Episode 11: The princess and the butler
The Battle Castle looked more imposing than it actually was. From Niko and Lauren's perspective, the massive brick castle towered over them. After waking up feeling well-rested, the group was ready to complete their visit to the Resort Area with Niko and Lauren's quest to obtain the Castle Print.
They walked up to the large double doors and Niko rung the circular doorbell. He could hear footsteps on the other side of the door, although they were faint. Moments later, the door opened, and a tall man in a black and purple suit with a white shirt and vest underneath. He wore glasses and had black hair with a pale yellow stripe through the middle that was gelled backwards in a long curl. To compete his oddly dashing look, he wore a gold pocket watch.
"Greetings. I am Darach, the host and caretaker of the Battle Castle under the orders of Lady Caitlin. How may I help you?" He asked in a proper-sounding voice. While he was certainly calm, he gave off an oddly intimidating feel to Niko, who looked at Darach with suspicion.
"Hello, Darach." Niko said in an equally proper tone. "My name is Niko, and this is Lauren. We're both here to challenge the Battle Castle for the print."
"Ah, of course. Please follow me. Are your friends participating as well?" Darach asked politely, locking his eyes on Brittany, JJ, and Fay.
"No, only us two. And separately, if that's alright."
"It's perfectly fine. Preferred, actually." Darach said with a soft smirk. "Follow me, if you will."
As they walked down the hall, Niko and his friends looked around them, marveling at the patterned wallpaper, rugs, and ceiling. There were busts of certain pokémon and other unrecognizable humans. The chandeliers were molded in intricate designs and bathed the hallway in bright light which, oddly enough, was candlelit.
On the way, Darach was telling Niko and Lauren about the history of the Battle Castle. Hundreds of years ago, it was the home of a monarch that ruled over Sinnoh and Battle Island. His descendent—Caitlin—is the current and only heir to the throne, and it is Darach's job to tend to her every need.
A few minutes later, they made it to the room Darach intended to take them. It was a large room with a battlefield in the middle, and one set of stands to the right. To the left, however, was a balcony with a single woman sitting in the seats. From what Niko could see, she was shorter than Darach, and had long light brown and blonde hair. She had a white dress on with a transparent cloak laying over her shoulders.
"Darach!" She shouted down at the butler. "Who are these children?"
"Lady Caitlin," Darach said, bowing. "May I present to you Niko and Lauren. They both wish to challenge this facility for the Castle Print."
Caitlin glared down at Niko and Lauren with contempt. She eventually sighed, and nodded. "Then so it shall be. Welcome, Niko and Lauren. I am Lady Caitlin of the Battle Frontier. I am the head of the Battle Castle and a member of Unova's Elite 4. You say you both wish to challenge us?" Niko and Lauren nodded. "Very well. I wish you the best. Darach!" She shouted, and the butler nodded, quickly walking over to the opposite end of the battlefield. "You, lady, you will be the first to challenge the Castle Valet and the Frontier Brain of the Battle Castle, Darach!"
Lauren, astounded that Caitlin herself wasn't her challenger, nodded and walked over to the side opposite Darach. Niko and the other three took their places in the stands.
"This will be a three-on-three match between Castle Valet Darach and challenger Lauren." Caitlin said, looking down at the both of them. "Begin!"
"Staraptor, I choose you!" Darach shouted, summoning the all-too familiar predator pokémon.
"Glaceon, let's go!" Lauren commanded. "Ice shard!"
"Aerial ace!"
Staraptor dove for glaceon, taking the small chunks of ice being hurled towards it. However, it still managed to slam into glaceon, the white tendrils encompassing the bird. As staraptor was attempting to distance itself, glaceon lurched her head backwards and, on Lauren's command, use ice fang. Glaceon grabbed onto staraptor's left talon and threw it down onto the ground.
"Now, use ice shard again!" Lauren commanded.
"Roost!" Darach shouted. Staraptor began to glow a bright white color in a similar manner to venusaur's synthesis. "Now use aerial ace!"
"Ice fang!" Lauren cried out. Glaceon took the hit and grabbed onto staraptor once more with her teeth, this time gripping the predator pokémon's shoulder. The chilling touch surged through staraptor's body, forcing it to elicit a pained cry.
"Double team, staraptor!" Darach said. The flying type duplicated itself, allowing it to escape glaceon's freezing grip. "Now, aerial ace!"
"Glaceon, hit it with ice shard again!" Lauren commanded, watching at staraptor got pummeled with a barrage of ice chunks before crashing once more into glaceon. This time both pokémon fell to the ground, and the fresh snow pokémon had difficulty getting back up. "You can do this, glaceon. I believe in you!"
Glaceon stood back up opposite staraptor, her teeth emitting a chilly air. Lauren commanded her to use quick attack, followed by ice shard. Staraptor retaliated with double team, but glaceon was quicker, landing the ice shard before staraptor could copy itself.
