Chapter Seven: The Thrill

The room grew quiet. I could feel the multiple pairs of eyes on me. The energy around was strong. My heart hammered in my chest, harder than possibly ever. I could feel the sweat on my forehead, but I wasn't nervous. I had no reason to be. I had the upper-hand.

My eyes moved across the field. My opponent stood tall and ready. Her brown curls were pulled back behind her, making her look even more intimidating. The pre-anxiety set in, along with pure adrenaline. Battling was so fun.

One Pokémon down, two more to go. I thought. Felicity, my rival, wasn't anyone to worry about. As intimidating as she was, she was a Fire Type enthusiast. My Gyarados easily wiped out her weakling Monferno. Between Dragon Rage and Surf, he didn't stand a chance. And neither does the Flareon she just released.

"Bite." I yelled. My huge Pokémon lunged forward and bit the opponents back. Flareon arched his back and swiped his claws across Gyarados' scales. He let go and shot backwards.

"Quick Attack." Felicity commanded. Flareon sprinted and leapt into the air, tackling Gyarados. "Ember!" The foe held on to my Pokémon, and then fire shot from his mouth. Gyarados roared and shook his body hastily, Flareon crashed to the ground.

"Surf, now." Gyarados focused, water whirled around him like a tornado, then rolled across the floor and over the opponent. "Dragon Rage." On top of the water nearly drowning the rival, Gyarados roared and blew a blue, fire-like substance into the water.

Flareon shot out of the water gasping, and zoomed to my Pokémon. He tackled him and pushed him to the ground. "Bite, now!" He sunk his teeth into Gyarados.

"Shake him off!" My Pokémon swung his snake-like body and the foe fell to the ground. "Bite." I yelled, and Gyarados obeyed.

"Ember." Flareon yelped once Gyarados bit him, then shot fire at him, scorching his scales. Gyarados let go and the rival hopped backwards.

"Surf." Water formed and attacked Flareon. Instantly he fell limp on the ground; Felicity lifted her head and eyed me down her nose. I smirked and raised my eyebrows. She returned her fainted Pokémon.

"Slugma, let's go." The tiny lava slug materialized and tensed up. Well, tensed up as much as a lava slug could, I guess.

"Surf!" I commanded. Gyarados used the move perfectly, causing Slugma to be slammed to the ground in a rush of water.

"Flamethrower." Slugma composed himself and opened his mouth. Fire rolled out; the crowd made noises of awe and excitement at how much fire came out. I was shocked myself, and didn't do anything when Gyarados was hit and fell to the ground. He looked at me when he lay there, and I knew he couldn't continue. I returned him and thought for a moment. Luxio. He'll do the job. "Luxio, finish her off." I released my Pokémon.

"Rock Throw!" Felicity yelled. Slugma formed rocks and hurdled them Luxio. He avoided a few of the rocks, but not all. "Ember." The fire left a burn mark on Luxio's fur, he growled and looked at me for a command.

"Charge, Luxio!" He breathed in deeply, and you could see the electricity buzz on the surface of his skin. "Spark." He breathed out and let all the electricity bounce out and hit Slugma.

"Yawn!" Slugma yawned widely, and the next thing I knew he fell to the ground fast asleep. I slapped my forehead and returned him.

"Go Staravia!" My large Flying Type came out and flew into the air. I wasn't worried, she was my toughest Pokémon. "Quick Attack." She swooped down and attacked the foe. I knew it was hard hit.

"Flamethrower!" Felicity tried.

"Dodge, Wing Attack!" Staravia flew higher, avoiding the fire completely. Then came down and slammed her wing into Slugma.

"Rock Throw." Slugma growled and created a lot of rocks. They flew through the air and hit my Pokémon, causing her to fall to the ground. "Flamethrower." Flames engrossed Staravia, I heard her caw right before she flew out the fire.

"Quick Attack." She tackled the slug, then hit him with Wing Attack. I smiled. I'm about to win. I thought.

"Ember." Slugma hit Staravia pretty hard, she fell down to the ground but quickly recovered.

"Tackle." I called. My Pokémon flung her body on top of the opponent, and instantly he let out a cry of pain. Everyone knew he had fainted, and there was a moment of pure silence.

The crowd cheered. You could slice through the energy and life of the room with a knife. There were so many people gathered here to watch this simple battle. It was only my second gym, yet it seemed like I already had a fan club. That made me grin even more than my win. I understood why trainers love what they do; because of the thrill. That unexplainable burning inside of you. Mixtures of passion and fright. Maybe not the scary kind of fright, but the good kind of fright. The enjoyable kind.

Possibly, I don't know.

