AN: battle part one. It's sort of romantic near the end (if you look for it with a microscope equipped with shipping lenses) . . . ?

Song: 'Dope' by BTS, Giratina theme

But even on vacation, with a newly found peaceful state of mind and someone interesting to spend it with, Hilbert was a trainer at heart, and the battling itch made itself known.

On the third day, after watching some live coverage of a Water-type tournament held in Humilau – there were plans to open a new gym there, plans he signed off shortly before coming here – Hilbert's mouth decided to spill out the words without consulting his mind. It might have been because he was watching TV for a little too long, and his mind was compromised. Easily possible, since the winner had used Confuse Ray and he had been intently watching, not wanting to miss a bit of the rather intense battle.

"Wanna battle?"

Immediately after he said it, he regretted it. They'd been doing fine, being comfortable (or at least he had, and she had been acting like it as well). What if she closed herself off?

And worse, what if she thought of it as something arrogant, like him wanting to show off? She already knew he was the Champion of Unova.

"Only if you don't mind or anything-" he added hastily, when he was cut off.

"Sure."

His mind blanked at the unexpected answer, in surprise and relief. When he got control of his temporarily stunned senses again, they were in the villa's battle room, facing each other. He must have gone to his room, since he had his Poké balls on his belt. Dawn carried a pillow in her arms, and the few lumps he could distinguish meant that her Poké balls were in there.

Odd way of carrying Pokémon, but honestly, after seeing Alder and his necklace of Poké balls, this was fine. Cute, actually.

"Two versus two?" Dawn suggested, and he nodded. League rules meant that as current Champion of Unova, he couldn't battle with a full party outside of the League-sanctioned building. That way, unofficial battles held outside of the League wouldn't count as a Champion match to decide the next powerful figure in Unova. Laws to prevent Champions from being attacked and mobbed and power being taken by the wrong hands did exist, although when one had Zekrom at his side, those measures became useless.

Focus, Hilbert. This was a battle, and while it wasn't one challenging him for his spot and title, it was still one he should try to be serious in. Every battle deserved serious commitment and thought.

Who to use, though? He knew that Dawn had a Lopunny. Would she use it, or a Pokémon he hadn't seen before?

"Ready?" she called, holding a Great ball in hand. Not Lopunny, who was in the pink Heal ball.

But her choice was still a mystery to him. His guess was that it was unlikely to be a Normal-type, and that was about it.

"Yes," Hilbert said, and grabbed Samurott's Poké ball. His first partner, and arguably his most versatile.

"Go!"

Samurott appeared on the field, brandishing his one sword – the other had broken a short while before he was kicked out to go on vacation, and it hadn't grown back yet. Ever the noble creature, his starter didn't even turn around to scold Hilbert for essentially neglecting him in his ball for a few days like some of his other Pokémon (read: Zebstrika) would have. The knight was here to fight, and that was what mattered.

But in front of the Samurott with the iron will and the sharpened shell blade, the fierce part of water's spirit made strong and given firm form was a ghost, round and carrying a cloak of wispy clouds around itself like a veil. Beneath its wispy cloud was taut purple ballooned into a round shape, and red eyes glinted at him like they were piercing his soul.

The temperature of the air dropped – not because of a physical chill, but from the presence of something that wasn't quite natural, for what order of nature did the undead follow? He recognized the ghost that Dawn had released. Shauntal had one of these – a Drifblim. But the Elite Four's, at least, looked like a hot air balloon. Dawn's just looked monstrous, with the wisp of cloud spilling over its body not enough to fully hide the large, bloated mass of ectoplasm shaped into a sort of physical form, or the vertical lines, almost like stitches, left across its body.

Most Drifblim he'd seen looked derpy. Even Shautal's Drifblim looked derpy. He thought Drifblim were one of those Pokémon that looked much less scary than they could be.

Dawn's, however, appeared every bit as terrifying as the stories about them made Drifblim out to be and then some. Unlike Lopunny, it had no scars from battle – ghosts didn't scar – but the eyes, old and judging, pinned he and Samurott where they stood like they were unworthy.

And it wasn't even just stoic when facing them. The yellow X mark around its mouth creased as it grinned widely, and it lifted one ribbon-like arm to drape over the toothless maw – an attempt that did absolutely nothing to hide its smirk.

Not a Pokémon he expected someone like Dawn to have. Unless she was actually a lot eviller than she was showing him.

Dawn, for her part, looked like she slightly regretted her choice. "Drifblim," she said warningly.

The ghost didn't spin around to face her, red eyes still fixed on its opponent like it couldn't wait for the battle to begin so it could pounce, but it snapped to attention at the sound of her voice and listened.

"This is a casual battle," she said firmly. "I chose you because you're the most versatile one, but don't go overboard."

Drifblim raised one arm casually to respond, but it never broke eye contact. Samurott, to his credit, did the same. He didn't tremble, or flinch. And Hilbert felt his face relax into a smile, feeling something in his heart both leap up in excitement and be satisfied at last – like being so thirsty for a long time, and then suddenly being handed a bottle of cool water.

After doing nothing for a while, his mind missed training – and now in front of him was a powerful foe. This was a worthy opponent, and that meant they had to give it their all.

They didn't need a ref to announce the start. Just simple eye contact was enough.

"Samurott, Water Oath!"

"Drifblim, Shadow Ball!"

Corporeal shadows shaped into a sphere was hurtled threateningly into Samurott's face, only for a shell sword wrapped with spelled water to cut it up into less threatening sizes.

