TCQ Chapter 40~2
*continued from last post*
After getting directions from some of the locals on the island, Haley soon found herself in front of the Northern Isle dojo, and the site of her first battle against the Trigello Crew. Having been ushered in by a tall, bald man at the gate, Haley tried to locate the arena, a task complicated by the intricate maze of corridors the building held within.
“Hello?” Haley called to the seemingly abandoned halls as her footsteps caused creaks and squeaks to issue from the floor panels that made the corridor floors, only slightly miffed that she had to spend so long just trying to get a battle.
Sapph never had to go through this nonsense, she thought grumpily as she took her fiftieth right turn and came face to face with another dead end. Looking to her right, a large set of double doors stood open, showing the outer courtyard through which she came thirty minutes ago.
Something nearly snapping in her tired mind, Haley roared and took a swing at the wall to her left and gasped as her hand went right through it!
Haley gasped and pulled her hand “What the...” she gasped walking slowly up to the wall and pressing her hand against the wall, only to meet no resistance at all. “This wall’s a fake!”
And with fresh heart, Haley did the only thing she had yet to try and walked straight into the wall, feeling a slight tingle as she emerged on the other side of the wall and on the edge of the arena.
Haley walked forwards out onto the straw mats and studied the outline of the arena which had been laid out with thin wooden boards painted black. The main arena was slightly sunken into the ground where she saw the regular demarcations of an official battlefield.
“Well, that took an annoyingly long enough time,” Haley said to herself. “Now where is this place’s leader?”
“Right behind you,” a voice murmured, causing the young girl to jump about a foot in the air and land on her rump in the arena.
Massaging her butt as she rose to her feet, she looked up into the slanting eyes of what looked like a ninja. He certainly seemed dressed for the part. His top recalled the one Herbert had worn during his match with Sapph on Utopia Island and baggy leggings tucked into his high socks gave the Coreian trainer the feeling he was a little too into ninja cosplay. Both were dark red as a small emblem of sorts adorned the top left side of his kimono top.
“My name is Mekki,” the man (Haley was having a hard time figuring out his age thanks to the mask he wore over his nose and mouth. “And if you seek the Trigello Crew, I am the one you seek.”
“Haley Kent, Olville Town,” Haley replied, pulling off a good impression of calm despite still feeling a little jittery about how her opponent had appeared out of nowhere. “So, you are the gym leader here?”
“Not exactly,” Mekki said calmly. “I am the guardian of the North Star Badge, and a widely acclaimed Poison type user...”
“Sounds like a gym leader to me,” Haley interrupted brusquely, clambering out of the arena to face Mekki properly. “Sorry, but I have somewhere I need to be, so if a referee could get out here, can we get this going?”
“The official battle between Haley Kent of Olville Town and Lord Mekki of the Trigello Crew will now begin!” A referee said appearing out of thin air on the sideline of the battle area, also wearing a ninja outfit (his was a dark blue and had a pokéball emblem on the left side of his chest). His sudden appearance and entry startled Haley once again to near cardiac arrest.
Damn it, are all you ninja against using the door? Haley vehemently exclaimed.
“Each trainer may use only three Pokémon apiece. When all three of either trainer’s Pokémon are unable to battle, the match will be over! As it were, only the challenger may freely substitute Pokémon at any given time. Are both combatants prepared?”
“Ready,” Haley said confidently, readying her first pokéball.
“As are we,” Mekki said through his mask, readying his first choice himself.
“Let’s go, Ento!” Haley cried, throwing down her first fighter.
Slamming his palm holding the pokéball into the straw-mat floor, Mekki countered, “Ninja summoning! Come forth, Chiiratty!”
Both balls broke open at the hinge and the room was bathed in bright white light for a minute. When it was safe to look once more, two strange creatures ‘stood’ in the arena.
On Haley’s end stood a low-slung beetle of sorts, its long, transparent wings covering its abdomen, thorax and two large bubbles through which it breathed. It looked up through blue, gem-like eyes to another creature that was a hue of purple so dark it could have been black. Its orange eyes surveyed the Scubug curiously as it clung to the rafters.
Chiiratty, the Fruit Bat Pokémon, Haley’s Pokédex beeped.
Not much to look at, is it?
Haley stared at her Pokédex, unsure that it was seriously being unhelpful at a time like this.
Raising his right hand above his head, the referee announced, “The first match, Scubug versus Chiiratty.” Bringing his hand down sharply, he added, “Please begin.”
“Of all the Pokédexes in the world, I get the one with lazy tendencies,” Haley muttered. Getting down to business, Haley commanded, “Ento, let’s start this one with Bubblebeam!”
Ento’s bubbles glowed blue and a stream of quick-moving, translucent bubbles issued from his mouth and made a beeline for Chiiratty, who regarded the incoming assault with a look of polite curiousity.
“Ninja Art, Poison Gas technique!” Mekki replied swiftly.
