"W-What?" I said dazed for a second.
"Get out of the freaking way," Skyler annunciated in broken English (treating me like a baby… arrgh…).
"Excuse me, but who do you think you are, barging in on us like this and demanding things?" Purgy said with annoyance.
"I don't owe you an explanation," Skyler said, pulling out two Pokéballs, "Either move it or lose it."
I blinked in surprise at first, but then had a steadfast and stern look on my face as I said, "No."
"Fine, your loss," Skyler said, as he began to cock his arm up.
"W-Wait, stop!" Molly begged.
But by the time she said that, Skyler had thrown the Pokéballs at high speeds straight at us. The intended targets were Buizel and Poochyena; we all knew that. But, I relaxed greatly, for I knew it wouldn't work. As the balls got closer, Poochyena flicked one of them to the side with his nose, as Buizel smacked the other one away with his right paw. Skyler glared when the balls fell to the sides.
"It didn't work?" he said out loud.
"Of course not," Lyr said, pointing to me, "You're too late. Thomas captured them about over a week ago."
"So, you lose!" Tucker said, as he stuck his tongue out and taunted him with his hands.
Skyler smirked and said, "Oh, really? I guess that leads only one option."
With that, he twirled a bit and pulled out a Timer ball and Repeat ball, which made Tucker's jaw drop and cease him to taunt anymore. The boy then threw the balls up, and soon after, they opened and showed the forms of Pokémon that Molly knew right off the bat.
"A Gardevoir and an Umbreon…" she stated, "Pretty powerful Pokémon…"
"If I can't have them, I wanna battle them," Skyler said, looking at me, "I challenge you right here and right now."
"What!?" Jocinda said, trying to stop it, "No way! Thomas just went through som-"
"No, it's okay…" I said, smirking as I stood up.
"Thomas…" Lyr muttered, amazed as well as everyone else.
I faced Skyler with a smirk, as he smiled evilly. He was psyched for this battle, I could tell. However, I had my own plan. Now, for those of you reading, don't think I'm gonna hate on him, belittle him, or do something nasty. My plan was to ask a question to confirm a suspicion of mine.
"Sure… I'll battle ya… on one condition," I said, making Skyler raise an eyebrow, "I get to ask you a question."
"Okay, shoot," Skyler said, telling me to ask away.
"This morning, a bunch of people who worked with Mr. Pepperridge chased me through the city," I explained and then asked, "I could have sworn one of them was you. Tell me the truth. Was it?"
I mean, sure, those stories about him from Tucker were now a bit believable, especially since he just tried to capture Buizel and Poochyena without pause or hesitation. However, he seemed to be a better person than the honor-fallen Mr. Pepperridge. I watched Skyler's face turned to unimpressed changes. He looked at me and shook his head.
"I have no interest in that fool Mr. Pepperridge's games and hatred cycles," he said, "He thinks just because he has Pokémon, it makes him better and more valuable than others. It doesn't earn you respect that you have Pokémon and claim to be the best; you have to prove it."
"Prove it?" I asked.
"When you capture a Pokémon, it's a stepping stone that helps you become greater. The more you train it, they farther it takes you to achieving respect and power," he said, talking in a serious tone.
A stepping stone? Like… to step on the Pokémon's dreams and life to get your own…? No way! That's totally not right! How could he even say that? That was it; this kid was worse than Mr. Pepperridge; he may have been the most vile man I've met, but at least he cared for Pokémon and treated them like beings.
"What are you saying?" Lyr said, obviously insulted by the past statement, "Pokémon aren't things like tools or things you throw away! They're living beings like us, who have dreams, feelings, and lives!"
"You have your philosophy and I have mine," Skyler said with a nod, "I respect yours, so do the same to me. So, are we battling or not?"
"Just cause you ask for it to be respected, doesn't make it right…" Jocinda muttered in a mother-muttering-about-a-child kind of way.
"Anyways," I said, "I'll battle you. Buizel, Poochyena, you ready?"
The two stood happily and saluted me again. Man, that never will grow old. They are SO CUTE! Man, you would fall prey to their cuteness too, if you had them with you. It's like, although we were a team, they treated me as the leader. I smiled and got ready to jump into a battle.
