The LAST Chapter up!
Reason I asked is I wanted to know how much longer we'd be reading this, but eh. I understand completely and am not upset at you ending the story; rather, my irritation is with Game Freak, who have been rather bad historically at making a Pokémon game worth playing after the main story is done.
Well, here's to Wes, Rui, Afro and Miror B. *raises glass*
Fair enough to ask the question, haha. And Tom wants one of those glasses too. =p
NO! STAY BACK! *Waves stick like a madman* Are you crazy? We're built on a desert with no solid underground! One good misting and whoosh! We're washed halfway to Unova!
Cipher's newest plan shall involve Kyogre.
Damn... I haven't been to this fic in almost a year...
Good to see you again! =D
Congrats to Makuhita (Hariyama) for evolving! I was getting a little worried there. At least he's not punching things (or people!) as much. xDD
Nope. Well, not on-screen anyways. =p
-reads some of the parts about Ein- I think all that special coffee Ein made for himself may have furked himself up more than he realized. He may want to screen himself for cancer or some sort of mutation. o.o"
Hmm, yes, it probably wasn't very safe. Hey, maybe that's why he didn't show up in XD:GoD?
Umbreon is still effing WIN. I wish I could have both him and Espeon for my pets, although they may make my hair go gray prematurely. xDDD
I don't remember if I asked before, but could you put me on the PM list?
Keep it up, B&B!! ;151;
They would make for awesome pets, I bet. XD I'd like them myself!
And added to the list. So expect a PM in a short bit!
And so here is, finally, the last chapter. \o/
But not the last say on this story; a couple of days later I'll be posting a short extra thing that I had (mostly) written up a good while ago, and about a week after now give or take a few days will be the epilogue. Nonetheless, I'll still say a quick thanks for reading to all of you now! I'm glad to have entertaining such a surprisingly large amount of people with this story; certainly far more than I expected when I started out on a whim, although mind you I didn't think it would have taken so long in the first place too. XD I'll go into greater length with this later though; probably a while after the epilogue is posted.
Thanks, once again, to Chris the Com for beta reading this. I assure you if it were not for him there would be
many more errors.
Chapter 25 – The Final Showdown
Nascour and Es Cade stood in the middle of the Colosseum’s battle arena, surrounded by a large audience sitting patiently in the stands. A group of Cipher grunts stood to the side, awaiting their opportunity to begin their battle. The field was Poké Ball shaped, with one half of the stage red and the other blue, with a white centre and line separating the two halves. The elevator the two men had used that popped out of the centre of the arena had been sent down, and a microphone stand had been set up in its place.
“Right,” Evice murmured to Nascour quietly, “a two minute speech should be plenty, and after we formally open the Colosseum, we’ll leave.”
“Alright, I’ll begin then,” Nascour said. He gazed around at the chattering crowd and cleared his throat before tapping the microphone. “Hmm, it doesn’t appear to be on...Testing, one two THREE!” he said, before it suddenly turned itself on as he said the last word which echoed loudly around the stands. Everyone fell silent and stared for a moment before they cheered and began to chant the number.
“Uh, right,” Nascour continued. “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Realgam Tower Colosseum!” One of the Cipher peons then stepped forward and brandished a sign stating ‘APPLAUSE’ on it, and the crowd obeyed the command.
“We really need to get an electronic version of one of those installed,” the mayor muttered to himself. “Or just use our large television display for it...”
“Today, you will witness a fine display of Pokémon battling from our group of specialists! But do take care to note that this is only a mere taste of what you can expect to see in future battles, both in exhibition matches and in formal Colosseum challenges you can take part in yourself!” Again the Cipher peon waved the sign, and again the audience gave their applause.
“Do...I need to say anything more than that?” Nascour asked the mayor.
“No. Oh wait,” he added, noticing a man in a ridiculous costume wave at them from the sidelines. “I suppose we need to let our main sponsor have their say. Here are the details.” The mayor handed Nascour a small card.
“Fair enough,” Nascour agreed, before using the microphone again. “And now a word from our main sponsor, Terry’s Terrific Toasting Takeaway! Where all toasters toast toast!” Nascour then looked with puzzlement at the card, and then at the man who approached them; it appeared that his costume was a poor attempt at a toaster impersonation, but why they would choose that to be their mascot was anyone’s guess. The man did not look too happy to be there either; he was clearly sweating buckets from within his enclosed suit as he stood in front of the microphone. The desert was the last place anyone would want to be dressed like that.
Then again, Nascour mused,
I suppose it’s a fitting getup to be literally toasted in...
“Hello,” he began.
“And that’s the word from our sponsor,” Nascour briskly said, clicking his fingers. Two of the other Cipher peons then grabbed the man and hauled him away before he could say anything else, and the first one held the sign up again. As the crowd merely murmured in confusion, the peon looked at the sign, realised it read ‘APPLE SAUSE’ crossed out on the side he was displaying and flipped it around so the correct word appeared. The moment he did loud clapping sounded once again.
“Well,” Nascour continued, ignoring this minor hiccup, “with that, we now conclude- hey!” he shouted as the elevator underneath the microphone stand suddenly appeared again in the centre of the stage. Nascour grabbed the microphone from its position just before it moved out of reach and stepped back.
