My Second Chance

Six

A trainer and his Onix stood opposing from Noelle and her Luxio. The odds were clearly stacked against them, and Noelle wasn't optimistic. She figured, however, as long as Luxio didn't get hit, they could pull off a win. This was the only strategy she had.

"Onix, use rock throw!" The opposing trainer commanded.

Summoning a rock from seemingly nowhere, the Onix threw the attack at Luxio. With a quick yell from it's own trainer, Luxio dodged the attack.

"Use iron tail!" Noelle commanded.

Luxio's tail glowed a steely gray and it ran at the Onix that towered over it. Quicker than expected, the Onix launched a screech attack so powerful it sent Luxio back flying. Luxio gritted its teeth and attempted to compose itself by digging its claws into the ground. The sound that came from Onix's mouth made Noelle and half the audience cover their ears.

As the screech ended, Onix dug into the ground, disappearing from sight. Noelle began scanning through the options she had. Not finding many, she naturally went with the one that was least likely to work.

"When you sense Onix underneath you, use iron tail."

Luxio nodded and closed its eyes, attempting to focus. Sensing sudden movement from underneath it, it quickly slammed an iron tail into the ground just as Onix came up from it. The force of the attack sent Luxio flying upwards, but it managed to get some damage onto Onix.

As Luxio fell back towards the earth, the Onix regained its bearings and used another rock throw attack against Luxio. The yellow Pokémon used iron tail and sent the attack back to Onix. The attack smacked Onix in the face, and immediately after, Luxio also found itself on Onix's face. The rock type immediately shook the electric type off, sending Luxio rolling across the field. Onix quickly tossed another rock throw attack at Luxio- which barely missed.

"Are you okay?" Noelle asked. Luxio grunted and stood up. It shook the dust from its coat and growled. Luxio always hated losing, so Noelle didn't think her Pokémon would give up now.

Onix let loose another screech attack. Luxio hardly stood against it without flying back.

An idea popped into Noelle's head, "Luxio, use Howl!" She yelled, covering her ears.

A low growl began in Luxio's throat. The growl became louder and louder until the full noise escaped from Luxio's mouth. Luxio's howl stood against Onix's screech, and somehow, Luxio's howl overpowered the screech attack.

Luxio immediately took off towards Onix, charging up an iron tail attack. Luxio jumped up and made a direct hit with its attack. Its tail slammed into Onix's face with enough force to send it to the ground. As the smoke cleared, the referee saw that the large rock type had fainted.

"Onix is unable to battle! Which means Luxio is the winner, and the match goes to Noelle Powell!" The referee yelled, waving his flags about.

Noelle smiled and ran towards her Pokémon. Luxio collapsed in its trainer's arms. Noelle scanned for any terrible wounds, but Luxio just seemed to be exhausted and not hurt too bad.

"You okay, Luxio?" Noelle asked. Luxio nodded.

"Get some rest." She said, retiring her Pokémon to its Pokéball.

Noelle stood up and ran off the field, going to the area where the rest of the trainers watched the battles. Noelle would participate in two more battles today, but not until much later. She was guaranteed at least one more battle since she won her last one. She would only partake in a third battle if the won the next.

Many trainers gathered around various screens backstage to watch the current battle. While the other trainers watched the battle, Noelle sat on a bench and thought about her match. She knew Niko was watching her, and she knew he was making commentary. She didn't know what he was saying, as the commentary only was heard by TV viewers, but she wanted to know. She loathed that she cared about his opinion.

It shouldn't matter to me what he thinks, she thought, All that matters is that Luxio and I won!

Noelle took a look at the other trainers in the room. A couple of them looked to be newer trainers, some were veterans, but most seemed to be in the same level range as Noelle and her Pokémon. Judging by the battle happening currently, some even seemed lower on the chain.

I should be thinking about my strategy for Misdreavus, Noelle thought, She isn't nearly as strong as Grotle or Luxio. We'll need more than brute force to win our next match.

Various trainers came and went on the battlefield over the next couple of hours. Before she knew it, it was Noelle's turn on the field again. As she stepped into the field, a familiar face stood opposed from her. No one she knew personally, but someone she knew of from her sister's rantings. Standing just feet away from Noelle stood her sister's rival.