Chapter 14: The Battle Right Before Semi-Finals—Skylark vs. Rick!
"Shall I repeat the rules, or is everyone good?" The announcer, once again the portly man, asked Skylark.
"No, I understand completely." Skylark replied.
"You?" The announcer, motioning to Rick, asked.
"No." Rick uttered. Rick was about 15, six feet tall and wore blue jeans with a green jacket. On his head he wore a hat, styled like a Pokéball.
"Alright then!" The announcer said. The crowd roared back into life, and soon Skylark was back at it. Surprisingly, the last battle before this one ended quickly, with some mysterious Pokémon knocking out someone's Pidgey in an instant.
"Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip!" Skylark commanded, and soon Bulbasaur sprung forward and began to whip at the Poochyena. Poochyena wasn't fast enough, and was hit with a multitude of whips. When the attack ended, however, Poochyena was able to get the upper hand due to Bulbasaur being so close.
"Bite." Rick said. Poochyena didn't even give a moment of hesitation as he jumped forward, biting the whips that Bulbasaur had yet to put away. Bulbasaur freaked out, shaking around and retracting the whips, still in Poochyena's jaws.
"Tackle, Bulbasaur!" Bulbasaur nodded to Skylark's command. As Poochyena was dragged to Bulbasaur, she jumped forward, straight into Poochyena's body. He let go of the whips as he flew forward, landing on the ground some feet away.
"Tackle." Rick calmly said. Like a flash, Poochyena was off, tackling Bulbasaur straight in her side as she tried to dodge.
"How did Poochyena move that fast?!" Skylark shouted in his mind. "No matter…Bulbasaur, Bullet Seed!" Bulbasaur, recovering from the hit, turned to the dog and opened up her bulb, shooting dozens of small seeds at him.
"Dodge." Poochyena dodged most of them, but about five seeds smashed into him, taking one HP for every bullet. "Bite." Poochyena ran forward the Bulbasaur, who tried to dodge. But the strong jaws of Poochyena bit straight into her right arm, causing her to roll around in pain for a minute. Even though the fight had just started, Bulbasaur had taken some heavy damage. Poochyena had also taken some damage as well.
"Leech Seed!" Skylark said to Bulbasaur, who quickly shot seeds into Poochyena's side (I know that's not how it happens in the game or anime, but I'd like to think that in order to leech the person's life it'd connect to them, you know?).
"What a stupid move. Poochyena, tackle." Rick uttered, and immediately Poochyena shot off to go attack Bulbasaur.
"Quick! Use Vine Whip!" Bulbasaur shot off her whips, slapping Poochyena multiple times and stopping his tackle. Rick grunted and his face scowled, but he remained calm. Poochyena was ready to attack again, but soon the leech seed sucked life from him.
"Poochyena, Bite its head off!" Rick grew incredibly frustrated and barked out this command. Poochyena stumbled around for a bit, because of the sudden loss of HP, and couldn't attack. Its stamina had faded, and he was trying to make it come back. But it couldn't move.
"Poochyena has flinched, Bulbasaur may make its move." The announcer spoke into the microphone.
"Alright then! Bulbasaur, let's finish him off! Give your strongest Tackle!" Bulbasaur was off, running and gaining momentum as she approached Poochyena. Poochyena watched in horror as Bulbasaur jumped straight into Poochyena, giving a critical hit. Poochyena fainted, and Skylark won the battle.
Rick called back Poochyena and walked off the stage, his anger burning inside of him like a wild fire. Skylark, however, was happy and took the win. He was going to make it to the Semi-Finals! However, something bugged him.
Celia had won all of her battles too. As Skylark made his way back into the rec room, Celia and her enemy went out. If she won, she'd make it to the semi-finals too. If they both won the semi-finals…they'd face each other at the Finals.
Skylark cringed at the thought of this. "How can I possibly face Celia? I can barely think about anything but her." He said quietly to himself. He sat down on the bench, slowly worrying. Bulbasaur had gone to heal, Celia was out in battle, and all he could do was think. "How will I win against her?"
Sorry for the short chapter, but that's just how the plan ended up working out. Next week will be better.