Chapter 12- Double Jeopardy
"Our next match is Ken Wesker. Come on up 'ere Ken!" boomed Tobias as the small crowd began to clap in earnest. Sebastian gave Ken a pat on the back, knowing that he would do well in his first match up against a gym leader. The two female trainers both dominated their matches, and hopefully Ken will continue the winning trend against Tobias.
Ken, although he would never admit it, had butterflies in his stomach as he approached the stage. His hands trembled slightly as he moved into the position to face his first gym leader, his first hurdle in become the champion he desires.
"Let's do it, son." Tobias said happily. He picked a pokeball and tossed it on the ground, revealing a three-legged creature which was balancing itself on the point of it's head. It's elongated appendages acting like swift whips when the Hitmontop spun around.
Ken was not showing any emotion when he tossed his pokeball onto the rocky floor. Ball opened, and the tiny Wooper, stopped out, it's familiar cry echoing in the arena. The Hitmontop stopped spinning for a moment, eyeing it's opponent warily.
"LETS BEGIN!" Tobias shouted, and the crowd cheered.
"Wooper, water gun!" shouted Ken. The tiny tadpole obliged, opening it's mouth and spewing a near perfect stream of water towards the Hitmontop.
"Rapid spin, then go in for a hit!" said Tobias. The fighting type began to spin on it's head, gaining speed with every rotation, until there was nothing but a large, spinning blur, like a miniature tornado whipping the winds and hurling small pebbles on the dirt floor of the arena. Wooper's water gun hit the spinning top head on, but the weak stream was blocked and sprayed into little droplets, showering the dirt on the floor. The Hitmontop then moved closer, spinning like the Tasmanian Devil in the old cartoons, making a small defined path in it's movements and slamming right into the Wooper. The water type flew literally into the air, and slammed into a nearby rock with so much force it made a web of cracks in the surface of the rock.
"Wooper, get back up and try to stop it from spinning, mud slap it!" The Wooper was shaking it's head, trying to remove the pain from being thrown into a rock. The spinning top inched closer, and the Wooper jumped out of the way, doing a belly roll to evade another blow from the Hitmontop's rapid spin. It ran and jumped right into the small stream, adjacent from where the rocky field is. Wooper quickly dived down onto the muddy ground under the water, and scooped up some of the wet mud with it's tail. Curling it slightly, it shot up to the surface, looking right at the spinning top that was now moving closer to the waters edge.
"Go for it, Wooper!" ordered Ken. The water type jumped as high as it could into the air, narrowly avoiding the spinning vortex that the Hitmontop created. The Wooper then opened it's tail, caked with thick, runny mud and swung it as hard as it can. The spinning Hitmontop, much to the surprise of Tobias, stopped spinning, and began to falter on it's own balance. There was mud smeared all over it's lithe body, some of it covered it's eyes, some of it ran down onto it's point, slowing the movement and stopping the rapid spin.
"Pound it Wooper." Said Ken. His Wooper made a small cry, and lifted it's muddy tail, and struck the disoriented Hitmontop on the side of it's body. Some more mud fell off, nearly cleaning it's flat tail from the sticky substance as it vigorously smacked the Hitmontop.
Tobias winced, but was not worried about the apparent dominance the Wooper showed.
"Give it a triple kick, then take it down!" Tobias shouted. His Hitmontop was still reeling, barely able to see. It began spinning again, this time slowly, and extended it's three legs out as far as they can, until the mini claws were pointed upwards, making it's feet as flat and rigid as possible. It moved with remarkable speed toward Wooper, but missed it's mark and struck a nearby rock, splitting it in two with the force of it's three kicks.
"Keep pounding it to the ground, Wooper!" shouted Ken. The water type smacked the back of the Hitmontop's head, sending it reeling once again in it's confusion, but this time the Hitmontop rallied, hurling it's body towards the direction of the pound and stiffening it's legs once again, hitting Wooper in it's tiny jaw.
"WOOP!!" It cried in pain, a small welt forming on it's face as it fell backwards.
"Oh crap…"Ken said softly, as his Wooper was pummeled by three strong kicks, leaving it slightly disoriented.
"Go for the kill, take it down!" shouted Tobias. The fighting type lowered it's legs, and had them surround it's body, bracing it for impact against the now wounded Wooper, and spun towards it's location in full speed.
