Prior posts
2 years later
The wind blew fierce against the ever looming mountain, whipping a piece of newspaper with the headline, "Where is he now?" The picture was of a boy around the age of 14, with all his life ahead of him, who had suddenly vanished. "His mom reports that she's not worried about him, but wishes he would get in contact soon." I smiled, mom had been true to her word, and not told them everything she knew. Of course, she isn't my real mom, but she is close enough. I look around at my team, all looking as scruffy as I does, but just as imbued with the sense of power. I remembered everything that had led to this decision.
First came the news that Ian had been thrashed, and all of his pokemon killed. This was a major shock to me, since I figured that the E4 would've known to hold back; however, I soon discovered something that disgusted me. "In a recent interview with the loser, Ian, he says, 'I could care less about my team. They were weak, and deserved what they got. I'll start over, this time training them correctly, with stern discipline.'" I could not believe what I read, but it made sense. Ian had been getting more and more power hungy as time went on, and it finally took him. I was determined to beat him one last time, but the E4 came first. I would search him out later.
I knew, however, that the E4 was beyond me at that point, so I went training, promising myself I would do it the right way, and train them with love and trust. Steadily they grew, and we grew. I am now sixteen, yes, this is the present tense now. All of my pokemon are ready to go, Pokemon league... here I come!
The Elite vs the Light
I have Scorch fly me into Indigo Plateau(spl) and steel myself for the fights. I walk to the store on the far end, and tell him I want ten Full Restores, which I had decided to limit myself to that, and what I had amassed over my travels. I was rather surprised when he just continued staring at me, but laughing I fealt around my square chin. I fealt more bristly than I could've imagined, but that didn't matter to me. "10 Full Restores, come on," I said and then burst into laughter. "No I'm not insane," I replied to his unspoken question, "I just haven't been around a razor in a while." He handed me the Full Restores and laughed a little. With that episode behind me I put JackieChan into the lead and walked confidently into the inner building.
Loriele
I am promptly met with a pretty girl who ruins all of her looks with a monstrous pair of glasses. She welcomes me to the Elite 4, and gets right into the battle
JackieChan vs Dewgong
I was laughing, Jackie was laughing. heck, even Scorch, from inside his pokeball, was laughing. "Brick Break Jackie!" Dewgong's eyes performed the characteristic X_X, and was called back to his pokeball.
--- vs Slowbro
now this is a much worse match-up, but I had predicted it, so Lazybum get's his time in the spotlight
Lazybum vs ---
She orders slowbro to forget that he was doing... not very prudent if you ask me. Lazybum fires off one of his intense shadow balls and knock the thing around, but didn't finnish it surprisingly. For some strange reason,she again told the slowbro to forget everything, and Lazybum finnished the job with no damage.
--- vs Cloyster
Cloyster enjoys a stout deffense, so I know that he'll take a blow are two to take out entirely. I have Snorlax body slam while the cloyster summons hail from who knows where. Seriously, there's no way these clouds were here earlier. I can't tell how much damage the Body slam did, since there was no flinching from the cloyster, but the look on loriele's face says that it was something powerful. I body slam again, and the cloyster still stands, and throws out some spikes. Those will get anoyying. I'm confident, having studied the E4, that she will now use a Full Restore on the Cloyster, giving me a free switch.
JackiChan vs ---(100%)
Jackie pulls off another brick break, extracting obvious looks of pain from the Cloyster, who then resummons the hail clouds. I had hardly noticed them disapearing until the thing brought them back. I pulled Snorlax out the shield me from the hail and continued battling with Jackie. The cloyster pulls off two succesive Protects, but finally succumbs to a Karate Chop from Jackie, who looks rather pleased at the acomplishment.
--- vs Jynx
Jynx huh. I haven't seen one of these before, but the Pokedex says Ice/Phsycic, which easily loses against Fire, so I send Scorch out to deal with the pest, who decides the best way out is to infatuate my Charizard
Scorch vs ---
Scorch remains loyal to me, however, and roasts the jynx. Loriele's on her last pokemon now, and victory is in my grasp!
--- vs Lapras
But I'm not stupid enough to leave Scorch in against that, so I'll send Feelix(renamed Heelio since I liked Feelix better. Feelix is an Omastar) in to take the attack
Feelix vs ---
OH crap. Spikes plus Surf did a number on Feelix, and I doubt he could take another one of those. Snorlax, take point!
Lazybum vs ---
Snorlax takes the surf much better, and attempts to dish out a powerful body slam, but the Lapras beats him to it and confuses him. After a few back and forth hits and misses(including paralysis hax for me), Lazybum sucessfuly beats the Lapras.
