Chapter 8: The Dreamyard

"I can’t believe it!" cried Harper. They were hanging out in the Pokémon centre waiting for Harper's Pokémon to be healed. She was sopping her heart out over her defeat. Of all the time she had ever trained, this was the first time she has had such a devastating and overwhelming defeat. Not only did she feel shock, she also felt demoralizingly depressed. “This has to be worst thing to have ever happened to me.”

"Are you alright?" asked Brandon supportively. He sat besides her. He places his arm around her to comfort her. They were quite good friends by now.

"Do I look alright?" she spattered out, gleaming at them as if demon-possessed. "I hate myself at the moment. Gosh, why does this hurt so bad?”

"Please don’t do something stupid?" asked Brandon.

"I’m not that reckless if that's what you're implying,” she snapped briefly, before realising just how nasty she sounded. “But I do feel hurt inside. It burns to my very core! I must carry on though, since it would make me look like some fool if I came back to my hometown not only defeated but as a coward that ran away. I’m never letting that happen again!"

"Hey," said Pedro, walking into the centre. "There is some stuff going on near the Dreamyard sometime tonight. I think we should go there and see what is going on."

"Sure," said Harper, even though she wasn't all that happy about going anywhere. All she wanted to do was hide away in shame! "I'm going to sleep for a bit. Wake me up when it's time to do whatever you want us to do."

"Of course," Brandon said. "We will look around town while you sleep. We will make sure to wake you up when it's time to go to the Dreamyard."

Brandon and Pedro left, leaving Harper to ponder about the battle she had just fought. What did she do wrong? And then hit her – not literally but metaphorically – that she had the wrong Pokémon. Tepig was a fire-type Pokémon so it was obvious she would be defeated if she went against a water-type Pokémon. That was so stupid of her for doing that. She remembered being told the best way to defeat an aquatic Pokémon is to use a grass-type Pokémon. She couldn't think of where to get one, however. The nearest place to get one was a mile or so away. She could borrow Brandon's Bulbasaur but that is against the official Pokemon rules. She knew the rules very well. Every trainer to had to use their own Pokémon – borrowing was against the rule. All she knew was that she was going to have to train harder. She might have to stay in Striaton City for a while to make sure her Tepig is strong enough to go against the gym leader’s Panpour again. The thought of being defeated again shuttered her. There wasn't any other way she would lose again; she was going to make sure of that.

"I have to win," she reassured herself. “I just know it!”

She looked around before deciding it was about time she went to sleep. Sleep came quickly for her, but weirdly she didn't dream of anything. She woke up as fast as she went asleep. She looks around and noticed that it was dark. Neither Brandon nor Pedro has returned so she walks about the centre keeping herself amused. Brandon and Pedro came in suddenly after a while.

"Looks like we didn't have to wake you up after all," Pedro said jokingly. "Now let's go, or else we’ll miss what is going on at the Dreamyard."

They rushed to the Dreamyard as fast as they could, like a cheetah chasing its prey, or a horse galloping towards the finish line. They came to the outside court of the Dreamyard. There was a small patch of grass in front of a wall. Bush covered it but from inside Harper could see an old wrecked building that had been left to become derelict. On closer inspection, it seemed like the building was intentionally destroy, although partially.

"Some explosion I was told," said an old man. He had a long white beard that came to his chest and he wore a purple dress thing that had a green N written on the front. He also worse half-moon spectacles. "This is what happens when you force Pokémon to fight. We all suffer! Beware of the reactions that happen if you keep your wicked ways. The Pokémon will wake from their dreams soon enough and realize they have been controlled all along." With the comment the old man disappeared into smoke. No one was sure where exactly he went, or how he pulled off such a trick.

"Mad man," said Pedro. "He's one of those Team Plasma guys. A complete nutcase I tell you."

"Yeah, a cult," Brandon added in. "I remember being told that cults are dangerous."

"They sure are," laughed Pedro. "It's time to find out what is going on."

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

They moved through the crowd gathered around the courtyard. They had heard rumours of something happening in the Dreamyard too. In the middle of the courtyard a large circle had been during, signifying this was a battle ring. There was a man in his forties walking around the ring announcing something. Harper, Brandon and Pedro got closer to work out what the man was saying.

"Greetings, hello, and ciao – welcome to battle rumble," the man announced. "I know some of you have lost to those gym leaders. They are petty scheming people who think using a Pokémon that is strong against a trainer's starter is clever since there is no other type of Pokémon that could defeat them. They are wrong and I will prove it to you. I have some Pokémon that will aid you on your quest to defeat this first gym. All you have to do is volunteer to battle for it. The winner will get the prize that will help them win even more glory."

