Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. I own a Gameboy and cartridges, courtesy of Nintendo and my parents, but that's about all. Oh, and the characters I've created too. They don't include characters kindly submitted by R'N'Rer, Bigfoot12310, and WickedWolf09. The last of which you haven't seen yet. Or maybe you have… but don't worry; in the next few chapters (s)he'll appear!

Hooray for all that. In my random spare time during class I did a small sketch of Erynn which I've put a link to on my profile. It'll be cool if everyone who submits an OC draws the character as well… while it'll defeat the purpose of me describing them (which I'll do nonetheless), it's fun and will look good with your character.

Well enough about that… third language took too long, and I've got an hour to do this so… let's go! Pokémon Go, Chapter 17!

Dave and Erynn looked between each other and the platforms at their feet. Uncertainly they watched as the trainers standing on the other side released their Pokémon and entered them into the arena.

"Well… I guess that's how you do it…"

Erynn shrugged and removed a Pokéball from her belt.

"Griven; let's go."

Espeon moved to step on the platform, but Dave held out a hand to stop her.

"Wait a minute…"

The silhouette of an enormous Pokémon took shape against the glass wall.

"It's a Steelix…"

The massive steel snake dominated a large part of the enclosure. Its tail whipped furiously; it was lucky the field was a bare one, with just a few metal columns rising from the dry earth, or something might have been destroyed. In its shadow was a small Pokémon, puny in comparison. Dave looked up at the display screen.

"And that's… a Pikachu."

He switched Pokéballs in his hand.

"Sorry, Espeon; not this time. Come out, Mudross!"

He released his newly-acquired Pokémon, watching in apprehension as it entered the arena. Its white eyes blazed malevolently, facing the two opposing Pokémon alongside Griven. A tone sounded, indicating the registration of the new Pokémon.

Murmurs began to rise from every side; Mudross were rarely caught because of their ability to melt away at any time. More importantly, however, the stage was set. A holographic number counted down the seconds till the battle officially began.

5…4…3…2…1…!

A green light flashed through the arena. In that instant, the Pikachu and Steelix both started forward, as did Griven and Mudross.

"Griven; take that Steelix down with an Ember!"

"Mud Slap, Mudross! Ground them now!"

The Growlithe charged towards the Steelix, flames sprouting from its jaws.

"Stella; use Dig."

The soft, slightly musical voice rang out an instant before Griven's attack struck.

"Pikachu! Quick Attack, now!"

At the same time, another voice called the command. Mudross's Mud Slap hit it, but just barely. It dodged the brunt of the attack with its intense speed.

The Growlithe jumped, releasing a stream of fire where, seconds before, a Steel Pokémon had once stood. Frustrated, it landed on its feet, whirling in a circle and looking around for its target; it hardly had time to notice the Pikachu which hurtled headfirst into it, winding it.

Erynn cursed under her breath. There went their first strike…

"Griven! Get off the ground! Get onto one of the columns…!"

Nodding, the large Growlithe recovered, knocking the Pikachu to a side and leaping up and landed perfectly on the top of the steel column. Not a moment too soon…

"Now, Mudross! Magnitude!"

The Earth Shaker Pokémon dived, disappearing into the earth. As it did, ripples began to form; it seemed almost like the creature had jumped into a pool of water. But as the ripples grew, they began to crack and fracture.

"Darn it! Pikachu, get up!"

The Pikachu shot off in another burst of speed, racing against the tide of molten earth. Towards the left of the arena, a loud booming was heard as Steelix exploded out of the ground, obviously injured.

"Growlithe! Use Ember on the column!"

Dave grinned as the Pikachu stopped directly in front of the column it had intended to scale. Spectators closer to the right edge of the arena backed away as the metal column began to grow hot enough to be felt even from outside the arena.

"Pikaaa!"

The Pokémon cried out in shock as the earthen tide fell upon it.

"Now; Mudross! Finish it with a Tackle!"

In a flash, Mudross emerged at the fore of the wave, the extra momentum sending it straight toward…

"Stella! Bind, now!"

The moment fell short as the steel tail of the Pokémon whipped out, stopping the Ground-Pokémon's progress.

"Ugh…"

With swiftness incredible for its size, the large Steel snake wrapped itself around Mudross, preventing it from escaping.

"Griven…!"

"Pikachu! Stop it with a Thundershock!"

But the attack was ineffectual as Griven jumped into the air, releasing another stream of liquid fire from its mouth. The Thundershock flew off-target, the metal columns conducting it into the ground, harmless.

The Steelix roared in pain and released its hold of Mudross; its metal body scorched a pale red by the heat. Mudross immediately sank into the ground, virtually undetectable. Griven landed on the ground, whirling to face the two opposing Pokémon. Chancing a quick glance at the screen, Erynn noticed that their opponent's Pokémon were weakening far faster than their own.

"Stella; bind the Growlithe, now!"