“Now what?” the mayor growled. He then gasped as Wes and Rui stepped out.
“So soon? What was Miror B doing?” he shouted.
“Aha! Get ready, Rui!” Wes shouted. A few from the crowd recognised the pair of teenagers from the numerous reports in recent weeks and cheered. Es Cade noticed this and grabbed the microphone from the stunned Nascour.
“And to begin the proceedings!” he proclaimed loudly. “We have our very own local celebrities in Wes and Rui, who have no doubt captured the region’s hearts and minds as they worked together with the police, as you all know!” Wes and Rui both frowned in confusion as they heard his words, but Evice only grinned at them. “So who better to challenge our team of battlers in a grand melee? An all-out brawl, five versus two!” The crowd cheered again as the group of Cipher peons advanced, bringing out their Poké Balls.
“For now the two of us must be off, but do enjoy the battle!” he shouted. He then turned to Wes and Rui.
“Enjoy,” he said, and motioning to Nascour to follow, he turned and left, taking the microphone with him. He muttered something to the group of Cipher agents as he passed them, and Nascour lingered a moment to smile nastily at the pair of trainers.
“Wha...” Rui said slowly before turning to the crowd. “HEY! THOSE TWO ARE REALLY IN CHARG-” Unfortunately for the two, Nascour snapped his fingers again as he left, and loud battle music immediately followed, rendering her shouting useless. A large television screen behind them switched on as well, and displayed the arena for the audience’s convenience. Rui continued regardless, but Wes rested a hand on her shoulder.
“No point trying,” Wes said.
“He’s a quick thinker, isn’t he...” Rui said, glowering at the situation and how they had just walked away from them. The two then backed off into one half of the battle arena as the five opponents arranged themselves on the red side of the stage, blocking the exit that Nascour and Es Cade had chosen. A strange man dressed as a toaster was lying on the side flailing about, having seemingly fallen over somehow, but Wes chose to ignore that detail.
“Miror B wasn’t kidding about being ready for a battle, huh?” Wes replied. “Send out your Quagsire for now, and resort to Suicune at the end if need be.”
“O-Okay,” she said, throwing out her Poké Ball, as Wes sent out his entire party save for Entei.
“Don’t worry,” he said softly, and smiled at Rui. “We’ll get through this. And while they get themselves ready...” he added as he noticed the Cipher agents send out their own Pokémon. “Everyone else, prepare for a battle! Yanma, come here!” he shouted as he rummaged through his bag. The Bug/Flying type was in front of Wes’ face an instant later and buzzed happily, as the rest of Wes and Rui’s Pokémon appeared to face their foes.
“Yanma Yan Yan!”
(Ohh-what’s-that-is-it-a-present?) he asked curiously as Wes pulled out a small capsule.
“Right, this isn’t in liquid form as you’re used to, but rather condensed in this capsule. But I hope you like it all the same!” He then held it out. Yanma curiously hovered still in the air and nibbled on the pill.
“Wait, what is that?” Rui asked. “I mean, I know you bought it from the shop before we left, but...”
“Capsule form of coffee,” Wes said. “It came free with bread from Pyrite’s store, so I figured it might come in use! I did promise him coffee yesterday as well, after all.”
Suddenly Yanma’s buzzing rose several octaves, and Wes took a step back as its eyes bulged out. The Pokémon grinned back and suddenly flew rapidly around Wes, appearing as a mere streak of green and red to the two trainers. His chatter increased to the point in which it sounded like a continuous hum rather than repetitions of its name.
“Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!”
(Ohmygoshthatisverytasty-nowIamflyingveryfastfastfastwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!)
“Now go chase those two men and stop them from-” Wes began, but it had already left before he could finish.
“Okay, good thinking. Hopefully he can stop them from escaping for a while then!” Rui said, already brightening up.
“Yes – hopefully long enough to either finish this battle or for the police to arrive. Right, let’s see what we’re up against...” Wes said, observing the Pokémon that had appeared in front of him, as well as the trainers. It seemed they each specialised in a specific type; one had sent out only Fire types, another Grass, the third Dark types, and the remaining two trainers sent out a trio and pair of Normal types respectively.
“What are they called?” Rui said, consulting her P*DA, but Wes already waved his in the air.
“I know some already, but... Houndoom, Magcargo, Torkoal make up that bunch, there’s a Cacturne, Vileplume, Tropius and Cradily there...” he begun, pointing at the Pokémon as he named them. “Mightyena, Absol, and that floundering one is a Sharpedo, Miltank, Porygon2 and a Zangoose, and Spinda,” he finished. “Might as well let you know what they are if you need to give some specific instruction after all!”
“Alright,” Rui said, trying to repeat the names quietly.
“Any of those Pokémon Shadow?” Wes asked.
“Yeah... Absol, Mootank, uh... Tropic Dinosaur thing and... Doom Dog?” Rui answered uncertainly.
“Okay, I know which ones you’re talking about but I guess we shouldn’t worry about names...” Wes said, before trailing off as his mouth hung open.
“What is it?” Rui asked, frowning as Wes stared at the opponents. “Are one of those Pokémon super strong or something?”
“No... I noticed something else that stands out like a sore thumb,” he said. Then he shouted at one of the battlers.
“Oi, Tom!”
