Maku 1 Speeds (Episode 1)
Max’s POV
“So who do you think might win this?” Kirlia was currently sitting on my shoulder as we stood behind where the kid and Makuhita were. And it wasn’t that she was heavy or anything, but it was kind of hard to walk with a Pokémon on your shoulder. I really never got how Ash managed to do this every day.
“Not so sure,” With a shake of my head I studied the kid. He was starting to get a little worried about the crowd around him. Not only that, but he looked more confused if anything else. “It might just be even with Makuhita’s type advantage.”
“Oh yeah…” I saw the kid turn towards me. “Wait, isn’t that cactus supposed to be, uh, grass type though?”
“Grass and Dark,” I gave him a smile. It was a common mistake actually. “Cacnea was pure grass so a lot of trainers think that Cacturne’s the same.”
“Right,” He nodded along, looking just a little confused. “Oh! I don’t think I ever said my name. I’m Spike.”
“Max,” I gave him a friendly smile before gesturing up towards my Pokémon. “And this is Kirlia.”
“Kirl!” She gave out a fist-pump before giving Makuhita a thankful look.
“Maku,” He nodded from where he was, not taking his eyes off of Cacturne. He was standing in a boxer pose, bobbing from left to right.
"Well, this is..." As Spike turned to gesture towards him, he paused for a second as if trying to remember something. "Huh. I never got his name."
"What?" I cocked an eyebrow. "You don't know your Pokémon's name. It's Makuhita."
"No, I know that much. But that's not his name." He crossed his arms. As he looked off ahead, Spike noticed Harley apparently signing autographs for his small fan club. "Hey, uh, Max? Is it cheating if I ask for some help?"
"As long as you just some advice, it’s not cheating. Besides, Harley’s not going to play fair anyways, so go ahead." As Harley gave one of his fans a hug, I could see him shooting us a smug smirk. I still didn’t get why he had fans clear in Kalos’ve never even heard of him coming here before.
I saw him mutter to himself before looking back at me. “So you said I had some kind of type advantage. So how do I use that?”
“Well, you should probably try using some Fighting-Type moves to take down Cacturne. Pretty simple really.” In fact, the more I thought about it, the more Kirlia and I were at a disadvantage. Even if she didn’t have that bad ankle almost none of her moves would even do anything against Cacturne.
“Right,” He gave a slow nod and a quick cough. “And, what kind of moves are fighting-type again?”
“Um, well, what kind of moves does Makuhita know?” Honestly, it wasn’t too hard to tell what moves were fighting-type. They were pretty straight forward.
“Well…” For a few seconds, Spike stood there thinking to himself until finally he decided to just turn towards his Pokémon. “Hey Makuhita, what moves do you know?”
“You mean you don’t know what your Pokémon can do?” I deadpanned, Kirlia sharing the same bored expression
“I mean, he’s not really my Pokémon…hehe…” He started tapping his fingers together. “Wait.” After a few more moments, some kind of epiphany struck him. “I think I know one move that he can do.”
“Alright then! If both sides are ready to continue,” As the referee began to speak I spotted Harley approach his side of the field where Cacturne was standing. Apparently both Pokémon had been in a staring contest the entire time.
“This battle will have the same rules as the one before! A one on one battle between Harley Cassonote and his Cacturne versus...Um…” The referee gave a sheepish grin towards the newcomer.
“Oh! S-Spike.” Spike straightened up, acting as though he were an officer of some kind.
“I can sense it. He’s nervous.” Kirlia’s voice rang out in my mind.
“Any chance he has an idea?” Since she was on my shoulder, I didn’t have to ask too loudly.
“It’s faint, but there’s determination in him too. Not to mention a blinding amount of fighting spirit from Makuhita.”
“Think you can keep from picking up on that?” I couldn’t help but smile at the thought. Sometimes the emotions of others made her act without realizing it.
“Very funny Max.” She turned away from me and pouted.
“Right then,” The referee gave him a calming smile before refocusing. “And Harley’s opponent will be Spike and his Makuhita. So, if there is no further delay, let the battle begin!”
“Gladly,” Harley smirked before looking towards Cacturne. “Let’s hurry this along, hun. Bullet Seed.”
