CHAPTER 6-THE TRIALS, PART III
At last the shrill cry of the final bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Joseph Maros obligingly left the bench on which he had been sitting on all lunch, and slowly headed towards arena three, where he was to battle Mr. Cuma. As he was walking down the big brick path, there was a motley bunch of students around him. Some were chatting between themselves quietly. Others ran down the path carrying loads of books, obviously late for their next class. Some even recognised Joseph, and greeted him, or waved and called out his name. Joseph, however, registered none of these in his brain. He was busy trying to recall and recite all the information he had gotten about Mr. Cuma in his extensive research. "Okay, Mr. Cuma," he thought, "a Pokemon History teacher. All of his pokemon are smart and knowledgeable. Has Starmie, Kadabra and Meditite. All are at least partly psychic," he recited.
Suddenly, there came a high pitched sound of a whistle from just up ahead which startled Joseph. This made him look up in surprise, and pause from his endless recitals, to see another surprise. There, perhaps three metres in front of him was arena three. Joseph blinked several times before he could get his body to do anything else. Obviously, Joseph had been very engrossed in his thoughts, but he had absolutely no recollection of walking this far. From the opposite end of the arena, Mr. Cuma laughed. Not the scornful laugh that Mark would have given him either, but a clear and loud, happy laugh. "Well Joseph Maros, when you've finished thinking, get ready, because it's time to battle!" he said, still quite amused. "Are you ready?" he asked Joseph, now becoming much more serious, all the while looking every which way, looking for the referee. Joseph nodded in answer, and also looked around for the referee. When the referee finally did show up, huffing and puffing, he nodded towards him, to show that they were both ready.
Suddenly remembering something, Joseph strained his eyes, looking every which way, seeing if he could spot Mark, but to no avail. Mark was nowhere in sight, or at least it seemed so from Joseph's point of view. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Joseph, Mark had again taken a seat on the rooftop of the nearby pokemon science building. The building was a dirty looking blackish- grey colour, so it hid Mark quite well. There, he watched and waited.
"Well, sorry everyone!" he said cheerfully, if somewhat tired. "This is a three on three pokemon battle with no time limit between Joseph Maros and Mr. Cuma!" he announced. Although everyone present knew this already, it was generally regarded as proper, even dogma in a sense by some people, to declare these things, to help settle any disputes. "Begin!" he cried. And so Joseph's final battle with Mr. Cuma began.
"Go, Starmie!" cried Mr. Cuma, throwing a pokeball. From his pokeball came a bright flash of light, and from the centre of that light, Starmie formed, standing on its two 'legs'. Starmie looked like two starfish stuck together, one on top of the other. Both sides of its body could spin around rapidly in different directions, making for a formidable attack. Its body was made up of ten purple arms (or legs, depending on which way was facing up). But by far the most prominent feature of Starmie was a beautiful, gleaming rainbow-coloured gem, which was worth a small fortune on the black market, everyone knew. Unfortunately, the number of poachers looking for Staryu and Starmie's gems had increased, leading to a decline in numbers. It made Joseph sad to see Staryu and Starmie being hunted by greedy money- grubbers.
Pulling his mind back to the battle, Joseph also threw his pokeball. "Go Chinchou!: yelled Joseph. The pokeball opened to reveal his excited Chinchou, who seemed to have a plethora of energy. Indeed, it was bouncing around happily, looking as though it didn't have a care in the world. Chinchou had a small blue body and four tiny fins, two on the sides and two on the back, as well as two relatively large yellow eyes and a small, cute black nose. Also, it had two black, thin drooping antennae, at the ends of which were two bulbous yellow balls, which contained Chinchou's electricity cells that generated the electricity. These were known to produce extraordinarily powerful electrical currents, especially considering their size.
Mr. Cuma's voice suddenly cracked through the air like a whip, startling both Joseph and Chinchou. Indeed, Chinchou stopped bouncing around and tensed, ready for battle. "Let's get this started!" he said, "Rapid Spin attack Starmie!" he ordered. Starmie jumped into the air at once and started spinning both sides of its body the same way, so quickly in fact that it simply became a circular purple blur. Then, it charged at Chinchou.
"Chinchou, tackle it now!" he called. Chinchou resumed bouncing once again, and when it was ready, made a huge leap, hurtling at high speed to the quickly approaching Starmie. And then, they hit each other. The impact when these two pokemon collided was enormous, even more so if one considered their size, Starmie's Rapid Spin, pitted against Chinchou's tackle attack. There both pokemon hung, in the air above the middle of the arena, while the whole crowd looked on, stunned, unknowingly holding their collective breaths. The seconds passed, and still the two pokemon persisted, neither one budging an inch, both pushing, struggling. The power generated by these two was shown clearly when sparks actually began to fly from the impact. At last, with a cry in unison, both pokemon, whether by accident or on purpose, disengaged at the same time and each flew into opposite corners of the area.
Both pokemon looked stunned and fairly damaged, but both Starmie and Chinchou got back up again, though with obvious effort. Chinchou had a bruise just below its left eye, while on of Starmie's legs was slightly bent. Yet despite their injuries, neither pokemon was willing to back down, so great was the clash of the two wills. Finally, Mr. Cuma made a move. "Here's a shocker for you, Joseph!" he laughed, "Starmie, thunderbolt attack!" he yelled. Starmie glowed yellow, as sparks began to fly from its core. Bigger and bigger the sparks flew, until sparks encompassed Starmie's small body. Then, leaping into the air, with its core all the while glowing like mad, it proudly displayed its core, before letting loose with a powerful lightening bolt, which, with its jagged edge, rocketed towards Chinchou.
