Sukia smiled happily at her Typhlosion.
"Isn't he awesome? He was my very first Pokémon," she said proudly. Kyara nodded and faced her opponent front on.
"Then I will use my first Pokémon too!" Kyara replied and Stormheart leaped in front of his trainer.
Sukia and her Typhlosion exchanged a glance and Ember laughed.
"This will be fun!"
Stormheart bristled, and he seemed to become much larger and resemble a white lion. Kyara knew Stormheart could feel the power of Ember's heat creating havoc in the air.
"Ok, Stormheart. Feel before acting like I taught you. You should be able to predict the fire attacks at least," Kyara muttered so only Stormheart could hear.
"Hey! Stop whispering and attack!" Sukia grumbled across the battleground. "Or I'll go first. Ember, use Smokescreen!"
The Typhlosion coughed and began breathing out thick plumes of smoke. The smoke spread out and soon it engulfed Stormheart and Kyara. Kyara used her denim vest and covered her mouth, with her watering eyes squeezed shut. It was impossible to see, and Stormheart had his eyes shut.
"Flamethrower!" sounded Sukia's voice through the smoke. Suddenly, there was a terrific heat and a roar of fire as the Typhlosion belted out a huge pillar of fire from an unknown direction. The smoke was so thick that it only thinned slightly after the attack. Kyara listened but the fire attack had stopped. Now the opponent was just waiting for the smoke to clear.
"Razor Wind!" Kyara coughed. There was a white glow and a growl, followed a second later by a strong wind and a grunt. The smoke was blown away. Sukia gasped and Kyara cheered hoarsely. There was Stormheart, standing untouched in the centre of the burnt clearing, with his eyes still shut. And not too far away was the Typhlosion Ember, doubled over and clutching his chest.
"What!" Sukia squealed. Kyara smiled lopsided and watched as the Typhlosion stood up straight. His chest was still hurting, but he was still more than capable of fighting. He was more stunned than anything.
"Absol can sense even the tiniest changes in pressure of the air. He felt both the oxygen your Typhlosion took in and the oxygen the attack burnt up, removing oxygen from the air. The fire also heated the air. The air pressure down here changed slightly as air heated up and rose higher or was removed. The movement of your Pokémon and the sound of your Pokémon alerted him of where the attack was to be as well. All Absol have the ability to sense pressure changes, but my Stormheart is special, as I trained him to use his natural abilities even in the smallest sense."
"Alright, enough with the lecture. So it knows where I am attacking from. Hooray. That's useless though if it can't dodge the attack," Sukia cut in. She pointed at the Absol and commanded, "Swift!" Ember stabilized himself and let loose a barrage of stars from his mouth. They moved too fast for Stormheart to dodge, so he just braced himself and tried to block some with his horn. As the stars hit, Kyara gasped. The Absol's body was sturdy, but he wouldn't be able to handle too many rounds of Swift. Again and again, the stars pelted Stormheart's body. Suddenly, the stars stopped coming. Stormheart stared at the Typhlosion, his eyes narrowed and alert. Sukia was staring also, but with wide, confused eyes.
"Ember! What are you doing?" She squealed. Ember tried to cough up another star, but nothing came. Kyara frowned, but then smiled as she remembered.
"Remember how I told you Absol can sense pressure changes? They also have the ability Pressure, which makes the opponent run out of power quickly. I guess your Ember can't use Swift anymore."
Kyara thought Sukia's tantrum was funny, but Stormheart needed to finish the battle quickly. He looked exhausted and had even started panting.
"Hang in there. Quick Attack!" said Kyara. Stormheart raced forward with a white trail blazing behind him. He tackled the larger Pokémon and darted away before Ember could hit him. Ember fell backwards, but quickly jumped to his feet.
"Flamethrower! Stop lounging around!" she yelled. Ember took in a breath and fired. Stormheart felt where it was going to be, but he was a bit close to dodge the pillar of fire. He took a scald to his left side and retreated to lick his wound. Kyara knew this attack would be his last for the battle.
