Champion's Road

[Pig on the Wing]

I guess I just caught up in the Christmas/New Year rush and forgot update so it got deleted didn't it...

Never mind, I'll try again:

Chapter 1: The Challenge Commences

I lay on the grass meditating. This was the big day. The Askar Pokemon league was the toughest, and I was at the end.
All Pokemon were found here – Pokemon from Jhoto, Kanto and Hoenn could be caught, along with some new ones.

Anyway, the ‘big day’ I mentioned earlier was not the day I received my first Pokemon. I was ahead of that now. Having conquered the Kanto, Jhoto and Hoenn leagues with only three Pokemon I set out to become the Pokemon Elite Champion. My Dad sent me off here to Askar to train – to train hard. Also the big tournament is held in Askar. These tournaments are held every five years. I came here at the age of thirteen meaning you don’t have to be a great mathematician to work out that I was now eighteen. A little old for Pokemon, some would say, but there are people older than me here.
“Attention competitors!” a voice from a loudspeaker blared, “Please make your way to the Grand Stadium.”
I picked up my belongings – my three Poke Balls, my wallet and my mobile. I smiled and looked around taking in the beautiful sight of Askar. The sun was in the distance blazing merrily in the blue sky, the sea at the harbour sparkled invitingly and a gentle breeze blew the tree leaves and made them whisper to each other. I headed toward the seaside town known as Jook Town. This was the largest place in Askar. There were houses everywhere, tall buildings, market stalls and god only knows what else. However I was headed for the humungous open-air stadium in the centre.

After a lot of pushing and shoving, queuing and answering questions I was sent to the trainers lounge where a met a few of the other competitors. The trainers lounge was a large room with Growlithe wallpaper. There were two sofas and a hell of a lot of chairs. There was also a food + drink stand and television in one corner. I went to one of the sofas and sat down. I began to meditate again.
“Andrew my man!” someone shouted. I looked up to see a tall boy around my age with long blonde hair and purple eyes come up to me. He was wearing baggy blue jeans and an Eevee Fan Club t-shirt. He was one of my friends Evan. We trained together in Jhoto and Kanto before going our separate ways in Hoenn.
“Alright mate?” he asked plonking himself down next to me. I nodded in reply. “Still got them three Pokemon?” he asked. I nodded again.
“What about you?” I asked him.
“Nah. I caught some more – which I ain’t showing you until I fight someone.” I smiled. Same old Evan. About sixty more trainers arrived over the next half hour and when some small kid with spiky red hair came in a checklist was called off. At the end of the checklist a voice spoke out of a speaker I hadn’t noticed earlier.
“Welcome to the Elite Pokemon Challenge!” the voice said, “The tournament with harsh competition, with harsh punishment for failure and yet pleasing results for success. The general rules are as follows:
1. Only three Pokemon may enter.
2. Those are the ONLY three Pokemon allowed to be used in the tournament.
3. Anyone cheating, or found to be cheating will be disqualified.

The battling rules like this;
1. Surrender is NOT allowed.
2. The winner is the one who defeats ALL three of his/her opponents Pokemon.
3. You have no say in the person you battle, and you will battle that person no matter what.
4. No items may be used at all during the challenge/battle.

First off is the stamina test. The trainers must choose one Pokemon. That Pokemon will then have to complete an obstacle course gaining points for good things, losing points for bad things. It IS a race however the two Pokemon will also battle in the arena at the end of the course. All trainers will be put into groups. Please listen carefully and remember which group you are in.”
I listened for my name. I was put into Group 7. Evan was put into Group 8.
“Good luck trainers!” the speaker then announced. A man in a suit then came into the room and called out the first two competitors for each of the groups. I was up first against for Group 7 against someone called Gary.

The first match began and watched it with mild interest. However as my match got nearer and nearer I began to worry a little. What if I lost? What if I picked the wrong Pokemon? I realised that I didn’t know anything about this Gary person. Questions flooded my mind and even through meditation I couldn’t concentrate properly. Then it happened.
“Would the two competitors from Group 7 approach the arena.” the speaker said.
“Good luck my man.” said Evan hitting me on the back. I smiled weakly before exiting the trainers lounge and following the referee outside. I looked sideways at Gary. He looked like he was in his thirties – he had short black hair, wore a suit and had that ‘I’m an adult’ look on his face. Although he was slightly smaller than me.
“Please view the obstacle course via the screen and choose your Pokemon.” the referee said. I looked up at a screen at the end of the corridor. I didn’t take in my surroundings just looked at the screen. It was a straight track, with a few large rocks here and there. There was a ‘broken bridge’ jump in the centre of the track. Then the track veered off in all directions – the obstacles down those paths weren’t shown. I racked my brain. Bobby Pin was a no-no, Skarr was fast, but probably wouldn’t make the jump. Sunshine however…
My mind was made up.
“Ready.” said Gary in a very deep voice.
“Ready.” I squeaked.
“Please follow me.” the referee said leading us through a door in the wall under the large screens. Daylight blinded me and the shouts of the crowd deafened me. I’m not quite sure how I made it to the start of the obstacle course – but I did. I looked at the two massive TV screens suspended on the walls of the stadium. One showed a picture of, my three Pokemon and had the names of the three leagues I had conquered. I looked over at Gary’s screen and my eyes bulged. Not only had he conquered the three leagues I had, he’d also conquered the Orange League, the Green League and the Blue League. The last three leagues I hadn’t heard of, but still…
His Pokemon were even more impressive – a massive orange dragon with a flame on the end of its tail and large green wings I assumed was a Charizard.
The one underneath Charizard was a large black dog – Mightyena.
The third one was a large green thing. It was human shape, had two antennae protruding from its head. It had three massive claws on the end of its hands and feet. It also had two large red wings and what looked like a sword – surely that wasn’t legal!

“Please give me your Poke Balls.” the referee asked. I handed him Sunshine’s Poke Ball and the picture of my purple cat with a diamond in its head and a fork its tail filled the screen. However when Gary gave his Poke Ball to the referee the green thing’s picture was enlarged. I gulped.
“Please make your way to the stadium and await your Pokemon.” the referee said and Gary and I headed toward the stadium at the end of the obstacle course.
“Andrew has chosen Sunshine the Espeon to take part in this challenge.” the referee announced, “Whereas Gary has chosen his Warrior for the challenge. Good luck to both trainers -” the referee lifted both the Poke Balls in the air, “- and let the challenge – commence!” he threw both the Poke Balls dramatically. The two Pokemon looked at each other, then at the obstacle and back at each other before starting.
“Come on Sunshine.” I muttered under my breath. Gary laughed mockingly.
“No chance!” he said, before laughing again. I muttered something very rude and nasty under my breath.

[Pig on the Wing]

Chapter 2: Narrow Victory

The screens flashed into life, becoming a map of the Pokemon’s progress through the course. Sunshine was already a quarter of the way through the course, nimbly jumping up the ledges, blasting stray rocks with Psychic and running flat out – she seemed to be enjoying it. Gary’s Pokemon Warrior was making slow but steady progress. It was walking, with long strides equal to about three of mine in one step. Instead of jumping nimbly, it pulled itself up, instead of blasting stray obstacles with Psychic, it merely sliced them in half with either it’s swords or it’s claws.

Sunshine reached the bridge and leapt, her front paws ready latch onto the other side and pull herself up. However – she didn’t make it across. Her eyes suddenly widened and she made a desperate attempt to fly. Failing however, she fell.
“Sunshine!” I yelled reaching out, but from the arena I was helpless to do anything. Sunshine fell, screeching all the way, until – SPLASH! She fell into a river. A purple star came leaping out of the water, grabbed her and flung her onto the land. It’s core glowed red and it spun around a lot before it splashed back into the water. Sunshine shook herself and the crowd cheered. Gary looked as though he’d just been hit somewhere nasty and was out to get revenge.
Meanwhile, Warrior had reached the bridge, and with ease stepped across it, it’s legs extending like a Hitmonlee’s. Sunshine meowed, before leaping onto one of the legs. She leapt off at the other side, meowed happily and sprinted off ahead of Warrior.

10 minutes passed before Sunshine reached the split-road.
“Andrew’s Espeon has reached the split-road!” the referee said, taking it into account that he’d need to be the commentator as well as referee. “One road is a clear path whereas the other four contain monstrous abominations that must be defeated for the challenger to continue.”
“Come on Sunshine.” I muttered again. Sunshine sniffed the ground eagerly and pricked up her ears. Then, in a flash of purple she sped off down the left path, path one. Suddenly, I saw a purple flash racing toward me. No sooner had I seen it Sunshine was sitting in the centre of the arena, unharmed. The crowd went wild.

After 10 minutes of watching Warrior go down the wrong path and hack and slash his way through Warrior appeared coming down the path.
“Both Pokemon have made it to the arena,” the referee/commentator announced when Warrior reached the arena, “So let the battle -” he held up a blue flag, “- begin!” he said in an overly dramatic voice bringing the flag down.
“Warrior use Flash Fire!” Gary instantly called out. No sooner had he said it then a white flash blinded me. When the flash died down, Sunshine had quite a few flaming scratch marks on her body and Warrior’s sword was covered in flames. Gary smiled menacingly.
“Espeon, Psychic!” I called. Sunshine closed her eyes and purple waves of psy energy began to emit from her slamming into Warrior. Sunshine opened her eyes and the psy waves disappeared. Warrior was unharmed and Gary laughed scornfully.
“Is that best you’ve got?” he asked mockingly. “Warrior -”
“Sunshine quickly Bite!” I yelled over Gary’s voice. Sunshine sped up to Warrior and bit it ferociously. Gary laughed. “Warrior, Lethal Blade!” Warrior grinned menacingly and raised it’s sword high. It began to charge up black energy into the sword. I racked my brains – if that attack hit, Sunshine would probably be finished and I’d be out of the tournament. I thought back to the obstacle course, Sunshine finished ten minutes before Warrior so –
Then it struck me.
“Sunshine – Warrior is stronger than you in every way possible!” I paused, and Sunshine looked crestfallen, “However – you’re one hell of a lot faster than it. That’s your one advantage so use it wisely!”
“Esp!” she meowed happily and waited for Warrior to finish charging and bring the sword down – which it did with tremendous force. At the last second Sunshine sped out of the way and the sword smashed into the floor creating a massive crack and causing the ground to shake slightly. Warrior roared loudly and the sound echoed around the stadium – everyone covered their ears.
“Sunshine, now use Psychic!” I screamed over the noise of the roar. Sunshine closed her eyes again and fired the psy energy waves at Warrior – this time the hurt it although it freed it’s sword arm from the ground. Warrior stopped roaring for a second roared loudly and then swung it’s sword at Sunshine who leapt above it. She landed lightly on her feet, and sped off, running in circles around Warrior to confuse it.
“Use Flash Fire again!” Gary called out and his Pokemon let off a bright white flash, only this time when my vision returned Warrior was the one with flaming scratch marks on it.
“Sunshine, good job!” I shouted to her felling relieved and happy, “Now it’s confused, try a Psybeam!” Sunshine meowed then her forehead-diamond began radiating purple, blue and green. She then fired a beam of the three colours at Warrior who seemed to ignore it. Seeing this, I decided to stop and actually concentrate on the battle instead of randomly shouting anything. I tried thinking back to the battle I had had with Lance, back in the Kanto days…...

