Chapter 4: The Cheating Champ!

"And now… for the moment we've all been waiting for! The Champion Battle!" the announcer said as the crowd cheered. "Now… let's go down to the arena and see what these two pokemon trainers are thinking about!"

The announcer appeared from his VIP box at the top of the stadium and made his way through the crowd. When he finally made it into the ring he approached one of the pokemon trainers, Hiro.

"So Hiro, what's going through your head right now?" the announcer asked, putting the mike in front of Hiro's face.

"Well… kinda nervous I guess…" Hiro said, hesitantly into the mike.

"Well, let's hope that your nervousness doesn't get the best of you!" the announcer than quickly to the other side of the arena. He approached the other trainer, fixed his purple suit and said, "Now, for the trainer we've all been waiting for, the terrifying, the powerful, the invincible Jake!" the crowd began to cheer so loudly that the entire stadium shook. "Any words for your opponent, Jake?"

"Yeah," he said into the mike, "you better watch out Hiro! 'Cause today, you're going down!"

"Well then, let the battle begin!" the announcer cried as he fled the arena and back into the safety of the VIP box.

"Ugh… I swear, these announcers are getting more and more cowardly! In my day.-"

"Quiet! The match is starting!" Mary said, interrupting Johnson.

"You can keep on acting like you know that Hiro's going to win, but deep down, I know your as worried as I am. You know you would never want to disappoint him with this bet of your, but… a deal's a deal, that one way to sum up or marriage." Mary thought.

"Alright! Let's do this! Come on out Larvitar!" Hiro then opened his backpack revealing a rested and ready Larvitar.

"Larv!" it cried, ready for battle.

Jake then began to laugh, but at the same time, kept his cool. "You think that your little Larvitar can beat me? You're stupider then I thought! This is a real pokemon!" Jake then grabbed a pokeball from his belt and threw into the center of the arena. In a flash of light, a colossal Onix appeared.

"ROAR!" the Onix let out a screaming roar.

"Hey wait a minute!" said the announcer into the mike, "that's not a pokemon he's used before! He's changed his sets! By decree of the Pokemon Trainers Guild, you are-"

Suddenly Onix smashed its head into the VIP box, sending the announcer flying and eventually landing in the stands.

"Now then, back to business." Jake said with a smile on his face.

"I won't let you get away with this!" Hior said, "I'll beat no matter what pokmon you use! Larvitar, use Take Down!" cired Hiro.

Larvitar started to run toward its opponent and jumped, hitting Onix in the face. Throwing dust and sending pebbles flying.

"All right! Take that!" Hiro said giving his Larvitar a thumbs up who, in turn, also did. But their celebration was cut short when the dust cleared, revealing a completely unharmed Onix.

"Ha Ha! You think that you could beat my Onix so easily? You can do whatever you want to it, but you won't make a dent!" Jake said, laughing.

" Oh yeah? Larvitar keep using Take Down!" Hiro said to his pokemon. Larvitar then began to charge at Onix and hit it right in the head, even though it did nothing to Onix, Larvitar continued its assault.

"We've go to do something! He can't cheat like that!" Mary said, turning to the dazed announcer beside her.

"I'm sorry lady, but we can't do anything! No one's allowed to use pokemon in the stadium unless they're a contestant! It's the only way to prevent riots!"

"You mean, no one in here has a pokemon?"

"You want proof? Ask the guy sitting next to you!"

"Johnson," Mary said, turning to her husband, "Can't you do anything?" Johnson did nothing, but watch the fight, he was oblivious to everything around him.

As the fight continued on, Larvitar began to tire, soon its charges became slower and it began to breathe hard.

Jake began to laugh again. "Ha! This is quite amusing; in fact, you've provided so much entertainment for me, how about I let you switch pokemon? I want to see how you handle this!"

"Alright, I will!" Hiro said. He then returned Larvitar to its pokeball and reached for his pocket. "What should I choose?" he thought, "Electrike can't fight a rock type and Mankey doesn't know any fighting moves…" Hiro the made his decision and threw a pokeball into the center of the arena. In a flash of light, his Mankey apperared.

"Do you think I'm dumb?" Jake said, "I know that your Mankey doesn't know any fighting moves! I hope you're not trying to trick me, because it's not working."

"Oh it is…" Hiro said, smiling, "Alright Mankey, just stand still and let him strike first." Mankey then raised its arms into a defensive position.

"So, switching plays, eh? Well then, I will too! Onix, use Take Down!" Jake said, as his Onix began to charge at Mankey.

Onix began to gain speed, crashing into Mankey, sending it flying into the air.

"Mankey, cling onto the wall!" Horo said to his pokemon. Mankey obeyed and grabbed onto the wall. Though it was able to avoid most of Take Down's damage by landing on the wall, it still felt the force of the attack, creating a small crater in the wall where its legs hit the wall.

