Cashe tossed Bulbasaur’s ball into the battlefield, his loyal pokemon appearing in a flash of light. Bulbasaur shook himself as he emerged, loosening up in preparation for the action to come.
“He’s very weak right now, Bulbasaur,” Cashe said as Official Borek gave him a nod, “It means he’s probably going to roost right away.”
“Bulbasaur.” Bulbasaur took his ready position. Cashe nodded back to Borek.
Gligar limped back to his starting position in front of Marcus, standing on shaking legs. Marcus nodded as well. Official Borek brought his hand back down. The battle was back on.
“Roost!” Marcus shouted.
“Leech Seed!”
As predicted, Gligar settled onto the ground, folding his wings to his sides. A green light washed over him, his wounds patching up right in front of Cashe’s eyes. Bulbasaur did not stand around, however, spouting a volley of seeds from his bulb. They crossed the gap between the pokemon before Gligar could finish recovering, burying themselves into his tough exoskeleton. Golden energy began to flow from Gligar and into Bulbasaur.
“Gligar, up!” Marcus ordered.
“Razor Leaf!”
Bulbasaur loosed a storm of leaves from his bulb, sending them flying through the air at Gligar. Gligar rocketed into the air with a pump of his tail, dodging most of the leaves. Several still hit, but the damage was minimal, the energy filled leaves only causing minor scratches to Gligar’s carapace. Gligar quickly caught the air with his wings again and darted away, gaining elevation and circling overhead.
He could not stay up there long, however. Bulbasaur had connected with Leech Seed, and Gligar was on a timer.
Marcus knew it, too, acting as soon as Gligar was in the air, “Gligar, Bulldoze!”
“Bulbasaur, in the air, use Vine Whip!”
Gligar fell to earth, like a meteor from the heavens, crashing into the ground. At the same time, Bulbasaur whipped at the ground with his vines, jumping as far as he could into the air, his vines acting as leverage to get him as much height as possible.
Energy rolled away from Gligar as he hit the ground, ripping along the surface of the arena and at Bulbasaur. The stout grass type pokemon couldn’t get much elevation on his own, but with his vines helping, he was off the ground just far enough so that the energy passed beneath him. Only his vines were hit, taking the brunt of the forces and buckling where they were pressed into the ground. He came crashing back to the stage, landing on unsteady feet, retracting his vines gingerly back into his bulb. They were beaten and bruised, and would likely not be of much use for the rest of the fight.
“Acid Spray Bulbasaur, before he gets back into the air!” Cashe shouted, not going to let his temporary advantage go to waste.
“Roost!”
Shit. Marcus was too clever. Covering the vulnerable moments after the attack with a recovery move was almost genius. Bulbasaur’s attack would likely hit no matter what, but now much of its damage would be mitigated by Gligar’s recovery. It also would heal off much of the damage Leech Seed had done over the last few seconds, rendering the move moot.
Cashe grit his teeth. He knew he was in for a tough fight before the battle started. Nothing changed just because he was proving himself right.
Bulbasaur released a torrent of acid from his mouth, firing it across the battlefield and directly at Gligar. Gligar ignored it, settling down once again to recover. More cuts and injuries mended themselves as the comforting green light covered Gligar. The Acid Spray was a direct hit, shoving Gligar back some and eating away at his armor, but by the time Gligar finished healing, he looked in better condition than he was before.
“Up!” Marcus called, sending Gligar into the air once again, “Acrobatics!”
Gligar swerved sharply in the air, twisting around and turning at a near impossible angle. He swept low to the ground, coming in close to attack Bulbasaur directly.
“Sleep Powder! Move to me!” Cashe called.
Bulbasauor retreated back to Cashe, a pillar of white powder erupting in his wake.
“Up!” Marcus called again.
Gligar pulled up on a dime, sweeping straight into the air, avoiding the cloud of Sleep Powder completely and looping back around towards his trainer.
“Tailwind!’ Marcus called.
Not good. Marcus came more than prepared to deal with Bulbasaur’s powder type moves.
Gligar spun in the air, whipping up a string breeze from behind him. The breeze not only swept the Powder off the battlefield entirely but gave Gligar a significant speed boost. He was moving through the air almost too quickly for Cashe to follow. The only upside was that Marcus wouldn’t be able to give orders as quickly as Gligar could move. He didn’t get a speed boost, after all.
‘Razor Leaf, Bulbasaur!”
Bulbasaur fired off another volley of leaves, sending them straight through the breeze. The attack was nearly pointless, however. Gligar easily avoided them with his newfound speed.
