CHAPTER 67

I woke up to Tangela’s vines rubbing my face. I slowly opened my eyes and turned my neck toward angel, who was staring at me with his big eyes. It took me a few seconds to understand what he wanted.

The sun was rising, and he wanted to go outside.

The rest of my team was still asleep, although Frillish was missing. I tried moving my arm, but I noticed that Cece was resting her head on my shoulder and grabbing onto my arm. I steadied my breathing and stayed still, motioning Tangela to the balcony door. Cecilia had been nice enough to allow my team to sleep out of their Pokeballs in her home last night, so I didn’t want to wake her, especially when she looked so peacefully asleep.

Tangela lazily nodded and opened the balcony door with a vine, causing me to look outside and notice Frillish’s head peeking through the water surface of the balcony swimming pool. I silently chuckled. How had he even gotten outside?

I squinted at the small door crack. Could he squeeze through that if he used Acid Armor and altered himself? That was something to think about. I smiled as I looked through the glass door. Tangela’s presence had clearly annoyed Frillish, and the water type immediately sunk deeper into the water when he noticed that he wasn’t alone. Elekid was leaning right against the bed, whispering something in his sleep, and Togetic was at the foot of the bed with her plushie, having stolen all of the covers.

Well, now I had run out of things to think about, and my mind went back to Cece being so close to me. At this point, I was wondering if I should just tell her I liked girls because this felt like I was taking advantage of her. She would probably treat me differently if she knew I did.

That probably meant no more cuddles at night. I sighed, but it was the right thing to do. Still, I’d wait until after her gym battle tomorrow afternoon to not throw her off her game. I sunk deeper into the bed and turned toward her again, observing the way she slept. The pace of her breaths, her little twitches, the warmth of her skin on my arm.

I wished I could experience this forever.

——

“Any information on the state of the protests?” I asked Denzel, passing him a basketball. “Gardenia’s supposed to be doing speeches, no?”

He took aim and shot, not even hitting the rim. “Shit,” He groaned.

“Airball!” I laughed. We were spending the day together since the others were training, and we had stopped at a small basketball court. Pauline had managed to drag even Emilia to do some last-minute training. Supposedly she wanted her Charmeleon to reach her true potential with Blaze, and some mock battles would certainly help Emilia.

“I thought you’d know,” He said, passing me the ball.

“Easy there, dude,” I complained. “Don’t throw it that hard.”

“Come on, you can take it,” Denzel smirked. “Shoot.”

I jumped and shot the ball. Togetic chirped, and it mysteriously curved toward the net. “Got it!” I yelled. “That was all me!”

“Prrrri!”

“Okay, cheaters,” He rolled his eyes. I passed him the ball.

“But to answer your question, I wouldn’t know. I’m not looking at the forums or the news anymore to destress,” I explained. “So be useful and be my link to the outside world.”

The teenager groaned as he made a half-hearted attempt to dribble. “Fine. It’s been working out rather well. Of course, protests are still going on, but people are generally happy about the fact that the trainer side of government is finally speaking to them.”

I nodded. “Thank the Legendaries. Hopefully, they’ll stop soon,” I said. I was still angry that the demonstrators were distracting the League from the real problems, but progress was progress.

“I mean, none of this would have happened if the League spoke up in the first place,” Denzel said. “You can’t keep people in the dark.”

“If they aren’t saying anything, there must be a reason.”

“Meh,” He said. “Still feels shitty. I guess we can agree to disagree.”

I nodded.

“Prime Minister Vernon is looking fucked, though,” Denzel continued. “One more dissenting vote, and he’s out. It’s only a matter of time. Hell, it might even happen today. They’ll replace him with a member from the opposition.”

“They’re using him as a scapegoat,” I said.

“Yeah, I definitely agree on that,” He said, shooting the ball. He missed. “I mean, some members of the Directorate who voted for the National Security Emergency Act are now voting to oust the guy. Can’t help but laugh about that. Cynthia’s been busy trying to negotiate with them, but nothing is working.”

I rolled my eyes. “Politics,” I spat. “Can’t believe I’ll have to deal with that when I become the Champion.”

