Thanks for the reviews, guys! Last time I updated was a month ago, and I'm surprised it took me till now to finally get this chapter up. Glad I did and right after I got over being sick too, but I'm happy to be back again. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Roses are red, violets are blue. I don't own anything from Pokemon, so please don't sue. Haha, something different!
Chapter 9: Guided By Luck
"….I can't waste time so give it a moment
I realize, nothing's broken
No need to worry 'bout everything I've done
Live every second like it was my last one
Don't look back at a new direction
I loved you once, needed protection
You're still a part of everything I do
You're on my heart just like a tattoo," April, Angelina, and Dani sang along in unison with the car radio.
Seamus rolled his eyes and leaned forward as far as his seatbelt would allow to whisper something to Jeremy.
"Dude, for all that is holy, shut them up!" Jeremy snickered.
"Hey!" Dani protested, playfully pushing her boyfriend for laughing at them. Jeremy shrugged and wrapped his arm around her to pull her in for a one-armed hug.
"I heard that!" Angelina complained, taking off one of her black fingerless gloves and hitting her own boyfriend across the head with her gloveless hand.
"Oww! …What the hell Lina?!" Seamus whined, rubbing the back of his head where Angelina had hit him.
"That's for making fun of us!"
"What'd you expect? We've been listening to you three singing all these girly songs for God knows how long and-" Seamus began to explain before Angelina cut him off.
"Oh shut up, Seamus! It's not like you guys have anything better to listen to!"
"Actually, we do" said Marcus taking one hand off the steering wheel to change the radio station. The song Kiss Kiss by Chris Brown came blasting through the car speakers. April, who was riding shotgun, wasn't so pleased.
"Hey! I was listening to that!" April objected, changing the radio station back to Tattoo.
"Come on April, let us listen for a while. You've been hogging the radio," said Marcus, quickly glancing at her before turning his eyes back to the road ahead.
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"I'll give you a kiss," Marcus bargained. April bit her lip as if thinking about Marcus's proposal and then slowly nodded her head.
"Ok."
"Weak!" yelled Angelina from the back seat.
"I am not weak, I'm just-" said April before Marcus interrupted her.
"I'm just irresistible," Marcus boasted, turning to April and putting his hand behind her head to bring her in for a kiss.
"Eww… dude, not when I'm in the car!," said Jeremy turning to look out the window, obviously disgusted by his cousin making out with one of his best friends.
"No PDA please! …That's only ok if you're in the back seat!" Seamus exclaimed, raising his eyebrows suggestively at Angelina, who just rolled her eyes at him and muttered, "You wish Nichols."
POKEMON
It's a battle, winner or lose
It's the friends you make
It's the road you choose
We got the right stuff
So make your mind up
Find the courage inside of you
If you're strong you'll survive
And keep your dream alive
It's the Battle Frontier
POKEMON
Be the best you can be
And find your destiny
It's the master plan
The powers in you hand
POKEMON
Angelina is well on her way toward the Battle Pike to earn her fourth frontier symbol. Usually Scott would make his appearance to watch the trainers (special in his eyes) challenge the frontier brains for their symbol but he was currently away on business.
The car was beginning to swerve slightly. The couple in the front didn't seem to notice since they were still making out.
"Marcus, hands on ten and two!" yelled Dani, making the couple quickly break apart.
"Yeah Marcus! Didn't anyone teach you how to drive properly? Keep your hands on ten and two, not ten and nothing. Is that so hard to remember?" said April feigning seriousness. The couples in the two back rows laughed at the face Marcus was giving April. They could see him through the rearview mirror.
"April, I highly doubt you constitute as nothing. So technically it's your fault because you distracted me."
"Good point. So now can we change the station? It's time for some real music!" Seamus exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Oh yeah! I almost forgot!" said Marcus taking his right hand off the steering wheel, yet again, to change the station.
"Oh no you don't!" warned April, swatting her husband's hand away from the radio.
"What? We had an agreement!"
"Yes, but I didn't say when you could change the station. You guys can have it on the way back."
"April, that's not fair!" Marcus protested.
"Guys, I really don't think it matters anymore," said Dani looking out the window.
"Why?" asked Jeremy.
" 'cause we're almost there! I can see it!" Angelina answered for her friend.
"Thank god! I've been seriously pissing my pants for the last…" Seamus checked his watch, "…5 minutes! I think it was all that soda we drank before we left"
"Seamus!" Jeremy, Dani, Marcus and April yelled in unison.
"We drank?" Angelina asked sarcastically.
