Subject: [PW!] [WC] A Twist In Round One - Belle vs. Sissy Date: Wed, 04 Dec 2002 03:51:22 GMT From: Rob <robfrompw@yahoo.com> Organization: AT&T Worldnet Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Belle recalls the blue and yellow Lanturn in the pool before her into the Great Ball in her hand. She's been going over his moves with him, to make sure he knows them in case Timmy, her fellow student of the Cianwood City Gym, who traded the Fish Pokemon to her, told her fake attack names to make her look incompetent. Fortunately, the Lanturn does know everything Timmy said he does, and Belle is now ready to battle. She jogs over towards the exit of the preparation area... But an official Whirl Cup Guard blocks her, "Where do you think you're going, miss?" "Out to battle in the Whirl Cup." Belle tosses her blonde hair back, "Is there a problem with that?" "Yes. One, the other Karate Kid is still out there battling Violet." The Guard consults a clipboard he's holding before adding, "And two, you don't look like your name's Hokori, and he's up next." A half-human, half-Sandslash with a concerned look on his face walks up to the guard, his eyes looking off to the side at all the water Becky's Lapras and Violet's Dewgong are splashing onto the stone platform Becky's standing on, "Hi, I'M Hokori, and she can go before me if she wants to... in fact, everyone else can go before me too. I don't mind..." Memories of how A.J. used to force him underwater repeatedly to "toughen him up" when he was a Sandshrew surface in his mind and he shudders. The Guard looks down at his clipboard again as he asks Belle, "What's your name?" The gi-clad girl answers, "Belle." "In that case, you're up next." The Guard tells Belle, then he looks down and speaks into one of the cufflinks on his blazer, "Change of plans - match four is match three now. I repeat, match four is match three now. Subsequent match numbers may have to be altered as well." Seconds later, Violet's Dewgong is finished off by a Psychic attack from Becky's Lapras, and as Becky heads out to meet up with Travis, the announcer of the Whirl Cup Competition is heard throughout the Coliseum, "The next match, Hokori versus Lily, should be a... what? We're skipping ahead to match four? Well, why didn't you tell me sooner?! You JUST heard about it? What do you mean you... STILL ON THE AIR?! Sorry about that folks, there's been a slight change of plans. The next match will be between Belle, who's representing the Cianwood City Gym, and Sissy, the Mikan Gym Leader. Trainers, approach the field!" Belle is eager to comply as she runs out onto the platform. Her feet slip on puddles that have formed on the stone platform from the previous match, but she manages to stay standing. She would have fallen into the pool had it been two months ago, but her teacher, the Gym Leader Chuck, had taught her balance, among other things, in the past two weeks she's been training with him. She glances around the huge crowd sitting in the audience of the Coliseum until she sees young men wearing karate gis sitting near the shirtless muscular man named Chuck. She waves to her Master, then faces her opponent... Sissy doesn't waste any time after she steps out onto her platform on the other side of the Coliseum - she immediately tosses a Pokeball into the giant pool before her, "Seadra, I choose you!" The Seadra emerges from the water and looks around, wondering where she is and why there aren't any targets set up for her to shoot at with her Water Gun attack. "Sissy's choosing to use her Seadra, a pure Water Pokemon, for this one-on-one match." The announcer once again points out the obvious to the crowd as a Seadra's image appears on the stadium's Big Screen TVs, "The Seadra appears to be confused, possibly because she was expecting Sissy to use her Blastoise instead." Noticing her Pokemon's confusion, Sissy calls out to her, "You're gonna battle a Pokemon today, Seadra, not just beat one at target practice - I chose you because you maneuver so well underwater and we've got to be quick to win this match!" "You can lose it just as quickly." Belle remarks quietly. Aware that Electric attacks are strong against pure Water Pokemon, she tosses her Lanturn's Great Ball into the pool. The second she sees the fish Pokemon's yellow bulb