Okay everyone I'm really sorry this has taken so long to post, but I've been really busy lately and I've had to revise some of the plot points yet to come, but I've got it all worked out now...mostly, lol.
From now on I should be back to regular posting on Mondays and Fridays!
So sorry for the delay, I hope you are all able to get back into the story!
Without further a do, here is chapter 8!
Enjoy
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It wasn't long before the two trainer's Pokémon were staring each other down amidst the vivid array of flowers in the June sunshine. Tawny had opted for Cloyster as her opening Pokémon, and her opponent had chosen Primeape. The two Pokémon, somewhat obscured by the surrounding congregation flowers, awaited eagerly the opening commands of the battle. Tawny gave a wry smile, met by an even wider grin from Babe, and the pair began to declare their commands.
"Cloyster, Explosion!" Tawny yelled, as Babe gave a simultaneous shout:
"Primeape, use Endure!"
Babe's Primeape wilfully complied as it braced itself, eyes shut, pressing one fist hard into the flowery ground.
"What?!" yelped Tawny, as Her Cloyster's shell snapped shut. It was too late. The Cloyster had already begun its attack and within an instant an immense blast engulfed the battling area, spewing out a brightly charged cloud in all directions, clearing a sizeable portion of the field of its flora.
As the blast cleared the Cloyster lay shell open and unconscious on the scorched earth as the Primape opened its eyes again, severely wounded, but still standing.
"Damn it," Tawny cursed under her breath as she recalled the fainted Cloyster into its pokéball.
"Pretty rash opening play there, don't ya think?" boomed Babe with a smile.
"Well I figured… type disadvantage… get it out of the way," she mumbled back unconvincingly.
"Tawny come on!" pleaded Grey from the sidelines, his heart in his mouth.
"Ha ha, I don't fall for the same tricks twice, Tawn," Babe called over coolly.
"Well it's nice to see you change it up!" Tawny replied, forcing a grin. "Well at least this next one's a no brainer." She whispered to herself.
"Mismagius, go!" she yelled as her second pokéball was sent spinning into the improvised arena.
Another flash and Tawny's Mismagius had appeared.
"He's still smiling," Tawny thought to herself, noticing her opponent's widening smile.
"What's he planning?"
"Primeape, U-turn!" Babe commanded.
"Shadow Ball, Mismagius!" Tawny shouted to her Pokémon, but to her surprise the Primeape was too quick for Mismagius as it somersaulted upwards landing a fierce drop kick square onto its intended target before it could even make a move. The Primeape immediately sprang backward from its manoeuvre, high up into the air, as Babe held out his pokéball and stylishly recalled it, plucking the Pokémon out of sight, mid jump. Then with a swift flick of his wrist he sent the replacement pokéball shooting into the battlefield and with a sudden flare of light a Snorlax had taken the Primeape's place.
Meanwhile Tawny's Mismagius had recovered from its previous blow and set itself about firing Shadow ball. However almost as soon as the glowing dark orb was launched it had entirely dissipated against the tough skin of Babe's newly sent out Snorlax.
"That's…" began Tawny, "but…the speed!" she eventually stammered, unable to fathom how the Primeape was able to out speed Mismagius.
"Salac berry," Babe shot back. "Raises, speed when your Pokémon's health gets low."
"I didn't even notice!" Tawny thought to herself, exasperated.
"Well either way this will still work."
"Confuse ray!" Tawny shouted out and the Mismagius shot the ghostly ray of light toward the Snorlax, discombobulating it thoroughly.
Babe gave his command: "Curse, Snorlax!" And it managed to overcome it's confusion to obey, tucking it's head down and focusing tightly.
"Now, Nasty Plot!" Tawny yelled out.
The Ghost Pokémon narrowed it's eyes and focused on boosting it's Special Attack, as Babe gave his Snorlax its next order:
"Fire Punch, Snorlax!"
The Snorlax ambled clumsily towards Mismagius in its confusion, but managed to plough a fiery fist directly into its body as it lurched forward.
