Part Eighteen, Chapter One
Characters: Janet Harris, Sand-Cloud Pluff, Gelby Chu, Luke Smytheson
The Pokémon League. It stood before us, tall and proud, at the summit of the tallest mountain in the area, surrounded by three smaller mountains, and topped by that strange purple glow. It was hard to believe that after all this time, we were really standing in front of the building we had only dreamt about until now. Inside that building lay the final test, the battle which would decide whether I was master material, or whether I was to go down in the hall of shame.
I was nervous, I was excited, and I was a little afraid. What if I lost? Would all of my troubles have been for nothing? Sure, I had a lot of faith in my pokémon, but our last gym battle had been extremely difficult and we'd only just won on our second attempt. If it had been so hard for us to win our fifteenth badge, imagine how hard it would be to beat this final opponent!
I suddenly realised that I didn't even know what kind of pokémon I would be battling against. The fifteen gym system had been designed so that trainers had experience against fighting each of the fifteen different types. But for the Pokémon League? There weren't any types left for the leader to use, so what would it be? A combination team, most likely, and that would be tricky. I'd become so accustomed to fighting a set type of pokémon that I'd learnt to rely a lot on type advantages . . . if I didn't even know what types my opponent would use, how would I know who would have the advantage?
But I'd thought a lot about my team during our travel to the Pokémon League, and I had decided who I'd be using. Unless any hints were given as to the leader's pokémon sometime before I had to fight, I'd stick with the team I'd chosen.
'C'mon, let's go,' said Luke, jerking me out of my thoughts. I turned to him and nodded, and we stepped through the automatic doors into the building.
From behind a desk, a girl who seemed only a year or so older than us looked up. She smiled.
'Ah, some challengers, I suppose?' she asked.
'Yeah,' said Luke. 'We're here for the master badge.'
'Of course,' nodded the girl. 'If you could just give me your details?'
Luke and I gave her our names and addresses, and then the girl scanned our pokédexes to make sure we were genuine. We then had to hand her our fifteen badges, which were also scanned for authenticity.
'Everything seems to be in order,' smiled the girl. 'OK, here's the drill. We have three battle rooms, so we can have three battles at a time. You may both battle at the same time in different rooms if you like, or one after the other in the same room if you'd prefer. However, no word must be spoken about the pokémon your opponent uses in battle, whether you win or lose. Is that clear?'
'Um, of course,' I nodded. Luke also nodded.
'You may use up to six pokémon,' the girl eyed the twenty-eight pokémon which had scrambled into the room after me. 'It will be a standard battle, no time limits or pokémon species limits. Only moves officially recognised as legal moves for your particular pokémon can be used or you will be disqualified. Items may not be used.'
'Items may not be used!?' I exclaimed.
'That is what the rules state,' said the girl. I sighed, and nodded. 'You will win the battle by causing all of the opponent's pokémon to faint. If you use selfdestruct or explosion on your final pokémon, you will be disqualified whether or not you defeat the opponent with such a move. Any questions?'
Luke and I looked at each other, then shook our heads.
The girl nodded. 'So what will it be? Would you like to go at the same time? We have all three rooms free at the moment.'
We looked at each other once more, and nodded to each other.
'Yeah, we'll go at the same time,' said Luke.
The girl nodded, then turned to Sand-Cloud and Gelby. 'Are you here as spectators?'
'Um, yeah,' nodded Sand-Cloud.
'We don't allow spectators to enter the stadium with the challenger,' said the girl. 'You may only watch from behind the sound-proof glass so that you don't help the challenger in any way.'
I swallowed. I didn't like the sound of this. Sand-Cloud and Gelby often offered me advice during battles, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to get through this without their support . . . but if those were the rules, I'd have to obey them.
Sand-Cloud sighed. 'OK, sure. We're gonna watch Janet.'
'All right then,' said the girl. 'Get your pokémon teams ready. Janet, you'll be in room one, and Luke, you'll be in room two. You may begin whenever you're ready.'
~Janet~
Part Eighteen, Chapter Two
Characters: Janet Harris, Slothie the snorlax, Evy the vaporeon
Sweating like mad with nerves, I stepped into the arena. In my pockets were six pokéballs, containing the team I had chosen to battle with.
Chazz the charizard was the first pokémon I had ever caught. I had raised it since it was a charmander, and we'd become not only a great battling team, but great friends. Chazz was one of the most loyal pokémon I had ever met, it did whatever it could for me and the rest of my pokémon. It wasn't the strongest charizard in the world, I knew that very well, but I was proud of it, and its fire type moves would be great for any grass, bug or ice pokémon we'd come across.
I'd caught Pikapi the raichu just two days after Chazz, and I'd relied on it a lot during my time as a trainer. It was a friendly, innocent little pokémon whose sheer power in electric attacks had earned me a lot of victories. I was relying on its electric attacks for water and flying types.
Catafree the butterfree was another pokémon I had been with since my first few weeks as a trainer. While it was a dual bug and flying pokémon, it didn't know any moves of those types, and battled more as a psychic. Psychic moves were generally reliable because of their effectiveness against all but psychic pokémon, and their added damage against fighting and poison pokémon made them really pack a lot of power.
Raus the venusaur had been given to me by the Nurse Joy in Blastoise Centre, to help me defeat the water-type leader Andrew. It had certainly been a lot of help during that battle, and many more to come. Raus had been abandoned by its previous trainer, which may have had something to do with its unbelievable determination and stubbornness in battle. At times Raus could be over-confident, but it was also very reliable for knocking out those tricky opponents. The grass type moves that Raus was armed with would be perfect for water, ground and rock pokémon.
Evy the vaporeon was another pokémon which have been given to me. Its previous trainer, Sally the eevee breeder, had given Evy to me and its twin Evan to Luke after we had saved them from a fire. I'd been a pokémon trainer for more than a year at that point, so I hadn't had Evy for nearly as long as the first four members of my team, but the vaporeon had still become one of my most reliable pokémon. It was versatile in that it knew both ice and water type moves, making it a great combatant for grass, flying, ground, dragon, fire, and rock type pokémon!
And finally, Slothie the snorlax. I had captured it in the wild after Chazz had found it and it had been attacked by two of my rivals, Ace and Kat. It had turned out to be an incredibly powerful pokémon. It could get a little angry at times and go a little over the top, but it usually turned out to be for the best. While it only knew normal-type attacks, they were great for all-round effectiveness; Slothie would only really be disadvantaged if it came across a rock type.
My team wouldn't be that great if it came up against electric, psychic or ghost pokémon, but I was just hoping that wouldn't happen. And if it did . . . I'd figure out what to do with the pokémon I had. We would win this, we had to win this!
As I ran my hands over the six pokéballs, wondering who I would send out first, the master trainer appeared from a door at the other side of the arena. He didn't look as old as I had expected, only in his twenties or maybe thirties. He wore casual clothing, nothing clichéd or stereotypical of a master trainer. And at his belt were six pokéballs . . . my opponents.
'Hello Janet,' he said cheerfully. 'My name's Zebulun, and I'll be your opponent. I suppose you know all the rules. Use up to six pokémon, no items, that's about it. Should we get started?'
I nodded.
Zebulun smiled. 'Just relax, you're not gonna win if you're stressed. But we'd better not dawdle. Go on, choose your first pokémon.'
I took a deep breath. So he was expecting me to choose first. All right then, go with one who doesn't have many weaknesses . . .
'Slothie!' I said. 'I choose you!'
'A snorlax,' nodded Zebulun. 'A good choice, great pokémon if you get their strategies right. Let's see how this turns out . . . Nidoking, I choose you!'
I watched, curious, as the spiked, tough-looking purple pokémon appeared. I'd never battled a nidoking before. I'd battled a nidorino, and I had a nidoran male, but I hadn't ever come across the fully evolved form. This battle was going to be very unpredictable . . .
'Nidoking,' said Zebulun. 'Let's start things off. Toxic!'
'King!' roared his pokémon. All I could do was watch in horror as it spat out a poisonous substance which sunk into Slothie's skin, poisoning it badly.
'Oh no,' I breathed. Without the use of items, how was I going to win against a pokémon that could poison its opponents? And it wasn't just poison, it was Toxic, the worst kind of poisoning attack. But I had to do something. 'Slothie, body slam!'
Slothie forced itself to ignore the effects of the poison, and leapt into the air, slamming down on top of Nidoking. It inflicted a small amount of damage; not enough to really effect it much at all. And of course, the poison only caused Slothie to hurt itself in the process. I had to do something about this.
'Nidoking,' said Zebulun. 'Bide!'
Bide? I had never encountered this move before. Maybe I should have studied for this battle . . . I had no idea what to expect from this move! When you didn't know what your opponent was doing, it probably wasn't a great idea to switch pokémon . . . but I had to get Slothie out of there before the poison got to it. It was perhaps the strongest of all my pokémon, and I needed to save it for later.
'Slothie, return!' I called. I took out my next pokéball. If I couldn't predict Nidoking's attack, I'd just have to go with the type advantage. 'Evy, go!'
'This should be interesting,' smiled Zebulun.
'Evy,' I said. 'Let's try and knock this one out with Hydro Pump.'
'Poreon,' nodded Evy. It took a deep breath, then leapt into the air and spun around, squirting a torrent of water from its mouth and the pores of its skin. Nidoking fell back upon the impact of the super-effective attack. Evy seemed to have done a great deal of damage. As my vaporeon landed, it braced itself for Nidoking's retaliation . . . but nothing came! I looked over at Zebulun, confused. Was he going to tell his pokémon to attack or not!?
'Oh, do go on,' he nodded. 'Don't waste your time, keep battling!'
I just stared at him. What was going on here? He obviously had some kind of trick up his sleeve . . . why else wouldn't he tell Nidoking to attack? There had to be some catch to letting Evy just keep attacking it . . . but since I had no idea what it was, there was nothing I could do about it. I just had to go with my instincts.
~Janet~
Part Eighteen, Chapter Three
Characters: Janet Harris, Zebulun the pokémon leader of mastery, Evy the vaporeon, Slothie the snorlax
'Evy, Hydro Pump seems to be working,' I said. 'Try another one.'
Evy attacked once more, this time even stronger than before -- a critical hit! Nidoking's health points were draining rapidly. But still, no attack. Did Zebulun want me to defeat his pokémon?
'Let's try something else,' I said to Evy. I didn't want Evy to waste all of its energy on using Hydro Pump, and besides, what if I came across another ground-type, or a fire-type, and needed Evy's water then? 'Try an Aurora Beam!'
'Vaporeon!' Evy shot out a beam of ice at Nidoking. The ground pokémon took the blow, but I could tell that it wasn't going to be able to take much more. Just when I thought it might be about to faint, it suddenly began glowing with energy. It shot its arms into the air and roared.
'Nidoking, you know what to do,' smiled Zebulun. 'Unleash the Bide attack!'
'Nidoking!' the pokémon roared, and suddenly a great ball of energy appeared in its arms. It held it there for a moment, allowing it to grow even larger, before it finally hurled it at Evy. I gasped. How could my little vaporeon handle that!?
The ball hit Evy and sent it hurtling through the air, yelping in pain. What was that attack!? How was I supposed to combat that!?
'Por . . .' moaned Evy as it dropped to the ground.
'Oh no,' I said, shaking my head. This nidoking was going to be one tough opponent to beat . . . and it was only the first of my obstacles!
'Nidoking, Bide!'
I thought and thought and thought about it. Bide, Bide, Bide. I'd heard of it, I was sure of it. But what did it do? Nidoking had stood there and allowed itself to get hit by Evy's attacks, and then it had fought back even stronger. Did that mean that Nidoking had absorbed Evy's attacks and just thrown them right back, at an even more powerful level? That was the only explanation I could think of. And if that was the case, not even Evy's Hydro Pump would be able to hurt that Nidoking without meaning serious damage in return.
'Evy, return!' I called, zapping my pokémon back inside its pokéball. I held the ball up to my mouth and whispered to it. 'Evy, you fought really well. Have a good rest, I might need you later.'
I had to think of something, and quick. I'd already recalled two pokémon and Zebulun was still on his first. But who could I send out that would be able to defeat Nidoking? Catafree could use its psychic attacks, they'd work well on Nidoking's poison element, but then wouldn't it just fight back with even more power? No matter what attack I used, Nidoking would just throw it back. Suddenly I realised. That was it - the only way I could fight it was by not fighting it at all!
'Slothie, I choose you!' I said. I threw my first pokéball into the arena. Slothie was still poisoned, but I had a way to solve both problems at once. 'Slothie, Rest!'
Slothie turned to me and tilted its head, surprised that I would send it into battle only to tell it to go to sleep. I smiled, and then it smiled too, knowing that I'd thought well about this. It lay down and closed its eyes, going straight to sleep.
'Ah,' said Zebulun. 'That was a smart move. Rest is a great technique if you know how to use it.'
I just nodded. Now it was a matter of what happened first - Slothie waking up or Nidoking stopping Bide.
After a few minutes, it was obvious what the answer was going to be. Nidoking shook itself out of its waiting game, and got ready to attack. Slothie remained lying on the ground, fast asleep. I tossed up switching it for another pokémon, but in the end it wasn't worth it. I couldn't risk the damage which Nidoking could do to whichever pokémon I switched for. After all, Slothie was the only one who could recover health points.
'Nidoking, horn drill!' said Zebulun.
Oh no, anything but Horn Drill! I couldn't win this battle without Slothie, I knew I couldn't! So this was it . . . if that attack connected, it would all be over for me. My chances of becoming a pokémon master would be no more. All I could do was stand there stupidly waiting to see whether Nidoking's attack was successful.
