atomicmonkey
Highly Radioactive
Yay very well written fic! Keep it up!
-
Hi all. We have had reports of member's signatures being edited to include malicious content. You can rest assured this wasn't done by staff and we can find no indication that the forums themselves have been compromised.
However, remember to keep your passwords secure. If you use similar logins on multiple sites, people and even bots may be able to access your account.
We always recommend using unique passwords and enable two-factor authentication if possible. Make sure you are secure. -
Be sure to join the discussion on our discord at: Discord.gg/serebii
Pokemon: Revolution Johto
- Thread starter EonMaster One
- Start date
*Nods Vigorusley*(sp?)
I never knew this story would come back. It was the actual starting of me writing. So I thank you for that. Anyways, I remember this. Travis, Shiro, Katrina, I remember it all. How I wish I could tell, but I won't. Anyways, its great, as it was. Keep up the writing!
I never knew this story would come back. It was the actual starting of me writing. So I thank you for that. Anyways, I remember this. Travis, Shiro, Katrina, I remember it all. How I wish I could tell, but I won't. Anyways, its great, as it was. Keep up the writing!
EonMaster One
saeculum harmonia
Chapter 7
Like a really fast-paced chapter with a whole bunch of trash-talking and overall ***-whooping? This is for you.
Chapter 7: The Stars Align
Travis, Katrina, and Shiro all gave curious looks at each other, while out on the field, 'Y' and Madeline stared each other down. Madeline flicked one of her braids out of her face and shook her head quickly. 'Y' had her black-clad arms folded, and looked very impatient.
"So it's finally going to start." Travis muttered a bit less excitedly than he felt.
"Vee." Angel hadn't said much for the entire morning. She seemed to be laser-focused, maybe too much so, on the battle that was in front of her.
"I know...I'm kind of nervous, too, but I'm pretty sure that we can do it," Travis replied.
"Katrina, Travis, give me a break. I didn't know that you two thought that Pokémon battles were so romantic," Shiro said with a smirk.
"What are you talking about." Katrina started, and then looked down and noticed that her hand was holding Travis'. Her face went beet-red and she withdrew her hand as quickly as humanly possible. Travis winced - Katrina had yanked her hand away, cutting into the palm of it a bit with one of her nails. "Ohh." Katrina moaned frustratedly, stamping her sandaled foot against the sand and folding her arms.
"I swear, you two should get married someday," Shiro said with a laugh. Katrina stared him down, making her face as firm as a stone. It did nothing to stop Shiro from noticing that she was blushing hard. She then turned her head toward the battle and muttered to herself, "Don't let him throw you off your game. Mental focus is nine tenths of the outcome of battle."
"Ooh...scary." Shiro said, a bit unnerved by the fact that Katrina was talking to herself.
"So, Shiro, who are you rooting for?" Travis asked curiously.
"Madeline, of course. How can you like someone when you don't even know their real name? Besides, if Madeline wins, it'll make it one heck of a lot easier for Cyndaquil and me when we face her," Shiro replied, but quickly got a glare from Katrina.
"What was that?" she said. "You've gotta get past me first!"
"Easy pickings," Shiro muttered. "I'm at a type advantage. Everyone knows that."
"Didn't help you much last time," Travis murmured.
"You say something?" Shiro leaned over in Travis' direction, raising an eyebrow.
"Just...pay attention to the battle. Otherwise, you won't even know who your opponent is," Travis replied nonchalantly, making a hand gesture toward the site of the battle. He tipped his cap down. The sun was coming from behind them, directly onto the water, and the resulting glare made it hard to see.
"Spearow! Peck attack!" 'Y's voice pierced the air, making Shiro jump and stiffen.
"Nervous, are we?" asked Katrina with a smirk.
"Please..." Shiro rolled his eyes.
"We're not going down that easily!" Travis heard Madeline shout. "Nidoran, Tackle!"
"Ni-ni-ni-ni-ni." Madeline's Nidoran droned, rushing Spearow.
"You can't hit me with pathetic attacks like that! Spearow! Fly over it!" 'Y' ordered. Spearow took off from the ground quickly, causing Nidoran to miss her target. She skidded to a stop and turned around, kicking sand up around 'Y's ankles and knees. She immediately jumped upward toward Spearow and attempted to clip his wings with a Scratch attack. She raised her claws to strike, but Spearow dodged by ceasing to flap his wings. This caused him to glide - directly under Nidoran's attack and back to his trainer. Nidoran did sort of a somersault to roll out of her miss and landed on the ground, turning a second time, and skidding to a stop.
"Keep trying, Nidoran!" Madeline shouted encouragingly. "If you can get those wings, Spearow can't fly!"
"Good luck!" 'Y' shouted in response. "Spearow! Another Peck attack!"
"Spear!" Spearow took off from the ground, kicking more sand at 'Y's feet. He took up several feet into the air and then started to glide toward Nidoran's position.
"Yoshina, no, not head on!" 'X' suddenly groaned, causing everyone (including Nate) to jump.
"Shut it, Xavier!" 'Y' retorted. "This is my battle! Worry about your own!"
"You’re alive..." Madeline whispered, her eyes narrowing. "The secret's out. Nidoran, roll out of the way!"
"Ni...!" Nidoran rolled to her right, causing Spearow to miss.
"Careful, he's coming back!" Madeline warned as Spearow swept the ground then rose up again and made a wide turn back toward them. A large sweatdrop appeared behind Nidoran's head as she ducked just in the nick of time.
"Shoot!" Yoshina exclaimed, snapping her finger in a disconcerted manner.
"Close one," Madeline mumbled, a bit rattled.
"Try it again!" Yoshina shouted, and Spearow turned around for another attack.
"Nidoran, Scratch!" Madeline called out in response. Nidoran jumped, but barely after she left the ground, she was swept skyward by Spearow's Peck attack, which had a kind of swooping quality that cause him to rise higher into the air after every attack.
"Oh, man, that's harsh!" Shiro yelled.
"It might be over!" exclaimed Travis, yanking his cap off of his head and looking upward.
"Finish it off!" Yoshina yelled, pointing one finger straight up. "Fury attack!" Spearow flew past Nidoran, striking her with his wing in midair. He immediately turned around and came from above, striking her a second time with his other wing. He came back again - another hit. The fourth time - connected again. Then Spearow came around for a fifth attack. She raised her claws for a scratch attack. This left her torso open, though, and Spearow took the opportunity to lay his left wing right into her stomach upon passing. Nidoran plummeted to the ground, obviously knocked out in midair.
"Wow!" Katrina exclaimed.
"Now, that's one heck of a Fury Attack," Shiro declared.
"Don't let it hit the ground! Another Fury Attack!" Yoshina yelled. Spearow came around for a second round of fury attacks. One hit after another. After another...after another...after another.
"That's uncalled for!" Katrina yelled angrily as she watched Madeline’s Nidoran get buffeted in midair for a second time. "The battle's already over!"
"One more Fury Attack!" Yoshina called. At this, Nate jumped up out of his seat and wrenched his sunshades from his face. They hit the chair and hung there ominously.
"ENOUGH!" he shouted loudly, bringing everything to silence. All that could be heard was the rush of the water and the rustling of the breeze through the trees that Travis and company were standing beside.
"What's your problem, kid?" Xavier shouted up toward him. Nate turned around and looked straight at Xavier. His face was livid with rage, and his jet-black hair seemed to be hovering off of his head somewhat.
"My problem?" Nate shouted. Then he turned to Yoshina, an even angrier look in his eyes. "And you!" he shouted. "Try a stunt like that again, and not only will you be disqualified from my tournament, but I'll have you arrested! I do not tolerate dirty fighting in my tournaments! I believe in proving your superiority legitimately!"
Meanwhile, Madeline had run over to her Nidoran and picked her up. "Nidoran, are you okay, mate?" she said, shaking her slightly. "Speak to me, won't you?" Nidoran's head lolled weakly from side to side.
"Nate may be an arrogant jerk, but he believes in keeping it clean, I'll give him that," Shiro commented.
"Yeah. He could be a great person if he'd come down a couple of pegs," Travis muttered.
"That's going a bit far, don't you think?" Shiro asked, frowning.
"Anderson, call it," Nate sighed, gesturing to the referee and slumping back into his seat. "Madeline, you might want to get that Nidoran to a Pokémon Center."
"Nidoran is unable to battle!" Anderson yelled, raising the red flag in his right hand. "Spearow is the winner! Yoshina advances to the semifinals!"
"Return!" Yoshina shouted, returning Spearow to his Pokéball. She shaped her piercing blue eyes into a glower at Nate for a few seconds and then returned to the side of Xavier.
"These people from AURA are sick." Shiro muttered, his fists clenching.
"Relax," Travis replied. "We don't even know for sure if they're with AURA. They might just not be very nice - or they might be with another group altogether."
"Even so...I'm going to go check on Madeline," Shiro answered and turned around to walk away.
"But, Shiro!" Katrina exclaimed, "The tournament!"
"There'll be other tournaments," Shiro commented, donning his shades. They had no frames at all, and were tinted a bright red, similar to the color of his hair. "Tell Nate that I'll get him later."
"Why are you so interested in Madeline?" Katrina asked. "Carrying a torch, are we?"
"Shut it," Shiro said coolly. "It's just the right thing to do. Y'know, as soon as I get this done, I'm taking off for Violet City. That's where the first gym is."
"So you're just gonna leave?" asked Katrina, part of her knowing that it was a stupid question. Shiro was a bit stubborn - one had to do a lot of talking to change his mind about anything.
"Take down Yoshina for me," Shiro looked back at Travis and Katrina. A wink was visible through his crimson-tinted shades. He waved and started to walk off. After a few seconds, his form became invisible behind the mass of trees that had been providing shade to the three of them.
A minute or two after Shiro had left, Travis and Katrina were still staring blankly in that direction. Finally, to break the silence, Travis said, "Y'know, we've been friends for years, but I still don't really understand him."
"He's bizarre, alright," Katrina agreed, "But I'm not complaining, since it saves me a battle. At least I don't have to deal with a type disadvantage."
"Uh...yeah, you do. Flying types are effective against grass-types, too," Travis commented observantly.
"Oh, nuts..." Katrina moaned, dropping her head in a hopeless manner, "Is it just me, or am I having more than my fair share of bad luck when it comes to these matches?"
"Will the trainers named Shiro Azuki and Katrina Sasano please step forward?" the referee asked loudly, as if he had said it more than once and they had simply failed to hear him. With that, Katrina stepped forward and said loudly, "Shiro has decided to drop out."
"Scared, was he?" Nate commented.
"Not really," Katrina snapped. "He just wanted to see if Madeline and her Nidoran were okay."
"The Nidoran, I understand, but why Madeline?" Nate questioned. "It's not like Yoshina beat her up or anything."
"None of your business," Travis said sharply and in a tone uncharacteristic of someone who was normally so gentle-handed and gentle-tongued. He stared at Nate, tipping his cap up so that he could get a full view of his nemesis. "Now, call the match and get on with yours."
"The sooner the better," Nate said. "Someone needs to shut your mouth." Meanwhile, Anderson was staring at Nate blankly. Nate looked at him, sighed, and said, "Go on."
"Shiro Azuki has forfeited his match!" Anderson shouted, raising his left hand and the green flag this time. "The winner by default is Katrina Sasano!"
"Congratulations," Travis said with obvious sarcasm.
"Shut up," Katrina smiled and punched him in the arm. "Nate's up next."
"Hope he wins," Travis muttered.
"Why? He's not exactly our friend, you know." Katrina stated.
"That's just it. I want to take him down myself," Travis declared.
"Oh, well, I've got no problems with that," Katrina said, smirking.
"The match between Matthew Marius and Nathaniel Elm will now begin! Will both trainers please step forward?" Anderson shouted and raised both flags. Nate vaulted himself over the railing in front of his chair and landed stylishly on the ground, his long black coat flowing behind him.
Matthew, who looked a bit nervous, walked up to Nate and stammered, "Uh.th-thank you for helping my s-sister."
Nate, however, sneered, and said, "You can do two things to thank me - one is to kiss my shoes, another is to stop acting like such a wuss about it." He walked away from Matthew over to the right side of the beach. Meanwhile, Matthew walked over to the other end. He pulled out a Pokéball, and said, "I'm not going easy on you, mate. Let's go, Nidoran!" He tossed it into the air and it popped open, and shot out its familiar white light. Nate, now without his shades, shielded his eyes from the bright light. The light soon dimmed to reveal a rodentlike Pokémon quite similar to the last one, but altogether different. Instead of blue, this one was colored a purple that was slightly tinged with pink. It had a set of spikes running down its back, and a set of spikes on its ears, each one of them larger than its own head. It had the same buckteeth and red eyes, but had a very sharp-looking horn that protruded about three or four inches from its head. It stood just over one and a half feet in height, and looked more aggressive than its blue counterpart.
"Wait a sec," Travis commented, noticing the obvious difference. "That can't be a Nidoran."
"Yes, it is," Katrina responded. "Check your Pokedex."
Travis took Dexter II from his pocket and opened it up, pointing it at the plum-colored creature. "Nidoran, Male," Dexter II said monotonously. "The Poison Pin Pokémon. It raises its big ears to check its surroundings. It will strike if it senses any danger."
Nate took the Pokéball he had off of his jacket and said, "That's good. If you were to go easy on me, you'd only lose worse! Bluefang, let's show 'em what we mean." Nate tossed his Pokéball into the air. It popped open and floated back into Nate's hand, shedding that same amorphous white light. The light took shape gradually.
"Toto," the creature said, as the light dimmed. This time, a Pokémon that, in terms of face, looked more like an alligator than anything, could be seen. It stood a few inches higher from the ground than Nidoran did - about two feet, from Travis' estimation. It had bright red eyes and blue skin, save for its chest, which bore a yellow marking that dipped in the center similar to a 'V'. Red spines ran down its back, all the way to its tail, which thumped against the ground aggressively as Bluefang growled at his opponent.
"Now for you," Travis muttered, pointing Dexter II at the royal-blue alligator. He had seen several upon several pictures of this Pokémon in the academy that past school year - beginning trainers, of course, needed to know what options they had as far as beginner Pokémon went. Travis probably would have selected this Pokémon had Angel not become available at the last minute - a stroke of pure luck. Travis thought for a moment, though, that maybe it wasn't luck that he got Angel as a starter. Maybe it was something else. "Totodile," Dexter II droned, snapping Travis back from his brief flashback. "The Big Jaw Pokémon. This rough critter chomps at any moving object it sees. Turning your back on it is not recommended."
"Their types don't have much special effect on each other," Katrina commented astutely. "It all depends on who has more battle experience."
"You've been hanging around the professor too long," Travis mumbled.
"Alright, then! Go, Nidoran! Hit him with your tackle!" Matt commanded.
"Dodge it," Nate ordered impassively. The small, azure crocodile nodded in response and waited for his opponent to get to his position. Nidoran attempted the charge, but Bluefang did a handspring off of the head of his opponent. He jumped and turned around and landed on his feet behind Nidoran.
"Tackle again!" Matt commanded. Nidoran pivoted from his position and lunged for Bluefang's body again.
"Toto." Bluefang growled.
SMACK!
Nidoran's Tackle had connected - with Bluefang's hands. Bluefang and his horned opponent each showed signs of struggle on their faces. Nidoran, surprisingly enough, looked to have the advantage. Bluefang placed his hands around Nidoran's horn, so as to not be gored by his small, purple adversary, but all the while, he was gradually being pushed backwards.
"Ni...ran...ran..."
"Toto...toto..."
Both Pokémon grunted with effort, neither one of them willing to back down. Bluefang was trying its hardest not to get rammed, and Nidoran was trying just as hard to ram him. This stalemate continued for what seemed like forever, with each Pokémon pouring all of their strength, all of their heart into that attack, as if this one blow would decide the outcome of the match, and whoever was the victor in this grapple would prove himself to be the stronger of the two. Bluefang let himself be pushed back by his opponent and loosened the grip of one of his hands. He then clawed it and swiped into Nidoran's right flank. The claws sunk into Nidoran's skin, causing the small rodent Pokémon to wince with agony. It did nothing to help Bluefang's situation, however. Nidoran was still pushing him back. Bluefang clawed his left hand this time, and sank it into Nidoran's left side. Nidoran winced again, but still kept pushing.
"Let go, Bluefang!"
Bluefang gave Nate a slightly fierce look, as if he didn't agree with the order that his trainer had given him, but did so, and Nidoran, who had put all of his focus on forward motion, sunk into the sand face-first.
"Ni..." a muffled cry could be heard. Meanwhile, over in the "spectator section," Travis and Katrina were looking on in awe and slight amusement.
"That's embarrassing," Travis mumbled, shaking his head.
"Hey! That's not fair!" Matt yelled, "Nidoran, Tackle!" Nidoran yanked his head out of the ground and rammed into Bluefang hard, sending him flying back a couple of feet. Bluefang landed on the sand and skidded to a stop.
"Horn Attack!" was Matt's next shout. Nidoran began to charge Bluefang faster, lowering his head so that his horn gleamed in the sunlight.
"Water Gun!!" Nate shouted. Nidoran's blue opponent inhaled deeply as Nidoran rushed for him. Just when it seemed that Nidoran was going to make contact, the royal-blue alligator spit out a jet of water straight at his opponent. Nidoran attempted to skid to a stop and was promptly engulfed by the high-pressure gush of water and blown upward into the air.
"Direct hit!" Nate shouted, pumping his fist. "You're done!"
"Not quite, mate, you'll have to try a mite harder than that," Matt answered confidently as his Nidoran hit the ground. The magenta rodent shook his head several times in an attempt to reorient himself. He then gave a rather hostile look to his opponent.
"Horn Attack, mate, and this time, make it count!" Matt shouted.
"Ran...!" Nidoran cried in agreement and started rushing headlong towards Nate and Bluefang a second time.
"Water Gun!" Nate ordered. Bluefang inhaled a second time, and shot out another high-pressure stream of water. Nidoran, this time, was prepared, however. He jumped to the left, and skidded around Bluefang, and lowered his head even closer to the ground - if the small rodent had been any lower, its large front teeth would have begun to drag into the sand. Nidoran drove his horn into Bluefang's skin right where Bluefang's red-spiked back met his thigh. Bluefang's pupils narrowed to about the size of a pin at this point.
"Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiile!" Bluefang shrieked with an obvious air of agony from being stabbed in his backside.
“Ooh...” Katrina muttered, wincing.
“That’s gotta hurt...” Travis said.
"Dile! Dile! Dile!" Bluefang cried, running in a circle with his hands over his rear end.
"Ah, suck it up," Nate drawled. "Water Gun!" Bluefang stopped running and looked at Nidoran angrily. He inhaled again.
"Nidoran! Get outta there!" Matt yelled, and Nidoran attempted to retreat to Matt's side.
"Go after 'im!" Nate shouted, and Bluefang gave chase. Bluefang eventually passed Nidoran and then turned around, and blasted a jet of water right into Nidoran's face, point-blank. When Bluefang stopped discharging water, Nidoran could be seen, looking worse for the wear and obviously very soaked. Nidoran staggered toward his opponent and then sunk to the ground, swirls in his eyes.
"Aw, it's over!" Matt groaned, and returned Nidoran to his Pokéball.
"Nidoran is unable to battle!" Anderson shouted, raising the red flag again. "Totodile is the winner! Nathaniel Elm advances to the semifinals!"
"Ohh...Matthew put up a great fight, but he lost." Katrina moaned.
"...Vee!" Angel shouted. "Vee-vee-eev, vee-vee!"
Travis leered over in Nate's direction. "Xavier is the only one standing between us," he mumbled.
"Vee-vee!" Angel shouted again. "Vee-vee-vee!"
"Your match is next," Katrina said, smiling.
Travis tipped his cap again and said smugly, "I've got it under control. You just worry about winning your match against Yoshina so we can face each other in the final."
"Well, no one can accuse you of not being confident," Katrina commented just as smugly, one hand on her hip
"You said it yourself, right? Mental focus is nine tenths of the battle," Travis said, walking over to the field. Angel, at his ankles, followed close behind, a look of fire in her eyes. One could tell - it wasn't going to matter if their opponents were more powerful than they were. That look clearly said one thing - they were not going to allow themselves to be defeated.
"Good luck," Katrina whispered, as a breeze blew her rose-colored hair into her face.
"The fourth match will now begin! Travis DePaul versus Xavier! Will both trainers please step forward!" Anderson raised both flags again as Travis made his way to the sand-covered battlefield. The sun shone hotly down on his right side, illuminating his easternmost half while leaving the side closest to the water more or less in shadow; by this time, it was nearing mid-morning - about nine or ten o'clock, to be exact. Xavier whispered something in Yoshina's ear, and then walked over to his side of the sandy arena.
