Jack woke up in a cell. Cold, dirty water dropped from a jagged crack in the stone ceiling onto his nose and the dank, furry bodies of rats scurried across the four metre by four metre cell, their large claws clacking loudly on the roughly hewn floor. As Jack sat up a sharp, stabbing pain dug into his temple causing him to fall back to the floor, clutching his head and groaning in pain.
'So the captive is up eh?' that sadistic voice was very familiar but its speaker evaded Jack's memory, 'that's very good. I can have some fun with you now!' A man in leather clothing emerged from the shadowy doorway and Jack recognised the Rocket grunt he had humiliated not once, but twice in the last fortnight.
It seemed that the man remembered this and the look on his face was....well angry wouldn't really cut it, a whole new word would have to be created to portray the depths of his hatred towards Jack.
Jack never saw the kick coming, the leather-booted foot crashed into his side with a dull thump and he screamed in pain as he felt a rib crack. Jack hastily curled up into the ball, letting out loud yelps of pain when the boot began to crash hard into his back. Just when Jack thought the beating would never end, it did and the man heaved him to his feet.
To Jack's surprise he could still stand, though his body screamed in agony. The Rocket frogmarched him out of his cell and along an endless rat-infested underground corridor with dank mossy walls. After nearly five minutes of increasingly painful walking they came to a door-cum-mettle cage. Slowly it began to open and the man thrust four Pokéballs into Jack's hands. '
Did I forget to tell you?' he said lightly, his voice full of terrible glee, 'as you're a trainer you're being entered in one of Team Rocket's illegal underground tournaments.' The door was still opening so the Rocket began to speak quicker, 'you'll be separated from the fight by a thick metal cage. You will release one of your Pokémon onto the field and it will fight the other trainer's Pokémon. When one of your Pokémon is down you release your next one.'
As he shoved Jack through the doorway he called one more piece of information, 'oh, and one more thing. Each fight is to the death.' He turned and walked away, smiling sadistically, muttering under his breath, 'oh I hope that cage is dodgy. I really, really do.'
Jack emerged from the dark corridor to bright, white spotlights and a cacophony of voices. He reeled for a second, his sensed overwhelmed, before a powerful shove sent him stumbling into the semi-circle shaped cage that separated him from the rest of the battlefield.
Another similar cage faced him at the other end. Another trainer walked into the ring, he did not seem affected by the loud discord of voices or the almost physical presence of the bright white spotlights. He looked up from the basin of the battlefield into the large stands built above and held out a hand and saluted. The ground began to cheer, and the trainer turned to Jack and pulled a hand across his throat. The crowd cheered even more.
A loud voice boomed along the tannoy system, 'Contestants release your first Pokémon.' Jack thought for a second before releasing Kabi into the ring. Quickly he explained the situation in her ear, speaking very quietly so no-one would hear what he was saying. Kabi nodded and began beating her chest with large hands, roaring viciously.
For a second the crowd was silent before the place erupted as the roving bet-takers were swamped by members of the audience wanting to make some quick money. Jack's opponent wasn't intimidated at all, in fact he seemed extremely happy by the turn of events. He bared his shockingly white teeth in a menacing smile and suddenly his eyes flashed with purple energy.
A vividly violet Pokéball surrounded by an aura of flickering purple energy floated through the cage, suspended in the air by some invisible force, and released a five foot tall, humanoid Pokémon with two bent, twisted spoons held in either hand. The boy began to talk in a voice that seemed to be composed of a multitude of other voices, 'no-one has ever beaten my Alakazam,' he hissed, his voice – or voices – low and sibilant.
The bent and battered metal spoons gripped tightly in its three fingered hands began to glow with a purple air. A discordant screeching sound began to permeate the stadium, first quietly then getting louder and louder. When the screeching reached a crescendo Kabi was picked off the ground and hurled against the back wall, cracking the stone and creating tremors which shook the stands directly above the impact.
Kabi picked herself up, already incredibly angry, and a thick tongue of flame exploded out of her mouth, catching everybody in the stadium by surprise. The Alakazam was covered in angry red flames and knocked unceremoniously to the ground. Dante's been teaching me some new tricks whispered Kabi, her grin positively maniacal, and Asrael has taught me this. Her body began to crackle with electricity as she unleashed a powerful thunderbolt towards the Alakazam.
