As the trio of adventurers continued making their way through the rough terrain of Route 11, they looked past a large outcropping and saw a landscape of yellow rooves, large pylons and wide spruce trees. As the three were taking in the view, a deep voice cut through the air.
"Well, well, well." the voice said. Everyone turned and looked towards where the voice was coming from to see Tendou standing there with his arms crossed. "Look who finally decided to show up." he said smugly.
"What do you mean decided to show up?" Lucas asked sharply.
"I wanted a rematch for our battle that was interrupted in Larch Town, so I thought I'd wait in Sitka City for a while." he explained arrogantly. "Turns out you are really slow." he insulted. Lucas clenched his fists in anger, Summer put her hand on his shoulder.
"Easy…" she whispered, calming him down. Tendou then threw a Poké Ball that popped open and poured blue light onto the ground.
"Quilava, fire up!" Lucas yelled, throwing his own Poké Ball.
"QUUUIIIILLLL!" it roared as it somersaulted through the air. "Lava!" it cheered as it landed.
"Who is this dick anyway?" Mitch asked Summer.
"He's Lucas' rival and you're right to call him a dick." she told him with a chuckle. "They defeated these two grunts of an organisation called the Sisterhood of Chaos after having their battle interrupted after the first round and Tendou just walked away after saying he'd win next time." she explained. "It was a tie by the way." she told Mitch.
"Spinarak use String Shot!" Tendou commanded. Spinarak then shot out a stream of sticky white string at Quilava.
"Jump and use Flamethrower!" Lucas countered. Quilava jumped over the stream, flaring up the flames on its head and back and then released a red-orange stream of fire at Spinarak.
"Spinarak, use Shadow Sneak, now!" Tendou yelled. Spinarak then dived into its shadow, and zoomed forward towards Quilava. Spinarak then shot up behind Quilava and slammed into the fire type.
"Quick use Flame Wheel!" Lucas shouted in desperation. Quilava then began to topspin and steamrolled Spinarak, knocking the bug type out.
"Spinarak, return." Tendou said. "Staryu, you're up next!" he yelled throwing the Poké Ball. "Staryu, use Rapid Spin!" he commanded. Staryu then began to spin like a saw blade, using the tips of its appendages as a cutting edge, flying over to Quilava.
"Counter with Quick Attack!" Lucas yelled. Quilava then shot forward towards Staryu in a burst of speed with white streaks trailing behind it. The two Pokémon collided and were sent back to their Trainers sides.
"Staryu, finish this with Bubble Beam!" Tendou screamed. The jewel in the middle of Staryu's body glowed orange before it shot out blue bubbles at Quilava.
"Dodge it!" Lucas shrieked. But the attack was too fast and the bubbles crashed into Quilava, causing a burst of steam. The steam cleared to reveal an unconscious Quilava. "Quilava, return." Lucas said with a sigh. "You deserve a nice, long rest." he praised. "Snorunt, it's time to chill!" he cheered, throwing his second Poké Ball.
"Snorunt use Double Team and Leer!" he commanded. Snorunt dashed over to Staryu as it made multiple clones of itself and surrounded the star-shaped Pokémon and then made a sinister face causing a deep blue ring of energy to appear briefly.
"Use Rapid Spin to get rid of them!" Tendou yelled. Staryu then started spinning again, cutting through the clones.
"Quick use Ice Shard!" Lucas yelled in desperation. Snorunt formed the shards of ice at her mouth and shot them at the spinning Staryu who cut straight through them and crashed into Snorunt sending her rolling across the ground.
"Use Psywave!" Tendou commanded. Staryu's body then became outlined in light blue and its core also glowed blue before it fired light blue rings at Snorunt.
"Use Icy Wind to blow 'em back!" Lucas countered. Snorunt released the sparkling blue powder towards the attack and the powder took the attack with it and collided with Staryu, freezing the Pokémon in place. "Shatter it with Ice Shard!" Lucas continued. Snorunt then formed the shards of ice and shot them at the frozen Staryu, causing an explosion of light. The light faded and the Trainers uncovered their eyes and saw an unconscious Staryu.
