Pokemon Heroes: Sinnoh Saga [Book 1]

Chapter 64: Battle with Fantina

"Even with the type advantage and a Spitirtomb, Fantina was not an easy match. She pushed me to my limit and pushed my Pokémon to their fullest. I had to use everything I'd learned until that point to beat her, and even then I had to learn some new things on the fly. My grandfather's help would've been welcome...he gave it anyway of course, but I did my best to ignore it. If I'm going to win, I want to win based on my own skill. Anything else would have felt like cheating. It was a tough fight...but it was worth every minute to prove myself to not just Fantina, but apparently myself."

Fantina stared Sam down like an alpha staring down a challenger to their position of power.

In truth that wasn't that far off.

Fantina had a reputation for being a tough battle. She was merciless when she combined her Ghost Pokémon's prowess with her skills for showmanship and flashy contest battles.

One's defeat against Fantina was usually flashy, grand and epic—and incredibly painful for one's ego.

But as the two of them stood across the field of dry, dead grass and false tombstones, fog pouring across the field, leaving chills running up your spine, there was no doubt in Sam's eyes—he would be walking away the victory at any cost.

"Vell, shall we begin?" asked Fantina, pulling a Poké Ball from what looked like thin air.

"I thought you'd never ask!" Sam drew his first Poké Ball.

"Come! Show me vhat you have learned!" cried Fantina as she released a Duskull.

Sam smiled as he countered Duskull with his Weavile.

Aurelio materialized behind his grandson. "You're halfway to the Elite Four," Aurelio reminded Sam, "At this level, battles don't drag on as long as they used to—not as often. Extremely skilled trainers can down an opponent's Pokémon in just a handful of moves."

"Suddenly I'm not looking forward to taking down the Pokémon League," joked Sam under his breath, "If there's not going to be much of a challenge, what's the point?"

"Careful," warned Aurelio wryly, "You don't want to underestimate the Pokémon League...they'll make you regret it."

Sam didn't respond, as his focus went entirely to the battle at hand.

Fantina had silently set her Duskull on Weavile, sending the Pokémon in through a Shadow Sneak. The Duskull remained where it was, but using the spotlights above and the darkness below, it was able to enlarge its shadow and extend across the ring towards Weavile.

Sam called for Weavile to dodge, and just in time.

But Fantina closed the vice, and executed a move that put the pressure on Sam.

"Duskull! Future Sight!" she called.

Sam swore under his breath. Future Sight was not a move that would harm him...yet, and for all it wouldn't do any Super Effective damage; it would do a large chunk of damage and could be repeated.

It would do damage in a few more moves. Future Sight predicted the attack, and would out a few turns later, lashing out at the enemy.

Sam had a timer on him now to start striking and take down the Duskull. Weavile might survive one Future Sight, but it wouldn't survive more than two or three.

"Weavile! No time to waste, Night Slash!" cried Sam.

Weavile cried and charged at Duskull, slashing at the Pokémon with a wave of purple energy.

"Icy Wind!" cried Sam, pressing the attack. The timer was counting down as he thought.

A blast of cold wind blew around Weavile and Duskull, striking Duskull with pieces of ice and hail.