Votes for what's in Black's egg are pretty slim. Votes are still being accepted and including the votes on the poll itself, currently in the lead is Spheal. Not by much, don't let that influence your vote. Votes are being accepted until the chapter it hatches, so keep sending them in please!
Chapter 9: Zack Attack
My legs struggled to stay sturdy. I cringed with every step. My bare feet were streaked with blood and every step made me feel like I was walking on a bed of needles. The boiling sand beneath my feet rubbed into my wounds. And if the heat of the desert sands wasn't enough, the red hot sun was merciless. My skin burned and my throat screamed for moisture. The tattered and torn clothes I wore were hardly enough to keep my body from feeling the waves of heat that tortured my every nerve. Water was my only thought. I was so weak. My legs felt like jelly as they trudged through the sand. And my eyes...I had to make them squint. The sun was just too bright. I could barely breathe. And it was all too soon before I collapsed. My legs just refused to stay upright. My head was so woozy from heat stroke, I couldn't think. In fact in my stupor, I swear, I saw a shadow appear on top of me. But hey, what were the odds of that happening before I passed out?
And then everything went cold.
No seriously, the temperature suddenly went from unbearably hot to unbelievably freezing. That and I was suddenly standing up again. My eyes opened, and I found myself in the cold and desolate black void once again. I shivered as I stared at the only sight to see in this darkness. My own breath. Needles of ice punctured my body as goosebumps spread over my arms like wildfire. And it was getting even chillier by the second. Every moment, it felt as though a colder bucket of ice was being poured all over me. I could hear my teeth chattering and could even feel the tip of my nose freezing.
Thank God it all stopped, when I felt two things that were very familiar and very soft wrap around me. Warmth instantly found its way into my body. A comfortable heat built up in my skin and soon, it radiated into the rest of my form, down the arms, into the torso, and right through the legs. Ah, much better.
"You have grown, since I last spoke to you Black." The booming voice spoke in my ear as I felt the creature's breath on the top of my head. Yeah, even a hat wouldn't stop that intense gust of wind. "You are continuing your quest."
"I guess...there's really no point in trying to see who you are, is there?" I assumed, since trying that before never quite worked. The person chuckled. I didn't get the joke, but hey, the laugh wasn't maniacal or anything so it's not like I was concerned. I was just content that this person was keeping me warm in the dark abyss. I don't think I could've taken another second of cold.
"Black. I wish you could."
"And I wish I understood a word you say."
"You will Black. You will. Keep following your dream, and when you reach Nacrene City, that is where the journey truly begins. Good luck, my friend."
"Gyah!" I awoke with a start. I breathed hard into the cold night air. My net bounced for a moment with the sudden activity as the trees around me appeared to be moving through my eyes. My wool blanket was coiled around my legs tightly, as if I'd been rolling around in my sleep. I groaned. All a dream. But that was a weird one. I'd never dreamt about being in the desert before. In fact, the only desert I know is the one on Route Four. And I've never even experienced heat like that before. But it felt so real, like a memory. Then I was back in the blackness and...I don't know.
It had been a day since I left Striaton City. But it had hardly felt like a few minutes before the sun set once again. I hadn't even reached the daycare that was supposed to be on this route. The region was bigger than I thought.
But still, I checked my X-Transceiver for the time. Five AM. Great. I let my head hit my pillow again, hoping to grab a few more winks. No luck. So with no other options, I decided to get an early start on the day. Even though it made my eyes feel heavy and my body want to go slack, I untied the net and packed up my stuff, before strapping on my hat grabbing my skateboard and heading onto the dirt road again. I yawned as the wind hit my face and gave me a wake up call.
It felt like hours before I saw anything besides this one pathway. Being a trainer was duller than I originally planned it to be. But still, I rode onwards. With my first gym win still fresh in my mind, there was still a spring in my step. Yeah, just seven more of those close calls and I'd be set.
Speaking of calls, just as the first sliver of light from the sun appeared on my path, I began to hear a beeping noise. I braked and looked around for the source. It got louder, and man it was annoying. It rattled in my ears like my own chattering teeth.