Chiiratty chirped and jumped off the rafter nimbly, leaving the bubbles to stick to the rafter and pop, each with the force of a mini-bomb. Chiiratty opened its small mouth and revealing small, sharp teeth, released a purple fog cloud which enveloped Ento rapidly.
<What is this horseplay?> Ento spluttered indignantly as the poison began make him gag. <Such a bother...>
“Ento, Chiiratty’s trying to block your vision!” Haley coached her Pokémon as Chiiratty flew into the toxic fog bank. “Jump back and use Bubblebeam once more when he comes out or when it dissipates!”
<As painfully obvious as your first observation was, it is acknowledged nonetheless,> Ento said as he complied, taking a few steps backwards so quickly it was like he used a Quick Attack backwards and waited patiently, his eyes glued on the poisonous cloud for any sign of Chiiratty.
“Ninja Art, Scapegoat technique,” Mekki murmured almost to himself.
“What was that?” Haley said ponderously before Chiiratty shot out of the purple cloud heading straight for the Water Beetle Pokémon, black leathery wings spread wide. “Never mind,” she amended hastily. “Ento, Bubblebeam attack, once more!”
Complying swiftly, Ento fired a second salvo of explosive bubbles which Chiiratty was too slow (or too fast) to avoid in time. The bubbles surrounded the panicked Chiiratty, clinging to his small, body and large wings, the rapid explosions sounding out in tandem with its squeaks of pain.
“Gotcha!” Haley cheered.
<Indeed!> Ento echoed proudly.
“Hmph,” Mekki smirked as his Pokémon hit the tatami floor... and fell apart.
Haley’s goose grey eyes widened as Chiiratty seemed to disintegrate into a bundle of straw and fall apart.
“That was Substitute,” she said blankly.
<Then where would you propose the real one is?> Ento said his eyes scanning the field.
“That’s obvious,” Haley said as the poison cloud began to clear. “He’s still...”
<...in the Poison Gas attack!> Ento finished as a powerful wind began to blow from within the cloud, sucking the poison into three small tornadoes that had appeared in the cloud.
“Very astute. However,” Mekki said calmly. “You are too late! Chiiratty! Wind Element, Sickling Winds technique!”
Chiiratty, who was hovering in the middle of the three spinning (and now purple-hued) tornadoes, flapped his overlarge wings sharply, unleashing several sickles of powerful winds upon Ento’s unguarded form.
“Ento, Double Team attack!” Haley said sharply.
Ento, for once, did not waste words and blurred as he moved quickly, several more Scubug filling the area around him. They, however vanished quickly as the toxic winds hit them causing them to all fade out of existence.
“OK, time to mix things up a bit,” Haley mused, pulling out, Ento’s pokéball. Holding it up, she shouted, “Ento, return for now!”
<There’s no real need to yell, I can hear you...> Ento said indignantly before he was transformed into red light and sucked back into the pokéball.
So she recalled her Scubug, Mekki thought.
Her next choice should confirm if she’s a Water or Bug type specialist...
“Let’s go, Blitzkrieg!” Haley called, throwing her second pokéball into the air. The familiar spilled out in midair, high above Chiiratty’s curious form, where it solidified into Haley’s Voltog.
<Birdie, birdie, Blitzie is a birdie!> Blitzkrieg said happily, flapping his arms comically like a Delibird attempting to remain aloft.
Knowing his cue, the referee announced the change-up, “Second match: Voltog versus Chiiratty. Please continue.”
“A Voltog... typical of a Water type specialist,” Mekki murmured. Aloud Mekki asked, “And just what do you plan to do in midair?”
“Why don’t I show you?” Haley said brashly. “Blitzkrieg, Thunderpunch!”
Mekki’s eyes widened behind his ninja mask as they beheld electricity begin coursing through Blitzkrieg’s right arm. Slightly panicked, he called out, “Damn! Ninja Art, Scapegoat technique!”
Too slow! Haley boasted to herself as Blitzkrieg sang, <I’m a little teapot, here’s my spout!> and on the last syllable, the Electric Frog Pokémon clouted his aerial opponent clean in the gut.
“Yes!” Haley cheered, looking at Mekki triumphantly and becoming severely unnerved to see him smirking. “Wait... why are you so...? Ohhh... No!” Haley blanched as ‘Chiiratty’ once again fell apart around Blitzkrieg’s electrified fist into a bundle of scattered straw. The surprises were, as they say, far from over as a brilliant white light bathed Mekki’s Chiiratty and he began to glow a few feet above Blitzkrieg.
Haley swore again as she watched Chiiratty’s body begin to elongate in several areas. His arms and feet stretched as his wings shrunk to form a cowl similar to Anuvi’s, though they seemed to still extend beyond his fingertips.
As the light died down, Chiiratty had become a newer, stronger-looking Pokémon; his orange eyes and new tail which seemed studded with dark purple thorns giving off a creepy aura as it watched Blitzkrieg begin to lose altitude. The new Fruit Bat Pokémon flapped larger light grey wings in an effort to keep its altitude.
