Ralph vs Zera II


Abra sat in deep meditation as he focused his psychic powers as far as they could go. He was attempting to telepathically connect with another psychic Pokemon miles away while Serviper and Lickitung sat and waited. It had already been nearly an hour and the two were growing impatient as the poisonous snake had slithered rings around the two of them and Lickitung had rolled and unrolled his tongue from his mouth for the tenth time.

“How much longer isss thisss going to take?” hissed Serviper his patience running out.

“Yeah, why do we even need to bother with this new guy?” asked Lickitung. “Don’t we have more than enough Guardians as is? I can’t imagine why we’d need another.”

“Shh,” hushed Abra. “I finally got connected with a Giraffarig,” he told them. “Seems like he spotted what might be our new recruit heading straight towards us. Shouldn’t be more than an hour before they arrive.”

“About time,” sighed Serviper. “Who doesss he think he isss making usss wait like that?”

“A powerful Pokemon that personally requested to be a Guardian here,” explained Abra. “Our approval rating with the other Pokemon living here will certain rise up with this new addition we’ve worked so painstakingly hard to provide for their protection.”

“Heheh, yeah,” snickered the snake. “We gather up a group of Pokemon to be our protectors and we get to reap the rewards of daily offerings without doing much of anything. Life doesn’t get much sweeter than that.”

“Yeah, but will one more even make that much of a difference?” pointed out Lickitung. “There are very few Pokemon able to even reach us up here and humans haven’t found a means to get up here either. We’ve got more than enough as is.”

“The reason we need more Guardians is because we aren’t encountering nearly as much unrest as we used to,” explained Abra. “We’ve been able to maintain our status because of the occasional dangers the Circle faced that our Guardians took care of. We even got a few Pokemon to stage some a scare now and then when things were being peaceful for too long. However, the times are changing. Many of the younger Pokemon are starting to grow curious of the world beyond our territory and some are even wondering if Guardians are needed and, by extension, us.”

“Well, can’t we just cause some more attacks to keep them in line?” figured Lickitung. “Like you said, stage a few scares to keep the Mareep in line. Oh, and all the other Pokemon too.”

“We only ussse that asss a lassst resssort,” replied Serviper. “If by any chancsse the Pokemon confesssesss to being hired by usss then we’re done for. All the other Pokemon would turn on usss including mossst of our Guardiansss.”

“Which is why we need to add in more,” continued Abra. “Ones we can be certain will be loyal to us should a battle for power break out. At the same time, we need to try and eliminate those who could be a potential risk to our plans, which is why this tournament of ours will be the perfect opportunity to boost morale all around, but allow us to remove problematic Guardians from their roles.”

“So then my tournament plan was a really good idea,” Lickitung stated proudly.

“It wasss more a nicsse touch added to our original plan,” explained Serviper. “We were planning to make a choicsse number of undesssirablesss disssappear. Another purge to ensssure our peacssse can be pressserved. Thisss tournament will be perfect to tire out the Guardiansss ssso we can take care of a few in the aftermath.”

“Okay, well who are we gonna eliminate?” questioned Lickitung.

“Razor for starters,” answered Abra. “Due to that incident, when he first showed up, we had no choice but to convince him to become a Guardian to avoid losing face at the time. But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s never been loyal to us, acting on his own interests. Add in that he is quite popular among the Pokemon here and he is more trouble than he’s worth. While he might not be one to initiate an uprising, he would participate solely to brawl to his heart’s content and he’d definitely side against us. Best to get rid of him when we have the chance.”

“Turbine isss another one,” added Serviper. “She already doesssn’t like usss and isss jussst waiting for usss to push her too far. Not to mention, she’sss too powerful for our own good. She hasss to go too.”

“Overall, I’d say reducing the number of Guardians in half should at least ensure our hold remains around here,” calculated Abra. “For those we cannot decide to keep or remove, the fights should provide us with some more insight. A tempting prize should also help us win favor with them.”

“Did you have sssomething in mind?” asked Serviper.

