Independence Day Chapter Four: When enough is enough
A Pokémon Fan-Fiction
By Hoenn Master
"Remember man, thou art but dust; and to dust thou shalt return."- The ceremonial words used when receiving the ashes at the Ash Wednesday ceremony. (Catholic)
"Go! Tranquill!" Cliff shouted, lobbing a plain red and silver Unovian Pokéball over the center of the runway field, releasing a somewhat small drab grey and black headed bird, grinning smugly the whole while. As bewildered as Skyla was with Cliff's one eighty from his usual personality, she could easily tell that the older brunette was sorely outclassed, and that he would easily lose to Brown in mere moments.
Brown simply looked at his opponent's Pokémon, clearly unimpressed with the leering Flying type opponent. Nonchalantly removing a Pokéball from his sword belt, Richard enlarged it, and deftly pitched the capsule high into the air, releasing a tall, red, and extremely fierce looking… Bird? It stood on two legs, and it had scaled arms, but its body was covered in thick down with white-feathered protrusions growing out of the back of its head, and it had a beak. It was, hands down, one of the strangest Pokémon she had ever seen.
What had been disconcerting about Brown's actions, however, was the simple fact that he never took his eyes off of Cliff, or his Tranquill, giving them a strange look of… Pity? Skyla couldn't tell for sure, but what she did know, was that Cliff would be beating a hasty retreat as soon as he ordered an attack.
"I believe you should have the advantage of the first move, Mister Cliff, you shall certainly need it," Brown scoffed boldly, smirking at the incensed Gym Trainer all the while.
This comment, above all, seemed to push Cliff over the edge of his threshold of control, as he quickly barked an order his Pokémon, "Fine then, kid! Tranquill, use Sky Drop and end this quickly!"
Skyla watched in rapt attention as Cliff's Pokémon took to the skies, while Brown's Pokémon simply scoffed, crossed his arms, and waited for the highly dangerous attack to bear down upon him, tapping his foot on the ground to emphasize his impatience for the battle to commence. Suddenly, Tranquill dive bombed Brown's Pokémon and incredible speed, wind whistling over the Flying type's wings, and targeting its opponent's shoulders, ready to grab it and carry it into the sky and subsequently drop it from great heights. However, Brown's Pokémon clearly had other plans. Waiting until the last possible moment, Brown's Pokémon did one of the most astounding thins Skyla had ever seen in her time as a trainer: it plucked the diving Pokémon out of the air, inches from his target, and casually used the accumulated momentum to slam the unfortunate avian into the grass with a wet, bone crushing thud.
It wasn't a pretty sight. The Tranquill lay there, clearly unconscious, and would be in quite a lot of pain if the size of the crater he left was any indication of the forces that he had endured.
Skyla gasped in awe at the sheer force of the strange Pokémon's throw; the last time she had seen so much power in an attack, had been when the latest winner of the Unova League had gone up against a member of the Elite Four, and that had been over three years ago!
"Woah… Th- The winner is Richard, and his Pokémon," Todd said shakily, putting the arm closest to Brown in the air, signifying his victory over Cliff.
"Bah, he was weaker than I thought… We should have gone easier on him, Blaziken," Brown muttered calmly, turning his attention to the now empty crater that Tranquill had left behind. "I'm sorry about that, Cliff; next time, Blaziken and I will fight with less power than that, and you will actually get to see one of my partner's techniques in action," Brown continued, rolling his shoulders and getting comfortable, while Blaziken jabbed his fists in extremely rapid succession.
"I still have another Pokémon, Richard! Don't count me out just yet!" Cliff called desperately, sweating profusely at this point, and shaking from head to toe: Presumably from shock at the unexpected power of Richard's Blaziken, and the stress that losing a Pokémon so quickly in a battle causes.
"What? You wish to continue? …Very well, it is your Pokémon at risk, Cliff, not mine," Brown said, somewhat taken aback at Cliff's stubborn attitude, but nonetheless willing to continue the 'battle'.
"As if it could be called a battle," Skyla muttered tersely, looking on at the now continued battle between her friend, and this stranger that seemed to be far more than he appeared… And, truth be told, Brown was somewhat terrifying to behold.
"Okay, here's the last match between Richard and Cliff. Begin!" Todd shouted, moving rapidly out of the way of any errant attacks; if Blaziken was that strong without even trying, Todd could only shudder inwardly at the strength of Richard's fearsome Pokémon at full power.
"Go! Tranquill!" Cliff shouted again, this time, with no small amount of trepidation leaking into his voice, and ruining the effect.
"I believe I shall take the first move this time, Cliff; what say you?" Brown said nonchalantly, eyes panning over to the tense Gym Trainer, looking for a response in his murky brown eyes.