Well, it wouldn't get the heck out until I discovered just what it was. And I did. It was my X-Transceiver. It was actually ringing for the first time. I hit the answer button and clenched my teeth as Carol's face appeared on one side of the screen with mine on the other. Yipes, she looked mad.
"WHY HAVEN'T YOU CALLED?" My sister screamed through the video phone, nearly knocking my hat off from the sound wave. "YOU PROMISED YOU'D CALL WHENEVER YOU GOT TO A POKEMON CENTER! I'VE BEEN WORRIED SICK ABOUT YOU!"
"I-"
"DON'T GIVE ME THAT MISTER! WHY HAVEN'T YOU BEEN CALLING? WHY I OUGHT TO-"
It goes on like this for a while. I'll give you the short version. Carol yells at me for a bit, I say I'm sorry a million times, I tell her I forgot, she tells me to apologize, I tell her I already did, yadda yadda yadda.
"Sorry." I said for about the thousandth time. I wasn't even paying attention anymore. I was far more interested in a tree which slowly swayed in the wind. Ah. Peaceful.
"Well...I suppose I've chewed you out enough. So how's it going?"
"Sorry."
"Black. Focus." I shook my head rapidly.
"Sorry, what?"
"How's the journey going?"
"Oh awesome. Check it out." I kept the X-Transceiver in place with my left arm and shuffled around in my bag with the right. I brought out my badge case and snapped it open, getting it in position before the X-Transceiver. My face lit up as I began to brag about my accomplishment. "Check it out! One Gym Badge and I'm not even ten days into this thing. How 'bout that?"
"Pretty impressive kiddo. So, how many pokemon have you caught?"
"Three...technically."
"Technically?"
"Well...uh...one hates me...and the other two basically caught themselves." It was at that point I realized...I kinda sucked at this. Carol saw my face as I did so and simply giggled.
"It'll be fine little brother. What do I always say? When you focus, you do amazing things."
"Um...you've never said that."
"Because you never focus when I say it. Put two and two together. By the way."
"Yeah?"
"Why are you up so early? I expected to catch you snoozing."
"Oh...um...I had a...strange dream."
"Really? What was it about?" She didn't say that in passing. She wasn't just vaguely interested. She was genuinely concerned. like, me dreaming was a problem. Maybe I'm reading too much into this.
"Um...well. It's all black, and absolutely freezing. And then, it feels like a couple blankets wrap me up. Then I get nice and warm, and I hear this weird voice and...I totally sound like a freak, don't I?"
"Not at all." She suddenly got serious. Her brow furrowed and she almost looked angry. A bead of sweat trickled down my face. I hated it when she got like that. "Don't you remember?"
"Remember what?"
"You've had these dreams before."
"Huh? I have?"
"I guess it's no wonder you don't remember. You were just five. Let me guess, the voice always talks about it having been a long time, and about seeing you again, right?"
"Y-Yeah. How did you-?"
"You talked about the same stuff back then. But you didn't wake up early, oh no. I've never seen you more relaxed actually."
"Really? 'Cause when I wake up, I feel kinda creeped out."
"Yeah. In fact, you said those dreams were so great that you made me help you write them down so you wouldn't forget them."
"But I kinda did."
"Well that's obvious kiddo. Tell you what. Do you want me to send the papers you wrote to the Nacrene Pokemon Center? They can be there by the time you are."
"Hmmm." I considered it. After all, things in the dreams were changing up. Now it wasn't just the weird black void, I was seeing deserts too. And it was starting to get painful. I was still sweating from the heat of that dream sun. Then again, how much could my infantile dreams help me? And on the other hand, they were my only clue to this whole mess. And on yet another hand, I had to wonder if I was taking this too seriously. Maybe I was just being a drama queen about random dreams. I mean, how much can a dream hurt me? It's not like I should freak out over something I have no control over.
And yet, Carol looked on edge. She was really worried about me. Blood rushed to my face to make it go red as an apple. I hated it when she gave me her version of 'the look'. It made my conscience act up and I can never surpress that thing when Carol's involved. I grinned awkwardly and gave the one answer which would make her stop looking at me like that.
