Me: Really guys? Only ten follows? That means only one out of six people who followed the old story have followed the new one; if that. I don't understand it; I put out a trailer, I gave them plenty of time, why aren't people seeing the new story?
Jack: Maybe they just don't want to read it.
Me: Out of necessity, I'm working under the assumption that that's not the case. I suppose I could post another update on the old story, but that just seems redundant. Oh well, I suppose it's their loss; but still, a life without my story? I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
Jack: It's a fate worse than death, to be sure.
Me: …
Me: Was that sarcasm?
Jack: Of course not; I'd never stoop to your level.
Me: Oookay, moving on; here's the second chapter.
The first match was easy; almost too easy, in fact.
Jack sent out Jason first, and the other trainer sent out a Charizard; his starter Pokémon, judging by how powerful it was. The battlefield had transformed into a sheet of ice, dotted with razor sharp frozen stalagmites.
"THE BATTLE WILL BE THREE ON THREE; SUBSTITUTIONS AND ITEMS ARE ALLOWED. THE BATTLE WILL BE OVER WHEN ALL POKÉMON ON ONE SIDE ARE UNABLE TO CONTINUE. BATTLE BEGIN!" the referee called.
[Jason (Lucario) Age: 17. Ability: Steadfast. Moves: Metal Claw, Counter, Force Palm, Aura Sphere, Bone Rush, Focus Punch, Close Combat, and Psychic.]
The instant he heard those words, Jason was already moving; he halved the distance between him and the Charizard in a fraction of a second, readying a fearsome Metal Claw. But before Jason could get into striking distance, Charizard had already taken to the air.
Charizard hovered above the battlefield for a few seconds, then unleashed a roaring Flamethrower attack down at Jason. The Lucario didn't so much as flinch, but instead fired a focused Aura Sphere back up at the flames; the two attacks clashed for a second, but the Aura Sphere won out easily and landed a direct hit on Charizard.
The attack was powerful, but not very effective; Charizard recovered fairly quickly and launched a powerful Fire Blast attack. Jason simply countered with another Aura Sphere, to exactly the same result.
Charizard, after taking two direct hits from Aura Sphere, wasn't feeling so hot; Type advantage or not, Jason's Aura Sphere was a force to be reckoned with. In desperation, Charizard started flying around the battlefield in a pseudo-random manner, firing off Flamethrower after Flamethrower in an attempt to land at least one hit on the Lucario.
Jason responded to this assault with Bone Rush, twirling the auric quarter-staff in his paws to counter each blast of flames as they came; a trick he'd learned a while ago for dealing with blast attacks. The trouble was that as long as Charizard was flying above the ground, keeping him pinned down with long-ranged attack, Jason couldn't really do much except defend.
"This has gone on more than long enough," Jack said telepathically to Jason. "Here's what you're going to do."
Jason listened to the plan intently; it was actually pretty simplistic, but then again that just meant there was less that could go wrong. All they had to do was wait for the right moment… Then, there it was; Charizard had stopped attacking momentarily, probably trying to catch its breath. Firing off constant Flamethrower attacks couldn't have been easy; but the pause gave Jason exactly the opening he needed.
"Now!" Jack shouted.
Jason didn't need any command, it was purely for show; the Lucario was moving before Jack finished saying the word.
"Let's just hope I don't slip and fall," Jason thought to himself. "That would be embarrassing."
Showing off his impressive agility, Jason darted straight for one of the icy columns jutting up from the arena floor; utilizing the momentum of his charge, he leapt at the pillar of ice and planted his hind paws on its nearly vertical face. Then, using the stalagmite like a springboard, he launched himself into the air straight at Charizard; who had yet to register where the Lucario had gone.
Whether out of reflex or something, Charizard used what was probably its trump card; not the move 'Trump Card', an actual tr… You know what, never mind; it used Flare Blitz, okay? A powerful move by anyone's standards, even if it did inflict recoil on the user; not to mention it was Super-Effective against Steel-Types.
Jason had already gone too far to stop, so he braced for the impact with Counter. When Charizard's flaming body slammed into him, Jason grabbed on and used their opposing momentums to spin them both around; after a couple complete rotations, Jason let go and flung Charizard down into the ground. This action also flung Jason straight up, which suited him fine.
