The referee pointed to me. "The challenger will send out the first pokemon."

"Alright," I said with a nod. I wasn't super crazy about Dylan and David's plan but I was kind of stuck with it now. "Charizard, start us off!"

Lorelei considered this for just a moment. "Mamoswine, go!"

My first instinct was to call for a flamethrower but then I remembered that Mamoswine has some type of fire protection. "Shadow claw!"

Speed was my ally. Charizard dashed across the field, slashed the shadowy outline of a claw across Mamoswine's face and then shot into the air. Mamoswine spat ice shards out at my pokemon but in the air Charizard was fairly evasive for a pokemon of its size. It easily slipped out of their trajectory. Lorelei had her pokemon follow up the missed ice shard with an ancient power. Ancient power was bigger than the ice shards but also significantly slower. Charizard dodged it with ease.

"Now!" I threw my hand forward with fingers outstretched. "Focus blast!"

Charizard hurled the light blue orb with all its might. Aided by gravity, the orb picked up impressive speed. It slammed into Mamoswine and detonated. The ice pokemon howled and collapsed down onto one knee.

"Hail!" Lorelei commanded.

Mamoswine rose back up to its full height and let out a long howl. Even as high up as Charizard was it wasn't safe from the falling ice pellets. Soon the hail was falling at a continuous pace and a thick fog was roiling about the battlefield.

"Mamoswine, return! Go, Cloyster!"

The fog obscured Lorelei from view which was probably for the best because I felt my eyes go wide. It was exactly as my friends had predicted.

"Charizard, return!" I yelled as I swapped pokemon.

For what felt like an eternity, nothing happened. A breeze whipped up the fog and I had quick glimpse of Lorelei and her cloyster. They both knew I had sent a new pokemon into battle but they didn't know what it was or where it was. The fog swirled again and I lost sight of them.

Time to act. "Wood hammer!"

A bright green glow was just barely visible through the fog. It moved across the field and then swung around quickly. I heard Cloyster cry out. There was a flickering of green sparks as the recoil damage affected my pokemon.

"Focus blast!"

The fog swirled as the fighting-type orb burrowed through. The explosion cleansed that area of the field of fog. The ref just had enough time to get in and examine Cloyster before more fog rolled in.

"Cloyster is unable to battle," he declared before trailing off. He too was unsure of what pokemon I was using. It was a bit of an underhanded tactic but I felt it would at least be understood.

Lorelei's voice reached me through the fog. "Clever. But you cannot hide from me forever. Mamoswine, rejoin the battle!"

I made no move. I simply let the anticipation build.

"Mamoswine, ice shard!"

By some sheer stroke of luck, one of the small pieces of ice struck home. My pokemon let out a short, deep grunt. Mamoswine launched a second volley but my pokemon had trekked further into the fogs.

"Focus blast!" I yelled.

Mamoswine tried to get an ancient power up in time to defend itself. It managed to form the attack but couldn't launch it in time. Instead the explosions of the two attacks washed over it. Then there was the green glow again. Fog obscured our views but the sound of an impact was unmistakable.

The fogs parted enough for me to see Lorelei. She was looking up at the sky instead of the field. "Something is amiss…"

"Oh, you think hail is your ally," I declared, spreading my arms out wide. "But you merely adopted the hail; my pokemon was born into it, molded by it."

"No quoting movies!" I heard Dylan yell over my shoulder.

Lorelei's eyes dropped to me. "You didn't."

"I did." I pointed at Mamoswine who was struggling to get back up. "Brick break!"

The fog swirled and a huge form broke out of them. "Aboma-snow!"

Abomasnow slammed a glowing arm down on Mamoswine's head. Finally the damage Mamoswine had taken caught up with it as it crumpled to the ground.

"Mamoswine is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Abomasnow is the winner!"

The crowd was going ballistic. I felt my confidence swarming back to me. Dylan and David had been right after all. They had foreseen this strategy working from the very beginning and now thanks to it, I had evened up this match in just a matter of moments. Not only with Abomasnow did I have a pokemon that was immune to hail damage, it had given me a backup with super-effective attacks to use on the water/ice pokemon I had assumed would present itself. Not only that but who would have ever thought that I'd actually bring an ice-type pokemon with me?

"You've got guts, I'll give you that." Lorelei was shaking her head. "I never expected that. However, it's not anything I can't deal with. Froslass, go!"

Now I had a difficult decision; should I keep riding the Abomasnow Express or should I jump off in favor of one of my other pokemon? Momentum was one thing but being ill-equipped to face an opponent was another.

"Abomasnow, good job but return! Charizard, take over!"