Only now did Joseph make his move. Yet his response was not what Mr. Cuma had expected, and he was confused for a moment, before his head cleared and realised the magnitude of his error. "Now, Chinchou, whatever you do, MAKE SURE IT HITS YOU!" Joseph yelled at the top of his voice, for the release of the thunderbolt attack had made a gargantuan noise, louder than any Joseph had heard for a long time, and one was not easily heard. Yet Chinchou heard, and nodded. It stayed right where it was, and waited. For Chinchou, it was a little scary. Although it knew that the attack would not harm him at all because of its ability, it could not help but tremble slightly at the oncoming onslaught. Yet it had been with Joseph for many years, and had learned to trust him, and so Chinchou stood firm, if only because of its faith in Joseph. Making up its mind, Chinchou stayed put, and waited. The impact was not what Chinchou had expected, but rather, Chinchou felt a slight tingling sensation that was like someone tickling it. Chinchou could not help but release a giggle at the pleasure it was experiencing. The crowd, meanwhile, gasped as one, for Chinchou was completely surrounded by a bright yellow luminous light, as if it had come from heaven itself. Slowly, Chinchou's wounds from its battle started to disappear. Chinchou's formerly drooping eyelids opened suddenly with new energy, and it smiled and started bouncing around happily again, fully healed. Joseph too jumped with joy, as he smiled and laughed, while Chinchou showed off its newfound strength by attempting to perform some aerial acrobatics, like somersaulting, and so on, trying to impress Joseph. This of course, looked rather funny, but did not mean that this attempt was more successful than previous attempts. However, it definitely could not be faulted for trying. Then, it came up to Joseph and nuzzled him affectionately with its nose.
Mr. Cuma meanwhile, obviously did not share Chinchou and Joseph's excitement, and his facial expressions showed it. One could not help but think it was like a slow motion movie, showing a wide range of facial expressions, most of them negative, from bewilderment, to anger, to disgust. One girl could be heard telling one of her friends that he would make a great actor. That idea wasn't exactly wholly embraced by Mr. Cuma though, who looked sharply at the girls, who, that day, were infused with newfound politeness when addressing Mr. Cuma.
"Now, Chinchou, finish it off! Show them what a real thunderbolt is like!" he ordered. It was quite impressive how quickly Chinchou shifted from play mode to battle mode. It stopped jumping all of a sudden, and crouched down (well, as much as a Chinchou can crouch anyway). One moment it was there, the next it was here, ready to attack or defend. Again, the attacking pokemon started to glow a bright yellow, with the light concentrated primarily on its electricity cells this time, rather than the core. It too jumped, mimicking Starmie's action, though whether on purpose or just by chance, no-one knew, although the sparks this time only covered Chinchou's head (not that it really mattered). Finally, with a distinctive cry, the piercing bolt of lightening was again released, this time from Chinchou, and heading straight for Starmie. Starmie was knocked backwards and landed outside the ring, and this time, it stayed down. Mr. Cuma looked down at his feet while he was returning Starmie to its pokeball, as if he had lost confidence in himself.
Perhaps remembering that he was a teacher at the PTS, and a well respected one at that for his extensive knowledge, he brightened up all of a sudden and smiled. "Well," he said politely, "I have to give you credit for that," he said.
Joseph laughed, and said "well, it wouldn't have been much without you!" At this, Mr. Cuma nodded slowly.
"I let my mind slip from the peak performance stage," he admitted. "Joseph, when you become a Pokemon Trainer, make sure you don't ever lose your cool. That tension got on top of me, I guess," he admitted. Far from being hard to say as he had thought, Mr. Cuma felt relieved more than anything. Sure, he had made an error, but he was human. And so, it was like being reborn, with energy, and, for the first time in maybe twenty, thirty years, with youth. Particularly excited once again by the prospects of a Pokemon battle, he threw his next pokeball with vibrant energy. "Go, Meditite!" he yelled.
A small being burst forth from the pokeball, calmly sitting cross-legged on the ground. It had a large white bulb which looked rather like an onion where a human's head would be, two large, circular black eyes and large red lips as well. The rest of its body was a shade of fairly light blue, save for its feet, which were the same whitish-colour as its head. Also prominent were its weird looking ears, which were round, but looked like they were stuck on to the side of its head with PVA glue.
Joseph decided not to wait around. "Chinchou, water gun attack!" he yelled. Chinchou mouth suddenly looked as though it had gotten bigger. It expanded, and expanded, and expanded, until the mouth alone was almost as large as the rest of its body, being filled with water. The, just as kids run around squirting water at each other on a hot day, Chinchou too fired the accumulated water, though with much more power than a water gun, like a rocket directed towards the Meditite, who was not moving.
Joseph did wondered why Mr. Cuma had not given a command, but he pushed that though away, focusing on the battle. Then, just as the water was just about to hit Meditite, a red ball appeared out of nowhere to surround Meditite. The water gun smashed into the red ball, but to no effect. The mysterious red ball stayed completely intact, and so did Meditite. Indeed, Meditite had not moved an inch since the battle started.
"What the?!" breathed Joseph as the audience cheered both competitors on. "What was that?" he asked himself.
"Ha!" laughed Mr. Cuma. "That, I keep to myself," he said, wisely not giving anything away. "Good job Meditite!" he called encouragingly to his pokemon. Meditite did not answer or respond in any way, but Mr. Cuma knew that it had gotten his message.
