FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Since this chapter has been taking so long, I'm going to upload it in pieces. I'll notify when its being updated, and so far there will be three to four parts.

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And finally, the battle between Tyler and Marybeth. Who will win? Betting tables are open, enter below.

Chapter Thirty-five:

Tyler shuffled his sneakers anxiously on the floating platform which he stood. To the right of him was Shadow, his umbreon mate's tail wagging wildly and her claws kneading the cement excitedly. The ocean waves reflected off of her sunglasses, beneath them, her bright blue eyes watched Marybeth like a hungry predator spotting wounded prey. On his other side, closer to the shore, was Lava; she was rather calm despite the nearest dry land to the quilava being several meters away. She had her usual nervousness though, but it was laced with excitement and her flame pits sparked every so often. Behind the trio was Slash, the kabutops busy splashing water back and forth with his scythes.

Across from them was Marybeth, standing on her own platform, wearing a pair of blue swimming shorts and matching tank top with her hair tied up into a pony tail. Beside her was a swampert, the blue and white mud fish was easily larger than her, but not quite as imposing. Five more blue and white pokéballs hung from her belt.

The referee began with announcing loudly from the beach, the audience cheering from the bleachers. Even Jessica and her team were there to root for them.

"This is a three on three match!" the ref shouted through the mike, "you are only allowed the first three you choose to send out and may not use any others in your team! The first battler who has all three of their selected pokémon faint or be removed from the battle will be declared the loser and the other shall claim victory! If the challenger is victorious, then he shall receive the Vesi Gym Badge! Challenger Tyler!! Send out your first pokémon!!"

Tyler nodded and Shadow jumped from the platform to one free floating before them.

"Tyler chooses the dark-type umbreon as his first pokémon!! Marybeth!?"

She unclasped one of the pokéballs from her belt and threw it out. In a blast of light appeared a huge, blue turtle with cannons implanted into the back of his shell. He yelled out his name "Blastoise!!!"

"And Marybeth chooses the water-type blastoise!! Tyler may make the first move!"

"Ok Shadow," Tyler said, his mate hearing him via their mental link, "let's start off with quick attack, get close and then wail on him, don't let him get into the water"

She nodded and then took off, moving as a black blur, zigzagging across the platforms towards her opponent, leaving a wake to catch up to her. When she was close enough, she leapt up and charged him full speed

"Blastoise, withdraw"

All of his limbs retracted into his shell, shielding him from attack. Before she could stop herself, she slammed headfirst into his rock hard defense with an audible crack. Stunned she dropped to the ground in front of Blastoise

"Rapid spin"

She was still stunned when the shell began to spin like a top, creating a loud whirling noise. It moved an inch forward and Shadow was sent flying across the arena. She landed, ragdoll, on one of the stationary platforms.

"Shadow," Tyler groaned, holding his aching head

The umbreon stood and shrugged off the damage, "now it's on," she growled, showing teeth.

She opened her mouth and an orb of ghostly energy shot out at her opponent. It smacked against his shell, simply being deflected by the rapid spin.

"Shadow, stop the spin with psychic," Tyler called

She focused intently on her target, gathering her mental energy together. Her eyes shone and even brighter blue and a faint glow began to form around the turtle. It froze in its spinning and began to lift up

"Water gun"

A blast of water came from one of the shell's holes and hit Shadow square in the face. The attack soaked her fur but didn't do much damage overall. It did, however, break her concentration, ending her use of psychic

Blastoise fell back to the platform and exited his shell, smirking at Shadow.

"Shadow-"

"Water gun"

Another blast of water came from Blastoise's mouth. She managed to dodge this one, but another wasn't far behind. The attacks just kept coming, following her and keeping her from getting a secure footing anywhere.

"Duck and quick attack!"

She managed to just avoid a water gun, ducking beneath it, and then zipped off. She managed to get in close and then smashed blastoise in the gut, hitting his softer underbelly. It did damage, but not much else.

"Flash cannon"

He again opened his mouth, but instead of water came a blast of silvery metallic energy. The moderately powerful attack hit Shadow in the side as she tried to retreat, sending her skipping across the water like a stone. She came to a stop halfway across the arena when she hit a stationary platform's support column.

Tyler groaned and clutched both his sides. Shadow clawed her way out of the water and laid a moment on the platform.

"Water gun"

Shadow was still resting when a surge of water came right for her. The water struck her and sent her back another few feet and into the water. She quickly swam beneath the water to her starting side of the arena and pulled herself out once again.

"He's pissing me off," she growled, dripping with sea water.

"We could try and catch him off guard," Tyler thought aloud, keeping his voice low, "quick attack!"

