After getting to the other side of battlefield, I stopped to release all the rest pokemon and heal them up, and cheer a bit. Nothing is more important than the correct mood – and mood is a thing that can tire quickly. Maybe, potions can restore team`s health and strength, this effect is temporary. Pokemon can`t survive just on medicine for too long…
I hope we have enough strength to continue.
But right now we sure ready to take on the next challenge, whatever it is.
I proceeded through the gates to the next room… The very grim and dark room. As I made a step inside, the familiar feeling appeared again… The feeling of horror and darkness.
The feeling of Lavender tower.
I looked around, observing the field and its surroundings. Now it is actually more like a room with marble floor and pillars. Somehow this reminded me of a huge ancient castle somehow survived until our days. Well, this looks really cool, I like it.
Then I looked up at the tribunes. People are sitting in anticipation for the show, the few familiar faces – most of all them. I quickly looked through them, expecting to find Douchebag or Bill or someone else familiar – no success. But one exact person did attract my attention – the second row after gym leaders was completely occupied by some lone attractive blonde woman – maybe, some sort of invited celebrity. She was in pretty awesome black dress, her huge hair were falling down everywhere, also covering half of her face. Short black drop-like earrings were sticking out of her hair… if these things are earrings at all. And… I guess, our eyes even met for a second. I wonder who is she.
Ah, enough staring at beautiful girls. I`m here to chew gum and kick asses. And I didn`t take chewing gum… So I need to kick twice more asses for the compensation!
"Our challenger is ready to take on his next challenge, ladies and gentlemen!" The host finally announced my entrance after a short break. "Will he be able to deal with horrible fears that ghosts can send upon him?"
Oh, the ghost-type specialist! This is going to be interesting. Training ghost-type pokemon is pretty rare thing, so meeting a trainer of this type is quite interesting experience. I wonder, who that will be…
To my extreme surprise, the elevator on the opposite side of battlefield brought up an old woman. She was dressed pretty rich, in a wide purple dress and all that… with a cone in her hands and REALLY scary glance.
"I am Agatha of the Elite Four." She loudly introduced herself. Well, her voice didn`t sound that old as I expected. "I heard Oak has taken a lot of interest in you, child."
"You know professor?" I was surprised to hear that. "It`s an honor to meet you."
"Hah!" She laughed arrogantly. "That old duff was once tough and handsome… He battled a lot, and he was pretty good at that! But that was decades ago..."
"I have to say, he still battles." I didn`t like her tone, and thus tried to protect professor Oak. "We recently had a battle, and it was some awesome performance!" Yeah, I did embellish some facts of that.
"All his battles are done just for the purpose of his… science! They lack spark, they lack gamble. He does too… He`s a shadow of his former self. Now he just wants to fiddle with his PokeDex." The old lady kept on scolding professor. Maybe, she is right and professor actually was a promising trainer back in the days, but it`s his choice to devote his life to studying the nature around us.
"You know, someone has to do this!" I opposed her. "To understand the world we live in, he has to study pokemon! It`s his passion!"
Agatha just lowered her head and shook it with her eyes closed.
"He is wrong. Pokemon are for battling! And if you think the same way he does, then you`re nothing more than a soulless nerd like him!" With these words she began to insult ME, and this is a thing I don`t like. "Still, I`m curious how you made this far… Maybe, you just never met a trainer to put you on your place."
This is going too far. These rich bastards may have strong pokemon and years of experience, but this doesn`t put them higher than us! I slowly begin to realize that it`s not a pokemon battle that is difficult in the Pokemon League… It`s keeping yourself calm and under control. It will be pretty ugly if I beat this annoying old woman with her own stick.
"Vengeance…" She distracted me once more, staring right into my soul. "No matter what battles you had earlier… I will put you on your place! I will show how a real trainer battles!"
And after that she threw her first pokeball on the field, releasing a Gengar. The creature was much like my own, maybe a bit smaller. But this doesn`t mean weaker.
"Loser, let`s go! Make this thing LOSE!" I yelled fiercely, releasing my champion.
