Thanks for the reviews, everybody, and this episode's opponent will be much
harder than Laura was. Who is he/she? You'll just have to read on.
P.S. Funny no one mentioned anything about me pairing Laura and Dario together.
The Battle Tower Chronicles
Part 2 - Mateo's Metal Machine
"Hi Ash!" Misty greeted him as Ash and Pikachu entered the lounge. "The Battle Tower provides lodging for those who are in the middle of fighting their string of battles, so we needn't stay at the Pokemon Center! How did the battle go?"
"Great!" Ash beamed. "We won our first match in the Battle Tower, and it was against Laura!"
"Laura?" Misty gasped. "From the Laramie clan?"
Ash nodded. "And you'll never believe what she told me... OUCH!" Pikachu had given him a powerful Thundershock and a hard, cold stare. Misty sweatdropped as the smouldering body in front her groaned in pain.
"I suppose that means you won't be telling me."
*** The next day, Ash was reared up and ready for the next challenger. He had left Bayleef, Noctowl and surprisingly, Pikachu back downstairs to give them a rest. He stepped out of the elevator onto another arena. This arena wasn't like the stadium one he fought in the day before; this arena had a rocky terrain, similar to the one he had fought Brock on. As Ash was looking around, the other trainer emerged from the other elevator.
"Mateo!" Ash recognised the glass sculptor from Sunburst Island. Thanks to him, and Tracey's Marill of course, he had managed to get a glimpse of the rare and beautiful Crystal Onix.
Mateo silently smiled back at Ash. "I've left my sister in charge of the stall back home, but between us we've made quite a lot."
"Glad to hear that!"
Their conversation was interrupted by the referee, who gave them another refreshing of the rules (groan).
"Let the battle begin!"
"Cloyster, go!" Mateo threw his first Pokeball on the floor. The white light materialised into the familiar bivalve Pokemon with spikes all over its incredibly tough shell.
"I choose you, Croconaw!" Ash sent out Croconaw, a ferocious alligator Pokemon with an equally ferocious jaw. It was definitely nothing like its previous stage, Totodile.
"Croco!" "Cloyster!" The two Pokemon exchanged furious glances. Neither was going to let his trainer down.
"Water Gun!" The two trainers simultaneously shouted. The two Pokemon reared and fired powerful jets of water at each other. The two jets collided in the middle of the arena, and for a while the two Pokemon were equally matched.
"Croconaw, stop!" The alligator Pokemon stopped shooting water. Cloyster's water jet barely missed it, smashing into a nearby rock, disintegrating it.
"Use a Rock Slide, Croconaw!" Croconaw tensed. Suddenly, the ground around it started to crack. Rocks flew out of the ground and hurtled at Cloyster.
"Cloyster, use a Water Gun!" Cloyster obeyed Mateo's command by firing jets of water at each flying rock. It had a very good aim, and cleanly smashed each rock into smithereens.
"Croconaw! Try Scary Face!" Croconaw suddenly loomed up to Cloyster, trying to scare it out of its wits.
"Withdraw!" shouted Mateo. Cloyster closed its huge shell, avoiding the scary sight. "Try Aurora Beam!" Cloyster opened up again, firing shots of ice at Croconaw. Croconaw easily dodged the beams, which hit the surrounding rocks, turning them into little mountains.
"Croconaw, use Double Kick!" Ash knew that Cloyster was a combination Water and Ice Pokemon, and he knew that Ice Pokemon were weak against Fighting attacks such as Double Kick. Croconaw jumped up and almost hit Cloyster, when -
"Counter!" Cloyster started to glow a mysterious blue. Croconaw's attack hit itself, and it fell back in pain, while Cloyster was unharmed. Ash bunched his fists. "Don't give up now, Croconaw! Leer attack, now!"
Croconaw shot a death glare at Cloyster. The bivalve Pokemon stood, shocked.
"Now! Use a Dynamicpunch!"
Croconaw's left fist started to glow bright green. Suddenly, it charged at Cloyster with fatal impact. Cloyster, which was still under Croconaw's Leer, was rooted to the spot. POW! The Dynamicpunch sent Cloyster flying, colliding into the nearest rock. "Cloyster!" Mateo shouted. His Pokemon was defeated, and was seeing stars.
"Cloyster is unable to battle. Victory goes to Croconaw!" Croconaw joined Ash in a little victory dance. It hadn't lost its touch at dancing despite the fact it had evolved from Totodile. Mateo withdrew his Cloyster. "Take a rest, Cloyster. You fought well," he whispered. "Charmeleon, go!"
