“Fight!”
Cashe couldn’t hear the crowd, but he could see them roar. Thousands upon thousands of people on their feet, hands in the air, silent cries leaving open mouths. Cashe saw banners with Lisa’s name on them, entire sections of people in coordinated colors, and even someone holding an enormous cutout of Lisa’s face. The entire crowd was for her, cheering for her success, her victory. They would not be satisfied with anything but his downfall. For once, Cashe would be happy to disappoint.
“Eevee, Quick Attack!”
In the second he took to watch the crowd, Lisa was acting. Eevee was already flying across the stage at Bulbasaur, glowing with a sheen of white power.
“Acid Spray, Bulbasaur!” Cashe shouted, “Spread it wide!”
Bulbasaur shot a thin jet of purple liquid from his mouth, shaping it to cover a huge area in an attempt to catch the approaching Eevee off guard. She was not to be fooled, however. She stopped in an instant, kicking up a small plume of dust from the force of her deceleration, her legs and claws digging into the ground in order to bring her to a stop. She turned on a dime and doubled back just as quickly as she approached, never dropping the speed boost from her Quick Attack.
“Damn,” Cashe swore to himself. This was going to be tough.
“Swift!” Lisa shouted.
“Leech Seed!”
Bulbasaur launched a flurry of seeds from his bulb, sending them flying straight at Eevee. She didn’t try to dodge, instead focusing on sending a storm of stars at Bulbasaur. They appeared around her as bright motes of light, quickly taking the shape of five pointed stars. They catapulted away from Eevee just as fast as Leech Seed shot from Bulbasaur, meeting the seeds halfway between the pokemon.
Bulbasaur’s attack was shredded to bits by the flying stars, scattering tiny pieces of plant around the battlefield. Eevee’s Swift was reduced by several stars, but not extinguished completely, her attack continuing through and heading straight for Bulbasaur.
“Move right. Razor Leaf!” Cashe called as the attack closed in on Bulbasaur.
Bulbasaur shot to the right, fast, but not fast enough. The stars swerved in midair, catching Bulbasaur in the side as he moved and exploding against his skin. He grunted in pain, but was able to kick up a mist of leaves from his bulb. They fluttered for a moment in the air, before stilling and zipping in the direction of Eevee.
“Baby Doll Eyes. Quick Attack!” Lisa shouted
Eevee’s eyes flashed pink and she met Bulbasaur’s eyes in a startling display of cuteness. Bulbasaur shuddered and his attack lost momentum, giving Eevee enough time to dash out of the way with Quick Attack. She still had not been struck by Bulbasaur.
“Close the distance, Bulbasaur, Leech Seed again!”
“Swift!”
Bulbasaur darted forward, firing seeds as he ran towards Eevee. Again, Eevee stood firm, firing another barrage of stars out at Bulbasaur. Leech Seed was shredded again, the attack cutting it down and continuing on toward Bulbasaur.
“Sleep Powder!” Cashe shouted.
Lisa’s eyes narrowed by a hair. It was not the attack she expected. “Quick Attack!”
Bulbasaur continued forward, releasing a cloud of powder around him, directing a spray of it towards Eevee. The stars from Swift shot through the cloud and crashed into him, damaging him further.
Eevee glowed with light, dashing away from Bulbasaur’s Sleep Powder and evading it completely. Powder swirled into the air in the wake of her move, billowing further up as the heat from the previous battle with Cyndaquil continued to dissipate.
Bulbasaur came to a stop where Eevee had been standing, still partially obscured by the swirling cloud of powder. Eevee had increased the distance between them again with her Quick Attack, leaving Bulbasaur further away than when he started his charge.
Bulbasaur turned around to face Eevee. He was huffing from the exertion of the battle. His front legs and flank were mottled with bruises from the attacks he endured and even his bulb looked worse for wear. Despite this, his gaze was steadfast as he braced himself for another engagement.
Eevee was untouched, though she was panting hard, each breath causing visible movement in her chest. Her fur shone, even in the dull light of the overcast day, only slightly marred by dirt from the battle.
“Sleep Powder again, Bulbasaur,” Cashe shouted, “Fire it right at her!”
“Quick Attack again! At him!” Lisa cried.
Bulbasaur expelled another cloud of powder, this time focusing most of it into a large ball. It moved slowly, breaking up as it met air resistance and spreading out over a large area. Eevee dashed forward, moving under it in a flash of white light. She charged Bulbasaur, closing the distance before he had finished his previous attack.
“Brace, Bulbasaur! Counter with Tackle!”
Bulbasaur cut his Sleep Powder attack short, planting his feet and charging forward at the last moment, white light of his own gathering around his body.
The two pokemon clashed, but Eevee’s Quick Attack overpowered Bulbasaur’s hasty Tackle. Bulbasaur was tossed away from Eevee, tumbling across the scorched battlefield from the crash. For the first time in the fight, however, Eevee was not unscathed. Bulbasaur’s Tackle halted Eevee’s momentum, forcing her to a stand still. It was not a large hit, barely worth noticing, but Bulbasaur had finally landed a strike.
“Leech Seed, again!” Cashe shouted before Bulbasaur even had a chance to recover.
