Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon and am in no way affiliated with Nintendo or Gamefreak, or other companies that write or produce pokemon. Now that that legal stuff is out of the way, on to the story!
Pokemon Emerald
Chapter Twenty Eight
Mirror Match! May Vs. Winona!
"Two passes to the all-you-can-eat buffet and...do you have any berries?" Alex was speaking with a waiter inside the Early Swellow Diner. It had been about an hour since he and May arrived in Fortree, and booked rooms at a nearby hotel. After that, as promised, Alex was treating May to an all-you-can-eat buffet. After which, May would be challenging Fortree's gym leader, Winona. There was only really enough time in the day for one of them to challenge the gym leader, and May was challenging her first.
"Berries...sir?" The waiter asked, slightly perplexed at first until he noticed Wynaut standing behind May. "We do carry berries, sir, our chefs use them in many dessert dishes."
"What do you have thats made with oran berries?" May asked.
"We have various desserts made with oran berries, and we have menus ready at each table..."
"Well then I guess we should just find somewhere to sit already." Alex said to him. The waiter gave a nod, then lead the two trainers and Wynaut to a table for two. He then brought a high chair meant for children to the table for Wynaut, which May placed him in. Once the waiter was gone, May took a look around the restaurant and realized that she and Alex were the youngest people there. They were probably the poorest-looking people there as well.
"Alex...I appreciate the gesture and all but...don't you feel kinda out of place here?" May asked him.
"Well, its one of the few places around here with an all-you-can-eat buffet." Alex replied while looking over a menu.
"Its kinda expensive, though, isn't it?"
"Well, I suppose it is. However its generally cheaper to get into a buffet than it is to actually order something. Go figure. Just pick out something for Wynaut and we can eat." Alex handed the menu to May, open to the dessert section. May took the menu and began reading it over.
"Wow...these sound good..." May commented while reading the menu. "I wonder if a pokemon should be eatting this stuff though..."
"At the worst he'd probably get a stomach ache, safest bet though would probably be to get something simple. Maybe order a slice of berry pie of some sort? Leppa pie is pretty good if you ask me, but I'm not a pokemon so I have no idea how Wynaut would feel about it."
"Leppa pie? I guess I could order that...that sound good to you, Wynaut?" Wynaut nodded its head excitedly, eagerly anticipating its berry pie.
"Looks like its settled then." Alex stated. "We'll place an order for a slice of Leppa pie, then we can eat."
"Well only one of us needs to place the order...so if you don't mind, I'll be at the buffet table!" May quickly got up from the table and made her way to the buffet set up in the middle of the diner. She grabbed a plate and began immediately piling various foods onto it.
"I wonder if taking her here was such a good idea..." Alex wondered, recalling the repeated incidents at the cafe in Mauville. "Ah well, who cares. Even if something does happen, I doubt I'll come here again. Or at least, I won't come here looking like this..."
May eventually returned to the table with a mountain of food piled up on her plate, most of which consisted of various kinds of pasta she managed to find at the buffet table.
"This place is great!" May exclaimed as she put her hefty plate of food down on the table. "So much pasta, and I can have as much as I want too!" Alex stared at the pile of food on her plate for a moment, while May sat down in her seat and immediately began eatting the pasta in large mouthfuls.
"Mmm! This delicious!" May said inbetween mouthfuls of various noodles.
"Wow...did you leave any pasta for the rest of the customers? And try to remember to breathe while you're eatting that..." Alex remarked as he watched May chow down on her plate full of pasta. He was amazed by her eatting habits when pasta was involved, so much so that he didn't even notice the waiter that had approached him.
"Excusez moi, sir!" The waiter finally said in a firm voice. "Are you ready to place your order?"
"Huh? Oh, sorry about that...yeah, a slice of leppa pie, thanks."
"Will that be all, sir?"
"Yeah, thats it." The waiter wrote down the order, then gave a slight bow.
"Very good, sir. It will be ready shortly." The waiter left their table and went into the kitchen to prepare the order.
"Well, now that thats taken care of I guess I'll..." As Alex started to get up from his seat, May finished off the last of her pasta. She quickly stood up and grabbed her plate.
"That was great! I'm going to get more!" May quickly made for the buffet table again, leaving Alex stunned.
"M...more?! Yeesh! I'm glad this is all-you-can-eat! Though I kinda feel sorry for the diner..." Alex made for the buffet table as well, and picked up a plate from the end of the table. May was already going around to the various pots of pasta set up around the table and piling a large amount of food onto her plate again.
"That girl barely eats anything the entire trip...and now she's eatting enough for at least two families. She must really like pasta..." Alex thought to himself. He looked over the buffet table for a moment, looking for anything he might like to try. He eventually put together a modest plate with a salad with ranch dressing, a small steak, and potato wedges.