“A seat among us should do nicely,” he answered. “Any that would want to win such a prize badly enough should be easy enough to be tempted to our way of doing things. We will also gain tons of approval from the Pokemon that support them, so a popular one like Fang. He fancies himself as Razor’s rival and that could work to our advantage in taking care of him.”

“Perhapsss asss a tool for that end, but we should not limit ourssselves by back only one Guardian in thisss tournament. I’d sssay our new recruit could alsssso be of ussse,” suggested Serviper. “A new facssse will cssertainly excsssite the crowd and he the fact he isss coming to usss doesss mean he isss one who ssseeksss power. That makesss him perfect to join usss.”

“He does show promise,” agreed Abra. “We’ll need to talk with him when he arrives to know for sure, but he might very well be the mon we need.”

“Well, if you guys are gonna pick a Guardian to back,” Lickitung chimed in. “Then so am I.” Mumbling to himself, he scratched his head as he pondered to himself. “Now, uh, who should I pick?”

“Jussst take your time and try not to strain your brain,” sighed Serviper as he and Abra went back to waiting for their new recruit to arrive.


“Chu!” cried Ralph as Zera’s electric attack hit him hard. It knocked him off his feet and back down onto the wet grass. His body twitched as sparks jumped from his fur to the ground. It was hard for any of the spectating Pokemon to look after he stood there and took the Pachirisu’s storm-enhanced might.

“Ralph,” trembled Aipom as she struggled with herself to either keep looking to see if he was okay or avert her eyes so as not to see him in such pain.

“He did a great job, but I’m not sure if he can keep going on,” commented Nuzleaf. “I know I wouldn’t want to if my opponent just took in a whole bolt of lightning like that. I mean, nobody should be able to do that and she did and Ralph just took the full force of her attack and nobody could survi-”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” Aipom glared fiercely at Nuzleaf, the hand-like end of her tail clenched into a fist.

“Uh, come on Ralph!” cried Nuzleaf switching his demeanor. “Quit fooling around. An attack like that should be nothing. You trained too hard to give up now!”

“Come on,” hoped Aipom as she held her regular paws together. “Please be okay. You don’t have to win this fight, but for all our sakes, just survive this.”


“Yeow that had to be painful,” commented Razor. “Even with Ralph being an Electric Type cutting the damage he’d take in half he’s hardly an attack sponge.”

“It doesn’t look like this battle will last for much longer,” stated Turbine. “Even if Ralph can get up after that he won’t have the strength to go on much longer. His electricity is almost all used up and Zera is more than fully charged now. Then there’s also a big gap in their experience that gives her the edge too.”

“Well, if she was able to power up with the storm,” pointed out Razor. “Then Ralph should be able to do the same.”

“I’m afraid that is not be a viable option for him,” Turbine explained. “He’s managed to come far as just a Pichu, but he’s already pushed his body to its limit. He wasn’t able to absorb any of the electricity from Zera’s attack, showing that he’s unable to properly focus and his stamina is too low. If he were to try to do the same with this storm he’d not only fail, but do some permanent damage to his body in the process. It would be best if we called the match now, but we should at least give them the chance to settle this before we intervene.”

“I agree with you that we should let them be the ones to decide when this ends,” remarked Razor with a smirk. “But you shouldn’t write off Ralph like he’s already lost.”

“He is out of options,” the Ampharos reminded Razor. “An Electric Type with no stamina and nor electricity cannot hope to win. The best Ralph can do is pick himself up and become a target. He can only resist and delay the inevitable, but that’s all. How do you expect him to win when he has no real options at this point?”

“By watching and seeing what options he believes are open to him,” answered the Weavile. “After all, the only one who can truly define Ralph’s limits are Ralph himself.”


“That was… amazing,” groaned Ralph face down on the ground.

“What was that?” asked Zira, unsure what the Pichu was saying. “I can’t hear you.”

“I said,” he spoke, lifting his head up to be more audible to her. “That was amazing. You absorbed all that power and boy did I feel that last attack. Ouch. Really painful.”