“Hmph... Ninja Art, Round-trip technique!” Mekki commanded swiftly.
Blitzkrieg barely had time to register shock at not only his attack missing, but Chiiratty’s evolution before the larger Fruit Bat Pokémon became bathed in white light and, flying through the debris of his Substitute, caught the Voltog clean in the gut with a powerful headbutt, all before Blitzkrieg could hit the gym floor.
Blitzkrieg went flying backwards painfully but dug in heroically as he hit the floor, barrel-rolling once before righting himself into a backwards skid.
<That... wasn’t yummy,> Blitzkrieg said with a groan as he clutched his stomach and watched the new Pokémon pull off a graceful aerial backflip and turning into red light, vanish into his pokéball which hung from Mekki’s sash.
Haley’s eyes were popping in her sockets. Not only had her opponent’s Pokémon evolved in the middle of the match, he had substituted his Pokémon when he was not permitted to do so by the rules.
Haley screeched, “What the hell was that?! And didn’t he just switch Pokémon? Isn’t all this against the rules?! Hey, ref! Shouldn’t he be disqualified or something?!”
“Did you actually see Lord Mekki actively switch Pokémon?” The referee said calmly.
“Is that a freaking trick question?!”
“Indeed, the master’s Winglyde was returned,” the referee went on. “But as an added effect of Round-trip. That’s U-turn to you,” he added, spotting Haley’s bemused look. “It’s perfectly allowed.”
“Wait... U-turn? Winglyde?” Haley muttered bemusedly. “Since when have gym leaders been above the rules?”
“You misunderstand,” Mekki said gruffly. “Have I ever said I’m a Gym Leader?”
“What do you...?” Haley spluttered before Mekki overrode her.
“So many questions,” Mekki said in such a plaintive voice he sounded chiding. “I’m no gym leader. I’m one of the Trigello Squad, and the master tactician Mekki. You are gravely mistaken if you think we are in the same league as the Corei Gym Leaders.”
“What?” Haley gasped, appalled at the young master’s gall.
“Furthermore,” Mekki said tauntingly. “If you are entered in this tournament, you are, as I believe, confident in your prowess as a type specialist. Every trainer must show confidence in their Pokémon. Type specialists more so.”
Haley grit her teeth in anger as Mekki went on, “They need to adapt to changes in battle. Not every battle is fought at an advantage. A true type specialist can win even at a disadvantage. That is, if you are one...”
His last taunt had crossed the line. Raising her voice angrily, she bellowed, “And who’s the one without a Pokémon on the field? Get on with it already!”
Mekki smirked. Enlarging his second pokéball after a series of quick hand seals, he slammed it on the ground as before and said, “As you wish. Summoning technique! Come forth... Muk!”
The third flash of white light came and went quickly. Soon afterwards, a terrible stench filled the air as a purple goop bubbled and rose up from the gaps in the matting. As it bubbled and swelled, Blitzkrieg took a half step back and recoiled as the purple mass reached its maximum height of nearly four feet and small beady eyes opened up on the slimy film and beheld the Electric Frog Pokémon. Dark purple (what was with this thing and disgusting shades of purple?) goop dribbled out of its gaping, near-shapeless mouth like a Gloom’s drool.
“Well, that explains their nose masks,” Haley said grimly, as Blitzkrieg began to take on a greenish tinge to his coral blue skin.
“One more thing,” Mekki said through his mask. “I have a prediction.”
Haley’s eyes narrowed as they began to water uncontrollably. “Oh, do you?” She said aggressively.
Mekki nodded and said, “This battle will not last three turns.”
“Say what?!” Haley screeched indignantly as the referee stepped up to the sidelines and announced, “The third match: Voltog versus Muk. Please begin!”
“First move,” Mekki said, forming a quick hand seal which Muk imitated. “Fire Element, Flame Emission technique!”
“Stop making up your own attack names!” Haley yelled angrily as Muk puffed up his cheeks. “Blitzkrieg, use Vital Throw!”
It only took Haley four seconds to realize what a BIG MISTAKE that move was.
Blitzkrieg complied by leaping forwards, ready to give Muk the old heave-ho, when Muk exhaled, a huge stream of crimson and gold flames washing over Blitzkrieg angrily, causing the Water/Electric type to cry out in pain for several long seconds.
As the attack passed, Mekki was politely surprised to see the Voltog still standing right before his Muk. Before he could verbally acknowledge this feat, Blitzkrieg had grasped Muk’s terrible body around its middle (which would be just under the mouth) and heaved.
Yeah, that’s the way! Haley cheered mentally just before Blitzkrieg’s knee buckled.
Gasping, Haley demanded, “Blitzie! You OK?”
<Blitzie no feel good,> Blitzkrieg slurred heavily. His eyes suddenly glinted with steely determination, and veins began popping in his muscular arms as he added in a yell, <IT ALL YOUR FAULT!> as he chucked all thirty kilograms of Muk high into the air.