“Caaaac,” Cacturne took in a deep breath as Spike began to tense up already. “Turne-turne-turne-turne-turne-” Just as it had done towards us, the seeds fired out like a volley towards Makuhita, who was still bobbing side to side in the same tempo as before.
Spike on the other hand, “Ah! Q-Quick, get outta the way!”
“Mak,” From underneath him we could see Makuhita’s left foot twist from underneath him before propelling away from his spot with surprising speed. The seeds could only hit vacant space before Cacturne stopped his attack and watched as Makuhita slid to a halt. He had made it somewhere past five feet.
“Hey! Good job!” Spike stopped tensing up as he congratulated him.
“Maku-Maku!” Makuhita held up a single fist before quickly going back to his boxing pose, still refusing to break eye contact from Cacturne.
“Hmm,” Harley’s smile broke the celebration. “If you think it’ll be that easy then you really haven’t heard of me. “Cacturne, don’t give them another chance to cheer!”
And Cacturne did just that, delivering another Bullet Seed directly for Makuhita without warning. Thankfully, Makuhita was still on the opposite side of the field
“Keep on dodging it! He has to run outta seeds eventually!” After a few coughs, it was as though a light bulb went off above his head. “A-And try to get closer to him too!”
“He can’t be serious, right?” I would be lying if my tone sounded anything but doubtful. “It’s not a bad plan, but I don’t think it’s possible for a Pokémon like Makuhita.”
“One would think so, oui.” From behind me I could see a man with a dark blue shirt and white lab coat come stand next to me with an Eevee in his arms. It looked pretty upset to say the least, but was content enough to stay in the man’s arms. “Still, it’s actually a very sound idea for Spike to go with.”
“Really? But I thought that Makuhita were built to take hits, not dodge them.” I watched as the Makuhita kept hopping sideways from the bullet seed every time it got closer, resulting in Cacturne trying to redirect his aim continuously. Then, as it seemed that Makuhita had been cornered to one side of the stage, he put all his strength into jumped up and over the projected seeds, quickly hopping closer from the opposite angle.
“Normally, you would be right.” The man kept watching as Makuhita got closer and closer. “However, keep in mind that Makuhita may be just as aware of that fact himself.”
“He’s got a point,” This time, Kirlia chimed in. “Makuhita are known for their tough training regimen. So if one actually focused even half of that training on speed,”
“Then that means that is just what Makuhita is prepared for.”
“Très bien!” The man called happily. “So, all that’s left for them to do is find a way to close the gap. And by the looks of it, I’d say that Spike has come up with a plan for that.”
As Makuhita got closer to Cacturne, Harley’s calmness became much more determined. “That’s close enough. Now, knock him to the ground with Needle Arm!”
Makuhita ignored the warning and took the chance to charge straight for Cacturne with only Spike for to think up another idea. “Jump! Jump as high as you can!”
“Hiii,” Without losing any speed, Makuhita made one last hop towards Cacturne before landing with both legs and an arm for balance. Then, just as Cacturne had finished pulling back his arm, Makuhita put all his strength and momentum into jumping directly into the air, just barely missing the needles from Cacturne’s attack.
“Ha! You think you can beat us with just hopping around? You’ll have to try and attack some time you know~!” Harley kept taunting with that sing-song tone before giving his Cacturne a dark smile. “Go ahead and bide your time my dear partner.”
“Turne,” Cacturne kept the Needle Arm active, waiting underneath to strike.
“Jeez, you’re just like Trixie.” Spike deadpanned before looking up towards Makuhita, who was only now reaching the arc of his jump. “You ready?!”
“Maku!” Seemingly aware of Spike’s idea, Makuhita nodded as it began to fall like a sky diver.
“Good! So,” Spike looked back down towards Cacturne. “Use that Bullet Punch move!”
“Bullet Punch?” I looked towards Makuhita as it pulled back its right arm as he let gravity bring him down faster. That Makuhita knows Bullet Punch?
