Chapter 39
"STOP THERE YOUNG TRAVELERS!" a sudden voice came from above. All of the sudden a teenage boy with a black cape on leaped down from a tall rock and landed in front of our path. "I am Dusty, protector of the south winds! My pokemon and I shall defeat you in a noble battle of wits and claim the name of victory upon your statures!"
"I don't think so," I chuckled about to continue on walking.
"Halt infantile novice! A match must be provided for the lord of the winds!" he called after us, voice weakening to a state of desperation.
"Alright kid, I'll battle you," I gave in and still couldn't help but laugh at the teenage boy with dark, bowl cut hair and black cape tied perfectly around his neck, while his simple black T-shirt and jeans contrasted with his mid-evil look.
"Stupendous, I shall choose for my first worrier Zubat!" he cried like a confident soldier charging in a battle field and tossed out at a pokeball containing a blue bat like pokemon with long, white fangs that reminded me of a vampire.
"Zubat huh?" I questioned pulling out my pokedex.
Even though Zubat has no eyes, it can sense obstacles using ultrasonic waves it emits from its mouth.
"Well for this battle I'll choose Houndour!" I announced throwing out his pokeball.
"Zubat, pierce the weak canine with your bite!" Dusty told it.
As fast as the speed of light, Zubat flew over towards Houndour and sunk its long fangs into Houndour's skin while he yelped in pain. Zubat drew away from Houndour proud of its powerful and effective attack but flapped its wings tiredly.
"Houndour use your faint attack!" I instructed. He immediately jumped into action and sprinted towards Zubat with all its ability and gave Zubat a fierce look in its eye while he bashed his head up on Zubat's body. The frail bat let out a high pitched squeal that stung all our ears but wasn't about to give up, for its small size, this Zubat was one of the hardest working pokemon I've ever battled.
"Zubat inflict Houndour with your supersonic!" Dusty ordered rapidly.
Zubat opened its bloody mouth from biting Houndour and released an ear splitting screech that traveled in invisible waves and confused Houndour. The fire pokemon looked in all directions with a dopey look, and then looked back at me like he never saw me in his life.
"Houndour snap out of it and use ember!" I told him loudly trying to break the confusion spell.
"Lay another bite on him Zubat!" Dusty cried happily with sure confidence of victory, but the battle wasn't over.
Once again, Zubat darted over towards Houndour and extended its long teeth readying them to break the skin of my Houndour's neck just as if a vampire would bite an innocent human being. The clueless Houndour starred at the charging pokemon and didn't act in anyway, I screamed and shouted to my pokemon to snap out of it, trying to get him to come back to the real world. I resisted recalling him back to his pokeball, knowing that I would've lost to a weasel that called me a novice. But all of the sudden, just before Zubat was about to bite Houndour, Houndour started to glow a bright white. His entire body was engulfed in the blinding rays of brightness. Eventually, his body began to shape shift into a larger and more adult looking dog like pokemon. His short, silver horns grew longer and curled at its ends and his longer legs and developed snout made him look even more ferocious then before.
I jumped in excitement as the light weakened and revealed my newly evolved Houndour. I pulled out my pokedex from my messenger bag's pocket rapidly and almost dropped the devise anxious to hear the description of my new pokemon.
Houndoom, the evolved form of Houndour, long ago, people imagined its eerie howls to be the call of the grim reaper
"This is unbelievably awesome!" I squealed in delight.
"Houndoom!" he howled in a deeper and more threatening voice.
"Your pokemon may have evolved but it doesn't mean it has won this joust!" Dusty exclaimed. "Zubat use leach life!"
"Houndoom use smog now!" I commanded. Layers of thick, black smoke floated out of Houndoom's mouth and filled the air with the sticky feeling of the hot smog up against our skin. The horrid smell drifted up into our nostrils and clogged our lungs with the fiery smoke.
"It's a shame how you didn't acknowledge the fact that Zubat has the special ability radar and can spot out the position of your pokemon even through this heavy layer of smoke," Dusty said showing off his prior knowledge.
"What!?" I shouted shocked and unaware of this ability.
"Zubat use wing attack!" Dusty told it. The bat pokemon flew into the premises of the smoke and became unseen along with Houndoom. I shook in fear and nervousness of the fact that it was just between Zubat and him in the atmosphere of this smog. The smoke slowly started to clear and the sight of our pokemon became more visible by the minute. The dark smoke was eventually blown away to reveal the two pokemon nose to nose and starring angrily at one another.
"Zubat use bite!" Dusty called out immediately.
"Houndoom use your fire fang!" I said instantly afterwards.
The two pokemon withdrawal away from each other and stood motionless for a moment, but then like a wrestling bell was just rung to start the match, the two pokemon flew up into the air and darted at each other. Zubat tried tackling Houndoom in the air but Houndoom easily moved out of the way of the weak attack and then turned his head to sink his flaming canine teeth into the poison pokemon. Houndoom closed his mouth onto the Zubat and clamped it shut tightly as the pokemon screamed in pain and flapped its wings vigorously trying to escape the dreadful pain of the burning bite.
