EVERYONE: - Ongoing KQ3: Kamon's Quest III

[Carbonite4]

PROLOGUE

“I was once the greatest trainer in the world,” a man said. He was talking to his children, a boy and a girl, apparently about being a Pokémon trainer. He continued: “No one could stop me. I was invincible. Until, of course, on that fateful day when a trainer, named Kamon, defeated me. That was many years ago, however. I had grown much stronger. I was seventeen years old, blonde like I am now, and just (barely) under six feet tall. My journey wasn’t over then, like I, along with Kamon, believed they were. For, on April 12th, two days after my birthday, a trainer came to Kamon and me and presented us with a new challenge. And one of us would rise up to it. It was our greatest challenge ever, and this is the story:

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

There was a knock on the door. Kamon answered it; it was his house. He invited my girlfriend, Eileen, and me over for some drinks and to catch-up. Kamon’s girlfriend, Jasmine (the Olivine City Gym Leader), was there too.
Anyway, Kamon answered the door. The person, whoever it was, and Kamon talked for a few minutes, and then called me over.
‘Hey, Drew,’ Kamon said, ‘listen to this guy. Tell me what you think.’
The guy said, ‘Well, Mr. Anderson, seeing how you and Mr.…uh, Kamon here and the most powerful trainers in the world, I thought that you two might be up for a little challenge.’
‘What kind of challenge?’ I asked.
‘Well, there is a new league that has formed, 6 gyms, and one elite person, just to the north of here. Over the mountains. It’s in a land called Gehta.’
‘Yeah, well,’ I started, ‘I don’t think I’m really into the whole battle scene anymore. Retired, you see.’
‘Well, I guess if don’t have it anymore, that’s fine with me…’ the trainer said, and turned around.
‘Hold on!’ I shouted.
‘You here that Drew?’ Kamon asked. ‘He says that we don’t have it anymore.’
‘I’ll show him. Hey, you, get back here!’ I yelled.
‘Oh, are you reconsidering my offer?’
‘No. I’m about to make you reconsider you’re statement. Three-on-three match. Or do you think you don’t have it?’ I challenged.
‘Oh I have it all right. Heh…Fine then. Three-on-three.’
‘Let’s step outside,’ I said.
‘Oh, Drew, honestly, do you have to do this?’ Eileen asked.
‘Of course. You can watch me win, again, if you want,’ I responded.
Kamon, the trainer, and I walked out onto the beach.
‘I’ll choose first,’ I said. ‘Go, Ampharos!’
‘Ha! Too easy! Steelix, come out!’
‘Give me a break. Ampharos, Fire Punch!’ I commanded. Ampharos charged at Steelix and struck him with a flaming fist about halfway down his body. It burnt Steelix.
‘Er, yikes. Steelix, Earthquake attack!’ the trainer said.
‘Ampharos, Detect!’ Ampharos protected himself from the Ground-type attack, and then prepared to strike again. ‘All right, finish Steelix off with a Dynamic Punch!’ Ampharos again punched Steelix, this time creating an explosion, sending Steelix through the air and landing in the water. A knockout.
‘This doesn’t look good. Um, Steelix, return.’
‘Come back, Ampharos,’ I said. ‘I want to use all three of my Pokémon. It wouldn’t be fair if just one of you got to fight.’
‘Yeah, right,’ the trainer snapped. ‘We’ll see. I’m gonna use Fearow!’
‘Tyranitar, go. Use Crunch,’ I said. This is boring, I thought. Tyranitar clamped down on top of Fearow, doing extreme damage.
‘Fearow, Drill Peck attack!’ Fearow tried drilling into Tyranitar’s hide, but it didn’t do hardly anything.
‘Finish, Tyranitar. Rock Slide!’ Tyranitar summoned an avalanche to come down on top of Fearow, finishing him.
‘No way. Well, my last Pokémon will beat your Tyranitar. Cloyster, go! Use your Clamp!’
‘Tyranitar, Protect, and then return to your Pokéball. Remember, whoever you are, I was going to use a different Pokémon for each of yours. Now, face Heracross!’ I threw out the last Ultra Ball I could use, and from the shimmering white light emerged the blue beetle. ‘Heracross, Cross Chop attack!’
‘Cloyster, Protect!’ he said. ‘Great now use—’
‘Finish it,’ I interrupted, ‘with a Mega Horn!’ Right when Cloyster opened up his shell, Heracross rammed into him with his antler, one-hit K.O.
‘Uh…return,’ the trainer said. ‘Amazing, simply amazing.’ I recalled my Pokémon.
‘What?’ I asked.
‘Your Pokémon and your skill. You would do wonderful in the Prime League. It’s a shame, though, that you won’t be travelling there.’
‘Don’t count on it,’ Kamon said. I agreed, although I didn’t think the same way. I almost wanted to go out again, to conquer another region.
The urge flowed through my veins. I had to do it. If I didn’t…well, if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be happy, or I would feel empty inside, like a part of me was missing.
Kamon said that he almost felt that way when he was training by himself five years ago.
Kamon was a year older than I was, and still had his long hair, although his outfit had slightly changed. Instead of the black vest over a white shirt and long jeans, he wore a red shirt with the black vest over it. He also wore blue jeans, and black shoes. Nothing else really had changed about him.
I, on the other hand, changed from my training clothes to a more regular apparel. I wore a blue
tee shirt, with black jeans, but still tucked into my black boots. I probably needed to get a new pair of
boots; these were getting worn out.
‘Hey, Kamon, do you mind if Eileen and I leave now? It’s getting dark, anyway,’ I asked.
‘I don’t see why not. But hey, it was good talking to you, buddy,’ Kamon responded, slapping me on the back.
Eileen got up from the chair, and said good-bye to Jasmine and Kamon. We both hopped into a motor boat, and then headed back to Olivine.

* * *

Back at my house in Pallet Town, I was talking to Eileen. We had gotten into a small argument. She had gotten angry with me about training, and even slightly wanting to go to Gehta.
‘Look, I am going out with you, not only because I like you, but because you also promised that you weren’t going back into the, like, you know…the whole training scheme.’
‘I didn’t say I was going back…I just said I was thinking about seeing exactly what it was like, and, if it appeals to me…’ My voice faded away. I waved my arm at the air.
‘Yeah, well, ya know what!?’ she demanded.
‘What?’ I asked.
‘I always hoped to marry someone who actually had a college education. And then there’s you…who hasn’t even graduated high school!’
‘Actually, Eileen,’ I began, ‘for your information a trainer usually begins around the first days of middle-school or first days of high-school. They get shipments of school papers to do. You pick them up in Pokécenters and mail back your homework. This June I am graduating. And next year, I am going to get a degree in Engineering or Physics.’
‘You just can’t stand being wrong, can you?’ Eileen said.
‘What!? I am not wrong!’
‘See? My point exactly. You contradict everything people say. You always have to be right. Physics…ha! You should be a lawyer.’
‘Eileen, I want you to leave now. I thought we could have had a nice evening, but you had to just destroy things, didn’t you?’ I said, as calmly as I could.
‘I’ll be happy to leave, Drew. I am tired of your Pokémon, and how winning is everything…you put me second. If it weren’t for me, you’d already be in whatever the hell that place is called, trying to beat that league, too. Goodbye Drew, forever.’ She kissed me on the cheek, and then stormed out of my house. I shut the door behind her.

* * *

I decided I didn’t want to make the choice to go to Gehta. Kamon had already decided against it, and Eileen hated me for even thinking about it. Screw her, I thought. She dumped you, so now she doesn’t matter.
I couldn’t figure out whether I should go or not, so I went to Saffron City to let Sabrina, a psychic, tell me my future. She could tell me whether I should go or not. I flew there on my Lugia.
‘Hmm…’ Sabrina said as she held my hand. Her eyes were shut, and it seemed like she was in a trance. ‘I can indeed tell you your fate.’
‘Well, then,’ I said, ‘what is it?’
‘You are very special, Drew. You have a gift. The Prime League is your destiny. But you, Drew…’ Her voice faded away.
‘Yes?’
‘You will face many, many tough challenges. And victory will be very though to come by. You, Drew, are not destined, however, to be the Prime League Champion.’
‘You mean that…that I won’t conquer it?’ I asked.
‘The future is in your hands, Drew. But fate has you as not being the champion.’
‘Fine. Tell me, Sabrina. What about Kamon? What is his destiny? I heard Lance say that he could be ‘the one,’ which I took to mean—’
‘The most powerful trainer in the world. Yes, that is indeed what Lance thinks,’ Sabrina responded.
‘Well, is it true?’ I questioned.
‘Lance is a fool. Kamon’s future is quite foggy. It is still hard to tell. But be warned, Drew. I kept Kamon alive from that train wreck for a reason. I told him that he wasn’t the only one that lived. I knew he wouldn’t be able to handle the truth that I kept only him alive. I saw the anger swell in him when I told him that I saved him. He still has some part to play, in all of our lives. The fate of many could rest on his shoulders. You, on the other hand, will too affect the future. But not in a way as Kamon will. You could very well be more powerful than he, but you will never go down in history as being more famous than Kamon.’
There she ended her speech, and I bid farewell. I went back to Pallet Town to ponder about my future, and to try to take in everything Sabrina just said.