“Slow down there,” He grinned. “But you’re right. I can’t believe Cynthia was already doing this at our age. Can you imagine?”

I shook my head. “I mean, she implemented the systems, but yeah, the amount of work and pressure must have been overwhelming. Still, she pushed forward, and I’ll always look up to her.”

“You and me both, Grace,” Denzel said. “You and me both.”

——

I squeezed through the bleachers and took a seat next to Denzel. The day had finally come, and our friends were about to have all of their gym battles. Louis was first, and he was currently waiting for Gardenia’s break to be over. He was as confident as ever. There hadn’t been a trace of nervousness in him when we were making our way here. In fact, he said that with his new Vulpix, this would probably be easy. I didn’t know how good that Vulpix was, but odds are that with her, Prinplup’s Ice Beam, which Gardenia probably wouldn’t expect, and Gible, he was probably right, although I did think he was being too confident. There was always the chance that Gardenia would catch him off guard and manage to squeak out a win. Still, I hoped Louis would win, along with everyone else. I was especially worried about Cece. I had gotten better at figuring her out, and I could tell she was nervous. I couldn’t blame her. Her father was breathing down her neck.

Gardenia finally stepped onto the arena, followed by Louis a minute later. The arena was just as packed as it had been during my battle, reminding me that he, along with the others, were famous billionaire heirs. It was hard to remember with how… normal they were. I supposed it had been my fault for treating them differently when we first met. At the end of the day, people were just people.

Gardenia gave her welcoming speech, indicating that this would be a three-on-three with two switch-ins allowed. Louis immediately released his Vulpix, which made me wince. Revealing his fire type was his first mistake, and the battle hadn’t even started yet. Obviously, Gardenia was going to send out her Lombre now, and she did.

Now Louis could either risk his Vulpix or waste one of his switch-ins unless this was a part of some greater plan I wasn’t seeing. Maybe I should have given everyone some pointers like I had done with Justin. But then, I was surprised to see the weather start to change.

“Holy fuck,” Denzel whispered. “That Vulpix has Drought.”

Ah. It all made sense now. Vulpix’s Drought would prevent Lombre from changing the weather. If the power disparity between Pokemon was too large, then the stronger one would be able to overpower the ability, but Gardenia was obviously only using Pokemon at our level. That meant Lombre’s water type attack power would be cut in half.

“He must have spent a fortune on that,” I said. “It’s looking good for him now.”

“Vulpix, start us off with a Flame Charge!” Louis said confidently.

Vulpix barked and burst into flames, gradually speeding up as she dashed toward Lombre.

“Bubblebeam while it gets there,” Gardenia said, leaning on her knees.

The stream of bubbles hit Vulpix, but the fire type pushed through. Right as she was about to hit Lombre, Gardenia recalled it. She struggled to stop and crashed into the barrier. I nodded, happy that Gardenia did what I would have done. Lombre was too valuable to be risked here, so switching was the right move. The problem was, who could deal with this Vulpix?

Gardenia grabbed her second Pokeball and sent out Cottonnee, who began floating in the wind. I quickly recalled the information I had gathered on the Pokemon. It functioned like a weaker version of Hoppip, using a weak version of Fairy Wind to float, but what it had to make up for that weakness was—

“Vulpix, Incinerate!” Louis ordered.

Flames started gathering in Vulpix’s mouth.

“Leech Seed,” Gardenia grinned.

I blinked, and suddenly, Cottonee was the one attacking first. Even though I knew how Prankster worked as an ability, it still fucked with my mind. No matter how fast its opponent was, Cottonee’s non-attacking moves would always go first. The grass type sang and threw seeds from its cloud-like beard.

“Dodge! Burn the ones you can’t!” Louis yelled.

Vulpix acquiesced and aimed her Incinerate at the Leech Seed instead of Cottonee. The grass type used the opportunity to get right above her.

“Incinerate again upwards,” He said.

“Stun Spore.”

Cottonee shook itself and shot out yellow spores below itself at surprising speeds. Vulpix shot out another stream of flames, but the grass type dodged, weaving around it with the wind. Vulpix quickly ran before the spores could reach her, but Gardenia wasn’t done.

