Eevee Therapy for Little Magi Chapter 59: Fast Fists, Part 1 (Patreon)

Shirou looked over the Veilstone Gym with an interested gleam, watching as a large group of people, mixed ages from children all the way up to vigorous old age walked out, many dressed in a mix of casual clothing or martial arts gi. After the Diamond Clan gym’s emptiness, it was nice to see a building in such casual use, with many of the exercising athletes giving himself and Illya appraising looks as they stood and waited for the crowd to disperse. “Hmm, I wonder if he’ll let me train here after we finish up with the gym battles?”

“That’d probably be a yes,” Illya replied with a deadpan, her look implying that she thought he was an idiot in that moment. To be fair, she was probably right. It was a pretty stupid question, in hindsight.

Isabella chuckled. “Are you really looking to train more after the last couple of weeks? Take a rest, Shirou.” She snickered at his back. “Are either of you nervous about this battle? Fourth level badge challenges aren’t usually as hard as what you faced from Narimasa, but fifth level is where the difficulty ramps up a bit.”

“I think we’ll be fine. We haven’t been skimping on our training, and we’ve actually bettered ourselves too,” Illya stated, humming to herself as she considered the videos she’d watched of their fellow fallers. Rin had not done… great, but she’d definitely shaped up in the battle afterwards. Then again, ever since they’d all come here, she’d been taking this pretty seriously.

It helped to have a goal. That and papa seemed to approve.

That actually mattered to her now.

Shirou seemed to notice her thoughts, drawing her into a half-hug before letting her go and walking into the gym, Illya following along behind. The wide space was filled with individual sparring mats and rings, with a scattering of gym trainers running smaller classes, while Komatsu stood on the largest ring, the size of a regulation Pokemon battle court, bleachers set on all sides and holding a wide array of onlookers. He spun as they got closer, grinning down at them. “Well! I didn’t expect to see you so soon, but I’m not complaining! Welcome to my dojo, which is also my Gym!” He laughed, the crowd booing his bad joke. “Ahaha. Anyway!” He hopped down from the raised ring and ambled in close.

“So, I’ve taken a look at your third badge challenge– and read Narimasa’s written report. What there was, anyway.” He shrugged. “But as far as I can tell, you both have four combat-ready team members, yes?”

“Correct,” the siblings stated in tandem, nodding their heads in sync.

“Right. Well, I have two possible challenges for you! The first is a three-on-three set match, one switch allowed on your end, with one caveat; you cannot use your starter.” He gave them both appraising looks. “I have nothing against mystery gifts, but I do try and teach my students and challengers not to rely too much on any one Pokemon. It’s a bit of an easier challenge than the other option, which is a four-on-four no-switching match.”

Each sibling glanced at each other, amusement flickering across their faces as they considered their options. On one hand, the Leader was correct, to some extent. Their starter Pokemon were their Aces. Their “best”, if you will. But, being frank, neither of them particularly relied on switching, and both of them were itching to test out their new knowledge and training. “I think I speak for the both of us when I say we’ll take the four on four, Leader Komatsu,” Shirou replied, a challenging spark in his eyes.

“Huh, confident! I like it! So, I’ll be using a mix of pokemon from my sixth and seventh badge teams, then. You took down Narimasa, and he didn’t go easy on either of you.” He looked back and forth between the two siblings. “Let’s see… young man, go take a seat on the bleachers, your sister will be up first today.”

Shirou nodded, falling back to take a seat beside Isabella as Illya took her place on the side of the arena. The referee raised her hand. “This will be a fifth level gym badge fought at the sixth level, four-on-four with no switches. On the drop of the flag, both trainers release their first pokemon.” She raised her flag.

Palming Milotic’s ball, Illya took a deep breath. The flag dropped, and with a flick of her wrist, she sent the ball spinning out to bounce off the floor, the serpentine pokemon stretching her coils as she looked across at her opponent. Across from her, a second water-type thudded to the mats, a bulky Poliwrath shifting into a low wrestler’s stance. 

