First off, thank you for all of the reviews from the last chapter. I understand that the sentencing was subpar, to say the least, so I went back and fixed quite a bit of it and will do my best this chapter to keep sentences more meaningful. And, this is for you Guest With Ideas, I don't know what martial arts style Lucas is using, to be honest. The thing is, I just sort of wrote that scene with whatever images popped up into my head and did my best to make it flow, though I'm not entirely sure if that worked out. Now, we'll finally get to a rival battle between the 4 main characters, and this is basically my first real non-gym battle, so any reviews on how to write better are much appreciated. Oh, I almost forgot: thank you to the readers in Venezuela and Germany for reading this: every view means a lot! Last, but not least, I gotta say: it's fun to watch Super Bowls as a Pats fan.
Chapter 11: 2v2
Dawn, comfortable in Lucas's secure hold, walked alongside him through Route 203 in the hopes of meeting their trainer and coordinator counterparts in the snowy path that lay in front of them. Dawn's face shone a brilliant smile as she joked and mused with Lucas, debating whether Dialga or Palkia was the more powerful Sinnoh legendary.
"I researched the two in the Professor's lab, Lucas; Palkia is by far the most powerful. It controls space and has the power to shred the universe!"
"Cute, Dialga can reverse time and prevent the universe. Heck, he can prevent Palkia too!"
"Legend says nothing can survive Palkia's Spacial Rend."
"Clearly, legends haven't investigated Dialga properly. Roar of Time is so powerful that it once destroyed a planet that almost collided with Earth!"
"Oh yeah, well Palkia can—" she began before she was cut short by some loud rustling in the path nearby, causing the two to suddenly part from their warm contact and stand on guard.
"What was that?" Dawn said in a surprised whisper.
"I don't know. But it sounds too small to be a person, so it's probably a Pokemon."
Dawn quietly gasped with excitement, fetching Hazel's Pokeball from her pocket and taking a stance to throw it. "I'm going to catch it!" she confidently said, slowly stepping toward the small ferns where the rustling came from. But just as she set her foot forward to advance, the rustling stopped. Dawn turned to Lucas, hoping he knew what to do since the Pokemon must have been aware of their presence. "Uh, Lu—"
"MEDITIIITE!" the Pokemon loudly squeaked before floating out of the bush and entering the road where it made itself hover not too far in front of Dawn. The cute, blue little Pokemon looked like a cloud with arms and legs, seated in a meditating pose in the air. Its eyes glowed with power and ferocity, but the strength seemed to be leashed to a mentality of intelligence and discipline. "MEDITITE!" the Pokemon roared, it began to hover a bit higher and levitated small pebbles and stones on the path.
"A Meditie, huh? Alright, GO, HAZEL!" Dawn said, throwing Hazel's Pokeball as the little Pokemon landed on its two feet, embers rising from its mouth. It looked at its opponent, eager for combat.
"Hazel, start this off with Ember!" Dawn yelled, a frosty wisp of steam rising as she spoke. Hazel quickly charged a small shot of flames and spit it at the Pokemon in front of it, hitting it squarely in the face but not doing much damage. The Meditite glowed in a pinkish aura and closed its eyes, seemingly channeling energy somewhere. Nothing happened.
"Huh? That… that did nothing," Dawn said, confused by the apparent lack of change in the battle situation despite the buildup created by the pinkish aura. "Whatever, Hazel, use Smo—" Hazel suddenly grabbed her head, squealing and cooing with pain. Disoriented, it leaned heavily to the left until it fell over until the shock of hitting the ground finally allowed it to return to its senses. Hazel shakily stood up as it brushed the dust off of its fur, the small pieces of ember coming from its mouth now a ferocious blue color. "It knows Confusion?!" Dawn exclaimed, even more motivated to have this Pokemon join her in her endeavors. "It has to be a psychic type! Okay, Hazel, use Leer!" Hazel glowered menacingly, just as it had done in the contest that day, and seemed to be chewing on the soul of the opposing Pokemon as it gritted its teeth ferociously. The Meditite seemed to have been senselessly frightened by the display because it lowered itself from its higher defensive stance and hovered only a few feet above the ground. Dawn smiled as it knew that the Pokemon had just put itself in perfect striking distance for Hazel. The Meditite glowed blue this time, closing its eyes and tightening its fists. By the time the aura had dissipated, its face seemed more intense and it seemed feistier, ready to deliver a powerful physical attack. Crap, it raised its attack stat! Hazel can't take a hit from a Pokemon like that… so here goes nothing. "Hazel, use Scratch as hard as you can!" Dawn emphatically said as Hazel took off to meet the hovering Pokemon. Even before the Meditite could easily float to a different direction Hazel, and her glowing arm, slashed the Pokemon across the sides, before landing softly on the floor and seeing a red and white object fly over her head. The moment Hazel had completed her attack, Dawn threw her Pokeball, striking the Meditation Pokemon before it had the chance to counter Hazel's attack.
