Chapter 12
5/8/0046/Midnight
Olivine City
Shari and Grace stepped out the elevator, entering the Black Market below the Shining Lighthouse, finding that the large room looked like nothing more than an abandoned basement. Team Rocket had closed up shop earlier in the afternoon, clearing away everything to empty the room.
The whole team had decided that it had gotten to late to search for Dustin and regrouped at the hotel they were staying in, but Blade never showed up, even after Shari gave him a call on his Pokedex. Jumping to the conclusion that something had happened to him, Shari grabbed Grace and dragged her out into the night to conduct a search for Blake now.
Beginning their search at the place they had sent Blake, the Shining Lighthouse, the two females found Blake unconscious form with the help of Grace's Electabuzz who was acting as a light source for them in the darkness.
"Woah, Dustin really did a number on him." Shari exclaimed out loud, observing Blake who was tangled in the cloth of the booth he had knocked over. His nose was deformed and bleeding from the nostrils with his Larvitar resting on top his stomach, patiently waiting for Blake to awaken.
Larvitar looked up at the girls as they neared Blake, jumping down from the boy's stomach.
"What happened to him Larvitar?" Grace asked bending down to talk to Larvitar on eye level.
"Lar." Larvitar said quietly, turning away from them while folding its arms.
"Rude much." Shari muttered, releasing her Nidoking to pick up Blake.
Olivine City-Above Ground
Olivine Hotel
Shari and Grace tossed the sixteen year old boy they had been holding up onto the large hotel bed in the center of the room. Both girls were panting, exhausted from carrying Blake up to the sixth floor of the hotel since Shari's Nidoking couldn't fit inisde the elevator.
"Jeez Blake, you're so heavy." Shari whined, taking a seat on the chair that was beside the bed. Taking a few moments to examine the damage done to Blake's face, Shari came to a conclusion. "Sheesh, I think Dustin broke his nose."
Grace searched the small cabinet in the bathroom for anything they could use for some kind of treatment of Blake's nose, but the best she could find was a box of tissues and some band-aids.
"This was all I could find." Grace said, passing Shari the items she had found.
"Eh, I'll work with it and we'll take him to a doctor tomorrow." Shari said, beginning to wipe away the blood coming from Blake's nose.
5/8/0046/Morning
Olivine City
"Well I'm not sure why you brought him here since his nose is completely fine." The Doctor said, looking at the X-rays that were up on the board.
"That's exactly what I told them." Blake mumbled as he hopped off the bed, beginning to move toward the exit.
"Oh no you don't." Shari said, grabbing his arm to stop him from leaving. "Last night his nose was in pieces, you can ask Grace."
Shari motioned to Grace who sat on one of the three chairs in the room, although as usual, the girl had her earbuds in her ears, failing to keep track of the conversation. The Doctor raised one eyebrow, finding it hard to believe that Blake's nose was broken.
"All that showed up on the X-ray was a small hair line fracture on the bridge of his nose, but that's nothing to worry about unless he's hit on the nose again." The Doctor explained, glancing down at the clipboard.
Shari was beyond confused as she tried to pull out her hair in frustration. Last night Blake's nose was bleed and deformed, but when he woke up that morning, she was surprised to find that his nose looked completely fine with the exception of a small bruise of the bridge. Not to mention Blake said he wasn't experiencing any trouble breathing.
"Alright then Doctor, thanks for your time." Shari said with a wave, grabbing Grace and Blake to drag them out the room behind her.
"Alright Blake, spill it. How'd you fix your nose so fast?" Shari asked, pressing her face against Blake's as she inspected his nose. "None of us have any healing Pokemon like a Chansey so how'd you do it?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Blake said in response, taking a step away from Shari.
"Well there's no way a broken nose can become perfectly fine over night."
"Well then I don't know what to say." Blake said, beginning to walk down the hall that led to the lobby of the building.
5/10/0046/Night
Olivine Battle Dome
Blake spent his last two days in Olivine City battling numerous trainers to try and vent his frustration at the fact that Dustin had easily cleaned out his team and it took an interference from himself to land one clean on his Medicham.
After two days of training, the night for the Olivine matches in the Battle Dome arrived and Blake had signed up for a match while the rest of the team was preparing to leave Olivine City. This would be his fourth match, which meant he had to win at all costs since the Rookie Kings would be starting soon.
"Match Three! Blue box, Blake!" Nurse Joy shouted from the entrance of the waiting room.
"Alright folks, as you can see, tonight's slots are filled up with trainers who are planning to Rookie Kings Tournament so pick a favorite and head to Goldenrod City to see them in action." The announcer said. "And here comes another trainer who's battling for his entrance to the Tournament. In the blue box with a record of 3-3-0, Blake from New Bark Town against Andy from Olivine City who has a record of 6-5-1 in the red box."
