Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Pokemon Quest ❯ Harold's Moment in the Spotlight ( Chapter 42 )

Pokemon Quest

 

Moro lifted his arms up and shouted, “LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!!!” as the two teams started squaring off. Sampson needed to focus. He couldn't let these psycho twins get the better of him. He was usually more than capable of staying calm around idiots, but these two were just irritating to him.

 

Sevanne gulped, feeling rather nervous right now. Sure, she felt confident with Sampson as her team mate, but currently, the man didn't seem to be all that focused and that was alarming.

 

But after a few seconds, Sampson took a deep breath and put his calm look back on. He knew he wouldn't be confident facing Spinda, however, Miltank he had no problem with. That in mind, he turned to face Sevanne and said, “Here's the plan. I'll focus on Miltank and you focus on Spinda.”

 

Sevanne blinked but refused to question this strategy. After all, Sampson had proven himself to be a great trainer, so who was she to go against a plan from him?

 

Medicham started off with a high jump kick. As no command had been given prior to that action, neither Susan nor Spinda were prepared and the small teddy bear-like creature took in the blow flying into a wall with Medicham's foot still up against her chest.

 

Mary simply laughed and said, “Sampson, you are very brave for choosing my Miltank as your opponent. You will soon find out that he is more than just a simple cow!”

 

Sampson's eye started to twitch again. Now the idiot was trying to sound like a martial arts master. How else was she going to annoy him?

 

“MILTANK, USE ROLLOUT!!!” Mary commanded and while doing that she performed a series of poses that would even embarrass a super model.

 

Sampson gritted his teeth as the cow rolled up into a ball and sped towards his Pokemon like a boulder. To some, this may have seemed like a stupid move. Everyone knew at this point that Sampson's Pokemon was immune to psychic, normal and fighting type moves. However, Rollout was a rock type move and Sampson's look meant that it would have an effect on his partner.

 

What also complicated things was that due to his bond to the keystone, Sampson's Pokemon couldn't move, so any hope of dodging the incoming attack was null and void as Miltank also couldn't be harmed from the outside while performing this attack.

 

'Hold on...' he thought, 'I've got it.'

 

He looked at his partner who grinned with understanding as his eye started to swirl faster than usual. A strange force came from the eye and each second that Miltank's body rolled around, her eyes would meet the force.

 

Mary laughed and asked, “Do you honestly think Miltank will be effected by Hypnosis while she's rolling!?” but she soon found herself contradicted when Miltank detracted from her ball-like state and fell asleep.

 

Sampson then looked at his partner with a serious expression once again, the Pokemon grinning wickedly before releasing a dark energy from within. The energy soon surrounded the cow as Miltank's eyes went wide. The cow lost all focus and passed out, Mary in panic.

 

“HOW DID SUCH AN UGLY BEAST BEAT MY CUTE LITTLE MILTANK!!!!?” she cried as Sampson rolled his eyes.

 

He then noticed that Sevanne didn't look all that confident and when he looked towards her Pokemon, he understood. Medicham had just fallen victim to a Sucker Punch. The Pokemon did his best to keep focus but Spinda continued to advance, rushing in for another one.

 

Sampson refused to lose this battle, so he stared at his partner who created a dark fist, unleashing his own sucker punch hitting Spinda hard in the cheek and sending the teddy-like creature into the wall. Seeing both Mary and Susan's Pokemon out cold, the crowd broke out into heavy cheering as Sevanne sighed with relief.

 

The girl looked at Sampson with tears and said, “I'm so sorry I was useless,” as the man shook his head and said, “You distracted that runt long enough for me to beat Miltank. You did the best you could.”

 

He then proceeded to glare at the twins who returned their Pokemon with tears in their eyes. He let out a sigh and said, “Now that the battle's over, I feel I can talk to you morons now.”

 

The twins gasped as Susan shouted, “We are NOT morons!”

