Holy crap, how did this guy managed to evolve his Squirtle not one, but two times? The guidebook says that first evolution stage comes eventually not very long after you start training, but to achieve the second evolution stage pokemon and trainer have so spend together a lot more time! Damn, it`s just nearly a week ago he got him. How?
"Oh, I see you are surprised." Douchebag laughed loudly and overconfidently. "I have a secret that YOU. DON`T. KNOW!"
Crap. And how am I supposed to beat this thing? I even don`t know what moves he can use. I guess, a lot of water-types, so Dumpling absolutely don`t match. I lost when we had them as little Squirtle and Charmander, but now… Charmeleon against this over leveled Blastoise. This is hopeless.
I took out Dumpling`s pokeball and looked at it. Do we have any chance? We have some interesting tricks in sleeve, but… If he hits us at least once – this is it - the end.
"Come on, let`s go! Or surrender!" Douchebag shouted to me. That irritating jerk! He`ll get what he deserves…
"Dumpling, come on out!" I released my pokemon on the battlefield. As eyes of these two crossed, they instantly recognized each other. For a moment Dumpling was shocked too by this sudden revelation, made some steps back and looked at me questionably.
"Don`t worry, I know what to do. Start with Smokescreen!"
Dumpling obeyed my command and exhaled a thick black cloud of smoke. It covered the entire field in thick dark smokescreen. Our opponents turned into a silhouettes and didn`t move at all. Are they waiting for a good moment to attack?
I whistled to Dumpling to attract his attention; we could see each other even through the smokescreen. I pointed him to the position on the left and nodded. He understood me, nodded in reply and quickly moved to the left side of battlefield.
"Enough of this! Quartz, show them the power of your Surf!"
What the hell? Surf? Is that a move?
The silhouette of opposing Blastoise jumped higher that the smokescreen veil and landed right in the middle of it. Now I could see him better and so did Dumpling, but we didn`t know what to expect from the opponent. I tried quickly to imagine what this move could do. Summon a… wave of some sort? Sounds fitting for a move with such name. I wonder what position he will attack – maybe under the defense of smokescreen Dumpling will remain hidden and be able to attack.
Quartz stomped the ground and suddenly a huge wave actually appeared. But it was not just one simple wave – it was something else... He managed to create a wall of water in ALL directions at once – and send it away from him. The water quickly gained speed and approached Dumpling even under his smoke veil.
"Jump over it!" I commanded to him. The wave was very strong; combining with type effectiveness it would be fatal for my Charmeleon. He jumped very high to dodge this menace, but the height of jump appeared to be much higher than smokescreen. He revealed himself.
"Nice one!" Douchebag shouted pointing at my Dumpling. "Rapid spin!"
Quartz jumped too and hid himself inside the shell, starting to spin very fast. In the air he rushed to my Dumpling and hit him pretty hard, sending him to the ground. After both of them reached the floor, smokescreen slowly dissolved. My pokemon was still able to fight, but this Rapid spin attack was pretty hurtful. The difference in strength definitely shows itself.
"Dumpling, stay strong!" I commanded to him. This becomes more than a battle – this is the opposition of archrivals. Not just me and Douchebag – professor Oak mentioned that these two starters were not very friendly towards each other since the first meet. And from my side as a trainer I must give everything I`ve got to help my partner win in this protracted rivalry of theirs. The victory is even sweeter if a fire-type manages to win over water-type. We already fought a rock-type after all…
Now are at a disadvantage again – without the smokescreen we can`t do anything. And we definitely have to do something! Maybe we will try to counterattack…
"Dumpling, go to Matrix mode!"
Another of our tricks – we will try to dodge anything our opponent sends at us and attack back at the best moment. Dumpling prepared to this by taking a stand. I count on his speed that will help him dodge the next opponent`s move.
"Use Surf again!" Douchebag commanded to Quartz and the pokemon jumped at the center of field again to perform the move. Dumpling looked at him cautiously, preparing himself for another attack. Quartz created another large wave of water sending it around him, and Dumpling easily jumped over it.
"Now use Metal Claw!"
Blastoise needed some time to recover after his attack, and at that time we strike. My Dumpling rushed to his target being completely taken by the battle, forgetting about any cautious for now. He jumped closer to Quartz and smacked his face pretty good with Metal Claw. The opponent even swung back a little and closed his eyes in pain. Maybe this was some lucky critical hit.
