Every time the projectiles met his fists or arms they were simply brushed off like annoying paper planes and broken down into bits and pieces!

"Is-is that kid made of steel? What the heck is goin' on?!", Chestnut shouted with eyes wide open.

"This, this is not possible, he was clearly hit several times already, how come not one finishes him off now?", Hazel muttered absent-mindedly. He couldn't make heads or tails of this situation either.

...

Right before the moment Arthur stepped out of the shadow, a sudden flow of knowledge had flooded into his brain accompanied by a new well of energy! Like a critically dehydrated man in the desert an oasis appeared in his mind and gave him newfound strength to survive! He wasn't sure about the origin of this sensation, it felt familiar and yet distant to him.

Anyway, it didn't seem to impact Arthur negatively so he accepted it and could finally calm down his restless heart for once in this fast paced dangerous environment.

Somehow thoughts arose in his head which then linked themselves with other stray thoughts that seemed unrelated before but now fitted together to depict a much clearer picture and path forward for him!

"The decaying leaves, the continues attacks, the breaks ... AHHH! So that's it!", he screamed in his thoughts loudly,

"To successively generate new leaves, throw them off with enough kinetic energy so that they hurt and also to target a moving object, that must be enormously difficult to achieve for any Pokemon!".

He had been hit quite a couple of time already but what he only realized now was that each hit didn't have the same impact and force as the others did while still maintaining the same shape!

"This Bellsprout is attacking too inefficiently and wastes huge amounts of energy! The breaks take longer and longer and the leaves can't even remain in their solid forms anymore after having been unleashed. It's just that its trainer is too stupid to see that or maybe ... maybe they never had fights this long before under these circumstances.", Arthur analysed the situation and came to a conclusion,

"Anymore and these objects will burst apart the moment they sent them off! But by that time they could act on other plans and catch me off guard. I have to take this opportunity now!"

He gritted his teeth and decided to bite the bullet head on!

"AAAAAAARRRR"

He decided to get back at them with a surprise attack! He couldn't outrun them due to his low stamina but if he moved fast and took out the Bellsprout, maybe he could buy enough time for 'him'!

"Krgh!", the first one of the shots hit his elbow and left a small bruise. It hurt, but not as much as before.

"Urgh.", the second didn't miss its target either but this time to his delight, he couldn't feel anything at all! No impact, no force, just a slight touch!

Then the third came, and the fourth and fifth but ... they all broke off! He swung out his right arm lightly and they just fell apart like a house of cards!

After a while the leaves didn't even target him anymore and flew off into all kinds of directions.

"What's wrong with your Pokemon idiot! Tell him to attack him now! He is like fish on a silver plate, how can he miss that?!", Hazel couldn't help but curse at Chestnut's incompetent partner.

"I-I don't know, and don't you dare call him idiot, you dumbass!", Chestnut defended his Bellsprout. But he wasn't sure about this unexpected situation either. How did things turn out like this???

Before any one of them could react though or take any action, Arthur arrived in front of the Bellsprout and lunged his right fist at Bellsprout's eyes!

He wasn't sure about its weak spots but if he could take out the Bellsprout's visual senses, then maybe he might stand better chances against the rest of the goons.

"Homey, Vine Whip!", Chestnut barked out in fright.

Just as Arthur's fist made contact with the head of the Bellsprout, a sudden small force punched into his chest and made him fly a couple of meters away!

"Hahaha, are you a baby from the kindergarten? Did you think my homey only knew how to use razor leaf? Children are still as naive as ever! Hahahaha."

"Huhh, hehehee ....kyakakaka!!!", Hazel sighed out in relief and fell back into a mad laughter again,

"I must compliment you for your little plan, or maybe luck? Whatever it was, your time has run out now. So stop wasting ours and receive the righteous punishment for defying noble blood!"

"Noble ... blood ... cough ... cough", Arthur had troubles standing back up from the ground. His clothes were torn apart, and cuts and bruises were evenly distributed all over his body. If his doctor could see him in this moment, he might think he had travelled back in time and witnessed the Arthur from after the accident again!

Arthur felt hopelessness and critique washing over himself. It was true, it was stupid to believe the Bellsprout didn't have more attacks in his repertoire available. The vine whip probably weakened as well with decreasing endurance and power but a punch this close ... still hurt like hell.

He just didn't think of it! His experience in Pokemon combat was just too lacking. In the Viridian forest, as far as he remembered, he was mostly on the run. People might think he was stupid for entering a dangerous zone without any Pokemon or back-up, but he still had enough reason left to avoid any direct confrontations with wild Pokemon!

"Hmpf, I told you, things could have developed in a much better way. But who am I to lecture a naive, uneducated brat! Finish him off!", Hazel commanded with a sneer on his face.

"Finally bitch! You dared to attack my homey

UNDER

MY

WATCH!

My homey is here for revenge, take a taste! HEAD BUTT!!!"

Arthur had trouble keeping his vision straight, his eyelids too exhausted to remain open. He saw the Bellsprout rooting its feet for a little moment into the earth, steering its bell shaped head in his direction and then ... storming up to him in a sprint!

"Shit ...", Arthur knew what was going to happen. He wanted to escape or just dodge yet his body didn't want to listen to him. Fate was just too cruel ... He closed his eyes, held his hands over his head protectively to avoid any serious brain damages and braced himself for impact,

"I hope I don't end up in a wheelchair sigh ...", with clenched teeth, and pressed eyelids, he slowly counted down from 10 to 0. Just to distract himself for that small inescapable moment.

"10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

...

...

...

...

huh?", he was sure he got the distance and the speed right. He should have been smashed into a meat paste by now. What was his executioner waiting for he asked himself. As nothing was happening, Arthur hesitatingly opened his to check out the situation.

And what he saw was darkness. Darkness filled his entire field of view. Not a black darkness, or blue darkness, it was a green darkness. The back of a Pokemon was turned towards his side, standing in front of him like shield, an insurmountable high wall!