"This might not be so hard after all" Andy thought to himself as he walked
out towards the path he had sped down not more than a few hours ago. This
was the path that led from Pewter City to Mount Moon, where Andy owned a
sorry little excuse for a Pokemart. He had seen a few trainers hanging
around on the path though, and he was going to try to defeat them in battle
to make himself a bit of money. That Lance guy had been amazingly helpful.
Andy learned that Omanyte had another attack, and (more importantly) he
had been able to meet a real trainer. In fact, a champion trainer, if what
Lance had said was true. He hoped that everyone would be that helpful, but
Andy somehow doubted that this would be the case. He had almost reached
the first turn in the maze-like path, when he heard a loud commotion
beginning to hum behind him. He looked around, and spotted a large group
of people standing in a field just south of him. He changed his direction,
and walked quickly to see what all the noise was about.
The crowd had already gathered when he strode up to the field. There must have been about 40 or 50 people, circled around what seemed to be two trainers engaged in some sort of large-scale battle.
"I can't believe he's puttin' up this much of a fight!"
"His Snorlax is no match for that Gyrados. He's way underleveled."
"I heard this guy can do impossible things with that Snorlax of his. Once, against Misty.."
"Pardon me, but who are you speaking about?" he interrupted, with genuine curiosity. He had never seen a "real" Pokemon battle, just little kids with pidgeys and rattatas.
"Some guy. Calls himself Drew, or something like that. Sort of an urban legend 'round here. People all say they seen him do these weird tricks with that Snorlax. Say ain't nobody can beat him. He's up against some kid with a Gyrados at least 15, maybe 20 levels higher."
Edging his way through the crowd, he saw the two trainers. Drew was closest to him, and the Gyrados trainer was a hundred feet or so out the other way. In between the two of them stood two of the most immense creatures Andy had ever seen. The Snorlax had to be at least seven or eight feet tall, and the Gyrados floating in mid-air was a good twenty feet long if it was an inch. Both trainers had the same confidence he had witnessed in Lance a few minutes ago, which did scare him a bit. If he was going to compete with these people, would he need that kind of self- assuredness? He directed his attention back to the battle when Drew spoke.
"Going Nimbus. Hyper Beam, triple point. North." he said calmly.
The massive Snorlax that flanked the trainer scrunched its face up, and fired a very thick Hyper Beam straight up into the metal-grey sky, missing the flying Gyrados by at least 30 feet.
"Ha! You couldn't aim your way out of a paper bag!" remarked the opposing trainer, a young man whose voice sounded vaguely familiar to Andy. "Gyrados! Dragon Rage!" Drew laughed, knowing what a horrible strategic ploy it was to use a fixed-damage attack against a Pokemon with as high a resilience as a Snorlax. Gyrados Roared, spraying water everywhere from its mighty jaws, and unleashed a cloud of blue flame that encircled the Snorlax, and then died down.
"Rest up." said the Snorlax's trainer, and upon hearing these words, the Snorlax dropped to the ground, then sat up briefly and waved to the crowd, who cheered wildly. Again, he collapsed backwards, this time entirely, and began to sleep.
"Lying down on the job, eh?" quipped the other trainer. "Gyrados! Hydro Pump!" Again the legendary Dragon Pokemon reared back its head, but instead of producing a mild blue flame, brought forth two shots of super- concentrated water energy hurtling from its mouth, like they had been fired from cannons. Each shot hit the sleeping Snorlax, making its massive bulk jiggle a bit, and ricocheted off him, spraying the onlookers. Snorlax winced a bit at first, and then returned his expression to his usual smile. Confused at how the Pokemon survived the attack at all, let alone appeared happy about it, the far trainer looked at the Snorlax's trainer.
"Leftovers." he said, with a grin, and looked up to the sky, which had begun to flicker a bit.
"Okay, if that's how you want to play this, Gyrados! Hydro Pump! FULL POWER!" The dragon repeated its last performance, but reared back so far that its head was almost touching its tail, and lurched forward to get the most velocity on its attack. Again the shots were fired at the Snorlax, and again, he accepted the bath with ease.
"Wake." said the man, and the Snorlax jumped to its feet. Trainer and Pokemon simultaneously looked at the sky, which had grown darker in a small patch above them. A larger smile grew on both of their faces.
"Gyrados! Body Slam it!"
"Buddy. Hyper Beam, Quarter Point Solid. 30 degrees west."
As the Gyrados was charging it, the Snorlax again fired off a hyper beam, this one much thinner in diameter than its predecessor, and again it missed the Gyrados, and kept going into the clouds.
