Chapter 3: Tag Team Troubles
True to the Professor's prediction, by 11:30 the following morning, the back porch of the Laboratory and the surrounding meadow had been annexed by what seemed to be most of Pallet Town ( ie. everyone who wasn't in school) as well as anyone in Viridian City lucky enough to hear about the matches. Well over a hundred people were in attendance reclining in lawn chairs, or else laying out picnic blankets on the grass. Every now an again, an occasional shriek signaled to everyone that yet another specimen of hygienic indiscretion had been found. The volume and intensity of the shriek was a relatively accurate gauge of exactly HOW it had been found.
(A/N: For those of you who missed the meaning of that joke...essentially, the crowd would occasionally discover the pokemon's droppings that were littered all over the ground. I'm sorry if I got too...elegant in my description, but this was one of those opportunities I couldn't pass up :). Now, on with the show!)
From inside the house and safely out of reach, sight, or call of the spectators, Ash and his friends were sitting together in Prof. Oak's living room. No one was talking much, they were all thinking about their battles. Ash was frantically going over and over which pokemon he should use, having no idea which pokemon Ebrethil himself had.
"Ahh, if only I had a knife," murmured a soft voice from the doorway. It was not loud, or sudden, yet everyone in the room started as though they'd been given an electric shock. They turned to see Ebrethil grinning at them.
"If I had a knife," he went on. "Then I could see whether or not the atmosphere in here is thick enough to cut. I could feel the tension billowing from this room from all the way downstairs!"
"We're tense from the upcoming battle," May said.
"It's not as if we've ever done something like this before," Iris added.
"Indeed," Brock murmured, almost to himself.
Ash didn't trust himself to speak.
"Oh come now!" said Ebrethil a little harshly. "There's no reason to get all worked up over a friendly unofficial match! Now I'm starting to regret ever introducing myself."
"What are you talking about?" asked Dawn.
"If I had never told you who I was or why I was here would you be like this now? Of course not. You'd be out with your pokemon warming up for your matches! You'd be treating this like any other match."
As the others looked at him blankly, he sighed.
"I don't want you to think of today as battling a legend. Think of it instead as battling a new tough opponent. Feel the excitement. Light the spark within yourselves. It was that spark that drew me to each one of you, and it was my yearning to see that spark up close that motivated me to arrange this. Without that spark, I'm sort of wasting my time here." he finished with a sad smile.
"I guess that makes sense," Misty pondered.
"And, speaking of unbeatable legends...I understand that you have taken down your fair share of those in your time," Ebrethil finished, looking at Ash.
His words roused Ash from his brooding. He smiled, then suddenly leaped to his feet, all nervousness gone.
"Yeah! You're right! We can do this, right buddy?"
"Pi Pikachu!"
"Let's do this!" shouted May. "I'm ready for anything!"
"Yeah!"
"Bring it on!"
"Splendid!" cried Ebrethil, who couldn't have looked more pleased than if he'd just found out that Ho-Oh had returned. "Now then, down to business."
He motioned for Ash to move to the side so as to isolate him from his friends. Ash hesitated, then complied. Moving to stand over close to the bookshelf. Ebrethil gave him a reassuring smile before turning and addressing his friends.
"I will be facing each of you in full six on six pokemon battles. All of us will be able to switch our pokemon out at any time, there will be no time limits for any of the battles. I will work backwards through Ash's history, challenging each of you in reverse order. In other words, I will spar with Cilan first, since he is the most recent to join your little team, and I will be challenging Misty last...no, wait."
Ebrethil seemed to consider for a moment, and then corrected himself. "Actually I will request that Brock referee the matches, so he will be the last I fight. Misty, I'd be honored if you'd consent to be scooted up in my roster."
He spoke the last words in a slightly lower voice, one that more resembled a purr, and Misty turned a shade of scarlet that clashed magnificently with her orange hair, though Ash could make neither heads nor tails of the scene. Ebrethil's smile seemed to falter slightly as he looked at her, but then he seemed to shake off whatever it was that had caused him unrest.
"What about Ash?" asked Dawn.
"Oh, don't worry...I have something special planned for him!" Ebrethil assured her, his eyes twinkling mischievously. "Now, any other questions?"
"Um, Mr. Hawk, sir, I-" began Iris tentatively, but she stuttered to a halt as Ebrethil began to laugh.
