The morning mist was still gracing the air when Rahul stepped up to the edge of the trainer platform, to face off against Julia. Their breaths frosted the air. The group crowded silently onto the cold metal benches, wrapped up in Gore-Tex jackets like hemoglobin. Joining them for the first time was Rahul's mother, a woman who looked like she had come straight out of a portrait. She had told them that today and tomorrow had been the only two days she had been able to get off, and she wished to watch her son win the Indigo League and return home with her. There's no sign of Charlie, Ryan noted coolly.

Across the stadium was Julia, the last person standing between Rahul and a spot in the finals. Her friends and family sat behind her on raised benches, as numerous and colorfully-dressed as Rahul's own. The crowds were not so loud this early in the morning, but the stadium was still packed. This was the first of the semi-final matches.

After getting the old introductions out of the way, the referee cleared his throat, raised his flags, and shouted: "Ready… begin!"

Rahul's Magneton was released from its ball; across the semi-frosted stadium, an Exeggutor appeared. Wow. Her Exeggutor looks really powerful. Maybe it'll turn into a Dragon type one day… "Switch out," Alex called out.

Rahul waved him away. "Yeah, yeah, I can get one move off, okay?"

The Magneton shot a Thunder at the Exeggutor, slamming it right on its pineapple head. The Exeggutor grunted, but didn't look to be too damaged. And that was when Julia ordered her Coconut Pokémon to perform Sleep Powder. A moment later, Rahul's Magneton fell to the ground, sound asleep (at least Ryan thought so - it's hard to tell with floating magnets). Three Psychics followed, each one devastating the sleeping Magneton until it seemed like Julia was just being cruel. Not once during the onslaught did Magneton wake up.

After the third Psychic, the referee went to check on Rahul's Electric Pokémon. "Magneton is unable to battle!" the referee declared, and the crowd showed its first signs of life, like how an ember would flare up if poked.

"Rahul, keep your head on straight! Listen to me!" Alex shouted, a little more than annoyed.

"Listen to your friend, he knows what's good for you!" Mama Rahul agreed.

Rahul frowned, anger dripping down his face in sweat. "Alright, alright. I got it. Don't worry. I'm the Doctor."

His Charizard stood more equally against the Exeggutor. Now he'll do it. He'll take out Julia's first Pokémon in a tournament match. Her Exeggutor won't be able to stand the taste of dragonflame. The inevitable Fire Blast followed Charizard's arrival, and the Exeggutor was cooked up real good. It probably had anywhere from 3-5% of its health left. One more.

"Exeggutor! Explosion!" Julia's voice came distantly across the air. There was sadness in it, a knowingness that she was sacrificing her Pokémon. If it explodes, that means that no one's still KO'd one of her Pokémon.

The white light was immediate, its heat absolute. It flamed out with tendrils and waves, and Charizard could not even begin to hope to dodge it. Rahul's Charizard let out a scream, and when it was over, both Pokémon were lying on the ground, bruised and not moving. The referee raised both flags. Dang… that was Rahul's favorite Pokémon. What's he gonna do now? The crowd went nuts. They sensed weakness from Rahul, and strength from Julia. They were hungry sharks, ready for blood, scared of the monsters though they were.

Other trainers have won against worse odds.

"This time, choose Lapras, go!" Alex urged the big man, and for once, Rahul listened. To cheers and jeers, both trainers revealed their next Pokémon: a Lapras for Rahul, and a Jolteon for Julia. Ryan whistled. She really has great Pokémon. It's no wonder she's made it so far without losing any of them in a match!

The two exchanged a Thunderbolt and a Body Slam, and coming away from it, Jolteon looked to be by far the one in command. A second round followed, with Jolteon KO'ing Lapras with another quick Thunderbolt - Rahul's Pokémon didn't even get a chance to do a second attack. She's unbelievable, Ryan thought, catching his breath. I've never seen anyone so good. She's way out of our league… and pretty much everyone else's in the tournament.

Next came Rahul's Alakazam at the swift urging of Alex. "Psychic attack!" the big man yelled.

"Pin Missile, Jolteon!" Julia commanded from her spire, and off the two ran.