~Janet~
Part Eighteen, Chapter Four
Characters: Janet Harris, Zebulun the pokémon leader of mastery, Slothie the snorlax
'Nidoking, horn drill!'
The sharp horn on Nidoking's head began spinning around rapidly, and the ground pokémon charged at Slothie horn-first. I cringed and had to cover my eyes as it slammed its horn into Slothie. The attack had connected.
Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to calm down. Maybe I could still win without Slothie, maybe one of my other pokémon could pull through. They were all very powerful, I knew that. If I had enough confidence, I could get through this.
So I looked up, and to my surprise, Slothie was rubbing its eyes and standing up. Not fainted, and not even asleep, it was getting ready to go into battle once more. What was going on here!? Nidoking had used Horn Drill, one of those deadly one-hit KO moves! So how had Slothie managed to survive it?
'I'm impressed,' said Zebulun. I looked over at him. 'Your snorlax is at a higher level than my nidoking.'
I stared at him, eyes wide. My snorlax was at a higher level than one of the final gym leader's pokémon? Wow! I smiled, suddenly filled with the confidence to keep battling.
'Slothie, headbutt!' I said.
Slothie lowered its head and ran at Nidoking, knocking it down to the end of the stadium. It was getting weaker and weaker.
'Nidoking, Earthquake!' said Zebulun. I was surprised that he hadn't told his pokémon to use Bide again, but then realised why. Its hit points were low now, and Slothie would probably knock it out before it got a chance to unleash the Bide attack. I smiled, and didn't feel fazed when Nidoking shattered the stadium with its Earthquake attack. Slothie took a fair amount of damage, but it could win this battle, I was sure of it.
'Now, Body Slam!' I said. Slothie leapt into the air and came crashing down on Nidoking, dealing the final blow that managed to knock it out. I grinned. One down, five to go; and not one of my pokémon had fainted yet!
'Nidoking, return!' called Zebulun, returning his pokémon to its pokéball. 'That's a great snorlax you've got there. It's powerful, but power isn't enough to win a pokémon battle. Let me show you another great snorlax.'
He tossed his second pokéball into the arena and a snorlax, a little larger and darker than Slothie, materialised into the arena. So, it was his snorlax versus my snorlax. This would be interesting.
'Snorlax, Harden!' said Zebulun. His pokémon concentrated its energy and built up its defense.
'Slothie, get it before it ups its stats too much!' I said. 'Hyper Beam!'
'Snor!' Slothie nodded. It gathered its power and launched a powerful beam at the opponent snorlax, causing an impressive amount of damage.
'Snorlax,' said Zebulun. 'Let's use this opportunity while it has to recharge. Substitute!'
Great, another move I hadn't encountered before! But I'd heard about this one. The pokémon created a "substitute" which took damage for it, but in the process lost some of its own health points. It seemed a little useless to me. Slothie would be able to handle it easily!
'Now,' said Zebulun. 'Harden!'
His snorlax built up its defense once more, giving the statistic bonus to its substitute. It seemed that Zebulun's snorlax was mainly a defensive pokémon - when was it going to attack?
'Slothie, body slam!' I said.
'Snorlax!' Slothie's signature attack hit the substitute with immense force, but not enough to cause it to break. The Harden techniques must have given it more added defense than I'd thought.
'Now Snorlax, Selfdestruct!' said Zebulun, grinning.
'What!?' I exclaimed. Why would he order his pokémon to use Selfdestruct in a battle like this!? Would he really give away his snorlax for one big hit? And his pokémon still had a lot of HP left, why would he use Selfdestruct so soon!? I became suddenly aware that Zebulun was a lot smarter than I'd thought he was. There had to be a trick to this, there just had to be!
And there was. I watched in horror as the huge power of the Selfdestruct attack caused Slothie's health to drop almost to zero, while at the same time, only Snorlax's substitute actually exploded. The pokémon itself stayed happily ready to battle. All I could do was stare. Surely that technique had to be cheating! The whole point of Selfdestruct was to use it as a last resort when your pokémon was about to faint, because that way it didn't matter that it would faint from the attack. Selfdestruct always caused the pokémon using it to faint! So how could using Substitute let a pokémon get around that? It wasn't fair, it just wasn't fair!
'Slothie, Rest!' I said desperately. It was all I could do. I had no idea how I would defeat Zebulun's snorlax, but I couldn't let Slothie faint.
'All right Snorlax, create another Substitute!' said Zebulun. I swallowed as another substitute was created. Was he just going to repeat the process until he won? I really had no way to combat it . . . did I?
Maybe I should just attack it now. After all, each time it used Substitute, it lost some of its own hit points . . . so eventually, it would run out. But if it used Selfdestruct each time, it could knock out a few of my pokémon before I even got near beating it!
'Now Snorlax, Rest!' said Zebulun. I felt dizzy as I watched his pokémon recover its health. Now, it could go on using Substitute for even longer. Was this snorlax impossible to beat!? I had to do something, I had to do something!
~Janet~
Part Eighteen, Chapter Five
Characters: Janet Harris, Zebulun the pokémon leader of mastery, Slothie the snorlax, Raus the venusaur, Catafree the butterfree
'Slothie, return!' I called. 'I choose . . . Raus!'
There was no point in leaving a sleeping pokémon out in battle, even if the opponent was sleeping as well. I had to do something to combat this snorlax while it was still asleep.
'Raus, Leech Seed!' I said. Raus nodded and shot out a seed, which planted itself on the snorlax. I smiled. Now I'd be able to get to that snorlax without worrying about the substitute. But I still had to get rid of the substitute before I could do any real damage. 'Raus, Solar Beam!'
While Snorlax was sleeping, I could afford to wait the time to power up Solar Beam. And in between, Leech Seed would suck some of its energy. A few minutes later, Raus fired the beam and broke the substitute in one hit. Now for that snorlax . . .
Just as I was decided what attack to use on it, the snorlax opened its eyes, shook its head, and stood up. Great, so it was awake. Now Raus could be in trouble . . .
'Raus, Razor Leaf!' I said. My venusaur shot out a gust of leaves, dealing a reasonable amount of damage to the snorlax.
'Snorlax, Substitute!' said Zebulun. I narrowed my eyes. Now Raus would have to knock that substitute out before it could do any more damage to the snorlax! And I had to do it before it could use Rest again . . .
'Raus, Razor Leaf!' I said. I couldn't afford to spend two turns using Solar Beam. But the attack wasn't enough to beat that Substitute . . .
'Snorlax, Selfdestruct!' said Zebulun. I cringed as the snorlax performed its rule-defying technique once again, causing a huge amount of damage to Raus without even hurting itself at all. Of course, the substitute broke under the power of the attack, but now Raus was getting weak. If Snorlax used Rest any time soon, all of its efforts would have been for nothing.
'Raus, Razor Leaf!' I said. The attack managed to do a good deal of damage to Snorlax, but not enough to make it faint. It was getting weak though, after having used Substitute without following it by Rest.
'Snorlax, Rest!' said Zebulun. I looked at him curiously, surprised that he hadn't told his snorlax to use Substitute first. Its health must have been too low to be able to use the move. But now I had the advantage. I had the opportunity to attack it without worrying about the Substitute, and I had the added benefit of Snorlax being asleep! I smiled.
'OK Raus, Solar Beam!' I said. Raus charged up its most powerful attack and, thanks to Snorlax's sleeping, managed to fire it without being attacked in between. The move caused a huge amount of damage to the snorlax, but not enough to knock it out.
I tossed up what to do next. If I used Razor Leaf, it might not be enough to knock it out. But if I used Solar Beam, Snorlax might wake up and use Rest . . . but even then, wouldn't it need two turns - one to wake up and one to use its move? I nodded. I had to risk using Solar Beam.
'Raus, Solar Beam!' I said. Raus began gathering its energy.
'Venusaur!' it roared, unleashing the power of the strongest grass-type attack. The snorlax managed to hang in there, but only just - I could tell it was getting weak.
And then, it woke up. I bit my lip. Raus was in trouble now. But Snorlax's HP was low, and hopefully it could be beaten in one more hit . . .
'Raus, Tackle!' I said. Raus charged at the snorlax and knocked it to the ground. But the snorlax didn't faint! Oh no, I'd forgotten about the effects of Harden! And now Zebulun would tell it to use Rest, and . . . oh, how was I ever going to beat this snorlax?
'Snorlax, Selfdestruct!'
I stared at Zebulun. Had he really ordered his snorlax to use Selfdestruct, without Substitute!? He must have figured that it was worthwhile to just get rid of Raus once and for all.
As his snorlax used the second most powerful move of all, all I could do was sigh, not sure whether to be upset about Raus fainting, or relieved about having Snorlax out of the way.
Both pokémon collapsed to the ground, fainting under the power of Selfdestruct. Zebulun and I both recalled our pokémon, and I wiped my forehead, the tension really starting to get to me. Two of Zebulun's pokémon were down now, but so was one of mine, and one of my strongest at that. I couldn't help but feel that Raus's power had been wasted on that snorlax and its substitute, but I didn't have time to worry about that. I had to think about which pokémon to use next.
Slothie had the least amount of weaknesses, so it made more sense to send it out . . . but it was still asleep, and I didn't want to risk sending it out until I knew I could spend a few turns waiting for it to wake up. And basically, the only way I could be sure of that was if the opponent used either a move like Nidoking's Bide or Snorlax's Rest. And I couldn't count on that happening. So what else could I do? I could send the opponent to sleep myself! Who else could I send out, but Catafree?
Smiling, I threw my next pokéball into the arena. 'Catafree, I choose you!'
Zebulun chuckled to himself. 'I'm sorry I have to do this to you, Janet. But you've made it this far, and I really don't have any choice. I don't really want to be so cruel to your butterfree, really.'
I gulped. What pokémon was he going to send out? I'd obviously made the wrong choice in sending out Catafree . . .
Zebulun took out his next pokéball, looked at it for a moment, then looked at me with a smile. 'Not many trainers make it past Nidoking and Snorlax, so you're very lucky to get this far. And now you're going to see why it's so important that the pokémon you battle here are kept secret. You're also going to see why this is the master badge you're battling for.' He took a deep breath. 'Here goes. Zapdos, I choose you!'
~Janet~
Part Eighteen, Chapter Six
Characters: Janet Harris, Zebulun the pokémon leader of mastery, Catafree the butterfree, Pikapi the raichu
'Zapdos, I choose you!'
I practically fainted. Zapdos? Zapdos!? ZAPDOS!?
I suddenly wanted to give up completely and just go home, pretending the past three years had never happened, I had never become a pokémon trainer, had never won all fifteen gym badges and been beaten horribly by the zapdos at the master gym.
No, I hadn't been beaten yet! I had to keep myself alert and confident, I just had to! If I was going to be such a wimp, I shouldn't have even made it this far. I'd earned my way here, and I was going to try my best. I couldn't give up just because my opponent was using one of the rarest and strongest pokémon in the world, who had the type advantage over my pokémon . . .
I took a deep breath, and looked into the battlefield. The huge electric bird pokémon stood proudly in front of its master, staring at my little butterfree almost mockingly. I narrowed my eyes. I would win this, I would win this! My pokémon were capable of winning, I knew they were!
'Catafree, Sleep Powder!' I said. If I could put zapdos to sleep, I could send out Evy and beat it with Aurora Beam . . .
'Freee!' Catafree flew at Zapdos, sprinkling powder. However, to my immense disappointment, the attack missed. Great, now I was in for it.
'Zapdos, Thunderwave!' said Zebulun. With a little zap of electricity, his pokémon paralysed Catafree. Once again, I wished more than anything that this battle had allowed items. I would have done so much better had I been able to use status-healing items! 'Now Zapdos, Double Team!'
I heaved a sigh. It was going to be practically impossible to even hit this pokémon if Catafree was paralysed and Zapdos was raising its evasiveness!
'Catafree, Sleep Powder!' I said. Catafree was gripped by paralysis, not even able to attempt to hit Zapdos.
'Zapdos, Double Team!' said Zebulun.
'Catafree, Sleep Powder!' I said desperately. This time, Catafree managed to get through its paralysis, but couldn't manage to find Zapdos with its raised evasiveness, and the attack missed. I sighed. Was I ever going to get Sleep Powder to work?
'Zapdos, Drill Peck!' said Zebulun.
'Zapdos!' his pokémon screeched and flew at Catafree with its sharp beak, finally using an offensive attack. The type advantage and Zapdos's sheer power meant that the attack caused considerable damage to my butterfree.
'Hang in there, Catafree!' I said.
'Free,' panted Catafree, already worn out from its paralysed status and loss of HP.
'Catafree, try Psybeam!' I said hopefully. I had given up on Sleep Powder, and wanted just to get some damage done before Catafree fainted. But the effects of paralysis prevented Catafree from attacking. I heaved a sigh.
'Zapdos, Double Team!' said Zebulun. It was going to be practically impossible to attack it the more times it used that move, but at least it wasn't doing any damage to Catafree, and I could still try . . .
'Catafree, Psybeam!' I said. Catafree gathered is energy and fired a psychic beam at Zapdos, but after three Double Teams, the electric pokémon's evasiveness was too high to allow for Catafree to hit it.
'Zapdos, Thunderbolt!' said Zebulun. His pokémon charged up its electricity and fired a blast of lightning at Catafree. My flying pokémon was electrocuted badly, and fell to the ground, fainting.
I sighed heavily and felt tears in my eyes as I looked at my poor collapsed butterfree. I had been relying on Catafree's Sleep Powder to immobilise my opponents, and its Psybeam to deal big damage. But now, one of my most reliable pokémon had fainted without even getting one attack in. And now the match was even - two of my pokémon for two of Zebulun's pokémon. I was starting to get worried.