Lisa was acted straight away, before Bulbasaur made the attack, “Eevee, Swift. Let’s finish this!”
Eevee focused, steadying herself and firing off another swift. Bulbasaur was a beat late, still recovering from his clash with Eevee. He struggled his way to his feet, firing off as many seeds as he could, but it was nowhere near enough. The seeds were cut to pieces again, this time even more stars from Swift making it through.
“Evade Bulbasaur!” Bulbasaur tried to dodge, but he only delayed the inevitable for a moment. At the last second, he shot to the side, using as much speed as he could and evading the bulk of the attack. However, the stars that missed curled through the air, turning and homing in on the seed pokemon. They crashed into him again, not knocking him off his feet, but doing even more damage.
Lisa grinned. She could sense victory was close. But Cashe returned her smile. He turned his eyes to Eevee. She was standing still, in the same place Bulbasaur was only moments ago. Her breathing was ragged and slowing, her coat covered in a thick layer of Sleep Powder. Lisa followed his eyes and her face turned from anticipation, to shock.
“What, how?” Lisa blurted as Eevee staggered in place, falling back onto her rump and sitting like a dog.
“Hot air rises,” Cashe said, allowing himself to smile wider, gesturing to the Sleep Powder slowly drifting to the ground around Eevee. Lisa looked into the sky, her face slackening in sudden realization.
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The battlefield was still hot from Cyndaquil’s attacks in the previous fight, at least to begin with. The hot air had lifted clouds of Sleep Powder above the stage each time Bulbasaur used the attack, but as the battle continued, the air cooled as it rose, letting the powder return to the ground. The rest was positioning and Cashe noticing a single flaw in Lisa’s battling style.
Whether it was excellent positional training, extreme confidence, or a simple lack of attentiveness in a battle she thought she won, he did not know, but Eevee refused to move without her trainer’s command. Each time she used swift, she stood stock still, concentrating on controlling the attack. Cashe made use of this, drawing her focus to his ailing Bulbasaur and catching her unaware just as she thought she'd won.
“Bulbasaur, Leech Seed.” Cashe said, his smile still plastered on his face.
“Eevee!” Lisa cried out in desperation. Eevee glanced at her for a short moment and collapsed on the ground, drifting into a deep sleep. “Eevee! Get up! Remember your training!”
Bulbasaur fired off a barrage of seeds before she had the chance. It was the most seeds Cashe had ever seen hit a target, and before long, a tiny field of green was digging into Eevee’s fur. A thick stream of golden energy drained from her as the attack took hold, streaming across the battlefield and into Bulbasaur, who was now slowly recovering.
Lisa grit her teeth, a fierce scowl finding its way onto her face. Eevee stirred, fighting against her sleep, but did not yet get up. Lisa bit her lip hard and turned her head away from the scene for a moment before coming to a decision.
“Eevee, return,” she said, tossing out her pokeball, “We’re done.”
“Eevee is unable to battle. Trainer Lisa is out of pokemon. Trainer Apollo is the winner!” Official Borek shouted, raising both his hands in the air.
Cashe closed his eyes and let out a breath of relief. That was it. He was in the top eight.
“Bulbasaur!” He felt Bulbasaur thump into his legs and he opened his eyes. Bulbasaur was on his hind legs hopping up like a dog and resting against Cashe’s thighs. Cashe grinned and bent over, rubbing Bulbasaur’s face with affection.
“You did great, buddy,” Cashe said with a proud smile, “You took everything they could throw at you and you came out on top.”
“Bulba!”
“Hey!” Cashe looked up. Lisa had crossed the stage, stopping a few feet in front of him with her hand out, “No hard feelings?”
Cashe flashed a smile, “Of course not.” He slapped his hand into her grip and gave her a firm shake, “Good battle.”
“Yeah.” Lisa returned his smile with a small one of her own, “You didn’t use Poison Powder once.”
“Yeah, strange isn’t it?” Cashe said, scratching his chin, “You seemed so worried about it, but it didn’t come up at all.”
Lisa’s expression flattened, “You knew.” It was a statement of fact.
Cashe allowed himself to smile even wider as the cameraman-turned-reporter made his way across the stage. The Kadabra barriers came down and Cashe was inundated with halfhearted jeers. It was music to his ears. “Emilia figured it out after she calmed down some,” he said, “What’s the best way to win a battle of endurance? Stop it from being a battle of endurance.”
“We thought for sure you would take the bait,” Lisa frowned at the cameraman as he set up his tripod, “I want to apologize for that, by the way. I know you get a lot of crap from people for using poison. Marcus and I don’t actually feel that way, but, you know, we were giving it everything we had, just like you.”
“Don’t worry about it. Besides, you should have known I wouldn’t fall for it,” Cashe shrugged, “Especially after I caught out Stonehead with a few unexpected moves.”
“Facade isn’t unexpected," Lisa said, “It’s just professional. We were hoping you wouldn’t expect us to be professional.”
“It was the only way we could think for you to win quickly,” Cashe said, “Get poisoned, power up Facade, and bang, take out Bulbasaur in two hits. Maybe one if Eevee's trained ability is Adaptability. Even if she didn’t know the move, I wasn’t going to risk it.”
