Chapter 7

Bye-Bye Bibarel

A heavy breath came from the bouquet pokémon as she dodged yet another Night Slash. This Stunky was sure proving to be a tough opponent. With the fall of all her teammates it was up to her to win this battle. If only Cherrim hadn't used Attract, then maybe Stunky wouldn't be so vicious...

"Stunky use Slash!" Dawn ordered.

Stunky began to run at the weakened Roserade, but luckily for Roserade she missed.

"Sunny Day!" Gardenia ordered. The bouquets of roses on Roserade's hands began to glow white then she shot the light into the sky, making the sun seem even brighter. "Follow up with Weather Ball!"

A ball of fire now formed between Roserade's bouquets and she then shot it at Stunky. Stunky was engulfed in flames, and this hit must have been critical because she instantly fainted.

"Stunky return," Dawn said as she recalled her fainted Stunky. "You did great," she whispered.

She nodded at Numel, who then walked back onto the field. Monferno gave a light grunt, saying that he wanted to battle.

"Not yet, Monferno. I need you in case Numel faints," She explained. He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms as he continued to watch the battle. "Numel use Yawn!"

Just as before, Numel let out a deep yawn, which made Roserade drowsy. "Use Rain Dance Roserade!" Gardenia ordered. The move was exactly like Sunny Day, but instead the light was blue, and it caused a slight rain. "Now use Weather Ball!"

A ball of what was now water formed between Roserade's hands, and just before she fell to the ground due to drowsiness, she shot it at Numel hitting him head on.

Since Numel was both ground and fire type, his weakness to water was doubled to where he fainted immediately. This had taken Dawn by surprise because she didn't even consider the fact that the weather would affect Weather Ball. She had originally thought that Weather Ball was actually just a fire attack and that using weather was just a way to lure her into a false sense of security.

Without a word she recalled Numel and Monferno immediately walked onto the field. Dawn took notice of the fact that Roserade wasn't asleep. "I thought Roserade would have fallen asleep," She said.

"If you noticed Dawn, Roserade had a Lum berry. Lum berries cure any status problem," Gardenia informed.

Dawn had to be really careful now. As long as Roserade kept it raining Monferno's fire moves would be weaker and Weather Ball would be water type. "Flame Wheel!"

Monferno rolled himself in a ball of fire and then began to rush towards Roserade.

"Weather Ball!" Roserade shot the ball of water at Monferno just as he collided with her.

Monferno backed away just a bit in case she tried to use another Weather Ball.

"Weather Ball one more time!" Gardenia ordered, hoping it would be the last time she would have to call a move.

"Monferno use Mach Punch!" Monferno's fists began to glow white and he hit the Weather Ball, but it had hit him enough to make him extremely weak.

The current of air that was carried with Mach Punch continued its way towards Roserade and it hit her hard enough to make her fly backwards. Both pokémon stood up, but then collapsed at the exact same time.

Lucas stood up from his spot on the sidelines and began to make his way over to Dawn as she picked up Monferno. "Hey-"

"Please, just let me be alone for a while," she mumbled as she walked out of the gym.

"She didn't even give me a chance to say anything," Gardenia said aloud.

Dawn sat on one of the benches at the battle park with Monferno at her feet. "It's my fault. If I had listened to Lucas and not gotten overconfident, we might have won," Dawn mumbled as Monferno looked up at her.

"Now who's to say that you didn't win?" Someone asked. D

awn looked up and noticed Lucas. "I thought I asked to be alone."

"You've been alone long enough."

"It's only been a few minutes."

"Actually, more like close to an hour now. I was going to come sooner but I didn't want to upset you."

Dawn didn't reply as he sat down next to her. Had it really been almost an hour? I sure didn't seem that long.

"Here," Lucas said as he handed Dawn the Eterna City Gym badge.

"What?" She asked in a very surprised tone.