'Catafree, return,' I said sadly. Which pokémon could I use to combat Zapdos? Slothie maybe, but I still had to wait for it to wake up, and even when it did, would it be able to get through Double Team? Chazz and Evy both had disadvantages against Zapdos, so really I didn't have much choice. When I thought about it, I was really lucky. Pikapi, being an electric type, would be quite strong against Zapdos's attacks. I smiled. 'Pikapi, I choose you!'
'Zapdos, Thunderwave!' said Zebulun. I sighed. This paralysis could prove to be a real problem. Unless . . .
'Pikapi, Thunderwave!' I smiled.
'Chu chu,' Pikapi giggled, then shot its own Thunderwave at Zapdos, paralysing it! Now the two pokémon's statuses were even!
'Don't worry Zapdos, you can still get the advantage here,' said Zebulun. 'Double Team!'
As I thought through which of Pikapi's moves would be most effective, it suddenly occurred to me. With Pikapi, I didn't need to worry about Zapdos's high evasiveness at all! I had the perfect counter to it!
'Pikapi,' I said with a smile. 'Swift!'
'Rai,' nodded Pikapi. 'Raichu!'
Pikapi shot out a burst of stars, hitting Zapdos despite all of its Double Teams, and causing a fair amount of damage, too!
'That was a good idea,' said Zebulun. 'I guess it's down to plain old attacks now. Zapdos, Thunderbolt!'
His pokémon blasted electricity at Pikapi, but thanks to my pokémon also being an electric type, it didn't do a great deal of damage.
'Pikapi, Swift!'
'Zapdos, Thunderbolt!'
I smiled as Zebulun's zapdos was gripped by paralysis, preventing it from attacking. If luck stayed with me, I might just be able to beat this one!
'Swift!' I watched happily as Pikapi once again managed to get through its own paralysis and attack Zapdos. The legendary bird was being weakened slowly.
'Zapdos, Thunderbolt!' This time, Zapdos managed to hit Pikapi with its electricity.
'Pikapi, Swift!' I said. The attack knocked a much higher amount of HP off Zapdos this time; a critical hit!
'Zapdos, Thunderbolt!'
Pikapi was getting weaker and weaker, but so was Zapdos. Maybe just one more hit . . .
'Swift!'
Paralysis took over my raichu, and it couldn't attack. I sighed. It had to happen eventually.
'Zapdos, Thunderbolt!'
But luck was still on my side, as Zebulun's zapdos was also unable to attack!
'OK Pikapi,' I said. 'Put all your strength into it. Swift!'
'Rai rai rai chuuuu!' Pikapi shouted, launching its attack at Zapdos. It connected, and the huge, proud legendary bird fell to the ground with a crash, defeated. I breathed a sigh of relief. I was halfway there now.
'Zapdos return!' called Zebulun. 'Well done, but Zapdos is only the beginning. Not even that raichu will get through this one! Go, Articuno!'
~Janet~
Part Eighteen, Chapter Seven
Characters: Janet Harris, Zebulun the pokémon leader of mastery, Pikapi the raichu, Evy the vaporeon
'Go, Articuno!'
Another legendary bird!? This was so unfair! I had to keep reminding myself that this was the final battle that a trainer ever had to fight - of course it was going to be hard! But how could one trainer own not one, but two legendary birds!? I couldn't let myself worry about it, I had to concentrate on winning. Despite its paralysis, Pikapi had an even greater advantage over this one. Articuno didn't have increased evasiveness, and didn't have the electric type to wipe out its weakness to electric attacks.
'Articuno, Mist!' said Zebulun. His pokémon let out a strange misty aura, surrounding itself.
'Pikapi, Thunder!' I said. It was risky using an attack with low accuracy like Thunder, but its power and type advantage would mean a good deal of damage if it hit.
Unfortunately, it didn't. I sighed and prepared myself for Articuno's next move.
'Articuno, Blizzard!' said Zebulun. His pokémon flapped its icy wings and blew out a storm of icy energy, hitting Pikapi and knocking it to the ground. I had to be somewhat grateful that Pikapi's paralysis prevented it from being frozen by Blizzard - that would be an even worse status change than paralysis!
'Pikapi, Thunder!' I said, and suddenly lost my gratefulness to paralysis, as it took over Pikapi's body and stopped it from attacking. Was this going to be a repeat of Catafree's battle against Zapdos? I sure hoped not.
'Articuno, Blizzard!' said Zebulun. Once again, his pokémon attacked with the most powerful ice-type move, which connected with Pikapi and caused a great deal of damage. Pikapi was getting weak quickly, and if it didn't get a move in soon it would suffer the same fate Catafree had.
'Pikapi, Thunder!' I said hopefully. This time, the attack connected, and Articuno cried out in pain as the super-effective move drained almost all of its HP in one hit! I smiled. Perhaps this bird wouldn't be as hard as I had imagined.
'Another Blizzard, Articuno!' said Zebulun. I watched in horror as his Articuno managed a critical hit, knocking Pikapi down and causing it to faint! It had been so unexpected, that the shock hurt me just as much as the loss.
'Pikapi, return,' I sighed. Now how was I going to beat Articuno? Chazz could use its fire-type moves against it, but it would only fight back with its ice-type moves. On the other hand, Evy would be resistant to ice-type moves . . . 'Evy, I choose you!'
I tossed another pokéball, and my vaporeon re-entered the battle. 'Evy, Bite!'
Evy ran at the much larger pokémon and sunk its teeth into it. It dealt little damage, but even a small amount of damage brought Articuno near fainting after Pikapi's Thunder.
'Articuno, Agility!' said Zebulun. His pokémon flew around in circles for a moment, building up Speed. 'Now, Blizzard!'
His pokémon let out its super-powerful attack once more, but this time Evy managed to dodge it! I smiled.
'Evy, Bite!' I said. Evy leapt at Articuno and bit it once more, causing reasonable damage but not enough to make it faint. 'Now, Quick Attack!'
Evy charged at Articuno, its speedy attack overriding Articuno's increase in its speed statistic. The attack, although weak, was enough to send the legendary bird crashing down to the ground, defeated. I grinned. These birds weren't as tough as people made them out to be!
'Articuno, return!' called Zebulun. 'You should be very proud Janet, you've come very far. But it's not over yet. And don't get too cocky about this next one, it's no pushover. Moltres, I choose you!'
Oh no, not another legendary bird! Would this ever end? But at least this one was a fire-type. Evy would be able to beat this one easily! I smiled. No matter what he said about his moltres being "no pushover", Evy had a huge type advantage here.
'Evy, Hydro Pump!' I said.
'Vaporeon!' Evy leapt into the air and spun around, letting out a flood of water. The moltres took a lot of damage, the super-effective attack injuring it greatly.
'Moltres, Agility!' said Zebulun. Just as his articuno had, Moltres flew around in circles to increase its speed. 'Now use Toxic!'
Toxic again!? I'd thought that after defeating Nidoking, I'd seen the last of that horrible poison move! And I certainly hadn't expected to see a moltres using it! I sighed as the poison sunk into Evy's skin and began to take effect. I had underestimated Moltres, and Evy was weak after fighting Nidoking and Articuno . . . this poison might be enough to defeat it before it got a chance to beat Moltres! And then what would I do? If Slothie and Chazz couldn't beat Moltres either, I'd lose before I even got to Zebulun's last pokémon!
I had to at least try to win this. 'Evy, Hydro Pump!'
Evy gathered what remaining energy it had, and fired its most powerful attack at Moltres. I felt myself go cold as the attack missed completely, and wished more than anything that Hydro Pump had been a more accurate attack. The poison drained some more of Evy's energy, and I could tell that it was going to faint very soon. But recalling it now would be useless, because it would only faint against the next pokémon I sent it out against. All I could do was try and keep battling.
'Moltres, Fire Spin!' said Zebulun. I gasped as Moltres let out a net of fire, wrapping it around Evy and trapping it inside.
'Poreon!' Evy cried out as the flames enveloped it. It was now not only unable to attack, but it was losing energy rapidly from the power of the Fire Spin and the added damage from Toxic. I watched hopelessly as, only a minute later, Moltres stopped its Fire Spin and dropped Evy to the ground. My vaporeon had fainted.
'Evy, return,' I sighed, feeling defeated.
~Janet~
Part Eighteen, Chapter Eight
Characters: Janet Harris, Zebulun the pokémon leader of mastery, Slothie the snorlax, Chazz the charizard
What could I do? How could either of my remaining pokémon combat the combination of Toxic and Fire Spin? There had to be some way to get around it, there just had to be! And I had to think of it soon.
'Slothie,' I said, taking its pokéball. I took out my other remaining pokéball. 'Chazz.'
I couldn't send out Slothie because it was still asleep, but I couldn't send out Chazz because once poisoned, it wouldn't be able to recover its status. It was a case of risking Slothie's HP while waiting for it to wake up, or risking Chazz's status through Moltres's Toxic. I knew which one I needed more. Slothie could always recover its HP, whereas Chazz couldn't recover its status. Even though Moltres's Fire Spin would do less damage against Chazz than Slothie, the risks were greater for Chazz. I nodded.
'Slothie, I choose you!' I threw the pokéball, and Slothie entered the battle for the third time. Still fast asleep, it seemed almost ridiculous to be sending it out into battle.
'Moltres, Fire Blast!' said Zebulun. Moltres gathered its energy and let out a huge star-shaped ball of fire, which hit Slothie and caused a great deal of damage. I wondered why he hadn't told Moltres to use Toxic, before realising that poison would have no effect while Slothie was asleep.
The impact of the incredibly powerful attack must have caused Slothie to wake up, as it shook its head and pulled itself to its feet, awake. It glowered at Moltres, angry to have lost so many hit points during its sleep.
'Moltres, Toxic!' said Zebulun. His pokémon opened its mouth and spat out a sticky purple substance, which sunk into Slothie's skin and poisoned it, for the second time during that battle.
I thought about which move Slothie should use. Body Slam or Headbutt might not do enough damage, whereas Hyper Beam would require recharging . . . but hold on! If Zebulun was going to use the same strategy as before, he would use Fire Spin next. That would mean that no matter what attack Slothie used now, it wouldn't be able to attack during its next turn. So what did it matter if it had to recharge?
I smiled. 'Slothie, Hyper Beam!'
Slothie fired a huge beam of energy at Moltres, causing a great deal of damage. But the legendary bird managed to just hang in there. I sighed. We'd beat it eventually.
'Moltres, Fire Spin!' Zebulun commanded, sure enough. His pokémon wrapped its fiery breath around Slothie, preventing it from attacking and allowing Toxic to work faster. I had to just stand by and wait while Fire Spin damaged Slothie, and Toxic sucked more energy off it each turn.
After three turns, Moltres's Fire Spin disappeared. Now was my chance.
'Slothie, Hyper Be--'
'Moltres, Fire Spin!' Zebulun cut in. I watched, horrified, as his moltres simply shot another Fire Spin out at Slothie, trapping it again. Moltres's speed was much higher than Slothie's, and so it was able to attack much quicker. With that kind of advantage over Slothie, my snorlax was never going to get a chance to attack. All that would happen would be that Fire Spin and Toxic would keep reducing its health until it fainted; each time Fire Spin stopped, Moltres would simply use it again before Slothie was able to attack. Staying in this battle was useless.
'Slothie, return!' I called. Luckily, the beam of my pokéball managed to dodge the Fire Spin and get through to Slothie, zapping it back inside. I sighed with relief. It was all up to Chazz now. 'Chazz, I choose you!'
'Moltres, Toxic!' said Zebulun. I cringed as his pokémon poisoned Chazz. If only I had sent Chazz out first - now I had sacrificed both Chazz's status and Slothie's HP!
'Chazz, Slash!' I said.
'Char,' said Chazz. It leapt into the air, flew at Moltres and scraped its claws down the flying pokémon's body. Moltres cried out in pain; it was a critical hit! The third legendary bird came crashing down to the ground, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
'Well done Chazz!' I said as my charizard landed on the ground triumphantly.
'Moltres, return,' said Zebulun, recalling his fifth pokémon. 'I'm very impressed, Janet. You're one of very few trainers who make it this far. Now, I suggest you prepare yourself. This isn't going to be easy.'
I nodded. He was right. Both of my remaining pokémon were poisoned, one had lost quite a large amount of health, but Zebulun only had one pokémon remaining. It was going to be hard, incredibly hard, but I was about to face my final opponent. If I beat that pokémon, I would be a pokémon master. If I didn't, this entire battle would have been for nothing. The tension was building by the second, but I had to remain calm. Chazz and Slothie could do this, I knew they could. After all, Zebulun's final pokémon couldn't be any stronger than those legendary birds, right?
'All right, here goes,' said Zebulun. 'Time to come out . . . Mewtwo.'
I felt sick.
~Janet~
Part Eighteen, Chapter Nine
Characters: Janet Harris, Zebulun the pokémon leader of mastery, Chazz the charizard, Slothie the snorlax
I was speechless and utterly clueless when Zebulun threw his last pokéball into the arena. With a flash of bright light, a figure appeared. A tall grey creature, with hideous, unnatural-looking body parts, evil-looking eyes, and a long purple tail. It clenched its small, three-fingered hands into fists and let out a cry. 'Mewwww!'