"Don't worry, kid," Xavier growled, "I'll make this as quick and as painful as possible."
Angel growled and gritted her teeth - she obviously didn't like that comment.
Travis, however, only smirked and answered, "Maybe for yourself - that is, if you don't give it up and get outta my way."
"What was that?" Xavier growled angrily.
"You heard me," Travis responded. "I'm saving my energy for two people and you're not one of them."
"My Spinarak's gonna shut that mouth of yours, kid." Xavier shouted, throwing a Pokéball into the air. The ball exploded open and shot the familiar shapeless white light to the ground. It materialized and became what Travis thought was a spider of some sort. The light dimmed to reveal that he wasn't that far off, either. The creature revealed this time did look a lot like a spider. It was quite large for a normal spider - about one foot and eight inches tall. Its main body was a bright green color - the six legs that each went in a different direction away from the creature were striped yellow and black, somewhat like the pattern of a bumblebee. Its small eyes were black and beady. On its head, it bore a small horn on its head. And where its mouth should have been, there were two red pincers.
"Angel!" Travis shouted and Angel immediately jumped forward.
"This'll be interesting," Nate murmured.
"Spi-na-rak!" the emerald spider Pokémon squeaked..
"Spinarak, the Stringspit Pokémon. If its prey becomes ensnared in its nest of spun string, it waits motionlessly until it becomes dark," Travis had taken this opportunity to scan his opponent's Pokémon with Dexter II.
"Let the fourth and final battle of the preliminaries now begin! Whoever advances will face Nathaniel Elm in the semi-finals!" Anderson shouted, jarring Travis to attention.
"Open this up with a Poison Sting!" Xavier yelled to his Pokémon.
"Spina-rak!" Spinarak squeaked again, and several white needles shot from between his pincers.
"Kick up dirt to block those stingers. Sand-attack!" Travis ordered. Angel turned around and started lifting sand into the air with her foot and kicking it back in Spinarak's direction. The poison needles hit the sand and fell harmlessly to the ground. A small portion of the sand made contact with Spinarak's beady, black eyes. Spinarak squinted, in obvious agony.
"Try another Poison Sting!" Xavier shouted. Spinarak turned his head upward and shot many of the venomous needles into the air.
"Hey, we're down here," Travis said with a slight hint of brashness. "What're you aiming at?"
"Yeah, well, my Spinarak can't see straight!" Xavier retorted. Large blue sweatdrops slid down Travis and Angel's heads as Travis replied, "Uh...that's the whole object of the attack."
"I hope I get to battle Travis rather than that other guy," Nate murmured. "At least Travis makes an attempt to hide his ignorance..."
"Whatever," Xavier muttered and shrugged his shoulders. "Spinarak, try it again!" Spinarak spewed the now-familiar poison stingers from its mouth again.
"Tackle him, Angel!" Travis ordered. Angel jumped outward and then started rushing Spinarak again. She jumped to the left slightly, causing her opponent's attack to just miss her. After a bit more running, she jumped to the right, dodging another round of the poison arrows. She finally met her target and rammed him with all of her might. Spinarak recoiled a couple of feet backwards.
"Oh, you're kidding me!" Xavier shouted.
"Tackle him again!" Travis yelled, and Angel didn't bother to stop running. She charged her arachnid opponent once again.
"String shot, now!" Xavier commanded.
"Spin-a." Spinarak squeaked. This time, a jet of white string shot from between Spinarak's pincers. It zoomed toward Angel's leg while she was still charging. It found its target and wrapped around her leg and constricted, preventing any further movement.
"Vee...vee..." Angel began to struggle.
"Angel, get outta there!" Travis shouted worriedly.
"Throw her," Xavier said mercilessly. Spinarak yanked his head up and launched Angel high into the air.
"No...!" Travis grunted.
"Try dodging this!" Xavier yelled fiercely. "Poison Sting!" Spinarak's mouth released another round of poisoned needles in Angel's direction. Angel couldn't dodge this time and was bombarded by the stingers in midair. She gradually fell to the ground and smacked against it.
"Angel!" Travis cried worriedly.
"Xavier's got this one. Travis is even more worthless than I thought," Nate muttered. "Oh, well, saves me the trouble."
"Angel, can you stand up?" Travis asked.
"V-vee.." Angel staggered to her feet and then glared at her opponent.
"...Hmm. On second thought, perhaps that Eevee is tougher than I gave her credit for," Nate murmured again.
"Alright, then, Tackle attack!" Travis called. Angel took off from her position and started charging Spinarak even faster than before.
"Spinarak, get out of there!" Xavier shouted, but Angel was too quick. She jumped over to Spinarak's other side, blocking his path of retreat, and rammed him right into the center of the battlefield.
"Finish it off!" Travis shouted. "One last Tackle!"
"Poison Sting!" Xavier shouted in response. Out came another round of the venomous spines while Angel was all the while charging her opponent. Angel jumped over Spinarak (and the Poison Sting attack, needless to say) and rammed him from the back end, sending him back to his trainer.
"Sorry, Angel's way too fast!" Travis shouted.
"Hey, Spinarak, get up!" Xavier shouted. Spinarak shakily tried to stand, but his six yellow and black legs crumbled under him and he hit the ground flat, swirls in his eyes.
"Spinarak is unable to battle!" Anderson shouted, raising the red flag. "Eevee is the winner! Travis DePaul will advance into the semifinals!"
"Whoo!" Travis hooted, letting Angel jump into his arms. "You were great!"
"Vee!" Angel smiled proudly, and Travis left his post in the battlefield to walk over to Katrina.
"That was a close one, wasn't it?" Katrina said. "I thought he had you with that Stringshot."
"Bug Pokémon aren't known for their Physical defense...their only real advantage is that they evolve quick," Travis said smartly.
Katrina replied, "Well, I'm just glad you won. You can probably handle Nate, too, but you'd better watch out for that Water Gun. He can attack from a distance with that."
Travis put one hand on Katrina's shoulder, shook his head, and said, "Didn't I tell you before? We've got it under control. I insist, worry about your own."
At that, Katrina quickly knocked away Travis's hand from her shoulder, yet grabbed his wrist at the same time. She smiled and said, "Thanks for your concern, but I can handle myself."
"But can you handle Yoshina?" Travis asked smugly, raising an eyebrow. "That...is the question."
"She's a cutthroat, but I can take her. You just worry about Nate. He's already proven once today that he's not someone you can mess around with," Katrina retorted, allowing Travis to slip free of her grip.
"So you're facing that she-devil..." a voice came from behind them. Travis swung around. Nate was leaning against a nearby tree, looking as arrogant and pompous as ever. "I can always help you out if you need it...darling."
"You...!" Katrina started to rush Nate, but Travis grabbed her by both shoulders and pulled her back.
He stepped forward and said, "Don't you worry your oversized head about Katrina. You've got to deal with me first."
"How cute...you wanna be her knight in shining armor, do ya?" Nate folded his arms and started laughing.
"Y'know, it'll be really embarrassing to get beaten at a tournament that you threw yourself," Travis said, ignoring Nate's last comment. Meanwhile, Katrina dropped her head a bit to hide a slight blush.
"I'm gonna make you eat those words," Nate retorted. "Low-class scum."
“We’ll just see how ‘low-class’ I am when Angel and I crush you into the ground,” Travis said. “And after you, your friend over there’s next.”
"Quit playing like you know something that I don't,” Nate muttered.
Travis leaned forward aggressively toward Nate's face. The two stared each other down. Katrina walked up beside Travis and folded her arms. Travis looked away for a moment and smirked, and then fixed his gaze upon Nate again and said,
"You have no idea."
Like a really fast-paced chapter with a whole bunch of trash-talking and overall ***-whooping? This is for you.
Chapter 7: The Stars Align
Travis, Katrina, and Shiro all gave curious looks at each other, while out on the field, 'Y' and Madeline stared each other down. Madeline flicked one of her braids out of her face and shook her head quickly. 'Y' had her black-clad arms folded, and looked very impatient.
"So it's finally going to start." Travis muttered a bit less excitedly than he felt.
"Vee." Angel hadn't said much for the entire morning. She seemed to be laser-focused, maybe too much so, on the battle that was in front of her.
"I know...I'm kind of nervous, too, but I'm pretty sure that we can do it," Travis replied.
"Katrina, Travis, give me a break. I didn't know that you two thought that Pokémon battles were so romantic," Shiro said with a smirk.
"What are you talking about." Katrina started, and then looked down and noticed that her hand was holding Travis'. Her face went beet-red and she withdrew her hand as quickly as humanly possible. Travis winced - Katrina had yanked her hand away, cutting into the palm of it a bit with one of her nails. "Ohh." Katrina moaned frustratedly, stamping her sandaled foot against the sand and folding her arms.
"I swear, you two should get married someday," Shiro said with a laugh. Katrina stared him down, making her face as firm as a stone. It did nothing to stop Shiro from noticing that she was blushing hard. She then turned her head toward the battle and muttered to herself, "Don't let him throw you off your game. Mental focus is nine tenths of the outcome of battle."
"Ooh...scary." Shiro said, a bit unnerved by the fact that Katrina was talking to herself.
"So, Shiro, who are you rooting for?" Travis asked curiously.
"Madeline, of course. How can you like someone when you don't even know their real name? Besides, if Madeline wins, it'll make it one heck of a lot easier for Cyndaquil and me when we face her," Shiro replied, but quickly got a glare from Katrina.
"What was that?" she said. "You've gotta get past me first!"
"Easy pickings," Shiro muttered. "I'm at a type advantage. Everyone knows that."
"Didn't help you much last time," Travis murmured.
"You say something?" Shiro leaned over in Travis' direction, raising an eyebrow.
"Just...pay attention to the battle. Otherwise, you won't even know who your opponent is," Travis replied nonchalantly, making a hand gesture toward the site of the battle. He tipped his cap down. The sun was coming from behind them, directly onto the water, and the resulting glare made it hard to see.
"Spearow! Peck attack!" 'Y's voice pierced the air, making Shiro jump and stiffen.
"Nervous, are we?" asked Katrina with a smirk.
"Please..." Shiro rolled his eyes.
"We're not going down that easily!" Travis heard Madeline shout. "Nidoran, Tackle!"
"Ni-ni-ni-ni-ni." Madeline's Nidoran droned, rushing Spearow.
"You can't hit me with pathetic attacks like that! Spearow! Fly over it!" 'Y' ordered. Spearow took off from the ground quickly, causing Nidoran to miss her target. She skidded to a stop and turned around, kicking sand up around 'Y's ankles and knees. She immediately jumped upward toward Spearow and attempted to clip his wings with a Scratch attack. She raised her claws to strike, but Spearow dodged by ceasing to flap his wings. This caused him to glide - directly under Nidoran's attack and back to his trainer. Nidoran did sort of a somersault to roll out of her miss and landed on the ground, turning a second time, and skidding to a stop.
"Keep trying, Nidoran!" Madeline shouted encouragingly. "If you can get those wings, Spearow can't fly!"
"Good luck!" 'Y' shouted in response. "Spearow! Another Peck attack!"
"Spear!" Spearow took off from the ground, kicking more sand at 'Y's feet. He took up several feet into the air and then started to glide toward Nidoran's position.
"Yoshina, no, not head on!" 'X' suddenly groaned, causing everyone (including Nate) to jump.
"Shut it, Xavier!" 'Y' retorted. "This is my battle! Worry about your own!"
"You’re alive..." Madeline whispered, her eyes narrowing. "The secret's out. Nidoran, roll out of the way!"
"Ni...!" Nidoran rolled to her right, causing Spearow to miss.
"Careful, he's coming back!" Madeline warned as Spearow swept the ground then rose up again and made a wide turn back toward them. A large sweatdrop appeared behind Nidoran's head as she ducked just in the nick of time.
"Shoot!" Yoshina exclaimed, snapping her finger in a disconcerted manner.
"Close one," Madeline mumbled, a bit rattled.
"Try it again!" Yoshina shouted, and Spearow turned around for another attack.
"Nidoran, Scratch!" Madeline called out in response. Nidoran jumped, but barely after she left the ground, she was swept skyward by Spearow's Peck attack, which had a kind of swooping quality that cause him to rise higher into the air after every attack.
"Oh, man, that's harsh!" Shiro yelled.
"It might be over!" exclaimed Travis, yanking his cap off of his head and looking upward.
"Finish it off!" Yoshina yelled, pointing one finger straight up. "Fury attack!" Spearow flew past Nidoran, striking her with his wing in midair. He immediately turned around and came from above, striking her a second time with his other wing. He came back again - another hit. The fourth time - connected again. Then Spearow came around for a fifth attack. She raised her claws for a scratch attack. This left her torso open, though, and Spearow took the opportunity to lay his left wing right into her stomach upon passing. Nidoran plummeted to the ground, obviously knocked out in midair.
"Wow!" Katrina exclaimed.
"Now, that's one heck of a Fury Attack," Shiro declared.
"Don't let it hit the ground! Another Fury Attack!" Yoshina yelled. Spearow came around for a second round of fury attacks. One hit after another. After another...after another...after another.
"That's uncalled for!" Katrina yelled angrily as she watched Madeline’s Nidoran get buffeted in midair for a second time. "The battle's already over!"
"One more Fury Attack!" Yoshina called. At this, Nate jumped up out of his seat and wrenched his sunshades from his face. They hit the chair and hung there ominously.
"ENOUGH!" he shouted loudly, bringing everything to silence. All that could be heard was the rush of the water and the rustling of the breeze through the trees that Travis and company were standing beside.
"What's your problem, kid?" Xavier shouted up toward him. Nate turned around and looked straight at Xavier. His face was livid with rage, and his jet-black hair seemed to be hovering off of his head somewhat.
"My problem?" Nate shouted. Then he turned to Yoshina, an even angrier look in his eyes. "And you!" he shouted. "Try a stunt like that again, and not only will you be disqualified from my tournament, but I'll have you arrested! I do not tolerate dirty fighting in my tournaments! I believe in proving your superiority legitimately!"
Meanwhile, Madeline had run over to her Nidoran and picked her up. "Nidoran, are you okay, mate?" she said, shaking her slightly. "Speak to me, won't you?" Nidoran's head lolled weakly from side to side.
"Nate may be an arrogant jerk, but he believes in keeping it clean, I'll give him that," Shiro commented.
"Yeah. He could be a great person if he'd come down a couple of pegs," Travis muttered.
"That's going a bit far, don't you think?" Shiro asked, frowning.
"Anderson, call it," Nate sighed, gesturing to the referee and slumping back into his seat. "Madeline, you might want to get that Nidoran to a Pokémon Center."
"Nidoran is unable to battle!" Anderson yelled, raising the red flag in his right hand. "Spearow is the winner! Yoshina advances to the semifinals!"
"Return!" Yoshina shouted, returning Spearow to his Pokéball. She shaped her piercing blue eyes into a glower at Nate for a few seconds and then returned to the side of Xavier.
"These people from AURA are sick." Shiro muttered, his fists clenching.
"Relax," Travis replied. "We don't even know for sure if they're with AURA. They might just not be very nice - or they might be with another group altogether."
"Even so...I'm going to go check on Madeline," Shiro answered and turned around to walk away.
"But, Shiro!" Katrina exclaimed, "The tournament!"
"There'll be other tournaments," Shiro commented, donning his shades. They had no frames at all, and were tinted a bright red, similar to the color of his hair. "Tell Nate that I'll get him later."
"Why are you so interested in Madeline?" Katrina asked. "Carrying a torch, are we?"
"Shut it," Shiro said coolly. "It's just the right thing to do. Y'know, as soon as I get this done, I'm taking off for Violet City. That's where the first gym is."
"So you're just gonna leave?" asked Katrina, part of her knowing that it was a stupid question. Shiro was a bit stubborn - one had to do a lot of talking to change his mind about anything.
"Take down Yoshina for me," Shiro looked back at Travis and Katrina. A wink was visible through his crimson-tinted shades. He waved and started to walk off. After a few seconds, his form became invisible behind the mass of trees that had been providing shade to the three of them.
A minute or two after Shiro had left, Travis and Katrina were still staring blankly in that direction. Finally, to break the silence, Travis said, "Y'know, we've been friends for years, but I still don't really understand him."
"He's bizarre, alright," Katrina agreed, "But I'm not complaining, since it saves me a battle. At least I don't have to deal with a type disadvantage."
"Uh...yeah, you do. Flying types are effective against grass-types, too," Travis commented observantly.
"Oh, nuts..." Katrina moaned, dropping her head in a hopeless manner, "Is it just me, or am I having more than my fair share of bad luck when it comes to these matches?"
"Will the trainers named Shiro Azuki and Katrina Sasano please step forward?" the referee asked loudly, as if he had said it more than once and they had simply failed to hear him. With that, Katrina stepped forward and said loudly, "Shiro has decided to drop out."
"Scared, was he?" Nate commented.
"Not really," Katrina snapped. "He just wanted to see if Madeline and her Nidoran were okay."
"The Nidoran, I understand, but why Madeline?" Nate questioned. "It's not like Yoshina beat her up or anything."
"None of your business," Travis said sharply and in a tone uncharacteristic of someone who was normally so gentle-handed and gentle-tongued. He stared at Nate, tipping his cap up so that he could get a full view of his nemesis. "Now, call the match and get on with yours."
"The sooner the better," Nate said. "Someone needs to shut your mouth." Meanwhile, Anderson was staring at Nate blankly. Nate looked at him, sighed, and said, "Go on."
"Shiro Azuki has forfeited his match!" Anderson shouted, raising his left hand and the green flag this time. "The winner by default is Katrina Sasano!"
"Congratulations," Travis said with obvious sarcasm.
"Shut up," Katrina smiled and punched him in the arm. "Nate's up next."
"Hope he wins," Travis muttered.
"Why? He's not exactly our friend, you know." Katrina stated.
"That's just it. I want to take him down myself," Travis declared.
"Oh, well, I've got no problems with that," Katrina said, smirking.
"The match between Matthew Marius and Nathaniel Elm will now begin! Will both trainers please step forward?" Anderson shouted and raised both flags. Nate vaulted himself over the railing in front of his chair and landed stylishly on the ground, his long black coat flowing behind him.
Matthew, who looked a bit nervous, walked up to Nate and stammered, "Uh.th-thank you for helping my s-sister."
Nate, however, sneered, and said, "You can do two things to thank me - one is to kiss my shoes, another is to stop acting like such a wuss about it." He walked away from Matthew over to the right side of the beach. Meanwhile, Matthew walked over to the other end. He pulled out a Pokéball, and said, "I'm not going easy on you, mate. Let's go, Nidoran!" He tossed it into the air and it popped open, and shot out its familiar white light. Nate, now without his shades, shielded his eyes from the bright light. The light soon dimmed to reveal a rodentlike Pokémon quite similar to the last one, but altogether different. Instead of blue, this one was colored a purple that was slightly tinged with pink. It had a set of spikes running down its back, and a set of spikes on its ears, each one of them larger than its own head. It had the same buckteeth and red eyes, but had a very sharp-looking horn that protruded about three or four inches from its head. It stood just over one and a half feet in height, and looked more aggressive than its blue counterpart.
"Wait a sec," Travis commented, noticing the obvious difference. "That can't be a Nidoran."
"Yes, it is," Katrina responded. "Check your Pokedex."
Travis took Dexter II from his pocket and opened it up, pointing it at the plum-colored creature. "Nidoran, Male," Dexter II said monotonously. "The Poison Pin Pokémon. It raises its big ears to check its surroundings. It will strike if it senses any danger."
Nate took the Pokéball he had off of his jacket and said, "That's good. If you were to go easy on me, you'd only lose worse! Bluefang, let's show 'em what we mean." Nate tossed his Pokéball into the air. It popped open and floated back into Nate's hand, shedding that same amorphous white light. The light took shape gradually.
"Toto," the creature said, as the light dimmed. This time, a Pokémon that, in terms of face, looked more like an alligator than anything, could be seen. It stood a few inches higher from the ground than Nidoran did - about two feet, from Travis' estimation. It had bright red eyes and blue skin, save for its chest, which bore a yellow marking that dipped in the center similar to a 'V'. Red spines ran down its back, all the way to its tail, which thumped against the ground aggressively as Bluefang growled at his opponent.
