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A fierce Rhyhorn growled as it pushed back against its master, a much more powerful Rhydon, who held it back with only the strength of a single large hand.
“You still keep charging in without a plan, huh?” He sighed. “I thought you would know better by now, after all our training.”
“Shut up!” His protege spat back angrily, straining against his palm to no avail. “Charging in works just fine, there’s nothing wrong with it! Not when your horn’s this strong…”
The Rhydon chuckled.
“And yet you don’t seem to be making any headway, do you?”
The other Ground-type scoffed and rolled his eyes.
“Well, do you have a better plan?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. But you’ll have to take a rest for a moment.”
Reluctantly, the Rhyhorn backed down, taking a break from its futile efforts to try and best its master. Rhydon handed it an Oran Berry, which it gladly bit into, savoring the juicy taste. It was nice to have some sustenance, and it helped recover its stamina a bit.
“Feeling better?”
The Rhyhorn nodded, and its mentor smiled.
“Alright, then let’s get started.” The Rhydon changed his stance, putting one hand forward to block any charging attacks and firmly planting his feet on the ground in a way that kept them rooted and immovable. “Suppose I’ve assumed a defensive position like this, and I’m in a prime position to counter a head-on tackle like you’re so fond of. Any ideas on what you should do?”
His protege glared at him.
“I thought you were supposed to be telling me what to do.”
“It was just a suggestion, to see what you might come up with. There is a right answer, but I like testing your creativity.” The other Pokemon replied. “Besides, you never know. You might come up with something even I hadn’t thought of before.”
The Rhyhorn huffed, but complied, closing its eyes and thinking for a moment, wracking its brain for any alternatives. Eventually, a thought stuck its mind.
“...I could try getting behind you?” He suggested, somewhat tentatively. “You seem like you’re mainly blocking from the front. Your back isn’t particularly protected.”
The Rhydon smirked a bit.
“A good plan, but how would you execute it? Deciding you’re going to get behind me is one thing, actually doing it is another.” He replied. “No, if you’re gonna get a hit in, you’re gonna have to figure out a way to disrupt my defense. Something that can put me off guard, make me unsteady. A little something like…this!”
He kicked at the ground in just such a way that it sprayed up a cloud of mud directly in the Rhyhorn’s face, making the bulky quadruped recoil and blink rapidly, trying to get the substance out of his eyes.
“ACK!” It coughed, spluttering as it tried to get it off of itself. When it finally managed to free itself from the muck, it once more gave its mentor a stink eye. “Arceus…what the hell was that for?”
“A demonstration, of one of the best techniques for catching an opponent by surprise.” The Rhydon elaborated, once more assuming his immovable stance. “Now, give it a try. See for yourself.”
Reluctantly, his student pawed at the ground, at first slowly and ineffectively, before beginning to speed up, quickly building up power before flinging a huge clump directly at its mentor’s face. It struck surely and squarely, blinding the Rhydon and causing him to stumble and flail about, his once immutable defense now completely disrupted. His Rhyhorn rival charged forwards, slamming its horn into his chest with all its might, and with all the effort it could muster, managed to knock him down onto his back. The other Pokemon groaned…but it quickly turned into a hearty chuckle.
“Well done! I always knew you learned quickly with the right motivation.”
The Rhyhorn smirked.
“Heh, thanks.”
As the other Pokemon managed to clamber back to his feet (a difficult task due to his sheer weight), his expression seemed to turn pensive.
“Something on your mind?” His protege asked.
“Well…it might be a little early for this, but…” its master started.
“I don’t care! We aren’t here to keep secrets, gimme the dirt!” It interrupted. “You think I can’t take it? You think it’ll blow my mind? You just taught me one of your secret techniques! You can’t just leave me hanging like this!”
The Rhydon chuckled.
“I see your little lesson in strategy hasn’t changed your stubbornness…but it might serve you well, if you don’t forget what you’ve learned.”
He put his hands together and cracked his knuckles, the sound earthy due to the substances that made up his body, a little bit of dust and sand falling off of him as the sound rang out through the arena.
“You wanna know what I was thinking about? I was thinking about not holding back for once.” He admitted, his expression changing. He still had just as much spunk as before, but now there was a spark in his eye that had been nowhere to be seen a few minutes prior, like a fire had been lit somewhere deep inside of him. “I may be old now, but I’ve still got enough strength in me to shake the good ole earth. ‘Course, there’s the possibility you might not be able to handle it, but-”
“Oh, go ram your head into a Beedrill nest!” The small Rhyhorn spat, suddenly fuming. “Arceus’ sake, do I have to repeat myself? You taught me how to get through your defenses! I’m more than ready to knock you down, old man!”
“And that’s exactly what I’m hoping for.” The elder Pokemon replied with a grin. “You’re one tough cookie, and you’re smarter than I’ve given you credit for before. Let’s put this to the test.”
He squared up, planting his feet once more and revving up his horn with vigor and enthusiasm, the keratin weapon spinning like a drill.
“On three. One…”
The Rhyhorn readied itself in turn, pawing at the ground and preparing to charge.
“Two…”
Its master stomped the ground with a sound like thunder.
