From: Karnivax <karnivax@my-deja.com> Subject: [PW!] Best of the Best (continued) Date: Friday, September 17, 1999 2:37 PM Now that my two freakiest villains are finished with their business at Natasha and Tenchi's wedding, I can go back to writing for my main characters! And now I think I'm finally beginning to see how Kyle wound up as the #5 seed in Sirius's NC tournament... --BEST OF THE BEST-- Part 3 by Karnivax The poorly-lit lair of the Elite Four's second member had contents that were disparate to the point of being mysterious. The floors and walls were heavily padded. The ceiling was about thirty feet from the floor, and there was a skylight that was not receiving much light. There was various bodybuilding equipment in a far corner. The obligatory Pokémon arena was directly in the center of the room, but positioned all around the outside edge of the arena were marble statues of various Pokémon. Once again the room seemed deserted, so Kyle took a few minutes to observe the many statues. The statues portrayed only fighting-type Pokémon, fully evolved...Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, Primeape, and Poliwrath, to name a few. _Well...I guess I know what type of Pokémon this next trainer's going to be using,_ Kyle thought. He readied the Pokéball containing Grendel, figuring it was about time for Grendel to at last get over his fear of unfamiliar humans. Then he just stood in his position at one end of the arena and waited for the next trainer to make some spectacular entrance. As he stood, Kyle noticed one of the panels in the floor making a whirring sound. The panel went down like an elevator, and when it rose back up roughly fifteen seconds later, Kyle could make out a gigantic shadowy figure standing on it. "Pardon my lateness," the figure said in a deep, masculine voice. "I was in my workshop, putting the finishing touches on my latest masterpiece." "So you made these statues?" Kyle deduced. The figure responded, "Of course. Pokémon training isn't my only hobby, you know." The figure then walked close enough to Kyle that he could see the person clearly. _Good Goddish,_ Kyle thought upon getting a closer look at the sculptor. _It's a skyscraper with arms!!!_ The mysterious sculptor was a roughly seven foot-tall mountain of a man, whose arms and legs were so large they bordered on being anatomically impossible. He was wearing rather tattered shorts, sandals, and a sweaty gray tank top. He was carrying five Pokéballs on a leather belt, and he held in his hand a hammer and a chisel. His face had sort of a permanent glare, and it seemed that his eyes were almost entirely closed. His hair was brown and spiky. Basically, he looked like he could have been Brock's uncle. "I'm Bruno," the man announced. "Second member of the Elite Four. If you've made it this far, you're either a very good trainer...or an exceedingly lucky trainer. The boy who came through here yesterday defeated me with one Pokémon alone. And it wasn't even a psychic or flying-type Pokémon. It was an impressive display, I must say. I believe the boy's name was Vincenzo..." Kyle facefaulted. "But I've digressed enough. You are limited to just three Pokémon in this battle," Bruno continued. "I'll begin with...Hitmonlee!" Bruno tossed out a Pokéball, and the so-called Kicking Fiend, Hitmonlee, materialized on the battlefield. The humanoid creature unleashed a rapid flurry of short kicks, and even a few punches. "Hit mon leeeee!" it bellowed. Hitmonlee pointed at Kyle, waiting for him to send out a challenger. "In that case...I choose Aerodactyl!" Kyle released Grendel, secretly praying to Goddish that Grendel would fight. The Aerodactyl glanced at Hitmonlee and was unafraid. But eventually Grendel's glance shifted to Bruno, and the Aerodactyl's composure went right out the window. Before Grendel could try to get away, however, Kyle lunged at Grendel and held on tight to his tail. "Calm down, will ya?" Kyle grunted, as Grendel dragged Kyle all around the room. "That guy isn't going to hurt you! I promise!!!" But it was no good. Grendel broke free from Kyle's grasp