"Now for you," Travis muttered, pointing Dexter II at the royal-blue alligator. He had seen several upon several pictures of this Pokémon in the academy that past school year - beginning trainers, of course, needed to know what options they had as far as beginner Pokémon went. Travis probably would have selected this Pokémon had Angel not become available at the last minute - a stroke of pure luck. Travis thought for a moment, though, that maybe it wasn't luck that he got Angel as a starter. Maybe it was something else. "Totodile," Dexter II droned, snapping Travis back from his brief flashback. "The Big Jaw Pokémon. This rough critter chomps at any moving object it sees. Turning your back on it is not recommended."
"Their types don't have much special effect on each other," Katrina commented astutely. "It all depends on who has more battle experience."
"You've been hanging around the professor too long," Travis mumbled.
"Alright, then! Go, Nidoran! Hit him with your tackle!" Matt commanded.
"Dodge it," Nate ordered impassively. The small, azure crocodile nodded in response and waited for his opponent to get to his position. Nidoran attempted the charge, but Bluefang did a handspring off of the head of his opponent. He jumped and turned around and landed on his feet behind Nidoran.
"Tackle again!" Matt commanded. Nidoran pivoted from his position and lunged for Bluefang's body again.
"Toto." Bluefang growled.
SMACK!
Nidoran's Tackle had connected - with Bluefang's hands. Bluefang and his horned opponent each showed signs of struggle on their faces. Nidoran, surprisingly enough, looked to have the advantage. Bluefang placed his hands around Nidoran's horn, so as to not be gored by his small, purple adversary, but all the while, he was gradually being pushed backwards.
"Ni...ran...ran..."
"Toto...toto..."
Both Pokémon grunted with effort, neither one of them willing to back down. Bluefang was trying its hardest not to get rammed, and Nidoran was trying just as hard to ram him. This stalemate continued for what seemed like forever, with each Pokémon pouring all of their strength, all of their heart into that attack, as if this one blow would decide the outcome of the match, and whoever was the victor in this grapple would prove himself to be the stronger of the two. Bluefang let himself be pushed back by his opponent and loosened the grip of one of his hands. He then clawed it and swiped into Nidoran's right flank. The claws sunk into Nidoran's skin, causing the small rodent Pokémon to wince with agony. It did nothing to help Bluefang's situation, however. Nidoran was still pushing him back. Bluefang clawed his left hand this time, and sank it into Nidoran's left side. Nidoran winced again, but still kept pushing.
"Let go, Bluefang!"
Bluefang gave Nate a slightly fierce look, as if he didn't agree with the order that his trainer had given him, but did so, and Nidoran, who had put all of his focus on forward motion, sunk into the sand face-first.
"Ni..." a muffled cry could be heard. Meanwhile, over in the "spectator section," Travis and Katrina were looking on in awe and slight amusement.
"That's embarrassing," Travis mumbled, shaking his head.
"Hey! That's not fair!" Matt yelled, "Nidoran, Tackle!" Nidoran yanked his head out of the ground and rammed into Bluefang hard, sending him flying back a couple of feet. Bluefang landed on the sand and skidded to a stop.
"Horn Attack!" was Matt's next shout. Nidoran began to charge Bluefang faster, lowering his head so that his horn gleamed in the sunlight.
"Water Gun!!" Nate shouted. Nidoran's blue opponent inhaled deeply as Nidoran rushed for him. Just when it seemed that Nidoran was going to make contact, the royal-blue alligator spit out a jet of water straight at his opponent. Nidoran attempted to skid to a stop and was promptly engulfed by the high-pressure gush of water and blown upward into the air.
"Direct hit!" Nate shouted, pumping his fist. "You're done!"
"Not quite, mate, you'll have to try a mite harder than that," Matt answered confidently as his Nidoran hit the ground. The magenta rodent shook his head several times in an attempt to reorient himself. He then gave a rather hostile look to his opponent.
"Horn Attack, mate, and this time, make it count!" Matt shouted.
"Ran...!" Nidoran cried in agreement and started rushing headlong towards Nate and Bluefang a second time.
"Water Gun!" Nate ordered. Bluefang inhaled a second time, and shot out another high-pressure stream of water. Nidoran, this time, was prepared, however. He jumped to the left, and skidded around Bluefang, and lowered his head even closer to the ground - if the small rodent had been any lower, its large front teeth would have begun to drag into the sand. Nidoran drove his horn into Bluefang's skin right where Bluefang's red-spiked back met his thigh. Bluefang's pupils narrowed to about the size of a pin at this point.
"Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiile!" Bluefang shrieked with an obvious air of agony from being stabbed in his backside.
“Ooh...” Katrina muttered, wincing.
“That’s gotta hurt...” Travis said.
"Dile! Dile! Dile!" Bluefang cried, running in a circle with his hands over his rear end.
"Ah, suck it up," Nate drawled. "Water Gun!" Bluefang stopped running and looked at Nidoran angrily. He inhaled again.
"Nidoran! Get outta there!" Matt yelled, and Nidoran attempted to retreat to Matt's side.
"Go after 'im!" Nate shouted, and Bluefang gave chase. Bluefang eventually passed Nidoran and then turned around, and blasted a jet of water right into Nidoran's face, point-blank. When Bluefang stopped discharging water, Nidoran could be seen, looking worse for the wear and obviously very soaked. Nidoran staggered toward his opponent and then sunk to the ground, swirls in his eyes.
"Aw, it's over!" Matt groaned, and returned Nidoran to his Pokéball.
"Nidoran is unable to battle!" Anderson shouted, raising the red flag again. "Totodile is the winner! Nathaniel Elm advances to the semifinals!"
"Ohh...Matthew put up a great fight, but he lost." Katrina moaned.
"...Vee!" Angel shouted. "Vee-vee-eev, vee-vee!"
Travis leered over in Nate's direction. "Xavier is the only one standing between us," he mumbled.
"Vee-vee!" Angel shouted again. "Vee-vee-vee!"
"Your match is next," Katrina said, smiling.
Travis tipped his cap again and said smugly, "I've got it under control. You just worry about winning your match against Yoshina so we can face each other in the final."
"Well, no one can accuse you of not being confident," Katrina commented just as smugly, one hand on her hip
"You said it yourself, right? Mental focus is nine tenths of the battle," Travis said, walking over to the field. Angel, at his ankles, followed close behind, a look of fire in her eyes. One could tell - it wasn't going to matter if their opponents were more powerful than they were. That look clearly said one thing - they were not going to allow themselves to be defeated.
"Good luck," Katrina whispered, as a breeze blew her rose-colored hair into her face.
"The fourth match will now begin! Travis DePaul versus Xavier! Will both trainers please step forward!" Anderson raised both flags again as Travis made his way to the sand-covered battlefield. The sun shone hotly down on his right side, illuminating his easternmost half while leaving the side closest to the water more or less in shadow; by this time, it was nearing mid-morning - about nine or ten o'clock, to be exact. Xavier whispered something in Yoshina's ear, and then walked over to his side of the sandy arena.
"Don't worry, kid," Xavier growled, "I'll make this as quick and as painful as possible."
Angel growled and gritted her teeth - she obviously didn't like that comment.
Travis, however, only smirked and answered, "Maybe for yourself - that is, if you don't give it up and get outta my way."
"What was that?" Xavier growled angrily.
"You heard me," Travis responded. "I'm saving my energy for two people and you're not one of them."
"My Spinarak's gonna shut that mouth of yours, kid." Xavier shouted, throwing a Pokéball into the air. The ball exploded open and shot the familiar shapeless white light to the ground. It materialized and became what Travis thought was a spider of some sort. The light dimmed to reveal that he wasn't that far off, either. The creature revealed this time did look a lot like a spider. It was quite large for a normal spider - about one foot and eight inches tall. Its main body was a bright green color - the six legs that each went in a different direction away from the creature were striped yellow and black, somewhat like the pattern of a bumblebee. Its small eyes were black and beady. On its head, it bore a small horn on its head. And where its mouth should have been, there were two red pincers.
"Angel!" Travis shouted and Angel immediately jumped forward.
"This'll be interesting," Nate murmured.
"Spi-na-rak!" the emerald spider Pokémon squeaked..
"Spinarak, the Stringspit Pokémon. If its prey becomes ensnared in its nest of spun string, it waits motionlessly until it becomes dark," Travis had taken this opportunity to scan his opponent's Pokémon with Dexter II.
"Let the fourth and final battle of the preliminaries now begin! Whoever advances will face Nathaniel Elm in the semi-finals!" Anderson shouted, jarring Travis to attention.
"Open this up with a Poison Sting!" Xavier yelled to his Pokémon.
"Spina-rak!" Spinarak squeaked again, and several white needles shot from between his pincers.
"Kick up dirt to block those stingers. Sand-attack!" Travis ordered. Angel turned around and started lifting sand into the air with her foot and kicking it back in Spinarak's direction. The poison needles hit the sand and fell harmlessly to the ground. A small portion of the sand made contact with Spinarak's beady, black eyes. Spinarak squinted, in obvious agony.
"Try another Poison Sting!" Xavier shouted. Spinarak turned his head upward and shot many of the venomous needles into the air.
"Hey, we're down here," Travis said with a slight hint of brashness. "What're you aiming at?"
"Yeah, well, my Spinarak can't see straight!" Xavier retorted. Large blue sweatdrops slid down Travis and Angel's heads as Travis replied, "Uh...that's the whole object of the attack."
"I hope I get to battle Travis rather than that other guy," Nate murmured. "At least Travis makes an attempt to hide his ignorance..."
"Whatever," Xavier muttered and shrugged his shoulders. "Spinarak, try it again!" Spinarak spewed the now-familiar poison stingers from its mouth again.
"Tackle him, Angel!" Travis ordered. Angel jumped outward and then started rushing Spinarak again. She jumped to the left slightly, causing her opponent's attack to just miss her. After a bit more running, she jumped to the right, dodging another round of the poison arrows. She finally met her target and rammed him with all of her might. Spinarak recoiled a couple of feet backwards.
"Oh, you're kidding me!" Xavier shouted.
"Tackle him again!" Travis yelled, and Angel didn't bother to stop running. She charged her arachnid opponent once again.
"String shot, now!" Xavier commanded.
"Spin-a." Spinarak squeaked. This time, a jet of white string shot from between Spinarak's pincers. It zoomed toward Angel's leg while she was still charging. It found its target and wrapped around her leg and constricted, preventing any further movement.
"Vee...vee..." Angel began to struggle.
"Angel, get outta there!" Travis shouted worriedly.
"Throw her," Xavier said mercilessly. Spinarak yanked his head up and launched Angel high into the air.
"No...!" Travis grunted.
"Try dodging this!" Xavier yelled fiercely. "Poison Sting!" Spinarak's mouth released another round of poisoned needles in Angel's direction. Angel couldn't dodge this time and was bombarded by the stingers in midair. She gradually fell to the ground and smacked against it.
"Angel!" Travis cried worriedly.
"Xavier's got this one. Travis is even more worthless than I thought," Nate muttered. "Oh, well, saves me the trouble."
"Angel, can you stand up?" Travis asked.
"V-vee.." Angel staggered to her feet and then glared at her opponent.
"...Hmm. On second thought, perhaps that Eevee is tougher than I gave her credit for," Nate murmured again.
"Alright, then, Tackle attack!" Travis called. Angel took off from her position and started charging Spinarak even faster than before.
"Spinarak, get out of there!" Xavier shouted, but Angel was too quick. She jumped over to Spinarak's other side, blocking his path of retreat, and rammed him right into the center of the battlefield.
"Finish it off!" Travis shouted. "One last Tackle!"
"Poison Sting!" Xavier shouted in response. Out came another round of the venomous spines while Angel was all the while charging her opponent. Angel jumped over Spinarak (and the Poison Sting attack, needless to say) and rammed him from the back end, sending him back to his trainer.
"Sorry, Angel's way too fast!" Travis shouted.
"Hey, Spinarak, get up!" Xavier shouted. Spinarak shakily tried to stand, but his six yellow and black legs crumbled under him and he hit the ground flat, swirls in his eyes.
"Spinarak is unable to battle!" Anderson shouted, raising the red flag. "Eevee is the winner! Travis DePaul will advance into the semifinals!"
"Whoo!" Travis hooted, letting Angel jump into his arms. "You were great!"
"Vee!" Angel smiled proudly, and Travis left his post in the battlefield to walk over to Katrina.
"That was a close one, wasn't it?" Katrina said. "I thought he had you with that Stringshot."
"Bug Pokémon aren't known for their Physical defense...their only real advantage is that they evolve quick," Travis said smartly.
Katrina replied, "Well, I'm just glad you won. You can probably handle Nate, too, but you'd better watch out for that Water Gun. He can attack from a distance with that."
Travis put one hand on Katrina's shoulder, shook his head, and said, "Didn't I tell you before? We've got it under control. I insist, worry about your own."
At that, Katrina quickly knocked away Travis's hand from her shoulder, yet grabbed his wrist at the same time. She smiled and said, "Thanks for your concern, but I can handle myself."
"But can you handle Yoshina?" Travis asked smugly, raising an eyebrow. "That...is the question."
"She's a cutthroat, but I can take her. You just worry about Nate. He's already proven once today that he's not someone you can mess around with," Katrina retorted, allowing Travis to slip free of her grip.
"So you're facing that she-devil..." a voice came from behind them. Travis swung around. Nate was leaning against a nearby tree, looking as arrogant and pompous as ever. "I can always help you out if you need it...darling."
"You...!" Katrina started to rush Nate, but Travis grabbed her by both shoulders and pulled her back.
He stepped forward and said, "Don't you worry your oversized head about Katrina. You've got to deal with me first."
"How cute...you wanna be her knight in shining armor, do ya?" Nate folded his arms and started laughing.
"Y'know, it'll be really embarrassing to get beaten at a tournament that you threw yourself," Travis said, ignoring Nate's last comment. Meanwhile, Katrina dropped her head a bit to hide a slight blush.
"I'm gonna make you eat those words," Nate retorted. "Low-class scum."
“We’ll just see how ‘low-class’ I am when Angel and I crush you into the ground,” Travis said. “And after you, your friend over there’s next.”
"Quit playing like you know something that I don't,” Nate muttered.
Travis leaned forward aggressively toward Nate's face. The two stared each other down. Katrina walked up beside Travis and folded her arms. Travis looked away for a moment and smirked, and then fixed his gaze upon Nate again and said,
"You have no idea."
atomicmonkey
Highly Radioactive
yay well wrtten chapter. Interesting how Shiro takes off. Keep it up!
WaterTrainer243
Veteran Water Lover
Once again we see Travis struggle against the AURA operatives. Next we come to when he's able to communicate with Angel.
Hoenn Warrior
All Terrain Trainer
Awesome chapter. The tournament kicked out with one heck of a start. Poor Bluefang, getting rammed in the backside must really hurt, especially when you got rammed wit a horn!! Too bad for Matt nearly had the win too. Wonder if Nate will get rammed in his backside?? LOL. Cant wait for the next chapter.
WaterTrainer243
Veteran Water Lover
^Trust me, this fic is only gonna get better in future chapters.
^ MUCH BETTER Why do you think I saved it to my computer? Just in case he needed it if it got deleted so he could start again? Rofl I didnt even think about it till he asked for it, dunno how many times i've gone to where I have it saved and read it till the end. Im just so anxious for when it gets passed the final chapter Eon did before leaving, the 24th give or take?
Later,
~~CS~~
Later,
~~CS~~
WaterTrainer243
Veteran Water Lover
I think it was the 24th before he had his problems.
Silverwing
Sea Ruby Trainer
I remember this. This was one of my favorite fics until that dark, gloomy day when it stopped. I like the changes you made, expecialy the ages. I remember that before, all the characters were ten I believe. Age twelve seems like a better age for them, do to blooming romances and such. The only thing that I could find wrong is in Chapter 5. I saw many grammer mistakes like this one.
The mistake should be appartant. This happened quite a few times in Chapter 5 I believe. Other than that, I like what you've done with the revisions.
*bows the Cs32* Thanks for bringing this back.
The mistake should be appartant. This happened quite a few times in Chapter 5 I believe. Other than that, I like what you've done with the revisions.
*bows the Cs32* Thanks for bringing this back.
EonMaster One
saeculum harmonia
Gr8 News!!
I have great news for you guys.
I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico!!
No, but seriously, guys, this is big.
If anyone's been checking my profile, they'd know that tomorrow is my sixteenth birthday! (And about damn time, too - I feel like I've been fifteen forever). Well, guess what. My dad, the notorious computer killer, actually fixed his own desktop computer so it's up and running again.
So what happened to the laptop that he was using?
It's really strange, actually. My dad never really came out and said that he was going to give me his laptop for my birthday. He kind of threw it in as a side comment at a point where I wasn't paying attention. I didn't get the message until he gave me the carrying bag and told me to take all of the laptop stuff up to my room. That said, I'll obviously be having a lot more access to the comp/Internet now that he's turned it over to me. If I heard him correctly, it's officially mine when I leave for college in August. You guys will probably be seeing a lot more of me, so I hope that's not a problem.
Now, on to business. I've been getting killed at school with research papers and all types of @%#& that I don't feel like doing now that I'm less than two months away from graduation. It's been two and a half weeks since you guys got a chapter, so you're overdue.
Chapter 8: The Cherrygrove Cup Pt. 2:
Drawing a Blank
The four remaining tournament participants stood baking under the sun of high noon, which blazed above them like a great fireball. The heat itself was bearable, but the occasional fair weather cloud shielding them from the relentless rays was still appreciated. It threw the coastline into shadow for one cool moment, then it passed over, revealing the sun and illuminating the golden sands once again. There were a few tropical trees dotted around - those not participating or who had already been eliminated usually stood aside one of these, as they provided adequate shade. The wind was calm - tangible, but calm.
The ground showed few signs of battles past or to come - all the markings from motion during the previous fights seemed to more or less overlap each other, leaving merely an area of the battlefield that was distinguishable from the rest of the beach only a couple of inches' worth of height difference. The tournament, though, was on a ten-minute recess - the preliminary round had ended, with three of New Bark Town's four rookie trainers emerging victorious. The fourth one, namely Shiro Azuki, had decided to drop out due to an incident during the preliminary round. His opponent, Katrina, had temporarily discarded her pink sandals aside one of the palm trees and was standing on the edge of the shore, allowing the small waves to break atop her feet. Nate had reattached his shades, and was sitting on the lifeguard chair in somewhat of a carefree manner. Travis, standing below and leaning against one of the palm trees mentioned before, this particular one on the left of Nate's seat, shook his head and looked quite cross. He considered it an insult the way that Nate was so nonchalant about the upcoming match - as if he had already won. He decided to join Katrina, who had her gaze fixed upon the sunless horizon that seemed to form a perfect straight line with the sea that stretched on for miles.
"I sure hope you're more focused than Nate is," Travis commented, walking up alongside her.
"Oh...unlike you, I don't pay him any mind," Katrina responded, turning around to face Travis. "What's he doing?"
"What's he been doing the entire tournament?" asked Travis a bit sourly.
"Sitting on that chair and acting all cool," Katrina said in an annoyed tone.
"He acts like I'm not even here." Travis muttered.
"Maybe that's a good thing," Katrina said.
"What about you? I keep trying to tell myself that you're trying to focus over here, but you look like you're just playing around," Travis commented again.
"You take things too seriously," Katrina said with a giggle.
"You're not serious enough," Travis retorted. "Our parents aren't around to take care of us now, and you know that." Half of Travis wanted to see if this comment would start an argument, but Katrina was in too much of a good mood for that today.
"Travis," Katrina started to ask a question. "How old are you?"
"Huh!?" Travis muttered a bit stupidly. Katrina knew that she, he, and Shiro were all twelve years old - Shiro, technically, was the oldest. He would be turning thirteen sometime at the end of this month - whether it was the twenty-ninth or the thirtieth, Travis could never remember. He did remember, though, that whenever Shiro had a party, there was always a coming-of-summer bash that was combined with his birthday celebration. Whenever Shiro had a party - everyone in New Bark Town knew about it, and just about as many people attended. Travis, himself, was always the first one there - he was right across the street, after all.
Travis' birthday was on the twenty-ninth of July. He enjoyed his own birthday parties a bit less than he enjoyed Shiro's; for one thing, they were much more modest - Travis had his share of friends (Shiro and Katrina, of course, were his two closest.) but Shiro, for lack of a better word, was just plain popular. A lot of times, people showed up at his parties whether they knew him very well or not. On top of that, his birthday party would always fall somewhere within the first ten days of the month of August - the hottest part of the entire year. So, if there was a party, then most of it was inside, shut off from the late summer hell.a perpetual cycle of dry heat, unbearable humidity, and then torrential rain.