This time it was prepared and the thunderbolt suddenly stopped in mid air. The electricity began to twist as the Alakazam reformed it, turning it into a giant fist. With a flick of its powerful mind it smashed the electric fist into Kabi's huge belly. She was barely even affected by the attack, the only damage she took was a large but superficial burn mark in the centre of her chest where the electricity hit her.
This attack only succeeded turning an angry Snorlax berserk. Jack could see the signs. Kabi's small eyes suddenly rushed with blood, her face contorted into an angry snarl and all her muscles tensed. She moved surprisingly fast for a big creature, rushing towards the Alakazam with murder on her agenda. She leapt in the air, readying herself from a destructive body slam, and was held there.
The Alakazam's hand, held desperately out in front to ward of the crushing blow, was quivering. In fact its whole body was quivering as it struggled to levitate the one thousand pound creature it held so precariously above its head. Kabi's whole body was immobilised, but Jack could see her become more and more angry. Suddenly the two spoons that the Alakazam used to focus its power snapped.
There was a loud screeching sound as raw, unfocused psychic energy exploded round the ring. The explosion was of such a magnitude that Kabi was tossed backwards through the air as if she was a feather, for the second time smashing into the back wall and spilling the drinks and popcorn of the avid spectators above.
Now she had gone completely feral Kabi seemed unaffected by all pain. She charged towards the Alakazam like an angry bull, being driven even more berserk as the psychic Pokémon danced round her clumsy attacks. Now its spoons were shattered it could not focus its considerable psychic power, so if it unleashed a psychic attack it would have no control over it.
The Alakazam was intelligent enough to know that unleashing raw unfocused psychic power would be deadly to anything in its vicinity – and it was a lot less durable than a berserk Snorlax. With its psychic powers useless the Alakazam was severely strapped for options, but with its IQ of over five thousand it certainly had the best chance of creating a new plan of attack.
Suddenly it stopped dodging Kabi, ducking under a slow but powerful punch and rolling through her legs. With her back facing it the Alakazam unleashed a flurry of punches, fiery, icy and thundery, with as much power as its weedy body allowed. Kabi was already off balance because of the momentum of her punch, and these attacks pushed her further over the edge.
She fell to the ground with a resounding crack, nearly knocking herself out cold on the ground. She lay there too dazed to move and Jack had to watch in horror as the Alakazam continued pounding the near unconscious body of its victim. This was not trainer battle, this was more like a fight between gladiators and who ever lost would be killed.
As the Alakazam readied itself for another punch a short leg shot out and connected with its chest. The power behind the kick was considerable, and the Alakazam's body was snapped. It flew through the air, its limbs flailing like those of a doll control by a madman, before colliding with the wall and slumping down onto the ground in a pile of broken bones. It wasn't dead, its breath came in tortured gasps as blood rushed into pierced lungs. 'The Alakazam is down and out. I repeat the Alakazam is down and out.' Words once again boomed out of the loudspeaker.
'Would Contestant Lovata please make the kill.' Jack refused, shaking his head at this. There was silence around the arena as five thousands eyes marked him as a coward. 'Contestant Lovata refuses to make the kill, so bring out the death squad.' The voice that echoed around the arena was gleeful. Jack wondered what he had done.
Suddenly a pack of small, but vicious looking dogs, grey with thick black manes flowing down their backs and large claws rushed into the arena. They looked almost rabid, their eyes red with madness and frothy flecks of foam covering their mouths and they were eager to make the kill.
Jack looked on in horror as the Pokémon leapt on the Alakazam and ripped it to shreds whilst it was still alive. The other trainer, who had been so emotionless before, was looking on with absolute horror. Suddenly he exploded and the bars in front of him bent with invisible force. With a motion of his hands he threw the savage Pokémon of his Alakazam and rushed over to it.
What he didn't realise is that these Pokémon were part dark type and extremely resistant to psychic – whether from a gifted human or a Pokémon. They easily shook of the attacks and Jack had to turn his back as the trainer too was set upon. The blood of both trainer and Pokémon mingled in large pools on the stone floor. 'Contestant Lovata is the winner!' the voice shouted, almost sounding disappointed. 'We hope that his next battle will last slightly longer.'
