CHAPTER 7-THE MASSACRE, PART II
"You will win, or else!" Mark Witsinski yelled loudly at his pokemon from the locker room, for the second time in just four hours. The rusty grey old lockers, several containing dents, which were no doubt from taking the brunt of earlier inhabitants' anger, creaked, shook and rattled to no end in their silent protest at the sound of Mark's harsh voice. On second thought though, maybe not so silent. The dirty black and white tiled floor seemed to shake in progress, and the old yellow roof, with its flaking paint seemed to grumble at him as well. "We're up against Mr. Despotta. I don't have to tell you how much I hate him!" declared Mark. "Stupid maths teachers! They tell us over and over again that we're doing 'pure mathematics!'" sneered Mark in the tone that young girls often use to mimic one another. "They're so blind they can't tell that all we're doing is actually pure evil... And that goody-two shoes Joseph! Teachers' pet," he grumbled, envious of his friend. "He's always getting the attention. Heck, I didn't even know he was good at maths! He just suddenly seemed to become good! I of all people should know.."
"Well," he continued, calming himself slightly, "it'll do no good to tire myself out," he said, which was probably the first sensible thing he had said all day. "Gyarados, you will battle first, followed by Victreebel, and for the finale, you'll beat them Dragonite!" he declared, thoroughly confident of his win. And really, there was no reason for him not to be. Dragonite, his strongest pokemon, was on level 75, and Victreebel and Gyarados were both over level 65. Of course, none of the teachers' pokemon were over level 25. "This won't even be a challenge. But just wait for the finale with Dragonite! Hehe, that'll be something!" he laughed out loud.
Finally, a bell rung in the distance to tell all competitors that the final round was about to begin. However, since Mark also happened to be the last person to battle, a happy cheer was heard by the many that had done well, a tired cheer from those that didn't do so well, and even some annoyed groans. For them, they were allowed to go early, as long as they did not have any more matches afterwards. The large group of students slowly filed out of the main red gates, chatting amongst themselves. There were students of every kind, blonds, brunettes, guys, gals, tall kids, short kids, skinny kids and fat kids, all jostling, eager to leave school. Even some of the teachers were sneaking out, creating a huge noise from the smacking down of feet on the hard bricks. This of course was with the single exception of Joseph, who pushed and shoved his way towards the arena that Mark would be fighting in. It would turn out that this was not the cleverest thing he had done in his life. But of course, Joseph did not know, and would never have guessed what was to come, and so continued to attempt, amongst the fast emptying crowd, to get to arena one, which also happened to be the grand centre arena of the Pokemon Trainer's School.
This area differed from others in that it alone of all the other arenas contained a gathering of both evergreen and deciduous trees. And, it was also fenced off by a fairly new addition to the grounds, a golden metre- high fence with a spearhead pattern at the top. It was quite a beautiful sight, and a welcome addition to the already beautiful grounds. It was broken at only two points, a majestic silver gate at both of these, standing up tall and proud as if they were the eighth wonder of the world.
It was here that Joseph ran, trying to hide in the shadows to avoid being seen, especially by Mark. From tree to tree the lone figure ran, dodging, dashing, looking around for any figure, even as the bees buzzed around him and the grass swayed in the wind. Finally reaching a tree he could climb, he swiftly jumped up, avoiding a large brown branch with a Ledyba sitting on it. Although the swooshing sound could be heard as he was climbing the tree Joseph did indeed manage to avoid being noticed. Swinging his legs around to a more comfortable yet secretive position, for he was quite close to the arena, his small eyes darted around, looking for Mark.
Right on cue came Mark, strutting over to the golden gate, pausing only briefly to fling it open carelessly like important generals or royalty might as if to declare his arrival, before resuming his extremely proficient display of footwork. Joseph groaned, half contemptuously and half exasperatingly. "Just like him!" exclaimed Joseph from his chosen tree, "Just like that, as if he alone was the most important bloke in the world. Oh man! Well, I guess some things don't change," he sighed.
Oblivious to this, Mark continued to walk confidently to the usually packed central arena, although now it was completely devoid of people save for himself, the Referee, who was one of the very few refs on time today, his opponent, the maths teacher Mr. Despotta, and of course, Joseph, though his presence was unknown to everyone else present. Ignoring the beauty and serenity of the place, the birds singing, the beautiful blue-green water in the fountain rushing down from the spout, the bees buzzing, working their hearts out, and the wind, gently blowing, Mark immediately headed towards his end of the arena, "Come on, Mr. Despotta!" he called challengingly, "drop the 'old man' pose and let's get going! Unless you're afraid that is!" he laughed.
Mr. Despotta obviously had no fashion sense. He was wearing a neat black jacket with a white shirt underneath. After that, everything else about his attire was incomprehensibly crazy. Instead of trousers, he had on a pair of ridiculous bright yellow shorts, revealing more of his legs than perhaps everyone would otherwise wish. This was followed by a pair of shiny red and black sneakers, polished to perfection. The match, however, was less than perfect. And of course, the traditional black sunglasses like the ones in the movie MIB. In other words, simply horrendous. Joseph stared meekly. Mark frowned meekly. The referee just blinked his eyes, pretended nothing was wrong and tried to shut out the terrible colour mix.
"I'm ready when you are!" wheezed Mr. Despotta, for he was aging. "Face it, George!" he thought to himself, "the young are taking the reigns, but I won't give into them yet!" he corrected himself encouragingly. "Mark, Mark, Mark," he stated, "haven't you learned anything here? Or are you too proud, too blind to see the truth?" he asked. "You are-"
"Quit your yabbing, and get going! Stop trying to buy some time! It is starting to slip from your fingers anyway, only I have the time to waste. There's plenty of time for me, but you on the other hand, soon, you will be but a memory," he said harshly.
"Plenty of time? Plenty of time?" scoffed Mr. Despotta, who was actually a fairly nice guy, despite his name. "Exactly what I was talking about!" he exclaimed. "You are not a child, Mark. So why do you act like one?" he asked "You should have learned that no-one can hold a moment. It runs out like water in your fist. You must try and grasp it when you can, even as it falls away," he taught patiently.
"I have no time for your talk, old fool! The world is waiting for a new champion, and it shall be I that delivers!" he cried.
Seeing his cue, and also not wanting a major brawl, the referee interrupted this less than eloquent speech by Mark. "This will be a-"
"We know what it is, just get on with it!" interrupted Mark for a second time, "let us start already!"
"Then begin!," shouted the ref with less enthusiasm as he might otherwise have shown.
"Since you're so eager to win, I will be the first to commence. Go, Tauros!" yelled Mr. Despotta gruffly, for he was slightly perturbed at Mark's, well, attitude, shall we say. All this running quickly through his mind, he heaved his pokeball into the centre with a nice, flat throw. Though thrown hard, the pokeball naturally did not bounce, but instead made a clicking sound as it opened all of a sudden, revealing a bright flash of light. The red light flew out, temporarily unformed, but slowly revealing first two horns, followed by its three tails before its legs, and finally, its body. Tauros had a dark, brown chocolate coloured body (and incidentally made Joseph's stomach growl), while its legs were a lighter shade of brown, almost orange really, rather like that of traditional tea. Its face was the same light brown, albeit with three grey circles half embedded into its head. It also had two curved majestic horns sprouting from the sides of its head, each looking like a beautiful crescent moon. Finally, three tails whipped back and forth, dark brown in colour, with furry grey tips. Lifting its head, it opened its mouth and gave a challenging earsplitting roar which made everyone cover their ears.
"Huh, you don't see many of those," remarked Mark, " but that doesn't mean I'll show you mercy! Show them my power, Gyarados!" he yelled, throwing the pokeball in his hand violently. This time, the pokeball chose to open itself and released its pokemon while in mid-air, before flying back to Mark's open palm. At first, the shape that appeared seemed to be much like a snake. Over the next few seconds, that thought rapidly disappeared from the minds of those present. The shape simply refused to stop growing. It grew, and grew, and grew, and grew some more, until it had become what must have been at least a hundred metres. On the ground Gyarados sat, bending its body to form several 'u' and 'n'. It had a fierce, dragon-like body, mainly blue, white and a dull yellow. White fins grew all over Gyarados' body, with one exceptionally big one at the end of its long body. Its face in particular was formidable to look at, with its huge staring eyes right into you. Really, it gave Joseph shivers even though it wasn't looking anywhere near him. Also, it had three dark green 'horns' you might say, looking rather like the business end of a pitchfork that those red cartoon devils are always shown holding.
"A Gyarados, huh?" asked Mr. Despotta, "Well, it's certainly possible to have one, since Magikarp evolves at level 20, but... This one seems unnaturally strong," he murmured. "And I can't imagine Mark ever having the patience to raise a Magikarp." Making up his mind, he yelled "Tauros! Don't give him a chance to attack! Take down, now!" Tauros snorted loudly in the way bulls do before they charge. Then, kicking up dust with its front hoof, it lowered its head fiercely, a not very nice look on its face. It charged.
"Gyarados, twist around and dodge it, then give it a Hydro Pump attack when it runs past!" he ordered.
From the other end, Mr. Despotta stiffened slightly from hearing this, though not enough for Mark to notice. "Hydro pump?!" he exclaimed in his mind worriedly, "Is that possible? Or is he just bluffing?" One look at Mark's contemptuous yet angry face gave him all the answers he needed. But it was too late to stop now, he knew. "Ouch time now," he winced, quoting from a Star Wars movie that he had seen.
Gyarados, display great agility for a being of its gargantuan size, nimbly twisted its body so that Tauros ran straight through a loop. Then, shifting its head to face Tauros' backside, its eyes glowed red for a split second, before releasing a decisive flood of water, its force similar to that of the mightiest waterfall, and giving the grass more water than was good for them. The aim was true, and the power immense, as the water hit Tauros, and in the moment it still stood, the water sprayed everywhere like a gigantic out of control sprinkler system. After that, inevitably, Tauros gave in to the power of the blast, knowing it could not win, and was pushed metres out of the arena by the flow. There it lay, still and motionless, sprawled on the ground like a fly just swatted by a fly swatter, barely breathing.
