Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Pokemon Quest ❯ Sampson's Final Moment in the Spotlight ( Chapter 51 )

Pokemon Quest

 

This was it. Sampson had finally sent out his trump card. Unlike all the other times, Jacob was determined to defeat Spiritomb, and knowing everything about the Pokemon certainly helped. He had taken every precaution necessary to ensure that he would win this battle. He'd chosen the 3 best Pokemon in his arsenal for the job and all of them were still in the battle. This couldn't have been any more perfect.

 

Was Sampson worried? Yes, he was very worried. He'd never had a bigger disadvantage before. However, he refused to show it. He couldn't allow Jacob to think he had won.

 

Jacob gave Infernape thumbs up and nodded saying, “Remember, only use Fire Attacks.”

 

The monkey nodded at her master before turning back towards her opponent. The first thing she did was open up her mouth unleashing her Ember Attack. Sampson had to admit, he was impressed. This was a very good strategy as Spiritomb was unable to move from his spot. However, that didn't necessarily mean the attack would hit.

 

Sampson gave his partner a look as Spiritomb's energy-made body started to spin like a pinwheel. At that exact moment, a gust of wind came from the Pokemon and blew out the incoming flames, sending Infernape flying into the wall while Jacob's eyes went wide, Anna and Izy both cringing.

 

“Infernape, are you okay!?” Jacob asked in shock as the monkey slowly rose to her feet, rubbing the back of her head. They all knew Spiritomb was a pest, but this was just ridiculous.

 

As if the previous attack hadn't been bad enough, a strange aura briefly surrounded Spiritomb's body. Sampson grinned and said, “Your Pokemon just succumbed to Ominous Wind. When used, it has a small chance of increasing all of the user's stats. It seems to have succeeded in doing just that.”

 

Now Jacob had two problems. Due to the surprising amount of damage dealt by Sampson's Shiftry earlier, Infernape didn't have much strength left and now Spiritomb was even stronger than before. But something like this would not destroy Jacob's fighting spirit.

 

“Alright, Infernape,” he said grinning at his partner, “That plan backfired, but we still have another ace up our sleeves. Let's give plan B a try, shall we?”

 

Infernape grinned at her master and nodded as she charged towards Spiritomb, flames surrounding her body. Sampson sighed, rather disappointed by the fact that Jacob was testing his Infernape's luck with Flare Blitz, and attack that also damaged the user if successful. But that wasn't the reason this strategy was flawed. The biggest flaw was that Spiritomb could easily counter this.

 

“What's Jacob doing?” Izy asked, gritting her teeth, “Doesn't he know by now that direct attacks won't work?”

 

“Maybe he's run out of options,” Harold stated as Anna shook her head saying, “I have a feeling he has a more effective strategy, but that's just what I think. I might be wrong.”

 

Spiritomb grinned wickedly as a dark fist formed in front of him, shooting straight towards the incoming monkey. However, rather than succumbing to the attack, Infernape leapt to the side, flames still surrounding her. Despite this, Sampson wasn't the least bit worried as that Sucker Punch was just a distraction for Spiritomb to hit the monkey with another Ominous Wind. However, just as the attack was about to hit, Infernape blew a stream of flames, rolling into a ball as her Flame Wheel took form. Sampson's eyes went wide as the wheel overpowered the wind, Infernape headed straight for Spiritomb.

 

Sampson gritted his teeth as a shadow formed from underneath the spirit. Soon, the shadow appeared right behind Infernape, grabbing onto the flaming wheel. However, this proved futile as the wheel broke free from the Shadow Sneak and blasted straight through Spiritomb, flames surrounding him as he cried out in pain, his dark energy turning beet red for the time being.

 

Anna, Izy and Harold cheered wildly while the crowd applauded such an amazing strategy. So far, this was the second attack to ever hit Spiritomb, so this was naturally a special occasion for the audience to witness.

 

Moro sniffed and let down a tear saying, “It just does my heart so good that he pulled that off with the Pokemon I gave him.”

 

“Alright, let's get him with Flare Blitz while he's distracted!” Jacob shouted as Infernape's body was once again covered in flames, the monkey charging towards her target. However, Spiritomb didn't burn for very long, and soon the fire had subsided as his eyes vanished and reappeared on the other side of his head to face the incoming Infernape. The monkey, fully confident that the Flare Blitz would land, was unprepared for the incoming Sucker Punch to the fact as she flew into the wall. Not only did this hurt, but due to the fact that her flames were still covering her body, this counted as delivering a Flare Blitz to the wall, meaning that she took in recoil damage despite not hitting her original target.

