Someone up there really hates me thought Jack as Lelana stood there, staring daggers at him. Small fires smouldered in her two sky blue eyes whenever her gaze rested on Jack. The boy could feel the force of her anger almost physically as she barely managed to restrain herself from hitting him. As oblivious as usual Indigo smiled at the two trainers benignly.
'I think you will get along well. Lelana, could you please give Jack a tour and introduce him to some of the other trainers?' Lelana gave a short, sharp nod and Indigo left the room, whistling happily at the awkward situation he had plunged the two trainers into. He allowed himself a wicked smile once he had exited the door.
As soon as the man exited Lelana dealt Jack a tremendously powerful slap. Jack rocked backwards from the force, reflexively moving his hand to feel gingerly at his cheek. 'Ah... shit!' he exclaimed angrily, 'what was that for?' Lelana repeated his sentence in a high, mocking voice before venting her anger once more. 'What was that for? WHAT WAS THAT FOR?' She screamed, clenching her fists so hard that her nails drew blood. 'What do you think that was for?'
Her eyes blazed and Jack took a small step backwards. 'That was for leaving me to die.' When she finally said it her voice was flat, deadpan. Jack baulked at the phrase before vigorously defending himself. 'Bollocks. You're blaming me for this?' He masked his self-loathing with anger directed outwards.
'I did everything I could to help you. All my Pokémon were out cold and the entrance was blocked by tonnes of rocks. What could I do?! I'm not superhuman. It was your fault for being too slow!' Another ringing slap greeted the last accusation. 'My fault?' Lelana's voice rose in both pitch and volume. 'How dare you!' Her voice cracked as she struggled to force out the words, such was her anger now.
She brought up her fists and launched a clumsy punch towards Jack's face. The boy easily side-stepped, but did not retaliate. Lelana span around again, panting hard, preparing to launch another attack. Jack caught her fist in front of his face and held it there. However much the girl strained she could not move forwards or backwards. After an age Jack let the fist go and Lelana dismissively turned her back.
He did not see an idea light up in her eyes on the savage smile that suddenly appeared on her face.
'I will not fight you,' she said quietly, suddenly and surprisingly calm. 'You're not worth my time. I will defeat you easily.' Jack raised his eyebrows at the blatant baiting but said nothing. 'I know someone who I can beat quite easily, but who will completely destroy you.' Jack's eyebrows almost disappeared above his hairline. 'Really?' he muttered, doubt heavy in his voice, 'I would like to meet this trainer then.'
Lelana suppressed a giggle as she led Jack out of his cabin. She navigated her way through the Village easily and led Jack towards the outskirts where a man was working out. 'Brandon,' Lelana called, 'I have a challenger for you.' Brandon squeezed out one last rep before letting the weights drop and walking towards the two trainers. His body was tough and sinewy and he wore a dark green overcoat.
'A challenger,' he repeated slowly, rolling the words around in his mouth as if they were unfamiliar, 'I haven't had one of those in a long time.' The man magically produced three Pokéballs from his back, one shiny gray and made of steel, one a clear blue that could have been glass or ice and one a rugged brown that looked like it had been hewn from stone.
Brandon walked a small distance from the gym before turning to face Jack. 'Are you ready to lose?' he asked confidently, 'because I'm certainly not.'
As a reply Jack released Harry. Brandon winced, 'wrong choice for you,' he said sadly, shaking his head, 'a very bad choice.' Jack gritted his teeth, 'we'll see.' His Pokémon was completely new to Jack. In fact he had never seen anything remotely like it.
It was very vaguely humanoid with an almost transparent body made out of some type of crystal. Its body was roughly rectangular, though it tapered off into a point near the top, its arms were thick blocks the same crystal – similar in shape to its body, though smaller – and were crowned by three fingers, its legs were simply sharp edged cones and circular gems set into its skin in a cross formation seemed to be its eyes. It moved in a skating motion along a sheet of ice that formed beneath its feet.
Even though it was several metres away Jack could feel the coldness emanating off it. It seemed to be surrounded by a freezing wind that wreathed its body in a swirling cloak. Use psychic thought Jack and Harry immediately complied. His eyes burnt purple as he swiped his hand through the air.
