Chapter 2: Vs the Bartrin Masters
Zan and Boris walked out of the Canalave Library accompanied by an Espeon. Boris seemed very content and wore a happy smile as they marched down south.
"Hey Zan did you know that the Bartrin Mansion was formerly the Canalave City Gym?" questioned the Espeon in an elderly female voice.
"Actually I did not. But that makes sense. Since the Masters are the Skeleton Clash equivalent to the gym leaders, right?" Zan replied.
"Of course you didn't know that because you're just a giant idiot" insulted Boris with his tongue out. Zan lightly shoved his pokemon partner.
"Shut up, you didn't know anything about pokemon battles either before we reached the library" Zan retorted.
"You two will never grow up will you" commented the Espeon. "We were all clueless and now we are all a bit informed thanks to the library.
"Well all of us except Augment. He got bored reading rather quickly and returned to his ball. Nala, let's try to inform him later. I don't want to use someone in a pokebattle who is clueless. And you know Boris can't explain things worth a dam."
"Or tell stories for that matter" chimed in Nala the Espeon with a smug look.
"Yeah that too, he starts telling you a story, then get distracted and moves on to another story and then he just draws a blank on either story and sit there awkwardly" Zan continued to tease.
"Or he will mix up both stories into one" added Nala. Boris was unhappily grumbling under his breath and he marched forward ahead of the other two.
"I hope you lose vs the Canalave Master so I have something to make fun of you for" the upset pig informed his trainer. Zan just laughed knowing his pokemon was never mad.
"Even if I don't you will still love me."
"Yes but I love you more when I can make fun of you." The two friends stopped at the same time as they noticed their companion had been left behind. The espeon was staring out into the sea.
"It's amazing to think the world is so big that we just came from a place that we can't even see right now. The scope of the world is just amazing. And the ocean, it's just so calming yet mystical" she said aloud. Boris and Zan shared glances before shrugging their shoulders at each other.
"If you like this ocean just wait until we reach Sunnyshore. It'll blow your hypothetical socks off. Granted, it'll be a while before we get there. But it's our next stop" Zan informed. He scratched his face awkwardly because he was a bit unsure how to word what was coming out of his mouth. Nala closed her eyes briefly and smiled.
"I look forward to it. That is where we will be meeting your mother that we have heard so much about?" The espeon turned to catch up with the duo.
"Yep that is where she lives and she is the sole reason we are trekking to Sunnyshore. Well and to pick up more fighting experience along the way. It'll be Nala and Augment's first time meeting her. Boris probably barely remembers her. He was only a Tepig at the time."
"I remember her, kind of. But we can worry about that later. Our destination right now is the Bartrin Mansion. Where my dumb pupil will test his fists against Clive Bartrin in an all out Skeleton Clash."
"Fifteeen poke on Bartrin" bet Nala. Boris stomped the floor in frustration.
"Dam, beat me to it" mumbled the pignite.
Inside a large and fancy mansion was the blue haired Lady Moore. A loose, grey robe was covering her body. Though on her hands and face were the metal strips of a Memory Skeleton. The parts near her mouth and fingers were reinforced which meant more power were focused on those areas. With her were two butlers and the group was led by the Master, Clive Bartrin. He was cloaked in fine, black silks that were lined with gold threads. His grey hair was balding but his goatee was thick. He smelled like very expensive cologne. He too had a memory skeleton though it was completely under his clothes.
"And that, Lady Moore, is the entire first floor. Shall we proceed with the tour of the next floor?" asked Clive in a deep voice. The young lady yawned without covering her mouth. She then rolled her eyes.
"Dude I already told you, I'm not interested in your mansion. I came here for a battle" she told him staring at the ceiling.
"And I told you I'm not interested in a battle with you. Now let us proceed to the next floor" the old man insisted, taking steps forward. Lady Moore swiftly turned her back to him.
"Whatever, I'm going outside to take a smoke." The master shook his head in disappointed and continued onto the second floor with his workers. "Man what is his problem" Lady Moore mumbled. "He is so dam arrogant; acting like a battle with me is a waste of his time. Then he is just an ass trying to flirt with me afterwards. He is so old. But the worst part is he is so boring. I could never date someone like that." She pulled a cigarette out of her right sleeve and placed it in the tip of her lips. The large wooden doors of the mansion were insight as she retrieved a match also from her sleeve and kept it inhand. With an angry push she forced the doors open. Right before her eyes was a young man accompanied by a pignite and an espeon. Lady Moore paid no attention to this male and dipped off to the porch on the left. She leaned against the metal railing and let her match again her Memory Skeleton. The flame from the match lit her cigarette and she wasting no time getting into the nicotine. Zan stopped at the three stairs leading up the mansion door and turned towards the lady. She was extremely pretty despite having an ugly habit. Zan was most captivated by her grey-blue eyes. "Did you want something?" she asked, annoyed.
