Chapter 11
Flag the Opening Battle
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"…so I think that you two should travel together!" Cruz finished with a large white flash of light reflecting off of the glass of his glasses.
"…wait, say what?" Miles and Kris shouted at the same time.
"I know what you're thinking," Cruz chuckled lifting his hands up in a defensive manner. "Cruz, how do you expect us to travel with complete strangers? Not to worry! You've got tonight to get to know each other!"
"But why you may ask? Simple! Its always a good idea to travel with another, the squirt will escort Miss Durain to Domon City, and in return, Miss Durain will make sure that the squirt will take the league challenge. It's a win-win situation!"
"…is this guy stupid?" Kris asked turning towards Miles.
"…I'm starting to think so…" Miles replied.
"And what's so stupid about my idea?" Cruz pouted pushing up his glasses to hide the demise that was planted on his face.
"Because there are other ways to solve this problem!" Miles shouted, jumping from his seat. "Like for one, couldn't we just set her up with some bus fare? Or how about you escort her yourself!"
"Although annoying, I do have to agree with the idiot," Kris sighed shaking her head at Miles.
"Hey!"
However, Miles's complaints fell onto the deaf ears of Kris, "Why don't you just give me the money, and I can transfer you it later when I get back home?"
"Hmm, that is a good point," Cruz thought out loud rubbing his chin slightly.
Miles couldn't believe it, was someone actually going to listen to him? And that someone was going to be Cruz?
"Nope!"
…so much for Miles's hope…
"What do you mean 'Nope'?" Kris demanded with her eyes narrowed at the silver overcoat wearing man.
From the cold glare from the pre-teen, Cruz lifted his arms up in a defensive manner. "N-Now wait a minute here little lady, I-I already explained that I have to get back to work tomorrow…"
"-Are you sure Cruz?-" Absol questioned from the corner, his head tilted slightly to the side as Lee did the same. "-Since when have you been known to get to work on time?-"
"Not helping here Absol!" Cruz growled.
"-I hardly ever do…-" Absol chuckled as the disaster pokemon lowered his head to the ground.
Cruz brought up his gloved hand, covering his mouth, mostly to hide the scared look his mouth was giving away, "A-Anyway, as for the bus fare idea, I'm kinda hurting on cash myself…"
"Is that why you made me buy lunch?" Miles asked with a droplet of sweat rolling down the side of his head.
"No, it was your turn to buy lunch," Cruz chuckled wagging his finger at Miles.
"What the heck are you talking about!?" Miles snapped throwing his arms about in the air. "Today was the first day that we met and you made me pay!"
"Now then, any other questions?" Cruz inquired turning a blind eye to Miles's ranting.
"Stop ignoring me!"
"Then it's settled!" Cruz announced with his hand clapped together. "You two will travel together; I trust you two don't have any objections?"
"I do!" Kris shouted slamming her fist into the nearby wall.
Miles crossed his arms at Cruz and narrowed his eyes as Lee yawned loudly from the bed, "Same here! I've been forced to do everything everyone has been telling me to do ever since I got to Saora! And frankly, I'm getting tired of it! And another thing…"
Before Miles had a chance to continue, Cruz placed a hand onto Miles's shoulder, forcing the young trainer to look up into the older man's face. A chill ran Miles's spine when he was met with the eerie smile that was on Cruz's face, "Now, now, now kiddo, you should learn to listen to your adults and follow their advice…like I'm giving you right now…"
The smile was making Miles calm down, and yet, it still sent that shiver down his spine…and that's when Cruz turned towards Kris, almost making her just as calmed down, "And as for you young lady, you should be more trusting of people…"
Absol just rolled his crimson eyes at his trainer's actions, "-Great…as usual…-"
"-Wait…what just happened here?-" Lee asked before he leapt off the bed. Lee gracefully landed on the ground next to Absol, getting the dark disaster pokemon's attention.
"-Heh, its just something that Cruz came up with in his spare time,-" Absol explained, scoffing to the side with a sweatdrop rolling down the side of his head. During his travels with Cruz, Absol learned that Cruz was the flashy kinda guy…
…how about telling us something new here?
