Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga
Chapter 14
Everything Changes
"Dawn! Hey! Are you listening to me?" Melany snapped her fingers in front of the girl's face, finally snapping her out of the daze she seemed to be in. Melany stood back and sighed. "Look, I don't have much time. If Lucas found out we haven't left for Snowpoint yet..."
"Sorry..." Dawn mumbled in response, gaze still on the two buneary sitting nearby. "I just can't decide..."
A day had passed since Dawn's contest and everyone had managed to meet up the night before. After Melany and Rina had finally managed to meet up, Lucas went off on his own toward Veilstone City. Dawn and her mother spent the night at Keira's place in the northern end of the city, while Melany and Rina stayed at a hotel.
Today, they had all met up again at the southern outskirts of Hearthome so Melany could give Dawn a bit more advice before heading north with Rina. Keira, Joanna, and Rina were sitting with the two buneary and Rina's Pikachu, Pippi, was with Rina as she usually was. Bowser was with Dawn, ready to do some training, but Dawn was too distracted by the request her mother had made the day before.
Melany followed Dawn's gaze and looked back at the two buneary. "That's your strongest pokemon, right? The pink...buneary they're called?" Melany asked. Dawn nodded. "Worried you might be vulnerable if you leave your strongest pokemon behind?" Melany asked as she turned to face Dawn again.
Dawn nodded. "I have enough trouble with Dusk as it is and I'm definitely going to run into her again. Bridget's pretty good at beating up ghost-types because of Foresight and Frustration."
"-You could say I have the foresight to attack ghosts with all my frustration!-" Bridget called out and then snickered to himself. With his large ears he was able to overhear everything the two girls were saying. Keira's buneary giggled at Bridget's sense of humor while Rina and Pippy shook their heads.
Bowser shook his head. "-Bad pun. Very bad.-"
I'm going to ignore the fact that she's relying on a pokemon that obviously doesn't like her, Melany thought when Dawn mentioned 'frustration. "Well, in any case, mind if I take a look at your pokedex to see what you have to work with?"
"There's only one pokemon I don't have with me, though," Dawn replied as she took out her pokedex. She scrolled through the list of pokemon using her touch screen until she reached the entry for vespiquen and then handed it to Melany. "It's one of those."
Melany looked at the pokemon being displayed and blinked in disbelief. "This? But it looks pretty strong, why keep it in storage?"
Dawn rubbed the back of her neck and smiled sheepishly. "Well, last time I let it out of its pokeball, it tried to kill me." This revealation got the attention of everyone present, but especially Joanna's. Joanna suddenly shot toward the girls and grabbed the pokedex out of Melany's hand to see what pokemon it was.
"What are you doing keeping this thing around if it's so dangerous!?" Joanna angrily demanded, holding out the pokedex and pointing her finger at the pokemon on screen. "You should have released it the first chance you had!"
Dawn nearly fell back as her mother suddenly yelled at her. It wasn't something Dawn was used to hearing from her, even with how disagreeable the two seemed to be. "W-well I...I just didn't think about it..." Dawn replied nervously.
"I think you're being a little hasty there," Melany said, putting a hand on Joanna's shoulder before she could say anything else. "Afterall, we have a negotiator with us today." Melany jerked her head back toward Rina. Rina looked around and then nervously pointed at herself.
"M-me?" she asked.
"Well, know anyone else that has an innate gift for understanding pokemon?" Melany said to her. Rina gulped nervously and shook her head.
"-Don't worry, Rina! I'll be there to protect you!-" Pippi said in an attempt to reassure her trainer.
"You were there when that Ursaring attacked, too," Rina reminded her. Pippi's ears drooped when she recalled the memory.
"Rina, with all of us here do you really think anything will happen? I mean, let's be serious here..." Melany gestured toward Dawn. "She managed to catch it, afterall."
Rina blinked and then looked at Dawn. "Oh. Guess you have a point there."
Bowser frowned and glanced over at Dawn as well. "-In a way, they're insulting both of us...-"
"I know how you feel, Bowser, but compared to most of the trainers we've been running into..." Dawn left her sentence hanging in the air. Bowser, of course, knew what she was saying. Dawn had encountered many trainers that were stronger than her. Lucas seemed more skilled than her, though only having a piplup, Barry beat her in battle, as did Dusk. She was pretty sure Marcus was stronger than her, as well as the girl she ran into at Roark's gym. Melany was much stronger and, though she didn't know it during the contest, Rina was on the same level.