"Now, how could Meditite have done that?" thought Joseph. "Meditite only has Meditate, Brick Break and Focus Energy. There was nothing about Light Screen or barrier," he continued. "Meditate, Brick Break, Focus Energy. I don't think my research was incorrect or incomplete, but then again... Wait a minute! I wonder.," he said thoughtfully. Then raising his voice, he said "Chinchou! Go, tackle it now!" Chinchou went to the far corner of the dirty looking arena, turned around, and started bouncing towards Meditite, gaining speed at an amazing rate with each bounce. On and on it charged and still Meditite did not move. Closer, closer. Then, finally Chinchou was upon Meditite. Yet still Meditite did not move. Instead, the red energy barrier finally rose up from the ground just as Chinchou was about a metre (40 inches) away from it. With a boom, Chinchou slammed into the energy barrier hard, and was obviously stunned. The Meditite was not completely unscathed this time either. For whatever reason, Meditite was pushed back about two metres, and also looked slightly dizzy. Meditite's shield flickered, before it disappeared into thin air again.
"Now, Meditite, Brick Break!" called Mr. Cuma suddenly. Meditite slowly got up, its first movement for the battle. There it stood, ready to attack. Raising its hand in preparation for the blow, Meditite ran quickly towards Chinchou. Yet something was wrong, Joseph immediately realised. Meditite was too quick, too balanced for a normal Brick Break attack, and Chinchou knew it too. Left, right, left it dodged, but Meditite was simply too quick and too powerful. Eventually, as Chinchou got tired, its movements became more and more sluggish. Finally, it stopped, breathing hard. That was when Meditite hit. Approaching from behind, this pokemon delivered a powerful neck blow to Chinchou, sending it sprawling to the other edge of the arena.
The power from the blow was shocking. "Impossible!" exclaimed Joseph. "There's no way that Meditite could generate so much power on its own," he breathed, stunned, as Chinchou slowly and painfully struggled to get itself back into the fight.
"That's where you're wrong, obviously," replied Mr. Cuma, smiling. "Now, think. Meditite has been doing absolutely nothing, right?" he asked Joseph, smiling.
That's when it suddenly hit Joseph, and hard. "No, of course not," Joseph responded quietly, only now realizing the truth. "Focus Energy, Meditate," he stated. "They are Meditite's other moves. That was why Meditite was so strong and able to move so quickly. And.. And.. The barrier, Medicham is part psychic, so.." he gasped, leaving the crowd confused and Mr. Cuma to finish off the sentence.
"So using the power of Focus Energy and its power of meditation, Meditite could heighten its inner power far enough to draw on a limited amount of potential psychic energy," he completed.
"Oh man!" complained Joseph, "of course, you don't have to give orders to your pokemon. Now, that attack just took off most of Chinchou's health! Unless we could." he said thoughtfully. Suddenly, he lifted his head, and shouted with renewed vigour "Chinchou, do exactly what I tell you, exactly when I tell you to! Now, draw a cross in the dirt beneath you!" he commanded. Chinchou looked a bit confused, as did Mr. Cuma who was thinking rapidly, cycling through the possibilities of what this meant. The crowd was confused too, looking around at each other and murmuring amongst themselves. After Chinchou had followed his orders, Joseph then proceeded with the next phase of his plan. "Now, charge up a Water Gun attack!" he ordered. Chinchou, who was still confused, instantly became happier, since Joseph was, to it, saying something rational. It had just taken a beating, and was low on energy, so it decidedly wanted to do something useful. So, it once again started filling its mouth with water. Joseph waited as Chinchou's mouth once again swelled up to an enormous size. Then, he waited, until he judged was the last possible moment, before yelling "Chinchou! Look at the cross you just made!" Chinchou, now even more confused, nevertheless followed Joseph's instructions, and looked down. Just at the right time, Chinchou could not hold the water in its mouth for much longer, and had to release it. Chinchou went flying into the air. The height at which Chinchou reached was testament to the power of the water gun attack.
Meanwhile, Meditite once again raised its shield against the water gun attack. The energy ball was raised, suddenly flickered, and disappeared, all in a matter of two seconds. "Now is the time, Chinchou, Thunderbolt attack!" he yelled, as Joseph's strategy was still being thought upon by Mr. Cuma. But it was too late to do anything. Still airborne, Chinchou prepared itself for the attack. Just when it reached the apex of its 'leap', it released its electric energy that it had been charging straight towards Meditite. This time, the strike struck home, and Meditite was hit by the full power of the attack. Meditite simply stood there, surrounded by the powerful electrical yellow light, under the continuing onslaught by Chinchou, though it itself had long hit the ground. Suddenly, the zapping ceased, the smoke cleared, and Meditite fell. Everyone could see that it was a mess. There were scorch marks on its whole body, as well as a blacked hand and head.
"Well, what on earth happened to the shield?" breathed a startled Mr. Cuma, whilst returning Meditite to its pokeball. "Why did it fail?" he asked, not quite believing what had just happened.
"My tackle attack weaken the shield greatly, and also partly damaged Meditite," Joseph explained. "Then, I had Chinchou draw a cross and then use water gun to fool Meditite into thinking that I was going to attack it, and set up the shield. Meditite no longer had the ability to maintain the shield, especially since the shield was the result of extraordinary psychic connection in the first place. So, the shield disappeared, and Meditite went boom. Simple really," he declared to Mr. Cuma, who nodded, impressed.