 

“Yeah!” Mary added, “That's, like, SO rude!”

 

“Don't kid yourselves,” Sampson grunted, “Besides, you might wanna know the answer to your question, Mary: the reason why our 'ugly' Pokemon defeated your 'cute and cuddly little' ones.”

 

Mary listened closely as she was actually curious to know. The man simply glared into her eyes and explained slowly, “Cuteness does not determine strength or skill you idiot.”

 

The man turned to them and proceeded towards the door as Mary started to cry, Susan holding onto her shoulders to calm her down. Anna narrowed her eyelids towards the man before he left the battle area as Izy noticed it saying, “To be honest, I kind of agree with him.”

 

“It's not that,” Anna said shaking her head, then turning to Jacob she said, “That Pokemon of his is a dangerous adversary.”

 

Jacob and Izy were both spellbound by these words. Not only that, they were shocked by Anna's behavior. She was usually so calm and joyful, but ever since she left the audience for a short little while, she had been very worked up. Perhaps there was more to Sampson than met the eye especially if it made Anna feel this uncomfortable.

 

The second battle went by fairly quickly and it was now time for Jacob and Harold to go up. Harold had a very nervous look in his eyes as Jacob looked down at him and smiled saying, “Don't worry. I'm sure that together, we can win.”

 

Harold simply looked at him and faked a confident smile, but he was scared, very scared. Sure, he had Jacob as his team mate, but he wasn't sure he was good enough. And, hey, there may have been more to it than just a lack of confidence.

 

Bert and Greg waved to the crowd as they entered, the crowd giving them some applause. Greg turned to Bert and said, “After this, we're enemies again, got that?”

 

Greg nodded and said, “Hey, I know the only reason we're teaming up is because we have to.”

 

Jacob saw that these two didn't seem to have anything along the lines of a friendship with one-another. That could have worked in his favor.

 

Jacob was the first to go as he sent in his ever-faithful Floatzel. Some members of the crowd took photos of the weasel Pokemon as she turned to the cameras and winked, Jacob slapping his forehead.

 

Harold slowly reached for his own Pokeball as Jacob saw the trembling and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder saying, “Harold, don't be scared. You can do it. I know you can.”

 

Harold sighed and smiled, but this time for real. Something about Jacob saying those very words and the way he did it made the boy feel a tad more confident. It may have been the fact that up until now, he hadn't had a friend.

 

This had nothing to do with the fact that he was short for his age or the fact that he came across as a bit of a geek. There were actually many people who wanted to be his friends when he was growing up, but he always turned them down.

 

Was this rash decision due to his antisocial nature? No. It was his brother, a boy named Manfred. Manfred was the exact opposite of Harold. Unlike the short and timid little geek that Harold was, Manfred was tall, muscular and not afraid of anything.

 

Each and every day, Manfred would approach Harold, place a hand on the kid's shoulder and say, “Remember, Harold, never start a real friendship with anyone. If you do, so help me, I will send you to an early grave!”

 

The boy never understood why his brother was so opposed to him making friends, but he was afraid of the tough brute and refused to go against his wishes. For all he knew, Manfred could possibly kill him with his bare hands.

 

A cloaked figure was watching from the crowd as Harold quickly tossed a Pokeball into the battle area sending in what resembled a baby Brontosaurus, the four tough legs and the long neck. This Pokemon was also green and had two antennae sticking out of its head that resembled that of a flower. Speaking of which, this being had a flower around its neck and was known as Meganium.

 

“Good choice of Pokemon,” Jacob said as Harold blushed with embarrassment then continued, “All of Greg and Bert's Pokemon are ground types.”

 

Greg gritted his teeth and said, “This goes against our original plan.”

 

“That's okay,” Bert replied with a nod of his head, “We'll just choose different Pokemon for this battle. That's not against the rules.”

 

Bert grinned and sent in a Pokeball as a Camerupt appeared. This was bad as Camerupt had an advantage over Meganium.

