Chapter 7
Tammy and the Rescue Party
Tammy relaxed a bit. Umbreon has lost. They won. They really won! They had beaten Umbreon! Their first match of the competition was a victory! Hurray! Vaporeon seemed to relax, also. Then he quickly leapt over to Umbreon. With his nose he nudged her concerned for her greatly. “Umbreon! No, get up! Please!” Jamie called out. Umbreon lay silently on the ground. They had won for sure now! The referee raised Tammy’s flag and the crowd cheered. “Yeah!” Tammy said jumping up and down. “Umbreon, return!” Jamie said scornfully. Umbreon disappeared right in front of Vaporeon, leaving him sad and heartbroken. “Good job, Tammy!” said a voice behind her. She turned and saw Alex’s smiling face. “Thanks,” she said back. After her battle she returned to the Trainer’s Quarters to rest and ponder about her next battle. Alex went after her. “You were great! And you only used one Pokemon,” Alex said as Tammy lay down on the bed. “Yeah,” said Tammy. She sighed a happy sigh. “When are you up?” “I’m number 20. This is no problem for me. I’ll just use my Arcanine, Gingre. Gingre’ll knock ‘em for a loop!” Tammy gave a small laugh. “Do you think I’ll make it to the finals?” she asked as she stared up at the ceiling. “Maybe. But I know for sure I am!” Alex smiled. Then somebody opened the door and came in. She was tall with long, brown hair in one long ponytail out to the side. Her green eyes shimmered and her smile was very lovely. Her orange and pink striped t-shirt was nicely tucked into her dark navy blue shorts. Her little earrings were tiny Pikachu heads and her shoes were double-knotted. “Hello,” she said as she walked over to the bed. Alex rolled his eyes; it looked as if he knew her. But Tammy smiled kindly. “I was wondering if you could help me have some last minute training before my battle today. I’m number 120, so I’ll be going last. Please help me, please?” she pleaded. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt,” Tammy agreed. “But it will hurt your Pokemon, Tammy! I know! I should know!” Alex blurted out. “Whatever! You don’t know anything!” Tammy yelled back. Alex paused and stared at Tammy. Her reactions were very strange. She then stood up and walked over to the girl. They walked out of the room together giggling and sometimes looking back at Alex, who was left sitting with his mouth open. “I can’t believe it! She is just crazy and out-of-her-mind! How could she have interest in her? Tammy and her, her, her! No, no, no!” Alex said. He, too, left the room, though, and followed Tammy and the girl outside. “I saw your battle today. You are really good. Mind showing me?” she asked politely and timidly. Tammy nodded and smiled. They both stood in battle position far apart from each other. Alex looked on sighed and shaking his head. Soon he walked over to Tammy. “Careful,” he said to her. “Why?” Tammy yelled back. “Why should I? Oh, no offense!” she added shyly back at the girl. “Um, none taken?” she said back. She fingered her pokeball. “Anyway, why should I?” Tammy asked in a whisper loud enough for Alex to hear, but not for the other girl. “Her name is Ariele,” Alex stated. “Your point?” Tammy asked grumpily. She rolled her eyes. “No! Listen to me! I have battled her before. She is not easy! I know that for a fact! Be very careful, for she’s very brutal in her Pokemon battling,” Alex concluded. “Brutal? Her? Yeah, right! She is nice and friendly, and, and she is much better than you! So get out of my face and leave me alone!” she snapped back. She frowned and turned back at Ariele. Alex backed off and sighed. He sat down on a bench and started to watch. The pokeball Ariele had been fingering was now in her hand ready to be thrown out. “I’ll give you the advantage and I’ll choose my Pokemon first, okay?” Tammy called over the space. Ariele nodded and grinned. “Okay, but whatever Pokemon you choose, I’ll still use the same one!” she said in a different tone of voice. More of an ‘I know more than you’ tone than a nice, friendly, compassionate one. Tammy gave a confused look but soon shook it off. “Yeah, okay. Um, go, Vaporeon!” Tammy threw out her pokeball and Vaporeon stood proud and show off-y. “That’s