The Coastal Kalos Cup (part 1)
By: Bryce Daniel (copyright 2014)
"Hey, big brother," Bonnie said pointing to a poster with a huge grin on her face. "We should totally check this out!"
"'Shalour City S-swimsuit Competition'? I d-don't think we'll have time to do that this time around."
"Humph, you're just no fun."
"Eh," Ash shrugged before pointing to a poster immediately above the swimsuit flier. "But this sounds AWESOME!"
"Coastal Kalos Nobility Cup,'" Clement said reading the poster aloud.
"And look," Serena added. "It's sponsored by the Battle Chateau."
"I wonder what kind of prize they're giving out this time," Ash said excitedly.
"Another noble title, yo."
"Not you two again…" Serena said exasperatedly.
When Ash turned around, all five of his friends were staring at him. "What?"
They point to his left, and he turns his head anxiously. "AAAH…"
"Hehehe."
"…And CUT, perfect!"
"Oh, it's you, Zorua."
"Wait," Bonnie said. "That's a pokémon?"
"Bark, bark," she said with a huge grin.
"ZOR'-UA," Serena's pokedex stated. "The tricky fox pokémon – Zorua has a mischievous nature. It loves surprising people by turning into humans and other pokémon."
"Oh, you're such a cutie," Bonnie said trying to hug her, and then suddenly Zorua transformed into Bonnie. Her eyes glowed and she bared her teeth for a moment making Bonnie scream and then laugh.
"Zorua, I told you not to use Scary Face on people!"
"Oh, yeah," Ash said. "I guess I should introduce you to my friend, Luke. He's a world famous filmmaker from the Unova region."
"I wouldn't necessarily say 'world famous,' but I was invited to film this tournament."
"BARK!"
"Okay, okay, WE were invited to film this tournament."
"Bark, bark," she beamed.
"I assume you're all entering the cup, right."
"You know it," Ash said.
"Yeah, I kinda figured that, but what about the rest of you?"
"I already have a 'noble title,' yo, so I won't be participating."
"Neither are we," Serena said putting her hand on Bonnie's shoulder.
"Hey, I wanted to show off how cute my Dedenne is."
"De-den."
"Of course," Nico said leaning in closer to Serena, "since we're not competing, maybe I could save you a seat by me, yo."
"Ugh, no thanks," Serena said pushing him away disgustedly.
"You know, I actually hadn't put much thought into this… but it seems like a logical enough way to test my new battle strategies."
"Of course, we know who's gonna win this, title, don't we, yo?"
The gang heads over to the arena for registration with Serena, Bonnie and Nico heading into the stands (Bonnie placed conveniently between the two older kids).
The event began with a general introduction of the Battle Chateau and how it's various titles work. "…And now, I'd like to introduce our special guest judge for this event – the head of Unova's 'Battle Club,' Don George."
"Thank you, kindly."
"Now, let us show the world the beauty of a battle well fought."
"Now, we'll scramble all the competitors on our board… And it looks like we have our match-ups. Good luck to all our participants."
"Hey, cool," Ash said. "It looks like I'm fighting Farrell."
"Looks like, we're up first, yo," Chester said whacking Clement on the back.
"So we start off today's event with Chester, who's here to show the power of his mighty flying pokémon…against Clement, the leader of the Lumious City Gym."
"Gym leader," Chester said. "Does that mean I get a badge too, yo?"
They touch pokeballs and head off to their respective sides. Chester calls out his Fletchinder and Clement calls out his Bunnelby."
"Hmm," Don George said. "A Fire-Flying type vs. a Ground type?"
"Technically," Lord Jacob said. "Bunnelby is a pure Normal type, but I agree this is an interesting matchup."
"Your move, yo."
"Bunnelby use Double Team."
"Please, you think you beat me with a stunt like THAT, use Air Cutter on the illusionary rats."
Fletchinder's Air Cutter effectively destroyed all the fake Bunnelby, leaving only one on the field.
"Good strategy, now, Bunnelby, use Dig."
"Why would he try to use a GROUND type move against a FLYING type," Don George asked.
"Perhaps, he has a strategy we're unaware of. He is a gym leader, you know."
"Okay, Fletchinder, let's heat things up, yo, use Flamethrower on the ground and win this cup."
Flamethrower hits the ground making the field hot and sending Bunnelby flying into the air.
"Now, Flame Charge"
"Bunnelby is unable to battle, the winner is Chester."
"Ah, big brother lost," Bonnie pouted.
"But my younger bro WON, and Ash is still in this too, yo."
"That was a great battle."
"Yes, I learned a lot from it."
Luke appeared with his camera, and Chester quipped "Bird's the word, yo."
Clement went back up into the stands and took the seat between Bonnie and Serena which sadly put her next to the object of her rejection. After a few more battles, Ash and Farrell were finally brought out.
"So Farrell, I take it you're using your Duscnoir again?"
"No, I figured you would have expected that, so I'm using my Quilladin."
"Good," Ash said smugly as they touch Pokeballs together. "Then I chose the right one for this battle."
"Quilladin, LET'S GO!"
"Froakie, I chose YOU!"
"Froakie," Serena asked. "Wouldn't Fletchinder be the better choice?"
"I don't know," Bonnie said. "But Quilladin is soo cute."
Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked down and saw her brother's Chespin looking up at her, its sparkling eyes the size of saucers. "Chess-pin."
"Huh, what? Of course, you're adorable too," she said hugging it, making its face blush in the process.
Suddenly, she felt another tap on her shoulder, and found a female Chespin looking at her adoringly.
"Wait… you're Zorua, aren't you? You're a cutie too," she said patting it on the head as her brother's Chespin's eyes went gaga.
"I see once again," Don George said. "That Ash has chosen moxie over type. That's what I admire about him, the fact that he uses an obvious 'disadvantage' to push his pokémon in new and unexpected directions."
"I shall give you the honor of first move."
"And I'll take it: Froakie, use Double Team!"
"Such a pedestrian strategy, Quilladin, dispel them with your Vine Whip."
"Keep going, Froakie! Use Double Team one more time. Now get in close and use Water Pulse!"
"Quilladin is unable to battle. The victory goes to Ash from Pallet Town."
"All right," Bonnie shouted. "Ash WON!"
"Congratulations on your victory. I shall accept my loss gracefully."
"Thanks, Farrell, I loved our battle. Your Quilladin worked really hard out there."
"Ash, would you like to say something for the video?"
"Yeah," Ash beamed for the camera. "Froakie, you were awesome!"