Chapter 23: Two Rivals, One Winner- Skylark and Celia Finally Duel
"Well, without further ado…Let the battle begin!" The announcer shouted. Celia shouted first, in almost a desperate voice.
"Cyndaquil! Ember!" Cyndaquil nodded as he turned his back and shot out hundreds of embers at Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur didn't move, waiting for the command of her trainer. Skylark remained silent, his anger too great. Bulbasaur still dodged the embers, but was slightly upset that Skylark didn't say anything.
"This isn't the time to show her my new move yet. The battle is too young." Skylark thought. "Bulbasaur. Leech Seed." Bulbasaur nodded and shot seeds onto Cyndaquil, latching on like leeches, preparing to slowly suck the life out of Cyndaquil.
"Ember!" Celia shouted once more. Cyndaquil shot more embers out at Bulbasaur, who dodged most of it but was hit with a few embers, losing a few HP. Skylark could now hold it back no longer. His hatred grew bigger than his ambition, his heart now scorched black with a hellish anger.
"Bulbasaur, Take Down." Bulbasaur looked back, saw Skylark's strict face, and nodded. She ran forward, faster than she ever had with Tackle, and smashed straight into Cyndaquil's body. Cyndaquil's eyes went white, wide with pain, and he was through across the court and almost out of bounds (If you've ever seen the anime, you know that the gym courts have boundary lines. Here, in the tournament, if you fall out of the line the pokemon used is no longer eligible. So here, out of bounds means losing). The move Take Down is the move Bulbasaur learns on level 15, which she reached when she beat Dillon's Caterpie. It has 90 power, but it has 25% recoil.
As Cyndaquil began to land on the ground, Bulbasaur's face writhed with some pain as she tried to grab for her head. The hit hurt Bulbasaur, no doubt. But the force put on Cyndaquil was much more. Cyndaquil reluctantly stood up, struggling to recover from such a hit. "Cyndaquil! Use your ember!" Celia shouted, in shock that Bulbasaur now had such a powerful move. It's nearly twice as strong and fast as her already strong tackle.
Cyndaquil sat for a moment, in a daze. The announcer started to count down before shouting a flinch. Flinching in the tournament was a ten second delay of the Pokémon in question after receiving a command. The announcer got down to two before Cyndaquil started to move to attack. Its back flared up with wild embers and flames, preparing to attack Bulbasaur.
Bulbasaur anticipated the move, but the pain of the hit was still messing with her mind. Bulbasaur didn't dodge the attack; Cyndaquil shot the fiery red embers straight into Bulbasaur's face, causing mass pain and HP loss. Bulbasaur rolled over, extinguishing the flames on her body, and panted heavily. The hit was hard.
However, the leech seeds started to suck the life out of Cyndaquil and give it to Bulbasaur. It wasn't much, but the energy was very helpful to Bulbasaur. Cyndaquil felt the loss of energy and quivered, but he still fought. "Bulbasaur, Vine Whip." Bulbasaur nodded as she ran forward to the already weak Cyndaquil in front of her and whipped wildly. The hits, while grass, still hurt slightly.
"Cyndaquil, don't show weakness!" Celia said desperately. Skylark smiled as he saw how desperate Celia was becoming, noticing that she was worrying about Bulbasaur's power. "Smokescreen!" Cyndaquil immediately jumped forward and shot small balls of smoke out of his mouth. The arena was filled with smoke.
"Bulbasaur, spray your bullets with Bullet Seed." Bulbasaur heard the uncompassionate voice once more as she bent forward, shooting her bullets around the arena. The first three bursts missed completely, but the fourth one smashed straight into Cyndaquil, delivering a harsh blow. But, because it was grass, it only did half the normal damage.
