Chapter 88: Red's Defeat!
~Third POV~
[Kanto Region, Later, Northwestern Area of Kanto]
Elsewhere, in northwest Kanto, Bruno is undergoing rigorous training when he notices a woman's voice from behind him, "Bravo!"
The woman reveals herself to be Lorelei, a member of the Elite Four, sarcastically compliments Bruno on his involved training, "Utterly absorbed in your training as always, Bruno."
Bruno takes a deep breath as he exclaims coolly, wiping the sweat, "One cannot neglect rigorous self-training."
Lorelei merely chuckles, making a small joke at him in a neutral tone, "Heh. You should ease up a bit. Your brain might turn into muscle, too!"
Bruno pants finishing his workout as he says bluntly, "What do you want, Lorelei?"
*Plop*
Dropping down from the rock, Lorelei spoke up in a serious tone, getting Bruno's attention from her tone of voice, "Heh-heh… just to let you know… the winner of the last Pokémon League Tournament… what was his name… Lapis? No… Azure! Azure of Pallet City! I sent him a letter of challenge in your name."
She acknowledges his indifference to participating in such a battle, encouraging him in a neutral tone, "I know, I know, you couldn't care less. But it's Lance's idea… so just get it done, hm?"
Bruno simply looks down, contemplating as Lorelei chuckles. But she checks her phone, raising an eyebrow as she thinks of getting info from her mentor, Agatha, 'One of our targets, Fire Red, has instead taken Azure's role. Well… he was one of the original targets we were supposed to claim if the Champion was a no-show, having his Gym Badges. I suppose we'll have to adjust our original plan…'
/////
[Kanto Region, Later, Mt. Moon]
Fire Red has arrived on time for the match, holding the paper as he spoke out loud, trying to get Bruno's attention in a confident tone, "Hmm… according to the map from the challenge letter… yup! This oughta be the place! Hel-loooooo! I'm Red from Pallet Town, coming in place of Azure Sky! Whoever sent him this challenge – I'm here in his stead!!!"
*Eeeeree*
*Eeeeree*
Red got silence instead, rubbing the back of his head, confused as he muttered, "Shoot. Don't tell me it's a prank."
However, a voice rang out as Bruno replied seriously, "No. It is no prank, but I wouldn't mind battling you, Fire Red!"
*Ggggg*
Red was alert, but it was when suddenly the cliff he was on breaks. Red quickly analyzes the situation as he thought seriously, 'Onix! So that pile of rocks… was your back! You mean I walked right up and didn't even notice?!'
Coming out from Onix's shadow was Bruno holding his Poke Ball, nunchucks as he said in a serious tone, "Just a little test… Red of Pallet Town. You have good reflexes, at least. But I do not like surprise attacks. My first Pokémon is in this ball… choose yours now. My name is Bruno… of the Elite Four!! Hyaaaaah! You!"
*Skhik*
*Vrlll*
*Foooo*
Bruno sends out his Hitmonlee, and it battles Pika that Red hurled out as he spoke in a neutral tone but with a grin, "Listen – I'm always up for a good battle, but aren't you even going to explain why you sent that challenger letter to my friend? And what's this Elite Four anyway?"
However, Red's words were ignored as the battle between Pika and Hitmonlee continued till Bruno ordered, "High Jump Kick!"
*BAM*
Pika is defeated, and Hitmonlee is called back as Bruno gloats a bit, informing Red honestly, "Hahaha! It is impossible even to locate the knees of a Hitmonlee!"
But to Bruno's surprise, Red started to laugh, his eyes ablaze, looking at him. Red looked at Bruno holding his next Poke Ball as he said excitedly, "… Wahahaha!! I dunno it's like… These two years after losing the Pokémon League… I've accepted a lot of challenges, as did Azure, wanting to see how they stack up by beating the runner up… but they were all so boring!! It's been a while since my battle with Blue and defeat by Sky that I've felt this much alive! This time it's my turn!"
Bruno gazes at Red a bit before snorting with a smile of his own as he thought, 'This boy… his just like me wanting a good fight!'
Both their fighting spirits ignited as they began their battle. Bruno was spinning his nunchucks as Red analyzed, having grown and matured since his defeat in an unusual calm tone, thought, 'He's started to spin his nunchucks. Changing Pokémon… but the way those nunchucks stretch, he can open a Poke Ball right in front of an opponent and bring it from any direction! What a simple way to enhance a Pokémon's speed!'
*Vooom*
Bruno tossed his Poke Ball Nunchucks as he hurled out Hitmonchan. Red smirked as he yelled excitedly, "All right! He changed! Let's go! Poli!"
*Pop*
Red sends out Poli, and Bruno sends out Hitmonchan. Red quickly orders, "Go! Use Double-Slap!"