"Surf him down!" Another command from Douchebag followed.
And Quartz reacted immediately. Even in pain and without opening his eyes he created another wave around him, splashing around. Both of battlers were covered by this water wall, my Dumpling had absolutely no time to react, and so had I. Just when the wave went away from the epicenter and calmed down, we could see two pokemon in the middle of all this.
Quartz standing proudly and Dumpling laying on ground unconscious.
"Charmeleon is unable to battle! The winner is Blastoise!" The organizer declared loudly.
I was depressed. Everything started so good and all other opponents were so easy to beat that I even started to feel some self-confidence. Well, battle against Douchebag is a completely different thing. We were at a disadvantage since the very beginning not only by type but also by difference in evolution stage. And, of course, I made a huge mistake by sending Dumpling closer to Quartz.
"Return, Dumpling…" I returned him to his pokeball and sighed. "You will have your revenge later, I promise." I put his pokeball on my shoulder belt and took another one. "Reaper, let`s do this!" I shouted throwing the next pokeball on the field. From the flash and light my second pokemon appeared, rushing into battle no less than the first one. He furiously swiped the air in front of him and menacingly stared at the opponent.
"So… A Beedrill? They are pretty hard to train, you know… For losers like you! Bad choice. Let`s show them, Quartz, Rapid spin!"
"Fly over it and use Poison Sting from behind!"
Everything happened so quickly – Blastoise hid inside the shell and started so spin very fast dangerously heading to my Reaper. As for him, he accelerated too but only to dodge opponent`s attack at the last moment and appear behind him. Another hit from us – but unfortunately not very strong. Blastoise`s shell is pretty hard and difficult to break through. We need to attack when he is out.
"Okay, let`s try this... Twineedle!"
Reaper directed to his target and rushed to attack. Blastoise opened himself and stood straight, but for a moment Douchebag gave no orders. Until we are too close.
"Sudden Rapid spin!"
Blastoise attacked again immediately, forcing us to stop our attack.
"Fly high, Reaper! Let him crawl on the ground alone."
Fortunately Reaper was fast enough to dodge that Rapid spin attack, but our opponent wasn`t going to give up so easily as he launched another one, trying to reach us. But big and heavy Blastoise was just unable to do it. Anyway we need to act quickly.
"Reaper, let`s try our Skyrage maneuver with Twineedle!"
Judging by Douchebag`s face he was surprised and annoyed at the same time. Reaper understood my command, but stopped in the air for a second like thinking it through and after that noticed rapidly spinning Blastoise directing straight to him. Giving some space to charge Reaper flies a bit back and then attacks the shell with two stings. Maybe the attack itself wasn`t very painful, but it was strong enough to send Quartz back to the ground and smash him into the floor. And THAT was much more hurtful.
"Hey-hey-hey! Come on, big guy, get up!" Douchebag shouted at his pokemon.
Blastoise tried to stand up in the middle of small crater made of asphalt wreck after his falling. Someone will have to repair this bridge after all.
"This is our chance, Reaper. Twineddle!" I commanded to my pokemon and he gladly listened. With his stings up and ready he charged at Quartz with all strength he could give.
"No way! Protect!"
Blastoise obeyed his trainer and crossed arms in front of him. A shiny energy barrier of some sort appeared in front of him, and when Reaper reached the target he was just thrown back. Quartz got absolutely no damage.
What is this? Another new move? Looks like it. But how can we defeat a pokemon that can become invincible?
"Now it's our turn, Quartz. Finish him with your best Bite!"
I was lost in my thoughts and didn`t notice Blastoise dangerously closing in to my Reaper. Waiting for my next command my partner stood still and didn`t even tried to dodge the attack, and when I came back to senses it was too late.
"Use Harden!"
But I was slower than Blastoise, and my command reached Reaper just after his middle was caught into Quartz` jaws. I was very worried than he can actually bite through my Beedrill, but instead of it opponent just smashed Reaper into the ground, then raised up and threw into the fence – my pokemon almost flew over the bridge edge. He couldn`t do anything but to lose consciousness.
"Beedrill is unable to battle, Blastoise is the winner!" The organizer guy declared again. Now his voice didn`t sound very much of pathos, but instead he sounded… scared? Sounds like it. Maybe this guy placed his bet on me.
I turned back to look at Misty. She understood that victory is nowhere near me, and more than that – she promised me that I will not need to use Zubat in battle. She looked at me so sorry for everything she was almost going to cry. I sighed and returned my looks in the field.
