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Satoshi and Shinji are facing off once again. This time, Naetle is a bit higher leveled and ready to take on Hikozaru.
“Use headbutt, Naetle!” shouts Satoshi, and off he goes. Naetle runs, gaining speed as he bolts towards Hikozaru, and comes up on him ready to send a powerful blow.
“Use dig!” shouts Shinji from the other side of the battle field, his stern, unimpressed face glaring at the pokemon in front of him. Hikozaru digs underground just in time to dodge Naetle’s attack, and hides out of Naetle’s sight, ready to sneak in on him.
“Try to sense his movement, okay Naetle?” Satoshi calls out; Naetle nods, indicating he understands, and tries to focus on the earth’s vibrations. Before Naetle can do anything, Hikozaru attacks from the earth on Shinji’s command, using Ember as he jumps out of the hole.
This same tactic happens once more, creating a set of tunnels underneath the battlefield, connecting the two original holes and a third, new hole created by Hikozaru. Satoshi then instructs Naetle to charge at Hikozaru and use bite, but on Shinji’s command, Hikozaru counters with Ember, and Satoshi makes Naetle jump into one of Hikozaru’s dug holes to escape. Little does Satoshi know, that's exactly what Shinji wanted, and without hesitation, Shinji commands Hikozaru to use Ember in the holes, delivering a devastating blow to Naetle, knocking him out of the holes and back onto the battlefield.
Naetle, badly damaged, but not done with his fight, follows Satoshi's request to use Recover, not yet ready to give up. In the midst of Naetle’s recovery, Shinji once again calls on Hikozaru to attack, this time, dealing a powerful Fire Spin against him. This routine repeats, Hikozaru getting the upper hand while Naetle fails to combat him, leading to his inability to continue with the battle.
As Satoshi and Shinji’s battle comes to an end, Naetle lays in the dust. Out of breath and tired from the continuous battles, Naetle knocks out, and Satoshi falls to his knees, hugging Naetle. Satoshi, in a pained whisper, says, “I shouldn't have made you fight so much, I'm so sorry Naetle.”
Hikari and Takeshi stand in overwhelmingly loud silence, fists clenched and breath tense. Hikari’s hands grasp each other as she raises them to her face, complete shock taking over. Takeshi, on the other hand, has a stone cold expression. One he hardly displays towards those not part of Team Rocket.
“Satoshi…” Hikari coos softly. She understands how Satoshi feels in a way.
“It’s okay, just, Naetle needs to rest, that’s all.”
Satoshi watches as Hikozaru celebrates his victory with hops of glee and flailing arms. Crying out with pride, only to be cut short by Shinji’s disappointed sigh, “Don’t celebrate a win over such a feeble opponent.”
Hikozaru looks up at Shinji confused, but as soon as he noties Shinji's stern glare he lowers his head and is returned to his pokeball.
Shinji looks down upon Satoshi and scoffs. “Once useless, always useless, right?” he says before turning over his shoulder and walking away.
Still hugging his naetle, Satoshi curls over and shakes with rage.
“How could you say that about your pokemon? What is wrong with you?!” Satoshi cries out.
Hikari, Takeshi, Pikachu and Pochama tense up, they know how upset Satoshi is, because they feel the same way. Shinji looks over his shoulder and glares at Satoshi. If he could use a pokemon move, it would be Mean Look. He rolls his eyes and turns away once more, chuckling at Satoshi's inferior comment. Satoshi, full of anger, disgust, and equal parts anguish, storms towards the oblivious Shinji, grabs his right arm, turns him over his shoulder, and in one swift motion punches him across the face.
"S-Sato — " Hikari begins to say, but gets interrupted by Takeshi.
"Don't, Hikari. Let him do this. He needs this." Takeshi grabs Hikari's hand and lowers it away from her face.
"B-But what if he gets hurt?" Hikari says. She looks scared and worried and clasps both of Takeshi's hands in her own. She stands on her toes and is eye to eye with him. Takeshi slides his hands out of Hikari’s grasp, just enough to hold them softly.
“It'll be alright, Hikari,” he says as he pulls her into a hug, arms crossed over her head and upper back and stroking her hair.
