A Fierce Fight
A Pokemon Sword and Shield fanfiction
Go back to the previous chapter. Or check out the chapter list. All rights belong to Gamefreak, Nintendo.
Daniel was furious. His face scrunched up in an inhuman manner as he glowered at his cousin.
Allister clutched at his mask; he peeped at the other two gym leaders, and scanned the Stow-on-Side gym stadium as if seeking an exit.
A cold breeze slipped in, and a Gengar appeared right beside Allister. It glared with red, threatening eyes at Daniel. Allister placed a hand on his Pokemon’s spiked head. “It’s okay, Gengar. I’ll be all right. He’s just angry, is all.”
Piers wanted to intercede, but decided to wait and see for now. From Raihan’s sullen silence, he seemed to think the same. After all, Daniel wouldn’t be so stupid as to hurt his cousin when his Gengar was right there.
Daniel flicked back his hair with a scoff. “I want to speak to you in private, Allister.”
“Uh..um…,” Allister mumbled as he glanced at Piers and Raihan again; his eyes looked pleading even through his mask. His Gengar growled and black energy crackled around its hands. “Gengar, stop, it’s really okay,” Allister insisted. And only then did the ghost pokemon withdraw its energy, for now.
Piers eyed the Gengar, and the Pokemon surprisingly averted its gaze. He wondered what the ghost and poison pokemon thought of him and Raihan.
“Are you sure you want to talk to him alone?” Raihan cut in. Piers was secretly relieved that his friend interjected. While Piers disliked Daniel, he also didn’t want Allister to think they were babying him, especially after he revealed how much he wanted his colleagues to see him as an equal. Still, they could give Allister their solidarity.
So Piers put a hand on Raihan’s arm to support him. The Hammerlocke gym leader seemed to relax at his touch. “Allister,” Raihan continued in a calmer tone, “you don’t have to do a thing this arsehole says.”
Allister stared at them, then at his cousin.
Daniel smirked, and put his hands on his hips. His eyes were full of mockery. “What? Are you going to let a fellow gym leader make your decisions for you?” he snickered. “Or are you relying on him because he’s a higher ranking gym leader than you?”
Allister stiffened and his hands shook. He looked like he wanted to retort but couldn’t get the words out.
Piers couldn’t resist, however. He yelled, “What the fuck, Daniel? That’s a low blow, even for you. There ain’t no ‘higher’ or ‘lower’ ranking gym leaders, you nitwit.”
Daniel grinned with a crazed expression. “What do you mean? I thought Raihan was the top gym leader in Galar, followed by you, Piers, then Melony, Opal, and finally Allister, with Kabu, Nessa, and Milo at the bottom.”
“So much for pretendin’ you didn’ know much about the Galarian gym leaders,” Piers rebuffed, narrowing his eyes. “But that’s jus’ about our current power in battle. It doesn’t mean that any gym leaders are lesser than anyone else.”
Somehow, Piers found Raihan clutching his hand, a reassuring warmth. Under other circumstances, this gesture could be seen as romantic, but Piers refused to think about it. Daniel was too self-absorbed to notice, thankfully. Allister looked at their joined hands but made no remark.
“You’re just a sugar-sweet softie, Piers. My cousin doesn’t need your defending,” Daniel quipped. He touched his belt where he held his pokeballs, as if readying for a fight.
Despite Piers’ earlier worry about protecting Allister too much, the singer was quickly losing patience with Daniel. A smile curved up the Dark type gym leader’s lips. “What? Are you itching for a Pokemon battle?”
The other man raised his brows, as though he hadn’t expected Piers to catch his movement towards his Pokeball belt. But he laughed raucously. “I’m not scared of you. Bring it on, Piers. We’ll fight it out at my cousin’s Stow-on-Side gym.”
Piers got into more of a pickle than he needed to, but he was beyond caring now. He deeply despised guys who picked on those who were smaller and more vulnerable.
Moreover, he wanted to see Daniel’s team for himself. It could give them clues on the Glimwood Tangle rogue wild pokemon.
Raihan whispered in his ear, “You sure about this, babe? He’s not worth wasting your time on.”
Ah, he was still using that endearment, wasn’t he? Piers responded gruffly, “He sure is a waste of time, but I ain’t standin’ here doin’ nothin’, either. We’ll fight it out!”
It was strange because Raihan was usually the battle ready, hot-headed one, and Piers was the bloke with more self-restraint. Regardless, the Dragon gym leader nodded, and patted Piers on the shoulder. “Good luck, then, though I doubt you’ll need it.”
Piers’ heart warmed at his friend’s casual display of faith in his battle skill.
Daniel made a prim little smile, smug, and Piers intended to squash him. The Spikemuth punk took out his mic stand, ready to sing commands to his Pokemon.
The referee would be one of Allister’s gym trainers. She looked dismayed at their planned battle, probably because it didn’t involve Allister himself. She announced, “Each trainer may only use three Pokemon. No switching allowed. Let the battle begin!”
Daniel threw out a Great Ball. An icy, shimmering blue pokemon landed on the ground. It looked like a Sandslash.
