Chapter Twelve
Climactic Battles and Team Conflicts

Previously:
"Whaddaya say Meowth? Want some fish?" Tony asked, but the Meowth was already running forwards toward the large menace.

The Gyarados rushed to meet the small feline, and struck downward to bite cat, but Meowth leapt nimbly up and landed on the gyarados's head. The Meowth ran up the gyarados's back, all they to its flailing tail, before leaping off of it. The cat nimbly twisted in mid-air, looking back at the trashing gyarados, who was still biting furiously at the ground.

The Meowth' s coin started to spark, and flash yellow, before unleashing a shockwave into the dragon, sending it sprawling and convulsing through tombstones and tiles. The gyarados slowly lifted its head, and peered around the room. Suddenly the Meowth jumped up from wear it was hiding directly in front of the dragon's head.

The large serpent had only enough time to furrow its brow angrily before another burst of electricity sent it down into the ground.

"Thank you for that TM Johnny!" Tony smirked, as The Meowth ran up Tony's pant leg, onto his shoulder where it began to calmly lick its fur. Gary gaped at first his fallen beast, to Tony, then to the Meowth sitting on his shoulder.

"What is that thing?" Gary asked, pointing at the Cat, who glanced arrogantly at Gary before returning to it's grooming.

"That Thing is My Meowth!" Tony said proudly, recalling the cat into its pokeball, and grabbing another one. Gary did the same thing, releasing his mustached Kadabra, who wielded its spoon as though it was a club. Tony's own Pidgeotto was released into the air, flying around.

The Kadabra released a mental burst, sending ripples through the air, and smashing into the wall where the Pidgeotto was just seconds ago. The Pidgeotto was spiraling through the air, swerving and trying to avoid the blasts of mental energy from the Kadabra, before it did a barrel roll and whipped a flurry of dust and broken tombstone at the Kadabra.

The Kadabra wasn't fast enough to avoid it, and got caught up in the gust, before being launched into the air. The Pidgeotto rammed its wing into the Kadabra with speed, and knocked it into the wall. As the Kadabra slid down the wall, the Pidgeotto aimed to hit it with another wing attack, but was stopped seconds before contact, stuck frozen in

Mid-air.

The Kadabra then proceeded to smash the bird over and over into the walls and floors, before releasing the bird with a resounding crash into the floor. It didn't get back up, and Tony was forced to recall his bird, and release his only pokemon he hasn't used yet.

The Butterfree fluttered in the air, dust sprinkling off its wings as it watched its foe. The Kadabra sent another confusion at the Butterfree, but it swooped underneath the blast and rammed into the Kadabra, sending it reeling, before proceeding to pummel it with a mixture of wing attacks and powders that puffed off it's wings in the assault. The Kadabra collapsed in a heap of poisonous powders and deadly concoctions, and Gary grimly recalled him.

Gary's Growlithe came out in a fiery display, wasting no time in launching burst after burst of flames at the Butterfree, eventually sending it crashing into the ground, burning. Tony quickly recalled the Butterfly, and Sent his Meowth back out. Spotting the burning canine, the Cat hissed and darted towards it. The Dog sent flares out at the cat, but the Meowth dodged them, landing in front of the Growlithe, and coughing up a burst of water that pulsed around the Dog. The well-placed Water attack was just powerful enough to send the Dog to the pound.

Gary smirked at seeing Tony's last pokemon, tired after fighting twice, and sent out his own final pokemon, the infamous Eevee, who growled at the cat.

The Eevee disappeared in a flash, appearing behind the Meowth, who flinched as though hit. The Eevee prepared to quick attack again, but the Meowth had already Leapt at the Meowth, its coin glowing, Striking true, the Smoke erupting from the hit, coins scattered

About. As soon as the smoke cleared the Meowth and Eevee were rolling across the ground, biting and clawing furiously. The Eevee separated from the Meowth, and hopped a bit away. As it did that, The Meowths Coin sparked up again, and a Blast of electricity shot out.

As the electricity approached the Eevee, it quick attacked the Meowth, Knocking it out and into the ground. The Eevee attempted to stand proud, but the bolt of electricity shot into the animal, also knocking it unconscious.

Both Gary and Tony stood speechless, as their respective pokemon lay defeated on the ground. Suddenly Tony reached to his belt and detached a pokeball, dropping it on the ground. The Pokeball burst open and Tony's Magikarp flopped noisily on the ground. The sound of the fish hitting the ground echoed in the large room, and Gary's eyes widened.

"Looks like I win Gary, you don't have any pokemon left." Tony said, smirking as Gary realized his defeat.

"I…no…how?" Gary stammered, brushing by Tony as though he wasn't there. The Magikarp had flopped a few feet away, and after recalling Meowth, Tony moved to grab his carp. Suddenly the ground in front of him exploded, sending Tony landing on his ass, dirt covering him.

"Wahhh!" Tony cried, scrambling up, and scanning the room. Suddenly a haunting cry came from ahead of Tony, along with footsteps, but nothing was there. The steps got closer, to Tony, who backed into the wall. All of a sudden, the Magikarp flopped in between Tony and the footsteps. In mid-flop, the Magikarp was knocked sideways, its eyes bulging, into a tombstone again. Tony took that time to roll past the invisible foe, and recall his Magikarp, dashing out of the tower.

