Chapter 26: Fallarbor Town's Tournament: First day part 2
Summary: As even Susanne, Amber, Greg and Samantha pass to the next round, Sakura's doubts might cause a rift between her and Aurora.
Narrator: As soon as I and Brendan reached Fallarbor Town, I thought that I would have to worry only about Team Magma and the Contest, but instead I entered a new Tournament with Greg and Sakura. While I was paired up with a young woman named Amber Romani, Greg was paired up with Samantha and Sakura Mayer with Clovis Chavalier. Sakura and Clovis were the first to battle and it had been a surprise to see Aurora as an Alolan Ninetales...but it seems that Sakura isn't exactly happy. But I know that any questions would have to wait later.
On the battlefield.
As Susanne and Amber were reaching their side of the battlefield, Susanne looked to the eighteen years oldgirl and felt a sense of wariness, she didn't know why and of course she wasn't going to go and accuse people because of a feeling, also because she didn't want to get people in trouble because of assumptions.
Probably I'm acting like this because this is the first time I met her. she thought. She doesn't seem a bad person. she thought, before focusing on their opponent, a Lassand a Rebel, while the referee got on his stand.
"This is a one-vs-one Tag Team Battle between Charlotte Freeman and Roger Barnaby against Susanne Matthews and Amber Romani."
Putting the flags down.
"Begin!"
Charlotte and Roger were the first to send out their Pokemon.
"Delcatty, let's go!" the Lass called, sending out a Delcatty that reminded Susanne of Sora, Alyson's Delcatty.
"Liepard, come out!" the Rebel said instead, sending out a Liepard.
Liepard is a slender, purple feline Pokemon speckled with yellow rosettes, it has a pink 'mask' marking over its eyes, a pink nose and small yellow markings over its green eyes.
It has two pairs of long yellow whiskers and a tufted yellow underside, while its lower legs are yellow and each small paw has a pale pink pad and it has a long, curving tail with a sickle-like shape toward the tip.
Susanne took out her Pokedex to scan it.
"Liepard, the Cruel Pokemon and the evolved form of Purrloin." the Pokedex chirped. "Well-known for its beauty, Liepard uses the element of surprise when battling opponents, attacking before they can react."
"Ninetales, on the field!" Amber called and her Ninetales entered the field, ready to battle, while Susanne decided to go with Spirit.
"Spirit, let's go!" she called, sending out her Tranquill.
Truth to be told, she had thought to start with Hope, but to the end voted to use her Wild Pigeon Pokemon, because she felt she didn't use him that often.
Amber decided to go first.
"Ninetales, let's start things with Will-O-Wisp!" she called. "Aim on Liepard!"
The Fox Pokemon's tails started to form purple flames on each tip and she sent them to the Cruel Pokemon, but as the attack headed toward the Liepard, Roger was ready.
"Dodge it and then go with Nasty Plot!" he called.
Liepard dodged the attacks easily and then concentrated itself on thinking bad thoughts and both Amber and Susanne knew that it would mean troubles,
Instead Charlotte decided to go against Spirit.
"Delcatty, use Thunderbolt!" she called.
The Prim Pokemon crouched down and her body becomes surrounded in yellow sparks, before releasing a powerful bolt of lightning from her body and toward the flying Wild Pigeon Pokemon, but Susanne however knew what to do.
"Dodge!" she called.
The Tranquill dodged and then Susanne went with the next command.
"Aerial Ace!" she called.
Spirit dives down at the opponent and flaps his wings once, before moving so fast that it becomes a blur and before Charlotte could even order to her Pokemon to dodge, she was hit and sent a little far from her.
"Delcatty!" Charlotte called, but the Delcatty got back up, while Roger decided to call for an attack.
"Dark Pulse!" he called. "Aim to the Ninetales."
The Cruel Pokemon opened its mouth and fired a beam of black and purple circles toward Amber's Ninetales, but Amber wasn't going to let the attack hit her.
"Stop it with Flamethrower!" she called.
The Fox Pokemon opened her mouth and fired a jet of hot flames toward the incoming Dark Pulse, meeting the attack in the center and while both Pokemon tried to overcome the other, the attacks were evenly matched and to the end it caused an explosion, with Roger taking advantage of the smoke.
"Night Slash!" he called.
Liepard moved quickly and appeared near the Fox Pokemon with its claw having turned whitish-purple and it slashed the Ninetales, sending her to the ground.
Meanwhile, Susanne called for her next move.
"Air Slash!" she called.
Spirit's wings glowed light blue and he flaps the, releasing multiple light blue glowing saw disc-like energy blades from his wings that were heading toward the Delcatty, but Charlotte knew what to do.
