Chapter 22: Thursday's Match—Celia's Betrayal?

Today was Friday. Skylark walked out onto the court, Bulbasaur following right behind him. In front of him stood none other than her—Celia Robin. She stood on the other end of the court. In Skylark's eyes, hate flared. His heart was a consuming black hole, sucking in all emotions that weren't hatred. Ever since yesterday, Skylark had been through hell and back—multiple times. And now he would do the same to her.

Earlier, on Thursday…

"Ladies and gentlemen! Are you ready to see our two stars compete for tomorrow's semi-finals?" The announcer, this time a young skinny man, shouted. The crowd roared wildly. "This time, we have trainer Dillon fighting Skylark. Dillon is fighting today with his Caterpie, which has made it all the way from the Johto Region. Skylark is fighting from the Hoenn region! Are we ready to start?"

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be." Dillon said. Dillon wore shorts, a dark black shirt and had blonde hair. He was a rather handsome teenager, roughly Skylark's age.

"Me too." Skylark said. Bulbasaur ran out in front of him, prepared to fight her enemy. Caterpie, while a bug-type, normally doesn't know any bug attack that could harm Skylark. He was confident.

"Then, without further ado, let the game begin!" The announcer shouted, along with the wild crowd.

"Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip!" Bulbasaur ran forward, vines escaping from her bulb. She whipped violently at the Caterpie, only knocking it backward a little bit.

"Caterpie, Bug Bite!" Dillon shouted. Caterpie jumped forward at the unsuspecting Bulbasaur and bit her leg. Being a bug type move, it was super effective.

"Whoa, it knows bug moves?" Skylark said, worried.

"Yeah, level 15 Caterpie!" Dillon bragged. Skylark was anxious, afraid that this may be the match he will lose to.

"Tackle, Bulbasaur!" Skylark shouted in retaliation as Bulbasaur smashed into the little bug. It was a critical hit. But, Caterpie was still left with a lot of HP.

"Let's go with a String Shot, Caterpie!" Dillon commanded. Caterpie commenced to shoot its stringy webs at Bulbasaur, covering most of her body. It weighed her down, slowing her speed.

"Hey Bulbasaur, you're alright! Let's try going with a Bullet Seed!" Bulbasaur jumped forward and began to shoot sprays of bullets at Caterpie, knocking it backward with three bursts in all. Caterpie was weakening, but it was still preparing for the attack.

"One more Bug Bite, Caterpie!" Caterpie ran forward and lunged at Bulbasaur, biting her feet. Bulbasaur shouted in pain, but was still going. Her HP is more than half gone though.

"Bulbasaur! Tackle!" Bulbasaur shrug off the pain temporarily and slammed into the unsuspecting Caterpie. Caterpie flew backward, landing on the ground some feet away.

"Caterpie, let's hurry up and finish this round! Another Bug Bite!" Caterpie nodded and jumped forward once more, preparing for a final blow. Skylark analyzed the situation quickly, and knew which move he should do next.

"Bullet Seed!" Bulbasaur opened her bulb once more and shot a barrage of bullets from her back, smacking into the tackling Caterpie. Caterpie was hit with the first burst and was thrown backward, but then started to come back again. This time, the second barrage flew out toward Caterpie, smacking into its body once more.

This continued three more times. The total amount of bursts was five, and each burst had gotten stronger each time it hit. This was enough to finally knock Caterpie out, winning the battle for Skylark. The crowd cheered for Skylark as Dillon grabbed his Caterpie and ran off the court. Skylark was once more relieved.

After winning, he took Bulbasaur in and began taking her to the healing center, when suddenly Bulbasaur stopped moving and faced Skylark. Skylark was confused, but soon found out what was happening. Skylark's PokéDex began to beep wildly. Skylark checked it and saw that it was stating that Bulbasaur had grown to level 15. It also said that it wanted to learn a new move.

Skylark stared at the new move, contemplating if it was write to accept. It had such great power; it could possible defeat Celia and her Cyndaquil. But…

Skylark had no time to contemplate the move at the moment. He put his PokéDex up and kept walking. Bulbasaur reluctantly followed as well, and Skylark put her in the healing center. He left her there as he started to talk back to the rec room, where Celia waited for her next battle. But, he only found heartbreak in the next room.

