Chapter 10: Battles And Training
"Well, that means we should focus more on training now," said Bonnie, getting everyone's attention. "I don't know why but I think Giovanni has something to do with all of this."
"I suppose you're right," said Ash, sighing. "He's such a pain in the ass."
He got up along with others and stretched his body a bit. Nodding at Clemont, who had given them the news, everyone left the house, forgetting the fact that they had gone there to eat.
"Um, who is Giovanni?" asked Cole tentatively, noticing the tense atmosphere. Everyone jerked their heads towards him, apparently, having forgotten there was someone who didn't know what had happened.
"He's Team Rocket's boss," replied Max, getting his attention. "Didn't you hear about the Team Rocket fiasco three years ago?"
"Oh yeah, I know that," said Cole, nodding. "But the news didn't say the name of the boss – either that, or I just didn't listen carefully."
"So now, we are going to have to deal with him as well?" asked Cass, raising an eyebrow at Ash who looked thoughtful.
After a while of pondering, he sighed in annoyance. "I don't think we have a choice. I have always been one of his targets so it doesn't surprise me one bit."
Cole noted how frustrated everyone – except Cass – looked. It was obvious to him that this Team Rocket was a problem that they had been trying to deal with for quite some time. He was about to ask for help when a loud growl broke the silence. Everyone turned towards Ash – Cole and Cass, shocked while the others, amused.
Some things never change. Serena chuckled. "Let's go back to our hotel. I will make something for you to eat."
Ash scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Alright, let's go."
The two said goodbye and left the remaining four trainers to themselves. Not wanting to stay any longer, Cole decided to leave as well. He too left them, waving his arm as he ran towards the Pokémon Centre. Cass raised an eyebrow at the other two, as if asking them what to do now. The two exchanged glances and then, shrugged their shoulders.
The next four hours were spent exploring and showing the city to Cass since there wasn't much to do. It was eight in the evening when they returned back to Bonnie's home.
"Thanks a lot for showing me around," said Cass, smiling at the two.
"No problem," said Bonnie, walking up to the door. "Let's get something to eat."
The other two nodded and went inside. Their dinner was a relatively talkative event as they started discussing their next move. Once they decided, Cass and Max left after saying their goodbyes. By the time they left, it was already past eight-thirty in the evening. Cass quickly walked back to the Pokémon Centre while Max went to the hospital to see how his sister's condition was.
He silently entered the room where May was assigned to. As soon as he entered, he noticed his parents sleeping to the side. It was obvious that they needed it as they hadn't been sleeping peacefully for quite some time now. Beside them, May seemed to have just woken up for she had yawned when he had entered.
"Hey," whispered Max tentatively, getting her attention.
May jerked her head suddenly at the noise and her face broke out into a beaming smile when she saw Max. "Come here," she whispered back, motioning him over.
Max felt relieved to see his sister smile as he walked over to her. "Are you okay?"
"I am, thank you," replied May with a smile. "The doctors here are wonderful, and mom and dad really helped me through this. I'm glad I have such a supporting family."
She suddenly pulled Max in for a hug, taking him by surprise. "And thanks to you as well," she whispered in his ear, genuinely appreciative.
The statement seemed to have an effect on Max as he wrapped his arms around May and sniffled into the hug, thankful that his sister was okay. The hug lasted for a while, and then, Max finally let go of her, rubbing his eyes.
"I'm glad you're okay," he said, finally smiling. May smiled back.
"They said I should be fine by tomorrow," she said, getting his attention. "If I am, I will be joining you to see the matches tomorrow."
"Are you sure that's fine?" asked Max, immediately concerned. And it wasn't just the concern for his sister; he wasn't sure how she would react if she saw Ace again. They hadn't yet been told when their matches would be but there was still a chance that seeing Ace might trigger her terrible memories – even though it was the fake Ace's deed.
"Yeah, I'll be fine," said May, nodding. "I'm itching to get out of this bed."
Max smiled at her but didn't say anything. Just as it seemed like May wanted to talk about something, the door opened, revealing Bonnie. Bonnie seemed a bit surprised to see May looking good but she greeted her nonetheless and talked with her for a while. After that, she gestured Max to follow her. Curious, Max followed her until the two were outside the hospital.
"What happened?" asked Max curiously.