Tony landed on the muddy ground panting, when he heard a booming laughter from the tower behind him. He shivered, but it wasn't because of the rain. He returned to his room, and sat silently, trying to forget about the laughter, and enjoyed drifting in and out of sleep.

He awoke to booming thunder, the flash from the window right next to him waking him up. Checking the clock next to him, he cursed silently when he saw it was past midnight. He moaned when he realized that he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, and contented himself on listening to the beating of the rain on the window. He suddenly saw a flash of yellow, and turned to peer out of his window. He spotted what appeared to be a large yellow bird lowering to the ground, before giving out a piercing cry and disappearing out of sight.

Tony's eyes widened when he realized that was the same cry that he heard earlier. He rushed outside to see if he could spot where it went, but he stood in the rain, not seeing anything. A sudden thunderbolt struck almost directly next to him, launching him into the dirt where he blacked out.

What must've been a few hours later he woke up in a warm bed, battered but in the whole, not injured. He groaned and sat up, holding his head. An old man wobbled over, and smiled warmly.

"I found you unconscious, soaked to the bone, young man." The elderly man said in a kind voice, "I'm Mr. Fuji."

"Ugh…" Tony moaned in response, lying back down.

"Young man, your friends stopped by earlier," Mr. Fuji began, and Tony sat up again to hear better, "They would've stayed but the tall one kept talking about the Celadon city gym and all the young ladies that are there…oh to be young again." Mr. Fuji said sadly.

"Oh...well…ok, thanks." Tony said, getting out of bed, before realizing he was in his boxers, and he flushed in embarrassment.

"Don't worry young man, I didn't undress you, I had my daughter do it." The old man said, obviously amused.

"That doesn't make it any better." Tony hissed, quickly dressing himself.

"Hee hee hee." The old man giggled, before suddenly looking stern, "Don't flaunt your youth."

"Uh…what?" Tony asked, picking up his backpack.

"Nothing my boy." The old man said, Grabbing Tony by the arm, and pulling him to the door, "Now be on your way." He said, gently pushing Tony out the door, "Don't forget this!" Mr. Fuji said, placing his hat on Tony's head before closing the door.

Tony began walking towards Celadon City, looking into the sky, "Man…what's with all this rain?" he asked nobody. As he trotted down the wet path, he approached a fenced off area, with the only entrance being one of the trees.

"Aw man, I don't have cut, Johnny has that!" Tony groaned, moving down the path, fighting various bikers.

Tony's Butterfree knocked the Koffing out easily with confusion, and Tony praised his Butterfree. Suddenly his pokeball containing Magikarp in it shook violently, burst open to reveal the glowing Magikarp.

As the shining carp glowed brightly, it's expanded in size and grew bigger. Bigger. Even bigger. Eventually it grew into an enormous gyarados, even bigger then Gary's.

The Gyarados seemed to retain its jolly demeanor, happy flailing around, as Tony tried to take cover from it. Apparently it still thought it was a Magikarp as it flopped happily on the ground. Recalling his gigantic Serpent, Tony continued down the path, entering the Underground path leading to Celadon.

Tony left the Path tired at the exceedingly long, boring walk. He entered the City with high spirits though, happy to get to the Pokecenter and heal his pokemon. He left the center and examined the town. The usually bustling streets were barren, except for the few, black clothed, people waking through the rain.

Tony decided to take the old mans advice, and headed to the gym. Approaching the gym, he spotted a balding man peering into the gym's window.

"Oh yeah! Mmm…yeah baby!" The old man was whispering to himself, his hands pressed around his face as he tried to gaze inside.

"Eww…sicko…" Tony said to himself as he passed the man up, and strode into the small lobby of the gym. Suddenly a pair of beautiful girls stepped in front of Tony.

"Are you a challenger to the gym?" The first girl asked.

"Um…no…I'm just loo-" Tony started.

"Then you must leave! We don't accommodate perverts here!" The second girl responded pointing at the exit,

"Wait, no, I'm a researcher for Professor Oak!" Tony quickly said, showing them his Pokedex. At the sight of the Pokedex, the two girls looked at each other, before the first one told him to wait, and went into the gym.

An unfortunate and uncomfortable silence overtook Tony as he waited patiently for the girl to return.

"So…what's going on with this weather? Am I right?" Tony asked.

"Quiet! Or do you want to join the old man out there?" The girl said loudly.

"Ok…sheesh." Tony grumbled.

The other girl came back, smiling broadly, "Erika says you can come in! Enjoy your stay!"

The second girl also got cheery as well; waving goodbye to Tony as he hesitantly entered the Gym.

He entered the gym, and was hit with a burst of perfume and flowers. Grass grew everywhere, and petals wafted around the area, littering the ground. He went further into the Gym, towards the sound of battling. Turning the corner, he spotted Johnny locked in battle with Erika. He walked in just in time to see a large orange mushroom rip into a purple flower with its sharp claw.