Out of Mateo's second Pokeball emerged an angry-looking lizard, with razor- sharp horns and horn, complete with fiery tail.
"Charmeleon! Flamethrower!"
"Croconaw! Water Gun!"
The two reptilian Pokemon fired at each other. Despite Croconaw's type advantage, Charmeleon's powerful fire soon reduced the water to steam.
"I need a change of strategy here," muttered Ash grimly. "Croconaw, use Bite attack!"
Croconaw lunged itself at Charmeleon and bit into its leg. The fire lizard cried in pain.
"Charmeleon! Counter with Slash!"
"Croconaw! You use your Slash attack, too!"
The two Pokemon looked angrily at each other and exchanged vicious slashes. "Charmeleon, Rage!"
Charmeleon suddenly leaped into the air. The flame on its tail suddenly grew bigger, and Charmeleon looked a lot angrier. "Char!" It blew out a huge fireball at Croconaw, barely missing it.
"Charmeleon! Finish it with Thunderpunch!" Ash gasped. Mateo had taught Charmeleon an electric attack to combat Water-type Pokemon!
"Croconaw! Try your Rock Slide a-" Ash's sentence was unfinished as Charmeleon's fist hit Croconaw, sending surges of electricity through Croconaw's body and lightning flying everywhere.
"Oh... gosh..."
Croconaw was lying limply on the ground. Charmeleon held its head up high in victory. "Croconaw is unable to battle. Victory goes to Charmeleon!"
Ash withdrew Croconaw. He began to ponder over the next Pokemon he sent out. "Quilava is strong, but I'd better save him for later."
"Phanpy, I choose you!" The white light from Ash's Pokeball changed into a small blue elephant, with red patches on its nose and four little legs.
"A Phanpy? This should be easy." Mateo smiled.
"Don't be so sure!" yelled Ash. "Phanpy, Earthquake!" "Phan!" The little elephant lifted its trunk; then thrust it at the ground. A huge crack appeared, and the arena shook.
"Charmeleon! Dodge it!" Charmeleon valiantly obeyed and leaped up into the air. The crevice passed harmlessly underneath. Charmeleon jumped from rock to rock, about to lunge at Phanpy, when Ash shouted, "Use Rollout, Phanpy!"
Phanpy began to roll into a ball. Suddenly, it thrust itself at Charmeleon, knocking it down. "Charmeleon! Use Flamethrower!" shouted Mateo.
Once again, Charmeleon reared its head and fired another jet of fire at Phanpy. Phanpy simply spun the fire off its body. "Tackle it, Phanpy!"
Phanpy lunged at Charmeleon, tackling it down. Charmeleon fell into the crevice. "Charmeleon!" cried Mateo.
Minutes later, Charmeleon weakly clambered out. It looked a sorry sight with scratches everywhere, and the flame on its tail was almost out. It collapsed onto the hard, rocky floor.
"Charmeleon is unable to battle! Victory goes to... goes to..." The referee stopped in mid-sentence. Phanpy, who was having a victory trumpeting session a few seconds ago, had started to glow a blinding white colour. Ash was very excited. He knew what was to come next.
"Phanpy! You're - evolving!"
The blinding light faded. In Phanpy's place stood an elephant with a grey rugged hide and long white tusks.
"Donphan. The Armour Pokemon." Dexter droned, "Its hard hide provides excellent defence in combat and its tusks can crush metal with great strength."
Meanwhile, Mateo had withdrawn his Charmeleon. "I hope you're ready, Ash, because my last Pokemon is nothing like any Pokemon I trust you've seen before."
"Oh, yeah?" Ash challenged. "My Pokemon can take anything you throw at me."
"Don't be so sure," Mateo smirked as he threw his third Pokeball onto the floor.
The white light soon grew into a pillar of blinding light. It looked tall and menacing. The white light finally changed into -
"A Steelix!" Ash thought. He had faced one of these Pokemon before, in his battle with Jasmine. 30-feet-tall machines of metal, these Pokemon were bad news. But this Steelix seemed to made of -
"Crystal?!" Ash choked. "The Crystal Onix actually followed you and it evolved?"
Mateo nodded. "After you left, the Onix emerged from its cave. It badly seemed in need of a trainer. So it decided to be my Pokemon beside Cloyster and Charmeleon. Now it is among the toughest Pokemon in the Orange Archipelago and won me some badges!" Mateo lifted a piece of cardboard from his pocket. Attached to it were the four Orange Island Gym Badges!
