Hey guys, just so you know, Lizy has her own POV of Legends of Cataria, you should all check it out! ;)
Tazie-D Check her out, she has some of the art from the book as well :)
Chapter Ten:
In the morning, Ryder woke up, and ate breakfast quickly with his parents, before the three of them left and went back to the mines, where the professor and Lizy were already waiting.
Lizy ran up and hugged Ryder, who then walked up to the professor and shook his hand.
"Any news from Eevee?" Ryder asked.
The professor shook his head.
The miners were all heading back into the mines, with their pokemon, as Ryder's mom went back to the main building.
As they reached the entrance, Ryder saw a group of miners that had formed a ring around a Breloom, and another pokemon that Ryder couldn't see. They were laughing and cheering.
Ryder tilted his head, and began to walk over, and nearly fell over when he really saw what was going on.
The Breloom was attacking a young Shieldon, who was just trying to get away, but the miners kept throwing it back in the ring.
The Shieldon was squeaking as it tried to escape, but the Breloom wouldn't let up.
Ryder noticed who the trainer was.
He was a heavy set man, in his mid forties, with a huge beer gut, salt and pepper hair, and a scruffy beard.
"You useless pokemon!" He shouted, "Breloom get that stupid thing out of my sight! Use low sweep"!
"BRE!" The Breloom shouted, and swung its tail with massive force, taking out the Shieldon's legs, and knocking it to the ground. Ryder could tell that the poor Shieldon couldn't take much more.
Ryder ran up into the circle, and tore the pokeball from its chain.
"Swinub!" He shouted throwing the pokeball. "Come out and use tackle on that Breloom"!
Swinub came soaring out of the pokeball, and without touching the ground, soared over the heads of the gawking miners, and smashed the Breloom square in the chest, knocking it to the ground.
"What the hell..." The big miner said, confused. "Breloom get your ass up, and fight back"!
The Breloom quickly got to its feet, and stood facing Swinub, who had landed softly on the concrete, between Breloom and Shieldon.
"Stay out of this kid," the miner said. "This is between me and my pokemon. Well ex pokemon". He flashed a glance at Shieldon, who was struggling to its feet, trying to limp its way towards Ryder.
"Lizy get the Shieldon back," Ryder said, staring down the miner.
"You can't take him from me!" The miner shouted in rage. "He's MY Pokemon"!
"Technically..." Another miner interjected. "You did release him".
"Shut up!" The miner yelled. "Guys get up here".
From behind him, three more miners, all massive men, stepped up next to him. Each drew a pokeball, and threw it into the air.
In the blink of an eye, there was now a Machoke, Primape, and Donphan, along with the Breloom all squaring off and glaring at Swinub, and Lizy struggled to get the small but heavy Shieldon out of harm's way.
Ryder knew that Swinub had no chance against all four Pokemon, but knew that he might be able to give Lizy a chance to get the Shieldon away from the miners.
"Well this isn't fair at all now is it," a voice called from behind Ryder, and a moment later John rolled up next to him, in his wheelchair, to Ryder's right and Flareon had bounded forward next to Swinub.
"I say we even the odds a little bit." Said another voice to his left.
Professor Diotte stepped up to Ryder's left, and Dragonite slammed down from the skies to Swinub's left, head lowered and ready to battle.
As if on cue, Spook came floating up between Swinub and Dragonite, his two fangs bared, and eyes locked on his opponents, and Lizy stepped between Ryder and the professor, and interlocked her fingers with his.
"We have you back Ryder," she said.
The miners seemed worried, but Ryder continued to stare down the burly man, who was staring right back at him.
Suddenly Brandon's Arcanine bolted in between the two teams with its ExtremeSpeed.
Brandon followed a few moments later.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" He shouted. "I understand that your all under a lot of stress, but we need to focus on the greater good, there's no point in all of your Pokemon being injured because of a pointless battle. The quarrel is between Ryder and... this gentlemen".
"Tom." The miner said, still not taking his eyes off Ryder.
"Alright, Tom", Brandon said. "We should allow them, and only them to battle and settle this dispute".
Ryder looked at John, Lizy, and the Professor. "It's alright guys," he said. "I got this".
