Chapter 3

Black Jack and Centurion were the next two combatants to enter the arena. "C'mon, Black Jack!" Isaac yelled with encouragement, while Meowth was still unconscious from his battle with Mysterious. "It's all down to you now!"

Even with the encouragement he was getting, Black Jack showed only an expressionless face while Centurion showed confidence. "It's just you and me now, Black Jack," he said.

"Before we start," Black Jack said. "How about we raise the stakes a little bit?"

"I'm listening," Centurion replied.

"I know that you are part of Team Dark, so don't try to deny it," Black Jack said. "If I beat you, and I will, you and your cronies must give me all the information of your organisation."

"But what if I win?" Centurion asked.

"If you win? Your organisation can have me," Black Jack replied.

"Very well," Centurion replied, agreeing to the stakes. "As I am a warrior of honour and Team Dark, I vow to defeat you no matter what."

"Enough with the honour stuff," Black Jack thought as he lowered his head and closed his eyes in stress.

He opened his eyes and raised his head. "So, how do you want to battle me?" he asked. "Man to…" He stopped for a moment to think whether to call him a pokemon or not. He decided to call him that anyway. "Pokemon? Or pokemon to pokemon?"

"Humans are no match for me," Centurion replied.

"I've wrestled a bunch of Ursaring once in my travels and I don't see you as a threat, but have it your way. You're going to find out why we humans call ourselves pokemon trainers."

He took a pokeball off his belt. "Nidoking! Let's whip some!" he yelled as he tossed out his pokeball.

Nidoking materialised from his pokeball and let out a loud roar, motivating itself to battle. "Did you expect that roar would intimidate me?" Centurion asked.

"It's not the roar you should be worried about," Black Jack said.

"Pursue victory with honour!" Brutus yelled as he held up his axe. "Begin!" he yelled as he pointed his axe with Mysterious sounded the gong.

"Nidoking!" Black Jack yelled as he pointed at Centurion. "Tackle attack!"

Nidoking did as he was told as he charged at Centurion while Centurion did the same. Centurion slightly lifted up his lance and attempted to stab the charging poison/ground pokemon with it, but missed as Nidoking dodged out of the way upon Black Jack's command.

"Now! Mega punch attack!" Black Jack commanded.

Nidoking lifted up his clenched paw as he charged at Centurion again. Nidoking aimed his punch on Centurion's gut but it got blocked when Centurion defended it with his staff. Centurion stumbled backwards as he felt the strength of Nidoking's punch.

"Impressive, you two," Centurion said.

"Back at ya," Black Jack said.

"Nido," Nidoking growled, agreeing with Black Jack.

"It has been a long while since I faced a worthy opponent," Centurion said.

He threw his lance at Nidoking, aiming for his face at the speed of a speeding bullet. "Deflect it back," Black Jack commanded while remaining calm and confident.

So did Nidoking as he used his forelegs to hit the lance back at Centurion, who confidently caught it.

Centurion and Nidoking then walked round, stalking each other. Without warning, Centurion ran at Nidoking to stab him but Nidoking dodged each one, upon listening to Black Jack's orders. Centurion then swung his lance but missed as Nidoking performed a back flip to escape the continuous attacks.

"Hmm, speedy," Black Jack thought, while thinking of a strategy to counter his.

Centurion tossed out his lance again at Nidoking. "Knock it aside!" Black Jack yelled.

As instructed, Nidoking used his paws to knock it away. But the lance was a distraction as Centurion came charging at him. "Oldest trick in the book," Black Jack said as he and Nidoking knew that Centurion was going to do that.

Centurion lowered his head and aimed his horn at Nidoking, who confidently grabbed it. Black Jack was about to shout out another command but to their surprise, Centurion was using his horn attack as a trap for Nidoking as he used his neck and back strength to throw Nidoking up into the air.

Shock came on Nidoking's face as he was being thrown up into the air. But he gained back his senses as he somersaulted while intending to land on Centurion's back.

Realising this, Centurion looked up in an attempt to grab his opponent or spike him with his horn. "Dodge his hands and grab his horn!" Black Jack yelled.

Centurion missed as Nidoking did as he was instructed as he moved slightly away from his clutches and grabbed him by the horn, landing on his feet.

Centurion let out a loud grunt as he felt the pain of his horn being pulled. "Go for the ride, Nidoking!" Black Jack yelled. Nidoking nodded as he jumped over Centurion's head, using the horn for leverage. He landed on Centurion's back as he held onto his horn, making him fall on his front.

Nidoking was still yanking back on Centurion's horn, causing more pain on the horn and neck. But Centrution wasn't near giving up as he got up on his feet and struggled to shake off Nidoking.

After a long struggle, Centurion finally got Nidoking off his back as Nidoking lost his grip on the horn. "You're finished!" Centurion snarled as he raised his hand as a strange energy glowed on the palm of his hand.

"Nidoking! Get out of the way!" Black Jack yelled.

But Nidoking became shocked as he looked at a huge fireball coming towards Centurion from behind. "Nid Nidoking!" Nidoking yelled as he pointed at the incoming fireball.

The fireball landed a distance away behind Centurion, causing an explosion upon impact. He quickly stopped his attack and turned round to see what was going on.

To his horror, another huge fireball came shooting down on a part of the building and tons of huge bricks came falling down on his comrades. While he stared in shock, another fireball hit him in the back, sending him flying and crashing on the ground. Nidoking ran to his aid.

Black Jack saw another fireball coming towards his teammates. They let out a large scream in shock and horror, enough to wake Meowth up to see the incoming fireball, also screaming in fear. Acting fast, Black Jack tossed out his pokeball. "Metagross! Use Hyper Beam!" he instructed.

The Iron Leg pokemon became released from his pokeball and yelled out its battle cry as he shot out two large light energy beams out of his eyes. The attack collided with the fireball and they exploded on impact.

"Hey! Who was that?" Max yelled.

"Guess!" Isaac said with narrowed eyes as he looked up, knowing who it was.

More coming! Reviews please!