---

Chu-e almost reaches for his Lopunny. She was one of his better trained pokemon, could Mega Evolve, even had a useful and versatile moveset. But as soon as he sees the Heatran, he knows- It can only be Glimmer.

The Mimikyu is thrown out, making it a rematch from the previous battle way back in... was it January? Time flew.

Chu-e puts a finger in his mouth from each hand let's out a loud 'fweeee!' whistle, which causes the Fairy type to lurch into action. A Light Screen is thrown up, adding some defense around the Mimikyu for what's to come.

---

- Chu-e's Outfit
- Sends out Mimikyu!
- Uses Light Screen!
- FERNANDO SILPH

SILPH VS CHOI

THE UNDERBOSS STRIKES BACK

LIGHT SCREEN IS A STANDARD OPENER. It filters the MAGMA STORM that spews from Heatran’s unhinged maw, eating away at the fushsia glass until it gives way.

Fernando observes but there’s no need to take hold of the situation. Bolstering the defense of his Pokemon means little if Heatran powers through it. In a game of attrition, he has faith in his Legendary.

And should it fall, that just gives him more ground to redouble their practice.

Chu-e Choi

The Magma Storm is weathered, the Disguise popping, Mimikyu's false head lying limp and charred on the ground.

But Glimmer uses the shadow of the attack to slink into the ground, hurl himself at the Heatran with a Shadow Sneak to slice his dark claws at the other pokemon.

- Mimikyu's Ability activated (no damage this turn)
- Mimikyu used Shadow Sneak
- FERNANDO SILPH

SILPH VS CHOI

THE UNDERBOSS STRIKES BACK

ONE DISGUISE IS TRADED FOR ANOTHER. Under the veil of the attacks, the Mimikyu finds ample space to rematerialize. Its claws find purchase against the Pokemon, catching it by surprise, landing a CRITICAL HIT on its underside.

The Heatran groans in pain, kicking its hind leg toward the Mimikyu’s position before stomping in place with another limb. The force is enough to cause the sand to condense, erecting a STONE EDGE from underneath the Mimikyu.

Chu-e Choi

Glimmer is slammed from underneath, being launched upwards from the attack. His body is light, after all, and the Heatran is strong.

Chu-e's eyes gleam and a wide grin splits his face. A single snap of his fingers, loud, and the Mimikyu uses his airtime to his advantage.

As he falls, his shadow hand curls into a fist, glowing a faint orange as he aims a Drain Punch down at his opponent.

- Mimikyu used Drain Punch
- FERNANDO SILPH

SILPH VS CHOI

THE UNDERBOSS STRIKES BACK

FERNANDO SEES THE ATTACK WELL BEFORE IT LANDS. He can’t tell what kind of punch it is, not without a more telling sign from this distance, but that means little. Dodging or protecting against the attack should prove easy. But the Heatran relies on instincts rather than his commands.

He fashions that without his own guidance, the Pokemon will use the closing distance, the need for them to be in contact for a physical attack to land, to its advantage in retaliation, which proves acceptable. To no surprise, when the DRAIN PUNCH lands, Heatran response by unleashing a LAVA PLUME all around it.

Chu-e Choi

The Drain Punch helps to revitalize what was lost previously. However, the Lava Plumes scorch and blacken bits of the leftover disguise when Glimmer, unable to help his free fall even after the attack, lands in them.

He hisses loudly at the burning. His body glows a violent red, the energy writhing, before a series of his own magma surrounds him, rises to shoot at the Heatran in his own Lava Plume.

- Mimikyu used Copycat!
- Copycat turned into Lava Plume!

SILPH VS CHOI

THE UNDERBOSS STRIKES BACK

FERNANDO BREAKS OUT IN A SMUG SMIRK. To see the Mimikyu COPYCAT the LAVA PLUME and its intensity is impressive but that’s inconsequential. Molten flames wash the Pokemon in a faint glow, lighting up the dull red-brown flesh that sits underneath melted steel.

“You should know better than to use a fire attack on a fire type.”

Granted, Heatran are a rare and otherwise an unfounded Pokemon until as of late. But the constant barrage and usage of fire moves should’ve been a telltale sign. Paired with the fact its body radiates an intense heat just by existing makes the hypothesis nothing short of obvious.

And, with the fire type pairing comes the very real chance that the Pokemon has FLASH FIRE. The irradiated change in color isn’t the Heatran suffering from the heat. No, it makes the power its own, powering up with a triumphant roar.

