章 18: Shock Part 2

The stage was set, the neon spotlights were turned on, the floorboard began to glow with square tiles, the atmosphere changed drastically, from a room that used to host parties into a battlefield where the fate of trainers lies.

Ellix threw a Pokeball to the floorboard, and a small flash appeared, and from that flash, a small Pokemon appeared. It has two oval-shaped ears, a round face, and a small body. It has two hands, and behind its arms is the loose skin that allows the Pokemon to glide through the air and maintain flight. It was the nightmare that Yoake fears, and Emolga.

The Emolga made a stance on the floorboard to assert its dominance in the field. Yoake took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and took it all out.

'This battle will be a tough one, I know we don't have the necessary advantage but I hope this will be enough.' Yoake cheered himself. He opened his eyes and looked at Kirlia, who was waiting for his order. He nodded, and so, the Pokemon jumped out from his shoulder and walked to the field where she could take a stance.

"I see, Kirlia. Once evolved, you know how powerful they are. I'm guessing that they're a male?" Ellix asked him, Yoake shook his head.

"Oh… Well, make the best of it, I guess." Ellix shrugged

"Right… Now, where were we?" Yoake cut the specialist off as he wanted to start the battle now.

"Anyway, EMOLGA uses TAIL WHIP!"

"Kirlia, use CALM MIND!"

From the command of their respective trainers, Emolga whipped its thunder-like tail to the floor, which in response, Kirlia burst into laughter. This briefly stops the battle as Yoake tries to make his Pokemon focus on the battle.

"Kirlia… psst Kirlia…" Yoake whispered to the Pokemon as he tried to stop the Pokemon from its laughter. He was embarrassed by this but Ellix wouldn't mind.

"Snap out of it…" Yoake whispered once more. The Pokemon finally stopped, and quietly closes its eyes and focus as it tried to serene its mind.

While Kirlia was calming himself, Yoake got a beep from his pocket, it was his Pokedex. He briefly looked at it and saw a notification.

[The user quietly focuses its mind and calms its spirit to raise its power and defense] The notif alerted the trainer. He puts the Pokedex back in his pocket and waits for Kirlia to finish her move.

Kirlia opened its eyes and the next move began.

"Emolga, use ACROBATICS!"

"Kirlia uses CALM MIND once more!"

The flying squirrel flapped its wings and jumped from the floor. It spread its wings as it flew toward Kirlia, the Pokemon managed to hit her, but she continued to calm its mind and grew its inner strength. Yoake gave two turns for Kirlia to freshen herself, boost her strength, and cause some good damage to the Pokemon. Powerful enough to faint Emolga.

"Emolga, use ACROBATICS once more!"

"Kirlia, use Confusion!"

The Emolga once again flew in mid-air but was striking towards Kirlia. She was moving her hand, a movement that is similar to ancient psychic moves, and slowly, her two hands touched and formed a small purple glow. Once the Emolga was in reach, she threw the glow to the flying squirrel and in an expected turn, Emolga fainted.

Yoake was nervous a while ago but seeing the turn of events shocked him, Ellix was also surprised but he later realized that Yoake was powering up Kirlia so she can give a powerful blow to the once undefeated Emolga.

"Welp... " Ellix withdrew Emolga and whispered some inspirational words to the Pokeball as he put it back to his belt, as he walked to the trainer, he grabbed something from his pocket and handed it to him, it was the Vermillion city gym badge or what is commonly referred to as…

"The Thunder badge…" Yoake ushered the name of the badge after Ellix gave it to him. The badge design hasn't changed much for the past few years even if the specialist differed, it remained untouched.

"Yup, since I've promised you one on one, I'll give this badge to keep my promise," Ellix stated after handing the badge. He never would have thought that his Emolga was defeated in a quick blow, but since Emolga was his weakest Pokemon among the three, it is safe to say that Yoake needs to grind first before he would battle his complete team.

"Thanks, now… I have to keep my promise then." Yoake confidently said as he looked at the specialist.

"Cool." Ellix happily said as they began to prepare the place for the event later.

As nighttime began, the two were finally done preparing the place, and some patrons began entering the place. Ellix, who feels like wanting to invite Yoake to the party but the trainer declines since he has to find a nearby hotel to stay in so he can prepare for tomorrow's competition.

