The duel between Ken and Brock begins to literally heat up as Brock tries to turn Ken's own power against him! However, even this strategy turns out to be useless against Ken's sheer power. But Brock is not about ready to give up yet! He quickly places Onix lv. 43 on the field, confident he'll win! The duel now depends on one card...
Will the Pokepals emerge victorious? Find out!
The Heart of the Cards, part 7: An Onix-pected Victory
Ken trembled with fear at the monstrosity towering over him. "Wha...what is that!"
"It's Onix, my most powerful Pokemon!" Brock explained. "For this whole duel you've been trying to scare me with your so-called powerful Pokemon...but now you'll really see what power is!" He attached a second Fighting Energy to Onix on top of the one he had placed earlier. "Onix! Let this audience hear a mighty roar of Pokepower!" The Onix let out a deafening roar that shook the whole room. Ken's Tauros turned to run away, but could not under sheer panic.
"Ruby's turn!" the ref called.
"Um...Tauros, retreat!" Ken called, returning the Tauros to his bench and setting a Ponyta out in its place, ending his turn.
Brock attached a third Fighting Energy and his last Pluspower to Onix, then commanded "Onix! Rock Throw!" The Onix began throwing rocks at the Ponyta, making the arena shake again. The Ponyta tried to dodge the onslaught of rocks, but soon succumbed to the form of a card, making Ken's HP go down by 40.
"Both sides are now at one prize apiece!" the ref explained. "The next knockout is declared the winner!"
Ash led the audience in clapping. "Come on everyone! Sing with me!" With that, he started the fight song. "We're the Pokepals, we're a-comin' in, with our combined power we are gonna win, we will rise and triumph over every foe, and let the Pokepower shine!..."
"Tauros! Come back and use 3 Pronged Tail!" Ken commanded, placing his Tauros back in the arena and motioning to the ref for the coin toss. The coin went up...
"...Onward now we go, onward to the fight, with our Pokepower as our guiding light, we will ever climb up to the greatest height, and let the Pokepower shine!..." Maya led the audience in the last verse as three X's came up on the scoreboard. "We have traveled far across this land so free, Pokemon League waiting just for you and me, and there we'll reign as Pokemasters three, and let the Pokepower always shine!".
Ken hung his head as the ref called "Sapphire's turn!"
"Onix! Rock Throw!" Brock called. "Seal this victory for me!" The Onix obeyed, and soon, the Tauros succumbed to the giant rocks.
"Game set!" the ref called as Brock took his last prize. "Sapphire wins!" The audience burst into applause!
"YAHOOO!!!!" Ash cried, tossing his cap in the air.
"We did it!" Misty cheered as Brock triumphantly stepped down from his platform and shook hands with Ken.
"Way to go!" Maya smiled, putting a hand on Brock's shoulder.
Brock smiled. "Don't mention it. I just played as hard as I could..."
"Keep that up, okay?" Misty told him. "We could use a duelist like you." She smiled as Brock approached the ref.
"Sapphire, take this Crest and this booster pack as proof of your victory!" the ref replied, handing a booster pack to Brock.
"Thank you." Brock replied to the ref, taking the booster pack in his hand. He flashed the Boulder Crest to the audience, then ran back to his teammates as the audience cheered.
"All right! Let's celebrate!" Misty suggested.
"Follow me to the Dome's restaurant!" Maya called. "We'll celebrate there!" With that, she lead the group out into the crowd of people.
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"I can't believe it!" Ash cried as he and the others mingled in the hallway. "I thought we were done for when Ken put out that Tauros!"
"Pika pi!" Pikachu agreed, giving Brock a playful static jolt.
"Brock, I'm proud of you, no question." Maya began. "I can't believe that you won after all that pressure Ken put on you!"
"Didn't you hear him bragging the whole duel?" Brock asked the others.
"I know I did, and I wished he would stop..." Misty sighed.
"I hope he realizes now that mere power isn't enough to win a duel...it's actually dependent on strategy." Ash mused.
"Me too, but don't count on it." Maya cautioned. "He is known to be a bit of a braggart..."
"Tell me about it..." Ash sighed as he rummaged for a piece of paper and a pencil. "This is worthy enough to send in a letter to May..."
Maya offered Ash some paper decorated with various trading cards, including the four Legendaries. "Here, you can write it with this Card Mail, Pokemon Dome's special Mail!"
"Thanks!" Ash replied as he took the Card Mail from Maya and sat down on a nearby couch. "Let's see....Dear May..." he wrote.
"Hello from Titian City! This is the home of Pokemon Dome, the great card duel arena!" Misty suggested.
"That's good!" Ash commented as he wrote Misty's suggestion down. "...duel...arena. Then what?"
"Misty, Brock and I are competing in one of the tournaments right now, and we've just won the first round!" Maya suggested.
Ash copied down Maya's sentence and added his own words. "Brock showed his opponent that Pokemon card dueling isn't about how powerful your cards are, it's how you use them in the duel. We sang our fight song at least three times!..."
"Ash!" a voice called from the crowd, startling everyone.
"Huh?" Ash looked up from writing his letter to see Professor Oak standing over him. "Oh! Professor! I didn't expect to see you here!"
"I was in town listening to one of my coleagues, Dr. Mason, present his paper on the history of Pokemon cards." Professor Oak explained. "It was quite interesting, actually...so I understand you've won your first round in the tournament, correct?"
"Yeah!" Ash replied. "Brock put a hot-shot duelist in his place! I even told the audience to sing our fight song!"
"Fight song?" Professor Oak was interested.
"Wanna hear some of it?" Ash asked, grabbing Brock's lyrics from his pocket. "Okay...somebody give us a note."
Brock hummed a note, then led everyone into the first verse. "We're the Pokepals, we're a-comin' in, with our combined power we are gonna win, we will rise and triumph over every foe, and let the Pokepower shine!..."
"That sounds good!" Professor Oak chuckled. "I wish all of you the best of luck in the rounds ahead!...oh, have a booster pack as a reward for your victory!" He gave everyone a booster pack, then disappeared into the crowd.
"I guess we've shown the competition not to mess with Pokepower!" Brock laughed, pocketing his two booster packs.
"There are still many others to duel." Maya cautioned, "so don't get TOO cocky."
"We'll try!" Ash assured Maya. "For now, let's have dinner and celebrate!" The others laughed in delight as they walked off.
With one victory behind them, what lies ahead for the Pokepals? Stay tuned!