Author Notes: Sorry if there are any mistakes in this chapter, I have been really pressed for time to publish it by the way and I didn't have any time to read it through. Hope you enjoy it though. As always, please review.
Jack trained hard after his match with Brandon to prepare for a rematch that he was adamant that he would win. After capturing the newly hatched Kitane Jack had not even spared her a thought as he explored the Village. He found as he trained her that non-legendary Pokémon matured very, very quickly and within a month she was fully grown. When she was barely hatched Jack's training of her had been gentle.
He focussed more on building up the bond between them than training Kitane physically and the two became very close. Jack even found that he was beginning to edge closer to her than to Dante, his first companion. It did help that he had hatched her from the egg and that they had built a subconscious relationship before she even hatched – continuing and developing this as they trained seemed so natural and so right.
Jack began to realise that their communication might have been the telepathic bond that Indigo had talked about. Kitane knew what Jack wanted her to do before he even formed the thought in his mind sometimes, and that made them a very dangerous pair.
As she began to mature she began to develop psychic powers. They were not nearly as powerful as Harry, however she used them effectively to help her in battle. Sometimes she would scramble her enemies mind – a little confusion to swing her battle in the favour – or sometimes she would use it to put some extra power behind her blows.
For her it was more like a tool to help her rather than her main method of fighting. That was manipulation of water, something that she excelled at above all else. Ever since she matured to the adolescent stage Jack had her training on the lake with other water specialists. The tricks that she picked up from the other water Pokémon where endlessly useful and effective, though they were nowhere near as powerful as the tricks she learnt naturally, and, most importantly, so easy and natural for her.
As she matured she began to socialise more with Jack's other Pokémon. Harry shared tactic with her, though it was as much to his gain as to hers, and Asrael also began to take a lot of interest. It was the dragon that Kitane really bonded with and by the end of a gruelling training session, just the two of them, she picked up some very unusual attacks which she would use very soon.
She had her first battle against the Gyarados of one of Indigo's other sponsors, a water specialist. Kitane had only ever trained before and Jack decided to plunge her into the deep end so she would experience what a real battle would be like. It may have not been the most considerate technique to use, however there was no denying by Kitane, or anyone else who watched the battle, that the technique was not effective.
The Lapras showed surprising strength as the Gyarados attacked her with vicious fangs and tried to constrict her within its muscle-bound coils. She wrestled with it, holding her own in the battle, and managed to repulse any physical attacks. Jack was also surprised to find that she was an extremely hardy creature.
She took all the blows and cuts with a pinch of salt and could also retreat into a very tough shell if the fight became overwhelming for her – not that she often needed to. Though the Gyarados may have been slightly stronger than her, and much more aggressive, it did not grasp the subtlety and intelligence that she displayed in a battle. Time and time again she out manoeuvred her more experienced foe.
It was one such manoeuvre that won her the battle. Whilst she was locked in a vicious struggle with the serpent, desperately fending it away, an idea came to her. She began to retreat faster and faster under the onslaught before submitting herself to the embrace of the cold, clear water and disappearing from view. The Gyarados did not hesitate to follow her, even though she was more in her element down there than it was.
for her speed quickly became apparent when the Gyarados surfaced, its huge jaws snapping voraciously, very close behind. As its head erupted from the water Kitane showed everyone that she had, in fact, lured it into a trap. Her body sparked erratically as she let loose a huge bolt of electricity towards the Gyarados. It was still exiting the water at this point and had no time to change its trajectory.
The electricity hit it directly in the face and fizzled through hits body and into the water. Kitane was still arcing gracefully through the air at this point and her arrogant wave acknowledged the applause from her trainer and her opponent's trainer, though the latter's applause was reluctant and only ceremonial. Her thirst for battle was well and truly awakened now.
After two months of training Jack decided to challenge Brandon for the second time. The Gold Conference was rapidly approaching and he decided that the battle would be fantastic practice for the battles to come. The man seemed ever so slightly amused that Jack had challenged him again and a condescending, smug grin plastered itself on his face.
'You think you can beat me the second time?' he asked cockily, his eyes dancing with amusement. Jack nodded shortly, 'I'm fairly confident,' he said slowly. Brandon smiled earnestly for the first time. 'Good. Most people aren't. That's what I like about you Jack, you're not short in confidence in yourself. If you want to do this, then let's go right now.'
