Pokémon : The Journey of Travis Tedford

Chapter 18: Fleefer

As the tournament continued on, Jay and Anna had also managed to defeat their opponents and make it to the second round. I was shocked to see that it was them that Adam and I had to go up against next. "Wow, looks like we'll be having a rematch of our practice match," said Jay.

"Yeah, this time will be different because we're going to win," I said with a smile.

Adam noticed how optimistic I was, and for some reason, it seemed to annoy him. "Dude, come on, lighten up already," I whispered to him.

"Dumbass, we couldn't beat them last time, so what makes you think we can beat them this time, especially after how badly I performed last battle?"

"I have a good idea on how we can win. You just need to trust me," I said.

A few moments later, we were all called out onto the field. Adam and I stood on our end and glanced at each other. "I believe in you, but you have to believe in yourself as well, or else there's no way we can win this," I said to him. Telling him I believed in him seemed to have given him a bit of confidence because he then gave me a thumbs up.

The ref ordered for us all to call out our Pokémon. I wasn't shocked to see that both Jay and Anna sent out their starters. Adam and I then released our Pokémon, which consisted of Machoke and Pikachu. Adam looked at me crazily, but I kept looking at Pikachu, who was carrying a small wrapped package in its hands. Pikachu unwrapped the package and revealed that it was the Thunder Stone that was given to me by Surge.

"Pikachu, let's put all that training with Ursaring to good use and use it to win this!" I called out. Pikachu let out a loud cry as it began to evolve. I watched in amazement as Pikachu reached its final evolution, which was also my favorite Pokémon, Raichu.

"Raichu!" it shouted. The crowd cheered at the sight of its evolution. I pulled out my Pokédex, which revealed Raichu's new moveset, and I was amazed by how different its moveset was now.

The ref then signaled for the battle to begin. "Machoke, use Bullet Punch on Venasaur!" called out Adam. Machoke advanced on Venasaur with great speed and then began punching it rapidly.

"Help Venasaur out by hitting it with Ice Punch!" called out Jay. Blastoise came charging at Machoke with an icy fist.

"Let's help Machoke out, use Focus Blast on Blastoise!" I called out to Raichu. Raichu charged a ball of energy and then shot it at Blastoise before it was able to get close to Machoke.

"Use Petal Dance!" called out Anna. Machoke was too close to Venasaur, and it was hit by the Petal Dance.

"Blastoise, use Hydro Cannon on Machoke now!" called out Jay. Blastoise fired a Hydro Cannon that hit Machoke directly and knocked it to the ground. I looked at Adam and could see that he was frustrated with himself once more, like in the previous battle.

"Raichu, hit Blastoise with Thunder Punch!" I called out. Raichu formed a fist shrouded with electricity, then came at Blastoise at a fast speed and punched it hard in the face.

"Wrap this up with Thunder!" I called out. Raichu released a powerful blast of electricity from its body, and then it struck Blastoise and knocked it out. The ref called it, and all that was left was Anna's Venasaur.

"Anna, I'm sorry," said Jay as he recalled his Blastoise.

"It's okay, it's not over yet," she said. Anna was impressed with how much more powerful Raichu was compared to the Pikachu she fought against yesterday. She also noticed that there was something different about me as well.

I looked over at Adam. "Let's win this together," I said to him. Adam looked at me, confused, but then he figured out what I meant in that moment.

"Machoke, Bullet Punch!" called out Adam. Machoke began rapidly punching Venasaur.