“Kuu…” Suddenly, a small flash of light ran across Makuhita’s arm as he began to plummet towards Cacturne from above at even faster speeds. Due to the light, it was hard to tell what had happened, but all I could note is that Makuhita’s arm had begun to shine as though it were made of metal.
“Cac!” Cacturne’s eye went wide.
“Knock him away, now!” Cacturne tried to comply as best he could, but it was a wasted effort. Even after managing to strike the falling Pokémon across the face, Makuhita powered through it and delivered an even stronger punch directly into Cacturne’s permanent grin.
However, that wasn’t even the worst of the attack either. As soon as Makuhita finished with the haymaker, Cacturne’s head immediately hit cement, causing another set of cracks to form into a scarecrow-shaped crater beneath him.
As that happened, Makuhita had also hit pavement too, albeit fist-first with the remaining force of his attack. And while it was not anywhere near as nasty a landing as Cacturne's, Makuhita had his own issue.
"Maku?" The Pokémon took a moment to look away from Cacturne only to spot his fist embedded into the ground. "HITA?!"
"Oh no!" Spike wasn't reacting too well to this problem either. "Are you okay?!"
Makuhita gave out a weak call before trying, and failing, to pull his arm free.
Cacturne wasn't faring too much better either. With slow movements it began to stumble up to its feet before taking a few steps away from the crater and up to Makuhita.
"Now then," From about five feet away, Harley kept his expression in the shadow of his hat. "Needle Arm."
"Needle wha--" Spike was once again interrupted as he started coughing into his hand. However this time, his coughing sounded much more violent than before.
This sadly did not stop Cacturne's onslaught of Needle Arms as Makuhita was forced to do nothing but take the beating as his hand remained imbedded in the concrete.
"N-No..." Spike wiped off his mouth and watched as Makuhita was a little dazed from being knocked around so badly. "That's not fair." His voice was a bit dry, but otherwise he was just worried.
"Well maybe if you didn't put your Pokémon in such a compromising position." Harley offered a shrug. "Besides, let this be a lesson in speaking towards a superior."
"Senior?" Spike raised an eyebrow. "I didn't think you were that old."
"Excuse me?!" Harley's voice was akin to a scratched record. "How dare you try and bring my age into this!"
"Oh brother," I took off my glasses just to pinch the bridge of my nose. I wasn't even sure if this was about the battle anymore.
As Harley kept trying to give this kid a helpless lecture on manners, Kirlia's voice rang out in my mind. "Max, I think there's something off about Harley."
"No kidding," I answered with no surprise.
"Hmm?" Meanwhile, the man in the lab coat beside me only heard my response.
"Not the argument, Max." Kirlia shook her head. "Look at the back of his hand. Do you see what I see?"
"His hand?" I took a second to readjust my glasses and look as carefully as I could. And as I looked on, I could tell that he had an excess amount of saliva from when he wiped his mouth.
Although that wasn't what drew Kirlia's attention. Instead, I noticed that as the saliva faded away, it had a purplish-tint to it.
I recognized the symptoms almost right away. "Poison." I could feel Kirlia tense up on my shoulder. She wasn't as good at spotting conditions like this whereas I had learned straight from Brock.
"Wait, you mean Spike?" From beside me, the lab coat guy had spoken up, visibly concerned. "When could that have happened?"
"When could what have happened?" From our right we could see an Officer Jenny approaching us.
"Spike's poisoned," I repeated. "It must've happened when he saved Makuhita from that--"
"Alright, that tears it!" Harley, who had only been having trouble trying to argue with his, finally just brought the yelling to a halt. "Cacturne? Let's end this quickly. Poison Sting, directly!"
Cacturne stopped his onslaught of Needle Arm only to hold out an arm towards Makuhita's face more for flair than anything else.
Spike cleared his throats before wiping away more purplish saliva. "Makuhita..." Spike started to hold out a hand towards them with a bit of a dazed expression. Another symptom of poison that usually showed up when the victim was on their last legs.
However, as he looked over the scene before him, he had seemingly snapped to attention. "Makuhita! Push him away with, w-with a fighting move!"
"Well, at least he's trying," I said with a dull expression.
"Thought that counts, I guess." Kirlia shared the same look as she accidentally copied my emotions.
