Alright, here we go again... Thank god I hit my groove last night or I wouldn't have been able to finish this battle in time... Hope you enjoy!
Catching up with the past
<Onlooker>
You could feel the electricity in the air, the excitement of everyone around. Everyone had what seemed to be a giant smile on their face. Trainers and their Pokémon walked the grounds, content with the recent battles that had just happened. Families held hands and travelled around, taking in the many tourist traps and money pits.
I on the other hand stood in the shadows, not wanting to be seen or heard. I overlooked all the people and caught the odd battle here and there, hopefully catching a familiar face.
I missed the thrill of the battle, the anticipation of facing off against a strong opponent. It had been far too long since I had found myself on a battlefield.
As I thought back on the vast and rich battle history I had, a figure stood out in the crowd. He seemed to be pressing for time, pushing people out of the way, holding a small fire type in his arms. There seemed to be a look of pain on his face. Maybe the fire type was burning him up? I took a closer look at this trainer that was in such a hurry. He was closely followed by what appeared to be a small blue fox. I then recognized the unmistakeable face. It was Alex...
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<Alex>
Macedon had been in the care of the Center for well over a day, giving us barely half a day to prepare before our early morning battle. I had just received a stern talking and stare down from the attending nurse, letting me know of the dangers that I had just put Macedon through. She went on to say that I was lucky that he made it out with minor injuries after all was said and done. She did inform me that his limp would still be quite noticeable, something about his knee being a bit enflamed.
All in all, I just had to let Macedon rest before the next battle, where hopefully the swelling would go down. Then maybe the limp would start to be less noticeable.
Macedon was finally released back into my care, as I kneeled down and patted him on the head, telling him how proud I was about his recent workout. I knew that the training was important to him. I could see it in his face that he did not want to be caught off guard anymore in any battle. He genuinely wanted to get better to face any adversity that would be sent his way. Macedon was a true battler, a true fighter. He was the type to not give up. Yet somehow his confidence level just wasn’t where I thought it was. It seemed that he was second guessing himself at all times, over thinking and over analyzing everything.
This confidence issue lead to his constant pursuit of perfection. He would not be denied a victory, yet doubt always loomed around in the back of his mind. Macedon at this point was incredibly tough to read, to know which one would come out to battle.
As I slowly stood up, all I could hear in the Center was a woman frantically screaming my name.
Great... Another crazy fan... just what I need
I turned around, waiting to see who this crazy person was, only to be met by a giant hug.
“It's been a long time.”
“Long time doesn't begin to describe it!” Gabi responded, she seemed a bit nervous and in shock. “What have you been doing all this time? Where's the rest of your team? Why didn't you tell me you were back?! I saw your name on the participants' list, but I couldn't be sure it was you until you were suddenly on TV. The media found out before I did!”
“I've just been trying to keep a low profile I guess since I got back, I wasn't sure if anyone was still around.”
“Many things have changed and some people have left... with one crisis after another, I think you've seen that yourself. But some of us are still here.”
“Yeah, it seems that way... seems like its forever that I went away... and now I found my way back somehow.”
“But how? What happened?”
I paused and looked at her dead in the eyes
“It's something I don't really want to get into to be honest.” The thoughts raced through my head as all the events of my past came back. These were the things I was trying to forget at this point.
“OK, leave me wondering...” she sighed. “I guess you have the right not to talk, but...” she paused for a moment and looked at her Charizard. “I think Amber deserves at least some information after all this time,”
“If I knew where V was, I would definitely let you know. Unfortunately, the last time I saw him was just when I was getting into school.”
“You mean... he's missing too?! How long has it been?”
“The whole team is gone, all I have now is Macedon and Rex, they are resting.” As I looked down at them.
“Oh... that's terrible! I'm so sorry... Is there anything I can do to help you?”
“I don't think there is at this point, the gang could be anywhere at this point, maybe I'll fun into them at some point.” Maybe I was getting a little too repetitive at this point?
“But how did it happen?” She asked, with a worried look on her face.
“It's a long story at this point, the team just decided to leave one by one.” At this point, just the thoughts and memories of all the events made me a bit nauseous and weak in the knees.
“Oh, I'm really sorry to hear that. But at least they weren't kidnapped or disappeared without a trace like some other Pokémon have.”
“Yeah, no, it's a little more complicated than that unfortunately.”
