Pokemon Adventures: Soul Ch09 Eterna Showdown!

Chapter 9: Eterna Showdown!

"You have seen nothing yet...We will find you...and we will kill you…" said a voice in the darkness.

"Feel free to try, but as long as I have my team behind me I won't-" I stopped talking to turn around.

There was no one there, just eternal darkness and laughter.

"FOOL! You have been left alone! You will die…you will be exposed for the pathetic weakling you are, and perish!"

I started to panic, "YOU'RE WRONG! I AM NOT WEAK!" I bellowed.

Suddenly, Prof. Rowan appeared by my side. He placed his hand on my shoulder, "Soul, listen to your Heart, fight back with your Mind, and have Faith. This is the only way to light that fire in your Spirit!" he knelt over and put a finger on my chest, "As long as you are strong at your inner most Core, you will have the strength to fight!" he said boldly.

"But how do I get this strength!?" I cried out.

However, Prof. Rowan began to evaporate into thin air, "Bel...eiv...e" he said as he drifted off.

Then suddenly, I plummeted further and further into the darkness at great speed. I tried to stop myself, but struggling made me fall even faster.

Then a man in a Black and Silver mask popped up in front of me, "WE'RE COMING FOR YOU!" he screamed in a high-pitched tone.

I abruptly woke up the next morning in a bed, propped straight up and drenched in a cold sweat. I was sleeping in one of the cabin rooms from within Eterna Forest. I was breathing heavily, still unaware weather or not I was still dreaming. My body was shaking, and I began to cough violently.

Fuckin' Syndicate, I thought to myself, whipping away my sweat. I got up out of my bed, and walked into the bathroom. I took a look into the mirror, peering into my very soul. I pondered about the dream I just had...and Prof. Rowan's words. The man in the black mask...was it Greiger's? It couldn't be…That mask was a different color entirely...but who was that then? I shook of my thoughts, and headed into the shower and brushed my teeth.

I quickly got out to get ready for the day. As I was packing my bag, I heard a knock at the door.

"Soul~, Cynthia and I just made some breakfast! All the pokemon are eating, you should come out of there!" Spirit said in a charismatic voice.

I got dressed and grabbed my back pack. It's time to leave this place, we trained hard now it's time that I moved on, I thought as I walked out the room and into the hallway.

I jumped down the steps effortlessly, and walked through the living room. As I walked into the kitchen, I could see my pokemon running around with Cynthia's pokemon outside from a nearby window, while Flora sat next to Spirit at the kitchen table.

"Good morning, Soul" said Cynthia with toast in her mouth. She was wearing a white robe; still in her see through black night gown, with black slippers. Even with the robe on, you could most definitely tell she had no bra on.

"HI Soul!" said Spirit with a smile. She had on a tight wife-beater, that said "come get some ;3" on it, and I could see her bright laced-pink underwear. Also clearly visible that she wasn't wearing a bra.

"Whatever..." I said closing my eyes, and walking to my seat.

I didn't register what I just saw in my brain, until I sat down...

"WHAT ARE YOU GUY'S DOING?! THIS IS INDECENT!" I said out loud, pointing at them. Spirit began to giggle, as Cynthia looked down at what she was wearing.

Cynthia shrugged, and closed her robe, "I'm sure you know what a woman's body looks like already. Besides, I consider myself like an older sister to you guys anyway, so I see no problem here."

Cynthia dismissed the issue with that and continued to eat like nothing happened.

Spirit looked at me innocently, "Oh, my! Soul, I hope you aren't thinking about indecent things now~" she said.

"Shut the hell up and put some damn pants on!" I growled, as I took some eggs from one of the plates on the table.

"Your so rude Soul, I might have to buy you a muzzle! sheesh, pass the hash browns please~!" she said in a joyous tone.

After we ate, I waited HOURS for Cynthia and Spirit to shower up and get ready to leave. Emperor and the other pokemon were still outside running around and playing. I sat on the deck outside to watch them play and compete with one another. As I was waiting for the girls to finish up inside, I observed Cynthia's pokemon closely.

