Chapter 13
The barrier, rendered visible from being pelted by attacks, seemed to shudder, and shattered. The gengar however, was far from finished. It grinned menacingly, and glowed, the navy luminosity casting a sickly radiance on alakazam.
The reflect, or rather was left of it -- thousands of glass-like pieces, whizzed towards alakazam, now acting as lethal shrapnel... charged with deadly intent. Alakazam shielded himself, the yellowish hue of a psychic screen appearing for a brief moment. The deadly projectiles lanced stabbed into the feeble barrier, the first few bouncing off; while the rest penetrated, thrusting into alakazam.
The psychic pokemon screeched in anguish, his psychic voice radiating the pain as well. All the occupants in the building flinched, mentally experiencing the agony as well. Tom, having a much closer bond with alakazam than anyone else, was clutching his heads with his hands, his brows knotted in an attempt to reduce the flow.
Alakazam collapsed, drifting in and out of consciousness. *Hang on...*
Tom gazed over at shadow, expecting a fainted ghost from the silence. His wildest imagination would not have prepared him for the sight -- shadow and the alakazam locked in hand-to-hand combat, throwing all manners of elemental punches -- and variations of them at each other.
*Looks like shadow's doing all right... Wait.* Tom examined his pokemon more closely, taking in the details. *Something... Something is wrong. This doesn't really seem like the shadow I know... Ah ha!*
The maniac gleam in shadow's eyes were replaced by... Tom couldn't place the sparkle. *Shadow seems more... Intelligent somehow -- and far more steadfast.*
Shadow's movements were far more calculated than Tom remembered; not wasting a single motion when dodging or attacking. Instead of wasting precious time and energy teleporting, it swung around almost casually, avoiding alakazam's blows.
On the other hand, Tom's alakazam was suffering. The technique, recover, only replenishes lost health, leaving behind or even increasing fatigue. The gengar was gloating, savouring the moment, as it fired a final shadow ball. The violet orb blazed right into... nothing. Alakazam had finally managed to null the effects of gengar's partial mind control, managing to pull off a teleport.
*I see. Alakazam is stronger than gengar, but he only appeared weak and took so much damage because he was trying to erase the move.*
Shadow, too was turning the tables on its opponent. It countered the physical moves with reflective barriers, sending the damage right back at alakazam. Alakazam, not anticipating such a defence, sent his cobalt-charged fist into the screen, the thrust earning itself nothing but a frozen wall.
Shadow chuckled at its adversary's demise. *I have heard such a pleasant sound in... Actually I haven't heard it before, at least not from shadow...* A quick teleport, and shadow was positioned behind alakazam, pelting the psychic with shadow balls, relying on sheer quantity to make up for the relatively miserable force behind the attacks. Alakazam recoiled, slamming head first into the frozen barrier that it had created just a few seconds ago. It struggled, to get to its feet, shivering from the contact with the frost. The icy barricade collapsed onto alakazam, eliciting a groan. At this, alakazam collapsed, unable to continue.
Tom stared on. *Shadow is actually... using some semblance to strategy... That's wierd. its never shown any interest to fight smart -- always blundering into a fight, going full out.* Tom paused his chain of thoughts for a second, considering. *Oh well, a win is a win. I'll think about this later. This is neither the time nor the place... One win; another to go.*
Shadow *checked* to ensure alakazam was out, and disappeared in a flash, materialising once again beside Tom's alakazam. Rachael swore, and curses making Tobias flinch. *How typical... A pretty girl with attitude.*
Gengar cringed, facing the duo, both of whom had type advantages against it. By and large, it was not a problem; it was always one on one for gengar. Tobias called out to it, his voice ringing loud and strong. "Gengar! You can do it." Gengar looked confused for a brief moment, but drew strength from the conviction in his tone, setting himself for an unusually tough battle.
And the real challenge began.
Gengar, without "preliminaries", started chanting, growing noticeably weaker, its intonations growing fainter by the second. Alakazam's eyes widened, and glazed over in shock. He started twitching, shuddering all the while. In seconds, alakazam fainted. *Damn it! Curse. I should have thought of it... Shadow, its all up to you now.*
In the field, shadow nodded, and... stayed still.
