Hours and hours of sewing that's what Juka had been doing for the past several days. He would be the Pokemon Master and get to the finals and win the championship. But, one step at a time. First step: Create the perfect Drifblim. That involved first finding a very resistant and reinforced boom box which could be turned on and off by remote (not an easy thing to find at all but the always resourceful Juka Miami had managed) and then sewing. A lot. His wonderful and always trusty bubbles would do the rest.

Juka floated confidently onto the field of battle, wearing purple to match his prize fighter. Floating in front of him was a round Pokeball, accomplished by bubbling his radio and sewing a piece of fabric into the colours and patterns of a pokeball and draping it over his bubble and tying the bottom together. He waited patiently for the DocProfessor Oak to give his signal for the official start of the battle, imagining the roar of the crowd when he finally gained his championship. Of course, before he could do that, step number two would be to defeat Kai and his Tangela.

Finally the word came for the battle to commence. "Drifblim I choose you!" A tendril came out and wrapped itself around a carefully constricted knot and pulled off the pokeball fabric revealing purple Drifblim fabric underneath. All the details were there, including the little puff of cotton on the top of its head. Yes, many hours of sewing indeed.

Kai and Liana (named after the type of vine she was) stepped up to the registration table to pick up their badge. He was to fight a… Drifblim? at the earth arena. He wasn’t as familiar with the pokemon beyond the first hundred and fifty-one, so he wasn’t really sure what he was up against.

They trampled over to the baseball diamond- erm, earth arena where his opponent was waiting. Suddenly Kai saw where he was lacking. He didn’t have a pokeball. He hadn’t made a fancy costume. He had spent all his time practicing, not sewing.

Trumpets rang or gongs or something. Anyway, he knew that that was his cue to step up to the plate.

He had to admit that his opponent seemed to have spent a considerable amount of time and thought on creating everything. But so had Kai. Liana bounced onto the field of battle, vines waving happily. She was as excited as he was. Hopefully she wouldn’t get too badly hurt in this first battle. Team Awesome Fighting Plants planned on going all the way to the finals and to the top of the podium!

Juka hadn't ever met his opponent before, but he certainly knew what a Tengela was (self-described Pokemon expert that he was) and the creature that Kai brought with him was certainly that, right down to the little details. Secretly Juka was impressed, but since Kai was the enemy for the duration of this battle he would not stoop to actually let him know that he was impressed. No, Kai was going down and no amount of fancy leafy creation would change that fact. Juka Miami and Neko were to be the Pokemon champions, not a plant boy and his plant.

"Prepare to taste the bitter brew of defeat," Juka stated proudly. He felt just the slightest pang of regret that he would have to hurt the cute little wiggly plant creature. But no, he forced the regret down to the bottom of his soul. That wiggly plant creature was his enemy, the Pokemon Tangela Liana and it would perish in painful defeat. Yes indeed.

Juka decided to start out simple to try and gauge the strength of his enemy. That and he didn't want any of his secrets being exposed too soon. Thus, a simple tackle and he sent his Drifblim careening towards the Tangela with the intent to hit him in the hardest most painful way possible.

Kai ignored the bravado and cocky statement making. He was beyond that. And had no real comeback. Besides that, the battle was starting. The contenders had both taken their places, the pokemon were ready- Eeep! The floating thing made a sudden and directed movement right towards him. No! Towards Liana!

Initially the plan had been to make the battle as authentic as possible, calling out the attacks he wanted her to make. The suddenness of the Blifroom- or whatever- charging made him abandon his original idea. He could tell that this attack was probably ‘tackle’. As soon as he thought it, they both tensed up and widened their stance to prepare for the coming impact. Beyond just defensive, the best way to counter it was: Bind Liana!

Her vines whipped out to receive the on-coming pokemon as if to embrace him, but the hug would be too tight. It would crush the life out of him.

Neko flew at Liana at high speeds, preparing to pummel her into oblivion. Surely victory would be his and he would be off and away to the semi-finals easy as that and that would mean only two victories to go until he was the Pokemon champion of the world. Yes indeed, fame and fortune would be his as well as all the bragging rights that came with it.

But then, countered! Instead of attempting to dodge his attack, the tangela just stood there and, just as the collision was about to occur, whipped out its vines, wrapping his precious drifblim up. For a moment the vines of his enemy compressed the bubble that made up Neko into the form of the radio inside the bubble and, reinforced or not, he knew it couldn't take that much pressure. Desperate times called for desperate measures and before the pressure could get too great and shatter the soul of his Neko, he wrenched his drifbloom out of the tangela's grip and flew high into the air, well out of reach of any potential attacks. Tackle might not have been as successful as desired, but surely fly would do better.