He released his rock Golem, Regirock, its arms hanging so low that its rocky knuckles scraped the ground. Once again Jack plunged Kitane in at the deep end and released the young Pokémon opposite the legendary. All credit to her, she did not let the huge Golem intimidate her. She faced it off with a slightly suicidal air hanging above her head.
Regirock seemed oddly uneasy against facing Kitane and hung back, ignoring Brandon's calls to attack. It was soon reminded of its trainer's wisdom when Kitane finally attacked with circular pulses of water held in shape by the incredible velocity of their rotation. The blows obviously inflicted much more damage than Regirock expect and the Golem seemed to be oddly unsteady once the attack was over.
'Regirock, use stone edge,' ordered Brandon with confidence that seemed at odds to his creature's pained staggering. Regirock punched its fists through the floor and ripped out a huge rock ending in a wicked looking point. It charged towards Kitane, who seemed like a fish out of water as she struggled to drag herself out of the way with her front flippers.
Quickly realising that she would not be able to avoid the attack, Kitane retreated hastily into her shell so only her flippers were protruding outside the protective armour.
Regirock swung the sharp rock with great force against Kitane's shell, hurling the poor Lapras onto her back so her strongly muscle flippers waved helplessly in the air. Then it began to smash the sizeable chunk of granite repeatedly against the fallen creature, each blow accompanied by quiet mews of agony. Finally the Golem hit Kitane's shell with so much force that she was rolled back onto her front and immediately Jack took the chance to get it an order.
'Hydro pump now, Kitane,' he ordered Jack excitably, and probably a little desperately, as the six foot tall Golem twirling a four foot long granite chunk as if it weighed nothing stalked angrily towards her. The Lapras complied and she let loose a veritable torrent of water from her maw which was opened wider than Jack had ever seen it.
The highly pressurized water drove the Regirock backwards with such force that its left arm was ripped off from its shoulder and thrown far out of the battlefield. Regirock let out a cryptic scramble of pained beeps from the blow, however it did not seem too affected by the blow which would have crippled any other creature.
It plunged its remaining hands into the ground and began to rip out oddly shaped granite rocks from the ground. Then it began to assimilate them into its body. It was a strange sight. Its shoulder seemed to warp like wet clay before remoulding into the shape of the rocks it had recently claimed. Soon its arm had been restored and the creature looked more angry than anything else.
'Kitane, use hydro pump once more,' commanded Jack insistently as Brandon also barked out an order. 'Zap cannon now.' The timing could not have been better from the man in the overcoat. The small bundles of electricity that crackled in the rock Golem's palm were attracted to the water building up in Kitane's maw and they hit with devastating effect.
Jack remembered what concentrated electricity had done to Misty's water Pokémon and prayed that the effect would not be as bad today. Kitane began to convulse as the electricity sent twisting signals to her muscles and she could feel her skin began to dry and crack as the electricity arcing across her body left agonising burns in their wake.
Soon the sheer amount of electricity overwhelmed her and she dropped unconscious. The only satisfaction that Jack could take was that reassembling its arm seemed to really tire Regirock and that it may be vulnerable to a quick sucker punch.
With that very tactic in mind he released Kabi. The Snorlax was impatient and cooped up from not being used to battle in so long so her energy that she took to the battle was astounding for any Pokémon, but for the a Snorlax it was truly monstrous. Even Brandon seemed taken aback by the powerful creature's energy. A Snorlax was physically an immensely strong specimen and had always been held back by its laziness.
Take this away and the Pokémon gains considerable power and becomes an almost unrivalled brawler. Immediately Kabi tackled the Regirock to the ground with a blubber covered shoulder to its rocky torso. The creature went down as if it had been felled by an avalanche and let out groaning beeps as Kabi's full way crushed it into the floor.
Already her fist was crackling with energy and she brought it down with incredible force onto the H-shaped formation of Regirock's gem-like eyes. The creature's body convulsed reflexively once before it sank into unconsciousness. Kabi heaved herself of the fallen Golem and stared at Brandon with bloodshot eyes that betrayed the berserker fury descending upon her.
Brandon pursed his laps as he released Registeel, the metallic Golem. Though it was the largest of the Golems, it was still dwarfed by the mountainous tower of muscle and fat that was Kabi. Jack could tell immediately that this battle would be decided by physical strength, however he truly did not know which of the two Pokémon were stronger. By the worried look on Brandon's face Jack could tell that he didn't know either.
