From: William Rendfeld (warendfeld@aol.com) Subject: [PW!][SC][R1] More than Alex's Match Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2003-12-02 16:33:05 PST (NS: To quote the readers, "It's about damn time!") More than Alex's Match The crowds within the Silver Stadium roared in excitement following the exciting first match in the Silver Conference Finals. From his perch atop one of the stadium's many light fixtures, ShadowWarrior the Murkrow scanned the crowd below, searching for the purple-haired Aerie. Thus far, he had not met with any success. "Talk about a big crowd," the small Murkrow noted to himself. "I hope Alex pulls off this next match okay, she's got a lot of competition." As ShadowWarrior scanned the crowd beneath him, a red tuxedo-clad man with an eyepatch and a moustache walked out to the Grass Field below. The man brought a microphone up to his hand, and began, "Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, it gives me great pleasure to introduce the competitors for this, the second match of the first round for the Silver Conference!" The crowd cheered with pleasure as the man continued, "Entering from the East Side of the stadium from the distant Hoenn region, Ben!" Amidst the crowd's cheers, Ben entered, nervously trying to mat down his messy hair a bit for the match. He had not heard much about his opponent, but he was not planning on taking her lightly. "And entering from the West Side of the stadium!" the announcer-cum-referee called, regaining the attention of the fans, "A lovely little lady all the way from Lilycove City! Give it up for Alexandria Masters!" Amidst the cheering crowds, Alex stepped onto the Grass Field, a smile on her face as she waved to the fans. The previous night, she had spent several hours dealing with her mother (who was most surprised to discover that her daughter was in the Silver Conference), her Pokémon (who, aside from Surtur the Combusken, were more than surprised to discover their trainer's secrets), and a plan to find the missing Aerie. The best Alex could come up with at the time was having ShadowWarrior scan the field while she and the other competitors battled. Alex held out some hope that Aerie may well be somewhere in the stands while the other Aerie (In reality her father, the powerful Ditto known as Dee and feared as Doppler) competed in her place. Despite a few qualms on Dee's part, it looked as if this were their best option. _I only hope it works,_ Alex thought as she and Ben took their places on the field. While Alex had some slight unease about the whole mess she was in, Ben was distracted in a different way. _Wow, she's cute!_ he couldn't help but think. Snapping both trainers back into the battle, the announcer-cum-referee announced, "This battle will be three-on-three, with no time limit! Are the trainers ready?" Both Alex and Ben nodded in confirmation. "Then let's get started!" the announcer cried out, flinging off both his eyepatch and his tuxedo jacket. With his jacket gone and his eyepatch (which had only been covering a working eye) in his remaining hand, the announcer cried out, "Pokémon League Silver Conference Round One, Match Two, All Set! Ready?" The announcer then stretched his arms over his head in a dramatic display and cried, "Go!" The familiar performance perked Alex's spirits a bit as Ben pulled out a Poké Ball and cried out, "Go, Blade!" From the Poké Ball emerged a massive Aggron, the glistening silver armor across its back, head and knees catching the sun and dramatically reflecting it. Alex smiled, pulled Surtur's Poké Ball from her belt, and cried out, "I choose you, Surtur!" The agile Combusken emerged from his Poké Ball, fully prepared for battle. Ben quickly called out, "Blade, Take Down attack!" The large Aggron rumbled towards Surtur, every step shaking the ground like a minor earthquake. "Surtur, dodge it, then use Rock Smash!" Alex cried, hoping to go for a type advantage. Surtur quickly dodged the massive attack by jumping into the air, then slammed down upon the massive Aggron's head. The damage taken, however, was negligible as Surtur bounced off. "Blade, Metal Claw!" Ben cried out. "Follow it up with Iron Tail!" As Surtur came down for a landing, Blade raked across Surtur's chest, knocking the smaller Pokémon back into the air slightly. Surtur found himself going skyward a slight bit more as Blade turned around and knocked the small Combusken aside with his Iron Tail attack. Surtur skidded to a halt in the ground, using his claws to help slow his momentum. He slowly moved to his feet before saying to his Trainer, "<Alex, I cannot hold out much longer.>" "I know," Alex admitted. "There's gotta be a weakness in that Aggron's armor…" A thought suddenly coming to her, Alex snapped her fingers and declared, "Eureka! Surtur, another Rock Smash! This time, aim for the chest area." Surtur quickly realized Alex's plan, and once more made a mad dash towards his opponent. He quickly jumped into the air as the massive Blade tensed his chest. The attack hit home, but once more did little damage. Surtur landed without much incident a small distance away. "Now Blade, Earthquake attack!" Ben cried out. "Surtur, dodge it!" Alex yelled. Surtur quickly jumped into the air as Blade pounded a hand into the ground, setting off a massive Earthquake attack. The first shockwave went unnoticed, but Surtur landed just in time to experience the aftershock. The fiery chicken-like Pokémon was knocked to the ground, barely conscious. From her position in the Trainer's box, Alex was beginning to think that she should recall Surtur, not wanting to risk his very life. As her thoughts began to shift, Surtur seemed to take on a fiery glow. "What's this?" the announcer asked rhetorically. "Is that Combusken about to evolve?" "No, too soon," Alex noted to herself. She remembered seeing that glow before, towards the end of her first match against Jason Cassidy. She had since found out what it meant. "It's Blaze! Surtur, Ember with everything you've got!" Surtur, supercharged and dangling to consciousness by a few slender threads, inhaled, then fired off a massive burst of fiery red blasts towards the large Aggron before him. Blade, meanwhile, attempted to deflect the massive burst with an outstretched palm. The blast of flame, albeit powerful, was nowhere near enough to take the massive Aggron down. The last of his strength exhausted, Surtur gasped, "<Alexandria, I am sorry...