Haley clenched her fist and cheered, “Thatta boy, Blitzie! Go after it with Thunderpunch!”
One eye closed in pain, Blitzkrieg however followed orders as he clenched his right fist, golden electricity coursing through the Water type’s entire arm. Summoning all his strength to his legs, Blitzkrieg leapt into the air just as Mekki’s Muk righted himself and delivered a swift jab to Muk’s gut.
“That’s two. We have you now,” Mekki said grimly. “Muk, don’t let go! Use Earth Element, Mud Bomb technique!”
Muk groaned in pain, but like Blitzkrieg, followed orders and began to engulf his opponent’s arm, holding him fast as it formed two hands from his usually formless body and clasped them together almost as though in prayer. Taking a deep breath as Blitzkrieg winced once more in agony, Muk hocked up a filthy great mass of mud striking Blitzkrieg clean in the face as they fell back to earth.
“Argh! Blitzkrieg, no!” Haley cried out as Mekki’s strategy became obvious and Muk came crashing down on the field, landing his whole weight on Haley’s Voltog with a slight shudder. Muk slid off Blitzkrieg back towards his trainer, leaving Blitzkrieg fully visible to Haley, as well as his inability to continue the battle.
“Winner, Muk,” the referee announced unnecessarily as Haley ground her teeth in anger and returned Blitzkrieg without a word.
“I told you this match wouldn’t even last three turns,” Mekki said in a confident voice.
“What I don’t get is,” Haley muttered more to herself than to her adversary, “why Blitzkrieg’s attacks had such little effect...”
“Easy,” Mekki said. Haley looked up angrily as Mekki began to lecture her once more. “I trained Muk, in addition to using a large amount of nature-manipulating techniques, to heighten its already-powerful defences. In addition, Muk’s Flame Emission Technique burned your Voltog, lowering his attack power considerably. It wasn’t helped much by the amount of physical attacks you ca-“
“Shut up,” Haley said coldly. “I’ve had about enough...” her voice rising to an enraged scream as she enlarged Ento’s pokéball angrily. “OF YOUR CONDESCENDING SERMONS! ENTO, GET OUT HERE AND END THIS!”
Mekki sighed and shook his head as the yellow and blue Water Beetle Pokémon took the field once more and the referee announced, “Fourth match, Scubug versus Muk. Please begin.”
***
The Pokémon Centre was usually abuzz with activity due to the high patronage of the battle arena outside, which served as the meeting place of the local Battle Club members. Many of the people presently inside had suffered defeat at the hands of Crooney and his Fighting type team earlier that morning. The boy whose Kricketune had lost minutes earlier was just receiving his healed Pokémon back when a great shout went up from out back.
The people inside who were up until that moment chatting and arranging match-ups for later all looked around as someone stuck his head in announced loudly, “You’ve gotta come see this, everybody! Crooney losing to some kid and a Castform!”
A shocked silence ran through the lobby as the guy shut the door swiftly behind him. Crooney was known by reputation to be as tough as nails and all the people milling around knew Castform to be a Pokémon many would overlook in competitions, and a Normal type, which usually don’t last long against Pokémon one would expect Crooney to use.
There was a sudden avalanche of movement as everybody stormed out to take a look at once, forming a scrum at the glass door. In the confusion, several of the smaller trainers were able to squeeze their way out and ran to the field just as Sapph called out, “Incoming, Cloude!”
Crooney’s Hitmonchan Tekken lunged in with both fists blazing in execution of a Close Combat attack aimed right at the small Weather Pokémon who ducked and weaved in and out of Tekken’s continuous lunges, a feat made easy thanks to Cloude’s smaller than usual size and the Hitmonchan’s steadily sluggish movements.
Crooney and Tekken’s tempers were peaking as Cloude returned to float in front of his trainer as the crowd cheered and whooped.
“This... isn’t possible...” Crooney snarled as Hitmonchan gasped for breath. “We should be walking that pipsqueak! What’s going on?”
“Simple,” Sapph said calmly as Cloude yawned once again. “My dad owns a Hitmonchan and I’ve watched them train many times. So I’d know a Hitmonchan’s weak point well.”
“’Weak point’?” Crooney spluttered. “WHAT WEAK POINT?!”
Sapph smiled slightly as he told Crooney, “A Hitmonchan needs rest after every three minutes of fighting, idiot. Don’t tell me you didn’t know that?!”
The slight on Crooney’s intelligence was too much for the Hitmonchan who roared and, despite his limbs feeling like lead, leapt towards Sapph, his fists glowing with pure Megacite energy.
<Like, bad move, dude,> Cloude said, zipping to interpose himself between Tekken and Sapph and inhaling deeply. The enraged Punching Pokémon was barely an inch away from hitting the stoic Castform when the latter unloaded a tremendous gale right into Tekken’s face, causing the Fighting type’s eyes to widen in shock and fear. Crooney, caught badly off guard, was thrown off his feet by the intense wind which seemed to blow away the Hitmonchan’s consciousness and send him for a twenty foot loop.
