Chapter 7

A/N: I actual finished the previous chapter a while ago, I just didn't realize it, eheheh, sorry guys. But it's okay, I'm back and writing again. I'll probably get distracted by starting a new Vocaloid fic, but maybe I can finish this before that happens.

Edit: The Charizard vs. Lucario story was inspired by a story I read on /b/

The champion stood ready, tossing a pokéball in his hand. I thought about his previous choices: they had been grass and water, and he seemed a bit unoriginal, which meant that his next choice could very well be a fire-type of some kind. I looked around, I didn't want to send Haley out again so soon, so that left Fynn, Shade, and Rix.

Rix, being a steel-type, was out of the question, so I debated between Fynn and Shade. Not knowing what secondary type his next choice might be, I decided that on the off chance he didn't go with a fire-type, he might very well go with a fighting-type so I planned accordingly.

"Go for it, Fynn."

He nodded and sauntered out to the middle of the field, assuming a ready position. I was disappointed and a bit annoyed when a Donphan appeared instead of the anticipated fire-type.

"Don't worry about this, Fynn. We can handle it!"

The only problem was I had focused on special attacks more so than with any of my other pokémon, and so his two most powerful attacks were wild charge and thunder fang. He had a mean crunch attack, and take down came naturally to him, probably from his heritage, but I wasn't certain that would be enough.

The champion started the match off with an earthquake, and I could only watch as Fynn ran around the field, trying to avoid the powerful attack.

"Fynn, use take down! Stay on top of him and you can avoid the earthquake."

Fynn hesitated for a moment, looking for a good opportunity, then leaped as high and far as he could. I had seen him jump before, and even I was impressed when his motion described an almost 30-foot arc. He crashed into the Donphan with such force that a weaker pokémon would have been sent flying. As it was, however, the Donphan merely staggered a bit.

"Alright Donphan, use another earthquake then hit 'em with rollout!"

Fynn was once again on the defensive as the enemy rolled across the uneven and broken ground, always right on his tail, almost literally at times. I didn't think we could win, but I had an idea about how we could tie the round, at the least.

"Alright Fynn, use wild charge!"

He launched himself as far away from the Donphan as possible, then charged up and released his most powerful attack. It collided with the Donphan and I saw Fynn stagger from the attack. Of course, the Donphan kept on rolling, but it seemed to be affected by it - if only slightly - so I kept my hopes up.

Fynn again went to dodge the incoming pokémon, but as he landed, the ground split and as he was still shaking off the aftereffects of his wild charge he was distracted and barely managed to keep his footing. He steadied and launched himself forward and upward again, only to be stopped by the Donphan crashing into his side, sending him flying towards more of the broken ground.

He twisted to try and land on his feet, but I heard my opponent call out rock throw, and so as soon as he hit the ground he began getting pummeled my massive rocks. I knew it was over for him, and I cursed as I realized that I has just made the most idiotic mistake in my life: I had underestimated the skill of the champion.

I watched as the Donphan launched itself into another rolling tackle, so I called to Fynn, who was near unconscious amongst the piles of rock and torn-up ground.

"Launch yourself away from it when it hits you, lessen the blow as much as possible."

He nodded exhaustedly, then took up a noticeably sloppier ready stance. The enemy came closer far too quickly for my liking and he launched himself backwards in a jump that was pitiful compared to the others. He flew through the air towards my group and I spoke to Amber.

-Slow him down, would you? He's done more than enough.-

She nodded, then waited as he flew closer and closer. At about 3 meters away I saw the distinctive glow of her telekinesis, and I caught him as he landed gently in my outstretched arms.

"Hey there buddy, you alright?"

He nodded, then licked at a wound he had acquired and I sighed,

"Damn, sorry about that. You did good. Why don't you get some rest."

He nodded quietly, then I set him down and he curled up around my legs and fell asleep instantly. The champion looked at me expectantly, and I shrugged.

"Unable to battle, more or less."

He nodded, and the announcer repeated my words. I didn't really have anything that would work particularly well against a pure ground-type, but that's because there were few of them. I nodded to Shade,

"Alright, you saw what happened out there, keep on the move and alternate between psycho cut and razor wind whenever you have the opportunity."

He nodded his understanding, then leaped out and instantly started with a sucker punch before his opponent had a chance to act. The champion repeated his tactic with the earthquake and rollout, and Shade danced around, following my instructions and slowly wearing down the Donphan. After about a minute or so, the champion realized that his strategy (if you could call it that) wasn't working.

"Alright Donphan, use rock throw then follow it up with a giga impact!"

I remained completely calm.

"Shade, double team and stay out of the way."

Instantly, half a dozen copies of him appeared and all launched themselves in random directions. I was hard-pressed to pick out the right one, and I only recognized him from the way his seemingly random movement was actually a pattern. I saw that he was building up speed for another sucker punch, and I mentally cheered for him.

I watched as the Donphan crashed into one of the copies, destroying it utterly, then fly through the air as Shade - the real one - slammed into the unprotected underside of his opponent with his most powerful Dark-type attack. I knew we had won this round, but I didn't let it go to my head.

