Let me introduce myself

A cacophony of sounds is going around my ears, piercing through my plugs and thumping against my skull

I can hear music playing all around me but yet it is drowned by all the constant talking and shouting by the people within the stadium, I wasn't about to get annoyed by all this noise though, they were just simply... frustrated

I shuffled within my seat but I almost elbowed my drink from the cupholder. It wouldn't have mattered either way, there's only a single drop of it left

The show hadn't even started and I already drank it all up and the drink was large. The show was supposed to start half an hour ago but it hasn't shown any signs of starting yet

The person that sat in front of me stood up, it was a man and he gestured to the seats beside him. Two groans came and a pair of kids stood up as well, probably his children

They moved away from the seats and headed for the exit, some saw them leave and followed their example too

I sighed. Some fans they are, I still have a thing to do tomorrow but if I have to wait for hours and stay here all night, I would

A small smile enters my face and I adjust my earplugs a bit. I waited for the show to start for a few more minutes but more people are already leaving

When I adjusted my earplugs again, I overheard a group of girls behind me are planning to leave soon as well .and just about as they all got up

The whole stadium blacked out

All the lights turned off and the music had stopped, leaving only the bright flashes of people's phones and the chains of curses that followed the blackout

"Did some electric type do this!?"

"What's happening???"

"Is this part of the show? Is he finally going to appear!?"

Although the music had stopped, the crowd's voices only got louder. I blinked away the confusion and turned on my phone

I went to check if the local gym had sent any text about a blackout but nothing was there except for some old announcements

My brows furrowed and checked the internet if there was any news, because a big event such as this would surely have prepared for cases like blackouts but as I entered the first few letters in the search engine, a series of shouts erupted

"Th-the water! It's turning red!"

I snapped my head to the center of the stadium where a big pool of water can be seen glowing bright red

"What...?" My body seemed to stop as I stared at the blood red water

I tried not to panic but it's hard not to when you can plainly see something hard to believe right in front of you

Multiple questions flashed within my mind. Is this the opening performance? A prank? Something Pokemon related?

I focused my eyes on the waters and they narrowed as I saw a figure floating at the center

My eyes widened and I frantically used the camera on my phone and zoomed closer to the figure

I-it it is

"Wallace!!!" A person screamed

Everyone gasped and pointed at the figure floating in the center, they took out their phones as well and started to film

My hands started to shake as I held my phone to stare at him, his eyes were closed and his face showed a neutral expression

My immediate thought was that he died and his blood had turned the water into red but that was simply impossible

The stadium is enormously big and the pool of water within it took up almost all of the space, leaving only little room left for the stands

I zoomed closer and I saw a faint shadow below the depths of the water moving closer to him. My breath slowed and I turned the camera into the shadow instead

It circled around Wallace and got closer and closer as it made a full rotation until the shadow is just above Wallace

Then the water exploded and all the light suddenly turned on all at once. My eyes burned from the sudden flashes and I'm forced to close them for a moment

When I opened my eyes again, I did not see the blood red water but I instead saw a shimmering blue one

I snapped my neck in every direction of the water, searching for Wallace but I saw nothing. I looked around myself for guidance but everyone had the same reaction as me

Until someone pointed up

I followed their fingers and craned my neck to look at the sky. Wallace is above the stadium, somehow flying with a serpent like pokemon with his side

Together they floated in the sky with grace as they spun around each other. The serpent like Pokémon, Milotic, produced water in its mouth and formed rings with them

The pair flew through one and Milotic produced more and more and filled the skies with rings of water

I clenched my phone, then the pair fell down the sky and the rings of water followed them, turning into drops of rain as the pair splashed back down and produced a massive wave

It crashed into the stands and drenched the unlucky people that sat at the first few rows. The self made rain went down a second later and splattered on top of our heads

"Ah" A gasp escaped my lips and my mind froze for a little bit before finally realizing what had just happened

I quickly pocketed my phone to protect it from the rain. Then I looked around to take in the reactions of everyone else

They were almost the same as me, widened eyes and mouths opening a bit although some were shouting and clapping loudly as cheers erupted from the crowd and chants of Wallace's name

