Chapter 9: Sapphire Showdown!

It was approaching late afternoon when the trio arrived at Sapphire City. They needed to relax, to rest, and to find a hotel before it got too late.

So it was of no small surprise that they were extremely relaxed when they found a hotel that had plenty of free space.

Oh, and a tournament going on. More about that later.

After about an hour of resting, it was time for dinner. After a good serving of food, the tournament was about to begin.

On the first round, Dennis fought some weak trainer, and defeated his Diglett with his Croconaw.

Cam, however, was fighting some powerful trainer with Caisei, but he wasn't having any luck.

The trainer had sent out a Specterum, and was noticeably stronger than Caisei, and was almost about to claim victory.

Cam, the young, naïve trainer that he was, decided that the best strategy now would to use Bite on Specterum. As Specterum was a Psychic/Ghost type, a Bite or two would seize victory.

But Specterum and its trainer had him right where they wanted him.

Caisei jumped into the air. Big mistake.

Specterum let loose a Psybeam. But then, the impossible happened.

In mid-air, Caisei somehow cramped. It fell down, and fainted.

The Psybeam was going full throttle, and continued above Caisei, and hit Cam, who had no time to move out of its way.

The attack hit Cam, and he blanked out.

"Cam… Cam…"

"Hm? Anyone there?"

"Cam… Fight Aqua, the leader of the Sapphire Gym…"

"Huh? Who's there?"

"Then, go back… to…"

"What? Speak up!"

"…Titan's Cove… Within the cave, you will find…"

"What? What will I find?"

But by then, the voice blanked out. Cam slowly woke up.

"Huh?"

"So that's why I want to stay in Sapphire a bit longer."

"So you want to stay in Sapphire, so you can fight in a gym battle, see the sights, eat ice cream in fifteen different flavors…"

"All at the same time!"

"…And so you can have a bit more time at Titan's Cove?"

"Yep!"

Dennis chuckled. It was obvious that Cam wanted to stay another day longer.

"Sure. We have a bit of extra time. How about you go to your gym battle?"

"Thanks! But are you sure that Caisei will be alright after last night?"

"Yes. The healing center said he made a full recovery."

"Great! Well, I'd best be off!"

The Sapphire Gym was huge. Compared to it, the Emerald Gym was tiny.

Cam gingerly knocked on the Gym door.

"Hello? I'm here for a gym battle!"

A robotic voice came out of nowhere. "Please state your name, rank, and terms for battle."

After a moment, Cam answered: "My name is Cam Rogers, my current rank in the league is Rookie Trainer, and would prefer a 2 on 2 single battle."

"Calculating your request."

A few seconds later, the computer came up with a result.

"Request accepted. Please place ID to confirm."

Cam got out his Pokedex, and placed it in a slot near the door.

"Your identity has been confirmed."

The huge doors of the gym opened, and Cam entered.

"So, you came to challenge me?" said a young woman in a swimsuit. She was standing on a stand, next to a pool, with platforms in it, where the gym battles took place.

"Yes. I did."

"Then see how strong Aqua, the Ocean Queen, can be!"

Both trainers stood on stands, over the pool. It was time for the battle to commence.

"As I was challenged, I shall choose first. Go, Shellder!"

"Come on, Tridel!"

"A Sea Snake Pokemon. How odd. Shellder, Icicle Spear!"

"Tridel, Bite!"

Shellder's Icicle Spear was faster than Tridel was. So, in a nutshell, Shellder's strong attack pierced Tridel's defenses. Even when Tridel managed to use Bite, Shellder just simply used Withdraw to block the damage, and then countered with Aurora Beam.

"No, Tridel! Are you okay?"

"Hmm. Nice to see that you care about me."

"Huh?" Cam said, confused.

"Tridel! Tri!" Tridel hissed weakly.

"Recall your Tridel, and send out your next Pokemon!" Commanded Aqua.

"Fine, fine. Tridel, return. Go Caisei! Use Vine Whip!"

"Shellder, Icicle Spear!"

Despite it's defeat the night before, Caisei worked like a dream. He dodged the Icicle Beam assault, grabbed Shellder by the shell with Vine Whip, and tossed it.

"Hah! Good work, Caisei!"

"But Shellder isn't finished yet!"

"Not yet, but it will be! Caisei! Toss Shellder with another Vine Whip before it can move again!"

As Cam said those words, Shellder indeed began to move again. Slowly, it got up, and used Bubblebeam.

Pity it moved a fraction of a second too late.

By the time Shellder had used Bubblebeam, Caisei's Vine Whip hit Shellder, lifted it up into the air, and tossed it. This time, there was no getting up.

"Good work, Caisei!"

"Thanks. One opponent down, one to go. We can do this!"

Once more, Cam looked confused. What was going on?

"Shellder, return!" Said Aqua. "Go, Starmie! You can do it!"

"Caisei! Let's go! Tackle!"

"Starmie, Water Gun!"

Caisei leaped into the air, but Starmie caught it off it's guard, and squirted it away.

"You won't win that easily! Starmie, use Surf!"

A huge wave appeared out of nowhere. The wave struck Caisei, and sent him reeling backwards. Right into the pool.

"No, Caisei!"

"Now, Starmie, use Rapid Spin!"

Starmie propelled right into the pool, and struck Caisei. Then, it continued Rapid Spin. Caisei was in trouble. It was taking damage constantly, and was currently immobilized. Could Caisei get out of this tight spot without surrendering? Could Cam win his second badge? Find out next time!

TO BE CONTINUED…

New Pokemon: Specterum

Type: Psychic/Ghost

Resembles: A looming phantom, one that shines with the colors of the rainbow.

Coloring: Large amounts of each color of the rainbow cover Specterum.

Ability: Pressure

Attacks: Psybeam, Aurora Beam, Future Sight, Shadow Ball.

Evolution: Evolves from Phantite by Mind Stone

Pokedex: Specterum are rare, but swarms of them are not unheard of. Once every one hundred years, there is a huge swarm of ghost Pokemon world-wide, and Specterum are one of the biggest groups of Pokemon found during that time.