Rise of Darkrai: A Pokéshipping Story
Hello again and welcome to the second part of the Alamos Town Pokémon contest, an arc I hope I'm doing well with and one I would like some more ideas on what to write in the future concerning contests. Anyways, enough of that and let's continue the show!
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
"Telepathy"
([Name]'s POV)
"Speech" (translation)
%%%%% scene transition %%%%%
(Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any/all affiliated products or studios. in an alternate universe in which I did, the games wouldn't be as easy as they are in 6th gen).
(Important note: This chapter is dedicated to Monty Oum, animater and writer for Rooster Teeth, who passed away 1st of February 2015. I never knew about him until after I started watching RWBY, but that was after his passing and I feel sorry for not knowing him before then. But I am thankful for all the work he has done for Rooster Teeth and hope his memory never dies)
R.I.P
Monyreak "Monty" Oum
June 22nd, 1981 to February 1st, 2015
"Keep Moving Forward"
Chapter 10: Battle round!
"And now is Time for the first match of the battle rounds, if you didn't know already the battle round consists of a normal battle between coordinators but other factors beside the Pokémon's skill in battle…" Marian explained to the anxious crowd.
"These other factors include the way the moves of a Pokémon are used, their appeal towards the judges and their overall aesthetic. In addition to knockout the rounds consist of an equal amount of points for each Trainer, successful moves lower the opponents score while conversely if you miss, points will be taken from you" she told them in detail.
"if you lose all your points, have less points than your opponent by the end of the 5 minute time limit or your Pokémon faints, you will lose the battle and your opponent will move on to the next round" she made the point clear.
"With that out of the way let's move on to our first match, Allegra vs Gabriela!"
At each end of the battlefield stood the coordinators who prepared to face each other in 1-on-1 battle.
One was the red haired Allegra who is no stranger to contests, having competed in the Grand Festival the year prior. The other was Gabriela, a young girl (not much older than Dawn) who wore a yellow bouffant gown that fit her waist-length curly brown hair.
"Good luck" Gabriela told Allegra as she pulled out her Pokéball.
"Same to you" Allegra smiled back, also getting ready.
"Let the battle commence!" Marian announced.
"Give it your best, Infernape!" Allegra called out the fire-fighting type.
"Infern, Infernape!" it bounced on its feet repeatedly, like a boxer.
"Granbull, it's time to shine!" Gabriela released the Fairy Pokémon.
Granbull looked at its opponent with a glare, causing Infernape to lower its stance a little.
'So it has 'Intimidate'… this could be a problem' Allegra thought in concern.
"Hit it with Mach Punch!" she ordered the first move.
Infernape's fist glowed brightly as it moved so fast that to untrained eyes it seemed like teleportation, the fist made contact with Granbull's stomach in a direct hit.
The hit didn't seem to faze Granbull but it did force it a few feet backwards, still on its feet waiting for its trainer's orders. This caused the points on its trainer to fall by a small percentage, barely 2 percent of the total points.
"Jump and use Hidden power!" Gabriela commanded.
And so Granbull engulfed itself in a blue light, forming an aura of sorts that pulsated around it. It jumped in the air and took aim at Infernape, firing a blue wave of energy at the fire type.
The wave pelted Infernape and unlike the Mach Punch this attack seemed to do more damage, this caused the points for Allegra to fall a bit more than Gabriela's.
'That hidden power is probably a psychic type move, better watch out for that' Allegra noted.
"Hit it harder, Power Up Punch!" Allegra told the fire ape.
Like before the fire type's fist glowed, this time with a red glow. The move was executed slower than the Mach Punch but the fire type used its superior speed to close the distance between the two.
"Use Reflect!" Gabriela countered.
At the last second a light wall of blue stopped the fist in its tracks, more points were taken from Allegra that dropped her below the 90 percent mark.
"Then I guess we'll turn up the heat, Fire Spin!" Allegra said in determination.
A spiralling flame erupted from the ground around the Granbull, each ember leaving a small burn mark on the Fairy Pokémon's skin. This caused Gabriela's points to drop below the 90 percent mark as well.
Granbull seemed to be annoyed by the wall of fire but seemed relatively composed about it, like it had no effect.
'It seems like she's switching onto ranged attacks, time to go on the offensive' Gabriela analysed and decided accordingly.
"Use Thunder Fang and break through the flames!" she ordered.
Fangs of electricity formed around the Granbull's impressive teeth, it jumped forward and chewed through the Fire Spin. This dropped Allegra's points some more.
It began to charge and pounced at the fighting ape, clamping onto its arm with a steely grip.
The meter on Allegra's points dropped even further.
"Infer!" the fire type winced.
"Blaze Kick it into the air!" Allegra commanded.
