Pokémon: Midnight Blue

The Eighth Badge: Part 4

"Alright, that's it," my fists clenched, "Let's finish this."

Celso smiled as I reared back and sent out my strongest Pokémon, Gyarados. His comfort with what he recognized as my ultimate resort troubled me a bit. There had to be something I was missing.

"Aerodactyl," Celso growled very calmly, "Use Ancientpower now."

Aerodactyl hurled its powerful Rock-type attack at Gyarados. My Pokémon took a seemingly unbearable amount of damage and plummeted to the ground. I stood there, awestruck, trying to find a strategy to counter Aerodactyl's abilities.

Suddenly, something twitched. I looked over at my Gyarados and saw it struggling to get up. Celso noticed this and tried to hit it while it was down, but my Atrocious Pokémon rose and regained itself to keep fighting.

"That's it," I cheered my Gyarados on, "Now, let's finish this off with a Hydro Pump!"

"Agility!" Celso shouted desperately, fearing his loss. Aerodactyl moved out of the way just in time. I was getting really frustrated now, as was Gyarados. Then Celso called his finishing move, "Double-Edge!"

I was not going to let Gyarados go down without landing a single hit on someone, so I cried out, hoping to get one chance to attack, "Surf, now!"

Aerodactyl slammed against Gyarados at the same time that a spurt of water flooded over him. Both Pokémon fell out at the same time. Celso fell to his knees, and stared off into space.

"I can't believe it," his voice trembled as he spoke, "I lost again. How could I possibly have lost to you yet again?"

I sent out my Dragonite and flew up to the platform where Celso stood and jumped off to meet eye to eye with him, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's impossible, I know. Now I believe you owe me a badge, my friend."

Celso looked up at me, and a somewhat maniacal smile stretched across his face as he chuckled giddily, "I'd love to, Mister Phoenix." His laugh became slightly more unstable as he continued, "Unfortunately, I don't have the power to do that. In order to earn your badge, you'll have to defeat my master."

"What?" I roared, grabbing Celso by the collar and yanking him up so that his psychotic face met mine, "What are you going on about, Troark?"

"I'm not the leader of this gym. I'm simply a pawn for my master to ward off weaker trainers."

"And you've failed me yet again, Celso," a familiar voice boomed in from nowhere, "For the last time, at that."

I recognized the voice immediately, and my face turned white as I saw a silhouette creep onto the platform.