It was somewhat early in the afternoon, so Pikachu was already awake, wandering around his room. Today, he found he could amuse himself with his pokeball by climbing up on top of it and balancing. Malcolm walked in just in time to watch Pikachu tumble over backwards after losing his balance with a loud, startled "pi!" Malcolm laughed, and went over to Pikachu, helping him up.
"You all right?"
"Pi pika," Pikachu responded affirmatively with a nod, rubbing his head slightly. Malcolm chuckled.
"Good, good, just be careful. Remember I told you about my friend Paul the other day? The one with the Charmander?" Pikachu nodded. "Well, he's due to catch a flight here tomorrow, so I was just wondering... how does a battle against Charmander sound? To test all the skills you've been learning and practicing so far?" Pikachu nodded excitedly.
"Pi pikachu!" he squealed happily. He was excited to finally get a chance to test out his battle skills against another, real pokemon.
"That's the spirit!" Malcolm said proudly. "Just remember, this will be your very first battle, so don't worry about who wins, Pikachu. As long as you try your hardest, you'll make me proud win or lose. Just think of it as advanced training..."
Needless to day, both Pikachu and Malcolm were looking forward to tomorrow. The next day, Malcolm left for the airport to pick Paul and his Charmander up. Thanks to road construction and traffic, Malcolm ended up running a bit late, but managed to park and make it into the terminal about ten minutes after the flight arrived. After confirming the passengers were in the baggage pick-up area, Malcolm went there, finding Paul leaning against a wall, reading a book. Malcolm walked up to him, and Paul looked up, grinning.
"Malcolm! Long time no see, man!" The two hugged each other in greeting. "What's it been, almost three years now?" Malcolm nodded.
"Yeah, just about. So how've you been all this time?"
"Pretty well, pretty well, not too much new with me, really. Everything's about the same as last time I saw you. Well, except for the pokemon training. I was in last year's tournament, and we didn't do quite as well as we planned. But we did land in the top 10, and this year we're going for the gold!"
"That's good," Malcolm said with a smile. "Speaking of which, where is your Charmander?"
"Hmm? Oh, James is picking up our luggage." Malcolm looked slightly confused.
"James?" Paul nodded.
"Yeah. Charmander," he explained. "I suppose I'm not like most trainers; I only keep him in his Charmander gear during training, competitions, shows, and battles. I've had him now for... hmm, about two and a half years, I think? We prefer to keep the pokemon training separate from our everyday lives, you see. But that's just me. As I recall, you said you keep your Pikachu in his gear all the time?"
"That's right," Malcolm replied. Paul nodded.
"That's how we started out, too. To avoid mistakes and to get him used to it, you know. Once he got the hang of it, though, I find it's not really necessary to keep him in gear. But if your Pikachu doesn't mind, that's fine, too."
"He's really the one who wanted it this way," Malcolm admitted with a chuckle. "But I'll keep that in mind. Even though I know he really wants this, I'm sure he wouldn't mind getting out of that suit every so often."
"It's surprising how good James feels once he's been in gear for a while and is let out. Ah! Speaking of James," Paul said as he nodded behind Malcolm, "here he comes now!" Malcolm looked behind him to see a perfectly normal looking guy pushing a cart full of several large pieces of luggage towards them. He was a bit short, but was extremely well-built for his size. He walked up to the two. "James, this is Malcolm, my friend I told you about." James offered a hand to shake.
"Hello there! It's a pleasure to meet you," he said politely. Malcolm shook his hand, smiling and nodding in return.
"Likewise," he said. "Well! Now that you've got your luggage, shall we be off?"
"Sure," Paul said. "The sooner we get back, the sooner we can have some lunch!" The three headed back out to the parking lot, and after loading up Malcolm's car with the luggage, they set back out to Malcolm's house.
Meanwhile, Pikachu was at home alone. He woke up quite a while ago, but was still in his pokeball. He could hardly sleep the night before; he was very excited (and understandably so) about his first battle today. But he was also very nervous. He wanted to make sure he did his best, but he didn't want to lose. After all, he wanted to show Malcolm how much their training together had been paying off. But no matter how much Pikachu told himself that Malcolm would be proud of him as long as he did his best, he couldn't help but want to win nonetheless...
