Part 10, here we go! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- “Pikachu! Try another thundershock!” Ash yelled angrily. “Pika!” responded the little yellow mouse, before letting loose a powerful bolt of electrical energy towards its opponents, a hitmontop and a kadabra, who stood close together on the other side of the battle field. From across the indoor arena, a teenage girl with light brown hair called out, “Quick, Hitmontop, use protect!” Pikachu’s thundershock attack slammed into an invisible wall, dissipating into nothing. Pikachu panted, already tiring. To its right, Misty’s corsola was also exhausted. This battle had been raging on for what seemed like hours. To Ash and Misty’s frustration, their opponents did nothing but use defensive moves, in an attempt to tire them out. It was working. “Corsola! Quick, water gun again!” Corsola responded instantly, spraying out a strong jet of water, which was stopped by a reflect move by Kadabra. The male trainer grinned smugly. Misty groaned. “Ash, our pokemon can’t keep this up much longer! We have to change our strategy!” “I know that!” Ash gritted his teeth in frustration. He clenched his fists, “If only they would fight properly…” Suddenly, Misty was struck by inspiration. “Ash! I have an idea!” She whispered frantically to him, “When the moment comes, tell Pikachu to use a thunderbolt attack…but to aim at Corsola!” “Wha…!? Are you crazy? What do you mean, ‘When the moment comes’!?” “Trust me!” With that, she turned back to the battle, yelling out, “Corsola, use a tackle attack!” Corsola glanced back towards its trainer, not sure what was going on, certain that this attack would just be avoided like all the others before it, but wearily gathering strength for a charge. As Corsola built up speed, running towards Hitmontop and Kadabra, the two trainers both called, “Detect! Now!” Kadabra and Hitmontop deftly avoided Corsola, but even as it went thundering past, Misty shouted, “Mirror coat!” Ash. Who had been standing bewildered all this time suddenly realised that the moment had arrived, but Pikachu was well ahead of him. “PIIIKAAAAAAA!” A huge bolt of energy arced out from Pikachu. The two opposing trainers reacted quickly, calling for light screens from their pokemon. However, instead of the attack smashing into the defensive walls, it flew above them. “Corsola, jump up now!” Before either of the opposing trainers or their pokemon could react, Corsola leapt into the air towards Pikachu’s attack, its skin already turning a metallic silver. The thunderbolt was reflected from Corsola into the unprotected backs of the adversaries. Kadabra was as fast as lightning, quick enough to throw itself just out of the way, but Hitmontop didn’t stand a chance. The powerful electric move hurtled into it, throwing it off its feet, to an unceremonious landing at Pikachu’s feet. Slowly, it struggled to get up, before failing, and collapsing into a heap. “Hitmontop, NOOOOOO!” screamed the female trainer, wailing in anguish. Her partner was also far from pleased, warily eyeing the arena, where Pikachu and Corsola had both moved to either side of Kadabra, in order to prevent it from simply blocking all of their attacks. He realised that the battle was lost. “I…I submit! Kadabra, return!” He seemed to choke on the words, and without even waiting for the official announcements, stalked away. His partner did likewise. Ash meanwhile was beside himself with joy. “Yeah, we did it Pikachu!” “Huh? WE!? More like Pikachu, Corsola and I did, all you did was stand there like an idiot!” Misty retorted. “Hey! I did-” Brock cut the two of them off, before a full argument could erupt. “Well done, both of you! That was a great battle!” May also seemed to have enjoyed it, “Yeah, you guys, that was so tense! I actually enjoyed watching Ash battle for a change!” She smirked, and waited for the meaning of her words to sink into Ash’s somewhat impermeable mind. “Wow, thanks May…Hey!” Realisation dawned. “That’s not fair!” “Why don’t we find out who’s fighting who in the next round?” said Brock. “I can’t wait to find out! For all that Selina is a little weird, it’s been great fun battling as her partner.” They walked slowly over to a TV screen which seemed to be displaying the match-ups. Running his finger down the screen, Brock saw his name, and read across, to see ‘…Vs Ash Ketchum and Misty Waterflower’! * * * * * * * * * * * * Ash and Misty stood looking across towards their new opponents, Brock and Selina. Misty whispered to Ash, “I wish we knew a bit more about Selina…We haven’t got a clue what type of pokemon she uses, or anything!” “Yeah…We really should have asked May…hehe…” Ash looked a little sheepish. The brightly clothed official strode out, and said, “OK, would the trainers please select their pokemon!” “Ash, I’ll use a water type against whatever rock type Brock is sure to bring out, but what are you going to use?” “Well, the only pokemon that we know Selina has is a Vulpix…so I’ll use Totodile!” “Are you sure that’s a good id-” “We’re ready!” said Ash, interrupting her. The official looked at Brock and Selina, who both nodded back. “Let battle commence!” Ash released Totodile, and Misty called out Starmie. They waited anxiously for Brock and Selina’s pokemon. Brock let out his Onix, and from Selina’s pokeball appeared a huge Steelix! Ash grinned at Misty, and said, “I told you so! See, now we have a huge type advantage!” He turned to face Brock. “Haha, you’re gonna lose now Brock! Don’t think I’m gonna hold back against you!” “I’d hate it if you did! But I’m disappointed in you, Ash! I’d have thought you of all people would realise pokemon isn’t just about type match-ups…You taught me that when you battled me with a pikachu…OK, let’s go! Onix, dig underground!” The giant rock snake burrowed underground with an incredible speed for such a large beast. “Hey! Can he do that on a boat!?” asked Ash, confused. “This arena was specially prepared for pokemon battles…attacks such as dig and earthquake will not affect the ship itself…this arena is like a separate compartment, with a huge underground area packed with mud and dirt” answered Brock, somewhat smugly. A little unsure of what to do, Misty decided to act, calling out, “Starmie, use a water gun attack on Steelix!” “You too, Totodile!” Ash yelled. Two powerful jets of water flew out at Steelix, slamming forcefully into it. However, it seemed to shake this attack off with ease, quickly recovering its composure, and launching a counter attack at Starmie. “Steelix, crunch attack, NOW!” cried Selina. Even as Totodile turned to help, there was a rumbling from underneath its feet. “Toto…? Tot-” With a huge CRASH and explosion of dirt and rubble, Onix burst out from under the floor, launching Totodile up into the air, to come crashing back down. Meanwhile, Starmie was injured badly by Steelix’s sinister crunch attack, and was reeling from the force of the blow. “Steelix, quick, use iron tail!” Before Starmie had even finished recoiling from the previous attack, a powerful smash from Steelix’s tail sent it slamming into a wall. “Starmie!” cried Misty, worried about her pokemon, which seemed seriously hurt. Totodile wasn’t in a much better situation either, having been wrapped by Onix, and unable to retaliate. The battle was going very badly for Ash and Misty, and Brock sensed that victory was at hand. However, before the finishing blows could be struck, a huge explosion rocked the ship, sending it lurching crazily, and throwing everyone off their feet! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- And that’s Part 10, tune in to part 11 to find out what happens next! -Gyarados