This chapter didn't turn out the way I wanted as the battles are much, MUCH longer than I expected. Since the anime isn't as far as may story now, I have to decide which pokémon evolved.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or its characters.
Chapter 21: Battle Time
Ash and Dawn got to the training fields quickly, where numerous other trainers were already battling. She wanted to show him a few of her newest Pokémon: Kabutops, Scizor and Rioulu, who had hatched a week after her arrival in Unova. The other three pokémon were Leafeon, Espeon and, of course, Piplup. Apart from Pikachu, Ash also had Serperior, Pignite, Dewott, Scrafty and Unfezant with him.
One battle caught their attention. A blond boy was battling a coordinator's kingler with his chandelure. It was nearly over as Kingler was already heavy wounded.
"Use shadow ball!" The move hit it straight in the face, knocking it out immediately.
"No! Kingler!" The coordinator rushed to his fainted pokémon. "You did a good job. Have a rest now:"
"Good job? It was a joke, nothing more! As expected from a Kanto coordinator," the blond boy said, contempt clear in his voice.
"Who is that?" Dawn asked.
"That's Trip. I think I told you about him." Dawn nodded. He was one of Ash's strongest rivals. She remembered that Trip didn't like Kanto and even called Ash a hillbilly.
"I'll get you for this later!" the coordinator shouted before storming off.
"Hey Trip, what are you doing here?" Ash asked.
"Oh, it's you. I think that's pretty obvious. I'm battling some of those coordinators to find out whether they're actually worth something in battle." He recalled Chandelure. "But so far I've only met show-offs."
"There are strong ones, I can tell you that." He gave Dawn a quick side glance.
"Really? I don't think so. If they were strong, they would have done gym battles instead of that crap about beauty and elegance." The coordinators around him were getting angry and started to challenge him but he declined every time.
"Hey, take that back!" Ash yelled angrily.
"Or what? Why do you even care? Do you have friends among them?" Trip asked.
"I do and they certainly aren't weak!" Ash turned back to Dawn. "Let's go." But Trip wasn't finished yet. He continued to taunt his rival even as he was walking away.
"If you take yourself as a reference, maybe you're right. It's not difficult to be stronger than a hillbilly such as yourself." Trip shouted after him. "You boonies from Kanto are all the same."
"That's enough!" However, it wasn't Ash who said this. It was Dawn.
"And who are you?" Ash's rival asked her.
"I'm Dawn, a coordinator from Sinnoh and one of Ash's friends. And I won't allow you to insult him any longer." She slowly walked up to him with Ash following.
"So why should I stop?" He obviously wasn't impressed.
"Because he isn't weak. He's strong. Probably stronger than you. An awesome trainer and person. He can bring out the best in every pokémon. I have no doubt that he will win that league! And he has already had more adventures than you probably will have in your entire life. He has seen lots of legendary pokémon, even having defeated some of them. He taught me everything I know about pokémon. So don't you dare insult him!" Ash was looking at her indecriously all the time. She was defending him? And all those things she said. Did she really mean them?
"A big mouth," he said . "But can you back it up?"
"What do you mean?" Her eyes narrowed.
"If he's been such a great teacher to you, prove by battling me. I challenge you." Trip was expecting her to back down but, to his surprise, she accepted.
"Fine! Here and now?" she just replied.
"Sure! A three on three with substitutes. We need someone to judge the battle!" he shouted.
They found someone pretty quickly. It seemed their conversation has drawn quite a lot of attention. Among the spectators were also May, Iris, Zoey, Cilan, Drew and Kenny.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Ash asked her with a concerned look.
"Absolutely. You shouldn't take that from him either." She was still pretty angry.
"Okay, but there's one thing I would like to know." She looked at him expectantly. "Did you really mean those things you said about me?"
"Of course!" She tried to hide a small blush. "It's just the truth."
"Wow, thank you." He didn't know that she thought that highly of him but it made him happy. "And now show him your strength. I'm sure you can do it!"
"No need to worry!" She said laughing,
"It will be a three on three match. Substitutes are allowed. Battle, begin!" The battle judge announced.
"Conkeldurr, it's your turn!" The massive fighting type roared as it was called out.
"Kabutops, let's show him!" Trip smirked. He had a type advantage at the beginning. "Start with stealth rock!" Dawn commanded. He sent out several pointed rocks, which fell on the ground near his opponent.
"A good start but maybe she should change her pokémon?" Someone next to Ash remarked. It was Drew.
"I'm sure she knows what she's doing," Ash replied.