"Trainers, Clash!" The ref shouted, raising both of the flags.
Blake selected Kirlia's Poke-ball, planning to attempt the throw Grace used in her last match. His first try in his last match didn't go so well, resulting in his opponent getting the upper hand from the start.
Blake swung his arm in a horizontal arc, releasing his hold on Kirlia's Poke-ball mid swing which gave the Poke-ball spin as it flew toward Andy's Poke-ball. Just like last time, even though it had a spin, the Poke-ball Blake had thrown didn't curve around the opponents Poke-ball and hit it from the side, it hit it dead on, completely blowing away Andy's Poke-ball with the spin it had.
'Hmm…that wasn't the result I was looking for but I like it.' Blake said mentally as two Pokemon appeared on the field. Kirlia was ready to battle for Blake while a Meowth that was covered in bruises was battling for Andy.
The crowd was kind of lost. Even though many of them couldn't do what trainer in the Battle Circuit could do, after some research, the throws used in a Clash became divided into types and how powerful they were and many critics identified Blake's throw as a high level Spin Counter.
'No way, this guy is so strong!' Andy exclaimed mentally, looking at his Meowth who fell to one knee, unable to stand up any longer.
"Battle begin!"
"Kirlia, use Magical Leaf." Blake said, starting the battle.
"Meowth, dodge it." Andy said to the Cat Pokemon which didn't change anything since the Pokemon was already in a state where dodging an attack would be a miracle. Dozens of multi colored leaves rained down onto Meowth, each one doing a little damage but all together it was enough to wipe out the little bit of health Meowth had left from the Clash.
The ref checked Meowth who hadn't moved at all after taking the hit. The ref raised the blue flag, getting a huge applause from the crowd from the super quick, one sided victory that gave Blake the right to enter the Rookie Kings Tournament.
"So you're planning to enter the Rookie Kings Tournament?" Nurse Joy asked, accepting Blake's Pokedex to register his name on the roster.
"Yup." Blake said simply, looking up at the huge board that showed the still incomplete Rookie King roster.
"You're number 1879. Good luck in the Tournament." She said with a smile, returning Blake's Pokedex. If Blake wasn't such a stoic person, his eyeballs would've popped out of his eye sockets when he heard the number. He knew the Rookie Kings would have a lot of people, but not this many.
Blake thanked her with a small wave before exiting the Battle Dome, pleased that he had gotten four matches in time for the Rookie Kings. All he had to do now was find a way back to Goldenrod City.
5/11/0046/Evening
Goldenrod Seaport
Earlier this morning, the team gave up on their search for Dustin since they couldn't even find a lead on him after Blake's encounter with the Committee member.
Pat was kind of irritated that Blake had failed to capture Dustin saying that 'if he was the one battling Dustin he would've had him begging for mercy in under two minutes.' That statement only received raised eyebrows from Blake before he shrugged it off.
Henry was completely neutral to heading back since he found Olivine City to be slightly colder than Goldenrod, plus he didn't want to turn this into an extended mission.
Grace and Shari were relieved that they had stopped hunting Dustin in fear that one of the 'actual' Team Rocket members might meet him instead of them and cause some form of harm to their friend.
Blake was pleased that they were heading back to Goldenrod City simply because he wanted to make sure nothing interfered with him battling in the Rookie Kings.
"So what's the plan for now?" Henry asked as they took their seats inside the room that was given to the Free Style Team.
"You two are free to do what you want." Shari said, motioning to Pat and Henry. "Luke, Joy and I are going to do a little traveling to that I can show them the ropes."
"I won't be calling you if we get a mission. Me and Henry can handle it ourselves." Pat said, giving them a wave as they left the room. Shari smiled to herself at how easily she set up a cover for herself, Blake and Grace without any sense of doubt from Henry and Pat.
"Alright, so where are you guys headed for?" Shari asked once they left the Bunker, moving above ground.
"Well I have my Rookie Kings Tournament coming up so I'm staying in Goldenrod City." Blake said as the three of the walked along on the empty sidewalks, several cars passing by on the paved road even though it was unnecessary since the cars hovered about three feet over the ground whenever they're moving. "After that, I'll be going up north."
"To Ecruteak City?" Shari asked.
"I guess. Somewhere with a Battle Dome since I have to become a B-Class trainer." Blake explained.
"Alright, where are you headed Grace?" Shari turned to Grace now.
"Somewhere to train for the IBF Tourney. I think I'll be going to Mt. Mortar until the IBF Tourney starts." She replied, raising her head in thought.
"Mt. Mortar. There are some high level Pokemon living there." Shari said, recalling the time she was sent to the large mountain.
"It should be good training." She said thoughtfully.
"Well since you two split up, I'll be going somewhere too." Shari said.
"And where would that be?" Blake asked.