The sight of just another Gengar on the field made Agatha smile. She squeezed the pokeball-shaped top of her cone and cunningly looked at me.
"You should be more serious, child. This won`t take you anywhere." She taught me. "Gengar, use Shadow Punch!"
"Loser, prepare the Shadow Fury, Phase one!" I gave my command.
My pokemon turned into shadow and appeared before opponent to launch his preventive attack in a form of Sucker Punch. Enemy growled from anger after this and performed an attack of his own – Shadow Punch reached my pokemon and threw him back. Fair exchange.
Agatha shook her head disapprovingly after this show.
"Don`t try to be smart, child!" She warned me. "You won`t be smarter than me. Shadow Punch again!"
"Heh, Shadow Fury, Phase two!" I gladly commanded.
This time was for two pokemon to attack again. The strongest attacks – a melee punch from the enemy and distanced missile from us landed their hits, heating the battle up. I could see all the damage we already suffered, and I`m sure we can proceed. We`ll take our chances.
"Now, Phase three!" I gave the order to Loser.
"Stop it, Double Team!"
Great, I predicted her perfectly. Now my pokemon performed a spell to sacrifice his energy in order to create a curse over enemy while he tries to create fake images of himself and hide behind them. Won`t work!
The spell hits anyway, hurting Gengar and making our victory closer. I can already see it on the screen. But my pokemon is in even worse position – as always, one hit decides everything.
"Finish it, Shadow Punch!" Agatha angrily commanded.
"Heh, nice… Phase four!" I said evilly and looked how my pokemon uses the Sucker Punch to make sure our move will go first… and brings us first victory there.
"Agatha`s Gengar is unable to battle! Vengeance`s Gengar is the winner!" The announcement spread over the marble stadium.
Agatha returned her first battler and looked through me with her eyes narrowed.
"Here it is, the style of Oak. Ruthless, cunning… I recognize it now." She quietly said, exploring me. "But you seem to make a large step forward. Did he teach you this?"
"The maneuvers? No, this is whole my idea." I honestly replied.
"I see…" Agatha quietly whispered and released on the field her second pokemon that flew high up and spread his wings.
It was a really large Golbat. Curious.
"Heh… This is going to be fun." I smiled and switched the poor Gengar with another monstrous being – the mighty Dumpling. "Start with Steel Wing, my boy!"
"Golbat, we will start with Poison Fang!"
Two flying pocket monsters rushed to each other, preparing their limbs and teeth for an attack. So Dumpling landed a hit with his strong wing but left it opened for Golbat to bit exactly there. The poison effect took its place immediately, causing the shiver over all Charizard`s body.
"Well, that was expected. Get the hell back and use Flamethrower!"
"Golbat, Confuse Ray!" Old woman strictly ordered.
This time both pokemon started from a safe distance from each other. The powerful stream of flame shot from our side and colorful impulse shot from the other. In a second Golbat got enveloped by the flames that pushed him back and left with a nice burn on wings. But his attack also reached its target and exploded Charizard`s mind causing confusion. The monster began to growl, looking around and searching his enemy… literally seeing him on the column nearby… and deciding best to ram it with his head. This looked hurt. And bad!
"Wonderful. Now use Bite!" Agatha nodded, squeezing the top of her cane.
"Dumpling, Dumpling! Stop right there, we have been through this…" I yelled at my pokemon. Confusion effect was a real trouble earlier, but we have found a way to fight it. It works… sometimes… "Persim command!"
Charizard recovered from the strong hit of column and hovered on place. Hearing the familiar voice, he stopped and began to remember what this command means. His opponent, however, didn't waste time and bit Dumpling in his long neck with strong fangs. But my pokemon reacted too fast – and luckily at the same time. He did perform our patented medicine from confusion that consists of flying straight down until collision with ground… If we`re lucky, Dumpling will snap out right before the collision and flies up… But not this time. Not with a Golbat still attached to his neck.
The huge fall raised a small could of dust that quickly dissolved. Dumpling stood up, still wandering around, confused. But his opponent remained defeated on the crushed marble floor.