The two ghost types faced off, both waiting for the other to make the first move.
The silence dragged on, with Tobias getting more and more jumpy by the second.
Gengar, *connected* to its trainer, too became tense, eyes darting about for any signs of a invisible attack. To add to its discomfort, shadow broke into a wide grin, and started glowing, albeit very faintly. Seconds later, shadow disappeared, teleporting to destinations unknown.
Gengar whipped its head around, but saw only its trainer. It glanced up, yet only the overhead lights greeted it. Gengar peeked forward and sideways, receiving the same sight. It was at this time that Tom started to guffaw uncontrollably, while Tobias and Rachael cursed.
Gengar turned. *What is that... thing?*
Facing the poison ghost was a *cloud*; a mass of dark vapour. Gengar focused on the mist, where light was radiating out. The luminosity bled into words, initially vague yet eventually clear enough to distinguish.
"Bye Bye."
Which was when Tom started having hysterics.
From four different directions, dark amethyst spheres materialised, blazing towards gengar. Startled -- yet coiled for action, gengar leapt upwards, psychically propelling itself to go faster, dodging the attacks with barely concealed ease. Reaching where gengar was *supposed* to be, the orbs screeched to a stop without even slowing down, and took off like a rocket, shooting upwards.
Gengar caught a glimpse of the incoming projectiles, and reacted within a nanosecond... just in time. Directing its stubby ethereal arms downwards, gengar concentrated.
Nothing happened.
Startled, gengar glanced up, only to find itself facing a humongous clump of crackling energy, hissing and spitting in fury. Mouth wide open in disbelief, the ghost nevertheless managed to throw itself to one side... right into shadow's ice punch. Gengar screamed, a shrill, piercing shriek that was a far cry from its usual merry tone.
Tom cowered at the sound, but shadow remained unaffected, allowing itself to carry on with another duo thunder punch. Gengar, in addition to getting half of its body encased in ice, and frost spreading throughout the second half, now had a cerulean blanket of electrical power surging throughout its torso, playing over the films of hoarfrost, lending gengar a ghostly light that seemed to keep with its personality, illuminating the arena for a split second.
However, even this damage was dwarfed by what came next -- the result of being flung back by the elemental punches. Gengar, still shivering from the aftermath of the previous volley was in no condition to accept the next one. In mid-flight, gengar was hit.
The orbs, now glowing with a crimson hue, merged into what seemed like a sheet of energy, burning through the air to slam into the victim. The blood-red colour soaked into gengar, effectively obscuring all sight of it.
As it faded to pink, the azure mammoth above hit... and the entire scene exploded in an ivory flash. All fought the glare, striving to overcome the dark spots scattered everywhere in their vision.
Tom's eyesight returned, just in time for what may be the most spectacular show in history -- save for the more horrible implications of the attack.
The cobalt fire fragmented and sizzled over gengar's entire body, with hundreds of lightning like tendrils. Some bled off into the surrounding region, striking the ground at odd places; yet most found their mark, torturing the pokemon with a mix of electrical and psychic energy.
Amazingly, the move, although strong, was more intensive than extensive -- bar the streaks of carbonised dirt on the field.
Gengar fell, plummeting towards the ground, now just deadweight without any form of propulsion. Metres from the ground however, a scarlet beam intercepted its fatal course. Tobias replaced his pokeball, while silence reigned for a few moments.
Tobias was looking down at his feet, contemplating, concentrating. On the other hand, Rachael was seething, trembling with clenched fists. Shalla was ecstatic, yet showing incredible self-restraint in not jumping around in joy. Tom... was thinking.
*What's up with shadow. Ever since the alakazam match, it has been acting weird. Normally it would show absolutely no interest in helping alakazam out, but this time... Also, its use of those tactics and stuff are just not like it. In fact, after the win, it has just been standing there, a quiet grin etched onto its face; patiently waiting. That definitely doesn't look like the shadow I know...*
Rachael spoke first, her voice underlined with a mix of pure astonishment and outright rage. "Let's..." She raised a pokeball, as if preparing to throw it.
