At long last... the wait is over!
Phew-ee! After two months of waiting, the time has come to get on with the story. I'll take the time now to apologize for any undue inconveniences such as nervous breakdowns, self-wetting and half-crazed suicide attempts the wait may have caused.
Rated
T for first-class violence.
And yes, I know Machamp can't learn Shadow Punch. Bite me.
Chapter Thirty: T.K.O.
Wispy cirrus clouds swirled around an ancient Far-Eastern style city seated high atop a snowy mountain. Houses with scarlet pagoda-shaped roofs ringed the mountain top crested by an enormous temple, so similar to the numerous dwellings surrounding it, but on a much bigger scale. A hundred-to-one size scale.
Children ran up and down the windy cobbled streets that meandered between the numerous houses, all of which wore simplistic clothing that would befit the formerly nomadic lifestyle of the people. Women conversed as they went about their daily business, their hair arranged in a variety of simple styles that would heavily hint their dislike for the flashy hairstyles many women would like to go for.
The start of this chapter of the story, however, lies in the temple; home to the upper echelon monks of Dopeak City, which have included the gym leader and the town guard since the ancient town’s conception so many years ago. Many monks with silk robes of red and gold went about fulfilling their duties, be them to themselves (in the form of rigorous training or meditation) or to the community (as in safeguarding the cultural heritage and peace of the city.) Innumerable training fields dotted the temple, making it chilly and bitter cold, but the people there were not there for comfort, for their way of life was to live with as little complications as possible. Despite being well cared for in general, these parts of the temple still had grass poking out through the edges and cracks of the paving slabs.
In the middle of one field in particular facing the eastern sun was a boy monk scarcely older than nine, draped in a monk’s outfit with several slight differences. His yellow undershirt only provided cover for the right side of his upper torso whilst the left side down to the chest was left exposed. A red robe slung over the same shoulder offered little extra protection from the bitter cold. The cloak stopped at his waist where a red and gold belt held up a pair of dark brown trousers which stopped a few inches shy of his bare feet. His legs crossed in an intricate fashion, the boy’s eyes were closed as he sat in a meditative position.
An older sage walked out onto the field in a towering temper, his grizzled toothless mouth forming a severe line as he strode out towards the boy who gave no indication that he was aware of his company.
Bowing respectfully, the old, balding sage began, “Brother Lhi...”
“...Brother Chen is missing again, is he not, Master Hang?” the boy said softly, not opening his eyes as continued his meditation.
The sage bowed again and went on in an irritable tone, “the boy has no regard for tradition whatsoever. His constant roaming the city should bring his role as gym leader into serious...”
“We have been over this, Master Hang,” Lhi said without a trace of irritation. “Brother Chen is part of a gym leader team. I am another part. We complete each other and we work together. If one of us goes, the other goes with him.”
“B-but his disregard for the rules!” the sage spluttered. “His utter disrespect for tradition...!”
“Are little more than a desire for freedom and fun,” Lhi replied slowly, his deep, steady breathing remaining uninterrupted. “He is, as I am, only nine, and as a leader,” he went on, overriding the older Hang’s imminent interruption, “I deem it wise of him to want to be with the people we are charged to safeguard.”
“But... but...” Elder Hang said in spluttering disbelief.
“I wish not to discuss this any further, Master Hang,” Lhi said with a trace of finality in his calm, lilting voice. “As his best friend and spiritual brother, I have understood him perfectly and assure you there is no monk in this temple who is more suited to be a gym leader.”
Lhi then rose to his feet and walked out of the clearing meditatively, leaving the seething sage in his wake. In an undertone, he added, “Not even myself.”
***
The bustling market place was teeming with townsfolk attending to their stores, chores or simply meeting to discuss life. At a small earthenware shop, a young girl, with her shiny black hair in a long plait that reached the small of her back was showing a customer some of their merchandise.
“Ming! Come over here, please!” A loud voice called from the back of the store.
Bowing respectfully to the customer, she trotted through the back door towards a low couch where a man who was unmistakeably her father lay on his back, his leg which lay in a cast propped up on the arm rest.
