Chapter 4: The Resort Desert

Story by Kynexn on SoFurry

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#4 of Kynexn: Adventures in Isshu


"Yeah sure... Let's go ahead. Shall I lead, or will you lead?" I asked, preparing to use the coin flip application if he didn't have an immediate decision. Cheren did surprise me by addressing the issue right away.

"It will of course be you. I've been waiting as I said. Show me your improvements." Cheren said. Another unexpected moment happened when my Sandile suddenly addressed him.

"I want to battle this human's Pokémon." He stated simply. I wasn't surprised, really, I told him I'd help him evolve, and all those trainers and other Pokémon we'd battled hadn't caused him to evolve yet.

"You'll be at more than a slight disadvantage though, Sandile. Unless he's decided to change his rotation." I said, looking down at him. The Sandile gave me a curious look, and I could tell without looking that Cheren was giving me pretty much the exact same look.

"Rotation? I believe I read a bit about something like that. The answer to your thoughts---since it wasn't really a question---is that I have not, though adding more types to my arsenal seems like a good idea. However... I think I'll focus on increasing the strength of my current Pokémon first."

"Well, to answer both of you," I began, "rotation can both be your current line-up, OR how often you use a specific Pokémon in your party. In this particular case, I in essence told this Sandile here," I was very careful not to use the term 'my Sandile' yet, until he was ready, "that I'd include him in the forefront of my rotation for the time being until he evolved, so that's why he wants to battle you. However, Sandile... right now I'm going to ask you to wait for just a bit more. You'll definitely be included in this battle but my first choice is..." There was no real need for dramatic flair, but I decided to just do it anyway. I took out Sally's Poké Ball, and then pushed the button to release her.

She emerged from her Poké Ball and then gave a stretch of her wings. Seeing the Sandile near me and not looking hostile, she decided that he was part of the team and didn't ask as to whether or not he needed to be battled. Of course, she knew that being a Flying-type, she'd have and advantage over him, but I knew something that she didn't, and that was how strong this particular Sandile was."

"Sally, we'll be battling a few of Cheren's Pokémon for today." I said. She jumped up onto my shoulder for a while, and then waited. "Alright, we're ready, now send out your Pokémon."

"I was planning on starting out with him regardless of what you chose, to test a strategy of mine so.... here he is." Cheren took out a Poké Ball and sent out a familiar looking bird. His own Pidove. It seemed that he was planning on keeping her unevolved for a bit longer for some reason. It could have been that he was doing it to strengthen his evolved form so that he'd have the power to use Air Slash like me did, a lot earlier than if he evolved sooner.

"Sally, use number one, followed by number three." She began flapping her wings, kicking up a pretty simple and basic, Gust attack. Being surrounded by sand, had a different effect than being in other areas of course. One could call it similar to a mini sandstorm. After this, she quickly followed up with, a series of Air Slashes.

Cheren not being accustomed to this new style---to him---of giving commands, was completely thrown off. It took him a few seconds to react to it,in addition to the fact that the mini sandstorm was coming at them, but he managed to give the command of an Air Cutter. As the attacks collided, it was apparent that my combination, was going to be the winner in the struggle of attacks. Even more sand was kicked up by this collision, to which I was lucky that I had my goggles. Cheren however was not so fortunate and had to cover himself with his sleeve.

Immediately after the both of them could see again, another Air Cutter was ordered. His Pidove Was rather damaged by the attack, and so a simple Gust was all that I ordered to counter it. It wasn't really that difficult to see coming, but he had apparently decided on at least trying to reduce the damage from her attacks, and had his Pidove perform another Air Cutter.

"That's enough for now, Sally." I said, judging simply by the lack of power in that last attack that he had weakened considerably. I looked down at the Sandile and then he took that as has cue to start listening to my commands. "I think a Crunch or two will do."

He was in no condition to fly either and all Cheren could do was attempt to land more Flying-type moves. The Sandile quickly dug underground, something that I didn't expect, and neither did Cheren, but that was one of the more intricate strategies that I had... letting the Pokémon decide their approach based on my suggestions, and Cheren was just now experiencing this. He emerged near the startled Pidove, who didn't have time to respond, as the Dark energy filled the Sandile's fangs, and made contact with his body. That was it; it was too much, and he fainted. Of course, I didn't expect to witness two evolutions in the same day, or even from the same Pokémon. The evolution energy enveloped the Sandile, causing his body to glow that signature white glow, before his form began to change. He first stood upright, and then his legs changed to match his stance. They grew longer, as his his arms and then his tail.

"Mmm... Congratulations on your evolution. I told you I wanted to help you get to the your next stage." I said, and then I went over to him, and started looking him over. "Hm, I wonder what your evolution is called..." I took out my Pokédex, as did Cheren, and the both read out the species name of Krokorok, as well as a tiny bit of information about them.

