The next day, I entered the Pokemon Centre’s battle area at the agreed time.

The Pokemon Centre has a vast open area dedicated to trainer battles.

Six battle areas with white borders are located adjacent to each other for the use of novice trainers.

There are stands for audience too, but nobody uses them. People prefer to be near the excitement.

The Gastly’s trainer was nowhere to be seen as I stood on one of the battlefields, harsh wind buffeting my loose clothes.

‘So windy,’ I thought depressingly.

As I was looking around, a small crowd entered the area. The Gastly’s trainer, Gon, separated from the crowd and claimed his spot on the battlefield.

More people crowded around our match.

‘It seemed like he is a local celebrity,’ I thought as the crowd parted to give way to the frowning Abra girl from before.

‘Ah! I forgot to ask her name. It seems manners can’t be learned quickly,’ I thought admonishing myself.

“My friend here said you will skip the town after your gym match, but it seems he was wrong. No matter, be ready to lose,” Gon said, like his victory was set in stone.

I reviewed his matches last night, so I knew why the Abra girl, or any other trainer for that matter, didn’t win against him.

His win streak is mostly because of a move, which gave him quite an advantage in all his matches, especially against the Abra girl.

But just like some of his previous opponents, the move won’t work with me.

“Do you know which Pokemon I am going to use?” I asked curiously.

“It doesn’t matter when I win does it,” he replied arrogantly.

I can say he is quite a talented trainer, from his previous battles, but I didn’t guess his arrogance.

‘His arrogance is going to be his downfall,’ I thought dramatically.

‘It's like these people didn’t see any animes where arrogant characters get trashed,’ I thought sniggering.

Gon shot an irritated look at me after seeing me sniggering, which I ignored of course.

The PokeWorld only has plays and some movies. I checked.

‘Maybe I should introduce anime and mangas here,’ I thought and shook my head, to get rid of random thoughts and looked at the Abra girl, who was making her way into the battlefield.

The Abra girl reached us and asked permission to be the referee, to which we both nodded.

She took her position and started the countdown.

“3”

“2”

“1”

We both tossed our luxury balls.

Cet took to the air near me, just like always- excited.

Gon grimaced lightly seeing the flying Pokemon.

His Gastly sniggered maliciously as it appeared on the battlefield near Gon.

The referee signalled the start of the match.

“Forward and Gust,” I called out to test the waters.

Cet darted forward to the middle of the battlefield and sent waves of pressurized wind towards the ghost Pokemon.

The Gastly moved in a loop barely avoiding the Gust.

“Move in, Cet,” I called out, satisfied after testing the Gastly’s speed.

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“Move along,” Gon ordered. Starting a game of chase, between Gastly and Cet.

‘Now, that’s not a game you want to play with Cet,’ I thought looking at Cet excitedly call out his name and chase the Gastly.

Cet corralled the Gastly near to the Ground and dived, reaching the Gastly with alarming speed.

“Escape,” Gon called out making the Gastly disappear just as Cet dropped near it, spreading his wings, stopping himself from crashing.

The puppy bat called out his name confused as his playmate suddenly disappeared.

The Gastly appeared 5 meters away from Cet, the Zubat called out his name, surprised and resumed the chase.

Just like before the Gastly disappeared, when Cet came near it, appearing some distance away from the Zubat as I looked everywhere, to see any signs of it appearing.

The excited puppy bat resumed the chase again, not at all deterred by his disappearing opponent if at all he looked more excited.

I didn’t want Cet to use agility as the one damaging move Gon depends upon does not work on Pokemon like Cet, thus making this match a drawn-out one, a contest of stamina.

Just as Cet reached a certain range from the ghost, Gon and I shouted at the same time.

“Gust.”

“Lick.”

Cet looped around the Gastly large tongue, made his way onto the Ghost’s back and flapped his wings sending the ghost crashing into the ground.

Gon clicked his tongue and the ghost disappeared again, making me click my tongue.

‘This is getting old,’ I thought getting irritated and ordered for a Gust in a random direction, hoping to get a lucky hit.

“Gust.”

No such luck, the Gastly didn’t appear, making decide to use Gust in the opposite direction.

“Again, In the opposite direction, Gus-,” I called out irritation evident in my voice.