"Let's give him our badges." Tobias interrupted, completing the sentence for the other gym leader.
"*WHAT?!*" The girl was, by now literally boiling, staring daggers at Tobias.
"Enough of this nonsense!" Tobias barked off a sharp retort, gauged Rachael's reaction, and continued, "A lose is a lose. If you can't handle it, I'm sure the *others* would have no problem."
The veiled threat was not lost on Rachael, who began spluttering.
"ENOUGH!" A new voice.
Tom locked on to the source, finding a man standing in the shadows. Few other details could be made out -- from this distance, and in the dark. Rachael however paled, her gorgeous face pallid in unconcealed fright.
The man strolled out of the gloom, allowing Tom his first glimpse of a frail-looking old man, with wispy white hair and his face twisted into a scowl. He was dressed in Japanese-style robes, his arms crossed in front of his chest. His voice, contrary to what was expected, came strong and loud, leaving Tom mystified as to his true age. The man nodded in Tom's direction, addressing him.
"Nice work young man. I would be honoured to battle such a worthy opponent... In particular your gengar-like pokemon here."
The old man paused, and turned back to the other gym leaders. "Shalla, I'm sure you have your reasons for leaving your gym in your students' charge. Rest assured they are very good, and the gym's reputation will not fall. Now as for you Rachael, I must say that I am disappointed. Haven't all your time spent with Tobias here taught you anything at all? Consider the two gyms in Tobias's hands for a week as you think over your mistakes. Now Tobias. Good work. You did your best, and gengar put up a good fight. Unfortunately, gengar was out of its league. Give Tom the two badges."
Tom stared at the gentleman. *There is definitely more to him than meets the eye. He can order the *gym leaders* around...*
"Excuse me sir, but who are you?"
"Oh yes. Forgive me. I have forgotten to introduce myself. I am Muromasa, the dark gym leader. You may have noticed that there is a sort of hierarchy of command among the gym leaders. The stronger and the further on you meet the leader, the more power he or she wields. Thus, the eighteenth gym leader would be the most powerful, both in terms of pokemon, and figuratively. The prize for the battle..." Muromasa indicated the arena, "...is to battle me for your next badge."
"Okay..."
Mr Muromasa chuckled at Tom's nervous response, and waited for Tobias to pass Tom the badges. Tom glanced at them. One had a rough outline of a gengar, while the other was just simply two spoons crossed together. Tom resisted the impulse to burst out laughing; simple badge designs were more practical for production.
"Well then, shall we begin our match?"
"Er yes, but before that, could I ask you a question?"
A quiet laugh. "You already did, but I'll give you another."
Tom blushed. "Alright. If I lose this round, what is the penalty for the rematch?"
"A fair question. Should you lose, you will have to defeat me at my own gym. This time, I happen to be here to visit Tobias, but I stumbled upon the three of you battling, so I decided to join in, and to save Tobias here the trouble of finding a prize."
"Okay then. I guess I'm all set."
"Good. This shall be a one on one battle; I don't have much time. We'll use this field, unless Tobias here has any... *objections*..." Muromasa raised his eyebrows in the other gym leader's direction. In response, the young man rigorously shook his head, his hair wildly flying about from the action. Tom, tempted to smile at this display, nevertheless managed to check himself, but could not refrain from clearing his throat.
The duo took their positions, and Tom examined the field.
It was the one that shadow and gengar had fought the last, stunning battle. The dirt was marked by veins of soot, interrupted only by small patches where the current had torn up the ground, leaving gaping holes in the earth.
Shadow was still in the arena, and Tom recalled him. *Besides, shadow should be at its limits, give or take. Dark types just don't do well against other dark types... I don't have a bug or fighting pokemon... In fact I don't think any of my pokemon knows any moves of those types... Well there is electabuzz... He learnt cross chop from Shalla's machamp during one of the training sessions... Oh well I'll just see how this goes.*
Muromasa grinned, and threw his pokeball. A reptilian pokemon emerged, its jade armour-like hide revealing the sheer power and indestructibility this species brandished.