The feet of Infernape became engulfed in a blaze that would easily sear any uncooked meat nearby, with both feet it spring boarded the Granbull and broke through the Reflect and in turn hitting it square in the chest, propelling it into the air above the stadium.
"Now use Fire Blast!"
In quick concession Infernape opened its mouth to release a large flame that took the shape of a star that looked similar to the Kanji symbol 'Ho'. The blast made its way to the airborne Pokémon.
"Retaliate with hidden power!" Gabriela thought quickly.
Releasing a blue wave, Granbull created a power struggle between the Hidden Power and Fire Blast. The resulting clAsh created a spectacular display of blue and orange that flAshed and lit up the stadium like a miniature supernova.
Allegra grinned a little while Gabriela cocked an eyebrow at that.
"Use Sunny Day!" Allegra said with a confident tone.
'Oh no' Gabriela realised what was going to happen.
"Get out of there!" she warned her Pokémon.
Unfortunately for her the order came too late, Infernape had already created a second sun and boosted its Fire Blast's power allowing it to push the Hidden Power back into Granbull with full force. The explosion of light was blinding but was a beautiful sight to behold, colour and light becoming one and expanding outwards in an irregular sphere, Granbull fell from the smoke cloud that was left behind and landed on the ground.
This combination of moves caused Gabriela's points to drop very quickly down below 30 percent, Granbull was also starting to sport some burns and bruises as it finally started getting affected by the fire type attacks.
'Not good, if I don't think of something quick I'm done for' Gabriela worried, brainstorming ideas.
"Mach Punch!" Allegra ordered again.
'There we go!' a lightbulb sparked in Gabriela's head.
"Take the hit as best you can!" she commanded.
"Gran?" the Pokémon wondered but decided to follow through anyway.
The hit was like last time, but Granbull managed to stay in place thanks to its grip on Infernape's arm.
"Thunder fang again, then Play Rough!" Gabriel continued her assault.
A Thunder Fang scored a direct hit on Infernape's midsection and prepared a glowing pink volley of fists.
"Dodge it!" Allegra told Infernape.
Infernape tried but was stopped still, a charge of electricity pulsing through it and tensing all its muscles. It was paralysed.
'Crap!' Allegra was shocked.
The fists of Granbull worked into Infernape like a seasoned boxer, jabbing into the ribs of Infernape and pummelling its stomach with a barrage of heavy hits. Each hit seemed to do a lot of damage as Infernape was helpless to defend itself.
"Hang in there!" Allegra encouraged Infernape, worrying for its wellbeing.
As Granbull finished its combination of hits it stepped back from Infernape.
Allegra's meter was well below 20 percent, closer to 10 percent than one would be comfortable with. Infernape was clutching its midsection and hunched over, it was not in good shape. The timer reached the one minute countdown.
'Come on… come on…' Allegra waited impatiently, hoping for a certain event to happen before it was too late.
"Use Crunch!" Gabriela ordered with an air of finality.
The Fangs of Granbull gained a dark and shadowy look as it opened its mouth to finish off Infernape. It bit down with its jaws… but there was no crunching sound.
"What!" Gabriela exclaimed in disbelief.
"Thank you for staying in there, so let's finish this with Blast Burn!" Allegra smiled in relief to Infernape and gave a mighty roar of a command.
Infernape was glowing red hot, the fire on its head was burning so brightly it turned the air an orange colour and the Pokémon was holding Granbull's mouth open with its bare hands. This was the immense power of its Ability 'Blaze'.
Granbull looked into Infernape's eyes with fear, a fear of defeat. Infernape just smirked as it caused the ground to erupt around them in rising waves of hot fire, just about incinerating every dust particle within the radius. The smoke cloud was enormous and covered the whole arena.
As it dissipated it was clear who the winner was… Granbull was lying on the ground covered in burn patches and swirled out eyes while Infernape was panting but still standing. The points on Gabriela's meter reached zero.
"And the winners of this match are Allegra and Infernape!" Marian declared the winner.
Allegra sighed in relief and quickly ran to Infernape to help it stand, and she took one of its arms and used her shoulder as a support.
"You did great out there, we'll get you fixed up soon" she smiled kindly to her starter as she patted its shoulder.
"Infer…" the fire type said in pride, patting her back as it allowed itself to be returned to the Pokéball.
"You did well Granbull" Gabriela said slightly sadly, but she smiled nonetheless at its efforts.
She then walked over to Allegra and offered her a handshake, Allegra accepted as they parted ways.
"Good luck in your next contest" Allegra said to Gabriela.
"And to you too" the Brunette replied.
They both left the stage.
"That was an intense battle" Ash marvelled.
"Allegra is a very commendable battler and woman" Brock spoke, still a little love sick.
