Uploaded April 25th, 2012
HELLO PEOPLE OF THE INTERNET!
Bane: …Did you have sugar this morning?
YEP! AND IT WAS GOOOOODD! :-D
Bane: …Ok… Shall we move on to the chapter? People wanna see the Gym Leader already!
NO SPOILERS! *THROWS SHOE AT bANE!*
Bane: Ow! Please read. I'll try to calm him down.
So, as you know, Alysson decided that Bane and I needed more clothes, and, honestly, I had to agree with her. One outfit covered in dirt wasn't the best outfit to show up in for a Gym battle. Fortunately for us, Prishine's many buildings included a mall.
"So, where do we start?" Alysson asked us, as we walked through the doors of the Prishine Mall.
Bane shrugged. "I don't know. I usually get my clothes online."
"How about Aeropelipper?" I suggested, looking around the mall's many kiosks.
Alysson nodded. "Sounds good. Now, where's one of those map things?"
"Here's one!" Bane called, pointing it out to us. "Let's see, Aeropelipper...Here it is, right by Staryubucks. Let's go."
So, we walked to Aeropelipper. It was actually, very uneventful. We picked out a few outfits and basically hurried out and got a few drinks at the food court. I got Diet Coke (the drink of champions!), Bane got Coke and Alysson got Iced Tea.
"Again, why Diet?" Bane asked me, as we say at a table that was near the Staryubucks. He basically bought copies of what he already had; a few black shirts and a few pairs of black pants. That's a little odd, in my opinion.
I shrugged. "Like I said, it rocks," I said, taking a sip of my diet gold. Unlike Bane, I had gotten a couple of different outfits. The one I was currently wearing was a red t-shirt with a white Aeropelipper jacket over it, blue jeans (as you know by now, I like them), and black tennis shoes.
Alysson was reading her book. "You guys interested in hearing about the Gym Leader?" she asked, flipping the page.
Bane grinned. "Duh! What's he got? And I get to fight 'im first!" he added, turning to me.
I held my hands up defensively. "I already said sorry. Besides, it's not my fault the Gym Leader decided to go soul-searching."
Alysson ignored us, focusing, instead, on Bane's question. "It looks like they use Poison-types," she said, examining one page.
I nodded. "Hmm, that's not gonna be easy. I don't think we have any Pokemon that are strong against those."
Bane chuckled. "Ahh, so young. So naive." he said condescendingly. I coughed loudly, prompting him to continue. "Porygon's conversion attack can make it the same type as one of its moves. Since I have Flash Cannon, it can change into a Steel-type, making it impervious to Poison-type attacks," he explained smugly.
I blinked. "Wow, nice strategy," I complimented. "But they're probably prepared for that; Most Poison-types have Fire-type moves, ya'know."
Alysson nodded. "He's right, ya'know. Don't be too cocky."
Bane smirked. "Please. This is in the bag," he said cockily.
Alysson was still reading, and her eyes widened. "Umm, Bane?" He nodded. "Do you know what 'Double Battles' are?"
Bans raised an eyebrow. "Duh. What is this, 2nd Generation?"
As I contemplated what he meant, Alysson continued. "Well, that's how this Gym Leader battles. She has a Muk and a Gengar, as well as a couple of other pokemon that she only uses on special occasions."
"Special occasions?" Bane asked. "Like what?"
Alysson shrugged. "Not sure. I got that from a rumor. The book does say that she has four Pokemon, and does 2-on-2 Double Battles, though." she explained.
Bane nodded, getting up. "So, what're we waiting for? Let's get going!" he shouted, running off. He passed the Staryubucks, but as he did, someone ran into him. "OW! Hey, watch it!" Bane yelled.
The guy who ran into Bane rubbed his head, the spot they collided at, and said, "Sorry, my bad." He wore a jean jacket, with a red t-shirt under it, jeans, and black tennis shoes. His hair was dark brown, medium-length, and styled to look messy. He looked older than all of us, about 18, and had a black eye. He got up and offered his hand to Bane to help him up, but Bane refused, getting up on his own and walking away. We followed silently, Alysson giving the guy an apologetic smile as we did.
After a couple of minutes we caught up with Bane. "Hey!" Alysson hollered. "What was that for?"