He laughed so hard that many of the spectators out in the field turned their heads interestedly towards the balcony door. His laugh filled the room, bouncing off the walls and floor, and yet it was not unpleasant to experience, rather it felt and sounded like a bird breaking into song...if that bird was six feet tall with a much deeper voice, of course. Finally, he collapsed onto the couch, wheezing for breath and staring at Iris through streaming eyes.
"I'm, hic, sorry. But that's...the first time...I've ever been...called Mr. Hawk," he gasped, and then burst into more peals of laughter. It took him nearly a minute to regain his composure. When he finally did, he looked at Iris again and politely waited for her to finish her sentence.
"Well, sir, its just that...well, I don't really have 6 pokemon yet, Neither does Cilan...you see-"
"Arceus's Judgment smite me down!" cried Ebrethil in an aggrieved tone. "I'm so sorry. I completely forgot. Yes, yes of course. You only have four, and Cilan has three..."
He sat in thought for a moment before smiling and saying. "Mo matter. We can have a six on six double battle with the two of you battling me. Three pokemon each! Does that sound ok?"
"Oh yes, sir! Thank you!" said Iris, visibly relieved, and she hurried over to Cilan to start discussing tactics.
"This could complicate matters," Ebrethil muttered, almost to himself it seemed. "But not completely irreparable."
He turned, and leaving the others to their devices, he joined Ash by the wall of books.
"Ash, we will be fighting last, for two reasons," Ebrethil told him in a low voice. "Firstly because I have something special planned for it, and secondly because I want to battle all of your friends first. They've rubbed off on you over the years and I want to see which of your traits are 'picked up' and which are original. I can only do that if I know the traits that the others possess beforehand."
"Ok, I get it," Ash said, trying to hide his disappointment. He had been hoping to battle Ebrethil as soon as possible, eager to test himself. Now it would seem that he would have to be patient.
And patience is not a virtue that Ash Ketchum was known for.
"If it helps," suggested Ebrethil, who seemed to have picked up on Ash's emotions. "Think of it this way: There's a big audience out there who're excited for a show...why not save our best act till last?" he smiled down at Ash, and Ash grinned back.
Across the room, a the clock chimed noon. Outside, Tracy let loose a long, shivering note on the gong he was manning, signaling the start of the matches.
"And speaking of which," Ebrethil said, looking around. "I believe that this is the start of Act 1!" he winked at Ash, and waved at everyone before turning and walking, not out onto the balcony, but down the hall, away from the crowd and the action.
"Where's he going?" wondered May out loud.
"Maybe he needs to, ahh, relieve himself before performance," muttered Dawn into her ear, and the two girls erupted into quiet giggles.
Iris and Cilan, meanwhile were staring at the large battlefield that had been chalked out on the grass. Neither of them spoke, and Ash had the distinct impression that they'd become sick, if either opened their mouths. Brock seemed to notice this and laid a hand on their shoulders.
"Remember what the Hawk said. He's come here to see you fight, you need to find that battling spirit. Don't worry about identities right now. Just battle like you always have done and you'll do fine! You just need to relax."
"Relax...oh yeah, we'll get right on that!" Iris snarled at him. But his words did at least help to bring her back to the present. She took a deep breath and looked sideways at Cilan, who nodded grimly. Together, they walked out into the sunlight.
ooooooo
"Welcome one and all!" cried prof. Oak into a portable microphone. "To our very own Pallet Town special exhibition battle! Without further ado, let me introduce the contestants in the first match of the day, which, as I have just been informed at very late notice, will be a full double battle!" He shot a glare towards the sitting room as he finished, causing several of the onlookers (not to mention the occupants of the sitting room) to snicker loudly.
"Here, all they way from the Unova region, is Iris, a budding Dragon Master from the Village of Dragons, and the protegé of Drayden, the legendary Dragon Master of the Opelucid City Gym!"
Praising Arceus for the tan skin that helped mask her furious blush, Iris strode out onto the battle field and took up a position on the right hand side, closest to the spectators.
"And battling with her today, also from Unova," Oak continued. "The Gym Leader of the Striaton City gym, as well as an A-class Pokemon Connoisseur, Cilan!"
Cilan looked mortified. "I'm not the only gym leader there! My two brothers and I run it together!" he whispered frantically to the others, who were grouped behind them.
"Yes, but you're the only one who's here right now, so GO!" urged Brock, giving him a little push onto the battlefield to stand beside Iris.
