Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon!

CHAPTER 45: DOUBLE DUELLING

"Ladies and gentlemen, we've arrived in Mossdeep City!" Muddy announced, putting his paws against his sides and nodding while Brendan tried to get off Wally's Wailmer without slipping and dropping into the water.

Miles soon joined up, May now assisting Wally with trying to get Brendan off.

"Pretty dandy place it seems. Why're we here, again?" the Milotic questioned, looking around.

"For the mad dancing clubs, of course!" Alt explained, popping up out of nowhere, pumped to get going. "Mossdeep's got one of the finest dancing clubs in all of Hoenn! Even I know that, and I can't even read!"

"Dancing, huh..." Kirlia mumbled, also inspecting the area.

By now, Brendan, despite Wally and May's best efforts, had slipped, and landed in the salty sea water head-first, a loud SPLASH accompanying him.

"Ain't there s'pposed ta be a Gym 'roond 'ere?" Axl questioned, scratching his back. "Crivens, that sea trip broke me back...I need a cure. Anyone's go' some lavend'r, chick'n greece and a suppository?"

Flame the Combusken gasped, horrified by the notion of chicken greece. "What the hell do you need that for, Axl?"

"What, teh suppository? 's no' all tha' difficult, ye just stick it-" Axl began to explain.

Wally recalled Willy while May handed Brendan a towel. Racketing his drenched head with said piece of cloth, Brendan's face appeared from underneath the Goldeen-print towel, his white hair hanging down in strands over his headband.

"What time is it?" he asked, wiping away some droplets dripping down his ear before taking off the headband and drying his hair hastly.

Wally searched his pockets, and produced the PokeNav. "Half past three." he cited, before flipping the device shut and returning it to his pants' pocket. "More than enough time to go sightseeing-"

"I wanna go visit the Space Center!" May interrupted, already inspecting the town's layout.

"...or visit the local Gym." Wally finished. "That's what you're after, right?" he then added, looking from May, who had already dug up her camera, to Brendan, who was still rinsing his sleeves.

"Right?" Wally repeated, a little bit louder, to get the other two's attention. Neither of them looked like they were ready to face Mossdeep's Gym Challenge.

"Of course, we could also try visiting Mossdeep's dancing clubs. I heard they're quite an experience..."

Then, suddenly, May turned around and declared "We're off to the Gym!", before charging off towards the center of town.

"Good idea!" Brendan cheered, putting his shirt back on while pursuing May.

Wally scratched the back of his head. "What's up with them?"

– – – – –

Arriving at the Gym, which, for some strange reason was locked, May tried to magically make the door open through excessive shouting. This strategy turned out to be ineffective.

"So, what about that disco?" Flame asked curiously.

"DISCO FEVAH, BABY!" Muddy suddenly screamed, appearing from out of nowhere behind the Combusken's back. He was wearing funky blackglasses, for some strange reason.

Half scared to death by the Marshtomp's sudden appearance, Flame jumped away and cried "Don't scare me like that!"

Muddy, however, ignored the Fire-Type's complaints and kept shouting random nonsense like "WE'RE GONNA ROCK ON, COZ THE NIGHT IS YOUNG!"

"Ignore him, it's better if you leave him alone." Kirlia advised, looking away while Muddy started to execute a pelvis swivel.

Meanwhile, Brendan, May and Wally were still waiting for the Gym's door to open.

"Man, where did they go?" May complained, leaning against the building's door. Then, shomewhere to their left, another door got slammed open. Another large building stood next to the Gym. It seemed to have been put there recently.

"So that's Mossdeep's new dance club?" Wally mumbled, looking up from his map to see where all the ruckus was coming from.

"That is the famous B. Club?" Brendan replied, holding his head to the side a bit while giving the building a closer look. Actually, it resembled a giant disco ball more than an actual building. A disco ball sticking three quarters out of the ground. Painted red and white, with the dividing vertical line in the middle. Was this supposed to resemble a Pokeball?

Spotlights illuminated every inch of the giant ball's surface, as well. Someone was getting yelled at near the entrance, it seemed.

