Chapter 3 – Dani versus Yoshi Dani, Yoshi and their Pokemon wandered into the forest, craving for a space big enough for a battle. For the whole search, none of them said anything to each other. The air was so thick with tension that you could cut it with a knife. Soon enough they found a clearing, and Dani waited at the end closer to Gateon Port as Yoshi made his way up to the other end. Once the two competitors were in place they each picked a PokeBall off their belts. Dani released her Pokemon first. She threw her ball high up into the air and shouted ‘I choose Pink!’ The PokeBall burst open, revealing a Jigglypuff. Yoshi smirked at the pink ball. ‘I beat that puffball last time, and I’ll do it again!’ He said. Jigglypuff did her classic comical inflation at this comment, which made Yoshi laugh. He was about to release his first Pokemon when a mass of purple dashed across the field to stop at Yoshi’s feet. ‘Rattata!’ it cried in a high-pitched voice as it rubbed up against Yoshi’s shins. Yoshi and Dani were confused. ‘Uhh, Rattata what are you doing here?’ Yoshi said in a puzzled voice. ‘He must really like you.’ Dani said in a cute voice, before changing her tone back. ‘But that doesn’t mean you can’t still fight.’ Yoshi nodded as the Rattata ran around him to sit back next to Typhlosion, who was giving Rattata a ‘Not you again,’ look. Yoshi hurled his PokeBall out towards Pink and yelled ‘Go! Electrike!’ The PokeBall opened and released a green, dog-like Pokemon. He glared at Jigglypuff across the field, growling. A few quick sparks darted across his jagged fur as he lowered his head. Yoshi smiled confidently and said ‘Since I’m such a nice guy, I’m going to let you make the first move.’ Dani shook her head. ‘You just made a big mistake. Pink! Sing Electrike to sleep!’ Yoshi countered ‘Electrike! Howl!’ Jigglypuff began singing her soothing song in an attempt to send her opponent to the land of nod. But at the same time, Electrike lifted his head high and started howling at the top of his voice. His cry was so loud in his own ears that it drowned out the song in the background. ‘Honestly, Dani. After last time I thought you knew that I can easily counter that.’ Yoshi said with a chuckle, he then pointed at Pink and said ‘Now Electrike, Quick Attack!’ Dani commanded ‘Mimic it! Quick Attack!’ Both Pokemon silenced and began charging at each other. When they both connected, Electrike ploughed through Pink’s Quick Attack, sending her bouncing backwards. Dani was stunned. ‘What happened?’ ‘Electrike’s Howl not only cancelled out Pink’s Sing, but it also raised his spirit and his attack power, making his Quick Attack stronger.’ Yoshi said, educating Dani. ‘Alright Electrike, Charge!’ Electrike’s body was quickly surrounded by static, which seemed to be sucked into his body and added more electricity to his power. ‘Right, now Thunderbolt!’ Electrike jumped up into the air while growling. Sparks flew around him before electricity shot from his body. The attack launched towards Pink, who just stared at the glowing energy. ‘Pink! Defense Curl!’ Dani commanded. Just as quick as Dani had given the order, Pink curled up into a tight ball, making herself almost completely immune to the electricity that was running around her body. ‘Good girl! Now time to finish it with a Rollout!’ Pink launched herself at Electrike, tumbling along the ground at an incredibly high speed. Too fast for Electrike to move, she crashed into him, sending him flying high into the air. Yoshi stood watching his Electrike, stunned, as Dani said with a giggle, ‘Bet you didn’t see that coming. Defense Curl makes Rollout twice as strong, and Rollout gets even stronger when it gets faster. Okay Pink! Finish it off!’ Pink did a sharp U-turn, blinding Yoshi with dust in the process, and hurtled towards the falling Electrike, knocking him straight into a tree. Electrike struggled to get to his feet, but collapsed before he could do so. Yoshi pulled out Electrike’s PokeBall and said ‘That was a good try. I’m proud of you Electrike,’ before a beam shot from the PokeBall, sucking Electrike back in. Dani and Pink twirled around in their victory dance, before meeting in a hug. ‘That was great Pink! You deserve a good rest!’ Dani also returned Pink to her PokeBall before pulling out another one. ‘So much for you beating Pink.’ She said in a mocking tone, ‘And you won’t beat this one either. Let’s go! Lady!’ Out of Dani’s PokeBall burst a Ledian, swinging her fists and spinning around as she primed for the fight. ‘Heh, I’ll beat that bug easy.’ Yoshi pulled another PokeBall from his belt and threw it out into the open. ‘Absol! I choose you!’ A silvery-white Absol appeared on the battlefield from the PokeBall, and instantly took up a battle stance, crouching down a little and putting his left paw forward. ‘Absol! Charge up your Razor Wind!’ Absol lowered his head slightly, and instantly two whirlwinds formed on either side of him. ‘We’re not gonna just sit here while you power up.’ Dani raised her clenched fist. ‘Lady! Silver Wind!’ Lady began beating her wings at an incredible speed, until a silver colored wind was advancing towards Absol. Yoshi gritted his teeth, already regretting his next move. ‘Absol! Abandon Razor Wind and fire a Hyper Beam!’ Absol jumped up out of the way of the Silver Wind, the whirlwinds instantly disappearing, and then charged up his most powerful attack. Within an instant he fired an orange-yellow beam from his mouth right at the attacking Ledian. ‘Lady! Dodge and attack with Comet Punch!’ Lady obeyed and flew around the Hyper Beam tauntingly, before moving in on Absol and punching him from underneath several times. Absol collapsed to the ground, but got straight back up to his feet. He turned and made eye contact with Yoshi, who just nodded to him. Without any direct orders, Absol turned back to his opponent. His crimson eyes glowed a bright blue, and within a second they returned to their normal color. Dani didn’t notice, for all she could see was victory. ‘Let’s take it down! Psybeam!’ ‘Absol! Power up another Razor Wind!’ Yoshi ordered. Once again, two whirlwinds formed on either side of Absol, whilst Lady fired a rainbow colored beam at Absol. After a couple of seconds Absol tossed his head, breaking away from the attack which had no effect on him whatsoever. Yoshi shook his head, while Dani stood and stared. ‘Dani, Dani, Dani… I thought you knew better than to use a Psychic attack on a Dark Pokemon.’ He teased. Dani was fuming at her own mistake. Lady swayed back and forth in the air while waiting for a command, but at the same time Absol continued to charge up his Razor Wind. ‘Lady! Use your Silver Wind one more time!’ Lady began beating its wings as fast as it could, and the silver air was launched towards Absol. ‘Now Absol! Fire!’ Absol lifted his head and roared as the powerful whirlwinds advanced towards the silver air. Silver Wind met Razor Wind, and the two attacks clashed until all the razors had disappeared and the Silver Wind struck Absol with such force that he could no longer get up. Yoshi lowered his head and raised his PokeBall as he returned Absol, in disbelief at his two-nil disadvantage. Dani, on the other hand, was spinning around ecstatically. She and her Ledian circled each other before Lady was recalled to her own PokeBall. Dani swapped Lady’s PokeBall for another and said ‘At this rate I won’t even need five Pokemon to beat you. Maybe you should save yourself the humiliation and just give up now.’ Yoshi also exchanged PokeBalls and said ‘I’ll only feel embarrassed if I voluntarily give up without a fight. And that’s not gonna happen!’ Dani chuckled, then cried ‘Win this for me Bluey!’ She tossed the PokeBall into the air, revealing a beautiful Altaria. It rustled its cottony wings before spreading them out wide and chirping happily. Yoshi followed suit, lobbing his PokeBall into the air and releasing a rather large Armaldo. Armaldo raised its claws high as it gave out a convincing battle cry. Yoshi stood silently, praying for Armaldo to miraculously come through for him. ‘Bluey, show him your Dragonbreath!’ Bluey opened his beak and blasted a yellow fog out at Armaldo. ‘Counter it with Water Gun!’ Armaldo opened his jaws and shot a stream of water, connecting with the fog. Both attacks subsided at the same time. ‘Keep it up!’ Yoshi was determined to stay in the game, and decided he was either going to not let Dani have a shot, or at least make it difficult for her to get one in. ‘Dodge it!’ Bluey easily flew out of the way as Armaldo fired another stream of water at him. Bluey continued to dodge as Armaldo shot several more Water Guns at him, until Dani said ‘Fire a Solarbeam! Do it!’ Bluey dodged yet another Water Gun before closing in on Armaldo with an open beak and a glowing white sphere, which soon turned into a bright beam. The Solarbeam struck Armaldo hard in the chest and knocked him back. In an attempt to keep his balance, he leaned forward as he slid backwards and stuck his claws in the dirt. Once he was stationary he stood up straight again. Yoshi breathed a sigh of relief, but tensed up when Dani gave the next order. ‘Alright Bluey! Sing it to sleep!’ Both Dani and Yoshi knew that Armaldo didn’t have any attacks that allowed it to be louder than Altaria’s singing, so Yoshi diverted straight back to his aggressive style of battling that he had been trying so hard to abandon for good. Yoshi closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them again and said ‘Alright Armaldo! We’re going in! Metal Claw!’ Bluey began to sing a relaxing melody, but not quick enough. After just a few notes Armaldo charged at Bluey with a glowing claw, and knocked him high into the air. ‘Let’s use this to our advantage Bluey! Power up a Sky Attack!’ Bluey managed to re-orientate himself and used the force from the Metal Claw to fly up high into the sky. Once up high he began to glow a bright red. Dani gave Yoshi a confident grin and said ‘Let’s see you try and get Bluey while he’s that high in the air.’ Yoshi returned the grin, and chose to play the waiting game. He waited and waited, until Bluey finally started diving down. Bluey grew closer and closer. Just when the attacking Altaria was moving into point blank range, Yoshi gave one last command, ‘Armaldo! Rock Blast at full power!’ Armaldo created a rock between his claws and fired it at Bluey, just knocking him backwards before he made contact, and then fired another before he had the chance to even try to think about going back in. While Bluey was still in the air, Armaldo sealed the victory by firing three more rocks at him, knocking him right down. Dani was stunned, ‘Ah! Bluey!’ She held out his PokeBall and recalled the exhausted Pokemon. Armaldo was waving his claws and roaring loudly. Yoshi gave him a thumbs-up and said ‘OK! Perfect!’ before returning him to his PokeBall and switching it for another. ‘See what happens when you don’t give up? You just never know when a miracle’s gonna come your way.’ Dani smiled, and responded with ‘Yeah, well it doesn’t matter. Because you’re still gonna lose! Right Little Miss?’ Dani’s Misdreavus flew forwards and into the battle arena, her hair waving elegantly about, even though there was no breeze, and her pearls shone in the bright sunlight. Yoshi threw his PokeBall into the battle arena. Out came the blue Eeveelution, sitting patiently. It stood up and waved its mermaid-like tail. ‘Yeah, well my Vaporeon isn’t about to lose.’ Vaporeon gave out a high-pitched battle cry. Dani smiled in her cutesy way once again. ‘Ohh, she’s so cute!’ but once again turned serious, ‘It’s a shame I have to knock her out. Little Miss! Psybeam!’ Little Miss’ eyes glowed a rainbow color before a beam shot out of them. Vaporeon quickly dashed out of the way. ‘Vaporeon! Hydro Pump!’ Vaporeon turned to face Little Miss and fired a powerful torrent of water at the hovering Misdreavus. ‘Dodge it!’ Little Miss drifted a little lower, just narrowly missing the Hydro Pump. ‘Try an Aurora Beam!’ Yoshi was becoming more and more aggressive. ‘Block it with Psybeam!’ Dani countered. Both Pokemon fired rainbow colored beams at their opponents, the attacks meeting between them. The two attacks created a small bang between them, a sign that they should cease their offense. ‘Great! Now use Confuse Ray!’ Little Miss’ eyes glowed black, and a black beam surrounded by red static shot out of them. ‘Water Pulse!’ As the Confuse Ray approached, Vaporeon created a sphere of water just in front of her mouth, raised it up above her head and then slammed it into the ground. The sphere exploded, creating a powerful gush of water which surged straight through the black beam and smacked straight into Little Miss, who began to fall out of the air but soon became re-orientated and straightened herself out. Her eyes showed a will to continue fighting, and her hair waved around in her face, as if it had a mind of its own and also refused to give up. ‘Little Miss! Use Psywave to stop Vaporeon from moving!’ The ghost lowered her head and her eyes glowed a bright blue. Vaporeon also began to glow blue, and felt herself being lifted off the ground. Soon she was waving her legs around hopelessly in the air, unable to do anything. She couldn’t even open her mouth to use any of her attacks. Yoshi began racking his brain for different ways to break the dangerous grasp Misdreavus had on Vaporeon, and was almost out of ideas when suddenly a strong breeze began to blow. The grass swayed back and forth, and leaves were forced to release their hold on the trees as the strong gale blew through the battlefield. Dani turned behind her and saw a bright blue ball. It was small, but it was gradually getting larger as it approached. Dani turned back to Little Miss and desperately cried ‘Pain Split! Now! It might keep you conscious!’ It was risky, for if Little Miss still had more energy than Vaporeon she would be handing it over, but she decided not to question her trainer’s orders and began glowing purple. Vaporeon and Little Miss were surrounded by a purple nimbus, and just as soon as it had faded, the ball of light bared down upon Little Miss and struck her with such force that she was sent flying into a nearby bush. Vaporeon was released from her clutch and fell to the ground, a little shaken but unharmed. Yoshi had lifted his arms to shield his eyes from the blinding light, but was now lowering them to see what the outcome of the attack was. Dani had no idea what had just happened. She knew that Vaporeon wasn’t capable of an attack of such magnitude. ‘What just happened?’ She asked as she looked around. Yoshi smirked and said ‘Back when Absol was battling, he used Future Sight. The attack has a delayed effect, so it didn’t come about in his match. But just because he was knocked out didn’t mean that it wasn’t going to come at all.’ He then looked around the battlefield and noticed that Dani’s Pokemon had not reappeared. ‘Well I guess that now we’re even.’ But just then, Yoshi was wishing he hadn’t put his foot in his mouth. For after some rustling in the bushes, Little Miss emerged, beat but nonetheless still eligible for battle. Yoshi’s eyes widened at the sight, and Dani just giggled and said ‘I guess we’re still battling. Little Miss, try another Psybeam!’ Her Misdreavus’ eyes glowed a rainbow color before yet another ray was shot out of them. Yoshi shook his head and muttered ‘When will you learn?’ Then ordered ‘Let’s rap this up Vaporeon! Dodge and Ice Beam!’ Vaporeon jumped into the air and fired a bright blue ray at Little Miss, which struck her. Just as Vaporeon landed, Little Miss froze in mid-air, and fell down to the ground. There was a loud crash as ice connected with dirt, but Little Miss remained trapped in solid ice, unable to continue battling. ‘Hey!’ Dani whined, ‘That’s not fair!’ Yoshi defensively folded his arms, looked away and said ‘Nothing ever is. Get used to it.’ Dani scowled at that comment and returned the frozen ghost to her PokeBall, as did Yoshi with his Vaporeon. It was two for two, and this last battle would decide the match. Dani and Yoshi both put their PokeBalls away, but only Dani pulled out one more. Yoshi just stood at his end of the field, fists clenched. He glared at Dani competitively, but at the same time friendly, and said ‘Ready to lose?’ aware of the final Pokemon that he was about to face. Dani smiled back with her spirited gaze and said ‘Says the guy who’s at a huge disadvantage.’ She threw her last PokeBall high up into the air, releasing a blue crocodile Pokemon. She caught her PokeBall, clipped it back on her belt and said ‘Recognize Chomper?’ Yoshi stared at the Feraligatr in awe and said ‘He looks quite different than last time.’ He then turned to face his Typhlosion, who was sitting patiently with Rattata by his side, and said ‘Looks like we’re in for a tough battle. Are you ready?’ Typhlosion stood up and roared. He leapt onto the field and let the spots on his neck become alight, giving him the illusion to have a collar of fire around the back of his neck and giving him a more intimidating appearance. Chomper, however, was not deterred. He simply raised his head, clenched his fists and matched Typhlosion’s roar. His wide open jaws revealed his sharp, jagged teeth. This wasn’t going to be easy. ‘Alright Chomper, let’s start off with Hydro Pump!’ Chomper nodded at Dani’s command and once again opened his jaws, this time releasing a powerful surge of water. ‘Typhlosion, Flame Wheel!’ Yoshi counter. Typhlosion crouched down on all fours and began running towards Chomper. As he ran along the ground he raised his body temperature so high that the air around him caught on fire, surrounding him in a ball of flames. As Typhlosion drew nearer to Chomper, the Hydro Pump made contact. The Flame Wheel acted as a shield, turning the water into steam, as Typhlosion charged on through. He then leapt up straight into Chomper’s stomach and the water and flames dissipated at the same time. ‘Chomper, Iron Tail!’ Chomper quickly regained his balance, let his tail glow until it was as hard as steel, and then swiftly spun around, slamming his tail right into Typhlosion’s chest, knocking him back a couple of metres and giving Chomper some elbow room. Dani could feel the intensity of the battle building up just as much as the intensity of Typhlosion’s fire when he rammed into Chomper. ‘Hydro Pump again!’ Chomper fired yet another stream of water. Typhlosion was still a little fazed, but eventually stood up to face his greatest weakness. ‘Typhlosion, Flamethrower! Go!’ Yoshi was also starting to panic a little at how the battle was turning out, but nonetheless decided to take a chance. Typhlosion opened his jaws and inhaled as much air as he could before lifting his head and throwing it forward again, releasing a blast of fire from his jaws. The fire and water connected, hissed and sizzled, before covering the entire field in a cloud of steam. The two Pokemon ceased their attacks, each feeling evenly matched at that point in time. The two trainers waited for the steam to clear up just enough so that they could see each other’s Pokemon. Yoshi was the first to order a strike. ‘Now Tackle!’ Typhlosion lunged forward, towards Chomper at full speed. Chomper side-stepped and avoided the attack. ‘Water Gun!’ Dani ordered, and Chomper fired a less powerful water attack on Typhlosion, who hit the ground and just took the attack. He just stood there with a cocky smile on his face, as if nothing was happening. Chomper stopped attacking and glared at him, growling. Dani took a step back, stunned that the results of a Water Gun on Typhlosion had not changed the slightest since their last confrontation. Nevertheless, she once again clenched her fist and shouted ‘Try a Slash!’ Chomper drew back his claws and lunged at Typhlosion. Yoshi quickly countered ‘Strike back with Crush Claw!’ Typhlosion held his arm out beside him and let it glow, then jumped towards Chomper. Both Pokemon swung their arms madly as Chomper’s claws met Typhlosion’s arm. The intensity of both attacks was so powerful that the opposing Pokemon were thrown back by the force of their own techniques. Still, they both rose to their feet, panting but refusing to give in. Dani and Yoshi glared at each other, feeling the heat of the battle and almost forgetting who their opponents were. At the same time they shouted completely different orders to their Pokemon, desperate to finish the battle once and for all. ‘Chomper! Hydro Cannon!’ ‘Typhlosion! Blast Burn!’ Chomper and Typhlosion opened their jaws wide, revealing orbs of blue and red respectively. A fiery passion to end the match flickered in both Pokemon’s eyes as the attacks grew stronger under their control. They lifted their heads high as they closed their jaws, readying themselves to launch the final attack, when suddenly a loud bang echoed over the field. Dani and Yoshi looked around, snapping out of their battle mode, and their Pokemon called off their attacks as they too began seeking for the source of the noise. It wasn’t long before they found exactly what they were looking for.