By the time he returned to the table, May was already chowing down on her pasta and Wynaut was messily eatting its slice of leppa pie, which it seemed to be enjoying. He took his seat and began calmly eatting his food, though he still couldn't help but watch May eat. It didn't take her long to finish off her second heaping plate of pasta.
"That was great..." May said, giving a contented sigh and slouching back in her seat. Wynaut had finished its meal as well, and was licking its plate clean.
"How would you know? I bet you didn't even taste it you were eatting it so fast..." Alex remarked sarcastically, still going through his own plate of food.
"I just wish I knew what all those different pastas were called..." May lifted her head up and looked at Alex, as if expecting a moment. Alex paused when he realized May was staring at him.
"...You're asking the wrong person, sorry."
"What? So Mister Know-It-All doesn't know what pasta's what?" May asked.
"I could rhyme off facts about Chimecho or Absol, but the only pasta I know is spaghetti. Only because its the most common."
"Hmm...guess you don't know everything afterall..."
"Never claimed I did, you were the one that started calling me that."
"Well thats because you seem to know everything about pokemon..."
"Not quite everything..." Alex quickly finished off the rest of his meal before replying. "But I have studied all known data on the pokemon found around Hoenn from information I found on the internet."
"Isn't the internet just full of false information and lies though?" May asked curiously. Alex shook his head.
"Naw, not if you use trusted sites anyway. Plus, I used encyclopedias as well. As far as pokemon battling goes, its relatively easy information to find. Studying it all though took a bit of time. By the way, do you know about the 'mirage pokemon' of Hoenn?"
"Mirage pokemon?"
"Yeah, legendary pokemon in other words. Their existance isn't entirely confirmed, though there's evidence to suggest they exist. Kinda like Raikou in Johto, even though that one inexplicably ended up here in Hoenn..."
"Every region probably has legendary pokemon like that...in the Kanto region next to Johto there's rumored to be a trio of flying beasts, one of fire, one of ice, and one of electricity." May said, sounding a bit uninterested. "But who knows how many of those legendary pokemon actually exist..."
"Well here in Hoenn there's a lot of those kind of pokemon rumored to exist. I found rumors of at least nine such pokemon while looking for pokemon native to Hoenn..."
"Wow...I know of six in Johto...they're all pretty popular though. In Johto there's a legend of two large bird-like pokemon, and three beasts that serves under one of those birds. The two birds are Ho-Oh and Lugia, and the beasts are Raikou, Suicune, and Entei. There's also a legend about a time-travelling pokemon named Celebi, but that seems kinda farfetched even for a pokemon if you ask me..."
"Have you heard about any legends around here yet?" May shook her head.
"I guess I haven't been around long enough..."
"Well, the biggest legend you'll hear around here is about the creation of Hoenn, some believe these two pokemon may have even shaped the world itself. Kyogre, the titan of the seas, and Groudon, the titan of the land. Its believed that Kyogre shaped the seas and Groudon shaped the continents. There's a third one as well, the sky titan Rayquaza, that supposedly keeps the balance between the two."
"You mentioned Kyogre and Groudon before..." May said, recalling Alex's talk of Team Aqua and Team Magma's goals. "But...if pokemon like that existed...wouldn't we have found them by now? I mean, where could such powerful pokemon hide?"
"Well, would we actually want to find such a powerful pokemon?" Alex replied, though his tone sounded a bit more serious all of a sudden. "If pokemon as powerful as they are were taken control of somehow by someone careless or with ill intent...the results would be catastrophic."
"And thats why you want to stop them, isn't it? You think if the legends are true, then Team Aqua and Team Magma might do something terrible...but no one would ever believe something like that..."
"Well...do you believe it?" May paused for a moment, having to think about her answer to that question.
"...I don't know, but I guess its better to be safe than sorry, huh?"
"Yeah, it is..." Alex replied. "Though...I know they exist..." He then thought to himself. "Ancient humans had a quarrel with these titans...but they survived by calling Rayquaza to save them...I doubt such an event would have been recorded in those ruins unless it actually happened. Well, it won't matter. I probably have plenty of time for my pokemon to get strong enough to beat Team Aqua and Team Magma into submission before they're anywhere near close to awakening Kyogre and Groudon." Alex looked across the table at May for a moment.
"Plus...May's willing to help me. Between the two of us we can easily take out Team Aqua and Team Magma. I just...I just wish I could tell her the truth about who I am. How would she react though? She'd probably hate me for not telling her in the first place."
"Alex? You okay? You kinda zoned out there..." May's voice snapped Alex out of his thoughts.
"Huh? Oh...sorry about that. Was just uh...thinking about our upcoming battles with Winona."
"Well don't keep me in suspense! What are we up against?" May asked, smiling.
"Well, like I said before, Winona has five pokemon but only fights three on three, so even trainers like me who know what pokemon she has can never fully be ready." Alex said to her. "She also opens the roof of her gym during battle, giving her pokemon an aerial advantage."
"Hmm...well I guess I'll have to come up with a strategy by tomorrow then. Though I think I have an idea...one that you'd probably be jealous of!" May grinned widely when she finished speaking.