"Ok Onix, end this! Tackle!" Jake cried to his pokemon. Onix obeyed and leaped at the wall.

""Jump!" Hiro yelled to Mankey. Mankye jumped off the wall, dodging Onix's Tackle. "Alright Mankey, just like we practiced in the woods!" Mankey looked at Hiro in mid-air, nodded, and landed on Onix's back, whose head was now imbedded into the wall. Mankey began sliding down Onix's long back when Hiro cried, "Hit it's weak points! Smash those joints!"

Mankey began to punch the joints between each of Onix's boulder like make up. As Mankey did this, a woman carrying groceries looked at the stadium, to discover the head of an Onix sticking out. She looked at the Onix for a moment and fainted.

When Mankey hit all of Onix's joints, it leaped off Onix and landed in the center of the arena. Onix was finally able to get its head out, tearing a huge part of the wall off.

"Enough games, Onix Tackle attack!" Jake yelled to his pokemon. Onix then charged at Mankey, ready to strike the finishing blow.

"Now! Use Tackle!" Hiro cried. Mankye then charged at the Onix, and slammed right in between its eyes. Suddenly, Onix fell apart, its boulder like body parts seperated, flying all over the arena.

"Impossible! There's no way you could have defeated Onix!" Jake yelled.

"Well, it's a good thing you didn't tell us!" Hiro said, giving Mankey a high five.

"Well, I've got more where that came from!" Jake returned Onix and threw another pokeball, when it hit the arena floor, in a flash of light, a Swalot appeared.

"Oh no!" Mary cried, "Hiro can't beat a Swalot! He doesn't know what its capable of!"

"You're wrong."

"What?"

"I said you're wrong." Johnson repeated, "Hiro's at the top of his game now, there's no way he'll lose to that Swalot, I'll bet he'll beat that pokmeon hands down!"

"I hope you're right…." Mary said, with a worried look on her face.

"Return, Mankey. Go Electrike!" Hiro said, releasing his Electrike.

"Bring it on, then." Jake said, making sure not to underestimate Hiro. "Swalot, use Sludge attack!" Swalot then spit a glob of poisonous sludge at Electrike, but it was easily dodged. "Now, use Smoke Screen!" Jake cried. Swalot then released a cloud of gas that engulfed the entire stadium.

"Ha, now there's no way he can dodge Swalot's Spit Up attack." Jake thought. "Now, Swalot, use Spit Up!" he cried to Swalot. Swalot leaped into the air and spit a ball of energy at its opponent.

The attack caused a giant explosion. When the dust and the smoke cleared, all that remained was a huge crater, but no Electrike.

"What? Where'd it go?!" Jake yelled.

"Oh please, do you honestly think that I'd fall for that? Now, Electrike, use Dig!" Electrike then burst from the ground hitting Swalot straight in the chest.

"Swaaaaaaa!" cried Swalot as it went flying, eventually hitting the ground. The crowd cheered as Jake returned his Swalot. Hiro then began to celebrate with Electrike.

"Celebrate all you can now, because you're about to meet your match!" Jake cried, "Go, Hariyama!" in a flash, a large and bulky Hariyama appeared.

"Hari" it yelled as it immediately attacked Electrike, knocking it out in just one hit.

"No!" Cried Hiro as he rushed to his pokemon's side, "Return, Electrike, you did a good job. Now, go Mankey!" Hiro returned his Electrike and sent out his Mankey, but it too was knocked out in one hit.

"Go, Larvitar!" Hiro yelled.

"Larv!" Larvitar cried happily.

Quickly, Hariyama punched Larvitar, sending it flying.

"Ha! I told you, you were no match for the great Jake!" Jake said, triumphantly.

Then, Hariyama was sent flying. "What?!" Jake cried.

Larvitar quickly attacked Hariyama with another Take Down, but Hariyama was ready, punching Larvitar, sending it into the hands of Hiro.

"Now, finish it!" Jake cried.

Hiro and Larvitar screamed as Hariyama charged toward them.

"That's enough!" yelled a voice from the stands.

"What?" Both Jake and Hariyama turned, to see a giant Steelix looming over them.

"Dad?!" Hiro said looking at the trainer beside the Steelix, his father.

"This has gone long enough, cheating is one thing, but attacking a trainer and his pokemon is too much!

"Ha! You think you can beat me, even when your own kid can't? You're dumb old man! Hariyama, use-" Steelix interrupted Jake and slammed its tail on top of Hariyama, crushing it.

"You think I'm as dumb and old as you say I am now?" Johnson said, smiling. Jake said nothing, he and his slightly pancake–a-fied Hariyama ran for the hills.

"So, are you going to call it?" Johnson said to the announcer.

"Huh! Oh, right… and the winner of this year's tournament is Hiro Silver!"

"I won… I mean… we won?" Hiro said to his Larvitar.

"Larv!!" it cried happily.

Johnson helped Hiro up, "Yes… you… and your pokemon, won."