Jolteon is faster, Ryan noticed. When it ran up to the quick-moving Alakazam, the Jolteon flung five Pin Needles at the Alakazam, each hitting it, staggering it back. Alakazam cried out in pain. The crowd threw popcorn and drank it all in. Alakazam was not finished, though. It got to its feet and shot a jet of purple energy at the Jolteon, smacking the cheeky little spike-ball in the face. Jolteon screamed and ran back.

A cry of "Psychic!" and "Thunderbolt!" filled the Indigo Stadium. The Jolteon shot its attack at Alakazam, who looked quite beat-up now, and Alakazam tried to silence it with a second Psychic. Both attacks hit, doing moderate damage. Still, the Jolteon ran, though now it was sluggish and covered in dirt. It limped back over to its trainer, preparing one last go-around.

"What's the deal, Alex?! Why didn't that take out Jolteon?!" Rahul asked, perplexed.

"Bad luck," the Chinese boy grunted. "It was already damaged, and Psychic does a lot of damage. Most of the time, I think two would have taken it down."

It was already over; everyone knew it. Jolteon was faster. Alakazam could clearly not stand another hit. There was nothing Rahul could do, except watch with the others and bow his head as they cheered his Pokémon's defeat. After a few moments, he raised his head and shouted, "Fine, so that's how you want to play? Well, your luck's run out! I'm the Doctor! So basically… run! This time it's personal! I'm here to save the universe! And that starts with beating you!" He's in rare form. I've never seen him act so dramatic.

His Rhydon emerged from its ball roaring, much to the crowd's adoration. Seeing this huge beast, Julia grimaced and recalled her Jolteon. "Go, Starmie!" said the girl, and Ryan could feel Alex's shudder from where he sat on the other side of the bench.

Rhydon had performed an Earthquake on the stage, hitting the switching-in Starmie hard. Suffice to say, when Starmie stood up, it looked to be about half damaged. But it's still faster. Way, way faster. That was proven on the next turn when Starmie's Blizzard attack froze Rhydon before it could try another Earthquake. Rhydon remained frozen in ice, unable to move as a second Blizzard joined the first. Upon the added weight of snow and piercing winds, the ice cracked and the Drill Pokémon fell from its cold prison, unconscious.

The crowd hooted and hollered, and chants of 'Julia!' 'Julia!' 'Julia!' tore through the stadium like wildfire. It's over. "Alex… what do I do?!" Rahul shouted nervously down at his old friend.

Alex's arms were crossed. He looked away and shook his head. "There's nothing more we can do. You had a lot of bad luck in this match, Rahul…"

"Hyper Beam!" the big man bellowed, his last hope in this tournament riding on a single move.

Dragonair sprung from its ball, as slippery as a cave eel, and started charging at Starmie. But Starmie's faster, Ryan knew. Speed is everything. A Blizzard awaited the Dragonair; so, it fell back screaming. When the snows cleared up and Starmie jumped back, the Dragonair shot a white beam of light at Starmie, hitting it right in the red jewel at the center of its being. Starmie slumped forward and fell over. The crowd's energy exploded. Ryan got to his feet, shaking his fist.

"Alright, Rahul! You got one of her Pokémon!"

Rahul went to speak. The crowd suddenly fell to dead silence as Starmie got up. Incredible. She's invincible! The boy shivered. Rahul stood there, his mouth agape (Ryan thought he saw a fly fly inside). The crowd was similarly on the edge of their seats as Julia issued one last command:

"Blizzard!" And so Starmie did as it was commanded, and so did Dragonair fall. The sixth and final green dot below Rahul's portrait on the scoreboard vanished out of existence, and it was over.

The referee was saying something. They were throwing confetti, celebrating wildly for Julia. She had descended her trainer platform to embrace her friends and family. The pandemonium, the sheer gushing of emotion, was so overwhelming that Ryan had to look away.

On the other side of the Indigo Stadium, there was no happiness, no vibrancy, no clapping. Everyone stood there in stunned, awkward silence as Rahul descended from his platform and approached Alex on that chilly morning.

The Chinese boy shrugged. "You did the best you could. It was only luck."