The ball hit the crunchy snow with only a few bounces before resting: perfectly still.
One shake.
Two shakes. Come on. Come on. Lucas is watching, too!
Nothing. Dawn cupped her hands over her face, peeking anxiously through an opening in her fingers.
Three shakes.
A shrill but delicate click. "YES!" Dawn said, leaping with joy. She immediately ran over to the Pokeball, raising it high and gleefully smiled at Lucas who just stared, stunned at her beautiful exuberance. "Well, aren't you going to say something to me?" she playfully said, walking over to him.
"What could you expect me to say when you keep taking my breath away?"
"Just that," she smiled, releasing her Meditie onto the floor and recalling Hazel. "Now, we need to find a name for you," she said, kneeling down and nuzzling the little creature as it cooed in her gentle arms. "Hmm… Martha, Mary, Madeline… Margaret? Margaret: how does that sound to you?" The Pokemon softly cooed again as it tapped its Pokeball and returned inside again. Dawn held the sphere in her hands, looking into its reflective white top: "Welcome to the team, Margaret." She clipped the two Pokeballs into a magnetic strip that lined a pocket of her bag before walking to Lucas's side again. "Ready to keep going?"
"Of course," he replied, gesturing forward. She latched onto his arm again as the two walked quietly into the clearing ahead where they had agreed to meet Barry and Alyssa. They stopped walking once they'd reached the center, looking around to see if their counterparts were there as planned. "Where do you th—"
"ABOUT DAMN TIME!" Barry roared, throwing his arms up in mild frustration, startling Lucas, Dawn, and even Alyssa, who stood right next to him as they walked into the clearing. Lucas and Dawn separated like opposing charges, suddenly standing several feet apart. "We've been waiting here for almost fifteen minutes!"
"Barry," Lucas sighed, directing his eyes in Dawn's direction. "We just got hung up."
"Hung up?" Barry said, missing the point, "What the hell do you—oh. OH. Never mind then, a valid excuse," he said, nodding. "So what're we going to do? I think a two on two will be best?"
"I agree," Dawn said stepping in with Alyssa.
"How 'bout we have you and Dawn against me and Barry?" Alyssa politely suggested.
"Dawn and I were going to say the same thing. Then let's have ourselves a battle! Dawn and I will take this side," he said, motioning to the area of the clearing from which they had just come.
"Perfect, Alyssa and I will take this end," Barry responded as the two teams took to the opposite ends of the clearing.
"Have you ever fought with Lucas before?" Alyssa called from the other side of the field to Dawn.
"No, have you ever battled with Barry?" Dawn asked back.
"No, I can't believe we're lettin' ourselves put our honor and glory in the hands of these rookies!" Alyssa joked.
"I'm sorry, but aren't you guys rookies, too?" Lucas questioned.
"Fair point," Barry concurred.
Alyssa raised her protest before silencing her objection, realizing that Lucas had the final word. "Well, y'all wanna' start now?" Alyssa said, changing the subject and pulling a Pokeball from her small purse.
"Now is a better time than any other: Prometheus, you're up!" Lucas called, sending out his adorably ferocious little Charmander.
"Go get 'em, Margaret!"
"Julia, you're up first!"
"Alexander, eyes on Prometheus!"
The three released their respective Pokemon onto the cool ground of the clearing, the attention clearly drawn to Prometheus as its gold body glistened and reflected in the snow below from the warm light of its tail. There was a moment of tense silence as the trainers stood, eyeing each other's Pokemon, crunching numbers and matching types, rapidly strategizing for the battle to come.
"Julia! Quick Attack on Prometheus!" Alyssa blasted and the little Eevee blazed across the battlefield, colliding into small Torch Pokemon before it or Lucas had a chance to react.
"Dammit," Lucas cursed under his breath, as he saw Dawn step forward for an attack of her own.