“Well, if you ever feel like talking about it, I'll be there. Here, wherever. I still have the same phone number. Same old PokeGear, even. It still works and I've never felt the need to change it. “
“I really appreciate it, I really do. Hopefully someday I'll be able to get into great details about it.”
“So where are you living now? “
Thanks Gabs for changing the subject I thought to myself
“I haven't really got a place to live right now, just crashing at the PCs for the time being, or camping out.”
“Ouch, that's bad. I know the Dragon's Guild offers lodgings for its members, but it can take too long sometimes.”
“Are you a member? Sorry, it's been so long...”
“Pretty sure I was back in the day? I'm not 100% sure.”
“If you don't remember, then you probably aren't. You'd have a rank and should at least have done some work for the Guild. I could help you join, but you'd have to have a job there. The Dragon's Guild doesn't give out homes for free. I don't think anyone does.”
Having pushed everything in the back of my mind after all these years, I had actually forgotten if I had held one of these roles with the people I knew and trained with, in the past. This was odd, even for me.
“Do you have a job?” She asked.
“No, I just got back.”
“Well, I'm sure we could use an extra hand at the Dragon Tamers. Things haven't changed that much since you were here: we have new items and some new Pokemon, but the job is basically still the same. Would you like to have your old job back?”
“Yeah, of course. That would be great.”
“Well, I'm glad there's something I can do to help.”
Dead silence seemed to creep in at this point.
“Good battle, by the way. It reminded me of some of Tsunami's old battles. I was wondering why you seemed so worried, but I think I can get an idea now. If it helps, I don't think that Macedon was ever in real danger.”
I gave a good laugh and looked down at Macedon. He seemed to enjoy the comment, kind of giving him a small boost in confidence.
“It's good to have you back,” she said. “I'll have to introduce you to Jeff and Shonta... And you remember Amy, right? They all work at DT, and they're all in the tournament too.”
“Yeah, I'll be honest, I don't.”
“Oh... I'll make sure not to tell her that,” she shifted her eyes. “I'll find a way for all of us to meet at some point. In the worst case we'll end up meeting back in Caledor after the tournament ends. I just hope people don't get the wrong idea from seeing the judge hanging out with some of the competitors... I can't help it if they're my friends and co-workers, but I won't let that affect my judgment at the end of each round... for better or worse.“
“Good to know,” I gave a little laugh.
After a good long conversation, it was good to know that some people hadn’t left. I found it was odd that I had not clued in that she was one of the judges for this, how could I have missed that one? We kept the conversation to small talk for a bit until it was time to move on. We hugged once more and parted ways.
I looked down at both my Pokémon and decided that it would be time to call it a night. All 3 of us made our way to one of the many rooms for trainers in the Center and set up for the night. I set my alarm fro bright and early in the morning, hopefully giving us enough time to go over strategy and tactics before our 9 AM fight.
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<Onlooker>
I hadn’t been able to sleep in the past day or so. I had made my way to the roof of the Center to make sure that it really was him as it was the only place I could think of that he would be at. As I peered down the skylight, I had noticed that he was there, saying goodbye to who seemed like an old friend. The lady seemed very familiar to me, yet I just couldn’t place exactly who she was due to the fact I had yet to see her face.
Alex had turned around, petting both his Magby and Riolu on their head and then walking towards what seemed like the dormitory area of the Center.
I remembered those days when that was me that would go back there with him. I remembered the days when it was me that would get those pats on the head. I really did miss those days.
Then I remembered when it all changed. I remembered why I didn’t get those pats on the head anymore. I remembered why I had to leave, why I had to tread my own path.
All 3 of them seemed to be enjoying the moment. The Magby seemed to have a slight limp in its walk while the Riolu seemed to have what I considered a real cocky swagger in his. The blue fox took a look down at the light hitting the ground and seemed to notice something. He looked straight up at the skylight which I was peering into. I quickly hid out of the skylight and made my way down from the Center and back into the shadow.
I’m pretty sure he didn’t see me... Yeah, I’m pretty positive...
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<Macedon>
I stood up and made my way to look through the window at the night sky. It was pretty late yet with all the lights being used for the tournament, it seemed as though it was still early in the evening. I remembered the simple times, when I was out in the wild. No pressure of battling. No pressure of pleasing a human. All I had to do was to survive and stay out of the rain. Everything was so simple back then.