Katrina was the youngest - her birthday was on the fourteenth of December and because of that, she tended to do things like going out to eat as opposed to throwing party. Katrina lived a few doors down from where Nate would eventually move in. Her upper-middle-class family was well liked by the community for being down-to-earth and very learned. Travis remembered when she moved in. He was five years old, and right around that Christmas, Travis and Shiro were convinced - more like forced, actually - to go to Katrina's party. Even Nate's existence was unknown to the two boys at this point - he wouldn't move to New Bark Town for at least another year. Both families agreed that while spending time with each other was all well and good, that they needed to make friends with someone else.
"I wish it had been another boy that moved here instead of her," Travis remembered himself saying to Shiro at one point.
Ever since Nate moved in, Shiro always admonished Travis, "Be careful what you wish for." Even though Travis didn't meet Katrina by choice, when he looked back on it, he was glad that he did meet her.
"Travis?" Katrina's voice tore through Travis' small dream world. Travis shook his head quickly and beheld the water before him once again.
"It looks like both you and Nate are trying to talk me out of my game," Travis grumbled. "I'm outta here."
"Hey, wait a second," Katrina mumbled.
"I've got to focus on my match," Travis said with a bit more conviction than before. "And you should, too."
"You're worrying too much," Katrina said. "You should be more like Shiro. He loves to have a good time, and yet he's still calm and collected."
"You couldn't handle two Shiros." Travis muttered, shaking his head.
"I could handle two of him better than I could handle two of you. I'd die of boredom!" Katrina exclaimed.
"I'm not boring," Travis groaned.
"Only because you and Shiro balance each other out most of the time," Katrina said, "Why don't you act your age every once in a while?"
"How am I being immature?" Travis asked sharply, assuming that the phrase 'act your age' implied something along those lines.
"You're not, okay?" Katrina answered with a sigh of exasperation. "It's just the opposite. You just...need to act like you're twelve years old once in a while and not like you're forty. A Pokemon journey is supposed to be fun, too."
Maybe she's right, Travis thought to himself. Maybe I am worrying too much.
"You should try stuff that you've never done before, because this is your opportunity," Katrina continued.
"Since when did I have to change myself to make you happy?" Travis questioned.
"You don't," Katrina replied. "I'm telling you to do that for yourself. You really should enjoy this more."
"Your Nidoran is going to need about two days of rest before she can battle again," the kindhearted nurse told a brown-haired girl that was peering over the table and looking very miserable. The Pokémon Center was a bit emptier than it had been that previous night - everyone was out on the town and doing other things and overall too busy to be sitting inside, if they had a choice.
"What am I going to do now?" the girl sank into a nearby chair, her head buried in her hands.
"Well, you can think about how not to let that happen again," a boy's voice came from behind her. Soon after, a redheaded figure cut across the girl's line of vision and eventually sat down opposite her. The brown haired girl looked up. She recognized this boy.
"You're Shiro...from New Bark Town," she said with full knowledge. It wasn't a question.
"Looks like you were in over your head a little bit," Shiro commented. "Is your Nidoran alright?"
"My Nidoran can stay here...my mother was right. I'm not good enough at this. I'm going back home," the girl said dejectedly and stood up.
"You know something, Madeline," Shiro said. That wasn't a question, either. The brown-haired girl slumped back into her chair, looking as glum as ever.
"Why do you think that?" Madeline asked.
"I can tell by the way Yoshina was battling...she was actually trying to kill your Nidoran. Either you or that Nidoran must have seen something. That or Yoshina's got some sort of personal issues with you," Shiro said sagely.
"Even if I had that kind of information, how would I trust you instead of somebody that I actually know?" Madeline asked suspiciously.
"Because telling whoever you don't want to know isn't in the best interest of what I'm trying to do," Shiro answered after a while.
"...Something tells me that I should trust you," Madeline murmured.
"Hey, it's your call," Shiro said calmly.
"You have to promise not to tell anyone, hear? Especially not my mother," Madeline gave Shiro a hard look.
"I don't even know your mother," Shiro said blankly.
"Well, she thinks that Yoshina's dead. She went missing a couple of years ago. My mother would be heartbroken if she knew that her oldest daughter was..."
"Oldest daughter!?" Shiro yelled as the realization dawned upon him.
"Shut it!" Madeline said in a whisper, and Shiro leaned back into his chair.
"But...that means Yoshina is..." Shiro muttered, almost as if he couldn't bring himself to say it.
"My sister...by a different father," Madeline replied. "She's got a twin, too. That's Xavier."
"And your mom thinks that they’re dead?" Shiro asked.
"They had a great big fight this one day when she was sixteen...two years ago," Madeline answered, "Yoshina finally told my mum that she wasn't going to let her own mother hold her down anymore...and then she took off. We hadn't seen her since."
"Why?"
"My mum wouldn't let her become a Pokémon trainer...she seemed to think that Yoshina was too immature to be out on her own," Madeline commented. "Everyone started their journeys when they were twelve just like we do now. And Yoshina was sixteen, almost seventeen, and she hadn't gotten her first Pokémon yet. We weren't even allowed to have any as pets, because my mum was afraid that Yoshina would sneak out and use them for herself...why am I telling you all of this!?"
"Because I'm going to take them down," Shiro answered calmly. "It's not their fault if your mom was overprotective, but that's no excuse for putting people in danger. My friends are in that tournament - I want to protect them."
"And where do I fit into all of this?" Madeline asked.
"You? I was just wondering why Yoshina went overboard like she did."
"So...you've just been using me," Madeline commented, glaring at Shiro.
"I don't use people," Shiro answered sharply. "Go back home, your mother must be worried about you already."
"...Nah," Madeline answered. Shiro turned around and looked a bit confused. "I'm going to go with you. You're going after AURA, aren't you?"
"...I hope you're not coming along just to be in the way," Shiro commented.
"I have to make sure you keep the secret like you're supposed to," Madeline answered.
"What are you planning on doing?" Shiro asked her, at which she started clinging to his shoulder.
"Oh...I'll think of something," Madeline answered with a wry smile.
"The semifinals will now begin!" Anderson shouted, attempting to get the attention of the four remaining trainers. "Will all remaining trainers please prepare themselves for the upcoming battles?"
"Here we go," Travis mumbled.
"Yoshina's trying to psych me out." Katrina said, shooting a look over in her direction. Yoshina had her dark-blue eyes fixed in a hard stare at Katrina. She wasn't blinking, she wasn't moving. She looked like she was trying to stare a hole right through her opponent.
"Don't pay her any mind," Travis murmured. "After all, focus is..."
"....nine tenths of victory. I know," Katrina finished Travis' statement for him, and looked a bit flustered.
"Well, you're the one that said it in the first place," Travis said, shrugging. "You'd better get ready. Your match is up next."
"The match between Katrina Sasano and Yoshina will now begin!" Anderson shouted, causing Katrina to turn around.
"Good luck," Travis mumbled. Katrina acknowledged him but didn't answer. She held the Pokéball containing her Chikorita in her hand and looked at it intently. She exhaled sharply and advanced to the battlefield. Yoshina, meanwhile, fitted her fingerless gloves onto her hands, then turned around to face her opponent. Xavier muttered something to her, and from where Travis was standing, it looked like that something had touched a nerve, because Yoshina had given Xavier a very sharp look before advancing to the battlefield herself.
"Spearow, once more!" Yoshina shouted, throwing the Pokéball in her right hand into the air. The Pokéball exploded open and revealed the tiny brown bird again.
"Spear...! Spear!" he crowed.
"Alright, Riti, GO!" Katrina shouted in response. She launched the Pokéball containing her first Pokémon high into the air. It disappeared into the sun for a couple of moments and then blew open to reveal her Chikorita. Riti swung the leaf on her head around and around a couple of times and cried, "Chi-ka!"
"A grass type?" Yoshina said incredulously. She placed one hand on her hip and shook her head pitifully. "Please, I thought you were going to offer me some type of a challenge."
"Try it," Katrina said smugly. "Who knows, I might surprise you."
"BEGIN!" Anderson shouted, lifting both flags into the air.
"Spearow, end this quick! Peck!" Yoshina ordered. Spearow took off into the air, and glided straight at Chikorita, his beak raised to strike.
"Riti, Razor Leaf Attack!" Katrina yelled. Riti swung her leaf and released five sharp-looking leaves in the direction of her descending opponent.
"Spearow, dodge them all!" Yoshina shouted. Spearow, still in a nosedive toward Riti, tilted to the left and allowed one to pass under his wing. Spearow then tilted himself right, and one of the leaves missed him to the other side. There were three more. Spearow went into a full-on barrel roll and avoided the first two. The third hit him squarely in the face in mid-rotation, but split in two because of the sharpness of his beak. The halves fell harmlessly to the sands below.
"It didn't work!" Katrina exclaimed in shock.
"Duh..." Yoshina murmured derisively. "Now, Spearow, attack!"
"Riti, get down!" Katrina cried. Riti lowered her head, causing Spearow's beak to just miss her. She then rammed into her avian opponent's exposed chest, causing him to jump up and fly wildly back to his trainer.
"Close one," Travis murmured, looking on.
"Tch...lucky shot. Peck attack again!" Yoshina ordered. Spearow flapped his wings rapidly, kicking up a bunch of sand, and hovered off of the ground and flew toward Riti. Riti stanced herself and braced for the upcoming attack. Spearow raised his beak to strike Riti right on the head, but Riti countered by swinging the leaf on her head and catching her opponent right on the jaw. Riti then charged Spearow and attacked his torso in just about the exact same spot.
"Again!?" Yoshina yelled frustratedly.
"Looks like you're losing your touch," Xavier commented from behind her.
"Shut your yap! At least I didn't lose to some pretty boy with a ponytail!" Yoshina retorted. Travis clenched his fist. He really liked his hairdo and here was this stranger insulting it for no good reason. He closed his eyes to try to shut her out and bit his tongue to avoid saying something that would offend his mother.
"That so-called 'pretty boy' happens to be a friend of mine," Katrina shouted. "Riti, Tackle attack, full power!"
Riti jumped once and stamped her feet closely against the ground. She then took off toward her adversary and lowered her head. Spearow was flitting about for a moment before he realized that he was being attacked. He flew higher to what he thought would be out of the leaf-bearing Pokémon's reach, but it was a split-second too late. Riti's Tackle attack caught him on the right foot and sent him into more or less of an involuntary somersault in midair. Spearow flapped his wings a bit more forcefully than normal in an attempt to stay aloft. While he was recovering, Riti turned around, skidded to a stop and then jumped, thrusting her head into Spearow's midsection a third time. Spearow was knocked higher and continued to flap his wings wildly, but was quickly losing altitude. He dropped to a height of ten feet...five feet...he landed safely on the ground and looked quite winded.
"Spear...spear...spear." Spearow wheezed, as a confident smirk crossed Riti's lips.
"That's a pretty good strategy," Nate couldn't help but talk to himself over in his chair. "A Spearow - or any bird Pokémon, for that matter - can't fly well at all if it can't breathe."
"You're doing great, Katrina! Keep it up!" Travis cheered his friend on.
"It's time for me to even the score!" Yoshina growled. "Spearow, Fury Attack!" Spearow hovered off of the ground, flapping his wings rapidly for a few seconds, then he spread them to full extension - at least five feet - and rushed Riti with such quickness that the sand behind him blew up a couple of feet into the air and formed two straight lines above ground level. Riti braced herself to block the attack, but was knocked backward by Spearow's first swoop. She stood firm, took the hit, and turned her head to see where her assailant had gone next.
"Katrina, get your Chikorita outta there!" Travis shouted. They had both seen for themselves how powerful this Spearow's Fury Attack was, and yet Katrina seemed lost for orders to give to her Pokémon.
"Oh, man..." she mumbled.
BIFF.
Riti took another outstretched wing square in the face and did a backflip, miraculously landing on her feet. She turned her whole body around this time and prepared himself for a third strike.
"Riti, attack with Razor Leaf!" Katrina finally commanded. Riti nodded in agreement, part of her relieved by her trainer's overdue action. Riti swung her leaf around and around - three times, to be exact, and released more razor-sharp foliage in the same manner as she had once before. Spearow, who was much too busy attacking, got caught on the head about four or five times. His Fury Attack came to a halt, and Riti ducked as he floated over her and made a wide turn.
"Again!" Katrina shouted and Riti repeated her previous motion. This time, only three leaves were released.
"Spearow, you know what to do!" Yoshina said trustingly to her Pokémon. Spearow banked right and the slicing leaves missed him.
"A-ha...saw that one coming," Katrina said smugly and folded her arms. "Riti, Tackle!"
"Spearow, Peck!" Yoshina shouted in response. The brown bird raised his crimson beak to strike his advancing opponent. He floated over Riti's tackle and pecked her rapidly square on the top of the head several times, leaving many marks and battle scars. In the same moment, three green leaves came out of nowhere and sliced right into the bird's back. He squawked loudly and lost his altitude, slamming face-first into the sand. Riti, however, landed on her feet, but, at a loss for further combat energy, collapsed to the ground soon after.
"Riti!" Katrina cried loudly. "Riti, get up!"
"Agh." Yoshina snarled. "C'mon, Spearow, get up, now!" Spearow was obviously knocked out, large X's for eyes. Riti, though, stirred and struggled to her feet. She shakily stood for a moment and a glimmer of hope appeared in Katrina's eyes.
"Chi-ka..." she finally whimpered, and then collapsed again.
"Damn..." Xavier swore.
"No..." Travis whispered worriedly.
"Both Pokémon are unable to battle! Therefore, the match is a draw, and by the rules of today's tournament, both trainers are eliminated!" Anderson shouted, crossing his arms and the flags in them, and then spreading them and pointing a flag at each trainer. Yoshina called back her Spearow nonchalantly, then walked over to Xavier's side. Katrina, meanwhile, sank to her knees in despair and dropped the Pokéball that now held her fallen friend into the sand.
"Dang, a tie...didn't see that one coming." Nate murmured, letting his shades slide down his nose a bit. "All the same, though. I'm one step closer to winning the Cup."
"Katrina! Katrina!" Travis ran over as quickly as he could to Katrina, and then knelt in front of the rose-haired girl, who had gone rigid from shock. "Katrina!" Travis exclaimed, but got no response. A tear slid down her cheek as she retained the same emotionless expression. "Katrina, what's wrong?"
"I..." Katrina uttered, but her voice trailed off before she could even truly start her sentence.
"Katrina..." Travis put his hands on her shoulders. He somehow knew how she felt. That battle had taken as much out of her as a trainer as it did out of her Pokémon, but she still failed to emerge with a victory. Her heart must be broken right now.
"I lost..." Katrina finally whimpered, more tears sliding down her face. Travis only looked at her for a moment. "I can't believe that I lost."
"Hey, you didn't lose at all," Travis finally responded, sliding his hands all the way around Katrina's neck and hugging her closer to him. There wasn't a real reason - it just seemed to him like the right thing to do.
"But I didn't win..." said Katrina, still sounding crestfallen.
"You put up one heck of a fight, and at a type weakness, at that. And even though you tied, it's still obvious that you're the stronger trainer because you nearly pulled it off, despite your disadvantage. You battled your absolute hardest, even when you weren't sure that you could win. In my book, you're a Pokémon Master already," Travis said comfortingly.
"You mean that?" Katrina said through a sob.
"Really. You're more of a winner than she'll ever be," Travis answered.
"...thank you." Katrina finally said, and leaned against Travis slightly. Travis pulled away from her and then helped her to her feet as she dried her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt, sniffling a bit. He turned opposite the sea to find Nate strolling towards them, still wearing his shades, but along with them, there was a much more determined expression than before. He obviously meant business this time.
"So you'll help us out?" Shiro asked a brown-haired figure kneeling next to a blue and slightly aged pickup truck. The truck was parked in an alleyway that separated two buildings that must have each been about sixty or seventy feet tall. By Shiro's guess, they were both apartments.
"Sure thing," the figure turned around and stood up. He was about six feet in height, give or take an inch, and was comfortably athletic-looking. He was wearing a white tank top and denim shorts with a pocket on the front of each leg. He had a very youthful, but strong look about him. He had to have been about sixteen or seventeen, in Shiro's mind, but if he wasn't, he did a good job of fooling everyone around him. He had some gold-tinted surfer shades that tried, but failed miserably to hide his obviously blue eyes (although they seemed to shade them a bit of an aquatic green color) "Anything for a friend of little Madeline over there."
"In case you forgot, Jeff," the brown-haired girl responded sharply. "I'm twelve years old and I'll be thirteen in about a month and a half."
"I know, I know," the teen said, throwing his hands up as one would when he surrendered, "It's just that I've known your family for ten, almost eleven years. You could barely put two words together when you met me for the first time."
"Beside the point," Shiro cut in. "We gonna do this or what?"
"Oh, we're gonna do it," Jeff smirked.
"You sure about this, Madeline? You can still...bow out gracefully...if you want to," Shiro looked at the girl and told her.
"Sorry, mate, 'snot my style to back down when I've committed to something." Madeline tied a bandana around her head. "You just worry about if you can keep up."
"I like your attitude," Shiro couldn't help but grin at Madeline's comment. Of course, Travis was his best friend, but it looked like he had finally found a kindred spirit in this girl from Cherrygrove City.
"You and Katrina...so cute...so adorable...so disgusting," Nate growled at Travis.
"So it's you and me in the final, huh? I've been looking forward to this," the blue-haired boy responded to his nemesis.
"Well, I guess it's gonna be a case of 'close but no cigar' for you, Travis," Nate said calmly.
"Don't bet your bank account on it," Travis smirked at Nate's statement. Nate actually thought that he had his match in the bag already!!
"You're gonna regret saying that," Nate snapped, pulling a Pokéball off of his belt.
Angel ran up beside Travis' ankle, and Travis knelt to let her climb on. Angel gave a hard look into Nate's face, and even a harder look at the ball he was holding.
"It looks like your Eevee disagrees," Nate said with a shrug.
"Do you mind telling us any other secrets?" Travis asked mockingly and with such sarcasm that a small child could probably pick up on it.
"I'm gonna make you be sorry that you ever challenged me!" Nate said furiously.
Travis set his mouth into a firm line and moved one step closer to Nate. Nate raised an eyebrow, seemingly daring Travis to say something. "Just try it, rich boy," Travis growled with fervor. The fire in his eyes returned and now seemed to be radiating a bright cerulean glow from his entire body.
"I'll take you up on that offer," Nate responded with the same ferocity. His eyes twinkled and seemed to glow a bit, so much so that they could be seen even through his very dark shades. A war nearly three years in the making was finally going to reach its boiling point, here and now, on the sands of Cherrygrove...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'd love to post chapter 9, but the ending to chapter 8 is just too damn suspenseful...I'll be posting Chapter 9 and possibly 10 on or before the 14th of April, my next off day. But I'm going to visit my future college tomorrow through Saturday, so you won't hear from me.
- ;133; EM1, out. (Hooray! I've got a comp again!!)
I have great news for you guys.
I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico!!
No, but seriously, guys, this is big.
If anyone's been checking my profile, they'd know that tomorrow is my sixteenth birthday! (And about damn time, too - I feel like I've been fifteen forever). Well, guess what. My dad, the notorious computer killer, actually fixed his own desktop computer so it's up and running again.
So what happened to the laptop that he was using?
It's really strange, actually. My dad never really came out and said that he was going to give me his laptop for my birthday. He kind of threw it in as a side comment at a point where I wasn't paying attention. I didn't get the message until he gave me the carrying bag and told me to take all of the laptop stuff up to my room. That said, I'll obviously be having a lot more access to the comp/Internet now that he's turned it over to me. If I heard him correctly, it's officially mine when I leave for college in August. You guys will probably be seeing a lot more of me, so I hope that's not a problem.
Now, on to business. I've been getting killed at school with research papers and all types of @%#& that I don't feel like doing now that I'm less than two months away from graduation. It's been two and a half weeks since you guys got a chapter, so you're overdue.
Chapter 8: The Cherrygrove Cup Pt. 2:
Drawing a Blank
The four remaining tournament participants stood baking under the sun of high noon, which blazed above them like a great fireball. The heat itself was bearable, but the occasional fair weather cloud shielding them from the relentless rays was still appreciated. It threw the coastline into shadow for one cool moment, then it passed over, revealing the sun and illuminating the golden sands once again. There were a few tropical trees dotted around - those not participating or who had already been eliminated usually stood aside one of these, as they provided adequate shade. The wind was calm - tangible, but calm.