and started flying madly around the room, squawking "AEEEROOOOO!!!" Bruno just stood and watched for a while, frowning. Kyle smacked himself in the face. "Return," he commanded, and tried to latch on to Grendel with the energy beam of his Pokéball. But Grendel was simply too fast. In frustration, Kyle hurled the Pokéball at Grendel, and struck him right in the side of his muzzle. Grendel squealed in pain and crashed to the ground. Kyle went to retrieve the Pokéball and recall Grendel when all of a sudden the Aerodactyl sheepishly got up and waddled into the arena, ready to fight. "...The hell?" wondered Kyle. Deciding not to look a gift Ponyta in the mouth, Kyle put the empty Pokéball away and prepared for battle. "I believe I heard Lance mention this," Bruno said. "The only way to exert full control over an Aerodactyl is to give it a good hard hit on the 'pecking spot'...right on either side of its snout. Paleontologists think that in prehistoric times, the pecking spot was the target that male Aerodactyl would aim for in battles to establish dominance." Kyle thought about that, knowing it could only have been one of Robert Bakker's theories. Then he shouted out, "All right! Grendel, Wing Attack!" The clumsy Grendel squawked compliantly and lunged at Hitmonlee, then brought up one wing and struck Hitmonlee hard with it, nearly knocking him down. Hitmonlee prevented falling by backflipping after getting hit. "Rolling Kick!" Bruno ordered. "Mon lee!" Hitmonlee somersaulted toward Grendel and kicked the avian in the face. Grendel backed away, then shook his head. Kyle could have sworn that he heard a rattling sound. "Jump Kick!" Bruno commanded, before Kyle could even get another command off. Hitmonlee jumped and gave Grendel a mighty kick in the side of the head, knocking Grendel head over talons. "What's going on here?" Kyle protested. "Flying is supposed to be strong against fighting!" "Come now...I don't even own an Aerodactyl, and I know for a fact that they are horrendously weak against fighting attacks," Bruno pointed out. "You see, Aerodactyl are rock Pokémon as well as flying Pokémon..." "...And fighting crushes rock," Kyle sighed. Faster than Kyle could recall Grendel, Hitmonlee went ahead with a powerful High Jump Kick which knocked Grendel clear out of the arena. When Grendel hit the ground, he let out a pathetic squeal and slipped into unconsciousness. Kyle withdrew Grendel and mentally grumbled about how Grendel seemed to have gotten weaker after finally being tamed. _Wonderful...now both Espio and Grendel are out._ Kyle then remembered that he had an ace up his sleeve. He tossed out a Pokéball and released Thanatos the Gengar. If Thanatos could for once be convinced to battle, he would win hands down against Hitmonlee. Thanatos glanced at Hitmonlee, and the image brought back memories. He remembered the first confrontation with Shard Fields, where Torrasque had gotten clobbered by Pain Dance the Hitmonlee. Thanatos remembered how things would have been different if he had been the one fighting Pain Dance. Wanting to show Kyle his folly in sending Torrasque to battle Shard's Hitmonlee, Thanatos stood before Bruno's Hitmonlee and taunted the Kicking Fiend into fighting with the old "bent-arm wave." "Lee!!!" the fighting Pokémon roared. His face reddened with anger. He charged and tried to crush Thanatos with a High Jump Kick. But Hitmonlee passed right through his ephemeral opponent, and clumsily crashed to the ground. He furiously got up and attempted a more basic Rolling Kick, but again he connected with nothing but air. As Hitmonlee tried to kick Thanatos again and again without effect, his rage gradually turned into sheer confusion. "Thanatos, Psychic!" Kyle shouted. "Gen gar!" Thanatos answered, with a nod of his whole intangible body. He floated up into the air, pulled out his phantom guitar, and started playing the Goo Goo Dolls's "Long Way Down." Then Hitmonlee - ensnared within the invisible web of Thanatos's frightening telekinesis - started floating as well. Thanatos telekinetically lifted Hitmonlee all the way up to the