Pokemon: Midnight's Story (A Fanfiction)

Chapter 22

The battle wasn't quite over yet, though. The two combatants were still raring to go, as they stared each other down for a moment. Cinder would be the one to break their silent standoff, though.

"Huh.. I didn't expect you to really pack this much power. Not sure I've felt this even with another Pokemon ever." He spoke, as he tried to keep his breaths steady.

"Hah... Guess you shouldn't have underestimated me! ... I'm gonna win this, and show how hard I've worked to become a proper battler!" Echo declared, and it was clear that he wanted to end this.

Cinder had no problem obliging, as he then became covered in flames once again, and bursting forth at Echo. The Noibat responded in kind, as he zipped forward, glowing a light-blue. The Acrobatics and Flame Charge clashed once, then again, and again. The two energies, beating against each other, trying to gain the edge, get that decisive hit. Before then, the Flame Charge missed its mark, as Echo flipped up, before zipping downward, crashing right into Cinder, sending him into the ground once again. Echo breathed heavily as he gazed down at the ground cautiously. And as the smoke cleared, Cinder's fainted form would be seen.

"I.. did it... I ACTUALLY DID IT. I WON A BATTLE!" Echo exclaimed, his flapping becoming more ecstatic and excited.

"Let's go, Echo! Congrats! You really showed him what's what!" We were all cheering and congratulating him, but suddenly, his flapping abruptly stopped, and he'd begin falling. I'd begin to move, but.. somehow, Luke was there in a snap, catching the fatigued Echo onto his back. A few assistants that foresaw the battles would rush to the field and begin helping Cinder and Echo regain their energy with berries and herbs, the latter as usual making whoever was given them convulse. But, nonetheless, they were both eventually back in shape enough to move on their own.

Cinder would walk over to Echo, and regard him with a curious look, which seemed to have the Noibat on edge when he noticed him. The Fletchinder would then speak, breaking the awkwardness.

"Well, for someone that's clearly new to battling, you did really well. You even beat me, though I'm not crazy strong, I consider myself to be decent. I think you're gonna make a good rival, that is, if you're up to ever going up against me again sometime."

Echo's eyes brightened, and anyone could really tell what his response would be. He held out his wing, nodding with a proud grin. "I'd be glad to be your rival, Cinder! Let's both continue to get stronger!"

Cinder would give a small grin back, and shook Echo's wing with his. And, with an approving nod, he'd take his leave.

---

"Honestly, Echo, you were just awesome! That exchange of attacks at the end, it was like 'BANG, BANG, BANG!' And then the decisive blow at the end, striking him down like a hammer, whoo!!" Flora cheered, as we were all having a celebratory Pokepuff session for Echo's first victory at the café. He couldn't seem to stop blushing now, especially when Flora was hyping him up.

"Th-Thanks, Flora, heh heh..! It honestly could've gone either way in the end there, so I'm really glad I managed to pull off that win!" Echo said, with the proudest smile.

"Mhm. You did good. But, just don't let it get to your head. Remember, you still have a long ways to go before you can challenge someone like Spine," Luke pointed out, which seemed to kinda take the pep out of Echo.

"Oh, uh, right. Him..." Echo then nibbled at his vanilla Pokepuff, looking sheepish now.

"Eh, don't worry about that, Echo, you got your first win. It's nothing to not be pretty proud of. We all gotta start somewhere, right?" I told him reassuringly. And fortunately, he brightened back up.

"Y-Yeah! I'll get stronger, don't you worry!" He then took a confident sip of his Moomoo Milk drink, and looked at all of us, just beaming. "And um, I really couldn't have done this without you guys helping and cheering me on. So, thanks! You're the best friends a Noibat could ever ask for!"

We did another resounding cheer for him, and continued to enjoy our sweets and drinks. Though, as I was finishing off my Pinap juice, I glanced at Luke for a moment.

Was he.. smiling...?

[Ahhhh! I greatly apologize for the bit of delay, as important things irl came up. Nonetheless, I did my best to make good on my promise, and give you guys an update that you could really sink your teeth into! I'd also like to say that, with more ideas than I had before for the story, I'm much more open to writing side chapters for anything you readers are interested in, be it wanting to know a character more, or a simple excursion that this ragtag group of goofballs can go on! Just make sure to let me know in the comments, or even just DM me your idea if ya wanna keep it mostly secret.
With all that said, I will do my best to give you all much more of this world that I love, and I can't wait to see what you guys think of the next upcoming chapters!

With much love, Merci]