Chapter 11

Maya's POV

Bradley had me by the hand as he led me down a hallway. "Where are we going?" I asked for the third time.

"Would you like to hear about my childhood dreams?" he asked suddenly.

"Not particularly, no," I said, surprised at the question.

"I've always loved battling," he began, ignoring me. "When I was a little boy, I thought I was going to be a Pokemon Master one day. That was my goal. I spent all my time training one pokemon -that would be my eelektross- constantly. It was great."

This confused me. Why tell me this, and what did it have to do with where we were going?

"We're here!" he said excitedly. It was a completely new battle arena. "The training battle arena was rebuilt! Isn't it great!"

"I guess," I replied. I wasn't that excited about it.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Bradley," came a voice from behind. It was a boy, our age, who had long silky dark blue hair in a low pony tail.

"What do you want, Asher?" Bradley asked, annoyed.

"The training matches start up again today," Asher answered. "Have you checked the schedule? The first match is between you and me." His eyes turned to me. "This is your partner?" he asked Bradley in a mocking tone. "She's so incompetent! I mean, just look at her! She's nothing compared to my partner, Sapphire!"

Sapphire was standing off to the side. She had tan skin, big curly dark brown hair, brown eyes, and large breasts. She wore a basic Team Rocket female uniform, kinda like my old one (a grey mini skirt, a grey long-sleeved mid-drift top with a red R on it, black high-heeled boots, and black gloves).

"Just because your partner is more attractive than mine doesn't mean she is better!" Bradley contradicted Asher's statement.

"Boys are stupid, aren't they?" Sapphire turned to me. "This is a pointless argument."

I nodded in agreement.

"Let's settle this in out battle!" Asher declared.

"Fine by me, we'll see if you can handle it!" Bradley challenged.

"Battlers, take your positions!" the announcer voice from above sounded. "The normal rules apply, three-on-three, the winner gets to keep one of the loser's pokemon."

"Marshtomp!" Asher called out.

"Blitzle!" Bradley gave out his own call.

The two pokemon appeared in the arena. Then the fight began. They both fought strong, but Blitzle was the one who fell. Bradley didn't seem disappointed. In fact, he looked like he was enjoying himself, like he had another trick up his sleeve.

Bradley pulled back Blitzle. "Great job, buddy. I didn't expect you to do as well as you did out there since you're so new," he said to Blitzle's pokeball. "Now, Golett!"

Golett fought even harder than Blitzle, but Marshtomp still held it's ground. Suddenly, in the middle of the battle, the most amazing thing happened. Golett evolved into Golurk and took down Marshtomp.

Asher looked really mad at being defeated. "Marshtomp, return! Metagross, come out!"

Asher's pokemon were switched out, and the battle continued. Something was different about his metagross, though. It was a shiny metagross, meaning it had a silver body, a yellow X on it's face, yellow claws, and red eyes.

"Ah, so you've gotten yourself a shiny!" Bradley commented.

And the battle raged on. I was surprised at the amount of passion they both had. Asher looked like he was trying to beat a long time rival, and Bradley looked like he was just having a blast. He was right when he told me about his love of battling, that was evident in his face. But if he wanted to be a Pokemon Master when he was a kid and loved battling so much, why through that all away to invest time in an organization like Team Rocket?

Finally, Golurk was the one who fell, but this only seemed to make Bradley smile even more. He sent out his final pokemon, Eelektross, which took out the shiny metagross in one move.

"How did I know you would send him out?" Asher sighed, a look of defeat on his face, like he that he would lose now no matter what. He sent out his last pokemon: a shiny absol. It had a red face, a red horn, a red tail, red claws, a red oval on its forehead, blue eyes, and pinkish fur.

"You've got two shinies, dude? Impressive!" said Bradley. It seemed like Bradley was really trying to be nice to him, like battling made all the anger from before go away.

Absol tried its best not to lose, but it couldn't stand up to Eelektross.

"Bradley is the winner of this training battle!" the announcer announced. "Asher, you must now let Bradley chose one of your pokemon."

Asher, complying with the rules, set out all three of his pokemon, ready to accept what he deserved. The way Bradley was acting during the training battle, I thought he would refuse the rule, but I was wrong.

"I'll take Absol," Bradley decided. Absol readily walked over to Bradley on its own.

"Asher, since a Team Rocket operative must have at least 3 pokemon and you now only have two, you must accept this pokemon egg," the announcer declared. An egg was lowered down to Asher on a platform. Asher took it sadly and left with Sapphire.

Bradley now had all four of his pokemon in pokeballs as he walked over to me. He grabbed my glasses from off of my face.

"Hey! Give those back!" I objected.

"Such a weak prescription," he said as he held the up to his eyes. Then, he snapped them in two.

"What did you do that for?" I asked.

"You don't need these glasses and I don't want anyone saying I have an incompetent partner again," Bradley said.

"How do you know Asher?" I changed the subject since I was clearly not getting my glasses back.

"He was a childhood friend of mine," Bradley answered. "I used to visit Hoenn every summer, and we would battle together. But eventually, he became obsessed with winning and started brutally training his pokemon. I chose to keep Absol because it looks like Absol received the worst of the torture."

Now to ask the question that has been plaguing my mind. "If battling is your passion, why throw away your dreams and join Team Rocket?"

He looked right at me. "There's a big difference between dream and reality. I woke up from the dream and discovered the reality. End of story." He gazed right into my eyes. "You know, you do have pretty eyes. Why cover them with fake glasses?"

I instinctively turned my head away. "N-no reason." I knew my voice was shaking, my whole body was trembling. I felt so much more exposed without lenses in front of my face.

"I know that's a lie," Bradley said. "Why are you so afraid?" He reached out to touch my shoulder and when contact was made, I shrieked and pulled away. Ours eyes met again for a split second before I dashed off back to the safety of my room.

I would have to find a way to get new glasses, but Bradley would probably just break those, too. Bradley had many layers I didn't know about, but I didn't want to explore them. Scum is scum, no matter how deep. He's trying to destroy my barriers, but I can't let him. I guess I'm not getting anymore glasses.

I feel so... not myself when I'm living in fear. But fear is the only way to live. Bradley was right in what he said about dream and reality. My old life was a dream, fear is reality.

End of Chapter 11

A/N: Special thanks to roxy fan 4 ever, who gave me the training battle idea. He actually created a detailed move set for all of the pokemon, but since I'm terrible at write pokemon battles, I didn't actually mention any moves. Speaking of the battle, what do you guys think of Asher and Sapphire? Should I use more of them in the story? I feel like I almost never write the Team Rocket side of the story with Maya and the other agents.