ceiling, then dropped him thirty feet to the floor, then lifted him again, dropped him again, lifted him, dropped him. By the time Thanatos released his telekinetic hold, Hitmonlee was thoroughly knocked out. Thanatos put his guitar away. Bruno withdrew Hitmonlee. "You're better than I thought...but don't let yourself think that all of my Pokémon are as helpless against ghosts," Bruno said to Kyle. Then Bruno sent out the humanoid Pokémon also known as the Punching Demon. "Case in point. Hitmonchan, Fire Punch!" "Mon chan!" Hitmonchan raised one boxing glove skyward, and the glove started blazing with an unnatural flame. With blinding speed, Hitmonchan charged and punched Thanatos. The glove itself did not hit the Gengar, but the fire that surrounded the glove did. Thanatos caught on fire, then ran around the arena and screamed madly. Thanatos ultimately put out the flames by whirling himself into a mini-tornado ŕ la Taz the Tasmanian Devil. "Now, Ice Punch!" came Bruno's next order. This time Hitmonchan's glove became surrounded by a cloud of what looked like dense mist. He jabbed the gyrating Thanatos and froze him solid, ending the wild whirling. Seconds later, however, Thanatos - who could only be contained by Pokéballs and other telekinetics - floated out of his icy prison and shook himself off like a wet dog. "G - g - g - gen - g - g - gar," he stammered, shivering from the cold. Kyle told him to use Hypnosis, but Thanatos was in no position to follow the order. "Thunder Punch!" Bruno commanded. One of Hitmonchan's gloves became charged with electricity, and with his third jab, he arced a stunning current into Thanatos that sent the pseudo-ghost into a crazed conniption of involuntary twitching. Thanatos fell to his stubby, illusionary knees. The average onlooker would think that after the kind of pounding that Thanatos had just taken, the Gengar would have fainted, or, at the very least, shown intense difficulty in continuing to fight. But Thanatos merely got up, shrugged off Hitmonchan's flurry of attacks, and got ready to use Hypnosis. Gengar had a very high special defense rating, and Hitmonchan had a very low special attack rating. In short, Hitmonchan still had a long way to go to bring down Thanatos. Thanatos, finally using Hypnosis, pulled out his phantasmal guitar again and played, appropriately enough, Metallica's "Enter Sandman." Kyle failed to see how such a song could put one to sleep, but sure enough, Hitmonchan's eyes slammed shut. The boxing Pokémon collapsed into a heap and started snoring loudly. Kyle, wondering deep down if the ghostly guitar had magic powers, shouted, "Thanatos, now use Dream Eater!" Thanatos went on to play the Marilyn Manson version of "Sweet Dreams." Bruno watched with dread as a large portion of his Hitmonchan's life was drained, evident by the large green orb that slowly rose from Hitmonchan's body. Thanatos pulled the glowing sphere into his own body and showed off a toothy grin as his health was restored at Hitmonchan's expense. Hitmonchan stayed asleep, and Bruno was forced to recall Hitmonchan. Bruno then considered his remaining options. All he had left were two Onix and a Machamp, and there was only one attack among those three that had any hope of stopping a Gengar - Machamp's Fissure attack, which was one of the most unreliable attacks in existence. Bruno had originally planned to use Machamp as his third Pokémon, as it was his strongest. But with the Gengar in play, Bruno decided that he would spare his Machamp the agony of fighting a battle in which it had only an infinitesimal chance of winning. "I...concede," Bruno announced, deep down rather concerned that he would get demoted to first member of the Elite Four if any other member found out that he had conceded in an official match. With no fanfare, he unlocked the door to the next trainer and motioned for Kyle to move on. Kyle recalled Thanatos and advanced toward the lair of the third Elite Four member. Again, the second he was within the next lair, the door closed and locked behind him. --BEST OF THE BEST-- Part 4 by Karnivax The third