Ellix allowed the trainer and gave his phone number to him so they could talk sometimes, and battle if he was ready.

Yoake went to the nearby Pokemon center to heal his Pokemon and chatted with the assistant he referred to earlier.

"Not bad, kid." The assistant complimented him. This was his first time seeing a trainer defeat the undefeatable specialist.

"Thanks, here, I haven't used this earlier." Yoake grabbed something from his bag and gave it to the assistant, it was the max revive that the assistant gave him earlier.

"Nah keep it. You might find use it someday." The assistance told him. Yoake insisted on giving it back but their conversation was cut short since a little girl came in whining.

"Kid, you alright?" The assistant asked the little girl. She stopped whining and began to explain to the two.

"No… Some random guy stole my Pokemon!" She cried. This shocked the two, and the assistant was traumatized by this.

"Stealing Pokemon… oh no… trainer, you're walking on a dangerous path, I think you should stay here for a moment while I talk to the police." The assistant looked at the trainer as he was very… very frightened.

Yoake, who was very confused by this, decided to ignore the assistant's telling and decided to help the little girl. Kirlia, who was clinging to Yoake's shoulder, told Yoake to help the little girl, so he did.

"Can you describe to me what the random guy looks like?" Yoake walked to the girl and asked him. He was trying to calm her down and tried to do something noble even though he had no idea what he was crossing the road to.

"Yes, I think they were wearing full black, and they have a pin with big red R.," She said as she tried to remember what the guy looked like. This made the assistant gulp as he realized what the big red R was.

"Listen, trainer, I know you wanted to help the little kid but listen to me, the person she is referring to are the group of people you should not when I meant not, it means no Bueno, trust me, stay out of it and wait for the police." The assistant was startled as he tried to stop the trainer, knowing the danger ahead, he didn't want the trainer to fall like the last one. But Yoake, with Kirlia making him help the little girl, ignored him and decided to help the girl.

"I can handle it, don't worry," Yoake assured the assistant. Even though the assistant bargained with him to not try it, he still went there.

"Where do you think they went?" Yoake asked the little girl, she tries to remember the place the man was headed and she remembers that they went to the border between Celadon and Vermillion provinces.

"They went to the border of Celadon province." She said, Yoake took a deep breath, stood up and left the Pokemon center, and headed out to the border.

While walking toward there, he felt something was familiar, the all-black man with a big red R pin, he feels like he saw a person like that yesterday. He continued to walk to the border, thinking about the person the girl described.

"Kirlia, do you remember what happened to us last night?" Yoake asked the Pokemon as he wasn't sure if the person they met fit the same description. The Pokemon began to think, and she nodded. Since both sides can't communicate, Yoake guessed that the person could be the same guy who stole the little girl's Pokemon.

As they walked to the border, they noticed rustle from the trees and the slow change in the atmosphere. He saw the city limit for a few kilometers but he quickly noticed how things began to change. He feels like being watched from the dark, even though they were the only people in the area, he felt that there was a group waiting for them nearby.

"Well… well… what do we have here?" A familiar voice ushered from the shadows, Yoake turned around and saw the person he met last night.

"You…" Yoake aggressively called out his name. It was a man with white hair in full black with a pin on his chest.

"What a coincidence huh? Two strangers met continuously for two days. Same Time but different places." The man coldly said.

"I'm not here for a talk, just give me back the Pokemon you stole." Yoake cuts him off as he tries to make him focus more on the Pokemon. The man noticed that the trainer was aggressive this time, yesterday, he was just beeping for battle but now, he was different.

"Eager to do something noble huh? You remind me of the trainers six years ago, who tried to do good, stop evil and end the story, right?" The man, who ignored Yoake's cut, decided to focus on his noble acts.

"I don't care if it's noble or not, just give it back and I can swear that we will no longer meet afterward," Yoake told him. He was furious about the man, instead of going to the main topic, he keeps on pushing him into different agendas like your typical politician.

Yoake, who had enough, decided to prepare Kirlia for another battle with this man. From the thing he learned last night, he knows how dangerous he and his Pokemon are, he made sure that it won't happen again.