***
Meanwhile, the battle by the front of the tower had already nearly drawn to a close. The combined forces of the police and Team Snagem members had overwhelmed the Cipher agents, and only a few now remained, desperately trying to defend the entrance after Hariyama has just strode in after he had gotten bored of bashing their heads together. Allowing himself a smile at the good progress, Sherles then attended to his P*DA which beeped upon receiving a message. He glanced at it and nodded, before typing a quick reply.
“Okay men, let’s start to look at moving in...”
“Sir, what’s that? In the distance,” one officer asked, pointing. A strange object was running towards the tower, with brown dust billowing out into the air from behind it. Sherles picked up his binoculars and gazed at the object.
“Raikou?” he said incredulously.
“Raikou!” one of the Cipher agents shouted, grabbing at a Poké Ball and hurling it at its direction, but it easily missed as the beast ran right past the man, leaving him and the men around him in a fit of coughing as the dust cloud it left behind in its wake enveloped them.
“It fled again,” Sherles sighed as he watched it. He then frowned as it proceeded to jump on the tower and run straight up the building’s stalk.
“That’s something you don’t see every day,” he muttered. He then sent out his Alakazam and waved a hand in the direction of the remained Cipher agents who were still coughing violently. The Alakazam obliged and held up its two spoons high into the air, light gleaming brightly from the two pieces of cutlery as the policemen and Team Snagem members turned away. A moment later the criminals screamed as they fell to the ground, clutching at their eyes.
“Right, you five round them up,” Sherles instructed. “You might want to use extra rope for Dakim too, by the way.” He then turned to the group in red and nodded his head. “Team Snagem members, you are free to depart; thank you deeply for your help here. All charges are dropped! The rest, follow me into the tower. I think we’re done here.”
***
“Nice thinking there, Evice,” Nascour muttered as they approached an empty part of the tower well away from the Colosseum battle. The crowd cheering and music was considerably quieter here, and nobody else was in the area save for the two men.
“Thank you,” he said, adjusting his collar. “I’m surprised they got here so fast, but I don’t see them getting past that group so easily,” he smirked. “And here are our rides out of here!” He motioned grandly to a pair of helicopters positioned in the middle of the platform.
“Good...but can you fly these?” Nascour asked uncertainly.
“No need to, my good man! These are set to fly by themselves-what was that?” Es Cade asked suddenly as a flash of colour buzzed past him and lightly bumped into one of the helicopters.
“A...Yanma?” Nascour asked, staring at the bug fly around the helicopter before it turned to stare back with its large eyes.
“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN,”
(OhgoodyIfoundyouguys-Iamgoingtostopyoufromdoingthings-becausecoffeecoffeecoffee-Ilikecoffeedoyouthisisamazingcoffee,) it buzzed. Naturally neither man understood what it had said, but both were unsettled by the way it was tilting its head and buzzing loudly with an impossibly large grin on its face.
“Well...probably some trainer’s Pokémon that got loose,” Nascour suggested, attempting to walk past it. It quickly droned loudly and flew into his head, knocking the man backwards and onto the ground.
“Arrgh!” Nascour managed, rubbing his back as he stood back up. “The heck is this?”
“He’s not letting us past, it seems,” the mayor noted. Then the Yanma shrilled loudly at the two men, forcing them to cover their ringing ears.
“Yes, I gathered! Let’s see how he likes this then,” he said, pulling out a Poké Ball and sending out a Pokémon of his own in Blaziken. The humanoid Fire/Fighting Pokémon assumed a fighting stance but immediately squawked loudly as the Yanma head-butted him repeatedly.
“Destroy the bug,” Nascour ordered. The Blaziken responded by leaping at the bug and attempting to swat it, but it flew behind it instantly and shrilled at it with another Bug Buzz attack.
“YAAAAA!”
(ThisisfunIlikefundoyoubecauseIdo!) Yanma exclaimed, performing precisely fifty-six somersaults in the air as it screeched.
The Blaziken responded by growling and setting both of its arms on fire, and punching out in the air with surprising speed.
“YAN!”
(Thatisnotfunnoitisnot!) Yanma stated, narrowly flying backwards away from the danger. The Blaziken leapt after it but the Yanma continued to fly just out of the Pokémon’s reach time and time again as it chased after it, flailing its arms. It soon grew tired of this and fired flames from its beak, which narrowly missed the bug but succeeded in striking one of the helicopters.
“Blaz,”
(Whoops,) the Blaziken muttered, scratching its beak.
“No!” Nascour shouted angrily, recalling his Pokémon and staring in anguish at the flames already spreading upon the metal as Yanma flew around the aircraft.
“That went well,” Evice said drily.
“Oh, I’ll get him good in a second, don’t you worry!” Nascour spat, sending out his Metagross which landed on the ground with a large
clump.
“Restrain that Yanma!” Nascour shouted. The Metagross obliged, glowing a deep purple and focusing on the bug, which was suddenly surrounded by the same colour. Suddenly Yanma found himself floating towards the Metagross, unable to move away no matter how fast he beat his wings.
“YAAAAAANNN!”
(Thisisnotveryfun-whyisthishappening-whywouldyoudothis-Iwantmorecoffee-youareblueandmeanandnotfair!) Yanma wailed as he came to a stop in front of the Metagross.