The ground showed few signs of battles past or to come - all the markings from motion during the previous fights seemed to more or less overlap each other, leaving merely an area of the battlefield that was distinguishable from the rest of the beach only a couple of inches' worth of height difference. The tournament, though, was on a ten-minute recess - the preliminary round had ended, with three of New Bark Town's four rookie trainers emerging victorious. The fourth one, namely Shiro Azuki, had decided to drop out due to an incident during the preliminary round. His opponent, Katrina, had temporarily discarded her pink sandals aside one of the palm trees and was standing on the edge of the shore, allowing the small waves to break atop her feet. Nate had reattached his shades, and was sitting on the lifeguard chair in somewhat of a carefree manner. Travis, standing below and leaning against one of the palm trees mentioned before, this particular one on the left of Nate's seat, shook his head and looked quite cross. He considered it an insult the way that Nate was so nonchalant about the upcoming match - as if he had already won. He decided to join Katrina, who had her gaze fixed upon the sunless horizon that seemed to form a perfect straight line with the sea that stretched on for miles.
"I sure hope you're more focused than Nate is," Travis commented, walking up alongside her.
"Oh...unlike you, I don't pay him any mind," Katrina responded, turning around to face Travis. "What's he doing?"
"What's he been doing the entire tournament?" asked Travis a bit sourly.
"Sitting on that chair and acting all cool," Katrina said in an annoyed tone.
"He acts like I'm not even here." Travis muttered.
"Maybe that's a good thing," Katrina said.
"What about you? I keep trying to tell myself that you're trying to focus over here, but you look like you're just playing around," Travis commented again.
"You take things too seriously," Katrina said with a giggle.
"You're not serious enough," Travis retorted. "Our parents aren't around to take care of us now, and you know that." Half of Travis wanted to see if this comment would start an argument, but Katrina was in too much of a good mood for that today.
"Travis," Katrina started to ask a question. "How old are you?"
"Huh!?" Travis muttered a bit stupidly. Katrina knew that she, he, and Shiro were all twelve years old - Shiro, technically, was the oldest. He would be turning thirteen sometime at the end of this month - whether it was the twenty-ninth or the thirtieth, Travis could never remember. He did remember, though, that whenever Shiro had a party, there was always a coming-of-summer bash that was combined with his birthday celebration. Whenever Shiro had a party - everyone in New Bark Town knew about it, and just about as many people attended. Travis, himself, was always the first one there - he was right across the street, after all.
Travis' birthday was on the twenty-ninth of July. He enjoyed his own birthday parties a bit less than he enjoyed Shiro's; for one thing, they were much more modest - Travis had his share of friends (Shiro and Katrina, of course, were his two closest.) but Shiro, for lack of a better word, was just plain popular. A lot of times, people showed up at his parties whether they knew him very well or not. On top of that, his birthday party would always fall somewhere within the first ten days of the month of August - the hottest part of the entire year. So, if there was a party, then most of it was inside, shut off from the late summer hell.a perpetual cycle of dry heat, unbearable humidity, and then torrential rain.
Katrina was the youngest - her birthday was on the fourteenth of December and because of that, she tended to do things like going out to eat as opposed to throwing party. Katrina lived a few doors down from where Nate would eventually move in. Her upper-middle-class family was well liked by the community for being down-to-earth and very learned. Travis remembered when she moved in. He was five years old, and right around that Christmas, Travis and Shiro were convinced - more like forced, actually - to go to Katrina's party. Even Nate's existence was unknown to the two boys at this point - he wouldn't move to New Bark Town for at least another year. Both families agreed that while spending time with each other was all well and good, that they needed to make friends with someone else.
"I wish it had been another boy that moved here instead of her," Travis remembered himself saying to Shiro at one point.
Ever since Nate moved in, Shiro always admonished Travis, "Be careful what you wish for." Even though Travis didn't meet Katrina by choice, when he looked back on it, he was glad that he did meet her.
"Travis?" Katrina's voice tore through Travis' small dream world. Travis shook his head quickly and beheld the water before him once again.
"It looks like both you and Nate are trying to talk me out of my game," Travis grumbled. "I'm outta here."
"Hey, wait a second," Katrina mumbled.
"I've got to focus on my match," Travis said with a bit more conviction than before. "And you should, too."
"You're worrying too much," Katrina said. "You should be more like Shiro. He loves to have a good time, and yet he's still calm and collected."
"You couldn't handle two Shiros." Travis muttered, shaking his head.
"I could handle two of him better than I could handle two of you. I'd die of boredom!" Katrina exclaimed.
"I'm not boring," Travis groaned.
"Only because you and Shiro balance each other out most of the time," Katrina said, "Why don't you act your age every once in a while?"
"How am I being immature?" Travis asked sharply, assuming that the phrase 'act your age' implied something along those lines.
"You're not, okay?" Katrina answered with a sigh of exasperation. "It's just the opposite. You just...need to act like you're twelve years old once in a while and not like you're forty. A Pokemon journey is supposed to be fun, too."
Maybe she's right, Travis thought to himself. Maybe I am worrying too much.
"You should try stuff that you've never done before, because this is your opportunity," Katrina continued.
"Since when did I have to change myself to make you happy?" Travis questioned.
"You don't," Katrina replied. "I'm telling you to do that for yourself. You really should enjoy this more."
;250;
"Your Nidoran is going to need about two days of rest before she can battle again," the kindhearted nurse told a brown-haired girl that was peering over the table and looking very miserable. The Pokémon Center was a bit emptier than it had been that previous night - everyone was out on the town and doing other things and overall too busy to be sitting inside, if they had a choice.
"What am I going to do now?" the girl sank into a nearby chair, her head buried in her hands.
"Well, you can think about how not to let that happen again," a boy's voice came from behind her. Soon after, a redheaded figure cut across the girl's line of vision and eventually sat down opposite her. The brown haired girl looked up. She recognized this boy.
"You're Shiro...from New Bark Town," she said with full knowledge. It wasn't a question.
"Looks like you were in over your head a little bit," Shiro commented. "Is your Nidoran alright?"
"My Nidoran can stay here...my mother was right. I'm not good enough at this. I'm going back home," the girl said dejectedly and stood up.
"You know something, Madeline," Shiro said. That wasn't a question, either. The brown-haired girl slumped back into her chair, looking as glum as ever.
"Why do you think that?" Madeline asked.
"I can tell by the way Yoshina was battling...she was actually trying to kill your Nidoran. Either you or that Nidoran must have seen something. That or Yoshina's got some sort of personal issues with you," Shiro said sagely.
"Even if I had that kind of information, how would I trust you instead of somebody that I actually know?" Madeline asked suspiciously.
"Because telling whoever you don't want to know isn't in the best interest of what I'm trying to do," Shiro answered after a while.
"...Something tells me that I should trust you," Madeline murmured.
"Hey, it's your call," Shiro said calmly.
"You have to promise not to tell anyone, hear? Especially not my mother," Madeline gave Shiro a hard look.
"I don't even know your mother," Shiro said blankly.
"Well, she thinks that Yoshina's dead. She went missing a couple of years ago. My mother would be heartbroken if she knew that her oldest daughter was..."
"Oldest daughter!?" Shiro yelled as the realization dawned upon him.
"Shut it!" Madeline said in a whisper, and Shiro leaned back into his chair.
"But...that means Yoshina is..." Shiro muttered, almost as if he couldn't bring himself to say it.
"My sister...by a different father," Madeline replied. "She's got a twin, too. That's Xavier."
"And your mom thinks that they’re dead?" Shiro asked.
"They had a great big fight this one day when she was sixteen...two years ago," Madeline answered, "Yoshina finally told my mum that she wasn't going to let her own mother hold her down anymore...and then she took off. We hadn't seen her since."
"Why?"
"My mum wouldn't let her become a Pokémon trainer...she seemed to think that Yoshina was too immature to be out on her own," Madeline commented. "Everyone started their journeys when they were twelve just like we do now. And Yoshina was sixteen, almost seventeen, and she hadn't gotten her first Pokémon yet. We weren't even allowed to have any as pets, because my mum was afraid that Yoshina would sneak out and use them for herself...why am I telling you all of this!?"
"Because I'm going to take them down," Shiro answered calmly. "It's not their fault if your mom was overprotective, but that's no excuse for putting people in danger. My friends are in that tournament - I want to protect them."
"And where do I fit into all of this?" Madeline asked.
"You? I was just wondering why Yoshina went overboard like she did."
"So...you've just been using me," Madeline commented, glaring at Shiro.
"I don't use people," Shiro answered sharply. "Go back home, your mother must be worried about you already."
"...Nah," Madeline answered. Shiro turned around and looked a bit confused. "I'm going to go with you. You're going after AURA, aren't you?"
"...I hope you're not coming along just to be in the way," Shiro commented.
"I have to make sure you keep the secret like you're supposed to," Madeline answered.
"What are you planning on doing?" Shiro asked her, at which she started clinging to his shoulder.
"Oh...I'll think of something," Madeline answered with a wry smile.
;250;
"The semifinals will now begin!" Anderson shouted, attempting to get the attention of the four remaining trainers. "Will all remaining trainers please prepare themselves for the upcoming battles?"
"Here we go," Travis mumbled.
"Yoshina's trying to psych me out." Katrina said, shooting a look over in her direction. Yoshina had her dark-blue eyes fixed in a hard stare at Katrina. She wasn't blinking, she wasn't moving. She looked like she was trying to stare a hole right through her opponent.
"Don't pay her any mind," Travis murmured. "After all, focus is..."
"....nine tenths of victory. I know," Katrina finished Travis' statement for him, and looked a bit flustered.
"Well, you're the one that said it in the first place," Travis said, shrugging. "You'd better get ready. Your match is up next."
"The match between Katrina Sasano and Yoshina will now begin!" Anderson shouted, causing Katrina to turn around.
"Good luck," Travis mumbled. Katrina acknowledged him but didn't answer. She held the Pokéball containing her Chikorita in her hand and looked at it intently. She exhaled sharply and advanced to the battlefield. Yoshina, meanwhile, fitted her fingerless gloves onto her hands, then turned around to face her opponent. Xavier muttered something to her, and from where Travis was standing, it looked like that something had touched a nerve, because Yoshina had given Xavier a very sharp look before advancing to the battlefield herself.
"Spearow, once more!" Yoshina shouted, throwing the Pokéball in her right hand into the air. The Pokéball exploded open and revealed the tiny brown bird again.
"Spear...! Spear!" he crowed.
"Alright, Riti, GO!" Katrina shouted in response. She launched the Pokéball containing her first Pokémon high into the air. It disappeared into the sun for a couple of moments and then blew open to reveal her Chikorita. Riti swung the leaf on her head around and around a couple of times and cried, "Chi-ka!"
"A grass type?" Yoshina said incredulously. She placed one hand on her hip and shook her head pitifully. "Please, I thought you were going to offer me some type of a challenge."
"Try it," Katrina said smugly. "Who knows, I might surprise you."
"BEGIN!" Anderson shouted, lifting both flags into the air.
"Spearow, end this quick! Peck!" Yoshina ordered. Spearow took off into the air, and glided straight at Chikorita, his beak raised to strike.
"Riti, Razor Leaf Attack!" Katrina yelled. Riti swung her leaf and released five sharp-looking leaves in the direction of her descending opponent.
"Spearow, dodge them all!" Yoshina shouted. Spearow, still in a nosedive toward Riti, tilted to the left and allowed one to pass under his wing. Spearow then tilted himself right, and one of the leaves missed him to the other side. There were three more. Spearow went into a full-on barrel roll and avoided the first two. The third hit him squarely in the face in mid-rotation, but split in two because of the sharpness of his beak. The halves fell harmlessly to the sands below.
"It didn't work!" Katrina exclaimed in shock.
"Duh..." Yoshina murmured derisively. "Now, Spearow, attack!"
"Riti, get down!" Katrina cried. Riti lowered her head, causing Spearow's beak to just miss her. She then rammed into her avian opponent's exposed chest, causing him to jump up and fly wildly back to his trainer.
"Close one," Travis murmured, looking on.
"Tch...lucky shot. Peck attack again!" Yoshina ordered. Spearow flapped his wings rapidly, kicking up a bunch of sand, and hovered off of the ground and flew toward Riti. Riti stanced herself and braced for the upcoming attack. Spearow raised his beak to strike Riti right on the head, but Riti countered by swinging the leaf on her head and catching her opponent right on the jaw. Riti then charged Spearow and attacked his torso in just about the exact same spot.
"Again!?" Yoshina yelled frustratedly.
"Looks like you're losing your touch," Xavier commented from behind her.
"Shut your yap! At least I didn't lose to some pretty boy with a ponytail!" Yoshina retorted. Travis clenched his fist. He really liked his hairdo and here was this stranger insulting it for no good reason. He closed his eyes to try to shut her out and bit his tongue to avoid saying something that would offend his mother.
"That so-called 'pretty boy' happens to be a friend of mine," Katrina shouted. "Riti, Tackle attack, full power!"
Riti jumped once and stamped her feet closely against the ground. She then took off toward her adversary and lowered her head. Spearow was flitting about for a moment before he realized that he was being attacked. He flew higher to what he thought would be out of the leaf-bearing Pokémon's reach, but it was a split-second too late. Riti's Tackle attack caught him on the right foot and sent him into more or less of an involuntary somersault in midair. Spearow flapped his wings a bit more forcefully than normal in an attempt to stay aloft. While he was recovering, Riti turned around, skidded to a stop and then jumped, thrusting her head into Spearow's midsection a third time. Spearow was knocked higher and continued to flap his wings wildly, but was quickly losing altitude. He dropped to a height of ten feet...five feet...he landed safely on the ground and looked quite winded.
"Spear...spear...spear." Spearow wheezed, as a confident smirk crossed Riti's lips.
"That's a pretty good strategy," Nate couldn't help but talk to himself over in his chair. "A Spearow - or any bird Pokémon, for that matter - can't fly well at all if it can't breathe."
"You're doing great, Katrina! Keep it up!" Travis cheered his friend on.
"It's time for me to even the score!" Yoshina growled. "Spearow, Fury Attack!" Spearow hovered off of the ground, flapping his wings rapidly for a few seconds, then he spread them to full extension - at least five feet - and rushed Riti with such quickness that the sand behind him blew up a couple of feet into the air and formed two straight lines above ground level. Riti braced herself to block the attack, but was knocked backward by Spearow's first swoop. She stood firm, took the hit, and turned her head to see where her assailant had gone next.
"Katrina, get your Chikorita outta there!" Travis shouted. They had both seen for themselves how powerful this Spearow's Fury Attack was, and yet Katrina seemed lost for orders to give to her Pokémon.
"Oh, man..." she mumbled.
BIFF.
Riti took another outstretched wing square in the face and did a backflip, miraculously landing on her feet. She turned her whole body around this time and prepared himself for a third strike.
"Riti, attack with Razor Leaf!" Katrina finally commanded. Riti nodded in agreement, part of her relieved by her trainer's overdue action. Riti swung her leaf around and around - three times, to be exact, and released more razor-sharp foliage in the same manner as she had once before. Spearow, who was much too busy attacking, got caught on the head about four or five times. His Fury Attack came to a halt, and Riti ducked as he floated over her and made a wide turn.
"Again!" Katrina shouted and Riti repeated her previous motion. This time, only three leaves were released.
"Spearow, you know what to do!" Yoshina said trustingly to her Pokémon. Spearow banked right and the slicing leaves missed him.
"A-ha...saw that one coming," Katrina said smugly and folded her arms. "Riti, Tackle!"
"Spearow, Peck!" Yoshina shouted in response. The brown bird raised his crimson beak to strike his advancing opponent. He floated over Riti's tackle and pecked her rapidly square on the top of the head several times, leaving many marks and battle scars. In the same moment, three green leaves came out of nowhere and sliced right into the bird's back. He squawked loudly and lost his altitude, slamming face-first into the sand. Riti, however, landed on her feet, but, at a loss for further combat energy, collapsed to the ground soon after.
"Riti!" Katrina cried loudly. "Riti, get up!"
"Agh." Yoshina snarled. "C'mon, Spearow, get up, now!" Spearow was obviously knocked out, large X's for eyes. Riti, though, stirred and struggled to her feet. She shakily stood for a moment and a glimmer of hope appeared in Katrina's eyes.
"Chi-ka..." she finally whimpered, and then collapsed again.
"Damn..." Xavier swore.
"No..." Travis whispered worriedly.
"Both Pokémon are unable to battle! Therefore, the match is a draw, and by the rules of today's tournament, both trainers are eliminated!" Anderson shouted, crossing his arms and the flags in them, and then spreading them and pointing a flag at each trainer. Yoshina called back her Spearow nonchalantly, then walked over to Xavier's side. Katrina, meanwhile, sank to her knees in despair and dropped the Pokéball that now held her fallen friend into the sand.
"Dang, a tie...didn't see that one coming." Nate murmured, letting his shades slide down his nose a bit. "All the same, though. I'm one step closer to winning the Cup."
"Katrina! Katrina!" Travis ran over as quickly as he could to Katrina, and then knelt in front of the rose-haired girl, who had gone rigid from shock. "Katrina!" Travis exclaimed, but got no response. A tear slid down her cheek as she retained the same emotionless expression. "Katrina, what's wrong?"
"I..." Katrina uttered, but her voice trailed off before she could even truly start her sentence.
"Katrina..." Travis put his hands on her shoulders. He somehow knew how she felt. That battle had taken as much out of her as a trainer as it did out of her Pokémon, but she still failed to emerge with a victory. Her heart must be broken right now.
"I lost..." Katrina finally whimpered, more tears sliding down her face. Travis only looked at her for a moment. "I can't believe that I lost."
"Hey, you didn't lose at all," Travis finally responded, sliding his hands all the way around Katrina's neck and hugging her closer to him. There wasn't a real reason - it just seemed to him like the right thing to do.
"But I didn't win..." said Katrina, still sounding crestfallen.
"You put up one heck of a fight, and at a type weakness, at that. And even though you tied, it's still obvious that you're the stronger trainer because you nearly pulled it off, despite your disadvantage. You battled your absolute hardest, even when you weren't sure that you could win. In my book, you're a Pokémon Master already," Travis said comfortingly.
"You mean that?" Katrina said through a sob.
"Really. You're more of a winner than she'll ever be," Travis answered.
"...thank you." Katrina finally said, and leaned against Travis slightly. Travis pulled away from her and then helped her to her feet as she dried her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt, sniffling a bit. He turned opposite the sea to find Nate strolling towards them, still wearing his shades, but along with them, there was a much more determined expression than before. He obviously meant business this time.
;250;
"So you'll help us out?" Shiro asked a brown-haired figure kneeling next to a blue and slightly aged pickup truck. The truck was parked in an alleyway that separated two buildings that must have each been about sixty or seventy feet tall. By Shiro's guess, they were both apartments.
"Sure thing," the figure turned around and stood up. He was about six feet in height, give or take an inch, and was comfortably athletic-looking. He was wearing a white tank top and denim shorts with a pocket on the front of each leg. He had a very youthful, but strong look about him. He had to have been about sixteen or seventeen, in Shiro's mind, but if he wasn't, he did a good job of fooling everyone around him. He had some gold-tinted surfer shades that tried, but failed miserably to hide his obviously blue eyes (although they seemed to shade them a bit of an aquatic green color) "Anything for a friend of little Madeline over there."
"In case you forgot, Jeff," the brown-haired girl responded sharply. "I'm twelve years old and I'll be thirteen in about a month and a half."
"I know, I know," the teen said, throwing his hands up as one would when he surrendered, "It's just that I've known your family for ten, almost eleven years. You could barely put two words together when you met me for the first time."
"Beside the point," Shiro cut in. "We gonna do this or what?"
"Oh, we're gonna do it," Jeff smirked.
"You sure about this, Madeline? You can still...bow out gracefully...if you want to," Shiro looked at the girl and told her.
"Sorry, mate, 'snot my style to back down when I've committed to something." Madeline tied a bandana around her head. "You just worry about if you can keep up."
"I like your attitude," Shiro couldn't help but grin at Madeline's comment. Of course, Travis was his best friend, but it looked like he had finally found a kindred spirit in this girl from Cherrygrove City.
;250;
"You and Katrina...so cute...so adorable...so disgusting," Nate growled at Travis.
"So it's you and me in the final, huh? I've been looking forward to this," the blue-haired boy responded to his nemesis.
"Well, I guess it's gonna be a case of 'close but no cigar' for you, Travis," Nate said calmly.
"Don't bet your bank account on it," Travis smirked at Nate's statement. Nate actually thought that he had his match in the bag already!!
"You're gonna regret saying that," Nate snapped, pulling a Pokéball off of his belt.
Angel ran up beside Travis' ankle, and Travis knelt to let her climb on. Angel gave a hard look into Nate's face, and even a harder look at the ball he was holding.
"It looks like your Eevee disagrees," Nate said with a shrug.
