Chapter Two: All Aboard the S.S. Mantine! Part One
Nearly twenty minutes after the children finally boarded the ship, the S.S. Mantine had finally anchored out of the Cianwood Port and began to turn away from the seaside city to head towards Olivine City. Most of the insensitive little brutes had made it their mission to head to the intestines of the ship as soon as possible and see what laid inside, but Brian, the twins, and several other teenagers were nice and sentimental enough to give their beautiful city one last gaze as the horizon slowly devoured and chewed it. Somewhere in the city, Jolene and many other overprotective mothers were bawling into the sheets of their beds, not being able to see their babies for quite some time. After about another thirty minutes, Cianwood was fully engulfed by the treacherous sea, and the trio turned to officially begin their Whirl Island Quest at last.
Brian gave one final smirk before turning to face the twins and his pokemon. "Wow, so this is really it guys. We're on our own. We're on a pokemon journey! I can't believe how amazing the thought of…"
"Brian, do me a favor and please shut up. Nobody likes an overly sensitive little sissy boy! Right Slowpoke?" Greg groaned, looking to his hefty bear pokemon for support.
The three pokemon were sitting on the hardwood polished deck together. Sunkern and Machop prattling away in their own little language about the two things that mattered most to a pokemon: shiny things and The O.C.. While the two obedient and well respected pokemon were in a deep intellectual discussion about the joys of aluminum paper, Slowpoke gazed cravingly at a gray shellfish pokemon, whom he lusted after for ages. Upon hearing Greg's question, Slowpoke turned to his trainer, temporarily out of his usual day dreaming state.
"Slow…. Slow… (Who are you again)?"
"Oh shut up you big lummox! God, I can't wait to capture another water pokemon! Then, I'll finally be able to toss you off the side of a boat and tell people you couldn't bear living with your fat self! Look at Sunkern and Machop! They are already deep in discussion like good obedient slaves; whereas you are just lusting over that Melissa's Shellder!" Greg shouted to his pokemon. Slowpoke said nothing, but rather quietly blinked back at him, contemplating on how much his gelled up blonde hair looked like a delicious omelet.
Having an extremely loud and obnoxious voice, Greg's whining was heard on the entire deck. The tall girl named Melissa looked back to see Slowpoke slowly licking his lips as he stared at the Shellder's backside, and immediately snatched her pokemon away, marching down into the bowels of the ship. Sunkern and Machop glared at the rude pokemon trainer with disgust, starting a new discussion on which of their attacks could probably off him. Slowpoke's eyes began to tear up as the love of his life slowly went away, all because of his stupid trainer.
"Greg, sometimes I really wish you would just shut your mouth for an entire day. Is it really that hard?" Julie muttered to herself.
"And I sure wish you would stop being such a little PMS infested bi…."
"OK GUYS! Who wants to go downstairs? I'm sure that there are lots of fun and dandy things do to in there! What do you guys say? Eh? Eh?" Brian yelled out nervously, before Greg could finish his rather insulting remark.
The tension between Greg and Julie reached an all time zenith, more frigid than an Articuno breath on a cold, blizzard stabbed day. They quietly stared at each other with their pearly seafoam eyes not budging a single millimeter. Greg started to clench his teeth with all his might while Julie's eyes began to shake violently. When the moment seemed like it would never come, Julie finally blinked. The twins looked at each other for another few seconds and started to laugh as Greg finally blinked as well.
"Damn it, Greg! Even if you are an idiot, you can still beat me in a good old fashioned blinking contest!" Julie moaned ruefully, giving her brother a light punch in the arm.
"Oh, don't worry little sis, you're still good at other things! Like being an ice cold bi…"
"Shut up Mr. Imgoingtoenduponthestreetswithnojobandafourhundred poundgirlfriendwhoIhavetospoonfeedbecauseshestooda mnfattogetuponherown!" Julie retaliated giving her brother a harder punch in the stomach. The two playfully fought with each other for a few minutes before landing on the deck and laughing their heads off. Brian stared at the twins in utter confusion. They may have been the worst enemies and polar opposites, but they always remembered the fact they were twins and managed to be closer than a obese adolescent to his chocolate cake.
"Wow guys, one minute cussing each other out, next minute, laughing with each other! I will never be able to understand you two... Anyway, want to head downstairs?" Brian asked shaking his head and chuckling at his two best friends.