In a nanosecond, Tom considered his options. *Oh my articuno... This thing takes negligible damage from physical attacks... Electabuzz is out of the question. He would never get close enough to use cross chop. Magmar and eevee would not be able to hurt it much... Alakazam and shadow are not well enough... not that they would be able to do anything... Kingdra and skarmory both have advantages, but I haven't been using skarmory much lately... so I guess I should give him a chance.*
That decided, Tom threw the pokeball. The gigantic metallic bird popped out of the tiny ball, screeching loudly. *I don't think I ever truly realised how much skarmory has grown. He is larger than me now... In my eyes, he's always been, and will always be the hatching that I received him as.*
Skarmory extended his wingspan to the full four metres, and took off, gliding around in the enclosed space. Seizing the opportunity to study his adversary, the steel type took in all the details.
Tyranitar roared, a bellow of challenge seldom answered in the wild; for this was a solitary pokemon which can change the landscape itself. Skarmory however shrieked a retort, earning a vicious glare from the land predator.
The battle commenced, with skarmory adopting a couple of agilities to gather velocity, accelerating to just below the sound barrier. Tyranitar, never one to be intimidated from being unable to see the enemy, unleashed a hyper beam -- or rather, it tried to. The fair globe formed in tyranitar's mouth, gaining in size and radiance. Skarmory, high up in the sky, opened up its wings more, breaking sharply. His nemesis tracked the bird of prey, preparing to release the pent-up energy.
For a moment, the duo's gazes met, providing an insight that Tom had never noticed before -- that skarmory and tyranitar are alike in spirit, and this was now more than just a pokemon battle... it was a match determining the rights to the territory.
Skarmory, a glint in his eyes, started glowing with a mauve hue. The lilac swirl gathered and concentrated on skarmory's chest area, pulsing in an odd rhyme. Tyranitar, just about to fire the beam, widened his eyes, and lost all control, the built-up power exploding.
Whereas a normal attack would do next to naught to such a pokemon, this one occurred within, bypassing all the armour -- in the mouth; where no protection existed.
A veil of dust rose from the force, shrouding the scene from human eyes. Skarmory, knowing well where the dark type was, dived, neatly trimming his speed to a manageable level. His wings moulded into organic metal, trembling slightly from controlling the plunge and containing the attack.
Tyranitar started thrashing, not at all helping the situation -- except to create minor tremors... to which skarmory was immune. Muromasa frowned, but a slight smile played across his lips, prompting Tom to wonder if skarmory was adopting such a good strategy.
*Nevermind. its too late to stop anyway.* Skarmory crashed into the beast, wing-first.
The potential energy from the height had been converted into kinetic energy upon falling, only to be transferred to tyranitar ensuing contact.
The titan fell to the ground, now just deadweight.
Skarmory cried out triumphantly.
***
"Er Mr Muromasa, what was the prize again?" Tom juggled the circular badge in his hand. It was dark -- as in it almost seemed to *absorb* light, creating a darkness that could almost be described as *evil*.
"Well, it is the service of helping your... *shadow* as you call it."
"What?!"
"Well it seems that shadow..." He was interrupted by a squawk.
"Skar!"
"What?"
*He has to go, Tom.* Alakazam popped out of his pokeball, eyeing Tom wearily.
"WHAT?!"
*Skarmory has obligations. When you first saw him, skarmory was the weakest in the flock. Now, he has to go back -- at least to try for the position of the leader; to protect...*
"I know *that*... But why now?"
*You know that most pokemon can hear sound beyond your range right?*
"Yes..."
*Well skarmory has just gotten a message indicating the leader has died, and it was a request for all the skarmories from the flock to gather.*
"I see... So he has to go?"
*Yes.*
***
In the pokecentre "hotel", Tom looked at Shalla, sitting beside him.
"Shalla, I don't think I can go on like this." Tom looked at Shalla, a hint of a quiver in his voice.
