The Journey of A Champion: A Pokemon Fanfic

Chapter 20: Fatal Mistake

“ Why not? Riley, beat you fair and square!” Sophie cut in, defending her friend, and stepping in front of the trainer.

“ Hold on a second, squirt. That battle wa’n’t fair. First a’ all, she broke the rules an’ second a’ all, she battled ma Pokemon right after they had been in a fight!” Clay was fuming now. Ain’t no one who can beat the King a’ Triple Battles! 

“ But you said it was okay that she broke the rule ‘cause she didn’t know! And you let her battle your Pokemon when they were tired!” Sophie shouted back, more shocked than angry.

“ Naw, I say it wa’n’t fair an’ I stand by it! Ya ain’t gonna change my mind an’ ya won’t get the Quake Badge!” The gym leader stomped on the ground and just as he did a platform behind the giant emerald whooshed down and settled on the rocky ground in a cloud of dirt. All eyes turned toward it.

A coughing figure emerged from the dust waving her hand in front of her face. “ Hey, Clay, I know I’ve probably told you this a thousand times, but, seriously, you need to do something about those elevators. There aren’t any rails and it goes down really fast. Of course, it is kinda fun to go down them. He he! I feel like I’m flying!” The girl put a gloved finger pensively to her chin and then spread out her arms like a plane and ran over to them. The gesture wasn’t necessarily childish, but seeing a teenager do it made Riley smile.

“ That’s besides the point, though. I heard shouting from upstairs so what’s up?” The girl was dressed in shades of blue, mostly ones the color of the sky, and wore a shirt and shorts similar to Elesa’s, except in a different color. She also had on thick gloves and furry boots. Her hair was purplish red and was up in a bun at the front of her head. Long bangs flowed with the current of air coming from nearby fans. Riley immediately liked her.

Clay glared at the girl. “ Nunna yer business, Skyla.”

“ Excuse me.” The girl stepped forward and waved a finger in the gym leader’s face. “ Tell me what happened.”

Clay frowned back at her and crossed her arms. “ I told ya already. It nunna yer business.”

“ C’mon, Clay. You know I’m going to get it out of you anyway.” She countered, raised an eyebrow, and kept eye contact.

“ Fine.” The Underground Boss grumbled and stepped back. “ This here trainer cheated in a battle and won an’ now she wants the gym badge.”

Skyla turned to look at Sophie, who was still in front of Riley. “ What happened?”

Riley stepped around her friend and looked from Skyla to Clay. There’s no use in lying. I’ve done nothing wrong. Plus, Clay and this girl would pick up on it faster than I could finish my story. “ We were having a triple battle,” she began, “ and in the beginning Clay explained that each trainer had three Pokemon out and when all Pokemon on one side fainted the battle was over and someone won.” Clay opened his mouth to interrupt, but Skyla put her hand up to stop him without taking a glance back. “ Later on in the battle, one of my Pokemon attacked one of his that wasn’t adjacent to her. Clay stopped the battle and told me that you couldn’t do that so I told him I didn’t know that because he hadn’t explained it and he let it go.” Riley finished her story and then remembered one last detail. “ Oh, and before our battle begun, Clay had already had a battle so some of his Pokemon were tired, but he said it was ok if we battled.”

Skyla looked at Riley for a couple seconds, thinking about her answer. All of a sudden, she said, “ Clay, give her the badge,” without looking back.

“ What!?” The gym leader roared and stepped next to the teenager. “ Yer gonna side with her, a girl you’ve ne’er met, over me? You’ve know me for years!” He extended an arm and gestured towards Riley angrily, looking at Skyla as if she’d just committed a crime.