"Yeah, let's get out of this place. People are already beginning to give us funny looks... Come along now Machop!" Julie replied calling her fighting pokemon forward while Sunkern hopped onto Brian's shoulder. Greg, without surprise, had major problems trying to get Slowpoke to follow him.
"GET UP YOU FAT LARD! COME ON! MOVE RIGHT NOW!" Greg pleaded, taking a handful of Slowpoke's back fat in a vain attempt to pull him away from the ship's railing, only to find the blubber slipping from his hands each time. Cursing under his breath, Greg moved his hands to Slowpokes tiny tail and began to tug as forcefully as he could. With the poor luck of a comic relief character, out of all the things Greg could have done to Slowpoke, he chose the most fatal one.
For the first time in many years, Slowpoke finally made a reaction that didn't involve gazing blankly with his mouth hanging wide open. Slowpoke slowly turned to face Greg with a face of utmost fury. His large eyes were narrowed in dislike, and his normally wide and gaping mouth had been reduced to a thin, annoyed line. After he glared at his trainer for a few seconds, he took in a big breath and opened his wide mouth as vastly as he could. Surprising everyone who watched, a thick pillar of foaming water fired out of the "fat lard's" mouth and struck Greg squarely in the chest, drenching his clothes and causing him to crash into the ship's side railings.
Julie and Brian looked at Slowpoke with utmost amazement, more surprised that he was able to use an attack rather than the fact that he hurt Greg of course. Many other onlookers in the deck turned to face Greg and Slowpoke, ready for a few seconds of entertainment. Machop and Slowpoke exchanged grimace from their trainer's sides. They knew Slowpoke the best and have seen the results of his true power a few times before.
Greg was knocked out temporarily by the sheer force of the Water Gun attack and struggled to get up again. Once he finally did, he shook his clothes fiercely like a dog, expelling a large amount of water onto the deck. As he regained control of himself he slowly realized something and brought his hands up slowly to touch his damp hair, fearing for his life. He could not feel the little gelled up waves and spikes sticking out.
"You…. stupid…. pokemon; you… ruined my hair! NO BODY TOUCHES MY BEAUTIFUL HAIR! I'll show you how a true Pokemon battles! I CHOOSE YOU, GREG!" Greg declared as he sprinted toward the livid bear, ready to fight his own pokemon.
"Wow, just when I thought Greg could not get any more pathetic and stupid," Brian commented as he watched the two lovebirds begin to circle each other silently, ready to take their anger out on each other.
"Oh, the stupid human is going to get killed by Slowpoke. How unfortunate," Machop muttered to Sunkern as they eagerly watched the battle.
"If he dies, do you think Brian will let me have his hat? I love that hat!" Sunkern wondered out loud.
"Alright, GREG USE YOUR DYNAMIC PUNCH ATTACK!" Greg ordered himself, resulting in many chuckles from bystanders. He nodded to himself in acceptance and began to pull back his right arm as far as he could. His remotely powerful biceps began to quiver as he flexed them with all of his might and launched himself toward Slowpoke, still standing several feet away. Unfortunately, because of Dynamic Punch's incredibly low accuracy, Greg found himself missing Slowpoke by a mile and tripping over his feet onto the floor instead.
Slowpoke let a low howl and raised his head to the sky. As Greg struggled to get to his feet, the bear pokemon began to glow brightly in a white light as if he was evolving. Along with blinding people with the powerful light that shined from his body, he also began to flash with scarlet dots randomly until it finally stopped, and he returned to normal, looking a great deal more powerful.
"What the heck was that? Looked like Slowpoke was laying an egg or something…" Brian asked, more concerned for the pokemon than his friend as Slowpoke began to growl at a whimpering Greg. The bulb at the end of Brian's I-Poke began to flash purple and started to say something.
"The pokemon just used Curse attack, an attack that increases strength and defense at the expense of speed for non-ghost pokemon."
When Greg got to his feet again, Slowpoke immediately let out a huge snarl and mauled his idiotic trainer as fiercely as he could. Greg let out a high pitched girly scream as nearly two hundred pounds of pure blubber crashed into his chest and pinned him down to the floor. His entire world was consumed by shadow as the only thing he could see was the glaring face of his Slowpoke who stared down at him with his eyes shaking and his mouth foaming.
"Hmm, should we separate them now?" Julie asked Brian.
"Nah, this is quite funny actually!" Brian commented, moving his head in different to see the battle better.
"Is it just me or does it look like Greg is liking that position?" Sunkern asked with a smirk as she eyed the two.
