From: Continue <continue2@mindspring.com> Subject: [PW!][LEAGUE] A Falling Out (from: [PW!][LEAGUE] Indigo's command. Damian Fox vs. Sirius!) Date: Monday, February 14, 2000 6:59 PM >Damian looked over at Drake. "Okay, I’m going to need you here. >None of the other pokemon I have could get through a Dragonite and >be able to go through another pokemon, but I know you can do it." > >Drake looked over from his position by the young trainer’s side at >Reis. He visibly sniffed the air, then shook his head. "You’re right, I >could take that Dragonite out, but I’m not going to." > >Damian’s eyes went wide and he stammered a protest. "B-but why?" > >The Dragonite looked at the human and simply told him. "Just like we >agreed, if I don’t want to fight, I don’t fight. You’ll just have to make >do with one of your other pokemon." > >Damian was about to protest further when the referee made her >approaching presence known to him. "You have to choose your next >pokemon now, or you’ll be disqualified." <snip> >The referee didn’t need to check Foci since it had gone out of bounds. >The giant scoreboard showed the last of Damian’s blocks wink out >and the picture changed. It had Sirius’ picture and the words "Winner, >Congratulations!" Cheering erupted from the crowd and reporters >rushed on the field to try to get an interview with the winner. Damian feels numb as his last fainted pokemon disappears amid the red glow as it is sucked back into its pokeball. His feelings begin to change when he turns to look at Drake once again. The young trainer finds he has surprisingly little difficulty in shouting loud enough to be heard over the crowd by Drake. "Why did you do that?!" The Dragonite turns to face the human and looks down at him. "Your senses may not be strong enough to detect it, but that Dragonite on the field is female. She would also require quite a bit more experience to be able to face me in combat. If I had fought her, she could have been seriously injured. I didn’t want to do that." The noise from the crowd was quickly fading, but Damian’s voice didn’t quiet down as quickly. A pained expression began to form. "But, I lost because you wouldn’t fight! Couldn’t you have at least tried going in and holding back?" Both Drake’s voice and features retained an even and aloof air to them as he responded. "It’s possible, but I didn’t think it was worth the risk of unnecessarily injuring a female of my kind to inflate your ego." The Dragonite crossed his arms in front of himself while he was saying this. "It’s not as if you won’t be able to come back to the Games and compete next year. Besides, it’s not like it caused you lasting harm to have lost one for once." "Inflate my ego?!" If there wasn’t a Magnemite hovering above his right shoulder, Damian’s arm would have surely shot up with an accusatory finger pointing from the end of it. Instead his hands were balled into fists clenched at his sides. "You lied to me! You weren’t going to fight for me at all, were you? Did you even care about the agreement you made with me?!" If Drake had known Thunder, then there would have been dark clouds forming in the sky and rumbling would have been faintly heard. As it was his normally rounded facial features took on a hard and sharp cast. "I didn’t lie! I told you I would fight only if I thought it was a good idea. If it had been anything but a less-experienced female Dragonite, I would have done as I said and helped you!" One foot stepped forward as Damian shouted out "YOU NEVER HELPED ME!" Reptilian brow ridges sunk low in an expression of rage normally only seen on a beast wounded by kith and kin. "I NEVER HELPED YOU?!" Drake let the thunder of his voice echo off the stadium walls as he took in a deep breath, visibly calming himself as he did so. "Maybe you’ve forgotten about all the battles which might have been lost without me helping you! Do you remember Mount Moon? What about Grandpa Canyon? Outside of the Laramie Ranch?! Do you remember about any of the other times that I helped you? How about brining you to the places where you made you caught your first three pokemon?" The Dragonite paused again, pushing more of the anger down. "I think you need some time to remember what I’ve done for you, by yourself. I’ll come back when I think you’re ready." With that Drake turned and started to walk off. Despite the anger and pain clouding his vision, Damian looked through his backpack for something. Something he hadn’t even considered using for a very long time. He found it and pulled it out. The young trainer’s voice still held the anger it had before, but not the volume. "You’re not going anywhere." Drake turned and saw what Damian held out. A pokeball, his pokeball. He knew that it was a message. A threat of imprisonment for an imagined betrayal. All of his emotions were hidden as he said "Yes, I’m going. And you won’t be using that on me." A rainbow glow appeared in the dragon pokemon’s eyes. It lasted for only a second before the beams lashed out, barely grazing the pokeball and striking the ground behind and to Damian’s side. Six feet of packed clay absorbed the blow so that there was only a tiny impact crater made in the concrete foundation. The glancing blow caused the pokeball to explode in the young trainer’s hand. He cried out in pain. Drake quickly turned and leaped into the air, taking flight and leaving the stadium. The heated exchange had become noticed by others and a couple of League personnel rushed out of the stadium tunnels. They rushed over to the young trainer, along with the referee from the match, who had remained on the field. By the time they reached him, Damian was on the ground clutching his wrist, with tears in his eyes. Jeff Hauser* *Sig Sold Seperately