"That's got to hurt!" remarked Babe, noticing that the poor Mismagius was barely hanging on after the Snorlax's harsh attack.
"Now for the clincher!" said Tawny under her breath, ignoring babe's taunts, "Pain Split!" she cried.
The Mismagius shot another stream of light toward the Snorlax, but this beam was much thinner and shone in a dense silvery hue. As the attack connected pulses of white energy throbbed up the silvery ray toward Mismagius, as a copious amount of Snorlax's energy was transferred.
"Whoa!" remarked Babe, beginning to look concerned by the state of his Pokémon. "Snorlax, use Rest!" he hastily comanded, but this time the Snorlax couldn't move and only damaged itself from the strain of the confusion that still lingered.
"Finish it, Mismagius!" cheered Tawny, "Thunderbolt!"
"The Mismagius set loose an intense Jet of yellow lightning than shot all around the Snorlax's body rendering it completely unconscious.
"That's the stuff!" cheered Grey as Tawny gave a broad, self satisfied smile.
"Nice work." commented Babe as he recalled his Pokémon. "Now let's see.." he said reaching to his waist for his next battler and with a sweep of his gigantic arm, Babe flung his third pokéball onto the ground. Within a split second his next Pokémon stood towering in front of him: Steelix.
Tawny didn't waste any time in issuing her command, and ordered another confuse ray from Mismagius.
The beam hit its target once more but the Steelix looked un-phased as it seemed to shrug the confusion off.
"Swagger, Steelix!" the trainer instructed.
The enormous steel Pokémon began its move, winding its head from side to side in a provoking manner. Tawny's Mismagius instantly fell for the technique and was becoming visibly infuriated by the threatening display, causing its attack stat to rise.
"Come on, Mismagius, you have to focus!" Tawny called to it "Use Nasty Plot once more!", but it was of no use. The Pokémon's anger had been warped into confusion by the effects of the Swagger.
"Now Psych-Up!" commanded Babe as the Steelix managed to overcome the remaining effects of confusion and stared hard at Tawny's Pokémon to replicate its boost in attack power.
"Oh no…" groaned Tawny as she realised Babe's strategy. "Shadow Ball, Mismagius! Please!"
This time Mismagius was able to come round from its confusion and sent the Shadow Ball rocketing towards the Steelix. The attack hit it clean on the nose, and the Steelix reared back slightly stunned, but it took the hit well and immediately began it's counterattack.
"Crunch!" shouted Babe, as the Steelix sunk its metal Jaws hard into the Ghost type Pokémon, taking it out in one hit.
"Come on, Tawny!" shouted Grey in increasing desperation.
"I've got this!" she snapped back, keeping him in check with an angry stare.
Babe's Steelix opened its jaws once more and the Ghost Pokémon drifted to the ground without a sound.
"Return, Mismagius" Tawny sighed, scooping the Pokémon up with a beam of red light from her pokéball. "Last one." she murmured as she reached to her belt for her final Pokémon.
The ball hit the ground and after another burst of light, there stood Tawny's last chance: Typhlosion.
"Get it!" she growled, "Fire Blast!"
Babe threw his arms up to cover his face from the heat as the five intensely burning spokes of fire were sent racing toward the Steelix wrapping it in flames.
As the fire dissipated the Steelix's metal hide was glowing brightly from the heat as its mighty head fell, crashing to the ground.
"Uh-oh," said Babe, looking seriously down at his last pokéball in his right hand as he recalled his Steelix with the pokéball in his left.
"Uh-oh is right," Tawny declared with content nod. "Only Primeape left now."
"Well, here's hopin' for a miracle," sighed Babe as he cast out his Primeape once more.
At last the final Pokémon stood wearily before Tawny's Typhlosion and the end of the battle was in sight.
"One more time!" Tawny yelled. "Fire Blast"
"Do your best, Primeape!" shouted Babe. "Reversal!"