Misty suppressed a groan, "yeah, but Gabriela isn't a pushover in any case" she pointed out.
"I am confused about one thing though" Ash said.
"What's that?" Misty wondered.
"Why didn't Infernape's attacks hurt the Granbull as much as they should have, Granbull is a normal type isn't it?" Ash asked.
This question managed to make the group pause in thought.
"You're right, Infernape should have had the clear advantage but its fire and fighting moves hardly seemed to have any effect… very strange" Brock realised.
"I've never heard of the attack 'Play Rough' either" Misty added.
"Well, there has been rumours of research going around that involves certain Pokémon showing different attributes compared to others of their species, most of this taking place in the Kalos region, some say it might be a new typing of Pokémon. It is a very interesting topic, but I won't be able to get too much information as it's mostly speculation at this point" Tonio gave a hypothesis, disappointed at his lack of understanding.
"But still, a new typing of Pokémon… I wonder how this will affect the nature of Pokémon battles, giving an edge to those who know more about it" Alice pondered.
"We should save this discussion for another time, it is a contest after all" Brock decided to stop the conversation.
A collective nod sealed the deal.
%%%%% backstage %%%%%
"Looks like we're up next" Travis said to Johnathan.
"Yup, let's give the crowd a battle that will top the last one" Johnathan spoke with an enthusiastic tone.
"Agreed" Travis replied.
They walked out to the stage for their battle and passed by Allegra who was returning to heal her Infernape.
Allegra sat down on a couch and released Infernape, the Pokémon was covered in bruises and bite marks with a particularly blueish area around the chest.
"Jeez, that LOOKS painful but I can't imagine how it feels" Allegra cringed slightly at the wounds.
"Infern…" the fire type shook its hand in a 'so-so' gesture, putting up a front that it doesn't hurt much.
"Whatever you say, just hold still for a sec" Allegra chuckled a bit while pulling out some potion.
She sprayed the purple liquid onto the injuries in a spread out fAshion and not concentrated in one area. Infernape winced a bit at the sudden sensation of pain, the potion worked like a disinfectant and stung when applied to wounded skin. After a few seconds the potion took effect and slowly started healing the wounds.
"Just rest for a bit, it will be a bit until the next round so you can take it easy" Allegra instructed.
A sound of chatter from Infernape gave indication that it would do as it was told.
"Ok, Infernape return" a red light enveloped Infernape and returned it to the Pokéball.
'that was far too close a match for my liking, that Granbull was far too resistant… oh well, I'll just watch these two battle so I can plan ahead' Allegra decided as she stared at the monitor.
The match had just started and it was a match between Johnathan's Porygon-Z and Travis' Snover, power-wise the battle was one-sided in favour of Porygon-Z but Snover had a good combination of moves that would allow it to drop Johnathan's points down to a low point. In the end the battle ended in a timeout, Travis barely winning by one percent in points.
The crowd loved the battle and managed to stay interested despite the previous match.
'Sorry Travis, but this is going to be too easy' Allegra thought confidently.
The massive type advantage and overall performing abilities of Infernape overshadowed Snover's abilities. She wasn't being mean but she knew a one-sided battle when she saw one and no amount of trickery was going to let him win, because she was getting serious.
Dawn was sitting down as she waited for her turn, and in the meantime she managed to talk with Nerissa a bit before the battle. She was a trainer from Jubilife City and she had won four ribbons already and she was battling for her final ribbon, she had a head start on Dawn by about 9 months and seemed very competent when it came to the art of coordinating.
"The next match will be between Dawn and Nerissa and will start in two minutes" Marian announced.
"I hope you have fun out there, I certainly know I am going to" Nerissa told Dawn.
"I will, no need to worry" Dawn spoke cheerfully.
They both stood up and in that moment Dawn managed to get a good look at Nerissa's outfit. She was wearing a diamond blue Kimono decorated in scattered pink petals, her belt was pure white and on her feet she wore sandals. In her jet black hair she wore twin Japanese style hair sticks that supported a very neat bun, and her eyes were a shiny emerald green.
The both of them made their way to the stage and prepared to battle.
%%%%% on stage %%%%%
"There she is!" Ash pointed out enthusiastically, Pikachu was just as excited.
"Good luck Dawn!" Misty called out even though she was certain she couldn't hear her.
She had let her Azurill out to watch the contest with her, wanting him to enjoy the show as well.
Brock, Alice and Tonio cheered her on as well, anxious for the battle to begin.
"And now for the third battle of the Alamos Town Pokémon contest, Dawn vs Nerissa!" the bubbly announcer started the match.
"Piplup, spotlight!" Dawn released her starter Pokémon to a blue bubble seal that swirled around before dissipating.
