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Pokemon, Asylum of the Damned

Chapter XLVII

Saga XI- The Pokemon League Saga

Chapter II- Round One... Fight!

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Tom stood in the hallway of the Pokemon Stadium that led to the arena of the 
open-roof tournament. His first match with his unannounced competitor was to 
begin at any moment when the field was cleaned up from the previous battle. 
From that hallway he watched the first few matches of the tournament play 
out. The Pokemon he saw in action were the most powerful-looking Pokemon Tom 
thought he had ever seen before, until he remembered the silver Scyther 
which destroyed him and his Pokemon single-handedly. "But if I survived 
that," Tom grimaced, "I ought to be able to survive anything!" Suddenly, Tom 
heard a loud stream of rock music echo around the stadium. "That's my 
queue," Tom said to himself, putting on his freshly cleaned tan trench coat 
as he walked out of the hallway and into the arena.

Tom was nearly struck down in awe when he saw the Pokemon Stadium from 
inside the arena. Hundreds of spotlights and a few camera flashes littered 
the walls of the Stadium, forcing Tom to shade his eyes with his hand as he 
ventured out to his side of the battle field.

"And our first trainer making his way to the field now," a loud voice on 
many Stadium amplifiers blared, "comes from the lesser-known Yorin Town, 
winning a total of nine gym leader badges, Tom Simms!" Tom stopped at the 
first trainer booth that he came to at the end of the battle field and gazed 
up at the ladder for a split-second. Climbing the ladder that led to the top 
of the booth, Tom's first steps on the platform felt nothing more than epic 
to him. Tom felt like throwing his arms out wide to a wildly cheering crowd, 
gathering a blinding amount of camera flashes and thousands of onlookers 
screaming out his name, until he noticed that the crowd was not cheering 
loudly at all. They were cheering more in a fashion to get Tom's entrance 
over with. "They just need some time watching me," Tom quietly smirked to 
himself.

Suddenly, the rock music that played during Tom's music abruptly ended. It 
was soon replaced by a soft crooning voice of what seemed to be a man 
echoing through the loudspeakers. Immediately after the speakers spoke this, 
a deafening audio assault roared from the crowd and an absurd amount of 
camera flashes rained down from the stadium to the entrance where Tom had 
come from. The high-pitched screamings of the crowd made Tom quickly cover 
his ears to protect them from the sheer levels of decibel abuse. After the 
soft crooning voice, a male voice that Tom could barely tell apart from a 
woman's softly belted from the amplifiers. "Oh God no!" Tom mentally 
screamed to himself, "Not a Frontalley Boys song!" Tom griped, covering his 
ears again and squeezing one eye shut, wishing that his torment would soon 
be over.

And the crowd screamed louder than ever and the flashes burst brighter than 
ever as a tall slim man walked calmly from the arena entrance and onto the 
edge of the battle field. "And coming from Poyser City," came the 
announcer's voice again, "winning a total of eleven badges, he is the 
Interegional Champion, Rick Carton!" Tom pried his eye open to see the man, 
looking to be in his early twenties, stroll casually by the Tom's trainer 
booth tot he one on the far end of the field. Wearing only a muscle-T shirt 
and very tight jeans, the man generated an incredible amount of crowd 
approval as he climbed the ladder to his trainer booth facing Tom. Spreading 
his arms wide, the roar of the crowd welcoming Tom's opponent seemed to grow 
tenfold, as did Tom's jealousy of his popularity.

When the music and the cheers died down, the arena was deathly quiet. Rick 
shot Tom a quick glance before grinning and combing his fluffy blonde hair 
with his hand once. Picking up his headset, Rick put on the 
headphone/microphone combination and adjusted it immediately. Tom followed 
suit and did the same with his that hung over the railing of his booth. "A 
newcomer, huh?" A tauntingly playful voice that Tom readily assumed was 
Rick's spoke to him through his headphones.

"Yeah, so what?" Tom answered back through the microphone piece that was 
attached to the right headphone on a short appendage.

"And only nine badges too?" Rick's voice laughed, "I promise I'll go easy on 
you."

Tom gritted his teeth and silently snarled at Rick from across the field. 
"Don't do me any favors," Tom replied, managing to keep his temper down.

"Suit yourself then, grunge boy," Rick's haughty voice replied back. Tom was 
getting angry. He wanted to skip the battle and take the fight to Rick.

Suddenly, the ground that encased the battlefield split apart and flopped 
down on hinges, revealing a large pit in the middle of the arena. After a 
short soft rumbling sound of machinery, a large platform laced with large 
jagged rocks rose from the pit, replacing the empty void with a stony 
surface. As soon as the flag-bearing referee walked along the side of the 
newly presented Rock field and stopped at the middle, he declared, 
"Trainers, choose your Pokemon!"

