Chapter 24
"What the hell?!" Barry said in disbelief as he stared at the area where the plaque marking the Pokemon Statue of Eterna City should have been. "There's supposed to be a plaque here, and it looks like it was ripped right off!" he somewhat angrily said. "What kind of asshat does that?"
Lucas tossed a suspicious look in the direction the man who had just walked passed them went in before turning back to Barry. "I don't know. But look around," he discretely said so only Alyssa, Dawn, and Barry could hear, "There's a lot of people with blue bowl-cuts and a golden letter 'G' on the chest. I'm sure they've got their hands dipped in this too," he said, leaning his head in the direction of the statue.
"Really? But why?" Dawn asked.
"We haven't been able to give a solid reason as to why they have done anything we've caught them doing, only that they do these things and put up a ridiculously harsh fight when we try to push them out of their actions," he noted, "This probably isn't any different, but sooner or later, all the pieces we collect about them will fit together, like Arthur said they would."
He took one last look at the statue before turning to head down the stairs before Dawn grabbed his arm. "Excuse me, where are you headed?" she asked somewhat harshly, though a creeping smile revealed to Lucas she was playing around.
"Um… down the stairs," he gestured, "Back to town."
"We came all the way from home to Eterna, and we see this massive statue, and you don't even want to take a picture?" she pleaded.
"What? No… I mean, I don't like taking pictures very much. Besides what's so special about—"
"No, you came here with me. I want to remember our time here later on," she sweetly insisted clasping her hands together over his. "Just a few pictures," she smiled.
Lucas could see Barry and Alyssa both shoot him an insisting look until he somewhat begrudgingly agreed. A few minutes later, the four were headed back down the steps again, with Barry regretting egging Lucas to take a picture as Alyssa and Dawn eventually dragged him in, too, but both found small happiness in seeing Alyssa and Dawn gleefully go through each of the pictures they took.
"So," Barry said as he and Lucas trailed slightly behind Alyssa and Lucas as he placed an arm on his shoulder, "What do we do about these grunts around us?" he said, not making any contact with the individuals in his vision who clearly wore Galactic Grunt uniforms but didn't seem to be doing anything criminal or alarming at the moment.
"We'll let them be for now. I've got my eye on them, too, Barry. I'm not sure if it's a good idea to pull the trigger yet. I don't want them to swarm us," he warned.
"Alright, I just wanted to make sure we're on the same page," Barry nodded. "When are you headed to the gym?"
"Tomorrow, after a bit of training with Dawn," Lucas responded with a bit of excitement.
"Dawn?" Barry asked, almost slightly offended as he and Lucas decided to catch up with Alyssa and Dawn. "I thought you'd train with me. I need the practice too, man. Besides, we're the same caliber, and I need to settle the score for all our battles," he somewhat complained.
"Gosh," Lucas said, rubbing the bridge of his nose as Dawn and Alyssa silently giggled to themselves, "Dawn said literally the same thing yesterday. It's like you guys can read each other's minds and are intentionally screwing me over!" he joked, "But yeah, Dawn just caught her third Pokemon, a Shellos, and I promised her a battle," he sympathetically said to Barry.
"Well, there's the legendary dilemma of man, and now you have to choose: your bros or your h—"
"Or his what?" Dawn cut in before Barry could finish the sentence, making him swallow his words as a brief fiery glance from Lucas seemed to do the necessary convincing. "Were you going to say something?"
"I… uh," Barry weakly said, tugging his collar to breathe a bit, "Um…"
"Hey!" a voice shouted from behind, them, a smooth tone of a woman in her late 20s or early 30s. A tall woman, at Lucas and Barry's height, dressed in a black coat and with thick, straight blond hair and bangs that still gave her a straight and piercing look. Her clothes had black fur rims on her sleeves and neck, and her long, flowing black coat waved behind her like a cape in the wind as her jet black heels clicked against the brick pavement.
All four of them recognized the figure almost instantly, sending them into awed silence as her incredible presence walked quickly toward their now gaping faces with an acknowledging smile. Clearly, their reaction to her wasn't something she was unacquainted with. She approached them, taking a good look at the Pokedexes held in Lucas, Dawn, and Barry's hands before speaking again, "Hello there, I'm sorry to bother you, but I couldn't help but notice you had Pokedexes with each of you," she said in her authoritative, raspy, somewhat seductive voice. "Oh, I guess I haven't introduced myself properly," she laughed as the other four remained stunned in awe, "My name is Cynthia. I a trainer just like you all, actually."
"Er… y-you're the Champion," Barry weakly stammered out as Cynthia shot him a mildly flattered glance.
"Yes, I am. But at heart, we are the same kind of trainers, right? That's the most important thing to me," she happily said. "I've got a passion for Sinnohan myth and culture, so I'm here investigating the statue, especially since I have reports that somebody has tried to damage it, but I caught sight of you and I just had to tell you how much you reminded me of when I was you age and to thank you for what you've done," she said, looking at Lucas and Dawn towards the end of her sentence.
"Th-thank us?" Lucas asked, confused.
"Well, as the Champion, I have to recognize the people doing good work to help other people and encourage them, and I think what you did in Jubilife and Valley Windworks are signs of bravery and talent that I look forward to seeing grow. You're on a good path… Mr…?"
"I'm Lucas, this is Dawn, this is Barry, and this is Alyssa," he somewhat shyly filled in as the rest of them gave equally nervous acknowledgments to the Champion. "She's easily the most powerful person in Sinnoh. Maybe even the whole world," he thought to himself with a shudder, "And she said I've got talent?" he thought further, a slight smile of pride now spreading across his face before he realized what she'd just told him. "Wait, how does she know about me in Valley Windworks and Jubilife? I didn't tell anyone about that?" His expression suddenly became a bit panicked as he blurted out, "How do you know about what we did with… Team Galactic," he nervously asserted, not knowing who was listening as a sense of paranoia forced itself on him, making him continually scan surroundings in the middle of the conversation.
"I'm the Champion, Lucas. It's in my executive authority to monitor national security concerns. Although," she said as a tone of pain and defeat seemed to arise in her, "In this state of inaction we've been forced into… I'm afraid monitoring is all I've been—well, I shouldn't say too much, it would burden you all for no good. I wanted to give you this," she said reaching into her handbag to give something to Lucas, who picked it up in his outstretched palm.
"What is it?" he asked.
"It's an HM. You can teach your Pokemon moves that can be trained for both functional and battle purposes. This one is cut, and once you scan it with the Eterna City badge, it'll activate and you can use it to remove obstacles and growth on your journey. It's a symbol of your progress forward," she smiled as she enclosed his fingers around the object. "I hope you encounter many new kinds of powerful Pokemon with that Pokedex of yours. Cherish the time you have on this journey, the people you journey with. This opportunity… it's a chance that most people don't have the grit to see through, and they fly past too quickly. Who knows, maybe I'll see you again someday as an opponent in the League," she suggested with a beckoning aura glowing around her as the wind still blew against her long hair and black coat.
