3. Get Ready

"Meow!" The Glameow grumbled to Kim, A blond, youthful woman with a glowing smile. Thought she didn't understand the feline, I growled at the insult. "Why am I so close to this tuft of useless fur?!"

"I am not useless!" I snapped at her, lashing my tail.

She barely glanced at me as she raised her nose. I snorted and sat down next to Andrew's foot. He chuckled. "So, how do you guys want to start? We should probably start on dummies before battling each other. I have those wildlife targets we could use in the basement." He offered.

"That sounds like a great idea!" Kim replied excitedly. "It can get us and them used to the concept. I like it."

"Well, I'm definitely used to the concept already." Andrew bragged. Marie rolled her eyes.

The fake raccoon sat still ten feet in front of me, reaching for something that wasn't there. I looked at it curiously, sniffing the musty smell of the basement. It was an underground bow and arrow range, filled with many broken arrows and torn bow strings. "I haven't been down here for a while." Andrew sighed in contentment.

"So, which one of you will be training your Eevee?" Adam, a stout, bearded man asked, pulling on the strands of black hair coming from his chin.

"Why only one of us?" Marie asked, seeming to be offended as she crossed her arms.

Kim was quick to reply. "Well, How is a Pokémon supposed to tune into its trainer if two totally different trainers with two different fighting strategies train it?" She asked.

"Wouldn't matter. You don't have much chance, anyway." The Glameow licked her paw and swayed her tail, not even glancing at me as she spoke.

"Grrr, I'll show you who has a chance!" I snorted and turned my back on the cat Pokémon. How dare she! I grumbled silently.

"I'll do it." Andrew said. He looked at Marie. "I know what I'm doing, sort of, and when this tournament is done, we can switch and get Rarity used to both of us." He told her.

"Fine. Maybe I'll do contests instead of battles when they start." She replied.

"Yeah!" Andrew replied. He then looked down at me. "Okay, Rarity, you ready?" I looked up at him and blinked. I guess I would have to try, especially with that Glameow watching.

I faced the raccoon and looked back at Andrew. What would he have me do? "Let's start with the basics..." He said. "Try a Tackle attack!"

So, we trained. Tackle was easy to get down. Growl, Tail whip, sand-attack, even helping hand, though I wasn't happy to assist the Glameow nearby. The first one that confused me was Swift. Andrew showed me pictures, videos, whatever he could, but I just didn't get it.

Quick Attack, Bite, Take down... Easy. Well, sort of. Quick attack took some time to learn to build up and control the speed, and take down took time to build up enough power to use, but I still couldn't use swift. I was so exhausted after every day's training, sore from all the exercise, but it felt good to be growing stronger.

Two weeks of training passed. I had broken quite a few of Andrew's dummies, but I was satisfied. I liked how strong I slowly began to realize that I am. Glameow was bigger than me, but I felt confident when it was finally time for our battle. I even got extra training time in the basement when that cat pokémon and her trainer had to go home for the day.

The day before our battle was a resting period. My sore muscles finally got a break. I slept, ate, and drank for must of the day, occasionally playing with Oreo and relaxing on the couch with Marie. Without the exercise, I found myself too excited and too energized to fall asleep for the night easily. One of the times I woke up, I heard someone in the Kitchen.

Curious, I got up from my place on the couch, now comfortably able to jump from its orange cushions, and followed the noise.

Andrew was pouring himself a bowl of cereal when I walked in.

"What are you doing up?" I tried to ask, but he just noticed that I made sounds as I walked in.

"Hey, Rarity." He cooed, grabbing a small bowl from the cupboard. He filled it with milk and placed it on the floor. I heard the dog move from the corner, but with a quick snap from Andrew, he went and curled back up under the sink.

I approached the bowl and lapped at the milk happily. He scratched my head before sitting and digging into his midnight snack. A few moments of silence followed. Then;

"We've gotta win, tomorrow." Andrew mumbled. I looked up at him, perking my ears at his words. He sighed and looked down at me. "Adam and I only have enough money on the side for one of us to enter, so whoever wins tomorrow will go to the tournament." I blinked and looked down at the nearly empty bowl of milk.

I have to beat that Glameow. I have to. I told myself. No other option. I didn't like that Glameow, and Andrew wanted to be in that tournament, so we would both feel good to win.

I must win.

"You ready?" Andrew asked, adjusting a pink bandanna that Marie had put around my neck for good luck.

"Of course!" I replied, but I didn't feel so confident. I didn't want to lose, I didn't want to let Andrew and Marie down, and I didn't want that Glameow to be right about anything.

Andrew patted my head and looked up at Kim, who was across the backyard. She nodded and he nodded back. A man stood in the middle and to the side. His name was Martin, and he was another friend of Andrew's, though he didn't have a pokémon. He was refereeing the battle. Behind Martin, a small group of people had shown up. A ten person crowd of people who had heard about a pokémon battle coming up and just had to watch. Some were friends and acquaintances, others were just in the neighborhood and happened to hear about it. Almost everyone had their phone out to take pictures and videos.