"Crush it with rock smash!" Conkeldurr ran towards Kabutops, releasing one of its concrete pillars to punch its opponent with its fist.
"Use protect and follow up with rock polish!" Dawn's pokémon received no damage as the attack was blocked by the green aura before he started to glow white, dodging the next punch with increased speed.
"Not too bad. Use rock tomb!" His pokémon put down his other pillar, forming a huge rock in his hands which it threw at Kabutops.
"Counter with brick break!" He cleaved the rock easily. "Waterfall!" Kabutops jumped on a pillar of water which quickly rose from the ground.
"Rock throw!" Once more, Conkeldurr threw rocks at its opponents.
"Use aqua jet with rapid spin!" He encased himself in water while spinning, before launching himself at his opponent with the pillar of water following him. His sickles, which he held I front of him to create a drill, smashed the rocks without effort.
"Use superpower!" With all its might, Conkeldurr blocked the combination attack only to be hit by the water following him. The force of the attacks caused them to separate again, both of them heavily breathing. "Use superpower again!"
"Finish it with slash!" Trip's pokémon missed him due to his great speed and was hit in the belly. It collapsed shortly after, leaving Kabutops the winner.
"Conkeldurr is unable to battle!" the judge shouted.
"What and amazing combination!" May exclaimed.
"Well, I can do better," Drew said with a hair flip.
"In your dreams," she replied. They started a playful argument.
Ash didn't listen. He was proud of Dawn winning this despite a type disadvantage.
"Well done, Dawn . You'll beat him!" he shouted.
"What? It seems I underestimated you. It won't happen again!" Trip recalled his fainted pokémon. "Take a rest now. Serperior, go!" The pointed rocks floated next to him and crushed the grass type before returning to their original position.
"Careful. That's his strongest pokémon!" Ash warned her.
"Kabutops, return! You have done well." Dawn wished she had taken Gengar instead of Leafeon as she would have a great type advantage. But it wasn't the time for regret. "Leafeon, it's your turn!"
"Use leech seed!" Trip ordered. His pokémon shot several seeds at Leafeon.
"Counter with hidden power!" The fire type orbs burnt the seeds before going for Serperior who dodged them easily. However, it gave some time to Leafeon.
"Sunny day!" A glowing orb appeared above the battle field, which activated Leafeon's chlorophyll ability. "Now x-scissor!" Because of the speed boost it was faster than Serperior now, making several hits but the regal pokémon was still fast enough to hit his opponent with cut. Suddenly he got surrounded by a green aura, showing that his overgrowth ability was activated. It wasn't surprising as x-scissor was a super-effective move.
"Gastro acid!" He sprayed a liquid which disabled Leafeon's ability, making it slower again. "Now we have you! Vine whip! Then leaf tornado!" Trip shouted. His pokémon caught Leafeon with vines, holding the opponent in front of him before sending a boosted leaf tornado at him.
"Free yourself with x-scissor!" He cut the vines but not without taking heavy damage from the leaf tornado. "Use it again to attack it!" Dawn knew that with Serperior's speed and power, her pokémon didn't have time to recover with synthesis so she tried to take him down quickly.
"Leaf storm!" The verdant pokémon managed to cut the first leaves but was soon overwhelmed and had to endure the move. "Energy ball!" The green ball finished Leafeon off.
"Leafeon is unable to battle!" the judge announced.
Ash was a bit concerned. It would be really difficult for her now. Although Serperior was heavily damaged and weakened due to his use of leaf storm, it was still a powerful opponent. Maybe she should have used a counter instead of Leafeon. But he was even more surprised by her next choice.
"You did a good job. Thank you," Dawn said as she recalled him. "Kabutops, it's your turn again. Use aqua jet!" The shellfish pokémon quickly flew towards Serperior, encased in water.
"Another leaf storm!" Dawn knew that a direct hit would be the end of Kabutops. But she wanted Trip to send out his last pokémon first so she could use a suitable counter.
"Fly up, directly below the sunny day orb!" Kabtuos did as he was told which resulted in the leaves missing him. As Serperior looked up, the orb was blinding him. "Go for it! Slash!"
"Return!" Trip recalled his pokémon before Kabutops could hit him. "Go, Jellicent!" It was also hit by the rocks that were still on the field.
Dawn quickly checked her pokédex. She had already seen many pokémon in Unova but this one wasn't among them.
"Jellicent, the floating pokémon. They propel themselves by expelling absorbed seawater from their bodies. Their favourite food is life energy."
"A water and ghost type," Dawn mumbled. "Kabutops, great job. Return for now. Go, Scizor!"
