Chapter 16
Outside in the large courtyard of the Pokemon Center, Aura stood with his team lined up before him overlooking the several battle fields currently in use by the many trainers getting in practice for the upcoming tournament. "With all these trainers around, someone is bound to challenge us eventually." Aura said to himself.
Coincidentally, moments later Aura could hear someone approach them and turned to see a boy around his own age walk towards them with a large spider Pokemon beside him. "You, you're competing in the tournament, right?" The boy asked.
Aura turned and nodded. "Yeah, you challenging me?" The boy grinned and gave a thumbs up. "Heh, alright then, you guys ready?" Aura asked his team. The three nodded and Aura asked what the rules would be.
"Awesome. How about just a one on one?"
Aura nodded. "Sounds good to me. Now we just need to find an open field… Hmm…" Aura paused as Prince tugged on his leg and pointed out across the yard. "Hm, thanks, Prince." The two trainers hurried across the yard to an empty field off in the far corner and quickly took their positions. "So which one of you wants to take this one?"
Diamond quickly stepped forward and raised her hand. "Oh! I can do it!"
Aura chuckled and ushered her onto the field while their opponent did the same for his Galvantula. "You and your Braixen ready?" He called, upon receiving a thumbs up from Aura, the trainer counted down from three before calling to begin the match.
"Diamond! Start off with Fire Spin!" The yellow fox swiftly pulled her stick from her tail and twirled it between her fingers, igniting the tip on fire as it spun before thrusting it forward to launch a swirling stream of flames towards the large bug type.
"Agility!" Galvantula's bulky form suddenly vanished just before Fire Spin would have made contact and suddenly re-appearing directly in front of Diamond. "Now Cross Poison!" The giant spider swiftly brought up its front two appendages which instantly flashed dark purple before slashing at Diamond.
Taking a direct hit, Diamond howled as she slid across the turf with a sickening purple X stained faintly into her fur where the attack hit.
"You okay?!" Aura called.
The fox clumsily pushed herself back up and stumbled towards her stick. "I… Maybe? I'm just a bit dizzy." She stammered, nearly falling to her knees as she bent down to retrieve her stick.
"She's Poisoned! I need to end this battle fast!" As Aura hastily thought over their next move, the other trainer took this time to strike.
"Electroweb!" Galvantula skittered back and lifted its rear to launch multiple clumps of electrified webbing which fanned out like a net as it soared through the air.
"Light Screen!" Diamond's body flashed bright pink as a mystical barrier instantly coated her figure with a glittering transparent armour. As the Electroweb ensnared Diamond she let out a shrill scream as the high voltage coursed through her; even though her Light Screen absorbed most of the shock, she had been greatly weakened already by the poison.
"Now Electroball!" Immense static electricity rapidly began surging through Galvantula's mandibles and quickly morphed into a crackling orb of pure electrical energy. If Diamond were to take the hit she would no doubt be defeated even with the numbing effects of Light Screen, so with limited options, Aura turned to the offensive and called for Diamond to use Psybeam.
Diamond wasted no time charging her attack, focusing her psychic energy into the tip of her stick which erupted with a vibrant pink and purple flame. Both sides fired off their attacks in unison, colliding half way between them and exploding with various colourful sparks. So neither side took a single hit.
Stan tensely bit his lip and began to loudly cheer for Diamond as she panted heavily from the close call. She glanced over her shoulder and nodded, wincing suddenly as the poison gradually increased in potency and weakened her even more.
"Not much time left thanks to that poison… Well if we're gonna lose then we may as well go down fighting!" Aura called, "Let's try an old favourite! Get close and use Fire Spin!" Though the order sounded vague, Diamond caught on to what the idea was quick and sprinted toward her opponent with her stick already burning bright.
"Cross Poison!" The trainer called. Galvantula widened its stance and coated its mandibles with glowing purple venom and awaited a chance to strike.
"Attack from above!" Diamond firmly pushed off the ground just out of Galvantula's reach and soared overhead. Letting out a sharp howl, Diamond thrust her stick downward and encased her opponent in a tornado of fire that quickly constricted and furiously lashed at its body leaving intense burns all over. Once the twister eventually subsided, Galvantula's legs were shaking as it struggled to keep itself standing.
In a last ditch effort, Galvantula's trainer called out for it to end the match with a full power Discharge. Galvantula began to elicit a high pitched screech that gradually rose in volume while tightening its muscles and condensing every remaining bit of electricity it had stored. Finally, it expelled a violent storm of sporadic bolts that began charring the battle field. The intensity of the attack made it impossible to avoid and soon enough Diamond was struck.
As the last moments of the attack flickered to an end, both Pokemon were barely managing to stand but it seemed that all out attack was too much for Galvantula to handle as it was the first to collapse from exhaustion.
The trainer sighed and rubbed the back of his head while returning his Pokemon. "Guess we overdid it there. Good fight either way." He praised.
Aura nodded and stepped toward Diamond who had roughly dropped to her knees and slid to her butt while panting heavily. "Maybe we'll have a chance to battle again in the tournament." After watching the trainer depart, Aura crouched down and placed his hand on Diamond's shoulder, making her look up at him with a weak smile. "You did great and stuck through to the very end. I'm proud of how strong you've gotten."
As Diamond opened her mouth to thank him, she suddenly felt light headed and could barely breathe. Her vision faded within an instant as her unconscious body slumped over. She could barely hear Aura's panicked voice echoing through her mind as she lost all feeling in her body and blacked out.