With so many strong trainers around, I'm definitely starting to feel like I need to get stronger. That's why I don't think it's a good idea to give up Bridget. Dawn glanced toward Bridget. He and the other buneary seemed more interested in talking to each other than paying any attention to her, though Keira seemed curious. But, Elincia seems strong too, so if she'll listen to me...
Dawn nodded and suddenly stood up. "Ok, so should I go get Elincia?" she asked. Melany and Rina nodded to her. Joanna bit her lip and remained silent. Even knowing her daughter would be in capable hands, it was only natural that she would be worried. The decision had been made, though, and soon enough the group was heading toward the pokemon center.
After arriving at the pokemon center, Dawn went to the PC and made a quick swap, trading out Captain Falcon in exchange for Elincia. After swapping pokemon, the group headed toward the contest hall to make the negotiation attempt. The hall was surrounded on either side by a large field, which was going to be good enough for what they were doing.
"So, no problems with me leaving then?" Melany asked Rina once everyone was ready. Rina quickly shook her head.
"Nope! If it's a flying type, Pippi definitely won't have any trouble!" Rina replied. Pippi enthusiastically nodded in agreement.
"-That's right! I bet it couldn't even take one Volt Tackle from me!-" Pippi said, sparks shooting out of her white cheeks. Though it was an unusual color for a Pikachu's cheeks, everyone present knew what that meant except for Dawn. Dawn just thought it to be a different color for a Pikachu similar to how Bridget had pinkish fur instead of the usual brown of a normal buneary.
"Ok. I'm heading over to the gym then. There's something I want to do there," Melany said. "I shouldn't be too long, hopefully. In any case, good luck!" Melany then waved and headed off toward the gym. After she was gone, Dawn took a pokeball in each hand and looked toward Rina. Far off behind Rina was where Joanna, Keira, the two buneary, and Bowser were. Bowser would be sitting out due to his disadvantage against Elincia.
"I'm ready when you are, Dawn!" Rina said to her. Dawn nodded and swallowed nervously.
"Ok then! Here it comes!" Dawn yelled, holding out her left hand first and pointing it far away from her. "Elincia! Come on out!" the pokeball opened in Dawn's hand and out came Elincia, appearing only a few feet away from Rina and Pippi. Almost immediately after, Dawn held out the second pokeball. "Conker! You too!" she said, releasing the electric pokemon almost directly in front of her.
"Excuse me!" Rina said to Elincia. Elincia turned away almost immediately, though, and paid her no attention. Spotting her target, Elincia raised her claws and flew toward Dawn.
"-FOOL! I shall make you regret freeing me from my prison!-" Elincia yelled.
"Conker! Charm!" Dawn called out. Conker looked at Elincia with big, puppy dog-like eyes. The cute expression caused Elincia to hesitate and back away a few feet.
"-Hiding behind your minions?-" Elincia narrowed her eyes at Dawn. "-Then I shall do the same! Larva, to my defense!-" Suddenly, a swarm of what looked like combee but with only one head emerged from Elincia's abdomen. The combee larva formed up on Elincia, shielding her with their bodies.
"-Rina! Shouldn't we be doing something about this!?-" Pippi asked, pointing frantically at Elincia. To her surprise, Rina shook her head.
"No...I don't think so. I could be wrong, but the way that pokemon is behaving is like it sees Dawn as a rival somehow," Rina said to Pippi. "I'm only guessing here, since I have no clue what this pokemon is, but I think I understand why its attacking Dawn." Rina paused for a moment and then suddenly ran toward Dawn.
Pippi gasped in shock. "-Rina! Be careful!-" she called out before running after her trainer. Rina ran beside Elincia as she moved toward Dawn, testing her theory in a way. As Rina had expected, and to the surprise of everyone else present, Elincia did little more than glare at Rina as she ran past. Pippi ran alongside her after catching up and both stopped next to Rina.
"Rina?" Dawn blinked at her. "What are you..."
"Excuse me! But could you please tell me why you're trying to attack Dawn?" Rina called out to Elincia.
"-That is none of your concern!-" Elincia shot back, bearing her claws. "-If you will side with her then you are just another of her minions to me!-" Elincia moved toward the two girls to attack, but Conker quickly moved to put himself between them. Annoyed, Elincia started clawing furiously at Conker and he endured every hit.