Malcolm pulled up into his driveway, and the three carried the luggage to Malcolm's front door. Malcolm opened it, and set the suitcases he was carrying down, pointing down a hallway.
"Right down there is the guest wing. Feel free to make yourself at home; there's two bedrooms you can set up to stay, and let James get ready to change." Paul chuckled.
"Boy, Malcolm, you're sure anxious to battle, aren't you?"
"I guess I am," Malcolm admitted with a grin. "It's just that Pikachu and I have spent the last month training, and I'm just dying to know how well he's doing!"
"Well, I don't suppose I see any harm in a battle now, then. If you're okay with that, James?" Paul looked at James, and James shrugged.
"Sure, no complaints here. I'm pretty excited to see your Pikachu, too," James said. "And I promise that later, after the battle, win or lose, I'll let you know honestly how well I think Pikachu did."
"And if it's all right with you, Malcolm," Paul added, "perhaps we can sit in on one of your training sessions and give you some pointers?"
"Really? Oh, I can't thank you enough for your help! Really, I'm so grateful!"
"No problem!" Paul said. "Now come on, James, let's go get you ready." James nodded, and the two grabbed their luggage, walking off down the hall to their rooms. With that, Malcolm also walked off to get Pikachu ready for his first battle.
Malcolm walked into Pikachu's room, opening his pokeball. Pikachu hopped out of the pokeball.
"All right, Pikachu. They're off getting ready; so I figure it's time I make sure you're ready, too. How are you feeling? Rested up and ready to go?"
"Pi, pi," Pikachu said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster, but he had a distinct tone of anxiety in his voice. Malcolm hugged him, noticing Pikachu was so nervous he was shaking slightly.
"You're nervous, aren't you?" Pikachu nodded. "Well, you have every right to be. To tell you the truth, I'm nervous, too. I know you'll be the one battling, but I'll be responsible for directing you in battle. But I'm going to do my best, and so should you! What do you say, buddy?" Pikachu hugged Malcolm happily; he was still nervous, but he would put forth his absolute best for Malcolm.
"Chu!"
About a half an hour later, there was a knock at the door.
"Come on in, it's open," Malcolm said. Paul opened the door and walked in, followed by James -- now Charmander. Malcolm looked Charmander over, impressed. Charmander looked very similar to Pikachu -- both were bipedal, and he was kept restrained inside his red, rubber Charmander suit in much the same way as Pikachu was restrained inside his. His legs were bent and he was forced to walk on his knees, and his arms were restrained from the elbows up, leaving only his lower arms usable. The main differences were, besides the necessary differences in appearance, that Charmander had small claws rather than hands, and small padded, clawed feet added to the feet of the suit. The tip of his long, reptilian tail also sported an electric light which almost perfectly resembled and emulated a flame. Even though his head was a bit bigger than Pikachu's, it still seemed to be in good proportion to the rest of his body. His eyes, while definitely opaque, seemed to glow with fire. Malcolm whistled. "Wow! Charmander looks great!"
"Thank you," Paul said with a grin. "Your Pikachu's pretty nice, too! So are you guys ready to battle?"
"What do you say, Pikachu?" Malcolm asked. Pikachu dropped to all fours, his rear raised in the air in a sort of fighting stance.
"Pika!" he said enthusiastically.
"That's a yes," Malcolm said with a chuckle. "And you guys?"
"I'm definitely ready, and so is Charmander!"
"Char!" Charmander squeaked in agreement, snorting a bit of black smoke out of his nose in excitement. Malcolm looked at it, confused.
"Smoke?"
"You'll see," Paul said with a mysterious grin. "Now, shall we get this match started?"