“Snorlax use a Hyper Beam!” I yelled whilst sweating profusely. Snorlax was my last Pokemon with Dragonite being Lance’s last Pokemon.
“Dragonite, counter it with your own Hyper Beam!” Lance shouted. He was also pretty worried - his normally spiky orange hair was damp and pressed wetly on his head. Sweat fell of his chin and his face was twisted into a look of shock, horror and suspense.
The obese and lazy dark green Pokemon patted it’s cream coloured belly and it’s mouth turned into a menacing smile on it’s cream coloured face. It opened it’s mouth, and began charging energy with started off as a tiny orange glow, getting bigger and bigger by the second.
Lance’s tall orange dragon flattened it’s two antennae, flattened it’s green wings against it’s body and swished it’s tail a lot before opening it’s mouth and also beginning to charge energy. A few tense minutes passed, with both Pokemon doing nothing but charging up energy. Then both Pokemon released their immensely powerful attacks which collided exactly half-way between the two Pokemon. The attacks exploded on impact and the entire stadium – not just the arena – was suddenly engulfed in smoke. I shielded myself with my arms and the last thing I saw before the smoke engulfed me was Lance doing the same thing and the crowd ducking for cover.
After what seemed like a century, the smoke began clear leaving a fine film of dust on rails, stairs and vacant seats of the crowd. The centre of the arena came into view and what it showed was good – but also bad at the same time. Snorlax was on his back feet, his hands clasped with Dragonite’s. Both Pokemon were trying desperately to push the other out of the arena. Neither of them were going anywhere as they were equally matched – Snorlax was heavy and strong whereas Dragonite was fast and had good defensive skills.
“Dragonite, Mega Punch!” Lance yelled ferociously. Dragonite appeared to grin and while keeping a firm grip on Snorlax it charged up it’s right fist until it was blue. It then let fly and Snorlax was sent flying back a good way – almost out of the arena. He was balancing dangerously on the edge.
“Slam – let’s finish this!” Lance called with relief in his voice. I panicked as Dragonite rushed at Snorlax with it’s right shoulder down. I had to think of a way out of this – and fast. Then it struck me – this had to work or else I was out of the battle…
“Snorlax, Protect!” I said, and I watched with satisfaction the look of horror that replaced the look of relief on Lance’s face. Snorlax shook it’s head, looked back at me sadly and grunted. That grunt meant only one thing – Snorlax was too tired to pull off a Protect.
“Dragonite, pull out of it, take to the sky!” Lance called out, oblivious to the fact that Snorlax was unable to use Protect. Dragonite used it’s momentum to lift itself off the ground and with a sudden flap of it’s wings it was propelled high into the air. I sighed – this was one of those moments that just don’t happen – well actually they do, but only very rarely. I knew this would be the only chance I would ever have to beat Lance.
“Snorlax, use Rest!” I commanded - the knot in my stomach easing slightly. Snorlax yawned loudly and fell heavily to the ground, asleep. It was recovering health and I knew that once it woke up it would be ready to kick some Dragonite butt. Lance however, saw otherwise.
“Dragonite, Slam! Get out it of the arena while it’s sleeping!” he shouted up to his airborne dragon Pokemon. Dragonite roared in response, and lowered it’s right shoulder again, and pressed it’s wings against it’s body, making it more streamlined and hurtled at a frightening speed towards the sleeping form of my Snorlax. The crowd hushed and blue flashes indicated many people thought the battle was over and so were taking pictures.
“Snorlax – use Sleep Talk!” I yelled as loudly as possible. Snorlax grunted, and with it’s with eyes closed it stood up and began charging began charging electricity. At the last second before Dragonite slammed him, he released a Thunderbolt sending Dragonite screeching onto the ground painfully. Snorlax chose that moment to wake up.
“Snorlax, let’s finish this. Use......”

I snapped back into the present, jolted out of my thoughts at most crucial part. I was stunned to at what Gary had just ordered Warrior to do.
“Warrior, Lethal Blade – on yourself!” he ordered icily.
“Are you crazy?” I yelled, angry that he was just going to sacrifice his Pokemon like that.
“I don’t need you to tell me I should I go about winning.” he growled, “So shut up – I know what I’m doing.” I stared at him in disbelief, but turned my attention to Warrior who had almost finished powering up.
“Sunshine, be on your guard.” I told her, just in case something bad happened. Meanwhile, Warrior had fully charged up, and so he brought the sword round in an arc, and slammed it into himself. He roared loudly, a sound that that makes your ears pop. He was covered in a white glow before he exploded with an immensely loud boom. Orange flames licked the air, and dust got in my eyes, nose and mouth. Fragments of rock and stone went flying all over the place – aimlessly hitting random things. I could her people screaming and shouting and I saw black human shapes moving swiftly towards what I thought was the exit. However, in amongst the mayhem came a sound I would’ve never expected – laughter. It was cold, icy and merciless laughter that rang in your ears and chilled you to the bone. I shuddered and tried to see who or what was making the noise. I squinted until my eyes hurt and the dust stung – but I still hadn’t found who was laughing. I was certain it was a human though, as Warrior had just blown himself up and Sunshine had probably fainted in the aftermath of the attack. I heard a faint hissing sound, which grew louder by the second. I shut my eyes and hoped for the best – bracing myself for the inevitable attack. It never came – instead a jet of freezing cold water slammed into me, propelling me backwards a bit. I decided to drop and roll and when I rubbed my eyes and stood up again I found the Fire Service were dousing the last of the flames and the ambulance staff were searching for any injured people. I looked round and barely recognized where I was.
There was a mound raised slightly off the ground – charred black and covered in dust, ash and rubble. What I assumed was the audience stand was completely non-existent – reduced to large heap of rubble. Everything was black from flame and ash, covered in dust or simply reduced to nothing but rubble. There was a gaping hole in the wall of the stadium and the referee and the emergency service members were the only people here apart from me. Then a thought struck me – where was Sunshine?
Stricken with panic, I frantically rushed around calling her name and shifting big bits of rock – I didn’t care that Gary was missing, that people could have been hurt or killed. In fact, I didn’t even care for my own safety. My top priority was to find Sunshine regardless of what was going on around me.

After 15 minutes of running round shifting rock and rubble – I gave up. I slumped onto the ground in defeat with tears welling up in my eyes. Then I cried - overcome with sadness. I hit the ground angrily and grabbed the purple root in the ground. I yanked it out angrily – and the rest of Espeon’s body came up with it. I stared at her in disbelief. I put her down on the ground moistened by my tears, and checked her over. Even through my blurred vision I could make out that she was NOT in her best shape – she was covered in bruises, a lot of her fur had come off, she was badly singed all over and the diamond lodged into her forehead had a large crack through the middle of it. I patted her head gently and smiled sadly, before recalling her, wiping my eyes and heading off through the hole in the wall toward the Jook Town Pokemon Centre. As I climbed through the hole I heard the referee say to no-one in particular,
“The winner of round 1 is – Andrew.”

[Pig on the Wing]

Chapter 3: Critical Importance

I walked away from the stadium, pushing through the masses of people who were crowding round trying to see what was going on. My head was filled with questions and emotions. Questions including: Why did Gary do what he did? Is Sunshine ever going to recover? Where is Gary now? And some of the emotions included: happiness at winning, sadness at Sunshine's shortcomings, worry for Sunshine¡¦s health and even anger toward Gary. I thought about all these as I neared the end of the crowd. I reached the end of the crowd and ran - ran and cried. To find out where I went, all you would have had to do would be to follow the water droplets along the road. I picked up speed, knocking over the odd person here and there. Then it came into view - the Pokemon Centre. It was the same size as a small hotel, only with a blue roof and a large sign in front of it saying 'Pokemon Centre'. I sprinted the last stretch at full speed, vaulted over the sign and went crashing through the door. I ran up to the counter placed Sunshine's poke ball on it, leaned on it heavily, panting.
"Can I help you?" said a very feminine voice. I looked up to see the kind face of Nurse Joy. She had a faint smile on her face, her red her was up in a bun and her pink eyes sparkled slightly.
"My - my Espeon -" I panted, struggling for breath, "She - she's badly injured." I pressed the button, releasing Sunshine from her poke ball to show Nurse Joy.
"Oh my." was all she said, before a frown crested her forehead. She grabbed a microphone, "Chansey, I need a stretcher for a medium-sized cat Pokemon. Clear the emergency room."
"Chansey, Chansey!" said a large pink Pokemon with an egg in it's pouch as it came rushing round the corner with a stretcher. She carefully lifted Sunshine onto the stretcher and raced off into the emergency room.
"Take a seat and be prepared for a long stay." Nurse Joy said, "This could take a long time." then, she walked off into the emergency room. The door slid shut behind her and the picture of a syringe above the door glowed red. I sighed felling frustrated and traipsed over to where the sofa was. I looked round - at the line of green picture phones, the chairs, the TV, the counter and finally my eyes came to rest on the syringe. It was still glowing red, the same colour as Sunshine's diamond. It brought back memories of the Jhoto League, where Sunshine not only single-handedly defeated every Gym Leader and half of the Elite Four, but was also voted toughest Pokemon in Jhoto. I remembered my battle against Will...

"Snorlax, let's win this!" I cried, unclipping Snorlax's poke ball from my belt. However a white flash stopped me dead in my tracks - Sunshine had just volunteered to battle Will. I looked at her and eyes glinted ¡V she wanted to do this.
"Very well." said Will in an annoying know-it-all voice whilst adjusting his face mask slightly. "Xatu go!" he threw a poke ball and it exploded in a white flash to reveal a large green bird. It stood on two feet and it's red and white wings were folded in front of it's body. It let out a shrill screech from it's large yellow beak and swung it's two red antennae round. It had a pair of eyes sticking out of it's belly, as well as on it's face.
"Xa!" it screeched.
"Xatu, Drill Peck!" Will said. Xatu swung it's beak forward, and a yellow image struck out at Sunshine who leapt out of the way. She then ran up to Xatu and bit it hard drawing blood with dripped onto the ground leaving a crimson streak down Xatu's wing. Sunshine leapt away, and her jewel sparkled red...

Red. The same colour as the syringe was - still after half an hour. I lay down and closed my eyes pushing all thought and emotion from my head, before drifting off to sleep...

I was running - I was no idea where I was running to, or even what I was running from - but I was running. I turned round and saw a squadron of purple planes come soaring over the horizon shooting red beams at me. I screamed in terror and ran away, a few shots missing me by only a couple of inches. I continued running until I crested a green hill which stood up and unsheathed a sword.
"Warrior!" I cried. It roared and then exploded with a terrific boom and a lot of fire and white flashing. Then everything went black. I saw Espeon's all over the place - running, playing, battling and sleeping. Then I saw Gary again - I saw him grinning, and I heard that vile laughter again. Giovanni flashed into my mind - obscuring my view of anything else. He smiled in that way that only a maniac can smile. He then drew a pistol, a fired, leaving a bullet lodged in my head and a trail of smoke coming from the end of the pistol.

I screamed and woke up suddenly. I forced my eyes open and blinked a few times. I stared wildly around - I was still in the Pokemon Centre. But that laughter - it had only been a dream, but it had sounded so real. I then remembered why I was in the Pokemon Centre in the first place. I looked over to the emergency room - the syringe was now a blue colour and the words 'Code Blue' were written across it.