"Another battle? You truly are stubborn." The man noticed the trainer as Kirlia jumped down and stood on the ground. He threw his Pokeball to the ground, and a Nidorino showed up. Yoake knows how powerful a Nidorino can be, dangerous, strong yet so barbaric.

"Kirlia, you know what to do." From the events earlier, Yoake learned that he shouldn't despise the strength of his Pokemon even if he wasn't at a key advantage but now, he is. Knowing that her defense is weak but has powers that can nuke a Pokemon into faintness, he can reciprocate.

"Just like last night huh kid? Let's see who'll win this time." The man grudged the trainer.

As the informal battle begins, both sides take their stance, and tell their Pokemon their corresponding moves.

"Nidorino, Horn attack!"

"Kirlia, Confusion!"

The Nidorino began to rampage towards Kirlia with its horn pointing toward her, she was too scared to use her powers, and it was too late for her, the Pokemon tackled her with its horn, bruising her chest in the process. Kirlia, on the ground, desperately tries to use her powers to defeat Nidorino but she is too weak.

"Kirlia… Stand UP!!" Yoake cried as the Pokemon was too damaged by the attack. The man smiled under his mask and continued to tell his Pokemon to torment the small emotion Pokemon. The events that happened last night, coincidentally happened once more.

"Grrr… KIRLIA TRY TO USE ANY MOVE YOU CAN!" Yoake hesitated. He tries to make Kirlia stand up but it was an embarrassing failure, he can see the Pokemon was moaning in pain while the man quietly observed.

"Let's end this now. Nidorino! use HORN ATTACK!" The man told his pokemon to charge once again to Kirlia but this time, it was a full force. The Pokemon tackled Kirlia and she was thrown to Yoake which makes him fall to the ground in immense pain.

"Oww,." Yoake groaned in pain.

"You should have stayed inside, kid." The man mocked him. This fueled the angers to the trainer and the Pokemon, mockery alone wasn't the problem but also the pain that Kirlia faced to his Nidorino.

Kirlia stood up in full confidence despite the fact that she was holding her chest to bear the pain she was having. The man looked at the courage of the little Pokemon and decided to give her another shot.

"A stubborn Pokemon just like its trainer huh? Nidorino, you know what to do." He gave a devilish stare to the Pokemon and told another tackle to finally beat it down.

Nidorino charged to the weak Kirlia, but this time, it came different. Kirlia managed to stop the rampaging Pokemon with one of her arms, while the other was holding her chest. The Pokemon growled to the Nidorino, and slowly, it evolved.

A colorful glow was once present to the Pokemon, and its appearance slowly changed. From the small ballerina like Pokemon, it grew to a taller and majestic maiden. Its horns moved to its chest, the small skirt turned into a dress, and her arms elongated.

Both the trainer and man were fascinated by the evolution, and after the process, the former Kirlia changed into a divine Gardevoir. It was taller and stronger than Nidorino, and one small glow from her hand managed to send the Nidorino above the ground and fell to its trainer.

"Kirlia…" Yoake ushered in the former name of the Pokemon. While looking at his newly evolved Pokemon, he felt something was rushing inside him, a boost of some sort, he was weirded out by this but his attention was too focused on Gardevoir. He felt something odd about this body, like an immense power was slowly coming towards him.

This was the moment that will forever change the trainer and his Pokemon, a moment that will separate them from any average trainer.

"Bang!" A gunshot was heard. Gardevoir fell to the ground, bleeding, she was shot by a gun in the chest.

"GARDEVOIR!" Yoake shouted the name of his fallen Pokemon.

"BANG! BANG!" Another gunshot was fired and this time, it was him. He fell to the ground just like his Pokemon. He was shot in the chest, twice. He felt the blood rushing out from his body as he slowly lost consciousness.

"You should have just stayed at the Pokemon center, but here you are. A kid filled with dreams but will die bleeding with no hope." He mocked the kid as he put his gun to his belt near his Pokeballs.

"You monster…" Yoake whispered to the man. He chuckled and continued on.

'What happened? How could this be? I didn't do anything wrong but how did I get into this?' Yoake ranted in his thoughts as he slowly feel the death he was embracing, and on his last hearing from his ears, he heard a familiar voice at a distant.

"VILEPLUME, USE PETAL BLIZZARD!"

To be continued in: The Flower Maiden