Ash stands in his trainer's box looking over the crowd's eager faces, he hasn't stopped hiccupping. This was not how he pictured it, he tries holding his breathe but I doesn't work. They must think he's a joke; it's bad enough he's the only adolescent in the building. The man in the trainer's box opposite of him has a worry free grin relaxing across his face. He signals to the staff and a hogtied boar is heaved into the arena. They snip away at its ropes carelessly and take their exit, leaving the boar to adjust himself to the arena. Its movements seem cumbersome as it legs shake under its own weight. They must have left it tied up too long; Ash wastes no time in summoning out his own animal from its CB, -hic- the monstrous black and white bear. It lashes out to the ceiling and the audience lets out cheers of approval. The bear drops to all fours at it becomes aware of the multitudes of people surrounding him out of reach. Ash is uncertain, is he supposed to command it to do something? The staggering boar paces into the view of the bear and nature takes its course. In a matter of seconds the boar is cornered and crushed under the weight of the mauling bear. Ash isn't sure if he feels remorse for the death or pride for the victory, but the crowd loves it either way and he's swept up in the emotion.
Who the hell gave this little kid that damn bear? He looks around dumbfounded as half the audience stares at him in amusement. This was hardly the reception he was expecting, driving all this way from Vermillion city. No time to think about whether he should have untied his boar sooner or not, he has another in the trailer anyway. The plan was to coast through this competition with only the two boars – the second one is quite larger – but it appears this kid is forcing him into using his trump card. He digs into his coat pocket and pulls out a CB of his own; he signals towards the arena floor and a flash materializes into the bulging muscles of a full-grown bull. This isn't how it was supposed to be; he wanted to save him for the actual tournament, which holds amateur matches in the fall, but a little practice wouldn't hurt. Besides this is just some wild animal that child has no control over, nothing compared to his trained beast. He glances around at the crowd then down to the kid; he looks lost, staring wide-eyed at the bull while hiccupping like a babe. He almost feels bad for him, but he can't allow that insult of the last match to go unpunished.
Ash's bear drops the boar carcass as soon as he catches wind of the bull. It's nearly the size of the bear with numerous brands scarred across its hide. Its horns are the width of Ash's neck and curve forward to chiseled points ready to skewer the roughest meat. The bear rears back and lifts up to its hind legs, no longer giving off the confidence it embraced with the boar. The trainer yells out and the bull charges at full speed; its neck lowered and horns aimed forward. The bear drops down and pads away, but gets caught with a deep gash into its hind leg. The collision whips the bull's body around and it rears its head back for another blow as the bear roars out in pain. Its horn tore deep into the bear's flesh leaving behind a gapping hole with blood seeping out. The other trainer keeps yelling out commands, should he be doing that too? Ash feels hopeless as the bull's horns rip deeper into his bear's flesh. The bear contorts its body to pull out of the horns and grabs hold of the bull. His heavy paw digs deep into the mid arch of the bull's spine and it cripples beneath the weight collapsing to the ground. The crowd jumps to there feet and before they know it bull has vanished. Ash stumbles for his own CB and quickly retracts his animal as well. The room is hushed for the first time today; the opposing trainer fumes and slams the staff doors behind him as he exits. The anticlimactic end leaves the crowd disappointed as they file out for the break, most of them with no money to collect.
It's only now that Ash realizes he lost his hiccups; he approaches the nearest staff member and asks urgently, "Where can I heal my animal?"
"Go have a seat and they'll come to you when they're ready." He responds nonchalantly as he gestures toward the bleachers Ash came from. That's not good enough, he runs through the staff doors back to the office where he signed the form. The squat man still sits at his desk staring blankly into the screen.
"I won. I'd like to heal my bear now, please." He chirps out quickly between breaths.
He lifts his head from the screen and allows his eyes to adjust onto Ash. "I'm the wrong person for that kid. Besides, didn't you read the contract you signed?"
"No," –deep breath- "somebody took it from me."
"That's too bad kid, it really is." He grumbles without concern, "If you had bothered to read it you would have see that you need to win at least two rounds to get your pets healed. It's not a cheap process you know." With that the mean rises from his desk and pushes Ash out of his office, shutting the door behind him.
Ash returns to his spot on the stands with an uneasy feeling in his gut and looks around for the person he was talking to. What was his name again, something Oldman?
The room is nearly empty by the time Olman returns; Ash jumps down from the bleachers and rushes towards him.
"Can they feel pain inside of these things?" He says with the CB outstretched toward Olman.
"Not at all. It's akin to being in a state of suspended comatose for them. Don't let that concern you. Here." He hands Ash ten more coins and asks, "Will that be enough for your issue? I can spare more if you need it."
It's enough to get his horse back, but his bear will bleed to death next time he calls him out of the CB unless he gets him healed properly. How is he supposed to go on with this fight?
Olman can see the concern in his eyes, "You don't have to go through with the next match."
"If I don't win they won't heal him," he says grasping the CB tight.
"You'll be fighting the wounded cougar, do you think you'll be able to handle it?"
Ash doesn't respond instead he looks over the dingy state of the warehouse, how could he allow himself to be in this position? What could Squirtle do against and animal like that, and Pikachu would be killed in a single swipe. If only the dragon were here.
The crowd begins huddling back into the room, and Olman guides Ash back to their spot on the bleachers. "Look. Do you see that guy over there?" Olman signals casually towards a bald man that has the finest suit in the building. He has the beady sunken eyes of someone that's been awake the past forty hours and huddled around him is a group of people that seem to be staring Ash's way.
