Episode 61:
To Be A Master: Part III - The Ultimate Sacrifice

“Well folks, Icy has proven himself worthy of battling the head of the Elite 4. Lance, the dragon pokémon trainer will battle with Icy to see if he’s got the skills to become a pokémon master. Can he do it?” The crowd expressed their support for Icy and his pokémon. Icy meanwhile busily healed the five remaining.

Back at the pokécenter, Sara waited in the waiting room for an update on Buttercup’s condition. Nurse Joy came through the doors. “I think she’ll make it. What exactly happened to her?”

“She was involved in a high energy explosion.”

“Oh… I see,” she replied as if this type of thing happened every day.

Back in the Grand Stadium, Lance was coming onto the field. “You’ve done well Icy. I have been waiting for the chance to beat, I mean meet you.”

“Save it. I know you’ll just insult me like the others do. Let’s go at this shall we.”

“If that is what you wish, then that we shall do. Gyarados, go!”

“Ready to fight, come in sight! Icy calls, Leafy.”

“Tisk tisk. Big mistake. Dragon rage!”

“No, Leafy mega drain. Sap his energy.” Leafy started draining Gyarados’s energy but it still fired the dragon rage. Leafy received a direct hit from the fiery rage from Gyarados. She screamed in pain as the fire spread over her head. “Oh, Leafy, return. Go Vapor.”

“A ghost huh. Gyarados, hyper beam.”

“Night shade Vapor.” The field became pitch black. Gyarados couldn’t find its target. “Lick it now Vapor,” Icy called into the darkness. When the night shade finally wore off, Gyarados was paralyzed while Vapor was doing a victory dance on top of it. “Good work.”

“Lucky shot. Return Gyarados. Go Dragonair.”

“Lick now!”

“Agility now!” Dragonair dodged all of Vapor’s attacks. “Play time is over for you Icy. Dragonair, hyper beam that ghost.” Dragonair was faster at charging the hyper beam.

“Now Vapor. While it’s still charging, lick it.” Icy’s plan worked. Dragonair wasn’t quick enough to avoid Vapor and charge the hyper beam at the same time.

“What in the??? Well, you are clever my friend. Take this…” Lance recalled the paralyzed Dragonair and sent out another one. “Dragonair, dragon rage now!”

“Vapor, look out!” A good portion of the raging fires hit Vapor. Something else happened to Vapor though. “Vapor, what’s wrong?”

“Hmm, I think he’s going to evolve.”

“Evolve? Oh cool! I’m gonna have a Haunter!” Sure enough, Vapor had gotten so much experience from battle the elite trainers’ pokémon that it finally got enough to evolve into Haunter. “Vapor, hypnosis attack!”

“What, oh no.” Lance’s second Dragonair had already fallen asleep. Vapor just laughed the way most Hunters do… “Return. Go Aerodactyl.”

“An Aerodactyl. But I thought they were extinct.”

“They are. I found its fossil while on a mining expedition and took it to the Cinnabar Labs to be recreated. And now, you shall feel its wrath.”

“I don’t think so. Vapor, hypnosis.” Vapor just stood there. “Vapor, why aren’t you attacking? Did you here me? Hypnosis attack now.”

“Ha. Either you aren’t a very good trainer, or your pokémon’s tired out, which also makes you a bad trainer. Aerodactyl, hyper beam now.” Aerodactyl fired its hyper directly at Haunter. Haunter was completely beat.

“Shoot… Return Vapor. Ready to fight, come in sight! Icy calls, Cyber! Cyber, double team, multi psybeam attack now!” Cyber split into three and each fired a psybeam at Aerodactyl. It fainted easily and smashed into the ground crushing Cyber with it. “Oh!”

“Hmm, that’s a first. See, you are a bad trainer.”

“Cyber return. I’ll show you, who’s winning, huh?”

“That’s not important, but now you shall lose. Dragonite, GO!” Lance’s ultimate pokémon, Dragonite, appeared on the field.

“Wow. I’ve never seen that type of pokémon before.” Icy was definitely impressed by the Dragonite.