"Yeah. I'd like that."
"Alright then. You hurry over to Nacrene City. And make sure you tell me if you have any more of these dreams."
"Right." I lied. No way would I make her worry if it made her stare at me like she did. She gave me a wink and hung up, allowing me to groan in relief. This was officially ridiculous, I should be focusing on my waking dreams rather than the sleeping ones. My guess, they'd pass.
But enough about that. Because right around the time I started moving again, Tony's luxury ball snapped open. And my spunky little friend emerged, hanging onto my head as I rode my skateboard down the road. I really had to consider putting tape on that thing.
"Mornin' Bro." Tony yawned. "We there yet?"
"Not even halfway." I replied as I shuffled around for my map. I opened up the small DS-like device and turned it on. "According to this, we're still a few days away."
"Oh." Tony faked interest while scratching his ears with his feet again. "Hey Bro, I'm hungry."
"Well I guess it is time for break-" Scratch that. The sun was far above the horizon by now, and with its light, I saw it in the distance. Most people wouldn't get excited about what I saw, but I was pumped up. My heart leapt when I saw a wooden fence in my way, forcing the path to continue in a fork alongside it. I sped up. In heinsight, that might not have been the best idea since the road was riddled with potholes and I felt everyone as the ride got steadily bumpier. I barely had enough control before I hit the fence and tumbled over it. My nose was crushed between the grassy earth and my own face. Yowch. Tony wasn't so clumsy. After all, he could fly.
"Are you okay Bro?" Tony asked once he'd landed on my head again.
"Just peachy." I responded sarcastically while getting on my feet. I dusted myself off...only to be knocked flat on my back. I felt something round and large hit me in the stomach knocking me back into the fence. "GYAH!"
"Let's play! Let's play! Let's play!" I opened my eyes when my posterior hit the ground, and found my attacker. And to be honest, I really couldn't stay mad.
This thing was frighteningly cute. She was a tan-colored, dog-like pokemon. She had large eyes and a red nose, with her face covered by an abundance of cream fur. Her large ears had spiky lower extensions and her fur puffed about above her paws, and her back had a spiky black stripe. Her spiky tail was wagging and she was making an excited yipping noise. The pokemon leaped onto me, and with surprising strength, I was careened right onto my back. The puppy began licking my face and she kept saying the same two words, over and over.
"Let's play! Let's play! Let's play!"
"Well howdy there stranger." I looked up from this pokemon's yipping face for a second to see a...uh...mature woman walking towards me. You would be drawn away from the few wrinkles she had by her sparkling blue eyes. And you couldn't help but notice the fact that she was wearing a cowboy outfit. Seriously, she wore a red polo shirt with rough-looking jeans with a stetson to top it all off. She did have that country look about her. She even had the broad country grin, don't know if that's a staple, but I'm glad she wasn't mad that I was on her property. "Well would you look at that, looks like this Lillipup here found a friend in 'ya."
"Yeah. Guess you could say that." I replied as I started scratching the dog behind the ears, while simultaneously screaming inside. I think that pooch broke a rib. "She's a strong one."
"Wow, you can tell that she's a girl just from looking at her?"
"Huh? Yeah. Of course."
"Mind tellin' me how?"
"Well...it's obvious...i-isn't it?" I looked at the face of the Lillipup. I mean, just looking at her, I could tell she was a girl. She just looked...feminine. You know how when you look at a person you can just tell what gender they are? Well, it was just like that.
"So, you can tell a pokemon's gender just by lookin' at 'em?"
"Uh...yeah...can't everyone?"
"BA HA HA!" Well that answered that. But it was so weird. I couldn't understand though. It was plain as day. Wait...unless this was just like how I talked to pokemon while no one else could. I had to wonder how no one else had called me out on it. But...but...I didn't get it. It was just so natural. Now, seriously freaked out, I stood up as fast as I could and started laughing awkwardly with the woman.
"Ha ha. Just kidding." Boy, I'm a REALLY bad liar. My voice had gotten high pitched and everything. Lucky for me she was gullible and eating this up. "I uh...see Lillipups all the time. By now it's easy for me to see genders."
