DISCLAIMER: As you are more than likely well aware, I do not own Pokemon or any of the characters portrayed herein with the exception of those not seen in any of the games nor the anime.

WARNING: This story contains OriginalCharacterShipping and PokeShipping. If you are offended by such content, please discontinue reading. Thank you.

THE LEAGUE OF CHAMPIONS

CHAPTER 17: HIS NAME IS DARKHAN! THE MAN DRESSED IN DARKNESS!

This opponent… Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town. There was something about him that I seemed to admire. Whether it was his raw determination, I wasn't sure. I gazed almost as though I had been hypnotised at his two chosen Pokemon. A Floatzel and a Sceptile, both of which had some sort of presence surrounding them that told me that they were exceedingly strong. Although I knew myself that Gabite and Lairon were also considerably powerful themselves. Even though this was only more of a sparring battle than an actual match, it was one that I did not want to lose. For some reason, I kept thinking about Misty, who seemed to alternate her eye contact between Ash and myself every few seconds. A few moments had past, as our Pokemon stared at one another. I wondered who was going to make the first move, until I finally decided.

"Lairon, Iron Head on Sceptile. Gabite, Dragon Claw on Floatzel!" I began the match at last. Both my Pokemon surged forward, Lairon with its head down and Gabite with its claws raised. Ash waited for just a moment before responding with his own strategy.

"Sceptile, Leaf Blade! Floatzel, use Razor Wind!" Ash demanded in response. Sceptile launched itself towards Lairon, it spine on its arm glowing green and growing suddenly to an incredible size. Floatzel leapt into the air, gaining amazing height, before launching some blade-like energy created by the sudden swipe of its twin tails. Sceptile slammed the blade into Lairon's head, but skidded back as Lairon continued to push despite being struck by the attack. Gabite also sprung into the air, dispersing the Razor Wind with its Dragon Claw. "Dodge that, Floatzel!" Ash commanded. In a split second, Floatzel began to spin its tails like a rotor and ascended further into the air, narrowly missing my Gabite's attack. Gabite managed to land on both feet without any trouble.

"Lairon, keep going!" I urged, as the Steel Type Pokemon continued to force the Sceptile backwards. It's Leaf Blade not causing too much problem whilst Iron Head was still trying to connect.

"Bullet Seed, Sceptile. Floatzel, Aqua Jet!" Ash called. In that moment, Sceptile launched a barrage of seeds from its mouth at point blank range at Lairon. The Iron Head faded, now it was Lairon's turn to be shoved back by Sceptile's attack. Meanwhile, Floatzel had formed an aura of water around itself and propelled itself at a high velocity straight at Gabite. I had to think fast!

"Gabite, Dig! Lairon, Protect!" I shouted. I looked over to Lairon, who had now formed a small barrier across the surface of its skin. The Bullet Seed attack now just bounced off of it's metallic hide. I then peered over to where Gabite was stood, but it had now vanished underground as Floatzel swooped just above the hole that it had disappeared into. "Come up underneath Sceptile!" I called to my Gabite, hoping it could hear me beneath the surface of the earth. Within seconds, whilst Sceptile was still firing its Bullet Seed unaware of the danger, Gabite burst up from beneath the ground, knocking Sceptile up a few feet before it slammed into the ground. Floatzel was continuing its Aqua Jet attack and now headed right back for Gabite. "Shock Wave on Floatzel, Lairon!" Lairon turned to face the water-covered weasel and fired a jolt of blue electricity straight at it. It cried out in pain as the surge of electricity crackled through its water soaked body. It dropped down right next to Sceptile. "Good work, you two!" I grinned. Ash looked a little concerned for his Pokemon.

"You two alright?" he asked as his Sceptile and Floatzel got back up to their feet. They nodded to confirm their status. "Alright then! Sceptile, Pound on Gabite. Floatzel, Aqua Jet on Lairon." The two Pokemon rushed towards my own once again.

