Chapter 2: The Wall
I looked up at the towering structure before me. It was large, tall, and gray. It was made entirely out of stone. I walked around the circumference of the wall until I saw the sun beginning to set. I had found no way past the wall. This wall, which stood between me and the first Area Leader and badge for my Nova League challenge, seemed to be impenetrable. Seemed.
As it grew darker on my first day of the challenge, I began to ponder about this wall. It was big, it was stone, and it stood between me and my first challenge. Not a very good combination of things, but I was determined. I finally decided, then, that I was going to get over this wall one way or another before the end of the day.
"Go Staraptor!"
"Star!"
My large gray bird with a jagged red-tipped crest spread its wings as it let out a cry, preparing itself for flight. I knew exactly what we needed to do, and so did my trusty Staraptor.
"Alright Staraptor, here's what we're gonna do. I'm going to hop on your back, and then we're gonna fly across the wall. Got it?"
"Star!" my Staraptor cried with affirmation.
I jumped onto Staraptor's back. He prepared himself as he spread his wings proudly.
"Aaaaaaaannnddddd LAUNCH!" I shouted. At my command, Staraptor beat his mights wings and we began to move upward.
Staraptor began to pick up speed as he lunged upward in order to get us up faster. The wind blew harder and colder in my face the faster we ascended. Well, hey, it was better than the normal weather in my home country of Hoenn, but it did get a little unbearable after a while. And there's another thing: This flight was taking FOREVER. Like, what? I know for a fact my Staraptor is a very capable flier and to be a very strong Pokémon in general, but we had been going up for at least ten minutes… Was the wall really that big?
I soon found out the hard way. After about ten more minutes of chilly evening flight, I was finally able to get on top of the wall. I leaped off of Staraptor and touch downed on the top of the wall. As soon as I landed safely, Staraptor, still over the edge, gave in to exhaustion and fell. And he fell. And fell.
"Staraptor! Return!" I shouted in desperation as I pulled out his poké ball and recalled him. Just in time, too. I really did not want to lose Staraptor, he's beyond invaluable on my team.
I had finally made it to the top of the wall. I decided to give Staraptor a rest, I was not about to make him fly me to the ground on the other side, he was way too tired for that. It was getting late, but I honestly did not want to spend my first night on top of a giant wall that wasn't very wide. I needed to find an easier way down. I decided to walk the circumference of the wall again, only this time, from the top instead of the bottom.
Two Hours later
This wall is HUGE. It seriously did take me two hours to walk around about 3/4ths of it. I was nearing the end, when that's when I saw it: A set of stairs from the top to the inside of the wall. I ran to the stairs so that I could get down and finally get some rest for the night, when suddenly, the weirdest thing happened. A purple monkey with two tails, each with what looked like a large, swelled hand with three red-tipped fingers at the end, did a back flip over me and stood directly in my path, blocking me from getting to the stairs.
"Good job, Ambipom." Said a calm voice. "You cut him off, perfect, now he has to battle us!"
A boy about my age came up behind the purple monkey with a smirk on his face. He had on a black hoodie with it zipped up halfway and the hood up, a pair of simple blue jeans with rips all over the, including a rather large rip where his right knee is, a black and blue zigzag t-shirt, and dark blue tennis shoes. His style was very dark and… well, Johto-ish. Yeah, it was quite obvious this guy was from Johto. If his clothes didn't give it away, his accent did.
"The name's Marcus" said the stranger "And I challenge you to a three on three battle!"
"Well, Marcus…" I said "It looks like you're not giving me any other options, so I accept your challenge. The name's Andrew."
"Well then, let's begin. I'll start things off with my Ambipom since he's already out."
"Come on out Ampharos!"
I pressed the button on a green poké ball with four red lines on the top and a yellow one in the center of the other lines. It was a friend ball that I used when I was in Johto and I used it to capture a Mareep. A beam of red light shot out of it and began to take form. My tall, yellow Pokémon with a long slender neck, a red orb on its tail and a smaller one on its forehead, and black rings around its tail, neck, and conical ears extended his stubby arms excitedly, ready for the battle to come.
"Ambipom, use Double Hit!"
"Ampharos, use Charge Beam!"
The Ambipom came in close and began to swing its two tails at my Ampharos. Ampharos skillfully dodged it as the jewel on its forehead and tail began to glow. Moments later, he fired a powerful beam of electricity from the jewel on its forehead that hit Ambipom square in the chest, sending it flying. Ambipom, however, quickly recovered and was back on its feet soon and was beginning to go in for another attack.
"Ampipom, retaliate with Shadow Claw!"
Ambipom's tail-hands began to glow with a shadowy aura. It then charged at Ampharos and swung its two tails, hitting Ampharos from both sides. Ampharos seemed very injured by this attack, but still able to fight.
"Ampharos, use Signal Beam!"
Both of Ampharos's jewels began to glow as he began charging up power once more. Ambipome continued its assault with its shadow imbued hands. Ampharos then fired a rainbow beam from its forehead jewel that connected with Ambipom, ending its attack and sending it flying once more. Ambipom landed with a loud thud. It was unable to move. Ampharos then collapsed due to the exhaustion of the battle.
