Disclaimer: nomekoP nwo ton od I. Read it backwards (or look at the other 30 chapters) and you'll find out that it says I do not own Pokemon.

THE LEAGUE OF CHAMPIONS

CHAPTER 31: STEEL FIELD BATTLEPLAN! ATTACK OF THE POLTERGEIST!

It hardly surprised me, this revelation. The way things had been going recently, I was becoming more and more accustomed to having strange twists in the midst of something. Knowing that this young, weak looking trainer was my next opponent made me feel good internally. But I refused to underestimate her. Especially since I had seen two of her Pokemon… a Smeargle and a Ditto, both extremely unordinary Pokemon. She must have a wide knowledge of Pokemon moves and how to use them effectively against her foes. I wondered what other two Pokemon she would battle with… and also which I would use myself. After brushing off a few more melted droplets of water from my jacket, I turned back to Mimi with Misty still in my arms.

"So, do I have to register my Pokemon like before?" I asked, hoping that I could get some insight as to which selection my future opponent had made.

"I think so," Mimi replied with a rather disheartened voice. It was strange how something as simple as competition could change someone's usual behaviour. It had happened with Misty. It had happened with Sandra. And now, it seemed that even Mimi had been placed under the tournament's competitive trance. But rather than seriousness, her voice had been replaced by some sort of sadness. It was as though she did not seem to want to battle at all.

"Four Pokemon, huh?" I broke the silence. "Which are you going to use?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Mimi seemed to sneer at Misty whilst she said it. Misty noticed this and was slightly taken aback by the glance that this younger girl had given her. "If you'll excuse me…" she briefly spoke, before turning away and walking back in the direction she had come from, but not before calling her Smeargle and her Ditto back into their Poke Balls. Anabel walked up next to Misty and I. She let out a small chuckle, before looking at me strangely.

"She's thinking something, isn't she?" I thought aloud to Anabel. I could tell by the expression on her face.

"Yes," Anabel smirked in response. "But it isn't my place to say what it is."

"That's fair enough," I sighed. "So what do we do now? Do we either go after Darkhan or do something else?"

"I can notify the authorities that it is Darkhan who has been causing so much trouble," Anabel kindly offered. "I'm sure that you and Misty want some alone time." I gave her a quick glare and began to think the reason. She nodded, knowing not to read my mind so often.

"Thanks for all your help, Anabel," Misty smiled politely.

"No need to thank me," Anabel replied. "I'd best go and see how Ash is doing."

"He's probably ecstatic by now," Misty shrugged, burying her shoulder into my chest. "You know how he gets. It doesn't take a mind reader to know that."

"True," Anabel laughed. "But at least he's happy. And if he is happy, then so am I. But I digress. I had best go check on him. I'll catch up with you tomorrow. The curfew hits soon and I don't like being told off none too much."

"Nor us," I smiled. "See you soon, Anabel. Take care." We parted ways, waving goodbye to each other. Misty smiled and held my hand as we walked back in the direction of the Trainer Village. My Poketch still wasn't working, but it must have been a good hour or two before the curfew hits in again. "So what do you want to do?" I asked as we walked further. "I ought to register my Pokemon… not to mention heal them too."

"I'm sorry about before," Misty suddenly blurted out.

"What?" I asked, pretending as though I didn't hear the first time.

"I said I'm sorry. I acted so immaturely and selfishly before and it isn't fair on you. I'm a terrible girlfriend."

"Don't be stupid," I sighed. "If you were terrible, I'd have dumped you by now."

"You know what I mean," she murmured sadly.

"Get a grip," I snapped a little, stopping Misty and grabbing her by the shoulders as if to shake her. "Nothing you can do will ever hurt me. Nothing. Understand?"

"I know," Misty picked one of my hands off her shoulder. "I just don't want to lose you."