"And now," shouted Oak, who was clearly loving the opportunity he'd been given as MC. "The special guest of honor today, a man as famous as he is mysterious, the living legend himself, the STARHAWK!"
Everyone cheered, leaping to their feet and looking around excitedly. But there was no sign of Ebrethil anywhere. As the applause subsided, Ash looked around, confused.
"Where is he?"
The crowd was whispering together, looking around. Some had the same confused look as Ash, but some were merely looking excited. Professor Oak, Ash saw, showed neither confusion, nor excitement, only, a gentle smile of mixed anticipation and mild exasperation, as if he had expected something like this. At last, he spoke into the microphone again.
"Ahh. At last he graces us with his presence."
Right on cue, there was a tremendous call from above. All heads turned to see a shadow falling out of the sky. It was moving so fast, that no one could clearly discern what it was. It was speeding towards the ground like a bullet. Someone started to scream as the shadow came nearer and nearer, dangerously close to the ground with no sign of slowing down. It was aiming directly for the spot where Ash was standing, transfixed. May, Dawn and Misty ran for cover, while Brock, after tugging hopelessly on Ash's arm, tackled him to the ground as the shadow bore down upon them. With less than a yard between them, the shadow suddenly flared two enormous wings, and with a colossal rush of air, leveled out from a vertical dive with mere feet to spare. The wind from the sudden change in acceleration through dust and leaves everywhere, just barely missing the crowd of onlookers.
Coughing, Ash rolled over and saw a huge Pidgeot gliding swiftly in a smooth arc around the perimeter of the meadow. Ash knew that a normal Pidgeot was around 4'11' when standing on its feet, but this one looked to be nearly six feet long as it swept back towards them. It was only then that Ash realized that there was a figure resting on the back of the great bird, a figure with long golden hair and piercingly blue eyes that were at the moment, twinkling merrily as the figure let loose his joyous laughter on the world once more.
Ash stared in shock. Never mind the dangers of a near vertical dive. How on earth did they manage to level out so quickly and smoothly without Ebrethil getting thrown off? According to everything Ash thought he knew, banking out of a dive at those speeds simply wasn't possible.
Ash expected Pidgeot to land to let Ebrethil off after the show, or for Ebrethil to finish up by performing some sort of extravagant leap from midair into his corner. After this display, he doubted anything could surprise him.
Of all his various musings, only one was correct. Ebrethil did jump, performed an upside-down pirouette in mid-air...and swan-dived into the small lake beside the battlefield. There were shouts of surprise from the crowd. No one had been expecting that. After what seemed like a few minutes, but was really only a few seconds, the water began to churn and a huge twister rose out of the water high into the sky, spraying water in all directions, but again, none if it seemed to reach beyond the water's edge. As the twister receded back into the water, it revealed Ebrethil, eyes closed, kneeling upon the head of what had to be the most beautiful Milotic he'd ever seen, its tiny rainbow scales glistening with water, it's body balanced perfectly on its tail, just below the surface.
The crowd erupted into frantic cheers and Ash joined in enthusiastically. It didn't even matter that they would soon be opponents. That was a truly phenomenal entrance.
Ebrethil descended from Milotic in one fluid motion and, stroking it gently, muttered words of thanks and praise and recalled it to its pokeball. Turning to his Pidgeot, he stroked its feathers and spoke a few words to it, before it nudged him affectionately, spread it's wings, and flew off, presumably to go hunting.
Ebrethil meanwhile, walked over to the battlefield. As he neared, Ash realized with a jolt that Ebrethil's clothes were perfectly dry! It was as if the laws of physics had personally offended Ebrethil in the past, so now he was taking every opportunity to not rise above them, but publicly humiliate them in front of an audience!
The source of Ash's musings turned and acknowledged the still-cheering crowd with a casual wave of his hand and a faint smile, though Ash could tell he looked slightly wearied by the attention, and he looked visibly relieved when Prof. Oak called the crowd to order again so that the match could begin.
ooooo
"The double battle between Cilan and Iris and the Starhawk will now begin!" called Brock, who would be refereeing all matches (save his own, of course). "Each side will use 6 pokemon and the battle will be over when all of either side's pokemon are no longer able to continue. Furthermore, neither side may rotate their pokemon at any time during the battle. There will be no time limit. Trainers, release your first pokemon!"
"Alright, Excadrill, let's go!" Iris shouted, throwing up her pokeball and watching as it sprang open to reveal the powerful steel type.