Lucas and the rest simply nodded and gave a thank you to her, as she shook each of their hands, released a purple Pokemon that moved in such a terrorizing fierce and flowing motion that Lucas barely blinked before it flew off into the sky with Cynthia. "What just… happened?" he asked the rest of the group as he stared blankly with complete shock where Cynthia just was moments ago.
"The… Champion of Sinnoh just handed you an HM," Barry filled in a monotone, half-dazed manner.
"And she said she would take a keen interest in your progress," Dawn said in the same fashion.
"Would take? She is taking," Alyssa added, equally as stunned as the other three as they all held their gaze at her riding into the thick winter clouds above.
"She's very humble," Lucas remarked almost disconnectedly to the rest of the conversation.
"She is, but that just proves how capable she really is. And she went out of her way to notice your work. You're…" Dawn trailed.
"Gonna be the second-best trainer Sinnoh has ever seen! After me, of course," Barry announced with ecstatic glee.
"Let him have his moment, Barry," Dawn chided.
"Oh, he's had enough," he joked, patting Lucas on the back as he laid an arm around Lucas' shoulder, "Now let's see that HM she gave you," he said as Lucas blinked blankly before realizing what Barry was asking for.
He looked into his palm and looked at what she gave him for the first time. It was a small black USB drive, one that could be read by any computer and could quickly port high volumes of information. It had a red light that was off built into the case and had a sleek, smooth design, something Lucas found entertaining as he played with it between his fingers. "How about we take a look at it after our gym battle, huh?" he asked the rest of the group.
"No! Activate it right now!" Barry almost restlessly demanded.
"Um, no," Lucas shrugged, "I don't even have a computer on me, so how am I even going to load this?" he asked. Barry shrugged defeatedly before they all talked some more about their surprise run-in with Cynthia, with Lucas and Barry even going so far as to say that they may have been met with a Galactic Grunt in a costume meant to spy on them, though Dawn and Alyssa fervently dispelled that idea.
They rounded a corner fairly quickly afterward, with both groups passing by a shop on their right, a fairly new but shop that had industrial-age design with red bricks and mortar forming its walls. Outside, rings of a bike rack were kept in many rows as varieties of bikes were kept docked and locked in them. A small label outside that said, "Eterna Bike Shop" arrested everyone's attention all at once as they took a long, yearning gaze at the bikes. "God, I wish we could have one of those," Lucas groaned, "I can't imagine having to walk for the rest of the journey. I'll be long dead before I finish."
"Great idea, but those aren't just any bikes, they're Eterna's famous Geschwindigkeitdämon," Barry sadly said, "You'll need a stroke of luck or a fortune to—"
"I'm sorry, what did you say it was called?" Dawn interrupted, "I-it sounded like you vomited four sentences in the middle of one," she said, absolutely confused, "I'm really sorry if I sound kinda mean," she apologized right after.
"Geschwindigkeitdämon," Barry proudly repeated, showing off his language skills, "It's a word that basically means 'Speed-Demon'."
"It's one bloody word?" even Lucas added in shock. Lucas knew Barry knew that language and spoke it since he was a kid, but he himself had never really bothered to understand or comprehend its nature at all.
"What language is it? And how do you even know it?" Dawn asked, bewildered as they stood outside the shop while the sun set behind them.
"Well," he somewhat haughtily began, his cockiness clearly getting to his head as he shot a quick glance at Alyssa who was the only one who hadn't remarked about him yet but bore a bright smile and eager eyes. Nobody else noticed, but a smile went across Lucas' faces as he noticed Barry's uptick in speaking pace, something that happened when he was excited or eager to show something. "My grandparents on both sides are from a region right to the east of Kalos. I'm not sure what its actually called, but I know the nickname is Deutschland since the language is called Deutsch and the people are Deutsche. I lived with them in Snowpoint till I was five, so I don't remember too much, but I definitely picked up some of the language pretty quickly."
"Are you fluent?" Dawn added to her previous question.
"Yeah, fairly," Barry remarked about himself. At this point, had his pride been given weight he would have spontaneously sunk to the bottom of the Earth. "I can actually—"
"Meine Eltern und Großeltern auch kommen aus Deutschland," Alyssa happily said to him with impeccable accent and fluency.
"Um…" Barry trailed a bit while Lucas smirked and Alyssa had an amused grin on her face, though she her smile seemed less mocking and more playful than Lucas'. "I-Ich wusste nicht, dass du D-Deutsch sprichst kannst," he suddenly and somewhat frightfully said, clearly having to think about what he was saying, though his accent was similar to that of Alyssa's. "Du kommst aus Johto, ja?" he asked back, all while Lucas and Dawn were holding back light giggles, each painting their own picture of speculative interpretations as to what was being said back and forth between the other two.
"Ja, varum?" she asked back.
"Eterna hat eine gutes Johtoanisch Restaurant. Darf ich dich zum Abendessen einladen?"
"Hm… Ich dachte ein Deutschen Restaurant."
"Ja," he almost yelped, making her jump a bit backward before he spoke again to reassure her. "Sounds good to me," he said again in English, his vocabulary clearly wearing thin while Alyssa had far more ease and proficiency than he did.
"Leerlaufen, Barry?" she giggled, as his face reddened quite a bit. "I'm only kidding," she smiled, bumping her shoulder into his gently before whispering something inaudible to Lucas and Dawn in his ear that made his eyes flash lasers with excitement for a brief moment.
"What do you think they were saying?" Dawn asked Lucas quietly.
"I have no idea. I had no idea he even knew enough of this language to maintain a conversation," Lucas answered back equally quietly. "Alright, are the operatives allowed to declassify their conversation to the rest of us now?" Lucas said aloud, seeing that their dialogue seemed to have ended. "Because all I could tell was that there was something about a douche—"
"Deutsch," Barry quickly corrected.
"What?" Lucas asked, confused.
"Deutsch, not douche. It's a name."
"Only goes to prove his point, Barry," Dawn laughed with Lucas, "What were you two talking about?" Dawn asked, noting his reddened face and excited nature.
"Hm… y'all are smart. I'm sure you'll know on your own soon enough," Alyssa smirked at the two of them, knowing their burning curiosity for the truth.
"Oh, I think I know just what you were talking about," Dawn smirked back, giggling stupidly.
"Whatever, man. I'm starving and the sun is setting. Can we go back to eat something now?" Barry whined, distracting everyone from the emerging topic on their minds.
