The Power Trials

Chapter 12: Power Play

No words were necessary.

An orb of pulsing yellow energy gathered between Alakazam's spoons and jettisoned towards John's Absol faster than he could blink.

"Dodge, Shadow!"

The Absol leaped out of the way as the sphere of energy singed his coat, exploding behind him. Shards of rock and water shot through the air, the energy dissipating into a fine vapor. John grimaced. It was only a warning shot. He had the feeling that if Alakazam really wanted to Focus Blast his Absol, he wouldn't miss.

"You're not yelling out any commands!" John complained. "That has to be against at least one of the rules!"

Chris cocked his head. This time, a swirling orb of green energy slammed into Shadow's side, sending him reeling. He shook water from his fur, growling. Energy Ball this time, not Focus Blast, John thought. This guy was toying with him.

"If there was a rule," Chris pointed out, "I wouldn't be here, would I? By the way, pay attention."

Another Energy Ball slammed into Shadow, sending him crashing into a puddle of water. If this continued, he wouldn't survive very long.

For once, John was without a witty remark. He wouldn't be able to gauge Chris's commands, but out of the four moves his Alakazam was allowed to use, he guessed that Focus Blast would be his only effective one. So all he had to do was counter that.

I can read what you're thinking, you know. Alakazam's lazy drawl echoed through his head. It's a shame my trainer can't. His powers are restricted, unfortunately.

"Shut up," John growled. "Dodge!"

He wasn't anticipating another Focus Blast, but he figured that as long as he yelled out Dodge randomly, Shadow would be able to avoid at least one attack.

This time the orb of pulsating energy crashed behind Shadow as he leaped aside, sending water and rock raining above him. Several shards of stone sliced through his coat, and he growled in pain.

The Alakazam hadn't even moved, and Chris was eyeing him closely, calm as ever.

All the while, the audience was cheering louder than ever for both sides.

"Come on, John, you can do this!"

"Go John!"

John closed his eyes, shutting the noise out. He always hated audiences. How was "Go" or "You can do it" supposed to motivate him? He took a deep breath. Why wasn't the stadium doing its "special twist" thing? Where was the random fire, or the other stuff? He had to rely on trust now.

"Shadow!" John called out. "Let's do what we practiced!"

The Absol tensed and lunged forward, his muscles rippling through his fur, as if to say: About time.

When John opened his eyes, his mind was blank.

There was a flash of light as a massive sphere of energy shot towards the Absol. It connected with a massive explosion, breaking into a dome of white light that spread throughout the battlefield. It tore through the rock and turned the water into steam.

"Oh, this looks bad for John!" Harrison said, his voice booming through the stadium. "Is there any chance his Absol can survive this?"

Shards of rock rained through the mist that now clouded the battlefield, sinking into the cracking ground like arrows. The dome cleared as the energy dissolved, revealing a crater that was twenty meters wide.

Shadow was nowhere to be seen.

"Dodge!" Chris cried out, his voice cracking.

A flash of white hurtled above the Alakazam. He glanced up, eyes widening in realization. You used a Substitute, he murmured.

"Dodge!" Chris yelled.

But Alakazam disobeyed his trainer's orders. The Absol that hovered above him frightened him, its claws spread and its fangs bared in anger. He never remembered feeling this kind of fear before. Snapping his spoons, he fired a Focus Blast towards the monster above him.

The orb ripped through the Absol, shredding it into pieces of white and black and then...

Nothing.

Chris's voice sped through his head: Substi – Second sub... Swords... Quick... Dod... Dan... Behind... It was then when he realized his mistake. The Alakazam dropped onto the ground, whipping around.

"Dodge!" Chris screamed.

Shadow was right in front of him. Red and orange tendrils of energy rippled through his fur. One claw was raised, pulsing with pure black energy.

The claw crashed into Alakazam. His vision went red. A ring of black energy circled the two Pokemon, spiraling around them.

Two Substitutes and a Swords Dance, Alakazam thought as he smashed into the earth. Rocks rained down all around him. His thoughts began to fade away.

I was too... too... The Alakazam closed his eyes, and his spoons fell out of his hands.

"Sucker Punched," John said. "Damn straight."

As he looked around him, he saw waves after waves of the audience standing up and applauding. Cheers erupted all around him, echoing around the stadium. Harrison was shouting something, but he wasn't sure what. Blood pounded in his head. It was dizzying.

Maybe the audience wasn't so bad after all, John thought.

"And the victor is John Ocat from Oldale Town!" Mr. Harrison roared.

John Ocat. He had just beaten the so-called strongest trainer in the world.

oOo

The car explosion had frightened Jolt so much he had to put the Jolteon back into his Pokeball. The rain had cleared soon afterwards, so he decided to make his way near the edge of the cliff. Airclaw, Eldon's Salamence, dropped him at the bottom.

He followed a ravaged trail of twisted and blackened trees, ashes wet in the rain. At the very end lay the black pick-up truck. It was burnt and twisted, its metal parts torn out of proportion.

Scrounging the wreckage, he found a round stone. It was perfectly spherical and hummed with energy. As he held it close to his ear, his teeth rattled and he dropped it onto the ground.

"What is this thing?" Eldon wondered aloud.

An evolutionary stone? A power-boosting item? He'd never seen anything like it.

Wait. Come to think of it, he did. And it was only several days ago too.

He'd heard about recent research being done on Pokemon evolution. It was something about temporarily heightening a Pokemon's physical and mental limits in order to induce a secondary transformation... or something like that. It was a lot of really boring, technical mumbo-jumbo.

But the thing that caught his eye when he was reading articles on it was that they were calling it megastatically-induced transformation. The media called it super-evolution instead.

Anyway, these scientists managed to mold different combinations of evolutionary stones into spheres of energy that specific Pokemon responded to. Apparently, researchers managed to make an Ampharos transform for about twenty seconds before it turned back. Now that was pretty cool.

But the stone he saw in pictures was colorful. This thing was pure black, webbed with silver and purple. It scared him to touch it.

Airclaw nudged him.

"Yeah, you're right," said Eldon, patting his neck. "Let's go back."

oOo

Shadows crept along the shattered walls. The roof was gone, and the walls ended in jagged edges of concrete and wire frames. Icy mist choked the air.

"I see you are back." The voice boomed across the walls, shaking the ground.

The chairman groveled on the floor, unable to take in the wreckage around him. The air was colder than ever.

Do not test my anger," the voice said. "You're lucky I spared you."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," the chairman whimpered, trembling. "I'll be more careful next time."

"You should be. That vial you nearly dropped is of utmost importance." There was a flat pause before the voice spoke again. The ground vibrated with each word it spoke. "Did you kill Chris Hanoski?"

The chairman wanted to run. He wanted to hide - anything but this.

"N-n-no," he stuttered. "I'll kill him as soon as I can, I - "

"Enough," the voice said. "If you failed to kill him, that means he is now in the second trial. And that means the world now knows he is participating. If you killed him now, what would the world think? What would the media believe?"

The chairman did not know what to say.

"I will kill him in my own time, in my own way," the voice continued. "A psychic who knows too much is not so easy to kill. His Alakazam wears one of the stones. Both of them are trouble."

"I heard he was defeated by the Ocat boy," the chairman murmured. "In the one-on-one battle. Surely that means..."

The voice laughed. It was a hollow, echoing laughter that caused the floor to shake. "If he lost, it means he was arrogant. That does not make him any less dangerous."

The chairman nodded fervently. "Of course, of course."

"Yet again," said the voice, "that makes him all the more easier to kill."