A/N: Warning for some violence.

Cerulean Catastrophe: Part 2

Ellie could still hear the crowd cheering for Elyse even after she had returned from the field. She considered herself to be especially skilled when it came to double battles, but working with Nat after everything that had transpired between them proved to be one of the most difficult things Ellie could have imagined. Drake and Elyse's triumphs only increased the pressure that she was feeling, but it also gave her the determination to overcome her anxiety.

"You ready to head out there?"

Nat entered the room, keeping his distance. It was always hard to know what he was thinking. It didn't help that they had only dated for a short time, so there was still a lot that Ellie did not know about him. Regardless, she knew that she had to put their issues to the side for the good of the team.

"Yeah…" she took a deep breath. "I'm ready. Let's go…"

The moment she stood up, Ellie heard her phone going off inside of her bag. She motioned Nat to head on to the field before seeing the unfamiliar number on her phone. Her face immediately twisted in anger. With the pressure of everything that she had been dealing with, Ellie now found herself extremely and uncharacteristically irate.

"Listen!" she shouted into the phone as she answered it. "I don't know who you are or what your game is, but I'm tired of this crap. I'm going to the cops!"

"Wait! That's not necessary. I'll explain everything, just give me some time."

"Kind of busy right now. Even if I weren't, you've been calling me since the summer. I should have gone to the police a long time ago. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't?"

"This isn't something we should talk about over the phone. Can we meet in person?"

"You must be an idiot to think I'd ever meet with you in person and end up locked in your trunk. By the way, definitely going to the cops now. Later-"

"I'm your brother!"

"What? What…are you talking about?"

"My name is Alex Duncan. You and I have the same mother, Elizabeth. I'm about five years older than you are. I kept going back and forth on if I was going to go through with this or not, but I guess now's a better time than ever. There's a lot of other stuff that I need to tell you in person."

"Listen…just give me some time to sort this out…"

Ellie hung up the phone, more confused than angry now. She hadn't heard from her mother in years and was frankly satisfied with her father, stepmother, and younger half-brother. From what she could remember about her mother, Ellie could not recall any mentions of her having another child, especially not an older one.

"Hey, El-Mo, what are you doing?"

Ellie heard Mike's muffled voice and turned around to see her costumed friend.

"Huh?" Ellie said. "What is it?"

"The game," Mike answered. "Everyone's waiting for you to come on the field for the double battle."

Ellie's eyes widened as she bolted to the field. She had almost forgotten about the game in an instant and even all her problems that she had with Nat in the past suddenly felt insignificant. Their Cerulean opponents had a Hitmonchan and a Dusclops respectively. Ellie decided to go with Grovyle instead of Kadabra since she considered Dusclops' ghost typing detrimental to his effectiveness. Nat chose Luxio for the battle and despite making a decent combination with Grovyle, Ellie could not focus at all.

"This is probably just some creepy joke. I should just go to the police. There's no way that guy was telling the truth. Even if he was, does it even matter? I wouldn't really care, so I don't see why he should…"

Ellie's mind was in a turmoil and it immediately became obvious that she was not in sync with Grovyle or with Nat. The opponents capitalized and Grovyle was quickly hit with a mach punch-shadow punch combo. Nat ordered Luxio to intervene, the bluish electricity from the latter's spark attack sending the enemies retreating.

"Ellie!" he called out. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," she answered. "Alright, uh, Grovyle. Let's go, leaf blade!"

"Luxio, charge!" Nat added.

Grovyle was simultaneously slashing Hitmonchan and Dusclops in order to allow Luxio to charge. The distraction worked for a moment until Dusclops overpowered Grovyle with a crushing shadow ball. He struggled to get back up, but eventually managed to stand on his feet. Slowly, Ellie felt her thoughts beginning to impair her performance again.

"Of course, all this just had to happen now. How am I even going to be able to approach Dad with this? I don't even have anyone to ask for advice. Mike and Relena are dealing with their own problems. Maybe Drake?"

"Ellie!" Nat called out once more. "Hey, snap out of it!"

"I'm focused!" she reassured him.

"Then what did I just say?" he asked.

"Um…you called my name…?"

"No," Nat said with a sigh. "I said that we need to focus on getting Dusclops out first before-"

"Grovyle is unable to continue battling!"

Ellie's eyes darted to the field where she saw Dusclops and Hitmonchan standing victoriously over her fallen Pokémon. She realized that there was another battle that was going on outside of her head. Luxio had been trying to protect Grovyle from Dusclops, but Hitmonchan was simply too fast and too distracting. Fortunately for the team, Nat swiftly took advantage of Cerulean's current gloating and commanded Luxio to take out Hitmonchan with a well-placed spark. However, he was now alone against the vicious Dusclops.

"Hitmonchan is unable to continue battling!"