"I see we've taught you well, Joseph," he said, nodding. "Your knowledge of pokemon from everywhere is astounding. And your tactics are well thought of," he commented slowly. "When you beat me, you will become a fine trainer," he said to Joseph, who was surprised.
"But Sir, you shouldn't be saying that!" he cried anxiously. "The battle is far from over. There are many instances of battles where a trainer has won a one on three match!" he argued.
"No," he declared firmly. "It is obvious to me that I will not beat you here today, so I wish you well on your journey. But of course we still have to finish the battle. So, go Kadabra!" he commanded. Kadabra was rather hard to describe, being really weird, but what could be described was its face. It had a face quite like that of a Grumpig, with the same snout, and a red marking of some sort on its forehead. This had always troubled scientists. Some believe that there is no point to it. Others believe it varies from tribe to tribe of Abras and Kadabras. Still others believed that it was a sign and measure of their psychic power. Most of its body was thin and wiry too, although it looked quite large, its arms and legs were all amazingly small. It also had a spoon in one hand, on which it concentrated its potent psychic powers.
"I withdraw Chinchou!" announced Joseph, returning Chinchou to a pokeball. "I can see that it would only get beat up and wouldn't do any real damage," he confessed. "Let's go, Spoink!" he cried. Once again the minute form of Spoink appeared, bouncing and bouncing, which of course supports its heart. It looked very excited now, rather than nervous like its first match, and eager to get into the fray.
"Now, give it a Psywave attack!" yelled Mr. Cuma. Psywave, everyone knew, was a dangerous option, for it's strength was dependant on the air around it, which always distorted Psywave, as the waves themselves were very 'fragile' in a sense. "If it works, great, if it doesn't, oh well. At least it'll stun it for a while," he muttered to himself. Kadabra closed its eyes and focused its great mind to the task of sending out the waves. The waves, unlike most psychic attacks, were visible, and obviously distorted the air. One could see the waves influencing the air, ad vice versa. Although visible, no-one would know the power of the blast until it hit.
And hit it did. There was no noise, as one might have expected. Spoink was simply blown back, sent all the way back to the edge of the arena. Both trainers were eager either to not let the other get the advantage or keep the advantage. At the same time, they yelled "Psychic attack, now!" Spoink bounced back into play, and Kadabra flipped back a little. Both closed their eyes, focusing their power, into one mighty blast. Opening their eyes, they both attacked, again in unison. The magnitude of these two pokemon together was so great, that people from a few metres away could feel the effects. They became drowsy fairly quickly, so there was no telling what Spoink and Kadabra were feeling, for both were attacking, but at the same time trying to hold out for as long as possible. Spoink going for the win and Kadabra fighting to keep its master's hopes alive, although Mr. Cuma was still sure that Joseph would win. Finally, when both pokemon could not stand up any longer, both withdrew their attack, and were simultaneously pushed back a few metres. Now, finally, the two did something different. Kadabra slowly and painfully started walking back towards Spoink. Spoink instead bounced towards Kadabra quickly in short hops, landing on its head, knocking it to the ground, forming a puff of dust as it hit the ground. Spoink then landed perfectly behind Kadabra. Then, it suddenly started swaying for whatever reason, and then toppled to the ground, overcome by the psychic power of Kadabra. "Return!" shout Joseph quickly, for he knew that without bouncing or being in a pokeball, it would soon die. "See?" he asked Mr. Cuma. "You do have a chance in this," he declared.
"No," said Mr. Cuma quietly. "Look at Kadabra, Joseph, don't analyse, just really look at it," he told him, and as Joseph did so, he began to realise what he had meant. Kadabra was breathing hard, with bruises almost everywhere. "It won't last this round, Joseph. Now, finish it," he said softly. This, he realised, was condemning Kadabra really and giving up, but he knew all too well that Kadabra was doomed to lose either way, as much as it hurt him to admit it, even if had been privately admitted to himself.
"Alright, if you say so!" said Joseph warily, afraid that this was a trick. "Go, Eevee, tackle attack, now!" he yelled. Eevee, at full power and eager to stretch its muscles, smiled at Joseph affectionately, before nodding, and turning to face Kadabra. Kadabra did not prepare to block, for it could read the mind of its master, and knew his will. So it stayed, stood tall and bravely waited for the blow to come. And come the blow did, striking Kadabra hard on its belly. Kadabra fell, slowly. This was the single most painful moment in his life. Kadabra fell so slowly in the eyes of Mr. Cuma.
"Oh, Kadabra!" he cried, running to his best pokemon. "I'm sorry, my friend. I did what I knew was the inevitable," he said, crying softly. "I think we both knew that we would lose today in this battle, didn't we, pal?" he asked slowly. Being extremely weak, Kadabra could only growl affectionately, forgiving him without hesitation, for it of course trusted his trainer, as Mr. Cuma single-handedly picked up Kadabra, and walked away slowly, alone, towards the pokemon centre in New Bark Town.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the arena, Joseph too felt tears stinging in his eyes too, though he couldn't put his finger on exactly why. It just felt sad, and wrong to him, that a trainer should give up like that. He sighed, completely forgetting about his win, and of course his graduation, and walked back to his lockers sadly.
"ARRRGGGHH!" yelled Mark angrily from the rooftop. "What are they doing, playing tiddlywinks?" he roared. "Giving up, inevitable, those weak fools!" he shouted. I'll show them, in my match just wait and see..." he snickered, already planning his display, as he too walked back to his locker room. "Hey, maybe I could.." He said, chuckling rather evilly actually as he headed down the staircase.