CHAPTER 2
THE JOURNEY STARTS

I thought about what was supposed to lie ahead of me, and finally came to a conclusion: I was going. In late May, I invited Kamon over to discuss with him what I was about to do. He believed that I was crazy.
‘Dude, you’re crazy,’ he said.
‘Why, Kamon?’ I asked. ‘Don’t you want to get back out there…to adventure again?’
‘No.’
‘I thought you, of all people, would be behind me on this.’
‘Not this time, Drew,’ he said. I got a little angry. So far, not one person has been on my side.
‘Look, Kamon,’ I said, ‘I don’t care what you say, I’m still going out there. And I’m gonna win. Just you watch.’
‘Whatever you say. But I have a gym to take care of, remember? I couldn’t leave even if I wanted to.’
‘That’s not what you said when you left here three years ago. I believed that you went into denial, and then decided to try the whole training thing again,’ I responded.
Kamon didn’t say anything for a minute, sighed, and said, ‘Something like that, yes.’
‘Well, then, why don’t you go this time?’ I asked again.
‘Because I don’t want to, all right? And that’s the end of it, okay?’

* * *

But, of course, I knew it wasn’t going to be the end of it. I didn’t want to go into an unknown land by myself. I knew Kanto already, and Johto wasn’t exactly a hard place to navigate through, but this place was different.
I had gotten a digital map and was looking at Gehta. It was over a mountain range, called the Zenith Mountains. Gehta itself was mountainous, but the center, apparently where the Center Stadium was located, was completely flat. A river ran down from a northern mountain, and flowed into a lake. Besides that there weren’t too many other noticeable features.
There were eight cities, six with gyms, one for registration, but also a rather commercial city, and then one more which basically featured the Center Stadium. Much like Indigo Plateau.
The land was foreign to me, and I wasn’t about to go there alone. Not that I was afraid; I’m not really afraid of anything, except maybe heights. I had to get Kamon to go with me. If I was going to venture north, I was going to need a partner to help me.

* * *

I came to Kamon’s house a week later. I had only one mission: to make him come with me.
‘So, what’ya want now?’ he asked me. ‘Have you given up on going to Gehta already?’
I grinned. Not a happy grin, or a grin that you would grin when you laugh. Of course, it wasn’t an evil grin. It was just a grin. ‘No, I haven’t,’ I said. I sipped some water that Kamon had handed me. ‘And you know what?’
‘What?’
‘You’re going with me.’
‘No, I’m not, and I don’t want to hear any more about it. I’m not leaving. And that’s final. I’m through with training,’ he said, rather sternly.
My grin faded. ‘Look, I don’t want to go there alone. I didn’t mind Kanto and Johto, but Gehta is different. It is the size of Johto, but it is going to be a lot tougher this time. Even if you don’t want to battle at all, I would still like it if you journeyed with me,’ I said. Kamon stared at me for a second, and then looked out the window.
I looked out too; there were to blue birds perched on a branch. After a few seconds, they flew away.
Kamon sighed. ‘I dunno, Drew. I’m gonna have to think about it. Anyway, it’s getting late. I’m gonna get some sleep. Goodnight, Drew.’
‘See ya, Kamon,’ I said. After I walked outside, I muttered to myself, ‘Good, Kamon, sleep on it…’ I hoped that night that Kamon would think about it and decide to come with me. This was it, too. If he decided not to, I was going to leave without him the next day. Time was running out for him to decide, and for me to get started.

* * *

Early in the morning of June 5th, my doorbell rang. I was in boxers and had no shirt on. I slipped on a white tee shirt, and checked the clock. It was 5: 45 in the morning.
I went to the front door and opened it. Kamon was standing there.
‘You’re not ready,’ he said to me.
‘What the hell are you talking about?’ I demanded, yawning.
‘Well, if you want to get to Gehta and over the mountain range by September, you’re gonna have to wake up bright and early and leave as soon as possible.’
I immediately took that as a ‘yes’ to whether or not he was going to leave with me. Kamon already had his backpack packed.
‘I’ll go get my, um…’ I started.
‘Backpack,’ Kamon finished for me.
‘Right. Excuse me, for I’m not used to waking up at quarter-to-six every day.’ I ran to my room and picked my backpack, and got dressed into my old outfit: Baggy black pants tucked into boots, and a sleeveless navy blue shirt, I slipped in my contacts and headed out the door. I looked at the time on my Pokégear; it was 6: 07 on June 5th. I would remember this time for the rest of my life.

CHAPTER 3
THE ZENITH MOUNTAINS

About two weeks later, we had reached the Zenith Mountains. We had stopped in several cities in Johto and Kanto, specifically Viridian City. There we picked up any supplies we needed before our long journey ahead of us. We also had lunch, the last lunch in a restaurant for several more months.
Anyway, we had gotten to the pinnacle of the first mountain, and decided to camp out there for the night. It was mid-June, and we were making pretty good time. We figured we deserved a good rest. The next day we started out again, at about seven o’clock in the morning. We had a short breakfast of eggs and toast.
We then journeyed across the summits of other mountains in the Zenith Range, and, after another two-and-a-half days of straight travelling (only stopping to eat, occasionally) we arrived at a small stream.
‘It’s not marked on the map,’ I said, looking at the holo-map emerging from my Pokégear.
‘It must be too small a river to be mapped,’ Kamon said. He unpacked, and declared that we should be spending the night here. It took me no more than three minutes to fall into a long-awaited sleep. Kamon stayed awake, though, until late into the night. According to him, he went to sleep at about two in the morning. He awoke only five hours earlier, an hour after I did.
‘Have a nice sleep?’ I asked. I was eating cold cereal.
‘Peachy,’ he said, picking up his backpack. ‘Now let’s go. Hurry up and get your stuff.’
Man, I thought, I wonder what’s wrong with him. He seemed a little, well, irritated.
We hiked on for a full day, down the mountain this time, following the stream, refilling our water bottles along the way. We continued with this routine for several days. After those days, though, Kamon decided that we should stop.
This struck me as odd, because lately we had been traveling for several days at a time before we stopped. I soon found out why. Kamon fell to sleep almost immediately. Apparently, while I slept every time we stopped, he stayed awake, looking out for anything suspicious. He claimed that who knows what could be up here, and that there might be unknown or dangerous Pokémon up here. Besides that, he added, Sneasel and Murkrow have been reported to be living here, and they have been known to be thieves.
I kept watch that night. I felt like it was my duty; toward Kamon, if anything. I was the one dragging him here. I only got an hour of sleep. We left to go northwest the next day, and climbed up. We traveled another three days straight, stopping once a day to eat. We discovered that our rations were starting to fall short. Kamon ruled that we would only eat once every-other day. Of course I did not like this, but we had no choice; there weren’t any berry trees around here. We continued to trek across the mountains for another week, sleeping only four times.
We kept following the river until early July, because then we discovered that by following it we traveled off course. It would take us weeks to get back on course. After several days of trekking, we arrived at a lake.
‘It would be wisest to go around,’ Kamon said, ‘but to save time we must go across. Send out a Water Pokémon, and we can go through the lake. I used my Feraligatr, and Kamon used his Corsola. We went across the lake, and continued our quest. We were still off course, though. And we were days, if not weeks, behind schedule.
We ran into yet another devastating setback around late July, early August (I couldn’t tell; days seemed to merge into weeks, all of them the same), when we woke up one morning and our backpacks were stolen.
‘Erm,’ I started, ‘wasn’t my backpack right here last night?’
‘Mine’s gone, too,’ Kamon replied. ‘Damn. This sucks.’
A thought occurred to me. I said: ‘Hey, ya know what? It could’ve been a Sneasel or Murkrow! Remember, you said that they could be thieves!’
‘True,’ Kamon said. ‘If I catch whoever stole these…’ Kamon clenched his fists. ‘This journey is looking worse and worse every other day.’
‘We can find them,’ I said. ‘We just have to know where to look.’
‘If I knew where to look, I would have found them already, wouldn’t I?’
‘Well, I suppose. But hey; we can try to follow Pokémon tracks and see if we can find whoever took our stuff.’
‘There are no tracks, however,’ Kamon said.
‘Exactly. Which means…’ I responded.
‘Which means what? That our packs flew away?’
‘Close,’ I said, smiling. ‘Someone must’ve flown away with it. A Murkrow, no doubt. There also must have been more than one, since I don’t think that a single Murkrow could carry one of our backpacks, and even if it could, it would have to carry two; that would have taken a lot longer than we allowed to carry two backpacks very far. We were only asleep for maybe five hours.’
‘So, we will have to look for one of two things: either our backpacks are very close by because the Murkrow couldn’t have possibly carried it far, or a flock of Murkrow, which would be much further away.’
‘Exactly,’ I said. ‘But…but what if they dropped it in the river?’
‘They couldn’t have done that,’ Kamon replied. ‘Look, there would have to be something in the river that would remain, something that’s heavy. Even our packs would be here. Anyway, we have to split up. There are two ways to go; to the left and right sides of the river.’
‘Why not down the river, or up the river?’ I asked.
‘Because looking down, we would probably be able to see where they are, or where our stuff is. We have a pretty good view from up here. And flying up would make little sense; besides, it would take more work to fly up a mountain, and most likely against the wind (because here—don’t ask why—the wind seems to be sucked into the center of Gehta. All of the wind travels down the mountains), which would slow them down. They wouldn’t have gotten very far that way. Especially if it were a single Murkrow. Come on, Drew, let’s get going.’ Kamon ended his speech and then sent out his Delibird. I used Ho-oh. I took the left bank, while Kamon took the right.
After an hour or two of searching, I heard Kamon shouting. I flew back as fast as I could, and discovered that he had indeed found our backpacks. They were actually downstream and on the left bank. Apparently a flock of Murkrow had taken them there because there were several nests built in the trees; two of which had our stuff in it. We collected our things, and then flew toward Chrono. This lasted less than the rest of the day (since it took us half the day to recover our lost items), and we had to let our Pokémon rest. We continued into the night on foot.
By mid-August we ran out of all rations. We tried living off of berries (because, now that we were closer to civilization, berry trees were planted) and other fruits that we found in the wild. According to the map, we had about sixty-five more miles until we reached Chrono City, the first city in Gehta. Kamon also noted that we only had less than two weeks to get there in time. We were only averaging about five miles a day. Of course, this was sixty-five miles as the Spearow flies, and also five miles as the Spearow flies. In reality, he added, we probably walk around ten miles or so a day. It would take much longer than two weeks to reach Chrono at this rate.
‘I think we should use our Pokémon again,’ I said.
‘We can’t,’ Kamon responded. ‘They do not have the energy; we haven’t been able to supply them with enough food and drink to fight, much less fly or carry us great distances. Anyway, we mustn’t use them; we should do this on our own. It’s our journey, not theirs’.’
After he said that, I noticed the expression on his face. He did not enjoy the fact that we probably couldn’t use our Pokémon, and he also didn’t like how we had to travel faster, without stops. It had become harder to get food, and we delayed too much in trying to find some.
Six days later, we discovered that we had gone too far north; we were now thirty miles above Chrono.
‘Now, it is inevitable that we will have to double our pace…travel south, and not take one break. We only have eight days left, Drew,’ Kamon said wearily. Five days later, we were still far outside the boundaries of Chrono. ‘It can only be approached from the south. They have gates blocking people from coming in from the north or east, although we could come in from the west. It would take too long to reach that end, however. We have to rest one day. Only one. But then every day that follows we must travel as fast as we can. We will only have two days, after all.’
We rested there, and, one day later, Kamon woke me up.
‘Let’s go. If, that is, you want to make it on time.’
‘Man,’ I said, ‘do I have to wake up this early?’ It was four-thirty in the morning.
‘Think of this like the army. Now come on—we may have to use our Pokémon. I will call out my Entei, and both of us will ride upon him. He can run faster than either of us could ever hope of running.’ He threw down a Master Ball, and out came his Entei. When both of us were on, Entei started dashing across the land, bounding over any obstacles. Kamon figured that we could make it to Chrono City in no less than a day-and-a-half, unless Entei runs non-stop at an extremely fast pace.
To our luck and advantage, Entei did run non-stop, except once where he needed a drink of water, and did run full-speed. We made it to Chrono on the morning of the last day. Kamon recalled his Entei, and we both headed to the Pokécenter. It had been a long time since either of us had seen civilization.
We walked to the Pokécenter, almost taking our time, knowing that we had finally made it. The only thing to do now was to register here, and then head off once again to the next city.