The barrier, rendered visible from being pelted by attacks, seemed to shudder, and shattered. The gengar however, was far from finished. It grinned menacingly, and glowed, the navy luminosity casting a sickly radiance on alakazam.
The reflect, or rather was left of it -- thousands of glass-like pieces, whizzed towards alakazam, now acting as lethal shrapnel... charged with deadly intent. Alakazam shielded himself, the yellowish hue of a psychic screen appearing for a brief moment. The deadly projectiles lanced stabbed into the feeble barrier, the first few bouncing off; while the rest penetrated, thrusting into alakazam.
The psychic pokemon screeched in anguish, his psychic voice radiating the pain as well. All the occupants in the building flinched, mentally experiencing the agony as well. Tom, having a much closer bond with alakazam than anyone else, was clutching his heads with his hands, his brows knotted in an attempt to reduce the flow.
Alakazam collapsed, drifting in and out of consciousness. *Hang on...*
Tom gazed over at shadow, expecting a fainted ghost from the silence. His wildest imagination would not have prepared him for the sight -- shadow and the alakazam locked in hand-to-hand combat, throwing all manners of elemental punches -- and variations of them at each other.
*Looks like shadow's doing all right... Wait.* Tom examined his pokemon more closely, taking in the details. *Something... Something is wrong. This doesn't really seem like the shadow I know... Ah ha!*
The maniac gleam in shadow's eyes were replaced by... Tom couldn't place the sparkle. *Shadow seems more... Intelligent somehow -- and far more steadfast.*
Shadow's movements were far more calculated than Tom remembered; not wasting a single motion when dodging or attacking. Instead of wasting precious time and energy teleporting, it swung around almost casually, avoiding alakazam's blows.
On the other hand, Tom's alakazam was suffering. The technique, recover, only replenishes lost health, leaving behind or even increasing fatigue. The gengar was gloating, savouring the moment, as it fired a final shadow ball. The violet orb blazed right into... nothing. Alakazam had finally managed to null the effects of gengar's partial mind control, managing to pull off a teleport.
*I see. Alakazam is stronger than gengar, but he only appeared weak and took so much damage because he was trying to erase the move.*
Shadow, too was turning the tables on its opponent. It countered the physical moves with reflective barriers, sending the damage right back at alakazam. Alakazam, not anticipating such a defence, sent his cobalt-charged fist into the screen, the thrust earning itself nothing but a frozen wall.
Shadow chuckled at its adversary's demise. *I have heard such a pleasant sound in... Actually I haven't heard it before, at least not from shadow...* A quick teleport, and shadow was positioned behind alakazam, pelting the psychic with shadow balls, relying on sheer quantity to make up for the relatively miserable force behind the attacks. Alakazam recoiled, slamming head first into the frozen barrier that it had created just a few seconds ago. It struggled, to get to its feet, shivering from the contact with the frost. The icy barricade collapsed onto alakazam, eliciting a groan. At this, alakazam collapsed, unable to continue.
Tom stared on. *Shadow is actually... using some semblance to strategy... That's wierd. its never shown any interest to fight smart -- always blundering into a fight, going full out.* Tom paused his chain of thoughts for a second, considering. *Oh well, a win is a win. I'll think about this later. This is neither the time nor the place... One win; another to go.*
Shadow *checked* to ensure alakazam was out, and disappeared in a flash, materialising once again beside Tom's alakazam. Rachael swore, and curses making Tobias flinch. *How typical... A pretty girl with attitude.*
Gengar cringed, facing the duo, both of whom had type advantages against it. By and large, it was not a problem; it was always one on one for gengar. Tobias called out to it, his voice ringing loud and strong. "Gengar! You can do it." Gengar looked confused for a brief moment, but drew strength from the conviction in his tone, setting himself for an unusually tough battle.
And the real challenge began.
Gengar, without "preliminaries", started chanting, growing noticeably weaker, its intonations growing fainter by the second. Alakazam's eyes widened, and glazed over in shock. He started twitching, shuddering all the while. In seconds, alakazam fainted. *Damn it! Curse. I should have thought of it... Shadow, its all up to you now.*
In the field, shadow nodded, and... stayed still.