When Houndoom let the pokemon free from its mouth the Zubat fell to the ground and laid there twitching slightly. Houndoom stood over the fainted pokemon in glory.
"Zubat return!" Dusty said sadly as the red light from the pokeball retrieved his injured pokemon back inside of it. He sulked over towards us disappointed but congratulated me like a good sport.
"That was truly a marvelous match that I won't soon forget!" he smiled broadly while shaking my hand.
"Yeah, you guys did great," I complimented kindly.
"I apologize for insulting your magnificent talents by calling you a novice. Expert would be more of a wise choice," he insisted. "I hope to train my pokemon enough to be as wondrous as you some day," he nodded.
"You're one of the toughest trainers I've ever battled! Keep training and you'll become a great trainer that I look forward to battling again someday!" I encouraged enthusiastically.
"Much obliged," he bowed oddly yet respectfully and turned around to begin walking back on the path of his journey, but a raspy, old voice stopped him from behind. All three of us spun around to see an old couple standing behind us with charming smiles on their faces.
"Young lad, we saw your excellent training skills and we would like to offer you some help," the old man said while pushing his glasses back up on his nose.
"Come again?" Dusty stated puzzled.
"We run a day care center not too far from here and were wondering if you'd like us to train your pokemon for a while?" the old woman suggested.
"… I don't know…" Dusty said unsure.
"How about if we help you on the house?" the old man insisted.
"If it would not bothersome to you, it would be greatly appreciated," Dusty walked over to the old couple and handed them 2 pokeballs.
"Stop by anytime in Murky Metropolis where our daycare center is and pick up your lovely pokemon," the old woman told Dusty.
"See you delightful children soon!" the old man exclaimed happily as the old couple waddled away. Dusty turned towards us and smiled brightly.
"Good bye and good luck once again my fellow travelers," said Dusty sincerely.
"Same to you," I replied.
The boy nodded and turned around and walked off to who knows where. The sun had set and there was no moon in the sky to help guide our way through the forest.
"I can't see a thing!" Owen complained.
"I know, Charmander I choose you," I said softly in the early night and opened up his pokeball. The red light that exploded from the pokeball created some light for a split second, but then the brightness dimmed down to the tiny source coming from Charmander's flickering tail.
"Char-Char!" Charmander said pleased.
"Charmander, help us find our way to the next town," I asked while kneeling down to his eye level. He smiled and was more then happy to help lead the way. We walked along while Charmander held his tail out in front of us like a flash light. We heard a few faint voices in the distance but couldn't see the source of the voices from the darkness of the woods. Suddenly, we heard a voice call for help. The three of us scurried over to the noise and found Dusty glaring angrily at the old couple that offered to take care of his pokemon.
"Kylie! Owen! These thieves stole my pokemon!" he cried to us.
"What!?" I pulled back totally shocked that a sweet couple like them would steal pokemon.
"This shouldn't be a surprise!" the old woman snickered.
"You should be used to it by now…" the old man chuckled wickedly.
"Who are you!?" I asked them getting angry and impatient.
"Listen is that a question I hear?" the old woman said.
"It's asking us loud and clear," the old man recited.
"What are you talking about!?" Dusty questioned also getting irritated and infuriated.
"Floating on the wind!" the old woman posed elegantly.
"Past the stars!" the old man extended his arms up in the air.
"In your ear!" unpredictably the talking Meowth from Team Rocket poked its head out of the old man's coat, like he was disguised as the elder's gut.
"Bringing chaos at a break neck pace!" Jesse said taking off her disguise which was the old woman.
"Dashing hope, putting fear in its place!" James shouted and took his disguise of the old man off.
"Team Rocket!" Owen and I exclaimed.
"That's right! And don't even think for a second that we're giving this twerp's pokemon back!" Meowth commanded.
"You malevolent criminals better hand over my pokemon now!" Dusty threatened.
"Or what you'll throw your dictionary at us, fancy speaking boy?" Jesse teased.
"Charmander get ready!" I told him.
"Charmander!" he said ready for action.
"Now, use ember!" I instructed.
"Seviper, come out and use smog!" Jesse tossed her Seviper's pokeball girlishly and her toxic, black snake popped out of the pokeball.
"Seviper!" it screeched viciously. Black smoke poured out of the Seviper's mouth and covered the ground with the impossible to see through fog. Me, Dusty, Owen, and Charmander searched around for the mischievous Team Rocket but alls we could see was the thick layer of smoke in front of our eyes, burning them each time we opened them up.
"This is when it would be handy to have a flying type pokemon," I complained, getting sick of this situation always happening.
Suddenly, we heard the evil laughs of the trio from a far and above, we all looked up above us but still couldn't see anything but smoke.
"You three come back down here immediately!" Dusty shouted into the night sky but was not heard by the escaping Team Rocket.