“Well, if you want some more pain, I’ve got plenty of energy left,” she told him. “So, let’s cut the small talk and finish up. Sorry to say, but I’m not gonna let you stall to catch your breath.”

“It was worth a try,” he coughed before slowly getting on his feet. Ralph was barely able to remain properly balanced. He could feel his consciousness fading a bit and his vision, all signs that this battle. The fact that he was still able to continue on was out of his own force of will, though the small mouse Pokemon was starting to wonder if it was even worth it to keep going at this point. He was clearly on his last legs and Zera looked like she was done warming up. “I honestly don’t know if there’s too much more I can do at this point.”

“Then, I suppose this is the part where you admit defeat,” she stated as she charged up for her next attack. “Not there is any shame in that. You fought admirably and proved just how strong you are.”

“How strong I am?” thought Ralph as Zera’s next attack came. With what little energy he was able to muster, Ralph leapt out of the way. Expecting that, Zera attacked again, in the direction Ralph moved in. Too tired to keep moving about, this second attack would have hit the Pichu, but slipping and sliding on the grass helped get him narrowly escape again. “What’s there to know? I’m just a weak, little mouse that has been working his tail off to gain strength. Yet, in the end, I haven’t changed. I’m still too small and weak to win in a fight. I am still now powerful enough to save my friends. I can’t even save myself.”

Zera continued to send blasts of electricity at Ralph. Doing his best to dodge out of the way, this only saved him from a couple more of her attacks before she figured the timing for her strikes and began to connect, chipping away at what little strength Ralph had left. Ralph attempted to try dodging again, but Zera was too quick to allow him the chance. She just kept pelting him with balls of static, giving them enough kick to beat him back while still being cautious not to rough him up any more than he already was.


“It’s over,” decided Turbine as the battle had become completely one-sided. “I’m going to declare Zera the winner.”

“Hold on a minute,” Razor interrupted her. “You can’t call this battle just yet.”

“Do you honestly think Ralph even has a chance at this point?” she questioned Razor. “I understand you took him under your wing and have grown quite fond of him, but as much as might want him to succeed, to prolong this battle of futility any longer will benefit nobody. The fact that he has done this well is enough of a testament of his growth. He should just accept this defeat and let it motivate him to continue training hard.”

“I’m sure he knows that regardless of winning or losing,” stated Razor. “And I don’t know all the finer points of Electric Type Pokemon and their powers. What I do know is the pain of loss that comes with defeat. I’ve felt it before and after that incident Ralph went through not that long ago, he knows Ralph it too. It makes the thought of losing even more painful than the hurt from any physical attack.”

“And this is supposed to somehow allow him to win this battle?” she asked.

“It means he’s about to do something stupid, crazy, and potentially suicidal,” he answered.

“All the more reason to put a stop to this now,” stated the Ampharos, growing more concerned after hearing this. “Don’t you care what will happen to him?”

“Of course I do,” he admitted. “But he truly wants to be a Guardian now. That means only he can choose how he battles from now on, including if he should give in against a more powerful opponent or push himself to find a way to surpass his limits to win.”


“Time for the final blow!” declared Zera, building up her electricity for one last strong attack at Ralph to end the battle between them.

Ralph stared back, certain that even if he somehow managed to avoid defeat at the next upcoming attack, he’d just pass out before she charged up for another. “I have to go back on the offensive,” he analyzed. “But I’m out of electricity. So was Zera…” Ralph looked up at the storm overhead still rumbling lowly a few bolts of lightning flashing in the sky. “Till she recharged herself. Heh, like I could do the same with much less experience and almost totally exhausted. I’d just end up burnt to a crisp if I did.” Taking a deep breath, Ralph just sighed. “I really have no hope of winning. The only choice left available to me is how I wanna accept my defeat. Maybe, standing upright to the bitter end. I suppose would be the most graceful way.”

“All charged up,” announced Zera, her body crackling with all the power she was about to unleash. “If you plan to do anything like surrender, now would be the time to do it.”

“As much as I’d love to quit right now,” stated Ralph. “You’d see this fight through to the end, right? Well, at the very least, I should be able to do that too.”