Cyndaquil was hit with the burst and thrown out of the smoke, being placed at Celia's feet. Celia noticed the awful wounds and bruises he had, and she nearly cried. "Skylark…calm down…I'm sorry I did this to you but our Pokémon shouldn't suffer either!" She thought to herself. "Skylark, let's end this! Cyndaquil, make your strongest embers!" Cyndaquil stood up, his back flaming with wild embers. He nodded and ran off, his speed picking up greatly.
"Yeah, you wish it was over!" Skylark angrily growled. "Bulbasaur! Put everything you have into your Take Down!" Bulbasaur reluctantly stood up as she boosted off to go Take Down Cyndaquil. They both ran into the smoke, but they both completely missed each other. Bulbasaur ran out onto Celia's side, tripping and falling on the ground, taking a few HP off for the crash. Cyndaquil still shot embers, but they missed Bulbasaur completely. They instead absorbed the charcoal-ish smoke in the air and took away all the smoke.
Skylark and Celia frowned, upset that their strongest attacks missed completely. Celia sadly looked down, but she was still desperate. "Let's go Cyndaquil! Quick Attack!" Cyndaquil turned around and swiftly sped off, smashing into Bulbasaur's side, knocking it over and rolling her around some. Again, Cyndaquil lost more energy from the Leech Seeds, and Bulbasaur luckily gained more power.
"Bulbasaur, destroy her. Take Down!" Bulbasaur, with her weak body and somewhat hurt heart from Skylark's cruel battle strategy, lightly ran forward and smashed into Cyndaquil. Cyndaquil was thrown over into the corner, his body now crumbling from all the pain. Bulbasaur, likewise, fell down and clawed at her head, taking damage from the recoil.
"Cyndaquil, end it for good! Please! Ember!" Celia shouted frantically, her voice cracking. She had gone so far, followed her dream wholeheartedly, and trained so hard. And now, because she lured Skylark into her trap and he found out, all of it was for nothing. But she still screamed, hopelessly, trying to see if maybe she could still make it out on top. Even with that worry, she was worried about the pain both Bulbasaur and Cyndaquil were enduring.
Cyndaquil, noticing his trainer's desperation, began to burn bright, hot embers. He ran forward, bent down and shot the hundreds of embers at Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur was panting heavily as her body slowly reached its limit.
"Bulbasaur, Take Down again! We won't let her win!" Skylark shouted. This time, however, Bulbasaur didn't respond. Skylark's voice was no longer compassionate and happy as it had been the previous battles. It was now filled with hatred and anger and Bulbasaur thought it was aimed at her. She refused to fight, especially with a move that brought so much pain unto her.
"Bulbasaur has flinched!" The announcer shouted.
"Bulbasaur!" Skylark thought with anger. But, surprisingly, as the embers flew at Bulbasaur, Cyndaquil fainted. The leech seeds, to Skylark's luck, finally sucked the remaining HP from Cyndaquil. The embers, once controlled by Cyndaquil, burned out and were disintegrated before they hit Bulbasaur. Skylark was amazed. Celia, however, was crushed. Skylark knew her ambition outnumbered anything else in her life, and now he has destroyed it.
Skylark suddenly lost his heart of hate toward her…but now he hated himself. His hatred toward everything suddenly turned on him. His awful battle strategy suddenly hit him. He realized how awful he had been to Bulbasaur, and he also realized how much he had just hurt Celia. Even though she left him in Hell, Skylark now felt guilty for dragging her in there too.
Skylark would advance into tomorrow's final round, but Celia would be leaving for home that night. Skylark took Bulbasaur to the healing center, feeling awful about how much he pushed her. He waited for her to come back out of the center, where he gave her some food and hugged her tightly. He apologized as he slowly began to cry. Bulbasaur, however, took her whips out and hugged Skylark back, letting him know everything was okay. Skylark continued to cry and hold Bulbasaur for a few mintues, but soon contained himself. Bulbasaur then walked back into the healing center to receive some more food that the center gives for free.
