Episode 9: All or nothing

Chapter 1

Black Jack and Ash arrived in another dome like room, only this time they have met the man they have to defeat to save everyone… Mane.

Mane applauded Black Jack and Ash for completing the challenges he set up for them. "Bravo you two for getting this far," he said. "Now, I'm no fortune teller, but everything's turning out as I predicted."

"Did you also predict what I'm going to do you after what you did, messing around with John's family?"

"All I can predict is that you two will be working for me."

"What?" both Ash and Black Jack yelled.

"Beat me in this battle and I'll release everyone as promised, but fail and not only your family and pokemon will remain in their cells but you two will work for me!"

Black Jack smiled at Mane's confidence. Ash couldn't help but being suspicious about Mane's plans.

"Something's wrong here!" Ash said. "What's going on, Mane? You set this two-on-one handicap trainer match and you seem confident regardless of what we're going to do to you!"

"Ash," Mane replied. "You are so suspicious. I just like a little bit of challenge, that's all."

"Enough secrets, Mane! What have you got planned for this battle?"

"Let's just say that I have been training my pokemon, y'know, to toughen them up a little bit."

Black Jack suddenly became suspicious upon hearing that. "I doubt that," he thought. "He must be scheming something."

"So are we ready to battle?" Mane asked. "Or are we going to have lunch?"

Black Jack suddenly felt something inside his head, as he smiled sadistically. "I just need to do a few moves, Mane," he said. "To teach you a lesson you will never forget!"

"We'll teach him something alright!" Ash said. "We'll show you why you don't set up a two-on-one matches, especially against us!"

Outside the base, a huge Meowth balloon was hovering over it. Inside the balloon basket were a man and a woman in their Team Rocket uniforms and a Meowth.

"So dis is da place where dat twerp and Black Jack went to," the Meowth said as he looked at the location.

The man looked at the base and became shocked at what he saw. "Jesse!" he cried. "Come and look at this! They stole the Team Rocket designs and made a base of their own! Only they changed the letter R to M!"

"What! Out of the way, James!" the woman cried as she shoved him out of the way. She too became shocked at what she saw. "I don't believe it! We'll show them that they can't take Team Rocket's looks! Let's teach them a lesson!"

"Wot?" Meowth cried. "Just da three of us?"

"Yes!" Jesse yelled. "And along the way, we can steal those legendary pokemon back to the boss!"

"Dat one I like!"

The three gathered round as they lowered the balloon into a nearby space of the forest. "Go! Team Rocket!" they cried as a Wobbuffet popped out of Jesse's pokeball and he cried, "Wobbuffet!!"

Back to the started battle, Black Jack decided to start as he picked out a pokeball. "I'll choose first! Go, Nidoking!"

He chucked out the pokeball and Nidoking came out as he gave out a loud roar. "Pretty scary, for some people," Mane said. "I think I choose mine second, just to be fair."

He picked out a pokeball out of the briefcase, held by his henchman who was standing near him. "Go! Suicune!" he cried as he chucked out his pokeball.

Black Jack's eyes narrowed upon looking at Suicune in battle. Ash picked out his pokeball. "Sceptile!' he cried. "I choose you!"

He chucked his pokeball out and Sceptile popped out, yelling out his battle cry.

"This is it, Ketchum," Black Jack said as he smiled. "This is a good chance to see if we deserved to win that tournament."

"You got that right," Ash replied. "Cos Mane is using some fancy gadget to catch and command those pokemon."

"How true," Mane thought to himself. "And I got more tricks up my sleeve."

"Suicune!" he cried. "Aurora Beam!"

Suicune opened its mouth and shot out a shining beam out of its mouth but Nidoking and Sceptile managed to dodge out of the way.

"Nidoking!" Black Jack yelled. "Tackle attack!"

Nidoking aimed his horn and charged at Suicune but it leaped into the air to dodge it. Suddenly, Sceptile jumped into the air to grab Suicune to bring it down.

"Oh no!" Mane cried in a fake worried tone. "I had no idea your double teaming techniques would be too much for me!"

Ash gnashed his teeth, as he knew that Mane was making fun of them. "Don't let him anger you, Ketchum," Black Jack said. "Anger can sometimes cause you to make a mistake. One wrong move can cost you everything you worked so hard for."

Ash understood everything he said. "Okay… yeah!"

"Sceptile!" he cried. "Hold Suicune for Nidoking's attack!"

Sceptile held tightly around Suicune's middle as he waited for Nidoking to attack. "Nidoking!" Black Jack cried. "Seismic Toss!"

Nidoking quickly grabbed Suicune. He and Sceptile looked at each other and smiled, as they predicted they were going to do some heavy damage on Suicune.

They both slammed Suicune on its back and then threw it up in the air. Nidoking pointed upwards, signalling that he wanted to slam Suicune while airborne. Sceptile crouched down and laid his paws out. Nidoking stepped on Secptile's paws and Sceptile quickly lifted his paws while Nidoking jumped off it, giving Nidoking extra height to leap.