"Go back, Reaper." I returned him back to pokeball and put on my shoulder belt right near the pokeball of Dumpling. Just one more pokeball wasn`t used in this battle, and shouldn`t be used at all.
I raised my eyesight to Douchebag. He was dancing on his side, making some strange obscene gestures. His pet looked at me like he`s going to tear me apart, not just my pokemon. Well, I can`t give up now. Shame of retreating is much bigger than losing.
"Go, Zubat!"
With trembling hand I released my final pokemon on the battlefield. Zubat immediately tried to fly away from the center as there were a lot of sun. They don`t like it.
"Stop right here!" I called to him. Zubat stopped at one place, looking for me. Even without eyes he did it very quickly and rushed to me with some sort of Zubat war cry.
"Ha! That`s it, this is your real target!" Douchebag mocked my pokemon for attacking me. I could see for a second that his Blastoise is laughing too.
I managed to catch Zubat with my hands and close his mouth. He resisted a lot, trying to break free and attack me in return, but in physical comparison I was stronger.
"Listen there, pal. You can scare and bite me as much as you want, but later. I need you to win this match, can`t you understand?"
He stopped attempts of escape for some moments and made a quiet screech. Too bad I can`t understand him at all, but does this mean he agrees?
"Look at that monstrosity." I turned him in my grip to face Blastoise. "If you had eyes, you would see a big and scary monster trying to attack you." Zubat replied with another screech, louder and less comfortable.
"Hey, I don`t want to force you to do it! I was forced to compete by myself! So… If you don`t beat this thing – this thing will beat you. We`re both victims here, pal…"
Zubat started to fight back again.
"Hey-hey, shush… I understand. But now… Now I will release you and you don`t bite me if you`re agree for cooperation, got it?"
He didn`t reply at all – on the contrary he stopped any movement and sounds. Played dead, maybe? Not gonna work with me.
"Meh, this is becoming so boring. Quartz, chill these pathetic morons with a good shower, Surf!"
Blastoise furiously roared and stomped the ground again, releasing a large wave of water in our direction. The audience exclaimed in the sight of this. The wave was too fast to get away, so before it reached us I could only cover Zubat with my body and shout:
"Are you crazy?"
Water hit us and threw back to the fence. We were lucky it was still standing; otherwise we would have been thrown down the bridge. Douchebag overdid a little this time. Too bad he don`t think so.
I coughed, trying to pull out water out of my throat, but I immediately started to look around for Zubat. He was lying near me, on the ground. So helpless, like he was in cave that day.
But now he was angry. He was not unconscious as I could hear quiet but really terrifying sound of his. Zubat flew high over the battlefield, spread his wings and screeched a LOT louder so everyone nearby had to close their ears. But this wasn`t the end – he suddenly started to shine brightly, the light covering all his body. I already recognize this sound – Zubat is evolving!
In a moment he was completely covered with this light and started to change shape in flight. Body stretched and became longer, wings grew larger, and small legs appeared on the bottom. When the metamorphosis completed, he clapped with his wings, making all this shine away and revealing his new form.
The crowd was amazed by the sight of this, but not Douchebag. On the contrary, he braced himself to face a new pokemon on the battlefield – Golbat.
I opened my mouth to give him some command, but he was even faster than my words. In a second he reached Blastoise and used his favorite Astonish attack, forcing him to close his ears. When opponent raised hands to defend the head, Golbat attacked the bottom, biting his leg. And, with a huge mouth like his, I could say this is super effective even without any types.
"Throw this thing off! Flush him away with Surf!" Douchebag shouted angrily. He started to worry because of all happening.
Quartz raised bitten leg and stomped it into the ground, creating another water wave and taking Golbat away from his leg. My pokemon was caught by the wave and thrown back. This thing looks hit him pretty good, but Blastoise was tired after all these battles too. Damn, Golbat is fighting all by himself, even not trying to listen to me. This is not going to end well.
"Bite it!" Douchebag commanded to Quartz.
"Bite him too!" I commanded to Golbat hoping he will do what I say. Two pokemon raised from the ground and rushed to each other. Huge jaws of Golbat closed on Quartz` arm, while Blastoise himself bit Golbat`s wing. Both of them screeched loudly from all the pain and… fell together. Unconscious.
