Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ The Forgotten Son ❯ A Ways To Go ( Chapter 9 )

Kenshin was the first to make a move, charging forward at a blazing speed. The looks in its eyes and its expression were deeply intense, and the world around it suddenly seemed non-existent. With a deep-throated growl it swung its blade forward in a wide arc. Just before the blade made contact, however, hitmonchan ducked quickly, dropping below the blow and stepping in to land a perfectly placed blow into Kenshin's charging body.

 

The wood gecko was flung back from the force, but managed to land on all four of its limbs and kept its balance. But in the instant it had landed, hitmonchan was already upon it, having pursued it across the battlefield. It landed an impossibly quick Mach Punch directly into Kenshin's face, then followed the blow with a combination of five speedy blows landed in various places across the lizard's body in a heartbeat, then finished the devastating combination by stepping in again, placing itself under the pokemon's toppling body and slamming it with a Sky Uppercut, leaping into the air to support the blow as the receiver was sent flinging into the air, just missing collision with the cavern ceiling.

 

Kenshin hardly held onto its consciousness as it fell from the ceiling, but giving itself a moment to breathe allowed it to draw full focus again, tightening its grip on its leaf blade and gritting its teeth. It came down at full force, with gravity supporting it, and swung its blade down at the peak of its speed. Hitmonchan hadn't expected retaliation after the last series of blows and took the attack full force, a deep gash cutting across its body. It stepped forward to hit Kenshin again, but this time the wood gecko leapt back before it came for it, getting out of range and stopping for a breathe.

 

As Kenshin skidded to a stop at a safe distance from Hitmonchan, it was surprised to see it… grinning, almost oblivious of the wound cut down its body. It swung its arm in a circle a few times, its expression changing from a grin to a smug smirk as it displayed how ineffective Kenshin's blows were against the much more experienced and battle-worn opponent.

 

“Kenshin,” Luke muttered, “If we keep it up this'll end up like that battle with scyther in the well. We've got to switch up our strategy.”

 

Kenshin winced at his use of `our.' Didn't he understand that he was not a part of the wood gecko's battles? It wanted nothing to do with the battle-fearing weakling.

 

That was what ran through Kenshin's head at first, but it stopped itself. Luke wasn't a battle fearing weakling anymore, was he? He trained daily now. He accepted this guy's challenge without nearly as much hesitation as before. What Kenshin still could not admit to himself, however, was that Luke's input could actually be helpful now.

 

“Leech seed.” He whispered. “If we plant leech seed on Hitmonchan, we can work off that advantage and maybe even win this thing.”

 

Kenshin dashed forward while Luke was mid-sentence, appearing to have not even bothered to listen to the whole thing. With a deep throated growl it brought its sword forward, but this time anticipated hitmonchan's counter blow and managed to duck down below the blow, planning to move in and attack its body. But suddenly the air around Kenshin lifted it off its feet and threw it right up to the altitude of hitmonchan's arms; leaving it wide open for a stunningly quick mach punch.

 

The green lizard twirled through the air, landing on its arm and fighting to its feet as quickly as it could.

 

“That was incredible!” Luke thought out loud, to which Kenshin replied by snarling at his master. Complimenting the opponent? What kind of idiot was he, exactly? “That punch… did that actually create a vacuum in the air?”

 

The karate king laughed with gusto, fighting it down to a large grin. “Yes, it did! That's a move called `Vacuum Blade'- my Hitmonchan can punch with such speed his fists literally cut through the air and form vacuums.” He redirected his eyes at the wounded Kenshin. “Small pokemon tend to be picked up by the more powerful vacuums from its faster punches.”

 

The way the karate king said that pissed off Kenshin; it was like he was implying Kenshin was small and insignificant in the face of Hitmonchan; something which was partially true but demeaning nonetheless especially to the proud lizard. It began a deep-throated yell and began dashing forward but its charge was interrupted by the karate king's loud “STOP!”

 

“That's enough.” He said. “I've seen enough.”

 

That passive comment angered Kenshin further, and it almost snarled and attacked him had Luke not come from behind and suddenly grabbed its arms.

 

“Kenshin, calm down.” Luke said. “This guy is just out of our league. I'm not surprised.” As he spoke his voice drifted into a more somber and less confident voice, and his eyes looked away and stared at nothing in particular.

 

“Boy,” the karate king said, “Your pokemon is an excellent battler, but some more input from you would have been helpful.”

 

Luke frowned. “And what about you? I didn't hear any commands coming from you.”

 

“Did it look like I needed to?”

 

Luke was suddenly struck with his own helplessness in this battle, and he felt a sinking feeling as he saw the awesome gap between himself and this self-fashioned karate king.

 

“Hmmmm,” the karate kind said with a slowly growing smile, “I'm glad I brought you here to train with me.”

 

“Train?” Luke said, startled. “I thought you just wanted to battle!”

 

“Your pokemon intrigue me. And, it's always better to train with a partner.” The karate king said, “I think training is a good idea.”

 

Luke wasn't sure he liked the sound of it. Stuck in these creepy caverns with this creepy guy for a few days was not what he had in mind when he thought about his journey to Mahogany.

 

“You should get some sleep.” The karate king said as he fished up some fresh water for his Hitmonchan. “You look like you didn't sleep at all last night.”

 

Luke frowned as the karate king completely took his focus from the boy. Training daily in the mornings was one thing, but joining some karate king for a few days in dark dank caves to train was a whole new level of obsession.

 

But the look in Kenshin's eyes seemed so clear, focused and determined as he watched the karate king and his pokemon interact. He really seemed to want this. And Luke WAS trying to do what was best for his pokemon and not always himself, and it was an excellent opportunity to escape the stress of his life outside for a few days and spend time with his pokemon.

 

The idea grew on him more and more until he finally broke out into a light grin and decided HE wanted to do this, too.