LFL, Chapter 11: Winter's Sting, Part 3
"Now is the time you die, Jerium!"
"Gak!" was Jerium's only reply. Edgar had him pinned down to the ground, choking the life out of him with his arm. Jerium struggled and kicked, but to no avail. Edgar was pumped, and ready to smash.
A cold breeze blew over the two men. With it, words........ Edgar, you are forgetting your main objective. Mark Dillion must die. today. Jerium can wait. Edgar looked back at the floating grey cloak. "Ahhhh. Specter, my brother, you finally arrive. Scathe in hand, even. Mark will die today, but first...." He look down to his cursed opponent. "Now you will die!"
Specter twirled the scathe, and knocked Edgar's hand away. Mark first. he was your mission. Jerium will be mine. "Very well then." He looked over to Jerium.
"By the time he's done with you, you'll wish I had done you in when I had the chance." He flexed, and walked over to the fallen Mark. "Now Mark dies."
Meanwhile...............
"Man, Mike, one of us is severally out of shape, and I'm not about to admit it's me......."
Chris had Mike over his shoulder, and was barely able to pull himself along. He looked over at Primeape. "Hey! A little help here?!" The huge gorilla pokémon rolled his eyes, and picked up to fallen Mike. "Prime....." He sighed and continued on.
Suddenly, Mike began to utter strange noises. "Gaaaaaa......" He said and opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was the fuzzy head of Primeape. He screamed, and squirmed out of Primeape's grip. And ran right into Chris. Again.
"Oh, hallo Mike!" Chris said. "I see your finally awake. Ready to and try not to get killed?" "Ummmm. If it's all the same to you, Chris, I'd rather not. Being killed is definitely NOT on the agenda for to-day." Mike replied. Chris looked smug. "Well that's why we've got a secret plan." Mike rolled his eyes. "And what might that be?"
"Don't get wacked"
"Oh GEEEEEE Chris that sounds like a great plan. I knew I should've stayed at the Tech...."
Meanwhile........
Marian was running down the empty streets of Cerulean. She had "absorbed" her ghosts again to keep them safe. Edgar's Hitmonchan was chasing her. It had already taken out the two ghosts with a Fire Punch and an few Ice Punches. This Hitmonchan had obviously been tampered with, had it's genetics screwed with. It was much more powerful then any other had been. Marian had used her powers to find out what it's Special Rating had been. It was more than double what it should have been. That was frightening.
"Hit!!!!" The fighter cut her off and circled around behind her. She mentally checked it's speed. It had obviously used Agility. Used it many, many times. It flew up at her, and tackled her knocking her to the ground. Every time she tried to get up, it would slam into her again, preventing her from moving very far. Finally she had no more energy to attempt to move.
"Charm!!!"
The feisty Charmeleon leapt over Marian, and slashed Hitmonchan over the face, making another long scar, cris-crossing the one Jerium's Scyther had made, back in Pewter City. The Punching-Demon looked up at Charm, hatred boiling in it's eyes. They turned bright red, and it roared up. It was obviously bigger than it had been. It looked a lot stronger than it had before, too. It's spiked head had doubled in size, and the points had grown out and long, giving it the appearance of deadly weapons sticking up out of it's head. Charm looked up in dread.
It had used The Frenzy.
Robert and Joe barged into the street. Robert saw the Frenzied Hitmonchan, and immediately turned back around. Joe grabbed his brother's shirt, and said, "Whoa, Rob, your not going anywhere. You need to get in there and grab Marian!"
"Why can't you do it??!"
"She's about the same size I am. If I tried to pick her up, I'd break my back!!"
"And your point is?"
"Just get in there and do it!!"
Robert sighed, "Oh all right...." and he ran over to where the Frenzied Hitmonchan, where Marian lay, about to be smashed......
Meanwhile......(Don't you just hate it when I do this?)
Jerium looked up, and froze. Specter was hovering right above him. In the empty cloak, he saw his future, as well as everyone else's............
In the mists of time, he saw his fate...........A grave, alone, forgotten............. No-one mourning.......No-one caring......