“Gligar, Aerial Ace!”
“Bublasaur, try to hit him as he comes in. Use Razor Leaf again!”
Bulbasaur launched his attack at Gligar as Gligar closed in on him. Gligar didn’t try to dodge, instead building up a light blue-gray energy around him and colliding directly with the leaves. The energy from the clash caused an explosion of light, throwing Gligar just off course in the process. Gligar sped by, landing a glancing blow on Bulbasaur, even as the little green pokemon tried to dodge out of the way.
Bulbasaur was sent spinning, coming to a halt at the edge of the battlefield, just before he crashed into the barriers. A long scratch ran across his side, slowly weeping blood. Bulbasaur was panting from his exertion and from the injury, but Gligar was not doing well either. The constant drain on his energy from Leech Seed was taking a toll as Tailwind petered out. Cashe watched as Bulbasaur’s wound slowly knit back together. It was still there, he was still injured, but he was getting better. Meanwhile, Gligar was beginning to flag. He would need to heal again, soon.
“Gligar, Bulldoze!” Marcus shouted.
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Cashe clicked his tongue in annoyance. The same strategy again. This time the attack would cover for the recovery as well.
“Bulbasaur, in the air best you can, Razor Leaf when he’s recovering!”
Gligar flew straight up and dropped from the sky, slamming into the ground again. The stage shook with the impact and Bulbasaur charged the oncoming wave of ground type energy. He jumped as it came, but was unable to dodge it completely without the support of his vines. Bulbasaur was thrown into a tumble midair, crashing to the ground in an awkward heap. He twisted where he lay, struggling to right himself.
Marcus noticed.
“Gligar, Acrobatics!”
Instead of stopping to heal like he had previously, Gligar was back in the air in an instant, gaining height quickly. Gligar flew through the air as Bulbasaur righted himself, but the little pokemon was disoriented.
“Bulbasaur, Dodge! Away from my voice!” Cashe shouted.
Bulbasaur lurched in place, forcing himself to stagger to the side. It was to no avail. Gligar closed in, flagging hard, but still too fast for Bulbasaur to properly dodge. Blue-gray energy surrounded Gligar as he came in for the attack, ramming into Bulbasaur’s side with the super effective attack, his pincers clawing at Bulbasaur’s chest.
Cashe’s heart seized. Adrenaline spiked through his veins.
It was too much.
Even with the healing, Gligar’s severely weakened state, and Bulbasaur’s trained bulkiness, it was more than the little pokemon could handle.
Bulbasaur was tossed across the battlefield, slamming into the barrier and falling in a broken heap on the ground. He did not move. Cashe could see a deep cut on his chest, oozing blood. Even now the flow was slowing as energy trickled from Gligar, but it did not matter.
Bulbasaur was not getting up.
Over the center of the arena, Gligar collapsed to the ground. He had done all he could. Marcus looked on, astonished, his face a perfect picture of shock. Cashe sighed and took his pokeball from his belt. Bitterness crept three his gut but he forced himself to look up and congratulate Marcus.
But something was off.
Marcus was still staring. Not at him. Or Gligar.
Bulbasaur.
Cashe turned his head.
White light pulsed from Bulbasaur’s broken body, growing stronger and stronger. He glowed with energy, his wounds closing, light so bright it hurt to look at shining from him.
The light pulsed again. It was somehow even brighter, so strong that Cashe could not even make out Bulbasaur’s shape. A brilliant flash illuminated the entire stadium, throwing everything in sharp relief. Cashe could see the entire crowd staring in shock, unmoving. Marcus’s face was a frozen sculpture of disbelief.
The light faded and Bulbasaur, no - Bulbasaur no longer. Ivysaur got to his feet. He was huge, at least for an Ivysaur. He was magnificent. He stood just under five feet tall and almost as wide, the top of his bulb now high enough to scratch Cashe’s chin. His skin was the same bright green that Bulbasaur’s was, but now his bulb had bloomed, revealing the shimmer of a spectacular golden petal on Ivysaur’s back. Surrounding the petal were four bright green fronds - his previous bulb. His chest, now healed, had a thick, X shaped scar covering it from where Gligar attacked.
Ivysaur staggered away from the wall, basking in the attention of the entire stadium. He shook himself and lumbered over to Cashe, clearly still injured to some extent, but able to move again on his own. He stopped in front of Cashe, looking pleased with himself, like he had just pulled off a great trick.
“Hey buddy,” Cashe said, his voice barely above a whisper, “Looks like you got a bit bigger, huh?”