Tom wasted no time in unleashing Ampharos from his ball. Ampharos stood tall 
on his side of the battle field, awaiting his opponent. Almost as soon as 
Tom released Ampharos, Rick dug into his pocket and took out a Pokeball. 
"Come on out, Mr. Mime!" Rick cheered, opening the Pokeball and letting the 
lightshow from it materialize upon his end of the battle field. As soon as 
the light took the shape of a Pokemon that looked like a miniature clown, 
Tom pulled out his Pokedex.

"Mr. Mime, the - Pokemon," the Pokedex spat out. "Using its psychic powers, 
Mr. Mimes can create barriers composed of pure psychic energy. They 
naturally act like mimes to enhance their telekinetic abilities. Mr. Mimes 
are very scarce Pokemon and are considered one of the world's rarest."

Tom stuffed his Pokedex back into his trench coat pocket. "Some help that 
was," he muttered.

The referee took a quick glance at both Ampharos and Mr. Mime. "Trainers 
ready," the referee called, "Pokemon ready," he announced again, "Begin!"

"Ampharos, Thunderbolt!" Tom immediatley ordered.

"Mr. Mime, Substitute!" Rick commanded.

Before Ampharos could generate a bolt of electricity, another Mr. Mime 
seemed to climb out of the skin of Rick's Mr. Mime and stand right beside 
him. The strikingly unusual move halted Ampharos and caught Tom in a dazed 
wonder. The two Mr. Mimes stood side by side, perfect clones of one another. 
"Nevermind that!" Tom ordered Ampharos again, "Thunderbolt!"

Ampharos squealed as he gathered a bundle of electricity from within him and 
let it all out of his body in one fast-moving blast of energy. The cloned 
Mr. Mime leapt in front of the real Mr. Mime and let the Thunderbolt crash 
into him instead of the original Mr. Mime. The substitute buckled to the 
ground from the Thunderbolt, quivering quietly from all the electricity 
surging through his body. The substitute weakly got back to his feet and 
glared at Ampharos wearily. The original Mr. Mime, however, was completely 
unharmed. Rick only quietly laughed from his trainer booth. "How do you like 
my Substitute technique?" Rick taunted Tom through the headset.

"You're laughing only for now," Tom growled back.

"And I'll stop when I've won," Rick shot back. "Mr. Mime, Psychic!"

Instantly upon Rick's command, the real Mr. Mime pointed a thin finger at 
Ampharos, and Ampharos was quickly surrounded in a blue glow. With a flick 
of his wrist, Mr. Mime sent Ampharos flying backwards, smashing him into a 
nearby rock. The force from the attack was so powerful it shattered the 
large boulder into hundreds of jagged pebbles. The blue glow subsided and 
Ampharos collapsed on his belly, groaning. "Pharos..." Ampharos muttered, 
weakly dragging himself to his feet.

"Mr. Mime, Psybeam!" Rick commanded the instant Ampharos got back to his 
feet.

Ampharos had just set his eyes on the Mr. Mime again when the Pokemon let a 
rush of psychic wind blast upon him, blowing Ampharos head over heels and 
knocking him back onto his stomach. Ampharos did not rise again. "The winner 
is Mr. Mime," The referee declared.

"Dammit," Tom cursed under his breath.

"Wanna' give up now?" Rick taunted again, zapping Mr. Mime and his 
substitute back into thier Pokeball.

"Fuck off, alright?" Tom snarled back.

"Somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed today," Rick teased.

Tom was just about ready to run over to Rick and rip his head off. "You won 
that round," Tom breathed as he zapped Ampharos back into his Pokeball, "But 
I'm taking the next."

"You wish, grungie," Rick laughed.

Before Tom could shoot back at Rick, the referee announced, "Choose your 
Pokemon!"

Tom took a Pokeball from his belt and tossed it onto the field. "Come out, 
Ursaring!" Within moments, Ursaring stood on the field and gave a booming 
roar.

"I choose you, Rapidash!" Rick announced as he threw another Pokeball onto 
the field. Soon, a firey unicorn stood on the field facing Ursaring. The 
flames on her back flickered brightly as she locked eyes with Ursaring in an 
intimidation contest.

"Trainers ready," The referee called, "Pokemon ready... begin!"

"Ursaring, Slash!" Tom ordered immediately after the match had started.

"Rapidash, Fire Blast!" Rick ordered.

As Ursaring lumbered towards Rapidash with her claws extended, Rapidash took 
in a deep breath before she spewed a blast of flames from her mouth. Even 
though the Fire Blast moved too quickly for either Tom or Rick to folow, 
Ursaring managed to weave to the side fast enough to avoid the searing 
flames as she continued to charge across the battle field. Still catching 
her breath from her Fire Blast, Rapidash never had the energy to slip out of 
Ursaring's way. Ursaring took a vicious swipe at Rapidash's snout as soon as 
she was within an arm's reach of her, knocking the firey Pokemon to the 
ground. The brutal Slash attack had dug deep into Rapidash's skin, spraying 
blood all over her face and Ursaring's paw. Rapidash weakly tried to 
struggle to her feet, but the shock of the sudden massive blow to her nose 
overwhelmed her senses as she collapsed and passed out. "The winner is 
Ursaring!" The referee declared again.