Meanwhile, Nurse Joy was finishing up on Buttercup. “She’s felling better, but I don’t think she should do any battling for a while. Sara scooped up Buttercup and ran back to the stadium.

“Go Wiggler!”

“A Caterpie???”

“Stop right there, don’t say another word. Wiggler, string shot now.”

“You’re joking right. Dragonite, slam it.” Dragonite picked Wiggler up and prepared to knock it into the ground.

“WAIT!!! I recall Wiggler.” Icy returned Wiggler to its pokéball. “No battle is worth losing a pokémon over. Besides, I still have Hocus.” Hocus appeared in front of the Dragonite.

“My, what a large pokémon.”

“Dragonite, hyper beam now.”

“Huh?!?” Hocus didn’t know what hit him. The hyper beam completely fried him, as well as Icy’s dreams. Suddenly, he felt as if the world around him had collapsed. He fell to his knees, tears in his eyes. In the distance, he heard something, but he could focus on it. He extended Hocus’ pokéball and recalled him.

“This can’t happen…” he heard a faint voice coming from behind him. It was Sara and Buttercup.

“ICY!!! Buttercup’s ok.”

“Great! Buttercup, I know you are weak, but I need you to be strong right now. Can you defeat the Dragonite? All you need to do is hit him with that ultra psybeam and we will win. Can you do that?”

“Icy, Nurse Joy said she shouldn’t battle. Huh…” Sara saw Buttercup nodding. “You want to battle?” Buttercup nodded again. “Don’t do this Icy. She’s too weak.”

“She has to try. She believes in me and in herself. She’s proven that time after time.” Icy turned to Buttercup. “I want you to know that I will love you and care for you no matter what happens Buttercup. But I know that you can pull this off. Please, just do this one last thing. Please help me Buttercup.” Buttercup had tears in her eyes. She nodded and attempted to hug Icy. “Th… thank you Buttercup.”

“C’mon Icy, do you admit defeat?”

“No Lance. I choose Buttercup now. Buttercup, psybeam, full power!” Buttercup began to glow, her body emitting a bright blue. She struggled to stay airborne and generate more power.

“FFFFFFRRRRRRREREREREREREREREEEEEE,” she cried out. She was now engulfed in a bright white sphere. It blinded Icy and Lance, Dragonite, and the rest of the audience.

“Buttercup! FIRE!!!”

“FFFFFFFFFFFFRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!”

Everything was quiet. For an instant, time stood perfectly still. Nothing moved. The light blinded everyone. The intense beam made direct contact with Dragonite causing him to faint instantly. But Buttercup was in worse shape. Because of the enormous amount of energy she used on the attack, she could not stay in the air. When the light had died down, Icy saw his best friend lying not even half alive on the field. Lance admitted defeat but waited for Icy to have a moment alone with Buttercup.

A tear formed in his eye. “Buttercup… this can’t happen… Oh please wake up…” He began crying. “Please wake up Buttercup…”

“Befreeee, free…….,” were the last words Buttercup emitted before she lost consciousness.

Icy couldn’t hold back the tears and pain inside. He held Buttercup up close to his chest and pressed hard. “This… {sniff}… is all my… {sniff}… fault. What have I done…?” Icy cried over his stiff Butterfree’s body. She didn’t move and no longer had a pulse. “I wanted to win so badly I sacrificed my own friend to do it…” Icy couldn’t take the reality of the situation. Buttercup was no longer alive, her body cold. Icy could not accept the fact that his dearest friend was gone for good. “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” he put her back down and placed her body in his backpack inside a box to take with him on his journey back to Viridian Forest.

Lance walked over to Icy. “Icy… I know you don’t believe you earned this, but, all the same, you have. Many trainers would have given up, maybe due to how much was at stake, maybe because they just didn’t have confidence. But you stood up to the challenge, even when it was the life of your friend at stake. I… I wish there was some way to bring her back. Here…” Lance handed Icy the master trainer’s badge. Sara took it for him and they both walked silently home. Lance’s words echoed in Icy’s head, ‘…some way to bring her back…’