Cynthia is the current Sinnoh champion...I should use the pokedex to analyze her pokemon...I thought.

I got up from the deck and walked back inside to grab my pokedex. When I came back outside, I started scanning Cynthia's pokemon, and I took note of their special abilities and moves. Garchomp, Gastrodon, Lucario, Milotic, Togekiss and Spiritomb. I save their data into the pokedex, and reviewed their individual strengths. They were all highly leveled and experienced, with her Garchomp being the strongest among them. Each of her pokemon had fierce attacks, and looked quite formidable. Cynthia walked over to me, peering over my shoulder.

"Haha! I'm surprised you didn't do this sooner!" she laughed.

I didn't respond, closing my eyes as I put my pokedex back in my pocket.

"You raised them very well...there is no way I can battle you and win at my current state..." I said to her.

"They are my friends, and they helped me through a lot of battles. Soul, I want you to join the Champions Banquet at the end of this year, so hurry up and grow stronger, okay?" Cynthia said with a smile.

I nodded in agreement, "I will…so don't lose your title until I get up to you…" I said coolly.

Cynthia called her pokemon over too her, and placed them all back in their respective pokeballs. "If you leave toward the west, you will find Eterna City. Your next Gym challenge awaits you there" Cynthia said, pointing in that direction.

I nodded and we said our farewells, "Take care of Spirit! She's a nice girl, so don't hurt her" Cynthia said as she took off, headed east.

I stayed outside to see Cynthia off until I couldn't see her anymore. Afterward, I stepped back inside to double check the cabin, just in case I left anything behind by accident. Spirit finally came back downstairs, and was ready to leave.

"Sorry Soul, my hair got all tangled up, so Flora and I had to de-tangle it, it was practically surgery!" she said with a silly grin.

"Whatever, let's just head out…" I said coldly, and we left the cabin.

-Eterna City, 1 hour later.

My mind was set, and all I wanted to do was challenge the Gym leader. Spirit was holding Flora in her arms, humming a tune to it to keep it happy. I pulled out the map from my book bag to examine the landmark locations in Eterna, and found the gym location.

"Hey Soul! We should stop somewhere and get some lunch!" Spirit said with a smile.

"After my gym battle. I won't stop anywhere until I get my badge..." I responded.

Spirit grabbed my arm, so I turned to stare at her.

"Listen here, my little Flora is still just a child! Despite her evolution and how strong it is, it needs to eat, and drink tons of water! I will not risk my little one's health for your dumb badge!" she said pouting.

I jerked my arm out of her hand, and Emperor and I simply walked onward, "Then do what you want, I have things to take care of…" I said coldly.

Spirit walked in front of me, cutting me off, "Listen! You can't walk into a battle without any energy! They need to eat!" she demanded.

I checked my watch and it said 2:30pm. I looked at Emperor, and he gave me a nod. I looked at Huntress and Nightwing in their pokeballs, and they also gave me a nod.

"My team is fine. Now if you'd excuse me, I don't have much more time to waste. Go eat and I'll meet you back at the pokecenter" I said sternly as Emperor and I walked around her.

Spirit shook her head, and walked off toward the pokemon center.

…

Emperor and I walked up to the gym's double doors. I opened them up, and we stepped inside. We were almost instantly greeted by a female receptionist.

"Welcome! Gardenia is not here at the moment, however she will be back shortly," she greeted.

I walked up to the desk, "How long?" I asked.

The receptionist crunched in some keys on her smart pad, "She should be back from break any minute, let me register you for a battle while you wait! Your name please?" she asked the nicely.

"My name is Soul…" I responded, and the lady crunched in my name on a list.

Suddenly, the gym doors burst open, "For the last time, Gabby! There just aren't any challengers today!" said a beautiful woman, with a green shoal.

Gabby, and her camera man Ty, were following her in. Right before Gabby could complain any further, they all turned their heads to me.

I glared at the woman, "Are you the gym leader here…" I said with a scowl.

