Today, we get to read about a battle. Whoopee! Originality! Ah, well. It's a tried-and-true method, I guess. ^-^ By the way, if you are reading this, thank you! Really, this story got stuffed so far down into the Pokemon Fanfiction Archive, it wasn't even funny. Also, please review. I really like to hear reviews about how I can make the story better. Also it makes me think that people are reading it. Okay, read away and enjoy!

Chapter 3: Battling in the Rain (Well, Not Really)

"Okay, so what's this I hear about a giant mountain?" asked Craig.

"I told you, Cloam City is built inside a mountain. Mount Squall, to be precise. It's named because of all the weather the summit gets. Lightning, hail, typhoons, exploding fish encased in ice, you name it, they've probably got it." Jeff explained. Jeff and Craig were currently on Route 903. They had left the forests of Route 902 behind and were now experiencing the joys of pouring rain. Squirtle was loving it, but Eelava had been recalled for safekeeping. Too much water of any kind wasn't good for Fire-types.

"As long as it's indoors, I'm happy. Jeez, are we there yet?" Craig whined, shielding the top of his head with his arms.

"You should be able to tell. I mean, really, it's not raining that hard. No, we aren't there yet."

"How about now?"

"Um, no."

"Now?"

"Okay, now you're just screwing with me, aren't you?"

"For the most part, yes."

Squirtle, to the best of Jeff's knowledge, was dancing along behind them, singing the tune of 'Singing in the Rain' off-key.

In order to drown out his awful wailing, Jeff decided to reveal some folklore about the mountains. "Supposedly, the Legendary pokémon Maelstrogue is sealed near the summit, in order to keep his weather powers in check. Two of the other three mountains, Mount Crenel and Mount Nautica, are also supposed to have his brothers sealed in them, Firogue and Hydrogue respectively."

"Then who's Mount Craggy got, then?" Craig asked.

"I don't know. Personally, I don't think there's even any pokémon sealed in there. Hey, who's that?" Jeff pointed up ahead. A young man stood next to a shack, waving to them. He looked about their age, so they went over to him.

"Why are you standing out here in the rain, man?" Craig asked the boy.

"I'm waiting for Trainers to come by so I can battle with them," the boy said. He pointed at Squirtle. "Obviously, at least one of you is a Trainer."

"Yeah, we're both Trainers," said Jeff.

The boy smiled and grabbed a pokéball from his belt. He gestured to the shack. "Then would you like to come inside and battle?"

Jeff and Craig exchanged a look. This would only take about ten minutes, and they had loads of time before the sun went down. They could do this and get to Cloam City before nightfall. All that was left was to decide which of them battled this kid. So, naturally, they brought out the good old rock-paper-scissors.

"Rock paper scissors!" they two boys said, shaking their fists. Jeff drew scissors, but Craig drew rock. "Ahaha," Craig laughed a pseudo-evil laugh. "I get to battle you."

"Okay, then," the boy said. "I'm Bernard. You?"

"I'm Craig, and he's Jeff," Craig said, entering the shack. Jeff followed, and lastly Bernard entered and shut the door. Jeff suddenly realized how wet he was, and shook all over like a dog.

A few raps were heard on the door. Jeff opened it to see Squirtle glaring at him. "Oh, sorry," Jeff said. Squirtle said nothing and walked into the shack.

The shack was a relatively small thing, with a chalk arena on the floor and a window pointing into the forest. Jeff could see a Starly flitting about in the forest outside. It came over and sat on the outdoor windowsill, seemingly interested in the upcoming battle.

"How many pokémon do you have?" asked Bernard, walking to the far end of the room.

"Two," replied Craig, standing at his end of the pre-drawn arena. "Hey, Jeff, could you act as referee?"

"Sure. By the way, Bernard," said Jeff. "How'd you get this shack? Did you build it or what?"

Bernard shook his head. "I found this old deserted thing, and I figured I'd use it for training my pokémon against anyone who came along."

"Okay then. Trainers ready pokéballs!" Jeff shouted, like the refs on TV. Craig and Bernard maximized their first pokéball. "Go!" he shouted, and the competitors threw their pokéballs into the chalk arena.

Craig's ball exploded into Eelava, who spun on the spot and cried his name. Meanwhile, across the field, Bernard's ball became a tiny blue seahorse with a long snout, a curled tail, and a single fin on its back. It was levitating above the ground, just like Eelava.

Horsea? thought Jeff. Uh-oh. Craig's pokémon are both weak to Water. That's not a good thing for him. Apparently, Craig was thinking something of the same thing, as he visibly gulped.

"Eelava, Tackle!" shouted Craig. He was trying to get the preemptive strike, possibly eliminate the opponent before he could get an attack in. Unfortunately, Horsea swiftly swerved left, leaving Eelava wide open to an attack.

