From: Continue <continue2@mindspring.com> Subject: [PW!][LEAGUE] Between a Rock and...more rocks Date: Wednesday, December 15, 1999 6:57 PM Damian ran down the entrance tunnel to the Rock Field. Just after Sarah Jane had left the restaurant, Damian checked the schedule and found he was in much the same situation as she had been. Two of his pokemon were still being healed at the Pokemon Center, but Drake had reassured the young trainer that his selection of pokemon wasn’t really harmed by the temporary loss. He ascended the steps to one of the trainer towers and it moved up into place on the field. Drake was already waiting on the coach’s bench. As he looked across the field, Damian could see that his opponent was already waiting as well. The other trainer held a whip in one of his hands and had a Sandslash beside him. The combination of the whip and the green hair were the cues that let Damian know exactly who he was facing now. Any trainer who had heard the full story of current League champion Ash Ketchum’s journey knew about this particular trainer. This trainer had been the first one to hand Ketchum a defeat in battle and fighting on the Rock Field practically gave him a home turf advantage. The announcer began. "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the first match in the 7+ bracket on the Rock Field today! The red trainer new to the games this year, but has already made a good showing by winning his first match. From Vermilion City, Damian Fox!" The audience gave an appropriate cheer and the announcer continued. "The green trainer today is a returning League favorite. Although he hasn’t yet won the League games, he has come very close. Please welcome AJ!" This time the crowd’s cheers were much louder. AJ reciprocated by waving to the crowd with his free hand while a smug smile played across his face. His Sandslash also made sure to play to the crowd by waving both its arms during the cheering. Damian could tell from the reaction who the crowd was favoring at this point and knew that it wasn’t going to be easy. He decided to start off with a pokemon that could put on a good display. He tossed his first pokeball onto the field yelling "Go, Quake!" The announcer whistled after the pokemon had materialized and given a traditional battle cry. "Damian has chosen a Rhydon. Training one of those from a Rhyhorn is hard work, but it pays off. Being a rock/ground type makes sure that the terrain can be used to its fullest and a Rhydon has arguably the best potential of any rock/ground type. What will AJ field to take this monster on?" The smug expression didn’t leave the trainer’s face as he tosses his pokeball out onto the field. As the glow of white light fades, a cry of "Pidgeot!" is heard by everyone in the stadium. The announcer continues his commentary on the pokemon chosen. "An interesting choice by the returning favorite. He must be counting on the fact that Rhydons don’t naturally learn any Rock moves. Pidgeot’s flight should be able to keep it out of the way of any of Rhydon’s normal attacks." As the two pokemon took their positions, the referee walked over to them with his flags. At the same time Drake told Damian "It’s a good thing that you took my advice and gave that TM to Quake. It may not be the best kind of pokemon to use it, but it should prove very useful in this match." The young trainer nodded. "That’s what I was thinking. It should have enough range for that Pidgeot." The referee raised both flags and then quickly lowered them, giving the signal to begin. As soon as the signal was given, the Pidgeot flew into the air and placed a lot of open air between itself and its rocky opponent. "Pidgeot, Agility!" AJ seemed to emphasize his attack by cracking his whip twice. The bird pokemon complied by quickly flying wide circles around the unmoving rhino-like pokemon. Damian timed the bird’s flight and paused before springing his surprise by shouting out "Quake, Fire Blast!". Shock instantly appeared on AJ’s face as the Rhydon quickly inhaled, then exhaled a fiery character. The character flew through the air and slammed into the unsuspecting Pidgeot. The blast singed quite a few of the bird’s feathers and sent it spinning sideways and downward until it hit the ground. The announcer didn’t miss the chance to comment on this. "It looks like Damian had something up his sleeve. This looks to be a strange match, after all it’s not very often you see a fire-breathing Rhydon!". That kind of comment was exactly what Damian wanted to hear, he smiled. "Quake, Horn Attack!" "Pidgeot, Sky Attack!" AJ once again seemed to emphasize his command with his whip, but only cracked it once this time. The rhino that stands on two legs charged on them across the