Mewtwo. How on earth did Zebulun have a mewtwo!? It was impossible! I didn't think that any trainer in the entire world had a mewtwo! Had I never met Allin, I probably would have thought it impossible for Zebulun to have those legendary birds, but to have a mewtwo . . . no way! There was just no way I could explain it. I had heard about Mewtwo, read about Mewtwo, but had never seen one in my entire life, and had never imagined that I would ever see one in my entire life. When I had met Vanessa, whose goal as a trainer was to catch a mewtwo, I had almost felt sorry for her, believing that she would never achieve her goal. Not once in my whole life had I ever thought I would face a mewtwo.
'I suppose you see now why so few trainers make it to master level,' said Zebulun with a smile. 'You should be really proud that you've made it this far, really. If you back out now, you'll still have made it further than most trainers.'
He was right. Maybe I should just back out now, and save Chazz and Slothie the pain of having to fight that pokémon. They couldn't beat it, there was no way. I took out my pokéball to recall Chazz. It was over.
The orange lizard turned its long neck and faced me. It looked into my eyes, and I remembered seeing those eyes for the first time three years ago, when I had first found that little charmander back in my home kingdom. I'd managed to capture it, and it had been the first step on an unforgettable journey that had led me here. My dream had been to become a pokémon master. And no, no, there was no way I could give up on that dream now. No matter what it took, no matter how hard it was, we were going to win this battle.
'Chazz,' I said, tears clouding my vision. 'I'm calling you back now, but I'm not giving up. I want Slothie to try first, so that it can recover its health. Is that OK?'
Chazz nodded slowly, almost cautiously, as if to say "As long as you don't give up". I forced a smile, and held out my pokéball, returning Chazz.
'Slothie,' I said, taking out another pokéball. 'I'm counting on you. Let's go.'
Tossing my pokéball into the arena, I let out my snorlax. It was its fourth time going into this battle, and hopefully it would be able to do some real damage this time. I needed its power to defeat this mewtwo, it was the only way.
'I admire your spirit,' said Zebulun, nodding. 'Mewtwo, let's begin. Mist.'
'Mew,' Mewtwo shrouded itself in a cloud of mist, preventing any alterations to its statistics. I had to smile at that. Chazz and Slothie didn't have any statistic-altering moves anyway! That was one wasted move for Mewtwo!
'Slothie, Rest!' I said. First things first - I had to get rid of that poison and recover Slothie's health as soon as possible. My snorlax lay down and went to sleep.
'Mewtwo, Amnesia,' said Zebulun. I looked at Mewtwo curiously as it concentrated its energy. I remembered seeing Cammy use this move, but I still didn't understand it. 'Now Mewtwo, use Psychic!'
'Mew,' Mewtwo closed its eyes and gathered its psychic energy. After a moment, it snapped its eyes open, threw its arms out and blasted Slothie with psychic energy. I could tell that it had dealt a huge amount of damage. And all that Slothie could do was keep sleeping. I sighed. Maybe I should have tried to attack rather than going straight with Rest.
'Mewtwo, Psychic!' repeated Zebulun, and Mewtwo continued its powerful attack on Slothie. My snorlax shook itself and got to its feet, and I smiled. Zebulun ordered Mewtwo to use Psychic once more, and it caused a lot of damage to my snorlax, but Slothie wasn't going to go down that easily.
'Snorlax lax!' it said angrily, growling at Mewtwo.
I smiled. Maybe Slothie's anger could be used to our advantage. 'Slothie, Hyper Beam!'
'Snorlaaaax!' Slothie angrily fired a beam of energy at Mewtwo, and the blast of energy caused the psychic pokémon to collapse. I stared. Was it over? Was it really over? Had that mewtwo only needed one Hyper Beam to be knocked out!?
I thought too soon. Mewtwo leapt to its feet, ready to battle as ever.
'Mewtwo, Psychic,' said Zebulun. With another blast of psychic power, Mewtwo sent Slothie flying to the end of the battlefield.
'Snoooor!' it cried out, as it slammed down on the ground only a few metres ahead of me.
'Slothie!' I exclaimed. 'Are you all right!?'
'S . . . snorlax . . .' Slothie pulled itself to its feet. I sighed with relief. As long as Slothie was all right, I'd still have a chance.
'Mewtwo, Recover!' said Zebulun, and I went cold. I watched as Mewtwo concentrated its energy and restored its health. With a move like that, Mewtwo was going to be practically impossible to beat. But Slothie had recharged its energy now, so another Hyper Beam would at least do some damage to it.
'Slothie, Hyper Beam!' I said.
'Snorlaaaaaax!' Slothie put all of its energy into its attack, causing a critical hit and a huge amount of damage to Mewtwo. But even so, it was not enough to defeat it. I was starting to get the feeling that nothing would be.
'Mewtwo, Psychic!' said Zebulun. I gasped, realising how weak Slothie was, and that I hadn't used that opportunity to use Rest. And now, Mewtwo was using Psychic . . . oh no! With one final psychic blast, Mewtwo sent my snorlax, who I had relied on throughout this entire battle, crashing down to the ground. Slothie had fainted.
~Janet~
Part Eighteen, Chapter Ten
Characters: Janet Harris, Zebulun the pokémon leader of mastery, Chazz the charizard
I wanted to burst into tears as I recalled my pokémon. If I hadn't been so stupid, if I had only used Rest when I had the chance . . . had I really lost all my chances of becoming a pokémon master? Was it really all over for me?
No. I still had my charizard. It was poisoned, but it hadn't lost a great deal of HP, and it was also one of my strongest pokémon.
My hands were sweating and shaking as I took out that final pokéball and enlarged it. This was my final chance. All of my dreams of becoming a pokémon master were now resting on Chazz . . . just as they had been that day when I first caught it. I owed so much to Chazz, it had been such a loyal pokémon over the years. But I didn't have time to reminisce about it, all I had time to do was concentrate on this battle.
'Chazz,' I whispered into the pokéball. 'I'm counting on you, buddy. Do your best, I know you can win.'
With that, I dropped the pokéball and released Chazz. The charizard spread its wings and clenched its hands into fists, eager to battle despite the poison that was slowly sucking away its health. It turned its long neck to face me and smiled at me reassuringly, and I just smiled back.
'Good luck Chazz,' I said. I took a deep breath. 'OK, here goes. Flamethrower!'
Chazz let out a beam of flames, causing a reasonable amount of damage to Mewtwo. I suddenly realised that, after Slothie's Hyper Beam, Mewtwo's health points weren't even all that high anymore - it wouldn't take very long to defeat it after all!
'Mewtwo, Recover!' said Zebulun, and my heart sunk. How had I forgotten about Recover? It became clear to me once more how impossible it was to defeat this mewtwo . . .
I remembered Zebulun's words from earlier in the battle: power isn't enough to win a pokémon battle. The reason he had such a high place in the world of pokémon was probably because of his strategies. I had never thought I'd encounter a snorlax like his before, and his moltres had certainly caused a lot of trouble as well . . .
Suddenly I thought of something.
'Chazz, Flamethrower!' I said. Sure Mewtwo had prevented statistic- altering moves, but it hadn't prevented status-altering moves. If I could manage to burn it . . .
Chazz shot another flamethrower at Mewtwo, singeing it for another dose of damage.
'Mewtwo, Psychic!' said Zebulun. His mewtwo managed to cause a lot of damage to Chazz, but even with its poison, Chazz still had quite a lot of hit points remaining.
'Chazz, Flamethrower!' I said. C'mon, a burn, all I need is a burn! But no, I didn't get one.
'Mewtwo, Psychic!'
I cringed as Chazz held its head in pain, unable to take much more of the psychic attacks. If Mewtwo kept this up for much longer, Chazz would be knocked out before I got a chance to really do any damage.
'Chazz, Flamethrower!' I said. Chazz took a deep breath and blasted Mewtwo with fire, and - yes! The psychic pokémon was burnt! Chazz puffed, worn out, and I gulped. It could be over any second now.
'Mewtwo, Psychic!' said Zebulun. His pokémon attacked, and nearly managed to knock Chazz out, but its burn caused it to lose energy after the attack.
'Now Chazz,' I said. 'Fire Spin.'
Zebulun blinked, as if surprised to see me using something other than an outright offensive move.
Chazz smiled, and shot out a thin beam of fire, wrapping it around Mewtwo. Fire Spin wasn't generally my kind of move, but if the opponent was burned . . .
The flames tightened around Mewtwo, holding it in place and preventing it from attacking. They began to slowly drain its energy, while at the same time, its burn caused its health to run out even faster.
'Char . . . char . . .' Chazz puffed as it struggled to keep up the Fire Spin. I realised that it was still being affected by Toxic, and so even though it was draining Mewtwo's HP each turn, its poison was draining its own HP as well. I gulped. Maybe using Fire Spin wasn't a good idea after all - wasn't it really just a way of making Toxic get to Chazz faster?
Just when I thought I had made the mistake of my lifetime, I heard Mewtwo cry out.
'Meww . . .' it said, and fell back. Chazz kept its eyes and its flames on it for a moment, before letting go and collapsing to the ground. I looked over at the mewtwo, lying on the ground where Chazz had dropped it. My heart beating so fast I could hardly hear myself think, I stared at it and tried to make out whether it was awake or not.
Minutes passed, as I continued to stare at the mewtwo. It hadn't moved one centimetre since it had fallen. It had definitely fainted. As I broke into a huge smile, I looked over at Chazz to congratulate it.
And I realised that it had fainted as well.
My expression dropped. Chazz had fainted. Chazz had fainted! My six pokémon had all been beaten. I'd lost. I'd really lost.
~Janet~
Part Eighteen, Chapter Eleven
Characters: Janet Harris, Zebulun the pokémon leader of mastery, Sand-Cloud Pluff, Gelby Chu, Luke Smytheson
I burst into tears and collapsed on the ground. It was over, it was over, it was over. I wasn't a pokémon master. It had all been for nothing. Twenty-nine pokémon, a pokédex of forty-two, fifteen badges, three years . . . no master badge. I'd made friends, made enemies, I'd laughed, I'd cried, and now it was all over. My dreams were nothing anymore.
After a minute or two, I felt a hand on my shoulder.
'Well, Janet,' said Zebulun's voice. 'What can I say? Congratulations. You're a pokémon master.'
Was this his idea of some kind of joke!? I stood up and was ready to yell at him, when I saw him take something out of his pocket. It was a small round object . . . a badge. It was shaped like a pokéball, only with blue instead of red on the top, and a pink "M". It was a picture of a masterball. It was the master badge. The badge I hadn't earned.
Zebulun took a deep breath and held the badge out to me. 'Here it is, Janet. Congratulations. You've done it.'
I was speechless. Could he really be that cruel, holding the badge out to be as some kind of mockery!? I shook my head, disgusted at him.
'Janet,' smiled Zebulun. He took my hand and placed the master badge on my palm. 'Take it. It's yours.'
He closed my fingers over the badge, and smiled at me.
'I . . . I . . .' I had no idea what to say. Was he really serious? I took a deep breath, and forced myself to speak. 'But . . . but Chazz . . . fainted . . .'
Zebulun nodded. 'It did, but so did Mewtwo. At first I thought you'd lost as well, but then I checked the rules. They say you lose if your pokémon faints through Explosion or Selfdestruct, they don't mention anything about fainting from poison.'
My jaw dropped, and I stared at him. 'You mean it!?'
Zebulun nodded. 'Of course I do. We've never had a situation like this before, so we've never had to make a rule for it. But your charizard won fair and square, and so that master badge is yours.'
I broke into a huge grin. I'd done it! I'd done it after all! I'd won the battle! And that meant . . . that meant . . . that I was a pokémon master! Laughing, I hugged Zebulun excitedly.
'Thank you!' I said. 'Thank you so much!'
'You don't need to thank me,' smiled Zebulun. 'You earned that badge just as much as any pokémon master.' I smiled, and wiped the tears from my eyes. 'Now, let's go see how your friend went in his battle.'
My heart skipped a beat. Luke! I'd forgotten about him! Had he won as well? I wouldn't know how to tell him that I had won if he'd lost . . .
Zebulun led me into the foyer of the Pokémon League. Sand-Cloud and Gelby were waiting there, and upon seeing me, they rushed towards me.
'Janet!' they both exclaimed at the same time. 'Congratulations!'
I smiled and bent down on my knees, hugging both of them. 'Thank you so much, guys. I couldn't have made it without you, you're the best friends anyone could ever have!'
'And what about me?'
I looked up, and there was Luke, smiling down at me. The grin on his face made it obvious what the outcome of his battle had been; he didn't even need to tell me. I stood up, stepped around Sand-Cloud and Gelby, and gave him a hug.
'Told you we could do it,' he smiled, resting his head on mine.
'So you were right,' I smiled. 'Miracles happen.'
'You two should be very proud,' said the girl from behind the counter, stepping out to meet us. 'As a reward for your achievements, we've got something to give to each of you.'
Luke and I turned to look at her, surprised. Weren't master badges reward enough?
The girl smiled and held out her hand. Inside were two pokéballs, reduced to their smaller sizes. But they weren't ordinary pokéballs. They were blue on the top instead of red, and had a pink "M" written on them. I gaped at them.
'Every pokémon master is presented with one masterball,' said the girl. 'As I'm sure you both know, a masterball is the ultimate kind of pokéball which captures any pokémon automatically. Use them wisely.'
'We will,' said Luke, as we took a masterball each.
'Don't ever think that your pokémon journeys end with becoming pokémon masters,' said the girl with a smile. 'There's still so much to do out there in the world of pokémon. More and more pokémon are being discovered every day, and there are plenty of leagues to compete in as pokémon masters. The great thing about being pokémon trainers is knowing that the journey never ends.'