“What is wrong, Father?” Ming asked, worry etched in her blue eyes as she crouched near where her father’s head lay.
“Nothing severe, my dear,” her father reassured her, propping himself up into a sitting position as he reached for his cane. “I just recalled that we needed to send the order of bone china bowls to the noodle shop on Light Street today and I was wondering if you could get them there. Of course, I’d have asked your brother, Weng, but he has not returned from the hills as of yet.”
“But, of course, Father,” Ming replied, rising to her red-and-gold slipper-clad feet. “Shall I close the shop?”
“No, no,” the middle aged man replied softly, his long thin moustache waving as he used his walking cane to rise to his feet, favouring his good right foot. “I shall manage until you return.”
Ming nodded dutifully and pulled off her white storekeeper’s apron, hanging it on a nail above the doorway as she walked out and towards a wagon laden with ceramic merchandise. Ming exhaled a couple of times and for a girl so small and seemingly frail managed to pull the cart along.
Unfortunately, many of Dopeak’s cobbled streets were sharp inclines up and down the mountainside and no matter how often it is done, many nine year old girls simply cannot pull a heavy cart uphill behind them for long. It was not long, therefore, when Ming noticed that she had reached her limit and leaned against a lamppost whilst clutching the cart, gasping for breath.
“Tired already, Ming?” A spritely voice called from somewhere above her head, and with her long curtain of shiny black hair following her, she glanced up into the branches of a nearby tree and cracked a tired smile. Wheeling the barrow towards the tree, she simply said, “Hello there, Chen.”
A boy of nine years dropped out of the tree, brushing leaves off his bright blue and gold tracksuit, which was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to features that set this boy apart from others in the city.
His hair which, he had let grow in what may have been considered sacrilegious rebellion, although short, was laid messily atop his round, cheery face. Walking towards Ming, his dark eyes spelled concern as he took hold of the bar where an animal would be yoked and said brightly, “Girls shouldn’t carry heavy stuff around. They should leave it for the strong boys and men of the village.”
Ming shook her head in mild exasperation, a humoured expression on her face as she relinquished possession of the cart. While many a person would take offense at the boy’s cheerful wisecracks, she knew Chen didn’t really mean to sound arrogant and was far too used to his smart-alecky comments to be bothered.
“You’re a brat, you know that?” she said, pretending to be annoyed.
“I know you are, but what am I?” Chen quipped with a wink.
With a theatrical pout, Ming said, “You’re going to get the monks angry at you if you keep skipping out of the temple, you know. Don’t you care what’ll happen when they find out?”
“Frankly, they already know,” Chen said nonchalantly. “But the temple gets boring after a while. And you know me,” he added with a smirk. “I’m allergic to stuffy old stiffs like Master Han and the rest of my Hate Club up there.”
Ming giggled. Her friend was truly a master of keeping things light-hearted, no matter how tough things were or could be.
“So,” Chen remarked, as they meandered their way in between shoppers on their way up the hill. “How is your father’s foot?”
“Much better,” Ming replied, keeping up with her friend as they took a detour down a side street to avoid the human congestion. “The herbs you got for him really helped.”
“That’s great,” Chen said happily as the duo emerged into a less crowded street which led down past the town square, in which a crowd was seemingly gathering.
“I wonder what’s going on over there,” Ming said curiously.
“Let’s go see,” Chen said eagerly and using the bulky cart to their advantage, Ming and Chen were able to get close enough to see what the center of attraction was.
Three trainers faced each other in a free-for-all one a piece battle. The shortest of the trainers, a young boy with messy dark brown hair and donning a bright red and white hoodie stood behind a green Pokémon that was probably a Grass type. Chen faced this pair and so couldn’t see the cape of leaves that grew behind the Pokémon’s back. Its purple eyes darted from the two Pokémon it was to face.
On the Squirrage’s left was a yellow and orange fowl, the upper half of its body sausage shaped white three feathers adorning the crown of its head. Its flat-looking hands ended in three sharp white claws that could do some serious damage. This Pokémon kept its orange eyes on the Pokémon on his and his trainer’s (a tall gangly teen with dark skin and black bobbed hair) left and her trainer.
