Thread: "Unpredictable"

Inb4 Spencer is involved with Team Rocket. :P

I liked this chapter, though I was a bit shocked when you mention a starter Pokémon under the common wild Pokémon, lol. I mean, I can understand Pikachu and Marill but is Cyndaquil really that common? I mean, sure one or two Cyndaquil but facing ten of them in the row? Well you didn't show them so I guess that counts for something, heh. :P

Originally Posted by Xmas Haze

Now I like this. This chapter was really exciting and entertaining also I wasn't expecting Spencer though in my defense you didn't actually hint at him in chapter 2 it was in chapter 1 when you were describing Keith's life. Also I see you pulled the old
"make the main character seem like the underdog" trick for Keith I wonder how the public will react to his next rounds though I still don't get why they started losing hope just cause he wasn't going at the speed of light.

Also I like the way you're making the tournament work it's a good way to sort out participants.

I'll keep reading so I hope the next chapter comes out soon.

Thanks for reading! I actually did mention him in Chapter 2 (where Criss mentions Silph and Devon working on fossil revival tech), and my main reason for recommending a re-read of Chapter 2 is the incredibly important bit of foreshadowing regarding Criss that no one's picked up so far. It's the single most informative hint I've dropped and I'm disappointed that no one has noticed; I'll have to drop another hint before the fic ends. Anyway, it turns out that Keith's spectators were just expecting a little too much from him. That's remedied in this chapter. Thanks so much for the response!

Originally Posted by Tsutarja

Inb4 Spencer is involved with Team Rocket. :P

I liked this chapter, though I was a bit shocked when you mention a starter Pokémon under the common wild Pokémon, lol. I mean, I can understand Pikachu and Marill but is Cyndaquil really that common? I mean, sure one or two Cyndaquil but facing ten of them in the row? Well you didn't show them so I guess that counts for something, heh. :P

Ahh I hate it when my readers think up cooler plot twists than I have planned ;) Hopefully the ones I do have will suffice. Who knows, maybe Cyndaquil is common in my 'verse. I just wanted a balanced trio, and they're all "mice" so that was a good theme. Thanks for the continued readership.

Tags: @Xmas Haze ; @sharktooth162 ; @Tsutarja ; @MidnightGhost ;

Sorry this has taken so long, I really expected to get more done over non-denominational winter holiday break. To think, two months ago I wanted to be done with the whole fic by now. Two weeks ago I wanted to be done with the Tournament Arc. Now here I am, at least four chapters away from even that goal. I'll try to get them out quickly, I promise. I don't plan to write very many incredibly detailed battles, since so many lie between here and the quickly approaching finale. Please forgive me for any shortcuts.

This time: Keith begins the Primary Round against an old rival, and takes another step closer to his dream

Chapter 30

Shutting the door behind me, I collapsed face first onto my bed.

“What’s up, Keith? How’d you do?” asked Tim, who lay on his own bed on the other side of the room. Criss sat cross legged on the desk in the corner, next to the room’s computer. Flareon was nestled in her lap.

I pulled my Poké Balls off of my belt, where they were digging into my hip and just grunted into the mattress.

“Fine, if you won’t tell us then we’ll just look it up.” I heard Criss slip off of the desk and start up the computer. Not a half minute later, she spoke again. “Huh, looks like you’ve got an entire article on your battle.” Bedsprings creaked as Tim got up to read over her shoulder. I was actually a little surprised that someone had managed to write an entire article and post it on the tournament website in the half hour it had taken me to drop Dratini off at the Pokémon Center and return to the hotel.

“Hmm…” Tim finally commented after a moment, “at least you made the cut.”

“Thanks.” I said sarcastically, my voice muffled by the bed.

“Use Dratini tomorrow.”

It was the last thing I had expected Criss to say. I raised my head. “What?”

“You should use Dratini tomorrow.” She looked into my eyes. “Trust me.”

“No way, it’ll be exhausted. Not to mention it’s my weakest. Why do you think I did so poorly? It didn’t all have to do with my skills as a trainer.” I laid my head back down again. “I’ll use it later in the Primaries.”

“No, use it tomorrow. Just trust me on this.”

“Why?”

“Just look at what happened today.”

I wasn’t sure what she meant, but I decided to think about it later. My mind didn’t feel ready for thought at the moment. “How’d you two do?”

“Second place,” Tim said, “by a single point. Only because I hesitated before finishing off my last one.”

“First,” said Criss, emotionlessly. “Because I didn’t.”

Ouch, they had done perfectly. That really didn’t make me feel any better. To get my mind off of it, I stood up.

“Come on; let’s go meet Spencer for dinner. Criss, you’re actually going to have to interact with someone. Sorry, but you’ll like him.”

*****

The next morning was hot and sunny. The shade-less expanse of the main field of the stadium was brutal. We stood once more in regimented lines, but this time there was only thirty-two of us, lined up in order. I stood at the far back right corner, my deserved spot as last place. At the opposite corner from me were Criss and Tim. Spencer had come in seventh place, so he stood in the second row.

Once again, the toothy announcer stood on the platform in front of us, bellowing to an energetic audience.

“Ladies and gentlemen!”

Every one of his sentences was followed by a pause filled with roaring cheers from the crowd.

“Forty-eight hours ago, seventy-six trainers stood in this very spot,” he gestured towards us, “now there are only thirty-two.”

He stopped to let the crowd roar its approval, before continuing.

“These trainers have each gone through an epic test of resiliency and stamina, proving that they alone are worthy of commencing to the Primary Round!”

Another pause, more cheers.

“In front of me there are four rows.” I half expected him to pause for cheering again, but he just pointed to each one as he went on. I suddenly realized that Spencer, Criss, Tim and I would all be in different brackets. “Each group will fight it out in three versus three single-elimination tournament style battling!”

This time he did pause for the crowd to scream in appreciation of this apparently novel idea.

“The four trainers that win three battles in a row will each receive the coveted Earth Badge and commence on to the Championship Round!” He held a shimmering bit of green metal above his head and the crowd roared its loudest.

“Over the next five days you will witness the most promising trainers of the year doing what they do best.” He directed the next words at us. “May you all battle harder than you ever have before! Now, go to your respective fields, and let the tournament continue without further ado!”

I assumed we were supposed to be following the person at the head of our line, for the trainer who came in fourth seemed to be the only one who knew where we were supposed to go. The rest of the people ahead of me let him lead us out the western entrance behind the platform. Spencer’s line, to my left, turned around and started for the eastern entrance. My brother gave me a grin and a high-five as he walked by. Still down about my performance the previous day, I returned it with a weak smile.

Directly outside the stadium walls, to the north, south, east, and west, were four battling fields. They were about the same size as the average Gym field, larger than the one I had fought on the day before, and surrounded by enough bleachers for about a hundred people to watch. Rather than chain-link fences, a low wall would separate the onlookers from the battle. On one side was a small platform where a referee stood at the ready.

Another official stopped our line. “Please wait here,” he said, “The first battle will be in about fifteen minutes, to give spectators time to get out here.”

I and my competitors murmured in acknowledgement and dispersed to inspect our Pokémon, size each other up, and look at the field. Personally, I stepped to the side and released Tesla from its Poké Ball. I was planning on using the electric-type as the final Pokémon in that days battle. Although I still didn’t know why Criss had suggested it, I was going to have Dratini be second in line. My first Pokémon would depend on who and what I was up against.

The three-orbed metal monster floated in front of me, positively shivering in anticipation. I hadn’t used it in a battle in a while, but I still felt that it was my tank: my incredibly powerful and invincible fighter, despite its slowness. I put a hand on its topmost orb, which shocked me with static. I ignored the pain, and was sure that it made my hair stand up, but I didn’t care. Tesla hummed in pleasure at the contact.

I looked around at my fellow trainers. I hadn’t done any research the previous night, being too preoccupied with wallowing in self pity, which probably wasn’t good. The guy who had come in fourth place was about my age, and had an Electabuzz. I seemed to remember seeing him during my time in Fuchsia City, but I wasn’t sure.

A while later the bleachers had begun to fill, and the official came forward again. “The first battle will begin in five minutes,” he took a card out of his pocket and read off of it, “between Keith Anders and Anna Cooper.”

Someone else-it sounded like a girl-gave an obnoxious “HA!”

The official ignored the reaction and left us to ourselves once more.

“You!” I turned to my left, where a girl stood pointing at me.

She looked to be a few years older than me. She was shorter, of course, and had long wavy brown hair and big brown eyes. She would have been fairly attractive if not for the arrogant look on her face.

“Ha!” she laughed again, proving herself to be the one who had scoffed at the official’s announcement. “I knew I’d face you again eventually. You’re dead meat this time.”

Again? This time? I didn’t recall battling anyone like her before, but I had obviously won. I looked at her for a second, squinting slightly. She seemed to be expecting me to respond. The resulting awkward silence made the few people watching our encounter laugh.

“I’m sorry,” I finally said, “you are…?”

“You don’t recognize me? I’m Anna, I fought you and your damned Wartortle in Cerulean City.”

Recognition suddenly hit me. “Oh! You’re that girl. I didn’t recognize you without a Pidgey on your shoulder.” This was the pompous bitch that had made fun of me on Nugget Bridge for going on a journey. “Did you finally decide that going after badges wasn’t such a ridiculous idea after all?”

She glared at me, finally lowering her accusing finger. “I’ve been training. I’m not going to lose to a stupid little turtle again. Last time was a fluke.”

At my side, Tesla buzzed. The jab at Rainer incensed me. “Fluke? I kicked your ass!”

She gave another scoffing “Ha!” and pulled six Poké Balls from her belt and held them up for me to see. “I’ve got a full team now, and they’re all trained to win.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Really? I figured you’d train them to lose.”

The sarcasm bit her, and she stomped her foot in frustration as she returned the balls to her belt.

I guessed that our argument was causing a bit of a scene, for people were beginning to gather around. They tittered at her obvious anger.

She appeared to calm down a bit and smirked at me. “I noticed that you didn’t register that Wartortle as part of your team for this tournament. Did you finally decide to throw the little bitch away for something that isn’t so laughably weak?”

What happened next surprised even me. My vision practically grew tinted red with rage and I nearly snapped, punching her straight in the face. I didn’t, though, because Tesla beat me to it.

With a crack and boom of energy, a bolt of lightning flashed out from the Magneton and struck the ground directly in front of Anna, blackening the cement. She shrieked and wheeled backward, tripping over her own feet and falling onto her butt.

I could feel the electricity crackle through the air around us, causing a tingly feeling on the skin of both me and the onlookers, but making every one of Anna’s brunette hairs stand straight up on end.

I took a step forward and pointed at her, my finger shaking with rage. “Don’t even pretend to know what I’ve gone through.”

The sudden attack made the people around us flinch at first, but they ended up laughing at Anna’s misfortune. A police officer shoved his way through the crowd. “What’s going on here?” he asked in a deep voice, looking between my accusing finger and where Anna sat on the ground, stunned.

“Nothing, officer” I said, turning around and returning Tesla to its Poké Ball. I started toward the gate that led onto the field. “Just warming up.”

I looked down at the ball in my hand as I made my way towards my end of the field. “Thanks, Tesla.” I whispered.

The crowd cheered as I stepped into place. The sound made me smile. They were rooting for me. Suddenly I knew how professional sports stars must feel. The energy from the crowd was invigorating, intoxicating even. I was going to win this battle, never mind the amount of training that Anna had done.

It wasn’t long before Anna herself took her spot on the far end of the field, and shot a deadly glare in my direction. She had managed to fix her hair for the most part, but it wasn’t as nicely styled as it had been before. I grinned in satisfaction.

