Another chapter has arrived! This time, its battle time! The Dragonscale gym leader is going down! With Krystal's new 'Mon, she is determined to win, Robby and Drake are just trying to keep up with her enthusiasm. Let's see what happens in chapter 10!
(P.S. My pokemon info is on my profile. Just PM me if you want to trade or battle.)
*Note: Pokémon will speak with () around their text. I like to think that it would be cool if trainers could understand what they were saying.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon (wish I did though). All Pokémon descriptions, abilities, moves and any other relevant information comes from Serebii or Bulbapedia.
Italic text: thoughts
Bold text: Pokedex entries
Chapter 10: Krystal v. Bane: Towering Over the Competition
Krystal plowed through the gym doors, nearly mowing down a few trainers and the secretary down, as she was bursting with enthusiasm. "YEA, BRING IT ON, MR. GYM LEADER! PREPARE TO BE DESTROYED!" She yelled, running through the second set of doors onto the field. Drake and Robby came into the gym, doubled over and panting heavily. "Damn, where did she get all this energy?" Drake asked breathlessly. Robby just shrugged his shoulders as he stood up regaining his breath. Some of the trainers gave them sour looks, but it was the secretary who got their attention. "That was your friend I take it?" she asked in smooth voice. "Yea, she can be a bit of a handful sometimes." Robby said. Surprisingly, she wasn't angry but smiled again. "Well, I have seen enthusiastic trainers, but she is on another level. Is this her first badge?" "Yes, but it is our second." Drake said. The receptionist had as confused look on her face. "For some reason, she felt that she wasn't ready to face Terry, but she seems to be ready now." He said, answering the unspoken question. "Well I think that Bane only has a few challengers today so I would be glad to add you two to the list, I think your friend is first." She said with a small giggle as she registered Robby and Drake for their fights against Bane. "Go on through." I think their battle is about to start. And tell her good luck from me. Bane is no pushover." They nodded and entered the second set of doors and were blown away by the battlefield.
It was ornately tiled in multiple colors of marble. On each corner of the field there were enormous dragon statues, mouths open with water flowing from them into a pool at their feet. Different colored gems decorated their pupils. In the middle, there was a large purple dragon head painted on the floor. Even the stands had an ornate design. "It's so cool isn't it? I wonder how they can afford a gym like this though." Krystal said, thinking out loud. "Because, my dear, Dragonscale brings in quite a bit of money and the mayor thought it was appropriate to spruce up the gym a bit." He let out a hearty laugh. All three trainers looked in the direction of the voice. They spotted a rather large man, who had tanned skin. He was pudgy, but not fat. His burly black beard stuck out like a sore thumb and his blue eyes gleamed brightly with a burning passion. He had on gray cargo pants, an orange shirt, over top of it a olive colored vest and a tan safari hat. Only his footwear stood out of place for the man. He had yellow flip-flops on that could be heard a mile away as he took a step.
But what caused the trainers to gape was not his appearance, but what stood next to him. "Wow… a Salamence and a Haxorus… we don't stand a chance." Drake muttered. That got a hearty reaction out of the gym leader. "Naw, you aint fighting these beauties." He said with a smile on his face. Drake could swear he could see their faces turn slightly red at this comment, but no one else seemed to notice. "These fine lass's are my best battlers. I only use them for trainers who have more badges. Robby didn't hear any of this as he was enthralled by the dragons' beauty. "Wow… you two are massive." The Salamence smiled sweetly at him. Her large red wings glistened with the natural light in the room. Her lined white underbelly and blue scales shined just as brightly. The Haxorus was less than pleased. She huffed in anger and took a step toward him. Her yellow-green body also glistened, but her layered scales and black, axe-like tusks looked quite intimidating. She glared at him. (Did you just call me fat?) She asked in a brash tone. Robby gulped and held his breath for a moment. Better tread lightly. One wrong word and I'll be mince meat. He thought to himself. (Don't be mean Haxorus. You know most humans can't understand us.) The Salamence said sweetly, trying to calm her angry friend. "S-sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. I just meant you looked powerful. Yea, that's it, powerful." He said with a smile on his face, trying to repair the pokemon's angered ego. Bane was confused while Haxorus and Salamence had a complete look of shock on their faces.
Robby was about to open his mouth again when he was swept up into a bone-crushing hug by Haxorus. (Oh, I'm so glad someone else can understand us! Salamence can you believe it? Now I can ask all the questions I have been wondering about, since Dragonite is a stuck up bitch!) She was oblivious that Robby was still struggling for breath as he was locked in between her arms and the air was sucked right out of him. (I hate to interrupt your moment Haxorus, but your answer machine can't breathe.) Salamence said giggling lightly. Haxorus looked down to see Robby's face was starting to turn purple. With an apology she let him go so precious air could return to his lungs. "Um, I hate to interrupt… whatever that is, but can we have our battle?" Bane suddenly shook the confused look on his face and the fire returned to his eyes. "Indeed. How many badges do you have young lady?" Bane asked. "None. This is my first gym." Bane nodded. Let me go change pokemon and then we shall have our match. With that, he left for a smaller room in the back while Drake, Salamence, Haxorus, and Drake made their way to the stands.
