Phantom Rider: Chapter 7

A/N: Please review.

Disclaimer: Same thing as the first chapter.

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"This is the second leg in a long uphill battle for the Phantom Rider! She managed to beat Will with a surprise evolution at the end! Will she have as hard of a time with Koga? Or will she beat him and be one step closer to every trainers goal?"

I hate announcers they're really annoying.

I walk up to my next obstacle, Koga patiently waiting for me already.

"I knew that you were going to come back," he says, offering his hand.

Will must have told everyone who I am.

Except, of course, the traitor.

He'll find out himself soon enough.

I shake it without hesitation, bowing with respect to the ninja. "Good luck."

"You too."

Without another word, we head to our respectable platforms.

"Ready?"

"Begin!" The referee shouts when Koga and I nod.

"Go, Ariados!"

"Go Buddy!"

Buddy comes bounding out from resting at my feet, eager for battle.

"Flamethrower!"

"Toxic!"

"Dodge the poison and then use Flamethrower!" I shout, knowing full well the damage of Toxic on pokemon.

Buddy tries to dart out of the way of the debilitating attack, yelping as it hits him right on target.

Wonderful.

Buddy barely manages to pull off a Flamethrower, the poison already taking its toll on him.

"You can do it, Buddy, just do your best!" I say encouragingly, afraid to look at the board on how many hit points he has lost.

"Flamethrower!"

"Protect!"

I hold my breath as Ariados tries to put up a barrier, knowing that if he succeeds, Buddy will faint.

It fails.

Buddy valiantly gathers the flames for the Flamethrower, and succeeds on fainting Ariados just before he collapses from the poison.

"Buddy, return! I'm very proud of you!" I say recalling Buddy with a Max Revive in hand for him.

"Go, Muk!"

"Go Rocky!"

My Golem appears in a flash of light, letting out a bellow in eagerness.

"Earthquake!"

"Dynamic Punch!"

Rocky hits first, using the Quick Claw attached to him to send Muk reeling with his devastating attack.

Muk doesn't have a chance to attack before it's knocked out.

Koga returns Muk without a word, replacing it with Venomoth.

"Rocky, come back, good job! Go Fireball!" I shout, sending out my Flareon.

"Sludge Bomb!"

"Fire Blast!"

Fireball attacks first, sending the stick figure flames shooting towards the Bug/Poison pokemon, nearly knocking it out.

Then, Venomoth strikes.

The attack sends Fireball reeling, and I hold my breath, wondering if she can make it through.

She lets out an eager: "Flar!" A minute later, showing that she's okay.

I smile; she's a tough one.

"Good, knock it out with Swift!"

"Show it your Psychic!"

Stars immediately shoot from behind Fireball, giving the Venomoth a brief glimpse of the attack before it faints.

"You have a strong connection with your pokemon." Koga comments as we both recall our pokemon.

"Thank you, you have the same with yours." I say, smiling at the comment.

"Go Crobat!"

"Go Jolter!"

My Jolteon is next, coming out with a battle cry.

"Quickly, use Rain Dance and then Thunder!"

"Try to stop the second attack with Sunny Day!"

Clouds gather from out of nowhere, and it starts to rain within seconds after the attack is ordered.

I can see Crobat already trying to clear the skies up with Sunny Day.

That is, before Jolter strikes with Thunder.

A large bolt of electricity comes down, frying the Crobat in an instant, just as the skies clear up.

Koga recalls the fainted Crobat with a scowl on his face: "that was clever on using two attacks at the same time."

I shrug as I recall Jolter "all in a days work."

"Well, you won't be able to beat my last one so easily! Go Forretress!"

"Go Sue!"

My Arcanine appears with a roar, eagerly eying the competition.

"Rollout!"

"I won't fall for the same trick twice, Koga! Extreme Speed to dodge, and then Flame Wheel!" I shout, remembering the battle with Will.

Sue dodges the attack with ease, retaliating with her Flame Wheel, almost knocking Forretress out.

"Double Edge!"

"Another one!" I shout, knowing that Sue knew exactly what I meant.

The flames wrap around Sue as she does another Flame Wheel, completely knocking out Koga's last pokemon and bringing me one step closer to my goal.

I blink out of my fighting trance, smiling at the roar of the crowd as I recall Sue with praise. Buddy, fully recovered from the poison trotting happily next to me as I walk up to Koga.

"Good battle," I say, offering my hand.

"Good battle, your bond with your pokemon will bring you very far." He says, shaking my offered hand and leaving without another word.

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"That was quite a battle." Tracy comments as I settle down for the night.

"I was lucky," I frown, stirring the embers of the fire. "But Koga is one of the hardest members of the Elite Four, because of his use of poison attacks."

"Are you ready for tomorrow?" Tracy asks.

"As much as I can be." I reply, before rolling over and going to sleep.

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I trudge through the corridor, preparing for the battle ahead.

The roar of the crowd once again greets me, and I wave to them before tuning them out while waiting for my opponent.

Bruno comes strolling out, already smiling as he approaches me. "Good to have you back," he comments, offering his hand.

I smile through the black mask. "It's good to be back, and good luck."

"Same to you."

We walk to our platforms, and I let out a nervous breath as the ref comes.

This is getting harder and harder. I'm going to be a nervous wreck when I finally get to the traitor.

"Ready?" Both of us nod simultaneously.

"BEGIN!"

"Go Hitmontop!"

"Go Mystic!"

My Xatu appears with an eerie birdcall, sounding just like her nickname.

"Psychic!"

"Thief!" Bruno shouts, using the TM move to his advantage.

"Change it to Fly!" I shout, using the only tactic that could work in the situation.

Xatu obeys, dodging the Dark attack with her training in improvising in battles.

