Pokemon Legacy

Dana was feeling much more confident now as not only had Trent's words been very nice, but she also realized right away that she had somewhat of an upper hand. After all, while Pyro may have gone down, Gigalith was on his last ounce of strength. All Dana needed to do was have one of her Pokemon hit him once and he would be down for the count.

With that very factor in mind, Trent had decided not to return Gigalith in the hopes that he could at least use the rock spider as a means of tiring out her next Pokemon at least a little bit before sending in his last resort. Dana smiled, figuring now would be a good enough opportunity for this to work as she immediately sent Queen back in, figuring if she only needed to deliver one hit, it wouldn't matter who she did it with.

However, Gigalith wasn't willing to let up so easily as he conjured up an array of rocks, sending them forward as the Galvantula unleashed Signal Beam. The passed passed right by the rocks, which pelted themselves into the spider while the beam hit Gigalith fast and hard.

Strangely enough, it seemed that Queen had taken in more than enough damage earlier for Gigalith's Stone Edge to take her down at the same time as him, both spreading out their legs and allowing their bodies to collapse, their eyes swirling. With that, both Trent and Dana returned their Pokemon, sighing as things got intense.

"Wow!" Yae exclaimed, "less than ten seconds into the battle and we've already managed to have our first tie during a fight!" Pep replying, "Well, technically, it was just a tie for those two Pokemon..." Yae flashing a toothy grin while muttering through clenched teeth, "That's what I meant."

Trent pulled out a Pokeball and said, "Well, Dana, this is it," Dana nodding and saying, "Yeah, I'm a little nervous," laughing a bit before Trent shook his head and replied, "Don't be. You've been a wonderful opponent so far. If I lose, I'll be glad it was to you."

"I... I don't get this guy," Jason said, Izy nodding and adding, "I know, he was so serious and cold at first and now he's acting all friendly," then turning to Anna and Roxanne, she pointed a finger at each snapping, "Don't you dare say 'I think it's sweet'! I know you're thinking it!" Anna and Janette giggling while Roxanne blinked, rather confused by this.

Trent sent in his last Pokemon, a Golurk. Dana's eyes went wide, the girl gulped and feeling rather nervous about this. Still, she needed to keep her chin up as she pulled out her Pokedex, finding out this creature was part ghost type. This meant other ghost types would be strong against it.

With that, Dana pulled out one last Pokeball and threw it forward, King emerging with a big grin on his face, his arms sprouting out of the openings in his coffin. Everyone was rather shocked by this as even Trent couldn't believe his eyes. Of all things, a Cofagrigus seemed like the last type of Pokemon Dana would ever catch, especially with what the rest of her team consisted of.

"C'mon, Dad, you can beat that ugly thing!" shouted one of Trent's kids, another shouting, "Yeah, Daddy, show that monster who's boss!" their mother sighing, "Kids, please, be polite."

King looked down with shame on his face, covering it with two of his hands as Dana gave him a hug from behind and said, "Aw, they don't mean it, King. They're just playing favourites right now. Everyone knows you're adorable," the coffin removing his hands from his face and smiling with confidence, Dana saying, "There's that cute, lovable smile," a big grin on her face.

With that, Golurk opened up by charging toward the coffin, a dark aura surrounding its face as it proceeded to glare wickedly at King, actually causing damage while doing so. This was called Astonish and if it was the first attack used, it caused the target to flinch. And unfortunately, this had worked as King grimaced in pain, the golem proceeding to hit him with a fierce Shadow Punch to the face.

Dana looked rather worried as she said, "Come on, King, I know you can do better than this," the sarcophagus blinking before a serious look formed on his face, the coffin raising his hands up and forming a giant eyeball in the air.

The piercing gaze from it caused Golurk incredible pain just from looking at it as the coffin proceeded to throw his arms sideways, forming a dark wind called Ominous Wind and strike the stone figure with it. King then cupped all four of his hands together, forming a Shadow Ball and hurled it hard into the rock figure's face.

"Alright, Golurk," Trent said, "It's time to get on the initiative! Start moving around a little to avoid damage!"

