Aaaaaaand welcome! To! One of the longest Chance chapters of all time! It's almost as long as the Trainer Ball hot damn.
"This will be a six-on-six single battle between the gym leader, Volkner of Sunyshore City, and the challenger, Evelyn of Twinleaf Town," declared the referee. "Substitutions may be made at will. The battle will conclude when all pokemon on one side are unable to battle. Battlers – are you ready?"
"Yeah," said Volkner.
"Ready," I said, having paid closer attention to the rules than usual. "Substitutions at will" was unusual, and something Volkner often used to his advantage.
He'd brought out an unusual battlefield as well – essentially, a junkyard. A collection of mostly-metallic objects, ranging from kitchen appliances (clearly intended for a rotom to inhabit) to broken tables and pipes of PVC and steel and copper, all piled into towers of ranging size. Soil underneath, but an earthquake would topple heavy items onto the pokemon using such a move. The stats said that Volkner rarely used this one, but did seem to bring it out for more important battles – for gym leaders from other regions, for high-profile trainers, for a high-stakes wager – suggesting that it was his favorite. Volkner had mechanically rotated it in from below, swapping out the default concrete option. Fancy.
In the stands sat Ashley and AJ and Tejal and Kyle, Emily Wu and Sean Obi, Etana Bing, Axel Tokuyama, Omar Knight, Dawn and Lucas. Every trainer who'd helped out, and a few who'd heard of the matchup and the wager and came to see how things turned out.
No sign of the person who obviously wasn't coming. I was both let down and relieved.
"Battle– begin!"
"Def, it's yours!"
Volkner waited an impolite amount of time before saying, "Raichu, go. Dig."
"Double team!" I said out loud.
Def vanished and reappeared seven times over. Raichu dug underground.
"Psychic!"
All of the gallades' eyes glowed pink. Pieces of junk – a series of pipes, a refrigerator, a washer – flew in the direction of the hole Raichu had dug. Def flung them down the hole, stacking items until they reached ground level and then continuing to excessively add and add to the tower. It was the tallest tower amongst the piles of trash by the time Raichu popped out of the ground, swiping at a fake Def that vanished.
"Double team!"
More Def copies appeared. Volkner visibly rolled his eyes. "Odor sleuth, thunder wave."
Raichu gave a sniff and focused in on one copy of Def. "Teleport," I said to him.
Def easily evaded the staticky wave that flowed his way, as well as the next, and the next. Raichu seemed unbothered, but Volkner grew aggravated at Def's passive dodging. "Rain dance!"
Ah, he was pulling out the big guns early. "Here it comes. Stay safe out there," I said, swapping out of verbal commands.
"D'accord."
Def went ahead and made some more copies of himself, even though Raichu had solidly honed in on his scent. Gray clouds swirled overhead – while Dawn's electivire's rain dance had covered a reasonable area over just the battlefield, Volkner's raichu showed no restraint. Storm clouds brewed quickly, boiling over like a pot spilling across the stovetop and flooding the entire kitchen. Rain immediately began to batter the battlefield, the arena sidelines surrounding it, and the stands beyond that. I heard shouts and curses from my friends as they scrambled to find cover.
I pulled my hood over my head and did my best to remain focused. This was just distraction tactics. I'd been expecting this. "Put up armor if you get worried," I let Def know.
"Let's go, Def!" Coeur cheered.
"Thunder!" Volkner called out.
Raichu's cheeks sparked. He blasted more electricity into the sky than I'd ever seen from a pokemon, and the rainclouds shot lightning back. It raced through the air towards Def.
Definite did not put up psychic armor.
The lightning slammed into the copper pipe atop the tower Def had created. It traveled down through the tower, conducted by the copper threaded throughout, ending at the copper pipes underground. A successful lightning rod.
"Yeahhhhhh go Def!" Coeur cheered.
"Gingko!" said Faith.
Volkner's eyes widened, like he'd been jolted awake. "Are you ready to take this seriously?" I shouted across the field.
I heard some hoots in response from the stands, but Volkner didn't seem annoyed for once. He was staring at me like I'd just materialized out of the blue.
"Def, psychic!"