“Leech Seed barrage behind it. Follow it up with Cotton Spore,” She said in quick succession.

“Flame Charge out of there!” Louis said with a hint of frustration.

Frustration was the name of the game. Gardenia wasn’t even attacking yet. Prankster was an incredibly oppressive ability and annoying to deal with. Gardenia would overwhelm you with it, upping the pressure until you popped and made a mistake. Vulpix rushed away from Cottonee’s attack and toward Gardenia, but the grass type followed closely behind.

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“Will-O-Wisp! Get it away from you!” Louis yelled.

A purple flame appeared above Vulpix and shot out toward Cottonee, who again, just dodged.

“Enough of this!” Louis hissed. “Hypnosis!”

I winced. There it was. The first mistake. Vulpix stood still as her eyes turned bright pink, and she began letting out weird, otherworldly sounds.

Gardenia grinned, and she snapped her fingers. “Cotton Spore, Stun Spore, Leech Seed.”

The problem with the move Hypnosis was that it took time to work unless that Pokemon was expertly trained with the move. Lucian’s Alakazam, for example, was rumored to be able to put an opponent to sleep in less than a second.

Vulpix was strong, but she wasn’t an Elite Four Pokemon. Cottonee quickly dropped a series of spores. The first set, Cotton Spore, landed on Vulpix and swelled up around her, and they’d slow her movements down to a crawl. The second set paralyzed her, and the fire type’s Hypnosis was interrupted by her convulsions.

And then, Leech Seed landed on her.

Fucking hell, Gardenia was terrifying. Louis was in a terrible spot, and losing was now a real danger if he let panic take a hold of him.

“Growth, then get down and Mega Drain,” Gardenia said smoothly.

The grass type glowed and grew a few inches before quickly lowering itself, and it began to drain Vulpix’s energy. The fire type was helpless. She was slowed, paralyzed, and being drained of everything she had. What I’d do in this situation was order her to Flame Charge and hope she pushed through, that way, she would at least burn the Cotton Spore, but Louis was frozen. It took a few seconds, but he recalled Vulpix. Wasting a switch-in was less of a problem here because it was only a three-on-three, and Gardenia had already used one of hers, but still, even if recalling her stopped her from being slowed and removed Leech Seed’s vines, Vulpix’s paralyzed state would make it hard to use for the rest of the battle. It didn’t matter how well-bred and raised your Pokemon was if it simply couldn’t attack.

The heavy sunlight receded as Louis sent out his Prinplup. I nodded. At least he hadn’t tunnel-visioned and sent out Gible.

“Prinplup, Brine!” Louis yelled out. My eyes widened in surprise. I hadn’t been the only one working on new moves.

Clouds materialized above Cottonee and rain— no, calling it rain would be wrong. Highly pressurized drops of water bore down on the grass type. The move wouldn’t be very effective, but Cottonee was light. It had to be, to be able to float in the wind, and that meant that it started falling to the ground.

“Leech Seed!” Gardenia yelled as Cottonee hit the ground.

“Ice Beam!” Louis ordered.

Prinplup honked, flapping its flippers as a bright ray of icy energy flew toward Cottonee. Prinplup’s attack was way faster than Incinerate had been, and Growth had made Cottonee slightly slower, along with the water coating its fluffy cotton-parts. The grass type cried out as part of its body was frozen by the attack, but it threw out Leech Seed nonetheless. Prinplup awkwardly managed to dodge, thanks to Ice Beam throwing Cottonee off.

“Fly up and Razor Leaf,” Gardenia yelled.

“Quickly Ice Beam her again!”

Another beam of ice hit Cottonee, who was severely slowed. It was never going to get off the ground again. It jerked its leaf-like gliders, and sharp leaves barrelled toward Prinplup, who winced and let out a sharp honk. Louis ordered one last Ice Beam and Cottonee finally went down.

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

Gardenia sent out her Lombre again, which was the obvious move. She actually wanted harsh sunlight now to hamper Prinplup’s water moves, and it would be able to resist Ice Beam.

