Chapter 12: Childhood Rivalry
Hey Everyone! How've you been? I slightly tweaked the last chapter to fix up a small mistake I made. OPFan37 pointed it out. You'll probably notice it if you re-read it. Aside from that, let's enjoy this chapter ok? See ya at the bottom of the page!
Lara stared at the young man that had just landed in front of her. It was a childhood friend of hers from her region. His name was Sleven. She hadn't heard from him since an odd looking Hydregion had destroyed her village years ago. She still didn't know what that was...
"Hey Lara! What are you waiting for? Attack him!" Lara glanced back at Matt and Alyssa who were still tied up by the Power Whip. Matt was calling out to Lara.
"Come on! What's the hold up? Why haven't you grabbed a Pokéball yet?" Lara smacked herself mentally. The man, Sleven, smirked.
"So you're the Burst Warrior here in Kalos. I never would have thought." He took a step toward her. One of Lara's Pokéballs rattled and Greninja popped out in-between the two. It glared at Sleven, who smirked again.
"What are you doing here Sleven? I thought you were missing since the Hydregion attack. Why are you attacking us?" Sleven laughed.
"I'm here because you have something I want." Lara's fear became confusion.
"Uh... and what might that be?" Sleven's expression changed to a dark look.
"I want your Burst Hearts." Fear returned to Lara.
"What!? Why do you...?" Sleven interrupted her.
"Because those who use Burst Evolution are disgusting freaks of nature! Tangrowth! Attack!"
Without waiting for any protest from Lara, Sleven pointed to the field.
Battle Begin!
Sleven's Tangrowth charged at Greninja. It sprang into the air. The Tangrowth crashed into the rock that had been behind Greninja. Greninja formed a Water Shuriken in its hands and flung it at Tangrowth. It was a direct hit, but due to being a Grass Type, it wasn't very effective. Greninja landed back on the ground and was immediately shocked by electricity. Tangrowth laughed as Greninja's HP went down. It had used Shockwave before it touched the ground. It also seemed to paralyse it. Tangrowth took the opportunity and used Giga Drain. Greninja felt its energy being drained from its body until its HP finally hit zero. Greninja fainted as Tangrowth pumped its hands into the air. Lara stifled a gasp.
"Is that your strongest Pokémon? Man. I expected more from you Lara." Lara grimaced. Sleven had a foul mouth and the power to back it up. Fortunately she wasn't finished yet.
"Kangaskan, let's go!" Lara's faithful Kangaskan appeared on the field. Sleven grinned evilly.
"A Kangaskan. Really? Wow. I was expecting you to have caught your favourite Type of Pokémon." Lara froze. She knew exactly what he was about to say.
"I thought you would have caught a Poison Type by now." A shiver went up Lara's spine. She absolutely hated Poison Types. Matt saw the shiver but decided to ask her about it later. She shook it off and stared Sleven in the eye.
"You know exactly why I don't have a Poison Type on me. Kangaskan! Flamethrower!" Kangaskan let loose a familiar breath of flames and it hit Tangrowth dead on. Sleven sighed as its HP depleted to zero. He returned it and gestured to the field. Swampert jumped off the rock it had been sitting on and landed in front of Sleven. It growled at Kangaskan. It growled back. They stared at each other, waiting for an order. Lara finally made a move. But apparently, Sleven had the same idea.
Beyond Evolution...
Mega Evolve!
Both Kangaskan and Swampert began to change. The colours swirled around them until they broke out. Rocky jumped out of its mothers pouch and stared at the now Mega Evolved Swampert. It was intimidating. It now stood on its back legs and it looked taller. It was more muscular and it had several orange scalchops over its arms and shoulders. It looked terrifying in a way. Lara noticed the Mega Ring on Sleven's wrist. It was black but the design on it was slightly sloppy. She remembered that someone had stolen a Prototype Mega Ring from Professor Sycamore's lab. She gasped.
"You stole that Mega Ring from Professor Sycamore didn't you?" Sleven shrugged.
"Yeah, and?" Lara growled.
"Kangaskan! Strength!" Both Kangaskan and Rocky glowed red before charging at the buff Swampert.
