I looked up from the rough dirt floor to face my opponent on the far side of the stadium.
This was it.
I looked to my right, the referee raised his arms and opened his mouth, although I couldn't hear a word he was saying over the crowd's roars.
He dropped his arms in a rapid motion. I grabbed the first Pokéball on my belt and threw it out onto the field, a blue light was released and it formed into Skarmory.
Alec, my opponent almost mimicked my moves and released his Charizard.
"poop," I said under my breath, knowing a Charizard would have no trouble in taking out a Skarmory.
But my Skarmory wasn't just a Skarmory, she was the Skarmory.
"Charizard," commanded Alec, raising his arm, "Flare Blitz!"
"Skarmory," I said, worried, "dodge it and use Drill Peck!"
Skarmory's awesome Speed had no problem in dodging the red-hot Charizard's Flare Blitz attack, which caused the Charizard to crash into the ground. Skarmory flew up high and began to twist her body around; suddenly, she swooped down in a perfect 90 degree angle straight towards Charizard. A direct hit! The steel beak of Skarmory slammed into Charizard's head. I was sure that would have been enough to knock it out. I was wrong.
"Grab it, Charizard!" said Alec. The Charizard grabbed hold of Skarmory before she had a chance to fly away.
"Blast Burn." he commanded calmly. I could hear hundreds of people in the crowd gasping. Charizard opened its mouth and a flaming beam engulfed Skarmory. She was done for, I knew it. The Charizard threw Skarmory to the ground.
"Good work, Skarmory," I said, returning her to her Pokéball, "rest now."
I grabbed the second of the three Pokéballs on my belt and smiled.
"Let's fight fire with fire, huh?" I joked to myself. "Magmortar!"
The large red beast readied himself up. I noticed Charizard was recharging after the Blast Burn attack. It was now or never.
"Magmortar, Thunderbolt!" Magmortar lifted it's arm and shot a bolt of lightning right towards Charizard. Charizard roared and fell to the ground.
"Charizard?" said Alec, "you defeated Charizard. Hmmph!" he returned it and lifted another Pokéball from his belt.
"Gliscor, go!" The blue flash from his Pokéball faded and the large, purple Pokémon took to the skies.
"Slash, go!" Gliscor flew at Magmortar at top speed and scratched right across his torso.
"Damn," I said, "Magmortar, Thunderbolt!" I smiled, thinking the Electric attack would take down the flying type. The lightning hit Gliscor, but nothing happened.
"Haha!" laughed Alec, "Gliscor's a Ground type, too, ya'know!"
"Fine," I shrugged, "Sunny Day!" Magmortar raised his arm to the sky and shot a sphere of light. The sphere exploded in the upper atmosphere and sunlight shone over the arena. I heard a few gasps of excitement in the crowd.
"Flamethrower," I commanded. Magmortar pointed its arm-cannon at Gliscor and flames burst out, engulfing half of the air. Gliscor's attempts at dodging were useless and it was inflamed.
"Earthquake!" shouted Alec. The flaming Gliscor swooped down into the ground, causing rubble and debris to hit Magmortar from all sides. Magmortar fell to the ground.
"Hahaha!" laughed Alec, "it's super effect- huh?" Gliscor fell to the ground also.
"Heh," I smiled, "feel the burn?"
We readied our last Pokéballs. We threw them onto the field simultaneously. The blue faded to reveal my Dragonite, my partner, my best friend, my strongest Pokémon. The blue light on the far side of the arena also faded to reveal a Weavile. I was under a great disadvantage against an Ice type like Weavile.
"Dragon Rush!" I ordered immidietly.
"Ice Punch!"
Dragonite's dark blue fist and Weavile's light blue fist hit each other with amazing force, but both were still standing.
"Again!" both I and Alec shouted.
The fists kept hitting, but the Pokémon kept standing.
"Dragonite," I shouted, "Get up in the air!" Dragonite swooped up. "Alright, Stone Edge!"
Dragonite swooped it's arm and dozens of sharp rocks rained down on the field.
"Ice Shard!" commanded Alec. Weavile swooped its arm and dozens of sharp icicles flew up towards Dragonite. The stones and icicles both his the respective Pokémon. Dragonite swooped down to land. Both Pokémon were having trouble staying up. Then - Dragonite fell to the ground. Weavile was still standing.
"Domino's Dragonite is unable to battle! Alec's Weavile wins! Which means... Alec is the new Pokémon League Champion!" announced the referee in excitement. The crowd cheered. I returned Dragonite and walked back through the tunnel I had entered the arena in.
All of the blood, all of the sweat, all of the tears I had put into my Pokémon's training had been for nothing. I had lost.
As I walked away with my head down, I stopped and looked up at one of the TVs in the lobby. There was Alec, celebrating his victory.
"Heh," I smiled, "next year... next year I'm gonna wipe that smug smile off of your stupid face."