"Use ice fang!" Lauren commanded. Glaceon lunged forward, grapping onto staraptor before it could do anything. "Let's win this! Ice shard!"
Glaceon, while still biting onto staraptor, unleashed a flurry of ice chunks that hit staraptor. The predator pokémon fell to the ground when glaceon let go, defeated.
"Staraptor is unable to battle!" Caitlin said. "Glaceon is the winner!"
Darach returned his pokémon before pulling out a second pokéball. "Empoleon, I choose you!"
"Alright glaceon, still want to battle?" Lauren asked. Glaceon turned and nodded. "Great, let's do this then. Use ice shard!"
"Block it with metal claw!" Darach shouted. The emperor pokémon's flippers began to glow a bright gray color as it slashed away at the ice chunks. "Now, brick break!"
"Ice shard again!" Lauren said, realizing that she should consider substituting glaceon out. Deciding against it, she asked for the fresh snow pokémon to continue pummeling empoleon with ice chunks. However, it didn't seem to work, as the water type's flipper began to glow white before it slammed it downwards in a chopping motion, hitting glaceon on the head and knocking her to the ground. "Glaceon…?"
"Glaceon is unable to battle! Empoleon wins!" Caitlin declared.
"Return, glaceon." Lauren said with a weak smile. "You did your best, and that's what matters. Lopunny, I choose you!"
"Empoleon, brace yourself." Darach said. "Use brick break!"
"Agility and block with thunderpunch!" Lauren shouted. The rabbit pokémon burst forward to meet her new opponent, her fist glowing with surging electricity. The punch met the brick break, but the steel plating on empoleon's body conducted the electricity, forcing it to surge through the emperor pokemon's body. "Now, bounce and hi jump kick!"
Lopunny, using her powerful legs, shot directly into the air while empoleon crouched to one knee, paralyzed. Lopunny then shot back down, her foot glowing white.
"Brick break!" Darach commanded. Empoleon then slowly raised its steel flipper to meet lopunny's foot, although it was too late—the attack landed, and lopunny backflipped to land on the ground unharmed, while empoleon was still trying to recover from the thunderpunch.
"Lopunny, thunderpunch again!" Lauren commanded. The rabbit burst forward once more and slammed her fist down on empoleon, who collapsed face forwards onto the ground. "Finish it off with hi jump kick!"
Leaping back into the air, lopunny attempted to once more land her attack. However, this time empoleon was able to recover from its paralysis and dodge the move. Lopunny continued downward and crashed into the ground before taking a sideways brick break from her opponent, launching her into the wall opposite the stands.
"Lopunny, get up!" Lauren cried out.
"Empoleon, use waterfall!" Darach commanded.
"Agility and thunderpunch!" Lauren shouted. Lopunny shot forward, her fist lighting up with electricity. Just as empoleon's eyes started glowing light blue, a row of water erupting from between its flippers. Empoleon then leapt onto the row of water as if it were a water slide, charging at lopunny, who managed to connect the thunderpunch directly on empoleon's crown, launching the penguin backwards. Empoleon struggled to get back up.
"Empoleon is unable to battle, lopunny wins!" Caitlin declared.
"Houndoom, you're up!" Darach shouted, thrusting a third pokéball out. "Use fire fang!"
"Hi jump kick!" Lauren commanded. However, she underestimated the speed of the dark pokémon, whose fiery fangs grabbed onto lopunny just before she left the ground, and threw the rabbit back to the ground. "Err…thunderpunch!"
Lopunny raised her upper body and slapped an electrified fist against houndoom's face. To this, Darach and houndoom retaliated with counter, which caused it to slam into lopunny with an equal force of thunderpunch. The two dragged across the battlefield, before lopunny slammed another thunderpunch against houndoom to remove the dark pokémon from her. Slowly getting back up, lopunny used bounce on Lauren's command, but refrained from hi jump kick, due to houndoom's speed. This time, the attack hit, but lopunny's foot was met with a crunch attack from her opponent, forcing her back onto the ground with incredible force, and defeating the rabbit pokémon.
"Lopunny is unable to battle! We are now down to the final pokémon on each side." Caitlin announced.
"Lopunny, return. You did a great job." Lauren said, briefly looking around her. Let's win this. "Infernape, I choose you!"
"Hmm…interesting choice." Darach said, scratching his chin. He then saw infernape charge forward with a mach punch to houndoom's face, knocking it backwards. "Oh. A quick pokémon. This'll be fun. Houndoom, use counter!"
"Mach punch again! And then move into close combat!" Lauren shouted. She knew that, at this point, she could win the battle. She could get her next Frontier Print. And she watched as infernape punched and kicked houndoom without any sign of exhaustion, only taking a counter or two from the dark pokémon.