"Return, Tauros!" cried Mr. Despotta, all the while looking fairly calm, not giving away any of his emotion, as he had learned to do over the years. In his mind, however, he was, he had to admit, slightly worried. "Well!" thought Mr. Despotta, impressed nevertheless. "Maybe I will be forced to give way to the youth sooner than I thought," he exclaimed. "But I'm not gonna go down with a fight!" he thought, trying to muster some of that old energy that he once had as a youth. Alright, down to business!" he told Mark out loud, strengthening his voice, although Mark merely gagged, struggling to keep a straight face. "It's time for some payback! Go and avenge Tauros, let's go Primeape!" he yelled, releasing the pokeball.
The hairy, round body of Primeape all appeared simultaneously from the pokeball. It had, as just mentioned, a round, pudgy, white body with lots and lots of fur. This fur was very long indeed, and made Primeape's skin all but invisible. It had raised arms, showing off its muscles from the moment it had erupted from the pokeball, showing its, light brown in colour, with strange grayish bracelets on its wrists. Scientists had yet to work out whether this is a result of tradition, or whether, like Machoke, it had to restrain its strength. Its muscles were well toned and stuck out like a Wookie at a Noghri family reunion. Its legs were much the same way, big, well built muscles and a fairly large foot too. Finally, its face was pretty much covered. What could be seen though were the narrow slits that were Primeape's eyes midway up its body, glaring at everything, and a pudgy pink nose just below it. This Primeape's nose actually seemed a little off centre, as though it had been punched many times. And of course somewhere below that, though not visible beneath its body fur, was its mouth, for it was possible for it to talk in its own language. Though it was fairly confident, Primeape also looked worried, for it knew what had happened to its comrade. Rather than be put off by this however, its resolve was stronger than ever, and it told Mr. Despotta so with a wink and a smile.
"Okay Primeape, COME ON!" yelled Mr. Despotta to no-one in particular, but simply wanting to boost his own confidence level really, considering how easily Gyarados knocked Tauros aside.
"Oh puleeeeze!" thought Mark carelessly. "He's gonna use that feeble thing? Primeape isn't fit for licking my boots when I become the pokemon master!" he continued viciously. "That Tauros was despicably weak, just like squashing a fly, and so is this Primeape. Doesn't anyone have any strong pokemon?" he asked himself.
"I withdraw Gyarados!" cried Mark arrogantly, albeit predictably for Joseph and Mark's pokemon, a move with made Mr. Despotta's jaw drop slightly, Gyarados do its dragon version of a sigh, and Joseph roll his eyes and shake his head at the same time. "Do it, Victreebel!" he yelled. The thrown pokeball landed on a rock with a loud crunch, and burst open to reveal its pokemon. This pokemon looked a bit like a Venus Fly Trap. It had no real face as such, but just a large circular mouth with several visible teeth, and two tiny, barely visible eyes just below its 'lip'. The mouth was on top of its main 'body', which was a cylindrical yellow, well, thing, with a few small brown dots scattered randomly in separate intervals along its body, much like when a human gets measles. Three bright green, healthy looking leaves also sprouted out of this pokemon's body at various places as well, one on each side of its body and the third leaf on top, partly covering its mouth. Finally, a thin, long brown stem was seen from the middle of Victreebel's top leaf, which hung behind Victreebel and hung the full length of its body, almost touching the ground with a mysterious yellow bulbous thing, which looked a bit like chili on the end. What this was, or what it did was still a mystery to humans though.
"Okay, Primeape!" yelled Mr. Despotta encouragingly, albeit nervously, "Show them your anger, but no mercy!" he cried, punching the air with his ragged fist. "Thrash attack, now!" he ordered. Primeape nodded, and stared at the ground, focusing its anger. It started shaking all of a sudden, at first subtly, then more obviously, and before long it was shaking aggressively, almost uncontrollably, with anger and rage. Joseph could only imagine what horrors Primeape had in its mind to get this angry. Though he didn't know this, the main focus of Primeape's anger was simply the fall of its friend, Tauros, for those two had been friends for more than forty years, and were closer to each other than anyone else, even their master, and thus it was natural that one's defeat brought out anger and the thirst for revenge in the other. Mr. Despotta knew this well, and purposely harnessed this power for his use, for he knew Mark had strong pokemon. Very strong pokemon. Primeape, still gathering its emotions, started turning red all of a sudden, as if someone had put an oven inside Primeape's mouth. Starting off as a bright pink, the pink gradually became a brick red, then, as it became a darker red, blood red, then finally, purple, although this latest change in colour might indeed have been brought about as the result of Primeape holding its breath while all this was happening, and as such had not breathed for over a minute. Wisely, it stopped, took a few deep, deep breaths, before letting out a mighty roar, or as close to a roar a Primeape can manage anyway, and charged in a furious frenzy towards Victreebel.
"Awww, come on, gimme a break!" thought Mark, shaking his head at the same time. "This won't be any challenge at all!" he continued. "Oh well, if that pitiful pokemon is the best that he can do, I guess I'll just have to crush him... As always," he sighed, for although he loved to conquer weak trainers and their pokemon, he also wished for a challenge. Basically, this was boring him to no end. "Victreebel, just block the move," he said, the annoyance of even having to bother evident in his voice.
Victreebel moved, or rather, hopped ninety degrees so that Primeape was charging at its left side. Sticking out a leaf, it touched Primeape on the head, and, amazingly, just held Primeape at bay as if it required no effort at all (which it probably didn't). Primeape roared once more, and kept charging, or trying to charge at least anyway, because Victreebel's single leaf held it completely at bay. It looked rather ridiculous really, Victreebel, with just one leaf, was preventing Primeape from moving with a single leaf without breaking a sweat, even though Primeape was at full power.
"What on earth?!" shouted Mr. Despotta, fretting. "Primeape's at its full strength! The power needed to just to slow it down, never mind stopping it altogether at the moment would be enormous!" he said, "and now, Victreebel's just playing with it!" continued Mr. Despotta worriedly. "This is not good," he murmured, half troubled, half awed. "How could a Victreebel like that generate so much power? To fully stop Primeape in its tracks, it'd have to be at least level forty five! And very few people in the world have pokemon of that power," he thought. "It's not possible for him to have leveled up his pokemon so much in just a few years!" he said, greatly troubled.
"You fool!" laughed Mark, "you miserable, pitiful old fool! Tell me, old man, what is the point of a person to have powerful family connections like the ones I have, if you hesitate to manipulate it to your advantage?" he asked mockingly. "Up there in the highest levels of society, those who hesitate, die," he told him. "That's how my family and I became so wealthy, and why you will never be so," he said.
"No," said Mr. Despotta sadly, "no Mark. Your father did not become wealthy by being sneaky, nor a great orator, nor with deception, or anything else. He achieved his wealth through perseverance and good will, Mark. Why is it that no-one will work for you as a servant, do you think, though you offer them the largest pay cheques in New Bark Town? It's certainly not because of money. It is you, Mark. When you learn this, and change your attitude, perhaps then life will unfold itself for you," he said.
From the nearby tree, Joseph winced. "Oh man, I don't think that was the right thing to tell him!" he thought, "he's never handled those sorts of lessons well. Mr. Despotta might as well have been talking to a brick wall, only this wall fights back, and fights back hard!" he exclaimed.
"Arggghh!" cried Mark angrily; trying desperately to get Mr. Despotta's words out of his head. Though they kept coming back, Mark pushed those thought deep enough to temporarily be able to concentrate once more. "Quit it, old man! I have no time to hear your riddles, nor the time for your excuses. I have a match to win, and by the gods, win it I shall!" he declared savagely. "Now, Victreebel, Giga Drain!" ordered Mark. Victreebel nodded at once, hopped back, for though Primeape had long stopped trying to struggle, it had made sure Primeape wouldn't do anything funny by holding onto it until then. Bending over, mouth angled towards Primeape, Victreebell let loose from its mouth a strange greenish hue, like that commonly seen in forests of every kind. The air around it seemed to sparkle all of a sudden, a similar yet lighter green colour, with a hint of yellow. Primeape groaned out of the blue, and collapsed, falling on its knees. Again, its body started shaking, but this time it seemed it was from its body's weakness, no doubt from the Giga Drain. Its muscles were aching and it was sweating uncontrollably. Still, it struggled, even as its arms and legs wobbled visibly, like a tornado blowing against a tree, tearing at its foundations. Finally, Primeape succumbed, its muscles failed, and it fell, face first into the dirt. It did not rise again.
"What?!" shouted Mark scornfully, "you call that a Giga Drain attack? That was more like Absorb!" he scolded. "Be sure to do better next time, Victreebel, or else!" he shouted at the poor pokemon. He looked back up at Mr. Despotta gleefully. "You are no match for me old man! Give up now!" he commanded, pointing his finger at Mr. Despotta, "or you and your pokemon will pay dearly!" he yelled.
But Mr. Despotta was not easily intimidated, nor frightened as a result of many years of experience, especially not by what he called a 'rowdy teenager', such as Mark. "I don't care if you are a thousand times stronger than me. Whether you defeat me or not is irrelevant, but my words shall stay and haunt you for long after!" he cried defiantly. "You are no trainer, you are a monster!" he shouted, putting a lot of weight on that last word.
"Why you." shouted Mark aggressively, though lost for words. He didn't even want to think about what Mr. Despotta had said. Desperately, he again buried his thoughts and said "yeah, right. Now, are you going to send out your next pokemon, or just let Primeape lie there on the ground?" he asked calmly in a very un-Mark like way.