Anyway, over their travels, Cruz had spent a few nights when they were forced to rest outdoors working on his weird techniques. There were at least thirteen different techniques that Cruz had created, he said that he had names for them, but he wasn't going to tell the names.
Why?
It's cooler that way.
Back to reality (or what was close to it in any case with this group), Cruz crossed his arms at the two young trainers, "Since I trust that neither of you have any objections, I'll be helping you two along the path of righteousness!"
"What?" Miles and Kris questioned at the same time.
"-Don't question his choice of words-" Absol yawned as he stretched his claws onto the ground. "-Sometimes he doesn't know what he's talking about…-"
Both Miles and Kris sweatdropped at Absol's comment, but Cruz ignored the comment as he threw the door wide open. "So, off we go!"
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Time: 12:59 pm
Location: Outside some weird building,
Burgundy City
And that's how Miles and Lee found themselves standing in front of a large, weirdly shaped building. The building itself was at least a story tall with many decals of flames that raced over the building; the building also had several windows in the main structure that were also painted with flames.
Lee was starry eyed as he gazed at the building while he leapt from Mile's shoulder, "-W-Wow!-"
Miles on the other hand couldn't help but sweatdrop at the building, more specifically the sign that was written over the doors, "…are tacky signs a fad here?" The sign read 'Burgundy City Gym: Flag for Flames!' "And 'Flag for Flames'? What does that even mean?!"
"-Aw don't be a stick in the mud!-" Lee laughed as he turned around on his heel to look at Miles, "-After all, Cruz did go through all the trouble to bring us here.-"
"…you really don't see it do you?" Miles asked.
"-See what?-"
"I've been forced to do something again!"
"-Ah, bear with it like a man.-"
"This coming from a pokemon who was born in the previous week," Miles sighed reaching into his pocket to pull out the small platinum case that had his name drawn on it with permanent blue marker on it. The memory plagued his mind when he looked at it…
"Here you go kiddo!"
"What the? What's this?"
"Trust me, kiddo, you're gonna need it when you're working on the Gym League Challenge…"
"Now wait a minute!"
"There had better be a badge in that case when I see it next!"
With a loud slap to his forehead, Miles shook his head. "…dang it."
"-Hey Miles…-" Lee stated crossing his arms towards Absol who was sitting next to Miles. "-Why is HE here?-"
"That's…a good question," Miles admitted turning towards Cruz's lead pokemon. "Why exactly are you here?"
"-You have Cruz to thank for that as well,-" Absol explained, his head slightly tilted to the side. "-Since he was with that angry girl with him, he wanted me to watch your battle in his stead.-"
"And what's the point of that?" Miles asked.
"-How do you expect me to know?-" Absol retorted.
"…why do I bother?" Miles asked to no one in particular before he slowly headed towards the doors to the gym. "Well, might as well get this over with."
Just as Miles was about to open the doors, the doors themselves flew open, slamming into Miles's face. The force sent him spiraling backwards, crashing face first into the ground. Lee and Absol blinked in confusion as Miles pushed himself off of the ground. "O-OW!"
"-Doors one, Miles none,-" Lee chuckled loudly poking Miles's shoulder.
"Erg…why did you say that?" Miles moaned rubbing his bruised nose, and yet it wasn't bleeding.
"-Just calling it a feeling,-" Lee replied.
"Oh, my, are you okay?"
"Huh?" Miles questioned as he turned around to see the person who slammed the door in his face, standing in the doorway of the gym.
There was something familiar about the guy, but Miles couldn't his finger on it. With his long brown hair (which was braided in a few locks) covered with a hat that had a fiery design on it, the rugged faced young man scratched his chin. And his slightly muscular body was covered with a yellow vest over a black jumpsuit that creaked when he bent over towards Miles. "Dude, I asked are you okay?"
"Nothing that a bandage can't fix," Miles groaned as he stood up. 'And a lawsuit…'
"Then, that's good for ya," The rugged man replied shutting the door behind. "I'd hate to spend any more time here than I have to…"
"Yeah, wait, what?" Miles asked, blinking a few times at the rugged man.