Before Charizard could recover, Jason used a burst of Psychic to launch himself even higher into the air; a trick he'd learned from Jack, although he had yet to master it to the extent his brother had.
At the apex of his flight, Jason began concentrating every scrap of aura he could gather into his right paw; compressing it until his paw glowed with a white flame. Then, he fell; he aligned himself nose-down and headed straight for the vulnerable figure of Charizard, who was still getting to his feet.
With the momentum of his fall behind him, Jason slammed a Critical Focus Punch into Charizard's head; the attack may have been Ineffective statistically speaking, but in reality it was anything but. When the dust cleared, Charizard was well and truly out for the count.
"Well," Jason said as the enemy trainer recalled his Charizard. "That went better than expected."
"Don't celebrate yet," Jack replied. "As I understand it, he still has two Pokémon left."
"You're darn right I do!" the trainer, a boy a little older than Jack with spiky black hair, exclaimed. "And you're not gonna beat my Golem so easily; Rocky, you're up!"
Jack sighed. "I guess Rocky is technically a real name, but still; couldn't they be a little more creative?"
"We had a Snivy named Ivy," Jason remarked, "Until she evolved at least."
"Ivy is also a real name," Jack countered. "And besides, I didn't pick that name; her last trainer, Jonathan, did. Anyway, shouldn't we be focussing on the battle; people are giving us weird looks because I'm talking in Pokéspeak."
"Good point; on with the battle then."
True to the trainer's word, his next Pokémon was indeed a powerful-looking Golem; it probably had a few Ground-Type moves, which Jack assumed was why the trainer had chosen it to fight next despite it being at a significant Type disadvantage.
Jack's hunch was proved accurate as Golem quickly unleashed an earthshaking Magnitude attack; it was surprising how high a Pokémon that big could jump, and how big a seismic disturbance it caused.
The shockwave was enough to knock Jason flying several feet backwards, as well as cracking the ice-covered field in several places. Jason flipped mid-air to land on his feet, and struck a fighting stance; Golem, seeing that Jason wasn't going to attack, decided to go on the offensive with Rock Blast. It conjured up a handful of head-sized rocks and hurled them at Jason.
Jason didn't so much as blink as he pulverised each incoming stone with Bone Rush, and then charged forward at Golem with the same move; Golem waited until Jason was close, which wasn't long, and then used Magnitude again. It jumped way higher than it had last time, meaning that this attack would be even more powerful.
Seconds before Golem could hit the ground, it was suddenly suspended in midair by purple energy. Jason was holding it up with Psychic, but only barely; he didn't have the kind of mental power possessed by actual Psychic-Types, and the strain of lifting something as heavy as Golem was too much.
"Maybe I should've tried another approach," Jason thought.
Jason, panting heavily, dropped Golem to the ground; the Megaton Pokémon didn't waste any time, and Magnitude again.
"Good grief!" Jason thought. "Doesn't it have any other moves it could use?!"
Jason leapt backwards as Golem hit the ground, avoiding the earth-based attack; he then quickly followed up with Bone Rush, hoping to catch Golem off-guard. It didn't work, and Golem leapt skyward to use Magnitude yet again.
This time, Jason was more than prepared. When Golem was at the peak of its jump, Jason readied a blast of Psychic; he fired it just before Golem hit the ground, turning Golem's free-fall into a roll.
Golem was a little shaken up from being knocked around like volley-ball, so it took a second too long to get up; that second was all Jason needed to prime and fire a fierce Aura Sphere which landed a direct hit. Before the dust from the explosion could even settle, Jason had gone in with Metal Claw to finish the job; when the cloud of dust finally dissipated, Golem was unconscious.
"Not that that was particularly pleasant," Jason remarked to his brother, "But this is starting to seem decidedly one-sided."
"I noticed," Jack replied. "This guy and his Pokémon are fairly strong, but you're on a completely different level; and you aren't even going all out, not by a long shot."
"To be fair," Jason said, "I am, all bragging aside, the most powerful of us aside from you."
"Which begs the question, how do the others compare to other trainers' Pokémon? They all have strengths and weaknesses, so their respective absolute strength is hard to gauge; it depends greatly on what kind of opponent they're facing."