battlefield to its downed foe. The large bird pokemon unsteadily got to its feet and took off just in time to avoid the blow leveled at it. It continued to climb until it was out of sight of all of the spectators. Damian looked almost straight up and shielded his eyes as he scanned the sky. It wasn’t too long before he spotted the speck that he was looking for. With wings folded back against its body, the Pidgeot came screaming out of the sky. The young trainer figured he just barely enough time and ordered another Fire Blast. Quake turned its head up and exhaled another flaming character. The bird pokemon couldn’t manage to get out of the way in time and was once again fried. This second blast, combined with the attempt to not get hit by it, knocked the bird pokemon off course just enough for it to miss its mark. Rock and dust were kicked up in a huge cloud as the Pidgeot slammed into the ground. The referee rushed over to the edge of the cloud as he waited for it clear. Once it had, he was glad he had done so since he might have fallen into the impact crater if he had done so. Although those watching had pretty much figured out what was going to happen next, the referee had to do fulfill his official duty. He declared Pidgeot unable to fight and raised his red flag to indicate Damian had won this fight. AJ recalled his fainted Pidgeot, but his smug look had returned. "A fire-breathing rock, huh? I’ve got something for that." He took out another pokeball and sent it out on the field. Out of the flash of white light materialized a Kingler. The announcer didn’t miss this "It looks like AJ isn’t taking any chances here. Neither fire nor rock attacks will have much affect on a water-type pokemon like the Kingler that he just fielded. Damian’s going to need a miracle to win in this fight." Damian muttered "I just wish I had one." Both pokemon faced each other and the referee signaled to begin the fight. He quickly got out of the way after completing the signal. "Quake, Fury Attack!" "Kingler, Surf!" AJ once again emphasized his command by cracking his whip twice. The Rhydon laid into its opponent starting with a left cross punch. It continued to spin with the momentum of the swing and rapidly smacked the overgrown crab with its tail. The rock pokemon finished the spin by hitting the large water pokemon with a right-handed backfist. The attacks looked like they had hurt the Kingler but weren’t enough to stop it from opening its mouth and launching a column of water at its foe. The water slammed into Quake and caused it to fall to the ground on its back. "Quake, Stomp!" "Kingler, Surf again!" AJ followed his command by once again cracking his whip twice. The rocky rhino-like pokemon struggled to its feet in order to attempt to fulfill the command it was given. It didn’t get the chance. Kingler blasted it with another column of water. The Rhydon tried to go on ,but it sank to its knees then fell forward. After the referee raised the green flag and declared Quake unable to fight, Damian recalled it. "You’re not experienced enough for me to use against that pokemon," Damian said to Bulletproof as it hovered over his shoulder. The Magnemite tilted forward indicating a nod while saying "Mag". "So it looks like I should go with my most experienced, and until I get my other one back, water pokemon." With this remark Damian tossed out another pokeball. The pokemon that materialized in front of AJ’s Kingler gave a cry of "Kabutops!". A second after forming, Edgy raised both bladed arms in a defensive position and began to quickly look around. It first focused on Kingler, but shifted its attention when the referee raised his flags. The man saw this and slowly backed away from both pokemon. The referee then did his job by quickly lowering the flags to indicate the beginning of the fight. Edgy slashed at the man, but only cut one of the flags that he had just lowered. There were shouts and gasps from the crowd and the referee quickly turned and ran from the battlefield. Upon seeing the man leave, Edgy refocused on the giant crab pokemon. Damian’s head slumped down and he sweatdropped "I get the feeling that’s going to count against me somehow." "Edgy, Slash!" "Kingler, Hyper Beam!" AJ cracked his whip once following the command. Edgy immediately closed in and slashed one of its arm-length blades across AJ’s Kingler. It spasmed from the pain, but quickly brought its claw in front of its opponent. It quickly charged up and fired. The beam struck the flat- headed pokemon square in the chest and sent it flying back into a rocky outcropping. After being stunned for a moment, Edgy pulled itself out of the indentation it had made in the rock. "Edgy, Absorb!" A beam shot out from the Kabutops and