The Former Champion
Jet and his friends followed the man in the suit to a door next to the spot where bets were being placed. Beyond the door was a metal staircase that led upwards. They walked up the staircase until they arrived on the second floor. The man in the suit said, "Just head through this door, here.
Jet nodded and walked in. The VIP room was very much unlike the rest of the battle club. Whereas the downstairs looked like an abandoned warehouse with a bloody sand pit in the middle, this room was lushly decorated with artwork and oak furniture. There was a bar in the corner and a television above it. At the front of the room, there was a large window that took up the entire wall. Outside of the window was the rest of the club, and a perfect view of the sand pit.
The VIP was full of people. Most of people were girls in tight skirts. The only males in the room were the security, (All dressed in suits), the bartender, (wearing a handsome tuxedo), and Bill himself.
Bill was a little shorter than Jet. He wore his hair in curls and had on what looked to be an Armani purple suit on. His shoes were so shiny Jet could see his reflection in them. Bill was very handsome, but also pale and slightly sweaty. In the corner of his eye, Jet could see one of Bill's girls snorting a line of coke on a glass table. So he's one of those!
When Bill spoke it was with an English accent, "Ah, there you are! These your friends, then?"
Jet nodded and introduced them all. Bill smiled and said, "Ah yes, I was watching your battles earlier. Very entertaining! Please, everyone, have a seat, get comfortable. 'Specially you, love; those crutches don't look like they're a joy to stand on, now do they?"
Everyone sat down. Jet and his friends were sitting on a sofa opposite of Bill and his posse. The window with the sand pit was to their left; it looked as though Johnny had already gotten the next battle started.
Bill asked, "Can I get you some drinks? Darnel here makes this amazing drink called- what was it? A chocolate birthday cake?" he asked the bartender. The bartender said, "Yeah, I'll send a few over, sir."
Bill turned back towards Jet and smiled, "It's actually quite good. I think he said it was one third frangelica, and two thirds vanilla absolute. Or maybe it was the other way around?"
One of the girls walked up and put a tray on the table full of shot glasses. Bill gestured towards the tray and said, "C'mon then, have a drink. I insist!"
Curious as to what this 'chocolate birthday cake' tasted like, Jet grabbed one of the shot glasses. So did his companions. Bill raised his own glass and said, "Cheers!" and they drank. Bill was right; it really did taste like chocolate cake. "Mmm!" said Amy, "That's amazing!"
Bill laughed and said, "Yeah well, you got to be careful with drinks like that. They taste good so you think they're harmless, and a half hour later you're fucking trashed and have no clue as to why it happened! Let's have another."
Everyone took a second shot. Jet felt the back of his throat burn and told himself, Careful! Don't let this turn out like last time! Bill smiled at Jet and said, "Do you know who I am?"
Jet nodded and said, "Yeah, you were the league champion!"
Bill laughed, "Most people know me because of the money I made web designing, yet this bloke knows me as the former Regional League Champion! Yeah, Bill's the name. I like to think of myself as a collector. As I sure you all are! Most serious trainers like to collect they're favorites. I'm a collector of rare Pokémon."
Bill leaned forward and pointed at Jet's belt, "That Gyarados of yours is a rare Pokémon. As is your Charmeleon. I have a Charizard; there's a valley not too far from this region that's crawling with them! But a Gyarados? Those are harder to find, aren't they? So very few Magikarp ever get enough power to evolve. Those that do, well they don't exactly hang out at local lakes, do they? You have to search the seas for them. A task so dangerous, only the most hardened of Pokémon trainers will do. It's rare you ever see a Gyarados for sale; and when you do you better have deep pockets to buy one. Which begs the question, how did you find a Gyarados?"
Jet sat back and said, "Well, I didn't find it exactly."
Bill smiled, "Ah, so you bought it then?"
"No," Jet laughed, "I evolved it from a Magikarp."
Bill suddenly burst out laughing, as did some of his concubines. Jet's smile was wiped off his face as Bill clutched his gut and said, "Yeah right! You can't train a Magikarp to fight! It's impossible!"
Jet asked, "Well, have you ever actually tried to work with a Magikarp before? They get a bad rep because it takes a lot of patience to work with them, but they're not as useless as everyone thinks. My Magikarp once defeated a Wartortle in single combat."
Bill stopped laughing and asked, "So you're serious? You evolved your Magikarp into a Gyarados? How long did it take you?"
Jet thought about it and said, "A little under two weeks, I think."
Bill raised his eyebrows, "That must have been some high level Magikarp you captured."
Amy chimed in, "The Magikarp was level thirteen when Jet caught it and level twenty when it evolved."
