***AUTHORESS NOTES*** I didn't really want to write this part... It's so sad that this is the 3rd to last part of SS! But I'm aiming to finish it today. Don't forget, before too long, the sequel will be up! It will be called Emerald Ashes and my buddy Twisted Alyx will co-author with me! (Note: I was listening to "Cast No Shadow" by Oasis while writing this so it might be more dramatically influenced than I intended it to be.) So here's part 48... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 48: The Last Battle "Each challenger will be allowed to use three Pokemon. The no-items rule will be strictly enforced once again. Whoever is the victor of this match will be the new Hoenn League champion. Let the battle begin!" My palms were sweating profusely. I felt a burning sensation that I had never felt before, a longing to win. This was the biggest thing that had ever happened to me. But yet, as I looked up in the stands, I found a somber Taylor, Vicky, Sam, Bobby, Brooke and Zach and a sympathetic Alexis, Sierra, Cole, Brittani and Amanda. But no Nathan. How could he miss this? I would wring his pasty looking neck once I saw him. Another absence I noticed, but didn't make to much of a fuss over, was the man that usually sat in front of them, the one that Nathan had been arguing with. But who cared? He wasn't important to me. "Jenn!" exclaimed Steven, who was tapping his foot impatiently. He had already released a Skarmory. I had been making him wait. "Sorry," I apologized. "I was looking for somebody." I let out Sparkle, in a haste to keep Steven from waiting longer. I just hoped I had made a randomly good decision. "Jenny, we may be friends but don't expect me to make this easy for you," warned Steven. I smiled. "I wouldn't have it any other way," I informed him with a broad smile. "Sparkle, use your thunder attack!" I really hoped that this one wasn't part ground. +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* "She looked a little confused as to why she was letting out Sparkle," Bobby noted. "I bet she wasn't thinking when she released her," Taylor decided. "I wonder if they've let her know about Nathan." "They probably let her know before us," Sam told them. "But then again, if she knew, why would she have just smiled?" "She doesn't know," gasped Zach. "If she knew, we would know because there would be mascara tracks on her face from her hysterical tears." "He had a point. And she is wearing mascara, I watched her put it on. Oh. My. God. How are we going to break the news to her?" cried Vicky. "Gently," Brooke said firmly. "This will crush my poor little sister." "Sorry to change the topic, but why is Skarmory still standing? Sparkle's let off like, 3 thunder attacks, with a double type disadvantage that Jenn more than likely doesn't know about, it should be knocked out!" exclaimed Alexis. "Sparkle must be having an off day in terms of accuracy," Zach informed her. "Now pay attention, children. This may be the last time we see a happy Jenn for the next few months to a year." +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* "Stupid incredibly fast bird," I muttered. "It has to tire soon." But alas, s I said that, it dodged a thunderbolt attack. I rolled my eyes. "I can't believe this." Steven smirked, and it was the first time I had seen him look anything but modest or serious. "Aerial ace, Skarmory!" he commanded, announcing his first attack. "Use a thunder attack, Sparkle!" I commanded. Sparkle paused until Skarmory was relatively close, even though she couldn't exactly see it. But she sensed it was near and let out a large jolt of electricity. The bird was nearly knocked out and I mentally congratulated myself. Go white girl! Wait, was I talking to myself in my head? Between that and talking to the trees, I had to see a psychiatrist. I made a mental note to look one up when I got back to the cabin. AFTER I chewed out my beloved boyfriend. "Steel wing," Steven said weakly. I waited until Skarmory, speedy no more, hobbled over to Sparkle to give a command. "Spark attack!" I called. I figured it would be enough to knock it out. And I had figured correctly. "Skarmory has been knocked out!" they announced over the intercom. +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* "She ought to be thrilled!" chirped Vicky. "It's a good thing. She needs to be a little happy now to deal with what we have to tell her after the match," Zach said darkly. "Do you suppose she'll win?" questioned Sierra. "There's no way to tell," Sam said simply, eyes glued to the match. "She's already got one knocked out. I have faith in her," Taylor said with a simple grin. +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* This was harder than any match I had ever been in before. This was torture. It was infuriating. It was my last Hoenn battle. I had to win. I just had to. "Hyper beam!" called Steven again, being he had already hit Sparkle with the powerful attack. The Claydol was merciless, and