For the next few days Jack trained the hardest he ever had in his life. He was the first one out of the trainer's quarters in the Pokémon centre and the last one back. He worked his Pokémon very hard, almost mercilessly, but they seemed to revel in it. They put all their energy into the training, striving to be better, faster and stronger and when Jack asked for one hundred percent they gave one hundred and ten.
Even Harry, shaken from his near fatal encounter with the irate Pidgeot, began to work hard by the end of the second day's training. He had finally decided to trust Jack and grudgingly respected his trainer. Whilst his Pokémon were training Jack decided to banish his skinny physique and put on some muscle. He knew he wouldn't improve as fast as his Pokémon but that didn't stop him from working hard.
There weren't many trainers staying in Cerulean, and those who did stay were badgeless, perennial newcomers destined to spend their days as the downtrodden weaklings of the Pokémon world. Jack trained with them for the first day but after nearly an hour he had had enough with their pathetic attempts at training their Pokémon.
His hard training sessions had become almost legendary among the trainers there. They marvelled at how hard he pushed himself and his Pokémon, promising that they would do the same before reverting back to their old routine after a couple of hours of exhausting themselves. They did not realise the contempt that Jack felt for them, they just thought that he was focused and therefore cold and distant.
After a week of hard training Jack knew he was ready for a battle with Misty. He arrived at the gym with his game face on and knocked sharply on the door. They were slowly opened and a familiar voice called out, 'I wondered when you would turn up. To be honest I was getting slightly bored of waiting.' She skipped over to the gym leader's platform, a large wooden box that raised her up above her challengers and looked down on Jack.
'Come on, get ready.' Jack walked across the edge of the pool so he was opposite her and released his first Pokémon into the fray. Misty nodded at the Pokémon in front of her, 'just as I expected. I'll have a nice surprise for you.'
Her Staryu faced off against Asrael for only the second time in a week and trilled softly, a strange mixture of beeps and chirrups woven together in an obtuse melody. The round, smooth gem at the centre glowed brightly as it initiated the battle. Its attack was the same as the first time they battled. It sprayed bubbles forcefully towards Asrael who winced when they exploded hard against his body.
They felt less like semi-solid, thin bubbles and more like very hard rocks as they crashed into his body, nearly jolting him out of the air. 'Asrael counter with thundershock and keep using it until the Staryu is beaten,' order Jack, watching in satisfaction as a powerful ball of electricity hit the Staryu right in the centre.
With one attack it was burnt and bloodied and nearly defeated. It plunged into the water to soothe the its wounds and swam around faster and faster as the water energised it. The Staryu was in slightly better condition when it exited the water than when it entered and seemed more than ready for action. Asrael ruthlessly attacked again, another ball of electricity shooting towards the vulnerable water Pokémon, sure to put it out of action.
'Staryu use ice beam,' called Misty. The Staryu stood firm against the powerful attack bearing down on it and its bejewelled centre began to glow very brightly. Its red light became almost a searchlight as it charged up and suddenly the air in front of it began to cool.
Suddenly the air began to freeze and a beam of ice shot incredibly fast towards Asrael. The two attacks hit their respective destinations at the same time, and both had a devastating effect. The electric attack fried the Staryu, like a cooker, for the second time it was burnt to a barely recognisable crisp by Asrael. However this time Asrael did not come off as well. The beam of ice hit him with overwhelming power.
The sheer force of the attack picked up the serpentine Pokémon and carried him through the air, smashing him into the wall. The ice also had a second damaging side effect. Slowly ice crept over the dragon Pokémon's body and after thirty seconds Asrael was frozen solid.
The frozen caricature of a Pokémon was twisted in a silent agonised scream but there was still a slight twitch as Asrael struggled to free himself. His efforts would be his undoing. He managed to shatter the ice, but only around the lower half of its tail, which shattered with the ice. The rest of its body crashed down on the floor and the two pieces lay there side by side.
The battle had ended with a joint KO, and Jack's plan for receiving his second badge was falling apart. Again. The two trainers recalled their Pokémon and released two more to continue the battle.
Harry faced off the Starmie with a familiar expression of disdain mixed with confidence. Slowly he raised a large hand and beckoned confidently at the violet star Pokémon in front of him. 'Starmie give it what it wants. Attack using rapid spin.' The spinner on the back began rotating, in all intents and purposes a spinning razor blade. The Starmie span towards the statue-like Harry, cutting through the air like an organic scythe.