"Return, Primeape," said Mr. Despotta, conceding the point. "You can't hide from your feelings forever you know, Mark. Eventually, it will hunt you down," he told him. "But I have a feeling you don't exactly like this discussion. So go, Camerupt! See what you can do!" he yelled, and threw the pokeball. Out came Camerupt, bursting with vibrant energy. Or at least it showed as much energy a Camerupt could be expected to have, for they were fairly slow and lazy, albeit powerful. Camerupt was, as its name suggests, like a camel, but infused with the power of fire. For one, it had a fire red body, a short, stubby tail of the same colour, four large paws, and three blue rings on its side, although what those symbolised was anyone's guess. Also prominent were a cow-like head with a brown snout, and of course the two humps on top of it, also the same brownish colour. These were in the shape of two miniature volcanoes, though both Mr. Despotta and Joseph knew that Camerupt's body was a living, erupting volcano, which held magma, some of which reached temperatures of up to 18 000 degrees Fahrenheit.
Though the Camerupt was certainly impressive, it was no more than just another weak obstacle in Mark's eyes, Mark himself remaining obviously undaunted. To the contrary, he laughed. "Ha! A Camerupt, eh? Well, at least this time you chose a pokemon that, with training, could become extremely powerful," he said. "And so I answer power with power!" he declared, "go, Dragonite!" he yelled, stretching out that last word, and incidentally shocking Mr. Despotta out of his skin.
That last word made Mr. Despotta's blood run cold. Time seemed to stop. "No!" he thought, refusing to believe at first. Then, as time passed, and slowly resumed its usual tempo, Mr. Despotta started to fear more and more that this was no bluff. "In any case," thought Mr. Despotta, "there is only one way to find out. Although I'm not sure I want to find out," he continued.
It might have just been Mr. Despotta's brain playing tricks again, but this pokeball seemed to open slowly. The usual bright flash of light came, and seemed, for a moment, to last forever, before passing again. The shape emerged, and there hovered Dragonite, steady and firm , no less than a metre off the ground. Dragonite looked pretty much what you would expect from a dragon pokemon, except perhaps slightly less fierce. Indeed at the moment, this Dragonite had a funny grin on its face, oblivious to Mark's current mood. Its body was a beautiful light orange, which included its long and thick tail, its two majestic wings, four large paws, and its round, cute face. It also had a very pale yellow underbelly, with thin, black horizontal stripes going across it. It had two wings, which weren't all that big, but obviously had a lot of power behind them to be able to hold Dragonite in the air at all. The wings were the same light orange on top, but on the side facing the bottom, a beautiful light blue, such as you might see in very clear bodies of water, was featured. It had four paws, again all orange, which each had three grey claws which looked extremely sharp, which looked to be able to tear through a lot. Finally, it had a quite adorable head, charming and innocent, featuring two large, shining, round knowing black eyes, two small black nostrils the size of a pea, and a fairly large mouth that was mostly hidden by its large nose. As well, there were two short and cute antennae sticking out from Dragonite's head, brown in colour, and drifting about in the wind.
"Get that stupid smile off your face, Dragonite!" shouted Mark angrily. "Now is not the time for comedy, I'm in a battle in case you haven't noticed," he said, frustrated. Dragonite reacted cautiously to its noisy new master, being use to the kindness of Mark's grandfather, but, recognizing Mark, quickly complied and got serious.
Meanwhile, Joseph, in the tree, shook his head nervously. "Oh no." he said quietly, hiding his horror, "who knows what he'll do now that he's using Dragonite. I just hope that poor Camerupt, as well as Mr. Despotta don't get beat up too bad," he thought. "Hang in there," he continued, looking at Mr. Despotta sadly, "hang in there."
A few metres away from Joseph, Mr. Despotta was actually trembling for the first time in this match, and indeed the first time in a long time. But, calling on his years of experience and hardy nature, he determined not to back away. "Ready Camerupt?" he asked. "We will defeat Dragonite, or we will fall trying," he declared, gritting his teeth, for he knew full well that he would have no choice but to fall, and Camerupt appeared to realise this as well. "Alright Camerupt!" he yelled, "Give it your all! 210%! Eruption attack, now!" he yelled, calling upon a move which he had taught Camerupt with a TM, for he had received this TM from a raffle in a local club one day; one could not buy it anywhere in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn or Oore.
Camerupt nodded grimly, knowing this would be its last stand, but was willing to do so for its master. Steam started pouring out of its two humps on its back as it prepare to spew out the lava that was forever churning within its volcanic body. The churning sounds grew louder and louder, until it could be heard without difficulty by the trainers. Camerupt shook, as the magma struggled and struggled, pushing to get out. Camerupt, when it judged it was the right time, dipped its neck, which was surprisingly flexible, so that it was touching the ground. The result was that the humps on its back were angled up towards the still passive Dragonite, looking on with interest. Without any warning at all, the magma stopped moving for but a second. Then, it blew. BAM! With the force of an atom bomb, Camerupt's two humps simultaneously erupted, spewing all that 18 000 degree Fahrenheit magma out in a rush, like water might flow after a dam collapses, that deadly fire heading straight for Dragonite. This eruption was also heard from people's homes in the middle of New Bark Town, sending terror to many poor villagers. Grounds groaned, walls cringed and people shook as that explosion reached their positions.
But Mark had not been doing nothing either. "Dragonite, show them who's boss, shall we?" he asked a few seconds before the eruption. "Hyper beam attack, now!" he called excitedly, waiting for it to come and crush Camerupt. Dragonite roared, and opened its mouth wide, as if it was going to the pokemon dentist. From the air, Dragonite drew small yellow spheres of pure energy, which rapidly gathered in the immediate area in front of Dragonite's mouth. This collective ball of pure energy became bigger and bigger, just as the churning noises from Camerupt had become bigger and bigger, eventually growing to the size of a watermelon. Then, at the time it deemed most appropriate (and happened to be the same time as Camerupt's Eruption attack was released), it pulled its head back, then brought it forward again quickly, and sending the powerful beam directly into the path of the Eruption attack.
The initial impact was staggering. The two beams came together with such power that Mark and Mr. Despotta were blown back, each about ten metres. The hapless referee was also blown back at the same time. Branches were completely torn off trees, and whirlwinds of sand were whipped up from just the first energy wave alone. Even bare rocks were hurtled into the sky, some bigger than a football. Mr. Despotta was unfortunate enough to have unintentionally strayed into the path of a particularly large branch, and was smashed in the knee by it. Though not seriously injured, Mr. Despotta found that his knee hurt whenever he put any weight on that foot. The referee himself got a considerable amount of sand in his eyes and was blinded for the next few minutes while he tried to get it out. Joseph, however, was by far the most unlucky of the group. Falling from the tree, he landed on head first, and his head hit a root from a tree with a thud. Even worse for him, as he was so weak from the fall, he could not help himself as he continued to be swept back by the energy wave. On it continued, until Joseph reached the gate. He hit the gate, again head first, at about forty kilometers an hour with a sickening crunch. Again, luck was to be against him. The gate wobbled, and wobbled after being hit at such speeds right at its base. Finally, it too toppled, and its full weight landed on Joseph, crushing him easily. Joseph laid still, obviously knocked unconscious, possibly even dead; such was the power of the initial energy wave. Only Mark was lucky enough to come out unscathed, though he too had been blown backwards. Put plainly, it was complete and utter chaos.
"It was a bit like that Dragonball Z episode where Gohan and Cell fight with their Kamehameha waves!" Mark would later recall. And indeed it was rather like it, for there were two beams, struggling to overpower each other, with Dragonite of course dominating, but still yet to completely penetrate Camerupt's attack. Then, for no apparent reason, the continuous winds seemed to die down, though the attacks had not stopped. Mark stood up and looked around, searching for an answer. Mr. Despotta carefully took in his surroundings, but still on the ground as his leg could not support his weight.
The first thing these two saw was that the two pokemon were still fighting, going at each other, hammer and tongs, neither giving up, although Dragonite still clearly held the advantage. The second thing they noticed was that at the point where the two attacks met each other, the energy no longer expanded from that point. "That's it!" realised Mr. Despotta, "look Mark! Where those two beams meet, the energies spiral into the air, and it looks like they're expanding into a bubble," he said.
What Mr. Despotta had rightly called an energy bubble looking to be a mystical light green in colour, but otherwise quite hard to describe. It was kind of like a man-made dome that you might see in the city. Well, it was the same shape anyway, but the likeness ended there. The group could still see outside fairly well, although the bubble made everything outside a nice shade of green like the grass that used to grow there. It seemed to reflect all the incoming sunlight rather than absorb it. Where the two attacks were meeting each other, there was simply a bright flash of light that half-blinded everyone. Gradually, this yellowish light changed to become the light green.
"It's always calm in the eye of the storm," quoted Mark, "of course! That's why it's become so calm. The energy produced must be still as powerful as ever, only the bubble's expanded to just outside the fence surrounding this area. Anything inside is calm, but outside." he said, leaving the sentence unfinished. This sentence actually surprised Mr. Despotta quite a bit, for Mark was talking to him as an equal for once, despite his usually bad attitude. "I wouldn't want to be out there," he said.
Only then did the full implications hit Mr. Despotta, and hard. "Mark! We must stop this madness!" he yelled desperately. "If we don't, this could wreak havoc!" he continued.
But his plea fell on deaf ears. "Since when did I follow your orders, old man?" sneered Mark, reverting back to his old self. "I will only stop when you have been defeated!" he declared. "I will settle for no less!"
Just then, as Mr. Despotta was about to reply, there was a huge rumbling noise, the sound of concrete groaning as it pushed against more concrete. "Oh no." breathed Mr. Despotta. The next few moments seemed to go in slow motion. There was a single snapping noise heard coming from the closest building, and then, without warning, it toppled, the huge structure giving way. The energy finally being too much for it to take, the concrete walls collapsed in on itself, as well as crushing the wooden framework. This created a large shock, shaking the ground as if the world was about to end. This only served to deepen the trouble, as the building next to it also screeched in protest, before again it too collapsed in on itself, much like the first building. With a roar, this building came tumbling down, making a humungous crashing sound, louder than anything anyone present had ever heard before as well as creating a shockwave through the earth which were recorded on seismographs all the way from the Science Institute in Cherrygrove City, measuring 2.0 on the Richter scale. This, although not particularly big in comparison to major earthquakes was in its own right very powerful considering it was generated by a pokemon.