Lauren also recognized how far her infernape had now come. She remembered her monkey as a small chimchar who was less interested in battling and more on playing around with the other pokémon travelling with her. It made her regret not initially giving her a chance, but at the same time remember Niko's advice to her regarding chimchar. Lauren then realized how right Niko was—and that infernape was not only an absurdly powerful pokémon now, but also one of her closest relationships on her team. She smiled, a slight tear emitting from her eye as pride overwhelmed her.
"Infernape! Finish houndoom off with a mach punch!" She commanded, thrusting a hand forward. The flame pokémon jumped several yards backwards before launching off of the floor of the battlefield, almost gliding across as she slammed her fist into houndoom, knocking the dark pokémon to the ground in defeat.
"Houndoom is unable to battle!" Caitlin said before snapping her gaze towards Darach. "You lost! Unacceptable! Win me the next battle!"
Darach returned the defeated houndoom before turning to Caitlin and bowing. "My apologies, Lady Caitlin. I will do better next time, I promise you that." He then watched as Niko and Lauren traded places.
As Niko took his place across from Darach, he realized that the Castle Valet wasn't healing his pokémon. Does he use different pokémon? He wondered. Caitlin then explained the rules of the battle once more. And, oddly enough, Darach began the same exact way.
"Staraptor, I choose you!" He shouted, summoning the predator pokémon.
"Hmm…" Niko said, withdrawing a pokémon of his own. "Glalie, let's go!"
"Ah, another ice type. You two are clever. Staraptor use quick attack!"
"Glalie, ice beam!" Niko shouted. The face pokémon took the full weight of staraptor against his own before unleashing a steady stream of ice on the flying type, inadvertently freezing it's wing and forcing it to the ground. "Wow…that was easy enough. Glalie, we got this! Use crunch!"
"Endeavor, staraptor!" Darach commanded. The predator pokémon began to glow and shot towards glalie, causing it to roll backwards through the air. "Aerial ace!"
"Glalie, protect!" Niko commanded, and the ice type conjured a protective shield around him, blocking the aerial ace. "Now, ice beam!"
Once more, glalie released a stream of ice that hit staraptor's wing, forcing the bird to crash into the ground. Before Darach could issue another attack, glalie dove directly downwards and used crunch on staraptor before the gray and white pokémon could do anything.
"Darach!" Caitlin shouted down at her butler. "Staraptor is unable to battle!"
"My apologies, Lady Caitlin. This will be over with quickly enough." He said, bowing once more. "Return, staraptor. Empoleon, I choose you! Aqua jet!"
"Glalie, protect!" Niko commanded as the massive emperor penguin charged forward, coated in a pure blue coat of water. However, glalie rendered it ineffective with the protect move. By now, Niko had figured that Darach's team was generally the same, but the pokémon had different moves. He didn't remember the empoleon against Lauren using aqua jet.
"Rock slide!" Darach shouted, thrusting his hand into the air. Just then, dozens of rocks fell from the ceiling at glalie, who duplicated himself on Niko's command. Nevertheless, the rocks still hit glalie, giving empoleon the chance to strike. "Shadow claw, now!"
Empoleon's steel claws started to emit spectral energy as it lunged towards glalie—only a few yards away—and slashed at it, knocking the face pokémon to the ground. Darach then took the opportunity to command another rock slide, which Niko and glalie weren't fast enough to protect from.
"Glalie is unable to battle! Empoleon wins!" Caitlin declared, sitting back with a look of satisfaction on her face. Niko smirked; if all went well, she wouldn't be feeling like that for much longer.
"Glalie, return. You did great, buddy. I'm really proud of you." Niko said, exchanging pokéballs. "Venusaur, I choose you!"
Erupting out of the pokéball came Niko's venusaur, who briefly turned to his trainer with a determined look. Niko nodded.
"Use razor leaf!"
"Aqua jet!" Darach commanded. The leaves quickly rendered the aqua jet ineffective, and Niko soon realized that it wasn't Darach's intention to actually hit venusaur with aqua jet. "Drill peck!"
The emperor pokémon's beak elongated into a long, white triangle that poked venusaur in the front right leg. The seed pokémon winced from the attack before using razor leaf up close. Even though it wasn't technically effective against a steel type like empoleon, the attack still distracted empoleon enough for venusaur to charge up another attack.
Niko watched at his pokémon's flower began to emit a bright green aura and subsequently glow the same color. He smirked. He knew he had the advantage now.
"Use solarbeam!" He shouted, thrusting his hand forward. Venusaur roared out as a green beam of energy hit empoleon, launching it backwards and into the ground close to Darach. Venusaur sighed with apparent satisfaction. But they weren't out of the woods yet.
"Drill peck!" Darach commanded, and the empoleon got back up and charged forward, beak glowing white like before.
