Should be doing work for uni thought you guys should get a chapter. First week back and they give us three assignments due next week. Also scariest part… I have… freedom to decide how I do it… What?
Anyway last chapter guys and the prologue to the sequel should go up along with this chapter. Any other notes will be in the end note enjoy this one!
Chapter 30
/L/
His Aunt had wished him luck before going up to her seat with all the other Champions and Gym leaders.
He wondered if Fire was this nervous but he doubted that. She was probably bouncing off the walls telling everyone who would listen how she was going to take this battle with one Pokémon or something.
Entering to the sounds of cheers the arena had changed a bit. It was still the grass field from before with walls covered in advertisements but the dome above had been removed giving them the ability to fight full in the sky. The lines painted on the grass with white were also gone… No out of bounds.
He saw Fire then across the field from him head bowed, her hat hid her face. He had looked for her last night and this morning in the hopes of wishing her luck but the girl was never around. He asked Blue but he had just shrugged saying something was bothering her yes but he didn't know what.
He could hear the announcer yelling about how amazing the finals would be as the referee came out.
"Okay a good clean battle, no weapons. The whole area is useable and if Pokémon are in the air out of bounds is if they are in the stands or outside of the dome when they land. You each have six Pokémon to use in this battle good luck!" everyone cheered.
Leaf released Sly and Fire released Vital though she never gave him an order. The Pokémon not used to this was confused and quickly fell to the attacks before she returned him.
"What's wrong with you?" Leaf called across the field, he wanted to fight Fire even more then he had wanted to fight Blue. Now he was losing that chance because something was bothering her. It seemed to knock Fire out of whatever funk she was in because her familiar grin appeared and she released her Nidoking who used thrash and sent his bug Pokémon flying.
/F/
She had made her decision and she was sorry Vital had to suffer for it
She knew what Erik had said but she needed to at least give Leaf the fight he deserved. If she could call Blue a 'friend' then Leaf was probably the closest thing she had to a best friend outside of her Pokémon, who were more like extended family.
Leaf had returned his badly injured Slyther and had released his Machamp who could go toe to toe with her Nidoking with ease.
"Seismic toss!" Leaf yelled as her Pokémon was thrown into the air Fire smirked as the Nidoking allowed it and as it landed and using horn attack to hit the Pokémon hard.
Leaf wasn't a bad battler and in an honest fight like this he really shone unlike Fire who was at her best when there were no rules… and it was a life or death situation.
Machamp threw a punch that Scratch caught and the two began to grapple again.
"Poison sting!" the attack hit Machamp perfectly poisoning him but the Pokémon didn't give up sending another attack Scratch's way badly damaging him. Fire gritted her teeth seeing Leaf's Pokémon fall. She knew her own wouldn't last long like this in the arena so for now she returned him as well and released Strike.
Leaf chose his Pigeoto the large bird circling in the air as Strike attempted to hit it with thunder attack after thunder attack getting neither of them anywhere. Truth was Fire was using the time to formulate a plan.
She used thunder wave to paralyse the bird and used slam as it fell unfortunately the bird freed itself from the paralyses in time and hit Strike with a wing attack that sent him into a wall Fire quickly returned him seeing blood.
"This battle could go either way!" The announcer yelled over the crowd and it was true. They had both lost two team mates already and Fire had one badly injured one in case she needed him, and she had a feeling she would.
The battle was a lot quieter then her one with Blue; Leaf was too busy trying to work out what she would do next to chat.
He really did shine out here… This kind of fight with the crowd cheering and the rules…
"Ty!" she released the Pokémon who swooped at the other bird and the two put of quite a spectacle.
He flew around the stands dodging around them as he dodged and attacked. The battle was really going nowhere fast and it wasn't like they could do anything about it or at least she couldn't. Leaf had one more Pokémon with wings his Charazard.
Finally Ty hit the other bird with a well placed take down that sent it into a fall that Leaf stopped by returning him. Since if he had fallen the bird would have been out of bounds the Referee ruled that the Pokémon could no longer battle.
Fire returned Ty for the time being releasing Fang.
Leaf sent out his own water type a Goldduck. The Pokémon didn't seem like it stood much chance against the much larger water dragon like creature taking hit after hit. It wasn't until the Pokémon severely weakened used psychic to one hit Fang.
Fire released Scratch again who threw the now heavily weakened Goldduck across the field in a similar fashion to Strike and Leaf was forced to return it.
The two of them only had two Pokémon each now. Both of Leaf's were fresh and Fire's second Pokémon Ivy was weak to them both since they were both fire type. Thing was she couldn't do anything about it Scratch was going to faint no matter what so she couldn't rely on him in the final fight.
Leaf pulled out his Ninetales who attacked with fury. Scratch stood his ground moving through every fire attack and made it to the Pokémon where he poisoned it and used thrash to take it down before fainting having finished his job.
Fire and Leaf exchanged a look then all that was left were their Venasaur and Charazard the Pokémon they had gotten with their Pokedexs.
They released them at the same time and Ivy quickly moved into a vine whip followed by a sleeping powder that didn't work to well because the Charazard got into the air as quickly as possible where he attempted to burn the Pokémon but moved in to close and the grass type grabbed him with it's vines and threw him around again.
The Charazard got an attack in badly burning Ivy.
The two stood there staring each other down. Fire knew her next move it was simple.
She would use sleep powder again Leaf would expect it be the same strategy but she would grab his Pokémon out of the sky and hold it while prepping a solar beam.
The attack would be cheap but effective it shot out a fire attack Ivy would slam it into the ground but not release it from his grasp so that he could try and use solar beam…
Leaf wouldn't do that she knew it was too cheap and it would involve watching the horrible action. There were other strategies she could try but she realized they all involved cheap shots or attack Leaf. It was just the kind of trainer she was.