Kabi attacked first with a slow, powerful punch to Registeel's body. The steel Pokémon rolled with the punch and answered the attack by raking its claws down Kabi's face. The Snorlax growled in anger and attacked viciously. She completely ignored all of the commands that Jack shouted towards her and her fighting became more and more scrappy and ill though out. Registeel on the other hand was in constant communication with his trainer. Brandon ordered nearly every attack and began to easily outmanoeuvre Kabi.
'Registeel use ancientpower,' ordered Brandon smugly, giving off the air that he thought the battle was going to end very soon. And he is probably right thought Jack, who had become a spectator due to his commands falling on deaf ears, his demeanour glum.
The outpouring of energy sent Kabi sprawling to the floor and Registeel towered over her and Brandon opened his mouth to give the final order – or what he thought would be the final order. Kabi, however, was having none of it. She slugged Registeel in the face with a powerful fist, following the attack up with a crushing headbut powered by her thickly muscled neck.
As Registeel staggered backwards she completed the reversal of fortunes by deftly hooking its legs out from under it. Something that Jack had suggested to her less than thirty seconds ago. Jack clenched his fists in triumph and mockingly waved dismissively at Brandon. The man was as cool as ever as he engineered another plan.
'Registeel, flash cannon.' Flash cannon thought Jack consideringly I don't know what that is. Maybe it's a stunning move like- His thoughts were cut off as a bright flash of white light flooded his vision. The trainer instinctively brought his hands to his eyes and began rubbing madly to remove the flickering spots of light that twinkled in front of his vision, before finally removing them and blinking madly so he could survey the battlefield.
The attack had obvious taken Kabi by surprise, but more than that, it had left a vicious looking burn directly on her stomach. The Pokémon's position had been reversed for the second time and once again it was Kabi lying on the floor and Registeel towering over her. 'Kabi, use flamethrower,' called Jack desperately, just before Brandon directed Registeel to attack with the dangerous "superpower."
The flickering tunnel of flame licked ravenously at Registeel at the same moment it released its pent up energy. Kabi was pushed backwards along the floor a good couple of metres as her skin began to bruise and ripple at the force. Inside the protective layer of blubber small cracks began to shoot along two rib bones, causing yet more pain to overload Kabi's brain.
Despite the power of the attack she was still in the battle. Gritting her flat teeth together she ignored the nagging multitude of pain threatening to overwhelm her and rose unsteadily to her feet. Registeel was also looking weak. The flame attack had covered the left part of its torso and its left arm and shoulder in a thin layer of soot and Kabi's punches had done their work.
The Snorlax managed to get in one more punch to try and fell Registeel. It was a good one as well. Her whole weight was behind it and it hit the Golem directly in the centre of its torso. Registeel beeped loudly in pain as it staggered backwards from the blow, but it endured and ended it at one command. 'Hyper Beam.'
Even Registeel looked at its trainer questioningly at that order, knowing how tired and weak it would leave him. Brandon was unrepentant, but Jack allowed a small smile to grace his face as he knew he had got to the trainer. He had thought the power would have been over by now and he was shaken by Kabi's durability, so overcompensated by ordering the most powerful attack in Registeel's arsenal.
The thick beam of energy hit Kabi with nearly twice as much power than the "superpower" attack, leaving Kabi no chance to cling to consciousness. The second the beam barrelled into her head she was unconscious, her face erupting bloodily as cuts opened on her face and the small nub of cartilage that served as its nose shattering messily.
Other the vicious execution of his Pokémon Jack was in a mood for vengeance, so when he released Dante he pressed the Pokémon to be aggressive. 'Fire blast first,' he ordered firmly, 'then follow it up with flame wheel.' Registeel could barely stand with the exhaustion pressing down on it, let alone move out of the way of the huge pillar of flame. The flame hit the creature viciously and sparked all around it, nearly knocking it to the ground.
The left side of Registeel's body which had previously been the target of Kabi's flamethrower began to run slowly. As the heat increased it became less viscous, though it still flowed more slowly than the thickest honey. The bleeps that Registeel uttered somehow managed to combine into a wailing scream that didn't abate even when the attack finished.
The creature was barely conscious and badly injured, however Dante carried out his orders and scattered it to the floor with a flaming tackle. Dante picked himself up from the unconscious body of his opponent, shaking his body like a wet dog and striking the flaw with a steel clawed foot triumphantly.
