Day 42 of the Johto journey. Cloudy.
Reiji woke in the hotel, washed up with his own things, and had Gengar spread shadows over the room before letting the Pokémon out for breakfast. Once they were fed, he checked out and left.
He didn't use Ditto to change his face today.
He was going to visit Muramasa's dojo, and that was not the kind of place where showing up under a fake face would help. Better to be honest enough not to look suspicious.
That didn't mean he walked around barefaced. He still wore a cap, and a black face covering hung ready over his nose and mouth. Easy to pull up, easy to lower, and not enough to get in the way.
Azalea Town had a Bug-type Gym, and the local Trainer crowd showed it. Bug Pokémon were everywhere. Trainers walked down the road with Beedrill, Butterfree, Venonat, Spinarak—anything with wings, legs, or far too many eyes.
The town itself wasn't large. Reiji crossed it quickly and reached the eastern road. From there, he needed to head north toward Union Cave. Muramasa's dojo should be somewhere near the village at the foot of the mountains.
A famous Trainer opening a dojo out in the countryside instead of a proper city was odd, but people with reputations always had their quirks.
Reiji stood by the roadside, checked his map, and confirmed the direction. He had just folded it away when someone stepped out ahead of him and blocked the road.
"Hold it. How about a Pokémon battle?"
The person wore a cap and a face covering too. A Poké Ball flipped from hand to hand, rolled over the knuckles, then spun on one fingertip with practiced ease.
The voice, though, gave her away.
A girl.
"No thanks," Reiji said.
He had no interest in taking random challenges from masked strangers on the road.
The girl frowned. Apparently, he wasn't taking the bait the way most Trainers did.
"You don't even want to hear the wager?" she asked. "I'll use a Steel-type Pokémon. You use a Fire type. If you lose, you pay 100,000. If I lose, I pay double. 200,000."
"Still not interested."
He did have a Fire type, but finding the dojo mattered more. A random battle now could only create trouble.
"Are you even a Trainer?" The girl clicked her tongue. "You have Fire into Steel and you're still scared?"
"Then I guess I'm not a Trainer," Reiji said easily.
No battle meant no battle. She could call him whatever she liked.
"Tch. Coward. Go, then."
She stepped aside, but as Reiji passed, he heard her mutter, "A real Trainer shouldn't be afraid of any battle."
Reiji stopped.
That one got a little annoying.
He turned back. "It's not fear. It's just not worth the trouble."
Now that he had stopped, curiosity got the better of him. "You really want to challenge Fire types that badly? That confident in your Pokémon?"
"I've already won more than ten bad-matchup battles in a row," the girl said, looking at him with open disdain. "Not that it matters to someone who won't fight."
More than ten wins against type disadvantage.
So that was her game.
"All right," Reiji said. "If you want a fight that much, fine."
He reached into his bag, found a warm Poké Ball, and tossed it out.
Magmar landed on the road in a burst of light.
"Magmar? Good. A real Fire type." The girl's eyes sharpened, and she threw her own Poké Ball. "Go, Skarmory!"
A silver bird cut into the air.
Reiji looked up at it. Skarmory's metal wings were broad, clean, and strong. Whoever this girl was, she had raised it well.
Skarmory was a Johto Pokémon, Steel and Flying. It nested in thorny brush and grew its wings hard through constant scratches. Reiji had heard of them but had never run into one himself.
Gengar's voice came from his shadow.
"Gengar…"
Lokoko translated from beside him. "Gengar says that Skarmory feels strong. Be careful. Magmar might not win easily."
"Might not win?"
Reiji opened Magmar's panel. He hadn't checked it in over fifty days.
