DPA: Rivals

Chapter 15: Hurricane Zubat Part 3

Daryon wiped rain droplets off of his face as Pikachu Quick Attacked another Rattata, knocking it out. It had begun to rain a while ago, and at this point his clothes were completely soaked. Water dripped down his face as he and Pikachu continued to battle these enemy Zubat.

On the other side of the street, Cameron and April were in the middle of an intense brawl. "I knew you just got lucky!" April snarled as her Eevee Tackled Cameron's Weedle, fainting it. "I'm a vastly superior trainer, I've been trained by the best of the best. Your win against me last week was clearly a fluke!" Eevee crouched down, ready to pounce on Mudkip, when one of Torchic's stray flames hit it in the shoulder, throwing it off balance.

"Eevee!" April picked up her Pokémon, a patch of silver fur lightly singed, before looking up at Cameron. Cameron had used the time given to him by the temporary distraction to spray Mudkip with a Potion. April, irritated, took off her cap and threw it on the ground.

"Enough of this!" April roared, drawing the attention of everyone around. "Horde, let's use combo move Megasonic!"

The many Zubat that were still up listened to their master, and simultaneously let off bursts of Supersonic, a loud, piercing screech with enough force to crack the concrete ground beneath each trainer's feet. Nearby windows shattered into thousands of pieces as Daryon, Cameron, Evan and Brock covered their ears, trying to block out a sound a thousand times worse than nails on a chalkboard. Cameron could hear the lenses of his glasses crack before falling out of the frame in tiny pieces.

April and the Rocket Grunts were apparently wearing a special type of earplug, as they were completely immune to the explosive force of sound.

After about 30 seconds, the Zubat stopped, leaving absolute silence. No fighting, just...silence. Cameron and the others just stared at April, completely disoriented, a painful ringing sound reverberating throughout their heads. Brock fell to his knees, shaking. Cameron fell towards Daryon, who did his best to hold his friend up, although Daryon himself was struggling, knees wobbly.

With the exception of the Zubat who had participated in the attack, every Pokémon had been knocked out by the sheer force of the sound, which had been powerful enough to rip chunks out of the ground. Cameron looked over at Mudkip, who had used its body to cover Pikachu, protecting it from the sound.

April walked over to Daryon and Cameron, each footstep sounding like a miniature explosion to their impaired hearing. She stopped only a few feet away from the duo.

"You lost," April gloated, blowing a few strands of hair out of her eye. "We gave you a chance to run, to leave us be, to let us do what we want, but you had to be a hero. So we're going to leave now. With your Pokémon ."

"NO!" Daryon shouted before wincing, having lost, at least temporarily, the ability to control his volume. "You can't take them..." he whispered, probably quieter than he would've liked to be.

Cameron glanced just beyond April. Pikachu had wiggled its way out from under the fainted Mudkip, stumbling a bit before managing to steady itself, very clearly sore and exhausted, but still willing to fight. He looked back at April, who was in the middle of typing something on a smartphone, probably to another criminal. Cameron tapped his foot against Daryon's ankle, getting Daryon's attention, before nodding in Pikachu's direction. Daryon noticed the up-and-about Pikachu.

He looked up at the Zubat horde, who had quieted down, but were still present, soaked by the rain.

"Tell Pikachu to Thunder Shock one of the Zubat in the air," Cameron whispered.

"What will that do-" Daryon began.

"Do it!" Cameron insisted.

"What are you two saying!" April demanded to know, having caught them whispering to each other.

"Pikachu, Thunder Shock upwards!" Daryon shouted, shoving April to the ground.

Pikachu listened, blasting a strong bolt of electricity directly above itself, hitting one Zubat. The electrical energy jumped from this first Zubat to another, and then another, knocking Zubat out of the sky at it spread at a rapid pace. In seconds, the sky was no longer blacked out, and the ground was littered with KO'd Zubat.

"I...I don't..." April shuddered, unable to form words.

"My Arceus that was epic," Evan said, running a hand through his hair.

"Shut up!" April screamed, getting up off the muddy ground. "Grunts, retreat, now!" The six grunts, who had various expressions from amazement to terror, all nodded in unison before marching off into the distance. April, holding her knocked-out Eevee curled up in her arms, stumbled a bit before bolting.

Daryon turned to Brock, who just watched as they ran away. "We can't get 'em right now," Brock said, both hands on his head. No one had quite recovered from the Zubat horde's Megasonic, and it showed. Brock knelt down, placing his hand gently on one of the defeated Zubat. "I'm going to focus on these Zubat right now. The Gym will open up two days from now. Get some rest."

Daryon picked up a completely worn out Pikachu, cradling it. "Of course," he said. "See you then."