Suicune had been slapped in the face. Again.
Damian looked at Suicune. Its fur was standing up, and it was hissing at the Weavile. Damian had a strange look on his face. He did not know why, but every time he used Suicune in a battle, it usually got slapped by a Fake Out move.
He understood why it happened. Annihilape was a Ghost-type, so the Normal-type Fake Out move would not hit it. But still, it was a very funny and awkward situation.
"Brick Break," Damian ordered.
Suicune was hit by Fake Out and was flinching. It could not attack back yet. However, Annihilape swung its palm down hard against the fire. The strong Brick Break move physically split the fire in two. The flames moved past both sides of Annihilape.
The heat from the fire made Annihilape's grey-white fur move wildly. It looked even more mean and crazy.
"That power..."
Karen's eyes moved when she saw this. Will was also shocked.
Such a strong Brick Break?!
Houndoom was Karen's best Pokemon. Its Special Attack was very powerful. But a single Brick Break had cut through its Flamethrower.
"Master Damian is amazing!" Carr shouted and moved his fist. As expected of Young Master Damian!
After splitting the fire, Annihilape did not look at the Weavile. It ran straight toward the Houndoom.
"Extreme Speed."
Suicune was no longer flinching. A white light came from behind it. It slammed directly into Weavile.
CRASH!
The Extreme Speed move was too fast. It hit Weavile in the chest. Weavile cried in pain as it was knocked back.
But Suicune did not stop. It moved past Weavile, turned around instantly, and ran back again.
It was another Extreme Speed!
"Quick Guard!" Karen shouted. "Fire Blast!"
Karen was very fast. A white light appeared on Weavile's claws. Quick Guard is a move meant to block fast attacks!
Weavile's claws swung at Suicune. But Suicune did not get hit. It was not attacking Weavile this time. In its Extreme Speed state, Suicune ran right past Weavile's side.
Karen's pupils became small.
THUD!
Suicune jumped off the ground and turned back a third time. It slammed hard into Weavile's back. Weavile cried in pain. This hit was much harder than the last one. Its whole body flew through the air.
"Air Slash."
Suicune jumped high. From its mouth, it fired an Air Slash. It looked sharp enough to cut the sky. It hit Weavile directly.
There was a loud explosion. The Flying-type energy of the Air Slash hit Weavile's body. It created a big cloud of dust.
Suicune was very helpful. It made a wind to blow the dust away. Then it walked slowly to the badly hurt Weavile.
Weavile was in pain everywhere. Two Extreme Speeds and one Air Slash left it in bad shape. Suicune looked down at Weavile with a cold face. That look made Weavile feel nervous. What does this blue dog want to do?
On the other side, Annihilape was running toward Houndoom. Houndoom moved back and made fire in its mouth. A big flame shaped like the "大" symbol made the air red. But Annihilape used Phantom Force and disappeared.
When it appeared again, it was behind Houndoom. Karen warned Houndoom, but Annihilape was too fast.
It grabbed Houndoom by the tail!
Since its tail was caught, Houndoom could not escape. It was hit by a full Close Combat from Annihilape. after those hits, Houndoom was almost fainting on the ground.
"That is enough. I surrender."
Karen saw that Annihilape was going to keep attacking. She chose to give up.
"Are we not continuing? You can change Pokemon. We are not in a hurry," Damian said with a smile.
"There is no point. You are really strong."
Karen shook her head and looked at Damian. She sighed with respect. Since she finished the Masked Man's tests, she had never lost a fight. But today, she did not just lose. She lost easily.
This proved that Damian was much stronger than her.
"You are too kind," Damian answered.
"Based on our bet, I will join Team Rocket as an Executive. So..."
Karen smiled. Her smile was very charming. She looked at Damian, but she pointed at Suicune and Weavile.
"Can you tell your Suicune to let my Weavile go? If it keeps going, my Weavile's face will be swollen!!"
Damian stopped and looked at Suicune. He saw that the mean beast was slapping Weavile across the face. It used its palm over and over with a cold face.
