From: Continue <continue2@mindspring.com> Subject: [PW!][LEAGUE]Breaking the Ice (Field): Damian vs. Bruno Date: Thursday, December 30, 1999 11:09 PM "Just this match to go and then I’ll have a real high card to play." Damian was a bundle of nervous energy. The young trainer was anxious to get into his fourth League Games match and anticipating his reward for victory. He seemed ready to run right out of the tunnel leading out onto the field and right into the match himself. "This ‘high card’ thinks that you might not get the chance if you think you’ve won before the match has even started." Drake crossed his arms as he looked down at Damian. "Having some confidence is one thing, but I think you’re about to let it get in the way. It’s not like you’ve gone through any of your opponents with just one pokemon. And you do remember how your last match went? You were able to recover, but those risks don’t always pay off. If you want to complete our agreement, then for this match I suggest you concentrate on the here- and-now and play it safe." Damian raised his eyebrow as he looked at the Dragonite. "Who’s the trainer here?" Drake easily deflected the attempt to shoot him down. "You may be the one registered as the pokemon trainer, but I’ve had one before you. I know every mistake that he made, so I know what not to do. In this case, I think I can train the trainer." The young trainer emulated the Dragonite as he crossed his arms in front of himself before he spoke. "And you were talking to me about confidence getting in the way? Do you think you know everything?" "Not everything, but I do know one thing. We should get into place, the match is about to start." Drake jerked a thumb to indicate where to go and the pair took their respective places. A few moments later the announcer launched into his opening comments. "Ladies and Gentlemen, once again welcome to the Ice Field. We’re all here for the last day of competition on the fields and the last chance that any of the competitors will have to use the terrain to their advantage. After this round of matches the competition will be moving to Indigo Stadium where only the trainer’s skill in choosing moves and their pokemon’s raw power will determine the victory." One of the trainer towers began to move up to the field and the announcer started his introductions. "The red trainer hails from Vermilion City and has so far won all of his matches. Even though they’ve all been close, there aren’t that many left in the competition that can say that. Unlike the temperature out on the field, give a warm welcome to Damian Fox!" The crowd cheered as the trainer tower locked into place and Damian beamed happily upon hearing it. It wasn’t half-hearted like his first welcoming applause at the games, and for him these applause seemed to sing of his achievements so far. The announcer had to drown out the crowd for a second as the other trainer tower began to move into place. "And coming to us from Indigo Plateau is the green trainer for today. While his fellow trainer in the Four, Lance, may have suffered a humiliating defeat here, I have no doubt that his fighting pokemon can smash ice all day long. Please welcome Bruno!" When the second trainer tower locked into place, the applause from the audience were much greater than the first. Stripped to the waist as usual, Bruno greeted the audience by slowly waving with one arm and giving them a warm smile. Damian’s happy expression completely disappeared. It was replaced with an expression that clearly registered his shock. While the fact that the applause for him were drowned out by what he now heard might have affected him, it was the fact that he was now facing a member of the Elite Four that really got him. The young trainer considered that maybe Drake had been right. His previous matches were close and he may have been too confident about the outcome of this one as well. It was the voice of the Dragonite that brought him out of his spiraling thoughts. "Remember. Focus on the here-and-now. He may be a member of the Elite Four, but they’ve all been beaten several times before. Use a solid strategy and you can have the chance to win. The announcer told you how to start it. Bruno uses Fighting pokemon. Counter that." The young trainer took the words to heart as he chose and tossed his first pokeball. Bruno also tossed his first pokeball onto the field. As the referee walked up, the two pokemon materialized in front of each other. Facing Bruno’s Hitmonlee was Damian’s Hypno, Foci. The referee raised both his flags, then quickly lowered them to start the match. Both competitors shouted out their commands as quickly as possible. "Hitmonlee, Hi Jump Kick!" "Foci, Psychic!" The hooded pokemon tucked into a ball as it leapt into the air. It spun end over end as it went through the apex of its jump and came back down towards its opponent. At the last moment, the fighting pokemon flung its arms wide and snapped its leg down onto the Hypno’s head. The force of the kick itself, combined with the momentum from the Hitmonlee’s jump and spin, rammed the psychic pokemon into the floor of the field with enough force to drive it into the ice. To Foci’s credit, its eyes only stayed closed from the pain long enough for its opponent to land and gain solid footing. After that, the yellow pokemon’s eyes opened to reveal a deep blue glow. When those eyes moved into line with its target, the Hitmonlee grabbed what it