“Ice Beam!” Louis yelled again.

“Fake out,” Gardenia calmly said.

Lombre croaked, disappearing and reappearing in front of Prinplup and clapping his face with both of its hands. Even that caught me off, guard. I really thought she would immediately use Sunny Day, but she decided to go on the offensive instead. Prinplup stared for a few seconds as if it was frozen.

“Hold him, and Nature Power.”

“Prinplup, snap out of it!” He hissed.

Lombre held both of Prinplup’s flippers as green energy gathered in front of its mouth, putting itself in harm’s way but guaranteeing Energy Ball to hit. Nothing Louis could throw at it would be worth the damage that move would inflict. Vulpix was basically out of the battle, so the most logical move was to switch.

I exhaled in relief when Louis switched before Lombre released his Energy Ball. In the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but think Gardenia had let him switch. If she had wanted to, she could have ordered Lombre to hit Prinplup with a weakened Energy Ball, but this way, she could fish out Louis’ last Pokemon and adjust who she would send out as her third. I was surprised that I was keeping up with her schemes, but it was just another thing to come up with these in a battle like she was doing.

Louis sighed and sent out Gible, who roared as blue flames wreathed in his mouth. It was time to see if Louis had managed to get it somewhat under control, or if the dragon type would just do whatever the hell he wanted like usual.

“Gible, Dragon Rage!” Louis ordered.

“Sunny Day,” Gardenia finally said.

Gibble’s maw snapped shut for a few seconds as the sun began shining brightly again. This way, Gardenia was guaranteeing Prinplup would be weakened even if Lombre fainted. Gible roared, releasing a Dragon Rage that was bigger than I remembered. Gardenia’s eyes widened for a split second.

“You can’t dodge, Water Gun!” She yelled.

Lombre shot out a jet of water, attempting to intercept the Dragon Rage, but the move was too powerful. It quickly overpowered the water type move and engulfed Lombre in a sea of draconic flames. When the attack subsided, Lombre was completely burned up, but it let out a defiant croak. It was still standing.

“That’s my boy,” Gardenia praised. “Get to the water!”

Lombre hobbled toward the pond to Louis’ left.

“Don’t let it! Sand Tomb!” He quickly yelled.

I winced as Gible turned and roared at his trainer before sending out another Dragon Rage at Lombre, who barely managed to get underwater before the attack hit. If Gible had listened, this fight probably would have been won. Lombre would have been slowed and blinded long enough for the dragon type to hit it with another Dragon Rage.

“Get close to the water and Dragon Rage in it!” Louis said.

Gible roared and ran toward the pond. There probably wasn’t much Lombre could do here, but it could at least dish out some damage before it went down. The dragon type quickly stepped at the pond’s edge and began gathering another Dragon Rage.

“Bubblebeam,” Gardenia quickly said. Bubbles burst through the surface and exploded on Gible, who simply ignored the pain and screamed out his attack, hitting Lombre with everything he had. Gardenia recalled the water type before Gible could finish, and she nodded toward the referee, who looked at her hesitantly.

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

The gym leader grabbed her last Pokeball and sent out a Ferroseed who immediately extended its spikes. The Pokemon’s steel type would be able to better resist Gible’s dragon type attacks, but it wouldn’t be able to dish out that much either.

“Ingrain, Harden,” Gardenia ordered.

Some of the Ferroseed’s spikes extended into the ground and began to turn into roots, then it shone brightly, raising its defense. Dragon Rage ignored a lot of a Pokemon’s defenses, but I supposed that Gardenia thought it would be useful for Gible’s other moves.

“Dragon Rage!” Louis yelled.

“Protect,” Gardenia smiled.

Gible roared out draconic flames, but they were stopped by a thick, green barrier that appeared around Ferroseed.

“Flash Cannon,” Gardenia continued. Ferroseed summoned a bright ball of light, which quickly shot out at the Gible. He screamed out, more enraged than in pain, and ran toward the Ferroseed.

“Gible, no! Sand Tomb, so it can’t aim at you!” Louis hissed.