"Yeah, well… it's okay, I guess," Rahul said deflated. He looked to be in better spirits than most, despite everything. "I can still compete for the third place medal, right?"

Everyone swarmed him, trying to make him feel better. In the center of the eye of that chaotic human storm, Rahul's mother was saying, "I'm so proud of you Rahul. You did so good in this tournament! You have brought honor to-"

Ryan swallowed, trying to slow his breathing. His cheeks were flushed; he felt a little dizzy. He counted to ten until his heartbeats aligned with his slow count. And then he looked up again and stepped into the storm. I'll have to, just for a moment. And then it's on to preparing for that Awabi guy.

And deep down, Ryan knew that he was far more likely to go out like Rahul than win the match. An opponent still hasn't taken out one of Julia's Pokémon. She's going to win. I know she will. It doesn't matter if I lose today or tomorrow… I'm losing one way or another.

He stayed out as long as he could, training until about 4 pm. Then, running back to the Indigo Plateau, he had Nurse Joy and her legion of Chansey heal up his Pokémon. There was nothing else to do but wait and strategize until the match began at 7 pm. Spectre's good against Vaporeon. Raticate and Butterfree will fall to Aegon. He had watched all of Awabi's matches last night, until he was sure he knew how the other boy would fight. He's aggressive and smart. He knows about TMs. He knows how to counter every type of Pokémon. Ryan swallowed, leaning forward in his seat. A Chansey glided past him, mopping up the floors. He was alone now - alone with his thoughts.

Shivering, Ryan thought what he would do if he lost. I guess just go home and return to school. The prospect of that didn't sound too good to Ryan. I could always try to win again next year, but he knew the others probably wouldn't want to go through the Indigo League again, especially Kelly. Let's go on another adventure together. That's what she said. I wonder if she still feels that way. He knew this was likely to be as far as he got in any Indigo League tournament, no matter where he ended up. I'm the fourth-best trainer, at a minimum. That wasn't so bad, right?

He exhaled violently and wondered if Rahul would show.

Around 6:45 pm, Joy returned to the front desk to tell the boy that his Pokémon were ready. He grabbed the six balls, thanked her, and ran out of there, towards the Indigo Stadium in the distance. Arriving out of breath, he was ushered into the stage by a few guards. He passed under the stadium for a while until he came to the end of it, where the regular group of people awaited him. Not many of them, he observed, counting five. But they all matter to me.

He came to them, noticing Rahul amongst the pack. The boy was no doubt crestfallen about his own loss, but he hadn't pulled a Kelly. He's not all that bad. Ryan passed his dad, who nodded curtly. Ryan returned the nod gratefully; he found his mother's arms, shook Logan's and Alex's and Rahul's hands, and tried to steady his breathing. When the referee called for him, Ryan scampered out into the evening's light, where he could no longer focus on that cold choking feeling in his throat.

The sky was indigo, streaked with blood. There, on the far side, on his own platform, stood the Sundance Child - Awabi. He was pale as a ghost, tall as an adult, and looked wispy and frail enough to be carried off by a gust of wind. I won't underestimate him. There were thousands in attendance; the stadium looked more crammed together with people than ever before. Overhead, a Fearow was flying off towards the setting sun. A chill wind blew.

Picking up his first Poké Ball, Ryan waited for the referee to introduce them, blow his whistle, and raise his flags; and then he threw it. Awabi's ball was in the air too. They both landed, revealing, on one end, a Charizard, and on the other, a Vaporeon. Ryan swallowed, popping his ears. They're cheering too loud, he thought miserably.

"Earthquake, Aegon!" Ryan commanded.

"Recall Charizard!" Alex shouted from below, but Ryan ignored him. Aegon can survive one water attack.

It was Surf, just like it always was. The Earthquake rumbled beneath the ground, thrusting the Vaporeon into the air. The Bubble Jet Pokémon flew and landed hard. The Vaporeon groaned and struggled to stand, even as the crowd cheered for it to. Really? They're all fans of Awabi? Finally, the beast stumbled to its shaking feet and mounted its wave again. When it crashed against Aegon, the mighty Charizard bellowed in pain and collapsed.