“Ivy.”
Cashe laughed and bent over, though not as far as usual, and gave Ivysaur a fond scratch on his chin. He looked across the battlefield. Gligar was lying still in the dead center, too exhausted and drained to move. Marcus was still stunned, mouth hanging open as he watched Ivysaur lick Cashe’s arm happily. Official Borek smiled at the scene and walked over to Cashe.
“Trainer Apollo, congratulations on Bulbasaur’s evolution,” Borek said with a genuine smile, “An early advancement like this is the sign of a dedicated trainer who truly loves his pokemon. You have my utmost respect. It’s gratifying to know that the rumors swirling around you are most definitely untrue.”
“I take it this means I won?” Cashe said, gesturing to the passed out Gligar and his very much not passed out Ivysaur.
“That is actually why I am here,” Official Borek said. His smile disappeared and he stroked his enormous mustache, “I am here to inform you that you have lost.”
“What?” Cashe said. Ivysaur made a noise.
“The battle was over when I determined Bulbasaur was no longer able to battle. Gligar fainted after that, as did Bulbsaur’s evolution into Ivysaur.”
“But Ivysaur can still fight,” Cashe said, his heart dropping in his chest. Ivysaur nudged against his leg in a show of support.
Official Borek’s smile returned, but it was small and sad, “I’m sorry, Trainer Apollo. You put in a valiant effort, but sometimes luck is not on your side.” He gave Cashe a friendly pat on the back, “I hope you do not let this get to down. There could only ever be one winner for this tournament, anyway, and I am looking forward to watching the rest of your career.” He gave Cashe one more comforting shake on the shoulder and turned to walk away, but paused midstep.
“Oh,” He said, “Give me Mankey’s pokeball.”
Cashe frowned in confusion, but took Mankey’s pokeball off his belt, handing it numbly to the official. Borek accepted it from him and took a spray bottle from his belt, placing it against the small button of the pokeball. The pokeball flashed red and Borek swapped the bottle out for a different one.
“Just an antidote and a bit of a top up for Mankey,” he said, “I know it’s supposed to be comfortable in these balls, but I don’t like the idea of pokemon being in them and hurt.” He gave Cashe one last smile and walked across the battlefield to tell Marcus the news.
Cashe collapsed to the ground, falling right on his butt with a grunt. Ivysaur nudged into his chest and Cashe wrapped his arms around the pokemon, “I’m sorry buddy,” Cashe said, his voice tight, “I should be celebrating your big day and instead I’m like this.”
“Ivysaur.”
Cashe squeezed Ivysaur tighter. Across the stadium, Marcus’s face moved through a kaleidoscope of emotion, moving from loss, to confusion, to joy.
***
He skipped the post-match interview. He doubted anyone cared. Emilia met him in the tunnel. She was standing directly below the glowing orange light, her hands bunched together in front of her. She almost looked nervous.
“Hey,” Emilia said, giving him an attempt at a smile.
“Hey.” Cashe took a step down the stairs. Then another.
“So, you lost in the end, I guess.” Emilia half-laughed, trying to play the words off as a joke.
“Yeah.” Another step.
“Look at it this way, at least you made it this far, right?”
“I guess.”
“I was super nervous about fighting you. Bullet dodge then, huh?”
Cashe stopped in front of her. He spoke, his voice rough, “I was really looking forward to losing to you in the finals.”
Emilia met his eyes. Hers were big and worried, “Cashe…” She bit her lip and hugged him, “It sucks that you lost.”
Cashe hugged her back. She was warm and soft. “Yeah.”
After a moment, she let go of Cashe, taking a step back. Cashe continued down the hall and Emilia fell in beside him.
“You got baited in with his last Bulldoze,” Emilia said as they walked.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“People will want to talk about it at the party tonight.”
Cashe groaned, running his hands over his face. “I really don’t want to go to that.”
“You probably don’t have to stay the entire time,” Emilia said, “Just show up a little late and head back a little early. If you time it right, you will miss more of the party than you attend.”
“You won’t need an escort this time?”
“I’ve got Ashley, remember? Plus Lindon will be there, too. I can always count on him to be distracting.”
“Why do I feel like I am handling this worse than either of them?” Cashe pinched his brow.
“Probably because you expected to win.” Emilia gave him a gentle smile, “I don’t think either of them really thought they were going to.”
“I guess that makes sense.” Cashe sighed. He placed a hand on Ivysaur’s pokeball.
Next time, buddy, next time.
*****