This was is. I knew Umbreon was at a type disadvantage, but it was up to her to win the Ever Grande Conference. She was my first pokemon, and my strongest by far. At that point, I wished that the battle was taking place at night. Umbreon's power would've been at full strength. But I guess this would be the true test of her abilities.
"Umbreon, shadow ball!"
"Poliwrath, bubble beam!"
Umbreon began charging a dark ball of energy in front of her golden ring on her forehead, and Poliwrath began sucking back air. Both of them released their attacks at the same time. Poliwrath's high-powered bubble attack struck the ball of energy put out by Umbreon in the center of the field. The two attacks exploded and kicked up a plume of dust from the ground. When the dust settled, Umbreon was on the attack. She used agility to get up close and personal with Poliwrath, then hidden power, which ended up turning into an electric-type attack, doing heavy damage and knocking him to his knees.
"Alright Umbreon!" I shouted. "Great work, now use dark pulse!"
Mark had other plans. "Poliwrath, submission!"
Before Umbreon could launch her attack, Poliwrath grabbed her, pulled her close, and wrapped one of his thick arms around her abdomen and squeezing with all his might. Umbreon was clearly in pain, so I racked my mind quickly to think of a way to get her out of there. Finally, I got it.
"Umbreon, use toxic!"
Umbreon squeezed shut her eyes, then unleashed a toxic spray of purple gas from the golden bands and rings on her body. Poliwrath inhaled the gas, and suddenly stricken with poison, he released Umbreon, who made no hesitation in creating distance between the two. Poliwrath began to succumb to the poison, falling down to one knee, and holding himself up with one hand on the ground.
Mark put his hand in a fist and shouted "Poliwrath, refresh!"
Poliwrath seemed to take every ounce of energy in his body and focus it. He began to glow a whitish-silver color, and he started to stand up slowly. When he got to his feet, the glow faded away, and he looked as if he had never been poisoned at all.
Mark put a devious smirk on his face, then calmly said "Okay Poliwrath, use ice beam. If you miss, keep firing until you hit her!"
Poliwrath began to shoot beams of cool blue ice from the swirl on his belly. The beam barely missed Umbreon as she dodged swiftly, but shards of ice grew out of where it hit the ground. He launched another attack, this time coming very close to hitting her, but she dodged at the last second.
"Umbreon, use agility to dodge his attacks!"
Whenever Poliwrath shot another beam, Umbreon would get out of the way with incredible speed. Eventually, he began to get frustrated, and rushed in to attack her with brick break. When he got close enough to strike, Umbreon used detect to deftly maneuver her way out from under him. From behind, she blasted him with another shot of her electric-type hidden power, knocking him to one knee again. As he got up, she quickly moved away from him.
"Poliwrath, use hypnosis!"
Umbreon began to charge to use quick attack, but as she did his eyes began to glow a faint blue, and the swirl on his belly began to move around in a circle. Umbreon stopped moving, entranced by the movement, and she soundly fell asleep, dropping there on the field.
"Great work Poliwrath!" said Mark with a laugh. "Now get in there and use dynamic punch!"
As Poliwrath began to charge at Umbreon, his fist began to glow a whitish-silver color, and started to produce a trail of silver energy behind it. Umbreon was about to be taken out, and we were going to lose. I couldn't let that happen, not after she'd trained and practiced so hard for this. I finally though of what to do.
"Umbreon, use sleep talk!"
As Umbreon lay there, Poliwrath continued his charge, finally coming to within feet of her. He brought his fist down, striking the ground where Umbreon had been laying, just before sleep talk allowed her to use detect and move out of the way. Still asleep, Umbreon blasted Poliwrath with shadow ball, knocking him backwards, but not doing significant damage.
"Poliwrath, she's still asleep!" cried out Mark. "Use your strength to win it! Belly drum, go!"
Poliwrath began to pound its opened hands against is stomach, creating a loud percussive sound that echoed around the arena. When he was finished, he seemed reinvigorated, stronger somehow. The sound eventually reached Umbreon's ears, and woke her up. When she saw Poliwrath dashing towards her for another dynamic punch, she quickly dodged out of the way.