I looked at the man himself and he's floating lazily in the water with a huge smile on his face

I took off my earplugs, having no use for it if the sound is still too loud even with them on. I winced when I took off the other one and the pure volume of the crowd's adoration struck me instantly

I grit my teeth but made no moves to put the plugs back on, letting the crowd's shouts and cheers shower me along with the rain

Wallace appeared very late and appeared out of nowhere but with just one single moment, he managed to fully catch everyone's attention

It was only the start of the show but he had enraptured everyone already

I too am enraptured but not by him but by the crowd's cheers. Yes, he was absolutely amazing and fabulous but the crowd's cheers sounded like music to me

It sounded beautiful and I wished I could keep it forever but those cheers were not meant for me but for Wallace

I opened my eyes and looked at him again. He's riding on top of Milotic now and went to the sides to retrieve a mic

That is the man I aspire to be and the man I wanted to overcome

I'm glad I waited and did not leave

_________________________________________

The sun had begun to rise, announcing a new day and for morning to begin

I was already up, having not slept the entire night with Wallace's performance still within my mind

My battle with Wallace is still scheduled later in the afternoon so I still have time to calm myself down before the actual fight even started

Releasing my starter from his ball, I started to make breakfast and we reviewed our tactics for the upcoming battle as we ate

In order to achieve the same level of extravagance as Wallace, everything had to be perfect

After we ate, my starter and I did some light training and rested up. Soon enough, afternoon cane

I returned my starter back to his ball and walked straight to the gym. A receptionist greeted me as I went in and asked if I wanted to register

I shook my head and grinned "Nope, I'm here for my battle!"

_________________________________________

"Deep breaths..." I muttered to myself

I stood at the edges of the gym's arena. The arena itself is mostly water with small platforms of dirt randomly placed throughout the water

There were stands around the arena and a few already occupied the seats with many people coming in to to watch

So this is what it feels like to have an audience...

It's rather intoxicating to be in front of so many people. Wallace is that popular afterall

Speaking of Wallace, on the opposite side of the arena, he faced me as he stood with a slight smile on his face

There doesn't seem to be any noticeable tiredness in his face even after performing for a large group of people yesterday, it's as if the show hadn't even happened

I had my initial worries about him being too tired because that would totally ruin my plans. Turns out, such worries are unnecessary, Wallace wouldn't be tired from just that after all

I glanced at him and he waved at me. My heart thumped loudly and I just wanted to scream, being this close to Wallace is not safe for my nerves

"Shall we begin?" He asked

It was hard not to fanboy Wallace right there and then but I calmed myself down "Y-yes"

Wallace smiled again and gestured at the referee who nodded

"This battle is a 1v2 between Andrew the challenger and Wallace the gym leader, the gym leader shall present his pokemon first, killing shall not be allowed and failure to comply, you shall be stripped off of your trainer's license, Begin"

With a rather bland start to the battle, Wallace threw a ball into the water and with a splash a Lotad appeared

I grabbed my Pokemon's pokeball within my hands and prepared to throw it but Wallace interrupted me first

"Allow me to formally introduce myself!" He yelled

"I AM WALLACE" He struck a pose and reached out his hand towards me

"SHOW ME!" He yelled again

"Show me the power you yield with your Pokemon! And I, in return shall present you with a performance of illusions in water by me and my Pokemon!"

As he yelled, the people in the stands cheered and squealed at him

Even with a few people present when compared to the crowd at the stadium, he's here trying to put up a show, blurting out words that a normal person might be flustered to say but he's here shouting them

I gripped my starter's pokeball and shouted in turn

"OF COURSE! LET'S GO RALTS!" Despite the burning heat in my face, I still yelled as I threw Ralts' pokeball into one of the dirt platforms

The pokeball bounced into the dirt and Ralts popped up, glaring at Lotad in the water

This is our moment to shine and I couldn't just let anyone outshine me, not even Wallace!

Wallace's smile widened as I matched his enthusiasm "Go forth Lotad!"