"You won't, so stop worrying about it," I sternly told her. "I love you, that's all that matters." Misty fell silent again for a moment, before raising her head and smiling briefly. We shared a small kiss, securing the completion of that conversation. With that out of the way, we started heading back in the direction of the Trainer Village. From there, we could get back to the Indigo Stadium hopefully in time for me to register and heal my Pokemon. As if reading my mind in the manner Anabel would, Misty suddenly come out with the burning question. "So which Pokemon will you use this time?"

"I don't really know yet," I replied.

"Do you think Aggron and Gabite will get along if they battle side by side again?" Misty asked.

"There's no reason why I can't battle with them at different times," I thought aloud. "If I send out Aggron first, I can switch in Gabite later in the match."

"What about your Nidorino?" Misty suggested. "It hasn't even battled in the tournament yet." I began to think about the Poison Type… it was the first Pokemon that I had ever captured, yet it never seemed to reach its full potential… as much as I would love to battle with it, I was too worried that it might not be cut out for such a rigorous battle. Then again, maybe it would have something to prove seeing that it had been at my side all this time.

"I still don't know," I answered again.

"Well then… how about your Quagsire?" she persisted to get an answer from me. "It played a vital part in your battle against Sandra."

"I know that," I replied, a little flustered by this quick thinking. "Quagsire would sure come in handy, but there's also Houndoom… and I've got Bayleef and some of my other Pokemon back in Johto that can be sent to me as well."

"Do you have time for that?" Misty wondered. "I mean we've only got about half an hour until we have to be back inside…"

"In which case, we need to pick up the pace," I smiled, beginning to walk at hastier pace. Misty was caught by surprise, stumbling as I almost dragged her along with me. The fast paced walk eventually turned into a light jog, before forming into a full on sprint. I unwittingly left Misty in the dust behind me. Not much time later, I arrived at the entrance to the Indigo Plateau Lobby, inside which was a Pokemon Centre. Misty wheezed as she eventually caught up to me.

"Why do you always do that?" she panted angrily.

"Don't blame me," I shrugged defensively. "If you want to blame anyone, blame that Team Rocket for causing this stupid curfew." With that, I walked up the one of the Nurse Joys that were on duty. She smiled at me welcomingly.

"Hello again, Jonathyn," she beamed. I could not tell that she had seen me before. They all looked the same to me.

"Good to see you again," I said, a little sarcastically since I did not know exactly where I had seen her before. "I'd like to heal all of my Pokemon and register the ones which I'll be using in my next battle, please."

"Certainly," she bowed happily. I placed all six of my Poke Balls into a small tray that she had set in front of me. The balls fitted perfectly into half-spherical dips in the tray. She placed them into a small machine just behind her, before turning back to me. "Now, which would you like to use?" she asked with another tender smile.

"I would like to use my Aggron and my Gabite," I stopped to quickly think of which two Pokemon would prove most useful to me. "And my Houndoom…" I chose, due to the fact that it had battled valiantly and loyally so far, only losing to the Vespiquen that Casey had chosen before. I had one more choice… I was torn between Quagsire, Pelipper, Nidorino and Bayleef. Quagsire had proven to be vital whilst battling Sandra's Dragons, but that was only because the conditions were right. The pool from the Water Field helped to heal it and it's Ice Beam worked perfectly against them. But this would be a field made of metal, with no water at all. Pelipper on the other hand knew the move Steel Wing, which I thought could be a good thing being in a suitable environment. Nidorino…well, I wasn't sure. It had only been in two confrontations since arriving, both against Darkhan. And both times it didn't cut the mustard. Perhaps with some training, it could do… "And my Nidorino!" I decided.

"Good," Nurse Joy nodded. "So that's Aggron, Gabite, Houndoom and Nidorino. Would you like me to confirm your opponents Pokemon?"

"You can do that!?" my jaw almost dropped as she said this. "I didn't know that you could tell me what Pokemon my opponent would use!"

"That's because so far you have always registered first," the Nurse Joy pointed out to me. "You should have known that."

"I should have." I nodded in agreement. "So which Pokemon will she use?"

"She has registered to use a Chatot, a Sudowoodo, a Ditto and a Smeargle," she informed me. "But between me and you, she has more than one Smeargle, so who knows what moves it is capable of using."