Bane came onto the field a few minutes later. A referee then walked onto the side stand. "This will be a 3-on-3 match between the Gym Leader of Dragonscale City, Bane versus Krystal of Origina Town. You ready Bane?" The ref asked. "If the young lass is ready to go." Bane responded. The ref looked in Krystal's direction and she nodded her head, a serious look on her face. The ref dropped his hand, signaling the start of the match. Krystal waited no time at all, tossing out her first pokemon. "You've got this, Bubbles!" Her Azumarill appeared, hands on her hips staring directly into Bane's pokeball. "An Azumarill, huh. Well come on out Deino." A small light purple puokemon appeared with black fur covering most of its body, including its eyes and nose, leaving only its mouth visible. It sniffed around and growled at Bubbles. "Start things off with Bite, Deino!" Bane shouted as the little pokemon lunged at Bubbles, maw wide open. His jaws snapped shut on Bubbles's side, making her wince in pain. Perfect. Just what I wanted. "Bubbles sit still and let his jaws sink in deep!" Krystal yelled to her. Bane gave her a weird look, which she just returned with a sly smile. "Play Rough." She said as Bane's eyes went wide, forgetting the Azumarill was recently reclassified as part Fairy type, unlocking previously hidden abilities. Without hesitation, Bubbles knocked the Deino away and proceded to pound it into the floor, dust and chunks of marble were blown everywhere.
One nearly hit Haxorus. (Hey watch it! Were trying to have a conversation here!) She turned back to Robby. (Anyway, back to what we were talking about. Do you think two people should be together no matter who they are?) Robby looked at Krystal, who was smiling as she watched her Azumarill absolutely body the poor dark dragon pokemon. He ducked as another chunk of marble came hurtling his way. "Hey watch it Krystal! I nearly caught that last one in the eye!" He yelled at her. She turned and frowned at Robby, but mercifully to everyone, especially the poor Deino, told Bubbles to stop. She backed off and walked proudly over to her trainer and struck a mighty pose, causing Krystal to laugh. Bane returned his poor dragon and pulled out another ball. "This next one will due you in." Bane said proudly as he threw his next ball onto the field. It was a small purple snake with a white underbelly, large black eyes, and fin-like ears. "A Dratini? Impressive. But it doesn't matter. Bubbles beat it up too." Bubbles leapt into action but the small purple snake dodged. "Use Dragon Dance to dodge her attacks!" he said smiling as Krystal's eyes went wide.
Drake watched as Bubbles kept trying to hit the snake-like dragon, but was just too slow, as it just maneuvered around her. He was absently petting the Salamence's head as she just rested next to the bleachers. (Anyway, what was your answer?) Haxorus asked. "What?" Robby asked, tearing his eyes away from the battle in front of him. (I said, what do you think of two people…) She turned away quickly as she turned red (or pokemon…) she continued, just barely heard by Robby, (could be together no matter who they are or what they look like?) Robby gave her in interested look. "Sure, I guess. I just think the two individuals should have mutual feelings for each other. But let me ask you this." He leaned in close to the Axe Jaw pokemon and whispered, "So which 'mon is it?" he asked. Haxorus turned extremely red and her eyes went wide. (It's no one! Why did I even ask you?) She roared, disrupting the match for a moment as she stormed off. As Krystal and Bane resumed their match, Robby turned to Salamence. "Sorry I didn't know she would do that." He said somewhat somberly. The winged blue dragon just smiled. (Don't worry about it. She'll cool down eventually.) They turned their heads back to the match as Dratini had just knocked out Bubbles with a powerful thunderbolt.
