Pokémon Phantom Black: Journey through Johu

Chapter 9: Skoro Town Battles

While Sofie fought for Kyle's Sandshrew, he was at the gym, aiming to obtain the Gust Badge. Upon arriving, he was welcomed by the Gym Leader.

"Hey, welcome to the most peaceful town in Johu's gym. The name's Gustavo, and I'll be battling you for the Gust Badge. However, here we have special rules: you must fight a Double Battle, and if you lose you can't try again for 1 month."

"High stakes, huh? Ok, but I only have one Pokémon, is that a problem?"

"Not for me, so it's your choice to catch another or do a 2 v 1."

"2 v 1 is fine by me."

"Well then, come on out, Tropius, Skarmory."

"Out you go, Mareep."

"Skarmory, use Sand Attack."

"Mareep, block the sand with Cotton Spore, and use Charge."

"Skarmory, dodge and use Air Slash. Tropius, Fly."

Thanks to Cotton Spore, Mareep wan't damaged much by Air Slash.

"Mareep, use Thundershock." As it prepared to do that, Tropius hit, knocking it away.

Meanwhile, on Sofie's side, things weren't much better.

"Toxtricity, Spark."

"Totodile, dodge and Scary Face."

"Toxtricity, Throat Chop."

"Totodile, Bubble its eyes."

"Toxtricity, Fire Punch the bubbles." Before Bubble could hit, the Fire Punch evaporated the bubbles, creating a thick cloud blocking both of them's views.

"Now Toxic."

"Totodile, Bubble the ground." Upon shooting downwards, the pokémon was propelled upward, out of harm's way.

"Totodile, Leer."

"Toxtricity, Spark."

"Totodile, dodge and Leer."

"Are you really gonna just use Leer, that's not gonna work."

"Totodile, Leer."

"Toxtricity, Throat Chop."

"Totodile, Bite." Thanks to the earlier Scary Face, Toxtricity was slower, allowing Totodile to block the attack with Bite, though still taking some damage.

"Now use Fire Punch."

"Totodile, Bubble, quick." While Toxtricity's hand being inside Totodile's mouth meant quick damage, the bubbles cooled the hand off.

"Now Leer."

"Toxtricity, Spark." The attack hit Totodile head on, causing quite some damage.

"Totodile, you good?" Totodile nodded, and started shining, flashing on and off, as if starting to evolve.

"That's great! Totodile, use Leer."

"Toxtricity, Toxic."

"Totodile, dodge." It then finished evolving into Croconaw, the new speed boost helping it dodge.

"Now Croconaw, Leer."

"Toxtricity, Throat Chop."

"Use Scary Face, and dodge." The now even slower poison type was not able to hit.

"Now use Leer, and Bite." After having its defense greatly lowered along the course of the battle, Toxtricity took quite some damage.

"Now, let's finish this, Croconaw." But then, suddenly, a Beedrill came from behind and used Fury Attack, knocking out Croconaw.

"That's low."

"We're criminals, what do you expect? Now, Toxtricity, Toxic, and Beedrill, Venoshock."

"Not so fast! Kadabra, Teleport her out of the way." The masked woman then looked at the entrance, seeing Brandon.

"What the hell are you doing here, Bran?" Said Sofie.

"I told you I didn't trust you. When we get back you've got some explaining to do." Sofie just grinned.

Meanwhile, back at the gym, Kyle was close to losing, but then Mareep started evolving.

"Alright! Now Flaaffy, use Thunder Shock on Skarmory." Thanks to the earlier Charge, the new evolution, and type advantage, the metal bird was quickly knocked out.

"Congrats. But Tropius is my ace, much harder to beat. Use Sunny Day." Thinking back to his studies, Kyle realized what Gustavo would use and ordered Flaaffy accordingly.

"Cotton Guard, quick!"

"Tropius, Solar Beam." The powerful move, which thanks to the weather did not need to charge, hit Flaaffy for quite some damage, although being weaker thanks to Cotton Guard.

"Flaaffy, use Charge."

"Tropius, Fly."

"Flaaffy, Thundershock." The attack weakened Tropius, but Fly still hit. However, thanks to typing, it did not do much damage. 

"Flaaffy, again." This time the attack took quite a bit out of Tropius.

"Tropius is starting to feel weakened, huh? But fool, this is not even my final trump card! Tropius, use Roost."

"Flaaffy, use Thunder Shock again." The attack hardly did any damage.

"Here's the deal. Tropius is a Grass and Flying type. This typing makes it so electric attacks do normal damage. However, with Roost, it temporarily loses the flying type, so electric is not very effective. The heal is also a nice bonus. Now, use Solar Beam."

"Flaaffy, Cotton Guard, and Tackle." Flaaffy took the attack head on, and was nearly out, but thanks to all the raised Special Defense, it could carry on to hit Tropius's neck.

"Now, Thunder Shock, on the neck." Tropius, at this point having regained the Flying type, took the hit and fainted.

"Well, kid, you won. Nice strategy, telling it to hit the neck, which isn't protected by leaves. Here's the Gust Badge. Also, as a bonus, have TM06 for Fly."

"Thanks." However, heading back to the Pokémon Center, Kyle wasn't all that happy, still thinking about Sandshrew.

Upon arriving, he saw their room empty. Upon going to check on the girls' room, he saw Charlie on the floor, sick, pale and weak.

"Charlie, you okay?"

"Yes, idiot, i'm perfectly fine. I just decided to nap on the soft floor."

"Oh, I forgot, when you get sick you get angry and cynical. Either way, stay here, I'm calling the doctor."

"Really, I thought you were calling a mime."

Kyle, although annoyed, went to Nurse Joy asking for help.

At that same time, with Brandon and Sofie, things were looking bad.

"Kadabra, use Psybeam."

"Beedrill, dodge, and Twineedle the girl."

"Kadabra, Teleport." However, the attempt to flee was too slow, and Sofie was stabbed through the chest, and went unconscious.

"Damn it! Togepi, come out and use Life Dew on her. Kadabra, Psychic." While Togepi prevented her from bleeding to death, she was still in a fragile state.

"Stop trying, Brandon, you are too weak."

"Maybe, but I've beaten you before, Marla."

"It was that obvious? Well, no need for the mask anymore."

"If you wanted to not be found out, you should at least use a non-poison type. Now, why would you do this?"

"Why wouldn't I? We value honorable teammates. Sofie left, she had it coming. As for you, you now know too much, so I'm going to silence you."