People began to come up from below the ship to see the Slowpoke-Greg battle, thinking it was all an act for their entertainment while the teenagers who were already on the deck were down on the hardwood laughing their heads off. Even the sailors, who should have stopped the fight long ago, began to sit and watch the battle like it was a casual football game. Greg took no notice of all the attention he was getting and turned a deep shade of puce as he strained with all his might to toss the fuming pokemon off him.
"All…right…Greg…use…a…Flamethrower… attack!" Greg ordered feebly to himself, still trying to escape from the clutches of the blubbery weight that was his bear pokemon. He finally stopped trying to struggle his way out of getting raped by the bear pokemon and relaxed himself. After closing his eyes in deep tranquility for several seconds, he opened his mouth as wide as he could and blew a stream of putrid breath into Slowpoke's nostrils.
"That looked like a Poison Gas attack to me…" Machop commented.
Slowpoke turned his head away to avoid inhaling Greg's breath and loosened his hold on Greg, giving the twin the opportunity to force the bear pokemon off of him. Greg immediately rose to his full height and dropped all of his weight down on the Slowpoke with an elbow drop. Slowpoke let out a tiny moan of pain and collapsed on all fours with his eyes glued shut. Many people began to boo at Greg for hurting his pokemon, but more were upset at the fact that Greg won, since they bet a few bucks against him.
Greg gave the poor fallen pokemon a nice kick in the side before marching around him, flashing all the disgusted ladies his infamous "Gregly Grin." As more people began to boo him and throw random items at him, Slowpoke's eyes suddenly flashed open in a split second, and he completely regained consciousness. Greg stood right in front of the bear pokemon's face, and his bare calves quivered oh-so-deliciously in front of Slowpoke's large mouth. The poor boy was so clueless as to why everyone stared at him nervously…
"OH MOTHER F S YOU LITTLE A …"
Greg hollered and cursed loudly for all of the ship to hear and to make the sailors grit their teeth in envy as Slowpoke took a large bite into his right calf and refused to budge, sinking his tiny teeth deeper and deeper inside the flesh. People began to look concerned, and Julie and Brian nodded at each other with mutual assurance. Brian flicked Sunkern in the back who rolled her eyes and hopped into the melee, and Julie also poked Machop in the shoulder, who also entered unenthusiastically to separate the two.
"YOU LITTLE PIECE OF S YOU ARE SO GOING TO PAY YOU LITTLE MOTHER FU…OWW!"
Sunkern launched herself from the floor straight into Greg's face and began to assault him violently while Machop began to karate chop Slowpoke's neck lightly until he finally let go of Greg's bleeding calf. As soon as Slowpoke had released hold of Greg, Sunkern leaped off of Greg's face and scurried to the railing where Greg chased her, safely away from Slowpoke. Machop then wrapped his right arm around Slowpoke's neck, dragging him backward with his muscular legs. Slowpoke thrashed and struggled with all of his might to escape the fighting pokemon's grip, managing to loosen his head and released another Water Gun straight at Greg.
Sunkern eyes widened as she saw the attack rocket toward the blonde, brainless boy, threatening to capsize him off the railing and into the murky depths of the sea below. Unfortunately for her, Greg was about to send her flying with what appeared to be a failing attempt at a Hyper Beam. Smiling softly to herself, Sunkern simply leaped onto Greg's shoulder and slid down his back like a slide in time to take the full blow of the Water Gun, which was nothing more than a refreshing bath to her.
Greg and Slowpoke stared at each other for a long time similarly to the way Greg and Julie looked at each other earlier, except this time it was nothing but pure disgust in each other eyes. They loathed each other more than anything in the world…and no seed or two foot tall little man would stop them from hurting each other!.
"MACHOP!"
"SUNKERN!"
The two pokemon cried as they were shoved aside like flies as Slowpoke and Greg knocked them out of their way and jumped into the middle of the deck to brawl once more! They clutched each others arms and rolled around the floor, attempting to bite each other's heads off. The sailors finally stood up to split up the fight once and for all, but found someone had already beat them to a job when a very pretty girl burst into the deck fuming furiously.
"I've heard enough of this battle from downstairs! This is just ridiculous now, Jigglypuff, use Sing!" she cried out pointing to the ball of brawling idiots in the middle of the deck.