"Wake up Wooper, dodge it hurry!" shouted Ken, but it was no use. The Hitmontop was inches from the water type, with no room to maneuver out of it's range.
"ENDURE THE HIT!" screamed Ken, as the Hitmontop quickly tackled the Wooper, sending both pokemon onto the ground in a hard thump! The crowd gasped, as a little puff of dirty smoke rose from the point of impact, the ground shaking the tiny pebbles as a miniature tremor erupted Sebastian and Sophie had looks of despair on their face. It looked like Ken would lose; as it would be unlikely his Wooper would survive such a hit.
"That looked painful…" Sebastian whispered to Sophie.
"I don't think Wooper survived that hit…"she replied.
On the other end of the field, Ken looked crestfallen and was already bending down to pick up his pokeball to recover his Wooper. Tobias had a smile on his face, confident that the Wooper was finished.
"Ya did good, there, Ken. But not good enough." He said across the field. Ken just gritted his teeth, and looked downwards, to upset to even respond to the gym leader.
When the dust cleared, both pokemon laid motionless, almost as if they were dead. The Hitmontop was flat on it's face, it's three legs twisted together as mangled roots of a small tree. The Wooper was under it, the flat tail wrapped around it's tiny body like a blanket, and it's head tucked as close to it's body as possible. Ken already had his pokeball in hand, until he heard a faint "Woop." Ken, Tobias, and the whole crowd fell silent, staring at the twisted pile of pokemon on the dusted floor.
The pokemon began to stir, struggling to get up from the harsh fall that occurred. But surprisingly, only the Wooper was moving, trying to push the weight of the Hitmontop off of it's tiny frame. The crowed suddenly erupted in great cheering and applause, as Ken's Wooper, shaking on wobbly legs, lifted itself from the ground, exhausted but the victor.
"I…I don't believe it!" Tobias said. The spry water type was able to survive, if only barely, as the impact of the takedown was Tobias's undoing. He reluctantly drew his pokeball and recalled his Hitmontop, conceding defeat.
Ken looked like he was in shock. His mouth was open like a gaping hole, his mind still processing what happened.
"I..I won?" He said out loud.
"Ya sure did, Ken. Congratulations." Tobias said.
"I…WON! YES!" he shouted. As the crowd drowned out Ken's own screaming. He went over to his Wooper, giving the water type a big hug. The Wooper, shaking but smiling, enjoyed the embrace from it's master, despite wincing in pain from Ken's touch.
Tobias was now calming the crowd, standing in the center of the gym and getting their attention as the applause and screams began to wane.
"All righty…we got one more match fer today. I wanna say to everyone before we begin, y'all are great trainers and I'm enjoyin battlin' with y'all today. Now we got one more trainer to go, so let's get to it. Sebastian, yer up!"
Damon was running low on breath as he sprinted down the crowded streets towards the pokemon gym. His legs were on fire and his throat burned, shooting pain into his body, but he didn't care at this point. If he could make it to the pokemon gym, he would be in better company. He kept moving; passing the bystanders on the street that kept giving him concerned and confused looks. The sirens were long gone now, the police probably asking people in the area of the attempted shooting what happened earlier.
He kept looking backwards, making sure that Gabriel wasn't following him in the crowded streets of Liechi. He also glanced at the sky, periodically; making sure that his Xatu was not following him in the sky.
Damon then saw it, like a beacon of light at the end of a darkened tunnel, the pokemon gym with it's white-washed walls and giant Pigeot statues marking it's presence with ease.
'Thank god!' He thought to himself. His legs felt like jelly as he slowed his pace down a bit, trying his best to catch his breath for a moment while continuing to move forward. He was now strolling at a leisurely pace, slowly capturing his breath and calming his body for the first time since Gabriel attacked him. He looked backed some more, but neglected to see Gabriel following him at all, and eased up some more, certain that he lost his assailant.
But then something struck him from his side, and he feel backwards into an alleyway, crashing into the side of a dumpster. He looked up, dazed and dizzy, seeing double of Gabriel over him, his white t-shirt soiled and once angelic looking face red and rugged. He had his arms out again, once more wrapped around Damon's neck.
"Always look to your side." Gabriel snarled, as he squeezed Damon's neck once again.