“Now! Use Hypnosis,” Gon shouted, the Gastly appeared above Cet grinning and released waves of psychic energy, hitting Cet.

“-Side, Gustside,” I ordered changing my order abruptly, making Cet shoot through the air like a cannonball, instead of letting Cet be a stationary target while cancelling the Gust.

“You!!” Gon called out looking incensed.

Shooting him a smirk, I looked at Cet as he was orienting himself from suddenly getting flung across the battlefield.

He has to stop and orient himself for a second to use Gust and a couple of seconds more, if he has to abort, is needed to move as he has to disperse the accumulated flying-type energy.

It takes time to truly master any type of moves.

‘I am getting impatient. I knew the match was going to be irritating, but… I am so stupid… AARGH’ I thought cursing myself.

Gon likes to use status condition moves and drag out the battles. It’s his style. He only relies on that ‘one move’ if he considers his opponent to be tough to beat with his style.

Still, Cet got hit by the Hypnosis for a split second, the chances were slim, but his being a poison type could have made him fall asleep then and there.

I knew from his matches that the disappearing act was his favourite, but it seems I was not prepared for it.

“Let’s finish this,” I said my voice showing my panic.

“Move in for a Gust, Cet,” I said.

“Hold, Gust, wait,” I whispered, just like we practised in today’s morning training.

I wanted to give Cet a break, so I mostly let him play this morning except for this technique.

‘Now take the bait,’ I eagerly awaited as the Gastly disappeared again.

Cet slowly flexed his wings gathering flying-type energy.

‘Yes,’ I cheered seeing the Gastly appear below Cet.

“Confuse Ray.”

“Gust.”

Our voices overlapped as the Ghostly Ray hit Cet, while the Gastly got smacked to the ground- again.

I took the risk of getting hit by the Confuse Ray because as long as Cet’s in the air, the Gastly cannot damage Cet heavily. Using Hypnosis on confused Pokemon cancels the clinging ghost energy on it, making it snap out of confusion and the Lick move has very little damage.

I estimated that Gastly could land a maximum of 2 Licks if I was very unlucky.

As chasing after Cet and using a Lick, the move that requires the Gastly to slow down or be stationary is very low, even when he is confused.

“Cet,” I called out, heaving a sigh when he didn’t appear to be confused.

Cet made his way towards me and hovered.

Now as the Gastly took a good beating, it was time to commence the next part of the plan- whittling down its remaining health.

“Ghost it,” Gon yelled, confusing me.

The Gastly disappeared from the field again, and as I waited, he popped right above Cet.

“That’s it! Gastly smog it up,” Gon yelled.

Purple gas was released from Gastly’s gaseous body, camouflaging it and spreading towards Cet rapidly.

Cet dived to avoid the gas as it spread chasing him.

“NO! Cet up,” I shouted distressed knowing what was coming.

“Now! Shadow Punch,” Gon called out gleefully.

A fist made of shadows rose and hit Cet, who was trying to stop his dive, right into the concentrated poisonous cloud.

‘Oh! He is good, but I am better,’ I thought deciding it was high time to go on the offensive.

“Move Cet,” I ordered to not repeat the tragedy that just happened.

The shadow punch move was the bane for the Abra girl, the main reason for the Abra girl’s losses, or any land Pokemon for that matter.

Cet again resumed his chase, but this time before the Gastly could vanish, I ordered.

“Astonish!”

Ghostly energy spread around Cet, turning the cute boy into a scary abomination, with glowing red eyes and an ethereal body.

Chills crept down my spine, just like it always did whenever he used this move.

Cet knew this move right before our gym battle, but the opportunity to use the move didn’t present itself.

The Gastly flinched at the super-effective but low-damage move making me grin.

The astonish move deals damage when the target Pokemon sees the user Pokemon, the more surprised or unaware the target Pokemon is, the more the chances of it flinching which now just happened with the Gastly, it flinched.

The distance was also important, the nearer the better.

The eerie feeling the Ghost-type energy creates makes Pokemon or humans instantly turn towards the source, making for a successful ghost-type move, Astonish.

“Poison Sting,” I ordered making use of the small-time gap before the Gastly disappears, just like always.

The Gastly took the brunt of the stings before disappearing.

“Hide, Gastly.”

A panicking Gon ordered.

I was happy he was panicking, but I knew he still had more tricks up his sleeve.