"Golbat is unable to battle. Charizard emerges victori… OW!" Sudden yell of commentator distracted me and made look up. Still under effect of confusion, Dumpling accidentally launched his Flamethrower in random direction, which also accidentally happened to be the commentator`s hat. So it got burned into nothing. I guess, I should return this guy until he spoiled something else.
"You act of luck, my dear Vengeance…" The old woman addressed me. "These events should have happened the other way."
I still don`t appreciate the way she sees things, but at least she can keep herself in her hands and calm. Not like that brute Bruno.
"Nope, they should not." I replied her in a childish manner. "They could not. I was destined to win."
"We forge our victories, not our destiny." She moved her right hand away, showing me her palm. "Ghosts know this better than anyone. They live two lives at least!" She sent out her next pokemon – and this time it was Haunter. Interesting… Could this Haunter be stronger than her Gengar she sent first? "You wished to show me you`re smarter? I`m gonna show you the opposite!"
"Fine. My Moment will deal with this in a moment!" I said and threw the pokeball of my own Golbat to the battlefield. If we`re lucky enough, we can bite this thing till the end! "So, start with Bite, please!"
"Use Mean Look, Haunter!" Agatha whispered very, very meanly.
Da-a-a-amn, another new move for me! I have to act carefully and find out what it is.
Golbat rushed to his opponent, going to pierce the ghostly 'flesh' with his fangs. The attack went strong on Haunter, causing him screech from diabolic pain. Still, after that he stared at my Moment, creating the dark image of his evil eyes right in the air and shooting it at his opponent. This struck my partner, but… didn`t seem to have any effect.
"Heh… Now use Curse!" The old lady kept giving orders. Judging by her cunning smile, she is definitely up to something. Something bad…
"Let`s try to attack with Confuse Ray." I carefully commanded. No need of rash actions here.
We struck our foe with confusing attack, causing the desired effect, but the opponent still managed to perform a spell of his own and curse my Golbat. Now, as I see a huge ghostly nail hammering in his head and the explosion followed after, I feel his pain too.
"Well-well, now let`s put this baby to sleep… Hypnosis!" Agatha began to heighten her voice. I don`t like this…
"Hit him with Wing Attack!" I shouted.
And once again we managed to perform a perfect and quite strong strike on the enemy… before he casted another spell with his evil red eyes and sent my partner to slumber.
"Oh, god damn it…" I swore and took out Moment`s pokeball to bring him back. "We`ll deal with it la… Wha..?" I exclaimed surprised, because the beam didn`t work. Well, it was reaching Golbat`s snoring body and all, but didn`t return him! It was like something is blocking him…
Mean Look. That has to be it!
I can see the evil grin on Agatha`s face. She did outsmart me, now I can see it. I should not mess with this old lady…
"Moment, wake up!" I yelled at my partner from despair and began to look around in searches of something to throw at him. Unfortunately, there was nothing fitting around me, so my missile happened to be an empty bottle. It struck Moment perfectly even from such distance, but even more unfortunately didn`t work.
"And now… Dream Eater!" My opponent gladly announced the finale of her grand plan. I can only guess what it is.
Haunter focused on my lying Golbat and stretched his claws forward. The powerful purple explosion hit Moment and threw him back, leaving just the clot of energy that flew into Haunter and healed him.
"Looks like Golbat is unable to battle anymore…" The commentator announced unsurely. When I looked up at the status screen I was confused a bit – my pokemon still had some energy left to fight… But right after that the effect of Curse exploded in the mind of my pokemon, finishing him. I realized that guy is right – Moment is done.
"Ugh, fine. This one is on you." I admitted Agatha`s victory in this round and now managed to return Moment back. "Lei Sheng, get over here and finish it right!" Mighty Lei Sheng entered the field with a loud roar to end this. "Use Bite!"
Suddenly I caught Agatha`s evil glare on me. This woman still has more in her sleeve.
"Sacrifices… are things that ghosts know best." She mysteriously whispered, even scaring me a bit. "Use Mean Look!"
Battlers proceeded with executing their commands. Damn, she is trying to repeat this trick again… At least, we already landed a successful hit. Let`s see what will happen now…
"Bite, once more!" I gave an order.
