-Chapter 8-
-VS. Seel!-

Lemon's match came. By the time Lemon left the waiting room, it was dark. A silver moon hung in the star streaked sky, providing a cool blue blanket of darkness. The stadium was illuminated with huge light fixtures spaced evenly apart throughout the perimeter. Lemon took deep breaths to help calm herself. The crowd cheered as walked towards the arena. Her opponent did the same. He was a boy about her age, wearing green clothes and who had blonde-ish hair.

The announcer came over the loudspeaker. "Our next combatants, Lemon and Garret!"

"Yeah, eh… good luck and stuff…" said Garret as he stood on his side of the arena.

"Eh, shut up," snapped Lemon. Garret gaped.

"Go, Milton!" Lemon tossed the Pokéball containing her Miltank, Milton, into the arena. The pink cow Pokémon emerged.

"Mido mido!" it said happily.

"Seelor, go!" Her opponent launched her own Great Ball into the stadium, and released the Pokémon inside.

"Wau!" it barked. Its eyes sparkled, and it clapped its flippers together.

Lemon pulled out her 'borrowed' Pokédex from her pocket. She pointed it at the Seel and read up on it. Then she pointed it at Milton, and checked up on his statistics. She pulled a calculator out of her pocket, and sat down in the middle of the arena.

Garret stared at her. "…Err, what are you doing?" he asked.

"Shh, quite enough talking," she said. She looked back from the Pokédex, to the calculator, back and forth, counted some stuff on her fingers, then suddenly shouted "Yay! Electric!" She pointed at Seelor the Seel. "Milton, Hidden Power!" Milton gathered his energy, then suddenly released a burst of energy. It struck Seelor, flipping it over. It jumped back off, shook it off, and grinned maliciously.

"Seelor, Ice Beam!" Seelor launched an icy laser from the horn on its head. It struck Milton in its large tummy, knocking it backward. Lemon frowned.

"Milton, Hidden Pow - "

"Disable!" commanded Garret. Seelor's eyes shined. Milton suddenly took on a glazed look in his eyes. He scratched his head.

"Ugh, he forgot how to do it?" she said angrily, "Um… okay, try Defense Curl!"

Milton tucked himself into a ball.

"Seelor, Encore!" Garret stated, "Oh, hehe, that rhymes." Seelor clapped its flipper together. Milton grew giddy, and began to bounce up and down.

"…Err, yeah. Milton, use - " Lemon began. Milton pulled into a tighter ball. "So… okay," she said, "We have to wait a couple turns."

"Now use Takedown!" Garret commanded. Seelor smashed full force into Milton. He toppled over. Seelor clapped again, and Milton rolled up again. Garret repeated his command, and Seelor used Takedown on Milton once again. His HP bar displayed on the screen above them was dangerously low… Seelor's was still about two thirds full. Her Encore attack ended. Lemon suddenly smirked.

"Milton use Rollout!" she commanded quickly. Milton, tucked tightly from his repeated Defense Curl, rolled faster and faster, then launched himself at Seelor. Her HP bar plummeted. Milton spun in tight circles as it waited Seelor's assault.

"Ice Beam!" shouted Garret. Seelor launched another freezing beam at Milton. It buzzed past him and missed. Milton spun back at Seelor, KO'ing him. Lemon won.

"Yay! I won! Take that LOSER!" Lemon cheered. She did a sort of a dance. Garret hung his head in shame, and walked away sadly.

Lemon danced her way back into the waiting room, where Orange was sitting on the bench awaiting the result of Lemon's battle. She dashed in.

"Orange I won! I crushed that sorry dork like a bug!" she gave him a bone-crunching hug.

"Oww ow ow!" he said. He pushed her away. "Okay, so we made it past the first round… How many more?" he asked.

Lemon thought and counted on her fingers. "Err… three? Wait, no, four. Wait just kidding, I had it right the first time. Three. Three rounds. Yes." She fidgeted. "Think we can do it?" she asked.

Orange grinned, and nodded. "Oh yes. No way we'll lose."

"Buzzgo, Thunder Punch!" Orange called. Buzzgo gained momentum and leapt into the air, and smashed his fist into an opposing Pidgeotto. It fell from the sky and smashed into the dirt of the stadium floor, arousing a cloud of dust.

"Yeah! We won again!" Buzzgo jumped at Orange, toppling him over. They laughed as Orange sputtered out "We did it! We're in the finals!"

He stepped into the waiting room, still laughing.

"Lemon I won again! I'm in the finals! Just like you!"

Lemon gave a small smile. "You know it, just like me. Meaning you're BATTLING me in the finals."

"Oh… wow, you're right…," he said, sadly, "well… What should we do? We already get the money, should we just like… drop out?" he asked.

Lemon stared at him like his face had lit on fire. "Uhh, no way buddy, we're finishing this. Me versus you."

Orange laughed. "Well then princess… Bring. It. On."

-Chapter 9-

-VS. Smoochum!-