The two ghost types faced off, both waiting for the other to make the first move.
The silence dragged on, with Tobias getting more and more jumpy by the second.
Gengar, *connected* to its trainer, too became tense, eyes darting about for any signs of a invisible attack. To add to its discomfort, shadow broke into a wide grin, and started glowing, albeit very faintly. Seconds later, shadow disappeared, teleporting to destinations unknown.
Gengar whipped its head around, but saw only its trainer. It glanced up, yet only the overhead lights greeted it. Gengar peeked forward and sideways, receiving the same sight. It was at this time that Tom started to guffaw uncontrollably, while Tobias and Rachael cursed.
Gengar turned. *What is that... thing?*
Facing the poison ghost was a *cloud*; a mass of dark vapour. Gengar focused on the mist, where light was radiating out. The luminosity bled into words, initially vague yet eventually clear enough to distinguish.
"Bye Bye."
Which was when Tom started having hysterics.
From four different directions, dark amethyst spheres materialised, blazing towards gengar. Startled -- yet coiled for action, gengar leapt upwards, psychically propelling itself to go faster, dodging the attacks with barely concealed ease. Reaching where gengar was *supposed* to be, the orbs screeched to a stop without even slowing down, and took off like a rocket, shooting upwards.
Gengar caught a glimpse of the incoming projectiles, and reacted within a nanosecond... just in time. Directing its stubby ethereal arms downwards, gengar concentrated.
Nothing happened.
Startled, gengar glanced up, only to find itself facing a humongous clump of crackling energy, hissing and spitting in fury. Mouth wide open in disbelief, the ghost nevertheless managed to throw itself to one side... right into shadow's ice punch. Gengar screamed, a shrill, piercing shriek that was a far cry from its usual merry tone.
Tom cowered at the sound, but shadow remained unaffected, allowing itself to carry on with another duo thunder punch. Gengar, in addition to getting half of its body encased in ice, and frost spreading throughout the second half, now had a cerulean blanket of electrical power surging throughout its torso, playing over the films of hoarfrost, lending gengar a ghostly light that seemed to keep with its personality, illuminating the arena for a split second.
However, even this damage was dwarfed by what came next -- the result of being flung back by the elemental punches. Gengar, still shivering from the aftermath of the previous volley was in no condition to accept the next one. In mid-flight, gengar was hit.
The orbs, now glowing with a crimson hue, merged into what seemed like a sheet of energy, burning through the air to slam into the victim. The blood-red colour soaked into gengar, effectively obscuring all sight of it.
As it faded to pink, the azure mammoth above hit... and the entire scene exploded in an ivory flash. All fought the glare, striving to overcome the dark spots scattered everywhere in their vision.
Tom's eyesight returned, just in time for what may be the most spectacular show in history -- save for the more horrible implications of the attack.
The cobalt fire fragmented and sizzled over gengar's entire body, with hundreds of lightning like tendrils. Some bled off into the surrounding region, striking the ground at odd places; yet most found their mark, torturing the pokemon with a mix of electrical and psychic energy.
Amazingly, the move, although strong, was more intensive than extensive -- bar the streaks of carbonised dirt on the field.
Gengar fell, plummeting towards the ground, now just deadweight without any form of propulsion. Metres from the ground however, a scarlet beam intercepted its fatal course. Tobias replaced his pokeball, while silence reigned for a few moments.
Tobias was looking down at his feet, contemplating, concentrating. On the other hand, Rachael was seething, trembling with clenched fists. Shalla was ecstatic, yet showing incredible self-restraint in not jumping around in joy. Tom... was thinking.
*What's up with shadow. Ever since the alakazam match, it has been acting weird. Normally it would show absolutely no interest in helping alakazam out, but this time... Also, its use of those tactics and stuff are just not like it. In fact, after the win, it has just been standing there, a quiet grin etched onto its face; patiently waiting. That definitely doesn't look like the shadow I know...*
Rachael spoke first, her voice underlined with a mix of pure astonishment and outright rage. "Let's..." She raised a pokeball, as if preparing to throw it.