"The guy ran into me! What was I supposed to do?" Bane defended.
"He said he was sorry, the least you could do is try to be nice. Is that so hard?" Alysson shot back.
"Yes!" Bane returned. "He ran into me and knocked me over. And, contrary to popular belief, that doesn't exactly make people the best of friends," he said, saying the last part in a generically peppy voice.
I sighed. I thought they had stopped arguing. Anyways, we walked outside and Alysson led us to the Gym, since she didn't trust Bane to find it after what happened in Ironhill. He ended up guiding us to an overweight Pilate's class! It still gives me nightmares... So much... stretching...
Bane pushed open the doors, but this Gym was definitely different from the last one. It was also well-decorated and also had bleachers, but it had an overall purple theme, and there was a chandelier above the battlefield. Oh, did I mention that the battlefield was SURROUNDED BY SWAMP WATER! Seriously, it was purple! PURPLE! Even real swamp water isn't supposed to be purple!
"Wow." was Bane's only comment as we all walked in.
Alysson nodded. "Yeah."
"So this is the Gym, huh?" I asked, taking in my surroundings.
Bane stepped to the edge of the water. As he peered in, a blob of purple sludge sprung from the goo, causing Bane to scream like a four-year old girl. "Muuuuuukk." it groaned, a large, purple blob with two eyes and a gaping hole, that I assumed to be a mouth. It raised a three-fingered hand up, waving it back-and-forth. Had I not convinced myself that this was a pre-meal ritual, out of extreme fear, I might have realized that it was just saying hi. Instead, we all screamed and held each other.
That's when the other door opened. A young lady, about 21, walked out. She had long, black hair that was straightened and came down to her knees, and flat bangs. She had a purple, cropped long-sleeve shirt, cargo pant-capris and hiking boots on. She had a good figure and it looked like she worked out often, but she wasn't muscular, just fit. "Hey, hey, hey! What's going on here?" the newcomer shouted.
"MONSTER BLOB! MONSTER BLOB!" Bane shouted, pointing at the creature for emphasis.
"Monster blob? Oh, you mean Muk!" she exclaimed. "Here, Mukky!" she called.
The creature turned and... moved to her, crying, "Muuk!" as it did.
She grabbed it on arrival, hugging the goopy blob. "Who's a good little Mucky-wucky? You are! You are!" she said, rubbing the top of its... Head? Seriously, a Muk is tough to write about.
Meanwhile, Alysson, Bane and I were still holding each other. "What's she doing?" I asked in utter bewilderment.
"I think she's petting it," Bane whispered back.
"Can you actually pet a blob of goo?" Alysson asked quietly. Bane shrugged in reply as the woman returned the Muk to its pokeball and walked over.
"Hi," she greeted. "I'm Gulka, and this is my Gym." she announced, spreading her arms to emphasize it.
Bane eagerly forgot his previous fear and broke away from our group huddle, breaking it apart altogether. "I'm here for a match!" he declared bluntly.
Gulka nodded in reply. "Alrighty then, please step this way." she said, walking over to the edge of the battlefield. When they got there she yelled, "Hey! Bridges, please!"
In reply, we heard someone shout back, "Yes, ma'am!" We looked up and saw a person running across a catwalk, high above us, that we had apparently missed before. He ran to a wall and pulled a lever on it. Suddenly, four steel bridges sprung up from the sludge-water, one covering the four-foot gap between us and the battlefield on every side.
The Gym Leader walked across the one closest to us, followed by Bane. As Bane reached the Trainer's spot he stopped. Gulka continued on to the Gym Leader's spot. Alysson and I took our seats and, as she got there she twirled. Now facing Bane, she called out, "Jerry!"
On command a young man in the official Pokemon League referee attire (a purple vest over a white, long-sleeve, button-up shirt with black pants and black dress shoes) came. "You called?" he asked.
She nodded and turned to Bane. "We have a guest," she said.
The official nodded. "Yes, ma'am," he said, taking the referee's position. "This will be a two-on-two double battle match. There will be no substitutions allowed. Is that understood?" he asked. Upon receiving trainer's and Gym Leader's consent, he continued. "Stage change!" he shouted.