“Blizzard?” Sapph said to himself in shock as Tekken landed head first on the field in a dead faint. “But in this weather, it shouldn’t have that much power, considering that I haven’t exactly trained Cloude that much...”
Sapph’s Pokédex sprang to life and spoke in its robotic voice, which for once sounded more like Mighty than its pseudo-human self:
That's odd... Castform has successfully learned... Hurricane. Odd thing is, Castform usually cannot learn that attack on principle.
Hurricane? What’s that? Sapph thought curiously, pulling out his faithful Pokédex and reaching to scroll the attack database. However, as usual, the Pok’edex was one step ahead and supplied the answer to Sapph’s very thought:
Hurricane, Flying type attack. Power, one hundred and twenty; accuracy, seventy percent. Hurricane has a thirty percent chance of confusing the opponent whenever it hits.
<Dude, like, you groovy?> Cloude turned back to watch Sapph out of concern, his voice as slow as ever.
“Yeah, Cloude. I’m groovy. Thanks for the good job,” Sapph replied, flashing a grin and a thumbs up as he pulled out the Castform’s pokéball. “Well, whatever triggered you to learn it, Windstorm came in handy. It probably will again in very short order,” he added, returning Cloude to his pokéball and turning to see the crowd watch him almost silently and Zayina and Shrader hurry up to him.
“That was... insane,” Zayina said bleakly, still looking wigged out by the final move Cloude has executed.
“Quite a battle,” Shrader said, seriously impressed.
“Yeah, that Hurricane attack...” Sapph began, before Shrader cut him off and Zayina shook her head.
“Not just that,” Shrader said with a smile. “The whole thing. Most people wouldn’t dream of using a Castform to battle a Hitmonchan, let alone winning.”
Sapph thought back to his first “battle” and smiled. “I’ve seen people do similar. Now come on. We’d better move it or we’ll miss Haley’s battle...”
“Hold it!” Several voices in the crowd yelled.
Sapph, Shrader and Zayina all jumped as several people pulled pokéballs out of nowhere.
One young boy with hair as dark as Sapph stepped up and announced, “If you wanna leave, you gotta battle me first!”
“No, me!” A girl with her sandy hair tied up in pigtails shouted.
“You crazy? He’s battling ME first?”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Me first!”
“No, me!”
Soon, the air was filled with shouts and yells of “Me!”, “No, I’m next!” and “You’re nuts! He’s battling me next!” filled the air all around the trio.
Sapph and Shrader turned desperately to Zayina and asked, “Does this happen often?”
Zayina shrugged and said, “Well, Battle Clubs are new here. And they are the rage. Looks like you have a rep to uphold.”
Sighing in resignation, Shrader moved to get the multitude of challengers organized and Sapph smiled a weary smile at Zayina.
Sorry, Haley, Sapph thought with an apologetic grin.
Looks like this might take a while... as the first trainer stepped into Crooney’s place and released a Monferno onto the field.
Pulling a second pokéball free, he enlarged it and called, “Let’s go, Keynid!”
***
Back at the Trigello dojo, things were certainly heating up, to say the least.
“Fire Element, Flame Emission technique!”
“Ento, use Aqua Jet!”
Muk blew out a second stream of red and white flames towards Haley’s low-slung insect, which wrapped itself in water before charging straight into the flames. Fire and water clashed magnificently, creating a second screen of misty vapour.
“OK, that didn’t work,” Haley said to herself grimly. “I wish Ento had more training before this. Oh, well...”
Her Scubug is quick, Mekki mused.
Very quick... and while I’ve kept her at bay, I can only do so much. Muk cannot keep this up for long...
Aloud, Mekki called for his Muk’s next attack: “Storm Element, Thunder technique!”
Ugh, can’t he use conventional names for his attacks? Haley groaned to herself as she watched storm clouds gather overhead for a Thunder attack. “At least I can see what this one is!” She said aloud. “Ento, Double Team!”
<Naturally,> Ento said confidently as he blurred, creating six illusory copies of himself that surrounded Muk, as he groaned dully as though to call down the lightning bolts which struck four of the Scubugs surrounding him, all of which screeched in pain and vanished.
Muk’s slanting eyes stared into Ento’s crystalline ones and Mekki smirked. Haley really couldn’t see why. No matter how you sliced it, three against one are not odds to laugh at... especially if you were the ‘one’.
“The next two attacks will end this,” Mekki said confidently, raising two fingers to his forehead level.
“Cocky, aren’t we?” Haley retorted. “Ento, keep on your toes!”
<You really love to state the obvious, don’t you?> Ento said stiffly, causing Haley already taut nerves to strain further as she snapped, “Zip it.”