One down, three to go
Bruno
I heal my weakenned pokemon and put Victoria in the lead position. Time to take on Bruno, the fighter. Bruno is a simple man, and gets right into the battle
Victoria vs Onix
It's Victoria's turn to laugh, and without even waiting for my command she sends her powerful razor leaf attack towards the Onix. he didn't have a chance
--- vs Hitmonchan
Hitmonchan. I remember these guys being able to use ice punch, so I bet that's what's gonna happen here. Scorch! you're up!
Scorch vs ---
I now nearly fait from a heart attack, as I find, not a first of ice as I expected, but the startlingly familiar Rock Tomb attack flying my way. I brace myself, and so does Charizard, and he takes it rather well(40%!!!). Surprised, but elated, I tell Charizard to finnish this buisness. One wing attack later, and now I'm up against a different fighter
--- vs Machamp
Like the idiot I sometimes turn out to be, I leave charizard in thinking Wing Attack will KO. It turns out that both Charizard AND Machamp, thank goodness, fail to KO each other. But Machamp is sitting pretty at about a third of his health, and Scorch has a few HP only. I don't want to risk not going first again with the rock tombs slowing Scorch down, so I send in JackieChan, who was paying enough attention to dodge the incoming boulders of a third rock tomb attack.
JackieChan vs ---
Jackie knows he goes first, and deals with the machamp in due fashion, with one of his more fluent Karate Chops that I've seen.
--- vs Hitmonlee
Hitmonlee poses no threat, and I decide to send in Dracula, but as I look up to call him back, Jackie looks at me and may as well have said "I'm not stopping here," so I let him continue the battle. Brick break smashes the Hitmonlee's Mega Kick off course, and 'lee looks real beat up. While Bruno's using his Full Restore, Jackie takes the time to plant two well aimed Karate Chops; finnishing off the Hitmonlee before it can get back into the action.
--- vs Onix
At this point I know I've won, and order Jackie to Brick Break. It doesn't OKOH, however, and the ground starts shaking, doing some mild damage to Jackie. I have him Karate Chop, while Bruno uses another full restore, and then Brick Break for the KO.
Two down, two to go. I heal up and head into Agatha's room
Agatha
Agatha started off by saying that she and the Prof were old rivals, and she believed that he had gone soft and taken me with him. I simply scoffed and sent out Lazybum
Lazybum vs Gengar
Apparently Agatha has never heard of snorlax, and attempts to toxic me. She fails, of course, and Shadow Ball clears off one Gengar.
--- vs Golbat
Golbat doesn't worry me. Air cutter does measly damage and Body Slam paralyzes the bat. Agatha doesn't want it to there, so she heals Golbat. Snorlax takes the oportunity to Shadow Ball. Then Agatha gets an idea, and tells Golbat to confuse Ray. Snorlax smacks himself twice in a row, while Golbat has a lapse in concentration and misses with the Air Cutter attack. One more Air cutter hit, and Body Slam finnishes the bat off.
--- vs Arbok
Now I don't find the snake particularly scary, but apparently the other pokemon do, so I switch to Dracula and back, Arbok screeching at both. He screeches again as Snorlax body slams the first time, and Smashes snorlax with a Sludge Bomb. Snorlax survives, however crippled, and body slams the snake to death.
--- vs Gengar
I would usualy handle Gengars just fine, but I decide that the low deffense needs to be fixed, so I switch back and forth from Victoria. The outcome of which is a sludge bombed Victrebell and a sleeping snorlax. Sleeptalk gives me rest, and the Gengar knows nightmare. This battle is turning into a nightmare. I switch Lazybum out and send back in Victrebell, sleep powder the Gengar, and then make a nearly fatal mistake. I use the pokeflute...
For some reason I had believed that it would only work on my pokemon, but the Gengar woke up as well and used Sludge bomb. 1 HP!!!! I hastily switch out.
Dracula vs ---
the Gengar used sludge bomb, but it was measly damage and easily shrugged off. I proceed to use the same stratagy that Agatha had employed, and confuseray the Gengar. a couple of wing attacks later, and the ghost is just a memory.