Def took hold of a standing fan and flung it at raichu, who dodged right into the broken oven Def had already positioned behind him. "Ooh, you got a lot of Calm Minds in there, huh?" I said, seeing the speed and power of Def's psychic control.
"Ce n'est pas difficile when he underestimates you and il ne fait pas attention. Are you certain it's not too soon to let down the petit entraîneur idiot act?"
"That's all right. I've got more up my sleeve."
Volkner finally wiped the water from his face. "All right, let's get this show on the road. Raichu, light screen, charge beam, iron tail."
"Rock tomb. Use the terrain."
Raichu threw a hazy pink barrier in the air – unfortunate – and shot a charge beam Def's way. It hit the lightning rod instead, but of course dealing damage wasn't the point – charging up was. As he ran towards the lightning rod, Def used psychic to hurl appliances the size and weight of boulders at him, burying him in a pile of junk.
"Dig!"
"Earthquake with care."
The pile of garbage shifted as Raichu disappeared underground; Def teleported to a spot relatively free of debris and cast a pink glow over the full battlefield.
The ground rolled and rumbled beneath us. I steadied myself; Volkner stood tall. "Raichu, iron tail!"
No one resurfaced.
"Raichu."
Nothing.
"Raichu is unable to battle!"
Our audience roared. Volkner had to send another pokemon out – his luxray – to fetch Raichu from underground. Volkner looked at me with a new kind of recognition in his eyes. His acknowledgement of a true challenger surged through my veins – I was alive.
"Luxray, roar!" Volkner called the instant his raichu was back. Again, I cannot stress enough how rude that is.
Def zoomed back into his pokeball – goodbye, calm mind stat boosts – replaced by Prom. "Bulk up," I told him.
"Roar."
Prom came back to his pokeball, replaced by Hope. Damn it. "Sunny day," I told her.
The rain clouds dissipated, replaced by a swirling ball of fire. "Charge beam," Volkner said.
Hope took off, narrowly evading the charge beam. I had to jump to avoid it. "Start getting swifts in," I told her.
"Thunder!"
Lightning raced skyward, but without the rain dance to boost its accuracy, Hope easily dodged. Glowing white stars began to rain down upon Luxray, who danced around to evade them.
"Discharge!"
"Protect!"
Luxray let loose electricity – a lot of it went straight to the lightning rod, but plenty more shot in all directions. I ducked behind a nearby shelf to avoid a stray strand. Hope put up a protect bubble, but the electric discharge kept on going, and she quickly began to sink. "Keep up the protect – sky attack last minute," I said.
Hope went from sinking to fully falling inside her bubble of protection. Luxray's attack didn't let up even slightly, and by the time Hope had to let go of the protect, it was still going strong. Through it, though, she revealed the lavender flying-type energy that she'd built up during the fall, diving into Luxray and then gliding back up.
Static crackled along her feathers. "Uh oh," she said nervously.
"It's ok, we practiced for this," I reassured her. "Go ahead and use facade."
"You can do it, Hope!" said Prom.
"Bite!"
Hope couldn't move nearly as fast as usual, but she managed to tilt herself into a u-turn. Glowing with white energy, she shrieked with glee as she dove, appearing fully unaffected by the paralysis (an illusion, unfortunately; that's just how facade works). Luxray opened his jaws wide and caught her, taking the double-power attack head-on. His fangs crackled with dark, fire, ice, and electric energy (dammit, that was my move), and he shook his head wildly in a move that was distinctly Dawn's, if Dawn cared less about the long-term health of my pokemon.
"Togekiss is unable to battle!" the referee said after Hope dropped to the ground. Her white feathers were streaked with red.
"It's not dire," Coeur said before I could ask. "Some broken bones. Not life-threatening, though."
"Thanks, Coeur. Rest up, Hope," I said, pulling her back into her pokeball. "Prom, you're on!"
"Ambipom," Volkner said, swapping his luxray out. I narrowed my eyes. Swapping out the type advantage? He had a plan.
"Bulk up."
"Double team."
Ambipom doubles popped up all over the battlefield while Prom channeled fighting energy into his muscles. "Once more," I said.
"Agility."
Prom boosted his attack abilities while the copies around him glowed faintly white. "All right, aqua jet. Go bowling."