Now, it was time to talk to Celia. She was in the rec room, crying. Dillon wasn't there, for some odd reason, and she was left alone. Skylark walked in and stood at the back of the room. She looked back, her tears rolling down her face. She looked down, and then turned her back. "Did you come to rub it in…" She sniffed.
"No…" Skylark responded lighted. He walked forward and sat next to her. "I came to…apologize, I guess."
"You guess? You, of all people, who didn't have a lick of training with any form of Pokémon, managed to beat me. I've been training for years to go to Kanto. I've been trying forever to start my journey in Kanto. And here I am again, so close to winning only to lose. And to you." Celia half shouted. "You didn't even have a Pokémon until like October! There's no way it could have gotten that strong that fast!"
"I've just been training a lot. Against other Pokémon…" Skylark said, thinking back to his events with the Underground Championship and with Tony. He remembered how happy he felt after he managed to live and was claimed a hero in Slateport. He envied those times. "I wanted to beat you so bad, but in the process I hurt those closest to me…you and Bulbasaur." Celia wiped away her tears, but some came strolling on down again.
"It just isn't fair! My worst rival in my life beats me. I even had a type advantage, yet I lost!" She shouted, angrily. "I wanted to go to Kanto, but the only way I can go is if my dad sees that I can handle myself, and he said that the only I can go is if I beat this championship. I was so close! But I lost to you!" She cried some more. Skylark sat there, silently.
"Now you know how it's felt the past 14 years of my life." Skylark uttered. Celia wiped her tears, and stared at Skylark. "Everyone had a Pokémon, battling with each other and playing with each other. And every day, Celia, you bragged about winning and how awesome Cyndaquil was. You added so much more pain to my already painful life." Celia was quiet. "You won every match and bragged about it to me. Every day." Celia stopped crying. They sat for a moment in silence before she finally started to speak once more.
"Was…" She began to talk. "Was I really that bad…?" She looked down, almost ashamed.
"Yes…" Skylark replied. She turned, stood up (pulling Skylark up too) and for the first time in their entire relationship, she hugged him. Not the fake hug like from earlier at home. She meant it this time. Skylark's heart began to race; his mind boggled.
"I'm so sorry." These words moved the entire conversation. Both felt awful about what they did. Finally, it seemed, they could forgive each other. Skylark could forgive her for what she did to him, and she could forgive Skylark for delaying her dream again. They embraced in a forgiving hug for a few minutes, but then Celia stepped backward. "Skylark, I know you're going to win tomorrow. And when you win, I have no doubt in my mind that you'll go on to Kanto, right?"
"Yeah, that was the plan, assuming Bulbasaur will come with me." Skylark said, secretly alluding to Bulbasaur's lack of official capture.
"Well, I want you to take something." She reached down to her wrist, where a green survival bracelet was. "I bought it my first visit to this tournament two years ago. I wanted it as a memento to remind me of my tournament days, and when I become older I wanted to use it as a memento of my trainer days. I was bent on going this year. But, I guess I won't make it again. So… I want you to wear this bracelet so it can go on the journey I can't go on." She handed the bracelet to Skylark, who put it on his left wrist. "But hey, when I win next year and I track you down, I want it back!"
Skylark looked at the bracelet. Finally, it seemed, the rivalry was over. His love was at peace, and he was at peace as well. That green bracelet…that's what symbolized it all. All was forgiven. Skylark left her there, feeling renewed and refreshed. His burden of love and hate—it was all gone. He took Bulbasaur and went out to dinner with Grace and his mom.
With a new piece of mind, Skylark could focus solely on caring for Bulbasaur and for the next day's match. It now all came down to this: Tomorrow, he would face one more man. That man stood in his way from his dreams. He had to win, otherwise it would all be worthless; he would disappoint Celia, Grace, himself, and the entire town of Slateport. He had one chance to carry it out. He intended to make the best of it. Tomorrow…tomorrow is the day Skylark sets out to carry out his dream.
To be continued…