"Oh? So whats your strategy?" Alex asked.
"You'll have to wait and see!" May said with a wink.
The two were sitting there for a few minutes longer before the waiter noticed they were finished their meal, took their dishes, and left a bill for the slice of pie. Alex paid for the pie, and then they went back to their hotels for the night. It was already decided that May would be battling the gym leader first, and would do so first thing in the morning. They returned to their separate rooms, each with a lot on their mind.
"Do you think Alex meant anything by that? Taking me to that restaurant, I mean?" May asked Wynaut, though not really expecting an answer. Wynaut didn't really seem to take notice of her question either, too preoccupied bouncing on the bed. May had already set her stuff down on a dresser next to the bed, and was talking mostly to herself while she took a shower.
"...No, definitely not. I mean, its Alex. He doesn't seem like the type to make a romantic gesture, and I don't think he's ever really shown interest in me except as a friend." May turned the water off, and stood in the shower for a moment, letting the water drip from her hair and staring at the tap as if deep in thought.
"But that place couldn't have been cheap...and it definitely seemed like the kind of place you'd take a girl if you're trying to impress her...but I don't think Alex is really the type to try to impress a girl like that...and he wasn't acting any different than usual...it was as if it was nothing to him. That slice of pie he paid for, Wynaut? You could get a whole pie at a bakery for that much. It must be nice to have money..." May giggled quietly to herself at her comment, but then sighed.
"Well...I guess its nothing to dwell on in any case. Though I wonder if I could get him to take me to places like that more often? I mean, this is only the second time I've had pasta since becoming a trainer!" May stepped out of the shower and dried off, then slipped into a white t-shirt and pair of shorts that she had in the bathroom with her. She planned to wash her clothes the next morning and didn't want to wear dirty clothes to bed, so she was wearing her spare clothes instead.
"I can't wait until my gym match tomorrow, Wynaut!" May said as she came out of the bathroom. "I have the perfect strategy! To battle Winona's team of flying pokemon...I'll use all flying pokemon too, taking away Winona's aerial advantage!"
"Wow! Mommy's so smart!" Wynaut thought, still bouncing on May's bed.
"You know, I'm going to need that bed sometime tonight..."
Meanwhile, in Alex's room, Alex was standing in front of a mirror after having removed his hat and looking at his reflection.
"Hair's starting to grow back a bit.." Alex thought. "Wonder if I should cut it again, or just wear my hat all the time. I'll leave it alone for now I guess..." Alex reached back, running his fingers through his hair.
"Well, guess I should get ready for bed. Want to be fully rested for my gym match tomorrow, and I doubt May would let me sleep through her's..." Alex went to his bed and took a change of clothes out of his backpack so he could take a shower. He also planned on washing his clothes in the morning, and didn't want to wear dirty clothes to bed.
"Now that I think about it...I wonder what May's strategy is? She usually doesn't plan ahead much, instead she just seems to go with the flow of the battle...which has gotten her this far, I guess. Only strategy she ever really uses is type alignments, to an extent. It'll be interesting to see what she does."
Alex went into the bathroom, taking his change of clothes with him. He quickly undressed, placing his clothes in a bag to take them to be washed in the morning, and got in the shower. When his shower was finished, he put on his clothes consisting of a pair of white boxers and a matching shirt. Once he was ready for bed, he got out his notebook and quickly made a list of things to buy when he and May went shopping after her gym match. Once the list was finished, he went to sleep.
The next day, Alex and May met up in the hotel laundry room. To save a bit of money and time they put their clothes in the same machine. Once their laundry was done they returned to their rooms to change into their usual outfits, then went out to grab a quick breakfast. After feeding their pokemon as well, May stopped by the pokecenter to switch her team around.
She deposited her Combusken, Crawdaunt, and Lombre in exchange for her Pelipper, Tropius, and Slugma. Pelipper and Tropius were part of her strategy for her upcoming battle, while Slugma she was withdrawing to give Combusken a break. With her team ready, she immediately went to the Fortree Gym to challenge Winona.
"I'm here to challenge the gym leader!" May announced as she walked through the gym's double doors. Upon entering the gym she was immediately face to face with surprised-looking purple haired woman.
"Trainers are coming by earlier and earlier every day...I just unlocked the doors too..."
"Huh?" May checked the time on her pokenav. "9:01...I guess I am kinda early...sorry about that..." May replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head in embarassment.
"Told you we should have waited..." Alex muttered, walking in behind May.
"In any case, I'm Winona, the gym leader her." The woman finally stated. "And as the gym leader of Fortree Gym, I accept your challenge." The two trainers immediately took up position on either side of the battlefield in preparation for their battle.
"We will use three pokemon each, to be selected before the battle begins." Winona stated, outlining the rules for their battle. "Also, pokemon must be within visual range throughout the battle." As if to add reasoning for the second ruling, Winona activated the gym's roof. The grinding of gears could be heard as the roof begin to open up, splitting across the center and moving out until the area directly above the designated battlefield consisted of open sky.