Whereas those last few moments seemed to come in slow motion, the next bit seemed to speed up all of a sudden. Before anyone realised what had happened, or what was happening, the next building toppled, and the next, then the next, and the next and the next, creating one heck of a loud sound, and even more tremours. Well actually, loud doesn't do it justice. It was simply tremendous, louder than anyone who was not present could imagine. Dust was thrown in the air along with wood splinters and large blocks of concrete which had no business being that big. Everything in the radius of the buildings, including the sometimes expensive items in the buildings themselves, was completely and utterly crushed, from vases to couches to desks to machinery, nothing survived.
The dust cleared, and Mr. Despotta and the referee looked around in shock, blinking their eyes, not daring to believe. The carnage was almost impossible to describe. Around them was nothing but rubble. Trees were torn out of the ground whole and thrown metres away. Some splintered wood here, some torn leather there and some shards of glass lying around too. But the majority of the rubbish was concrete. Some blocks of concrete were relatively unbroken and in large blocks, but others were reduced to fine dust. Either way, the landscape was turned completely grey by the smattering of concrete. No buildings in sight were still left standing. The Pokemon Trainers School of New Bark Town had been completely wiped out.
For miles around, Mark, Mr. Despotta, the referee, Dragonite, Camerupt and Joseph were the only ones left standing (although the last two can't really be described as standing, both lying motionless on the ground). "But, how come...We're okay?" asked a stunned and shaking Referee. "This whole place.Look at this!" he shouted, for he had, if you remember, sand in his eyes, and hadn't seen what had happened, but had only heard it. It's a complete dump!" he exclaimed, looking around. "Wait! Look around us at the immediate area.Then look at the area around that!" he cried, completely shocked bewildered.
And he had a right to be, for although the area where the buildings lay was a complete and utter mess, the immediate area seemed to have come out more or less fairly unscathed. "Yes," said Mr. Despotta gently. "When Dragonite and Camerupt's attacks met each other, they created an initial shockwave which was fairly powerful already. Since Camerupt continued to sustain its attack, the energy formed something like a bubble," he explained. "I guess that was why we weren't harmed. It's calmest in the eye of the storm, and that was where we were. The buildings were completely ravaged. Anyone within the vicinity would have been killed," he said grimly. "Thank god this was the last match. Or countless people might have died," he said, sending a sharp look at Mark. "Why didn't you stop? What if there were still people there?" raged Mr. Despotta angrily. "I told you to stop it, and you." he seethed.
Mark simply laughed, unfazed by this new bout of anger. "I thought you would have learned by now! I will stop for no-one in my quest. All in my path will fall!" he declared.
"Humph, never mind that, if my Camerupt was stronger there wouldn't be any Johto, Kanto, Hoenn or Oore for you to conquer!" he said. Mentioning Camerupt suddenly reminded him that he had forgotten to tend to his beloved Camerupt, which was still devoid of movement and lying in the dirt, he ran up to it and knelt down by its side slowly. "Oh Camerupt," he mumbled, some tears starting to form in his eyes, I am so sorry," he said. "But I couldn't give up, you know?" he asked, "I just couldn't. Camerupt, oh thank you and well done. Return," he breathed sadly. This picture was somewhat symbolic to Mark, Mr. Despotta kneeling next to Camerupt, though he didn't know why. It would take him a long time to figure it out.
Interrupting this touching moment, several sirens could be heard in the distance, and fast approaching. It appeared the emergency services had finally arrived. A police motorcycle with Officer Jenny and three ambulances quickly stormed into the premises, before turning and heading towards the centre arena. "Alright, ambulance crews, move out! Look for any people in the wreckage!" ordered Officer Jenny. She was wearing the same police uniform as always, the deep blue top and skirt, a black handbag no bigger than an A4 piece of paper, white gloves, and the same blue police uniform cap. In short, the same as always. "What on earth happened here? I was on my way here in the first place, but when I was driving on Snubble Pass I heard a bang, and then a few seconds later, I felt a longer chain of earth tremours, "she said, her long blue hair swinging as she looked from person to person.
"Well, it's a long story," began the referee, sighing, "But to put it short, it's the exam time at the PTS. I'm sure you know how it goes, the students battle the teachers, and so Mark here used his Dragonite, yes a Dragonite Ma'am" he added pointedly, seeing the look on her face. "And then, his opponent, poor Mr. Despotta here-" he continued, pointing to the figure still kneeling on the ground and sobbing uncontrollably.
"Wow, that man needs serious medical treatment. I hope he's all right," thought Officer Jenny grimly, looking at the solitary figure on the ground. "Wait a sec," she interrupted out loud, holding out one white gloved hand palm towards the referee. Looking away, she yelled "hey Pauline! Get over here and give this man some assistance! I don't think he's doing to well!" At the affirmative nod from one of the ambulance crew, she turned her head back towards the referee. "Sorry, please continue," she told him.
"Alright, well as I was saying, Mr. Despotta had a Camerupt. Camerupt used eruption, Dragonite met it with Hyper Beam, and the resulting clash when the two attacks met, the powerful energy waves, caused all this wanton and purposeless destruction. Mr. Despotta tried to stop it, but. Mark wouldn't listen at all," he informed her. "What on earth was he thinking?!" he raged in his head. "That foolish boy, we could have all been killed, and all he cares about is winning!" he thought angrily.
"Why weren't you harmed?" she asked curiously, interrupting his thoughts and sneaking a glance towards Mark. "Sure looks like him," she thought to herself privately. "By all accounts, all of you should be dead. Oh and by the way, does that Mark happen to be Mark Witsinski?" she asked out loud. "I hope he's not actually," she thought, "I'm not looking forward to telling him. Nope, not at all," she decided.
"Dead huh? Heh, that's a nice thought," he winced admittedly. Until now everything that had recently transpired had really seemed, well, unreal, and fake, as if the ref still didn't believe what had happened, and to tell the truth, it hadn't really sunk in to anyone present at all yet really, except possibly for Mark. "Yes he is," said the ref. "Why?" he asked. He waved his hand dismissingly just as Officer Jenny was about to speak. "Never mind, I don't think I want to know," he said quickly, seeing the hesitant and worried look on the officer's face. She nodded too in response, waiting for him to continue. And, well, as to what happened, I don't really know how to explain it myself. You see, I had gotten sand in my eyes, so I missed it completely!" exclaimed the referee frustratingly. "Mr. Despotta and Mark saw it, but I still can't make out anything from their explanation. But maybe you'll have some better luck with him," he said. "Good luck too," he added pointedly.
She nodded, accepting his advice. "That boy is trouble," she thought, her piercing eyes darting around, looking at Mark. "Very well. Thank you. If you'll just leave your contact details with me, you may go. We may need to ask you about this event again. Or in legal proceedings," she added darkly. Nodding solemnly, the referee did as he was told, and then positively scrambled away at the speed of light. "Poor man," she commented. "Well, I guess I'll go question Mark myself," she thought. Then, turning, she walked up to Mark, who was standing in the exact same spot as he was when she had arrived. "Boy, this guy's gonna be a tough nut for me to crack, I can see that!" she thought to herself. "Mark Witsinski?" she asked.
"Yeah, that's me," he said. "And tell me, please, what do you want to know about what happened here?" he asked mockingly.
"Well firstly, I want to know if you can drop that attitude of yours!" snapped Officer Jenny. She had gone through rigourous police training, which, amongst other things, had taught her how to deal well with repugnant people with attitudes like Mark. But, remembering her original duty, she decided to soften a little. "I don't want to get him too upset, or he'll get even angrier when I tell him," she thought. And that was something she definitely did not want to bring about herself. "I'm sorry. Please, tell me why you and the others were unharmed," she said quietly.
"Oh, well, all right," responded Mark gruffly, surprised, and more than a little fazed by Officer Jenny's change of heart. This in itself was a rare event, Mark giving way that is. Perhaps he too had sensed the conflicting emotions within Officer Jenny. And so he again proceeded to the laborious task of telling Officer Jenny about the two attacks clashing, the shockwave they created, the energy bubble, and so on.
Officer Jenny listened to this, and looked on in amazement, temporarily forgetting about her strife. "Wow," she thought, "I'd better inform Professor Oak and his aides quickly, he may just want to question one of these guys. This is a strange phenomenon, I'll say that much. An energy bubble eh? This is completely unheard of in the scientific world," she exclaimed in her mind. "One other thing," she added as he finished. "Tell me why I shouldn't arrest you now," she said sternly, and although she never did have the intention of arresting him, she did indeed want to see how he would react.
"Huh, you would dare to arrest me?" he laughed, as if the very thought was ridiculous. "I doubt that highly, but just to satisfy you, this is why," he said coldly. "There currently is no law condemning destruction, if that destruction comes from a pokemon's move that is simply too powerful, and was never done on purpose to harm people, get it?" he asked viciously. "It's as much Mr. Despotta's fault as mine," he spat. "Ha! Detain me! Yeah right. Like you could. Wait till Gramps hears about my victory. He'll be proud I tell you!" he declared blindly.
"He would have been proud? Maybe." she murmured, and though she did not believe that, she felt compassion for him, and this was evident in her voice and face. "Mark Witsinski," she said, slowly looking up at him. Mark felt a terrible crushing feeling in his heart, not wanting to hear what Officer Jenny had to say at all. Frankly, it frightened him, another rare occurrence, and it did so for good reason. "Should I tell him?" she asked herself, greatly troubled by the news she brought. But, inevitably, her arguments and emotional turmoil, combined with her duty, left her with no other option but to speak. And there too was Mark, steadily waiting for what she had to say. Uncertain, but feeling he could deal with anything. "Can you? Can you really deal with it? Something such as this?' she asked herself again, looking at him. Again, there was no other answer but to tell Mark. "Duty requires it," she told herself.
"Mark Witsinski," she repeated sadly and slowly, "your Grandfather.is dead."