Unfortunately, this was an effective strategy as while Golurk wasn't particularly fast, King was even slower. As the coffin sent in another Shadow Ball, he ended up missing when Golurk dodged to the side. However, when he did so, a row of spikes rose up out of the ground, but it didn't seem to mean much as Golurk was made of stone and didn't seem effected by it in anyway.

Golurk proceeded to scoop up some of the dirt in the arena and hurled it into King's face, the coffin grimacing before sending Willow Wisp toward the golem. Golurk simply dodged some more, this time having a flame shoot up and cover its body. However, this also proved somewhat ineffective as the golem stepped in another spot, this time having a cloud of smoke cover its face.

"Minor setback," Trent said, "Just use Earthquake," the golem doing just that as it stomped its foot against the ground, said surface rumbling as King took in a bit more damage, this time focusing hard and firing a black beam called Night Shade from his finger tips, this time actually hitting the golem.

This caused Golurk to back up into a spot with one of the puddles, the ground opening up below it as it fell in, trying desperately to swim. Dana realized right away that she had him and shouted, "LET'S FINISH THIS WITH SHADOW BALL!" King unleashing one last sphere of dark energy into the golem's face, knocking it out.

All went silent as Trent held out his ball, returning his Golurk as his family stared in shock. However, Trent simply smiled and said, "Excellent work, Dana," holding out his hand as Dana's eyes sparkled, the girl shaking the man's hand and saying, "Likewise," the crowd going wild.

Nathan gave Dana thumbs up as she took a seat next to him saying, "I can't believe it, not only did I make it past the first round, but I made it past the second one too," Nathan nodding as Jack sighed, "Now I have to sit through another battle not involving me, joy."

However, looking around, Nathan just realized something. Where was the gardener who was to face Miranda in the second battle? Nathan hadn't seen the boy all day. Perhaps he was just somewhere else preparing for his battle.

"Well, that concludes our first battle, and man, wasn't that awesome?" Yae announced as everyone smiled and nodding, Yae turning and saying, "You know, you can be loud when I ask you a question," the crowd then cheering and going wild, soon quieting down, knowing Yae would reach for the mic if they didn't.

"On the Western Side..." Yae announced, "having just beaten Shelley with her surprising assortment of Pokemon extracted from fossils from different regions, Miranda!" Miranda entering and receiving many cheers, the girl once again refusing to let this distract her. However, she was looking through the audience for her previous opponent, Shelley, and yet strangely enough, the Goth girl was nowhere in sight. Had she gone back home? She seemed more than sportsmanlike enough to watch a battle involving the trainer who beat her.

Either way, Miranda shrugged it off, remembering her priorities as Pep was immediately handed a letter by a security guard, the nurse reading over it and taking her own mic stating, "I have just received word that Miranda's opponent, Darwin, has been called away back home due to a family crisis and will not be participating in this battle!"

The crowd was shocked, Miranda rather disappointed by the notion that she was going to win by default until Pep added, "However, Darwin has chosen a dear friend of his to replace him for this battle."

"Wait, can participants do that?" Jason asked, Izy shrugging and replying, "Apparently," as Pep exclaimed, "Now without further ado, on the Eastern Side, Darwin's replacement, Taylor!"

At that moment, woman who looked to be in her early twenties entered. She had long black hair and was wearing a white T-shirt along with a black skirt. It was an odd combination that strangely worked for her.

Miranda smiled and bowed her head saying, "Well, it's nice to meet you, Miss Taylor," Taylor smiling and saying, "Yeah, this should be fun."

Right away, Taylor seemed like a good sport, so nobody minded her replacing Darwin. But all the same, some members of the audience were really looking forward to seeing him fight, especially the other gardeners in the audience who had felt rather glad just to see one with the same occupation make it to the battle segment.

"Now for this battle," Yae explained, "There will be different types of traps hidden in more unpredictable areas, meaning even the line between the two trainers may not be a safe zone anymore."

With that, the roulette was spun as it soon landed on Taylor, the woman smiling and saying, "Well, I guess I'm going first," the woman hurling a ball into the arena as a Liepard emerged, the cat stretching and yawning before slapping the side of her face, Taylor sighing, "How many times have I told you not to take naps when you know a major battle is coming up?" the cat grinning nervously and scratching the back of her head.