"I don't like repeating myself," The rugged man said with a shake of his head. "You see, I've got a pair of guests tonight and don't want to keep them waiting longer than I have to."
"Uh, well, before you go," Miles started rubbing the back of his head. "Do you think you could help me?"
"That all depends," The rugged man replied crossing his arms over his chest. "What do you need? Cause if its cash, I can't help ya on that."
"As much as I would like money," Miles commented, thinking about how his wallet had thinned out because of Cruz. "That's not why I'm here. Rather, I'm supposed to find a gym leader, I think…"
"…I see…" The rugged man sighed loudly, adjusting his bandana. "Great, I guess I'm going to have to keep my guests waiting then…"
"Why do you say that?" Miles asked raising an eyebrow.
Cracking his neck a few times, the rugged man threw his thumb up towards Miles and the two pokemon, "Because, I am the Burgundy City gym leader! Warren Sinclair, at your service, at your service!"
"Sinclair?" Miles thought out loud, where had Miles heard that name before? …oh well, if he couldn't remember it, then it wasn't important.
"Way to repeat my name," Warren sighed shaking his head. "Now, are you here to talk about my name or did want something, something?"
"Yeah, well…" Miles really didn't want to battle this guy, maybe he should've just turned around and walked away.
Before Miles had a chance to finish his sentence, Leo ran up in front of Warren, his paw thrown towards the rugged Gym Leader. "-We're here to fight!-"
"LEE!"
"-Quite the excessive pokemon you have there,-" Absol snickered.
"…you be quiet," Miles growled.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha!" Warren laughed loudly as he threw his head backwards. As the laughter rang through the air, Miles and Absol sweatdropped at the Gym Leader's behavior while Lee tilted his head to the side. "I can see the fiery soul in the eyes of this young fox!"
"Fiery soul?" Miles questioned, he had a few choice words to call Lee, and 'fiery soul' wasn't on that list of choice words. "…I'd call him more of a bothersome thief."
"-Aw, ya know you love me!-" Lee chuckled, scurrying up to Miles's shoulder, a grin plastered all over the Riolu's face.
"No I don't," Miles retorted.
"A battle is what you're wanting, and then you came to the right place!" Warren laughed slowly sliding behind Miles, making the tricked trainer to jump slightly. Throwing his arm over Miles's free shoulder, Warren slowly pushed Miles forward towards the entrance of the Gym, Absol slowly trotting behind. "I'm sure that my little sis and her bug haired boyfriend won't mind waiting a little bit longer."
"…bug haired?" Miles questioned, now this was getting annoying.
"By the way kiddo, kiddo," Warren stated before kicking the doors to the gym open (apparently it was a pull/push door) to allow the two teens and the two pokemon to walk into the room. "You got a name?"
Miles was really getting tired of being called kiddo, "The name's Miles Sabers and I guess…"
"Hold up, hold up, hold up," Warren stopped in mid-step, only to step in front of Miles. "You said Miles right?"
"Yeah…what of it?" Miles asked.
"Never you mind, never you mind," Warren replied spinning on his heel so that his back was to Miles. "We should just get this battle over with, yep!"
Miles stood still, rubbing his chin a few times. This didn't go unnoticed by Absol as the disaster pokemon just walked past Miles, "-Is there something troubling you?-"
"Its something," Miles replied slowly walking into the gym. "But, I can't put my finger on it…"
"-I've noticed that he seems to repeat himself a few times,-" Absol pointed out.
"-Will you two just hurry up!?-" Lee barked directly into Miles's ears, making the forced trainer stagger to the side a few times.
"OW!"
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Time: 1:05 pm
Location: Burgundy City Gym,
Burgundy City
The inside of the gym was quite different than what Miles thought it would look like, rather, the inside was almost a complete mismatch. The walls were adorned with red and blue flags that had a weird symbol of fire imprinted on them and thanks to some of the open windows in the building, the flags whipped about.