Now that Poliwrath's attacking power had been increased dramatically, I knew that Umbreon would have nearly no chance of beating him in a physical match up, but there was one move she knew that might have the strength to do it.
"Umbreon, use last resort!"
Umbreon's entire body started to glow a hot white color. Her bands and rings began to pulsate so violently that the only thing I could think of that would make them that intense is the moonlight. Her eyes flared up, and gave off an intense red light, making her seem unbeatable. That would have to do it. She charged at Poliwrath. He swung his massive fist in another dynamic punch, but missed, since Umbreon jumped up and tackled him directly to the belly, knocking the wind out of him. He dropped to his knees and held himself up with one hand, while using the other to hold his stomach. Umbreon's glow faded away, and she went back to her normal colors.
"Umbreon, that was amazing!" I cried out to her. She turned to me, smiling, and cried out "Bree!" I smiled back at her, then said "Lets finish this! Use dark pulse one last time!"
Umbreon nodded, then took a firm stance, opened up her mouth, then blasted a ball of purple and black energy at Poliwrath. He didn't even try to move. Belly drum had done significant damage to his health, and that last attack put him on the brink. He'd given up. The ball struck him with a huge explosion that sent him flying backwards, roll-skidding across the ground, and coming to a stop at Mark's feet.
Mark put Poliwrath into his poke ball, causing his picture on the board to go dark. This was it, his last pokemon. The final match in the Hoenn league championships, fought between my Umbreon, and whatever his last pokemon would be. But then a thought hit me. Why didn't he use Poliwrath as his last pokemon? It was clearly his strongest, so why didn't he save it for the very final battle? My question was answered when he tossed out his sixth and final pokemon.
"Toxicroak, come out! Show this kid why we're the best!"
Out from the ball came a short, frog-like pokemon, that also looked a lot like a human. It was mostly blue colored, but there were black marking around its eyes, and joints. Its most noticeable feature, though, were the orange claw-like things that jutted out from between two of its fingers, and the big orange bubble under its chin, that seemed to expand and contract whenever it breathed. One look at this pokemon, and I could tell that it wasn't from Hoenn, or anywhere near here for that matter. It looked completely alien.
"What the hell is that!" I shouted in surprise.
Mark laughed and smirked confidently. "It's a Toxicroak. They're from the Sinnoh region. I got it from my cousin, who's living there studying pokemon in the Great Marsh in Pastoria city."
Confused, I looked at Umbreon, who stared back at me with a confident look in her eyes. I'd never been to the Sinnoh region, but I'd heard stories about the exotic and powerful pokemon living there. I'd never heard of or seen a Toxicroak before, but that didn't matter at all. I had faith in Umbreon, and I knew that she could handle this pokemon, whatever it threw at her!
"Umbreon, you ready to do this!" She smiled. "Bree, On!"
"Okay, lets go then. Use agility to get close, then hit it with pursuit!"
Mark folded his arms and chuckled in amusement. "Toxicroak, use detect, then focus blast."
Umbreon rocketed towards Toxicroak, who just stood there in the same position. When she jumped to attack, he swiftly moved off to the left, avoiding the attack. His hand started to glow a bright orange, and while Umbreon was vulnerable, he struck her hard in the side with a blast of energy, knocking her back fifteen feet. As she got up to her feet, he descended upon her quickly, his claw glowing a bright purple, and struck her with poison jab, knocking her back down.
"Umbreon, use detect to dodge his next move!"
"Toxicroak, use mind reader, then cross chop!"
Toxicroak raised his arms up into the air, glowing white with energy. Umbreon used detect to quickly escape to the side, but Toxicroak knew where she was going to move, and brought his hands down in an X-shape, knocking her back ten feet. She tried to get up, and slowly got to her feet. By the time she was up, though, Toxicroak was on her again, this time with focus punch. He knocked her flying through the air, angled towards the concrete wall behind me. I ran to where she was moving, and jumped into the air to catch her. As she made contact with me, she crashed into my stomach, knocking the wind out of me. I fell to the ground, her in my arms, unconscious.
