Chapter 20

"Who are you?!" I demanded as Raikou let loose a menacing growl to echo my ire at being trapped.

The man grinned and his green eyes twinkled. "Not an enemy if that's what you're worried about. How about I tell you my name if you can beat me in a battle?"

"I don't have a choice do I?" I grumbled as he crossed his arms.

The man's sudden chortle caused the Snover with Raikou and I to inch closer to us. "Oh, you definitely have a choice. You could choose to avoid a battle with a stranger by telling him everything he wants to know about your plans for taking on Team Plasma, or you could battle me and not tell me anything. You could do nothing, or you could try to stall me into talking more than I should until someone comes along and rescues you. The choices you could make are only as limited as by what your mind perceives to be its limits."

I glanced down at Raikou. His words made sense. I could make any choice I wanted to, but I was limiting myself to choices I thought to be right. Choices my mother would approve of I realized with a slight jolt. I understood that one possible choice could be to abandon Raikou and let others hurt it, but the thought of hurting such an amazing and intelligent creature made me feel sick to my stomach. I knew my choices needed to be about keeping my Raikou safe; even to the extent of putting me in personal risk.

"I will fight you," I stated with narrowed eyes. "But under certain conditions. You will promise that no matter who wins, Raikou will not come to harm. No amount of information is worth its pain."

"Some may not agree with you," stated the man with a nod as though I'd done something right. "Knowledge can be power. By knowing who you care about, Team Plasma might try to use them against you to get you to relinquish your Pokémon. Similarly, if you know your opponent's plan, you can form a counter-attack with ease."

I nodded slowly in comprehension. "Then maybe not having a plan at all could defeat one who tries. What about one who has a loose plan but a lot of room for improvising?"

"Looks like a sound idea to me," replied the man as he reached one of his hands up to the band keeping his hair back in a ponytail and removed a small green and yellow striped Poké Ball which expanded as he revealed it. "But let's see if you can put that to practice."

"Wait!" I exclaimed. "In here? It's too cramped for a battle."

"That's why we're going to do it within the rest of this building instead of under the stairs," he replied with a chuckle. He backed away from the entrance and allowed me and my Pokémon to follow him out.

Now that I was seeing him in more light than the space under the stairway offered, I could see more about him. He stood with the calm confidence of one who knew what he was doing. It made the worn black suit he was wearing seem to enhance the idea that he may have been a butler of some kind. It had muted green linings along the cuffs and up the seam of the arms. His clothing looked like they belonged so someone of lower standing rather than one with a lot of money. I could tell he had worn it often and yet took care of it.

The man tossed the ball into the air with a flourish of his fingers. "We're gonna battle come what may, Flora!"

In a flash of light, a sunflower appeared between the man and Raikou. I pulled out my Pokédex and aimed it at the Pokémon.

-"Sunflora. The Sun Pokémon. It gets energy from warm sunlight and is known for its habit of moving in pursuit of it."-

"I'm going to guess it's a Grass-type," I stated more to myself than my opponent.

"Indeed," the man replied with a grin. "Since I have been a trainer for far longer than you have, you may use both of your Pokémon while I'll just use one. You can switch between them as often as you'd like."

"Wait, both?" I asked in alarm. "I only have Raikou."

"Sometimes Pokémon will choose for themselves which trainer they want to become partners with," replied the man with a nod towards the Snover sticking close to my side. "I've known this Snover since she came to Unova from Sinnoh. She's never shown this much interest in a person before."

"Is that true?" I asked the snowy tree Pokémon.

She met my eyes with a determined glint in them. "Sno!"

"If you are ready, you can choose who you'll want to start off with," said the man. "This is a one on one battle. You can only battle with one Pokémon at a time. Do these self-inflicted rules sound good to you?"

"Okay," I said while turning my Pokédex towards the Snover. "I just need to know what moves she has."

I navigated to the moves function of the device and pulled them up on the screen as it scanned the Snover. I didn't activate the vocal part that Joleen had shown me because my opponent was right about knowledge about the Pokémon he was battling against. Upon memorizing the moves displayed and their brief description of what they were, I lowered the device and faced the man.