"Lairon, another Shock Wave!" I ordered. "Gabite, Dig again!" Gabite once again disappeared under the ground just a Sceptile swung its tail at it. It impacted the ground but no harm to Gabite was done, thankfully. At that precise moment, Lairon fired another unmissable bolt of electricity at Floatzel, striking it down once again. No sooner than Floatzel had impacted the ground when Gabite popped up from beneath Sceptile, sending it crashing next to Floatzel for the second time. Ash had a look on his face that expressed frustration. I smugly smiled to myself, as Gabite and Lairon stared down their opponents before glaring at each other. It was as though they were trying to impress and outdo one another with their attacks. In this instance, it wasn't a bad thing. In fact, it was working out quite well.

"There's got to be a way to beat him…" Ash muttered to himself, although I could just hear it faintly.

"Face it," I grinned. "Shock Wave hits every time. There's no way for you to stop it. And its super effective against your Water Type. It's only a matter of time before all the Shock Waves take their toll on your Floatzel."

"Your Lairon is doubly weak to Water attacks though," Ash sighed, confusion starting to get the better of him.

"That's not good enough unless you can hit my Lairon before it hits you!" I smugly grinned once again. Ash scowled beneath his breath a little. Misty looked at Ash almost sympathetically and then looked at me with somewhat happiness. I raised an eyebrow at this slightly, before returning my focus to the battle. I noticed also that Ash's other Pokemon were making quite a commotion. Staraptor, who still seemed quite weak was squawking quite loudly. The Heracross seemed to be interested at the strength that all of the Pokemon were showing. The Gligar was flapping its wings ferociously in protest of my current lead in the battle. Pikachu, who was stood at Ash's side simply stared onto the battlefield, almost stunned that Ash had not been able to land a successful hit so far.

"Well then, if that's the case I'll have to try a little harder," Ash replied with a scowl. Sceptile, Solarbeam. Floatzel, Water Pulse! Aim them both at Lairon!" I let out a small chuckle, as the buds on Sceptile's back began to absorb sunlight, forming a ball of solar energy in its mouth. A small ball of water was also forming in between Floatzel's paws. It threw the ball of water at the ground, resulting in a giant tidal wave washing towards Lairon. At the same time, Sceptile leapt into the air and fired the Solarbeam above the Water Pulse. They rapidly approached Lairon, which stood completely still, awaiting my instruction. I waited for a few moments to pass before delivering it.

"Protect!" I nodded smugly once again. Lairon's skin was covered in another sheet of spectral light. The attacks collided, but had no effect at all. Lairon had escaped damage. Ash now looked completely dumbfounded, as did his battling Pokemon.

"But how…" he stammered.

"Don't you understand?" I taunted a little. "Protect literally protects my Pokemon from any attack in one turn. Both your Pokemon attacked at the same time. Protect defends it from both of them." I noticed now that Sceptile looked particularly worn down, as Gabite seemed to glare at it intently. "Dragon Claw on Sceptile," I said to it with victory playing in my mind. Gabite charged forward and was about to swipe at Sceptile…

"Aqua Jet, Floatzel!" Ash cried out. Immediately, Floatzel took to the air and intercepted Gabite with the super-fast attack, knocking Gabite off balance and crashing to the ground. It quickly got back up and snarled at Floatzel. "Sceptile, Bullet Seed!" he ordered. Another bombardment of seeds flew from Sceptile's reptilian mouth. The seeds impacting against Gabite's skull, forcing it down onto one knee.

"Gabite, Dig!" I shouted, as the Cave Pokemon once again managed to escape any more injury by going underground. "Lairon, use Iron Head on Floatzel!" I shouted. Lairon lowered its head and charged forward once again, this time towards the water-weasel.