I knew which Pokémon I was going to use first, what better to scare the shit out of her?

The referee at the side of the field spoke, his voice magnified by the microphone on his lapel and the speaker system set up around the field. “Ladies and gentlemen, the first battle of the fourth bracket of the Primary Round. On the north side we have Anna Cooper, from Cerulean City, who placed twenty-fourth in the Preliminaries and has four badges.”

The crowd applauded politely.

“And on the south side,” the referee continued, “we have Keith Anders, from Pallet Town, who placed thirty-second in the Preliminaries and has six badges.”

A roar filled my ears. Wow, they really liked me. It wasn’t until then that it dawned on me that this was probably because all of the people who were still rooting for me had come to this bracket’s field rather than the other three.

“The battle will be three on three. Keith goes first. Battle on!”

The crowd screamed in excitement as both Anna and I pulled a Poké Ball from our belts and tossed them towards the center of the field. They opened simultaneously, revealing two Pokémon of roughly the same size, but very different stature.

Gideon gave an odd chittering shriek at its opponent, which responded with a yell of its own. The crowd gasped at my rare Kabutops, which pleased me.

Primeape. Okay, that’s easy enough. Not even bothering to connect psychically to Gideon, I shouted a command. “Ancient power!” I had never been one for subtlety.

With another shriek, my Kabutops began to glow an ominous purple. The ground around it shook, and started to crack. Primeape took a step backward in fear as chunks of rock were wrenched out of the ground around the two combatants, leaving several Geodude-sized craters. They hovered for a second, taunting the Pig Monkey Pokémon, before launching at it. The fighting-type managed to break the first two rocks with well placed punches, but the rest slammed into its flat nose, knocking it back towards its trainer.

I laughed as the crowd went wild.

On the other side of the field, Anna shouted something I couldn’t hear over the cheering. Primeape suddenly leapt up and ran forward, its arms crossed in front of it.

I quickly identified the technique as cross chop and had Gideon counter with aqua jet.

Forming a layer of water around itself, Gideon flew at the oncoming Primeape. They collided with a resounding crunch, and both Pokémon flew backwards. Water splashed down from the collision point and sprayed backward with Gideon.

Both Pokémon pushed themselves to their feet and awaited their trainers’ commands. The super-effective attack had taken its toll on Gideon, but it still stood at the ready. “Run forward, sand attack!”

I had reacted faster than Anna. In fact, my suddenness caught her so off guard that she didn’t even counter. Primeape wasn’t going to just stand there, though, so it dashed forward. A bad idea in the end, as it ran straight into the cloud of dirt that Gideon had dug up with its claws and hurled at it. “Now slash!”

The Kabutops rushed forward and raised a razor sharp scythe, but Anna showed a surprising connection with her Pokémon.

“Dodge right!”

Gideon’s savage claw swept through empty air as the fighting-type spun out of the way. “Keep slashing!”

“Dodge right again! Left! Right! Left! Left!”

I scowled, this was an unfortunate turn of events. It lasted just long enough for Primeape to scrape most of the sand out of its eyes.

“Now karate chop!”

“Dodge, Gideon!”

Primeape’s hand swung through the air in a surprising imitation of Gideon’s own claw, but missed completely as the Kabutops stepped backward. This time I threw some psychic commands its way.

The fossil Pokémon took another step backward, dodging a second karate chop, then did a back flip, landing on the opposite side of the pool of mud left over from their earlier collision. I didn’t even have to give the next order.

Reaching down, Gideon scooped up a large globule of mud on the broad sides of its claws and hurled it at the oncoming Primeape. The blob caught it straight in the face and was directly followed by two more, which both made contact.

“Now, slash.”

Slowed and blinded by the heavy mud, Primeape fell in seconds.

“Anna’s Primeape is unable to battle, Keith’s Kabutops wins!”

The results of the battle obviously pleased the crowd, for they roared in support.

“Nice job, Gideon. Let’s keep this up.”

The fossil Pokémon was tired and hurt, but I hoped that it could do some damage to whatever Anna next had in store.

Moments later, Anna’s second Poké Ball burst open, revealing a tan colored Pokémon with big black eyes and a spiky brown back.

“Sandslash,” Anna cried, “sand tomb!”

The ground-type gave a squeaky cry as it lunged forward and created a pillar of whirling dust around Gideon. The miniature sandstorm climbed nearly twenty feet into the air and completely obscured my Pokémon from view.

“Now jump in there and use gyro ball!” I heard Anna scream from the other side of the maelstrom.

I raised an arm to keep dust from getting in my eyes. Gyro ball was not good for me. “Aqua jet!” I yelled as loud as I could both mentally and physically.

It took a few seconds, but finally the whirling dust began to slow as two shapes flew out of it. Sandslash flew towards its trainer, but managed to land on its feet. Gideon smashed face first into the ground and skidded to a halt in front of me. It wouldn’t be getting up.

“Keith’s Kabutops is unable to battle, Anna’s Sandslash wins!”

I returned Gideon to its ball and reached for the next one as the sand tomb finally subsided. I still had the advantage, given that I had gotten a hit on Sandslash. The score may have read one to one, but that aqua jet was going to help me later. I looked at the camouflage patterned ball in my hand. Hopefully I was about to find out why Criss had recommended I do this.

“Go Dratini!”

The little dragon, renewed from the previous day’s injuries, reared its head up and gave a surprisingly intimidating growl at Sandslash.

“Agility, then wrap,” I told it.

“Defense curl!” Anna commanded.

I was confused as to why she was just going to take the hit, I had expected her to have Sandslash dig, which actually tossed a wrench in my planned strategy.

Dratini rushed forward and wrapped its tail around the ground-type, which had curled into the fetal position. Then I realized what she was doing. It was exactly what Criss had done.

Once again, my ability to act quicker than Anna saved the day.

Let go! I told my Pokémon psychically. Now that Anna was actually countering, using the connection would be necessary.

“Rapid spin, Sandslash!”

She was a second too late. The attack hurt Dratini, but the dragon had managed to loosen its grip enough that it wasn’t sent flying.

Retreat with agility. I wasn’t about to let Sandslash’s physical dominance win the match.

Dratini finished unwrapping itself and darted away back to my end of the field.

“Fine,” Anna cried, “if you want it that way. Swift!”

Dragon rage.

Dratini’s flames managed to completely extinguish Sandslash’s little glowing stars, and successfully hit its mark, making Sandslash cry out in surprise. While it’s distracted, slam!

The dragon rushed forward at the staggered ground-type and raised its tail.

“Slash!”

Sandslash raised a clawed hand and swept it through the air to stop Dratini’s oncoming tail. But then something odd happened. Dratini’s tail glowed strangely, it turned purple, but with a yellow aura.

“Dragon tail!” I exclaimed out loud. But that meant…

The dragon tail was much more powerful than either I or Sandslash had anticipated. The attack smashed through Sandslash’s defenses and hit it on the skull with a smack.

“Yes!” I exclaimed. Then even louder when I saw what was happening, “YES!”

“Anna’s Sandslash is unable to battle,” said the referee, “Keith’s Drat… huh?”

The all too familiar white glow of evolution was coating Dratini’s body. I watched in awe as the dragon over doubled in length. It’s previously obnoxious nose now smoothed out, a pair of winglike ears formed and a small horn protruded from the head. On the dragon’s throat and tip of its tail were blue pearls that shimmered with an otherworldly light. As the glow of evolution faded, the Dragonair raised its magnificent head high above its fallen foe-for Anna had been too distracted to recall Sandslash-and let out a beautiful, songlike cry.

The crowd was so loud it almost rivaled the noise inside the stadium. Dratini were incredibly rare, and Dragonair even rarer. To witness an evolution like this was a once in a lifetime experience. This must have been what Criss was talking about. Suddenly it all came together in my mind. Dratini, a dragon-type, had successfully braved through an ice beam yesterday. That required significant strength, almost enough to evolve.

With my newly evolved Dragonair at my side, it was easy enough to dispatch even Anna’s strongest Pokémon, a Pidgeotto, with a simple combination of thunder wave and dragon tail. With that, I got to hear the most satisfying words that I had heard in a long time.

“Anna’s Pidgeotto is unable to battle. Keith’s Dragonair wins! Anna is out of useable Pokémon, the victory goes to Keith, from Pallet Town!”

I didn’t even pause as I returned Dragonair to its ball and retreated from the field with a wave to the crowd.

*****

NEXT: The rest of the Primaries lie ahead, what do you expect besides more battling?

The chapter was really good and the battle was interesting, especially since Anna put her pride aside just so that she could battle Keith...and then she lost again xD either way I kinda like her so maybe she should stick around for a while or something.

That being said I think it would be a little too boring if you were to do the preliminary battles for all the characters it could end up dragging the chapters if you're not careful.

Originally Posted by Xmas Haze

The chapter was really good and the battle was interesting, especially since Anna put her pride aside just so that she could battle Keith...and then she lost again xD either way I kinda like her so maybe she should stick around for a while or something.

That being said I think it would be a little too boring if you were to do the preliminary battles for all the characters it could end up dragging the chapters if you're not careful.

Thanks! I do enjoy character cameos, so maybe she'll show up again. Trust me, I'm trying to be very careful about not dragging this Tournament on and on. Most of the battles from here on out are going to be a little more spotty and not quite as detailed, but hopefully still interesting. And don't worry, all but one of the battles are going to be Keith's. It would get terribly boring if I did everyone's.

Hey, loving the chapter and was half surprised when dratini evolved but kind of suspected when Criss said to use him the next day (still predicting the 'unpredictable' whether you like it or not). I'm glad that you brought back anna cause I love her character but I think its a bit odd that in the time Keith has been travelling round she hasn't managed to get a pidgeot. I'm curious to see how tim and criss perform but I'm sure it'll be pretty cool. I kinda think/hope Criss will actually find some decent competition rather than steamrolling everything like she usually does but that remains to be seen.

Oh, I didn't expect that bitch Anna to come back especially after insulting Keith for pursuing badges.

I'm glad he showed her where she belongs. >:D

Hooray! It's time for a new chapter and it's only been nine days. Here's hoping I can keep that streak up. I'm super excited about writing now, since we're edging so close to the big climax (which I start towards in this chapter). Thanks everyone for responding, by the way. I'm getting ahead of myself though, here's the chapter.

Quick note: I originally had Anna show up again in this chapter but dropped the part in favor of the TV scene, sorry. Didn't want this to get too long, I'm already truncating the battles.

Tags: @Stellar Haze ; @sharktooth162 ; @Tsutarja ; @MidnightGhost ;

This time: Keith goes up against his hardest opponent yet, will he pull through?

Chapter 31

“Pinsir, use vice grip!”

“Take the hit, Tesla. Use lock-on, then thunder.”

The brown bug-type dashed across the field and launched itself at my Magneton. With an odd chittering screech, Pinsir clamped its white horns around one of Tesla’s orbs and grunted with effort as it tried to crush the electric-type. With a slight spin, my Pokémon shook it off. Three points of red light danced about Pinsir as Tesla attempted to lock onto it. Finally, they met right between the bug’s dazed eyes.

With a metallic cry, Tesla unleashed a massive bolt of lightning that shook the entire field and blasted Pinsir into the air. A black crater appeared where it had stood.

“Pinsir!”

“Josh’s Pinsir is unable to battle. Keith’s Magneton wins. Josh is out of useable Pokémon; the victory goes to Kieth Anders of Pallet Town.”