Even in this moment of deep thought, in the back of my mind was that slight pain that was still apparent in my leg. I wanted to train so hard to be ready for tomorrow’s battle and it seemed that I only set myself back even more. This was adding additional stress that I did not just need right now.
Alex woke up, seemingly disturbed by myself being up.
“Hey Macedon, are you alright little guy?”
I just shot up a stare at him. The look on his face was that of sincere concern.
“Macedon, maybe I pushed you too hard yesterday. Because of me, your leg is clearly bugging you, and I feel like I set you back a bit.” His tone drew more and more serious.
“I just want you to know that I am very proud of what we have accomplished so far, you and I. You’re doing a great job out there. You just need to be more confident in what you are doing. You can’t let your environment bother you. And certainly, don’t let my past bother you!” He gave me another stare.
This whole speech wasn’t very appeasing to my nerves, as the stress just seemed insurmountable. I gave Alex a half hearted smile and thumbs up, to make him believe that everything was alright. He lightly patted me on the head and returned to sleep. I on the other hand kept staring outside through the window, wondering what to expect tomorrow.
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<Alex>
Somehow, I found myself to have overslept. I raced out of the room we were staying in at the Center and made our way to the stadium. The crowd was starting to gather as I bolted to the trainer’s entrance on this hot and cloudy day, Macedon and Rex following suit behind me.
We only had 30 minutes to prepare for this, take care of any last minute changes to our strategy and make sure that Macedon was ready for this battle. We walked into our trainer’s room and the setup was just the same as the last time. I put my backpack down and took out my computer, logging onto the wi-fi inside the room.
“Alright Mace, I think we need to figure out who we are fighting.” I told my Pokémon, as I looked down. He climbed onto a chair to look at the screen with me.
Getting on Youtube, I found the footage of the match in the first round of my opponent.
”Well Harry, what a glorious day we’ve been having today. So many amazing battles and we are all ready for the next one up, as the trainer’s have already released their Pokémon.”
“You’re right Bob, so let’s get to it why don’t we, as we are seeing on the field now Steve’s Hoppip up against Mary’s Larvesta.”
This battle seemed like a total mismatch. Clearly Macedon would be battling the Larvesta in the next round, so I had to pay close attention to that Pokémon’s fighting style.
I looked down at my fire type who had his eyes fixed to the computer screen.
”Incredible, it doesn’t seem like the Larvesta can even land a hit at this point!”
“Bob that is one resilient Hoppip! It seems like it’s setting up clear skies with its Sunny Day attack!”
“Look at that speed Harry! The Larvesta can barely keep up with her at this point, let alone keep an eye on it!”
“Seems that little Grass Type is faster than your Volkswagen there Bob.”
“Wow! Look at that close range Solar Beam, clearly hitting it’s mark and knocking out the Larvesta! This battle was faster than your second marriage Harry!”
I closed the lid on my laptop and looked down at Macedon. He probably had a more disbelieved look on his face than I did. That little grass type had just taken down a rather powerful fire type with barely 1 move. We were in for it.
“Macedon, we can’t let him set up, we have to hit him hard and hit him fast, you saw what he did to that bug, he obliterated it. You can’t let him get in close for any attacks.”
Macedon just looked at me, clearly stressed out after watching that video. Maybe watching that together wasn’t the best of ideas I thought to myself.
A knock came at the door, as we were instructed that we had 10 minutes to our match. Macedon and I gave one last look at each other, as we gathered what we needed and exited the room with Rex. Walking down the hallway once more, you could hear the deafening crowd up ahead. It seemed that they were only getting louder and louder, with every round coming up. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. People were again lined up on each side of the entrance, looking for a piece of memorabilia or a signature. Rex once again loved the attention. Macedon just walked slowly forward, doing the best he can to not show his slight discomfort.
We walked through the Parthenon like pillars, only to be met by a booming sound wave of cheers for Macedon and me.
<Onlooker>
I found myself a spot to watch the matches for the day, hidden from all the crowd and officials. I looked down at the field to notice that Alex was entering the battle ground, followed closely by his eccentric Riolu and what seemed like a very uncomfortable Magby.
”And back for the second round, the past champion Alex and his Magby, Macedon!”
“These two had quite the first round a few days ago! That little Magby sure gave a lot in that battle, hopefully he still has some left in him, right Harry?”