“Hmm, I guessed right. Not a huge advantage, though. Poliwrath, Belly Drum, then close to quarters,” Komatsu ordered.

A deadly smirk danced across Illya’s face. Her research paying off, she nodded towards Milotic. “Haze.”

With a delighted trill, Milotic did exactly that, a hazy mist covering the battlefield in mere moments, eliminating everything that Poliwrath had just sacrificed half its vitality for. Undaunted, the wrestler burst across the mats, slamming a gold-coated fist into Milotic, vitality draining into them; the Drain Punch’s power was muted, but still helped it make up for its self-sacrifice. In response, Milotic coiled around her opponent’s arm, then with a pink flash and a whiplash uncoil, she sent her opponent spinning across the mat to smack into the barriers.

“That was Play Rough!” Komatsu said incredulously. “Did you teach her how to brawl like that?” He asked with a laugh, Poliwrath rolling to its feet with an appraising look.

“Somewhat. Cynthia helped quite a bit,” Illya responded with an amused lit to her voice, nodding towards Milotic. “Scale Shot.”

Komatsu smiled. “Force through with Liquidation!” he roared, Poliwrath jetting forward as water surrounded their hands, their palms knocking aside the incoming blows. Several connected, but the bulky water type managed to close the distance, only for Milotic to take advantage of her improved speed to slip away from their blows. Poliwrath eventually gave up, simply taking the next few hits before attempting a Body Slam. Milotic failed to dodge, taking the hit without flinching, skidding slightly backward towards her trainer.

“Orders, my lady? Should we wear them down?” She trilled.

“Go for the drawn out brawl,” Illya agreed. “Let’s try and take the win, Milotic.”

Milotic nodded, zipping forward to slam into Poliwrath, the two muscular frames colliding with a loud wet slap. Poliwrath immediately attempted another Drain Punch, only for Milotic to use their own body as a base to swing herself around, head impacting the back of the wrestler’s knee and sending them tumbling to the mats. She then constricted, pink energy flowing through her as she gave a Play Rough bear hug, clenching down even as Poliwrath desperately tried to punch the snake off themself. With a final crunch, she undulated off their unconscious body, wincing as her muscles protested their abuse at the fellow water type’s hands.

The referee raised her flag. “Poliwrath is unable to battle. Leader Komatsu, send out your second Pokemon once the flag drops. Trainer Illya, will you retire your Pokemon?”

“No,” Illya responded immediately, a trill of agreement from Milotic, “We’re both continuing.”

“Understood.” The flag dropped, and Komatsu sent out a Pokemon very familiar to Illya. The Lucario stood, arms crossed over his chest, blue light flaring behind his closed eyes.

“This one’s serious, no posing. She’s wounded, stay at a distance and keep your bolt ready.” Komatsu ordered. Lucatio nodded, and immediately began forming an Aura Sphere.

“Scale Shot,” Illya ordered immediately. She could likely only manage a few moves before Milotic wore down - such was the issue of only having access to four moves. She couldn’t use Recover at the moment - but she could make those moves count. More speed, a blitz, and an Aqua Tail should give her incoming Pokemon more than enough of an advantage to make this into a domino effect.

Milotic whipped off the scale shot, a couple of the razor scales being consumed by the blue sphere of aura which flew back her way. Taking the hit with a wince, Milotic closed the gap on the barely fazed fighting type, Lucario dropping into a karate stance as she closed the gap at speed. Just before she whipped her tail around and slammed into him, Lucario adjusted his stance, one hand crackling with electricity. With a smirk, he delivered a Thunderpunch which impacted her Aqua Tail, sending her sprawling.

After a few moments to see if the snake moved beyond twitching, the referee raised her flag again. “Leader Komatsu–” At his head shake, she looked back at Illya. “Please send out your next Pokemon when I drop the flag.”

Palming Fubuki’s Pokeball, Illya nodded. At the drop of the flag, the yuki-onna found herself on the field, glaring down the jackal with a sadistic smirk on her face. “Will-o-wisp, Fubuki. You know what to do afterwards.”

