Weapons, Chapter Fifty-Nine

I brushed myself down as we waited outside the doors to the last room. The last one. We were here.

 “Getting there,” Kera said, echoing my thoughts.

 “This’ll all be over soon,” I agreed.

 “Well–”

 “I know, there’s something after the league I need to take care of, but – it can’t be that much.” I grinned. “We’ll get it sorted easy.”

 “I admire your confidence. For once.” Kera yawned.

 “Oh, hush.” I laughed. “We’re doing well, I think I’m allowed to be confident now, right?”

 “Well, if you put it like that…”

 “Excuse me, Miss Katri?”

 “Yes?” I blinked and focused on the person who had just walked to stand in front of the door before us, holding a clipboard.

 “You are here for the Kanto League, aren’t you?”

 I nodded.

 “Then this is your last battle.” He marked something down. “Assuming you beat Lance, the door behind his stand will take you through into the champion’s room, which stands empty. Please procede through it and the corridor beyond it to the Hall of Fame, where representatives will stand to take your details.”

 “Right… thanks.” I nodded. “And… if I lose?”

 “Then you return through this door and take the stairs on your left.” He pointed to them. “Good luck.”

 “Is… he ready for me?” I gestured to the door behind him.

 “Almost.” He checked his watch. “A buzzer will sound when he is.”

 “Thanks.”

 “If that is all.” He waited for me to shake my head, and then turned on his heel and walked away.

 Well.

 I tugged at the bag strap, pulling it away from my throat. This was it. “I suppose I could always challenge again, if I failed…”

 “You’d have to go through all four of them.” Kera nibbled my ear. “Best just to win first time round.”

 “Fair enough.” I nodded. “So…”

 “Good luck.”

 “Thanks.”

 The buzzer sounded. I swallowed and pushed open the door before me.

 The room was mostly plain, though the pitch was cut up by jagged pillars and spurs of rock. Somewhere far above I could hear wind howling. I flicked a glance to the side, and saw the spectators in their seats, chatting animatedly.

 “So, you have battled through the rest of the League.”

 My eyes were drawn to the caped figure standing in the middle of the pitch, a big orange dragon at his side.

 “But you still have much to learn, if you want to defeat me.” He was facing away, head tilted down.

 What was this, a drama performance or something?

 “The Champion of Champions, the–”

 That didn’t sound right. “Uh–” I started hesitantly, interrupting him.

 “Yes?” he snapped, spinning to face me now. His cloak snapped in a gust of wind, keeping out of the way of his legs.

 “I’ve… come from the Kanto league.”

 He stared at me. “Right. Of course.”

 “I thought you knew.”

 “I was beginning to wonder. Normally there’s music playing by now.”

 “Sorry.”

 He shook his head. “Let’s just… get this battle started then. For the glory of Kanto and all that.” He gestured for an aide, who switched over the bag hanging from Lance’s hand with another one.

 Then Lance – I assumed it was Lance, in any case – stepped onto the dragon’s back and it took off as the stands began to rise up.

 I jerked forward and caught onto the railings near the top of the steps on mine, clambering unsteadily into the box itself.

 Lance – that must be Lance, I supposed, since no one else was the league champion of Johto, last I heard – stepped off the dragon’s back into his box as it finished rising to its full height. The dragon landed behind him, folding in its wings.

 “Are you ready?” He lifted an ultra ball from a pocket on the underside of his cape.

 “Yes.” I clutched at Keyethin’s. Definitely Lance. No one else in sight, was there? Apart from that aide, who was quickly backing away again.

 “Well,” he grinned, enlarged it to its full size, “Let the games begin.” He released a gyarados to float in the air above the pitch, and the pitch itself flooded as panes of glass rose up to hem it in.

 Pillars of rock rose above the water still, most of them flat enough for a pokémon to rest on.

 I aimed for one of them and released Keyethin. “Leech seed!”

 “Dragon rage!”

 Keyethin shook himself and released a cloud of spores, and a flurry of seeds that angled towards the gyarados facing him.