“Far be it from me to not let your defeat be spectacular,” Zera smiled. “Well, here it comes. I can promise that this won’t not hurt.”

“Uh, what?” questioned Ralph, a bit confused by what she said, but Zera was already unleashing her full might, as electricity shout out of her tail and blazed a trail straight at the Pichu. Silently, Ralph shut his eyes, and waited for it to strike him, followed by the intense pain consuming his body and, finally, for consciousness to leave him immediately after.

“Just a few more seconds,” he thought as he calmly took a breath. “Then it’ll be all over.” Ralph exhaled, feeling at peace with this defeat or at least that’s what he thought, but in this final moment the scars on his cheek started to sting as if the wound that caused them was still there.

The memory of that night flooded back to Ralph as he fought and lost against that Zoruark and with it his friend, Treecko. Tears welled in his eyes as he gritted his teeth and clenched his paws tightly. “All this hard work and training to get stronger and I’m still so weak,” he sobbed. “I need to get stronger so I never have to lose again. Not in a fight or not another friend. I need more… I need more power…”

“More power?” questioned Zera as her attack was fast approaching him. “No sense in regretting your defeat now. Just accept that you’ve lost.”

“I need more…” breathed Ralph as he turned his head up to the sky to shout. “POWER!!!”

Thunder boomed its loudest yet overhead and then a huge bolt shot down onto Ralph, enveloping him in it’s light. Zera’s attack connected, but it merely got lost in the electricity surrounding her target. “Chu!!!” screamed Ralph feeling the overwhelming intensity of the storm flow through him. His cheeks were sparking from the overflowing amount, their bright yellow coloration of them turning to orange and then quickly to red.

“Ralph!” cried Zera, calling to him. “That’s too much! You can’t handle all that! It’ll kill you!”

“This has gone too far now,” stated Turbine as she got up to intervene.

“I take it he’s done something stupid,” replied Razor.

“Suicidal is more accurate,” she told him. “But yes, extremely stupid. I will have to hurry and absorb all that excess power before it causes any permanent damage to him. I shouldn’t have allowed you to make me hesitate in ending this battle before something like this happened”

“You can cast all the blame you want on me,” the Weavile conceded as he looked upon Ralph’s struggle, peering through the blinding light at him as best he could. “But not strength comes from training the power in one’s body and nurturing the wisdom of one’s mind. There is also the challenging the courage in one’s heart. Ralph has chosen to challenge his limits and to surpass them and right now, I couldn’t be prouder of him.

Turbine, ignored Razor’s words to focus on the Pichu in distress. She approached Ralph, unflinching at the voltage wildly discharging from him. With her own, she effortlessly repelled it out of her way to get in as close as she could to the red electricity surrounding Ralph. Seeing such an intense shade of crimson lightning and so much of it twisted Turbine’s insides from the horrific sight of it alone. “I can only imagine the guilt you feel in your heart to push yourself like this,” she spoke to him, unsure if he was even still conscious to hear her words. “But to go down such a path will only lead to your own destruction.”

Turbine moved her paw towards the electricity, prepared to draw it all into herself and rescue Ralph. She was about to, but paused and looked on in awe. “Is he…?”

“What’s wrong?” called Zera to Turbine. “Save Ralph! Hurry!”

“I might not need to,” she told her student then looked back at Razor. “Could he have known or is it merely a coincidence?” Turbine looked back at Ralph again. “Either way, this little Pichu… is truly remarkable.”

“Chuuuuu!!!” shrieked Ralph the blood red electricity crackling over every inch of his body. The pain was far more intense than any he had ever experienced before, but just as he felt like he was truly on the verge of overloading, the pain started to fade as the voltage flowed into him like a raging river rushing to fill in an empty ocean. The danger red sparks started to change back to warning orange and then back once more to a safe yellow hue again. “Chuuu! Pi!!! Pichu!!!” breathed the tiny mouse Pokemon as he felt his body filling up with the storm’s power.

“What’s happening to him?” asked Zera. “He was on the verge of overload, but now he’s fine? How is that even possible?”