I looked at her through squinted eyes. "Umbreon," I forced out, "are you alright?"
She squinted her own eyes open, shuddered in pain, then smiled at me and forced out "Breeh…" I stood up through the pain, Umbreon still in my arms. I looked up at the board, and Umbreon's picture went dark. We'd lost.
On the board, the picture of Mark's face grew, and the pictures of his pokemon were repositioned around it. Huge clouds of confetti shot out from hidden confetti cannons around the arena, and the crowd began to cheer and shout so loud, that I could barely hear myself think. I turned around and began to walk towards the locker room entrance, when I heard someone calling my name.
"JOE!"
I turned around, and Mark was standing behind me. He held out his hand for me to shake, so I shifted Umbreon's weight into my left arm and shook with my right hand.
"That was a great battle," he said with a smile. "I've gotta say, your pokemon have gotten a lot stronger since our last battle. For a second there, I bet you thought you'd won it, huh?"
I laughed, then replied "No, but I had to hope, didn't I? Anyways, your pokemon were great out there. Especially that Toxicroak. I guess I underestimated it, and we paid the price for that."
"Yeah, I guess you did," he said coolly. After a quick glance behind him, he shook my hand again, then said "Joe, I gotta get over there for the victory celebration. You keep working with those pokemon, and someday maybe you'll be good enough to beat me. See you later, kid." Before I could say thank you, he turned around and walked off, hands in his pockets. Deciding it was best to get my pokemon healed up, I headed straight for the pokemon center.
While my pokemon were being healed, I saw my friends come through the door. Steph, Alex, and Frank rushed to sit beside me in the waiting area. Then came the questions.
"Joe, are you okay? How are your pokemon? Are you sad that you lost? What are you going to do next?"
I sat there, answering their questions and accepting their condolences and congratulations for about an hour and a half, until my pokemon were healed up. While everyone else went to the parties and things that were happening, I didn't. Instead, I would take my pokemon outside. I needed to talk to professor Birch, then to my pokemon.
On the video-phones inside the pokemon center, I called up professor Birch. When he answered, he was out of breath, and his hair and coat were even more disheveled than I remember them being when he goes out.
"Professor," I asked, "are you alright?"
He laughed, then said "Of course, of course I'm alright Joe. I just had a bit of a wild expedition in the Petalburg woods right now, that's all. How are you, is everything alright? I heard from Brandon and Julian about your match today, they said you did excellent, but you lost in the end."
I smiled, then said "Yeah, I lost. I'm alright though, professor. My pokemon gave it everything they had, and that's all that matters to me. Listen, I need to ask you a favor, but I'll admit it won't be easy."
He nodded his head, and I continued.
Later, after the call, I went outside and brought out all of my pokemon. After they each had their fill of pokemon food, I had them sit down so I could talk to them.
"Okay guys," I started. "We may have lost today, but that doesn't change the fact that you all did great out there. I'm so proud of each and every one of you. You tried your hardest and gave it your all, even when you were badly hurt." I looked at Flygon, who was staring at me intently.
"Flygon, you did great out there today. The only thing I need from you is to work extra hard on your dragon-type attacks, especially Draco meteor. I have a feeling that someday, you'll have the most powerful Draco meteor around, and you'll have no problems beating any other pokemon with that move, okay?"
Flygon smiled at me and started making cries and calls. Next, I looked at Scizor.
"Scizor, nice work today. I think you might be the first bug-type pokemon to take out a dragon-type pokemon. That's just amazing, and I'm really happy that you're on my team. I need you to work on your speed. When you're so fast, that your opponent can't even see you coming in for an attack, you don't have to worry about losing a battle ever again, especially against super-effective attacks."
Scizor nodded, then clanked its massive claws open and shut. "Scizor, Sciz!"
It went on like this until I'd complemented and given advice to each of my pokemon. Finally, I'd come to the hard part of what I had to say to them.
