"Ok, Aipom use Swift"
"Beautifly dodge and use gust"
Aipom swung his gigantic tail-hand and stars flew out of it towards Beautifly. Beautifly ducked underneath the oncoming stars and flapped its wings. A powerful gust of wind came out of them and Aipom went flying.
I checked Aipom's moves again.
"Hm, Quick attack, swift, agility and double hit"
"Aipom use agility and get around Beautifly"
Aipom moved so fast there seemed to be ten Aipom's on the field rather then one.
"Beautifly stop we are just wasting energy go in for a tackle attack."
Beautifly stopped flapping her wings and dove towards the Aipom's.
"Aipom get behind her and use double hit"
Aipom dove underneath Beautifly and jumped in the air. His tail then turned pink and started flailing around. He put his tail forward and hit Beautifly over and over again. Beautifly fell and didn't get back up.
"Crap" April said as she returned her Pokémon.
"Better luck" next time I said with a cocky smile.
We had finally made it to Allerton, A city right near the coast, the weather was perfect and what seemed like thousands of people were on the beach. We had just put on our beachwear attire when she challenged me to a match on the beach.
She groaned and walked to an empty umbrella stand thing. I smiled and walked over. It was weird to be out of my usual Shirt, Hoodie, Pants, and shoes combo I had but it felt nice. I was wearing a black shirt and trunks with the water symbol from the Pokémon card game emblazoned on them. April had done the same and was wearing a yellow bikini and as much as I would hate for her to ever notice I was more than likely drooling when I first saw her.
Aipom smacked me with his tail apparently I was staring. I looked down at him and he sat there grinning.
"You do that again I will put you in a pokeball."
Aipom really did not like being in his pokeball so I let him stay outside.
"Hey dude, I crouched down beside him, do you think I you know have a chance" I whispered
Aipom looked over at her shrugged and went over next to her to apparently sun bathe.
"Useless" I joked and went and Joined April underneath the umbrella thing.
"What is going on over there" She said pointing.
I looked and saw a crowd of people.
"It is probably a battle or something"
We both got up and walked over there. Sure enough in the middle of the crowd were two guys. The one on the right had long black hair while the other had fiery red hair.
"Ok Sandslash use slash" said the black haired guy.
"Empoleon dodge and use bubble" The ginger said.
I scanned both of them on my Pokedex.
Sandslash, the Mouse Pokémon. The evolved form of Sandshrew. It curls up in a ball to protect itself from enemy attacks. It also curls up to prevent heatstroke during the daytime when temperatures rise sharply.
Empoleon, the Penguin Pokémon. It's very proud, and its thick down protects it from the cold. They live along shores in northern countries. A skilled swimmer, it dives for over 10 minutes to hunt.
The Sandslash's slash narrowly missed Empoleon. Empoleon dropped back opened his beak and let loose a stream of bubbles. These hit Sandslash and he fell defeated.
"Nice job" I told the red haired man
"Thanks it is all just practice for the tournament you know"
"What Tournament?" I asked
"The big beach tournament "
Turns out every year on the beach they have a big Pokémon battle tournament.
I am so going to do that
"No" April said
"No what"
"You're going to enter that tournament huh?" She snapped
"Wow how did you know that?"
"You have that I am about to do something stupid look on your face." She remarked Jokingly
"Oh come on. I will be fine"
"You always say that. How many times have I heard please "I can take this fool" or
"I will be fine"I heard former champions have participated in this tournament. It is dangerous why you think most people watch. You will get decimated in there"
"So far we have been ok right. In the tunnel we got out ok, when those Beedrill attacked we got out ok."
"So far but it is only a matter of time before your massive ego will get you in trouble."
That night we sat in the Pokémon center in silence. In truth I felt a little bad about all this. I pushed her to go into that cave even though I knew she was scared of them I had basically led those beedril towards her when we first met.
Man even when I didn't know her I got her into trouble.
"Hey April"
"Yeah"
"Uh I am you know sorry about the whole thing earlier and those other times and yeah"
Wow Tyler that was a hell of an apology there
"So are you going?" she sighed
"Yeah"
"Well we better get going then it starts in like ten minutes"
"We" i said surprised.
"Of course I want to be there when someone destroys you in five seconds"
I knew we were back to normal when she said that. When we got to the beach I went to the signup sheet and signed up for the tournament. Twenty minutes later after some pretty good battles I was called to the arena.
"Now Tyler from Landry town will take on Lucas from Havenport"
I looked across the field and saw a gigantic man. He looked like the hulk on steroids.
"BATTLE" Screamed the announcer.
"Golem you are up first" Said Lucas sending out his pokemon. Which in reality just looked like a gigantic rock with legs.