"Let's give him our badges." Tobias interrupted, completing the sentence for the other gym leader.
"*WHAT?!*" The girl was, by now literally boiling, staring daggers at Tobias.
"Enough of this nonsense!" Tobias barked off a sharp retort, gauged Rachael's reaction, and continued, "A lose is a lose. If you can't handle it, I'm sure the *others* would have no problem."
The veiled threat was not lost on Rachael, who began spluttering.
"ENOUGH!" A new voice.
Tom locked on to the source, finding a man standing in the shadows. Few other details could be made out -- from this distance, and in the dark. Rachael however paled, her gorgeous face pallid in unconcealed fright.
The man strolled out of the gloom, allowing Tom his first glimpse of a frail-looking old man, with wispy white hair and his face twisted into a scowl. He was dressed in Japanese-style robes, his arms crossed in front of his chest. His voice, contrary to what was expected, came strong and loud, leaving Tom mystified as to his true age. The man nodded in Tom's direction, addressing him.
"Nice work young man. I would be honoured to battle such a worthy opponent... In particular your gengar-like pokemon here."
The old man paused, and turned back to the other gym leaders. "Shalla, I'm sure you have your reasons for leaving your gym in your students' charge. Rest assured they are very good, and the gym's reputation will not fall. Now as for you Rachael, I must say that I am disappointed. Haven't all your time spent with Tobias here taught you anything at all? Consider the two gyms in Tobias's hands for a week as you think over your mistakes. Now Tobias. Good work. You did your best, and gengar put up a good fight. Unfortunately, gengar was out of its league. Give Tom the two badges."
Tom stared at the gentleman. *There is definitely more to him than meets the eye. He can order the *gym leaders* around...*
"Excuse me sir, but who are you?"
"Oh yes. Forgive me. I have forgotten to introduce myself. I am Muromasa, the dark gym leader. You may have noticed that there is a sort of hierarchy of command among the gym leaders. The stronger and the further on you meet the leader, the more power he or she wields. Thus, the eighteenth gym leader would be the most powerful, both in terms of pokemon, and figuratively. The prize for the battle..." Muromasa indicated the arena, "...is to battle me for your next badge."
"Okay..."
Mr Muromasa chuckled at Tom's nervous response, and waited for Tobias to pass Tom the badges. Tom glanced at them. One had a rough outline of a gengar, while the other was just simply two spoons crossed together. Tom resisted the impulse to burst out laughing; simple badge designs were more practical for production.
"Well then, shall we begin our match?"
"Er yes, but before that, could I ask you a question?"
A quiet laugh. "You already did, but I'll give you another."
Tom blushed. "Alright. If I lose this round, what is the penalty for the rematch?"
"A fair question. Should you lose, you will have to defeat me at my own gym. This time, I happen to be here to visit Tobias, but I stumbled upon the three of you battling, so I decided to join in, and to save Tobias here the trouble of finding a prize."
"Okay then. I guess I'm all set."
"Good. This shall be a one on one battle; I don't have much time. We'll use this field, unless Tobias here has any... *objections*..." Muromasa raised his eyebrows in the other gym leader's direction. In response, the young man rigorously shook his head, his hair wildly flying about from the action. Tom, tempted to smile at this display, nevertheless managed to check himself, but could not refrain from clearing his throat.
The duo took their positions, and Tom examined the field.
It was the one that shadow and gengar had fought the last, stunning battle. The dirt was marked by veins of soot, interrupted only by small patches where the current had torn up the ground, leaving gaping holes in the earth.
Shadow was still in the arena, and Tom recalled him. *Besides, shadow should be at its limits, give or take. Dark types just don't do well against other dark types... I don't have a bug or fighting pokemon... In fact I don't think any of my pokemon knows any moves of those types... Well there is electabuzz... He learnt cross chop from Shalla's machamp during one of the training sessions... Oh well I'll just see how this goes.*
Muromasa grinned, and threw his pokeball. A reptilian pokemon emerged, its jade armour-like hide revealing the sheer power and indestructibility this species brandished.