“Metagross,”
(Initialising Victory Sequence,) the Shadow Pokémon droned, keeping the Yanma stuck in the air and raising one spiked limb, preparing to crush it into the ground.
“That’ll show you,” Nascour said with glee.
“Uh...Nascour?” the mayor asked quietly.
“What?” Nascour asked.
“What is that?”
“What is what?”
“RAIKOU!”
(ROAR!)
Nascour turned his head. “Oh, that’s a Raikou. Now, Meta-” He suddenly realised what he had said and stared at the yellow beast, which was slowly advancing towards the two. Thoughts quickly ran through his mind, including wondering if Ein had suddenly magically appeared, how the Shadow Raikou had managed to get here in the first place and why was it growling at them.
“I think we should run back,” the mayor suggested as Ein failed to appear.
“Quite. Metagross, take that Raikou down!” Nascour commanded before he sprinted back. The mayor followed, albeit slower given his stouter figure. The Metagross used its psychic powers to throw the Yanma into the Raikou and then turned around to face this new foe, while the Yanma hurriedly flew away as fast as it could from the snarling beast and zoomed after the two men, buzzing anxiously all the way.
“Metagross,”
(New target confirmed and engaged,) the Steel/Psychic type hummed as it landed on the ground and sent a wave of Psychic energy at the legendary. Raikou responded with another roar and a volley of sparks that danced upon the Metagross’ body upon impact. As Nascour’s Pokémon’s monotonic hum jumped up an octave the Raikou turned around and sprinted after the two men and Yanma.
“Meta,”
(The wild Raikou fled,) the Pokémon concluded before it rose silently into the air and gave chase.
***
“Hiysa, supermam!” Tom shouted back to Wes, waving his arms and suddenly stumbling into one of the other Cipher peons.
“Hey, keep it together man,” one of the agents said. He pushed him away, but Tom was too busy waving at Wes to care.
“Excellent – I think we just got some unexpected help,” Wes said to Rui. “I have
no idea why he is here; I suppose the train he caught led him here but... Tom, I’ll buy you a drink if you help me fight these four people!” Wes called.
“YUS!” Tom shouted. He then looked at his two Spinda he had sent out. “Doey teh...uh, punchyunch crunch!” The two Pokémon staggered towards the Cipher guards’ Pokémon and before they had realised the threat they flung their stubby paws into the guards’ own Pokémon rather than Wes and Rui’s. One punch landed on the flying dinosaur Tropius, which gave a strange screech and flew into the air, and then began flinging the fruit that hung from its neck down below in anger. Some of the Shadow Pokémon’s projectiles landed on the rest of the Pokémon clustered together in the crowded arena, and the rest flew at the audience.
“Hey, cut that out!” its trainer yelled, only to receive a banana to the face for his troubles.
“Okay, keep it up!” Wes said as the crowd yelled and tried throwing their own food supplies at the Tropius, starting a good old fashion food-fight featuring hot dogs, bananas and cream pies.
“Now,” Wes continued as he tried to ignore the smell of food entering the arena, “Quagsire and Feraligatr, I want you two to focus on the Fire types! Hariyama, the Dark types! Umbreon and Espeon, keep the Grass types they have at bay and away from our Water types!” As the two Spinda continued to swing their arms about in a drunken fashion into anything in their way, twirling about with gay abandon, Wes’ Pokémon joined the fray.
“Hari!”
(Die!) Hariyama yelled as he charged in and slapped a Miltank out of his way. The victim gave a surprised ‘Moo’ and rolled through the crowd of partner Pokémon, temporarily splitting the group into two.
“Fera!”
(What he said!) Feraligatr agreed as he blasted water high into the air and let it fall down straight on top of the arena, and grinned as the Fire types howled and roared in pain from the attack.
“Quag,”
(Duh,) Quagsire offered as he shot water at the offending types. By now the Cipher agents were rambling instructions at their Pokémon. Some were too panicked or preoccupied to listen, but the one controlling the Fire types managed to get their attention. They spat out flames in a wide circle around them in an attempt to protect themselves from their foes. Tom cheered before one of the Cipher agents tried to tackle him and stop his apparent traitorous actions. He quickly pushed the man away, albeit stumbling awkwardly as he did so.
“Spindaaaa! Save men!” Tom yelled. The pair of Spinda turned and advanced upon the man who realised the danger and shouted at his Pokémon to stop them quickly, taking all the Normal types out of the main brawl for the moment.
“Great... now, let’s help the Grass types join the Fire types!” Wes ordered.
“Espeon!”
(Here’s my warm welcome!) Espeon said, smiling as he swung his head and sent a Psybeam into the Vileplume, which cried in pain and tumbled backwards into the fire.
“PLUME!”
(BURNING!) it screamed, landing the right way up and countering by flailing its short arms and running around in circles.
“Umbre... Umb!”
(And you’ll be...uh, fired!) Umbreon tried, and ignoring the following ridicule of Espeon for his supposedly weaker pun, charged forward and head-butted the Cacturne, who stumbled back but regained its footing before swinging its long, spiked arms at Umbreon. He had already jumped backwards out of reach however, and then suddenly sprang forward onto the cactus Pokémon’s head and clamped down with his teeth. As the Cacturne tried to remove the Eeveelution from his face, Feraligatr lumbered forward and happily pushed the blinded Pokémon into the ring of fire. Umbreon leapt off instantly just as the Cacturne swung an arm, failing to hit his target but managing to collect his own face.
