Chapter 3
Both Magnum and Bullet were still at it, but hesitantly. They had been sparring and exercising for almost a half hour under Mike's relentless order. Oftentimes throughout, they would glance up at him with uneasy expressions, kind of like David's when Mike was freaking out about the pokemon.
One of the things that Mike often fantasized about was how he trained his pokemon, and it was always a rigorous workout. He hadn't even thought this training session was a big deal, since he was the only one to have carried over any wounds from the last scuffle, and it was a small one too that one of the nurses had already bandaged. It suddenly occurred to him these pokemon had been brought up under another training schedule, and he was the one acting strangely. It looked like he didn't have full control of this world after all.
"Alright, that's enough," Mike called, causing his pokemon to quit their fight and and sigh with relief. "How about we hit the plaza?"
Another short trek through the forest brought them to Mallard Creek Plaza, except it was Farfetch'd Creek instead. Despite that, all the out door restaurants, fast food restaurants, shoe stores, book stores...everything else was mostly the same.
There was one thing Mike wished he didn't recognize, though.
Over near one of the fast food places stood Shirin Sluks. She liked getting people to gamble their favorite things away to her, and she always won, even if she had to cheat. She was currently battling a girl of about eleven, whose prinplup didn't look too good. The unfortunate penguin was getting badly scratched up by a sableye.
"Stop!" yelled the girl. She tried to recall her prinplup, but Sableye stood in the way.
"Aww, you give up? Good!" Shirin smiled viciously. "So, I'll just take your money now-"
"Not until you let that ralts go, you big bully!" The girl shouted while hugging her wounded pokemon. Mike gasped when he realized that the ralts in the bully's arms was the same one he had been talking to yesterday.
"Oh, but that wasn't the deal," she said in a mocking tone. "I won, so I get to keep what I want. Give it, or else..." She gestured at her sableye and it advanced menacingly.
The girl's lip quivered, and she hugged prinplup tightly, but she didn't budge from her spot. "N-no..." The sableye raised an arm...
Mike had seen enough. "Magnum, think you can-?"
Magnum grunted and dashed off before Mike finished his sentence. He quickly grabbed the girl and her pokemon and moved them to safety.
"Shirin, stop!"
"Ah, Mike-old-buddy!" Shirin replied, again in a mocking tone. "So nice of you to join us!"
"I never thought you'd go so low as to challenge a little kid," Mike growled.
"She challenged me," she said, in the same way a whiny child would say, She started it! "She did it to win my pokemon here," explained Shirin, pointing to Ralts, "so I'm being nice by only taking her money, and not her pokemon. Not that I'd want the weakling." She sneered at the prinplup, then turned her attention to hitmonchan. "But you know, your pokemon is pretty cool. I've actually had my eyes on it for a while. Fight ya for it."
The little girl looked up at Mike. "Please, do something," she begged. "She keeps knocking out that poor ralts, you have to save it!"
Mike did want to fight, but he didn't want Magnum to be the gamble. He looked at his hitmonchan and saw that he had no choice but to fight now; Magnum was bustling his fists in a "Let me at 'em!" mentality.
"Fine, have it your way. But I get Ralts when I win."
"Are those to your only two pokemon?"
"Yep."
"Alright, in that case, you're dead meat!"
"We'll see about that."
%%%%
The sports center that Mike knew now had a pokemon stadium. As they were waiting for the match to start, Mike talked to Magnum and Bullet. "Remember your hybrid hits, and your combos. Shirin probably isn't expecting you," he looked at Magnum, "to be able to hit her sableye. But if you can get a good ice punch on it you should be able to freeze it." Magnum nodded. "Also remember your team attack; that should come in handy."
"Are both trainers ready?" the referee called out.
"Yep," replied Mike.
"Let's do this!" shouted Shirin.
"The double match between Shirin and Mike will now begin!"
As soon as the bell rang, Shirin pulled out two pokeballs and tossed them. In a flash, out came an aggron and the sableye from before. Mike gestured for his pokemon to step (and hover) forward. "Bullet, I want you in the air. Magnum, I want you on guard, be ready to dodge."
"Fat chance," Shirin taunted. "Crush, shoot that bug down, and Crystal, faint attack."
Crystal the Sableye disappeared momentarily as Aggron (Crush) began to spit fire at Bullet. A split second later, Crystal reappeared and slashed at Magnum. He stumbled back and prepared to move away, but he was blocked as she manuevered around to block the path. Meanwhile, Bullet was doing a good job at dodging the fireballs coming his way.