*Pappita*
*Pappita*
*Pappita*
While Poliwrath is Double-Slap Mitomchan's face, Red focused as he thought excitedly of the battle between them, 'Poliwrath matches up against his Fighting Pokémon! Looks good! If that's hard, as they can hit… Poliwrath's palms can easily counter them! If we counter with Double-Slap for every attack, they'll run out of health first!'
*Bzzz*
*Bwoof*
But Red's eyes widened in seeing Poli fall fainting first. Bruno smirks as Hitmonchan was singing Thunder Punch and Fire Punch with Bruno speaking in an obvious tone, "Not showing your opponent all your attacks is a useful tactic. While the right fist was Fire Punch… the left was jabbing with Thunder Punch! Which is especially damaging for a Water Type Pokémon… like your Poliwrath! The damage accumulated while you were watching the less effective Fire Punch!"
Poli is defeated. Red recalled Poli as he smirked, responding in an impressed tone, "Pretty impressive. I didn't even notice. Sky was right about you, Elite Four being tough… might be even tougher than him. Okay then! Gyarados!!"
*Pop*
Bringing Gyarados Red rode on top of it, as did Bruno, beginning their clash. Bruno said in an excited tone, "You spoke truly! The sensation of a truly great battle stirring the blood! I feel the same! For me, battle is everything! I have searched long for an opponent of your caliber! This is a fight between men!"
*BOOOM*
Now it is Gyara vs. Onix as their battle raged on. As the two battle, Lorelei and Agatha can be seen in the distance watching them battle.
As they watch, Lorelei has a flashback about how she and Agatha met. Seeing Lorelei's silence, Agatha asked confused, "Something the matter, Lorelei?"
Hearing her question, she shook her head as she replied cooly, "No, no… I was just reminiscing…"
Gyara and Onix are both putting up a good fight. Gyara is using powerful Water-type attacks, but Bruno's Onix is dodging them all by twisting its snake-like body!
Then Onix binds Gyara, immobilizing it. Gyara's head can still move, and it bites down onto Onix. Then Onix Digs underground, avoiding all attacks. Red recalls Gyara and sends out Saur, who uses its vines to cover the ground, ready to defend against Onix.
The moment Onix comes up, Saur uses all its vines to push Onix back. Suddenly, Onix's tail comes up from behind Red and smashes into him and Saur, sending them underground. Underground, there are several holes that Onix could come through, so Red is in a difficult dilemma.
When Onix appears, it starts to charge at Saur. Saur braces itself and is not hit. Bruno calls a time-out for some Diglett that Bruno would have been killed if he hadn't stopped his Onix.
The Diglett gets out of the way, and Bruno falls to the ground and bows in pain, "Ungh! Ghaaah!"
Red, unaware of this, asked concerned, "Bruno!! What's wrong?!"
Lorelei and Agatha appear as the old woman, laughter could be heard, "Hahaha!!!"
Lorelei and Agatha appear. Lorelei talks about the circle of life and the Elite Four's ambition as she says arrogantly, "That story…I s so Bruno! All those wise words about Pokémon and the circle of life… Tee-hee!"
Red Alarmed asked in a cautious tone, "Who are you?!"
Choosing to ignore Red's words, Lorelei spoke in a cold tone with Red on guard, "But will humans ever listen?! Will they stop expanding or trying to make life more convenient for themselves?! Will they ever stop destroying Pokémon's habitats? How can Onix coexist with housing developments, Red?! And if Onix becomes extinct, then won't Diglett and Dugtrio follow?! And then the plants… the trees…?!"
Red eyes narrowed as beads of sweat trickled down his face as he said calmly, "W-What's your point?!"
Lorelei snorts as she explains to the clueless Red their idea, "Just this… that maybe it's too hard for humans and Pokémon to coexist!"
Agatha added onto Lorelie's words as she let Red see that she had the Badge Energy Amplifier, "Just a handful of skilled trainers who lived for Pokémon… and the rest of the human race gone… Heh… that would be a Pokémon paradise! And… the device that can make it come true… is this!"
Red's eyes narrowed as he recalled that device as he thought cautiously, 'The Badge Energy Amplifier… I've heard what it can do from Sky and Green mentioning this before. But all I need to know is it's bad news.'
Agatha lets, and Red wonders what it is doing there. Lorelei tells Red that they called Azure in a serious tone, "Red… it was supposed to be Azure, the ninth annual Pokémon League Champion, but you were also the last one to see the holder of the Eighth Badge… Giovanni! Now! Tell us! Where is Giovanni?! We need that Eighth Badge… that Earth Badge… for this Energy Amplifier! That's the reason we called Azure here, but we'll settle for you instead!"
She asks Red where the Earth Badge is as he stalls, analyzing his surroundings. Red thinks of a way to get out from underground, and while thinking, he realizes that Bruno is being controlled by Lorelei and Agatha.