Still, Makuhita nodded along and stared back up at the Pokémon looming over him. Then his gaze settled at the arm pointed towards him as Cacturne was still prepping his poison sting. I guess multiple Needle Arms tired out Cacturne a little more than it seemed.
"Mak," Giving up on freeing his hand, he decided to pull back his other hand close to him like his boxing pose from before.
Next, Makuhita tenses up his hand before immediately driving it forward in a shoving motion. Only, instead of aiming for Cacturne’s torso, Makuhita aimed for the thorned arm pointed at him.
The very next second, almost all the spectators to the right of us looked ready to take cover as Cacturne’s arm was pointed out towards them. Thankfully, none of them got hit, or even came close for that matter, as the poison stingers shot off towards the sky before fading away.
Meanwhile, Cacturne had quickly lost focus on the move and was currently spinning like a top due to the off center hit from Makuhita’s Arm Thrust. Nearly five rotations later and Cacturne managed to plant his second leg back on the ground, regaining some bit of control. Except Makuhita wasn’t done yet.
“Mak, maku,” Whatever Makuhita was trying to say, it grabbed Cacturne’s attention long enough to have it look up towards him while swaying back and forth. However, instead of saying anything else, Makuhita pulled back his arm again, this time striking Cacturne directly into his face.
“Yeah! Good jo—” Spike interrupted himself again only to try and fight the urge to cough. “Ugh, I don’t feel so good…”
Jenny narrowed her eyes. “Alright, the Poison Sting’s getting worse. This battle needs to end, now.” Officer Jenny looked over towards the referee, who was taking a moment to check over the spectators. And by the look on his face, he was almost ready to call the match a draw. “I’m going to make my way over towards him. I don’t think he realizes the condition Spike’s in.”
Me and the man nodded in agreement, and turned back to watch over Spike. As much as I wanted to try to convince the guy to give up the fight for now, he wouldn’t be able to hear me over all the commotion the crowd was making. Not to mention it was dangerous to run out onto the field and I couldn’t put Kirlia in more danger.
“Cacturne, are you alright?” Harley didn’t even turn to look towards the crowd. Instead, he just watched nervously as Cacturne was down on one knee after the blow he just suffered.
“Caa...Turne…” With a heavy breath, Cacturne took a moment to catch his breath. Makuhita looked winded, but he was about ready to collapse.
“Kuu…” Makuhita place both feet on either side of his trapped glove before pulling as hard as he could. “Hita!” And with one last tug, he finally broke free from the ground. “Maku-maku!”
“Gre-at,” Spike was breathing almost as heavily as Cacturne was while trying his best to stay on two feet.
“Ma?” Makuhita turned his full attention back towards Spike. With his hand stuck in the ground the way it was, Makuhita wasn’t able to even glance over at Spike. Now that he had all interest in battling Cacturne had subsided.
“Bullet Seed.”
Although that didn’t mean that the battle was over.
“Hii?” Makuhita threw a glance over his shoulder, but it was too late. Makuhita’s back acted as a target as seed after seed drilled into him.
“Taaa…!” Makuhita tumbled forward before finally collapsing in front of Spike. And to make it worse, his eyes were now replaced with those ever familiar swirls.
“Makuhita is unable to—Huh?” As Officer Jenny finally reached the referee, it was too late. From where he was looking, the referee could see Spike out of the corner of his eyes with not only some of color draining from his face, but he was coughing into his hand while trying to keep his balance as best he can.
Even without the match being called, we knew it was over. So, as fast as we could, the man and I ran forward towards Spike and Makuhita to check on them.
“Spike, how are you feeling?” Professor quickly caught Spike before he could fall to the ground with me helping to support him on the opposite side.
Meanwhile, the man’s Eevee ran over towards Makuhita with Kirlia teleporting over to his side.
“Eve. Eevee eev.” The Eevee spoke with a calm, almost forceful tone.
“Kirl!” Meanwhile, Kirlia wasn’t having it. “Kirlia? Kirlia-kir?” She leaned down to try and help him up, regardless of the ankle.
“Ma...Ma. Ku…” Makuhita blinked a few times before looking up towards the two.