"Didn't you check May's aura?" asked Bonnie, raising an eyebrow at him.
Max shrugged his shoulders in response. "What's the need?"
"You'll understand when you see," replied Bonnie, pointing towards the direction of May's room.
Curious, Max used his aura vision to glance at May. He could see her aura easily but also noticed the slight amount of red aura that was in her earlier had increased somewhat. It was hard to tell from the distance, but it seemed like Bonnie wanted him to keep an eye on that. He turned towards her and nodded.
"Alright, I got it! See you later!"
Bonnie caught his arm just as he was about to run back in. He stopped and turned around only to have a small bag shoved into his face. He opened the bag and saw that it contained his pokéballs. He chuckled sheepishly and apologized. Bonnie waved away the apology with her hand and told him to keep an eye on that red aura inside May. He nodded and left her alone as he ran back inside.
Bonnie was thoughtful as she started walking back towards her home. She thought about everything that had been happening around the city ever since they arrived there. As she thought about the slum area behind the airport, something struck her as odd about it. She couldn't quite put her finger on it but she had that gut feeling that something wasn't quite right about that area. After a while of pondering, she decided to forget about it and have a good night's rest since the next round started the next day.
With that, she quickly ran the rest of the way home and after removing her street clothes, jumped into her bed. It didn't take her long to go to sleep.
Bonnie was rudely awakened from her sleep. She slowly opened her eyes, not quite sure what it was that had awoken her. She blinked for some time, trying to get some bearings. She slowly turned to her left and checked the time – two-fifteen a.m. Groaning to herself, she sat up and yawned. Feeling thirsty, she slowly got off her bed and dragged herself to the kitchen to get some water. That was when she suddenly felt a presence in her house.
Alert, she slowly turned towards the direction where she had felt the presence and activated her aura vision, just in time to see a person getting out of one of the windows to the rear of their house – the window opened in the dark alley behind her house. Wondering who had broken into the house, she quickly ran towards the window and peered out in the darkness, barely making out a hulking shadow running away from her.
Taking only her t-shirt with her, she jumped out of the window and ran after the fleeting shadow. She followed as the shadow ran through the alleys. It didn't take long for Bonnie to realize where the shadow was heading – towards the slums. She slowed down a bit and wore her t-shirt, regretting that she hadn't bothered to wear proper clothes, since it was quite windy that night. Shivering a bit, she ran the rest of the way towards the slums. As soon as she reached there, she was about to run right through the front when she noticed two figures standing near the entrance.
Skidding to a stop, she hid behind some bushes and slowly neared them. Once she was near enough to see and hear what was going on, she stopped and peered through the bushes. The identity of those two people left her slightly shocked – it was Ace and Giovanni. For a moment, she thought that it was the fake Ace, but after confirming the aura signature twice, it was quite obvious that it was the real Ace. She quietly listened to the conversation.
"This is my final order," said Giovanni, sounding frustrated. It was apparent that the conversation had been going on for quite some time.
"I still won't follow it," said Ace indifferently, not even bothering to look in the eye as he replied to the Rocket boss.
There was a pause as Giovanni contemplated what to do. After a while, he spoke. "Well, what would it take to convince you to follow my order?"
"Give me a satisfactory reason, and tell me what I get in return," replied Ace, turning towards him.
There was another pause as Giovanni stayed silent. After a while, he asked, "Well, what if we tell you the reason later?"
"I'm fine with that," replied Ace. "But if the reason doesn't satisfy me, I'll kill you. Not that it matters really, since I'll kill you anyway."
"Watch your mouth, you shithead."
It was then that Bonnie noticed another person standing behind Giovanni. Since it was so dark, it was really hard to make out any features of the man but it was obvious to her that that was the person she had been following just a little while ago.
"Who the fuck is he?"
Bonnie turned her attention back to the conversation as Ace snapped back at Giovanni. She watched as Giovanni smirked. "He's someone who believes in the future I behold and hence, he will help me do whatever the hell I want. And for your information, he's a lot stronger than you, Mr. Prototype. So you can get off your high horse."
"I doubt that," said Ace shortly. "Besides, why don't you ask him to do the job instead of whining in front of me? He's a lot stronger than me, isn't he?"
"I would if I could," replied Giovanni curtly. "He is too huge to be called a normal human. It'd blow our cover at once."