 

[Carbonite4]

CHAPTER 4
THE FIRST GYM

We arrived at the Pokécenter at almost noon. We healed our Pokémon, and changed our clothes and washed our old ones.
‘I think we’d be better off buying new ones,’ I said, looking at my torn pants and stained shirt.
‘Nah,’ Kamon responded. ‘We can go ahead and buy some new clothes, but I’m gonna keep these. You know, as a reminder of everything we went through to get here.’
‘Good point,’ I said. We did buy some new clothes, but they were relatively the same as our old ones.
We went to a registration office. We had to wait in line behind about ten other trainers; judging on the way they were bragging about their Pokémon and how they were in the fifties and sixties, we didn’t think that there would be an incredible challenge. Our Pokémon, after all, were in the high seventies and eighties. It took only twenty minutes for us to get up to the counter.
‘Hello,’ the woman behind the counter said, ‘how may I help you?’
‘Yeah, um, I would like to register for the Prime League competitions,’ I said.
‘Of course. May I have your name, please?’
‘Last name: Anderson. First: Drew,’ I replied.
‘Ah, the Mr. Drew Anderson. We were expecting you. We were worried that you, of all people, wouldn’t make it.’
‘Erm, yeah, it’s me…’ The lady took my Pokédex and slipped it into a machine. She then typed for a second, and then proceeded in handing back my Pokédex.
‘You’re all registered. Have a nice time in Gehta,’ she said with a smile. ‘Next, please.’
‘Name’s Kamon. Kamon—’
‘Yes, we know, Drew and Kamon. We were expecting both of you. Pokédex, please.’ She repeated the procedure for Kamon, and in another two minutes we were walking out of the small office.
‘Was that weird or what?’ I said to Kamon.
‘Tell me about it. So, which direction to we go?’ Kamon asked.
‘Well, I think that Gehta is designed to be traveled through easily, going around in a circle. We would go east, toward Shadow City. There is a Dark Pokémon gym there. It’s only a day or two’s walk from here,’ I said.
‘Sound’s good to me. Let’s go.’
We left the city that day and continued our journey. This was remarkably easier than the trek through the mountains, and we actually enjoyed it.
Gehta was very strange, mostly because it’s surrounded by mountains (everywhere you look there is a mountain on the horizon) and the fact that there will be a city, and then nothing for miles, and then a city. And the strangest thing was that the locals were used to this.
After only a day’s walk (we didn’t sleep that night; we weren’t used to sleeping this often…) we arrived in Shadow City, and stayed at the Pokécenter for the rest of the day. The Pokécenters in Gehta, unlike the ones in Johto and Kanto, had rooms that you could stay overnight in, like a hotel.
‘We don’t exactly have a deadline to meet to fight in the Center Stadium,’ Kamon said. ‘We can go at our own leisure.’
‘And we can actually sleep in!’ I pointed out. ‘Every night, too.’
‘Yeah…This is the type of quest I’ve wanted to be on. It seems like every day is a Sunday, where you can really just do whatever. My first quest was constrained to beating Lance, and my second was really just trying to redeem my pride and defeat…well, you, Drew. This is the first journey where I don’t actually have to do anything. I’m mostly in this for you. It would have been tough getting here by yourself,’ Kamon ended. He sighed, and then smiled. ‘Thanks, though, for dragging me along. Battling or not, this is pretty fun.’
‘Hey, no problem…but I thought you were in it for battling too,’ I replied.
‘Well, I will fight, I guess. But it’s not my priority this time around.’
‘Then what is?’
‘I dunno. Nothing, really. I’m just in it for the ride, I suppose.’
‘The journey is only have of it, Kamon,’ I said.
‘You’re right,’ Kamon said. ‘But it doesn’t really matter whether or not I fight. As long as I hang around, I’m fine. No matter what you do.’
‘That’s reassuring,’ I said, although I think it came out sarcastically.
We slept in, like we wanted to, and then headed straight for the gym. The gym leader’s name was Dustin, the Dark Master. Apparently the only people that could be gym leaders here must’ve proven their worth; they had to show that they were a ‘master’ of their training field. I would assume that specialists from around the world got offers. I suspected that one of Kamon’s best friends, Falkner, the leader of Violet City Gym and a Flying Pokémon trainer, was offered, but I guess he turned it down. Falkner, as far as I knew, was still at his normal place in his gym.
We walked into a Dark place, with only violet lights in the ceiling on.
‘Too weird,’ I said, looking around. All of a sudden, normal lights turned on, and a trainer jumped down from the catwalks above. He wore black jeans, with a black shirt, and his hair was died black and red. It was combed back. The red hair was in streaks on the back.
‘Greetings,’ the trainer, who I assumed to be Dustin, said. ‘You must be good to have made it here. However, I have met a lot of trainers, and very few have beaten me. They are obviously not strong enough to beat me. Will you?’
‘Possibly,’ Kamon responded.
‘Of course I’ll win,’ I said, grinning.
‘I have heard that one before,’ Dustin said. His voice was and slightly rasping. ‘Which one of you will battle first?’
‘I will,’ I said, stepping forward.
‘Fine then. It will be a six-on-six match. You choose first,’ Dustin said.
‘All right,’ I responded. Dark Pokémon, huh? I thought. I know just who to choose! ‘The ultimate anti-Dark Pokémon is my first choice. Heracross, go!’ I threw my Pokéball with Heracross within it into the cement stadium.
‘Hitmonlee, come out!’ Dustin commanded. The long-legged brown Pokémon came out, and I was immediately taken aback.
‘Wait a sec…Hitmonlee isn’t Dark!’ I shouted.
‘Of course not. But who says that all of my Pokémon must be Dark? Hitmonlee, Mega Kick!’ My Heracross easily ducked under that attack.
‘Heracross, Mega Horn attack!’ I shouted. Heracross immediately charged at Hitmonlee with its horn glowing. Heracross rammed into Hitmonlee, doing a lot of damage.
‘Yeah, ouch,’ Dustin said sarcastically. ‘Hitmonlee, Hi Jump Kick, now!’ Hitmonlee leapt high into the air, and then, and he was coming down, swung his leg out. It struck my Heracross in the face.
‘Heracross, use a Take Down!’ I said. Heracross body slammed Hitmonlee, doing damage to itself, however. Hitmonlee retaliated with another Mega Kick, but this time it struck Heracross, doing a lot of damage. ‘Finish it,’ I started, ‘with a Reversal!’ Heracross took all of the damage it had received and unleashed it onto Hitmonlee, instant knock out.
‘Not too bad, newbie,’ Dustin sneered.
‘Newbie! Newbie! You take that back, or else…’ I snapped. No one calls me a newbie.
‘That’s right. A newbie! This is your first match in Gehta, right? That makes you a newbie. And or else what, huh?’
‘You’ll see as soon as you send out your next Pokémon…’ My fist tightened as I said those words. He would pay. Those were just simple words, but nobody, nobody says that to even Kamon, for that matter or me.
‘Fine then,’ Dustin said. ‘Houndour, go! Your Fire Blast!’ I let my Heracross be knocked out. I wanted to use my Ho-oh or Lugia against this jerk.
‘Come back, Heracross.’ Hmm… I thought. Lugia is weak against Dark, so I guess I’ll use… ‘Ho-oh, let’s go! Your Thunderbolt attack!’ Ho-oh flew up into the air and quickly struck with the Electric attack. Houndour retaliated with a Crunch, but it did only a little damage.
‘Fine, then. Houndour, Sludge Bomb attack!’ A sphere of poison struck my Ho-oh, not doing much, but poisoning him.
‘All right, Ho-oh; Hyper Beam attack, now!’ I said. My marvelous Fire Pokémon summoned gold energy in its mouth and then blasted it at Houndour, annihilating it. Dustin recalled his Dark Pokémon, and then sent out his next.
‘Okay, Slow—no, Pupitar, go! Rock Slide!’ The blue cocoon Pokémon tossed rocks at Ho-oh, doing four times the regular amount of damage. Obviously, I had to recall him.
‘Ho-oh, return. Tyranitar, come out! Surf!’ You try to take quadruple damage, I thought. The wave crashed over Pupitar, instant K.O.
‘Pupitar, you stood no chance against a Tyranitar,’ Dustin said. ‘Return. Now, I will choose Sneasel! Attack it with Ice Beam!’ The frozen water crystals hit Tyranitar, doing mediocre damage.
‘Tyranitar, get this match over with,’ I said. ‘Fire Blast him.’ A burst of fire enveloped the Dark Pokémon, and he fell, knocked out.
‘I cannot believe this!’ Dustin shouted. His Pokémon returned to its Pokéball. ‘All right. Slowking, attack! Hydro Pump, now!’ The ball of water sailed at my Pokémon, at hit it square in the chest. Tyranitar lived, though.
‘Tyranitar, Crunch, now!’ Huge black jaws clamped down on Slowking, and it did an incredible amount of damage. Still not enough to knock it out.
‘Slowking, finish his Pokémon off with a Surf,’ said Dustin. A wave rushed over my Pokémon, and it collapsed.
‘Come back, Tyranitar,’ I said. ‘Now, what should I choose…I don’t want to go to hard on you. How about Feraligatr. Let’s go!’ I threw the Ultra Ball holding my only Water-type Pokémon out into the arena. My blue alligator came out of its confinement with a flash of light and awaited my command. ‘Finish Slowking with a Crunch,’ I said. Feraligatr bit down on Slowking, finishing him off as I had predicted.
‘No way! Slowking, come back. For my last Pokémon, I will choose my most powerful. Houndoom, come out!’ Dustin yelled. ‘Use Sunny Day, and follow up with Solarbeam!’ Houndoom made the room unbearably bright, and then blasted a light beam at Feraligatr. The attack merely knocked him backwards, and allowed my Pokémon to continue its assault.
‘Earthquake, now!’ I commanded. Feraligatr jumped on the ground, making it tremble. Houndoom took incredible damage, but was not nearly knocked out.
‘Houndoom, another Solarbeam!’ Dustin cried. The attack struck Feraligatr again, but still didn’t knock him out. I decided to recall Feraligatr and send out my Lugia. Feraligatr wouldn’t survive another attack of any kind, and Lugia hasn’t battled yet.
‘Come back, Feraligatr, and go, Lugia!’ I said. ‘Lugia, use your Ancient Power attack!’ Lugia roared, and rocks came up from the ground and slammed into Houndoom, making him faint.
‘What—what kind of trainer are you!?’ Dustin exclaimed. ‘I cannot believe I lost! Houndoom, come back. Dude, you’re not a run-of-the-mill trainer. You’re something special, kid. It will get you a long way.’
‘Thank you,’ I replied. ‘Now, I believe you owe me a badge.’
‘Nope. In Gehta, we don’t have badges. Instead, you give me your Pokédex, and you get a ‘digital badge.’ After you, or if you, defeat all six gyms in Gehta, you go back to Chrono City, and re-register. Only by having all of the badges on your Pokédex will the gate to Center City open. The badges act like keys,’ Dustin explained. ‘Your status can be viewed online. You can see how you are doing, and how all other trainers in Gehta are doing. A great system, if you ask me. Now, if you would hand over your Pokédex, I’ll put the ‘badge’ in it.’ I handed my Pokédex to Dustin. He walked over to a computer and slid it in. He typed a little, and then ejected my Pokédex. He handed it back to me and continued to speak. ‘Does your friend here want to battle?’ he asked.
‘I don’t know,’ I responded. I turned to Kamon. He shook his head ‘no’.
‘Well, I suppose this is good-bye. See ya, kid. And good luck.’
‘You too, Dustin,’ I said.
Kamon and I both walked out of the gym. We continued on to the next city with Dustin’s good omen going through my head.