"That's not a problem," I smiled. "This will be a breeze."

"Don't be so sure, Jonathyn," Misty warned me. "You said that about Casey, yet her Vespiquen nearly wiped you out. Not to mention Darkhan's Dusknoir… which did!"

"I know… but to use a Chatot in battle is suicide!" I chuckled.

"Don't underestimate her," she said sternly. "She must be talented to get to the top sixteen."

"True," I nodded obliging this fact. "In fact Nurse Joy… could you tell me who else is battling in the next round?"

"Of course," she nodded, tapping something into the keyboard whilst looking at a monitor. "Along with yourself and Mimi, there is Harley of Slateport City…" she noticed that both Misty and I cringed at the mention of his name. "He is battling against a trainer named Jon Dickson. He is a former champion of the Johto League."

"Good. At least Harley will be squashed." I muttered to Misty. "Who else?"

"Then there is Paul from Sinnoh… he facing a trainer from Kanto… but I can't pronounce his name."

"Convenient," I chuckled to myself.

"Then there is Cynthia from Celestic Town in Sinnoh," Nurse Joy continued. "And her opponent will be a trainer from Pallet Town here in Kanto named Ash Ketchum." Both of us suddenly froze. Nurse Joy noticed this. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Ash has to battle Cynthia!?" Misty squeaked, almost shaking in fact.

"That'll be one heck of a match," I smiled, looking forward to these two powerful trainers go face to face with each other. Misty on the other hand looked almost heartbroken.

"He can't…" Misty whimpered, almost in tears.

"What's the matter?" I asked, approaching her comfortingly.

"Ash can't beat Cynthia… no one can," she sniffed.

"What are you trying to say? You don't think I can beat her?"

"Can you?" she glared at me looking unconvincingly.

"Well… do you think I can?" I let out a small grin.

"Like I said… no one can beat her," Misty replied, wiping away a small tear. She looked rather upset, possibly the fact that Ash was facing this dominating trainer was too much for her to handle. I wasn't too happy to see Misty lose to Paul, but then again I was more focused on winning my next battle at that time, since I was and am still in contention to win this.

"I guess someone will have to prove you wrong, whether it be Ash or myself," I grinned. At first, I had been intimidated by Cynthia. Her power was most definitely not to be taken lightly. But now, seeing as how I had beaten so many powerful trainers already, my fears seemed to have melted away. Personally, I was hoping Cynthia would beat Ash, simply so that I would have the honour of defeating her for myself. That and the fact that at least this way there would be one less obstacle threatening the relationship between Misty and I. My train of thought was derailed, however, when Nurse Joy presented me with my healed Pokemon. "Damn, that was quick!" I blurted. Only ten minutes had passed. I expected it to be a lot longer than that, yet it didn't worry me so much. All of a sudden, the lights went out. Nurse Joy, Misty and I looked around in confusion.

"What happened?" Nurse Joy said aloud, although not meaning to.

"It's just a power outage," I shrugged in the darkness.

"But the backup generator should switch the lights back on until we can figure out what the problem is, but even that isn't working," she added.

"Think Team Rocket has something to do with this? Or perhaps Darkhan?" Misty suggested.

"I don't know," I replied unknowing. "Could be, I guess."

"You two had best head back to your dorms," Nurse Joy instructed us. "It might get dangerous."

"Alright then," I nodded. All of a sudden, Nurse Joy's monitor exploded right in front of her. A puff of smoke could be seen amidst the darkness. We stopped and ran over to the desk where Nurse Joy was now cowering.

"Nurse Joy! Nurse Joy!" Misty called. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she coughed, waving some of the smoke out of her face. We all suddenly froze when a menacing chuckle echoed through the otherwise empty lobby.

"Rorororo!" the laugh taunted with a high pitched scream. I armed myself with a Poke Ball, as the other monitors around the lobby began to explode as well. A shower of plastic and glass sprinkled over us, yet not cutting any of us. Then light bulbs began to flash and burst as well. Misty and I accompanied Nurse Joy in a sprint to the door to escape, but when we got there they we locked.