As Tawny's Typhlosion opened it's mouth and began to breath forth the blazing Fire Blast, Babe's Primeape began it's charge. The five pronged blast was sent hurtling toward the Primeape.
As it sprinted toward the Typhlosion, the Primeape leapt clear off the ground and headlong into the flaming attack twisting its body as it flew through the air. Astonishingly it jumped straight through the flames slipping straight between the fiery tendrils of the blast without so much as a singe.
Clear of the danger of Typhlosion's attack, the Primeape vaulted upward over the Typhlosion's head and onto its back, where it delivered a swift but incredible strike to the fire Pokémon's head, knocking abruptly to the ground with a single punch.
The battle was over.
"No…" Tawny whispered, unable to believe the impossible turn of events. She grimaced as she called her Typhlosion back into it's ball.
"Yes!" bellowed Babe "Ha ha ha! I did it! Primape, come here! High five!" he laughed as he rushed over to congratulate his Pokémon.
Grey stood speechless, staring at Tawny but she didn't meet his gaze, only staring at the ground, fixed like a stone.
"Hey!" Babe yelled over to her. "Don't look so glum! Aren't you gonna' congratulate me!"
Tawny swiftly checked herself and forced herself to smile as she looked up to the victor, plastering a wide grin onto her face.
"Hey nice moves big guy!" She giggled. "Shame, because that book-"
"Save it Tawny," Babe chortled as he cut her off, "Rules are rules short stack and I can't go letting you off easy just cause' you're a girl n'all!"
"That's fair I suppose," Tawny chimed back through her ever widening faux smile.
"Hey, fella!" Yelled Grey as he rushed over to the pair. "How about me next?"
"Me?" Babe enquired with a vacant look across his face.
"Yeah." Came Grey's reply, "Winner gets the boo-oof!"
Grey had been cut off by a swift elbow to the ribs from Tawny, who had shot him another angry look from under the rim of her baseball cap.
"I think Babe's had enough for one day, right Baby?" she chirped merrily.
"Oww, Tawny what- oof!
Another elbow to the ribs silenced Grey once more.
"Is he okay?" asked Babe with a slightly suspicious look toward the pair.
"He's fine he's just a little excited! Why not head to the Pokémon centre in town and we'll gather up our stuff and meet you there in a bit?"
"What stu-" Grey began, but a third elbow to the ribs was enough of a deterrent to keep him from speaking up again.
"Hmm, okay." Babe Nodded, slightly puzzled. "See you down there then!" And with that the bulky trainer turned with a wave and made for the heart of Floroma town.
Once Grey was sure Babe was out of earshot, he rounded on Tawny with a glare.
"Explain," he demanded flatly.
"If you try and get the book he'll definitely get suspicious and we never know who he'll be running his mouth off to!"
"Fair enough," pressed Grey, "but 'A' what do we do about the book, and 'B'…
oww!" he said gesturing to his ribs.
"I'm sorry," pleaded Tawny, "but I didn't know what else to do."
"So now what?" asked Grey throwing his hands up.
"I guess we can't steal it…" Tawny began to muse to herself.
"Go fig," stabbed Grey sarcastically.
"Ah, but…" Tawny began, "there's no reason we can't take a peek at the contents of it while Babe's still around."
"How do we go about that?" Grey asked, furrowing his brow.
"It won't take much to convince him to stay at the Pokémon centre tonight, especially if I get him reminiscing about old times to keep him and it is almost half past five. We just get him to stay the night, wait till he falls asleep and then-"
"And then we get snap happy with the book," Grey cut in.
"Exactly!" Tawny confirmed with a grin.
A cloud passed over the sun and the two friends fell silent for a moment as Tawny's smile faded.
"Tawny," said Grey without meeting her eye.
"Yeah?" she asked.
"It was really bad luck, you losing like that."
"Yeah." She acknowledged quietly.
"Just don't let it get to you, y'know," Grey said trying to reassure her. He tried to look up to see her but she was only staring at the ground again.