Jack was escorted back to his cell as roughly as he was taken from it, a guard holding him tightly under each arm, viciously kicking him if he went too slowly. He was bodily thrown into the cell, hitting the ground hard enough to knock the breath out of him and send stabbing pain through his injured ribs. The door was locked accompanied by the sound of rough laughing, 'he won't know what's hit him next match. That cold bastard Paul has never lost.'
After a short time the Rocket who had captured Jack walked in. He was absent-mindedly flicking a wad of money through his hands. 'Next match you are fighting Paul,' the man said shortly, the internal struggle going on in him all too visible.
He paused for a second as his internal argument came to a climax, before hastily pushing on, 'Paul is powerful. He has never even had one Pokémon defeated. He has a grass Pokémon, an ice Pokémon, a bird Pokémon and a ground Pokémon.'
He sat down on the floor next to Jack, trying to force some friendly companionship into his voice and stance, 'the way I see it, Jack, is that we can have a deal here. You win your fights and make me money, and I'll give you a nicer cell, better food etc.' Jack stared at him coldly, 'you make money from this?'
Not hearing the anger in his voice, or choosing to ignore it, the man nodded eagerly, 'yes. If you win I get quite a lot, and also betting on you I get lots of money because you're a newcomer here at the odds are always against you.' Jack clenched his fists in anger, trying not to let his temper get the better of him and ruin the only chance of improving his stay here. 'OK. It's a deal.' Jack shook the large outstretched hand.
'When am I fighting this Paul?' The Rocket's face suddenly became grim. 'Tomorrow morning. You better get some sleep because you're in for one hell of a fight tomorrow. Try and not get your Pokémon killed, OK!' He turned back, as if he had just remembered something. A large hypodermic needle suddenly appeared in his hand, 'sorry about this but you need your sleep and you're injured. This will help that.'
Jack's duel with Paul was in a completely different arena than the grubby hole he had fought in before. This one was also sunk into the ground, but it was three times the size. The floor was covered in a thick layer of creamy white sand with a smattering of small boulders. It was also underground, but it was obviously the main stadium.
The ceiling was smooth and clear and lovingly carved crystal chandeliers lit the solid gold stands and the red velvet seats. The bet takers here were dressed in smart uniform and they were joined by men and women carrying drinks and food, also in uniform. There were even boxes, beautifully crafted from what looked liked diamond, the insides ridiculously plush and opulent.
The trainers were not kept in cages here. After he had been scrubbed clean and dressed in expensive looking clothes he was chucked in to what seemed to be a plastic bubble. The material was very thin and didn't block the sound coming in or out, and it was also completely transparent so Jack had an unhindered panoramic view of the battlefield, and his opponent.
Paul was young, no older than fifteen, with shaggy purple hair and the coldest eyes, black like the depths of Hell, that Jack had ever seen in his life. His eyes bored into Jack, and when Jack looked away a spasm of deep contempt crossed his pale, pale face. He looked towards Jack and whispered, 'I'm going to kill your pathetic, worthless Pokémon one by one.' Jack heard it in his bubble as if projected through a speaker – which it probably was – and for a second his body went cold.
A Rocket member who Jack had never seen before patted him on the back, 'good luck son,' his voice was full of pity, 'whatever you did you and your Pokémon don't deserve this.' He walked out of the room, leaving a small bulb of terror to begin to germinate in Jack's heart. With a deep breath Jack managed to pull himself together and he whispered back to Paul, 'I'm going to beat all your Pokémon, and then we'll see who's worthless. I'm betting it'll be you.'
Jack knew his insult wasn't the best, but he looked in surprise as Paul seemed to explode with anger. 'Don't call me worthless,' his voice was still a whisper but it was full of fury and menace, 'or I will hunt you down and I will rip your head off and feed it to my Gliscor.' Jack felt faintly nauseated by this, but his fear for this psychopath had diminished. 'Whatever,' he said dismissively, listening intently for the order to start. He would put this bastard in his place.