“I’m not feeling so good,” My attention was brought back towards Spike who was trying his hardest not cough again. “I kinda...wanna lay down...right now…” True to his word, Spike’s legs gave out from under him, leaving the two of us as the only thing holding him up.
“Har…” Once I made sure that Spike was standing, I looked up only to see that same stupid green hat sticking out above the audience. “He’s gone.”
“Alright, everyone clear out! This battle is officially over!” From our right the referee was standing with Officer Jenny beside him. With both of them combined, the crowds didn’t dare try to question it as already they were beginning to thin out.
Repositioning himself so that he had a free hand, the man reached into his lab coat and pulled out a Pokéball. “Gogoat, we need your help out here!” He opened the Pokéball in front of us out came a burst of light only a few feet away from us.
“GOOOO!” I could only gawk at the Pokémon before me as it came over towards us. The size of it was about the same height as a Rapidash, but it was able to comfortably fit both Spike and his Pokémon.
The man looked over towards me. “Quickly, help me get him on.”
“Right,” I could only nod along as I brought Spike up to lay on top of the riding Pokémon. Next, I saw Makuhita being lifted up by Kirlia’s psychic and placed on top of Gogoat behind Spike.
“Alright then, Gogoat.” He looked Gogoat straight in the eyes. “Get them back to the lab. We’ll be right behind you.
Gogoat gave out a huff as it nodded and quickly took off through the space between the crowds, careful not to run so wildly so that the two wouldn’t fall off on the way.
“Professor Sycamore!” Officer Jenny came up not too soon after. At the same time, Kirlia and the Eevee made there way back over to us. Sadly, having taken care of the two guys, her ankle was already coming back to punish her for helping.
“Is he going to be alright?” Jenny stopped before the two of us, watching as Gogoat had already made it down the end of the street and turned onto the next.
“As long as he makes it to the lab, he should be back on his feet before the day’s up.” He turned back to me as I was in the process of picking Kirlia back up. “Your Kirlia’s hurt too. If you want, we can try and help with that as well.”
Kirlia and I shared a look before her voice came from the back of my mind. “We should go. Besides, it’s our fault that Spike and Makuhita got caught up in this whole situation anyways.”
I nodded along before turning back towards the professor. “Thank you.”
He returned it with a small smile. “Don’t mention it. Now let’s hurry.”
“Right.” The professor turned on his heel, jogging down the same road that Gogoat had rushed down before. We followed closely behind with the Eevee right beside us, all headed for the same place.
“Max, calm down.” Kirlia was holding on tightly from my shoulder. “Neither of them are in critical condition. In fact the poison will probably be taken care of by the time we—”
“That’s not it.” I shook my head if only to make her telepathy fade out for a few seconds. “Something wasn’t right here.”
“What do you mean?” Her grip tightened as we turned the corner. As we kept going I could see the Professor weaving in and out of the small crowd as best he could.
“Harley’s a jerk, but I don’t think he’s ever gone so far with his tricks as to bring cameras and start arguing with just any person in front of him.” Now it was our turn to go through the crowd, but thankfully they had already moved off to the sides. “Ugh!” Halfway through the crowd, I felt something land on my opposite shoulder. It was only half the weight of Kirlia, but I knew that I couldn’t hold them both up like this forever.
“Vee eevee, eev?!” Taking a glance at my right shoulder and I spotted the Eevee that was following us.
“He said that it’s only until we get out of the crowds.” Kirlia translated. “Anyways, I don’t know too much about Harvey apart from what you and May have said. What’s he usually like?”
“Well,” Passing around some kind of holographic map, I kept making my way through the crowds. “He still goes off on the littlest things, he puts himself and his Pokémon above everything else, and he’s...Well, he’s a bit girlish.”
“...And what is that supposed to mean exactly?” Kirlia’s tone didn’t sound angry—yet—just guarded.
“Uh…” I slowed down for a second as I got through a tougher crowd before slowly starting to speed back up. “Well, I just mean that, he just acts with these flamboyantly feminine gestures...On purpose.”
