Pokémon: Midnight Blue

Preliminaries

I stepped out into the stadium, still trying to clear my mind from my conversation with Kylie. I needed to focus. Tulin stood across the stadium and clutched a ball from his belt very tightly. I gulped and reached for my belt, unsure of what was about to happen.

The referee signalled for the match to begin. Tulin sent out Aerodactyl. I hesitated at the whistle and still decided to send out Charizard. The matchup was not in my favor, but I did not care. I could make it work.

"Aerodactyl!" Tulin did not waste any time, "Rock Slide, now!"

I flinched again, but Charizard knew what he had to do. It whipped up a Flamethrower attack to knock Aerodactyl off its guard. Then it took to Aerodactyl with a Seismic Toss attack and slammed the opponent on a jagged stone on the battlefield. Charizard did not want to open an opportunity for Aerodactyl to retaliate. It charged up a Solarbeam attack and bombarded Aerodactyl with a blast of light before the opponent had a chance to recover.

Aerodactyl stumbled to its feet, barely able to stand. It tried once more to land an attack, but Charizard simply approached it, pushed it with a single finger, and walked away as Aerodactyl lost consciousness. I was now in the lead, and the crowd was going wild. Tulin growled as he returned his Pokémon and tried to figure out how to retaliate.

"Go, Dewgong!"

This time around, I was more in tune with my surroundings, and I had an idea to deal with this type advantage. "Charizard," I whispered, "wait for an opening, then use Seismic Toss."

Charizard nodded and glared intently at Tulin and Dewgong. Tulin, in turn, was a bit unsettled by Charizard's stillness, but he decided soon enough that he could not let the opportunity go to waste.

"Dewgong, use Surf!" As Dewgon readied its attack, Charizard lunged at it, grabbed it, and flew up in the air. Charizard flew in circles in order to make Dewgong as dizzy as possible, and with each circle, Tulin became more and more furious.

"Use Aurora Beam, now!" he finally roared.

Dewgong had at Charizard with an arctic blast, making Charizard release its captive. Seeing Dewgong hurdling towards the ground gave me another idea. "Charizard, use Take Down, now!" Charizard swooped down and grabbed Dewgong. Then it dove down toward the ground, with no intention of slowing down. Finally, it slammed against the ground with full force, having only Dewgong to break its landing. While Charizard looked quite damaged, Dewgong looked absolutely fatal, while still conscious, and Tulin looked ready to pull his hair out of his head.

"Dewgong, use Hydro Pump, now!"

Dewgong blasted a spout of water that landed heavily on Charizard. Before long, Charizard finally doubled over and fell out. I was not too upset about this, seeing as Charizard had put forth a huge effort.

"Good job, Charizard," I praised as I returned my partner to its Pokéball. "You made me proud, my friend."

I looked up at Tulin, who was waiting for my next Pokémon, "Let's finish this! Go, Raichu!"

Raichu cheered as it emerged from its Ball. It did not even wait for a command. It simply discharged a powerful Thunderbolt attack that sent Dewgong packing.

"Take him out, Vileplume!" Tulin barked.

"Raichu, return!" I was ready to finish this for good. "Go, Dragonite!"

"Vileplume, use Acid!"

"Fire Blast!"

Dragonite took the Acid attack and was hardly scathed. Tulin panicked as Dragonite released an immense flame that damaged the foe critically. Vileplume cringed from the pain but remained standing.

"Solarbeam!" Tulin was now desperate to get any kind of damage in, but his effort was futile.

"Let's end this, Dragonite! Blizzard!"

Dragonite did not so much as give Vileplume a chance to attack before it let down a buffet of snow and ice that made Vileplume suffer terribly. Finally, Tulin's third and final Pokémon fainted. The crowd roared with approval at the sight of my victory. The applause was almost as loud, if not louder, that that of Robin's victory. It felt good knowing that I was being recognized as my own person. It felt good knowing that I was walking off the battlefield with people cheering for me, not as Robin's sidekick, but as Brian "Dark" Phoenix, the future Indigo League Champion.

On my way out of the stadium, I was stopped by Tulin, who despite his loss, seemed very passive. He sized me up and put his hand on my shoulder.

"You disqualified me in my first battle," he growled at me, "I hope you know what this means."

"I'm sorry to say, Tulin," I huffed, "I have no clue what you're talking about."

Tulin pinned me up against the wall, "It means you'd better win this whole damn thing. Do you hear me, Phoenix? All of it. Otherwise, I am going to be extremely pissed."

I chuckled at his request and smirked cockily, "Don't worry your pretty little head about it, Tulin. I plan to."