Chapter 2: The Pokémon World Champion

"Scizor. Wailord," Alexzia Markov said to herself with tears streaming down her cheeks. "I'm sorry for what you both have been through. You both did great these past few weeks. I promise I will avenge both of you. I will not allow such a mean trainer to win this competition. I will win." Then she said loudly, "I will win!"

What a naive little girl, Erik Croll thought to himself. He looked at his PokéGear, which was on timer mode. I should get this over quickly. Why doesn't she hurry up if she wants revenge so bad? It's inevitable anyway. She doesn't realize that arcanine is much too powerful to be defeated. But I am running out of time.

Both trainers stared at each other across the field. The way it looked, it was as if they were the last trainers in the world, fighting the battle that would ultimately decide who is superior. They were only aware of each other, nothing else. The only thing that mattered was this moment, this battle.

I have to win, Alexzia thought to herself. If I don't, I'll not only be letting down my home region, but also my pokémon. This victory will be for them. She held her dragonite's poké ball to her chest. After this, we'll all happily go back home and forget this horrible battle ever happened. Now...

"Go, dragonite!" Alexzia called out. She threw her poké ball straight at arcanine, which was already waiting, ready to finish this battle.

The poké ball opened, and with all its speed, dragonite came out and flew head on towards arcanine, skimming only inches from the ground, and letting out a mighty bellow at the same time. Arcanine reacted quickly, and at its trainer's command, unleashed a flamethrower right at dragonite. Dragonite quickly dodged right, sped up, dodged another flamethrower, and attempted to tackle arcanine from the side. But arcanine jumped straight up and blasted another flamethrower down where dragonite would be. But dragonite sped up even more and swiftly flew right under arcanine, barely evading the flamethrower. Then dragonite spun around, touched ground, kicked off, and flew straight back at the airborne arcanine. This time arcanine used a massive fire spin. But dragonite sped up again and flew straight through it, tackling arcanine in mid-air, sending it flying, and then skidding across the field.

"What's wrong, Erik?" Alexzia taunted. "Did you underestimate the abilities of me and my pokémon? Where is your arcanine's power now, hmm? Even if your arcanine tried, dragonite would just as quickly attack arcanine before it has time to power up. Dragonite could also just as easily evade any attack with its speed. Admit it, you've met your match."

What an arrogant child, Erik thought to himself. He watched as his arcanine got up from the ground and shake itself. It was ready to continue and looked as if dragonite's attack didn't cause much damage, if any at all. Erik smiled as he noticed a surprised look on both dragonite and Alexzia. I still have more surprises in store.

"Arcanine. Get up and get ready!" Erik ordered. Arcanine instantly obeyed and carefully watched dragonite, which was now standing on the ground, staring back. "Now arcanine! Take dragonite down with your extreme speed"

Arcanine hunched back slowly, getting ready to spring forward. Dragonite also got ready by spreading out its small wings and bending its legs, getting ready to jump back into the air. Arcanine growled and launched forward, and with its incredible speed, arcanine looked like a faint blur speeding towards dragonite. Dragonite, surprised by such incredible speed, attempted to jump up and take flight. But as he jumped into the air, the black and orange blur jumped off the ground and hit dragonite right in the chest. Dragonite got its wind knocked out of it as it was impaled to the ground, and was pinned down by arcanine. To Alexzia's horror she heard Erik command arcanine.

"Do it, arcanine," Erik said, chuckling.

The ominous site returned for the third time. Arcanine's body began to erupt with flames. Dragonite couldn't move, no matter how hard it struggled. Arcanine had pinned down dragonite's arms and legs, leaving dragonite immobile. The only thing dragonite could do as it was almost completely enveloped in a burning dome was roar loudly, rattling the entire stadium. Dragonite felt like it was in a massive inferno, one that would never end. It could feel its body blister and smolder. Dragonite slowly lifted its head to look at arcanine. It was so full of hatred, and its eyes were just as bright as the fire surrounding them both.

"What are you doing? You - you'll kill him! N - no, dra - dragonite!" Alexzia cried. She was on her hands and knees, watching helplessly as her dragonite was nearly engulfed in the bright red flames. Then she screamed, "NO! DRAGONITE! HYPER BEAM!"

All of a sudden a bright white light could be seen forming inside the flaming dome. Then breaking through the bright red dome came a miraculous ray of white light. It continued far into the sky. But something was wrong. There was no pokémon pushed back by the beam of light. The hyper beam had broken the dome of fire and now there was nothing but burning grass. But they were still there. Arcanine still had dragonite pinned. Arcanine had moved its head to the right at the last second, making the hyper beam pass by its head by just a few inches. But the hyper beam was able to leave a scorch mark on the right side of arcanine's head.

"It - it missed?" Alexzia choked. "That can't be possible. Arcanine was right on top of dragonite. There is no way..."

"Ha!" Erik mocked. "You didn't think that we were that easy did you? I think you will see that you are outmatched. We are always a step ahead, predicting everything you will attempt. Now...shall we continue?"