"Absolutely! Let's go to the gym I've got set up," Malcolm said as he led the three out the door. He led them down the hall to a large, mostly empty room. The room had only a few things in it -- the majority of the area of the room was empty floor space, and in the back corners of the room were two small booth-like enclosures. They were lined with soundproof safety glass, and had control panels and various other instruments inside. Those booths were where Paul and Malcolm would be issuing orders to their pokemon from. "Sorry it's not more like an actual tournament battle arena," Malcolm said to Paul, "but I tried to recreate it the best I could. I just didn't have enough room to do it tournament style, but I tried to base it off the design as best as I could." Paul chuckled.
"Are you kidding, Malcolm? This is great! I'm impressed; it's pretty accurate, save some positioning issues. But like you said, I don't think you have a room in this entire house big enough to do that. This is pretty big though, and I think this will do just fine!" Malcolm and Paul went into their respective booths, putting on their headsets with which they would issue orders to their pokemon. After Malcolm was situated, he flipped a switch; several video cameras mounted on the ceiling and walls around the room flipped on. The cameras provided a direct, live feed to a panel of judges at the Pokemon Trainers' Association headquarters; Malcolm and Paul had pre-registered the night before to have their match monitored today. As the trainers made their final preparations, Malcolm could see Pikachu still shaking slightly.
"Don't worry, Pikachu. Relax, and do your best," Malcolm told Pikachu through the headset. Pikachu began taking deep breaths to try to calm down and get himself ready. Paul was also giving Charmander some last-minute commands as well.
"Remember, Charmander, this is Pikachu's first battle ever. So go a little bit easy on him."
"Char!"
The trainers watched as a small digital timer display began a ten-second countdown to zero. Once it hit zero, the trainers were free to command their pokemon to begin the battle at will. As soon as the timer hit zero, both trainers shouted commands into their headsets.
"Pikachu! Charge straight ahead at Charmander, tackle him!"
"Charmander! Go after Pikachu, he's straight ahead!" Both pokemon charged directly at each other, and before their trainers could warn them of the impending collision the pokemon rammed into each other at full force, sending them tumbling backwards, dazed. Both pokemon shook it off and were back on their feet at about the same time. Malcolm thought for a moment.
"Pikachu! Circle around him, get behind him! If you can get behind him you'll be at an advantage!" Pikachu began to try to circle around Charmander, but Paul was quick to react.
"Charmander, Pikachu's circling you clockwise; face him!" Charmander listened closely for Pikachu's movements and tracked him, making sure to turn to face him at all times. Malcolm grunted.
"It's no good, he's got a bead on you. All right then, Pikachu, go straight ahead for him again! Use that muzzle of yours and go for a passive victory!" Pikachu charged straight ahead again, but Charmander, still listening closely to Pikachu's movements, could hear him coming a mile away, dodging handily.
"Good job, Charmander!" Paul said. "Keep an ear out, I have a feeling he'll be trying that a few more times."
"Pikachu," Malcolm commanded, "he dodged! Do a 180 and try again!" Paul was exactly right; Pikachu spun around and charged at Charmander again, but Charmander was still quite ready for him and dodged again. "Forget it, Pikachu, he's onto you. Stand your ground!" The pokemon began to circle each other again at their trainers' commands, and the battle was brought to a temporary standstill. Malcolm thought for a moment. "Pikachu, all that dodging has to have tired him out! Charge him again!" Pikachu immediately darted forward, but Paul was expecting something like that to happen.
"He's charging again, Charmander! Hold your ground, brace yourself, and catch him!"
"Char!" Charmander put a foot back to steady himself and held his paws out just in time to catch the charging Pikachu, surprising him. Charmander grabbed Pikachu and held him in place tightly as Pikachu struggled to get away.
"Pikachu! Break out, don't let him hold you like that!" Try as he might, though, Pikachu was held fast.
"Good, Charmander, you've got him! Immobilize him, plan p!" Charmander immediately began to force Pikachu to bend over, and shoved his cock in Pikachu's muzzle, beginning to piss. Thanks to his training, though, Pikachu was unfazed by it. He swallowed it with no hesitation, and before Charmander could realize what was going on Pikachu turned the tables on him. Pikachu latched onto Charmander and began to suck him off. Paul whistled. "Wow, he's good... Charmander! Break and roll!" Charmander responded by falling over sideways as he began to twist around to break Pikachu's hold on him. Once Pikachu was dislodged, Charmander was back on his feet in a show of great agility. Pikachu, in the meantime, fell forward and was working on getting up. "All right, Charmander, smokescreen attack!"