I punched a celebratory fist into the air at my second victory of the Primaries. Only one more trainer now stood between me and my seventh badge. With a grin on my face, I returned Tesla to its Poké Ball. Nothing could go wrong.

“That concludes today’s Division Four battles. Tomorrow’s battle between Keith Anders and Neil Town will begin at nine AM and will determine who goes on to the Championship Round.”

The crowd roared their support. Like I had the day before, I raised a hand to wave to them and strode off the field. It didn’t take long for me to locate Criss, who was watching the end of Tim’s battle.

I sat next to her and watched Tim’s Beedrill pick apart a Mr. Mime, leading him to a victory. It turned out that Criss had won as well, which made me excited. Maybe we would all make it to the finals. Spencer had said that he would have some work to do, interviewing trainers and such, after his battle, so we didn’t find out until later how he did.

Although it was late in the afternoon, we decided to spend the rest of the day poking around the festival. It was a large event, of which the tournament held the spotlight, but there were plenty of other things to do.

“Say Keith, you know who you’re up against tomorrow?” asked Tim as we passed a street musician simultaneously playing a set of bongos and a harmonica.

“Some guy named Neil Town. He placed fourth in the prelims, so it should be fun.”

“I wonder if it’s the same Neil from Fuchsia City.” He looked at Criss, who shrugged. “Does he have an Electabuzz?”

I nodded. “I don’t know about his other Pokémon though. You know him or something?”

“Yeah, I battled him while we were in Fuchsia. His Electabuzz destroyed Gyarados.”

I looked at Criss. “Was it that bad?”

“Oh yeah,” she replied. “It wasn’t the best type matchup though. Just be sure to use something that’s not weak to electricity and you’ll be fine.”

I narrowed my eyes, trying to devise a strategy. “Speaking of which,” I said, “I need to stop by the Pokémon Center and drop these three off.” I had again used Gideon, Dragonair, and Tesla this time so as to keep the other three, who I considered my best, at tip-top condition.

My two friends agreed, they had to drop off their Pokémon too.

The Center was bustling and crowded with fans, competitors, and random trainers alike, forcing us to wait in line to see the nurse working the front desk. At the side of the room, a doctor stood up on a table and shouted over the crowd. “If anyone thinks that they have an emergency or urgent situation beyond minor wounds, please step this way!” I saw a few wide-eyed trainers force their way through the crowd towards him. I felt bad for them; it was always nerve-wracking when one of your Pokémon was badly hurt.

Being tall enough to see over most of the people, I glanced around. In a corner, a TV was mounted near the ceiling and airing the news. The sound was obviously off, but closed-captioning had been enabled.

“We’ve tried getting into the city multiple times, but the guard absolutely isn’t letting anyone through,” said the reporter on-screen, who was standing in front of what looked like the guardhouse that had blocked the way to Saffron on Route 5. “We’ve had the same luck with each of the other entrances, and the guards won’t answer any questions at all, just telling us that the city is on lockdown and we aren’t allowed inside.”

I looked at Criss. “Are you seeing this?”

She nodded and put a hand on my shoulder to keep balance, as she had to stand on tip-toe in order to see over everyone’s head.

“What are you guys looking at?” Tim asked.

“TV,” I answered absentmindedly.

He jumped up and down, trying to see over the crowd. “Damn it, I hate being short.”

The camera had returned to the anchorwoman. “It is also worth mentioning that the guards refuse to comment on the video released online earlier this morning,” she said. “The video has since been taken down from the civilian blog it was released on, but is available on our website.”

Criss and I stared at each other in confusion for a moment before looking back to the TV. The broadcast seemed to have gathered the attention of many of the others in the Center.

“Yesterday evening we sent a helicopter over Saffron City, but lost contact with it after only a few seconds of footage, which is also available on our website. We will continue our coverage of the Saffron City crisis with an interview with Celadon City Police Chief Jason Blackston after these quick messages.” The screen promptly cut to a commercial for women’s hair products.

“Excuse me? Next, please!”

“Keith!”

“Huh? Oh, right.” I tore my eyes away from the TV and handed my three Poké Balls to the nurse behind the counter.

*****

I looked into Neil’s eyes as I shook his hand in the middle of the field. He was a good looking kid, dark skin, dark hair, tall, and always grinning.

“This should be a fun battle,” I said.

“I think so too,” he responded. “I’ve heard a lot about you. Good luck.”

Then we retreated to our respective sides. The crowd that day was even bigger than either of the previous days. The local TV station had named this the “battle to watch” for the day, due to the fact that I was coming from placing last in the prelims while Neil was top of the division.

A pleasantly warm sun sat low in the sky, just barely high enough for the stadium to not cast a shadow on the field. A few clouds gathered overhead, but nothing to be worried about. A light breeze blew through my hair and caused a lone strand to tickle my forehead. I brushed it away and made an abrupt about face once I reached my side.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” The day’s referee was a bit more of a showman than my other ones had been. “Let me present the final battle of Division Four, the battle that will decide who receives one of this year’s Earth Badges. On the north end we have Neil Town, of Violet City!”

He received a much larger round of applause than any of my other opponents. I assumed that he had some fans of his own.

“On the south end we have…”

The official was drowned out by the cacophony that greeted my name. I laughed out loud. The audience’s energy was infectious, and I thrived off of it. To think that these people were so excited because of me, that they were cheering for me, that they admired me. It made me ecstatic.

“Both trainers may release your Pokémon,” said the referee. “Neil will have the privilege of first command.”

The two of us simultaneously drew Poké Balls from our belt and tossed them forward. The ear-ringing roar that Flareth unleashed upon appearing drowned out even the excitable crowd, who responded by promptly ramping up their own volume. I couldn’t help but admire the Arcanine’s beauty. Every movement revealed powerful muscles that caused the beautifully smooth fur of its body to ripple and shine. Across from it stood an Electabuzz, who gave a warbling cry of defiance. Electricity flickered around its large hands and between the antennae on its head. I was surprised that Neil was starting off with his best Pokémon.

“Electabuzz, use thunder!”

The blast of electricity rivaled even Tesla’s but Electabuzz didn’t have anywhere near the reflexes of Flareth. With a slight mental prompt, it shot into action. Extremespeed.

The bolt of lightning flashed right where Flareth had been standing moments before, frying the ground but missing its target entirely. The Aracanine had leaped into action and was off like a shot. No human could possibly discern the rate at which it ran and collided into Electabuzz, sending the electric Pokémon reeling backwards.

Fire blast!

Neil must have sensed my intentions, for though I couldn’t hear his command over the crowd, a shimmering barrier appeared above and around Electabuzz. The devastating fire attack flamed harmlessly around it.

Flareth immediately followed up with a fire fang that managed to catch Electabuzz around the shoulder. With a shake of its massive head, my Pokémon sent the other flying.

“Thunder punch!”

Flamethrower.

Neil’s Electabuzz showed more gusto than I had ever seen in any Pokémon in this tournament while it plunged straight into the flames, ignoring the grievous burns that it was experiencing. With a crack of electricity, it punched an unsuspecting Flareth across the muzzle. My Pokémon slid sideways with the blow, letting out a whimper. What happened next was almost the exact opposite: Electabuzz’s thunder lashed across the field and blasted Flareth. I could feel the shocking pain even across our mental connection, but the large Pokémon forged ahead with flames covering its body.

The flare blitz caught Electabuzz very much off guard and sent it rolling backwards. It struggled to its feet, wincing in pain, but still able to go on. All I needed was a single hit and I would have the advantage in the whole match. Extremespeed!

Somehow, Neil reacted first. Flareth dashed forward into absolutely nothing, making it stop and look around in confusion, oblivious to the newly sent out Golduck behind it.

“Hydro pump!” I heard Neil shout.

Even Flareth’s impressive reflexes wouldn’t be enough to dodge the attack, so I instead mustered all I could and psychically sent it an uncontrollable urge to launch itself to the left. The dodge worked, causing the intense blast of water to only knick its paw. Instead, the hydro pump plowed into the wooden barrier behind Neil and shattered it with a sound of splintering wood. The spectators behind were drenched, but unhurt. A pair of tournament officials rushed over to rope off the barrier, but I didn’t notice them. The battle was continuing.

The hydro pump was being repeated, and this time there was nothing I could do but respond. Flamethrower!

The fire was no match for the water, and the attack blasted Flareth off its feet. It landed on the ground in front of me, soaked and defeated. My strategy had worked, however, for a thick blanket of steam now covered the field, the result of the two colliding attacks. I couldn’t see anything besides Flareth’s body in front of me, which I promptly returned, but I took comfort in the fact that no one else could see anything either.

The referee must have guessed however, for I heard him shout “Keith’s Arcanine is unable to battle. Neil’s Golduck wins!”

I immediately sent out Psyke and gave it a quick order. I heard a shout of surprise from Neil as he saw what was happening to his Golduck, obviously oblivious to the fact that I had deployed a new Pokémon. As the steam lifted, however, everything soon became clear.

Psyke stood in front of me, its spoon pointed like a sword at Golduck, who was now struggling eight feet in the air. I smiled; maybe this would go my way.

“Disable!” Neil finally shouted.

The scarlet gem on Golduck’s forehead flashed a bright light and Golduck suddenly dropped. I felt Psyke desperately try to gain command over the water-type once more, but it was impossible. I squeezed my hand into a fist. This wasn’t good, Psyke’s best move, psychic, was now disabled. Good thing I had a little surprise waiting.

“Fury swipes!”

The water-type jumped across the field in two huge bounds and raised a clawed hand to slash at my Pokémon, but the attack was weakened by an impromptu barrier.

Energy ball!

The bright green sphere blasted out from the tip of Psyke’s spoon and collided with Golduck, knocking it out completely.

“Neil’s Golduck is unable to battle. Keith’s Kadabra wins!” said the referee, while the crowd roared its approval.

Neil didn’t hesitate, instantly recalling Golduck and sending out a large, dark blue bird with a puffy white chest and red feathers on its wings. The Honchkrow cawed as it flew towards Psyke, claws ready to carry out its trainers command of a night slash.

I was dumbfounded. Psyke reflexively put up a barrier and launched an energy ball, but it did little damage. I had nothing against a dark-type, which was a stupid mistake. I had researched Neil the night before, but had hoped that its loss to a Raichu the previous day would have put it out of commission for this battle. It was all over in less than a minute.

“Keith’s Kadabra is unable to battle. Neil’s Honchkrow wins!”

I was in a terrible situation now. Tesla, Gideon, and Dragonair were all at the Pokémon Center, which left me with Baron. I was sure that it could defeat Honchkrow, but it would be difficult, and then I would be in just the circumstances that I didn’t want to be. It would be Baron against Electabuzz, and a single thunder would be able to knock Baron out and win the battle for Neil.

“Keith, you can send out your last Pokémon,” the referee’s words jerked me out of my reverie. I nodded to him and drew my third Poké Ball from my belt.

“Baron, let’s kick some ass!”

With a shriek that echoed throughout the whole battlefield, my oldest and most trusted Pokémon burst forth into the sky. I shook my head and took a deep breath to clear my thoughts. I wouldn’t be able to connect properly to Baron if I was flustered. Slowly, I opened my mind and cast out towards the Pidgeot. I sent it all of the reassurance that I could, which it returned in kind with pride and confidence. We had been through plenty of ups and downs together, battling both against trainers and Team Rocket alike. All that time, we had never lost. It was time to pull another miracle out of our hat.