Ellie quickly recalled Grovyle and rushed off of the field, on the verge of tears. It was all starting to catch up with her. Everything that had transpired between Nat and herself last year, the phone calls, trying to help her friends with their problems and ignoring her own. Now, on top of all of this, she had let her team and her Pokémon down.

"Luxio is unable to continue battling! Two points for Cerulean. We are now tied going into the main event battle!"

Once Ellie heard that, the only thing she could do was bury her hands in her face.

"Chin up…"

Johnny waited for Ellie to look up before he said anything else. When she did, he sat down beside her.

"Johnny…" she started. "I-I-"

"Calm down, Morris," he finished for her. "I'm not mad. This is my fault anyway. I knew that having you work with Nat would be a disaster after everything that happened between you two."

"No…that's not it," Ellie said with a sigh.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter," Johnny told her. "You'll have plenty more battles to win and the game's not over yet. Look, I'm not really good at this sort of thing, but everything will be just fine."

Johnny put a comforting hand on her shoulder and he noticed that Ellie did seem to relax a bit. Being nice was not his strong suit, in fact the closest he usually came was casual indifference, but he could not stand seeing people upset if he could have done something to prevent it.

"Thank you, Johnny," Ellie said with a smile. "I really appreciate it."

"Don't mention it," Johnny remarked with a grin. "Now, I suggest you watch me avenge you and destroy Cerulean. I know that'll make you feel much better for sure."

"Yeah, it kind of would…"

Johnny gave her a nod before making his way outside. He saw his teammates as he walked, all of them looking on as he passed them. Drake, Loki, and Xander all patted him on the back, Nat fist bumped him, and even Elyse cracked a smile. Tyler was the last of his teammates that he encountered.

"Good luck," he told his friend.

"Don't need it," Johnny replied with a smirk. "But thanks for having my back."

Johnny shook hands with Tyler and felt at ease. He found it strange how their relationship had changed over the past two years. Johnny did not see Tyler as anything other than an irritating rival and now he was one of his closest friends.

"I'm not sure if you heard about it," Tyler said. "Guy Wullinger's older cousin is here. He showed up during the double battle."

"Holt!" Johnny nearly shouted, his nonchalant exterior momentarily cracked. "I thought he was locked up!"

"You know him?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah, we got into it with him when he was with Guy last year," Johnny answered. He regained his composure. "But I'm not scared of that lunatic. As a matter of fact, I'm glad he's here. I'm going to embarrass Guy even further now…"

"HAWKINS! HAWKINS! HAWKINS!"

The crowd erupted when Johnny appeared on the field. This was one of the few times in his life that he felt alive. Most teenagers would be embarrassed to have their mother cheering so loudly for them, but Johnny was proud to see his mother in the audience. As a surgeon, she was often busy, but she always made time for Johnny's games.

"Let's do this!" he shouted.

Johnny was called the flashiest trainer in Kanto for a reason. Whether he won or loss, there was definitely going to be a show. He even approached the cheerleaders at the sidelines and engaged in a group hug.

"Just don't get too full of yourself," Jennifer reminded him before planting a kiss on his lips. "Good luck."

There was one part about the main event battle that Johnny did not care for and it was the obligatory handshake that the two competing trainers had to do. He wouldn't have too much of an issue if he had to shake hands with a battler he respected like the Celadon or Vermilion teams. Since he had no respect for Guy Wullinger and hated him as a person, it was much harder for Johnny to swallow his pride and shake the other trainer's hand and it was obvious that Guy felt the same way.

"Get ready to lose…" he whispered to Johnny as they shook hands.

"I'm glad your cousin is here," Johnny replied. "He gets to watch me embarrass you and trust me, I'm going to embarrass you. You're not going to want to compete for the rest of the year after I'm finish with you."

Guy responded with a rough shove that sent Johnny onto the ground. He managed to catch Guy with a quick jab to the gut before they were broken apart by the referee. This only served to entice the animosity between the two crowds.

"Hey, Cerulean should be disqualified!"

"Come on, Wullinger, stomp Saffron!"

"Saffron! Saffron!"

"Cerulean! Cerulean!"

Luckily, the announcer put an end to the conflict, if only for a moment.

"Attention ladies and gentlemen! The final battle is now underway! This will be a three-on-three contest. We have Johnny Hawkins of Saffron versus Guy Wullinger of Cerulean! Now, begin!"

Johnny called on Houndoom while Guy sent out a Marowak to start off with. It was clear that he had expected Johnny to use his most frequently seen Pokémon first and had chosen Marowak for the type advantage.

"Bone Club!" Guy commanded. "Beat Houndoom into a pulp!"

Marowak charged at Houndoom and Johnny instantly threw away his strategy for the opportunity to quickly humiliate Guy. He waited until Marowak was within point blank range of Houndoom before he gave the command.

"Inferno, max power!"