"Now and for once… Use Curse!"
That was sudden. Using Curse may be very risky for her – judging by screen, Haunter has barely half of his energy left. At risky this was…
Lei Sheng opened his mouth wide and rushed to the enemy, ready to bite it. Still, our foe stood still and calm, casting his spell. When the cursed connection between both pokemon happened… This literally killed him. Well, as far as a ghost can be killed.
He sacrificed ALL his remaining energy to curse my Lei Sheng and fainted even before we managed to land our hit.
"Haunter is unable to battle. Gyarados still stands…" The commentator carefully announced.
Now I get it… Agatha sacrificed her pokemon to weaken mine. Curse can be ended only by switching pokemon, but I can`t do this because of Mean Look! Now my Lei Sheng will get constant damage until the very end. She tricked me twice in a row! Oh, this is really tough.
"I see this familiar look on your face…" She suddenly distracted me from my thoughts. "You`re confused. You didn`t expect all this, right? Well, this is only the beginning." She sent out another pokemon on the field, continuing the fight…
…and, to my surprise, it appeared to be a really huge Arbok.
I still feel some wild hatred towards this kind… The neck automatically began to sting, reminding me of my life goal. But this is not about me or my mission now. It`s all about my pokemon. It`s their moment to shine.
Now I slowly begin to realize what is happening before me. I have to admit, this Agatha of Elite Four has some real guts. Her looks are totally deceiving - she knows how to battle, she has STRATEGY. I now understand that my previous foes were totally different too – some use my lack of experience and knowledge about moves, some tried to take on us with brute force… Maybe, THIS is the specialty of each of four member - not by type, but by style of battle?
Okay, I need to focus on battle. What do we have now? Two snake-like pokemon, with the only big difference that mine is almost twice bigger than the opponent. Still, this may not be our advantage. This may be the complete opposite… But they roar with intimidation at each other like equals, that`s for sure.
"Arbok, start with Sludge Bomb!" Agatha commanded her pokemon to begin.
"Nevermind that. Dragon Dance!" I gave the order of my own.
I decided to use the defensive tactic that we tried out earlier. Lei Sheng seems to be able to take on special attacks pretty good, so he can withstand one or two. And meanwhile we get prepared to strike!
As I thought, while my pokemon was spinning around and tensing his muscles to become stronger and faster, enemy successfully shot a big clot of painful acid. This should warn us - but no. The final word will be ours.
"Bite him!" I ordered.
"Bite him too!" Agatha calmly repeated.
Two fearsome monsters clashed at the center, crunching each other's skin in order to deal more damage. Lei Sheng almost swallowed the whole tail of Arbok, but the enemy`s grip was tight too – I have to admit it. Bigger mouth does not always stronger.
"Use Leer!" I gave my command for the next round, when battlers disconnected from each other.
"Screech on it, Arbok!" Agatha did the same thing.
In this competition I obviously lose – Screech affects pokemon`s defensive capability more than Leer, I could feel it myself. I guess, even TV viewers could. This horrible sound… She prepares us to get a powerful physical attack. Maybe, we should not let her Arbok closer.
"Throw him away with Hydro Pump!" Was my next order.
"Sludge bomb…"
With the perfect and strong attack from our side, pushing Arbok the hell away to the other end of field, we gained some distance. But opponent knew how to counter it – with his own distanced attack that splashed all over Lei Sheng`s face and, unfortunately, poisoned him.
I guess, I start to realize her tactic… Her Arbok is actually strong as physical attacker – Screeching on the defenses and then piercing through them with Bite like nothing. Obviously, the challenger will try to keep the dangerous pokemon at bay… but even from the distance they have their answer – Sludge Bomb that gives even more advantage if poisons! That`s clever, Agatha, that`s very clever.
The time runs out and both pokemon slowly grow fatigued… And Arbok does not surrender to my monstrous Gyarados. I need to think of something to gain the initiative. What if I try this…
"Use Leer again!" I ordered my pokemon.