The third trainer, and the only girl, and her Pokémon stood ready on the Squirrage’s right, the breeze ruffling the Water Hare’s cerulean fur and the girl’s long reddish-blonde hair which she wore in a single plait under her wide-brimmed cowboy hat. Her white shirt and denim, knee-length skirt danced a hampered dance in the wind as they waited for the signal to start, the trickling of the water fountain behind them tinkling merrily in the background amidst the crowd’s eager mutters.
Chen watched the match expectantly. He couldn’t place his finger on a reason, but he knew watching the match was important.
“After you, guys,” the boy in red said genially, almost as though offering them the first slice of a tasty pie.
“Your funeral, Sapph,” the Black boy shrugged before issuing his orders. “Phoenix, use Fire Punch on Anuvi.”
<Got it!> The Combusken yelled as he ran towards the Warrior Pokémon, his fists and claws alight with flames.
“Let’s go, Bubbles! Turn that squirrel into a snow cone with Blizzard!” The girl commanded her Water Pokémon.
“
Et tu, Haley?” Sapph joked as he watched Bubbles inhale deeply. “Then fall T.J.... you know what to do, Anuvi,” he added to his entrant for this encounter.
Anuvi merely nodded and directed his attention to the Combusken who was almost on top of him, and tensed his leg muscles in preparation to act. Bubbles the Aquala unleashed a frozen wave of wind just as the Combusken moved into range, its flaming claws reared back ready to strike.
Chen blinked twice as what happened next seemed not only impossible... it had happened in the blink of an eye. The crowd gasped as the Squirrage suddenly appeared in front of the black haired boy and the Combusken was washed over by the Blizzard attack intended for the Grass type counterpart.
If one could slow down everything, they’d have seen Anuvi duck under Phoenix’s fist, climb onto his assailant’s shoulder and kick off him twenty feet straight up, where he sped through towards the ground at the bewildered T.J.’s feet.
“Ay, Haley!” T.J. said angrily, as Phoenix exhaled heavily; throwing up his Fire Punch into the Blizzard was the only thing that had kept him from becoming a flash-frozen TV dinner. “Watch it!”
“Why?” Haley exclaimed in affronted tones as Bubbles glared at Anuvi, who smiled back. “This is a free-for-all!”
<
Yaiba no Hayashi time, Sapph?> Anuvi asked calmly as the two trainers bickered on.
“No,” Sapph said quietly. “I don’t want us to use it every single battle. Let’s rely on speed to win this one!”
<You’re the boss,> Anuvi shrugged before jumping for safety; while they were talking, Bubbles had lunged for Anuvi with streaks of golden light trailing behind her – trademark of her Take Down attack – and had rolled quite literally into the line of fire: Phoenix inhaled deeply, a ball of fire forming in his beak.
“Anuvi, Quick Attack!” Sapph called enthusiastically, and Anuvi vanished and reappeared in a heartbeat. Phoenix was sent flying into the fountain, gripping his gut in pain.
“Bubbles, use Blizzard again!” Haley ordered, hoping to catch Sapph’s starter off guard. Bubbles sent another draught of arctic air at the woodland Pokémon, who leapt aside and ran around the ring of spectators so quickly he seemed to have teleported.
Bubbles' sharp hearing picked up a whistling sound and looked around behind them as a small comet streaked towards them, his claws raised in preparation to slash right through the two of them.
Anuvi jumped away as on Haley’s command, Bubbles’ tail glowed silvery white as she swung it around at where Anuvi’s head was. Anuvi flipped onto his feet about five feet out of range and watched the collision between Iron Tail and Slash: in which Bubbles’ attack had slammed into the side of Phoenix’s head whilst T.J.’s Combusken’s claws raked the Water Hare’s side savagely leaving a trio of angry red scratches.
<Oh... de... arrr...> Anuvi chuckled as he saw both opponents go sailing towards opposite ends of the field and crumple up, each looking the worse for wear. <You know something, Sapph? If I didn’t know better, I’d think they’ve been trying to hit me just now.>
“Do you guys give up?” Sapph asked his friends brightly. “Or are we taking five?”