emerge from the pool, as the announcer declares that Belle has selected a Lanturn, Belle shouts, "Lanturn, use Spark!" "Seadra, Agility!" Sissy calls out to her Seadra, hoping the added speed will give her Pokemon the edge it'll need to win. Sissy's Seadra, not having battled in a while, ends up being hit with the Spark that shoots out of the bulb of the Lanturn she's sharing the pool with. Shocked, but not defeated, the Seadra uses Agility and starts swimming in circles around the gigantic pool she's in at a rate of about one lap per ten seconds. Belle tries following the Seadra with her hazel eyes, but the Pokemon's swimming so fast that she ends up cross-eyed. Belle shakes her head to dispel the dizzy spell and shouts, "Lanturn, use Spark again! I guess it doesn't matter which direction you use it in, since chances are the Seadra will run into it in a few seconds regardless..." Sissy gasps when she sees sparks coming from the Lanturn's bulb, "Seadra, release your Smokescreen into the water and dive!" "Dooo!" Sissy's Seadra sticks her snout in the pool and spews a Smokescreen, which darkens the water. The obedient Pokemon then dives into the darkness and when Lanturn shoots his Spark out this time, it misses the speedy Pokemon, hitting one of the stone walls of the Coliseum instead. Before Belle can issue her next order, Sissy yells into the pool, "Now, Seadra, use Twister!" Belle watches as a whirlpool forms in the center of the pool, then as it grows out into a water spout, she remembers that she still hasn't issued a command, "Lanturn, use an attack you don't gotta aim - send a Confuse Ray throughout the pool!" "Aaaaaa!" The blue and yellow Lanturn is swallowed up by the Twister in the center of the pool and he gets dizzy as he spins around and around almost as rapidly as the Seadra was circling the pool earlier! He's finally launched out of it and he crashes against one of the walls of the Coliseum. "Tuuurn..." As the dizzy, now injured fish out of water slides down the wall, his eyes glow and he unleashes a Confuse Ray into the water below, moments before he splashes back into it. Sissy notices how hurt the Lanturn was by the Dragon attack and she yells into the water, "One more Twister should finish him off, Seadra!" Belle stares at the center of the darkened pool, where the water starts being sucked inwards - she bites her lip, afraid that she's about to lose the match... until the Seadra floats up out of the water, spitting out the disgusting Smokescreen-tainted water she just inhaled since she thought it would be a tasty drink. Clearly, Lanturn's Confuse Ray worked. Belle shouts, "Quickly, Lanturn, finish her off with Take Down!" "Laalaaa!" The Fish Pokemon nods then builds speed as he swims over to where Sissy's Seadra is still spitting in disgust... Sissy, now afraid that she's going to lose the match, calls out, "Seadra, knock the Lanturn away with your Water Gun!" ...but before her Seadra can attack, the Lanturn collides with her, sending her flying! This time it's the Seadra who crashes into one of the walls of the Coliseum, but unlike Lanturn, when she splashes into the water, she does so fainted. When Sissy's unconscious Seadra floats up to the surface of the water, the referee on the sidelines declares, "Seadra has been defeated! The match goes to Belle of the Cianwood City Gym!" "We did it! Awesome work, Lanturn!" Belle turns her attention to where Chuck is sitting in the audience and she smiles when she sees her stern teacher crack a smile himself. She recalls the Lanturn who just won the match and calls out to Sissy, "Hey, when the announcer introduced you, he said you were a Gym Leader... now that I beat you, don't you owe me a Badge?" "Just for beating me in a Pokemon battle?" Sissy recalls her fainted Seadra and shouts back to the Cianwood Gym student, "Oh yeah, sometimes I forget how things work here in Johto. No, I don't owe you a Badge - you'd have to win against my Seadra at target practice and win a race against my Blastoise to win a Coral Eye Badge from me!" "Forget it." Belle waves her hand, "That's too much work to go through to get a Badge with such an ugly name. Bye bye now!" She turns around and leaves the stone platform, planning to join Chuck in the audience to see the rest of today's matches. -Belle