"Horsea, Bubble!" Bernard pointed forcefully. Horsea bunched up its snout, like it was taking in a breath, then sprayed a mouthful of bubbles at Eelava. It looked almost identical to Squirtle's version. The bubbles struck Eelava square in the face, dazing him and threatening to knock him out with the first blow. Eelava managed to snap out of it and squirm away from Horsea before he could deliver another strike.

"Eelava, Tackle again!" commanded Craig. Even though it failed the first time, he was trying it again. Eelava rushed Horsea again, but there wasn't as much force behind it; Eelava was too weak. Luckily, he actually hit Horsea, right in the chest. Unluckily, it set him up for another Bubble. Eelava wormed away as fast as he could, but it wasn't enough. Without a command from Bernard, Horsea spewed bubbles again. Eelava heard them coming this time, and flopped to the ground, on his side. Jeff snapped his fingers. Right! When Eelava's on the floor like that, he's only an inch tall! The bubbles just pass over him! And pass they did. Eelava got up again, and after shaking his head, shot back again to hit Horsea.

"Dodge it, Horsea!" shouted Bernard. Horsea tried to oblige, but Eelava was too fast. Luckily for Bernard, the attack didn't knock Horsea out, just send him spinning back a foot. He countered with some bubbles, and these bubble actually met their mark. Eelava was knocked over, but he managed to stand up wearily.

"Enough with the Bubbles, already!" shouted Craig angrily.

"Sorry," said Bernard. "It's the only offensive move he knows." Horsea gave Craig an indignant look. "Look, just for a change, I'll use Smokescreen!" Horsea quickly obeyed the order, spewing a cloud of pitch-black smoke over the field. No one could see a thing, even Horsea, making the move rather kamikaze.

Inside the cloud of smoke, Jeff heard the sound of a few bubbles popping, then immediately after, a cry of pain. Beside him, Squirtle raised his eyebrows. "Hey, was that the sound of Eelava getting his butt handed to him?"

"Maybe," said Jeff. "It's hard to tell with all this smoke. I can't make the loss official until I can see it."

A grunt of pain was heard. Then, more popping bubbles, and another cry of pain.

"Hey!" shouted Craig. "Eelava's probably fainted in there, or close to it! Stop hitting a man when he's down!"

"You're taking this well," said Jeff.

"What?"

"It's your first loss, but there's no tears, no tantrums, nothing."

"Well, duh. I'm fourteen. I'm more mature than that."

"Then what do you call it when your team lost in basketball last week? Washing your eyes?"

"Shut up."

The smoke was beginning to clear, or so Jeff thought. As more of it dissipated, though he could see that it was actually Horsea sucking up the smoke. "He needs to remove the smoke himself or he can't use it again for a week," explained Bernard. "He's not very good at using that move yet."

"Apparently," muttered Craig. After the smoke was all cleared, there stood Horsea, standing over Eelava. He didn't move.

Jeff suddenly remembered who was acting as referee. "Eelava is unable to battle! Horsea wins!"

"Dammit," murmured Craig. He recalled Eelava and took out his other pokéball. He looked at it sadly, like he was seeing an old friend off to war. The he tossed it into the arena, shouting, "Go, Cubone!"

The ball popped open, and out came a small, almost mole-like pokémon with a skull on its head and a femur bone in his right hand. He looked up at his opponent and shrieked in terror.

It was almost humorous, this little timid pokémon with this god-awful noise coming out of its mouth. If it weren't so sad and pathetic. The little guy then hunkered down, wrapped his arms around his head, and began to cry. The crying made its skull rattle, adding to the noise.

Horsea looked at his Trainer, not quite sure what to do. His opponent was crying! That hadn't happened before. Even Craig didn't know what to do. He squatted down and looked at Cubone on his eye level. "Um, hello?" he asked cautiously.

"GO AWAY!" the Lonely Pokémon squealed.

"Um...what?" asked Craig to Jeff.

"He wants you to go away," Jeff explained.

"But why?"

"YOU TOOK ME AWAY FROM MY CLAN! YOU'RE EVIL! I HATE YOU! I WISH YOU WOULD DIE! GO AWAY!"

"He hates you for taking him away and, um...wishes you would die."

Craig scratched his head. "Well, that's a lousy first impression. Listen, Cubone, I'm not going to hurt you. If you don't want to fight, that's fine. I'll release you and you can go home."

It reminded Jeff a lot of the conversation he'd had with Houndour. Deja vu all over again, he thought.

Cubone looked up at Craig. "Um, actually, I think I'll stay here with you a while, see how things go."

Craig stared at him. "Are you, like, bipolar or something?"

Jeff raised his eyebrows. "You're getting better at translating pokémon speech."

"Yeah, but I still think he said 'Actually, I think I'll PANCAKES with you a while, see how WAFFLES."