"Squirtle I choose you" i yelled.
Squirtle looked up at golem and looked at the least a little intimidated.
"Golem use rollout"
The Rock Pokemon rolled into a ball and started rolling our way.
"Squirtle slow him down with water gun"
Squrtile opened his mouth and fired a blast of water at the oncoming Golem. Amazingly water did not slow him down in the slightest.
"Crap"
"Haahahahahh" Lucas laughed. It sounded like a car alarm going off.
I had an idea
"Squirtle use water pulse"
Squrtile charged and fired a ball of water from his mouth. When the ball of water connected the ball exploded into a mini waterfall and engulfed Golem. Golem rolled out and laid there defeated.
"Winner of this match Squirtle and Tyler"
"Ha good job Squrtile"
Squrtile!!!
Squrtile had started to glow bright white and started to grow. I sat there stunned I knew what was happening. When the glowing stopped I saw an entirely new Pokémon.
"Wartortle" he said.
"Aipom" said Aipom on the ground next to me in shock.
I checked him on my Pokedex.
Wartortle, the Turtle Pokémon. The evolved form of Squirtle. A highly sought after Pokémon because its long fur tail is said to bring good luck.
It buzzed again after I put it back down.
Wartortle has learned Hydro Pump
"Awesome"
The next two hours passed by in sort of a blur. Pidgeotto and Pikachu both picked up wins respectively.. Finally it came to an end and I had one more battle.
"Of course" I said when I saw the man that walked onto the field.
Jake The Ginger walked onto the field with his Empoleon
"Aipom get in there" I sighed. All my other Pokémon were to weak or to tired to win.
"Empoleon get in there" Jake said.
I had to think quickly and win by speed there was no way I could win by power.
"BATTLE"
"Aipom use agility"
"Empoleon use Hydro Pump"
Empoleon opened his beak and unleashed a torrent of water. Aipom got out of the way just in time and jumped across the field.
"Keep it up Empoleon"
Empoleon fired over and over but missed every time.
"Swift" I said
Aipom swung his tail and star shaped rays fired at Empoleon. They hit head on but Empoleon didn't even seem scratched.
"Empoleon ice punch"
Empoleon jumped in the air and his wing grew white like ice. He then swung it at Aipom and sent a ice boomerang straight where Aipom was going to next. It seemed to hit head on and there was an explosion with lots of smoke.
"Aipom?" i asked
Aipom had hit the ice boomerang with his tail-hand.
My Pokedex vibrated.
Aipom had learned Focus Punch
I smiled I had one more idea.
"Empoleon use aqua jet"
Empoleon surrounded himself with water and flew at Aipom in a impossible speed. Aipom used his tail to springboard over Empoleon sending him flying underneath him. Empoleon went flying underneath Aipom and into the wall.
Wow that was exactly what I was going to tell him to do.
"Ok Aipom use tackle"
He looked at me like I was crazy. He decided to trust me and started running towards Empoleon who had meanwhile not been able to recuperate yet. Empoleon looked up just in time and as a reflex grabbed Aipom with his wings.
"Ha bad move kid Hydro-" started Jake
"Quick focus punch right in his mouth"
Aipom's tail came up behind him and delivered a huge uppercut right in his beak. The force lifted Empoleon upward and he fell a couple of feet away.
"Empoleon is unable to battle winner of this match and the new Allerton Beach Champion is Tyler"
"Yes I did it !!!!!!!!" I cried grabbing Aipom and doing a little dance.
Back at the Pokémon center April was pissed/happy .Pissed that I had once again not quote on quote "gotten my big fat mouth stuffed in and happy because I was still conscious and my pokemon were still alive.
"Thanks for worrying about me though." I told her playfully punching her shoulder
"Why I do I do not know" She said. She blushed when she said that.
I looked away as a little bit of red also creped over my face. When we again looked at each other again we both didn't say anything. A moment of complete awkwardness that can only happen between two teenagers appeared. I leaned in a little and then stopped myself.
"Uh I uh Goodnight" I quickly stammered out and walked towards my bed.
"Tyler you are the biggest coward this side of the wizard of Oz" my brain said
"I know" I told myself
"Uh Tyler" I heard a real voice behind me
I turned to look at her. I opened my mouth to say something, then without any real idea what I was doing, I kissed her. I didn't know what kind of response I'd get, but amazingly, she kissed me back. To be honest, I can't really say what happened. I put my arm around her waist, and we got lost in the kiss. We stayed there for a couple of minutes, then we moved apart. I had my arms around her, and we were both smiling and looking into each others eyes.
"wow" i eloquently put in.
The next morning still with a shed of awkwardness we headed off to my next gym battle. Next Stop Audreyten.
