Chapter 2
Out of Nowhere
Out from behind the hill came none other that Jeff Huntington. I barely knew who he was, other than the fact he was a sports jock. He seemed to have been watching the whole thing from the distance. He looked like he was just about to go to a lacrosse practice, until he decided to hang around here instead.
“The three of you have some nerve.” Jeff told us, giving us an annoyed glare, “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?”
“Jeff,” Alex said to him, “Why don’t you mind your own business? If you hung around Randy for even just five minutes, you’d realize just how worthless he really is.”
“If you want a challenge, then try fighting me!” Jeff shouted to the three of us, “I’ll make this a two on two battle. If I beat you, then you have to promise to leave Randy alone.”
“But if we win…?” David asked Jeff, expecting a response.
“Then you won’t hear from me again, understand?” Jeff told David, feeling confident that wouldn’t happen.
Some bargain. The only reward we would be getting out of beating Jeff’s Pokémon is Jeff’s humiliation, which usually came free with every successful battle. But, even if we did lose, we had no intention of backing down.
“Jake,” Alex said to me, looking at me from the corner of his eye, “Let me take care of this idiot.”
“Sure thing.” I said to him, returning my Raichu to his Pokéball.
Alex was quick as lightning when it came to beating Randy’s Pokémon up. Fighting Jeff was going to be even more interesting. Jeff had pulled out two of his Pokéballs and threw them forward.
“Go, Ampharos and Espeon!” Jeff shouted as he threw forward the two Pokéballs.
And, just like Jeff said, out of their Pokéballs came an Ampharos and an Espeon. For once, we were going to see what a real battle looked like rather than the shameful excuses that Randy kept handing to us. And at that moment, Jeff was just about to see what his adversary was capable of.
“Go, Houndoom and Mightyena!” Alex shouted as he let loose two of his Pokéballs.
Obviously, Alex had picked his nastiest Pokémon for the job. I couldn’t wait to see Jeff get wasted.
“Ampharos, use your Thunder Wave attack on Mightyena!” Jeff commanded, “Espeon, use your Light Screen.”
Clever boy. Unlike Randy, he actually had a strategy going. But Alex wasn’t through yet.
Ampharos let loose a pulsing Thunder Wave that unfortunately Mightyena had no way of avoiding. Meanwhile, Espeon coated himself with a shield of light. That wasn’t about to stop Alex’s Pokémon.
“Houndoom, use your Crunch attack on Espeon!” Alex commanded, “Mightyena, use your Howl!”
For now, it looked like Mightyena could fight off the paralyzing effects of Ampharos’s attack. He had let loose a loud howl, filling his body with ripe energy and anger. Now he looked ready to dish out some serious pain.
In the meantime, Houndoom charged right after Espeon, and rendered his sharp teeth to bite down on Espeon. After a harsh bite down from Houndoom, Espeon was knocked back, trying to stay on his feet. His light screen fended off some of the damage, but not all. Alex needed to find a way to get past that Light Screen, and soon…
While Espeon wasn’t looking too great from the Crunch attack, Mightyena looked like the Thunder Wave was starting to get to him, and he found it hard to even move. Alex had to give Mightyena a moment to recover. Meanwhile, he was making sure he was getting the maximum he could out of his type advantage over Espeon.
Jeff commanded his Ampharos to attack Mightyena with a Thunder attack. I was crossing my fingers hoping it wouldn’t hit, but Jeff got lucky this time. Mightyena was barraged with another harsh amount of electricity that slammed right on him like a sledgehammer. Still, he wasn’t down and out yet…
Meanwhile, Jeff ordered Espeon to use his Morning Sun. To our dismay, Espeon was coated with light for a brief second, and every bit of pain Houndoom had dealt to Espeon had been recovered. But Alex knew that Espeon wasn’t too much of a threat because both Houndoom and Mightyena were dark types. While Mightyena needed a brief moment to recover, Alex decided on a new target for Houndoom.
“Houndoom, use your Flamethrower on Ampharos!” Alex shouted.
Houndoom put his front paws forward, arched back his head and then let loose a red-hot stream of flames upon the unsuspecting Ampharos. Jeff’s Ampharos twitched painfully as he was slowly barbecued. Then, to our surprise, when the flames cleared, Ampharos had been inflicted with a harsh burn on his side.
Then, Jeff commanded his Ampharos to also put a Light Screen shield on himself. Ampharos was also coated by the shield, which was going to make things harder for Alex. But, he still had a plan. For now, Mightyena was back in action.
“Mightyena, use your Headbutt attack on Ampharos.” Alex commanded.
Mightyena then charged toward Ampharos, thirsty for revenge. Mightyena then put his head down, and then slammed forcefully into Ampharos, completely ignoring the effects of the Light Screen shield. Ampharos was knocked into a back flip before landing face first on the hard asphalt. Too bad for Jeff, because at that moment, Ampharos didn’t look like it could handle any more.
“Ampharos, return.” Jeff commanded as he summoned Ampharos back to his Pokéball.
Taking down Espeon was Alex’s next objective. Mightyena needed another moment to rest, so Houndoom was up for the fight. Still, Jeff’s Espeon was going to get the first strike.
“Espeon, use your Quick Attack!” Jeff shouted to Espeon.