"Ok guys, we're here!" announced Marcus, as he parked his 2007 dark blue pearl Ford Explorer. It took him weeks of driving through the Kanto Region from Pallet Town all the way out near Fuschia City to meet up with the gang traveling for the Battle Frontier.
Everyone got out of the car and entered a huge blue-colored building with the head of a Seviper on the front and its tail on the back... well everyone except Seamus who ran straight through the Pike's lobby.
"I'll be right back!" Seamus yelled running of in search for the restrooms.
"Shouldn't we tell him to wait?" Jeremy asked watching his friend sprinting further and further away from the sign locating the bathrooms.
"Nah," said Marcus.
"He'll figure it out," replied April.
"Eventually," laughed Angelina and Dani.
The walls and carpet were blood red, and equally shaded curtains hung in the back of the room. Angelina and the gang were greeted by a young woman with short blonde hair and bright green eyes wearing a red tube top under a white jacket with red pants and a white belt.
"Welcome to the Battle Pike. The names' Barbara, which one of you is here to challenge Queen Lucy?"
"Hey Barb, its been a while," Marcus stepped forward with April, grinning as they held hands.
The blonde gasped, "Oh no way! How are you guys?!" she embraced the couple happily. "Last time I saw you was your wedding! Wow, and your expecting, too! Congrats!" she stared at the slight bump that's showed against the sun dress April wore.
"Uhm, excuse me," Angelina interupted lightly, her Pikachu sweatdropped along with her. "Can you catch up later? I'd like to earn my next symbol sometime before tomorrow."
"That's Queen Lucy to you, missy!" Barbara yelled, then eyed the young trainer carefully. "You remind me alot of this Ash-kid, he's got a Pikachu just like yours and-"
"He's my big brother," Christina said, smiling up at Barbara as she tugged onto her jacket.
"Is he now? Well I'm sure you know he and his gang are Lucy's good friends right?" Barbara asked, which Christina shook her head and looked confused while the others were also curious. "She saved him from Team Rocket, and she honestly saw something in Ash and accepted his challenge even when the Battle Pike was closed that day."
"Guess it shows that Ketchums' can charm their way into just about anything!" Marcus chuckled, glancing towards Angelina, whom looked away blushing.
"Yeah, its gotta be, don't be ashamed, sweetie," Barbara agreed and smiled assuringly. "I'm glad it wasn't Ash's friend, he was so annoying during their battle. It was unbelievable...."
--FLASHBACK--
"Attacking is one of Lucy's guiding principles in battle and in love! Wow! She and I would be the most perfect couple you ever saw!" Brock shouted out loud which made Lucy blush.
Barbara twitched and turned around to look at Brock with an angry face and bared with teeth. "SHUT UP! ARE YOU CRAZY?! COURSE YOU ARE!"
--END FLASHBACK--
Angelina felt a mixed emotion of anger and jealousy when Barbara explained and made fun of Brock's attempts of flirting with Lucy. Her face was still red and her eyes were darkened and narrowed, her right eyebrow twitching slightly and her teeth grinding with her hands balled into tight fists and shaking.
"If you're done Barbara, I'd like to see if Angelina has the same luck as her brother," said a voice from the other end of the lobby. Everyone saw a tall woman with long brownish-grey hair accentuated by two red stripes that matched her almond-shaped crimson eyes. She wore a purple sleeveless top that showed her midriff, matching long purple gloves and high-heeled boots, and black pants with a Seviper diamond belt wrapped around her waist. "Hello there, I am Pike Queen Lucy."
Jeremy and Seamus stared in amazement at the beauty before them. They looked at each other at the corner of their eyes as if to say "Damn, she's gorgeous!" Although they already had girlfriends, they thought her voice was also rich and beautiful, just like she was.
Angelina stared in shock, she didn't blame the guys and pictured Brock's reactions was quite the same and beyond that, but she pushed her thoughts behind her and concentrated towards her main goal from Lucy as she finally got her vocal chords to work. "I'm Angelina Murakami, and my luck should be fine to challenge you for your Luck Symbol."
Lucy nodded, "Very well, if you'd follow me please." she turned and walked through the red curtain, which everyone followed through a long maze-like hallway and entered a large arena consisting of a pond and grassy patches. Barbara sat with Marcus and April in the stands with Jeremy, Seamus, Christina, and Dani while Lucy and Angelina took their respective spots on different ends of the field.
The referee was a young woman with short blue hair wearing a lite blue tube top, white pants with blue pockets, and blue sneakers. "Now the Frontier Battle between Angelina of Pallet Town and Pike Queen Lucy is about to begin! Each participant may use two Pokemon. The victor needs two wins!" she then raises her arms. "Now choose your Pokemon!"