"Well then, how about my clone?" asked Ace, glancing between the hidden hulking figure and Giovanni.
"He's too naive," snapped Giovanni with suppressed anger. "He's too pathetic to be even called an aura user."
There was silence as Ace seemed to contemplate. After a while, he sighed. "Well, I'll think about it. If I were to kill him though, it won't be until when I fight him in the tournament. Don't expect me to make a move until then."
Giovanni nodded and left with the bulky person as Bonnie tried to make sense of what she had heard. Who were they trying to kill? Ash... no doubt about it. They are after Ash. And if Ace decides to go through with the order, Ash's chances of staying alive would drop to zero. There was no way Ash would be able to escape once Ace decided to kill him. And if that's what is going to happen, I will have to train them. Maybe, I should get Max's help as well, along with Cass.
With that in mind, she started walking away from the location. But she was too occupied to realize that she had broken a twig while getting up. The noise easily carried through the silent force and Ace heard it. He turned towards the direction Bonnie was in. It wasn't until then that Bonnie felt someone staring into her soul. She froze and slowly turned to see Ace looking towards her. Deciding it was futile to avoid him, she walked out and faced him.
"So how long have you been listening?" asked Ace, raising an eyebrow at her.
"Just long enough to know that you're targeting Ash," replied Bonnie, looking him back in the eye.
"Well, it's not like I'm targeting him," said Ace, glancing away from her and starting to walk away. "I'm still wondering if it's worth it or not. So, I don't think you need to worry – not right now anyway."
With that, Ace left. Bonnie relaxed as he disappeared. After a bit of thought, she too started walking away from the slum. Just as she was about to enter the city again, she felt a really strange aura somewhere out in the forest. She could pinpoint in the direction the aura was but for some strange reason, the whole aura seemed dispersed, and what was more that the aura's colour was green, rather than the usual blue or red. She couldn't find the aura signature since she could just barely see it far away.
After pondering for a moment, she decided to investigate the aura, thinking that it would be a waste of time to go back and wear her usual street clothes. She quickly started running towards the aura source and after what seemed like miles in the dark, she finally came across a clearing which was half-covered with a lake. The whole area had a greenish tinge to it as Bonnie saw through her aura vision.
She looked around and soon saw a particularly large concentration of the green aura on a small stone that was projecting out of the ground right on the bank of the lake. She slowly approached it and was greeted by a dreadful sight. On the stone was her old friend, Squishy – as she called the Zygarde Core – and it was covered with patches that had wires inside them. She contained her urge to touch it and looked around the clearing and into the forest. There wasn't any other presence, and the wires from the patches didn't seem to go anywhere – they were just cut off after a little bit when she followed them.
Seeing that she was safe for the time being, she quickly tore off all the patches that were stuck to Squishy and held it close to her body, surprised how cold it was. Squishy barely moved and opened his eye only slightly to see her.
"Hey," whispered Bonnie, just loud enough for it to hear her. Squishy seemed to recognize her as it slowly snuggled into her arm while she held it. She let him be there as she tried to figure out what was happening to the Zygarde Core. It felt way too cold to be normal so there must have been something that could have happened to make it this cold.
She looked around with her aura vision and realized that the whole clearing was filled with too much green aura. The quantity was so much that Bonnie felt suffocated for some time. That was when she realized that Squishy must have been drained of its aura. And the aura was strong and bright enough for her to be able to see it from as far away as she did.
Suddenly, the silence of the night was shattered by the sound of footsteps. Bonnie quickly jerked her head towards the source and noticed three distinct auras walking towards the clearing. They had just about reached the clearing so Bonnie didn't have the time to run away and hide into the bushes like she would have liked to. And she didn't dare teleport since teleporting generated a bright light. Plus, she would have to leave Squishy on the rock to avoid raising any kind of alarm. It pained her but she didn't have a choice.
She did the most logical thing that was possible in her situation. She quickly put Squishy on the stone and applied the patches as quickly as she could. By then, the three persons had almost reached the clearing. Not having a choice, Bonnie, since she had been just beside the lake, jumped in as quietly as she could. The cold water stung her warm body as she went below the surface, hoping that no one had seen her. She had jumped just in time for as soon as she went below the surface, the bushes parted to reveal three scientists.