From behind her, a round, one foot high, two foot wide light-pink balloon pokemon holding a small microphone came into view. The pokemon's face was inflated with fury, and her livid eyes were narrowed in annoyance. She brought the tiny microphone to her lips and opened her mouth rather widely as she began to sing.
"Jigg…alee..puff…jiggg…aleee…aleee…pufff….jigga…al eepufff….jigg…aleeepufff…jigggg…allee….puff…jiggal eee…" As the beautiful music notes began to slowly seep out of the balloon pokemon's lips and hover around the pugnacious twits, they slowly began to get steadily more and more drowsy without even realizing it.
Before Jigglypuff could even get to her last note, the two dunce buckets were already spread eagled on the floor, completely asleep. The people on the boat gave a few scattered claps for the rather enjoyable pokemon battle before getting back in their own conversations and lives. Julie and Brian smiled enthusiastically at the Jigglypuff's trainer, who was a good friend of their's from school.
"Thanks a lot Natalie! You and that Jigglypuff sure are good!" Julie commented while she and Brian dragged the limp, unconscious bodies of Greg to their feet while Machop took Slowpoke.
"We were wondering where you and Nathan were!" Brian said to the girl named Natalie. Though Greg, Julie, and Brian had very close knit and powerful relationship, that sure didn't mean they didn't have any other friends! Natalie and Nathan, two other students from their grade, were their second highest friends and the two sets of friends hung out together a lot, though deciding to go their own separate ways in the Whirl Islands.
Natalie didn't say anything at first; she kneeled down so that her Jigglypuff could hop in her arms and then stood up, all five foot seven of her incredible beauty. She made quite a few heads turns as soon as she stepped onto the ship with her straight and silky black hair that fell to her neck and extremely bright brown eyes that complimented well with her creamy white skin. Though she looked a little pale, she had a strange aura of beauty from her tall swimmer's body and dark features that made guys like Greg go, "HUBBA BEESA MEESA MOOOOOO!"
"No problem! Nathan's coming up soon, he's playing a game of foozball with someone. So, I can't believe we're finally off! Nathan and I are going to have so much fun, I hope we meet up with you three a lot of times along the way! What are you guys planning to do? I know I want to collect and train normal pokemon and then get the badges with them! Whitney only has another ten years, and I'm going to take her place!" Natalie responded with her high and girly voice. Unlike Julie, she was in no way shape or form a feminist and instead was very girly, though she definitely was no brainless bimbo.
"Yeah, I'm going to get the eight badges, Sleepyhead here is going for the Whirl Cup, and Julie doesn't really know yet…" Brian responded, trying not to stare at Natalie for too long.
"Pssh, I'm doing the badges too dudes. All I want to do is hit the waves and check out the fine ladies, but I won't be able to live with myself if my good friend Natalie here became Champion, and I didn't get a bite at the apple!"
The three turned around to see a voice coming from the stairs. Sure enough, from it emerged none other than Nathan Oliver, best friend to Natalie and typical surfer dude. Nathan walked up to the three of them. He had wavy blonde hair, dark blue eyes that always seemed to be zoned out, and a dark tan from countless hours of being in the water. Wearing a white t shirt and swim trunks, it was clear he planned on surfing as soon as he hit land. Being a frequent surfer, he had a strong athletic built, which the girls loved. Greg had great animosity and envy toward Nathan, for being able to get girls without even trying.
"Yo, what are you guys still doing up here? We've all seen the ocean and its totally rad waves, but downstairs we can finally have our first legal pokemon battle!" Nathan commented, pointing to the stairs below.
The three friends gave nervous chuckles and looked around each other nervously. One of the laws that came with the rise of the Soccer Mom included making pokemon battling illegal for children below thirteen. Apparently, some little kid named Timmy Turner got eaten by an Onix in Rock Tunnel in a tragic attempt to capture him with his bug catching net…. Either that, or he just had his straw hat stolen; it's not like soccer moms do their research anyway.
"Sure, let's go! Machop and I have been itching to play jump rope with that Tangela of yours for a while now! What about these two over here though?" Julie asked, giving Greg a nice hard kick in the back. He still slept soundly, and was even using a very powerful Snore and Sleep Talk attack!
"No problem again. YO TANGELA! COME AND GET THAT SLOWPOKE! I suppose your Machop can take Greg, I don't think he's quite strong enough to lift such a heavy pokemon unlike my powerful beast of a pokemon!" Nathan sneered with a bit of a cocky voice. Julie scowled and patted her Machop's head affectionately.
