Chapter 68

Chapter 68

CHAPTER 68

We had to push hard to keep Cece’s seat open for Louis, who had told us he would watch Cece’s battle before bringing his team to the nearest Center. After a few minutes, he finally showed up in the stands and sat down. Behind his usual haughty air, there was a look of dejection, and it wasn’t hard to figure out why. Even though he had won, his victory had been humiliating. Louis had shown the world that he held no control over his Gible. Sometimes, their objectives lined up, and the dragon type used the move he was ordered to, but that was that. Even in Eterna forest, Louis hadn’t ordered his Gible. The Pokemon just did whatever it wanted.

“You did well,” Justin said right away.

Louis sighed. “I definitely could have done better. My father is going to be on my back for this.”

“Tell him to fuck off and be done with it,” Pauline said. “Ah, Cece’s coming up.”

Cecilia confidently strode up to the platform with her usual poker face. From this far, I couldn’t tell if she was pretending not to be nervous or not. I started grinding my teeth and clenched my hands around my seat.

I believed she would win, but I was still nervous for her.

I wondered what her strategy was.Yôur favorite stories at novelhall.com

——

Cecilia Obel ran both of her hands through her hair and listened to Gardenia enunciate the rules of the coming battle. The fight would be a four-on-four with two switch-ins allowed, which was what the trainer had prepared for. Cecilia had been nervous before, but as she stepped onto the platform, she felt strangely calm, which was a far cry from her gym battle with Roark or the Floaroma tournament. In fact, there was no fear at all. Instead, there was something else.

Excitement.

The difference today was that Cecilia was fighting for herself. Not her father. Not the company. Not to save Louis’ pride and act worse than she actually was— she would never do that again, consequences be damned. The girl grabbed Fletchinder’s Pokeball and released her. She cried out and took flight with a magnificent flap of her wings. Even today, Cynthia’s words to Cecilia still sounded clear in her mind. She recalled them every day, repeating them over and over until they had become her mantra. Before meeting the Champion, the girl had placed more importance in strategizing than power, but as time went on, she found herself thinking the latter was more important than anything else in a Pokemon battle.

Strength is a weapon to be wielded, she thought. If I am strong, I can be free.

Gardenia released a Tangela, who let out a sinister gurgle. Cecilia felt the corner of her lips rise. That was the kind of trainer she wanted to be. Someone like Cynthia, whose power was so overwhelming that no amount of planning or strategy would be enough to defeat her.

“Begin!” The referee declared.

And it would all start with this. “Agility!” Cecilia ordered.

“Get your vines out,” Gardenia said.

Fletchinder’s body began to loosen. Her movements became less tight and constrained as if she had become one with the wind. Ten vines extended all around Tangela, hovering high in the air.

“Quick Attack and Flame Charge,” Cecilia said.

Faster. She needed to be even faster.

Fletchlinder sang as her flames engulfed her body, and she flew so fast she was untrackable with the naked eye. All Cecilia could see was a trail of flames behind her flying type, but that was fine. The goal was to be so fast and overwhelming that none of Gardenia’s apparent anti-flying type tactics would work.

“Bind—” Gardenia tried.

Too late. In a second, Fletchinder had already crossed the entire battlefield. The bird dove, nimbly moving in between Tangela’s vines, and rammed into the grass type.

“Grab it! Don’t let it get back up!” Gardenia said.

Vines snaked around Fletchinder’s body, and Tangela began squeezing her with Bind.

“Flame Charge and burn it off,” The trainer calmly said. “Then ram it again.”

Fletchinder burst into flames, quickly melting Tangela’s vines and pushing herself off the ground before bumping into Tangela with a spin. The grass type let out a pain-stricken gurgle and flew into Kadabra’s barrier. Her speed was still building. Her full potential still hadn’t been reached.

“Again,” Cecilia continued. After all, if something was working, why change it?

The flying type let out another cry, her voice altered by the flames and blurred toward Tangela at astonishing speeds.

“Bind! Keep replacing your vines!” Gardenia ordered as fast as she could.

Fletchinder’s attack hit again, but Tangela grabbed the bird and was constantly replacing its burning vines with another.

“Bring it toward you slowly and Stun Spore!” She continued.

“Ember!”

Still in flames, Fletchinder spat out a dozen small pellets of fire. Some hit Tangela before it rotated her away with its vines. Cecilia crossed her arms, unable to do anything to counter the gym leader’s tactic. When Tangela brought the bird close enough, it shook, and yellow spores shot out of its body before it finally went down. There were at least fifty burned vines littering the ground, and even some of its body was burned to a crisp, but Gardenia had sacrificed it to take her Fletchinder out of the battle.

“Tangela is unable to battle! Leader Gardenia, send out your second Pokemon,” The referee said.

“Well done, darling,” She said. The bird struggled to fly back to her and crashed into the ground multiple times. Paralysis was worse for flying types than it was for other Pokemon.

Gardenia wasted no time and quickly sent out an Ivysaur. Fletchinder would have easily dealt with the grass type, but she was in no state to fight. Cecilia recalled her and sent out Deino, causing even Gardenia’s eyes to widen.

“Ivy, Grassy Terrain!” She ordered.

“Dragon Breath. No holding back,” Cecilia smiled.

Ivysaur let out some combination of a croak and a roar as Grass began to grow across the battlefield. Deino reared his head back for a few seconds as draconic energy gathered in his mouth before screaming it out. Dragon Breath was faster and stronger than before, and even though Ivysaur tried to dodge it, it took the brunt of the attack.

