"Flora, will you marry me?"

Her eyes teared up and she covered her mouth, which I was sure was hung open. The tears that had formed streamed down her face. She was overwhelmed, but who could blame her?

It took longer than expected for her to reply, so I panicked a little bit. "It's fine if you won't... It's only been a few months and all..."

"No," she said.

I about collapsed on the spot. Shot. Down. I shook as tears of my own formed.

"I mean..." she corrected herself. "I mean 'no,' it isn't too early." She smiled with her tear stained face. "Yes, I will marry you."

My emotions did a complete flip. I was sling-shotted to a feeling of ecstasy. "R-really?!"

"How could I say no?" Her lips pursed a little. Her expression softened, and she held out her hand palm down.

I removed the ring from the shell and slipped it on her finger. She laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"It's on the wrong finger you doofus."

I cringed and then switched the ring over to another finger.

"Try again."

I switched it one last time.

"There you go."

I stood up, red as a rose, and the pressure in the air finally fell of my shoulders. I still felt that I had to do something though. I stepped forward and took my hand around her neck. I closed my eyes. I pressed my face forward and our lips connected. I could feel tension at first, but she relaxed and it finally hit me that I had done it. My dreams had come true: Flora was going to be my wife.

We held it there for a few more seconds, but then, as if communicating without words, we both released simultaneously. We opened up our eyes to find ourselves gazing thoughtfully at each other.

I grinned from cheek to cheek and used my hands to motion down an imaginary red carpet that lead to the gym door. "Shall we?"

She nodded, and I walked her arm in arm towards the door. When we got close enough I got the door for her.

"I want you to go first," she said. "I'm still a little frazzled."

"Alright, no problem! I'll be sure to weaken him a little for you," I said with a wink.

She rolled her eyes, but couldn't hide the smile creeping across her face.

-----

"And for you two love birds, I'll start with Luvdisc." The strange blue haired man dressed in a flashy white, green, and blue suit pulled out a pokeball and tossed it forward. Out popped a heart shaped fish that jumped straight into the water below.

I smirked. "Go, Gyarados!" My huge blue water serpent made a splashdown into the watery field below, creating waves that moved around the ice platforms.

"Luvdisc, use Sweet Kiss!" The gym leader's pokemon blew a kiss which took a pink and bubbly form, and shot it at my Gyarados.

Gyarados effortlessly dodged it, and it became my turn. "Use Whirlpool!" He dove into the water, tail eloquently following his head in an arc, and seconds later the middle of the field started to exhibit rotation. The rotation speed increased quickly, until the whole field was in a spiral. The ice platforms that had been placed for the non-swimming pokemon were dragged down into the whirlpool, like little white boats. "I don't care how fast your Luvdisc is," I said with a smirk to Wallace. "Its tiny body is going to be completely overpowered by the force of my Gyarados."

Surely enough, the small pokemon was also pulled into the current and disappeared under the waves. "Oh, Whirlpool. That's a difficult hidden machine to come by in these parts. Now, even if your Whirlpool does indeed suck in Luvdisc, how do you plan on beating her? She's a water type pokemon as well you know, so she won't take much damage."

"Gyarados knows not to let the attack stop until the opponent is finished, and has been specifically trained to be able to hold the move for extended periods of time. It's just a waiting game now."

A few minutes passed. Neither trainer was able to issue commands to their pokemon as long as their heads were underwater. Finally, the Whirlpool lost power, and the ice quickly floated to the top. Seconds later Gyarados surfaced, and the fainted Luvdisc emerged.

Wallace returned his pokemon. "Very well, looks like I'll skip to my trump card. Milotic, show him your beauty!" A tan serpent, scaled at the bottom, dove gracefully into the water, then poked its head out. He smiled. "Milotic is too big and powerful for the same trick to work on him. Get ready to lose!"

"Twister," we both commanded in unison. Out of the pokemon's mouths burst powerful, rapidly spinning currents of air, which rotated in different directions and collided. Although we were indoors, wind started blowing all over the place, and I gripped my hat to keep it from flying off.

I looked over to Flora in the stands. She was holding the sides of her head in an attempt to control her hair's flight, and was looking downwards away from the battle. Sorry Flora, but it looks like this battle is going to be a little energetic.

The two tornadoes broke each other apart and the wind settled.

"Crunch," I commanded. Gyarados charged right at the opponent and managed to land a bite on him. It did apparent damage, but Wallace was not worried at all.

"Allow me to show you how futile your battle is! Milotic, use Recover!" Milotic glowed, and in a few seconds the wounds had almost completely healed.

Recovery... Dang it. Only way to handle that is to brute force it, and that becomes a problem for a pokemon with as much endurance as Milotic.

