38, up and running, woohoo! Read on my lovely readers, hope you enjoy.
"Are you sure it was such a good idea to bring the egg along with us?" Lee asked while he watched Caleb wrap the egg up in some blankets and bubble wrap before stowing it safely into his bag.
"Dude, it's an egg, what's the worst that could happen?" I asked. He glanced my way for a second before looking back at the bag with a nervous gaze.
"I have a really bad feeling about when it hatches, what if some hideous creature or a monster that wants to steal our souls hatches out of it?"
I just stared at him with a deadpan look, then looked over at Yuki who was doing pretty much the same thing. He shook his head in exasperation and threw his arms up in disbelief.
"Whatever, but when that thing hatches into some kind abomination, its on you" he said and leapt for my trainers belt, returning himself back into his Pokéball. Yuki looked in my direction, seeing me just shrug and walk over to my trainer.
'Where are we heading boss man?' I asked my human companion, stretching my arms up into the air. He flipped his Pokédex open and tapped it a few times with his stylus, tapping it on his chin a few times in the process.
"Looks like we have to go through route 14, otherwise known as the Laverre Nature Trail. Cut through there and it should be a straight shot to Laverre City. I'm gonna need you to train even more intensely then usual. It's a Fairy type gym so your gonna act as the buffer in case things go wrong."
'Sounds like a plan...but I have an offer for you first" I said, immediately catching his interest.
"What you got for me?" he asked curiously. I simply smiled and grabbed his hand before dragging him over to a nearby billboard, picking off a flyer and pressing it to his chest. He snatched it up and skimmed over it, his eyes lighting up when he saw what it was advertising.
"500,000 Poké...my Arcues, do you know what this means?"
'We'll have 500,000 Poké to blow through' I replied, an excited grin forming on my face. He looked back at the flyer, eyes skimming over it as a large smile adorned his face.
" tournament, bring your strongest Pokémon and show your strength to the world...this is…this is going to be televised across the region!" he shouted, practically leaping up and down in joy.
'Good, maybe we'll end up becoming famous.' I grinned and rubbed my paws together, imagining all of the attention we would be getting. True it might not have been all good, what with Sunburst running around, but imagine all of the trainers eager to challenge us to test their strength.
"Do not be getting too confident, there is still the chance you will not win, their will be tough trainers from all over the region competing" Yuki reminded, to which I just grinned wider and punched my fists together.
"Good, I haven't had a proper challenge lately, I need some excitement." Lilly giggled and wrapped an arm around my waist.
"Please Yuki, there's no way anyone could match up with Aaron here, the ace of this team can overpower any competitor." I smiled and kissed the top of her head, whispering a thank you into her large ear.
"Aaron, we gotta go now, the signups are starting soon!" he practically shouted, quickly returning everyone into their balls and sprinting off towards the competition, me right on his tail.
"WELCOME ONE AND ALL TO THE 74TH ANNUAL LUMIOSE CITY BATTLE COMPETITION!" a man called into his microphone as the crowd around the battlefield cheered from the stands that surrounded it. Me and Caleb looked out in total aww at the sheer number of people and Pokémon that showed up to watch the spectacle.
"I suddenly feel very nervous" Caleb gulped, his hands rubbing together nervously. I grinned and patted the guy on the back, holding my paw out towards him. He smiled weakly and bumped his fist against mine before returning his attention towards the speaker, who had finally decided to continue speaking.
"WE ARE JUST MOMENTS AWAY FROM ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING AND THRILLING SPECTACLES IN KALOS, ALL COMPETITORS PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO CHOOSE YOUR BATTLE BUDDY, YOU HAVE EXACTLY TEN MINUTES STARTING...NOW!" Those words alone sent the entire collection of participants into a frenzy, trying to find a strong partner to help them through the tournament. Seeing as how I was a Lucario, a rare and usually powerful Pokémon, their were a number of people swarming my trainer, trying to get him to partner up with them. He turned to me for guidance, receiving nothing but a shake of my head. He denied every single one of them one after the other, all at my discretion, while I let my eyes scan the crowd. No one caught my interest for the longest time until my eyes landed a very familiar boy and fox duo. They looked pretty depressed as they looked all around, trying to find a partner when no one volunteered to help him
'Caleb, over there' I called, pointing towards the depressed kid. Caleb looked over at him, a small smile forming on his face as he made his way through the crowd, heading towards the boy with me by his side.