"Staryu return!" Tendou said sharply. "Staravia, let's do this!" he yelled, throwing a third Poké Ball. A greyish-brown, avian Pokémon with black and white markings emerged and took the skies and started circling the battlefield. Its head and upper body were primarily black with an "M"-shaped pattern over its white chest. On its forehead was a greyish-brown spot. On its face was a white, mask-like marking with a pattern of spikes along the lower edge. It had small, black eyes with white pupils and a long, orange beak with a black tip. On the back of its head was a long tuft of feathers, which curved forward. The lower halves of its wings were black, and it also had black tail feathers with a single white feather in the center. Its orange, anisodactyl feet had black talons. Lucas took out his PokéDex and scanned the Pokémon as he was unfamiliar with it.
"Staravia, the Starling Pokémon." the familiar female voice stated as it showed Lucas an image of the Pokémon that was in the sky. "Aware of its own weaknesses, it forms flocks of its own kind and cries noisily if left on its own." it continued. "However, these flocks can be extremely territorial; when two different groups meet, they will fight fiercely." it finished.
"Snorunt, can you still battle?" Lucas asked.
"Sno!" she cheered as she flashed him a smile.
"Staravia, use Quick Attack!" Tendou yelled, thrusting his hand forward. Staravia then shot towards Snorunt as white streaks trailed behind and slammed into the smaller Pokémon, sending her skidding towards her Trainer.
"Perfect." Lucas stated with a smirk. "Snorunt, use Avalanche!" he commanded before Tendou could react. Snorunt's body then began to glow light blue and a dark cloud appeared over the circling Staravia. Chunks of white ice then rained down on Staravia, sending it plummeting to the ground.
"Aerial Ace!" Tendou cried out. As Staravia got closer and closer to the ground, it spread its wings and flew towards Snorunt, its body becoming engulfed in white streaks before slamming into Snorunt.
"Snorunt, wrap this up with Ice Shard!" Lucas shrieked. Snorunt formed the shards of ice at her mouth and shot them at Staravia.
"Double Team!" Tendou countered. As Staravia was about to create the clones, the barrage of ice shards crashed into it, sending it plummeting to the ground. It crashed into the ground, shooting up a cloud of dust. The dust cleared.
"Staravia, return." Tendou said with contempt. "Klink, let's win this!" he yelled. The familiar gear Pokémon emerged from the blue light, indifferent as ever. Snorunt was breathing heavily.
"Snorunt use Icy Wind!" Lucas commanded. Snorunt released the sparkling blue powder towards Klink.
"Shock Wave!" Tendou countered. Klink's body became surrounded in a light blue electricity and it shot a beam of light blue electricity at Snorunt.
"Dodge it!" Lucas yelled. As Snorunt began to roll to dodge the attack, the beam followed her path and hit her dead-on. She was unconscious. "Snorunt, return." he said, withdrawing the Pokémon. "Let's bug 'em out Dewpider!" he shouted as he threw his third Poké Ball.
"Water Pulse, let's go!" Lucas yelled as he threw his right hand out to the side. Dewpider formed the sphere of water and shot it towards Klink.
"Dodge it, then use Thunder Shock!" Tendou countered. Klink floated towards the ground as the attack passed over it and shot a thin beam of electricity at Dewpider who had no time to react. "Follow up with another Shock Wave." he continued. Klink body became surrounded with light blue electricity once more as it shot the beam of light blue electricity at Dewpider.
"Counter with Aurora Beam!" Lucas yelled. Dewpider shot a thin beam of icy-blue energy at the electric attack, the two colliding. The two attacks battled for superiority, neither giving in. BOOOOM! Both Pokémon were still standing, one rapidly losing energy and stamina.
"Dewpider, use X-Scissor!" Lucas cried out desperately. Dewpider then rushed over to Klink and brought its front legs up as they glowed blue.
"Gear Grind." Tendou commanded calmly. Klink shot out gears out Dewpider who was sent flying backwards from the attack. It smacked on the ground in front of Lucas, unconscious.
"Dewpider, return." Lucas said. "You fought well." he praised with a sad smile. "Diggersby, I choose you!" he then yelled as he threw his final Poké Ball.
"Dig." it snapped as it flexed its massive ears.