Rick's jaw dropped open. "Told you I was going to win this one," Tom 
taunted.

"A fluke," Rick muttered as he zapped Rapidash back into her Pokeball, "Just 
a lucky fluke."

"Choose your Pokemon!" The referee called again.

Rick took another Pokeball from his waist and lobbed it onto the field. 
"Come out, Sudowoodo!" When the Pokemon that took the field materialized 
into the shape of a two-legged tree, Tom pulled out his Pokedex.

"Sudowoodo, the Immitation Pokemon," said Tom's Pokedex. "Although they look 
like grass-types, Sudowoodos are actually rock-type Pokemon. They are very 
rare and hard to find, as they blend in perfectly within forests. Sudowoodos 
can stay in one position for days on end without moving a muscle, which 
gives them an advantuage over potential agressors."

Tom stuffed his Pokedex into his coat pocket and grimaced. "I don't have any 
water-types with me," he thought to himself. "All of my current Pokemon are 
at a type disadvantage against this one, and Ursaring right now is my best 
one I have."

"Anytime now," Rick said in a sudden growl, "No one flukes Rick Carton."

"Fluke this," Tom growled back, "Ursaring, stay in there!"

Ursaring nodded and grunted as she trudged back to Tom's end of the field. 
"Trainers ready," the referee announced again, "Pokemon ready, begin!"

As soon as the battle started, Sudowoodo charged at Ursaring and wrapped his 
arms around her. Ursaring struggled all she could, but she could not free 
herself from Sudowoodo's hold. "Sudowoodo," Rick ordered, "Selfdestruct!"

Sudowoodo's body immediately lit up in a bright glow. Seconds later, a 
ground-shakingly large explosion erupted from Sudowoodo, throwing a cloud of 
smoke all over the arena. Tom covered his mouth with one hand and waved the 
smoke away with another, always trying to see the end result on the 
battlefield. When the smoke finally cleared a few minutes later, Tom saw 
Sudowoodo lying flat on his back unconscious, and Ursaring standing in front 
of him, her fur blackened with smoke, teetering unsteadily in a confused 
daze. Just before Tom could open his mouth to cheer in celebration, Ursaring 
blew out a puff of smoke and fell over. "Draw!" The referee called.

"Like I said," said Rick to Tom via the headset as both trainers zapped 
their defeated Pokemon bakck into their Pokeballs, "No one flukes Rick 
Carton."

"Just shut up and fight," Tom muttered back.

"And I will," said Rick as the referee called for both Tom and Rick to send 
out thier last Pokemon.

"Come out, Skarmory!" Tom announced, letting Skarmory loose onto the field.

"Come back out, Mr. Mime!" Rick declared in return as Mr. Mime once again 
emerged from his Pokeball and took the field in front of Skarmory.

"Pokemon ready," The referee announced again, "Trainers ready... begin!"

"Mr. Mime, Substitute!" Rick ordered.

Tom quickly took a glance at a different Mr. Mime entry in his Pokedex. 
"Skarmory, Drill Peck!" Tom commanded.

Just as soon as Mr. Mime created another double of himself, Skarmory took to 
the air and smashed her beak into the clone's face with a deafening screech. 
The blow was so fierce that the cloned Mr. Mime blew apart into millions of 
dust particles. As soon as Skarmory landed on the ground behind Mr. Mime, 
the Pokemon winced and fell to the ground on his hands and knees breathing 
heavily. "Mr. Mime, create another substitute!" Rick ordered in a panic.

Tom, however, remained calm. "Just wait there, Skarmory," Tom said with a 
small grin.

Mr. Mime wearily rose to his feet again and began to sprout another 
incarnation of himself. However, just as soon as the upper body of the clone 
emerged from Mr. Mime's body, the clone abruptly collapsed into dust and Mr. 
Mime fell to his knees, groaning. "What the-?" Rick muttered in sudden 
surprise.

"Skarmory, Steel Wing!" Tom suddenly ordered.

The Mr. Mime never had time to raise his arms in defense from Skarmory's 
metal wing smashing into his nose, bowling the Pokemon over. With a large 
gash between his eyes, Mr. Mime lay on his back, completely motionless.

"The winner is Skarmory," the referee declared, "And the winner of this 
match is Tom Simms!"

Rick suddenly sunk to his knees as the crowd gave murmurs of cheers to the 
victor. "What happened?" Rick whined.

"The substitute takes the energy out of the Pokemon to sustain itself, 
Rick," Tom calmly explained through the headset.

"I knew I should've never taught Mr. Mime that!" Rick cringed.

"Too late," Tom laughed from the other end as Skarmory nudged the lifeless 
Mr. Mime's ribs with his wingtip. "I'm on my way to becoming the new 
Pokemaster, Rick," Tom said with the purest of all confidence within him, 
"And I'll be damned if I let anyone stop me!"

-End
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