Chapter 37: Battle in the Rain

The Poliwag were much harder to recruit than the Marill.

When luring the Marill, they could at least use Sea Incense as bait.

But the Poliwag didn't particularly like anything, and Pokémon food wasn't very tempting to them either.

Leon didn't even get a chance to interact with them. The moment he got close, these Poliwag would jump into the lake water.

They didn't even give him a chance to open his mouth and sweet talk them.

Was there no choice but to give up?

Leon looked back at the Marill behind him. Their current numbers couldn't possibly meet the irrigation needs of the territory's farmland.

Just as Leon was at his wit's end, a turning point emerged.

Suddenly, a Water Gun shot toward Scyther.

Scyther reacted quickly, slicing through the water stream with a single slash.

"What the hell, who's attacking us from behind?"

Leon followed the direction the Water Gun came from.

"This is...a Poliwhirl? So that's why these Poliwag ran away so fast. They went to get their big brother."

A Poliwhirl floated on the lake's surface, surrounded by over a dozen Poliwag.

"Poli!"

Poliwhirl glared angrily at Leon and his group, its eyes seeming to say:

"So you're the punk bullying my little brothers?"

Leon was about to explain himself, but he swallowed his words.

Because he suddenly thought of a way to recruit these Poliwag.

He deliberately put on a disdainful expression and taunted Poliwhirl:

"Yeah, I bullied your little brothers. What are you gonna do about it?"

"No wonder these Poliwag are so cowardly. Like leader, like followers."

"You only dare to ambush us from the water. Your courage is smaller than a Wimpod's. If you've got the guts, come ashore and fight me~"

"POLI!!!"

Poliwhirl couldn't take this kind of provocation. It let out an angry cry.

Then it quickly swam to shore and fired a Bubble Beam at Leon.

"Slash it!"

Scyther stood in front of Leon, swinging its arms to slice all the bubbles apart.

"Use Quick Attack to close the distance!"

Leon used the same tactic he'd employed against Arbok before.

There was no helping it. Scyther currently lacked any long range attacks and could only fight up close.

Fortunately, Poliwhirl didn't have any binding moves like Arbok did.

"Follow up with Fury Cutter!"

After closing in on Poliwhirl, Scyther immediately launched its attack.

Poliwhirl wasn't about to back down either. Its white gloved hands gathered energy before forcefully striking out.

The two moves collided, creating a shockwave that forced both Pokémon back several steps.

The two Pokémon seemed evenly matched in strength.

But in reality, Scyther was slightly stronger than Poliwhirl.

If measured by levels, Scyther had already reached level 29 after the previous two battles, not far from 30.

While Poliwhirl was only level 26.

The reason they appeared evenly matched was because Scyther had been injured during its fight with Arbok.

Although Leon had used a Super Potion to restore some of Scyther's condition, its strength was still diminished.

"Leer!"

Seeing Scyther's attacks weren't effective, Leon decided to weaken Poliwhirl's defense first.

Scyther fixed Poliwhirl with an intense stare.

Poliwhirl instinctively wanted to shrink back, but since it had no neck, it could only lower its eyes slightly.

But then it realized it had been frightened by just a look!

"Poli!"

Humiliated and enraged, Poliwhirl released a special energy from the spiral pattern on its belly.

You want to stare at me? Then take a good look!

"Scyther, don't look at its belly pattern!"

Leon hurriedly warned.

This Poliwhirl was quite tactically clever, actually using Hypnosis to counter Leer.

However, Hypnosis already had low accuracy, and with Scyther closing its eyes in advance to defend, it avoided being put to sleep.

But this gave Poliwhirl an opening to attack.

It seized the moment when Scyther's eyes were closed to fling several mud clumps, successfully hitting its target.

Yet nothing happened. Scyther didn't take any damage at all.

"Poli?"

Poliwhirl's already bulging eyes widened further as it stared at Scyther in confusion.

It couldn't understand why its attack had no effect.

"Seriously? I just praised your battle smarts and you go using a Ground type move on a Flying type Pokémon? You're just slapping me in the face now."

Leon helplessly facepalmed.

But this wasn't really Poliwhirl's fault. It usually only fought Water type Pokémon in the lake and had never battled a Flying type before.

"Wing Attack!"

Taking advantage of Poliwhirl's confusion, Leon commanded Scyther to attack again.

By the time Scyther reached Poliwhirl, it finally snapped out of its daze and tried to counterattack, but it was too late.

"Swish!"

It took the hit squarely, staggering back several steps.

"Follow up with Slash!"

Scyther pressed its advantage, sending Poliwhirl flying with a powerful slash.

"Poli~"

Poliwhirl crashed heavily to the ground, crying out in pain.

"Poli!"

The Poliwag watching from the lake saw their leader defeated and rushed ashore to form a protective wall in front of Poliwhirl, all glaring furiously at Leon and Scyther.

Energy gathered in their mouths as they prepared to fire Water Guns when the recovering Poliwhirl stopped them.

Poliwhirl shouted something at them and waved for them to move aside.

Though worried, the Poliwag couldn't disobey and reluctantly stepped back.

Seeing this, Leon also removed his hand from his waist. He'd nearly sent out Ursaring just now.

It seemed this Poliwhirl had some pride and didn't want other Pokémon interfering in its battle.

And those Poliwag obeyed it very well, which reassured Leon.

Now he just needed to defeat and capture Poliwhirl, and his recruitment plan would basically succeed.

That's right - capturing Poliwhirl was the method he'd devised to recruit the Poliwag.

When he saw the Poliwag gathering around Poliwhirl and following its lead, this plan came to mind.