While on the main floor there was a large rocky field that looked almost real (if it wasn't for the fact that there was grass indoors). But what caught the attention of Miles, were the two separate flags at both ends of the field, both with the same mark on them as the flags on the walls.
"Hey! Hey!"
Miles shook his head getting his train of thought back on his head; Miles saw that Warren was standing on the other side of that very field holding up two small clothes of blue cloth. "Yeah?"
"I'm sure that you're excited and nervous about this," Warren chuckled tossing the blue cloths in the air a few times. "But don't worry, don't worry, things will turn out in the end the way they were supposed!"
'Actually, I was forced to do this…' Miles thought to himself before Lee leapt off his shoulder. "Huh?"
"-Bring it on! We're ready to take anything you can dish out!-" Lee barked a few times before waving his paws towards Warren.
"Lee!" Miles shouted.
"Ha, ha, what a fiery soul, what a fiery soul!" Warren laughed loudly crossing his arms. "I have to admit, I've never seen such a pokemon willing to fight so earnestly for his trainer…"
"-Hey, don't get the wrong idea, I can fight you without Miles,-" Lee stated turning his head to the side. "-He's just here for comic relief.-"
"What?!" Miles shouted, now his own pokemon was taking a shot at him. "You little…I'm your trainer!"
"Ahem…" Warren cleared his throat, only to get ignored.
"-I don't need a trainer,-" Lee retorted with a cool look appearing in the Riolu's eyes. "-Besides, I've gotten stronger and I don't need you…-"
"Excuse me…"
"What the hell are you talking about Lee?" Miles shouted stomping his foot forward, glaring down at the fox like pokemon. "You couldn't even be alone for ten minutes, and you were running away because you stole that scrap you call style!"
"Hey…"
"-The past's the past,-" Lee retorted throwing his own glare at Miles. "-The now's the now, and right now I'm going to battle…-"
A blood vessel twitched on the side of Warren's head, sure he could admire their fiery spirit and willingness to fight…but this was just getting annoying now, "KNOCK IT OFF! KNOCK IT OFF!"
Both Lee and Miles stepped back from the sudden yell, sweat rolled down their heads at the fiery aura that appeared around Warren's body. When he realized that the two had stopped fighting, the fiery aura disappeared around Warren, and a warm smile appeared on his face. "Ah, excellent, excellent. Now, since you two are going to be fighting together, I'm required to ask, is this your first time in a gym in Saora?"
"Uh, yes," Miles answered quickly, not wanting to get an angry Warren again.
"Then allow me to explain how we do things in Saora," Warren requested, his hand placing itself on the small blue flag that was next to him. "In Saora, each gym leader is permitted to design his or her gym's challenge. This can range to a regular battle like you would have in the streets with your fellow trainers, or go as far as like a contest battle to show who ever has the flashiest moves…"
'-Ah…the good old times,-' Absol thought to himself sitting behind Miles and Lee.
Warren drew the flag from the ground, waving over his head in a proud manner. "But for me and my gym, we go for a classic game of capture the flag!"
"…capture the flag?" Miles questioned as a few question marks popped over his head. "You want us to play…"
"-Sounds awesome! Sounds cool! Sounds…-" Lee shouted out with his tail wagging back and forth until a thought popped into his head. "-…wait. Miles, what's capture the flag?-"
Miles fell over slightly. "Yeesh, you get all revved up about the challenge and wanting to go it alone," Miles sighed, crawling back up and rubbing his forehead. "And you don't even know what the challenge is."
"Heh, then I can explain," Warren volunteered, slamming the flag back into the ground, allowing the flag to billow behind him. "Capture the flag is a game where two or more teams compete to get the opposing team's flag. Here in the gym however, there are two teams the red team, which will be you guys since your little Riolu there is wearing a red scarf…"
The young Riolu rubbed the back of his head, his furred face tinted red slightly, "-Heh, call us the team with style!-"
"…and the blue team, which will be me," Warren grinned reaching for the back of his belt. "The teams will actually be two pokemon of our choice, and it'll be their job to get the flag from the opposing team. There will be one guard and one seeker for the team. The guard's position is rather easy to explain, they just have to protect the flag, while the seeker…well, seeks out the flag."
