Disclaimer: No… I don't own Pokemon in anyway shape or form

MESSAGE TO READERS: OK, so I've had a review for "A Smeargle's Tale" and I will try to impliment some of this into future chapters of this story, starting with not centering chapters anymore! So, grab a lemonade or something, kick back and enjoy!!

THE LEAGUE OF CHAMPIONS

CHAPTER 22: DARKHAN'S VENGEANCE! THE GHOST'S SINISTER POWER!

The Dusknoir examined his new form, flexing his newly grown arms that he did not have during his days as a Dusclops. The Tangrowth's expression remained hidden beneath its overgrown vines. However, Darkhan's was much more apparent. He had obviously planned this moment. It was as though no matter who he lost to, this would be the outcome. One thing puzzled me though… what good would the result of this battle be for either of us? Would he feel better if he won? Regain some of his self-esteem that I may have taken from him during our official battle. Or perhaps this was a way to ensure that I made no further progress in the tournament, just as he would not? Although usually I take battles as seriously as any other trainer, this battle did not seem significant. However, this would be a good opportunity to allow Pelipper and Nidorino get back into the fighting spirit, since they had not been a part of any of my previous battles as of yet. Except when Nidorino helped us save Azelf before. It seemed quite strange. The sky had turned a lot darker now. Black clouds rolled in from nowhere. Less than two or three hours ago, I was battling this man in official combat in the glorious sunshine. It kind of shows you how quickly things can change. Upon glancing at the miniscule crowd of Ash, Misty, Cynthia, Officer Jenny and a couple of Pokemon League officials, I saw the protégé of the chairman's power stand on the half-way point of the battlefield. Although he carried no flags as an umpire would usually, he remained intrigued by the selection of Pokemon and the prospect of yet another pulsating battle.

"This is an unofficial Pokemon League battle, sanctioned by myself Rufus Goodshow," he called out. "This is a re-match between Jonathyn and Darkhan in a Double Battle. Only two Pokemon each battling at the same time. There is no time limit to this match. Are you both ready?" Darkhan replied with a simple nod, resting the blade of his sword against his shoulder in an almost cocky manner. Rufus then looked over to me as I nodded to not only him, but Pelipper and Nidorino as well. They confidently nodded back, both not wanting to let me down it would seem.

"First move," Darkhan smirked at me. I smiled back.

"That's a move you'll regret," I tried to sound as intimidating as I possibly could. "Pelipper, use Aerial Ace on Tangrowth! Nidorino, Thunderbolt on Dusknoir!" Pelipper let out a long caw and rose into the air. I couldn't see how far up it was, but it seemed further than one would think. It spun around in mid air, approaching Tangrowth with incredible kinetic power. Nidorino remained where it was and fired a yellow bolt of electricity towards the large ghost. Darkhan said nothing at all, his Pokemon standing inanimately. I questioned his tactics at first, but forgot about them as both attacks made direct hits. "Take that, Dar-KHAN!" I mocked happily, but the swordsman simply smirked.

"Punch," he muttered to his Dusknoir. The Thunderbolt attack had formed some sort of charge around the entire body of the ghost. It seemed to focus for just a moment, before the sparks transferred to one of its hands. It surged upward towards Pelipper, striking it hand with an uppercut-like punch. Pelipper squawked in pain, flying back towards myself and Nidorino. Darkhan let out an exceedingly cunning grin. I let out a frustrated sigh as I realised the error that we had made.

"So it knows how to use Thunderpunch," I scowled. "And Nidorino's Thunderbolt supercharged it. We'll need to watch out for that."

"Sleep!" Darkhan shouted. Rather than the method used last time, his Tangrowth began to sprinkle some light blue powder into the air. Sleep Powder to be precise. My Pokemon knew better than to wait for my instruction and evaded the tainted powder instantly.

"Our turn again," I grinned. "Nidorino, use Poison Jab on Tangrowth. Pelipper, use Aerial Ace on it again!" Nidorino and Pelipper both set off, with Nidorino's horn filling with a thick, purple venom. Both of the super effective attacks were imminent to strike…

"Sleep!" Darkhan quietly muttered once again. This time, the blue powder shot almost immediately. There was hardly any time to react at all.

"Dodge!" I shouted desperately to both Nidorino and Pelipper. They both swerved their attacks, Nidorino's Poison Jab striking the Dusknoir instead. Pelipper managed to swoop back once the Sleep Powder had passed and connected to the back of the Tangrowth's head. The Dusknoir seemed a little stunned by the Poison Type's attack. "Pelipper, Hydro Pump on Dusknoir!" I called. "Nidorino, Horn Drill on Tangrowth!" Nidorino's horn began to twirl like a drill, as the name of the attack would suggest before slamming into the Tangrowth. Meanwhile, Pelipper shot a torrent of water from its large bill towards the Dusknoir.

