Losing Nerves
At long, long last; the day had arrived. This was pretty much the day of every master trainer's dreams and one of great joy and pride; the day they'd be elected for Gym leading. After all the initials, a hopeful hundred were reduced to a mere 16, now a mere eight; they were to have the most epic battle of the century, even more than fighting the league, for this was to shape their careers for all eternity.
Cynthia was busy planning everything nervously, this was the first time she was to create the whole event and inspired by reality shows and she planned to make it fun as possible. It was still going to be held in her house, except this time in her garden. Boy was she grateful she had earned a ton of money for being the champion- it proved such a blessing that day!
All the leaders had arrived in their best attire for being elected for the leading. As far as the rules went, the winner and loser will be allotted the city they'd be 'ruling' based on the following- their tact, calmness, intelligence, maturity, Strength and kindness. Their overall personality was counted along with their Pokémon's strength, so it was perfectly fair.
Every single one had arrived, Riley had come to cheer for Roark and Flint for Volkner. They got to know each other better and wished each other's partners luck too. All of them looked stunning, although for Fantina she dressed like that every day. Soon Cynthia; wearing a long sleeveless gown of blue started belting out on her microphone. "Hello, people! Welcome to the final event of this gym competition! I know you guys are nervous, frankly so am I, but this will be wonderful and fun, so no fear! All of you will be elected for this, so there is nothing to worry about! Just be yourselves and have fun- that's what this whole thing is about!" Crasher wake was already happy, finally somebody on his wavelength. He then wished Maylene and Fantina luck, they'd already become his best friends in the previous events.
This time, even Roark was here. He had come along with Gardenia, but they were no longer on speaking terms; rather they attempted to steer clear from each other and passed. Riley was a bit worried; this certainly wasn't going well.
"Alright, fellas. You ready? Great! Let's begin! Now according to the classic hat trick... our first tow contestants are... Good grief! They are Candice and Volkner!" Cynthia belted! The two blushed in shock- was it now? The whole leadership cheered along with a few friends who had come over to cheer and get to swim in her pool. ''Come on out, guys! Wish you best of luck!" Cynthia screamed while the rest of them were still cheering, Wake the loudest.
"Wow, never saw this coming!" Volkner expressed. "Same here, sir. Now let's battle!" Candice spoke and then sent out her first Pokémon. "Go, Snover! Make your mistress proud!" Volkner heard this and burst out laughing, a very uncharacteristic thing of him. Flint sighed- he knew his best friend's mind too well. Volkner kept laughing till his sides ached. "Do you understand how wrong that sounded? Go Raichu!" he burst out still in hysterics. Wake yelled "Hey, she's still a kid, moron!" Fantina sighed- this was so embarrassing.
Candice blushed even though she never really got it until five minutes later. "Oh, who cares? Come on Snover, use Leer and Razor leaf!" she yelled. Volkner though, thought faster. "Thunder Wave, Raichu!" he spoke. In seconds, the Snover's leer was successful, but she was now successfully paralysed by the surge of thunder. Candice face palmed- items usage was supposed to be a bare minimum. "Snover- use Ice Shard and Razor Leaf combined!" she yelled. "Raichu, dodge!"
This was going on for a bit. Snover's shards though successfully irked Raichu, hurting him quite a bit. Volkner smiled- Candice was a smart girl. "Now Snover- use Razor Leaf!" she commanded. Snover then jumped high into the air and started shooting a barrage of sharp leaves all around until it was tired. Some leaves had pierced Raichu and it worked pretty well, for now he was pretty low. Volkner smiled "Alright, Raichu! Let's do this, boy! Jump high and use Charge Beam!" he yelled with passion and fervour, making Flint cheer "Go Volkner, go Volkner! Come on, bud you can do this even without a girly cheer!" Riley giggled at this- Flint was too much of fun! Raichu then went ahead and used a powerful surge of electricity onto the Christmas tree and it hit spot on- chest region. This made Snover cringe and Candice worried; it was still young after all. "Heya, bud! You okay?" she asked her. "Sno sno!" she said indicating she still wanted to fight. "Oh I am so proud of you!" she said hugging her and then letting her out. "Alright, my dear! Use this." Said she as she gave her a full heal. "Feeling better?" she asked. With an approving nod, she then charged straight in. "Come on, Snover! Use Razor Leaf!" she screamed as the pokemon then went had and used a powerful barrage of leaves into the mouse Pokémon, successfully knocking it out with that critical hit it did. Volkner was shocked- he lost?