could of its head and sank to its knees. The referee seemed ready to call the result of the first fight but Bruno seemed more confident of his pokemon and called out another order. "Hitmonlee, Mega Kick!" Damian quickly followed up with his own command. "Foci, Psychic!" It seemed unnecessary, however, as the psychic pokemon had gotten out of its crater and stood in a position of dominance over its foe. The Hypno narrowed its eyes as if this focused its power and the fighting pokemon sunk closer to the ice. Hitmonlee then put one foot out and twisted it to make it perpendicular to its opponent. In one surprisingly swift motion, the leg attached to that foot pushed the oval body off the ice and its other leg shot out into the chest of the psychic pokemon. Foci was knocked up into the air by the blow and came down hard at the bottom of a pillar of ice. Both trainers knew that they had to act fast. "Foci, one last Psychic!" "Hitmonlee, Rolling Kick!" The fighting pokemon tucked and began to roll towards its prone foe. The Hypno slowly lifted its head and its eyes flashed blue once it sighted its opponent bearing down on it. Hitmonlee came out of its roll and limply slid face-first across the ice and came to a stop at Foci’s feet. The referee declared Hitmonlee unable to fight as Foci slowly and unsteadily got to its feet. Bruno recalled his fainted pokemon and tossed his pokeball in order to make its occupant appear in front of the Hypno. Not all of it could do so, however. Some of the Onix’s long tail had to curve away from its body because of an ice pillar that was in the way. Two flags were dropped quickly and so did Onix. Immediately after Bruno ordered "Onix, Slam!", the rock snake brought its weight down on its target. When it removed itself, Foci was clearly unconscious. Damian withdrew his pokemon and the announcer interjected. "With both trainers first pokemon out of the fight, Bruno has fielded an Onix. Although its vulnerabilities are well known, it remains to be seen if Damian has a pokemon that can stand up to it." The young trainer mutters to himself. "Before I went to the Pokemon Center, I wouldn’t have, but Finley can do it. At least I hope so." After this he tosses out his pokeball and a Lapras emerges from it. The referee signals the start of the fight and both trainers are ready with their commands. "Finley, Hydro Pump!" "Onix, Screech!" The plesiosaur-like pokemon looks at the ice below the rock snake and it begins to crack. The rock pokemon looks down and quickly slithers to its right. A patch of ice to the right of it begins to crack and the string of living boulders quickly moves forward in response. In its haste it fails to notice the crack that quickly appears in the ice and breaks open beneath it. A huge geyser of water slams into the giant snake’s body from beneath the ice. The water pressure is enough to push it off the floor of the arena and over a dozen feet to the left of the hole in the ice. In pain, the Onix bellows out "Iwaarrrr!". The roar quickly rises in pitch and volume until it becomes a loud, grating whine. The Lapras bows its neck down and forward and squeezes its eyes shut from the pain caused to its large, sensitive ears which it is unable to cover. Upon seeing Finley exposed, Bruno takes advantage of the opening. "Onix, Rock Throw!" The rock snake struggles and lifts up the front half of its body. It quickly spins the raised half around in a counter-clockwise motion, whipping several medium-sized stones from between its body sections. Several of the stones find their target against the head and other fleshy parts of the ice pokemon’s body. Damian ducks a small stone that flies too close to his head for comfort and shouts his next command, hoping that his Lapras will be able to concentrate well enough to do it. "Finley, another Hydro Pump!" The blue water pokemon shakes its head and opens its eyes. When it sights a gray mass through its now blurry vision it begins to concentrate on the water below it. The huge rock pokemon looks down and sees the ice crack beneath it. It tries to slither to its left, but it’s just a moment too late. The geyser of water that bursts through the arena floor sends it flying over into several icy outcroppings. These shatter as the rock snake passes through and slams into another set of ice pillars. These are sufficient to stop the momentum of the giant pokemon and it sags to the arena floor. The referee doesn’t need to look very closely before he declares Onix unable to fight. He raises the red flag and the scoreboard quickly shows only one block lit next to Bruno’s picture. Bruno recalls his pokemon and tosses out his last pokemon just as the announcer launched into a comment. The announcer cuts himself off and waits for the pokemon to coalesce from the blob of white light. "It looks like Bruno has chosen Machamp for his last pokemon. Since ice pokemon are vulnerable to fighting type attacks, this choice should quickly bring up Damian’s last pokemon. Machamp’s raw power will also serve it well against most pokemon. This is probably one of the best choices that he could make." Both pokemon move to face each other and the referee quickly signaled the start of the next fight. Just as quickly as the referee signals, Bruno shouts out his command. "Machamp, Submission!" The humanoid pokemon rushes forward and wraps all four arms around the aquatic pokemon’s long neck. It then repeatedly slams the ice pokemon’s