Six hours passed and darkness was overwhelming when the syringe finally went out and the door opened. Nurse Joy walked out, sweating frantically, with Chansey following along behind her - still smiling.
"How's Sunshine? Where is she?" I asked, leaping up and running over to Nurse Joy the second the door opened. Nurse Joy glared at me, and I moved out of her way, staring at my feet sheepishly.
"Your Espeon is recovering slowly." she said, "However she will need to remain her for a few days until she recovers fully." she walked over to behind the counter and opened a draw. She pulled out a key and handed it to me. It was an ordinary silver key, with the 'Room: 204' written on it.
"Your room until she's ready to go.' said Nurse Joy. I smiled weakly and thanked her before going up the stairs in the corner to find my room. As I walked down the corridor, I noticed that that everything was blue; the doors, the carpet - even the ceiling and walls were painted blue. At the end of the corridor was a sign,
<-- 60 - 120 it read. Another sign read --> 121 - 300. I turned right and immediately jumped back into the blue corridor. I looked round the corner, and saw the darkness of it all. Everything in this corridor was black. There were a few lights on the ceiling but their light was completely ineffective at combating the overwhelming darkness. I gulped, and began to slowly walk down the corridor - slowed down by fear of what was in front of me, yet driven on by fear of what was behind me. I was moving at a snails pace, stopping every now and then to look wildly around me for any signs of movement before continuing the slow journey. I passed lots of doors, the numbers engraved on them in white. The shadows appeared to be watching me, following me as if they knew I was scared. They mocked me, playing tricks on my eyes, deceiving my sensing and leading them to false conclusions. After what seemed like a millennia I reached room 204. I fumbled the key into the lock, looked around to make sure I wasn't being followed and entered them, flicking the light on before shutting the door behind me and firmly locking it. The room was slightly brighter - only slightly. The walls and ceiling were still black, but the carpet was a sea green. The there was a bed in the corner with a sky blue blanket. The three colours contrasted each other greatly, but I was thankfully that the entire wasn't black. I opened a door that was next to room door. It contained bathroom - in which everything was painted a blood red colour. I slammed the door and silently swore never to stay in a Pokemon Centre again. I traipsed over to the bed and flopped down onto it. It was too warm to use the blanket so allowed sleep to drift up and take me. Just before I nodded off, the lights went out. My pupils dilated, and I was shaking, terrified to the core. I swallowed the lump that was in my throat and looked around trying to see through the darkness. That same cold laughter I heard earlier drifted into my ears only this time it was followed by a voice - a voice which scythed through the air with enough force to make anyone shiver - and possible even make a weak minded person faint.
"Fool" the voice said, "Heh. How long have you left, young one?" the voice said that in a way far, far more evil then the laughter ever was.
"So." the voice continued, "See how the light betrays you? It has faded in an instant and the darkness swamps you - you may even die of fear."
"No chance." I said, gathering all my courage. The voice laughed in that laugh - my confidence fled and I cowered like a helpless baby.
"Such brave words - from such a terrible coward. What do you do? You stand tall whilst you are victorious, as soon as you things go hard, you cower and flee. Do you trust your instincts or go against them?" the voice laughed again, softly this time which made it worse, "Our first mission was a complete success. However, all I will tell you is this -" the voice paused, before continuing, "Time is a valuable thing, watch it fly by as the pendulum swings. Then watch it count down till the end of the day - the clock ticks life away. How long will it be before your clock stops ticking?" the voice laughed, and everything returned to normal, as if reality had decided to have a sudden mood change. I thought long and hard about what I'd just heard. A lot of it was true. However many things puzzled me and I was sure that whoever that was, they were out to get me...

<> <> <>

Rather cheesy chapter, ya?

[Pig on the Wing]

Chapter: 4: Death?

After a couple of hours of tossing and turning, I managed to drift off to sleep. It was a surprisingly dreamless sleep, and so it lasted for quite a while – actually I remained asleep for about half an hour, before daylight flooded the room through the un-curtained window. I groaned, and rubbing the sleep from my eyes rolled over, and fell off the bed with a resounding thump. I groaned again, sat up and rubbed my back. I got up slowly, holding onto the wall for support and staggered over to the bathroom – before I remembered the evil redness of it all. I sighed, closed my eyes and took a deep breath before grabbing the handle, turning it and opening the door. I stepped inside and opened my eyes – in the daylight it didn’t actually seem that bad. I filled the sink up with water, and splashed it on my face to wake my up. I really, really wanted a shower, but my bag was back at home as I had thought the Pokemon Centre would supply trainers with towels and soap. Clearly not.
I sighed and pulled the plug, watching the water swirl away down the hole and into the darkness beyond. I shook my head, and towelled it down with my sweatshirt. I walked out of the bathroom and back out into the dark corridor, locking the door and checking no-one was around before starting the slow journey back to the main corridor. Even in the daylight that streamed in through the window, the black still seemed to overpower everything and everyone else.
After making it to the main corridor, I went downstairs, and (after getting knocked over by a Chansey) greeted Nurse Joy – who seemed very worried.
“Is Sunshine ready to go?” I asked her, and without opening her mouth, shook her head. “What do you mean?” I asked angrily, she was a Pokemon hospital professional. Surely she couldn’t go around lying to trainers about their Pokemon’s health.
“She was attacked during the night.” she whispered in a coarse, dry voice. “It was a Murkrow that attacked her. Poor girl never stood a chance.” she lowered her eyes, “She won’t be ready to leave for at least another three days – minimum. I’m really sorry.” I knew that there was no point arguing – Sunshine wasn’t coming with me today and there wasn’t really anything I could do about it. I sighed, handed the keys back t Nurse Joy and walked over to the green video phones in the corner. I punched in Professor Oak’s number, and waited for him to answer. Eventually, the screen flashed into life, and Oak was there, his white lab coat dirtied and large bags under his eyes.
“Hello? This is Oak speaking.” he said, followed by a loud yawn.
“Professor, it’s me – Andrew.” I said, “Are you okay?” Oak nodded.
“Just an attack – lab was burgled yesterday by a bunch of black suited people using Murkrows and the occasional Houndoom.” he said, “Spent all night trying to find who they were and what they wanted.”
“Rockets?” I hazarded, “Perhaps it was Aqua or Magma.” I added. Those three terrorist groups were the only ones that I could think of, as Oak had told me about the days when Ash Ketchum had defeated them all. Perhaps one, two or possibly even all three had returned.
“They’re all possibilities.” said Oak, “But anyway, what did you call me for?” I sighed - this wasn’t the right time to tell him about ‘the voice’ and the mysterious attack on Sunshine.
“Have you any Pokemon left at all?” I asked. I was going to ask him to send over my Grumpig, but that could have been stolen.
“Terribly sorry, Andrew but every single Pokemon in the lab was stolen.”
“Bugger it.” I said quietly, “Never mind.” I said down the phone. “Well, bye.”
“Bye.” replied Oak, before the screen blanked out and I hung up. That was plan A out of the window. That meant I’d have to use Skarr the Zangoose for this round. I exited the Pokemon Centre and walked toward the centre of the town – and the Stadium. I walked down the empty streets – it was still early in the morning and although there were a few fishermen in their boats at sea already, most people were either still sleeping or just waking up. The sky was a dull grey, with the promise of rain lingering in the clouds overhead. The air smelt and even felt heavy and damp. I walked slowly, hoping Sunshine was okay and wondering about the mysteriousness of what had happened over last day and night. I thought of who I knew, and if anyone of them could be doing this as a practical joke. My mother definitely wouldn’t, my father was always busy with work and whatnot, my brother was too young – and so it went on. I came to the conclusion that Evan was the only person who would be likely to do it, but then again he wouldn’t really attack Professor Oak’s lab and steal all of his Pokemon – and besides, Evan didn’t have a Murkrow or a Houndoom. I gave up the idea that it was a practical joke, and so decided to focus my mind on ‘the voice’ and the mysterious attacks on Sunshine and Prof. Oak’s lab. Gary sprung to mind, but I pushed that thought to the back of my head and decided not to think negative thoughts about someone I’d just met – even if he had blown up half of the arena and his Pokemon. I walked down the streets and through the town subconsciously, lost in thought. I bumped into the odd person now and then but there weren’t many people about.
I sighed and looked up, neglecting the thoughts I’d been just been thinking. The stadium was there with massive that was created yesterday was still there. Then it struck me – they couldn’t hold a tournament in these conditions. I walked over to the front door and entered.

I spent quite a while wandering aimlessly around the humungous building until I found an area with showers, towels, soap and a tumble dryer. I fished around for some coppers, put them in the slots, and stripped off my clothes before throwing them in. I started up the shower and got – it was nice and warm. The building was deserted so I wasn’t really worried about anyone coming in. However, even with that thought in my mind, I didn’t waste time. As soon as the tumble dryer finished, I leapt out of the shower, dried myself, put my clothes on and turned the shower off. I was just about exit the room when I heard a loud bang followed a hard thud. I heard screaming, the sounds of people running, another couple of shots and then there was – well there was silence.
“Shall we check upstairs?” I heard a voice say.
“No need.” replied a gruff voice, “Anyone up there isn’t getting out alive.”
“Excellent job boys.” said a third voice. That voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. “Come on, let’s move.” said the familiar voice. There was the sound of footsteps and I heard the front door slam. I sat for a moment before getting up and panicking. The second voice had said that anyone upstairs wasn’t getting out alive. I was upstairs, and although I didn’t have a clue what he was on about – I really didn’t want to know. I fumbled the door open, and ran full pelt down the stairs and out of the building. I headed down the road and almost got knocked over by a white van that was speeding. I leapt out of the way before another thought struck me – two Pokemon attacks, murders, a white van speeding, black suited people. My mind was racing, the pieces of the jigsaw were there, but they just didn’t seem to fit. There were five conclusions I came to which all involved the three terrorist groups and their leaders returning to their former positions and trying to dominate the world. I stood up, brushed the grit off my sweatshirt and started walking towards the beach. I looked back at the stadium and a white flash consumed my vision. There was a loud explosion, flames everywhere and lots of screaming. Clearly a bomb had been detonated – probably placed there by the people – and many innocents had been killed. What they were guilty of, I had no idea but still…
I then heard the screaming of sirens and saw blue and red flashing lights. My vision slowly returned I saw policemen swarming everywhere, firemen battling the flames, paramedics running into the burning building carrying stretchers and last of all I saw bystanders talking to policemen and pointing – pointing at me. I turned and ran down the path, knocking people over – I was going t be arrested for blowing up a building, I was sure of it. I continued running until WHAM! I collided with someone’s fist. I looked and saw a tall and very muscular man glaring at me, his fist curled into the palm of his other hand.
“What’s the big idea?” I yelled, scrambling to my feet and glaring back at the man.
“Whatchu f*****g doing, blowing up buildings and killing lots o’ people?” he said, in an American voice.
“I-I didn’t do any-anything.” I stuttered – I really was in trouble now. The man ran forward, grabbed my by the scruff of the neck, and dragged me down the path to the nearest police officer. The American roughly threw me to the ground and tapped the policeman’s shoulder.
“Got ‘im Sir.” he said, before walking off inconspicuously in the crowd. The man had short brown hair and serious looking brown eyes. He wore a blue officer’s uniform.
“Well, well, well.” he said, raising his eyebrows suspiciously. He reached down and handcuffed me before leading me over to a van. He ushered me inside, locked the doors and then hopped into the driver’s seat. The American man was sitting in the passenger seat up front and his eyes were smiling about something.
“Big Boss will be ‘appy, won’t ‘e?” said the American. “Jim? Hello?” he said when he got no reply.
“Shut up Jason.” said Jim, “The kid could be listening on this conversation.” Jason turned to glare angrily at me, before pulling out a baton and clubbing me around the head with it. My head started throb painfully and the world swam blurrily in front of my eyes before I sank in a heap onto the floor and the darkness took me……

I awoke and waited for my eyes to adjust to the gloom that surrounded me. No tournament here – that I could be sure of. I looked around to get a view of my surroundings. I was in a kind of cell, with no windows – only four bare walls and a large steel door with a small opening flap at the bottom. Drab, dreary, dark and the unbearable stench of urine greeted my senses when my brain kicked into gear. If ran my hand over the wall – brickwork all around and one steel door. Escape really seemed impossible. I fumbled my way back towards the door and attempted to knock it down – I got a very badly bruised foot. My head still hurt a lot and it took me a while to realise that my wallet, mobile and tow remaining poke balls had been taken. I cursed loudly and jumped with fright when a muffled voice from the other side of the door.
“Keep it down in there!” the guard, or whoever it was, shouted. Judging by the fact his voice barely reached my ears I gathered that the room he was in was soundproof.

