DISCLAIMER:- I do not own Pokemon or any of their characters portrayed herein. I only own characters that have not been seen either in games or in the anime.
MESSAGE TO READERS:- I know that I'm adding chapters to this like there's no tomorrow, but in honesty I've been working on this for a good couple of weeks now making sure that I have a plot outlined before I start. It's good technique to use with any story, as you can have the main idea of your story outlined and as you fill in the gaps, more ideas will come to you. Has happened to me many a time before. But to warn you all I probably won't be updating for a couple of days. Thank you to all who have reviewed thus far. And if you haven't already, feel free to provide input, congratulations or, if you feel strongly against it, criticism. So go and grab yourselves a lemonade, kick back and enjoy!!!
PS: For those of you who enjoy reading the battles, the next couple of chapters feature a good couple of matches, so you may well be interested in reading the next couple of chapters...
THE LEAGUE OF CHAMPIONS
CHAPTER 4: WATER BATTLE! MISTY VERSUS PAUL
The stands were packed to the rafters with cheering fans, who all had come to witness the best Pokemon battles that the Kanto region could offer. I was quite fortunate to get a seat just two rows back from the battlefield. Accompanying me was the tan-skinned Brock, who I had met only the night before. He seemed rather quiet, but I could tell he was very much interested in seeing how his old friend Misty would battle. And so was I. Not to mention I would love to see Paul get what he deserves and get knocked out in this round. Both Misty and Paul had already taken their positions on the battlefield. Two podiums lifted them from the ground, as the battlefield suddenly began to open like a pair of sliding doors. From below, a large pool of water ascended into view, along with several platform-like structures swishing in the waves the movement of the field had created. I saw Misty's eyes light up when she saw the water.
"You're in trouble, Paul! This is a Water Field and this is where I specialise. So, let's get this over with!" Misty shouted, ready for combat. Paul did not look at all intimidated.
"Please, if you specialise in Water Pokemon, then I will use that to my advantage. You'll soon see," he smirked in a cocky manner. Both trainers stared each other down, although Paul look more calm and relaxed. Misty's body language displayed agitation and uneasiness.
"This will be a Three-On-Three Pokemon Battle taking place on the Water Field," the announcer's voice boomed over the PA system. "Please welcome our two competitors. First the cool, calm and collective trainer all the way from Sinnoh. Put your hands together for Paul!" The crowd started to go wild for Paul, which he did not play to nor encourage.
"I'm certainly not cheering for him," I scowled to myself.
"Me neither," Brock agreed, overhearing what I thought was silent speech. We both seemed to share the same hatred for Paul.
"And secondly, the sirene Cerulean goddess and Leader of the Cerulean City Gym, please welcome Misty!" The crowd roared even louder than they had for Paul. Upon hearing what the announcer had said, Paul was taken aback in an almost distinctive fashion.
"You're a Gym Leader?" he stammered. "How could a loser like you be strong enough to be a Gym Leader?"
"I'm about to show you," Misty smiled, knowing that she now she had a psychological grip hold on Paul. However, Paul simply closed his eyes once again.
"It doesn't matter," Paul simpered. "I guess nearly everyone has had to beat you to get here, so I might as well do the same on the big stage." Misty snarled, even louder and more ferociously than she had done before. Armed with her first Pokeball, Misty could feel the tension as she awaited the official to begin the match.
"Come on, Misty!" I called from the stands. "I know you can beat him. Just stay focused."
"He's right," Misty whispered to herself. "Time to beat this wannabe."
"Are you both ready?" The official asked the combatants. Both of them nodded, with a determined look on their faces. "Then let the match begin!" He shouted, raising both a green and a red flag simultaneously into the air.
"Go, Staryu!" Misty shouted, throwing her Pokeball towards the water. From it, the star-shaped Pokemon emerged, yelling like a karate fighter as it's form fully appeared. It landed on a white platform that was floating casually on the water. Paul took a good look at the opposing Pokemon, before making his selection.
"Weavile, let's go," Paul tossed his Pokeball into the air and with a flash of light, his Weavile appeared with a sly look on it's face. "Use Shadow Ball, Weavile," Paul ordered, pointing at the target. "Viiile," snarled the Dark Pokemon, firing a ball of dark energy directly at Staryu. The power contained in the blast created waves in the water as it was shot just inches above from it.
"Dodge it and use Swift!" Misty called to her beloved Staryu. With incredible speed, the starfish Pokemon began to rotate and took off into the air. The Shadow Ball exploded upon impact with the platform, as Misty's Staryu fires some shooting stars directly at Weavile. Although it tried to dodge, the Swift attack is unavoidable and strike's Weavile across it's torso. It manages to endure the attack just enough for it to stop falling into the water. "Follow up with Bubblebeam!" Staryu launched another long-ranged attack, this time in the form of several multi-coloured bubbles heading at high speed towards Paul's Weavile.