Both trainers scowled in unison and without a further word, returned their Pokémon to their pokéballs.
The crowd began to disperse, talking eagerly about the match they had just witnessed and the unbelievable speed and agility the Squirrage had displayed.
“Guess that’s a wrap, Anuvi,” Sapph said, sounding a little let-down at their eagerness to throw in the towel. Fishing out Anuvi’s pokéball, he pointed it at his Pokémon and said, “Return.”
As the Grass Pokémon returned in a blaze of green light, Sapph smiled and said to the others, “Looks like we're ready for the prime time tomorrow, eh guys?”
“Tomorrow?” Haley queried in some surprise. “You’re not going to the gym now?”
“Nah,” Sapph said calmly. “The gym isn’t going anywhere. And easy as that may have seemed (T.J. and Haley scowled again), I think it’s best we get some rest and think up a strategy for tomorrow... this is the third strongest gym leader, after all...”
And with that, Sapph turned and strolled up the road to the Pokémon Center, past a gawking Haley and a distracted T.J., who seemed to be looking for someone or something in the crowd that wasn’t there anymore.
“Sapph... thinking up strategies? The world’s come to an end,” Haley said in disbelief.
Further up the road, Chen had an excited, eager smile on his face as he pushed the cart up the road, Ming walking beside him in ponderous silence.
“So... what did you think?” Ming finally asked her friend as they reached the delivery address and as she knocked on the door.
“Well... T.J.’s not here to challenge us for a badge... and Haley’s certainly not ready to do so,” Chen said calmly. “That boy in the red jacket – ‘Sapph’, they called him – he seems to be the one to expect something from.”
“And what do you expect?”
“Quite the match.”
***
The full moon hung high in the sky that night as Chen executed some complex shadow boxing
kata in the middle of one of the temple’s airy training grounds. The night’s cold wind was wintry and the fact that Chen wore nothing but a plain white vest over his torso made it look likely that the boy was sure to catch a cold.
“You’re breathing’s a little off, Brother Chen,” a soft lilting voice announced, causing the young boy’s head to bring his training session to an end as he said without turning around, “Evening, Brother Lhi.”
The close-shaven boy walked into the clearing, still dressed in his monk’s habit, a totally unfazed look upon his face as he approached his fellow monk-in-training.
“Master Han spoke to me again today,” Lhi said in a calm voice as he sat down on the edge of the training ground under the glow of the moon and assumed a meditative stance. “Must you aggravate the higher elders every day?”
After drying himself off with a towel, Chen walked over to where Lhi sat and sat by his side, assuming an identical meditative stance. “Aw, c’mon Lhi,” he said in a false, whiney voice. “Where would the fun be around here if I didn’t keep everybody’s blood pressure up?”
“You are as irresponsible as ever, Brother Chen,” Lhi said with a bite of irritation in his voice. “I frankly wonder if the only reason they haven’t replaced us yet is due to our insistence to fight as a tag team... or the results that we usually yield whenever we do so.”
“You and Ming are so alike,” Chen chuckled. “Are you sure you’re cootie-free?”
“At least your girl friend has some sense of responsibility,” Lhi said, in his patient voice. “Someone could use a lesson in keeping a level head...”
“Hmm,” Chen said calmly, staring up at the moon.
“Something big must have happened today to make you get lost in thought,” Lhi said calmly. Flashing a rare smirk, he said coyly, “Did Ming kiss you today?”
Chen shivered from head to foot and fell slowly onto his side with a comical clunk, and in a voice of dead calm that would scare the meanest Gengar, said in a menacing whisper, “Don’t ever ask me that again, Lhi.”
Laughing softly, Lhi said, “So that’s a no. So what is on your mind?”
“Tomorrow’s challenger, Sapph Manson,” Chen said, sitting up properly and staring down at his trembling hands as he clasped them tighter in meditation. “He seems extraordinarily strong. I saw him take down two Pokémon at once.”
“Ah,“ was all Lhi could say.
“And you know what was amazing? He didn’t seem to be trying,” Chen said, a slight quiver in his voice.