"Let's enjoy ourselves, Bronzor!" the black haired girl called her dual-typed Pokémon with a seal of music, creating a nice melody as it was released.
Both entrances created a positive reaction from the crowd as they both stared each other down.
"Piplup use Bubble Beam!" Dawn made the first move.
"Pip… luplupluplup!" the penguin Pokémon puffed its chest and shot a torrent of bubbles at the Steel type.
"Bronzor use Gyro Ball to block it" Nerissa commanded.
"Bron…" it began rotating quickly in the air, not moving as it braced for the water attack.
The Bubble Beam hit Bronzor but bounced off harmlessly, some of the bubbles began to orbit the Bronze Pokémon like satellites. The failed attack caused Dawn to lose the first points of the match, a 3 percent drop.
"Now use Safeguard" said Nerissa.
The Bronze Pokémon stopped rotating on command and created a sphere of green light to surround it, causing the bubbles to break and the droplets to glow in the Safeguard. A collective 'ooh' from the crowd showed they were impressed, and another drop in points for Dawn who was down to 90 percent.
'Not a great start, but there is still more to come' Dawn encouraged herself.
'That's it!' she realised.
"Use Whirlpool!"
Piplup created a swirling vortex of rushing water from its mouth and launched it at the Bronzor, hoping to do damage this time.
"Block with Gyro Ball again!" Nerissa repeated.
Gyro Ball did manage to block it by causing the water to swirl around Bronzors body in a spherical shape, more points lost for Dawn who was at 87 percent now while Nerissa hasn't lost any.
"Use Peck!" Dawn said suddenly.
Piplup's beak grew bigger and sharper as it entered a sprint towards Bronzor.
"Use confusion to speed up the water!" Nerissa thought quickly.
"Hit it from below!" Dawn retaliated.
As told, the Bronzor sped the water's movement up via its psychic powers, soon the water was spinning fast enough to make the water look like a miniature planet that would feel like it would rip skin if you touched it. Piplup follow his orders and hit the ball square in the bottom and it felt like concrete as Piplup forced it into the air.
The water ball was now levitating above the stage, this attack cause Nerissa to lose her first points to 94 percent.
"Destroy the water with Psywave!" Nerissa decided.
The water radiated a bright pink colour before exploding into drizzle, 81 percent for Dawn.
'This thing's defence is too strong!' Dawn was annoyed and concerned.
"Extrasensory!" Nerissa's voice pulled her out of her thoughts.
"Dodge it!" Dawn warned Piplup.
Piplup nimbly dodged the multi-coloured ray of psychic energy, also causing Nerissa to drop to below 80 percent.
"Use it again!" Nerissa told bronzor again.
Another beam was fired at Piplup as it kept dodging, the attacks getting closer and closer to him with each passing second. Dawn used this time to analyse Nerissa's battle style, doing so made her realise a few flaws in the way she battled. Doing so managed to lower Nerissa's points to below 70 through just dodging.
Dawn wanted to test a theory first.
"Use Bubble Beam!" Dawn Asked Piplup.
Piplup once again fired the stream at Bronzor, and Nerissa once again used Gyro Ball to block it.
It was in that moment Dawn realised what these flaws were. For one, Nerissa used a very predictable battle style which allowed for better counter strategies. She also seemed to lack a variety of offensive moves which seemed to relate to Bronzor's lack of strength, making up for it in defence. And lastly she seemed very stubborn in attacks and would not stop unless you forced her, making for an easy way to drain points.
For the next 30 seconds Dawn continued to bait Nerissa into attacking and missing, dropping Nerissa's points to below 60. The black haired girl was beginning to get annoyed of not hitting the water type.
"Use Metal Sound!" Nerissa commanded with an irritated voice.
Bronzor started to make a very loud and high pitched scraping and grating sound that resonated throughout the arena, the noise caused Piplup to freeze in reaction to the sudden ear destroying screech and cover its ears and closing its eyes.
"No, Piplup!" Dawn exclaimed in surprise.
"Future Sight and then hit it with Gyro Ball" Nerissa shot off with quick execution.
The Bronze Pokémon covered Piplup with strange mystic energy and then struck the water type with full force spinning, knocking Piplup back a few metres.
'I guess I really tried her patience' Dawn thought sheepishly, the change in attack pattern must have been due to her constant dodging.
"Piplup use…" Dawn began but was cut off by a blue flAsh of energy striking Piplup like a bolt of lightning.
Dawn gasped in realisation, forgetting about future sight.
The meter that showed Dawn's points was lower than Nerissa's after that consecutive combo of attacks. Both of them were around the 50 marker and the performance had only a minute and a half left.
'That future sight is strong, better avoid that as best we can' Dawn noted.