"Alright Shade, use psycho cut then finish him off with another sucker punch."

The psycho cut hit while he was still in the air, and the sucker punch tossed him back into the air just before be hit the ground. He landed near the champion and didn't get up, and the announcer declared me the victor of this round. I smiled as Shade walked back over to us, ever graceful.

"Nice work out there, Shade."

He nodded stoically, then curled up next to Haley and fell asleep. I chuckled at the cute sight, then looked over to the blue and black humanoid on my left.

-Alright Rix, you're up.-

He nodded, then casually walked out to the field while the champion simultaneously tossed a pokéball.

"Go Charizard!"

I grimaced, this was not in my favor, but I had a plan.

-Alright Rix, start things off with an aura sphere, then just keep avoiding his attacks and retaliating.-

-Got it-

I watched him prepare and release it, and it contacted the enemy. I frowned as the Charizard stood completely still, just letting it hit him. It appeared to do nothing, and I sighed, knowing that it would require a lot more then brute strength to win.

"Alright Charizard, use heat wave!"

Lucario followed my instructions to the letter, dodging and using dragon pulse against him. The Charizard roared, not in pain, but in annoyance. We just weren't doing any real damage.

"Alright Charizard, now use wing attack!"

-Quickly, extreme speed and grab onto him.-

Rix dashed off, slamming into the Charizard and then flipping around him, holding on to him but out of reach of his claws and jaws.

"Take off, Charizard!"

The pokémon struggled to lift off with the added weight, but once he was airborne he easily took off towards the sky.

-Alright Rix, close combat. Just keep hitting him until he starts to come back down, then try to pin his wings.-

I felt his comprehension of my plan, as well as a terse acknowledgement. Charizard flew until both he and Rix were mere dots amongst the sunny sky, then saw them begin to drop back down at an uncontrollable pace.

-Alright Rix, get ready to jump as hard and as high as you can.-

They kept falling, achieving terminal velocity about 40 feet off the ground. Another second, then-

-Now!-

Rix launched himself upwards with a herculean leap, then he crashed down in an explosion of dust not quite as big as the one kicked up by the Charizard's landing, if you could call it that. I waited for the dust to clear, and saw Lucario standing atop his beaten and unconscious opponent. I grinned and gave him a thumbs-up.

-Nice work, Rix!-

He walked back over to me as the Champion recalled his Charizard. He nodded at me.

"Not bad. That was quite clever of you. Telepathic, huh?"

I smiled and gave a one-fingered salute,

"Only sometimes."

He nodded and prepared his last pokéball. I turned to my team.

"So, who wants to take care of this last pokémon?"

-I will-

I turned to Rix,

-So soon? Are you sure about this?-

He nodded, -I can handle it-

I gestured towards the field,

-Alright, go for it.-

He walked out and the champion threw his pokéball, releasing a Scraggy. I wasn't particularly familiar with the pokémon, but I knew it was Fighting/Dark type, which meant that one way or another this battle wouldn't last long.

"Alright Scraggy let's start things off with focus punch!"

-Aura sphere, then dodge and use it again.-

The first aura sphere collided with the enemy's glowing fist and exploded, but really didn't do much otherwise. The second, however, didn't even do that much.

"Dodge Scraggy!"

He jumped, again to the right, and the attack missed it's mark.

"Head smash, Scraggy!"

-Aura sphere again, then close combat as soon as he gets in close.-

Another aura sphere hit him, doing negligible damage but temporarily blinding him and allowing Rix to deliver a number of blows to unprotected parts of his body.

"Quickly, focus punch again Scraggy!"

The opponent spun and Rix blocked the attack. It looked like it hurt, but it was nothing Rix couldn't handle.

-Dragon pulse, then follow it up with one final aura sphere.-

He readied his attack, then launched it at the enemy. It collided, throwing him backwards slightly, but not knocking him off his feet.

"Quick, dodge!"

Scraggy jumped right, and half a second later the aura sphere solidly connected, finishing the round. Rix returned to my side, then sat heavily on the ground.

-A good fight-

I nodded in acknowledgement.

-A difficult one, but you handled it spectacularly. Excellent work out there, Rix.-

He nodded, then gently shook Fynn awake in preparation for the final battle. I saw Emery do the same for Haley and Shade. I turned to Amber.

-Well, this is it, huh? We've come a long ways, you and I, and I can easily say there's no one I'd rather have done it with.-

She floated closer and hugged me, surprising me.

-Let's win this, Artemis-

I smiled and she leaned in as though to tell me a secret, then brushed her lips against my cheek, stunning me. She hurriedly floated out to the field, but not before I caught a glance of the deep blush on her face. I returned to reality in time to see the champion send out his Pikachu.

"Let's do this Pikachu! Come on, you've faced tougher opponents than this!"

"Pikapi!"

I mentally laughed at this - no he hadn't - but he'd learn that soon enough. The announcer raised his flags, then dropped them and cried out,

"Let the battle begin!"