"Ah, now I see." Phew. Dodged a bullet. "Oh where are my manners? My name's Karena and I just happen to run this pokemon daycare."
"Oh yeah, that's right!" I found it hard to talk between Lilipup's wet tongue still persistent to lick my face and Tony trying to balance atop my head. But forget speaking, seeing was a joy all its own. Beyond the fence there were wide open fields, pokemon of all sorts frolicking around. The fence surrounded these grassy fields, giving the pokemon plenty of space to have some fun. This was it, the next landmark, the pokemon daycare. Where pokemon could be left and trained by the people on staff. "I'm sorry to ask, but could you check something out for me?"
"Why sure? What'll it be, mister...?"
"Oh, sorry, my name's Black. And I was wondering..." I set Lillipup down (who was more than content to start yipping at my legs) so I could open up my bag. From there, I carefully removed the egg case Axel gave me, big blue egg still inside of course. I had taken good care of that thing. Whatever hatched out of there, I wanted it to be healthy. I polished the shell every day so that thing would be nice and shiny when he or she was born. I made sure to keep it as warm as I could (sometimes sleeping with it to be honest). "...if you could check out this egg. I wanted to know if the pokemon in there is close to hatching."
"Oh you have an egg? Well why didn't you say so?" She said with a charming voice before deftly taking the case in her hands. This was the reason I wanted to be here. The pokemon daycare was known for finding pokemon eggs while their 'tenants' had been left in their care. And everyone knew that they had become professionals in the egg business. Some people in the pokemon center in Striaton City told me that those who ran the daycare could even tell when an egg was going to hatch down to the very second.
"Hmm. Yes, I see." My face lit up as she examined the egg in its case. She looked pretty pleased with what she saw. Maybe all these rumors were true. Even better, maybe my egg was gonna hatch soon! That would be pretty awesome. I waited in total suspense for her response, my fingers tingling in excitement. "Yep. I think I got it."
"REALLY? S-S-SO WHAT'S GONNA-"
"Yeah I can see that this egg isn't even close to hatching."
"Oh." I groaned, disappointed. She got my hopes up with her smile for nothing. I stopped holding my breath and took the egg back with open arms.
"Don't you worry about it none. These things take time Black. But just know that you're taking very good care of that egg. I can see it from here."
"Really?" The spark of hope reignited a little. Maybe I didn't suck as much as I thought.
"Yep. Keep those spirits up. I see a lot of good things coming your way."
"Yay! Good things! Good things! Good things!" I almost jumped out of my shoes. Tony had actually been quiet up until now. That never happened. Not ever.
"Well well, you've got yourself a pretty spunky pokemon there. He's pretty dang cute. Hey, sorry to cut this little meeting of ours short, but I've gotta get back to raising up this Lillipup. So if you'll excuse me-"
"Oh yeah! Sure thing! Sorry to keep you."
"It was no problem, be seeing you then." Karena gave me a wave, picked up Lillipup, who stared back at me the whole time with a wagging tail and wide mouthed smile, and walked away. I could've watched her walk all the way to the other side of the pen, but hey, I've got a schedule to keep. I jumped over the fence again, so as not to be bombarded by any more Lillipups and proceeded to move on. Well, I did after my map told me to take a right. So I got on my board once again and started riding into the farmlands. May have been a mistake, in heinsight. After all, it did smell of fertilizer. Why was this a bad thing? Well...
"Urrrrrrrf!" Tony moaned in discomfort. He really didn't like that smell. In fact, he was going out of his way, or in this case mine, to avoid it. First he tried covering his nose, but when that didn't work, he climbed onto my shoulder. Then, with surprising speed he unzipped my jacket a little and hopped in.
"Hey what're you-?"
"Ahhhh." Tony said in relief before answering. "This thing smells like food."
"You...You don't say?" I facepalmed. I knew I should be used to Tony's behaviour by now, but I just couldn't stomach it. I guess it was my own fault. Shouldn't have spilled ketchup on my jacket I guess.