"Char charmander!" Charmander took a huge breath, and Paul hit a button on a remote control similar to Malcolm's, magnetically sealing Charmander's nose and mouth closed. Malcolm, not realizing what Charmander was up to, began to direct Pikachu.
"Get up, Pikachu!" Pikachu stumbled to his feet. "Good job; he's at two o'clock! Charge him, quick!" Pikachu charged him, but that was exactly what Paul and Charmander were expecting.
"Now, Charmander!" Charmander grabbed Pikachu, and using the force of his tackle threw him to the ground, rolling him to lay on his back. Charmander leaned down so that his face was right up next to Pikachu's, and Paul released the magnetic seal. Charmander exhaled the breath he had been holding, sending a cloud of thick, black smoke right into Pikachu's face, forcing him to breathe it in. Pikachu began to cough; he was not used to the rancid-smelling smoke, and it completely caught him off-guard. Even after the last remnants of the cloud of smoke escaped Charmander's mouth, Pikachu fell to the ground, incapacitated with a coughing fit.
"Pikachu! Calm down, catch your breath, and get up!" Malcolm shouted through the headset, but it was no use. Pikachu was immobilized trying to catch his breath, and it was a simple matter at that point for Charmander to grab Pikachu, taking advantage of his weakened state to get an easy aggressive win, roughly shoving his cock into Pikachu's tailhole and starting to hump him. Malcolm could only watch in defeat as Charmander finalized his win, exploding inside of Pikachu.
As soon as Charmander finished, he dragged Pikachu out of the remaining cloud of smoke, using his own tail and spinning it around like a fan to help clear away the remaining smoke and give Pikachu some fresh air. Paul and Malcolm came out of their booths, and Malcolm ran over to Pikachu, kneeling down beside him.
"Pikachu! Pikachu, are you all right?" Pikachu couldn't answer, still coughing, but nodded affirmatively. Malcolm sighed. "That's good. Just relax, catch your breath. You tried your best, and that's what counts!" Pikachu, however, between the lingering smell of smoke in his nose and all the coughing, could hold back no longer and threw up all over the floor and Charmander's feet. The three looked down in mild disgust.
"Eww..." they all said in unison. Pikachu finally managed to catch his breath and stopped coughing, wiping his mouth and looking down at the floor, ashamed.
"Pi pikaaa..." he whined, embarrassed.
A little while later, after Paul and Malcolm got the floor and their pokemon cleaned up, the four sat in Malcolm's living room, taking a breather after the battle as they waited to hear back from the Pokemon Trainers' Association.
"Well, Malcolm, I must admit. That was one heck of a battle, especially considering Pikachu's lack of experience." Charmander nodded.
"Char char!" he said with a nod in agreement, snorting a bit of smoke out his nose happily. Malcolm chuckled and patted Pikachu on the head.
"Thank you. And it looks like you two have got your battle routine down really well, What the heck was that attack, anyway?" Malcolm asked, curious. Paul chuckled.
"Smokescreen. One of Charmander's special attacks. You see, I've got two cigars built into Charmander's headpiece. They're about where the eyes are..."
"...so that's why it looks like his eyes are glowing!" Malcolm realized with a start. Paul laughed.
"Yes, that's right. You see, Charmander takes a big breath and I seal his nose and mouth shut, like this." Paul nodded at Charmander, and Charmander inhaled deeply. With that, Paul took the remote control out of his pocket and hit a button on it, sealing Charmander's nose and mouth closed. "When I do that, you see, the smoke builds up inside his headpiece in the hollow space between it and his own head. Once I open the holes, he can exhale out a thick cloud of smoke... like this!" Charmander pounced at Malcolm, catching him by surprise as Paul hit the button again, Charmander catching Malcolm with a smokescreen as well. Malcolm began to cough as well, waving his hands to try to clear the air. At least he knew how Pikachu felt now. As Malcolm caught his breath, Paul and Charmander started laughing. "As you can see, it works best if it's right into the opponent's face, and I think you and Pikachu just found out first-hand just how well it can work. By the way, sorry about that, guys."