“For sure Bob, this should prove to be another entertaining match!”
Why did I have to hide myself near the speakers? I asked myself, as I contemplated moving spots.
Alex reached his spot up to his trainer’s box while the little Magby made his way around, taking a somewhat relaxed stance on the rocky field.
This was going to be an interesting battle if the little guy could hold his own.
<Macedon>
I peered across the field. The other human still had not made his way to the trainer’s box and I was left alone on the field, being looked at by thousands of other humans. I looked up to see moving images on the screen of my last battle. Every big blow was shown in a slower pace, making me somewhat relive the damages that had occurred in that fight.
I started to tremble a bit at this point.
The crowd erupted in a loud cheer as the other human popped his head out of the tunnel. He walked towards his trainer’s box with his head held high, a little smirk plastered on his face. As he entered his box, it started to rise up from the ground. I turned around to take a look behind me, as Alex was already a few feet above my head.
Rex seemed to be pre-occupied next to Alex, looking up at the rafters. I looked up as well, only to see humans cheering loudly. Suddenly a shadow could be seen. As soon as it appeared, it disappeared behind the rafters. Oddly enough, I felt like I had seen that shadow before.
I turned my attention to across the field once more. The other human was waving at the crowd and blowing kisses. He seemed to relish in the lime light. He then fixated his attention to the field and grabbed a ball in his hand.
“To beat an old Champion, that’s gonna make me the next legend!” He screamed from across the field at Alex.
With that, he hurled his ball onto the battle field, releasing a pokemon I had not seen before.
”OH! And it seems in recent events, Grace the Hoppip has evolved into a Skiploom Bob!”
“I can see that Harry, I’m not exactly blind.”
“In a pre-game interview, Steve informed us that he has had Grace with him since the Johto province. It is a very well seasoned Pokémon as we have seen from the previous battle.”
“Should make for a great fight between these 2 lightweights Bob!”
“You’re right Harry. Macedon isn’t to be underestimated either. Even after Grace’s dismantling of the Larvesta in the first round, this should get interesting!”
Those 2 kept going over and over on the speakers that boomed across the stadium. Yet with the deafening noise of the crowd, I could barely hear them much more. I looked across the field to my opponent. I noticed that around her head, a small red rock was attached. I could not figure out what this item was.
A human walked into the middle of us and raised both his arms, flags flapping in the air.
“Trainers, are you ready?” He bellowed from the top of his lungs at both trainers. Both responded with a resounding “Yes”.
“Pokémon, are you ready?” He gave us both a look. I nodded while my opponent just jumped up and down.
Round 2
Macedon Lv20 v. Grace Lv20
“GO!” were the only words I heard, as the man in the middle dropped his flags and backed off as soon as he could.
I took no time in starting this affair, as I rushed in full speed ahead, right hand cocked behind my back, looking to connect. The Skiploom almost seemed surprised to see me rush in so fast. I didn’t want to let Alex down this time, as we had talked about starting this match off fast. I had to maximize the amount of damage done before this plant could set up any form of strategy. With one quick movement, I found myself in front of my opponent, hand striking forward, using the kinetic energy of my run. Skiploom, completely unprepared for the strike was sent reeling backwards, straight into his trainer’s box.
What a vicious way to start the fight! Macedon clearly is not taking any time for granted as he sends Grace flying into her trainer’s box!”
The Skiploom slowly made its way back to its feet and looked up at the cloudy sky. A small white orb of energy formed on top of her flower. The red rock hanging around her neck started to glow, as the white orb also seemed to turn an odd red color. I had seen this in the moving images during the pre-battle tactical analysis Alex and I watched. I had to hurry before it could summon forth more sunlight.
Grace took a few steps forward, giving herself space between herself and her trainer. The red orb was nearing its proper size. I went on full on assault, reaching deep within the confines of my stomach, summoning as much energy as I could. I released a pillar of fire straight at the grass type, engulfing it in a towering inferno. As the pillar seemed to be enclosing on my opponent, the red orb blasted through it, launched straight into the atmosphere.
A burst of energy could be felt throughout the arena, as all the clouds present in the sky dissipated into nothingness. The sun came out in full force. I could feel its energy beaming through my body. I added extra flames to the pillar of fire, in the hopes of knocking out my opponent immediately, before it could get going.