"I'll not be thwarted that easily," Juka announced proudly. He imagined everyone watching with baited breath to see what would happen next, but didn't take his eyes off his enemy. Concentration was critical to victory.

His strategy was successful! Liana squeezed and crushed relentlessly with her vines until Kai was certain that he was going to win this match in only one attack. But then, with a slight popping noise the other ‘mon shot out of Tangela’s grip and floated off into the sky.

Kai squinted into the sun trying to spot the errant projectile. There was something off about the way that it was moving. It was a more controlled trajectory than if it had just been propelled away from the pressure…

>>"I'll not be thwarted that easily," the other trainer- Juka proclaimed.

Then he knew. The onslaught was to continue and they would have to dole out the punishment yet again. In honor of the baseball field upon which they currently stood, Liana readied her vines for a Vine Whip that would jettison the over-sized ball out of the park! He waited for just the right moment as Neko flew towards the plate.

“Now!” Kai shouted. Liana swung with practiced precision and the proper amount of rigidity, “Home run!!!”

For a full round Neko floated in the sky, Juka float about 10 feet below his beloved pokemon (since his tendrils only extended that far). He peered down, aiming carefully where his flighted attack would land. Proper targetting was essential; he wasn't about to miss with this all powerful of attacks. With a successful hit he might even manage to end this combat with a victory.

Targetting complete, Neko rocketed groundword, intent on smushing the tangela into a little green patch on the ground. Speed increased as the ground and the target came ever closer. At the last possible moment, Juka noticed the vines come out in offensive fashion. He felt the impact of drifbloom hitting viney tangela and had the barest moment to savor the feeling before he felt his own bubble jerk up and to the right.

The cute little Liana pokemon had (very rudely if Juka was to have any opinion on the matter) unleashed its vines in a vine whip attack. The vines struck Neko at the moment of his descent and Neko began flying. Luckily, being attached to the larger bubble that was Juka he didn't fly very far and Juka proceeded to glare and prepare his next attack.

Kai winced at the impact between the Drifblim and the Tangela as they collided once again, but with more force thanks to the heavy speed of the Fly attack. Which would probably be more accurately described as ‘Dive Bomb’. Regardless of the title, it packed some punch. Fortunately some, but not all, of the damage was dissipated slightly by Liana’s Vine Whip. Hey, You try using your arm as a baseball bat sometime and see what happens.

As the ball pokemon rocketed away for the second time, the trainer used this opportunity to assess the injuries of his own little friend. She was doing pretty well, but some of the outermost vines (aka the ones that formed the bat) were weakened. They would still function and hadn’t cracked or anything, but Kai wasn’t satisfied.

If only I could repair them with my powers. Maybe and claim to use a ‘potion’? Then a better idea dawned on him. Yes, it was the perfect way to strengthen all the vines, not just the injured ones.

“Liana,” he called confidently, “Defense curl!”

His pokemon shrunk down over her cute little shoes and drew her vines in tightly. Now Kai set about strengthening the wood- 'Liana's defense rose.'

Juka wished there was some way that he could tell how the radio heart of his drifblim was faring. He had taken a couple of good hits and although it was reinforced, he knew it could only take so much. That meant he really had to end this battle as quickly as possible, especially considering if he was too achieve ultimate victory he would need to win at least three battles.

Juka smirked at Kai's decision to act defensively. Offense was always the best defense in his opinion. It was also time for him to take out one of his secret weapons. His hand slid into his pocket and he took out a shining black rock, shaped like an orb and about 6 inches in diameter. He had one of his secondary bubbles grab hold of the black orb and extend itself over to where Neko floated.

Juka moved his bubble so that Neko floated only a foot away from the main bubble. The black orb floated beside his driftblim. "Shadow Ball!" With the uttering of those two words the black orb lashed out, appearing to come directly from Neko with an attempt to smash into Liana. Yes, a good offense was definitely the very best defense.

His efforts to improve the vines went well… considering that he was rudely interrupted by a vicious attack on the very plant that he was trying to protect. In the heat of the moment and excitement of battle, Kai had forgotten that the pokemon that did his bidding was an actual living plant. When he was intimately connected with it, healing the minor portions of weakness and damage, he remembered how dear Liana really was. He was glad for his defensive tactic. It bound them together more tightly as a team.