"Aqua Jet again!" Ash called. Floatzel also began to surge forward straight towards Lairon. Both Pokemon collided head on, but this time it was Lairon who took the brunt of the damage. It looked as though it was a critical hit! Ash let out a smile that was equally as smug as my own. This time it was my turn to frown. Floatzel landed right next to Sceptile once again, looking boisterously confident. That would be a fatal mistake…

"Earthquake!" I shouted, knowing my Gabite would hear it. The ground began to shake, affecting the whole area. Ash's Pikachu quickly leapt up onto his shoulder. I felt a little shaken by the attack myself, no pun intended. I then noticed that Lairon seemed to be in some agony. "Oh no!" I suddenly realised. "It's affecting Lairon too! Quickly Gabite, Dig yourself back up!" The ground stopped shaking only as soon as Gabite re-appeared, striking Sceptile once again. "Shock Wave!" I called. Lairon weakly stepped forward and fired a desperate bolt of electricity at Floatzel, which connected. Floatzel fell to the ground in defeat, but Lairon quickly followed suit. Misty stepped forward to survey their conditions.

"Both Lairon and Floatzel can no longer battle," Misty declared. Both Ash and I sighed, walking over to our respective Pokemon.

"Impressive," a deep voice spoke from the shadows. Misty, Ash and I all looked in the direction of where we thought the voice had come from. I could see a dark figure stood in a small opening that I had barely noticed before. It stepped out into the light, but remained as dark as the shadows that he had emerged from. He was dressed head to toe in black, with the exception of a large white feather curling from the top of his hat. Even his hair was black. I recognised him from yesterday…

"You…" I exclaimed. "You're the Hunter who tried to capture Azelf yesterday?"

"Azelf?" Ash asked… "Here? But I thought that I had seen it back in… oh, never mind."

"No Hunter," the man boomed angrily. "Collector," he corrected us with his single-worded sentences.

"A Pokemon Collector?" Misty frowned unsurely. "What is that meant to mean? Someone who just collects Pokemon? That's so wrong."

"Negative," the man replied. "Enjoy collecting," he added.

"We don't care who you are or what you do," I snarled. "You caused us a lot of grief yesterday. So why don't you get out of here before I call Officer Jenny."

"No cause trouble," he calmly responded. "Tournament."

"Tournament?" Ash repeated. "You mean you're entered in the Pokemon League?"

"Correct," he nodded, walking right up to where we were having our battle. "Jonathyn Christian?"

"Does everyone around here know my name?" I sighed to myself, thinking about all the rivals that I had already met in the last couple of days. "Yes. That is me."

"Opponent!" the man chuckled, withdrawing a long sword from his belt, armed with six Poke Balls along the shaft. A jumped back a little upon seeing it, before remembering that it was mainly a launching mechanism for his Poke Balls.

"What do you mean by that?" I sneered a little, whilst tending to Lairon who was just getting back up to its feet.

"Third Round," the anonymous man answered. "Jonathyn Darkhan."

"Yes, I'm facing a guy called Dar-KHAN!" I mocked the name a little. This seemed to make the man look incredibly angry. It wasn't until I recognised this that I realised the error I had just made. "Oh… you… you must be Dar-KHA…I mean Darkhan." I sweated a little as the man dressed in black raised his sword.

"Jon! Look out!" Ash shouted, quickly returning all of his Pokemon in their Poke Balls, with the exception of Pikachu and Sceptile. I still stood by Lairon and also kept Gabite out for the time being, taking a worried step back as the man known as Darkhan swung his sword. All six Poke Balls flew out from their slots, as his Pokemon appeared. The first, an orange Dragon of some kind with large, powerful wings. It's long tail was tipped with a burning flame. From the second, a four-legged dog-like creature, covered in white fur, with the exception of its head, which was slightly grey with a scythe-like protrusion stick out of its head. Next was another four legged Pokemon, but this seemed to resemble a cat more than a dog. It had soft, purple fur on its body and I also noticed that its tail was forked. The next Pokemon that emerged looked strange, almost like a shell with eyes. In fact it resembled a bagworm to some extent. The final two I recognised almost instantly, having seen them before.

"Quite a selection you have there," I complimented. "I knew that you owned the Weezing and the Crobat, but your Charizard looks mightily strong, so does your Forretress. And I like the combination of Espeon and Absol too."

