Memoirs of a Pokemon Master CHAPTER 22 Post Tournament Adventures

"Yeah! So prepare for trouble!" - Lilly

I was laying on the sofa in my house with the television remote control in my hand, flipping through the channels, trying to find something good on. Raichu and clefairy were snoozing on the recliner next to the sofa. A knock came from the door. The clefairy hopped up and opened the door. Alexia and her raichu stepped in.

"Hello clefairy." Alexia said.

"Clefairy!" Clefairy responded. Alexia's raichu hopped up on the recliner with my raichu.

"Dull day?" Alexia asked.

"Yup." I responded.

"Wanna go to the arcade?" She asked.

"Nah. Andrew and Ian have got a monopoly on that place." I said.

"Well how about this?" She tossed a pamphlet to me. "It's the International Ultra Ball Tournament."

"Out of one tournament and into another huh? Sounds like fun." I said.

The Ultra Ball tournament was to be held in New Orleans in North America. Our parents paid our airfare to New Orleans. We were staying at the Hilton and the tournament was being held in the Super Dome. There was a pre-show before the tournament. Some bands came and played and a stand up comedian came and spoke to all of the trainers.

"Greeeeeeetings y'all! And welcome all you dang foreigners from other nations! Oh Lord please bless them and prepare them for the butt whoopin' they are about to receive!" It was Jeff Foxworthy!

After the pre-show we were led to the American locker room. There were only four of us. Two guys I didn't recognize, me and Alexia. We were going to be competing in four different competitions and the best two from each country was to fight in a free for all competition for the Ultra Ball Cup. We decided on who was going to take what competition. Alexia took the skill competition, I took the power competition, one guy took the speed competition, the last guy took the battle competition. We stepped out into the dome. There were trainers from around the globe : Japanese, Italian, Chinese, Vietnamese, and American. All together there were twenty of us.

The skill competition was first. Alexia and the four other competitors took their positions on the floor. A large bulls-eye was constructed. A balloon was placed at the center. The objective was to pop the balloon in the least amount of time and with great skill. The Japanese competitor went first. He let out a machop. The machop did a jump kick at the balloon. He hit the balloon, popped it and knocked down the bulls-eye. They picked up the bulls-eye again and replace the balloon. The Italian competitor let out a pidgeotto. The pidgeotto flew up high and dive bombed the balloon. The balloon popped and the pidgeotto went through the bulls-eye. They repaired the bulls-eye and replaced the balloon. The Chinese competitor went next. She let out a scyther. The scyther jumped up and sliced at the balloon but missed the target. It jumped again and sliced the balloon neatly in half without touching the bulls-eye. They replaced the balloon and the Vietnamese competitor let out a charmeleon. The charmeleon shot a fire ball at the balloon. The balloon melted and the bulls-eye got charred. Alexia went up next after they replaced the balloon. Her raichu shot a thunder bolt at the balloon. The bulls-eye exploded and there was no sign of the balloon. The judges tallied their scores and Alexia won!

The next two competitions went pretty fast. They were saving the power competition for last. The Japanese competitor showed off his machamp's ability to bend a steel girder. The Italian competitor showed off his charizard's ability to burn a cinder block. The Chinese competitor let out his alakazam and it bent a lead pole with its mind. The Vietnamese let out a pidgeot and had it fly at high speeds to produce a shockwave that split a log. I was about to show off raichu's gigashock ability when the whole dome shook with a loud piercing sound. It was some very loud feedback. A voltorb dropped from the ceiling. The promptly exploded as me and raichu dodged out of the way. Through the smoke I could see two figures being lowered to the floor from the ceiling on ropes. When the smoke cleared I could clearly see the figures of Kirby and Lilly each holding a microphone.

"What are you doing here! You're not even part of Team Rocket anymore!" I yelled.

"Chu! Raichu!" Raichu yelled.

"It doesn't matter. Once we capture all these pokemon, we'll have redeemed ourselves!" Kirby yelled.

"Yeah! So prepare for trouble!" Lilly yelled.

"And make it double!"

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach into the stars above!"

"Lilly!"

"Kirby!"

"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

Lilly and Kirby let out their pokemon. Raichu and I were facing Team Rocket alone. The rest of the trainer were still stunned from the attack.

"Hmmm. Two against one. That doesn't seem exactly fair." I said. "For you."

The electrode made a tackle attack at raichu and the beedrill let loose with a pin missile attack. Raichu dodged the electrode and shot a blast of electricity at the beedrill. The pin missile attack hit raichu but raichu took no notice. Raichu did a mega punch to the electrode and a mega kick to the beedrill. The beedrill and the electrode did a double team tackle attack and they both hit raichu. Raichu stumbled back and let loose with a thunder bolt. The beedrill dodged the attack, the electrode wasn't so lucky, and tried another pin missile attack. Raichu did a swift attack on the beedrill and hit the electrode with another mega punch.