"Oh, uh, sure," Lucas agreed, wanting to bail his friend out of some nervous trouble. "I guess we'll grab some food and prepare for tomorrow," he nodded.
"Sounds lovely," Alyssa nodded with the rest as they moved past the bicycle shop, made a quick stop at the Pokemart after Dawn and Alyssa insisted, and finally entered further into the heart of the city where a familiar building that looked the same in every town in every region stood welcomingly.
They'd all had a quick meal and made their way to their rooms to rest, with Lucas quickly grabbing a pencil and paper and writing out notes about Gardenia and strategies he could use while Barry flicked on the television knowing any thinking or preparation would only serve to give him nerves during the real battle.
Dawn walked by Lucas on his desk a short while later, both having made preparations for bed but Lucas going back to work some more on his plan. "You like having everything written down and planned, don't you?" she asked him as she sat beside him, placing her arm around him.
"Yeah, I guess I do," he shrugged, "I don't like to do things cold."
"But haven't you ever improvised something? Make a choice up on the spot and have only your gut to back it up?" she pressed.
"Plenty of times, but let's be honest, is that the best way to get results?" he asked her back.
"Um…" she thought for a bit, "I don't think so," she admitted, "But it is fun sometimes."
"Really?" he asked, his eyebrow reaching the ceiling.
"When Professor Rowan asked if I wanted to go on my journey, I said yes. I improvised that decision right there. On the spot," she confidently stated, "And then I chose to be with you the whole way through the journey right when you asked me. On the spot. Lucas, I didn't have to plan things out for me to love the choices I made. Sometimes, you have to trust yourself," she said more insistently and softly.
"Hold on you… made that choice on the fly?" Lucas asked, completely taken aback by what she said.
"Yeah," Dawn nodded, proud of her happy outcome.
"But… the decision to go on a journey: it's not a small choice. It can make or break your life, and it's no surefire way to put food on the table, that's for sure. It's not the kind of choice you want to—"
"Are you saying I made the wrong choice?" she asked with a slight smirk on her face, knowing he would have to say no.
"No, but—"
"I wanted to follow my dream. And right there—when I saw you and Barry ready set out on your own and how you caught Rowan's attention—I realized there was something in me to do the same, to get back on stage and achieve something that I always wanted and that I believed I was prime for. That passion behind a decision is what makes it a worthwhile one when it works out, Lucas."
"But… what if it doesn't?"
"Are you saying I can't be the Top Coordinator?" she asked again with a smirk.
"Why do you keep asking these questions with 'Are you saying that—'? I mean, of course not! We know that now. But what if it didn't?"
"It doesn't matter because even if I could go back with the knowledge I have now, how much experience I've gotten over the past month, I would have made the same choice. Because Lucas, if I had looked at all the risks, all the things that scared me, all the questions I had: then I wouldn't have these three Pokeballs in my pockets, you wouldn't be holding my hand, and wouldn't have a ribbon that I worked so hard to get pinned to my contest clothes, right?"
"Right," he conceded, smiling.
"Exactly," she said as Lucas kept writing on his paper again before Dawn placed her hand on his writing hand, stopping him as he looked at her, his face a bit flush. "Why are you reddening up? You hold mine all the time," Dawn playfully taunted before Lucas put the pen aside and looked her directly in the eye, knowing that she had something important that she wanted to get across to him.
"Lucas, when we battle tomorrow, I want you to try something," she kindly suggested.
"What is it?" he smiled back.
"I want you to improvise. Don't plan out every move and idea out today. Just be there. With me. In the battle. You'll know what I mean," she glowed, "Besides, you will have to improvise at some point in one of your big battles, so this'll be practice for that. No gym leader is going to mail their strategy to you beforehand, right?"
"You're right, Dawn," he shrugged as he closed his book, "He stood up from the small desk and turned away before turning back to speak to Dawn, "About your decision to go on a journey… with me… I want you to know that I'm glad you chose what you chose. I guess… your decision made my life better, too," he said as he put on his shoes to step out of the door.
"Where are you headed?" Dawn asked as she made her way over to the bed, sliding into her cool covers to escape from the room that was spewing heat from the vents due to the freezing weather outside. "Well, since you mentioned the mail, I think I'm going to go downstairs and pick mine up, too. You want to come?"
"Um, no. I'm good here. But come quickly, though, these covers are a lot colder than I thought," she coyly demanded.
"Alright," he chuckled, stepping out the door before he returned a minute later with a few pieces of mail tucked in his arm as he shut the door as he rubbed his shoulders. "It's soooo cold out there, and then it's soooo warm in here!" he complained, acknowledging Dawn's previous remark.
"Oh, just snuggle here with me. It'll be the right temperature for the both of us," she lightly giggled as she scooted to the side of the bed to give him some room before he lay down next to her, pulling out the pieces of mail before looking at one last small piece in an envelope with a handwritten send and return address in his mother's familiar handwriting.
"Oh, it's from mum," he smiled as Dawn laid an arm on him.
"What's it say?"
"She said she's very happy that you won your contest… and that she thinks you're a better trainer than me," he lightly chuckled.
"She's right, you know," Dawn said with a smug smile.
"I guess I'll have to disprove both of you tomorrow," he replied before reading from the letter again. "She says she misses me and that she can't wait for me to come back to Twinleaf so we can celebrate her birthday," he said as he read the letter.
"She's incredibly sweet, isn't she. You better make her a very thoughtful gift," she chided with a smile.
"And… she's also put a picture in here, too," Lucas added, pulling out an old color photograph, the clarity slightly blurred because of film quality but the colors distinct. There was a boy in the picture, maybe only a few years older than Lucas with a bright smile on his face bearing almost the exact same facial features except for his eyes—this boy had emerald-green eyes whereas Lucas' were a hazel-brown—but he still wore Lucas' distinct cap, a brown coat, and white shirt. He was a bit taller and leaner than Lucas, and his arm was around the shoulders of another man who seemed to be smiling with the first but seemed to have difficulty smiling or perhaps the picture was taken at the wrong moment because he had a piercing gaze that seemed to shoot right through the photo and at the viewer. He wore a grayish-white coat and had his arm around the first boy, and he had a firm posture that held his forbearing expression to the camera still and focused.
"Who… are they?" Dawn asked looking at the picture with Lucas.
Lucas didn't quite listen as he flipped the picture over to reveal his mother's handwriting on the back. "I was cleaning out the attic the other day and I found this picture of your father I took when he was a few years older than you. I don't quite remember who the other man in the picture is, but I think he and your father were good friends or perhaps they were colleagues. Anyway, I wanted to show you just how much you remind me of him and to tell you how proud he would be if he could see you now. I'll see you soon, Lucas!"
"You really do look alike, huh?" Dawn remarked as she compared the two, "But your eyes and hair are definitely your mom's," she further noted before Lucas put the picture back in the envelope.