CHAPTER 5
CROSSOVER 3: DOUBLE-TROUBLE IN GEHTA

Two days later, we were halfway to the next town, Aura Town. The gym there was a Water Gym. I was fully prepared. Kamon still had no interests in battling.
The street we were walking on was about ten to fifteen feet wide. On either side of us was a grassy field, with bushes lining the street. The terrain around us was almost completely flat. As we were walking, two trainers walked past us. One was a boy, and the other a girl. The boy had brown hair spiked up in the front with black hair and pants. He wore an olive green vest and had a silver earring in his left ear. He was wearing gloves, and I noticed two other oddities; two belts of Pokémon, which grabbed my attention right away, and a dragon wing necklace encased in crystal.
The girl had about shoulder-length pink hair, with a pink tank top and black pants. Must love the color pink, I thought. She, on the other hand, only had one belt of Pokémon. I was interested in battling with her. She appeared the less experienced of the two, anyway. I approached the boy to see why he could carry twelve Pokémon and I couldn’t.
‘Hey,’ I said, ‘what’s up with the twelve Pokémon?’
The trainer turned around and said, ‘Who, me?’ I looked around to see if any other trainers were around with twelve Pokémon that I would be talking to.
‘Well, yeah. You’re the only trainer here with twelve Pokémon,’ I responded.
‘If you want to know,’ he said, ‘there is a device that allows you to carry twelve Pokémon. It’s useful for gym leaders who have more than one team, or travelers who need a battling team and a team for Flying, Cutting stuff down, Surfing, et cetera. Or, if you’re like me…’ He grinned. ‘You have two battling teams just for the sake of having two.’
I turned to Kamon to see if he knew about this device. He shrugged his shoulders.
The boy glanced at me, and then at Kamon. ‘The name’s Dart. What’s yours?’
I turned back to the trainer. ‘My name is Drew. And my friend here is Kamon.’ I turned to the girl. ‘Who’s she?’
‘I’m Kaylei,’ she said. She extended her hand. I met it, and we shook. ‘Nice to meet you.’
‘Ditto. So, you care to show me how…skilled both of your teams are? I’ll take on whichever one you want.’ The boy picked the team on his left side, and sent out his first Pokémon; it was a Rhydon. ‘Too easy,’ I said. ‘Feraligatr, go! Surf, now!’
‘Rhydon, Protect, and follow it up with a Thunder attack!’ Dart commanded. His Rhydon crossed his arms, deflecting the Water attack. He then unleashed a lightning bolt upon Feraligatr, doing massive damage.
‘Wasn’t expecting that attack,’ I remarked. ‘Feraligatr, Blizzard.’ My Feraligatr opened its jaws wide, and from it came a flurry of snow and ice. Rhydon suffered tremendous damage, but was still able to battle. ‘Feraligatr, Hydro Pump.’
‘Rhydon, Dig,’ Dart said. He was quite confident with his Pokémon, I noticed. The rocky rhino dug its way underground, dodging my Pokémon’s attack. Rhydon then burst out of the ground, ramming into my Feraligatr. That attack wasn’t as severe as Thunder was, however.
‘Feraligatr, Earthquake, now!’ I cried. It was a battle not necessarily of the better Pokémon; instead, it was a battle of wit. His Rhydon could use a variety of attacks, canceling out my type-advantage. I knew that I would have to battle the same way to beat him. Otherwise, the battle was already lost. And I don’t lose.
Feraligatr slammed its body onto the earth, causing a tremor. The ground split and then formed back together again around Rhydon’s feet. Rhydon collapsed to the ground. He appeared to be defeated.
‘Rhydon,’ Dart started, ‘Horn Drill!’ Rhydon slowly got back up, and then charged at my Feraligatr, its metal horn spinning. Feraligatr was struck in the stomach, instant K.O. I was slightly shocked that my Pokémon went down first.
‘Come back,’ I said. ‘Go, Ho-oh!’ I threw a Master Ball at the opposing Pokémon, and from it emerged the seven-colored Fire Pokémon, Ho-oh. ‘Ho-oh, Giga Drain attack, now!’ Ho-oh sucked the remaining life out of Dart’s Rhydon, forcing him to switch Pokémon.
‘Come back, Rhydon,’ Dart said, putting away the Pokéball that contained his Rhydon. ‘Now, go Kabutops, let’s go! A Rock Slide attack!’ A Kabutops is hard to come by; I’ve only seen a few in all of my adventures.
Kabutops spun around, making boulders fly out toward my Ho-oh. The attack did a lot of damage, but I was certain that my Ho-oh would come out victorious in this one.
‘Ho-oh, another Giga Drain,’ I said. Quadruple damage with a reviving bonus? Couldn’t get any better than that! I watched as Ho-oh continued to drain the life out of Dart’s Pokémon. Kabutops, however, retaliated with another Rock Slide, damaging Ho-oh further. At this rate, Ho-oh would K.O. Kabutops, but would still be down to nearly nothing for health. I decided to take more drastic measures. ‘Ho-oh,’ I said, ‘Solarbeam, now!’ I knew that it would take two turns for Ho-oh to use that attack, but I figured, what the heck? Might as well take my chances. Ho-oh charged up the Grass attack while Kabutops pounded away at my Pokémon’s health. Ho-oh suddenly unleashed the beam of sunlight, instantly knocking out Kabutops. Dart recalled his Pokémon, and then sent out his next battler.
‘Magneton, come out and use Thunderbolt to finish off Ho-oh!’ Dart shouted. As soon as my Pokémon went down, Dart grinned and Kaylei cheered. Damn cheerleaders, I thought.
‘Come back, Ho-oh,. All right, Tyranitar, go! Fire Blast attack!’ My Tyranitar blasted flames at Magneton, doing major damage and nearly knocking him out.
‘Before you go down, at least use Thunder Wave!’ Dart said. At first I didn’t think much of it; Thunder Wave doesn’t do any damage. However, it quickly occurred to me that if I can’t attack, Magneton could still remain out. This is gonna suck, I thought. Tyranitar couldn’t move on her next turn, allowing Magneton to attack again. ‘Perfect,’ said Dart. ‘My plan is going perfectly. Magneton, Thunder, now!’ A sheet of lightning crashed down upon Tyranitar, but it did little; Tyranitar has the strongest defense of any Pokémon on my team.
‘Come on, Tyranitar,’ I said, ‘use an Earthquake!’ Tyranitar managed to stomp on the ground, splitting the earth underneath Magneton. The attack knocked him out easily, and Dart switched Pokémon again. I switched too; I didn’t want Tyranitar out if he’s paralyzed. ‘Lugia, go!’
‘Houndoom, go!’ Dart said. Dear God, not another Houndoom, I thought. ‘Whoa, you have both Lugia and Ho-oh!? Amazing. Houndoom, Crunch!’
‘No way. Detect, and then Hydro Pump, Lugia,’ I commanded. Lugia stuck out its wings, deflecting the Dark attack, and then blasted Houndoom with water.
‘Houndoom, another Crunch.’ I let Lugia get hit, knowing that a Surf would K.O. Houndoom anyway. He’d then be left with only two Pokémon, and I would have three, not counting the paralyzed Tyranitar. I then commanded Lugia to finish off Houndoom with a Surf; the attack of course knocked Houndoom out as I had thought. Dart readied his next Pokémon. ‘Scizor, let’s rock! Swords Dance attack, now!’ Scizor spun around as swords danced around his head.
‘Lugia, Aeroblast,’ I said. Lugia blasted white glowing energy at Scizor, but he quickly moved out of the way. ‘Dang it. Lugia, another Aeroblast.’ Lugia repeated the attack, but it failed again.
‘Ha, you will never hit my Scizor! He’s too fast! Scizor, Steel Wings, now!’ Dart shouted.
As Dart’s Scizor zoomed toward my Lugia, I shouted ‘Lugia, behind you!’ Lugia whipped around in time to witness the bug-like Pokémon flying at him. Lugia blasted Scizor with an Aeroblast, making him crash into the earth below. Leave the flying to my Lugia, I thought. Scizor got right back up, however, and then proceeded in attacking Lugia again; this time with a Hyper Beam. Scizor put his claws together and charged up golden energy between them. He then unleashed a blast of energy at Lugia, doing massive damage. As Scizor was recovering from the attack, Lugia retaliated with a Fire Blast, knocking Scizor out.
‘All too easy,’ I said. Dart winced, and then sent out his final Pokémon.
‘Venusaur, go! Your Body Slam!’ he shouted. Venusaur charged at Lugia, but he flew out of the way, and then turned around and used Psychic. Venusaur was injured, but not injured enough to quit battling. Venusaur also turned around and attempted to attack Lugia with a Giga Drain. The attack did next to nothing, and my Lugia finished Venusaur off with my command.
‘Final attack, Lugia. Make this your final attack. Aeroblast!’ I commanded. Lugia blasted a white beam at Venusaur, knocking him out as I had predicted. No way was Venusaur going to live through a Psychic and an Aeroblast; both attacks were super-effective and they did extra damage because they are the same type as Lugia, Psychic and Flying.
‘I can’t believe I lost…’ Dart muttered gloomily. ‘I guess I never stood a chance against Lugia, huh?’
‘I guess not. Lugia, return,’ I replied. Kamon then stepped up to Dart.
‘I want to see your second team,’ he said. ‘In battle.’ I looked at Kamon in wonder. Kamon had refused to battle this entire time. It was like seeing Clark Kent become Superman in front of you; you couldn’t believe your eyes.
‘I accept your challenge,’ Dart said. ‘Should I send out a Pokémon first, or will you?’
‘I’ll send it out first,’ Kamon said. ‘Typhlosion, go!’ For the first time since we started out, I saw Kamon use a Pokémon in battle. The fiery Pokémon roared, and the flames on its neck and back ignited.