"Use Blizzard to stop that Bubblebeam and take that Staryu out of the air." Weavile seemed to chuckle as slyly as his trainer. After taking a quick, yet hard inhalation of air, Weavile exhaled a freezing cold Blizzard attack, which frozen the bubbles dead. However, the force of which the blizzard was blowing sent them hurtling back at Staryu, which it took the full brunt of not only Weavile's attack, but also it's own. Misty looked on in shock, as Staryu began to plummett from the air.
"Quickly, use Rapid Spin to deflect that frozen Bubblebeam and keep yourself airborne." Misty nervously smiled, having matched Paul's strategy with a brilliant recovery. Staryu began to spin fast and faster, smashing the remaining bubbles into small shards of ice, which softly fell to the waters' surface like snow. The crowd let out a large cheer for both Misty and Paul.
"Looks like they're both evenly matched," I heard Brock mumble. "Let's just hope Misty can keep the pace going."
"She will," I nodded back, but not turning to face him. The excitement in the arena was to intense for me to miss. Staryu was now using Rapid Spin to propel itself alpl above the fighting ground. Weavile looked a little confused trying to keep track of it, but Paul seemed unaffected by the situation.
"Weavile, use Blizzard again." Once again, the demonic weasel-like creature let loose another bombardment of icy snow at Staryu, but Staryu instinctively moved itself like a helicopter out of the way of the attack, too far in the air for the attack to reach. Weavile suddenly leapt up with a mighty bound, getting a lot closer to Staryu. The Blizzard attack was now in range and slowly, Staryu's rotation got slower and slower. Before finally, it was encased in a block of ice. Paul's Weavile used it's sharp claws to grip the ice as they fell down to the water below.
"Staryu, use Recover!" Misty yelled as they approached the water.
"Shadow Ball, NOW!" Paul ordered heartlessly. Weavile released it's grip on Staryu's icy tomb before launching another ball of negative energy. It rocketted toward Staryu, but the ice block that concealed Staryu splashed into the water just before the blast could hit. The Shadow Ball exploded on the water's surface. But the shockwaves were severe enough to crack Staryu from it's frozen prison. But the damage had already been done. Staryu floated to the surface, with it's red central core flashing, signalling that it had been defeated. Weavile landed on the platform just to the left of the fainted Staryu. The official raised his flag.
"Staryu is unable to battle, Weavile is victorious!" he shouted, confirming Staryu's elimination. Misty withdrew Staryu's Pokeball are called for it to return. A red beam of light enveloped it's body, before rushing back into the ball.
"You were great, Staryu. Thank you," she smiled, acknowledging Staryu's incredible effort. She prepared her next Pokemon, but Paul interrupted her before she could.
"You claim to be a great Water Pokemon trainer, yet you did not utilise the field at all." Paul sternly told his opponent. "You decided to attack aerially and that was your downfall."
"Don't lecture me," Misty growled. "I've still got two Pokemon left and that's more than enough to beat your Weavile and whatever else you decide to throw at me. So now I'll use Caserin! Go!"
"Huh?" I wondered to myself. "Caserin? I've never heard of that Pokemon before." As Misty threw her second Pokeball onto the field, a heart-shaped, vertically flat fish appeared and landed in the water. "Luvdisc," it shouted. "Oh, I see," I smiled in realisation. "Caserin is it's nickname." Even Paul seemed a little off guard from the name that Misty had called.
"OK… that Weavile is quite agile, so we need to be agile ourselves. So, Caserin. Use Rain Dance!" With that, the Luvdisc began swimming in a curved pattern, whilst rocking it's body. Dark clouds gathered in the sky, and the rain began to fall. Several umbrellas started to go up in the stands as the rain lashed down onto the ground below. Paul did not seem too amused at being drenched by Caserin's Rain Dance, but Misty loved the feeling of rain droplets hitting her skin. She stood and smiled, absorbing the rain's influence. "Now use Agility!" Luvdisc began to swim at Weavile at an incredible speed and began to swim around it in a super fast circle. "Now Whirlpool," Misty smiled. Her plan was coming together. The sheer speed at which Caserin was swimming created a whirlpool around the platform that Weavile was stood on. It began to lose it's balance.
"Weavile, get out of there!" Paul bellowed at his comrade. But it was no use. Weavile had fallen off it's feet and the force of the Whirlpool sucked both Weavile and the floating platform beneath the water. "How? How come that Luvdisc is so fast?" Paul asked himself.