"You will win, or else!" Mark Witsinski yelled loudly at his pokemon from the locker room, for the second time in just four hours. The rusty grey old lockers, several containing dents, which were no doubt from taking the brunt of earlier inhabitants' anger, creaked, shook and rattled to no end in their silent protest at the sound of Mark's harsh voice. On second thought though, maybe not so silent. The dirty black and white tiled floor seemed to shake in progress, and the old yellow roof, with its flaking paint seemed to grumble at him as well. "We're up against Mr. Despotta. I don't have to tell you how much I hate him!" declared Mark. "Stupid maths teachers! They tell us over and over again that we're doing 'pure mathematics!'" sneered Mark in the tone that young girls often use to mimic one another. "They're so blind they can't tell that all we're doing is actually pure evil... And that goody-two shoes Joseph! Teachers' pet," he grumbled, envious of his friend. "He's always getting the attention. Heck, I didn't even know he was good at maths! He just suddenly seemed to become good! I of all people should know.."
"Well," he continued, calming himself slightly, "it'll do no good to tire myself out," he said, which was probably the first sensible thing he had said all day. "Gyarados, you will battle first, followed by Victreebel, and for the finale, you'll beat them Dragonite!" he declared, thoroughly confident of his win. And really, there was no reason for him not to be. Dragonite, his strongest pokemon, was on level 75, and Victreebel and Gyarados were both over level 65. Of course, none of the teachers' pokemon were over level 25. "This won't even be a challenge. But just wait for the finale with Dragonite! Hehe, that'll be something!" he laughed out loud.
Finally, a bell rung in the distance to tell all competitors that the final round was about to begin. However, since Mark also happened to be the last person to battle, a happy cheer was heard by the many that had done well, a tired cheer from those that didn't do so well, and even some annoyed groans. For them, they were allowed to go early, as long as they did not have any more matches afterwards. The large group of students slowly filed out of the main red gates, chatting amongst themselves. There were students of every kind, blonds, brunettes, guys, gals, tall kids, short kids, skinny kids and fat kids, all jostling, eager to leave school. Even some of the teachers were sneaking out, creating a huge noise from the smacking down of feet on the hard bricks. This of course was with the single exception of Joseph, who pushed and shoved his way towards the arena that Mark would be fighting in. It would turn out that this was not the cleverest thing he had done in his life. But of course, Joseph did not know, and would never have guessed what was to come, and so continued to attempt, amongst the fast emptying crowd, to get to arena one, which also happened to be the grand centre arena of the Pokemon Trainer's School.
This area differed from others in that it alone of all the other arenas contained a gathering of both evergreen and deciduous trees. And, it was also fenced off by a fairly new addition to the grounds, a golden metre- high fence with a spearhead pattern at the top. It was quite a beautiful sight, and a welcome addition to the already beautiful grounds. It was broken at only two points, a majestic silver gate at both of these, standing up tall and proud as if they were the eighth wonder of the world.
It was here that Joseph ran, trying to hide in the shadows to avoid being seen, especially by Mark. From tree to tree the lone figure ran, dodging, dashing, looking around for any figure, even as the bees buzzed around him and the grass swayed in the wind. Finally reaching a tree he could climb, he swiftly jumped up, avoiding a large brown branch with a Ledyba sitting on it. Although the swooshing sound could be heard as he was climbing the tree Joseph did indeed manage to avoid being noticed. Swinging his legs around to a more comfortable yet secretive position, for he was quite close to the arena, his small eyes darted around, looking for Mark.
Right on cue came Mark, strutting over to the golden gate, pausing only briefly to fling it open carelessly like important generals or royalty might as if to declare his arrival, before resuming his extremely proficient display of footwork. Joseph groaned, half contemptuously and half exasperatingly. "Just like him!" exclaimed Joseph from his chosen tree, "Just like that, as if he alone was the most important bloke in the world. Oh man! Well, I guess some things don't change," he sighed.
Oblivious to this, Mark continued to walk confidently to the usually packed central arena, although now it was completely devoid of people save for himself, the Referee, who was one of the very few refs on time today, his opponent, the maths teacher Mr. Despotta, and of course, Joseph, though his presence was unknown to everyone else present. Ignoring the beauty and serenity of the place, the birds singing, the beautiful blue-green water in the fountain rushing down from the spout, the bees buzzing, working their hearts out, and the wind, gently blowing, Mark immediately headed towards his end of the arena, "Come on, Mr. Despotta!" he called challengingly, "drop the 'old man' pose and let's get going! Unless you're afraid that is!" he laughed.
Mr. Despotta obviously had no fashion sense. He was wearing a neat black jacket with a white shirt underneath. After that, everything else about his attire was incomprehensibly crazy. Instead of trousers, he had on a pair of ridiculous bright yellow shorts, revealing more of his legs than perhaps everyone would otherwise wish. This was followed by a pair of shiny red and black sneakers, polished to perfection. The match, however, was less than perfect. And of course, the traditional black sunglasses like the ones in the movie MIB. In other words, simply horrendous. Joseph stared meekly. Mark frowned meekly. The referee just blinked his eyes, pretended nothing was wrong and tried to shut out the terrible colour mix.
"I'm ready when you are!" wheezed Mr. Despotta, for he was aging. "Face it, George!" he thought to himself, "the young are taking the reigns, but I won't give into them yet!" he corrected himself encouragingly. "Mark, Mark, Mark," he stated, "haven't you learned anything here? Or are you too proud, too blind to see the truth?" he asked. "You are-"
"Quit your yabbing, and get going! Stop trying to buy some time! It is starting to slip from your fingers anyway, only I have the time to waste. There's plenty of time for me, but you on the other hand, soon, you will be but a memory," he said harshly.
"Plenty of time? Plenty of time?" scoffed Mr. Despotta, who was actually a fairly nice guy, despite his name. "Exactly what I was talking about!" he exclaimed. "You are not a child, Mark. So why do you act like one?" he asked "You should have learned that no-one can hold a moment. It runs out like water in your fist. You must try and grasp it when you can, even as it falls away," he taught patiently.
"I have no time for your talk, old fool! The world is waiting for a new champion, and it shall be I that delivers!" he cried.
Seeing his cue, and also not wanting a major brawl, the referee interrupted this less than eloquent speech by Mark. "This will be a-"
"We know what it is, just get on with it!" interrupted Mark for a second time, "let us start already!"
"Then begin!," shouted the ref with less enthusiasm as he might otherwise have shown.
"Since you're so eager to win, I will be the first to commence. Go, Tauros!" yelled Mr. Despotta gruffly, for he was slightly perturbed at Mark's, well, attitude, shall we say. All this running quickly through his mind, he heaved his pokeball into the centre with a nice, flat throw. Though thrown hard, the pokeball naturally did not bounce, but instead made a clicking sound as it opened all of a sudden, revealing a bright flash of light. The red light flew out, temporarily unformed, but slowly revealing first two horns, followed by its three tails before its legs, and finally, its body. Tauros had a dark, brown chocolate coloured body (and incidentally made Joseph's stomach growl), while its legs were a lighter shade of brown, almost orange really, rather like that of traditional tea. Its face was the same light brown, albeit with three grey circles half embedded into its head. It also had two curved majestic horns sprouting from the sides of its head, each looking like a beautiful crescent moon. Finally, three tails whipped back and forth, dark brown in colour, with furry grey tips. Lifting its head, it opened its mouth and gave a challenging earsplitting roar which made everyone cover their ears.
"Huh, you don't see many of those," remarked Mark, " but that doesn't mean I'll show you mercy! Show them my power, Gyarados!" he yelled, throwing the pokeball in his hand violently. This time, the pokeball chose to open itself and released its pokemon while in mid-air, before flying back to Mark's open palm. At first, the shape that appeared seemed to be much like a snake. Over the next few seconds, that thought rapidly disappeared from the minds of those present. The shape simply refused to stop growing. It grew, and grew, and grew, and grew some more, until it had become what must have been at least a hundred metres. On the ground Gyarados sat, bending its body to form several 'u' and 'n'. It had a fierce, dragon-like body, mainly blue, white and a dull yellow. White fins grew all over Gyarados' body, with one exceptionally big one at the end of its long body. Its face in particular was formidable to look at, with its huge staring eyes right into you. Really, it gave Joseph shivers even though it wasn't looking anywhere near him. Also, it had three dark green 'horns' you might say, looking rather like the business end of a pitchfork that those red cartoon devils are always shown holding.
"A Gyarados, huh?" asked Mr. Despotta, "Well, it's certainly possible to have one, since Magikarp evolves at level 20, but... This one seems unnaturally strong," he murmured. "And I can't imagine Mark ever having the patience to raise a Magikarp." Making up his mind, he yelled "Tauros! Don't give him a chance to attack! Take down, now!" Tauros snorted loudly in the way bulls do before they charge. Then, kicking up dust with its front hoof, it lowered its head fiercely, a not very nice look on its face. It charged.
"Gyarados, twist around and dodge it, then give it a Hydro Pump attack when it runs past!" he ordered.
From the other end, Mr. Despotta stiffened slightly from hearing this, though not enough for Mark to notice. "Hydro pump?!" he exclaimed in his mind worriedly, "Is that possible? Or is he just bluffing?" One look at Mark's contemptuous yet angry face gave him all the answers he needed. But it was too late to stop now, he knew. "Ouch time now," he winced, quoting from a Star Wars movie that he had seen.
Gyarados, display great agility for a being of its gargantuan size, nimbly twisted its body so that Tauros ran straight through a loop. Then, shifting its head to face Tauros' backside, its eyes glowed red for a split second, before releasing a decisive flood of water, its force similar to that of the mightiest waterfall, and giving the grass more water than was good for them. The aim was true, and the power immense, as the water hit Tauros, and in the moment it still stood, the water sprayed everywhere like a gigantic out of control sprinkler system. After that, inevitably, Tauros gave in to the power of the blast, knowing it could not win, and was pushed metres out of the arena by the flow. There it lay, still and motionless, sprawled on the ground like a fly just swatted by a fly swatter, barely breathing.