Shadow zipped across the platforms even faster, kicking up water behind her.

"Withdraw!" Marybeth ordered

Blastoise retracted his limbs again and created the impenetrable shield against her attacks. Shadow hit the shell, but it was feet first this time. She jumped off his back straight up above him

"Shadow ball!"

At the peak of her jump, she aimed downwards and launched her attack. The blast hit his shell dead center, still not leaving a scratch

"Flash cannon"

He popped back out of his armor and aimed directly at her. A beam of energy fired up, a sure hit on the helpless umbreon. The attack engulfed her body and shot into the sky. The blast eventually dissipated and blastoise waited to watch his handy work. But instead he got hit on the head by a bubble of psychic.

It bounced off and popped. Shadow jumped out from it and fired a shadow ball straight into his perplexed face. The attack stunned and knocked him over onto his back. Helpless, he was lifted off the ground and chucked into a column.

His weight smashed through the support column, injuring him further, and he floated in the sea

"Take that!" Shadow shouted

"Dive"

The shell vanished beneath the waves

"Rapid spin"

Shadow was searching frantically, trying to spot him, but the waves were unrevealing about her opponent. Realizing the cliché, she turned around, but he wasn't there. Instead he came up from right where she had been looking, spinning like an engine rotor and smashed into her tail end, sending her flying into the water.

"Shadow!"

She was plucked out of the water by blastoise and shot with flash cannon across the arena back to her start.

"We got two hits in," Tyler groaned, doubled up and holding his aching torso, "but she won't be able to stand up to it like this"

"I'm gonna crack that shell open," Shadow growled, standing up, her left hind leg having a slight limp.

"You can surrender any time," Marybeth mocked them.

"Shadow, we have to think of something"

She blasted off again, straight at her target, just skipping along the surface tension.

"Water gun"

She narrowly dodged the attack and continued. She slammed right into the soft spot on his shell. Blastoise grunted and swatted her aside. She flipped in midair and landed on her feet, leaping back at him. A shadow ball smacked his shoulder and she got pelted with a water gun

"Shadow! Fall back!"

Avoiding another attack, she jumped back to the start and stared blastoise down angrily.

"We can't do enough damage; you're going to wear down at this rate"

Shadow growled, but she agreed, she really couldn't crack that shell and every time she tried, she got whacked for triple any damage she gave.

"Water gun"

Their respite was interrupted by a blast of water that narrowly missed her. She quickly reacted to dodge a second and sidestepped back, avoiding a third. After just long enough for Shadow to feel safe, he shot a flash cannon. She was too slow to dodge it, but thankfully it exploded a foot to her right.

"Arceus" Shadow cursed, thankful for the near miss

"This might be one of our last shots, make it count"

"Right"

Shadow zipped off and blastoise retreated into his shell as the routine went. It was a hard shot, but she managed it. The shell was a near perfect defense, but there was a flaw, every defense did.

Shadow stopped before blastoise, slowly pacing to find that spot. She was too close for him to risk poking his head out, so she had time to plan. She created her shadow ball and fired it as straight as she could.

The attack just managed to slip into the hole between the upper shield and the lower belly. A perfect shot could avoid most of the defenses withdraw put up that shielded his limbs while inside the shell. A dull explosion and a blastoise exiting his withdraw with a nice mark on his head showed that her attempt had worked. But she wasn't gonna get another one.

"Flash cannon!" Marybeth ordered.

Shadow dodged, only just getting nicked by the attack, scratching up her right side rather harshly. But she managed to escape most of the damage.

"Shadow, fall back"

"Keep her pinned"

She had to continuously avoid water guns and flash cannons, retreating backwards. The first few she managed to avoid, but once the first knocked her off course, the rest started pummeling her. The water gun caught her in the side, followed by a flash cannon that sent her flying. Before she could get her bearings, another round of attacks knocked her back down.

It ended up with her in a heap on one of the platforms scarred and soaked with Tyler coughing and nearly on his knees

"Recall your pokémon, before she gets too hurt," Marybeth advised starkly

"Shadow..." Tyler groaned

The fox managed to make it to her feet, shakily

"Get back...now"

Glaring at blastoise angrily, she managed to limp back towards Tyler. She jumped over to the platform, collapsing from the landing. Tyler quickly picked her up and looked her over. She was hit hard by the total assault, but she'd recover with a few potions.

"How are we going to beat that turtle?" Shadow groaned

Tyler looked across at the pokémon and its master across from him. Shadow was definitely his second strongest member of the team, granted out of three that didn't say much without context. Slash might just be his best bet.