'Harry, dodge it and attack with psychic,' called Jack, remembering the tactic that Harry had used to take out Dante. Suddenly Harry's calm, cold voice sounded in his head You don't need to order me. I can read your mind and take the orders from there. Jack nodded to himself and smiled gleefully as he realised the battle options that had just been opened up to him. He brought his carefully laid out strategy to the front of his mind and relaxed, knowing that finally he had the advantage.
Harry jumped high in the air, somersaulting over the razor sharp blades of the Starmie and for a second the barrier Pokémon hung in the air, as if suspended on strings. A powerful psychic beam exploded out of his magic hands, the shimmering energy refracting light into a multitude of vivid colours. The beam only struck the Starmie a glancing blow, but it was enough to force the Pokémon into the water.
Great fountains of spray exploded into the air at the impact point, quickly followed by yet more spray as Harry pumped two more balls of psychic energy into the water where the Starmie entered. Harry was still suspended in the air, the psychic halo around his head a testament to his considerable psychic powers, and from his vantage point his large purple irises diligently following his opponent through the water.
As the Starmie erupted out of the water, shedding the sapphire blue liquid like a second skin, Harry attacked with another psybeam. The glittering cylinder of energy hit the Starmie head on and again sent in sprawling into the water. This time the Starmie used the resulting fine mist of spray to its advantage, immediately firing rotating pulses of water at its troublesome opponent. The attack took Harry by surprise.
Not having enough time to raise a barrier to defend himself he was knocked off his invisible perch and sent crashing towards the water. Concentrating hard Harry created a solid barrier below his feet, breaking his fall and levitating him just above the surface of the water.
From this perch Harry began to fire off attack after attack into the water, trying angrily to hit the Starmie and unwittingly providing it with more cover as the attacks vaporized the water on contact. The water vapour covered the gym in a grey fog that was impenetrable to the naked eye and from within the cover of the water vapours the Starmie besieged Harry with a hailstorm of attacks.
Harry hastily erected a veritable fort of barriers, completely surrounding his body with a force field of shimmering psychic energy. The first wave of attacks was repulsed, but soon after that a couple of Harry's barriers began to falter before failing or shattering completely. The attacks somehow found the weak spot now created in Harry's armour and a powerful water gun attack smashed into Harry's chest with all the force of a mallet.
He was badly winded, and the loud crack suggested at least one broken rib. Tottering Harry struggled to keep his footing, but in the end his struggle was in vain as the pressurised water tossed him into the water. For nearly a minute Harry struggled under water, but finally he spluttered his way to the surface and bobbed uncertainly in the water.
The trainers still couldn't see a thing - they knew nothing about the last hotly contested encounter and were peering in vain through the thick mist. In his mind Jack hastily instructed Harry to clear the mist so he could assess the battlefield, and Harry complied by unleashed a thin wave of psychic energy from his body. The psychic energy banished the water vapour from the gym, clearing the battlefield so both trainers could see their Pokémon.
Harry hauled himself onto one of the small concrete islands with difficulty, wincing in pain as his injured ribs were strained, and straightened up to face the Starmie which was hovering in the air in front of its trainer.
At least one of Harry's attacks must have connected with the Starmie as a large crack lanced through the ruby at its centre and a number of huge yellow bruises were highlighted on its otherwise violet skin. With his broken ribs Harry wasn't in much better shape, but he did seem more fighting fit than his opponent. At an unspoken command from Jack Harry tried to bring the match to a dramatic conclusion.
He closed his eyes for a split second. When he opened them they shone completely purple as he prepared for his most powerful psychic attack yet. The halo appeared around his head, but this time it was much brighter as the level of psychic energy spiked off the chart. Harry held up his hand and pushed the air.
The Starmie was swatted into the water as if it was but a fly and the wall behind it cracked as the leftover energy, this time invisible, dissipated on the nearest solid object. Harry punched towards the water and the water seemed to warp as if a huge object had entered it at incredibly high speed. For a second all was silent, it was as if the universe held its breath. Then the whole pool erupted in a titanic explosion of spray.
The spray was thrown up with so much power that it smashed straight through the roof and carried on travelling for a number of meters before it rained back down on the gym and the surrounding area. The attack was so great that the entire pool had been emptied in it and the Starmie lay stunned on the concrete bottom – which had a huge crack, nearly a foot wide, running down the centre – its centre glowing faintly.