"Suicune!" Mane shouted. "Counter with your Ice Beam!"

Just when Nidoking was about to grab Suicune, it recovered as it spun round in mid-air and shot out a huge Ice Beam out of its mouth. The attack, much to the shock of his friends, caught Nidoking.

Nidoking wasn't frozen, but he fell hard on his back and started shivering like mad. Black Jack ran over to him to check on him. When Black Jack touched him, his eyes widened with shock as he felt the coldness of his body. He looked at Mane with narrowed eyes.

"You've powered them up with those gadgets, didn't you, Mane?" Black Jack snarled.

"Correct," Mane replied. "You've won today's star prize, a one-way ticket to your defeat."

"So that's it!" Ash yelled. "Well, you're going to have to keep that prize for yourself."

Black Jack down at Nidoking with concern as he took out his pokeball. "Return, Nidoking!" he said. He picked out another pokeball. "Feraligatr!" he cried. "Go for it!"

Feraligatr came out of his pokeball and let out a loud roar.

"A water type versus water type?" Mane asked. "This should be very interesting."

"You can either shut your mouth or I can shut it for you!" Black Jack snarled. "Go, Feraligatr! Slash attack!"

"Guys! Wait!" Ash yelled. "Don't run up to it!"

"Suicune!" Mane cried. "Ice Beam attack!"

"Too late!" Ash thought.

Suicune opened its mouth to shoot out another Ice Beam. But to its surprise, Feraligatr spat out a small spit on its face, distracting it while Feraligatr scratched its face and created scars on it.

Mane was shocked of Feraligatr's trickery. "How dare you spit at such a beautiful pokemon!" Mane shouted angrily. "How insulting! Tackle him, Suicune!"

Suicune ran up to Feraligatr and rammed him until Feraligatr's head and back hit the wall, making him slightly dizzy.

"Sceptile!" Ash yelled. "Razor Leaf attack!"

Sceptile leapt into the air and shot out a number of leaves out of his arms like a ninja that throws his ninja stars.

"Suicune!" Mane cried. "Use Ice Beam on Sceptile!"

Suddenly a spit reached Suicune's face, making it distracted while the leaves hit it numerous times. "What!" Mane yelled. "What's happening?"

"Feraligatr!" Black Jack yelled. "Dynamic Punch!"

A clenched blue paw came rushing in on Suicune's face. That punch belonged to none than Feralitr's. After the thunderous impact for an attack, Suicune became knocked out.

"No!" Mane yelled. "Impossible! I can't believe you two would hurt my beloved Suicune that way! You two are so mean!"

"I am angry that Mane hurt John's family," Black Jack thought. "But that big baby should calm down after that loss."

"Fine!" Mane shouted loudly as he called back Suicune. "I estimated you two! Fun times are off!"

"Get ready, Ketchum," Black Jack said.

"You got it," Ash replied as he nodded.

"Go! Zapdos!" Mane yelled as he chucked his chosen pokeball.

Zapdos popped out of its pokeball as it gave a loud screech.

"Sceptile! Razor Leaf!" Ash commanded.

"Feraligatr! Water Gun!" Black Jack commanded.

Both pokemon aimed their attack at Zapdos. But Zapdos dodged the attack with its lightning speed and dodged every attack thrown.

"Zapdos is too fast in mid-air!" Ash yelled.

Feraligatr looked back at Black Jack and nodded to him, agreeing with Ash.

"Good idea, cos this ain't working" Black Jack said as he took out his pokeball. "Feraligatr return!"

Feraligatr returned while Sceptile was still trying to hit Zapdos with his Razor Leaf.

"Zapdos!" Mane yelled. "Drill Peck attack!"

Ash took out his pokeball and was about to call back his Sceptile but it was too late, as Zapdos knocked Sceptile away until his back violently hit the wall. Ash and Pikachu ran to check on him.

"Sceptile!" Ash cried. "Sceptile! Wake up!"

"Pikachu!" Pikachu cried.

Scpetile struggled to pick himself up but every time he tried to, he kept on falling down. "Sceptile," Ash said. "It's going to be okay… you need to rest."

Sceptile shook his head sideways, which meant 'no'.

"I know how much you love battling," Ash said. "And I know that you know that there are lives at stake, I understand that. But I can't let you risk yourself anymore because you are one of my best friends and no one wants to be saved that way."

Sceptile looked up at Ash and smiled. Ash smiled back and got him to return back into his pokeball.

"How sweet," Mane commented. "Pity that you two have five pokemon each left."

"That makes it ten in total," Black Jack said. "Don't be too confident, you have five pokemon left yourself."

"I never knew that you were good at maths."

"Since we can't battle you from the grounds," Black Jack said as he took out another pokeball. "We'll battle you in mid-air!"

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