"Get in there Stormy!"
Stormheart began racing towards the Typhlosion, aware it was clutching its throat. It was only capable of coughing up small embers despite Sukia's screaming for another Flamethrower. The large Pokémon decided it had enough of this white Pokémon and set up a strong stance. Sukia seemed to recognise the stance and calmed down.
"Ember, Take Down!"
"Stormy, Bite!"
The Typhlosion leaped at the Absol, whose jaws were wide open. As Ember made contact, Stormheart's fangs closed on his shoulder. The heavy Pokémon slammed down on top of Stormheart, knocking the Pokémon out. Ember's shoulder was damaged and the Pokémon flinched from both the attack and Take Down's recoil damage. After a few heart-pounding seconds, the fire Pokémon got off the Disaster Pokémon and returned to Sukia's side. Sukia appeared to have an expression of awe on her face.
"Ember helped me defeat six gyms, and here he is having trouble with a newbie trainer. You are something," she muttered as Kyara ran out to see if he was okay. Kyara sighed with relief as Stormheart awoke when she put smelling salts under his nose. He limped back with his trainer to where she was standing and lay down to lick his wounds. Kyara faced her opponent with a bead of sweat running down the side of her face.
"Okay, last Pokémon," Sukia said and pulled the third ball from her belt. She threw it and a blue Pokémon appeared on the charred grass. It looked like some kind of snake, but cute. It had large round nose and wings on the side of its head. Kyara responded with the greatball.
"Zephyr, do your best," Kyara said with strength.
"Meet Hope, my Dratini."
The Pokémon stared each other down. Kyara thought the two Pokémon looked baby-ish compared to the two titans that had fought mere seconds ago. It was strange these two would have the final battle. Kyara knew she had lost two battles and had no chance of winning now, but she would try to beat at least one Pokémon.
"Use Twister!" Sukia ordered, to which the Dratini began to swing its body around like a lasso. The air began to howl and kick up dust. Stormheart growled as the mini tornado became visible and grow in size. Zephyr felt a tugging on her feathers and decided it was time to fly out of the way. Unfortunately, at the exact moment the Pokémon lifted off from the ground, the twister became much stronger and sucked the little bird straight in. She cawed with terror as she was spun round and around, some of her looser feathers being slowly tugged out. Kyara was shocked, but she had to act fast. She didn't know what moves the bird knew except Peck. What could Zephyr use to free herself? She carefully recalled moments when she had spied on Winona training her bird Pokémon.
Winona stood with her arms in the air, brown sleeve-like guards on her forearms. Kyara liked the look of them, so she always wore a set of her own; not knowing they were there so bird Pokémon's talons wouldn't hurt their trainer as they perched there or carried their trainer through the sky. Suddenly, Tailow burst down from the sky and landed perfectly on the gym leader's arm. Winona praised the tiny Pokémon, and then ordered it to go up do it again. Kyara couldn't see very well so she wriggled forward from her position in the tree when the branch fell out from under her...
"Whirlwind!" Kyara spontaneously ordered. The Pidgey stopped cawing frightfully and flapped her wings. She seemed to take strength from the order and stabilised, flapping her wings with strength that seemed impossible for the small bird. The twister wobbled for a moment before dying down completely. Sukia frowned, a bit confused.
"What just happened?"
"Whirlwind spun in the opposite direction, cancelling the twister out. Zephyr! Peck!"
The Pidgey took her moment as the Dratini's spinning slowed to a halt and stopped her flapping. She dropped straight down and attacked the blue Pokémon with her sharp beak. The Dratini cried out, and Sukia gasped. Zephyr didn't let up until Kyara called for her to stop. Zephyr flew up out of Dratini's reach and hovered. But then something strange happened. Both Pokémon didn't wait for an order from their trainers and charged, with Hope leaping into the air and Zephyr diving. Beak met nose and their appeared to be a stalemate. The Pokémon hung in the air for a moment, and then they both glowed with a white light. Sukia and Kyara shielded their eyes, but when they opened them again, the Pidgey and Dratini were gone. In their places were similar creatures that were much bigger, had different colouration and appeared stronger.