"No one has ever defeated my Crystal Steelix. Maybe you will be the first."
"I hope so!" shouted Ash.
"Steelix! Tackle!" The huge snake of crystal and steel threw itself at Donphan.
"Donphan! Roll away!" Donphan curled into a ball and began to roll, with the Crystal Steelix hot on its trail. Donphan rolled over rocks, and Steelix just crushed them to bits. "Steelix!" Mateo suddenly shouted. "Use a Bind attack!"
Steelix lunged forward, wrapping itself around the rolling Donphan, crushing it with great impact.
"Donphan! Rapid Spin!" The elephant Pokemon began to turn and turn. This was made easy by the round shape it formed, despite Steelix's powerful Bind. It spun faster and faster, and pretty soon it was able to break free of Steelix's Bind.
"Don't give it up, Steelix! Rock Throw!" Steelix began to leap and crush rocks everywhere as it tried to hit Donphan. But it just kept missing. "Donphan!" Ash yelled. "Rollout!"
Donphan began to roll at a dangerously fast speed as it charged towards Steelix. Steelix looked at Donphan contemptuously. Surely a puny little elephant couldn't beat a thirty-foot tower of crystallised metal? Or could it?
WHAM! Steelix was sent flying through the air, but not for a very long height. It soon crashed down again, and boy, was it mad! "Steelix!" Mateo commanded. "Use a Wrap attack, and this time, don't let it go!" Steelix very willingly complied. It began to crush Donphan maliciously with fatally devastating impact.
Suddenly, Donphan started to glow a bright white colour. Ash was startled. Donphan couldn't possibly be evolving again.
Then, he realised what was happening.
"Oh no, Donphan, no..."
KABOOM! Donphan had used an Explosion attack, which knocked itself out, but also took out almost half of Steelix's health.
"Donphan is unable to battle. Victory goes to Steelix!"
Ash grimly withdrew Donphan. "Good thing Donphan managed to weaken that crystal Steelix. And it's also a good thing I saved the best for last!" He threw his last Pokeball on the floor. Out of the Pokeball emerged an oversized rodent with flames on its head and tail. "Quil!" It growled.
"This won't take long," Mateo mused. "Finish it, Steelix!"
The crystal Steelix raised its humongous body. It looked ready to strike.
"Quilava! Flame Wheel!" Quilava breathed out a burning wheel of fire. It hit Steelix, who roared in pain. Burn marks were visible on its metallic, crystal-coated skin, forming the shape of a wheel.
"Steelix, use your Bide attack!" Steelix stood where it was, tensing.
"Quilava, now's your chance! Flamethrower!" Quilava leaped up, shooting jets of fire at Steelix. Because of Steelix's titanic size, it was easy to hit him, and Steelix suffered nasty burns.
Suddenly, Steelix began to move again. Ash knew what would happen: Steelix would unleash powerful energy equivalent to double the damage Quilava had did it. But he knew what to do.
"Quilava, Leer!" Quilava glared at Steelix. Sure enough, Ash's strategy worked again for the second time that battle. Steelix's face was twisted with terror, and the attack was completely cancelled!
"Steelix! What's wrong with you?" shouted Mateo. Steelix could not attack!
"Your Steelix is under Leer attack," replied Ash, "and what's more, it's burned! It can't move, and its attack power has been reduced too!
"Now, Quilava, finish it with Fire Blast!" The Fire Mouse Pokemon reared its head. It blew out an awesome flame forming a Chinese character standing for 'big'.
"Steelix!" Mateo cried. Too late. The Fire Blast hit Steelix, and its body glowed bright red, to orange, to yellow, then to a blinding white. Then, with a huge earthquake, Steelix collapsed onto the battle arena, totally crushing all the surrounding rocks, nearly hitting Quilava, who jumped away just in time.
Mateo was stunned. Steelix's body returned back to its original, shiny, crystal colour, but it had burn marks all over it.
"Steelix is unable to battle! Victory goes to Quilava and its trainer, Ash Ketchum, the winner of this round!"
"You did well, Steelix." Mateo withdrew the groaning iron snake. "Take a good rest now." He turned to face Ash.
"No one has ever beaten my Crystal Steelix before... until now." He smiled. "I accept my defeat. You are truly a brilliant trainer, Ash, but I warn you, I won't lose next time!"
"If there is a next time!" Ash laughed, as he withdrew Quilava, and was starting on his way to the Battle Tower lounge downstairs.
-END-
Done! What do you think? R&R, and specify which chapter you're reviewing.