"You are no match for...." the cooltrainer's statement was cut off by the boom of thunder and the crackle of lightning from overhead. A bolt of Hyper Beam-Charged electricity was streaking down the new Hyper Beam, which was acting like a lightning rod.
"Lower it." said the man, and Snorlax angled his head slightly lower, so that the path of the oncoming lightning, following the path of the Hyper Beam, would strike the attacking Gyrados.
"DODGE IT!" the trainer screamed, which brought another smile to the man's face. As the Gyrados dove towards the ground in a desperate attempt to avoid the lightning created by the Snorlax, he had accidentally fallen almost right into his lap.
"Buddy! Body Slam! Reverse It!" shouted the man, and almost before he had even done so, the Snorlax, with amazing quickness and maneuverability for such a huge creature, sidestepped the falling Gyrados, grapped it by the tail, and whipped it back into the sky, using the Gyrados's kinetic energy against it to send it sailing into the stormclouds. As the Gyrados neared the clouds, another bolt of Electricity came shooting down from the sky at it, striking it directly and sending it reeling to the ground.
"Gyrados. Return." said the other trainer, walking towards Andy's side of the crowd, defeated and deflated. "That was cheap. What would you have done if it wasn't a cloudy day?"
"We'd have found another way to beat you." replied Drew, extending his hand to shake that of the man he had just beaten. "Seriously though, what was up with that Dragon Rage attack? Why on earth would you use that against a Snorlax?"
"Honestly, I figured we had you beaten. I wanted to make it more even."
"You should know us better than that, Lance." Drew replied, laughing.
"Lance?" shouted Andy.
"Andy!" he shouted back. Wow. Good thing Andy hadn't asked Lance to battle. Omanyte wouldn't have stood a chance against that Gyrados. "This is Drew. Drew, this is that guy I was just telling you about."
"With the Omanyte?"
"Yeah." Andy answered.
"Whoa! Cool!"
"Drew's been at this almost as long as I have, but he's working with this new Snorlax of his. That's why we were battling, trying to make it stronger. Not like it needed it or anything…"
"Yeah, we're getting pretty tight, the two of us." Drew commented, as he looked over at his Snorlax…who was fast asleep, in spite of the little kids who were playing on him.
"Someday you and that Omanyte will be like that." Lance asserted to Andy, who wasn't convinced at all.
"I don't know…" he said, before being interrupted by a series of loud, brash shouts from the crowd. The three men spun around to see a few strangely-uniformed people; three men, one woman, pushing their way through the gathering of people.
"Outta my way." Andy felt a strange force against his back, and his knees buckled, and he crumpled to the ground. Wincing in pain and unable to stand, he tried his best to make out the conversation.
"That Snorlax is ours, kid."
"No, this Snorlax was yours." He struck a very defensive pose, and whipped his arm around, Pokeball held out, recalling the Snorlax, and sending a few little kids tumbling to the ground. "It's mine now."
"You have no right…" spoke the woman
"He has EVERY right. After what you people did to it…" Andy recognized Lance's voice. After what they did to it? What did they do?
"What we do with our Pokemon is no concern of yours, "champ." A man spoke again, this one louder than the others had been. He placed an extra sarcastic emphasis on the last word.
"I don't care what you say, you're not getting him."
"Kid, don't get involved with what you don't know. That Snorlax has…"
"…Don't say anymore, Grunt. He knows too much already."
This was the loud man again, clearly the leader. He knows too much already?? Andy did not want to be involved in whatever was going on here. Unfortunately for him…
"Alakazam. KINESIS." Andy turned his neck to see this new Pokemon, but twisted his leg the wrong way, and screamed out in pain. "Shut up, wimp." All Andy could think about was how much his leg hurt. He was curled up on the ground, clutching his leg and gritting his teeth to stop from crying out anymore. He could hear voices, mostly the loud man, but couldn't make out any of what they were saying. The voices began to tail off…off…off, until they were barely audible. What was happening? Andy rolled himself over in time to see all Four uniformed people, Lance, Drew, and the Alakazam floating away in a huge transparent purple bubble. As he dropped his head back, he heard a soft slapping sound beside him. A Pokeball? He looked back up, and couldn't see much in the glare of the sun, but could almost see Drew giving him a low "thumbs up" sign at his side. Snorlax? The Pokemon these people was after…was now with Andy? Andy picked up the Pokeball, which had a crude "B" Scratched into it, and put it in his pocket. As the purple bubble floated out of sight, a hospital vehicle pulled up. Thankfully one of the other onlookers had noticed Andy's condition and called an ambulance. Andy's head spun with revolving pain and confusion as the vehicle made its way through the streets of Pewter City. Why did Drew throw that Pokeball to him? Was it that Snorlax? Would he ever be able to walk again? Who were those people? But the one that kept coming back to him was…What had he gotten himself into?
