The Final Battle

     Looking at Blaine, it was sad. He just wanted out like me, I couldn't blame him for everything. Even though it made my life hell at some points. The note he handed me. I knew where route 22 was. I had been there before when I picked up Flappers, the first Pokémon I ever caught, so long ago.

A short time later

     I stood there for a bit. Waiting for something to happen. It appeared I was given a fake note. Dammit Blaine. I knew you coul-

Br..Bryan?!

Yes.. no thanks to you.

     "Well we did it! We beat all the gym leaders!" Bryan exclaimed. "We?! You didn't do anything. My team and I defeated these people, we deserve to be let go.. Game Master." Bryan finally made eye contact. Very sternly at that. "Blaine told you didn't he? That old man. This was his final shot you know? I never tell anyone, but after a while I get tired of watching them lose all the time and I put them out of their misery."

     My mouth dropped. He was working me the whole time. "You are a human, how can you be so cruel? These aren't just NPC's these are people. How could you and Oak possibly justify these actions?" "Oak didn't have a single good idea for creating this world. This is my project. Mine and mine alone."

     "I am going to defeat you Bryan. We are going to defeat you." I threw every ball I had out and my team was ready to fight beside me. "Is this how it ends? A Pokémon fight? How do you know I won't cheat? I did make this game after all? I could have brand new, powerful, unheard of Pokémon and crush you and your team." Bryan asked snarkily.

     "You won't do that because it's no fun. You want to prove you can beat me with your current team." "You know me so well. Let's not waste anymore time then. The fate of this world is in your hands."

Bring it!

For all the people in this world

Smaug, I remember you becoming part of the team in Celadon. Thank you.

     Smaug kicked it off against Pidgeot. A great air battle took place high above the clouds and we waited on baited breath to see who would end up winning. In no time at all we see a bird fall the ground. 1-0. "Heh. Lucky."

     Smaug was doing fine and I let him stay out for the next Pokémon. Gyarados. The giant water serpent unleashed a fierce ice beam at Smaug. Killing him. RIP Smaug. 1-1 "Damn you Bryan."

     "Tyson! You are out next!" Tyson looked at Smaug and looked sad. I put my hand on his back and he knew it was time to fight and took out Gyarados with a mighty

THUNDERPUNCH! 2-1

     Tyson held his hands high. Knowing it was do or die. "Great job Tyson! I knew you could do it."  I waited on Bryan to throw out his next beast. Alakazam. He had chose well. I tried taking Tyson back but Alakazam was just too fast for me and unleashed a huge psychic attack. Tyson had died RIP Tyson. 2-2

     "Get out there Tank!" Tank looked over the two bodies on the ground and he looked at me. Wondering what his fate would be.

It begins to Rain.

Resist!

    

     Alakazam motioned toward Tank, implying he had hurry and fight him. Tank jumped high into the air, and came crashing down in front of Alakazam and picked him up and slammed him twice in a row.

Defeating him 3-2.

     Tank looked confident and decided to take a rest to heal. Bryan sent out Growlithe. Growlithe began blowing fire at Tank and he just wouldn't wake up.  Growlithe burned Tank alive. RIP Tank 3-3

     I sent out Excalibird and had her begin avenging the lives of her fallen friends. Growlith looked ready and began blowing fire again.

Not again.

..what?!

Switched for Rhyhorn?!

     Rhyhorn took the hit with ease. Excalibird was one hit away from the Graveyard and it was up to us to defeat this new behemoth.. or at least.. try to slow it down. Suddenly, Excalibird jumped up and began shaking it's tail feather.

Just stay friends!

Get ready Bryan..

It's about to get wet..

SURF! 4-3

     I decided to withdraw Tsunami because I knew what he had left and knew it was up to my team to end him. Venusaur was out next.

     Excalibird was soon sent out to deal with him and.. he crushed the poor thing under his own weight. She was just too weak to escape. RIP Excalibird 4-4. The rain continued to fall on us and it was making for quite the scene.

     Scramblers and Tsunami were all I had left. I decided to save Tsunami for Growlithe and Scramblers could deal with Venusaur. Scramblers attacked the grass Pokémon with great force, but he took the attack full force, but lived.

Good job!

     Venusaur took Scramblers and locked him into his mouth and crunched down until he moved no longer RIP Scramblers 4-5. Bryan withdrew Venusaur and healed him. Tsunami versus Venusaur would have to wait.. for now. Delaying the inevitable.

     Growlithe came out and roared hard at Tsunami showing no fear. Surfed. 5-5

     Finally, just the way it began. Starter versus starter. After all this time it felt like we were back in the lab just for a second at least. "Tsunami! Use ice beam!". 6-5. "I won. We won Tsunami! We did it! I hugged him and we felt the wave of relief after a long journey wash over us."

     "NO! NO! NO! NO! You can't win. I won't allow it. I'll take you with this world! Delete this partition!" I didn't understand, but I knew to run when I saw everything being deleted, including the ground below me. Tsunami hopped into his Pokéball and I took him with me. I had to leave the rest of the team behind. I'm.. I'm sorry.

     Running back to Pallet Town. I saw no Pokémon, I was scared. I knew this was it. Maybe it wouldn't hurt you know? Maybe it would be quick? I had to keep running. Had to get to my room. Where I first woke up.

Made it.

Go to sleep.

     I did what they asked. I beat the gym leaders and here I am hiding under a blanket for protection from an unknown force. If you are reading this. Take notes. You just might be the next one pulled in.

Go to sleep. Go to sleep.

Come on..

...