Bill looked dumbstruck for a second, and then asked, "Do you expect me to believe that you caught a Magikarp, taught it to fight, trained it seven levels, and evolved it in less than two weeks into one of the rarest and most feared water type Pokémon in the world?"
Jet grinned and said, "Aww, stop, you're gonna make me blush!"
Brian laughed and said, "Yeah, when he puts it like that, makes you sound like a good trainer doesn't it?"
Bill looked at Jet and shook his head, "You definitely seem convincing, but I'm still having trouble believing you. Either way, how you got the Gyarados really doesn't matter. What matters, is what do you want for it?"
Jet raised his eyebrows and asked, "Excuse me?" in a cold voice. Bill smiled and said, "I have rare Pokémon from all over the world! Many of them, I breed so I can trade. I could give you Pokémon that you would have to travel over a thousand miles and overturn rocks to find! I could give you Pokémon who have enough power to take on any Gym leader in region! I could give you-"
Jet stood up and said, "Thank you for the offer, but I'm not interested in trading."
Brian turned to Jet and said, "Hey, man, maybe you should think about this!"
Bill pointed to Brian and said, "I'd listen to your friend here. The amount of rare Pokémon I have in my storage system, I could find you one that suits you just right."
Jet shook his head, "There's nothing to think about. I don't train Pokémon that I didn't capture or raise myself."
Gary rolled his eyes, What's this guy thinking? I would trade with him! Gyarados may be rare, but Magikarp are common as fuck! If he can evolve one, he could evolve another, right?
Bill stood up too and smiled, "I can respect that, you like to earn your Pokémon, understandable. Tell you what, mate, shoot me a number and I'll write you a check."
Jet shook his head and said, "No thank you, Mr. Brooks."
Bill, ignoring Jet's refusal, took out his check book and signed a check, handing it to Jet, "I'm a very wealthy man, mate. Just write down a number on that little check, and give me that Gyarados!"
Jet looked down at the check, his heart racing. He then looked Bill in the eye and ripped the check in half, "Hydra is not for sale. I don't give a shit if she was still a Magikarp, I don't sell my Pokémon. I don't trade my Pokémon. I raise them. Thank you for the offer, but I should get going." Jet made his way around the couch when he heard Bill say, "Don't you dare turn your back on me, you little shit! I don't care how you got that Gyarados, if you were a trainer worth knowing I'd have heard of you. You have your pride? Fine. Battle me."
Jet turned around and said, "I don't bet my Pokémon, either."
Bill walked up to Jet and said to his face, "I don't give a damn! I don't want you to bet your Pokémon, or your money! I have plenty of that. I want to show you to respect a Pokémon Master when they generously give you an offer; you don't fucking refuse!
"You think you're that high on the food chain that you are on equal terms with me? Me? Oh we'll see, mate! I challenge you to a three on three battle. If I win then I never want to see your face in my club again. Get a goddamn Gym membership like every other half-baked local trainer."
Jet's heart started beating rapidly again, "And if I win?"
Bill laughed, "If he wins, he says! If you win, mate, I have a TM for Hyper Beam with your name on it. Sound fair?"
Hyper Beam? Hyper Beam was a powerful blast that could only be taught to powerful Pokémon. Its destructive power made it one of the strongest normal type attacks in the world.
"Ok," Jet nodded, "You have a deal."
Bill turned to one of his security guards and said, "Tell Johnny the next match is going to be between me, and Jet over here." He then turned back to Jet and said, "We go by club rules. Once you recall a Pokémon, you can't send it back out."
Jet nodded, now starting to regret his decision to go against Bill. Still, he did want to see his skills against a former league champion. Gary turned to Amy and said, "Yeah, he's not going to last five minutes."
XXX
Jet was standing at the edge of the sand pit. Across from him, Bill stood with a smirk on his face, "Take my jacket, love. I think I'm going to enjoy this!"
Bill handed his jacket to one of the girls with a tight skirt on. His belt had six ultra-balls clipped to it. Johnny was instructed not to comment on the match; Bill said he found Johnny's voice annoying. Everyone in the club surrounded the pit, but were careful not to get to close this time in case of danger.
"You first, mate, the match will begin as soon as both Pokémon are sent out!"
Jet nervously sent out his first Pokémon, "Go, Sora!"
His Pidgeotto flew around the sand pit as Bill sent forth his Pokémon, "Go, Skarmory!"
Bill's metallic bird shot out like a jet and flew around the room. People cried out as they were buffeted by the wind from Skarmory's speed. Bill yelled, "Use Flash Cannon!"