"Pansage, you're up!" called out Cilan, summoning the grass monkey to his side.
Ebrethil considered them for a moment, evidently pondering, then smiled.
"Well thought out. You've teamed a Excadrill with Pansage to balance each other out. A strong defense to shield a strong offense. Very good opening strategy indeed."
He pulled two pokeballs from within the folds of his white cloak and tossed them up in a perfect arc.
There was a flash of light and two pokemon stood before Iris and Cilan. Iris's eyes hardened in concentration as she locked eyes with the fearsome red and blue dragon before her. A Salamence. She could tell from the smile on Ebrethil's face as he watched her reaction, that this was her test. An aspiring Dragon Master against a powerful dragon type. Cilan meanwhile, was craning his neck to look up into the unreadable expression of the tall read and orange pokemon before him.
"Uhh, guys," he called out, his voice uncharacteristically high. "I'm still a little rusty on my pokemon species outside of Unova. What...what exactly is that?"
"A Blaziken," May responded grimly. She'd recognized the powerful Fire/Fighting type immediately, as she had one herself.
"This is not going to be easy," Brock muttered under his breath. Ash understood what he meant. Both Blaziken and Salamence had a natural array of fire type moves and Salamence also had some Flying based moves as well, which meant that Pansage, a grass type was in serious trouble. Even if Excadrill tried to defend Pansage, physical defense wouldn't be much use, seeing as it's steel attributes made it weak against fire as well. Furthermore, there was the fact that Salamence was a Flying type, so almost none of Excadrill's ground type moves would have any chance of landing a hit. Add to that steel's additional weakness to Blaziken's Fighting-type moves...if Iris and Cilan didn't come up with something and work as a team, this first round could go very wrong very quickly.
"Begin!" Brock shouted.
"Pansage, quick! Use Rock Tomb on Salamence!" Cilan cried.
"Excadrill, use Drill Run on Blaziken!"
Excadrill snapped itself shut and shot at Blaziken, spinning it's whole body around as it did so, becoming a living drill. Blaziken glanced at its trainer who merely nodded, and turned back to the battle just in time to narrowly avoid the powerful ground-based move. Meanwhile Pansage, slammed its arms into the ground, a split second later, thick slabs of stone shot out of the ground surrounding Salamence, encasing it and pinning it on the battlefield, unable to fly away.
"Very good indeed," complimented Ebrethil again, nodding. "Trapping Salamence with a super-effective rock type move which has the added bonus effect of making him unable to fly away and take to the skies. Meanwhile distracting Blaziken with a powerful move that he'd be forced to dodge, leaving no time to counter Pansage's attack before it's too late...however...Blaziken, if you will?"
And before Cilan could do more than cry out in shock, Blaziken had sped across the field in one powerful lightning fast slide and slammed into Pansage with a powerful Blaze Kick. The force of the blow sent Pansage sprawling backwards through the air, it's body scorched from the heat. It slammed into the ground, sliding painfully through the dirt leaving a small indented trail behind it, as if it had been the crash site of a miniature UFO, finally come to rest at Cilan's feet.
"...By having Excadrill leave its position to attack, and especially because the momentum from that attack would propel Excadrill to the other side of the field, you sacrificed your defense and left yourself open," Ebrethil finished, watching Cilan with a sad smile.
"Pansage is unable to battle! The first win goes to Ebrethil!" Brock announced.
Cilan recalled Pansage in silence. Iris said nothing, neither did Ash, nor anyone else. May was staring at Blaziken in shock. She had always taken pride in the fact that she had a Blaziken. It was her first ever pokemon that she'd received from Prof. Birch as a Torchic, and remained her strongest pokemon and her partner, winning many of her hardest contest battles for her. But compared to the Blaziken who had by now resumed his position beside the tomb covering Salamence, she knew that her Blaziken was so thoroughly outclassed that it would seem almost humorous to a third-party observer.
At this thought, she through a hasty look around at her friends and knew, by the way that their gazes were flickering back and forth between her and the battlefield that they were thinking along the same lines as her. She glared at them, daring them to make a remark or joke, but Ash didn't think he'd ever been less inclined to joke in his life.
Back on the battlefield, Cilan was fumbling for his next pokeball. Ebrethil was watching him calmly, letting him take his time.
"Crustle, help me out!" he called. There was a flash, and the large rock crab appeared to face Blaziken. Ebrethil raised his eyebrows.