‘Espeon, attack!’ Dart said, ‘with a Psychic!’ Dart’s purple evolution of Eevee glowed blue for a second, and then made Typhlosion get knocked back with a flash of light. Kamon told his Typhlosion to attack Espeon with Flamethrower, but Espeon blocked it with Detect.
‘Typhlosion, again,’ Kamon said. Typhlosion repeated the Fire-type attack, but this time it struck Espeon and did severe damage.
‘Espeon, Return,’ Dart said. At first I thought, Why is he calling back his Espeon now? Both Pokémon have only been hit once, and they both stand an equal chance of winning. But from the look on Kamon’s face when he heard the command I soon figured out what the command was: an attack. In order for an Eevee to evolve into Espeon, it must like the trainer a lot. The attack Return does more damage the more your Pokémon like you. So, Return is guaranteed to do a lot of damage if an Espeon performs it.
Dart’s Espeon charged at Typhlosion and then rammed into him, doing a hell of a lot more damage than I had predicted. It didn’t look good for Typhlosion.
‘Typhlosion, your Return!’ Kamon commanded. I glanced at Kamon; he seemed confident in his Typhlosion. I didn’t think that his Pokémon knew that attack. I decided, however, to stay silent and watch; it was Kamon’s battle after all, not mine. Typhlosion rammed into Espeon, knocking her back and surprisingly doing more damage to her than she did to Typhlosion; Typhlosion must’ve liked Kamon a lot more than Espeon liked Dart.
‘Espeon, finish Typhlosion with another Psychic!’ Espeon repeated her Psychic-type attack, knocking out Typhlosion.
‘Come back, and go Umbreon! Faint Attack, now!’ Kamon threw another Ultra Ball onto the concrete street, unleashing his only Dark Pokémon. This wasn’t any Dark Pokémon, however. This Dark-type Pokémon was the alter-evolution of Eevee.
Umbreon disappeared from sight for a second, but then reappeared behind Espeon, striking her down and knocking her out. Dart recalled his Pokémon, and then sent out a Jolteon.
‘What is this, the all-Eevee evolution team?’ Kamon questioned sarcastically.
‘Of course not,’ Dart said, ‘I just happen to like both Jolteon and Espeon. Now, Jolteon, Double Kick!’ Jolteon turned around and kicked Umbreon with his two hind legs. It was super-effective, but it still did little damage.
‘Umbreon, Confuse Ray!’ Kamon commanded. Umbreon confused Jolteon with a flash of light.
‘Jolteon, Thunder!’ Dart shouted. Jolteon attempted an attack, but hurt itself in confusion. ‘Okay, try Pin Missile!’ I knew that Jolteon’s Pin Missile and Double Kick were super-effective against Umbreon. Pin Missile hit Umbreon, doing even less than Double Kick, but poisoning Umbreon. Umbreon retaliated with a Shadow Ball; at Kamon’s command, of course. ‘Jolteon, Thunderbolt!’ said Dart. Jolteon once again hurt itself in its confusion. At once, though, it snapped out of it. ‘Good job. Thunder, now!’ Jolteon unleashed a bolt of electricity down upon Umbreon, severely damaging her.
‘Umbreon, finish Jolteon off with a Hyper Beam!’ Kamon commanded. Umbreon opened its mouth, gathering gold energy in it. She then blasted Jolteon with a huge gold beam, instantly knocking him out.
‘Return,’ Dart said. A red beam of light swallowed up his Jolteon. ‘Go, Tauros!’ Dart threw another Pokéball into the road; this time, out of the glittering white light emerged the Normal-type Pokémon, Tauros. I have only seen the bull-like creature a few times before. Mostly in the Safari Zone in Fuschia City. I had caught one, but I have never taken it out to battle. I knew that Tauros could learn a lot of elemental attacks, such as Fire Blast or Blizzard. This battle was going to be interesting.
‘Umbreon, Psychic attack, now!’ Kamon commanded.
‘Tauros, Double-Team, and then a Horn Drill!’ said Dart. Tauros easily dodged the attack by making clones of itself, and then rammed into Kamon’s Dark evolution of Eevee, knocking him out.
‘Come back Umbreon, and go Delibird! Attack it with Drill Peck!’ Kamon yelled. Bad mistake, I thought. After Delibird bore its beak into Tauros’s side, Tauros retaliated with a Thunder, nearly knocking out Delibird in one hit. ‘Holy crap! Delibird, Ice Beam, now!’ Kamon’s Delibird flew in the air, and then shot a small ice-crystal ray at Tauros, doing mediocre damage.
‘Tauros, finish Delibird off with Thunderbolt!’ Dart commanded. Electric sparks surrounded Tauros’s body. He suddenly channeled them to Delibird, instantly knocking him out.
‘I can’t believe that! Delibird, come back. You must be one hell of a trainer, Dart. Not many people can knock my Pokémon out this easily,’ said Kamon.
‘You battle a lot?’ Dart asked.
‘Of course. I’m a gym leader,’ Kamon replied.
‘Really? Interesting. But enough talking. More fighting. Send out your next Pokémon!’
‘Fine then. You asked for it. Entei, go!’ Kamon threw out a Master Ball, unveiling his shiny legendary Fire Pokémon. ‘Entei, Fire Blast!’ Entei nodded, and then unleashed a huge wall of flames upon Tauros.
I was highly surprised, because the last time Kamon and I fought he could barely control his Entei. Now he obeyed his every command. Kamon must’ve been through more training than I thought he had. There would be no way he could lose.
‘Shiny Pokémon or not, or even a legendary Pokémon or not, you’ll still fall to Tauros! Surf attack, now, Tauros!’ Tauros created a wave and water, and made it rush over Entei, greatly damaging him.
‘Entei, Flamethrower!’ Kamon said. Fire poured from Entei’s mouth and engulfed the bullish Pokémon. Tauros was burnt, and nearly knocked out, I figured. ‘Extreme Speed, Entei!’ Entei charged at Tauros at full speed, ramming into him and knocking him out. ‘You were saying…?’ Kamon jeered.
‘Ha, you’ll see. It won’t matter. Tauros, come back. Octillary, let’s go. Hydro Pump!’ Dart exclaimed. A large amount of water surged from the snout of Octillary and hit Entei.
‘Entei, Hyper Beam attack, now!’ said Kamon. Entei blasted a golden beam of light energy at Octillary, doing a lot of damage. Not enough to K.O. him, however.
‘Octillary, Octazooka!’ Dart said. A ball of ink and water hit Entei, lowering his accuracy and his health. Entei counter-attacked Octillary with a Stomp, making Octillary flinch.
‘All right, Entei, Skull Bash attack, now!’ Entei lowered his head to attack. As he did, Octillary used a Surf, nearly making Entei faint. Entei then charged at the octopus, and rammed into him with his head. Octillary responded with a Psybeam, confusing Entei. ‘Come on, Entei! Just knock him out! Another Hyper Beam should do it!’ Entei tried to attack, but was nearly finished off when he hurt himself in his confusion.
‘Finish his legendary Pokémon off, Octillary,’ Dart said, ‘with a Hyper Beam of your own!’ Neither Kamon nor I could do anything but watch as Entei was taken down by Octillary’s attack. ‘So much for being a shiny legendary Pokémon.’ Dart chuckled.
‘I’ll make you eat those words! Corsola, go! Psychic attack to knock-out Octillary,’ Kamon said. His Water Pokémon attacked with the telepathic attack, making Octillary get knocked out.
‘Return, Octillary. Magmar, go! Use Psychic!’ Dart exclaimed. The fiery Pokémon was surrounded with a blue aurora. In a sudden flash of light, Corsola took damage. Corsola came back with a Hydro Pump, but it missed. Magmar attacked with a Thunder Punch, doing major damage.
‘Corsola, another Hydro Pump,’ Kamon said. Magmar was severely injured by the blast of water. He attacked with another Psychic, making Corsola take some more damage, but still not knocked out. ‘Corsola, finish Magmar off with Surf!’ That last Water-type attack was enough to make Magmar faint, and to make Dart switch Pokémon.
‘Heracross, go! Cross-Chop attack!’ Dart commanded. A Pokémon just like the one I owned came out, and raised its hands over its head. He then karate-chopped Corsola with both hands, nearly knocking her out.
‘Corsola, Psychic!’ Kamon said.
‘Heracross, Detect!’ Dart said. Heracross blocked the attack, and then knocked out Corsola with Mega Horn. ‘Yes! Only one more Pokémon left!’
‘It’s all I need,’ Kamon said. ‘Corsola, return. Golem, come out! Use Earthquake!’ The rocky Pokémon pounded on the ground, making a tremor under Heracross’s feet.
‘Heracross, Counter!’ Dart said. Heracross reversed all of the damage Golem did in double, plus it was super-effective. Golem was instantly knocked out; Kamon had lost. He sat there in silence for a while, until he recalled his Pokémon.
‘Well, I suppose you won this one fair-and-square, huh?’ he said.
‘I did, didn’t I? Well, it was a good match, Gym Leader Kamon,’ Dart said. I wasn’t sure if Dart was mocking Kamon or not when he called him a gym leader. Kamon and Dart shook hands. ‘Well, I guess I should be going. Maybe I’ll see you two again sometime.’
‘Possibly,’ I said. Kaylei waved good-bye to both of us and then traveled off with Dart. ‘Hey, man,’ I said to Kamon, ‘don’t get discouraged. You haven’t battled in a long time, maybe you’re just a little rusty.’
‘I’m fine,’ Kamon responded. He didn’t look fine. ‘You know what, Drew? I might join you in your little quest. Might, mind you. I don’t feel like fighting the gym leaders. I’ll fight the leader of this league, though. If they let me, that is…’
‘Who’ll deny the Pokémon Master the chance to fight someone?’ I said sarcastically.
‘That’s right,’ he said. We continued on our way to Aura Town, and the next gym. Maybe Kamon would change his mind and battle with me. Only the future could tell.

