Battling - Part 1

"This is a battle between the Pokémon Master, 'The Champion' and Misty Waterflower. It is a test match, meaning nothing is riding on the outcome. Misty is the first trainer to want to challenge 'The Champion' and having seen how he destroyed opponents during the World League it isn't surprising nobody wants to face him."

"Don't remind me" Misty growled at the announcer, his voice carrying into the waiting room. The shock on the face of the receptionist a mere 2 hours before was still on her mind. She had expected to have to wait some time to face 'The Champion' but it seemed that nobody was willing to go up against him, fearing his power.

As a result, she was able to face him almost immediately. The stadium wasn't particularly busy, but there was a reasonable crowd, hoping to be able to watch the Master battle once again. If Misty hadn't challenged him, it was highly possible that there wouldn't have been a challenge that day at all.

"And now, please welcome to the field the challenger, Misty Waterflower, and the Pokémon Master, 'The Champion!'

Misty took a deep breath and walked out, seeing a dark figure come to her from across the stadium. Meeting in the middle, she took the offered hand, and looked up into his face, only to realise that it was hidden by the shadow cast by a hat. As she pulled her hand back, she took another breath and launched into speech.

"You wanted people who think they are good to train. I think that I am strong enough, if you'll teach me."

A deep voice emanated from the shadowed face. "So that is why you wanted to challenge. Miss Waterflower, I believe you are a Water-Trainer? Then a Water field should give you the edge. Do your best."

As 'The Champion' spoke, the field began to split, and then a water field appeared in its place. There was a platform at either end for the trainers, and a series of platforms dotted around, but these were very small. Misty was reminded of the Cerulean Gym, just the platforms were far smaller. She looked into the stands where she saw all of her friends watching, as well as her sisters and the trainers from the Cerulean Gym. Her opponent started walking back to his end, and Misty hurried to do the same. As they faced each other across the pool, the referee stepped forward.

"This is a full battle between the challenger Misty Waterflower and the Pokémon Master on a water field. The Master shall choose his Pokémon first. Neither side may make substitutions. Trainers, choose your Pokémon."

Wordlessly, the figure across from Misty raised his arm. A Pokémon materialised in the water near him. Misty breathed a sigh of relief when she realised he wasn't using his Charizard, but then looking at it she wondered what she was facing. It was a torpedo shaped shark, with a cross on its head. Misty saw May pull out her Pokédex, and listened for what she had to fight.

"Sharpedo, the Brutal Pokémon. Nicknamed "the bully of the sea" Sharpedo is widely feared. Its cruel fangs grow back immediately if they snap off."

Misty gulped. This particular Water Pokémon wasn't cute at all. In fact, it looked ready to kill. For the first time, she thought that perhaps her younger self grandly stating that all water Pokémon are cute might have been wrong. Knowing she had to make a good impression, she pulled out a Pokéball, and shouted "Misty calls Gyarados!"

The Pokémon appeared with a roar and a huge splash, causing the few spectators to gasp, and with good reason. Anybody who hadn't seen Misty's Gyarados develop would have been impressed at the size and aura of power it projected.

However, looking over to her opponent, Misty couldn't see any emotion on the visible part of his face. Glancing down she realised that Sharpedo, far from being intimidated was sizing up Gyarados to which the Atrocious Pokémon responded in kind. The referee stepped, forward and raised his flags above his head. "The first battle is between Sharpedo and Gyarados. Are both trainers ready?" Nods of assent from either end caused the referee to snap both flags down and call "Begin!"

"Ice Beam followed by Bite."

Before Misty could even call a command, Gyarados was caught by a beam of ice that sent him reeling backwards. The Atrocious Pokémon roared in pain, a roar that became painfully loud as Sharpedos teeth closed around his tail. Misty gasped in shock, the speed of Sharpedo was incredible. It moved through the water faster than anything she had ever seen.

"Poison Jab." came the next command

"Gyarados, throw it away now!"

As Sharpedo relaxed his teeth, Gyarados swung his tail around, causing the shark to be thrown across the pool. However, before Misty could do anything else, a curt command came from across the pool.

"Giga Impact."

Sharpedo instantly reversed its flight, and slammed into Gyarados. The Atrocious Pokémon was sent crashing down into the pool, sending a wave across it which soaked Misty. As she shook her now sodden hair out of her eyes, she saw Gyarados lying in the pool, not moving at all. The attack had been overkill. Sharpedo had settled down back where he started, not showing any signs of having fought at all.

Misty shakily felt for Gyarados' Pokéball and recalled her serpent, rapidly revising the strength of her opponent. It did not make for pleasant thoughts. She pulled out another Pokéball, and threw it, not bothering to call the name of the released Pokémon. A large red fish appeared, with a powerful horn on its forehead. It looked across the pool to its opponent, and a look of fierce determination crossed its face.