In the grey of Specter's cloak, Jerium saw Mark's future.......No grave. No body. Just dust......... Dyeing to save the world from the Dark One.........
He saw Chris and Marian.......... They had married, and had a child, one with immense power. Chris had started the Lavender Gym, and was undefeated.......even though he had only one leg.......
Twin graves......for Robert and Joe..............side by side.........
The only future he did not see, was Kevin's.........
Infinity looked him in the eye, and he did not back down. The wind spoke. you know me Jerium. I am the infinity. I am death. I am the reaper. created only for death. I cannot be destroyed, nor even contained. and yet, I am not the most powerful. The Dark One is coming, and you will not survive. I leave you with this pleasant thought. And then the cloak faded, leaving only Jerium, alone, and frozen, not being able to move a muscle. He knew he would be saved. He would not die. He knew the exact time and place he would die. He knew how he would die. And that is truly more freighting then it actually happening.
Mark still had not woken up. Edgar looked down at him, like a lion will look down at it's fallen prey, deciding whether it is worth the time and effort, or not. Edgar could not disobey orders. He had been created to destroy, the perfect assassin. And he was.
He brought his cybernetically enhanced hand up, curled it into a fist, and prepared to crush his prey once and for all. He brought it down, very quickly. Suddenly, there was something in it's way. Something very hard, and stony. Graveler.
Edgar smiled, much the way a ratcatcher will smile at a rat that has suddenly decided to fight back. It will still be destroyed, but fun to watch for a while, and see what it will try to do next.
Edgar retracted, and shot a barrage of laser fire at Graveler. It shook the great rock beast, and every time it was hit, Mark was hit as well..............
Meanwhile.........
Kevin was lost. Somehow the fact that he was lost had driven itself into his small brick-like head. Bellsprout was wrapped around his neck, almost as afraid as he was. Suddenly, the dark alley where they were was filled with a strange light. It wasn't normal light. It was almost a...... grey light. Curious, Kevin walked over to it.
There was Specter. A cold wind blew through the alley. you are needed. were the words it brought with it. And Kevin vanished, leaving nothing behind. The light dissipated, leaving only an eerie cold breeze that never seamed to leave.............
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LFL Book 2: Chapter 12, Winter's Sting: Part 4.

"Y'know something, Mike?" Chris whispered in the dark.
"What Chris?" "I think we need some kind of battle cry."
"Like what? Woogy won't exactly work any more."
"Yeah, that was when we were little. I was thinking something more along the lines of..."
And then he charged out of there safe hiding place, followed by Primeape and a most concerned Mike, yelling "Bloody Hellfire!!!!!!" Mike rolled his eyes. "Why do I have a feeling this is going to hurt?"
Edgar looked up from thrashing Graveler, only to see a very angry Chris, a furious (although this is the natural state for one) Primeape, and Mike, who upon seeing Edgar, immediately started going "Gaaaaaa!!". He didn't have any more pokémon, so why was he here??
Chris started running, head down, straight at Edgar. Edgar put his iron-bar like arm out, and Chris slammed right into it. He recoiled, and bounced over to where Mike was standing. "Owwww!! that really hurt!!" He cried, "I think I'm going to need some help..." He gripped the pokéballs at his waist, and threw them out. "Go, Krabby, Venonat, Cubone, Nidorino!!" The called pokémon appeared from purple streaks of light.
Edgar looked at the onrush of pokémon, and sniggered. "All those powers, and you still can't get a decent pokémon? Your pathetic." He suddenly felt a tapping on his shoulder. He turned around, and was greeted by Primeape's heavy fist. He staggered back off of Graveler, who immediately got up, and growled at Edgar he smiled. "Ahhhhhh. Now the battle has been evened...."
Meanwhile.........
"Ow! It hurts! Ow! It hurts!!!"
Robert was getting thrashed by the Frenzied Hitmonchan. So far, it had hit him with a Mega Punch, a flurry of Comet Punches, and a Windup Punch. They all had hurt. And now, it was gearing up for a Lightning Punch. Using real lightning. Clouds were building up over the two, large, black, threatening clouds. Almost hurricane clouds. Robert knew that was not good.