"A good choice," Cilan, who was also standing next to Ash with Iris now, remarked. "Jellicent is unlikely to have fire moves."
"You can do it, Dawn!" Ash cheered her on.
Alright, he's counting on me. This isn't merely about winning a battle. This is about winning a battle for him. So I'll have to do my very best, she thought
"Scald!" Trip commanded. Jellicent shot a stream of scalding hot water at Scizor, who dodged it just in time.
"Use bullet punch!" The pincer pokémon hit his opponent but suddenly he was surrounded by a purple aura, deactivating the move.
"That cursed body ability caused you quite some trouble as well, didn't it?" Iris pointed out. "She should have used a pokémon that can fight without direct contact."
"I'm sure she will find a way," Ash answered.
"Agility! Then swords dance!" He dodged another scald with great speed before his pincers glowed white. "Use it again!"
"Use surf!" Scizor just watched as the wave got closer, his pincers glowing brighter than ever. Just when it crashed down on him, Dawn reacted.
"Now! Use night slash!" Her pokémon ignored the damage from the water and just hit Jellicent as hard as he could. Once more, his move was deactivated but his attack did massive damage. Jellicent was smashed into the ground but got up again. Dawn had to admit that it was tough.
"Use recover!" Trip commanded. However, Scizor was already standing in front of his pokémon, ready to finish it.
"Use pursuit!" The dark type move hit before Jellicent could recover, knocking it out.
"Jellicent is unable to battle!" the judge shouted.
"Alright, return. Serperior, finish this!" But as soon as he was called out again, he was crushed by the rocks. As he had already taken major damage he fainted right away.
"Serperior is unable to battle. The victory goes to … the girl." Dawn sighed in relief.
"You've done it!" Ash ran up to her, raising his arm. She understood and gave him a high five. "You've really come a long way."
A flash made them look at Trip who has just taken a picture of her. Without another word he walked off.
"What was that about?" Dawn asked.
"He takes pictures of those who beat him badly so he can remember them or something like that," Ash told her. "He did the same thing after Cilan defeated him."
"I see. I hope he stops insulting you now." But Ash just shook his head.
"I doubt it. But we still have a practice battle to do, don't we?" He wasn't going to let anyone take it away from him.
"Oh, sorry for doing that." Dawn realized what she had done by accepting Trip's challenge. "Now we can only do a three on three and I don't really have much choice about which pokémon to use."
"No problem." He waved it off.
"So shall we start?" she asked.
"Sure. We don't need a judge, right?" Dawn nodded.
"It's only a practice battle." They both enlarged one of their pokéballs.
"Scrafty, I choose you!" Ash exclaimed.
"Espeon! It's your turn! A dark type? Use reflect!" A protective shield surrounded her before becoming invisible.
"Use faint attack!" Scrafty rushed up to Espeon but jumped up as she braced herself, hitting her from above instead.
"Use zap cannon!" Scrafty dodged it and prepared another attack but Espeon used psychic to control it, sending it right back at the hoodlum pokémon, hitting it in the back. As a result, he got paralyzed.
"Not bad. Use scary face!" Espeon briefly lost her self-confidence when she saw the horrible grimace Scrafty made. Her ability reflected it back at Scrafty who wasn't affected by it as much, though. "Now focus punch!" The scary face gave him enough time to complete the attack without being disrupted, which sent Espeon flying. "High jump kick!" Ash didn't want to let her recover.
"Dodge it and use grass knot!" She rolled to the side just in time, using grass knot just as Scrafty landed, entangling his foot, which caused him to fall on his face. "Now use signal beam!" She shot a rainbow coloured beam at Scrafty who had to take it as he was still on the ground.
"Use dig!" Ash's pokémon dug a hole and jumped in. "Faint attack!" The ground in front of Espeon crumbled but no pokémon came out. Instead, Scrafty appeared behind her, hitting her hard. She wasn't finished, though, as the reflect move reduced the damage considerably.
"Use iron tail and let it fall with grass knot!" The attack caused recoil, which Espeon used to topple him with another grass knot. "Now hidden power!" Multiple orbs hit the helpless Scrafty as he struggled to get up again.
"Get up and use payback!" It took him a while but in the end, he succeeded, knocking out Espeon with a powerful punch.
"Espeon!" Dawn cried. "You've done well. Take a nice, long rest now." She turned to Ash. "As strong as ever, huh? But I won't make it easy for you! Go, Piplup!" Her partner stepped into the battle field. "Use bubble beam!"
"Use dig!" Once more, Scrafty jumped into a hole to evade the attack.