"You win by snatching the flag and bringing it back to your flag. And if you win, Sabers, you'll get this!"
Warren fished for something in his pocket, pulling out a small pin that had a red flag on fire for its design. "A little something called the Pyro Badge; it'll mark your victory over me and the Burgundy City Gym!"
"Alright," Miles replied before he looked to his pocket. Now he knew why Cruz gave him that small case in the first place.
"So, I'll assume that you'll be using your Riolu and Absol then?" Warren surmised looking at the two pokemon.
"Huh? Well, not exactly, wait," Miles thought out loud, his eyes widening in realization, maybe Cruz had sent Absol to fight for him and give Miles an edge. "Can I have a moment?"
"Take all the time you need," Warren replied with his arms crossed. 'Devising, devising a strategy…most excellent!'
"Hey Absol…come here for a second," Miles requested as he crouched down to be eye level with the disaster pokemon.
"-And what can I help you with, Miles?-" Absol asked, tilting his head to the side slightly. Although, Absol already knew what Miles was going to ask him, after all, he'd seen was Absol was capable of when they had tackled Maxwell and the two Team Storm grunts.
Miles looked left and right, taking note that Lee was throwing a few punches into the air, "Well…did Cruz send you here…to uh, help me?"
"-…Nope!-" Absol chuckled.
Falling face first into the ground, "What!" He scrambled to his feet, his eyes narrowed down at the disaster pokemon. "Then why in the world did he bother to send you?"
"-We've been through this before,-" Absol explained lowering his head down to relax. "-Though it seems pointless, he just wanted me to watch your match. Besides, I'd rather not waste my time on a match that wouldn't get me anything in return…-"
"Not even if I got you anything to eat?" Miles offered.
Absol didn't even say anything; his resolve was too strong to be bribed.
"…dang it…" Miles sighed loudly standing up. "Uh, Warren, I won't be using Absol…"
"Your choice, your choice," Warren shrugged tossing two pokeballs into the air. "But that won't change mine! Go, Growlithe and Geodude!"
The two pokeballs snapped open, releasing two waterfalls of pure light that splashed onto the ground in front of Warren. The first light morphed onto small red and white furred pup, whose fur was striped with black streaks while the fur on the back of its head streamed backwards. "Growl!"
The second pokemon was actually floating in front of Warren, which was weird since the pokemon was nothing more than a large rock with a pair of eyes, arms and a large mouth on it. "GEO!"
"These two haven't let me down so far," Warren explained as he knelt down to get near his two pokemon. "And I have complete faith that they'll keep making me proud…"
"-Now why can't you be as supportive to me?-" Lee asked with puppy dog eyes.
"Because I doubt those two ever got Warren into a mess like you did to me," Miles replied harshly.
Warren finished tying on the blue bandanas around Growlithe's neck and Geodude's arm, allowing the two to charge onto the field, ready to protect the blue flag that their trainer had to protect. "Heh, you two are certainly interesting to watch, but we've got a gym challenge get to! So, bring out your pokemon!"
"Fine," Miles replied as he reached for the only other pokeball that was latched on the back of his belt. "Come on out!"
The ball flew into the air before it snapped open, releasing a small light that crashed into the ground right before the red flag. The light twisted and turned; until it died down to show a foot tall green cocoon that stood on one edge with her eyes on both sides of her body. "-…-"
"…I guess Caterpie's changed from shy to quiet," Miles sighed walking to his cocoon pokemon with a red scarf in his hand that was near the other flag. Tying the red bandana under his evolved pokemon's eyes, Miles shook his head. "But, since you became a Metapod…I don't know if you even have a mouth."
"-Hey! Don't worry! I can speak for the both of us Miles!-" Lee laughed picking up the second scarf that was near the flag.
"…that's what I'm afraid of…" Miles sighed.
"-An odd bunch they are,-" Absol commented from the sidelines.