"Evade!" Darkhan boomed to his Pokemon. The Dusknoir faded into the ground, the Hydro Pump washing the ground on which it had vanished into. But the Tangrowth had nowhere to go as the Horn Drill connected. Tangrowth at first seemed to resist the attack.

"Full power, Nidorino!" I urged to it. It let out a roar as it focused all of its power into the Horn Drill attack. Tangrowth fell backwards, the one-hit knockout move had done its job! I punched the air happily as Rufus raised his arm into the air.

"Tangrowth has been eliminated," he declared with a smile. Darkhan simply grinned, returning his fallen Tangrowth back into its Poke Ball. Both Pelipper and Nidorino were equally delighted as I was, but I noticed they both seemed abnormally tired. Nidorino must have used a lot of power taking out the Tangrowth. Horn Drill would only work a small percentage of the time and only if the user was an equal or high level than the target. Their levels must have been pretty close for Nidorino to have to use so much effort to knock it out. I then noticed something glistening on Pelipper's wing… a small speck of blue within the white feathers of the sea-dwelling bird. I let out a small gasp when I realised what it was. It appeared as though part of the Tangrowth's Sleep Powder attack had actually landed whilst Pelipper tried to dodge it just now. Yet it appeared to be not enough for Pelipper to be put it to sleep straight away.

"Uh oh, Roost Pelipper!" I shouted, knowing that it would drift off any minute. Pelipper landed on the floor, some of its feather glowed white and began to circle around its' body…

"Punch before heal!" Darkhan shouted to his still invisible Dusknoir. I searched around the battlefield, trying to find it. Then I saw a shadow racing towards the Flying Type on the ground, then a second smaller shadow burst up from the ground.

"Nidorino, Shadow Claw!" I called. Nidorino jumped up at the shadow, it's claws forming a long purple silhouette resembling a large claw. Both attacks collided with one another. Dusknoir's Shadow Punch was neutralised, but no sooner than Pelipper had Roosted completely, it fell to the ground fast asleep. I scowled at this, knowing that it would be immobile for a while now. It was down to Nidorino to keep the battle alive until the bird had awoken.

"Nidorino, go for a Horn Drill on Dusknoir…"

"Disable!" Darkhan roared as soon as I had delivered my order. The ghost Pokemon's single eye glowed a dark blue. A light of the same colour surrounded Nidorino. It surged forward, its horn still spinning. But I spotted the horn grinding to a halt the nearer it approached. The Disable attack had worked, preventing Nidorino from using its instant knockout technique on the ghost.

"Damn," I snarled. "If we can't knock it out in one go, we'll just whittle it down with strong attacks. Use Thunderbolt!" I shouted, as the Poison Pokemon launched another bolt of yellow electrical power at the Dusknoir. Once again, Darkhan said nothing. The attack landed, surrounding the Pokemon with yellow sparks once again. But just as it had done before, the sparks moved towards the Ghost's hand.

"Punch Bird!" Darkhan grinned. I scowled as soon as I noticed that I had allowed him to use the same tactic he had done as before.

"Stop it with Shadow Claw again!" I called to my Nidorino. But this time, Dusknoir levitated into the air, avoiding the dark attack from my Nidorino. The Thunderpunch landed on the slumbering Pelipper once again. Such a devastating attack would wake up any human, but Pelipper just kept on sleeping. How could it remain asleep after taking such a powerful attack? "Come on, Nidorino! Use Poison Jab!" Once again, Nidorino leapt towards the Dusknoir with its horn filling with toxic poison. Darkhan let out a small frustrated sneer, obviously becoming annoyed at Nidorino's persistence. Yet he still did not deliver any sort of direction to his Dusknoir at all. This in turn frustrated me, as I knew that when he did not give an order to his Pokemon, he had some sort of trick up his sleeve. Nidorino's Poison Jab struck the body of Dusknoir with more force than you would expect for a small Pokemon like that. But it was at that exact moment that Darkhan unveiled his scheme.

"Curse!" Darkhan's expression changed to that of his cunning nature once again. The Dusknoir did not appear to be too badly affected by the rancorous attack, but it appeared to be in more pain at it thrust its arms into its own torso. It made a strange wailing sound as its fists fell deeper into it.

"What the heck?" I raised an eyebrow. "He's having it hurt itself? Well, whatever. Makes it easier for us to win!"

"No, Jonathyn!" Cynthia shouted out to me from the almost empty stands. "It's going to put a Curse on Nidorino!"

"Curse?" I questioned. "What do you mean?" But my misunderstanding of the move would cost me. The Dusknoir suddenly burst its arms out of its chest, along with it a strange dark energy that engulfed Nidorino. It took a moment for the attack to have an effect, but Nidorino suddenly started screeching and roaring in pain. It appeared to clutch its head. "Nidorino, what's the matter?" I called to it. It replied only by wailing in agony even more. "What's happening?" I cried in disbelief.