“First move: Water Element, Rain Prayer technique!” Mekki announced. Muk complied with another low groan and forming a new hand seal, invoked rain clouds to fill the rafters with cumulonimbus, from which thunder rumbled and rain fell in sheets, soaking the charred tatami floor below.
Haley almost laughed out loud at Mekki’s choice of attack. True, she was rapidly getting waterlogged, but a firm smirk was plastered on her face.
“So much for the Trigello crew,” Haley crowed. “This won’t take two attacks because your Muk won’t last that long! Ento, use Aqua Jet!”
Ento felt the rain surround him as fresh strength returned to his long, slender legs. All three Scubugs dived into the mat and sped towards Muk with speed quicker than blinking and slammed into him as hard as they could.
Muk wordlessly grunted in pain and hunched as the two remaining doppelgangers vanished into the downpour and the remaining Water Beetle Pokémon reappeared for a second before shifting out of sight once again, reappearing in about four places at once.
“Thanks for activating Ento’s Swift Swim ability,” Haley mocked. “Not only are we faster than ever, all our Water attacks gain a significant boost! Now how could an exalted Trigello Crew member forget that?”
Mekki didn’t answer her. In fact (to Haley’s utter indignation), he seemed to regard her words unworthy of consideration as he kept his eyes closed.
“Nothing to say? Oh, well,” Haley sighed in mock sorrow. “Ento, use Bubblebeam once more!”
As Ento inhaled deeply to release a souped-up stream of explosive bubbles, Mekki commanded, “Now, Muk! One more time; Storm Element, Thunder technique!”
Muk bellowed once more and formed the same hand seal as he’d done earlier and lightning flashed throughout the room, throwing everything into sharp relief as dark shadows against the blinding white light that surrounded them all accompanied with thunderous booms.
Haley screamed and covered her eyes as the bright light assaulted the Water type specialist’s eyes. Now she understood why Mekki had his eyes closed, not to mention why he called for Rain Dance earlier...
The flashes finally died down and Haley gasped as her Scubug lay sprawled out at her feet, totally defeated.
“You used Rain Dance,” she said, unsure how she could have fallen for such a simple trick. “To make sure Thunder didn’t miss?!”
“Correct,” Mekki said calmly as Muk slithered back to his end of the battlefield and the still-pouring rain doused the flames that danced over the scorched battle field. “I believe you called me ‘cocky’, earlier. With only one Pokémon left to call after your Scubug’s fall, I believe you were being somewhat so yourself.”
Rekki the referee raised his hand towards Mekki and Muk and announced, “Winner, Muk. The challenger has one Pokémon left. Will she make the selection or forfeit the match?”
That’s just wrong, even for a joke, Haley thought as she gritted her teeth and returned Ento.
I can’t retreat now. If I do, I lose by default and I’m out of the tournament!
I only have one Pokémon, and Mekki still has three. Worse still, only his Muk’s taken any real damage and I don’t even know which Pokémon he has besides his Chii- I mean, Winglyde now. Oh, boy, this is gonna be tough... even with the boost Rain Dance offers! OK, I’ve never fought with her before, but there’s no time like the present for ‘desperate measures’!
“You ready, Mekki?” Haley called over the precipitation, injecting more confidence into her voice than she presently felt.
“Who’s the one without the Pokémon on the field?” Mekki parroted her coolly. “Let’s get this show over and done with.”
“Fine! Tempest, you’re up! I’m counting on you!” Haley called, releasing her last Pokémon into the rolling storm.
Haley’s largest Pokémon appeared in a flash of light and into her first battle since her former trainer Rachel Savina had traded her away for training. Looking around with coffee brown eyes as she began to levitate in the rain, she commented in a lilting voice, <Father Sky weeps... to soothe Mother Earth’s wounds.>
“Er,” Haley uttered uncertainly, not too sure how to relate to her newest team mate. “Tempest, use Thunderbolt!”
Mekki was quick on the counterattack as the Transport Pokémon’s horn began to glow with electric power. “Earth Element, Mud Bomb technique!”
“Psyche! Tempest, switch to Surf, now!”
Mekki’s Muk had already hocked up a large glob of mud and was about to let fly when Tempest, using the torrential rain that had filled the arena to created a wave as large as she could manage in the space of time available to her.
The opposing duo’s eyes widened comically as Tempest let the wave fall with a resounding crash upon the straw covered arena, the downpour swelling the wave to greater proportions as it swamped the Poison type Pokémon entirely.
She may not have great aim yet, but in such a close-quartered battle, there’s pretty much no way she would miss! Haley thought triumphantly as the surface crested and broke violently all over the battle field and formed what seemed to be a miniature ocean as Tempest sunk her four flippers into the broiling waves and watched the rain clouds clear overhead. As the surface of the now water-filled field calmed, a slimy purple mass floated to the surface, completely spent.
Recovering from his shock at the sheer power of the Surf attack, Rekki raised his hand towards Haley for the first time and announced, “Winner of the fifth match, Lapras.”