"Trick Room" Nerissa said calmly.
'Trick Room?' Dawn echoed in confusion, she had never heard of the move Trick Room before.
A large transparent pale blue box appeared around the edges of the battlefield, glowing for a few seconds and disappearing soon afterwards. The display caused a drop in Dawn's points to the mid 40's.
Dawn shook her confusion off as she ordered the next attack, "Bubble Beam".
"Psybeam!" Nerissa countered almost instantly.
Piplup began charging its attack by puffing its chest, just as it was about to release the attack a sudden burst of air distracted him.
'What?!" Dawn was shocked.
Bronzor had closed the distance between the two in less than a second, like lightning. This made little sense to Dawn as she saw that Bronzor was slower than Piplup, the nature of Trick Room still unknown to her.
A burst of pink and blue coloured psychic energy blasted the water type in the chest, causing it to cancel the Bubble Beam. The attack sent Piplup flying back towards Dawn, Piplup managed to regain composure mid-air.
"Spin and use peck!" Dawn said in combination.
Piplup dive-bombed toward bronzor like a bullet from a gun, the spin was more for style than stability though.
"gyro Ball!" Nerissa commanded.
Again Bronzor managed to get to the side of Piplup and tackle him with a strong spinning tackle, knocking Piplup into the ground.
It was then that Dawn realised the way Trick Room worked, making the slower Pokémon attack quicker was very useful for a Pokémon like Bronzor who lacked the speed to rival Piplup.
Another realisation also popped into her head, a way to counteract the Trick Room.
And so she waited for a good ten seconds, not ordering any attacks.
As a result Nerissa became impatient and ordered her attack.
"Psybeam!"
"Bide!" Dawn spoke as the beam made its way to Piplup.
"Pip…!" the water type grunted as the attack hit him full force, outlining him in a glow of white energy.
A sharp drop in points for Dawn caused her to drop below 30, bide was a pretty risky move to use during contests because it involved taking hits and could cost you a victory.
"Future Sight then Gyro Ball into a Feint Attack, finish it quickly!" Nerissa panicked a little but clearly explained her consecutive attack order.
Piplup was once again covered in blue mystic power, then hit hard by a fast-paced spinning attack and then disappeared. The water type was hanging in and started looking for the steel type, a heavy and blunt hit from behind knocked him forward and stunned him a bit.
The combination of moves drops Dawns points to 15 percent, Piplup was in no better condition as he struggled to stay up. Another hit or miss could tip the victory in Nerissa's favour.
Piplup couldn't hold its power back any more and released a strong beam of light that sped towards Bronzor, as the attack was moving the Trick Room flickered back into view and then dissipated.
"Dodge and use Gyro Ball!" Nerissa called at the last moment.
Bronzor attempted to do so but couldn't dodge fast enough, the Trick Room had disappeared and Bronzor went back to its original speed. The Bide had hit Bronzor with enough strength to throw it across the field and into the ground, it faintly levitated back up with scratched all over its body and one eye closed in pain.
Nerissa had lost enough points to fall to 5 percent of her original score, very bad for her indeed.
Unfortunately for her a buzzing sound rang through the air, signifying the end of the battle through timeout.
"And the winners are…" Marian began to announce when a bolt of psychic power bombarded Piplup.
Future Sight had just hit after the battle was over, and Piplup was unconscious.
"Piplup!" Dawn called out in worry, running to his side and picking him up gently.
"Piiip luuup…" he groaned in discomfort.
The crowd was shocked by this, to say the least.
Marian stopped talking for a few seconds before the awkwardness set in, "The winners of this match are Dawn and Piplup".
Nerissa walked up to Dawn with a smile on her face, she had just returned bronzor to its ball.
"That was a close match, had it been a few seconds longer I might have won" Nerissa grinned.
"I'm sure you would have too" Dawn replied with a sheepish laugh.
"Oh well, bad luck I suppose." Nerissa shrugged, "you do your best in the next match, okay?"
"Definitely" Dawn said with full confidence.
And with that they both walked off stage, wishing each other luck.
"That was a close one" Ash breathed in relief.
"Pika" Pikachu agreed.
"That Trick Room did some nasty work against Dawn's performance but she pulled through in the end" Misty was happy for the young coordinator.
"It's a good thing that contests have a time limit, or else Piplup would have lost from that Future Sight" Brock pointed out.
"Very lucky indeed" Tonio agreed.
"At least she gets to move to the second round" Alice spoke.
That was something they all agreed on as they awaited the anticipated battle between Maury and Kai, which was arguably the biggest match of the first round.
%%%%% Backstage %%%%%
"Here you go, this should make you feel good as new soon" Dawn spoke kindly as she used her potion to treat Piplup's injuries.