 

Miles stood up from his sheet shouting, “WHOOOO, CAMERUPT RULES!!!!!!” Sarah pulling on his ear and giving him a 'be quiet' glare.

 

Greg nodded in understanding. The only real problem now was that Floatzel had an advantage over Camerupt. He needed something that could stand up to Floatzel.

 

Unfortunately, none of his Pokemon had a high defense against water type attacks. However, he did have one Pokemon that had an advantage over Meganium as well and decided to go with that since he had no advantages over water. As such, he sent in a large boar-like creature. Its upper body looked more like a head than an actual body and its legs were strong and thick. He had a blue and white mask around his eyes and sharp tusks. This Pokemon was known as Mamoswine.

 

Jacob gritted his teeth at the sight of this. Meganium wouldn't have much of a chance against Camerupt and Floatzel couldn't do much damage to Mamoswine. Not only that, but Mamoswine also had an advantage over grass types.

 

But who should face who? On one hand, Floatzel couldn't do much to Mamoswine, but on the other hand she could at least absorb damage from it. Unfortunately, Meganium was far too vulnerable in this battle.

 

But Jacob had learned something from a few of his past battles. Sometimes, type didn't mean a thing. It was all about skill. He also remembered all of his research on Pokemon growing up. Meganium may have been weak against ice type attacks, but Mamoswine was weak against grass type attacks.

 

“Harold, have your Meganium face Mamoswine,” he said, “I'll have Floatzel go up against Camerupt!”

 

However, Greg and Bert weren't particularly happy with this as the two grinned shouting, “NOT A CHANCE!!!” as Greg shouted, “Mamoswine, intercept Floatzel!” Bert saying, “Camerupt, do the same!”

 

When Camerupt and Mamoswine bounded in said Pokemon's way to prevent them from choosing their own opponents, everyone was shocked. Jacob was surprised to see these two working so well as a team. They must have really wanted to win. But the reason everyone else couldn't believe it was because Camerupt and Mamoswine were both heavy Pokemon, so to see them move so fast was alarming.

 

Harold was frightened out of his wits until he noticed a cloaked boy in the audience glaring down at him. Now he was terrified. He had to win at all cost, but how could he have Meganium win over a fire type?

 

“Don't be intimidated,” Jacob said, “As long as you're smart enough, you can find a way around your Pokemon's weakness.”

 

Harold was even more terrified after hearing that. Clearly he wasn't as good a strategist as Jacob gave him credit for.

 

Luckily for Jacob, though, Floatzel's attacks did have a good effect against ice types so she still had an advantage. Perhaps if Floatzel could defeat Mamoswine, she and Jacob could assist Harold's Meganium.

 

Floatzel started off with her water gun but much to the weasel's surprise, Mamoswine managed to dodge to the side. How was that even possible? Mamoswine wasn't exactly an expert when it came to dodging attacks.

 

'This is bad,' Jacob thought, 'This Mamoswine's a lot faster than an average one. I'm gonna need a sure-fire hit.'

 

And luckily, Floatzel had such an attack. Her body covered itself in water as she dove towards the boar for her Aqua Jet. Greg simply grinned and shouted, “HIT HER WITH BLIZZARD!!!!” as Mamoswine lifted up his snout unleashing a large gust of wind with ice chunks at his opponent.

 

Soon, the cold temperature overpowered Floatzel's water as she was now trapped in a large chunk of ice and fell to the ground, unable to move. Jacob was scared now. Greg had taken full advantage of Floatzel's attack.

 

Izy bit her lip and said, “This is terrible,” as Anna had a neutral look. That was always alarming. It meant that she had no clue what the outcome would be.

 

Meganium wasn't having much luck either. Harold frequently attempted attacks like Razor Leaf and Petal Dance, completely unaware of the fact that Camerupt wouldn't even take in much damage from such attacks. That didn't matter as none of the attacks landed. Every time they got close, Camerupt would use ember, which went right through them and hit the defenseless Meganium head-on.

