Pokemon Heroes: Sinnoh Saga [Book 1]

Chapter 69: Battle Royale, Part the Third

"We'd done battle in a myriad of different ways. We'd done double battles, four on four, triple battle free-for-alls, and even traditional one versus one battle. But we'd never done three on one. Or at least, we'd never thought about it before. It was unorthodox, but not impossible—probably not even unheard of somewhere in the world. I'm sure we were the first to come up with this, but it made sense. Niya wasn't training for anything, Jeremy needed to make himself stronger to be a Pokémon Ranger, and Alyssandra, while still training for future contests, needed a different kind of battle training for her profession. I was the only one who needed to strengthen their Pokémon up for the Pokémon League, and I took every opportunity I could to get stronger."

Sam was on the ropes early on.

He had led with his Rampardos. She was doing a wonderful job keeping three Pokémon at bay, but her one flaw was she wasn't that fast—but she hit like a truck. She was near to downing the three Pokémon she was going up against—Jeremy's Floatzel, Niya's Glameow, and Alyssandra's Eevee—but they had also devised a plan where after Rampardos would attack one of their Pokémon, the other two would go in for strikes from behind Rampardos before she could fully turn and retaliate.

Rampardos was good at charging in one direction, but the turning wasn't her strongest suit.

Sam needed to thin fast, or Glameow, Eevee and Floatzel were going to bring Rampardos down before she could make a dent in the battle.

Sam had a disadvantage against Floatzel; the Water Type Pokémon was strong against Rampardos's Rock typing. But he could easily handle the other two—Niya's Pokémon were stronger than his or Lyss's or Jeremy's, but the Normal Typing didn't do much damage, even at a higher level.

He needed to think of something, fast, or he was going to be short a Pokémon early.

"You thought of something yet?" wondered Aurelio, keeping an eye on the match, watching Rampardos slam itself into Eevee as it took a strike from Glameow in the back, causing the Pokémon to roar out.

"Working on it!" Sam hissed under his breath.

Then, something came to him. It was half-assed and risky, but it was better than nothing.

"Rampardos!" cried Sam, "Flamethrower around yourself, put up a wall of flame, then charge at Eevee!"

Rampardos obeyed, belching flames around the indoor battle arena that was conveniently on this boat. It was Pokémon League certified, allowing it to resist the damage a Pokémon Battle might cause normally.

The other Pokémon couldn't strike through the flames, and by the time Floatzel had put the flames out. Rampardos had trampled Eevee with Zen Headbutt and knocked the Pokémon out.

Sam had Rampardos turn its next attack on Glameow. His next plan involved belching flames as it charged, enveloping itself in fire so that nothing could touch it physically. Even as Floatzel struck Rampardos with Aqua Jet, hoping to douse the flames, all it did was unleash a thick, dense curtain of steam—something that worked to Sam's advantage.

Glameow was soon trampled, incapacitated by a Zen Headbutt.

Finally, Rampardos turned its attention on Floatzel, both of them hidden and buried deep within the steam.

Few could see through the steamy room, though it was starting to clear.

Sam had a small window with which to strike. He needed to take that now.

Sam sent Rampardos in for a Brick Break. The floor started to shake as Rampardos's heavy girth slammed against the ground at top speed.

Floatzel felt Rampardos coming, and the two clashed. Brick Break versus Aqua Jet.