The creature rocked backwards, barely even scratched. Harry attacked again, aiming to crush it this time, and nothing seemed to happen. The creature shivered before brushing off the attack and rising to its full six feet. 'Regice,' ordered Brandon suddenly, 'icy wind.'
Regice answered with a cryptic series of beeps before assaulting Harry with a freezing wind. The grass crackled, froze and shattered as the wind swirled towards Harry leaving a swathe of crystallised grass behind it. Harry quickly created a barrier which was covered by a small coating of ice. 'Regice smashed the barrier,' called Brandon and his Pokémon obliged.
It thrust a powerful fist into the barrier, easily shattering it. Harry use barrier again then use confuse ray ordered Jack, trying to stay calm and positive. Regice was once again impeded by a psychic barrier as Harry cart-wheeled away. He released a faint, purplish ray that latched on to the Regice before disappearing and attacked again at Jack's command.
The attack wasn't any more successful that its predecessors, but it didn't matter because the Regice was threatening to hurt itself. It began lurching around drunkenly, covering the ground in a thin sheet of ice. Out of the corner of its eye it thought it saw Harry creeping towards it and it launched a powerful punch in the direction it perceived its opponent to be. Its punch was wild and it caught itself a glancing blow to the temple.
The creature staggered even more and collapsed to the ground. Though it wasn't hurt it was very confused and unable to form coherent thought. As quickly as it had descended, the fog of confusion lifted and the Regice immediately rose. Block all the attacks with a barrier and bombard it with weaker attacks bid Jack silently as Brandon also instructed his Pokémon. 'Regice use ice beam.' Harry could barely form a barrier before the beam of ice hit his shield.
The shield was immediately frozen by the touch of the beam and shattered quickly afterwards by its force. As the Regice skated closer Harry attacked it again and again, but Pokémon was too tough. 'Now Regice, use superpower!' order Brandon excitedly. The amount of energy released was incredible. So was the speed it was released.
Harry did not even have time to raise a barrier before the wave engulfed him and his bones were shattered. He was a frail Pokémon and an attack with any force could easily knock him out. The attack faded, leaving a large circle of scorched ground and a very battered, almost mashed Pokémon in its wake. Jack bit his tongue angrily as he recalled his fallen Pokémon, sending hurt looks to the giggling Lelana.
She had never beaten this trainer. He was too powerful. Jack felt a bitter taste in his mouth as he realised he had been tricked.
He released Asrael petulantly, knowing that this Pokémon was too powerful for the dragon to defeat, especially with its weakness. Brandon lectured him again. 'Another bad decision. You know that this Pokémon has even less of a chance of winning than your last.' Jack clenched his jaw and ignored the older trainer; instead he barked an order to his Pokémon.
'Asrael use dragon rush.' The smooth orbs set into the dragon's skin began to glow as he built up power to attack. Slowly his skin began to light up, as if a powerful light within was struggling to escape. It was inevitable that Brandon would ruin things again. He looked Jack straight in the eye as he passed the order. 'Regice use blizzard.' Jack's eyes widened as he urged his Pokémon to hurry up.
Very quickly Asrael was filled with as much power as he could control and he shot towards Regice. Regice raised its arms to the heavens as the dragon raced towards it. The drop in temperature was noticeable to Jack, and he was standing a lot further away than Asrael. An incredibly powerful wind buffeted the dragon to the floor. Suddenly snow began to fall heavily from the sky and it was whipped up into a vicious snowstorm by the wildly twisting winds.
The winds, carrying small particles of ice with them, scoured Asrael like sandpaper, slowly and painfully ripping the scales off his body. Soon his body was covered in red rashes and slowly leaking blood from angry looking wounds. Then Regice increased the power of the attack and the temperature dropped to unimaginably cold temperatures. Asrael was immediately frozen solid, his blood slowly turning to ice as the temperature plummeted more and more.
After what seemed like a very, very long time the blizzard abated leaving Asrael but a frozen, tortured ice sculpture on the floor. One more defeat. Jack released his last Pokémon, Dante, knowing that this one would at least have a small chance of rescuing his honour. Immediately Regice attacked having been given orders by Brandon in the small pause between Pokémon.