Gary leaned back in his seat, whistling softly. Next to him Brock was nodding approvingly, but Max was struggling to see what they were all so impressed by. All he had seen was 'The Champion' think very quickly on his feet to save his Pokémon from an embarrassing landing. Looking at the older men, he mentioned this, causing Gary to chuckle. "Max, that wasn't luck. He knew that Misty, fearing for Gyarados would try to get Sharpedo as far away as possible, and with it biting on Gyarados' tail that means throwing it. However, as soon as Sharpedo was in the air, Giga Impact had the benefit of gravity driving it making it that much more powerful. I think he had that planned from the moment Misty released Gyarados. I hate to say it, but even if he had weak Pokémon Misty would struggle if he can think that far ahead. That was a strategy far beyond anything I've seen. Combine that with the sheer power of the Pokémon, I mean a Sharpedo that can destroy Gyarados that fast is unreal and you have a virtually unbeatable battler. No wonder Cynthia lost."

Max stared.

"There is no way that he planned that. That's impossible." Brock looked over at the young trainer before answering.

"Max, you are watching as close to a perfect battler as you will ever see. I'm not sure if he will ever lose." Gary then added in a teasing voice. "You've picked a good idol Max, too bad you'll never be as good as him."

Max was about to shout at Gary, but a voice in his ear stopped him. "Max, don't let him get to you. One day you'll be strong enough to get him to train you and then you will be able to destroy Gary."

Max spun around to see James moving away, although he looked back and smiled at the younger trainer. May then hushed everybody as the next round was about to begin.

"Seaking vs Sharpedo. Begin!" called the referee, snapping his flags down once again.

"Seaking, Horn Drill now!" called Misty, desperate to get an attack in before she was obliterated again.

"Sharpedo, Scary Face."

Seaking surged forwards, to be greeted by a face from her darkest nightmares. She shrunk back, her horn slowing down from its drilling, to return to normal. Misty clenched her fists in frustration, before shouting a new command.

"Seaking, Water Pulse!"

"dive, and use Crunch."

"Seaking Agility!"

Seaking fired a large ball of water at Sharpedo who dove under water before surging up over Seaking who was trying to obey her trainers desperate cry and dodge. Sharpedo missed on the way up, but then his jaws closed around Seaking on the descent.

"Sharpedo, take it for a ride."

The Brutal Pokémon dove back under water, Seaking still in its jaws. A few moments later a platform was suddenly sent flying into the air, before crashing into the water. Where the platform had been, Seaking lay, its body bruised, and unmoving. The referee raised his flag.

"Seaking is unable to battle. Sharpedo is victorious."

Misty quickly returned Seaking, and threw out another Pokéball.

"Dewgong, show time!"

A pearly white body appeared in the pool, causing many of the women in the audience to go glassy-eyed at its beauty. However, there was little opportunity to appreciate it as the referee's flags went up again. "Dewgong vs Sharpedo. Begin!" called the referee as he snapped his flags down.

"Dewgong, Ice Beam!"

"Copy"

Dewgong fired out a blue beam but Sharpedo retaliated and the sharks beam pushed straight through, sending Dewgong crashing into the water. Before Misty or her Pokémon could recover, Sharpedo tore through, smashing into Dewgong, throwing her out of the water and landing on a platform. Like the two Pokémon before her, Dewgong was clearly knocked out.

"Dewgong is unable to battle. Since Misty has lost 3 Pokémon, there shall be a 10 minute break" called the referee. Misty recalled Dewgong, thanking it, and watched as her opponent silently recalled Sharpedo, turning on his heel and striding into his room.

Misty shakily made her way into her own room. As soon as she was out of sight of the crowd she collapsed onto a bench, shaking. The first half of the battle had lasted a mere 5 minutes. The Sharpedo was deadly in the water, and its attacks were crushingly powerful.

Whilst Dewgong was one of her weakest in terms of endurance, to have it taken out so quickly was terrifying. And Gyarados! It was her strongest, the only Pokémon who could match it in endurance was Golduck who hated to lose when she was watching. She knew the Duck Pokémon would fight to the point of exhaustion for her, and she knew he would this day because of what it meant to her.

Misty felt her shaking increase, and felt something wet land on her knees. She rubbed her eyes and realized she was crying. She had spent years training for this moment, the chance to prove herself to a great trainer and be taught, but she hadn't even got a hit in yet.

Half her team was down and each one was falling quicker than the next. She let the tears flow as she held the Pokéballs containing Gyarados, Seaking and Dewgong. Each of these Pokémon she had a bond with, and each of them had been ruthlessly destroyed by 'The Champion'. She now knew how well he had earned that title. She never thought she would be crushed so effortlessly. A buzzer snapped her out of her misery. She had 1 minute left. Standing up, she rubbed at her eyes to try to and hide the signs of her tears. With a new determination she strode out. She was going to make her opponent respect her.

