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Pokemon, Asylum of the Damned

Chapter XXXIV

Saga VII: Hydrobadge Saga

Chapter IV: Low Tide

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Tom sat gloomily in the Pokecenter lounge chair, his eyes scanning the floor 
which he stared at listlessly. Tom sighed, remembering whenever he went to 
heal his Pokemon at a Pokecenter, Porygon would be sitting right beside him 
on the floor, if he wasn't damaged. "Where are you, Porygon?" Tom mumbled to 
himself.

Tom nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand pat him on his back. 
"Jesus, don't scare me like that, Jen," Tom grumbled when he saw who had 
approached him.

"You lost, huh?" Jen asked sympathetically. Tom only nodded his head once.

"I didn't battle at all when I was in Mega City, Jen. Four months of no 
fights and I've lost my edge." Tom grumbled ot himself. Jen chuckled and sat 
down beside Tom.

"Remember when we hated each other? No matter how hard I tried, I still 
couldn't beat you?" Jen smiled, trying to cheer Tom up.

Tom only sighed, and straightened up in his seat. "I think my Pokemon have 
also lost that edge in four months too, Jen." Tom said placidly.

"Hey, I'll sharpen them up for you then, Tom!" Jen cheerfully suggested.

"Really?" Tom asked, snapping out of his depression.

"Sure! Unlike somebody I know," she said, winking at Tom, "I've been 
battling straight since I started training."

"Thanks, but no thanks Jen," Tom said, "I'd like to beat that Gym leader 
here soon as I can," Tom muttered.

"Oh, use mine then Tom." Jen sighed.

Tom could have gagged. "What?" Tom asked in disbeleif.

"Go ahead, use mine," Jen repeated herself, "You could train them better 
than I ever could." Jen took out her purse, reached inside, and took out 
three shrunken Pokeballs. "These are Clefable, Snorlax and Stantler, my best 
three." Jen said, placing all three balls into Tom's hand.

"You got a Stantler? When?"

"Oh, a long time ago."

Tom reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his trusty Pokedex. 
Playing a little button-tag on the small device, Tom soon pulled up a data 
file on the Stantler.

"Stantler, the Big Horn Pokemon." The little Pokedex spat out blankly. "The 
Stantler's curved antlers subtly change the flow of the air to create a 
strange space where reality is distorted. Illusions and hypnosis have been 
known to happen whenever a Stantler is nearby."

"That's it?" Tom asked himself.

"However," continued his Pokedex, "Stantler are known for thier power. When 
travelling in herds, they have been known to stampede, trampling anything in 
their paths."

Tom quickly grinned. "Time for a rematch."

**********

"Come back for some more?" Samantha asked when she saw Tom walking down the 
hallway of her Gym.

"Let's just get this over with." Tom droned placidly, holding a minimized 
Pokeball in his palm. Samantha sighed, and took out that same remote control 
she had from her pocket. With another press of the button upon the remote, 
the floor reopened, revealing that same pool in which Tom had met defeat 
only a day ago.

"Best out of three, like last time Tom?" Samantha asked.

"Sure."

Again, Samantha held a tiny Pokeball in her hand. Quickly enlarging it 
without hesitation, she lobbed the ball into the pool. With a flash of light 
from the bottom, Kingdra's head popped out from the surface. Tom gazed at 
the Pokeballs Jen had given him. Tom took one of them in one hand, and 
shoved the other two into his jacket pocket.

"Come on out, Clefable!" Tom ordered his borrowed Pokemon.

"Clefable!" the Pokemon cried as she leapt out of her Pokeball, hopping onto 
one of the pool's protruding platforms.

"Hey, I recognize that Clefable," Samantha muttered.

"Kingdra," her Kingdra agreed.

"Hey, you wouldn't know a trainer by the name of Jennifer, would you Tom?" 
Samantha asked.

"Jen? Yeah. So?" Tom asked.

"Nothing, nevermind. Let's just battle."

"Sure thing."

"Kingdra, Headbutt!" Samantha ordered her Pokemon. Kingdra took in a deep 
breath and then lunged at Clefable.

"Clefable, Light Screen!" Tom commanded.

