A sharp jab to his ribs sent Leo stumbling away, scrambling to keep ahold of himself and not get knocked to the ground again.
The tyrogue advanced, the scarred fighting-type not giving him much room to breathe, and launched a few experimental jabs.
Leo largely ignored them, moving only the bare minimum to avoid the deliberately slow punches, and waited for an opportunity to strike back.
Leo had thought he’d been lucky to stumble upon a tyrogue, the fighting type being really rare in the games, according to his memory, but he hadn’t expected it to immediately rush him for a fight.
“Jerk,” Leo hissed, twisting out of the way as it tried to bodily tackle him.
Without missing a beat Leo lashed out with his foot, catching the tyrogue in the back and sending it off-balance, stumbling forward.
It whirled on him before he could take advantage of it being off-balance, yellow eyes narrowing as it locked onto him.
“You’re going to have to do better than a tackle,” Leo taunted, resettling into his stance, hands set into a loose, open palm.
He shifted his feet and sunk his knees, letting out a breath to settle down as he prepared to fight once more.
He’d already taken a few good hits – it was time to get some payback.
The tyrogue growled at Leo, setting its fists in a way he imagined a boxer would, and rushed him.
Leo took advantage of his reach over the little monster, batting away its jabs with open palms before sliding forward, punching at the tyrogue.
It spun out of the way, only allowing Leo a glancing blow, its foot snapping out and hitting Leo in the shin as it tried to create some distance.
Leo wasn’t having it, however, and gave chase, momentarily forgetting himself as he advanced.
The tyrogue whirled on him quite suddenly, leaping into the air with more height than Leo had expected and slamming its foot into Leo’s face.
His head snapped back and he stumbled, disoriented from the pain, when the tyrogue started to punch him in the gut with a series of sharp jabs.
“Knock it off!” Leo roared, pain transforming into anger as he lashed out, snagging one of the tyrogue’s arms in one hand and punching it in the face with his other.
It twisted and fought against Leo’s grip but he didn’t let go, yanking the tyrogue close and kneeing it in the gut, followed by an elbow to the side of the head that had it falling to its knees.
Leo let go of the tyrogue, breathing heavily and bleeding from his nose and taking a few steps back.
“You done?” he asked, raising one eyebrow.
The tyrogue looked up at him and grinned toothily, rising to its feet and howling a savage warcry as it once again leapt at Leo, covering the distance in a single jump and ramming its mohawk-like head spikes into his gut.
Leo wheezed and fell to the ground, the tyrogue landing on top of him and recovering first.
Two punches to the face later and Leo rolled sharply to the side, tossing the tyrogue off of him and rising to his feet in one smooth motion, scrambling to block and dodge the strikes of the tyrogue.
“Fine,” Leo ground out between dodges.
“If that’s how you want to play, then lets play,” he snapped, switching immediately to the offensive.
Once again he tried to grab the tyrogue’s arm, but this time it was expecting it.
The moment Leo’s hand clenched around its small, thin arm, the tyrogue was already leaping into the air, yanking Leo down with his own grasp on it and driving its forehead into Leo’s face.
Leo yelped and let go, freeing the tyrogue, who immediately went to work punching Leo’s gut.
The fight swiftly ended after that, the tyrogue knocking Leo to the ground with a sweeping kick to the knee, followed by a one-two punch that laid him out flat on his back.
Pain radiated from Leo’s body as he lay there, bleeding from his face and seeing stars fly circles in the sky – only a few puffy white clouds marring the sight.
The grassy meadow rustled in a light breeze, the cool grass feeling good on his aching head.
Leo could vaguely hear the tyrogue celebrating through the ringing in his ears, and he scowled, rolling over and pushing himself up.
Blood pooled in his mouth that he spat out, wincing as his tongue found a loose tooth.
“Hey,” Leo croaked, lifting his head and glaring at the tyrogue, who had turned to regard him curiously.
“Get back here.
I’m not done with you yet,” he snarled angrily.
The pain that came with moving only served to piss Leo off more.
The tyrogue grinned and charged at Leo once more, who remained on his knees.
He waited, and waited, and just before the tyrogue reached him he leapt forward, slamming into the smaller creature’s chest with his shoulder and knocking it to the ground.
It tried to roll backwards as Leo scrabbled to his feet, kicking the rising tyrogue like a football and sending it sprawling once more.
Before it could move Leo leapt upon it, snaking his arms around its body, pinning its arms to its chest and locking it in a headlock, his legs locking together and pressing the tyrogue’s legs to the ground, its body pressed against his chest.
“Yield,” he snarled, tightening his grip on the tyrogue as it struggled, thrashing this way and that in a vain attempt to escape its bigger and stronger captor.
Leo would know, he’d spent enough time being pinned in this exact same position from his older brother.
“I know you understand me, now yield!” Leo roared.
For a moment the tyrogue stilled, and just when Leo thought the tyrogue had listened it started to yell and glow a bright white-blue color.
“For the love of -” he shouted, shoving the tyrogue away and scrambling backwards.
He didn’t know how evolution worked, and a part of him didn’t want to stick around to find out, but he stood there transfixed by the metamorphosis and brilliant white glow regardless.
Light spilled from the tyrogue as its body began to shift and grow, its head widening and arms and legs elongating, body filling out as a sharp spike protruded from its head.
Then, with a snap, the light faded and before Leo stood a hitmontop, staring at its hands in wonder, its blue and tan fur pristine and gleaming in the midday sun.
It twisted and bent experimentally, throwing a few jabs into the air and kicking at nothing.
Leo cursed his luck and took a step back, the action drawing the attention of the hitmontop to him once more.
It grinned, and Leo cursed louder this time.
“This is gonna suck,” Leo said, slipping into a stance again.
The hitmontop let him get settled with a curious expression, then attacked.
The fight was over before it even began this time, the fighting-type flipping over onto its head and spinning like a top, flashing towards Leo with blinding speed and hitting him before he even had a chance to react.
Leo felt three separate kicks hit him, once in the face and twice in the chest, the last hitting him into the air, though the pain didn’t register until he hit the ground.
His breath came in short, sharp breaths and he struggled to breath, coughing and rolling onto his side as darkness crept along the edges of his vision, threatening a blackout.
His eyelids fluttered and Leo fought it as best he could, but to no avail as he slipped into unconsciousness.
When he came to, Leo was surprised both by the distance the sun had moved across the sky, and by the fact that he had been knocked out.
It must have been at least an hour since his defeat, but it seemed like mere moments.
With a groan Leo sat up, wincing as his muscles pulled and his sides ached, a pounding reverberating around his skull as he leaned forward, gripping his head in his hands.
“Lets not do that again,” he muttered grumpily, just sitting there for a while.
“Stupid evolution, stupid tyrogue.
Why’d you have to go and attack me?
I’m going to be hurting for days now,” he groused, rubbing his face and looking up, then freezing as he locked eyes with another pokemon.
…
A/ N: The Story Needs More Power Stones 😉