arena was even more poorly lit than the second. The room was inexplicably hot and blanketed in fog, and Kyle did not notice the designated battlefield until he was standing in it. Kyle could make out numerous headstones decorating the room, but it was foggy enough that he could not read what was engraved on them. Shortly after he found his position on one end of the rectangular battleground, Kyle was just barely able to watch a rather diminuitive person take their place at the other end. The scratchy voice of what could only have been an elderly woman called out, "Who's there?" "Kyle Richter, Pokémon trainer," Kyle responded. "Are you with the Elite Four?" Suddenly Kyle heard the shout of a Gengar. He heard a splash, and then in the air above him a whirling purple mini-tornado appeared and sucked up all of the fog. Kyle could now see the room much more clearly, but there still was not much in the way of light. "Pardon the fog," said the wrinkled old woman. "My silly ghost Pokémon do love their jacuzzi..." "Jacuzzi...?" Sure enough, Kyle saw in one corner of the room a rather small hot tub. That explained the splash. Then a purple Gengar - no doubt the whirling dervish that had removed the fog - appeared, relaxing in the tub. Kyle sweatdropped. "What good is a hot tub to a poltergeist?" "Well, the hot tub was here when we moved in," the woman responded. "Anyway...to answer your very first question, yes, I am the third member of the Elite Four. Call me Agatha." Agatha picked up a nearby wooden cane that had five Pokéballs tied to it. "As I'm sure you've guessed, you will be allowed to use up to three Pokémon for this fight. My first Pokémon will be...Golbat!" Agatha plucked a Pokéball from her cane, tossed it straight up into the air, then swung her cane like a baseball bat and knocked the Pokéball into the battlefield. The spheroid opened, and out came a huge vampire bat with a mouth that was about as large as its body. "Gol BAT! Gol BAT!" the avian chanted as it flitted about a few feet above the arena. Kyle cycled through his six Pokéballs. "Hmmm...it's a safe bet that Golbat is a flying Pokémon. And flying Pokémon can't handle ice! Cloyster, go!" Kyle released the often cowardly Seaclamp, who by that point had gone back to being male. "Cloyssster, cloyssster," Seaclamp whimpered, in a more masculine voice than before. He opened up his shell slightly and glanced at Golbat. "You've got a big advantage here, Seaclamp!" Kyle pointed out. "Quick, use your Ice Beam!" Seaclamp opened his shell up further, and decided to take Kyle's word for it. The long needle that was loaded into the Spike Cannon just above Seaclamp's core started glowing blue. "Leech Life!" Agatha shouted, as Seaclamp was charging up. Golbat dived at the nearly immobile Seaclamp and sunk his teeth into Seaclamp's core. Feeling the energy getting sucked out of him, Seaclamp slammed his shell shut, pinching Golbat. "Gol BAAAAAT!!!" the bat painfully screeched, as it withdrew from Seaclamp. Part of the spike from the Spike Cannon was still poking out from Seaclamp's shell. Finally Seaclamp fired the Ice Beam at Golbat, and the blue beam of energy struck Golbat right inside his wide-open mouth. Golbat froze over and crashed to the center of the arena. The ice shattered in the fall, and the chilly Golbat floundered as far away from Seaclamp as he could get without leaving the boundaries of the arena. Eventually Golbat resumed its low-altitude flight. "Golbat, Confuse Ray!" ordered Agatha. From Golbat's cavernous mouth came a glowing purple ray which effortlessly penetrated Seaclamp's shell and hit his core. Seaclamp's shell slowly opened, and the Cloyster's eyes were spinning around in his head. Seaclamp started firing his Spike Cannon in random directions, and Golbat dodged the explosive projectiles easily. Seaclamp's tirade ended when one of the spikes blew up while still loaded into the cannon. Figuring Seaclamp needed a little time to shake off the effects of the Confuse Ray, Kyle recalled the Cloyster and summoned Ares the Machamp. Agatha again called for Confuse Ray, and Golbat