I gave my first command and Neil gave his, then we were at it again. Wings slammed into each other and feathers flew left and right as the two birds went beak to beak and talon to talon. Tournament officials began dispersing themselves out among the crowd with Hypno, using reflect and light screen to protect the spectators from our errant air slashes and dark pulses. I grimaced at every hit as the battle raged on. This couldn’t last forever, I just needed a way to finish Honchkrow off.

I managed to tear my eyes off of the brawl going on far above us-a difficult thing to do when connected-and looked across the dirt field at Neil. He looked down as well, and for a split second we made eye contact. In that moment, we both realized that we were going to do the exact same thing.

He shouted it at the exact same time that I prompted Baron. “Giga impact!”

The two Pokémon, who were at this point directly above their trainers about fifty feet away from each other, gave loud cries as they flapped their strong wings and barreled at each other. Streaks of orange and purple formed a streaming aura about their bodies, and they collided.

The explosion of energy and power blasted both Pokémon backward as they fell towards the ground. At the last second, Baron flapped its wings and landed on its feet. Honchkrow did not.

“Neil’s Honchkrow is unable to battle. Keith’s Pidgeot wins!”

Neil slowly returned the Big Boss Pokémon back to its Poké Ball. I felt like I couldn’t even hear the crowd cheering over the pounding of my heart. Each breath and beat seemed to take minutes. I would need very careful timing to get this right. I was one battle away from winning my seventh badge, but I was also one battle away from being knocked out of the tournament. I couldn’t afford any mistakes here, but unfortunately there was no way to play it safe. It was all or nothing now.

Neil reached towards the first ball on his belt and I blinked. Every moment, every motion, was taking a lifetime. Nervous energy was building up in my chest and creeping its way towards the tips of my fingers and the top of my head. Finally, after what seemed like ages, there was a flash of red light as the yellow and black striped menace from the beginning of the battle appeared on the field. The Electabuzz was visibly injured, leaning heavily on its left leg and covered with dirt and blood. I tensed as Neil’s mouth began to form the words of his first command. I wasn’t going to let him beat me.

Wing attack! I sent to Baron, releasing my pent-up adrenaline in an explosion of emotion that urged my Pokémon onward.

“Protect!”

“NO!” I had made the very mistake that I had known to be unaffordable. This was going to cost me the battle, the very tournament.

The familiar shimmering turtle shell pattern flashed around Electabuzz, who stood with its arms raised in a defensive posture. Baron flew across the field, for it was too late to turn back now, as its wings began to glow. They slammed into the barely visible barrier and Baron was sent reeling straight backwards.

“Thunder!” Neil’s command signed my death warrant. The deadly yellow electricity lanced across the battle-scarred field and straight into Baron’s feathered chest, causing it to scream in agony. The terrible sound of explosions of crackling tormented my ears as the very pain that Baron was experiencing threw me out of its mind and severed our connection. Finally the onslaught halted and my Pokémon collapsed to the ground.

Half the crowd went quiet while the other half cheered uproariously. I didn’t even hear the referee begin to announce my defeat as I reached out towards Baron with my mental abilities. I expected to find nothing but sleepy unconsciousness, but instead I found a steely determination. We were not going to lose.

Baron twitched.

“Quick attack!” I shouted, unsure if Baron would be able to understand mental prompts in its state. A collective gasp ran throughout the entire crowd, culminating with Neil himself as my Pokémon pushed itself back to its feet and launched forward with a single flap of its powerful wings. The speedy attack was weak, but it was all I needed.

Just like Baron had just done before it, Electabuzz could do nothing but watch as its doom jetted towards it. There was a thud as Baron slammed into the electric-type beak first, and then it fell over backwards while my Pokémon spiraled around to land in front of it.

I had discovered that a crowd is like the ocean: constantly rising and falling, hissing and roaring, sometimes quiet and sometimes loud, but I never ever heard them such a large group of people go completely and totally silent. But now, no one said a word. No one moved an inch. Neil stared dumbfounded at his Pokémon, unconscious on the ground. Baron stood over it in victory, glaring at its motionless body.

The referee was the first one to collect his wits. “Neil’s Electabuzz is unable to battle. Keith’s Pidgeot wins!”

The rest was drowned out by a roar that shook the ground as the floodgates broke and people began to scream and stomp their feet. The entire crowd was going wild at the shocking upset. I sprinted across the field and wrapped my arms around my Pokémon, who was slumped over in exhaustion.

“Baron, that was spectacular.”

It let out a soft coo of appreciation.

I buried my face in its soft throat feathers, unable to contain my pure joy as the crowd’s uproar rang in my ears.

*****

Twenty-four hours later I stood in the open air main stadium for the third time, alongside none other than Tim, Criss, and Spencer. They had each won epic battles of their own and would be progressing to the Championship Round alongside me. The thought of battling my brother or Criss made me very nervous, and I was glad that we were getting at least a day’s break before the first battle. To think, I was going to have my very first full team battle inside a stadium of this size and with this many people…

“The winner of Division Four… Keith Anders!” The toothy announcer from the opening ceremonies was presenting us with our prizes. The cheering inside the stadium reverberated and sounded much different than the smaller field outside. I laughed as the sound filled me with a now familiar giddiness and shook the man’s hand before taking the Earth Badge from him.

It was slightly bigger than my other badges and of a very different shape. Rather than being simply circular or polygonal, it looked more like a plant, possibly a fern or asparagus. The tip was dark green while the body and stem were a lighter shade. I had seen pictures of it before, but had never expected to hold it in my hand, let alone earn it! This was my seventh badge, which meant I was a single badge, a single badge, away from being eligible to challenge the Elite Four and David.

After he finished handing out each of our badges, we raised them above our heads, causing the audience to cheer explosively.

*****

NEXT: Let the Championship Round begin! And we may just take a look at those videos from Saffron.

I've decided to start putting the name of upcoming chapters in the table of contents, so if you're curious you can take a look, but there may be spoilers.

Hey! It's late for me to notice, but I've been away for a while, apparently you're back too! I don't know if you left for long, but I'm glad to be reading your story again. Well done again. Catching up on the missed chapters was a pleasure, and I'll be keeping up for as long as I'm not too busy.

That battle was one of your best ones yet, no seriously it wasn't too long but it wasn't too short either and you also managed to keep the action going. Personally I was expecting for Neil to have the same ability as Keith when he started to match Keith's movements.

That being said I wonder what will come next now that Keith will have to battle against his friends and I expect to see a lot of development coming from Spencer.

Thanks for the responses, guys!

I'm glad you liked the battle, Haze. I've been working my butt off to keep these things exciting and I'm kind of getting tired of battles. Unfortunately I still have three full 6v6 battles before I get to take a break. I'll probably do some skimping like I did with the battle at the beginning of Chapter 31. It's for your own good, though, the quicker we get on to the next part of the story the better. No, Neil doesn't have psychic abilities, he's just a really good trainer. I definitely do need to develop Spencer some more, I'll work on that.

I really wanted to be done with the tournament by now, so that I could have my new antagonist (who we'll glimpse in the next chapter) be eligible for the awards, but that's not going to happen.

This took a lot longer than I thought it would, especially because I drew out the battle a lot more than I really should have. When I finally wrap up this tournament arc, I think I'm going to take a short hiatus (no longer than the undeclared ones I've been having :P) so that I can get each of the climax chapters out within a week of each other.

Sorry for how long this chapter is, I really meant for it to be shorter, but I got carried away with some characterization.

Tags: @Stellar Haze ; @sharktooth162 ; @Tsutarja ; @MidnightGhost

This time: EPIC CLIMAX FORESHADOWING; Keith vs Spencer

Chapter 32

The mob finally reached the main entrance of Silph Tower. They paused in front of the doors, seething with anger, but unsure of what exactly to do. Then a lone man in a red jacket stepped forward. In his hand he held a glass bottle filled with a clear liquid. Some sort of cloth was shoved down the bottle’s neck. The man made to light the homemade explosive with a lighter from his pocket, but suddenly a screeching, metallic squawk rent through the air, causing the heads of everyone in the crowd, the man included, to turn towards its source. The camera’s microphone crackled at the noise.

“Wait,” I said, “what the hell was that?”

My brother shushed me and we continued watching the video. Spencer, Criss, Tim, and I were gathered around the computer in Criss’ room, taking a look at the footage that had leaked out from Saffron City. So far, it looked like the citizens were no longer taking the Rocket occupation lying down.

The camera suddenly jostled and the already grainy picture blurred for a moment in which we heard only screams and a strange clattering noise. Finally the camera focused, rather shakily, on a large, metallic bird Pokémon that had landed directly on top of the man with the red jacket, who now lay prone. The silver creature flared its red wings and let out another screech. I noticed strange leather straps around its chest, apparently holding a saddle in place on its back. The camera jostled and then focused again as whoever was holding it took a step backwards. In the second that we were blinded, a man had dismounted the Pokémon, which I assumed was a Skarmory, native to the Johto region. For some reason, Criss let out a strange sort of guttural growl.

The man calmly stepped forward and removed a pair of tinted black flight goggles from his eyes, placing them on top of his head, where they blended in with his dark mop of hair. He was obviously unperturbed by the mob of people whose anger he had singlehandedly diffused into fear. He wore a black and red scarf that covered the lower half of his face, and a dark grey trench coat that fluttered about his legs as he paced in front of the crowd. The frightened mob stepped back whenever he approached. I was unsure why until the camera glanced down at his gloved hand, which held a strange black object that I had only ever seen in movies. Tim gasped.

When the crowd had retreated a satisfactory distance, the darkly-clothed man pulled his scarf down so that he could speak properly and returned to the rebellious citizen that the Skarmory had now released from its clawed grip. The red jacketed man painfully pushed himself to one knee. He obviously said something, for the dark-clothed man replied, but I couldn’t hear what it was.

“Hope?” said the Skarmory rider in a loud, boisterous voice so that the whole crowd could hear. “I’m glad that you think you still have some. Though I do wonder where it lies.”

The rebel glared up at him and said something else.

“The people, hmm?” The Skarmory rider laughed and turned to the crowd. “Perhaps one of ‘the people’ would like to step forward and take your place as an example as to what you are truly up against.”

The crowd was silent. No one moved.

“No?” The darkly-clothed man sounded genuinely disappointed. “Oh well then.” Without any further preamble, he pointed the black object in his hand at the rebel’s head, there was a flash and a loud bang, and the rebel lurched forward onto the pavement. The crowd erupted into screams and scattered, the cameraman included. After a few seconds of jumbled colors and sounds, the screen went black.

The four of us were completely silent. Without prompting, the computer screen displayed a loading animation and then began the next video in the news website’s playlist.

The sound was off on this one, but it looked like the camera was mounted underneath a helicopter. The sky was beginning to grow dark, but the setting sun illuminated what was obviously Saffron City below. Far off in the distance you could just barely see the outline of Pokémon Tower. The helicopter banked and the horizon spun around to face what I guessed was north. A trio of indistinct brown shapes was flying towards the helicopter at an impressive speed.

“Are those Fearow?” my brother asked.

“Definitely,” said Criss.

But before the Fearow could reach the craft, the camera gave a tremendous lurch and the helicopter appeared to lose altitude. The image began shuddering violently before the camera eventually broke completely free of its mountings. As the picture spun wildly, we could only catch brief glimpses of what was happening to the helicopter. First it appeared okay, but then, attached to its belly was none other than the Skarmory from the previous video. The last we saw of the helicopter was a bright ball of flames. The video showed a second or two more of the camera falling then went to static before the video ended.