After a moment’s reflection, Lhi said calmly, “I’ve heard of him. He’s aroused mixed reactions amongst the gym leaders. Clyff and Fuego think he’s an arrogant troublemaker, but no one would really take a narcissist like Fuego seriously. Arlene and Ricon were highly impressed with his prowess, particularly Arlene. I suppose winning the Gatonda Tournament must have added fuel to her admiration. Cassandra’s somewhere in-between.” Noticing Chen’s trembling voice, he added, “Are you afraid of him, Brother Chen?”
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Chen said. “I’m more shaken up than an overexcited Toxicroak after its anticipation kicks in!”
“That’s good. Fear dulls the force a fighter and blocks a warrior’s Qi,” Lhi said exhaling calmly.
“Thanks for the sermon, Guru Peachy Preachy,” Chen said with a rolling of the eyes and a smirk of his own.
***
“Phew! Would ya get a load of this place!” Sapph whistled in appreciation as he, Haley and T.J. had been ushered in by the monks who stood guard at the entrance. Sapph stared around at the statues that lined the stairways up the draughty temple which despite a crack here and there gave off the impression of being well-maintained.
“It certainly is a gym with a difference,” Haley mused, taking in the architecture with interest. Shivering slightly, she added, “The locals certainly seem inappropriately dressed though, don’t they?” eying a pair that sparred nearby, bare-chested and wearing only long pants of a light material.
“It’s all in the name of training both body and spirit, Haley,” T.J. said matter-of-factly. “I’m so excited to be here... I hope they accept me apprenticeship letter... I’m totally nervous!”
“Well, I don’t see how they couldn’t, so relax. Help me find the gym leaders...” Sapph said when a loud voice interrupted him.
“STATE YOUR PURPOSES!” A loud call resounded as twenty or so monks came from the top of the stairs ad formed three ranks, seemingly intent on preventing Sapph and company from climbing any higher.
“Oh, boy,” Sapph said enthusiastically, pulling off a pokéball and enlarging it with a roll of his fingers. “A warm-up act.”
“Stand down, brothers,” a soft voice said authoritatively, and all the monks fell to the sides and bowed, creating a pathway through their formation.
A boy who looked younger than Sapph and dressed in identical fashion to the monks on either side of the stairs, walked down towards them slowly, another boy in a navy blue and white
chengsam and long blue pants strolling along besides him. Stopping about four steps above Sapph, Haley and T.J., the boy in the habit said slowly and deliberately, “We have been expecting you, Sapphire Manson. And you, T.J. King. Welcome to the Dopeak City Gym. My name is Lhi...”
“... and I’m Chen! Here’s to a Gym battle to remember, right?” Chen said happily, bursting with energy.
Bowing respectfully, T.J. said loudly, “Thank you for your recognition, Master Lhi... Master Chen!”
Haley was taken aback as she spluttered, “Say what? You’re both Gym Leaders?!”
“Indeed,” Lhi said calmly. “Is that a problem?”
“Not to me!” Sapph said confidently. “Hope you have my badge under that robe!”
Chen snorted. “Hmph, we’re not exactly pushovers, Sapph! We can call you Sapph, right?” Turning to walk back up the stairs, he looked back at the trio and said, “Well, let’s get moving, we haven’t all day!”
As Sapph, Haley and T.J. looked at each other before following the boys into the temple, Chen turned to Lhi and muttered, “Watch out for his Squirrage... it’s got a lot of power and speed...”
“Relax, Brother Chen,” Lhi said confidently as they arrived at the expanse of space where Chen had been training the night before. “We are strong enough to beat anything that he may have up his sleeve...”
Sapph and the boys took their places on the field as Haley and T.J. hurried to get front row seats in the stands which many monks seemed to be occupying already. A bald monk whom they assumed to be the referee stepped up to the sidelines and raised his voice to explain the rules of the battle.
“The Official battle between Sapphire Manson and the Dopeak City Gym Leaders Lhi and Chen will now begin. If Sapphire wins, he will earn a Power Badge. Each side may use four Pokémon apiece,” the referee bagan.
“That’s funny,” Haley began in a wondering voice.