~Janet~
END OF PART EIGHTEEN
Characters: Janet Harris, Sand-Cloud Pluff, Gelby Chu, Luke Smytheson
The Pokémon League. It stood before us, tall and proud, at the summit of the tallest mountain in the area, surrounded by three smaller mountains, and topped by that strange purple glow. It was hard to believe that after all this time, we were really standing in front of the building we had only dreamt about until now. Inside that building lay the final test, the battle which would decide whether I was master material, or whether I was to go down in the hall of shame.
I was nervous, I was excited, and I was a little afraid. What if I lost? Would all of my troubles have been for nothing? Sure, I had a lot of faith in my pokémon, but our last gym battle had been extremely difficult and we'd only just won on our second attempt. If it had been so hard for us to win our fifteenth badge, imagine how hard it would be to beat this final opponent!
I suddenly realised that I didn't even know what kind of pokémon I would be battling against. The fifteen gym system had been designed so that trainers had experience against fighting each of the fifteen different types. But for the Pokémon League? There weren't any types left for the leader to use, so what would it be? A combination team, most likely, and that would be tricky. I'd become so accustomed to fighting a set type of pokémon that I'd learnt to rely a lot on type advantages . . . if I didn't even know what types my opponent would use, how would I know who would have the advantage?
But I'd thought a lot about my team during our travel to the Pokémon League, and I had decided who I'd be using. Unless any hints were given as to the leader's pokémon sometime before I had to fight, I'd stick with the team I'd chosen.
'C'mon, let's go,' said Luke, jerking me out of my thoughts. I turned to him and nodded, and we stepped through the automatic doors into the building.
From behind a desk, a girl who seemed only a year or so older than us looked up. She smiled.
'Ah, some challengers, I suppose?' she asked.
'Yeah,' said Luke. 'We're here for the master badge.'
'Of course,' nodded the girl. 'If you could just give me your details?'
Luke and I gave her our names and addresses, and then the girl scanned our pokédexes to make sure we were genuine. We then had to hand her our fifteen badges, which were also scanned for authenticity.
'Everything seems to be in order,' smiled the girl. 'OK, here's the drill. We have three battle rooms, so we can have three battles at a time. You may both battle at the same time in different rooms if you like, or one after the other in the same room if you'd prefer. However, no word must be spoken about the pokémon your opponent uses in battle, whether you win or lose. Is that clear?'
'Um, of course,' I nodded. Luke also nodded.
'You may use up to six pokémon,' the girl eyed the twenty-eight pokémon which had scrambled into the room after me. 'It will be a standard battle, no time limits or pokémon species limits. Only moves officially recognised as legal moves for your particular pokémon can be used or you will be disqualified. Items may not be used.'
'Items may not be used!?' I exclaimed.
'That is what the rules state,' said the girl. I sighed, and nodded. 'You will win the battle by causing all of the opponent's pokémon to faint. If you use selfdestruct or explosion on your final pokémon, you will be disqualified whether or not you defeat the opponent with such a move. Any questions?'
Luke and I looked at each other, then shook our heads.
The girl nodded. 'So what will it be? Would you like to go at the same time? We have all three rooms free at the moment.'
We looked at each other once more, and nodded to each other.
'Yeah, we'll go at the same time,' said Luke.
The girl nodded, then turned to Sand-Cloud and Gelby. 'Are you here as spectators?'
'Um, yeah,' nodded Sand-Cloud.
'We don't allow spectators to enter the stadium with the challenger,' said the girl. 'You may only watch from behind the sound-proof glass so that you don't help the challenger in any way.'
I swallowed. I didn't like the sound of this. Sand-Cloud and Gelby often offered me advice during battles, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to get through this without their support . . . but if those were the rules, I'd have to obey them.
Sand-Cloud sighed. 'OK, sure. We're gonna watch Janet.'
'All right then,' said the girl. 'Get your pokémon teams ready. Janet, you'll be in room one, and Luke, you'll be in room two. You may begin whenever you're ready.'
~Janet~
Part Eighteen, Chapter Two
Characters: Janet Harris, Slothie the snorlax, Evy the vaporeon
Sweating like mad with nerves, I stepped into the arena. In my pockets were six pokéballs, containing the team I had chosen to battle with.
Chazz the charizard was the first pokémon I had ever caught. I had raised it since it was a charmander, and we'd become not only a great battling team, but great friends. Chazz was one of the most loyal pokémon I had ever met, it did whatever it could for me and the rest of my pokémon. It wasn't the strongest charizard in the world, I knew that very well, but I was proud of it, and its fire type moves would be great for any grass, bug or ice pokémon we'd come across.
I'd caught Pikapi the raichu just two days after Chazz, and I'd relied on it a lot during my time as a trainer. It was a friendly, innocent little pokémon whose sheer power in electric attacks had earned me a lot of victories. I was relying on its electric attacks for water and flying types.
Catafree the butterfree was another pokémon I had been with since my first few weeks as a trainer. While it was a dual bug and flying pokémon, it didn't know any moves of those types, and battled more as a psychic. Psychic moves were generally reliable because of their effectiveness against all but psychic pokémon, and their added damage against fighting and poison pokémon made them really pack a lot of power.
Raus the venusaur had been given to me by the Nurse Joy in Blastoise Centre, to help me defeat the water-type leader Andrew. It had certainly been a lot of help during that battle, and many more to come. Raus had been abandoned by its previous trainer, which may have had something to do with its unbelievable determination and stubbornness in battle. At times Raus could be over-confident, but it was also very reliable for knocking out those tricky opponents. The grass type moves that Raus was armed with would be perfect for water, ground and rock pokémon.
Evy the vaporeon was another pokémon which have been given to me. Its previous trainer, Sally the eevee breeder, had given Evy to me and its twin Evan to Luke after we had saved them from a fire. I'd been a pokémon trainer for more than a year at that point, so I hadn't had Evy for nearly as long as the first four members of my team, but the vaporeon had still become one of my most reliable pokémon. It was versatile in that it knew both ice and water type moves, making it a great combatant for grass, flying, ground, dragon, fire, and rock type pokémon!
And finally, Slothie the snorlax. I had captured it in the wild after Chazz had found it and it had been attacked by two of my rivals, Ace and Kat. It had turned out to be an incredibly powerful pokémon. It could get a little angry at times and go a little over the top, but it usually turned out to be for the best. While it only knew normal-type attacks, they were great for all-round effectiveness; Slothie would only really be disadvantaged if it came across a rock type.
My team wouldn't be that great if it came up against electric, psychic or ghost pokémon, but I was just hoping that wouldn't happen. And if it did . . . I'd figure out what to do with the pokémon I had. We would win this, we had to win this!
As I ran my hands over the six pokéballs, wondering who I would send out first, the master trainer appeared from a door at the other side of the arena. He didn't look as old as I had expected, only in his twenties or maybe thirties. He wore casual clothing, nothing clichéd or stereotypical of a master trainer. And at his belt were six pokéballs . . . my opponents.
'Hello Janet,' he said cheerfully. 'My name's Zebulun, and I'll be your opponent. I suppose you know all the rules. Use up to six pokémon, no items, that's about it. Should we get started?'
I nodded.
Zebulun smiled. 'Just relax, you're not gonna win if you're stressed. But we'd better not dawdle. Go on, choose your first pokémon.'
I took a deep breath. So he was expecting me to choose first. All right then, go with one who doesn't have many weaknesses . . .
'Slothie!' I said. 'I choose you!'
'A snorlax,' nodded Zebulun. 'A good choice, great pokémon if you get their strategies right. Let's see how this turns out . . . Nidoking, I choose you!'
I watched, curious, as the spiked, tough-looking purple pokémon appeared. I'd never battled a nidoking before. I'd battled a nidorino, and I had a nidoran male, but I hadn't ever come across the fully evolved form. This battle was going to be very unpredictable . . .
'Nidoking,' said Zebulun. 'Let's start things off. Toxic!'
'King!' roared his pokémon. All I could do was watch in horror as it spat out a poisonous substance which sunk into Slothie's skin, poisoning it badly.
'Oh no,' I breathed. Without the use of items, how was I going to win against a pokémon that could poison its opponents? And it wasn't just poison, it was Toxic, the worst kind of poisoning attack. But I had to do something. 'Slothie, body slam!'
Slothie forced itself to ignore the effects of the poison, and leapt into the air, slamming down on top of Nidoking. It inflicted a small amount of damage; not enough to really effect it much at all. And of course, the poison only caused Slothie to hurt itself in the process. I had to do something about this.
'Nidoking,' said Zebulun. 'Bide!'
Bide? I had never encountered this move before. Maybe I should have studied for this battle . . . I had no idea what to expect from this move! When you didn't know what your opponent was doing, it probably wasn't a great idea to switch pokémon . . . but I had to get Slothie out of there before the poison got to it. It was perhaps the strongest of all my pokémon, and I needed to save it for later.
'Slothie, return!' I called. I took out my next pokéball. If I couldn't predict Nidoking's attack, I'd just have to go with the type advantage. 'Evy, go!'
'This should be interesting,' smiled Zebulun.
'Evy,' I said. 'Let's try and knock this one out with Hydro Pump.'
'Poreon,' nodded Evy. It took a deep breath, then leapt into the air and spun around, squirting a torrent of water from its mouth and the pores of its skin. Nidoking fell back upon the impact of the super-effective attack. Evy seemed to have done a great deal of damage. As my vaporeon landed, it braced itself for Nidoking's retaliation . . . but nothing came! I looked over at Zebulun, confused. Was he going to tell his pokémon to attack or not!?
'Oh, do go on,' he nodded. 'Don't waste your time, keep battling!'
I just stared at him. What was going on here? He obviously had some kind of trick up his sleeve . . . why else wouldn't he tell Nidoking to attack? There had to be some catch to letting Evy just keep attacking it . . . but since I had no idea what it was, there was nothing I could do about it. I just had to go with my instincts.
~Janet~
Part Eighteen, Chapter Three
Characters: Janet Harris, Zebulun the pokémon leader of mastery, Evy the vaporeon, Slothie the snorlax
'Evy, Hydro Pump seems to be working,' I said. 'Try another one.'
Evy attacked once more, this time even stronger than before -- a critical hit! Nidoking's health points were draining rapidly. But still, no attack. Did Zebulun want me to defeat his pokémon?
'Let's try something else,' I said to Evy. I didn't want Evy to waste all of its energy on using Hydro Pump, and besides, what if I came across another ground-type, or a fire-type, and needed Evy's water then? 'Try an Aurora Beam!'
'Vaporeon!' Evy shot out a beam of ice at Nidoking. The ground pokémon took the blow, but I could tell that it wasn't going to be able to take much more. Just when I thought it might be about to faint, it suddenly began glowing with energy. It shot its arms into the air and roared.
'Nidoking, you know what to do,' smiled Zebulun. 'Unleash the Bide attack!'
'Nidoking!' the pokémon roared, and suddenly a great ball of energy appeared in its arms. It held it there for a moment, allowing it to grow even larger, before it finally hurled it at Evy. I gasped. How could my little vaporeon handle that!?
The ball hit Evy and sent it hurtling through the air, yelping in pain. What was that attack!? How was I supposed to combat that!?
'Por . . .' moaned Evy as it dropped to the ground.
'Oh no,' I said, shaking my head. This nidoking was going to be one tough opponent to beat . . . and it was only the first of my obstacles!
'Nidoking, Bide!'
I thought and thought and thought about it. Bide, Bide, Bide. I'd heard of it, I was sure of it. But what did it do? Nidoking had stood there and allowed itself to get hit by Evy's attacks, and then it had fought back even stronger. Did that mean that Nidoking had absorbed Evy's attacks and just thrown them right back, at an even more powerful level? That was the only explanation I could think of. And if that was the case, not even Evy's Hydro Pump would be able to hurt that Nidoking without meaning serious damage in return.
'Evy, return!' I called, zapping my pokémon back inside its pokéball. I held the ball up to my mouth and whispered to it. 'Evy, you fought really well. Have a good rest, I might need you later.'
I had to think of something, and quick. I'd already recalled two pokémon and Zebulun was still on his first. But who could I send out that would be able to defeat Nidoking? Catafree could use its psychic attacks, they'd work well on Nidoking's poison element, but then wouldn't it just fight back with even more power? No matter what attack I used, Nidoking would just throw it back. Suddenly I realised. That was it - the only way I could fight it was by not fighting it at all!
'Slothie, I choose you!' I said. I threw my first pokéball into the arena. Slothie was still poisoned, but I had a way to solve both problems at once. 'Slothie, Rest!'
Slothie turned to me and tilted its head, surprised that I would send it into battle only to tell it to go to sleep. I smiled, and then it smiled too, knowing that I'd thought well about this. It lay down and closed its eyes, going straight to sleep.
'Ah,' said Zebulun. 'That was a smart move. Rest is a great technique if you know how to use it.'
I just nodded. Now it was a matter of what happened first - Slothie waking up or Nidoking stopping Bide.
After a few minutes, it was obvious what the answer was going to be. Nidoking shook itself out of its waiting game, and got ready to attack. Slothie remained lying on the ground, fast asleep. I tossed up switching it for another pokémon, but in the end it wasn't worth it. I couldn't risk the damage which Nidoking could do to whichever pokémon I switched for. After all, Slothie was the only one who could recover health points.
'Nidoking, horn drill!' said Zebulun.
Oh no, anything but Horn Drill! I couldn't win this battle without Slothie, I knew I couldn't! So this was it . . . if that attack connected, it would all be over for me. My chances of becoming a pokémon master would be no more. All I could do was stand there stupidly waiting to see whether Nidoking's attack was successful.
