- Blessed by Divinity -

Natural Born Talent

"Dragonair finish this with aqua tail!"

"Luxray counter with iron tail!"

Both pokemon leaped into the air, determined to finish the close battle. The dragon pokemon shifted her body, crashing tail first toward her target. The opposing electric pokemon span in the air, its tail hardening before glowing a bright white. Both pokemon's attacks collided in the air.

From the ground I could barely make out Dragonair evading Luxray's barrage of attacks before slamming her tail into the target, sending him crashing down into the floor. The dragon pokemon gracefully landed as the victor of the battle.

All the people in the crowd cheered as our victory was announced. Clemont, the gym leader, made his way toward us awarding us with the Lumiose gym badge.

As the others came down from the stands to congratulate us, my mind flashed back to a conversation between Calem and I the previous night.

---

"You've really come a long way since Vaniville you know."

The two of us were sat on one of the benches out front of the pokemon center where the group was staying. Night had settled on the big city as stars hung above our heads.

"We've both come really far. Who could have predicted that the two of us would have earned four gym badges within a month and a half of starting our journey."

Calem shoved his hands into his pockets, relaxing on the bench. Our pokemon were fast asleep right now, so it was just the two of us.

"You may be right but I can't help but shake the feeling that there's something off about you. I don't mean it in a bad way, but something in my gut is telling me to be wary of you."

I stared at my neighbour who was currently staring at the ground ahead. I couldn't give him a straight answer as I, myself, wasn't too sure about what had even happened in the past few days.

"Maybe I'm just talking rubbish."

The obsidian haired boy looked up from his thoughts. He stared into my eyes, completely serious in his words.

"It's unnatural for a new trainer, like you, to have your battling mind. It's like a gift. That's what I meant by something being off about you."

I didn't know what to say. My mind replayed the ending of every gym battle so far where the gym leaders would hand me the badge with uncertain looks, saying that I had a knack for pokemon battling. It couldn't be a coincidence that Calem had picked up on it too.

"This is getting a little too serious. How about, after your victory tomorrow, all of us go to one of those fancy restaurants that you could only go to here, in Lumiose. I'll book a table at Restaurant Le Wow tomorrow, Serena recommended it."

I was inclined to agree with Calem. The atmosphere between us was starting to become tense so his suggestion was a perfect was to lighten the mood.

"Yeah sounds like a plan."

---

Most of the group had gone ahead to the restaurant that Serena had recommended with the exception of Elaine and I. She was waiting on the bed in my hired room as I was getting changed into something a little more fancier than what I was used to.

Now I had the chance to see what the commotion about my eyes was. I stared into the mirror, noticing that my dark brown irises had been changed to a deep purple colour. That must have meant that whatever happened at the power plant was real because I knew I didn't have contact lenses on.