"Return Ambipom." Marcus said as his Ambipom was enveloped in a red light and then brought to an orange topped poké ball with yellow circles on the orange, a quick ball.
"Good job Ampharos, return." I said as a separate red light enveloped my Ampahros and brought it back to its friend ball.
I began to think about who I could possibly use next for this battle. Staraptor was out of the question. I'm sure he was still tired from our long flight up the wall. Ampharos had put up a great fight. He was really good in this battle. He has grown quite a lot since our challenge of the Johto League. I really needed to pick another Pokémon. I wasn't about to use Blaziken, my ace. I guess I should send out someone else. I reached for my belt and then picked a ball. It was an all white poké ball with a red line around the center. A premier ball.
"Go Gardevoir!" I shouted as I threw the ball, releasing a red beam of light that began to take the form a very womanly figure, and then bounced right back to me.
"Gar!" My Gardevoir chimed enthusiastically in, ready for battle. She was a rather tall Pokémon that was very slender and womanly in appearance. She has what appears to be short, green hair that curls at the end and in front of her eyes, which are red. Her arms are green and she appears to be wearing an elegant white ballroom gown as she floats.
"Hehe, well, not bad, not bad at all. I choose you, Noctowl!"
"Hoo!" The brown owl Pokémon with large, striking red eyes and cream colored feathers that appeared to form a pair of horns on its head stretched its dark brown wings widely, as if to intimidate my Pokémon.
"Gardevoir, use Future Sight, now!"
"Noctowl, Air Slash, GO!"
Gardevoir closed her eyes and began to concentrate. She sent a beam of blue psychic energy into the sky that disappeared quickly. Noctowl charged towards Gardevoir. Its wings were glowing and when it got close, it slashed its wings, creating blades of air that made their way towards Gardevoir. Gardevoir could not dodge because she had barely finished setting up her future sight attack. The air blades hit her and knocked her on her back. She levitated back up slowly, trying to shake off the last attack, but the attack had done quite a bit of damage to her.
"Gardevoir, use Psychic!"
"Noctowl, begin charging your attack!"
Gardevoir enveloped Noctowl in a psychic aura before it could charge whatever attack that was. She then used her mind to lift the Noctowl up high into the air, and then drop it quickly, causing it major damage by doing so. Noctowl got up, slowly, covered in a silver aura. I guess it did have time to charge up its attack…
"Now Noctowl, Sky Attack!"
Noctowl came at Gardevoir fast, still covered in the silver aura. It rammed into Gardevoir hard, sending her flying, knocking her down. She was heavily damaged, but still able to battle.
"Charge up another one Noctowl!"
"No, Gardevoir, Hypnosis!"
Gardevoir let out a pulse from its mind as it stared intently at Noctowl. Noctowl began to cloak itself in the silver aura once again, but as it did so, the pulse from Gardevoir hit it, causing it lull into a deep slumber.
"Now, finish this off with Dream Eater!"
A red aura formed around Gardevoir's hand as it shot out and enveloped the Noctowl, draining it of its power. Noctowl remained asleep, now unable to continue the battle. Using Dream Eater allowed Gardevoir to recover slightly from the battle, preparing it for the next and hopefully final round of this battle. A separate red beam enveloped Noctowl as Marcus recalled his second Pokémon.
"Well, well, well, you are very skilled indeed. I didn't think I'd have to use him."
"What could you be talking about? Come on and send out your final Pokémon."
"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you about the sheer might of this one." Marcus said as he pulled out what appeared to be a standard poké ball, but it appeared to have a yellow logo on it. "You do know what type of poké ball this is, don't you?" He asked, chuckling.
"Well yeah, of course, that's a Sport Ball used in the Johto Bug Catching Contest, but what is the point in asking me…." I began to ramble, but then it dawned on me. He was bragging about a Pokémon he caught in the bug catching contest. "No… You can't have caught one… If you're bragging about this, that means you must have… and evolved it too. Crap!"
"That's right, I did catch a Scyther and I did evolve it! Go, Scizor! Come on out and use your Bullet Punch!"
As soon as the red light from the Sport ball disappeared, there was a red streak, and the, just like that, I heard a loud thud. There it was, a giant red ant-like creature, standing on two legs, with two huge pincers that had what appeared to be a very intimidating yellow eye on them for his claws. One of the pincers was losing a silver glow, a result of the attack that Marcus commanded it do as he sent it out. The glowing pincer was pressed harshly against Gardevoir's stomach. She went down instantly.
I recalled Gardevoir to her Premier ball. I reached to my belt. I wasn't going to use Blaziken. I was confident I could win this one without a fire type. That, and I really wanted to save him for the Area Leader. No, I needed someone else on my team that was capable. Staraptor was still down from the flight. Ampharos and Gardeoir both fought intensely in this battle. I'm not going to lie though, that Bullet Punch as he sent out his Pokémon was a pretty dick move. And cheap. Really cheap. Oh well, I couldn't help but admire how powerful and how cool looking his Scizor was. I could tell it was well trained. I would really need a strong Pokémon for this one. It was down to Garchomp or Bisharp. After a few moments, I finally decided. I reached for the Ultra Ball at my belt, pressed the button in the center to expand it, and tossed it.