~Janet~
Part Eighteen, Chapter Four
Characters: Janet Harris, Zebulun the pokémon leader of mastery, Slothie the snorlax
'Nidoking, horn drill!'
The sharp horn on Nidoking's head began spinning around rapidly, and the ground pokémon charged at Slothie horn-first. I cringed and had to cover my eyes as it slammed its horn into Slothie. The attack had connected.
Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to calm down. Maybe I could still win without Slothie, maybe one of my other pokémon could pull through. They were all very powerful, I knew that. If I had enough confidence, I could get through this.
So I looked up, and to my surprise, Slothie was rubbing its eyes and standing up. Not fainted, and not even asleep, it was getting ready to go into battle once more. What was going on here!? Nidoking had used Horn Drill, one of those deadly one-hit KO moves! So how had Slothie managed to survive it?
'I'm impressed,' said Zebulun. I looked over at him. 'Your snorlax is at a higher level than my nidoking.'
I stared at him, eyes wide. My snorlax was at a higher level than one of the final gym leader's pokémon? Wow! I smiled, suddenly filled with the confidence to keep battling.
'Slothie, headbutt!' I said.
Slothie lowered its head and ran at Nidoking, knocking it down to the end of the stadium. It was getting weaker and weaker.
'Nidoking, Earthquake!' said Zebulun. I was surprised that he hadn't told his pokémon to use Bide again, but then realised why. Its hit points were low now, and Slothie would probably knock it out before it got a chance to unleash the Bide attack. I smiled, and didn't feel fazed when Nidoking shattered the stadium with its Earthquake attack. Slothie took a fair amount of damage, but it could win this battle, I was sure of it.
'Now, Body Slam!' I said. Slothie leapt into the air and came crashing down on Nidoking, dealing the final blow that managed to knock it out. I grinned. One down, five to go; and not one of my pokémon had fainted yet!
'Nidoking, return!' called Zebulun, returning his pokémon to its pokéball. 'That's a great snorlax you've got there. It's powerful, but power isn't enough to win a pokémon battle. Let me show you another great snorlax.'
He tossed his second pokéball into the arena and a snorlax, a little larger and darker than Slothie, materialised into the arena. So, it was his snorlax versus my snorlax. This would be interesting.
'Snorlax, Harden!' said Zebulun. His pokémon concentrated its energy and built up its defense.
'Slothie, get it before it ups its stats too much!' I said. 'Hyper Beam!'
'Snor!' Slothie nodded. It gathered its power and launched a powerful beam at the opponent snorlax, causing an impressive amount of damage.
'Snorlax,' said Zebulun. 'Let's use this opportunity while it has to recharge. Substitute!'
Great, another move I hadn't encountered before! But I'd heard about this one. The pokémon created a "substitute" which took damage for it, but in the process lost some of its own health points. It seemed a little useless to me. Slothie would be able to handle it easily!
'Now,' said Zebulun. 'Harden!'
His snorlax built up its defense once more, giving the statistic bonus to its substitute. It seemed that Zebulun's snorlax was mainly a defensive pokémon - when was it going to attack?
'Slothie, body slam!' I said.
'Snorlax!' Slothie's signature attack hit the substitute with immense force, but not enough to cause it to break. The Harden techniques must have given it more added defense than I'd thought.
'Now Snorlax, Selfdestruct!' said Zebulun, grinning.
'What!?' I exclaimed. Why would he order his pokémon to use Selfdestruct in a battle like this!? Would he really give away his snorlax for one big hit? And his pokémon still had a lot of HP left, why would he use Selfdestruct so soon!? I became suddenly aware that Zebulun was a lot smarter than I'd thought he was. There had to be a trick to this, there just had to be!
And there was. I watched in horror as the huge power of the Selfdestruct attack caused Slothie's health to drop almost to zero, while at the same time, only Snorlax's substitute actually exploded. The pokémon itself stayed happily ready to battle. All I could do was stare. Surely that technique had to be cheating! The whole point of Selfdestruct was to use it as a last resort when your pokémon was about to faint, because that way it didn't matter that it would faint from the attack. Selfdestruct always caused the pokémon using it to faint! So how could using Substitute let a pokémon get around that? It wasn't fair, it just wasn't fair!
'Slothie, Rest!' I said desperately. It was all I could do. I had no idea how I would defeat Zebulun's snorlax, but I couldn't let Slothie faint.
'All right Snorlax, create another Substitute!' said Zebulun. I swallowed as another substitute was created. Was he just going to repeat the process until he won? I really had no way to combat it . . . did I?
Maybe I should just attack it now. After all, each time it used Substitute, it lost some of its own hit points . . . so eventually, it would run out. But if it used Selfdestruct each time, it could knock out a few of my pokémon before I even got near beating it!
'Now Snorlax, Rest!' said Zebulun. I felt dizzy as I watched his pokémon recover its health. Now, it could go on using Substitute for even longer. Was this snorlax impossible to beat!? I had to do something, I had to do something!
~Janet~
Part Eighteen, Chapter Five
Characters: Janet Harris, Zebulun the pokémon leader of mastery, Slothie the snorlax, Raus the venusaur, Catafree the butterfree
'Slothie, return!' I called. 'I choose . . . Raus!'
There was no point in leaving a sleeping pokémon out in battle, even if the opponent was sleeping as well. I had to do something to combat this snorlax while it was still asleep.
'Raus, Leech Seed!' I said. Raus nodded and shot out a seed, which planted itself on the snorlax. I smiled. Now I'd be able to get to that snorlax without worrying about the substitute. But I still had to get rid of the substitute before I could do any real damage. 'Raus, Solar Beam!'
While Snorlax was sleeping, I could afford to wait the time to power up Solar Beam. And in between, Leech Seed would suck some of its energy. A few minutes later, Raus fired the beam and broke the substitute in one hit. Now for that snorlax . . .
Just as I was decided what attack to use on it, the snorlax opened its eyes, shook its head, and stood up. Great, so it was awake. Now Raus could be in trouble . . .
'Raus, Razor Leaf!' I said. My venusaur shot out a gust of leaves, dealing a reasonable amount of damage to the snorlax.
'Snorlax, Substitute!' said Zebulun. I narrowed my eyes. Now Raus would have to knock that substitute out before it could do any more damage to the snorlax! And I had to do it before it could use Rest again . . .
'Raus, Razor Leaf!' I said. I couldn't afford to spend two turns using Solar Beam. But the attack wasn't enough to beat that Substitute . . .
'Snorlax, Selfdestruct!' said Zebulun. I cringed as the snorlax performed its rule-defying technique once again, causing a huge amount of damage to Raus without even hurting itself at all. Of course, the substitute broke under the power of the attack, but now Raus was getting weak. If Snorlax used Rest any time soon, all of its efforts would have been for nothing.
'Raus, Razor Leaf!' I said. The attack managed to do a good deal of damage to Snorlax, but not enough to make it faint. It was getting weak though, after having used Substitute without following it by Rest.
'Snorlax, Rest!' said Zebulun. I looked at him curiously, surprised that he hadn't told his snorlax to use Substitute first. Its health must have been too low to be able to use the move. But now I had the advantage. I had the opportunity to attack it without worrying about the Substitute, and I had the added benefit of Snorlax being asleep! I smiled.
'OK Raus, Solar Beam!' I said. Raus charged up its most powerful attack and, thanks to Snorlax's sleeping, managed to fire it without being attacked in between. The move caused a huge amount of damage to the snorlax, but not enough to knock it out.
I tossed up what to do next. If I used Razor Leaf, it might not be enough to knock it out. But if I used Solar Beam, Snorlax might wake up and use Rest . . . but even then, wouldn't it need two turns - one to wake up and one to use its move? I nodded. I had to risk using Solar Beam.
'Raus, Solar Beam!' I said. Raus began gathering its energy.
'Venusaur!' it roared, unleashing the power of the strongest grass-type attack. The snorlax managed to hang in there, but only just - I could tell it was getting weak.
And then, it woke up. I bit my lip. Raus was in trouble now. But Snorlax's HP was low, and hopefully it could be beaten in one more hit . . .
'Raus, Tackle!' I said. Raus charged at the snorlax and knocked it to the ground. But the snorlax didn't faint! Oh no, I'd forgotten about the effects of Harden! And now Zebulun would tell it to use Rest, and . . . oh, how was I ever going to beat this snorlax?
'Snorlax, Selfdestruct!'
I stared at Zebulun. Had he really ordered his snorlax to use Selfdestruct, without Substitute!? He must have figured that it was worthwhile to just get rid of Raus once and for all.
As his snorlax used the second most powerful move of all, all I could do was sigh, not sure whether to be upset about Raus fainting, or relieved about having Snorlax out of the way.
Both pokémon collapsed to the ground, fainting under the power of Selfdestruct. Zebulun and I both recalled our pokémon, and I wiped my forehead, the tension really starting to get to me. Two of Zebulun's pokémon were down now, but so was one of mine, and one of my strongest at that. I couldn't help but feel that Raus's power had been wasted on that snorlax and its substitute, but I didn't have time to worry about that. I had to think about which pokémon to use next.
Slothie had the least amount of weaknesses, so it made more sense to send it out . . . but it was still asleep, and I didn't want to risk sending it out until I knew I could spend a few turns waiting for it to wake up. And basically, the only way I could be sure of that was if the opponent used either a move like Nidoking's Bide or Snorlax's Rest. And I couldn't count on that happening. So what else could I do? I could send the opponent to sleep myself! Who else could I send out, but Catafree?
Smiling, I threw my next pokéball into the arena. 'Catafree, I choose you!'
Zebulun chuckled to himself. 'I'm sorry I have to do this to you, Janet. But you've made it this far, and I really don't have any choice. I don't really want to be so cruel to your butterfree, really.'
I gulped. What pokémon was he going to send out? I'd obviously made the wrong choice in sending out Catafree . . .
Zebulun took out his next pokéball, looked at it for a moment, then looked at me with a smile. 'Not many trainers make it past Nidoking and Snorlax, so you're very lucky to get this far. And now you're going to see why it's so important that the pokémon you battle here are kept secret. You're also going to see why this is the master badge you're battling for.' He took a deep breath. 'Here goes. Zapdos, I choose you!'
~Janet~
Part Eighteen, Chapter Six
Characters: Janet Harris, Zebulun the pokémon leader of mastery, Catafree the butterfree, Pikapi the raichu
'Zapdos, I choose you!'
I practically fainted. Zapdos? Zapdos!? ZAPDOS!?
I suddenly wanted to give up completely and just go home, pretending the past three years had never happened, I had never become a pokémon trainer, had never won all fifteen gym badges and been beaten horribly by the zapdos at the master gym.
No, I hadn't been beaten yet! I had to keep myself alert and confident, I just had to! If I was going to be such a wimp, I shouldn't have even made it this far. I'd earned my way here, and I was going to try my best. I couldn't give up just because my opponent was using one of the rarest and strongest pokémon in the world, who had the type advantage over my pokémon . . .
I took a deep breath, and looked into the battlefield. The huge electric bird pokémon stood proudly in front of its master, staring at my little butterfree almost mockingly. I narrowed my eyes. I would win this, I would win this! My pokémon were capable of winning, I knew they were!
'Catafree, Sleep Powder!' I said. If I could put zapdos to sleep, I could send out Evy and beat it with Aurora Beam . . .
'Freee!' Catafree flew at Zapdos, sprinkling powder. However, to my immense disappointment, the attack missed. Great, now I was in for it.
'Zapdos, Thunderwave!' said Zebulun. With a little zap of electricity, his pokémon paralysed Catafree. Once again, I wished more than anything that this battle had allowed items. I would have done so much better had I been able to use status-healing items! 'Now Zapdos, Double Team!'
I heaved a sigh. It was going to be practically impossible to even hit this pokémon if Catafree was paralysed and Zapdos was raising its evasiveness!
'Catafree, Sleep Powder!' I said. Catafree was gripped by paralysis, not even able to attempt to hit Zapdos.
'Zapdos, Double Team!' said Zebulun.
'Catafree, Sleep Powder!' I said desperately. This time, Catafree managed to get through its paralysis, but couldn't manage to find Zapdos with its raised evasiveness, and the attack missed. I sighed. Was I ever going to get Sleep Powder to work?
'Zapdos, Drill Peck!' said Zebulun.
'Zapdos!' his pokémon screeched and flew at Catafree with its sharp beak, finally using an offensive attack. The type advantage and Zapdos's sheer power meant that the attack caused considerable damage to my butterfree.
'Hang in there, Catafree!' I said.
'Free,' panted Catafree, already worn out from its paralysed status and loss of HP.
'Catafree, try Psybeam!' I said hopefully. I had given up on Sleep Powder, and wanted just to get some damage done before Catafree fainted. But the effects of paralysis prevented Catafree from attacking. I heaved a sigh.
'Zapdos, Double Team!' said Zebulun. It was going to be practically impossible to attack it the more times it used that move, but at least it wasn't doing any damage to Catafree, and I could still try . . .
'Catafree, Psybeam!' I said. Catafree gathered is energy and fired a psychic beam at Zapdos, but after three Double Teams, the electric pokémon's evasiveness was too high to allow for Catafree to hit it.
'Zapdos, Thunderbolt!' said Zebulun. His pokémon charged up its electricity and fired a blast of lightning at Catafree. My flying pokémon was electrocuted badly, and fell to the ground, fainting.
I sighed heavily and felt tears in my eyes as I looked at my poor collapsed butterfree. I had been relying on Catafree's Sleep Powder to immobilise my opponents, and its Psybeam to deal big damage. But now, one of my most reliable pokémon had fainted without even getting one attack in. And now the match was even - two of my pokémon for two of Zebulun's pokémon. I was starting to get worried.