"Alright," Martin said. "First Pokémon to stay down for ten seconds loses." He paused. "Andrew and Rarity, are you ready?" He asked. Andrew nodded and I lowered my head, eyes on my opponent. "Kim and Glory, are you ready?" For two weeks, I had never caught that Glameow's name. Now was the perfect time to know it.

"Yeah!"

"Mrrrow!"

Martin paused again, looking back at the crowd. "Are you ready?" He asked dramatically.

"Yeah!" Several people cried excitedly, encouraging Martin's antics.

"Ready..." I tensed up and pinned my ears back. "Begin!"

Kim didn't hesitate. "Feint Attack!" Glory leapt at me.

"Brace yourself!" Andrew shouted. Why not move?

The answer came quickly. Glory leapt at me, then changed her footing and seemed to disappear to my side, slamming me into a roll.

"Now, use scratch!" I barely got to my feet again when the Glameow was almost upon me again.

"Move!" Andrew tried, but I wasn't fast enough to avoid Glory's claws. They slashed across my cheek, pushing my face to the side. It wasn't too bad of a hit, the feint hurt worse. "Bite!" I jumped right back at Glory to sink teeth into her leg, but she gracefully avoided me, and I found myself far too close to a fury swipes. Her claws glowed a bright orange as they swept through the air and across my chest and flank.

I backed off, feeling worn already. Glory seemed unbothered. That frustrated me. I lowered my head and growled. She blinked at me and I saw her claws retract for a moment. "Quick attack!" Andrew called. I moved immediately to the sound of his command, dashing back and forth to build speed. Everything else seemed to slow down for just a second, and I could see the white streaks I left behind me. It was an exhilarating rush of an attack. Finally, I slammed head-on into my opponent with a satisfying thud sound, sending her flying into the dirt.

The Glameow growled at me as she rose up again. I didn't even notice the crowd until right then. Some cheered, some booed. I heard encouragement for myself and my opponent both.

I shook my head. I shouldn't pay attention to them. "Play rough!" Kim shouted. Glory grinned and leapt at me.

"Quick, Sand-Attack and move!" I sprayed sand and dirt in the Glameow's face before leaping into the air. It was that moment, that she landed below me and passed the place where I was but a moment ago, that my trainer and I both saw our chance. I had barely landed before he shouted. "Double-Edge!" Andrew commanded. I sprinted immediately towards my target, who turned her head just in time to see me slam into her flank. Glory was thrown across the backyard, and I wound up rolling from the kinetic energy, tumbling around almost uncontrollably.

I panted as I rose to my feet and looked to the Glameow. She seemed to have felt that attack, but so did. My legs were beginning to weaken, and my chest was growing tired of panting. I wasn't going to be able to fight much longer.

"Now, use slash!" Kim shouted, breaking the pause in the battle. Glory leapt at me, her claws glowing as she approached.

"Take down!" I knew it was going to hurt as I leapt right back at my opponent. I put all of my power into my back legs as I pinned my ears back and lowered my head, jumping right back into the fight. I slammed into her chest, and her claws raked across my sides. Still, I threw her once again.

I was still on my feet, but I couldn't take much more. I wasn't sure that I wanted to win anymore, if it was just going to lead to another set of fights. A tournament of this? Could I even do that?

"You're doing great, Rarity, keep it up with another quick attack!" Andrew called. I took a breath and followed his order. The Glameow had just gotten up when I knocked her back down, but she wasn't staying down. She stumbled back to her feet, panting and looking angrily at me.

My legs gave out. I panted and worked to stand again, desperate not to let Andrew and Marie down. Martin was counting down from ten.

"Ten." I felt the pain in my side from that last slash attack.

"Nine." I blinked, why did something feel familiar?

"Eight." Andrew was encouraging me to get up.

"Seven." My heartrate increase. The nightmare.

"Six." My energy returned a little with a burst of adrenaline. I didn't want to hear any more numbers.

"Five." I stood up.

My legs wobbled slightly, my head hung lower, and my breath was still rapid, but the countdown had motivated me to wake up. Losing was a nightmare, and nightmare's always changed by the count of four.

"Fury Swipes!" Kim commanded.

"Last Resort!" Andrew ordered.

I was filled with some last bit of sudden energy, making my skin tingled with it. I readied myself to pounce as Glory approached. I first jumped to the side to avoid her attack, then went all out on her flank, tackling, scratching, biting, and throwing her to the side. I furiously worked to make her stand down. I wanted to win, that was my goal. I wanted her to stay down so that I didn't need to fight any more.

I watched her carefully as the energy drained away. She struggled to get to her feet as Martin counted down. She kept falling, panting as her legs seemed like jelly beneath her.

"...Three..." Was this it?

"Two..." Was I going to win?

"One!" Glory stopped trying. she collapsed and panted as she laid her head down. "The winners are Andrew and Rarity!"

I won. Was my last thought before I collapsed.