At last the shrill cry of the final bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Joseph Maros obligingly left the bench on which he had been sitting on all lunch, and slowly headed towards arena three, where he was to battle Mr. Cuma. As he was walking down the big brick path, there was a motley bunch of students around him. Some were chatting between themselves quietly. Others ran down the path carrying loads of books, obviously late for their next class. Some even recognised Joseph, and greeted him, or waved and called out his name. Joseph, however, registered none of these in his brain. He was busy trying to recall and recite all the information he had gotten about Mr. Cuma in his extensive research. "Okay, Mr. Cuma," he thought, "a Pokemon History teacher. All of his pokemon are smart and knowledgeable. Has Starmie, Kadabra and Meditite. All are at least partly psychic," he recited.
Suddenly, there came a high pitched sound of a whistle from just up ahead which startled Joseph. This made him look up in surprise, and pause from his endless recitals, to see another surprise. There, perhaps three metres in front of him was arena three. Joseph blinked several times before he could get his body to do anything else. Obviously, Joseph had been very engrossed in his thoughts, but he had absolutely no recollection of walking this far. From the opposite end of the arena, Mr. Cuma laughed. Not the scornful laugh that Mark would have given him either, but a clear and loud, happy laugh. "Well Joseph Maros, when you've finished thinking, get ready, because it's time to battle!" he said, still quite amused. "Are you ready?" he asked Joseph, now becoming much more serious, all the while looking every which way, looking for the referee. Joseph nodded in answer, and also looked around for the referee. When the referee finally did show up, huffing and puffing, he nodded towards him, to show that they were both ready.
Suddenly remembering something, Joseph strained his eyes, looking every which way, seeing if he could spot Mark, but to no avail. Mark was nowhere in sight, or at least it seemed so from Joseph's point of view. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Joseph, Mark had again taken a seat on the rooftop of the nearby pokemon science building. The building was a dirty looking blackish- grey colour, so it hid Mark quite well. There, he watched and waited.
"Well, sorry everyone!" he said cheerfully, if somewhat tired. "This is a three on three pokemon battle with no time limit between Joseph Maros and Mr. Cuma!" he announced. Although everyone present knew this already, it was generally regarded as proper, even dogma in a sense by some people, to declare these things, to help settle any disputes. "Begin!" he cried. And so Joseph's final battle with Mr. Cuma began.
"Go, Starmie!" cried Mr. Cuma, throwing a pokeball. From his pokeball came a bright flash of light, and from the centre of that light, Starmie formed, standing on its two 'legs'. Starmie looked like two starfish stuck together, one on top of the other. Both sides of its body could spin around rapidly in different directions, making for a formidable attack. Its body was made up of ten purple arms (or legs, depending on which way was facing up). But by far the most prominent feature of Starmie was a beautiful, gleaming rainbow-coloured gem, which was worth a small fortune on the black market, everyone knew. Unfortunately, the number of poachers looking for Staryu and Starmie's gems had increased, leading to a decline in numbers. It made Joseph sad to see Staryu and Starmie being hunted by greedy money- grubbers.
Pulling his mind back to the battle, Joseph also threw his pokeball. "Go Chinchou!: yelled Joseph. The pokeball opened to reveal his excited Chinchou, who seemed to have a plethora of energy. Indeed, it was bouncing around happily, looking as though it didn't have a care in the world. Chinchou had a small blue body and four tiny fins, two on the sides and two on the back, as well as two relatively large yellow eyes and a small, cute black nose. Also, it had two black, thin drooping antennae, at the ends of which were two bulbous yellow balls, which contained Chinchou's electricity cells that generated the electricity. These were known to produce extraordinarily powerful electrical currents, especially considering their size.
Mr. Cuma's voice suddenly cracked through the air like a whip, startling both Joseph and Chinchou. Indeed, Chinchou stopped bouncing around and tensed, ready for battle. "Let's get this started!" he said, "Rapid Spin attack Starmie!" he ordered. Starmie jumped into the air at once and started spinning both sides of its body the same way, so quickly in fact that it simply became a circular purple blur. Then, it charged at Chinchou.
"Chinchou, tackle it now!" he called. Chinchou resumed bouncing once again, and when it was ready, made a huge leap, hurtling at high speed to the quickly approaching Starmie. And then, they hit each other. The impact when these two pokemon collided was enormous, even more so if one considered their size, Starmie's Rapid Spin, pitted against Chinchou's tackle attack. There both pokemon hung, in the air above the middle of the arena, while the whole crowd looked on, stunned, unknowingly holding their collective breaths. The seconds passed, and still the two pokemon persisted, neither one budging an inch, both pushing, struggling. The power generated by these two was shown clearly when sparks actually began to fly from the impact. At last, with a cry in unison, both pokemon, whether by accident or on purpose, disengaged at the same time and each flew into opposite corners of the area.
Both pokemon looked stunned and fairly damaged, but both Starmie and Chinchou got back up again, though with obvious effort. Chinchou had a bruise just below its left eye, while on of Starmie's legs was slightly bent. Yet despite their injuries, neither pokemon was willing to back down, so great was the clash of the two wills. Finally, Mr. Cuma made a move. "Here's a shocker for you, Joseph!" he laughed, "Starmie, thunderbolt attack!" he yelled. Starmie glowed yellow, as sparks began to fly from its core. Bigger and bigger the sparks flew, until sparks encompassed Starmie's small body. Then, leaping into the air, with its core all the while glowing like mad, it proudly displayed its core, before letting loose with a powerful lightening bolt, which, with its jagged edge, rocketed towards Chinchou.