"That's why I'm telling you!" a somewhat childish young boy said.

"Turn down the volume some more!" what appeared to be the buy's twin sister finished.

Both of them had similar faces, outfits, hairstyles. Even the way they stood, slightly leaning on one leg, was exactly the same.

The guy they were talking to was tall. Very tall. Like, extremely lanky, with a dark blue outfit which exposed a little bit too much of his chest. He also wore platform soles and some of the ugliest sunglasses May had ever seen. Oh, and what appeared to be a miniature version of the dancing hall on top of his head; a bigarse afro as least just as tall as the guy was.

The man let out a short, high laugh and spoke "But that would make me go off-beat! Miror B. needs da loudest, baddest and funkiest tunes to display dance moves like this!" after which the guy calling himself Miror B. showed off some horrible dance moves.

"But thanks to that," the small girl started.

"Grampa and grandma and the other elderly people at the nursing home can't sleep at night!" her brother finished.

"Hell if I care, kiddo." Miror B. sniffed, before slamming the door shut. Immediately, the girl dropped her innocent act and charged at the door. It took all of her brother's strength to restrain her and keep her from kicking in said door.

"Let go of me!" the girl cried, struggling to break free.

"But you're going to kill him!" her brother, who had grabbed her around the waist and tried to keep her away from the door. "Liza, don't do it! We're Gym Leaders, we're not supposed to be doing things like this!"

"Tate, you've got three seconds-"

"To let go of you, yes, I know."

May decided to draw some attention by coughing. Both of the twins turned towards her and at once, the girl aborted her struggle to assault the building. Her brother, in turn, let go of his sister.

May looked from one sibling to the other, then back. "Eh...you're the Gym Leader?" she then finally asked while facing the girl, who seemed to be the most hotheaded of the two.

This hotheadedness, however, had already disappeared. "Yes, we are." she replied, turning towards her brother to finish the sentence. Which he did.

"Do you wish to challenge us?" he questioned.

"Eh, yes, we do." May replied, grabbing Brendan by the neck and pulling him over. May felt uncomfortable, having to deal with these two on her own.

"Brendan and I would like to challenge this town's Gym Leaders." she stated.

– – – – –

A few minutes later, Brendan and May were standing shoulder to shoulder in front of a wide, open place used for battling inside of Mossdeep's Gym. On the other side of the field, Liza and Tate were standing, both holding a Pokeball in on hand.

The twins scraped their throats.

"It's been a while since we last got two challenges at the same time, so..."

"We'll have a Double Battle! Every Trainer is allowed to send out..."

"Only one Pokemon. No time limits."

"You ready?"

– – – – –

Along the side of the field, some benches placed against the walls had been occupied by both junior and senior Mossdeep citizens. Wally was sitting among them.

"Go Tate! Show those punks who's boss!" a kid from kindergarten yelled while sitting on his grandma's lap.

"Kick their lights out, sonny!" said grandma roared, swinging her walking stick around.

Wally ducked to avoid an astray stick swing. "Supporters...or hooligans?" he muttered, an anime-style sweatdrop appearing on the side of his head. They all seemed awfully enthusiastic.

"Um, are you all big fans of the local Gym Leaders?" Wally asked innocently.

The person sitting next to him snickered. A large bucket of popcorn obstructed Wally's field of view, preventing him from seeing the person's face.

"Hell no, we're just here to see the show." he grinned, munching popcorn. "But I heard this Gym's supporters got framed for gravely injuring the last challengers. The culprit was a grandpa, if I remember correctly. Wonder what's going to happen this time."

"Oh, you mean the Mossdeep Stick Slaughterer?" another voice questioned from behind the popcorn bag. A female voice. "According to the news, some old geezer went bezerk and molested a Trainer after challenging the Gym. The article didn't even mention if he won or not. All it said was that the doctors needed five hours to retrieve a walking stick from...Razor you're not eating all of that popcorn on your own, are you?"

"Who, me? Oh, sorry, have some!" the guy replied, shifting positions.

The sounds of munching behind the humongous popcorn bucket increased. Wally suddenly found the view of elderly people with walking sticks watching the battle to be a lot less friendly.