"Do you mind telling us any other secrets?" Travis asked mockingly and with such sarcasm that a small child could probably pick up on it.
"I'm gonna make you be sorry that you ever challenged me!" Nate said furiously.
Travis set his mouth into a firm line and moved one step closer to Nate. Nate raised an eyebrow, seemingly daring Travis to say something. "Just try it, rich boy," Travis growled with fervor. The fire in his eyes returned and now seemed to be radiating a bright cerulean glow from his entire body.
"I'll take you up on that offer," Nate responded with the same ferocity. His eyes twinkled and seemed to glow a bit, so much so that they could be seen even through his very dark shades. A war nearly three years in the making was finally going to reach its boiling point, here and now, on the sands of Cherrygrove...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'd love to post chapter 9, but the ending to chapter 8 is just too damn suspenseful...I'll be posting Chapter 9 and possibly 10 on or before the 14th of April, my next off day. But I'm going to visit my future college tomorrow through Saturday, so you won't hear from me.
- ;133; EM1, out. (Hooray! I've got a comp again!!)
WaterTrainer243
Veteran Water Lover
Here we go, the two rivals go mono e mono. Keep it up man and that's great news. Oh and happy birthday and good luck with your upcoming graduation.
I finally got myself off of my lazy behind and decided to review this again. I noticed no one gave you any criticism, but don't worry, I'm more than happy to take that job =)
The last batch of chapters were well written and pretty good, not really a huge improvement from the original batch, they're pretty much done in the same way, but that's not nessecarily a bad thing. My reading of the last chapters was rather fragmented so please correct me if in my review if it is obvious I overlooked something or another.
Well, let's start off with the plot/story. I shall give it a B so far, I know things are going to get heated up eventually, but as for now, the actual story/plot is B material. So Travis has officially set off on his journey and ends up getting lost and having to stay at some sort of Hostel (?) where he learns of Team Aura and their new grip on Johto. Ooooooooooohhhhhhh! Again, please be sure to give Team Aura a good dosage of originality. If their ultimate goal is something incredibly obvious like getting Ho-oh or taking over the world, I'm going to hack Cs32 into many tiny litle pieces with my axe, but keep him alive since he did contribute to this fic coming back =) I noticed Team Aura has come up in a lot of conversations, and the three good New Barkians all have some sort of burning desire to defeat them, despite not even seeing what Team Aura did first hand (PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong on that...) I suppose part of a pokemon journey IS the nessecary urge to destroy an evil organization. I repeat though, please don't make it too corny XD Or if it is corny, make it very well-written. Corny=ok as long as the writing is amazing
I’m glad you had the dialogue where Travis mentioned that he wished Nate would be good and maybe the foursome could be friends. I doubt you did that because I said you should emphasize that he does have a good side, however latent it may be, but I’m still pleased. I thought the drama between Travis-Katrina-and Shiro was a little premature and resolved a bit quickly, but I still liked the way you did it, especially Katrina throwing the bag with Nate’s gifts into the water (I could picture it incredibly well). So we received little tidbits of their history, which I liked. Instead of plopping it all down at once (which I have a horrible habit of doing), you more gently hinted it and made it more obvious through small bits and pieces. I’m also happy that Katrina did try to see the good in Nate; it sucks that he remained to be a jerkwad though.
Now onto the tournament…battles are always fun! Nate wanted to start things off with a bang I can tell, maybe take on his rivals as well. I remembered the twins and X & Y, they certainly were an interesting bunch. I couldn’t keep help but wondering why Team Aura members had such weak pokemon, unless by some twist of fate they AREN’T Team Aura. First battle…Madeline VS Y was done nicely, the whole brutal attack of Nidoran was a nice touch as well, showed Nate’s latent good side. I thought it was a bit OOC for Shiro to abandon the battle to check on Madeline, but hey, you obviously know him better than me XD Unfortunately, I imagine Madeline as looking like a little girl so the though of her and Shiro…*mimes vomiting* I felt bad for the more Matt kid, he was very timid and shy and Nate was…not. It was obvious he was going to lose, but he still put up a good fight and when he ordered the horn attack on the Totodile’s….*cracks up* Travis VS X showed a good use of strategy rather than randomly calling out attacks. I might use that battle as a reference when writing my next chapter which also has loads of battles. Y VS Katrina was good as well and the draw was nice and unexpected, however, Travis consoling Katrina was cheesier than a truck full of cheese doodles/
So overall, the story is going pretty good (though a tad bit cheesy), and I’m personally rooting for Nate to get an unexpected twist, but who knows XD Now onto the actual writing…
For your writing, you get an A-. It’s absolutely fabulous and I’m always interested to read. I had to force myself to read through some of the battles because of my short attention span, but other than that this was a delightful read. You don’t have any ground-breaking figurative language or stuff, but you’re details and descriptions are more than adequate. I particularly loved the description of Spinarak because you made him sound so incredibly scary when in fact, he’s just a Spinarak
My mine gripe though is that this fic can get quite dialogue heavy at times, which isn’t too bad but sometimes it’s a little too excessive when the dialogue takes up several pages.
So average a B and an A- and your story gets a B+, which I think is a good grade for it so far. Things are progressing smoothly, my main suggestions is not have too much dialogue at times (though I understand its needed occasionally) and to lay off the cheese.
Oh and late note, I was very happy when Katrina told Travis to stop taking things so seriously and act like a 12 year old instead of a 40 year old man because I was thinking the same exact thing! Well, there’s your constructive crit. Review XD Didja like it?
Oh and for alter references, should I keep do small reviews for individual chapters or large reviews for several chapters? And good luck with college/graduation, where are you going?
The last batch of chapters were well written and pretty good, not really a huge improvement from the original batch, they're pretty much done in the same way, but that's not nessecarily a bad thing. My reading of the last chapters was rather fragmented so please correct me if in my review if it is obvious I overlooked something or another.
Well, let's start off with the plot/story. I shall give it a B so far, I know things are going to get heated up eventually, but as for now, the actual story/plot is B material. So Travis has officially set off on his journey and ends up getting lost and having to stay at some sort of Hostel (?) where he learns of Team Aura and their new grip on Johto. Ooooooooooohhhhhhh! Again, please be sure to give Team Aura a good dosage of originality. If their ultimate goal is something incredibly obvious like getting Ho-oh or taking over the world, I'm going to hack Cs32 into many tiny litle pieces with my axe, but keep him alive since he did contribute to this fic coming back =) I noticed Team Aura has come up in a lot of conversations, and the three good New Barkians all have some sort of burning desire to defeat them, despite not even seeing what Team Aura did first hand (PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong on that...) I suppose part of a pokemon journey IS the nessecary urge to destroy an evil organization. I repeat though, please don't make it too corny XD Or if it is corny, make it very well-written. Corny=ok as long as the writing is amazing
I’m glad you had the dialogue where Travis mentioned that he wished Nate would be good and maybe the foursome could be friends. I doubt you did that because I said you should emphasize that he does have a good side, however latent it may be, but I’m still pleased. I thought the drama between Travis-Katrina-and Shiro was a little premature and resolved a bit quickly, but I still liked the way you did it, especially Katrina throwing the bag with Nate’s gifts into the water (I could picture it incredibly well). So we received little tidbits of their history, which I liked. Instead of plopping it all down at once (which I have a horrible habit of doing), you more gently hinted it and made it more obvious through small bits and pieces. I’m also happy that Katrina did try to see the good in Nate; it sucks that he remained to be a jerkwad though.
Now onto the tournament…battles are always fun! Nate wanted to start things off with a bang I can tell, maybe take on his rivals as well. I remembered the twins and X & Y, they certainly were an interesting bunch. I couldn’t keep help but wondering why Team Aura members had such weak pokemon, unless by some twist of fate they AREN’T Team Aura. First battle…Madeline VS Y was done nicely, the whole brutal attack of Nidoran was a nice touch as well, showed Nate’s latent good side. I thought it was a bit OOC for Shiro to abandon the battle to check on Madeline, but hey, you obviously know him better than me XD Unfortunately, I imagine Madeline as looking like a little girl so the though of her and Shiro…*mimes vomiting* I felt bad for the more Matt kid, he was very timid and shy and Nate was…not. It was obvious he was going to lose, but he still put up a good fight and when he ordered the horn attack on the Totodile’s….*cracks up* Travis VS X showed a good use of strategy rather than randomly calling out attacks. I might use that battle as a reference when writing my next chapter which also has loads of battles. Y VS Katrina was good as well and the draw was nice and unexpected, however, Travis consoling Katrina was cheesier than a truck full of cheese doodles/
So overall, the story is going pretty good (though a tad bit cheesy), and I’m personally rooting for Nate to get an unexpected twist, but who knows XD Now onto the actual writing…
For your writing, you get an A-. It’s absolutely fabulous and I’m always interested to read. I had to force myself to read through some of the battles because of my short attention span, but other than that this was a delightful read. You don’t have any ground-breaking figurative language or stuff, but you’re details and descriptions are more than adequate. I particularly loved the description of Spinarak because you made him sound so incredibly scary when in fact, he’s just a Spinarak
My mine gripe though is that this fic can get quite dialogue heavy at times, which isn’t too bad but sometimes it’s a little too excessive when the dialogue takes up several pages. So average a B and an A- and your story gets a B+, which I think is a good grade for it so far. Things are progressing smoothly, my main suggestions is not have too much dialogue at times (though I understand its needed occasionally) and to lay off the cheese.
Oh and late note, I was very happy when Katrina told Travis to stop taking things so seriously and act like a 12 year old instead of a 40 year old man because I was thinking the same exact thing! Well, there’s your constructive crit. Review XD Didja like it?
Oh and for alter references, should I keep do small reviews for individual chapters or large reviews for several chapters? And good luck with college/graduation, where are you going?
atomicmonkey
Highly Radioactive
Well written. Your style has significantly improved.
Silverwing
Sea Ruby Trainer
Nice chapter. The battle was well written. I could clearly picture the battle and the attacks that were used.
And congradulations on going off to college. But, YOUR 16! Dang, man, I feel so stupid right now.
And congradulations on going off to college. But, YOUR 16! Dang, man, I feel so stupid right now.
Hoenn Warrior
All Terrain Trainer
Congrats on making it to college!! The description in the battle between Yoshina and Katrina was awesome. I was able to picture all of the movements the Pokemon made. Now the main fight can take place. Nate vs Travis/ Totodile aka Bluefang vs Eevee aka Angel. This is going to be one battle for the ages and I can practically feel the energy pouring from Nate and Travis. Just like before Shiro is once again paired up with Madeline and their plan is set into motion.
EonMaster One
saeculum harmonia
^ WT243, if I remember correctly, graciously nominated that battle for a Poke-Oscar or something of that nature...my favorite one is...oh, damn, can't give it away because I've just finished writing it.
^^ Don't feel stupid. I was just lucky, and I can't do anything else well.
^^^ I did change the scene in Chapter 7...but that's about it.
^x4 Well, let me respond to those points.
First of all, I'm honored that you even gave me a B for my storyline because I just came to the realization that the first three chapters of my fic sound just about exactly like the first two eps of the anime. BTW, it's not 'Team Aura.' It's just 'AURA', and they do get more original as the story wears on. You start to get into their hierarchy moreso than TR. TR had Giovanni, Jessie, James, Meowth, Butch, Cassidy, a couple of other semi-important people, and a crapload of nameless, faceless grunts. AURA has grunts too, but they have a more involved authority ladder.
X&Y: I'm not going to give anybody on AURA legendaries...yet. Xavier and Yoshina are ranked as Lieutenant Captains, but they are more to the story than just AURA members.
Madeline: Changes her image in later chapters.
Shiro: Is, in fact, very IC at this point. Shiro is fiercely loyal (almost too much for his own good, as shown in Chapter 6), but hates being a follower. He'll either be a leader, or he'll go it alone. I will develop Shiro a lot. There's some secrets that he doesn't even know about himself.
Matt: Changes his image as well...but more gradually.
Travis vs X: I took the beach terrain into factor here. Now that I go back and read it, I hate the abrupt ending. Even though Spinarak had Angel on the ropes (or rather, on a string), it still ends looking like Angel wiped the floor with him. But in the interest of time (since there were 4 battles in that chapter) I'll leave it be.
As for the ref: ...wait a sec, you didn't comment on the ref. NEXT!
An A- for writing? Thank you *bows*. And as for you having a short attention span...
I love describing Pokemon Battles. I think that it's one of my stronger points in fic-writing. I have little patience for battles that you can't imagine on anything else than a game. I've seen fanfic battles that were so boring that I could imagine a Pokemon Red battle playing over in my head (with no battle animations, just a flashing picture of a Pokemon and a decreasing HP bar). I got some of my inspiration from Dragonfree, who has, IMHO, some of the best battle description on SPPf.
Oh, and I have ADD, so I'd have to make my battles mildly interesting in order for me to keep reading through them myself. As mentioned before, the battles get better and one of the best is coming up in the next chapter (obviously, this will not be the end-all for Travis and Nate, though...)
^^ Don't feel stupid. I was just lucky, and I can't do anything else well.
^^^ I did change the scene in Chapter 7...but that's about it.
^x4 Well, let me respond to those points.
First of all, I'm honored that you even gave me a B for my storyline because I just came to the realization that the first three chapters of my fic sound just about exactly like the first two eps of the anime. BTW, it's not 'Team Aura.' It's just 'AURA', and they do get more original as the story wears on. You start to get into their hierarchy moreso than TR. TR had Giovanni, Jessie, James, Meowth, Butch, Cassidy, a couple of other semi-important people, and a crapload of nameless, faceless grunts. AURA has grunts too, but they have a more involved authority ladder.
X&Y: I'm not going to give anybody on AURA legendaries...yet. Xavier and Yoshina are ranked as Lieutenant Captains, but they are more to the story than just AURA members.
Madeline: Changes her image in later chapters.
Shiro: Is, in fact, very IC at this point. Shiro is fiercely loyal (almost too much for his own good, as shown in Chapter 6), but hates being a follower. He'll either be a leader, or he'll go it alone. I will develop Shiro a lot. There's some secrets that he doesn't even know about himself.
Matt: Changes his image as well...but more gradually.
Travis vs X: I took the beach terrain into factor here. Now that I go back and read it, I hate the abrupt ending. Even though Spinarak had Angel on the ropes (or rather, on a string), it still ends looking like Angel wiped the floor with him. But in the interest of time (since there were 4 battles in that chapter) I'll leave it be.
As for the ref: ...wait a sec, you didn't comment on the ref. NEXT!
An A- for writing? Thank you *bows*. And as for you having a short attention span...
I love describing Pokemon Battles. I think that it's one of my stronger points in fic-writing. I have little patience for battles that you can't imagine on anything else than a game. I've seen fanfic battles that were so boring that I could imagine a Pokemon Red battle playing over in my head (with no battle animations, just a flashing picture of a Pokemon and a decreasing HP bar). I got some of my inspiration from Dragonfree, who has, IMHO, some of the best battle description on SPPf.
Oh, and I have ADD, so I'd have to make my battles mildly interesting in order for me to keep reading through them myself. As mentioned before, the battles get better and one of the best is coming up in the next chapter (obviously, this will not be the end-all for Travis and Nate, though...)
WaterTrainer243
Veteran Water Lover
That's right, and I'll nominate it again and hope that this time it'll win.EonMaster One said:
EonMaster One
saeculum harmonia
Chapter 9. SHWEET.
And now the aforementioned chapter/battle...
Chapter 9: The Cherrygrove Cup Pt. 3:They Had Called Him Hero
The one o’clock sun illuminated Nathaniel Elm’s sunshades and caused them to flash a dangerous white. The sand blew sleepily through the midst of them, making the whole scene resemble a duel in an old Western. Travis, for a moment, got lost in a world of his own and thought some strange things – if this was a movie, what kind of music would be playing right now? He found himself nodding his head to some invisible rock band that inhabited his daydream until Nate’s jeering voice broke his concentration.
“I wonder how this is gonna turn out now that half of your cheering section has left,” Nate commented.
“Face it, you want what I have,” Travis snapped. The uncovered parts of his hair flapped in the wind a bit.
“Why would I want what you have when I already have everything?” Nate asked. “I mean, I’ve got money, I’ve got power to set up tournaments like the one you’re gonna lose right now, and I’m a Pokémon trainer, too.”
“You really are a sad person,” Travis said, shaking his head hopelessly. “Sure, you have all of that stuff, but do you have what matters most?”
“Your ‘friendship’ talk is getting really old,” Nate answered.
“Because it does something to your conscience, or it shows you what you don’t have?” Travis questioned. “Or maybe it’s both?”
“I had friends, but you and Katrina ruined that,” Nate growled. “She ruined my life.”
Travis felt flames building up inside of him. Nate had crossed the line. This was one of those times when Justice was best served hard to the jaw. He was so enraged, he felt like his body could spontaneously combust at any moment. Nate was here blaming them for his own wrongdoing. Katrina and Nate still probably would have still been friends if Nate knew what friendship really was. As a matter of fact, as much as the thought sickened him somehow, they could have turned into something…more…
“How dare you…” Travis growled, trembling with anger.
“Struck a nerve, did I?” Nate asked with a roll of his eyes.
“Just because you don’t have any friends of your own…doesn’t mean you can attack mine,” Travis muttered.
“You attack an opponent at his weakness. Same goes for Pokémon, same goes for life,” Nate responded simply, as if he were trying to teach Travis this.
“You’re heartless…and heartless people are all fools,” Travis snarled. “My friends are my greatest strength, and your lack of friends is your greatest weakness.”
“I don’t need some brat from the poorhouse to try to tell me how to live my life, and what to believe!” Nate snapped. “I’m my own person. I’ll see this through on my own. Then I’ll prove to you that all you need to depend on is yourself!”
“Do you really believe that, Nate?” Travis asked cryptically.
“Shut up and get on with the match,” Nate answered tersely, his eyes flashing again.
Meanwhile, over in the corner, two eliminated trainers were holding a conversation.
“A tie…that sucks,” Yoshina muttered, putting something into her bag, also colored black, unless anyone assumed. “Tell me again why our plan is to make these brats think that we’re weaker than they are?”
“Don’t know…” Xavier answered.
“How the heck do we get all of these orders?” Yoshina asked him.
“Hmm…Master Angelos asks for a plan. Master Han creates the plan, passes it to Captain Burke, passes it to us and all of the other agents under his command,” Xavier replied blankly. “It blows, but it’s a job…” At that point, Xavier was cut off from any further conversation by a repeated ringing. He took something out of his pocket that resembled a red cellphone and opened it.
“Agents Yoshina and Xavier speaking,” he answered professionally, putting the red device to his right ear. Whatever the other speaker was saying wasn’t audible, but Xavier obviously heard it, to which he said with a nod, “Yes, sir,” and closed the cellphone.
“A mission?” Yoshina asked.
“The rest of Captain Burke’s company has made it. They’re in two of those trucks, I think. But we…are looking for a pickup truck. A blue, worn-out-looking one. Apparently, someone knows of our plans and is bringing the battle to us,” Xavier replied, to which Yoshina’s eyes lit up fiercely.
“Marius,” she whispered and started running off. Xavier, looking perturbed by his partner’s actions, followed after her.
“You seem to be pretty fired up over finding an old pickup truck,” Xavier commented.
“Let’s just say that I’ve got a score to settle,” Yoshina growled.
“The Final Match of the Cherrygrove Cup will now begin! Travis DePaul versus Nathaniel Elm!” Anderson announced, raising both flags into the air in a predictable fashion.
“Let’s test this theory of yours, Travis!” Nate yelled across the beach, the venom from the old serpent of Eden bubbling in his veins. A sea breeze kicked his jet-black hair into ominous life. Until now, everyone had stereotyped him. He was not obsessed with money. Money was not his concern. His aim – his desire was power. Money and power are symbiotic. One who is powerful often accumulates money...and one who has money has certain power that someone without does not have. What kind of power did friends give someone? Especially, as Nate thought derisively to himself, friends that didn’t show up. “Does the battle always go to the so-called ‘hero’...or does it go to the one with the most drive and the most ambition? Does the day go to the one with the most ‘friends’, or does it go to the one with the most power?”
“I wasn’t going to let you hurt her, Nate,” Travis responded heavily, realizing the gravity of his near failure. “And I messed that up, too – but at least she knows who her real friends are. And you’re not one of them.”
They had called him ‘hero’. That’s a hard moniker to live up to. Heroes defeat evil. It is their job. It is their duty. To defeat evil...but defining evil is so much more difficult. Was any human being really ‘pure evil’? Was Nate ‘pure evil’? How can someone carry that much hatred and not be called ‘pure evil’? When fighting evil, is evil a person or a principle? Under different circumstances, this could have been a friendly battle. But what were those circumstances?