The two Pokémon gave each other an approving nod while the Cacturne joined the Vileplume in running around madly into other Pokémon, spreading the fire around the arena in their fit of stupidity. They observed the Vileplume attempt to hug its trainer and receive some consolation, but this only resulted in the trainer’s clothing also being set alight, and so she too joined them in screaming and running about in hysterics. Umbreon and Feraligatr were quickly forced to resume the fight however, as the Shadow Absol jumped at them swinging the scythe upon its head wildly and slashing at the Feraligatr’s side.
“Fera!”
(Don’t be rude!) the Water type growled, rubbing his arm. Umbreon leapt forward and tried to Bite the aggressor, but it then ducked its head allowing Umbreon to only manage to latch onto the scythe. It then swung its head around, dragging the Eeveelution along with him and sending him into the air. He landed with a thud on top of the Miltank who had just been knocked down by one of the Spinda and tried an uncertain smile.
“Um...bre?”
(Err...hello?) Umbreon said.
“MOO!”
(MOO!) the Shadow Miltank bellowed in response as she spurted out milk into his face. Umbreon hastily retreated before slipping on one of the smashed bananas lying on the ground, while Feraligatr stepped forward to attack the Absol. A Mightyena joined in and the two dog Pokémon attempted to circle the large reptile, but he retaliated with a few quick bursts of water, attempting to keep them away from either side of his body. No other Pokémon of Cipher’s were brave enough to try attacking the bigger and more aggressive Hariyama however, quickly learning that it was a bad idea to do so.
“Hariyama!?”
(Why won’t you move!?) Hariyama shouted as he tried lifting and then punching away the Cradily towards the fire, which remained firmly rooted to the spot.
“Don’t bother with that one!” Wes shouted.
“Yeah, just bash it-watch out!” Rui added.
“Crad!”
(Bonk!) it exclaimed, as the Pokémon’s neck extended out before it crashed its head into Hariyama. Hariyama ignored the attack though and simply grabbed the Cradily’s neck and shook violently before letting go and slapping its head with his large palm.
“Lily!”
(My brain!) the Pokémon exclaimed, its head waving about in a daze before Hariyama grabbed its head again and rammed it into the remains of a cream pie.
“Bah, get rid of that fire!” one of the Cipher trainers shouted.
“Fine – Sharpedo, put it out!” another ordered.
“Nooosey!” Tom shouted. But the Sharpedo, which had been doing little besides snapping at anything that came to close to it, sprayed water at the flames. The Houndoom growled angrily and shot more flames to create another barrier of fire however, and before the Sharpedo could put that out Hariyama had picked the distracted Pokémon up.
“Shar!”
(Put me down!) it snarled, trying to twist its body to bite Hariyama. Hariyama naturally refused and instead flung the shark into the audience. The spectators would have likely panicked and run off screaming despite the fact the Pokémon crashed into an empty seat and was knocked out, but one of the Spinda had picked up the forgotten sign exclaiming ‘APPLAUSE’ and used it to whack the Zangoose in the head. As a result they cheered wildly instead and began chanting ‘APPLE SAUCE’ every so often for good measure.
“Quagsire, aim some mud at the middle of the flame ring!” Rui said now, taking control. The fat Pokémon formed a brown ball of murk and sent it high into the air, and then gazed blankly in front as the wet dirt slowly began returning to the ground before accelerating and landing with a splosh on top of the trio of Fire Types. A roar followed before the Houndoom leapt through the fire, covered in mud and snarling with anger.
“Houndoom!”
(Meet your doooooom!) it roared, managing to catch some of the audience’s attention by making itself heard over the deafening battle music. Flames danced along its thin, ashen body, burning off the mud and invigorating the Fire/Dark type further, followed by an ear-piercing howl.
“Quag!”
(Hi!) Quagsire said, slapping the Houndoom in the face before resuming its usual position. Shocked, the Shadow Pokémon stared for a moment before Quagsire followed with a Water Gun attack.
“Oh, it’s gone into Hyper State now,” Rui said, tugging at one of her pigtails as, from her view, Houndoom’s aura flared up into a sharp red.
“Houndoom!”
(You gonna pay for that!) it snarled and charged into the Water/Ground type with a Shadow Rush attack.
“Quick, catch him!” Rui shouted quickly. The Quagsire nodded and to the Houndoom’s surprise did not seem to react to the violent collision, instead grabbing the Houndoom with its flippers as he rolled over backwards and brought the surprised dog with him. Landing on his back the Quagsire continued the momentum and flipped while keeping its clumsy grip on the Houndoom, and then twisted his body.
“Houn-”
(What-) the Shadow yelped as his body slammed into the ground, and Quagsire’s large, fat head followed, smashing straight into his. He then pushed himself off the fainted Houndoom and gazed at Rui with his big dopey smile and blinked, as Rui happily applauded the Pokémon’s actions.
“Now go for the other two Fire Pokémon there... Fat Tortoise and Megago!” Rui suggested, pointing to the Torkoal and Magcargo who had been far less agile than the Houndoom. They were also less keen to advance out of their now half-open protective ring of heat, instead trying to navigate their way to the centre of the circle unsuccessfully thanks to the mud covering their eyes.