I began to walk around, trying to find an area clear of smoke so I could locate the fleeing team of crooks. I waved my arms around in front of me so I wouldn't run into anything but I accidentally stepped on a pokemon's tail and it screamed loudly in pain and shook the slumbering forest.
"CHARMANDER!" it screamed.
"Woops, sorry Charmander," I apologized but continued on searching for an opening of clear air.
"Char..." he sniffled while rubbing his bruised tail, and the smoke finally began to clear. A large gust of wind blew the black smog out of sight and we were all able to see one another again, and also see that Team Rocket was not to far gone!
"It was the South Winds!" Dusty said ecstatically like he had just discovered lost treasure, "They helped clear the smoke so we could find Team Rocket!"
"Charmander use flamethrower and pop a hole in their balloon!" I told him. Charmander inhaled a large amount of air then released a stream of fire that exploded when it collided with Team Rocket's hot air balloon. The three burned, crooks fell to the ground with a loud thump and held their aching heads from the large drop. The team froze when they spotted Charmander and me ready for action.
"Don't! Don't!" Team Rocket begged as they held each other in fear.
"CHARRR!" Charmander cried as he unleashed a powerful flamethrower that sent Team Rocket plummeting into the air.
"Good work Charmander!" I told him and flashed him a thumbs up, as he dashed over and hugged my leg happily.
Dusty quickly ran over to catch his two falling pokeballs. They fell into his arms and he smiled delightfully.
"Kylie, I would much appreciate another duel of pokemon," Dusty faced.
"I would love to," I accepted with a smile.
The sun had risen and Dusty and I stood apart forming our battle field. The dew on the grass made our socks damp and forest pokemon were just awakening to the sound of our commotion.
"Ready for another beating, Dusty?" I asked him teasingly.
"Bring it on simpleton," he glared confidently as he expanded one of his pokeballs. "Go Venomoth!" when the pokeball hit the ground and opened up a large, purple moth like pokemon appeared and flapped its wings forcefully.
"Not yet Venomoth," Dusty told it.
"A bug type huh? I would normally use a fire type since I know I'd have an advantage, but I think I'm ganna try out our new team player," I spun the pokeball on my finger as I cockily explained.
"Whatever you choose, just don't take your time," Dusty sneered.
"C'mon on out, Tododile!" I exclaimed as I chucked his pokeball dramatically out onto the battle field.
"Shall we begin our clash of ambitious extent?" Dusty asked with his enriched language.
"Yes, we shall," I giggled at his fancy talk.
"Venomoth start things off with sleep powder!" Dusty commanded like a sergeant under going war.
"MMMM I WANT TO PUT SOME SLEEP POWDER ON YOU KYLIE!" Owen shouted from the sidelines.
"Tododile, blast it away with water gun then use slash!" I told him. Tododile nodded gladly and willingly while inhaling before unleashing a shot of water gun that made the sleep powder dissolve with in it. Tododile then leaped into the air and soared towards the flying Venomoth. Tododile extended his claws ready to scratch the air born insect.
"Venomoth inflict the croc with confusion!" Dusty called to his poison type pokemon. Purple rays drew away from Venomoth's body and bounced off Tododile causing him to fall to the ground with a loud thump.
"Bounce off your tail and use water gun!" I told him rapidly. Tododile quickly recovered and launched himself towards Venomoth using momentum from his tail. He inhaled once again then let loose powerful tons of water that made Venomoth crash to the ground.
"You can remain victorious Venomoth!" Dusty encouraged.
"Great job Tododile, now use scratch!" I instructed. Seeing the opportunity as Tododile stood over the collapsed moth, he cut the moth's abdomen with his sharp claws which made it cry in pain.
"Get up Venomoth!" Dusty cried. The weak Venomoth attempted to get itself back up in the air and as it struggled I called out another command, "Finish it off and use bite!"
Tododile clamped his teeth onto the bug pokemon and made it cry for mercy as it let out its piercing shrieks. When Tododile let go of the Venomoth it fell to the ground like a piece of paper and laid there motionless.
"Venomoth return," Dusty shamefully returned his pokemon back to its pokeball and sulked over towards me and Owen, who had a picture of me in his hand and in the other his man parts.
"That was a great battle!" I told Dusty enthusiastically which brightened his spirits.
"Although I was overpowered twice, I was still honored to have battled such a professional and profound trainer such as yourself," said Dusty.
"Thank you," I said respectfully.
"The south winds may not have facilitated me but I can not rely on others," he said to himself sternly. "Good luck on your journey," Dusty stood up straight and nodded disciplined like a soldier.
"You too," I told him.
"I look forward to our next match,"
"It'll be worth the wait," I assured him and smiled.
"I have learned a lot from you today, but I still have more to discover. I can only dream of obtaining your sort of battling skill, you truly have a natural born talent my good friend," Dusty complimented.
"Thanks," I chuckled.
The boy turned around and began to disappear in the sun, walking on the road where ever the south winds plan to blow him.