Talim Rave knew this full-well as she twitched her ears at the brute as he signaled for herself to go first. She had a few plots as to how to deal with her foe, and it had occurred to her that her shape-shifting partner realized this.

"Tal, I know you all too well by now. Got a scheme? Go for it."

The Pikachu grinned evilly at the permission granted to battle as she wished.

Standing back onto only her hindpaws and stretching out her forepaws to either side of her, Talim's cheeks began to spark with electricity before she jumped straight-up into the air. Surrounding herself with electricity entirely, she appeared to be floating above the ground instead of falling back down. Magnet Rise was an effective way to gain an aerial advantage if one did not have the size advantage. Almost in the same breath did she began to spin and launch herself forward toward her opponent like an electric bullet, charging herself further with electricity meant to damage the foe, a Thunderbolt in blanket form. Even if Frank managed to fend this attack off, he was gonna have a nasty shock to his system.

(Info on the move Magnet Rise: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] )

Frank saw the little creature rise, and then it flew like a bullet right at him. This caught him off guard, and all he could do was cross his arms in front of him and take the hit. The moment Pikachu connected, Frank felt like someone had wrapped a live power line around him and cranked up the juice. Electrical current flowed through him, paralyzing all his muscles and making his entire body convulse. Frank didn't know what to do, but then it occurred to him: The earth was a giant sink, and if he could ground himself, the current would leave his body. Frank mustered all his strength and was able to drive one of his hands into the rocky battlefield beneath him. The moment his hand touched earth, he felt the electrical surge dissipate. Frank smelled something burning; it was skin and hair. "Ugh, the smell of burnt skin makes me sick" he muttered. Frank then smiled and said, "You're gonna pay for that". He then took a large chunk of the ground and hurled it with all his strength at the little Pokemon.

"Pika..." Talim nodded at the incoming boulder before rolling up into a ball and spinning rapidly in the air, what was left of her tail sticking out like a saw blade and appearing to glow with both grayish energy and electricity, creating a trail of power many times longer than the original tail through the combined use of Thunderbolt and Iron Tail. The boulder connected with the energy sawblade, slicing it in two and forcing the boulder halves to land to either side of her.

However, she had not stayed in place, Talim Rave was coming at the Brawler reaady to slice.

Frank was ready this time; he saw the Pokemon spinning right toward him. Frank waited until the blade-like attack was right in front of him, then did a limbo style bend, his back almost touching the ground beneath him. He then twisted his body and landed a powerful kick into Pikachu's exposed side, disrupting its attack and causing it to fly and crash hard into the arena wall.

The speed she was zipping through the air at and the power behind the kick caused a decent-sized crater to appear in the arena wall where her head had connected to it and became partially-stuck. Hindpaws wiggling around in the air, she used them to finally pull herself out of the wall and landing on her butt, seeing stars but her skull still whole.

Now that is what one would call a hard-headed Pikachu to be able to take that kind of head-trauma.

"Pi...." Knowing that she had indeed kind of asked for that kick, she returned to the sky using Magnet Rise once more. As soon as she re-entered the air, 17 orbs of glowing light appeared around the Pikachu, each at first a differing color before becoming a shade of pale light-blue and scattering throughout the field. The 17 orbs became large spikes of ice that emerged from the ground they had landed on, making the arena from a plain field to a cold, spike-covered field of ice.

She remained floating safely above the spikes, but Frank had to deal with the sharp emerging icicles.

Frank saw the ice spikes forming quickly, and jumped out of the way as one formed right next to him. What he didn't see that the ice had spread to the entire field and as he landed, he slipped and fell square on his ass. He grunted and got back up. He then smiled; that Pokemon just gave an idea. Sliding over to the nearest spike, he broke off the sharp tip and gave it a good swift kick to its jagged bottom, sending it like a missile to the airborne Pikachu. He then repeated the plan with several more spikes and then jumped into the air after them.

Though she didn't get the point of the first shard, Talim Rave was still smacked by the large airborne icicle, causing her to spin in the air and hit a second one with her back.

"Chu!" she belted out after lsmacking into the second shard, she became angered enough to smash it with a simple Iron Tail, shattering it into many small bits of ice that sparkled in the light of the day. Seeing this, Talim smirked and sparked up her cheeks once more, sending a Thunderbolt among the shards and electrifying them. The ice magnified the electricity further as the bounced from one piece of ice to the next, creating a web of lightning meant to ensnare just about anything.