Only now did Joseph make his move. Yet his response was not what Mr. Cuma had expected, and he was confused for a moment, before his head cleared and realised the magnitude of his error. "Now, Chinchou, whatever you do, MAKE SURE IT HITS YOU!" Joseph yelled at the top of his voice, for the release of the thunderbolt attack had made a gargantuan noise, louder than any Joseph had heard for a long time, and one was not easily heard. Yet Chinchou heard, and nodded. It stayed right where it was, and waited. For Chinchou, it was a little scary. Although it knew that the attack would not harm him at all because of its ability, it could not help but tremble slightly at the oncoming onslaught. Yet it had been with Joseph for many years, and had learned to trust him, and so Chinchou stood firm, if only because of its faith in Joseph. Making up its mind, Chinchou stayed put, and waited. The impact was not what Chinchou had expected, but rather, Chinchou felt a slight tingling sensation that was like someone tickling it. Chinchou could not help but release a giggle at the pleasure it was experiencing. The crowd, meanwhile, gasped as one, for Chinchou was completely surrounded by a bright yellow luminous light, as if it had come from heaven itself. Slowly, Chinchou's wounds from its battle started to disappear. Chinchou's formerly drooping eyelids opened suddenly with new energy, and it smiled and started bouncing around happily again, fully healed. Joseph too jumped with joy, as he smiled and laughed, while Chinchou showed off its newfound strength by attempting to perform some aerial acrobatics, like somersaulting, and so on, trying to impress Joseph. This of course, looked rather funny, but did not mean that this attempt was more successful than previous attempts. However, it definitely could not be faulted for trying. Then, it came up to Joseph and nuzzled him affectionately with its nose.
Mr. Cuma meanwhile, obviously did not share Chinchou and Joseph's excitement, and his facial expressions showed it. One could not help but think it was like a slow motion movie, showing a wide range of facial expressions, most of them negative, from bewilderment, to anger, to disgust. One girl could be heard telling one of her friends that he would make a great actor. That idea wasn't exactly wholly embraced by Mr. Cuma though, who looked sharply at the girls, who, that day, were infused with newfound politeness when addressing Mr. Cuma.
"Now, Chinchou, finish it off! Show them what a real thunderbolt is like!" he ordered. It was quite impressive how quickly Chinchou shifted from play mode to battle mode. It stopped jumping all of a sudden, and crouched down (well, as much as a Chinchou can crouch anyway). One moment it was there, the next it was here, ready to attack or defend. Again, the attacking pokemon started to glow a bright yellow, with the light concentrated primarily on its electricity cells this time, rather than the core. It too jumped, mimicking Starmie's action, though whether on purpose or just by chance, no-one knew, although the sparks this time only covered Chinchou's head (not that it really mattered). Finally, with a distinctive cry, the piercing bolt of lightening was again released, this time from Chinchou, and heading straight for Starmie. Starmie was knocked backwards and landed outside the ring, and this time, it stayed down. Mr. Cuma looked down at his feet while he was returning Starmie to its pokeball, as if he had lost confidence in himself.
Perhaps remembering that he was a teacher at the PTS, and a well respected one at that for his extensive knowledge, he brightened up all of a sudden and smiled. "Well," he said politely, "I have to give you credit for that," he said.
Joseph laughed, and said "well, it wouldn't have been much without you!" At this, Mr. Cuma nodded slowly.
"I let my mind slip from the peak performance stage," he admitted. "Joseph, when you become a Pokemon Trainer, make sure you don't ever lose your cool. That tension got on top of me, I guess," he admitted. Far from being hard to say as he had thought, Mr. Cuma felt relieved more than anything. Sure, he had made an error, but he was human. And so, it was like being reborn, with energy, and, for the first time in maybe twenty, thirty years, with youth. Particularly excited once again by the prospects of a Pokemon battle, he threw his next pokeball with vibrant energy. "Go, Meditite!" he yelled.
A small being burst forth from the pokeball, calmly sitting cross-legged on the ground. It had a large white bulb which looked rather like an onion where a human's head would be, two large, circular black eyes and large red lips as well. The rest of its body was a shade of fairly light blue, save for its feet, which were the same whitish-colour as its head. Also prominent were its weird looking ears, which were round, but looked like they were stuck on to the side of its head with PVA glue.
Joseph decided not to wait around. "Chinchou, water gun attack!" he yelled. Chinchou mouth suddenly looked as though it had gotten bigger. It expanded, and expanded, and expanded, until the mouth alone was almost as large as the rest of its body, being filled with water. The, just as kids run around squirting water at each other on a hot day, Chinchou too fired the accumulated water, though with much more power than a water gun, like a rocket directed towards the Meditite, who was not moving.
Joseph did wondered why Mr. Cuma had not given a command, but he pushed that though away, focusing on the battle. Then, just as the water was just about to hit Meditite, a red ball appeared out of nowhere to surround Meditite. The water gun smashed into the red ball, but to no effect. The mysterious red ball stayed completely intact, and so did Meditite. Indeed, Meditite had not moved an inch since the battle started.
"What the?!" breathed Joseph as the audience cheered both competitors on. "What was that?" he asked himself.
"Ha!" laughed Mr. Cuma. "That, I keep to myself," he said, wisely not giving anything away. "Good job Meditite!" he called encouragingly to his pokemon. Meditite did not answer or respond in any way, but Mr. Cuma knew that it had gotten his message.
