Riley.
The Next Morning.
"Dude, I dunno what you did to piss of that curly-haired kid, but he's ready to beat you senseless with his own hands."
"Thanks, Lee."
The way Flint was glaring at me from across the battlefield, I knew exactly what Lee meant. What I didn't know was what the hell I did.
That day, I decided to start the battle with Aron, because Flint was going to begin with Chimchar for sure. Lee stuck, predictably, with Shift. Flint's partner, whatever his name was, had a Kricketune.
But, when Flint sent out his pokemon, I didn't recognize it.
"Monferno, get ready to fight!"
He sent out a bigger, more monkey-looking pokemon with a long tail. There was a tall fire burning on its tail.
I pulled my Pokedex out.
"What...what is that?" I wondered.
My Pokedex powered on. "Monferno, the Playful pokemon, and the evolved form of Chimchar. Monferno has sometimes been known to use its tail's fire to make itself look bigger and intimidate foes."
So, Flint had evolved Chimchar...and, against a fire/fighting type, I was using a steel/rock type. Fricking perfect. Aron was going to get murdered.
"And..." Marian waited a second. "Begin!"
"Riley, Shift'll handle Kricketune!" Lee told me. "Shift, use Crunch on Kricketune!"
"Monferno, use Mach Punch on Aron!" Flint ordered. Not a second's hesitation.
Monferno dashed over and smashed Aron with his fist in mere seconds. Not a bit of reaction time for Aron.
"Ar!" Aron howled in pain. I saw a small dent in his metal armor.
"Now use Flame Wheel!" Flint continued. "Burn it, baby!"
I wouldn't let this asshole burn anything. As Monferno opened his mouth and coated himself in flames, I growled, "Aron, Rock Tomb!"
"Aron!" Aron planted his front feet firmly on the ground, and faintly glowed a brown color. "Arrrrrr..." As Monferno tried to crash himself into Aron, Aron summoned huge chunks of rocks, and slammed them into Monferno, stopping him in his tracks. Monferno tried to claw his way out, and climbed on top of the rocks.
"Stone Edge!" I ordered.
"Protect yourself, Monferno!" Flint was relentless.
Small chunks of the battlefield rose up around Aron, and circled slowly around him. "Aron!" As he sent all the chunks flying at Monferno, Monferno summoned a green forcefield to deflect them. One passed close enough to brush my bangs, and I flinched.
No matter what, I could see Aron wouldn't be very effective as long as I was battling Flint. I had to return him.
"Riley, what're you doing?" Lee demanded. "We only get one switch-out, and Shift is gettin-!"
"Riolu, I choose you!" I sent out Riolu, choosing to ignore Lee for the time being.
Lee swore under his breath, and went back to decimating Flint's partner. Kricketune was already defeated; now he had out a Munchlax.
"Riolu, use Force Palm!" I ordered. "Show Monferno that he's not the fastest around!"
"Flame Wheel, again!" Flint balled his hands into fists.
Riolu held his paws out in front of him, similar to how Astro would. "Hyahh!" He charged for a second as Monferno cloaked himself in fire again, then let loose the attack.
Monferno didn't hesitate. It barely fazed him at all; he just barreled right on through, tackling his burning body into Riolu and to the ground.
"Rock Smash!" Flint ordered. He intended to barrage Riolu until we went down.
"Christ!" Lee cried out. "Shift, get in there and help out Riolu!"
Shift had taken down Munchlax singlehandedly, it seemed. But she didn't look so good. There was no way Monferno could take down Lee's prized Umbreon...
Monferno pinned Riolu to the ground with his foot, a fist glowing faint green. He raised it up, about to punch the hell out of Riolu. Riolu couldn't move.
I could feel how scared Riolu was. I could feel his fear. It was...crippling. Suffocating, even. I could barely breathe as Monferno brought his glowing fist down on my Riolu.
"SHIFT, GET MONFERNO OFF OF RIOLU!" Lee screamed it out, his voice shrill and harsh. He was sweating bullets. "Tackle it!"
Shift tackled Monferno to the ground, rescuing Riolu with Monferno not two centimeters from smashing his face in. Monferno switched his attack to Shift, flailing around and punching her instead.
She's a dark type, I thought in awe. This is what Lee meant. He was trying to tell me he needed to switch her out to protect her. Monferno will destroy her.
Monferno landed one final blow, with enough force to send Shift flying into the air. She landed behind us, fully unconcious.
"Shift!" Lee's voice cracked. He ran to go see to her.
It was my fault. I should have had Riolu help her, but instead I did nothing.
"Riolu, get up!" I snarled. "We can still win this! Use Quick Attack!"
"Flamethrower, Monferno!" Flint ordered. "Take 'em both down!"
Monferno opened his mouth and breathed out a thick stream of fire. Riolu jumped to the side, narrowly escaping the attack. I nearly got hit, myself.
"Hit him with everything you've got, Riolu!" I cried out. "For Shift!"
Riolu made contact, slamming himself into the fire-type. He slapped Monferno with his tail, then turned back around and punched him a few times. Riolu kept up this barrage, dodging anything Monferno tried to counter with.
Then, a bruised and beaten Monferno punched Riolu hard, forcing him away.
"Hyahh!" Riolu cried. He skidded backwards, then fell on the ground. Monferno collapsed, too, at the same time.
Marian gasped. "It's a double knockout!" She announced. "Riley still has his Aron in fighting condition, so the winner going on to the finals is Team Lee and Riley!"
I barely heard her. Lee returned Shift to her pokeball, and then stomped off to the waiting room with a disgusted look on his face.
"Lee, wait!" I returned Riolu to his pokeball. "Lee! I'm sorry!"
In the Waiting Room.
"Lee!" I was still chasing him when he was getting ready to leave, not thirty seconds later.
He turned to me, black eyes full of contempt. I'll never forget how angry he was.
"I told you to leave Aron in," Lee growled at me. "He would have been fine with that steel armor. Shift was still exhausted from yesterday, you ass! I only let her battle because she begged to! I told you, I needed that goddamn switch-in!"
His hands were shaking. I could practically reach out and feel how pissed he was with my hand. Was this how I got when I was angry?
"Lee, I'm so sorry," I apologized. "It's my fault Shift got hurt. I was so focused on beating Flint, I-"
"Don't even talk to me. I'm going to the Pokemon Center." Lee hefted his black Adidas bag over his shoulder, walking out.
The entire room had been staring at us, watching. I felt so...ashamed. I'd gotten Flint mad and didn't know how I did it, and I made Lee royally pissed by not listening to what he wanted me to do.
Amber put her hand on my shoulder. "Riles-"
"I'm going to (expletive deleted) murder Flint."
[[I asked you to keep it cool with the swearing.]]
Look, kid, just edit it out when you're transcribing the recording. I'm telling it how I remember.