Though what was meant to be ensnared had already volunteered to be captured by the sparking web by jumping into the air...

Frank was smack in the middle of the icicle-missile barrage when he saw the sparks fly. "Ah, fuck" he said aloud just before the arcs of electricity all converged on him. Frank felt the current surge through him once more, and with no ground to use this time, he was helpless. His body convulsed, and he fell back to the ground, where he lay. Being hit twice with powerful lightning took its toll on Frank's body. He was trying to force his limbs to move, but to no avail. Frank then saw his vision go red and he immediately knew what was happening; Frank's body was trying to summon the Blood Savage state to get itself moving again. "No dammit. I can't afford to go full Savage now!", he said internally, managing to suppress it. Mustering all of his willpower and remaining strength, he finally stood back up. He was breathing heavily, and his limbs felt like lead weights. "Man, what a pickle. What the heck am I gonna do?" he thought. Frank got an idea; it was dangerous, but it might just save chances of winning. He closed his eyes, and let his Savage instincts consume him. Once his instincts reached the level he wanted, he cut the flow and held it there. Frank reopened his eyes, and realized it worked. His fatigue was gone, and he could feel the quasi-Savage state slowly repairing and re-energizing his body. "Can't believe that worked. I thought for sure I was gonna lose control" Frank thought, amazed at his newly acquired ability to control the Blood Savage state. Very few Brawlers had reached the capacity to do this, and it would appear that Frank had joined their ranks. He looked at Neos and grinned, "All right, that was a good warm-up. Let's take off the kid gloves now, shall we?"

(Okay, now I have something to work with...somewhat.)

"Pi?" Talim lowered herself toward one of the remaining few large icicles on the ground, perching carefully on the spiky tip and watching her opponent carefully with deep-blue eyes as he seemed to have somehow restored his stamina and composure. Her ears twitched at this minor miracle, debating on what to do next.

What she didn't realize was that Neos had his hands up as if he was not taking any credit for the madness in the arena. The coordinator looked like he was about to lose his composure at any second.

"What is going through your head, ya crazy girl, are you TRYING to kill him?!" Seeing the Pikachu in question bring her paws together and rubbing them rapidly as if in anticipation, Neos simply gulped in nervousness. "You have officially lost your mind."

Talim, unsure of what to do, held her position on top of the shard near the center of the arena, cheeks sparking with electricity once again, but not yet striking with it. She wanted to see what the human would do next.

Frank took a deep breath and dropped into his combat stance. Using his mighty Brawler strength, he stomped the ground several times, shattering the ice on the field and creating a giant circle of earth around him. Frank then moved on to his next plan. He picked up several large chunks of ice and hurled them straight at the Pikachu.

Nodding at the incoming shards, Talim flipped backwards off of the land-bound icicle as her tail glowed with steel-grey energy once more. Recreating the 'electric sawblade' once more for a second, she shattered the three closest projectiles and landed on the ground before the remaining shards flew overhead. However, they seemed to have enough throwing power backing them to cause Neos to have to duck underneath them.

"What the hell?!" Neos shouted before standing back up and turning toward the arena wall behind him, seeing the ice now sticking out of the arena wall. "Oh, holy Arceus, no. I'm not gonna be the one stuck with the repair bill for this." Spinning back toward the arena in place, Neos looked like he was about to lose his composure for sure. "Talim, you've had your fun, get back here," he shouted before taking out an Ultraball from the inside of his jacket and aimed the red beam at the Pikachu's back. She did not look too happy at the forced recall.

"Pikachu, chu-ka!" she shouted before disappearing, causing a wince from Neos, suggesting that he understood what the Pikachu said and that it wasn't anything nice.

"And you tell me to watch my mouth at times..." Pulling out a separate Ultraball, Neos launched it into the air before it opened up, allowing a small brown and tan Pokemon to appear that suddenly started spinning round and round in place as if it was eternally hyped-up on caffeine, a Zigzagoon with an silly smile plastered on his small face. "Yoyo, let's see how good this guy's aim is." Stopping in place for a second and in a sitting position, little Yoyo gave a salute with a forepaw before zipping all around the arena, the Pokemon's energy unable to be kept bound.

