Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everybody
Heartbeats sky-rocketed, sweat trickled down the young adult's face, and the rushing of footsteps scraped and imprinted on the earth's surface. Louis was in such a hurry that passing thoughts halted in their tracks as he got closer to the Pokémon Gym's main entrance. As he burst the door open, the reverberated sounds of an explosion and the roaring cheer of the crowd reached the young adult's ears.
"What the hell was that?" he wondered.
He sprinted toward the doorway leading to the spectator stands. Soon, he found a seat beside his father and Coach.
"What did I miss?" asked Louis.
"A lot," answered Coach. "Taki and Roy began their match a few moments ago and, so far, they appear to be evenly matched."
"How so?"
Miguel explained, "Well, they're both down to one Pokémon. Whoever has their Pokémon still standing after this...is the winner."
On the battlefield, both Roy and Taki prepared their Pokémon's next moves.
"Feraligatr, use Slash!" commanded Taki.
"Inteleon, Snipe Shot!" he called.
The girl's giant alligator beast readied her claws. With determination in her heart, Feraligatr sprinted toward Inteleon, raised her hand and prepared to land the blow. However. with calm and coolness, Inteleon raised his hand toward the oncoming Pokémon, positioned his finger in the style of a water gun, and fired a quick, precise and powerful spurt of water that nailed Feraligatr directly in her face, knocking her back. However, Inteleon had fired a little too late, as Feraligatr's oncoming claw made impact with Inteleon's body, dealing a tremendous amount of damage. Both combatants were sent crashing to the ground, surprising the audience members. When the clouds of dust eventually settled, the attendees saw that both Pokémon were still on the ground, with swirls in their eyes.
"Feraligatr and Inteleon are unable to battle," the referee announced. "The battle between Roy Hunter and Taki Hinamura has ended in a draw!"
The crowd roared with a mixture of surprise and confusion.
"A draw?!" exclaimed Louis. "Seriously?!"
Back on the field, Roy cursed at himself.
"I should've commanded it earlier," he muttered.
On the other side, Roy's opponent smiled.
"That was fun, Roy," called Taki
Before long, once the arena had been cleared up of the debris, and the two trainers returning to the stands, the professor stepped into the view and switched on his microphone.
"Thank you all for your patience," he began.
– "As part of our set of six battles, our next showdown will be Raphael Hogan and Team River versus Louis Serrano and Team Venus."
"Yeah! Go Radical Raph!" a spectator cheered, which earned him the stares of multiple audience members.
Louis swallowed the lump in his throat. He was clearly nervous about this battle.
His two human friends placed each of their hands on Louis' shoulder.
"You got this, man," said Roy.
"Don't let your worries get the better of you," advised Taki.
Appreciating the words of encouragement, Louis thanked his friends and made his way to the battlefield. He waited patiently for his opponent before he caught sight of an approaching shadow from a hallway on the opposite side of the arena.
Raphael stepped into view, wearing a black hat, a dark-grey jacket, with a white shirt underneath, brown long-legged jeans, and forest-green sneakers.
When Louis caught his first glimpse at the trainer, the face was instantly recognisable to the young adult.
"Wait...I've seen that guy," he muttered. "He's the trainer I took on in the sparring match years ago."
The opposing trainer immediately knew who he was battling.
"Hey. It's been a while," said Raphael. "Good luck, dude."
Louis nodded while replying, "You too."
Soon, the referee stepped into view, as both participants brandished their first Pokéball.
"Ready?" began the referee.
"BEGIN!"
In the blink of an eye, the two battling combatants sent out their first Pokémon. Louis brought Staraptor out to battle, while Raphael called Machoke to the field. The battle between the muscular-wrestling Pokémon and the large bird creature went back-and-forth for a long and anticipating time. No one in the audience could predict the outcome of this battle. But then, Louis commanded Staraptor to use Aerial Ace. In a quick and precise manner, Staraptor dealt the powerful blow and sent Machoke to the ground, knocking it out.
The young adult decided to let Staraptor continue to battle as Raphael sent out a Scyther. Unlike the last battle, Louis and Staraptor seemed to struggle against the opposing Scyther, with its dragonfly-like wings helping the bug Pokémon with its speed. Once Staraptor had been dealt and powerful blow to her body, winding her, Louis decided to switch her out for Incineroar. Though this motive seemed like a good idea, Raphael's Pokémon was a little too fast for Incineroar. Once the fire-cat wrestler was almost out of breath, Louis swapped him with Marowak.