“This is a good start, but this will take too long if we don’t hurry up,” Wes shouted to Rui, as Feraligatr grabbed the Mightyena by the back of its neck when it had strayed too close to him and started smashing him into the ground. The Dark type was both unable and unsure how to stop him and so resorted to barking loudly each time he hit the floor. A moment later he found himself pegged at the Absol as it jumped at the crocodile Pokémon once more, but this didn’t deter the Shadow Pokémon from following through in its slashing attack, knocking the Mightyena out of its way and into unconsciousness. It landed, disinterested in its partner, and pawed at the ground as Feraligatr tried to regain some of his breath.
“Keep the Absol moving!” Wes ordered. “Hariyama, join up with Feraligatr and help finish off that Absol!”
“Hari!”
(After this!) Hariyama called back. He had returned back to the Cradily and figured out that it was unable to move from the spot it had been sent out upon, and was having great fun shaking its head around and further dizzying it. He let go of the Pokémon which sighed in relief, only for him to bounce its head rapidly back and forth between his two hands, its skull beginning to resemble a speedball being rapidly pummelled by a boxer. After a few seconds of this torture Hariyama stopped and checked that the Pokémon had fainted.
“Yama!”
(Coming!) he called once satisfied, running back. Feraligatr was trying to keep the Pokémon at bay but the Absol had moved to firing Shadow Ball attacks from short range which the Water type was unable to avoid. The Absol then yelped as Hariyama picked him up, and deftly spun his head around, forcing the Fighting type to drop him as he swiped his wrist with his scythe. Feraligatr took advantage of the interruption though, and steamed forward before swinging his arm and giving the Absol a Slash of his own. As the Absol twisted his body to retaliate Hariyama struck out a leg and sent the dog skidding across the ground.
“Gat!”
(Let’s get him!) Feraligatr said to Hariyama with a grin, nodding his thanks. Hariyama nodded back and converged with his partner on their target.
Meanwhile Espeon had joined his brother and the Spinda, suddenly turning the previous two-on-three battle for Tom in his favour numerically. The two Normal types of his had been faring pretty well though and despite the earlier assault of milk fired at Umbreon, the Pokémon of the Cipher agent did not look at all comfortable at how the battle was going.
“Porygon – two two two,”
(Analysis – bad bad bad,) the Porygon2 informed its trainer in a drone as a Spinda whacked him in the face with her ‘Applause’ sign.
“Bananas!” Tom yelled as he picked one off the ground and began to eat it! “Nananananana, nanananana, makey everybodily sing!” he sung happily.
“Umbreon...”
(I hate that song...) Umbreon muttered, keeping his distance from the Zangoose who was growling and trying to leap onto his back. He kept his eye on the Pokémon, eager to exploit an opening but finding the Pokémon’s aggression tough to overcome by himself.
“Zaaaa! Zangoose!”
(Stop dodging! Stay still a moment!) the mongoose Pokémon cried as Umbreon hopped to the side yet again to avoid him. The Miltank meanwhile was now dazed and rolling around slowly without any real purpose behind its attacks, but still refused to faint despite the number of attacks it had suffered already.
“Esp... Espeon!"
(He may be drunk... but he’s given me an idea!) Espeon remarked. Focusing on the fruity mess across the arena, he levitated the yellow fruit into the air and smiled. With a flick of his tail the bananas then went flying into the trio of opponents. Umbreon grinned and sprinted at the Zangoose, throwing himself into the Pokémon and then firing a short-ranged Secret Power attack.
“Porygon – two two twowowowo,”
(Analysis: banana banana bananananana,) the manmade Pokémon buzzed as a number of the fruit stuck him in the face, before breaking down as another sign-swipe and punch from the tumbling Spinda pair brought it down. The two then rolled forward and sprang into the air before stomping upon landing on top of the Miltank. As it sat upright and gasped, feeling winded from the double attack, Espeon applied a Psychic at its head and produced a groan before it too fell limp.
Wes glanced around at the rest of the arena, noting that Hariyama was now waving a floppy Absol around his head triumphantly, and Quagsire was sitting patiently on top of the fainted pair of Torkoal and Magcargo.
“Okay, we have one more to take on,” he said, glancing up at the Tropius and then stepping back as it hastily descended, having run out of bananas to pelt everyone with. It landed with a stomp and roared loudly.
“That’s the last Shadow Pokémon,” Rui reminded Wes.
“Well, we can’t snag it now, not with so many people watching, but.... it’s now seven against one for us! Take it down with long-ranged attacks!” Wes shouted at his Pokémon.
“Umbreon!”
(Combo attack!) Umbreon shouted, sending another array of sparks forward. Feraligatr and Quagsire joined in by blasting water from their jaw and mouth respectively, Espeon sent a Psybeam from his forehead’s ruby, and Hariyama a pulse of brown energy from his hands.
“Singy wuth major tommy!” Tom shouted, as the ground shook with the stomps of the Tropius establishing its distaste for this greeting. The man held up a banana like a conductor’s stick and waved it at his Pokémon. “Bananananana...NANANAnananananaNA!”
“Spininininin!”
