Sean's Torchic stood on one leg, its eyes not averting from me. It had this fierce look that struck fear into my heart. The thing literally made me freak out. But I couldn't back down, if I did, Sean would think I was a total wimp. I released Snivey from his Pokéball. He stood, proud and all.

"Torchic! Scratch!" Sean commanded.  The Pokemon didn't hesitate, it ran straight to Snivey. What should I have done?

"Snivey dodge!" I said, but Snivey was too slow. Torchic scratched him across his torso.  Snivey hissed at me. "Sorry, kinda my first time doing this." I shrugged shyly and chewed my inner cheek. Think, Jason,think. Then, "Snivey, use tackle!" Snivey nodded and charged at Torchic, Sean laughed.

"Torchic, dodge and scratch it again," Sean said, and as if by instinct Torchic sidestepped out of Snivey's attack and scratched Snivey again. "Alright! High-three!" Sean said, high fiving Torchic. As they touched, a spark ran from Sean and into Torchic.

That Pikachu's spark!

Torchic refaced the battle, if you could even call it that.

"One more, scratch!" Sean commanded again. Torchic squeaked in agreement and ran for Snivey, but stopped dead in its tracks. It squeaked and struggled, but it didn't move. I knew it would have been better if I told Sean why that happened, but this guy just battered and bruised my Pokémon, its payback time bitch!

"Snivey, keep attacking it!" I said. Snivey looked at me like I was crazy. "Go!" It complied and tackled Torchic. Torchic squeaked and chirped so much I could hardly hear Sean's many gasps. That felt good. Finally, Torchic fainted. "Yeah, we won!"

"That was great," Sean said with a golden smile. 

Seriously? I just beat your ass amd you're being all nice? How much better can you get?

He scooped Torchic in his arms and began walking to the PokéCentre right down the street.

"Wait up!" I yelled after him. I ran after him and Snivey followed closely behind. 

"You're good," Sean said as I approached him. He looked at me with some sort of pleased look on his face. I don't know what it meant, but it gave me Beautyflies in my stomach. Maybe that was the guilt eating me from the inside out.