We were again speechless for several seconds. Finally Spencer straightened up from where he had been leaning on the desk watching the video and rubbed his eyes in exasperation. “What a nightmare. I think I should be able to stay until the end of the tournament, but I bet my boss will want me in Celadon City if their police force is going to take action.” He gave a deep sigh before repeating, “What a nightmare…”

Criss, who was sitting in the desk’s chair, looked up at him. “Celadon’s mayor is a stubborn piece of work. He’s going to take at least another week before making a decision, and the other surrounding cities have tiny forces compared to Celadon.”

“I know, I know…”

“You’re probably the only Silph representative in Kanto that’s not being held hostage, you have to do something,” Criss said.

“I know!”

“You have to get him to act sooner than that! People are dying,” she continued.

“I KNOW!” It had been a long time since I had heard my brother snap like that. It seemed to even shock Criss. He gave yet another long sigh. “Sorry.” He turned to the door, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. “I’ll see what I can do.” Without another word, he left the room.

Criss spun her chair around to look at Tim and I, who were seated on her bed.

Tim and I glanced at each other, he was tight lipped and looking nervous. I turned back to Criss.

“That looks quite a bit more dangerous than anything we’ve ever handled,” I said.

Criss bit her lip, a sure sign that she was nervous. At least, as nervous as Criss could get. “I will admit that I’ve never tried dealing with anything so big before. At least, not by myself.”

“You mean you want to go in there?” Tim asked, finally breaking his silence.

“Of course! What other option do we have?” she said.

“To wait for the neighboring police forces to sort it out, obviously,” I argued. “There’s no way we could deal with something like that.”

Criss glared at me. “You can’t honestly be backing out now. We probably have more experience fighting Team Rocket than anyone in the region, spare a few police officers. Who better to do something?”

“You mean besides those same police officers…” Tim pointed out.

She directed her next glare at him. “Never mind the police! They’ll show up when they show up. We definitely can’t do this alone, but someone has to start something.”

I looked at her curiously. “What do you mean?”

“Did you not see those people in the first video? They’re ready to rise up and fight! They just need someone to show them that they can do it.”

“So we do what? Sneak in and start an underground resistance movement?”

She smiled slightly. “No, we sneak in and encourage the revolution that’s already happening. If we can get our timing right, we could get all of the trainers to rise up at the same time that the Celadon police kick down the west entrance and the rest of the surrounding cities barge in as well.”

Tim and I looked at each other again. His face mirrored my doubt. “Are we really ready for this?” he asked.

“Of course! Look at where we are! We’re the best in the region,” Criss pointed out. “Tomorrow are the semi-finals, then we have a day off, then the championship battle. If nothing’s happened by then, we’ll go in the next morning.”

“Our Pokémon will be exhausted,” Tim said.

“And so will we,” I added.

“Then we go on anyway. Guys, to give up now would be… unforgivable.”

We really had no reply to that. I guessed that Tim was hoping for the same thing that I was: that the whole ordeal would be over before the tournament. But I secretly doubted that was going to happen.

“Four days…” Tim said quietly. Suddenly, he stood up. “I have some things to do, I’ll see you two in the morning. He left the room.

Criss moved to sit next to me on the bed. “You realize why we have to do this, right?”

I just stared at my toes.

“That guy that Reese shot was right, there is hope in the people; they just need to learn to see it for themselves.”

I looked at her quizzically. “How do you know his name?”

She bit her lip again, but didn’t respond.

“Never mind,” I said, standing up. “I’m going to bed, good night.”

“Good… good night, Keith.”

*****

My brother. In a few short minutes, I would be facing my own brother in a full on six versus six battle. I paced nervously in the small waiting room. Spencer had always been somewhat of an idol to me. He had had a very successful journey, was a great battler, and always stayed calm and collected.

I looked at my watch: sixty seconds until I would walk down the hallway that led out to the main stadium’s battle field. I had never done a six on six battle before. They tended to last a very long time and were often as stressful to the trainers as the Pokémon. I was not looking forward to spending the next two or three hours standing in the hot sun. There was a knock at the door, then it opened.

“Keith Anders? You may enter the field.” The League official pointed down the hallway, then walked off in the opposite direction. As I strode towards the light at the end of the tunnel, the roar of the crowd grew louder and I reminded myself what I had been saying over and over again all morning. My journey had been twice as successful as my brother’s, and it wasn’t even over yet! I was a great battler too, and my strategies had never yet failed to pull me through. I picked up my pace in nervousness.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” I heard the announcer’s voice boom over the crowd. “From the south entrance, I give you a boy of only sixteen years. He left his home in Pallet Town not even a year ago and has since earned seven Indigo League badges… KEITH ANDERS!”

My legs had kept moving faster and faster until I was practically running when I burst out into the bright sunlight that flooded the dirt field. The screaming of the spectators barely reached my nervous ears as I slowed to a walk and approached the red-shirted referee in the middle of the field. The announcer then introduced Spencer, with great emphasis on the fact that we were brothers, and then we were face to face.

I shook my brother’s hand. It felt weird to think of him as an opponent rather than a teammate, an adversary rather than an ally.

“Good luck, Keith.” My brother grinned his trademark grin. “You’re going to need it.”

I smiled back. “We’ll see about that.”

The next thing I knew, we were in our respective boxes, hands on the Poké Balls holding our first Pokémon. Mounted above the stands to my right was a massive scoreboard divided into two halves. On one side was a picture of my brother, on the other was a picture of me. Beneath these were six Poké Balls. I knew from watching battling on TV that these would change to represent the Pokémon that we were using.

“Keith will have the first move. Let the match begin!” the referee blew his whistle and the crowd went crazy.

Spencer had not been able to do much training or preparation before coming to the tournament. That I knew for sure. Actually, he probably hadn’t had any proper training time since he quit journeying. I could easily assume that he would use the exact same six Pokémon team he had left home with all those years ago. I also knew his battling style: aggressive early.

We both sent our first Poké Balls arcing through the air at the same time. Sure enough, the winged orange bulk of his first ever Pokémon took form. The Charizard let out a thunderous roar at the skeletal rock-type across from it. Gideon responded with a screeching wail. With a loud ping, the first Poké Ball under each of our pictures on the scoreboard turned into a stock image of a Charizard and a Kabutops. Then, the battle was on.

Gideon’s typing was the perfect counter to Charizard’s. Thanks to my brother’s confidence, he also refused to recall the first Pokémon that he sent out. It took almost ten minutes of hard fighting, but the fire-type finally fell to a well timed ancient power. My Pokémon was injured however, and lost to Spencer’s Tangela before I got a chance to withdraw it. When I sent out Flareth though, he switched to his Jolteon.

Our two Pokémon stood still for a moment, staring and sizing each other up. Then…

“Thunder!” Spencer cried.

Jolteon let out an eerily human shout and flattened its spiky fur, launching a deadly flash of electricity across the field. Had it been cloudy, the alternate technique for thunder-sparking the sky to create a bolt that nearly always hit-would have been a powerful attack. With the bright sun overhead though, the more direct bolt missed its mark, for Flareth had immediately responded with an extremespeed.

Extremespeed knocked Jolteon backwards, but it landed on its feet and charged forward with a thunder fang. With a fancy bit of footwork, Flareth sidestepped it and grabbed it around the neck with a fire fang. With a shake of its mighty head, the fire-type threw Jolteon back in the direction that it had come from.

“Pin missile,” Spencer commanded, but the attack was useless against my Arcanine’s flamethrower. Spencer finally seemed to decide to end the aggression that so often dominated the beginning of his battles. From there on out he was much more conservative. Flareth and Jolteon were matched, however, in terms of speed, so the battle wore on until noon, when the sun shone down directly overhead.

Although Jolteon are fast, they are more like sprinters. They don’t have the endurance for long battles. Arcanine, on the other hand, are built to travel huge distances at impressive speeds. Flareth didn’t even appear winded, but Jolteon looked about ready to fall over. Finally, the electric-type flat out ignored Spencer’s command to use agility and took the hit of a powerful flamethrower that knocked it unconscious.

The third symbol under my brother’s picture faded to black. “Spencer’s Jolteon is unable to battle. Keith’s Arcanine wins!”

Spencer returned the electric-type to its Poké Ball. His fingers danced idly above his belt, like he was unsure of which Pokémon to use next. Then I saw him look upwards at the sky, come to a conclusion, and toss forward another red and white sphere.

“Solar beam!”

The immediate attack was as unexpected as the Pokémon that he chose. With the assistance of the bright sunlight, Tangela let loose an incredible blast of bright light that seared Flareth the second it appeared on the field. The attack wasn’t very effective, but it was powerful enough that it did serious damage. It looked like Spencer was being aggressive again, for now.

Flare blitz, I ordered.

“Solar beam!” Spencer cried again.

Coating itself in flames, Flareth charged forward, directly into the beam of energy. It did even more damage this time, but Flareth pushed through and made contact with the little ball of vines. Tangela flew through the air, smoke and sparks spiraling off of its body. It bounced twice, then lay still.

“Spencer’s Tangela is unable to battle. Keith’s Arcanine wins!”

I was now comfortably ahead with five Pokémon while Spencer only had three. I glanced across the field at my brother, he was chewing on his cheek in concentration, desperately trying to come up with a strategy. My guess is that he needed a way to get rid of Flareth, whose powerful combination of strength and speed made it nigh upon invincible. I could tell that my Pokémon was getting tired though, so I pulled its Poké Ball from my belt and prepared to make a speedy switch that would catch Spencer off guard. I had a hunch at which Pokémon he would send out next.

Spencer finally picked a ball from his belt and threw it out onto the field. At the same moment, I withdrew Flareth and sent out Tesla. When our two Pokémon had fully materialized, however, I realized my mistake. Rather than sending out his Poliwrath, which was the obvious choice, he had elected to use his Nidoking. Now I was in trouble.

“Earthquake!”

“Flash cannon!” I blurted out, flustered. Spencer had actually caught me off guard. I had no way to counter a big ground-type like Nidoking. Tesla was a tank. It had incredible strength and a nearly impenetrable defense… nearly. Sheer strength and power like the giant purple beast that stood opposite it would flatten the poor electric-type. Tesla simply didn’t have the agility necessary to avoid damage.

Nidoking let out a massive roar and slammed its huge fists into the ground, causing a tremendous shaking of the entire stadium. A small fissure opened up between Nidoking’s hands and spread web-like cracks across the field. As the destruction spread, great clods of dirt and rock jutted up out of the ground at impressive speeds, completely changing the terrain of the field and knocking Tesla and its flash cannon off kilter. I really needed to work with Tesla on how to do a proper magnet rise.

“Horn drill!” my brother shouted, causing a gasp to spread through the stands. Even I was surprised. Horn drill was an incredibly powerful move. It belonged to a class of techniques referred to as the one-shot moves, so called for their ability to incapacitate an opponent in a single hit. Pokémon rights groups have long fought to make them illegal in competitive battling due to the fact that if they are super effective, and sometimes if they aren’t, they are known to kill the victim. Tesla being part steel-type, I didn’t have to worry about that, but the move was an impressive display of power anyway. Spencer seemed to be going for the shock and awe strategy.

I stood helpless as Nidoking’s muscled bulk charged across the misshapen field at Tesla, the purple horn on its head spinning at a dizzying speed. Tesla floated backward slowly but a hit was inevitable. The attack was so powerful that it slipped between the electric-type’s top and bottom right orb. The magnetic pull holding them together was strong enough to pin Nidoking’s horn between them, which resulted in Tesla spinning wildly for a moment before flying off, bouncing off an outcropping of rock, and slamming into the wall behind me, cracking the concrete.