"Ambipom, baton pass!"
Every ambipom on the field did a super casual backflip and vanished, replaced by equally as many jolteons. Okay, wait, that was dope, I didn't realize double team could be passed on with baton pass. I took a mental note.
Prom swerved around the battlefield, aiming for jolteons, but each one managed to jump out of the way at the last moment. "Rain dance!" Volkner called out.
The sky once more swirled with clouds, and all our clothes that were starting to dry in the sunny day instantly became soaked again. "Pin missile, quick attack, double kick, iron tail," Volkner commanded in quick succession.
"Ice beam!"
Prom did his best to hit as many jolteons as possible, but it didn't help that the attacking jolteons ran away from him, rather than towards. They converged on the tower Def had built, each one sending pin missiles at the top before springing into a front flip, ending with their tail and hind paws colliding with the base of the tower.
"Watch which way it falls, you'll know which jolteon's real."
The lightning rod, "coincidentally," fell directly towards me. I stepped to the side just in case, but only the top pipe got close to where I stood. "Ice on that one. Careful of the–"
"Thunder!"
"–of that, yeah."
Prom didn't get the ice beam off before thunder came crashing down. He threw a shield up in time, but Arceus that was some strong lightning.
"Try and get in there with close combat," I said.
"Again!"
Thunder battered the field, stopped by a protect and Prom's swift swim–quickened reaction time. Prom sprinted across the field, pretending to aim for the wrong jolteon before spitting ice in the face of the right one and swerving to follow up. He threw a punch at the blinded jolteon, then a kick, both hitting.
"Wish!"
A star rose into the air from the jolteon a split second before Volkner recalled his pokemon, sending out his luxray on the opposite end of the battlefield. "That's B.M.," I heard Etana Bing say in the stands.
"More like B.S.," Ashley muttered loudly.
"Thunder," Volkner commanded, ignoring them.
Jolteon's starry wish sank back down to earth where Luxray was, restoring his health. Prom had just a split second to throw a shield up before lightning split the air.
"Aquajet your way back in there. Contain the fight."
Prom shot across the field, leaving a trail of water in his wake. Luxray's teeth sparked with electricity, but Prom quickly solidified the front of his attack, letting Luxray crunch down on ice. Prom pulled a protect up around him and the luxray and dove into combat, twisting around the larger pokemon and throwing punches and kicks and tail hits his way. Prom was slower in this shelter outside the rain, but Luxray's thunder bonus was gone as well – even with limited space, Prom was managing to dodge. Water and ice and fighting energy flashed within the dome.
"Thunder wave!"
The thin electric ripple coursed right through Prom, who stumbled. The protect faltered.
"Thunder!" Volkner growled.
Lightning surged down from the sky. Prom tried weakly to bring a protect back up in time. He didn't quite make it.
"Buizel is unable to battle!"
"Defibrillate, defibrillate," Coeur said frantically.
"Zap him again, please?" I shouted across the field.
Volkner seemed confused. "What?"
"Zap him! His heart's stopped!"
Luxray responded with what I recognized as a charge beam at my buizel – again, that fucker sneaking in with stat boosts at inappropriate times. "Okay, he's good," Coeur said, sounding relieved.
"Thank you," I called to the luxray, relaxing. I recalled Prom. "Well done, Prom. Not every water type can say they hurt Volkner's primary pokemon as much as you just did. If he didn't heal first, I think he'd be out. Rest up, buddy."
I threw Def back onfield. "Psycho cut."
"Thunder."
Def teleported away from the blast just before it touched down, reappearing directly in front of the luxray. He swung an arm, covered in psychic energy, and it landed right between Luxray's jaws.
"Crunch!"
"Teleport him up!"
Luxray clamped down, dark energy piercing right through the psychic layer. I heard an audible crunch. Def flinched.
"Come on, Def!" Coeur yelled in our heads.
Def teleported high in the air with the luxray, letting them both fall. Luxray twisted so that Def was beneath him and let go – right as they were about to hit the ground, Def vanished, letting Luxray crash paws-first. Def reappeared and landed hard behind a pile of junk, where he took a moment to apply life dew to his arm.
"Go get him."