As she took her place on her side of the pool, she watched her opponent throw his Pokéball before even ordered to. Sharpedo appeared once again, grinning at her, inviting her to face it once again. Misty pulled a new Pokéball from her belt.

"Misty calls Starmie!"

May leaned towards Dawn, before muttering into her ear. "She's been crying. This is hurting her."

Dawn nodded before bouncing to her feet and shouting "Come on Misty, you can do it! Beat this guy!"May just sunk back into her seat, thinking "why do I even bother..."

The referee stepped back up to his mark, before raising his flags. "Starmie vs Sharpedo. Are both trainers ready?" A quick nod from each side caused the flags to snap down. "Begin!"

"Starmie, psychic!"

"Crunch."

The gem at the centre of the purple star glowed, and blue light appeared around Sharpedo. The Brutal Pokémon ignored it, and charged towards the star, crunching down on it with its teeth.

"Again." Came the command from 'The Champion.'

The shark obeyed, before throwing the dtar into the sky. It flew into the air and crashed on to a platform, not moving.

"Starmie is unable to battle. Sharpedo is victorious!"

"I don't get it" said May. "How come psychic didn't do anything?"

"It isn't necessarily well-known, but Sharpedo is part dark. Therefore, any psychic attack is useless" answered Gary knowledgeably. "Misty clearly didn't know that. Also, crunch being a dark move is going to be even stronger against Starmie. That was perhaps the worst match-up she could have chosen."

"Don't be so cruel to her!" scolded Dawn. "She is doing her best. I'd like to see you fight the Pokémon Master!"

"Dawn, I'm not deliberately being mean. I'm merely pointing out that she had absolutely no chance of beating Sharpedo with Starmie. She needs to make the most of the one Pokémon she has that has a strength against that shark. She should use it now..."

"I choose you Poliwrath!" The muscled figure of Poliwrath appeared on the platform nearest Misty, flexing its muscles. It took one look at the scoreboard and then did a double take. It showed just one Pokémon on 'The Champions' side, whilst Misty was down four. "Poli, Poliwrath?" the Tadpole Pokémon questioned?

"Poliwrath, do not underestimate that Sharpedo, it's the strongest thing you'll have ever faced."

"Poliwrath vs Sharpedo. Begin!"

"Poliwrath, wait for it to come to you on the platform."

"Take Down"

As Poliwrath got into a defensive stance, Sharpedo raced across the pool, diving underneath and slamming the platform into the air. Poliwrath was thrown off-balance, but Misty was quick enough to save it.

"Bubblebeam into the pool slightly to the left." The surge of bubbles directed Poliwrath onto another platform, where he settled into another stance.

"Take down."

This sequence happened 3 more times, with Poliwrath becoming more adept at landing each time. As he landed again, a different command came from across the pool.

"Surf."

A huge wall of water raced at Poliwrath, but Misty finally moved to the offensive.

"Poliwrath, wait for it to come and then Karate Chop."

As the wall of water crashed into the Tadpole, it went with the impact leaving the platform but then lunged at Sharpedo who was in the wave, crashing his arm into the shark. Unfortunately, Sharpedos skin hurt the Tadpole Pokémon, which was rapidly exacerbated when he glowed purple and fell to a knee, poisoned from a Poison Jab covered by Surf. Before Sharpedo could get away, Poliwrath reached out and grabbed him, enduring the pain from his skin.

"Poliwrath, get it onto the platform" Misty called, seeing a chance to really damage the Brutal Pokémon. Poliwrath heaved its prey onto the platform and then leaped after it.

"Now Poliwrath, it can't dodge, use Submission!"

"Dodge."

Poliwrath reached for Sharpedo, but the shark had managed to move away with staggering speed. Misty gasped as she saw the fish managing to use its fins to run on land. Its two side fins had managed to bend down and propel it away from the Tadpole Pokémon and across the platform. Poliwrath looked stunned and was momentarily exposed.

"Giga Impact."

The shark streaked across the platform, smashing into Poliwrath sending him flying until his passage was stopped by the wall. Misty cringed, knowing that her fighting Pokémon had fallen. She turned and extended a Pokéball, returning Poliwrath. She reached for her final ball, and threw it. "Golduck, your up!"

A blue duck appeared with a yellow bill, flexing its muscles. He glared across the water at Sharpedo who merely smirked back. Golduck then turned to hear its trainer calling to him.

"Golduck, you know how important this is to us. You are the last one, he has beaten everybody else. Do your best for all of us"