"Protect!" Charlotte called.
The Prim Pokemon blocked the Air Slash by creating a green dome around her and when the Wild Pigeon stopped the attack, the dome was brought down.
"Aerial Ace!" she called.
As Spirit once again executed that move, Charlotte was ready this time.
"Jump!" the Lass called.
The Prim Pokemon did as she was told and when Tranquill was under her, Charlotte called the next move.
"Iron Tail!"
Delcatty's tail took a metallic shine and the Prim Pokemon hit Spirit with that attack, sending the Wild Pigeon to the ground.
Then Charlotte called for the next attack.
"Thunderbolt!" she called.
Even Roger decided to continue the attack and called for another Night Slash.
But before the Liepard could execute the attack, Amber called for the counter-attack.
"Fire Blast!"
The Fox Pokemon opened her mouth and fired a blast of fire in the shape of a kanji letter at the Cruel Pokemon, sending him flying, then Amber noticed that the Delcatty was about to hit Spirit and called for another Flamethrower, sending the Prim Pokemon flying too.
Susanne looked to her Pokemon, that managed to get up and get back on air, while even the Delcatty and the Liepard got back on.
"Delcatty, Blizzard!" Charlotte called.
The Prim Pokemon opened his mouth and fired a blizzard toward the Tranquill and Ninetales, the main target being Tranquill, while Roger decided to back her up.
"Liepard, Dark Pulse!"
As the Blizzard and Dark Pulse were heading toward the two Pokemon, Amber was ready.
"Heat Wave!" she called.
The Fox Pokemon opened her mouth and creates a ball of orange fire from her mouth, releasing then a wind of flames that melt melt the Blizzard, but the Dark Pulse was still heading toward the Ninetales.
"Fire Blast!"
As the Dark Pulse was met with the Fire Blast, Charlotte tried to help Roger when she saw that the Dark Pulse was being overcome from the Fire Blast.
"Thunderbolt!"
But Susanne wasn't going to let her.
"Air Slash!" she called.
The disc-like saws were sent hurtling toward the Prim Pokemon and they passed some of the flames, they became red.
The attack hit the Delcatty and not only slashed the Prim Pokemon, but also burned her but she got back up, but it was too late to try and help the Cruel Pokemon, since the Fire Blast overpowered the Dark Pulse and then hit the Liepard, sending him to the ground, with swirls for eyes.
"Liepard is unable to battle." the referee announced, raising the green flag as Roger recalled his Pokemon.
Charlotte bit her lip, knowing that they would lose, but she wasn't going down without a battle.
"Can you keep going?" she called to her Pokemon, that nodded and got back up, even if it was clear that probably she was on her last leg, since the damage she received from the attack and the burns.
Substitute is out of options. Charlotte thought, trying to find the right move for this situation. Alright, I fear I have to go once again with Thunderbolt.
"Thunderbolt!" she called.
This time, the Pokemon managed to fire the bolt of electricity at the Tranquill, but it was clear that it was weaker.
"Dodge!" Susanne called. "Then end it with an Aerial Ace!"
And with that move, Susanne ended the battle to her and Amber's favor.
Narrator: And so we returned to the stands, where we watched the other Trainers battle and to the end, it was Greg and Samantha's turn to battle.
On the battlefield.
Greg was mentally trying to find what Pokemon he would use for this battle, while he looked to their opponentstwo Ace Trainers and after the referee told them to begin, Greg and Samantha were the first to send out their Pokemon: Grovyle and Prinplup.
Prinplup is a blue, penguin-like Pokemon, that is mostly dark blue with light blue facial markings, wing tips and lower body.
His eyes are blue and he has a short yelow beak with a small point above it, while two large, yellow ridges extend from his beak over the back of his head and met just above the nape of his neck.
On his body are four large, white spots that resemble buttons, while instead of arms, he has long, flipper-like wings and short legs with yellow, three-toed feet.
Their opponents then send out their Pokemon: a Golbat and a Mightyena.
On the stands.
Susanne felt a little suspicious seeing Golbat and Mightyena, but shook her head, knowing that she shouldn't worry about it, since it wasn't a crime to have a Golbat or Mightyena in the team, even if everytime she saw someone using these Pokemon she would associate them to Team Aqua and Team Magma, also because she had a Mightyena too.
She noticed that the others were looking to her worried, so she assured them that she was okay and then returned to watch the battle.
On the field.
Golbat is a large, blue bat-like Pokemon with purple wing membranes, small eyes with slit-like pupils, along with tiny triangular ears with purple insides and a massive mouth with two fangs in each jaw and they could see a long purple tongue, while it had short legs with long, tiny feet.