The woman smiled, "That's right, my name is Gardenia! And I am the Eterna City Gym leader!" she said proudly.

Gabby walked up to me, "What a scoop! To think we were out of luck until you came by! Soul, are you here to challenge the gym!?" she asked excitedly.

I ignored Gabby, and pointed at Gardenia, "Then let's get this over with. I know I'm stronger than you already, so I'd prefer we just end this as quickly as possible. Unless, of course, you want to just hand me my badge," I said with a cocky grin.

Gardenia laughed, "You have some fighting spirit in you! Well then let's have us a battle! Follow me!" she said walking through another set of double doors.

I followed her to an out-door battle field, that was surrounded by many exotic and beautifully colored plants.

"Okay then Soul, Rules are simple. This battle will be a double battle, and it doesn't end until both pokemon on either team faint. Are you ready?" asked Gardenia.

Ty readied his camera, and Gabby gave us a thumbs-up. I nodded in agreement. "Okay then, I'll fight you with these!" she exclaimed, throwing her pokeballs.

With a puff of smoke, Roserade and Cherrim appeared on the field. I grabbed my pokedex out of my pocket and examined their battle statistics.

"Hmph, strong pokemon you have there, however you have an obvious weakness. Emperor take the stage." I grabbed a pokeball from my waist.

"We worked hard in the past few days, so let us show her why we are superior!" I threw the pokeball, and with a puff of smoke, Nightwing appeared.

"You know, this isn't the first time I saw a pokemon of the same species as Empoleon…! You must have trained really hard to get your pokemon to evolve so quickly!" said Gardenia praising my efforts.

"Don't congratulate me yet, I still have to destroy you in this battle…So then, ladies first, make your move!" I called out.

Gardenia smiled, "With pleasure! Cherrim, sunny day GO!" she called to her pokemon. Both pokemon leaped back, as Cherrim attempted to launch a ball or energy into the air.

"Nightwing, use Taunt!" I commanded.

Nightwing swooped in front of Cherim, as it glowed, gesturing to Cherim to attack. Cherim was startled by Nightwings taunt, that it didn't use its sunny day move.

"You might have stopped my sunny day, but that doesn't stop the battle!" called Gardenia.

I began to grin, "Yeah, you would think that, but I have an ace up my sleeve, Emperor, use ice beam on the ground! Nightwing, use Ice Fang on Roserade!"

Nightwing swooped in on Roserade, grabbing it with his powerful jaws lased in ice, slamming it into the ground. A large impact could be heard. Nightwing grabbed Roserade up once more, then flung it like a rag doll, sending it flying into a nearby wall. It slowly stood up but struggled to get proper footing because the Gym Floor was encased in ice by Emperor's ice blast.

"Damnit! Cherrim! Use reflect to reduce damage! Roserade get some room with leaf storm!" Gardenia cried.

Cherrim focused its energy to form a barrier to coat Roserade and Cherrim like an armor. Roserade then summoned leaves from around the garden, firing them at Nightwing!

"Emperor Tank that hit!" I called out.

"I'm on it!" he quickly responded, as he jumped in front of Nightwing.

The attack smashed right into Emperor's chest, but the leaves seemed to bounce right off! not even damaging Emperor's steel exterior. However, Gardenia refused to let up.

"Cherrim lock Gliscor down with leech seed, Roserade knock it out with hypnosis!" exclaimed gardenia. Both pokemon ambushed Nightwing, and successfully caught him in their trap. They both turned to Emperor.

"Ha! We got your Empoleon all alone now that your Gliscor is disabled! Give up yet?" Gardenia taunted, as Cherrim and Roserade closed in on Emperor. He was unable to move in time to avoid their attack. "NOW! Duo Solar Beam!" cried Gardenia.

Both pokemon launched a full powered solarbeam at Emperor, and a huge explosion shook the gym. Clouds of dust filled the air. Cherrim and Roserade were pleased with the power behind their duo attack. They both had smiles on their faces, and they started walking back toward Nightwing, getting ready to finish it off.