"Send in your next pokemon, please." The ref said. Krystal thought for a moment, before pulling Gwen's ball. "Your turn to shine Gwen!" Krystal said. Gwen was sitting, with an intense look on her face, trying to stare down the Dratini (Your going down little snake!) Gwen yelled. Bane smiled once again. "Bulldoze." He said flatly. In an instant, the Dratini slammed his tail into the ground sending a large shockwave, as well as dirt and marble, into Gwen. Screaming in pain she fell over unconscious. "Damn it!" Krystal cursed herself for not properly preparing Gwen for this fight. She made a mental note to train Gwen for their second gym battle. Without waiting for the ref she pulled out her last ball and looked at it intently. I hope we can do this, big guy. I would hate to come into this gym starting off so well, just for it to end in defeat. She took a deep breath. "Onyx, your move!" The red beam kept growing larger and larger as it loomed over the small serpent. It glared at Dratini and roared, causing the room to shake. Robby and Drake and Bane were quite surprised that she would use the black colored Steelix in her battle. They looked at Krystal, who was smiling. "While their surprised, surprise them by using Bind." With a nod of his head he coiled around the small dragon and slowly started to crush it. It let out a squeak of pain which caused Bane to refocus. "Try to wiggle out of his grasp." He shouted. It tried to free itself from Onyx's grip, but he would have none of it. "Now slam him into the ground and use Stealth Rocks, then finish it off with Gyro Ball!" Uncoiling himself he flung the poor Dratini into the ground. He then summoned pointed stones that jutted slightly out from Bane's side of the field. Rolling into a ball, he rammed strait into the Dragon pokemon, sending it sailing high over its trainer and into a wall, leaving behind a spider web-cracked crater behind.
Bane let out another hearty laugh. "Wow that is a big Steelix, where did you find such a fine specimen?" He asked. Krystal let out a little laugh. "Actually I caught him earlier this morning, before he tried to squish us under his massive body." She said with a legitimate smile on her face. Banes eyes went wide, as did Salamence's as Drake and Robby just shivered at the memory of the event. "Nut enough of that. We can talk later. Sent out your last pokemon to be crushed." Krystal said with a cocky look on her face. "Confident are we?" Bane said smiling. "My last is a real beute. Come on out Shelgon" The large white ball-like pokemon appeared from the red beam. It was lacking arms, but it had four black legs and no neck. Its yellow eyes stared intently at large pokemon in front of it. Without waitig for a command he let out a stream of red orange flame that hit Onyx head on causing him to rear back and let out a roar of pain. "You're all I have left, big guy; I know you won't let me down!" Onyx had started to sweat and was panting slightly from the fire attack, nodded in recognition of its position. "Curse!" Krystal yelled. The Big snake relaxed allowing his body to become harder and heavier, meaning he would hit harder at the loss of agility.
The two pokemon battled it out as flame and dust almost constantly covered the area, severely reducing visibility of both trainers. "Don't let the dust stop you Shelgon! Use Flamethrower again!" Bane shouted. Everyone could see the orange stram of fire hit him again, letting out yet another roar of pain. Shit! Think Krystal think! Our conventional attacks are either too slow or won't do enough damage to knock his Shelgon out. I need something a little more… out there. Hmmm… I have it! She shook her head bringing herself back to the battle. The dust had cleared and both pokemon were sweating profusely and were panting heavily. She could see that the Shelgon was just spewing embers, not having the strength for an actual Flamethrower attack. This was her chance. "Onyx, batter UP!" She yelled to her Steelix. It took him a moment to understand her command, but quickly realized what she wanted and started to swing his tail at the Shelgon's face. It tried to follow its trainer's command to use Flamethrower again but was too exhausted and relented to its fate. Bane could only watch as the mighty steel tail caught his beloved friend in the face and send it rocketing through the door in the back with a loud crash.
The entire gym was silent for a moment before Robby and Drake stated applauding her and Salamence let out a happy, mellow roar. Bane went into the back room to return his pokemon. He returned a few minutes later with a few things in hand. Bane handed her not only a TMP, but a pink badge case and a small reddish-orange CD as well. She opened the case revealing a purple set of vertical bars each outlined in gold. "That is the Escalation Badge, it is proof that you won against me. I think you know what the player does, but here is a TM. It contains Dragon Tail. The pokemon slams its tail into its opponent and forces them back into their balls. It has its uses." He let out a hearty laugh. She took the items and put them into her bag. Looking around she saw the destruction they had caused. Two the statues lay in a pile of rubble, the floor was shattered, and the walls didn't look much better. "Don't worry about it. It was a little too fancy for my tastes anyway." Bane said, following her gaze.
She turned to her Steelix. "You did an amazing job buddy, whoever your last trainer was stupid for giving you away." Onyx let out a roar of happiness and beamed a genuine smile at his trainer. He lowered his head at her request and was rewarded with another one of her 'hugs'. "So who is up next?" Bane asked, looking at the group. Robby and Drake looked at each other and nodded. Drake turned and spoke up. "We know you are very busy sir, with both gym leader and personal duties. So would you accept a double battle proposition?" He was rewarded with a heavy pat on the back, which nearly sent him sprawling to the ground. "Bold, I like that in a trainer! Sure, just let me change my team and get my other 'mons healed, and then we can begin." He said walking off. Not a moment later a very familiar and annoyed Haxorus walked through the doorway.
