Chapter 10: Beast Versus Beast

Josh knew that if he sent Raikou into battle first, he would not be able to win the battle. Akuji was much stronger than Raikou could ever become. Before sending his Beast into the fight, he had to use his other Pokémon as bait to sap Akuji's energy, so it would be a conquerable task. The other five Pokémon Josh had with him were trained to battle in an autopilot-like fashion, with only minimal direction from the trainer. Battling in this way would confuse opposing trainers and give them less time to react. Manectric was already out and ready to start the battle. Josh pulled out the REBS Module he had used before. When the battle had begun, he kept one eye on the screen and another on the battle arena encompassed in the dark dome.

The aggressive Manectric delivered the first attack of the battle. The attack was an electrical tackle. The overconfident rider of Akuji had the Beast take the attack. Though it didn't take a defensive position, it hardly phased it. This gave the rider a chance to counterattack with the black Death Mace. The spiked ball slammed directly into Manectric's left side as the target tried to reverse direction. The weapon pierced its skin and sent the Pokémon flying halfway across the battleground. Josh noticed the extent of the damage on his REBS module, and was amazed at the strength of the weapon Donovan carried.

"I see direct attacks will not work too well. Try using a Thunderbolt!" Josh suggested. The smaller four-legged yellow Pokémon shot a stream of electricity at its adversary. Though Akuji was incredibly fast in the open field, the speed and sheer physical power came at the expense of agility and evasion. The electricity smacked both Akuji and its rider, but there was no sign of extreme pain from either of them. It was as if Akuji was taking Donovan's hits as well, but the electricity clearly hit the rider.

The black Beast countered with a speedy Double-Edge attack, but Manectric hopped out of the way, to the left. The electric-type countered with another Thunderbolt, but it led the attack forward too much. The lightning struck in front of the intended targets. Taking advantage of Manectric's misfire, Donovan hustled Akuji into another Double-Edge tackle. The black Beast slammed straight into Manectric, slamming him into the edge of the dome. The energy from the dome sent Josh's Pokémon flying into the middle of the arena, out of energy after taking the massive attack.

Sending out his Charmeleon next, Josh started to realize that Akuji was clearly stronger than any of the other Beasts. He commanded the red Pokémon to spew a burst of fire from its mouth. The attack was a strong one. Akuji took a defensive position, hiding its rider from the attack. Once again, the assault didn't even phase the evil creature. Akuji retaliated by rearing up high, causing Donovan to nearly fall off its back. It slammed its huge paws on the ground, and a huge Earthquake followed. The shaking ground knocked Charmeleon out. But the attack continued toward the edge of the arena, where Josh was sitting on Raikou's back. The shaking ground and the now split-level arena threw off Raikou's concentration, and caused both Beast and rider to take massive damage.

"Hey, what the hell!" Josh screamed at Donovan. "That's cheating!"

"It's not my fault. I never told Akuji to start an Earthquake. Besides, you're in no position to be officiating how we do battle."

The Raikou Rider recalled Charmeleon and sent out Sudowoodo. The tree-imitation Pokémon stood in the center of the arena. Donovan commanded Akuji to charge straight for Sudowoodo and shatter it into pieces. But this was exactly what Josh was looking for. Sudowoodo stepped to the right and extended its right leg, causing Akuji's right paws to get pinched against the rock-hard foot of Josh's Pokémon. It rounded the arena and came back for another assault. Instead of ramming Sudowoodo again, the Beast passed just to the left, setting up a beating from Donovan's Death Mace to Josh's Pokémon. The spiked ball made a large crack in its rocky body. It was in sad shape to be fighting. Akuji shot a huge spray of fire out of its mouth in an attempt to finish Sudowoodo off. The spray went over its head as it ducked. Josh was stunned at the power Donovan had acquired, and he knew it would take a miracle for him to win the battle.

"Sudowoodo," the trainer started, "we are going to have to do this again. Follow Akuji to the other side of the arena, and blow yourself up. You're in no shape to be continuing, and you might as well do as much damage as possible." The Pokémon quickly made its way to the far side of the dome and exploded about two-thirds of the way between Josh and Akuji. The blast created a smoke and shock waves that confused Donovan as Akuji reared up upon taking massive damage. Josh and Raikou took no damage, for they were just outside of the blast radius. He sent out Poliwhirl to replace Sudowoodo.