 

And that was that. Infernape was out cold as Jacob bit his lip and returned the monkey to her ball, sighing.

 

“He was doing so well, too,” Izy said with a look of worry as Anna scowled. She had really wanted that to work.

 

“You did a good job out there, Infernape,” Jacob said as he quickly sent Floatzel in. Sure, the weasel's shoulder was bleeding, but he needed to save his healthiest for last. If Manectric was to win this battle, Floatzel would have to at least give him something to work with.

 

Sampson had to admit, he was a little frightened now. Jacob still had two Pokemon left and Spiritomb had just taken in a fairly good amount of damage from that last move.

 

“Alright, Floatzel, we prepared for this,” Jacob said with a grin, “You don't have much left in you, so we'd better make this count.”

 

The weasel nodded as water surrounded her body, the weasel flying towards Spiritomb with her Aqua Jet ready. This would be a lot more difficult as Floatzel had less attacks that could actually harm her opponent.

 

“Did that last battle teach you nothing?” Sampson asked with a grin as Spiritomb unleashed Dark Pulse, knowing that his other counters would have been useless against Aqua Jet.

 

The aura seeped through the water barrier around the weasel, but something odd happened. When Floatzel felt the pain from the attack, her body started to spin, the Aqua Jet transforming into a drill-like shape.

 

“I was hoping you'd do something like that,” Jacob said with a grin, “I taught Floatzel how to turn her own pain into a useful weapon when using Aqua Jet just in case something like that happened. Now the attack is twice as strong as it was before.”

 

Sampson's eyes went wide, everyone else in complete shock as the liquid drill blasted straight through Spiritomb, the spirit crying in pain. Floatzel had once again performed a miracle while the crowd cheered.

 

However, this wasn't exactly a best case scenario. Before pulling off that amazing move, Floatzel had allowed herself to take in damage, and Dark Pulse was a very powerful move. As such, Floatzel was unable to so much as pose for the cheering crowd as she closed her eyes, falling to the ground in defeat as Jacob returned her to her ball saying, “You did great, Floatzel.”

 

Unfortunately, Spiritomb shook off the pain soon enough, clearly not defeated yet as the crowd groaned. Izy and Anna fumed, starting to wonder if Manectric would even have what it took to defeat this menace.

 

But just as Jacob was ready to pull out Manectric's Pokeball, Lucario pulled on the boy's pant leg. Jacob looked down at the infant and asked, “Are you sure you can do this? Don't forget, most of your best attacks don't work on him.”

 

Lucario had a serious look on his face as Jacob sighed, smiled and said, “Alright, Lucario, make me proud,” as the infant stepped forward, everyone surprised by this decision.

 

Izy slapped her forehead as she groaned, “Come on, now is not the time to put trust over common sense.”

 

Well, it was too late now. Sure, Lucario only had a few attacks that really worked, but Jacob still had faith in his first Pokemon. Lucario had always been there, defeating the most powerful opponents.

 

“Alright, Lucario, try your best not to get hit,” the boy said as the infant nodded and rushed towards Spiritomb.

 

The spirit sent a sucker punch towards Lucario as the infant leapt to the side only to be hit by an Ominous Wind, flying into a wall, rubbing the back of his head. Jacob gritted his teeth at the sight of this. That strategy had failed. But luckily, ghost type attacks like Ominous wind only dealt half the damage to Lucario they'd normally deal to other Pokemon, so the infant easily shook off the pain.

 

Sampson's worry had been replaced by a boost in confidence. Clearly, Lucario wasn't nearly as difficult as the last two Pokemon.

 

“I have an idea,” Jacob said with a grin as he gave Lucario some commands, the infant nodding as he placed his arms behind his back, speeding back towards his target.

 

“And here I thought you were a smart trainer,” Sampson said with a grin as Spiritomb prepared another Sucker Punch. However, Lucario was prepared for this as he pulled his hands out from behind his back, holding up 8 bones, 4 in each hand. Sampson tilted his head to the side as Lucario hurled the bones toward Spiritomb, slowing down the Sucker Punch with the first seven and destroying it with the eighth.

 

Spiritomb was unable to respond after that as Lucario's hand turned into steel, Lucario swiping them across the spirit's face. Despite being a physical attack, Metal Claw was a steel based attack, meaning it actually dealt damage to the Spiritomb. But Lucario didn't leave it at that as he opened his mouth, covering Spiritomb's energy-made body with a shock wave known as Dragon Pulse.

 

Spiritomb cried in agony as Sampson's eyes went wide. He couldn't believe this. Spiritomb was actually losing to a Lucario.