“Wait until it gets close,” Gardenia said, grinning.

I was beginning to understand why Gardenia had sent out Ferroseed now. The bulky Pokemon was angering Gible to no end, and it would push the dragon type to make more irrational decisions. Gible reached his opponent and slashed across its metallic armor, causing a few of his scales to fall off.

Iron Barbs, I thought. And to my surprise, Gible kept going, biting and slashing at the steel type as his hands and mouth bled with a look of pure rage. Murmurs were running through the stands now. The worst part was that Louis was forced to let this go on. If he switched out Gible, he’d be considered as fainted, since he was out of switch-ins. All while this was happening, Gardenia kept hitting it with Flash Cannon whenever there was an opening. Still, Gible was such a powerful Pokemon that it was actually taking a long time to go down, and the damage it was dealing to Ferroseed was probably substantially more than Gardenia had expected.

“Gible! Gible, listen to me!” Louis yelled, but his voice didn’t reach the dragon. One last Flash Cannon sent him flying, and he was out for the count.

Louis winced as he recalled Gible. That was it. Win or lose, I would try to help him with this problem. It was surprising the dragon hadn’t ripped him apart yet during training. The blond boy sent out his Prinplup, who let out a defiant honk.

“Prinplup, stay far away, it can’t move!” Louis yelled. “Ice Beam!”

“Protect, then Pin Missile,” Gardenia calmly said.

Prinplup sent out a ray of ice as Ferroseed’s spikes flew out of its body and bolted toward Prinplup.

“Get them off you with Metal Claw!” He yelled.

Prinplup’s flippers shone brightly as he slashed two missiles away from him, but the rest of them hit. Ferroseed looked hurt from the Ice Beam, but Louis needed to keep the attack going, or Ingrain would just recover its health. Louis kept ordering Prinplup to use Ice Beam, and Gardenia would occasionally use Protect and counter with Pin Missile. The water type was too slow to dodge, and the steel type was stuck in place, so it was a matter of who would fall first.

Would Gible’s damage be enough?

It wasn’t, and Prinplup fainted after the fourth Pin Missile barrage. Louis swallowed as he sent out his Vulpix. The fire type was still convulsing and struggling to move, but if he managed to get her to use one fire type move, it would maybe be enough.

“Vulpix, try to push through it! Use Confuse Ray, then Incinerate!”

“Protect and Pin Missile.”

I winced as the small ray of light bounced off against Ferroseed’s barrier, along with Incinerate. A Pokemon was usually limited in the number of Protects it could use because it took a lot out of them, but it looked like even if Ferroseed was tired, it could keep going, at least for a bit more. He sent out another array of Pin Missiles, hitting the paralyzed Vulpix.

“Flame Charge! You have to get close!” He screamed.

“Wait for it.”

It took around ten seconds, but flames spun around Vulpix as it slowly ran toward Ferroseed.

“Harden again!” She yelled.

Vulpix rammed into the hardened Ferroseed, tearing some of her skin in its spikes. The steel type stayed there, rooted in place, and it quickly bumped into Vulpix, sending her away.

“Incinerate!”

“Protect,” Gardenia said.

Surprisingly, Vulpix immediately shot out her flames, and some of them made it through before Ferroseed could get its Protect up. It was stronger than I thought, seemingly pushing through paralysis much faster than a normal Pokemon would. Gardenia and even Louis had probably even thought the same.

“Wait it out, and then Incinerate again! It’s getting slower!”

I relaxed slightly. I could see the victory coming now, although it would be by the skin of his teeth. Gardenia had messed up when using Sunny Day because she had thought that Vulpix would never be able to attack again. A few more Incinerates powered up by the sun, and Ferroseed finally went down. The clapping and cheering was more sporadic this time, but we gave it our all to support our friend.

Cece stood up with a determined look on her face. It was her turn next, and then there would be a small gap between her and Justin. We all wished her good luck, but she stared right into my eyes with a fire that couldn’t be extinguished. Her passion for battling.

“You’ve got this,” I grinned.

“I do. And I’m fighting for myself this time,” She said.