“...” Kirlia stayed quiet for a few seconds, with the Eevee burying daggers into the side of my head with its glare. “I’ll let you have a free pass on that, but I can’t say the same for Eevee over there. Right Eevee?”
“Yeah,” Even though I could hear Eevee give out a small growl, Kirlia went ahead and brought Eevee into our little telepathic phone call. That way I could hear what she was actually saying as well. “Jerk trainer.”
“Regardless,” Kirlia brought us back on subject. “I think that all matches up with the emotions I kept picking up from both him and that Cacturne. Only, there was something else there that I couldn’t help but notice.”
“What was it?” As we finally got out of the crowds, I made a turn to the left and once again trained my sights on the professor. From there, Eevee hopped off and started leading the way.
“Every time Spike ‘insulted’ Harley, and I do use that term loosely,” Her eye roll counted as credit to what she said. “There was some obvious rage that sprouted as a result. However, there were emotions of fear that mixed in there as well.”
“Fear? What was there to be scared of? Harley’s used to being in front of crowds and on TV, his Pokémon Coordinating can atest to that. And I’m pretty sure that Spike kid wasn’t really terrifying to anyone.”
“With how confused he was, I don’t think anyone could’ve taken him seriously to begin with. No, there was another reason. But being a little preoccupied with the battle going on, the crowds of people with their own emotions, and with seeing Spike’s emotions fade out thanks to that poison, I couldn’t really see anything past the fear. All I know is that Harley was concerned about something.”
We all rounded another corner and this one was one of the main roads. Sadly there was another small crowd that seemed to go on as long as the pathway. And with another crowd in our way, the Eevee jumped back onto my shoulder. This time slowing me down a little.
“Eevee, vee vee!”
“She said I’ll guide you, just please let me stay up here!” This was exactly why Kirlia didn’t like playing translator. Too many Pokémon abused her ability. I guess they came to some kind of agreement while I was running or something.
“Fine,” With a sigh I started to make my way through the crowds, albeit at a slower pace. If I had a guide than there was no point in sprinting the whole way. It’s not like I could help with poison conditions anyways.
After getting a steady rhythm through the crowd, I turned to look at Kirlia. “Once you’re feeling better, we’ll call May. Maybe she knows something about what’s going on.”
“Good idea. She might be able to shed some light on this. Not to mention, we need to see just what all those cameras recorded.”
The second she said that, I stopped in the middle of the crowd. Aside from a few people directly behind me, and the nervous looking Eevee, everything around us just kind of went silent for me.
“Max?” Kirlia leaned forward to look at me.
“We were on camera.”
“Max?” As she said my name again, it was less curious and more cautious.
“Oh Arceus, we were on camera.” I buried my face, glasses and all, into my hands. “You and I battled Harley on camera when you had an injured ankle.”
“Max.” She patted the top of my head for comfort. “That lose wasn’t your fault okay? Don’t think for a second that this is anything like the Pokémon Le—”
“Mom and Dad are gonna kill me for letting you battle like that.” I continued.
“—ague.” Kirlia finished, the patting of my head stopping. “You...Are you actually...ARE YOU THAT DENSE?!” Her voice rang out in my head like a fire alarm. And to make the headache worse, she used all the strength she had to smack me upside the head.
“OW!” I reached for the back of my head, almost knocking off the fidgeting Eevee on my shoulder in the process, and looked back towards Kirlia. “What was that for?!”
“Kir!” With the telepathy gone, Kirlia crossed her arms and turned up her nose in a “Humph” like fashion, apparently ignoring me on top of that.
With another sigh, and an injured head, I tried my best to shake off the scream that was still echoing in my head. “Sorry…”
Even though I had no idea what I was even apologizing for, I started walking forward through the crowds once again. Hopefully the professor had some aspirin in his lab.
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7068936 Don't you hate it when your comments don't get a response?
7801398 I know, right?
7801448
7801826 Heh. Sorry.
Bad jokes aside, whenever I see an author answer questions about "what'll happen next," I always see them not do what they said they'd do in a story, or they try to rework what they said was going to happen and make it come off as a huge plot twist or something. So I didn't mean anything personal by not answering, far from it, I just don't want to ruin the story by saying what will and won't happen in the future.