Mekki returned Muk silently, his mind processing Haley’s first successful counterattack.
Hmm... it seems that she has acquired that Lapras very recently, Mekki mused.
Her initial awkwardness confirms that. Does that mean it is poorly trained? No, it had the power to deep-six my Muk in one shot, so it is by no account weak, although I must take my Rain Prayer technique into consideration... so she either called for Surf for one of two reasons... time to see if my hunch is right!
Enlarging a second pokéball, he weaved a couple of swift hand signs and slammed it on the matted floor and said “Summoning Art! Winglyde, come forth!”
A blast of white light filled the arena and the large Fruit Bat Pokémon reappeared in the air above Haley and Tempest, its evil yellow eyes locked on the larger Pokémon’s gentle brown ones.
Winglyde again... Haley thought as she watched the winged Poison type latch itself to the rafters once more.
It hasn’t taken any damage so far... but why does it seem somewhat winded?
“The sixth match: Lapras versus Winglyde. Please begin.”
“Let’s take point, Winglyde! Ninja Arts, Poison Needle Technique!” Mekki called quickly.
“Tempest, use Ice Beam!” Haley countered quickly, praying that her Lapras’s beginner’s luck would hold out a little longer.
Tempest generated a ball of subzero energy and fired a thin beam of arctic energy at her aerial foe as it leapt aside, its winged arm cocked back and glowing a sickly purple at the fingertips...
***
Just as several yards away, back on the Battle Ring, Sapph’s shiny Magnemite Mighty took an identical attack right to the flank and blipped in discomfort.
<Damage calculations reveal a seventeen percent decrease of self’s health levels,> Mighty droned dully as his opponent, a shaggy-haired behemoth with the tusks of a Prehistoric elephant and the snout of a large hog. <Analysis also depict the opponent possesses great stamina coupled with an immunity to Electric attacks. Awaiting next battle protocoooolllll...>
“Why don’t you give it up?” Sapph’s opponent, a curly haired girl dressed in an unzipped parka said as her Mamoswine let out a low bellow and pawed the ground proudly. “Not even you can beat a Ground type with an Electric type.”
Sapph glanced at the large tusks of the Mamoswine and thought hard to himself as Zayina and Shrader watched intensely, the latter in spite of her assignment. The young lieutenant was quite taken with Sapph’s battle style that had since that morning won him a total of forty-nine battles, each one fought at a type disadvantage of sorts. Shrader had not only witnessed his Castform take out a Hitmonchan by learning Hurricane in the middle of the battle, his Flygon win several battles against a persistent Dragon trainer and his Garchomp without landing a single blow, and an Eevee perform brief and miraculous evolutions ending half her battles with moves no Eevee evolution should be able to pull off, let alone its basic form.
Zayina was silent too, wondering if she could have ever defeated Sapph back at the Gatonda Tournament as she was then. Even in Sapph’s toughest battles, which mostly involved Sapph using a Husky Pokémon he’d dubbed Keynid, Sapph had showed great tenacity and was able to pull off decisive wins against all manners of opponents ranging from little Eskimo Mouse Pokémon called Inaus to towering Blast Pokémon called Magmortar and flaming Charizard.
“I see you don’t know when to quit,” the girl went on pompously. “Well, don’t say I didn’t give you a chance to back out. Forty-eight wins is impressive. Just not as good as the big Five-Oh...”
“Now who said I wasn’t going to get ‘the big Five-Oh’ today?” Sapph said confidently. “Mighty, charge up a Thunder attack now!”
<Scanners detect satisfactory energy levels. Battle command prompt acknoooowwllleeeeedged...> Mighty droned as its magnets began to sparkle with tremendous power.
“I don’t think so, Sapphire Manson!” The girl said, her icy blue eyes alight with determination to shut Sapph and Mighty down for good. “Mamoswine, use Ice Beam once more!”
Mamoswine bellowed and formed another large ball of icy energy in between its gleaming tusks. Sweat began to bead Sapph’s face as the stand-off lengthened; a mixture of cheers and boos for both battlers filling the air.
“Mighty, strafe to the right and fire on Mamoswine’s tusks, now!” Sapph yelled, pointing at the Ice/Ground type behemoth for emphasis just as Mamoswine fired another chilling blast at the Magnet Pokémon.
<Command prompt accepted. Shifting angle of offensive trajectoreeeeee...> Mighty droned as it shifted itself sharply to the right and unloaded several hundred thousand volts of electricity into Mamoswine’s tusks.
Mamoswine seemed to bellow in pain as the attack hit. Not that Sapph’s opponent seemed to notice; as far as she knew, Mamoswine was safe from Electric attacks.
“What was that for?” She crowed as the light from the attack died down. “Didn’t I tell you Electric attacks would be useless no matter how powerful they are? Mamoswine, one more Ice Beam, and make it stick!”