“What is?” T.J. asked turning in his seat to look at Haley.
“Usually, when people call Sapph by his full name, he gets a comical look on his face like he’s trying to lay an egg,” Haley said nonchalantly. “But today, Sapph seems... I dunno, focused.”
“Is that right,” T.J. said in surprise, turning back to glance at Sapph’s face, which indeed held a determined gleam seemingly absent during their training match the day before.
“It’s like the man wasn’t taking yesterday’s match seriously at all,” T.J. said in surprise as the ref went on in a loud voice.
“The format for the battle will be a double set format battle. Pokémon may be returned only in pairs and when it is unable to battle. Are all battlers ready?”
All three boys nodded in unison, none sparing words on anything other than the battle ahead of them.
“Let’s rumble!” Chen exclaimed, first off the mark. “Go, Champ!”
“Harleking, I require your aid!” Lhi called out, throwing down a red and white sphere of his own.
Sapph stared as his first opposition formed on the field from the familiar blasts of white light. One stood at over six feet tall, its four arms all muscle. This was putting it lightly; every single square inch of this Pokémon was muscle; from its paving slab-sized pecs and square inch abs. Its red eyes narrowed on the side of the arena where Sapph would release the Pokémon he would battle with.
Harleking, on the other hand, looked almost doll-like. Its balloon-shaped head was covered with what looked like a black yamakah and what looked like a white hakama was draped loosely over its sloping shoulders and slender arms which drooped to the floor. To Sapph, it looked like the Harleking’s biggest problem was standing up straight as he watched it slouch and slope from side to side.
Harleking, the Harlequin Pokémon, Sapph’s Pokédex chimed in.
Harlekng's the most flexible Pokémon in existence with every joint in its body capable of full three-sixty degree rotations which it uses in spinning slaps and kicks.
Guess that’s what you expect from a gym leader, Sapph thought with a slight smile.
“From your smile, I’d reckon you think you can take us!” Chen called out.
“Please do not disappoint us, Sapphire,” Lhi added quietly.
“Oh, I plan to do anything but,” Sapph said, still grinning. “Go, Zen... and... Ace, you too!”
With two more flashes of light, the Combatant and Swoop Pokémon took their places on (or in Ace’s case) above the field and stared down their opposition before noticing that they weren’t alone.
<What’s going on, kid?> Zen said coldly, flexing his prosthetic arm. <I can handle those lightweights solo... call Sergeant Bird Face back already!>
<While you’re the last Pokémon I’d want to work with,> Ace said in a clipped and affronted tone. <General Sapph’s orders are for us to team up. Also, I’d deem it unsightly for a comrade-at-arms to make light of any opposition, no matter how weak they may or may not be.>
“Round one: Taebrawl and Mawhoot versus Machamp and Harleking. Begin!” The referee announced with his arms crossed and a deep note from a large drum sounded, beginning the battle for the Power Badge.
“Zen, Aura Sphere! Ace, use Cyclone, go!”
<Don’t tell me what to do, kid!> Zen snapped as he charged up a sphere of spirit energy the size of a large orange as Ace reared back and lunged into the two Fighting types below her, spinning in her familiar spinning furrow of air.
“Champ, take the Aura Sphere head on and use Shadow Punch!” Chen commanded swiftly as Lhi’s only words to his Pokémon were, “Dodge it.”
Harleking swayed drunkenly in time with the spinning Mawhoot and avoided the spinning tornado nearly effortlessly. In the meanwhile, the Machamp took a few lumbering steps forward and with no external sign of pain took the powerful attack to the chest, but for all the world Zen might have well as shot it into the air; Champ the Machamp hardly fell out of step as he charged on, his eyes focused.
Sapph gasped as his mind which was focused on trying to accept the impossibility that a Pokémon had stood up to Aura Sphere and seemingly felt nothing finally registered the counterattack Chen had ordered.
Responding to Haley’s yelled, “SAPPH,” he called out, “Zen, try to use Confusion, quickly! Ace, double back and try an Aerial Ace!”