"Alright, I guess we're ready," Miles stated. "Lee and Metapod are my choices!"
"Then it's agreed!"
"Huh?" Miles muttered turning to the side to see the owner of the newest voice, and at the sight of the person, a large sweat droplet rolled down the side of Miles's head. "W-Who are you?"
From out of no where, stood a young man with spiky blonde hair that stood up to reveal his sharp face. Dressed in a white button down shirt, black pants and long red tie, the young man turned to Miles with a stern face. "I am Jim Gai, official referee for all gym challenges that take part in the Saora Gym League Challenge. I am here to enforce all rules and regulations so that no trainers are hurt."
"If you cannot follow the rules to the book's T, then I will be forced to take action to discipline!"
"…every time I turn around, there are more and more freaks," Miles moaned, tears streaming from his eyes. "WHY!"
"-Hey, I like meeting these freaky people,-" Lee protested.
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Time: At the same time
Location: Unknown,
Venomous Fang Order Lair
Speaking of freaky people…
Turner walked down the halls, a smirk slowly crawling on his face with the grunts that went by him saluted in respect…or to be more accurate, fear. Since the koi pond incident, Turner had stiffened up his own rules and regulations that had grabbed more respect from the grunts, but also from the leader himself.
With that newfound intimidation, Turner was able to proudly walk to the leader's main office. Not even the large doors that stood in his way could stop him, nothing could…
…unless a sweet aroma lofted from under the cracks of the doors, making a twitch appear on the admin's face. "Huh? What's that smell?"
"YEAH!"
Now all that confidence that Turner had…disappeared, "Dear Latios, what is he doing now?" Placing his hands on the doors, Turner was almost reluctant to open then, but it had to be done, and the sooner he got it over with, the better.
The doors slowly creaked open, and the sweet smell became stronger now accompanied by a small tune…
Do you like Waffles?
Yeah, we like waffles!
Do you like pancakes?
Yeah, we like pancakes!
Do you like French toasts?
Yeah, we like French toasts!
Di bi di bi di, get waffles!
Waffles!
Waffles!
Waffles!
Wa- Di bi di bi di, get waffles!
"…I'd say I'm disappointed," Turner sighed with a slap to his forehead. "But for that to be true, I'd need to be surprised first…"
It was a party inside the leader's usually dank office. Streamers, a jukebox, a small cooking stove and with several Venomous Fang Grunts and Agents with some of the fore mentioned breakfast foods leaned against the walls.
And where was the leader in all of this?
Cooking said breakfast foods at the cooking stove, donned in a blue cooking apron that said 'Kiss Me, I'm the Cook!' in bold red letters. "Hey! It's Turner! Come on in and enjoy the party!"
How much did Turner want to smack the leader upside the head at the moment was a mystery even to him. So, going with what seemed natural, Turner slowly stepped towards the stove with a quizzical look on his face. "…sir, what in Groudon's name are you doing?"
"What? You don't like Parry Gripp?" the leader asked.
Turner blinked a few times before he pushed up his glasses. "What? No, I've got nothing against him…I'm just surprised that you're having a party, that and the fact that everyone should be working now!"
"Aw don't be like that," the leader chuckled, holding up a small plate of waffles. "Here, have some waffles! It'll ease your troubles!"
"Sir, my troubles will be eased when you get some work done!" Turner shouted, making the music scratch off beat. "And could you please get those fattening things away from me? I don't eat dirt…"
"GASP!"
Turner turned around, noticing that everyone was looking at him, all of them glaring at him. "…what?"
"You do realize that this is the Order's Breakfast Club, right?" The leader asked chuckling with his arms crossed.
"The what?" Turner asked, however, before he could get an answer, several Venomous Fang Order Grunts tackled into him. "ACK!"
"Never underestimate the power of waffles," the leader chuckled before taking a fork to the waffles. "That was your first mistake Turner."
"HELP ME!"
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Time: Meanwhile
Location: Burgundy City Gym,
Burgundy City
"Trainers, ready?" Jim Gai asked turning towards Miles and then Warren.