Houndoom opened his mouth and unleashed the hellish blue and purple flames out of his mouth. The intensity of Houndoom's strongest attack was felt even by the spectators as they moved to shield themselves from the flames. Marowak was hit directly and even if he somehow managed to last, the burn would certainly finish the ground Pokémon off.

"Marowak is unable to continue battling!" One point for Saffron!"

Before Johnny could even react, Guy already had Manectric on the field. The electric Pokémon was much faster than Marowak and was already sending attacks at Houndoom. He dodged the discharge, but it was only a distraction for the thunder fang. Johnny heard his Pokémon howl in pain as Manectric continued biting savagely into his neck.

"Shake 'em off, Houndoom!" Johnny commanded.

Houndoom eventually slipped free of Manectric's grip, but the aftershocks of the attack told Johnny that he had been paralyzed. Houndoom was tough though and this wouldn't be too much of a hindrance if Johnny sharpened up. The score was 3-2 and if Manectric was defeated, he wouldn't even have to use his other two Pokémon.

"Dark Pulse!" Johnny said.

"Discharge," Guy countered.

The waves of dark and electrical energy collided and the blast was tremendous enough that Johnny had almost gotten caught in the crossfire. Both Pokémon had been hurt, but Houndoom had taken the brunt of the damage. He slowly stood back up before letting out a howl and collapsing onto the ground.

"Houndoom is unable to continue battling! One point for Cerulean!"

Johnny recalled Houndoom and congratulated his companion for the hard work. He knew that his obsession with beating Guy was clouding his judgement, but Johnny was too in the moment to even care. He called upon Scizor to avenge Houndoom and one immediate well-connected bullet punch had Manectric flying back into Guy.

"Manectric is unable to continue battling! One point for Saffron! This is the final moments. If Saffron gains the next point, they win the game. If Cerulean gains the next point, we will go into sudden death!"

"Enough of this!" Guy shouted in frustration as he chucked a poké ball in the air. "Skuntank, let's go!"

The moment that the skunk materialized, the horrible smell overwhelmed everyone in the arena. Johnny had to cover his nose with his shirt just so that he could even focus. Luckily, Scizor was unaffected and that was what really mattered. Johnny knew that he was getting under Guy's skin just by beating him and if he started taunting him more, it would throw him off his game. He gave a nod to Scizor, who immediately rushed Skuntank with an iron head.

"Skuntank is a perfect Pokémon to represent was a shithole Cerulean is!" he said loudly, not caring that he angered the other people from Cerulean who were at the battle games.

"Flamethrower!" Guy ordered.

The iron head had managed to stun Skuntank on impact but he had recovered and was now sending flamethrower after flamethrower at Scizor, hoping to get a hit. Johnny for his part, continued his taunting as Scizor dodged the attacks.

"You know," he continued. "Celadon has the rich kids, Fuchsia has the badasses, and Saffron is the best! But poor…Cerulean. Arceus, what a shitty place to live! We have the hotter gym leader, better looking neighborhoods, and-

Johnny was suddenly interrupted by a rough shove from behind. He looked up to see several students from Cerulean jumping off the bleachers and onto the field. Tyler was the first person from Saffron to enter the field, helping Johnny to his feet as the fighting erupted. Johnny saw Xander taking on two Cerulean students by himself, Drake and Loki throwing punches at the Cerulean trainers who were attacking them, and Nat wrestling on the ground with another one. Ellie was being jumped by three of the Cerulean girls, but was quickly rescued by Elyse, Nadine, and Relena. Whereas Elyse and Nadine simply got the girls off of Ellie, Relena grabbed the third one by the hair, dragged her around, and then slammed her knee into her face. Johnny even saw Mike was scrapping with Benji the Beedrill with a ferocity that shocked him. In mere moments, there were dozens of students from both schools on the field. Johnny's first thought was to grab Jennifer and get her away, but when he saw Guy smirking at him from across the field, he bolted at him.

"Come and get it, Johnny-Boy!" he sneered as he took off running.

Johnny followed Guy off the field until they reached the parking lot. He lost sight of his enemy behind the rows of cars and began frantically searching for him. He was going to make him pay for ruining the game. Since Guy obviously didn't want a Pokémon battle, Johnny thought that the better alternative would be to beat him within an inch of his life. He didn't even care that there were Cerulean students who had followed him out. They quickly surrounded him and he counted four. It didn't matter how outnumbered he was, he would tear through them all if it would help him get to Guy.

"Need some help?"

A triumphant grin formed on Johnny's face as he heard the familiar voice of his best friend, Craig Kelton.

"Oh shit, it's Craig!"

"Screw this, I'm out!"

The four Cerulean students quickly fled in different directions. Johnny couldn't believe that he actually benefitted from Craig's bad reputation for once. Regardless, he was happy to see him.

"I was wondering when you were going to show up," Johnny said.