"Hey look out!" Uh oh. I had just facepalmed and therefore wasn't paying attention to the road. I looked up, just in time to see I was about to crash into someone. I tried braking but it was far too late. I careened off my skateboard for the second time in the same ten minutes, landing on my face once again. And once again, Tony had escaped just in time by leaping out of my jacket and flying away. But the moment I sat up again, nursing my crushed face (seriously, my nose would need surgery after this) he landed in my jacket again, as if nothing had happened. Easy for him to think. My nose felt like it had been hit with a sledgehammer.
"HEY! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING 'YA JERK!" I turned my head over my shoulder and cringed. Because the person I'd just hit was getting up. And he was none too happy.
The young man looked around my age. And when I compared our hats, I found we had another thing in common, since he too had a baseball cap with a pokeball symbol on it. Though his sat atop a head of black hair whereas mine was brown. His inverted, angry black eyes glared at me with a passion, and I swear I saw an urge to kill somewhere in there. His fashion sense could be considered normal for a traveller with the jeans, black t-shirt and grey sneakers. THough one could question the red poofy vest.
"Uh...sorry man."
"DON'T YOU INSULT ME WITH YOUR APOLOGIES! WHY I OUGHTA-! Hey that's a pokemon, isn't it?"
"Look I just...huh?" That was a mood swing. His expression just went from angry to interested in just a couple seconds. Tony was smiling as he sat in my jacket, his ears twitching with excitement at the thought of meeting someone new. Looks like Tony had some competition in this deparment.
"Yeah. Looks pretty weak though."
"Say what?"
"Say what?" Tony suddenly got angry. See what I mean? These two could go at it for hours if you ask me. Wait...was Tony just talking like me? Huh, there were some odd things to this trainer stuff. Y'know, besides talking to pokemon and knowing their genders just by looking at them.
"I'm just sayin', doesn't look too strong. You must not do a good job."
"HEY! I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW ME AND TONY JUST GOT OUR FIRST GYM BADGE FROM THE STRIATON CITY GYM! TAKE A LOOK!" I brought out my badge case as fast as I could and opened it up wide. The boy cringed and took a step back.
"S-So you have one badge. So what? I got one too!" The boy reached into his vest and took out a badge case of his own. Though unlike mine, which was a nice navy blue, this one was of a sparkling red colour. He opened it up wide and I had to gulp. In the second slot of the badge case sat a purple badge. It was rectangular, and almost shaped like he spine of a book. "Check it out! The Basic Badge from Nacrene City!"
"Ha! That just proves we're even!"
"HEY THAT DOESN'T...No wait, I guess you're right. You got a badge, I got a badge, guess that means we're equal in strength." He talked rather fast when he calmed down. Oh good, that would just make the road to his insane rantings that much shorter.
"There y'see?"
"Yeah. Only one way to prove who's stronger now." The boy ran away from me for a few feet (making me sigh in relief before my hopes were dashed) and then turned around. He unstrapped a pokeball from his belt and showed it to me. "My name is Zack! And I challenge you to a battle! Two on two!"
"Huh? You want to battle now?"
"Yeah! I've made it a rule to battle at least one person per day! That way I'll be the strongest I can be. So please, if you could battle me, that would be great." Zack bowed respectively to me and I blinked at him. Okay, Cilan and Tony would always be the wierdest people I've ever met, but he came in at a close third. No wait, if I count Bianca, he was fourth.
"Okay! If you insist! Tony, I choose you!"
"Yay! Battle! Battle! Battle!" Tony tried doing his dance while still in my jacket and ended up hitting me in the ribcage with his foot before stepping out onto the battlefield.
"Ha! This should be easy! Arcane!" He tossed his pokeball and let it snap open. The light pulsed, emerged and formed into one odd pokemon. At first I thought he was spherical pokemon possessing two cyan eyes, with a third on an appendage on top of his head. But he also had four wing-like growths around his body, and two small spikes at his base. Wait...that thing looked like...a thing. And yet I was still able to determine his gender. That...That freaked me out even more. So much so that I didn't notice Zack beginning the battle.