--- vs Haunter
Scorch vs ---
I decided to switch, because I had remembered this thing knowing Phsycic, but I didn't need to worry about that. I needed to worry about Hypnosis. Oh well, the Pokeflute can do no harm this time. He gives Scorch an intense glare, which I interpreted as the move mean look. I didn't much care, since this was Agatha's last pokemon and Scorch could handle it quite well. In fact, one Flamethrower later and it's three down, one to go. I heal up my pokemon from that near fatal battle, and look at the team. I had nearly lost both Lazybum and Victoria in the same fight. One which I had been confident that Snorlax could've won in his sleep. I remembered not to underestimate these guys. After all, there's a reason they are the "Elite" 4
Lance
Time for the last challenge. I expect Feelix to play a HUGE role in this one, so I make sure he's ready for it. I decide to lead with Victoria to get the sleeping jump on the Gyarados, and head into the battle
Victoria vs Gyarados
As I had desired, Victoria puts the gyarados to sleep, and two razor leafs later has the thing at around two fiths of his HP, according to my Pokedex anyway. I try cut to see if it'll knock him down enough for Razor leaf to score the KO, without making Lance heal the Gyarados. It does a little too much, however, and a turn later I have a full health Gyarados on my hands. I rinse and repeat the whole process and eventualy beat the gyarados. no damage taken.
--- vs Aerodactyl
Hmm. he goes prehistoric, why shouldn't I?
Feelix vs ---
I order Feelix to ice beam, though I realize that Surf would've done more, and would've made the difference between the KO and the missed KO. Aerodactyl fires off two Ancient powers and then falls. Onmastar has taken about 40% damage
--- vs Dragonair
ice beam
--- vs Dragonair
ice beam
--- vs Dragonite
ice beam... VICTORY!!! I rush up and hug Feelix, something very out of character for me, and putting Lance in a rather akward position. "I realize you have won the Elite 4 challenge, but I wouldn't get too cocky yet. You still have the champion to beat."
My head snapped up, I had not heard that the E4 had a champion. Lance explained that the Champion was kept secret until someone was able to chalenge him. I knew who the champion was before Lance told me, but that didn't stop schock from showing on my face when Ian's name was said.
"I've got a very important question Lance. VERY IMPORTANT. How did he treat his pokemon?"
Lance tugged his colar a little, "I'm sure he'd beat come attack me if he heard this, but he's downright mean to them. He could care less whether they're poisoned, fainted, paralyzed, or anything. He just wants victory."
I shoved Lance aside and charged down the hall. I was gonna knock some sense into my rival, once and for all.
Ian...
"IAN!!" I blared as a ran into the room. He looked as cool as ever, " Finally showed up did you? I was expecting you ages ago, though I guess you figured you would be no match for me. I've got some news for you. You've been training wrong. Pokemon are tools, not partners. They are stronger if you force them to be. they..."
"You're wrong Ian, and I'll prove it. RIGHT HERE... RIGHT NOW!!!"
Feelix vs Pidgeot
The old matchup. I suppose that Ian replaced all of his dead pokemon, so I expect the same team. I was still as little hot at the beginning of the match, so I have Feelix fire off a Ice beam, not even thinking of the possibility of not KOing. As it turns out, Feelix didn't KO that turn, but three turns later he finnished the job
--- vs Rhydon
"Good grief Ian, have you gone insane? You KNOW Feelix is a water type." Ian mad me even more mad with his simple reply, "I'm telling my pokemon to fight. If it can't hold its own then it deserves to die." There was no way the Rhodon could've, and a single surf sent it back to its pokemon, with promisses of retribution from Ian.
--- vs Exeguttor
"I'm not crazy enough to leave my pokemon in the way of such obvious harm, unlike you Ian."
Scorch vs ---
The giga drain did laughable damage, and I know I've won the battle, and I think I can see the little characteristics of Ian that tell me he knows as well. "We both know I've won this thing Ian. Call off your pokemon and we don't need to hurt them anymore." I was giving Ian one more shot, one more chance to take back what he had done, but he refused. Flamethrower from Scorch finnished the Exeguttor.
--- vs Blastoise
Victoria vs ---
The hydro pump did rediculously low damage, but I could see the look of aprehension on Victoria's face. She wasn't sure how well she would do, so I had her use sleep powder first, ensuring a couple of free turns to work with. I didn't need to worry though, because after hearing Ian's following remark of how useless the Blastoise was, she too got angry, VERY angry, angry enough to deal easily twice as much damage as she would've normaly, and down went the Blastoise.
--- vs Alakazam
I began to feel sorry for Ian's pokemon. After all the torture they had been through, they were my only way of exacting punishment to Ian. As I switched to Snorlax, I made sure he realized that he only needed to get Alakazam out of the battle, not any more.
Lazybum vs ---
One shadow ball was all it took, and the Physcic attack did very little to Snorlax.
--- vs Aracanine
"Time to end this," I said, and I launched out Feelix to take the flamethrower and finnish the fight. Ian's reign as Pokemon champ had come to an end, and his punnishment had been exacted.