"Curse is a Ghost Type move. It literally puts a curse on the opponent." Cynthia called to me.

"Impossible!" I shouted back. "I've seen it used by other Pokemon and it doesn't do anything but raise its stats…"

"It's different if it is used by Ghost Type Pokemon," Cynthia called out to me in response. I let out a long and angered growl. I couldn't believe this was happening. It was such a promising start as well, having defeated Darkhan's Tangrowth so early on only for his Dusknoir to take a rapid advantage in just a couple of moves. Darkhan himself still puzzled me. He was battling with no real incentive other than to defeat me to gain vengeance. His tone was so much more competitive and aggressive in our official match than he had been in this confrontation. But I could not afford to keep thinking about this sort of thing. I had to find a way to turn things around in this battle, otherwise I would not only let myself down but also my Pokemon. How strange it was that I thought nothing of this battle just moments ago and now that I was in a position of weakness, I was desperate to gain the win. That's the thrill of Pokemon battles, I suppose.

"Nidorino, fight the Curse! Use Shadow Claw!" I prayed that this would work. Nidorino tried to shake away the bad thoughts that the curse was laying upon it and managed to strike the Ghost with the attack. The Dusknoir reeled in pain. "Nice work!" I shouted to it. It grinned at me, pleased to be of assistance. It then flinched as the Curse began to sap away its remaining health. I gasped in shock once again as Nidorino gave in to the Curse's horrific power. It slumped to the ground, no longer able to continue the fight.

"Nidorino is eliminated!" Rufus called. I called Nidorino back into its Poke Ball with a distressed look on my face. I tried to comfort myself as I stared at Nidorino's Poke Ball, remembering what it had sacrificed just to win the battle.

"You were great out there, Nidorino," I whispered softly to the Poke Ball, knowing that my fainted Pokemon could still hear me somewhat. "I promise as soon as this is over, I'll take you to the Pokemon Center." With that, I placed the Poke Ball back into my pocket before staring back out to Darkhan and his Dusknoir. He had an extremely smug look on his face.

"Disaster…" he muttered to me, trying to get into my head once again. I shook off these thoughts and decided that the best form of defense was attack.

"I don't see your Absol anywhere," I smirked. "But I can see Pelipper quite clearly! Pelipper, Steel Wing!" I pointed towards the ghost… but nothing happened. I frowned a little. "Steel Wing, Pelipper!" I ordered once again, but still there was no movement at all. "Pelipper, I'm talking to you…" as soon as I looked down at it, a small sweatdrop appeared at the side of my face. Pelipper was still fast asleep, so much so that a large bubble of saliva was slowly inflating and deflating from one of its nostrils. Darkhan let out a small chuckle, but his Dusknoir seemed to find it hysterical. It was holding its side showing how funny it was to him. I let out an irritated snarl.

"Vengeance Now," Darkhan chuckled to me. "Punch Thunder!" The Dusknoir summoned up an electrical charge, sparks flying from its clenched fist once again. It zoomed towards Pelipper and swung the fist.

"Wake Up!!" I shouted in desperation. Pelipper's eye suddenly opened, which caused my own to widen. I began to smile, but it turned into a frown as Dusknoir's Thunderpunch made contact. Pelipper fell backwards, skidding towards me. "Pelipper, time to use Roost again!" With that, Pelipper's feathers glowed white once again, circling around it.

"Waste!" Darkhan taunted. "Disable!" I gasped once again, this time I knew I was in trouble. Dusknoir's single eye began to glow once more, shrouding Pelipper in the same blue light it had done with Nidorino. Pelipper's feathers returned to its body. It was obvious that it had not fully healed by using Roost due to Dusknoir's Disable. Now we couldn't Roost at all and Pelipper still looked in rather bad shape.

"Alright, we'll attack then! Steel Wing!" I called to the bird Pokemon. It took to the air, it's wings filling with silver. It darted towards the ghost, slamming its metallic wing into its chest.

"Punch!" Darkhan grinned, as it charged up another Thunderpunch.

"Dodge using Aerial Ace!" I called. Pelipper's wings returned to their natural colour, before launching itself skyward, the electrical punch missing by just inches. Pelipper swooped and turned in the midst of the skies, before slamming into the Dusknoir's side with dead on accuracy! Now it was my turn to let out a smile, but it was definitely more of a nervous grin. Darkhan remained physically unphazed and so did his Dusknoir, apparently. "Come on, Pelipper! Let's wrap this up with a Hydro Pump!" Pelipper spat another blast of water from its beak, heading right for Dusknoir. Again, the attack hit! My nervous grin became slightly more confident. As the attack stopped, the Dusknoir seemed to brush off the excess damp before taunting at Pelipper. I could not believe that it was still capable of battling, even with all the punishment we had dished out to it. It raised something to its mouth… I couldn't see what exactly… a berry of some sort. I began to devour it, which confirmed my suspicions. But what sort of berry was it. The answer came when its body began to gleam, the signs of damage slightly fading. "It was holding a Sitrus Berry all this time…" I frowned.