"Don't worry about it," Malcolm said with a half-chuckle half-cough. "I figure I should be able to take anything Pikachu can take," he added with a grin. "But I really didn't even think to do anything like that for Pikachu. All he's got is... well, himself."
"You mean he doesn't have any special attacks?" Paul asked, incredulously. "Are you kidding me, Malcolm?"
"No. I really didn't think anything like that would be implemented..." Malcolm admitted sheepishly. Paul just stared at him.
"Wow, man. And here I thought you just weren't using them. You know what, Pikachu? Now that I know that, I think it's safe to say that you did an outstanding job for your first battle!"
"Pi pikachu!" Pikachu squeaked happily at the compliment.
"You should really look into getting Pikachu some sort of special moves, Malcolm. I mean..." Paul trailed off, not even knowing what to say. He instead decided to change the subject. "But yeah, I look forward to seeing you guys in the competition in a few months. I'm sure by the time the competition rolls around you two will be quite the formidable team!"
"Thank you," Malcolm said. "I really do appreciate everything you guys are doing for us!"
"Don't mention it. Hey, you think the results are up yet?"
"Couldn't hurt to check. Come on!" Malcolm said as he led the four to his den, sitting down in front of his computer. Upon checking his e-mail, Malcolm found he had indeed received an e-mail from the Pokemon Trainers' Association addressed to both him and Paul.
"To trainers Malcolm and Paul: The Pokemon Trainers' Association has finished reviewing your battle and has distributed points to your pokemon for their performance. If you check your personal pages and the battle pages on the official Pokemon Trainers' Association site, your standings have already been updated. Even though Pikachu lost the match and failed at several of his offensive moves, he received several bonus points for his excellent defense and agility. Charmander received extra points for winning the match in addition to his wonderful offensive and defensive skills. We thank you both for participating in the Pokemon Trainers' Association, and look forward to your next matches."
Once Malcolm and Paul had finished reading it over, Malcolm noticed he already had a couple of new messages waiting for him as well. Most of them had subject lines like "About your battle" and "Advice for Pikachu". Paul chuckled.
"Wow, looks like you've already got some fans, Malcolm," Paul commented. "Sometimes, other trainers will catch live battle feeds and will watch the battle. They must have happened to catch ours. I've probably got some of the same messages waiting for me, too. Hey, Malcolm, what's that?" Paul pointed at one of Malcolm's messages; it was another one from the Pokemon Trainers' Association with the subject "Approved Offensive Additions". Malcolm shrugged and opened it as he and Paul read the message.
"To trainer Malcolm: Congratulations on participating in your first official battle. We are always glad to welcome new participating trainers to the league, and we would like to provide you with some advice for a beginning trainer. Your Pikachu performed well, but he stands very little chance of holding his own in future battles and tournaments should you not equip him with some sort of special attacks. Attached is a list of some special offensive additions for your Pikachu used by trainers in the past. You may feel free to use any of these or modify them to suit your own needs. We wish you luck in future battles!" Malcolm opened the attachment, finding a long list of schematics and descriptions for potential offensive, electrical-based abilities to give to Pikachu.
"I forgot all about that!" Paul suddenly said. "Charmander and I got the same message back when we started battling, too. That was where I got the idea for his smokescreen attack, from the Pokemon Trainers' Association. I don't know who originally came up with the idea, but it was a good one. Look through that sometime, Malcolm. There's some great ideas in there." Malcolm nodded, and closed the attachment for now, deciding to look through it later.
"I'll do that in a while. By the time the tournament comes around, Pikachu, I'll have you a new battle suit ready. And this one will give you some nice offensive skills, too."
"Pika!" Pikachu squeaked happily, excited. He knew it meant more training on how to use his new abilities, but he was ready for it. He was ready to do as much training as it took to make him the best!