Chapter 10
"That was way too much fun! I just beat Pallet Town's supposed best!" Samantha said happily.
"No, from what I've seen, you are Pallet Town's supposed best. But that doesn't mean you should let it all go to your head!" Tony warned.
"Relax, Tony! Since the day Bobby and I found each other, I've been a hardcore trainer. Day in, and day out. I haven't really ever stopped to appreciate how much fun Pokémon training can be."
"TUUUUU!" a tiny voice screamed out in horror.
"What the--" Tony said before being nearly tripped by a tiny little bird.
"Ekaaaansss!" an Ekans cried, not about to let its meal escape so easily.
The little bird hopped around Samantha in absolute terror, as the Ekans slithered after it hungrily. Samantha became quite annoyed that something just had to ruin her fun moment. She stomped down hard on the Ekans' tail!
"Kaaaaaa!" Ekans squealed, making a hasty retreat!
"Stupid snake!" Samantha yelled at the fleeing Ekans. She noticed the ting bird was still at her feet and shaking. "Now, what would you be?"
"Natu. The Tiny-Bird Pokémon.
Though its size is small, its Psychic
abilities are known to be devastating.
Approach with caution."
Samantha closed her Pokédex, "You don't seem all that dangerous, Natu. Why were you running? According to my Pokédex, you could have beaten that silly snake..."
"Tuuu..." it shuddered more.
"This is a wild guess, but this forest must be dangerous for a Natu. I've heard that the only place you can even find them in Johto is in the Ruins of Alph," Tony noted.
"Well you can follow us, Natu. We'll keep you safe until we get to Ecruteak City..." Samantha offered.
"Tu?" the bird said.
"Sure! Come on now!"
Tony and Samantha continuted up the road to Ecruteak City, with the Natu following close behind.
"Well, here we are!" Tony smiled as they entered Ecruteak City. "You wanna face this Gym alone, Sammie?"
"Have something better to do, Tony?"
Tony shrugged, "Blaze and I will find something to do to pass our time..."
"Ok. I'll come find you after I'm done with Morty. Have fun!"
Tony took off towards the northwest, and Samantha walked due westward to the Gym. As she made her way to the Ecruteak City Gym, she spotted Tin Tower. The quiet tower brought back about a thousand memories that not even Samantha was sure she wanted. Thankfully, she was now at the door to the Gym...
"Well, here goes nothing Joelle!"
"Tuuuu!" Natu cried out. Samantha had even noticed it was still following her.
"Don't worry, I'll think of something when I'm done, Natu..."
"Welcome to our Gym..." a bunch of creepy sages and mediums chanted in unison. "There's no floor in front of you...what will you do?" they all snickered.
Samantha sighed and walked straigh across the "no-floor" area, and face to face with a grinning Morty.
"So, you don't trust your own eyes? That's good! Because you're going to have to believe in nothing but yourself if you want to beat me! 3 on 3?" Morty asked.
"Sure thing..." Samantha responded.
"Go, Haunter!" the leader said releasing his first Pokémon of this battle.
"It's your time to shine, Joelle!" Samanahta said releasing Joelle from her Pokéball.
"Whoa, you have a Misdreavus? Well, at least you know what you're in for then!" Morty smiled.
"Maybe you have NO idea what I'm capable of, Morty!" Samantha smiled back.
Morty laughed, "You have some spirit...and a Ghost-Pokémon! You may be able to finally help me reach my next level!"
"Joelle, NIGHT SHADE!"
"Nuh-uh! Haunter, TELEPORT!"
Joelle's intended target disappeared, then reappeared behind her!
"Haunter, use your NIGHT SHADE!"
Haunter's ghostly energy surrounded Joelle and began to squeeze her. Samantha was watching how Haunter attacked. She noticed Haunter had to stay perfectly still to successfully keep Joelle trapped in the attack...
"Sittin' duck! Joelle, use SHADOW BALL!"
Joelle's powerful ball of concentrated ghost energy shot right at Haunter, and super effectively nailed it! The evolved Ghost-Pokémon already had had enough!
"SHADOW BALL, huh?" Marty asked suprised as he recalled Haunter.
"So what? It worked right?" Samantha frowned.
"Just...Ghost-Pokémon don't usually learned that move so easily. ..and at that power! Guess I'll have to watch it! Go, Gengar!"
"Gennn..." Gengar laughed at the smalled Joelle.
"Now Gengar, start this off with GIGA DRAIN!"
Both Joelle and Samantha were caught off-guard by that sudden command for a Grass-type attack. Gengar snickered happily as it sucked the energy right out of Joelle.
"Ok, that's enough! Hit her with SHADOW BALL, Gengar!"
Gengar stopped its attack, and began to charge for a SHADOW BALL. Even though she seemed to be in pain, Joelle still managed to narrowly evade the dangerous attack.