The crowd had already gathered when he strode up to the field. There must have been about 40 or 50 people, circled around what seemed to be two trainers engaged in some sort of large-scale battle.
"I can't believe he's puttin' up this much of a fight!"
"His Snorlax is no match for that Gyrados. He's way underleveled."
"I heard this guy can do impossible things with that Snorlax of his. Once, against Misty.."
"Pardon me, but who are you speaking about?" he interrupted, with genuine curiosity. He had never seen a "real" Pokemon battle, just little kids with pidgeys and rattatas.
"Some guy. Calls himself Drew, or something like that. Sort of an urban legend 'round here. People all say they seen him do these weird tricks with that Snorlax. Say ain't nobody can beat him. He's up against some kid with a Gyrados at least 15, maybe 20 levels higher."
Edging his way through the crowd, he saw the two trainers. Drew was closest to him, and the Gyrados trainer was a hundred feet or so out the other way. In between the two of them stood two of the most immense creatures Andy had ever seen. The Snorlax had to be at least seven or eight feet tall, and the Gyrados floating in mid-air was a good twenty feet long if it was an inch. Both trainers had the same confidence he had witnessed in Lance a few minutes ago, which did scare him a bit. If he was going to compete with these people, would he need that kind of self- assuredness? He directed his attention back to the battle when Drew spoke.
"Going Nimbus. Hyper Beam, triple point. North." he said calmly.
The massive Snorlax that flanked the trainer scrunched its face up, and fired a very thick Hyper Beam straight up into the metal-grey sky, missing the flying Gyrados by at least 30 feet.
"Ha! You couldn't aim your way out of a paper bag!" remarked the opposing trainer, a young man whose voice sounded vaguely familiar to Andy. "Gyrados! Dragon Rage!" Drew laughed, knowing what a horrible strategic ploy it was to use a fixed-damage attack against a Pokemon with as high a resilience as a Snorlax. Gyrados Roared, spraying water everywhere from its mighty jaws, and unleashed a cloud of blue flame that encircled the Snorlax, and then died down.
"Rest up." said the Snorlax's trainer, and upon hearing these words, the Snorlax dropped to the ground, then sat up briefly and waved to the crowd, who cheered wildly. Again, he collapsed backwards, this time entirely, and began to sleep.
"Lying down on the job, eh?" quipped the other trainer. "Gyrados! Hydro Pump!" Again the legendary Dragon Pokemon reared back its head, but instead of producing a mild blue flame, brought forth two shots of super- concentrated water energy hurtling from its mouth, like they had been fired from cannons. Each shot hit the sleeping Snorlax, making its massive bulk jiggle a bit, and ricocheted off him, spraying the onlookers. Snorlax winced a bit at first, and then returned his expression to his usual smile. Confused at how the Pokemon survived the attack at all, let alone appeared happy about it, the far trainer looked at the Snorlax's trainer.
"Leftovers." he said, with a grin, and looked up to the sky, which had begun to flicker a bit.
"Okay, if that's how you want to play this, Gyrados! Hydro Pump! FULL POWER!" The dragon repeated its last performance, but reared back so far that its head was almost touching its tail, and lurched forward to get the most velocity on its attack. Again the shots were fired at the Snorlax, and again, he accepted the bath with ease.
"Wake." said the man, and the Snorlax jumped to its feet. Trainer and Pokemon simultaneously looked at the sky, which had grown darker in a small patch above them. A larger smile grew on both of their faces.
"Gyrados! Body Slam it!"
"Buddy. Hyper Beam, Quarter Point Solid. 30 degrees west."
As the Gyrados was charging it, the Snorlax again fired off a hyper beam, this one much thinner in diameter than its predecessor, and again it missed the Gyrados, and kept going into the clouds.
"You are no match for...." the cooltrainer's statement was cut off by the boom of thunder and the crackle of lightning from overhead. A bolt of Hyper Beam-Charged electricity was streaking down the new Hyper Beam, which was acting like a lightning rod.
"Lower it." said the man, and Snorlax angled his head slightly lower, so that the path of the oncoming lightning, following the path of the Hyper Beam, would strike the attacking Gyrados.