"Hah, is that what you humans have to say about us? Well, that's a pretty bland Pokédex entry." He said.

"Fascinating... That's the third evolution that I've witnessed so far. Pokémon truly are fascinating creatures..." Cheren said, with much bewonderment. I chuckled, figuring that I'd have to snap him back to reality. We were still in a battle after all. It turns out that I didn't have to. He decided to use his next Pokémon after that.

"Hey... How about I give you a nickname though, until I can think of a nice proper name for you. It'd be something like Stripes." I said. He turned around for a few seconds and said, "Yeah... sure that'd be good for now."

"Alright. My next choice is Pansage." Cheren took the Poké Ball off of his belt and then threw the ball up into the air, releasing it, before catching the ball as it fell back down to him.

"Hm... well. Stripes, I guess you can battle his Pansage too. Go ahead." I said, and folded my arms. Once again, I left it for him to decide.

Stripes decided to start of with a tried and true Crunch attack but... I noticed that he held back a bit. He put a minimum amount of Dark type energy into it, making it practically a 'Normal' bite, even reducing the power, I noticed. His Pansage took a direct hit, which caused it to recoil in pain. He waited this time, judging to see what Cheren would do next.

"Pansage, use Vine Whip." Cheren ordered. His Pansage used Vine Whip as ordered but Stripes had something else in mind. As the attack extended, Stripes quickly reacted and grabbed them.

"Now remember stripes, you're not supposed to be going all out. Though, you shouldn't go easy either."

He acknowledged my suggestion, and held back on his next attack. It was another Crunch, But like last time the bare minimum amount of Dark-Type energy was put into it. Even Cheren could tell that even with that little amount his Pansage was damaged highly.

"Hmm, I think that's enough for now, Stripes. That was quite a turnover you had." I said. He let go of Cheren's Pansage and then walked back over to me.

The next Poké Ball that I took out was Pendragon's. After he was released he took a few seconds to spin around. When he settled down, I knew that he was ready to fridge orders.

"Pendragon go ahead and give him a good nip to finish him off eh?" I said. It was apparent to me that Cheren was debating whether or not to pull his Pansage from battle. He didn't withdraw him from battle though. Pendragon rolled around in a circle around him, and then delivered the finishing blow. That last crunch from Stripes had really wiped out his Pansage. He was unable to move at all after it, but he was still standing so he was counted as being able to battle. I planned on keeping Pendragon out as long as possible so that he would have enough exposure, however, his next Pokémon, was his recently evolved Pignite, which at this current point, was more than likely able to use Fire-type attacks.

Pendragon made a sound that was similar to, and may as well have been a snort. "Well, I don't need you to tell me that I'm at a disadvantage with this fire-pig."

"Actually Pendragon, I'm going to show you that type isn't always everything. Saigo's up next." Saigo emerged from his Poké Ball, but he was only slightly surprised. He quickly went into a battle mode though, and waited for the order.

"I take it this is another one of your odd opportunities, Kyn? I look forward to taking it.I figure we won't let each other down in this particular case." Saigo said, turning to face his opponent. The Pignite flared smoke and fire from its nostrils. His Pignite was thinking about what I'd said, remaining unusually silent. Cheren started thinking about his next strategy, something that he was doing more and more lately, which I was glad for.

"Well now, let's get started. Saigo, use Leaf Blade, and Leaf Tornado." I ordered. Saigo quickly used his speed, and moved behind his Pignite, which of course caused him to turn around. As he turned around he was greeted with a Leaf Blade to the face before Cheren could order a counter attack. The Pignite was surprised by the action, clearly not expecting this much of a challenge from a Grass-type.

"Cheren ordered a Flame Charge, which of course was the most logical move to so. However, once again, Saigo dodged. That was pretty much all he really could do, since the other moves would be easily dodged. Well eventually his Pignite landed a hit with a flame charge, that allowed to at least have a better chance at hitting Saigo. Saigo's speed was significantly reduced by the time the battle was over, and he'd spent most of his time dodging that he'd actually worn himself out.

"It seems like all he pretty much did was run around. If that's all it takes to overcome a type disadvantage, than it should be easy." Pendragon said. I gae a sigh, and then turned towards him.

"There's more to it than just that, but yes, he did dodge a lot here. Now, obviously if he were to battle more, even a Pokémon with a disadvantage to him could beat him, if they were more experienced, and even he knows that." I said, before turn back to Saigo, "You did good today. Take a rest for now."

Saigo moved back behind me, and over to Pendragon. "Y'know, if you weren't such a grump, I think we'd be able to have fun together giving each other rides on our backs. Me especiall with you, now that I'm a servine... but obviously the time for me to ride on your back has long passed, until you at least reach your final form."