"Regards," Darkhan accepted my compliment, before pointing straight at Gabite with his sword. "Strong," he described to me, before pointing the tip of the blade at Ash's Sceptile. "Also," he added.

"Uhh… thanks?" Ash replied with a puzzled look on his face. I chuckled a little, before looking back at the Pokemon that Darkhan had. Any one of these six Pokemon were to be my opponents. I had already promised myself to use Gabite and Lairon in tomorrows battle, but had little idea as to which two of the six he would pick. Darkhan seemed to notice this.

"Select!" Darkhan pointed the blade at me this time. I looked quickly at Misty, then Ash.

"I think he means that he wants you to show him which Pokemon you're going to battle with," Misty nudged me. I looked at him a little concerned, but patted my Gabite on its shoulder. It took a step forward.

"Gab, Gabite!" it snarled, bearing its claws and fangs at the mysterious man. Darkhan nodded to me, before raising his arm and flicking his finger forward in an instructional manner. The Weezing floated forward, spluttering its name.

"I had a feeling you'd use that one," I nodded, staring at the Poison Pokemon. I was a little annoyed that Gabite's ground attacks would not be any good against it, since it had the constant ability to levitate off the ground. I tapped Lairon and nodded her head forward. It stepped up to Gabite's side. They would now definitely be my chosen Pokemon for this battle now. Darkhan raised his gloved hand and began to rub his chin, before waving his finger in the same way that he had done before. This time, the Espeon took a couple of steps forward, much to my surprise. I would have thought that the Charizard would have been a better choice or even the Crobat. But I dared not to underestimate the Espeon. It could be a trump card of some sort. "So these are the Pokemon we'll be using in battle. Agreed?" I extended my arm in order to seal the deal.

"Confirmed!" Darkhan grinned, almost sadistically as he firmly shook my hand. "Victory… Darkhan," he sneered, returning his other four Pokemon into their Poke Balls, but keeping his Weezing and Espeon beside him for the time being. He adjusted his hat so that it covered his eyes as he held his head toward the ground. Without looking, he placed all the Poke Balls back into the slots of his sword, before placing it back in his holster. "Farewell," he calmly bid to us. His Weezing lowered itself to the ground, as Espeon jumped up into his open arms. He sat down on top of the Pokemon, before the Weezing somehow managed to levitate back up into the air and began to float across the lake towards the cave that Azelf lived in.

"He's going back after Azelf!" Misty shrieked, as Darkhan floated closer to the island."

"Don't worry," I grinned. "Azelf can look after itself. It knows what to do now."

"He was really weird," Ash stared at the man still sat on his Weezing, not even off balance at all. "It's like he's ill in the head or something. How can someone speak only using one or two words in their sentences?"

"Ash, don't be so harsh," Misty scorned. "But he does seem a little 'out of the ordinary' to say the least. I mean why did he show you which two Pokemon he was going to use?"

"For that matter, how do I know he won't change his mind?" I wondered aloud. "He's already seen what Gabite and Lairon are capable of, so perhaps he has developed those two for the battle."

"In less than two days?" Misty questioned my comment. "I don't think ANY trainer could pull that off."

"You never know, Misty," I shrugged. "The Weezing is rather unorthodox and who knows what moves the Espeon can execute. Either way, we'll beat them. Isn't that right, you two?" I looked at my two chosen Pokemon.

"Gaba, Gabite!" the Dragon Pokemon growled positively, flexing its muscles a little.

"Lairon, Lair!" added the Steel Type, scraping its front paw across the ground. I smiled at the fact that my two Pokemon seemed battle-ready.

"We ought to go and get some rest," I suggested. "After all, tomorrow is going to be a big day."

"Yeah, you're right." Misty nodded in agreement, as did Ash. "What are you going to do?" she asked Ash.

"Might as well see Brock for a while if you want to spend time with Jonathyn," Ash replied with a small hint of bitterness in his voice. His eyes seemed to roll towards me a little. I mimicked the slide and heard Ash grunt a little, turning away from Misty and I.

