smash_logs | Thunderbolts vs. Vine Whips!

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Thunderbolts vs. Vine Whips!

Who: Jolt and Vinnie
What: Jolt and Vinnie spar!
Where: The Arena
When: October 3
Warnings: Fighting

Jolt didn't really get how the arena was supposed to work, but he figured it out enough to get a battlefield set up. It looked a lot like an official Pokemon League stadium, so that was a plus. Admittedly, it brought back memories. Not so good memories, really. The joy of victory, followed so quickly by the pain of defeat. And one of the architects of that defeat was on his way here.

Jolt had a lot to prove. Maybe somewhat to Vinnie and his team, but as far as he was concerned he had something to prove to himself. He needed to show he still had that spark that got him and his team to the league championship. And Vinnie was just the person to test his mettle on.

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In truth, Vinnie's position wasn't all that different. He had lost a lot of things during the last two years - much more than just his powers - and had only just begun truly recovering from it. Nothing had been easy. Everything he was had been stripped down to its lowest point, shaking the very foundations of his loyalties, self-worth and purpose and forcing him to rebuild in the dark.

It had stopped being about the Pokemon League a long time ago, for Vinnie. He had to be a Venusaur his family could rely on, more than ever now with Red gone. He had nights of pain and death behind him, mornings of intense labor, months of despair and the world on his shoulders. He couldn't let it go to waste. A summer training with Erika and a win against a Blaziken was progress, but there was nothing like an old rival to remind you how far there was still to go.

Vinnie arrived, a little surprised to find the stadium already set. There was a mote of trepidation in his smirk as he remarked, "Pretty nostalgic."

Jolt turned, smirking right back. "Seemed appropriate," he said. His smirk was without hesitation or fear. He was stoked and ready for a legit challenge. "So, ready for me?" he asked confidently.

Vinnie rolled up his sleeves and cracked his wrists. For a second, he considered taking off his shirt - he was really too broke to afford new clothes - in case of electric burns or tearing, but a flicker of pride decided against it. He wanted to see how well he'd do without anyone seeing his scars. There was already a suspicion in his mind that Char was holding back on him, and the Venusaur really didn't want the same treatment from Jolt.

He lowered himself into a defensive stance and grounded his footing. "Bring it."

"You've got it," Jolt said, raising his hands. Electricity crackled between his palms, and he grinned in excitement. Jolt was all about speed. He moved first, dashing for Vinnie and taking a leap, throwing his hand out and launching a Thunderbolt.

Vinnie, on the other hand, was a fighter of endurance - but he knew that having someone that much faster than him wasn't going to end well unless he levelled the playing field a bit. Like, literally.

The thunderbolt struck him like a lance, and even with some natural resistance to electricity on his side, the Venusaur had stifle a cry of pain. A human form just wasn't as grounded, didn't have the thick skin of his natural body, and he felt more of that than he would've liked. Gritting his teeth, he stomped the stadium floor in response, sending out a wave of earthen energy underneath their feet to cut down the Lightning Pokemon's speed. Jolt was leaping right into a Bulldozer's sweep of destruction.

Oh. That sucked. Jolt was definitely tripped up by that as soon as he touched down. It threw off his balance, and he knew it was going to slow him down. He still had an edge on the big guy, but he was going to have to play it safe from here on. Keep his distance, and don't let Vinnie use that move on him again. Use his evasiveness.

Getting back to his feet, Jolt charged up the air around him. The hairs on his coat stood up on end. And off shot a Pin Missile volley right at the big lug. Distract him a bit, then move in for a hit, that was the plan.

Normally an opponent keeping their distance wasn't a problem for Vinnie - not with his old moveset, anyway. A Frenzy Plant could strike from anywhere so long as they were on solid ground, and Giga Drain simply sucked the life out of you, no contact needed. But noticably, Vinnie didn't have those options right now.