"You sure about that, Cilan?"
"Of course. You know as well as I do, that type matchups don't decide a battle," Cilan retorted.
"Fair enough," Ebrethil responded smoothly.
"Begin!" Brock shouted, signaling the start of the second round.
This time, on a signal from Cilan, Iris took point, evidently imputing a strategy that they'd developed before the start of the battle.
"Excadrill, Fury Swipes, Go!"
"Excaaadrill! Drill! Drill!" roared Excadrill, punctuating every cry with a slash as it hacked at Blaziken with shining white, razor-sharp claws.
"Crustle, now's our chance! Use Shell Smash!" Cilan cried.
"What's Shell Smash?" Dawn asked the group at large. Ash, who had seen that move before, answered.
"It's a move that lowers the users defense, while at the same time, raising its attack. It's sort of like the Power Trick move that Conway's Shuckle used on me during the Sinnoh league, except in that case, the Attack and Defense abilities were completely reversed...a slightly more extreme version," he added with a grimace, remembering how much trouble that move had caused him.
"Well, it certainly looks impressive," said Misty, as she watched Crustle leap out of its protective shell and generate a halo of dark red energy around its body.
"Good job!" Cilan told it, encouragingly. "Now let's charge up a Rock Wrecker!"
"Crustle!" replied Crustle in affirmative, before it focused the red energy in between it's claws, which immediately started forming into a large boulder. Meanwhile Excadrill had Blaziken backed up against the wall of the rock slabs that had encased Salamence. It was still slashing at it furiously, but even though Blaziken was pinned against the Rock Tomb with no escape, it still managed to dodge every one of Excadrill's furious attacks.
Ash knew that this had been their strategy. To force Blaziken into a corner while forcing it to remain on defense while Crustle had time to maximize its attack power and then charge up a Rock Wrecker, one of the most powerful Rock-type moves in the book. If they could time it right, Blaziken would take a lot of punishment.
Ash glanced at Ebrethil, but to his shock, Ebrethil stood still, calm as ever, watching the ensuing battle with that same small smile on his face. Why wasn't he attacking? If he didn't do anything soon, Blaziken would be hit by a super-effective move, and Blaziken was backed up against the remnants of the Rock Tomb...the Rock Tomb!
With a stab of horror, Ash realized what Ebrethil was planning just as Cilan opened his mouth to give the command.
"No, Cilan! Don't!" screamed Ash. Too late.
"Fire!" shouted Cilan.
With a grunt of effort, Crustle fired the boulder straight at the struggling pair.
"Now!" barked Ebrethil.
Then many things happened at once. Blaziken, in a burst of speed, grabbed Excadrill around the middle, crouched, and leapt high into the sky, cleanly avoiding the oncoming boulder. Meanwhile, said boulder slammed into the rocky prison with tremendous force and caused said prison to crumble into dust, releasing the dragon trapped within. It was at this point that said dragon took advantage of its freedom to fire an enormous burst of flames directly at his bug/rock-type opponent, who, most unfortunately had discarded his armored rock shell only seconds before, leaving him completely defenseless. At the same time that this was happening, Blaziken spun effortlessly in the air and, wielding the 90 pound steel type with no more effort than if it was a soccer ball, slammed into the ground to deliver a devastating seismic toss.
In order to grasp the magnitude of these events, it is important to take into account the amount of time involved. In conclusion, less than 5 seconds after Cilan had ordered his Crustle to fire the Rock Wrecker attack, both his and Iris' pokemon were defeated, and now both of Ebrethil's pokemon were once more in the match.
If the onlookers had felt shocked before, it was nothing to how they felt now.
"But...what just-" Dawn spluttered.
Ash was too stunned to speak. He had seen the trap, that they'd fallen into but he never expected the speed with which both Blaziken and Salamence reacted they knew exactly what to do, and their movements were synchronized perfectly.
"Stunfisk, help us out!" cried Cilan throwing out his third and final pokemon.
"Excadrill, you did a great job," Iris said, smiling sadly, "Time to ret-"
But to everyone's surprise, especially Blaziken's, Excadrill was not lying defeated at Blaziken's feet. In fact the only thing at Blaziken's feet was a small hole that Excadrill had dug and escaped into at the exact moment that the pair of them landed back on the battlefield.
"Excadrill?" Iris asked tentatively.