"Go Bisharp!" I yelled as the red light formed into a humanoid shape. When fully formed, a human-like figure with a red helmet with a golden double headed axe on top, black face, torso and arms, what appeared to be red shoulder pads, red legs, and a pair of what appeared to be white boots and white gloves. It had two white rings around and protruding from his torso. He gave Marcus's Scizor a fierce look.
"Scizor, attack with X-Scissor"
"Bisharp, Use Night Slash"
Scizor crossed his arms in an x form and began to charge at Bisharp. Bisharp's blades on his arms began to glow a dark purple as he began to charge towards Scizor. Both Scizor and Bisharp are powerful dual steel-type Pokémon who specialize in attacking, so this was bound to be a good and interesting fight.
Both Pokémon slashed at each other with their attacks, both damaging the other. As if reading their trainers' minds, both Scizor and Bisharp turned to each other and unleashed the same attack on the other once again. They continued doing this. Scizor with his X-Scissor. Bisharp with his Night Slash. In due time, both Pokémon were very beaten up from receiving damage from one attack over and over again. But it didn't look like either one was about to let the other win. Scizor prepared his X-Scissor once more. Bisharp prepared his Night Slash. Both Marcus and myself were determined to win, but we knew at this rate, this battle would end in a tie.
As Scizor and Bisharp closed in on each other, attacks ready, Scizor suddenly froze. Scizor just stood there, completely still, and then, just as suddenly, fell to the ground with a mighty thud. The Future Sight attack had hit him dead on.
"Wh-WHAT!?" Marcus shouted in disbelief as his mighty and well-trained Pokémon fell. "How!? Why!? WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED!?"
"Future Sight" I said relieved. "Gardevoir's Future Sight finally decided to take effect, and I won because of it!"
"Awww man!" Marcus said in disbelief "I knew you had to be good for even being in this league in the first place, but damn dude, I didn't expect you to use that Future Sight. TO be honest, I completely forgot about it… Man I shoulda used my Dark –type… Ugh, but no use dwelling on what I should've done. You're good, kid, real good."
"Kid?" I said, mockingly, "You and I are around the same age AND I just beat you, yet you have the nerve to call me 'Kid'? I told you, it's Andrew."
"Haha, okay, okay, Andrew, you're an outstanding trainer."
"Well, thanks Marcus. You are really superb too. You raised that Scizor so well. Scizors are supposed to be amongst the most difficult bug-types to raise. "
"Thanks… But Scizor isn't the only tough Pokémon I raised. I'll admit, I did take it pretty easy raising Noctowl, but Ambipom was an incredible challenge due to having to teach it Double Hit. Not to mention, my other three Pokémon are pretty tough ones to raise too."
"Seriously!? I wanna see your team!" I really did, I was excited
"Tell ya what, Andrew. You and me, let's stick together for a while. At least for this castle. And by doing so, you'll get to see my other three Pokémon, and I'll get to see your other two."
"Yeah! That sounds like a great idea and—H-hey! I only used three of my Pokémon in that battle! I have three others that you didn't see, so you'll be seeing three more Pokémon, not two!" I exclaimed. Was he berating me as a trainer? Even after I had beaten him?
"Hahahahahaha" He laughed. "Oh calm down! Saw you fly up here on your Staraptor. It was because of that sight that I decided to challenge you! I assumed that, since your Staraptor was so strong to be able to carry you all the way to the top of this wall, that you must have other great Pokémon, too. And boy was I right. I also wanted to test my team against a strong team to see if they were ready for this whole Nova League Challenge thing… But it looks like we'll be needing a bit more training before we'll get far in this league."
"Oooooooooohhhhhh…" I said, relieved by his answer "Well that makes sense. But, now I have another question…"
"Go ahead, ask away!"
"Marcus, how did you get up here? Your Noctowl didn't seem tired from flying up the height of the wall, and after seeing you in battle, you are most defiantly not a mono-type trainer, so how did you get up here?"
"Well, that's simple, I used that set of stairs over there" Marcus said as he pointed behind me.
I looked down to see the area where I had started out my first walk around the circumference of this wall, and there was a set of stone stairs leading from the bottom of the outside of the wall to the top of the wall. HOW DID I MISS THAT!?
A/N: Well, here's the anticipated second chapter of The Nova League Chronicles! I hope you guys like it. Please, when you review it, tell me what I can do to make it better and critique it. I want to make it more interesting for you guys! Also, I'm still accepting OCs… I haven't gotten any yet… Just submit them to me by putting it in the reviews or PM it to me, I will gladly accept anything you guys give me! I seriously hope you guys are enjoying this story so far, be on the lookout for the next chapter! :)