He prayed that Shiro would keep himself alive. Shiro loved life itself and had no death wish to speak of – but if it came down to protecting those that he cared about, his life was a distant second at best. Shiro did not seek death, but neither did he fear it. If death sought him, he would not hide. But Shiro was a dragon.
And dragons are difficult to kill.
Katrina...it was because of her that Travis would hate Nate with every fiber of his very existence...and yet, it was because of her that he did not. It made Travis’ eyes well up every once in a while. How can one person go through that much? He wished he could tell her, but what would be the point? How can someone who has faced the very worst that the world has to offer – before even reaching thirteen – be capable of anything but hatred? And yet she was. But what if it was all a masquerade, so as to not make people worry? What would happen if it all were to come crashing down?
Why was Nate so misguided? What could have possibly happened to him that hardened his heart so? Travis had always thought (as did everyone around him) that he was the most burdened pre-teen to ever exist...but Nate had his secrets too. Painful secrets have been described as skeletons in a closet...Nate had somehow, somewhere, become an undertaker.
“Enough talk! Bluefang, do it!” Nate spun a Pokéball on his finger and knocked it into the air slightly. It burst open in a flash of white light to reveal a royal-blue alligator Pokémon – Totodile.
“Angel, this is it, you ready?” Travis asked his Eevee, who nodded and jumped out in front of him, looking determined as ever. At that moment, Travis, on a whim if nothing else, adjusted his view to look at the road above him. He saw a blue blur in the form of a pick up truck pass by the road. He couldn’t quite make out the figure that was standing in the bed of the truck. He could tell all of that red from anywhere on the planet, though...
“BEGIN!” Anderson shouted, raising his flags with a rather fancy twirl this time. Katrina looked at him, a sweatdrop floating beside her left temple. Maybe it was something he did for the final matches, but it still looked weird to her.
“I’m gonna make you pay for interfering with me!” Nate shouted across the sand-covered battlefield. It seemed almost as if his words were taken by the wind and carried out to the sea for the rest of whoever to hear…
“Pay?” Travis smirked. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t bring any cash with me. You do take checks, don’t you?”
“You’ve mocked me for the last time!” Nate snarled. “Bluefang, hit ‘em with everything you’ve got! Scratch attack!” The blue crocodile growled and ran at Angel, baring his claws for a swipe.
“Angel, get outta there!” Travis countered. Angel jumped and did a quick somersault over the Totodile’s clawing strike, causing him to seriously overextend himself. Bluefang hopped on one foot in an attempt to keep his balance.
“Hey, don’t take that,” Nate drawled. “Water gun, NOW!”
“Toto…” Bluefang whirled around and inhaled deeply. Angel skidded to a stop and turned in Bluefang’s direction to see the spiraling burst of water shooting directly at her.
“Angel!” Travis shouted worriedly as his Eevee started running full speed towards her opponent. She dodged to the left of the main force of the Water Gun, but was taken in by the pressure of the blast and fell to the ground.
“Angel…are you alright?” Travis asked.
“<Don’t worry about it, I’m fine,>” A voice similar to Angel’s answered.
“Hm?” Travis scratched his head, sounding rather bewildered.
“Vee-vee,” Angel answered, then turned around to face her opponent once again.
“Oh, man…I’m losin’ it…” Travis murmured. Somehow, someway, he could have sworn that he had just heard Angel…talk…in human language. He couldn’t worry about it now, though. Angel was now looking up at him for battle advice. What attack should he use? I could go for a Tail Whip, Travis thought, but first, it might miss, second, Angel would get blown away by a Water Gun. Tackle’s not a good idea – that’s running right into a Water Gun. She’d get blasted into next week. But if Bluefang can’t aim, that’ll set up all of those other attacks…
“Angel, try a Sand…” He looked down for his Eevee, but didn’t see her anywhere. He looked toward the battle to see Angel already kicking sand into Bluefang’s face. Bluefang howled in agony as the small and abrasive grains wreaked all sorts of havoc on his eyes. He finally opened them after a few seconds, and they were much redder, even than normal. Travis shrugged. That was strange. First, he thought that he had heard Angel talk, then she executed the attack that he wanted her to without him even finishing.
Believing it to be a mere coincidence, Travis cried, “Good work! Now, try a…” He was cut off in mid-yell by a cry of “Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiile!” Bluefang had gone flying through the air, the victim of a well-placed Tackle attack.
“Again?” Travis raised an eyebrow. The second time couldn’t have been by chance. It was if Angel was reading her trainer’s mind – like she knew exactly what he was thinking, what strategy he wanted to use. It was quite unnerving, actually. He wondered if all trainers went through this sort of thing with their Pokémon, or if Angel was – or maybe even he was – special in some sort of way.
“<What next?>” asked something that sounded like the voice of a perky little girl. Travis snapped out of his stupor to find Angel standing by his ankle once again and looking back at him. She smiled and titled her head.
“…uh…Angel, are you okay?” Travis asked, but the real question, in his mind, was whether or not he was doing well.
“<I told you before, Travis, I’m fine,>” the same voice answered with a bit more conviction than before.
“I must be the crazy one, then,” Travis said, becoming more disturbed with each passing moment.
“<No, you’re not crazy,>” the voice answered. “<I’m kind of surprised that it didn’t take longer…>”
“Is this an Eevee thing, or do you have Psychic powers that I don’t know about or…” Travis asked, failing to see what was right in front of him.
“<Calm down. This happens anytime Pokémon and their trainers have a special bond. I think that it triggers in the mind of the trainer for the first time that he and his Pokémon are in complete unison in battle. It doesn’t even have to be with your own Pokémon, either. You can probably understand what your friend’s Cyndaquil is saying, too. Shiro is his name, right?>” Angel answered.
“Uh…yeah…” Travis mumbled stupidly. “So you’re saying I have some type of special power?”
“<It’s not really special at all. Any trainer can do it…even him…>” Angel answered, pointing her chin at Nate. “<It basically just means that you have another friend to talk to now!>”
“That’s pretty cool…” Travis said with a smile. A part of him would have been jumping off of the walls – if there were any walls around here – but the half of him with better judgment told him to stay focused. “So this is permanent?”
“<Sure is,>” Angel answered. “<You must be a pretty good trainer. From what I’ve heard, most humans can’t do this until they get a badge of some sort. You and I have been together, what, a week or so?>”
“Two and a half days,” Travis responded, one hand behind his head. This was wild stuff. He had been on a journey less than a week and had already won what he knew would probably be his greatest battle - communicating with his Pokemon.
“Hey!” Nate’s voice cut into their conversation like an axe through a sapling. “I think that you forgot that we’re still over here! Bluefang, let’s remind ‘em with a Water Gun!”
“To-to-diile!” Bluefang cried, shooting another jet of water in Angel’s direction. Angel, who had no time to dodge, was blown several feet behind Travis. Travis, catching a bit of the pressure from the blast himself, was knocked over onto his backside.
“Oof!” Travis grunted as he fell onto the sand, doing a small bounce, and placing his hands behind him for support.
“<Owie…!>” Angel’s voice came from behind him. It was cool, but it would take some getting used to. “<That didn’t feel good,>”
“Another Sand-attack, Angel, now!” Travis stood up and shouted.
“<Going…!>” Angel responded with a nod, and ran over to Bluefang as if she was doing a Tackle attack.
“Hey, hey, I thought you could understand me! I said, ‘Sand-attack,’ not ‘Tackle’!” Travis whined. At that moment, though, Bluefang’s eyes widened as he prepared to brace himself for the blow – either that, or block it. Neither happened, however, as Angel did a hard skid to a stop right in front of Bluefang, kicking up about three times as much sand as she would have normally. The sand not only harassed the royal-blue water-type’s eyes, this time, but a few of the grains also found its way into the crocodile’s large nostrils.
“To-to..to-to…” Bluefang’s head reared back a few inches. “To-to…dile!” the blue gator released a mighty sneeze, which caused him to do an involuntary Water Gun attack toward the ground. The force from his own attack blasted him several feet into the air, and then he landed on the ground with a muffled THUD.
“Agh…this is irritating!” Nate growled, his brow furrowing a bit. “Bluefang, Water Gun!”
“Toto…” Bluefang inhaled again. Angel, who had run back over to Travis’ side of the field, merely stood there.
“Angel! You’re gonna get hit!” Travis shouted worriedly.
“<With all that dirt in his eyes? Are you kidding? I’d duck if I were you.>” Angel responded, and sure enough, the high-pressure jet of water traveled in Travis’ direction, not Angel’s. Travis ducked away just in the nick of time.
“Hm...I was aiming at your Eevee, but you getting blasted in the face with water would have been good for laughs,” Nate muttered.
“Maybe if you tell your Totodile to aim at me next time, then he actually will hit Angel! Or can Bluefang not hit the side of a big, blue barn?" Travis yelled tauntingly.
“Okay, I guess it’s time to get up-close and personal now, huh?” Nate commented casually. “Bluefang, Scratch attack!” Bluefang shook his head to clear the sand from his eyes, and then charged Angel with all of his might, raising his claws to strike.
“Dodge it!” Travis shouted, and Angel began a jump to the left…
“Redirect it!” Nate ordered, and Bluefang turned around and delivered a nice swipe to Angel’s face that sent her reeling backward a couple of inches, and worst of all, the time it was taking her to recover was opening her up for a second attack.
“Again!” Nate shouted, and his Totodile nodded and then scratched Angel with his other clawed hand.
“Angel!” Travis shouted, although it came out in somewhat of a shriek for some reason.
“<This one’s gonna pay for messing up my cute and adorable face,>” Angel groaned as she stood to her feet once more.
“Still ready to go? Tackle Attack!” Travis shouted, and Angel began charging her close-by opponent. Her headlong rush, however, was eventually stopped by the Totodile’s large hands. She continued to push harder, sending Totodile back inch by inch, although the attack seemed to be hurting her more than it was harming her opponent.
“Throw her!” Nate ordered, gesturing upward. Bluefang took Angel by the neck and tossed her upward.
“No!” Travis cried, knowing what was coming next.
“Water Gun, full power,” Nate then said mercilessly, and Bluefang inhaled deeper than ever before.
“Angel!” Travis called out.
“<...Oh, not good,>” Angel muttered to herself a split-second before getting engulfed by the large jet of water and blown several feet straight up into the air.
“Tackle!” Travis shouted, half of him wondering why. A tackle attack wasn’t going to work at that height…
“What are you up to?” Nate grumbled as Angel kicked off of her own feet as a starting point, then, head aimed down, pushed back the continuous stream of water little by little. “Bluefang, keep that Water Gun attack going!”
“If I had some sort of wind going, the water wouldn’t even get to her…I’ve got it!” Travis mused and suddenly came up with a plan. “Angel, go into a spin as fast as you can!”
“<I hope you know what you’re doing,>” Angel answered and went into a descending spin. The water from Bluefang’s attack flew out all over the place as if a fan was blowing it away. She was gradually descending in the direction of Bluefang’s head. The heads of the two combatants eventually met, sending water flying everywhere. It fell to the ground dramatically like mist.
“What was that!?” Nate snarled. “You’re a real kamikaze, y’know that!?”
“Well, it worked, didn’t it?” Travis responded as Angel ran over back to his side, looking slightly worn out.
“<Well, I didn’t damage him that much…>” Angel muttered sadly.
“That’s better than getting blasted into orbit,” Travis responded a bit sharply.
“Let’s end this! Water Gun, now!” Nate yelled.
“Tackle attack, Angel!” was Travis’ counter. Bluefang inhaled deeply as Angel rushed for him.
“<Again? Try something new, guys, you might actually enjoy it,>” Angel said with a slightly derisive tone.
“To-to…to-to…” Bluefang was inhaling as much as possible, puffing out his chest with each inward breath. It almost looked like the v-like marking on his chest was simply going to pop out, ricochet, and then fly off somewhere.
“There’s no defense against this one!” Nate roared, pointing at Travis. “Water Gun attack, one hundred percent!”
“Angel, jump!” Travis shouted, and Angel, as if she had been meaning to do so all along, left the ground immediately, just as Bluefang was shooting off his Water Gun. He recoiled a couple of inches from the force of his own attack. Angel descended quickly from twenty feet and counting…fifteen…ten…Bluefang looked upward and his eyes widened in fear – even he knew it was too late to avoid her…five…
SMASH.
“What!?” Nate snarled.
“He did it!” Katrina started jumping up and down.
Meanwhile, on the other side of Cherrygrove City, Yoshina and Xavier were running across a street. It looked like they were chasing someone and yet no one was in front of them. They sauntered across the three-lane street and finished on the sidewalk. Yoshina was looking at an alley intently. Suddenly, Xavier stopped and turned around and looked back toward the beach, which was now in very distant view, and invisible unless the street was completely clear, like it was at this current time.
“What is it?” Yoshina asked him.
“You feel that power…?” Xavier muttered. “It’s scary…I hope that he’s not the one…”
“What are you blabbering about?” Yoshina questioned him sharply.
“It’s like I can feel the force of their battle all the way out here…” Xavier said, shivering a bit. “It’s that boy with the blue hair that I lost to…he might be the one…”
The pickup truck that Shiro and his newfound companions had found itself going up the hill leading to Route 29. Shiro was standing on the bed, his new friend Madeline Marius sitting casually at his ankle. Shiro’s eyes widened for a moment and he turned around in the direction of the beach as well.
“You feel it, too?” Madeline asked.
“My gosh…that’s pure power…” Jeffrey, the seventeen-year-old driver, muttered as he looked out of his window and brought the car to a screeching halt. “It must be that kid my brother was talking about…Shiro’s friend.”
“Travis…I think he won it…” Shiro muttered.
The other Marius twin, Matthew, was strolling down an alley, having been eliminated from the tournament some time before. He turned around in the direction of the beach and muttered, “Bloody hell, mate…that’s some kind of power, that is…”
“<Gotcha,>” Angel whispered in the face of her opponent. Bluefang’s red eyes gave one last look at his assailant, and then he blinked and swirled out, unconscious on his feet. Angel did a pivot and kicked off Bluefang’s face, knocking him onto the ground. She jumped over to Travis’ end of the field and skidded to a stop, turning her head toward her defeated opponents toughly.
“Diiiile…” Bluefang cried weakly, landing in the sand with a thud.
“Totodile is unable to battle!” Anderson twirled his red flag fancily a second time before pointing it in Travis’ direction. “Eevee is the winner! The match and the Cherrygrove Cup go to Travis DePaul!”
Nate, looking incensed, returned his Totodile to his Pokéball and muttered to him, “You weak fool…I’m gonna make sure that Eevee never beats you again.” He then looked up at Travis and said aloud, “This means nothing, you hear me?! The next time we battle, it’ll be for the Crystal Cup at the Johto League Championships, and I’ll show you up once and for all!” He left the scene without bothering to wave. It was a bittersweet success. Nate had learned nothing. Perhaps there were some people who could not be saved...
Travis dropped to his knees in pure exhaustion. The sweat ran down his face like a river…but it was a good feeling. He had beaten Nate, and in doing so, won his first tournament.
“<We did it!>” Angel squealed, jumping into Travis’ lap to receive a well-deserved hug. “<I can’t believe I won!>”
“I never stopped doubting you for a second,” Travis answered gently, sighing. At the same time he felt two arms hug him around his neck.
“You pulled it off,” Katrina told him. “You sure know how to end one, y’know that?”
“Yeah…but something’s the matter. I saw Shiro on a truck before my match started,” Travis responded, standing up and pulling Katrina, who refused to let go of him at the moment, up with him.
“Shiro? Really?” Katrina loosened her grip on Travis and walked around to in front of him.
“With that much red, who else could it be?” Travis answered.
“Um…your prizes, sir…” Anderson walked over to Travis and handed him a trophy that had two interlocking capital C’s on its face and looked to be made of gold. He also handed him a rather crinkly-sounding envelope. Travis opened the envelope. In it were about ten bills that had the number ‘500’ on their corners and a large Pokéball in their center.
“The Cherrygrove Cup and five…large…” Travis said, a bit shocked at the monetary reward.
“Well, you earned it,” Katrina commented. “So, now that the tournament’s over, what should we do now?”
“Well, my mind’s telling me to try to find where Shiro went…” Travis answered…just seconds before a horrible grumbling sound more fierce than any Totodile emitted from his stomach. He put his hand behind his head embarrassedly and said, “But I’ve got a gut feeling that we should go grab a bite to eat.”
“Really witty,” Katrina commented sarcastically, yet smiling at the same time.
Meanwhile, in a very, very dark room in an undisclosed location, a conversation of a much heavier nature was being held.
“I have just received word from Agent Xavier, Young Master,” A man was bowing to what looked like a much smaller figure sitting in a rather ornate-looking chair. There were three figures of rather burly men standing behind the chair, but they, too, were thrown into shadow because of the lack of light that was in this room.
“I told you…not to call me ‘Young Master.’ Simply ‘Master’ or ‘Lord Angelos’ will do,” responded the voice of what sounded like a boy freshly emerged from puberty. This voice was colder than a January twilight, as merciless as the desert sun, and concealed behind it a power greater than the perfect storm.
“Yes, sir, Lord Angelos,” the bowing figure said cringingly. He was obviously fearful of this younger male. “Lieutenant Xavier believes that he has located the successor…”
“Where?” this figure called ‘Lord Angelos’ stood from his seat, revealing that he had Platinum-colored hair – comparable to stainless steel – that bore three bangs in front of his forehead that faded into blackness. His face was not visible – it was covered only by a mask and only his piercing, gray eyes could be seen.
“In Cherrygrove City, milord,” the larger and older figure cringed again.
Angelos chuckled to himself and said, “How convenient. That’s where our first major attack is, is it not? Yes…very, very convenient. We can nip this talk of a ‘successor’ in the bud here and now. Notify Captain Burke. These are direct orders from his Lordship. Mobilize immediately.” A dangerous gleam appeared in the eye of the young façade.
And now the aforementioned chapter/battle...
Chapter 9: The Cherrygrove Cup Pt. 3:They Had Called Him Hero
The one o’clock sun illuminated Nathaniel Elm’s sunshades and caused them to flash a dangerous white. The sand blew sleepily through the midst of them, making the whole scene resemble a duel in an old Western. Travis, for a moment, got lost in a world of his own and thought some strange things – if this was a movie, what kind of music would be playing right now? He found himself nodding his head to some invisible rock band that inhabited his daydream until Nate’s jeering voice broke his concentration.
“I wonder how this is gonna turn out now that half of your cheering section has left,” Nate commented.
“Face it, you want what I have,” Travis snapped. The uncovered parts of his hair flapped in the wind a bit.
“Why would I want what you have when I already have everything?” Nate asked. “I mean, I’ve got money, I’ve got power to set up tournaments like the one you’re gonna lose right now, and I’m a Pokémon trainer, too.”
“You really are a sad person,” Travis said, shaking his head hopelessly. “Sure, you have all of that stuff, but do you have what matters most?”
“Your ‘friendship’ talk is getting really old,” Nate answered.
“Because it does something to your conscience, or it shows you what you don’t have?” Travis questioned. “Or maybe it’s both?”
“I had friends, but you and Katrina ruined that,” Nate growled. “She ruined my life.”
Travis felt flames building up inside of him. Nate had crossed the line. This was one of those times when Justice was best served hard to the jaw. He was so enraged, he felt like his body could spontaneously combust at any moment. Nate was here blaming them for his own wrongdoing. Katrina and Nate still probably would have still been friends if Nate knew what friendship really was. As a matter of fact, as much as the thought sickened him somehow, they could have turned into something…more…
“How dare you…” Travis growled, trembling with anger.
“Struck a nerve, did I?” Nate asked with a roll of his eyes.
“Just because you don’t have any friends of your own…doesn’t mean you can attack mine,” Travis muttered.
“You attack an opponent at his weakness. Same goes for Pokémon, same goes for life,” Nate responded simply, as if he were trying to teach Travis this.
“You’re heartless…and heartless people are all fools,” Travis snarled. “My friends are my greatest strength, and your lack of friends is your greatest weakness.”
“I don’t need some brat from the poorhouse to try to tell me how to live my life, and what to believe!” Nate snapped. “I’m my own person. I’ll see this through on my own. Then I’ll prove to you that all you need to depend on is yourself!”
“Do you really believe that, Nate?” Travis asked cryptically.
“Shut up and get on with the match,” Nate answered tersely, his eyes flashing again.
;250;
Meanwhile, over in the corner, two eliminated trainers were holding a conversation.