By the way, I specially taught my Feraligatr dig to handle stubborn electric types...
P.S. Funny no one mentioned anything about me pairing Laura and Dario together.
The Battle Tower Chronicles
Part 2 - Mateo's Metal Machine
"Hi Ash!" Misty greeted him as Ash and Pikachu entered the lounge. "The Battle Tower provides lodging for those who are in the middle of fighting their string of battles, so we needn't stay at the Pokemon Center! How did the battle go?"
"Great!" Ash beamed. "We won our first match in the Battle Tower, and it was against Laura!"
"Laura?" Misty gasped. "From the Laramie clan?"
Ash nodded. "And you'll never believe what she told me... OUCH!" Pikachu had given him a powerful Thundershock and a hard, cold stare. Misty sweatdropped as the smouldering body in front her groaned in pain.
"I suppose that means you won't be telling me."
*** The next day, Ash was reared up and ready for the next challenger. He had left Bayleef, Noctowl and surprisingly, Pikachu back downstairs to give them a rest. He stepped out of the elevator onto another arena. This arena wasn't like the stadium one he fought in the day before; this arena had a rocky terrain, similar to the one he had fought Brock on. As Ash was looking around, the other trainer emerged from the other elevator.
"Mateo!" Ash recognised the glass sculptor from Sunburst Island. Thanks to him, and Tracey's Marill of course, he had managed to get a glimpse of the rare and beautiful Crystal Onix.
Mateo silently smiled back at Ash. "I've left my sister in charge of the stall back home, but between us we've made quite a lot."
"Glad to hear that!"
Their conversation was interrupted by the referee, who gave them another refreshing of the rules (groan).
"Let the battle begin!"
"Cloyster, go!" Mateo threw his first Pokeball on the floor. The white light materialised into the familiar bivalve Pokemon with spikes all over its incredibly tough shell.
"I choose you, Croconaw!" Ash sent out Croconaw, a ferocious alligator Pokemon with an equally ferocious jaw. It was definitely nothing like its previous stage, Totodile.
"Croco!" "Cloyster!" The two Pokemon exchanged furious glances. Neither was going to let his trainer down.
"Water Gun!" The two trainers simultaneously shouted. The two Pokemon reared and fired powerful jets of water at each other. The two jets collided in the middle of the arena, and for a while the two Pokemon were equally matched.
"Croconaw, stop!" The alligator Pokemon stopped shooting water. Cloyster's water jet barely missed it, smashing into a nearby rock, disintegrating it.
"Use a Rock Slide, Croconaw!" Croconaw tensed. Suddenly, the ground around it started to crack. Rocks flew out of the ground and hurtled at Cloyster.
"Cloyster, use a Water Gun!" Cloyster obeyed Mateo's command by firing jets of water at each flying rock. It had a very good aim, and cleanly smashed each rock into smithereens.
"Croconaw! Try Scary Face!" Croconaw suddenly loomed up to Cloyster, trying to scare it out of its wits.
"Withdraw!" shouted Mateo. Cloyster closed its huge shell, avoiding the scary sight. "Try Aurora Beam!" Cloyster opened up again, firing shots of ice at Croconaw. Croconaw easily dodged the beams, which hit the surrounding rocks, turning them into little mountains.
"Croconaw, use Double Kick!" Ash knew that Cloyster was a combination Water and Ice Pokemon, and he knew that Ice Pokemon were weak against Fighting attacks such as Double Kick. Croconaw jumped up and almost hit Cloyster, when -
"Counter!" Cloyster started to glow a mysterious blue. Croconaw's attack hit itself, and it fell back in pain, while Cloyster was unharmed. Ash bunched his fists. "Don't give up now, Croconaw! Leer attack, now!"
Croconaw shot a death glare at Cloyster. The bivalve Pokemon stood, shocked.
"Now! Use a Dynamicpunch!"
Croconaw's left fist started to glow bright green. Suddenly, it charged at Cloyster with fatal impact. Cloyster, which was still under Croconaw's Leer, was rooted to the spot. POW! The Dynamicpunch sent Cloyster flying, colliding into the nearest rock. "Cloyster!" Mateo shouted. His Pokemon was defeated, and was seeing stars.
"Cloyster is unable to battle. Victory goes to Croconaw!" Croconaw joined Ash in a little victory dance. It hadn't lost its touch at dancing despite the fact it had evolved from Totodile. Mateo withdrew his Cloyster. "Take a rest, Cloyster. You fought well," he whispered. "Charmeleon, go!"