"Face it Volker! You'll be suffering this fate once in a blue moon you know!" she said mockingly as Volkner stared in limbo. "Come on, Volkner! You still have another chance! Only two to three Pokémon, as per rule. That's enough for me!" Cynthia called out. The rules applied for all of them two to three Pokémon for each trainer, based on Cynthia's observations. Psychology class was a real boost here.
"Not a problem, dear. Go Luxray!" shouted Volkner as he let out his next Pokémon. It looked rather intimidating and was a bit freaky when Candice chose to stick with Snover, more so because she was hardly going to suffer anything. "Alright, Snover- use Razor Leaf!" she yelled. "Luxray, Thunder Fang!" Volkner spoke. Luxray was quicker this time and in a few second of dashing, sleek movements, he pounced upon the tree and was about to sink its teeth into its veins of sap. Candice was shocked- Volkner gave speed quite a priority. Just when this was going to happen though, she saw a something happen to her Snover. "Snover, you okay?" she asked. A strange white light enveloped the Pokémon and she levitated in the air. In a few minutes, she transformed and landed gracefully on the floor, with her
looking stronger and scarier than ever. She was now an Abomasnow and had just learned Avalanche. Luxray was blinded by this flash of light and backed away. The whole crowd was shocked- she became an Abomasnow?! Candice was beyond herself with joy.
"Yes! Victory, here we come! Come on, Abomasnow, use Razor Leaf!
Instead, she did something else. Raising her hands in the air, she closed her eyes and then with a powerful, thunderous roar, let off a flurry of ice and snow, drowning the lion completely and shocking the whole crowd. They all stayed silent until Cynthia belted "Congrats, Candice! Your Abomasnow just learned Avalanche!" Candice was even happier and hugged her Abomasnow who just melted in her embrace. The crowd was really happy while Roark was calmly taking notes and Flint recording this for Volkner. Riley observed this behaviour, it was weird. Then again, this was to be enjoyed.
Luxray was badly hurt, but wanted to do more. Feeling all energised, Volkner smiled; his Luxray really knew the meaning of toughness. "Alright Candice- evolution is handy, but you never know what'll shock the life out of you! Come on, Luxray- use Crunch!" he screamed. The lion then pounced on the tree, but Candice screamed "Don't Abomasnow- use Ice Shard!" but she was too late, Luxray had just sunk his teeth in her Pokémon and it was really intense. Luxray wouldn't let go for five minutes long and finally when he released her, she was really tired and weak. "Good work, Luxray! Now for the finale, use Fire Fang!" Candice gulped; there was no way out of this. Abomasnow was already tired and when Luxray set his heated teeth on her, it was over; all over. Abomasnow fainted and Cynthia screamed "Abomasnow is unable to battle! Luxray and Volkner win! Congrats, Volkner! You are now officially the gym leader of... Sunyshore City!"
The whole crowd cheered- Volkner was jumping in happiness and deoight. "Sunyshore... my hometown, my dream world... an electric haven! Woohoo! Hey Flint, ya hearing everything, right?" he screamed in happiness, almost wanting to act like a jungle man. Flint turned off the recorder. "Every last bit!" he winked. Volkner was furious "You recorded me? You're getting it!" he yelled Flint laughed. "Okay, at least wait for the end!" Then Cynthia called Volkner up to the podium. "Now, you shall be the leader, as per your preferences, name your fave type." She said. "electric, miss." He answered. "So it shall be. Here, take this Beacon badge. You are to pin this on every winner. Design your gym as desired, make traps, pitfalls, obstacles.. Just have fun, Congratulations Volkner, I have to say, I'm proud of you! Now, go ahead and sit on the top bench. Watch the others, get a few laughs... you deserved it, buddy!" she spoke cheerfully and Volkner hugged her while Flint ogled this scene. "Ohh, looks like somebody's in love!" he teased. "Now you are SO getting it!" Volkner yelled as he chased Flint till the top while Cynthia sighed "Boys. So typical."
"Candice, com here! Time to do yours. Alright!" she called out to the dejected girl. Caressing her face, she spoke "You did really well there, dear. Even better, your Pokémon evolved there and seeing your grit and determination made us all proud. You are now leader of Snowpoint City! Congrats! " while giving ehr a warm hug. "name your type choice." "Ice please." Candice replied cheerfully. "Alright then, give all your defeaters the Icicle Badge. No matter which city you are in, you'll do them really proud, so have fun!" she consoled as she gave the badge to her. "Now for our next contestants..."
Roark was praying it wasn't him. If it was he'd die...