“The time was just right, it seems,” sighed Turbine as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. “I can’t say he was any less stupid for being this reckless. He should just count his blessings that it was simply his time.”

“His time?” questioned Zera, annoyed that her teacher had to be so cryptic. However, as she looked at Ralph once more, she understood. “You can’t be serious.”

“Chuuu!!!” Piiiii!!! Chuuuu!!!” Ralph kept breathing, feeling like a sponge absorbing countless watts of power. Ralph’s whole body was alight, illuminating that spot of the forest for all the spectating Pokemon to see. As they watched they all soon realized they were witnessing something truly incredible.

“Ralph,” spoke Aipom, teary-eyes as she gripped an unconscious Nuzleaf by his shoulders. “I’m so glad that you’re going to be alright.” Looking back at Nuzleaf, she started to shake him roughly, attempting to awaken him. “Come on you idiot. This is Ralph’s big moment. You have to be awake to see this too.”

Little by little, Ralph’s body was undergoing numerous changes. His diminutive body had become growing taller and bigger by the second, more than doubling his size. At the same time, his ears stretched, getting longer while, at the same time, more narrow. More length jutted from his tail. The color changed to yellow, with some brown at the base. His longer tail also became flat and took on a zigzag shape like that of a lightning bolt. The pink dots on his cheeks turned red and the coulich atop his head even split into two. Once all these changes were complete, Ralph’s voice developed a little too, loosing it’s higher pitch for tone that big of a deeper, bolder one. “Piii!!! Chuuuu!!! Piii!!! Chuuu!!! PIIIIIIIKAAAAAAA!!! CHUUUUUUU!!!”

The bolt of lightning finally vanished as every last bit was contained within the newly evolved Pokemon. The clouds overhead began to part and sunlight began to leak through and reilluminate the area, creating a spotlight on both Zera and Ralph. The former just continued to stand there motionless, amazed at her rival’s transformation. Ralph, on the other hand remained in a daze after that ordeal. His whole body glowed and crackled with the overwhelming power it now contained. All the spectator Pokemon and even Turbine and Zera backed away cautiously, unsure what was to happen next. Razor leaned forward a bit, smirking as he awaited the unknown.

“Nice job,” Razor replied, more invested in this fight than ever. “You shattered your limits. Now let’s see just what lies beyond it.

Nose wrinkling, Ralph opened his mouth wide. “Aaah… Aaah! Chu!” he sneezed, sending blasts of electricity out of his body in several directions. Each stream of electricity blasted a path through the ground in an aimless path. One came close to hitting Zera, but veered away at the last second. “Scuse me,” sniffled Ralph as he rubbed his nose. He sounded a bit congested. “I think I caught a bit of a cold. Probably wasn’t the best idea for us to battle in all this rain. I just hope that Ms. Chansey doesn’t find out about this. I can already imagine the lecture she’ll give me if she finds out I’ve been playing in the middle of a storm.”

“Uh, I suppose so,” nodded Zera with a surprised look on her face. “Do you even realize what happened?”

“Uh, come to think of it, I think I spaced out near the end,” he said with a smiling, blushy face. “Heh. Sorry about that, but I guess you won.”

“N-No,” she told him, very surprised that he was suddenly so calm after that display of his newfound power from a simple sneeze. “Well, I guess I did win, but don’t you realize what’s happened to you? Don’t you feel different?”

“Different?” asked Ralph as he scratched his head. “Besides getting a little cold, I don’t… think… so...” As his paw scratched at his head, Ralph realized that something did feel different about his palm and his head. Looking at his arm, it was no longer the tiny nub it once was, but a fair bit longer. His fur was also a more vivid yellow. “Chu?” Looking over his body some more, Ralph saw that the fur on the rest of his body was the same, bolder hue and that he was a great deal larger than he was at that lightweight baby Pokemon stage.

Spotting a nearby puddle, Ralph stared at his reflection and saw that he was no longer staring at a Pichu, but a Pikachu. “I… evolved?” he spoke in awe.