The referee’s ruling was undisputable. “Keith’s Magneton is unable to battle. Spencer’s Nidoking wins!”

I returned the unconscious Pokémon and took a deep breath. I still had the lead; I just needed to be careful. Spencer did, after all, still have his strongest Pokémon in store. Poliwrath was part fighting-type though, so I had two Pokémon with a type advantage. For now, however, I was going to use one of those to knock Nidoking out of the equation.

Not ten minutes later, Psyke stood victorious over the fallen body of Nidoking. Spencer recalled the ground-type and readied his next Poké Ball. I knew for sure what was coming, and it wasn’t good news for Psyke, but I decided to take a risk and leave the psychic-type on the field.

“Let’s go Venomoth,” Spencer cried, throwing another Poké Ball onto the rocky and distorted field. “Signal beam!”

Light screen, teleport behind it, then use psycho cut. It has weak physical defense.

A purple-hued, slightly furry bug-type with big blue eyes and thin, flaky wings appeared on the field and immediately let loose a bright green-yellow light from its fanged mouth. It collided with Psyke’s light screen, but still did considerable damage. In the flash that followed however, the Kadabra disappeared and reappeared right behind the fluttering Venomoth. With a slash of its spoon, Psyke sliced Venomoth with a blade of psychic energy. The poison-type pitched forward, but recovered quickly and retaliated with another signal beam.

It’s difficult to describe what it’s like when two Pokémon with psychic abilities battle each other (for although Venomoth are not psychic-types, they have psychic powers), for the fight takes place as much in the Pokémons’ minds as on the battlefield. I sent Psyke mental encouragement as best as I could, for I knew little about psychic dueling. Sabrina had only briefly mentioned it during our training. In short, it involved the two Pokémon attempting to override the psychic powers of the other so that their attacks wouldn’t just cancel out. The early psycho cut was the first and only psychic attack that Psyke managed to pull off the entire battle, and that was just from luck and surprise. Unfortunately, this situation meant that even though Psyke was clearly going to be the mental victor, Venomoth was much better suited to non-psychic strategies.

Whenever Psyke came close to psychically strong-arming its opponent, Venomoth would hit it with a signal beam or leech life. These constant small blows slowly began to add up. After a while, Psyke’s light screens finally gave way and a powerful signal beam knocked it out. I was impressed with my brother’s Pokémon, I hadn’t expected Psyke to fall so soon. I recalled its body as the referee announced my defeat. I now had three Pokémon left, one tired, while my brother had two.

The epic beast that was Flareth once again took the field and dispatched Venomoth in a single flamethrower. It was now three to one. The crowd was going nuts; it appeared that I would win easily. Although confident, I knew that it wasn’t going to be simple. Spencer threw out a blue and beige ball akin to the one that Tim caught his Gyarados with. Onto the field exploded a squat, yet muscular round, blue Pokémon. The Poliwrath glared at Flareth as it punched a white gloved fist into its opposite hand. The tadpole Pokémon was clearly strong, and I doubted Flareth would be able to stand up long against it. I was quite right, unfortunately. I sent Flareth on a flare blitz directly into a hydro pump that proved to be too much. The powerful blast of stinging water knocked Flareth out without letting it get close enough to do any damage.

“Kieth’s Arcanine is unable to battle. Spencer’s Poliwrath wins!”

On the far side of the field, my brother smirked. Flareth had taken out three of his Pokémon, but was finally down. This had been his plan all along. Tesla had been my only counter to Poliwrath, which was in turn Spencer’s best bet at defeating Flareth. My brother hadn’t won as much of a victory as he seemed to think, though, for Flareth was not even my strongest Pokémon. I decided to stop playing around and end it right away.

“Come on, Baron!”

The crowd cheered uproariously as my flying-type took the field. It had become the object of quite a bit of media attention after it had miraculously pulled a win out of thin air against Neil and his Electabuzz. Baron was undoubtedly the very reason that I stood where I stood.

Spencer wasn’t about to let type disadvantages stop him.”Ice beam!”

Dodge, then use wing attack.

With a single flap of its mighty wings, Baron took flight, just missing the foggy blue-white beam that shot by me and hit the wall of the stadium. A blast of frigid air accompanied its passing and crystals of ice formed where it had struck the concrete. When my attention returned to the battle at hand, I saw Baron slamming its wing into Poliwrath’s swirly stomach, sending the fighting type rolling backwards and landing on all fours. Baron followed through by swinging around and landing in front of me again. I immediately noticed that something was wrong.

Normally, Baron went pretty much the entire battle in the air, never letting its talons touch the ground except where it was part of the strategy. But now it was resting before me. Resting? Indeed, the flying-type’s feathered chest was rising and falling as its beak hung open slightly. Was it really out of breath already? I decided that I was just imagining things. Quick attack.

Without hesitation, Baron darted forward at its opponent, which stood in a ready stance with its gloved hands open and spread. “Counter,” I heard my brother command.

Yeah right, I thought. Baron’s much too fast.

But for whatever reason, Baron was actually much too slow. Poliwrath was plenty ready to grab its beak as the flying-type attempted to slam into it, and hurl the bird into the ground.

“What?!” I exclaimed. Usually Baron’s quick attacks were a thing of beauty. The pure speed of its flight made it an indistinguishable blur. This time, however, it was very much distinguishable. I watched my Pokémon barely dodge another ice beam before returning to me. What’s wrong? I probed its mind and detected nothing but sheer exhaustion and pain. Then I realized what was happening.

Baron had indeed performed a miracle two days before against Neil. It took longer a single day of rest to recover from something as strenuous as that. Even under the professional care of the award winning Viridian City Pokémon Center, Baron was not really fit to battle today. Its muscles had been over stressed and even its fighting spirit needed some time off. Baron was done, I was going to have to do this with my last Pokémon.

Just hold in there a little longer, Baron. I need you to help out Dragonair as much as possible.

My Pokémon didn’t complain or appeal to my pity. It just stood tall and spread its wings: ready, even eager to fight. Air slash!

“Ice beam again, Poliwrath!”

The blade of air that Baron sent whizzing towards Poliwrath was not nearly as formidable as the ones that I had seen it pull off against Neil’s Honchkrow, but it still managed to not only hit Poliwrath, but split the ice beam down the middle, weakening it considerably. A hit was unavoidable in my Pokémon’s current state, though. The super effective beam struck Baron in the chest and sent the flying-type plummeting downward. It hit the ground hard, but pushed itself back to its feet. I grimaced in sympathy. I couldn’t watch this anymore, it was torture.

“I concede!” I waved to the referee.

“Huh? But your Pokémon is still fit to battle...”

“No, it’s not,” I replied. “It’s done.”

I raised Baron’s Poké Ball and recalled it. It… it? Why did I think about Baron as an it? It was more courageous than any human I had met, more devoted than any friend. He deserved my respect. My utmost respect and nothing less. The Pidgeot was a true fighter. For me, he would battle until he died, but that didn’t mean that he was fit to fight. It struck me then that all of my Pokémon deserved the same respect. Were they not my friends? Criss treated her Pokémon like servants, but I liked to think of myself as better than that.

The crowd’s cheering died down a little bit as they wondered what I was doing, then a strange sigh of recognition spread throughout them as the small picture of a Pidgeot on the scoreboard underneath my image faded to black. Across the field, Spencer looked at me quizzically.

“Keith’s Pidgot has been declared unable to battle. Spencer’s Poliwrath wins!”

To prevent myself from getting confused, I had clipped Poké Balls with fainted Pokémon on my left side and kept full and ready Poké Balls on my right side. Now on my left there were five. First was a basic red and white Poké Ball with “Cinnabar Island Research Laboratory” in small print on the bottom. Then was a specially modified Poké Ball that could plug into my stun rod, allowing the weapon to charge from the Pokémon inside. Third came a yellow and black Ultra Ball, originally a gift from none other than the very trainer that I was now facing. Then was another basic ball, this one emblazoned with the insignia of the Celadon City police department. Fifth and last was an unmarked red and white ball that contained the first Pokémon I had ever caught. All five of them had fought hard for me, and I was not going to let them down.

I pulled the last ball from my right side: camouflaged, a pattern unique to Poké Balls used to catch Pokémon in the Safari Zone.

“Dragonair! Let’s finish this!”

The crowd’s volume doubled. It was exciting to watch a Pokémon as rare as mine battle. The sound invigorated Dragonair. I took a deep breath to calm my furiously beating heart and made the connection that was the reason I was such a successful trainer. When Dragonair had been a Dratini, her dominant emotions were fear and apprehension. Now she radiated confidence and a lust for battle that was clearly fueled by the crowd’s support. I let those feelings fill me as if they were my own, but before the battle began, I realized something. Dragonair was female. I had never really thought about that before. I shook my head to clear my mind and concentrated on the battle at hand.

Safeguard. I knew what my brother’s strategy would be. He was intimidated by a dragon-type.

“Hypnosis!” he ordered, but it was rendered ineffective by my precaution.

I decided to give him another shot. “Dynamic punch, then!” Spencer shouted, and his Pokémon sprang into action. Leaping between the rocks that still covered the field from Nidoking’s earthquake, it was an impressive display of agility.

Impressive, but useless. Stop it with thunder wave.

A thin bolt of electricity lanced out of Dragonair’s horn and sparked around the next rock that Poliwrath was going to jump to. The water-type flailed wildly as it tried to halt its momentum, but the attempt was useless. It flew straight into a net of electricity that danced about its limbs, paralyzing it.

Want to try to finish this in one shot? I asked Dragonair. She responded with a resounding affirmative. Good, let’s show them dragon rush.

Since she had evolved, I had been working with Dragonair to perfect dragon rush between battles. Now it was time to see if all of that training had paid off.

While Poliwrath still struggled against the electricity that held it in place, Dragonair let out a cry and spread the wing-like feathers on either side of her head. The blue orbs on her tail and throat glowed bright white as she slowly levitated off of the ground. Dragonair’s cry grew to a crescendo as she flew forward, her horn piercing the air in front of it. A purple and yellow field, similar to the color of dragon rage, spread out around the tip of her horn while the dragon-type continued to pick up speed. Poliwrath finally managed to push itself to its knees just in time to see the dragon Pokémon bearing down upon it.

A terrific smash, a cloud of dirt and dust, then silence. The crowd quieted as a thousand heads strained to see what was going on. Then…

“Spencer’s Poliwrath is unable to battle. Keith’s Dragonair wins. Spencer is out of useable Pokémon, so the victory goes to Keith Anders!”

On the scoreboard high above us, the sixth and final symbol under Spencer’s picture turned to black and my image filled the screen.

I managed to maintain my composure long enough to recall Dragonair, but then exhaustion took over and I sank to my knees. I blinked slowly and looked at my watch. Three hours. I had been standing in place for three hours straight. I gave a sigh of relief at being able to wrangle a victory, and pushed myself to my feet.

I strode to the middle of the field, where I met my brother. He smiled at me as he shook my hand. “Not bad, I guess.”

“Not bad? That’s all you can say?” I laughed.

“I can’t believe I let my baby brother beat me.” He winked at me.

There was a pause, then he pulled me into a big bear hug.

“You’ve grown up, Keith. A lot.”

*****

Hope you enjoyed.

NEXT: Criss vs Tim, and MORE FORESHADOWING

Yay for Keith's victory! now I just hope Criss beats Tim so that she and Keith can have a heck of a final battle...unless something else happens.

And there was a lot of foreshadowing in this chapter I wonder who that man was, I'm gonna say Giovanni but I don't think you'll go for something obvious right? I'll stay tuned for when his identity is revealed.