"You shouldn't turn your backs on your opponrnt..." I said coolly.

"Wha…?" responded Gardenia, but it was too late.

The mist cleared, revealing Emperor to be standing there, barely worn down by their attack!

"But How!?" asked Gardenia with a shocked expression, "There is no way a pokemon can just take two super powered grass type attacks like that!" she finished.

I chuckled, "Heh heh, Emperor and I trained specifically to handle attacks like that! there was no way you could break through his defenses with moves as weak as those! Emperor, seek and destroy!" I exclaimed, pointing at Cherrim and Roserade.

Emperor seemingly warped behind Cherrim and Roserade sliding on the ice with his belly, and blasted Roserade with a full powered Ice beam from point blank range. It went flying across the room yet again, and crashed into the wall, creating its own little crater.

"Cherrim! Quick solar beam it!" Gardenia cried.

Cherrim quickly responded, ready to launch a solar beam at close range.

"You really don't learn, do you? Nightwing now!" I said with a smug grin.

Before Cherrim could attack, Nightwing charged into it, gnawing it with his ice covered jaws, another fatal ice fang attack from behind!

"Reflect will Protect us!" said Gardenia, but she stopped when she saw Cherrim partially coated in ice! Gardenia turned to Roserade, but it was also frozen to the wall. She ran out to the field to hold her pokemon, with tears in her eyes.

"You're pokemon, they are so powerful...but how?" she asked. I looked at Emperor and Nightwing.

"When you train hard with your team, bonds are formed...This is simply the power we've obtained with those bonds..."

Gardenia whipped away her tears, with a brave smile, "Guess you weren't bluffing, huh?" she said with a defeated grin.

"Amazing! Soul you are a genius! We have the whole battle on tape! Jeez, kid! You sure will be famous after this one! Make sure you get to Veilstone City in 3 days! I'm having an all-day video showing getting taped, so make sure you get there so you can be on t.v. with your battle against Maylene!" Gabby said, as she took off with Ty.

I shook my head, and walked over to Gardenia. "Better luck next time…" I said to Gardenia.

As I walked out, Gardenia stopped me. "Hey, let me join you on the walk to the center!" she said to me, and we walked off to the center together.

When we got inside the Pokemon Center, we found Spirit, waiting for me.

"Soul! We all saw your battle on tv! you were amazing!" she said greeting us. I nodded in agreement.

Spirit turned her attention to Gardenia, "You tried very hard, I liked your gym design too! it was very pretty!" she said, trying to cheer Gardenia up.

Gardenia smiled, "Oh! Thank you!" she said, dropping off her pokemon with nurse Joy.

Gardenia and Spirit wound up walking off, talking about plants and other nonsense, as I submitted my pokemon to nurse joy as well. We hung around with Gardenia for an hour or so discussing battle strategy, training tactics and talking about what happened in our battle, and eventually our pokemon were completely healed.

We finally got up to leave, when Gardenia asked Spirit to come back with her to the gym. Once we got back to the gym, Gardenia ran into the back of one of her gardens. She came back shortly after, and handed Spirit a couple of small pots.

"These are berry pots, and you can grow as many berries in these as often as you like! Knowing that you love gardening as much as I do, you should have these!" she said with a smile.

"AWWW! Thanks Gardenia!" said Spirit excitedly.

Gardenia reached into her pocket and grabbed a couple of seeds.

"Here! These seeds are the seeds for a Petaya Berry bush! These little seed grow a lot of them in one go, and can even help your pokemon in battle! Emperor, with his special abilities, could make very good use of them so use them wisely! And I also put a lot of Sitrus Berry seeds there as well!" she said winking at us.

"I will plant these right away! Thanks again Gardenia!" exclaimed Spirit, and we said out good byes.

"Okay Soul, where to next?" asked Spirit as she carefully put the pots into her bag.

"We head to Veilstone for our next challenge…" I said coolly, and with that we left Eterna City behind.