Suddenly the commentator began talking, his voice booming around the underground chamber, 'today we will be having a cracking battle. Paul the destroyer Shinji is up against a newcomer, Jack Lovata. It will be four-on-four, with each trainer having four recall cards, to pull their Pokémon from the battle if they're being severely harmed.'
At this a faint groan rose from the crowd, 'don't worry people. This match will only finish after all of one trainer's Pokémon have been killed. There will be blood tonight.' The crowd started baying like beasts. They might have been rich, but their bloodlust far surpassed that of the "lower classes" who had been spectators of Jack's earlier match.
'Contestant Paul, release your first Pokémon onto battlefield.' The order echoed around the cave, its particular design causing the echoes to distort eerily. With a nasty smile Paul threw a solid gold Pokéball through a recently opened hole in the bubble. The Pokémon was released to the sound of blood-chilling battle cries that emanated from the Pokéball.
Paul's first Pokémon was enormous. It was a quadruped, a barrel shaped armoured body supported by thick, tree-trunk like legs with jagged, stony claws. Its head was conical, ending in a viciously serrated beak, its eyes an intimidating shade of blood red and two huge, bony spikes protruded either side of its massive skull. A grassy shell, seemingly too small for its body, perched precariously on its back with a gnarled bonsai tree, leaves hard, serrated and thorny gripping on tightly with roots embedded into its very spine. Three large mossy protuberances, also made out of rock solid bone, joined the tree on the Pokémon's shell.
A deep roar reverberated around the ring as the Pokémon made its presence known, stamping down hard with both its front legs on the ground so violent tremors wracked the ground. Jack was more than a little impressed by this, though he didn't hesitate in releasing Dante into the ring. Dante was quite a bit smaller than his opponent, but he didn't let that intimidate him.
He stood up on his hind legs and belched flame straight up into the air, lighting the sandy ground with flickering shadows. As bets were taken Jack whispered tactics to Dante. After listening to Jack's suggestion he nodded and prepared himself for what would be a truly titanic battle. 'Let the battle to the death commence,' shouted the man on the tannoy, his voice cracking with excitement.
The two Pokémon clashed together with a loud bang as they began to test each other's strength. Dante was smaller than his opponent but at least as heavy and the two seemed completely equal when it came to physical strength. Suddenly Paul barked out an order from his orb. 'Torterra use crunch!' The Torterra suddenly darted towards Dante's unprotected flank and attempted to bite down with its powerful, razor sharp beak.
Dante saw the move coming and quickly darted to the side, his speed much greater than the Torterra's, and headbutted the Pokémon on its flank. The Torterra groaned as it rocked up onto two feet with the force of the blow, before whirling round and smashing him with a thick, armoured tail.
The blow took Dante surprise, sending him sprawling backwards and nearly knocking him off his feet. Only his thick claws gouging deep into the ground stopped him from being toppled. Roaring Dante attacked with a powerful gout of flame, engulfing the continent Pokémon in an inferno.
The Torterra shook of the flame and stampeded towards Dante. The attack had done some decent damage, the skin on its right side where the attack had connected was raw and peeling and fire smouldered on its shell. It built up speed slowly and Dante, despite his considerable size and weight, easily danced round the lumbering creature, burning it with thin but powerful waves of flame whenever it came near.
After a short time the Torterra began to breathe heavily, tired and damaged by its battle with a heavily advantaged Pokémon. It closed its eyes and suddenly Dante shuddered. Huge green orbs of energy were being leeched out of him to heal the Torterra of its wounds. As Jack watched Dante began to sag slightly and the Torterra's wounds began to close up.
The difference wasn't huge as the attack wasn't particularly effective on Dante, but Dante looked slightly worn and the Torterra's wounds looked closer to healing. Dante shook off the attack and met the Torterra head on with a powerful headbut. The attack was stopped in its tracks by the Torterra's thick skull and like the beginning of the battle both Pokémon strove to overpower the other.
The Torterra was losing energy and it began to get pushed backwards by Dante's unfailing stamina. Dante began to push even harder, his claws digging deep into the sand as he struggled to find purchase so he could knock over the Torterra. Suddenly the Torterra disengaged itself from the tussle and quickly retreated before Dante could follow.
