"How about we do this like it's the Festival finals?" May asked. "Ten minute double battle rounds, best two out of three wins."
"Sounds good to me," Dawn responded.
Serena wasn't too sure. No one except Ash actually knew she had Latias with her yet. She didn't really want to tip her hand there, but she also wasn't gonna back out now.
"Fine by me." She'd just have to wrap this up in the first two rounds.
"Alright, to simulate pre-picked pokémon, here's what we're gonna do. Dawn, you only have Piplup out right now. Serena, you don't have anyone out. Good. So, Serena, you're gonna pull out two pokéballs without showing what they are. Then Dawn will pick her pokémon, and Serena will let out hers. That way neither of you knows who the other has chosen.
"Of course, just like in the festival, no using the same pokémon twice."
May stood by the side of the field, and Serena went to fish out the two pokéballs.
The problem was, Latias was one of her four powerhouses. If she wanted to keep her hidden for now, she'd have to substitute either Spoink or Pancham, and she wasn't sure how either of them could fare against Dawn's pokémon. The other question was, did she go hard now, and swap one of them in in the second round, or go easy first. In truth, the optimal strategy depended on what Dawn did in the first round, but just like in a real contest battle, she didn't know what that would be.
That said, it seemed like a safe bet Dawn would go for Piplup right away. Serena had looked at some of her old contest battles, and Piplup was her dominant pick by far, almost being picked more often than any of her other pokémon combined. Which would've been perfect if Serena actually had a pokémon with an advantage over Piplup.
On the other hand, Piplup did seem to have a bit of a maneuverability disadvantage overall, which Serena might be able to make use of. It had the short stubby legs of a bird pokémon, without the flight. In her battle with it, it had seemed reliant on drill peck for any amount of maneuverability, otherwise keeping its distance and taking potshots from a range. If Pancham could get in close, it would probably be able to take on Piplup pretty effectively.
The issue with that was that its fighting type made it really vulnerable to drill peck if Piplup managed to land a hit. Plus, Dawn was sure to pick a pokémon which could make up for Piplup's maneuverability issues. That would be either Buneary, Pachirisu, or Togekiss. She could probably count out Buneary. Dawn would know she'd be expecting that, since she'd used her in the appeals round. Either way… going with Delphox was a risky pick against Piplup, but if she trusted Pancham to counter Piplup, psychic types were pretty good at neutralizing any maneuverability advantage, and Delphox had the advantage of extremely good range.
"Alright, I'm ready," Serena nodded. "Dawn, your pick."
"Let's go, Piplup, Pachirisu." Dawn released the latter from her pokéball, and the former stepped forward.
"Alright, come on out, Pancham and Delphox!"
"Go on my mark!" May signaled. "3… 2… 1… Go!"
Her arms hadn't even dropped to her hips as Dawn barked out the command. "Plan A!"
Piplup created a wall of bubbles, hiding both opposing pokémon from view.
Serena narrowed her eyes. Pancham couldn't close without seeing them. On the other hand, Piplup wasn't going to be getting any ranged attacks off through that either. Which meant only one thing.
"Keep your eyes peeled for Pachirisu, Delphox!"
Just as she'd said it, Pachirisu leaped over the wall of bubbles. Delphox pointed her wand at the pokémon and she halted in mid air. Electric type moves often didn't require bodily movement though, Serena needed to get Pachirisu clear of them fast.
"Throw her, but keep her away from Piplup, don't let them coordinate."
Delphox flicked her wand and Pachirisu went flying towards Serena's side of the field.
The bubbles began to clear, revealing Piplup.
"Delphox, give Pancham a boost towards Piplup. Pancham, body slam!"
This was the critical moment. If Pancham could close, there wouldn't be much Piplup could do. But Pancham wasn't that quick a pokémon himself, so closing would be tricky if he was knocked off course.
"Pachirisu, discharge!" Dawn yelled. Serena realized her plan. Pachirisu was far enough from Piplup now that the attack would only affect Delphox and Pancham.
"Delphox, now!"
Pancham soared towards Piplup as the electricity poured out of Pachirisu.