This went in Louis' favour as Marowak and Scyther went toe-to-toe with one another. Then, Louis commanded the evolved form of Cubone to use Bonemerang. The Pokémon swung its club at the bug creature and, thankfully, it dealt a tremendous amount of damage. This caused Scyther to collapse under its own weight.
As Raphael sent out his Infernape, Louis decided to switch out Marowak with Braixen. The two fire-types appeared to be evenly matched to the two combating trainers. However, if someone were to look closely, they could see Braixen struggling to keep up with the blazing monkey Pokémon. Before the Infernape could make its next move, Louis brought the fire-fox Pokémon back inside of her spherical capsule.
From the stands, the young adult's friends and father watched on in concern.
"Uh oh, Louis is really struggling down there," said Roy.
"Oh man, I've never seen him in this kind of situation before," added Taki.
"He has taken down two of his opponent's Pokémon," said Coach. "But he only has Lucario left out of his options that haven't been brought out yet and who knows how long he'll last."
Back on the battle arena, as Louis brought out another one of his Pokéballs, a smirk was visibly displayed on his face. This confused Raphael. With a push of a button, the Pokéball enlarged to reveal that it was the same capsule that had been painted to resemble a Greninja.
"Azul, GO!" yelled Louis, as he threw the device to the centre of the field.
A bright light emitted from the device as the Greninja, with a pendant around its neck landed on the battlefield, ready to battle. Wide-eyed stares appeared from Taki and Roy.
"WHAT THE-?" yelped Roy.
"No way!" exclaimed Taki.
Nearby, Coach became amazed by the sudden appearance, while Miguel had a small smirk on his face.
"Hey now, is that who I think it is?" said Coach.
"Azul? ...yep," clarified Miguel.
Goosebumps suddenly raised on the coach's arms.
On a separate area in the stands, Suzuki and Zack sat together, witnessing the spectacle before them. Zack's eyes glittered when Louis brought Azul to the arena.
"Hey! Your plan worked!" he exclaimed.
"Looks like," grinned Suzuki. "I just hope it lasts."
Louis' heart filled with an energy akin to determination, a combination of the event, the cheering, and his friends
"Azul..." he began. "...show them what you're made of!"
With that, Azul began his frontal assault on the Infernape, having the advantage of being a water-type against a fire Pokémon.
The Greninja had taken out its opposition in no time flat. Raphael sent out his fourth beast, a Loudred, which appeared to have speakers for ears. Both creatures exchanged multiple blows with each other, not wanting to give up any time soon. Unfortunately for Raphael, his Loudred would also fall victim to Louis' Greninja.
And there he stood, Azul. Triumphant, proud and strong.
"This is where he is meant to be," Suzuki whispered to himself, a final stroke of realization flicking a final switch.
Miguel, trapped in thought, smiled at the battle.
"Look at them go," he said.
Zack stood up and shouted, "COME ON, GRENINJA! YOU CAN DO IT!"
With a glint in his eyes, Azul grinned underneath his tongue-scarf.
'I know I can,' he admitted.
The next Pokémon that Raphael brought to battle was a Krookodile. Unlike the previous two battles, Azul seemed to struggle against this particular beast. After the opposing creature used Dig to attack Azul, the Greninja appeared to be on his last legs. His legs ached, he breathed heavily, exhaustion was about to consume him.
"Don't give up, Azul, you got this!" cheered Louis.
Those words of encouragement were all that Azul needed to hear. Before Raphael and Krookodile could react, the ninja-frog leapt into the air with lightning speed. He raised his arm into the air, creating a gargantuan shuriken made of water. Locking on to his opponent, Azul flung the Water Shuriken at the red crocodile Pokémon. The attack was too fast for the beast to dodge, so he took the full force of the attack, knocking it to the ground. This time, it would stay down.
"Krookodile is unable to battle," announced the referee. "Greninja wins!"
The audience members cheered in ecstatic nature. Coach looked on from the stands.
'He lets him fight autonomously, without command,' he pondered. '...fascinating.'