even worse, it was a ground type. There was absolutely no way Sparkle could beat it. Sparkle cried out weakly as the second beam hit her directly. "Plusle has been knocked out!" announced the intercom. I ran to the little mouse. "You did great," I whispered. "I am so proud of you." Sparkle smiled a little bit as she disappeared into the beam of red light. Who to choose now... "Gully! It's your turn!" Haha, if he wanted to use type advantages, I would use them. Okay, so I had used the first one, but that wasn't my fault. I hadn't known it, I swear. Claydol panted a bit and recharged from the hyper beam. Meanwhile, I had my chance. "Ice beam!" That was quickly becoming one of my favorite moves. Claydol recoiled a bit, and suddenly jumped up, ready to be back in battle. "Ancientpower!" yelled Steven. "Shit!" I yelled, once again, forgetting about the camera and parents. I was nearly ready to yell to Gully to dodge, but it was too late. It had been struck by one of the flying rocks. The little pelican called out dejectedly. "Are you okay?" I yelled out. Gully nodded it's head a bit. "Use your surf attack!" A large jet stream of water flew forcefully at Claydol. It fell back and hit the wall. Hard. "Okay, while it's down, use your ice beam again!" The frigid beam of ice hit the Claydol dead on and fainted it. +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* "She's doing extremely well," commented Cole. "It looks like she's learning the Hoenn Pokemon better. She sucked badly at them in school." "Not really," giggled Brooke. "Yesterday, she sent out Sparkle on a Flygon!" "She had no clue it was a ground type," guessed Brittani. My sister nodded. Sam, who's eyes were glued to the battle, gasped. "Oh my God!" he yelled. The rest of the group turned to the match. "A Metagross?" squeaked Vicky. "She's dead." +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Those were my exact thoughts. 'I'm going to die, I'm going to die,' I thought worriedly. Gully didn't stand a chance against the huge, brooding Pokemon. "Meteor Mash!" commanded Steven gleefully. I must've turned quite a few different shades of white. Wasn't that supposed to be quite a powerful attack? Indeed it was. Gully, like I said earlier, stood no chance. Meteor mash was a steel type attack. I was always better at learning attacks than Pokemon... So I was going to hope that this was a steel type. "Pelipper has been knocked out! Both trainers are down to their final Pokemon!" I ran to Gully and recalled it quickly. Hastily, I chose Torch, who would been powerful if this was a steel-type like I had hoped. "Blaze kick!" I cried in a panicked tone, closing my eyes, If I had made the wrong choice, I didn't want to see it. When I hesitantly opened my eyes back up, Metagross had been wounded, not severely, but not slightly either. "Earthquake!" yelled Steven. Oh My God. This was it. I had lost. I had to have lost. I closed my eyes again. I didn't want to see this. It was too much for me. When I opened them again, Torch had been greatly wounded, not knocked out like I had expected. "Overheat!" I screamed. "Hyper Beam!" Steven demanded at the same time, obviously not thinking I would be so quick to think of an attack. I gasped as the two let out the attacks simultaneously. +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* "This is it," cried Amanda. "Shh!" demanded everyone else, who all were intently watching the heavy smoke rising from the battlefield. "Oh dear," muttered Vicky as the smoke cleared. "They're both still standing. Look at how shocked Steven and Jenn are." "Shh!" +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Indeed, I was shock. I was beyond shock. Metagross and Torch had locked in a battle of wills. They were trying incredibly hard not to fall, despite how weak they both obviously were. And as for Steven and I, all we could do was stare in amazement. Neither one of use dared to utter the name of an attack. We would just wait and see. Torch was exhausted. As was Metagross. I was about to faint, but then one of the Pokemon fell. Let me tell you, it wasn't Torch. +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* "Metagross has been knocked out!" called the intercom. Vicky jumped up with tears streaming down her face. "Oh my God, she did it!" she screamed shrilly. "She won! She won!" yelled Taylor with a huge smile. "Congratulations to the new Hoenn League champion, Jenifer Frost!" +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* New Hoenn League champion... It had a ring to it. But more than anything, I couldn't believe tht I had done it. I had won. "Congratulations. You deserve to be the champion," Steven said warmly. "You put up a good fight," I told him seriously. He grinned. "Well, I did tell you I wouldn't take it easy on you," he reminded me. "Jenn! Jenn!" somebody screamed behind me. I looked back to find Vicky, Taylor, Zach and Sam. Vicky looked she had been crying. "You finally did it," Zach whispered.