Once the gym was ready for battle, Winona took three pokeballs from her belt, and May did the same. May had already decided that she was going to use Tropius, Pelipper, and Swablu in her upcoming battle. She had no idea what pokemon Winona was going to use, though. In fact, Alex never actually told her what five pokemon Winona has.
"Now that the gym is ready and our pokemon are selected, we will begin the battle!"
"You know, come to think of it, gym matches oughta have referees..." Alex thought. He was sitting on a bench off to the side with Wynaut sitting beside him. "Any tournaments would have them anyway, so why not something as important as a gym battle?"
"Tropius, go!" Winona and May called out simultaneously, throwing their respective pokeballs out onto the battlefield. The pokeballs both opened, each releasing a leafy dinosaur-like pokemon. The two identical-looking pokemon stared each other down from opposite ends of the gym.
"We both sent out the same pokemon?!" May thought in surprise.
"Tropius? Do I even want to know what strategy she thought up that involved using a grass pokemon in a flying gym?" Alex wondered.
"Tropius, take to the skies!" Winona commanded. Her Tropius gave a flap of its four giant leaves, then took off into the skies above the gym. Tropius turned its long neck to look at May, who simply nodded to it. Her Tropius then also took off into the skies after Winona's Tropius. Although this was May's plan from the beginning, to go for air-to-air combat with Winona, she quickly realized there was a flaw in her plan.
"Tropius won't be able to hear me from in here...and the same would go for Winona as well...I guess that means the outcome of this battle is entirely up to our pokemon. Well Tropius put up a pretty good fight when I tried to catch it with Combusken, and I know it'll do its best now..."
Meanwhile, in the air, the aerial battle was getting underway. May's Tropius, realizing it wouldn't be getting any orders from May, started off the battle by firing a barrage of sharp leaves at its opponent. Winona's Tropius, who was at a higher altitude, swiftly evaded the attack.
Winona's Tropius then dove down towards May's Tropius, quickly gaining speed on its descent, its four leaf wings held level, then angling at the last moment to pull up just as it was striking May's Tropius. May's Tropius started to plummet as it was knocked out of the skies, but regained a stable flight before falling into the gym.
"That, if I'm not mistaken, would be Aerial Ace..." Alex thought, as he, May, and Winona all watched the battle from within the gym. Wynaut seemed to lose interest after the two pokemon had left through the roof. Out of boredom, Wynaut curled one of its arms as if making a fist and hit Alex, then tried to feign innocence. Alex decided to ignore him for the most part.
"Baby pokemon...they can be as annoying as baby humans..." Alex kept his attention on the battle above them, despite Wynaut taking the odd shot at him.
"Come on Tropius...I know you can do it!" May mentally urged her pokemon on, though she felt like a spectator in her own battle. Winona, on the other hand, was taking the battle in stride. She had been a gym leader long enough to be used to this kind of thing.
Winona's Tropius came back around for another Aerial Ace attack, diving down towards May's Tropius again and using the speed of its dive to attack May's Tropius. May's Tropius was ready this time, however, and began flapping its wings rapidly to create powerful gusts of wind. Winona's Tropius was forced to abort its attack run as it encountered the winds, veering off to the side and putting it below May's Tropius.
May's Tropius took the opportunity to dive down toward's Winona's Tropius for an aerial attack of its own, coming down on top of it to stomp it in midair. The force of the impact sent Winona's Tropius spiraling downwards into the gym, where it crashed into the floor. Wynaut became much more interested in the battle at this point, and finally stopped hitting Alex.
"Wow...May's Tropius actually seems to be pretty strong for a wild pokemon she just caught..." Alex thought. At that moment, May's Tropius finally came down through the roof just as Winona's was starting to get up. May's Tropius dove down toward's Winona's again, hitting it with another stomp attack before pulling up and flying over towards May. It then suddenly stopped and turned around while still in the air, hovering in front of its trainer.
"You're doing great out there, Tropius!" May cheered it on as Winona's Tropius started to get back on its feet again, trying to shake off the attack. It had taken some pretty powerful blows by this point.
"Now, attack with Magical Leaf!" May called out.
"Tropius, counter with your own Magical Leaf!" Winona commanded. The two Tropius simultaneously launched their attacks, sending a barrage of sharp leaves at each other. The leaves fired by May's Tropius seemed to home in on Winona's Tropius, while the leaves fired by Winona's Tropius homed in on its opponent's leaves. The two attacks met in the middle of the gym, and each leaf became shredded as they collided, creating a green confetti in the middle of the gym.
"Tropius, Stomp attack!" May's Tropius flew over to where Winona's Tropius was, preparing to drop on it with another aerial stomp attack.