I didn’t much, except pace around the cell and occasionally dose of for a minute as I was still shattered considering the lack of sleep I’d received. After what seemed like a century the door was flung open and light poured into the room – it wasn’t much different to what it was in the dark. I glanced at the doorway. A woman stood there – she had long pink hair and pink eyes. She was tall and slim and she looked like she was in her forties. She was wearing a black suit with the letters ‘?’ written on them in green.
“I’m Jesse.” she said simply, “I get the lucky job of escorting you to the Boss’ room. Come with me please.” she turned swiftly and headed towards the end of a corridor and turned left. Not wanting to find out what would happen if I didn’t follow her I sprinted along the corridor and round the corner. There wasn’t much; just another corridor with lots of doors leading away. Jesse was waiting for me, and she started walking down the corridor when I caught up. I walked along the corridor – not too close to Jesse, but not that far away – looking for any means of escape. The corridor itself had a red carpet going the length of it, with golden patterns sewed along the edges. The walls were painted blue and the doors black. There were no windows at all.
After a long time of following Jesse along corridors that looked the same and not finding any windows, I gave up hope. We turned right at the end of the sixteenth corridor and instead of the warm inviting colours of the other corridors this one was cast completely in shadow with a black door at the end. Jesse turned down the corridor and headed for the door without a moments hesitation. I reluctantly followed, being reminded every step of the way of the Pokemon Centre. Jesse and I reached the door and she knocked sharply. A grunt coming from the other side of the door and Jesse escorted me in, shutting the door behind her.
“Thank you Jesse.” said ‘the voice’. I shuddered – I was finally going to meet the evillest person I knew. “Wait outside and I’ll deal with you when I’m done here.” said the voice. Jesse bowed deeply, and exited the room. I heard a lock clicking and that was that – I was alone with a maniac. I stared wildly around the room. Everything was cast in shadow – and there were no windows. I could make out the faint outline of a desk, two chairs (one on each side) and the silhouette of a figure sitting at the opposite side of the desk.
“Please, take a seat.” the voice said, and a hand emerged from the shadows and indicated the chair before drawing quickly back again. I sat down and stared into the shadows. “I hope you remember our meeting last night. Your fear pleased me greatly.” the person laughed and I shuddered. “Also, I must add that your Zangoose is very protective. It emerged from its poke ball and started attacking me when I tried to remove your valuables from you. Clearly you have great potential as a trainer.”
“Your point is?” I inquired, trying to get across as much hate as I could, whilst still trying to make it sound polite. I failed miserably.
“I only brought you in here for a chat. You may return to your tournament unharmed when I’m done with you.” he said, chuckling slightly. I raised my eyebrows,
“What’s the catch?” I asked, “And what is it you indeed do with me?”
“I’m here to offer my services. You join us, you leave unharmed. It’s as simple as that.”
“Why should I? I don’t even know who you are. And what’s all this ‘us’ business anyway?”
“Young fool. Your questions will be answered in good time – however I await your answer.”
“Fine, I’ll answer you. If you tell me who you are first.” I narrowed my eyes at him, although it probably didn’t do anything. The voice sighed – I was certain it was a man, but Magma, Aqua and the Rockets all had male leaders.
“My name is unimportant. Do you accept or do I have to kill you?” the voice, and a glint of silver and a soft ‘click’ showed me that he was armed with a pistol or revolver, dangerous and he wasn’t playing around. I decided to stall for time and try to get as many answers out of him as possible. Laughter came from the shadows.
“Stalling for time will not work. And you won’t be able to get any answers out of me.” the voice said. I still thought that the voice sounded familiar but I still hadn’t a clue. Then the thought I’d placed at the back of my mind earlier sprung forth and the words erupted from my mouth before I had a chance to stop them.
“Areyougary???” I said quickly, so that all the words jumbled together.
“What you say?” said the voice – still confident and smug but with a hint of doubt and uncertainty.
“Are – you – Gary???” I asked again, slowly and carefully. The voice sighed.
“Gary… Gary was one of my – employees yes. However, I’m not him. And seeing as you haven’t answered my question, I’ll have to take it that you said ‘no’ won’t I?” he said slowly, raising the pistol into the light. It glinted and I gulped. The hand put a finger to the trigger.
“Alright, I’m in.” I said quickly. The finger pressed the trigger, I felt a sharp pain in my left shoulder and then the darkness consumed so I had no idea of what was going on – I didn’t even know if I was alive or dead. Seeing as I couldn’t see, hear, feel, smell or taste anything I presumed that I was dead……

[Pig on the Wing]

Chapter 5: Battle on the Quay

I stared around groggily with darkness lingering in the corners of my eyes. I took in my surroundings – a hospital room by the looks of it. My hands instantly raced to my waist where I found (to my surprise) six full poke balls. That didn’t work out anyway as I only had 3 Pokemon in the place. However, after finding that my poke balls were still there I looked around, my vision having finally come back to me. The walls were either white or pale green and there were bleep machines and trolleys loaded with various medical equipment. There were lots of beds with curtains covering them and their were many various nurses running around frantically and helping other patients. My left arm ached and when I looked at it, it was wrapped up neatly in white bandages. I assumed that when I accepted the job offer the man had pointed his gun and my shoulder as opposed to my heart – and I was thankful for it.
Sighing, I reached out and drew the curtains and with my heart beating incredibly fast, I released my six Pokemon. They all cried out with glee at once as soon as they emerged.
“Mud!” one called out.
“Squirt!” another said.
“Esp.” said a familiar voice.
“Toto-toto!” said a very unfamiliar voice.
“Zang.” said another voice. The sixth noise I heard was snoring. At least that indicated that Espeon, Zangoose and Snorlax were all okay. The other three I didn’t have before, so I assumed that someone had given them to me as a gift. I looked at the first one. It was a small four-legged Pokemon that was mainly blue but had a white underbelly and small tufts of orange brown fur on its cheeks. It also had a small white tail that looked like a flipper and a large blue flipper that stuck out of its head. It was obviously a Mudkip. The second one was a small turquoise coloured turtle that stood on its back legs. It had two large brown eyes, a curly turquoise tail and a large brown shell with a white outline on its back. Its legs and arms were also turquoise but they were short and stubby. By the looks of it, it was a Squirtle. Finally I came to the last Pokemon. It was a dark blue crocodile, also standing on its two back legs. It had a nice white pattern on its belly, two large red brown eyes and a line of red scales going down its back. Its tail was dark blue and fairly short, as was its arms and legs. It opened its mouth and showed two rows of pearly white razor sharp teeth. However I couldn’t for the live of me think what it was.
“Toto! Toto! Dile!” it said, jumping up and down and waving its arms in a mad frenzy.
“Totodile!” I suddenly said and Totodile grinned. Suddenly the curtains were drawn back and a man in his forties with slickly combed brown hair and wearing a navy blue suit stood there.
“I hope you enjoy those three Pokemon.” he said in the voice that sounded all too familiar.
“Are you, the man?” I asked him not sure myself who ‘the man’ was. He chuckled evilly and I shuddered.
“Yes. I’m ‘the man’ that you speak of. I’m the one that shot you and tried to recruit you.”
“Why did you shoot me?”
“Force of habit. I normally have to shoot people. So when you agreed instead of killing you I shot your arm. I placed those extra three poke balls on your stretcher and had your original three returned to you. The tournament is continuing, only this time it’ll be at the harbour instead of the Grand Stadium. Your battle’s at 3: 50 by the way. It’s 1: 45 now so try to hurry up.” he smiled, turned and drew the curtains before I heard his footsteps going down the corridor. I couldn’t battle in this condition, but the man had given me three fairly rare water Pokemon and I wasn’t going to waste them at all by not battling. I pushed myself up with one arm and rolled off the bed making sure to land on my feet. I managed it quite well actually. I recalled each Pokemon one-by-one and clipped their poke balls to the Pokemon trainer belt around my waist. I undressed slowly and got dressed into a fresh pile of clothes that had been left on a cabinet next to my bed. It was a navy blue suit with a brown tie – exactly the same outfit that ‘the man’ had been wearing. I resolved to buy some clothes today after my battle.

After a while of trying to sneak past the nurses and out of the hospital I was on my down the street to the harbour. It was three o’clock by the time I’d managed to get out of the hospital so by the time I got to the arbour it would be about two forty so I’d have ten minutes to do stuff. Probably train my three new Pokes.

I stood in the trainers’ box with Mudkip’s poke ball in my hand. It was 3: 51 and my battle was about to begin. I was battling a fellow eighteen year old trainer called Marco. He seemed pretty confident and going up against a low level Mudkip could you blame him?
“Trainers!” announced the ref/commentator, “Make sure you adhere to the rules! And don’t forget, your Pokemon have to go around the cones and actually defeat the Tentacool swarm before it can participate in the battle against the opponent. Let the battle -” he raised his hands and I looked over at Marco and the smug, confident look on his face. “Begin!” shouted the ref/commentator who’ll now be called Jeff.
“Go Mudkip! Let’s win this!” I roared. I threw Mudkip’s poke ball into the water as close to the floating cones as possible. The poke ball exploded in a flash of white revealing the little Pokemon before the poke ball came whizzing back to my hand.
“Come on out Sealeo!” said Marco aimlessly tossing his poke ball into the sea. A medium sized blue sea lion with small tusks, a cream coloured front and white whiskers appeared.
“Sealeo!” it cried, before diving underwater and dodging between the cones with ease. Mudkip was a different story all together. She was struggling to swim against the current and was making slow progress. Sealeo was at the Tentacool by the time Mudkip had got past the third cone.
“Come one Mudkip!” I called to her, “Three down, twenty seven to go!”
“Mud!” she cried, and put head down and began really pushing herself to go faster. She gained a little speed but not much.