Skarmory opened its mouth and shot out a silvery beam of light at its target. Jet was about to tell Pidgeotto to dodge, but the attack had already hit her. It was an instant KO. Bill's Pokémon were obviously at an extremely high level. Jet nervously recalled his Pidgeotto and sent out his Pikachu, which had a type advantage against Skarmory.
"Skarmory, return," said Bill, lazily, "Go, Torkoal!"
Bill sent forth a Pokémon Jet had never seen before, only read about. It looked like half large turtle, half very small volcano. The Pokémon emitted a ton of black smoke that made everyone in the vicinity cough. Jet yelled to Pikachu, "Spark, use Double Team!"
Spark immediately began to surround Torkoal with blurry after images of himself, making it difficult to hit him. Bill wasn't phased, however, and simply said, "Torkoal, show it your Lava Plume!"
Torkoal let out a small roar as lava erupted from its shell, spraying everything in sight. Pikachu quickly abandoned his Double Team and got to work dodging the spurts of Lava that were shooting everywhere. Although Pikachu was doing an excellent job dodging the attack, Jet could see the stone melting on the walls of the sand pit, "Return, Spark!" After Spark was recalled, Jet put the pokeball away, saying, "I'm not about to risk my Pokémon's safety over this match."
Jet seriously contemplated giving up; he didn't want any more of his Pokémon to get hurt. But he couldn't just give in, he had to try. "Go Hydra!"
Jet's Gyarados came out with a mighty roar. Jet made sure to send her out on the ground above the sand pit and away from the lava. Bill smirked and recalled his Torkoal. "Do you really think some low level Gyarados is going to make a difference against my Pokémon? You're sadly mistaken," Bill laughed and sent forth his final Pokémon, "Go, Elektross!"
A blue, electric eel looking Pokémon was sent out against Gyarados. Jet shouted, "Use Dragon Rage!"
"Use Thunder!"
Elektross dodged Gyarados' attack, and suddenly all the lights went out as a powerful, wicked bolt of electricity burst from the ceiling and struck Hydra. She roared out in pain, and Jet tried to recall her before she took any more damage. Hydra went back into her Net Ball, but she brought some of the shock with her. Jet felt a rush of electricity shoot through his body and went numb. He fell forward into the sand pit and saw only blackness.
XXX
Jet opened his eyes to a bright light and shut them quickly. His entire body ached from head to toe. He was not sure exactly where he was, but he knew he was in a warm bed. Jet contemplated going back to sleep, but then a vision popped in his head of his Gyarados being electrocuted. Jet sat up immediately, "HYDRA!"
"Jet!" A head of red hair suddenly swooped down on him and hugged him tightly. "I'm so glad you're ok! I have to call Brian and your family to let them know!"
"Ahh, Amy that hurts!"
"Oh," she said letting go, "I'm sorry!"
Jet looked up at Amy and asked, urgently, "My Pokémon! Are they ok? What happened?"
Amy put her hand on Jet's shoulder and smiled, "Your Pokémon are in Brian's room at the Pokémon Center, along with your bag and all of your stuff. The nurse said that you recalled your Gyarados just in time! There is no permanent damage, she is completely healed."
Jet looked around the room, "Is this the hospital we were at-"
"When I sprang my ankle?" Amy finished, "Yeah. You're lucky, mister! The doctor said you just have to stay overnight and you'll be ready to leave in the morning."
Jet frowned, "I was injured? How?"
Amy sat down and sighed, "You were electrocuted when you recalled your Gyarados in the middle of an attack. You saved her life, but I don't think you'll be able to do any strenuous labor for a couple of weeks."
Jet sat back, "I think I'm starting to remember. There was a battle against…"
"Bill," Amy said sourly, "the former league champion. He was pissed because you wouldn't sell your Gyarados to him."
Jet grunted as he adjusted himself and said, miserably, "Bet he was happy he won."
"He was shocked when you got caught in the attack. He's paying for the hospital bill. He also left his phone number and said he wants you to call him when you get better. Said he was sorry and he wants to make it up to you. If you ask me though, I just think he doesn't want to get sued."
Amy handed Jet Bill's business card, which he placed on his bedside table. "That brings me up to four."
"Excuse me?" Amy asked, "four what?"
Jet sighed and said, "Four losses. Once to Natalie, once to Brian, once to some old dude, and now once to Bill. I don't like losing."
"Pff," Amy smiled, "No one likes losing. What was it grandpa always said about losing battles?"
"Learn from them." Jet said bitterly.
Amy grinned, "Exactly! What did you learn from this loss?"
Jet rolled his eyes, "To pick and choose my battles. I got a long way to go if I want to become a champion."
Author's Notes:
Please Review!
