Some time past since they got Mellon. She had been a good pet and companion to the two. Cedric's mom was a little iffy about letting Mellon stay, but she grew attached to her quickly. One day, Adeline was over for dinner and the family plus Adeline and Mellon were gathered around the T.V. watching some Pokémon League News.
"Here I am in Blackthorn City." The reporter was saying. "Where a young Pokémon trainer is challenging Gym Leader Clair for his last Pokémon League Gym Badge!" The scene moved to an arena in huge lava filled room.
"Hey look, Adeline. The floor's lava." Adeline punched Cedric.
"Shut up." There was a tall woman with blue hair standing on one end of the arena. She held herself with pride and confidence.
"Challenging Clair is Pokémon Trainer Beck Vancouver from New Bark Town!" Adeline gasped in surprise.
"I can't believe it!" She exclaimed.
"I know." Cedric mumbled. "They got his hometown wrong." Cedric's mom snickered at that. The camera showed a boy who looked like Beck, but wasn't. His black-green hair was greasy and messed up. His face was covered in dirt and it looked like he'd gone through Hell to get there.
"He's on his eighth gym badge. Quite impressive." His clothes looked newly bought. An aviator jacket covered his maroon shirt and teal jeans overlapped his hiking boots.
"You think he could take a bath if he could afford those clothes." Cedric observed. Seeing Beck brought some bitter feelings to his gut.
"Shh. It's starting!" The camera was on Clair. She reached for a Pokéball and threw it to the middle of the field. A light dispersed from the ball, forming into a huge serpent.
"Clair sent out Dragonair!" The camera was on Beck now, who pulled out his own Pokéball and threw it.
"Oh! It's a Skarmory!" The steel bird spread its steel wings and cawed. The referee indicated the battle to start. Cedric saw Clair barking out commands to her Dragonair. Waves of energy came off of the Pokémon and shot towards Skarmory. "It's Thunder Wave!" The reporter announced. "Now Beck's Skarmory will be paralyzed." The Skarmory struggled to fly into the air, but dove at the dragon, its wings shining. "Skarmory's using Steel Wing!" Dragonair went flying at the impact. The whole room gasped as it fell into the lava.
"Don't worry." Cedric said. "Fire doesn't hurt Dragons much." Dragonair leapt from the lava. Clair must have issued a command because the Dragonair was charging up an attack. "Beck's in trouble." Cedric observed, knowing what was coming.
"It's a Fire Blast from Dragonair!" The reporter exclaimed. Beck yelled for Skarmory to dodge, but it was paralyzed. The attack hit head on and Skarmory was out cold. "It's a KO from Dragonair. What will Beck sent out next?" A flash went off and a Jolteon appeared.
"Should have saved that Jolteon…" Cedric knew the Gym Leaders' patterns and Jolteon could've been used for later.
"Cedric, SHH!" Adeline shushed him.
"Jolteon has used Thunder!" The wicked lightning struck Dragonair, making it faint. "Clair has sent out her other Dragonair!" Beck Jolteon attempted to hit it with Thunder again, but missed. The Dragonair Slammed into Jolteon, but it retaliated with Shadow Ball. 'Smart to teach Jolteon Shadow Ball,' Cedric thought, 'but he's only attacking. He needs to use status moves as well.' A Dragon Pulse finished Jolteon off and Beck threw another Pokéball.
"Look, Cedric! It's his Starter!" It was Feraligatr. Cedric's eyes brightened.
"Cool." He said to himself. The Feraligatr Slashed at Dragonair, but missed. The Slam from Dragonair didn't do much damage.
"Feraligatr should know an Ice move." Cedric said. Slash again. Slam again. "Darn it, Beck! Use Ice Fang or something!" There he goes. Ice Fang. The air around the Feraligatr's jaws steamed with cold. It lunged and bit down on the Dragon Pokémon. Dragonair fainted and Cedric's hands went up in irritation. "Thank you." He noticed his mom and Adeline were looking at him. "What?" He asked. "Everyone knows that Ice is the main weakness to Dragon."
"No they don't, honey." "Oh." Another flash of light and a Gyarados was on the field.
"Oh my!" The reporter exclaimed in awe and fear. 'This is where Beck's Jolteon would've come in handy. Hopefully he'll have another Electric type or something.' The Gyarados used Dragon Rage which damaged Feraligatr pretty good. The Feraligatr Crunched on its enemy's body. The Gyarados shook it off and shot it down with a Dragon Pulse. Beck returned the fainted Pokémon to its Pokéball and sent out a Heracross, who used Take Down. It was caught up in a Twister from Gyarados.
"Why doesn't Clair use a flying attack?" Adeline asked. "It would hurt Heracross badly because its Bug and Fighting type." Cedric thought.
"I think, unlike Pokémon Trainers, Gym leaders only use a moveset of four attacks. I think it's supposed to restrict their crazy power or something. Gyarados knows Twister, Dragon Rage, and Dragon Pulse, which leaves one more attack with I guess isn't a Flying type attack." Heracross fainted after a Dragon Pulse and Beck sent out a Pupitar. Gyarados used Bite against Pupitar.
"I guess it knows Bite too." Adeline said. 'It's foolish of Clair not to have any Flying type attacks or any Water type attacks, as Gyarados is a Flying/Water type…' Pupitar used a Dark Pulse against Gyarados.
"It's not a Dragon type, Beck." Cedric said to himself. "Hit it with a Rock attack." After the Dragon Rage from Gyarados, Pupitar was barely standing. It used Dark Pulse again. Cedric sighed in disappointment as Pupitar fainted.
"Only one Pokémon remains on Beck's team." A Donphan. Lovely. Cedric was relieved that Donphan used Rollout, but it didn't do much. The Gyarados used Twister. Rollout. Bite. Rollout. Gyarados was out. Cedric knew what was coming and he knew that Beck would lose. Out came Clair's final Pokémon.
"And here's Clair's mascot, Kingdra!" Donphan was at low health and Kingdra was faster. Even if Kingdra missed and Donphan's Rollout managed to hit it, it wouldn't faint the Kingdra and Beck would lose. 'He should just forfeit now and save his Pokémon the pain.' He wondered why Beck would put his Pokémon through this if there was no hope in winning. There it was: Kingdra's Hydro Pump! Donphan started its Rollout as the water shot towards it. It dodged the attack! It sped towards the Kingdra and slammed into it with huge force! It flew across the stadium and left an impact in the wall, then it fell into the lava.
"I - I can't believe it!" The reporter exclaimed in astonishment. "Donphan landed a critical hit and won the match!" Cedric's mouth hung open in awe and Clair was on her knees with Kingdra's Pokéball in her hands. Cedric could tell her defeat really struck a nerve in her pride.
"That was an invigorating battle!" The reporter went on. "With a huge comeback from Beck's Donphan, it fought till the last effort and won Beck's eighth and last gym badge!" Cedric saw Beck celebrating and was dancing around with his Donphan. That night, Cedric learned a lesson that would he would carry with him for the rest of his life: There is always hope in the most hopeless of situations.