"Screech, Arbok. Screech." Agatha said, proving the part of my guess… Arbok knows a set of moves identical to Lei Sheng`s. So Agatha makes him use the identical in order to counter mine. She feels the dominance over the battle and wants to keep it at balance… To deal the final strike when needed! I will not allow her.
Our pokemon once more exchanged frightening glares and screeches and retreated back. Gyarados is all twitching and shaking, I guess, still hearing the echoes of that sound.
The end is near…
"And now, finally… Use Iron Tail!" With all her anger Agatha shouted.
This is the moment I thought about.
"Intercept it with Bite!" I quickly improvised. I was sure that Lei Sheng has enough reaction to catch the steel-powered tail of Arbok heading to him. And I was right! Of course, the inertia bended Gyarados back a bit, but when he forced himself to straight, Arbok`s free end got hit by the ground. "Nice! And now slap the bad ground with this Arbok!"
Caught by the heat, Lei Sheng swung the cobra pokemon and crushed into the ground.
"No, damn you! Shoot Sludge bombs! Free yourself!" Agatha immediately became alive and worried, seeing that now the situation is going from under control.
"Do that one more time, Lei Sheng!" I cheerfully shouted to my pokemon. " And then toss him at that column!"
Gyarados squeezed his jaw harder to keep the grip on Arbok`s tail and withstood all sludge attacks from the enemy. But with each thrust strength was leaving our opponent`s body. After one more good hit Lei Sheng made a final swing and released the tail, letting its owner to fly in the direction of nearest marble pillar.
"Born to crawl… CAN fly!" I proudly said before the loud 'BAM!' sounded across the whole stadium. The result was obvious.
"Arbok is unable to battle. Gyarados wins the round!"
I already forgot about that annoying guy… I forgot about everything around me – about stadium, about viewers and the whole League. I`m completely into the battle, and I`m slowly winning it! Just one more pokemon to go – and it is three of four ready. But it`s too early to go easy… The final pokemon is always the core of problems.
"Well, looks like Oak studies you well." The old woman nodded with a restricted smile on her face, while returning Arbok. "Maybe you do have what it takes to become a pokemon master."
"Really?" I exclaimed happily. At the first sight, that sounded really inspiring. On the second thought, I didn`t care. "I don`t care." I honestly voiced my thoughts. "I just want to use the perfect opportunity to check how strong we are. Maybe, learn something new and become even stronger."
"Oh, that`s it?" Agatha confusedly asked, caught by surprise by such answer. "Well then, I will give you one last chance to learn the experience of defeat…"
She did not take out another pokeball – she did not need it to. Suddenly, the top of her cane shaped as a pokeball appeared to BE a pokeball. With a cunning grin on her face, Agatha opened it and let she dark energy erupt outside, but quickly hide in her own shadow that began to move forward, against the lights. And then in the shadow itself… Gengar emerged.
Yeah, this one looks like a damn tough opponent. Definitely bigger than my Loser and much meaner… I already expect him to show us hell.
The biggest question is… who I am going to battle with? Except for Reaper and Harry, everyone already battled here and thus are injured and tired. Too bad that exactly Reaper and Harry are the worst suitable for Gengar – all our possible bug, grass and poison-type moves will be very weak. With Moment already out of game, Loser, Dumpling and Lei Sheng remain. Maybe, I should start with Loser – he had the most time to rest of them all.
"Okay, Loser, return there once more." I made a choice and sent out my Gengar on the field. He still recovers after his first battle with another Gengar. Ooh, too many Gengars battled here today… But it was actually Haunter who taught me a valuable lesson.
Once again, two Gengars stand on the battlefield, stare at each other. This time opponent obviously has the advantage – this monster is definitely her strongest pokemon. He is bigger, tougher, faster… So we have to show our best to overcome this.
"Use Shadow Ball, Gengar!" Agatha ordered her pokemon.
"Withstand it at any cost! And then use Curse, Loser!" I also gave my command not actually willing too.
Loser gave me a quick sorry look, knowing what awaits him. But he did it without doubts – starting to perform his spell of curse and laying it upon the enemy, losing all the strength and conscience right before the ball of dark energy hit him.
