Chapter 30

Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

“Deino, it’s time to behave,” Cecilia calmly said.

Not wanting to let her speak with her Pokemon, I immediately barked out a command.

“Bubblebeam it as long as you can!”

Frillish reared his head back and released a stream of bubbles that exploded on contact. Deino let out a booming roar, spitting out a huge Dragon Breath in retaliation that missed by a large margin. I swallowed nervously. That would have taken out Frillish in one hit.

“Calm down. Do it again, this time at fifty percent,” She ordered.

Deino stomped his foot and screamed, but listened, and a smaller, slower stream of draconic energy flowed toward Frillish, who dodged with Water Sport.

“Keep your distance, and keep attacking with Bubblebeam!” I yelled out.

Frillish flew even further up, and I had to cover my eyes to protect them from sunlight. The further Frillish was, the easier it’d be to avoid Deino’s attacks. He spat out another Bubblebeam toward the dragon.

“Again, longer, sixty percent,” Cecilia ordered.

Deino screamed out another Dragon Breath, exploding Frillish’s bubbles midair. He barely managed to dodge. I clenched my fists. This wasn’t working, and I don’t know for how much longer I could keep this up. Cecilia was being surgical with her strikes, and they were slowly growing more powerful. At one hundred percent, I didn’t think dodging would be possible. Frillish tried again, and this time the bubbles reached their target, but Deino seemed unscathed. Dragon pokemon were just too powerful. Too tough to faint to weak attacks like Bubblebeam.

“Get in close with Water Sport!” I yelled.

“Dragon Breath, seventy percent.”

Frillish coiled around the draconic attack, only getting grazed by its edge. I winced, but kept going.Yôur favorite stories at novelhall.com

“Water Pulse point blank!”

A ball of water appeared in front of Frillish, elongated, and then formed into a ring before ramming into Deino. The dragon grunted and was knocked back a little before biting at Frillish, who barely avoided being trapped in its maw. I knew that if Bite ever hit Frillish, he was never escaping, and the battle would most likely be over.

“Go around and keep hitting it with Water Pulse!

“Take Down, then Bite!” Cecilia said.

Two Water Pulses hit Deino before Frillish had to retreat out of fear of being bit.

“Dragon Breath, seventy percent.”

Frillish shook and squirmed as the Dragon Breath hit one of his tentacles. It was charred and had shrunk in size considerably. I cursed. The amount of damage here was considerable. What would happen to Frillish if his entire body was hit? My hand hovered over my Pokeball—

“Eighty percent.”

The attack grazed Frillish and continued into the sky, parting a large cloud. I gulped, and my shoulders slumped. The fact that Deino was barely slowed after all those hits probably meant that even Togetic wouldn’t have been able to take it down with Fairy Wind. Strategy hadn’t mattered. The coin flip probably hadn’t mattered. I would have lost no matter the circumstances.

And it stung.

“I forfeit,” I said as I recalled Frillish.

The battle had shown how big the rift between the top trainers and me was, and I was nowhere near bridging that gap. As claps rang through the audience, the announcer celebrated Cecilia’s victory, and I walked toward Nurse Joy, I couldn’t help but listen to intrusive thoughts finding their way to the forefront of my mind.

She only won because she was gifted a dragon.

If I had only fought her Slowpoke and Fletchling, I could have won.

Maybe that Chase Karlson guy had been right—

“Ms. Pastel, your Pokemon, please?” Nurse Joy asked.

“Oh— right, sorry,” I fumbled. “Here you go.”

I left my Pokemon and returned to the stands. I was angry I had lost, but these thoughts would do nothing to help me improve. It was important to focus on what I could do from now on, and not just think about the ‘what-ifs’. I walked back to the stands and opened my Poketch.

Denzel W.

Eevee is really hurt, they’re saying he has to stay in for three days. I can’t even see him, I feel like shit. I shouldn’t have made him fight that hard.

Me

You’re right in hindsight, but Eevee would have wanted to stay and fight.

“Shhhh! Never say that again! I didn’t throw the match, I lost. Deino was just too tired to use his Dragon Breath at full power.”