As Raphael was preparing to bring out his sixth and final Pokémon, Louis' intuition had a strange feeling that his last combatant would put Azul at a disadvantage. Soon, Raphael sent out his final Pokémon, a Sceptile. Louis realised that this was the Grovyle from years ago, who had evolved.
Louis' gut feeling was correct.
Figuring that he would most likely go down in this next battle since he was already exhausted, Azul turned to his trainer.
"Hey, Louis!" he called. "Whaddya' say we let Lucario have his go now?"
Surprised and proud of the display of maturity from the Greninja, Louis agreed to the suggestion and beamed the frog-ninja into his spherical device. Then, Louis brought out Lucario's Pokémon, pressed the centre button and enlarged it to the size of a baseball.
"Lucario, GO!" yelled Louis, throwing the Pokéball.
Lucario emerged from the light emitted from the sphere. He landed on the ground with grace and readiness. Soon, both Sceptile and Lucario charged at one another, exchanging powerful attacks upon one another. One side of the crowd chanted Lucario, while the others chanted for Sceptile.
Raphael ordered Sceptile to use Leaf Blade on Lucario. The leaves on its wrists began glowing light green and became one on each arm. He dashed toward him and swung his blades with such ferocity.
"Dodge it, Lucario!" yelled Louis.
Quick thinking led to Lucario dodging each of the swings from the grass-type Pokémon.
"Ok, use Aura Sphere. Now!" the young adult commanded.
The aura Pokémon kicked Sceptile back a few feet. He brought his paws to the side of his body, having them almost touching. With calmness, a small glowing ball of blue aura began to grow with each passing second, taking lessons from Braixen. Once it was charged to full power, Lucario fired the ball of energy at the grass-type Pokémon, where it collided and caused a massive explosion on the battlefield. The shockwave sent a few audience members off their chairs.
As soon as the smoke cleared, Sceptile was seen lying on the ground, unconscious.
The battle was over.
"Sceptile is unable to battle, Lucario wins!" called the referee. "The winner of this battle is Louis Serrano and Team Venus!"
The screen projected an image of Louis, with the word 'Winner' listed underneath it. Audience members clapped and cheered for Louis and his team.
"Woohoo!" cheered Roy.
"Alright! Go Louis!" added Taki.
Although Raphael was disappointed in being defeated, he was happy for his opponent's victory.
"Good match," he called.
"Dude, you nearly had me!" replied Louis, gesturing a thumbs up.
Before he approached Lucario, Louis brought out every other member of his team, letting them get the round of applause from the audience. The aura Pokémon was almost out of breath. Then, a hand was lowered down to him. Lucario looked up to see the young adult with a smile on his face.
"We did it," he said.
"We won?!" blurted Braixen.
The fire-fox wiped away a tear from her eye, overwhelmed by the energy filling the entire building.
With a grin, Lucario gripped Louis' hand and helped himself up. But then, out the corner of his eye, Louis caught a glimpse of something approaching him, quickly. He closed his eyes as the rushing blur made contact with his body. However, he slowly opened them up again, realising that it wasn't attacking. It was, in fact, hugging him. Louis turned to see that it was Azul wrapping his arms around him. Not wanting to miss out on the embrace, Marowak, Braixen, Staraptor, Incineroar and Lucario joined in hugging their trainer.
"Guys..." Louis gasped.
"Louis..." said Azul. "Thank you. I'll never forget what you've done for me."
Hearing those words of gratitude from the Greninja warmed his heart. Louis returned the favour and wrapped his arms around the Pokémon.
"Don't mention it," he said.
"You were amazing, Azul!" he excitedly added.
"It's good to have you back, man!" complimented Incineroar, looking at Azul.
The party of friends laughed amongst one another, happy to be together again. From the stands, Taki wiped away a tear streaming down her face. Roy jumped in his seat, while Miguel stared proudly at his child.
"Good job, son," he said. "Good job."
Congratulations, Team Venus. That's what I call...Teamwork. (see what I did there?)
Anyway, thanks for reading. Is there something you enjoyed? Can you guess what happens next? Or...what do you hope to see in future chapters? If so, go ahead and leave a review explaining any of these reasons. (Please don't leave hurtful reviews)
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