Pokémon: Out of the Woods | A Galar, Unova & Sinnoh Fanfiction

Chapter 91: Pokémon Trainer Vs. Pokémon Wielder

Dragapult didn't need a command to slam Runerigus to the floor. It fainted. Khalid's Pokémon moved faster than Volo could react. Steadying itself on Khalid's shoulder, Cinderace swung its free leg to boot a fireball at Volo himself. He was flung off his feet and into the wall. A Hammerlocke Gym flag tumbled down to bury him. Khalid was about to tell Cinderace to smash through the Energy Plant's doors, but with its leg broken, it exhausted its energy. It fainted. By then, Volo had sent out his Shadow Garchomp. He stumbled back to his feet.

'Garchomp! Kill him!'

Even in that moment of panic, Khalid noticed that Volo had to be at least 60. He was ageing.

'Dragapult! Come back! Ga'an, Ninetales!'

Khalid's Alolan Ninetales narrowly dodged Shadow End as it dropped from its Poké Ball. The floor shook as Garchomp's scythes slammed into it with its full strength and body weight.

'Ninetales! Ice Beam!'

Under normal circumstances, Khalid would have waited for his opponent's Pokémon to free itself from the floor. These weren't normal circumstances. Ice Beam shot straight through one of Garchomp's scythes. Its screeching cry was deafening as it yanked itself from the floor to charge at Ninetales. Ninetales leapt out of its way. It charged on. Khalid jumped from its path only seconds before he was trampled. Garchomp skidded to a halt before it smashed into the wall.

'Ninetales! Come on! Ice Beam!'

Garchomp's other scythe was pierced. It was pure rage that kept it conscious. Ninetales didn't dodge in time. Its neck was brutally cracked in Shadow End. It was a one-hit KO. Khalid forced himself not to grimace as he sent Dragapult back out. Volo didn't need to know he was terrified, but he probably did. Dragapult wasn't afraid. It was angry. Its Dreepy shot from its cannons to batter Garchomp unconscious. Volo sent out Lucario. It was, of course, a Shadow Pokémon, though its aura wasn't as strong as the others Khalid saw. He must have tried to purify it.

'Dragapult! U-turn!'

Dragapult whacked Lucario before it was zapped back to its Poké Ball and replaced with Zapdos. In the moment they switched, Lucario lunged at Khalid. It seized his wrists before Zapdos' Thunderous Kick flung it into the quaking wall.

'Thanks, mate...'

Lucario sprang back up. Zapdos didn't even wait for a command from Khalid. It leapt up to come crashing down on Lucario's skull. It sank its claws into its steely skin and slammed its head against the floor until it fainted.

'Y'know, mate... that was a bit Shadow-esque. But it was out of love. Maybe if you tried some basic human emotion, you wouldn't need to torture all these Pokémon to fight for you.'

'Tell Team Plasma that! My Pokémon were taken against my will!'

He sent out his next Pokémon: the cloned Galarian Articuno. Judging by its appearance, it was an XD-series Shadow Pokémon, impossible to purify without a flawlessly flowing Purify Chamber.

'You're a member of Team Plasma!'

'Unfortunately, yes, but I never wanted to be! My grandson had no choice whatsoever! He was born into it and brainwashed from the moment he took his first breath!'

'That's awful, but do you really think your family's little rampage is going to solve anything?!'

Khalid expected Volo to scream that Pluto was about to forge a new world. He didn't. He hesitated and looked down at the ground. Zapdos leapt at Articuno while it awaited a command. It seized it by the tail and whirled it around before flinging it at the Energy Plant's doors.