 The gyarados opened its mouth and roared, purple smoke seeping from between its teeth to coalesce into a beam that slammed straight into Keyethin’s bulb.

 I winced and ducked away from the fiery light of it, but Kera jumped from my shoulder to perch on the railing, fur beginning to stand up.

 “Ax, a move? Anytime now.” She looked back.

  I straightened up, taking in the scene before me. Significantly less heat and flames running rampant. “Right – solarbeam, Keyethin!”

 “Hyper beam!”

 His gyarados attacked first, with another brilliant beam of light.

 Keyethin rocked back with the attack as he started to glow with energy, the flower on his back opening up.

 When the gyarados paused to breathe, to rest, Keyethin struck. The light from his back was green, golden light and blinding. I snapped my eyes away from staring directly into it, which… was about as clever an idea as staring directly into the sun.

 “Dragon rage!”

 Keyethin lashed out with his vines as the blast of energy from his back finished, leaving the flower wilted but not dying. As I watched, he bound the gyarados and twisted it to face away from him, avoiding the attack. The flower revived a little, sapping what was left of the gyarados’ energy.

 Lance returned it and sent out his next pokémon without a pause.

 I returned Keyethin as the river-blue ribbon of a pokémon darted straight for him, and let out Echer. Lance’s pokémon slammed straight into his chest, and Echer rocked on his feet.

 “Is that the best you’ve got?” He grabbed it behind the head, lifting it away. “Really?”

 “Echer, be nice.” Kera laughed. “Don’t taunt the poor dear.”

 The pokémon squealed and blasted a bolt of energy straight into Echer’s face.

 He cursed and let it go, slamming the spiked back of a paw into it as it left.

 “Echer, you alright?”

 “Yeah.” He waved his free arm at me, wiping the other across his face. “Bring it.”

 “Slam!”

 His opponent came charging back towards him.

 “Double kick!”

 Echer crouched and spun, slamming both his feet into the approaching dragon. It tumbled across his back and he dropped and rolled, crushing it between himself and the top of the wide pillar he stood on.

 “Aren’t you a determined one?” Lance laughed. “Get him up, will you?”

 “Echer.”

 He rolled to his feet, shaking himself.

 Lance returned his pokémon, sending out another of the same. “Bubble beam!”

 I returned Echer before the bubbles could hit, and sent out Keysorkin. The bubbles rattled off her shell and she looked up towards the dragon.

 “Hm.”

 “Wrap!”

 “Skull bash when it gets close.”

 Keysorkin nodded and steadied herself. The water swirled up and around them, flooding more of the pitch.

 Her opponent lunged down and wrapped itself around Keysorkin’s head and arms. Keysorkin twisted and dived into the water, taking the pokémon down with her.

 I looked across to Lance, who shrugged and grinned. “Just have to wait, I suppose.”

 And the water wasn’t really clear enough to see through.

 But Lance clicked his fingers and pointed to the screens on either side of the pitch.

 I focused on the one to the left as the cameras plunged under the water.

 For a while, all we could see was water. The pillars loomed through the murky water, and then Keysorkin yanking Lance’s pokémon from around her neck and smashing it into the nearest pillar, ramming it in with her head.

 “Well… that’s not looking too good.” Lance laughed. “Let’s drain off the water, shall we?”

 And the water level started to fall, draining through sluices in the floor.

 Lance’s pokémon struggled free and burst from the water, shrieking. Droplets of water flew from its body, sparkling a brief rainbow in the lights.

 “Keysorkin!”

 “On it!” She threw her head back and spat out a flurry of bubbles towards her opponent.

 The last of the water still draining away swirled up and joined the bubbles, hardening into something not quite like ice that slammed into the pokémon that was diving to meet her again.

 “Well, that…” Lance returned it, looking away.

 “Strategy needing work?” I grinned, returning Keysorkin.

 “You’re doing better than I thought you would. Normally Kanto side trainers are such pushovers.”

 “Sure. All the excuses you like.”