'Catafree, return,' I said sadly. Which pokémon could I use to combat Zapdos? Slothie maybe, but I still had to wait for it to wake up, and even when it did, would it be able to get through Double Team? Chazz and Evy both had disadvantages against Zapdos, so really I didn't have much choice. When I thought about it, I was really lucky. Pikapi, being an electric type, would be quite strong against Zapdos's attacks. I smiled. 'Pikapi, I choose you!'
'Zapdos, Thunderwave!' said Zebulun. I sighed. This paralysis could prove to be a real problem. Unless . . .
'Pikapi, Thunderwave!' I smiled.
'Chu chu,' Pikapi giggled, then shot its own Thunderwave at Zapdos, paralysing it! Now the two pokémon's statuses were even!
'Don't worry Zapdos, you can still get the advantage here,' said Zebulun. 'Double Team!'
As I thought through which of Pikapi's moves would be most effective, it suddenly occurred to me. With Pikapi, I didn't need to worry about Zapdos's high evasiveness at all! I had the perfect counter to it!
'Pikapi,' I said with a smile. 'Swift!'
'Rai,' nodded Pikapi. 'Raichu!'
Pikapi shot out a burst of stars, hitting Zapdos despite all of its Double Teams, and causing a fair amount of damage, too!
'That was a good idea,' said Zebulun. 'I guess it's down to plain old attacks now. Zapdos, Thunderbolt!'
His pokémon blasted electricity at Pikapi, but thanks to my pokémon also being an electric type, it didn't do a great deal of damage.
'Pikapi, Swift!'
'Zapdos, Thunderbolt!'
I smiled as Zebulun's zapdos was gripped by paralysis, preventing it from attacking. If luck stayed with me, I might just be able to beat this one!
'Swift!' I watched happily as Pikapi once again managed to get through its own paralysis and attack Zapdos. The legendary bird was being weakened slowly.
'Zapdos, Thunderbolt!' This time, Zapdos managed to hit Pikapi with its electricity.
'Pikapi, Swift!' I said. The attack knocked a much higher amount of HP off Zapdos this time; a critical hit!
'Zapdos, Thunderbolt!'
Pikapi was getting weaker and weaker, but so was Zapdos. Maybe just one more hit . . .
'Swift!'
Paralysis took over my raichu, and it couldn't attack. I sighed. It had to happen eventually.
'Zapdos, Thunderbolt!'
But luck was still on my side, as Zebulun's zapdos was also unable to attack!
'OK Pikapi,' I said. 'Put all your strength into it. Swift!'
'Rai rai rai chuuuu!' Pikapi shouted, launching its attack at Zapdos. It connected, and the huge, proud legendary bird fell to the ground with a crash, defeated. I breathed a sigh of relief. I was halfway there now.
'Zapdos return!' called Zebulun. 'Well done, but Zapdos is only the beginning. Not even that raichu will get through this one! Go, Articuno!'
~Janet~
Part Eighteen, Chapter Seven
Characters: Janet Harris, Zebulun the pokémon leader of mastery, Pikapi the raichu, Evy the vaporeon
'Go, Articuno!'
Another legendary bird!? This was so unfair! I had to keep reminding myself that this was the final battle that a trainer ever had to fight - of course it was going to be hard! But how could one trainer own not one, but two legendary birds!? I couldn't let myself worry about it, I had to concentrate on winning. Despite its paralysis, Pikapi had an even greater advantage over this one. Articuno didn't have increased evasiveness, and didn't have the electric type to wipe out its weakness to electric attacks.
'Articuno, Mist!' said Zebulun. His pokémon let out a strange misty aura, surrounding itself.
'Pikapi, Thunder!' I said. It was risky using an attack with low accuracy like Thunder, but its power and type advantage would mean a good deal of damage if it hit.
Unfortunately, it didn't. I sighed and prepared myself for Articuno's next move.
'Articuno, Blizzard!' said Zebulun. His pokémon flapped its icy wings and blew out a storm of icy energy, hitting Pikapi and knocking it to the ground. I had to be somewhat grateful that Pikapi's paralysis prevented it from being frozen by Blizzard - that would be an even worse status change than paralysis!
'Pikapi, Thunder!' I said, and suddenly lost my gratefulness to paralysis, as it took over Pikapi's body and stopped it from attacking. Was this going to be a repeat of Catafree's battle against Zapdos? I sure hoped not.
'Articuno, Blizzard!' said Zebulun. Once again, his pokémon attacked with the most powerful ice-type move, which connected with Pikapi and caused a great deal of damage. Pikapi was getting weak quickly, and if it didn't get a move in soon it would suffer the same fate Catafree had.
'Pikapi, Thunder!' I said hopefully. This time, the attack connected, and Articuno cried out in pain as the super-effective move drained almost all of its HP in one hit! I smiled. Perhaps this bird wouldn't be as hard as I had imagined.
'Another Blizzard, Articuno!' said Zebulun. I watched in horror as his Articuno managed a critical hit, knocking Pikapi down and causing it to faint! It had been so unexpected, that the shock hurt me just as much as the loss.
'Pikapi, return,' I sighed. Now how was I going to beat Articuno? Chazz could use its fire-type moves against it, but it would only fight back with its ice-type moves. On the other hand, Evy would be resistant to ice-type moves . . . 'Evy, I choose you!'
I tossed another pokéball, and my vaporeon re-entered the battle. 'Evy, Bite!'
Evy ran at the much larger pokémon and sunk its teeth into it. It dealt little damage, but even a small amount of damage brought Articuno near fainting after Pikapi's Thunder.
'Articuno, Agility!' said Zebulun. His pokémon flew around in circles for a moment, building up Speed. 'Now, Blizzard!'
His pokémon let out its super-powerful attack once more, but this time Evy managed to dodge it! I smiled.
'Evy, Bite!' I said. Evy leapt at Articuno and bit it once more, causing reasonable damage but not enough to make it faint. 'Now, Quick Attack!'
Evy charged at Articuno, its speedy attack overriding Articuno's increase in its speed statistic. The attack, although weak, was enough to send the legendary bird crashing down to the ground, defeated. I grinned. These birds weren't as tough as people made them out to be!
'Articuno, return!' called Zebulun. 'You should be very proud Janet, you've come very far. But it's not over yet. And don't get too cocky about this next one, it's no pushover. Moltres, I choose you!'
Oh no, not another legendary bird! Would this ever end? But at least this one was a fire-type. Evy would be able to beat this one easily! I smiled. No matter what he said about his moltres being "no pushover", Evy had a huge type advantage here.
'Evy, Hydro Pump!' I said.
'Vaporeon!' Evy leapt into the air and spun around, letting out a flood of water. The moltres took a lot of damage, the super-effective attack injuring it greatly.
'Moltres, Agility!' said Zebulun. Just as his articuno had, Moltres flew around in circles to increase its speed. 'Now use Toxic!'
Toxic again!? I'd thought that after defeating Nidoking, I'd seen the last of that horrible poison move! And I certainly hadn't expected to see a moltres using it! I sighed as the poison sunk into Evy's skin and began to take effect. I had underestimated Moltres, and Evy was weak after fighting Nidoking and Articuno . . . this poison might be enough to defeat it before it got a chance to beat Moltres! And then what would I do? If Slothie and Chazz couldn't beat Moltres either, I'd lose before I even got to Zebulun's last pokémon!
I had to at least try to win this. 'Evy, Hydro Pump!'
Evy gathered what remaining energy it had, and fired its most powerful attack at Moltres. I felt myself go cold as the attack missed completely, and wished more than anything that Hydro Pump had been a more accurate attack. The poison drained some more of Evy's energy, and I could tell that it was going to faint very soon. But recalling it now would be useless, because it would only faint against the next pokémon I sent it out against. All I could do was try and keep battling.
'Moltres, Fire Spin!' said Zebulun. I gasped as Moltres let out a net of fire, wrapping it around Evy and trapping it inside.
'Poreon!' Evy cried out as the flames enveloped it. It was now not only unable to attack, but it was losing energy rapidly from the power of the Fire Spin and the added damage from Toxic. I watched hopelessly as, only a minute later, Moltres stopped its Fire Spin and dropped Evy to the ground. My vaporeon had fainted.
'Evy, return,' I sighed, feeling defeated.
~Janet~
Part Eighteen, Chapter Eight
Characters: Janet Harris, Zebulun the pokémon leader of mastery, Slothie the snorlax, Chazz the charizard
What could I do? How could either of my remaining pokémon combat the combination of Toxic and Fire Spin? There had to be some way to get around it, there just had to be! And I had to think of it soon.
'Slothie,' I said, taking its pokéball. I took out my other remaining pokéball. 'Chazz.'
I couldn't send out Slothie because it was still asleep, but I couldn't send out Chazz because once poisoned, it wouldn't be able to recover its status. It was a case of risking Slothie's HP while waiting for it to wake up, or risking Chazz's status through Moltres's Toxic. I knew which one I needed more. Slothie could always recover its HP, whereas Chazz couldn't recover its status. Even though Moltres's Fire Spin would do less damage against Chazz than Slothie, the risks were greater for Chazz. I nodded.
'Slothie, I choose you!' I threw the pokéball, and Slothie entered the battle for the third time. Still fast asleep, it seemed almost ridiculous to be sending it out into battle.
'Moltres, Fire Blast!' said Zebulun. Moltres gathered its energy and let out a huge star-shaped ball of fire, which hit Slothie and caused a great deal of damage. I wondered why he hadn't told Moltres to use Toxic, before realising that poison would have no effect while Slothie was asleep.
The impact of the incredibly powerful attack must have caused Slothie to wake up, as it shook its head and pulled itself to its feet, awake. It glowered at Moltres, angry to have lost so many hit points during its sleep.
'Moltres, Toxic!' said Zebulun. His pokémon opened its mouth and spat out a sticky purple substance, which sunk into Slothie's skin and poisoned it, for the second time during that battle.
I thought about which move Slothie should use. Body Slam or Headbutt might not do enough damage, whereas Hyper Beam would require recharging . . . but hold on! If Zebulun was going to use the same strategy as before, he would use Fire Spin next. That would mean that no matter what attack Slothie used now, it wouldn't be able to attack during its next turn. So what did it matter if it had to recharge?
I smiled. 'Slothie, Hyper Beam!'
Slothie fired a huge beam of energy at Moltres, causing a great deal of damage. But the legendary bird managed to just hang in there. I sighed. We'd beat it eventually.
'Moltres, Fire Spin!' Zebulun commanded, sure enough. His pokémon wrapped its fiery breath around Slothie, preventing it from attacking and allowing Toxic to work faster. I had to just stand by and wait while Fire Spin damaged Slothie, and Toxic sucked more energy off it each turn.
After three turns, Moltres's Fire Spin disappeared. Now was my chance.
'Slothie, Hyper Be--'
'Moltres, Fire Spin!' Zebulun cut in. I watched, horrified, as his moltres simply shot another Fire Spin out at Slothie, trapping it again. Moltres's speed was much higher than Slothie's, and so it was able to attack much quicker. With that kind of advantage over Slothie, my snorlax was never going to get a chance to attack. All that would happen would be that Fire Spin and Toxic would keep reducing its health until it fainted; each time Fire Spin stopped, Moltres would simply use it again before Slothie was able to attack. Staying in this battle was useless.
'Slothie, return!' I called. Luckily, the beam of my pokéball managed to dodge the Fire Spin and get through to Slothie, zapping it back inside. I sighed with relief. It was all up to Chazz now. 'Chazz, I choose you!'
'Moltres, Toxic!' said Zebulun. I cringed as his pokémon poisoned Chazz. If only I had sent Chazz out first - now I had sacrificed both Chazz's status and Slothie's HP!
'Chazz, Slash!' I said.
'Char,' said Chazz. It leapt into the air, flew at Moltres and scraped its claws down the flying pokémon's body. Moltres cried out in pain; it was a critical hit! The third legendary bird came crashing down to the ground, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
'Well done Chazz!' I said as my charizard landed on the ground triumphantly.
'Moltres, return,' said Zebulun, recalling his fifth pokémon. 'I'm very impressed, Janet. You're one of very few trainers who make it this far. Now, I suggest you prepare yourself. This isn't going to be easy.'
I nodded. He was right. Both of my remaining pokémon were poisoned, one had lost quite a large amount of health, but Zebulun only had one pokémon remaining. It was going to be hard, incredibly hard, but I was about to face my final opponent. If I beat that pokémon, I would be a pokémon master. If I didn't, this entire battle would have been for nothing. The tension was building by the second, but I had to remain calm. Chazz and Slothie could do this, I knew they could. After all, Zebulun's final pokémon couldn't be any stronger than those legendary birds, right?
'All right, here goes,' said Zebulun. 'Time to come out . . . Mewtwo.'
I felt sick.
~Janet~
Part Eighteen, Chapter Nine
Characters: Janet Harris, Zebulun the pokémon leader of mastery, Chazz the charizard, Slothie the snorlax
I was speechless and utterly clueless when Zebulun threw his last pokéball into the arena. With a flash of bright light, a figure appeared. A tall grey creature, with hideous, unnatural-looking body parts, evil-looking eyes, and a long purple tail. It clenched its small, three-fingered hands into fists and let out a cry. 'Mewwww!'