In the waters, Lotad is quick and fast, quickly reaching up to our side of the field in a matter of moments

The Lotad circled around Ralts and gushed out a torrent of water

However, my starter simply moved to the side and easily dodged it while shooting out a beam of psychic in retaliation

Lotad avoided it as well but Ralts produced more and more beams

The beams in itself are narrow in size but it is lightning fast! It pierced into the waters, aiming for Lotad but the Lotad surprisingly dodged them all

He then popped out of the water and instead of releasing a torrent of water. This time, he sprayed hundreds of bubbles directly at Ralts

The bubbles however were easily pierced by the psybeams and popped them all up

Lotad and Ralts exchanged more attacks with each other but none so far have successfully hit

I looked at Wallace, he hadn't given out a single order so far other than for Lotad to get moving

He was seemingly content at letting this play out without interfering

The same could be said for me too

I looked back at the battle and saw that no attacks have still hit either pokemon

Lotad was simply too fast. I've seen their speed after seeing the videos of Wallace's battles and contests online but seeing it now, made me sure of one thing

Psybeaming is useless with that speed and so it was time to shock them all!

"Ralts!" I yelled out, catching the attention of my starter and also everyone else

I delayed what I was going to say as a grin slowly crept up to my face, weeks of preparations were put into this and it is now finally the time to execute it!

"Lift him up" I said, calmly

Lotad croaked after being suddenly gripped by an invisible force, he is slowly rising above the water despite all of his struggles

Ralts knew what to do next but he is just standing there with outstretched hands, waiting for me to give the magic word

With my grin full on display, I shouted

"LAUNCH HIM!!!"

With all the eyes present on Lotad, he suddenly flew out of everyone's view and soared up high towards the ceiling

"Let's show them a light show!" I pointed at the flying figure of Lotad and beams of psychic followed

Lotad could dodge the psybeams underwater because of their high speeds but what happens if they're out of water?

How could they hope to dodge this!?

The first few psybeams hit the intended target, announcing the first attacks that actually hit on the battle

More and more beams were already coming to Lotad's way as Ralts produced more, never stopping as long as Lotad is in the air

The quickly increasing amount of psybeams resulted in a barrage of colors that reflected upon the arena's water's surface

It was a brilliant scenery that burned inside my head but all beautiful things must come to an end as the water's colorful surface rippled as Lotad's body came crashing in and made a splash

The arena fell silent

Lotad's body was floating on the water's surface, unresponsive

Multiple dots of colors spread its entire body, the only evidence that it was ever hit by psybeam

I made sure Ralts kept the damage of psybeam minimum as it's entirely overkill to swarm the poor Lotad with countless beams

When I thought the whole arena would stay quiet, a single clap caught my attention

"Bravo!" Wallace exclaimed "That was simply amazing!" He continued, clapping slowly in a pattern

As he praised me, the people followed him and clapped for me as well. FOR ME!!!

I looked at Ralts, and he glanced back. He had a slight smile on his face that's usually rare to see

We did the first step of our plans but it-

"It's nice to bask in the glory and all but it's not over yet!" Wallace reminded me

He returned Lotad back to his ball and reached out for a new one

"You have proven to me that you have both the power and elegance" Wallace smiled "Therefore! It is only right for me to fulfill my promise"

It's here...

"I thank you Lotad for allowing me to see this trainer's prowess. Rest well and come out, Marill!"

With a flash of red, the second stage pokemon. Marill, appeared with a grin in its face

It's bigger than the normal Marill and the water type knew it all too well as it didn't even hesitate to show off and flex it's muscles

I frowned a bit. It wouldn't be weird if it's just a tall Marill but the fact that it has muscles surely is

Wallace doesn't train his pokemon that way. He's more focused on elegance and moves, so why does he have a buff Marill in his team?

I exhaled a deep breath and looked at Wallace. He smirked at me, still not ordering his Pokemon to move

I stood confused there for a few moments but then it clicked. This is what I'm aiming for!

Usually, Wallace would only summon first stage pokemon to fight against someone with no badges, especially to me who has only one pokemon

The same could be said for all gym leaders but there are cases where they showcase some of their stronger pokemon to those they find fitting. It is a challenge and Wallace here is challenging me!