Luxray's eyes flashed gold – x-ray vision – and he bounded gingerly over to Def. "Teleport and earthquake," I told him.
Def teleported up just a little and cast his psychic vision over the field, which jerked sharply. The pile he'd been standing near collapsed atop Luxray, and by now, he was battered enough that he didn't get back up.
"Luxray is unable to battle!"
"Nicely done, Def. Heal while he's in between pokemon," I said, taking a page out of Volkner's book.
Def spritzed as much life dew as possible onto his legs and arm. Volkner clocked this and swapped quickly. "Ambipom!"
"Can you sense ambipom's emotions?"
"Mais oui."
"Double team!"
"Follow the emotions to know what's real. Rock tomb."
Ambipom splintered into a dozen copies running amok around the junkyard. Def's eyes glowed – a falling motorbike stopped one ambipom in his tracks. Ambipom attempted to turn and escape, but found himself cornered by a refrigerator and chain link fencing.
"Get in there with rock smash!"
Ambipom struggled to climb through the gap between objects. Def teleported close and slammed his fist into the fridge, denting the door and shoving it into Ambipom's chest.
"Ambipom, baton pass!"
Ambipom dematerialized from the trap, replaced by…? Where was…?
"Blizzard!"
The fridge door flew open, blasting ice right at Def. Ah. Rotom.
"Night slash!"
Def sliced an arm at the fridge with purple-black energy – the fridge suddenly deanimated, falling backward.
"Watch for the emotions."
Def closed his eyes, feeling the emotions swirling around him. Eyes still closed, he sent a magical leaf off to his right. It hit the washing machine, but the rotom was already gone, inhabiting a detached ceiling fan that whirled like a disproportionate helicopter and flew at Def, slashing at his back.
"Put armor up. Surround yourself with stone."
Def glowed pink and summoned a stone edge that whirled around him in rings, but a will-o-wisp still got through to him.
"Facade– no, sorry, ghost type. Night slash."
Def did his best to track the rotom flitting in and out of different appliances, swiping whenever he could, but the rotom was proving to be just too fast. Rotom was chipping away at him, with leaf storm from a lawnmower, with overheat from an oven, with the burn damage already on him.
"Def, take a break," I said. "Faith, you're– AAH!"
A tiny sparking sprite had jumped up from the ground in front of me, getting right in my face. I heard a giggle as they zoomed around me in circles.
"Rotom, focus please," Volkner said across the field, sounding unbothered.
I considered my options. Coeur had a natural type advantage. Buuuuuut Faith had a unique opportunity right now: the chance to play with a ghost much like her.
"Faith, play hide and seek with Rotom!"
Faith popped out onto the field and sank underground immediately. She popped back up and came over to say hello to the rotom.
"Rotom, confuse ray!"
Rotom giggled and waved hello to their new gengar friend.
"Rotom," Volkner said, finally sounding annoyed.
A bright, twinkly light wiggled in the direction of Faith, who evaded it by ducking back underground. She popped back up and the two ghosts exchanged twinkly lights, each one dodging the other's. I'd never heard such a giggly battle before.
"Nightshade!"
"Dark pulse!"
The two began a game that was part hide-and-seek, part tag, where both of them were It and both were hiders and seekers. Faith popped out of a fridge; the rotom occupied it and pulled her back inside; Faith phased through the back; the rotom came at her as a lawnmower. Their game would have gone on forever if Volkner didn't put a stop to it by recalling his rotom.
"Aw, you're no fun," I complained.
"I don't have all day," he said, throwing his ambipom out.
"Yeah? Got a long day of brooding atop the lighthouse ahead of you?"
Ambipom immediately split into a bunch of copies again. "Hypnosis," I told Faith.
Faith tried to track the ambipoms, but each copy split into more copies, and then they all got faster with agility, and there was no hope of singling out the right one. "Nightshade," I said instead.
A ripple of darkness spread out from Hope, taking out the ambipoms closest to her before baton pass pulled the ambipoms away and let out about a million jolteons. "Nightshade again, then."
"Shadow ball!"
Like a thorny wave, the jolteons jumped over the nightshade ripple as it passed by. Only one jolteon released the shadow ball, but amidst all the bright yellow fur, I couldn't tell you which one it had been. It hit Faith, who tumbled over in a back somersault and landed on her feet.