"Now, how could Meditite have done that?" thought Joseph. "Meditite only has Meditate, Brick Break and Focus Energy. There was nothing about Light Screen or barrier," he continued. "Meditate, Brick Break, Focus Energy. I don't think my research was incorrect or incomplete, but then again... Wait a minute! I wonder.," he said thoughtfully. Then raising his voice, he said "Chinchou! Go, tackle it now!" Chinchou went to the far corner of the dirty looking arena, turned around, and started bouncing towards Meditite, gaining speed at an amazing rate with each bounce. On and on it charged and still Meditite did not move. Closer, closer. Then, finally Chinchou was upon Meditite. Yet still Meditite did not move. Instead, the red energy barrier finally rose up from the ground just as Chinchou was about a metre (40 inches) away from it. With a boom, Chinchou slammed into the energy barrier hard, and was obviously stunned. The Meditite was not completely unscathed this time either. For whatever reason, Meditite was pushed back about two metres, and also looked slightly dizzy. Meditite's shield flickered, before it disappeared into thin air again.
"Now, Meditite, Brick Break!" called Mr. Cuma suddenly. Meditite slowly got up, its first movement for the battle. There it stood, ready to attack. Raising its hand in preparation for the blow, Meditite ran quickly towards Chinchou. Yet something was wrong, Joseph immediately realised. Meditite was too quick, too balanced for a normal Brick Break attack, and Chinchou knew it too. Left, right, left it dodged, but Meditite was simply too quick and too powerful. Eventually, as Chinchou got tired, its movements became more and more sluggish. Finally, it stopped, breathing hard. That was when Meditite hit. Approaching from behind, this pokemon delivered a powerful neck blow to Chinchou, sending it sprawling to the other edge of the arena.
The power from the blow was shocking. "Impossible!" exclaimed Joseph. "There's no way that Meditite could generate so much power on its own," he breathed, stunned, as Chinchou slowly and painfully struggled to get itself back into the fight.
"That's where you're wrong, obviously," replied Mr. Cuma, smiling. "Now, think. Meditite has been doing absolutely nothing, right?" he asked Joseph, smiling.
That's when it suddenly hit Joseph, and hard. "No, of course not," Joseph responded quietly, only now realizing the truth. "Focus Energy, Meditate," he stated. "They are Meditite's other moves. That was why Meditite was so strong and able to move so quickly. And.. And.. The barrier, Medicham is part psychic, so.." he gasped, leaving the crowd confused and Mr. Cuma to finish off the sentence.
"So using the power of Focus Energy and its power of meditation, Meditite could heighten its inner power far enough to draw on a limited amount of potential psychic energy," he completed.
"Oh man!" complained Joseph, "of course, you don't have to give orders to your pokemon. Now, that attack just took off most of Chinchou's health! Unless we could." he said thoughtfully. Suddenly, he lifted his head, and shouted with renewed vigour "Chinchou, do exactly what I tell you, exactly when I tell you to! Now, draw a cross in the dirt beneath you!" he commanded. Chinchou looked a bit confused, as did Mr. Cuma who was thinking rapidly, cycling through the possibilities of what this meant. The crowd was confused too, looking around at each other and murmuring amongst themselves. After Chinchou had followed his orders, Joseph then proceeded with the next phase of his plan. "Now, charge up a Water Gun attack!" he ordered. Chinchou, who was still confused, instantly became happier, since Joseph was, to it, saying something rational. It had just taken a beating, and was low on energy, so it decidedly wanted to do something useful. So, it once again started filling its mouth with water. Joseph waited as Chinchou's mouth once again swelled up to an enormous size. Then, he waited, until he judged was the last possible moment, before yelling "Chinchou! Look at the cross you just made!" Chinchou, now even more confused, nevertheless followed Joseph's instructions, and looked down. Just at the right time, Chinchou could not hold the water in its mouth for much longer, and had to release it. Chinchou went flying into the air. The height at which Chinchou reached was testament to the power of the water gun attack.
Meanwhile, Meditite once again raised its shield against the water gun attack. The energy ball was raised, suddenly flickered, and disappeared, all in a matter of two seconds. "Now is the time, Chinchou, Thunderbolt attack!" he yelled, as Joseph's strategy was still being thought upon by Mr. Cuma. But it was too late to do anything. Still airborne, Chinchou prepared itself for the attack. Just when it reached the apex of its 'leap', it released its electric energy that it had been charging straight towards Meditite. This time, the strike struck home, and Meditite was hit by the full power of the attack. Meditite simply stood there, surrounded by the powerful electrical yellow light, under the continuing onslaught by Chinchou, though it itself had long hit the ground. Suddenly, the zapping ceased, the smoke cleared, and Meditite fell. Everyone could see that it was a mess. There were scorch marks on its whole body, as well as a blacked hand and head.
"Well, what on earth happened to the shield?" breathed a startled Mr. Cuma, whilst returning Meditite to its pokeball. "Why did it fail?" he asked, not quite believing what had just happened.
"My tackle attack weaken the shield greatly, and also partly damaged Meditite," Joseph explained. "Then, I had Chinchou draw a cross and then use water gun to fool Meditite into thinking that I was going to attack it, and set up the shield. Meditite no longer had the ability to maintain the shield, especially since the shield was the result of extraordinary psychic connection in the first place. So, the shield disappeared, and Meditite went boom. Simple really," he declared to Mr. Cuma, who nodded, impressed.