"You left so quickly you didn't let Gardenia say anything about the match. When a gym leader and a trainer have a draw it's up to the gym leader to decide whether or not you get a badge. Gardenia said that even though you let your confidence get in the way she saw the true trainer in you and decided that you deserved the badge," he explained.

Dawn just stared at the badge in disbelief as a wave of relief calmed her. Monferno sensed this, and also seemed to relax. "C'mon, let's go get lunch. My treat," Lucas offered.

"You know I'm perfectly capable of paying for my own food," Dawn said as she continued to look at the badge.

"I already offered so there's no changing my mind now. Let's go. Afterwards we can start making our way to Hearthome. I already know we won't make it in a single say, but there are a few pokémon Centers we can stay at along the way."

It took a little more than two days to finally reach Hearthome City, and just as soon as they arrived a little rabbit pokémon known as Buneary rushed towards Dawn and without noticing she rammed right into her. It turned out that this Buneary belonged to one of the contest judges. She thanked the two for keeping her Buneary from running too far and then suggested that they check out the Contest Hall.

"Wow, there's so much to do here," Dawn commented as she looked at one of the billboards advertising a few upcoming events.

"Yeah, there's even a gym."

"For once I already knew that!" she said.

He laughed, looking over at her. "Okay, but do you know what type this gym specializes in?"

"Ghost type, right?" she asked.

"Correct, which pokémon do you think you should use?"

That was an easy one. "Bibarel, because he's part normal type, and ghost type moves won't hurt him."

"Somebody's been doing their homework," Lucas said in a joking tone.

"Something like that," Dawn replied as they reached the Contest Hall. She was about to say something else, when a different voice cut her off.

"I was wondering if you were going to stop by here."

Dawn looked away from Lucas and noticed that her mother was standing next to the contest judge Keira. "Mom? What are you doing here?"

"What? Can't I come visit a friend? I do have a life outside of work you know," Her mother joked.

"Wait, wait! Johanna, this is your daughter? I knew there was something familiar about you!" Keira said excitedly. She looked to the pokétch on her wrist. "Oh, darn, I have to go now. A contest us going to be starting soon, but it was nice seeing you!"

After Keira left Dawn's mother turned back around and began questioning. "So, how many pokemon have you caught?" She asked.

"I've got four and Lucas has five," she said.

"Good contest pokémon I presume?" she followed up.

"Well..." Dawn said, hesitating to reply. Of course, she would be expecting her to compete in contests!

"Let me see them," her mother urged.

"Okay," Dawn said as she silently released all her Pokemon. Monferno, Stunky, Bibarel, and her Electivire Elekible all gave their calls but stopped short when they sensed Dawn's tension.

Stunky seemed to sense Dawn's tension the most so she was the first to go up to her. "Stuuuuh?" Stunky asked.

"I see you're going for a different approach," Dawn's mother commented as she continued to look over her daughter's team. "Have you won any ribbons?"

"Actually, I kinda sorta...don't really- you see..."

"Well spit it out. It's a simple yes or no question."

Lucas watched as Dawn continued to attempt avoiding the question. He wanted to help her, but what could he say that would help? Not much came to mind.

That's when Dawn had the unfortunate luck of a slight gust of air coming from a Butterfree training a few feet away arrange her scarf just to where you could see her two badges pinned on it.

"Dawn Berlitz are those gym badges? Have you no shame?" Her mother asked in a horrified tone. "You're actually doing gym battles?"

This reaction had both scared Lucas and Dawn, mainly Lucas since he didn't expect this extreme of a reaction.

"Yes," Dawn answered sheepishly.

"Our family is not known for gym battles! We are known for being contest champions! Gym battles are so horrible!"

"But mom-"

She wasn't about to let her try and defend herself. "No buts! I cannot honestly believe you would do this! You are just like your father!"

The last comment seemed to hit Dawn hard. A few light tears began to well in her eyes since she never thought that her mother would ever compare her to her father. "I am nothing like dad!"