Harry smiled in triumph as he smashed his hands together to finish the battle. The Starmie had other plans. It was already moving and missed the death blow by millimetres. Behind it the concrete was melted by the whirlwind of psychic energy battering it and rose up out of the ground in a steep wave before being squashed with so much force that it was instantly solidified again. The damage that the attack would have done to an organic body was almost criminal.
The Starmie ignored its injuries, ignored the devastating power of the attack behind it and concentrated on taking out the incredibly dangerous Pokémon in front of it. It crashed into Harry and sent both of them sprawling, further weakening itself with the attack but weakening Harry more.
Jack bit down hard on his knuckles as he surveyed the situation, in one instant turned from in his favour to against him. Harry may not have shown it, but the psychic attacks had taken so much energy that he was nearly unconscious from sheer effort. His injuries may not have been much a physically strong Pokémon, but he was not a physically strong specimen and he was very susceptible to physical attacks.
With much effort and pain on his part Harry shoved the Starmie off him and watched in satisfaction as it dropped off the island and fell five metres towards the hard concrete floor. At the last minute it managed to catch itself and its jewelled centre flashed brightly as it managed to levitate itself.
The two injured Pokémon prepared their battered bodies for the deciding point of the battle, mentally psyching themselves up so that they could endure the pain that would inevitably be inflicted upon them. Throughout the whole battle Misty had barely said a word to her Pokémon but now she suddenly became vocal. 'Come on Starmie. You can win this, you don't want to be beaten by a clown. Finish this with water pulse.'
Jack said nothing, his orders already relayed soundlessly to Harry through their telepathic link, but watched as Misty finished the battle somewhat predictably.
The Starmie marshalled its remaining energy and slowly a rotating circle of water condensed in front of it. It sent pulse after pulse towards Harry, expending all of its energy so it could only flop exhausted onto the floor after it finished its attack. As the first pulse was nearly upon him Harry quickly erected a sparkling barrier to protect himself.
The water pulses hit the barrier, and for a second it seemed that they would overwhelm Harry's defences, but the barrier won out and the water suddenly dissipated. It slowly dripped own the barrier as it lost the velocity that kept it held together, leaving long, discoloured streaks in its wake. Harry knew he had won, but he barely had enough energy left to finish off the defenceless creature in front of him.
Harry knew that he respected the Pokémon that he had just battled, it was powerful, tenacious and had pushed him all the way. In no way was it weak, and in no way did Harry feel inclined to punish it for losing. Because of this, for the first time in his life, Harry was merciful. His attack was very weak, and barely knocked the Starmie out cold before losing all of its energy.
Harry turned round, his limbs feeling incredibly heavy and felt warmed by the approval in his trainer's eyes. The loss of energy became too much and he too collapsed into unconsciousness, but not before he had heard his trainer's approving words in his head.
Jack recalled Harry and walked round the now empty pool in the now roofless gym to shake hands with a shocked looking Misty. Smiling ruefully Jack began to apologise, 'sorry for all this damage,' he said, his voice full of wry amusement, 'it seemed our battle got slightly out of hand.' Misty shook his hand warmly and patted him on the shoulder, 'don't worry. The Pokémon League will pay for it. It's their problem now.'
She stopped and began to walk away. She picked up something shiny from her podium and held it up in the air with a smile on her face, 'I think you deserve this.' She handed him a light blue gem, shaped like a raindrop. 'This Cascade Badge will show that you have beaten me, and other trainers will recognise your skill if you show them this.'
Suddenly she laughed lightly, the sound akin to a tinkling of a crystal bell, 'that is the first time I've been beaten by a trainer in three years.' She sighed regretfully, 'my sister, who championed this gym before me, went unbeaten for five years and I had my eye on her record.'
They departed on good terms, with Jack shouting a final message over his shoulder. 'Another time I think.' Misty nodded. 'That time I will beat you!' She could imagine his quietly disbelieving face in her mind and walked back to her ruined gym suppressing quiet laughter. Someone else was also watching that battle. He was very encouraged by what he had seen. Giovanni rubbed his hands together as his devious mind began to run wild. Oh what schemes....
Another man had also watched that match with interest. His trusty Pokémon, all powerful and as hard as nails, nodded in agreement with his assessment off the talented young man. His mind was also full of schemes, but they were less devious than those of Giovanni's. His schemes had the theme of justice featuring very prominently in them, and the young man he had just watched seemed like a perfect bait for bringing a certain, scarily powerful criminal to justice. The man ran his hands through his long silver hair, jangling his steel armlets. He wondered how much would rest on that young man's narrow shoulders.