The crowd cheered; the referee raised his red flag, and Ryan was down a Pokémon. "Hey, don't ignore me like Rahul did!" Alex shouted from below. "If you want to win this battle, don't be afraid to switch your Pokémon!"

"Alright, alright," Ryan said hastily, shaking his head. "Spectre, it's your turn!"

Awabi the Sundance Child bent over the railing, hacking and coughing with unbridled glee. He laughed and laughed and laughed a little more. I'm surprised he wasn't called Laughing Boy instead. After several moments of hysterics over some queer joke Ryan hadn't heard, the boos started to ring out, and Awabi had to recall his Vaporeon, lest he lose the crowd (his one true love). The Pokémon he thence revealed was a Hypno. Spectre's attack - a Thunderbolt - was already sailing through the air. It washed over the Hypno, sending it flying back, but not doing tremendous damage.

"Switch!" Alex called.

"Myrrah, go for it!"

The Psychic Hypno had sent at Spectre now hit Myrrah, doing significant damage. The Cloyster flew back, skidding in the dirt. The onlookers were throwing food in their revelry, so happy were they to see another battle started. Ryan did his best to ignore them. "Psychic!" Awabi uttered shrilly, and his Hypno thrust itself forward, hitting Cloyster again with a powerful burst of psychic energy. Cloyster looked to be nearly done from that, collapsing forward onto the ground.

"It's faster!" Alex told him. "The Hypno's a higher level than your Cloyster! You have to use Explosion."

"Right. Myrrah!" Ryan shouted. "Blow that stupid elephant-faced butter-boy up! Do it! Do it now!"

"Cloyster!" She soared into the air, humming with energy, flinging her entire shell at Hypno. Hypno caught her, holding Myrrah between its hands, not sure what was going on. Another shout of, "Cloyster!" was followed by a sudden and massive explosion. A spire of rock and stage-material flew up in the air. Something screamed horribly. The crowd gasped. Ryan strained his eyes. He saw Myrrah's shell rolling down the stage from the explosion site, but there was no sign of Hypno.

"Cloyster is unable to battle!" The referee raised a second red flag. Come on, Hypno's gotta be done too. Ryan looked up at the scoreboard and saw how small his four dots looked next to Awabi's six.

"Tauros next," Alex was saying. "In case Hypno's not-"

A burst of energy came forth from the cloud then. The dust cleared and the smoke faded, and there was Hypno - he was quite damaged, but not knocked out. The referee would not raise his flag again. Well that's just great.

"NaVorro, I'm counting on you!" The Bull Pokémon flew from his ball and landed on the stage, not far from the nearly-fried Hypno. "Body Slam it, boy!"

"Psychic!" Awabi the Sundance Child cried like a Mayan Priest at sacrifice.

NaVorro made short work of the Hypno. He was faster. He tore through that Psychic Pokémon with a monstrous Body Slam, sending Hypno flying into his trainer's raised platform. It did not take the referee long to declare the Pokémon unable to battle.

"That's your first mistake!" Awabi cried, reaching for another Poké Ball. "And it won't be your last!"

Ryan went to retort something real sassy when he saw that Awabi's next Pokémon was a Tauros too. "Earthquake, buddy!"

"Earthquake!" Awabi shouted in response.

The Sundance Child's Pokémon moved first, rocking Ryan's side of the stage violently and making NaVorro howl. He must be a higher level than NaVorro, Ryan realized glumly. That's it. I've lost. He told NaVorro to do a Blizzard, but Awabi was listening. His Tauros always did the same move first - a Blizzard and then another Earthquake. And then, finally, the two Tauros charged down one another with Hyper Beams flaring up in their mouths. Hyper Beam isn't 100% accurate. My only hope… he thought as the other Tauros's attack sailed through the air, just a fraction of a second before NaVorro's would have been ready. The beam took Ryan's bull in the neck, sending him to the ground. A third dot vanished from the scoreboard above.

Ryan grasped his next Poké Ball. Come on girl. I need you now. "Go, Thurnax!"