"You are exactly like your father! You may look more like me, but you act just like your father! You trash the family name and-"

"Stop! Just go away! Stop yelling at me! I'm not like dad!" Dawn yelled as she backed away then ran out the door, not even bothering to recall her pokémon.

Lucas started to feel his anger slowly build, but he knew that it would be bad to just yell at Dawn's mother. "I don't know who Dawn's father is," he said with an edge to his voice as he faced Dawn's mother. "But I will say this. I told Dawn to pick contests or gym battles, and that I would cheer her on either way. She chose gym battles and let me tell you, she's amazing at it. I see a potential in her far greater than many trainers I have seen."

Lucas then turned around to Dawn's pokemon and began to address them. "C'mon guys." They all then began to leave the building without hearing anything that Dawn's mother had to say.

Once outside they noticed that Dawn wasn't around. "She seemed really upset so there's no telling where she went. Monferno and Stunky, be careful but go look for Dawn. Bibarel, you can go look for Dawn. I doubt that she's gone too far, but I'll take Elekible with me."

Bibarel crawled on all fours in search of Dawn and tried to ignore the commotion of all the people around him. That's when something caught his eye. An average size female Bibarel was sitting alone below an acorn tree. "Hey, have you seen a female come by here?" Bibarel asked once he approached her.

"I've seen a lot of females come by here. You're gonna have to be more specific," She answered as she continued to munch on a few acorns.

"Um, about my height, navy blue hair color, and wearing pink and black?" he restated.

When he said his height the female Bibarel looked up and noticed how tall Bibarel actually was. Never before had she seen a male Bibarel this tall, or attractive. She didn't think she was interested in helping him before, but now…

"I think I have. How about I show you?" she asked in a slightly flirty tone.

Bibarel agreed, but didn't seem to sense the tone of her voice.

"Monferno!"

"Stunky!"

Lucas and Elekible looked to their left and noticed Monferno and Stunky. "You guys find Dawn?" he asked.

"Mon!" Monferno answered as he and Stunky began to lead Lucas to a somewhat deserted part of town.

They came upon a very tall building, and from what Lucas could see it was a deserted old chapel. At first glance it looked very old, and Spinarak webs seemed to fill every corner, but once inside it seemed very clean. It was easy to see that all the wild pokémon took great care of this place when humans didn't. At the top of the old organ was a stain glass painting of the Alpha Pokémon Arceus over the top of Mount Coronet.

But this wasn't the thing that caught Lucas' eye. Two Bibarel were standing away from one of the pews where Dawn was seated.

"Okay, I definitely understand wanting to get away, but why come here?" Lucas asked.

"I came here because I knew nobody would be here," Dawn answered as she tried to hold back her tears.

Lucas went down to where she was sitting and sat right next to her.

Dawn leaned onto his shoulder and began to lose it. Lucas put his arm around her, but it didn't seem to give her the comfort she was looking for. He turned around a bit to where she could lean on his front and so he could embrace her better. "I don't know why the things your mother said made you feel this way, but I can assure you that I think you are just fine the way you are. Whether or not you are like your father."

"No! I'm nothing like him," Dawn yelled.

Lucas sighed as he tried to think of something to say.

Nothing came to mind, so they just sat there for a while, with Dawn's pokémon surrounding them.

Other than her team it seemed that they were alone, but what they didn't notice was the little green bird sitting atop one of the organs pipes. His almond eyes kept surveillance on the two since his trainer had given him orders to keep an eye on them and report anything that could prove useful.

After about ten minutes, Natu noticed movement from the two and hoped down a few pipes to get a better view. The female had stopped leaning on the male and just seemed to be staring at him with sad eyes. Natu started following the female a few days ago, but he was unable to follow her into the Contest Hall, so he had no clue as to why she was so upset.

"Lucas, I don't think I can stay here in Hearthome. Not right now. I can come back to this gym at a later time. I don't care if we have to camp out, I just cannot stay here," She pleaded.

He nodded. "That's fine with me. We can leave whenever you want to."