There was an explosion of earth right behind Blaziken, who turned just in time to dodge as Excadrill burst into sight above ground, facing away from everyone as it landed, so that the extent of it's injuries was unknown.
"Excadrill, are you alright?" Iris called desperately, running onto the battlefield. Ash watched anxiously, but couldn't help but notice how Ebrethil's eyes followed Iris' movements intently.
Excadrill shuddered and fell to one knee, still not facing anyone. Blaziken turned it's back on it and started walking back to its position beside Salamence. The next second however, Excadrill turned in one fluid motion and let everyone see what it was holding between it's hands...a fully charged Focus Blast!
Blaziken realized its mistake a split-second too late. Excadrill fired the energy pulse at it at point-blank range and, with an almighty crash, Blaziken smashed into a nearby tree.
"YES!"
The shout was echoed on all sides as Ash and his friends cheered, and the crowd bellowed its approval. It was the first hit that had been landed against Ebrethil's team. Surprisingly, Ebrethil seemed just as happy as any of the spectators.
"Excellent!" he shouted. "Very well done!" he looked over at Iris and smiled at her. "Your Excadrill is quite something. Few steel types could've taken Blaziken's Seismic Toss and be able to make that kind of comeback."
Blaziken, who had just finished excruciating itself from the remains of the tree that it had crashed into, looked reproachfully at its master, clearly stung that he was complimenting the enemy. Ebrethil sighed rather dramatically.
"Come on now, Blaze," this is supposed to be a friendly and education match for everyone. Blaziken huffed and muttered something in its own language.
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry!" Ebrethil sighed again. Iris started, staring at him. Could it be possible that he actually understood Blaziken's speech? Or was it just him understanding his pokemon's body language?
"Are you ok, though, Blaze?" asked Ebrethil seriously. "Are you hurt?"
Blaziken grunted a response, avoiding eye contact with its master. Ebrethil burst out laughing.
"Well in all fairness, that one WAS kind of on you!" he chortled. "My pride would be hurting too!"
Iris stared at him. It wasn't just body language. This guy, whoever he was, could actually speak to his pokemon and understand them!
As Excadrill moved to stand beside Iris, she looked down at it and smiled.
"You did great, Excadrill. Come up with that on your own, did you?" she asked happily.
"Excadrill!" replied Excadrill. Though Iris couldn't understand it's language, the self-satisfied smirk plastered on its face was enough confirmation for her. She laughed, then said,
"You ready for another bout? You still got some spirit left in you?"
"Excadrill!" it replied, turning back to face its opponents, rubbing its claws together.
Iris took that to mean 'yes' and stood back up, then looked over at Cilan.
He hadn't said a word this whole time, and she got the feeling that he was taking his two losses pretty hard.
"Cilan?" she asked hesitantly.
"You ready yet or what?" he asked her sharply. "Lets end this!"
Ok, now Iris had confirmation. Cilan was officially pissed off.
"Begin!" Brock cried out again.
"Excadrill use-" Iris began, but Cilan cut her off.
"Stunfisk, use Mud Bomb on that Blaziken!" he shouted, and this time, no one missed the tenseness in his voice. For the first time that day, Ebrethil responded immediately.
"Salamence, protect Blaziken and blow those Mud Bombs away!"
Quick as lightning, Salamence moved in front of Blaziken and whipped up a strong gust with its wings. The bomb's quickly slowed down, and, instead of stopping, reversed course back toward Stunfisk, the wind pushing them on. Stunfisk, panicking, tried to dodge, but, being a fish on land, its maneuvering capabilities were not at all suitable for situations like these, and with an explosion of mud and dirt, Stunfisk was thrown backwards as the full force of its own attack was turned against it. In addition to being a ground type, Stunfisk was also an electric type, which meant that its own ground type attacks were super effective against it. Excadrill tried to catch it, but was knocked off-balance by the gusts of wind and instead of catching Stunfisk, ran headlong into it, both of them collapsing on the ground, unconscious.
Cilan rounded on Iris.
"What's the big idea?" he shouted angrily?
"What are you talking about?" Iris retorted, starting to get angry herself.
"Excadrill tackled into Stunfisk!"
"It was trying to catch Stunfisk, Cilan!" replied Iris angrily, her own voice starting to rise.
"Oh that's right. Make up excuses for yourself! Now I'm out of the MATCH because of YOU!" Cilan spat.
"Because of me?" Iris cried, finally matching his volume at last. "What have I done wrong?"