“...THREE!”
His protege charged forwards as he struck the ground, creating a shockwave that travelled straight towards it. However, the enterprising rhinoceros Pokemon quickly leaped over the attack, dodging the wave while preserving its momentum, slamming its horn into its master’s chest and knocking him backwards a little with a grunt, though he still managed to keep his ground for the most part.
“Heh, nice one! But we’re just getting started!”
The Rhydon performed a similar shockwave attack, but this time anticipated his
student’s leap, crossing his arms in a defensive position and stopping the horn in its tracks. As the other Pokemon was still reeling from the impact, he took this opportunity to follow it up with a powerful strike with one hand, knocking the poor rhino a considerable distance sideways with a groan.
“Told you I wasn’t messing around!”
He then performed a charge of his own, bowing his head before charging at his opponent, drill revving at full velocity. With little time to think, the cornered Rhyhorn dug down into the ground with one paw before flinging everything it could upwards, dirt and mud going into its mentor’s eyes and causing him to veer off course, hitting the nearby wall rather than his student. And a good thing to, because the impact caused massive cracks in the surface, and the drill went straight on through!
“Don’t celebrate too early!”
The rhino rammed into its master again, this time from the side, knocking him out of being lodged in the wall and almost managing to knock him down for the count. But he still had a lot of tricks up his sleeve, quickly righting himself.
“Hey, I could say the same to you!”
He rapidly spat several thick rocky projectiles from his mouth that forced his protege to frantically swerve around trying to dodge, which proved to be to no avail as it was hit by one of the boulders and sent bouncing across the battlefield again. It was bruised and battered by the time it came to a stop, but its teacher was showing no signs of any similar damage, still looking as vigorous as ever. With a ferocious battle cry that shook the coliseum, he leaped into the air, readying himself to bring down the full momentum of one arm on the other Pokemon. The Rhyhorn closed its eyes, expecting the worst.
…Then, it heard a faint hum, and a flicker of light came shining through its eyelids. It opened its eyes, time seemed to slow to a crawl as it stared in front of it. Right there in the midst of all the dust and dirt was a glowing blue pottery wheel, just inches from its feet, seeming bizarre and inexplicable amidst its more grounded surroundings. As all the noises around it seemed to grow faint and muffled, it reached out with one paw…and touched the instrument. In an instant, clay walls sprung up all around it, curving in on themselves to form a protective circular shell just as the opposing Rhydon’s arm came down, blocking the hit with a reverberating CLONG! that made the entire thing vibrate. As he landed back on the ground with a thud and a cloud of dust, the old monster grinned, despite or perhaps because of his strike being stopped short.
“The old PWM, eh? A surprise, yes…but a welcome one.” He rubbed his paws together eagerly. “This is gonna be even better than I’d thought…”
Meanwhile, inside the shell, the Rhyhorn found itself within a vast, glowing blue chamber, its walls like mirrors that reflected and refracted its image across every surface. Disoriented, it stumbled around.
Huh? Where the distortion am I? What on earth is happening?
It twisted and turned in panic, before suddenly coming to a realization, its breath hitching.
Wait…didn’t my gramps and my teach both used to say something about this? There was a story they told, about some kind of…Pottery Wheel Method? Lottery Wheel Method? Something like that…anyway, wasn’t that supposed to come around when you evolve? Is it finally time to evolve?
It blinked, looking down at its body, which suddenly felt a lot more malleable than usual.
It must be…what else would this be? I guess I can’t just sit around, if I’m gonna get out of here and teach my old teach a lesson, then I gotta get started!
Getting right to work, it rapidly began to grow to a much larger size, stretching and expanding until it was a size that made its previous look puny by comparison. With some effort, it stood up on its hind legs, wobbling for a moment and flailing about before managing to gain its balance, breathing a sigh of relief.
Arceus, I really thought I was gonna fall over a moment there…how did I manage to do that? Oh whatever, don’t look a gift Rapidash in the mouth…is that right? Is that what people say at times like this? It was something sorta like that, anyway.
After a moment of intense concentration, a new claw burst forth one each of its paws that now served as an equivalent to hands, which it eagerly tested out, flexing each for a moment before grinning, satisfied.
That’s more like it!
It made quick use of the new and improved gropers by grabbing its horn with one hand and placing its other’s middle claw on the weapon atop its head, beginning to spin it rapidly around while dragging its claw through to create grooves. By the time it was finished, the keratin piercer was just as drill-like as that of its master’s. It gave it an experimental spin, and chuckled heartily when it proved successful.
Yeah, that’s the stuff! It’s as good as having a whole new limb!
It tried to put the drill to use just as it had its new claw, but found its neck simply wasn’t adjustable enough to use the tool on its chest as it had planned, causing its excitement to diminish a little.
…Huh. Oh well, my nice new claws are still as good as ever!
It used said claws to poke some holes in its now much more malleable chest, and with a bit of adjustment and some wriggling, managed to toss off its central layer of armor to reveal a brand new layer beneath, one which covered its chest like a charm while feeling and looking light as a feather, as if it was simply part of its skin. It looked more like an insect’s exoskeleton in comparison to the rest of the creature’s body, and yet it still seemed to fit just fine. It felt… right.