I took a deep breath again. This wasn't the time to be amazed by my own greatness, there would be plenty of time later for that

I grinned and yelled at Ralts "Psybeam!"

Ralts swiftly executed my command and three beams of psychic flashed from his hands

Wallace smirk turned into a grin and before the psybeams could hit, Marill jumped into the air and avoided them

"Confusion! Bring him down"

"Aqua jet!"

Our orders were quick and our pokemon tried their best to perform them

Ralts raised his hands, aiming to slam Marill back down the dirt platform where Marill once stood

Marill however coated himself in water and dashed through the air before Ralts invisible grasp could hold him down

Marill quickly closed the distance between him and Ralts and it looked like he was gonna reach him before Ralts finally managed to hold onto him with confusion and threw him down the water

"Psybeam" I quickly said and Ralts released another three beams of psychic and struck Marill before he could orient himself

"Again!" I said and more beams came for Marill

"Block them then Aqua jet again!"

With a casual swipe of his tail, Marill tanked the hits with it and rushed at Ralts again with aqua jet

"Slam!" He managed to get near this time for an attack and his body glowed with aqua jet still going on

"Double team!"

Ralts split into two and the twins avoided Marill as he crashed into dirt. They then pelted him with psybeam but some were blocked by Marill's tail

"Tail whip!" Wallace said and Marill whipped his tail around him and hit the two Ralts

His tail passed through one of them as they fizzled out of existence and the remaining Ralts was grabbed by Marill's tail

"Ralts! Teleport hurry!" I shouted but it was too late

Marill slammed him into the ground and jumped at the sky again, far higher than before

"Roll away!" I yelled and with a groan, Ralts rolled his body to the side

Marill dropped down and crashed against the platform, leaving a crack to where he is standing

"Catch him again, Tail whip!" Wallace said and Marill spun his tail again

"Stop it! Confusion"

As the tail whipped to Ralts, it didn't get far before it was stopped by confusion. Marill strained himself, trying to brute force himself out of the psychic hold

"Aqua tail" Wallace urged and Marill's tail is suddenly covered with water

Ralts confusion staggered for a bit but he held and did not relent to the tail. He swept it to the side and fired a psybeam towards Marill's eye

Marill yelped as he clutched his eyes and Ralts used the opportunity to fire more psybeams

Ralts dodged Marill's tail as Marill frantically swiped his tail all around him

"Calm down" Wallace voice came to soothe the water type and he stopped swiping his tail and opened one eye to glare at Ralts

"Good, aqua jet!" Wallace smiled after Marill gained their composure

Marill let itself be covered by water and exploded into action with a gush of water behind him

Ralts is standing on the edge of the platform, just one step behind and he would fall into the water and if he were to be hit by Marill. They'd both be plunging into the waters but Ralts is still not moving

Marill dashed in front of Ralts and raised his fists to strike but as he prepared to crash onto him. Ralts disappeared

Marill cancelled his aqua jet but it was too late now. His momentum carried it far and he fell into water

Psybeams appeared to strike him as Ralts reappeared on top of another platform

Marill dashed again towards Ralts using aqua jet but as he neared, Ralts teleported yet again, striking the water type with more psybeams

Marill didn't seem to be affected much by the psybeams though, quickly using aqua jet to catch up with the tired Ralts

The continuous use of psybeams are catching up with him and coupled by the teleports, he's nearly spent

"Aqua jet!" Wallace yelled again

It is the fifth time they used aqua jet and unlike Ralts, Marill did not look spent at all. Marill widened his grin and rushed up to Ralts who stood there, gasping slightly for breath

Ralts raised his arms and fired off a psybeam but Marill took the hit as always and not even a mark was left where it was struck

There was no use dodging this one, if Ralts uses teleport one more time he'd be too exhausted to attack, but frankly, he didn't need to

When Marill is about halfway to Ralts. Aqua jet suddenly sputtered out and the water type crashed into the water

I smiled and watched as Marill tried to aqua jet out of the water again only to fail