The aftermath
"Josh!" I turned around to see Professor Oak walking in. "That last battle was marvelous! I taped it with my Pokedex, yes the pokedexes can do that, and sent it to your mother. She'll be very glad to see you after all these years." I laughed at the exclamation. "I think I'll take a shave and a shower before I go back though." Then the Professor's attention turned to Ian, and he had no look of delight. "Ian... I would've supported you, since you were my grandson, but the way you've been treating your pokemon is absolutely unforgiveable. I will take those you have, and you will have to start over, this time the true way. Love and trust."
Ian hugn his head while Professor Oak led me to the back room and put my pokemon into the Hall Of Fame. I was very proud of what we had acomplished. I remembered the fallen, my poor caterpie, but I knew that she had not left the team in vain, and that we had climbed the tallest mountain.
"Joshua." I gasped as I heard my real name come from the professor's mouth. "Yes, I know who you are. I summoned you here for two reasons. one, because I needed help with my grandson, which you have amply provided, and two, because I needed help stopping team Rocket. You have helped with both, and I can send you back now. Would you like to go?
...
...
...
...
...
...
I looked around, and thought long and hard about it. "No time has passed in your land of course," Oak continued. "You'll be put right back from where you were taken." I continued to think, "There are too many unanswered question for me to quit now Professor. I'd like to know what's become of my virtual dad before I leave.
"Very well Josh. I would suggest looking around the sevii islands, because that's where I last heard from him
Epilogue chapter 1: the long awaited evolution.
I wake up, glad to be back in the comfort of Pallet Town. I head outside and talk to Professor Oak, who hands me the National Dex. He gives another one to a VERY subdued Ian, who pulls me over afterward and mumbles, "Light... you were right, and I was wrong. Grampa has forgiven me, now I want you to." I told him that, save if he falls back into his old habits, I was glad to forgive him. "The hardest part will be forgiving yourself Ian. I'll leave you to that."
I left the group and headed to one island, the land I had been hiding at for two years straight. I knew the land well, and quickly found my old training partners, who happily engaged me again. They had grown tremendously in strength, but still didn't match me. Soon enough, I saw what I had been longing to see for quite some time. Dracula was evolving!!! The briliant light seems much brighter than ever before, but that's probably because I haven't seen it in forever. When I looked up, the Purple bat had changed hue, and grown an extra set of wings! Dracula was now MUCH faster, and more powerful. I smiled as the my final member fit into the Fully Evolved catagory at last. Welcome Crobat!
Hall of Fame team
Feelix lv 61
Hardy nature
Ice Beam/Surf/Rock Slide/Tickle
Feelix is all around awesomeness. Rather difficult to train though, as he had to be trained off of wild pokemon. I supose I could've found a better spot, but I got him there eventualy. He will always be remembered for his amazing take down of Lance
Scorch lv 65
Docile Nature
Wing Attack/Flamethrower/Slash/Fly
Scorch has been with me since day one, and NEVER been useless. His powerful Flamethrower attack doesn't need to be SE to dish a KO, and since I've been giving him ATK Evs through training on One island(the group of fighters), his Wing Attack is very powerful as well.
Victoria lv 65
Docile Nature
Razor Leaf/Giga Drain/Sleep Powder/Cut
Victoria is the only female of the group, and can hold her own just as well as any of the others. Her particular glory has been in being my number one answser to Ian's Blastoise, and her taking out the water gym early on.
Lazybum lv 61
Naive nature
Body Slam/Shadow Ball/rest/Sleep Talk
Lazybum has been pretty much everything EXCEPT lazy. His potent combonation of durability and sheer power has made him invaluable. I was lucky to catch him quick though, because I was taking a HUGE risk when I set out for him. His shining moments were the Poison and Phsycic type gyms, as well as some serious Team Rocket whupin's.
JackieChan 60
Hardy Nature
Strength/Rock Smash/Brick Break/Karate Chop
Jackie is my oldest team member after Charizard, and my most worked on. Caught at lv 4, he's made it down a LONG road to becoming the spittin' image of the fighter he was named after. Jackie was the second hardest to train, with no real good spot to train at. I used a few random campers at the base of Mount. Ember.
Dracula lv 65 NOW lv 66
Naive Nature
Wing Attack/Aerial Ace/Confuse Ray/Poison Fang
Dracula has been with me since MT. Moon, and I've never regreted the catch. His imunity to Poison and resistance to that type has been great, since Team Rocket often employs it. He was, by far, the easiest to train. Training right alongside Scorch, but with two high PP flying moves and less required EXP to lv up, he went by quickly.
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Sorry it took me so long guys. Here's the second to last(at least I think it's second, may be third) instalment of my story. Had a long hiatus, and I won't be coming back to Smogon for some time. My final instalment will probably be posted by Fear the Pika, or Yellowfire7, two good friends of mine. I am subscribed to this thread, however, so I'll see any comments on the writing. Hope you've enjoyed it!