A Tale of Two Rivals

An Encounter with a Desert Pokémon

My trip to Fallarbor Town took me a mere four days to get to. I came frustratingly close to making it in three days, but I got a little distracted by something which I found with my pokémon found in the desert on the way there; an incredibly strong-willed Vibrava who did not seem all that keen on letting the other Vibrava perch on a single cactus in particular. Let's just say that that one solo Vibrava reminded me a little of myself in a certain way.

I watched Vibrava as closely as I could all morning. I also managed to do a bit more research on it from my pokédex that I managed to get when I first began my coordinator's journey last year. It turned out that Vibrava evolved into a Flygon. A Flygon; now, that is a pokémon I had wanted my whole life. I just had to have this exact Vibrava so I could raise it to be a strong Flygon.

The lone Vibrava did not pay much attention to me or my pokémon when the three of us emerged from our hiding place. It was probably because it viewed us as no real threat to its territory. It was only after I called out to greet it did Vibrava fully acknowledge us. Granted, it did acknowledge us with a hiss and a glare, but it acknowledged me and my pokémon, nonetheless. It was all Vibrava did in acknowledgement of Roselia, Masquerain, and I, though. Then, it turned its head away from me and my pokémon and just continued to ignore all of us.

Yep, this Vibrava was definitely my kind of pokémon, and it would one day be a Flygon I had high hopes to rely on.

Yours Truly: Hey, Vibrava, how about a battle?

With that, I smirked at it and flicked my bangs out of my face.

Vibrava blinked a few times. It probably hoped that I was kidding with it. Fat chance of that. Then, it stretched its vertebrae out a bit, floated into the sand and expanded its wings out as it took a stance on the offensive. Vibrava seemed to be acting as though it were completely uninterested in me. I had to make sure that this Vibrava knew who it was up against.

Yours Truly: Roselia, go and show this Vibrava what we're made of.

With that command from me, my most trusted pokémon partner took her fighting stance in front of me, glaring her opponent, Vibrava, down.

With my own grass-and-poison pokémon facing off against a ground-and-dragon pokémon, it was a perfect match up. Roselia clearly had the type advantage against this Vibrava. Of course, we might not have had the homefield advantage in the desert, and I guess that both my Roselia and that Vibrava were evenly matched since only time could have known who had the upper hand in terms of battling capability.

Roselia had never let me down before, though. I knew she would not this time, either. I also remembered that she had proved more than once that she held the upper hand in terms of strength on every battlefield even when we did not have even the type advantage.

Vibrava, however, gave me no real time to call for Roselia's first attack. It only summoned a powerful Sandstorm attack move. That was when I lost sight of Roselia. I shielded my eyes with my arms from the grains of desert sand flying towards my face. I found this wild Vibrava's aggression incredibly impressive.

That was around when I heard Roselia cry out from within the sand tornado. She was then sent flying out what I supposed had been a Sand Attack. I called out to her as soon as she hit the sand below.

Yours Truly: You'll be OK, Roselia. We can still win this battle.

Roselia then nodded, stood right back up and awaited my orders.

Yours Truly: Let's take care of this Sandstorm first. Use Petal Dance and once you see it, follow up and hit Vibrava with your Magical Leaf.

Roselia then shot out a glorious storm of pink petals with her Petal Dance attack and almost instantly diffused the desert pokémon's Sandstorm attack. The battlefield returned to a complacent stillness upon the Sandstorm's evaporation. Of course, Vibrava was confused by how Roselia was able to disintegrate its Sandstorm attack so quickly, even at all.

Roselia's combination of Magical Leaf following her Petal Dance attack finally hit its mark that was the wild desert pokémon in the midst of Vibrava's distraction.

Vibrava managed to take some kind of damage, and the damage it took from Magical Leaf was quite a bit. It forced itself to stay upright and in the air, however, and fired off an agonizing, yet frantically planned Dragon Breath attack at Roselia.

I just raised an eyebrow at the desert-dwelling pokémon. Yep, I definitely wanted a pokémon which I could raise into my perfect Flygon, and I clearly had to have this particular Vibrava.

Yours Truly: Roselia, counter that Dragon Breath attack with your strongest Solar Beam.

Roselia almost instantly charged up all the energy she needed to fire off her Solar Beam. Then, she fired the Solar Beam from her rose-like hands and used it to dispel Vibrava's Dragon Breath attack. Her Solar Beam also managed to land a critical hit on the desert pokémon.

Vibrava whined as it crashed against the desert floor once again, twitching its muscles to no end as it struggled to get back up from its fall. The poor thing just could not rise back up again. The desert-dwelling pokémon had received two direct hits from attack moves with the type advantage, and one of those two attack moves was the most powerful attack move any grass-type could fire off, no less. It was just too much for poor Vibrava to take.

I took the chance to hit the exhausted Vibrava with an empty pokéball. It disappeared into the spheroid object in a flash of red light. I held my breath as it wobbled in place a few times and finally exhaled once it stilled. Vibrava was now locked tightly within the pokéball, and it was mine.

Yours Truly: You did great. Excellent job, Roselia.

Then, I bent down to pick up my pokéball which now held a Vibrava. I was more than pleased with this new catch. I would have savored it, too, if there was not a thought which weighed heavily on my mind that refused to leave my brain until I did what it wanted me to.