"You guys, I love you all, and I'm so proud of each and every one of you. You don't know how glad I am that I can call you my pokemon. Which makes it difficult for me to tell you that I have to leave all of you except for Umbreon at professor Birch's lab until I return from Sinnoh."
Each and every one of them started crying out in protest. I cut them off, and said "Listen, you're all going to be under the care of professor Birch, helping him out and training on your own. You'll have the power to be free, and not in your poke balls all the time. You'll be able to roam free on his land, and train and practice with the pokemon around there. I want to take you all with me, but I want to be able to start fresh, with Umbreon as my lead pokemon. She was my first, my starter, I need to take her with me, but I have to leave the rest of you with professor Birch. I still love you all, you have no idea how much I love you all, please understand me."
They were quiet for a few seconds. I felt tears slowly sliding down my face, and I could see them welling up in some of my pokemon's eyes, especially Houndoom and Kirlia. Umbreon, feeling bad for her friends, started talking to them. I couldn't understand what she was saying, but it sounded like she was consoling them, and telling them about my decision, and how it was affecting her as well. After she was done, they all nodded, then came over to me. Houndoom jumped on me, knocking me down, and he began to lick my face lovingly. I felt the rest of my pokemon coming around me, crying out and hugging me. Flygon, too tall to come down to our level, simply bend her neck down and rubbed her face against mine.
When they were done, we all played together for a few hours, until the others returned from the festivities. I told them all about my plan. While they didn't think it was a good idea for me to leave my pokemon behind, I convinced them that it was in both their and my best interests.
The next morning, we all left for Slateport city, since it had the ship that would take me to the port near Sandgem town, where I would meet professor Rowan, the leading pokemon scientist in Sinnoh. We all flew. I had my Flygon, and the others used Frank's pokemon: his Fearow, and his two Pidgeot. At the pokemon center in Slateport city, I used one of the machines to transfer all of my pokemon, except for Umbreon, to professor Birch's lab in Littleroot town after our goodbyes. Once they were gone, next came my friends.
First was Alex and Frank. They were both sad to see me go, but happy that I was about to go on another journey.
"Joe, its hard to believe that a few months ago, we met up here in Slateport city, and now we're splitting up," Alex said through tear-filled eyes. "Good luck over there in Sinnoh. I hope you catch a lot of cool pokemon, and meet really awesome people. Have loads of fun for me, okay?"
I smiled at her, then said "Sure thing, Alex. I'm definitely going to miss you while I'm over there."
I turned to Frank. "Frank, buddy, I know we didn't really get off on the right foot, but you did help me rescue my pokemon when Stephen stole them. That was enough for you to earn my respect, and you've never let me down. Thanks, man." I held my hand out for him to shake, and he did.
"You're welcome," he replied. "Stay safe over there. If you ever need advice, help taking down a gym leader, or something like that, don't hesitate to call me up. I'm always here and willing to help you out whenever you need it, buddy."
I turned to say goodbye to Steph, but she was nowhere to be found! I looked around for her, and suddenly saw her running through the pokemon center doors, a small piece of paper in her hands.
"Whats that?" I asked her.
Between struggled breaths, she replied "it's a ticket to get on the boat. I'm going with you, Joe!"
Brimming with shock and joy, I gripped her in a tight hug and spun her around. "Steph, that's awesome! I can't believe you're coming with me, this is so cool!"
"Put me down!" she said in a loud whisper. "I can hardly breathe!"
I let go of her, and she inhaled heavily. "Best friends stick together, right? I couldn't let you go on your own, so I decided to get a ticket and go with you. Besides, someone's got to keep you out of trouble, right?"
I laughed, then nodded. The four of us made our way to the ship. Steph and I got on, and immediately went to the side to wave goodbye to Alex and Frank, who were standing there on the pier with their pokemon, waving and shouting goodbye to us.
Suddenly, I turned to Steph, and she turned to me. We both smiled, and at the same time, we said "We're going to Sinnoh."