...
Inside Lara's familiar Ultra Ball, Shadow Mewtwo watched as the two battled each other. It scoffed.
'Those fools think they are strong with Mega Evolution. I will show them what real power is!' It waited for the right moment to strike.
...
Kangaskan had Swampert in a headlock. It wasn't easy because Mega Swampert doesn't really have a neck. Swampert struggled to get away. Lara grinned.
"Rocky! Use Thunderbolt!" Rocky jumped up and fired off a Thunderbolt. Kangaskan was quick to let go and Swampert was hit with more than a thousand volts of electricity. Due to its Super Effectiveness and a lucky Critical Hit, Swampert's HP fell to Zero. It changed back into its normal form and fainted. Sleven growled.
"Just because you beat my Mega, doesn't mean you've won. I have four more that you'll have to deal with." He reached for a Pokéball when Lara's Ultra Ball opened. Shadow Mewtwo glared at Sleven. He froze.
'You don't know the true meaning of power. I am the strongest Pokémon in the world. Not you. You will never be strongest.' It glowed with power and flicked its hand. A small explosion erupted at Sleven's feet. Sleven was flung into the air.
"I'LL BE BACK!" He shouted. Shadow Mewtwo grinned to itself. Lara grinned.
"Thanks Shadow Mewtwo." It turned to Lara and glared at her. Lara froze.
'This does not mean we are "Buddies." I will not fight for your amusement.' It returned itself to its ball. Lara sighed.
"It's going to take forever to get you to like me isn't it?"
"Lara!" Lara turned and saw Flannery approaching her with Vena on her back. She seemed dazed.
"Did anyone get the number of the truck that hit me?" She asked no one in particular. Both Lara and Flannery sighed.
"Is she ok?"
"Just dazed, that's all. She took the Hydro Cannon pretty hard." Lara nodded.
"Fair enough."
Matt sighed. The vines that were holding him and Alyssa were still here. He didn't know how to get rid of them.
"Oh come on. It's not so bad just hanging around is it?" Matt grinned at Alyssa's comment.
"Yeah well, I feel a little bit too close to you." Alyssa shrugged.
"And your problem is?" Matt laughed. Even if he couldn't see her face, he felt Alyssa's back tense up slightly.
"You're tense. Are you ok?" Alyssa smiled.
"Yeah. I'm fine. Just a little..."
The vines that held Matt and Alyssa exploded with light and they dropped to the ground. Matt landed on his feet while Alyssa tripped over her feet. She fell flat on her stomach. Lara and Flannery saw them drop and walked over.
"Ow." Alyssa sat up. Matt stuck out a hand.
"Need a hand?" Alyssa laughed. Vena, who had gained enough of her sense, glared at Alyssa. She could tell that Alyssa was flirting with him.
"Not on my fucking watch you won't." She murmured to herself as Matt helped her up. Lara took a breath before smiling.
"Let's keep going." She noticed Matt and Alyssa's stares. She sighed.
"I'll tell you about him later. I knew him from way back when." Flannery tilted her head.
"Who?" Lara sighed again.
"Like I said, I'll tell you later." She started walking toward the Lumiose City gate. The other girls began to follow her until Matt spoke up.
"Hey. What are these?" The girls turned to Matt who was holding up Goomy. In its mouth was a large key ring with two glamorous keys hanging off it. There also appeared to be one missing. Alyssa's face went bright red.
"Uh... That's nothing." She walked over to Matt and attempted to snatch them off him. However Matt was quick enough to move them out of her reach.
"Alyssa. Is there something we need to know?" Alyssa gulped. Then she sighed.
"The only reason I was in Courmaline City this morning was because I'm travelling. I didn't want to be sitting around at the Pokkén Tournament Stadium waiting for a challenger to appear. So I headed to Lumiose City to find something to do not long ago. While I was there I had a go at this thing called the Pokémon Showcase. Amazingly I won and I received this key, which is called a Princess Key." She took the keys off Goomy and lifted one up.