>" before falling to the ground in exhaustion. Alex exhaled, then recalled Surtur to his Poké Ball, hoping that his attacks against Blade had done some damage. She then took the second ball from her belt and tossed it into the arena, crying out, "Finish the job, Daraxis!" Daraxis, Alex's hardy Wartortle, materialized on the field and readied himself as Alex cried out the name of the small turtle's Trump card; "Surf attack!" "Waaaaarrrrr..." Daraxis chanted, a massive wave of water building beneath him. The wave soon reached its maximum height, and with Daraxis at its crest began surging towards the large Aggron in its path. _With all the damage that Aggron's taking, I doubt it'll last this attack,_ Alex thought to herself, hoping that she was right. She was sadly mistaken, however, as Ben cried out, "All right, Blade, show them all your Hidden Power!" Alex's eyes opened wide in shock as she exclaimed, "What?" Blade quickly brought his hands together and began charging up a small, yellowish spheroid of energy. Once the spheroid reached roughly the size of a basketball, Blade fired it off into Daraxis himself, sending a massive electric shock through the small Pokémon and causing the wave to dissipate. Charred, blackened, and with residual shocks streaking through him, the small turtle croaked, "Tortle..." Alex closed her eyes, shaking her head slightly as the realization hit home; there was no way she would win this battle. She quickly recalled Daraxis to his Poké Ball, softly said, "I'm sorry," and replaced it on her belt. "Blade, return!" Ben called, returning his Aggron to its Poké Ball. Holding the small sphere up, he said, "Great job, Blade. You've earned a good rest." Alex looked to her opponent, and her face quickly hardened; if she was going to go down, at least she'd go down fighting. She plucked the last occupied Poké Ball from her belt, brought it to full size, and threw it, crying out, "Go, Nadyra!" Within an instant, her loyal Bayleef appeared on the field, ready to fight. "One last chance," Alex said to herself. "I hope it counts." Ben quickly fingered the five Poké Balls upon his belt, uncertain of what to use against Alex's final Pokémon. He quickly considered the Mawile clamped to his leg, hidden beneath his pant-leg, but finally settled on a better choice: a mercy defeat. With those thoughts in his head, he quickly took hold of one last Poké Ball and tossed it into the arena, crying out, "Finish the job, Aeros!" What appeared on the field was a hefty, massive dragon-like Pokémon known throughout Hoenn as a Salamance. "Baaaay..." Nadyra quickly fawned as a sweatdrop appeared on her head. "Oh no," Alex said, mirroring her Pokémon's sweatdrop. "Aeros, Flamethrower!" Ben ordered. The hefty Salamance opened its mouth, inhaled, and spat out a massive, powerful burst of flame. Nadyra ducked as best she could in a feeble attempt at avoiding the attack as it engulfed her body. "Nadyra!" Alex swiftly cried out before realizing that the blast of flame was still moving towards her. With a yelp of fear, she jumped out of the path of the flame as it burst past her, barely missing her. As the flame subsided, Alex sighed in relief at not being hit by the flame. She quickly looked back to Nadyra to find her charred, singed, and unconscious on the ground. "Alex's three Pokémon have been defeated!" the announcer-cum-referee announced. "Ben is the winner!" As the crowd roared and ShadowWarrior shook his head in disappointment at not getting a chance to battle in the Second Round, Alex recalled Nadyra and said, "I guess I wasn't ready for this." She held up Nadyra's Poké Ball and said, "I'm sorry, Nadie. Please forgive me." Alex then turned and began to walk out of the stadium before being interrupted. "Hey Alex, wait!" She turned back to find Ben rushing towards her, slightly out of breath. "That was a great battle. Your Combusken put up a good fight, he nearly had Blade on the ropes there!" "Thanks," Alex replied, followed by an uneasy, "I suppose." "Anyway," Ben continued, scratching the back of his head nervously. "I was kinda wondering if...if maybe you'd...be interested..." Alex began to see where this was going, then asked, "Are you asking me about meeting again somewhere?" With a raised eyebrow, she asked, "Maybe on a date?" Ben's nervous chuckle and slight blush answered her question for him. With a small smile, Alex replied, "Sure thing, but on one condition." Holding up a hand, she clarified, "Someday soon, I get a rematch. Deal?" Fully recovered from his nervousness, Ben took Alex's hand and shook, quickly replying "Deal." Amidst the cheers of the crowd, Alex wished Ben luck in the next round, then rushed off to the Pokémon Center to have her team healed. ShadowWarrior, meanwhile, remained at his perch, looking down on the field and scanning for the elusive Aerie. (NS: And so Alex's league debut ends with both a whimper and a roar. Shame really. Oh well, we'll get to the Hoenn League soon enough. In the meantime, this frees up Alex for other plot threads. Here we go! BTW, please forgive me for using Stalker, I couldn't resist.) William Rendfeld Creator of Echowarrior, the Pokémon Resistance, and Alex Masters 178,000 Excellent Author Points 1 'I knew odd pokefacts that confused a bread crumb' point. 20 Y2Tech Points