"Delphox, hold yourself with psychic!" Serena yelled. There was only a split second's time, but Delphox's psychic powers were well honed. While the discharge still clearly hurt, the psychic force stopped the muscle spasms that would've otherwise multiplied the damage, and, crucially, since this was a contest battle, made Delphox tank the attack still as a stone, without any visible discomfort.
"Phox." She grunted.
The exchange had drawn both Serena and Dawn's attention from the side of the field where Pancham was now hurtling towards Piplup. Dawn was first to snap out of it. "Piplup, drill peck."
It didn't matter though, Pancham closed before Piplup could get the attack up, slamming into the penguin pokémon with full force. Serena smirked. Frankly, it would've been better if Dawn hadn't tried to counter. As is, Pancham cutting it off in the nick of time made quite the dramatic showing.
"Pancham, circle throw!" Serena shifted her focus. Double battles weren't easy to follow. "Delphox, psychic, crush her to the ground!"
Pancham flipped Piplup over his head, slamming him back into the ground.
At the same time, Delphox pointed her wand at Pachirisu, and an unnatural force slammed her to the ground. As long as she could be kept grounded, Pachirisu was more or less neutralized. In fact, if this was a one-on-one between Delphox and Pachirisu, Serena reckoned it would already be over. Delphox could keep this up more or less perpetually, so unless Pachirisu knew thunderbolt or something similar, she wasn't getting out of this.
Dawn could clearly see the same thing.
"Piplup, drill peck, get out of there."
Serena smirked. Actually, this battle was probably already over either way.
"Vital throw." Right as Piplup leaped into the drill peck, Pancham whipped in front of him and ducked, grabbing him and driving him into the ground over his shoulder.
Dawn frowned. "I concede the round, Serena wins by suppression."
That was a rare rule to see. Technically, in a real contest battle it would've been the judges' call, but Dawn was probably right about the ruling. At this point it would be clear to any judge that Dawn's pokémon weren't getting out of the situation no matter what they did. In a league match, Serena would've had to press the win unless Dawn forfeit, but the whole philosophy of contests was to avoid unnecessary harm to pokémon.
"Delphox, Pancham, good job!" Serena yelled to her pokémon, who moved to sit by Ash and May.
"You too, Pachirisu, Piplup," Dawn told hers.
Serena already knew what pokémon she was going with next.
"Your choice, Dawn, I'm good to go," she showed the pokéballs in her hands.
"Alright, Quilava, Togekiss, come on out."
Serena's eyes narrowed. This was going to be a close one. "It's up to you, Sylveon, Milotic!"
Milotic may have had the type advantage on Quilava, but this definitely wasn't going to be a battle-out. Togekiss was too maneuverable for Sylveon or Milotic to knock her out of the fight, and in a double battle both opposing pokémon had to be unable to battle for a battle-out.
This was going to be the first proper contest battle between her and Dawn. From what she had seen of Dawn's Togekiss in the exhibitional, she was going to have her work cut out for her.
"Alright, you know the drill," May announced. "3… 2… 1… Go!"
"Quilava, get on Togekiss and take to the air!" Dawn yelled.
"Milotic, twister! Sylveon, fairy wind!" The twister swept up the pink sparkles from the fairy wind as it hurtled towards the two pokémon in the air.
"Togekiss, sky attack to dodge, Quilava, eruption on Sylveon!" Togekiss took a moment to show off, before swooping down into a sweep around the twister at the last moment. Her wing almost seemed to graze the furious winds as if to taunt. Serena glanced at May, Ash, and Max, who were watching in awe. She had to turn this around fast.
Quilava readied its eruption as Togekiss swooped towards Sylveon.
"Sylveon, get behind Milotic. Milotic, counter it with surf!" Serena smirked. Togekiss may have been agile, but pulling out of that kind of dive was impossible for anything short of a Pidgeot or Staraptor.
"Kiss!" The pokémon cried as she saw the torrential wave of water rising in front of her, having materialized out of nowhere.
"Togekiss, safeguard!" Dawn yelled. "Protect Quilava with your body!"
Togekiss flipped, letting Quilava onto her belly, before hugging him close with her wings as she began to glow. She crashed straight into the wall of water at full speed.