[Magmar]
[Type: Fire]
[Gender: Male]
[Potential: 77.75%]
[Level: 46.59%]
[Ability: Flame Body/45.03%]
[Moves]
Fire-type: [Fire Punch/44.27%, Lava Plume/36.21%, Flamethrower/43.88%, Sunny Day/38.31%, Fire Blast/41.14%, Fire Spin/40.53%, Flame Wheel/38.14%, Ember/44.37%, Flame Charge/41.17%, Will-O-Wisp/40.22%, Heat Wave/32.22%, Flare Blitz/28.12%, Heat Crash/41.42%]
Normal-type: [Belly Drum/25.14%, Focus Energy/24.23%, Scary Face/22.82%, Smokescreen/16.62%, Leer/18.22%, Protect/32.72%, Mega Punch/23.44%, Mega Kick/20.34%, Body Slam/13.14%, Hyper Beam/12.33%]
Fighting-type: [Dynamic Punch/24.11%, Mach Punch/26.42%, Low Kick/23.14%, Brick Break/8.54%, Focus Punch/4.44%]
Dark-type: [Feint Attack/14.23%, Taunt/5.62%, Knock Off/3.81%]
Poison-type: [Clear Smog/18.27%, Smog/16.21%]
Other: [Thunder Punch/25.22%, Rest/35.91%, Iron Tail/21.42%]
Magmar was level 46.
If it couldn't beat Skarmory with a type advantage, then Skarmory had to be relying on aerial control and a level gap.
Quasi–Elite Four tier, maybe.
No wonder she was so confident. She was using a high-level Skarmory to farm matchups against weaker Fire-type Trainers outside town.
Fine.
If she was using raw level advantage to force bad matchups, then fine. Reiji could answer with type advantage and see whose plan held up better.
"I'm ready," he said, closing Magmar's panel. "You can make the first move."
The girl's eyes narrowed behind her mask.
So he thought having Fire advantage meant he could afford to give her the opening?
He would regret that.
"Skarmory, Steel Wing!"
"Steel Wing?" Reiji nearly frowned.
She had been talking about type matchups this whole time. Steel was resisted by Fire. Why call for a Steel-type move here?
Magmar noticed it first.
"mar!"
It knew what Steel Wing looked like, and this wasn't it.
The gray light gathering around Skarmory was too heavy, too sharp, and far too dangerous.
"That's Sky Attack."
Reiji's expression cooled.
So she called one move and used another.
A feint. A dirty one.
Turns out that old warning was right: the prettier the girl, the better she lied.
"Magmar, Flame Armor. Use Protect and hold it."
He didn't panic. Sky Attack still had to break through Protect first. If this had been Elite Four-tier power, he would have run without shame. But against something close to Magmar's level, Protect could hold.
"mar!"
Magmar faced the dive head-on and slammed its fists together.
Flame Armor ignited.
Heat surged outward in a brutal wave. The temperature shot past 1,000 degrees and kept climbing. The ground beneath Magmar's feet softened, then began to melt.
The girl backed away fast, raising an arm against the heat.
"What kind of fire is that…?"
Skarmory felt it too, but it was already committed. At that speed, there was no turning back. It came down like a silver spear.
The impact tore open the road.
Smoke and dust swallowed the battlefield.
Reiji released Pidgeot to clear the air. When the dust thinned, Skarmory was still there—except now both of its wings were caught in Magmar's hands.
Protect had taken most of Sky Attack, but the barrier had cracked under the force. Before it could shatter completely, Magmar grabbed Skarmory and held on.
The leftover force dragged Magmar backward, carving a long trench through the ground, but the charge stopped there.
"mar!"
It tightened its grip.
Skarmory thrashed wildly. The heat pouring off Magmar's body was cooking it alive. If it didn't break free, its metal body would not hold out for long.
"kaaa!"
With its wings pinned, Skarmory stabbed forward with its beak, aiming straight for Magmar's head.
Magmar snapped forward and caught the beak in its own mouth.
Then fire erupted at point-blank range.
A blast of scorching flame forced Skarmory's beak open and drove it back. Magmar released its wings at the same time.
Fire Blast hit cleanly.
The flames spread into the familiar shape, shrank inward, and vanished.
Skarmory still tried to stand.