"I will come and battle," said a girl of colour. She had somewhat dark skin, and long ebony-coloured hair. She looked a lot like Michael Burnham from Star Trek Discovery. "My name is Augusta Balmoral! Is there anyone willing to challenge me! I have worked so hard and now that my first badge is in my sight. No stumbling blocks will come to stop me! Challenge me, encounter me, and test me!"

"I will accept your challenge," Harper said in a bold and bravely voice, looking like an awesome heroine. "I Harper Grace Thompson will take you on! I have lost a gym battle but it won't stop me from losing this. I will win!"

"Nidoking," Augusta said. "Give it your best. Don't disappoint me or else I won't feed you tonight!" She took out one of her balls and threw it into the circle. She started playing with her other ball as if she was nervous. The Nidoking was a massive purple reptile creature that had a massive horn that look as if it could do a lot of damage.

"Tepig," Harper said as she took out one of her balls as well. "I choose you!"

Tepig charged at the other Pokémon. There wasn't that much room so it didn't have to go that far to get to its opponent. The Nidoking tried to grab the Tepig and smash it to the ground like some paperweight, but Tepig was able to dodge the grab like an NFL player. The Nidoking turned around and moved slowly towards Tepig. Tepig started to shake nervously, it was only a small Pokémon so it wouldn't do too much damage against a Nidoking by just tackling it. The other Pokemon did a double kick on Tepig, knocking him back into the crowd. It looked as if Tepig had been knocked out but it shook its head and got back up.

"Yes! Keep at it!" yelled Harper from the crowd. "Just keep at it. You’ll be able to exhaust the Nidoking in no time."

Suddenly the Nidoking's horn started to glow bright red. It pointed it at Tepig and started to charge at the poor Pokémon. It was about to use its megahorn, which if it hit would not only hurt Tepig bad but could also poison the Pokémon with Nidoking's poisonous points on its horn. Nidoking got only an inch away from Tepig before Tepig suddenly burst out with an eruption of fire. This startled Nidoking causing it to move back again. Tepig then charged at it with tackle and then use an ember blast, knocking the Nidoking down to the ground.

"Harpo has won the battle," the organiser announced "I will now reward you with a Pansage which will aid you in your next gym battle."

"Thank you," said Harper as she was handed a Pokémon ball that was green and had a picture of the trio badge on it.

"As for Augusta, she will be given a masterball as a contrition prize," the man said. "The next time you come across a wild Pokémon, use this ball and it will catch the Pokémon straight away. I hope it will aid you on your quest in defeating the trio badge gym leaders."

"It will," said Augusta. "I will accept this prize gracefully and move on since it's no good to mellow on a defeat. You just have to move on." And she left happily knowing that she had improved her battling skill. "I hope to face you again," she said to Harper before leaving.

Since it was getting too dark, nearing midnight by then, they decided to go to the Pokémon centre to rest. Both Brandon and Pedro went to sleep quickly, but Harper stayed awake for another hour or so. She had already slept that day so it wouldn't hurt her if she stayed awake. She was much more confident now that she had a much stronger Pokémon to help her defeat the first gym leader. After an hour she got her Pokémon healed for tomorrow and then went to bed.

They arrived at the gym the next day as early as possible. Harper wanted to finish this once and for all, so they can quickly leave this town and move on to the next town. She had been there longer than she intended and was starting to get bored of the town.

"Here comes the loser again. Prepared to lose again?" Cress said in a cocky way. He looked pleased about himself. Harper was ready to wipe that grim look off his face.

"I re-challenge you!" she announced. "Audino and Pansage, I choose you!" Out of her balls came her new Pokémon, ready to take on Cress's Pokémon.

"Time to lose again then?" he smirked sneeringly. "Panpour and Lillipup let's teach them to give up after they’ve already failed."

Lillipup charged at Audino, but the Audino was able to move out of the way. It used the move attract, which made the Lillipup fall in love with it. The Lillipup refused to attack Audino, which gave Audino the chance to use secret power on Lillipup, knocking it out. By now Panpour and Pansage were trying to throw swipes at each other but both pokemon were able to dodge the attacks. Suddenly, Panpour tackled Pansage, causing it to lose drastic amounts of health and paralyzing it. Audino suddenly used refresh melodramatically. It caused Pansage to be healed of its paralyzing state. Then Audino used heal pulse to heal Pansage, which healed it. Pansage then used seed bomb which blasted at Panpour, causing the Panpour to lose a large amount of health. Pansage then used Fury Swipes to finish the Panpour off.

"Ok, you’ve won," said Cress, sounding disapointed. "Here is the trio badge." As he said that some guy rushed in. He was puffing so it looked as if he had run there. He was also panicking.

"Team Plasma is at the Dreamyard. They are planning to do some terrorist acts! Someone must stop them!" he yelled.