** Pokémon Update:
Drew- Ho-oh level 79, Lugia level 81, Heracross level 82, Feraligatr level 83, Tyranitar level 83, and Ampharos level 84.
Kamon- Corsola level 75, Delibird level 76, Golem level 77, Umbreon level 78, Typhlosion level 82, and Entei level 85. **

CHAPTER 6
AURA TOWN

Kamon and I arrived in Aura Town the next day. The town wasn’t very big; it seemed as though the only large city in the country was Chrono City. The town consisted of a few restaurants, hotels, and a Pokécenter. The gym was near the end of town, on the outskirts.
Kamon and I healed our Pokémon at the Pokémon Center, and then headed for the nearest restaurant; we were starving. Over a double-cheeseburger with bacon and barbecue sauce (my favorite) and a chocolate milkshake with French fries, we started talking.
‘So,’ I said, ‘you thinking about battling this Water Gym Leader?’
‘Nope,’ Kamon responded. ‘I thought about the battle against Dart yesterday, and I decided that if I truly wanted to be battling, I would have done it before him. Losing your first battle isn’t a very reassuring thing, you know.’
I paused for a moment and then said, ‘Yeah, actually, I do.’
Kamon was taken aback. ‘You!? Mr. I Never Lose!? You know what it is like to set out on a journey and lose your very first battle? When you think you’re something special, and you get the crap beaten out of you? You don’t know, Drew, you don’t know.’
‘Kamon, only two other people in the world know this. Two. My old girlfriend, Amber, and the person that beat me. What you hear now…I don’t want it ever repeated again. You hear me? Never. You must swear to it,’ I said.
‘I promise,’ Kamon said.
‘All right. Well, when I first set out in Johto, I started out with a Cyndaquil. I traveled to Violet Gym. In order to get in, I had to battle a trainer. He used a Doduo. I, of course used Cyndaquil. After a small exchange of attacks, the trainer said that he was going to stop ‘fooling around’ and finish my Pokémon off. He beat the crap out of me, Kamon. If he had battled that way from the beginning, I wouldn’t have lasted more than 30 seconds.
‘I…I thought that I was supposed to be something special. I was some ‘special trainer’ all the way from Kanto. I showed remarkable skills in my Pokémon handling techniques. I thought I was going to win. I knew I was going to win. I decided from that point on that no matter what it took, I was going to be the most powerful trainer ever. I decided that I was never going to go easy on someone. Just like that trainer did with me. Destroyed me. I was going to destroy all of my opponents. And I did, Kamon, I did. Until you came along, that is. You, Kamon, don’t know that feeling. The feeling of defeat when you think you’re at your prime. I had recovered from that battle after I had defeated everyone, including the Elite Four. I knew then that I was no longer a novice, as that trainer called me.
‘I went back to Kanto, and beat everyone there. Even Ash. I knew I was invincible. Even you couldn’t beat me. Or so I thought. Kamon, you don’t know what that is like. To be defeated like that. So, no matter what you went through, it wasn’t as bad as that. Both of those times.’
‘So…’ Kamon started, ‘you are taking on this challenge to recover from your loss to me, huh? And you wanted me to come along so that you could show me that you were better than me. That’s what your deal is, huh?’ I looked at the floor. I then looked up at Kamon. I nodded. My secret had been unmasked. Kamon sighed. ‘Yes, Drew, I know what it is like to lose in your prime. But my defeat was worse than yours.’
‘I doubt it,’ I said stubbornly.
‘Yeah, it was, Drew. You see, the world knew it when I lost. I was undefeated when I challenged Lance. No one had beaten me. No one. But I was shot down because I was still an amateur. Koga foresaw it; he even tried to warn me. He told me that my style of battling would be my downfall. My arrogance, my overconfidence…
‘After I lost to him, I went into training for a year. No one saw me. I didn’t want them to. My life had been destroyed. I took over as gym leader for another year, until you came along. Then my once rival stopped by, and then my best friend. I realized what I had done to my life. I went back into becoming a trainer again. But your life isn’t destroyed, is it Drew?’ Kamon asked.
‘I promised myself…revenge. On all those who beat me. It’s haunted me through every battle, eating me up inside that I might not be as good as someone else. That is why I try to beat everyone who fights me. For revenge, Kamon, revenge,’ I said. Hate was building inside of me. I hated those feelings, the feelings of loss and despair, and my hatred for those who beat me. ‘I accept every challenge, because I know I’ll win. I am the best, Kamon, and I’ll show it to you no matter what it takes!’ I put money on the table to pay for the bill, and then left the restaurant. I headed straight for the gym.
I walked into the Water Gym and looked around for the leader. I didn’t see anyone. The gym itself was like a big indoor pool. The roof was curved, and made of blue glass. The pool itself was in the shape of a circle. It had four small square platforms on it, just big enough for a Pokémon to fit on.
I walked around, looking for a gym leader. Suddenly, a girl popped out of the Water.
‘Hi,’ she said, ‘my name is Lisa. What’s yours?’
Taken aback by her perkiness, I said ‘Er, Drew. Are you the gym leader here?’
‘You bet I am! Water is my specialty! You wanna battle me?’ Lisa asked.
‘Sure,’ I replied. ‘Six-on-six, I assume. You can choose first, if you want.’ I walked over to one side of the pool, and Lisa walked to the other.
‘But of course. Lapras, I choose you!’ Lisa shouted. She threw a Pokéball into the water, and from it emerged the Water Pokémon, Lapras. I decided to throw her off with a little…surprise. My own little trump card.
‘Ho-oh, go!’ I yelled. I knew she would never expect that. I would have the upper hand; well, at least for a moment. But just long enough for me to set-up my attack that would surely bring her Lapras down. ‘Ho-oh, Sunny Day.’
‘Lapras, Thunderbolt,’ Lisa commanded. A surge of electricity shocked my Pokémon, but it did minimal damage.
‘Okay, Ho-oh, use your Solarbeam attack, now!’ Ho-oh fired a yellow beam of sunlight energy at Lisa’s Lapras, nearly knocking it out (it was a critical hit).
Ho-oh was one of my favorite Pokémon, right after Mewtwo and Lugia. Ho-oh was my most prized Pokémon, only because of its diverse attacks and ability to take down anyone who tried to fight it. I knew that Ho-oh would be able to beat any Water-type Pokémon because of its Electric-type attacks and its Grass attacks. Plus, the bonus of Sunny Day (as it boosts Ho-oh’s Fire-type moves as well) makes Ho-oh nearly unstoppable. Even if Ho-oh does take damage, he can gain it back with Giga Drain or Recover. There was no way that Ho-oh was going to lose anytime soon.
‘Lapras, Thunder!’
‘How foolish,’ I said with a smirk. ‘Thunder won’t hit me as long as I’m using Sunny Day; the accuracy is lowered.’ My smirk faded into cold stare into my enemy’s eyes. I wasn’t going to toy with my opponent, like I had started to. No, I was going to pound her into the earth. ‘Ho-oh, finish her Lapras off with another Solarbeam!’ I yelled. I raised my hand and pointed at Ho-oh’s target. Ho-oh attacked its foe again, knocking her out.
