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Pokemon, Asylum of the Damned

Chapter XXXVIII

Saga VIII- Zerobadge Saga

Chapter IV- Frozen

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"You really should take better care of yourself," Nurse Joy sighed, dabbing 
at Tom's bloody nose with a small cotton swab. "A man your age with injuries 
like this could be a problem later on when you're older."

Tom sighed. "How are my Pokemon doing?"

"Fine," Joy hummed, preparing a band-aid for Tom's cut chin. Tom and Joy 
were in a small office, with numerous bloodstained Kleenexes littering a 
nearby counter. "Joy?" Tom suddenly asked.

"Yes?" Joy answered softly.

"Have you seen a Porygon anywhere around here?"

Joy paused, and lightly nibbled on her lower lip. "I've seen a Porygon Two," 
she finally said, "Its trainer brought it in just last week. Why?"

Tom sighed, and put his trench coat back on. "Nevermind."

****************

"Well, you're a new face," said a female voice as Tom walked into the 
brightly lit Pokemon Gym.

"Are you the gym leader here?" Tom asked the voice, looking around the empty 
Gym as he stepped into the battlefield room.

"Yep," said the voice, as a tall slender teenage girl casually walked out 
from a hallway adjacent to the battlefield. She had her long icy blue-dyed 
hair tied up in a braid, with icy blue lipstick to match. Once Tom got a 
good look at her, he noticed all she wore was colored the same pale hue- 
spring jacket, t-shirt, long blue-jean pants- everything.

"It's kinda' cold in here, isn't it?" Tom said for lack of anything better 
to say, cuddling his chest in his arms.

The girl shrugged. "It's not so bad once you get used to it," she sighed. 
"Besides, my Pokemon like it freezing in here."

As soon as she said that, Tom's brain sparked. "An Ice-type user," he 
thought to himself.

"I could make it colder in here if you want," she offered.

"No, I'm fine," said Tom in almost a whisper with his teeth lightly rattling 
against each other.

The girl reached behind her back and pulled out a shrunken Pokeball. "My 
name's Collie. What's yours?"

"Tom," Tom replied, taking out a minimized Pokeball of his own.

"How about a first faint match?" Collie suggested, juggling her Pokeball 
with her fingertips.

Tom sighed. He couldn't shake his mind off Porygon. "How about something 
else?" Tom asked.

"Sure, whatever," Collie shrugged. "How about a two-on-two then?" she asked.

Without thinking, Tom nodded a yes.

In a flash, Collie held two Pokeballs in her hand and enlarged them. When 
they sprung upon and the flash of light exploded from inside, a Jynx and a 
Cloyster were standing in front of Tom.

Suddenly, the air became even more frigid. Tom wrapped himself in his arms 
with his jacket even tighter now. Tom looked up to the rafters of the Gym, 
and fount two or three large ventilation fans blowing snow and a chilly 
breeze over the battlefield room. "Aren't you the least bit cold?" Tom asked 
Collie, shivering.

She shrugged. "No."

Tom soon mustered up enough courage to grab another Pokeball from his belt, 
maximize the two he now held in his hand, and let them open with a brilliant 
flash. Standing before him was Primeape and Pinsir. As soon as the chilly 
air met them, Primeape and Pinsir shivered.

"You may want to set your Pokeballs to automatic recall," said Collie, 
taking out her Pokedex and pressing a few buttons before stuffing it back 
into her jacket pocket. Tom did the same with his. "This way, we won't have 
to interrupt the battle when someone gets KO'd."

Primeape and Pinsir looked at each other, and then stared at their rivals. 
Cloyster and Jynx stared down their opponents as well. Collie sighed. "Do 
what you like, guys," she said calmly.

Almost as soon as Collie said this, Pinsir and Primeape looked at Tom. Their 
eyes loosely resembled those of whining puppy Pokemon. "Oh, fine," sighed 
Tom. Primeape and Pinsir cheered in their own languages, and slapped each 
other a high-five.

"Ready?" Collie asked with confidence.

"Whenever you are," replied Tom.

"Then go!" she yelled.

No sooner had Collie exclaimed so, Cloyster dove at Tom's duo of Pokemon. 
Primeape barely had time to narrowly avoid Cloyster's speeding body. Before 
Cloyster could alter his course, he found himself in the unforgiving grip of 
Pinsir's claws. And seconds later he found himself on the floor from 
Pinisr's bone-shattering Seismic Toss. Fortunately for Cloyster, his 
rock-hard shell absorbed most of the impact of Pinsir's assault, and he 
sprung back upright as soon as he hit the ground, and counterattacked with 
an Aurora Beam. The Aurora Beam sped into Primeape, knocking the Pokemon 
onto his back.