"How about giving Wendy a turn?" Jason suggested. "She always complains that you never let her fight; I'm sure she'd jump at the chance to show off for 'Auntie' Lucy."
"Speaking of which…"
Jack glanced over his shoulder at the plain-looking cloth backpack he was wearing; nestled inside it was the Pack, in which the rest of his team was sitting. Poking inconspicuously out of the top of the backpack was a small metal rod, on the end of which was a camera and microphone; it fed audio and video into the VR world of the Pack so his team could see and hear what what going on. It wasn't perfect, but it worked; so long as Jack stood relatively still.
"Alright Jason," Jack said. "That sounds like a bad idea on several levels, so how can I refuse? Return."
Jack held out Jason's Pokéball and recalled him to it; he then slung the Pack around in front of him, and surreptitiously transferred Jason to it. He waited a moment, giving Jason time to tell everyone what was going on, then he punched Wendy's ID number into the interface and transferred her to the Pokéball Jason had been using. The whole thing, thanks to extensive practice, took less than five seconds.
The procedure complete, Jack withdrew the Pokéball which now contained Wendy and slung the Pack around to his back again. He then faced his opponent, who had yet to call out his last Pokémon.
"What's the deal?" the trainer said in a cocky tone. "Afraid my next Pokémon would be able to beat yours?"
Jack rolled his eyes, and chuckled. "No, but one of my other Pokémon wanted to have some fun too; I was going to let her take the last fight, but you lost too quickly."
"Dude, that's harsh!"
"That," Jack thought to himself, "And I'm using you as a training dummy; that's even harsher."
"Wendy, you're up."
[Wendy (Kirlia) Age: 11. Ability: Trace. Moves: Magical Leaf, Hypnosis, Psychic, Teleport, and Light Screen.]
Wendy landed on the battlefield with a smile; it was true, she took every chance she could to impress her 'aunts', Katana and Lucy. Not to mention Aura and Ivy, to whom she was very much a little sister; even though both Aura and Ivy were, in Pokémon years at least, almost as old as Katana and Lucy.
"Okay," the trainer yelled, "Now you're just insulting me; fighting me with a Pokémon that's not even fully evolved yet!"
Jack smirked. "You think so? Then give us your best shot, and see what she can do."
"You tell him, Uncle Jack," Wendy agreed. "Let's kick his ass!"
Jack looked down at her in shock. "Where'd you hear that?"
Wendy tilted her head curiously. "Auntie Katana taught it to me; why?"
Jack put a hand to his forehead. "Katana, you and I are going to have a little talk later."
The trainer gave him a strange look. "If you're all done talking to your Pokémon now; and yeah, I've heard of you and your 'special powers'."
"Who hasn't," Jack said flatly. "It's pretty common knowledge by this point; what's your point?"
"My point," the trainer said, "Is that I think you're cheating!"
Jack's expression was one of complete incomprehension. "Uh… come again?"
The trainer scowled. "I think you're using your powers to cheat in the tournament; that Lucario had way more than four moves. You can't deny it, so fess up!"
Jack remained obviously unconcerned. "Yeah, he's a little special; you're just sore because you're losing," he said, allowing a little amusement to seep into his tone.
The trainer ground his teeth. "Fine then; if you're not cheating, then this should be easy. Go, Sableye!"
Although Jack's outward expression was unchanged, inside his thoughts were in turmoil; as much as he wished he could deny it, the trainer's argument had hit true. His Pokémon all had an unfair advantage over anyone else's, and he had given them that advantage even if it had been involuntary; in a way, he really was cheating.
Not that there was anything he could do about that now; he certainly wasn't going to drop out now. He'd just have to be careful what moves he called; Wendy only had five, so he'd have to leave one out. But if that trainer thought he could blackmail Jack into throwing the match, he had another think coming.
"Wendy," Jack said telepathically, "Whatever you do, don't hold back; you're up against a dual Dark/Ghost-Type, so you're at a major disadvantage. Be careful."
"Don't worry, Uncle Jack," she replied confidently. "We're totally gonna kick their a… butts. I was gonna say butts."
Jack smiled; Wendy could always cheer him up. "We sure are."
Jack was about to give a command, but before he could do anything Sableye used Mean Look; meaning that Wendy wouldn't be able to switch out if things got bad. Things had just gotten serious.