"Well that didn't work," Rina mumbled, then turned to Dawn. "Did you do anything to upset her maybe?"
"I don't think so, though I guess I did catch her by surprise," Dawn said to Rina, eyes focused on Conker and Elincia. Conker was taking hit after hit and slowly being pushed back, but Dawn was making no move to stop it. "One of my pokemon went off alone and ended up battling it, and when I finally caught up I had Conker attack and then used a pokeball."
"-It was you!? Then I will show no mercy!-" Elincia growled, her attacks striking Conker much more vigorously now. As one of her claws hit him, though, she felt a jolt of electricity go through her body and paralyze her muscles. She immediately dropped to the ground. "-No...not this again! I refuse to be defeated like this again!-" Elincia weakly extended a claw toward Conker, stopping mere inches from his face as she couldn't reach any further.
"-It'll be my win this time, too! I wasn't taking those attacks for nothing, you know!-" Conker said to Elincia. Now that she had stopped attacking, she could see the white glow radiating from Conker's body. He had been using Bide the whole time, absorbing the energy from her attacks until she had triggered his static ability.
"I get it now, I was wondering why you weren't calling out any attacks," Rina said to Dawn.
"Well, it seemed like a good way to counter a stronger opponent," Dawn replied sheepishly, then turned to Conker. "Conker! Fire now!" Conker nodded quickly and unleashed the stored energy in a white burst that completely engulfed Elincia. The energy spread out in a cone shaped burst, reaching halfway from where Conker stood to where Keira, Joanna, and the two buneary were, before finally dissipating. Elincia was down and the larva that had been protecting her lay scorched on the ground.
"Wow, Joanna, I think your daughter might be a better trainer than you!" Keira said to Dawn's mother, snickering at her.
"Well, when it comes to pokemon training, she seems to take after her father," Joanna replied with a slight smile. "But when it comes to contests, she can't come anywhere near my level yet."
"-Huh? We did pretty good yesterday!-" Bridget said indigantly. Keira's buneary giggled at him.
"-Silly. You did fine, but you and Dawn don't even come close to Joanna!-" the buneary said to him. Bridget blinked at her, then looked at Joanna curiously.
Come to think of it, even though Joanna was raising me instead of her daughter, I have no idea what her and her pokemon are really capable of, Bridget thought to himself.
"-So the mother is a contest star and the daughter is...-" Bowser blinked and looked across the field. "-I...I don't know what to say she is. It's almost as if she trains pokemon...casually, even though she's suddenly gotten serious about it yesterday...-"
"Dawn, that was great and all, just one problem," Rina said, eyes narrowed when she turned to face her. "We were supposed to be negotiating."
"Oh...right..." Dawn let out a nervous laugh. "Well, umm, I guess you could call this aggressive negotiation?" Just then, they heard a low groaning as Elincia started to stir. "Oh, looks like she's not out yet anyway."
"-This thing's pretty strong, but I bet I could take it out in one more move!-" Conker said eagerly, sparks shooting out from his cheeks. He didn't attack, though, as he was waiting for Dawn to make the call.
"-Hmph. I didn't even get to Volt Tackle anything,-" Pippi said, snapping her fingers in disappointment. Noticing Rina was walking toward Elincia now, Pippi quickly ran to catch up with her.
"Feel like talking now?" Rina asked her. Elincia looked up at her with a defiant expression and Rina sighed. "If you try to fight, you can't win with the way you are now. And you were beaten from full strength already, so..." Elincia looked at the two electric pokemon, narrowed her eyes at them, and then looked back to Rina.
"-You seem to understand us somehow. Very well, you wish to know why I intend on killing that girl?-" Elincia asked. Rina nodded, frowning at the pokemon's bluntness. "-In the wild, I am the leader of my swarm, and the only leader. If another combee were to evolve, it would be a fight to the death for control over the rest. Having lost my swarm, I will be rid of this girl who captured me and take her minions for myself!-"
"That's what I thought more or less," Rina said quietly, nodding, then turned to Dawn. "Ok, so basically, she sees you as a rival...queen I guess, and wants to take over your 'swarm' since you took her away from her own."
Dawn blinked. "That's it? But my pokemon would just fight her anyway. I mean, Bridget would probably pound her to dust if she thought she was going to be able to control him like that..." Hearing Dawn say that, Bridget rolled his eyes. To him, she was practically doing that as it was.
"-Oh, you would NOT want to mess with me if you did anything to hurt Dawn!-" Conker said to Elincia, balling up his tiny hands like fists and letting sparks fly as a warning.