“Fair enough,” Lisa said, turning her frown into a bright smile as the cameraman got everything set up, “Hi,” she said straight to the camera, taking on an earnest affectation, “I’m so sorry to all my fans that I lost…”
***
Cashe made his way off the stage, the tunnel doors shutting behind him with a loud clang, cutting off the noise of the crowd outside. The light on the ceiling of the tunnel glowed yellow, signaling to anyone at the bottom of the stairs that someone was coming down.
Cashe let gravity carry him down the stairs, the sound of his feet slapping against the metal echoing through the cramped hall. As he made it to the bottom of the stairs, a young trainer turned around the corner of the hall, freezing in place as she spotted him. She was fifteen years old at most, and wearing a tracksuit with a school’s logo on it. Cashe didn’t recognize the logo, but he assumed it was a prestigious trainer academy of some kind. The girl had her hair back in a ponytail and a cap on her head, emblazoned with a classic pokeball. She was staring at Cashe with huge eyes and an open mouth.
“You okay?” Cashe said as he approached. The girl was Ashley Werner, Emilia’s opponent for the upcoming match. She flinched at his words, but otherwise didn’t move. Cashe nodded, “Ah, nervous. I get it. I get the pre-battle jitters, too.”
The girl leaned slightly away from him and remained silent.
“Okay. Well, good luck.” Cashe stepped carefully past her and continued down the hall. As he was about to turn the corner, he heard a squeak come from behind him. He turned.
Ashely had finally moved, she was facing him, blushing a deep red in her face. She was holding herself against the wall with one hand for support. Cashe saw her mouth move, but her voice was so quiet he couldn’t make out a sound.
“Sorry?” Cashe said, “Can you speak up?”
The girl shuddered, taking a huge breath. “Do you really get nervous?” She managed to say.
“Yeah,” Cashe said, “Every time.”
“How, how do you look so calm?”
“I just remember the worst things that have happened in my life,” Cashe said, “I think, ‘well, this isn’t so bad compared to that.’ It makes it easier.”
“But…you’re old.”
Cashe burst out laughing, “Wow, thanks.”
Ashely managed to blush even further, “I mean you have life experience. Nothing worse than this has happened to me.”
“Come on, you’ve had battles before,” Cashe said, still smiling, “How is this one any different?”
“It is different! None of those were against Emilia Oak!”
“She’s scary, is she?”
“She’s an Oak,” Ashley said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Cashe smiled, “You’re a fan, huh?”
Ashley looked away, “M-maybe.”
“Well Emilia is very nice, so you don’t have to worry about upsetting her.”
“What if she thinks I’m a bad trainer?” Ashley asked, clenching her hand in front of her. She looked more worried about this than the actual battle.
“I wouldn’t worry too much about it, she’s not going to think that,” Cashe said.
Ashley did not look convinced.
“Think of it like this then,” Cashe said, “This is the scariest thing that has ever happened to you, so from now on, it’s easy.”
Ashely frowned and furrowed her brow, thinking about it, “That doesn’t help at all.”
“Well, that’s the best I’ve got,” Cashe said, “I don’t know what else to tell you.”
“You train with her, right?” she said, eyes wide, “What should I do to win?”
Cashe scratched his cheek. Could he give someone else advice about how to beat his training partner? Probably. But he was pretty sure it was considered rude. Oh well. “Emilia pushes herself really hard. She studies strategies and knows move pools by heart. You’re probably not going to trick her, and you're probably not going to out strategize her. The best way to fight her is to keep her under constant pressure with the most effective moves you have against her pokemon.”
The girl nodded, a grateful look passing over her face, “So if I do that, I can win?”
“Nope,” Cashe said, “But it helps.” He laughed at the hopeless look that passed over the girl's face and waved her goodbye, turning around the corner.
***
“You’re late,” Lindon complained as Cashe sat down next to him, filling in Emilia’s empty seat, “You missed the introductions and everything.”
“Sorry,” Cashe said, settling into the small plastic chair. It was a slightly surreal experience watching a battle from the stadium, even if the seats were as close to the battlefield as you could get, “I was in the tunnel longer than expected and I still needed to bring my pokemon to a Center.”
“That’s okay, Emilia’s opponent was late, too, so the battle hasn’t started,” Lindon crossed his arms in disapproval as the crowd roared. Emilia and the young girl were getting ready to summon their pokemon.
Emilia tossed out her Omanyte.
“And there we have it, folks, the terror of Bracket B. Emilia Oak’s Omanyte has torn through every opponent she’s faced. Does young Ashely stand any chance?” The announcer’s voice echoed through the stadium.
“Ashely Werner. I saw her in the tunnel. She was nervous.” Cashe said. She was one of the trainers Mr Maple listed as having a rare and powerful pokemon. Having spent a few hours strategizing with Emilia for her match, Cashe couldn’t help but agree.
“She’s really cool,” Lindon said, “She’s only two years older than me and she made it all the way to the top sixteen.” On the battlefield, Ashley’s pokemon came into view.
“And here he comes! The fan favorite himself! Ashley leads with Kubfu!”
*****