"Hey man, you wanna team up?" The boy and the Zorua instantly perked up and turned around, laying eyes on us, their eyes instantly lighting up when they landed on me.
"Oh my, Mr. Lucario, is that you!" Zorua shouted, leaping from her trainers arms and running towards me, jumping up into my arms instead. Caleb watched the scene in confusion as Zack made his way over towards us.
"Hi, my names Zack" Zack introduced himself, sticking his hand out towards Caleb. My trainer turned his attention towards the kid, taking the offered hand.
"I'm Caleb...do you know what's going on between those two?" He asked, referring to the two of us as Zorua cuddled up to my chest.
"Oh yeah, your Lucario there saved us from a couple goons a few weeks ago. Me and Zorua really appreciated it." Caleb nodded and smiled at the kid.
"That's good...so do you still wanna team up?" my trainer asked again, receiving a depressed look from Zack.
"Are you sure you wanna team up with me...I'm not that good of a trainer, the only Pokémon I could ever truly get to listen to me was Zorua." I raised a brow, setting Zorua down on the ground and walking over towards Zack. I placed a paw on his shoulder and closed my eyes, letting my aura sensors rise up as I transferred a comforting aura to his own.
"Don't put yourself down man, true greatness doesn't come from ones skills, it comes from their determination and their will to never give up" Caleb told him, offering his hand out for another handshake. Zack smiled and grabbed his hand, agreeing to the partnership. Their were a few mutters from the crowd that gathered around us, voicing their disappointment just enough where the other humans wouldn't hear them.
"Battlers, I hope you all chose your partner's, because the competition is now under way." The announcer shouted, garnering everyone's attention. He looked down at the clipboard in his hands, then to us before settling his eyes back in the crowd. "Will 5, 7, 22, and 17 please take your places on the battlefield, all other competitors please make your way to the strands."
'What number are we?' I asked my trainer looked down at the little slip of paper, reading off the number 35. I nodded and followed him to the stands with Zack and Zorua following close behind us.
"Be honest, what do you think our chances are?" Caleb asked me quietly, receiving nothing but a shrug in response. "Wow, your helpful."
'I'm not going to fill your mind with thoughts of us blowing through this competition like its nothing. We might very well get our asses kicked, there are several experienced trainers here that may outrank us by a mile. I am simply trying to be realistic.' I glanced at him from the corner of my eye as we all sat down among the crowd. He nodded and looked down at the field, watching as the announcer called out the match, which was a Gardevoir and Gallade pair against an Arcanine and Golem. Seemed like a pretty boring match so I leaned my head on Caleb's arm, closing my eyes and trying to rest up for our match.
"How are you so calm?" I cracked an eye open to look down at the little Zorua, who was looking back up at me from her trainers lap.
"No point in worrying about it, just roll with the punches, we'll deal with whatever comes our way." I shrugged and nestled up closer against my trainer, feeling his arm wrap around my shoulders. I could of swore I heard a few awws from the people behind us, no doubt thinking this little scene to be overly adorable. If they did, I paid them no mind, my attention instead drawn back to the battlefield after an explosion rocked the entire area.
"Oh dear,I see the pressure was far to much for Ryan. Ordering your Pokémon to self-destruct so soon in a battle...but wait..." He squinted hard to see through all of the smoke, quickly gaining a look of surprise. "Ladies and gentlemen, it would seem that all the Pokémon on the field are unable to battle" I snorted and closed my eyes again, letting my aura sight pierce the veil of smoke to see all of the Pokémon laying down in crumbled heaps, unmoving except for the rise and fall of their chests...and whatever the Golem had.
'That was extremely idiotic, he is obviously not worthy of being a trainer if his first thought is to use self-destruct.'