He hadn't even managed to reach Marian. She was still laying in a crumpled heap a few feet away from him. She was beginning to twitch, though. "Venusaur, Go!!" The call echoed throughout the street. Joe had called out a pokémon. The huge Plant-Poison type appeared from the red and white ball. It's flower had completely grown back from it's little run in with the Man-Scyther.
"Venusaur, let loose with a Razor Leaf!!" Joe called. A huge swarm of leaves flew off of Venusaur's back, fueled by a huge gust of wind. The hurricane of leaves slammed into Hitmonchan, barely phasing it, by breaking it's concentration. The huge storm overhead dissipated. The monstrous fighter looked up and grunted. It went back to trying to smash Robert, and noticed that he wasn't there. Neither was Marian.
"Beedrill, Attack!!" The huge bee swooped in, and stung Hitmonchan right in the head. It roared, and swatted at Beedrill. It just missed, but the wave of air it caused Beedrill lose a current, and collapse to the ground. Hitmonchan brought it's red fist down on the Bug. It feebly held it's stinger up, in hopes that it would some how protect it.
It didn't.
"Beedrill, Return! Go Tanguela!!" The squashed Bug turned into purple light, and another beam shot out, reveling a pokémon that looked like a walking pile of green spaghetti. "Tangle??!" in said, big, bright eyes looking up at the huge monster it would have to face. "C'mon Tanguela! I know we haven't battled in a while, but you can do it! Bind it's legs!!"
The Grass type thrust out two vines, and wrapped them around Hitmonchan's legs. It started to retract them, tripping the huge beast. It fell forward, hitting the ground hard. As well as Tanguela. "Whoops." Robert sighed and returned Tanguela. He looked over at Joe. "What do you say we try this one together?" He asked, and threw out his last ball. "Go Nidorina!!"
"I think we might need a little help here!" Joe shouted, and threw out his remaining two balls. "Go Slowpoke, Mankey!!" The two pokémon appeared, at least one of them ready to fight. Slowpoke merely wander over to a shady spot, and laid down. "Oh well. Mankey use Karate Chop!!" The little Mankey looked up at the hulking Hitmonchan, shrugged, and leapt. It jumped up, a hit the beast on it's elbow. It snorted, and stepped on Mankey. "Mankey watch out!!" Joe shouted, but it was too late. "Mankey Return....."
"Slowpoke, use Confusion! Please!!" Joe plead with the dopey pokémon. IT pondered this for a while. [i] Just like Pewter.........[/i] Joe thought. Slowpoke had hesitated then, too. That hadn't ended well. Suddenly, Hitmonchan's head began to glow with blue energy. It screeched, and grasped it's head. Joe looked over at Slowpoke. It appeared to be deep in concentration. Deep thought lines were being created around it's face. It still remained it's blank grin though.
"Slowpoke, your actually doing something I said!" Joe gasped, and hugged his pokémon tight. "Slow..." it sighed, and began to grow. "Alright, it's evolving!!" Joe cried. He whipped out his PokéDex, and checked out his pokémon's state. In a mechanical voice, it said: "This is a rare and unusual state of evolution for a Slowpoke. It usually happens when a Slowpoke evolves where there are no Shellder around. It is technically known as a 'Slowma'. If it remains in this pre-Slowbro stage for too long, it could become fatal."
Robert broke in. "Hey if this warm fuzzy moment is nearly over, we seam to have made Hitmonchan smaller!" Just as Robert said, Hitmonchan had stopped it's Frenzy, and become normal sized again. All the power had been too much for it, though, and it had fainted.
"Well, I helped some....." Marian gasped, and sat up. "Weren't you wondering where that glow came from?" She pointed to herself, "Me." She stood up. "And now if you two gents are quite done, we have a battle to find."
"Hold up!" Robert shouted. "Look at Charm!" She was laying on the floor, barely breathing. The flame on her tail was dying out quickly. Robert looked up. "You two go find Chris and Mark. I'm taking Charm to the PokéCenter. I've been through too much with the lizard to just let her die like this." Marian and Joe nodded their agreement, and ran off.