"I didn't lock the door, though," Nurse Joy panicked. "What's going on?"

"Stay calm, Nurse Joy," Misty encouraged her. "Let's try one of the other doors, even if we have to go in through one of the arenas."

"Good call," I nodded, before suddenly being struck in the chest by a sharp pain. I saw a flash of light just beforehand as I slumped back against the door.

"Jonathyn!" Misty shrieked a little, but trying not to be a bad influence to the already nervous Nurse Joy.

"I'm alright," I grunted, getting back up to my feet. "That felt like an electric shock. Maybe it IS Darkhan. Not if I have anything to say about it," I snarled, picking up the Poke Ball that I had only just realised I had dropped after being struck. "Houndoom, come on out." For the first time in a while, my Dark Type Pokemon appeared. I could only see the white horns and bone-like features on its back. "Houndoom, get ready for anything!" I warned to it.

"Houndoo, doom," it barked obediently, standing loyally by my side. It took an aggressive stance for whatever was about to come out in front of us. We waited in silence for a few moments, but nothing happened. Without warning though, a loud buzz that almost ruptured our eardrums bursts through the speakers at maximum volume. The sound was so painful that we all dropped to the floor like flies, covering our ears. Even Houndoom was feeling the effects of the horrific noise.

"What's happening!?" I shouted as loud as I could, but my voice was drowned out by the sound. We all appeared to be in absolute agony… until mercifully the noise stopped.

"Rororororo!" the high pitched menace laughed again, the occupant of this voice still unknown to us.

"What are we going to do?" Nurse Joy whimpered in fear.

"We'll just have to wait and find out who is behind all of this, and then take him down." I snarled. Houndoom nodded next to me, ready to fight.

"We'll be here all night if we just wait around," Misty argued. "We can't wait for it to come to us, we should go to find it."

"Darkhan!" I shouted as intimidatingly as I could. "You think your cheap tricks will work? You're wrong. Face me like a man, you coward!" we waited, but there was no response.

"I don't think that it's necessarily Darkhan who is behind this," Misty said to me. I stopped to think for a moment, before coming up with a possible solution.

"Team Rocket!" I shouted as intimidatingly as I could. "You think your cheap tricks will work? You're wrong. Face me like a man, you cowards!" we waited, but there was no response… just like before.

"For some reason, I don't think that Team Rocket is behind this either," Misty tisked, obviously unimpressed by my current deductions.

"Well then who is it, The Invisible Man?" I snapped a little.

"No… but it could be an invisible Pokemon," Nurse Joy suggested.

"You mean like a Ghost Pokemon or just one that isn't in view?" I asked, dim wittedly.

"Jon, you really are thick sometimes," Misty sighed. I frowned at her, yet it was too dark for her to notice. "With what's been happening, I'd say that a Ghost Pokemon sound's like a good bet."

"Darkhan has a Dusknoir…" I began.

"If you say that Darkhan is behind this one more time, I swear to Arceus…" Misty threatened me. I quickly fell silent. "What about a Magnemite or some other electric Pokemon? They feed off electricity and they're a bit more common than Ghost Types."

"You never know though," Nurse Joy said. "That electric attack must mean that it has electrical qualities, but Ghost Pokemon also have the ability to use a wider array of electric attacks than any other Pokemon… other than the Electric Type themselves, of course."

"I still think that Dar--OW!" I suddenly stopped as an unseen slap hit me on the chest. It didn't hurt as much as the electric strike, but it was in the same place and was still sore. Misty was obviously the one who hit me, but where she was I didn't know. I still could not see sod all. "Alright, perhaps a Rattata just chewed through the electrics or something."

"It explains the blackout, but not the exploding monitors or that high pitched scream," Misty shot down my suggestion. No sooner than she had said that, the noise started again. I covered my ears and dropped down to the ground, the sound shattering against my eardrums. They felt as though they were going to burst. It suddenly stopped, I took a moment to shake the cobwebs before standing up. The noise started again as soon as I pulled my hands away from my ears. Moments later, it stopped. But it carried on stopping and starting a good few times.

