A New Flare

A Rival

Elisha clenched her teeth and turned around, facing the blond-haired, blue-eyed girl behind her. The newcomer was wearing a brown skirt that went just above her knees and a pink top, one of which made her seem like a tart in a way. She also had long, pink-painted fingernails, purple lipstick, and black high heels that caused her to stand a couple inches taller than Elisha, but she knew that if she were to take them off, they would be just about even with Elisha being slightly taller.

"How nice to see you too, Maddie," Elisha sneered, knowing how much the nickname would upset her rival, whose real name was Madison. Sure enough, Madison's eyes narrowed to slits when she heard the name.

"Enough of this talk. Let's battle already," Madison snapped. "One on one work for you?"

"Like I have a choice. Anyway, yes, let's get this over with," Elisha said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Llameante, battle stance!"

"Nicole, charm up the field!" Madison giggled, tossing out a Pokeball of her own.

There was a flash of light as a Vulpix appeared in front of her trainer. Elisha was surprised Elisha had caught a Pokémon that fast. Vulpix didn't even live around the area.

"How did you get a Vulpix?" she asked.

"Got it from my mom, one of the perks of having a rich family, something you wouldn't know about." Madison taunted. "Nicole, use Fire Blast!"

"Dodge it, Llameante!" Elisha ordered quickly.

Llameante rolled away from the Fire Blast before jumping back to her feet. Nicole just smirked back at her, causing the little fire-type lizard to growl in annoyance.

"Not a bad dodge, but running away doesn't win any battles," Madison sneered. Elisha gritted her teeth. "Nicole, Flamethrower!"

"Absorb it!" Elisha shouted.

Nicole opened her mouth and fired off a jet of flames towards Llameante. Instead of moving away this time, however, the little fire lizard stood her ground, using her strength to absorb the oncoming flames. When they died down, a red aura was surrounding Llameante, who looked relatively unharmed. Madison and Nicole's jaws dropped, identical expressions of shock on their faces.

"How-how did-" the blond-haired girl stammered.

"Years of watching battles on television and studying, of course," Elisha responded with a smirk.

Madison clenched her fists. "You're still not going to win. Nicole, use Dark Pulse!"

This isn't good, Elisha thought to herself as Llameante dodged the beam of dark purple energy. Nicole's ability is Flash Fire, so none of Llameante's fire attacks will do any damage. That just leaves me with one option.

"Llameante, use Belly Drum!" she commanded, earning herself a surprised look from Madison.

"Belly Drum?" Madison repeated. Then she shook her head. "You just made yourself an easier opponent. Nicole, use Bite!"

This time, Nicole was able to connect her attack, chomping down hard on Llameante's arm. The power behind Bite, combined with the loss of health that came with Belly Drum, meant that Llameante was nearly out of energy. However, this was exactly what Elisha had been hoping for.

"Now, use Counter!" she ordered.

"Counter?!" Madison repeated in shock.

Before Nicole could do anything, Llameante rushed at her, striking her hard over the head and sending her flying. The little 6-tailed fox Pokemon soared through the air before landing hard on the ground, knocked out cold.

"Nicole!" Madison cried in horror. She pulled out her Pokeball and recalled her fainted fire-type. "You were amazing, take a long rest."

She placed her Pokeball back in her pocket and turned to Elisha. "What was that?" she asked, almost accusingly. "How could your little Charmander beat my Vulpix?"

"It's quite simple, really," Elisha replied proudly. "Belly Drum, in case you've forgotten, is a move that maximizes the user's attack, although at the cost of half its health. And Counter is a physical move and Vulpix doesn't have the best defense, so all that combined with the damage Llameante also took from Bite meant we had that win in the bag, and being rich isn't always gonna help you honey." Elisha said smirking.

Madison clenched her fists, looking ready to punch Elisha in the face. "You did well," she admitted through her teeth. "But don't think I'll lose next time. You won't have beginner's luck on your side forever."

With that, she turned around and stormed off, leaving a half-amused, half-exasperated fifteen-year-old in her wake.