Bruno raises his eyebrows in surprise at the sudden change of plans. "Clever," he admits.

"Thanks."

"Wait until he's down, and then use Thief!" Koga shouts to Hitmontop.

"Strike him hard and fast!"

She obeys, dodging the Hitmontops attack with ease.

"Finish it, Psychic!"

"Try Dig to evade!"

Xatu's eyes glow, striking the Hitmontop just before it finishes the first half of its attack.

It goes down without a whimper.

"Hitmontop, return! Go Onix!"

"Xatu, return! Great job! Go Ariel!"

Azumarill is out next with her watery cry.

"Earthquake!"

"Bubblebeam!"

A stream of bubbles immediately comes shooting out of Ariel, nailing the Onix between the eyes and nearly fainting him.

Then, Onix strikes.

The stadium rumbles as Ariel staggers from the devastating attack, barely keeping on her feet.

"You okay?" I ask concerned.

"Azumarill!" She says enthusiastically, shooting a jet off water to show off.

I smile at her antics and shout: "okay, another one!"

Before Bruno can respond, the water blasts Onix, having him land at the head of Bruno's platform, not moving.

He wordlessly recalls Onix, as I do the same for Ariel.

"Go, Hitmonchan!"

"Go Trancer!" I shout, letting out my Alakazam.

"Psychic!"

"Thunderpunch!"

Trancer's eyes glow, sending a wave of psychic energy towards the Hitmonchan, fainting him while he's still gathering electricity.

Bruno scowls, seeing that I now have the upper hand with my psychic pokemon. "I'm not going down without a fight! Go Machamp!"

"Lets show him what we got, Trancer!" I shout, keeping him out.

"Thief!"

"Another Psychic!"

Machamp strikes first, and in that one blow, my upper hand is lost as Trancer faints from the Dark attack.

Or so Bruno thinks.

Bruno smirks as I recall Trancer, "lost your upper hand, huh Phantom Rider?" He mocks me as I reach for a Great Ball.

"Yes, I guess I have to send out: Sunshine!" I shout, throwing the ball into the arena.

Bruno's smirk fades at the sight of my Espeon.

"Quickly now, use Psychic!" I shout to Sunshine.

"Scary Face!"

Espeon attacks first, closing her eyes to avoid the attack and sending Machamp reeling back to Bruno.

With a grim look on his face, he sends out his last pokemon:

Hitmonlee.

I smile, might as well allow my last pokemon to stretch her legs and get some experience. "Sunshine, return! Go Nicky!"

My Pidgeot appears with her battle cry, eager to battle.

"Wing Attack!"

Nicky swoops into the Hitmonlee, giving him no chance to react as her wings batter him into unconsciousness.

"Good battle." I say offering my hand after returning Nicky.

"You are in danger with the traitor's last pokemon." Bruno warns me, and then walks out without shaking my hand.

I frown, wondering what he meant about that.

And if I am more in danger than I thought.

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"I have a few questions to ask you." Tracy confronts me as I walk into the campsite, Buddy at my heels.

"Shoot," I say with a tired yawn as the Growlithe nudges my arm.

"Why can you carry more than six pokemon?"

I sigh, raising my arm so Buddy can get his head on my chest. "When I first became a trainer, the Elite Four decided to try to have some trainers carry more than six pokemon so they wouldn't constantly be switching between six. I was one of them. The reason why I'm the only one who can is that the other trainers broke the rule on using six pokemon in a battle. That's why I carry all of my pokemon, but only use six per battle. What else?"

"Where are the Kanto Gym Leaders in all this?"

I frown, running my hand through my brown hair, "that's kind of complicated to explain. Some gym leaders like Sabrina and Giovanni are given complete free rein. Sabrina helps the traitor kill trainers with potential. In exchange, she is allowed to do anything that she likes to Saffron, including having Team Rocket take over the Silph Company in exchange for the best prototypes, including information on how to capture Mew and a Master Ball to do so."

"Mew's just a myth, right?" Tracy asks.

I shrug, "I don't know, but if it's alive, Sabrina would do anything to get her hands on it. The saying of 'never anger a psychic' is a good reason as any to keep her pleased. Giovanni is a puppet to the traitor, so that's the reason to keep him happy. The others like Brock and Misty, who traveled with Ash when he was on his journey keep quiet out of fear, the deaths of all the trainers, keep them from protesting. Especially with Brock and Misty thinking that Ash is dead or missing, and I'm not going to tell them the truth until all of this is over. The Johto leaders are the only ones who try to oppose the Elite Four."

"Why can't Sabrina just Teleport in, kill you, and then Teleport out?"

"Two things: Buddy and my Dark pokemon. Buddy will willingly attack anything that he sees as a threat to me. The reason why he didn't attack you was because he sensed the good in you. My Dark pokemon block any psychic moves, they're immune to psychics, and keeping them close by keeps the psychics away." I gesture to my Dark-types, which are circling the camp.

"One more question: how can your pokemon change attacks in battle?"

"You mean how Mystic was going to do Psychic and changed it to Fly?" I ask, and at Tracy's nod, I continue: "Two reasons, my pokemon trust me and know me well enough to change attacks if I ask them to. Another is the reason that they're always battling on their own, because they learn to improvise and change tactics if the situation calls for it. It also allows them to think independently, so they can think their own strategies. Something the Elite Four doesn't support."

"Wow," Tracy comments at the end.

I yawn, "and now, it's time for me to get some rest for the battle tomorrow."

Tracy nods wordlessly as I make myself comfortable.

I yawn and stretch, trying to get comfortable. Already planning on the battle tomorrow.

TBC...

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A/N: The traitor revealed in the next chapter. Please review.