"The sooner the better."

Natu watched as the humans stood up and the female began to recall all of her pokémon except the beaver. They let the beaver walk behind them with the other beaver as they left the abandoned chapel.

As they were leaving Hearthome City Lucas decided to do his best to take Dawn's mind off of everything. "So, where'd the other Bibarel come from?" He asked.

"I don't know. She and my Bibarel found me, but she seemed to be leading the way," Dawn answered as she glanced back at Bibarel and the other Bibarel. They were both walking on their hind legs and seemed to be enjoying one another's company. Though, the female Bibarel was enjoying Bibarel more than she was letting off.

"She seems to like Bibarel," Lucas commented.

"Bee!" Dawn's Bibarel called in an alarmed tone as he stopped moving. Everyone turned their attention to him and took notice of his weary expression.

"What's wrong Bibarel?" Dawn asked.

The female Bibarel took notice of what Bibarel was seeing so they both readied themselves to attack. Both of them spat a powerful Water Gun knocking whatever it was away from Lucas and Dawn.

"Hauuuuunt!" The pokémon groaned.

Dawn and Lucas turned back around and noticed a large purple ghost pokémon known as Haunter. The Haunter seemed to shake himself free of the water and then turned his attentions on the Bibarel. All Haunter wanted to do was make friends, but they had to treat him as a threat?

"Haunter!" he called as he shot a ball of black energy at the two Bibarel. The Shadow Ball hit both Bibarel, but it didn't even faze them, and this angered Haunter. "Hauntah!" he groaned as electricity began to build, and then finally he shot the Thunderbolt at the female Bibarel.

"Bibarel, look out!" Dawn ordered.

Bibarel tried to move, but fear took over so Dawn's Bibarel blocked the attack. "Biiiiiab!" he called in a very pained tone.

"Bibarel!" The female Bibarel called in a worried tone. She then looked up at Haunter with a new look of determination. Her body flashed in a white light and a giant whirlpool began to form.

The sight of the massive Whirlpool frightened Haunter, and when it hit him it was almost an instant knockout. After he again shook himself off, he made a hasty retreat.

"Bi-ab!" The female Bibarel called as she tried to help Dawn's Bibarel sit up.

"Bee," he said in a thankful tone as Dawn and Lucas hurried to find something in one of their bags to heal him.

Lucas pulled out a yellow pear-shaped berry from his bag and handed it to Bibarel. "It's a Sitrus berry. It should help you feel better," Lucas said as Bibarel began to bite into the berry.

Bibarel stood up and seemed to be feeling a lot better and this pleased the female Bibarel. Bibarel seemed to get slightly flustered as he thanked the female Bibarel for protecting him. She too got a little flustered as she tried to tell him that it was no problem.

"Well, c'mon it's starting to get really dark and I think I can see a pokémon center up ahead."

"Here are your room keys," Nurse Joy said as she handed Lucas and Dawn separate room keys. There had been two rooms left and both were only single beds so tonight they would be sleeping in separate rooms.

"I'll see you in the morning." Dawn said before walking into her room, which was across from Lucas's.

"Yeah, good night," he said.

Bibarel immediately went over to the window, where female Bibarel was and easily opened it. They said goodnight, and just before female Bibarel left she rubbed noses with Bibarel making them both blush.

Bibarel turned around and looked at Dawn who was amused by the scene. "Bibarel," he mumbled, as the blush seemed to get deeper.

"I think I know what you're going through. At first, she just seemed like a friend, but then some things happened and now you don't know what to think of her. Am I right?" she asked as she sat on the edge of the bed.

Bibarel nodded then tilted his head. How did she know exactly what he was feeling?

"I guess you could say I'm kinda going through the same thing. When I first met Lucas sure he seemed like a nice guy but now that we've been through all of this together it just seems different," Dawn said as she recalled some of the things she and Lucas had been through: two gym battles, battling Team Galactic, and what happened about an hour ago. "I don't know what to think about Lucas," Dawn mumbled as she stood up and then released her pokémon.