"Stun spore!" Niko commanded. Once more, the drill peck landed, causing venusaur to wince again. From his flower venusaur emitted a yellow spore that halted the empoleon in its tracks.
Niko then took a deep breath. It was either then or never. He knew venusaur also understood that it was time to at least try. If not, then they might lose if the seed pokémon lost too much energy. He turned to see Fay and Lauren, both of whom were staring at him with confusion.
"Venusaur? You want to try it?" Niko asked softly. While empoleon stood there, unable to move, venusaur turned back to see his trainer through his left eye, and nodded. "Alright, then. Venusaur! Use frenzy plant!"
Venusaur roared out, summoning the natural world underneath him. Suddenly a dozen spiked roots erupted out of the ground and started twisting and snapping wildly around him.
"Control the roots! You can do this! Give it everything you've got venusaur!" Niko called out. Venusaur closed his eyes before opening them moments later, and suddenly empoleon found itself wrapped up in the roots before venusaur threw it high into the air and then shot other roots at it, smacking it left and right before it descended to the ground, and struck a final root at the emperor pokémon, launching it across the field, behind Darach, and into the wall behind them.
Niko's jaw dropped. He finally did it. Venusaur finally used frenzy plant.
However, the seed pokémon collapsed to the ground from exhaustion. Like empoleon, he was also unable to battle.
"Empoleon and…venusaur—yes, venusaur—is unable to battle!" Caitlin shouted.
"Houndoom, I choose you!" Darach shouted, sending out an ordinary houndoom with a red and yellow sash around its neck.
Niko nodded. He expected this. But he had no idea what kind of tricks Darach might still have up his sleeve. Taking a chance, he pulled out his third pokéball. "Prinplup, I choose you!" He briefly noticed Darach smirk.
"Houndoom, thunderfang!" Darach commanded. Electric sparks surged out of the dark pokémon's mouth as it burst forward toward prinplup.
"Hydro pump!" Niko commanded, and the penguin unleashed a torrent of water from his mouth, hitting houndoom and reacting with its fangs, creating an explosion that repelled houndoom backwards, causing the dark pokémon to roll across the battlefield.
Houndoom struggled to get up, but as it did the sash it was wearing began to shimmer a little.
"Thunderfang!" Darach shouted, taking advantage of Niko and prinplup's initial confusion. Houndoom charged forward, almost as if it hadn't taken any damage. Yet, Niko could still notice the bruises on houndoom's body. What happened to it? What's the sash it's wearing?
"Prinplup, dodge and use drill peck!" Niko commanded, and while the penguin attempted to evade, he couldn't, instead feeling the electricity from houndoom's sharp teeth sinking into him. Nevertheless, he lurched his head towards houndoom and landed the drill peck on the dark pokémon's shoulder, eliciting a brief yelp from the dark type.
"Now, water pulse!"
"Houndoom, reversal!" Darach commanded. Small orbs surrounded houndoom as it tackled prinplup. The water pulse fell out of the penguin's flippers and burst on contacting houndoom's head. The dark type collapsed onto its side, while prinplup fell to one knee, the force of the attack too much.
"Hang in there, prinplup…" Niko said softly. "You can do this."
Then houndoom went unconscious.
"Houndoom is unable to battle, prinplup wins…" Caitlin said, slumping into her chair, apparently too exhausted to yell at Darach. "Niko is the winner…"
"Yay, prinplup!" Niko shouted, running over to the penguin and embracing it. "I'm very proud of you. And venusaur. And glalie."
Prinplup nodded, exhausted but satisfied as well. Darach then approach Niko and Lauren (the latter having just walked over to her boyfriend, along with Brittany, JJ, and Fay). Niko returned prinplup and stood up, still paling in comparison to Darach's height.
"Niko, Lauren, you have bested me, and on behalf of Lady Caitlin, I must present you both with the Castle Print. Here," He said, pulling out two small, gold prints with small castles on them. "I wish you the best of luck in your journey." He looked up, beyond the group, and continued. "The closest facilities to us are the Battle Factory near Stark Mountain, and the Battle Arcade on Circus Island. It's just west of the Resort Area, on an island along route 230. It won't be hard to miss, although it is a several day trek." He bowed to them. "Thank you for the battles. On behalf of Lady Caitlin, I say that you both are talented trainers that will go as far as you like."
"Thanks, Darach. We appreciate that. And the battle." Niko said, nervously scratching his head. Darach nodded with a smile, and led the group out of the Battle Castle.
"Three down, two to go!" Brittany said happily. She looked at both of her friends, noticing how happy they both seemed.
And they were. Lauren felt happy because she won the Castle Print, and that Niko was happy. Niko, on the other hand, felt like his pokémon were getting stronger, and whatever Hunter told him was slowly becoming less relevant. It was a good day.