"By the way, I heard these kids're Psychic-Type users!"

"Really? Haven't seen that since we visited Saffron..."

Wally didn't hesitate, stood up and shouted "May! Brendan! They're using Psychic Types!"

– – – – –

Both Trainers used Wally's intel to their advantage as they called out their Pokemon.

"Come on Shine, let's go!" May cried, her thick-skinned Lairon soon appearing from it's Pokeball, letting out a mighty roar as it prepared for battle.

Brendan's choice, however, wasn't that easy. He didn't have any Pokemon that would offer a direct advantage, so... "Take it to 'em, Shade!" he yelled, throwing his Duskull's Pokeball into the ring with a wide swing.

"Solrock!"

"Lunatone!"

"GO!" both of the Gym Leaders cried, their battling partners soon materializing on the battlefield.

"Brendan, why'd you pick that new Duskull?" May hissed, "You've never even used it in battle before!"

Brendan leaned in closer while whispering "It's the only Pokemon I have with a Typ advantage over Psychic Types!"

As the Gym Leaders' Lunatone and Solrock appeared, May sighed. "You should've picked Muddy or something." she added.

On the other side of the field, Liza and Tate prepared for battle. Linking hands, they turned to face Brendan and may, opening their mouths to say "Let the battle commence!"

As the Gym Leader Battle Theme started to play, the four Pokemon charged.

"Shine, Take Down!" May ordered, while Brendan tried to recall his Duskull's moveset. He failed horribly in doing so.

Liza and Tate closed their eyes, a mysterious purple glow surrounding them. "Cosmic Power!" both cried at the same time, a similar aura enveloping the Leaders' Pokemon.

Shine lunged, trying to crush both of his opponents with his massive weight. In mid-jump, however, he suddenly came to a standstill, inches from Solrock's face. Both Psychic Types were using their powers to keep the lairon suspended in the air.

"Shine's stuck! Brendan, do something!" May cried, seeing her Pokemon in trouble.

"I'm trying!" Brendan answered, racketing his brain for the Duskull's moveset. "I've got it! Shade, use Night Shade!"

The twins interfered. Just as Shine tried to Metal Claw the opponent hovering in front of him, both Leaders whispered "Psywave."

Shine, with his Metal Claws on the ready, suddenly got launched backwards by a combined psychic blast and crashed into Shade. Both Pokemon fell to the floor, and though the attack itself hadn't hurt Shine much, Shade sustained some serious injuries when the Lairon's claws accidentally cut him, instead.

"May, you're not helping!" Brendan snarled. "Shade, try Night Shade again!"

The Duskull, though injured badly, managed to get back up and fire a dark purpleenergy wave at his opponents.

"Liza!" Tate cried out, his sister answering "I'm on it! Protect, Lunatone!"

The moon-like Pokemon quickly moved forward and cast a grey energy barrier, protecting both him and the Solrock next to him from harm. Shade's Night Shade impacted on the shield, inflicting no damage at all.

Meanwhile, Shine managed to crawl back up out of the crater created when he got slammed into the floor seconds earlier. He roared, and charged forward a second time.

May decided to use the situation to her advantage, the Gym Leader's Pokemon being in a defensive position after blocking the Night Shade. "Shine, Metal Claw!"

"Solrock, Psybeam!" Tate ordered, his Pokemon rising up the moment he received this order, and blasted the Lairon backwards over the Lunatone's defensive barrier.

Now, Brendan tried to make use of the situation. "Shade, Shadow Sneak on Solrock!"

Though Shade did manage to outrun the Psychic-Type to get the first strike, the Duskull couldn't prevent Lunatone from jumping in the way with it's Protect barrier still activated.

This pattern went on for a few minutes, both Brendan and May attacking as soon as they got the chance, only to see their attacks get deflected by the Gym Leaders' sound teamwork.

Solrock and Lunatone's attack pattern started to become repetive; every single time one of them attacked, the other one dealt with deflecting incoming attacks.