"Well, looks like our Blastoise champion was finally defeated… But his master wasn`t! His master wins the whole championship and Nugget Bridge Challenge!" For some reason even now the organizer`s voice was still trembling. He was worried about something a lot, and couldn`t hide this. I wonder what is happening? It`s not a proper reaction for a man that already lost his bet – if the problem is actually in this.
"In your face, loser!" Douchebag quickly returned his fallen Blastoise back to pokeball and proceeded to the stage. I know he is not actually happy for winning the Nugget. He is so happy for winning over me. Now his ego will be even bigger next time we meet, and he will have another reason to laugh at me.
"I still can`t understand how he evolved his Squirtle so fast…" I said quietly to Misty behind me. I didn`t need to turn back to know she is here.
"Rare candies."
"What?" This new term actually made me turn back to her.
"Rare candies. Some sort of… legal dope for raising your pokemon. They gain strength and evolve a lot faster when you feed this to them. He needed to fed his Squirtle quite a lot of them to achieve final evolution stage."
"But where did he got these things? Are they… actually rare?"
"Not very rare really… But expensive. Maybe he have some communications. He is professor`s grandson after all."
The ceremony quickly ended and Douchebag came to us with a prized golden nugget in hand. The look on his face was so satisfied and cunning I immediately wished to punch it.
"Well, some gentlemen still exist here, miss…" He ignored my angry look and referred to Misty. "I conquered this Nugget for you." He passed the golden prize to her, but she didn`t take it and just gave him the same angry look as I did.
"You can shove it in your ass, Douchebag."
Misty put her hand on my shoulder and dragged to another side of the fields, to the end of bridge. We left Douchebag alone with his damn nugget and indifferent look on his face. I just saw him throwing the nugget away and heading back to Cerulean City.
After some time Misty weakened her grip and I could walk near freely. We were close to another side of river at that moment.
"You wanted that golden thing so badly… Why did you refuse?" I asked Misty.
"I wanted YOU to get it for me, not some… Douchebag." She replied with such a tone like the answer was too obvious to tell.
"I don`t understand…" Because I really didn`t.
"Ah, you never will…"
Misty stopped for a second, looked forward and pointed at some guy in front running to us. I noticed him too and looked back for a second to make sure nothing is behind me.
"Looks like he`s heading to us."
Very soon the man approached us. From the first moment I saw him I found him very suspicious. And yet nothing in his appearance looks actually strange – a common office man, in business clothes, with small moustache and round glasses holding a case in his left hand – my intuition said otherwise. And my intuition is never wrong about bad things.
"Hello, young man… Young lady… Aren`t you the trainer that have just competed in the finale of Nugget Bridge Challenge?"
"Yes, that`s me…" I replied to him.
At this moment I started to realize something as more suspicious details in his behavior and clothes started to appear. He was dressed quite businesslike for a man that runs a lot. Also he was worried and talked quickly – all that means he is in a hurry. For some reason he spends his presumably precious time on me – and that definitely means he needs me. Right now.
"I was watching over the whole challenge and noticed quite an interesting style of training you preformed. We need such trainers like this. Would you like to follow me in that building?" He pointed at a small post nearby I think this should be a room for bridge service which is even more suspicious.
But curiosity couldn`t let me go that easily.
"Interesting… Well okay. Let`s go."
I took Misty`s hand and headed to the building, but man stopped me.
"I`m sorry, but we invite just you. Your girlfriend should wait for a minute, this should not be long."
I knew it… Misty could be just unnecessary witness here… Whatever he is going to do. I think I know now what`s going on.
"Well, gentlemen need to talk privately, my dear." I said to Misty. She knew something fishy is going on here too, and so she secretly winked at me. I replied with the same and whispered to her quickly.
"Red rose…"
She nodded and smiled. Of course, she remembered the "Red rose" incident from our childhood and will be ready to help me if something will go wrong. For some reason I`m sure it will. After that I turned to the man and informed about my readiness. We went to this service building on the edge of bridge and entered inside.
For the first sight this building looked abandoned, but I think there definitely have to be a service building somewhere because Misty said bridge was built not that long ago. But my second thought was this place is just perfect for murder…
"Sorry for all these secrecy, mister…" The man approached the table in the center of room and put his case on it. "But it is necessary. We are a secret organization and act the same way."
"What is going on? What do you want me to do?"
He raised his view on me, corrected his glasses and opened the case. And the content of it was really impressive. In a second I realized everything.
"We ask you… to join Team Rocket."