Becoming The Best
Chapter 36
After much deliberation, Sarah decided on the pokemon she would send out.
"Your first major battle. You can do it kiddo," Sarah whispered lightly as Blue stumbled forward to face Cell. A small smile crept across Blue's face as he looked around at the formality of this battle. After he looked around, his eyes rested upon his opponent, who had a cocky smile on his face, ready for battle. Snapping into battle mode, Blue readied himself for the fight, his tail swishing behind him. Cell's fur crackled and the trainers knew the battle was about to begin,
"Cell use spark!"
"Blue, use tail whip!"
The Luxio ran at an alarming speed towards Blue, its fur crackling as it ran. As it launched itself off the ground, aiming straight at Blue, the Wartortle spun around and blocked the attack with a blow from his tail. Cell fell onto the floor, his breath knocked out of him. Blue giggled at the attack, but Cell was angered. He pulled himself up and snarled viciously at Blue, who squealed in terror and ran behind Sarah's legs when he heard Cells cry.
"Blue what's wrong?" Sarah asked him, worried about her pokemon's strange behaviour. Blue shivered and pointed at the Luxio.
"But you were battling him fine," Sarah sighed in exasperation,
"What's up? The battle isn't over yet!" Kristy yelled impatiently.
"Why won't Blue battle?" Hayley murmured restlessly in the stands,
"I'm not sure, it must have something to do with that egg incident though," Seth mused,
"What egg incident?" Hayley asked, doubly confused. Seth explained briefly about the attack of the Luxrays on Blue's family.
"Poor little guy... But how would he remember?"
"Well back on the island the newborns would recognise our voices. I know Bronte used to talk to the eggs everyday, something about bonding better with the newborns. Maybe it recognises the call of the Luxio?" Seth thought aloud.
Meanwhile, Sarah had convinced Blue to battle, but he still looked a bit shaken.
"Blue, use bite!" Sarah told him hesitantly. Blue hurried over to Cell, bit him in one swift movement then quickly ran to the other side of the arena, out of the Luxio's reach.
"Oh for goodness sake. Cell, just bite that thing," Kristy sighed, folding her arms in irritation. The Luxio bared its teeth menacingly and ran at Blue, who's eyes widened in fear as the electric pokemon ran at him, then he took off to try and avoid the attack. He was no where near as fast as the Luxio however, and it leapt up, the sharp fangs inches from Blues face. With a shriek of terror, the Wartortle withdrew sharply into his shell and Cell face planted the floor. Cell sprang back up and growled even more savagely at the large brown shell that lay shivering on the floor.
"Okay Cell, just keep shocking it!" Kristy yelled. Cell seemed positively delighted at this command and readied a powerful spark, ready to launch at the water pokemon when a voice echoed through the gym, halting the action.
"Wait! This is unfair, can't you see he's absolutely terrified?" Hayley stood up, outraged at Kristy's brutality. She then ran down the steps to stand in front of Sarah.
"She recognises that things voice from the attack on her family," Hayley told Sarah. With a small gasp, Sarah hurried over to her pokemon and coaxed him out of his shell.
"Hey little guy. Look, I know what happened scared you, but I tell you what. You defeat this thing for you family. Think of it as... Well I would say revenge but that sounds a bit violent. Think of it as getting even," Sarah finished, looking into Blue's eyes. Something seemed to shift within them, a haze cleared and his eyes shone with a newfound determination. He turned his head to glare at his opponent then shooed Sarah back to where she was supposed to stand. He then jumped and turned on the spot to face Cell.
"Isn't that cheating?" one of the gym trainers piped up from the stands. Kristy turned to glare at the trainer,
"Actually no it isn't, the rules clearly state that if a pokemon is distressed or otherwise distracted to the point that it affects the battle then the trainer can intervene at any time. If the trainer thinks the pokemon can battle, then the battle continues, if not the challenger can officially retire without any repercussion!" she said in a low tone, trying to keep her patience with the learning kid, who shrank back down in their seat.
"Anyway, can we get back to our battle now?" she sighed. Blue grinned in response and resumed his battle stance.
"Okay. Cell, use spark!" Kristy yelled. The Luxio charged recklessly at Blue, his fur bristling with electricity. Blue stood his ground and withstood the charged tackle, wincing as Cell collided with him. He grabbed the Luxio with his hands then bit down into its neck, causing it to cry out in pain. Blue then threw it down into the hole before shooting numerous aqua jets at it.
"Blue, Blue stop!" Sarah screamed out, "The water'll just amplify it's electricity!"
Upon hearing this, Blue immediately stopped and edged away from the hole, fearing the unmistakeable noise of crackling electricity as Cell charged up his coat with static, ready to unleash his fury. Blues eyes widened a split second before a breathtaking spear of energy shot straight up, streams of it thrashing off, whipping at everyone within range, luckily the rubber pads they were standing on grounded the electricity and the seats in the stands were also lined with rubber. But the battle area wasn't. Which meant that Blue took the full brunt of the attack. Sarah felt a scream escape her mouth as she watched the lightning forks channeling into her Wartortle. After the electricity had all been conducted away, Cell dragged himself wearily out of the hole and a faint blue glow was being emitted from Blue's shell. Suddenly, he jumped up, emerging from his shell with no more than a scratch on him, the light dying away as he did so.
"Yes! You clever, clever pokemon! You used protect all by yourself! You are brilliant! Now use a bite!" Sarah cheered in relief as her Wartortle launched himself at Cell, who was too tired to dodge. The Luxio fell underneath the force of Blue's attack and couldn't muster enough strength to get back up. With a gasp, Kristy ran over and scooped her pokemon up, kissed him lightly on the head then returned him. She then turned to Sarah,
"I have to say, that was a really good battle. Here, you deserve this badge," she said with admiration. Sarah accepted it gratefully,
"Thank you so mu-" she was cut off short when Hayley jumped her from behind,
"You won! You won!" she squealed, hugging her with excitement.
"Dude, let her breathe," Seth laughed, pulling Hayley off Sarah,
"That was such a brilliant battle. I have to say I thought Blue was beat for a minute there," he smirked. Blue smiled at Seth before dousing him with another jet of water,
"Aw man, you're really gonna have to stop doing that," he muttered, shaking drops of water out of his hair.
"He's just a big softie," Sarah cooed, giving him a big hug. Blue revelled in all the attention,
"He sure hates the Luxray family though," Hayley laughed. At that moment, the gym doors opened and Kaleb came running in yelling,
"Guys, guys! Guess which pokemon I just caught?"