From: Karnivax (karnivax@my-deja.com) Subject: [PW!] The Maleficent Seven, Part 3 Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2000-09-26 18:10:09 PST (OOC: Oh well, it's gonna be a four-parter. But really, I'm just treading water 'til G/S...) The match had come down to a two-on-two simultaneous battle. Kyle shakily clutched the Pokéballs containing Tassadar and Wildwing. Vincenzo very confidently took up his last two. The statuesque figure who was either Jessica or a Ditto posing as Jessica just stared vacantly into the arena. Spellbinder the Hypno, inside the arena's sound booth, blasted "The Extreme" from Final Fantasy VIII. "Alakazam! Psyduck! I choose you!" Kyle thundered as he tossed both Pokéballs out with one hand. The deeply meditating Tassadar materialized right in front of the walleyed Wildwing. Kyle immediately booted up his Pokédex to determine his current Pokémon's attacks. "What's th' matter? Savin' th' worst for last?" Enzo scoffed. He threw down his last two Pokéballs one after the other. "Gamera, Slyde, let's finish this!" On Enzo's side appeared a towering Blastoise and a frenetic Jolteon. Two doors at the top of Gamera's repaired carapace opened, and normal-sized water cannons popped out. "I decided not to replace Gamera's illegal cannon augments after yer Gengar destroyed 'em," Enzo quickly explained. "Not that that'll save ya! Slyde, Thunder Wave!" "Jolt!" Slyde barked. He jumped out in front of Gamera. Slyde's spines stood up as he proceeded to radiate rings of electricity. "Dodge it!" Kyle shouted. Without even opening his eyes, Tassadar floated up out of the Thunder Wave's way. Appropriately enough, Wildwing ducked under it. "Good, both of you! Tassadar, um...Flash attack!" "Alaaa..." The floating Tassadar opened his glowing eyes and thrust his spoons forward. A brilliant flash of light filled the arena. As the light cleared, Slyde was looking around, and Gamera was rubbing his eyes. "Slyde, Thunderbolt on Psyduck!" Enzo commanded. "Gamera, Earthquake on Alakazam!" "Jolt! Jolt!" "Blaaasss..." With a boost from Gamera, Slyde flew into the air and launched a mighty electric spear at Wildwing. Flailing his tiny limbs about, Wildwing was just barely able to jump out of the way. Gamera pounded the arena floor with his fist and sent an arrow- shaped seismic wave rumbling toward Tassadar. Tassadar took the physical blow head-on. After recoiling from the attack, the Alakazam clutched his head, inside which his highly advanced brain was jostling around from the impact. "Tassadar, Flash again!" Kyle ordered. "Wildwing, use...uh...I don't know...Surf?" "Kazam." Tassadar let off a another powerful burst of light. As this one subsided, Slyde was blinking rapidly and Gamera was rubbing his eyes harder. "Duck..." Wildwing waddled out in front of Tassadar. Using seemingly all of his mental faculties, Wildwing created a humble puddle of water underneath Slyde. As he tried to step out of it, Slyde slipped and fell into the puddle. "Jolt eon!" He then got up and irritably shook the water off like a dog. "Jolt..." Enzo doubled over with laughter. "Oh man!" he cried as he looked at the results of Wildwing's Surf attack. "This is rich! Slyde, let's get Alakazam outta th' way! Use Pin Missile!" Slyde's spines stood on end, and he launched a volley of five Pin Missiles into the air. Tassadar did not move. The Pin Missiles flew right by. Enzo's smile faded. "What do ya call that?!" he bellowed at Slyde. "He's losing his accuracy," Kyle noted. "Use Flash one more time!" "Kazam!" The third Flash attack went up. Slyde was still blinking abnormally after this one, but Gamera was starting to stumble about in near-blindness. "Slyde, Pin Missile again! Same target!" Enzo roared. Right away, Slyde fired off two more Pin Missiles. Neither of them hit their mark. "Argh! Gamera, Earthquake again! Same target!" Gamera slammed the ground with his other fist. The resulting seismic ring actually came closer to Wildwing than it did to Tassadar, but the wave dissipated right in front of the waterfowl. Enzo's jaw fell open. _Flash should buy us time...but I still don't know what to do with Wildwing!_ Kyle pondered. _What was it Jessica said about him? Something about...Amnesia...?_ Kyle's next order: "Tassadar, use Recover, and Wildwing, use...Amnesia!" Tassadar twirled his spoons, and a multicolored aura developed around him. Enzo fumed and cursed as the majority of Tassadar's wounds healed right up. An aura formed around Wildwing as well. He clutched his head and closed his eyes as if he were about to unleash some psychic blast...but then the aura faded, and Wildwing opened his eyes again. He looked even more confused than before. "Slyde, Gamera, same attack pattern!" Enzo boomed, determined to repeat the process until it worked. Gamera went before Slyde this time. The Blastoise hit the ground with both fists. And again the attack fell short of hitting either of Kyle's Pokémon. Next came Slyde. He unloaded four Pin Missiles...but this time, the pointy barrage nailed Tassadar. The Alakazam fell to the ground as the spines stuck in his lightly-armored body. "Same attacks as before!" Kyle called out. "We'll starve