22 A New Trick and a New Friend

"Hide! Gastly."

A panicking Gon ordered. He also knew that after one more move, the match was going to be mine.

The Gastly disappeared. And it showed no signs of appearing like before.

"Now! Don't be afraid to come out, I will be gentle," I taunted knowing what he was doing, but hoping on the slim chance that the arrogant guy would take the bait as this way Cet could save more energy. 

Gon just gritted his teeth and stared at me.

'No takers, Huh! Whatever!' I thought.

This was one of Gon's strategies to wear down any flying-type Pokemon. Unfortunately for him, I bothered to do some research unlike him.

"Gust, down," I ordered knowing the outcome.

The powerful gales hit the shadow Cet was casting on the ground.

But no Gastly popped out, making me confused.

I looked at the battlefield searching for a place the Gastly could hide and noticed Gon's shadow was inside the battlefield borders.

 I grinned and directed Cet towards Gon's shadow.

"Come out!" Gon yelled panicked.

The Gastly came out of his shadow like a rat scurrying out of its hole.

"I will win, Gastly its time for the room," Gon yelled.

The Gastly disappeared and popped at a distance from Cet and before he could chase it, it disappeared again and popped at a greater distance than before.

Cet moved towards the poisonous ghost as the Gastly screamed out its name making psychic energy coalesce near it into a volatile ball and the ball exploded outwards constructing an ethereal room made of psychic energy.

"Huh! What will you do now, it's a trick room," Gon called out regaining his spirit.

Now the Ghastly is faster than Cet, as the trick room took effect.

But I saw through his false bravado, the Ghastly was panting like crazing.

The finesse and training required to pull this move were astronomical, he could have made the poisonous ghost learn its own type moves instead of psychic type moves.

'Whatever it supplements his annoying battle style, this was the first time he used this move in a match. I guess no one pushed him enough to use this before,' I thought looking at the pulsating waves on the ethereal room's walls. 

"Sandscreen, Cet" I shouted deciding to end this match.

The dust rose obscuring the trick room.

"Move in! Astonish and Poison Sting, Cet," I whispered.

"Big talk! But I know your Gastly is exhausted, we will just wait it out," I shouted trying to deceive him.

"Stay, Cet," I shouted trying to deceive him. 

"Did you even train the Gastly or did your parents do that for you too?" I asked taunting, trying to distract him from the battlefield.

With the Trick room partially isolating our battlefield from the wind and slowing down the falling dust particles, there was enough time for the slow-moving Cet to reach the ghost-type Pokemon.

"Shut up! I know what you are doing, Hide! Gastly," he yelled madly.

'Damn it, I knew he was intelligent, but I hoped the way the match went would have thrown him off his game. Now I can't do anything but wait,' I thought.

The dust settled down to reveal a lone Zubat racing along the ground, inside the trick room.

"Poison sting, down," I calmly ordered.

"Run!" he ordered desperation evident in his voice.

The Poison stings grazed the Gastly who was coming out of Cet's shadow.

The Gastly disappeared again.

"Sandscreen, again" I shouted.

"Why don't you give up, your trick room is benefiting me more and you would have known this if you did some research on me," I shouted at Gon.

Gon didn't reply.

We waited for the dust to settle again and Cet aimed his Posion stings at his shadow hitting the Ghastly as it tried to escape from the shadow, but it took the brunt of the poison stings this time and Cet used Astonish, finishing the Ghastly. 

The trick room vanished, making Gon scream in denial.

Stunned silence permeated through the novice area as the local celebrity got defeated by a no-name trainer and with a Zubat no less.

The Abra girl announced my victory, breaking the silence.

The stunned crowd slowly started to disperse.

Gon moodily walked into the battlefield and recalled his Ghost-type Pokemon.

I followed him into the battle arena.

Cet flew around me, trying to get my attention for his after-match treats.

Laughing at him, I caught the puppy bat and started petting him, making Cet lol his tongue out of his mouth.

After giving him some treats, I recalled him.

"You are clever, why do you have friends like that guy?" I asked genuinely curious, not even trying to remember the name of the Geodude's trainer.

Gon fiddled with his Pokedex and spoke.

"I sent you the money to buy the Luxury ball, Next time I will win, you mark my words," he said before he sulked off, hands in his pockets.