Out of Mateo's second Pokeball emerged an angry-looking lizard, with razor- sharp horns and horn, complete with fiery tail.
"Charmeleon! Flamethrower!"
"Croconaw! Water Gun!"
The two reptilian Pokemon fired at each other. Despite Croconaw's type advantage, Charmeleon's powerful fire soon reduced the water to steam.
"I need a change of strategy here," muttered Ash grimly. "Croconaw, use Bite attack!"
Croconaw lunged itself at Charmeleon and bit into its leg. The fire lizard cried in pain.
"Charmeleon! Counter with Slash!"
"Croconaw! You use your Slash attack, too!"
The two Pokemon looked angrily at each other and exchanged vicious slashes. "Charmeleon, Rage!"
Charmeleon suddenly leaped into the air. The flame on its tail suddenly grew bigger, and Charmeleon looked a lot angrier. "Char!" It blew out a huge fireball at Croconaw, barely missing it.
"Charmeleon! Finish it with Thunderpunch!" Ash gasped. Mateo had taught Charmeleon an electric attack to combat Water-type Pokemon!
"Croconaw! Try your Rock Slide a-" Ash's sentence was unfinished as Charmeleon's fist hit Croconaw, sending surges of electricity through Croconaw's body and lightning flying everywhere.
"Oh... gosh..."
Croconaw was lying limply on the ground. Charmeleon held its head up high in victory. "Croconaw is unable to battle. Victory goes to Charmeleon!"
Ash withdrew Croconaw. He began to ponder over the next Pokemon he sent out. "Quilava is strong, but I'd better save him for later."
"Phanpy, I choose you!" The white light from Ash's Pokeball changed into a small blue elephant, with red patches on its nose and four little legs.
"A Phanpy? This should be easy." Mateo smiled.
"Don't be so sure!" yelled Ash. "Phanpy, Earthquake!" "Phan!" The little elephant lifted its trunk; then thrust it at the ground. A huge crack appeared, and the arena shook.
"Charmeleon! Dodge it!" Charmeleon valiantly obeyed and leaped up into the air. The crevice passed harmlessly underneath. Charmeleon jumped from rock to rock, about to lunge at Phanpy, when Ash shouted, "Use Rollout, Phanpy!"
Phanpy began to roll into a ball. Suddenly, it thrust itself at Charmeleon, knocking it down. "Charmeleon! Use Flamethrower!" shouted Mateo.
Once again, Charmeleon reared its head and fired another jet of fire at Phanpy. Phanpy simply spun the fire off its body. "Tackle it, Phanpy!"
Phanpy lunged at Charmeleon, tackling it down. Charmeleon fell into the crevice. "Charmeleon!" cried Mateo.
Minutes later, Charmeleon weakly clambered out. It looked a sorry sight with scratches everywhere, and the flame on its tail was almost out. It collapsed onto the hard, rocky floor.
"Charmeleon is unable to battle! Victory goes to... goes to..." The referee stopped in mid-sentence. Phanpy, who was having a victory trumpeting session a few seconds ago, had started to glow a blinding white colour. Ash was very excited. He knew what was to come next.
"Phanpy! You're - evolving!"
The blinding light faded. In Phanpy's place stood an elephant with a grey rugged hide and long white tusks.
"Donphan. The Armour Pokemon." Dexter droned, "Its hard hide provides excellent defence in combat and its tusks can crush metal with great strength."
Meanwhile, Mateo had withdrawn his Charmeleon. "I hope you're ready, Ash, because my last Pokemon is nothing like any Pokemon I trust you've seen before."
"Oh, yeah?" Ash challenged. "My Pokemon can take anything you throw at me."
"Don't be so sure," Mateo smirked as he threw his third Pokeball onto the floor.
The white light soon grew into a pillar of blinding light. It looked tall and menacing. The white light finally changed into -
"A Steelix!" Ash thought. He had faced one of these Pokemon before, in his battle with Jasmine. 30-feet-tall machines of metal, these Pokemon were bad news. But this Steelix seemed to made of -
"Crystal?!" Ash choked. "The Crystal Onix actually followed you and it evolved?"
Mateo nodded. "After you left, the Onix emerged from its cave. It badly seemed in need of a trainer. So it decided to be my Pokemon beside Cloyster and Charmeleon. Now it is among the toughest Pokemon in the Orange Archipelago and won me some badges!" Mateo lifted a piece of cardboard from his pocket. Attached to it were the four Orange Island Gym Badges!
"No one has ever defeated my Crystal Steelix. Maybe you will be the first."