"Seviper! I choose you!" Lucy said, throwing out a Pokeball revealing the large fanged snake with different kinds of scars all over its body. It hissed and readied itself for battle.
"C'mon Lucy! All the way!" Barbara cheered.
Angelina threw out her first Pokeball as well, "Let's go, Blaze!" calling upon the final evolution of Cyndaquil. It had a black and golden coat of fur, black pointed ears, a collar of red and yellow flames that stretched across the back of it's neck, and piercing red eyes.
"Baa-kaaa!" called out the Typhlosion in a powerful roar as the flames around the back of its neck flickered in a powerful flare.
"Ready, begin!"
"Blaze, start things off with Flamethrower!"
Blaze opened its mouth and from the depths of its throat came forth a stream of flames, burning in a red, orange, and yellow glow toward Seviper.
"Seviper, your Flamethrower too!"
Seviper opened its mouth and a powerful blast of its special orange and golden hue flame bursted forth and slammed into the oncoming Flamethrower of the opponent, causing a blast to occur on the field and thick black smoke to stop the actions of the two Pokemon temporally for the time being, just until the smoke cleared the field. Once the smoke faded away, Angelina called out:
"Blaze, use Flame Wheel."
Blaze roared as it curled itself into a ball, whilst the bright red flames around its neck spread to cover its entire body and started to roll towards Seviper.
"Seviper, use Earthquake!"
Seviper slammed its body into the battlefield hard. This caused a major quake that shook the whole battlefield as the blast came charging at Blaze and threw it off balance; and not only did its attack fail, it took considerable damage as well.
"Blaze, use Hyper Beam!"
Blaze opened up its mouth, a golden ball of energy began to form. When it was fully charged, he sent the attack at Seviper, the beam burning in a powerful blast of golden light.
"Seviper, Protect!"
Seviper braced itself into a protective karate stance and as soon as it did, the golden aura of Protect veiled down around it. The Hyper Beam attack slammed into the Poison Element and simply deflected off the snakes' body.
"Now Blaze, Quick Attack!"
"Poison Tail, Seviper!"
As Blaze darted forward, Seviper started to whip its tail around so that its glowing pointed end would jab Blaziken hard into his form. Blaze dodged pasted Seviper's tail and crash into it; Seviper hissed in surprise. Blaze tackled it several more times, quickly dashing away after hitting it and dashing back towards it just as quickly. Eventually, Seviper looked almost ready to faint, but Blaze was clearly just as tired due to all the effort he was using.
"Now Flamethrower!"
Blaze opened his mouth to unleash another powerful surge of fire that slammed hard into Seviper's face, then it gave a cry of pain before fainting from the attack.
"Seviper is unable to battle," the referee declered. "Typhlosion is the winner!"
"Awesome!" Angelina cheered while she heard her friends applaud and cheer from their seats. She gave a thumbs up to her fire Pokemon, "You rock and rule, Blaze!"
"Bakaa!" Blaze gave his trainer a "thumbs-up" back with its paw.
"Angelina's not bad, but Lucy is just starting," Barbara commented while the Pike Queen recalls her Seviper and threw out her final Pokeball and revealed her Milotic. Everyone gasped at the sight of the beautiful water serpant as it yawned elegantly and looked at Blaze.
"So now what's Angelina gonna do?" April asked. "You know she's at a huge disadvantage with water-types."
"Don't worry, that's not going to stop her from winning," Marcus said, grinning confidently.
Angelina remembered fighting a Milotic when she'd defeated Juan for her last Hoenn badge, and then she was also defeated by Wallace's Milotic during the Elite Four Challenge, but this time she was at a major disadvantage… Not only would Blaze be weak to Milotic's attacks, but he was already tired from his round with Seviper.
"Milotic, start off with your Water Gun."
"Counter with your Flamethrower, Blaze."
Milotic shot off a stream of water towards Blaze while the Pokemon unleashed another blast of fire. Both attacks met in the center of the field and created a huge amount of steam.
"Use Swift Attack!"
"Counter with Water Gun!"
The blast of water managed to knock out most of the damage inducing stars from the Swift attack.
"Don't take that from them Blaze, use your Flamethrower again."
"Dodge that and get ready to engage, Milotic."
Milotic tried to avoid the flames but was hit a bit by the fire. However, it got closer and closer to Blaze with each dodge and parry.
Meanwhile in the stands…
"Come on Angelina, you can do it! You're the best!" Seamus yelled along with Christina, Jeremy, and Dani. Barbara was looking at him with narrowed eyes, something that did not escape Marcus and April's notice, but they didn't say anything. They was enthralled with the battle between Lucy and Angelina. They focused back on what was happening.