"Simple," Misty called over, hearing what Paul had said. "My Caserin has a special ability called Swift Swim. It's speed doubles in the rain. And using Agility only makes it faster. Perfect for creating a powerful Whirlpool attack." Misty seemed rather boastful of herself, but Paul simply shook a little in frustration. Soon, the Whirlpool died down. The platform bobbed back up to the surface, with Paul's fainted Weavile looking dazed and tired on it. The official raises his opposing flag to the one he had waved just moments before.
"Paul's Weavile cannot continue this battle. The winner is Misty's Luvdisc!" he called. The crowd responded with surprised cheers.
"Wow!" I excitedly smiled to Brock. "I can't believe that a Luvdisc beat a Weavile!"
"That's the Pokemon League for you, Jonathyn." Brock also smiled. "Anything can happen. But Misty is not out of the woods yet. I know that Paul still has some strong Pokemon, some even stronger than that Weavile."
"No way!" I gasped, not believing that Paul had stronger allies. "That Weavile was really tough. If his next Pokemon are as tough as you think, Misty is in real trouble." I looked over at Misty, who had a very proud look on her face. But Paul's just showed frustration. He had ordered his Weavile to return, before reaching for his second Pokeball.
"Electabuzz, you're up!" he gleamed with a glint in his eye. A humanoid monster covered in jagged black and yellow stripes appeared on the field. Almost everyone in the crowd gasped. Even Misty looked in shock as sparks flew from the energetic Electric Pokemon.
"This is bad!" Brock shouted out for a majority of people to hear. "Electric attacks are super effective against Water Types. And that Rain Dance means that all of Electabuzz's electric attacks with hit with a hundred per cent accuracy."
"Misty's screwed!" I sighed, hanging my head. I really did hope that Misty would beat Paul. Even though she had one Pokemon left, it would still be sure to be a Water Type. "Her only hope is that the rain clears up soon, otherwise Luvdisc is gonna be fried!"
"Electabuzz, let's make this round short but sweet. Use Thunder on that Luvdisc," Paul grinned with a cold, sinister voice. "Ele-Ele-Electa," Electabuzz bellowed as it charged up for it's most powerful attack. A huge blast of electricity surged across the Water Field and hit Caserin full on! Caserin's eyes closed, as it wailed in agony. "Good, Electabuzz. Keep going!" he ordered. His Pokemon continued to pour it's stored electrical power into the attack, yet the Luvdisc still took the full brunt of the punishment. After several more moments of withstanding this punishment, Caserin finally fainted. The rain continued to fall heavily, striking the side of the heart shaped fish.
"Luvdisc is unable to battle, the winner is Paul's Electabuzz," the official declared. Misty sighed in exasparation and withdrew her defeated Luvdisc.
"Thanks Caserin, you did great." Misty smiled. However, her smile soon turned to anger as she looked over at a smug looking Paul.
"You don't even think your battle plan through. Did you for some reason think that I hadn't brought an Electric Pokemon with me when I knew we were battling on a Water Field?" Paul seemed to be picking away at Misty's weaknesses so severely that Misty herself had become agitated even more than she had done before. Her eyes had tightly closed, an enraged look had engulfed her entire face. She reached for her third and final Pokeball. This next Pokemon would have to be her best pick…
"I can't use my Gyarados, it would not be able to withstand much punishment from those Electrical attacks whilst the Rain Dance is still in effect," she murmured to herself. "Not even Corsola can stand that much electrical power. I need to think of a way to stop that electricity. And I've got just the Pokemon to do it." Misty's anger soon faded and she let out a small chuckle, having though of what seemed like the perfect plan. "It's all down to you. Go, Marshtomp!" she shouted, as the blue mudfish-like Pokemon appeared on one of the floating platforms. With a smile, it shouted out "Marshtomp!" Paul took a good look at Misty's choice and frowned a little, staring a hole through Misty. She looked back with equal determination.
"I see… she did decide to use my Marshtomp after all," Brock grinned.
"What?" I exclaimed. "That Marshtomp is yours?"
"It used to be. I left it back at the Pewter Gym with my brothers and sisters just before heading to Sinnoh. But I figured as it is a Water Pokemon, Misty may have had more use for it than what I could. And Marshtomp does seem pretty happy with her."
"Not to mention that Marshtomp is a part Ground type, meaning Electabuzz's electric attacks are useless," I added, happy to see that Paul's strategy had somewhat crumbled. I looked back out to the battlefield and I could see that both trainers were both taking each other to the limit. And even though Paul had taken the lead, Misty's choice of using Marshtomp was perfect, especially in the circumstances.
"Marshtomp versus. Electabuzz," the official called. "Begin!"
TO BE CONTINUED
Next Time: Using Brock's Marshtomp, can Misty defeat Paul's Electabuzz? And if she can, what Pokemon will Paul use next? Also, Jonathyn comes face to face with his next opponent, Casey!