"Arcane! Use Psywave!" The pokemon's eyes began to glow, and suddenly, multiple rings of purple energy formed at them. And before I snapped out of my confused stupor, he launched them right at Tony. But luckily, I got focused just in time. Just like Carol told me. Focus.
"Tony! Use Flame Charge to get out of the way!" Tony's body sparked up in flames as he moved to escape the assault of Arcane's Psywave attack, his speed increasing every second as he moved towards the totem pole-esque pokemon. I shuffled around for my pokedex and once I found it, I gave this mystery pokemon a quick scan.
"Sigilyph. The Avianoid Pokemon. A Sigilyph will use its psychic powers to attack anyone who invades its territory. Due to it retaining memories from when it guarded an ancient city, it apparently flies along the same route constantly."
"Sigilyph 'eh? Psychic and Flying type? Alright then. Tony! Get in the air while still using Flame Charge! Then steer yourself with Confusion like before!"
Tony jumped, still surrounded by fire. His tails flapped and he rocketed into the sky, aiming towards Arcane. But he was ready for me.
"Arcane use Air Cutter!" Arcane flapped his wings just once and suddenly sharp air currents began flying right towards us. Tony tried using Confusion to maneuver, but unlike Panpour's Water Gun, this attack was too widespread to dodge. Tony was struck in the head and was knocked flat on his back. "Ha! Now use Psywave!"
"Tony! Counter it using Confusion!" Tony opened his eyes up wide. And as the waves of psychic energy flew towards him, he sent out his own psychic attack. The purple rings of energy were soon wrapped in a blue aura. And when they ceased flying towards Tony, my buddy made them take a U-turn and go right back to their owner.
"AH!" Zack was starting to panic, which meant now was my chance.
"Tony! Flame Charge!" While Zack was distracted by the Psywave returning, Tony moved in, his body shooting up in flames once again. This time when he leapt up, he was able to score a direct hit to Arcane's spherical body. "YES!"
"Gyah! Arcane! Fight back using Hypnosis!" Arcane's eyes began to glow and before I could warn Tony to look away, he was drawn into the attack. Once his body had released the flames that had scorched the enemy, his eyes began to shut. And it wasn't long before he hit the earth, snoring away.
"Crud! Tony wake up!" No good. I forgot. Tony was a pretty heavy sleeper.
"HA! Looks like I win! Arcane use Air Cutter!" Arcane flapped his wings once more, and this time even stronger currents came out. They blasted at Tony, who stood no chance at dodging. He was shot into the air, and despite the beating he just took, Tony was still asleep. I had to think of something. Something that would wake Tony up, something he couldn't do without. Wait...that was incredibly obvious.
"Hey Tony! You hungry?"
"Yeah Bro! Yeah! Hungry! Hungry! Hungry!" Tony snapped himself awake and started dancing around in midair. That was Tony for you.
"What the heck?"
"Okay Tony! After the battle, it's lunchtime! So let's use Incinerate!"
"No you don't! Fight back with Air Cutter!" Tony blasted fire while Arcane blasted wind. The two attacks clashed, and the resulting explosion sent both parties flying towards their trainers. I caught Tony, but Zack wasn't so lucky. Arcane fell on him and he collapsed. One look at Tony told me all I needed to know. Both pokemon had fainted.
"That's it?" Zack asked more to the pokemon than to me. While getting off his behind of course. "That was short."
"It's not over yet Zack! This battle's two on two." I returned Tony to his luxury ball, making a mental note to keep my promise to him later about lunch.
"Yeah! You're right!" Zack brought out Arcane's pokeball and returned the desert-dwelling pokemon before bringing out his second pokeball. "Alright then! I choose Vincent!" He tossed the ball and what emerged made me have 'the look' for about the thrtieth time that week.
Zack had released a much larger version of Joel. Except that was an understatement. This yellow spider had two very large front mandibles, like Joel's incisors all grown up. The hide on his abdomen looked extremely thick with purple pattern designs here and there. The underside was almost completely purple. Also, this thing had two more ocelli than Joel. Weird. But I just had to bring out my pokedex for this, it was too cool.