"Agreed, least we didn't have to fight them off the bat, we might have been taken out of the competition instead of them...course I'm sure you can knuckle through a self-destruct attack."
'I'd rather not discover if this is true anytime soon.'
"Well any way you look at it folks, it's a heck of a way to start off this competition. Now can numbers 67, 42, 96, and 5 please come onto the field."
"How do they know who's partnered with who?" I didn't bother opening my eyes again and pointed up at a powerful aura signature, which just so happened to be an Alakazam sitting cross legged on top of a pillar on the other side of the field. "Oh, so there probably reading our minds right now"
"That or someone watched us all and figured out who were with." Caleb said, watching the ensuing battle with fierce intensity. He studied every move each battler ordered, memorizing their strategies and gauging their strengths and weaknesses.
"You think we'll be next?" Zack asked nervously, his hands nervously ruffling his little Zorua's neck fur. Caleb patted his shoulder encouragingly, trying his best to comfort his nervous partner.
"I hope it is, I can wait to get out their and show them how strong I am" Zorua shouted, bouncing around is, nipping each of us at least once, all before tackling Zack and softly nibbling on his throat. The kid giggled like crazy and hugged his Zorua friend, earning a smile from yours truly.
'They obviously have a very strong bond, hopefully that helps him in the battle to come.' I stared at the scene for a moment longer before I looked to the battlefield where a Houndoom and Ninetales were currently locked in a flamethrower battle while a Wartortle and a Ivysaur were simultaneously beamed into their respective Pokéballs. In the end, they both tired themselves out before either could really do any damage to each other...until the Ninetales rammed into the Houndoom with a Quick attack and delivered a Crunch attack to its neck. Only one of the moves were actually effective, but the fatigue from the little duel earlier must have been to much since it fainted after both attacks hit.
"In a clutch victory, Emily and Raiden pulled through with the win, congratulations to the both of you" the man congratulated them and watched them walk off the field with proud smiles. "All right, next up we have numbers 65, 1, 77, and 35. Battlers, come on up!"
"Looks like were up" Caleb said, lifting himself from the bleachers, stretching a little. Zack did the same, Zorua smiling at him with a paper labeled 77 in her jaws.
Line Break
"You ready for this bud?" Caleb smiled and held his fist out towards me. I bumped his fist with mine as a smirk adorned my muzzle.
'Always, lets do this.' He nodded and ordered me onto the field, Zorua standing beside me.
"A Flareon and a Machoke, quite the combination for me to be fighting" I growled and got down into my fighting stance.
"Don't worry Aaron, I can keep the Flareon off your back, you can deal with the Machoke" Zorua said, to which I nodded and calmed my nerves, planting a paw to the ground and looking down with my eyes closed. My muscles tensed as the Swords Dance surrounded me, feeling the energy flow though my body. I looked up to see the Machoke bearing down at me with it's fist raised and glowing with pure energy. I raised my own paw up to block the attack with a Power-Up Punch and roundhoused the Machoke right in the face with a Blaze Kick, dazing it and allowing me to deliver a Power-Up Punch right to its gut...right before getting launched back by a powerful flamethrower.
"Ouch..." I groaned and picked my head up from the dirt, looking at Zorua as she looked back at me with an apologetic expression. I sighed and jumped back onto my paws and rubbed my arm where the attack hit. It was a little scorched, but otherwise uninjured, meaning I was still in this full strength.
"Use Seismic Toss!" Before I even knew what was happening, I felt something grab my arms and lift me into the air. I gulped and looked down at the Machokeas it looked back at me with an evil grin.
'This is gonna hurt' I clenched my teeth and glared down at the Superpower Pokémon, right before a Dark Pulse hit it in the side of the head. It cringed and quickly turned to regard its attacker, its first mistake. I took the moment of distraction to kick it in the stomach with another Blaze Kick, making it drop me in pain before being thrown back by a Bone Rush hitting it like a baseball bat.
I grinned at Zorua in thanks before throwing my bone staff at the Flareon before it could hit her with a Flare Blitz.