After a moment the entire arena shook and the center of the field opened up, into a circular swamp pool. "WHAT THE HAPPINY!" Bane shouted, after the stage metamorphosis.
"My stage has some differences from most stages," Gulka shouted. "Hope that's not a problem."
Bane folded his arms. "Well, a little warning'd be nice, but I guess it'll work," he said nonchalantly.
The referee turned to Bane. "Challenger, ready?" he asked.
Bane have a thumbs-up and a cocky grin. "Ready here!" he shouted.
The judge turned to Gulka. "Gym Leader, ready?" he yelled.
Gulka popped her knuckles and pulled out two pokeballs. "Ready," she stated. From her expression, it looked like she was psyching herself up.
The official raised both the red and green flags. "Begin!"
Right on cue, both Bane and Gulka threw their pokeballs, all their Pokemon coming out at once. Bane, of course, went with Porygon and Anorith, while Gulka chose the Muk she was petting earlier, and a Gengar. "Hey, wait," Bane said. "Isn't Gengar a Ghost-type?"
Gulka nodded. "Yes, but it's also part Poison-type," she clarified. "Gengar, shadow ball at Anorith! Muk, dive into the water!" she shouted. Her Pokemon obeyed on command, Muk diving in as Gengar shot off a purple, hazy sphere at Anorith.
"Porygon, protect! Anorith, use scratch!" Bane retaliated. Porygon shielded them with a large sphere that easily absorbed the shadow ball, and as the sphere disappeared Anorith scuttled nearer to Gengar and lunged upward, the scratch passing right through the Ghost-type.
Gulka chuckled. "Normal-type attacks don't work on Ghost-types," she stated. "Gengar, hypnosis!"
On command, Gengar went closer to Anorith and made odd motions with its arms. At that moment, my face fell forward and I abruptly smacked it into the railing, falling asleep.
Since our usual storyteller is... incapacitated, let's see how Bane's viewing all this, shall we?
I was battling Gulka when I heard a loud, metallic thunk to my right. I turned and saw Storm, asleep, with his face on the railing. Alysson pulled him up, revealing a fresh bruise on his face. "That's gonna hurt," I muttered, turning back to the battle.
Anorith fell asleep, like Storm, due to the effects of Hypnosis. "Gengar, shadow punch!" Gulka ordered. Her Gengar punched Anorith, flipping it over a couple of times.
"Porygon, conversion and flash cannon! Anorith, get up!" I shouted. This was not good. With Anorith out cold and her Muk still hiding in the swamp water, I was at a pretty big disadvantage.
Porygon glowed a light, transparent silver for a moment, then stopped. Then, it shot a silver sphere at Genger, but the agile pokemon dodged it with ease, even laughing about it! This angered Porygon, and believe me, Poygon is not easily angered. "Por-y-gon, GON!" Porygon shouted electronically, as it prepared another flash cannon and fired, surprising the cackling Ghost-type and hitting it right in the face!
"Nice shot, Porygon!" I shouted. "Now try waking Anorith up!"
However, as Porygon floated over to my sleeping Bug-type, a geyser of sludge flew from the pool in the center of the arena, raining swamp water down on the entire arena. Porygon stopped, suddenly shaking spastically. "Porygon, what's wrong?" I shouted to my Pokemon.
Gulka laughed. "That was Muk's sludge wave." she explained smugly. "And, apparently, it just poisoned your Porygon."
I took in the shock for a moment, then gave her my most confident smirk ever. "Excellent," I said in a calm, even-toned breath.
You see, I am what they call a "strategist". I already knew Gengar's fighting style: a quick heavy-hitter. Now I knew Muk's; it hides in the sludge, while using support techniques, to make Gengar's job easier. I knew how to take them down now, and I'll tell you exactly how I'd do it:
First, Porygon uses tackle to awaken Anorith. Second, Anorith uses sand-attack on the poison pool in the middle of the stage, forcing Muk out, due to the chemical imbalance. Third, Gulka will probably send Gengar to put my Pokemon back to sleep. To prevent this, I'll have Porygon use safeguard, an attack that keeps my team from being affected by special statuses. Fourth, Anorith uses water gun on Muk, weakening it. Fifth, Porygon blocks a Ghost-type move that Gengar will try to use on Anorith, and retaliates with flash cannon. Finally, Anorith hardens and Porygon tackles it into Muk, KOing it, followed by a flash cannon at Gengar, ending the match and getting me my badge. Easy.