"Block it with Whirlwind!" Winona commanded. Her Tropius then began flapping its four large leaves, kicking up a strong wind to block its opponent's attack. May's Tropius flew into the wind storm and seemed to be held still only a few feet away from its target. It flapped its wings hard, pushing against the wind with all its might.
May's Tropius continued to relentlessly push against the Whirlwind attack, but Winona's Tropius was able to maintain a strong enough wind to keep it at bay. Just as May's Tropius was ready to give up, it recalled its gust-fight with the wild Tropius just days earlier. It remembered how the other Tropius managed to beat him, and gain leadership over his herd.
With a renewed fury, Tropius fought back against the wind with everything it had. Winona's Tropius was just beginning to feel the strain from maintaining the whirlwind, and May's Tropius was finally able to break through and land on top of its opponent with a powerful Stomp attack. Winona's Tropius bellowed in pain before collapsing under the crushing might of its opponent.
"I'm surprised..." Winona began as she recalled her pokemon. Tropius jumped backwards, using its wings to aide it as the other Tropius disappeared below it, and landed in the middle of the gym.
"I never would have expected someone to be able to beat me using the same strategy, let alone the same pokemon...but don't expect the same strategy to work twice. You may be a tough trainer, being able to make it this far, but when it comes to aerial combat...no one bests me!" Winona placed Tropius pokeball back on her belt, then moved one of her remaining two pokeballs to her freehand.
"Pelipper, come on out! Lets show her how its done!" Winona called out, releasing her Pelipper from its pokeball. As soon as the pelican pokemon appeared on the battlefield, it took off into the air but stopped near the roof of the gym.
"We both chose to use Pelipper too? I wonder what the chances are that we'd have two of the same pokemon..." May looked at her Tropius opponent, quickly trying to analyze the best strategy for this opponent. "Pelipper will almost definitely outspeed Tropius in the air...I think I'll have to try fighting this one from the ground."
"Pelipper, use Wing Attack!"
"Tropius, stay down and use Magical Leaf!" Pelipper dove down towards Tropius, while Tropius gave a flap of its large leaves and fired off a barrage of sharp leaves towards Pelipper. Pelipper moved to the side to dodge the attack, but the leaves immediately turned and followed behind it as Winona's Pelipper struck Tropius with its wings.
The Magical Leaf attack continued to follow Pelipper as it flew by Tropius, narrowly missing the pokemon that had launched the attack in the first place. Pelipper continued trying to outrun the attack, circling around the gym.
"Tropius, fire another Magical Leaf attack!" Tropius turned and launched another barrage of leaves towards Pelipper. The pokemon saw the attack coming and slowed down to try to turn away, but as it did the initial volley of leaves struck it from behind. The attack knocked it off its course slightly, giving the second attack a chance to strike as well. Pelipper was sent spiraling to the floor of the gym after enduring the double whamee.
"Alright! That was a good hit!" May thought. Pelipper was a bit slow to get back up from the impact, but eventually managed to get back up off the ground despite being in considerable pain. "I'm starting off with a quite the advantage...I should be able to win this one easy, leaving me with three pokemon against her last."
"Pelipper, fly above it and use Aerial Ace!"
"Tropius, use Magical Leaf again!" Winona's Pelipper quickly flew up above Tropius in preparation for its Aerial Ace attack. At the same time, Tropius fired off another barrage of razor sharp leaves that immediately homed in on Pelipper.
Pelipper dove down towards Tropius at incredible speeds as the Magical Leaf attack went straight for it. The two collided, but because of Pelipper's speed it actually shredded the leaves as it flew through them and was unharmed by the attack. It slashed Tropius along its side with its beak as it flew by, then pulled up before hitting the floor and using its momentum to fly back up to the ceiling.
"It survived the attack? But how?" May wondered. "Was it really moving that fast? If thats the case, I'm lucky I was able to get that first attack in...but I don't think her Pelipper will be making a mistake like that again..."
"Now, attack with Aerial Ace again!" Winona commanded. Pelipper dove down towards May's Tropius, going in for another attack.
"Tropius, use Gust!" May commanded, remembering how her Tropius had managed to block an Aerial Ace attack earlier with Gust.
Tropius began flapping its broad leaves to create powerful gusts of wind, but it was barely ready with its attack when Pelipper slashed across Tropius's right side again with its beak, once again using its remaining momentum to gain altitude. Tropius bellowed in pain, its right leg almost giving out from underneath him.
"Tropius looks like its in pretty bad shape..." May thought. "If I could just land one more attack, that should be enough to finish off her Pelipper at least..."
"Tropius, try using Gust again!" Tropius turned around as quickly as it could in its condition and began flapping its leaves to create gusts of wind.
"Pelipper, finish it off with another Aerial Ace!" Pelipper dove down towards Tropius, quickly gaining speed for its attack, though slowing down once it flew into the wind being created by Tropius. The winds stalled it enough that it had to break off its attack or risk further injury, forcing Pelipper to veer to the side of Tropius.