fired the purple beam at Ares. But the Machamp was just a bit more mobile than Seaclamp. He dodged it. "Golbat, Bite!" Agatha then commanded. Golbat swooped down upon Ares and chomped hard on one of Ares's arms. Ares frantically tried to shake the Golbat off, but the bat was so firmly attached that Ares would have needed the Jaws of Life to succeed. Finally Ares dislodged the persistent flyer with a mighty Karate Chop right between the eyes. "Ares, Seismic Toss!" Kyle shouted. Ares charged at the grounded Golbat and wrapped his legs around the bat's giant head. Then he backflipped and performed a Frankensteiner which slammed the top of Golbat's head into the floor. The floor rumbled violently with the impact. The attack was not much of a toss, but it certainly was seismic. "Goool..." the bat moaned. It pulled itself out of the floor. "Ma champ!" Ares boomed, as he gave Golbat a Low Kick out of spite. However, the attack did only minimal damage to the flying Pokémon. The next commands came from both trainers simultaneously. Agatha called for Wing Attack, Kyle called for Karate Chop. And a few seconds later, Golbat gave Ares a powerful slash with one wing at the same time that Ares smashed his open hand down on top of Golbat's head. Ares, who was already rather low on health, keeled over and passed out. Golbat fell over backwards and made a pained screeching sound before fainting. "They knocked each other out!" Kyle noted, as he recalled Ares. Agatha withdrew Golbat. "So they did," she sheepishly admitted. "But no matter. My second Pokémon will be...Arbok!" Agatha swung her cane and hit another Pokéball into the arena, and this time a giant purple cobra materialized. _What was it Torrasque said about poison Pokémon?_ Kyle thought, trying to remember the conversation he had had in Lavender Town. _That's it! They can't stand bug, ground, or psychic attacks. Hmmm...Espio has a ground attack...but Lorelei's Lapras mopped the floor with him. None of my Pokémon have bug attacks. And as for psychic attacks..._ Kyle snapped his fingers. "Of course!" he said out loud. "Gengar, I choose you!" He released the fearsome Thanatos, who produced his phantom guitar from thin air and opened up the battle by playing The Offspring's "The Kids Aren't Alright." Agatha was looking stunned at the sight of the black Gengar. "Thanatos..." she gasped. "Someone finally caught you..." Thanatos stopped playing and took a good look at Agatha. Thanatos did not recognize Agatha at first, but when he imagined what Agatha might have looked like as a young woman, something clicked in his gaseous brain. "Gen gar, gen gar gar!" he angrily babbled, pointing at Agatha. "Friend of yours, Thanatos?" Kyle inquired. "Peh! You would not believe how many Pokéballs I wasted trying to catch that slippery little monster," Agatha said to Kyle as she pointed back at Thanatos. "Old town records in the Lavender Town archives show that Thanatos was first discovered by humans almost two hundred years ago. After he was discovered, he started terrorizing the humble townsfolk on a monthly basis with his appetite for dreams...and when Thanatos found out what a guitar was about fifty years ago, things just got worse! "Fifty years ago, I was about your age, child. I was an accomplished Pokémon trainer as well." Agatha pulled a black-and-white photograph out of her pocket and showed it to Kyle. The photo showed Agatha at eighteen years of age...and she was not at all bad- looking. "Even then, I had an affinity for ghost Pokémon. I thought if I captured Thanatos, my team would be unstoppable! But no matter what I did - and I tried *everything* - I simply could not ensnare that miserable phantom in a Pokéball. "After constant attempts to catch him over the course of two years, I gave up and left my home town of Lavender to seek trainer badges. But I checked the Lavender Town newspapers every once in a while to check on Thanatos. I heard he was caught...and I'd love to know how you caught him, child! You must be much more skilled than you look." Kyle sweatdropped. "Ummm...I didn't *catch* him, per se...I asked him