"I don't think you're quite smart enough to not get eaten by a Tentacruel by the first gym!"
From behind Nathan, a big mass of interlocking navy vines popped out and scurried over to Slowpoke. The only part of her round body not covered in vines was the small space in the center of her face where two white eyes peered out. One of the reason's Nathan loved this grass pokemon, Tangela, so much was that her little red feet were great for maintaining balance on a surfboard.
Using her main ability, she released four vines from somewhere within the bramble that made up her body and coiled up Slowpoke in her grip. As she first attempted to pull her vines back in and lift up Slowpoke, her eyes immediately bulged, and the "powerful beast" fell back. Finally, she lifted the behemoth of a pokemon with great strain onto her back with the auxiliary of several other vines, slowly trudging downstairs.
"My…. God…., lay off….. the potato…. chips, Fatty!"
Nathan giggled nervously at Tangela's troubles while Julie and Machop simply smirked. With only one arm, Machop swept Greg into the crook of his elbow and tossed him over his shoulders like a backpack. The fighting pokemon then went and followed the grass pokemon downstairs, Greg's head dragging on the floor as he walked. After such a display of power, Brian and Natalie looked at their own "weaker" pokemon self consciously.
"Well, you might not be able to carry pokemon, people, or well just about anything on your back Sunkern, but I still have my faith in you!" Brian yelled encouragingly to the grass pokemon, who was back on his shoulder again. The seed pokemon responded by giving a little leap of victory, plummeting straight to the floor as Brian walked forward to go downstairs.
The interior of the ship was just as amazing and stunning as everyone thought it would be. It looked more like one giant Rec Room with extensions to other rooms and a corner rife with fattening, tooth destroying refreshments. It was carpeted with beautiful Indian material and scattered with many comfortable chairs and couches (which Tangela and Machop placed Slowpoke and Greg on). For entertainment, multiple big screen televisions, game consoles, pool tables, foozball tables, in short, all the things that a teenager would love were spread out all around the different rooms. Nathan pointed to another stairway on the right wall with a large picture of a gold and green Pokeball painted over it. Below it lay the Battle Room, a room designed in memory of little Timothy, where trainers could safely have their "first" battles under the supervision of certified sailors.
"Hmm, this is pretty damn good for an eight hour boat ride!" Brian commented to Sunkern, who was nervously hopping behind him, struggling to keep up.
"How about we start off with me against Julie, battle of the divas of Cianwood, and then Brian against Nathan, battle of the hunks of Johto!" Natalie piped up as the four friends sat down on an unoccupied couch to discuss what they would do. Brian turned a bright shade of red that easily complimented his crimson hair at being called a hunk while Julie scowled at being called such a demeaning term as "diva." She wanted to be called a hunk too!
"STOP MAKING FUN OF FEMINISTS JACKASS!" Julie cried out randomly, resulting in her getting anxious stares from everyone in the vicinity. "Ermm, yeah. And then afterward it's winner against winner? It's going to suck not being able to fight you Nathan since Brian is going to beat you down!"
"Right, I'm sure he will," Nathan said sarcastically, pointing to the seed pokemon who was still panting from having to hop down the stairs. "What about Greg and Slowpoke? Shouldn't we incorporate them somehow? I heard Slowpoke battling someone upstairs and then I came up seeing him asleep. He could be a pretty formidable opponent!"
His question about the slight chance of Slowpoke and Greg being any good got him an astonished stare from Natalie and a myrrh of laughter from Julie and Brian. After Julie and Brian finally calmed down, Brian was the one to respond. "Dude, Greg was fighting Slowpoke. You missed one of the funniest things of the century! Though you are right, that Slowpoke is a lot stronger than we take him for."
"Damn it, why do I miss the funniest things? But, hey, I did meet this one sexy babe, and we did get a little battle going, and I was about to…errm yeah, I think we should head down already," Nathan added quickly upon seeing the furious looks on Natalie and Julie's faces. He was the first to stand up with Tangela following him downstairs. The rest soon followed.
The Battle Room in the deepest floor of the ship was much more amazing then they could have imagined. It was nearly twice the size of Chuck's gym's battlefield, though split into four parts. Over in the far right was a plain white battlefield, next to it was a grassy, vegetation rife meadow, next to that was a opaque pool, and at the far right was a rocky mountainous battlefield. The last three were occupied by other trainers enjoying the joys of pokemon battling, but the normal battlefield was completely empty.