"Return, Tauros!" cried Mr. Despotta, all the while looking fairly calm, not giving away any of his emotion, as he had learned to do over the years. In his mind, however, he was, he had to admit, slightly worried. "Well!" thought Mr. Despotta, impressed nevertheless. "Maybe I will be forced to give way to the youth sooner than I thought," he exclaimed. "But I'm not gonna go down with a fight!" he thought, trying to muster some of that old energy that he once had as a youth. Alright, down to business!" he told Mark out loud, strengthening his voice, although Mark merely gagged, struggling to keep a straight face. "It's time for some payback! Go and avenge Tauros, let's go Primeape!" he yelled, releasing the pokeball.
The hairy, round body of Primeape all appeared simultaneously from the pokeball. It had, as just mentioned, a round, pudgy, white body with lots and lots of fur. This fur was very long indeed, and made Primeape's skin all but invisible. It had raised arms, showing off its muscles from the moment it had erupted from the pokeball, showing its, light brown in colour, with strange grayish bracelets on its wrists. Scientists had yet to work out whether this is a result of tradition, or whether, like Machoke, it had to restrain its strength. Its muscles were well toned and stuck out like a Wookie at a Noghri family reunion. Its legs were much the same way, big, well built muscles and a fairly large foot too. Finally, its face was pretty much covered. What could be seen though were the narrow slits that were Primeape's eyes midway up its body, glaring at everything, and a pudgy pink nose just below it. This Primeape's nose actually seemed a little off centre, as though it had been punched many times. And of course somewhere below that, though not visible beneath its body fur, was its mouth, for it was possible for it to talk in its own language. Though it was fairly confident, Primeape also looked worried, for it knew what had happened to its comrade. Rather than be put off by this however, its resolve was stronger than ever, and it told Mr. Despotta so with a wink and a smile.
"Okay Primeape, COME ON!" yelled Mr. Despotta to no-one in particular, but simply wanting to boost his own confidence level really, considering how easily Gyarados knocked Tauros aside.
"Oh puleeeeze!" thought Mark carelessly. "He's gonna use that feeble thing? Primeape isn't fit for licking my boots when I become the pokemon master!" he continued viciously. "That Tauros was despicably weak, just like squashing a fly, and so is this Primeape. Doesn't anyone have any strong pokemon?" he asked himself.
"I withdraw Gyarados!" cried Mark arrogantly, albeit predictably for Joseph and Mark's pokemon, a move with made Mr. Despotta's jaw drop slightly, Gyarados do its dragon version of a sigh, and Joseph roll his eyes and shake his head at the same time. "Do it, Victreebel!" he yelled. The thrown pokeball landed on a rock with a loud crunch, and burst open to reveal its pokemon. This pokemon looked a bit like a Venus Fly Trap. It had no real face as such, but just a large circular mouth with several visible teeth, and two tiny, barely visible eyes just below its 'lip'. The mouth was on top of its main 'body', which was a cylindrical yellow, well, thing, with a few small brown dots scattered randomly in separate intervals along its body, much like when a human gets measles. Three bright green, healthy looking leaves also sprouted out of this pokemon's body at various places as well, one on each side of its body and the third leaf on top, partly covering its mouth. Finally, a thin, long brown stem was seen from the middle of Victreebel's top leaf, which hung behind Victreebel and hung the full length of its body, almost touching the ground with a mysterious yellow bulbous thing, which looked a bit like chili on the end. What this was, or what it did was still a mystery to humans though.
"Okay, Primeape!" yelled Mr. Despotta encouragingly, albeit nervously, "Show them your anger, but no mercy!" he cried, punching the air with his ragged fist. "Thrash attack, now!" he ordered. Primeape nodded, and stared at the ground, focusing its anger. It started shaking all of a sudden, at first subtly, then more obviously, and before long it was shaking aggressively, almost uncontrollably, with anger and rage. Joseph could only imagine what horrors Primeape had in its mind to get this angry. Though he didn't know this, the main focus of Primeape's anger was simply the fall of its friend, Tauros, for those two had been friends for more than forty years, and were closer to each other than anyone else, even their master, and thus it was natural that one's defeat brought out anger and the thirst for revenge in the other. Mr. Despotta knew this well, and purposely harnessed this power for his use, for he knew Mark had strong pokemon. Very strong pokemon. Primeape, still gathering its emotions, started turning red all of a sudden, as if someone had put an oven inside Primeape's mouth. Starting off as a bright pink, the pink gradually became a brick red, then, as it became a darker red, blood red, then finally, purple, although this latest change in colour might indeed have been brought about as the result of Primeape holding its breath while all this was happening, and as such had not breathed for over a minute. Wisely, it stopped, took a few deep, deep breaths, before letting out a mighty roar, or as close to a roar a Primeape can manage anyway, and charged in a furious frenzy towards Victreebel.
"Awww, come on, gimme a break!" thought Mark, shaking his head at the same time. "This won't be any challenge at all!" he continued. "Oh well, if that pitiful pokemon is the best that he can do, I guess I'll just have to crush him... As always," he sighed, for although he loved to conquer weak trainers and their pokemon, he also wished for a challenge. Basically, this was boring him to no end. "Victreebel, just block the move," he said, the annoyance of even having to bother evident in his voice.
Victreebel moved, or rather, hopped ninety degrees so that Primeape was charging at its left side. Sticking out a leaf, it touched Primeape on the head, and, amazingly, just held Primeape at bay as if it required no effort at all (which it probably didn't). Primeape roared once more, and kept charging, or trying to charge at least anyway, because Victreebel's single leaf held it completely at bay. It looked rather ridiculous really, Victreebel, with just one leaf, was preventing Primeape from moving with a single leaf without breaking a sweat, even though Primeape was at full power.
"What on earth?!" shouted Mr. Despotta, fretting. "Primeape's at its full strength! The power needed to just to slow it down, never mind stopping it altogether at the moment would be enormous!" he said, "and now, Victreebel's just playing with it!" continued Mr. Despotta worriedly. "This is not good," he murmured, half troubled, half awed. "How could a Victreebel like that generate so much power? To fully stop Primeape in its tracks, it'd have to be at least level forty five! And very few people in the world have pokemon of that power," he thought. "It's not possible for him to have leveled up his pokemon so much in just a few years!" he said, greatly troubled.
"You fool!" laughed Mark, "you miserable, pitiful old fool! Tell me, old man, what is the point of a person to have powerful family connections like the ones I have, if you hesitate to manipulate it to your advantage?" he asked mockingly. "Up there in the highest levels of society, those who hesitate, die," he told him. "That's how my family and I became so wealthy, and why you will never be so," he said.
"No," said Mr. Despotta sadly, "no Mark. Your father did not become wealthy by being sneaky, nor a great orator, nor with deception, or anything else. He achieved his wealth through perseverance and good will, Mark. Why is it that no-one will work for you as a servant, do you think, though you offer them the largest pay cheques in New Bark Town? It's certainly not because of money. It is you, Mark. When you learn this, and change your attitude, perhaps then life will unfold itself for you," he said.
From the nearby tree, Joseph winced. "Oh man, I don't think that was the right thing to tell him!" he thought, "he's never handled those sorts of lessons well. Mr. Despotta might as well have been talking to a brick wall, only this wall fights back, and fights back hard!" he exclaimed.
"Arggghh!" cried Mark angrily; trying desperately to get Mr. Despotta's words out of his head. Though they kept coming back, Mark pushed those thought deep enough to temporarily be able to concentrate once more. "Quit it, old man! I have no time to hear your riddles, nor the time for your excuses. I have a match to win, and by the gods, win it I shall!" he declared savagely. "Now, Victreebel, Giga Drain!" ordered Mark. Victreebel nodded at once, hopped back, for though Primeape had long stopped trying to struggle, it had made sure Primeape wouldn't do anything funny by holding onto it until then. Bending over, mouth angled towards Primeape, Victreebell let loose from its mouth a strange greenish hue, like that commonly seen in forests of every kind. The air around it seemed to sparkle all of a sudden, a similar yet lighter green colour, with a hint of yellow. Primeape groaned out of the blue, and collapsed, falling on its knees. Again, its body started shaking, but this time it seemed it was from its body's weakness, no doubt from the Giga Drain. Its muscles were aching and it was sweating uncontrollably. Still, it struggled, even as its arms and legs wobbled visibly, like a tornado blowing against a tree, tearing at its foundations. Finally, Primeape succumbed, its muscles failed, and it fell, face first into the dirt. It did not rise again.
"What?!" shouted Mark scornfully, "you call that a Giga Drain attack? That was more like Absorb!" he scolded. "Be sure to do better next time, Victreebel, or else!" he shouted at the poor pokemon. He looked back up at Mr. Despotta gleefully. "You are no match for me old man! Give up now!" he commanded, pointing his finger at Mr. Despotta, "or you and your pokemon will pay dearly!" he yelled.
But Mr. Despotta was not easily intimidated, nor frightened as a result of many years of experience, especially not by what he called a 'rowdy teenager', such as Mark. "I don't care if you are a thousand times stronger than me. Whether you defeat me or not is irrelevant, but my words shall stay and haunt you for long after!" he cried defiantly. "You are no trainer, you are a monster!" he shouted, putting a lot of weight on that last word.
"Why you." shouted Mark aggressively, though lost for words. He didn't even want to think about what Mr. Despotta had said. Desperately, he again buried his thoughts and said "yeah, right. Now, are you going to send out your next pokemon, or just let Primeape lie there on the ground?" he asked calmly in a very un-Mark like way.