Ace promptly broke out of the spin and with an enormous loop-de-loop, sped towards the straightening Harleking, who looked at the descending Swoop Pokémon as his trainer called out the next command, “Detect.” And Detect, the Harleking did, swaying once more like bamboo in the wind as the Mawhoot breezed past with no effect whatsoever.
Zen, it seemed had other plans... breaking into a quick sprint, he bounded off the stone floor and twisting in midair launched himself into a Rolling Kick, that the Machamp blocked and rebuffed with one of its four arms. In what seemed to be one effortless motion, the Machamp swung its two opposite fists, which glowed with ghostly purple energy, into the Combatant Pokémon’s face and gut, sending Zen barrel-rolling back a few feet before he skidded to a halt, breathing hard as he used his metallic thumb to wipe a trickle of dark red blood from the corner of his mouth.
Fluttering down to flap beside Zen, Ace said indignantly, <Would you stop your blatant insubordination and do as you’re commanded?>
<By that kid? Guess again,> Zen scoffed, readying another Aura Sphere at Harleking. <Eat this!> He cried, flinging forward the orange-sized ball of energy careening for the seemingly fragile Fighting type.
Chen saw this coming a mile off and said, “C’mon, Sapph... work with me here! Champ, you know what to do!”
“You too, Harleking,” Lhi added to his Pokémon. “Be sure not to miss.”
<Yes, Master,> the Harleking muttered as the Aura Sphere was seconds away from impact.
<Aright! Let’s wrassel!> Champ bellowed, stepping in front of his partner and taking a second pulsing attack to the chest, shuddering slightly, but showing no other form of injury.
“He can’t take two attacks at the same time,” Sapph mused to himself. Aloud he ordered, “OK, we’re focusing on the Machamp first! Ace, use Aerial Ace! Zen, As soon as she hits, use Confusion!”
<Yes, sir!> Ace said, swooping high into the sky and looping back into another speedy assault.
“Now it’s time for us to attack,” Lhi said calmly. “If you will, Brother Chen... Harleking...”
Nodding, Chen turned to Champ and said, “Alrighty, buddy! Time for the Tag-team Rush!”
“What’s the Tag-team Rush?” Haley wondered aloud. T.J. shrugged, his green eyes on the four Pokémon as the next few seconds seemed to lengthen before his very eyes...
Ace was about five seconds away... Champ clasped his lower arms behind him in a leg-up fashion...
Four seconds... Harleking stepped onto the lift and sprang into the air. Ace, as her eyes were closed didn’t see this happening...
Three seconds... Harleking planted his foot into the juggernaut’s shoulder, and cocked back his left palm as Ace came closer...
Two seconds... Zen, in a fit of disobedience, turned to face his opposition sideways and with a stomp of his heel sent a row of boulders rising from the ground in a wave straight for the Machamp...
One second... Harleking brought down his palm onto Ace’s head sharply, discharging a blast of fighting energy as he did so and numbing the poor bird’s mind. In that instant time seemed to speed up for T.J. again as Machamp slammed two Dynamic Punches into the dizzy Flying type, sending her screeching backwards... right into the Ancientpower attack.
The onslaught of consecutive (and super effective) attacks would have been too much for any other Flying type to take. Due to the rigorous training she had undergone in her colony days, Ace somehow hung on, despite being severely wounded as the Harleking landed neatly on his toes, his blank, impassive face one of indifference.
“I think that’s the Tag-team Rush, Haley,” T.J. said in shock.
“No fooling,” Haley murmured back. “How Ace keeps flying after all the stuff she’s taken throughout this journey... I’m just glad she’s on Sapph’s side...”
“Zen, why’d you use Ancientpower?” Sapph demanded. “They’re Fighting types; using Psychic type moves is our best shot of succeeding...”
<Sorry, kid,> Zen said with a tone that plainly said that he wasn’t sorry in the slightest. <But I’m fighting this fight my way.>
“Would it kill you to try a little team work for once?” Sapph said indignantly.
<Hmm, let’s think,> Zen said, pulling a look of serious thought. <Yes, it will.>
And without a backwards look, Zen ran straight for the fighting type Pokémon, his cybernetic left hand raised with the purpose of decking them.