The four were about to head to the normal battlefield when an extremely grumpy, chubby sailor with a large, brown bird pokemon flying besides him stopped them in their tracks. They had never seen a more repugnant looking man, he had a thick muzzle and extremely oily hair wearing a large sailors outfit that could hardly keep his large stomach in place. He walked across the battlefield with a bit of a limp and wheezing vehemently.
"Stop it yeh little ingrates! Don kids these days have as much mind ter at least hear out the rules! Anyways, don't yeh dare use powerful attacks or powerful pokemon! Some genius sunk the S.S. Lapras having his Rhydon use Earthquake! If I see one of yeh breaking this rule, you and yer pokemon will feel the wrath of my Fearow!" the grumpy sailor ordered, bearing his bright yellow teeth and hissing his rancid breath which they could still smell from a few feet away. The Fearow gave an ominous cry as she spun her menacing, large orange beak and flying around the four children, digging his orange beak around their clothes as if to sniff out drugs.
When the repugnant man and his Fearow finally let them be, they exchanged each other strange looks. They hadn't been that disturbed since the time Greg came to the last Halloween Costume Party as an Olympic swimmer, wearing nothing but a pink speedo… Shaking the horrible thought aside, they took their places on opposites sides of the Normal Battlefield, Brian with Julie and Nathan with Natalie.
"Ready for this Machop? Remember, you have the fighting pokemon advantage over Jigglypuff, a normal pokemon. Watch out for the Sing Attack, other than that, you have absolutely nothing to worry about! You're going to pop that little balloon!" Julie whispered to her Machop, who nodded at her every word, thinking about how funny it would be if Jigglypuff did explode and left a mess of blood and guts.
"Ok Jigglypuff, you just knocked out a two hundred pound pokemon and the world's most caffienated boy with your beautiful singing voice! You can crush that man baby, just remember the immortal words of Muhammad Ali! I can fly like a Butterfree but sing like a Beedrill!" Natalie mumbled to her Jigglypuff, who nodded at every word, thinking about how the hell a Beedrill can sing.
"Alright Sunkern, watch this battle carefully! If we beat Tangela, we're going to be fighting one of these two pokemon!" Brian said to his Sunkern, who wobbled at his every word, thinking about why there was so much unneeded repetition going on.
The two pokemon took their places on opposite sides of the battlefield and bowed to each other, secretly flicking each other off: Machop, an extremely power gray humanoid pokemon trained in the art of battle by hand and foot, and Jigglypuff, a round, pink balloon who was trained in the art of slapping and singing. Machop closed his eyes tightly, raised his left palm, and put his right foot behind him, ready for battle. Jigglypuff in turn closed her eyes tightly and brought her tiny microphone to her lips, her mouth slightly ajar, ready to sing. It was time to battle!
"MACHOP USE KARATE CHOP!"
"JIGGLYPUFF USE SING!"
Machop immediately leaped high into the air and extended his right arm as far forward as he could. His karate chopping palm shined brightly with pure physical force manifested in the form of white light. Though the force of the Karate Chop could probably crack her skull, Jigglypuff remained calm and started to sing once again with her eyes tightly closed.
"Jigg…alee…pufff….jiggalee…alee…puff…"
Julie looked nervously at Machop, whose eyelids began to droop, and hoped that he would find some brilliant way to counter the attack, because if she ordered something, Natalie would be able to easily deflect whatever Machop threw at her. All the training at Chuck's gym and years of bonding with Julie came to use with Machop's next actions. Machop immediately stopped his attack mid-air (something that no regular pokemon would be able to do) and leaped backward, landing in the middle of the battlefield.
His glowing palm immediately returned to normal, and just before Machop was about to fall unconscious from the balloon pokemon's song, he shoved two gray fingers as tightly as he could into his ears. Most of the song was drowned out so that even if Machop felt a little drowsy, he didn't fall asleep. Julie grinned broadly at her Machop's quick thinking and reflexes while Natalie's previously cocky face immediately became worried. Only Jigglypuff remained serenely unaware of the fact that Machop was not sleeping like a Smoochum as he ran toward her with his right foot glowing and his fingers in his ears.
Luckily for the balloon pokemon, she opened her eyes a few seconds before Machop's Low Kick attack made contact. Letting out a tiny shriek, she immediately curled up into a ball, holding herself tightly, awaiting the powerful blow. With a big smile, Machop kicked Jigglypuff as hard as he could like a soccer ball, causing her to sail across the battlefield and right into Natalie's nose.