"Margaret, use Confusion on Julia before she moves!" Dawn commanded, trying to prevent get a hit off of Julia before she ran back to Alyssa's side of the clearing. Margaret closed her eyes and levitated as she enveloped herself in a pink aura.
"Julia, use Quick Attack to dash outta' there!" Alyssa worriedly said, trying to move Julia out of range before the attack hit, but it was of no use: Julia began to halt her escape as she tilted to her side slightly, dizzied. She used her front foot to rapidly scratch at her head, as though she were trying to free herself of her mental tick.
"Keep at it, Margaret, you're doing just—"
"The hell are we waiting for? Alex, Spark Margaret out!" Barry interrupted. Alexander turned to the Meditite whose eyes were closed shut, still concentrating on immobilizing Julia. The little Shinx built up a flashing yellow charge around itself that gradually concentrated in its mouth before it threw it at the otherwise unaware Meditite.
By the time the flash had alerted Dawn to the incoming attack, there was nothing that she could do but watch the lightning fast spark coming to zap the daylights out of Margaret. She closed her eyes as the blinding light neared and heard a sizzling crash in front of her before she peered to see what had happened.
Margaret was no longer levitating and her aura had clearly dissipated but a small yellow, electric current seemed to envelop her: paralysis. She wobbled on her two legs and her aura flickered lightly again as she rose to levitate again, clearly preferring to be in the air over the ground. Barry had a victorious smirk on his face, to Lucas's displeasure more than Dawn's, and decided to capitalize on Margaret's incapacitation.
"Alexander, lunge for the kill," he said, motioning towards Margaret again.
"Julia, help Alexander with a Quick Attack on Margaret!"
Julia converged on Meditie with her signature rapid pace while Alex decided to charge head-on at Meditite with the Spark attack still stored in his mouth, both looking to deliver the most potent blow to eliminate Margaret from the equation.
"Oh no, Margaret, you need to Protect yourself: use Detect!" Dawn called, perceiving the two attacks right as they kicked off. Margaret's right eye flashed a flaming blue while she took a rapid glance at the two oncoming attacks. She waited: not a muscle of her form moved an inch as the two attacks neared her by the second.
Julia was the first to reach Margaret, only a fraction of a second before Alexander, but much to her surprise, nothing happened. She charged at Margaret, or where Margaret was the instant before she made contact because Margaret had seemed to know the outcome of the attack long before it happened, levitating herself out the path of Julia and letting her run her course into an empty section of the clearing. With Julia now struggling to brake herself before she Quick-Attacked into the tall grass, Margaret expertly weaved and dodged the electrical mayhem that was the Spark coming from Alexander, causing the little black Pokemon to miss the target like its partner fly straight into the same empty section of the clearing, doing no harm to Margaret but leaving her weak and breathless as the paralytic electricity arced and sparked around her, sending her into the floor from her hovering point above the ground.
"What in the name of Holy Arceus was that? None of our attacks even hit?" Alyssa asked with bewilderment.
"She used a defensive move so she would survive that turn, but she can't use it again. Let's try this one more time!" Barry roared confidently as Julia and Alexander reared on their hind legs and rotated back into an attack position to assail the Meditite.
"Alexander, use everything you got with another—"
"Prometheus, open fire on those two," Lucas coolly and firmly ordered, as Prometheus rotated his flaming mouth to release Ember attacks on both Julia and Alex, who were now very near each other after their missed trajectories of the previous attack.
"Shit: Alex, cover for Julia," Barry said without the slightest hint of hesitation.
Alyssa turned to him awed protest, "What? Barry, you don't have to—"
"FIRE!" Lucas thundered as Prometheus let loose his stored flames like a salvo from a battleship. The searing balls of fire pelted Alexander as he stood as cover in front of Julia, shielding her to his best ability, wincing from the pain. Lucas and Prometheus had not yet finished their assault, deciding to deal all the damage they could before Barry decided to move to the offensive. "Open fire, again." The little Prometheus fired yet another small flame ball at the Shinx across the field, hoping to take him out before he became any real threat.
Alyssa realized that keeping Julia sheltered would cost them more in the long run, unable to sustain the pelting from the Embers after Margaret's Confusion. "Julia, get out of there, now!" she ordered, hoping to get Julia to escape before Charmander fired another volley, and the fleet-footed Pokemon made a desperate dash back towards Alyssa's side of the field.