The crowds swooned as Ryan's majestic Dragonite soared out into the crisp evening air. The referee was shouting, "There it is, a Dragonite! Wow, what a show it's putting on!" Ryan bit his lip, knowing what he had to do. This won't be easy, but it's the only way.

"Blizzard!" Awabi commanded his Pokémon.

"Agility, Thurnax!" Ryan said.

The Blizzard whirlwind hit the Dragonite first, doing a tremendous amount of damage like Ryan knew it would. Double weakness to ice, but she's still standing. That's a good sign. After weathering the opening Blizzard, Thurnax took to the skies to build up her speed. Speed is everything. She had taken a significant hit from that Blizzard - enough to take out half of her stamina at least, he knew. She could survive maybe one more non-ice attack.
Tauros is extremely weak. One attack is all it'll take. He just hoped that Vaporeon Awabi was holding back didn't have Blizzard either.

After she had built up her speed, Thurnax rode a wave of water over to the Tauros. Now that she was faster, there was nothing to fear, and the weary beast could not dodge the attack. It collapsed under the churning, foaming spray bursting through the stage, and Awabi was forced to recall the beast.

Ryan sighed. Okay, as long as I can go on a little run with Thurnax, I could be okay. He only has one more Pokémon than me. That was when Starmie appeared.

"Are you kidding me?!" Alex shouted. "You guys have had such bad luck!"

"Is it faster?" Ryan asked the boy. There was fear in his voice.

"No. But it definitely has Blizzard. You only have one move to use."

"Hyper Beam, Thurnax!" Ryan shouted desperately. "Please, come on, put everything you got into that Hyper Beam!"

"Neiahahahahaaaaaaa!" Thurnax roared resolutely.

"Lay another Blizzard on that beast, Starmie," Awabi said softly. He was stroking his own platinum blond hair, which was long and blended in with his skin. He wore dark sunglasses, even though it was nearly dark out. He looked so preoccupied with cleaning his fingernails, too. At the base of Awabi's trainer platform, an old man who looked eerily like the guy who had given Ryan that golden chicken bone in Saffron City stood wearing a white suit, a black top hat, and feminine, sparkling glasses. Leaning on a cherrywood cane, he smiled and raised a deep fried chicken leg into the air like a banner before taking a savage bite out of it.

Ryan had seen his Pokémon perform a hundred Hyper Beams. This time was no different. Thurnax soared about for a bit charging it up, and then flew down her prey before unleashing the energy. Worryingly, it didn't look like her Hyper Beam was any more powerful than it had been before.

Upon impact, Starmie was blown back, getting knocked off its feet like a hobo at a train station. And yet, in the next moment, it stood. "No!" Ryan cried in dismay.

His Dragonite crashed to the ground, covered in horrible frost, before the boy could even soak in what had just happened.

"Gengar!" Alex's voice was urgent. "If things go right… you have a chance… depending on what he has left."

The boy closed his eyes and took a deep breath, pushing back the heat that was behind his eyes and welling up in his throat. "Spectre, I choose you!" he shouted, his voice breaking. "Thunderbolt, now!"

"Thunder Wave!" Ryan's opponent shouted wildly.

Gengar was super fast, even faster than the Starmie. Spectre bounced about the cracked, worn stage before landing behind the Starmie. Doing a cartwheel over it, the Gengar playfully tossed a surge of electrical energy at his foe. The yellow chains wrapped around the Water Pokémon, squeezing and squeezing until they exploded and sent the Starmie flying to the far end of the stage. When it landed, it did not get up.

A green flag was raised; a red dot faded. "Raticate, it's your turn!" Awabi said lazily. "Teach this New York bozo a thing or two about our Pasty Platoon!"

"I'm not from New York, I'm from Acapulco!" Ryan replied.

"Whatever. You're losing this match, so what does it matter?!"

Ryan didn't know what game Awabi was playing. Raticate was a Normal Pokémon with normal moves - Spectre was immune to almost everything that rat-faced cretin had to offer - except that rodent's Blizzard. Man, screw that guy for using TMs too. It's no fair, man! Even so, Blizzard did pitiful damage coming from that beast, and two Thunderbolts and a Mega Drain silenced it. For the first time in a long time, the two trainers were even in Pokémon again.

