Looks like we came to a big event of some sort.
"What the heck is Nugget Bridge Challenge?" For a moment I caught myself on a thought that a challenge sounds interesting to me.
Douchebag didn`t answered anything, but instead of it loud voice from depth of crowd reached us answering me.
"Welcome, brave and talented trainers!' Just now I managed to see some sort of scene on the side of bridge. A man was in the middle of all this, shouting loudly to us all. "Today we start the event that you will remember for long time – The Nugget Bridge Challenge!"
"Awesome name, isn`t it?" I whispered to Misty.
"I guess I know where it will be hold…"
"Here, on this marvelous architecture masterpiece we will find out who is the most skilled trainer! Of course, among those who came…" The speaker continued. For a moment he seemed to me quite suspicious. And I always remember – my intuition is never mistaken.
I had some time to look around. Specially for this event they closed the bridge and installed a big wall across the road, I guess, to divide this section from the battlefields. From here I couldn`t see what is on the other side, but I hope there will be enough space for all.
And I looked back – a minute ago we were nearly at the edge of the crowd, but new people already moved that edge far away from us. So many people – this event becomes even more and more interesting. And dangerous.
"So, today trainers will battle each other in order to gain 5 victories in a row, to win the prize…" Speaker took out from his pocket something small, but very shiny. "A golden nugget! Very valuable thing, don`t you think?"
"Wow, this is so awesome!" Misty started to scream under my ear for some reason. "I want it!"
"Oh, don`t deafen me, girl!" I said to her. "What`s so awesome in this? It isn`t THAT valuable these days."
"I don`t care, I just want it! It is shiny and cool. You must win this challenge!"
"Why me? You have your own pokemon, don`t you?"
Misty silenced for a second, and then lowered her eyes.
"I can`t participate… Just… Can`t."
"Why is that?"
"Don`t you know? She is a…" Douchebag was suddenly interrupted by Misty, having his mouth shut by her palm. She whispered something to him, but after that he just laughed and gave me a strange mocking look.
"What?" They were hiding something from me, but no one answered my question. "To hell with you, guys…"
"To participate in our Challenge you must have at least three pokemon. To begin, you must come to our registration point and… register, correct!"
Instantly a lot of people left with annoyed grumble. The crowd lessened more than on half, but those who stayed started the registration.
"Come on, go and make your girl happier!" Misty pushed me in direction of registration table.
"Hey-hey, calm down! I get it! You want this shiny crap – you get this shiny crap. Don't push me…" and I headed to the registration table where the queue had already been,
Douchebag passed near us, laughing very insidiously. This guy is definitely going to give it all he`s got. And I really want to test the power of my Dumpling against his Quartz the Squirtle. Maybe, he isn`t a squirtle anymore… I forgot how the next evolution stage is called – it doesn`t matter.
To my surprise the queue was moving pretty fast. I don`t know the reason – maybe even more people were rejected from this little competition, maybe something other. Douchebag was in front of me and soon successfully registered and headed on the other side of bridge, where battlegrounds are marked. As I came closer to the registration table, the guy behind it suddenly started to talk even before I managed to introduce myself.
"Now I see someone who looks like a real deal! What`s your name, champ?"
Too much flattery in a single sentence. I don`t like it, such people always have something not very good on their mind. I know that for myself.
"Call me Vengeance."
"Ooh, someone`s gonna win today! No, actually someone is. What pokemon do you use?"
"Dumpling and Reaper." The registry guy gave me so misunderstood look I even didn`t understood what just happened. "Err… I mean, Charmeleon and Beedrill."
"Whoah, dude, you need at least three pokemon to participate! We have full-scale three-versus-three battles here!"
Nah, I already lost the interest in this. Maybe this is my way out. I looked back at Misty, telling her with my eyes that I`m out of here, but she gave me even more serious look. She really wanted this golden thing so much. And as I stepped away from her, the registration guy noticed her presence. And, as the organizer noticed Misty, his face changed completely – looks like he recognized her, and he definitely didn`t want her to be there. But, as for her, everything was okay – she didn`t know him. Something strange is happening here.
"Hah, what a shame!" Suddenly Douchebag returned to interrupt everything. "After all these days you got just two pokemon? I`m not surprised."
"Shut up! I do have the third pokemon, I just don`t want to send it on the battlefield."
Suddenly I felt Misty`s presence behind me, coming for help.
"He doesn`t even need a third pokemon, right? He`ll win with just two!" She stared at my eyes, like hypnotizing me. "You go and register all three, I believe in you."
Oh crap, what am I getting myself involved into?
"Damn it, fine! The third pokemon is Zubat."
"Interesting choice. Tough pokemon for a tough trainer. You`ve passed." He wrote my information in the table and gave a badge, seems like this thing is used for participants identification. I pinned this to my greatcoat pocket on chest and proceeded. All contestants crowded near the entrance to the battlefields, where a big screen was installed.
"Okay, registration is now closed and we will generate the sequence of battles. Look at the screen and define your opponent and field!"
The screen turned on and a table appeared, I quickly found myself in it.