Not everything is a ray of sunshine though I can understand that it got dull for you and decided to skip fights, however I think you probably skipped a little too much and this in turn caused the battle itself to become dull at some points plus a lot of the paragraphs were really long to read so I recommend dividing them more.

Whew! Finally done! I plowed though all the chapters in one sitting and you, my good sir have impressed me so far. It seems I struck a gold mine finding this and I'm waiting eagerly for the next chapter!

Originally Posted by Stellar Haze

Yay for Keith's victory! now I just hope Criss beats Tim so that she and Keith can have a heck of a final battle...unless something else happens.

And there was a lot of foreshadowing in this chapter I wonder who that man was, I'm gonna say Giovanni but I don't think you'll go for something obvious right? I'll stay tuned for when his identity is revealed.

Not everything is a ray of sunshine though I can understand that it got dull for you and decided to skip fights, however I think you probably skipped a little too much and this in turn caused the battle itself to become dull at some points plus a lot of the paragraphs were really long to read so I recommend dividing them more.

I get what you mean about the battles. The next chapter will have only a sliver of the match between Criss and Tim, I don't want to spend too much time on it. I'll make up for that in the Championship match, though (not to mention we still have the Pokemon League battles).

I'd suggest taking another look at the conversation between Criss and Keith, the man's name is mentioned (and that is his real name, mind you). I needed an original character to have a little more flexibility with an antagonist. Giovanni will play an important part in the story, but I always imagined him to be like Moriarty - pulling strings in the shadows.

Originally Posted by sperance

Whew! Finally done! I plowed though all the chapters in one sitting and you, my good sir have impressed me so far. It seems I struck a gold mine finding this and I'm waiting eagerly for the next chapter!

Wow! I commend you, that is an impressive feat of marathon reading. I hope you stick around, it'd be great to have another reader.

I have spring break next week, so I'll try to push out the next couple chapters.

Originally Posted by AetherX

I have spring break next week, so I'll try to push out the next couple chapters.

Oh how wrong was I....

So yeah, here we are three months later. I'm still alive. This chapter's been done for a few weeks, but I haven't gotten the chance to revise it and put it up until today.

Tags: @Stellar Haze ; @sharktooth162 ; @Tsutarja ; @MidnightGhost
^Do these even work anymore? I haven't gotten notified for mentions in ages...

This time: Tim vs Criss (kinda), MOAR EPIC CLIMAX FORESHADOWING


Chapter 33

I could hear cheering behind me, muffled by the thick cement walls of the stadium. Criss and Tim must have begun their battle. Spencer and I walked out of the competitor’s hallway into the stadium’s huge entrance hall, which was completely devoid of people. Sunlight poured through the glass walls and reflected brightly off of the blue tiles that covered the floor. Outside we could see spectators not able to get tickets standing in the streets, watching the battle on the massive TV screens mounted around the building.

Standing next to me, my brother let out a long sigh. “Keith,” he said. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

I looked at him curiously.

“The situation in Saffron has worsened. I really want to stay and watch you battle in the Championship match, but …”

“You have to leave,” I finished for him. I had seen this coming.

He nodded. “Yeah, if I handle this right, there could be a big promotion in my future. Right now, Silph is in disarray. We haven’t had contact with the headquarters in months.”

“I thought you guys had practically unlimited resources.”

“We do, but unfortunately most of those unlimited resources are locked away in Silph Tower.”

“Maybe that’s why the Rockets moved in there in the first place,” I pointed out.

“That’s our theory, too.”

I looked out the massive windows for a moment. “Hey Spencer, when do you plan on visiting home?”

He seemed surprised. “I thought I would stop in for a bit after the tournament, but that’s obviously not happening. Why?”

I told him about my time in Pallet and how Mom was doing. He was worried.

“I see what you mean. It’s been too long since I’ve seen Mom. I’ll try to stop by for a week or two after this whole ordeal settles down.”

I nodded.

“I guess I should be going, then,” he said.

“Wait, now?” I thought he had meant that he was leaving at least the next morning.

“Yeah, I don’t really have any time to waste. I’ll go get Charizard patched up and fly over as soon as possible, that’d be the fastest way.”

“I suppose that makes sense. Well, bye then.”

He pulled me into another big hug. “See you later, bro.”

I watched him walk out the doors and down the street out of sight. I had a feeling that I would be seeing him again sooner than he thought.

Finally remembering what I was doing there, I turned and headed down one of the hallways towards the arena, stopping to buy a huge soda on the way. I was thirsty beyond belief after standing out in the sun for so long, and I hoped I wouldn’t have to pee too badly before the battle ended.

Drink in hand, I found my way to the arch that led to my section. Stepping out into the sunlight was a shock after being in the air conditioned hallway. The crowd was immense and the stadium packed to the brim. If competitors weren’t guaranteed seating, I probably would have been standing outside with the people watching the action on a TV screen. Before I could find my seat though, I heard someone call out. “Hey, is that Keith Anders?”

“Keith Anders?”

“Really?”

“Oh my gosh it is!”

“It’s Keith Anders!”

With seconds I found myself receiving a standing ovation from everyone in my section. It took a few minutes for me to shake everyone’s hand, get patted on the back numerous times, and even autograph someone’s hat before I finally reached my seat. It must have been the only open spot in the whole stadium. I sat down between a cute blonde girl who kept glancing at me out of the corner of my eye and giggling to an equally cute brunette sitting next to her, and an overexcited, possibly drunk college kid who must have been on spring break.

Turning my attention to the battle at hand, which had been going on for almost half an hour now, I looked at the scoreboard to acquaint myself, where I received a shock. I had expected for Criss to be ahead, but even though no more than thirty minutes could have passed since the battle started, she was absolutely dominating.

She had used five of her Pokémon so far, and only one was knocked out. It appeared to be Flareon, who was now resting at its trainer’s side, curled up into a ball. I was surprised that Tim had managed to do that much. His side of the scoreboard was almost completely blank compared to hers. Including his Gyarados, which was on the field, he had a grand total of three Pokémon left, only one of them completely fresh: his Victreebel was hurt. It took a second, but I finally discerned that the blacked out silhouettes of his fallen Pokémon included Charizard, Cubone, and Haunter. That meant the one that he hadn’t used yet had to be Beedrill.

Tim appeared to be on a comeback, though. I cheered along with the crowd as his Gyarados dismantled Criss’ Arbok and newly evolved Omastar before finally falling in an epic battle against Aerodactyl. It was difficult to choose who I wanted to win. Since I would have loved going up against either of them in the finals, and they both were my friends, I decided to go with the underdog for now.

Tim was doing spectacularly, actually. I saw him pull off some great strategies and moves that gave me several ideas for iterations of my own. He had certainly improved over the course of the tournament, and it was obvious that he deserved every one of his seven badges.

But Criss was an unstoppable force. She fought like a finely tuned machine. Every technique, every tactic, was perfectly and flawlessly executed. It was almost difficult to watch. She made Tim look like he was just chasing his tail. She led him into traps that would have ensnared even the most astute trainer, and exploited weaknesses that I didn’t even know existed. Her Pokémon obeyed each and every command they were given, and carried out every movement like robots. By the time Tim was down to just his Beedrill, while Criss still had her unbeatable pair: Nidoking and Nidoqueen (apparently evolved sometime before the tournament started), I finally managed to figure out her secret.

Her Pokémon were rare, but hardly up to par with the power of a Dragonite or something similar. She used her psychic abilities wisely, but didn’t do anything that spectacular. I realized that her biggest strength was that she simply trained more and harder than anyone else. Her Nidoking was so strong it could accomplish feats that Spencer’s never would have dreamed of. Her strategies were born from hours of trial and error. No attacks missed because they had been practiced over and over again. She was an okay trainer on her own, but I finally realized that she had spent hours, days, weeks working with her Pokémon to build them up to the best that they could be. Even Tim could be where she was if he had spent the same amount of time and energy.

I was clearly the only one doing that kind of in depth analysis. Around me the crowd was in an uproar over the battle below, oblivious to how or why the trainers were where they were. I smirked at their naivety. Since the tournament had started, several aspiring trainers had come up to me and asked “how I did it.” My response was always the same: “I use my brain. I think, I look for things, I take the time to learn.” Apparently I was alone in that.

But whatever my personal philosophies were, the battle raged on.

Far below, Beedrill fired off a barrage of pin missiles, caging Nidoking in an array of small explosions. Criss’s Pokémon roared in frustration and attempted to charge forward with a horn attack, but was knocked back by the bombardment.

As his opponent was now effectively immobilized, Tim pulled out a trick that I didn’t even know he had. Beedrill charged forward at full speed, still firing pin missiles, streaks of orange and purple forming an aura around its body. Unmistakably giga impact, although I was surprised that Beedrill could maintain it while still firing pin missiles. I made a mental note to ask Tim how he got that to work. The attack would surely knock Nidoking out, as the huge ground-type had been hurt significantly by Tim’s Haunter earlier in the battle.

But immediately before collision, Nidoking disappeared in a sudden flash of red. Criss had recalled it. Unable to halt its momentum, Beedrill crashed into the ground (still rocky and jagged from my battle with Spencer). Criss hurled out Nidoqueen before it could recover, and the poor bug-type was hit hard with a body slam.

The battle looked like it was nearly over. Beedrill was crippled, unable to fly and barely able to push itself off of the ground. Then Tim gave a shout that was audible even over the roar of the crowd.

“Endeavor!”

Beedrill began to glow with a rainbow of colors, and using the last of its strength, charged at Nidoqueen. The attack caught the ground-type by surprise, as it had expected to finish the battle in a single swipe of its mighty tail.

Nidoqueen was sent flying backwards, much disproportionate to the amount of strength that Beedrill had left. If I recalled the effects of Endeavor correctly, Tim had just evened the odds.

That wasn’t saying much, though. Nidoqueen was much hardier than Beedrill. The crowd and I watched in awe as it slowly got up and began to crawl towards where Beedrill now sat. It shook off pin missile after pin missile, appearing angrier and angrier each time. Finally, it got within range, its massive tail swung around, and the battle was over.

I sat with my chin in my hands while the fans around me screamed their support. Too bad, really, I had high hopes for Tim. I didn’t think he was going to take this defeat very well. While Criss and Tim shook hands in the middle of the field down below, I got up and maneuvered through the crowd out of the stadium and made my way back to our hotel.

*****

The next day went by in a blur. First I got my Pokémon patched up and did some light recovery training, then spent most of the day at media appearances. I remembered what Spencer had told us about the sudden resurgence of journeying trainers since David’s victory. My story: that of a simple boy from a small town, was perfect fodder for the press. Criss absolutely refused to tell them anything about herself, and in fact made herself scarce well before noon.

Finally, as the sun began to set, I grabbed a quick dinner of fast food and headed back to the hotel, where I hoped to find Tim, Criss, and a chance to rest.

Slipping into our room, I found at least one of those. Tim lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He hadn’t said much when I had last seen him at breakfast. I had a feeling that he had spent most of the day in his current position.

“What’s up, man? You seen Criss around?” I asked, kicking my shoes off and flopping onto my bed.

He just grunted. I looked up from pulling my socks off to see him shake his head ever so slightly.

“Where’d your brother go?” he asked in a rough voice.

I sighed and lay back, wiggling my toes, which were happy to be free after a long day of standing in the hot sun. “He finally had to go to Celadon to deal with the Saffron issue. Couldn’t put it off any longer, I guess…”

“Hmm… You still plan on going there with Criss once this is all over?”