Damon's head was reeling, his body was in great pain and his neck was on fire again. He reached out towards Gabriel, and grabbed his head, trying to push him away enough to release his grip. The two were now locked onto each other, trying to choke the other to submission. It was a stalemate between the two, their bodies were tired but their resolve was still abundant.
Damon then saw Gabriel's pistol wavering in it's holster, which was strapped around his chest on a leather belt. Damon let one of his hands go, and tried to reach for the pistol, while the other was raking Gabriel's eyes, trying to blind the man who was choking him. He gouged the teen's eyes, but despite yelping in pain, Gabriel didn't release his grip on Damon's neck. He did, however, give up some strength, which gave Damon enough wiggle room to weakly grab the handle of the pistol. He couldn't hold onto it, as it dropped to the dirty alleyway floor like a heavy stone.
Gabriel eyed this, and released his grip on Damon's neck and grabbed for the gun. Damon also reached for the fallen pistol, grabbing one of Gabriel's hands and attempting to hold him long enough to reach the gun. The two teens struggled for a moment, wriggling on the cold concrete; littered with garbage and stagnant, oily sludge. The two kept fighting, the dirty water splashing onto their clothing and slowly absorbed into the fabric as large, disgusting stains. The stench of the garbage was enough to make anyone gag, but the two kept battling, ignoring their surroundings and focusing only on the cobalt blue steel weapon in front of them.
Gabriel suddenly kneed Damon in the stomach, and he yelped a deep "OOMPH" before letting go of Gabriel's hand. This gave the blonde teen enough time to scramble for the gun, grasping the handle and pointing it towards Damon. Damon reached for his hands again, still in pain but still vigilant. The two teens were on the floor still, knees scraping the dirty water in their struggle, as they wrestled with the gun in the center. Gabriel attempted to point the barrel of the gun at Damon's chest, but was unable to pull the trigger as Damon blocked it with his hand.
The two struggled in this deadly game of tug-o-war, neither of them giving the other any room to retaliate. The gun, slick with the oily water, made this even more treacherous for the two teens, as it was hard for either of them to firmly grasp the pistol between them. Damon was short on breath again, still heaving from the knee to his stomach, while Gabriel was also fatigued, still having trouble seeing from the rake to his eyes. Both were battered, but refused to give up.
Damon then was able to gain the upper hand. He reached around with one free hand, grabbing the back of Gabriel's head, drawing it closer to his own. Gabriel struggled against this, putting as much force as he can against this maneuver, but Damon was the stronger man this time, and pulled his won head back before smacking Gabriel's face hard with a headbutt. Gabriel screamed in pain, his nose now bloodied and broken, dripping droplets of red onto his once clean shirt as he fell backwards onto the ground. The gun fell as well, with Gabriel releasing his grip from the blow by Damon.
Damon was now hurting hard, his head spinning as a large pink welt began to form on his injured brow. He struggled to maintain his own focus, and reached for the gun, this time with some slighter ease than before, as Gabriel was no longer bothering to grab it. He picked it up, and very carefully, tried to pick his body up, hunching on one side of the wall for support as he struggled to maintain his balance. His head still throbbed with pain, and his vision was dazed, but he was able to turn around and point the gun right at Gabriel, who was struggling to get up with the help of the side of the dumpster.
"Don't….move…." Damon said, his voice a mere whisper as he heaved in deep breaths to calm his injured body. Gabriel stopped moving, letting go of the dumpster and slumping back onto the ground, his bloodied face looking straight upwards at Damon and his gun. He then did something that Damon didn't expect; he began to laugh.
"Hahahahahahaha…." Gabriel laughed weakly, a sly grin forming on his face as blood ran down his cheeks like healthy rivers. Damon was completely confused, and frustrated because the young man before him was almost mocking him.
"Why are you…laughing so much…Gabriel?" He asked him. Gabriel just continued to laugh back like a hyena, before calming down and taking a deep breath.
"You…wouldn't shoot the messenger now, would you? Especially since…it's me, Damon." Gabriel said softly.
Damon, this time, smiled back, before cocking the gun and aiming it as best as he can towards Gabriel's chest. Gabriel stopped laughing, his once proud grin turning into a look of horror, his eyes showing great fear, almost pleading for his life by his expression as Damon held the gun in a stronger grip.
"You still…don't know me very well…do you, Gabriel?" Damon said manically, before pulling the trigger.