"Alright! It worked! Now attack with Magical Leaf again!" Tropius quickly turned to face its opponent again, firing off its Magical Leaf attack is it turned around.
"Pelipper, use Wing Attack!" Pelipper turned towards Tropius, moving in for another attack. The leaves Tropius fired just barely missed Pelipper as it flew towards Tropius, but they immediately circled around and followed behind Pelipper, slowly gaining on it. Pelipper's wings clipped Tropius as it passed by on the left side, but the impact slowed it down enough for the Magical Leaf attack to strike it from behind.
Tropius finally collapsed from Pelipper's last attack, falling over on its side and losing conciousness. Pelipper was likewise knocked out, the Magical Leaf attack that struck it send it crashing into the floor of the gym. Pelipper, in its weakened state, used its wings to try to lift itself up, but collapsed. It no longer had the strength to fight. Both trainers recalled their pokemon.
"Interesting...that one ended in a draw..." Alex thought. "So that leaves May with two pokemon to Winona's one. Well for starting out with a flawed strategy she's not doing too badly..."
"Don't think you've won yet, May..." Winona stated calmly, a smirk crossing her lips as she held up her last pokeball. "I've saved my best for last. Altaria, go!" Winona threw the pokeball, which split open as it flew through the air. The pokemon that was released from it appeared to have the neck, head, and feet of a bird with blue feathers, while its main body and wings seemed to consist of clouds.
"What pokemon is that...?" May wondered aloud. She looked to Alex, as if expecting an answer.
"May, all I'm going to tell you at this point is its the evolved form of one of your pokemon." Alex said to her from the bench.
"Evolved form of one of my pokemon?" May looked at Altaria again, noting the blue feathers and the cloud-like body and wings. "Swablu's evolved form then...? Well if its Swablu's evolved form, Swablu doesn't stand much of a chance against it, so I'll send out Pelipper..."
"Pelipper, I choose you!" May called out as she released her Pelipper. Pelipper gave a loud cry as it appeared over the side of the battlefield closest to May. May's Pelipper had green feather's where Winona's previously defeated pelipper had blue.
"Altaria, attack with Dragon Breath!" Winona commanded, not wasting time in getting the battle started with her last pokemon.
"Pelipper, dodge and use Steel Wing!" Winona's Altaria let loose with a stream of blue flames from its mouth, but May's Pelipper swiftly dodged to the side as it flew towards its target, wings stretched out as if it were going to use Wing Attack but taking on an almost silverish appearance to strike Altaria with steel-hard wings. Altaria was knocked back a bit but managed to keep from losing any altitude.
"Strike back with Dragon Claw!" Winona commanded. Altaria wasted no time, giving a flap of its cloud-like wings to quickly close the distance between itself and Pelipper, then gave it a hard rake with its clawed feet. Pelipper dropped down a bit from the impact but stayed airborn.
"Pelipper, use Steel Wing again!" Pelipper's wings seemed to harden again in preparation for its attack. It aimed a strike upward, but Altaria managed to grab Pelipper's wing in its claws to block the attack.
Pelipper tried a second strike with its other wing, not needing to flap its wings to fly with Altaria holding on to it, but Altaria blocked Pelipper's second attack in a similar manner. Altaria then let go of Pelipper's wings, and Pelipper had to flap to stay airborne again.
"Use Dragon Breath, Altaria!"
"Pelipper, Protect!" Altaria breathed out another stream of blue flames, with little distance between itself and Pelipper for it to try to dodge. Pelipper was able to get its protective barrier up in time, however, and the attack was blocked by it entirely. Pelipper managed to hold its barrier until Altaria ceased its attack.
"Now, use Mist!" Pelipper opened its large mouth, and a thick white mist began to billow out and quickly surrounded the two pokemon and concealed much of the battlefield from view. Neither pokemon were able to see each other through the thick mist.
"Altaria, fly up above the mist!" Winona commanded. Shortly afterwards Altaria burst forth from the top of the mist, flying upwards through the roof of the gym. This is exactly what May had planned for, however. While Altaria's view wasn't being obstructed by the mist anymore, it couldn't see Pelipper in the mist either.
"Pelipper! Now! Use Water Gun!" No sooner had May issued the command before a stream of water erupted from the mist below Altaria, striking it from below and briefly stopping it in its tracks as it had to put more effort into flying. The water did little to hurt Altaria when it hit, though it was now weighing the pokemon down a bit.
"Now! Use Steel Wing!" Pelipper came up out of the mist, which was starting to slowly dissipitate now, from the same spot the water just came from. Its wings took on a metallic appearance as it flew upwards and struck Altaria as it passed by. With its increased weight, the attack caused Altaria to plummet towards the gym.
Pelipper wasn't through yet, however, and flipped over in the air to begin a dive. It flew down towards Altaria, picking up speed in its dive, and struck it again with its wing as it passed by. Altaria cried out in pain, and its rate of decline increased from the impact. Altaria crashed into the gym floor below, and seemed to stop moving. Pelipper leveled off as it approached the gym floor, turning towards May and coming to a stop in front of her.
