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

Pokemon: (-AD-)

Darkbadge Saga:

Chapter V: Dark Battle

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

Tom and Porygon stood outside the Gym. Although Tom had never been so 
confident before in his life, he had also never been so scared. When Tom 
started Pokemon training, he had no idea how hard it could be, even for the 
trainers. Tom reached up and rubbed the bandage on his cheek. "Well Porygon? 
Are you ready?" Tom asked.

"Y-es," Porygon blankly replied.

"You can't be serious."

The familiar voice behind him made Tom turn around. Jen was stnding behind 
him, wearing a silly grin. "You think you can beat Rashina?"

"Rashina," Tom said, "That's the gym leader here, isn't it?"

"No shit," Jen sneered. "You're thinking that you, a rookie, can beat her? 
Don't make me laugh."

"Really? People have told me I'm funny." Tom said, trying to smile.

"Crazy more like it," Jen smirked. "Just so you know, Rashina uses all Dark 
type Pokemon."

"The Dark type," Tom muttered to himself, trying to remeber what he read 
about them before picking up his journey. Rack his brain as he might, Tom 
could not remember anything. "And I suppose you're not going to give me 
advice on how to beat her, are you?"

"I don't associate with pricks," Jen said calmly. "But I will challenge you 
again."

"Tom grinned immediately. "You want to be humilated again?"

Jen's lower jaw sharply grinded against her upper jaw. "I'll pretend I 
didn't hear that," she growled, "That 'victory' was just a fluke."

"Well then, I suppose everything else with you is a fluke as well," Tom 
retorted quickly. "Come on, Porygon, We've got a badge to win."

Just as Tom reached for the handle to the gym doors, Jen said, "I'll be 
waiting right here, Tom," she said, pointing to a park bench in the park 
beside the gym, "When Rashina's through with you," Jen said as Tom ignored 
her and went into the gym, "I'll pick off what's left."

******

The gym was dark, lit only by a few candles. Tom and Porygon walked down the 
long hallway. It was a sight that chilled Tom to the bone. As Tom and 
Porygon reached the center of the gym with the battle field, they saw a 
tall, slender figure within the shadows of the gym. For lack of anything 
else to say, Tom called out, "Hey, Rashina!"

The figure lifted her head and stood up. Her tanned skin accented the 
numerous gothic marks that laced her face, her blazing red hair, and 
highlighting her strange clothing. "Another cahllenger?" She replied in a 
soft, yet harsh voice.

"Yeah," Tom replied.

"Sure. But don't expect me to go easy on you," Rashina said with a tone of 
total impassiveness in her voice.

Rashina took off her short jacket and pulled a tiny, minimized Pokeball from 
her pocket. Dropping her jacket along with the Pokeball on the floor, the 
Pokeball sprung open in a brilliant flash as Rashian acommanded, "Go, 
Umbreon!". Immediately, a small, black Pokemon stood in the middle of the 
battle field. Tom opened up his Pokedex.

"Umbreon, the Dark Pokemon. Another Evolution of Eevee. Not much is known 
about Umbreon. It evolves from Eevee when it is trained at night."

"That's it?" Tom muttered, disappointed in the Pokedex's lack of information 
as he stuffed it back into his trench coat pocket.

"This is my gym," she said, "so we play by my rules. The first Pokemon to 
lose loses the whole battle."

"Sure," Tom agreed. "Why not?"

Porygon drove forward to Umbreon, and the two immediately locked themselves 
into a mutual stare. "Porygon, Take down!" Tom commanded.

"Umbreon, Tackle attack!" Rashina ordered.

Just as Porygon sped towards Umbreon, the Umbreon quickly sidestepped out of 
the way, leaving Porygon skidding past him. As soon as Porygon managed to 
stop, the Umbreon rammed Porygon in its side, toppling Porygon. When Porygon 
began to try and bauck itself upright again, the Umbreon smashed into 
Porygon again, sending Porygon tumbling over to the side of the field.

Tom could tell Porygon was beaten already. Tom dashed to the middle of the 
field and scooped Porygon up into his arms. "Looks like I win," Rashina 
said, smirking.

Tom smirked back. "Look again," he said. Tell her, Porygon."

"Sys-tem di-ag-no-st-ic," Porygon muttered, "th-ir-ty o-ne per-ce-nt 
pow-er."

"Damn," Rashina muttered to herself, regaining her composure shortly 
afterwards. "So it is. But that doesn't mean you've won, either. Send out 
another, if you have one."

When he got ot his end of the field, Tom set down Porygon and picked 
Machop's Pokeball off of his belt and let his Pokemon free. Although he did 
not know why, Tom thought he saw Rashina suddenly shiver.

"Umbreon, Sand Attack!" Rashina commanded.

"Machop, Submission!" Tom ordered.

The Umbreon reared up, and was about to scratch up and kick debris from the 
floor into Machop, when Machop dashed towards the Umbreon and grabbed him by 
his ears. With a short snarl, Machop placed his foot on Umbreon's forehead 
and yanked on Umbreon's ears. Umbreon screeched horrendously, trying in vain 
to struggle free from Machop's tight grip. As soon as the Umbreon was 
brought to his knees, Tom ordered, "Machop, Karate Chop!" Tom ordered. 
Machop flattened one hand like a knife and whacked Umbreon on the back with 
the edge of his hand. With the wind suddenly knocked from him, the Umbreon 
collapsed and moaned in defeat.

"Well, you've won," Rashina said grudgingly as she zapped Umbreon back 
inside her pokeball and walked towards Tom. "You've earned this," she said 
as she placed a small, black police-badge like item in his hand. The 
Darkbadge.

Tom took the bagde and stuffed it into his trech coat pocket. Looking down 
at Porygon, Tom asked, "You okay to move by yourself?"

"Y-es," came Porygon's bland reply.

"You know," Rashina said as Tom and Porygon turned towards the doors, she 
said "you're kinda' cute."

Tom blinked, and glaced quickly around the dark, gothic room. "Thanks. You 
know, you're kinda' cute too," he said uneasily, slowly backing away to the 
door, "...Except for... your goth look, Satan praisal, dark... gloomy..."

**********

Jen was sitting on the park bench reading a book when Tom and Porygon came 
up to her, holding the Darkbadge. "You beat her?" She gasped.

Tom looked at his newly-won badge and smirked. "Yep."

"A loser like you? No way!"

"Heh, pretty damn good for a loser to beat the unbeatable. Why? You tried to 
take her on?" Tom guessed.

"Well yea- wait! A loser like you! Beating Rashina!"

Tom and Porygon looked at each other, grinning. They then turned around and 
walked away, ignoring Jen. "Hey! Don't walk away! I'm still talking to you!" 
Jen screeched, "You still owe me a rematch!" Tom paid her no mind as he and 
Porygon vanished into the city. Jen packed up her book in her backpack and 
followed Tom. "Run all you want, asshole, I'll catch up to you and beat you 
next time!"

-End