"Okay, now it's just your obsession with breakfast cakes."

Cubone shrugged. "Well, now I've thought it over, and the best way for me to make new friends is to go with a Trainer. We Cubone, we're the Lonely pokémon, so we don't have very many friends. Even in our own clans, we normally just fend for ourselves. Also, practically all pokémon get caught sooner or later, so if you've caught me, I guess I have to be alright with that.

Jeff nodded. "Most pokémon are caught against their will, like this guy. However, for some, it's their dream to travel with a Trainer. I...guess this guy is both."

"But, 'To go with a popcorn?' That doesn't make sense."

"He said Trainer, not popcorn."

"Oh. Well, in any case, if at any time you don't want to go along with me anymore, just say so." Craig stood up. "So, then, what moves do you know?"

"Uh, Tail Whip and Growl," Cubone said, nodding.

Craig stared dumbly at Cubone. "You've got to be kidding me."

"What?" Cubone asked.

Craig smacked himself in the face. "Seriously?" he shouted. "You don't even know an attack like, you know, Tackle or Bone Club or something? The simple ones? They're so easy! Tackle, you just ram into the guy, and Bone Club, you hit them with the bone! Simple!"

Cubone looked thoughtful, or as thoughtful as one could look behind that mask. "I guess I never really thought about it. In our clans, most of the enemies we have are just weak Zubat, so a Growl is enough to scare them away. We don't have to fight."

"Brilliant," said Craig. "My only hope is a youngster who doesn't even know how to attack." Cubone looked like he was about to cry again, so Craig quickly said, "I didn't really mean that like an insult or anything."

"I...I'll just try and improvise or something," said Cubone. "Sorry."

"If you're done," interjected Bernard. "Horsea and I are ready to fight." Horsea picked himself up from where he was resting and nodded vigorously.

Craig sighed. "Okay, then, Cubone, try a Tail Whip."

Cubone dropped to all fours and stuck his tail in the air. He began wiggling it back and forth, catching Horsea's attention. Horsea followed every movement like he was being hypnotized.

"Horsea, snap out of it!" shouted Bernard. Horsea blinked twice and shook his head. "Good. Now Bubble!" Horsea spat some more blue bubbles at Cubone who yelped in surprise and hunkered down into a defensive position. Surprisingly, the bubbles struck the helmet he wore, dealing him minimal damage.

"Um...Improvise!" shouted Craig. Cubone rushed at his opponent, flailing wildly with his bone club. His eyes were squeezed shut. He bashed into Horsea at full speed, continuing to wildly swing his club back and forth with all the might he could muster. After Horsea finally pulled away, he looked quite worse for wear. Cubone, on the other hand, seemed amazed that he'd done that damage himself. Craig seemed surprised too, but then he smiled.

"Do that again!" he called, and Cubone charged forward again, thrashing wildly into Horsea.

Thrash, thought Jeff. That's it! Cubone's probably using Thrash! The pokémon that uses the move just randomly smashes random parts of their body into the opponent! Cubone's subconsciously learned it! I guess Craig must be a better Trainer than I thought. Most Cubone don't learn Thrash until much later in their training. Then Jeff remembered something else about the move. After using it three times, the user becomes so tired that it begins to hallucinate, what we call a state of Confusion. If Craig doesn't realize what Cubone's doing, he could be in trouble...

Horsea was definitely getting pummelled. He couldn't move, let alone get a move in edgewise, with this continuous stream of attacks pouring in on him. Bernard was calling commands, but Horsea didn't have the time to act on them.

With a final blow from Cubone's club, Horsea fell to the ground, clearly out of it. "Horsea is unable to battle. Cubone is the winner!" Jeff commentated, gesturing to each pokémon in turn. Cubone did a happy dance, and Craig pumped his fist.

Bernard, on the other hand, frowned. Obviously, when he had seen Cubone pop out, he'd been expecting an easy win. However, Craig was putting up much more of a fight than he'd thought he would. He unhooked his second pokéball and maximized it.

"Go, Pupoisn!" he shouted, throwing his ball into the arena. It opened up in a flash of white to reveal a small purple puppy, cute as a button, with pink pads on his paws, a short jagged tail, and small, pink triangles on its ears, which were rather rounded and perched, alert and ready, on top of its head. This was another Tryotho region specific.

Jeff got out his Pokédex to check out the data on Pupoisn. Hey, he had it, why not use it? The Pokédex beeped twice before reading the data in a somewhat metallic, female voice. "Pupoisn," it began. "The Toxic Puppy pokémon. Pupoisn live in packs, with their pack leader being a Mutoxin, their evolved form. Pupoisn are cute, but dangerous in battle." Jeff shut off the Pokédex, shoved it in his pocket, and returned his gaze to the battle at hand.