Espeon then burst into a blur, and slammed right into Houndoom in a flash of fury. However, it was more of a surprise than a really painful attack. Houndoom growled off the pain, and then focused on his target.
“Headbutt attack.” Alex commanded, knowing that too would cut right through the Light Screen.
Houndoom lowered his head, and then charged right into Espeon, again ignoring the effects of the Light Screen. Espeon was hit hard, having very little protection against it. And best of all, Espeon flinched from the attack, hopelessly trying to shield himself with his front paws while wincing from the fury of the attack. And now, Alex was more than ready to attack again while Espeon was in a hopeless trance of trying to fight off the terror.
“One more time, Houndoom.” Alex said with a smile on his face.
Espeon was slammed again, and after rolling over a few times and laying still on his side, he didn’t get back up. Jeff had been defeated, and he looked far more miserable as he returned Espeon to his Pokéball. After that, Alex returned Houndoom and Mightyena to their respective Pokéballs.
“As long as you bother Frank and Randy every day, you’ll have to deal with me.” Jeff warned, “Mark my words.”
“I thought you said you’d stay out of our way if you lost!” David shouted back, annoyed that even puny little Jeff Huntington couldn’t even keep his own deal, “And right now, Alex just beat the pants off of your pathetic Pokémon!”
“Well,” Jeff remarked, crossing his arms, “I changed my mind, just like you three would have done if you lost!”
I was getting sick of this. Why on earth would Jeff want to defend Randy so much anyway? No one seemed to really care except him. Even the many people that were walking around didn’t seem to care at all.
“Fine Jeff.” I told him, staring right back at him in the face, “If you really want to lose to us each and every day of the school year, you can go ahead and be my guest.”
“It won’t be that way for long.” Jeff warned us, “The three of you bullies are going down, and very soon.”
Pathetic moron. He had no idea what he was dealing with. And to even further our amusement, Jeff, Randy, and worthless shirt-burster became friends after that. If that doesn’t make you laugh, I don’t know what will…
While we never really bothered Frank and Jeff as much as we did Randy, everything had changed that next day. Worthless Frank and Jeff were going to suffer just as much as Randy was. And my patience was ending. Why the heck did Jeff come from nowhere and fight us? I just didn’t understand it.
Now that those three clowns were watching each other’s back, it was going to be harder for us to get them one by one. But, all it took was just twenty-four hours and Randy would make the biggest mistake in his life. I just couldn’t believe it until it actually happened.
Right after school, Alex, David and I headed out the back like we usually do, and there they were, Frank, Randy and Jeff just waiting for us. Randy was looking incredibly confident of himself, as if he was packing a pistol and ready to just gun down the three of us.
“Well, if it isn’t the three losers.” Frank giggled like a hog, thinking he had already won.
“Losers?” I asked in some surprise, “Guess what you stupid idiot!? It was Randy and Jeff that lost yesterday, so why don’t you just shut your worthless trap!?”
Jeff seemed to grow more impatient. He looked at the three of us, especially Alex, and seemed to wear a very dark expression.
“Randy is going to become more powerful than any other trainer.” Jeff told us with some kind of idiotic smile, “In a matter of moments, he will become more powerful than you can ever imagine…”
We started laughing hysterically. Obviously Jeff had been hanging around Randy’s brain cell killing aura for just too long. If Randy really wanted to lose again, I would gladly make his wish come true, but there was no way Randy could become better than us in just a matter of seconds.
Then, out of the blue, Randy pulled out of his pocket what appeared to be a blue and black beaded necklace with a large, red crystal as its pendant. He held it with confidence like it was a detonator to blow up the whole planet.
“Ah, so Randy’s into jewelry.” David snickered, “Big deal. How is some ordinary piece of junk like that going to help Randy become a better Pokémon trainer?”
“This is no ordinary piece of jewelry, David Miller.” Jeff told him, “This is a necklace that was worn by Quista, an ancient and powerful sorcerer who imbued it with many powers.”
“Say what!?” Alex asked in surprise, “What the heck are you talking about?”
It was really sad to see Jeff go this far into threatening us. To me, that necklace looked like a fake. Plus I didn’t believe in magic powers or whatever. Jeff and Randy couldn’t win at Pokémon to save their lives, and this was their way of trying to bluff us out. What a joke.
“Jeff,” I told him, “Get a life. You don’t really expect us to believe that, do you? Just where did Randy even get that piece of garbage?”
“I gave it to him.” Jeff told us, “My father is an archeologist, and he found this in an Kavaskian tomb three years ago. He was supposed to sell it to a museum, but he decided not to. You’re not going to believe what kind of power it has.”
“You’re right, Jeff.” I remarked, “I don’t believe whatever you’re saying whatsoever.”
At that moment, Randy took the necklace, and strung it around his neck. He then held the red jewel in his hand while the necklace was around his neck. At that moment, the red jewel began to pulse with light.
“That’s some neat trick you got there.” Alex said sarcastically, “Now why don’t you three lost boys just get the hell out of our way?”
Suddenly, we were instantly blinded by a harsh, ruby light. I shut my eyes tight, thinking the whole thing must have been some stupid electronic device or something like that. Then, with my eyes shut, I felt a harsh wind blow around us, whipping the cloth of my t-shirt and jeans like I was standing in the middle of a windstorm. I then knew that necklace wasn’t some electronic toy like I thought it was…