Bonnie stayed just under the surface and slowly swam as near the projecting stone as she could without giving away her position. Once she was just under the stone, she popped her head out and hid beneath it, away from the three people's vision. She exhaled slowly as she listened to their conversation.
"Did anyone of you come here earlier?" One of them asked, glancing at the other two. The other two shook their heads. There was a bit of silence before the first scientist pressed a button on the Holo Caster he had with him. Not long after, about ten Team Rocket grunts arrived there.
"Comb the area around," the second scientist ordered, motioning with his hands. "Someone messed up with the experiment."
Bonnie hoped that she would be safe under the projecting rock but her hopes were dashed the next moment when a bright spot of light pierced the darkness and hit the water. Whoever was operating the light seemed adept at it, since the light quickly scanned each and every part of water and it focused more on the hidden parts where one of the grunts near it would peer into the water and then give a thumbs-up if nothing was found.
Bonnie noticed that the light pierced through the water of the lake and almost reached the bottom of the lake. It would be hard to hide anywhere in the water if that continued, Bonnie realized, since they were quickly scanning through the water, giving her a really short amount of time to swim away from it.
Deciding to take the risk, Bonnie silently took a deep breath and dived down. Once she reached as far as she could go, she took hold of a heavy rock that was down there and with its help reached the bottom of the lake. The pressure was really high down there, but Bonnie decided to stay put for a while. Then when she was ready, she quickly started swimming towards the area which had already been checked.
She swam about halfway through the distance and stopped as the light approached her. As soon as it passed in front of her barely missing her by an inch, she quickly swam past it and all the way to the other shore. She was about to pop out of the water to breathe much-needed air but had to stop as she noticed some grunts standing at the bank. She could easily hear them talking.
"Hey what did they say just now?" One of them spoke.
"To keep an eye until they were done with their experiment," the second one replied.
The first one yawned. "How long?"
"Probably another hour."
Bonnie would have gasped out loud if the water wasn't pressurising her. She was almost out of breath so she knew she didn't have longer than at most a minute. And that time wasn't long enough for her to go back to her starting point – not when the light still hadn't reached there.
Steeling her determination, she swam towards her right as quietly as she could and soon enough reached a part where there were really thick bushes. Grunts were there as well but it seemed like the bushes would prevent them from seeing her. Risking it, she slowly popped her head out of the water and took a deep breath. She was lucky that she hadn't cut her hair any shorter than it was right now, or the water dripping from her hair might have given away her location.
The next hour was like torture for her as she stayed in the ice-cold water, waiting for their experiment to finish. The scientists had already left by the time she managed to find a safe place but the grunts were still around – probably to make sure no one was there to disturb the experiment, whatever it was.
By the time they left, it was almost four in the morning. As soon as they left, Bonnie quietly swam all the way back to the projecting stone and wasn't surprised to see that Squishy wasn't there anymore – the scientists had already taken him back with them. There wasn't much that she could do at the moment. After making sure no one was around, she teleported back to her bedroom.
As soon as she reached her bedroom, she quickly removed her t-shirt and her nighties, and turned around to go to the bathroom so that she could throw her clothes in the laundry. She was about to open the door when the door flew open, revealing Max who was saying, "What the heck are you..."
He stopped and gaped at the sight of Bonnie in her undies with her hand extended towards the door – not to mention, her undies were wet, revealing everything underneath. After a moment of staring, he snapped out of his stupor. "A-alright, let's talk later," he said, closing the door.
"Yeah," muttered Bonnie, embarrassed at having Max see her like that – not to mention: she had also seen something rising up, under Max's pants. Trying to fight the embarrassment, she quickly changed and then threw all her wet clothes into the laundry before walking awkwardly into the drawing room where Max was just welcoming Cass into her home.
The two turned towards her just as she arrived in the room. The silence slowly turned awkward. Cass, noticing the tension in the room, decided to break the silence. "Let's go for training if you two are ready."
The two didn't say a word and nodded. Then Max walked out of the house in a hurry, making Cass wonder what happened. She decided to not bring it up until later in the afternoon. They spent the next hour training with their Pokémon as Max and Bonnie forgot about the awkward incident in her bedroom. It was five-fifteen by the time they returned back. Bonnie changed and they left for the Pokémon Centre.