He had to put up his arms to keep the pins from his face, but the biting sting of Jolt's needles had to be a distraction - to keep him from going on the offensive. Which it did, he realized with a grimace. With the pressure on, the Venusaur had to pull out another unfamiliar attack: Venoshock.

No time to set it up for more hurt. He glowed a sickly purple, static crackling off him like an Electric field in inverse. Rather than a direct attack, Venoshock aimed for the internal organs. Vinnie just had to lock eyes onto his flighty target and let the impurities soaked into Jolt's body burn him from within.

Huh. Jolt was expecting something different. A Vine Whip, a Frenzy Plant, something. Jolt's plan was to sidetrack Vinnie, but any of those moves would have been an expected response. Fortunately for Jolt, he had another trick up his sleeve.

He dashed forward while Vinnie was setting up his move, socking it to him with a light but fast Quick Attack, and then attempting to move to a safe distance again.

Once Jolt came within range of striking, Vinnie's focus immediately shifted from building up his toxic energy to actually unleashing it. The Venusaur's energy wasn't going to do the attacking here, it only needed to seek out a target to resonate with.

The Electric Type's skin began exuding the same glow, awakening the toxins normally absorbed by his system and the bacteria that lived in and on his skin. It would've felt like a stab of pain deep in the core of his guts as his body was used against him.

If this so much as staggered Jolt a little, then Vinnie had to grab him. He'd trade off pain for getting the flighty Electric Type in one place.

Okay, now Jolt was feeling sick. Stupid poison moves. Vinnie was going to try and weaken him bit by bit. He wanted to slow him down, bring him to the Venusaur's speed. Maybe there was a way to use that to his advantage...

Jolt stopped. He concentrated, through the searing pain to his gut, just waiting for Vinnie to make his move...

Vinnie, you have been fighting Fire Types too long, you have totally forgotten how to deal with someone this fast.

Too focused on finding an opening against the Lightning Pokemon, the Venusaur lunged at him with the intent to tackle him to the ground. Frustration was clouding his instincts, making him unaware that Jolt's sudden pause could've been a feint.

And that was just what Jolt needed. As he got near, Jolt raised his arms and quickly brought them down again. A loud rumble from up above, and Jolt's Thunder attack roared down from the sky.

And Vinnie ran right into it.

Fuck.

The Thunder pierced straight through Vinnie's torso in mid-tackle, striking him down with full force of the sky. He would've kicked himself for such a stupid move, but as it was, he couldn't do anything but scream. The agony was blinding - every inch of his nervous system was seizing up, shrieking bloody murder as pain exploded down the length of his spine. It was overwhelming.

The Venusaur collapsed, face down, into a trembling heap on the ground, teetering over the verge of unconsciousness. Even for a high level attack, it shouldn't have been this bad - this was a pain that would not subside, even after the electricity was gone. He couldn't feel his limbs anymore, his sight had gone hazy, and his breaths were coming in weak, irregular gasps.

It felt a little like dying all over again.

From where he lay, a large, smoking hole had been burned into the back of his shirt where the Thunder hit him. Without knowing, Jolt had delivered a blow straight to Vinnie's vulnerable scar tissue - and it was enough to render him completely helpless.

Something was very wrong. Vinnie was resistant to electric attacks. Even his most powerful attack should have been something he could withstand. He looked down at Vinnie, lying on the ground, a hole in the back of his shirt.

And then he saw the scars.

His eyes widened in horror. He didn't cause those, those were already there. So there WAS something off about him.

Jolt stopped caring about the fight. He rushed to the bag he brought with him to the arena. He packed along a few Potions just in case one of them needed a pick-me-up after sparring, and now he was glad he did. Hurrying back to Vinnie and dropping to his knees, Jolt spritzed his rival with the potion. "Vinnie, can you hear me? Hang in there, you're gonna be all right..."

The potion cut through the haze with a touch of cool, healing relief, soothing the injuries incurred during battle. Vinnie's scars, however, were old wounds and already closed - he could only ride out the lingering pain until its echoes died down. Every joint felt stiff and old, shaken by this crippling shock that had taken over his body.