"-Yeah, pokemon tend to be loyal to their trainers,-" Pippi said to Elincia. "-Well, most pokemon anyway...-"
"-So my resistance is futile is what you're saying?-" Elincia glared at the group and flapped her wings, slowling rising off the ground. She released pheremones from her body that caused the downed larva to get up and quickly return into her abdomen to recover. "-Even so, I would rather spend an eternity sealed in one of those pokeballs than follow orders!-"
"She's being really difficult..." Rina mumbled. She shook her head sadly and looked back at Dawn. "She says she would rather stay locked up in a pokeball than listen to a trainer."
"Ok. Guess we're going with that, then." Dawn then took Elincia's pokeball in hand, preparing to recall her.
"-Wait! No, I-" Elincia's protest was cut short as a red beam from the pokeball struck her, de-materializing her and pulling her into the pokeball. Dawn clipped the pokeball back onto her belt and then took Conker's pokeball in her hand.
"Conker, Elincia probably hit you pretty hard, so you should rest up in your pokeball," Dawn said to him. Conker nodded to her in agreement before she recalled him and placed his pokeball back on her belt.
"Well so much for negotiating," Rina said disappointedly. "Maybe she'll change her mind eventually, but I don't know. Anyway, what now?" she asked Dawn. Dawn shrugged.
"I don't know. Train Jax, Bowser, and Bahamut I guess," Dawn replied, taking another two pokeballs from her belt. Overhearing this, Bowser quickly ran up to Dawn just as she was releasing her other two pokemon. "Ok, you three umm...run laps or something until Melany gets back. She probably has something planned," Dawn said to the three of them. The pokemon looked at each other in confusion, then took off to run around the edge of the field. Letting out another sigh, Rina and Pippi walked back to the patch of grass where everyone else was and watched in boredom while Dawn trained her pokemon.
Fortunately, Dawn didn't have to wait long. After only a few laps, Melany had finally returned. Dawn saw her coming but nearly lost it when she saw who was with her. Even after all that had happened, it seemed Dawn wouldn't be able to escape him.
"Hey! Dawn! I heard you were training, but this looks like pretty bogus training! They're not even fighting!" Barry said as he approached Dawn alongside Melany.
"Sorry about that, but I thought you'd need a good opponent to test yourself against," Melany said to Dawn when she noticed the sour look on the girl's face. "He just got his third badge, so he seemed like a good enough candidate."
"That's right!" Barry said, taking out his trainer card with three badges on it and showing it off for Dawn to see.
"Swell," Dawn muttered disinterestedly. Her three pokemon, meanwhile, ran up to her as they all finished another lap around the field. They all had their doubts that running was actually helping much and were hoping Barry's arrival meant a chance to battle.
"Wha! You have a gible!?" Barry said in shock when he saw Bahamut run up to Dawn. "That's not fair, someone like you having a pokemon like that! You're not even challenging gyms!"
"Hey! I caught Bahamut fair and square!" Dawn shot back. Bahamut looked at her curiously and shrugged.
"-Well you can hardly blame him for complaining when you have someone like me around!-" Bahamut said, grinning to himself.
"Bah! Nevermind that!" Barry suddenly jabbed a finger in Dawn's direction. "Me and you! Right here, right now! We're going to battle and I'll show you just what someone with three gym badges can do!"
With the way he talks sometimes, you'd almost swear he was my rival even though we don't even have a common goal, Dawn thought. To Barry, she nodded and said, "You better not think I'll be a pushover! I'm ready to be serious about it now!"
"Ha! I'll believe that when I see it!" Barry shot back.
I don't really get what's going on between those two, but as long as Dawn's going to battle Barry I don't care, Melany thought, shrugging to herself. "Alright, since you only have four pokemon Barry, and Dawn has three with her already, let's make this three on three match with the standard rules." Dawn and Barry nodded in agreement and Barry then moved to the other side of the field so they could battle.
"Joanna, no offense but I'll be beating your daughter today!" Barry said, casting a smug look toward Dawn. Dawn motioned for Bahamut to move out in front of her and Barry quickly drew a pokeball from his belt. "Ok, Buiriko, you'll take this one! Go!" Barry thrust out his hand while pressing the button, releasing Buiriko from his pokeball in an overly dramatic fashion. Buiriko stood with his arms folded in front of him, wearing the same smug expression that his trainer did.