"If Excadrill hadn't taken off at the first opportunity, Pansage would still have been defended and I'd still have a chance!" roared Cilan.
"You blame ME for that!?" Iris bellowed.
"Well, Excadrill certainly took off in a hurry and I seem to remember SOMEONE giving the orders!" Cilan then began a cruel but accurate impression of Iris yelling 'Excadrill use Drill Run on Blaziken!'
With a snarl of fury, Iris lunged at Cilan.
"ENOUGH!"
The word was shot through the air like a whip-crack, yet it carried with it such power and authority that all those in the vicinity flinched. At the same time, both Iris and Cilan were pulled off their feet and hung, struggling fruitlessly, staring up into the face of Blaziken, who had caught Cilan by the scruff of his shirt and was holding him up off the ground. Iris, who'd been caught around the middle, fought her captor for a moment before she realized who it was.
Ebrethil was walking across the battlefield, and there was no trace of a smile on his face as he looked at Cilan. Nothing was said for a very long time, until in fact, Cilan had calmed down enough to look Ebrethil in the eye.
"I'm disappointed in you, Cilan," Ebrethil said finally. "I expected a little more self-control and maturity from a gym leader, not to mention an A-class Connoisseur."
Cilan looked ready to hit Ebrethil, but suddenly, all the fight seemed to leave him and his entire body drooped. Ebrethil nodded at Blaziken, who lowered Cilan, not unkindly, to the ground. Ebrethil knelt down before him and looked at him carefully, as if trying to read him. Finally, he seemed to find what he was looking for.
"Cilan?" his voice was much gentler now.
"Yes sir"
"This was your first tag battle, wasn't it?"
"No sir"
"Let me rephrase. This was your first tag battle with someone who wasn't your brothers."
No response.
"Cilan?"
"...yes sir."
Ebrethil rose to his feet, looking suddenly weary.
"Cilan, you and I are going to have a talk somewhere in private, ok?"
"Yes sir."
Ebrethil turned and motioned to Prof. Oak to come over. The Prof, who had been standing nervously to one side, came forward.
"Samuel, could you please tell the crowd that, we will take a short break from the match and resume in say...15 minutes?"
"Of course," replied the Prof. "What reason should I give?"
Ebrethil thought for a moment, then replied. "I understand that in most league matches, when three of either trainer's pokemon have been eliminated, a break is called...i think that applies here," he finished with the smallest of smiles.
"Of course," the professor agreed. "Take all the time you need."
"Iris, is that ok with you?" asked Ebrethil, turning toward her.
"Of course, sir," Iris responded quickly. "I understand. I could use a break myself."
"Thank you," said Ebrethil. "Come on, Cilan, I know a place nearby where we can talk."
"Yes sir." was the only reply any of them heard.
oooooooooooo
Ok. That's it for this chapter. I'd meant to finish the first battle, but the story started writing itself so to speak and I thought i should split it into two chapters. I'll have the conclusion to this match posted by Friday...oh i guess that's tomorrow. (didn't realize it was 3 AM here hehehe)
In case any of you picked up on it, I'm not all that fond of Cilan. At this point, his character's more of a plot hindrance to the story than anything else, so yes, i did finish him off quickly. But don't worry. He'll be back. I'm sorry if I upset any Cilan fans, but, when it comes down to it...I'd choose Brock any day of the year! :) Now...
COUPLE QUESTIONS FOR EVERYONE:
-Do people prefer longer or shorter chapters? I'm can work with either format, but you guys are the one's reading/reviewing, so...long or short, please let me know (with a review :) )
ALSO
-I'm starting to have the urge to throw some VERY minor profanity into the battles 'oh damn!', 'go kick his ass'. Things of that nature. However, I want to antagonize you guys on the third chapter into my first ever published story. lol. so let me know if you'd prefer i keep it watered down. I'll be perfectly happy to if that's the case. Let me know your views (with a review! :) )
AND LASTLY
-I'm still putting together Ash's team for the final showdown. There are a few slots left for me to fill in his roster, so please shoot out some ideas. I thought I covered this plot point in chapter 1, but if not I'll repeat. Ash has all of his pokemon in 1 place, including Unova region. The only pokemon he doesn't have access to are Pidgeot, Primeape, and Lapras. All others are legit choices. I'm open to anything right about now.
So let me know on all counts (WITH A REVIEW :D)
Until next time...