 He scowled and threw out another pokémon. A dragon much like the one standing at his shoulder. I was probably lucky I wasn’t getting that one, really.

 It roared and landed on one of the pillars, folding its wings in.

 I laid hands on Keyare’s pokéball first, and then shook my head. His wing was still bad, and this one looked strong.

 “Giving up now? You know I only have two pokémon left of this team.”

 “Just… weighing my choices,” I replied, laying hands on a different pokéball.

 Abyssine appeared on the pillars and leapt forward.

 “Ice punch!”

 “Fire blast!”

 Lance’s pokémon didn’t bother to take off, only hunched in its wings and drew in a sharp breath in preparation.

 Abyssine leapt again and drew back his fist, sparkling like crystal around the room.

 Fire blasted out and he swung to the side, narrowly avoiding being burned. The ice on his fist was melting, but he ran on and slammed it into his opponent in any case.

 A crack like shattered ice, and the fire cut off.

 “You know, he’s actually not too bad,” Kera said.

 I glanced at her, raising an eyebrow.

 “Well, he came late to the game, so I wasn’t really sure. Didn’t want to say anything, though.”

 Abyssine roared, and I snapped my gaze from Kera to see him being slammed into the top of a pillar, ice slicing about the both of them.

 “Fire punch!” If nothing else, that’d melt off the ice surrounding them. Maybe.

  Unless, of course, Lance’s pokémon was a fire type. But hey, we’d find out.

 Fire flared up around Abyssine as he ducked a wild lunge, and he came up within the circle of his opponent’s forelimbs, punching up into its throat.

 The dragon stumbled back with a grunt, reeling towards the edge of the pillar.

 Abyssine closed without being told, throwing punch after punch in its direction. Most of them hit.

 “Hyper beam!”

 The dragon stumbled from the edge of the pillar and opened its wings as it fell, flapping them enough to circle round and back up.

 Abyssine turned, keeping it in his sight.

 It opened its mouth, preparing to attack.

 “Thunder punch!”

 The lights flickered above the pitch as Abyssine raised his fists before his face, bouncing from foot to foot.

 The dragon attacked with a beam of brilliant energy and Abyssine leapt forward to meet it.

 The beam caught him full on and he was slammed back, across the top of the pillar and into the side of another.

 “Ax!”

 I returned Abyssine and fumbled the other ball in my hand. It fell through the railings and down, and Kera cursed and leapt after it. I caught hold of the railing and leant over it, reaching fruitlessly.

 “Dracens, catch!” Lance flung a hand out to point at her.

 The dragon dived after Kera and the pokéball from the other end of the pitch. It wasn’t going to get there in time –

 A yell of triumph, and a burst of red light. Keyare appeared and spread his wings, roaring at the ground. Kera thumped into his back, holding the pokéball. They landed heavily on the ground with a splash of mud, and Lance’s dragon twisted away to land in front of them.

 “Are they alright?” Lance asked, peering across.

 “I – think so? Kera?”

 “Yeah,” she called back.

 “Oh, fuck that wing,” Keyare grumbled.

 Ah, crap, his wing… damn it. Maybe I should just –

 <Don’t forfeit. We have him>

 “Shall we continue, then?”

 I looked up to meet Lance’s eyes. “Sure. Keyare, fire blast!”

 “He’s not much left,” I heard Kera mutter. “So just one good attack should–”

 Fire plumed out from Keyare, racing in spiralling circles to catch Lance’s pokémon before it could take off.

 “That’ll do it.” Kera laughed.

 Lance returned the singed looking dragon. “Was it not being interesting enough for you?” he asked. “That why you had to drop your pokémon?”

 I laughed. “Something like that.”

 “Well, it made for an interesting diversion. But now,” he spun a great ball in his fingers, “I have one left. Think you can take this one?”

 Keyare roared in answer for me, flaring his wings.

 “He said it.” I thumbed down at him. “Let’s go.”