“Congrats,” said Zera, managing to get over the shock of it. Ralph was taking his turn to be.

“I’m a Pikachu,” he said again with growing excitement. “I’m a Pikachu!”

“I guess that battle was the last push you needed,” she smiled, walking to her friend who was jumping for joy at this wondrous achievement of his. “Now, how do you feel?”

“Amazing!” he answered, focusing some electricity into his cheeks. As they sparked he could already see how much this power this new form of his overshadowed his previous one. “Come on, let’s battle!”

“What? Again?” cried Zera, not expecting this. “But aren’t you tired after the last one, not to mention just evolving?”

“Are you kidding?” he replied clenching his paws, barely able to contain his excitement. “I’ve never felt better. Achoo!” He sneezed again, causing his cheeks to crackle. “Well, save for this little cold.”

“Well, if you insist,” she agreed, hesitantly at first. Closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath she calmed her mind to refocus herself. Her own cheeks sparking now, she opened her eyes to show a look of equal determination to Ralph’s. “Yeah, another round, but don’t think you’re stronger than me now just because you evolved. I’m actually feeling pretty good now too.”

“Then time to get started!” declared Ralph.

“You aren’t going to stop them?” asked Razor as Turbine sat back down to spectate.

“The danger has passed,” she replied. “And as you said before, the only ones who can truly decide how this battle should end is those two. Looking in their eyes now, I doubt I could stop them. Still, that was far too close for comfort. Ralph was incredibly lucky he evolved when he did or the outcome would have been much different.”

“Well, no guts no glory,” chuckled Razor, only to get a furious glare from Turbine in his face. Her whole body crackled with an even greater intensity than Ralph’s did when he was hit by that bolt of lightning. Even the Pokemon watching from further away could feel it, their fur standing on end from it.

“And later, we are going to have a long talk about the ideals you instill in your students from now on,” she snapped at him. “A very long and painful talk.”

“Uh, heheh,” he chuckled nervously. “I’ll look forward to it.” Turbine powered down and returned to her seat. Razor gasped for breath, certain that he wouldn’t have survived her wrath.

“Pika!” shouted Ralph, building up his electricity even more. “Chu!”

“Pachuri!” cried Zera doing the same. “Su!”

A bolt of electricity shot straight up from both of them, piercing the clouds overhead and allowing more sunlight to shine through on the ground below. All the Pokemon watching were silent after this, unable to do anything but watch this battle proceed. The two Electric types stared one another down and then charged at one another.

As they got close, Ralph leapt over Zera and spun around to deliver a blast of electricity at her. Using her tail as a shield, she withstood the attack and countered with a volley of lightning strikes right back at him. Ralph dodged them as he once more ran circles around Zera. As he sprinted on all fours he found his body was now much faster and agile than before, only adding to the excited look on his face.

“That’s not gonna work on me this time,” warned Zera as she stopped Ralph in his tracks with a blast of electricity right in front of his face. Following that up, Zera unleashed a higher wattage one directly at Ralph.

Reacting to his, Ralph rolled out of the way to avoid it. Seeing her chance, Zera leapt at Ralph, doing a somersault in the process. Her tail shined bright as she focused her strength into it, and brought it down on the Pikachu. Ralph met this attack with his own, swinging his body around quickly to strike back with his own tail, shining just as brightly. The two attacks connected, clanging more like iron weapons than tails. The end result of the clash proved a draw, with both merely getting pushed back by the force of the collision.

“I’ve got a nice tail now too,”smiled Ralph. “Don’t you think.”

“It’s okay,” Zera admitted. “But save your bragging for when you actually manage to beat me.”

“Don’t worry,” he smirked. “When I win, you won’t ever hear the end of it.”

Tails shining once more, Ralph and Zera clashed once more, swinging their tails at one another as they either blocked it with their own or swiftly dodged and countered. When one managed to connect with an attack, they managed to hit the other back, but they stood their ground and just fought back harden, moving fast and lashing out with even more power than before.