‘Return,’ she said. Her voice wavered as she said.
Finally, I thought, she has witnessed my true power.
‘Politoed, I want you to attack! Let’s go!’ Lisa threw another Pokéball into the water. This time, the green toad came forth to battle. ‘Politoed, Mean Look, and then follow up with a Perish Song!’ Lisa ordered. Politoed nodded in agreement, and then glared at Ho-oh, making it unable to return to its’ Pokéball. Politoed then opened his mouth, and a hideous voice echoed through the stadium.
‘I hate to spoil your plans, Lisa,’ I said, ‘but I’ll have to. Ho-oh, Whirlwind attack!’ I watched as Ho-oh flapped its magnificently colored wings, creating a gale. The attack sent Politoed back into the Pokéball, canceling the effects of Mean Look and Perish Song. Don’t mess with the master, I thought. Or you’ll end in disaster.
‘Fine, then,’ Lisa said, ‘Starmie, go! Use Thunderbolt!’ The ten-pointed Pokémon came out and shocked my Ho-oh, paralyzing it.
‘Dang. Return,’ I said. Ho-oh wasn’t knocked out, but I didn’t want to take any chances with using him (I hate it when my Pokémon are paralyzed…). ‘Ampharos, attack! Use Thunderbolt!’ My precious Electric Pokémon electrocuted Lisa’s Starmie, bringing it down to about half life.
‘Starmie, Psychic!’ Lisa yelled. A blue aura surrounded both Lisa’s Starmie and my Ampharos. Suddenly, there was a flash of light. Ampharos took some damage, but not much.
‘Ampharos, finish Starmie with a Thunder!’ I commanded once the effect of Sunny Day had ended. A sheet of lightning crashed down upon Starmie, lowering its health down to only one HP. ‘Damn,’ I cursed.
‘Ha, my Starmie has the Focus Band attached,’ Lisa taunted.
‘No, really?’ I replied sarcastically. ‘Ampharos, Thunder Punch!’
‘Starmie, quickly, a Hydro Pump!’ The back star of Starmie spun around as she blasted a stream of water at Ampharos. Ampharos rolled as he was running at Starmie, dodging the aquatic blast. Ampharos rose to his feet and punched Starmie in the center of the red jewel on its body. Electricity surged through Starmie’s body, and finally knocked her out.
‘All right, trainer, you asked for it’ Lisa said. ‘Starmie, return. Politoed, come back out!’ Lisa sent out her Politoed again, and told him to use Hydro Pump.
Her favorite attack, I thought.
The blast hit Ampharos, doing an incredible amount of damage. Ampharos was standing on the closest platform to the one that Politoed was on (Ampharos was standing on the platform on my side of the pool, but then jumped onto the second platform, and then the third to punch Starmie) when he was hit with Hydro Pump. Ampharos lost his balance, and fell backwards, into the water. I knew that Ampharos couldn’t swim. He was going to be a sitting Pidgey in the water. The real question was, though, if Lisa knew that my Ampharos couldn’t swim.
‘Politoed, his Ampharos can’t swim,’ Lisa said.
Well, that answers my question, I thought. Lisa resumed.
‘Jump into the water, and take Ampharos down!’ I suddenly came up with a plan. It would cause Ampharos to faint, but so would Politoed. I knew that I would have to do it, however, or else Politoed would drown Ampharos.
‘Ampharos, Thunder!’ I cried.
‘What!?’ Lisa exclaimed, ‘are you insane?’
‘Not hardly, I responded. Another bolt of lighting came down and struck the pool, causing an electric current to run through both of our Pokémon. The amount of damage Thunder would normally do was increased many times due to the fact that it hit the water. This total amount of damage knocked out both of our Pokémon, just as I had predicted.
You see, I had a natural ability to know what the effects of an attack would do. I always had that ability. If I used a certain attack, I already knew the consequences. Therefore, I would always pick the right attack, knowing that it would do exactly what I thought it would do, what I knew it would do. I was always right. And that is why I would always win. I could make the prediction within a second. My instincts served me well. They always have, and they always will.
Both Lisa and I recalled our Pokémon. I felt sorry for Ampharos because I had to sacrifice him, but I felt that he knew that it was the wisest thing to do.
‘Well, trainer,’ Lisa said, ‘it looks like I only have three Pokémon left. As my next Pokémon, I’ll choose Kingdra!’
‘Go, Tyranitar,’ I said.
‘What the hell is wrong with you?’ Lisa asked. ‘First, you use a Fire Pokémon. Now, you are using a Rock Pokémon. I’m beginning to think that you are a little…well, crazy.’
‘However, I’m winning by using these oddities, aren’t I?’ I remarked. ‘Tyranitar, Outrage!’ Tyranitar started to glow white. He opened his jaws, and from his gaping mouth a beam of light emerged. The white beam of light was blasted at Kingdra, taking it down to half life. Tyranitar returned to normal.
‘Wow. I didn’t think a Tyranitar could learn that attack,’ Lisa said. ‘I congratulate you. But enough is enough. Kingdra, Hydro Pump!’ The aquatic blast highly damaged Tyranitar, but she was still ready to fight.
Tyranitar returned fire with another Outrage, knocking out Kingdra.
‘Perfect,’ I said.
‘Come back, Kingdra, and go, Kingler! Crab Hammer attack!’ Lisa said. The giant, red crab raised its claw into the air, and then slammed it down onto Tyranitar. The attack did a tremendous amount of damage, and nearly knocked out my Dark Pokémon.
‘Tyranitar, Thunderbolt attack!’ I yelled. Might as well squeeze in a last attack before he goes down, I thought. Kingler took little damage from the Electric attack, mostly because Electric-type attacks weren’t Tyranitar’s specialty.
‘Finish his Tyranitar off, Kingler,’ Lisa said, ‘with another Crab Hammer!’ This time, Kingler swung its claw from the left to the right, slamming it into Tyranitar’s chest. Tyranitar fell to the floor, and remained there, motionless.
‘Come back, Tyranitar,’ I said. ‘For my last Pokémon, I’ll choose Lugia!’
‘Last?’ Lisa questioned. ‘You still have three more, besides this one.’
I smiled. ‘I only need one more. Lugia, Aeroblast to finish Kingler off!’ I replied. Lugia spread its wings apart, and formed a white ball of energy in front of itself. Lugia clapped it wings together, blasting a beam of white energy at Kingler. Kingler was struck so hard form this attack that he flew off of the platform, over the pool, and into the far wall on the other side of the gym. He was obviously knocked out.
‘Dang it!’ Lisa said. ‘Kingler, return. My last Pokémon is actually my most powerful. Blastoise, go!’ She tossed another Pokéball into the pool. The blue Pokémon with the brown shell on its back known as Blastoise emerged. ‘Blastoise, Hydro Pump attack!’ Two cannons mounted on Blastoise’s left and right shoulders opened up, and fired two blasts of water at Lugia. Lugia dove under water, making itself invulnerable to the Water-type attack.
‘Lugia, Twister!’ I ordered. A giant tornado was unleashed upon Blastoise, doing severe damage.
I thought about switching to my Feraligatr. You know, to make the battle more interesting. However, I thought about the last time I had done that, and the tragic accident that followed:

