Misty and Brock have joined Ash in his desire to become a trading card duelist! Together, the three of them will face some of the best duelists in the world with one goal in mind: four Legendary cards! But three competitors also means triple the duels, with the group's first challenge coming in the form of the self-proclaimed "Lord of the Flames"; Ken, the Fire Club Master. Ken's prescence in the arena alone is enough to make any duelist tremble, but Brock decides to put the boastful duelist in his place.
Will Brock survive the duel? Find out!
The Heart of the Cards, part 5: Ready for the Storm
Misty wrung her hands as the two competitors shuffled their decks. "I sure hope Brock knows what he's doing....this Ken guy looks really good."
"I'm sure he'll do fine." Ash assured Misty.
"Pika pika chu, Pika pika chu!" Pikachu sang the first line of the fight song while waving a flag.
"That's right, Pikachu! We're the Pokepals, we're a comin' in!" Misty repled with a giggle.
"Quiet, they're about to do the coin toss!" Ash shushed...
Back in the arena, Brock selected his Bench Pokemon, prizes, and active card. With Vulpix, Geodude, Onix, and all my other good Fighting Pokemon in play, I don't think Ken will survive my Rock Storm!" he thought to himself with a smile. He took one glance at his side of the stats: SAPPHIRE 2 4 4 53 330, and compared them to Ken's stats: RUBY 4 2 4 53 160 "This'll be too easy..."
The ref blew her whistle, signifying the coin toss. "If heads, the challenger plays first!" she announced. The coin went up....
"Heads..." Brock called the toss.
The ref checked the coin when it landed. "Ruby plays first!"
"Prepare to be scorched!" Ken taunted as he flipped up his active card: Growlithe lv. 18. A Growlithe appeared in the arena and barked to the crowd, causing some people to laugh.
"And you get ready for the storm!" Brock answered as he flipped up his active card: Zubat lv. 11.
Ken laughed as the Zubat appeared before his Growlithe. "You call THAT puny Pokemon a storm? More like a drizzle to me!" He attached a Double Colorless Energy to Growlithe, causing it to glow bright white as twice as much energy went inside him. "Okay, Growlithe! Stoke your fire!" The Growlithe yipped obediently, and dug into a little bit of the arena, revealing a Fire Energy card. "Good boy..." Ken replied, shuffling the card into his deck.
"Sapphire's turn!" the ref called.
Brock attached a Fighting Energy and a Defender to Zubat. "Zubat! Wing Attack!" he commanded. The Zubat circled over the Growlithe several times, then swooped down for the attack, scraping the Growlithe in the face with its wing. Ken's HP went down by 10.
"Ruby's turn!' the ref announced.
Ken attached the Fire Energy he received earlier to Growlithe. "Growlithe, Body Slam!" His command was interrupted by the ref's whistle.
"If heads, Sapphire is paralyzed!" the ref called. She flipped the coin...
"Oh, please, not now....." Brock thought. He swallowed hard as the coin came up heads.
"Charge!" Ken commanded. The Growlithe ran up and slammed into the Zubat, making it fall onto the ground, paralyzed. However, Brock's HP remained at 330. "What???" He stared up at the scoreboard in disbelief, surprised that Brock's HP had not decreased. "What happened? Body Slam was supposed to knock your Zubat out! I had it planned and everything!"
"Oh, you seem to have forgotten I had a Defender up around Zubat." Brock explained. "And by the way..." He displayed his next card: Golbat lv 30.
"Sapphire's turn!" the ref announced.
Brock calmly put down the Golbat card, causing his Zubat to disappear and a Golbat to appear in its place. The move also boosted Brock's HP to 370. "Golbat! Dive into it!" he commanded.
"Gollll!!!" The Golbat streaked down and hammered the Growlithe in the stomach, dazing it. Ken's HP went down by 20.
"Ruby's turn!"
"Growlithe, knock the Golbat out once and for all! Body Slam!" Ken commanded. The Growlithe barreled into the Golbat with so much force, it slumped to the ground and returned to the form of a card, defeated.
"Oh no!" Misty cried as Brock's HP went down to 300.
"Pika pi..." Pikachu agreed with a sigh.
The ref blew the whistle, getting everyone's attention. "Ruby, select a prize!" she announced as Ken's prizes appeared before him.
Ken laughed as he selected the top right prize: Tauros lv. 28. "Are all your Pokemon this weak?" he asked as he added the Tauros to his bench, boosting his HP to 200.
"I wouldn't say that!" Brock replied as he placed his next card in the arena: Geodude lv. 17.
"Sapphire's turn!" the ref announced
Brock's next card was a Trainer card: Pokeflute. "Hmm...Pokeflute automatically summons a random Pokemon onto the opponent's bench and paralyzes the active Pokemon ..." he thought. "If I could somehow get his weakest Pokemon out and knock that one out on top of the Growlithe , I could pull ahead!" He made a T with his hands. "Time out!"
The ref blew the whistle. "Sapphire calls time out!"
Misty and Ash ran up to the edge of the arena. "What is it, Brock?" Ash asked. "In trouble?"
"Do we need a new plan?" Misty asked.
Brock stepped down from the platform and joined Misty and Ash on the arena floor. "Pokepal huddle!" he called. The three trainers huddled together, discussing their duel plan.
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"Okay, you noticed that I drew a Pokeflute on my current turn, right?" Brock explained. "I have an idea that might give me the lead, but I want to know what you guys think of it first."
"We're all ears..." Ash mused.
"My plan...is to weaken the Growlithe with Geodude's attack, Rock Toss." Brock explained. "Then, I'll play the Pokeflute I just got, luring Ken's weakest Pokemon onto his bench. Next, I'll use the Gust of Wind in my hand to send that Pokemon--whoever it is--out into the arena, and knock that Pokemon out. Ken will probably put Growlithe back out, and I'll knock Growlithe out too!"
"Great idea!" Misty cried.
"Go for it!" Ash agreed.
"Pika pi, chu?" Pikachu asked, jingling a strand of bells in front of Brock.
"Sure, you can jingle those as I play the Pokeflute, but don't jingle them until I give the signal, okay?" Brock told Pikachu.
"Pika pika chu?" Pikachu asked.
"What is the signal? I'll do this..." Brock gave a small nod to Pikachu.
"Can we clap too?" Misty asked.
"I guess...but not until..." Brock started...
"You give the signal, we know." Ash sighed.
"Right..." Brock smiled. "Who's the greatest?" he began.
"GO, POKEPOWER!" Misty and Ash replied. With that, Brock stepped back to his platform just as his time out expired.
"Sapphire has two time outs remaining!" the ref explained. "It is still Sapphire's turn!"
Will Brock's plan work? How will the duel play out? Stay tuned!