Arcanine was still leaning over to its right after dodging the hyper beam. Dragonite saw this and quickly rolled to its left, bringing up its right arm and using much of its energy to land a punch on arcanine, making it stumble off dragonite. Dragonite slowly got up, wincing from pain every time it moved. Its whole body ached and the blisters on its feet hurt as it tried to stand up. Dragonite stood and faced arcanine, which was still on its feet and was now growling at dragonite.

"Dragonite?" Alexzia said weakly. At the sight of her dragonite standing, she jumped up to her feet. But was saddened at the state her dragonite was in. "Dragonite, I am so sorry to have put you through this. You have done your best, but I don't think we should continue this." She held out dragonite's poké ball.

But dragonite shook its head in disagreement. It still wanted to fight. Dragonite still had some energy left to spare. Both arcanine and dragonite glared at each other. They were both panting from exhaustion. But it was hard to tell if arcanine was actually as tired as dragonite.

Erik looked at the timer on his PokéGear again. This has gone on too long. I have to finish this as quickly as possible, he thought to himself. Then he said, "Arcanine, finish this with another extreme speed."

"Dragonite, jump and fly, quick," Alexzia said as she saw arcanine get ready to pounce.

Dragonite spread its wings and jumped, but it struggled to fly. It was wasting too much of its energy trying to flap its wings and get higher into the air. Arcanine was once again a black and orange blur gliding above the ground, but this time, it seemed slower. Dragonite could easily see arcanine's movements. As arcanine jumped up at dragonite, dragonite forced itself to fly higher; just enough to have arcanine go under. As arcanine was about to fly under dragonite, dragonite stopped flapping, fell out of the air, grabbed arcanine in mid-air from the top, and plummeted to the ground with arcanine held tightly to its belly. Arcanine roared loudly as it couldn't break free from dragonite's grip. But it was in a bad position. Dragonite was holding arcanine from behind. Arcanine would hit the ground end-first.

"Come on, dragonite! Body slam arcanine!" Alexzia cheered.

Dragonite let out a mighty bellow and slightly increased its speed with a flap from its wings. They hit the ground, causing dust to rise and cover them. Both Alexzia and Erik waited with anticipation. As the dust settled they could see two dark forms slowly moving. Arcanine and dragonite were struggling to stand up. Both were greatly weakened, but refused to give up. They were now panting heavily, stumbling from the difficulty of keeping their balance to stand.

"No," Alexzia said. "How long can dragonite keep this up? And how is that arcanine still standing after using so much power and taking such beating?"

"Arcanine, flamethrower!" Erik commanded to Alexzia's surprise. Arcanine roared and blasted a flamethrower at dragonite.

"What? Dragonite, use dragon breath!" Alexzia yelled. Dragonite opened its mouth and let out a blast of blue flame at arcanine.

Both attacks collided with equal force, causing them to explode on collision. The force of the explosion caused both pokémon to stumble backwards and nearly collapse. Both pokémon could feel it. They had nearly depleted their energy and would not be able to use any of their respective attacks.

Alexzia knew her dragonite would not be able to use any other attacks except physical attacks. She could see that dragonite had a hard enough time standing. Erik also noticed that his arcanine would not be able to use another fire attack without losing all its energy. Now both trainers knew that this battle had come down to which pokémon was the toughest.

"Arcanine, tackle!" Erik yelled. Arcanine started off weakly, but began to run at dragonite.

"Dragonite, just wait a little longer," Alexzia calmly said, watching as arcanine closed in on her pokémon. "Now, dragonite, side step, swing around, and use your tail." Dragonite spun to the left while bringing up its tail as the tackling arcanine pounced. Dragonite used the force of its spin to strike arcanine with its tail, causing arcanine to fly back and land on its side. As arcanine struggled to stand up, dragonite slowly walked towards arcanine. As dragonite was about to punch arcanine, arcanine ducked low and tackled dragonite to the ground. Both pokémon continued rolling over the ground, trying to knock out the other.

"What is going on?" Alexzia said to herself. "This is no longer a normal pokémon battle. This is just a horrible fight." She started to cry again as she saw her dragonite cry out in pain after being bitten on the side by arcanine. "I can't stand to watch this any longer. No championship title is worth this."

Although neither pokémon planned on giving up, they were both losing consciousness, and would collapse soon. It just came down to which one would collapse first.

"I must say that I'm impressed with how well you have done against me," Erik said to Alexzia. "But my arcanine is still stronger than your dragonite. Now quit being so stubborn and give up." Then he looked at his PokéGear again and said to himself, "This is getting too close. I really must finish this now." Then he yelled, "Arcanine, let's finish this -"

"No! Please stop," Alexzia pleaded. She held up her dragonite's poké ball and recalled her dragonite. Then she said to herself, "It isn't worth it. I'm sorry, my friends, but I don't want any of you to go through anymore of this." She looked up at Erik with hatred and said, "I forfeit. I can't let my pokémon go through this anymore. You are too cruel. How can you do that to pokémon? Weren't you worried that you could have done serious damage, or worse, to my pokémon? Were you even worried about your own pokémon? Look at your arcanine. You made is use so much power, but still forced it to continue. What kind of trainer are you?"

"The kind that will do anything to win, no matter the costs," Erik said as he recalled his arcanine back into its poké ball. "You were lucky that this was a competition." Then the new Pokémon World Champion walked off, leaving Alexzia stunned.