As they walked, Max apologized to Bonnie telepathically. Bonnie didn't reply but nodded once at him. He seemed relieved that she wasn't going to make a big deal out of it. They reached the Pokémon Centre soon where Cass and Max changed. Once they were all done, they started walking towards the stadium.
They came across Ash and Serena on the way there. The couple looked like they had been out for some hardcore training, judging from the sweat dripping from their foreheads. They slowed down to a stop at the sight of the three.
"Do you think we can get some training in right now?" asked Ash.
Max was curious. "What training? Were you training yesterday when I brought Cole along?"
"Yeah," replied Cass and proceeded to explain what had been going on the previous day.
"I see," muttered Max thoughtfully, when she had finished. He turned towards the girls. "Any idea when?"
They shook their heads in response.
"I think the most logical time they would attack would be when Serena lets down her guard," said Bonnie. "That or they might just attack head-on – which seems a bit stupid to me."
"It never hurts to be safe," said Ash, shrugging his shoulders.
"Well. We just returned from our training," said Cass slowly. "Do you mind if we train after we find out our battle times?"
"No problem," replied Serena quickly. Looking at her, it seemed like she was quite tired from whatever their morning routine was. Nodding at them, the couple went ahead jogging at a light pace, leaving the three looking after their departing figures.
"Was it just me or..." Max petered out, glancing at his companions. They seemed to have the same idea as they turned back to look at the two figures which had already gone far ahead.
"I guess we should wait for some time before deciding about it," commented Cass, glancing at the two, who agreed with her. They turned back and started walking towards the stadium.
Meanwhile in the slums, the fake Ace and his buddies looked ecstatic as they waited for Pete to arrive at their hut. Pete arrived at about half past five. Without saying a word, he gestured them to follow him. Seeing the grim expression on his face, Ace and his two companions glanced at each other as they walked behind Pete.
Pete took them through a long winding path in the forest for almost an hour. They saw a cabin in the middle of the woods when they finally reached their destination.
"This will be our new base," said Pete monotonously, pointing at the cabin.
Raising an eyebrow at him, Ace went ahead and opened the door. He wasn't surprised to see the cabin bare – it was like they had just put up four walls and a ceiling in the middle of the forest, which was exactly what had happened.
"Any reason?" He asked, glancing back at Pete.
"This one is farther away from the city so you will be able to enjoy yourself to your heart's content," said Pete shortly.
Ace narrowed his eyes. "That isn't the only reason, is it?"
"Think about that yourself."
With that, Pete disappeared into the forest. The fake Ace turned towards his lackeys. "To be on the safe side, I guess?"
They nodded.
"That blonde bitch knows about the place so we don't have a choice," said one of them – his name was Nick.
"We should be safe here easily. I tried to remember the direction but had to give up – there were too many twists and turns," said the other, whose name was Dave.
Ace nodded but seemed to be pondering about something. After a while, his face broke into a mad grin. "Let's give Pete an extra bitch as well."
It took a moment for the other two to know what was going through his mind. They snickered with him. "Yeah, let's do this. Or maybe, we don't need to give her up at all. A sex toy would be nice."
The three gave maniacal laughs as they went inside the cabin to make preparations.
Max and Bonnie watched intently at the screen as the cards, with their faces hidden, spun rapidly forming a sphere. Once the card stopped spinning and overturned, they quickly scanned to see who they were going to face. A moment later, their pokédexes vibrated. Pulling them out, they checked their opponent's profile.
"I am against some girl named Alicia," commented Max, putting away his pokédex.
"I am against Heidi," said Bonnie slowly as she recognized the girl's face. "…And I remember her."
"So you finally did, huh?"
All three of them turned towards the source of the voice. Bonnie recognized the girl at once. "Heidi!"
Heidi grinned at her. "I was wondering if you had already forgotten how we worked together to save Lapras."
Bonnie smiled back at her. "I almost did."
"Introduce us, Bonnie. You can catch up later," said Max, glancing between the two girls. Bonnie nodded and introduced Heidi to the two. She also told them how they had met as concisely as possible.
"I didn't really think much of adults back then but I think I have changed my opinion quite a lot," said Heidi, glancing at the screen which showed the first match already started.
Bonnie nodded but didn't reply at once. "Well, it's our turn to battle after this one, isn't it?"
