I recalled Comfey while trying to keep my hand from shaking. For once, it wasn’t from fear; it was all adrenaline and the excitement of battle. I sent Junior out. She was only just hanging in there, but it was enough. Like strange confetti, bubbles of pollen and petals burst around her when the battle resumed. A whiff of camomile tickled my nose and Junior growled as she regained her strength. It wasn’t a full recovery: she would need dedicated attention for that. Still, she looked pumped and ready to dive back into the spore cloud.

  “Fire Punch!” I yelled. She didn’t need any more encouragement.

  “Petal Blizzard,” said Isa.

  A storm of sharpened petals and spores formed around Vileplume and Junior wasted no time in crashing straight into it. Fists flaming, she forged to the centre of the storm and punched her opponent over and over. It was a short and violent clash, both Pokémon aiming to do as much damage to the other with little to no regard for their own safety. In mere moments since it began, the storm faded, leaving Junior standing. She was very smug, staring down at her defeated opponent, but from the way she was swaying, I thought it best to recall her at the same time Isa returned Vileplume.

  “Good job, Junior. We’re nearly there.”

  “Both trainers are down to their last Pokémon,” said the arbiter. “Please send them out.”

  I sent Flaaffy, not that I had any other option, and Isa sent out a large, winged beast. With blue ears and yellow eyes alarmingly bright on his sleek black and dark purple body, the Noivern gave a high-pitched screech as he appeared on the field.

  There was something quite predatory about the Noivern, and droplets of sweat form on the back of my neck as I faced him. Flaaffy was focused, and as soon as the whistle blew, she began Charging. Noivern flew up and faster than I could blink, Air Cutter shot from his wings, slashing at Flaaffy. As frightening as the sight of air sharpening into blades was, they didn’t do all that much against Flaaffy who continued to Charge, ignoring them as they failed to significantly breach her defences. Without warning, Noivern switched up and a purplish energy formed in her mouth. Flaaffy barely managed to get her Protect up in time before Dragon Pulse struck it, instantly crossing the distance between the two Pokémon.

  “Thunderbolt,” I said, hoping to take advantage of the slight opening after Noivern’s attack. It was useless. The charged Thunderbolt was powerful and cut the sky, but Noivern was too quick to be hit.

  “Cotton Spore,” I said. We needed to slow him down at least a little if we wanted to land any hit, and if he was paralysed by the embedded Thunder Wave, all the better.

  Isa was back to not giving verbal commands. It could have been that Noivern was just that well trained, but I remembered reading somewhere that despite not being a psychic-type, some Noivern were still capable of telepathic communication. Couple with his speed, it meant reacting to his moves was all that much harder. Point in case, he used Supersonic and Flaaffy had no chance of dodging.

  It came in the form of a screech just above the threshold of hearing, leaving my teeth itching and my ears ringing. Flaaffy cried out and suddenly sparks were flying everywhere and random Thunderbolts were fired off into the sky. Noivern easily evaded all of them, the small amount of accumulated fluff from Cotton Spore hardly affecting him. Then he fired another Dragon Pulse and Flaaffy staggered back.

  “Flaaffy, focus,” I shouted. “Raise Protect.”

  I might have gotten through to her, or maybe even in her confusion she recognised the need for defence, either way, she used Protect and huddled down behind the barrier. Noivern’s attacks were deflected and he decided to get in close to break through with Bite. It was a mistake. Breaking free of confusion, Flaaffy lowered Protect, and using the moment of contact between them, she sent a Thunder Wave that caused Noivern’s wings to spasm. She followed through with a Thunderbolt, finally striking Noivern with a clean hit. It was all he could do to make it back up to the sky and away from Flaaffy.

  From there, the battle equalised somewhat. With a larger delay between moves, Noivern’s attacks were easier for Flaaffy to block or tank, while giving her more opportunities for counterattacks. Noivern still dodged most of them, but not all. It was a battle of attrition, and one I wasn’t sure Flaaffy was going to win. My suspicions were confirmed when a Dragon Pulse sheared through Protect and blasted into Flaaffy. She couldn’t hold up much longer, but I was at a loss for what to do. The tempo of the battle was too fast for any sophisticated strategy, any pause in attacks was swiftly taken advantage of by the opponent, so I couldn’t try anything with Cotton Spore or Confuse Ray. But continuing seemed to be leading to an inevitable conclusion.

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  Even as I scrambled my thoughts for a way, as Flaaffy recovered from Dragon Pulse, she began shining, soon being enveloped in light.