Slap! Slap! Slap! It even had a steady beat!
It was not using any special moves. It was just simple slapping.
Caitlin was shocked when she saw this. She felt she had seen this before. Satsuki and Tamao had strange looks on their faces. They felt they could never look at Suicune the same way again.
Suicune... the messenger of Lord Ho-Oh... is like this?
"That is enough, Suicune. If you keep hitting it, Weavile will pass out from the slapping," Damian said. He tried not to laugh.
Slap!
Suicune gave one last slap. Weavile spun around like a toy. Only then did it stop using its paw. It gave a snort and walked back to Damian with its head high.
Who do you think you are, kid? You dared to slap me?? Do you not know that I have Damian and Ho-Oh helping me?
"..."
Karen's eyes moved several times. She put the poor Weavile back in its Poke Ball.
"Welcome to Team Rocket, beautiful."
Damian walked to Karen and held out his hand with a smile.
"Please take care of me from now on."
Karen also smiled and shook Damian's hand. Team Rocket would be interesting. Also, with Team Rocket's help, her own mission would be easier. Truly, if she knew how to join, she would have joined a long time ago.
"By the way, I have a friend here. Can he join too?"
Karen played with the gold badge in her hand. She looked at Carr, who still looked unhappy. She remembered Damian said her job as a Top Executive was higher than a High Executive. That meant she was Carr's boss now. But she did not forget Will.
"Of course, no problem." Damian looked at Will. He almost forgot the quiet guy.
Will was a strong trainer who used Psychic-types. In the story, he was a member of the Johto Elite Four.
"Will is quite strong. He is an elite trainer and a Psychic expert," Karen said nice things about him.
"You are very welcome."
Damian gave a silver Team Rocket badge to Will. Damian was in a great mood. Both Karen and Will were very talented. He knew they were not loyal to Team Rocket yet, but that takes time. They would not join the League anyway.
After talking to them for a bit, Damian turned to Carr.
"Carr, where is Lugia?"
"The reports say they saw two Lugia near the south coast of Ogi Isle," Carr said.
"Then we will have to wait for a while." Damian nodded. He remembered a story from the anime. A mother and child Lugia lived in the water near Ogi Isle.
"It is still early. Let's rest for a bit first," Damian looked at Caitlin and the other two girls.
"Fine with me," Caitlin said. Satsuki and Tamao agreed.
"Tsk~ I really envy you. Traveling with three beautiful girls... you are quite popular with women, right?" Karen put her hand on her hip.
"A man needs talent to be popular. Does that not prove how great I am?" Damian said. He was not ashamed.
"That is true." Karen nodded.
"Also, on our way here, a sailor told us a very interesting story. Do you want to hear it?" Karen remembered something.
"Go ahead."
"There is a legend about the Whirl Islands. People say the islands used to be one big island. But because of a war, the guardian, Lugia, got angry. It used lightning and broke the island into four pieces."
Karen spoke with confidence. Damian drank some juice. He already knew that part.
"Later, someone wanted to ask Lugia to forgive them. He went deep into the Great Waterfall of the Whirl Islands to find it. But in the end, he came out acting crazy."
Karen made her voice sound mysterious.
"Why?" Damian was interested now.
"They say at the end of the waterfall, he saw a giant Pokemon that looked like a demon. He was so scared that his mind broke."
Karen moved her fingers. She was also interested in this story.
"A Pokemon that looks like a demon?" Damian raised an eyebrow.
A Pokemon that could make someone go crazy... was there something like that in the Whirl Islands?
"Are you interested, handsome? If the caves inside the Whirl Islands were not so confusing, I would have gone in to see it myself," Karen said with a smile.
The deep parts of the Whirl Islands were very mysterious. Legend said that Lugia disappeared at the end of the Great Waterfall. But really, even finding that waterfall was hard.
"It is interesting. I wonder if the story is true or false."
Damian thought for a moment. If the story was true, was there another strong Pokemon deep inside the waterfall? But was that not where Lugia lived? Then where was Lugia?
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