"Double team!"
Faith sank underground. She popped back up near a refrigerator, spooking a jolteon copy. The jolteons pounced at her, but she levitated higher in the air to avoid them. One climbed the side of a tilted bookshelf to reach her, but she swerved aside. Jolteon continued to follow Faith, leaping at the gengar who was perpetually out of reach.
"Thunderbolt!"
Faith dodged.
"Discharge!"
Faith dodged underground. Volkner's jaw tensed. "Tell your gengar to stop playing around."
"Tell your jolteon to hit my gengar."
Faith kept dodging. She evaded one jolteon, but there was suddenly another in front of her, and this one was corporeal enough to hit her – and make her vanish.
The real Faith popped out of the ground, having taken a nice little break.
"Enough of this! Jolteon, roar!"
His little jolteon let out a disproportionately large roar, which send Faith back to her pokeball. Trust came out in her place.
"Thunder wave!"
"Trust, get rid of the copies with flamethrower!"
Trust spun, letting flame loose in a spiral around him. A fair few jolteons took refuge behind larger appliances, though many of those were now on fire. One came up close, letting out a short buzz of electricity, but Trust swerved, limbs glowing briefly white.
"Close combat while you've got him!"
Trust threw a punch; the jolteon tried to dodge, but Trust's hand glowed white with mach punch, lending him speed. The rest of his limbs he infused with the same energy, granting his close combat additional movement speed. Jolteon was battered between his hits.
"Discharge!"
Lightning burst in all directions, suffusing Trust with electric light. Jolteon jumped back from him and shot a follow-up shadow ball at Trust, which he didn't quite dodge.
"How you feeling?"
"I'm feeling 50%."
"Flare blitz okay?"
"You got it."
Fire burst from Trust's full body, burning hot enough to melt a plastic chair nearby. He charged at Jolteon, who didn't move until the last moment, making a break for the crowd of jolteons that remained. Trust managed to clip him with a mach punch–enhanced fist, but ultimately it looked like flare blitz had done more to Trust than the jolteon, who'd disappeared into the fray.
"How about now?"
Trust turned just enough for me to see his grin. "Blazin'," he said with an easy sort of delight, feeling the adrenaline rush of his ability activating.
"Blast burn it is."
Trust summoned energy with the solemnity of someone drawing flame from the pits of the underworld itself. Volkner shouted something at his jolteon, who sparked with energy and started to release it, but the electric discharge that followed couldn't hold a candle to the inferno that fell across the field.
The air flashed red, light undulating in the air above the flames. Every flammable piece of junk was now burning. And there was only one jolteon left on the field, and he was down.
"Jolteon is unable to battle," the referee called.
"Hell yeah," I said to Trust.
"Hell indeed," he said with glee.
"Electivire, rain dance!"
"Ugh, that's no fun," Trust complained as clouds began to pour, putting most of the fire out.
"Tell me about it. Come on back, I'll let you back out later."
"Fineeeeee."
Trust swapped out for Faith, while Ambipom took the field on Volkner's end. "Start things off with confuse ray."
I was expecting Ambipom to set up for another swap. Instead, I heard, "Thunder!" and saw a blast of lightning, and by the time my vision recovered, Faith was already down. I winced. I could hear the other trainers stressing out in the stands.
"Faith, return." I sidestepped the invasive thought trying to disrupt my focus ("You know who didn't think Faith was good at battling?") and said, "Coeur, it's yours. Go ahead and dig."
"Ambipom, double team."
"Oh no, double team? Whatever shall we do," Coeur said drily.
I grinned. "I assume only one of them has any real aura?"
"You assume correctly."
Ambipom copies skittered around the field until one flew in the air, propelled by an aura-wielding umbreon emerging from below.
"Nasty plot, thunder."
"Aura rush, dig if that doesn't take him out."
Coeur's lavender aura surrounded her as she tackled Ambipom to the ground. She dove back underground as lightning crashed down, then reemerged to tackle him again. Ambipom was looking hurt, but still standing.
"Get a multi-rush in there!"
"Thunder!"