"Milotic, Water Gun again."
"Flamethrower to counter."
The two streams met again, only this time, the Water Gun was able to overpower the Flamethrower and hit Blaze. Lucy knew that while Typhlosion had good speed, it had lower attack and defense stats, and was able to start taking advantage of that now that Angelina's Typhlosions was weak.
"Now Milotic," called out Lucy, "Water Pulse!"
Milotic calmly opened its mouth and sent out three rings of supersonic light that melded together into a blue sphere of watery light that shot out towards the Typhlosion. Blaze was easily hit since he was too tired to dodge, and he tumbled backwards unconscious.
"Typhlosion is unable to battle," called out the referee, "Milotic is the winner!"
"Thank you, Blaze," Angelina said, smiling at the Pokeball that held her Typhlosion. She minimized the device and placed it onto her belt, then she throws out a new Pokeball and grins when Absol materialized onto the field. "C'mon Shadow! Get'em with your Shock Wave!"
Shadow nodded as the scythe blade on his head began to glow and crackle with yellow electricity and with a powerful cry, thousands of lighting bolts shot from the scythe blade and towards Milotic in a circular tried to duck out of the way, but it was a moment too late, and the attack hit dead on. Milotic practically wilted as it fell to the ground, but despite the singe marks on its sides, it didn't look like it was about to faint just yet.
"Milotic use Twister!" Lucy ordered as Milotic raised up its blue and pink scaled fan and splitting the fins, caused a powerful blast of draconic wind.
"Shadow, use Double Team!" Angelina ordered as Shadow's body flashed for a brief moment in a white light and then followed with illusions of itself. The twister trapped several Abbys into the vortex, all of which disappeared on contact.
"Milotic, above!" Lucy cried, spotting Abby high in the air, descending onto the field. "Use Hydro Pump!" Milotic opened its mouth and a powerful blast of water bursted forth and twisted its way at Angelina's Absol.
"Shadow use Razor Wind!" Angelina ordered as her Absol whipped up a whirlwind. The whirlwind protected Shadow from the stream of water, just at he unleashed razor like wind upon Milotic.
"Milotic, use Water Pulse!"
"Bounce and use Thunder!" Angelina countered.
Milotic weakly fired several rings of blue aquatic light towards Shadow. At the last second, Shadow managed to spring over the attack with the help of her tail and crashed into Milotic. Before Milotic even had a chance to wince, Shadow's scythe blade was fully illuminated in yellow light, causing a blast of lightning to shoot out across the field and strike Milotic. That caused the water serpant to slump again, and this time Milotic didn't get back up.
"Milotic is unable to battle, Absol wins!" called out the referee, "And the victor is Angelina of Pallet Town!"
"Yes! We did it, Shadow!" Angelina cried, jumping in the air. She jumped off her platform and embraced her Absol. "You were so amazing! Thank you!"
"Sol-absol!" Shadow said happily, licking her trainer's cheek.
Angelina's friends were cheering and screaming from the stands, while Lucy recalled her Milotic and made her way over to Angelina.
"My goodness," Lucy smiled and shook hands with Angelina, "Lady Luck must have given you her blessing today for winning here at the Battle Pike."
"Yeah I know!" A wide grin spread over Angelina's face as she withdrew Shadow. "And you have to admit, the whole Bounce thing was pretty cool."
A half-smile tugged at Lucy's lips as she reached into her pocket. "It was. Here— as proof of your victory, the Luck Symbol." she held out a small gold badge with a diamond-shaped emblem.
"Oh wow, thanks Lucy," Angelina said, smiling at the new symbol.
"No problem." Lucy smiled. "Now hopefully, your luck will continue as you challenge the other facilities."
"You bet it will!"
Angelina catches up with her friends and plan to celebrate that night for dinner, glad to finally have the Luck Symbol to her cherished symbol collection on the road to becoming a champion of the Battle Frontier.
§To Be Continued§
*Marcus and April meet up with Angelina and the gang and drive them to the Battle Pike for Angelina's next frontier symbol.
*Marcus and April are good friends with Lucy and Barbara
*April is pregnant with Marcus's child.
*Angelina finds out and gets jealous that Brock was attepting flirtations with Lucy during Ash's battle, but pushes her thoughts behind her to earn Lucy's symbol.
*Angelina being at a disadvantage when her Typhlosion battled Lucy's Milotic was similar to Ash's disadvantage in his battle.
*Has some quotes from the episode Queen of The Serpentine
Thank you for reading! Reviews and comments are appreciated!