Prometheus diverted his attention momentarily from the struggling Alexander, looking to peg the fleeing Julia in the midst of its escape, but Lucas immediately interfered. "Forget about her, buddy; just don't take your eyes off of Alexander. Fire a Smokescreen!" Lucas confidently said, looking to prevent Alex from getting another Spark off of any more Pokemon. While Alexander shakily propped himself onto his two feet, Prometheus built a small ball of ash and smoke from a partially burning fire, charging an irritating concoction of blackness which he hurled away at Alexander. By the time the little lynx got up, the Smokescreen hit him directly in the face, eliciting a cry of frustration.
Barry gritted his teeth, quickly formulating a plan to halt his rapid decline in the battle. Gauging Alexander's location on the battlefield, he decided to play boldly instead of wisely. "Alex, use another Spark, and give it all you got!" Alex fought his reduced clarity of vision and quickly sparked and crackled with electricity, ready to charge at Prometheus and shock him out of the battle.
"Take him out before he gets too close!" Lucas warned his Pokemon, worried Prometheus would be paralyzed like poor Margaret was. "Finish him off with one more Ember!"
Prometheus charged up yet another small ball of searing hot sparks and embers while the rapidly speeding Alexander glowed brighter with sparks of his own and closed in on the target. Barry and Lucas stayed dead silent and observant, each keenly watching their cards play out before them. Seeing Alexander finally moving in rage, Lucas decided to seize the opportunity: "Now, open fire!" he roared, and Prometheus excitedly discharged his Ember.
Barry, however, bore a ridiculous grin on his face as he called out to Alexander: "DISENGAGE!", and the fleet-footed lynx almost instantly disengaged from its current trajectory and veering hard to the left.
"Oh shit," Lucas, muttered as he watched Prometheus's Ember terrorize some dandelions in the dirt while Alexander bolted (pun intended) towards his new target: Margaret. Dawn's eyes widened with shock and confusion as Alexander plowed through the already weakened Margaret, a sizzling ZAP cracking through the air at the contact between the two Pokemon as a translucent smoke hissed around the center of the collision.
Alexander emerged from the smoke, dashed back to Barry's side, giving a quick glance back at the fainted Margaret who lay sprawled on the floor, eyes closed. "Thank you, Margaret. You gave it your all, huh?" Dawn said as she recalled Margaret. "Alright then, Hazel, time to shine!" she cried, releasing the intense little monkey from its Pokeball, and Hazel, as usual, landed on all fours, sparks flitting from its mouth.
Barry chuckled, "Heh, one down and four more to—"
"Prometheus, one last Ember on Julia!" Lucas interrupted. Before either trainer could react, a small fireball landed on Julia's furry coat, knocking her down into the cool snow below where the fire quickly fizzled out. Julia shook as she struggled vigorously to regain her stance, but she slumped into the snow again, this time, her eyes closed. Lucas smirked, looking at Dawn and then Alyssa: "Funny, looks like the "rookie" took you out of the equation pretty quick, huh?" he jokingly taunted.
"Out of the equation? Boy, us farm-girls are a lot tougher than ya' think we are," she said while she recalled her fallen Eevee. "Okay, Cecelia, show 'em what you're made of!" she called out, and a beautiful pony with piercing eyes and a mane of gently flowing and waving flames clopped onto the ground, its gentle and tame look masking the ferocity and intensity of its flaming spirit.
"Another fire type?" Lucas asked with an almost jaded voice. Alyssa just rolled her eyes and began her assault: "Cecilia, finish Prometheus off with a Double Kick!"
"Counter with Ember, Prometheus!" Lucas firmly stated, once again hoping a long-range attack would hit before the close-range hit. While Ponyta reared and neighed before charging Prometheus, Prometheus failed to initiate an Ember, instead just coughing sparks and ash. "What? Hey, what's wrong, buddy?" Lucas said, his voice showing intense concerned for his troubled partner. No response came as Prometheus continued to cough and emit small flames and sparks without any real Ember attack in sight. Oh shit, his PP for Ember ran out! Lucas thought right before two thundering kicks from Cecilia's hooves dug into the lizard's side, knocking him out cold at Lucas's feet. Lucas quickly recalled him, worrying that the chill of the snow would become lethal too quickly for his beloved friend. "You did well, Prometheus," he said, looking at his Pokeball, "I promise you'll have a well-deserved treat tomorrow." He removed Caesar's Pokeball from his belt, throwing it out into the clearing before him: "Caesar, time for a takeover!" he said as the proud penguin landed directly in front of him, wings tucked and eyes narrowed as the small but heavy breathing of the Pokemon created miniature clouds in front of it.
