Pokemon Regression

Chapter 7: Soldier V.S. Prodigy

I felt a cold sweat forming at the back of my neck as the entire playground went dead silent. Everyone-Even Blue himself- had been expecting the battle to end with Blue's next attack. Yeller spun through the air, landing gracefully on his back legs in front of me. 

"...What?" Blue asked in confusion. "That... That wasn't Tackle! That was Quick Attack!"

I had to hand it to Blue, the fact that he could tell that at his age was actually impressive. Most of the other kids had just made remarks like 'That Tackle was super fast!' or 'Didn't it seem to move a little strangely?', but Blue had known which move I'd substituted. 

"Yeller can be a bit disobedient sometimes, I guess." I shrugged dismissively. "He must have decided to do a Quick Attack instead." Yeller shot me a glance, but I reassured him with my stare. You did perfect Yeller.

Satisfied, the Rattata returned it's attention to the reeling Squirtle, which slowly stood back to it's feet. 

"Don't mess with me!" Blue exclaimed, dramatically throwing an arm to his side. "You might've gotten lucky once, but I'm still going to win this battle!"

"Yeller, Tackle!" I commanded as I snapped my fingers, and Yeller once again began to glow with white energy. 

See, as an ex-military soldier, I'd had to train my Pokemon with all sorts of crafty strategies for dealing with opponents. Yeller and I had never been as strong as our opponents, so the only way to win was to play underhanded tricks. 

One of the best tricks I had was the 'snap' command. Through training and communication with Yeller, I had taught it to substitute the command I said for a different one so long as I snapped my fingers when I said the word. 

Tackle -> Quick Attack
Quick Attack -> Tail Whip
Tail Whip -> Tackle

This was just one of the tricks I'd learnt when studying under Red, and one of the most reliable. I couldn't count the number of battles this trick had saved me from.

Blue seemingly hadn't caught onto the trick yet, as he called out to his Squirtle. "Squirt! Prepare Water Gun!"

The Squirtle did as commanded, and was once again slammed by the white energy of Rattata's quick attack, leaving it's water to disperse harmlessly into the ground behind Yeller. 

Blue sat in silence, his hand pressed to his chin in thought as Yeller backed off once again. Blue tilted his head forward for a moment, closing his eyes.

"I see. It's the snap of your fingers right? You're using that to tell Yeller to use Quick Attack instead."

!??

I felt a shiver go down my spine. He figured it out that quickly?!

He opened his eyes and met my gaze again, his dark blue pupils staring into my soul. "I'd never considered something like that as a possibility. Looks like I've been underestimating you. I'll stop doing that now."

...Wait, weren't his eyes light grey? Why do they look like they're tinted blue now?

His eyes almost appeared like they were giving off a subtle dark blue light, and the sensation it gave me was almost indescribable. His Squirtle stood, and I felt that it too was different somehow. 

"Go ahead." Blue spoke with a calm voice that seemed out of character from what I knew of him. "I'll respond to your next attack. That trick won't work anymore."

I opened my mouth to do another Trick Quick Attack, but as I stared into those eyes I could tell he was right. The quick attack would get countered. 

"...QC Tail Whip!" I commanded, pivoting to a different strategy. Yeller once again began to glow with white energy, and charged towards the Squirtle with alarming speed.