Wendy was about to attack with Magical Leaf, but suddenly Sableye used Shadow Sneak and appeared behind her. Wendy teleported away before she could be hit, but Sableye followed up with Shadow Ball; Wendy used Teleport again to get away, but Sableye kept throwing Shadow Balls at her. She would be able to keep it up for long.
With her options disappearing quickly, Wendy teleported right behind Sableye; as soon as it turned around, Wendy used Hypnosis. Sableye looked at her for a second, then its gem-like eyes turned dull and it keeled over; fast asleep on the icy ground.
Wendy took a second to catch her breath, then she used Psychic; not on Sableye, but on one of the icy stalagmites that dotted the field. With a telekinetic strength that would've impressed Mewtwo himself, the young Kirlia broke off the entire column of ice and made it float in mid-air. She brought it over to the sleeping Sableye, and Jack realized what was happening a second before it happened.
Before he could say anything, Wendy dropped the giant chunk of ice on top of Sableye; squashing it flat. Fortunately when Wendy lifted the piece of ice back up, Sableye was only unconscious; otherwise it was completely fine.
"I guess it is a Ghost…" Jack thought to himself. "Wendy, don't do that again," he said, relieved.
Wendy gave him the puppy-dog eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said innocently, telekinetically replacing the giant icicle in what was obviously supposed to be a surreptitious manner.
"Right…" Jack said, unconvinced.
Meanwhile the trainer, and most of the audience, were staring at Wendy in shock; the rest were staring at Jack instead.
The trainer's jaw was hanging open; he looked like he was trying to say something, but no words were coming out. Fortunately, the referee said all that was needed.
"SABLEYE IS UNABLE TO BATTLE; KIRLIA IS THE WINNER, WHICH MEANS THE VICTORY GOES TO JACK STORM!"
The audience roared, figuratively speaking; their responses were divided between approval and outrage. The trainer recalled his Sableye, then seemed to get his voice back; unfortunately.
"Cheater," he said, his voice rising in anger. "CHEATER!"
Jack shrugged. "If you're so sure, then prove it; until then, stop being such a sore loser." "Before I agree with you," Jack thought involuntarily, then he shook his head. "Come on Wendy," he said. "Let's go back to our suite and grab a bite to eat; it's almost Lunchtime."
"Okay," Wendy said, following Jack out of the arena.
Jack's real reason for wanting to leave had less to do with his stomach, and more to do with his face; namely the fact that it was going to be one the front of every newspaper and magazine in Sinnoh soon if he wasn't careful. And probably even if he was.
Jack and Wendy high-tailed it back to their suite in the competitors' hotel beside the arena, locked the door, let everyone out of the Pack, and ordered pizza for lunch; they all liked pizza, although they did differ on what kind they wanted.
"Here you go," the deliveryman said. "One large Meat-lover's, one medium Supreme, two large Three-Cheese and pepperoni, and one medium Orange Islands Special. Are you feeding an army or something?"
Jack grinned as he handed the man a handful of bills. "Something like that, yeah; keep the change."
The deliveryman stared down at the wad of money in his hand, it was at least twice the price of the pizzas.
"A… are you serious?" he said, shocked.
Jack shrugged. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be? Don't spend it all in one place."
"I won't. Thanks."
"Don't mention it," Jack replied, taking the pizzas and going back into the suite. "Okay guys, dig in."
Jack opened the boxes and began handing out pizza to everyone who didn't have opposable thumbs or telekinetic powers. He'd finished, and was about to take a bite of his slice of Orange Islands Special, when there was a knock at the door.
Jack froze in place, and Jason looked at him curiously. "Who do you think it is?"
Jack got up and walked over to the door. "I don't know; it might be Ash or Nicholas, or it could just be more reporters. Although this place has pretty tight security for non-contestants, so I don't think reporters would be able to get in."
"Why not just check?" Jason asked.
"Telepathically?" Jack replied, placing a hand on the doorknob. "That would spoil the surprise."
Without any further warning, Jack flung the door wide open; when he saw who it was, his face lit up with a broad grin.
"It's you!" he exclaimed happily.
"Who else would I be?" Maylene countered. "Long time no see, Jack."