On a roll now, it became aware of its own face.
Could use a little adjustment, even if it doesn’t need an armor trim…
And so it pulled and pinched at the edges of its cheeks, drawing the flesh out a little into a new shape, making some indents with its claws that resulted in three-pronged, almost fin-like frills that stuck out in a way that, if it did say so itself, made it look quite fierce. It then pushed on its head from both sides, merging its forehead together and filling up the gap that once ran through it to create a smoother surface, which it brushed with its paws until it was as sleek as it could manage, all the while taking excess material and using it to fill up some of the holes near the top of its head, smoothing out the newly created surface just as it had with the central one. Then, it carefully stretched some of the clay near the very top of its head into a spire before patting it with both paws to provide some stability, preventing the structure from collapsing in on itself.
By the time the process had finished, it had adorned itself with an additional horn, though this one was more for decoration than for battle. It followed this up with similar movements to the left and right of the new creation, though the shapes it created this time were different, thicker and having more of a curved, slope-like shape resembling ears, thanks to a bit more padding on one side than the other and a bit of extra reinforcement to prevent gravity from screwing the whole thing over.
Alright, are we done yet?
Unfortunately, it realized it still didn’t quite feel just right. A little bit of self-searching later, it realized there were still a lot of plates on its front section that felt rough and out of place. It tugged and scratched at them, but that only seemed to make them grow more uncomfortable in their position. With a sigh of exasperation, it realized it was going to have to be more precise.
Moving slowly, and with caution, it moved them as delicately as it could, making sure its movements didn’t cause each plate to clash with another.
Huh, these are all connected…it’s like one big mesh. But it feels wrong, like they’re too rough. The way they overlap makes them scratch against each other.
Fortunately, this was easily remedied by pressing down on the surface of each scale with one claw and then moving the claw across the entire thing whilst applying the same pressure, resulting in a nice, smooth texture. But the real test was of its patience, for this process had to be done for each individual piece, and it knew instinctively that this couldn’t be rushed, or else the problem might grow worse rather than better. Though it took far too long, frustrating the creature, its efforts eventually bore fruit. By the time it had finished, it felt better than ever, its armor fitting as smoothly as a glove. A quick test drive revealed its movement wasn’t hindered at all by the plating, and it could leap and run and dash from place to place faster than ever before!
And yet, somehow it knew it still wasn’t done.
Arceus, this is taking forever! How much longer is this gonna go for? It looked up at the ceiling of the chamber wistfully, feeling oddly pensive and empathetic. Did my old teach really have to go through all this just to evolve? Man, maybe I ought to give him some more respect…
It reached over to its back, feeling its spines.
These are…okay, I suppose. But they could definitely be better, and I don’t think I’m getting out of here until this body’s as good as it can be.
It molded them with care, pushing at their sides and smoothing them with the bottom edges of its claws to create a thin, triangular shape that always remained pointed outwards.
That’s better, but…there should be more.
With another moment of focus, concentrating its mind on the specific region of its back where it wanted the additional spines to appear and pushing outwards, as if leaning against a non-existent wall. With a rapid series of popping noises , it swiftly corrected the lack of quantity, though its job still wasn’t done yet. The spines didn’t come fully formed, manifesting as round lumps of clay that each needed to be hand-crafted into its ideal shape in the same manner as the previous spines.
Arceus, this just doesn’t end!
Still, it went through the process nonetheless, painstakingly shaping them into what they longed to be.
Once it was finished, it let out a sigh.
Holy Dialga, that was a workout… But, as it looked itself over, another thought occurred. But I’m still not done yet, am I?
Deciding to give its back a similar treatment to its front, it began to give its back plating the same treatment as it had its front, swapping out each misfit shard of armor with another, again and again, over and over, giving each an extra pat with one or two claws just to make sure it was firmly in place, until the whole thing was finally as lightweight and perfect as could be. It clapped its paws together with satisfaction.
And there we go! Now there’s really only one thing left.
With one final moment of concentration, pushing with all of its might, a vast opposable tail burst from its rear end, which it wriggled around with delight.
Nice! Just what the doctor ordered .
A few extra grooves marked with its claws, and that, it figured, was finally enough. With some great bursts of light, the room began to crumble apart, confirming its suspicion, and just a few seconds later, it was standing before its master again, now finally eye to eye with him. The old man beamed with pride.
“That’s the spirit.” He said with a wink. “Took you a while, but it ‘aint a quick process. I think it took me even longer, in fact.”
“You got that right.” The newly formed Rhydon huffed. “Now stop talking at me! I didn’t go through all this for a chat!”
The other Rhydon shifted from side to side, getting all his plates in place.
“You ready to get back to the brawl?”
His protege gave a vicious smile.
“You ready to end up in the dust?”
“I wouldn’t expect anything else.”
At the same exact moment, both combatants hurled their right arms forwards, locking fists (or what could loosely be called fists) with each other with enough force to send a shockwave blasting through the air. The battle was back on, and for perhaps the first time yet, truly evenly matched.