(Banananana!) the two attempted to echo, screaming an Uproar attack as one at the Tropius. Evidently the concentrated sound did not please the Tropius either, as it turned a pale shade of green, shuddered and slumped to the ground.
“Excellent,” Wes said, pumping his fist as the Cipher agent begrudgingly recalled his Pokémon. The Spinda clutching the sign held it up once more and the audience erupted into loud cheering. “Thanks, Tom!” he added, and the drunkard yelled something unintelligible about bananas back at Wes. The other Cipher agents either decided that it was a good time as any to flee, or had been taken out by a stray attack long ago.
“We beat them!” Rui added, jumping happily.
“Yes, but now we’ve got to move on,” Wes said, running now to the direction the mayor and Nascour had departed from and waved at his Pokémon to follow. “No time to wait around, we’ve a mayor to catch!” Rui nodded and followed, but Espeon looked up instead and flicked his tail with mild amusement as he sat on his hind legs.
“Espeon,”
(I think he saved us the trouble,) Espeon commented, making his comments clear to the two teens. Wes paused and glanced ahead, and noticed that both men were now running back towards them, the mayor huffing heavily as he ran behind Nascour. Yanma was flying after them buzzing loudly and anxiously.
“Good work, Yanma!” Wes shouted. “Not sure how you...”
A loud roar sounded from the distance and a moment later a Raikou followed by a flying Metagross appeared.
“Oh,” Rui said quietly.
“Yanyanyan!”
(Itisabigthinganditisangryandrunsfast-Iwonderifitalsohadcoffeecoffeecoffee!)
“Espeon!”
(It’s Ein’s one!) Espeon shouted as he leapt onto all four paws. The rest of the Pokémon also observed the newcomers and tensed bar the Spinda who began to dance to the tune of Tom’s slow clapping who was currently oblivious to this latest event.
“So I guess I have to use the Snag Machine then, just in case!” Wes said, grabbing at his bag and pulling out the Master Ball. He jammed the capsule into the Snag Machine and then clutched it in his left hand, realising how long it had been since he had to actually use the machine.
Normally I’d be worried about screwing this up but... the Master Ball never fails! Wes thought and with a grin chucked the ball at Raikou. The ball looped through the air and struck the Pokémon, sucked it in and immediately gave a ping as it landed on the ground confirming the Snag was successful.
“Well that was easy,” Rui remarked. Es Cade turned around as he heard the ping and gave a sigh when he realised the Raikou was gone. He then looked at Wes, and then back at the ball and grinned.
“Oh... well, thank you!” he shouted as he sprinted for the ball.
“Espeon!” Wes called, anticipating the move. “Bring it here before he grabs-”
“Metagross,” Nascour said quietly. As the ball was raised in the air by Espeon it suddenly froze in place, wobbling ever so slightly as Metagross engaged Espeon in a mental tug of war.
“Well I didn’t see that coming,” Wes muttered, realising now who the Metagross belonged to. The mayor meanwhile plucked the Master Ball and held it in the air, ignoring the few boos from the audience.
“This’ll be useful, I’m sure,” he crowed, smiling at the pair. “I see you beat our trainers bar one, but together with this you cannot possibly win. I have the legendary on top of my party as well as Nascour’s, and your Pokémon must already be tired. Don’t worry, for I’ll raise a toast to you this evening; you’ve done magnificently well, but-”
“Toats!” Tom shouted suddenly. The mayor eyed the man uncertainly.
“...Yes, a toast.”
“Beer!” Tom yelled again, and so he grabbed the sign the Spinda was holding and whacked the mayor’s hand who cried out, releasing the ball. Tom leapt forward, caught the Master Ball and stared at it eagerly. Nobody noticed that the battle music had suddenly ended; instead all were firmly focused on what just happened. Espeon and Metagross were still focusing on each other but neither were able to prise control of the ball.
“He just hit the mayor,” one person from the crowd muttered.
“Woo!” another cheered as the sign was raised for a moment by Tom who was now scrutinising the Master Ball.
“...Whereily is drinky?” he asked, shaking it before looking at the mayor. “Yous says toast! Toasts mean drunk! Tasdy! Yullows water!”
“Please,” Es Cade began coldly as he rubbed his hand, “hand over that Ball. Now.”
“Oh!” Tom shouted and smiled happily. “Drinky is insud!”
“No, don’t!” Nascour shouted as he ran forward, but there was no stopping Tom pressing the button on the Master Ball which spat out the Raikou again. The Pokémon growled instinctively and stared at Tom.
“Arrrrgh!” Tom yelled, swinging his sign around but only managing to clock Nascour in the head instead of the Raikou. The Raikou snarled and began to run off once more but Tom grabbed onto its mane and then cried out as it dragged him along around the arena.
“Why are you doing this!?” Nascour yelled angrily as he rubbed his head. “You’re supposed to be working for us!”
“We’ve got to stop that Raikou!” Rui shouted.
“WORSTY FLOVOUR!” Tom yelled.
“But how...” Wes mused. “Well... Umbreon! Try a Mean Look attack!”
“Umb...”
(I’ll try...) Umbreon said uncertainly, reluctantly moving forward towards the Raikou who was now trying to remove Tom by bucking wildly.