*FWOP*
Red tries to lure Lorelei and Agatha out so that they might become distracted and let it slip that they are controlling Bruno by having Aero hold onto Red and fly up. Lorelei sees this as she yells, "You won't get away!"
*Vyoooo*
Lorelei's Jynx appears from the cracks as it wraps its long hair around Red, restraining him from the outside. Lorelei demands coldly, "Now… tell me where Giovanni is."
Red tells Lorelei that he does not know where Giovanni is, and the same goes for Giovanni's Earth Badge, as he says honestly, "Don't know! After… fought him… lost consciousness! Came to… and being helped… by people in… Viridian City!"
Agatha glares at Red as she asks in an annoyed tone, "Then you're telling me that you don't know the location of either Giovanni or his Badge?!"
*Gnng*
*BWAM*
Jynx tossing Red to the ground, crashing, Lorelei says coldly, adjusting her glasses, says in an arrogant voice, "I see. Your eyes tell me you are not lying… very well then. I will tell you our second objective! You were the second we were gonna call upon anyway."
Jynx then puts Red down as he struggles to get muttering, "S-Second objective?!"
Lorelei tells Red that they had another reason for bringing him there as she says bluntly to him, "We knew that you might not be able to give us information about Giovanni. But we thought it might be worth seeing… whether you might be good enough to recruit into our ranks! We've been watching you and Sky for 2 years now, ever since the tournament. And your battle with Bruno just now… was truly magnificent. Bruno did his job of measuring your skill perfectly."
Red was shocked as he yelled, clenching his fist in an angry tone, "You're telling me… that the letter of Challenge with Bruno's name… was just part of your plan?!"
Lorelei snorted, crossing her arms smugly, said, "Not a bad brain either. That could serve us well…"
*BOM*
*BOM*
Red defiantly brought out his Snorlax and Gyarados as he refused in a stern tone, "If you think I'd join you… You don't know me yet!!"
Agatha sends out Gastly, and Bruno (still controlled) sends out Hitmonlee. Lorelei says in an arrogant tone, "By the numbers, it's an equal 3 to 3… but it won't work out the way you hope. Too bad, Red. I only ask once. You won't have a chance for a change of heart. You see, a trainer with our ability is dangerous. You'd have been much smarter to join us."
*KRAK*
With the power of the Badge Energy Amplifier, they (Lorelei's Jynx included) do a combination attack of Ice, Fighting, and Ghost powers, which knock out Gyara, Saur, and Snor as Lorelei announced, "Now! Battle formation… Ice – Fighting – Ghost!!"
*DOOM*
*DOOM*
*DOOM*
With all of them defeated, Lorelei's Jynx creates an ice doll that is a model of Red. Lorelei puts lipstick '×'s on the ice doll's wrists and ankles, with ice handcuffs appearing on Red in those same places, immobilizing Red's feet and hands as he yelled, "Agh! C-Can't move my feet… my hands…"
Lorelei also puts lipstick '×'s on an ice doll of Pika as she said coldly, "Oh, that's right. You had one more Pokémon, didn't you, Red? Just in case… I'll do this."
Agatha chuckled as she ordered her Gastly in a humorous tone with a smug grin, "And for good measure, let's envelop this mountain with a mist of illusion."
*Hwooo*
As the mist covered the field, Agatha and Lorelei took their leave. As they did, Lorelei said smugly, "We can't bear to watch you being defeated, Red. Bruno, we're leaving the rest to you. After that, Azure Sky is next."
Agatha's Gastly cloaks the mountain they are on in a mist of illusion. Their work done, Lorelei and Agatha teleport away with Jynx using Teleport.
*Fwp*
To defend himself from Bruno, Red sends out Pika, whose paws are immediately ice-handcuffed. Red puts his foot on a weak rock, which crumbles under him after he is kicked by Hitmonlee's kick attack. Red manages to hold onto a rock sticking out and tells in a desperate tone, "Ice crystals… on my hands and feet… they're spreading… kind of puts all my plans on ice heh… listen Pika! Run while you still can! Before they freeze you too!!"
Pika shook its head, tears forming as Red adamantly says, looking at his Pokémon in the eye, "Hurry! Their one mistake was that they only bound your feet! They forgot your tail works like a radar! You'll be able to climb down the mountain even in this fog! Go someplace warm and melt the ice on your paws… then go tell the Professor in Pallet Town… and let him know about this… They're planning to punish the human race! We can't let them do that!!"
Reluctantly, Pika starts to run, with Hitmonlee chasing it. Red, happy that one of his Pokémon can be safe, drops to the ground.
He says that Pika can't tell anyone what happened, and says sadly before he freezes, "If only there were a Trainer who could read your thoughts...."
*TINK*
Red froze solid in place. Stood the Fire Red frozen solid as Bruno stared blankly as he left the area…