"His name's Taejon Hughes and he's the man that paved the road to this town, in fact he funded the whole place, from the harbor to the buildings down the main street. He was born wealthy – shipping, if I remember correctly – and above all else he has a desire to be seen. Trouble is, it's hard standing out amongst the old money of Celadon City, so he packed up and moved down here, below the Kanto border; building his very own private paradise amongst the squander and hills."
"Why would he want to live down here though?"
"Do you see those men gathered around him?" The men around Taejon take his words in as if he were a prophet, and bend over and slap knees at his every joke. "To them he is a legend, an entrepreneur and a philanthropist. He's the reason were all here today, and yet right now, at this moment, everybody's thinking about you. You've got this whole room captivated and all this people want to see what you'll do next. So what will it be?"
Ash takes in a deep breathe. Its several minutes before the PA system turn back on, he's adjusted to it enough now to know that it time. He shrugs his jitters away and prays that his hiccups don't come back. Olman wishes him luck as he makes his way to the trainer's box.
Across from him he can see that the owner of the dead rooster has placed some of its tail feathers behind his ear. He bends down and caresses the bandages that have been wrapped around the cougar's bite wound. The feathered trainer unchains the beast and it stalks forward with a noticeable limp. The crowd is back to capacity and cheers let out from all sides. Olman had him convinced he was the favorite; perhaps it was just a shallow pep talk. It doesn't matter this is his moment; he pulls his backpack forward with Pikachu staring blissfully up at him from the side pocket. He reaches into his bag and glances over the serial numbers of his CB until he sees the right one. He withdrawals it and the crowd quiets down in anticipation of his next move. Ash can feel the tension in the air; blank faces stare gaping at him, he raises his arm and summons his choice. The feathered trainer scoffs and the crowd roars out in laughter; Ash can see the color leave Olman's face.
The silver winged butterfly lands gracefully on the side railing of the arena. Ash is starting to have serious doubts about his plan but this is his only option. The cougar pays no mind to the butterfly; instead it lies down and tends to his bandages. The mood of the room grows hostile as screams of illegitimacy call out between others demanding their money back on the grounds of this fight being a scam. Ash can feel the weight of everyone's eyes on him; how is he supposed to get this insect to do what he wants. As if hearing his thoughts the feathered trainer whistles to his cougar and points out the butterfly. This gets him active; he rises up; stretches his limbs, then takes its time in pacing toward the bug. It crouches when it's near enough and wiggles his behind back and forth, he appears to be enjoying this. It makes its move, but the butterfly senses the threat and flutters away. The cougar chases after it pouncing up and down with the glee of a kitten. The closer it gets the more it disturbs the butterflies flight as it braces against the crashing wind of the cougar's paws. A shimmer of dust particles catches light from the protruding rays cascading down on the arena, is it working? Before Ash can have a chance to decide the cougar's paw finally catches its prey and the butterfly is no more. A single wing is left spinning to the ground and the cougar wastes no time in getting back to grooming his wound.
Taejon is unimpressed, is this what he came down from his office for? To watch a mockery of his very own tournament? These paying customers came here to see blood and a collision of power. That's why he started these fights; to give the people what the league can't give them. They don't drive all the way down here to watch butterflies flutter about. He looks around at the audience gathered in his warehouse today; these are his people, and most of them are booing. He can't blame them that has to have been the worst fight ever hosted in the six years since he built this place. And now what is the child doing? He's just standing there.
"Why hasn't he already pulled out the bear?" One of Taejon's group chimes in.
"Didn't you see? Gleeson's Taurus ripped straight into its intestines. The thing's going to bleed out the next time it's loosed." Another in his group responds.
The former lets out a wry chuckle; "Well I don't know what he was thinking, what good was it wasting everyone's time with that butterfly?"
Taejon stays quiet, the child still hasn't called out the bear; perhaps he's gotten cold feet. He'll need to send someone in to intervene if this carries on much longer; the crowd is growing restless. He finally reaches into to his bag for the CB. He hesitates for a moment, but within seconds the bear is before them once again. It immediately stoops to its knees in agony while its already blood matted coat grows darker. The cougar is slow to react, Taejon stares closer; some sort of muscle spasm is afflicting its right paw. He finally speaks up, "What is that child's name?"
"He's calling himself Red."
Taejon changes his mind; he is impressed.
The cougar is encumbered by its twitching front paw; the muscles have clenched tight and it is forced to hold its arm close to his chest as it moves closer. The bear roars to keep the cougar back; lacking the luster that it had earlier. The cougar returns with its own snarl as it leaps forward; the bear ducks its head low and the two collide. The cougar unleashes a furry of quick bites around its large head and ears while the bear shrugs the attacks off with its shoulders. The cougar is too quick, even with the paralyzed arm; it delivers quick swift strikes that leave the bear's cranium a bloody mess. Tufts of hair drift from the air as the bear backs away in surrender. The cougar whips its tail and scream out in triumph. Ash begins panicking, if he calls him back now he'll lose his only chance of saving his bear. The covered in blood splatters from head to toe; some from the travelers remains as well. This bear already took a bullet to the head and survived; Ash remembers, he'll hold out. The cougar is no longer pressing forward; the paralysis is taking hold over the rest of its body now. The spasms cause it to drop to the floor in a fit of writhing pain; its whole body appears to be attempting to curl up into an awkward posture as its cries out. The bear seizes its chance and ends it suffers with its sharp teeth. The cougar continues to twitch as the bear drops down for a rest. Ash is too stunned to call him away immediately; he had no idea the butterfly's toxin would take affect so drastically.
The crowd is none to happy about the performance, but Ash could care less about their response. He climbs over the railings and cuts straight through the crowd to Taejon himself and holds up his CB in surrender. "I'd like to heal him now please." He faces down and closes his eyes tight hoping for the best.
Taejon looks to his friends and laughs softly, "Follow me."