"Use whirlpool and jump on it!" A moment later, Piplup was already riding his own whirlpool. When Scrafty resurfaced, he had to stop, lest he would have been caught in the maelstrom. "Release it!" The whirlpool collapsed, causing the water to flood the battle field, catching Ash's pokémon in the process. "Bubble beam again!" This time, it hit Scrafty, who was dragged away by the water, causing him to faint.
"No! Scrafty! I have to remember that way to counter dig attacks," Ash mumbled. "Well done, Scrafty. Have a god rest. "Pignite, I choose you!"
"A fire type?" Dawn was a bit surprised.
"Well, it's only a practice battle and my pokémon have to learn how to deal with type disadvantages," he explained. "Besides, you used Espeon against a dark type."
"That's true," she agreed. "You can have the first move."
"Start with sunny day!" A glowing orb was floating above the battle field again.
"Alright. Let me show you my second present for you. I've had a bit of trouble with weather effects like that when I arrived in Unova so I made something to counter it. Piplup, do it!" Piplup made a move similar to rain dance but it was much shorter. A cloud appeared above the field, canceling the sunny day before disappearing as fast as it came. "I made this for you just like the spin move. I hope you can put it to good use."
She made this for me? he thought. A move that can cancel out any weather effect within not even a second? The spin move was already awesome. It saved me more than once. And it was the basis of many other moves like the counter shield.
"Wow, I don't know what to say. I'm really impressed. Such a creativity in one mind," he complimented her.
"Stop it already. I may have invented the spin move but you mastered it. You pushed it to levels I would have never imagined," she countered.
"Would you please stop complimenting each other like little kids and continue with the battle? It's getting boring," Iris complained.
"Oh, sorry. Shall we?" Dawn asked.
"Sure! Pignite, use flame charge." He charged at Piplup, his body surrounded by flames.
"Use bubble beam!" Ash's pokémon, however, was faster than she anticipated. He dodged the move and hit Piplup in return.
"It's really fast. Piplup, let's show them one of our best combinations! Drill peck!" The penguin pokémon started to spin like a drill, launching himself at Pignite.
"Wait for him! Then grab him and use arm thrust!" The impact was a bit stronger than expected but he quickly recovered, attempting to get a hold of Piplup.
"Now use hydro pump!" Before Pignite could do anything, Piplup released a massive stream of water right at his face while getting pushed back by the force of the move and therefore out of reach. Having just been hit by two super effective and powerful attacks at point-blank range consecutively, Ash's pokémon was nearly done for.
"Well, I certainly didn't expect that. You could call that a hydro missile," Ash suggested. "But enough of this. Use flame charge again!" This time, Dawn knew what to expect. She waited for him to get closer.
"Use whirlpool as a shield!" Piplup created a medium sized whirlpool, which he held in front of him. Although Pignite managed to slow just in time so that he wouldn't run into it but he couldn't dodge when Piplup threw it at him, trapping him inside.
"Get out of there and use flamethrower!" Ash shouted. It was too late though. Pignite has already fainted. "Good job! Have a rest." He recalled his pokémon and turned to Pikachu. "It's you turn, buddy!" Pikachu was more than happy about battling again. He hasn't seen Ash that enthusiastic for a while now. "Start with thunderbolt!"
"Dodge it!" Piplup evaded the attack with some graceful, dance-like moves. Ash looked at the pokémon in disbelief. "What? We worked very hard on those moves," Dawn told him.
"It's still pretty impressive. Use electo ball!" Pikachu formed a ball of electricity at the tip of his tail, shooting it at Piplup by using iron tail. Piplup was so surprised by the speed that he had no chance of dodging and got shocked. "Now volt tackle!"
"Use scald!" As Pikachu charged towards his opponent, Piplup shot a stream of hot water at him, which Pikachu dodged before smashing into Dawn's pokémon, knocking him out.
"Piplup! No!" She recalled him. "You were awesome. Riolu, it's up to you!"
"You have a riolu?" Ash asked.
"Yes, I got him as an egg from Maylene. He hatched about a week after my arrival in Unova so he's still very young. That doesn't mean that he'll be easy to defeat, though," she warned him.
"I wouldn't dream of it. Let's start! Use volt tackle!" Pikachu charged at his opponent.
"Vacuum wave!" Riolu shot several horizontal tornados from his fists at him, which Pikachu dodged easily. As soon as he was close enough, Dawn reacted. "Detect!" With one quick movement, Riolu evaded it, following up with another vacuum wave, which hit Pikachu in the back.