It was dusk by the time Mudkip reached the arena. Sealeo was sleeping by then and the crowd were somewhat bored. Mudkip had tried her best and as I didn’t have to use Zangoose/Snorlax/Espeon as it wasn’t at the Grand Stadium it was good training for her. If I won, Squirtle would be battling next round and Totodile the one after that.
Mudkip had taken two hours two get past the cones and another hour to defeat the Tentacool. She dragged herself onto the arena, panting and with scratch marks and poison marks all over her body. She looked like she was going to drop down dead and I felt bad for making her do this. I sighed miserably but at least she made it to the arena. Even if she didn’t last for more than a couple of seconds in battle.
“Both Pokemon have made it to the arena!” shouted Jeff. He was mainly shouting to wake the crowd up, “So let the battle between Mudkip and Sealeo begin!”
“Sealeo, it’s almost gone. Finish it off with Body Slam!” cried Marco and his Sealeo woke up and charged, leaping a short distance to land on top of Mudkip. Mudkip began swaying slightly and her eyes began to droop. This attack would easily finish her off – if she didn’t faint before that. Sealeo was hurtling toward her – Mudkip didn’t stand a chance. Just before Sealeo smashed into her, Mudkip dropped and rolled over. Sealeo slammed into the ground leaving a small crater in its wake. Sealeo was down, but it instantly rolled over and got up. Mudkip on the other hand was on the floor and although her eyes were open and she was breathing and still alive, she made no attempt to get up.
“Sealeo, use Ice Beam, that’ll show it!” shouted a very angry sounding Marco. His seal Pokemon opened its mouth and in an instant had formed a large white orb of ice. It then fired it as a beam directly towards Mudkip who made no attempt to get out of its way. The attack smashed into Mudkip – and rebounded off! In actual fact it slammed into an invisible barrier of Mirror Coat and rebounded off slamming into Sealeo. Sealeo was barely hurt due to it being a Water/Ice type but still, at least a small amount of damage was inflicted.
“Good job Mudkip!” I encouraged her, “Keep it up and we’ll win this!”
“Not a chance of victory for you so why don’t you shut up?” said Marco glaring at me. His yellow eyes seemed to blaze with internal flame. I ignored him, but I knew deep inside that Mudkip wasn’t going to make it through the battle.
“Headbutt it now!” Marco said to his Sealeo. Sealeo lowered its head and charged very slowly (due to it being on land) towards Mudkip.
“Mudkip – um, do something!” I yelled, hoping she knew another attack that’d save her. She did nothing except lie there until just before Sealeo hit her – then she began to glow red. Sealeo slammed its head into her and moved a little bit but not much. Marco bit his lip probably trying to figure out what Mudkip was up to. I wondered as well but assumed she knew what she was doing and so left her to it.
“Sealeo, use Surf!” Marco called. I swore because if Mudkip was using Counter it wouldn’t do anything against Surf. Sealeo began to chant silently and the sea began to churn roughly. Then a gigantic wave came out of nowhere and hurtled towards the arena and more specifically, Mudkip. I gulped and stared on helplessly as the wave crashed over Mudkip and obscured her from view. Then, through the greenish blue I saw a flash of red light, a crackle of electricity and heard a tremendous roar. When the water drained away, both Pokemon were lying on the arena not moving.
“And with some expertise Mudkip managed to pull off a Bide and survive a Body Slam and Surf to counter the damage back double at Sealeo. However both Pokemon are down, and so the first Pokemon to stand up will be declared the winner. If neither Pokemon has stood up after one minute then sudden death mode will be brought into effect in which the two trainers choose another Pokemon each and the first Pokemon to inflict three damaging attacks win. Let the timing begin!” Jeff said over the roar of the crowd. The crowd hushed and every pair of eyes was turned on the stadium, watching the two Pokemon for any signs of movement. Sealeo twitched a couple of times, but didn’t get up.
“It looks like a minute has passed!” Jeff called. “So let the sudden death battle on the quay begin!”
“Skarr, let’s go!” I called dropping Skarr’s poke ball and releasing the human shaped white Pokemon with yellow eyes and red scars all over its body.
“Seviper, kick the things arse!” Marco shouted dropping a poke ball and releasing his long black snake with red, purple and yellow markings all over it. It also had a barbed half black half red tail and two long, sharp and probably poisonous red fangs protruded from its mouth. Seviper instantly launched a volley of poisonous spikes at Skarr who used his superior speed to avoid them. Skarr however, strayed to close to Seviper and it lashed out with its barbed tail gouging Skarr’s body deeply. Skarr howled loudly, unsheathed its claws and swiped hard and Seviper’s tail. Seviper hissed angrily and pulled it’s now scratched tail back to its body and still hissing angrily slithered away from Skarr – who pursued with a vengeance, vigorously scything with his claws, intent on winning.
“After being savagely attacked by Seviper, Zangoose is relentlessly swiping at Seviper trying to hit it!” Jeff announced for those at the back of the crowd who couldn’t see what was going on.
“Skarr, use a Swords Dance!” I said and he stopped attacking. He squinted for a moment and then pulled two incredibly large swords out of thin air. Skarr then started to make complicated manoeuvres with them his attack power rising non-stop all the time. Marco however didn’t seem daunted in the least bit daunted.
“Skarr, finish it with a Crush Claw!” I said with confidence swelling up inside me. The swords that Skarr had been holding disappeared, and he raced towards Seviper with his claws raised.
“Haze.” Marco ordered icily. My stomach managed to re-knot itself at these words. Skarr wouldn’t be able to see properly and the Sword Dances would be countered out if Seviper managed to pull a Haze off. However every cloud has a silver lining – if Skarr couldn’t get to Seviper first then at least he would be able to charge up a Hyper Beam which would easily be able to destroy Seviper no problem. Skarr reached Seviper and raised all his claws in the air ready to bring down on Seviper’s head. At that moment Seviper opened its mouth and a thick black fog erupted covering the arena.
“Skarr, use Hyper Beam!” I cried.
“Seviper, use Hyper Beam!” Marco cried. I turned my head sharply and glared through the fog until I saw the dark outline of Marco and it seemed he was glaring back.
Two orange glows indicated that both Pokemon had opened their mouths and begun to charge up energy. The Haze then slowly faded away until a much scratched quay could be seen with Skarr at one end and Seviper at the other. They both (as mentioned a second earlier) had their mouths open and were both charging up orange energy. They were still small orbs in their mouths but were rapidly growing in size.
After a couple of tense minutes had passed the crowd was getting restless and the two orange orbs were still only football sized.
“Seviper catch it off guard! Now!” Marco shouted and Seviper narrowed its eyes and fired the attack at Skarr. Skarr opened his eyes in surprise and automatically fired his own Hyper Beam. The two attacks collided, but with Skarr having a higher attack it began to slowly edge backwards towards Seviper.
“Keep it up Skarr!” I encouraged him. I was going to win for sure now that I had the upper hand.
“Seviper – Poison Tail!” Marco said, victory glimmering in his eyes. Keeping the Hyper Beam steady, Seviper swung its tail so that the barbed bit at the end was pointing towards Skarr. It opened and a large spike shaped purple barb shot out of it and stung Skarr sharply on the leg. Skarr’s Hyper Beam instantly faded and Seviper’s attack hurtled towards Skarr, with no escape in sight. I closed my eyes and Skarr assumed the defensive position.
“Mud!” squeaked a little voice. I opened my eyes and saw a blue blur flash across the stadium and in the way of the Hyper Beam. It collided with the blue Pokemon and a small explosion and a flash of light indicated the attack had struck and the blue Pokemon probably wasn’t getting up. After a few seconds the dust cleared and the light faded and I noticed that the little blue Pokemon looked very familiar. I glanced quickly up at the floating platform and saw that Mudkip wasn’t there. I focused my eyes onto the blue Pokemon and saw that it was my Mudkip but seeing as the one minute had passed there was no way that I was going to win thanks to Mudkip getting back up again.
“Andrew wins Round 2 as Marco and his Seviper attacked Mudkip instead of Zangoose!” Jeff shouted out of the blue, jolting me back to reality. “So after some close competition Andrew walks off after progressing to Round 3 and Marco is stripped of his Pokemon and will be forced to start training from the beginning again!”
Marco muttered something under his breath and recalled his Seviper. He glared at me, then at Jeff and spat on the ground before storming off through the cheering crowd.
“Good job you two.” I said, recalling Skarr and Mudkip.

I strolled down the streets with the darkness of the night closing in around me. My next battle would be in three days’ time so I vowed to spend most of that time training Squirtle and Totodile, possibly Mudkip. I headed towards the Pokemon Centre where I asked Nurse Joy to heal my Pokemon and then asked her for a room in the blue corridor. She smiled and handed me the key. When I got to my room, I flopped into the bed and after a couple of minutes I was snoring contentedly in a dream filled sleep.

[Pig on the Wing]

Chapter: 6: Murder

I woke and yawned before drawing back the curtains. Golden rays of sunlight streamed in through the windows illuminating the entire room. I dragged myself to the bathroom and undressed before stepping into the shower. I flicked the switch and hot water erupted from the nozzle.

After an hour long shower I decided to take a stroll around the town, possibly buy some fresh clothes as battling in a suit just didn’t suit me. The town was bustling with people rushing everywhere; buying things, selling things starting a late work and other things along that line. I went from stall to stall, looking at the different things that were on sale finally deciding to buy a blue shirt and loose black trousers. I returned to the Pokemon Centre headed up to my room and put my stuff away before locking up and going to one of the many café’s in Jook Town for breakfast.

After a glass of apple juice and continental breakfast I was on my way to the sea to begin training my three new water type Pokemon: Squirtle, Totodile and Mudkip.
When I got to the harbour it looked as though a battle had broken out and so, not wanting to miss a chance to see a battle and possibly learn some new techniques I wandered over to the large crowd. I groaned as I realised that the crowd wasn’t going to let me pass and as I was at the back I couldn’t see what was going on.
“Umbreon Faint Attack!” a voice said. It sounded somewhat familiar but I couldn’t quite fit a person to it.
“Absol Faint Attack!” said another voice. It was another voice that I recognized but couldn’t think of who was speaking. After the two attacks had been ordered a chill silence descended upon the crowd. Then there were thuds and lots of growling.
“Two on two.” said the first voice. It wasn’t really a question or and invitation but more of an order. “Go Mightyena.” A poke ball was thrown and more growling was heard. There was a lot of hissing and booing from the crowd but nothing could be done so the battle continued.
“Umbreon Faint Attack again and Mightyena use Crunch!” the person said. It was followed by a soft chuckle. “Let’s see you win this, boss.” the voice spat the last syllable as if it were poison.
“Absol I say we finish this – use Combo Death.” the first voice swore as not knowing what your opponents Pokemon was going to do was a great disadvantage in any battle. There was a loud crack and the air began to thin very rapidly. There was a lot of heavy breathing and a couple of people fainted. There was another sound, this time like a bite and then everything returned to normal. I gasped. Whoever was using that Umbreon had certainly trained its Crunch technique well. A bark followed quickly by a howl meant that the Faint Attack had also connected. The first trainer chuckled.
“Umbreon, use -” however before he could command anything two green spotlights shone out of nowhere and beamed onto what I guessed were Umbreon and Mightyena. Then a very clear yet chill and deadly voice sounded in the air. It the kinds of feel to it that it made everyone think that they were dying slowly and in an also very painful manner. The syllables were incoherent and if the odd syllable managed to reach your ears it made no sense as it was in a language that nothing could understand except the thing that was singing it. I knew instantly that it was a Perish Song technique meaning that after three attacks had been made all participating Pokemon would faint. That made no sense as neither Pokemon would attack the other – and I was also stumped as to what the first attack was. There was then a lot of growling and then a sudden leap from both Mightyena and Umbreon – 3 attacks. Red lightning began to strike the arena coming from nowhere. There was a whoosh of wind a bright yellow flash and then a lot of clapping and cheering.
“Umbreon, Mightyena return.” said the voice. As the crowd moved out of the way to let the loser through I caught a few glimpses of the arena. I couldn’t see the trainer but there was a large white dog with a black face and paws, a white beard and two black horns protruding from its head and twisted in complicated shapes. So that was an Absol…
“We meet again Andrew.” said the loser. I spun round and gasped in disbelief.
“Gary!” I exclaimed. He nodded.
“So you took the job?” he asked.
“Ye -” I began before, “How do you know ‘bout that?”
“I work for him as well. That suicide battle attempt was his doing not mine. Listen – be careful. I disobeyed him once and he isn’t a fair person. He just fainted two of my Pokemon with one of his so don’t try to battle him either.” he looked over his shoulder. “Look, gotta go now – got some business to take care of. Remember, just do what he asks and don’t challenge his actions as you will suffer.” he then ran off into the town. I watched him go before turning and heading toward the arena to talk to my new boss.
“Ah Andrew. You saw the battle?” he said when he saw me coming towards him.
“I saw – glimpses yes.” I said honestly.
“Hmm.” he stared into space for a while before asking, “So what brings you here?”
“Um…” I was going to question him on many things but I decided against it. He meant business. That and the fact that he kept a pistol in his pocket at all times.
“Well?”
“Um…” I racked my brains. Why did I come down to the harbour in the first? Oh yeah… “Do you know any places I can train my new water Pokemon?” He nodded and pointed towards the beach.
“Don’t ask stupid questions.” he said darkly. By now the crowd had dispersed so ‘Big Boss’ as I knew him dropped off the platform and walked toward the town.