Mamoswine made to comply but a look of discomfort crossed its blue-masked face with an accompanying splintering noise as it began to accumulate ice energy once more for another attack.
Mamoswine never made it.
The attack literally blew up in the poor Twin Tusk Pokémon’s face and all six hundred and forty pounds of Mamoswine went down, hard. The girl trainer looked on in horror as she studied Mamoswine’s tusks, which were deeply fissured all around.
<Opponent health energy levels reported to have taken a thirty-nine percent depreciation,> Mighty droned, hovering back to where he was before. <Query: Estimated number of hits target can take. Variable: One.>
“B-but... h-how...?!” She gabbled as Mamoswine winced with the pain his tusks presently felt.
“You really shouldn’t play around in the middle of a battle,” Sapph said calmly, a smile on his face as he explained. “A Mamoswine’s tusks are made of pure ice. In other words: frozen water. And I’m sure you know just how much Water types simply
love electricity.”
The young girl blanched. “No way! You mean all this time...?”
“Yeah,” Sapph said matter-of-factly. “Looks like we’re going to get our ‘big Five-Oh’, anyways. Mighty, let’s wrap this up with Magnet Bomb!”
<Energy levels reading at sixty-eight percent... power levels satisfactory. Initiating Maaaaaagnet... Bommmb.> Mighty droned, all manner of metallic substances in the surroundings including underground floating towards it. Bringing his magnets together and pointing them at Mamoswine, Mighty gathered the scrap metal into a cluster of small hovering metallic spheres which hovered around the Magnemite for a moment and then shot towards the crippled Mamoswine, each hitting him with explosive force.
The smoke that kicked up after the volley of explosions finally cleared to reveal the arctic titan laid out flat, totally spent.
“Battle over! Winner, Sapph Manson!” The referee announced, raising his hand and pointing to Sapph.
“Good job, Mighty. Come back for some rest.” Sapph said a little wearily as he returned Mighty to its pokéball, another battle well-fought.
After Mighty and Mamoswine had been returned to their pokéballs in the customary red flashes of light, Sapph hooked Mighty’s back to his belt and walked over to where his two companions sat and applauded his efforts.
“
I play too much?! Look who was playing around,” his defeated opponent said to his back scathingly.
“I wasn’t playing around,” Sapph said calmly. “Jumping into an opponent who has a type advantage over you without a plan is simply retarded. I was simply waiting and watching for the right moment. That’s all.”
And leaving his opponent gazing at his back, Sapph moved on to join Zayina and Shrader at the bench, rubbing his recently recovered shoulder.
“Good battle,” Shrader said in a cheerful voice, handing him a water bottle. “You must be good. Heck, you even gave her advice after handing her butt to her.”
“Not as good as Zayina,” Sapph said modestly, flopping onto the bench between them. Turning his head to look at the surprised younger girl, Sapph confessed, “My biggest fear at the Gatonda Tournament was that I’d have to face you in the finals. You beat your first round opponents in about thirty seconds flat, right?”
“Yeah...” Zayina said glumly, looking back at him with a wistful smile on her lips. “That’s right.”
“What’s the matter?” Sapph said a crease on his brow as he sat up to stare at Zayina. “A good battle should get your pep back. You are still battling, right?”
Still smiling wistfully, she sighed and said, “I’ve quit battling, Sapph. I’ve quit training too. I’m just no good at it.”
Sapph dropped the water bottle and missed a pokéball on his belt glow white for a few seconds as he gawked at Zayina.
“’No good at it’?! Zayina, you’re the best in the entire circuit! You won all your battles for the last two years of your career with unevolved Pokémon! There’s no way you’re ‘no good at it’! What the heck are you trying to pull?!”
“You wouldn’t understand,” Zayina mumbled.
Sapph didn’t flinch. Keeping his gaze steady, he said in a level voice, “Try me.”
“I try every time to win the Gatonda Tournament. You’d think I’d have won it by now, unevolved Pokémon or not,” Zayina choked out, tears forming in her eyes as she looked at her knees. “If I can’t cut it at a little league tournament, why bother for the big time? Why keep going if we’ll never win it altogether?”
“Who the hell told ya that?!” Sapph said quietly.
Before Zayina could answer, a voice close to Sapph’s right ear piped up, “Excuse me? Are you Sapphire Manson?”
“Yeah, I’m Sapph,” the boy trainer said, turning around to see a young girl who look a few days shy of ten dressed in a white floral print dress and black leggings standing behind him. “And you are?”
“Milane Carter,” she said, her long hair done up in a single ponytail. “I heard you were the best around, and I wanted to test me and my partner out. Would you help us out, please?”
Wordlessly looking at Shrader to see if there was a problem with it and receiving a mute shake of the head in reply, Sapph turned back to Milane and said, “Not to claim the title of the ‘best around’, but sure, why not? One more battle couldn’t kill.”
As they took their places in the Battle Ring, Sapph had no idea how much he’d regret his last five words.
*continued next post*