"V-Very well then, Richard," Cliff strained, clearing his throat in the middle of the first word in an effort to make himself better heard.
"Excellent," Brown returned politely, before shouting out unexpectedly, "Blaziken! Rock Slide, now!"
"Wait, what? NO!" Cliff shouted at the top of his lungs, just as Blaziken stomped the ground, causing a number of boulders to rise from the hardpan beneath the surface of the earth, and rapidly kicked the super effective boulders directly at the shocked bird Pokémon before him.
It was over in a little more than a second: Cliff's bird laid helplessly beneath a pile of large boulders twice his size, cawing softly in defeat and exhaustion. Before Todd could do more than say that the battle was over, Blaziken and Brown bounded over to the pitiful bird, and proceeded to lift the lodestones off of the poor creature, and permitting Cliff to recall it to the safety of the Pokéball's medical stasis. Cliff stood in mild shock for a few moments, clearly taken completely off guard against Brown's assault.
"Is your Pokémon okay, Cliff? I told Blaziken to relax a bit, and judging by the fact that your Pokémon is not dead, I can only be grateful he heeded my request," Brown said comfortingly, walking up to Cliff, resting a hand on the older man's shoulder, voice losing all of its earlier rage and malice, and returning to his usual smooth speech.
Cliff simply scoffed and turned his head and muttered something that Skyla didn't hear as she headed over to the combatants in the middle of the field. By the time Skyla reached Brown's location, Cliff had stalked off to the hanger to do who-knows what, and Brown was staring off into space idly, his still released Blaziken mimicking his trainer's action.
"That was amazing, Richard!" Todd burst in, clapping Brown on the back, shaking his hand vigorously all the while.
"Err, thank you, but the credit should go to Blaziken, he's the one who performed the physical aspect of the battle, after all," Brown murmured humbly, looking down at his boots.
"Hey, Brown, how long have you had that partner of yours? I know that it's a starter from Hoenn, but apart from that, I don't know anything about it," Skyla questioned, looking at Blaziken with a critical eye, and causing Brown's starter to look at her quizzically.
"Blaze Blaziken Blaze," Blaziken said quietly, narrowing his eyes.
Seeing this, Skyla paled slightly at the intense look Brown's Pokémon was giving her, asking quickly, "Uh… Brown, why is your Pokémon looking at me like I'm some sort of prey?"
"It's because you labeled him as an, 'it'. He doesn't take kindly to that," Brown observed while Blaziken simply huffed and nodded his agreement.
"Oh! I see," Skyla said, turning towards Blaziken as she spoke, "I'm sorry, Blaziken. I didn't know you were male; I'll remember that in future."
"Blaze ken Blaze" Blaziken said in a somewhat gentler tone, looking pleased upon hearing Skyla's sentence.
"Uh, huh. Moving right along," Skyla stated awkwardly, not wishing to enter into a one-sided conversation with the strange creature.
"Err, Miss Skyla, if it isn't a bother to you, may I again intrude upon your hospitality to send someone to show me the city? I may be strong, but, I am human, and I require sustenance to live," Brown requested quietly, rubbing the back of his neck as he did so.
"Uh…" Skyla floundered, unsure of Brown's exact meaning. It was times like these that Skyla wished she had paid attention in her vocabulary class at school instead of daydreaming about becoming a pilot.
"I think he said that he was hungry, Miss Skyla," Todd whispered into her ear.
"Ah. In that case, Mister Brown, I have business to attend to in town anyway, so I would be happy to show you around," Skyla recovered quickly, straightening her posture and walking towards town.
"Thank you, Miss Skyla, if I may be so bold, I find dining alone to be rather dull, so if you would accompany me for a luncheon, I would be most appreciative of your company," Richard stated to Skyla's back, watching as the woman froze mid-step, and slowly rotated to look him straight in the eye.
Todd couldn't believe his ears; had he just heard Richard ask Skyla on a date? What was even more surprising, however, was Skyla's reaction.
"I would be delighted to, Mister Brown. I don't like eating alone either, and I'm interested in hearing more about your Pokémon and how you managed to get them so powerful," Skyla agreed, smiling gently at the thought of learning more about Hoenn, and learning more about this strange trainer.
"I thank you for your time, Miss Skyla," Richard thanked, falling into step alongside the Gym Leader, and leaving a very perplexed Todd behind.
A.N.
GAH! I'm sorry for taking so long! I have a lot of school to deal with, and for some reason, I couldn't find my muse, causing me to lose all ambition to write… I know it's not a very good excuse, but that is what happened…
Also, I have to thank Zangoose-Kira for the motivation, if she hadn't helped me, I probably wouldn't have finished this chapter at all…
Signed: Hoenn Master, forever a patriot.