It was getting dark when I decided to call it a day. The three Pokemon had trained all day against Tentacool and Wingull – they even battled a trainer and did well, even though they lost. I recalled them to their poke balls and started headed towards the town when I saw ‘Big Boss’ walk up to me. He stopped in front of and smiled. It wasn’t a pleasant smile but it wasn’t evil either.
“Greetings child.” he said. “I have work for you.” he handed me a picture. I looked at it – it was a picture of an old man. He had a long crooked nose and carried a walking stick. He also had no hair and a hunched back. That was all I could see as the rest of the picture was in shadow. Before I knew it, ‘Big Boss’ had put a knife in my hand and whispered menacingly,
“Kill him.” before he disappeared. I stood there in shocked silence staring at the sand and pondering those final words. Then reality struck – hard and painful. I shook my head and looked up, as if waking from a trance. Questions whizzed around inside my head, racing along the outer art of my brain before colliding with the inner part of my skull and rebounding off to come back and bother me again. Then I thought about it long and hard. I didn’t even know this person. I didn’t know anything about him and besides, I couldn’t kill him if I didn’t know where he was situated. However, I agreed to working for ‘Big Boss’ and if I didn’t kill the old man, ‘Big Boss’ would probably take my three water Pokemon and then probably kill me. I sighed and before I knew what I was doing my feet began taking me in the opposite direction of the main town and into the forest…

I woke up as sunlight streamed down brightly onto me. I yawned and rolled over. I opened my eyes and rubbed them and gasped. I was surrounded by trees. I didn’t even know I’d come to the forest in the place – everything that had happened yesterday was a blur in my mind. It had also snowed while I was asleep. A thick layer of white surrounded everything and the tree braches were coated in it. I yawned again and struggled up.
“So, ye finally got up.” said a heavily accented croaky voice behind me. “Slept like a log ye did.” I turned round slowly to see the person and almost screamed. It was the man from the picture. Suddenly everything that had happened yesterday came rushing back and I remembered perfectly. So this was the man I had to kill…
“Wassa wrong sonny? Ye look like ye seed a ghost.” said the old man. From here I could see that he had crystal blue eyes that burned internally with life, and he also had a very long white beard.
“Shut your mouth.” I spat. I gasped in shock. Had I just said that?
“What ye on ‘bout, sonny?” asked the old man. “Young ‘uns today. No ‘spect for dem’s elders.”
“I’m sor – you die now.” I could feel it this time – someone or something was inside my head. The old man chuckled. “So, ‘e has to resort to sendin’ young ‘uns, does ‘e?” Before I knew it, the knife was in my hand and I was pressing the blade against his neck.
“Silence.” I spat the word out but I could feel whoever was controlling me was losing his grip. The man sighed and moved so quickly that it didn’t look like he’d moved at all. He was standing behind me and had me in a headlock. I knew that I could just swing my arm round and the deed would have been done. The grip on my mind was slipping. When it was almost gone the old man relaxed a little and released me. Then with tremendous power the thing reclaimed my head and I swung the knife like a maniac – the old man was prepared though and back-flipped. I whistled in admiration at the old man’s agility. However in as a final ditch effort my arm hurled the knife in a direct straight line. The old man landed on all fours and stood up. The knife thudded into his chest with such force that it propelled him back slightly. The old man had a look of slight amusement on his face.
“So, ‘e finally got me.” said the dying man. He then looked at me, “Well done. He will be pleased very pleased with you.” The man fell to floor and lay there gasping for breath and struggling to hold onto life.
“Who are you?” I blurted out, “Why does ‘Big Boss’ want you dead?”
“Ask him……” panted the old man, and he smiled before his last breath escaped his lips and he died. I had just an old man. I dropped to my knees and stayed there in desperation.
I was a murderer…

[Pig on the Wing]

Chapter: 7: Round 3

“You did do an excellent job though, no two ways about it.” the voice was tinged with pride but it still had the icy cold evilness it always had.
“But, he was an old man!” I protested, “I didn’t even know him. And besides, what did he ever do to you?”
“Much more than you could possibly imagine.” the sentence was spat not spoken.
“Like what?”
“That’s for me to know and you to wonder, child. Now get out of here.” a hand emerged from the shadows and pointed towards the door. I got up slowly and headed for the door. I opened it but before I left I turned. I glared into the shadows.
“What if I go to the cops?” I said slyly.
“Then I kill you.” was the sudden reply, “And with you gone, the cops won’t find me.” I swore loudly and slammed the door as walked out into the corridor. I turned and went down the passage to where the prison cell was. I pushed a full length mirror out of the way and walked into the secret passage sliding the mirror back behind me. I cursed aloud for allowing ‘Big Boss’ to manipulate me so easily. I had fallen asleep after burying the old man. When I woke up I was in the prison cell again. ‘Big Boss’ had sent for me and told me how I’d gotten back here and how to get out of the building.
The secret passage was just a long stone tunnel with flares hanging on the walls to illuminate it for the traveller. I walked down the passage slowly, shivering every now and then for no reason. At last I saw the green door at the end of the tunnel. I pushed it and it swung open easily. I stepped out into the dark alley and shut the door behind me before walking into the town. I wondered why no lost people went through there by mistake. Then again, knowing ‘Big Boss’ they probably did only they got killed before anyone else got to know about it. Two boys rushed down the street.
“Round 3’s going to start soon!” shouted one of them excitedly and the other boy nodded before they both disappeared in the crowd. I pondered what he’d said before my brain kicked into gear and I realized what he was talking about.
“****.” I said aloud to no one in particular, before pelting down the road towards the beach.

There was already a large crowd and there were annoyed and angry murmurs about how people should turn up on time for their battles. I ran round to the empty trainer box and leapt up the stairs into it.
“It looks like Andrew had arrived and so the battle can begin.” said the Jeff. I glanced across to the other trainer box to see my opponent. It was a woman who looked as though she was in her forties. She had brown eyes and very long hair that was dyed green. She wore a long skirt with flowers on it and a red jumper. She smiled at me.
“Could the trainers please send out their Pokemon?” said Jeff. I grabbed a poke ball at random from my pocket and tossed it into the arena. The woman on the other hand was looking at two poke balls struggling to make a decision. I looked at the arena to see who I’d sent out. It was Bobby Pin, my Snorlax. He was on his feet with his flab bouncing everywhere as he punched the air. I smiled. He was the second Pokemon I got and he was really energetic for a Snorlax. Finally the woman made her decision and threw an ultra ball into the arena. It exploded in a flash of white light to reveal – a Ditto.
“Happy days.” I muttered sarcastically to myself. The pink blob oozed its way around the arena, the two pin-prick eyes staring Snorlax.
“Ditto, Transform into it now!” shouted the woman and in a flash of white light the pink blob disappeared and a Snorlax was in its place. “Okay, go!” she yelled. Ditto took a few steps forward and stuck out its front hands. Bobby Pin did the same thing. Their hands locked and both Pokemon pushed against each other struggling to get the upper hand. However being the same Pokemon didn’t help matters.
“Come on Bobby Pin!” I heard myself calling out.
“Go Ditto, go!” screamed the woman. Ditto began to slowly shove Bobby Pin back slightly. I gulped – now or never.
“Thunderbolt it, Bobby!” I called. Bobby Pin grunted, and at the same time as keeping itself upright, in the arena and pushing against Ditto, he began to charge electricity.
“Let go and use Protect Ditto!” said the woman. The transformed Ditto released its grip on Bobby Pin and concentrated.
Bobby Pin roared and released the mass surge of electricity. The yellow energy pushed away from Bobby’s hands and slammed into –
There was a bright yellow flash as the Protect was initiated. The yellow died down and revealed that both Pokemon were unharmed.
“Bobby Pin!” I cried, “Headbutt it quickly!” Bobby Pin lowered its head and slammed it into Ditto. Ditto was sent reeling backwards and returned to its true form – a small blob of pink glue with two pin pricks for eyes. It only lasted for a couple of seconds and then Ditto transformed again.
“Hyper Beam!” screamed the woman frantically.
“Bobby Pin, counter it with your own Hyper Beam!” I shouted. I realised too late that that was exactly what Lance had sent when it was Bobby Pin against his Dragonite.

The massive attacks collided midway between the two Pokemon.
“Keep it up, Ditto!” the woman shouted over the roar of the two attacks. The orange light was intense – even when you closed both your eyes you could still you see orange. Both attacks were perfectly matched – it was the same attack being used by the same kind of Pokemon.

It was dark although you couldn’t tell it within about a mile of the arena. The Hyper Beams were still going, although occasionally it would edge one way or the other. I sighed this wasn’t working. I had to end it soon or I’d probably end up losing as the Ditto seemed far more experienced the Bobby Pin. A tiny particle of inspiration drifted from wherever they come from and a thought struck me.
“Bobby Pin, use Reflect and then Counter!” I called out. Bobby Pin grunted and quickly ceased his Hyper Beam. He moved his hands incredibly quickly forming a brown barrier in front of his which swiftly turned invisible. Then it struck.
The Hyper Beam that Ditto was using was still powerful, even though it’d been going on for so long. It connected with Bobby Pin however most of the impact was absorbed into the Reflect barrier.
Bobby Pin then grunted and brown sparks crackled all across his body. They all launched themselves simultaneously at Ditto who was in their relentless path of the Counter attacks destruction. Ditto fell to the floor, returned to its pink blobby shape and it promptly fainted. What happened next happened so fast that most people missed it. The woman whipped out her other poke ball and sent out another Ditto. As the poke ball opened and the white flash flashed the woman recalled her fainted Ditto. When the light faded another transformed Ditto was ready to begin battle. Bobby Pin grunted a grunt of annoyance and then prepared to fight. A number of people shouted ‘cheater’ at the top of their voices but Jeff didn’t stop the battle, so it continued. Ditto swung a punch and Bobby Pin punched as well with both of their fists colliding. Ditto caught Bobby Pin unawares and managed to pull of a Headbutt. Bobby Pin slid back a bit but almost instantly retaliated with another punch. This time, Ditto was unprepared for it and was sent flying back.
“Hyper Beam!” I shouted. Bobby Pin promptly reacted and began charging up orange energy.
“Come on Ditto!” screamed the woman, “Hyper Beam it as well!” I sighed, here we go again…
Ditto struggled to its feet and instantly blasted Bobby Pin with a Hyper Beam. I gasped – there was no way it could have possibly charged up that quickly.
The orange beam was hurtling at a frightening speed towards Bobby Pin who was still charging up.
“Stop charging!” I yelled, “Fire it now!” and it was then, for the first time since I got him, Bobby Pin didn’t listen. He just stood there charging up more and more energy. Ditto’s Hyper Beam was closing rapidly.
“Come on, damn it.” I muttered under my breath. Time seemed to slow down; seconds seemed to take centuries to pass yet Bobby Pin seemed to be charging up at a normal speed. Ditto’s attack was closing in. I turned away, not wanting to see Bobby Pin suffer one of his very few losses. Then the world returned to normal speed and I turned round to watch the battle again. Just before Ditto’s Hyper Beam hit, Bobby Pin fired his own Hyper Beam which was far more powerful than anything I’d ever seen before in my life. The ground shook underfoot and the trainer boxes cracked and some of the stairs leading up to them fell off. Ditto’s Hyper Beam did nothing to slow the attack down as it just ripped right through it as if it didn’t even exist. At that point Ditto seemed to give up and stopped its own Hyper Beam. Bobby Pin’s Hyper Beam smashed into Ditto who was sent flying back. The attack was so powerful that everyone went temporarily blind and a large BOOM ensued, indicating an explosion. When everyone’s vision came back the damage was viewed by all. The woman’s trainer box had been reduced to rubble and the lady was standing on the air completely stunned. A large pink blob with two crosses for eyes indicated that Ditto had fainted. My trainer box seemed to be floating in the air as well. People stared and then gravity seemed to realise what was happening – the woman fell to the floor, as did the trainer box and I. Bobby Pin was standing in the middle of the arena panting heavily but still conscious.
“Well, after an amazing show of power and brute force Andrew is victorious.” said Jeff, “However all battles will be postponed until another venue for the tournament can be found.”