"I hope so!" shouted Ash.
"Steelix! Tackle!" The huge snake of crystal and steel threw itself at Donphan.
"Donphan! Roll away!" Donphan curled into a ball and began to roll, with the Crystal Steelix hot on its trail. Donphan rolled over rocks, and Steelix just crushed them to bits. "Steelix!" Mateo suddenly shouted. "Use a Bind attack!"
Steelix lunged forward, wrapping itself around the rolling Donphan, crushing it with great impact.
"Donphan! Rapid Spin!" The elephant Pokemon began to turn and turn. This was made easy by the round shape it formed, despite Steelix's powerful Bind. It spun faster and faster, and pretty soon it was able to break free of Steelix's Bind.
"Don't give it up, Steelix! Rock Throw!" Steelix began to leap and crush rocks everywhere as it tried to hit Donphan. But it just kept missing. "Donphan!" Ash yelled. "Rollout!"
Donphan began to roll at a dangerously fast speed as it charged towards Steelix. Steelix looked at Donphan contemptuously. Surely a puny little elephant couldn't beat a thirty-foot tower of crystallised metal? Or could it?
WHAM! Steelix was sent flying through the air, but not for a very long height. It soon crashed down again, and boy, was it mad! "Steelix!" Mateo commanded. "Use a Wrap attack, and this time, don't let it go!" Steelix very willingly complied. It began to crush Donphan maliciously with fatally devastating impact.
Suddenly, Donphan started to glow a bright white colour. Ash was startled. Donphan couldn't possibly be evolving again.
Then, he realised what was happening.
"Oh no, Donphan, no..."
KABOOM! Donphan had used an Explosion attack, which knocked itself out, but also took out almost half of Steelix's health.
"Donphan is unable to battle. Victory goes to Steelix!"
Ash grimly withdrew Donphan. "Good thing Donphan managed to weaken that crystal Steelix. And it's also a good thing I saved the best for last!" He threw his last Pokeball on the floor. Out of the Pokeball emerged an oversized rodent with flames on its head and tail. "Quil!" It growled.
"This won't take long," Mateo mused. "Finish it, Steelix!"
The crystal Steelix raised its humongous body. It looked ready to strike.
"Quilava! Flame Wheel!" Quilava breathed out a burning wheel of fire. It hit Steelix, who roared in pain. Burn marks were visible on its metallic, crystal-coated skin, forming the shape of a wheel.
"Steelix, use your Bide attack!" Steelix stood where it was, tensing.
"Quilava, now's your chance! Flamethrower!" Quilava leaped up, shooting jets of fire at Steelix. Because of Steelix's titanic size, it was easy to hit him, and Steelix suffered nasty burns.
Suddenly, Steelix began to move again. Ash knew what would happen: Steelix would unleash powerful energy equivalent to double the damage Quilava had did it. But he knew what to do.
"Quilava, Leer!" Quilava glared at Steelix. Sure enough, Ash's strategy worked again for the second time that battle. Steelix's face was twisted with terror, and the attack was completely cancelled!
"Steelix! What's wrong with you?" shouted Mateo. Steelix could not attack!
"Your Steelix is under Leer attack," replied Ash, "and what's more, it's burned! It can't move, and its attack power has been reduced too!
"Now, Quilava, finish it with Fire Blast!" The Fire Mouse Pokemon reared its head. It blew out an awesome flame forming a Chinese character standing for 'big'.
"Steelix!" Mateo cried. Too late. The Fire Blast hit Steelix, and its body glowed bright red, to orange, to yellow, then to a blinding white. Then, with a huge earthquake, Steelix collapsed onto the battle arena, totally crushing all the surrounding rocks, nearly hitting Quilava, who jumped away just in time.
Mateo was stunned. Steelix's body returned back to its original, shiny, crystal colour, but it had burn marks all over it.
"Steelix is unable to battle! Victory goes to Quilava and its trainer, Ash Ketchum, the winner of this round!"
"You did well, Steelix." Mateo withdrew the groaning iron snake. "Take a good rest now." He turned to face Ash.
"No one has ever beaten my Crystal Steelix before... until now." He smiled. "I accept my defeat. You are truly a brilliant trainer, Ash, but I warn you, I won't lose next time!"
"If there is a next time!" Ash laughed, as he withdrew Quilava, and was starting on his way to the Battle Tower lounge downstairs.
-END-
Done! What do you think? R&R, and specify which chapter you're reviewing.
By the way, I specially taught my Feraligatr dig to handle stubborn electric types...