Brandon had managed to regain his composure by the time he reached Regice and the smug smile had once again regained its rightful position in his face. 'Curse,' he said softly, leaving Jack in confusion. 'You'll see,' he said enigmatically, smiling. It was not a smile that Jack liked. Regice was suddenly wreathed in a grey aura unlike anything that Jack had ever seen. It was not an aura of darkness or shadow, but neither was it an aura of light.
It may have been somewhere in between, or it could have been something completely different. The aura gave no sign of abating as Jack and Dante watched Regice interestedly for a whole minute. 'Bad move,' said Brandon happily, 'you should have attacked when you had the chance.' Jack turned to face him. 'Why should have I done that, eh?' he asked. Brandon's smile was even worse than the one before. 'You'll see,' he said. 'OK,' said Jack slowly, 'then we'll just have to see, won't we? Dante use flame wheel.'
Dante's shoulder crunched into Regice's stomach with some force. The Golem didn't even move, in fact it didn't give any sign of even being affected by the attack. Dante retreated like a wounded animal, his shoulder dislocated from the contact with the unyielding creature. Brandon laughed out loud. 'That's the first surprise in store for you.'
Obeying Jack's orders once more, Dante aimed a powerful punch at Regice's body. He screamed in frustration as his fist met an immovable object and the shock juddered harshly up his arm. 'Regice use hammer arm,' said Brandon quietly, his voice threatening to erupt into laughter at any moment. Regice moved extremely slowly and ponderously as it carried out the order, but it still managed to catch Dante a full on blow on his shoulder.
Dante's reaction was ridiculously exaggerated; it was as if he had been hit by a two hundred mile an hour steam train. He was thrown through the air like a twig caught in a current and landed ten metres from where he had started. His bellow of pain echoed through the air as he clutched vainly at his shattered shoulder and arm. 'Surprise number two,' said Brandon smugly.
'Finish this with ice beam,' said Brandon with an edge of finality. Again Regice moved very slowly and ponderously, however Dante was too busy writhing with pain on the floor. Jack was clenching his fists as he realised that he would lose again. 'Fuck you,' he said angrily to Brandon, recalling Dante in an act of surrender.
'Fuck you. I will beat you one day.' His voice was thick with anger and shame. Brandon nodded graciously. 'Don't be hard on yourself. I am the reigning Gold Conference Champion you know.' Jack's eyes boggled at that news. 'Makes you feel a bit better about yourself, eh?' asked Brandon. Jack could only nod dumbly. 'You fought well. You're team is almost the complete team. All you need is an electric Pokémon, then you will have all the bases covered.'
Jack nodded. 'Don't worry about it Jack. You will go far.' Brandon was trying his best not to be condescending, and failing. Jack didn't even try to not be arrogant. 'I know I will go far,' he replied.
With the seed of an electric Pokémon planted in his mind Jack asks Indigo if he can leave to go searching in the place with most electric Pokémon in the whole of Kanto, the abandoned power plant outside Cerulean. To his delight Indigo agreed enthusiastically and introduced Jack to a teenager trainer, not much older than Jack himself.
'Falkner will fly you to the power plant and pick you up when you're finished.' Falkner clapped Jack on the shoulder once Indigo had gone and steered him outside. 'As old Indigo says,' Falkner drawled, 'I'm Falkner, the former Violet City Gym Leader. There was a little unpleasantness and I was forced to resign, but I won't say anything else on the matter.' He carried on chatting inanely in a strong Johto drawl until they reached a large clearing in the trees. Falkner looked around appreciatively before releasing two bird Pokémon. 'We'll be travelling on my two beauties,' Falkner cooed, his voice full of pride.
Falkner jumped onto the back of his huge Fearow, its wingspan frighteningly large, and motioned for Jack to take a seat on his Pidgeot. Both of the birds rose easily into the air despite the weight balancing on their backs and soared gracefully in the warm grasp of the thermals. They travelled just under the clouds for nearly an hour, cutting among the whirling flocks of Pidgey that congregated high in the sky.
The power plant sat out among the majestic beauty of the surrounding mountains like a sore blister, a fallen steel monster squatting hideously among untouched nature. Falkner radiated distaste as he circled his Pokémon in to land, shooting disgusted looks at the hulking monster. Falkner kept his distance, refusing to enter with Jack.
'I'm not entering that death trap buddy,' he drawled whilst stealing nervous glances at the building, 'all that electricity isn't good for my health.' Jack nodded, understanding about a bird trainer's veritable hatred of the damning electricity. 'I won't hold it against you,' he called as he walked through the entrance.