"OWW! WATCH WHERE YOUR LITTLE FREAK KICKS MY JIGGLYPUFF! GOD DAMN IT! OH MY…GAH!" Natalie sobbed as she clutched her bleeding nose with great care. Machop stared in horror at the human he hurt, though he was on the floor laughing internally. Julie, Brian, and Nathan also looked at the sobbing, bleeding Natalie with horror, but because of their cruel, teenager instincts they also began to chortle fiercely, but seriously trying with all their efforts to hold it back!
"Errm…Natalie…do…you…need an…ice…p-pack?" Julie struggled to say, her voice breaking from her strong urge to laugh.
"I…have..some..t-tissu…HAHAHA. My…ha…I'm so sorry…HAHA!" Brian also added, holding up a box of tissues he recovered from within his backpack.
"Guys stop being so mean! You guys are Natalie's friends and….oh who the hell am I kidding? This is hilarious!" Nathan chastised, holding his stomach laughing at Natalie's misfortune as well.
If looks could kill, everyone in the room would have been grinded into a fine powder of blood and bones because of the look of pure rage and contempt in Natalie's eyes. She took out this anger on the person nearest to her, Nathan, by punching him as hard as she could in the worst place possible. Nathan immediately stopped laughing, and his eyes bulged out of their sockets as he plopped sideways onto the floor, letting out a huge groan of pain. Natalie then turned her shaking eyes to Brian and Julie with a look that said "Help me now or else I will beat your ass down!"
Julie and Brian immediately stopped laughing, and Brian rushed up to the other side of the battlefield with the box of tissues. Machop still stood in the middle of the battlefield, frozen with trepidation and convulsing slightly, worrying if the crazy female would take her anger out on him as well. Brian was too scared to get near the livid female and her groaning friend, and simply slid the tissue down the battlefield toward her, which thudded softly against her shoe. Natalie silently pulled out several tissues from the box and covered her bleeding nose with it, still watching Brian with the deadly look as he walked back to his side of the battlefield.
Natalie then moved her dangerous gaze to Julie, who scratched her head nervously, not sure what to do next. "Errm, you can take the victory by default since you did…."
"NO!" Natalie roared, leaping to her feet and spraying several droplets of blood downward. Her voice was very nasal and sounded like a foghorn, but no one dared to make fun of her again.
She panted heavily and glared at Machop and Julie, thirsting deeply for cold vengeance. Then, she turned to Jigglypuff, who was still curled tightly in a ball, too scared of Machop to come out. What she didn't know was that there was a beast more frightening than any three hundred armed fighting pokemon standing only a few feet away from her. Natalie gave Jigglypuff a little nudge with her shoe, and the pokemon immediately popped out of its ball, yelping at the sight of her angry, bleeding trainer. Natalie wouldn't allow her pokemon to just stand there and shiver like a little baby, she pointed furiously to the battlefield where Jigglypuff walked toward rather quickly, looking back at her trainer nervously with one eye, as if she would stomp on her at any given second.
Julie hissed at Machop who immediately retreated back to his side of the battlefield, remaining transfixed by the sight that was Natalie. "We are going to finish this battle! And it will be a fun and educational experience that we will never forget! My Jigglypuff will beat your Machop down, and we are going to have a delightfully good time watching it!" Natalie stated to Julie, with a very quiet yet furious voice.
"Right, errm, get ready Machop!" Julie ordered unenthusiastically. Machop got back into his battle stance of holding his left palm out and putting his right foot back. Jigglypuff became livid too, because of the fact that Machop made her trainer furious. Her cheeks were inflated with fury and her eyes narrowed in dislike.
"Machop Chop Chop (Looks like your singing doesn't only make people's ears bleed)…"
"Jiggly Jiggly (I'll bust yo kneecaps foo')!"
"Now, Jigglybuff. MELEE STYLE!" Natalie ordered pointing furiously at Machop.
Jigglypuff immediately leaped surprisingly high into the air with her cheeks still inflated. As she reached the zenith of her jump, she slowly sucked in tiny puffs of air and slowly ascended higher and higher into the air as her cheeks grew larger and larger until she was directly floating over Machop himself. Julie wondered what Natalie was trying to do, but didn't want to find out and intended to stop Jigglypuff before she could.
"Machop! Jump and use Karate Chop!"
Machop's right palm glowed white once more, and he leaped high into the air ready to drive Jigglypuff into the floor. When he came face to face with the balloon pokemon, she gave a tiny smile and giggle, raising her glowing right hand as well.