The Water-type didn't stop there. Without needing Hilbert's command, he continued to surge forth, brandishing the shell blade in fast, exact slashes.

"Thunderbolt!"

The swords pierced the ectoplasmic hide, but instead of popping like a balloon, the blade was met with resistance and a slurping sound like it had been plunged into a pool filled with viscous glue, ready to suck whatever touched it into its depth.

In that moment, as the ribbon-like arms curled together and lightning began to crackle and generate below Drifblim's main body, both Hilbert and Samurott went over their options, and made a decision.

"Stay," he breathed, and Samurott didn't even stir, having come to the same conclusion. Instead, still gripping the sword tight, Samurott braced himself to be electrocuted. If they let go and retreated now, they lost the sword. One of the few Pokémon that liked to use tools when fighting, Samurott would be at more of a disadvantage if he was without his blade.

Of course, he was a Champion Pokémon for a reason, and trained for scenarios where he didn't have his sword gripped in his paws, enough to be able to fight well enough on his own in the case where his sword broke or was out of his reach.

But he was a Samurott – proud masters of the sword who in the past taught some of the greatest swordsmen their techniques. If the sword broke, that was understandable, but to abandon the sword was to abandon a part of himself. He would choose braving a Thunderbolt over voluntarily throwing away his sword, even for a moment.

And Hilbert would support his Pokémon's choice.

Fully charged, the Thunderbolt struck. Samurott jerked in pain and barked angrily, but he never let go of the sword. Dawn made an odd face – like one of pain and frustration – when the electricity was conducted through the sword and hit the Drifblim as well.

Shuddering from the strength of its own attack, Drifblim howled in a two-toned voice – that of a young woman's and a man's – and a dark wind began to surge around it in a malevolent cyclone.

Samurott, busy with pulling out its sword, shuddered at the malicious intent imbuing the winds.

"Ice Beam," Hilbert ordered urgently. Ominous Wind had a chance to increase the strength of the user, and any Pokémon that got hit with it didn't fare too well. "How is Drifblim holding onto the sword? I've never seen a Drifblim do something like that."

To be more specific, Shauntal's Drifblim had never done something like that. When it was hit, it was hit and opened a tear in the hide that hurt those near it by exposing them to the ghostly energy swirling inside its vacuous body. He'd never heard of a Drifblim having some kind of quicksand inside it to hold its victims in place.

"Shadow Ball! It's a Bind," Dawn said. "And not working like I thought it would right now, which is a pity."

That made sense. To Bind a foe limited their possible range, activity and choices – but it also meant that the foe was unavoidably close to the body of the binder. It might have worked a lot better in this battle if Samurott abandoned his sword, but that hadn't happened.

Sword still stuck, Samurott opened his mouth and blasted the Drifblim with a devastatingly freezing ray. At this close range, there was no chance to miss.

But Drifblim wasn't playing around.

The Ominous Wind was still stirring like a circling predator closing in, but the Shadow Ball came flying just in time to intercept the ice beam. The explosion – cold from both the ice and the ghostly energy – was chilling to those caught up in it, but both Pokémon ignored it.

"Thunderbolt, again!"

It was still too early for another Ice Beam – attacks not of the same type as the Pokémon using them took a little longer to charge up, and they'd only just used Ice Beam.

The fastest option was a Water-type move for Samurott, but water at this range when a Thunderbolt coming was dangerous. It had to be something stronger and more controlled than Scald or Water Oath.

"Hydro Cannon!"

The tendrils of lightning being generated by the wisps of cloud around the ghost had nearly finished gathering into one focused bolt when the Water-type equivalent of Hyper Beam blasted the Drifblim. Not grounded but floating in the air, it was thrown back, ripped away from its Bind on the sword, and fell to the ground, limp and halfway out of air.

A frustrated scream in the double voice shook the air, and Drifblim began to rise back up, filling itself round once more, but Dawn was faster than its revenge. "No," she said. "Drifblim, rest for now."

The Drifblim was still glaring with blood-red eyes at Samurott when Dawn returned it to its ball.

Hilbert looked at her curiously. Hydro Cannon was an exacting move that required a lot of energy. After one use, a brief recovery period of time was necessary – a cooldown time that could make or break the results of who remained standing if their enemy wasn't down. Why not take advantage of that?

Maybe it wasn't about the status of the battle, but her current state instead. She looked a little pale.

"Are you okay?" he asked, as Samurott recovered and picked up his sword.

"I'm fine," she reassured him as she put the Great ball back in the pillow case. "Drifblim gets a little . . . out of control with her battles sometimes. She won't try to kill you guys in her sleep though."

She didn't sound like she was joking. So that meant the battle was over.

Disappointed, he began to reach for Samurott's Poké ball to return him when she pulled another ball out from the pillow case – this time just a plain Poké ball. "Ready for round two?" she asked.

Hilbert dropped his hand before they could grab Samurott's ball. He lifted it, clenched it into a fist, and then placed it over his mouth to hold back the laugh.

Once he was absolutely sure he wasn't going to burst out into laughter like a madman, he grinned and nodded.

"Thank you," he said. Dawn gave him a questioning look, but Hilbert didn't explain what her presence was doing for him – how she made him feel normal, she made him feel comfortable, and how she was a great battler with powerful Pokémon who clearly loved her.

Hilbert didn't tell her what a tremendous swelling of emotions she gave him, so relieving and uplifting and comforting that he almost felt like an entirely different person.