The flames subsided. The opposing human looked down at his Pokémon, a giant smirk on his face.
I don’t think the attack was enough I thought to myself, as I took a defensive stance.
Across the field stood a semi-charred Skiploom, eyes closed. It shook around a bit, trying to get some of the dead and burnt leaves off of her body.
“Grace, show him what real power is.” The opposing human said, calmly.
The plant type opened its eyes and glared across the field at me. As fast as she opened her eyes, she disappeared into thin air. A blur would appear here and there but it would never completely materialise. I had to keep a keen eye on where she would end up. I started to listen to the winds, in the hopes of catching noise of where she would reappear.
“NOW GRACE!” I could hear the scream from the opposing human.
For a split second, I heard the Skiploom stop in its tracks. I could feel the energy that it was emanating. I spun around just in time to see the solar energy being assembled on top of the flower of the plant type. The green orb pulsed on her head, aching to be released.
Grace released the energy, concentrated into a giant beam of the sun’s energy, directed in my direction. I could see it now, coming full force.
“Macedon, what are you doing?” Alex screamed. “Protect!”
With milliseconds to spare, I put forth a force field using my psychic energy, barely in time. It deflected the oncoming hit of the Solar Beam. Even with the shield up in time, the attack hit with enough force to move the shield inwards, almost caving in on itself. I concentrated and looked ahead to see it bend and not break. It started to dissipate the energy around it, saving me from any damage.
What a reactionary move by the young Fire type! Blocking that attack was no small feat let me tell you that Harry!”
With the shield disintegrating around me, I hoped that I would not be met with another attack like that any time soon. I feared that another one would most likely break through the barrier itself and cause severe harm.
<Onlooker>
I had to give it to the little Magby, not many Pokémon could block off a fully powered Solar Beam from such close range. At the same time, I had to applaud the grass type for its pure brutal strength it was displaying.
Looking down, I noticed that the burned leaves on the small Skiploom’s flower were starting to reform. It seemed as if it was taking in the sun’s rays and healing itself. It then hit me that it must be using Synthesis to bring itself back to 100%. You could see that the solar energy was engulfing the grass type and expelling all wounds from its body. Within a matter of seconds, it was back to complete health, just as it was before the fight had even begun. This match was back to ground 0.
”And will you look at that Harry! Grace seems like it hasn’t even been hurt at all!”
“I see that Bob, as does everyone else in the stadium. With this gorgeous weather that we are having, it seems as if Grace’s Synthesis healing is working overtime.”
The small plant type took an offensive stance, readying itself for its next attack, awaiting it from its trainer. He barked out his orders and the plant went on the offensive. From where I was watching the match from, it made it near impossible to hear what was being said on the field, so I had to be extra attentive to what was happening.
The Skiploom started to launch seed after seed, littering the field in them. They started to burrow their way into the rocks and ground. One had the misfortune of connecting with the Magby. Vines exploded out of the seed, wrapping up the fire type. It let out a cry that even I could hear from up in the rafters, as one could notice that it was sipping the energy out of Macedon.
The fire type turned up the heat, as the vines started to burn up on its body. He was finally released from the confines of the attack. As soon as he was liberated, you could see a dark aura forming around his body. Macedon started to speed up on the field, disappearing and reappearing all over the place. The Skiploom started to follow suit at high speeds. Both Pokémon seemed to be evenly matched when it came to speed, yet it was apparent that Macedon was struggling in keeping his speed up. Macedon disappeared once more and reappeared behind Skiploom, catching it off guard, smacking it into the ground at high speeds. It seemed it anticipated the chase that it was going to get and used the speed of its opponent to his advantage.
<Alex>
Even with the bummed leg, Macedon seemed to be holding his own when it came to his speed, which was a good sign. This Skiploom wasn’t going to be a pushover and we had to be careful how we would approach it. As soon as Macedon stopped to catch his breath, vines erupted from the ground, grabbing at his bad leg and started to drain his energy. He screamed once more in pain. This one seemed to be hurting more.
While Macedon was being distracted by the Leech Seed, Grace recovered herself from the last hit. While being back on her two feet, she started to speed up and created copies of herself with a powerful Double Team attack. An army of Skiplooms littered the battlefield, surrounding Macedon as he was heating himself up. Once the vines were burnt off, he took the time to look around, seeing that he was surrounded by a fleet of grass types.