"So, my first opponent is… bug catcher Cale? Field C…"
"This will be not very hard, I guess…" Misty tried to cheer me. Maybe she is right, I battled quite a lot of these bug catchers. Also, my main pokemon is fire type, which is very strong against bugs. If this guy is one of those who train a lot of Metapods of Kakunas and close themselves in a defensive strategy – this will be a piece of cake.
"After each victory you will come back to me and declare it with proud! We will move you to the next round and give you another opponent. And for now… Let`s start the battles!"
So, I followed the crowd to the battlefields zone and quickly found the field C. on the other side of wall the whole bridge to the very end on the other side was divided into sections – those are the fields of battle. Near each of them a small bench is situated – the organizers doesn`t seem to expect much of audience. Misty sat on a nearest bench to us and watched for me. Very soon my opponent appeared too, and from the first sight he seemed… not a very strong trainer.
"You look tough…" Cale said confidently. "But not as tough as me!"
"Okay, let`s get on with it."
As the battle began, I was convinced even more about his capabilities as a trainer. Weedle, Kakuna and Metapod isn`t the best combination against me. Sending pokemon after pokemon to his doom he became less and less confident in himself, to the very end. After the battle he just took his pokeballs and ran away, angrily looking at me. My Dumpling managed to handle this all by himself. This victory wasn`t that… victorious. I expected more of a fight.
"Great job there, Dumpling." I gave my partner a high-five and turned back to Misty. She was quite bored, but did her best not to show it to me. We exchanged smiles, and I headed to the organizer.
"So, first battle`s done. Give me the next one!"
"Nice first step to the top! Let me see…" He looked through the computer, and screen table changed. The branch with me showed my victory and proceeding to the next. Just three more trainers have already finished their battles, and… Douchebag wasn`t among them!
"Here!" The organizer pressed some buttons and table changed again. Now in the branch of second tour I was battling against… Lass Ali. I wonder if it is her surname or she really asked to write her down this way?
Nah, doesn`t matter. I headed to the field D, where a young girl was already waiting for me. And, for a pokemon trainer she looked pretty… pretty. But the looks can be deceiving, and for now I must concentrate on battling.
"So, you are my next opponent?" Ali asked me, taking out her pokeball. "Then let`s have fun!" she shouted joyfully throwing her capsule and releasing her Pidgey on the battlefield.
So, a Pidgey, huh? This will be a job for Dumpling again, as I don`t want Reaper to be at disadvantage. As my Charmeleon was still out of his pokeball, I just pointed him onto the opponent. With mighty roar Dumpling entered the field, and the battle began.
"Pidgey, Sand Attack!"
Oh no, you don`t! Not an accuracy lowering move! I hate them.
"Quickly, Smokescreen everything!" I commanded to Dumpling, and he hurried up to execute it. After a deep breath he exhaled a huge cloud of smoke, hiding himself from the sand of Pidgey. Our opponent was confused for a moment, but the girl wasn`t ready to give up yet.
"Use Gust to take this stuff away!" She commanded to her Pidgey, countering my smoke barrier. At least, she will be vulnerable now.
"Dumpling, Iron Rogue maneuver!" After my command everybody around was very surprised, and Misty – the most of all. But Dumpling understood me perfectly. This small trick I invented during my short training time on Route 3, and now is the best time to test it in battle.
Charmeleon while hiding behind the smokescreen rushed to the opponent. While Pidgey was busy blowing away the smoke, he didn`t notice the danger coming from behind, and Dumpling had a perfect opportunity to strike it with Metal Claw. Opponent was hurt very badly, but still in senses.
"Wha… what the heck was that?" Lass Ali was in stupor after that, and didn`t command anything in return. We used this chance to finish things with another Metal Claw, defeating her first pokemon.
And another victory for my Dumpling! He stood over the body of defeated opponent, spitting embers into the air. Ali returned her Pidgey back to pokeball with a very sorry look on her face. Looks like now she feels despair.
She sighed and released her second pokemon on the field, appearing to be an Oddish. Now I understand her feelings, as Oddish usually can`t stand a chance against Charmeleon. And that was it – two aimed Embers made this grass-type pokemon out of the game.
"That`s it, I give up…" Ali said while returning her fainted pokemon back.
"What`s wrong? You may still have a chance."
"No, I don`t. My last pokemon is a Bellsprout."
Bellsprout… My target. From the looks from the photo it seemed to be a grass-type pokemon… Oh, then this is really upsetting, I would like to see him in battle.
Ali was already gone, and field was empty again. Dumpling looked upset because of sudden battle ending, but there was nothing more to do.
"Come on, Dumpling, let`s move forward."
We returned back to the organizer and reported about our victory. He again made some changes in his computer, moving us to the next round in the table. This time Douchebag got ahead of me and was already in his third battle. As for me, my third opponent is going to be some boy called Timmy. Why do I have this strange feeling that this battle will be not as interesting as I would want it to be?
And I was partly right about that. This young man had pretty good pack of pokemon but yet he managed to lose quickly and sadly. This time I let Reaper to have some fun. It was very easy to trick this boy into using Rollout move, which could be super effective, if it hits, but if opponent is fast enough to dodge it – then it leaves pokemon opened for our Fury Attack. He let this happen several times, and soon Sandshrew was defeated.