"Try and make it use Flare Blitz more, its taking serious damage from its own attack. It is already down quite a bit of strength after taking both the recoil and the Bone Rush." I told her, jumped to the side to dodge a Power-Up Punch.
"Dark Pulse again!" Zack cried while Caleb ordered me to charge them with another Bone Rush. I recognized this strategy instantly, she was the ranged and I was the tank.
'Knew they would make a good team' I mentally chuckled and jumped attacked the Machoke with a pair of bone staffs. I growled and shoulder bashed the fighting type and back flipped over another Flamethrower attack.
'I need some of this heat off of me, I can't dodge and attack efficiently while their focused on me.' I told Caleb and twirled my bone staff to absorb the following Flamethrower. I planted the staff into the ground and pushed myself into the air to avoid the a Brick Break attack that nearly shattered the ground like glass.
"Fire Blast!"
"Shit!" There was no way I could dodge this, I was in midair with nothing to push off of, so I just closed my eyes and prepared for the pain. There was pain, but strangely there was no burning, it didn't even hurt that much. That when I realized it was slightly cold...meaning it had to be a dark type attack.
I planted a paw to the dirt, pushing off to land back on my paws to see Zorua smiling at me triumphantly, the Fire Blast flying off into the sky harmlessly.
"Great job girl!"
"Aaron, Blaze Kick behind you!" I quickly did so, not taking the time to worry over what happened and donkey kicked the Machoke who was trying to sneak up behind me with a Cross Chop at the ready. I followed up with a Power-Up Punch uppercut that sent it flying into the sky with a Bone Rush following close behind it.
"No, Machoke!" The mons trainer yelled as he watched his partner plummet to the ground and connect with a loud thud.
"Machoke is unable to battle, looks like its all up to Alisa to win this fight, will she conquer the odds and pull out the victory, or will this be too much for her and her Flareon!?"
The young girl, now identified as Alisa, clenched her fists and glanced at me and Zorua in fear. I looked at her for a second before calmly sitting down cross legged and held my paws out in front of me, gesturing for then to continue.
"Aaron, what are you doing?" Caleb questioned.
'No point in ganging up on a single opponent, beside, I wanna see what Zack and Zorua do when its one on one.'
"...Alright Zack, looks like its all yours" Caleb told him and placed his hands in his pockets.
"R-really...alright, I won't let you down! Zorua, Shadow Ball!"
"You got it." She spread her paws and quickly launched a ball of ghostly energy at the Flareon, to which is used double team to dodge and close in on her.
"Flamethrower!" the girl ordered, causing the battlefield to be lit up like a Christmas tree as dozens of fire streams closed in on the little dark type. They all hit her directly where the girl wanted, kicking up smoke and dirt to hide the fact if she was out of not. When it all cleared, Zorua was no where to be seen, making me smile as I watched her with my aura sense. She had used her illusions to distract the trainer while she closed in on Flareon, hitting the Flame Pokemon in the back with a Shadow Claw. The Pokémon cried out in pain before being launched forward by a Dark Pulse, making it tumble across the ground before coming to a stop on it's back with swirls in its eyes.
"Flareon is unable to battle, looks like the match goes to Caleb and Zack, congratulation to you and your Pokémon!" The announcer said, making Zorua run back and tackle a smiling Zack in a hug while I calmly walked up to my trainer with a grin.
'Piece of Cake' I told him, getting a chuckle and a ear scratch in response.
"Yeah, yeah, don't be getting cocky. Come on, let's get to the stands and let you two rest up for the next match" he said and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I smiled and nodded, letting him lead me up to the stands, getting multiple congratulations from the trainers, who's Pokémon may or may not have flirted with me a little. It appears strength is very attractive in the Pokémon society.
A certain fire type heard all of these remarks though, and popped out of her Pokéball, wrapping an arm around my waist possessively while growling at any Pokémon who even thought about getting close or hitting on me.
"Mine!" she growled at a female Blaziken who had tried to grab my paw. I chuckled at her actions and let myself be held by my overly possessive mate, my eyes closing as I snuggled into her warm chest and letting my mind drift into nothingness as I fell into slumber.
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