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.

——

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!”

This time, hot, searing flames flew out of the dragon’s mouth, causing the whole field to catch on fire. Seeds landed around Deino, causing deafening explosions. The scene was out of a warzone, with detonations and fires all around the Pokemon.

“Incinerate again, this time on Ivysaur.”

“Keep bombing and add Sludge to the mix!” Gardenia ordered.

Huge pieces of purple sludge flew out of Ivysaur’s flower, alternating between each Seed Bomb, but Deino didn’t even bother dodging. He was taking damage, but Cece had trained his defenses for this. His hardened scales would be able to resist anything Ivysaur threw at it. Suddenly though, the bombing stopped, and Ivysaur was gone. For a second, Cecilia thought Gardenia recalled the grass type, but she wasn’t sending out anything else. Deino’s maw snapped in irritation, but he stood still, waiting for Cecilia’s command.

Suddenly, Ivysaur ran through the fire, its entire body enveloped in flames.

“Restrain it with your two vines and then Leech Seed!” She yelled.

Cecilia frowned as two vines extended from the flaming Ivysaur’s vines and wrapped around Deino. The dragon type let out an enraged roar and started thrashing around, but he couldn’t get out of the grass type’s hold.

“Calm down. Incinerate it again,” Cecilia said.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

A small seed flew out of Ivysaur’s back, landing on Deino, but before the dragon could spit out its fire again, Gardenia recalled Ivysaur. Thorny vines started to grow around the dragon type, and they would slowly drain his energy.

Gardenia grinned and sent out a Lombre, which surprised her. The gym leader had just used it against Louis, meaning that she had a second one. Upon closer inspection, this one’s leaf was slightly bigger than the other, and his skin was a slightly darker tone. Cecilia considered switching, but she decided to wait a little before doing so. Deino was still able to fight as if he hadn’t been in a battle at all, so it was in her interest to deal as much damage to Lombre as she could.

“Rain Dance,” She said.

Thunder clapped above them as rain slowly began to fall, extinguishing Deino’s fires.

“Dragon Breath.”

The dark type bellowed and spat out another stream of blue draconic energy.

“Mist,” Gardenia simply said.

Cece clicked her tongue. So its moveset was different too? The Dragon Breath clipped Lombre’s arm as it spat out a fog that made it impossible to find. Cecilia ordered Deino to sweep the entire length of the arena with another Dragon Breath, but there was no sign that the move had hit anything.

The girl sighed and recalled Deino. In normal circumstances, she would have sent out Scyther here, but the bug type still wasn’t ready to be used in battles. She grabbed Slowpoke’s Pokeball and released him. It stared into the distance.

“Slowpoke, gym battle,” She warned. His body tightened and sprung to life, and his eyes narrowed. “Good boy. Look for it with Confusion.”

Psychic types had an innate ability to feel other living beings, and Slowpoke was no different, although his skill was still rudimentary. Still, Cecilia knew it was enough because Gardenia immediately sprang into action.

“Razor Leaf!” Gardenia ordered.

Leaves as sharp as knives flew out from the mist, but Slowpoke stopped them with Confusion. They had trained heavily using Fletchinder’s Ember to ensure that he could stop as many attacks as possible, and it was paying off.

But why take the risk of him messing up? “Disable!” Cecilia said.

Slowpoke’s eye gleamed with a bright blue color, and Lombre croaked in annoyance.

“Get close and Absorb, Lombre!” Gardenia ordered.

So this one knew Absorb and not Mega Drain, Cecilia thought. He must have been newly evolved.

“Confusion. Pick it up.”

Lombre’s range was surprisingly longer than Slowpoke, and he started to drain the psychic’s type energy.

“Run closer!” Cece yelled. It was all or nothing.

“Get back, but stay in range!” Gardenia quickly said.

“Tackle! Push yourself!” She said.

Cecilia knew how much her Slowpoke hated moving around, but he still jumped a foot forward, and psychic energy surrounded Lombre, picking him up and lifting it off the ground.

“Bring it toward you and Zen Headbutt,” Cecilia said, revealing the water type’s new move.

Lombre struggled, but his body was locked in place. The advantage of having Slowpoke use Confusion on Scyther so much was that he was now an expert on holding any Pokemon in place. He brought the grass type toward him as a bright light gathered above his forehead, and he hit Lombre right in the chest, using Confusion’s momentum instead of Slowpoke’s own.

But that didn’t mean Confusion had ended. No, Lombre was still in Slowpoke’s grasp, unable to do anything.

“Do it again,” Cecilia grinned.

But then Gardenia recalled Lombre, using her last switch-in. Cecilia sighed. She had hoped to take the grass type down, but at least this was progress. Gardenia sent out her Ivysaur again, who was still a smoking husk from Deino’s fire.

Somehow, it was still standing.

“Grassy Terrain,” Gardenia said.

“Water Pulse,” Cecilia said.

Ivysaur took the brunt of the water type move, but it managed to get its attack off, and a new Grassy Terrain grew out of the old one that Deino had burned.

“Keep using Water Pulse,” The girl said.

Gardenia was unable to get close because of Confusion, and any ranged attacks would be sent away.

Still, Cecilia knew Gardenia had to try, because if she didn’t, Ivysaur would eventually fall to Water Pulse. “Seed Bomb,” The gym leader said. The grass type lobbed the explosive seeds toward Slowpoke.

“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.