"I'll tell you when I get there."
5/21/0046/Morning
Goldenrod Battle Dome
Blake entered the stadium after receiving directions from Nurse Joy, the fans anxiously waiting for the Tournament to begin in the stands.
'Woah.' Was all Blake could say mentally as he looked at the huge crowd of trainers that were waiting for the opening ceremony. It was just a sea of bodies filled with trainers from all over Johto who were planning to win this Tournament for the prize money and the rank boost. 'So many trainers to battle.'
Blake joined the line as the announcer who was normally in his box in the stands walked onto the large platform with a microphone.
"Hello R-Class Trainers of Johto! Are you ready for the Rookie Kings?" The announcer asked with a booming voice.
"Hell yeah!" A voice Blake knew shouted causing him to glance over his shoulder to see the source. 'So Robbie made it.'
"Fans all over Johto, are you ready to see who's the top Rookie in Johto?" The announcer asked, turning to the people in the stands now. The crowd roared in approval while people all over Johto got comfy in front of their TV sets, waiting for this to start.
"You heard the crowd trainers. Out of all 2328 of you, only one trainer will stand at the top so let's get this started!" The announcer shouted excitedly. "This is Day 1 of 4 for the Rookie Kings, head to lobby to find out which of the four Domes you'll be battling in until Day 3!"
Blake patiently waited in one of the large waiting rooms as the battles continued. His number was still pretty far off, leaving him with plenty of time to make several strategies for battle.
Coincidence or not, Robbie, Mari, and Blake were all put in different Domes so if they planned to battle each other, the three would have to make it to the Top 32 of the Tournament.
From what he had seen so far, Blake wasn't interested in any of the trainers he had seen. Some of them were pretty strong for for an R-Class trainer and they had plenty of Pokemon he hadn't seen yet so his Pokedex was quickly being filled up, but there appeared to be no high level trainers to give him a run for his money.
After being lost in thought for about an hour, Blake's number was called, bring him back to reality. He then quickly slipped out the room, heading down to the stadium, getting ready for battle.
"Match 69 in Dome 3, Blake vs Lisa." The board said, a picture of Blake and Lisa from the chest up appearing on the screen. Blake stepped into the red box, waiting for the ref to give them the signal to begin.
"Trainers, Clash!" He shouted.
Blake selected the Poke-ball and gave it a toss, using a basic throw for the Clash which led to an even amount of damage being done to the Pokemon that would be used in battle. Larvitar appeared on Blake's side of the field while a Clefairy appeared on Lisa's side.
"Battle begin!"
"Clefairy use Me First!" Lisa shouted to start off the battle. Blake took a moment, waiting to see what this move was, but nothing happened, resulting in him marking the move as useless.
"Larvitar, use Rock Throw." Blake said, watching Larvitar rip a chunk of earth of the ground, but before Larvitar could even throw it, the Rock Skin Pokemon was hit by another rock that matched the size of the one it was currently holding. Lavitar was sent tumbling backward a bit before it returned to its feet, only taking a little damage from the attack.
"Me First. So you can copy any move a Pokemon is about to perform and then use it first. This could become annoying." Blake muttered to himself, glaring at the small pink Pokemon that was Larvitar opponent. "Larvitar, use Bite."
"Lar!" It shouted, taking off in a dash toward Clefairy who was waiting for their next move.
"Clefairy, use Defense Curl." Lisa said. Clefairy rolled itself up into a tight ball, tucking its arms and feet to raise its defensive stat and protect itself from Larvitar's attack. Larvitar bit down on Clefairy but failed to cause any serious damage but Blake quickly planned out another route of attack.
"Larvitar, toss Clefairy into the air and use Dark Pulse." If Physical damage was unsuccessful, Special damage was next choice on the list. Larvitar easily threw Clefairy in its curled up state into the air, high enough so that it would have time to charge up a Dark Pulse.
"Clefairy, Me First!" Lisa shouted, hoping to counter Blake's attack. The airborne Clefairy uncurled itself, charging up a Dark Pulse in time to throw it at the same time with Larvitar, but Lisa did not know the Dark Pulse Larvitar and Blake had practicing up to the Rookie Kings.
The Dark Pulse's met but to Lisa's surprise, Clefairy's was obliterated in an instant as Larvitar's Modified Dark Pulse broke through it and rushed toward Clefairy who had no ways of dodging it in mid air.
"Larvitar, Bite." Clefairy landed on the ground, a large portion of its health taken out from the Dark Pulse leaving Larvitar to go in for the finish.
"Clefairy, use Fake Tears." Lisa said quickly, using one of her trump cards when it came to battling Pokemon of different genders. Clefairy buried its face its hands, a waterfall of tears beginning to fly out its covered eyes.
