Whee! Another chapter!
Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfic belongs to me.

Notes: <> For telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks

Kairo: Does this story have _any_ humor in it?

Shoyko: Beats me, least its not darkfic…

Phantomness: *holding a struggling Pika-chan* Stay away from my cheesecake! And no, I’m not even sure this is a romance…

Chapter 14

Trevor had only used Poliwhirls on his team, one wonders why. Three good electric pokemon took them down…

Now it was time for the last battle. This match was a full six on six. Brushed a few stray sandwich crumbs off his jean vest, Ash looked at his opponent.

Guadalupe smiled. “Ready to lose?”

“No.”

“The battle will now begin!” The ever-present referee lowered his flags and they were off!
Guadalupe’s first pokemon was a Haunter.

Ghost… hmm… then, he’d use ground! “Charmander, Dig!”

Fail-safe strategy works again.

Guadalupe smiled. “Not bad, but early start does not ensure victory… Vaporeon, go! Surf!”

Poor, poor Charmander…

Pikachu fried Vaporeon and the following Tentacruel. Then, Guadalupe sent out Venusaur…

No more fire… “Pidgeot! Sky Attack!”

Pidgeot wound up poisoned but Sky attack still worked. She had two left… now what to do?

Ash looked around nervously, trying not to show his feelings, and then Guadalupe released an Alakazam.

Ouch…

That was one powerful pokemon, took out Pidgeot with a good Psychic, so it was speedy too…

Should he use Pikachu? Or was that too risky?

He was down two of his pokemon… ghost beat psychic but ghosts were part poison, the best bet was to hit hard and fast with something that wasn’t fighting…

Guadalupe smirked at his confused expression. Ash had to bite his tongue to keep from wishing an unfortunate fate on her. Fine! If she wanted to play hardball, he would!
“Pikachu, Thunder!”

Hyper Beam sent Pikachu into the land of the fainted pokemon before Thunder could hit. Lance sighed inwardly from the poke ball.

Pikachus have horrible defense…

“Do you want to forfeit now?”

“Never! I didn’t come this far just to give up!”

“… Noble sentiments won’t help either.” Guadalupe smirked. “So…”

Before Ash could pick another pokemon, Gastly appeared on the field. A Night Shade attack smacked into Alakazam, catching it off guard just in time for Gastly to use Hypnosis.

He wouldn’t let Master Ash lose! Then Lance would be unhappy!
Ash stared, goggle-eyed, as Gastly then proceeded to Dream Eater away the rest of Alakazam’s HP. It didn’t’ have much of an HP bar, and since it was asleep, recovery was not an option.

Gastly smiled, before he succumbed to the glow of evolution and re-emerged as Haunter. Don’t give up hope! Never, ever do that, Ash!

Ash nodded, still in shock. On the other hand, everyone else was in shock too, so it was perfectly reasonable…

Yawn.

Guadalupe finally snapped out of it, three minutes later, and growled. “That’s cheating!”

“What do you mean? Gastly – Haunter’s one of my pokemon!”

“But you’re not supposed to use it!”

“?”

As Guadalupe continued to rant, Ash tuned her out. Haunter floated around, occasionally making comments about people.

Oh look, that man’s eating six caramel apples…

Is her hair really that natural shade of orange and purple? How interesting…

Someone’s taking a picture of me! Cool!

Haunter apparently kept a childish streak. Lance appeared next to Ash, invisible, and clapped. Haunter gave her a ‘V’ for victory.

Guadalupe’s face was turning purple, but she was still angry – and she did have one pokemon left…

So let’s see what it is.

“I choose you, Dragonite!”

“Wow…”

Guadalupe took a ready stance, smirking. “You can’t beat _this_ pokemon, no matter how good you are!”

Haunter shook his head. I can’t do it. Too high… and I have no type advantage.

“Return!” Ash nodded, not wanting to force his pokemon to battle. * Hmm… dragons are weak to ice… *

Which ice-types did he have? Well, Squirtle knew Ice Beam, but Dragonite would probably KO it first.

Another dragon? No, he had already promised _not_ to use Lance. He wouldn’t break it now!

Butterfree? No, that wouldn’t be good, bug weak to flying…

That left… Pidgeot. Right? No, she had already fainted during the battle with Alakazam.

Should he forfeit then?

While Ash was confused, Lance made the choice for him. A poke ball opened and a pokemon was released.

Guadalupe involuntarily backed up when she saw the Lapras appear. “Dragonite, hit it first! Hyper Beam!”

Lapras glowed as protect canceled out the hyper beam. Then, while Dragonite was recharging, a blizzard attack smacked into it.

True, Dragonite _wasn’t_ frozen solid, but it was considerably lower on HP. Coupled with Lapras’s high defense plus its exhaustion, another Hyper Beam failed to faint Lapras.

A second blizzard _did_ defeat the Dragonite.

Unfortunately, said Pallet town trainer was still in shock, so he fainted dead away, just as his Championship was announced.

Irony.

End Chapter

Completed 9/10/04