"Xander texted me when Holt showed up during the double battle," Craig explained. "I knew I had to get here with that psycho loose. I dropped Lilly off and went by Sid's to get something that might help if we can't get to our poké balls-"

He stopped when the two of them were approached by Amelie and Lyndon. Johnny already knew what was about to come out of Amelie's mouth and he was not in the mood to listen to her preach.

"Save it," he told her before she even had a chance to speak. "I'm going to find Guy and I'm going to kick his ass and you're not going to stop me."

"Just listen to me, Johnny," Amelie said. "Jennifer sent me after you because she wants to make sure you don't get hurt. The game is over, we won. Let's just go home."

"By disqualification," Johnny shot back. "That's worse than losing."

"Get out of here, McKinley," Craig told her rudely. "This is a war, not a peace summit. You should be ashamed. Your little sister has more loyalty to her school than you do."

"She wasn't even talking to you!" Lyndon snapped, surprising Johnny, Amelie, and even Craig. "Mind your own business!"

"You gonna make me?" Craig challenged.

"Yeah, I am!" Lyndon answered.

He stepped to Lyndon and Amelie put herself in between the two boys. Before the conflict could intensify, the four of them were distracted by the dark blue car that was approaching them. The car stopped and the doors to the driver's and passenger's seats opened. Guy stepped out of the passenger's side while the driver emerged as well.

"Long time no see, Holt…" Craig said.

Holt was about a year or two older than they were. He had beady dark eyes, brown hair kept in a buzz cut, and a stocky build. Johnny was well aware of his reputation for being insane, but was not going to back down from him. If he had to take out Holt first to get to Guy, he would.

"See you went for reinforcements," Johnny told Guy.

"So did you," he countered.

"They're just here to watch me pound you into the next century. Holt, you can snap pictures if you want, but your cousin's going down."

"See here, Johnny-boy," Holt said coolly. "You started all of this by running your mouth about Cerulean and I really can't take that laying down. So, if you want my cousin, you're going to have to go through me."

"No Pokémon," Craig interjected. "You and Johnny. One-on-one fight. If he wins, we get Guy."

"Johnny," Amelie pleaded. "Come on, let's just go. Think about Jennifer and your mom."

"Don't listen to her," Craig said. "Man up and end these clowns. I'm right here if you need me."

Amelie was right and there was no rationalization that could make her wrong, but Johnny couldn't turn away now. With Craig, Guy, and Holt here, he would be branded a coward if he left. He closed his eyes in resignation before marching up to Holt and throwing a punch. Holt blocked the blow and hit Johnny in the stomach.

"Come on Johnny!" Craig yelled. "Get him!"

Holt grabbed Johnny from behind, but he elbowed the older teen in the face as hard as he could. Blood ran down Holt's nose as he lost his grip. Johnny broke free and slammed Holt against his car. Johnny held him there and began kneeing Holt, who was struggling to move. Holt managed to get his hand into his pocket and Johnny heard Lyndon shout his name. He suddenly felt a sharp pain, more painful than anything he had ever experienced, in his side and collapsed onto the ground. Johnny looked up and saw the blade in Holt's hands, dripping red with blood, his blood.

"Johnny!" Amelie cried as she rushed to his side. "Lyndon, call for help now!"

"What the hell?!" Guy shouted at Holt as the latter quickly jumped into his car.

Craig rushed at the car with a fury like never before, cursing and threatening death on the Cerulean brutes. Guy hastily got in before Craig could reach him. Johnny was breathing heavily, clutching his stab wound, as he continued bleeding onto the pavement. He saw the car speed off, but nothing could have prepared him for what came next. Craig reached inside of his jacket and retrieved the 'something' that he had gotten from Sid Moriarty.

"Craig!" Amelie shouted in horror. "Don't!"

He was beyond the point of reasoning. In a blind rage, he fired the gun at the car, hitting the right tail light and shattering the back mirror. He chased after the car for a bit, firing a few more times before they managed to get away. Everyone had known what Craig had been up to hanging out with Sid Moriarty's gang, but they did not know he had become this involved. In that moment, Johnny realized that Craig Kelton had graduated from being a school bully into a full-fledged criminal. In that moment, he realized that he should have listened to Amelie…

A/N: I was asked if there was more gray to the Saffron/Cerulean conflict and the answer is yeah. The Saffron kids do just as much to instigate the Cerulean kids. The darker sides of our 'heroes' are coming out and it's only going to become more prominent from here. I like that we don't get everyone's P.O.V. since it makes things much more shocking when we learn what characters like Craig get up to 'offscreen'. Still, definitely a downer ending for Ellie and especially Johnny, though I think he's definitely going to be forced to learn now while he recovers.

The P.O.V. characters for this chapter were: Ellie Morris and Johnny Hawkins

As always, feel free to come to the forum and discuss!

Until next time!