Its wings were charred. Its steel feathers had been badly damaged. It was tough—there was no denying that—but the battle was already over.
"kaaa!"
The moment it forced itself upright, flames flared across its body.
Burn.
Of course it was burned. Magmar had held it in Flame Armor and then hit it in the face with Fire Blast. Escaping without a burn would have been the strange part.
"Skarmory!"
The girl rushed over and sprayed burn medicine across Skarmory's body and wings, cooling the scorched metal as quickly as she could.
The feathers would recover with food and rest. That wasn't the real issue.
Reiji sighed.
"Did no one ever teach you not to force a bad matchup for no reason?"
The girl went still.
"If you want to beat Fire types, don't make Skarmory tank flames just to prove a point. Use Ground, Rock, or Water. You understand type matchups well enough to know that."
"You wouldn't understand," she said, teeth clenched. "I have to prove a Flying type can beat Fire."
Reiji looked at her for a moment.
"If Flying is the only rule, then use Gyarados. Or Gligar. Pelipper. Aerodactyl. Dragonite. Salamence. There are plenty of Pokémon that either are Flying type or can fight in the air without folding the moment fire touches them."
Some Trainers in this world were just stubborn to the bone. Ash was the perfect example. Guts were useful, sure, but guts alone only worked when the world bent over backward to reward them.
The girl blinked.
"That counts?"
"Why wouldn't it? If your goal is 'Flying beats Fire,' then they all fit."
Reiji yawned and had Magmar drop Flame Armor. Then he sprayed medicine over Magmar's hands, rubbed its head, and said, "Catching Sky Attack like that was reckless. If you can't hold it safely, dodge next time. Rest for now."
"mar."
Magmar scratched its head. Its palms hurt a little, but Skarmory had clearly taken the worse hit. It had won, so why did Reiji look unhappy?
Still, Reiji was worried about it.
That felt pretty good.
As for catching attacks barehanded, that was Rhydon's influence. Rhydon's idea of battle was simple: get close, hit hard, and take the hit if you had to.
Reiji recalled Magmar and walked past the girl.
He had barely gone two steps when her voice came from behind him, tight and rough beneath the mask.
"But I have a reason. There's something I have to do with Skarmory."
Reiji didn't stop.
"Does it really have to be done that way?"
Her problems had nothing to do with him, but he still gave his answer.
"If a rule only gets you beaten, throw it away. Winners get to decide what matters. Losers just cry where nobody sees."
He walked a few more steps, then added, "If it really has to be Skarmory, then build its Fire resistance properly. Feed it Damp Rocks, Occa Berries, anything that helps it handle heat. It's a Steel type. It should be able to process mineral resources."
That was all the advice he could give.
If she insisted on using Skarmory, then she needed a real training path. His Forretress had been raised with a similar method.
Long-term feeding with resistance materials could improve a Pokémon's tolerance to certain types. It wasn't fast, but for Steel, Ground, and Rock types, it worked.
Crystal Onix was the extreme version. It had eaten so much crystal that its body changed, losing its fear of water and becoming weak to fire instead.
Skarmory didn't need to go that far. It didn't need to change its type. It only needed enough resistance to survive Fire-type attacks.
Reiji disappeared down the road.
The girl stayed where she was, his words circling in her head.
They sounded too close to the training method her family had passed down for Skarmory. She had thought her Skarmory had already overcome fire.
Then she met Reiji.
Then she saw Magmar's flames.
If Skarmory couldn't endure even that, how was it supposed to overcome the fire from that night?
The fire that burned down her home.
The fire that took her parents and family.
They still hadn't done enough.
She looked up, wanting to chase him, but Reiji was already gone. He had probably entered the cave.
Her gaze dropped to Skarmory, unconscious and burned at her feet.
She forced herself to hold back. First, she had to get Skarmory treated.
She recalled it, released Pidgeot, and flew back toward Azalea Town.
She could look for that mysterious Trainer later.
If he had gone in that direction, she had a good idea where he was headed.
She had been there before.
[End of chapter]
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