      I awake in a digital world to find an old NES, a dresser, and a computer. I hop out of the lumpy bed nd walk towards the computer. I begin to find a life that isn't mine. My face and memory is the same. My heart begins to race and I start down a flight of stairs I see to my right.

The Game Leader

     I decided the final place to look for Blaine was the first town I arrived at, the place where I had met him for the very first time, Viridian City. Long ago he told me it was the final gym, it's what he didn't tell me that worries me. I got Excalibird out and decided to fly back to the city for what was my final battle in this world. I could feel my heart beating.

     Looking down over Pallet Town, I think about what I have been through and just how far I have come. I finally arrive at Viridian after a bit and decide to heal. I look around and there is no Pokémon hospital. Odd.

     In fact, a lot of the town is missing. The PokéMart is dust. The townspeople are nowhere to be found, whether they fled or perished I'll never know. What I do know if everything is gone.. except the gym. Found you.

     The door is finally unlocked and I see the final gym leader, the true leader of Team Rocket, my former friend, the man they call Blaine.

     "You always had a knack for catching me at the worst times my boy. I told you a long time ago, my name is Blaine. What I didn't tell you is that I am the final gym leader." "Let me get this straight. You helped me accumulate this amount of power and these Pokémon just to finally face off one on one?"

Huh?

     He laughed and explained "It's as simple as this. If one of these gym leaders had beaten you, they would have had the next chance at escape. I put together a group of NPC trainers and Giovanni and called them Team Rocket just for you to become strong enough to face me."

     "You finally made it and I couldn't be prouder of you. Now when I defeat you. I will take your body in the real world and finally evolve past being an NPC and live a real life! You are my chance to live!"

Stop laughing!

     Shaking with anger I take my Pokéball and throw it, Tsunami pops out and is ready for the battle. I yell to Blaine "You are sick. You want to do this?! Fine. I challenge you as the final lea-" "Wait. I want to do this differently than the other gyms before. I have seen your bond with Tsunami and I have a similar bond with my first Pokémon. One that I earned so many years ago. I say we challenge each other with our friends. Our first Pokémon." "I agree. Winner takes all." and with that the fight is on.

The Man They Call Blaine vs. The Last Hope of Kanto

Tsunami vs. Arcanine

     Arcanine comes out and it's angry. A formidable beast the likes I have never seen before in this world. Blaine calls out to the hound and he cheap shots Tsunami. "That's not fair!" I yell at Blaine. "This world isn't fair and it's time you finally find that out my boy!"

     I attempt to use Tsunami's water cannons but Arcanine is just too quick and grazes Tsunami with a blast of fire. I have to get him in close but I can't let Tsunami get a direct hit from that attack otherwise I lose it all.

     Tsunami ducks into his shell and waits for Arcanine to get close enough. The beast runs up and begins chewing on the outer shell of Tsunami! "NOW!"

"Got him."

"NO!"

     Tsunami begins flooding the gym and I leave my side to attack Blaine head on. It was going to be a fair fight and now he has taken it too far. I grab his wrists and hold him down as Tsunami releases one final wave of water on the whole gym including Arcanine.

"We did it!"

Finally.

Puns!

My badge!

     With the battle finally over, I try to grab Blaine's hand and he smacks it away, "I can get up on my own. You are truly the greatest trainer this game has seen maybe you are ready.."

"A note?"

     "I knew after all of my planning it wasn't a sure thing to beat you. You had that certain something that made these creatures fight even harder for you that I couldn't account for. That's why you have that note. I am dying soon and it has all the info-" Blaine slumped over and fell to the floor.

     I opened the note and it said two things. One was a poorly drawn map. "Glenn, head west. Toward Route 22. The Game Leader will be there." One final loose end? I thought I was done! Who is "he"?

Like Dust

     After seeing the Professor I felt good; ready to take on Cinnabar Island and Blaine with it. I surfed south on the great sea to a tiny little island. Cinnabar. I hopped off of Tsunami too early and my feet got wet. Lucky me.

I need to stretch.



     Finding Blaine would be a fairly easy task so I decide to slosh my way to the Pokémon Hospital and heal my team. It looked odd actually. The lights were half on. No nurse at the counter. Nobody was around. I had seen the machine used countless times so I decided to heal my own team and left before anything out of the ordinary could happen.

     I knew that what I had seen was solely due to the world crumbling. I still had time to take on the final gyms. I looked ahead and saw the Gym. Blaine was there. I head in and decimated the underlings and find my way to...

Gio..Giovanni?

     I walk up to the man I had battled many a time before and got in his face,"COME ON! Where is Blaine? He was supposed to be here. Why are you here?" He begins to laugh.

It says gym outside, this is actually worse than the switch behind the poster.

It had glory?

Let's dance.

..until I face Blaine.



Screw all that, it's battle time!

     I throw out Tsunami just because he knows Giovanni as well as I do. Giovanni throws out Dugtrio and he soon realizes what he is in for.

Surf #1

Surf #2

Surf #3 and so on..

Hardly..

You couldn't have given this to me the previous two times?

Thanks.. freedom would be nice too.

Is that what we are calling this now?

..for a third time.

YES! YES! YES!

 
      "Blaine is on his own now. I can't defend him for his actions against you and this world. He is no longer my master and I.. we need you to defeat him. All of us. I lost my body long ago and instead of freedom I choose to become a part of this game. I wanted power I couldn't have outside of this program. In the end, I was just as useless."

Alright.. but you are going to.. you know.. die soon.

Maybe..

     I am still not sure if he died. Maybe the world collapsing had started taking players. Or maybe he had found a way to not observe the rules of this world. He simply drifted away pixel by pixel like dust caught in a breeze. He looked happy. I guess I'll never know what became of him.

Goodbye.. friend.