"Bad idea, Lucas, Caesar is weak to Alexander. Alex, take him out with a Spark attack!" Barry thundered from the other side of the clearing. The black lynx beside him took off, humming slightly as current built around it and zipped in small yellow arcs before congealing into a powerful electrical current that concentrated in Alexander's mouth.
Lucas didn't seem to care, however. At the start of Alexander's attack that would surely remove Caesar from the match, his observant eyes captured a detail: Alexander was slightly off course. Though from far away it looked as though Alexander would drive through Prometheus like a knife through butter, Lucas rapidly calculated the slightly deviated angle at which Alex traveled, tracing its path out and beyond the way of Prometheus.
The smokescreen worked; even Barry can't tell where his Pokemon is going to go now, he thought, But the question remains, when do I punch him out?
"Now!" Dawn shouted to Hazel, instantly drawing Lucas's attention as she seemingly answered a question that was asked only in his thoughts. Hazel discharged an Ember attack as Prometheus had done so many times before, plunging into the errant Alexander's side, increasing the deviation of his course dramatically, and driving his now limp body sliding into the wet and snowy dirt by the edge of the clearing: fainted.
"Yes! That was for Margaret!" Dawn smirked playfully while her little Pokemon grinned with the bright satisfaction.
"Richard, knock 'em out, buddy!"
Meanwhile, Lucas quickly assessed the situation before him, now that three Pokemon had been knocked out and replaced. Wow, a classic fire, water, and grass game. Cecelia is a fire type, so she's weak to Caesar and not effective against any of her opponents, and Richard is effective against Caesar, but he's weak to Hazel, which means Hazel is the strongest Pokemon on the field right now. "Dawn," he called over the noise of the battle, "you go straight for Richard, and Caesar and I will cover you."
"Got it, Hazel, Ember on Richard, now!" Dawn said, turning with Hazel to face their new target. Hazel quickly began to accumulate small bits of sparking fire in her mouth, ready to cook the opposing grass type to a crisp.
Barry wasn't ready to yield, however: "Richard, counter with Absorb!"
"It's not very effective," Dawn almost smugly said just as Hazel discharged her attack, sending the flaming ball into Richard's side. Richard winced from the pain of the super-effective attack but quickly shook it off, standing with steel-hardened spirit once again. His stance and condition seemed to improve despite the significant hit from the attack while opposite to him on the field, Hazel seemed to waver and keel from a loss of strength. "What the hell?" Dawn said in exasperated disbelief.
"You see, at this rate, I'll lose, but not before Hazel has almost no health left. It's a battle of attrition; are you sure you want to keep at me?" Barry questioned, perhaps with a little more confidence than Dawn would have liked to hear.
"I'm sure, alright. I have a feeling this is going to go down in a way that you wouldn't expect," she shot back. "Hazel, pelt him with another Ember!"
Meanwhile to her left, Lucas quickly knelt next to Caesar, quietly speaking to him: "Alyssa's going to come in to defend Barry, so we need to do our best hold her back while Dawn takes care of Richard, got it? But be a bit careful, Cecelia is may be weak to you but she's the fastest Pokemon here by far." Caesar gave a proud nod as his eyes squinted to narrow onto his new opponent.
Cecelia and Alyssa caught Lucas and Caesar's attention towards them and bore an expression that essentially said, "Are you sure about that?" Alyssa stroked Cecilia's mane earning a small neigh before she gave her orders. "Cecelia, use Double Kick on Caesar, and while you're at it, you're going to have to move as fast as possible to avoid the water-type attacks."
"Caesar, get a Bubble attack ready but don't fire it till I tell you," Lucas said with a low voice. Meanwhile, Cecilia charged with lightning-fast speed, closing the gap between her and Caesar rapidly. Her front hooves began to take on a whitish glow as they became charged with powerful energy in preparation for her incoming attack, but despite her fearsome approach, Caesar stood his ground, unwavering and confident. "Wait for it," Lucas calmly instructed. Cecilia charged on, leaving Caesar no room to dodge her incoming attack. "Wait for it," he said again. Now there were only seconds before Cecilia's powerful hooves met Caesar's head, and the clopping of her hooves seemed to compete with the pace of Lucas's heartbeat: but Lucas still held his steely command, "Wait for it…"
What the hell is he up to? Alyssa thought as she saw a virtually incapacitated Caesar wait to get run over by a horse, but just as she finished her thought, she was startled by a sudden cry from her own side of the field.