“A tie…that sucks,” Yoshina muttered, putting something into her bag, also colored black, unless anyone assumed. “Tell me again why our plan is to make these brats think that we’re weaker than they are?”
“Don’t know…” Xavier answered.
“How the heck do we get all of these orders?” Yoshina asked him.
“Hmm…Master Angelos asks for a plan. Master Han creates the plan, passes it to Captain Burke, passes it to us and all of the other agents under his command,” Xavier replied blankly. “It blows, but it’s a job…” At that point, Xavier was cut off from any further conversation by a repeated ringing. He took something out of his pocket that resembled a red cellphone and opened it.
“Agents Yoshina and Xavier speaking,” he answered professionally, putting the red device to his right ear. Whatever the other speaker was saying wasn’t audible, but Xavier obviously heard it, to which he said with a nod, “Yes, sir,” and closed the cellphone.
“A mission?” Yoshina asked.
“The rest of Captain Burke’s company has made it. They’re in two of those trucks, I think. But we…are looking for a pickup truck. A blue, worn-out-looking one. Apparently, someone knows of our plans and is bringing the battle to us,” Xavier replied, to which Yoshina’s eyes lit up fiercely.
“Marius,” she whispered and started running off. Xavier, looking perturbed by his partner’s actions, followed after her.
“You seem to be pretty fired up over finding an old pickup truck,” Xavier commented.
“Let’s just say that I’ve got a score to settle,” Yoshina growled.
;250;
“The Final Match of the Cherrygrove Cup will now begin! Travis DePaul versus Nathaniel Elm!” Anderson announced, raising both flags into the air in a predictable fashion.
“Let’s test this theory of yours, Travis!” Nate yelled across the beach, the venom from the old serpent of Eden bubbling in his veins. A sea breeze kicked his jet-black hair into ominous life. Until now, everyone had stereotyped him. He was not obsessed with money. Money was not his concern. His aim – his desire was power. Money and power are symbiotic. One who is powerful often accumulates money...and one who has money has certain power that someone without does not have. What kind of power did friends give someone? Especially, as Nate thought derisively to himself, friends that didn’t show up. “Does the battle always go to the so-called ‘hero’...or does it go to the one with the most drive and the most ambition? Does the day go to the one with the most ‘friends’, or does it go to the one with the most power?”
“I wasn’t going to let you hurt her, Nate,” Travis responded heavily, realizing the gravity of his near failure. “And I messed that up, too – but at least she knows who her real friends are. And you’re not one of them.”
They had called him ‘hero’. That’s a hard moniker to live up to. Heroes defeat evil. It is their job. It is their duty. To defeat evil...but defining evil is so much more difficult. Was any human being really ‘pure evil’? Was Nate ‘pure evil’? How can someone carry that much hatred and not be called ‘pure evil’? When fighting evil, is evil a person or a principle? Under different circumstances, this could have been a friendly battle. But what were those circumstances?
He prayed that Shiro would keep himself alive. Shiro loved life itself and had no death wish to speak of – but if it came down to protecting those that he cared about, his life was a distant second at best. Shiro did not seek death, but neither did he fear it. If death sought him, he would not hide. But Shiro was a dragon.
And dragons are difficult to kill.
Katrina...it was because of her that Travis would hate Nate with every fiber of his very existence...and yet, it was because of her that he did not. It made Travis’ eyes well up every once in a while. How can one person go through that much? He wished he could tell her, but what would be the point? How can someone who has faced the very worst that the world has to offer – before even reaching thirteen – be capable of anything but hatred? And yet she was. But what if it was all a masquerade, so as to not make people worry? What would happen if it all were to come crashing down?
Why was Nate so misguided? What could have possibly happened to him that hardened his heart so? Travis had always thought (as did everyone around him) that he was the most burdened pre-teen to ever exist...but Nate had his secrets too. Painful secrets have been described as skeletons in a closet...Nate had somehow, somewhere, become an undertaker.
“Enough talk! Bluefang, do it!” Nate spun a Pokéball on his finger and knocked it into the air slightly. It burst open in a flash of white light to reveal a royal-blue alligator Pokémon – Totodile.
“Angel, this is it, you ready?” Travis asked his Eevee, who nodded and jumped out in front of him, looking determined as ever. At that moment, Travis, on a whim if nothing else, adjusted his view to look at the road above him. He saw a blue blur in the form of a pick up truck pass by the road. He couldn’t quite make out the figure that was standing in the bed of the truck. He could tell all of that red from anywhere on the planet, though...
“BEGIN!” Anderson shouted, raising his flags with a rather fancy twirl this time. Katrina looked at him, a sweatdrop floating beside her left temple. Maybe it was something he did for the final matches, but it still looked weird to her.
“I’m gonna make you pay for interfering with me!” Nate shouted across the sand-covered battlefield. It seemed almost as if his words were taken by the wind and carried out to the sea for the rest of whoever to hear…
“Pay?” Travis smirked. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t bring any cash with me. You do take checks, don’t you?”
“You’ve mocked me for the last time!” Nate snarled. “Bluefang, hit ‘em with everything you’ve got! Scratch attack!” The blue crocodile growled and ran at Angel, baring his claws for a swipe.
“Angel, get outta there!” Travis countered. Angel jumped and did a quick somersault over the Totodile’s clawing strike, causing him to seriously overextend himself. Bluefang hopped on one foot in an attempt to keep his balance.
“Hey, don’t take that,” Nate drawled. “Water gun, NOW!”
“Toto…” Bluefang whirled around and inhaled deeply. Angel skidded to a stop and turned in Bluefang’s direction to see the spiraling burst of water shooting directly at her.
“Angel!” Travis shouted worriedly as his Eevee started running full speed towards her opponent. She dodged to the left of the main force of the Water Gun, but was taken in by the pressure of the blast and fell to the ground.
“Angel…are you alright?” Travis asked.
“<Don’t worry about it, I’m fine,>” A voice similar to Angel’s answered.
“Hm?” Travis scratched his head, sounding rather bewildered.
“Vee-vee,” Angel answered, then turned around to face her opponent once again.
“Oh, man…I’m losin’ it…” Travis murmured. Somehow, someway, he could have sworn that he had just heard Angel…talk…in human language. He couldn’t worry about it now, though. Angel was now looking up at him for battle advice. What attack should he use? I could go for a Tail Whip, Travis thought, but first, it might miss, second, Angel would get blown away by a Water Gun. Tackle’s not a good idea – that’s running right into a Water Gun. She’d get blasted into next week. But if Bluefang can’t aim, that’ll set up all of those other attacks…
“Angel, try a Sand…” He looked down for his Eevee, but didn’t see her anywhere. He looked toward the battle to see Angel already kicking sand into Bluefang’s face. Bluefang howled in agony as the small and abrasive grains wreaked all sorts of havoc on his eyes. He finally opened them after a few seconds, and they were much redder, even than normal. Travis shrugged. That was strange. First, he thought that he had heard Angel talk, then she executed the attack that he wanted her to without him even finishing.
Believing it to be a mere coincidence, Travis cried, “Good work! Now, try a…” He was cut off in mid-yell by a cry of “Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiile!” Bluefang had gone flying through the air, the victim of a well-placed Tackle attack.
“Again?” Travis raised an eyebrow. The second time couldn’t have been by chance. It was if Angel was reading her trainer’s mind – like she knew exactly what he was thinking, what strategy he wanted to use. It was quite unnerving, actually. He wondered if all trainers went through this sort of thing with their Pokémon, or if Angel was – or maybe even he was – special in some sort of way.
“<What next?>” asked something that sounded like the voice of a perky little girl. Travis snapped out of his stupor to find Angel standing by his ankle once again and looking back at him. She smiled and titled her head.
“…uh…Angel, are you okay?” Travis asked, but the real question, in his mind, was whether or not he was doing well.
“<I told you before, Travis, I’m fine,>” the same voice answered with a bit more conviction than before.
“I must be the crazy one, then,” Travis said, becoming more disturbed with each passing moment.
“<No, you’re not crazy,>” the voice answered. “<I’m kind of surprised that it didn’t take longer…>”
“Is this an Eevee thing, or do you have Psychic powers that I don’t know about or…” Travis asked, failing to see what was right in front of him.
“<Calm down. This happens anytime Pokémon and their trainers have a special bond. I think that it triggers in the mind of the trainer for the first time that he and his Pokémon are in complete unison in battle. It doesn’t even have to be with your own Pokémon, either. You can probably understand what your friend’s Cyndaquil is saying, too. Shiro is his name, right?>” Angel answered.
“Uh…yeah…” Travis mumbled stupidly. “So you’re saying I have some type of special power?”
“<It’s not really special at all. Any trainer can do it…even him…>” Angel answered, pointing her chin at Nate. “<It basically just means that you have another friend to talk to now!>”
“That’s pretty cool…” Travis said with a smile. A part of him would have been jumping off of the walls – if there were any walls around here – but the half of him with better judgment told him to stay focused. “So this is permanent?”
“<Sure is,>” Angel answered. “<You must be a pretty good trainer. From what I’ve heard, most humans can’t do this until they get a badge of some sort. You and I have been together, what, a week or so?>”
“Two and a half days,” Travis responded, one hand behind his head. This was wild stuff. He had been on a journey less than a week and had already won what he knew would probably be his greatest battle - communicating with his Pokemon.
“Hey!” Nate’s voice cut into their conversation like an axe through a sapling. “I think that you forgot that we’re still over here! Bluefang, let’s remind ‘em with a Water Gun!”
“To-to-diile!” Bluefang cried, shooting another jet of water in Angel’s direction. Angel, who had no time to dodge, was blown several feet behind Travis. Travis, catching a bit of the pressure from the blast himself, was knocked over onto his backside.
“Oof!” Travis grunted as he fell onto the sand, doing a small bounce, and placing his hands behind him for support.
“<Owie…!>” Angel’s voice came from behind him. It was cool, but it would take some getting used to. “<That didn’t feel good,>”
“Another Sand-attack, Angel, now!” Travis stood up and shouted.
“<Going…!>” Angel responded with a nod, and ran over to Bluefang as if she was doing a Tackle attack.
“Hey, hey, I thought you could understand me! I said, ‘Sand-attack,’ not ‘Tackle’!” Travis whined. At that moment, though, Bluefang’s eyes widened as he prepared to brace himself for the blow – either that, or block it. Neither happened, however, as Angel did a hard skid to a stop right in front of Bluefang, kicking up about three times as much sand as she would have normally. The sand not only harassed the royal-blue water-type’s eyes, this time, but a few of the grains also found its way into the crocodile’s large nostrils.
“To-to..to-to…” Bluefang’s head reared back a few inches. “To-to…dile!” the blue gator released a mighty sneeze, which caused him to do an involuntary Water Gun attack toward the ground. The force from his own attack blasted him several feet into the air, and then he landed on the ground with a muffled THUD.
“Agh…this is irritating!” Nate growled, his brow furrowing a bit. “Bluefang, Water Gun!”
“Toto…” Bluefang inhaled again. Angel, who had run back over to Travis’ side of the field, merely stood there.
“Angel! You’re gonna get hit!” Travis shouted worriedly.
“<With all that dirt in his eyes? Are you kidding? I’d duck if I were you.>” Angel responded, and sure enough, the high-pressure jet of water traveled in Travis’ direction, not Angel’s. Travis ducked away just in the nick of time.
“Hm...I was aiming at your Eevee, but you getting blasted in the face with water would have been good for laughs,” Nate muttered.
“Maybe if you tell your Totodile to aim at me next time, then he actually will hit Angel! Or can Bluefang not hit the side of a big, blue barn?" Travis yelled tauntingly.
“Okay, I guess it’s time to get up-close and personal now, huh?” Nate commented casually. “Bluefang, Scratch attack!” Bluefang shook his head to clear the sand from his eyes, and then charged Angel with all of his might, raising his claws to strike.
“Dodge it!” Travis shouted, and Angel began a jump to the left…
“Redirect it!” Nate ordered, and Bluefang turned around and delivered a nice swipe to Angel’s face that sent her reeling backward a couple of inches, and worst of all, the time it was taking her to recover was opening her up for a second attack.
“Again!” Nate shouted, and his Totodile nodded and then scratched Angel with his other clawed hand.
“Angel!” Travis shouted, although it came out in somewhat of a shriek for some reason.
“<This one’s gonna pay for messing up my cute and adorable face,>” Angel groaned as she stood to her feet once more.
“Still ready to go? Tackle Attack!” Travis shouted, and Angel began charging her close-by opponent. Her headlong rush, however, was eventually stopped by the Totodile’s large hands. She continued to push harder, sending Totodile back inch by inch, although the attack seemed to be hurting her more than it was harming her opponent.
“Throw her!” Nate ordered, gesturing upward. Bluefang took Angel by the neck and tossed her upward.
“No!” Travis cried, knowing what was coming next.
“Water Gun, full power,” Nate then said mercilessly, and Bluefang inhaled deeper than ever before.
“Angel!” Travis called out.
“<...Oh, not good,>” Angel muttered to herself a split-second before getting engulfed by the large jet of water and blown several feet straight up into the air.
“Tackle!” Travis shouted, half of him wondering why. A tackle attack wasn’t going to work at that height…
“What are you up to?” Nate grumbled as Angel kicked off of her own feet as a starting point, then, head aimed down, pushed back the continuous stream of water little by little. “Bluefang, keep that Water Gun attack going!”
“If I had some sort of wind going, the water wouldn’t even get to her…I’ve got it!” Travis mused and suddenly came up with a plan. “Angel, go into a spin as fast as you can!”
“<I hope you know what you’re doing,>” Angel answered and went into a descending spin. The water from Bluefang’s attack flew out all over the place as if a fan was blowing it away. She was gradually descending in the direction of Bluefang’s head. The heads of the two combatants eventually met, sending water flying everywhere. It fell to the ground dramatically like mist.
“What was that!?” Nate snarled. “You’re a real kamikaze, y’know that!?”
“Well, it worked, didn’t it?” Travis responded as Angel ran over back to his side, looking slightly worn out.
“<Well, I didn’t damage him that much…>” Angel muttered sadly.
“That’s better than getting blasted into orbit,” Travis responded a bit sharply.
“Let’s end this! Water Gun, now!” Nate yelled.
“Tackle attack, Angel!” was Travis’ counter. Bluefang inhaled deeply as Angel rushed for him.
“<Again? Try something new, guys, you might actually enjoy it,>” Angel said with a slightly derisive tone.
“To-to…to-to…” Bluefang was inhaling as much as possible, puffing out his chest with each inward breath. It almost looked like the v-like marking on his chest was simply going to pop out, ricochet, and then fly off somewhere.
“There’s no defense against this one!” Nate roared, pointing at Travis. “Water Gun attack, one hundred percent!”
“Angel, jump!” Travis shouted, and Angel, as if she had been meaning to do so all along, left the ground immediately, just as Bluefang was shooting off his Water Gun. He recoiled a couple of inches from the force of his own attack. Angel descended quickly from twenty feet and counting…fifteen…ten…Bluefang looked upward and his eyes widened in fear – even he knew it was too late to avoid her…five…
SMASH.
“What!?” Nate snarled.
“He did it!” Katrina started jumping up and down.
Meanwhile, on the other side of Cherrygrove City, Yoshina and Xavier were running across a street. It looked like they were chasing someone and yet no one was in front of them. They sauntered across the three-lane street and finished on the sidewalk. Yoshina was looking at an alley intently. Suddenly, Xavier stopped and turned around and looked back toward the beach, which was now in very distant view, and invisible unless the street was completely clear, like it was at this current time.
“What is it?” Yoshina asked him.
“You feel that power…?” Xavier muttered. “It’s scary…I hope that he’s not the one…”
“What are you blabbering about?” Yoshina questioned him sharply.
“It’s like I can feel the force of their battle all the way out here…” Xavier said, shivering a bit. “It’s that boy with the blue hair that I lost to…he might be the one…”
The pickup truck that Shiro and his newfound companions had found itself going up the hill leading to Route 29. Shiro was standing on the bed, his new friend Madeline Marius sitting casually at his ankle. Shiro’s eyes widened for a moment and he turned around in the direction of the beach as well.
“You feel it, too?” Madeline asked.
“My gosh…that’s pure power…” Jeffrey, the seventeen-year-old driver, muttered as he looked out of his window and brought the car to a screeching halt. “It must be that kid my brother was talking about…Shiro’s friend.”
“Travis…I think he won it…” Shiro muttered.
The other Marius twin, Matthew, was strolling down an alley, having been eliminated from the tournament some time before. He turned around in the direction of the beach and muttered, “Bloody hell, mate…that’s some kind of power, that is…”
“<Gotcha,>” Angel whispered in the face of her opponent. Bluefang’s red eyes gave one last look at his assailant, and then he blinked and swirled out, unconscious on his feet. Angel did a pivot and kicked off Bluefang’s face, knocking him onto the ground. She jumped over to Travis’ end of the field and skidded to a stop, turning her head toward her defeated opponents toughly.
“Diiiile…” Bluefang cried weakly, landing in the sand with a thud.
“Totodile is unable to battle!” Anderson twirled his red flag fancily a second time before pointing it in Travis’ direction. “Eevee is the winner! The match and the Cherrygrove Cup go to Travis DePaul!”
Nate, looking incensed, returned his Totodile to his Pokéball and muttered to him, “You weak fool…I’m gonna make sure that Eevee never beats you again.” He then looked up at Travis and said aloud, “This means nothing, you hear me?! The next time we battle, it’ll be for the Crystal Cup at the Johto League Championships, and I’ll show you up once and for all!” He left the scene without bothering to wave. It was a bittersweet success. Nate had learned nothing. Perhaps there were some people who could not be saved...
Travis dropped to his knees in pure exhaustion. The sweat ran down his face like a river…but it was a good feeling. He had beaten Nate, and in doing so, won his first tournament.
“<We did it!>” Angel squealed, jumping into Travis’ lap to receive a well-deserved hug. “<I can’t believe I won!>”
“I never stopped doubting you for a second,” Travis answered gently, sighing. At the same time he felt two arms hug him around his neck.
“You pulled it off,” Katrina told him. “You sure know how to end one, y’know that?”
“Yeah…but something’s the matter. I saw Shiro on a truck before my match started,” Travis responded, standing up and pulling Katrina, who refused to let go of him at the moment, up with him.
“Shiro? Really?” Katrina loosened her grip on Travis and walked around to in front of him.
“With that much red, who else could it be?” Travis answered.
“Um…your prizes, sir…” Anderson walked over to Travis and handed him a trophy that had two interlocking capital C’s on its face and looked to be made of gold. He also handed him a rather crinkly-sounding envelope. Travis opened the envelope. In it were about ten bills that had the number ‘500’ on their corners and a large Pokéball in their center.
“The Cherrygrove Cup and five…large…” Travis said, a bit shocked at the monetary reward.
“Well, you earned it,” Katrina commented. “So, now that the tournament’s over, what should we do now?”
“Well, my mind’s telling me to try to find where Shiro went…” Travis answered…just seconds before a horrible grumbling sound more fierce than any Totodile emitted from his stomach. He put his hand behind his head embarrassedly and said, “But I’ve got a gut feeling that we should go grab a bite to eat.”
“Really witty,” Katrina commented sarcastically, yet smiling at the same time.
;250;
Meanwhile, in a very, very dark room in an undisclosed location, a conversation of a much heavier nature was being held.
“I have just received word from Agent Xavier, Young Master,” A man was bowing to what looked like a much smaller figure sitting in a rather ornate-looking chair. There were three figures of rather burly men standing behind the chair, but they, too, were thrown into shadow because of the lack of light that was in this room.
“I told you…not to call me ‘Young Master.’ Simply ‘Master’ or ‘Lord Angelos’ will do,” responded the voice of what sounded like a boy freshly emerged from puberty. This voice was colder than a January twilight, as merciless as the desert sun, and concealed behind it a power greater than the perfect storm.
“Yes, sir, Lord Angelos,” the bowing figure said cringingly. He was obviously fearful of this younger male. “Lieutenant Xavier believes that he has located the successor…”
“Where?” this figure called ‘Lord Angelos’ stood from his seat, revealing that he had Platinum-colored hair – comparable to stainless steel – that bore three bangs in front of his forehead that faded into blackness. His face was not visible – it was covered only by a mask and only his piercing, gray eyes could be seen.
“In Cherrygrove City, milord,” the larger and older figure cringed again.
Angelos chuckled to himself and said, “How convenient. That’s where our first major attack is, is it not? Yes…very, very convenient. We can nip this talk of a ‘successor’ in the bud here and now. Notify Captain Burke. These are direct orders from his Lordship. Mobilize immediately.” A dangerous gleam appeared in the eye of the young façade.