“Incinerate the Grassy Terrain away,” The trainer continued.

Gardenia grinned. “Ivy, Seed Bomb!”

“Confusion to dodge.”

The seeds were carefully sent away, but Cecilia’s eyes widened, and Slowpoke sent two of them back to Ivysaur, blowing the grass type up with its own attack. The precision that had taken was... incredible, but it looked like Slowpoke had just had a breakthrough. Cecilia ordered another Water Pulse, and Ivysaur finally went down.

“Ivysaur is unable to battle! Leader Gardenia, send out your third Pokemon,” The referee declared.

Gardenia sent out her Lombre again. Cecilia frowned, wondering what the gym leader thought the grass type could do—

Her eyes widened, but it was too late.

“Fake out,” The gym leader yelled.

A bit slower than her other Lombre, the water type blurred and reappeared next to Slowpoke before slapping him hard. Slowpoke stared, not realizing what had happened. Those few seconds were all Gardenia needed.

“Hold it in place and Razor Leaf,” She continued.

Lombre picked up Slowpoke, and sharp leaves tore through the water type, causing it to bleed. The pain was too much for the psychic type to focus and use Confusion. Lombre didn’t stop until Slowpoke become limp, and it dropped him on the ground.

“Slowpoke is unable to battle! Challenger, send out your second Pokemon,” The referee said.

Fletchinder and Scyther were unusable, so only Deino was left. Would his power prove to be enough?

Deino came back on the battlefield with his usual roar, and Cecilia wasted no time.

“Dragon Breath.”

Deino spat out another draconic attack, and due to using Fake Out, this time Lombre was too close to dodge. It tried, but the attack engulfed its entire body, and the grass type went down immediately. It looked like that Zen Headbutt had dealt more damage than Cecilia had thought. Still, there was her last Pokemon to worry about.

With a wide smile, Gardenia sent out a Breloom, and the crowd went absolutely wild. Cecilia knew why, of course. Breloom was never used against trainers with a single badge.

At least until now. Breloom silently jumped and punched the air, almost as if it was warming up.

“Mach Punch,” Gardenia laughed.

“Take the hit and Crunch,” Cecilia said, revealing her final new move. The goal wasn’t to deal damage. Breloom had the type advantage like Scyther, and like Scyther, if she could get Deino to restrain it, it would go down.

Breloom blurred and punched Deino in the head, staggering him, but the dragon quickly shook it off and bit the grass type’s stubby arm as darkness surrounded his sharp teeth and swam around his mouth.

“Go for the neck!” Cecilia yelled.

“Force Palm,” Gardenia said wildly.

Breloom’s other arm shone and hammered Deino’s flank, denting his hard scales. Deino released his arm and rushed to bite down on the grass type’s neck, but it nimbly jumped back before punching the dragon in the head.

“Dragon Breath point blank,” Cecelia said.

“Get your head down!” Gardenia quickly ordered.

Deino gurgled before sending out another Dragon Breath, but Breloom used its hat-like mushroom to protect itself from some of the damage.

“Again,” Cecilia continued.

“Mach Punch!”

Breloom blurred around the dragon, punching him in the back as Deino tried to follow his lead. The grass type was running circles around him, irritating the dragon to no end. He roared and Headbutted Breloom away before roaring out another Dragon Breath, this time hitting the Pokemon’s body.

“Next time he does that, you Counter,” Gardenia warned. “Mach Punch.”

“Crunch.”

Breloom jumped to the side, punching the air for a few seconds before running forward and punching Deino’s neck, cracking his scales. Deino screamed in frustration, and Cece knew she had to stop him.

“Calm down! Incinerate.”

Even if it was raining, switching up her attacks once in a while could catch the fighting type off guard, and it did. It quickly jumped to the side as if it was dodging a Dragon Breath, but Incinerate was wider. The grass type’s right side burned for a few seconds before being extinguished by the rain.

“Crunch.”

Deino ran forward, this time grabbing onto Breloom’s thin neck. The grass type struggled, but there was no getting out of Deino’s grip. Cecilia knew she had her victory now.

“Force Palm,” Gardenia said.

“Don’t let it.”

Deino shook his head wildly, making sure that Breloom wouldn’t be able to attack.

“Now let out a Dragon Breath,” Cece smiled.

Draconic energy began to dance around the darkness writhing in Deino’s mouth. The dragon released the attack, and Breloom went limp. Deino let out a triumphant roar as it struggled to stand. Its scales were dented or falling off, and blood was leaking in between them.

“You did good, darling,” Cecilia congratulated before the crowd exploded into applause. Deino bowed his head. She frowned when she noticed that Deino was still slowly getting weaker. Had Breloom poisoned it somehow? Either way, she recalled Deino and began walking toward to side of the arena to meet Gardenia.

It took a few more seconds for the situation to sink in. Cecilia had won. She had won using a style modeled after Cynthia, and it had worked. The girl felt forced to grin— not her usual calm smile that was a part of her mask, but a genuine one full of happiness.

Still, Cecilia wanted more. More battles, more power. Fletchlinder needed to be so overwhelmingly fast that she would never be caught again. Deino’s scales needed to be nigh impenetrable, and Slowpoke’s psychic ability needed refining until he was able to bring any opponent down from afar. This battle was barely the tip of the iceberg, and there was much to improve on. After all, Cecilia had less than a year to keep her promise to Cynthia and meet her in battle.