Felicity started her stride across the battlefield. I stood tall as she approached me. "Well kid, it looks like you might actually make something of yourself." She said. She smirked and handed me a badge and a handful on money. "Congratulations."

I took the stuff and grinned. "Thank you." She nodded and I looked at the crowd. The clapping and yelling had started to die down. I grinned at them and started for the entrance. They moved aside like I was untouchable and started cheering again as I left. That feeling was truly unbeatable.

My first battle in Eterna against Lake was just as thrilling. A crowd of five people stood nearby and watched as Staravia destroyed his Grass Types. Before that I spent time traveling around Jubilife, Floaroma and Sandgem. Almost two months I spent in intense training.

A part of me thought my dad would come looking for me, so I stayed in Jubilife the most. Knowing that would be where he'd look. But he never looked. I considered going home a few times, but Giratina always got me thinking differently. It didn't bother me that he hung around, he was good company. Especially during the lonely nights in Centers. Whenever he was around I would get a supernatural feeling; that was usually how I could tell. Or he'd manifest as a black shadow and scare me half to death.

I counted my winnings. A little over three-hundred dollars. I could easily get used to this.

I walked to the Canalave Center and healed my Pokémon before heading to my room. I flopped on my bed and thought about the next challenge. "Veilstone Gym." I said aloud. That would be a long walk. I would need Staravia to evolve before I could teach her Fly, and that wouldn't be happening soon. I averaged a two-to-three day walk. Plus I would have to walk through Hearthrome…I wasn't looking forward to that. I could travel around it, but it would be pointless and difficult.

"Just don't visit the people who pushed you away. Then it'll be fine." Giratina said.

"Yeah I know. I won't be visiting anyone." That was the attitude I had when I was in Eterna. A small part of my wondered about my mom, but I just went there, beat the gym and left. I liked Canalave though, so I considered staying and training. I've already been here three days, so I had two more nights which were free in the Center. Then I had to pay a nightly fee. I decided to stay until then.

I left the Center and walked over to some café to get dinner. It wasn't Nella's cooking, but it was close. Out of everything in Hearthrome, I could safely say I missed Nella. I couldn't care less about Dad or my old friends. Sometimes I found myself missing Haystack, since he was pretty much my best friend my whole life, but I always got over it.

The snooty waiter handed me my plate of honey-slathered bread and a vegetable sandwich. Pokémon meat was officially banned, along with hunting and everything else involved. I'm sure my father's doing everything in his power to reverse this. Maybe, maybe not. He could surprise me.

I don't know where I stand on the matter. I grew up eating meat and didn't think much of it. I still didn't. Sure, a nice Stantler sandwich would be good, but they were Pokémon. What if I killed and ate my Staravia. I thought. I slightly shuddered. I took a bite from my sandwich and had to choke it down. It tasted decent. Not because of the leafy vegetables, but because of some sauce they dowsed it in. The soggy texture made it gag-worthy. Yeah, a Stantler sandwich would be nice right about now. I dropped my food and grimaced at it. Maybe if a glare at it hard enough, it will turn into something more delicious.

"Are you mad at the sandwich?" I snapped out of my locked stare and looked up. A girl stood there, raising her eyebrows at me, waiting for an answer. I opened my mouth to answer "Yes," but quickly thought otherwise and coughed.

"I'm not sure," I said hastily. The girl shook her head and sat across the table.

"You looked like you were thinking murderous thoughts to that poor sandwich."

I smirked, "maybe I was."

She laughed. "Right. Anyways, I wanted to inform you that you're not the only trainer who's making something of themselves."

"Let me guess, you're a trainer."

She grinned. "Yup, and I just let Felicity have it too. Faster than you, might I admit. Yup, I'm not far from prodigy." She joked.

"Are you saying you're better than me?" I asked in fake disbelief. "Uh, you should think again."

"I didn't say that. Imply, maybe, but I didn't say that." She slightly smiled. Instantly something clicked in my head. Her lips. I couldn't forget them. She was mirror girl. A slightly younger version, but her nonetheless. Why didn't I see it before?! Then I realized: her hair was perfectly tucked under her hat. Otherwise, I would have known right away. "What?" She gave me a weird look. I looked away, realizing I was gawking at her from two feet away.

"Being a trainer is awesome, isn't it?" I tried.

She paused, "it's pretty great, yes." Mirror girl looked past me, toward the door no doubt. "I should go. Good luck on your training, Lea. Hopefully I'll see you around." She stood up.

"Same to you, uh…" I stood up hastily, almost knocking the chair over in the process.

"Annie."

"Annie," I repeated and grinned. She returned a smile and walked past me and out the café door. I stood there, glued to the floor, watching the love of my life walk away.