struck the giant crab pokemon. Within a few seconds some of the burns on Edgy disappeared and Kingler dropped to four knees. "Edgy, Slash!" "Kingler, Hyper Beam!" Just as before, AJ cracked his whip once. Edgy quickly covered the distance to his partially fallen foe. In the meantime, Kingler had brought a claw up and charged another Hyper Beam. Just before reaching the oversized shellfish Edgy drew back his arm and completed the slash just as it reached its target, ducking down in the process. Kingler lost consciousness and released the Hyper Beam. It fired just over the now ducking Kabutops and struck a rocky outcropping, causing it to explode in a cloud of debris. The referee entered the field next to Damian’s trainer tower and signaled that Damian had won that fight. AJ recalled his pokemon and looked at his Sandslash. It nodded then leapt off the tower and onto the field below. Cheers came from the crowd and the announcer broke in. "It looks like AJ has decided its time to take down the competition. He has now chosen to field his strongest pokemon, Sandslash!" The crowd once again cheered when AJ’s Sandslash was mentioned. It was more focused on the pokemon that it would face this time, however, and did not respond to the cheers. As the cheers died down, the referee turned to Damian and said "I hate to do this to you, but you’re going to have to recall your Kabutops." Damian couldn’t believe it "What?! Why?" The referee suddenly felt some air blow down on him and looked up straight into the muzzle of a Dragonite. "Yes, why is that?" Drake asked down to the man as the Dragonite crossed his arms. The referee took a step away from Drake and addressed Damian. "By Pokemon League rules any pokemon that could intentionally cause harm to an official during a match is supposed to be disqualified and immediately withdrawn. I let it slide when your Kabutops slashed at me because I believed you might not have known about the rule, but I have to draw the line some time. If I go out now to do what I’m supposed to, your pokemon could end up causing me serious damage or even killing me. I’m not suicidal, so I’m going to have to call you on it now." Damian was about to recall Edgy when Drake put out his hand and said "Wait!". The Dragonite turned to the referee and told him "I have a way that his pokemon can stay out and you can still do what you need to do." The referee looked curiously at the Dragonite and asked "How’s that?" Drake explained "Kabutops don’t have an incredible jumping ability. I can hold you above the field long enough for you to signal the start of the fight." The referee considered it for a moment then said "Alright, I’ll do it, but…you’re going to have to get that pokemon under control. This won’t be allowed again." Drake flew up and grabbed the referee under the arms. The Dragonite then proceeded to fly out over the field where the referee signaled to begin the fight. The announcer didn’t let this one go. As Drake was flying back to the end of the field the announcer said "Like I told you before folks, this is one strange match. This is the probably the only time you’ll see a ref being carried around by a Dragonite." "Edgy, Absorb!" "Sandslash, Fissure!" AJ cracked his whip once and before the Kabutops could do anything, Sandslash rammed one pair of its claws into the ground. A crack formed in the field which ran directly beneath Edgy. It looked down just in time to see it split open beneath it. If a Kabutops was capable of having a look of shock on its face, that would have happened as the ground split open. Instead its eyes just went wide as it fell in. What followed was a screeching noise that caused half of the people in the stadium to cover their ears in pain and then a yell of "BUUUU!" The referee ran over to the freshly-opened crevice and looked inside. From the huge gash in the rock wall he figured that the screeching sound probably came from one of the Kabutops bladed arms as it tried to use it to slow its fall. The yell probably came when the pain hit from that same arm being wrenched around behind its back in a way that the shoulder joint wasn’t supposed to go. The referee signaled that Edgy was unable to fight. Damian recalled his injured pokemon as the win in that match was given to AJ. The announcer started in with "Can anybody still hear me out there? If you can, then just like me you’re probably wondering what pokemon Damian will field as his last pokemon to try to beat AJ’s Sandslash. If you can’t hear me then you’re probably wondering when the ringing in your ears is going to stop." Not many people actually laughed at the announcer’s attempt at humor. Drake looked at Damian and said "Do I even need to say anything about this one?" Damian shook