Its ice wreathed fist smashed into Dante, driving his legs deep into the ground and nearly knocking him out immediately. Dante struggled to rip his feet from the ground before finally managing it, heaving great clods of dirt with him. He looked unsteady for a second before he attacked with flame. Almost contemptuously Regice met the flame with ice and for a second the two attacks mingled. Then the flame withered under the assault from the ice and Dante was struck on his shoulder.
He roared with pain as he fought to keep conscious and suddenly his whole body glowed red. It was an inner light rather than an emanation like evolution and there was no change in Dante's body. However Dante did seem to regain strength and energy and he looked raring to fight when the glowing abated. He attacked with flame for the second time and all hell broke loose.
The inferno that he released was far stronger than anything Jack had ever seen. Though he was metres away he could feel the heat blistering his voice. He was actually forced to step backwards and shield his face from the onslaught, such was the overwhelming heat. Regice threw all its energy into matching the attack with an ice beam that dwarfed its last effort.
But it wasn't match for the inferno Dante had unleashed and steam exploded into the air as the ice sublimated into gas, bypassing the liquid stage altogether. When the fire reached Regice it raged around the creature. Jack could see it begin to melt and, though it was hurt, it was by no means defeated.
Dante's body erupted into flame as it smashed into Regice with a flaming tackle. Regice rolled with the attack and launched an icy punch at Dante's behind. Dante almost tripped because of the punch but he managed to precariously keep his balance and skid around the icy floor for another attack. He looked down at the troublesome ice and increased his body temperature.
Immediately the ice melted and lukewarm meltwater pooled around his feet instead of hindering ice. A pillar of flame erupted from his mouth from the third time and somehow he surpassed his previous efforts. This attack caused both Brandon and Jack to fall to the floor, pressing their faces against the icy ground to sooth the sudden, burning heat that afflicted them.
Regice, caught in the centre of the inferno, was not able to sooth itself. Slowly its body began to melt in the unrelenting heat, though it was not fast enough for Dante. As Regice was blinded by the fire he hit the creature with a devastating punch. It was that, not the heat, which finished it. Weakened and dazed, it had no time even to brace itself and unconsciousness overtook it immediately.
Brandon recalls his Pokémon regretfully, but for some reason he was not shocked by the outcome. 'I knew from the moment you released that Pokémon this would be difficult,' he said at length, 'I just didn't know that your Pokémon would come into its powers during our battle.' At Jack's very confused look he elaborated.
save their life, others to save the life of a trainer, and become much more powerful than ordinary Pokémon. They still can be beaten, but even the most powerful, well trained Pokémon have extreme difficulty leaving a mark. Winning is even harder. That's what happened to your Pokémon, a....Heatran, is it?' Jack nodded silently as he examined what he had been told. It made sense....sort of.
'Let's see if your Heatran can stand up to Registeel!' shouted Brandon, his eyes alight with the thrill of battle. The will to fight had not left man since they started settling their disputes with Pokémon, rather they learnt to channel their lust for battle through their Pokémon and delight in it as if they were the ones dealing the blows.
Registeel was even larger than Regice and looked like a headless human, though an oddly proportioned one with its thin, three fingered hands, thick, stubby legs and the circular, silver nubs that served as its shoulders. The two legendary Pokémon circled each other for a full minute in a strange, pre-match ritual. Then, with an unspoken signal, both of the Pokémon attacked.
They crashed into each other hard and Dante's superior weight again was a telling factor as he knocked Registeel to the ground. With flaming claws Dante aimed to rip his way through the Golem, however he found its metallic skin impervious to the attacks. From the way it shook with the blows Jack could see that the Pokémon felt the force of the attacks and was bruised, however its skin wasn't broken through its sheer toughness.
Registeel threw Dante heavily to the ground and launched wide, swinging punches onto Dante's torso. The lava dome Pokémon took the attacks easily and replied with a blistering pillar of flame as suggested by Jack. Registeel staggered backwards under the onslaught of flame but managed to sidestep out and launch an attack of its own. 'Registeel use lock on,' ordered Brandon as the red gems that served as its eyes fixed themselves upon Dante.
