Chapter Four
League Deja Vu?
"The Trainers are entering the arena!" exclaimed the announcer over the PA. Linda entered the Ice Field and began waving to the crowd. "The red Trainer in her first ever League battle, Linda Winhamall!" The crowd went wild, especially the boys when Linda did a 'Misty' wink, but followed it up by blowing a kiss.
"Tart," Ash caught himself muttering. He blushed as Misty grabbed his arm.
"Look Ash!" Misty exclaimed, pointing to the side doors of the arena. A familiar face was walking up to the podium opposite to the one Linda was already standing on.
"And the green Trainer, a Pokémon League favourite, Richie Dervan!" Ash, Misty and Brock gaped at their old friend who had knocked Ash out of the League years before. "Will the Trainers please send out their first Pokémon?" the announcer asked.
Richie threw a Pokéball.
"Zippo! Go!" he called, but now it was a Charmeleon rather than a Charmander who appeared. Linda grabbed a ball, and allowed it to open in her hands so the beam shot down to the arena.
"You can do it!" she called encouragingly to her Pokémon, a cream coloured cat.
"Persian" it purred.
"Zippo!" called Richie. "You can knock out that thing with one hit! FireBlast now!"
"Char!" A huge cross of fire flew from Zippo's mouth. Linda didn't even flinch.
"Persian, use Agility and FurySwipes!" Persian suddenly became a blur, and the FireBlast blew harmlessly into the sky where it burnt out. Suddenly, Persian appeared out of nowhere and pounced on the Fire Pokémon, viciously slashing it repeatedly.
Richie had a sweatdrop.
"Zippo, slash it back!" Zippo reached up and slashed Persian across its face. It jumped back, yowling in pain. Linda gasped, and then growled.
"Right Persian, we're done playing around! BubbleBeam now"!"
"BubbleBeam?" the group in the stands repeated.
"Clever…" remarked Brock. "Normal element Pokémon can learn other elemental attacks."
"Gosh Misty, your cousin sure is a great Pokémon Trainer!" complimented Jo.
"Yeah, too bad it doesn't run in the family…" Ash couldn't help but add, but his insult was cut short when his jaw met Misty's fist.
Down on the battlefield, Persian was gathering energy for the next attack. It arched its back and let loose a stream of paralysing bubbles (don't ask me where from, it's like 'How does a Diglett do Scratch?') which hit the Charmeleon dead on.
"Nooooooo!" cried Richie in anguish, as Zippo collapsed to the ice covered floor.
"Richie's first Pokémon has been defeated!" the announcer called. "Charmeleon is called back as the green Trainer moves down one Pokémon." One of the little green bars under Richie's picture disappeared, while Linda's remained intact. "What Pokémon will be replacing Charmeleon?"
Richie threw another ball.
"Gummo, I choose you!" In the stands, Ash, Misty and Brock fell over. Ash got up first.
"Hey man, that's my turf!" he yelled down to Richie. The Pokéball hit the ice and opened, the red beam forming quickly.
"Mister?"
"Looks like young Dervan has chosen a Mr. Mime for his next battle!" called the announcer (well duh).
"Be careful Gummo!" called Richie from the green podium. "That Persian is stronger than it looks! Keep your distance, use Hypnosis!"
Gummo nodded, and began chanting and waving its arms rhythmically. It didn't take long for Persian to fall asleep and Linda returned it as one of her bars disappeared. Linda considered her two possibilities, then took a Pokéball. The beam shot out, but it didn't really form, as this Pokémon didn't really have a form.
"Ditto!" it chirped.
"Ditto! Transform now!" Ditto's body started to shimmer, and it remoulded itself into a Mr. Mime. Up in the stands, Ash's eyes were gleamed over.
"It's not fair!" he wailed. "I want a Ditto! What is it with Dittos and girl Trainers?" Although I prefer Duplieka to Linda! he snickered to himself.
Down on the ice, Linda was getting worried. She knew that she had to pull this off because her remaining Pokémon would be useless against Mr. Mime.
"Gummo!" Richie called. "Confusion!"
"Ditto!" Linda called. "Substitute!" The Confusion attack harmlessly broke the Substitute. "Great job Ditto!" laughed Linda. "Now, Psychic!" The purple blast of telekinetic energy hit Gummo, but didn't cause any real damage.
"Ditto!"