 

“Excellent work, buddy!” Jacob shouted while the crowd cheered insanely, Izy and Anna embracing one-another and Harold letting down tears of jealousy, feeling a tad left out.

 

“Let's finish this with one last Metal Claw!” Jacob shouted, but just as Lucario was about to strike, something stopped him from advancing far enough towards his foe.

 

Everyone was in shock as a shadow had its arms wrapped around Lucario's sides. Just like Toxicroak, Lucario had been stopped by Shadow Sneak.

 

“Lucario, fight it!” Jacob shouted, but it was no use. The shadow leaned backward, planting Lucario's neck hard into the ground as silence filled the area, Lucario lying motionless.

 

After a few seconds, Sampson grinned and said, “Well, Jacob, you were the best opponent I ever had. It was an honor to face you.”

 

Now, it couldn't end here, could it? Jacob had tried so hard to get to the semi-finals, and now all he had worked so hard for had come to an end.

 

Izy and Anna sighed, Harold hiding his face within his hands. Jacob had come so close, too.

 

However, there was an uproar from the audience as Sampson's eyes went wide. Jacob looked at the man and thought, 'What's his problem?'

 

He then shifted his eyes towards Lucario to notice the infant plant his hands firmly against the ground, slowly pushing himself back up to his feet. The crowd cheered insanely as Sampson frowned thinking, 'That Lucario is too damn persistent.'

 

Spiritomb, however, was unfazed by this as he prepared another Sucker Punch, Lucario leaping far away from him with his hands cupped together, energy forming within it. But wait, how was this supposed to help? Be this Aura Sphere or Aura Storm, it was still a fighting type move.

 

“WAIT, LUCARIO, USE A DIFFERENT ATTACK!!!!!” Jacob shouted, but it was too late. Lucario unleashed a devastating beam from his hands as it vaporized the energy fist and hit Spiritomb hard in the face. However, as predicted, it didn't have any effect on Spiritomb, the beam traveling into his body.

 

“This isn't good at all,” Izy said as Anna nodded, adding, “Aura Storm's not only useless, but it takes up a lot of Lucario's energy.”

 

Sampson grinned saying, “Well, Jacob, your Lucario has amazed me so far, but even I know he has spelled his own fate. This will be his final move, I can assure you.”

 

But soon, everyone's eyes went wide with shock when the beam expanded in size, passing straight through Spiritomb's body. Spiritomb's eyes went wide as it cried in agony as the beam soon subsided and Lucario was barely able to support himself with one knee, breathing heavily.

 

Sampson's eyes were wide and twitching as Spiritomb's face vanished, the energy no longer spinning. Sampson sighed and took out his Pokeball, his head facing the ground as he slowly said, “Return...” a small beam consuming the spirit and returning him to his case.

 

All was silent until Moro grinned, raising his arm in the air and shouting, “WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!” the crowd cheering insanely, Izy excitedly ramming her fist into Harold's cheek before turning to him with a sweat drop saying, “Sorry about that.”

 

Jacob just stared, eyes wide open and his face in disbelief until he replaced it with a smile and shouted, “I ACTUALLY WON!!!!”

 

This was truly a moment to be remembered. No one ever thought Sampson would lose, but it had finally happened. Sampson and his mystery Pokemon had finally been defeated.

 

After the cheering died down, Sampson walked toward Jacob slowly, a look of anger on his face. Jacob blinked, not sure whether to be scared or not. Surely, Sampson wasn't that poor of a sport, was he?

 

All was silent as Sampson walked over to the boy, let out a sigh and held his hand out. It took a few seconds for Jacob to realize what the man meant as his smile returned, the boy shaking the man's hand.

 

“Congratulations,” Sampson said, “If anyone deserves to win the gold medal, it's you.”

 

The cheers started up again as Moro let down tears crying, “SUCH COMPASSIONS, SUCH EMOTION!!!! ISN'T THIS JUST AN INCREDIBLE SIGHT, NURSE BOREDOM!!!!??”

 

The nurse shrugged as she fell asleep saying, “Wake me when the next battle starts,” Moro groaning in frustration once again.

 

And so, Sampson exited the area waving goodbye to his opponent as Kevin stood up from his seat and said, “Excuse me, but I just remembered I have some business to attend to.”

 

The other gym leaders simply shrugged as Kevin left, however, Sarah was a tad suspicious as she got up and said, “I need to go to the bathroom,” running after the man. She knew Kevin was going to chase after Sampson and she had to make sure this wouldn't end badly.

 

Jacob then remembered something important as he turned his attention towards Lucario, who had passed out from exhaustion. The boy held his partner up and said, “You deserve a nice long rest, buddy. You were excellent out there today.”