“Wow, look at them go,” observed Razor as he unblinkingly watched the clash. “If they keep this up they might even prove a challenge for us some day.”

“That’s because they are rivals,” commented the Fraxure, Fang. “They push each other to their limits and find even greater strength within themselves as a result.”

“Yeah, who knows how much stronger they could get by the end of this,” nodded Razor before realizing he was talking to someone who hadn’t been sitting beside him a moment ago. “Fang? Where did you come from?”

“I saw the twin lightning bolts pierce the heavens and came to check it out,” he explained. “I’m a little upset that you didn’t invite me to watch the fight.”

“It didn’t have anything to do with you anyway,” replied Razor as he did his best to ignore the sharp-tusked Pokemon.

“Well, I’m not the only one who came to check it out,” he mentioned, looking at the larger crowd of Pokemon gathering to watch the battle between Ralph and Zera. “Not the only Guardian among them either.”

“Guess Ralph’s evolution won’t be much of a surprise for them when this battle tournament takes place,” figured Razor. “And, after witnessing this, they won’t go easy on him for still being so new to the role.”


Ralph managed another solid blow with his tail on Zera, sending her flying back a bit. Not letting up, he decided to try adding something new to the mix as he channeled the electricity in his body into his tail. “Okay,” he panted, feeling a bit winded after the brawl so far. “Let’s see how you like this!” Swinging his tail once more, he unleashed the energy stored within it as he did, firing out a sphere of electricity at Zera.

Seeing the powerful attack headed right at her, Zera met it with some electricity of her own, but the sphere merely powered through it and zapped her with it’s full force. She cried out in pain and dropped to her paws gasping hard.

“So, how was that?” asked Ralph, feeling quite proud of that one.

“Okay, you got me good with that one,” Zera admitted, raising head up, not looking defeated quite yet. “Care if I give it a try?” Not waiting for an answer from Ralph, Zera just did as he had and stored up a ton of electricity into her tail. When she had enough, she swung her tail and sent her own sphere of voltage at him.

Ralph was quick to dodge out of the way, but Zera was just as speedy to charge up for another to send at Ralph. In response, Ralph started to assault her back in kind. In no time at all balls of static were being flung all over the field. Wherever they landed and whatever they hit was quickly zap with an intense amount of voltage.

For several minutes, the two kept one another at bay with these attacks, but at the same time it quickly depleted most of the electricity the two had stores up. By the time they stopped, they had saved just enough for one last powerful attack each. Looking at one another, they felt exhausted and could see so was the other. The conclusion of the fight was close at hand now.

“Guess this the end, huh,” panted Ralph. “Finally, it’s my time to win.”

“You win?” breathed Zera. “You’re on your last legs for the second time now.”

“You look plenty tired as well,” observed Ralph. “Why don’t we just finish this fight once and for all? One more with everything we have left. What do you say?”

“Eh, why not,” she agreed. “We did come here to give everyone here a good show, after all.”

Both smirked at one another as they got onto a running stance. Their cheeks sparked as they channeled every last bit of power their could muster over their bodies, making them spark and crackle with electricity. Then, they started to charge at one another, accelerating to their top speed and with no intention of anything but a head on collision.

“PIKA! CHUUU!!!” shouted Ralph.

“PACHU! RIII!!! SUUU!!!” roared Zera.

The two Pokemon connected head to head. Their attacks met with each other attempting to overtake the other, but neither was willing to give in. Instead, the power just kept getting pushed back and forth between then until, like a bubble, it burst and discharged at both of them in a huge and blinding explosion that engulfed them both.

“PIII!” cried Ralph.

RISUUU!!!” screamed Zera.

The audience was silent as the watched and watched for the smoke of the explosion to clear up and show which, if either of them was still standing after that clash. A few breezes helped to clear it away and reveal the scene before them. Zera was on the ground, barely held up by a single paw. She was panting heavily and staring up at Ralph who was somehow still on his feet.

“Not bad… huh… Zera,” he panted heavily. Then Ralph slowly fell onto his back,

“Not bad at all,” agreed Zera as she found some strength to sit up.