"Return, Primeape," said Mr. Despotta, conceding the point. "You can't hide from your feelings forever you know, Mark. Eventually, it will hunt you down," he told him. "But I have a feeling you don't exactly like this discussion. So go, Camerupt! See what you can do!" he yelled, and threw the pokeball. Out came Camerupt, bursting with vibrant energy. Or at least it showed as much energy a Camerupt could be expected to have, for they were fairly slow and lazy, albeit powerful. Camerupt was, as its name suggests, like a camel, but infused with the power of fire. For one, it had a fire red body, a short, stubby tail of the same colour, four large paws, and three blue rings on its side, although what those symbolised was anyone's guess. Also prominent were a cow-like head with a brown snout, and of course the two humps on top of it, also the same brownish colour. These were in the shape of two miniature volcanoes, though both Mr. Despotta and Joseph knew that Camerupt's body was a living, erupting volcano, which held magma, some of which reached temperatures of up to 18 000 degrees Fahrenheit.
Though the Camerupt was certainly impressive, it was no more than just another weak obstacle in Mark's eyes, Mark himself remaining obviously undaunted. To the contrary, he laughed. "Ha! A Camerupt, eh? Well, at least this time you chose a pokemon that, with training, could become extremely powerful," he said. "And so I answer power with power!" he declared, "go, Dragonite!" he yelled, stretching out that last word, and incidentally shocking Mr. Despotta out of his skin.
That last word made Mr. Despotta's blood run cold. Time seemed to stop. "No!" he thought, refusing to believe at first. Then, as time passed, and slowly resumed its usual tempo, Mr. Despotta started to fear more and more that this was no bluff. "In any case," thought Mr. Despotta, "there is only one way to find out. Although I'm not sure I want to find out," he continued.
It might have just been Mr. Despotta's brain playing tricks again, but this pokeball seemed to open slowly. The usual bright flash of light came, and seemed, for a moment, to last forever, before passing again. The shape emerged, and there hovered Dragonite, steady and firm , no less than a metre off the ground. Dragonite looked pretty much what you would expect from a dragon pokemon, except perhaps slightly less fierce. Indeed at the moment, this Dragonite had a funny grin on its face, oblivious to Mark's current mood. Its body was a beautiful light orange, which included its long and thick tail, its two majestic wings, four large paws, and its round, cute face. It also had a very pale yellow underbelly, with thin, black horizontal stripes going across it. It had two wings, which weren't all that big, but obviously had a lot of power behind them to be able to hold Dragonite in the air at all. The wings were the same light orange on top, but on the side facing the bottom, a beautiful light blue, such as you might see in very clear bodies of water, was featured. It had four paws, again all orange, which each had three grey claws which looked extremely sharp, which looked to be able to tear through a lot. Finally, it had a quite adorable head, charming and innocent, featuring two large, shining, round knowing black eyes, two small black nostrils the size of a pea, and a fairly large mouth that was mostly hidden by its large nose. As well, there were two short and cute antennae sticking out from Dragonite's head, brown in colour, and drifting about in the wind.
"Get that stupid smile off your face, Dragonite!" shouted Mark angrily. "Now is not the time for comedy, I'm in a battle in case you haven't noticed," he said, frustrated. Dragonite reacted cautiously to its noisy new master, being use to the kindness of Mark's grandfather, but, recognizing Mark, quickly complied and got serious.
Meanwhile, Joseph, in the tree, shook his head nervously. "Oh no." he said quietly, hiding his horror, "who knows what he'll do now that he's using Dragonite. I just hope that poor Camerupt, as well as Mr. Despotta don't get beat up too bad," he thought. "Hang in there," he continued, looking at Mr. Despotta sadly, "hang in there."
A few metres away from Joseph, Mr. Despotta was actually trembling for the first time in this match, and indeed the first time in a long time. But, calling on his years of experience and hardy nature, he determined not to back away. "Ready Camerupt?" he asked. "We will defeat Dragonite, or we will fall trying," he declared, gritting his teeth, for he knew full well that he would have no choice but to fall, and Camerupt appeared to realise this as well. "Alright Camerupt!" he yelled, "Give it your all! 210%! Eruption attack, now!" he yelled, calling upon a move which he had taught Camerupt with a TM, for he had received this TM from a raffle in a local club one day; one could not buy it anywhere in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn or Oore.
Camerupt nodded grimly, knowing this would be its last stand, but was willing to do so for its master. Steam started pouring out of its two humps on its back as it prepare to spew out the lava that was forever churning within its volcanic body. The churning sounds grew louder and louder, until it could be heard without difficulty by the trainers. Camerupt shook, as the magma struggled and struggled, pushing to get out. Camerupt, when it judged it was the right time, dipped its neck, which was surprisingly flexible, so that it was touching the ground. The result was that the humps on its back were angled up towards the still passive Dragonite, looking on with interest. Without any warning at all, the magma stopped moving for but a second. Then, it blew. BAM! With the force of an atom bomb, Camerupt's two humps simultaneously erupted, spewing all that 18 000 degree Fahrenheit magma out in a rush, like water might flow after a dam collapses, that deadly fire heading straight for Dragonite. This eruption was also heard from people's homes in the middle of New Bark Town, sending terror to many poor villagers. Grounds groaned, walls cringed and people shook as that explosion reached their positions.
But Mark had not been doing nothing either. "Dragonite, show them who's boss, shall we?" he asked a few seconds before the eruption. "Hyper beam attack, now!" he called excitedly, waiting for it to come and crush Camerupt. Dragonite roared, and opened its mouth wide, as if it was going to the pokemon dentist. From the air, Dragonite drew small yellow spheres of pure energy, which rapidly gathered in the immediate area in front of Dragonite's mouth. This collective ball of pure energy became bigger and bigger, just as the churning noises from Camerupt had become bigger and bigger, eventually growing to the size of a watermelon. Then, at the time it deemed most appropriate (and happened to be the same time as Camerupt's Eruption attack was released), it pulled its head back, then brought it forward again quickly, and sending the powerful beam directly into the path of the Eruption attack.
The initial impact was staggering. The two beams came together with such power that Mark and Mr. Despotta were blown back, each about ten metres. The hapless referee was also blown back at the same time. Branches were completely torn off trees, and whirlwinds of sand were whipped up from just the first energy wave alone. Even bare rocks were hurtled into the sky, some bigger than a football. Mr. Despotta was unfortunate enough to have unintentionally strayed into the path of a particularly large branch, and was smashed in the knee by it. Though not seriously injured, Mr. Despotta found that his knee hurt whenever he put any weight on that foot. The referee himself got a considerable amount of sand in his eyes and was blinded for the next few minutes while he tried to get it out. Joseph, however, was by far the most unlucky of the group. Falling from the tree, he landed on head first, and his head hit a root from a tree with a thud. Even worse for him, as he was so weak from the fall, he could not help himself as he continued to be swept back by the energy wave. On it continued, until Joseph reached the gate. He hit the gate, again head first, at about forty kilometers an hour with a sickening crunch. Again, luck was to be against him. The gate wobbled, and wobbled after being hit at such speeds right at its base. Finally, it too toppled, and its full weight landed on Joseph, crushing him easily. Joseph laid still, obviously knocked unconscious, possibly even dead; such was the power of the initial energy wave. Only Mark was lucky enough to come out unscathed, though he too had been blown backwards. Put plainly, it was complete and utter chaos.
"It was a bit like that Dragonball Z episode where Gohan and Cell fight with their Kamehameha waves!" Mark would later recall. And indeed it was rather like it, for there were two beams, struggling to overpower each other, with Dragonite of course dominating, but still yet to completely penetrate Camerupt's attack. Then, for no apparent reason, the continuous winds seemed to die down, though the attacks had not stopped. Mark stood up and looked around, searching for an answer. Mr. Despotta carefully took in his surroundings, but still on the ground as his leg could not support his weight.
The first thing these two saw was that the two pokemon were still fighting, going at each other, hammer and tongs, neither giving up, although Dragonite still clearly held the advantage. The second thing they noticed was that at the point where the two attacks met each other, the energy no longer expanded from that point. "That's it!" realised Mr. Despotta, "look Mark! Where those two beams meet, the energies spiral into the air, and it looks like they're expanding into a bubble," he said.
What Mr. Despotta had rightly called an energy bubble looking to be a mystical light green in colour, but otherwise quite hard to describe. It was kind of like a man-made dome that you might see in the city. Well, it was the same shape anyway, but the likeness ended there. The group could still see outside fairly well, although the bubble made everything outside a nice shade of green like the grass that used to grow there. It seemed to reflect all the incoming sunlight rather than absorb it. Where the two attacks were meeting each other, there was simply a bright flash of light that half-blinded everyone. Gradually, this yellowish light changed to become the light green.
"It's always calm in the eye of the storm," quoted Mark, "of course! That's why it's become so calm. The energy produced must be still as powerful as ever, only the bubble's expanded to just outside the fence surrounding this area. Anything inside is calm, but outside." he said, leaving the sentence unfinished. This sentence actually surprised Mr. Despotta quite a bit, for Mark was talking to him as an equal for once, despite his usually bad attitude. "I wouldn't want to be out there," he said.
Only then did the full implications hit Mr. Despotta, and hard. "Mark! We must stop this madness!" he yelled desperately. "If we don't, this could wreak havoc!" he continued.
But his plea fell on deaf ears. "Since when did I follow your orders, old man?" sneered Mark, reverting back to his old self. "I will only stop when you have been defeated!" he declared. "I will settle for no less!"
Just then, as Mr. Despotta was about to reply, there was a huge rumbling noise, the sound of concrete groaning as it pushed against more concrete. "Oh no." breathed Mr. Despotta. The next few moments seemed to go in slow motion. There was a single snapping noise heard coming from the closest building, and then, without warning, it toppled, the huge structure giving way. The energy finally being too much for it to take, the concrete walls collapsed in on itself, as well as crushing the wooden framework. This created a large shock, shaking the ground as if the world was about to end. This only served to deepen the trouble, as the building next to it also screeched in protest, before again it too collapsed in on itself, much like the first building. With a roar, this building came tumbling down, making a humungous crashing sound, louder than anything anyone present had ever heard before as well as creating a shockwave through the earth which were recorded on seismographs all the way from the Science Institute in Cherrygrove City, measuring 2.0 on the Richter scale. This, although not particularly big in comparison to major earthquakes was in its own right very powerful considering it was generated by a pokemon.