"Let's get some sleep okay? I know being cramped up in those poké balls can't be fun."

"Staravia!" Staravia called as she stretched her wings.

"Night guys," Lucas said as he turned out the little lamp next to his bed. He couldn't help but fell it was weird to not have Dawn in the room. He wished he was able to look across the room and know that she was there safe, but it just seemed really odd.

Dawn ended up waking up really early since she forgot to close the curtain to the window, so the light came in and woke her up at a pretty early hour. She sat up and noticed that all her pokémon except Bibarel were still asleep. "Did you sleep at all Bibarel?" Dawn asked.

"Bi," he answered as he shook his head saying no.

"You really like that Bibarel don't you?"

He nodded.

Something then came to mind: set Bibarel free.

But she couldn't do that! Bibarel was the first pokémon that she caught, but then again, she never really used him, and he would probably be happier in the wild again.

She slid out from the covers and went to look for Bibarel's poké ball. She picked it up off of the small end table then walked quietly over to him. "Bibarel, what do you want to do? I want to keep you, but I would rather see you happy. I know you really like that other Bibarel, and I don't want to come in the way of you loving another pokémon."

Bibarel just stared at the poké ball. What to do, what to do? Go and be free with Bibarel, or stay with his trainer whom he also loves? Such a tough decision.

"Bibarel, I think you should be free," Dawn stated.

Bibarel seemed to whimper a little bit before nodding his head in agreement.

The poké ball flashed a blue light that surrounded Bibarel, signaling that he had been released.

"Goodbye, Bibarel," Dawn said as she hugged her Bibarel one last time.

"Stuuuaah!" Stunky yawned as she began to wake up.

"Stunky, say goodbye to Bibarel. He's leaving us," Dawn said as she tried to not show emotion.

"Stunky?" Stunky called frantically.

Bibarel was probably her closest friend, even before she talked him into helping her stalk Dawn and Lucas. "Stuun!" She said as a few sad tears began to build in her eyes. Bibarel leaned down and gave Stunky a hug before walking over to the window.

He opened the window as he did last night. "Bibarel!" He called before leaping out the window and heading into the woods in search of his new mate Bibarel.

"I'll be right back," Dawn said before leaving the room and walking over to Lucas'. The door was unlocked so she had no problem getting in, but Lucas was still asleep.

The sound of someone closing the room's door woke Lucas up so he sat up and noticed Dawn at the door. He could tell that she seemed to be very upset, so this concerned him. "Are you alright?" He asked as he got off of his bed.

When Dawn got a little closer, he could see that she seemed to be trembling a bit. "What happened?" He asked.

"I released Bibarel," she answered softly.

"What, why?" He asked, but he received no answer. Instead Dawn just seemed to fall into him but nevertheless he embraced her, and even though she was upset he did like the fact that he was able to embrace her.

"I released him so he could be with that other Bibarel. I wanted him to be happy," Dawn finally answered.

"Well, I think you did the best thing. Even though it may not seem that way, I think it was in Bibarel's best interest since who knows if another Bibarel or pokémon will come along and like him as much as that Bibarel did."

"I guess so," Dawn replied after she backed away from Lucas. "You probably think I'm a big crybaby now," she said jokingly.

"No, in a way I think I understand what you're going through right now. My first pokémon wasn't actually Turtwig, it was another pokémon, and when I was around five that pokémon had to leave me. I'll be honest, I cried for a few days."

"What Pokemon was it?"

"Uh well..." Lucas mumbled. "That's not important! The point is, I know what you're going through, but unlike you I didn't exactly have anyone who cared about me then, you have me."

Dawn blushed ever so slightly as she thanked him.

"Okay, so onto the next topic: the next town is Solaceon, but I think what would be best is taking the shortcut to Veilstone City since a contest will be taking place there soon and if you would like there is another gym there. I think it would benefit us both."