Frank stared in confusion at the little brown-striped Pokemon. What the hell is that? he thought. It was zipping this way and that, going at what looked like a hundred miles a minute. He could barely keep up with it. It then decided to run in circles around him. It moved so fast it was a blur. After a while Frank gave up trying to follow it with his eyes, because it just made him dizzy. Shaking his head, he then drove a hard stomp into the ground in front of him, hoping to at least shake the Pokemon a bit.

Unlike Frank, Neos had managed to train his eyes to keep up with the rapid movements of the hyper little Tinyracoon Pokemon, who seemed unfazed by the slow melting of the ice in the arena and how it made the ground slippery to a being's movements. Yoyo had found himself in a unearthed spot in the ground when Frank stomped down hard, softening the resulting shake to his little paws.

"Zig zag!" Yoyo barked in hyperness, almost as if the little fluffball wasn't taking this battle too seriously.

"Alright, Double Team and Echo Voice, Yoyo! Your opponent already looks green around the gills," Neos shouted over the crowd's cheering and awing, seeing the Zigzagoon's long ears flicker at the command.

In less than a second, there were at least 20 Zigzagoons zipping around, spinning around Frank and moving around in random spots of the arena, each one sounding as if it was creating an echoing bark. Neos promply pulled a pure-white Pokeball out of his yellow jacket and released a set of earmuffs into his free hand before putting them on. Certain people in the crowd were flinching at the increasingly-louder echos, since the sharpness of the barks hurt the ears of several people.

Frank tried his best to keep with the little furball, but his speed was too much for him. All his efforts just made him even dizzier. I can tell this is going to be more of an annoyance than a fight Frank observed. And the increasingly loud barking wasn't helping either. Within seconds, the volume reached near ear-shattering levels.

Frank cupped his hands around his ears as he tried again to watch for a pattern, something, anything he could exploit. He then got an idea. Placing both his hands in the muddy ground, he then spun himself on one leg, using his hands as a plow to send a veritable mud cascade up and flying all directions.

"Zig!" Focusing more on evading the flying mud than continuing either of his attacks, Yoyo wound up being revealed running along the top of one of the walls between the arena and the audience, the projectiles flying and either hitting or near-missing several people watching the fight. This battle was definitely a hazardous one to watch, but that's the risk with watching or participating in such fights.

"Oh, no. Zip up, then use Fling while he's spinning," Neos shouted before getting hit by an unavoidable splash of mud. "Ew..." Ears twitching again, Yoyo zipped up toward Frank's leg, spitting out a reddish yoyo with string attached to the inside of his mouth and whipping it toward the leg still on the ground, hoping to trip the Brawler up.

Frank was still making his mud tsunami when he felt something wrap around his leg. He looked down and saw that the little dirtball had attached itself to his planted leg. What the FUCK!?!? When did he get there? Frank shouted in his mind. Within seconds, the yoyo had wrapped itself completely around Frank leg's without him even realizing it. As he stopped spinning, he tried to kick the thing off him, but he was rewarded with a feeling of resistance and the sensation of falling over. He then face-planted into the muddy battlefield. He groaned and lifted his face from the mud, which was now completely covered. "I'm gonna kill this thing" he grunted. He looked down and saw that the thing had wrapped a yoyo around his legs. Oh, he is SO gonna pay for that! Frank thought angrily and began trying to rip the yoyo string off his legs

Try as Frank might, he wouldn't be able to just rip the string off without seriously cutting his leg open in the process. With a snap of the string in his mouth, Yoyo loosened the string enough for him to pull it off, recalling the toy back into his mouth with a gulp. "Zag?" he yipped as he tilted his head before zipping up toward Frank and licking his face, that tongue being a little bigger than one would expect from such a tiny Pokemon.

If Frank tried to grab him, though, he would just zip away again...

Frank looked up just in time see a big, sloppy tongue come and plant itself right on his face. It licked his face quickly for a few seconds, then retracted into the mouth of the little furball. Frank heard the crowd stifle their laughs; but that wasn't what concerned him. This Zigzagoon, as they called it, was starting to piss him off. Easy, Frank. He's not your true enemy, he's just your opponent for now he told himself. He took some calming breaths; this Pokemon was so tiny that he had to pull his punches even further to prevent any likelihood of killing it. He may fight Pokemon, but he stayed true to the Creed's teaching and his own sentiments.