Susanne, that had however analyzed the Golbat, noticed that this Golbat had smaller fangs and she decided it was a female Golbat.
The female Ace trainer was the first to call out an attack.
"Air Slash on Grovyle!" she called to the Bat Pokemon.
Golbat's wings glow light blue and she flaps them, releasing multiple light blue glowing saw disc-like energy blades from them toward the Wood Gecko Pokemon.
"Mightyena, Shadow Ball on Prinplup!" the male Ace Trainer called.
The Bite Pokemon's mouth opened and a black ball of energy forms in it, then he closed its mouth over it and releases the ball toward the Penguin Pokemon.
As the attacks were heading toward their Pokemon, Greg and Samantha called their orders.
"Grovyle, dodge the Air Slash and then slice that Shadow Ball with Leaf Blade!" Greg called.
The Wood Gecko Pokemon dodged the saw disc-like energy blades, before the three leaves on both of his forearms glow green and combine into two long sharp blades, before rushing to the Shadow Ball and sliced the ball of black energy in two.
"Prinplup, Icy Wind on Golbat."
Prinplup releases a wind of white blue sparkles in it from his beak toward the Golbat, freezing the ground and also one of Golbat's wings, sending the Bat Pokemon crashing to the ground.
Truth to be told, Greg was hoping that this would reduce Golbat's speed, but the two Ace Trainers knew what to do.
"Mightyena, Shadow Ball to break the ice!" the man called.
And before the two Trainers could do anything, the black ball of energy collided with the wing, successfully managing to break the ice without causing damage.
"Golbat, Poison Fang on Grovyle!" the woman called.
Golbats fangs glow purple and he started flying toward Greg's Grovyle.
"Mightyena, Dark Pulse on Prinplup!" the man called.
The Bide Pokemon's mouth opened and fired a beam of black and purple circles toward Samantha's Prinplup, but both Trainers knew how to answer.
"Switch places!" both called, surprising the Ace Trainers, while the Penguin Pokemon and Wood Geeko Pokemon switched places.
"Prinplup, block the Poison Fang with Metal Claw!" Samantha called. "Then sent him flying and go with Bubblebeam!"
The light blue parts of Prinplup's flippers glow white and he puts one of them in front of him to block the Bat Pokemon's attack, before hitting him with the other flipper.
Then he opened his mouth and fired light blue bubbles, hitting the Golbat and senting him rolling to the ground.
"Grovyle, block the Dark Pulse with Energy Ball!" Greg called. "Then go with a Leaf Blade."
His Grovyle puts his hands together and forms a green ball of energy in between them, before firing the ball toward the Dark Pulse, successfully blocking it and causing an explosion, that covered the battlefield, before the Wood Geeko Pokemon emerged from it and slashed the Bite Pokemon with a Leaf Blade.
Both Pokemon managed to get up, but the Ace Trainers knew that if they didn't manage to find a way to stop them, they would lose and the Female Ace Trainer decided to give a try.
"Supersonic!" she ordered, wishing to have taught her Pokemon a move like Protect. "Use it on Prinplup."
Golbat released a big, blue sound wave from her mouth, it growing in side as it was heading toward the Penguin Pokemon.
"Dodge!" Samantha called, but that proved to be a mistake, since the man found an opening.
"Crunch!" he called as the Prinplup dodged the sound wave.
The Bite Pokemon opened its mouth and creates a yellow aura shaped like a set of teeth and he bites down on Samantha's Prinplup, but Greg went to help her.
"Bullet Seed!" he called.
Grovyle shoots many glowing yellow seeds from his mouth at the Mightyena, hitting him and making him release the Penguin Pokemon.
The woman bit her lip as she called for another Poison Fang, that was once again blocked by a Bubblebeam and to end the match, Samantha and Greg ended it with a Bubblebeam and Energy Ball.
That evening.
After eating something, Greg, Clovis and Samantha turned in early, since they were a little tired, while Amber was out training her Pokemon.
Instead, Sakura and Susanne went to the hall and sat on the couches, with Susanne, that was really curious about what was going on with Sakura, that decided to ask what had been bugging her,
Sakura sighed, knowing that she had to tell her.
"Well, as you saw, Aurora evolved into an Alolan Ninetales." she said.
Susanne nodded.
"When did it happen?"
Sakura thought about it a second, just to be sure she remembered when it happened.
"Well..." she started. "It happened after I won the Verdanturf Contest and I was in my room to rest before I would hit the road the day after..."