"All right, let me be the ref," Kaname said and walked to the middle of the alcove.
With that, both sides walked backwards and then stopped, showing a gap between us. Now, I am a lover of strategic fighting. I mean, don't get me wrong; I do agree that power is necessary to win battles, but brain over brawn; come on, sometimes outwitting your opponent is the best strategy. If you can control their body and the tide of the match, you win.
So, because of that, I measured the distance between us once we stopped moving. It was thirty feet between us. Enough length to start the match, with the width between us from the grass to the beach. I thought about the advantages; it may be tricky for them to be on the sand, but because we were near the ocean, Buizel had the advantage. Plus, seeing Poochyena run around on it before so easily, I knew this would be okay. Buizel and Poochyena got psyched and ready to do it, as our opponents did the same.
"All right, if you are both ready…" Kaname said, "Begin!"
"All right, show me what you got!" Skyler ordered, as his Pokémon charged at us.
"Okay, here we come," I yelled and pointed at him, as Buizel and Poochyena charged at them as well.
I observed them running to each other and closing the gap between them. Watching their footwork, I noticed they had gotten to twenty-five feet. I decided to launch the first attack.
"Buizel, use Aqua Jet on Gardevoir!" I yelled.
"Bui bui!" Buizel said back, as he started to have water form in front of him.
"Gardevoir, use Psychic on Buizel!" Skyler ordered.
Oh, shoot. Psychic is an attack that picks Pokémon up and can be used from long distances. Crap. Well, it was the beginning of the match; I guess it was okay to afford a mistake. I watched as Gardevoir started to slowly glow more and more. Buizel kept running at her. He was now closing the gap at seventeen feet… sixteen feet…. ! ONE INCH!?
In little more than a second… no, not even a millisecond, Buizel had somehow traveled from sixteen feet to one inch in front of Gardevoir. She became startled that she lost her focus, upon seeing him so close, so fast. Buizel then did as I said and used Aqua Jet. It smashed into her, sending her skidding across the sand.
Everyone was amazed at it, for all they gave out was gasps. Skyler did a double take as I thought about it. There's no way Buizel could've been that fast. Just how fast was my Buizel? I watched him land on the ground and smirk at them. I smiled and became proud.
Just then, Skyler decided to focus his attention for Umbreon, while Gardevoir struggled to get up.
"Umbreon, use Slash on Poochyena!" he ordered.
With that, Umbreon charged at Poochyena. He got his right front paw ready for an attack.
"Poochyena, get ready to dodge and use Shadow Ball!" I yelled.
"Chy!" Poochyena responded as he braced himself to dodge.
Umbreon looked menacing and approached faster. With a lunge, Umbreon swiped at him. Dang, those were sharp. I hope Poochyena wouldn't get too hurt by it if it hit. Just then, Poochyena grinned and suddenly… appeared from behind him! Everyone but Buizel did a double take again, as Umbreon widened his eyes to see his target was out of sight.
With Umbreon still in mid-air, Poochyena opened his mouth and started to form a dark purple ball of Ghost-type energy. After a few seconds, he unleashed the Shadow Ball on his target. Umbreon would've been able to doge it, if it weren't for the fact he was in mid-air. With that, the ball smashed into Umbreon, sending him skidding through the sand next to Gardevoir.
I was amazed; How did Poochyena do that? He didn't know teleport, and he certainly wasn't a Psychic-type. How could these two be so good? They were fast and powerful, in fact more than the time they took on Shinja and Shield. They both smirked and ran to each other. With that, they stood side-by-side and looked back at me.
"Bui Bu Bu!" Buizel said confidently to me and flexed his left arm muscle.
I blinked as I heard what he wanted.
"You… guys want me to sit this out?" I asked.
"Poochy!" Poochyena barked happily.
Everyone, especially Skyler, was amazed at that. Usually, the Pokémon needs the trainer to give them orders, or they become confused, especially if it's a tag or triple battle. But, something told me… something very clear, told me to let them have a chance.
"All right, guys," I said grinning, "I'll let you have fun! Go wild!"
-