"This…" I began, before being cut off by the noise. "Is…" I continued, when it happened again. "Crazy!" I finally finished my sentence before the noise cut me off again.

"Rororororo!" the laugh once again made its presence felt. We all looked up, to see a small ball of white and orange light float across the roof of the lobby. I could not tell what it was, but there were small sparks shooting from it as it floated past, threatening to strike us. But the Discharge attack was too far away to do any harm to us.

"There it is!" I shouted. "Quick, Houndoom. Use Flamethrower!"

"Wait, stop!" Nurse Joy quickly interrupted. "You could burn this whole place to the ground."

"Well then what should we do?" I asked, as the strange light faded into another speaker, before letting loose another booming screech. Several more moments passed before it stopped.

"If it really is a Ghost Type, then have your Houndoom use a Dark Type attack, that should be super effective against it."

"Right… Houndoom, when that thing appears next use Faint Attack. You should be able to knock that thing down no problem, right?"

"Doom, Houndoom," it snarled, bracing itself to pounce, but not before another barrage of sound struck us all down. Within seconds though, the orb of light began moving over us. Houndoom spotted it instantly and leapt up. It somehow managed to jump high enough to hit the ball, but a burst of electricity knocked it back down to the ground. Small sparks covered its whole body.

"Paralysed," I snarled. "God, damn it! Now what do we do?"

"I have a Full Heal behind the desk, you can use it to reverse the effects of Paralysis," Nurse Joy said to me, quickly walking off somewhere. The sound of her high heeled shoes clicked and clacked against the solid floor. She returned and began to spray the Full Heal over my Houndoom, but was quickly stopped by that awful sound again. Despite this, she managed to empty the Full Heal over Houndoom. The sparks faded from the Dark Fire Type's body and when the noise finally died down, it was ready to attack once again.

"Why do you keep Full Heals behind the desk?" I asked. "Don't you have a machine to heal Pokemon?"

"Well, in emergencies like this it can come in handy," Nurse Joy replied with a hint of sarcasm. "And besides, Houndoom is probably the best Pokemon to take that thing down, whatever it is."

"It's got to be a Ghost Type," Misty nodded. "Did you see how it faded in and out of those speakers?"

"There's got to be a way to settle this," I sighed. "I'm getting sick and tired of this thing. Faint Attack won't work… nor will Fire attacks, and it's electrical attacks can just paralyse a foe instantly."

"Doesn't your Gabite know Crunch?" Misty suggested. "And being a Ground Type will stop it's electric attacks dead."

"No good," I replied, shaking my head even though I doubted that she could see that. "Gabite forgot how to use Crunch when it learned Dragon Rush right before Lairon evolved into Aggron. And Gabite's Crunch would be difficult to hit a flying target."

"Then you've got to stick with Houndoom," Nurse Joy demanded, before the orb began to float down towards us, shooting off more sparks which struck all of us. Houndoom managed to remain standing, yet Nurse Joy, Misty and I fell down from the force of the Discharge attack. "Everyone okay?" Nurse Joy asked.

"Never better," I sarcastically responded.

"I'm none too bad myself," Misty grunted with equal mockery. We all looked up at the strange Pokemon. It was a kind of spherical shape with two zig-zag like arms coming just beneath its torso. Its 'body' so to speak was a light orange, yet an intense blue aura surrounded it. I could barely make out a small pair of eyes and a small mouth.

"Rororororo!" It laughed once again, this time threatening us to attack it.

"Alright then, Rotom!" I grinned, walking up to stand by my Houndoom. "Your days of torment are over. Get ready to battle!"

TO BE CONTINUED

NEXT TIME: Jonathyn and Houndoom battle the mischevious Rotom that has caused them so much grief already, but there could still be trouble ahead when the battle is over. What will come of this confrontation?