"Evolution!" Sukia cried out in surprise. Kyara had seen evolution before, but it was still an exciting even. Hope had become much longer and larger, and the big nose had disappeared. The Pokémon's head had become more graceful, and there was horn on its head. Zephyr had also become larger, and her head crest had grown longer and turned a pinkish colour. Her talons had become more vicious looking, her beak sharper, her wings much wider and her tail feathers had changed colour. The two Pokémon were hovering in the air; Zephyr flapping her new powerful wings and Hope floating by some mystical power which seemed to originate from the glowing balls on the end of her tail and the one under her chin. Both Pokémon gave an almighty shove and pushed each other away.
"Hope! You became a Dragonair!" Sukia continued in a high pitch squealing voice. She then looked over at Zephyr and added, "And she's become a Pidgeotto." Sukia walked over to where Hope rested on the ground and stroked her scales. Kyara was confused.
"Hey, aren't we in a battle?"
"We were. The whole point of training with you was to give Hope the final push she needed to evolve. I'm just thankful she felt your Pokémon was enough of a challenge."
"That's mean. But I guess if you are backing off, I win by defeat despite how many matches you won," Kyara exclaimed with an eyebrow raised and a smile on her lips. Sukia seemed to flinch, then leaped back.
"No way! Hope, Dragon Rage!"
"Feather Dance!"
As the orb under Hope's chin glowed brightly, Zephyr flew up high and spread her wings, which also began to glow white. Hope released a cyclone from the orb and hurtled it straight towards the large bird in the sky. But at the moment the cyclone formed the trainer's eyes were focused on Hope, Zephyr completed the Feather Dance. Kyara quickly realised Whirlwind would not repel this attack and indicated for Zephyr to escape by waving frantically for her to get away. Zephyr stopped flapping and drew in her wings for a dive. She dropped out of the way of the move, but with a few loose feathers left floating in the tug of the cyclone.
"Quick Attack!" both trainers ordered in unison. Zephyr continued to dive, but gained speed and blazed a trail of white energy through the air. Hope slithered up through the air, also leaving a trail of white behind her. Glowing white feathers fluttered down around the two Pokémon as they collided and shot past each other. Hope delicately landed on the ground, while Zephyr swooped down to a landing position. They glared at each other for a moment. Then Hope's stare wavered and she fell to the ground, unconscious. Kyara laughed with Zephyr as they celebrated their victory. Sukia raced over to the fallen Dragonair and she pouted.
"Clever," Sukia said as she returned Hope to her pokéball, "I see how you won. You knew Zephyr would be capabe of escaping my attacks, so you ordered her to do the Feather Dance. This released feathers that lowered Hope's attack power by absorbing some of the damage when she brushed against them. In this way, your Zephyr's attack had a higher attack level and managed to overpower Hope."
"Uh yeah, something like that," Kyara said with a smile. She held out her forearm, which Zephyr hopped onto. If Zephyr hadn't flapped her wings, Kyara would've dropped her from the weight. She was unexpectedly heavier than before and took a lot of strength to hold her up. But Kyara reasoned she would get used to it. Sukia went over to Kyara and held out her hand.
"You managed to come close to defeating my Pokémon despite your Pokémon being of lower levels and you with little experience. You're faith in your Pokémon and their abilities really lets you control them easily," Sukia praised as they shook hands. Kyara shook her head.
"I don't control them. They are my partners, and they rely on me as much as I rely on them. I often spied on Winona and other trainers as they trained in Route 120. I remembered the ones who fell because of poor strategy and told myself I would use my brain and not just rely on my Pokémon's powers. " Zephyr cooed and started to lift off, but still held onto Kyara's arm. "I didn't expect Zephyr to be so strong. After all I only just got her."
Suddenly, Kyara was tugged upwards into the sky, with Zephyr's courageous cry echoing in her ears. They were flying!