"Yeah, we do look alike," he agreed, "But I'm glad mum keeps all of these old pictures and stuff around and organized. It's… hard work, but it's… sometimes touching to see them, right?"
"Now do you understand why I wanted to take so many pictures?" Dawn laughed, "You'll want to remember all the time we spent together," she explained as Lucas was about to put the envelope on the side-table.
"Wait a minute, let me see that," she said as she snatched the mail envelope out of his hands suddenly before he could react to yank it back.
"Lucas J. Drake. You have a middle name?!" she surprised asked with a grin.
"Well, yes," he said, sending a corner of his lip flatly to one side, "It's James. My father's name."
"Lucas James Drake," she said aloud, "I do like the sound of that."
"And I would guess that 'E' would have to stand for something, too, huh?"
"What?" she asked again in surprise, her eyes widening as she looked at him.
"I saw your trainer card. That 'E' would have to stand for something. Right, Ms. Dawn E. Avery?"
"It does…" she somewhat shamefully trailed as Lucas pressed forth with his questioning.
"And what name would that be…?"
"I don't like my middle name very much," she gruffly said, dodging the question.
"Nuh uh, you can't just evade answering like that," he keenly smiled as he moved to sit next to her.
"You're going to make fun of me for it; I know it," she plainly said as she turned her face away from him.
"Maybe I will," he replied as he laid down on her lap, looking up at her while she still averted her gaze to hide a creeping smile, "Okay, I won't," he said more earnestly this time as he pulled lightly on her chin so she would face him again, "But I at least deserve to know."
"Esmé," she quickly said under her breath.
"I didn't hear you," Lucas smirked. "What're you shy about? It's just a name."
"It's not one that I like to be called by."
"Nobody's going to call you by it," he rapidly ensured.
A short silence ensued. "Well," she started, "It's Esmé," she said with a slight expression of defeat.
"Esmé?" he asked, making sure he was pronouncing it right. "It's a Kalosian name," he noted with a pleasant surprise.
"Yeah, I know," she glumly said.
"And it's a cute name, especially for a cute girl. 'Esmé," he slowly repeated, "And I can make a nickname out of it. Right, Esee?" he joked with a soft smile. "How could you possibly not like your middle name?"
"Don't call me that," she said, wagging her finger in his face.
"Esee sounds sweet to me," he smiled, "I like it a lot more than Dawn, for sure," he smiled proudly.
"My parents named me Dawn," she sternly said.
"And they didn't name you Esmé?" he asked, drawing his point across as Dawn sighed in defeat. "It'll be an endearing name," he softly said as he moved the back of his hand gently down her cheek, "So then you know something is special, okay?"
"Okay," she softly agreed, pressing his hand against her cheek. A short silence passed before she asked a question again, seemingly having done some thinking about it. "Who do you think would win in the battle tomorrow: you or me?" she inquisitively asked as she lied down next to him, an arm wrapped around him as he turned to face her.
"Me," he bluntly said with a chuckle, "Won't be an easy win, but I never lose."
"Would you lose for a kiss?"
He paused to think for a moment, "Hm, maybe to yours, yes."
"Wow, you're easy to bribe."
"Any man in his right mind would take that bribe."
"Then take it."
"Gladly, Esee," he chuckled as his lips pressed onto hers atop the cool covers and pillows, the delicate scent of floral perfume washing over him as felt her wrap herself around and push into him rhythmically. He ran his fingers through her soft, dark hair. He briefly pulled back for a moment to take a good look at the piercing blue eyes that stared back at him, before giving a tender smile that met hers again.
"Well, good night then, Dawn," he smiled as he pulled the mail back from her hands, placed it on the desk, and slid into the covers fully, closing his eyes.
Lucas' sleep sent him into yet another construction of reality as he lay on the bed. Bolts of fire, lightning, and plasma streaked around him in shades of blue, pink, red, and white as he stood suspended in a seemingly infinite background of black. He could feel a gripping, angry, writhing force stick itself into his back, pulling and tugging at him as it dragged him backwards through the vacuum. He tried anchoring his feet. He tried planting. He tried flailing and throwing every ounce of energy and effort into counteracting it but instead, he simply succumbed to the force, being pulled past more streaks of burning hot material, debris from some even singing and burning him in some place while he grit his teeth and held on to the force to keep from being torn away.
All of a sudden, the flashes of light and fireballs didn't seem to streak around him, diverting their colorful and flashing hot trajectories closer toward him as they passed by, as though he possessed some sort of gravitational field that beckoned the objects closer by the moment. One collided with him, and though he felt the jarring, tearing momentum slam into his thigh from the collision, he didn't feel the burn as he screamed out in brutal agony. He released his pain into the empty space around him as the embers and energy from the collided sphere began to slowly coalesce around him, enveloping him pulsing in a bright, iridescent color.
All the balls of energy finally coalesced together into one intense light source, a powerful radiating and flaring pulse of purple around Lucas' body that had clearly fused with his being and form, its fierceness feeding him and feeding off of him at the same time.
Lucas snapped awake as Dawn rook a quick notice of his familiar condition though she quickly drew attention to one particular feature on him: "Lucas," she began, "You're… sweating like crazy," she said as she placed a hand on his forehead, "And you're scorching hot!" she said in surprise. "Are you alright?" she asked, placing her hand on his forehead again as he weakly smiled at her.
"Yeah, I am," he nodded as she got up from the bed.
"I've got a thermometer. I need to see if you've got a fever," she insisted as she opened the curtains to let the sunlight from the new morning pour its way in.
"I don't have a fever; it was just a bad dream."
"I'm not buying it till this thing says so," she said as she held up the thermometer.
"Who are you, my mum?" Lucas chuckled as she handed him the thermometer.
"What do you think Johana would say if I didn't take care of you," she said as Lucas took the thermometer out of his mouth.
"See, no fever," he said somewhat smugly before Dawn snatched it from his hands.
"Lemme see that."
"Oh, and mum would probably say something to the effect of 'Oh, don't bother taking care of him, dear. I don't want you tiring yourself keeping up with somebody like him. Even I can't, and I raised him.'," he said imitating his mother's sweet tone.
"Do you really think Johana would say that?"
"To be honest," he half-sighed, "I think she thinks you're better than me, with all your manners and kindness and whatnot," he said with defeat before he smiled to see a creeping grin on Dawn's face.
"Well, clearly your mom is right, then," she nodded self-approvingly.
"You're the better person," he conceded, pointing at her, "But I'm the better trainer," he said, pointing to himself, "And they don't give awards or pay you for being a kind person, now do they?"
"Ooo, I cannot wait to beat you in a battle today," she said with fake tone of anger.