"She might surprise you yet, Barry," Joanna said. Barry glanced back curiously, wondering what she meant by that.
In a way, those two kinda remind me of Ashley and Gary, Rina thought to herself, smiling lightly. Only Dawn isn't as serious as Ashley, and Barry isn't a jerk like Gary was.
Just you wait, Barry! Today, I'm going to get you back for all the times you kidnapped me! And especially for all the times you didn't give me a chance to pause my game first! Dawn thought, grinning to herself as she prepared to call out her first attack. "Bahamut, start with your Dragon Rage attack!"
"-A draconic power dwells WITHIN ME!-" Bahamut cried out, a blue glow forming in the back of his throat. "-TAKE THIS! The burning spirit of a dragon! DRAGON RAAAAAAAGE!-" Bahamut opened his mouth wide as he yelled and finally released his attack, a blue shockwave firing out from his mouth and flying across the field toward Buiriko.
That one seems like a showoff, Barry thought. As Bahamut was still making his attack, Barry called out his move. "Buiriko, show him your Sonicboom!"
"-Sonic...-" Buiriko started to spin around, the tip of his tail glowing. "-BOOM!-" he then yelled as his tail snapped around with a loud bang. Several white energy blades flew through the air. Buiriko's attack collided with Bahamut's, but the blades cut through without either attack really being affected. Buiriko cried out as she shockwave struck him and knocked him off his feet and Bahamut grimaced and braced himself as the blades struck him.
With that result, Barry won't stand back and try to attack again, so let's try a different approach! Dawn thought, a determined look in her eyes. "Bahamut, Sand Tomb!"
"-Why doncha just stand still for a while!?-" Bahamut yelled at Buiriko. He took a quick bite out of the ground and then breathed out while yelling, "-SAND TOMB!-" The dirt he ate came out in the form of a small whirlwind that hit Buiriko as he was getting up and then swirled around him. Buirko grimaced in pain as the wind and dirt buffeted his body.
"Buiriko, counter with Water Sport!" Buiriko folded his arms and then spun around while releasing water from his mouth. The water swirled around him and mixed with the whirling dirt, eventually negating the attack as it all fell to the ground as mud. "Nice try, but you'll need to do better than that to stop Buiriko!"
"Is that so!? Then how about this! Bahamut, Sandstorm!"
"-Sand...STORRRRRRRRRRRM!-" Bahamut yelled, jumping into the air and spinning around. A blast of sand swirled out from his body, spreading a sandstorm across the field that covered both pokemon. With his Sand Veil ability, it also made it very hard to see Bahamut within the sand.
"Nice try, but I know my dragons!" Barry said smugly. "Buiriko, hit it with a Swift attack and show Dawn that there's no escape from us!"
"-Swift! Strike!-" Buiriko called out, spinning his tail around again. This time, he fired a burst of star-shaped rays that immediately homed in on Bahamut through the blast of sand. Though he could barely be seen, they all heard him grunt when the rays struck him.
"Escape nothing! Everyone knows you can't run from important battles, anyway!" Dawn shot back. "You might be able to hit Bahamut just fine, but how well can you avoid his attacks now? Bahamut, once more with Dragon Rage!"
"-Once more with feeling!-" Bahamut yelled as he jumped straight up into the air. "-DRAGON RAGE!-" Bahamut fired a shockwave of draconic power down at Buiriko, catching him off guard and knocking him to the ground. Buiriko was out cold almost instantly.
So Dawn gets the first win, Melany thought, standing off to the side with her arms folded to watch the battle. With the right moves, she might be skilled enough to handle herself without her best pokemon as it is.
"Grr...cheap shot!" Barry said as he recalled Buiriko and then took out another pokeball. "You won't take this one down as easily! Roseriko, go!" Barry thrust out the pokeball and released his pokemon, sending out a frail-looking rose pokemon into the intense sandstorm.
"Bahamut, good job! Get back here for now," Dawn said while Barry was sending out his next pokemon. Bahamut grumbled to himself and reluctantly left the battlefield, moving behind Dawn. "Ok, Jax, you can take this one!" she then said to Jax, looking at him and pointing toward the swirling sand ahead.
"-Jeez, and right into a sandstorm too,-" Jax grumbled. He was as reluctant to head into the battlefield as Bahamut was to leave, but he did so anyway. Jax grimaced when he felt the sand blasting his body.