Shinji doubles over from the unexpected contact and with his thumb and pointer finger, grabs the bridge of his nose, scoffs, attempts to punch Satoshi back, this time on his side. Unfortunately for him, Satoshi's reflexes are a lot faster than they seem, and he shifts out of the way. Pikachu, concerned and feeling protective of Satoshi, runs towards the duo, electric sparks flowing from its cheeks; Satoshi looks back at Pikachu and gives a quick but warm smile before pushing away Pikachu with a swift motion and lunges towards Shinji. With his right arm out, Satoshi hooks around Shinji’s waist and throws him to the ground.
“Takeshi, what was that?” Hikari says, flinching from the sound of the impact. She pulls away from Takeshi and still holds his hand as she looks at Satoshi and Shinji, one laying in the dirt and the other straddling. Takeshi blushes a little bit, Hikari’s hand still in his, and turns away, hoping the orange in his face tides down before Hikari notices.
Grabbing the collar of his jacket in a clenched fist, Satoshi with his other hand throws a sturdy right hook at Shinji across the face once more, this time breaking Shinji's nose. An audible cracking sound can be heard over 15 feet away; Takeshi and Hikari flinch at the sound and have to look away from the fight in front of them. Shinji’s nose is indented to the left, bleeding out of both sides, dripping down his left cheek. Sneering, Shinji attempts to push Satoshi away with only a slight allowance from himself and the dirt below him.
As the fight continues to rage on, Hikari gets more and more worried and antsy. “Takeshi, we have to stop them, please, let's try to at least inter — ”
Before she can finish her sentence she jumps and makes a small squeak. An audible slam happens behind her and she turns around to allocate the source. Hoping, praying it's not Satoshi getting hurt. Satoshi is done with Shinji’s struggle and slams him back down, his right knee in Shinji’s torso, he knees him in the stomach, breaking Shinji's bottom right rib, sending Shinji into immense pain, he wails and slams both fists into the earth and chokes for air; his teeth clenched and eye shut tight. Satoshi releases Shinji's shirt and uses the right hand to grab his neck, crushing it in his hand, squeezing his airways enough to ensure Shinji is knocked out.
“Satoshi!” Hikari yells. “That's enough! Stop it! Please...”
“Listen to her, Satoshi. He’s had enough, he can barely breathe,” Takeshi says, genuinely worried for the two of them, a tense sigh passing through his lips.
Satoshi keeps Shinji's neck held in his hands. Satoshi’s hands and breath are shaky from the fight that just ensued, and from the rush of adrenaline.
“Please, Satoshi. If not for him, then for us,” Hikari says in a soft but pained voice. It almost cracks and she has what looks to be tears forming in her eyes. Takeshi turns her around and hugs her, kissing her forehead and rubbing her back, letting her know it's over. He looks at Pikachu, and Pikachu looks up at him. Takeshi nods.
Pikachu rushes back to Satoshi and clambers on top of Shinji’s chest, nudging Satoshi’s hand until he lets go of Shinji's neck. Satoshi clutches onto Pikachu, still shaking and sheds a tear, not from sadness or shame, but of anger. Hikari is wrapped in Takeshi’s arms and has her head dug into his chest. Satoshi gets up off of Shinji’s unconscious body and stumbles away, chin to his chest and with closed, shaking fists. Takeshi pulls away from Hikari and turns her to Satoshi. Takeshi runs towards Shinji, making sure he is alive, and hopefully still breathing. Sure that bastard, abusive pokemon trainer deserved it, but Takeshi still has a soft spot for him, like he does anyone else.
Hikari, in the heat of the moment and knowing Satoshi was out of line, gets angry and slaps him across the face.
“What the hell was that, Satoshi?” Hikari is furious, but also relieved he is okay. Tears are streaming down her face as she continuous to shout. “You very well could have gotten hurt and you should have known better than to let your anger get the best of you!”
After she finishes yelling she pulls him into a hug, and just as fast as the hug started it ended. Hikari had turned away; walking toward Takeshi and blushing at the memories of what had just happened between them moments before.
While Takeshi and Hikari are checking on Shinji and talking through their slightly embarrassing interactions, Satoshi is still standing, glooming over Pikachu. It looks up and at him and notices tears dripping down his face. Pikachu pulls on Satoshi's pant leg and tries to get his attention. Pikachu is left behind as Satoshi runs into the surrounding bushes, ignoring Pikachu and its attempts at comforting him.