"Eh, you'll have to be waiting a lot longer to beat me," Lucas cockily shrugged as she rolled her eyes.
"I think that you're a bit overconfident," she said, softly poking his forehead.
"It's justified though, isn't it?" he chuckled as he got out of bed. The banter continued for a bit more as they quickly readied themselves, though through the whole morning, Lucas could feel a tenseness and constant force in his muscles, pulling, tugging, forcing him to stay on his toes though he didn't feel the rush or intensity of any adrenaline. He didn't make much of it, simply stretching a bit and loosening up as they walked outside.
They made the short walk to a Pokemon Training Center next to the Gym at the southern end of town. "Wait, what's this place?" Dawn asked as they neared the entrance, "I thought we were gonna go practice for you battle today with Gardenia?" she asked.
"We are, in here," he gestured to the building that had a tan roof and a somewhat smaller size than the Gym Building next to it. "Most towns have some kind of flat or open space in or near them to have battles between trainers, but since Eterna is so old and since it's right next to the river and Eterna Forest, they don't have any of that."
"So they made this place so that trainers could battle each other without destroying themselves or the stuff around them?" Dawn filled in.
"Exactly… it's like a gym, like a gym gym, for practice and exercise and not like for testing yourself like you do at the Pokemon gym," he clarified. They walked in shortly after, with Lucas scanning his ID to reserve themselves an open area for battling. Though the building was smaller than the gym next door, it had the same width and laminated walls they echoed all the voices inside into a vocal cacophony. Large, white lights above lit everything inside as white lines on a brown reinforced steel-laminate floor marked out two halves of a rectangle and a Pokeball in the center.
Lucas quickly walked to one end of the rectangle, pulled out a Pokeball from his pocket standing firm and tall in his ground, a calm but slowly exciting look in his eyes. "Well, are you going to battle?" he asked Dawn, who was still looking around the whole place and taking the sight of such a place dedicated to random trainer battles before his voice snapped her out of her observation.
"W-we're just gonna get right into it?" she asked, a bit surprised as she refocused herself on the battle and away from the novel surrounding.
"What, you want foreplay?" Lucas chuckled turning Dawn's cheeks into a light red color.
"Wha-no. It's just that… we usually have some kind of dialogue or a conversation before our battle right? For stakes and context and whatnot?"
"This ain't that kind of videogame," Lucas laughed back, throwing out Caesar's Pokeball out in front of him, releasing the blue, white, and gold Penguin Pokemon onto the floor of the battle-area. Lucas felt a rising, rhythmic hum inside him carry him forward into battle as he planted himself and watched his partner lay his prideful, steely eyes on Dawn, both waiting for her to release her first Pokemon.
"Alright, I choose you, Margaret," she said proudly as he released the small Meditie out in front of her, hovering off of the ground as she usually did to intimidate her opponent. Caesar narrowed his eyes and lowered his brows in response, unwavered by Margaret's seeming sorcery unlike previous opponents. "These two have never faced off before," Dawn noted, noticing the competitive tension between the two Pokemon.
"Yeah, the tension is palpable," Lucas smiled, moving swiftly into his first command of attack. "Caesar, Bubblebeam!" he ordered boldly.
"Start off with Calm Mind, as usual," Dawn said, wanting to strategically prepare herself for a drawn-out battle where her Meditite's stat changes would become a decisive factor. "She'll take the hit from that Bubblebeam, but that's okay," she thought to herself. Margaret coated herself in a powerful, radiating aura as her mind focused itself on setting up defenses and preparing its weapons for ranged and elemental attacks. Caesar's incoming Bubblebeam collided head-on with her purple and red pulsing aura, knocking into her head on thought the aura and her augmented ability to handle special attacks had clearly lessened its true impact, splashing some of the impact away harmlessly onto the floor. "Great job!" Dawn complimented on her Pokemon's resilience. "Fire back with Confusion!"
"Shit, that attack's gonna have some umph in it form the Calm Mind she used earlier," Lucas thought, realizing that Dawn might have thought a plan of attack through for this battle just as much as he did. "Uh, Caesar, get cocky. Focus on it. She's going to try to mess with your head, so just focus on being prideful, and see if you can tough it out," Lucas improvised. "I hope this stuff works."
"Wow, you're really scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas to beat me, huh? The battle just started," Dawn laughed.
"Yeah, but those ideas still seem to be working," Lucas smiled as despite the fact that Margaret's aura pulsed violently and increased the power of her attack, she couldn't quite scramble and mess Caesar's mind as she had done with other Pokemon because the Penguin was just too innately cocky: it was one of its defining character traits, and its focus and commitment to the attitude made it somewhat resilient to the mental pandemonium that Margaret tried to cause though it still reeled back and was dizzied from the attack. "It worked," Lucas muttered to himself, digging his shoes further into the floor as he balled his fist with pride.
"Margaret, Confusion, again! Put everything you got in it, and knock Caesar out!" Dawn called out with confidence.
"Caesar, stagger through it, same plan," Lucas nodded, "Move to CC strategy," he then added, as Dawn raised her eyebrow in a puzzlement while she watched Caesar take yet another Confusion attack, making him buckle more than the last time, though his focus on his ego did again seem to help him persevere through the feeling of bordering madness that the attack made victims sometimes feel. Caesar gave out a painful cry before spreading his wings out to the side and then back as he began to charge forward headlong across the glistening gray floor toward Margaret.
"What in the hell does Lucas have planned?" Dawn thought as she began to take combat measures on her own end. "Margaret, Force Palm," she ordered, noticing that the Prinplup was coming closer, removing the risk of making physical attacks which needed Margaret to travel to her target. "But not yet," she ordered, holding her palm up as she and her Pokemon locked their eyes on the incoming blue Penguin that had built up quite a bit of speed despite its awkward running gait. "Not until I say so."
Lucas didn't seem to mind Dawn's new form of attack at all. A smile spread across his face, increasing Dawn's cautiousness and alertness to any slightest change or pattern that would emerge before her in the unfolding series of attacks. Caesar had moved within arm's reach of Margaret, and everything unfolded from there in a violent blaze of action.
"Now!" Dawn shouted as Margaret seemed to ignite her hand with a powerful, slightly translucent red energy that coursed through and up her arm into the coming attack. She thrust her hand out forward completely, slamming into the horns and head of Caesar who leaned his body forward, though he had a high enough defense to attacks to muster yet more strength to push through. Almost immediately after Margaret's attack connected, his golden-yellow beak suddenly emitted blinding white light that seemed to burn away at Margaret.