“This has gone on long enough,” Lhi said softly. “Brother Chen?”
“Well, all right,” Chen agreed, nodding once to his Pokémon.
As Zen got close enough, he thrust his fist forward, looking like he’d finally score a clean hit on the Harlequin Pokémon... only for his arm to jam inches from Harleking’s face.
<Damned!> Zen thought, too close and moving too fast to stop as Harleking’s form seemed to ripple like water before his very eyes as Harleking leaned back and out of harm’s path, leaving an expectant Machamp waiting... with no pleasurable agenda in mind.
Zen’s world went from just plain bad to black as the Machamp seized him by the face with one dustbin cover-sized palm and lifting him bodily by the head, proceeded to smash Zen into the stone floor, back first. Zen’s body erupted in pain all over as the force of Zen’s collision with the earth sent him flying about three feet into the air and into a world of dizzying pain.
“Ace, you need to help him!” Sapph cried out. “Use Cyclone!”
<Yes, Sir!> Ace said through gritted beak, and rising into the air, spun herself into a tornado once more and shot towards the defenceless Superpower Pokémon.
“Oh, no you don’t, Sapphire,” Lhi said staunchly. “Harleking! Let’s block that attack!”
Harleking nodded once to show his compliance, and using its high speed rotation, dug its palms under the freshly-unearthed rocks used by Zen’s Ancientpower attack and sent them flying towards the tip of the spinning wind serpent that was Ace with a Russian Lariat motion.
Sapph winced as they made contact, forcing Ace out of the spin and looping back painfully, her strength fading fast. A loud sound coming from Zen and Machamp’s general direction distracted him though, and as he watched, Zen was kicked in the small of his back like a soccer ball thirty feet into the air with a painful gargle.
Crouching low, Champ propelled himself into the air using his lower body strength until he came up level with Zen’s limp body. Zen took the chance to lash back with an impromptu midair Rolling Kick, which Champ blocked by catching the kick in his bare hand. Snatching hold of Zen’s metallic arm as gravity began to arrest their movement through the air, the Machamp spun once, twice and with an earth-shaking force, slammed Zen into the ground... chest first.
Many a monk winced and Haley clapped a hand to her mouth in horror as T.J. swore, “Damn... now that was a Seismic Toss...”
Zen’s face was screwed up in pain he was refusing to show, by closing his eyes tightly. As he felt himself being lifted bodily from the Zen-shaped dent he’d left in the ground by his left arm, Zen felt little strength left in his body to fight against the pressure building up in his false appendage. He dimly registered Chen and Sapph’s protests before with a splintering cacophony, he felt the limb that had given him the opportunity to carry on fighting for a year, his lifeline to being completely whole...
...shatter into a billion pieces of metallic shrapnel.
Bored, Champ tossed the Taebrawl to the floor where he landed on his already tender chest and skidded to an ungainly halt still on his belly about eight feet away. Jeers and disappointed sounds filled the air as spectators began to protest at the treatment Zen had received or at the Combatant Pokémon, telling him not to get up again and just lie there. Opening one saffron eye painfully as he raised his oddly-lopsided body up slightly, he stared up into the crowd... where one face made his world come crashing down around his ears, trebling the aches and pain his bruised body was feeling in comminute spasms.
For in the crowd, even amongst a sea of strangers’ faces... his stood out sharply, vividly... transparently clear...
He hadn’t changed at all since they had parted ways for what seemed like a lifetime ago to Zen... the same crew cut... the same moustache... the same face... only the eyes seemed different now: cold, appraising and... disappointed.
Zen began to tremble as he saw to the man’s right, a small, grey muscly figure with a slight pot belly and the same red eyes and three cranial ridges as the Machamp seated quietly, watching his former confidante get the snot kicked out of him effortlessly. Zen could hardly believe they were here... could hardly believe the evidence his senses presented him with... that after a year of abandonment, of solitude... he’d look into the eyes of that man...
The man who’d laughed with him, supported him, kept him going when all seemed to stand against him up till a year ago, when the man, rather than face shameful exile, abandoned him, his most faithful friend...
<
Master?>
*continued next post*