Whereas those last few moments seemed to come in slow motion, the next bit seemed to speed up all of a sudden. Before anyone realised what had happened, or what was happening, the next building toppled, and the next, then the next, and the next and the next, creating one heck of a loud sound, and even more tremours. Well actually, loud doesn't do it justice. It was simply tremendous, louder than anyone who was not present could imagine. Dust was thrown in the air along with wood splinters and large blocks of concrete which had no business being that big. Everything in the radius of the buildings, including the sometimes expensive items in the buildings themselves, was completely and utterly crushed, from vases to couches to desks to machinery, nothing survived.
The dust cleared, and Mr. Despotta and the referee looked around in shock, blinking their eyes, not daring to believe. The carnage was almost impossible to describe. Around them was nothing but rubble. Trees were torn out of the ground whole and thrown metres away. Some splintered wood here, some torn leather there and some shards of glass lying around too. But the majority of the rubbish was concrete. Some blocks of concrete were relatively unbroken and in large blocks, but others were reduced to fine dust. Either way, the landscape was turned completely grey by the smattering of concrete. No buildings in sight were still left standing. The Pokemon Trainers School of New Bark Town had been completely wiped out.
For miles around, Mark, Mr. Despotta, the referee, Dragonite, Camerupt and Joseph were the only ones left standing (although the last two can't really be described as standing, both lying motionless on the ground). "But, how come...We're okay?" asked a stunned and shaking Referee. "This whole place.Look at this!" he shouted, for he had, if you remember, sand in his eyes, and hadn't seen what had happened, but had only heard it. It's a complete dump!" he exclaimed, looking around. "Wait! Look around us at the immediate area.Then look at the area around that!" he cried, completely shocked bewildered.
And he had a right to be, for although the area where the buildings lay was a complete and utter mess, the immediate area seemed to have come out more or less fairly unscathed. "Yes," said Mr. Despotta gently. "When Dragonite and Camerupt's attacks met each other, they created an initial shockwave which was fairly powerful already. Since Camerupt continued to sustain its attack, the energy formed something like a bubble," he explained. "I guess that was why we weren't harmed. It's calmest in the eye of the storm, and that was where we were. The buildings were completely ravaged. Anyone within the vicinity would have been killed," he said grimly. "Thank god this was the last match. Or countless people might have died," he said, sending a sharp look at Mark. "Why didn't you stop? What if there were still people there?" raged Mr. Despotta angrily. "I told you to stop it, and you." he seethed.
Mark simply laughed, unfazed by this new bout of anger. "I thought you would have learned by now! I will stop for no-one in my quest. All in my path will fall!" he declared.
"Humph, never mind that, if my Camerupt was stronger there wouldn't be any Johto, Kanto, Hoenn or Oore for you to conquer!" he said. Mentioning Camerupt suddenly reminded him that he had forgotten to tend to his beloved Camerupt, which was still devoid of movement and lying in the dirt, he ran up to it and knelt down by its side slowly. "Oh Camerupt," he mumbled, some tears starting to form in his eyes, I am so sorry," he said. "But I couldn't give up, you know?" he asked, "I just couldn't. Camerupt, oh thank you and well done. Return," he breathed sadly. This picture was somewhat symbolic to Mark, Mr. Despotta kneeling next to Camerupt, though he didn't know why. It would take him a long time to figure it out.
Interrupting this touching moment, several sirens could be heard in the distance, and fast approaching. It appeared the emergency services had finally arrived. A police motorcycle with Officer Jenny and three ambulances quickly stormed into the premises, before turning and heading towards the centre arena. "Alright, ambulance crews, move out! Look for any people in the wreckage!" ordered Officer Jenny. She was wearing the same police uniform as always, the deep blue top and skirt, a black handbag no bigger than an A4 piece of paper, white gloves, and the same blue police uniform cap. In short, the same as always. "What on earth happened here? I was on my way here in the first place, but when I was driving on Snubble Pass I heard a bang, and then a few seconds later, I felt a longer chain of earth tremours, "she said, her long blue hair swinging as she looked from person to person.
"Well, it's a long story," began the referee, sighing, "But to put it short, it's the exam time at the PTS. I'm sure you know how it goes, the students battle the teachers, and so Mark here used his Dragonite, yes a Dragonite Ma'am" he added pointedly, seeing the look on her face. "And then, his opponent, poor Mr. Despotta here-" he continued, pointing to the figure still kneeling on the ground and sobbing uncontrollably.
"Wow, that man needs serious medical treatment. I hope he's all right," thought Officer Jenny grimly, looking at the solitary figure on the ground. "Wait a sec," she interrupted out loud, holding out one white gloved hand palm towards the referee. Looking away, she yelled "hey Pauline! Get over here and give this man some assistance! I don't think he's doing to well!" At the affirmative nod from one of the ambulance crew, she turned her head back towards the referee. "Sorry, please continue," she told him.
"Alright, well as I was saying, Mr. Despotta had a Camerupt. Camerupt used eruption, Dragonite met it with Hyper Beam, and the resulting clash when the two attacks met, the powerful energy waves, caused all this wanton and purposeless destruction. Mr. Despotta tried to stop it, but. Mark wouldn't listen at all," he informed her. "What on earth was he thinking?!" he raged in his head. "That foolish boy, we could have all been killed, and all he cares about is winning!" he thought angrily.
"Why weren't you harmed?" she asked curiously, interrupting his thoughts and sneaking a glance towards Mark. "Sure looks like him," she thought to herself privately. "By all accounts, all of you should be dead. Oh and by the way, does that Mark happen to be Mark Witsinski?" she asked out loud. "I hope he's not actually," she thought, "I'm not looking forward to telling him. Nope, not at all," she decided.
"Dead huh? Heh, that's a nice thought," he winced admittedly. Until now everything that had recently transpired had really seemed, well, unreal, and fake, as if the ref still didn't believe what had happened, and to tell the truth, it hadn't really sunk in to anyone present at all yet really, except possibly for Mark. "Yes he is," said the ref. "Why?" he asked. He waved his hand dismissingly just as Officer Jenny was about to speak. "Never mind, I don't think I want to know," he said quickly, seeing the hesitant and worried look on the officer's face. She nodded too in response, waiting for him to continue. And, well, as to what happened, I don't really know how to explain it myself. You see, I had gotten sand in my eyes, so I missed it completely!" exclaimed the referee frustratingly. "Mr. Despotta and Mark saw it, but I still can't make out anything from their explanation. But maybe you'll have some better luck with him," he said. "Good luck too," he added pointedly.
She nodded, accepting his advice. "That boy is trouble," she thought, her piercing eyes darting around, looking at Mark. "Very well. Thank you. If you'll just leave your contact details with me, you may go. We may need to ask you about this event again. Or in legal proceedings," she added darkly. Nodding solemnly, the referee did as he was told, and then positively scrambled away at the speed of light. "Poor man," she commented. "Well, I guess I'll go question Mark myself," she thought. Then, turning, she walked up to Mark, who was standing in the exact same spot as he was when she had arrived. "Boy, this guy's gonna be a tough nut for me to crack, I can see that!" she thought to herself. "Mark Witsinski?" she asked.
"Yeah, that's me," he said. "And tell me, please, what do you want to know about what happened here?" he asked mockingly.
"Well firstly, I want to know if you can drop that attitude of yours!" snapped Officer Jenny. She had gone through rigourous police training, which, amongst other things, had taught her how to deal well with repugnant people with attitudes like Mark. But, remembering her original duty, she decided to soften a little. "I don't want to get him too upset, or he'll get even angrier when I tell him," she thought. And that was something she definitely did not want to bring about herself. "I'm sorry. Please, tell me why you and the others were unharmed," she said quietly.
"Oh, well, all right," responded Mark gruffly, surprised, and more than a little fazed by Officer Jenny's change of heart. This in itself was a rare event, Mark giving way that is. Perhaps he too had sensed the conflicting emotions within Officer Jenny. And so he again proceeded to the laborious task of telling Officer Jenny about the two attacks clashing, the shockwave they created, the energy bubble, and so on.
Officer Jenny listened to this, and looked on in amazement, temporarily forgetting about her strife. "Wow," she thought, "I'd better inform Professor Oak and his aides quickly, he may just want to question one of these guys. This is a strange phenomenon, I'll say that much. An energy bubble eh? This is completely unheard of in the scientific world," she exclaimed in her mind. "One other thing," she added as he finished. "Tell me why I shouldn't arrest you now," she said sternly, and although she never did have the intention of arresting him, she did indeed want to see how he would react.
"Huh, you would dare to arrest me?" he laughed, as if the very thought was ridiculous. "I doubt that highly, but just to satisfy you, this is why," he said coldly. "There currently is no law condemning destruction, if that destruction comes from a pokemon's move that is simply too powerful, and was never done on purpose to harm people, get it?" he asked viciously. "It's as much Mr. Despotta's fault as mine," he spat. "Ha! Detain me! Yeah right. Like you could. Wait till Gramps hears about my victory. He'll be proud I tell you!" he declared blindly.
"He would have been proud? Maybe." she murmured, and though she did not believe that, she felt compassion for him, and this was evident in her voice and face. "Mark Witsinski," she said, slowly looking up at him. Mark felt a terrible crushing feeling in his heart, not wanting to hear what Officer Jenny had to say at all. Frankly, it frightened him, another rare occurrence, and it did so for good reason. "Should I tell him?" she asked herself, greatly troubled by the news she brought. But, inevitably, her arguments and emotional turmoil, combined with her duty, left her with no other option but to speak. And there too was Mark, steadily waiting for what she had to say. Uncertain, but feeling he could deal with anything. "Can you? Can you really deal with it? Something such as this?' she asked herself again, looking at him. Again, there was no other answer but to tell Mark. "Duty requires it," she told herself.
"Mark Witsinski," she repeated sadly and slowly, "your Grandfather.is dead."