He didn’t know that he was about to get hit with a massive case of deja vu the moment he saw the familiar figure emerge not too far ahead of him, yelling in his direction about something he couldn’t understand.

On his part, Lars could only tilt his head to one side out of sheer confusion, before squinting at the Bonsly that was angrily charging at his direction in an attempt to attack him. The angry yelling that came from the Rock-type’s direction then reminded him of an angry chittering he’d heard only once before—back in the Ruins of Alph.

“Wait. Don’t tell me you’re that exact same Bonsly that harassed me before... ” he muttered under his breath. Sadly he didn’t have his Riolu with him at that time, so instead he’d settled on the second-best Pokémon he could use in order to deal with this threat pretty quickly. A burst of red light shot forward from his direction and transformed into Suijin, his Marshtomp.

Now, the dual-type was itching for action, and Lars wondered if doing this was a good idea. The Marshtomp looked over in his direction, before he nodded and said, “Well? What’re you waiting for? I know I owe you a battle or two. Several, actually. Have at it!” he said in Suijin’s direction, waving a hand and letting the dual-type do what he wanted.

The first thing the Marshtomp did was blast out a powerful stream of water—Lars knew keeping Hydro Pump around in his move pool was a great idea, since he’d heard rumors that only the base form of his family could learn it and the other forms were locked out of it. Not to be deterred, the Bonsly then used Fake Tears in an attempt to stop the Marshtomp from hammering it so much.

“He’s done that before, and he’s going to do it again! Catch him by surprise!” he shouted a few moments later—and that’s exactly what the Marshtomp did. Slapping both its fins together, a sudden avalanche of rocks began to rain down all around the Bonsly—the Marshtomp had used Rock Slide in order to catch it by surprise. Not to be outdone, the Bonsly then Flailed around seemingly hopelessly, but fat lot of good that did the Bonsly as another powerful burst of water knocked the Bonsly flat on its feet.

The Marshtomp had used Hydro Pump once again, and wasn’t going to stop—before giving Lars a look over its shoulder that literally meant “are you sure” and Lars just waved his hand at the Marhshtomp before a sudden flood of Muddy Water then swept the Bonsly off its feet again. “Keep it on its toes! Drive it back!” he hollered, having jumped up into the safety of a nearby rocky outcrop to escape the muddy deluge of murky water that was now heading the Bonsly’s way.

As the small Rock-type attempted to use a Low Kick attack in order to try and knock it down at least, a third Hydro Pump then smacked said Rock-type in the face, preventing the other from coming close in order to harm the Marshtomp. One more blast of water later, the Bonsly eventually gave up and slunk back from where it came.

If another one of the ‘mons he was looking for showed up, he’d just end up grumbling and sighing at that, because he knew he’d have to capture the Pokémon right then and there.

Thankfully, the next encounter wasn’t one of the ones he was looking for. His eyebrows went up slightly, as he recognized this one—native to the area near Fallarbor, his brows continued to go up as he caught sight of the incoming Solrock, which had already used Rock Polish as it approached, before the Marshtomp looked at him.

“Reminds you of home, huh? Let’s get rid of it!” he said, to which the dual-type agreed—right as the Solrock used Fire Spin, a shout from Lars caught the Marshtomp’s attention. “Counter that Fire Spin with a Whirlpool, put the fire out!” and watched as the incoming fire vortex collided with a vortex made of water; causing an explosion of steam to erupt from the point of impact. Quickly throwing his arms out to shield his face, he continued, “Do what you have to! Just make sure when it uses that Fire Spin, counter it right away with your Whirlpool!”

The Marshtomp then plunged into the steam-covered battlefield, keeping its eyes peeled for another attack—and another Fire Spin caught its attention. A second Whirlpool then collided with the incoming Fire-type attack, and the steam blanketing the field got thicker—which made things slightly more complicated. “Clear this steam out!” he shouted, squinting from behind his arm at that point. He could only see shadowy shapes on the battlefield at this point.

A sudden powerful blast of water came from the Marshtomp’s direction as it used Hydro Pump and caught the Solrock clean in its face, driving it backwards but not away. Angered, the miniature sentient “sun” then began to use Psywave at the Marshtomp, which yelped as the attack hit it. Seeing that the opponent was now confused as to where the attacks were coming from, said Solrock followed it up with a Confusion attack, smacking the Marshtomp up the side of the head in the process.

Now the Marshtomp was pissed.

Squinting into the haze, the dual-type waited for the miniature sun to come close, and when it spotted the familiar silhouette it let rip with a Hydro Pump attack, catching the incoming Solrock dead-on in the face again. Another Psywave came from the Solrock, but was deterred as another Hydro Pump caught it again, this time sending it beyond where they were fighting, where a loud smacking noise echoed from the point of impact and the Solrock fell out of sight.

“You merciless right now, Sui?” Lars asked the Marshtomp, who emerged from the haze, looking rather pleased with himself.

How does the word “irony” fit in with Lars?

Definitely with the next one.

Just as the Marshtomp began to flex in Lars’ direction (seemingly as a job well done) he then pointed beyond where Suijin was acting like an idiot. “We’re not out of danger yet. Suijin, look behind you!” he called out mere seconds before a sudden Rock Slide attack then smacked the Marshtomp behind the head and causing it to yelp out of surprise as the sudden avalanche of rocks rained around him.

So much for his flexing… he thought to himself as the Marshtomp then turned around to come face-to-face with a literally moon-shaped rock, before blasting a powerful torrent of water in its smug face—having used Hydro Pump out of sheer irritation. Growling angrily at the Lunatone, which just stared back, the Marshtomp then blasted a Whirlpool right at it, catching it in the very center of the vortex and trapping it.

At the same time, a Psywave attack then emanated from the Lunatone, catching the Marshtomp again upside the head and making it yelp out of surprise. “Be careful over there, Sui! You know what? Flood it and try drowning it! Muddy Water that thing!” he called out, waving his arms around in an attempt to clear the mist. A few seconds passed and the ground beneath the Marshtomp then became a muck of Muddy Water as it rose in a miniature tidal wave, cutting through the vortex of water and coming down hard on the Lunatone, which had used Psywave once more.

The second attack thankfully missed the Marshtomp, but by now the dual-type had reached the end of his patience and quickly blasted the Lunatone with a Hydro Pump in order to at least force it down to the ground. The way the Lunatone stared at him was too creepy, and the Marshtomp wanted to get rid of it as fast as possible. Wasting no more time, the Lunatone then used Rock Slide, forcing the Marshtomp to quickly counter with a Rock Slide of its own.

The two attacks then cancelled each other out; before the Marshtomp used Hydro Pump once more and caught the Lunatone right between the eyes, sending it soaring beyond where it had come from; a second crashing noise that reached the two sometime later caused Lars to just sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose out of sheer exasperation.

“Seriously, Sui?” was all he could say before the Marshtomp began flexing yet again in his direction.