Hey everyone. I hope you all enjoyed your holidays! I certainly did, not that I'm rubbing it in anyone's faces or anything. In any case, my laptop's hard drive died on me two weeks before Christmas, though all my work is saved on a flash drive so I didn't really lose anything. Luckily my sister, Frozen Furfrou, had a laptop she wasn't using so I got that as a Christmas gift so as to continue writing my stories. But being that I auto-saved my password, I couldn't remember what it was for the past two weeks. So I went through the list of passwords that I remembered and got lucky with one of them. So now the story writing continues. Happy 2017!

By the way, there was a reference last chapter. Did anyone get it?

Chapter 54: Charcoal's Rage

"Zack, return!" my trainer called out as I watched Zack's unconscious body be recalled to his ball. He then turned to me and said, "All right, Charcoal. You're up."

"Right," I said as I walked out onto the battlefield, determined to break the tie-breaker. I watched as Lt. Surge recalled his Voltorb and took out another pokeball. I knew instantly who it was I was going to fight. There was no doubt about that.

"All right," he said. "It's time for you to shine, my Pokémon!"

In a burst of white light, the familiar electric mouse appeared before me; orange fur, big ears, long tail, and sparks that could render a Pokémon paralyzed for the duration of the battle. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at all, in the least, a little bit nervous.

"`Sup dude?" Raichu said. "It hasn't been too long since we've last encountered one another."

"That's for sure," I said with a nod. "I do have to thank you again for getting that shackle off of me. It'd definitely hinder my battling if you weren't to help out."

"It's no problem," the Raichu said. "After all, you and your Skitty friend were the ones crazy enough to take on a ship full of Rockets. It was a lucky break for us when Raikou came and blew the ship up."

"I admit even I was taken by surprise by his sudden appearance," I stated as I glanced towards him. The Raichu must've followed my wandering gaze, for he drew in a sharp gasp of air.

"Whoa! Am I dreaming or is Raikou actually in the stands about to watch our battle?"

"Stay sharp Raichu!" Surge said as my trainer ordered out an Ember attack. Taking as much of an advantage as I could, I let loose a stream of flame towards the Raichu who was only now refocusing his attention upon the battle.

"Gyaa!" he cried out, barely dodging my attack. "Yow that smarts!" He then blew on the tip of his tail where, upon observation, it was slightly burnt. At least that attack was accountable for something.

"Now use Metal Claw!"

Firing up my attack, I ran towards the Raichu, swinging my claw at full force so as to deal some major damage and quickly win the battle. Lt. Surge, however, wasn't going to go down as easily as he ordered his Raichu to dodge and follow up with a Thunder Punch, to which I acted on instinct and leapt to the side. Despite the attack grazing me, however, I still felt an immense amount of electricity course through my body.

The fear of paralysis taking effect quickly rose. It was the only thing that would determine the outcome of this battle. Fortunately, it did not come to pass as I found myself able to flex my claws upon the pain subsiding.

"Not bad," the Raichu said. "Not many pokemon would be able to dodge that follow-up attack."

"I just acted on basic instinct," I told him as I slowly recovered. "But make no mistake, I'll make sure not to leave myself vulnerable next time."

"I doubt you'll be able to," the Raichu replied smugly before firing another bolt of lightning at me. I leapt to the side to avoid the incoming attack, only to have the wind knocked out of me by a blow to the stomach via his tail in the next instance. I kept my feet placed firmly on the ground as I was knocked back some, hunching over from the pain.

"Now Mega Punch!"

I barely had any time to react as I received an upper cut to the face, knocking me onto my back. The world spun around me as I lied there, questions swirling around in my head to match. How was he so fast? Was I not fighting hard enough? What could I do to turn this battle in my favor? I had to beat this Raichu no matter what! Zack and my trainer were depending on me and I refused to let them down.

"Don't tell me you're throwing in the towel already?" the Raichu spoke. "I know you have more potential than that. I saw how you fought on that ship after all. So come on and fight more like that."

"I'm only warming up," I said as my vision returned to normal. "You'll see just how strong I am soon enough." I couldn't help but be a little ticked though that he thought little of how I've been fighting. He'd soon see the real potential I held and lose in no time flat.

Getting up, I fired up another Metal Claw as I was asked my trainer if I was okay. I then charged the Raichu who simply stood there, repeating the same process as I swung my claw forward. I stopped short as I saw him sway slightly to the left and took that opportunity to spin on the spot in an attempt to smack his face with my tail. He, however, grabbed a hold, stopping my attack. The next hing I knew, I was flying through the air and landed hard upon my back, followed by being spun around before being let go and tumbling across the battle field.