"Jax, start by using Rock Slide!" Dawn called out. Jax smashed his fists into the ground, loosing several rocks and sending them flying toward Roseriko. Roseriko deftly dodged the first few rocks until a larger one managed to smack right into him. It hit him hard, but she was able to throw it off. He then stood up and smiled, as if the attack meant nothing to him.
"Roseriko, get close and use Grass Whistle!" Roseriko quickly moved forward to ensure Jax would be able to hear him, closing half the distance between them before putting his rose-tipped hands to his lips and whistling. Jax began to feel drowsy almost as soon as the whistling reached his ears and soon dropped to the ground, fast asleep.
"Status effects like that don't seem fair somehow," Dawn muttered to herself. "Especially since they'd always fail if I tried using them..."
"-Do any of us even HAVE attacks like that?-" Bowser asked, looking over at Bahamut. Bahamut snorted and shook his head.
"-Like I would even lower myself to such techniques! A real pokemon looks his opponent in the eye before he delivers the finishing blow!-" Bahamut said.
"Heh! Sleep is going to be the least of your pokemon's worries, Dawn!" Barry said to her. "Roseriko, use Stun Spore while its asleep! Then, use Poison Sting!" Roseriko moved closer still, knowing the sandstorm still surrounding them would sweep up the spores.
Once Roseriko was standing over Jax's sleeping form, he fired a cloud of spores down on him. The spores left Jax's muscles paralyzed, though he wouldn't notice until he was awake. Roseriko then stabbed Jax in the back with one of his roses, striking with a stinger hidden inside. Jax grunted in his sleep when he felt the stab. It was now that the sandstorm around them finally died down, leaving a covering of sand over the field.
"We've got this one in the bag! Roseriko, Mega Drain!"
Is he awake yet? Dawn wondered. "Jax, if you can hear me, use Revenge!"
Roseriko pointed his roses at Jax and started drawing energy from him. While he did, Jax was biding his time and building up strength so he could overcome his paralysis. When Roseriko had drawn away as much energy as he could in one go. Jax then finally moved to attack, darting toward Roseriko while low to the ground, a wild look in his eyes and fist glowing with a dark energy. Jax's fist connected with Roseriko and knocked him back with such force that the sand was blown aside as he flew back. Roseriko kept going until he hit a trash can, knocking it over and losing consciousness upon impact.
"What the hell was with that attack just now!?" Barry yelled in shock. Melany opened her mouth to explain but was quickly cut off by Dawn.
"Simple, when Jax is struck first and uses Revenge, the attack is twice as powerful," Dawn said, smirking. "When you factor that in, it easily makes it stronger than any other attack Jax could use, despite your Roseriko being resistant. Also, when you paralyzed Jax, you activated his Guts ability to increase his power further." By the time Dawn was finished talking, just about everyone was looking at her in shock.
"Who are you and what have you done with Dawn?" Barry asked her.
"Hey! I told you I was taking this seriously!" Dawn shot back.
Huh. I knew those two were both from Twin Leaf, but it seems they've got more of a history together than I thought, Melany thought.
"Whatever!" Barry took Roseriko's pokeball in hand and quickly turned to recall him. He then switched with another pokeball from his belt, readying it as he turned to face Dawn again. "Well I won't take this lying down! This is where I make my comeback, so you better be ready! Monriko, I choose you!" Barry pressed the button on his pokeball, sending out his final pokemon. An orange furred monkey pokemon with blue fur over its eyes appeared and hopped around excitedly.
"Jax, here, you can rest in your pokeball. You look like you were poisoned by that roselia afterall," Dawn said to Jax, noticing that he still seemed to be in pain. She took his pokeball in her hand and recalled him, then turned to Bowser. "Ok, I know you're at a disadvantage here, but I think we can still win this. You ready?" Bowser nodded and, without another word from Dawn, moved out onto the battlefield.
"-Oooh! You evolved too!-" Monriko said cheerfully. "-But we both know I'm going to win still!-"
"-Like Dawn said, even if I'm at a disadvantage I can still win. It's not over until one of us is knocked out!-" Bowser replied. Monriko grinned.
"-Ok! Good! This should be fun!-" Monriko said.
"I defintiely won't lose this one! Monriko, Flame Wheel!" Monriko dashed toward Bowser and then hopped into a cartwheel. Flames formed around his body until he looked like a wheel of fire rolling across the field.