Ash sent out his Blastoise first. I thought of using Ampharos, but quickly changed my mind because I figured that his Blastoise knew Earthquake. I decided to use Feraligatr.
‘Go, Feraligatr,’ I yelled.
Ash said in his raspy voice, ‘Blastoise, Seismic Toss!’ His Blastoise grabbed my Feraligatr by the arms and then threw him to the other side of the arena.
‘Feraligatr, Slash attack,’ I commanded. Feraligatr got back up, and then charged at Blastoise. Feraligatr lashed out at Blastoise, severely damaging him. ‘Now, Crunch!’
‘Blastoise, Dig!’ Ash said. Blastoise burrowed underground as my Feraligatr tried to clamp down on him. Blastoise then emerged from the ground and slammed into Feraligatr. Feraligatr tried to use another Crunch, but it was reversed by a Mirror Coat from Blastoise.
‘Feraligatr, Earthquake!’ I cried. The ground split under Blastoise, damaging him slightly.
‘Blastoise, Skull Bash!’ Ash said. Blastoise lowered its head and then charged at Feraligatr. Feraligatr put out it arms and tried to stop Blastoise, but failed. Feraligatr fell down and was run over by Ash’s Pokémon. Feraligatr hopped back up, however, and tried to attack again. ‘Blastoise! Finish Feraligatr off with a Hyper Beam!’ The two cannons on Blastoise’s back gathered gold energy, and then blasted it at Feraligatr, knocking him out. I had lost a Pokémon first. I was down by one Pokémon already. I would have to try twice as hard with my next Pokémon…

I decided to stick with Lugia. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.
‘Lugia,’ I said, ‘Thunder, now!’
‘Mirror Coat!’ Lisa said. The Electric attack was reversed upon Lugia.
‘Lugia, Iron Tail!’ I commanded. Lugia flew over Blastoise and swung its mighty tail into him. Blastoise flew off of his platform and onto the other platform that was near him. Blastoise stood back up and proceeded in using a Mega Punch, at his trainer’s command. Lugia flew even higher, and then dive-bombed Blastoise with Sky Attack. Blastoise fell into the water.
‘Blastoise, Tackle attack, now!’ Lisa said. Blastoise jumped out of the Water and rammed into Lugia.
‘Lugia, Psychic!’ I said. Lugia returned an attack, nearly knocking out Blastoise. ‘Now, finish him with Aeroblast!’ Lugia fired another white beam, striking Blastoise in the center of his body, knocking him out. I had won. Again.
‘No…come back, Blastoise,’ Lisa said sadly. A red beam of light swallowed Blastoise. ‘Well, hand me your Pokédex.’ I walked over to her and gave her my electronic item. She walked over to a computer in a corner of the gym and inserted the Pokédex into a slot under the computer. She typed for a little bit, and then took out the Pokédex. Lisa walked back over to me and handed me the Pokédex. ‘There, your second badge.’
‘Thank you,’ I said. I put the Pokédex into the side pouch of my backpack. She leaned over and kissed my forehead.
‘You are a great trainer. Good luck and the rest of your journey,’ she said.
I blushed. ‘Thanks again,’ I replied. I turned around and walked out of the gym. Kamon was standing there, waiting for me.
‘I saw your match,’ he said.
‘I figured you would,’ I responded.
‘Look, I’m sorry…if I offended you in any way earlier. You know, at the restaurant,’ Kamon apologized.
‘I know. I’m sorry that I flipped out like that. I really need to, well, control myself better. Anyway, we better be off. The next town has a Steel Gym.’ Kamon sighed, and then nodded.
We both walked on.