The sea glistened in the moonlight. I sat on the beach and the watched the waves roll almost lazily onto the sand. A black figure appeared but he was in shadow. He laughed.
“I have work you.” he said, “Come to my office first thing tomorrow.”

[Pig on the Wing]

Bah. whatever.

If anyone is reading this (which I greatly doubt) please reply as some kind of feedback would be nice.

Chapter 8 coming soon....

Remember, please reply.

:wave:

[Topaz]

Mate, sorry to be the bearer of bad new is, that you have posted one heck of a lot at once, and such long reading really deters people I can see you have a good writing style, casual sorta, but I just can't stare at a page for so long.

[Pig on the Wing]

Topaz: I know it's a lot, I guess I didn't really think about that...
Oh well, what's done is done.

:wave:

[Pig on the Wing]

Don't quite know why, but here's Chapter 8. It's a two-part chapter and part two should be up soon.

Chapter 8: All out Battle ~ Part 1

I walked through the empty streets, heading for the alley containing the secret entrance to the lair of ‘Big Boss’. I reached the alley and stared down it doubtfully. During the day it was fine as sunlight flooded it, and during the night the streetlights lighted up certain areas of it but this early in the morning it was terrible. It was pitch black as the street lights were off and the sunlight was too weak at the moment to penetrate through the darkness of the alley. I fought back my fears however, and walked down the dark alley as quickly as I could. When I reached the door I threw it open, shut it behind me and ran down the stone passage as fast as my legs could carry me. I slowed down once I reached the mirror and leaned against the wall for a few seconds while I got my breath back before pushing the mirror aside and walking into the corridor.

I shut the door behind me and sat down in the chair.
“Hello.” said ‘Big Boss’ as soon as I’d sat down.
“Morning Sir.” I replied. “What do you what me from this time?”
“Well,” he said, “There is a – friend of yours, if you will – that we’ve been tracking for some time now. He is a superb trainer and has some rare and powerful Pokemon that we want. Your mission should be self explanatory.”
“In short, you want me to get this guys’ Pokemon and bring them back to you.”
“Exactly.”
“Well, at least it’s not murder.”
“Actually, if he refuses you’re supposed to kill him. Besides, after you’ve stolen his Pokemon, it’d be ideal for you to kill him, so he doesn’t go running to the police.” a hand then shot emerged from the shadows and a bit of paper and a slightly bloodied knife lay on the desk in front of me. I took the two objects and left the office silently. I walked down the corridors and pulled back the mirror and as I walked into the stone passage I heard a loud scream. I stopped and plunged the picture into my pocket. I gripped the knife handle fiercely and ran toward the screaming. I followed the noise to a door in the wall, carefully concealed by being painted the same colour as the wallpaper. I gripped the door handle and took a deep breath before swinging the door open. I ran into the room and the door suddenly slammed behind me, plunging the room into darkness. There was the sound of a match being struck and then a man in a black outfit emerged from the shadows carrying a large wooden stick with the end on fire. He swung it menacingly at me and I jumped backwards, avoiding the inviting but deadly shaft of light.
“Missed!” I called before running into the shadows. I stopped as a solid shadow loomed up in front of me. I put my hands on the wall and began to feel my way across looking for a light switch. My hand brushed over a switch and I immediately flicked it down. A metal clunking and the sound of chains moving followed before the voice screamed again. I quickly flicked the switch up again and all three noises stopped. I was then bathed in a pool of light and the wooden torch came hurtling through the air. I dived out of the way and sooner had I hit the floor there was a silenced bang and a cone shaped bit of metal struck the wall where my head had been moments before and fell to the ground.
“That the best you got!” I shouted into the darkness. I knew that was a bad move, but I wasn’t thinking straight at the time. There was a grunt and a thud followed by a click and the lights came on. I waited for a few seconds before looking round the room in disbelief. I was lying in a medieval style torture chamber. The floor, walls and two pillars were made of stone and the door was wooden. There were many chains hanging from various places on the walls, there was an occupied stretching rack, and many other various other nasty looking instruments on a table. There was also a catherine wheel and a fireplace in one corner of the room.
“Welcome to my world.” said the man, aiming his gun at my head.
“You sick minded freak!” I shouted, completely oblivious to my imminent death.
“Yes indeed.” said the man again, “Now, do you have any last words before you die?” he pulled back the hammer of his pistol and it clicked into place. I stared at the pistol thinking what I was going to say.
“Come and get me.” I finally spat out, before quickly rolling to the left and diving for the cover of the pillar. There was no way I was going to beat a trained professional at killing. I grabbed a poke ball and enlarged it and dropped it onto the ground in front of.
“Esp!” meowed Espeon rubbing against my leg. I patted her on the head and whispered in her ear what I wanted her to do.

Sunshine ran out from behind the pillar a fired a mass blast of purple, red and blue from her head diamond. It slammed into the man’s chest and he was flung back and crashed into the wall. His back let off a sickening crunch and he went limp.
“Good girl.” I said, ruffling Sunshine’s head. “Now go free the prisoner.” Sunshine meowed and ran unsheathed her claws before running across the room, leaping onto the table and slicing through the shackles.
“Oh man is it good to be free.” said the person sitting up. The person patted Sunshine on the head and she sheathed her claws before running back to me.
“Are you okay?” I asked walking over to the person. The person leapt up and I saw she was a girl. She was a few inches shorter than me, and had shoulder length brown hair and dark blue eyes. She had a flowery shirt on and knee length white shorts. She stared at me menacingly and after few seconds of her scanning me her glare softened.
“Thanks.” she said, “By the way, my name is Fiona.” she extended a hand.
“It was nothing.” I said shaking her head. “I’m Andrew.” I then held out Sunshine’s poke ball and recalled her.
“I say we get out of here.” said Fiona. “Someone will be down to check on me soon.” I nodded and we walked over to the door and I opened it. We walked out into the corridor and closing the door behind us, we left the building.

Golden rays of sunlight glared down onto us as we left the alley. We walked out of the alley and down the crowded streets. Fiona suddenly stopped and turned to me.
“Is it Wednesday?” she asked and I nodded. A look of horror crossed her face. “What time is it?” I checked my watch.
“It’s 10am roughly.” I replied. She sighed in relief. “Why?” I asked. She smiled.
“I’ve got a Round 3 battle at two thirty this afternoon.” my eyes widened.
“You mean – you’re taking part in the Askar Pokemon Challenge!” I exclaimed.
“Yes. What’s so strange about that?”
“Well, so am I.” I answered. Her eyes widened this time.
“What group are you in? I’m in group 4.”
“I’m in group 7. I won my round 3 battle yesterday.” I replied. I put my hand into my pocket and felt the knife and the picture there. I sighed knowing that if I didn’t do the job ‘Big Boss’ wanted me to do, my body would end up in a weighted sack at the bottom of a lake or river somewhere. I sighed again.
“Sorry Fiona, but I’ve business to attend to. Catch up with you later.” and with that, I sprinted off into the crowds. When I reached the Pokemon Centre, I ran to my room and sat on the bed. I took the picture out of my pocket and gasped. The person in the picture was Evan.

Group 8 had had their round 3 battles two days ago and Evan was in a forest that bordered the town training his Pokemon when I found him. He was training a Pidgeot and that didn’t seem very rare to me.
“Evan!” I called, “How are you?” he looked up at me and I dropped from the tree branch I was sitting on. I grabbed a low branch a swung myself carefully round before landing lightly on the grass.
“Let me guess,” said Evan narrowing his eyes. “You want a battle.” that comment struck me as odd, but I decided to play along.
“Yeah, that’s why I’m here. I challenge you, an all out Pokemon battle.” I said. Evan nodded.
“There’s a battle arena just beyond those trees so we’ll battle there.” he said, and he began walking.