"Pin and Peck!" Lucas called out as Caesar followed a seemingly pre-planned play-call, using forward moment to pin down Margaret before embedding his beak in like a flying dagger as Margaret, grimaced silently from the first super-effective attack of the battle. Margaret was thrown to Dawn's feet as he pushed forward again, his beak glowing for yet another devastating Peck attack on Margaret. He had a bit of trouble accelerating on the smooth, laminated steel floor, giving Margaret just enough time to gather herself and sit upright, though if it weren't for her boost she gave herself with Calm Mind in the beginning, she might have been on the ground.
"You can't take an attack like that again," Dawn said to Margaret as even at his mediocre speed, Caesar was closing the distance to his target rapidly. "CONFUSION!" she almost screamed, earning brief concerned looks from the other trainers around them who turned away just as Margaret gathered enough energy to fire off one more powerful, boosted psychic attack that halted Caesar squarely in his tracks, gripping him tightly in his mind as he was certainly less prepared than the previous two times.
"No! You need to push through, buddy," Lucas pleaded in futility as he watched Caesar slowly succumb before he fell sideways onto the floor, dazed. He sighed in defeat, recalling Caesar silently. "It's my fucking fault," he cursed himself as he looked at Caesar's Pokeball, "I'm sorry, Caesar." He was down one Pokemon now, and Dawn had yet to take a loss, and as the heat of battle began to rise, his heart seemed to beat harder, beat faster He was moving in a higher gear now, and there was no slowing down. "I'll send out Prometheus," he thought frantically, "More fire. More force. We'll get this done," he said in his mind as he released the golden Charmeleon out of its Pokeball into the crisp air and bright lights of the battle area.
Prometheus landed on his feet, the Lizard Pokemon's eyes matching the fire of its bright tail-flame as it stood vigorously and excitedly, bringing a new fury into the battle. "Ember!" Lucas fierily ordered with Prometheus more than happy to oblige, spinning in a circle as he combined his tail flame with a fireball produced in his mouth before hurtling it across the arena toward Margaret like a high-explosive shell.
"Push yourself to the side!" Dawn ordered as Margaret almost reflexively used her levitation to shift herself to the side rapidly despite her weakness, but still only just fast enough to avoid a direct impact as the fireball collided on the ground next to her and sent flammable debris and fumes onto her. She still held on, her boosted defense to special attacks serving her even in her final moments of battle. The searing pain of the attack knocked Margaret's focus enough to prevent her levitating for a bit as the singed bits of debris dispersed into the air as she hit the ground to reveal a glowing, red mark on her body.
"A burn," Lucas and Dawn said at once as Margaret struggled even more than before to even remain upright. "You need to use Confusion. Keep him at range and hit him with whatever you have left. You can do it Margaret!" Dawn encouraged earnestly. Margaret stood up this time, not having the strength to levitate, and focused her gaze on her target's mind yet one more time, but as sparks seemed to bleed from the glowing wound onto the gray floor, she bent one knee, sending one hand to the ground, and then bent the other knee as she fell forward into the floor. "You held your own and then some," Dawn appreciated as she recalled Margaret, "You need the rest, now, but Verna, it's time to put this battle to rest!" she called out.
She released Verna from her Pokeball almost immediately, the pink sea-slug Pokemon plopped onto the floor less gracefully than her predecessor, but her fierceness and fury emanating from within seemed to more than cover for her soft and harmless appearance. Her fimbriae-like protrusions from her head began to move and flow freely as she lowered and extended her head to level focus with the target in front of her: Prometheus, a fire type. "You've got to be kidding me," Lucas thought, realizing how rash it was to call Prometheus out early in the match. "Shellos is a water-type. I KNEW that. I planned for it… and then I got carried away like a jackass."
"Looks like your head isn't in the game, Lucas," Dawn said confidently, "But even a mismatch like this isn't one I'm going to kick back and watch," she half-smirked, "Verna, use Water Pulse!"
The little Shellos reared its head back, a small mass of water emerging from its fluid-like hide and coalescing into a spinning itself into a thick ring that it kept adding to and sustaining until with a flick of Dawn's hand forward, it unleashed a small tidal wave out into the battle-area.
"Fight it back with Dragon Breath!" Lucas thundered, and Prometheus followed but barely had time to react. Prometheus charged up a ball of raging purple energy with the sound of two steel plates grinding against each other, something more than light or heat, something innately majestic and deadly and beyond scientific understanding. There was a glint of purple in Lucas' eyes as Prometheus discharged the Dragon Breath out like a flamethrower to counteract the Water Pulse, but even the strength of the Dragon-Type attack carved only a small hole in the incoming torrent, which was so expansive that Prometheus still took some of the attack while even Lucas, who stood several feet behind him, was slammed and soaking wet by the end.
Lucas watched as Prometheus' tail flicked, fizzled, and turned more blue as it flared violently back to life, the upright lizard planting its feet and spewing flames from its mouth in rage. Dawn giggled on the other side, seeing Lucas' hair matted down and dripping, though she had to admit, he did look a bit inviting this way. "Should've kept your hat and jacket on, huh?"' she laughed playfully. "Good job, Verna," she smiled, reaching down to pet her Shellos who cooed happily.
Lucas gave a short, sweet smile, seeing Dawn so happy, before he sank back into his determined and serious demeanor, wiping off the water from his face with a swift motion of his hand. "Prometheus," he said, standing tall and straight, his tensed muscles revealing their outlines through his soaked shirt, "Slash and burn," he commanded in a low, almost growling voice that alerted Dawn he was setting in motion and other coordinated set of attacks.
Prometheus' tail flame now burst into a brilliant blue as his golden skin shimmered and radiated in its powerful light. His planted stance thrust him forward like a rocket towards Verna as his claws began whitening and then radiating bright light. "Water Gun, Verna, pin him before he gets too close!" Dawn commanded, knowing full well how much damage Charmeleon could do with its claws.
Verna began firing off shots of water that streamlined themselves into a teardrop shape mid-flight. They splashed all over the field as Prometheus instinctively dodged and weaved the incoming salvos, and while Verna would occasionally predict his movement well enough to land a hit close enough to cause some damage to him, her inexperience in trainer battles revealed itself as she failed to land a direct hit. Dawn watched as Prometheus got closer, his brilliant white claws yearning to dig into their victim, and decided that she needed to do something before Prometheus was close enough to land some damaging hits. "Wait for it," Lucas muttered to himself, knowing exactly what Dawn was thinking in that moment. "She's going to want to land an attack that'll be hard to dodge or evade from," he thought to himself with a smile, "An attack to finish him off. Water Pulse."
"Use Water Pulse!" Dawn ordered almost immediately after Lucas drew out his plan in his head. Verna again blasted out a wide pulse of water by forming a ring and letting it go yet again.