Next came the Sundance Child's favorite Pokémon - Butterfree. Yeah, I know what you're thinking: his favorite is his Vaporeon. But that's way off. There's no way it's true. It's just an urban legend the twins of Jessie and James like to spread around in Viridian City. Too bad Butterfree's a terrible Pokémon. Every Pokémon Ryan had must've had a super effective move against it. As luck would have it, Ryan's Gengar had such a move too.

"Thunderbolt!"

"Sleep Powder!" came Awabi's voice.

Spectre was faster. He hit that floating butterfly hard with some straight up Zeus moves. And when ol' Butterfree tried to spin around and spread Sleep Powder everywhere, Gengar was gone (daddy) again, flying like a banshee from the hills that don't have eyes. The attack missed, and all it took was one more Thunderbolt to down Awabi's fifth Pokémon.

"And with that, folks… Ryan from Acapulco has taken the lead!" the referee bellowed to the approval of the crowd. Ryan felt nothing. He steeled himself and prepared for the Vaporeon he knew was coming. I haven't won yet. Nothing is certain.

Out popped Ryan's least favorite of the three eeveelutions. It paced and eyed Gengar with uncertainty. It's a Water Pokémon. I have just the moves for Water Pokémon!

"Thunderbolt!" he bellowed.

Awabi's voice mixed with Ryan's in its shrillness. "Surf!"

"Mega Drain!" came Ryan's next command.

"Surf!"

"Thunderbolt!"

"Surf!"

The two went on like that, shouting order after order at their Pokémon as the two exchanged jets of water and bolts of lightning. They didn't do much damage to one another, but Gengar was faster. It just so happened that he got an extra move. Even though Raticate had damaged him, Gengar stood up to Vaporeon's Surfs. He took damage, aye, but not enough damage. And in the end, he had Thunderbolt, which is bound to hit a crit every now and then.

Vaporeon went up in yellow electrical energy, strobing the stadium for several moments as the last, most powerful Thunderbolt hit it. When the attack was finished, smoke drifted up from the scales of the Bubble Jet Pokémon. It muttered a, "Va… poreon…" and staggered forward, trying to conjure up another Surf attack, even as Awabi was flipping out from above (he did not want to lose, it appeared). Vaporeon spit a bit of water from its mouth and collapsed.

"Nay, this cruel world, from whence I came! Now I'm going to be a hermit in the far north!" Awabi the Sundance Child weeped loudly, after falling to his knees. He raised his fists to the sky, cartwheeled off his trainer platform, and raced into the blackness beyond, leaving his poor Uncle Colonel Sanders behind to wallow in self-hate. Ryan would never see that weird kid again.

"Return, Spectre," Ryan said confidently over the rush of cheering voices and general jubilation. The referee was going on and on about Ryan's improbable victory, his skill, and his command over his Pokémon. They were cheering his name as this happened, and Ryan felt goosebumps cascade across his exposed flesh.

This is a dream, he thought. This isn't real. This isn't happening. I couldn't have done that… I can't be in the finals of the Indigo League… His cheeks felt warm as he descended the trainer platform in silence.

Then, like a train, he was hit by Logan, who bounded into the boy and hugged him madly. "I knew it! I knew you'd do it! Whoo yeah, you're in the finals! I have his first signature everyone! I'm gonna be rich!"

"Nice work," Alex grunted, eating his noodles and not slurping even one of them, good boy. "That got pretty scary there near the end."

"Yeah, but we did it!" Ryan said eagerly. "Thanks man, I couldn't have done it without you."

Fire was rising in his veins. His chest felt light. Rahul gave him one of those legit bro hugs like a bigtime fancypants. His mother's tittering voice was in his ear, breathless and exuberant. And there was Ryan's father, the lonely mountain, his arms folded, his face narrowed, studying Ryan. I didn't use him, the boy thought as his eyes crossed with his dad's. I didn't want to get you mad. But tomorrow…

He knew he would need Alakazam tomorrow. But that was a problem for another day.