– – – – –

Back at the benches, where Mossdeep's supporters were cheering for the Gym's victory, the blond-haired guy sitting next to Wally sighed.

"They're totally not cooperating." he spoke, seeing how May ordered Shine to Protect himself against a combined Psychic attack, causing both Psychic-Types to aim their attack at defenseless Shade, instead.

"You're right." the girl sitting next to him replied, "If only they'd try and attack together..."

"At this rate, they'll get their you-know-whats handed to them. You want me to go get some more popcorn, Nina?"

"...you do know that makes you fat, right?" Nina remarked, crossing her arms and casting a worried expression in his direction. "And I don't want my boyfriend to look like a Grumpig."

Razor looked down into his now empty popcorn bucket. "...can't I just be a slender Grumpig?"

"No."

Razor let his head hang down. "D'aww. Oh well, the battle's almost finished, anyway. Oi! You two! Whitey-head and bandana girl, pay attention! You've got to start put up a better fight! Try teaming up for a change! Oi! You listening to me? "

"Come on, put your entire heart into it!" Nina joined in, standing up. "And give us some romantic action over here!"

– – – – –

Tate and Liza had now linked both hands, discussing and timing their moves telepathically.

"Solrock, Flash." one of the two siblings shouted, the other one ordering "Lunatone, roll and Rock Slide."

First, Solrock released a bright burst of light, blinding Shade, and preventing him from using his Shadow Ball. Immediately thereafter, the Lunatone spun around to dodge Shine's lunge and fired a burst of solid rocks straight into Shade's unexpecting face.

Eyes glowing, Tate sent another telepathic message. Liza squeezed her brother's hand as she sent a reply.

"Solrock, Rock Throw."

"Lunatone, Disable on the Lairon."

Brendan had broken into a sweat. At this rate, they were going to get trashed. And trashed badly, at that. "May! Stop using that Metal Claw!" he snarled as Shine, who had been hit by a Confusion, was now attempting to attack Shade as well.

"Thanks to that, we're losing!" Brendan added, as the Lairon managed to slash the Duskull's side.

May was stressing out as well, even though Shine wasn't nearly as damaged as Shade was. In fact, the two planetary object-like Pokemon had barely managed to damage her Lairon at all, thanks to her type advantage. Still, this didn't prevent her from lashing out at Brendan, as well.

"You're not much of a help, either!" she yelled back, irritated by the fact that Brendan was foolishly attacking on his own instead of backing her up.

Some crazy guy sitting at the tribune kept yelling about the battle's lack of romance. A blood vein becoming apparent on her forehead, May yelled "You shut up!" in his general direction.

Brendan, who had just opened his mouth to speak, was taken aback. "'Shut up'? You're telling me to shut up?"

"I was talking to that idiot on the sideline! Mind your own business!"

"Mind your own business, eh?" Brendan with a high-pitched voice, "You pay more attention to this battle! We're getting trashed here, thanks to you and your 'business'!"

"...the hell Brendan? You're the one who can't make use of his Duskull! At least I'm attacking!"

"Say what?"

"You heard me! You're can't even use your Pokemon correctly! You're a lousy Trainer!"

Brendan was about to erupt in a rage when a bone-shattering crash caught everyone's attention. With a wide arc, Solrock lifted Shine up into th eair with it's Psychic powers, swung th epoor Lairon up over his head, and then slammed Shine down onto the ground in front of him.

At the same time, Lunatone kept Shade in place, who had repeatedly tried to Shadow Ball his opponent, with a quickly cast energy barrier.

Solrock, finished dealing with the now badly injured Shine, suddenly appeared above Shade and hit him hard on the head with a close-range Rock Tomb.

The Duskull came crashing down next to Shine, whose thick armor-like hide had cracks all over it. Neither of the two Pokemon moved.

"It's over." Liza and Tate spoke simultaneously.

– – – – –

Such a stupid cliffhanger, don't you think? Actually, most of the last few chapters are all just one really long chapter. But since they're so much ridiculously more long than the earlier chapters, I've started to cut these superlong chapters into two or more shorter chapters. Hope you don't mind too much!

Please review!