Before Erynn had time to respond, the iron tail of the Steelix had Griven in its crushing grasp. As though this had been planned beforehand, Pikachu jumped up onto the Steelix's head…

"Griven – break free with…"

"Pikachu! Thundershock again!"

This time, the Pikachu directed its attack at one of the long spikes which covered Steelix's body. Like a lightning spire, it conducted the electricity…

Right into Griven.

Next to her, Dave snarled with more than a little frustration.

"Mudross! Magnitude one more time!"

But nothing seemed to happen. Griven struggled to fight back, but the lightning grip began to take its hold, and his struggling seemed to gradually cease…

Erynn called encouragement worriedly, glancing over at Dave, who had his eyes closed as though in defeat…

"… or victory. Go, Mudross!"

In that instant, time slowed to a crawl.

The Pikachu continued releasing its attack through Steelix, its electricity coursing through the snake as though it was a wire; one wrapped in a suffocating embrace around the large fire puppy. Griven's moan of pain seemed a long, prolonged howl, which quickly turned into a yelp of surprise as it was released from its electrical prison.

The audience gasped as the Steelix was flung against the side of the arena. Pikachu followed shortly after, the two of them landing on the soft ground, knocked out one on top of the other. Small sparks flickered from Pikachu's cheeks as the mobile platforms carried the two Pokémon back to their trainers.

All that could be seen of Griven was a large cloud of dust; a faint silhouette of the Growlithecould be seen, but its shape was indiscernible.

The dust settled.

Griven stood, but just barely, standing on a column made entirely of earth. The ground directly around the column crumbled away in a crater which spanned quite a distance; it was situated in the exact position where the three Pokémon had been fighting. Dust trails still lingered in the air, marking the trajectory of Steelix and Pikachu's flight. A hushed silence as the audience awaited the appearance of the last Pokémon, the only one, according to the display screen, which was still in a condition to fight.

As the dust settled on the ground, a few darker grains were swept back into the air by the wind… but there was no wind.

In a sudden rush, Mudross was whole again. The audience erupted into cheers as a green light engulfed Dave and Erynn's platforms. Their names (as written on their trainer IDs) flashed across the screen… and then it was over.

Dave flipped his PokéNav shut, satisfied.

Keywords Mudross, Explosion… analyzing… data found.

While this attack normally results in the attacker sacrificing all its energy into a single attack, Mudross, a native of the Elem region, is one of the few Pokémon that need only sacrifice a certain amount of their total energy to perform Explosion, its unique body structure allowing it to perform a weaker, ground-based version of the attack. Mudross may thus use the ability Magnablast, sacrificing three-quarters of its energy.

Their enemies were obviously surprised. A freely-transforming Ditto and a Seismic Toss directed at a rock, not a Pokémon.

"Heh… if we keep this up, we've got it won, easy."

Ash shrugged.

"Doesn't look like they're letting up, though."

The male Nidoran had recovered well from the attack, while the female had whirled around to face Hitmontop-Ditto. The audience were abuzz as the battle heated up. The two trainers seemed to be mimicking each other as they attacked again.

"Ray!"

"Rena!"

"Poison Spray!"

The two creatures simultaneously sprayed tiny poison needles directly at the two Pokémon. Hit by a glancing blow, Machop dodged behind a rock, while Ditto…

"Rapid Spin!"

The audience hurriedly backed away as the missiles flew in all directions, striking the glass walls. Immaterion Corporations had done their job well, though; none of them seemed in any danger of breaking.

"Man… I should've bought these for my television set… that's the third one the kids've spoiled this week…" one of the bystanders mused.

RJ winced as Machop barely dodged the spray.

"Be careful where you aim that thing…"

Ash shrugged apologetically.

"Can't help it… sorry."

The Nidoran had suffered minor scratches from the attack, but being poison Pokémon, they were entirely unfazed.

"Horn Attack, Ray!"

"Do it with Double Kick!"

The two Pokémon charged at them again; this time they had the initiative.

"RJ; get your Machop to use Focus Energy!"

RJ looked at him, eyes agog.

"Now…?"

He eyed the advancing Pokémon nervously.

"Now…! Ditto; Flash!"

As he shouted it, he ducked under his OPL jacket, squeezing his eyes shut. Alas, none of the other spectators/trainers in the area had the foresight or the reflexes to dodge.

The white Tangela stood in the middle of the battlefield, the Machop finally opening its eyes. Ash looked around as everyone else stood blinking; RJ among them.

"Time to take advantage of the situation…"

It's always more fun when there's no one around to see…

I've missed my bedtime by a few hours. Cool. Anyways the picture's up and I hope you all do consider drawing your own characters, if not for me, then for fun. It'd be quite interesting.

But either way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter; sorry if it was a little short, I really don't have the time today .. And I've got 'physical education' tomorrow. Crud. Oh well I really do hope you liked it… and please do review!

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Changed 'May' to 'Erynn', thanks to WickedWolf09's review. Sorry… must have been really bleary when I wrote that XX

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