"Richard, use Absorb on Caesar!" Barry excitedly said, knowing what was coming from Lucas.
Prompted by Barry's diversion of attention towards Caesar, Dawn decided to seize her opportunity and fire off an attack of her own: "Hazel, get an Ember on Richard as fast as you can!"
Seeing that Cecilia was too fast and too close for her to escape Caesar's attack, Lucas decided to make the gutsy call: "Now, Caesar!" Almost all at once: Caesar released a glowing blue stream of bubbles that burst once they made contact with the flames and body of a wincing and neighing Cecilia who persevered and followed through with her attack by connecting one of her hooves with Caesar's comparatively little body. Steam hissed from Cecilia while Caesar let out a pained tweet when a bright flash burst from Dawn's part of the field. Hazel had discharged her Ember at Richard, who was affixed in his location, using his Absorb to siphon off health from the already weakened Caesar.
Caesar staggered and fell backward while Lucas clenched his fist tightly seeing his partner stagger into the cold snow. But just on the other side, Richard was knocked over, charred from a direct hit from an Ember attack that flew without obstruction from Hazel. In just a few seconds, Lucas and Barry stood gaping as Caesar and Richard lay in the snow, fainted and out of the battle.
"YES!" Dawn and Alyssa said at once, each turning to face the other, knowing that a battle between them was now inevitable. Cecilia, severely weakened by Caesar's Bubble attack, staggered back to Alyssa, still unwilling to give up on the fight. Hazel was weakened as well but was in well enough condition to match the higher level and experience of Cecilia.
While Dawn and Alyssa both prepared for the showdown to come, Lucas and Barry each had a stupid grin on their face as they both released their final Pokemon.
"Alright, Gawain, finish this one off!" Barry roared as a small but nimble Starly flew into the chilly night air, circling above its trainer.
"Let's have a dogfight," Lucas smirked as his own Starly materialized and zipped around, agile but powerful. Both trainers seemed unable to withhold their excitement. Each possessed the same Pokemon of the same level: the winner would be the better trainer without a shadow of a doubt.
"Gawain, Quick Attack!" Barry blurted with enthusiasm, pointing to Galahad to guide his Pokemon to target.
"Galahad, roll right!" Lucas countered. Galahad quickly obeyed and spiraled to the right, all the while keeping his wings still and dropping his altitude. As he Galahad took a parabolic arc to the right and towards the ground, Gawain tucked his wings and screeched in at a steep angle, making consistent amends to his trajectory to make the cleanest hit possible with his target. A soft squeak could be heard as Gawain slammed into Galahad with whatever force his little body had, throwing the former skidding into the ground below while the latter pulled out of his plummet and took to the sky again. "Get up, Galahad, it's our turn now," Lucas confidently stated, looking Barry and Gawain dead on.
"Charge and use Scratch!" Dawn cried. She knew getting too close to Cecilia could potentially end Hazel with a Double Foot counter, but she decided to take her chances, knowing that Lucas's attack had made her prone to any attack.
"Bold move, Dawn, Cecilia, get 'er back with a Double Foot!" Alyssa sweetly countered, her soft voice distracting a nearby Barry for a second.
As Hazel closed the gap between herself and a waiting Cecilia, Dawn realized that Cecilia's longer legs and greater speed could hit Hazel before the little monkey even had the chance to land a hit, and she decided to pull a card out of her sleeve. "Lucas, I need Galahad too cov—"
"I'm sorry, Dawn. I'm busy," Lucas almost curtly said, eyes glued to the situation in front of him and sticking his palm out to motion her to stop.
Dawn cocked her head back, her eyes wide with confusion, completely flabbergasted. Did… did he just shut me down? Again? she worriedly thought. "But, I need help w-with, you know, the battle!" she said, gesturing to Hazel and Cecilia, who had both halted their attacks and stared confusedly at the trainers who were suddenly less involved in their fight. The two Pokemon returned themselves to their Pokeballs, knowing that the battle would have to be picked up at a later time.
"I'm with him on that one. I'm sorry, but you two are on your own," Barry seconded, much to Alyssa's disapproval.