“That was quite a battle,” chuckled Razor, feeling goosebumps from that last charge they did at one another. Getting off his seat, he walked over to help Ralph off the wet ground. “Since we’re done here, I’d best take Ralph to get some rest and a bit of healing.”

“Uh, it might not be a good idea for you to move him,” warned Turbine.

“Don’t worry,” assured Razor. “I’ll be careful with him.” As Razor reached down to pick up the new Pikachu, he felt as electricity surged from the mouse Pokemon into every inch of his being, electrocuting him quite thoroughly.

“Because he might still have a charge left from that last attack,” Turbine finished.

“Now you tell me,” he groaned before collapsing to the ground beside Ralph.

“Guess we’re gonna have to take both of them to get healed now,” sighed Turbine. “Zera, how are you feeling?”

“Exhausted, bruised, and jittery,” she admitted. “And strangely the best I think I’ve ever felt.”

“Well, after a hard fought battle like that I wouldn’t doubt that,” smiled Turbine. “Do you think you can stand?”

“Just give me a minute,” Zera answered before rising back to her feet. “Okay, I’m up.”

“Then let’s take you and them to Ms. Chansey to recover,” instructed Turbine as she worked to carry both Ralph and Razor. “You too.”

“I can help,” Zera insisted and hefted Ralph onto her back. “It’s the least I can do for him.”

As the two of them made their way from the scorched remains of the battlefield, Fang watched them go as he processed what he had seen of the battle. “I’d best get back to my own training too. This tournament is going to be quite intense if this match is any indication.” Looking around, he checked on the other spectating Pokemon. “Looks like I’m not the only one thinking this as well.”


“Uh, what happened?” groaned Nuzleaf as he finally regained consciousness. “Is the battle over yet?”

“It just ended,” Aipon told him looking relieved.

“And Ralph,” he asked. “Did he win?”

“In a way I think he did,” she told him.

“Uh, what does that mean?” he added.

“You’ll see when we go to check up on him later,” she said as she started to disperse with the rest of the crowd of Pokemon.

“Oh, come on!” complained Nuzleaf as he chased after her. “Tell me what happened!”


“He’s here,” announced Abra all of a sudden as he turned up toward the sky.

“It’sss about time,” hissed Serviper.

“Over here! Over here!” waved Lickitung, signaling the Pokemon flying overhead to land by them. Spotting him, the Pokemon whooshed over, flying past the trio. He then circled back before landing with a mighty THUD! that shook the ground. Lickitung clapped in excitement as he looked over the orange, scaly lizard that stood before them. His tail flickered with a mighty flame and he looked down at them with a powerful gaze from his blue eyes. Across his chest and belly he had old scars from claw marks in the shape of an ‘X’ “S-So cool!” exclaimed the Lickitung.

“I trust you found the place okay, Charizard,” Abra told him.

“Call me Spitfire,” he replied. “And it has been ages since the last time I came here.” He looked down at the scars on his body, rubbing them. “It wasn’t exactly what I expected when you asked me to cause some trouble for the Pokemon living here.”

“We promissse you that it won’t be like that thisss time,” stated Serviper. “You will be a Guardian for thisss land, as you requested.”

“Yeah, Abra filled me in on all the details through one of his contacts,” he replied. “It sounds like a sweet offer and this tournament you plan on holding is an intriguing idea too. You did say that Weavile, Razor, was still here and taking part in it, didn’t you?”

“And I’m sure you would like to finally get some payback on him,” figured Abra. “Well, we’d like it if you could help us do away with him and a few others among them that could prove problematic for us. If you do, you can expect even greater rewards for your efforts.”

“Then, consider it done,” smirked Charizard. “Oh, and I take it that you three are the ones who are setting up the bracket for the tournament?”

“Of courssse,” snaked Serviper. “We want to ensure thingsss will play out in our favor.”

“Well, if I’m going to help you, I’d like to make a request of you right now,” he told them.

“We’re listening,” replied Abra with intrigue as he looked upon the pointy teeth of the dragon’s devious grin.


Part 1 End