In a battle with Ekans he tried to Wrap my Reaper, but being closer to the head means easier to hit. Unexpected attack from my Reaper not only let him to break escape the wrap, but also do some good damage. We continued the assault, attacking our opponent and even not trying to dodge his Poison Stings. I was sure that Reaper can handle this and just wanted to finish this quickly, but suddenly at his final strike Reaper raised his stings high, and hit with both of them at once, finishing opponent. I noticed strange green glow of the stings… And, looks like this hit was stronger than previous. Is that a new move?
Timmy sent out his last pokemon – Exeggcute, as he named it. I have never seen this pokemon and have no idea what type this can be. This looks like… eggs? Flying, maybe? No way this thing can fly. And no way to learn this now. Habitually I wanted to command another Fury Attack, but suddenly decided to test out this new move. Whatever it is.
"Reaper, use… This move again!"
He obeyed me and jumped onto the poor Exeggcute, launching a powerful attack with his double green stings, which was very hurtful to the opponent as he screeched loudly and fainted in one hit. Damn this is looking so good now!
"Congratulations!" Misty ran to me, clapping. "A new move! Very convenient."
"What move is this? It literally destroyed that Exeggcute!"
"As I remember, this is Twineedle. And it is a bug-type, so it will be extremely effective against this Exeggcute, which is, by the way, grass and psychic type."
"A bug-type move?" I looked at my Reaper scratching one of his stings with another. I think he was surprised by his new unexpected talent as much as I do.
"Yeah. It is super effective not only against grass-types, but psychics too. So… Those who have both these types, suffer from such moves quite a lot."
"You really are a teacher, Misty."
Well, things are looking good for now. I made it to the fourth round and yet used just my two pokemon. I returned back to the organizer once more and looked at the updated table: and again Douchebag was ahead of me in his fourth battle. It's just two battles that will decide the final opponents. But still one battle remains for me, and I prepared myself to it.
My fourth opponent was some young girl named Reli. And once more I remembered professor Oak`s words about the law that does not allow children officially train pokemon. Looks like laws do exist to be broken. How did she even managed to make it to the fourth round?
"Looks like another victory is right here!" Misty said to me. Although some doubts still remain.
"I don`t know... I`m worried about my team. They made it through three battles in a row – not very hard battles, but still... Both Dumpling and Reaper are tired and even have some damage, but can they make it to the final?"
"Send them out. I`ll help you."
I don`t know she`s going to do – but, I guess, nothing bad, so I sent both of them out of pokeballs. Misty put her bag near them and took out two bottles of super potions and started to sprinkle it on Dumpling. As a fire type he didn`t like anything liquid on him, but soon medicine made him feel better.
"But… Are we allowed to use them during the challenge?" I asked Misty with suspicion.
"No one said we can`t" She winkled at me and sprinkled the second bottle on Reaper. He was revived literally immediately – by body and soul.
Maybe this is how this strange girl Reli made it this far. Of course, usage of medicine between the matches gives you some advantage as your pokemon are renewed to the beginning of a new fight, and your opponent`s are not. And even a strong and experienced but heavily damaged pokemon doesn't always win against a newbie pokemon that is fully healed.
Okay, if I`m right, her pokemon should be fully ready to battle. But so are mine.
She had two Nidoran – a male and a female. Actually it doesn't matter as both of them knew only basic moves – Peck and Scratch. Well, maybe they knew something else, but Reli didn`t use them. Even I had nothing to hit them super effectively, our experience gave us advantage in this battle, and soon one Nidoran was defeated, and the next one followed her to the Pokemon Center shortly.
Reli was really upset and seemed to cry. She didn`t expect to lose, absolutely. And it wasn`t just because of Misty healing my pokemon – even without it my opponent had no chance of hitting my pokemon.
"At least, we`re moving into the final battle fully healed and ready." I sighed and said to myself.
"The battle that you will definitely lose…"
I turned back to see Douchebag behind me. For a second I didn`t understand what he meant, but then I looked at the table behind him.
And – it looks like - yes, he is my opponent in the end.
"Finally the small battles are over, and we have two trainers to have a fight in the finals!" The organizer came to us and raised our hands high. All trainers stared at us, expecting something. Well, maybe it is a good battle they expect. So, they want it – they get it!
"The final battle will happen on field 'A'. You may now proceed!"
Douchebag pulled his hand away and headed to the field. For a second I stopped to look at him and try to understand what he is up to. Too bad I didn`t see any of his battles here and don`t know his team. All I know he must have Quartz – a water type, his strongest pokemon. And, of course, I have nothing to beat it with. Just my cunning and improvisation skill.
I stood on my side of battlefield and prepared for the beginning.
"And now the battle will begin!" A loud voice of organizer shouted to all trainers, and especially us. Tense becomes even stronger.
"I will be the first, if you don`t mind." Douchebag said and threw his first pokeball on the field. The light coming from the inside of this capsule formed a silhouette… A silhouette that I don`t know. A silhouette much bigger than I expect.
When the forming ended, I finally realized what pokemon he sent out on me.
Quartz the Blastoise.