She doubted any of those thoughts had ever crossed Leaf's mind though.
She made her decision then
When Leaf's Charazard shot out a flame thrower she signalled Ivy to take a dive. It was something they had worked out last night. It looked like a failed dodge ending in a critical hit.
Ivy went down and the announcer screamed. Fire felt a little alone and lost as the crowd screamed as well.
After the match Blue was given a bronze metal as he came third, Fire a silver at which point they were politely shooed off the stage so that the officials could stand with Leaf and the gym leaders and hand the gold medal and the title of Kanto champion to Leaf. The head of the league congratulated him for being the Champion of the 1995 Pokémon League.
Fire could see Oak beaming in the crowd before her eyes met Erik who she expected to be satisfied but instead had an unidentifiable look in his eyes. Fire sighed.
If seemed the older she got the less she understood about people. She had once thought she was good at reading them.
After the ceremony Leaf had sought her out.
"Hey Fire good match!" he called she gave him an indulgent look
"Yeah right! Next time I'll get you!" She grinned at the end to let him know she wasn't too serious. He seemed relieved they would still be rivals but they hadn't lost the friendship they had built up over the crazy adventure they had just had.
Fire wasn't too surprised when Bill and Ace came over to try and cheer her up. Ace pointed out that by next year it would be he she was being defeated by in the championship.
Brock hit her on the back telling her it was a good fight before going to congratulate Leaf.
Misty gave her a hug and suggested they train together.
Erik was avoiding her not too shockingly.
She dodged the press pretty easily coming to an empty lounge area she sat down throwing her hat off and for a moment she put her head in her hands. She didn't want to cry or anything she was just frustrated and disappointed in herself because she always thought if she lost in a fight like that it would be to an opponent who was way out of her league. She would also most likely die in the process.
She couldn't fight Leaf again not for a while without raising his suspicions about why she had lost the first time. Win or lose he'd realize she could have dodged that last attack.
It was then that she realized she was not alone in the room. The other person came sat down beside her and offered her a Styrofoam cup of coffee which she took gratefully.
"What happened?" Blue asked leaning into the seat his eyes were looking her over. He wasn't checking her out like she usually would guess he'd be. It seemed more like he felt he could find the answer by inspecting her.
"You talked to Erik last night right?" He nodded
"Yeah but he said it was your choice if you wanted to tell me" he put the cup of coffee on the table and leant down a bit "Honestly with how you're acting… I may have to make you tell me" she shook her head.
"Erik just explained what I already knew" her voice was low now "neither of us could ever be the Pokémon Champion" Blue blinked confused
"Not sure if I'm following"
"Really? Think about it if the media got a hold of the fact that you have done a ton of illegal things…"
"I've killed people just say it" Blue interrupted
"Fine you've killed people and it's been over looked or if they discovered who my mother was… and either of us were champion" he let out a whistle
"Jesus Erik… Of cause he thought like that but he didn't have to dump it all on you last night" she sighed
"He was right though that's why I did it… Leaf is the best of us and it's obvious." She fingered her coffee cup "he never looks at an opponent and takes into account how you could kill them, he's honourable"
"That will get him killed" Blue snorted "I didn't want him to be Champion because it's just going to end badly" He noticed then the look Fire was giving him like she had an idea she doubted he would like "what?"
"Not if we keep him clean. When I fought Giovanni he told me he created Team Rocket to help people, that it had just ended badly because he had to get his hands dirty and didn't know when to stop" she took a deep breath "Blue… I view you and Leaf as friends… What if we did it? What if we handled all the bad, the morally gray stuff and let Leaf be the hero?"
"Did Erik suggest that to you?" Blue asked eyes narrowed
"No… It's my own thoughts. Please I can't do this alone and he's your best friend" she grabbed his hands dropping the coffee and pleading. Something in his eyes changed.
"Alright I get it so what now?" Fire gave him a slight smile
"For now I'm going to go for a bit do some recon. You need to keep Leaf alive through this mess of Journalists" Fire was half way to the door before Blue could get a word out.
"What about doing this together?" He called out indulgently.
"We are… You know how bad I am with people"
He had to agree with that.
Trainer: Fire Red
Badges: 6
Bullets: 10
Pokemon
Found: 132
Caught: 71
Fire's team as of Chapter 31
Fire chose to take a dive allowing Leaf to become Pokémon Champion. Now with this journey over she has allied herself with River Blue to keep Leaf alive and to help Kanto through him.
(No.025) Pikachu/Strike: L51
Fire's closest friend even with the rough start.
(No.003) Venasaur/Ivy: L60
Finally evolved Ivy could no longer be easily hidden leading Fire to having to come up with other strategies for sneaking up to foes in the future.
(No.133) Eevee/Vital: L61
Appearing to be the weakest link in Fire's team this Eevee still handle himself especially when his trainer's head is in the game.
(No.034) Nidoking/Scratch: L52
The powerhouse of Fire's team Scratch can hold his own against anyone even Giovanni's own Pokémon!
(No.130) Gyarados/ Fang: L48
Fang would be Fire's second team mate to go to for strength the water dragon could terrify someone just by looking at them.
(No.142) Aerodactyl/Ty: L41
A welcome member to the team Ty has taken a beating and dished it back tenfold almost every time.
I wanted to thank Goldennugget337, humilityhehe, Hunter Avalon, Uchiha Sasuke XII, Doieversleep, ReveyLationsFulfillment, Clara, Suzalulu1200, The-killer-of-007, Flameboo and ddreamer9159 for reviewing.
As well as everyone of put the story on alert and favourited it and me. I'd put your names up too but I couldn't find anything to tell me what they were so sorry.
Remember the prologue for the sequel should be up soon.
And remember folks don't flame unless you have an extinguisher!