"I was told all about it and I decided to give it a go. See if I could get to the Master Class Tournament and become Kalos Queen. I competed in the Lagoon Town Showcase but I lost. I came to Courmaline City to compete in its Showcase. I won and received another Princess Key. This morning I was challenged to a Pokkén Battle and you know the rest. Before I met you four I was going to head to Frey Town to compete for my final Princess Key." Lara nodded.
"That sounds like fun. Tell us more when we get to Lumiose City." Alyssa smiled.
"Sure."
...
The five reached Lumiose City as the sun was coming down. Flannery suggested that they go and get a room for the night. Matt shook his head.
"You can go. I want to have a look around before I go to the hotel." Lara nodded.
"Right. Here." She passed him her Holo-Caster.
"So we can contact you when we find the hotel. Then you won't have to spend precious sleeping time trying to find our hotel." Matt grinned.
"Aww. Do you care about me?" Lara blushed bright red.
"What! No. I mean... Yes. Not like Vena does." Vena lifted her head up off Flannery's back.
"Who's there? What do you want?" Lara giggled.
The group split up and Matt explored the streets of Lumiose. He checked out the Boutique, the Lumiose Press, the Pokéball Boutique and the Coiffure Clips. The last stop for Matt's exploration was Prism Tower. He stood at the bottom and looked up at it. It was huge. Goomy had sparkles in his eyes. Matt grinned.
"Sure feels good looking at this place in real life." After looking at the tower for some time, he walked in to have a look. Inside was an elevator. Outside it was a man with a white shirt and brown hair. His pants were blue and he had a smile on his face.
"Hey there champion in making." Matt smiled back.
"Actually, I'm not a challenger. I just came here to have a look around." The man laughed.
"Oh. That's ok. Even if you were, you need at least four badges to be allowed to battle the Gym Leader." Matt's ears perked.
"Four you say."
"Yeah. You need the Bug, Cliff, Rumble and Grass Badge to get in here." Matt sighed mentally. Lara wasn't going to get in here without Viola's badge. He said farewell to the Gym Guy and wandered back toward the main street. Lara had sent him a message to say that they were staying at Hotel Richissime earlier. He reached the hotel as the streetlights came on. Once he convinced the Hotel reception that he was staying with Lara, he stepped into the elevator. At last he reached they're room and walked in. Lara, Flannery and Alyssa were sitting on the couch watching something on the TV. Lara brought a finger up to her lips as he walked up to the couch.
On the TV was the end of a Pokémon Showcase. The host, Monsieur Pierre was about to reveal the winner of the Couriway Town Showcase that had been on at the moment. Matt watched as a woman with red hair and her Pokémon Meowth and Wobbufett win the Showcase. Matt smiled to himself.
'That's Jessie. It's obvious.' He thought to himself.
After they watched the woman received the Princess Key until Alyssa turned the TV off.
"What did you think?" Lara grinned and stuck out a thumb.
"That was awesome!" Flannery nodded.
"I can't wait to see you perform live. I noticed that each performer had at least two Pokémon each. Do you have any more Pokémon on you?" Alyssa smiled.
"Let's go Rotom! Togekiss" She tossed two Pokéballs out and a Rotom and Togekiss appeared. Flannery cooed over the Togekiss.
"Oh! That's so cute!" She hugged it as it blushed. Matt grinned.
"These are a support set in the Pokkén Tournament. You have set Pokémon that you use?" Alyssa nodded. Matt looked around while the others fluffed over Alyssa's other Pokémon. He noticed that someone was missing.
"Where's Vena?" Lara turned to him.
"She said she had something to do while we're here." Matt nodded but he had a bad feeling of what Vena was really up to...
Interesting. Sleven is a powerful trainer, Alyssa participates in the Pokémon Showcase (I had to get someone to do it. Once I first saw it in Pokémon XYZ I loved it. It's so cool.) and Vena's gone missing. Where could she have gone? The slight tweak in the last chapter was the conversation between Lara and Sleven. If you read it, forget what you read. I stuffed up and it wasn't supposed to appear. Forget it completely. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. And I'm sorry if I'm not quick enough with updates "Someone." I may have the whole story planned out in my head but it's not easy to write it down just like *that* really quick. Please wait until the next chapter. See you then!