"We'll see you later," Ash coldly bid his farewell, walking away with Pikachu still sat on his shoulder. Misty held her hand forward to interject, but pulled it back having second thoughts. In the meantime I had returned Gabite and Lairon into the Poke Balls from which they came, before walking up to Misty and placing my hand delicately on her shoulder.

"He's acting so differently that the last time I saw him," Misty sighed sadly. "I told him about you and I," she added.

"What about it?" I asked. Misty gave me a concerned frown.

"We're a couple now," Misty reminded me. At which point I removed my hand from her shoulder.

"At what point last night did we agree to that?" I shook nervously. "I don't remember you asking me."

"But we were kissing for most of the night," Misty raised her voice to me a little. "Are you saying that it didn't mean anything to you?"

"It's not that," I sighed, walking past her to lean on a nearby tree. "I really enjoyed last night. I honesty did. And there is nothing in my heart telling me that what we have is meaningless. I care for you more than…" I paused suddenly, realising what I was saying. Misty giggled a little, walking up to me and softly pecking me on the cheek.

"I know," Misty gently held my hand. "You mean a lot to me too."

"But what about Ash? He obviously cares about you too. And to some extent, you must feel the same way. You even said to me that I reminded you of him…"

"Would it be any different if Ash wasn't here?" Misty asked. "The answer is no. I've made my decision." She paused a little, before smiling at me whilst gazing lovingly into my eyes. "So… how about we make it official?"

"What do you mean?" I gulped, knowing exactly what she was going to say next.

"Are we going to be boyfriend and girlfriend from now on? Or rather do you want to?"

"Well… err… I guess so… I mean, yes!" I stammered, a little panicky for some reason about the thought of getting together with my first 'official' girlfriend. Misty smiled sweetly at me once again.

"Good," she whispered, before kissing me on the lips slowly. "We should get back, it's already starting to get dark."

"I need to stop off at the Pokemon Centre and heal up my Pokemon. Particularly Pelipper, since it took quite a lot of punishment from that Seviper earlier on."

"I have an idea," Misty smiled. "Does your Pelipper know the move Roost?"

"I don't think so," I shook my head. "But I'll see." With that, I grabbed a hold of Pelipper's Poke Ball and threw it forward. The injured pelican Pokemon appeared in front of us and raised its wings weakly. "Pelipper, try using Roost." Pelipper tilted its head a little before tucking its wings back into its body. Some small feathers came off from its body and began to glow pale. It was as though the feathers were healing Pelipper's wounds. A few moments of this, and Pelipper's body gleamed white, as though it had not even been in a battle at all. "Wow," I gasped, examining the shine of Pelipper's feathers. "I never knew that you had a move like that!"

"Pelipper!" it cawed happily, taking to the skies once again. "How did you know about Roost?" I asked Misty.

"Well, Pelipper is a Water type," Misty smiled. She did not say anything else afterwards. I figured out how she knew simply from that. I could almost not believe that I didn't think of that. "So… shall we go?"

"Sure," I nodded, as Pelipper started to fly around the two of us, happy that its wings were no longer injured. We shared a small kiss before heading out of the clearing and back into the forest on the path back towards the Trainer Village. We held hands for as long as our legs were moving. When we stopped, we would momentarily kiss each other once again before setting off. Pelipper did not seem to be bothered. It was more interested in gulping down berries that it came across along the way. In the end, I had to call the flying water type back since we had arrived back at my cabin. The rest of the night was a complete blur. It was almost as though we kissed ourselves to sleep. The last memory I had of the day was my eyes struggling to remain open, as I once again had Misty slumbering in my arms.

TO BE CONTINUED

Next Time: The Third Round Battle begins between Jonathyn and the mysterious Darkhan. Will Darkhan use his Espeon and Weezing as he had promised, or will the man shrouded in mystery have Jonathyn fooled? Make sure you read the next chapter to find out…