(What the hell! I can't even relax around here without Shelgons flying through the damn door! What is it with you people?) She said angrily as she approached the three trainers. Onyx, realizing she was angry slithered in front of his trainer to protect her if the Haxorus decided to try to attack her. Luckily, she stomped past Krystal and right up to Robby. (First you torment me about my personal decisions, now you bother me again? What do you want?!) She roared. (Haxorus, take it easy! It wasn't his fault! I think your overreacting!) Haxorus whipped around and glared at her friend. But something got a hold of her and the anger flowed from her body. Relaxing her tensed muscles, her face turned red and she looked down at the ground, ashamed of her behavior in front of her good friend. (Is something bothering you Haxorus?) She asked. (No!) Haxorus responded a little too quickly. (Come on, you know me, you can tell me anything.) Haxorus looked up and spotted her friend smiling sweetly at her. Damn it! How do I tell her? What if she doesn't… You know what, fuck it. Here goes nothing. Shaking off her internal conversation, she looked directly into Salamence's eyes. (Actually, there is something. Could we talk in private for a moment?) Salamence nodded and followed her yellow-green dragon friend to other side of the battlefield.
"Can you hear anything Robby?" Krystal asked him. He shook his head. "Besides it would be rude to eavesdrop on a personal conversation." Drake said as he watched the two dragons converse. (So, what did you need to talk to me about?) Salamence said as they reached the other side of the field. (Um…) Haxorus stammered as she tapped her claws together and looked at down at the floor. (It's kind of… personal. And you don't have to answer if you don't want to, ok?) Salamence nudged her friend with one of her legs, causing Haxorus to raise her head. Her face was bright red. (Go ahead and ask away. I will answer any question you ask.) She said, smiling sweetly. Haxorus gave her a nervous smile. (Um, here goes,) she said, taking a deep breath. (Were friends, you know. Right? Anyway, we have been friends for as long as I can remember and I like you. Like more that regular friends should, you know? I have had kind of a crush on you for the longest time. You may have gathered that I don't swing for any of the boys on our trainer's team. I like girls more. I don't know why, I just do. So I was wondering…) Now Haxorus turned blood red and really started to stammer. (D-d-d-do y-you like me b-b-back?) She finished, her head retaining the red coloring and she resumed looking at the floor.
Salamence was shocked. Sure, she knew Haxorus liked her, but not in that way. But what they didn't know was that she also swung the same way. She never told anyone on the team, especially Dragonite, they all thought she was kind of a bitch. Plus she thought that Haxorus was pretty cute herself. Without another word, she put her head under Haxorus's and raised it up to eye level. And before she could lower it again, she reached out with her long neck and planted a sensual kiss right on Haxorus's lips. Her eyes widened in shock as she came to realize what was happening. Before Salamence could pull away, she wrapped her arms around the blue dragon's neck and held her close.
All three trainers , (and one pokemon's), eyes popped out of their skulls and their mouths hit the floor. "Holy. Fucking. Arceus." Krystal said as they watched the two dragons make out. Just then Bane came out with four pokemon attached to his belt. He cocked his head as he looked at the trainers. He had the same reaction as he followed their gaze and witnessed the same sight. Letting out a hearty laugh, he spoke loud enough for the dragons to hear him. "Well, I didn't know Salamence swung that way. Hahaha, good for you, girls!" Their heads snapped towards the voice, a strand of saliva still attached between their mouths, their faces red as tomatos upon discovery that they were being watched. "But if you're going to go any further, please go find an empty room, and for Arceus's sake, Don't get caught by Dragonite!" He said with a serious tone in his voice. As the dragons lumbered off to find some place more private they could continue their exploration of one another, Bane turned back to his challengers. "I suppose you got an eyeful there, but I am a pretty busy man and would like to have this battle against you two." He said, he usual demeanor returning. To his surprise they were already on the other side of the field tossing their first pokeballs up and down in their hands. "Ready when you are!" They shouted together. It was going to be a good match.
That was chapter 10. Sorry if it was lacking some character development and wasn't what you were expecting for gym battle #2. About half way through I got the idea for Haxorus and Salamence. I thought that the first gym battle was somewhat lacking. Not in content mind you, but in depth of story. We have barely scratched the surface, and after chapter 11, I will try to flush out some of the characters for you guys and girls. I hoped you liked the little event near the end. That was only part one of the two segments I plan to write about Haxorus and Salamence. I know they aren't main characters, but I thought I needed something to bring a little life to the gyms. Sorry if it was kind of garbage, it was my first time writing something like that. Don't forget to review and follow if you really like it! Remember pokemon info is on my bio and feel free to PM me with any questions, concerns or critiques. Till then, peace out!
-Aggron Prime