Weathering The Storm... (A Pokemon OC Story)

Chapter 69 (nice): Lucas vs Alex!

The crowd's cheers erupted as the semi-finals continued to rage on, with another match. Harry and Lucas' battle had long come to an end and all eyes were on this match to see who would go into the finals. Ellie and Seijo watched on from the sidelines, Ellie taking notes all the time. After her last match with Alex, she made it her goal to take as many notes as she could on Alex's Pokemon, how he liked to battle, and the rest. Anything that could help her improve. Anything so she could win the next time they met. But, her note-taking was scrambled by a light tap on the shoulder, turning to see Lucas' shining face. He smiled and Ellie's face gained a glow instantly, hugging Lucas as he began to sit down. Lucas blushed and Ellie exclaimed,

"That battle was great! You did so well, and it looked like you and Combusken were really in sync at the end."

"Yeah, it was great! Except for..."

"Yeah, Harry.", Ellie said, thinking back to when Lucas had extended his hand, only to get rejected as Harry stormed away. Lucas sat down next to Ellie finally, taking a sigh and asking,

"Have you guys seen him around at all?"

"No, we haven't. And, I'm assuming you haven't."

"No. It just fills me with a feeling that something went wrong there. Like I did something wrong."

"You didn't do anything wrong.", Seijo chimed in, "You felt a bond with your Pokemon through that fight that Harry hasn't even come close to matching. You felt connected to Combusken then, didn't you?"

"Uh, yeah. We were really in sync."

"Harry hasn't achieved that yet. Not even close. His Pokemon are physically stronger than yours, but his bonds between them are not as strong. He'll learn the importance of that eventually."

Ellie and Lucas gazed upon in part wonder and confusion, with Seijo taking a heavy sigh and saying,

"You probably don't appreciate how important it is now. But, you'll learn soon, so will Harry. But, for now, just watch the match."

"Right.", Lucas said as he began to gaze upon the match, while Ellie just jotted down whatever she could in her notebook. Not only about the match that she occasionally glanced up at to watch but also what Seijo had told her. Just scrambling to write whatever she could down, and also hiding whatever she wrote from any prying eyes that may want to look at the pages. Lucas knew she was determined to hide it after a simple glance over, followed by him being given a stare that was a thousand daggers. He just awkwardly shuffled his glance from beside him and then towards the battlefield, where Alex and his opponent both fought ferociously.

"Shadow Ball!", Alex cried as Haunter threw out a projectile formed in the shadows, cruising through the air and hitting Shelgon squarely in the face. A thick cloud of fog sprung up on the battlefield, but from the fog, flew out a fallen Shelgon. It feebly tried to get back to its feet, only to fall back down again, falling short of the energy needed to get back up.

"Shelgon is unable to battle! Haunter is the winner!"

"Alright!", Alex exclaimed with his fist clenched. Looking at the scoreboards, Alex hadn't lost a single Pokemon so far, despite using two Pokemon already to take down two of his opponents. Now, he had a comfortable lead, and his opponent was beginning to look nervous, anxiety setting in as they realised just how behind they were. But, they took a deep breath and with a shaky arm, tossed out their final Pokemon. A small and unassuming Linoone. Alex smiled, as he returned Haunter to its Pokeball quickly.

"Machoke, let's switch it up!"

Now, he had the type advantage. Suddenly, the match became that much harder for the opposing trainer. Alex smiled, knowing how much his Pokemon had the advantage here. The muscular frame and belt around its waist told Lucas it was for certain a fighting type, but he didn't know much more than that. With a quick scan from the Pokedex, the secrets of Machoke unfolded.