I raised an eyebrow. “There you go, lying again. You could have won that battle! Your Deino is obviously better trained than that Gible. Are you losing because you’re in love with him, and you don’t want to hurt his feelings?” I asked bitterly.

Cecilia scowled. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. Stop it. Don’t get involved with me, you’ll only come to regret it.”

I contemplated leaving it there and just making my way back to the Pokemon Center, but I just couldn’t. This girl had utterly dominated me during our battle, and now she does this? It felt insulting, to see someone who crushed you so utterly not even try to win it all. Like what she had done to me was just a way to pass the time. She clearly hadn’t taken her battle seriously at all.

“I won’t leave until you tell me,” I said, crossing my arms.

“Or what? Going to blackmail me?” Cecilia said.

“No. I’ll just follow you around and keep asking.”

“What if I go back to my group? Then what?”

“Then they’ll know you throw games because your boyfriend’s ego is too big to take a loss,” I said with a smile.

Deep in thought, Cecilia tapped her foot against the ground. After a few seconds, she clicked her tongue, groaned, and dragged me back to the toilets. I hadn’t had years of arguments against my dad for nothing. She pushed me into one of the stalls, came in a locked the door.

“Why are you doing this to me? Do you want money?” She asked.

“No, I just want to know,” I stared into her eyes. “Genuinely. It pisses me off that you fight normally against my Pokemon but just let Bianchi win.”

Cecilia sighed. “I don’t know why I’m going to tell you this, but you win. I can’t ever win against him, you understand? I can’t humiliate him, or... uh... how do I explain... I’ll get in trouble with my family, there you go! Happy now?!” She said, throwing her hands up.

“Fine. Thank you for answering,” I said. “I really thought it was about love,” I said, feeling relief.

“I don’t even— ugh, whatever. Is that it?”

“No, hold on! What’s with the percentages? You always go up throughout the course of a battle. What does that even do?”

“Arceus, this girl,” Cecilia sighed. “It’s to train Deino’s discipline. Dragons are very aggressive, and they hate being told what to do, so by restraining what he can do, I’m reminding him of who’s in charge.”

“Won’t that make you lose battles?” I asked, before realizing that no, it would not. Deino was so strong she could afford to do this. “Nevermind, don’t answer. Anyway, thank you for your time. I’ll be going back now.”

“Wait! I realized I never apologized for what I did to you yesterday. I shouldn’t have threatened you, I’m sorry,” Cecilia apologized.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “Thank you. I mean, it’s fine, you were clearly worried about your dad, so I forgive you,” I said.

Cecilia nodded. “Oh! And our battle... it was fun.”

I smiled. “It really was... and also an eye-opening experience,” I said.

When I opened the stall, a man and a woman in plain clothes were standing at the door with a Hypno. I flinched and stumbled back.

“Who the hell are you?!” Cecilia yelled out. “Were you listening in?!”

“Is that the Obel girl?” The woman asked, ignoring her.

“Yeah, there’s no mistaking it.”

“Who’s the other one?”

“I don’t know. One of her friends in high places? Let’s take her too. Hypno.”

I felt my heart beat against my ribcage as I glanced toward Cecilia. Her Pokemon were getting healed, but she still had Slowpoke, and I had Elekid with me. The Hypno approached us and climbed into the stall as its pendulum began to swing erratically.

I grabbed Elekid’s ball. “Cecilia, release your—”

I was no longer in the bathroom. The floor was entirely white, and huge, humming machines hugged the walls of the room. Dozens of people in coats and normal clothes were sitting on the floor, trembling, crying, or begging. There was even a child hugging her dad in the corner of the room. Cecilia stood next to me, just as bewildered as I was.

And all around me, the same people that had threatened me so long ago stood in their uniforms, with their Pokemon out. They had taken us, and everyone in this room hostage.

TEAM:

Togetic - Pound, Sweet Kiss, Growl, Headbutt, Fairy Wind, Ancient Power, Extrasensory

Frillish - Bubblebeam, Night Shade, Absorb, Water Sport, Water Pulse

Elekid - Thundershock, Swift, Thunder Punch, Charge, Lee