Heidi narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, it is. And I was honestly surprised how you defeated Lucario in a single move – if you can even call it a move. I will have to make sure you won't do that again against me."
"We'll see about that," said Bonnie with a competitive smirk. She wasn't disappointed to get one back.
"By the way, who are you against?" asked Max, turning towards Cass. Bonnie and Heidi looked curious as well.
Cass sighed. "It's Cole."
Max whistled in surprise. "I can't say I envy you. Good luck."
"Who is Cole?" asked Heidi inquisitively. "That guy yesterday – who easily defeated the opponent's Blaziken with his Serperior?"
The two girls raised an eyebrow at her as Max nodded. "That's the one."
"He's strong alright," said Heidi. "But you're even stronger, Cass. You, with your Absol that day, were amazing."
Cass chuckled. "Thanks."
A voice suddenly interrupted their conversation. "Heidi and Bonnie, it's you turn now."
The voice repeated as the two opponents nodded at each other and left the room. Max and Cass watched as the two left and then glanced at each other. Apparently, they had had the same thought – Bonnie would win this.
"Let's go Lapras!"
"Braixen!"
The two trainers released their pokémon and waited for the referee to begin. "Match begin!"
"Ice Beam on the ground!" ordered Heidi at once.
"Jump in the air," yelled Bonnie almost immediately after.
Braixen jumped in the air just as the Ice Beam hit the ground where he was standing. It only took a couple of seconds for the whole battleground to be covered with ice. Heidi smirked, thinking she had an advantage for now.
"Fire Spin, straight down!" said Bonnie, returning Heidi's smirk.
Braixen pointed his stick downward and fired a swirling fire, rather small in size, at the frozen ground. The ice vaporised at once and created a smokescreen as Braixen fell into it, hidden from everyone's sight.
"Sheer Cold!" commanded Heidi when she realized that Bonnie could use the smokescreen to her advantage.
Lapras's body glowed light blue and then he released a wave of light blue energy that froze everything in its way as it approached the smokescreen. Bonnie didn't say anything; instead, she smirked, confusing everyone watching the battle.
Heidi narrowed her eyes. She had a feeling that Bonnie had something up her sleeve, so she told Lapras to be on guard. As soon as the light blue wave passed and froze the entire battlefield, the smokescreen dissipated, revealing a frozen Braixen.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then suddenly, all the ice that froze Braixen melted away, freeing him. He shook his fur to remove the rest of the water from it and then looked back at Lapras without flinching. Heidi gaped, wondering what had happened.
"Flame Charge," said Bonnie, narrowing her eyes at her opponent.
"Safeguard!" shouted Heidi, a bit panicked as Braixen disappeared from sight.
Much to her annoyance and shock, even before Lapras could fully form the force field to repel the attack, Braixen appeared right in front of Lapras and hit him near the bottom of its neck. The sudden impact sent Lapras flying into the air and threw him on the ground upside down. Lapras couldn't overturn by himself no matter how much he tried. Braixen in the meantime jumped on the overturned pokémon and held his stick on his stomach, ready to attack at a moment's notice.
"Lapras, Ice Beam!" yelled Heidi at once, deciding to take advantage of Braixen's position.
Lapras at once fired an ice beam at Braixen who didn't even flinch as he took the attack head-on at such a close range. Once again, Braixen froze before the ice melted away like the previous time, making Heidi wonder what exactly was going on.
"Wondering what's going on?" asked Bonnie with a small smirk on her face as she looked at Heidi's confused expression. "Look closely at Braixen."
Heidi did and soon saw what Bonnie meant. She could see a fiery-red glow surrounding Braixen against the clear blue sky. She realized at once what was going on and had to admit to herself that it was pretty clever on Bonnie's part.
"I didn't know Braixen had such an amazing control over his ability," she said with a sigh. She, then, returned her attention back to the battle. "Waterfall, Lapras!"
At once, a huge torrent of water appeared out of nowhere and surrounded Lapras and Braixen. A few seconds later, Lapras sprung out of the top and jumped down as Heidi ordered the next move. "Ice Beam! Freeze the water completely!"
Lapras conceded as he shot an ice beam and completely froze the water, effectively trapping Braixen within. Heidi smirked and turned towards Bonnie. "It won't be so easy to melt that much ice."