"Grey." She began, trembling a little. "What if there's trouble later… and I'm not good enough? What then?"
"Tawny!" Grey said firmly, putting both hands on her shoulders forcing her to look into his eyes. Then he saw them. Two softly shining amber eyes behind two sheets of dust covered glass, like sparkling jewels in a showcase.
"Grey…" she whispered choking on her words, unsure of what he was going to say.
"I'm with you, and I promise I'll be strong enough. We'll stick together till this is over okay? I promise." He released his hands from her shoulders and turned to pick up her bag with the box inside and handed it to her. "Oh and Tawny?" he said.
She felt so lost for words, she couldn't respond; she just looked at him sadly.
"Your glasses are filthy," he said with a cheeky smile, and Tawny laughed again.
"Thanks," she said softly, and the two began to make their way, smiling, along the path of flowers in the late afternoon sun.
From the high up in the mountains, they view of the summer sunset was nothing short of exquisite. An unusually dressed man in heavy boots and a desert scarf stepped out of the quaint little wooden shack, which served as the town's shop. Flipping the shades on his forehead down over his eyes with his right hand, he clumsily licked on the lemon popsicle in his left.
He had barely made it five steps from the shop door when his phone let out a muffled dull beeping from inside of his jacket pocket. He reached inside with one hand and fumbled the cover open as he lifted the handset to his ear.
"Hello Mallen," he said as he began. "What's the problem?"
"I swear Toby, if you're eating ice cream instead of making your way to Snowpoint I will be not be very amused!"
"Calm down. It's not like a can get ice cream back home anyway so-"
"I knew it!" came the sharp reply from the other end, causing Toby to suddenly jerk the phone away from his ear. "What's your progress?" the voice asked impatiently.
"I'll be making snow point by nightfall don't you worry."
"And the package?"
"I'm not sure. It could have been intercepted," sighed Toby, rubbing his forehead and getting Popsicle juice on his sunglasses.
"What makes you say that?" asked the voice.
"The signal's been acting weird. Going round in circles, really erratic, you know. I'd say it's been found and displaced to throw us off. It's likely have been a pro job."
"Well the plan doesn't change either way. It just means we're at a disadvantage. Shouldn't be a problem if you take care of your business."
"Right," replied Toby, "But that's not the worst part."
"Oh?" enquired the voice.
"There's been no sign of Knight for a while now."
"She wouldn't be seen anyway. Besides what's so bad about that?"
"I'll put it this way. When you know where something is you don't need to go searching," Toby explained
"And?" the voice enquired.
"Well, she's not searching."
"You think she's our interceptor."
Toby didn't answer.
"Damn it!" cursed the voice on the other end. "If only we'd gotten this off the ground sooner while we had the chance."
"Well there's no use wishing about it now. We'll just have to have a bit of faith." replied Toby. "Any luck with Rowan?"
"He's gone ghost," answered the voice.
"So do we still stick to the plan?"
"We don't know anything for sure yet other than that Knight hasn't made her move. She must be waiting for something."
"Either that or she doesn't know as much as we do and she's just covering her bases."
"Whatever happens, your role is still essential. Don't deviate from the plan."
"Do we at least have eyes?" Toby groaned.
"We have eyes, but they don't know what they're looking for."
"So is there a plan B?"
"Pray," Replied the voice flatly.
"Well then," Toby said in a heavy voice "That seems to be all for now."
"Okay," came the voice "Good Luck."
"Thanks," murmured Toby. "And anything you want to tell me about project Omicron?"
At that the phone went dead.
"That bastard," whispered Toby to himself as he tucked the phone back into his jacket.
He took a lick of the yellow Popsicle, now melting with a trickle down his fingers, and picked out a near by bench overlooking the steep mountainside, dense with forest. He got himself comfy and stretched out his legs, taking in the incredible vista that stretched out for miles below.
"Don't get sunsets like these back home," he said with a quiet sigh.