"I'm ready," I said. "I'll be starting with Raikou."

"Rair!" agreed my Pokémon.

"Let the battle begin," stated the man with a smirk. "Since I challenged you, you may have the first move."

I stared at the Sunflora as I considered my possible moves. It swayed gently from side to side as though it was enjoying music of some kind that the rest of us couldn't hear. I knew for sure that it was a Grass-type. That meant that Raikou's Thundershock was not going to be so good against it. Roar wasn't an option either as this was the only Pokémon the man said he was using. It was a move used to change up the opponent's team and force them to change their strategy which wasn't going to happen here. That left Raikou's Bite and Leer. Snover, on the other hand had more potential, but it was an unfamiliar Pokémon and I didn't want to use it first.

"Raikou," I commanded when I came to a decision. "Use Leer."

My Pokémon glared at the sunflower Pokémon. Its swaying motion continued on uninterrupted.

"A status attack to begin with," replied the man with another wide grin. "Smart considering Electric-type moves won't be too good against my Pokémon. Flora, please use Sunny Day."

The flower Pokémon halted its movement while tilting its head back completely to stare straight up into the sky. The air around us suddenly got warmer as the sunlight gained a sharper glare. The Snover beside me shuttered in unease. Raikou appeared unaffected as it growled deeply in its throat. The Sunflora returned to its gentle swaying, but its rhythm was much faster than before.

"Raikou," I exclaimed. "Use Bite."

"Flora," said the green-haired man. He wore a smug smirk coupled with a raised eyebrow. "Pound please."

As my Raikou neared the flower Pokémon to bite it, the Sunflora slid neatly out of the way as though it were dancing elegantly and slammed one of its feet into my yellow tiger's side before it could react.

"What the?!" I exclaimed as my Pokémon was knocked to its side. It staggered to its feet and growled louder than before as it lunged at the Sunflora and bit part of the flower that appeared to make up part of its head.

"I guess I shall need to explain," said the man while still sounding smug. "My Sunflora's ability is Chlorophyll. That means that when Sunny Day is used and sunlight has been increased, her speed is doubled."

I narrowed my eyes and bit the inside of my cheek as I concentrated on what that meant with the battle. I realized that I'd gotten used to Raikou always moving first and landing hits too quickly for Rex's Dieno to avoid it. This was new, and I wasn't sure if I liked a flower being faster than my Pokémon.

"Leer again!" I yelped.

"Grasswhistle please," said the man with a polite nod.

The Sunflora opened its mouth and a gentle whistling melody came out. Raikou's red eyes drooped halfway into its glare. It shook its head hard and staggered. I watched in shock as it slumped to the ground with a muted moan. Muffled snores began to fill the remnants of the building once the sunflower stopped its whistling melody.

"Raikou!" I exclaimed in alarm. "What's wrong? What did you do?!"

The man held up a hand to tell me I should stay where I was instead of rushing out to my Pokémon like I'd been subconsciously preparing to do. "It's alright. It is merely asleep. I'm going to guess you haven't come across any status conditions before?"

"You can do that in a battle?" I asked in alarm.

"Why of course," commented the man while spreading his arms as though inviting someone to hug him. I didn't feel very welcomed. "Status conditions such as Poison, Confusion and Burning are as much an intricate part of battling as attacks which cause damage. Tell me, young trainer, what shall you do now?"

A/N: I've noticed that as Chris has started to gain experience and grow and learn, his storytelling has started growing and evolving as well. In this case almost literally as he's the one writing his story in his journal the same way a player might "save" their game. He started out with almost no knowledge of which to pull experience from and now he has friends to help him with that.

In some ways, Chris's story will mirror the original Black and White Pokemon games. I have full intentions for him to travel to the cities much the same way the original player first did. What he discovers once he gets to these places ... now that's what you'll have to wait for me to reveal.

Also, I'm pretty sure we all know who he's currently fighting here. Backstory shall be given in the next chapter.