"Bowser, quick! Withdraw!" Bowser withdrew into his shell, fully retreating inside only moments before impact. Monriko smashed into him and the flames singed his body, but the impact from Monriko's attack was reduced quite a bit. After hitting, Monriko bounced off and stood in front of Bowser. This gave Dawn an idea.
"Bowser! Fire a Seed Bomb from inside your shell!" she called out. Moments after, several seeds fired out and struck Monriko in the chest. The seeds exploded upon impact and knocked Monriko off his feet.
"Grr! Monriko, get out of there and charge in with Flame Wheel again!"
"Bowser, power up with Curse and fire another Seed Bomb!"
A dark aura surrounded Bowser as he powered up, slowing his body to increase his physical defense and power. Meanwhile, Monriko hopped back onto his feet and then jumped back. With enough distanced now, Monriko flipped into a flaming cartwheel and shot into Bowser. The damage was even less this time, thanks to Curse, but Monriko made sure to hop as he hit so he bounced into the air after. When Bowser fired the Seed Bomb it shot under Monriko and exploded on the ground instead.
"Bowser! Razor Leaf!" Dawn called out quickly. While Monriko was in the air, Bowser shook his body to fire several sharp leaves from the bushes on his back. The leaves struck Monriko just as he was falling back down to the ground and slashed across his body, causing him to cry out in pain and knocking him onto his back as he landed.
"Argh! What!?" Barry pulled at his hair in frustration. "I can't believe we're having this much trouble against a grass type!"
"Hey! I wasn't just bluffing when I said I think I could win!" Dawn said with a smirk. "Really though, if you didn't go with a physical attack to start, this would have been much harder. Bowser excels against physical attacks, afterall."
"If that's the case, we'll just hang back and attack with Ember!" Barry called out. Monriko quickly got up and moved away from Bowser. "Monriko, make sure you're not in his line of fire!" Monriko nodded, moving to the side, then prepared to attack.
"Wrong move! Bowser, time to finish this! Come out and use Seed Bomb!" Bowser emerged from his shell and stood up just as Monriko opened his mouth and shot a fireball at him. Bowser took the fireball to the face, grunting and staggering back from the blow.
As Bowser shook off the attack, a green glow surrounded him briefly and the bushes on his back grew slightly. He then returned fire, launching several seeds at Monriko. The seeds struck Monriko, this time creating a much larger explosion that briefly blocked him from view before he fell to the ground with a dazed look in his eyes.
"WHAT?!" Barry yelled in disbelief. "We lost? No way! Grr..." Barry quickly recalled Monriko, then looked at Dawn and said, "Well that's it! I'm not losing to you anymore!"
"But this is the first time you lost to me," Dawn reminded him.
"And it'll be the only time! Next time we meet I'll be a lot stronger, just you wait and see!" With that, Barry bolted, heading off in the direction of the pokemon center.
"-Wait, you mean I actually won afterall?-" Bowser said, blinking in disbelief.
"Not bad, you beat him without losing a single pokemon," Melany said, placing a hand on Dawn's shoulder as she walked up next to her. "Still, those initial tactics you used would only work against a reckless charge since you can't exactly aim easily."
"Hey, whatever works, right?" Dawn replied, smiling slightly. Soon, everyone else was gathered around her as well.
"You did great, Dawn! With moves like that you could easily take on a gym leader!" Rina said enthusiastically. Pippi nodded in agreement and gave Dawn a thumbs up.
"So then, have you decided?" Dawn's mother asked her. She was referring, of course, to the issue of whether or not she would leave Bridget behind. Dawn seemed to think for a moment before nodding to her mother.
"I have now," Dawn said, then looked at Bridget. "I don't see why he wouldn't want to, but if Bridget wants to stay here with you and Keira's buneary then I don't think I have any room to disagree." Bridget tried to hide a smile when Dawn said that.
"Well, of course, it's not like you'll never see him again anyway," Joanna reminded Dawn. "In fact, anytime you feel like you need Bridget for something, all you have to do is ask!"
"-Do I get a say in that?-" Bridget muttered bitterly.
"I guess now the only issue is that you're down to four pokemon, since Elincia still isn't being helpful," Rina said. "Maybe Melany could give you..." Rina stopped and blinked in disbelief, then looked around. "Did anyone else hear that just now?"
Everyone listened intently and soon became aware of the sound of music playing, along with the odd beeping sound. Dawn immediately recognized the noises as being from a video game, one of her own specifically. The sound even seemed to be coming from her travel bag, which she had left on the ground at her feet. When she reached down and opened it up, she found a small pokemon inside playing her DS.