"Milotic, as soon as you see them, dragon tail." It was a gamble. On one hand, a miss would count against her. On the other hand, depending how much control Togekiss lost crashing through the wave, it might be an easy hit.
Togekiss and Quilava emerged from the tidal wave unscathed, but clearly dazed. Serena smiled. She'd been right on the money.
Before Togekiss could react, the dragon tail made a clean hit, batting them right back into the wall of water from the back this time. The safeguard worked in her favor, preventing the dragon tail from fizzling out as normal on contact with the fairy-type pokémon. Either way the blunt force would've probably been sufficient, as is, it was only amplified.
As the wave subsided, they tumbled to the ground. Togekiss's safeguard had done its job, and both pokémon were mostly unharmed, but Serena had robbed their assault of any grace.
That said, it was still anyone's fight. If she was a judge, Serena honestly didn't know who she'd vote for at this point. Togekiss and Quilava had utterly humiliated her on the first few exchanges, even if Milotic had ultimately sent them into a tumble.
A continuous assault until something worked was fair play, but judges didn't necessarily always agree that the end result was more impressive than the opponent's constant responses.
"Quilava, swift!" Dawn yelled. "Togekiss, get back in the air!"
The boomerang-like stars hurtled towards Sylveon and Milotic. Swift had been a big part of Sylveon's own repertoire for a long time, and Serena knew it was borderline impossible to dodge, or even counter without serious brute force.
"Sylveon, protect! Milotic, dragon tail!" Sylveon was going to be fine. Milotic on the other hand…
Serena's heart practically stood still watching the exchange play out. The problem was the sheer quantity of projectiles. They were all more or less in one plane, but Milotic's precision had to be perfect to knock them all out of the air and avoid a hit.
The stars smashed against Sylveon's shield first. It was technically a light screen, but Serena had retained the name out of habit. It really was more of a protect anyway, Sylveon still lacked the psychic power to throw up the massive shields that usually gave light screen its advantages over protect.
Milotic sweeped her glowing tail at the stars… and missed a handful, which crashed into her, causing her to visibly recoil in pain.
"Togekiss, follow it up with air slash!"
"Sylveon, fairy wind at Togekiss!"
"Quilava, eruption!"
Togekiss pirouetted in the air as she formed the sphere of cutting air, and fired it at Milotic before she could get her bearings again in the form of a beam.
Sylveon's attack hit Togekiss shortly after, but while clearly buffeting the pokémon somewhat, Togekiss was far too maneuverable in the air to really get carried by the wind. In a conventional battle, a hit was a hit. Here… it didn't really matter. This wasn't going to go on long enough for death by a thousand cuts, and Togekiss looked just as graceful tanking the move as it would've dodging it.
Seeing it, Serena immediately realized she should've probably called off the attack, but it was too late. Quilava's eruption hit Sylveon head on while she was busy with the fairy wind.
"Vee!" Sylveon screeched, burned by the attack.
"Hold it together Sylveon, quick attack to close, then fairy wind close up!" Sylveon sped at Quilava faster than the eye could see. "Milotic, water gun on Quilava!" The latter attack wouldn't do much damage, but it was accurate and flexible, unlike hydro pump. It'd keep Quilava from retaliating against Sylveon.
"Togekiss, sky attack!" Serena grimaced. She was on her back foot, no doubt about it. She was just going to have to let Milotic take the hit. Sylveon didn't stand a chance against Quilava's agility without cover fire.
She could try double team. But Quilava would just respond with swift. Protect? Sylveon would be trapped in place, and it'd eventually fail. If Milotic could deal with the threat from Togekiss fast enough though…
"Sylveon, protect. Milotic, hydro pump at Togekiss."
"Quilava, swift, and don't let up until it breaks." The expected response. "Togekiss, aerial ace to dodge, then aura sphere."
"Milotic, dragon tail to intercept." The aura sphere exploded harmlessly against Milotic's glowing tail.
Serena frowned. Technically, this wasn't a suppression. Milotic was still more or less free to move, but it may as well have been for all she could do. Even if Milotic could win the one-on-one with Togekiss, by then Sylveon would be a goner. There was only one thing she could try.