Meanwhile........
Jerium stared into space, his face drawn back into a grimace. His back itched. He couldn't reach his sword. Something back and crawly was on his leg. It hurt to be sitting like this. And yet, and yet, and yet, he couldn't move. (*NOTE* yes I put 'And yet' three time on purpose.) It was disgruntling. He wanted to rip Edgar and that sadistic brother of his in half for what they were going to do to Kevin. He had withstood the future. Now the present was killing him. Kevin would be turned. He felt the back of his brain go cold. Dark Thirty....... Now THAT was a terrifying aspect........
Gaveler hit home with a huge punch. Primeape received the payback for it. The three of them, Primeape, Graveler, and Edgar, were fighting at a dizzying pace, exchanging blows faster than people exchange gifts after Christmas. Every once and a while, one of Chris' other pokémon would get in a blow, but not too often. They just kind of stood back and wondered, "Why?".
Suddenly the ground began to shake. Three mole heads popped out of the ground. Dugtrio! Mark had called them out before Edgar got to him. The bigger mole head bit Edgar, with teeth most people don't even know Dugtrios have. Edgar screamed. "Rarrrgh!!! This battle is getting more onesided all the time!!!" He grinned merciless. "I fear it is time for me to take a leave of absence. But I have a little going away present for you!"The form of Edgar slowly faded to black, his molecules changing from one location to another one, far away.
In his place, was a bomb.
Chris ran over and grabbed Mike. "This is your part, Techy!" and dragged him over to the bomb. Mike struggled to get out of his grip. "What do you mean MY part??" Chris looked him in the eye. "You spent two and a half years at Pokémon Tech. I barely spent three days. Your supposed to know about things like this. I happen to know for a fact, that you took Advanced Mechanics. Now, do it!!!!"
Mike bent over the bomb, and carefully lifted off the lid. Inside was a mess of wires, and a counter that was slowly counting down from twenty. After pulling on several wires, and the counter dropping down to thirteen, he finally held three wires in his hands. "O.K. Now we have three wires here, red, blue, green. One, if I'm right, will defuse the bomb; The other two will trigger it."
"Take the red." A voice from behind them said. "It's always the red." It was Marian, and Joe. Marian ran over to Chris and Mike, while Joe went to Mark. "I'm just taking this on faith, Marian." Mike said, "Can we sure? One wrong move will kill us and half the city." Marian drew in a breath, "Fairly sure. Just take it as intuition."
"Well, I hope your right." Said Mike, and broke the red wire in two.
The world stood still for a moment. Time ceased to exist.
After about five minutes, they figured that they weren't going to blow up. They whole city breathed a collective sigh of relief. A voice recording started to play: "Good thing this wasn't a real bomb. You'd all be scattered about the countryside by now. Consider this a test to see if you are worth my time and effort. Specter, our resided seer, has informed me that, Marian, it's never the red wire." The voice was unknown to any of them. Also not known to any of them was the fact that they had just made a powerful enemy, a deadly enemy. The Minor Lord Dark.
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LFL: Winter's Sting, Epilogue My favourite special of all time!

Mark blinked open his eyes. He saw a familiar sight. The ceiling of a hospital. He sat up. "Ouuuuuuu. My head hurts....." He looked around the room. Chris was standing there. "Are there any bones broken?" Mark asked. "Nope" Chris responded. "Any other parts paralyzed?" "Nope." "I'm just guessing I didn't lose sight in the other eye...." "Nope." "Well that's good. Mind telling me why I'm here?"
"Edgar tried to blast your head off. I don't really know how you survived. In all theory, you should be a little pile of ashes by now." Chris said. "Anyway, get up. We have a press conference." Mark winced. "Ohhhhh. A Press Conference?! But, Why?"
Chris winked at him, giving off a small flicker of green flame. "Because we're heros now. And they want to give you your license back." Mark was up and out of the bed before he had finished the sentence. "Thought that'd get him up..." Chris said, and left the hospital.
Later............
