I heard the sound again. Methodically, it reentered my consciousness. With the silence of the crowd and the battle uncertain, I was finally able to recognize it. It was a horse, sprinting at full speed toward me. A horse… or a horse-like Pokemon. But what was it? I didn’t know many Ponyta or Rapidash trainers, and wasn’t good friends with any. Jack wasn’t a trainer anymore, so what could it be? He stopped waving the flag, and obviously heard the approaching entity as well. The curtain of debris was thinning, but my visibility was still limited to barely beyond Jack. I looked toward where the arena entrance was, but it was still obscured.

Then I saw it. A flash of light, a rippling beam of brilliance through the haze. Now there was a PAIR of embers. At the edge of the cloud, the dust swirled as something broke through. The slender, pale, elegant head of a horse emerged from the swirling sand and trailed a blazing mane of orange fire. The luminous flames flickered and flared as the beautiful creature leapt from the arena portal. Yet, that was nothing compared to what I saw next.

Riding the magnificent beast was a figure who removed all the pain and anxiety from my mind. Heather sat proudly on the back of the Rapidash. The Pokemon galloped swiftly up behind Jack, while its rider seized the steel pole of the flag from his hands. She rode up next to my battle podium and Rapidash reared up on its muscular hind legs. Its strong, pure white body smoothly rose up and reflected the flame from its mane and fiery tail. Heather deftly swung the flag in sweeping arcs, and shrieked a battle cry to match the war paint on her delicate face. I smiled broadly and turned back to the battle.

With renewed vigor, I turned my attention to the battlefield. The debris had mostly settled, and Leviathan was NOWHERE TO BE FOUND! Oh, yes, I thought. This is going to be sweet. Danvers’ Venomoth descended to about twenty feet above the arena floor. An immense, oblong crater was carved into the ground where the Hyper Beam had struck. It was partially filled in with sand, and was only empty to a few feet below the ridge lip.

Venomoth hesitantly hovered above the crater, scanning the surrounding area with its sensitive antennae. I thought I saw a tiny motion in the sand, and knew what was happening. Venomoth assumed a victorious pose, apparently thinking it had completely obliterated its opponent, when its mirth was abruptly cut short. The crater sand only fifteen feet below it exploded in a terrible shower of sharp particles as an unfathomably monstrous serpent erupted from the trough where it had been lying in wait.

Like an ancient demon reborn from its shallow tomb, its hideous form was blacked out in the burst of debris, reaching upward to the sky. Its terror-inspiring, nightmarish mandible dropped, revealing the awesome, devastating knives embedded in it. Small rocks and dirt were flung in the compound eyes of Danvers’ Venomoth, blinding it and forcing it to succumb to the attack.

Page Sixteen
Page Sixteen

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