"Now, jump!" Lucas roared, and Prometheus made a leap a few feet into the air, keeping his horizontal momentum almost completely intact while sending him high enough in the air to go completely over the wave of water that blanketed everything underneath him. Lucas was hit by the torrent of water again, but he was completely unfazed, not even blinking or flinching as he watched Prometheus' trajectory in the air lead straight into Verna, whose slug-like body prevented her from having enough agility to dodge Prometheus.
"Water Gun, Verna," Dawn coolly said, knowing that at this range, Verna wouldn't miss Prometheus despite his speed in the air. She was right. Verna stayed in place, planted herself, and let loose a small jet of water right into Prometheus' underside as he came down. The Charmeleon let out a pained growl as steam hissed from where Verna's attack had hit. He was weak. He was struggling to keep his head in the strike, and he'd taken two super-effective hits, but he kept pushing forward. He had a job.
Prometheus grimaced through the pain and went into a fluid motion of combat perfection. He threw his body in a 360-turn, extending sharp, knife-like claws that sank and slashed into Verna's soft, gelatinous hide and brittle shell underneath as he twisted, hit slash after another. His blazing white claws' did their dirty work as Verna let out a high-pitched squeal of pain, but the onslaught didn't stop. By the time he'd completed the turn and was on the ground facing Verna head on again, he charged up another ferocious Dragon Breath and ripped into her again with the spray of the gradient purple Dragon Energy. Verna once again let out a painful yelp as the force and raw power of the combined attack sent her back a few feet where she lay on her side, oozing a mysterious, goopy, purple liquid onto the floor.
"That should do it," Lucas confidently and quietly said to himself. "There's no way she's getting up from—" He didn't even get the chance to finish his sentence as Verna stirred and shifted, her soft pink hide moving to resume its form again as she stood up to face Prometheus who was now only a few feet away from her, tired and weakened himself and too close to run anywhere. Even without Dawn's orders, the bold little Shellos spat a Water Gun attack at Prometheus, who tried moving out of the way but had expended so much energy on his aggressive series attacks that attack made a direct hit in his neck, knocking him backward onto the ground headfirst with a dull sound.
"Good job, Verna! You did that all by yourself!" Dawn happily smile as she appreciated her newest addition to her team. "Extra treats for you when we get back okay?" she said, earning a happy cooing from the little Pokemon.
He wasn't angry. No. Or at least that was he told himself, but the hum that began at the start of the battle as rhythm to match his motivation had now become a whirling and thundering roar inside of him. He could feel the force and rage consuming his mind form inside. He knew what was going to happen. It'd happened to him before, but never like this. Never in a situation like this. "Hold out. Hold out…" he talked inside his head as best he could, though the tumultuous tidal wave of energy building up in him seemed to be too much for him to try to reign by any measure. "Dawn won't like this," he tried to joke with himself, but it didn't work. No reasoning with himself made a difference before energy in his mind shredded its bonds and raged free.
Dawn watched curiously at first. His fists had balled up completely, tightly, as the knuckles cracked in his enraged grip. The veins in his arms showed, sweat began to slowly form on his body, and he took his jacket and cap off outside for the first time, almost throwing them to the side. It was as though a fire was rising from his body: teeth were grit together, breaths heavier, stance firm and menacing. And his eyes: they seemed to be lock both Dawn and Verna in the sight of a 16-inch gun. "He's… something's not right about him," she worriedly thought as she watched his behavior become more and more aggressive with each second, and though she wasn't uncomfortable, she was worried for him, not believing that he would act rashly or violently towards her or her Pokemon. It wasn't his character. It wasn't him.
Lucas saw the same colors he always did before the crazed autopilot kicked in. A brilliant blue line on steel gray, a brilliant pink line on marbled white, streaks of red and gold on black, blazing white, abyssal black, icy white, golden lines on sparkling green, computer-screen green hexagons pieced together on black, a brilliant blaze of light split from a prism that fused again into pure light, and then purple: just a flowing, glowing, raging sea of purple fire. He recalled Prometheus and released Galahad from his Pokeball in a swift motion, taking no time to give Galahad some pretext or to thank Prometheus for his hard work. Lucas knew what he had to do now.
Galahad didn't take the air as he usually did, instead choosing to land on the floor wings partly spread and head raised, shooting a glowering and fierce look at the Shellos across the field. "Lucas… are you—"
"Aerial Ace, Galahad," he coldly commanded with a flick of his wrist. Galahad shot forward into the air at breakneck speed, shattering his normal speed as he propelled himself into a sharp climb where he had incredibly versatility in attacking opponents.
"What's he got planned now…" Dawn nervously thought, recognizing the aerial supremacy that her opponent demonstrated time and time again against his counterpart that Barry had.
Lucas fell silent, no longer relying on verbal orders. His eyes seemingly piercing into Galahad's mind as the raptor veered from its climb into a spiraling dive, tucking his wings as his spiral motion gave him a precise and linear trajectory downward onto his target. "Verna, use Harden, and tuck yourself in!" Dawn called out somewhat cautiously, knowing at the rate of descent Galahad was coming in wouldn't give Verna any time to dodge or react. Verna responded immediately by letting her shell underneath her gelatinous skin rise a little higher before she retracted her head a little further back into its protective covering. She was badly hurt by Prometheus' attacks, however, and though she had a better defensive position with her hardened shell, neither she nor Dawn were sure if the measures would hold up to Galahad's onslaught.
Galahad seemed to make no adjustments despite Verna's increased defensive position, maintaining his blazing speed as he bore down. Verna dazedly tried to follow him form the sky, and in the split second before impact, she fired a Water Gun attack and barely tucked her head further back into her shell but left her face and some of her exposed while grounding herself to keep protected. Galahad took the Water Gun attack head-on, shuddered a bit, and was only a few feet above the ground when he unfurled his wings to their fullest extent, a few feathers being pulled completely off of his wings by the G's exerted by the daring maneuver as he leveled off from his dive in a split second.
On the other side of the field, Lucas watched with a cold, satisfied look as Galahad executed maneuvers with perfection in regard to every detail Lucas envisioned in his mind. He could feel his bond with the raptor strengthening, like there was a link. He couldn't convey ideas, at least not in a clear or verbal sense, but there existed an understanding for every task to perform in battle, every bit of effort needed to take opponent an out.
Galahad closed the few meters between him and Verna in the blink of an eye. Dawn cringed a bit as she saw the raptor extend his razor-sharp and glistening talons, wings spread out and the undersides facing Verna as he leaned his body back to push his legs out as far as they could while giving him perfect control on his strike. He delivered and agile and inescapable slash as the talons gripped and raked across the Verna's front where her shell didn't fully cover her, picking the Shellos up a foot in the air before he let her go in his ascent out of his attack.