Chu-e Choi

"True, true...." Chu-e's own smirk is still on his lips. Another snap, the Mimikyu lifts it's wooden tail over it's head. "But you do know what happens when you superheat sand, like our attacks just did, right?"

The tail was slammed down, the discolored and ugly glass that had formed from the previous two Lava Plumes from the Heatran and the one from the Mimikyu shattering. It was sharp and jagged but that wouldn't be the biggest problem, at least not for the Heatran. The sudden shift, along with the breaking of the glass that had formed under the sand, would make a small, sharp sinkhole. Nothing the Heatran couldn't escape, given it's size, but it would make the terrain that the other pokemon had already been struggling with earlier a great deal harder to content with.

---

- FERNANDO SILPH
- Mimikyu used Wood Hammer on the ground!
- Mimikyu made... Glassy Terrain? A sinkhole? Something not good!

SILPH VS CHOI

THE UNDERBOSS STRIKES BACK

“HM.”

Fernando verbalizes his curiosity with a pleasant hum. The correct play is obvious—EARTH POWER to rearrange their foothold. That’s all it takes to reset the field while maintaining FLASH FIRE. However, Fernando never makes the command.

He entertains Chu-e’s attempt to see what else he has in store. What’s the follow-up to his Heatran’s reaction?

Reliant on its own thought process and instinct, the Heatran merely accepts the sinkage. None of that matters if it simply incinerates everything several meters out. Another MAGMA STORM rises from the LAVA PLUME. It grows to a great intensity, a second coming of a volcano as it erupts all around them. Sand turns to glass but even that melts under raw magma.

It’s a meltdown.

Chu-e Choi

Chu-e tilted his head and tapped a finger against one perfectly glossed lip. This was SPICY spicy. The kind of shit he liked. Too bad this was some League sanctioned match and they couldn't get really wild.

There is a moment where the surge of lava and the coming storm looks like it might overtake Glimmer, but the Mimikyu sinks into the ground with his ghostly form. It's hard to hide in shadow when there is so much sunlight. Oddly enough, the very lava on the field has given him the kind of solid coverage he needs to slink around in the dark.

Was it kind of cowardly? Maybe, but Chu-e was here to win, not die with honor or some shit. No way his little pokemon could stand up to something like that even if Glimmer was a certified badass.

---

- Mimikyu used dodge that shit
- Mimikyu is under the ground... doing something!
- FERNANDO SILPH

SILPH VS CHOI

THE UNDERBOSS STRIKES BACK

WHAT THE MIMIKYU DOES MEANS LITTLE. As long as the Heatran continues to expel more igneous liquids so too will the battlefield slant forward their victory. It becomes a game of attrition where the Pokemon sacrifices sure footing in exchange for creating a zone no one else can enter without melting.

Remove the enemies ability to make physical attacks and the contest winds down to who can land the most punishing ranged attacks. Fernando’s Heatran is willing to bet on itself and continues onward with its plan.

When it realizes the Mimikyu is missing, out of sight and out of mind, it does a quick look into the sky before slamming both feet into the molten glass underneath. Sand and sediment meters below them condense into sharp spires as the underground becomes a living iron maiden.




“Tch. Well, that’s surprising.”

Fernando recalls his Heatran at the battle’s conclusion.

“I suppose that’s my loss. Good show,” he commentates with a satisfied chuckle, killing the tension created by their feuding Pokemon.

Chu-e Choi

The shifting of earth around his body, Ghost or not, stings. It's not the same organ crushing force for something truly buried alive, Mimikyu is not 'alive' enough for that, but it will be felt later and a long recovery needed.

Much like before, The Copycat shifts the Earth Power into his control instead, working with the Mimikyu instead of against it.

The trap, already laid, is helped to spring.

Where the Heatran falls, Glimmer claws out of the earth like a spectre from a B horror film. He's ragged. When Chu-e calls him back, it's with pride and a gentle touch to the Love Ball.



"That thing was just as intense the second time! What's it called?" He had seen a mass of them during the Tower To Space incident but hadn't thought to ask anything about them. Heatran, for the most part, were a mystery to Chu-e.

He tosses out a pokeball, a Vaporeon, who starts to spray down the still superheated field when instructed.

Chu-e skirts around that, making his way to FERNANDO SILPH himself. He had stuff to do.