Instead of festering in soon-to-be despair, Ryan turned back around, to his friends and family and felt happy. It wasn't the best feeling in the world. Kelly's not here. But, for the teal-haired boy who had improbably set out on a journey almost a year ago to join the Indigo League and now found himself in the finals of the entire tournament, the feeling was still pretty good.

Maybe a little better than good.

It was dark out, and all the bugs were making music of the night. Ryan and Alakazam were sitting up against rocks, a lantern at their feet. A waterfall rushed to their left, flowing into a deep and blue pool below. That was where they had caught a Dewgong not an hour before. He hadn't gone out to dinner with everyone else, no matter how much he appreciated their support during his tournament battles. I need to train.

And so he had been training. His Pokémon were woefully underleveled, in his mind. Awabi had had stronger Pokémon. His Tauros was stronger than mine. What if Julia's Pokémon are too? He wanted to give himself as much a chance to win as he could. And so here he was, sacrificing happiness and rest to make sure everyone was ready for tomorrow's big match.

Alakazam looked rather glum, so Ryan said, "Aw, cheer up buddy. It's okay, I'll let you be in the next match, I promise."

"Azam." The Psi Pokémon slumped up against the rock indolently. "Zam zam zam."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But I had to give everyone else a try to, you know?" Ryan said, trying to defend himself. "Besides, I thought that you needed a break! You've already won two matches for me by yourself!"

"Zam." The Alakazam crossed his arms. Well there's one thing that's different about him. He's not so playful anymore.

Ryan let out a long, uninterrupted breath that silenced the bugs around them for a good thirty seconds. "I know how hard you worked for my dad and me to win this thing." His voice was soft as new fallen snow. "But my other Pokémon have worked hard too. They all deserve a shot at glory. We're all in this together, you know? No use getting mad. We won!" he smiled, a feeling of warmness spreading across his skin.

"Zam," Alakazam yawned.

"Yeah, I know, buddy." Ryan chewed on his tongue while his head drifted up into the sky to peer at the ancient light of far-distant stars raining down upon them. In the distance, he saw a pink dot, as small as a drop of blood, flickering around in front of the near full moon. Shivering, he thought, that couldn't be…

In front of the boy, a dark-robed woman appeared. She wore jewels on her face, over her silken mask of gold and ivory. Her eyes shone a piercing - almost unworldly - viridian color in the darkness. "Ryan Morgan," she whispered. Her voice sounded like leaves blowing through the wind, as faint as an Abra's footsteps. "Look to the skies. Do not forget who you are."

"What are you talking about?" Ryan said, trying to stand up. "What do you mean?"

"All things know," the Oracle said solemnly. "Do not forget who you are."

He reached out for her and watched her dissolve into smoke to be carried off by a midnight breath of air, spilling out like stardust into the expansive night's sky overhead. Ryan went to speak, bit his lip, and sat back down. He looked over at Alakazam, who was snoring. We need to get back to work, but I guess we can take a break, he thought, sitting back against the rock himself.

Shivering, he looked to the skies, tracing his way through the constellations until he found one that looked like an Abra. At that, Ryan got excited and poked Alakazam in the shoulder to tell him the good news.

"Alakazam," Alakazam said with indignation upon hearing what Ryan had wakened him for. "Zam zam…"

"... thank you ma'am!" Ryan said, finishing the sentence eagerly. He didn't detect the tiredness in Alakazam's voice, nor the patient irritation of his most noble friend. Instead, Ryan said carelessly, "I wonder why that dream lady told me to look to the skies. Why is she following me around just to help me discover the Abra constellation?"

The wind howled. The bugs wrote splendid homophonic tunes, and Alakazam sat snoring. The chill was out there, Ryan knew, hovering in the deep sky, a chill of winter, of the night. After a few more moments watching the stars, Ryan stood up, patted his Alakazam into consciousness, and they were back off again into the forest to search for more wild Pokémon to battle. Though they were both yawning now, more ready for sleep than they had ever been, they knew they could not stop. Ryan's other Pokémon were soon released from their Poké Balls - so it was: the group of six followed their master deeper into the forest, followed him into the dark, and followed him to the promise of everlasting glory should they win tomorrow.