Flashback, Verdanturf Town's Pokemon Center.
Sakura was on her bed, reading a book as she wasn't still sleepy, unlike her Brionne that was already sleeping at her side, while Aurora was at her other side.
People could say that it wasn't a good idea to sleep near an Ice Type Pokemon, but Sakura didn't mind that, because she liked the cold.
Unnoticed by Sakura, the Fox Pokemon, wasn't sleeping and was looking to Sakura's bag, that was on the desk, like she was debating something and to the end, she decided to do it, since she jumped out of the bed and went toward the bag, jumping on the chair and then on the desk, where she tried to open the bag, but doing that, she slipped and fell to the ground, bringing the bag with her, with it luckily missing her as it fell behind her.
The noise woke Mystic up and both her and Sakura looked toward the origin, noticing Aurora, that had gotten up, trying once again to open up the bag, undeterred by the fall.
"Aurora?" Sakura asked to the Vulpix. "What are you doing?"
Aurora looked to her and then tried to explain what she wanted to do, gesturing to her and then to the bag, and then back to herself.
Sakura's eyebrow rose as she tried to understand what she was trying to tell her, but to the end she got an idea.
"Oh!" she said, getting out of her bed, picked up her bag, after Aurora moved aside, and returned to the bed, sitting on it, while Aurora followed her. "I think I know."
She opened the bag and looked inside of it, searching for something and to the end she found it: the Ice Stone.
"Is this what you were looking for?" she asked, showing it to the Fox Pokemon.
She didn't need a real answer, Aurora's bright expression when she saw the stone and was about to reach for it, before Sakura brought it away from here.
"Aurora, before we're doing this, I want to know if you're really sure about it." she said, sighing as her Vulpix seemed to pout about having to wait. "Aurora, I know you want to evolve, but if you went with it, you won't turn back. Are you really sure you want to do it?"
Aurora nodded and Sakura brought the Ice Stone to her reach...with Aurora reaching the stone with her paw and soon started to glow blue.
End of flashback.
"...and that's what happened."
Susanne nodded, but she still didn't get why she was so down.
"I still don't get it, aren't you happy about that?" she asked.
Sakura nodded.
"Yeah, I am happy and I know that Aurora didn't regret it, but..."
Sakura stopped, unsure how to explain it, but Susanne's curiosity was reaching her peak and she wasn't going to leave her alone.
"But what?" she asked.
Sakura looked to her surprised and a little annoyed.
Wow, she really doesn't know when to stop, eh? she thought.
She was going to open her mouth, but Susanne, that has seen her face and knowing that she hit a nerve, spoke first.
"Sorry, I let my curiosity get the better of me." she apologized.
Sakura looked to her frowning for another minute or two, then sighed.
"It's okay, but you should start thinking about minding your own business sometimes." the brown haired girl told her. "I mean, there's the saying 'curiosity killed the cat'."
Susanne rubbed the back of her neck, knowing she was right.
If you think about her troubles with Team Aqua and Team Magma...even if right now, she wasn't exactly going in search of troubles, they are the ones to find her, but it was true that she should mind her business and stop both sticking her nose in things that don't involve her or to suspect everyone for things that she's just imagining."You're right." she said. "It's just that I'm really curious...but yeah, I should learn to mind my business."
"Yeah..." Sakura said.
And Susanne decided that she should go to her room and leave the Alolan Coordinator alone for the night, so she started to get up and was about to open her mouth to tell her a goodnight...
"However, to answer your question..."
...when Sakura decided to answer to her curiosity, hopefully for the last time, stopping the Trainer from opening her mouth.
"I'm happy that she evolved and I know that Aurora decided when she was ready...but..."
A minute paused and this time Susanne didn't press on, letting her collect her thoughts and think about a way to think it.
"Ever since she evolved, she started taking a liking with battling."
Susanne rose an eyebrow.
"Ehm, Sakura, don't take it wrong, but even if you were a Coordinator, there are some battles that you can't say no to."
Sakura knew she was right, also noticing that she didn't explain what the problem was.
"Right." she said. "But what I really meant for was that Aurora now seems to like battling more than doing Contests."
Susanne to the end understood what the problem was...Sakura was training her Pokemon to use them in Contests and even though she mentioned that one day she would like to study, back to Alola, the Z-Rings and the Z-Crystals, she wasn't looking to become a full time Pokemon Trainer and Coordinator like her.
"So...what are you going to do?" she asked to her.
Sakura really didn't know what to do and it was clear that she had been trying to think about what to do for a while.
"I don't know." she admitted. "I have been trying to think about it for a while, but I still don't know what to do...I'll try and think about it."