Clefable drew an imaginary square in the air, and instantly the air inside 
that square turned foggy with mist. Kingdra's body flew into the near 
invisible wall, and stopped in his tracks with a loud thud, totally halted 
by the Light Screen.

"Clefable, Double-Edge!" Tom commanded.

Clefable crossed her arms in an X-formation and threw herself at Kingdra. 
The force of the impact sent Kingdra skidding backwards, skipping across the 
pool's surface like a smooth stone, and landed windless in front of 
Samantha.

"Holy shit," Samantha gasped. Samantha zapped her Pokemon back inside her 
Pokeball with disbelief. In an instant, Samantha held another Pokeball in 
her hand. "Now you're gonna' get it, Tom!" said Samantha, "Go, Starmie!"

Another flash illuminated the room, as Samantha's Starmie leapt free of it's 
Pokeball and dove into the water. Starmie then leapt out of the water and 
landed on one of the platforms.

Tom recalled Clefable and dug into his jacket pocket. His hand came out with 
another Pokeball, and he opened it up. "Come on out, Snorlax!"

The absurly rotund Pokemon materialized from the red glob of energy that 
shot from the Pokeball. "Laxxx..." Snorlax grumbled and yawned.

"Snorlax! Headbutt!" Tom commanded with confidence.

Snorlax yawned, and lay flat.

"You- you don't know... that... do you?" Tom weakly asked. Snorlax yawned 
again. "Okay then... Double-Edge!"

Snorlax still lay motionless.

"Aw, c'mon!" Tom groaned, "Anything?"

Snorlax was still lounging about lazily.

"Okay then, sleep!" Tom ordered. Snorlax was still in deep slumber. "Good 
Snorlax," Tom weakly chuckled.

Samantha groaned. "I s'pose I win this one," she murmured, recalling her 
Starmie.

Grumbling, Tom zapped Snorlax back inside his Pokeball. Both Samantha and 
Tom stimultaneosly sent out their third Pokemon.

"Go Stantler!" Tom commanded.

"Go Wartortle!" Samantha commanded.

Stantler and Wartorle glared at each other. They both exchanged threats and 
taunts in their own languages. "Stantler, Hypnosis!" Tom commanded.

"Wartortle, Withdraw!" ordered Samantha.

Stantler's large antlers began to glow, and the little brown ball mounted 
inside each curved antler shot out a wave of psychic energy at Wartortle. 
Wartortle qucikly hid himself inside his shell, letting the waves of 
Hypnosis bounce off his shield-like shell like pebbles.

When the assault was over, Samantha yelled, "Wartorle, Ice Punch!" Wartorle 
popped back out of his protective casing, and generated a thick coat of ice 
around his fist. With a boost from a Hydro Pump shot from the back of his 
shell, Wartortle shot towards Stantler with his icy fist, and let him have a 
frozen punch on his chin. Stantler roared as a spray of ice smeared over his 
face as Wartortle threw another Ice Punch, catching him upside the cheek. 
Stantler quickly recovered from the blow, lowered his head and smacked 
Wartortle away with his antlers.

"Now Stantler," said Tom, "Skull Bash!"

Stantler stamped the ground and lowered his head, bracing himself for his 
assault. When Wartorle got back to his feet, Stantler met him with a running 
charge, tangling Wartortle in his antlers. With a mighty swoop of the neck, 
Stantler sent Wartorle into a powerful slam into the ground on his back. 
"War," Wartorle groaned weakly. His grumbling soon became a cry of anguish 
when Stantler finished off his Skull Bash attack by driving his forehead 
into Wartortle's soft belly. Wartortle vomited a glob of blood before he 
passed out.

Tom nearly died with joy. Samantha stood in her spot in disbelief. "You 
won," she murmured. Samantha soon got over herself and zapped her bruised 
Wartortle back inside his Pokeball. Samantha sighed and dug up the remote 
control in her pocket. She clicked the little button on her device, and the 
floor reconvened back to it's original state, the pool neatly concealed 
under it. "You are tough after all," Samantha admitted. She walked over to 
Tom, and placed a small plastered object in Tom's hand.

Tom looked at the tiny thing. It was a perfect miniature sculpture of a 
gigantic tidal wave.

Just as Tom turned to leave, Samantha quickly put her hand on Tom's shoulder 
and turned him back around. "Where're you going in such a hurry?" she asked, 
smiling.