"I see we've taught you well, Joseph," he said, nodding. "Your knowledge of pokemon from everywhere is astounding. And your tactics are well thought of," he commented slowly. "When you beat me, you will become a fine trainer," he said to Joseph, who was surprised.
"But Sir, you shouldn't be saying that!" he cried anxiously. "The battle is far from over. There are many instances of battles where a trainer has won a one on three match!" he argued.
"No," he declared firmly. "It is obvious to me that I will not beat you here today, so I wish you well on your journey. But of course we still have to finish the battle. So, go Kadabra!" he commanded. Kadabra was rather hard to describe, being really weird, but what could be described was its face. It had a face quite like that of a Grumpig, with the same snout, and a red marking of some sort on its forehead. This had always troubled scientists. Some believe that there is no point to it. Others believe it varies from tribe to tribe of Abras and Kadabras. Still others believed that it was a sign and measure of their psychic power. Most of its body was thin and wiry too, although it looked quite large, its arms and legs were all amazingly small. It also had a spoon in one hand, on which it concentrated its potent psychic powers.
"I withdraw Chinchou!" announced Joseph, returning Chinchou to a pokeball. "I can see that it would only get beat up and wouldn't do any real damage," he confessed. "Let's go, Spoink!" he cried. Once again the minute form of Spoink appeared, bouncing and bouncing, which of course supports its heart. It looked very excited now, rather than nervous like its first match, and eager to get into the fray.
"Now, give it a Psywave attack!" yelled Mr. Cuma. Psywave, everyone knew, was a dangerous option, for it's strength was dependant on the air around it, which always distorted Psywave, as the waves themselves were very 'fragile' in a sense. "If it works, great, if it doesn't, oh well. At least it'll stun it for a while," he muttered to himself. Kadabra closed its eyes and focused its great mind to the task of sending out the waves. The waves, unlike most psychic attacks, were visible, and obviously distorted the air. One could see the waves influencing the air, ad vice versa. Although visible, no-one would know the power of the blast until it hit.
And hit it did. There was no noise, as one might have expected. Spoink was simply blown back, sent all the way back to the edge of the arena. Both trainers were eager either to not let the other get the advantage or keep the advantage. At the same time, they yelled "Psychic attack, now!" Spoink bounced back into play, and Kadabra flipped back a little. Both closed their eyes, focusing their power, into one mighty blast. Opening their eyes, they both attacked, again in unison. The magnitude of these two pokemon together was so great, that people from a few metres away could feel the effects. They became drowsy fairly quickly, so there was no telling what Spoink and Kadabra were feeling, for both were attacking, but at the same time trying to hold out for as long as possible. Spoink going for the win and Kadabra fighting to keep its master's hopes alive, although Mr. Cuma was still sure that Joseph would win. Finally, when both pokemon could not stand up any longer, both withdrew their attack, and were simultaneously pushed back a few metres. Now, finally, the two did something different. Kadabra slowly and painfully started walking back towards Spoink. Spoink instead bounced towards Kadabra quickly in short hops, landing on its head, knocking it to the ground, forming a puff of dust as it hit the ground. Spoink then landed perfectly behind Kadabra. Then, it suddenly started swaying for whatever reason, and then toppled to the ground, overcome by the psychic power of Kadabra. "Return!" shout Joseph quickly, for he knew that without bouncing or being in a pokeball, it would soon die. "See?" he asked Mr. Cuma. "You do have a chance in this," he declared.
"No," said Mr. Cuma quietly. "Look at Kadabra, Joseph, don't analyse, just really look at it," he told him, and as Joseph did so, he began to realise what he had meant. Kadabra was breathing hard, with bruises almost everywhere. "It won't last this round, Joseph. Now, finish it," he said softly. This, he realised, was condemning Kadabra really and giving up, but he knew all too well that Kadabra was doomed to lose either way, as much as it hurt him to admit it, even if had been privately admitted to himself.
"Alright, if you say so!" said Joseph warily, afraid that this was a trick. "Go, Eevee, tackle attack, now!" he yelled. Eevee, at full power and eager to stretch its muscles, smiled at Joseph affectionately, before nodding, and turning to face Kadabra. Kadabra did not prepare to block, for it could read the mind of its master, and knew his will. So it stayed, stood tall and bravely waited for the blow to come. And come the blow did, striking Kadabra hard on its belly. Kadabra fell, slowly. This was the single most painful moment in his life. Kadabra fell so slowly in the eyes of Mr. Cuma.
"Oh, Kadabra!" he cried, running to his best pokemon. "I'm sorry, my friend. I did what I knew was the inevitable," he said, crying softly. "I think we both knew that we would lose today in this battle, didn't we, pal?" he asked slowly. Being extremely weak, Kadabra could only growl affectionately, forgiving him without hesitation, for it of course trusted his trainer, as Mr. Cuma single-handedly picked up Kadabra, and walked away slowly, alone, towards the pokemon centre in New Bark Town.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the arena, Joseph too felt tears stinging in his eyes too, though he couldn't put his finger on exactly why. It just felt sad, and wrong to him, that a trainer should give up like that. He sighed, completely forgetting about his win, and of course his graduation, and walked back to his lockers sadly.
"ARRRGGGHH!" yelled Mark angrily from the rooftop. "What are they doing, playing tiddlywinks?" he roared. "Giving up, inevitable, those weak fools!" he shouted. I'll show them, in my match just wait and see..." he snickered, already planning his display, as he too walked back to his locker room. "Hey, maybe I could.." He said, chuckling rather evilly actually as he headed down the staircase.