Jynx sighed, and sat down. It was going to be a long battle, she concluded.

Furious over being chilled by the Aurora Beam, Primeape gave a furious war 
cry, and charged at Cloyster. The shellfish Pokemon simply shut its shell 
closed, letting Primeape bounce right off of it. As soon as Cloyster 
reopened his shell, He saw Pinsir standing in front of him. Cloyster soon 
realized the mistake of opening his protective walls when Pinsir had him in 
his crushing claws once again.

Jynx was still sitting on the corner of the battlefield, humming to herself.

Collie sighed. "Jynx, aren't you going to try and help Cloyster?" Jynx shook 
her head. "Yeah, I s'pose Cloyster is strong enough to take on both of 
them."

Suddenly, Cloyster violently flung its shell open, forcing Pinsir's claws 
apart and letting him slide down her back. As soon as Cloyster landed on the 
ground, he spun around to face Pinsir and tightly slammed his shell shut- 
trapping Pinsir's left arm inside. Pinsir squealed in agony as she 
desperately tired to wrench her arm out of Cloyster's Clamp attack. The more 
Pinsir tried to wriggle out of Cloyster's shell, the tighter Cloyster held 
on.

Suddenly, a sharp snap was heard echoing throughout the battle room. Pinsir 
screamed in agony. Just as Primeape got back to his feet, Cloyster released 
Pinsir, and Tom gasped with horror when he laid eyes on Pinisr's hand. Her 
skinny bony wrist had shattered, dangling limp from her forearm. "Pinisr!" 
Tom gasped.

Suddenly, Pinsir's Pokeball on the ground sprung open and a beam of recall 
light shot from it, zapped Pinisr, and the Pokemon was sucked back inside 
her ball.

Jynx leapt to her feet and cheered. "Excellent one, Cloyster!" Collie 
congratulated her Pokemon. "Sorry about your Pinsir, Tom," she snickered.

Tom was irritated. "Primeape, Cross-Chop!"

Primeape snorted in acknowledgement, and dove at Cloyster. "Cloyster, 
withdraw!" Collie commanded.

"Cloysssssster!" Cloyster grinned, shutting his shell tightly closed. 
Primeape leapt in front of the Cloyster, and smashed his hands on either 
side of Cloyster's shell. Primeape squealed in pain when his hands hit, and 
he began to rub them vigorously. Just as soon as Cloyster reopened his 
shell, Primeape executed another Cross-Chop with such force behind it that 
is slammed Cloyster's shell shut again. Again and again Primeape furiously 
chopped at Cloyster's shell, faint banging sounds could be heard echoing 
within. When Primeape finally stopped his assault, Cloyster's shell sprung 
open. Its eyes were rolling about in their sockets, and Cloyster looked like 
he just had a bout with motion sickness. "Cloyyyyyyy..." he groaned, and was 
zapped back into his Pokeball automatically moments afterwards.

"Uh oh," Collie presently trembled. "Um, Jynx... Ice Punch?" Jynx trembled 
as well.

Tom could tell that Collie had not fully trained her Jynx to Gym Leader 
level yet. "Primeape, Fire Blast!"

"Oh no!" Collie gasped as Primeape exhaled a large blast of fire from his 
nostrils. The fireball soon formed into a crude stickman, and Jynx 
frantically tried to scramble out of the way. Unfortunately for her, the 
Fire Blast smashed into Jynx's side, blowing her over onto her back, charred 
and smoking.

"Jynx!" Collie cried with grief as her Pokemon was zapped inside her 
Pokeball. Primeape gave a cry of victory as Tom zapped him back into his 
Pokeball.

"I knew I should've trained her better," Collie moaned.

"What do you mean?" Tom asked her as he walked over to her end of the 
battlefield.

"I just got Jynx last week. I just wanted her to get some battle 
experience," Collie sighed.

"Hey, if your other Pokemon were as strong as that Cloyster, you'd have 
beaten me easily," Tom said. "So, I s'pose I really don't deserve that badge 
of yours..."

Instead, Collie reached into her jeans pocket and took Tom's hand. In it, 
she placed a Zerobadge. "A win is a win," she said, "And you've won."

-End

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