"Gummo!" they both called. "Metronome!" Both Pokémon started each other down, and started to wave their fingers back and forth. Linda, Richie and everyone watching held their breath; which was come up with the better attack? Gummo was the first to come out of its Metronome trance. It used….SandAttack. But it failed. There was a lot of falling over in the stands. Now all eyes were on Ditto.
"Mime!" it called as it used…HyperBeam, and sent Gummo flying across the stadium. Richie cried out as his Pokémon fainted. Another green bar gone; last chance.
Ash nudged Misty.
"We know what's coming next!" they giggled, as Jo watched them.
"Cute couple aren't they?" she murmured to Brock.
"Yeah, real cute apart from the fact they're not actually a couple."
"They're not?"
"Nope. As much as they want to be, they're both too stubborn. It's sad really." This time, it was Ash who hit Brock with Misty's mallet (after he and Misty had stopped blushing that is!).
Richie looked at his last Pokéball; he knew that the Pokémon inside wouldn't disappoint him.
"Here comes his Pikachu." Ash murmured to Jo.
" Sparky, don't let me down!" The red and white ball thudded on the ice, and clicked as it opened. However, like Zippo, Sparky looked a little different.
Rai! Chu chu!"
Awesome, a Raichu!" breathed Ash. "I wish Pikachu was here."
"Hey, Ash?" asked Misty. "Does the back of that head look familiar to you?" Ash followed Misty's gaze to a young man with longish dark-green hair sitting a few bleachers in front of them.
"It can't be…" said Ash.
"But it is…" said Misty.
"It's Tracey!" they both said.
"Hey Trace!" called Ash, throwing a handful of crisps at the boy. He turned around, knowing that there were only three people who would brazenly throw snack food at him, and his mother wasn't there, so it had to be…
"Ash! Misty!" Tracey got out of his seat and climbed the bleachers to sit next to Misty. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Watching my cousin! Shhh!" The group turned their attention back to the match.
Ditto was now a Raichu. It had taken considerable damage and Linda knew its next attack was its last, and it would have to do a lot in order to make things easier for her remaining Pokémon.
"Ditto! BodySlam now!" Ditto hurled all its weight on to Sparky, taking about a third of its HP away.
"Sparky!" called Richie. "ThunderBolt!" As the lightning hit the exhausted Ditto, it was knocked out immediately. Time for sudden death.
Well, this certainly is an electric match!" joked the idiotic announcer, then dodged all the food thrown at him. "Young Winhamall only has one Pokémon left - I sure hope it's the right one!"
Linda fingered her remaining Pokéball. She opened her blue eyes wide and slipped off her glasses with her free hand.
"It is…" The beam shot down to the awaiting Raichu and formed to reveal Linda's first ever Pokémon.
"Euvi?"
"This is it Eevee! TakeDown attack!" Eevee obeyed and hurled itself at the Electric Pokémon. There was a thud as the extremely high-levelled evolution Pokémon made contact with Sparky. And it was all over.
Richie wiped away tears as he recalled Sparky and watched Linda run down to hug Eevee. Ash cringed as he heard the horrible 'ping' noise of Richie's last bar vanishing. He felt really bad for Richie; he knew what losing felt like, but he'd never had a first round knockout like this one.
Later on, a group consisting of Ash, Misty, Brock, Tracey, Linda and Jo were all hanging out in Ash-tachi's cottage. Linda was acting really superior about her win, and was ordering Misty around like a maid. Misty, surprisingly did as she was told and every time she stood up to refill Linda's drink, Ash felt like slapping Linda. Tracey on the other hand, was completely enthralled by Linda, and would gladly have moved Heaven and Earth so she could find a place to rest her feet.
Ash was jumping around the room, waiting for his match and looking at that clock every 2 minutes. Misty knew he must be feeling pretty anxious; if Richie beat him last time and had a first round knockout. Ash was staring out of the window, completely oblivious to everyone else in the room. Misty came up to him and gave him a quick hug from behind. It was a good thing it was from behind or she would have seen his face immediately blush beet red. The two chatted for a few minutes about nothing in particular. They were so wrapped up in each others company that they didn't notice that Brock and Tracey were watching them and comparing times in their separate journeys with them that they'd thought there was something more than friendship and a broken bike going on.
~# Author Notes #~
I'm sorry anti=Kenjis for bringing Tracey into this - I don't like him either but I have an ulterior motive *evil giggle* There is method to my madness! BTW, in case you didn't know, 'Ash-tachi' means Ash, Misty, Brock, Pikachu and sometimes Togepi. And I didn't make that up, it's a proper term.
Chp 5 - A Man to Man Talk - is coming soon XXX