The Vileplume crashed to the ground, and Johnny claimed his badge and TM. He turned to see Tony, and walked over to him. Suddenly a girl was in front of Johnny, talking to him, standing in between Tony. Tony was surprised to see it was Valerie talking to him. He felt a tapping on his shoulder and spun to find himself facing Tiffany.

"Hey Tony!" She said cheerily, smiling, "How do I look?" She asked, doing a twirl. She was dressed in a kimono, and Tony just realized all the girls were dressed like that. When she spun, flowers were sent spiraling around her and she smiled again.

"You look…good…" Tony said, and Tiffany's face suddenly darkened.

"What! Good? I look Great!" Tiffany scowled, looking angrily at Tony.

"Um…sure…wait…what? Um…what are you doing here?" Tony asked, scratching his head.

"Well me, Kat, and Valarie all stopped here and we decided we'd stay here for a while. It's so peaceful." Tiffany explained.

"Oh…well we still have a rematch to settle." Tony said.

"Hmm, really? I don't recall." Tiffany responded.

"Are you mocking me?" Tony asked, and Tiffany giggled.

"Tiffany!" Valarie suddenly yelled, almost crashing into Tiffany as she grabbed her hand, sticking her tongue out at Tony, "Sorry Tony, Girl-talk!" With that, Tiffany waved and Valarie pulled her away. Johnny sidled up next to Tony, watching Valarie exit the room.

"Hmm."

"What's up?" Tony asked, looking at Johnny.

"Nothing…I'm just gonna get me some of that soon." Johnny said, and Tony shook his head, and they started to leave the gym.

"Where's Lloyd?" Tony asked.

"He's in the game corner…he got totally hooked on gambling." Johnny explained, and they walked over to the Casino.

They found Lloyd on the ground, scrounging for coins, peering underneath chairs. As Johnny roughly grabbed Lloyd off the ground, Tony shook his head, "Lloyd…you have a problem…"

After Johnny smacked some sense into Lloyd, they prepared to leave town, having already got the badge they paid for. Unfortunately they found a large black boulder blocking the way.

"What the hell? First the rain, now this?" Johnny complained loudly.

"Wait a minute, this isn't a boulder…" Lloyd said, poking it, "It's a pokemon!"

"It's sleeping!" Johnny exclaimed, pushing against it, rebounded softly off its furry skin.

"Then all we gotta do is wake it up!" Tony smirked, charging into it, but bouncing off it, landing on his butt, sending Johnny and Lloyd into a fit of laughter, "Ow."

"Go Charmeleon! Burn it down!" Lloyd cried, releasing the red lizard, which roared and sent of blast of fire, but it didn't do anything.

Tony leaned over to Johnny, "When did Lloyd's Charmander evolve?" Tony asked, and Johnny shrugged, "When my Paras evolved."

The Charmeleon finally tired out, gasping, and Lloyd recalled him, shaking his head, "No dice, we can't move it." He sighed, turning back to the rain soaked city.

Johnny gave one last glance at the furry behemoth, before following after Lloyd and Tony. In the city, they spotted a large man leaning against the fountain in front of the Department store. The large man stepped in front of him, his girth blocking their way.

"Hello peoples…" Frank Nova said. He was still dressed in his Red emblazed costume, taking no caution in concealing his identity.

"You again? What do you want?" Johnny asked.

"Nothing…oh…nothing…awfully wet out here huh…" Nova said.

"Whatever, Fatass." Johnny scoffed.

"Arg! Give me your pokemon!" He yelled, his chubby arms trying to grab Tony's belt, but he moved out of the way.

"Sheesh! At least Team Rocket has a plan, you just yell and expect us to listen!" Tony accused.

"Ya know what?" Nova said, "I, of Team Magma, WILL DESTROY YOU!" Frank roared, laughing out loud.

"Your horrible…" Lloyd said.

"Quiet small fry!" Frank yelled again, before suddenly growling, "I am so MAD!"

"Why?" Tony asked.

"I'm mad cause I didn't get mad earlier!" He growled again, glaring at our heroes.

"Are…you…kidding…me?" Johnny asked.

"Rawr!" Frank yelled, grabbing a pokeball from his belt and raising it up. Suddenly a bunch of dark clothed men walked into the clearing, and pointed at Nova.

"There's that Team Magma Bastard!" One of them yelled, "After him rockets!"

With that, Nova ran away, the rockets at his tail. One of the rockets stopped in front of them, He waved his hand around like a magician, "You didn't see nothing, Kapeesh?" before following after his comrades.

"Yeah…well…I'm gonna go and train a bit… I need something normal." Tony said, walking out of town, "Ill meet up with you guys later!" Tony called, as he saw Johnny and Lloyd nod, before going in their own directions.

When Tony returned, he sneezed loudly. He had been training outside of town for a while, and was exhausted. Hungry and thirsty he stopped at the department store and bought some water and food, before going to the Pokecenter. When he didn't find them there, he went over to the game corner, and found Lloyd Playing slots. He spotted Johnny in the back, arguing with a man.

Tony was about to approach, when the man suddenly shouted and pulled a pokeball out from his coat.

END
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