  My breath left me as relief and hope blossomed watching her evolve. It was a beautiful thing. Noivern paused his attacks so as to not interrupt, but a silver glow washed over his body. Later, when I analysed the battle properly, I realised it was Moonlight, there was nothing in the rules about using the time it took for an opponent to evolve to heal and buff oneself, but at the time, I was far too distracted watching Ampharos emerge from the cocoon of light to pay much attention.

  She was beautiful. Yellow with black stripes and a white chest, she had no more puffy clumps of wool. Instead, it grew short, more akin to fur, all over her body. She had a red orb on her tail and another on her forehead. Standing just as tall as me, she cried out with confidence and the battle resumed. Noivern shot another Dragon Pulse which Ampharos blocked with Protect. She retaliated with Thunderbolt which he dodged. Just when I thought it was going to settle back into the old rhythm, Ampharos growled in frustration, and with a surge of electrical power far above anything she’d gathered before, she released Discharge, the wave of electricity enveloping the entire field. It was impossible for Noivern to dodge. I swear I saw a smirk on Ampharos’s face.

  The air smelled like ozone as Ampharos released wave after wave of Discharge. It crackled with static and I felt loose strands of hair raise on my head.

  Ampharos stood there, a Protect around her which was not even necessary anymore. Every time Noivern tried to use a move or attack, he was hit by another wave of electricity which caused his muscles to jerk and lose control. He tried. He used Moonlight, and a weak Supersonic which failed to confuse anyone, but the result was soon clear. Noivern simply didn’t have the constitution to weather Ampharos’ attacks. A bulkier Pokémon might have ignored the Discharges completely, but Noivern was built for speed, and here, it did him no good. Soon, the result was announced.

  “Noivern is unable to battle, the match goes to Calla Greyberry!”

  I ran to Ampharos as soon as the arbiter blew the whistle and pulled her into a tight hug. She patted my back with her flipper and panted, slightly out of breath. She was more tired than she was letting on, I noticed. The battle had drained her enormously. It had looked easy from the outside, but if she had to continue much longer... I cut the thought off. There would be time for analysis later, now was a moment of celebration.

  “Congratulations,” said Isa, walking up to me. She held out a hand which I eagerly shook.

  “Thanks, it was a good battle,” I said, meaning it from the core of my being. I enjoyed battling, but it was never the main motivation for me. With this one, though, I discovered something new. Quick one-on-one battles were fun, but a match that went on for ten, twenty, maybe thirty minutes, I’d completely lost track of time, was something else altogether. It left me shaking as if I’d pitched every last bit of myself against my opponent. A loss would have been a failing of everything I was; a win was validation.

  “It was a good battle,” said Isa, her smile sad. “I look forwards to facing you again sometime.”

  “I do too,” I said.

  I was still hanging onto Ampharos’ neck, throughout the conversation and as she turned to walk away, and I would have been like that much longer if not for the arbiter clearing his throat in an unspoken request to clear the pitch. It brought me back to reality and the realisation of a whole crowd watching me, not to mention the cameras. My face flushed with embarrassment that wasn’t entirely unpleasant. I returned Ampharos to her pokeball and left the area as quickly as I could without sacrificing my dignity.

  Later, back at the Pokémon Centre, Comfey was kicking up a storm. Jumping about and crying shrill shrieks she was causing a ruckus in the lobby, and I was glad it was mostly empty at that time of day.

  “It’s your own fault,” I told her. “You were doing so well, no, you did very well, and I’m sure we won thanks to you, but it’s entirely your fault you got a glob of poison to the face. Why would you taunt Vileplume like that when you really didn’t need to.”

  Comfey listened to my scolding for all of twenty seconds before she returned to throwing a tantrum. I sighed and chose to ignore her. It was the best thing to do in these situations. I had Junior on my lap. All of my Pokémon had been treated by Nurse Joy already, but both Ampharos and Junior were still drained. Junior especially, though she looked at the newly evolved Ampharos with all the desire to challenge her to a battle, was too tired to even lift an arm. Which was why I held her in my lap and for once, she had to accept the affection without turning it into a physical struggle.

  “You did incredible too,” I told her. “You all did. I think I can finally say we’re at a professional level.”

  Junior grunted and Ampharos patted my head. She was making full use of her flippers now that they were more than stubs and was doing her best to return all the caresses I’d ever given her in the span of a day.

  “But we’re still at the bottom,” I continued, more for my own sake than anyone else’s. “We’re barely there, but we have lots of room to grow. The only way is up.”