"Use electro ball!" Just like in his fight against Piplup, he shot the ball at his opponent with his tail. Dawn's pokémon was hurt badly but it was far from over. "Try volt tackle again."
"Detect! Then brick break!" Similar to the first time, Riolu dodged the attack but this time he hit Pikachu on the head. However, he was paralyzed when he did that. "Oh no, static."
"Why are you doing this?" Ash has just noticed that Dawn seemed to mimic Riolu's movements although she wasn't too good at it. Actually, it looked rather funny so he had to keep himself from laughing.
"I was told that it could help me get in sync with Riolu and strengthen his powers. As you can see, I can't keep up with his speed and dexterity yet," she explained. "But I hope to get better in time."
"Well, let's continue the battle. Another electro ball!" Since Riolu was slower now, the move did even more damage. To Ash's surprise, Riolu could still continue. "Finish it with volt tackle!"
"Block it with force palm!" Dawn's pokémon held both his hands in front of him, creating a force field, which slowed down Pikachu as he got closer. He came to halt directly in front of Riolu. "Release it!" The force of the attack threw Ash's pokémon far away. He got up again.
"Pikachu, get up and use thunderbolt!" Riolu tried to dodge it, but the paralysis stopped him, which resulted in him getting knocked out.
"No! I'm so sorry, Riolu. I shouldn't have let it come that far," Dawn apologized as she recalled him.
"It's also a bit my fault. I got a bit carried away," Ash said, scratching the back of his head.
"No, it's my responsibility as his trainer. He's still so young. But I can't change it now." She sighed. "Anyway, it was a good battle."
Their friends and the other spectators returned to their own battles.
"He's already really strong. And so are Piplup and Espeon," Ash remarked.
"They're lousy!" They turned to the source of the voice. It turned out to be Ursula who has watched the whole battle. "So how many ribbons do you have?"
"My pokémon aren't lousy!" Dawn yelled. "And I have four ribbons right now."
"So do I. Sometimes I wonder how a weak coordinator like you could get so many of them," her rival said. Now it was Ash's turn to defend his friend.
"Dawn isn't weak!" Ash shouted. "She got to the final at her first grand festival! And she got only stronger since then. She created some of the most awesome combinations I've ever seen. So why should she her not get so many ribbons?"
"Are you serious?" Ursula and Dawn asked at the same time.
"Of course! You're so amazing and talented. You will get your fifth ribbon without problems!" he said to Dawn, who blushed and turned away. "There's no way you will fail to get to the grand festival." He turned back to Ursula. "And nobody talks about one of my friends like that! How about we have a battle? Then you can prove how strong you really are."
"You're just saying that because you're her friend," Ursula remarked. "And because you have no idea what contests are about. Otherwise you wouldn't speak that highly of her. She only wins because of luck. I'm not interested in your kind of battles. Why don't you enter the Wallace Cup instead to show me that you are not completely clueless?"
"He already entered the last Wallace Cup and made it to the battle round. Unlike you." This comment made Ursula pretty angry.
"I was weak back then," she admitted. "And making it to the battle round once doesn't mean that you're an expert. Do it if you have the guts. Anyway, I'll see you later."
"Yes, I'll enter it! And then I'll knock you out of it!" he shouted after her.
"Do you really want to do that?" Dawn asked. "You still have to prepare for the league. But I guess Wallace would be happy to see you compete again."
"It will also help me prepare for the league. So it'll be no problem. That is, if you help me a bit?" Dawn laughed.
"How could you ever doubt that? Of course I'll help you!" she reassured him. "By the way, you didn't have to defend me. Did you really, really mean those things you said?"
"Sure," he answered, a bit embarrassed. "You shouldn't have to take that from her."
"You know, that's exactly what I said about you and Trip," Dawn pointed out with a grin. "But thank you. It was very sweet of you. You don't need to enter the Wallace Cup. I know you can be awesome in contests as well!"
"There's nothing that can stop me now! Someone needs to teach her a lesson," Ash told her.
"And I can't be that someone?" she asked, pretending to be hurt by his comment.
"Hey, I didn't say that!" he defended himself. "I just wish she would have accepted my challenge instead of taking the easy way out."
They chatted a bit more as they watched a few more battles. Before they knew it, it was already dark so they all went back to the pokémon center. Although Dawn had seen Kenny among the others, he wasn't with them when they returned. It didn't matter to her as she had Ash now. Misty also has returned in the meantime. Ash wanted to tell her to meet Dawn in his room now. Then it would be up to her.
I wanted to do more but it's already longer than the other chapters so I'll save the rest of the reunion for later. There will also be things like information on Team Plasma's fate and a tag battle.