First provoke Poliwhirl to lure it ashore, then have Scyther battle it one-on-one.

Given Poliwhirl's personality, it would likely agree to a fair duel without letting other Pokémon interfere.

This was also why Leon didn't use Ursaring - Poliwhirl wasn't stupid. If the strength gap was too large, it wouldn't agree to a duel.

By defeating and capturing Poliwhirl in a fair fight, it would be more willing to accept the outcome.

Then he could have it persuade the Poliwag to come along.

The Poliwag who always followed Poliwhirl's lead would naturally listen, allowing him to successfully recruit them!

Thinking this, Leon called to Poliwhirl:

"Can you keep fighting? Maybe you should just surrender."

"Poli!" (Never surrender!)

Poliwhirl assumed a battle stance.

"But I think this fight is getting boring. Let's just stop here."

Leon deliberately acted like he wanted to quit.

"Poli! Poli!"

This made Poliwhirl frantic.

You let Scyther slash me twice and now want to quit? Who could accept that? At least let me return the favor first!

"If you insist on continuing, we need to add a condition. If you lose, you have to come with me and be my partner."

"Poli!"

The already heated Poliwhirl agreed without hesitation.

Then it fired a Water Gun at Scyther.

"Ambushing again? Scyther, use Double Team!"

Scyther created several afterimages at high speed, dodging the Water Gun.

"Quick Attack!"

Leon reused his old tactics, but this time Scyther had clones.

This made it even harder for Poliwhirl to react, forcing it to blindly use Pound and only hit one illusion.

"Fury Cutter!"

Scyther's real body had already reached Poliwhirl's back. It raised its scythe and slashed downward.

"Swish!"

The powerful blow sent Poliwhirl stumbling forward, but it knew falling would leave it open to follow-up attacks.

Struggling to steady itself, it turned and forced Scyther back with a Pound.

Then it extended its hands and released a Bubble Beam.

Numerous bubbles popped Scyther's clones one after another.

"Not bad. But your reactions can't keep up with Scyther's speed anymore. You're just delaying the inevitable. Scyther, Wing Attack!"

Scyther's wings buzzed as it attacked again.

Poliwhirl fired several Water Guns at Scyther, but it dodged them all.

As Leon said, its injuries had severely slowed its reactions, even affecting its aim.

"Thud!"

The Wing Attack hit Poliwhirl squarely, sending it crashing to the ground.

But it quickly got up and began rhythmically slapping its belly.

With each slap, the sky darkened until rain began falling.

"So it's Rain Dance. I thought you knew Belly Drum at level 26. Every Pokémon has such unique rain summoning movements."

Looking at the falling rain, Leon felt both joy and worry.

Joy because this Poliwhirl could use Rain Dance - an incredibly useful move for farmland irrigation, far better than Water Gun.

Worry because the rain would severely hinder Scyther's speed.

Meanwhile, Poliwhirl thrived in these conditions.

"If Poliwhirl insists on using Rain Dance despite its injuries, could its ability be...?"

"Let's test it. Scyther, Quick Attack!"

Scyther charged forward, but this time Poliwhirl easily dodged.

"Swift Swim ability. This complicates things."

Seeing Poliwhirl's obvious speed boost, Leon's heart sank. The worst-case scenario had occurred.

Pokémon with Swift Swim gain tremendous speed in rain.

In games it doubles speed. While there's no exact number in reality, judging by Poliwhirl's dodging speed, it might be even higher.

Poliwhirl got faster while Scyther got slower.

Rain soaked Scyther's wings, severely limiting its flight speed.

This reversal even made Poliwhirl faster than Scyther now.

Though Poliwhirl was badly injured - one more hit would finish it - Scyther wasn't in great shape either with its existing wounds.

And in this weather, landing that hit would be difficult.

"Looks like we'll have to gamble. Scyther, here's the plan..."

Leon quietly explained his strategy.

"Are you sure you can take it?"

Leon asked one last time.

"Scy!"

Scyther nodded confidently.

"Good! Double Team!"

Scyther circled Poliwhirl rapidly, creating clones.

But its reduced speed meant only two copies this time.

Three Scythers surrounded Poliwhirl and attacked simultaneously.

Poliwhirl countered the same way as before, firing Bubble Beam at the front Scyther.

The front Scyther didn't dodge, disappearing when hit.

It turned and fired bubbles sideways - that Scyther didn't dodge either, meaning the real one must be behind.

Without hesitation, Poliwhirl spun and unleashed a full-power Bubble Beam at the rear Scyther.

The bubbles hit...and that Scyther also vanished.

"Poli?"

If not behind, then where? Poliwhirl was baffled.

Unless...?!

Poliwhirl whirled sideways, but Scyther's blade was already at its face.

"Finish it with Slash!"

With Leon's shout, Scyther's scythes struck true, finally knocking out Poliwhirl.

"Whew...success at last!"

Seeing the defeated Poliwhirl, Leon exhaled in relief.

The strategy was simple - have the real Scyther pretend to be a clone to trick Poliwhirl.

After falling for Double Team before, Poliwhirl would likely assume clones never dodge attacks.

So Leon had Scyther take the hit to land its own, trading damage for damage.

One solid hit would end the fight.

He'd specifically asked if Scyther could withstand one attack before proceeding.

This trick would only work on naïve Pokémon - any human trainer would spot the real Scyther from how rain passed through clones.

But regardless, they'd won.

As Poliwhirl fell, the rain gradually lightened before stopping completely.

Sunlight broke through the clouds, shining on Leon's face.

Squinting upward, he smiled contentedly.

"Sunny weather really is better~"

"Come on, Scyther. Let's check on our future teammate's injuries."