Josh threw the Poké Ball very close to Donovan and Akuji on purpose. The blue tadpole Pokémon dodged an incoming mace attack from the rider of the evil Beast, then shot a dense series of rainbow-colored bubbles at the two of them. Being affiliated with the underworld gave Akuji a set of weak points similar to those of earth-type Pokémon such as Golem, but not the strengths, as was demonstrated by Manectric's electrical assaults earlier in the fight. The Bubble Beam attack, as it was known, hit both of them squarely, weakening their already low agility slightly. The enemy countered with another Earthquake. This time, however, when Akuji reared up, Donovan tightened his clutch significantly on his mount, and managed to hold on without even slipping the slightest bit. The shaking ground destroyed Poliwhirl's energy reserves as well as further reducing those of Josh and Raikou. However, Donovan was holding on so tight that the force of the landing hurt him.

Josh had no choice but to send out Pidgeot. The first thing it did was use its Mirror Move ability to reproduce Akuji's Earthquake. Neither Beast nor rider expected this, thus amplifying the attack's strength. In the confusion of the shaking ground, the five-foot-tall eagle dashed through the air, slamming into Akuji's face. This brought out more of its anger, and it shot another spray of fire from its mouth at close range. Pidgeot's wings were utterly singed, and it fell to the ground. Out of options, Josh recalled the eagle and went into battle himself, astride Raikou.

"All right, Raikou, we have to do something now," Josh mumbled to Raikou. "Use your Spark attack, but I'm going to add something to it with my sword."

"Good idea, Josh. Well, shall we do this?"

At that, Raikou surrounded itself with a large sphere of electrical energy, then started charging into Akuji. While it was charging, Josh's sword started glowing with electrical energy. When the attack was about to hit, Josh released a luminous spark of electricity from his blade. The attack was coupled with Raikou's spark, and surrounded Akuji and Donovan. The sphere gave off an intense light as Beast and rider were shocked by the electrical energy and blinded by the holy light. When the light faded, Donovan and Akuji looked very angry.

"You will pay for that, Josh!" Donovan hollered. The Death Mace started glowing a deep purple as the black Beast ran for the center of the arena. Donovan released the massive, dark energy in the center of the dome, creating a second dome. After the energy collected for a sufficient amount of time, the Akuji Rider slammed his mace into the inner dome, shattering both domes. The result was an amazingly powerful blow to Josh and Raikou accompanied by a loud explosion. The two of them laid on the ground, unconscious.

While the smoke from the blast still encompassed the area, Donovan pulled out an Ultra Ball from his pocket and used it to capture Raikou. Picking up the Ball and putting it with his other Pokémon, Donovan called Akuji toward Josh's body. It used the horns on its head to grab the body and tossed the Raikou Rider onto its back. By the time Donovan had propped the body onto the Beast's back, the smoke had cleared.

"Oh my god!" Aravan screamed, with the remaining Beast Riders still mounted.

"So long, suckers!" Donovan yelled back. He then had Akuji start running back toward the Forbidden Land.

"Don't let him get away!" He pushed Suicune to top running speed quickly, as Ace and Shalin did their Beasts. "Where is Raikou!"

Donovan simply took the Ultra Ball out of his right pocket and showed it to his pursuers. "Looking for this, are you?" He then put it away.

"You didn't! You are...a sick man, Donovan!" Ace yelled. They were closing in on Donovan.

"They're persistent, looks like," Donovan said to himself. "Akuji, we need to get out of here! Let's sprint from them!"

"I was about to suggest that, Donovan." At that, Akuji sped away from Josh's friends. There was no way for them to catch up. "He got away..." Ace said, dejected.

"How could we let him take Josh! Damn!" Aravan yelled.

"There wasn't much we could do," Shalin noted, trying to calm everyone down. "Donovan had us set up from the very beginning. The only way we're going to get Josh back is to wait for a chance when he gets off guard, then fight him together. I knew, and so did all of you, that none of us could defeat Akuji and Donovan alone. The only way we're going to get Josh back is to fight together."

"Very well said, Shalin," Aravan complimented. "But I don't know if we'll get an opportunity like that anytime soon. We should go to the Tin Tower, inform Ho-oh of what had happened just now, and ask it for help on what to do next."

"Should we do that right now?" Ace asked.

"No. We should wait until tonight. I'm tired from those battles, and I think all of us deserve a rest. It's a pity that Josh won't be getting any good rest anytime soon."

"It's decided then. We rest until tonight, then take off for Tin Tower," the Entei Rider announced.