Fubuki formed a trio of wisps and sending them through the air, before gracefully drifting back out of range. Lucario used an aura sphere to block one of the wisps and Thunderpunched a second out of existence, only for the third to slam into him squarely, causing a purple blaze to form around him and making him wince. Now on a timer, he launched himself forward, his Bullet Punch connecting squarely and causing her to reel– right before her eye glinted, Disable taking his one super-effective move from him.

Komatsu winced as Lucario was singed by his burn. “On fire, nothing working except Thunderpunch– don’t give up, Lucario! Make her pay for every hit!” Lucario nodded.

Illya’s eyes narrowed as Lucario’s fists shone gold. “Hex is our best bet, play peekaboo,” she ordered, her ghost inclining her head before she released a burst of shadows, the ghost-type attack latching onto the flames in Lucario’s aura and forcing them to pulse, damaging the steel-type even as he charged in, sweeping blows attempting to catch and cut down the ghost before she could fade away.

Fubuki fell back, taking a glancing hit from the crackling lightning off the fists, before she managed to slip into the ground. Illya caught the tight control of the lightning coming off Lucario’s fists, the power arcing off them and extending his range. “Interesting technique. Some sort of electric veil around his limbs?” She asked conversationally as Lucario closed his eyes, tracking Fubuki as she wove under the mats, emerging only a few paces ahead of him to hammer him with another Hex.

“Yup, I’ve been working on making moves into more continuous techniques, building an actual martial arts out of them. Dunno if any of your pokemon would be interested, though maybe your Milotic?” Komatsu asked her in return. Lucario took the opportunity to throw the lightning off his fists, the makeshift Thundershock arcing to his opponent. Fubuki took the hit with a wince, before responding with a third Hex. 

As Lucario went down and didn’t get back up, Illya nodded amicably. “Likely. Though I’m not certain we’ll be sticking around long enough in Veilstone to really learn.”

“I get that, but I could at least leave you with a training video or two… and maybe my Lucario could teach your brother’s?” He tapped his foot as he withdrew his second Pokemon. “Anyway, excellent matchup, using Disable to shut down Lucario’s best move. I wonder if she’ll fare as well against my specialist, though?” With a toss, he released his third Pokemon.

A grinning Pangoro landed across from Fubuki, the massive Pokemon. The panda-like brawler immediately raised one fist, two fingers rising to point at his own chin. “Come on girlie, no more tricks. Show me what you can do,” he Taunted.

“Icy Wind,” Illya simply stated, noting the Taunt down in her head. It meant that she’d likely be going straight to Matilda once Pangoro inevitably took down Fubuki. Not that she nor her Pokemon were going to make this easy on him, after all.

Fubuki spread her arms, blasting Pangoro with ice, the fighting-type’s thick fur warding off the cold admirably. In response, he ducked in, fists flying and burning with fighting energy. Fubuki didn’t bother to dodge, instead blasting him with a second Icy Wind, and was thus extremely surprised when the Drain Punch smashed her in the face, sending her tumbling to the mat.

“Pangoro’s a Scrappy one!” Komatsu laughed. “He’s one of the group I keep around to deal with folks who think bringing a ghost will allow them to run right through us.” He paused as Fubuki landed another Icy Wind from the ground. “Huh, she’s also pretty scrappy.” He admitted before Pangoro finished her off with an elbow drop. “Alright, we’re all evened up.”

Illya withdrew her second Pokemon, reaching for her first Pokeball. With a flick of her wrist, she sent Matilda spinning into battle, her starter taking up position across from the hulking ape-bear. Pangoro went to Taunt her, only for his words to get drowned out as the Sylveon launched out a Hyper Voice, the pinkish energies smashing his eardrums and body back into the mat.

“Push through and land a Bullet Punch!” Komatsu called out, Pangoro blurring as he tried to deliver a vicious right hook, the hand covered in steely energy. 

“Quick Attack,” Illya commanded calmly, Matilda surging forth, slipping under the fist as she slammed herself bodily into her foe, kicking off to gain some distance. Pangoro tumbled to the mat, coming up to his knees.