The three returned their pokemon, and Lizy shot Ryder a concerned look, before backing away, and into the crowd.
Tom looked to his left and right, and nodded, and the other miners did the same. It was now Ryder and Swinub, against Tom and Breloom.
"You shouldn't treat your Pokemon that way". Ryder said sternly.
Swinub snorted in agreement.
"Don't tell me how to treat my Pokemon boy." Tom countered. "And after we beat you, I'm going to take my piece of crap Shieldon back, and we'll see how it shapes up after I'm done with it".
Ryder couldn't believe that someone would want to beat such a rare fossil Pokemon.
The only way to revive a fossilized Pokemon in the Cataria Region, was to work for the Schultz Mining Company. Even if you were to find a fossil of a pokemon, the Schultz Headquarters in Apollox, was the only place that had the equipment to actually revive one.
Suddenly, the battle was on.
"Breloom use Megadrain"!
Breloom bounded towards Swinub, and Ryder could see the green energy flowing out of Swinub, towards Breloom.
Swinub didn't even flinch though. Grass moves were highly ineffective against Swinub.
"Swinub, use Power Snow! Then follow up with a tackle!" Ryder shouted.
The Breloom was blinded and pelted by the icy snow, and from the white, Swinub came barreling out at full tilt, and smashed into Breloom, sending it sailing into Tom, knocking them both onto the pavement.
This was a new combination Ryder and Swinub had been working on, called Frozen Fury. Ryder wanted to try and teach Swinub with Blizzard instead, but Swinub's Blizzard attack wasn't focused enough, and was still out of control.
The snow subsided, and Ryder saw Tom on the ground, with Breloom collapsed on top of him.
Tom sat up, knocking his Breloom to its feet.
"Come on you weak excuse for a pokemon. GET UP!" Tom yelled at the top of his lungs.
Breloom struggled to its feet, trying to please its trainer but was barely able to stand.
"You need to learn to treat your pokemon better". Ryder said sternly. "They will never be as powerful as a Pokemon who is loved and cared for".
Tom shook his head. "Come on then, let's see what your made of".
Ryder shook his head. This guy has some major issues, Ryder thought. But still he needs to be taught a lesson.
"Breloom! Finish this now with Solarbeam!" Tom yelled.
Breloom opened its mouth wide, and a yellowish white ball of energy began to form as it charged its Solarbeam.
Before Ryder could tell Swinub what to do, Swinub reared up on its hind legs, and let out its loud squeal, like Ryder had seen it try before, and then slammed back down, hard.
A tiny crack opened up in the ground, beneath Swinub's feet, and was only small enough for anyone who was looking for it to see.
It travelled across the pavement, and right as it reached the Breloom's feet, a tiny chunk of earth was forced upwards, throwing the Breloom off balance, and sending it face first to the ground at its trainer's feet, right as the Solarbeam was released.
There was a fairly large explosion, and the two opponents were lost in a cloud of smoke and dust.
Ryder stood, shocked for a moment before realizing what had actually happened.
Swinub had actually learned Earthquake!
As small as the Earthquake may have been, it was still an extremely effective attack, and clearly the people in the crowd had taken notice.
Seconds later, the crowd began to clap, and cheer, as the smoke cleared showing both Tom, and Breloom had been knocked out cold, and Ryder had won!
As the crowd cheered, Ryder could hear the sound of heavily, pounding feet against the concrete, and as Ryder turned, his eyes went wide.
A Rampardos was charging through the crowd, head bowed, and was headed right for Lizy! while Spook, once again out of his pokeball, wasn't paying any attention.
"Alright so you want some too?!" Ryder shouted, as the crowd took notice of the charging pokemon.
They screamed and dived out of the way, as Ryder skidded in front of Lizy, barring the Rampardos' way.
"Swinub!" Ryder yelled, "Use-".
"Stop!" Lizy yelled, "I know that Pokemon"!
Ryder took his eyes off the Rampardos for only a fraction of a second, but it was just enough time for it to jump clean over Ryder, and Ryder looked up and saw its grey underbelly, and tackled Lizy to the ground.