Pokemon: Master of tactics

Alex who heard that thought, 'What is this crazy motherf*cker talking about?'

He looked in Marco's direction with a perplexed expression.

At the same time, he noticed how strange the eyes of Marco's Pokemon looked.

Marco's Pokemon all had restrained, detached, and indifferent expressions that Alex could easily identify if he looked closely at the faces and eyes of those Pokemon.

Alex has never seen Pokemon(s) with exactly those facial expressions.

It didn't seem like these Pokemon hated or liked their trainer. But these Pokemon still seem to follow Marco's commands like emotionless machines.

Also, Alex couldn't understand how all of Marco's Pokemon had exactly the same expression.

Marco doesn't seem to understand Alex's train of thought as he just continues, "Yes, finally. I can feel a flame igniting in my body. I would thank you if I didn't detest you so much, Alex."

Alex replied with a serious expression, "Marco, I don't know what's going on but you're talking like a complete madman."

Marco started laughing as if Alex had told the funniest joke ever. "HAHA, Alex, why can't you understand that you'll soon be like me?"

Alex replied with a slightly confused expression, "I have no idea what you're talking about. Other than that. Why do you despise me? I don't even know you."

Marco's eyes showed an expression of anger although his face didn't change. "You're truthfully shrewd. You've probably noticed that your minions are stronger than mine so it's better for you if we don't fight directly. ...You even use this time to create a psychic surface that prevents other pokemon from using teleport ."

Marco showed an indifferent expression as he continued, "But don't worry. Just keep going. Isn't it so much more exciting?"

Alex felt Marco getting crazier and more unstable by the second. He didn't know why but his hand started shaking a little.

However, he tries to suppress his fear and continues to show a calm expression.

Alex said in a serious tone, "You still haven't answered my question. Why do you hate me so much?"

Marco's expression became an expression full of emotions for the first time. even if almost all emotions consisted of anger and rage.

He said in an almost screaming tone, "NO, I DID NOT GIVE A SHIT ABOUT YOU. I ONLY HATE THE PERSON YOU REMEMBER ME OF."

"YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND. BUT YOU WILL SOON."

Marco's Pokemon all showed indifferent expressions as if they weren't worried about their trainer's mental state.

Alex felt extremely uncomfortable seeing how extremely Marco reacted to a normal question.

He even started having thoughts of giving up the test and running away from there. But he quickly suppressed these thoughts. Alex was a logical person and wouldn't do anything so illogical as giving up just because he got scared by Marco.

Marco showed a controlled expression as he started to calm down a bit.

He said, "I'm really tired. You're only my second choice, but I don't want to endure any more years, so that's enough."

He gives a wordless hand signal and all of his pokemon start consuming their life energy like crazy.

They all prepare a ranged move that they boost with all of their life energy.

Alex showed a horrified expression. "W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

At the same time, he began telepathically warning his Pokemon.

"USE ALL PROTECT. FAST"

Marco's first 6 weakest pokemon use their moves first and 6 different ranged attacks fly towards different Pokemon of Alex's team.

"PWWUCCCHHHHHHH"

All of Alex's Pokemon use [Protect] together to block these 6 attacks and manage to half-block this deadly attack.

Some of the damage went through and directly hit several of Alex's Pokemon.

Scizor, Gardevoir, and Ninetales fell to the ground unconscious. but they had no real wounds on the body.

Blaziken and Umbreon also fell to the ground unconscious, but they had severe wounds on their bodies. The two are still alive but have serious injuries and are now unconscious. these two were also thrown away many meters.

Nidoking and Nidoqueen also started using the moves they used all their life energy for.

their targets were the two serious injuries and are now unconscious Pokemon(s) on the ground.

Alex quickly ran to the nearest of the two Pokemon and he started using all of his Psychic Enegire to boost [Energy shield] to the max.

Ditto also quickly transformed into Bastiodon (who was previously Alex's watch) and he started using [Protect]. At the same time, he threw his body in front of Alex and Umbreon to protect them.

Nidoking's attack breaks through [Energy shield] and [Protect] and hits Ditto who had transformed into a Bastiodon.

Luckily, the attack was greatly weakened and Ditto just fell unconscious to the ground with no mortal wounds on his body.

However, Nidoqueen's attack happened at the same time and none of Alex's Pokemon had [Protect] left to protect Blaziken.

Crobat reacted as fast as they could, but he wasn't close enough to get ahead of Blaziken.

only one Pokemon was close enough and it was the Pokemon that was often the Pokemon closest to Blaziken.

Bastiodon

He had no [Protect] left but he still used his whole body to protect Blaziken from this deadly attack.

Bastiodon's head intercepts Nidoqueen's attack and he quickly realizes that his body is not strong enough to deflect or block the entire attack. without thinking about it, he started using his Life Energy to power up his body.

He didn't want to pass out and be the reason his little sister died.

Bastiodon was the shield of this family and he doesn't hesitate for a moment.

Nidoqueen's attack was successfully blocked completely, but at the same time, Bastiodon began to get extremely tired as he felt more and more life energy escaping from his body.

It was already too late and he couldn't stop it.

Bastiodon's almost two-meter-tall body fell lifeless to the ground. his last thought was, 'I am sorry, little sister, father, everybody.'

***

I really thought long and hard about letting one of Alex's Pokemon die in this encounter with Marco or not. I built up Marco almost from the beginning of the story and gave small hints as to how his character really is. It had been planned for a long time. But the closer I got to this moment, the more thoughts like" I have to let all Pokemon survive" came into my mind. I like all of Alex's Pokemon and it was honestly a hard decision.

In the end, I left it to chance. I threw a coin to see if Bastiodon would survive or not. you should know the result by now.

rest in peace Bastiodon.

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