Chapter 4

 

It was morning. All the students and pokemon of the Flaming Fist School, including Black Jack, were wearing black clothes to pay their last respects to sensei. A priest was saying his speech.

 

¡°I am a friend of Wong and this school and I always will be. When Wong and I first met, I saw him as one of the future¡¯s strongest trainers but also one of the trainers who¡¯ll see that training pokemon isn¡¯t about competition or violence.

 

¡°To him, it meant something else. He thought that instead of the pokemon defending its trainer, the trainer would also have to defend not only for himself but his pokemon as well. That way, hopefully, everyone would see that Wong¡¯s theory was true and would create love, peace and harmony all over the world.

 

¡°He died of an illness. While he suffering from that illness, he still stood strong and never gave up his teaching. He died while he wished that his theory would, one day will come true.

 

¡°As long as this school remains, we shall continue with our training to make Master Wong¡¯s wish come true and make him proud. So now, in honour of his memory, let us have a moment of silence.¡±

 

The moment of silence lasted more than a moment. After Black Jack noticed that, he started to leave. Blaziken heard Black Jack¡¯s footsteps and turned around.

 

¡°Blaze,¡± Blaziken said. That caught everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°Blazi Blaziken.¡±

 

Black Jack turned round. ¡°Are you saying that you want me to take you along? Like Wong want me to do before his death?¡±

 

Blaziken nodded.

 

Black Jack thought for a moment. ¡°On one condition,¡± Black Jack said. ¡°We haven¡¯t finished our battle yet. If you battle well, you can come.¡±

 

There was some small chatter between the students.

 

¡°What do you think?¡±

¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be disrespectful for teacher?¡±

¡°I don¡¯t know but¡­¡±

¡°Teacher once said never leave your work unfinished.¡±

¡°It¡¯s true, and they haven¡¯t finished their battle yet.¡±

¡°I think we should let them, it¡¯s about competition, right?¡±

 

¡°Enough!¡± the priest shouted. ¡°It¡¯s true. Master Wong never leaves things undone. Because once a contest starts there would no stopping until the winner is decided. He would more than happy to finish his last contest with his final opponent.¡±

 

¡°Are you saying that Wong is part of Blaziken now?¡± Black Jack asked with a smile. ¡°This ought to be interesting.¡±

 

Blaziken prepared himself for battle as he got into his fighting stance. Black Jack called out his Tyranitar, the pokemon he was battling with before.

 

¡°Tyranitar!¡± Black Jack yelled. ¡°Tackle attack!¡±

 

As Tyranitar made his Tackle attack, Blaziken dodged it by leaping and performing a diving kick.

 

¡°It¡¯s about to stomp your head in, Tyranitar!¡± Black Jack warned. ¡°Block those kicks!¡±

 

Tyranitar raised both his arms to defend himself. As Blaziken landed on Tyranitar¡¯s arms, he began kicking them in mid-air, trying to injure them.

 

¡°Push Blaziken away!¡± Black Jack shouted.

 

Tyranitar used his strength to push Blaziken away. He then shook his arms to shake off the pain. Blaziken stood poised to fight again, so did Tyranitar.

 

¡°As I thought,¡± thought Black Jack. ¡°I can feel Wong¡¯s presence inside Blaziken. They must have a strong link together. And Wong must be commanding Blaziken from the inside.¡±

 

Blaziken ran at Tyranitar. ¡°Get ready to defend, Tyranitar,¡± Black Jack ordered. Tyranitar stood his ground and focused on which anatomy Blaziken would use to attack, so did Black Jack.

 

They both looked at Blaziken and tried to predict which part Blaziken would use. They only had split seconds to decide. ¡°Now, Tyranitar!¡± Black Jack shouted. ¡°It¡¯s aiming for your face!¡±

 

As they predicted, Blaziken used Fire Punch, aiming at Tyranitar¡¯s face. But Tyranitar grabbed his paw. Blaziken went to punch Tyranitar in his lower body but Tyranitar grabbed that as well. Blaziken tried to break free but Tyranitar used Headbutt on Blaziken¡¯s face.

 

Blaziken staggered backwards, feeling dizzy. Tyranitar ran forward and hit him in the face again, only this time it was with a hard punch. Tyranitar ran to hit Blaziken, but Blaziken tricked Tyranitar and countered the punch and turned his attack into an armbar.

 

¡°Submission¡­¡± Black Jack whispered to himself. He knows that in general, Tyranitar is a dual Rock and Dark type, meaning that it¡¯s double weak against Fighting type moves like Submission. But after training Tyranitar for so long, he knew that he would withstand that move.