Despite being partly Electric, Frank inherited only a small portion of their inbred speed capabilities, so that threw any strategy involving speed right out the window. This was indeed a challenging fight; physically not so much, but mentally it was quite unlike anything he had ever faced before. The fact that he had toned down his Berserker instincts took quite a large amount of mental fortitude. However, the Pokemon's nature did give him an idea. To do it, he would need a way to lure the Pokemon in close,and for that, he needed something shiny and valuable. Wish I had Tommy's medallion right now Frank said to himself; that kind of shininess would get any Pokemon's attention. He then remembered something; he always kept a gold coin in his left vambrace as a quick access emergency fund. He quickly removed the vambrace and looked inside; sure enough there it was. He took it out and held it in front of him, "Hey little guy, wanna play a game?"

Hook, line and stinker.

When little Yoyo saw the shiny coin, he stood still for a second before zipping up at full speed, probably matching the speed of an electric-type Brawler or even faster, causing Neos to facepalm after finally getting a good amount of mud off of him. "Curse that Shiny Object Syndrome of his..." He knew Yoyo too well to even bother trying to stop him, even recalling the hyper pup to his Pokeball was only gonna work for maybe two seconds.

If Frank didn't do something, however, there will be a muddy crater where his body will be...

Frank grinned; it was falling right into his trap. He nonchalantly sidestepped the Zigzagoon's charge, and then tossed the coin straight up the into air, knowing that the little Pokemon would go for it. And that's when Frank would strike.

Without even an initial thought, Yoyo zipped right up Frank's front to get to the coin, pawprinting the Brawler's face along the way before catching and gobbling the coin in mid-aid.

The young pup had apparently forgotten, if he ever realized it in the first place, that he was in a battle.

Frank saw the critter jump onto his broad chest, and then he felt a flurry of paws hit his face. One paw hit him right in eye, which made him recoil temporarily. He felt the pup jump from the top of his head and grab the coin. He then gave a small leap and grabbed the Zigzagoon with both his hands, the furball now locked in his meaty mitts like a visegrip. Frank grinned evilly, "Got you". He then gave the pup a punch in the side; he pulled back enough of his strength so that he didn't kill it, but it would hopefully be a sufficient amount of force to knock it out.

"Ig!" Yoyo suddenly felt a pair of large hands wrap themselves around the tiny furball as he began to fall back to the ground. He flailed with his little paws to try to get out of the grip and escape with his new treasure, but it was to no avail.

The fist connected with the little pup's stomach, knocking the wind out of Yoyo. However, there was no way for Frank to expect the reaction he got as the green yoyo found itself spat out and aimed right between Frank's eyes. Even if it wasn't dodged, Yoyo was now passed out, head leaning backwards with his extremely-long tongue hanging out to the side.

"Silly little 'goon," Neos commented before recalling the Zigzagoon into his Pokeball. "Watch, in about five seconds, he's gonna pop out of that and zip off to his treasure trove," he continued right before one of the Pokeballs popped open on its own, a blur of brown zipping out of the arena. "See what I mean?"

All of a sudden, Neos seemed to gain a very-serious look to his appearance, as if he himself was getting ready to participate in combat. "Everyone in the front two rows, if you do not wish to risk a severe case of heat stroke, move back to a higher seat." Loud mumbling started coming from the audience in various spots, wondering what the coordinator could be speaking of. The only thing they could guess is that the next Pokemon to fight emits a lot of heat, most-likely some sort of fire Pokemon. A few went to higher seats, though most stayed where they were. "Transform."

The change was swift yet elegant. Neos himself stepped into the arena, his form glowing a bright enough blue to hide him in light. At first he seemed to become smaller and blob-like, then he became larger to about the size of a horse. The blue light faded, leaving behind a creature that had never been seen before. A red fox about the size and muscle build of a horse stood in front of Frank with a mane of bright-yellow hair flowing down his neck. Rings of green surrounded his ankles and tail with a emerald placed between his solid-green eyes. The most-unusual thing about this creature was what was seemed to emerge from his back, a large, orange arm that moved around as flexibly as a whip. It held in its grip a simple black staff with yellow points at each end, points meant for skewering its targets. The arena suddenly grew instantly hotter and most of the those in the front rows scrambled toward the back rows to avoid the brunt of the heat wave.

"Shall we begin," the shifter asked in a gruff voice, the ground below his paws now scorched with the rest of the arena drying up and cracking rapidly.