With a spectacular crash, Mark landed onto the sturdy tree root below. Evidently in pain from both the drug and the fall, he silently felt around for major injuries. Gingerly touching his leg, Mark winced as he inspected the damage. Right below his knee was a large gaping cut, most likely from getting caught onto a branch. Sitting down to rest and take everything in, Mark closed his eyes, but was jarred awake by a single sentence that drifted by.
"Hey, would one of you like to battle me?"
Battle
Battle
Battle
The one word echoed in Mark's brain, screaming at him to reply. As if in a trance, Mark forced himself up despite his numerous cuts and bruises and aggressively limped towards the voice. Soon enough, he came across a clearing, where he saw a group of trainers and an elderly man, who seemed to be some sort of gardener. The old man looked at Mark in confusion and said:
"My word, you look awful. And who might you be laddie? Surely you haven't come to accept my challenge."
Giving the man an animalistic grin, Mark whispered shakily:
"That's exactly why I'm here. Now fight me or I'll reduce you to cinders."
Out of the corner of his eye, Mark spotted one of the trainers reaching for a Pokeball. He violently whipped around and stumbling on his bad leg. Seemingly possessed by something, Mark spoke in that same trance-like state:
"Stay out of this."
Highly confused, the old man scratched his beard and grumbled:
"Kids these days....no respect for the elderly. So you battlin' me or not?"
The old man drew a Pokeball and sent out a small crustacean Pokemon.
Corphish waved its claws impatiently and turned to its trainer. The old man shrugged said:
"I dunno either pal. We were gonna battle that kid over there but now this nut shows up, higher than Prism Tower, demanding a fight."
Walking up to Jack, the old man whispered apologetically:
"Hey kiddo, ya mind if I deal with that boy first? The faster someone like him is gone, the better we'll all be."
Without an answer, he hobbled over to Mark and said impatiently:
"Ya done got a deal, bucko. Let's throw down."
Mark silently drew his own Pokeball and in a flash, sent out his partner Pokemon: Magmortar. The fire Pokemon could sense something was off, as it shot a worried look at its trainer. Mark glared daggers back, silently telling Magmortar to back off. Suddenly, he called out:
"Overheat!"
Magmortar was even more worried now, as Mark only ever commanded Overheat in the most dire situations, since he knew how much that move strained Magmortar. However, the Pokemon trusted Mark with his life and overruled any worry. Magmortar drew its arms to its body, gathering up all of its infernal energy and released it with a massive fireball, which was headed straight for Corphish.
Direct hit. The little Pokemon, despite being a water type, was blown away by the sheer magnitude of the attack. However, being resistant to the attack, Corphish wasn't completely down for the count yet.
The old man yelled furiously at Mark:
"You crazy?! You coulda burned down this entire place!"
Turning to Corphish, he instructed:
"If you can, then use Crabhammer!"
Corphish leaped at Magmortar with surprising agility and raised single claw to attack. Mark furiously commanded:
"Dodge it you worthless animal!"
Taken aback by the harsh words, Magmortar moved a bit too slowly and was nailed right in the chest by Crabhammer. Now normally, this attack wouldn't be too big of a deal for a bulky Pokemon like Magmortar, but after exhausting all of its energy with Overheat, the Pokemon's guard was practically nonexistent, so a clean hit from the Corphish was more than enough to knock it back.
Clearly unable to continue, Magmortar turned to its trainer helplessly. Mark, filled with anger and confusion, spat:
"Useless, useless, USELESS! Such a weak Pokemon is no use to Team Flare."
Mark brought out Magmortar's Pokeball and slammed it down on the ground in disgust. He turned to Magmortar and said coldly:
"You're dismissed."
As he watched his trainer limp off into the distance, Magmortar called out weakly drifting into unconsciousness, remembering how good Mark always was to his Pokemon.
