Chapter 15: Semi-Finals—the Winner Faces Her
"Celia wins!" The announcer shouted over the microphone. The crowd roared as Celia's Cyndaquil defeated the enemy's Zigzagoon. "She'll be going to the Final Round, coming up right after the next battle. The next battle is Skylark and Michael!"
Celia wandered off the stage, passing Michael as she walked by. Michael congratulated her, but she pulled him aside quickly. "Whoa," Michael began. "What are you doing?"
"Listen, Michael." Celia said. "You have to win this fight."
"Of course I do, I want to go to Kanto!"
"No, Michael, I mean you HAVE to win this fight." Celia looked around to make sure they were alone and then leaned in to whisper into his ear.
"That's why I have to win? Because Sk-" She quickly punched him in the stomach and he keeled over for a second.
"Shut up! He's coming!" Michael stood up straight, acting like nothing happened, and then Celia turned and walked away. Skylark came out from behind a corner. Bulbasaur following, and saw Celia.
"Ah! Celia! Nice job on winning!" Skylark said. Celia smiled, and that's all Skylark needed. He kept on walking, following behind Michael as they both made their way onto the gym floor. The announcer did his usual things, and finally allowed the battle to begin. Michael sent out his Pikachu and Skylark sent out Bulbasaur.
The battle was nothing out of the ordinary. Bulbasaur shot a few bullets and whips, and Pikachu counter-reacted with a few bolts of lightning and quick attacks. The battle lasted for a few minutes, but the crowd's attention faded away near the beginning of the match. Battle after battle, they longed for the Final Battle to decide who would go to Kanto.
While the battle drew out on the court, Celia sat inside the rec room, nearly alone now. She and Skylark had nearly beaten everyone, leaving her isolated inside the once populated room. She breathed heavily as she sat, bent over, consumed in her thoughts. "Please…Michael…don't let him win." Celia sighed. "We can't possibly fight. Even if he's in love with me…" She began to tear up.
Meanwhile, Skylark was finishing up the fight. Bulbasaur took very little damage from Pikachu's electric attacks (Grass takes half the damage from electricity, while electric pokemon take regular damage from Grass) and she could easily dodge all of the quick attacks. However, Pikachu was struggling. All the bullet seeds and vine whips had left Pikachu in a heavily damaged state.
The final move was set into play. "Finish him off with your Tackle, Bulbasaur!" Skylark shouted in command. Bulbasaur nodded and hopped into action. Michael and Pikachu watched with horror as the quick Bulbasaur picked up such momentum that a direct hit would cause barely any inertia to her speed.
Michael lost the bottle, and in his mind he was upset. First because he was lost, but second because of what Celia said. He failed her. Meanwhile, Skylark ran onto the field and grabbed Bulbasaur as the crowd hollered and shouted for the finalist. "Skylark! Skylark!" The crowd shouted. Skylark was nearly in tears of how happy he was. It hadn't clicked to him, though, that the only one left was her.
Celia.
Skylark made his way off of the arena. Finally, they got a 10 minute break from battling to work out their plans and to rest. Skylark had barely rested all night. As he walked in, he took Bulbasaur to the healing station and then made his way to the resting area of the rec room. There, Celia waited. "Ah! Celia!" Skylark shouted, and she slowly turned around and gave a half-hearted smile. "Did you see me win that battle?"
"Yeah, I sure did. Good job." She uttered. "I'm surprised you made it this far."
"Me too! If it wasn't for Bulbasaur, I wouldn't be here." Skylark smiled and sat down next to Celia, who scooted away a little bit.
"Skylark, we need to talk."
"About?"
"Well, us, the finals, all that." Celia took a deep breath. "We're both going to compete against each other." Skylark took a deep breath too. "Don't let our...whatever you call this thing we have…affect the battle. I'm not going to hold back, and you shouldn't hold back either. I'm going to win this, and you know it. But still try."
Skylark grew irritated. His love basically told him she was going to beat him. "Who says you're going to win? My Bulbasaur is ten times stronger than your Cyndaquil!"
"Still, I've been training longer. Therefore, I'm going to win."
"That's not how it works!" Skylark was getting feisty now.
"Skylark, listen. Just don't hold back in your battle, please?" Celia looked down for a moment, hesitant to say something. She was tempted to open up to him about something, but she shook off the thought of it and kept it to herself. "Understand? I'll see you soon." She walked away, going to get her Cyndaquil from the healing area. Skylark was left standing there.
"Something's not right…" He thought. "She's…off."