Coeur dove back underground to evade the lightning. When she emerged, her black fur glistened with a rainbow of energy – dark and fighting and bug and fire and ice and grass and ghost and all the different energy types she'd learned to harness. The sight of her made me beam – despite having chosen a path for evolution, we hadn't given up on her potential in every other direction.
Coeur crashed into Ambipom, sending him flying, glittering with the remnants of the energy in the attack. He slammed into a washing machine, denting it and falling to the ground.
"Ambipom is unable to battle!"
I took stock of the situation – I still had Coeur, Def, and Trust, while Volkner was left with his electivire and rotom. Which sounded like I had the upper hand, but Def and Trust were one medium-bad hit away from being out, while Electivire and Rotom were barely scratched.
"Electivire, charge beam!"
"Dig!"
Coeur dove underground to avoid the beam, but it didn't go towards her at all. Instead, it shot straight up into the lingering clouds and came back down to hit Electivire again.
It took me a second to process. Motor drive. Electricity boosts speed.
Coeur popped out of a junk pile nearby, but the Electivire was fast enough to swerve away from the hit. "Charge beam, again," Volkner commanded.
"Multi-rush!"
Electivire launched the charge beam straight up. Coeur charged at him with iridescent fur, but again he sidestepped her and let the returning electricity hit him head-on.
"Thunder!"
"Dig!"
Coeur dove under to evade, but when she popped up again, Electivire was ready and waiting.
"Get her!"
"Go back under!"
Electivire's massive fists, crackling with flame and electricity and fighting energy, came down on Coeur's head. She crumpled. Arceus, he hadn't even boosted his physical attack; that was all him.
"Umbreon is unable to battle."
"Return," I said, starting to feel the nerves creeping in. And I'd done such a good job of evading them up until now.
"Relax, you got this," said Trust.
"Nous croyons en toi," Def said.
"Right, okay. We got this." I breathed deep, willing myself to focus. "Def. This one's yours. Drop him."
Def appeared and instantly lifted Electivire with his pink psychic glow – higher, higher, until he was near the ceiling.
"Giga impact!"
Def let go. Electivire plummeted, gaining velocity as he fell, gathering a white glow around him that turned blindingly white. He crashed into the spot where Def had been standing – already Def had teleported elsewhere. Electivire sat upright, looking battered and out-of-sorts.
"He's vulnerable. Close combat!"
Def teleported in, and while Electivire took a moment ro recover, Def landed as many hits as he could, his swords infused with flashes of energy that looked like fighting, psychic, flying, dark. Electivire was quickly looking very hurt – electivires aren't the tank they look like they'd be.
"Grapple him!"
Electivire reached out and caught Def's arm, then wound up for a punch.
"Now's the time," Def warned me.
"Do it."
Def teleported himself and Electivire into the sky and started to cover himself in psychic energy, becoming a pink meteorite as they picked up speed. As they fell, Electivire snapped out with a fist that connected with Def's head, and I heard Def's telepathic voice go silent.
"Return."
A flash of red light took Electivire out of battle right before the meteorite hit the ground, leaving Def to crash-land alone.
"Gallade is unable to battle."
I glared at Volkner. "Are you gonna let them fight or what?"
He shrugged. "A good trainer uses all the tools at their disposal."
I shook my head and let out Trust. "How you feeling?"
"Pretty good still," Trust replied.
Yeah, but that was the blaze talking.
"Rotom, double team!"
"Okay, destroy as many appliances as you can."
"Destroy!" Trust cheered like a kid getting a birthday present.
"Don't hurt yourself."
"I won't."
Rotom became multiple rotoms around the field, but Trust wasn't even focusing on them. Boosted by fighting energy, he smashed a blender, ripped the hose off a washing machine, tore a ceiling fan apart blade by blade, taking away rotom's options one at a time.
A lawnmower came to life and charged at Trust.
"Flamethrower!"
Trust blasted flame at the now-grass type, burning the paint off the lawnmower in blackened curls and melting its components together. Rotom flitted out of it and into a defunct desktop computer, which powered on and got to a loading screen before Trust fried it with his boosted flamethrower. The washing machine came to life, but without the hose, all Rotom could do was churn water within the chamber and try to spill some out.