"POUND HIM DOWN JIGGLYBUFF!"
As soon as Natalie gave her command, Jigglypuff and Machop's palms made fierce contact and struggled to overcome each other. The hands glowed white with pure energy and steadily became more and more bright as they struggled to break the stalemate. Julie and Brian stared in awe at Jigglypuff; her hand was barely the size of Machop's pinky, yet it was somehow just as formidable in an angry Pound attack. Jigglypuff grew tired of the stalemate and conked Machop in the head with her other hand as hard as she could, causing him to plummet nearly six feet down to the floor.
"BEAT HIM DOWN!" Natalie roared audibly, causing many nearby battlers to jump with fear,
Machop groaned as his back cracked in the powerful impact of his fall, and Jigglypuff wasted no time staying in the air and immediately exhaled all the air in her cheeks, rocketing herself downward onto the fighting pokemon's chest with quite a bit of force. Machop's eyes grew wide as he saw the wicked smile on Jigglypuff's face as she raised her right hand high. She slapped him once, and a stinging sensation immediately rippled through Machop's cheek. The poor pokemon could only lay down helplessly as his cruel opponent slapped him silly, stomped on his chest, and gave him an occasional punch in the nose. Natalie laughed madly at the poor pokemon's abuse causing Nathan to crawl as far away from her as he could. Ideas began to rush around Julie's head as she struggled to find a way to save Machop from the painful situation.
"Let's see…Low Kick, Focus Energy, Karate Chop, what was the other one…OH! Machop, try using a Leer attack!"
Machop opened his eyes with a great deal of effort and looked straight at the abusive Jigglypuff. Upon seeing Machop's bright red, pupil less eyes, Jigglypuff immediately jumped off of Machop's chest and began to run away shaking in fear.
"Use Focus Energy! Then, show her the true power of a pokemon!" Julie ordered savagely, smiling knowing the battle was hers.
"Sunkern Kern Kern (GET HER MACHOP)!"
"Tangela Tangela (GET BACK IN THERE YOU IDIOT)!"
The other pokemon cried out their encouragements as Machop returned to his battle stance and closed his eyes tightly, beginning to glow blood red with power as he focused all of his energy into his single palm. Jigglypuff scurried faster toward her trainer as she looked back to see Machop's entire body about to combust with scarlet light. As tears of fright began to stream out of Jigglypuff's eyes, her running became more and more choppy, and she ended up falling flat on her face after tripping over her own feet. Natalie's evil attitude went away as quickly as it came when she saw the petrified look on Jigglypuff's face as she got up to face Machop.
It truly was a frightening sight. His eyes were red and blank of all emotion while his right hand was flaring with crimson flames, and his whole body burned with a white hot aura of pure power! Machop then brought his open palm to his side and slowly turned it sideways until it was in position to chop Jigglypuff in half. The poor balloon pokemon couldn't bring herself to move a muscle even though her brain and trainer were begging for her to get out of the way. As Machop leaped high into the air with his flaming palm out and ready to kill, Jigglypuff screwed up her eyes as tight as she could and braced herself for the impact.
"JIGGGLYYYYYYPUFFFFF!"
Machop was still in the position he was when his palm struck Jigglypuff, hovering over the poor pokemon with his palm held out, his legs placed behind him, and his entire body flaring with energy. Jigglypuff wobbled around in place, her eyes swirling and her brain moaning. With one final "puff" Jigglypuff fell knocked out on the floor.
"Jigglypuff is dead! Machop and Julie are the winners!" declared Nathan as he walked over to the two pokemon to state the obvious.
"QUIET JERK! Congratulations Julie! That was a bretty good battle! Poor Jigglybuff though, she must be really hurt! Sorry about how bitchy I got earlier, friends?" Natalie asked Julie as she cradled her pokemon like a mother with one hand and held the mass of tissues to her nose with the other.
"Don't worry about it Natalie, I would have been pissed off too! Sorry, that attack was way more powerful than it should have been. I have some Super Potions in my pack, I'll give Jigglypuff some! That was one great "first" battle!" Julie said as she walked over to Natalie and gently rubbed Jigglypuff's back.
"It's nothing! I'm sure little Timmy and his hat would be very proud!" Natalie responded, causing everyone to chuckle. While chuckling, Brian and Nathan then turned their gazes to each other. It was their turn to battle now.