them!" From his position on the ground, Tassadar used Recover again and floated back up into the air. Wildwing used Amnesia a second time, but after this time, Wildwing no longer looked confused...quite the opposite, really. Enzo was turning red in the face as snarling unintelligibly at his Pokémon. Gamera and Slyde went ahead with the same attacks. Slyde unleashed a trio of Pin Missiles. And for the second time in a row, Slyde was right on target. Tassadar once again hit the floor. While the wounded Alakazam pulled the missiles out of his chest, Gamera hammered the ground as hard as he could. The pointed Earthquake zigged and zagged...then finally struck Tassadar. As if hit by a battering ram, Tassadar was knocked straight back several feet. His spoons flew from his hands as he came to a stop just inside the boundaries. "He's still in this!" Kyle shouted. "Look again," Enzo countered. He started to calm down. Kyle picked up one of Tassadar's spoons and gently poked the Alakazam's forehead with it. The psychic was breathing, but he was not conscious. Kyle's hope sunk as he realized only Wildwing stood against Enzo's Pokémon now. He withdrew Tassadar and made a silent plea to Goddish for divine intervention. "Wildwing, Amnesia one more time..." An ephemeral aura surrounded Wildwing for the third time. As this aura vanished, the Psyduck's eyes seemed to be on fire. "Let's make this quick! Slyde, Thunderbolt!" Enzo commanded. "Jolt!!!" Slyde bared his teeth and powered up for several seconds before discharging an mighty blast of lightning. The Thunderbolt scored a direct hit...but it did not even budge Wildwing. Enzo's face turned crimson. "What in hell...?!" "Hah!" Kyle uneasily laughed in an attempt to look like he had anticipated Wildwing standing up to the electric attack. "Wildwing, Surf now!" "Psyyy...!" Wildwing waved his stubby arms, and the whole arena started to rumble. "Jolt?" Slyde watched with both fear and amazement as a gigantic wall of water burst up in a ring around him. As Gamera backed away in surprise, the watery barrier collapsed upon itself and nearly crushed Slyde to death. Gamera was almost washed away in the powerful aftershock. After the Surf attack passed and dissolved into the floor, Gamera looked over at his teammate. It took Gamera's damaged vision quite a while to realize it, but Slyde had been knocked out in one hit. "I'll never doubt Jessica again!" Kyle thought out loud. Enzo fell to his knees in sight of this unbelievable spectacle. "We can't lose to this...this walking dinner!!!" he shouted as he withdrew Slyde. "Gamera, Earthquake!" But Gamera did not listen. He rubbed his eyes one last time. Witnessing the tiny duck's sudden surge of strength, Gamera had to prove that he was the greatest of all water Pokémon. He trained his water cannons on Wildwing as best he could in his near-blind state and unleashed the dreaded twin Hydro Pump that only a Blastoise could pull off. Gamera watched with glee as the cohesive water blasts rammed into Wildwing and exploded in a dazzling display of steam, bubbles, and water energy. Gamera ran into the cloud so he could be standing atop his defeated opponent when the steam cleared. Just seconds after Gamera disappeared into the cloud, however, he came flying right back out, courtesy of an Ice Beam the size of a tractor trailer. Gamera crashed to the floor and skidded on his carapace to a stop very near one of the boundary lines. Enraged, the giant turtle righted himself (with quite a bit of difficulty given his physiology) and decided to just go with an Earthquake. "Blaaastoise!" Another Earthquake tore through the arena floor...and missed its target completely. Gamera's vision had not improved. "Finish him off! Dig attack!" Kyle ordered. "Psy duck!" Dull claws slashing madly, Wildwing dug a hole and disappeared underneath the arena floor. "Blas?" The exhausted Gamera turned to his master for guidance. But the furious Enzo was just watching his own hair fall out. About half a minute later, a small portion of the floor burst up underneath Gamera. The proud Blastoise stumbled and tried to stay upright, but he did not stumble long before he collapsed. His eyelids fell. Wildwing squirmed out of the clay and slapped the fallen Gamera in the face a few times. The reptile offered no response. Wildwing flashed a "V for victory" sign. "Psy duck!" "You lose, Enzo!" Kyle shouted. "You lose!!!" "No..." Enzo snarled under his breath. He seemed to be in a lot of pain as he stood up and withdrew Gamera. "No...ya still...have one more Pokémon to beat..." "I beat all six of your Pokémon!" Kyle protested. "It's *over*, Enzo! Give me my Pokéballs back!" "One...more...Pokémon!" Enzo growled. His voice seemed to be changing. Kyle threw up his hands. "Oh, for Christ's sake! All right! What Pokémon is so great that you have to break your own rules to send it in? Your Hypno?" "No..." Enzo raised his left arm as it quickly transformed into a black Scyther blade. "...Myself!" (OOC: I promise I'll bring Panopticon back after this quartet is out of the way, I prooommmissse!) --K * A * R * N * I * V * A * X-- "There is no such thing as the Pika Cup" --Pokémon G/S preview CD