When we reached the clearing there was a two – on - two rookie battle taking place. A purple rat with a curled tail, a white underside and two large front teeth – a Rattata – was fighting alongside a brown circular Pokemon with two large ears that was standing on a long tail and had a target on its chest – a Sentret. They were fighting a small dog shaped Pokemon with brown and white frizzed fur – a Zigzagoon – and a small green Pokemon with black markings and large and pointed brown spikes all over its body – a Jelkinos which was a newly discovered Askarian Pokemon. There were a small group of kids watching the battle. We watched for a few minutes with mild interest, before Evan walked up to them with his Pidgeot perched on his shoulder.
“Clear off kids.” he said, “Me and my mate here and going to have a proper battle so you rookies might wanna watch so you can learn a thing or two.” the kids stared at him, then at me and finally at his Pidgeot before recalling their Pokemon and joining their friends outside the chalked arena.
“Bring it on, Andy.” Evan called across from where he was standing. I smiled and chose my Pokemon.
“Go Squirtle!” I cried, tossing his poke ball onto the floor at my feet. The little blue turtle appeared in a white flash and took a few steps into the arena.
“Pidgeot let’s go!” said Evan, pointing at Squirtle. His Pidgeot spread its wings and glided into the arena, landing on both feet. “Begin!” shouted Evan.
“Squirtle, Ice Beam it now!”
“Pidgeot, you know what to do.” Pidgeot spread its wings and flew vertically upwards while Squirtle opened its mouth and created a white orb which got bigger and bigger with each passing second.
“Dive Bomb it!” screamed Evan, and Pidgeot (who by now had gained quite a height) swung round, folded its wings in and dive at a frighteningly high speed towards Squirtle. “Winner takes all!” he suddenly shouted and Pidgeot began to glow orange. Squirtle continued to charge up and when Pidgeot was about five meters away, he let fly with the attack. The ice beam sped upwards catching Pidgeot off guard – or so it seemed. Pidgeot spun out of the way and then glowed a very violent orange before slamming into Squirtle who was thrown back and came skidding to a halt at the edge of the arena. The kids burst into applause. I growled and cursed silently. Squirtle struggled to his feet and stood for a couple of seconds before falling to one knee, panting heavily.
“Pidgeot, finish it with a Swift.” said Evan calmly. I racked my brains. Swift was unavoidable unless you were underground and Squirtle could not dig.
“Squirtle, use Withdraw.” I said. Squirtle withdrew himself into his shell and Pidgeot launched a massive barrage of stars at Squirtle. I muttered a silent prayer and watched to see what would happen.
The stars slammed into Squirtle’s shell some rebounding off and some causing slight damage. Squirtle’s shell began to glow white but Squirtle didn’t move. Pidgeot spread its wings and glided over to Squirtle to see what was happening. As soon it landed, Squirtle sprung up and blasted it with an immensely powerful ice beam. Pidgeot was thrown back a good way and lay there twitching occasionally but not actually getting up. Everyone was staring at Squirtle – or at least what was Squirtle. Squirtle had grown slightly taller, and his skin was no longer light blue but a very dark shade of blue, almost purple. He had grown two pointed ears and his tail was pale blue, much bigger and ruffled all over the place.
“You Squirtle evolved into a Wartortle.” said a thunderstruck Evan. I nodded happily.
“He sure did – and then he beat your Pidgeot.” I said.
“No chance.” said Evan. “Pidgeot, get up and use Hyper Beam!” and his Pidgeot got up shakily and opened its beak to reveal a small glowing orange orb that was rapidly charging up energy.
“Wartortle give the most powerful Ice Beam you can!” I called to him. Wartortle then opened his mouth to reveal a small white orb that was also growing at a rapid rate. Then Wartortle blasted Pidgeot with the half charged Ice Beam freezing the bird over. The battle was over and Evan recalled his Pidgeot.
“You got lucky that time.” Evan said, clipping Pidgeot’s poke ball to his belt and removing another one. “Go Stantler!” he said throwing it. A large pale brown deer with a small white tail and two massive cream coloured antlers with a black orb at the bottom of each antler appeared.
“Wartortle, you okay to go again?” I asked him and he nodded. “Right then, use another Ice Beam.” I said and Wartortle opened his mouth, “But this time, do it in style.” I added. Wartortle closed his mouth and a sly smile crossed his face. He turned his body sideways so he was facing the crowd and then turned his head towards Stantler and cupped both his hands pointing in my direction. He began to concentrate and a large white orb appeared in his cupped hands. He then roared loudly and keeping his hands cupped thrust them forward and fired the ice beam from his hands. Stantler just stood there and took the blast head on.
“Hypnosis!” shouted Evan. Stantler closed his eyes and yellowy purple waves were emitted from his head and passed over Wartortle and yawned loudly and dropped to floor sleeping like a log.
“That one goes to me.” jeered Evan. I recalled Wartortle and sent out Skarr the Zangoose silently. Evan just laughed.
“Skarr, begin with a Swords Dance!” I said. Skarr reacted immediately, and pulled two swords out of thin air and making complicated movements with them. Evan just smiled slyly. Skarr finished and the two swords disappeared.
“Skarr, end it with a Crush Claw!” I cried. Skarr rushed forward and leapt majestically into the air, swinging both claws down onto Stantler in one swift movement. Stantler just stood stock still and did nothing as the attack closed in.
“Psychic!” screamed Evan a few seconds before the attack hit. Stantler closed his eyes and instantly purple waves of telepathic energy were emitted from the orbs at the base of his antlers. Skarr was thrown back, but landed seemingly unharmed on his feet.
“Stantler, let’s copy it. Psych Up!” cried Evan. Stantler again closed his eyes and a red beam shot from Skarr into Stantler.
“What was that?” I asked.
“Psych Up.” replied Evan, “it copies any stat increases made by the opponent’s Pokemon. Now Stantler, Earthquake!” Stantler roared loudly and reared up on his back legs before suddenly slamming his front hooves into the ground. The ground instantly began shaking and large mounds of earth were thrown into the air, heading in a straight line from Stantler’s hooves towards Zangoose.
“Skarr, jump now!” I yelled over the roar of the ground. Skarr stood still for a second longer before leaping into the air as high as he could. The ground where Skarr had been standing mere seconds ago erupted in a mass explosion of grass and mud and then the shaking stopped.
“Crush Claw it again!” I shouted. Skarr nodded briefly and flattened his arms against the side of his body making him more streamlined and then dived at an incredible speed directly towards Stantler. Evan smirked.
“Stantler, Headbutt it as it comes down.” he said smugly. Stantler lowered his head and his antlers glistened in the sun. Skarr raised his arms and folded them into the shape of the letter x. He then swung his claws downwards, and they slammed into Stantler’s charging antlers. A resounded clang echoed around the forest and a flock of Taillow flew out of the trees.
“Skarr, swing down and start pushing.” I said. Skarr did exactly that. He gripped the antlers and swung round onto the ground, and began pushing Stantler back, towards the edge of the arena. Stantler however, had other plans and closed his eyes, allowing himself be pushed back. Skarr was headed for victory, I could taste it in the air, and then with his eyes still closed, Stantler opened his mouth and a torrent of flames spewed out engulfing Skarr. Evan laughed.
“That was Hidden Power.” he yelled over the roar of the flames. “Like it?”
“You haven’t won yet!” I shouted. “Well, at least I hope not…” I then muttered. Stantler eventually ran out of energy and the surge of flames stopped, revealing a sweating, panting and overall exhausted Stantler, and an almost fainted, rather blackened Zangoose. Skarr then collapsed onto all fours and lay there panting whilst Stantler collapsed in a panting heap on the floor.
“Return.” Evan and I said in unison, recalling the exhausted Pokemon to their poke balls. Evan seemed to have some difficulty in choosing his next Pokemon, but needless to say, after a minute or two he enlarged a poke ball and tossed it into the arena. The ball exploded in a flash of white and I gasped when the Pokemon emerged, some of the kids even screamed in fear.
“Where is my opponent?” asked the Pokemon in a deep voice. I continued staring completely dumbfounded. There was no mistaking the human shaped white Pokemon, with a long purple tail, a thick stripe going from its chest under its legs to a position half way up its back and with three fingers and three toes. The Pokemon being able to speak English confirmed my suspicions.
“It’s all over!” shouted Evan, “You can’t beat my Mewtwo! Give up now!”
“How did you catch a Mewtwo?” I shouted back.
“Wait and see. The Pokemon get much stronger from this point on.” Evan replied. I gulped. If the Pokemon got stronger and he was using a Mewtwo – the best thing I could do would be to give up, but ‘Big Boss’ would have me gutted and fed to the fish knowing him. I sighed and enlarged a poke ball. It was up to my next Pokemon, and if she failed then I would’ve died.
“Go Sunshine! Kick that thing’s ***!” I said, sending out the purple cat, with a forked tail and a diamond lodged in her forehead. Mewtwo would be mainly using psychic based attacks, so I figured that Sunshine would do well seeing as she was a psychic type. The battle started off with Mewtwo using a Psychic on Espeon, only to get a psychic blast in response. Mewtwo glared at Espeon and Espeon glared back.
“You can’t win you know.” said Mewtwo, and Espeon merely growled in response. “Very well, if that’s the way you want it, then so be it. You will die here.” Mewtwo said and his purple eyes glowed a cobalt blue a massive wave of psychic energy slammed into Sunshine, sending her flying back. She lay sprawled on her side on the floor, being pinned down by Mewtwo’s overwhelmingly powerful psychic energy. Keeping Sunshine on the floor, Mewtwo pulled one of his hands back, and created a black football sized ball with electric sparks sizzling over the surface. Mewtwo then threw the ball at Sunshine, who was still squirming under Mewtwo’s telepathic binding. The attack hurtled towards Sunshine and her movements became more frantic. The attack came closer still and as it neared Sunshine I could see that it was a Shadow Ball which was a ghost type attack meaning it would severely damage Sunshine. The Shadow Ball collided with the squirming body of Sunshine and it exploded - she was completely consumed by the black matter that swept over her. When the black energy drained away, it revealed a small crater on the ground, but Sunshine was missing.
“Damn cat.” said Mewtwo. “I know you’re still alive – next time I’ll use my full power to hold you down.”
“Esp!” came the loud response and Espeon materialized out of nowhere and launched herself at Mewtwo, creating two holographic images of her as she flew toward her target. Mewtwo roared as the three merged into one and slammed into him.
“Wasn’t that a Faint Attack?” queried Evan. I nodded.
“She learnt back in Jhoto when we trained with Charlotte - Karen’s daughter. Now, Sunshine use Psybeam!” I concluded.
“Mewtwo, block it!” commanded Evan. Neither Pokemon did anything.
“Shut up both of you.” said Mewtwo. “This cat here and I have decided that no commands are to be given during the battle between the two of us. We shall duke it out however we want.” Mewtwo then narrowed his eyes at Sunshine. “No merci. No interference from trainers. Ring outs don’t count as a battle end.”
“Esp.” she replied. She then nodded and prepared to battle. Mewtwo slammed both his hands together and sparks of electricity crackled along them before Mewtwo launched them in a massive beam at Sunshine. The Thunderbolt struck and Sunshine screeched but before she could move, Mewtwo had teleported behind her, grabbed her tail and swung her round and round in a circle until he started to feel dizzy, and he then released her. She went flying – into the ground and slid a good way out of the arena leaving a thick muddy trail behind her. She struggled to her feet and glared daggers at Mewtwo. A cunning smile then crossed her face and she closed her eyes and a dozen copies of herself materialized next to her – six spreading out on her right and the other six spreading out on her left. She then switched to one of the copies and a few seconds later four holographic Sunshine’s disappeared as they got struck by Shadow Balls.
“I’ll find you soon.” said Mewtwo, launching another four Shadow Balls. The remaining four Sunshine’s ran at Mewtwo who fired one Shadow Ball taking out another clone before the three were upon him. They all bit into him, the middle and right one going through him, while the one on the left sunk her teeth into his skin, causing him to cry out in pain, and when she released him purple blood dripped off her teeth and out of the fresh wound.
“Gotcha.” said Mewtwo, as he swung his arm up and grabbed the real Espeon by the tail. He pulled her off of his chest and slammed her into the ground on his right, before lifting her up again, swinging her round and slamming her into the ground on his left. He repeated this over and over again until after a couple of minutes he let go and lay back, panting. Purple blood was oozing freely from his chest wound and he was lying in a pool of his own blood, almost half the length of his body. Sunshine was pretty badly damaged as well and she was bruised all over, but still standing. Mewtwo glared at her and she glared back at him, their eyes locked. Mewtwo suddenly averted his gaze and Sunshine’s diamond began to glow purple, green and blue. Mewtwo looked up again and gasped as Sunshine fired the Psybeam – straight at Mewtwo’s wound. The normally ineffective attack slammed into the wound viciously, and Mewtwo roared in pain.
“I… I give… give… I give… up…….” he gasped, and Sunshine stopped the attack, allowing Mewtwo to fall to the ground and just lie there, blood gushing out of his now significantly larger wound. Mewtwo looked pleadingly at Evan, and promptly passed out.
“Recall him!” I screamed at Evan. Evan reluctantly held out a purple and white ball, recalling his Mewtwo.
“Happy now?” he asked before selecting another poke ball and preparing to throw it. “Here come the Askarians.” he said. I looked at Sunshine.
“You ready?” I asked, and she nodded a little shakily. I looked up at Evan, “Let’s do this.” Evan nodded, and threw his poke ball. The kids stared and as the white flash died down we saw the Pokemon that Sunshine was squaring off against……