A/N: Thank you to srgeman, Lightning-Alchemist-Rini, RunningStorm, Lady of Darkfire, Auralucario, Natasha Mikkle, dark and white kirby, Sailor Nibaru, anon., and dragonboy. As you all probably know, FF was having some technical difficulties that cut off all forms of communication and making me not be able to update, so that's why this chapter is so late. In this chapter we get to see how Rachel does in her battle!! And the dark man's identity... Enjoy!
Chapter 38: Identity
Nidoking is a ground/normal type while Rachel is water. This battle should've been easy enough for her, if it wasn't for the fact that that Nidoking was about thirty levels higher than her. I knew that she'd known this, a spark of indecision flashed across her face quickly, but disappeared almost as fast as it appeared.
The battle was on.
Nidoking's horn began to spin and pick up speed as Rachel prepared an Ice Beam attack. Nidoking roared as he dived at Rachel, just as she loosed her Ice Beam. The Ice Beam did nothing more than slow Nidoking and Rachel was hit straight out.
She flew backwards and landed in a heap in the sand. "Ugh." She mumbled as she shook herself and got up from the sand. Nidoking laughed slightly and grinned at her. Bad idea. "Idiot!!" She yelled and shot out Water Guns, one after the other. Nidoking ran from one side of the field to the other, dodging the hits. Rachel growled in frustration.
Nidoking suddenly jumped into the air, his horn spinning, and rammed into the ground. Soon, he'd disappeared into the ground and Rachel'd gotten into her defensive stance. She flashed glances to every part of the field, calculating, waiting.
The man in black smiled and tapped his foot once, though no one'd seen it but me. Nidoking launched out of the ground directly underneath Rachel, forcing her through the air. She flew through the air, spinning uncontrollably. She pulled her body into herself and flipped backwards, landing smoothly on her feet.
She growled softly before running for Nidoking, shooting a continuous stream of water from her mouth. She closed her eyes in concentration and the water got stronger, more like pressurized water from a fire hose than anything, and it hit Nidoking full blast.
"Rawr!" Nidoking yelped, stumbling backwards a few steps. He crashed down onto the sand, screeching. Rachel's attack stopped and she readied another Ice Beam. Nidoking struggled up quickly, obviously shooken from the attack, but the Hydro Pump wouldn't be enough to get him out of the battle.
He jumped into the air again, horn spinning, and dove into the ground. Rachel fired her Ice Beam, just in time for it to miss the gigantic Pokemon. She looked around again, warily this time, and jumping around, not staying in the same place too long, she didn't want to get hit again.
Suddenly, her eyes lit up. She stopped jumping and turned to the ground, shooting water at it. She shot water all around the field, not leaving a single place dry. Once she started drenching the far corner of the field, a cry erupted from under the ground.
"Gahhhh!!" It yelped, and Nidoking shot up from the ground, gasping for breath. Now I understood Rachel's attack, she'd drenched the ground so that the water would reach under the ground and hurt Nidoking ten times as much than if she'd just hit him with a Water Gun!
"Good thinking!" Gregor yelled to her. He must've figured it out, too. She nodded, not taking her eyes off her opponent. Nidoking tried to get up, he gave it all he could, but he collapsed onto the sand.
"Drat!" The man in black yelled and recalled his Pokemon. Rachel looked amazed, her eyes huge.
"I…won…" She mumbled, as if in shock, "I won!!" She yelled. "I WON!"
"Wha- What?" I heard a voice grumble beside me. It was the Marshstomp!
"Are you okay?" I asked quickly, nudging him. His eyes flashed up to mine.
"Get away from me!" He shouted and jumped up, backing away from me. This attracted attention from every one else, including his trainer.
"I won't hurt you," I chided him carefully, making my tone sound sympathetic. He was about to say something when his trainer cut in.
"Marshstomp! You idiot." He growled, "You weren't worth raising. I don't want you anymore." Everyone stared at him, even Marshstomp. Tears started to well in the water Pokemon's eyes.
"Master…" he muttered, mostly to himself, it seemed, "Why?" He began shaking, almost on the verge of braking down.
"Why do you want to go with him?" I asked snarling my nose at his trainer.
"Y-You don't understand…" He said softly, his voice quavering. Marius spoke up over our concentration.
"How dare you disown your Pokemon!" He shouted at him, putting a threatening foot forward. "Why would you do that?"
The man in black shrugged. "He's worthless. Why should I keep him?" He said it like he didn't care in the least. He probably didn't either. He walked up to Marius, cash in hand. "Here, take your money. And you can take that miserable excuse for a Pokemon as well." He growled and put the money in Marius' hand. Marius looked taken aback.
"No, I don't want money from a brutal trainer like you." Marius spat and threw the money in his face.
"Fine, your choice." The other msn said and picked up his money. "Don't expect to win next time, though."
"Next time? There isn't going to be one." Marius said, narrowing his eyes.
"Oh, yes there is." He said and smiled. "I'm Brad by the way. Don't forget it." With that he turned and walked away. We all watched him go. Right before he got into the city, he took out a silver pokeball out of his bag and tossed it into the sand. He then stepped on it, crunching it to bits. He continued on his way. Seeing the pokeball struck a memory in my mind, but I wouldn't let it come up, my mind was too concentrated on anger.
Marshstomp suddenly stood bolt straight next to me. His eyes went wide and his mouth gaped before he fell to the ground, fainted. "What happened just then?" Timothy asked, scratching behind his head.
"I don't know." Marius said and shook his head, "But we need to get that Marshstomp healed as soon as possible."
"No problem, boss." Timothy said with a grin. "Go! Flame!" He said and threw Flame's pokeball. "Go get the Marshstomp, we need to bring him to the Pokemon Center."
"Sure." Flame said and ran over to the fallen Pokemon. He picked him up and waited patiently for Timothy.
"We'll take care of him. You guys better go train for the gym." Timothy said, back to his normal self.
"Okay then. Take care of him."
"Of course." Timothy said and walked into the town.
Marius sighed. "Come on, guys. Let's go to Granite Cave and train. Besides, I want to catch a Sabeleye." He smiled, though it seemed fake. He must've been trying to distract himself. I giggled slightly at that.
"Good idea, Marius." I said and smiled, running for the other side of the island. "Let's race there!" I yelled to everyone. They ran after me, laughing and giggling as they tried to catch up.
"Almost there!" Rain called, running up behind me.
"Yeah!" Rachel said, laughing. I laughed along with her.
A/N: So how was it? Sorry if it was a little boring at the end, I was trying to make it a little happier. Now for the craziness of Granite Cave!! This is going to be fun…
Combios: No replies…who'll write the twelfth story?
Pika!