'You know what to do now,' said Brandon enigmatically. Registeel nodded to itself before raising its hand and shooting a barrage of electrical bundles towards Dante. Dante dodged out of the way, but the attacks followed him and smashed into his body. As the electricity shocked through his body Dante's muscles were wracked by spasms as paralysis over took him.
'Now use iron head,' shouted Brandon excitedly. Regirock smashed its metal coated skull straight into Dante's stomach, shoving him onto his back. Whilst Dante lay there on his back like a beached whale, unable to fight back, Registeel unleashed a huge explosion of power that Jack recognised as the "superpower" technique.
Dante was battered by the attack but it managed to jolt him out of his paralysis. 'Dante finish this with flame wheel,' commanded Jack loudly. Before he had even finished speaking Dante surged towards Registeel, his body erupting in flame. He hit the creature with a flaming tackle and knocked it to the ground. Crushing the Golem with its weight Dante began to claw wildly at its previously impenetrable skin.
Finally Jack managed to at least leave a mark on the creature's skin as the metal was dented by Dante's sharp claws, though it still seemed impossible to penetrate. Registeel was injured from Dante's assault but it definitely wasn't out of the battle. It managed to smash a violent punch into Dante's face, a punch with so much force that the Pokémon went limp immediately as he almost lost consciousness.
Registeel was able to heave the dead weight of Dante off him before the fire Pokémon managed to shake off the punch and finish the match with a brand new attack. A wave of fire seemed to explode out of Dante's body with so much heat that Registeel's metal coat began to bubble and run.
As the wave of fire surrounded it Registeel was burnt and burnt. It let out a scramble of electronic beeps that somehow managed to convey the torturous pain it was feeling before unconsciousness claimed Brandon's second legendary golem. 'You have fought well,' smiled Brandon, 'but I will have to end this with Regirock.'
Regirock was a rock golem with a body made up of cream and brown angular boulders and huge, long arms that swung near to the ground as it moved. It shoulders were huge boulders jutting sharply and roughly towards its northern end. Dante looked decidedly more beat up than its fresher opponent as it marshalled its energy to try and conquer the third Golem.
Immediately it was clear that Regirock had the upper hand. Its huge arms and shoulders put enormous force behind each punch and very quickly Dante was looking like a battered wreck. He did not have the strength to land any considerable hit on his opponent and his flame attacks seemed to have no effect on the hardy rock that made up its body.
Finally it put the heavily limping Dante out of his misery with a crushing punch that almost cracked the steel plates which protected Dante's skull. Sprawling on the floor Dante finally succumbed to unconsciousness as the will to fight left him. Jack's visage was thundery as he recalled his final Pokémon, surrendering the match to his opponent.
'Well won,' he said sulkily, shaking Brandon's hand for only the briefest of moment before returning them to his pockets. After an uncomfortable silence Jack finally congratulated the victor as he deserved. 'I agree with my Pokémon,' he said suddenly, 'you truly are the most powerful trainer I have ever seen.' Brandon's face was clouded by a frown.
'What do you mean you agree with your Pokémon?' he said sharply, 'you can understand them?' Jack's ignorance was such that he did not realise that there was anything abnormal about talking to Pokémon. 'Of course,' he replied, 'can't everyone?'
Brandon's mouth fell open as shock ran over him in waves. 'No wonder you're so powerful,' he said, almost muttering, 'no wonder.'
His gaze rose up from the ground as he shot an intense look Jack's way. 'Do not tell anyone about this,' he said, his urgency clear. He turned his gaze to Lelana who looked even more shocked than he had. 'You too Lelana. I know you two have past troubles, but it is imperative that this knowledge doesn't leave the three of us. We cannot let it be exploited.'
Both Lelana and Jack nodded their assent, though both of them didn't really understand how it could be manipulated. They were so young and naїve, they couldn't possibly understand the evils which a few twisted people could think up in their sadistic minds. Even Brandon didn't quite realise the consequences of a lazy eavesdrop on that particular conversation. It didn't matter. Very soon they would experience the consequences.
A shadowy presence hovered undetectably above them taking in every word for its master.
Author Notes: The Battle Frontier has not yet been created, that is why Brandon is not a Pyramid King here. Just thought you should know before anyone bugs me over it.