What Lisa hadn't expected was that fact that even though Larvitar and Clefairy were opposite genders, it had nerves of steel and was only focused on finishing the battle, nothing else. Larvitar landed the Bite attack, finishing Clefairy off.
"The winner is Larvitar." The ref said after checking Clefairy who was resting on its back, out cold.
"Nice Larvitar." Blake said, motioning for his partner to climb up onto his shoulder. The crowd was cheering for him as he made his way toward the exit of the stadium.
The day continued smoothly, Blake racking up the five wins he would need to continue onto Day 2 of the Rookie Kings, and after checking the board; he saw that both Mari and Robbie made it as well along with another trainer Blake wouldn't mind battling again.
5/22/0046/Evening
Dome 2
"Eevee, use Quick Attack!" Mari shouted, pointing at the weakened Houndour on the other side of the field. Eevee rushed forward, leaving a white streak behind it as it raced across the field, ramming itself into Houndour.
Houndour was sent sliding across the dirt, the last of its health disappearing from the Quick Attack. The ref ran over to Houndour, checking the Pokemon before deeming it unable to continue.
"And Mari from Cherrygrove City advances to the Day 3 of the Rookie Kings." The announcer shouted as the crowded applauded Mari for her victory.
"We did it Eevee!" Mari shouted, picking up the small Pokemon in a tight hug since they were closing in on the prize money that she would be giving to Cherrygrove City.
Dome 4
"Kadabra, finish Gloom of with Psybeam!" Robbie shouted excited as he and Kadabra approached the end of Day 2 for the Rookie Kings, his final win with in his reach.
Kadabra pointed the single spoon it held in one of its hands at the Grass type Pokemon, a multi colored beam of psychic energy flying toward Gloom from the spoon. The Grass Pokemon was blown backward, the Psybeam knocking out the rest of its health.
"Gloom is unable to continue. Kadabra is the winner!" The ref said, gesturing to Robbie and Kadabra.
"Yeah! We're in the third day thanks to you Kadabra!" Robbie shouted to the Psychic type Pokemon. The crowd cheered for Robbie now that he was in the Top 32 and would be battling the best Rookies in Johto for the title Rookie King.
Dome 3
"Poliwhirl, wrap this up with Ice Punch." Blake said, using the move they had practiced before the Rookie Kings for the first time.
"Poli!" Poliwhirl shouted, its right hand becoming enveloped in an icy blue aura that was sparkling from the sunlight. Poliwhirl rushed toward the heavily damaged Skiploom, ready to finish it off with a super effective hit.
Poliwhirl landed a brutal right hook that sent Skiploom flying back to its trainer who knew that his Skiploom couldn't battle anymore.
"Skiploom is unable to battle! The winner is Poliwhirl!" The ref shouted causing the crowd to burst into cheers for Blake and Poliwhirl's one sided victory.
"Nice Poliwhirl." Blake said, giving it a pat on the head as walked out the stadium along side him.
5/23/0046/Morning
Main Battle Dome
Blake, Mari and Robbie stood in line with the other twenty nine trainers that had made it this far in the Rookie Kings. All three of them were anxious to start, the announcer was now introducing each of the trainers to the crowd before the event began.
"Alright, and next on the list is a trainer named Blake from New Bark Town who's made it this far with a perfect record." The announcer said, approaching Blake. "Is there anything you'd like to say to the crowd?"
"This isn't for the crowd, it's for the trainers." Blake began, taking the microphone from him. "Don't lose to quickly."
The crowd couldn't describe how they felt at Blake's declaration since he had a completely neutral expression yet he just picked a fight with every trainer who was in the Top 32.
"We got a tough guy here folks, watch out for him." The announcer said after Blake returned the mic. "The last to two trainers on the last were some last minute entries, but they made it this far. First is Robbie from Olivine City, anything to say."
Robbie snatched the mic from announcer and pointed at the other trainers.
"If you guys think you can beat me, there's no chance in hell so get ready to lose!" Robbie shouted, getting a few cheers from the spectators who liked his bravery.
"Another Rookie with spunk, keep an eye on his as well people." The announcer said, taking the mic back from Robbie. "And last but not least, Mari from Cherrygrove City. What do you have to say young lady?"
"All I can say is that I'm so happy I made it this far. The sky is the limit and that's where I'm heading." She said, with less flare than Robbie but more emotion than Blake.
"Well good luck to ya. And that wraps this up so let's start the first battle of Day 3!"
Blake glanced up at the board when the roster was decided on, looking for his picture so that he could see his first opponent. It was boy that Blake had battle twice before and now would be their third.
Blake quietly strolled out the room when his number was called, spotting his latest opponent in the corridor he had just entered.
"It's nice to see that you made it Blake." Galen said with a grin.
"Likewise." Was all Blake said in return as they walked down the long corridor that led into the stadium.