"That sounds good I guess."

"Monferno?" Came the drowsy voice of Dawn's Monferno as he walked into the room, rubbing his eyes.

"Morning Monferno."

"So much for shortcut," Dawn said as their weeklong journey had finally come to an end.

Lucas only smiled since he was beginning to feel even too tired to speak. The strange thing was they only had been walking for about an hour now. All those nightmares had finally taken their toll, but he wouldn't' let Dawn know this since she finally seemed to be happy.

"You wouldn't mind if we just checked out the gym first would you? I know I'm not ready to challenge it, but I would like to at least check it out," Dawn asked.

"Sure," Lucas answered.

The gym was a rather large building, and in some ways it almost reminded Dawn of the Oreburgh Gym. When the two entered the gym, they noticed that a battle was taking place. "Xatu use Psychic," came the bored voice of the challenger.

Dawn and Lucas had moved to the edge of the bleachers just in time to see the psychic pokémon launch his powerful attack on the Aura Pokémon known as Lucario.

It was easy to see that the gym leader was really stressed out from this battle, so her mind was fogged and she began to order moves that weren't exactly useful. "U-use Bone Rush!"

Lucario quickly stood up and a bone of white and green light formed in his hands and he then began to run at Xatu.

"Useless," the trainer mumbled.

When Lucario struck Xatu with the bone it didn't even make Xatu move. "Sad that you have forgotten Xatu's immunity to ground based moves. Finish him with Heat Wave." The trainer ordered as her green eyes gleamed with discontent.

With Lucario at such close range, there was no way to avoid this attack. Xatu's eyes glowed and he opened his beak, releasing harsh flames. Lucario being part steel type took this hit hard and fainted.

"Well, a loss is a loss so I guess-"

"I don't wish to hear your pathetic speech. Nor do I wish to take your gym badge. When you actually fight me with all your strength, then maybe I'll consider it, but until then I'll continue to think of you as weak," she spat. "Xatu has faced tougher wild pokémon than you. You need to actually act like a gym leader, not some trainer who just got lucky with the position. Then again, maybe that's all you are," the girl said bitterly as she recalled her Xatu.

She then turned around and began to walk away, leaving the gym leader a little stunned. When she noticed Dawn and Lucas, she tried to hide her surprise. Gardevoir and Xatu never said anything about their arrival here to be so soon.

At her first glance Dawn didn't realize who the person was, but when she made the connection between the Xatu and her facial expression she realized this to be Selene.

Selene walked silently past the two, but stopped before she walked out of the gym. "How is Monferno if I may ask?" she inquired.

"Better," Dawn answered.

"That is good to hear. Oh, and I'm sorry for the departure of your Bibarel, but I assure you that you'll meet again." Selene said before leaving.

"How did she know Bibarel left?" Dawn thought aloud.

"I'm sorry, Lucario." The gym leader said in an upset tone as she helped her pokémon sit up.

Dawn and Lucas turned their attention back to the gym leader. Her Lucario grunted as he sat up on his own and began to move away from his trainer. The female with the Xatu would be punished for what she had said.

The gym leader stood up, and tried to remain calm as she addressed Dawn and Lucas. "I'm sorry, but I won't be accepting any more gym challenges today."

"That's alright, but allow me to apologize on Selene's behalf," Lucas stated modestly. "She tends to cause some kind of trouble wherever she goes."

Dawn gave Lucas a questioning look as he said that. How could he say that with confidence if they had only met her once before?

"Oh, you're a friend of hers?" The gym leader asked in a sturdier tone.

"Something like that," Lucas answered.

"Doesn't sound like you are a friend, but I guess that's not important. If you didn't know already, I'm Maylene and maybe tomorrow me and my pokémon will be up to battling again," she said.

Lucario crossed his arms and let out an angry grunt. Maybe the green one was right; his trainer does tend to wimp out easily. Oh well, a good battle where the opposing trainer actually fought with wisdom and pride would fix her up...