As Dante charged to follow he was met by a huge, muscular shoulder as the Torterra recklessly slammed into Dante. Both Pokémon were injured by the collision, but Dante came off worse. Taken by surprise again he was physically lifted off the floor and tossed onto his back. The Torterra looked slightly dazed by the collision, but at sharp, venomous words by Paul he shook off the daze and stomped on the helpless Dante.
Dante screamed in pain as seven hundred pounds of Pokémon came crashing down on him, driving all the wind out of his body and stretching his ribs to breaking point. Dante felt two give way and crack under the weight, and he thanked his lucky stars that his bones were strong and rugged. If they weren't, his chest would have ripped like tinfoil under the crushing weight.
Dante kicked out with all four limbs and connected powerfully with the Torterra. He heaved the Pokémon off him and struggled to his feet. He could barely move because of the sickening pain in his chest, but the Torterra wasn't in much better condition. It was absolutely exhausted, burnt and now badly bruised by Dante's onslaught and looked at his opponent with hate in his savage red eyes, panting heavily.
Jack shouted his first order of the match, 'Dante use fire blast.' He smiled with almost savage contentment as he saw Paul's eyes widen. The boy swore and punched the bubble hard, swearing comically as his knuckles cracked on the rock solid substance, because he knew that his Pokémon was going to lose. Dante's attack was the most powerful Jack had ever seen coming from him.
It truly was a raging inferno from hell, completely engulfing the helpless Torterra and hiding it from view for nearly thirty seconds. The flame radiating from Dante's mouth slowed form a torrent to a trickle and the blaze cleared. The Torterra was still standing, but barely.
Its whole body was red and peeling from the burns it had suffered, its whole shell was still blazing with voracious flames, the tree on its back was a gnarled, charcoal covered stalk and it was in no condition to fight. 'I play my first recall card,' shouted Paul and his Pokémon disappeared. He didn't hesitating in sending out his second Pokémon, 'and I send out my Weavile.'
A bipedal feline Pokémon with short, black fur tinted with indigo, a bright red crown and collar off thick bristly hair, two red tails and three large deadly looking claws on each paw appeared to face Dante. It moved with blinding speed to attack, slashing deep red cuts along Dante's flank before sprinting out of reach.
The attack happened with such speed that Dante barely had time to react before the attacker was gone again. Dante attacked angrily with flickering orange flames, but the Weavile was too fast. It was gone out of the range of the attack a long time before the flames reached it. Facing Dante's unprotected flank it attacked again. The air around seemed to drop in temperature as it froze the very particles of the air with its mind.
Suddenly a beam of frozen air particles shot from between its outstretched claws towards Dante. Dante twirled round and the attack hit him head on, exploding into thousands of razor sharp shards that covered Dante in hundreds of small scratches. They may have been superficial, but each one sapped his strength that little bit more.
Before Dante could even reply the Weavile attacked faster and faster. Soon it was just a black blur which sprinted around Dante, inflicting tens of deep cuts on his body. It moved too fast for Dante to get a hit in, easily dodging his desperate blows. Dante looked miserably towards Jack, out of ideas and look askance at its more competent trainer. Jack mouthed something at Dante and Dante smiled.
As the Weavile attacked again in a vicious whirlwind of icy claws Dante suddenly blazed with bright, hot flame. The blaze engulfed the Weavile, knocking it off Dante's back to roll around in the sand of agony, letting out a high-pitched keening sound as the blaze fed on his body. As the Weavile rolled around on the ground Dante closed in for the kill. He stamped heavily on the creatures legs, wincing as it screamed piercingly in agony, gesturing wildly at its now shattered legs.
'I play my second recall card,' intoned Paul calmly, his tone belied by the all consuming anger on his face at being defeated. He quickly calmed himself down as he released his third Pokémon, 'my Honchkrow will destroy you,' he whispered. His antics were beginning to get old to Jack so he yawned obviously, looking straight at Paul as he did so and frowning as the boy just sneered coldly at him.
'Honchkrow kill it with hyper beam!' intoned Paul again, his voice almost contemptuous. Jack didn't even see Paul's third Pokémon because a large beam of bright light was steamrollering through towards Dante, the very air sizzling as from its incredible heat. Dante met the attack head on, and was flung across the arena like a feather down the Niagara Falls.