A reporter threw another question at Mark. "So, Mark, now that you've got your license back, will you be entering the PokéLeague?" Mark flexed his good hand, like he did whenever he was nervous. "Of course. But I have to collect the badges first. I've only got one, the Boulder. While I'm here, I though I might collect another one." The reporter put on a cunning look. "But, is it not true that all but one of your pokémon are either Ground, Rock, or both? Do you have some kind of strategy for beating the Gym?"
Mark closed his eyes. "My Onix and Scyther are in critical condition. If I use Graveler, there's a very good chance that I could become injured. That leaves only one pokémon: Dugtrio. If I use him, more than likely I'll lose. Ground is weak to water and ice, the two types the leaders use here, so I thought that maybe I could use Dig to avoid attacks and wear the pokémon out. That, from a Gym Report I read in Pokémon Times, I found out that the Gym field is completly suspended over water, making Dig useless. If Dugtrio used it, it would be digging into water!"
He opened his eyes. "So I guess the only way for me to win would either borrow a pokémon from someone else, which I'm no about to do, or catch another one. I'll start looking in the morning."
Another reporter looked up. "I have one for Chris and Mike. What was it like battling Edgar?" Chris stepped forward, sucking up the glory like a sponge. "Well, it was very thrilling. Of course, I could have done it without," And at this point Mike started glowing with a grin, "myself." Chris finished. At this point, Mike's face fell lower than an Ekans' belly. He looked coldly at Chris, "What was that, old buddy??"
"Uhh...oh, yeah. Mike helped" He coughed, and under his breath said, "a little" Mike was really raging now. "What??! I think there's only one way to settle this! Pokémon Battle! Three-on-Three!" Chris looked really skeptical, "Well I guess. It HAS been a long time since we battled last." Then he grinned. "I guess your just a sucker for pain!"
Later, on the field of battle...........
Everyone at the press conference was attending the battle. It was really a major event. An announcer called over a loud speaker: "The contenders will each use three Pokémon, with no time limit, and no retreats. The first one to have all of his pokémon KO'd is out. Now.......BEGIN!!"
Chris grinned. "Primeape, make short work of this battle!!" The hulking pokémon flew up into the center, screaming "PRIME!!!!" Mike stifled a laugh. "This is gonna be a piece of cake. Go Farfetch'd!!" The wild duck pokémon flew into the center of the ring and looked up at Primeape. "Far! Far! Far!" It started laughing.
"Primeape, quick! Fury Swipes!" "Farfetch'd, dodge, and then Peck!" Primeape dove in and attempted to scratch at the bird, but it flew up high, and then swooped in and Pecked Primeape in on the head. "Prime!" It groaned, and swatted at the bird, never even hitting, but getting hit by Farfetch'd's hard beak.
"Farfetch'd, Swords Dance!" The bird began winging it around and around it's head, raising it's attack. "Quick, Primeape, while it's doing that, jump up high and knock it down!!" Chris shouted. Primeape got run, and leapt high in the air, colliding with Farfetch'd, bringing them both to the ground. The announcer called over the speaker, "Wow! Unless I'm mistaken, that's a duel KO! Both trainers must recall their pokémon and call out two more!!"
Chris and Mike stared each other down. The announcer came on again. "What will they call out??! Chris is reaching for a ball! So is Mike! This is a exciting battle!! Chris is sending out....." The crowd grew into a roar. In it. Marian leaned over to Mark, "Who are you rooting for to win?" Mark looked smug. "I'd Lo-o-o-o-o-ve to say Mike win. Might take Chris down a notch."
The announcer came back on: "Chris is sending out.......a Krabby! The crowd is very disappointed, but might I remind all of you of Ash Ketchum's Krabby during the PokéLeague games? It pulled off an amazing first turn win in the first round, and evolved half way through! Could this be a repeat??! And what is Mike going to call out!!? Ohhhh, a lack of foresight on his part; He called out Sandshrew! This very well could be a slaughter!!"
Chris smirked, "Krabby, Water Gun!" Mike looked grim, "Uhhh, Sandshrew, Sand Attack, I guess......" The quicker Sandshrew kicked up a chunk of earth, and hit it towards Krabby. Krabby moved slightly to the side, and the attack missed. The River Crab shot a steam of water at Sandshrew, who took the full damage of it.