"Porygon, tackle Anorith!" I commanded. Porygon tackled my bug, awakening it as I planned. Now for step two. "Anorith, sand-attack at the pool!" I commanded. Anorith approached the sludge pool, as I had planned.
"Muk, sludge wave!" Gulka commanded. Suddenly, a wave of sludge washed over Anorith, pushing him back and halting his attack. "Now hypnosis, Gengar!" she shouted.
Gengar moved in, so I moved up to step 3. "Porygon, safeguard, quick!" I shouted. Porygon glowed a transparent green, followed by Anorith, making them impervious to Gengar's hypnosis.
"Hmm, sand-attack won't work, huh?" I muttered. This changed things. Since I can't get close enough, without Muk throwing a sludge wave at me, maybe... That's it! I thought. "Porygon, flash barrage, at the sludge pool!" I shouted.
Yeah, Storm isn't the only one who can come up with attack strategies with cool nicknames. Porygon charged up a silver sphere larger than the one it uses for flash cannon. However, Gulka wasn't gonna let me off that easy. "Gengar, sucker punch!" she shouted.
Gengar rushed forward, hitting Porygon before I could even decide how to counter. "PO-O-O-O-o-o-o-oorrr..." Porygon droned, falling on its side.
"No, Porygon!" I cried. "Porygon, get up! We can't lose! PORYGON!"
And now, a new perspective...
I sustained major injuries from Gengar's attack. Unfortunately, one side effect of flash barrage is that it leaves me open to an attack, while being prepared.
"Ma-a-a-as-ter Ba-a-aaane..." I cried as I fell over, exhausted. Diagnostic scan - Energy: 10%. Attack Power: 9%. Willpower: 0%. Cannot fight. Shutting dowwwwwnnnn...
"PORYGON!"
I suddenly became awake, fully energized by an unknown force. Diagnostic scan - Energy: 25%. Attack Power: 19%. Willpower: 100%. I will not surrender; so long as Master Bane orders, I will follow.
"Porygon is un-... What? Oh! Porygon is standing! The battle continues!" the official said in a tone of surprise.
"Porygon!" I heard Master Bane call. "You're okay!" I turned to him and looked in his eyes.
I am fully aware that humans and Pokemon cannot speak to each other, but I know, 100%, that Master Bane knew exactly what I was saying, right then. "I will not lose to them, so long as you wish to win, Master Bane."
He grinned, his confidence at 100%, from my readings. "Alright! Porygon, flash barrage! Anorith, cover him with water gun!"
I charged a flash barrage, as Gengar rushed toward me. This time, however, Anorith shielded me with his water gun. "I got your back, Pory!" he said with happiness in his voice. I nodded back to him, and released the flash barrage.
An intense array of flash cannons shot forth from the silver sphere I controlled, hitting Gengar through the air. Some shot into the pool of swamp water, now partially poisonous, due to Muk's influence, and forced the sludge Pokemon out of the water, and onto the battlefield. As Gengar flew through the air he attempted to recover. "You shall not halt Master Bane's quest!" I decreed, firing a powerful shot at the resilient Ghost-type Pokemon. Gengar received a critical hit and fell to the ground, unconscious. "That is why you do not mess with Porygon," I stated triumphantly.
Bane: Boo-yah! I knew I liked that little polygonal pokemon.
…
Bane: …Yeah, he crashed after the sugar rush. Sorry 'bout that… Hey! That means I get to do the ending banter!
…
Bane: …It takes two people to banter, doesn't it?
Alysson: Yes. Yes it does.
Bane: ? How did you get here?
Alysson: I followed you went you went to the "grocery store", as you called it.
Bane: …Oh.
*Yawns!* Mornin'. Have I missed much?
Alysson: No. We haven't even said, "Please review, kind readers!"
Bane: Well now we have.
…Too many people for one banter session. Bye, everybody!
Bane: Adios!
Alysson: Auf Wiedersehen!