Mel winced but remained quiet, not wishing to interrupt to battle.
"That move is probably too advanced for Blaze to handle at his
current level." She said quietly.
Cyndaquil looked back towards the battle, and jumped off Tiger's
shoulder. He ran over to Blaze, and smiled. "You can do this!
Just concentrate and you'll get the move down" the Pokemon said
encouragingly. Tiger stopped by the ladder and looked over his
shoulder to watch the battle.
The elder nodded to Bellsprout and the Pokemon used a vine whip.
Blaze was first hit by vine whip and was hurt with the combined
force of flame burst and vine whip. He then heard Cyndaquil's
words, and got some of his confidence back again.
"Blaze, go with smokescreen, and then tackle!" Victor said,
changing his strategy, keeping in mind Blaze's power level. Blaze
used smokescreen, and hid himself in the dark to use Tackle on
Bellsprout.
Mira watched with interest. Some moves are too powerful...
She thought, making mental notes. She glanced down to Char, who she
knew as a fact was very young (only a few levels past ten). She
pushed the TM for flamethrower further into her bag and continued
to watch.
Cyndaquil narrowed his eyes against the smoke. He then saw
Bellsprout struggling in the smoke. "Bellsprout use a razor leaf
try and cut through the smoke" the elder called out. Bellsprout
then shot off razor leaf wildly, and was hit by tackle.
Blaze was hit by one of the razor leaves, and avoided making close
contact with Blaze. Am I so worthless as not to use a single
move?
The Cyndaquil then prepared another flame burst without being
commanded to. This one, too failed and hurt Blaze.
"Didn’t I tell you NOT to use that move? Stop it, and stick with
Ember!" Victor shouted, looking at Blaze. Blaze looked back at
Victor and snorted. He prepared another Flame Burst.
Cymdaquil sensed Blaze's frustration,mand stumbled back from a
stray razor leaf. "You aren't useless, Blaze. You can do this.
Just concentrate on the move, feel it build up and release. I know
you can do this" the Pokemon said encouragingly.
Bellsprout stumbled back from a part of the flame burst. He
prepared a vine whip.
Mel flinched. ""They're not going to win if they keep going at it
like this. If Blaze keeps trying to use Flame Burst, he'll end up
knocking himself out."
Lucario simply shrugged. "Maybe not." He repeated
stubbornly.
Victor decided to give in to teach Blaze a lesson. "Fine. Use Flame
Burst all you want and thank me when you're roasted by your own
move." He said stubbornly.
Blaze gave another snort and used flame burst, which failed again.
The Cyndaquil had lost a fair share of health just becuase of
damage from Flame Burst. "I'm trying!" He said to Tiger's
Cyndaquil.
A few (failed) flame bursts later, Blaze began to pant and looked
at his trainer, finally understanding his mindset.
"I hope you're back to your senses?" Victor asked with a hint of
concern in his voice.
Cyndaquil growled, and glanced over to Victor. He then sighed, and
walked away in defeat. The elder shook his head and returned his
Pokemon "your Cyndaquil needs more training. Once he masters that
move come back, and battle again" he said simply.
Tiger sighed, and picked Cyndaquil up. He then left the sprout
tower silently.
"Wait. I can battle without that move." Blaze said to the
elder. This time he turned back to his trainer to wait for the next
command. Houndour noticed that Victor and Blaze were panting at the
same pace.
"Your heartbeats seem to be going together." The Houndour
commented.
"I think-" Mira stopped, seeing Blaze want to keep going. She
looked at Toka, who was watching with great interest. Char got to
her feet, stunned by the notion.
The elder froze "what?" He said cautiously, and grabbed
bellsprout's pokeball once more. The Pokemon came out once more,
and narrowed his eyes. He was weakened by the battles before.
"Sometimes you can't help" Tiger said quietly to his Cyndaquil. The
Pokemon growled, and shook his head.
"They made Blaze feel like he was useless!" the Pokemon
snapped crossly. Tiger just sighed, and blinked. "No Pokemon
should feel that way!"
"I know..." Tiger said sympathetically. "Let's get to the gym, and
get our badge.." He said trying to cheer his Pokemon up.
"I told you so." Lucario said stubbornly, crossing his arms
to watch.
Mel looked at Blaze and Victor. She slowly pulled out her pokégear
and tapped on it for a few moments, waiting for it to turn on. She
watched on curiously, looking between the trainer and Pokémon.
Blaze used smokescreen once more, and rushed at Bellsprout with
Ember Attack.
Victor smiled on seeing Blaze. He could almost feel the heat
radiating from the Cyndaquil or was he really feeling
it.
"Houndour, can you feel Blaze's flames?" Victor asked just to be
sure.
"No. Can’t you see he's too far?" Houndour said. Blaze was
at a decent distance from the group.
"I know, but I feel as if I'm in the middle of those flames."
Victor observed.
The veil of flames surrounding Cyndaquil became stronger.
Bellsprout was hit by the moves. He tried to counter with razor
leaf, but he was already weakened by the previous battles. The
Pokemon then fainted.
Tiger walked into the gym, and looked around. He then looked at
Cyndaquil, who was on his shoulder, and stepped onto the rising
plaform. The platform went high into air, and he fell back. He then
got to his feet as the platform stopped, and he was on the top
floor to where Falkner stood.
Mel blinked, completely confused by what happened. "You won!" She
exclaimed, slightly surprised. No offense to Blaze and Victor, but
she hadn't expected them to be able to pull it off, not with Blaze
constantly trying to use flame burst.