From: Saint84_98@yahoo.com (Saint84_98@yahoo.com) Subject: [PW!] The Calm Before the Storm Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2000/05/25 Taron marched up to the doors of the Vermillion City Gym. He raised one foot, waited a second then..... BAM! Kicked it open with all the force he could muster. BAM! Another resounding concussion and the door banged shut again, right in Procyon and Suik's faces. They pushed it open and walked over to sit in the bleachers. Taron didn't notice. He drew in a breath. "SURRRGE!" He yelled, waited a moment. Surge came into the gym. Looked at who it was, then burst out laughing. "Well, well well. If it ain't the Fearow Kid. Back for more humiliation are ya?" Taron gritted his teeth and didn't reply. Surge laughed. "I'll be happy to oblige ya then." He snickered. Taron remained stone faced. "How many pokemon?" He said in a voice as cold as steel. This just made Surge laugh again. "I think a two on two would work." he nodded thoughtfully. Taron smirked, though even that was still as cold as ice. "Know this, Lieutenant, You won our last match because I made the mistake of getting overconfident, cocky. I paid the price for it. If you learn nothing else, learn this: Taron Kirelli does not make the same mistake twice." He plucked a pokeball from his belt. Threw it into the ring. It bounced a few times, then broke open. "Shrew." Surge laughed again. "Pikachu, come out and Hang Ten!" The pokeball he pitched broke open and released his Pikachu. It growled as it summoned a HUGE tidal wave out of nowhere, it loomed over Turmbleweed menacingly. "Dig underground." Tumbleweed swan dived into the ground and the wave fell harmlessly. Surge smirked. "I've been attacked by Dig enough to know how it works. Pikachu, Surf again." Another swell of water was summoned forth and sent forward just as Tumbleweed poked his head out of the ground. Just in time to get hit by it. It rolled with the wave and splatted against the far wall. It fainted with a small wheeze. Taron fell to his knees. "No!" He whispered. "Tumbleweed! No!" He recalled Tumbleweed dumbfoundedly. Surge recalled his fainted Pikachu. Tumbleweed's attack had gotten through and fainted the Pikachu. Well, Taron thought, At least that's something. "If you were any good at training, you would have saved that Sandshrew for last. Unless you have another ground pokemon in one of those pokeballs" he chuckled. He plucked a pokeball from his belt and pitched it into the ring. It cracked open with the sound of lightning. "FEEEAAARRROOWW!" A battle cry was issued forth. Procyon stood up shocked. "Taron? Are you crazy?" He shouted. Taron held up his hand, silencing him. "He's an idiot. What does he think he's doing?" Suik asked, then he began to laugh. Taron gritted his teeth "Raichu, come on out." Surge chucked his Raichu's pokeball out. It broke open and his Raichu emerged. When it saw who it was fighting, it laughed. Talon glared and flapped it's wings menacingly. "C'mon Talon, let's prove to them that we ain't no laughing matter." Talon nodded. Raichu blasted off a thunderbolt, which missed horribly. Taron wondered for a moment if maybe it was playing with Talon. "Fury Attack." Taron called. Talon nodded. It took to the air, circled twice then stooped into a dive. halfway towards the ground it unfurled it's wings to absorb the shock, raked it's talons forward and picked up Raichu. it took to the air again. It flew for a few moments. Raichu began to charge up an electrical attack. Talon dropped it, it fell to the mat below like a stone. It discharge the electricity harmlessly. Talon grinned for a moment, ( as well as a creature with a beak can grin anyway.) It stooped into a dive once again, and buzzed the raichu, it then dived and landed a vicious peck to the orange rat. It rolled across the floor, then got to its feet. "Raichu, Thunderbolt it NOW!" Surge ordered. Raichu nodded, then scrunched over as sparks began to fly across it's fur. "RAICHU!" A crackle of thunder accompanied the attack as it sailed towards its target. Talon slumped to the floor after taking the 1,000 volts of electricity into it's body. It lay there for a moment, seemingly fainted. But Taron knew otherwise. Now, as most people know, the supreme law of nature is Survival of the Fittest. Nature grants every creature what it needs to survive, compensating weaknesses with some other strength. Fire loses to water, but can beat grass, grass loses to fire but beats water, water beats fire and loses to grass. Checks and Balances. Taron is blind. So nature, in her infinite wisdom, granted Taron another sense to compensate for his loss of sight. What most people would call a Sixth Sense, though to Taron was only five. A slight amount of Extra Sensory Perception. It wasn't something he could do automatically, like most skills it took much practice. And like most skills of the paranormal, it wasn't something he could do constantly, it took a considerable amount of energy. The ability to sense someone's lifeforce. That was his gift. Now, that may not sound like much, especially when you compare to to someone like Sabrina. But with this power came something else. He could transfer his own energy into another being. This, obviously, was even more exhausting than just sensing the lifeforce. Focus... He closed his eyes and began to concentrate. He refused to lose this battle, even if he had to sleep for three days afterward. Focus... Suddenly it was like a veil had been lifted, he could see them. He could see the lifeforce of every creature in the room. Procyon, agitated nervous watching the battle. Wondering if his friend was nuts. Suik, calm confident, uncaring. Surge, cocky, swaggering. He focused on the one that was his Fearow, he focused on Talon. He began the transfer his own energy into it. To everyone watching, Talon just suddenly got up. As if it had a second wind, no one realized what Taron was doing. No one thought much about it when Taron's shoulders slumped and leaned heavily against the railing in front of him. "How did it....?" Surge asked dumbfounded. His face hardend. "Raichu, give it another blast!" Another crackle of thunder. Which missed, amazingly. Apparrently Raichu was just to shocked to aim straight. "Okay... Talon, use a.... a Peck." Taron gasped. Talon flew forward and jabbed it's beak into Raichu. It growled and began to charge up another attack. Talon pecked it again, before being shocked. Once the smoke cleared, The participants found both pokemon knocked out. Taron concentrated and fed a little bit more energy into Talon, just enough for it to get up. However shakily he did so. Yeah, you might think he was cheating. Taron sure did. He didn't care though. Surge had humiliated him, and he wanted to make sure he paid for it. He broke the concentration it took to maintain his sense. He instantly gained back a little energy, though only a fraction of what he lost in the ordeal. He strode confidently up to Surge and demanded his Thunder badge. Surge gave it to him grumbling. He then returned his fainted Raichu, turned around and stormed off to the back room. Taron returned Talon, pinned the badge to his jacket, then slowly walked out of the gym and towards his hotel. "I need to rest." He muttered to a shocked Procyon and Suik. After dropping his pokemon off at the center, Taron headed back to his room, slumped in his bed and fell asleep. TBC.