"Come on!" the Raichu said. "That was a totally predictable attack. You're never going to win if I'm able to-"

"Shut up!" I growled as I got back up. "I was only lowering your guard so I could strike when you least expect it." I spat out a fireball at him, which he easily dodged before charging at me. Only, he moved in such a blur that I had no time to blink before I received a fist to the stomach. I fell to my knees, doubling over in pain.

"You're not even trying," he said with a sigh. And I can't help but feel a bit disappointed. Not to mention telling me your plans only puts me more on gua -"

He stopped abruptly as I swiped a claw at him,hoping to tear at least one of his electrical cheeks. Unfortunately, I only succeeded in swiping below it, leaving nothing but a small scratch. The Raichu looked down at me with angrily before sending several volts of electricity through me. I cried in pain being that it was more effective on me than others. After what felt like a lifetime of being electrocuted, the attack finally stopped, leaving me to twitch from the aftereffects.

"That was a cheap shot," he said as the gym leader asked my trainer what he was pulling. "I expected better. I guess it was nothing more than a fluke how you fought on that ship."

"Don't insult my way of fighting!" I yelled at him. "My style of fighting is more superb than others! My trainer depends on me to win! I have to win!"

"I see," the Raichu said. "So it's a pride thing is it?"

"You don't know anything about me! The only reason you underestimate me is because you think I'm weak, don't you? Well I'll show you just how weak I am!" I'm not sure what had happened next. All that I really remembered was that everything went red as I charged the Raichu a third time. Nothing registered to me as I began to swing my claws wildly. All feeling in my body was numb, my entire vision was red, and not a single sound was reaching my ears. It wasn't until I felt a claw being grabbed and something upon my chest that my senses were regained. The first thing I saw upon my vision clearing was Ted, only he didn't have the usual calm, relaxing expression.

"That's enough!" he said quite calmly, yet his tone sounded like it was at a low-pitched anger. If the frown upon his face wasn't enough to hint at his sudden anger, the look in his eyes were. It was a bit unsettling to be looking at them, despite not knowing the reason why.

As I stood there, dazed and confused, I heard someone behind say, "What the hell?" and slowly turned about. Looking down, I saw that the Raichu was now upon the ground, scratch marks covering his body with spots of blood smeared about his fur. What the hell happened to him? As I went to go ask him that, it was then I felt whatever grip was holding my arm release itself, prompting me to turn back towards... Ted? I should have figured that he was the one holding my claw, but why? I instinctively looked at my claw and took my brain a few moments to register the red that was upon it.

I felt my heart sink as the connection was made. I... I did this? What happened that might have- My thoughts were cut short as the gym leader spoke. "It's clear that your bond isn't as strong with your Charmander as it is with your Umbreon. You've clearly not had enough time to train your Pokemon."

"Well... there have been a few incidents-"

"No excuses!" Surge yelled. "Do you think most of the gym leaders are going to ease up just because you haven't had enough time to bond with your Pokemon? Especially after what just happened?" I felt humiliation consume me over the fact of what I had done, despite having no recollection of what I did. The last thing I remembered before waking up to Ted's grip on me was being shocked with tens of thousands of volts. After that, nothing. "Still, he did help in the capture of Team Rocket. And your Umbreon helped to clear the storm. As thanks for being the owner of them, that warrants you the Thunder badge"

As the gym leader made his way towards my trainer, I took a glance over at the stands in time to see the tail end of Raikou walking out. Laura, meanwhile, sat there completely stunned which only added to the embarrassment I felt to the humiliation. Skitty, on the other hand, simply sat there, staring, making me somewhat wonder what she was thinking. And I dare not look at either Ted or the Raichu for fear of meeting their angry, disappointed looks.

"I... I can't," I heard my trainer say, causing me to look towards him a bit alarmingly. "I can't accept the badge."

"Say what now?" Surge said, a bit surprised.

"It doesn't feel right to get the badge this way," my trainer said. "I don't want to receive the badge just because my Pokemon helped save the city. I want to be able to earn the badge fair and square against you!"

All was silent for several moments as everyone stared at the two, the gym leader before my trainer with the badge extended out for my him to take. When no move was made by my trainer, Lt. Surge returned the badge to his pocket. "Very well," he said as he turned. "I'll give you another chance to win the badge the right way, but on one condition: I'd suggest you spend more time training your Charmander and bond with him before challenging me again. I'm sure you'll have plenty of time on your way to the next gym." My trainer nodded in response. "I look forward to our rematch, baby."

With that, Lt. Surge and Raichu walked out from the battlefield, leaving us to wallow in our loss.