"Um, to heal my Pokemon," Tom weakly spat out. Her hand on his shoulder 
nearly drove his brain into a frenzy.

"Well, I used to be a Pokemon nurse. I'll take care of them," she said, 
giving Tom a lightning-quick wink. Tom's cheeks flushed red.

**********

When Tom found Jen, he was surprised to find his current six Pokemon tearing 
into each other. Fire, water and ice were blasting all over the park where 
Jen stood, watching them intently.

"Oh, there you are, Tom," said Jen as Tom walked up behind her. Tom looked 
at his Machamp, who was in the heat of a duel with Hitmonlee. Machamp's four 
arms were sailing through the air like bullet trains, Hitmonlee quickly 
swerving his body this way and that dodging his commrade's attacks. Dodrio 
and Typhlosion were having a battle, Dodrio running circles arounf 
Typhlosion, who was trying to torch the feathered freind with Flamethrower 
attacks. Tentacruel and Mantine were flinging globs of toxins and blasts of 
water at each other, while Kangaskhan and Primeape were playing a game of 
wrist-cracker. "I figured that the best sparring partners for them would be 
themselves, so I figured it'd be okay with you," Jen hummed.

"Yeah," Tom sighed, returning Jen's Pokeballs.

"Y'know, this is how I train my Pokemon Tom," said Jen, "Keeps 'em in 
perfect shape."

"Huh," Tom mused, "So how are they doing?"

"Fine! I showed them a thing or two!" Jen smirked.

Suddenly, Clefable's Pokeball bouced out of Jen's pocket, hit the ground, 
and out popped Clefable. "Celfaaaa-ble!" she called out with cupped hands. 
Machamp quit his sparring match with Hitmonlee and cranked his head to see 
Clafable running to him.

"Champ!" Machamp said as Clefable leapt into his four burly arms.

"Things still haven't changed much," Jen sighed, half in dream land, 
watching Machamp and Clefable take turns sweet talk in each other's ears. 
Hitmonlee, now without anyone to train with, crossed his legs and sat down, 
grumbling.

Just as Tom and Jen zapped their respective Pokemon back into their 
Pokeballs, a little phone's ring buzzed from Tom's jacket pocket. Tom took 
out his cell phone, pressed a button, held it to his ear and said, "Hello?"

"Tom!" It was Sabre's worried voice on the other end, "Are you okay?"

"Sure," Tom said, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Tom, Larry's gone!"

Tom gulped. "He-?"

"Uh-huh, and he's not too happy that you sent him to prision."

Tom was speechless. Jen caught the worried expression on his face. "Tom, 
what's up?"

Tom gagged. "N-nothing!"

"What?" Sabre asked on the other end of the phone line.

"Nothing Sabre-"

"Who's Sabre?" Jen asked.

Tom quickly covered the mouthpeice of his cell phone. "Someone from Mega 
City," he quickly spat out, putting his phopne back to his ear.

"-ming your way for sure," was all Tom heard Sabre say.

"What?" Tom asked.

"I said, Larry's out of prision now, and he's coming your way. He took 
Laura's Sizor with him," she said grimly. "If I were you Tom, I'd run- get 
out of whatever town you're in now. Fast."

"Will do Sabre," Tom said, stuffing the phone back into his pocket.

"Who's Larry?" Jen asked.

Tom gagged again. "Um, someone."

"No duh," Jen rolled her eyes. "What's with you when I say Mega City?" she 
asked.

Tom's eyes darted around, looking for an excuse. "I can't possibly tell her 
what really happened," Tom's brain screamed at him.

"Hello? Earth to Tom?" Jen asked agian.

"It's nothing."

"What is?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? What are you-?"

Suddenly, Tom felt an icy cold hand grip his. In a flash, he found himself 
on the outskirts of Hydro City. "Gengar!" a familliar voice said.

Tom turned around to see Krystella and her Gengar standing behind him. 
"Rather rude girl, isn't she?" Krystella chuckled.

Tom breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, thanks Krystella. I owe you," he siad 
as Krystella and her Gengar vanished again.

Tom sighed to himself. "Who ever said Pokemon training was easy ought to be 
shot."

-(this is not the)End.

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