Once again, the announcer cam on: "Chris' Krabby has shot down Sandshrew with Water Gun. This could be a turnaround for Chris, depending on what Mike calls out next!" Mike grasped the last pokéball he had. It was his starter. He had been the lucky one in Lavender to get it. It was a Hitmonchan. "Oh my!!" The announcer shouted, "A Hitmonchan!! This could be bad for Chris, as there are no retreats, and Hitmonchan has Thunder Punch! Chris' only hope is that Hitmonchan's Special is low enough to let Krabby survive!!"
Marian did a quick scan of Hitmonchan. "Chris is screwed." She said at last. Mark smirked. "I could of told you that!"
Meanwhile......................
Jerium was struggling to control his memory. Remember Kevin!!! He screamed mentally at himself. After Edgar had left, and he had came out of the suspended animation state he had been in, he had spent his time mediating. Now Specter was doing something to the timeline. He could always feel it. He was grasping at straws, though.
Specter was making it though Kevin had never existed. Kevin was still alive, as such, but not in the state that he had been in. Jerium grabbed a piece of paper and started to write down, "Kevin! Specter=Dark Thirty!!!" But stopped by the time h had gotten to "Ke...."
He blinked. What was he writing again?? He crumpled up the paper, and threw it away.
Meanwhile, back at the battle...........
"Hit!!" "Gurgle......" Little bolts of lightning were striking down all around the arena. Krabby was being chased by Hitmonchan. It hadn't connected with Krabby, yet, but it was getting close. Finally, a Lighting Punch connected with Krabby, frying it.
The announcer came on. "And Krabby is gone! Both trainers are down to their last pokémon! This one is coming down to the wire!! Chris' pokémon, besides the two he already put out, are Cubone and Venonat! Either one could be easy prey for Hitmonchan!! What will he choose? What will he choose??!" The crowd roared up as one entity, "Put a sock in it, you hack!!" The announcer clammed up.
"Go Venonat!" Chris shouted and threw out the little bug. Mike chuckled. "Hitmonchan, use Fire Punch! End this quick!!" Venonat, quick use that move I bought you!" Chris shouted, "Use Psychic!!" Chris shouted, and purple waves flew off of Venonat, and hit Hitmonchan. Mike, and the crowd, gasped. "Where did you get that move??! You haven't even been to Saffron City yet!!"
Chris grinned. "Good thing I met that traveling salesmen, eh? He also wanted to sell me a Magikarp, but I declined on that one. The TM cost me enough as it is!" Hitmonchan wobbled, and collapsed to the ground, fire still burning on it's fist. "Hitmonchan, return...." Mike said defeated. The beam of light hit the fighter, but it shrugged it off. "Hit...mo....." It gasped, and stood up.
The crowd went wild. They loved a good fight, and this was one of the better ones the had seen. Hitmonchan rushed over, and hit Venonat with the Fire Punch, Burning it. "C'mon Venonat! Get off another Psychic!" The purple waves of light shown of Venonat and hit the puncher, KOing it, just as Venonat succumbed to the Burn! The crowd went wild. "This has been one AMAZING battle!!" The announcer shouted at the top of his lungs, "It has just ended in a drew, as both Hitmonchan and Venonat were KO'd!! This is incredible!!! Now, wait, both trainers are crossing the field and......" The announcer's sound system was turned off. On each of the speakers, there was a strange blue glow where each of the wires snapped.........Mark looked at Marian. "I just couldn't help myself," She said, "the guy was really annoying!"
Chris and Mike met each other in the middle of the field. "Good battle!" Chris said. Mike returned the complement. "Yeah, I still like it better when we fight on the same side, though."
Later that night....................
Robert and Joe finally met up with the others at the hotel. They had spent all day at the PokéCenter, and had seen to it that all the pokémon were well taken care of. They had been.
They went to sleep that night not ever thinking about the missing member of their party. That was because, as of earlier that day, he had never existed. Chris was an only child, and, as far as he was concerned, it had always been that way..........................
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