"DODGE IT!" the trainer screamed, which brought another smile to the man's face. As the Gyrados dove towards the ground in a desperate attempt to avoid the lightning created by the Snorlax, he had accidentally fallen almost right into his lap.
"Buddy! Body Slam! Reverse It!" shouted the man, and almost before he had even done so, the Snorlax, with amazing quickness and maneuverability for such a huge creature, sidestepped the falling Gyrados, grapped it by the tail, and whipped it back into the sky, using the Gyrados's kinetic energy against it to send it sailing into the stormclouds. As the Gyrados neared the clouds, another bolt of Electricity came shooting down from the sky at it, striking it directly and sending it reeling to the ground.
"Gyrados. Return." said the other trainer, walking towards Andy's side of the crowd, defeated and deflated. "That was cheap. What would you have done if it wasn't a cloudy day?"
"We'd have found another way to beat you." replied Drew, extending his hand to shake that of the man he had just beaten. "Seriously though, what was up with that Dragon Rage attack? Why on earth would you use that against a Snorlax?"
"Honestly, I figured we had you beaten. I wanted to make it more even."
"You should know us better than that, Lance." Drew replied, laughing.
"Lance?" shouted Andy.
"Andy!" he shouted back. Wow. Good thing Andy hadn't asked Lance to battle. Omanyte wouldn't have stood a chance against that Gyrados. "This is Drew. Drew, this is that guy I was just telling you about."
"With the Omanyte?"
"Yeah." Andy answered.
"Whoa! Cool!"
"Drew's been at this almost as long as I have, but he's working with this new Snorlax of his. That's why we were battling, trying to make it stronger. Not like it needed it or anything…"
"Yeah, we're getting pretty tight, the two of us." Drew commented, as he looked over at his Snorlax…who was fast asleep, in spite of the little kids who were playing on him.
"Someday you and that Omanyte will be like that." Lance asserted to Andy, who wasn't convinced at all.
"I don't know…" he said, before being interrupted by a series of loud, brash shouts from the crowd. The three men spun around to see a few strangely-uniformed people; three men, one woman, pushing their way through the gathering of people.
"Outta my way." Andy felt a strange force against his back, and his knees buckled, and he crumpled to the ground. Wincing in pain and unable to stand, he tried his best to make out the conversation.
"That Snorlax is ours, kid."
"No, this Snorlax was yours." He struck a very defensive pose, and whipped his arm around, Pokeball held out, recalling the Snorlax, and sending a few little kids tumbling to the ground. "It's mine now."
"You have no right…" spoke the woman
"He has EVERY right. After what you people did to it…" Andy recognized Lance's voice. After what they did to it? What did they do?
"What we do with our Pokemon is no concern of yours, "champ." A man spoke again, this one louder than the others had been. He placed an extra sarcastic emphasis on the last word.
"I don't care what you say, you're not getting him."
"Kid, don't get involved with what you don't know. That Snorlax has…"
"…Don't say anymore, Grunt. He knows too much already."
This was the loud man again, clearly the leader. He knows too much already?? Andy did not want to be involved in whatever was going on here. Unfortunately for him…
"Alakazam. KINESIS." Andy turned his neck to see this new Pokemon, but twisted his leg the wrong way, and screamed out in pain. "Shut up, wimp." All Andy could think about was how much his leg hurt. He was curled up on the ground, clutching his leg and gritting his teeth to stop from crying out anymore. He could hear voices, mostly the loud man, but couldn't make out any of what they were saying. The voices began to tail off…off…off, until they were barely audible. What was happening? Andy rolled himself over in time to see all Four uniformed people, Lance, Drew, and the Alakazam floating away in a huge transparent purple bubble. As he dropped his head back, he heard a soft slapping sound beside him. A Pokeball? He looked back up, and couldn't see much in the glare of the sun, but could almost see Drew giving him a low "thumbs up" sign at his side. Snorlax? The Pokemon these people was after…was now with Andy? Andy picked up the Pokeball, which had a crude "B" Scratched into it, and put it in his pocket. As the purple bubble floated out of sight, a hospital vehicle pulled up. Thankfully one of the other onlookers had noticed Andy's condition and called an ambulance. Andy's head spun with revolving pain and confusion as the vehicle made its way through the streets of Pewter City. Why did Drew throw that Pokeball to him? Was it that Snorlax? Would he ever be able to walk again? Who were those people? But the one that kept coming back to him was…What had he gotten himself into?