Miranda smiled and figured this battle might be easier than she'd first anticipated as she proceeded to send in a Rampardos, Anna's eyes sparkling as she squealed, "She has one too!" Janette pinching Anna's cheek and saying, "Aw, you're so cute when you're amused," kissing the young woman's face, Roxanne then blinking and looking at Jacob who nodded saying, "Yeah, it's exactly what you're thinking," Roxanne's eyes going wide.

Rampardos opened up the battle by charging toward the cat, setting up a Zen Headbutt only for Liepard to become fully awake and focused, leaping to the side. However, Miranda had been counting on this as she had her dinosaur turn around and send a series of karate chops known as Chip Away at the leopard's cheek, the crowd going wild.

However, Liepard seemed more than prepared for this as she batted two of the incoming chops away then proceeded to plant her palms into the side of the dinosaur's head, using Fake-Out. If this was the first attack used by its user, it would cause the opponent to flinch, and it seemed to work quite well as as Rampardos couldn't respond, Liepard taking full advantage of this and delivering a Night Slash, opening up Rampardos's tummy, blood coming out.

Miranda stared at this with absolute horror. Liepard had barely done a thing and yet she'd already managed to deal incredible damage to Rampardos. However, the dinosaur, being a strong figure, ignored this and went in for more only for Liepard to leap over his head, performing a handstand atop his cranium and lashing out the claws on her back paws. She then proceeded to flip her lower body around, planting her claws into the dinosaur's back and scraping them against said spot, causing it to come open as Rampardos roared in agony.

"Excellent work, Liepard," Taylor said with a smile as the leopard ran over to her side, Taylor stroking her head. Miranda stared in shock as her dinosaur fell towards the ground, a trap activated as a boxing glove attached to a spring shot up, punching Rampardos square in the jaw as he fell on his side, his loss how guaranteed.

Miranda sighed and returned her dinosaur, smiling and saying, "Wow, that was really good," then pulled out another Pokeball adding, "But it's not over yet."

"You're right," Taylor replied, returning her Liepard as Miranda now had to think of the perfect ally for this, soon deciding to send in a shellfish with blue skin and tentacles coming from it. He also had a pale yellow helix shell with spikes covering the very top.

Seeing this, Taylor blinked and said, "Wow, an Omastar... where did you get a Rampardos and an Omastar?" Miranda smiling with pride and saying, "I've collected and revived plenty of fossils in my time," Taylor nodding and saying, "That's really cool."

Taylor knew just who to used against such an opponent, though, as she sent in a green eel known as Eelektrik. Miranda gulped, realizing she'd need to be careful now. Despite its look, Eelektrik was an electric type, so Omastar was certainly weak against her.

With that, Miranda started by having Omastar shoot a stream of water into the ground, knocking up dirt as it hit the eel in the face. Since this was Mud Shot, a ground type move, this dealt double its usual damage. It also provided a good enough distraction for Omastar to tuck into his shell, using Rollout as he rammed hard into Eelektrik, sending her flying a bit into the air.

But as Omastar swerved around to hit the eel again, he ended up running into another trap, this time a board attached to a spring coming up and launching the crustacean into the air. As Omastar poked his head out of his shell to see what was going on, Miranda shouted, "DON'T LEAVE YOURSELF EXPOSED!" but it was too late as Eelektrik saw the opportunity, firing a huge ball of electricity from her mouth called Zap Cannon forward, hitting Omastar hard in the face as he fell hard against the ground, down and out.

Miranda bit her lip as Taylor said, "Oh man, if it hadn't been for that trap, you would have had me for sure," Yae grinning with pride as Miranda returned Omastar, a serious look in her eyes. She knew she had to get a good winning streak now otherwise she'd lose this battle for certain.

"Man, that Taylor girl is good," Jason said, "She just came out of nowhere, too..." Anna nodding and saying, "I'm getting similar vibes from her as I got from Sampson, too," Lucario trembling at the sound of this.

"Wait, you mean ex-Team Shadow member, Sampson?" Sabrina asked as Jacob nodded and replied, "Yeah, he was my semi-finals opponent in my region's Pokemon challenge. He got across this very sportsmanlike nature, but ended up being evil," Sabrina nodding in understanding.