“Of course,” I could see where this was going.

“I don’t know if I should come with you…” my friend said after a pause.

“What are you talking about? I wouldn’t trust anyone else to have my back. You’re an awesome trainer, certainly better than most of the police force.”

“Still got destroyed by Criss…”

If there was one thing that I disliked about Tim, it was his habit of getting down on himself after a big disappointment. “Tim, you kicked ass. Criss is really good, you should be proud to have gotten as far as you did. I thought you almost had it at the end there. If Nidoqueen had even stood around for a couple more seconds, it would have fallen over from exhaustion.”

“Wouldn’t have mattered, she still had Nidoking as backup.”

I was starting to get frustrated. “So? You came close, you’re still in the top four.”

“That’s only because I didn’t get seeded with you guys in the first place. Even Neil would have kicked my ass again if I had gone up against him in the primaries. I’m just not on par with you guys…”

A thought flashed through my head, and I almost slapped myself. For a second, I had almost agreed with him. Despite our friendship, my eternal overconfidence still gave me a little voice that pointed out that I was much better than him. In a way, it was true.

“See? You don’t even have anything to say to that, I’m right,” Tim continued.

“For fuck’s sake, Tim.” I stood up and looked at him. “You know what? Never mind…” I stalked out the door.

Shutting it behind me, I walked down the hall to Criss’s room and knocked. The only answer was an incessant scratching. Flareon was inside, at least. I knocked again. Again, no answer. That was odd… where would she be without Flareon? I gave up and decided to walk around the hotel a bit.

Ten minutes later, I found myself, still barefoot, on the roof of the hotel, looking out across the city still alive with light, despite the late hour. You couldn’t see as many stars here as you could in Pallet Town… For the first time since leaving home almost nine months ago I felt a twinge of homesickness. But I knew that the Pallet Town I had grown up in was gone forever. After our stop-off, I had realized that my entire world had changed. Pallet Town didn’t feel like home anymore. It wasn’t until we had left that I had realized that I had been waiting for that moment since we had arrived. I didn’t feel comfortable in the quiet, homely village. Pallet Town was my home no more. But where then did I belong?

Rather than dwelling on the past, I tried to look to the future. Tomorrow I would be competing in the Spring Battle Festival Championships, hardly a feat to be scoffed at. After that… I wasn’t sure what would happen. My hand found the stun rod at my belt, which I had taken to carrying everywhere. For the first time since my training with Koga I might actually be using the weapon against a human. Despite my words to Tim, I was scared to go to Saffron. What would await us? I seriously doubted that we had seen the worst of Team Rocket’s many evils.

My eyes wandered again to the stars and I began absentmindedly identifying the constellations that I had learned in my childhood. But a sweep of darkness caught my eye. Stars blinked out momentarily, one by one as some sort of flying creature soared silently across the sky. I squinted into the darkness, but I couldn’t make out anything besides the fact that it was quickly headed in my direction.

Sure enough, a blast of wind marked the passing of a flying Pokémon overhead as whatever it was swept down onto the roof behind me. Silhouetted by the single fluorescent light above the door leading to the stairs down, sat a hunched shadow. It shook violently, slowly attempting to fold its crooked wings. Whatever kind of Pokémon it was, it looked big enough to have a rider, and was obviously injured.

“Hello?” I called out, approaching cautiously.

It responded only with a hollow wheeze. I watched as another shadow slipped off of its back and landed hard on the ground. Suddenly I realized what I was looking at and rushed forward.

“Criss? Criss! Where have you been? Holy…” As I neared the light I identified what was clearly Criss’ Aerodactyl. It was beaten and bloodied, which only made me panic even more as to the possible state of its rider.

The fossil Pokémon stepped aside to let me kneel down next to its prone trainer. Criss lay face down on the cold cement, one arm under her and the other splayed out to the side. She breathed slowly, in great, shuddering gasps. She wore the clothes that she usually wore, suitable for quick and silent movements, but they were now all torn and bloodied.

“Criss?” I begged again, softly this time. Carefully, as to avoid worsening her wounds, I rolled her over onto her back and gave a sharp intake of breath.

She had a grievous cut along her temple, complemented by swelling above her eye. Bruises marked much of the bare skin that I could see, and deep laceration on her right arm dripped blood onto her shirt. The non swollen eye opened slowly, and the cracked lips drew into a slight smile when she saw me.

“Keith…” she spoke in a rasping voice so softly I could barely hear.

“Criss… what the hell happened to you?”

“I did something stupid.” Each word seemed to pain her.

“Stupid? Whatever you did was fucking suicidal! We’ve got to get you some help.”

She closed her eyes at this and raised her uninjured arm to pull a Poké Ball from her now tattered sash. She recalled Aerodactyl and gave the ball to me. “Get it to a center.” I took it and put it in my pocket before pulling Criss to her feet, her uninjured arm around my shoulder for support.

Each movement, no matter how subtle, caused Criss to grimace in pain. By the time we were down the stairs to the floor with our rooms, she was whimpering with every step. We reached her room first, so she had me reach into her jacket pocket for her card key. The maneuver would have been awkward in any other situation, but copping a feel on Criss was the last thing on my panicked mind.

Laying her down on the bed as gently as I could, I looked desperately around the room for some sort of bandage.

“First aid…” she muttered. “Top pocket…”

My eyes found her backpack leaning against the wall by the door. I rushed over to it and unzipped the top pocket, pulling out a bag full of what I hoped were adequate medical supplies.

A few heart stopping minutes and several painkillers later, Criss was talking a bit more and had regained some of her usual vigor. Refusing to lie back and let me tend to her wounds, she was now sitting on the edge of the bed, tying a bandage to her arm.

“I think I might have bruised a rib or two,” she muttered through clenched teeth.

“We need to get you to a hospital,” I insisted.

“Tauros shit, I can take care of myself, just get Aerodactyl some attention.”

As she began to take off her shirt, presumably to tend to her ribs, I ducked out of the room with Aerodactyl’s Poké Ball. Rather than rush downstairs and across the street to the Pokémon center, though, I decided that I needed some answers. Criss was the only one who could give them to me, and I wanted them right away.

I pushed open the door to my room, where Tim still lay on his bed. He looked up at my sudden entrance, and jumped to his feet when he saw Criss’ blood on the front of my shirt.

“What’s going on?” he asked frantically.

“Fuck if I know,” I was more than a little tired of Criss withholding so much from Tim and I. “Criss just showed up on the roof all beat up. Her Aerodactyl’s badly hurt.” I held out the Poké Ball and Tim took it from me. “Take it to the Pokémon Center while I try to finally squeeze some answers from Criss.”

Sensing my muted anger, he calmly nodded and strode out the door.

I left too, headed back towards Criss’ room. Having left the door slightly ajar, I didn’t even knock. Criss walked out of the bathroom and looked at me in surprise. Apparently she had just been looking at herself in the mirror. With nothing but a sports bra to hinder my view, I could see that the bruising that I seen on her arms was all over her chest and sides too. What the hell had happened to her?

Blushing slightly, she painfully tried to pull her shirt back on, but that proved to hurt too much, so I instead helped her into a jacket.

“Tim’s taking Aerodactyl to the Poké Center,” I said after she had thanked me and sat down on the edge of her bed. I stood over her, arms crossed and frowning. She looked… shaken. My frustration combated my concern.

“Well?” I asked. “You going to bother telling me what happened to you?”

She put her head in her hands. “I just did something very stupid.”

“Yes. We already went over that, care to specify?” I snapped.

She looked up at me, confused at my outburst.

“Look,” I said. “I’ve been to hell and back for you, and now you’ve pulled Tim into this too. You can trust me; I don’t know why you’re so afraid of telling me anything. If you want my help, you need to start speaking up.”

She frowned at me. “I know,” she said after a moment. “But the more I tell you, the more I pull you into this. I don’t want that to happen.”

“Criss, I’m into this already. I’m planning on going to Saffron with you, am I not?”

Her head returned to her hands. “I don’t think you realize how big all of this is.”

“Then why don’t you tell me how big all of this is?”

She hesitated. “You’re right… I’ll tell you what you need to know.”

“Good, let’s start with where you’ve been all day.”

“I went to Saffron City,” she said curtly. “I never should have gone alone, but I wanted to do a quick scouting mission. I didn’t get far.

“You know how simple-minded and weak most Team Rocket grunts are?” she asked.

I nodded.

“Well they aren’t all like that. Those are just the ones that rely on outnumbering and intimidating their opponents. One step above the grunts, but not quite on par with the executives is the Rocket Boss’ handpicked private defense team: the Team Rocket Skyguard. It’s pretty easy to tell when you’re up against one of them, their uniforms are grey instead of black, and they are much more competent. I’ve only had a couple run-ins with them, and none have ended well.”

“Why are they called the Skyguard?” I asked, guessing what she was getting at.

“They’re Team Rocket’s flyers. They specialize in flying-types and are responsible for piloting Team Rocket’s helicopters and protecting the Boss. I got cocky and tried to slip past their matrix of patrols to get into the city, but they caught me with ease. You know how difficult it is to battle while riding your Pokémon…”

I nodded again, memories of Cinnabar Island not far from my mind.

“They’re experts at it. I was lucky to get away at all. I fell into the forest around Saffron, which resulted in all this.” She raised her injured arm.

“And your eye?”

She put a finger on the cut on her temple. “I hit my head here; I’m not surprised my eye bruised. I got knocked out for a time, and when I woke up I had no idea where Aerodactyl was. It took me most of the day to find it, in no better shape than I was. The whole time I could see Skyguards flying overhead, looking for me. It wasn’t until the sun set that I was able to slip out.”

I thought for a second. “Was that guy in the video a member of the Skyguard? He wasn’t in uniform…”

She stiffened at the mention of the dark man. I doubted she would ever straight out lie to me, but I didn’t think she was going to tell me the whole story as far as he was concerned. I didn’t care much, surprisingly, as I was now getting much more out of her than before.

“Yes…” she finally responded. “Yes he was. That was Reese Walker, captain of the Skyguard. He’s trouble, to say the least. As far as I can tell, the only reason he hasn’t been made an executive is because he likes field work too much. After the Boss himself, I’d say Reese is the biggest threat.”

“We’re going to have to fight him, and you aren’t looking forward to it.” It was a statement, not a question.

She shook her head. “At least not with you and Tim around.”

She made it sound like that was because she didn’t want us to get hurt, but I had a feeling that this Walker guy was deeply connected to Criss’ past, and she didn’t want me or Tim to stumble onto it. The way she called him by his first name seemed oddly personal, but the way she said it was so dripping with hatred that I almost wanted to hide.

I thought for a second, eventually deciding to change the subject. Criss had told me as much as she said she would. That is, what she thought I needed to know. More would come in time. “You should probably get that cut checked out,” I said, gesturing to her arm.

“I’ll be fine.”

“It looks like you need stitches. It’ll scar pretty badly if you don’t.”

“Good,” she said stoically. “I’ve gone too long without any scars to remind me of my mistakes.”

I paused again at this strange statement before trying another line of conversation. “You going to be able to participate in the Championship battle tomorrow?”

She grinned at me. “Of course. You don’t think you’ll be getting out of it that easy, do you? I’m a quick healer. We’ll give them a battle to remember.”

Her excitement was obvious and quite infectious. In truth, I had been looking forward to going up against Criss in a full six on six match for some time. It would certainly be a battle to remember… one way or another.

*****
So yeah, I'm planning on rocking y'all's socks the next four or five chapters.

NEXT: SUPAH CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLEUUUU. Kieth vs Criss.