Then a ball or orb or bubble hovered over to her and burst as it hit her. A real shadow ball would disperse a black cloud to surround the opponent. And if Tangela's eyes were real and not little bubbles of plastic with a black bead inside, she would have been blinded by the darkness. As it was, there was no real cloud but wasn't there a rule about how reacting as if the attacks had their intended affect? So there should have been smoke... How would he clear the smoke? Kai would have to get rid of it in order to attack again. But his team was strong! They were ready.

Inspiration struck him. “Liana, Vine Whip again!” Kai instructed her silently how he wanted her to move the vines- quickly and in a circular fashion to fan away the 'smoke'. The vines picked up the pace, they would also act as kind of a shield to keep the other pokemon at bay until he could attack again.

For the first time Juka and Neko seemed to have made a real difference in the battle. His Shadow Ball, in addition to having struck rather solidly, had the added advantage of putting his opponent on the defensive. In addition to that, it was something that wouldn't risk the sensitive heart that made up his drifblim.

“Liana, Vine Whip again!”

Given his opponent's apparent vulnerability, Juka decided that it was time to end this battle once and for all and hopefully in definitive fashion. Could his Neko take another vine whip? Hopefully. He was counting on the fact that his drifblim either had enough hp left to survive the strike or that his final secret move would shock his opponent enough for the attempted vine whip to fail.

Once again Neko charged Liana however this time, a moment before his pokemon would hit, a loud off tune trumpet sounded out of the radio that made up its insides. It was an astonish attack that also happened to be his fourth and final move and, if it wasn't sufficient to end the battle now hopefully it would at least cause his enemy to flinch thus preventing its attempted vine whip.

His opponent charged and as it approached, let out a squealing brassy blat like a high pitched fart. Kai was startled for the briefest of moments and Liana’s vines whipped around wildly in surprise. They accidentally switched on the super-brilliant flashlight that was hidden inside the vines. They had almost forgotten the light nestled in the secure center of the plant.

The light shone out from the tangle of vines to illuminate the on-coming ball-monster. It all happened so fast, that he didn’t even get a chance to call out “Solar Beam!” as the two creatures collided once again.

Neko's astonish went off just as Liana cast a solar beam attack. The two pokemon collided violently in a flash of light and sound and, while he might be mistaken, Juka thought he heard a slight cracking sound that may or may not have been the tough shell of his drifblim heart cracking under the pressure of the collision. That most definitely was not a good sound to be heard and he could only hope that his opponent was likewise getting close to the end of her life as a conscious pokemon.

Because of the sorry state of his drifblim (poor poor Neko taking all that abuse from the mean little Liana) Juka decided that there would be no more tackles or astonishes. Therefore he would be limited to shadowballs, which would not put is precious at risk. For the second time in the battle he prepared his little black orb and for the second time he shot it out at the tangela at high velocity.

Liana was crumpled and smashed and beaten AND to add insult to injury, while she was recharging from the solar beam, the drifblim heaved another shadow ball at her! She twitched a little bit when it hit her. Actual legitimate tears stung Kai’s eye, though he would deny it to the bitter end. He rubbed his shoulder- it felt like he was getting hit, too.

When she regained enough strength and was no longer confused, Kai urged her up on her little boots. She swayed a moment before regaining her balance. Kai’s vision was all green and red lines- anger streaks and chloroplasts danced before him. As much as he appreciated the cuteness of the other pokemon and the effort the other trainer put into making it… he had injured the little plant he loved so dearly. It was payback time, and none of this little polite stuff. He was going for the KO.

Liana reacted as well, launching herself at her opponent. Now it was personal- he had hurt her master. Her vines waved around her widely as she flew through the air. This bind was gonna be of the permanent kind.

Oh happpy day, it seemed that Neko's attacks had weakened the little tangela, possibly even more than Neko himself had been weakened. Juka tried not to let the pang of guilt get to him when he saw that Kai also seemed to be feeling the brunt of his attacks. Did it make him a bad person that someone was getting hurt because of a pokebattle when he wasn't hurt at all? But, since Kai didn't complain (even though such complaints would probably constitute a forfeit) he didn't halt his attack. Show no mercy!

Juka knew that this would be his final attack, win or lose. His drifblim simply couldn't take any more damage without crumbling apart. Because of that he knew that he had to make it a good one. It was time to resort to his most powerful attack, even if it would no longer be a surprise, how could he possibly fail?

For a second and final time in the battle, Juka and Neko took to the air, far above his little viney target. Neko circled, waiting for the perfect opportunity to divebomb his enemy in one final fly attack. Aiming was essential.