Komatsu whistled. “Fast and furious. Not bad. Pangoro, keep her honest.”

Pangoro nodded. “You’re good, girl. But we’ll see how tough you are against someone you don’t have an edge on,” he Taunted.

For his troubles, Pangoro simply received another Hyper Voice to his face. He fell back, unconscious, and Komasu pulled him back, smiling. “Well, he did his best, but that was a terrible matchup. Alright, last bracket.” His final Pokemon hit the field, the lanky muselid stretching out with a grin. Sneasler flexed her claws, poison seeping out of each edge, before she darted forward, both claws blazing purple.

“Hyper Voice. Take the blows as best you can and do as much as you can, Matilda,” Illya commanded coolly, her starter trilling her agreement briefly as she began to scream/sing without end. Sneasler took the hit with a wince, then got into melee with both claws flowing, the poisonous energy on each blow disrupting the fairy energies washing over her, but not stopping them enough to keep them from bruising her with each impact.

Matilda, on the other hand, was much worse than bruised. Each contact with the claws left more and more purple stains on her fur, the toxins of the Venin Claws causing her vision to blur, limbs to seize, and muscles to burn as three varieties of toxin sank into her. Within moments of their brawl beginning, Matilda was a heaving mess on the ground, belching out one last Hyper voice before she collapsed. Her opponent wasn’t unscathed, her fluid motions jerky with the repeated impacts of multiple sonic attacks, the trembling of her limbs barely easing as her opponent was pulled away.

“Alright, last matchup. Now, I couldn’t plan for your last teammate, but Sneasler and I won’t give up until…” He trailed off as his opponent’s last Pokemon appeared on the other side of the mats. “...oh come on, how did you get one of the shelled dragons?” He almost whined as Sliggoo peered out of his bunker at his opponent, Sneasler looking nonplussed at the armored dragon.

“Dragon Pulse,” Illya stated calmly. Sliggoo could likely only take a few hits from the fighting type before he too went down, so things were still very much up in the air. Her victory depended on capitalizing on things as best she could.

Sneasler took the hit with a wince, before igniting her claws with fighting energy, trying to get in close. Sliggoo hunkered down, triggering Shelter, his steel shell trembling under the blow but not cracking, causing the Drain Punch to barely heal Sneasler at all. Sliggoo popped back out, blasting her again before he rolled to one side to avoid getting pinned down.

“You gotta get past his shell before he takes you down! Hone Claws, then wait for an opening!” Komatsu ordered, Sneasler grinding her claws against each other.

“Just keep up the bombardment. Don’t give them the time,” Illya commanded firmly, her eyes carefully tracking the Sneasler. Sliggoo nodded, poking back out of his shell and blasting her with another Dragon Pulse. In response, Sneasler lunged in, claws gleaming with ghostly light as she tried to Shadow Claw her way past her opponent’s defenses.

Illya immediately responded, snapping out her order. “Protect!” Illya’s training with her newest battler had been all about getting the quickest responses from his moves, allowing the slow Pokemon to react quickly to changing conditions. With a gleam of green, Sliggoo guarded himself, the razor-sharp claws deflecting off the barrier. Into the opening he’d made, Sliggoo fired one final time, Sneasler slumping back unconscious.

Komatsu returned his final Pokemon, the crowd giving a polite round of applause as he stepped onto the mats. “Well done! You’ve trained your Pokemon well to cover their weaknesses, and you don’t over-rely on your starter,” he acknowledged as he stepped to Illya. “You also took on what was, effectively, a six-badge challenge, and emerged victorious.” He reached into his gi and pulled out a badge and a technical machine. “One Cobble Badge, well earned. And a copy of Drain Punch, the move developed by the legendary Zisu!” He handed them over.

“Thank you, leader Komatsu,” Illya bowed.

The man chuckled. “You’re a good Trainer, makes me wish you were a martial artist. Your brother, now… I think he’s gonna surprise me more than you did, for all we’re more similar.” Illya just nodded, passing Shirou as he made his way to the challenger’s box.