Episode 2: The Red Badge of Desire

"*I'm ready and rearin' for battle, Dee! Just say the word and I'm there!*" says my Squirtle. I forgot to mention earlier, Squirtle is afraid of pokeballs since he was hit with one in the head when he was little, so he stays out of his pokeball. He usually talks on and on, but he was sleeping in my backpack the whole way here. A few moments ago, as soon as he heard the word "battle", he jumped out, overloading with energy.

"Hold it, Squirtle, we have to hear the rules first!" I cry. Squirtle obediantly calms down without hesitation.

"So, who are you, apart from another victim of myself?" mutters the gym leader with bone-shivering coldness. Simply by hearing his voice, I receive a bad image of him. His face is in shadows, and he reminds me of Giovanni from the TV show Pokemon, an animated kiddie version of the Ash Ketchum biography. Maybe he's the leader of the Serpent Squad...nah, couldn't be. Serpents are the rival gang of Team Rocket; in other words they hate each others' guts. The Serpents don't strike often, and they're not well known, in fact, I only know about them because my father is an ex-member of Team Rocket.

I swallow the large lump of fear in my throat and reply in a cool tone, "I'm Deena Greenwater of Air City. I would like to challenge you to a Pokemon battle, if you please." What am I doing? This is suicide! Wait...water beats fire...I can beat him, Squirtle can beat him...still...this is suicide!

Squirtle gives me a reassuring, "Squirtle squirt!", lifting my spirits and giving me enough courage to abolish the thought of losing.

A judge walks to the edge of the stadium, yelling, "Two pokemon each, no time limit. Let the battle begin!"

"Rapidash, horn drill," says the leader in a low voice, throwing a pokeball into the stadium.

"Alright Squirtle, go on and show 'em how it's done, buddy!" I say, adding on more confidence to his overly confident self.

"Squirtle!" he says, running into the center of the battle area. Out of the pokeball appears a horse-like creature, Ponyta.

"Squirtle, withdraw, then water gun!" I command. Squirtle tucks himself inside his protective shell, avoiding the Ponyta's lethal horn attack. He then retaliates with a water gun, soaking the fire-type with it's weakness: water. The Ponyta, dazed by the attack, stumbles a bit, then regains its balance, and blasts Squirtle with a Fire Spin.

"Jump, now! Then tackle!" I yell, now almost completely sucked into the excitement of the battle. Squirtle jumps over the fire attack, and for a brief moment he looks like he's flying. Finally, he lands on Ponyta, tackling it from the air. Ponyta, still a little dazed from the Water Gun earlier, faints from exaustion.

Surprisingly, the gym leader isn't dissapointed. I see him smile an evil grin, which in turn sends chills down my spine. "Return, Dash. You have served me well." He then turns to me, "Deena, I see you have some talent after all. Although not enough." I simply stare, not knowing what to think of him. Then I notice Squirtle looking at me with a slightly confused and frightened look on his face. I smile at him, and send him a reassuring wink, hoping to cheer him up.

He smiles back nervously. The gym leader throws in another pokeball, this time muttering, "Houndour, Bite." Squirtle runs for it, but despite his efforts the dog-like pokemon somehow managed to chomp on my poor pokemon's blue tail.

Squirtle wails a loud "Squirtle!!!" and runs around to try and get the Houndour off him. "Squirtle, that won't work! Try using Tail Whip!" I do understand the attack usually doesn't do much damage, but this time there was an exception. Whipping his tail with all his might, Squirtle managed to throw off the devilish doggie from feasting on Squirtle's delicate tail. "Alright, now use Water Gun! Aim for its mouth!" I yell. Usually fire types breath their worst attacks from their mouths...talk about bad breath. Extinguishing the Houndour's flame could be an instant win for my team.

Squirtle keeps hosing the fire pup down with his infamous water gun. "Keep it up, you're doing fine!" I say, my fingers crossing in hopes of a quick victory...

*after the match, Dextra's POV*

Deena won the battle. The poor little Houndour couldn't take the force of Squirtle's Water Gun, and soon collapsed. Squirtle and Dee were too busy celebrating their victory to hear the gym leader muttering, "We shall battle again, Deena of Air City. Here you recieve if your heart desires enough. You've proved yourself worthy this time...but wait until you get to the big leagues...it won't be all fun and games then...hehe..."

*Next Episode: "What's in a Name?"*