"End!" Darkhan roared. "Punch Thunder!" The Ghost began to head right for Pelipper once again, it's fist brimming with an electric current. I suddenly had an idea…

"Pelipper, right before that attack hits you use Steel Wing on the ground!" I shouted. Pelipper lowered itself to the ground, the Dusknoir following it with its fist still crackling with thunderous power. It swung the fist, as Pelipper's wings filled with silver once again. It slammed its wing to the ground as the punch connected. I could see the surge of energy run down its wing. My plan seemed to have worked.

"That's amazing!" Cynthia blurted out. "He used Steel Wing on the ground to act as an earth to that Thunderpunch. That's smart battling!"

"Shadow!" Darkhan grinned. Pelipper raised its wing off the ground as the Dusknoir launched a silhouette of a fist towards Pelipper. It caught it right beneath its beak, slinging its head back and falling to the ground. "Punch Thunder!" Darkhan smirked even more, as a rapid electrical punch landed on Pelipper. There was nothing I could do to prevent it as both attacks had landed with such great speed. Pelipper fell to the ground helplessly.

"Pelipper, please get up!" I pleaded. Pelipper's eyes were slanted, but widened a little as it focused so much energy into getting back up. It managed to get back up to its feet. I wiped my forehead with relief, but as soon as I looked back down again Pelipper had fallen. The last of its energy had gone. Rufus raised his arm.

"Pelipper can't continue. The winner of this unofficial battle is Darkhan!" Rufus declared. My heart sank. Pelipper lay motionless on the ground in exhaustion. I glared angrily at the Dusknoir, which was staring at me with its ominous cycloptic eye. I could not help but shake with frustration. I looked down at Pelipper, still not moving. All I could do was return it back into its Poke Ball.

"I'm sorry," I apologised to my dedicated Pokemon. "We'll do better next time, I assure you." I placed Pelipper's Poke Ball back into my pocket and began to walk toward Darkhan, who had returned his powerful Dusknoir into its Poke Ball, placing it in the empty slot in the shaft of his sword. As soon as I approached him, another Pokemon appeared… it was his Absol. It let out a howling cry directed at me. Darkhan simply smirked. I was about to congratulate him, but apparently his vengeance was to run deeper than just a battle. He was trying to invade my mind.

"Disaster…" he sneered at me, petting his Absol on the head as he had done before. "Vengeance Darkhan's!" he grinned.

"So what?" I smiled nonchalantly. "You win some, you lose some." Darkhan was taken aback severely by this comment.

"Anger?" he asked, looking for the signs of such a thing of my face. I did not show any, therefore he did not find what he seemed to seek. I realised the truth now.

"No, Darkhan," I grinned. "Just because you feel low from losing to me doesn't mean I need to feel the same when I lose to you. You may have beaten me this time, but all that matters is I am still moving up in the Pokemon League and you are not. And you defeated me because you forced your Dusclops to evolve by giving it that Reaper Cloth. At least when my Aggron evolved, it did it because it wanted to win for me! And that is why I am a better Pokemon trainer than you will ever be." Darkhan scowled at my words beneath his breath. He turned away from me, not wanting anything to do with this conversation anymore.

"Come," he muttered to his Absol, as they both began to walk off.

"Running away from your problems again, Darkhan?" I taunted unwittingly. "My point has been proven." Darkhan tilted his head a little, but nothing came of it. They continued to walk away, as Misty ran over to me.

"Jon, I can't believe you lost…" she said to me sympathetically.

"It doesn't matter," I smiled. "I've learned that as long as I lose during a good battle, I can come back stronger. No matter how much of an ignoramus my opponent is. Human natures do not matter. Like Rufus says, it's the thrill of the battle." Misty smiled and nodded to me.

"I agree with you, Jonathyn," Rufus smiled walking over to me, alongside the rest of the small crowd. "You battled with great courage and care for your Pokemon. You and your Pokemon tried your hardest and you should be delighted for the performance that you put on."

"I am, Rufus," I nodded. "Now, I've got to get Nidorino and Pelipper to the Pokemon Center. They deserve a good rest."

"As do we all," Rufus nodded. I returned his with one of my own. Misty wrapped her arm around mine only after Ash had walked in front of us, I noticed. Although he was talking to Cynthia about something that my ears did not pay attention to.

TO BE CONTINUED

Next Time: Jonathyn discovers who he is facing in Round Four, only to discover that he is facing a powerful rival. Just who will he be facing? And what will his opponent's reaction be?