Part 4! Yay! *Dances around*

 

Disclaimer: See part 1

 

Notes: <> indicates telepathy, ** indicates thoughts, italics indicates translated pokemon talk!

 

Episode 4: Frozen perfection? Battle on the ice field!

            “What a heated match!” The announcer cried. “Gary and his opponent Clarence are both down to only one pokemon each! Who will triumph?”

            “Golem, go!”

            “Nidoking, go!”

           

            (A/N: I think everyone knows what happened in this match… so I’ll skip it… Sufficient to say that Gary lost… wait! That’s in the next episode! Oh well. He’ll just lose 1 round earlier, Hehehe…)

 

            “He lost?” Misty said, astonished as she looked away from the TV. “But I thought Gary was a really good trainer?”

            “Maybe he is. Just not good enough.” Brock said.

            “Hmm…” Red looked a tiny bit nervous. “If the competition’s like that, I hope my pokemon will survive.”
            “Don’t worry, Red! You’ll be fine!” Misty said. But she still felt a bit queasy herself. If Red, who had been so confident, was now this shaken, could he actually win the next match?
            “Thanks.” Red said gratefully. Pikachu perched on his shoulder reassured him with some chirps and Red patted the little pokemon.

            “I know. Thanks, Pika.”

            “Don’t you have a match soon?”

            “I still have fifteen minutes, but I’d better head to the stadium.” Red said as he started walking toward it.

            “Good luck! You’ll need it.” Brock said. “Your opponent Pete hasn’t lost a match yet!”
            “Well obviously, otherwise Red wouldn’t be fighting him.” Misty muttered.

            “I’m serious, Misty, I checked the records!”

            “Did it at least tell which pokemon he had?”

            “Hmm… Well, I know one’s Cloyster…”

            “They’re fighting on the Ice field. A cloyster would be very well suited for that battlefield.” Misty said. * I hope Red will be okay. *

            “I know. I hope he’ll be okay. He seems so eager to win, it would be a shame to see him lose…”

 

            Ice Field, fifteen minutes later…

            “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen! Today on the Ice Field we have a wonderful match planned for you! The Red trainer will be Ash Ketchum from the town of pallet, who will fight the Green trainer, give it up for Pete Pebbleman!”

            The stadium rang with the sounds of voices raised in excitement.

            “This match will now begin!”

           

            “Squirtle, I choose you!” Red said, throwing out his Squirtle. Squirtle landed on the field, a happy little smile playing across his features.

            Pete was not impressed. “Dewgong, you know what to do!” He said. The majestic white seal pokemon landed opposite Squirtle, looking perfectly at home on the slick ice, which constituted the arena.

            Pete’s Dewgong started firing off Aurora beams at Squirtle, who ducked inside his shell. Red thought fast. * He must have trained his Dewgong well, to have it attack on its own without a command. Well, I guess I’ll just have to deal with it. *

            “Squirtle, Skull Bash!” Squirtle nodded and jumped high into the air, before ramming into Dewgong’s soft body, eliciting a wail of pain.

            “Fine then! If you want to use offensive attacks like that… Dewgong, use Ice Beam!” A beam of frozen energy formed above Dewgong’s horn and headed for Squirtle.

            “Dig!” Red said. Pete blinked in surprise as Squirtle jumped into the think ice and hid itself.

            “Fine then, we might as well use this chance to take a breather. Use Rest!” His Dewgong immediately went to sleep, restoring its HP.

            Squirtle popped out and finished the Dig sequence. Dewgong continued to sleep peacefully.

            Red shrugged. * Rest usually lasts for a few extra turns. If I can get its HP down before it wakes up, I can win the first round. Hmm… what’s a good, strong attack I can use? *

            Squirtle looked puzzled that his trainer wasn’t giving out any commands. What do you want me to do?

            Wait! He’s thinking! Pika reprimanded.

            Oh. Okay, I’ll wait.

           

            “Let’s try – Spin Tackle!” Red said. Squirtle nodded and spun into Dewgong, knocking it into the air.

            “Now use Hydro Pump! That should finish it off!” Squirtle nodded and hit Dewgong with a tremendous volume of water, snapping it awake. However, Dewgong was so tired that it simply fell over and refused to fight.

            “Dewgong is unable to battle! Ash wins the first round!” The referee said.

            “Yay! Go Ash!” Misty said.

            Brock would have cheered, but he was checking out some pretty girls three seats away…

           

            “Pretty good.” Pete said. “But what about this pokemon? Can you get past my Cloyster’s solid defense? Cloyster, go!”

            The huge spike-shelled bivalve pokemon appeared on the field. Squirtle looked very nervous.

            Do you still want to battle? Pika called from Red’s shoulder. If you do not want to fight, I’ll fight for you.

            I’m scared.

            It’s okay to be scared. I’ll tell Red. Pika whispered into Red’s shoulder for about two seconds before he nodded.

            “Squirtle, Return!”

            Pete blinked. * Mighty confident, isn’t he? This counts as a loss for him! Why is he doing this? *

            “This is a surprise!” The announcer blared. “Ketchum has chosen to withdraw his still healthy squirtle! What will he send out now?”

           

            “Pika, you’re up!” Red said. Pika jumped off his shoulder and took her place on the field.

            “Cloyster, Spike Cannon!” But Pika was too agile to be hit with the flying spikes. She easily dodged each one, laughing. The Cloyster began frustrated and quit listening to Pete’s commands. Instead, it started shooting Aurora beams in a fury.

            “Pika, use Thunderbolt now!” Red said, getting a bit bored. Pikachu gave Red a peace sign, before she fried the Cloyster.

            “Cloyster is unable to battle! Ash wins the second round! What will Pete use now?” The announcer shouted.

           

            Pete frowned and withdrew his Cloyster. * Fine. I’m obviously not going to use a water type… that’d be just plain stupid. * “Arcanine, go!”

            “What a surprise! Pete has chosen Arcanine!”

            Red thought quickly. * Arcanine are known for their speed… so Pika won’t have much of a speed advantage, and there’s no type advantage, but… hmm… we are in an ice field, and melted ice becomes water, so if I can lure the Arcanine into melting the ice… *

            “Pika, use Agility!”

            Pikachu nodded and began racing in circles around Arcanine.

            “Fire Blast!” Pete shouted. Arcanine began firing off Fire Blasts in all directions, slowly but surely dissolving the ice.

            After a while, only a little bit of ice was left. Red smiled to himself.

            “Okay, Pika! You did a great job! Now finish it off with Thundershock!”

            Pete laughed at the absurdity of the situation. “Fire Blast it again, Arcanine! It has nowhere to run now!”

            Pika jumped towards Arcanine, before blasting it with Thundershock. Just enough power to knock Arcanine into the water below…

            Arcanine yelped in fear as it landed in the water. After a few seconds, it fainted.

            “No! Arcanine!” Pete said in disbelief.

            Red smiled. “You’re the best, Pika!” He ran down to the arena and hugged Pika tightly as confetti drifted down from the sky.

            Pika shocked her trainer happily.

 

            “Wow, how did you do it?” Misty asked later that night, while the three travelers were eating at a café.

            “I just had to make Arcanine so mad that it would melt the ice. Once it fell into the water, I didn’t need to do anything else.” Red told her.

            “Still…” Misty said. * I wonder what Ash would have done? * That thought made her uncomfortable, so she vowed not to think about it any longer.

 

End Episode 4! Click on that review button please. It’ll make me really, really, happy. *Big shimmery puppy dog eyes*