"Roar!" Salamence roared as it appeared out of its Pokeball. It shook the entire stadium and Connor looked surprised.

My eyes were narrowed in concentration. It was Salamence's first real battle with me, and hopefully it would work well.

"Hydreigon, show who's stronger and use Dark Pulse!" Connor yelled.

"Salamence, use Dragon Breath to counter!" I called, thinking swiftly.

Two attacks, one blue, another dark purple, crashed into each other. It was a tie.

"Hydreigon, use Tri Attack!" Connor commanded.

"Salamence, use Fly to dodge!" I said.

Hydreigon's attack missed and Salamence is in the air, ready to use the Flying type move.

Salamence charged straight for Hydreigon. "Counter it with Dragon Rush!" its trainer shouted.

Since Salamence had the greater momentum, Hydreigon's attack was overwhelmed by Salamence's Flying type move, causing the dark and blue hydra like Pokemon to be flung onto the ground.

"Get up, Hydreigon!" Connor ordered.

Expectedly, Hydreigon got back up, still fit to fight.

It's tough, I thought. I will need a good strategy, but what?

"Broar!" Salamence's growl snapped me out of my thoughts. Hydreigon had hit him with a Dark Pulse attack, and Salamence was taking the attack, as if he is waiting for me to call out commands.

"Counter with Dragon Breath, quick!" I said, feeling slightly embarrassed and annoyed.

Salamence moved out of the way and launched out a light blueish beam that is surrounded by white waves.

"Use Work Up and then use Tri Attack!" Connor shouted.

Work Up? I never heard of that either!

"Use Dragon Breath again!" I called, feeling too panicky to think of other moves.

Tri Attack and Dragon Breath clashed. Tri Attack broke through Salamence's Dragon Breath and it seemed to affect Salamence a lot.

"Salamence!" I gasped.

"Roar!" Salamence stumbled a bit before getting up.

"Like my combination?" Connor asked smugly. "Work Up increases Hydreigon's attacks, and it's so obvious and you can't even guess what it does!"

Those words made me angry. I glanced at where Emily is, and she seem to mouth the words, 'don't give up' to me.

I could use Hyper Beam, I pondered on which move to counter. But if I use it too much, Salamence may get too tired... and it's not as strong as it should be. I can't be sure that Salamence that mastered it yet. He had also forgotten Flamethrower...

"Are you going to stare into space or watch the battle that I'm going to win?" Connor called out from his side of the battlefield.

I cast a hesitant look at Salamence, afraid that he was angry at me, but he had the same look of persistence on his face.

Then, Salamence seemed to notice that I was looking at him, and he gave me a look that seemed to say, Are you with me, or not?

"I am," I breathed, surprised by Salamence's actions.

"Broar!" Salamence roared - and I knew what attack to tell him to use.

"Use Dragon Breath!" I shouted.

Connor let out an exaggerated sigh. "I thought you have learned your lesson already, looks like you are just a kid who just doesn't know when to quit. Hydreigon, finish it off with Tri Attack."

As Hydreigon's attack made its way towards Salamence, who was strangely taking more time than usual to use Dragon Breath, my eyes widened in realisation.

Could it be that... Salamence is learning a new move?

"Do it, Salamence, use Dragon Pulse!" I cried.

Salamence's newly learned Dragon Pulse crashed Tri Attack head on.

Both attacks ended up in a tie, but I wasn't done. "Finish it off with Hyper Beam!" I shouted.

"Dragon Rush, now!" Connor yelled.

As the two attacks got closer and closer, the crowd held their breath in anticipation.

Like the other previous attacks, it ended up in a huge explosion. The only difference is that one attack broke through. And that was Salamence's Hyper Beam.

"Hydreigon, no!" Connor gasped, obviously taken aback.

That must be Salamence's ability, Intimidate! I realised. It must have been activated just before he used Hyper Beam, so that's why Hydreigon's Dragon Rush was weaker despite the power boost.

"Hydreigon is unable to battle," the referee announced. "Since Connor has only brought one Pokemon - which was knocked out, the victory goes to Fern from New Bark Town!"

"We did it, Salamence!" I cried, hugging Salamence happily.

~~~~

"We have come to the end of this year's competition," the announcer began. "Now, the host of this competition shall give the winner the mystery prize!"

The host - I have forgotten her name - handed me a wrapped package. I wonder what's inside.

As I walked outside the stadium, Emily ran up to me. "You did it!" she gasped. "For a moment I thought you were going to lose!"

"I guess I was lucky that Salamence learned Dragon Pulse in time," I said.

I turned around when I head the sound of footsteps. It was Connor.

"I'm sorry," he apologised. "I... shouldn't have been so mean to you. I was too overconfident, so that's why I lost."

"It's okay," I said. "But why did you only use Hydreigon - other than thinking that you could win with only one Pokemon?"

"Well," he said, hesitating a little, as though he seemed uncomfortable with talking about it.

"I-" I began.

"No, it's fine," Connor said. "I came from the Sinnoh region. When I was young, I would watch the Sinnoh league on television. Then, one particular year, one of the trainers was really strong. From what I have heard, he defeated every gym with only one Pokemon; and that was his Darkrai."

"What's a Darkrai?" I asked.

"Take a look at this," Emily said, showing me her Pokedex.

"Darkrai, the Pitch-Black Pokemon. Darkrai can cause people and Pokemon to have nightmares," the Pokedex reported.

"Darkrai is a legendary Pokemon," Connor explained. "And the trainer would win using Dark Void, a move that only Darkrai can use."

"It causes nightmares?" I asked.

"Yes, and everyone was easily defeated by it... until the trainer with the Darkrai met another trainer who was also competing in the Sinnoh league. At first, everyone thought that it would be like the other battles, but that trainer's Sceptile defeated it, which got me thinking. If I had one Pokemon that is very powerful, I would be able to win the Sinnoh league, and every other league I join," he finished.

"I see," I muttered.

"By the way, I'm curious - what's inside the package?" Connor asked.

"Time to find out," I said, opening it. Then, I saw it. It was a brownish Pokemon egg.