A smile tugged at the edge of Lorelei's mouth. "Froslass, thunderbolt!"

That was something I hadn't expected.

The lightning bolt skewered Charizard, hefting it off its feet. Charizard crashed down but rolled through and came up in a crouch, one claw extended back and the other digging into the field.

"Flamethrower!"

"Block it with shadow ball!"

The black orb burrowed into the oncoming river of fire. The two attacks detonated in a spectacular explosion.

"Flare blitz!" I pointed and yelled.

Lorelei had been expecting this though. "Thunderbolt! Right through the explosion!"

The bolt of electricity had just shredded through the explosion to give Lorelei and I a clear view of each other when she realized she had made a mistake. From above the explosion came Charizard cloaked in flames. I knew I had a tendency to send my pokemon flying through explosions to issue powerful attacks. At this stage in the game, I knew I was getting predictable. Charizard crashed down atop Froslass and encompassed it completely with fire. The fires died away and Charizard launched back into the air as the still falling hail sizzled as it continued to pelt my pokemon.

"Let's finish this!" I couldn't afford to lose momentum now. "Flare blitz again!"

Charizard streaked down from the clouds, ablaze like some apocalyptic meteor. Only Froslass was no longer there. It had begun disappearing and reappearing at random throughout the fog again. Charizard came out of its fire tackle and tried to track the movements of its opponent. Hail continued to fall and I realized this was Lorelei's plan. Eventually the hail would wear down my charizard and it would be easy picking.

"Charizard, return!" I ordered. "Abomasnow, go!"

I was running a serious risk by returning Abomasnow to the field. It's most powerful attack also caused my own pokemon damage. However, if I could knock out Froslass then I would be in complete control of the weather. It seemed to be a risk worth taking. Especially when I had one more surprise up my sleeve.

"Froslass, use ice beam!"

Froslass began flickering in and out of view inside the fog. Each time it appeared it would fire off a quick ice beam before vanishing again. Abomasnow stood as still as a stone. Only its big red eyes moved as it tracked the movements of its opponent. I didn't know for sure but I had to imagine that being an ice-type as well gave it some kind of insight as to how Frolass maneuvered the fog.

"Wait for it…"

Again Froslass appeared, delivered an ice beam and disappeared again.

"Wait for it…"

Abomasnow winced as the next ice beam slammed into it, almost closing its eyes but not quite. It continued tracking Froslass. A slight tilt of its head told me the pokemon was ready.

"Now! Shadow ball!"

It was actually just sheer coincidence that I had taught Abomasnow shadow ball. But as the black orb found Froslass and detonated for super-effective damage, I was glad for the happenstance. Abomasnow reached back to form another shadow ball and hurled it at the reeling froslass. A second inky black explosion ravaged Froslass. The ghost pokemon crashed down to the ground.

The referee ran onto the field. "Froslass is unable to battle! Abomasnow is the winner!"

I actually had my pokemon off the field before Lorelei did. The longer Abomasnow was on the field, the longer the hail was going to fall. Once I removed the pokemon the weather effects would slowly start to fade. Since I was pretty sure her Beartic was gaining a speed boost from the hail I wanted it to end as soon as possible.

Lorelei went a different route anyway. "Go, Weavile!"

"Time for round two!" I declared and held out a poke ball. "Heracross, go!"

"Weavile, use swords dance!" Lorelei ordered. "And then use night slash!"

"Get in there with focus punch!"

It was just the same as their previous encounter. Weavile completed its little dance to boost its attack power and got up a night slash just in time to counter a focus punch. The two pokemon continued to block focus punch with night slash and vice versa until they jumped apart from each other.

"Ice shard!" Lorelei shouted, breaking from the script.

"Take it out with stone edge!"

Heracross threw its arms forward as it launched its barrage of stones. They shattered the ice shard to pieces without stopping which was to be expected. What wasn't expected was what came back through the stones. Cloaked the white energy of aerial ace, Weavile slipped and swirled between all the stones before ramming into Heracross. I unleashed a tirade of curse words as Heracross skidded across the ground.

"Come on Heracross!" I urged. "Get up!"

With a concerted effort, Heracross pushed itself up to its knees and then shakily drew itself back upright. The bug pokemon swayed unsteadily on its feet. Although my pokemon had only taken a few hits, they were quality hits that were doubly super-effective. Even the most solid of defensive types couldn't weather many of those kinds of attacks and Heracross was definitely not a defensive type. However, neither was Weavile. A few good shots and I might be able to get rid of the pokemon for good.

Unfortunately, Lorelei knew that too. "Finish it with aerial ace!"

