The duel between Ken and Brock begins with a bang! Brock tries his best to get a leg up on Ken by sending out Golbat, but that proves to be a bad move, as Brock's Golbat is no match for Ken's Growlithe! But all is not lost...before Golbat goes down, Brock manages to weaken Growlithe a little. However, when Brock manages to draw a Pokeflute, he, Misty and Ash devise a plan for a double knockout! Now, Brock stands poised to carry out his plan, but who knows what Ken will do to counter Brock's strategy?
Will Brock take the lead? Does Ken have another tactic up his sleeve to counter this plan? Find out!
The Heart of the Cards, part 6: With a Song in My Cards
"Sapphire, make your move..." the ref called.
Brock attached a Fighting Energy to Geodude, then commanded "Geodude! Rock Toss!"
The ref blew the whistle, signaling a coin toss. "10 damage for every heads!" she announced as she flipped the coin for the first time.
"Pika pi, pikachupi?" Pikachu asked Misty, clutching his bell strand tightly.
"No, not yet. Brock said to wait for the signal." Misty assured Pikachu.
"Chaa..." Pikachu sighed, apparently frustrated.
Ash studied the scoreboard for a moment. "Brock needs to get two heads in order for the plan to work. If he gets all three heads, that would knock Growlithe out and mess the plan up!"
"Well, there's one!" Misty noted, hearing the crowd cheer as the first coin landed on heads. The second coin went up...and landed on tails.
Brock watched nervously as the third coin went up. "Come on, come on, come on..." He grinned as the crowd cheered, signaling that he had gotten two heads. "YES!!!"
The Geodude hurled a barrage of rocks at the Growlithe, dazing it. Ken's HP went down by twenty, leaving his HP at 180.
"Ruby's turn!" the ref announced.
"Growlithe, Body Slam!" Ken called.The Growlithe slammed into the Geodude, knocking Brock's HP down to 270.
"Sapphire's turn!" called the ref.
Brock drew another Fighting Energy, but decided to save it and use the Double Colorless Energy in his hand. The Geodude glowed bright white as twice as much Energy flowed into it. Then Brock overlaid the only Evolution card in his hand: Graveler lv. 32, making a Graveler appear in the Geodude's place and boosting his HP to 310. Then, he placed the Pokeflute card in the play area, making a real Pokeflute appear on his platform.
Ash saw the Pokeflute materialize on Brock's platform. "Get ready." he told Pikachu.
"Pika!" Pikachu got ready to ring his bells...
"No, no, no! Not yet, not yet!" Ash reminded Pikachu. "The signal..."
"Pika pika, pikapi..." Pikachu assured Ash.
"All right, then." Ash replied, turning his attention back to the arena.
Brock took the Pokeflute in his hands, lifted it to his lips, and started to play a hypnotic melody. After playing the tune through once, he gave a small nod in Pikachu's direction. Pikachu started jingling his bell strand in rhythm with Brock's melody. Before long, the entire crowd, and even Ken, was either tapping their foot or moving their head in rhythm to the music.
As the song continued, Ken's deck rose out of the deck holder and began to ruffle through itself several times, until one card fell onto Ken's bench, boosting his HP to 230. The crowd applauded when the song ended.
Ken was unfazed. "Great song and all, but do you REALLY think that will win this duel?" he asked.
"I'm not through yet!" and Brock placed the Gust of Wind card. A tornado appeared in the arena, blowing the Growlithe back to Ken's bench, and dragging out the Pokemon Brock had summoned earlier: Rattata lv. 7. Some people laughed when the Rattata appeared. "Tatta!" it cried.
"Graveler, Rock Toss!" Brock commanded as he attached a Pluspower to it.
The ref blew the whistle, signaling another coin toss. "30 damage for each heads with Pluspower!" she explained. The coin went up...
"Okay, with Pluspower in play, Brock really only needs one heads to completely knock out the Rattata, right? Misty asked, looking to Ash for the answer.
"That's true..." Ash replied, cracking his knuckles in anticipation of the second coin toss. "Somehow, I have a feeling Ken has a strategy of his own to counter our plan..."
"Look, three in a row!" Misty pointed at the scoreboard, which depicted three O's, one for each heads. "That means 90 damage!"
The Graveler tossed three HUGE rocks at the tiny Rattata, knocking it into Ken's discard, lowering his HP back to 200. Brock, on the other hand, smiled as the ref blew the whistle, signifying a knockout. "Sapphire, select a prize!" she called as Brock's prizes appeared before him.
Brock grabbed the top left prize: Lightning Energy. "I might need this if I get Electabuzz or Pikachu out there..." he thought as he slipped it into his hand.
"Ruby, select a Pokemon!" the ref called.
"Growlithe, get back out there and finish the job!" Ken commanded as he placed the Growlithe back in the arena. "Or better yet!..." and he overlaid his next card on top of the Growlithe card: Arcanine lv. 42.
"Uh oh..." Misty began. She hadn't counted on this.
"Pika pika pi ka, pikapi..." Pikachu agreed, trembling
"You're right, Pikachu. Our plan is about to go horribly wrong..." Ash sighed apprehensively.
"Arcanine, Heat Tackle!" Ken commanded. The Arcanine blew out some flames, then slammed them with such great force into the Graveler, it returned to a card, defeated. Brock's HP returned to 270. "Not so high and mighty without your Graveler, are you?" he laughed, not noticing that his Arcanine had been hit with recoil.
"Well, I'm just going to have to fight fire with fire!" Brock answered, displaying Vulpix lv. 16 to the crowd.