"Galvantula, the EleSpider Pokémon. And the evolved form of Joltik. Galvantula attacks its prey by shooting electrically charged threads and its front mandibles can hold down opponents."
"An evolved version of Joel, huh? Okay, then I guess it's only fitting that I choose..." I snatched a pokeball from my belt and tossed it. "...you Joel!"
The pokeball burst open and the traditional white energy came out. Only to form into Joel...who was sleeping again.
"COME ON JOEL!" I shouted. This was getting ridiculous. He may be sorry for it, but he never quite tries to fix it. He woke up and started scrambling as usual, and again as usual...
"Sorry. Sorry. I'm really sorry."
"It's alright Joel." I sighed. "But we've got a battle here. Joel nodded to me and clacked his incisors, seemingly overjoyed that I chose him for this. Of course, when he turned around there were other things on his mind.
"Uhhhhh...Uhhhhhh." Joel's legs were wobbling. Just seeing his evolved form standing there was too much for him. He was scared stiff.
"Come on Joel! He may be bigger, but I know you can do this!"
"R-R-R-Right. O-O-Of course!" Joel replied. I wondered if this was a good again what choice did I have? I had a water type which wouldn't do much good as well as a Snivy that was out for my blood. This was really the only way I could go.
"Pfffft!" Zack was laughing his head off as Joel faced off against Vincent. That guy could really be rude when he wanted to be. "You're goin' up against Vincent with that runt? Alright, let's get this over with!"
"Grrr. Don't judge a book by its cover! For example, Joel start off with Agility!" Joel's legs started moving fast, even becoming blurs as he dashed down the dirt road.
"Vincent! Signal Beam!" Pink energy began to build up between Vincent's mandibles, and faster than lightning, (no pun intended) shot the bug type beam at the speeding Joel. Joel didn't see it coming and was blasted backwards. He landed on his head, his legs dangling in the air.
"Oh no!"
"Oh yeah! Vincent! Signal Beam once more!"
"Joel! Use...uh...grrr." I was stuck. Joel didn't know that many diverse moves. And yet that Galvantula was pretty dang experienced. I mean, all I had was Spider Web, Agility, Electro Web and Electro Ball. None of which would get him right side up in time. "Hmm. Can't use my moves...Hey that's it! Joel rock back and forth and hit that signal beam with Electro Ball!" That Signal Beam was moving in fast, but Joel wouldn't stop. He rocked, gaining momentum with every swing. And when he was at the height of his rocking, he shot Electro Ball just in time to hit Signal Beam. The two energies collided, and although Signal Beam won out the resulting shock wave of the two attacks was enough to send Joel flying again.
"What?"
"Joel! Fire off Electro Ball! One more time!" Joel built up the energy much faster this time and fired it at his evolved pier.
"You use Electro Ball too!" No matter how speedy Joel was at charging power, Vincent was faster. When the spheres hit each other, Joel's was like a fly to it. Vincent's Electro Ball burst through it, as if it was an open door and hit Joel dead on, like he was a bull's eye. Joel turned into a meteor, slamming into the earth and making his own little crater. Joel struggled, but he was still ready to roll.
"Come on Joel."
"I think this match is just about over. Let's get ready for the win Vincent."
"Hmph!" I was worried, but not deterred. Just because he had evolved, Zack thought he was sure to win. But Joel...he was determined. And so was I. "Come on Joel. Don't stop now. Use Agility!"
"Okay. You keep trying, can't win too quick. Use Signal Beam!"
"Dodge it Joel!" Joel jumped. And a surprised Vincent couldn't keep up. Joel was agile enough to land on the tarantula's abdomen. Vincent tried to shake him off but Joel was still determined. He spat Spider Web onto Vincent's back, just to create proper footing. "Come on Joel!"
"You can't win!"
"Au contraire! I'm unbeatable!"
Black: Ooooooh eh oh!
I'm unbeatable!
(Joel uses Bug Bite on Vincent's abdomen, making the larger spider flinch in pain.)
Walking down this endless highway!
Nothing but my friends beside me!
We'll never give in,
We'll never rest!
Advanced battle is the ultimate test!