Taylor once again returned her Pokemon, Miranda glad to know she couldn't use her electric eel again due to the rules forbidding the same Pokemon be brought in after being returned, thinking, 'Please, win at least one fight for me,' sending in her Archen, the parrot flapping above the arena. With her Pokemon able to fly, Archen wouldn't be effected by the traps, but would this be enough to help him?

With that, Taylor sent in a floating lantern with a blue flame, small yellow dots representing eyes and chandelier handles as arms. This was known as Lampent.

Miranda was rather confused by this choice but decided to think nothing of it as she had to stay focused. As such, she had her Archen soar toward the lamp only for Lampent to easily dodge the flying creature, firing a burst of flames into the parrot's back, Archen crying out in pain.

"Come on, Archen, don't let that get to you!" Miranda spat, Archen scowling and attempting to strike the lamp again only for fail as Lampent placed herself atop Archen's head, forcing her weight upon him and sending pushing him close enough to the ground for another boxing glove to come up, punching him in the gut.

Lampent then finished things off with Overheat, taking the parrot out for good as Miranda stared in absolute horror. Archen had gone down even more easily than the others, and to make matters worse, he hadn't even landed a single blow.

Miranda sighed and returned her parrot before smiling at Taylor and saying, "Wow, you're awesome," Taylor grinning and saying, "Thanks, you're pretty awesome too," the two shaking hands as the crowd cheered and clapped, Pep squealing, "I love when friendships form after battles! It's so much nicer than bitter rivalry!"

Shortly afterwards, Miranda was about to have her Pokemon healed when Taylor approached her and tapped her on the shoulder, Miranda turning as the woman smiled and said, "Hey, Miranda, I came to make sure all was well," Miranda chuckling a bit and replying, "You're sweet, but all I'm doing is having my Pokemon healed."

"So no hard feelings for me taking your victory from you?" Taylor asked, Miranda sighing, "Did it seem like I had hard feelings back there?" Taylor saying, "Good, so you won't mind too much if I do this," lightly tapping Miranda's forehead as suddenly, an aura surrounded her as she rose into the air, unable to move her body, what looked like a dartboard forming behind her as chains appeared, strapping her to it.

"HEY, WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!" Miranda spat as Taylor grinned and replied, "You lost to me, so you're gonna be a sacrifice," Miranda blinking before tilting her head to the side asking, "What the heck are you talking about?"

"Oh, see, I'm part of a group of people dedicated to reviving Giratina," Taylor replied, "See, this world is a pretty screwed up place and deserves to be destroyed. As such, I have been harvesting souls of trainers with strong fighting spirit in order to sacrifice them and bring Giratina back to life. And he's such a nice guy, too. He gave me and the other members the ability to call upon the dark arts to aid us."

"But wait, if you just needed our souls, why did you have to beat me in a battle first?" Miranda remarked, Taylor replying, "See, the only way my powers will work on a talented trainer such as yourself is if you're in a weakened state. See, you losing the battle clearly made you lose a little bit of your spirit for the time being, so it created the perfect opportunity for me to strike."

Miranda's eyes were wide with absolute terror as Taylor then smiled sweetly, adding, "I managed to catch your rightful opponent, Darwin here. He was feeling homesick, which was definitely a sign of weakness, so I snatched his soul right then and there and forged a note making me his replacement," Miranda staring in absolute shock, letting down tears. She would have much rather his reason for being absent really had been a family emergency. At least then Darwin would still be alive.

"Oh, by the way, you might have noticed Shelley wasn't there to watch your battle with me," Taylor added, Miranda scowling and asking, "Yeah, why was that?" Taylor letting out a sigh and saying, "You have three guesses," Taylor's eyes wide with shock as she looked down, crying.

"There, there, it's gonna be over soon," Taylor said with a warm smile on her face, conjuring up a giant dart and sending it flying into Miranda's heart, the girl's eyes wide with shock as she coughed up blood, her eyes rolling to the back of her head, the dartboard and chains soon vanishing as she fell to the ground.

With that, Taylor quickly disposed of the explorer's body, her soul now placed in a small vial along with an assortment of others. Things had certainly gotten really bad now, and to make matters worse, Dana was facing Taylor next.