Pokémon: Midnight Blue

The Eighth Badge: Part 7

I felt a bead of sweat running down my forearm as I reached for my belt for my last Pokémon. Giovanni had a victorious look on his face, and I was almost convinced that he was going to beat me.

Almost.

"Go, Dragonite!" I barked as my last hope for victory emerged from my Pokéball.

Rhydon snickered a bit and began picking up a rock, but Dragonite instantly responded with a Surf attack. Rhydon was in a critical state after that, but it still tried to hold its ground. It charged at Dragonite yet again, but was soon countered with a Dragon Rage attack. Rhydon was finally down, and I was a little more relieved.

Giovanni did not seem too concerned, "Go, Nidoking."

Nidoking clenched its fists and roared fiercely. Dragonite was unintimidated, and looked back at me, waiting for my command. I simply nodded at Dragonite, and it nodded back. Dragonite summoned an intense Blizzard attack that came crashing down on Nidoking. Nidoking tried to endure it and retaliate with a Rock Tomb attack. Its attempt connected, but Dragonite remained standing and continued its attack until Nidoking finally doubled over and gave way to victory.

I looked up at Giovanni, my hair was still a mess, but a smirk streched across my face, "Well, I believe someone owes me a gym badge."

"Oh, you think so, do you?" You could hear the anger in the Gym Leader's voice, "Well, guess again. Go, Nidoqueen!"

Nidoqueen lunged across the field and pinned me up against the wall. It pressed tightly against my chest, pushing the air out of my system and compressing my ribs into my lungs.

"Did you honestly think I would let you come into my gym and disgrace me like this?" Giovanni sounded much more sociopathic than he had ever before, "No, no trainer that manages to defeat me will live to tell the tale."

Dragonite tried to come to my rescue, but Nidoqueen knocked it away with a Mega Kick attack, and then proceeded to continue suffocating me.

I heard Giovanni laughing psychotically in the distance, and it began to slowly fade away into blackness. Suddenly, the laughing stopped abruptly and the tight compression of Nidoqueen's arm turned into a chill of ice that I easily managed to slip out of.

As I regained my breath, I looked up to see Giovanni and his Nidoqueen were frozen solid. I looked around to see who or what could have possibly saved me, and my eyes finally fixed on Celso who was standing in the center of the gym with his Cloyster out.

"There's my resignation, asshole," he growled as he returned Cloyster to its Pokéball.