"Milotic, surf!" The wave began to form. Serena was iffy on the strategy. If Sylveon's light screen broke it'd be game over. On the other hand, it was the only way to back off Togekiss and Quilava.
"Togekiss, pick up Quilava and get up high!" Dawn gave the only logical order.
The wave crashed over the field.
Serena held her breath.
Sylveon's shield was intact.
"Milotic, twister! Sylveon quick attack to get over to Milotic, then fairy wind!"
"Togekiss, aerial ace to dodge! Quilava, swift!" Damned if you do, damned if you don't. If she kept Sylveon and Milotic close, swift could easily hit both at the same time. If she separated them, Dawn's pokémon could each focus on the member of her team they were most effective against.
"Sylveon, try for a proper light screen!" She hadn't been able to do it thus far, but it was the only thing Serena could think of.
The light screen spread in front of Sylveon and Milotic successfully. Serena was about to cheer, it looked amazing, a giant wall of light between them and the barrage.
Then the first stars from the swift hit the light screen and it promptly collapsed, scoring Quilava a direct hit on both her pokémon.
Dawn was quick to capitalize.
"Togekiss, air slash! Quilava, flamethrower on the air slash!" The sphere of spinning air turned red with flames, and Togekiss sent it hurtling towards both Sylveon and Milotic.
"Milotic, punch through it with hydro pump! Sylveon, protect just in case!" Milotic was still reeling from the swift though and didn't stand a chance. The fiery inferno buffeted Milotic and Sylveon.
As the smoke cleared, they were mostly fine, but it was obvious who had the upper hand.
May's DexNav started beeping.
"Time! This round goes to Dawn."
Serena was disappointed by the call, but it was about what she expected given how it had played out. Dawn's pokémon had leveraged their maneuverability advantage to the point that there was nothing she could do.
So much for keeping her a secret.
"Alright, you both have only two pokémon remaining, so no need for ceremony, let's see them!"
"Come on, let's finish this, Buneary and Mamoswine!" Dawn released the pokémon from their pokéballs.
Despite her earlier intentions, Serena couldn't help but smirk as she pulled out her pokéballs. She glanced at Ash, who already knew the pokémon she was about to release. He was practically on the edge of his seat.
"Come on out, Spoink!" She let out her first pokémon, pausing for suspense. As the beat wore on, she relished the look on Dawn's face, who clearly realized something was up. May and Max were a bit more confused, but even they seemed brimming with curiosity.
"Let's do this." She let out Latias.
Dawn's eyes widened in shock. Serena glanced at May and Max, who were staring, mouths agape.
"Aaaaas…" Latias cooed at the admiration.
Pleasure, satisfaction, pride. The wave of emotions came over Serena, far stronger than ever before. Her smile faltered slightly. As pleasant as they were, if it got any stronger than this, it could seriously be a problem for her concentration.
Latias whirled around the trio sitting on the bench by the practice field, chirping at them. There was the other reason Serena hadn't used Latias in any contests yet. Aside from the attention she was sure to attract, Latias had a mind of her own. While she clearly enjoyed travelling with Serena, saying she had 'caught' her would've been a gross misnomer. In fact, Latias had only agreed to stay in a pokéball when Serena had explained that it was impossible for her to travel with her otherwise, and moreover, explained why. The pokémon was a toddler by the standards of her species, but moreover, she was a powerful, hyper-intelligent toddler.
This was going to be the first time she'd taken part in any sort of competition. Serena had considered several times that she should catch another pokémon, but even with the problems Latias could cause, she couldn't deny that no pokémon she could catch could hope to rival her. Plus, Latias had seemed enamoured with the idea of contests from the moment she's started travelling with Serena. The little show-off, Serena thought with a smile.
"Can we put this battle on hold?" Dawn asked. "As much as I'd love to finish you off, I'm a lot more interested in hearing the story of how you managed to capture a literal god."
May and Max both nodded wordlessly. Latias seemed torn between disappointment, and satisfaction at being the center of attention.
Serena had to admit it was a fair request. She and Dawn joined the trio at the bench.
Serena began to recount the story.