if he wanted to go with me, and he said yes." Agatha's mouth went agape. She smacked herself in the forehead. "I wasted all that time and money...when all I had to do was ask nicely?!" A glare formed in her eyes. "Arbok, use your Acid attack, now!!!" "Chaaar bok!" the cobra hissed. He lunged at Thanatos and expectorated a thick stream of of acidic venom at the surprised Gengar. The attack was pretty much useless against Thanatos, as he was a poison Pokémon too. "Thanatos, use Psychic! That snake won't stand a ghost of a chance!" Kyle ordered. "Gen gar," Thanatos sniffed. He telekinetically whacked Kyle in the face for the lousy pun. "I deserve that," Kyle said shortly before collapsing to the floor. Thanatos started playing "Long Way Down" again, then he took a tight telekinetic hold over Arbok and lifted the purple reptile into the air. Kyle saw a phantasmal sweat breaking out on Thanatos's face as the ghost used his potent but vitality-draining telekinesis to tie Arbok in knots. The tying continued until Arbok was little more than a scaly ball of knots. Using a little less telekinetic force, Thanatos bounced Arbok like a basketball several times, then he pushed his psychic power to its limit and hurled Arbok clear out of the arena, disqualifying him. "Oh, blast it!" Agatha snarled, as she recalled Arbok. "But I still have one Pokémon left! Gengar, go!" The purple Gengar that sat in the jacuzzi quickly leapt from the hot water and landed in the arena. Thanatos was taken aback. It had never dawned on him before that in his travels with Kyle he might have to battle one of his own kind. "You've still got the advantage here, Thanatos!" Kyle cheered. "Use Hypnosis!" "Don't let him pull off a single move, Gengar!" Agatha commanded. "Use your Lick attack, now!" Faster than the mystical effects of Thanatos's rendition of "Enter Sandman" could take their toll on Thanatos's opponent, a long illusionary tongue unfurled from the mouth of Agatha's Gengar. The Gengar whipped Thanatos with his tongue, and Thanatos was forced to stop playing when the tongue hit him. He looked like he had just been given an electric shock. "He's paralyzed! Gengar, Night Shade!" Agatha commanded. "Gen!" The purple ghost sent out a massive wave of energy which reversed the colors of everything it touched in addition to doing massive damage to Thanatos. The impact jolted Thanatos out of his paralysis, but nearly knocked him out in the process. "Now use Hypnosis!" Kyle shouted. Thanatos shook his head to slightly alleviate the intense pain he was experiencing, then he pulled out his guitar and played "Enter Sandman" at a greatly accelerated rate. The enemy Gengar was about to counter with Lick again, but this time Agatha's Gengar was not fast enough to strike before the Hypnosis set in. The Gengar's eyes slowly closed as he softly collapsed to the floor. "You've got him now! Finish him off with Dream Eater!" came Kyle's next command. But Agatha beamed her sleeping Gengar back into its Pokéball before the dreaded Dream Eater could even begin. "All right, all right! I admit defeat, child!" Agatha said to Kyle. Kyle shrugged and withdrew Thanatos. "Thanatos is truly an extraordinary Pokémon," Agatha went on, "but I'd advise you not to think *too* highly of him. There's still one more member of the Elite Four ahead...and there are a number of reasons he's the leader. One of them being the fact that he won't lose to some silly spectre." Agatha unlocked and opened the door to the lair of the final trainer in the Elite Four, and Kyle slowly headed through the doorway. As soon as Kyle was fully inside the fourth chamber, the door slammed shut behind him as usual, and he was locked in. As he went to explore the final trainer chamber, Kyle swore he could hear Agatha cackling. To make up for the fact that I only had Bruno use two Pokémon, I'll make it so Lance uses four. ^_- --K * A * R * N * I * V * A * X-- "Only two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the former." --Albert Einstein Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Share what you know. Learn what you don't.