CHAPTER 23
THE SURPRISE
'All right,' said Trixie. 'I'll choose Magmar first. Go!'
'Then I'll choose my Feraligatr. Come out and use Hydro Pump!' The Water attack greatly damaged Magmar, but he came back with Thunder Punch-an attack I did not expect at all. 'Whoa. Er, uh, Feraligatr,' I stuttered, 'use your Surf to finish Magmar off!' The tidal wave rushed over Magmar, knocking him out.
'I recall Magmar,' Trixie said, 'and will use Typhlosion, go! Thunderpunch!' Typhlosion swung it's fist around, and then plowed it into Feraligatr. While it did not knock him out, I still called back Feraligatr.
'Tyranitar, take over for Feraligatr. Use Earthquake!' I instructed. Tyranitar pounded the ground, making it crack beneath the two Pokémon. Trixie's Typhlosion retaliated with Dynamic Punch, not only doing four times the normal amount of damage, but also confusing Tyranitar.
'Take that,' said Trixie. I recalled Tyranitar and sent out Feraligatr again.
'Your Hydro Pump, now!' I commanded. The injured Feraligatr blasted water at Typhlosion, knocking him out. Thus far, I hadn't lost a Pokémon. I liked my new strategy; your opponent had to keep compensating for your Pokémon, and neither of them got knocked out fast...you always had the edge on the battle.
Trixie winced as her Typhlosion fell to the ground, knocked out. Her Pokémon was swallowed up by the red light of its Pokéball. 'As my final Pokémon,' Trixie said sullenly, 'I'll choose...Charizard.' She sent out her last Pokémon, knowing that she was going to lose this battle. My Pokémon outnumbered hers, 3-1. Out of spite, I called back Feraligatr again. I sent out Ampharos. 'Why,' she started, 'did you do that?'
I shrugged. 'Beats me, but I think that my Ampharos can beat your Charizard,' I replied.
I noticed Kamon out of the corner of my eye. He was wide-eyed, sort of in awe, but not by how well I was doing; instead, it seemed like he had seen something, like a ghost. Or something that had scarred his life, and this battle was bringing back memories of the incident.
'Ampharos, Thunder!' I said. Her Charizard took the damage, but quickly returned the hit with Earthquake. I had forgotten that he could use that. I told Ampharos to use Rain Dance.
'Tricky,' Trixie remarked. 'You thought you could lower my abilities while upping Thunder's accuracy. Nice job, but not quite good enough...another Earthquake, Charizard!' Ampharos suffered another Ground attack.
I had two choices: try to knock out Charizard in one hit, with luck, by using Thunder, or try to paralyze him with Thunder Wave. If I paralyzed him with Thunder Wave, I could get at least two attacks in. I thought about it, and then made my decision.
'Thunder,' I said. I took a breath, and then continued, 'Wave, now!' Ampharos zapped Charizard, hindering his movements. I then took advantage of the opportunity by using Thunder, twice in a row, knocking out Ampharos's fiery opponent.
Kamon was taken aback. At first, he was sort of shocked, but then he nodded, accepting my decision. What all that was about, I wasn't sure.
I retrieved my badge from Trixie, and then proceeded out of the gym. On our way back to our hotel, I turned to Kamon and asked, 'What was up with all of the facial expressions back there?'
'Hm? Oh, nothing. Don't...don't worry about it. I think I just realized the difference between you and me,' Kamon replied in riddle. Puzzled, I asked what he meant. 'I told you, nothing. Don't lose sleep on it.' We walked on, back to the hotel.
* * *
Drew took a breath.
"What happens next, daddy?" the little boy inquired of his father, eyes gleaming.
"Well," Drew said, shifting his legs. "What happens next I didn't know happened until much later on..." He continued:
* * *
Carly walked over to Kamon, who was reading the newspaper. 'Kamon?' she said. 'I need to talk to you about something.'
'Fire away,' Kamon said, eyes not moving from his paper.
'Well...' Carly started. She took a deep breath, and attempted to continue. 'What I need to tell you is-now, you can't tell Drew!'
'All right. Continue.'
Carly gulped, and then spoke again. 'I'm pregnant.'
'Congratulations.'
Carly scowled at Kamon. 'WHAT!' she yelled. 'How could you say this!!! It's horrible.'
'Oh. Then, I'm sorry that you are pregnant. Who's the father?' Carly didn't reply. Kamon thought about it for minute, and then threw down the paper. He jumped off the couch, turned around, and exclaimed, 'Holy shit! Drew is the father!?' Carly nodded. 'Damn...well, this is interesting.'
It was at this moment when I came back into the hotel room, returning from the grocery store. I looked at the scattered papers all over the floor. 'Uh, why is the newspaper all over the floor?' I asked.
'Nothing, no reason,' Carly said, and then ran into the bedroom, locking the door behind her.
'What was that about?' I questioned Kamon.
He sighed. 'She told you already; don't worry about it.'
'You've told me that a couple too many times already.'
Kamon smiled. 'Well, it's good advice.' He slapped me on the back, and then picked up the paper. 'Anyway, we got to get going. Our next stop is Pummelo Island, where Pummelo Stadium is. It's where we get to battle to Orange League Champion.'
Carly came back out with her stuff. She was crying. I asked her what was the matter, but she wouldn't tell me. I gave up.
We left for Pummelo a few moments later. It was our final challenge in the Orange Islands. The only thing that stood between us and facing Crystal, once again.