Piers’ Rotom Dex told him this was an Alolan Sandslash, an ice and steel type. Piers raised an eyebrow. Was Daniel from Alola? Nevertheless, the Spikemuth singer was taking no chances. He tossed up a Dusk Ball. “Go, Scrafty!”
The orange dark and fighting pokemon leaped out with a battle roar.
Daniel smirked. “I’m not afraid of your fighting type.” He raised an arm and pointed in the air. “Sandslash, let’s go, use Hail!”
The gym stadium became chilled, and soon, hailstones fell from the ceiling. Scrafty flinched when a hailstone landed on him. But he bulked himself up, activating his Intimidate ability. The Sandslash shivered and its attack fell drastically.
Thanks to Raihan teaching Piers about weather strategies, the Dark type gym leader was wary. Hail could make ice pokemon extra speedy or evasive, if they had the ability Slush Rush or Snow Cloak respectively.
Blizzard never missed in a hailstorm, either. Not even if Scrafty tried to lower his enemy’s accuracy with Sand Attack.
Indeed, Daniel called out, “Sandslash, Blizzard!”
“Brick Break!” Piers sang at the top of his voice.
Scrafty’s arm glowed with a white light, and he rushed at the Alolan Sandslash.
A flurry of ice fired out at Scrafty, and he was tossed across the stadium. Ugh, Alolan Sandslash had been too fast. Perhaps it had Slush Rush to speed up during hail.
“Are you all right?” Piers asked his pokemon.
Scrafty grunted in pain but picked himself back up, nodding at his trainer. “Then let’s finish this. Brick Break again!”
“Oh no, you don’t. Sandslash, use — ”
SMACK!
A loud smash sounded as Scrafty, energized by a desire for vengeance, slugged the Sandslash in the face. “Slash…” the poor pokemon squealed.
The ice and steel pokemon was doubly weak to fighting moves. It crashed on the ground, unable to battle.
Daniel sighed and returned Sandslash to its ball. He tossed up his next Pokeball. “Go, Corviknight!”
“Caww!” The steel and flying pokemon soared to the air. It flapped its metal wings as it stared with disdain at Scrafty.
Piers figured that Daniel might use Corviknight at some point, and its flying moves would be super effective against Scrafty. It was too bad switching wasn’t allowed. But they wouldn’t go down without a fight.
“Corviknight, take him out with Drill Peck!”
“Scrafty, Brick Break!”
The steel bird and the dark fighting mon collided. When the smoke cleared, Scrafty lay on the ground, down for the count. Corviknight only looked slightly winded.
Piers returned his pokemon. “Thanks, Scrafty. You were a star.” After a moment, Piers sent out his next Pokemon.
A purple and blue punk mon appeared. “Tox!”
Daniel winced. “Figured that you would have chosen an electric mon!”
Piers grinned. “Then you shouldn’t have chosen Corviknight. Toxtricity, zap it down with Overdrive!”
The punk pokemon strummed the strings on his body, and unleashed a great bolt of electricity at the steel bird.
“No, Corviknight!” Daniel gasped as the flying pokemon got shocked. The metal bird screamed as it convulsed in the electric light. Then it fell to the ground, unconscious.
Piers blinked. While he had faith in Toxtricity’s power, and Corviknight was weak to electric, he was still surprised that it was over so soon.
“Great job, Toxtricity!” Raihan yelled from the sidelines. “Show Daniel who’s boss, Piers!”
The Spikemuth gym leader just smiled slightly at his friend. He appreciated it but he wouldn’t let his guard down yet.
Allister’s cousin looked completely sullen, and Piers waited to see what his last pokemon would be. Daniel took out a Heavy ball, and thrust it into the air.
A raucous screech rang out as a shiny steel snake appeared. Its grin was eerie as it eyed Toxtricity.
“Steelix, knock him out with Earthquake!”
“No, Toxtricity, use — ” Piers’ voice was stuck in his throat. Steelix was immune to both poison and electric moves, and using Taunt wouldn’t make much of a difference to the aggressive steel snake.
The ground erupted beneath them, and the punk rock pokemon fell inside with a cry.
Piers sighed. His partner was knocked out in one blow. Toxtricity was a fabulous, powerful pokemon, but ground moves were his Achilles’ heel. “Come back and rest, Toxtricity,” he said as he returned his pokemon and thanked him.
The Dark type gym leader glowered at Daniel and Steelix. They were both down to their last pokemon.
Piers closed his eyes for a moment, then he released his ace partner. “I’m countin’ on ya, Obstagoon!”
The black and white pokemon landed on the stadium, and stood tall and proud.
Obstagoon had no type advantages here, but neither did Steelix. It was their first neutral matchup. And while Obstagoon was strong, they had to be vigilant. The battle could go either way.
Steelix emitted an ominous battle sound as it watched Obstagoon. The latter looked tiny compared to the steel and ground pokemon, but Obstagoon did not cow or flinch. Just like Piers, he would fight till the end.
Who would win the battle? Piers or Daniel?