 'Time to buy agility and a luxury ball for Nia,' I thought looking at the money Gon transferred.

'I could also buy some better food,' I thought before dismissing it, my Pokemon's comfort comes first. They are the ones who train daily, they deserve it. 

The Abra girl made her way towards me and handed me a thick parcel.

"I am Celia, take this as my thanks for defeating that guy, I know you were betting for these in your previous matches," she said.

The parcel had enough luxury meal packages for 10 days.

'Wow, how did she become so beautiful suddenly,' I thought, checking her over.

A purple dress highlighted her modest chest and slender waist. Her skirt danced softly in the wind, highlighting her perfect figure.

"You are so beautiful," I blurted out before my mind could catch up with my mouth.

Celia slightly flinched and a blush adorned her face before getting replaced by her perpetual frown, making me think I imagined it.

She turned around and started walking away.

I ran after her.

"What's with that guy, instead of a trick room a shadow ball could have helped him more, right?" I asked walking by her side.

She looked at me, narrowing her crystal blue eyes.

"Not everyone's Pokemon can be as fast as yours. If your monster of Zubat, already didn't know a variant of gust, 'Sandscreen', how would you think the match would have ended after the trick room manifested?" she asked and started walking faster.

'Oh! Now I think about it having two same types of egg helped,' I nodded to myself and spoke.

"I would have positioned Cet into an upper corner of the trick room and spammed Posion stings or Gust, if I see any part of the Gastly, it can't be invisible for more than 5 seconds, right? I counted."

Celia stopped walking and turned to face me, raising her eyebrow.

I stared unabashedly into her eyes, making her turn away.

It seems I was addicted to petty power games.

"He is waiting for his Gastly to learn Hex, it will be the final and important piece of his annoying battle style," she said not looking at me.

'Hex, huh! It will do a very high amount of damage if the target has a status condition,' I thought with a new appreciation for Gon. 

Before she could start walking away, I asked.

"How come the Gastly listens to him," I asked, wanting to know which Pokemon keeps the ghost-type Pokemon in line.

Ghost-type Pokemons are notorious for their callous pranks and ignoring their trainers.

You would need a different Pokemon to keep the ghosties in check until it learns to listen to you.

In the case of Gon, his parent's Pokemon most likely took that role. 

It is most likely the same case with Celia too, as someone has to prevent the Abra from teleporting in sleep, which every Abra does or to escape from training.

A guarded expression crossed her face before she relented and spoke.

"His father has a Gengar," she said intently staring at my face.

I touched my face and asked.

"What?"

"People are generally jealous of our parents, more so when they see our starters," she said still looking at me.

"It's unfair that everyone has different starting points, but we can't get hung up on it. If someone has the right to be jealous, it's Gon as he doesn't have my awesome intelligence," I joked, avoiding the sensitive topic.

She turned away as a smirk crossed her face.

Patting myself on my back for a ball well played, I said.

"I saw your match with the Scyther, your Abra was awesome."

She nodded, not deigning to comment further.

"Which was the Egg move, Confusion or Fire punch?" I asked.

"Fire punch," she replied.

"How did you make the Abra learn confusion, from what I read even owned Abra's tend to teleport away if you disturb them too much. And When is your Abra going to evolve?" I asked curious about the psychic type.  

"Well, I made the Abra hold a soothing bell to keep her calm and had my mother's Pokemon use Hypnosis to send her into a deep sleep every day, for a good sleep, and just made sure she understood that she was going to get her favourite treat if she learns confusion," she gushed, before reigning her excitement after noticing it.

"And soon, after a month. Evolving into a Kadabra is just a matter of time. Mom said I have to find how to evolve Kadabra into an Alakazam on my own, though " she said continuing in her normal tone.

Deciding to investigate her quirks at a later time, I bid her goodbye.

Before I could leave, she asked.

"Where will you be going from here?"

"Pewter City for my 2nd Badge, but now I am going to the Pokemart," I replied.

"Well then, it seems we will meet sooner than you think and let's have a battle then," she said a small smile gracing her face before she ran away, not waiting for my reply.

Shaking my head at her, I made my way to Pokemart.

"It's time to become poor again," I thought grimacing.