"Fury swipes, Crystal!"
"Counter it, Magnum!"
Shirin smirked, thinking that hitmonchan couldn't hit her ghost. But as Magnum ducked under the attack, he uppercutted with an ice punch, freezing the jaw shut, and followed up with an ice hook, leaving Crystal with only a fourth of her face to use. The smirk immediately vanished from Shirin's. "Crush, Hyperbeam on hitmonchan!"
Oh no you don't! "Now Bullet!" Bullet used aerial ace to reach Crush in a flash and incorporated the power of steel wing to redirect the beam. After the hit, Yanma barrel rolled to get out of the way of the beam, but received a burn on it's wing. Its flying was now shaky and a bit slow, and Shirin knew it.
"Shadow ball on Yanma, Crystal!"
"Magnum, don't let it hit!" But the ball was already shot. Bullet had a bit of a weakness in battle-it couldn't take much damage before fainting. That's why Mike trained it to dodge so much, but now it seemed as though Bullet was going to receive the full force of the shadow ball. At the last second, though, Magnum appeared in between Crystal and Bullet and used protect just in time.
In his relief, Mike didn't hear Shirin say to her pokemon, "Rock blast," nor did he notice in time that his Pokemon were in danger.
"No!" Mike cried as the rocks met their mark. Bullet fell and was out cold.
"Ha! I got them both!" cried Shirin.
"Yanma is unable to battle!" shouted the referee. He was about to call the same for Magnum when he got up, coughing blood, but on his feet again. Thankfully, he could take more damage than Bullet.
"Bullet, return!" Shouted Mike as he held out his ball. To his horror, the laser was blocked by the sableye.
"Ah, ah, ah." Shirin wiggled a finger. "I'm not done yet. Crush, show him how you got you're name: Body slam!"
"Violation!" the ref screamed, but it did nothing to slow the descent of 793 pounds of rock, steel, and flesh.
"Get him outta there! Now Magnum!" Magnum quickly picked up Bullet and jumped to safety. He landed a few steps from his trainer and fell to one knee. Mike looked in horror as Crush approached for a second try. There was little chance of another escape, much less a chance to win.
I'm sorry Magnum, I wasn't good enough. He pulled out both poke-balls, calling, "That's enough. Good job, you two." He tried again to call them back; Crystal again got in the way.
Again he heard Shirin say, "I'm not done yet."
Chapter 4
"Use Slash, Crush! Kill the bug!"
Crush was now looming over the two fallen pokemon, aiming his claws downward. Mike, helpless and horrified, looked away.
"What the f-?" The rest of the word was cut off by the sound of aggron hitting the pokemon-free concrete.
Mike snapped his attention back to the field. Shirin looked as though she had seen a ghost, for Magnum was back on his feet and had Bullet with him. He put Bullet down, spread his arms, and clapped his hands together while using the two elemental punches Mike taught him (fire and ice). A splash of water brought Bullet's consciousness back. Grinning, Mike saw his opportunity to win.
"Magnum, Fire and Ice punch on sableye and aggron!"
"No you don't! Crush, flamethower. Sableye, Shadow ball!"
Magnum was now between the two Pokemon, both within arms length. "Get him out of there, Bullet, Aerial ace!" Crush and Crystal attacked, but Magnum disappeared at the last second, so they hit each other. The sableye fell; it couldn't stand the heat. Crush was sturdier but the shadow ball still made him stumble back. "Last attack! Magnum, Focus punch!"
"Crush! Their flying in from behind you! Get that bug!" Crush turned around and saw Bullet carrying a shining-fisted Magnum. He shot a rock at them, but Bullet ducked under it, then threw Magnum.
The final blow was a (superman) focus punch. Crush tottered, then collapsed with crash next to the panting hitmonchan.
Shirin was silent for a moment, stuck with a disbelieving look on her face. Suddenly though, her face filled with rage. She pulled out a pokeball and threw it. "Go, Cut-throat!" A flash revealed a rugged weavile. "Kill that son-of-a-b****!" She shouted. As she pointed, it charged forward, snarling.
"Magnum, look out!" Shouted Mike. The hitmonchan dodged the first attack, but then he missed a step, stumbling to regain his balanced. Vulnerable.
"Finish it!" Shirin screamed.
"Brick Break."
