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Disclaimer/Notes: See previous chapter

Chapter 4

His second match. Different arena, different judge.

“You use a human model? That’s so old-fashioned.” Alice said, looking at Ash’s angel and her own Jigglypuff.

“To each their own.” Ash said; giving Lance a kiss for good luck before he put the doll in the Layer and Alice did the same.

“Ready, go!” Shouted the judge.

Alice’s Jigglypuff immediately began to sing, trying to put Lance to sleep, but Ash had ordered Lance to use Safeguard the instant he was inside.

“Thunder.”

Lance began charging static electricity, wings rubbing against the cape invisible with sparks of power, as Jigglypuff kept singing; completely unaware of the danger she was in. Ah well.

Thunder was a one-hit attack that sent Jigglypuff flying out of the layer, fainted. The only problem was that it drained off 1/10 of Lance’s HP every time he used it and reduced speed as well.

At least angels got healed before every new fight.

“You okay Lance?”

The angel nodded.

Ash smiled. “I’m glad. Come on, you need a rest too.”

The judge snickered to himself. What a kid… angels were just sophisticated toys, but had no minds.

That was why they had Deus using headgear to control them.

But this one was a teen! Maybe he was retarded.

Ash picked up Lance, checked him over carefully, and satisfied that no damage was done, waited for the next challenger.

It was still a few hours before dinner.

The judge watched, as the boy petted his angel, almost as if it were a pet. Strange kid. Didn’t he know it was just a doll?

Then, he took out a copy of Call of the Wild. Ah, a junior high school student on vacation. How interesting.

Still, it was very amusing to watch.

It was almost as if the kid believed the angel was a real person.

“Oi, you going to sit there all day?”

Ash looked up to see a lanky brown-haired boy with a Persian angel.

“You want to fight?”

“I’ve heard that you beat Spike with that wimpy model, so let’s see what you’ve got!”

“As you wish…” Ash said, as Lance landed gracefully across from the cat. “Let’s go.” While his angel dodged the strikes and slashes from Persian’s claws, another Thunder attack charged.

“Persian! Use Screech!”

Lance froze long enough for Persian to deal a blow and send him flying. Ash gasped, looking at the HP meter. * Lance! Up, and then use Thunder! *

The angel recovered in mid-leap and did a few somersaults propelling him higher, before Thunder crashed on the Persian.

“Ah! Persian, Bite!”

Persian dashed in. Screech was still in effect, but Ash kept his eyes on the battle and Lance was only hit by glancing blows, before a second Thunder knocked out Persian. Ash sighed in relief.

“That’s great, Lance…”

“No way! That’s cheating!”

“Why is it cheating? It’s science.” Ash said, as he picked Lance up, glad that his angel wore protective armor.

The armor wasn’t chipped, so he was fine underneath.

“Grr…”

“Winner, Satoshi!”

At least the kid knew some battle strategy, but really! He shouldn’t be so attached to his angel.

They were just toys.

Children’s toys, mostly, except if one was a champion that was very profitable.

That was completely true though. ‘Cheating’ by having higher intellect was not cheating. The angel could fight with all the Deus – or trainer’s knowledge.

That was why one of the national champions was Bill, a computer scientist and his angels, Porygon and Porygon2. Using his physics and electronics, he could easily determine how to win a battle with minimal damage.

That gave Porygon the ‘virtual pokemon’ nickname. Both of Bill’s models had been built from scratch, so no one knew quite how to duplicate them.

“I’m glad you’re okay Lance.” Ash said happily.

Meanwhile, Jacques studied the statistics. “So he’s won three battles. Has not lost any yet.”

“Yes, sir.” A technician said. Jacques had four on his staff. “But why are you so interested in this young man?”

“He has potential to become a champion. He used his mind at least. And I’ve never seen those moves in a fight before.”

“I suppose you’d want to teach them to Giovanni and Mewthree.”

“Quite right.”

“I see…” No I don’t see, but I don’t want to lose my job.

“Well, if he wins ten without his angel being seriously damaged, then tell me.”

The tech promised and then went back to work.

Soon, another trainer showed up.

“This is my angel, Rosemary, she’s a Ledyba type.” The boy said. “I fully expect to win. Don’t be so cocky, this is your first tournament, right?”

Ash raised his eyebrows.

“I’ve never seen you around before. Let’s battle!”

The judge once again announced the fight. It might be interesting to watch, although he still didn’t see why Satoshi didn’t use something like a Dragonair.

That seemed to be his type. Oh well.

Maybe he treated the doll better because it looked human?

“Okay Lance, let’s go.” Ash said, as the doll floated down gracefully from his arm, steel wings outstretched. The judge rubbed his eyes. Where had those come from? Oh well… maybe it was some new brand of armor.

Both angels flew up into the air, as a midair battle began.

Rosemary first attempted a tackle, but speed wasn’t her best forte, and in any case, she fell straight into a crescent kick. Lance switched legs while hovering and quickly kicked her in the other side as well.

“Argh! Rosemary, Baton Pass!”

Ash blinked.

Lance shifted positions to a defensive stance and waited. Ash did too. All of a sudden, Rosemary folded up.

Its wings covered its body, and…

It looked like a stick. A tube. Something completely plated. Indestructible…

“Ha! I’d like to see you get past this ultimate defense.” Jim crowed.

Ash carefully prodded and poked the cocoon, and sure enough, there were no openings.

Lance looked worried, and Ash quickly banished all bad thoughts, because he didn’t want them to carry over.

Don’t worry, he sent to the doll. Start.

Lance nodded as he flapped his wings, before diving towards the cocoon. He bounced off the first time and went flying.

“See?” Jim laughed. “No way to win.”

As soon as the angel got tired, he’d have Rosemary finish it off. Time to show the little newbie that life wasn’t all fun and games.

Ash narrowed his eyes. Yes, that cocoon was good defense, unless…

He sent Lance the order to start charging for Thunder. They could try that first…

Thunder sent Rosemary flying towards the top of the Layer, and she smacked against it with a pretty loud crash.

One wing was jarred loose.

Ash grinned. * Now, I want you to attack again. * Lance flew towards the embedded pokemon, and then casually did a few knife hand strikes around the wing that was open.

The wing popped open completely, revealing the angel’s body.

Looks like everything did have pressure points that could cause changes.

Smiling back at Ash, Lance used Dragon Rage, and there went Rosemary. She flew out of the layer.

“Oh no!” Jim burst out.

Ash hugged Lance to his chest tightly. “Yay! We did it!”

It was too bad Lance couldn’t hug him back…

But it still was nice.

Checking his watch, Ash decided to go home early. The tournament would keep going on through the night, but he wanted dinner, sleep, and to finish his 4-page essay.

He waved goodbye to Gary, whose Nidoking was soundly thrashing a Raticate, and went home.

End Chapter

Completed 6/7/04