"Fall back!" I yelled.

Fall back can mean a lot of things to different people.

To some people they might think of retreat.

Others might think of it as being overtaken in a race.

Or you can be like Heracross and take it literally.

As the bug pokemon dropped flat on its back, I screamed, "Close combat!"

Suddenly Heracross was below Weavile, looking directly at it. My pokemon unleashed a flurry of punches that broke Weavile out of its aerial ace. Heracross brought its feet up and delivered a kick that propelled the ice pokemon skyward. Wings snapped free and sent Heracross rocketing after its opponent. Heracross drove a fist into Weavile's gut before using its arm like a lever to back towards the ground.

"Make it rain, Heracross!" I snarled, throwing a hand out behind me. "Stone edge!"

Sharp rocks suddenly filled the sky and followed Weavile's plummet back to the ground when they slammed into the pokemon. Knowing that using close combat left a pokemon vulnerable, I quickly swapped Heracross for Charizard while Weavile was trying to figure out what had hit it. Lorelei was trying to call out commands to her pokemon but there was no stopping me now. My pokemon were on a roll.

"Finish it with focus blast!"

Charizard stepped into its throw like a center fielder trying to throw a runner out at home. Just the impact alone would've sent Weavile flying. The explosion was just icing on the cake. Charizard let out a triumphant roar as Weavile crashed down outside of our battlefield.

"Weavile is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Charizard is the winner!"

And so it was down to one.

Lorelei sent Beartic, her only remaining pokemon, onto the field. Although I was wary of being overconfident, I felt like I had the upper hand in this match-up. I'd been training my charizard since before Beartic even came into this world so I had that going for me.

"Aqua jet!"

"Flare blitz!"

One pokemon cloaked in fire, the other in water. They slammed into each other with tremendous force. A shock wave rippled across the field to knock me off balance. The pokemon were thrown apart, each crashing to the ground. Red sparks crackled over Charizard and I knew I was playing with fire. And not the good kind of fire either. Too many flare blitzes and I'd knock my own pokemon out.

"Stone edge!" Lorelei ordered, possibly realizing the same thing I was.

"Block it with flamethrower!"

The sharpened stones dug into the fire but fell well short of their target, now globs of molten rock. Arching over the flamethrower though came a barrage of icicles from Beartic's icicle crash, the first few stabbing into Charizard before it could get its wings going to move.

"Focus blast!" I shouted.

Charizard hurled another major league pitch with its focus blast, impressive to me since I could remember when the pokemon could barely hit the broadside of a barn with the attack. Beartic couldn't handle the velocity and took the fighting-typed blast right in the chest.

"Charizard, return! Go, Heracross!"

"To your feet Beartic!" Lorelei screamed, surprising me with her intensity. "Aqua jet!"

"Close combat!"

Beartic had just crashed down from the impact of the focus blast when it rolled backward and to its feet. Water swarmed around its feet. The water swirled upwards to encase the pokemon. Beartic bent to a crouch and launched itself in a split-second. It rocketed across the ring.

Right into a flying knee from Heracross.

Beartic's head snapped backwards. The big body kept going thanks to physics. It flipped over and Beartic crashed down hard. Heracross spun around and shot back towards where Beartic had fallen. It pulled a fist back but never threw a punch.

The air seemed to be sucked out of the stadium, leaving it silent.

The ref loomed over Beartic. He raised a hand. "Beartic is unable to battle! Heracross is the winner! Victory to the challenger!"

Dylan and David had practically tackled me before I had even realized what happened. The crowd noise was deafening. I pulled away from my friends and threw a celebratory punch before reigning myself in. I knew I had to at least pretend like I had been here before. Lorelei was coming across the field, taking the long way to avoid the massive damage we had wrought. I started towards her and extended my hand. To my surprise, she took my hand and pulled me close.

"Don't bottle it up," she said in the loudest whisper ever. "The people want someone real. It's why they root for you now. Be yourself." She gave me a quick peck on the cheek. "Give the my compatriots hell."

I was motionless for a moment as Lorelei turned and walked away. Then I spun and ran at Dylan and David. I dove at them and they lifted me up into the air. Scrambling down, I ran for the crowd railing. Hands started grabbing for me. I let them take me as I climbed into the stands. I started pointing at random parts of the crowd as they cheered louder.

Later I would find out that the League had been considering docking my winnings for the match for climbing into the crowd. Only intervention from Mr. Goodshow, the League Commissioner, on my behalf kept my winnings intact. To be honest though, that didn't bother me at all. As far as I was concerned, there was only one who could really judge me.

And I had to win three more matches to face him.