 Lance laughed and released his last pokémon, a… an aerodactyl. Slightly more ferocious looking than the last one I’d seen, on Cinnabar. But then this one wasn’t painted up.

 “Wing attack!”

 “Slash,” I called down. “Kera, can you get back?”

 “I’ll stay here for the moment.” She perched on top of Keyare’s head. “Come on, big guy, let’s see what you’ve got.”

 The aerodactyl swerved around the pillars to draw close to Keyare, and he lashed out to catch it a glancing blow along the jawline. It veered away, wing clipping Keyare’s neck. He shook his head and Kera clung to his horns, growling.

 “Swift!”

 Stars started to form around the aerodactyl as it wheeled back, hiding behind the pillars.

 “Flamethrower,” Kera said, “Knock them–”

 “I know, I know,” Keyare snapped back, blasting out fire to crumble the stars into ash.

 He caught the aerodactyl in the flames as well and it screeched, flapping away haphazardly and clipping one of the pillars.

 “Nice going,” I called down. “Just… keep that up?”

 “It’s a rock type, Ax,” Kera called back. “That’s going to take some doing.”

 “Hyper beam!”

 The aerodactyl landed against one of the pillars, holding on with its wings. It turned its head to inspect where Kera and Keyare were and opened its mouth. I saw green energy glowing there, moments before it fired.

 Keyare stumbled to the side and roared, slamming forward once he’d dodged the attack to crash into the pillar the aerodactyl was perched on.

 The pillar rocked and the aerodactyl cut off its attack, tail lashing to balance itself out.

 Keyare looked up at it and growled, spitting out small flickers of flame as he started to climb after it, digging claws into the stone.

 “Oh… well – wing attack!” Lance was watching one of the screens, since the pokémon were on the side of the pillar facing my side of the pitch.

 His aerodactyl took off and circled before curving down.

 Keyare twisted as it got near and jumped, bringing his claws into play and catching his opponent’s wings firm in them.

 They fell, though more controlled this time – if no less slowly. Kera was left clinging to the rock, scrambling to a ledge partway up it.

 Keyare twisted and landed on top of the aerodactyl, growling fire as he bit down on the back of its neck to make it submit.

 The aerodactyl shrieked out once and then lay limp. Keyare stepped away, allowing it to move so that Lance could return it.

 “Well done, Ax.” He tucked the great ball into an inside pocket on his cape, next to the others. “You have beaten the Kanto League.”

 I grinned and looked up to the spectator’s windows, instantly spotting my mother this time. She was on her feet, clapping with the others around her. And there was Lex, Kahei pushing through the crowd just behind him.

They’d made it. How in time, I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t care. They were here, and I’d won. I’d actually won.

 The shuddering of the stand shook me back into the moment, and I blinked around to see that I was nearly level with the ground. Once it had stopped moving, I ducked under the railing and ran to my pokémon.

 Keyare roared his triumph, wings clamped tightly to his sides. Kera scrambled down and then dropped, sliding between his wings and down his back.

 “You ok?” I crouched down to pick her up

 “Yeah.” She scrambled up onto my shoulder. “Yeah, we’re just fine.”

 Lance picked his way across the pitch, one hand holding his cloak to his side. “You join an elite group of people, Ax Katri.”

 It couldn’t be that elite, I’d seen the run through of the year’s winners every new year’s eve I could remember.

 I refrained from saying that and nodded instead. “Thank you. It’s… been an interesting journey,” I admitted slowly, searching for the words.

 “I’m sure it has.” He smiled. “You know where to go from here?”

 “Yes.” I nodded. “Through there, through the battle room beyond it, into the hall of fame. All straight, right?”

 “And your spectators – if you have any – they’ll be waiting for you after the hall of fame.”

 “Those three.” I pointed up to them, waving slightly. Dear Mew, Kahei was getting a little carried away.

 Lance laughed. “Alright. Well – go forward, young trainer. Posterity is waiting for you.” He bowed, sweeping out of the way.

 I bowed back and returned Keyare, running across the pitch to the door at the back.