"Get closer then try again, Gengar!"
Gengar flew right at Joelle, and that made Samantha grin again.
"What is this, target practice? Joelle, PSYBEAM!"
From the tip of her head, Joelle fired a stream of pure Psychic energy right at the airborne Gengar, and hit it right in between its eyes! Gengar backed off in pain, and seemed a little confused as to where he was...
"SHADOW BALL, Joelle!"
The confused Gengar could to little to evade Joelle's most powerful attack!
"Nice try, Gengar!" Morty said recalling his Pokémon. "I have to admit, that's one tough little spook you have there, Samantha. Maybe it's time I try something new, huh?"
Samantha looked at Joelle with some concern, "Sweetie, I don't know what he'll use next. Are you still up to battling after those two rounds?"
"Dree!" Joelle smiled.
Morty laughed, "Ok then. Here's something REALLY new! Go, Dusclops!"
A ghost Samantha had never seen before, now stood before her:
"Dusclops. The Beckon Pokémon.
The evolved form of a Duskull.
This one-eyed Pokémon is extremely durable,
and uses more advanced Ghost-Type attacks."
"That's funny..." Samantha said closing her Pokédex. "It says here that you can only find a Dusclops in some weird place called Hoenn..."
Morty smiled, "To find my maximum potential as a Pokémon trainer, I would travel anywhere! By the way, this is my first battle with Dusclops, so take it easy, ok?"
"No promises. Joelle, PSYBEAM!"
"Check this out! Dusclops, WILL-O-WISP!" was Morty's counter.
Dusclops surrounded itself with some kind of eerie, super-natural blue fire, deflecting Joelle's PSYBEAM attack. It then shot a piece of the surreal blue fire at Joelle, burning her!
"Oh no, Joelle! That's a nasty burn!"
"I'm not done yet! Go for it Dusclops, SHADOW PUNCH!"
Quicker than the blink of an eye, Dusclops punched Joelle with the same power and velocity as one of her SHADOW BALL attacks!
"Joelle!" Samantha cried out.
"Mis..." Joelle said floating up a little higher.
"Whoa Samantha...I may not know her as well as you do, but your Pokémon seems like she needs to take a rest..."
"How do you feel?" Samantha asked Joelle in deep concern.
"Dree!"
"Joelle, I know you want to finish what you've started, but that's no excuse to hurt yourself more! You're almost out of strength, and look at Morty's Dusclops! It's almost as...good...as...new...HEY! Wait a minute!" Samantha stopped herself.
"Okay Samantha, if you really think your Pokémon can go on...Dusclops, finish this with another SHADOW PUNCH!" Morty commanded.
As Dusclops got closer with its deadly Ghost-type attack, Joelle stood her ground, although still in a lot of pain. Samantha took a very deep breath, and hoped this would work for Joelle's sake, anyway. "Ok sweetie, use your PAIN SPLIT attack!"
"WHAT!" Morty cried.
Joelle's body began to glow so radiantly, that Dusclops stopped its attack in awe. In another instant, Dusclops was glowing just like Joelle was. When the lights subsided, Dusclops looked slightly winded, and Joelle looked much better than she had been!
"Wow, that actually worked! It takes the damage a Pokémon suffers, and deals half of it right back to their opponent, while the opponent, in turn, gives my Pokémon an extra boost of health!" Samantha smiled explaining Joelle's quite unique attack.
"No kidding!" Morty chuckled, "Oh well, we'll just have to try again! Dusclops, use a SHADOW BALL this time!"
Dusclops used its variation of the SHADOW BALL attack, bu the now slightly rejuvenated Joelle easily dodged the attack!
"Oh, no..." Morty sighed.
"In the blink of an eye! Joelle, SHADOW BALL!" Samantha smiled proudly.
Joelle's most powerful attack moved at unbelievable speed, as it slammed hard into Dusclops! AS if feeling half of Joelle's misery wasn't enough, Joelle's powerful ball of ghost-energy sapped what little strength Dusclops may have had left.
"Wow...congratulations!" Morty grinned recalling Dusclops. "See, I think we've both learned something today, Samantha!"
"Awesome job, Joelle! Return! I guess we did, haven't we, Morty?"
"Well, that's good enough for me! I concede defeat, totally! As per the league rules, here is your FOGBADGE!"
"Good match, Morty!" Samantha said accepting her 6th badge.
As Samantha exited Ecruteak City's Gym, she tripped over something and stumbled foward to the ground.
"Why me?" Samantha said looking up at the sky from the ground.
"Tu?" the Natu said looking down at Samantha.
Samantha got up and dusted her black pants off, "Still hanging around here, huh? Still, I have to think of something to do with you, little bird...