"Huh?" Dawn blinked, then reached inside to pick up the pokemon. The egg-shaped pokemon dropped her DS as she lifted it out of the bag and immediately tried to squirm out of her grasp to get it. This must be the pokemon that hatched from the egg, she thought. I'd say this is quite the coincidence if I believed in them...
"Looks like you found a replacement already, go figure," Melany said, blinking in disbelief.
The pokemon in Dawn's arms then suddenly turned to face her and started crying. Realizing what it wanted, Dawn put the pokemon back in her bag. It immediately started playing her DS again, tapping the buttons and screen with the tip of its stubby hands.
"And wouldn't you know it? The hatched pokemon seems to be taking after you, dear!" Dawn's mother said, chuckling to herself.
"Too bad it doesn't actually have hands then," Dawn said, smiling slightly. "I think I'll call this little guy...Eggman." The small egg pokemon looked at her when she said this, then turned back to the game. It was struggling through an RPG that Dawn already had loaded into her DS.
It took a while for Dawn to get her newly hatched pokemon into a pokeball. After she did, she handed made the exchange at the pokemon center to give Bridget to her mother and added the young togepi to her line-up.
Dawn said her goodbyes after sorting out her pokemon, and then headed toward the southwest edge of the city with Melany, Rina, and Pippi. Melany and Rina would be heading north toward Snowpoint and would be passing through Mt. Coronet anyway, so Dawn was going with them that far on her way back home. However, when they were nearing the exit, Dawn saw something that caught her interest.
"Hey, where does that gate go?" Dawn asked Melany and Rina. Near the western exit was another gate leading south. Melany took out a device known as a pokenav to check her map.
"That just leads south, but following that path would lead toward Pastoria according to the map," Melany explained. "Kinda makes a loop depending on where you go from there. You can head north to Veilstone, then southwest to Solaceon and continue on back to Hearthome from there. Celestic Town and Sunnyshore are just a bit off that path."
"So...it'd be pretty easy to see the rest of Sinnoh from here..." Dawn said, thinking out loud. I only came all this way to get my house key, but getting here was actually a lot of fun, and even battling Barry today was kinda fun. So maybe it wouldn't be too bad if I travelled around the rest of Sinnoh? I wouldn't mind trying my luck against Dusk again, that's for sure!
As she thought this, a grin spread across Dawn's face. Yeah! And if I go to Veilstone, I can buy my games in person for once instead of having to get them delivered by mail! I think I'll do that! Besides, my video games will still be home when I get there.
"So are you coming then?" Melany asked Dawn. Dawn quickly turned and shook her head.
"Actually, I think I'm going to go see the rest of Sinnoh now! I can... uh... see the pokemon back on the other side of Mt. Coronet anytime afteral," Dawn said. Naturally, rather than saying she was going home, she told Melany and Rina that she needed to scan more pokemon back that way and only came to Hearthome to see her mother.
"That's probably the better way to do it, then," Melany said, nodding in agreement. "Well, keep at it then. I'm sure we'll bump into each other again somewhere."
"I don't doubt it! Good luck at Snowpoint!" Dawn replied, then ran off through the southern gate. Melany and Rina sighed in unison.
"Not looking forward to that," Rina mumbled.
"Hoenn was warm. I want to go back to Hoenn," Melany said.
"-Can't be any worse than taking an Ice Beam,-" Pippi said with a shrug.
Just then, the doors of the western gate opened and a Marcus stepped out. He adjusted his shades before approaching the girls. He walked past Melany, but stopped in front of Rina to take a good look at her. Rina blinked when she finally noticed Marcus standing in front of her, but didn't immediately say anything to him.
After a moment, Marcus shook his head and muttered, "Too flat," Then he headed off into Hearthome, leaving Rina stunned.
Author's Notes: And thus, Dawn has now decided to travel across Sinnoh instead of heading straight back home. She seems to be breaking sequence again, though.
Dawn! You're supposed to be heading to Solaceon next! Don't you remember what happened the last time you tried breaking sequence!?
Oh well. She has a new pokemon now as the egg finally hatched, she beat Barry, left Bridget behind, and made some progress with Elincia. At any rate, a lot's happened these last two chapters. Next chapter I'll aim to have Eggman outside his pokeball a bit more since he only appeared briefly this chapter.