"Yeah, I know," said Bonnie, smirking back at her. "Overheat! First above, then below!"
For a second, nothing happened. Then suddenly, a large stream of swirling fire broke open the frozen top of the ice pillar. Soon after, it disappeared and the bottom of the pillar started glowing red. The next second, Braixen popped out of the top of the pillar with his fur burnt but otherwise okay.
"Will-O-Wisp!" ordered Bonnie as soon as she noted that Braixen was okay. Braixen fired a dark blue-pink ball at Lapras at once.
"Safeguard!" yelled Heidi. This time, Lapras managed to make the force field around him that sent the Will-O-Wisp back. He started panting a bit as soon as he was done with the move, which didn't go unnoticed by either of the trainers. It was apparent that the Flame Charge as well as Waterfall had taken its toll on Lapras's endurance. Heidi knew she didn't have much time to finish this but she couldn't find a way to defeat Braixen as quickly as she would have liked. She had to admit Bonnie had trained Braixen really well.
"Rain Dance; follow it by Hydration!" said Heidi, hoping Lapras would be able to activate his Hidden Ability.
Fortunately for her, Lapras did manage to do it and seemed refreshed as it kept on raining. Bonnie looked up towards the rain and decided that she would finish this up quickly.
"Sunny Day!" ordered Bonnie. Braixen lifted his stick up to the sky and fired a white light into the clouds of the Rain Dance. The clouds dissipated at once and the battlefield was bathed in a bright light. Deciding to not give a chance, Bonnie commanded the next move immediately. "Flame Charge, full power!"
This time, Heidi couldn't even see Braixen disappearing as he suddenly appeared in front of Lapras and slammed into him so hard that Lapras flew straight back into the wall behind Heidi, completely breaking it into pieces and burying the Ice/Water-type under the debris.
It took a while before what had happened sank into her head. Then, she slowly turned back to see Lapras knocked out.
"Lapras is unable to battle; Bonnie and Braixen win."
Bonnie returned Braixen and thanked him. Then she walked towards Heidi who had already run towards Lapras. Lapras had just woken up when she reached there. Bonnie started patting his head while slowly healing the pokémon with her aura. She let go of him when the Pokémon doctors came to take Lapras to the Pokémon Center. Heidi shook hands with Bonnie and with a short smile, left the battlefield, leaving Bonnie staring after her departing figure.
"So, what happened?"
Bonnie turned to see Cass and Max walking towards her.
"What do you mean 'What happened?'?" asked Bonnie questioningly.
"You seemed thoughtful when you were walking out of the battlefield – as if something was bothering you," replied Max as they started walking out of the stadium.
"Oh, that?" Bonnie paused for a while. "I don't know but it felt like something had been bothering Heidi. Not sure what, but it seemed like there was something that was bothering her. I could sense her restlessness when we shook hands."
"Well, we won't know until we ask her," said Cass, shrugging her shoulders. "Max's and my matches are tomorrow so we have time to go and check on her."
Bonnie nodded as the three left the stadium. Just as they walked out, they heard another explosion coming from the stadium. They turned to look at the screen in the hallway and saw the referee declaring Ash as the winner of his match. Mentally making a note to congratulate him, they left the stadium and started in the direction of the Pokémon Centre.
Just as they went out of sight of the stadium, they heard someone running towards them. Turning back they saw Ash and Serena nearing them. The two stopped and took a moment to catch their breath. The three knew what they wanted so they gestured to follow them. The five walked out of the city and reached their training ground quickly, and they started training. While Serena still had to work out to build some endurance, Ash, who usually trained every morning, had enough endurance for him to start training to control his aura better.
Ash sat on one side of clearing, cross-legged, and started meditating, like Cass had told him to while Serena kept up with the rigorous training for her. They stopped when it was almost two after noon and sat down to eat and rest for a bit.
"So, did you find what type is your aura, Ash?" asked Max, talking while chewing.
Ash shook his head. "I thought it might be a bit easier, but it is not. I will probably need some more time to find out about it."
"What about you, Serena?" asked Bonnie, turning towards the honey-blonde.
Serena sighed. "I didn't think it would be so difficult. It's so difficult that it is annoying."
"I think we could teach you some basic combat techniques," said Cass after a bit of silence. She exchanged glances with Max and Bonnie who seemed to have the same opinion as her. "But it is going to hurt like hell and you're going to bleed out many times. Do you think you can deal with that?"