“Leer it down! You’ll hopefully be able to find the right one Macedon!” I screamed as my Pokémon started to look around.
With a vengeful look in his eyes, he scanned the battle field at all the copies. None seemed to be budging at his glare. All the copies were making Macedon more and more confused, as he didn’t know which way the next attack could be coming from. Suddenly, one of the clones started to jitter from his look. Macedon took no time in this and launched out a full barrage of Embers in the direction of his opponent. The attack destroyed multiple copies as well as knocking back Grace into another rock. The embers seemed to have done an immense amount of damage, burning the plant type. We had to act fast, before the Skiploom could recover.
Unfortunately for us, we had spoken too soon as Grace started to take in the rays of the sun once more, giving off a light glow. The burns of the Ember attack were minimized and the plant on her head was revitalized to a full yellow color. It seemed that some of the burn lingered on, as her right “flap” seemed to have been charred pretty badly. Maybe we had caught a break at this point. Yet even with this advantage, Grace was still back to near full health.
“Grace, let’s help the healing process, Giga Drain!”
The Skiploom rushed in, at abnormal speeds. Macedon had little time to react as he took one step on his bad leg, cringed and then started to take another step. Macedon was stopped dead in his tracks as another vine came up to grab Macedon by the waist, draining more energy. While he was pre-occupied with the Seeds, Grace came in up close, green energy emanating from both its flaps.
With Macedon momentarily distracted, the Skiploom unleashed her attack. The green energy wrapped itself around Macedon, taking in more energy from my poor Magma Pokémon. Macedon’s life was being drained bit by bit with every second and Grace was just healing itself more with every passing moment.
Grace released Macedon from her grasp of the attack, and he feel onto the dirt, kneeling in front of the little Skiploom. Macedon had taken an immense amount of damage at this point. I didn’t know how much more he could take.
“Macedon, you have to keep trying! Do something!”
Macedon slowly rose to his feet, clenching his leg. Pain could be seen all across his face, yet it seemed he didn’t want to quit. The magma Pokémon started to split into multiple copies of him, using Double Team to try and fool the grass type. Several copies of Macedon started to appear across the field, outnumbering the few left of Grace.
Grace didn’t seem phased at all by this outnumbering. Steve didn’t seem too worried himself. The Skiplooms started to hop around the field, as all the copies started to release a dark hazy cloud. It was impossible to tell which one of them was really releasing this toxic gas into the air. All the copies of Macedon started to imitate the originator, as he coughed and wheezed from the noxious gasses.
”What an incredibly smart move by Grace! She is littering the field in a Poison Powder!”
“Very smart indeed Harry, Macedon can’t seem to shake off the effects of the poison!
Macedon was in serious jeopardy. The poisonous cloud seemed ominous at this point. Grace was on her side of the field, cringing a bit due to the burns from earlier. Macedon, In his coughing and wheezing fit, was again grasped by another vine from the ground, draining his energy. I had to do something fast or this match would be over in a matter of seconds.
Macedon started to heat himself up to release himself from the grasp of the leech seed. I looked closely at Magby, as I noticed that the heating up part of him was reacting with the leftovers of the poison powder left in the air. It seemed that the powder was quite flammable and reactive.
“Macedon! The powder is flammable! Fire-Spin the field!” I screamed from the top of my lungs.
Macedon, understanding what was happening, summoned the fire within and released a towering inferno of flames. The minute it hit the small patch of powder left in the air, it was an instant reaction. The field lit up in a fire. I had to duck down as the battle grounds were engulfed in flames. Just as fast as the field was light up like a ball of flame, it returned to normal. One slight difference could be seen though, as the fire seemed to have destroyed the dormant seeds that were lying on the ground or just underneath. We had killed 2 Pidgeys with 1 stone. No more Leech Seeds on the playing field, this was to our advantage.
<Macedon>
I felt sick to my stomach. I had little energy left and I was praying that that last attack would do enough damage to finish it off. Clearly I was wrong, yet it did do substantial damage and as an added bonus, I didn’t have to deal with the seeds of hell anymore. My leg was in excruciating pain, the poison was seeping slowly into my body and I was running out of time.
“Macedon, we can still do this, try a Psychic!” Alex bellowed from above.