It wasn't really until most of the pain had subsided that the Venusaur realized what had happened, and that Jolt was still very much there. With a groan, Vinnie tried to push himself off the ground. "Ah... fuck."

Jolt offered a hand and helped Vinnie back up to at least a sitting position. Relieved that he was conscious and seemed okay, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"I didn't know," Jolt managed to say in response to his actions. He cut loose on Vinnie without knowing he was in no condition to battle. Vinnie never let on. At first Jolt thought he might have been going easy on him; if that were the case he might never have forgiven his opponent. But now... "What... happened to you?" he asked.

Vinnie was in no condition to turn away a hand when it was offered, and hefted himself up with Jolt's help. Carefully, he brought a hand to feel over the exposed scars, in case it had started to bleed or peel, but a tingling, phantom pain kept it too sensitive to touch. His body still remembered - after all, it was a fight with an electric monster that left him this way.

The Venusaur sighed and slouched in resignation where he sat. "It's fine," he muttered, tearing what was left of his shirt off his back and exposing the full view of his back. God, he really was going to run out of clothes at this rate. "I just wanted t'see how I'd do against someone who wouldn't go easy on me."

"When did that happen?" Jolt asked. "If I'd known, I wouldn't have--" And then he quickly realized why Vinnie kept quiet about it. If Jolt knew, he either wouldn't have fought, or gone easy on Vinnie. Jolt knew how he'd have felt if Vinnie did that to him. He knew better than Vinnie probably knew.

Jolt shook his head. "How long have you been trying to recover?" he asked instead.

Vinnie inspected the remains of his shirt with a grimace. "Two years, come December?" The words were like foreign objects on his tongue, strange and ill-fitting. They felt inadequate to describe the time - had it really been that long already? So this was what the last two years amounted to.

He took a deep breath, doing his best not to let frustration get the best of him. "There was a bad fight," he explained, as rough as he could manage. This was old news by now, and there was no point in dredging up the unnecessary. "The life or death kind. I didn't walk out in one piece, that's all."

Edited 2012-10-04 19:43 (UTC)

Jolt looked down. He really HAD missed a lot more than he thought. It seemed like only yesterday to him that they were all sparring for practice in Kanto, nothing to fear, nobody got hurt.

How things changed.

"And you're still trying to get back to full power," Jolt reasoned.

"Well, yeah." That was obvious. Vinnie glanced away, feeling the taste of shame rising in his throat. Begrudgingly, he had to add, "Slowly..."

Jolt took another look at Vinnie, then down at his feet. He couldn't just offer a sympathetic apology. There was nothing he could do to help, or change what was going on.

...Or was there...

The electric Pokemon hopped up to his feet and looked down at Vinnie. A small grin was forming on his face. "Let's see if we can't speed it up a bit," he suggested.

Vinnie blinked and looked up at Jolt with a measure of uncertainty. It sounded suspiciously like Jolt wanted to help - though technically he wouldn't be the first member of Green's team to do so. There had always been Bulba, of course, but if Vinnie were honest with himself, there was a sad, fragile, stubborn chunk of pride that hated needing the Ivysaur's aid. It made him feel like a failure of a Venusaur every time. He didn't want to fight Bulba, and he didn't want to train with him, and so far, he'd never had to.

Raising a brow, the Venusaur pushed himself off the ground and got to his feet, still a little unsteady. "What'd you have in mind?"

"I'm thinking I'm not gonna be happy until I've got you beat fair and square," Jolt explained. "So you and I are gonna train and practice together, so I can take you down good and proper." The Jolteon punched his fist into his palm.

At this, Vinnie couldn't help but let an amused grin slip out. Leave it to someone from Green's team to extend aid under the pretense of beating you later.

"That's a lot've effort just to kick my ass," he remarked.

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Thunderbolts vs. Vine Whips!

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