Mewtwo. How on earth did Zebulun have a mewtwo!? It was impossible! I didn't think that any trainer in the entire world had a mewtwo! Had I never met Allin, I probably would have thought it impossible for Zebulun to have those legendary birds, but to have a mewtwo . . . no way! There was just no way I could explain it. I had heard about Mewtwo, read about Mewtwo, but had never seen one in my entire life, and had never imagined that I would ever see one in my entire life. When I had met Vanessa, whose goal as a trainer was to catch a mewtwo, I had almost felt sorry for her, believing that she would never achieve her goal. Not once in my whole life had I ever thought I would face a mewtwo.
'I suppose you see now why so few trainers make it to master level,' said Zebulun with a smile. 'You should be really proud that you've made it this far, really. If you back out now, you'll still have made it further than most trainers.'
He was right. Maybe I should just back out now, and save Chazz and Slothie the pain of having to fight that pokémon. They couldn't beat it, there was no way. I took out my pokéball to recall Chazz. It was over.
The orange lizard turned its long neck and faced me. It looked into my eyes, and I remembered seeing those eyes for the first time three years ago, when I had first found that little charmander back in my home kingdom. I'd managed to capture it, and it had been the first step on an unforgettable journey that had led me here. My dream had been to become a pokémon master. And no, no, there was no way I could give up on that dream now. No matter what it took, no matter how hard it was, we were going to win this battle.
'Chazz,' I said, tears clouding my vision. 'I'm calling you back now, but I'm not giving up. I want Slothie to try first, so that it can recover its health. Is that OK?'
Chazz nodded slowly, almost cautiously, as if to say "As long as you don't give up". I forced a smile, and held out my pokéball, returning Chazz.
'Slothie,' I said, taking out another pokéball. 'I'm counting on you. Let's go.'
Tossing my pokéball into the arena, I let out my snorlax. It was its fourth time going into this battle, and hopefully it would be able to do some real damage this time. I needed its power to defeat this mewtwo, it was the only way.
'I admire your spirit,' said Zebulun, nodding. 'Mewtwo, let's begin. Mist.'
'Mew,' Mewtwo shrouded itself in a cloud of mist, preventing any alterations to its statistics. I had to smile at that. Chazz and Slothie didn't have any statistic-altering moves anyway! That was one wasted move for Mewtwo!
'Slothie, Rest!' I said. First things first - I had to get rid of that poison and recover Slothie's health as soon as possible. My snorlax lay down and went to sleep.
'Mewtwo, Amnesia,' said Zebulun. I looked at Mewtwo curiously as it concentrated its energy. I remembered seeing Cammy use this move, but I still didn't understand it. 'Now Mewtwo, use Psychic!'
'Mew,' Mewtwo closed its eyes and gathered its psychic energy. After a moment, it snapped its eyes open, threw its arms out and blasted Slothie with psychic energy. I could tell that it had dealt a huge amount of damage. And all that Slothie could do was keep sleeping. I sighed. Maybe I should have tried to attack rather than going straight with Rest.
'Mewtwo, Psychic!' repeated Zebulun, and Mewtwo continued its powerful attack on Slothie. My snorlax shook itself and got to its feet, and I smiled. Zebulun ordered Mewtwo to use Psychic once more, and it caused a lot of damage to my snorlax, but Slothie wasn't going to go down that easily.
'Snorlax lax!' it said angrily, growling at Mewtwo.
I smiled. Maybe Slothie's anger could be used to our advantage. 'Slothie, Hyper Beam!'
'Snorlaaaax!' Slothie angrily fired a beam of energy at Mewtwo, and the blast of energy caused the psychic pokémon to collapse. I stared. Was it over? Was it really over? Had that mewtwo only needed one Hyper Beam to be knocked out!?
I thought too soon. Mewtwo leapt to its feet, ready to battle as ever.
'Mewtwo, Psychic,' said Zebulun. With another blast of psychic power, Mewtwo sent Slothie flying to the end of the battlefield.
'Snoooor!' it cried out, as it slammed down on the ground only a few metres ahead of me.
'Slothie!' I exclaimed. 'Are you all right!?'
'S . . . snorlax . . .' Slothie pulled itself to its feet. I sighed with relief. As long as Slothie was all right, I'd still have a chance.
'Mewtwo, Recover!' said Zebulun, and I went cold. I watched as Mewtwo concentrated its energy and restored its health. With a move like that, Mewtwo was going to be practically impossible to beat. But Slothie had recharged its energy now, so another Hyper Beam would at least do some damage to it.
'Slothie, Hyper Beam!' I said.
'Snorlaaaaaax!' Slothie put all of its energy into its attack, causing a critical hit and a huge amount of damage to Mewtwo. But even so, it was not enough to defeat it. I was starting to get the feeling that nothing would be.
'Mewtwo, Psychic!' said Zebulun. I gasped, realising how weak Slothie was, and that I hadn't used that opportunity to use Rest. And now, Mewtwo was using Psychic . . . oh no! With one final psychic blast, Mewtwo sent my snorlax, who I had relied on throughout this entire battle, crashing down to the ground. Slothie had fainted.
~Janet~
Part Eighteen, Chapter Ten
Characters: Janet Harris, Zebulun the pokémon leader of mastery, Chazz the charizard
I wanted to burst into tears as I recalled my pokémon. If I hadn't been so stupid, if I had only used Rest when I had the chance . . . had I really lost all my chances of becoming a pokémon master? Was it really all over for me?
No. I still had my charizard. It was poisoned, but it hadn't lost a great deal of HP, and it was also one of my strongest pokémon.
My hands were sweating and shaking as I took out that final pokéball and enlarged it. This was my final chance. All of my dreams of becoming a pokémon master were now resting on Chazz . . . just as they had been that day when I first caught it. I owed so much to Chazz, it had been such a loyal pokémon over the years. But I didn't have time to reminisce about it, all I had time to do was concentrate on this battle.
'Chazz,' I whispered into the pokéball. 'I'm counting on you, buddy. Do your best, I know you can win.'
With that, I dropped the pokéball and released Chazz. The charizard spread its wings and clenched its hands into fists, eager to battle despite the poison that was slowly sucking away its health. It turned its long neck to face me and smiled at me reassuringly, and I just smiled back.
'Good luck Chazz,' I said. I took a deep breath. 'OK, here goes. Flamethrower!'
Chazz let out a beam of flames, causing a reasonable amount of damage to Mewtwo. I suddenly realised that, after Slothie's Hyper Beam, Mewtwo's health points weren't even all that high anymore - it wouldn't take very long to defeat it after all!
'Mewtwo, Recover!' said Zebulun, and my heart sunk. How had I forgotten about Recover? It became clear to me once more how impossible it was to defeat this mewtwo . . .
I remembered Zebulun's words from earlier in the battle: power isn't enough to win a pokémon battle. The reason he had such a high place in the world of pokémon was probably because of his strategies. I had never thought I'd encounter a snorlax like his before, and his moltres had certainly caused a lot of trouble as well . . .
Suddenly I thought of something.
'Chazz, Flamethrower!' I said. Sure Mewtwo had prevented statistic- altering moves, but it hadn't prevented status-altering moves. If I could manage to burn it . . .
Chazz shot another flamethrower at Mewtwo, singeing it for another dose of damage.
'Mewtwo, Psychic!' said Zebulun. His mewtwo managed to cause a lot of damage to Chazz, but even with its poison, Chazz still had quite a lot of hit points remaining.
'Chazz, Flamethrower!' I said. C'mon, a burn, all I need is a burn! But no, I didn't get one.
'Mewtwo, Psychic!'
I cringed as Chazz held its head in pain, unable to take much more of the psychic attacks. If Mewtwo kept this up for much longer, Chazz would be knocked out before I got a chance to really do any damage.
'Chazz, Flamethrower!' I said. Chazz took a deep breath and blasted Mewtwo with fire, and - yes! The psychic pokémon was burnt! Chazz puffed, worn out, and I gulped. It could be over any second now.
'Mewtwo, Psychic!' said Zebulun. His pokémon attacked, and nearly managed to knock Chazz out, but its burn caused it to lose energy after the attack.
'Now Chazz,' I said. 'Fire Spin.'
Zebulun blinked, as if surprised to see me using something other than an outright offensive move.
Chazz smiled, and shot out a thin beam of fire, wrapping it around Mewtwo. Fire Spin wasn't generally my kind of move, but if the opponent was burned . . .
The flames tightened around Mewtwo, holding it in place and preventing it from attacking. They began to slowly drain its energy, while at the same time, its burn caused its health to run out even faster.
'Char . . . char . . .' Chazz puffed as it struggled to keep up the Fire Spin. I realised that it was still being affected by Toxic, and so even though it was draining Mewtwo's HP each turn, its poison was draining its own HP as well. I gulped. Maybe using Fire Spin wasn't a good idea after all - wasn't it really just a way of making Toxic get to Chazz faster?
Just when I thought I had made the mistake of my lifetime, I heard Mewtwo cry out.
'Meww . . .' it said, and fell back. Chazz kept its eyes and its flames on it for a moment, before letting go and collapsing to the ground. I looked over at the mewtwo, lying on the ground where Chazz had dropped it. My heart beating so fast I could hardly hear myself think, I stared at it and tried to make out whether it was awake or not.
Minutes passed, as I continued to stare at the mewtwo. It hadn't moved one centimetre since it had fallen. It had definitely fainted. As I broke into a huge smile, I looked over at Chazz to congratulate it.
And I realised that it had fainted as well.
My expression dropped. Chazz had fainted. Chazz had fainted! My six pokémon had all been beaten. I'd lost. I'd really lost.
~Janet~
Part Eighteen, Chapter Eleven
Characters: Janet Harris, Zebulun the pokémon leader of mastery, Sand-Cloud Pluff, Gelby Chu, Luke Smytheson
I burst into tears and collapsed on the ground. It was over, it was over, it was over. I wasn't a pokémon master. It had all been for nothing. Twenty-nine pokémon, a pokédex of forty-two, fifteen badges, three years . . . no master badge. I'd made friends, made enemies, I'd laughed, I'd cried, and now it was all over. My dreams were nothing anymore.
After a minute or two, I felt a hand on my shoulder.
'Well, Janet,' said Zebulun's voice. 'What can I say? Congratulations. You're a pokémon master.'
Was this his idea of some kind of joke!? I stood up and was ready to yell at him, when I saw him take something out of his pocket. It was a small round object . . . a badge. It was shaped like a pokéball, only with blue instead of red on the top, and a pink "M". It was a picture of a masterball. It was the master badge. The badge I hadn't earned.
Zebulun took a deep breath and held the badge out to me. 'Here it is, Janet. Congratulations. You've done it.'
I was speechless. Could he really be that cruel, holding the badge out to be as some kind of mockery!? I shook my head, disgusted at him.
'Janet,' smiled Zebulun. He took my hand and placed the master badge on my palm. 'Take it. It's yours.'
He closed my fingers over the badge, and smiled at me.
'I . . . I . . .' I had no idea what to say. Was he really serious? I took a deep breath, and forced myself to speak. 'But . . . but Chazz . . . fainted . . .'
Zebulun nodded. 'It did, but so did Mewtwo. At first I thought you'd lost as well, but then I checked the rules. They say you lose if your pokémon faints through Explosion or Selfdestruct, they don't mention anything about fainting from poison.'
My jaw dropped, and I stared at him. 'You mean it!?'
Zebulun nodded. 'Of course I do. We've never had a situation like this before, so we've never had to make a rule for it. But your charizard won fair and square, and so that master badge is yours.'
I broke into a huge grin. I'd done it! I'd done it after all! I'd won the battle! And that meant . . . that meant . . . that I was a pokémon master! Laughing, I hugged Zebulun excitedly.
'Thank you!' I said. 'Thank you so much!'
'You don't need to thank me,' smiled Zebulun. 'You earned that badge just as much as any pokémon master.' I smiled, and wiped the tears from my eyes. 'Now, let's go see how your friend went in his battle.'
My heart skipped a beat. Luke! I'd forgotten about him! Had he won as well? I wouldn't know how to tell him that I had won if he'd lost . . .
Zebulun led me into the foyer of the Pokémon League. Sand-Cloud and Gelby were waiting there, and upon seeing me, they rushed towards me.
'Janet!' they both exclaimed at the same time. 'Congratulations!'
I smiled and bent down on my knees, hugging both of them. 'Thank you so much, guys. I couldn't have made it without you, you're the best friends anyone could ever have!'
'And what about me?'
I looked up, and there was Luke, smiling down at me. The grin on his face made it obvious what the outcome of his battle had been; he didn't even need to tell me. I stood up, stepped around Sand-Cloud and Gelby, and gave him a hug.
'Told you we could do it,' he smiled, resting his head on mine.
'So you were right,' I smiled. 'Miracles happen.'
'You two should be very proud,' said the girl from behind the counter, stepping out to meet us. 'As a reward for your achievements, we've got something to give to each of you.'
Luke and I turned to look at her, surprised. Weren't master badges reward enough?
The girl smiled and held out her hand. Inside were two pokéballs, reduced to their smaller sizes. But they weren't ordinary pokéballs. They were blue on the top instead of red, and had a pink "M" written on them. I gaped at them.
'Every pokémon master is presented with one masterball,' said the girl. 'As I'm sure you both know, a masterball is the ultimate kind of pokéball which captures any pokémon automatically. Use them wisely.'
'We will,' said Luke, as we took a masterball each.
'Don't ever think that your pokémon journeys end with becoming pokémon masters,' said the girl with a smile. 'There's still so much to do out there in the world of pokémon. More and more pokémon are being discovered every day, and there are plenty of leagues to compete in as pokémon masters. The great thing about being pokémon trainers is knowing that the journey never ends.'
~Janet~
END OF PART EIGHTEEN