Sapphire's turn!" the ref announced.
Brock attached a Fire Energy to his Vulpix. "Okay, Vulpix! Hypnotic Gaze!" he commanded. The Vulpix's eyes started to change colors and swirl as it stared at the Arcanine. After a few minutes, the Arcanine's eyes began to swirl in the same manner, then fluttered, then closed as it slumped to the floor, asleep.
"Ruby's turn!" the ref called.
"Uh, um..." Ken stammered as he attached some energy to his Tauros. " I end my turn!"
"All right, Ruby's sleep check...if heads, Arcanine wakes up!" the ref explained. The coin went up...and landed on tails. Ken groaned in frustration as the ref called "Sapphire's turn!"
Brock drew his next card: Ninetales lv. 35. "Hmm..." he thought. "Nah, Vulpix can damage Ken's benched Pokemon as well as the Arcanine..." With that, he added the evolution card to his hand and attached another Fire Energy to Vulpix. "Vulpix, Fire Ring!" he commanded.
"Vul!" The Vulpix fired a flaming circle at the snoozing Arcanine, causing Ken's HP to go down by 20. A second ring enveloped the benched Tauros, causing 10 more damage!
"Ruby's sleep check!" the ref called, flipping the coin. "Ruby continues to sleep!"
Ken attached a Fire Energy to his Tauros. "This guy will be no match for my Tauros!" he thought as he ended his turn.
"Sapphire's turn!" the ref announced.
Brock looked again at the Ninetales lv. 35 card. "I have a bad feeling that I'm going to have to use this...and soon." He sighed and called to his Vulpix "Finish him off with Fire Ring!" Vulpix fired two more fire rings, the first wrapping the sleeping Arcanine up, knocking it out, and the second damaging the benched Tauros again!
"Sapphire, select a prize!" the ref announced as Brock's prizes appeared before him.
Brock smiled, pleased with himself as he grabbed one of his prizes: another Fire Energy. "Now we're even!" he called to Ken.
"Yeah, but you haven't seen anything yet!" Ken yelled back. "Allow me to introduce...Tauros!" He flipped up his Tauros card, making a Tauros appear in the arena. It pawed the arena floor eagerly, anxious to charge.
"Ruby's turn!" the ref announced.
"Tauros! 3 Pronged Tail!" Ken commanded.
Brock swallowed hard as the ref blew the whistle, signaling a coin toss. "If Ken gets the lead again...I don't think I'll be able to get it back..." he thought. He glanced over at Misty and Ash hopefully. "Then again, I may still have a chance! I've dueled hard to get this far, but I'm really gonna have to pull out all the stops if I hope to win!" He flashed a thumbs up to his friends as the first coin landed on tails. The second coin went up...
"Come on, Brock! You can do it!" Misty called, but her call was in vain as the second coin came up heads.
"Pika pi!" Pikachu cheered, waving a 'GO BROCK!' sign. Ash smiled in agreement.
"Thanks, guys..." Brock smiled. "Go, Pokepower!" he called to the group.
"POKEPOWER!!!" Misty and Ash cried back.
Ken smirked with confidence as the third coin came up heads. "You think your silly little war cry will stop my superior edge?" At this, the Tauros charged at Brock's Vulpix, making two scratches with its tail. Brock's HP went down by 20.
"Sapphire's turn!"
"Never underestimate Pokepower!" Brock taunted back, overlaying his Ninetales lv. 35 onto his Vulpix card, boosting his HP by 20. He attached the last Fire Energy in his hand to Ninetales, then commanded "Dancing Embers, now!"
Misty looked up at the scoreboard. "Dancing Embers uses eight coin tosses, right?"
"True..." Ash replied. "Since Ken's Tauros is wounded a little already, he needs five heads to knock it out."
"Where are you getting all these card stats from, a book?" Misty asked, puzzled.
"Nope!" Ash replied. "Maya told me about some of the popular cards that are used here." He pointed out Maya talking to some other sponsors. "She's over there, if you want her to come over here."
"I think I'll ask..." Misty waved a hand in Maya's direction. "Maya! Over here!"
"Coming..." Maya walked over to where Misty and Ash were standing. "Isn't this exciting?"
"Sure is!" Ash replied as he counted the O's on the scoreboard. "One...two...miss...miss...miss...miss...miss...three!"
The Ninetales hurled a shower of embers at the Tauros, but only three of them connected. The Tauros cried in pain as Ken's HP went down by 30.
"Ruby's turn!" the ref announced.
Ken attached a Double Colorless Energy to Tauros, then commanded "Tauros! Finish off the Ninetales with Full Speed Charge!"
Brock got his next card, Onix lv. 43, ready for battle. "I've saved my very best for last..." He sighed as his HP went down by 50. "Here's hoping..."
"Ruby, select a prize!" the ref announced.
Ken laughed with delight as he grabbed one of his two remaining prizes. "You DO know that if I take my last prize, you lose?"
"I may be down, but I'm not out yet!" Brock announced. "It's time that I showed you TRUE Pokepower!" With that, he placed Onix lv 43 in the arena, and a HUGE Onix towered above the arena floor, awing those in the crowd, and striking fear into Ken's heart.
"I knew Brock was saving his best for last!" Ash noted.
"Maybe Brock has a chance for a comeback!" Maya agreed. "Onix is a powerful card, one that a great player can use well..."
"I guess our victory lies with that Onix..." Misty sighed.
Can Brock come from behind and win? Will his best card come through for the Pokepals? Stay tuned!