"Let's start this off with Quick Dig!" Lucas yelled, trying out a name for the combination. Diggersby dug a hole and dove into it before shooting up underneath Klink with white streaks trailing behind and slamming into the steel type, sending it sky high.
"Use Gear Grind!" Tendou screamed. As Klink plummeted, it shot out multiple gears from its body which all crashed into Diggersby. The two rivals looked at each other with a look of victory in their eyes.
"Earth Power/Hidden Power!" they yelled simultaneously. Diggersby punched the ground and cracks travelled underneath Klink who shot a barrage of blue orbs at the ground type. BOOOOOOM! A cloud of dust shot up obscuring the view of everyone. Everyone waited with bated breath. The dust cleared.
"WHAT?!" everyone yelled simultaneously, not able to believe their eyes at the sight.
"I wouldn't have thought that would've ended in a tie." Mitch told Summer. "I mean, Lucas had the type advantage and was up three to two." he continued.
"Well, just goes to show…" Summer said. "You can't always trust type advantages or taking the lead." she stated wisely. She then looked up and saw the two rivals in each other's faces. "Alright, break it up." she said as she separated them. As he felt her hands on him, Lucas calmed down instantly.
"Good battle, huh?" he asked Tendou.
"I guess." Tendou replied with a sigh. "See you around." he said as he walked off towards Sitka City, leaving the group on their own. They took another look around them and noticed that the sun was starting to set, giving the sky a beautiful orange-purple hue.
"If we hurry, we should be able to get to the Pokémon Center by nightfall." Summer said, which caused Lucas to shoot off into the distance towards Sitka City.
"He do that a lot?" Mitch asked.
"Yep." she answered. "Come on. Let's go." she said. "He'll only get into some trouble otherwise." she chuckled slightly before running after him.
00
"As soon as I'm around him. My stomach starts doing flips and feels weird. I can't even sleep without thinking about him. Could it be?" Summer thought to herself as she lay in bed, trying to sleep, but she was plagued by the funny feeling in her stomach and her thoughts.
"But it can't be that. So why do I feel so different around him?" she asked herself.
A/N - Bit of a weird end to a chapter, but I couldn't think of any other way to end it. So, Lucas and Tendou had an uninterrupted battle which ended in a tie, which no one in the group was expecting. And Summer discovering she has feelings for someone, but who? Next chapter, Lucas challenges the Sitka City Gym. What type will the Gym Leader specialize in? Will Lucas be able to win his fifth badge? Find out next time, as the journey continues…
Lucas' Team: Snorunt (Lv. 20) - Avalanche, Leer, Double Team, Bite, +Ice Shard, +Icy Wind
Quilava (Lv. 22) - Headbutt, Flame Wheel, Smokescreen, Double Kick, +Flamethrower, +Quick Attack
Diggersby (Lv. 20) - Agility, Earth Power, Mud Shot, Quick Attack, +Double Slap, +Dig
Dewpider (Lv. 22) - Leech Life, Sticky Web, Bite, Aurora Beam, +X-Scissor, +Water Pulse
Summer's Team: Eevee (Lv. 15) - Tackle, Sand Attack, Shadow Ball, Endure, +Hyper Voice, +Quick Attack
Deerling (Lv. 15) - Tackle, Growl, Headbutt, Double Kick, +Synthesis, +Leech Seed
Sunkern (Lv. 15) - Leech Seed, Growth, Endure, Grassy Terrain, +Grass Whistle, +Mega Drain
Cherubi (Lv. 15) - Morning Sun, Tackle, Growth, Leech Seed, +Rollout, +Razor Leaf
Mitch's Team: Monferno (Lv. 22) - Brick Break, Flame Wheel, Flamethrower, Mach Punch, +Acrobatics
Zebstrika (Lv. 22) - Flame Charge, Thunderbolt, Stomp, Shock Wave, +Pursuit
Banette (Lv 20) - Dark Pulse, Shadow Punch, Shadow Ball, Shadow Claw, +Sucker Punch, +Destiny Bond
Skarmory (Lv. 20) - Rock Tomb, Spikes, Steel Wing, Air Cutter, +Swift, +Air Slash