"You better believe it! You better believe it!" Warren chuckled as this two pokemon struck a pose in front of him.
"I guess so," Miles replied, casting a glance at Lee (who was currently throwing a few punches into the air) and Metapod…who just stood there.
"Then trainers…" Jim Gai stated as he slowly lifted his arm into the air, only to throw his arm towards the battle field. "Battle!"
"Geodude! Defensive position! Don't let anyone get near that flag unless I tell you!" Warren commanded as the Geodude floated in front of the blue flag with his arms crossed. "And I didn't forget about you Growlithe! Charge in and get it!"
Growlithe leapt forward, running directly over the field towards the red flag. The speed that the pup pokemon was going at was making the small dog pokemon become a running red blur that flew over the field. Miles blinked a few times before he shook his head. "Lee! Stop him now! Quick Attack, don't let him get any closer!"
"-Not a problem!-" Lee shouted before he ran forward, his body becoming a blue blur with a red stream flowing around his neck.
"Fighting speed with speed, eh?" Warren chuckled throwing his fist up. "Not a problem for me! Growlithe charge head on with your own Quick Attack!"
The red blur leapt into the air spinning around to slam into the blue blur. "GROWL!"
"-Oh, no you don't!-" Lee barked leaping directly into the air, spinning around to send his foot into the Growlithe's face.
However, the foot was intercepted by the fire pup's tail, allowing the Growlithe to spin over the attack. Both pokemon landed behind each other, only to turn around to attack once more. Growlithe throwing his head forward while the red scarf wearing Riolu spun around to fling his foot towards the Growlithe once more.
BAM!
The two small pokemons' attacks collided, yet neither of them fell, they just floated there in mid-air.
Warren smirked… "Heh! Now Growlithe! Ember!"
"What?!" Miles shouted.
Taking the moment to prepare itself, the Growlithe snapped open its mouth to unleash several small embers that flew directly into Lee's body. After a few seconds, the embers were too much, flinging Lee into the air until he crashed into the ground. "-OOOWWW! That burns!-"
"…I guess your fiery spirit was just a front," Warren sighed snapping his fingers a few times. "Growlithe…let's make this a new record! Be prepared to announce me the winner Jim Gai!"
"Only if you win this Warren," Jim Gai replied as Growlithe landed on the ground rather softly.
"Not going to be a problem!" Warren shouted before Growlithe charged forward, past a slightly singed Lee. "With Metapod just standing there, I don't have to worry about a guard and with the Riolu down for the count…"
Growlithe stomped over the field, until the fire pup pokemon used its powerful legs to jump over Metapod, "…this match is done with!"
The fire pup was getting closer and closer to the flag…
WHAM!
With a powerful kick to its neck, the Growlithe went skidding backwards onto the fake battle field.
Landing on the ground in front of the flag, Lee panted with his paws lifted up into the air, "-I'm not just going to let you walk over us!-"
"…Lee…" Miles muttered, lowering his head to allow his hair to overshadow his eyes. Did Lee really want to win this for him? Snapping his head upwards, Miles threw his hand up into the air. "…You're right! We're not going to let him walk over us! Are we Lee?"
"-Heh…trying to steal my lines now are we?-" Lee asked as he stood up straight next to Metapod. "-But…you're right!-"
From the sidelines, a smile crept on Absol's face, "-Heh…looks like the real battle's about to begin…-"
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Lee: -Huh? Another cliff hanger?
Absol: Well, what do you expect? The author didn't update this story for a few months.
Vyser D: That hurts you guys…
Absol: -We're just going to ignore that, especially when Miles and Lee have some bigger issues at hand than the author's incompetence.-
Vyser D: Seriously! Why is everyone taking a shot at me today?
Lee: -Nothing's going to stop us now!-
The battle continues next time! Will Miles and Lee be able to come out on top or will they left in the cinders of what could be their first defeat at the hands of their first Gym Leader?
Chapter 12: Passionate Flames!
Lee: -…why does the author think we'll lose?-
Vyser D: Heh, who knows? Please review and you'll get an E- Waffle, Pancake or French Toast!