"Challenger`s Gengar is out of the game! Agatha`s Gengar wins this one!" Commentator announced the expected result.
"Go back, Loser. You did good." I quietly praised my fallen comrade and returned attention back to the field.
What do we have now? The enemy is cursed and his time is limited. The victory is almost at hand - we just need to survive for some rounds. We could also make this time even shorter by poisoning Gengar, but this won`t work. Maybe, here I need not a very strong or bulky pokemon… I need an agile and cunning one!
"Yes! Reaper, this one is on you!" I gladly released my final pokemon, choosing Beedrill. Let other have a rest – he can deal with it for sure.
Agatha`s Gengar tensed, seeing a fearsome bee pokemon before him. Agatha on the first sight surprised, seeing the choice I made, but then shook her head and concentrated.
"Let`s see what you have. Gengar, use Hypnosis!"
"Try to dodge that and use Agility, Reaper!" I too gave an order.
Opponent focused on Beedrill and his eyes began to shine evil red. The magic energy shot at my pokemon, but he skillfully dodged it and made some moves to stretch muscles and speed the blood in his veins. The mystic red glow stated that he has powered-up himself.
Agatha squeezed her teeth after this failure of hers, but remained calm and confident.
"We can try again. Hypnosis!" She said.
"Let`s proceed with Agility once more!"
This time Gengar was very close to putting my Beedrill to sleep, but Reaper was too pumped up to let this happen. He buzzed loudly and tensed his body once more – even stronger this time. The bright light covered him as he was working out to become even stronger.
"Fine, let`s change pace. Shadow ball!" Agatha quietly gave up on hypnotizing us. Now she is going into full assault.
"Pin missile!" I gave my command.
We need to stall time. All our attacks will barely touch Gengar, even the Twineedle, so we just need Curse to finish this job for us.
Reaper jumped aside, stretching his stings forward to take aim at Gengar and launched a set of sharp spikes. Opponent shot the ball of energy at us that collided with our missiles, causing an explosion and countering both attacks. Pokemon returned to their position, waiting for the next order.
"Good, now, Reaper, attack with Twineedle!" I sent my partner into the fight, wishing to end this faster.
Agatha looked at Beedrill quickly approaching her Gengar and laughed:
"Ha-ha! Great! Now Hypnotize it!"
That was our mistake. Let us perform a successful attack on Gengar, striking fiercely him with two stings at full speed, opponent barely felt that. But the proximity let him aim better and finally lay Hypnosis on Reaper. Now we have a sleeping be right in the middle of battlefield.
"Oh, come on, damn it!" I swore loudly. Sleeping condition is actually the one that we have most problems to overcome, aside of burning, maybe. And I have no more bottles to throw! Too bad. "Wake up, we need you!"
"Show it your best! Nightmare!" Agatha shouted very excitedly.
Reaper didn`t react to my call and continued sleeping. Maybe, he saw many battles he won and even more female Beedrills he got for that… Even if that was true, Gengar stopped this. The dark energy began to pulsate in the mind of my pokemon, making him shiver and feel pain right during his slumber. He began twitching like seeing a real nightmare. I don`t envy him, not at all.
But still, Agatha`s Gengar keeps suffering from curse even now. Each second of battle causes him to suffer pain, and according to the status screens, he is close to the end. His powers keep fading away…
"I need you to wake up. Need you to fight! Need you to keep winning, Reaper!" I shouted at my pokemon. "I know you can do this!"
"Hit it with Shadow Ball, Gengar…" Old woman wheezed satisfied, expecting an easy victory.
Sleeping Beedrill did not have a chance against the Shadow Ball heading straight to him. The impact threw him back and hurt quite a lot. But that was not all – the effect of Nightmare hit him again. I haven`t seen this move before, but now I realize this works like the Curse… but without killing yourself.
I looked up at the screen and got distressed – Reaper suffered too much damage. He is definitely not as hardy as Lei Sheng or even Harry, so he was already close to the edge. I could already see his body glowing, growing stronger, covering itself with a small swarm of particles, ready to activate his special ability… but he is sleeping! There is no point in it while he is sleeping!