his head "Nope. Since you’re not an option, there’s only one pokemon that I have for the job. Go, Blade!" The young trainer hurled his final pokeball and from the pokemon that materialized from the white glow cried "Scyther!" The announcer intelligently commented "A good choice on the part of the newcomer. Scyther’s part flying-type will insure that it doesn’t fall prey to Sandslash’s fissure attack or any of its ground type attacks for that matter. The question becomes how will AJ deal with this disadvantage?" The referee moved out to stand near both pokemon and signaled the beginning of the final fight of the match. "Sandslash, Slash!" "Blade, Slash!" This time AJ whirled his whip so that it made a sound as it passed through the air then cracked it once. Both of Sandslash’s arms brought its pair of extra long claws up to slice into its opponent. In response, both of the extra long blades that served as Scyther’s arms quickly came down. There was a loud clanging sound bladed armblades stopped claws. The combatants looked into each other’s eyes. A hissing "Scyyyy" was followed by a growling "Sannnn", but neither pokemon would give quarter to the other and they remained locked together. AJ was the first to decide that something else needed to be done. "Sandslash, Dig!" AJ cracked his whip twice and Sandslash stopped the challenge by withdrawing his claws from under Blade’s blades. The burrowing pokemon took the opening to do as ordered and quickly disappear underground. "Blade, Double Team!" The Scyther crossed its arms over its chest and closed its eyes while bowing its head. Where there had been one, there was now five. While Blade performed his Double Team the announcer put in his take on things. "AJ must know that Dig won’t harm a flying type pokemon. He must have something good planned for this!" Damian didn’t waste time. As soon as Blade finished with Double Team, he issued more commands. "Blade, get off the ground and use Swords Dance!" All five bug type pokemon obliged by using their wings to take to the air and performing spinning motions while up there. It was then that AJ whirled his whip to make a sound as he had done before. This was followed by two cracks of the whip. The announcer spoke up right after that. "And there it is folks. Just like last year, AJ has signaled for Sandslash to use Poison Sting as soon as it comes up." AJ’s head snapped around to glare angrily at the announcer’s booth. He shouted to it "Hey! What do you think yer doin’?" The ground split as Sandslash broke through, claws first. At Damian’s order of "Blade, Slash!", a seeming horde of bug pokemon descended upon the lone hedgehog-like pokemon. The bugs formed a ring around Sandslash, but it didn’t seem to notice. Finally, the Scythers brought one arm up and quickly slashed down at their opponent. Only one was real, however, and it was the one that made a deep cut in the ground pokemon. Sandslash seemed to be waiting for this, however, and stabbed in the direction from which it had been struck. It connected with a leg and injected fluid into its target. The announcer was excited "This one just seems like its just about over, folks! Bug pokemon don’t last long against poison and after how easily Sandslash was able to counter that Double Team, it looks like AJ has just about got this one in the bag." Damian clenched his fist. "It’s not over yet. Blade, Quick Attack!" AJ just smiled smugly in response and whirled his whip, following it up by cracking it twice. The images of Scythers spun in midair to turn on their sides until they were horizontal. At that point they began to fly around Sandslash faster and faster until the images blurred into a large green band around the ground pokemon. Small nicks and cuts began to appear all over the ground pokemon. It began striking out at targets, but met only empty air each time it struck. All of the small cuts finally added up and Sandslash slumped to the ground, unable to continue. The green band slowed down until they were clearly became five images of a Scyther again. They then flew up into the air and hovered side by side. The referee signaled that Sandslash was unable to fight and that the final point went to Damian. At the same time as Damian clenched fist shot up into the air, each image of Blade raised an arm in a victory salute. The crowd cheered and Damian’s image appeared on the large screen with "Congratulations! Winner!" beside it. The announcer put in his last comment for the match. "I don’t believe it folks! AJ seemed to have this in the bag, but Damian barely managed to pull it out for the win. There sure were enough surprises in this match, hopefully the next one will be just as impressive." <TBC> Jeff Hauser* *Sig Sold Seperately