 

Everyone was expecting Black Jack to surrender, but he had faith in Tyranitar. Tyranitar was withstanding the pain, trying not to scream, and trying not to quit. Shockingly, Tyranitar picked himself while Blaziken was still stretching his arm. Now that Tyranitar stood up, Black Jack found a way to get Blaziken to release Tyranitar¡¯s arm.

 

¡°Slam him to the ground!¡± Black Jack ordered.

 

Tyranitar slammed Blaziken with his held arm. Not only did the slam hurt Blaziken, he also got him to break the hold as well, but Tyranitar was hurt too. Tyranitar rubbed on to his hurting arm.

 

¡°Are you okay?¡± Black Jack asked in a worried tone. Tyranitar turned round and nodded.

 

Blaziken picked himself up. He was battered and bruised. He was breathing deeply in and out.

 

Tyranitar felt that both his arms might be broken. He too, was battered and bruised. Black Jack was concerned about Tyranitar¡¯s arms. What if he¡¯s too injured to perform powerful moves like Earthquake or Seismic Toss?

 

Blaziken was about to give his last shot. He ran to give Tyranitar a Hi Jump Kick again. Realising this, Black Jack ordered Tyranitar to dodge the attack.

 

Despite the distraction of the pain, Tyranitar barely moved his head to one side and then, without Black Jack¡¯s orders, instinctively gave Blaziken a hard punch in the face. Again, Tyranitar hurt his own arms. He felt that if he moves his arms again, he would pass out from the pain.

 

Blaziken was knocked down. He felt weak as he tried to pick himself up, not wanting to let his friends of the school down, nor his departed teacher.

 

Black Jack and Tyranitar noticed that the only way to defeat Blaziken is to do the combined move, Body Slam + Earthquake attack. Tyranitar noticed that Black Jack became concerned about Tyranitar¡¯s arms, but he still had faith in him. Tyranitar knows that if he uses that move, he might pass out from the pain.

 

¡°I bet you, you can¡¯t!¡± said Black Jack with a small smile. Tyranitar smiled too, showing that he could do it.

 

Tyranitar slowly grabbed Blaziken by his waist. He lifted him up in the air as high as he can and than slammed him on the ground so hard, that it sounded like a bunch of cars crashing into each other in a demolition derby!

 

Blaziken couldn¡¯t continue the battle, meaning that Black Jack and Tyranitar won the match. He lay there motionless and his eyes were closed. ¡°Blazi¡­ Blaziken¡­ ken¡± Blaziken said breathlessly. Which meant, ¡°Master¡­ I¡¯ve failed¡­ I¡¯m sorry.¡±

 

Then suddenly, inside his mind, Wong¡¯s spirit appeared. ¡°You didn¡¯t fail anyone,¡± Wong said. ¡°The only time when you would fail is when you give up everything you worked so hard for. Your way of living, your friends, everything.¡±

¡°I understand,¡± said Blaziken in his thoughts. ¡°But I need to ask you something. Why have you chosen Black Jack as my new trainer?¡±

¡°I have chosen him because I feel that he will train you well. Unlike the other trainers and their pokemon we faced, he and his Tyranitar are the toughest opponents we¡¯ve ever faced.¡±

¡°As much as I hate to admit it, I agree, master. But his style isn¡¯t equal to ours.¡±

¡°It has nothing got to do with style, Blaziken, my child. He has something deep inside him that shares my theories about pokemon training.¡±

¡°I understand.¡±

¡°Remember this, you¡¯re Black Jack¡¯s pokemon now, but I¡¯ll come back again. Treat your new trainer well, just as well as you treat me.¡±

 

Wong¡¯s spirit was drifting away from Blaziken¡¯s mind. ¡°No, master! Please! Don¡¯t leave me!¡± shouted Blaziken. ¡°Master!¡±

 

¡°I¡¯ll come back again,¡± Wong said as he drifted away.

¡°Don¡¯t leave me¡­¡± Blaziken whispered.

 

Suddenly, another voice was heard. ¡°Hey, kid!¡±

 

Blaziken woke up. He didn¡¯t know if it was a dream or not. That didn¡¯t matter. He knows fully well that his departed master, Wong, wanted him to go along with Black Jack on his journey.

 

The next day, Black Jack and his new pokemon, Blaziken were about to set off on their journey. ¡°May the spirit of Master Wong be with you,¡± the priest said.

 

Black Jack gave a thumb¡¯s up. He and Blaziken got on the Motorcycle. Blaziken never went on a motorcycle before so he held tight around Black Jack¡¯s waist.

 

As they drove away on Black Jack¡¯s motorcycle, Blaziken tearfully looked back at the dojo where he lived happily under Master Wong¡¯s protection and hopes that one day that he will return.

 

Next Episode: Black Jack meets a young, tough and arrogant trainer, whose pokemon is as tough as anyone of his.