Jack released Dante and Asrael as he entered, choosing them for their resistance to electricity. He walked through the relatively untouched outer corridors, searching for an especially powerful electric Pokémon amongst the sterilised metal corridors. Electric Pokémon were not cowards, Jack found that almost immediately.
He lost count of the number of times he got attacked within fifteen minutes, however they were mostly weak and were defeated by either Dante or Asrael without any trouble. A host of Pikachu, Magnemite and Voltorb seem quite desperate to stop Jack from progressing further into the power plant, however all of their efforts met with failure at the hands of Dante and Asrael.
The two Pokémon seemed to develop even more resistance to electricity as they progressed further, shocks that would previously hurt them causing very little harm to them after the first hour.
As Jack walked through the increasingly run down corridors he noticed that the Pokémon, not scarce before, became more and more common and more and more powerful. After some heavy battling through corridors scarred with burns they reached huge metal doors to the generator room, or what remained of the doors. The fifty centimetre thick doors had been ripped apart by an unbelievable force and Jack could see erratically flickering flashes of white-blue electricity through the sizeable hole.
Before they could enter, however, they would have to get through two brawny Electivire that guarded the entrance. The two combined with one powerful thunderbolt attack that coursed through Asrael's long body.
The dragon Pokémon couldn't deal with the combined power of all the electricity and dropped to the floor, unconscious, in a smoking heap. Dante rushed to his companion's aid, dropping one of the Electivire with a thick pillar of flame and clubbing the other one to the floor with a huge punch.
Jack quickly revived the fallen Dragonair with a handy max revive before entering the chamber in the middle of both his Pokémon. Dante led the way in with the groggy Asrael bringing up the rear as they entered into the centre of chaos. The room was completely trashed, huge burn marks pitted all of the walls and an unstable generator still sparked at the centre.
All of the glass protecting at the core had been smashed and a very recognisable Pokémon perched lightly as electricity sparked around it. A huge yellow bird boasting impressive, spiky yellow plumage and a large cylindrical beak. The Mirage of Thunder. Zapdos. Jack almost salivated at this chance.
he most powerful electrical Pokémon in the world was just perching there, ready to be captured and added to his team. He did not hesitate.
'Bring it down,' ordered Jack quietly, however the Mirage of Thunder heard him and turned its beady eyes towards the attacking Pokémon. Its thunderbolt attack was ridiculously powerful. The netting of thunder engulfed both of the Pokémon and still had the power to drop Asrael in one attack. Dante was more hardy and shrugged off the attack, reply with a powerful headbut to Zapdos' torso.
As Zapdos gasped, winded, Dante unleashed a wave of flame towards its fellow legendary. Zapdos screeched and retaliating by stabbing its beak deep into Dante's shoulder. Dante 's roar far surpassed Zapdos' scream in loudness and liquid fire began to squirt from the wound as the injured Pokémon tossed Zapdos from it. The Mirage used the momentum of the toss to try and launch its way into the air, electricity crackling loudly with each beat of its magnificent wings.
Dante somehow found the strength to leap into the air and clamp down on Zapdos' left wing with his teeth. Zapdos let out another tortured screech as it was dragged down to fight in close combat, something that it obviously wasn't comfortable with. That does not mean it wasn't good at it. Zapdos attacked like a creature possessed in a fury of jabbing beaks and steel coated wings.
Dante actually felt himself get driven back as he struggled to fend off the multitude of blows that were now raining down on him. As they fought Jack remember a present given to him by a girl called Kayla. Though it was only a couple of months ago it seemed like that it was an event from another life.
He remembered he had shrunk it, using a special feature being developed just for the Master Ball, and hid it in a special pocket in his bag. He rummaged through the bag that he had somehow managed to keep through all that had happened to him and found the small ball. His movements were slow and surreptitious as he enlarged the ball.
Zapdos was paying no attention to him as Dante picked up his pace and began to drive it back instead. With one powerful punch Dante knocked the Pokémon back and there was over one metre of air between them. Jack took advantage of this and he threw the Master Ball at Zapdos, who was still looking the other way. It turned and saw the Master Ball, but it was too late.
The ball opened and drew in the legendary creature with immense force. Inescapable force. The ball didn't even shake. For a second it just sat on the ground, completely still, before finally it lit up, signifying that the Pokémon inside had been successfully captured. Jack could hardly believe it as he handled the Pokéball. Not only was his team finally complete, but he had done something only a very few of the best trainers in all of the regions had done.
He had caught a legendary.