“Bah, this ridiculousness might as well end quickly,” Nascour muttered to Es Cade. “Let’s send out all our Pokémon and end this quickly. Relax for now, Metagross!” he ordered.
“Yes, I think that will be in our best interest,” the mayor agreed, reaching for his Poké Balls. “I’ll send out five of mine and you send out your whole team!”
“Quickly, Umbreon!” Wes urged as the Raikou continued another loop and rushed past them.
“Tomsy wil buy yous...busies a dollars!” Tom added desperately.
“Umb!”
(Fine!) Umbreon shouted. He then shouted loudly at the Raikou to grab its attention and then breathed deeply in before contorting his face into the most terrifying facial expression he could possibly muster.
The :3 face.
“Huh...?” Rui said quietly. “That looks more...well, cute, not scary...” she remarked as the audience gave a loud ‘Aww’. But strangely the Raikou stared back at the Umbreon and gave a soft whimper as it stood still, ending up on Wes’ and Rui’s side of the battle field.
“Espeon... Esp,”
(What people may find cute can be...scary for Pokémon,) Espeon explained. “Espeon?”
(By the way is it safe to look?) he added; his eyes had been firmly closed.
“Umb!”
(Yes!) Umbreon said, rubbing his face with his paw. “Umbreon...”
(That really hurts the face...)
“So... now what?” Rui asked as the last of Nascour’s and Es Cade’s Pokémon were sent out. The battle field seemed very crowded now by these giant arrivals she was sure she had not seen before in her life. “Also that giant blue thing is a Shadow Pokémon, I think,” she murmured, pointing to the Metagross.
“We deal with their Pokémon,” Wes said quickly, noting the one Rui spoke about. “Need to firstly hold off their attacks on our current Pokémon and give them a chance to heal.”
“How do we do that?”
“We reveal our trump cards,” Wes said shortly, clicking his fingers. “I have an idea on how to use them, given how Ein managed the Raikou in the first place and what we found out from those files at his lab!” He then rummaged through his bag and threw down an assortment of healing items on the ground as he thought at Espeon.
Tell the others to fall back for the moment bar the Raikou and use these items to heal themselves!
Okay, Espeon thought back before relaying the instructions to the others. The Pokémon quickly obeyed and ran, hobbled or flew back. Tom meanwhile recovered by looking in his own bag, pulling out a bottle of alcohol and hugging it tightly.
“Now now,” Nascour said with a smile, “there’s no need to be shy.”
“No, we’re not shy,” Wes said as he and Rui pulled out another Poké Ball. “We’re just going to let you try out these two first!” Then they threw the capsules in front of them next to the Raikou which released the forms of Entei and Suicune.
Well, I think it was worth it just to see their reactions, Wes thought, resisting the urge to laugh as Nascour’s smile faded away slowly as it dawned on him what the two trainers had just sent out.
“But... that’s...” Es Cade said quietly.
“Yes, your group’s previous Shadow Pokémon!” Rui shouted loudly. “You know, the ones you made?”
“I thought you said Dakim’s one was lost at Mt Battle!” the mayor roared at Nascour.
“That’s what he said!”
Meanwhile Espeon continued to instruct Wes’ and Rui’s Pokémon, who were quite unsure how to manage the items that Wes had supplied them. Feraligatr held up a Hyper Potion up and frowned at it before he shook it quickly and watched the purple liquid slosh inside the container.
“Esp, Espeon!?”
(What, you never paid attention to how people used those?) Espeon berated.
“Har?”
(Did they punch it?) Hariyama asked. Espeon sighed and shook his head.
“Espeon eon... Espi!”
(No, you aim it that way on your body and press that thing... no not like that!) he shouted at the Quagsire who had simply picked up one of the potions and swallowed it whole. He then smiled at Espeon happily and wagged its tail.
“Umbreon?”
(What’s this thing?) Umbreon wondered, pawing at a small rotten object. He sniffed it and recoiled in disgust.
“Esp... Espeon?”
(Maybe ... the White Herb from Phenac’s Pre Gym?) Espeon wondered. Meanwhile Feraligatr ripped apart one of the bottles and let the fluid land on his body.
“Umb... Umbreon,”
(Well that works... but I think we should buy berries next time,) Umbreon remarked.
“Yaaaaaaaan!”
(Whereismycoffee-thatisallIneedforitisgood-andmakesmegoodandgooderandgoodest-andstuff!) the bug hummed as it darted in and out of the pile of items, trying to find some of the capsule it had received earlier.
“Right!” Wes shouted at the three legendary Pokémon, ignoring the raffle behind him. “You want something to aim at? Something to be angry about?”
“What are you playing at?” Nascour spat.
“It’s those two who made you into Shadow!” Wes said.
“The ones who captured you, brought you here and... made you angry!” Rui shouted. Now as the music had also stopped the audience was able to hear their dialogue and murmured among themselves, wondering what they were talking about.
“Stop your pathetic lies!” the mayor shouted. “We’ve done no such thing!”
“How could you lie?” Rui accused the mayor as the three Pokémon began to snarl. If Rui hadn’t been so concentrated at yelling at the mayor, she would have noticed their three auras flare up into a harsh red colour. “How could you?”
“Andy nosy beerys gave Tom?” Tom added loudly.
“So where’s your proof?” Nascour said. “Pokémon, prepare to take them out!”
***