"I want to challenge Master Bartrin, can you tell me where I can find him?" Zan asked eagerly, slamming his fists together. Lady Moore scoffed as she took another puff from the cigarette.
"It doesn't matter where he is. He won't fight you" she replied, waving them off with her cigarette hand. Nala turned to leave but Zan and Boris stayed and stomped their feet in anger.
"What? He has to fight me, he is the master!" Zan argued. Lady Moore smirked. This man was intriguing her with his innocence. It was calming, or maybe it was just the nicotine calming her.
"By the rules he does not have to accept any challenges. Because there are no rules about masters. They don't really matter; there is no reward by beating them besides bragging rights and a test of strength. Besides being issued by the Skeleton Clash League the masters don't really have any ties to the league" the blue haired woman explained with heavy hand motions. Zan and Boris dropped their heads together in disappointment. This knowledge was new to both of them.
"Balls" Zan muttered.
"Why do you want to fight him so badly?" Lady Moore smiled slightly as she flipped her hair. Her smile was not a flirtatious smile though. It was a smile because she knew she about to get a chance to insult this guy or crush his dreams.
"I just spent the last six months training, but that's all it was, training. I want to know how it all paid off, where my power level stands right now. And the best way to do that is to battle someone who is relatively strong." Zan stood tall and proud.
"I'm encouraging him to fight the master so that when he loses I'll be able to make fun of him for it" Boris piped in.
"No matter how much training you do you would still lose to Master Bartrin. Not because of you though, but because of your memory skeleton. You've taken away so much of the defense sections on it. You don't win a match on power and speed alone. You win it on intelligence and you won't have much time to use your intelligence when you fall in a few hits." She took another hit from her cigarette happy to have gotten her insult in.
"So quick to insult when you know nothing about my abilities in combat. I know your type, you do that because you don't have confidence in yourself so you downplay others" retaliated Zan with his own smirk.
"Let's not get into this, I have no desire to fight you, which is what this topic will lead to." Boris leaned close to Zan with his paw by his mouth.
"But didn't she start it?" whispered the pokemon. Zan just shrugged, he wasn't exactly sure what to make of this woman. Before he could reply the sounds of doors opening came from above. There was a balcony on every floor all at the same spot vertically, above the front doors. The opening doors came from the second floor balcony and out came Master Clive Bartrin with only one of his butlers this time. He placed his forearms on the railing and looked down below.
"And here comes the pompous ass master" quietly sassed Lady Moore but Zan could hear her clearly. He had no idea what the master looked like but that comment was all the confrontation he needed.
"Clive Bartrin, I came here to battle you" Zan shouted. Nala walked forward and came to her master's side, smiling with excitement. Pignite had the same expression though his face looked a bit goofier.
"I decline" the older man replied nonchalantly. "Now my dear Lady Moore will you please join me up here?" Lady Moore sneered and took the final drag of her cigarette. She cursed that it was over and flicked the butt away.
"I was told that you would say that. But really, I insist" interrupted Zan and both of his fists lit on fire. Clive rolled his eyes.
"This pesky guy is getting in the way." Master Bartrin raised his right hand into the air and wiggled his fingers. "Son!" he called out. As the words barely left his mouth someone jumped from the roof and slide down the walls. The slide caused no damage to the building and was done very quickly. When this figured was close to the ground he pushed off the wall and towards Zan, his long blonde hair flowing behind him. He punched Zan's stomach with his right hand and continued past the brunette. Zan gasped in pain. "If you can beat my son, then maybe I will fight you. In the meantime, Lady Moore will you please come up here now?"
"No thanks old man, I like the view from down here" the blue haired woman responded. She leaned against the railing more as to get closer to the action. The stun of the surprise attack had worn off of Zan. His eyes opened wide and he turned around to face his attacker.