Serena stared at her as if she couldn't believe it. Then she looked back at her boyfriend who didn't seem too pleased with how it sounded.
"Just how much will it hurt?" asked Ash, his face clearly showing his displeasure.
"Depends really," replied Bonnie, finishing up her lunch. "If hit with the right pressure and intensity, the attack can kill you on the spot." Seeing Serena's horrified face, she added. "Of course, we won't be that brutal but I can't say anything about your attackers. That's why it is best if you did learn some basic martial arts moves."
She cleared everything out and then lied down for a much-needed rest. It didn't take her even a minute to go to sleep. The others could only stare at her as she slept peacefully, seemingly without a care in the world. Shrugging to themselves, the four got up, and while Cass started showing Serena basic moves, Max told Ash to keep on meditating. It wasn't until six in the evening that they finally decided to call it a day.
Ash and Serena left with Serena being barely able to walk, while Cass woke Bonnie up who was still sleeping. Bonnie gave a loud yawn and stretched herself before getting up.
"How could you sleep so easily when everyone was training?" asked Max as they started towards Lumiose.
Bonnie gave another yawn as she replied. "Some things happened so I hadn't been able to sleep peacefully last night. I've been awake since like two in the morning."
"Whatever the heck were you doing that early?" asked Cass curiously.
Bonnie proceeded to tell them everything that had transpired during the night. She avoided her embarrassing moment with Max – which he was grateful for – as she told the two about every last detail she could remember.
"I never really found out why that guy intruded in the first place," finished Bonnie, looking back ahead. "And I was quite shocked to see Ace talking with Giovanni. The other thing that had me intrigued was that Giovanni called him a 'prototype'. So that's another mystery we need to solve."
"So Ace is involved in this anyhow," muttered Max thoughtfully.
"By the way, what about that aura inside May?" asked Bonnie, glancing back at Max. Cass looked curious as well.
"No change," replied Max with a sigh. "I still can't figure out how the heck did that aura increase?"
"Care to explain what you two are talking about?" asked Cass rhetorically. The two explained what they had found out when Bonnie had come to return Max's pokéballs.
Cass looked thoughtful when they finished. "Isn't it possible to artificially inject aura from afar? Could that have happened?"
"Well, I did consider that possibility," said Max, glancing at her. "But as far as I know, there is nothing in the world that can do that – unless it is a human or a pokémon. In that case, I don't know."
There was silence as they quickened their pace towards the city. They didn't talk for a while, but then Cass broke the silence with an awkward question.
"What happened today?" she asked, glancing alternately at the two.
They seemed confused. "What are you talking about?"
"This morning," said Cass. "The mood between you two seemed tense for most of the time of our training."
The two realized at once what she was getting at and felt a bit embarrassed to talk about it.
"Let's just say there was an awkward moment between the two of us and that we wouldn't like to share it," said Max tentatively.
Cass shook her head with a sigh. "Alright, I guess."
Bonnie sighed internally, thankful that Max decided to end the discussion right there. She sent him a grateful glance and he smiled, before turning away at once, feeling awkward as he recalled what had happened. None of them talked as they walked the remaining distance to their respective dwellings.
That night, Cass woke up to her Holo Caster ringing loudly. She woke up with a start and glancing at the time – which was just past midnight – picked up the call. Bonnie was on the other end. Her expression told Cass the matter, whatever it was, was urgent.
"Cass, can you meet us up at the Prism Tower?" asked Bonnie and without waiting for an answer, hung up.
Knowing that she didn't have a choice, Cass got up, changed and left at once for the Prism Tower. It only took her about five minutes to run there. She reached there and saw Max, Bonnie, Ash and Brock standing there – all of them with a desperate look on their faces. Cass raised an eyebrow at Bonnie who explained what was going on.
"Serena is gone – kidnapped, I'd say," said Bonnie tersely. "And May has a really high fever. That aura suddenly intensified very much."
"Then, I guess you, Max and Brock are heading off to the hospital before joining me and Ash while we go and try to find Serena," said Cass, getting nods from everyone. "Alright then. Let's go, Ash."
With that, they separated into two groups, unknown to the fact that the evil, which had struck them, was already off to get its next target – Bonnie.