Pokemon: Midnight's Story (A Fanfiction)

Chapter 22

About a week later....

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Well, uh, life has been pretty good. The teachers I have are all pretty awesome, and I've already been learning a lot more about the Pokemon world than ever before. Like, apparently there's this thing called Pokérus? Pretty strange, but interesting stuff. I've been winning more battles and getting stronger, too. I even feel like I'll evolve soon.. but, probably just me being hopeful. And, well.. Star and I have also been getting a lot closer. We've been hanging out and pretty much doing everything together...

Um, yeah, topic change! To be honest, I've been feeling a bit less introverted over time, too, with how many friends I somehow gained in such little time. I still like to keep to myself here and there, but I've also learned to appreciate the company of others a little more... I feel like I've grown a bit more in many aspects. Let's go, character development.

But anyways, back to this story of mine. It was the end of a school day, and I was waiting for Luke and Echo at the battlegrounds. Echo had also been training very hard over this past week, and was finally going to have a real, serious battle. Honestly, I couldn't wait to see his training come to fruition.

After what seemed like forever, Luke and Echo finally showed up, and Echo looked pretty worn out for some reason.

"What's wrong, Echo? Why do you look so tired?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"Luke had me.. fly around.. with weights on my back.. before we got here," Echo heaved.

"Arceus, Luke, did you have to work him out so much before he battled?" I asked, handing Echo a Fresh Water from my bag. He took and drank it pretty desperately.

"What? It's a good warmup for him," Luke stated, shrugging. "Besides, of course he'll get a chance to rest before battling anyone."

"I guess so." I then took a look at some of the battles that had already begun. I was itching to get into one myself. But, after a few more minutes, and some more water, Echo was ready to go.

"Alright!" Echo exclaimed, flapping his wings energetically. "Who should I battle first??"

"Please choose someone that you'll actually have a chance against this time, okay?" Luke said, scratching his ear.

I looked around for a bit, and happened to spot a Fletchinder standing nearby. They were also looking around a bit, hopefully for a possible opponent.

"Hey, Echo, how about that guy over there?" I asked him, gesturing over to the Ember Pokemon.

"Hmm... Okay! I got this!" Echo answered, and began to march over to them, looking pretty confident. Luke and I stayed close by, but not too close. "Excuse me, but, could we have a battle?" the Noibat asked as he made it to them.

"Eh? Oh, um, sure I guess. I didn't actually plan on battling anyone today, but it's whatever," the Fletchinder said, shrugging.

"Ah, okay, cool! The name's Echo," Echo greeted, holding out his wing.

"Name's Cinder. Nice to meet you," he replied, shaking Echo's wing with his own.

Soon, they both settled on a vacant battlefield, taking either side. Luke and I sat on some nearby bleachers to watch more closely.