Chapter 152: An Exchange Between Fellow Patients
Author: Samsung Charmander (Author Name)
"Squeak squeak!"
Rattata seized the opening in its opponent's attack, tilted its head back, and cried out. A red glow instantly enveloped its body as it used Focus Energy.
Its mental focus sharpened, making its next attack more likely to land a critical hit.
The grunt's gaze gradually deepened. He had originally thought this was just fodder, but it turned out to have some real strength.
He glanced again at the cuff on bodyguard Red's sleeve. There were no stripes.
"In that case, Nidorina, use Double Kick!" the grunt ordered.
"Roar!"
Nidorina charged forward on all fours, leaping into the air and lashing out with its two hind legs.
"Rattata, dodge with Quick Attack," Red said decisively.
This Rattata's base stats were average. At its normal speed, it might not have been able to dodge, so it had to rely on the boost from Quick Attack.
Rattata understood. Enveloped in a white sheen, it shot out with a *swoosh*, dodging the super-effective Double Kick.
In that moment, it had arrived in Nidorina's blind spot, right behind it.
A corner of Red's mouth lifted as he gave the command:
"Now, use Hyper Fang!"
"Squeak squeak!"
Rattata powerfully kicked off with its hind legs and dashed forward, a fierce red light gathering on its large incisors.
"Clang!"
Its Double Kick having missed, Nidorina had no time to turn, dodge, or defend. Rattata bit down hard on its waist, and the faint, tragic sound of shattering rock seemed to echo.
A critical hit!
"A same-type Hyper Fang, plus a critical hit... Your Nidorina couldn't have survived that even if it had ten lives."
Red spoke slowly, no longer paying attention to the Nidorina. His mind was already planning the next battle.
To take on the entire Team Rocket with a single Rattata, every step had to be calculated to the extreme.
"Ugh..."
Sure enough, a few seconds later, Rattata leaped back in front of bodyguard Red, ready for the next fight, while the Nidorina swayed on the spot for a few moments before collapsing, unable to battle.
"This guy... he's so strong."
The grunt stared at the Rattata in disbelief.
Its level was clearly lower than his Nidorina's, yet it had defeated him so easily?
Although his Nidorina's specialty was long-range attacks rather than close-quarters combat, the grunt was still stunned.
"Hmph, but let's see how you handle what's next."
The grunt's generic face suddenly twisted into a cunning smile. He eyed the Rattata and Red like a major villain sizing up his prey.
He had noticed that bodyguard Red only had a single Poké Ball at his waist.
*Poof.*
A burst of purple bubbles inexplicably appeared on Rattata's body. Its expression immediately turned pained, its face turning a sickly, dark green.
"Hahaha, your Rattata is poisoned! Let's see you fight now!"
He cackled wickedly.
Nidorina's ability, Poison Point, has a chance to inflict poison on contact.
The grunt threw out his second Poké Ball. A red light flashed, revealing a creature that was half animal, half plant. Its lower body resembled a green-skinned turtle, while its upper body sported a budding flower surrounded by several large leaves.
Red: "?"
He couldn't help but scratch his head. This was a headache. A Nidorina was one thing, but what the hell was this Ivysaur?
Have Team Rocket grunts reached the point where they all have a second-stage starter Pokémon?
Then why did this guy named Fujita only have a single Rattata?
"Quickly, use Razor Leaf!" the grunt suddenly ordered in a sneak attack.
Seeing this, Red instantly entered a battle mindset and commanded:
"Rattata, use Quick Attack directly against the Razor Leaf."
Hearing this, the grunt couldn't help but laugh and blurt out tauntingly:
"Haha, idiot! My Ivysaur's level is high. Are you trying to get it killed by charging straight in?"
But the next scene nearly made his eyes pop out of their sockets.
Rattata, as if it had taken some kind of drug, experienced a massive surge in power. A simple Quick Attack unleashed force comparable to Giga Impact, scattering the formidable Razor Leaf blades completely before the Pokémon slammed head-first into Ivysaur.
A powerful force struck, and even Ivysaur, with its sturdy base, was knocked back half a meter.
Grunt: "???"
Damn, are you using cheats?!
Suddenly, the grunt's eyes narrowed. He noticed something strange about Rattata.
The purple bubbles indicating it was poisoned had transformed into blood-red energy, which fed back into Rattata's body. Instantly, Rattata's body visibly swelled, as if it had sprouted new muscle out of thin air.
If the grunt knew that touching Nidorina would poison Rattata, then Red naturally knew it as well.
As a trainer who started his journey in the Kanto Region, Red had caught every Pokémon in Kanto except for Mew.
He knew every Kanto Region Pokémon like the back of his hand—their types, moves, and even their diverse abilities. Naturally, he knew Nidorina's ability was Poison Point.
Of course, he also knew his own Rattata's ability.
Guts. When afflicted with a status condition, its Attack stat is massively boosted.
Rather than saying Rattata was unlucky to be poisoned, it was more accurate to say that he had intentionally allowed it.
After all, his opponent's first Pokémon was a Nidorina, several levels higher than his Rattata. That meant the next Pokémon would only be stronger. No matter how good his commands were, when the gap in strength reached a certain point, even he couldn't bridge it with words alone.
One could say that Rattata had gone from being half-dead in the ICU to the level of a healthy person. Its power had doubled, and its speed wasn't weak to begin with. Only now could Red better utilize his command abilities.
"Damn it, this guy predicted my prediction."
The grunt's expression began to show panic. Even though he still held a great advantage, a sense of alarm inexplicably rose in his heart.
He had just stolen a huge pile of stock certificates from a Team Rocket core executive's room, along with a few stickers that didn't seem very useful. Then, somehow, he had triggered an alarm and fled.
Whatever. After grinding for a week just to get from bottom-tier Iron to Bronze, he was already planning to discard this persona. Next time, he would just backstab a lone Gold-rank Team Rocket member and start from there.
It was just like playing a video game. If you were stuck in a match full of scrubs, even if you weren't one yourself, you'd eventually be dragged down to their level—just another patient in the ICU complaining about their symptoms.
But if you start in a normal Gold-ranked match, you might actually get somewhere. There's still hope.
He had been teleporting back and forth between a bunch of teleporters and had suddenly bumped into bodyguard Red.
"This person is strange."
Familiar with the art of disguise, he had almost instantly noticed something off about bodyguard Red. The man's appearance, clothes, and face were completely at odds with his expression, movements, and aura.
Everyone has their own unique aura, and their body naturally changes to match it. When there's a huge disparity between the body and the aura, it proves something is definitely wrong.
Although he couldn't see through the other person's disguise at all—it was seamless, like some kind of soul-level body snatching.
In short, he was definitely not a normal person!
Therefore, he had taken the initiative, pre-emptively pinning the blame for the intrusion on bodyguard Red.
It doesn't matter if you're right or wrong; the best strategy is to be the first to point the finger!
Thinking this, the generic-faced grunt roared:
"Damn it, Little Garlic, use Quick Draw Slash!"
(end of chapter)