"Milotic, use Ice Beam!" A bright blue beam shot out of Milotic's mouth like lightning and struck Gyarados. It must've not been my lucky day, as it managed to freeze Gyarados in a block of ice. "Dragon Tail!" Milotic did a flip out of the water, and his tail came slamming down into my pokemon, shattering the ice and knocking him out.

"Return Gyarados."

"Is that it?" Wallace taunted me. "I still have four more pokemon left you know?"

"What a coincidence. So do I."

-----

"Alright! I did it Flora! All eight badges!" I jumped up and down in excitement.

Flora smiled. "I'm so proud of you! And I guess it's nine badges if you count the double first badge."

"What double first badge?" I said with a wink, making her giggle a little. "Well, it's your turn now, go get him!"

She nodded and stepped up the challenger's position. Her smile faded and she got incredibly serious.

"Go, Limbo!" She threw out her Ludicolo, who happily danced atop the ice.

"Once more, Luvdisc!"

"Limbo, use Sunny Day!" Limbo the Ludicolo raised its hands into the air and fired a beam of light at the sky, which went right through the glass ceiling. The clouds in the immediate area above disappeared, and it felt like the atmosphere had taken a hit too because it suddenly got much hotter.

"I see." Wallace put his hand to his chin and got into a pensive look. "Normally Ludicolo use Rain Dance to take advantage of its ability, but since Luvdisc's ability would also benefit, you didn't use it. Very well, you still won't be able to win. Use Bounce!" The minuscule pink fish shot high in the air, so high that it almost hit it the ceiling.

"Using a Flying type move was a good idea, but it puts you wide open! Solarbeam!" Without any charging, Limbo unleashed a bright yellow beam right at it and hit it head on. The opponent fell out of the air and splashed into the water, knocked out. Limbo did a happy dance atop the ice.

"Not bad, not bad. But will you be able to handle this?! Milotic!"

She gritted her teeth. She knew it wasn't going to be so easy with a pokemon that knew Recover, and must less one that knew Twister.

-----

"In the end, you managed to take down Milotic, but got stuck at Sealeo. It was a great fight while it lasted!"

Poor Flora, I never thought you'd be driven down to your last pokemon. This battle, it's too close!

"Tiffiny, use Bug Buzz!"

"Ice Beam!"

Bug Buzz hit the opposing Sealeo, but failed to do adequate damage. The Ice Beam hit Flora's Beautifly, but there was no withstanding that attack. All five of her pokemon had now fainted.

"Well, sorry to win, but it's my job." Wallace almost returned Sealeo when Flora did something that I would never forget.

"I'm not done yet. Not after coming this far." She stuck in his bag and dug around for a few seconds, then pulled out a pokeball that was completely black, except for two orange-yellow rings that ran around it. She put the pokeball close to her lips and appeared to whisper to it. There was no emotion in her actions except that of dread.

I could feel something was wrong, but couldn't tell for sure what it was, so I didn't stop her.

She threw the pokeball forward. "Go. Ninetales." Out popped a silver fox, which landed effortlessly on the floating footholds. It wore a smirk of superiority as it waved its tales behind it. It looked back at Flora and glared with complete hatred and scorn. Flora looked down to avoid its gaze.

"Oh, so you do have a sixth pokemon after all! Well, it's a fire type, so this battle is good as decided. Surf!" A wave rolled out of the water and went straight for Ninetales.

When it reached it though, Ninetales jumped over it and landed on another platform, as if it did it everyday. It looked back again at Flora, as if waiting for a reply.

Wallace seemed irritated. "You won't be able to dodge forever! Dive!" The Sealeo plunged below and concealed itself in the water.

Ninetales still didn't budge.

From below, Sealeo hit the ice and shot it into the air, knocking Ninetales off into the water. "Would you look at that! The battle is done now!"

"Fool," murmured Flora, still looking down. "Ninetales are one of the few fires types known to swim. You just got her angry."

The water started to steam around the spot where Ninetales fell in, and she resurfaced in that spot, treading the water beneath her. In rage and hatred, she blew out a massive fireball that engulfed the Sealeo, then while the flames were still dissipating hopped onto the nearest piece of ice. When the flames cleared there was a burnt Sealeo floating on the water. The water on Ninetales' fur steamed off of her body as the ice beneath her melted away. She stared at Flora with her red, beady eyes again.

"Return, Ninetales."

"R-return Sealeo. You did a good job."

The three of us stood there silently. Flora had won, but not how we originally thought she would. When I asked her later why she had kept her Ninetales hidden all the time she said that she didn't want to talk about it, and left it at that. We had won, but somehow, for some unknown reason, there was no happiness in our victory. It felt like we had lost.