Piplup muttered its name a bit as it regained consciousness. He was already feeling the effects of the medicine.
"I'm sorry I had to put you through that, it was pretty risky using bide like that" Dawn apologised.
"Piplup (nonsense)" the penguin Pokémon shook its head in denial, it seemed content with winning.
She just smiled a little at her starter.
"I guess you're right, no need to dwell on the past because we should be looking forward to our next match" she brightened up.
"This isn't going to be like last time, I'm gonna beat you in this match and win the ribbon" Maury spoke in a friendly competitive voice.
"If you say so, just put up a good fight okay?" Kai said confidently.
"Damn right I'm going to" Maury smirked.
"Big words but I'll believe it when I see it" Allegra made a snarky comment.
The call had come for Maury and Kai to go on stage and do battle.
They looked at each other and grinned.
"See you on the battlefield" Kai said to Maury.
Maury chuckled, he was excited for this matchup as he Walked to the stage with Kai.
"I see Piplup is doing well" Allegra noted as she walked over to Dawn and her starter.
"Yeah, he'll be fine in no time" Dawn smiled confidently, "by the way, how's Infernape doing?" she asked.
"He did take a fair bit of damage but he's tough, he'll be ready for the next match" Allegra said without a hint of worry.
Piplup sat up and puffed up its chest proudly, putting up a tough act. Allegra crouched down to meet Piplup in the eyes with a smile on her face.
She poked him in the chest and caused him to fall into a sitting position and he wasn't impressed, so he responded with a pout.
Allegra was slightly amused at his expression.
"You know Piplup are proud creatures and are hard to bond with, but he seems to really like you. I think you two make a good team, in my opinion" Allegra spoke with a tone of nostalgia.
"I think you and Infernape make a great team too" Dawn responded.
"Thanks" Allegra accepted.
A second passed.
"What's the story between Maury and Kai?" Dawn asked, "Is this going to be a rematch of sorts for them?" she added.
"That would be an appropriate way to describe it. Because Maury has a very competitive personality he constantly makes rivals wherever he goes, Kai being one of them. The last contest we participated in, the Wisteria city contest, ended up with Kai and Maury battling it out in the finals, Kai won and Maury has been training hard to beat him" Allegra explained.
"Who do you think's going to win?" Dawn wondered.
"I'm undecided at the moment, they have both been practicing hard but only time will tell" Allegra said honestly.
"Piplup" the penguin pointed at Kai on the monitor.
"I guess you want Kai to win so you can battle Empoleon again" Dawn speculated.
Piplup nodded fiercely.
Dawn smiled at her partner's determination.
The match between Maury and Kai was about to begin, Allegra and Piplup were watching eagerly and Dawn joined in.
%%%%% On Stage %%%%%
"Now is the time for the final match of the quarterfinals, Maury vs Kai!" Marian announced energetically.
Facing each other at opposite ends of the stage, Maury and Kai eyed each other.
"You ready?" Kai asked with a grin, knowing the answer.
Maury nodded confidently.
They both released their Pokémon.
"Go, Torterra!" Maury cried.
"Empoleon, let's go!" Kai released his Pokémon.
The large Grass/Ground type Torterra was released to a spiral of green leaves that circled and dissipated around it.
The Water/Steel type was released with the same seal it had for the appeals round.
"Why is Kai using Empoleon again?" Ash wondered.
"According to the rules you are actually allowed to use the same Pokémon in both the Appeals and Battle rounds, but you can't change Pokémon you have already selected for the battle round" Brock explained.
"Although using the same Pokémon for the Battle rounds as the Appeals round puts you at a disadvantage" Misty pointed out.
"Yeah, like the others knowing some of the attacks your Pokémon can use and what type of Pokémon to use against it" Ash agreed.
"Maybe he has a specific reason he wants to use Empoleon?" Misty guessed.
'He definitely is better at analysing, that's for sure' she was slightly impressed with his analysis.
On the stage, both Pokémon were ready for battle.
"Empoleon, use Ice Beam!" Kai ordered right off the bat.
The icy blast was fired close to the ground and caused a trail of frozen crystals to form as it sped towards the Continent Pokémon.
"Block it with Stone Edge!" Maury spoke hastily.
The grass starter used parts of the ground to make solid rock. The stones levitated around it and flew towards the Ice Type attack.
The stones froze on contact, lumping together and creating a large chunk of ice and stones in the middle of the field. Kai lost the first points, dropping to 95 percent.
"Alright, go for Steel Wing!" Kai ordered, choosing a more physical approach.
Empoleon coated its wings in a strong glow as it charged quickly at the Grass type.
"use Rock Climb to stop it!" Maury retaliated.