"Raichu! Gigashock!" I yelled.

"Gigashock?" Lilly asked.

"What the heck is that?" Kirby asked.

"Stick around and you'll find out." I said. Raichu began to charge up. The electrode let out a swift attack but the shooting stars of the swift attack were absorbed by raichu. Raichu kept charging the beedrill tried a tackle attack but when the beedrill hit raichu, the beedrill got shocked by the electricity flowing through raichu's body. Then without warning an electric bolt shot out from behind raichu and slammed into the beedrill and electrode. Alexia had finally come to our aid.

"Took you long enough." I said.

"I was helping people." Alexia said. "Raichu! Swift attack!"

Her raichu let loose with the swift attack. The beedrill got clobbered. Then her raichu jumped back and me and Alexia backed off to give my raichu room. The beedrill and electrode hesitated. Raichu let loose with the ultimate electric attack, gigashock. The attack slammed into beedrill, electrode, Lilly, and Kirby. The power of the attack made the electrode explode. Team Rocket and their pokemon flew into the air and through the ceiling of the dome. As they flew I heard a familiar cry.

"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!"

"An impressive display!" The announcer said. "The winner of the power competition is no doubt Trey and his raichu!"

The crowd cheered. I treated raichu with a hyper potion. Alexia and I were chosen to represent America in the free for all competition battle. The competition wasn't exactly hard and me and Alexia won easily. But we were presented not with the Ultra Ball Cup but with another challenge. To find out who would win the cup, we had to fight each other.

"We'll have to choose different pokemon this time. You know as well as I do they won't fight each other." I said as I motioned to our raichus. Alexia nodded.

Raichu tugged at my shirt. Her raichu stood next to him.

"It seems they want to fight each other." Alexia said. Our raichus nodded in unison.

"Alright then. At least it will be a good show." I said.

We were led out into the arena. It had been a long time since I had faced off against Alexia. I remembered when I did face off against her. Our pikachus wouldn't fight each other. Would they be able to fight each other now that they had evolved into raichus? My raichu took position on the arena floor. Her raichu took position opposite of him.

"I will win this battle!" Alexia said.

"Hah! You don't stand a chance!" I said with a smile. She smiled back to me.

"Raichu! Thunder wave!" Alexia yelled. Her raichu let out a wave of electricity. The attack had little effect against my raichu.

"Raichu! Agility!" Raichu ran towards her raichu. "Raichu! Mega punch!"

Once raichu was near her raichu he threw the mega punch, but her raichu dodged the attack and did a mega kick at raichu's back. Raichu tried to whip at her raichu with his tail but she jumped up and dodged. Raichu went into a body slam attack. The attack made contact. She was able to roll away and get back on her feet quickly. But raichu had already let loose with a thunder bolt attack. The attack did some damage and her raichu cried in pain. Her raichu tried to shoot a thunder bolt but raichu dodged and let loose with a swift attack. The attack hit her raichu but her raichu recovered quickly and hit raichu with a mega punch. Raichu stumbled back as her raichu let loose with a thunder bolt attack. The attack hit home and raichu cried out. Her raichu tried a mega kick but raichu was quick and dodged the attack and hit her from behind with a thunder bolt. I knew her raichu couldn't last much longer.

"Raichu! Thunder!" I yelled.

Raichu began to charge up for his thunder attack. Her raichu began to charge up as well. At the same time they let loose with their thunder attacks. The bolts of electricity met mid way and exploded. Through the smoke I saw our raichu's exchanging mega punches and mega kicks. Once the smoke cleared, they were still going at it. But the match abruptly ended when raichu hit her raichu with a mega punch upper cut to her jaw. Her raichu fell to the ground. Raichu backed off as an official went to check on her raichu. Raichu was very tired. The battle had taken a lot out of him.

"She's out!" The official said.

The ceremony of presenting the cup lasted for about ten minutes. Our pokemon had been rejuvenated. Her raichu apparently didn't hold a grudge for losing and neither did Alexia. The plane ride back home was a pleasant one. Once we got home we were greeted by Andrew and Ian.

"Dude! We got the whole tournament on tape!" Andrew said.

"That was totally cool! I never thought you two would go at it!" Ian said.

"I thought Alexia was gonna win." Andrew said.

"No way! You were cheering for Trey the whole time!" Ian said.

Alexia giggled as we went home. There was a small victory celebration after we got home. The party lasted into the night. When I woke up the next morning, I was on the floor and Alexia was on the sofa. Our raichus were sleeping together on the recliner. Ian was sleeping on the floor behind the recliner and Andrew was sleeping propped up against a wall. I checked my watch and saw that it was still early. I laid back down and went back to sleep.