"Okay, Cheren, that exchange that those two had.... that image is absolutely adorable, I'm going to tell you exactly what Saigo just said. By the way Saigo, humans kinda do that too, we call it a piggyback riding, which also applies to many forms of transportation nowadays, and we also refer to piggybacking." I gave Cheren the translation of what Saigo had said, and he chuckled at it. Cheren had used almost all of his Pokémon at this time, and I had planned on, by the end of it all, having all of my Pokémon to be able to meet his, and for him to of course meet them as well.

I figured that a lot of people would think of doing such as thing as that would be a huge strategic disadvantage, but that wasn't important to me at all. If anything, it just showed how single minded those people were, focusing on how best to beat their opponent instead of having fun and bonding with their friends and Pokémon, but then again, there were all different types of people and Pokémon, so it would be foolish to expect everyone to follow the same type of path.

"Well, I guess I'm down to my final Pokémon. My Liepard. I guess you'd be using Pendragon for this?" Cheren guessed. He was definitely correct. I figured that he'd gotten enough time to recover, and if not then I'd suggest that he eat a sitrus berry at some point during the battle.

"Pendragon, I trust that you'll give this Liepard a good show and show him your Steamroller attack." It wasn't an order at all, but definitely a suggestion, but he knew it to be such that in regular circumstances it may as well have been, but he was being given the liberty of choosing other moves, to surprise both him, Cheren, and the Liepard.

To start off, Pendragon did his signature flourish, by spinning himself into a flurry of shell and spikes. Since we'd both been through Pinwheel Forest, I imagined that Cheren's---at the time---Purrloin, would have encountered super-effective moves, knew what a Steamroller attack was since they'd been into Burgh's Gym.

His Liepard shifted his pose into a battle ready one, after Pendragon did his flourish, and to both of us, we knew that that was the signal for the start of the battle.

"Alright Liepard, start off with Fury Swipes." Cheren ordered. He quickly rushed Pendragon, showcasing his speed to the opposing 'mon. The hit series took off quite well, surprising both of us. Pendragon was literally stunned and so he didn't actually attack back. Cheren wasn't sure whether or not he should continue, but the Liepard turn around to him, then he knew.

While he was recovering, his Liepard start kicking up sand for the Sand-Attack, to attempt to further incapacitate Pendragon. Lucky for him, he managed to come out of his daze and countered. It wouldn't really have done much anyway, since for the most part, he could simply just close his eyes. The counter involved him spinning at near full speed, becoming a blur. As the sand hit him, it scattered everywhere but its intended target, which was his eyes.

"Heh, thanks for the sand blast. My plates needed a good polish." Pendragon said. The tone in which he said, it indicated that if he were able to, there would be a huge smirk on his face.

"You... you cocky bug! Just because my species isn't know for Rock-type moves doesn't mean I won't find some other way to stomp you flat!" The Liepard retorted. Of Course I knew of a way that he would be able to actually counter Pendragon. Assist. For reasons that I could only guess, Cheren had not utilized his Purrloin's ability to use it, and it showed, since even evolved his Liepard did not know.

"We'll see about that..." Pendragon prepared for another attack, also awaiting Cheren's orders so he could decide what to do. However, once again, Cheren did not give any orders. This time, he simply pointed at Pendragon, which was a bit of surprise, but one that made me a bit happy.

His Liepard started to make another charge, and Pendragon prepared to defend, but just as he was about halfway to him, Cheren did something that surprised both of us. "Liepard, hold it!"

Both Pendragon and his Liepard were thrown off balance, with Pendragon nearly falling over in a comedic way.

"What?" Both Pendragon and his Liepard said simultaneously.

"Liepard, it's become clear to me that at this time... we can't defeat his Whirlipede. We're going to go get the Bolt Badge next. But first I want you all to meet Kyn's Pokémon. I have a feeling that we're going to be seeing them a lot more." Cheren took off the remainder of his filled Poké Balls and released them all at once. I of course did the same with my Pokémon. Saigo was rather eager to be outside again. It crossed my mind that I'd probably be giving hi more time outside in addition to the normal rotation. I started the introductions and Cheren did the rest.

By the time we finished introducing everyone it was clear that Cheren was going to become just as strong as I was when I ran through the Pokéon League in Hoenn the second time. The only issue was whether or not he saw it as well. If only Bianca could be developed in this way... but based on the way she last greeted me I figured that it would more than likely turn out opposite and that she'd be able to hold her own in a battle of moderate difficulty, but not much beyond that. She seemed more like she was headed towards being Professor Juniper's assistant at the rate she was doing tasks for her and everything.

"I'll be seeing you later. I'm sure you want to get the Bolt Badge right away now." I waved goodbye to him, and he bowed and then returned his Pokémon to their Poké Balls with the exception of his Pignite.

We walked together for a while, but after we got back to the gate we parted ways. We allowed him a head start, and we took a bout half an hour watching the board, and the television. About ten minutes later, we headed towards Nimbasa City.