"Looks like I've won!" May thought, already getting excited over the thought of obtaining another badge. However, Winona didn't recall her pokemon, and soon enough it managed to finally get up even though it seemed to be in a great deal of pain.
"What?! There's no way her Altaria can still be ready to fight!" May thought, though her surprised expression gave away what she was thinking.
"Altaria is capable of taking more punishment than you'd think." Winona replied calmly. "Altaria, strike back now with Dragon Breath!"
Altaria quickly raised its head and blasted Pelipper with another of its Dragon Breath attacks, only this time the attack managed to catch Pelipper off guard and hit it dead on. The blue breath attack completely eneveloped Pelipper upon impact, and Pelipper collapsed to the floor of the gym as the fumes rendered it paralyzed. At the same time, the injured Altaria gave a flap of its wings to lift itself off the floor.
"May dropped her guard..." Alex said to himself, analyzing the battle. "Because of that, the tide may have turned in Altaria's favor. In its current condition, Pelipper can't..." Alex was swiftly interruped by a punch to the side of the head from Wynaut. Alex glared at Wynaut, who was glaring at him as well.
"What?! I'm just stating the facts!" Wynaut seemed to snort at him before turning his attention back to the battle at hand, fuming. May, meanwhile, realized the predicament she was in and was trying to come up with a solution.
"There's no way Pelipper will be able to keep up with Altaria now..." She thought. "I thought for sure I had it too...but even so, it shouldn't be able to take much more. I wonder if Swablu would be able to beat it at this point..."
"Pelipper, return!" May called out as she returned Pelipper to its pokeball. She then held up Swablu's pokeball and paused for a moment to reflect on what just happened.
"I'm lucky I still have one pokemon left...if Pelipper was my last pokemon that might have cost me the match." May gave a sigh, then held Swablu's pokeball out in front of her.
"Swablu, lets go!" May pressed the button on the front of the pokeball, causing it to split open and release the pokemon contained inside in the form of a red beam which materialized to become Swablu, ready for its first actual battle since injuring its wing. Swablu seemed a bit surprised to be facing off against its evolved form.who
"Tropius...Pelipper...and Swablu." Alex scratched the back of his head, somewhat perplexed. "May not only chose to use Winona's strategy but she chose almost the exact same pokemon...what are the chances of that?"
"Interesting..." Winona stated in mild amusement. "Though your Swablu clearly has an advantage over my injured Altaria, I wonder if its still strong enough to beat its evolved form? I suppose we'll find out...Altaria, use Dragon Breath!"
"Swablu, Safeguard!" Swablu shimmered brightly just before being engulfed in a cloud of blue flames Altaria was spewing from its mouth. Though the attack had managed to hit, the effect of its Safeguard technique allowed it to resist the paralysis easily. Swablu hardly even seemed affected by the attack when the flames dispersed.
"Great! Now attack with Take Down!"
"Dodge it, Altaria!" Swablu started flapping its wings rapidly and started on a collision course with Altaria. Despite its larger size and injuries, though, Altaria proved itself to be faster than the small Swablu and swiftly dodged to the side. Swablu came to a stop on the other side of the gym once it realized it had missed its target.
"Altaria, use Mist!" Altaria turned around to face Swablu, then began flapping its wings and releasing a mist from its body to conceal the battlefield. Soon most of the gym was once again shrouded in mist, but this time Winona planned to have Altaria stay in the mist.
"Now use Rest!" Winona commanded. May couldn't see what was happening in the mist, though, or even if anything was happening.
"Rest?" May wondered. "Whats that supposed to do? Wait, didn't Alex mention that technique once?" May thought back, trying to remember when Alex told her about the Rest technique.
"...I was able to win the first match I was in easily enough. Only used one pokemon for the entire match." The two trainers, at that time, were on their way to Verdanturf. Alex was excited about getting to enter another battle tent and was bragging to May about his win from the Slateport battle tent. May was only partially paying attention.
"The pokemon all only knew four attacks. Spinda, the pokemon I used, knew Dizzy Punch, Psybeam, Rest, and Hypnosis. With Hypnosis I kept my opponent's pokemon asleep and hit them hard with Dizzy Punch and Psybeam. Rest I was able to use too good effect too."
"The Rest technique allows a pokemon to immediately restore to full health, but they go to sleep for a while. Spinda, however, had a Chesto berry which it reflexively ate as soon as it fell asleep. So as soon as Spinda went to sleep it ate the berry to wake up again, and was instantly ready for battle. It was my main pokemon through the entire battle tent because of it."
"You're making me want to go to sleep..." May replied dryly. It was then that she noticed a single rose standing in a patch of grass.
"Huh? That seems kinda odd doesn't it?" May said to Alex, pointing at the rose.