In a nanosecond, Tom considered his options. *Oh my articuno... This thing takes negligible damage from physical attacks... Electabuzz is out of the question. He would never get close enough to use cross chop. Magmar and eevee would not be able to hurt it much... Alakazam and shadow are not well enough... not that they would be able to do anything... Kingdra and skarmory both have advantages, but I haven't been using skarmory much lately... so I guess I should give him a chance.*
That decided, Tom threw the pokeball. The gigantic metallic bird popped out of the tiny ball, screeching loudly. *I don't think I ever truly realised how much skarmory has grown. He is larger than me now... In my eyes, he's always been, and will always be the hatching that I received him as.*
Skarmory extended his wingspan to the full four metres, and took off, gliding around in the enclosed space. Seizing the opportunity to study his adversary, the steel type took in all the details.
Tyranitar roared, a bellow of challenge seldom answered in the wild; for this was a solitary pokemon which can change the landscape itself. Skarmory however shrieked a retort, earning a vicious glare from the land predator.
The battle commenced, with skarmory adopting a couple of agilities to gather velocity, accelerating to just below the sound barrier. Tyranitar, never one to be intimidated from being unable to see the enemy, unleashed a hyper beam -- or rather, it tried to. The fair globe formed in tyranitar's mouth, gaining in size and radiance. Skarmory, high up in the sky, opened up its wings more, breaking sharply. His nemesis tracked the bird of prey, preparing to release the pent-up energy.
For a moment, the duo's gazes met, providing an insight that Tom had never noticed before -- that skarmory and tyranitar are alike in spirit, and this was now more than just a pokemon battle... it was a match determining the rights to the territory.
Skarmory, a glint in his eyes, started glowing with a mauve hue. The lilac swirl gathered and concentrated on skarmory's chest area, pulsing in an odd rhyme. Tyranitar, just about to fire the beam, widened his eyes, and lost all control, the built-up power exploding.
Whereas a normal attack would do next to naught to such a pokemon, this one occurred within, bypassing all the armour -- in the mouth; where no protection existed.
A veil of dust rose from the force, shrouding the scene from human eyes. Skarmory, knowing well where the dark type was, dived, neatly trimming his speed to a manageable level. His wings moulded into organic metal, trembling slightly from controlling the plunge and containing the attack.
Tyranitar started thrashing, not at all helping the situation -- except to create minor tremors... to which skarmory was immune. Muromasa frowned, but a slight smile played across his lips, prompting Tom to wonder if skarmory was adopting such a good strategy.
*Nevermind. its too late to stop anyway.* Skarmory crashed into the beast, wing-first.
The potential energy from the height had been converted into kinetic energy upon falling, only to be transferred to tyranitar ensuing contact.
The titan fell to the ground, now just deadweight.
Skarmory cried out triumphantly.
***
"Er Mr Muromasa, what was the prize again?" Tom juggled the circular badge in his hand. It was dark -- as in it almost seemed to *absorb* light, creating a darkness that could almost be described as *evil*.
"Well, it is the service of helping your... *shadow* as you call it."
"What?!"
"Well it seems that shadow..." He was interrupted by a squawk.
"Skar!"
"What?"
*He has to go, Tom.* Alakazam popped out of his pokeball, eyeing Tom wearily.
"WHAT?!"
*Skarmory has obligations. When you first saw him, skarmory was the weakest in the flock. Now, he has to go back -- at least to try for the position of the leader; to protect...*
"I know *that*... But why now?"
*You know that most pokemon can hear sound beyond your range right?*
"Yes..."
*Well skarmory has just gotten a message indicating the leader has died, and it was a request for all the skarmories from the flock to gather.*
"I see... So he has to go?"
*Yes.*
***
In the pokecentre "hotel", Tom looked at Shalla, sitting beside him.
"Shalla, I don't think I can go on like this." Tom looked at Shalla, a hint of a quiver in his voice.