neck against its powerfully muscled chest for several seconds. It finally releases the Lapras jumps back. The ice pokemon’s head sways unsteadily atop its long neck and it falls forward. The referee declares the Lapras unable to fight and raises his green flag. Both sides of the scoreboard now look the same except for the pictures of the competitors. As Damian recalls his fainted pokemon the announcer builds up the last fight. "This looks a lot like Damian’s previous matches. Both competitors will now be down to their last pokemon of the match. While Damian gains the advantage of knowing what his last pokemon will face, it’s still unknown whether or not he has a pokemon that has what it takes to beat Bruno’s Machamp." Atop his trainer tower, Damian’s face was a mask of grim determination. Drake saw this and shouted over "That expression better not mean you’re thinking of using Low-Res. It may have a Psybeam, but it’s still a Porygon. You might not have as much luck as last time. You must have a better choice." Damian didn’t look over and instead responded by talking from the side of his mouth. "I’m not looking like this because I have a tough decision. I’m doing it to be polite." The Dragonite stood up off the coach’s bench that he sat on and flew over to land on the trainer’s tower, next to Damian. "Okay, now that nobody else can hear, what are you talking about?" "I don’t think anybody would like it if the person they’re facing off against started jumping for joy before they do what I’m about to do." Annoyance crept across Drake’s face. "Stop being so cryptic. Which pokemon are you planning on choosing?" The young trainer turned his head to stare directly into the Dragonite’s eyes. Damian let the mask of determination slip and a grin that stretched from ear-to-ear replaced it. "I think you phrased it perfectly. Crypt-ic." He then turned back without saying anything else and was once again the picture of a trainer in a tough situation. He tossed his last pokeball and waited for the reaction. The announcer put in his last comment after Damian’s pokemon formed. "For his final pokemon Damian has chosen a Gengar. Since ghosts are immune to both normal and fighting type attacks. This would seem to be the perfect counter to Bruno’s Machamp. Bruno still might have a chance though, folks. If he was expecting this, there is one move that can be taught to a Machamp via TM which could win this match for Bruno. We just have to wait and watch." By this time the referee had moved into position next to the two pokemon. He raised his flags and then quickly lowered them. Damian reacted at the moment he saw the flags drop "Spook, Hypnosis!" The Gengar raised both hands and flashed its bright white teeth. It stopped suddenly as its opponent glowed red and then disappeared. It looked confused until a shout came from further down the field. "I concede. To continue the fight would only hurt my pokemon without reason." After making this statement Bruno turned and descended the stairs from his tower. After watching the trainer leave the stand, the referee held up his red flag. "Green trainer concedes. Final point to red trainer. Red trainer wins the match." The change of the scoreboard could be heard since there was little noise coming from the crowd. Once the message of congratulations appeared next to Damian’s picture, the crowd seemed to finally understand and cheers began to rise up from them. The announcer tried to compete with audience to comment on the unusual win condition, but Damian didn’t pay much attention. He recalled his Gengar and looked at Drake standing next to him. "You were right. I stayed focused on the match and stayed in check when it counted. It did help." The young trainer paused and grinned "So, are you ready for the next match?" Before Drake could make any reply a voice came from the rear of the tower. "Your pokemon need more training, but your strategy is sound. Once you have trained your pokemon well enough, I think you might be able to count yourself among the best." Bruno offered his hand to the young trainer once he said this. Damian blinked and grasped the much larger hand. "Thanks. I, uh, I wasn’t expecting that you would say something like that." "Unlike some others, I feel no shame in losing to a worthy opponent. Or in recognizing them for it." The crowd had quieted down when Bruno began speaking again. Once he firmly shook Damian’s hand they cheered again, showing their approval of Bruno’s honorable display. Bruno then turned to leave the platform and Damian grabbed the hand he shook with while muttering under his breath, "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" There was a deep chuckle from Bruno as he descended the stairs from the tower. He tossed back a good-natured "Maybe a little more training for you personally would be a good thing?" Damian smiled weakly and said "Yeah. That sounds good." Drake gave the young trainer a mischievous grin. Up in the stands a man in a business suit talked to a more casually dressed man next to him as the cheers from the crowd died down. "You’re right. Looks like a good candidate. We’ll have to see him in action, though." The man he spoke to nodded and told him. "I wouldn’t have said so otherwise. By the way, you stand out worse than the fat guys with the foam fingers painted up like Pikachus and Snorlax. Ditch the suit or at least get some face paint." "Hey!" <TBC…> Jeff Hauser* *Sig Sold Seperately