There was a reason as to why Ralts attacks were so weak and it's not just because it was overkill to swarm enemies with full powered beams. In the first place, they never were meant to damage his opponents, but to confuse

"You can do it Marill! Aqua jet" Wallace cheered on his pokemon and the crowd cheered alongside him

'That wouldn't work!' I grinned

Marill forced himself to form an aqua jet and its actually successful this time, he moved towards Ralts and yelled out their name

My eyes widened and I shouted at Ralts to get away but it's too late

His fist shined red and the surrounding water turned red because of it, he struck the unmoving Ralts and I stared in disbelief on how he managed to power through the confusion

Just kidding

As Marill crashed into 'Ralts', 'Ralts' fizzled out and he went through it, crashing into the ground instead and coming face to face into the actual Ralts

Ralts smiled at Marill with his horns glowing purple light

There is actually another reason why Ralts psybeams were so weak and that was because Ralts isn't actually focused on special attacks but on physical instead

Wallace's eyes widened, the only time I saw him being surprised at our moves "Marill! Get back!" He shouted

However, It was too late

"Zen Headbutt" I calmly say and Ralts strikes Marill with his head, knocking back Marill for a few steps

There was no stopping the onslaught about to begin

Ralts fist glowed bright purple and punched Marill straight to the gut, Marill tried to punch back but he missed and let himself open to another punch

"Tail whip!" Wallace shouted but Ralts grabbed Marill's tail with confusion and kicked them to the ground before it could happen

Marill tried to spit out a gush of water at Ralts but Ralts simply moved his head a little to the left and dodged the attack completely

Ralts then pounced on top of Marill and repeatedly punched their face until nothing but the repetitive strikes of his punches could be heard

Marill tried to raise his fists and threw a punch at Ralts but it was just swept away with confusion like nothing and Ralts continued on punching

Fighting using physical power is simply useless against psychic types

Wallace, seeing his pokemon not being able to do anything but be beaten up, sighed and said "I forfeit"

"Gym leader Wallace has forfeited, victory goes to the challenger!" The referee concluded and the audience slowly realized it was over and claps came to shower me as praise flies my way

I exhaled a huge breath and bathed in that shower of glory. I ran up to Ralts but I forgot the arena is filled up with water and I fell down

I yelped as cold water soaked my entire body and I quickly swam up to the surface

I smiled at Ralts who stared at me blankly before disappearing and he appeared on top of my head, the sudden weight almost made me drown again but Ralts helped me out and teleported again, one last time

We appeared back on solid ground that I was standing in before. Ralts collapsed within my hands despite me being soaking wet

I smiled and hugged him tightly "We'd done it buddy" I softly whispered while glancing at Wallace

He's smiling at me, he notices my gaze and gestures for me to come

The water is draining slowly and a new platform is moving up to form a bridge between us. I first returned Ralts and walked towards Wallace who held an item within his hand

"I'm impressed" He started "You've crafted quite a beautiful performance, masterfully tricking even me! Oh that was glorious!" He laughed

Oh my gosh. Wallace is praising me!!!

I wished I could record this but I pinched the side of my thigh and forced out an answer

"I learned that from you" I grinned

He returned the grin and continued "You have proven yourself worthy of the Rain Badge. Accept it." He handed me the gym badge and I raised it up high for all the people to see

They cheered once more and I stored it carefully on my badge case

"There's more, you'd also gain the TM Water Pulse. Another move you can add to your arsenal to confuse your enemies like you did to mine" He gave me a disk

"Also, please give me your pokenav" He asked

"Ah, wait" I checked my phone for my pokenav and handed it to him, he took out a scanner and did something as a bell like sound ringed from his scanner

He nodded "I also added 1,600 pokedollars to your account"

I thanked him for the money and he raised his hands for a handshake. This took me a few more pinches to my thigh before I could even raise my hands

"Good luck on your journey, challenger Andrew, I'll be looking at your future performance for sure" Wallace said, winking

I paused a bit to process what he told me but before I could he dropped the handshake and left

Did Wallace just say he'll be watching my gym battles from now on?