what I thought,” Ariele said. She threw out her pokeball silently. It hit the ground with a clack sound and out of it appeared a large, gray Arcanine. “Don’t you remember? Water beats Fire Pokemon!” Tammy burst out, grinning from ear to ear. “And what makes you think this here Arcanine’s a fire type?” Ariele said cleverly and calmly. Tammy frowned but went on. “Vaporeon, Water Gun!” Tammy ordered. Vaporeon shot water from his mouth to the gray Arcanine. “Arcanine, Thunder!” Ariele said calmly but with instructiveness in her voice. Arcanine closed his eyes and a great shot of electricity came from him to the water gun, which made its way to Vaporeon. Vaporeon fainted instantly. Tammy gasped. “He was still tired from our last battle, that’s all,” she reassured herself. But she knew she was wrong and she still couldn’t believe that Arcanine could use that attack. “Go, Nidoking!” she said as she threw another pokeball out. Nidoking came out and roared. “This should be easy,” Ariele muttered under her breath. “Arcanine, use Water Gun, now!” Ariele ordered getting a bit more enthusiastic. Arcanine jumped up into the air and water poured out of his mouth. Nidoking looked into the sky, but was blinded by the sun. The water gun came at full force directly at him. Surprisingly, though, Nidoking was still in the game. “Nidoking, use Take Down!” Tammy said. Nidoking went into a rage and charged the Arcanine. He ran into him at full speed knocking it off its feet. But no sooner was he knocked down, he came straight back up. “Arcanine, use Tackle, finish him off, now!” Ariele said slowly. Arcanine barked and ran toward Nidoking. Still recovering from his last attack Nidoking was standing still and hadn’t noticed Arcanine until it was too late. Arcanine slammed into Nidoking. This made him faint. “Nidoking, return!” Tammy instructed. “It’s all up to you,” she said to the pokeball in her hand. “Go!” she yelled. She threw it out on the area. Houndoom appeared with the famous ‘You’re going down’ flick of the tail. “A Houndoom? How, um, not good, should I say?” And with that she laughed at Houndoom. This made Houndoom very angry, since Houndoom aren’t known for their patience. “Loser!” she yelled out as quick as a bullet. Houndoom growled. He didn’t like this person, whoever she thought she was. “Ha, ha! Dumb Houndoom! You are going to feel my wrath! Want to feel?” Arcanine offered mockingly. “Ha, ha to you, too. Whoever heard of a gray Arcanine? What were you, exiled from your pack? You had to be sent to this loser of a trainer?” Houndoom shot back. “Take that back!” Arcanine yelled. “Why should I?” said Houndoom with another flick of the tail. His look at Arcanine was full of pure hatred. Who did this Pokemon think he was? Some loser, that’s what. Houndoom was ready to attack. His muscles were tight and at the first sound of his master’s voice he would attack at full force. “Let’s just battle!” yelled out Tammy. “Houndoom, let’s go!” Houndoom heard the voice and jumped into action. He landed on Arcanine back, hanging on with his claws, which dug into Arcanine. “Arc!” Arcanine yelped in pain. “Look who’s talking!” Houndoom whispered in Arcanine’s ear. At this, Arcanine twisted and turned, trying to get Houndoom off. “Yeah, that’s what I thought!” Houndoom said. He scratched the Arcanine before jumping off. Arcanine yelped once more and growled. “Arcanine, Water Gun!” Ariele said. Houndoom ran toward Arcanine and jumped in front of him just before the water burst out. “Houndoom, Double Team!” Tammy ordered very quickly. The second the water started out Houndoom split into three Houndoom. Tammy grinned. “Arca!” Arcanine barked sharply. He growled and bared his teeth at the three Pokemon. “Um, Arcanine, attack, um, the front one!” Ariele said uncertainly. She frowned and watched. Arcanine made a full-fledged force to the front one. As soon as he touched it, it disappeared. Then he attacked to right one. This one disappeared, too. Before Arcanine knew what happened Houndoom slammed into him from the back. “Loser!” he said as he saw Arcanine fall. “Not that easy!” he said back as he got back up. “I didn’t expect it to be,” Houndoom recalled calmly. A grin spread across his face. Arcanine growled. “Ready?” Arcanine offered. “Whatever,” Houndoom answered, and with this Houndoom attacked by force to Arcanine’s neck; but without getting a bite, Arcanine slammed him away. “Not this time!” Arcanine growled aggressively. Houndoom went skidding across the grass. “Hour!” he whined in pain. ‘He can’t beat me. I know it! I’ll fight for Tammy! I’ll beat this big bully!’ he thought. He quickly got up and stared at Arcanine. Nothing was to beat him. “Houndoom, use Flame Thrower!” Tammy ordered. Houndoom slightly nodded and opened his mouth. Flames swirled out of it and engulfed Arcanine. A faint bark was heard but then no more. Houndoom closed his mouth and the flames ceased. Soon Arcanine appeared burned and unconscious on the ground. “That can’t be!” Ariele said astonished. “Yes, it can!” Tammy said very proud of herself and Houndoom. Houndoom grinned and flicked his tail one last time in a new way; a ‘Ha ha, oh well, you lose!’ “Arcanine return,” Ariele said shyly. “Whoa, Tammy,” Alex said almost as astonished as Ariele was. “How did you beat her?” he asked staring from her than to Houndoom and finally Ariele. “It was all Houndoom,” Tammy said as she turned her head to the black Pokemon. After a while back in the Trainer’s Quarter’s, Alex got ready and waited for his battle. Being number 20 he was very close to his battle. After the battle finished the number 59 and 60 people there would be a three hour intermission, and Alex and Tammy would explore the woods behind the stadium arena. Alex waited as number 17 and 18 finished their battle. Then the announcer called number 19 and 20 to come to the arena. Alex walked onto the arena and waited for his opponent. Then the opponent walked up and they shook hands; he walked over to the other side of the arena, and the battle was about to start! “Good luck!” Tammy called from the sidelines waving her arms. Ariele, who was standing next to Tammy, was her rolling her eyes; Alex saw her and shook his head a bit embarrassed. The referee waved the flags and Alex took out his pokeball. “Go, Gingre!” he said as he threw it out. The large Arcanine appeared with a head held up high. “Go, Espeon!” his opponent said. Espeon came out of her pokeball and stretched. Then she was ready for battle. “Gingre, use Take Down, now!” Alex said. Arcanine ran toward Espeon and slammed into her throwing her out of the bounds. The referee held up his flag as soon as he saw Espeon not moving. Tammy and Ariele decided to go back to the Trainer’s Quarter’s for a while and wait for Alex to return. Back in the Trainer’s Quarter’s, Tammy and Ariele talked. “So, um, that’s a neat Arcanine, um, you have,” Tammy said looking down at the floor. They were both sitting on the bed and thinking of things to say. “Oh, thanks,” Ariele said back. “You know, you shouldn’t yell at Alex like that,” she said to Tammy sternly. “Why not?” Tammy asked innocently as she turned her head to Ariele. “He is right, I am brutal when it comes to battling Pokemon and most of the other things he says about me are true, also, um, most!” Ariele said. “Why are they?” Tammy asked. “He should know because he’s my brother!” Ariele blurted out. Tammy gasped and then let out a big sigh. “I should have known!” said Tammy. She looked out the window. At this moment Alex came running in. “I won! I won!” he yelled out. Ariele smiled and hugged him. “Great job!” she said. “Now can we explore the woods, now? I’ve been dying to!” She motioned to the door pulling Alex along with Tammy walking behind. After reaching the woods’ outskirts Ariele finally let go of Alex. “Well, we’re here,” Alex said glumly, for all his joy of winning were squished by his older sister. “We’re here!” Ariele said excitedly. “We’re a Rescue Party looking for a lost Pokemon in the deep jungle,” she said imagining everything that was going to happen. Tammy stared at her. What was she going to do? “Well,” Tammy started. “Let’s begin!” Tammy concluded uneasily. She looked into the woods and they all started to walk in at the same time. The “Rescue Party was on their way! But would they really be just pretending, or would they save a Pokemon in need?