By my example, Agatha looked at the screen too and shook her head. Her pokemon is pretty close to the end too, and she doesn`t want that to end.
"This is really unfortunate…" She said with disappointment in her voice while taking a flask of Full Restore of her pocket. "To fight the strongest of my pokemon… You send your weakest one! What`s the point, my child?"
Weakest? Reaper is not the weakest! There is no weakest pokemon in my team! How she dares to insult my pokemon!
"Ah, a weak point…" She joyfully said, examining my reaction. "How… curious!" the old woman made a long toss of medicine, aiming at her Gengar to completely restore his energy…
But this failed. The nightmares of Reaper put him to the edge. But they were not the worst – Agatha`s words were! They triggered a berserk state in this bee pokemon, immediately waking him up and making him fly and scream loudly across the whole stadium. Like a lightning, he rushed to the flying bottle and smashed it in pieces, surprising both Agatha and her Gengar. Right after that he powered-up his two stings and launched a smashing attack at shocked Gengar, sending him fly back and falling on ground. But even there he didn`t stop – releasing another enraged cry he rushed to fallen enemy and made a final strike that ended Gengar completely.
The silence fell upon the stadium for nearly a minute. Everyone tried to understand what the hell just happened, until the host himself found courage to announce it.
"Unbelievable! Agatha`s best Gengar is totally DOWN! Mighty Beedrill is the winner, and so the victory in Pokemon League goes to his master Vengeance!"
Only after that the stunning wave of applauds spread across the whole marble stadium. Such ending was unexpected to everyone. Well, maybe only Misty and Leaf were not very surprised, but they were clapping and cheering as hard as they could.
I lowered my eyesight at Reaper, still standing over the fallen body of Gengar. I have never seen him in his state… I sure reacted to Agatha`s mean words strongly, but he… he was ready to tear Gengar apart just to prove her wrong.
To prove he is not weak…
"Oh, my! You're something special, child!" Elite Four Agatha finally recovered after her own shock and stepped forward to open the top of her cane and suck inside her Gengar. After some more seconds of silence she sighed and smiled. "Well, no point denying the obvious. You win! I see what the old duff sees in you now. You do have a potential. I just hope you won`t waste it just on filling bug collections."
"Thank you. It was a great battle, I really learned a lot of new things… inside and outside of battle." I respectfully bowed to the old lady and returned Reaper back. Maybe, I should actually give him rest now.
"I've nothing else to say. Run along now, child!" Agatha waved her hand and stepped back on the platform to go down. Soon she disappeared under the floor and the bridge to her side began to move.
"Isn`t this amazing, guys?" The commentator over me shouted loudly. "Three victories for our challenger! Let`s see how he will handle the fourth one… After a commercial break!"
Everything began to prepare for moving to the fourth field where another challenge awaits for me…
Wait. Did I really just defeated the THIRD of the Elite Four? How can this be? Of course, this battle definitely was no pushover, but still… I do have a feeling that this might be a dream. A long and strange dream with a set-up in the end.
With each victory I feel like going deeper and deeper into a Beedrill`s nest… Worse than Team Rocket`s hideout. Worse than the dirtiest bandit lair in Kanto.
Is this the fear I feel? The ton weight over my soul that pressed down and hurts like hell. I still feel excited about the Pokemon League, about letting my pokemon feel the triumph over the strongest trainers of Kanto. But the deeper you go – the harder it is to go back. The higher I climb – the harder it will be to fall if I fail.
I do not want to fail. I can`t let myself have such luxury.
Ugh… I need to concentrate. My soul sufferings mean nothing – but pokemon can feel my worry and began to worry too. This can interfere our battles.
I slapped my face to snap out of the confusion. Enough of this, Ven! You`re in a Pokemon League! Times change, and you have to get used to it! Come on, show them what you and your team are capable of! This is nothing more but a Nugget Bridge Challenge.
With my fists squeezed tight and my teeth clenched I filled myself with pure determination and headed forward. Into the fourth stadium of Pokemon League…