From the earth, the land,
The sea, and sky,
They can never win,
But they sure can try!
(Vincent manages to shake Joel off, firing Signal Beam at Joel.)
Zack: Ooooooh eh oh!
I'm unbeatable!
Ooooooh eh oh,
I'm undefeatable!
From the stars in the ancient past,
They come to play but they'll never last!
(Joel dodges Signal Beam after Signal Beam, and when an opening is seen, he uses Agility to get around Vincent and latch onto his leg.)
Black and Zack: Ooooooh eh oh!
I'm unbeatable!
Ooooooh eh oh!
I'm undefeatable!
You think you'll win,
But soon you'll see!
You may beat some,
But you can't be me!
(Joel uses Bug Bite and begins to sap the electricity out of Vincent Vincent tries to use his other legs to knock Joel off to no avail.)
Black: I'm undefeatable!
There's a feeling deep inside me,
And it's always there to guide me!
It's in my heart and in my soul,
Leading me to the ultimate goal!
You can try your best this might be fun,
You'll go down in defeat before you've begun!
(Joel is knocked off, and the two bugs face off again.)
Ooooooh eh oh,
I'm unbeatable!
Ooooooh eh oh,
I'm undefeatable!
Every move each attack you choose,
You think you can win but you'll always lose!
(The two use Electro Ball. Vincent, in a weakened state, has weakened power. The two attacks match each other equally and an explosion of electrical energy is made, knocking the two away from each other.)
Black and Zack: OOOOOOEEEEHHOOOH! Advanced battle!
I'm unbeatable!
(Both pokemon drop.)
"Joel!" I exclaimed, running towards my little guy. I scooped his bristly body into my hands, hoping he was okay. Luckily, he opened his eyes halfway, and clacked his incisors together, showing me how happy he was to have fought that battle. "You were awesome buddy. Way to play!"
I grabbed Joel's pokeball and warped him inside. He deserved a rest. After all, he just took down his own evolved form. Sure, it ended in a draw, but all the same. He was getting a lot stronger. He'd come a long way from being almost eaten by Sandiles.
"Aw man!" I heard Zack yell as he returned Vincent to his pokeball. "Oh well, guess yours wasn't as runty as I thought."
"Yep. You weren't too bad yourself."
"But that was really intense! Thanks for battling with me." Zack suddenly approached me, and faster than you could say 'What the hell?' he was shaking my hand with both of his. "We should do it again sometime. Say, are you going for the Unova league too?"
"Well, yeah. What do you think I got the badge for?"
"So you want to be the champion? Well you're gonna have to go through me!"
"Yeah. Or we tie again."
"Heh. Heh. Let's get one thing straight. I may have tied with you today, but next time, victory's all mine! I'll get the Trio Badge and then I'll find you again! GET READY FOR DEFEAT!" And with those last words, Zack ran off, kicking up a cloud of smoke in his wake.
That guy needs to stop mood-swinging on me. I thought to myself. Seriously, Snivy's more predictable than that guy.
Hey, speaking of Snivy, I really should've found a way to keep her under control, I guess. I brought her pokeball into the palm of my hand, and stared at it as I got back on my skateboard. She was a problem. The problem being, I really did want things to work out between me and this pokemon. But she was the only one of my pokemon I couldn't understand. That, and she was the only pokemon I had actually caught through battling.
It was frustrating, and I was so focused on my problem with her that I barely noticed that I had made it into a small farming town. Luckily the sidewalk was mostly empty so I didn't crash into anyone. But something did catch my eye between these small wooden houses. Something familiar, something I never wanted to see again. My eyes were drawn away from Snivy's pokeball, if only for me to sneer at what I saw in the shadows of the miniature alleyway. How could I not? No one could mistake that fashion sense for something else.
"Alicia." I said to myself.
End of Chapter Nine!
Well, there we are people. Hope you enjoyed this very important chapter and-
Black: IT WAS FILLER!
So's ninety percent of the anime, but you don't see me crying about that. Keep sending in OC's and votes people! Not done with 'em yet!
See y'all later!
Next chapter: Alicia's Quest