Rotom climbed into a fridge with its doors torn off, which let Trust blast fire straight inside. When the flames subsided, I saw that Rotom had popped out of the fridge and fallen onto a toy wagon.
"Rotom is unable to battle!"
"Return." Volkner looked my way. "Well. I guess there's nothing left to do but let them battle."
I nodded. "That's the hope."
"Electivire! Thunder punch!"
"You got it, Trust."
Trust blasted fire – Electivire swung his fist into the flames, letting his electricity counter the fire. This left Trust free to throw a combination mach and fire punch – rocket punch, as we'd named it – off to the side of the flames just as Electivire's punch skimmed his face.
Volkner continued to call out instructions, but I stayed quiet. And I don't mean I used aura comm – I let Trust do his thing. Between the blaze-induced euphoria, all the training we'd done, and just straight up knowing Trust, I knew he was our best shot.
The pokemon swung and swerved, dodged and shot flame and electricity at one another. Both looked painfully close to collapsing. The trainers in the stands were screaming. I stood with my feet firmly planted, half seeing the battle through my own eyes and half through Trust's. Trust dodged every swing of the Electivire's fists. I didn't even need to help out. Trust had it covered.
And then a fist came right at Trust's face – I flinched, and when I opened my eyes again, I was back fully in my own body. Trust fell back into the broken refrigerator.
Electivire, face singed from a punch that had just hit him square-on, sank to his knees and toppled forward.
"Both pokemon are unable to battle! The match ends in a draw!"
Volkner and I stared at the battlefield in shock. I heard a sudden sound – was he laughing?
"Now that's a pokemon battle," he said, a big smile on his face.
The trainers hollered, although some still seemed as uncertain as I was. I pulled myself out of my trance in order to meet Volkner on the sideline. "Where does this place our wager?"
Volkner shrugged. "As far as I'm concerned, we've both won. You won't be able to challenge me for a few months. I'll take challengers, even though I'll be disappointed in them after this match. They just won't be as fun. And I'll start preparing to fight the Elite Four."
I nodded. Yeah, that sounded fair.
"Here," he said, pulling a badge from his coat.
I blinked. "I didn't… I didn't beat you, though."
"Sure you did. Besides," he said, "I got what I wanted. Man, I've missed having fun in battles."
I took the badge reverently. "Thank you."
"Thanks for an exciting match."
I turned to face the stands and held the badge up high – the trainers who'd helped me get there cheered.
The other trainers and I agreed on a place for lunch – a café downtown at noon, in about an hour. I returned to the Pokemon Center with Dawn and Lucas and gave my pokeballs to the nurse at the front desk. "Some of them need some extra attention," I let her know.
She nodded. "I'll see to it."
While waiting, I went upstairs to take a shower. I made it a quick one, but by the time I made it back downstairs, wearing a Pokemon Center t-shirt and shorts, the nurse was still in the back.
I looked around the lobby. It was quiet, the midday sun warming the air through the glass. One of the computer use booths was occupied, but the other was available for me to call Megan on.
"Hey," I said, putting the headphones over my ears.
"Hey! So?" she said expectantly.
"We tied."
Megan's jaw dropped. "So… what does that mean? Do you get the badge?"
"He gave it to me, yeah."
"Congratulations! 8-badge trainer."
"Thanks," I said with a laugh. "It went so well – Volkner used his junkyard battlefield, so Def was able to build a lightning rod, like, immediately…"
I told Megan all about what had happened in the battle– Def taking out Raichu, Prom dealing a massive amount of damage to Luxray, Faith playing hide-and-seek with Rotom. I was gearing up to the final showdown when Megan squinted at the screen, frowning.
"Something on my face?" I asked her, looking at the thumbnail image of my own camera. What was…?
"Behind you!"
Arms locked around my torso and head, clad in a skintight gray fabric I'd recognize anywhere. I reached for the pokeballs at my hip but of course they weren't there, they were still healing, so I strained against the arms, trying to flail so they couldn't hold me, but there was a towel against my nose and mouth that smelled like sleep powder, and I started to fade out of consciousness.
The last thing I saw was Megan's horrified expression as the Galactic grunt hung up the call.