Celia sat in the room next to Dillon. She had her arm around his neck, and one hand on his chest. "I'm so sorry I lost to that nobody, babe." Dillon said to her. Skylark stood in the back, confused by the scene.

"It's alright honey, I'll just beat him tomorrow. The idiot's too in love with me to even battle me, let alone beat me." Celia replied. They exchanged a small kiss on the lips. Skylark died. "It sucks that we barely get to see each other."

"I know babe. When I moved to Unova a year ago, it was awful. But at least we get visits and things like this, and video messaging." Dillon replied. "I'm positive you'll stomp him tomorrow." They exchanged a cuddle. Skylark's soul had left his body. He was now in Hell.

"What…" Skylark uttered. Immediately they turned around. "What…" His hands fell to his side. Celia remained silent.

"Hey bro, good game today." Dillon said. Skylark had no breath in him. "I'd been training Caterpie up for months, but I guess I just gotta train harder. Maybe if I stopped with all the constant video calling I'd get stuff done." Celia looked down.

"Skylark, I ca-"

"You can what, Celia?" Skylark shouted. "WHAT CAN YOU POSSIBLY DO."

"It was Dillon's id—"

"YOU WENT THROUGH WITH IT!" Skylark shouted. Tears began to form. He couldn't stand to be in the same room anymore. He ran. He ran by the healing center and took Bulbasaur back. Bulbasaur wasn't even healed yet. He took her back and ran to the nearest center, where there she got healed. Skylark, however, left her there for a little while. He ran off and told his mom and Grace what happened. He ran into the woods and found a quiet area. There, he cried wildly.

His pain outnumbered the stars in the sky, the sand on the beaches, and the amount of Zubat's found in caves. He stayed in his quiet area for nearly two hours as he cried and tried to find himself. Wild animals and Pokémon all around him were terrified. They fled whenever they got close. He threw rocks, punched trees, beat the ground, and sobbed. His anger was the only thing that matched his depression.

It was here that something befell him. In the wild, he saw a Pidgey and a Caterpie fighting. Naturally, he thought, the Pidgey would win due to its type advantage. However, Caterpie managed to continually attack the Pidgey until it finally gave up and flew a short distance away. Skylark watched as they fought, questioning the ethics of the battle. Finally, something hit him.

"It doesn't matter with type advantages…if you have enough force, you will definitely win, hands down." Skylark thought to himself. "Yes!" He jumped up, tears still slightly rolling down his eyes. "I know what I'll do! Celia Robin! I will give you the hell you gave me!" He shouted. He ran back to the center and picked up Bulbasaur, taking her back into the wild. There, he trained slightly for a while, experimenting with all of Bulbasaur's moves, and finally deleting one move. Then, he replaced that deleted move with the new move that Bulbasaur was trying to learn. "Such power…" He thought. "I can win! Prepare for your downfall Celia!" Skylark shouted. His mind had now left this world. His only goal: Defeat Celia.

Back to present times...

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, this is one of the two semi-final games we will see today! It all comes down between these two trainers, both from Hoenn! On the left side, we have Skylark, who has a Bulbasaur that is out of this world! On the right, we have Celia, whose Cyndaquil is bursting with power! Are we ready to battle?" The announcer said as the crowd roared wildly.

"I am…" Celia said, half with power but the other half with uncertainty.

"Yes." Skylark was the only one who was totally nonchalant.

"Well, without further ado…

Let the battle begin!"

To be continued…

Sorry for the delay. Had a lot of work, personal business, and today we just got two brand new puppies! Next chapter should be updated as normal.

Also, I have a question. I'm playing through Heart Gold at the moment, and I'm about half way through (first elite four round). I'm naming my Pokémon after One Piece characters. My Meganium is Luffy, my Scizor is Zoro, my Ampharos is Nami, my Pidgeot is Usopp, my Poliwrath is Jinbe, and my temporary Robin is Alakazam, but I intend to catch a Raltz after I beat the elite four and name her Robin and train her up to Gardevoir. For Sanji, I plan to get a Hitmonlee. For Brook, I'm gonna get a Duskull and train it up to a Dusknoir. Now, here's my issue. I can't think of a good Chopper or a good Franky. I was thinking for Franky that I would get a Magnezone, but I'm not 100 percent sure. Someone said I could get a stantler for Chopper but I want someone better. So, any suggestions? Please?