He hit the wall with a sickening thump and lay still on the floor, knocked completely unconscious, his body battered and ripped. 'I play my first recall card,' said Jack as he recalled Dante. His brain was working in overdrive as he chose his next Pokémon, finally settling with Asrael to win.
Paul scoffed as Asrael appeared on the battlefield, his face full of surprised contempt, 'that Pokémon's not even fully evolved,' he laughed incredulously, 'my Honchkrow will destroy it.' Shall I fry this bird Jack asked Asrael, completely ignoring Paul's insults. Jack nodded, 'knock yourself out.'
The Honchkrow was exceedingly small for a fully evolved Pokémon. It was only about two feet high and three foot in length though it was stocky and powerful looking with huge, muscular wings and a barrel chest. It clacked together its long yellow beak menacingly and puffed out its huge chest even further to try and make itself look bigger. Both Paul and the Honchkrow were surprised when a huge net of electricity smashed into it, knocking it out of the air with a loud crash and burning it quite badly.
The Honchkrow painfully picked itself up from its impact with the flaw and ruffled its feathers. It looked in quite a lot of pain from the attack, it held its wing awkwardly and smoke idly spiralled from its singed feathers. Its eyes narrowed as it caught sight of the impetuous Asrael and it began to attack viciously, without relent. It flew very fast for a Pokémon with an injured wing and Asrael wasn't fast enough getting his long body out the way.
The Honchkrow smashed into Asrael's tail with great force and bore him down onto the ground. Though Asrael was over five times as long as the Honchkrow the burly bird Pokémon had him pinned down and was stabbing down with its sharp beak. With each attack Asrael screamed as the beak stabbed deeply through his scales and into his flesh, causing nerve endings to send screaming signals of pain and fire to his brain.
Whilst it was stabbing the Honchkrow was also raking Asrael savagely with its sharp talons, cleaving ribbons of flesh from the dragon Pokémon's body.
Asrael flailed at caught the Honchkrow a glancing blow with his tail, knocking the Pokémon off him and dazing it slightly. Asrael was very angry now as sent a powerful bolt of electricity into the floored Honchkrow. The bird Pokémon shrieked as the electricity coursed through its body and a powerful spasm shot through its muscles causing it to twitch uncontrollably for nearly ten seconds.
Asrael did not relent and knocked the fallen Pokémon with a powerful tail. The Honchkrow screamed as it was hit, but it was muscular and burly so the attack did not break any bones. Suddenly the Honchkrow began to glow with dark energy and a ball began to form in front of it. It wasn't so much made of matter than anti matter. The dark thing that appeared in front of it leeched life out of the surroundings, its very presence seemed to scream wrongness.
As well as being an abomination the attack was also very powerful. It hit Asrael like a sucker punch, he collapsed instantly and flopped to the floor, kicking up a cloud of sand as he did so. The Honchkrow let out a caw of triumph and began preening its feathers whilst chattering happily to itself, the words nonsensical to Jack's ears.
Slowly it made its way to Asrael's body and began to poke it with its beak. Satisfied Asrael wasn't moving the Honchkrow turned its back and began to walk slowly away. Big mistake....
Asrael exploded into action, smashing an iron like tail into the Honchkrow's back and following up with bolt after bolt of deadly electricity. The Honchkrow didn't know what hit it. One moment it was triumphant and the next its body was burnt and broken. It collapsed to the floor, burnt almost unrecognisably with a snapped spine.
Never turn your back on an opponent admonished Asrael, his voice full of amusement they might not actually be down. Asrael twisted to face jack not too bright that one. Jack laughed as Paul angrily claimed his third recall card. 'Hey Paul,' called Jack, 'seems like unevolved Pokémon aren't so weak after all.' The look that Paul shot Jack wasn't angry. Paul had gone beyond anger. It was stone cold loathing. It was a look of death. 'Go Gliscor,' said Paul quietly, 'use guillotine.'
Author notes: Fun chapter this one, especially to write. I couldn't resist adding a Sabrina like character in to it, but he wasn't going to play a big part so I killed him off. Paul on the other hand......let's just say we'll see.
P.S. Please R & R