I had to try it. I summoned the energy from deep inside as I lost myself in a psychic trance. I could feel the bubble form around me. The energy was gathering, itching to be released. I looked up to see that Grace had not yet moved. A smirk was plastered across her face as energy was starting to gather on her head. I had to hurry.
I felt rushed, yet with the battle on the line, I had too. I released the psychic energy prematurely as the Solar Beam was launched in my direction. The psychic dome expanded at exponentially increasing speeds across the field. Grace’s Solar Beam pierced right through the dome and hurled itself straight at me. I couldn’t move. The Solar Beam connected and knocked me backwards. I couldn’t see if my attack had connected.
I started to see only darkness. The energy in me was disappearing. I couldn’t hear anything. This was it. I had failed Alex. I had failed myself.
“Macedon!” It was faint, yet I could hear Alex’s voice. “Macedon, you’re still in this! Don’t quit on me now!”
I could slightly hear the crowd going into a frenzy. All I could think about at this point was if I even had enough energy to stand up. The pain and nauseous feeling weren’t leaving. I slightly opened my eye to see across the field that Grace had been knocked back hard on her side, into a rock. She was grasping her burnt flap.
I mustered whatever energy I had left in me, rolled over onto my stomach and put my hands down into the dirt. I wasn’t loosing this match, there was no way. I slowly pushed myself onto my feet. My leg started to pulse with pain. I fell back to my knees. I looked across the field to see that the Skiploom was also trying to make her way back to her feet. Her trainer was barking orders left and right, yet my hearing was going in and out.
“Gra... can’t lose... he’s pathe... you are better than... use Synthesis...” was all that I could grasp. It took a few seconds to process the information. Alarms went off in my head as I realized what was going on and what Grace was preparing to do. I couldn’t let her heal again, this would be too much for me to handle.
I finally stood up onto my feet and noticed that Grace was preparing to take in the sun’s rays. I had to act fast. I took one step, then another. Pain was all I could feel, yet I couldn’t stop now. The steps came faster as I rushed towards the plant type. I cocked my hand behind my back and got in close to the Skiploom. I launched my fist at full strength, catching the grass type in my paw and pinning it on the trainer’s box, lifted off the ground.
I could still see her taking in energy from the sun. I looked up to see that the clouds were starting to return. The Sunny Day was wearing off, meaning that her healing abilities wouldn’t be as great at this point. This also meant that my Fire attacks wouldn’t be as explosive. I looked at the Skiploom dead in the eyes.
“You’re toast!” I said, as I released a close range Ember barrage. The numerous attacks picked up a dust cloud, veiling us in it.
<Onlooker>
The referee raced in near the final blow between the Pokémon. He tried peering through the dust to see who was still standing. His arms were raised with his flags flapping in the wind.
The dust cloud started to settle back down, as both the Magby and the Skiploom were on the ground, lifeless. The crowd held its collective breath, awaiting the referee’s call. It seemed like it was taking forever for one of them to even move. A winner had to be determined and I didn’t think that the cameras in this stadium had captured who was the first to hit the ground.
The crowd started to lean forward, a few cheering. I looked down to see that the Magby had just raised his arm, trying to grasp a rock to leverage himself up. The little guy had the true warrior’s spirit, not giving up. He slowly stood up, grasping his leg. He turned around and started to scream at Alex. Alex raced to his side.
The referee made the call official, even though everyone in the stadium already knew the end results. I looked down to see the overjoyed look on Alex’s face. I remembered that look on his face, that look of enjoyment.
Maybe he’s getting that old charm back. Maybe he’s getting the trainer’s will back. I thought to myself. He was thoroughly enjoying himself out there. It brought me back to the days when we battled alongside each other, the good days of the past. I think I may have to pay him a visit after all!
The Magby was clearly exhausted, as it passed out again, in front of Alex.
I turned around and made my way down from the rafters. I could hear the commentators in the background.
”UNBELIEVABLE! JUST UNBELIEVABLE HARRY!”
“Calm down Bob, you know you have a very excitable bladder.”
“TOO LATE FOR THAT HARRY! I STILL CAN’T BELIEVE THIS MATCH THOUGH, ONE FOR THE AGES!”
“Yeah, we are going to need a mop and a fresh pair of pants here. Thank you for joining us on this first match of the morning, plenty more action to come throughout the day!”
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Macedon the Magby(Lvl 20) battled Grace the Skiploom(Lvl 20) and won.
Macedon grew to level 22