"Boris, Nala give me room!" he demanded. The two pokemon scurried off the right but didn't take their eyes of the battle. "A surprise attack, that sure is low. But I guess you might need it. The no good son of Clive Bartrin. I've heard plenty about you before my hiatus, and none of it was positive. The blonde haired son already had an angry look which just intensified. He charged forward again but this time his arms lagged behind the rest of his body. "Nitro Charge!" Zan bent his knees, leaned forward and fire ignited on his body. He darted forward to clash with his opponent. The Bartrin boy lead with his shoulder when Zan got close and his whole body gained a metallic shine.
"Heavy Slam!" When the two males met Zan was instantly shoved backwards but managed to stay on his feet as he skid. The blonde had pretty much stopped in place after the collision. "My name is Wes, Wes Bartrin. When the no good son beats you, what does that make you, worse good than the no good?" His deep voice was heavily tinted with annoyance and his eyes were full of peer anger.
"For the love of Arceus Zan beat some grammar into this fool" insisted Nala still as stoic as can be. Wes had darted off again, this time with a short, black blade extending from his right hand fingers. Zan got his footing together and readied a fire punch in his right hand. He was on the ready and attacked first but Wes easily ducked under the punch and slashed Zan across the chest. Neither his body nor clothes were cut though. That was the power of the memory skeletons, it allowed the user to feel pain without any major injuries. Before the brunette could respond Wes slashed at him again and then a third time.
"What's the matter, fire and psychic moves aren't enough to get you out of this situation" the attacked teased as he took a quick jump back and prepared a powerful slash. Zan gathered his focus and clapped his hands sending a gust of wind that pushed Wes back a few feet.
"You can think Augment the Starly for that move" Zan retorted with a cocky smirk. Even though he was already badly beat up. He held his tongue about any psychic moves because he actually didn't know any of Espeon's moves yet but didn't want to reveal that to his opponent. Psychic moves required a lot of mind power which wasn't exactly Zan's strong suit. Nala did evolve only two months ago. [i]"Alright if his primary types are steel and dark that means his ranged game should be pretty weak, that is where I'll get him."[/i] Now that Zan had a good distance between him and Wes he took in a deep breath. "Flamethrower!" he yelled as he exhaled a blast of fire. Though the fire didn't actually come from his mouth, it came from the ends of the two metal pieces near his mouth. Wes leaned forward and put his head down as it grew a metallic covering. The man charged forward straight into the flames recklessly. He did take damage from them but was able to push through them. Zan kept still and put more power into the attack hoping he could halt Wes' progress. But his efforts were useless as Wes approached Zan and rammed into his face with a strong Iron Head. Zan grabbed his nose which was now bleeding, as he stumbled backwards. The more damage a memory skeleton took without having a proper time to recharge, the lower its protection abilities were. Zan was completely exhausted now while Wes was just breaking a sweat.
"And that is game" bragged Wes who was now enjoying himself.
"I can still fight" Zan replied between heavy breaths.
"Dude your nose is bleeding which means your defenses are down. If we keep going you're going to risk injury. Which is fine for me. But even if we do keep going you don't have any chance of winning now. You can probably only last three more hits at max and you've barely touched me. So you would have to actually land a good shot on me first, and then get a few more in. Here I'll even let you have a free shot right now to show you how futile continuing this fight is. Wes placed his hands behind his back and widened his stance. Clive Bartrin was uninterested in the fight and he was staring at Lady Moore the whole time. Lady Moore was still focused on the fight and more intrigued than ever. She was curious to see how someone who seemed honorable and fair would react to a free attack. Boris was nervously biting his fingers while Nala just remained stoic. Zan was determined as ever as he trudged forward slowly. His right fist was full of fire.
"If you insist, then it's not dirty." He halted in front of Wes and looked the man right into his forest green eyes. Wes stared back, both glances were cold. Zan's left foot slide forward and his right fist cocked back. He exhaled and his right foot came forward which triggered his fist to shoot like a rocket. Zan was too exhausted to shout out the name of the attack. The flaming fist collided straight into Wes's face and sent the blonde man sailing backwards. Wes landed a few feet back, on his side completely unconscious. Lady Moore gasped and Zan's pokemon looked smugly proud. Clive noticed his son was out for the count so suddenly and his eyebrows peaked in slight interest. The exhausted Zan turned towards the mansion and with a shaky hand pointed up at Master Clive Bartrin. "Alright, it's your turn now."