Torterra's claws on its feet elongated in a glow as it stood up on its hind legs. It came smAshing down as the ground in front of it started to rise into unstable rocky platforms.
The Rock Climb had caught Empoleon and stopped its advance as it regained its footing on the high platform above the stage. This cost Kai a few points, going down to 90.
Torterra then began its offensive as it used a surprising amount of speed to scale the terrain and go for a tackle on the Water Type.
"Use its back to jump in the air!" Kai thought quickly.
Empoleon jumped as well as it could and landed on top of Torterra and prepared to jump. Maury lost his first points, going down to 94.
"Use Grass Knot and throw it into the ground!" Maury grinned.
Torterra's eyes glowed green as it used the tree on its back to create some vines to wrap around Empoleon's feet. Once it got hold of the Water type it pulled it down with strong force and sent it spiralling towards the ground.
This dropped Kai's points to the mid-80's.
"Now use Body Slam!" Maury ordered.
Torterra then followed after Empoleon, catching up with its mass helping it fall faster.
"Quick, use Hydro Pump to push yourself upwards!" Kai spoke quickly.
Empoleon heard the order and shook its head to focus. Its mouth opened as it released a high pressure blast of water that forced it back toward the falling Continent Pokémon.
"Use Drill Peck!" Kai continued.
The trident crown of Empoleon's head began shining a brilliant yellow as the Pokémon started spinning like a big screwdriver as it closed in on the larger Pokémon.
The two collided in mid-air, for a few seconds they remained stationary as the forces equalised. Empoleon used the power from its attack to push itself out of the way of the falling Grass Tortoise while Torterra continued to fall and land on its feet, causing the ground to shake.
Empoleon landed smoothly and awaited Kai's next move.
Maury's points dropped to the high 70's.
Torterra had sustained a heavy hit from the Drill Peck but was relatively healthy, Empoleon had taken a decent amount of damage from the Grass Knot and was slightly more injured than Torterra.
"Empoleon, use Mist!" Kai instructed.
Empoleon opened its mouth and breathed out a thick cloud of water vapour that covered the whole field, the Mist made it almost impossible to see Empoleon bar the large silhouette it made.
The display caused Maury's points to drop to the lower 70's.
"Torterra, stay focused and use Seed Bomb where you think it is!" Maury spoke over the mist.
The Continent Pokémon listened and began to scan for any signs of movement, every few seconds a rushing sound was made as Empoleon made passes by the larger Pokémon.
Predicting where Empoleon was going to go next and released a volley of energy pellets. An explosion was heard as the mist disappeared in the shockwave.
Empoleon was on the ground and was getting back up but it was hurting, Kai's points dropped considerably into the 50's.
Kai frowned in disappointment.
'Damn, thought that would have worked better' Kai sighed inwardly.
A sudden realisation made Kai smirk.
"Empoleon, freeze the ground with Ice Beam!" Kai called out.
The Emperor Pokémon used the attack to turn the floor of the battle field into a smooth and thick layer of ice. Torterra was surprised at the sudden change in temperature and lack of friction on the slippery surface.
Maury's point dropped further into the 40's.
"Use Earthquake!" Maury ordered Torterra.
Torterra tried to stand up but the ice cause the Pokémon to slip backwards and unable to perform the attack.
Another decrease in points pushed Maury into the late 30's.
'Alright, this is definitely a problem' Maury bit his lip.
"Now use Hydro Pump!" Kai continued his assault.
The high pressure blast of water darted towards Torterra and hit it hard, the Grass Type was looking bad now.
"Use Stone Edge to break the Ice, quickly!" Maury ordered desperately.
Torterra tried, but it couldn't use any of the ground to make stone as it was covered in ice.
"Finish it with an Ice Beam!" Kai said confidently.
"Don't give up yet, use Frenzy Plant!" Maury spoke with determination.
Torterra used large vines on its back to pierce through the ice and into the ground while Empoleon fired the Ice Beam at Torterra.
The Frenzy Plant tore up the icy field and began to block the oncoming attack. The two attacks persisted as they continued in a battle of dominance.
"Give it all you got Torterra!" Maury cried.
"Just hang in there, Empoleon!" Kai encouraged his Pokémon.
The attacks had a sudden burst in power and then they petered out, the Frenzy Plant created a wall of vines that were frozen over by Ice Beam. The wall also obscured Maury's line of sight of Kai. Both Kai and Maury's points dropped, to 30 and 20 respectively.
Torterra was exhausted and couldn't move, needing to regain its energy from the attack.
"Use Metal Claw to tear through it!" Kai roared.
Not even a second afterwards Empoleon tore through the wall like it was tissue paper, his steely wings acting like a sword and shattering the frozen wall into pieces. Maury's points dropped to 15 percent.