"You're right...that is odd..." Alex approached the rose, and reached out to pick it up...
May giggled to herself, remembering how the rose turned out to be the Roselia she caught. She then remembered, though, that she was in the middle of a battle and now she realized what Winona was up to.
"Her Altaria's healed itself! And with that mist its harder to take advantage of it being asleep..."
"Swablu!" May called out into the mist. "You have to find Altaria and hit it with everything you've got before it wakes up!" Swablu heard May's command and immediately began searching for its opponent. May and Winona could only wait for the mist to clear to find out what the result would be.
As the mist cleared, however, both trainers could see that Swablu was nowhere near Altaria. Altaria was sleeping on the floor of the gym while Swablu was searching the air above it, and by this time Altaria was just starting to wake up from its nap.
"This isn't good..." May thought. "Swablu doesn't have any techniques that will do much to Altaria..."
Swablu, however, was about to prove May wrong. Finally spotting its opponent slowly lifting itself off the floor, and carrying out its last command, Swablu turned towards Altaria and opened its mouth. A blue orb briefly formed in its beak before firing out in an icy blue beam. The attack struck Altaria, freezing it in a solid block of ice on contact. Though it immediately broke free, everyone was stunned by the sudden turn of events.
"Swablu! When did you learn Ice Beam?!" May asked it in shock.
"It must have learned it from Azumarill!" Alex recalled when they were in the cave, and Alex and May returned to where their pokemon were to find the cave covered in ice.
"Altaria is classified as a dragon and flying type pokemon..." Winona thought to herself, analyzing this sudden turn of events. "Even fully restored, it won't last long against an Ice Beam attack. I didn't expect her Swablu to know such a technique...but then again, apparently neither did she. I'll have to be careful."
"Altaria, use Sing and put it asleep!" Winona commanded, then immediately plugged her ears so she wouldn't be put to sleep by her own pokemon. Altaria struggled to shake off the effects of Swablu's attack. Although it was in better condition than before, suddenly being struck by an Ice Beam attack left quite an effect on it. Altaria managed to regain its focus though, and began to sing.
"Altaria can still make a comeback if it puts Swablu asleep..." May realized, she knew she had to act fast if she was going to win. To her surprise, however, Swablu didn't seem to be falling asleep.
"Wait a second..." May thought. "Swablu's still under the effect of Safeguard! Winona must have forgotten about that!"
"Swablu, attack with Ice Beam one more time!" Swablu once again formed a small blue orb in its mouth, and fired its Ice Beam attack at Altaria. Altaria seemed to be in immense pain as the beam struck it and ice began to coat its body. It fell to the ground and was literally out cold. Altaria had been defeated.
"That was an amateur mistake..." Winona stated with a sigh, raising Altaria's pokeball and recalling her pokemon. "Still...that was an intense battle. Congratulations, May. You've won."
"Alright! We did it Swablu!" May cried out triumphantly. Swablu chirped happily and landed on May's head. As it did though, a white light enveloped it and it began to evolve.
Swablu's cloud-like wings seemed to grow and surround its head, while its head grew longer and its beak larger. As the evolution completed, May had a fully evolved Altaria resting on her head. The weight was a bit too much for her to handle, though, and she fell flat on her face with Altaria landing on top of her.
"Altaria...I'm glad you evolved..." May mumbled, lifting her face from the floor. "But I think you're too heavy to rest on my head now..." Altaria looked a bit disappointed at this, but hopped off its trainer so she could get up. Alex and Winona approached her, Alex carrying a sleeping Wynaut with him.
"You REALLY lucked out there, May. If Swablu hadn't learned Ice Beam without you knowing, you probably would have lost." Alex said to her as he approached. May stuck her tongue out at him, but before she could say anything Winona interrupted.
"Even if she did have a bit of luck on her side, May is truly a gifted trainer." Winona stated. "She beat my first two pokemon quite handily. I'm sure she would have managed to beat my Altaria in the end one way or another. I imagine we'll be seeing if you're anywhere near as good as your friend here later though, won't we?"
"I'm plenty good, and I won't need luck to beat you either." Alex said to her.
"We'll just see about that when the time comes, won't we?" Winona held out a badge and a TM disc to May. "In any case, May, here's your Aerial Ace TM and Feather Badge. Proof of your victory here today."
"Thanks!" May replied as she took the TM and badge from Winona. "That was a great battle, Winona." May took her trainer card out of her pocket and placed her new badge on it, and put her new TM away.
Once May recalled her newly evolved Altaria and took Wynaut from Alex, the two trainers left the gym. Once she was alone, Winona gave a loud sigh.
"Too early in the morning for a pokemon battle...I bet my coffee is cold by now..."
Author's Notes: I must be getting slow and easily distracted in my old age...started off at a pretty good pace writing this one and thought I'd actually have it done within two weeks after the last chapter. Slowed down to a crawl in the middle of the battle though, so hope it was worth the wait! (Only 20, btw)