Bernard wasted no time in giving the newcomer his first command. "Pupoisn, use Scratch!" The Toxic Puppy bounded forward, tongue lolling out of its mouth to one side. Its bright eyes indicated that it was happy to be there. Cubone jumped backward as it neared him, but Pupoisn slashed forward with his claws, catching Cubone on the arm. Luckily, the scratch wasn't deep, and Cubone wasn't badly hurt.

"Improvise!" shouted Craig. Cubone leaped forward, catching Pupoisn by surprise. Cubone knocked into it and brought it to the ground. He then began to wail away on it with every fibre of his being. Pupoisn managed not to get any direct blows to the face, but its body was being solidly thrashed. Literally.

Pupoisn managed to curl in his legs, then kick Cubone in the stomach, driving the air out of him. As he tried to regain it, Pupoisn slipped out from under him. Cubone stumbled backward, taking deep, gasping breaths, then regained his composure, swaying a bit.

That's the third time, thought Jeff. Cubone's probably in a state of Confusion right now. This isn't good for Craig...

"Tail Whip!" Bernard shouted. Pupoisn stuck his frizzy tail up high, presenting Bernard with a lovely view of his butt, and wagged it.

"Don't look, Cubone!" Craig averted his eyes, although Jeff didn't know why. Cubone seemed to be looking everywhere but at Pupoisn's tail. After a few seconds of this, Pupoisn realised it wasn't working, and looked at Bernard for new commands.

"Scratch him instead, then." Bernard said, and Pupoisn happily obliged. It leaped at Cubone, ready to swipe, but when it did so, Cubone wasn't there. He was on the floor, looking dazed. Pupoisn scratched there, but Cubone stood up, clearly not all there, and it missed again.

"Nice dodging, Cubone!" shouted Craig. "Now hit him with that again!" Cubone stepped forward to follow the command, but then suddenly took a left and started walking that way. Seemingly convinced that his opponent was the wall, he raised his club and ran headlong into it. He bounced off, still looking dazed.

"What's wrong, Cubone?" Craig asked nervously.

"I don't know," said Cubone. "I could swear he was right there, where I hit the wall..."

"Are you hallucinating? He's over there, in the middle of the arena!" Craig pointed. "And what's with you saying toilet every few words?"

"I didn't," said Cubone, right before he was scratched in the back. The attack surprised him, knocking him forward a couple steps. He whirled around to look at Pupoisn, the began hitting him with all the might he could muster. Sadly, Pupoisn had jumped back a few steps and Cubone was attacking empty air.

"Cubone!" Craig shouted. Cubone shook his head and looked around, blinking wildly. His confusion was over. "He's over there!" Craig pointed at Pupoisn again, and Cubone charged him. Pupoisn's happy-go-lucky features quickly dropped off his face, and he turned tail and fled. The two ran around the field for a good minute before Cubone caught up with him. He hooked his club under Pupoisn's back legs, tripping him. He then proceeded to thrash him with the rest of his remaining power. As he finished, he slumped backward, resting on his club, all strength spent. Pupoisn, on the other hand, seemed too scared to get up, not unconscious. As long as he was lying on the ground, though, Jeff had to begin the count. So he did.

"One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven! Eight!" Pupoisn still didn't stand up, although he looked as though he could still run for a few miles before falling down. Maybe he just didn't want to get subjected to Thrash anymore. In any case... "Nine! Ten! Pupoisn is unable to battle! Cubone is the winner! The match goes to Craig!"

Cubone said nothing, but Jeff got the feeling that under his mask, he was smiling. Craig did a victory dance, which involved moon-walking and fist-pumping, over to him, then recalled him. Bernard recalled his own pokémon, then walked over to Craig and extended his hand. "Nice match. I hope that we can battle again someday when our pokémon have each gotten stronger."

"Same," said Craig. He shook the hand and smiled.

Bernard looked out the window. "Ah, perfect. The rain has stopped. Er, before you go, please use this." He reached into his bag and pulled out a portable Auto-Reco machine. As the name suggested, it was an Auto-Reco machine that a Trainer could take with them. It ran on batteries, which became power, which re-energized the pokémon inside the pokéballs placed in it. Craig placed his in it, and so did Bernard. Then he pressed the start button, the machine whirred, then dinged, and they removed their pokémon. "Alright," said Bernard. "I hope to see you later."

"Same," said Craig, and he and Jeff left, Squirtle silently trailing behind them.

...

As the trio left, the Starly that had been sitting on the windowsill since the beginning of the battle flew away. As he did so, he thought to himself, So, Jeff Grayson has a powerful ally in Craig. That's a very good thing. He'll need all the firepower he can muster when the Elder's Day comes.

He flew upward, straight upward, for a moment, before his body began to waver, like a faulty television image, then winked out of this realm entirely.