Just as Mike was sure he was about to lose a friend, a voice and a zangoose came from seemingly nowhere. The white mongoose slammed Cut-throat with the smooth part of its claws, causing it to stumble back a few steps. It stood there for a bit, staring down zangoose, but then wobbled and fell.
"Shirin," David stepped into the ring, glaring, "You're disqualified for attacking a downed fighter. Mike wins by default."
Shirin stood there, trembling as she recalled her pokemon, but still clinging to Ralts. Finally, she set her on the ground, muttering, "Here you go. I don't know why she won't wake up, but I didn't do anything to her, I swear." She backed up a few steps and ran.
The little girl rushed to Ralts and scooped her up in her arms. "She doesn't seem to be physically hurt," she said as she inspected her carefully. She turned and smiled at the two boys gratefully. "I can't thank you two enough for helping her!"
"Yeah," Mike said to his friend, who was now grinning. "Thanks for the save. I was really scared for a second there."
"Not a problem. Let's get off the field so the next trainers can fight."
As they walked toward the door, David apologized off-handedly. "Sorry I wasn't here sooner. I'm usually here to make sure jerks like Shirin don't kill anybody's pokemon."
"I think that's why Ralts is like this," the girl exclaimed while cradling the green and white pokemon. "Shirin was so full of meanness that poor Ralts couldn't handle it."
Mike looked at her in surprise. "You sound like a nurse."
She grinned shyly and said, "Thanks. I want to be a pokemon doctor when I grow up. I know that ralts have an aversion to hostile emotions, but I didn't know that it affected them this much." She paused and looked at Magnum and Bullet. "Can I try to heal your pokemon?"
Mike remembered his pokemon's injuries. He himself had nothing against the idea of letting the girl try but... "Ask them. They're their bodies."
She nodded. When they got outside, she asked Mike. "Could you hold Ralts for me?" Mike nodded and took the little creature. She was out cold, but he was pretty sure she was the same one from yesterday. Strange how convenient it had been to repay the Ralts's debt, and as he thought back to their conversation, he remembered that he wasn't supposed to be in this world. What am I gonna do? He thought, then shook his head. I'll think about it later. I don't want to confuse poor Ralts again.
The girl, meanwhile, talked while she worked on Bullet. "My name's Kisha, and my prinplup's name is Faye. I got her about three weeks ago for my first pokemon. By the way, I don't know any of your names yet."
Mike introduced himself and his pokemon and let David do the same. They chatted a little bit more before Kisha finished up. "Alright, you guys," Mike said, still grateful that they weren't dead. "Time for a rest." They looked relieved as they returned into their pokeballs.
About the same time, Ralts woke up. "Hey, Ralts!" Mike greeted her warmly.
David walked up. "Finally decided to join the living, eh Ralts?" He said teasingly.
Warmth...kindness...What a relief, that dreadful girl must be gone, thought Ralts. As she felt her strength slowly coming back to her, she noticed who was holding her. [Mike?]
"Glad to see you recognize me," Mike said. When the other two trainers gave him funny looks, he explained, "I saw her earlier in the forest while I was on my way to pick up Magnum and Bullet."
Ralts pushed herself out of Mike's arms and placed herself gracefully on the ground using her psychic powers. She projected her thoughts so they could all hear her. [Thank you all for your assistance. I will depart now to my home.]
After Kisha and David got over the shock of being talked to by a pokemon, they protested. Kisha knelt down and asked, "What if another mean trainer finds you?"
[That trainer caught me by surprise. I was running from the beedrills that attacked Mike.]
David turned to Mike. "You got attacked by beedrill?"
"Uh, yeah..." Mike blushed. "A weedle fell out of the trees and freaked me out so much that I kicked it."
David stared at him for a second, dumbfounded, then replied bluntly, "You're an idiot, you know that?"
"I'm surprised you weren't hurt!" Kisha exclaimed.
"I managed to knock one out and then my pokemon helped out." Everyone stared at him with a combination of fascination and horror. "Going back to the subject, Ralts," Mike quickly moved on, "at least let us walk you home."
She thought about it for a second. True, these people were feeling concern and friendliness towards her and each other, but those were only surface emotions. Deep down inside, one of them might be plotting to capture her. There was ambition coming from the girl, Kisha, which, while seemingly innocent, made Ralts feel giddy and nervous.
Then she turned to Mike and unwittingly calmed down. He seemed to have that effect on her, for whatever reason. It was the same feeling she had when they were talking yesterday. A feeling of...need.
[Alright,] She said. [You may escort me.]