Susanne put a hand on her knee.
"Do you want a hand?" she asked.
Sakura shook her head,
"No, thanks." she said. "I want to try and think about it a little more."
Susanne nodded, even if it was clear that she could hear a note of insecurity in her voice, knowing she should really try and not force her to accept her help"Alright." she said. "I'm turning in for the night."
Sakura decided it wasn't a bad idea.
"I'm coming too." she said and the two went to their rooms.
Narrator: What we didn't know was that even Aurora had noticed Sakura's odd behavior toward her and she could feel her Trainer's doubts on her...and she was starting to doubt her Trainer too.
Outside.
Amber had sent out her Ninetales, Golbat, Charizard, Flareon and Arcanine and she was making them fight, so that if anyone was wandering around the area would think she was training her Pokemon, but she was waiting for someone, as she was looking to her Pokegear.
Come on... she thought. I don't have all night, I need to turn off for the night! Luckily she didn't need to wait for much longer, as some bushes rustled behind her and the eighteen years old turned around and saw two Team Magma members.
"Finally." Amber said. "It took you long enough."
"Sorry, it's not easy to walk around in the night." the woman said. "And we had to drop our disguises if we wanted to be recognized by you."
Amber nodded.
"So, how are you going to get that meteorite that Professor Cozmo is studying?" the man asked.
Amber thought about it.
"I sent my Keckleon to spy on Professor Cozmo, so I can find the right time to steal it." she said. "Probably he's coming back with the first footage as we speak."
The two Team Magma's grunts nodded.
"Tell your boss that I'm planning to get that meteorite in three days or maybe even before in case I and my partner end up being defeated."
Another nod, but then the woman wanted to know something.
"So..." she started and Amber looked to her. "...why did you decide to enter the Tournament? I mean, if you're already spying on Professor Cozmo's to find the right time to steal that meteorite, you could have just waited."
Amber nodded, knowing she was right.
"Yeah, even though people don't know that I'm a thief that works on commission, since I use an alias and not my true name, I could have just worked on stealing the meteorite, but let's face it, this is a small town, that hosts a Contest once every year, there's no Gym and it's clear that my Team isn't for Contests, so the inhabitants might ask why I choose to come here. So I joined the tournament to not arise suspicions."
She wasn't going to admit to his commissioners that she also registered for fun, since even if she was a thief, she was a Trainer, while to the end, the two Team Magma grunts left and Amber went back to the Pokemon Center, after returning her Pokemon.
End of chapter 26.
I apologize for not having update for two months, on November since I'm not used updating two chapters in a month, I took the rest of the month off, also because in the same month I had TWO ping pong tournaments and the last one also required me to work to the bar inside, while on December, I managed to write the chapter, but by the time I finished and wanted to edit it and hopefully post this chapter on that month, I was busy preparing for Christmas and everything.
Also in the first days of December, I had a close call, since one of my ping pong coaches turned out to be positive to Covid-19, requiring us to get a swab since he trained us the same day he got sick (in his defense, he didn't look sick when we saw him to the gym, he turned out positive in the evening), luckily everyone else was negative.
In this chapter we see how Susanne and Greg's battles go, Sakura tells Susanne what was wrong and Amber is revealed to work for Team Magma.
I apologize if Sakura's explanation isn't the best and probably Susanne's behavior, but I had a good explanation on December and I should have written it out somewhere...let me know if you want a better version of Sakura's explanation or change Susanne's behavior in this chapter.
In the next chapter we'll see what will happen in the second day of tournament, while Sakura will have to face problems.
Susanne's Pokemon Team:
On hand: Combusken (Blaze, male), Luxio (Elettra, female, Shiny), Kirlia (Hope, female), Feebas (female), Tranquill (Spirit, male) and Mightyena (Dark, male)
At Professor Birch's lab: Sewaddle (Leaf, female) and Ninfea (Leaf, female)
Greg's Pokemon Team:
On hand: Grovyle (male), Wingull (male), Trevenant (male), Paras (female) and Sableye (male)
Sakura's Pokemon Team:
On hand: Brionne (Mystic, female), Alolan Ninetales (Aurora, female), Beautifly (Luna, female) and Jolteon (Storm, male)
Amber's Pokemon Team:
Ninetales (male), Golbat (female), Arcanine (female), Charizard (male), Flareon (female) and Keckleon (male, mentioned)
Clovis' Pokemon Team:
Grotle (male) and Snorunt (Female)
Samantha's Pokemon Team:
Prinplup (female)
Well, see ya next time and stay safe guys, also a late Happy new year.
Legendary Fairy