"Excuse me, gentlemen, but she and I are here to battle too. You ain't gonna ignore us like that!" Alyssa chided, clearly disappointed in the stupid behavior of the boys.
"Galahad, get some altitude: I've got a plan," Lucas said, ignoring Dawn and Alyssa just like that.
Dawn covered her mouth with her hand, aghast and embarrassed. But we just… we just did the whole thing… under the stars, you gave me your coat, Dawn thought, her mind splitting itself into two camps for control over her. He was just being nice, he doesn't LIKE like you, one half of her mind told her. Yeah, but do you remember what it was like when he pulled you close and wrapped his arms around you? He LIKE likes you, the other half argued back. But what if he's just—
"Hey there," Alyssa said, placing an arm on Dawn's shoulder, slightly startling her. "Whoa, it's just me," Alyssa smiled at the dejected Dawn, doing her best to lift her diving spirits.
"Hey, Alyssa," Dawn weakly replied, looking at the battle in front of her as Galahad flew at a tight angle of elevation into the sky while Gawain flew in loops below, awaiting his trainer's orders.
"Galahad, DIVE!" Lucas exclaimed excitedly. Galahad pulled out of his climb, stalling for a fraction of a second as he rolled onto his back before nosing over into a steep dive.
"Sorry man, but I saw that coming. Gawain, take an errant course," Barry smirked with his characteristic enthusiasm. Gawain began to cut, turn, stall, and propel again rapidly and repeatedly, making himself an unpredictable and rapidly moving target that posed a severe threat to Galahad: Galahad's dive was so steep that missing Gawain would send him straight into the ground below.
"How could he just do that? I-I really thought he'd come to help me there. I'm his teammate for cryin' out loud!" Dawn complained to her sympathetic companion.
"As nice and polite as they can be at times, these boys can also be real boneheads. At least that's what Ma tells me about Pa," Alyssa reassured Dawn. "Besides, they have their own rivalry, right? Maybe they have their own score they wanna' settle, so I wouldn't take it personally," Alyssa coolly said.
"Shit. Galahad, slow your dive!" Lucas cried, hoping that Galahad could slow down enough to continually adjust his trajectory for Gawain's fast motions. Galahad opened his tucked wings and spiked his drag coefficient, slowing him down while maintaining his dive angle. After making a few adjustments to his course, he lined up perfectly with his target, who was now running low on stamina and moving less harshly. "Perfect, Wing Attack!"
"Dammit, that's a STAB [same type attack bonus] attack! Gawain you need to evade it!" Barry cried to no avail as Galahad's wings glowed with a radiant white energy that stiffened Galahad's wings, turning them into appendages that could cause some serious damage. Within a fraction of a second, Galahad collided with Gawain, sending the latter into the ground, and proceeded to pull out of the dive and fly horizontally before turning back towards the downed but active Gawain.
"Alright, buddy. You need to finish this with Quick Attack!" Lucas commanded, and Galahad sped up his approach to Gawain, who struggled to rise from the ground but showed no signs of giving up.
"Gawain, you have to get out of there. He's coming in pretty damn—" Barry began before being cut off by the light THUD of Galahad sticking the final blow. Gawain lay in the clearing, fainted. "That was a great job for your very first battle, buddy. Now get some rest," Barry said, recalling Gawain.
"You too, Galahad, get some rest until we get to the Pokemon Center," Lucas said with glowing satisfaction as he too recalled his feathered Pokemon. The two trainers walked to the midpoint of the clearing, firmly shaking hands.
"I think it's been established I'm the better trainers, huh?" Lucas smirked at Barry.
"I went easy on you, duh."
"Suuuuure. You can think of it like that, but I think the record says 2-0 Lucas."
"Those are the only two wins you'll ever get from me, man."
"We'll see about that, but for tomorrow, we have a Gym Battle, so I'm wishing you luck man, not that you need it."
"Thanks, Roark will be a piece of cake for you, too. And like you said, just be careful with Prometheus and Galahad; they're weak to Rock."
"Uh, fellas, sorry to interrupt ya'll's conversation, but we should go get some supper, don't you think?" Alyssa said, with what could have been a slight tinge of sarcasm in her tone.
"Yeah, we should go get dinner together," Barry agreed.
Lucas nodded. "I think that's a—"
"Um," Dawn softly interrupted, "I think I'd just like to go home. Now."