Verna landed fine on her underside after the fall, but the jarring and consecutive impacts and attacks finally caused her to yield as she slumped over on her side. Dawn kneeled down and gently rubbed her side and recalled her into her Pokeball before wiping her hand on her shorts to clean off the purple ooze from Verna's hide. "Lucas," she said as she stood back up while Galahad made the quick trip back to his side, "Something's not right with you. You don't do… this," she said, gesturing to where Verna was moments ago, "If you want to stop battling, we can," she sternly said, not wanting to draw out a battle that would create any contempt or lasting discomfort between them.
"No, I'm fine," Lucas insisted, maintaining his neutral as he made a gesture as if to bat her offer away, "I need—We need to see this through," he added in the end with a the faintest smile, though he tried incredibly hard to put it on. "Besides, you're the one who asked me to improvise for once in my battles. Don't you want to see what that's like?" he asked with a fierce grin, knowing that Dawn had to let them continue battling by her own words.
"Alright," she acquiesced cautiously, "Hazel," she said as she released her Monferno, "Finish this battle!"
The fire inside Lucas seemed to burn hotter now. He didn't want to just win. "I will win this. She knows that. But I have to make it clear, that at any time, anywhere, a battle with is a loss!" he spat in his mind, his rage and fury flowing into Galahad who was now speeding up in his flight, a keen eye locked on Hazel. Lucas locked a leg in place to plant himself as he felt his blood race to his head. A shiver raced up his spine, almost releasing his planted stance as his vision moved in and out of phase. Lucas' vision kept flaring in and out of focus until the distortions began to fuse together into a clarified picture again as he regained his control and balance.
"Lucas, you're not okay. We need to stop or you'll—"
"I'm fine. I-I'm fine. Just a damn headache," he lied. "Galahad Wing Attack!"
"Hazel, keep your distance, and don't let him get close," Dawn warned, knowing that Lucas would stick to flying type attacks that were super-effective against Hazel. Just like Prometheus, Hazel flashed her tail flame until it erupted into a much larger, more ferocious blaze that even Galahad shuddered looking until a sharp look from Lucas urged him to press forward on the offensive.
Lucas had a sly smile on his face as Galahad once again climbed high to initiate a dive onto his target, though his smile was cut short momentarily as he saw Dawn's eyes glisten for a moment with anticipatory joy. "She's got a plan," he hesitantly thought, "Doesn't matter. Brute strength is the best plan." "Keep pushing, Galahad."
Dawn and Hazel both followed Galahad's drop closely as Hazel bent her knees in, waiting for Dawn's next command. Galahad continued on the same route he did with Verna, breaking very close to the ground as he broke out of his dive while keeping his breakneck speed in approaching his target. Dawn counted the distance to Galahad's collision with Hazel in her head until she found the opportunity she was looking for. "Hazel, jump and use Flame Wheel!" she ordered. Hazel responded within the second, her every action having prepared her for this step. She launched into the air with a flip, her flaring and infernal tail following her to light her whole body up in a wheel of fire as she came back down.
Dawn and Lucas both watched intently as Galahad came in too fast and too to break away or target Hazel in the air, while Hazel was in position to land right on top of the raptor as it passed underneath her. "You want me to improvise? Fine," Lucas muttered to himself. "Galahad, invert flight and switch to Aerial Ace!" he boldly said, a confident grin spreading across his face as the end of the battle played out in his mind already.
Dawn watched in awe as Galahad tucked his wings in while rolling to his side, now exposing his belly to Hazel's attack while maintaining his flat course right above the ground. His wings lost their blazing white color as his talons now extended outward, gleaming in the light. "Immelmann Turn, now!" Lucas ferociously said, his eyes now blazing with anticipation as sweat dripped off of his face and onto the floor.
It all happened in the blink of an eye. Hazel slammed on top of Galahad, her Flame Wheel sending sparks and flaming material like a splashing stew of fire. But despite her momentum downward, Galahad never hit the ground. Bits of fiery material were falling down from him, but his talons had firmly ensnared Hazel in a crushing grip, once again digging into his prey as his legs were fully extended. He arched his back, threw his wings outward like air-brakes and nearly came to a standstill as he changed direction from inverted flight facing Dawn to normal flight facing Lucas in a split second. All of a sudden, Hazel went from colliding on top of him with a Flame Wheel to being beneath him and in his grip before he flicked his legs back and smashed her into the ground, continuing his course back to Lucas.
"Quick Attack," he plainly said, pointing to Hazel who was shuddering as she exerted force to push herself off of the ground again. Galahad stalled, turned, and shot at Hazel this time with speed he hadn't yet used in battle. His talons were tucked. His beak was closed shut. His head slightly lowered as he became an accelerating bullet that jetted towards Hazel before colliding in a fraction of a second, knocking her back down onto the ground again. Her breathing slowed, and her eyes were closed as Dawn almost reluctantly recalled her, gently running her palm over the Pokeball as if to soothe Hazel inside.
Lucas recalled Galahad mid-flight, a satisfied grin ripping across his face. "I improvised, Dawn," he smiled almost curtly, throwing his arms to the side as if to reveal some grandeur, "Perhaps I should do it more often!" He wiped the drops of sweat from his brow with his sleeve as Dawn watched in utter confusion. "I… won," he added more weakly.
"Is he… alright? Should I be angry at him? Help him?" Dawn thought on the other side of the battlefield as Lucas dropped to one knee, shaking dozens of droplets of sweat from his head, panting heavily as he felt the daze take over him again. He threw an arm on the cool floor, almost tempted to press his whole body against it when he felt someone hold him up by the shoulders. "We need to get you back," Dawn worriedly said.
"I'm fine—"
"You're lying," she cut him off, as Lucas pulled his head up to see her face, her blue eyes seemingly pulling the heat from him as he relaxed his muscles a bit. "I-I'm calling Barry," she said as she struggled to raise him up.
Though dazed as he was, he was still awake enough to comply and help her, though his mouth could barely move or say anything. He heard running footsteps soon. "Definitely Barry," he thought as he noted their speed, "Not that it matters. I won."
Holy COW that was a long-ass chapter. Well, I hope it was worth it for y'all (certainly was worth it for me), and since I added a lot of new stuff in this one, any reviews at all would be marvelously helpful, ya know? Also, I think now is a good time to apologize for my subpar German (Yes, I think there's a Pokemon region for Germany coming soon. If they can give us England and the bloody French, then they should add the Germans, too). If you're wondering what was going on in that whole section, here's what I think is a detailed rundown (I don't know too much German and I tried not to use Google Translate, so native German speakers reading this, a PM would help!)
Basically, Barry begins to throw his collar in the air since he knows one more language than the rest, turns out Alyssa does too (and she's better than him), and manages to score a dinner with her as his vocabulary starts to run thin.
Other than that, I don't have much to say on notes. Cheers!