Maury flinched when he heard the words come out of his mouth. He was going into a full panic as he couldn't stop Empoleons next attack.
"Torterra, no!" He cried out.
"Hyrdo Cannon!" Kai simply ordered.
Empoleon summoned a large ball of light in front of it, the light turned into a dense sphere of water that was sucking in wind from the energy needed to make it. Empoleon threw the attack with a considerable amount of force toward the Continent Pokémon.
Torterra brace for impact with as much energy it could muster as the Hydro Cannon pelted it in the face. The strength of the attack forced Torterra back around 10 metres as a small fog covered the floor of the attack area.
Maury and Kai waited in anticipation.
Torterra was standing up but after a few seconds it became dizzy and dropped to the floor on its belly, completely exhausted with swirled eyes.
Torterra fainted as Maury's points hit zero, a beep from the sound system and a loud roar from the crowd signified the end of the match.
"The winners of this match are Kai and Empoleon, and that marks the end of the first round!" Marian spoke excitedly.
"Next up is the Semi-Finals!" she continued.
Maury sighed in defeat as he returned Torterra.
"You did good buddy, we'll get him next time" he promised.
"Nice work Maury, you definitely improved over last time" Kai complimented his opponent.
"Improvement doesn't mean anything if I lose. so the next time we meet on the contest field… I'll win" Maury spoke passionately with a fire in his eyes.
Kai chuckled in amusement, he saw the potential that Maury had and he wanted him to become stronger as well.
"Anyway, be sure to beat Allegra for me" Maury grinned.
"I'll do my best" Kai couldn't help but grin too.
They had a friendly handshake and left for the backstage.
%%%%% backstage %%%%%
Piplup was thrilled that Kai had won, although he was more excited that he had a chance at fighting Empoleon again.
"Looks like you're happy" Dawn stated.
"Piplup!" he nodded.
Dawn smiled at his enthusiasm. She looked over to see Kai and Maury returning backstage, unlike other coordinators Maury decided to stay and watch the rest of the contest.
"You both did a great job out there" Dawn praised them.
"Thanks, I still lost though" Maury half-heartedly answered.
"Like I said earlier, you'll have plenty of chances to get more ribbons… so quit moping around and enjoy the show" Allegra said sincerely.
Maury chuckled, "I'm not moping" he grinned.
"Could have fooled me" she replied with a grin of her own.
"Just so you know, Maury told me to beat you in the contest" Kai butted in.
"Of course he did" Allegra mumbled under her breath.
She looked up with a determined face, "well, I don't plan on losing" she stated like it was a fact.
"I don't think anyone here plans on losing" Dawn deadpanned.
Allegra faulted a bit, "can't you let me have this moment?" she complained.
"She makes a good point though, none of us want to lose" Kai agreed with Dawn.
"But didn't it sound at least a bit cool?" Allegra asked.
"It was more cliché than cool" Kai spoke truthfully.
Allegra pouted at the revelation.
Dawn had a small sheepish laugh, feeling a little bad about ruining her moment. She also picked up on something that Maury said.
"Hey, I think your forgetting that I'm facing Kai next so I might be the one battling Allegra" Dawn spoke disapprovingly, she didn't like being underestimated.
He seemed embarrassed at the impression he gave her.
"S-sorry… I, uh…" he sputtered trying to find a way to make the situation less awkward, his face was beet red.
Kai and Allegra chuckled at his expense.
Dawn just giggled a little, "I'm sure it was just a mistake, no need to worry about it, ok?" she comforted him.
"I'm usually used to just the three of us talking, I didn't mean to offend you" He spoke honestly, referring to Allegra and Kai.
Dawn smiled in understanding.
The monitor came back on showing Marian ready to announce the beginning of the second round, this caught everyone's attention.
"The second round is about to start, the first match will be Allegra against Travis!" Marian announced to the cheer of the crowd.
The crowd was excited to see the battle between the two, especially those who felt that Travis was the underdog with his previous victory.
"i guess it's time for my next match" Allegra noted seriously.
She stood up and checked her Pokéball, making last second checks to see if Infernape was ready.
"Good luck out there" Dawn cheered her on.
"Win one for us, so I can see you get beat in the final round" Maury gave his sharp support.
"Thanks for your kind words" Allegra sarcastically remarked.
Kai gave a nod of approval.
She walked off to the stage.
'I am going to win this, just you wait Maury' she thought with a strong resolve, wanting to prove Maury wrong.
She used this willpower to spur her on as she continued the long walk down the hallway to her next performance.
That's a wrap, phew!
Another chapter done within a month, I'm getting better. The next update for a story will be my walking dead one so you guys will have to wait a bit for the next chapter.
As always please give me constructive criticism when needed and don't forget to review.
Until next time.