 

Harold gritted his teeth and saw that Jacob's Floatzel was also in trouble. He gulped and put on an angry expression, realizing that he had to win at all cost. At this very moment, something strange came over him. His look of fear was gone as he shouted, “MEGANIUM, HIT HIM WITH POISON POWDER!!!!”

 

Camerupt was unable to respond as Meganium quickly unleashed a violet powder from his petals as if all those embers he'd taken in earlier meant nothing. As a result of the attack, Camerupt had been poisoned meaning any attack he used from that point on would harm him.

 

“Don't worry about it,” Bert said, “Meganium's too weak to survive another blast anyway!”

 

Camerupt nodded and unleashed another ember but unlike the other times, Meganium managed to dodge the attack. It didn't end there. He proceeded to leap up in the air, hitting the camel hard with a body slam.

 

However, things were still looking bad for Jacob. While Floatzel was trapped in the ice, Mamoswine had picked the chunk up and was juggling it with his tusks, hitting it with the sharp ends each time. This not only hit the ice but also dealt damage to Floatzel while the poor weasel was unable to respond.

 

Soon enough, the ice shattered as Floatzel landed flat on her face, Izy in panic now. Jacob was even more scared than before as he asked, “Floatzel, are you alright?”

 

Greg laughed and shouted, “Your Floatzel is as good as finished! That beating he just took in must have finished him off!”

 

However, much to everyone's surprise, Floatzel slowly moved her arms, planting her palms against the ground. She then proceeded to rise to her feet, breathing heavily with anger in her eyes.

 

Greg and Mamoswine were both too shocked to respond as Floatzel sent a powerful Water Gun to the boar's face, sending him back a ways. Unfortunately, Mamoswine had been in perfect condition up until now, so this wasn't nearly enough to finish the Pokemon off for good.

 

Meganium was still crushing Camerupt under his weight as Bert gritted his teeth until he snapped, “Camerupt, you can get out of this! Use Lava Plume!”

 

Harold's eyes went wide as a large blast of fire rose up out of Camerupt's humps. Meganium was unable to respond and fell off of the camel covered in burns now.

 

“Face it, you never had a chance,” Bert said with a grin as Harold put on a serious face, which was rare for him, and said, “Yeah, I guess you win... but that's only because you took the easy way out.”

 

Bert blinked, confused by these words as Harold continued, “You only won because you had the type advantage. You were way too scared to have a fire type go up against a water type, but I guess that is the smart move as it does avoid making the battle challenging.”

 

A vein formed on Bert's forehead as he spat, “ARE YOU IMPLYING THAT I'M A COWARD!?”

 

“No, but thanks for saying it for me,” Harold replied as Bert turned to Greg shouting, “CHANGE OF PLANS!!!! LET'S SWITCH OPPONENTS!!!!”

 

Greg had no idea why Bert would go along with such an idea, but who was he to argue? As such, Mamoswine and Camerupt quickly switched places as Jacob turned to Harold, giving the boy thumbs up while saying, “Good thinking, kid.”

 

Harold had to admit, he was amazed. He never thought for a minute that he'd be able to come up with a good strategy.

 

The second Camerupt took a stance, Floatzel hit him with hard with water gun finishing the camel off for good. All the while, Meganium had been secretly storing up power for a solar beam during Harold's conversation with Bert, so the second Mamoswine entered the scene, he took the powerful grass type attack hard and passed out. Thus Jacob and Harold had won, Harold letting down tears.

 

“What's wrong, Harold?” Jacob asked as the boy wiped his tears saying, “I'm not sad, I'm happy.”

 

However, the cloaked figure who Harold was trying to impress had left the crowd after the battle had ended. The boy sighed as he wanted to at least see some positive feedback, maybe even a thumbs up. Nevertheless, he and Jacob would face one-another in the third round.