Regaining consciousness, Diamond groaned and held her pounding forehead though found it difficult as her entire body felt numb. "Wha… What happened?"
"Thank god you're finally awake!" She very faintly heard Aura through her ringing ears. He leaned over the bed rail and sighed. "I was worried about you, I've never seen poisoning that bad before."
She groaned again and struggled to sit up. "How long was I out?"
"Thankfully it's only been about forty-five minutes, give or take. The nurses say you should be fully recovered within another hour or two once your body fully neutralizes the poison." He gestured to a yellow spray-bottle on the nightstand, "They tried using a standard antidote spray to disinfect the initial source of the toxins, but the poison got to your blood so now it's just a matter of waiting it out."
Diamond smiled warmly and weakly nodded, the numbness quickly beginning to fade. "Mhm! Hopefully I can get back to training soon! We need to be ready for anything during the tournament!" She affirmed, trying to pump her fist but recoiling harshly as she felt a stinging along her side.
"Heh, well let's worry about that after you're all better. But it is nice to see you so enthusiastic about it."
She chuckled. "Why wouldn't I be? Even though we may have lost our last gym battle, that isn't going to stop us from entering the league! You said it yourself, losing is a part of battles and everyone has room for improvement! Well this tournament is perfect to try and improve ourselves!"
Aura laughed. "Now you're really starting to sound like me. But you're right, this tournament is a big step towards entering the league since we'll have the chance to fight all kinds of trainers." He delicately grabbed hold of Diamond's paw and looked into her eyes. "Just… Don't forget that no matter how important winning might be, always know your limits and don't push yourself too hard. I know Pokemon are biologically built for battling, but that doesn't mean you should risk your life out there…" He sighed and stood up. "Sorry about that… A-anyway, Nessa and Missy said they'd be happy to keep you company until you're recovered."
Diamond looked at her mate with a longing smile. "Okay, Aura… I love you…"
Aura turned around and flashed a kind smile as usual, chuckling before leaning down to kiss her forehead softly. "And I love you too. Now I should get back to training with Stan and Prince. You rest up and we'll see about getting you some more practice this evening."
He gave her a confident thumbs up before lightly waving to her and exiting the room.
"Thank you so much for taking over for me." Aura said with his hands clasped together.
Dan stepped back a bit awkwardly and rubbed his head. "Heh, no problem. You just go ahead and do your shopping, Spyke and I got this covered."
Aura bowed his head. "Right, I'll make sure to be back before Diamond is healed. Thanks again for doing this!" Aura quickly rushed outside while Dan waved him off with Stan, Prince and Spyke all standing at his heels.
"Phew. Alright guys, let's get to work." Dan led the Pokemon back out to the courtyard where the number of trainers present hadn't seemed to change, although many looked to be taking a break across the expansive deck so many of the training fields were free to use. "Okay… You want to start off, Prince?"
The Riolu nodded. ("Very well. What method of training do you have in mind, Daniel?") He inquired via telepathy as Nessa wasn't around to translate for him.
Dan hesitantly shrugged. "Well, since I'm not too experienced with your guys' training methods, maybe we should just have some sparring matches?" Prince crossed his arms and nodded in understanding. "Hm, I guess while I use Spyke for this, you and Stan can just act on your own? You seem to do that already once in a while when training with Aura so this should work well enough."
Understanding the instructions, Prince headed off to one side of the field while Dan and Spyke took the opposite end. Stan trotted over to the sideline where he was tasked with signalling the start of the battle, and after a quick countdown, Stan fired off a bolt of electricity into the air as he called "Go!"
Despite watching Prine fight many times already and had some knowledge into his battle style, this was still Dan's first time actually facing the skilled fighting type and suddenly felt much more pressure arise. "Spyke! I want you to start this off with Pin Missile!"
Spyke's quills flashed with energy and produced a shallow green glow as the Chespin charged his attack, moments later letting out a shrill and sudden "Cheh-!" as pure energy compacted into the form of narrow spikes fired off from his quills like rockets and quickly shot out towards his target.
Prince hesitated for a moment as he briefly expected to hear Aura call out an order, however he quickly realized he was instinctually waiting for a command that wouldn't come and had to act on his own decisions. Unable to afford wasting any more time, Prince hastily shut his eyes and focused his aura to heighten his senses. Just before the Pin Missile could make contact, Prince leaped to the right, landing gracefully a few feet away and opening his eyes with a smirk.
Daniel scowled. "Right, his Foresight lets him sense his surroundings extremely well… Since I don't think there's any way to really work around that let's just try a new tactic! Spyke, chase him down with Rollout!" The Chespin tensed his muscles and hopped forward, tightly wrapping himself into a sturdy ball with the bright green skin and quills covering his back hardening greatly. Though the attack allowed Spyke to reach intense speeds as he rolled across the ground with his sharp spines digging into the dirt for traction, it was still not enough as Prince once again effortlessly jumped out of the way.
"Damnit, loop back around!" Dan called. Spyke's quills rapidly dug into the turf which kicked up a large amount of dust as he turned sharply and charged for the jackal once more. Again the assault was avoided, however as Dan called for one more attempt to land a hit, Prince barely avoided the brunt of the attack with the Chespin managing to clip his leg and cause him to stumble over. Prince let out a gruff bark as he fell flat on his belly and Dan pumped his fist with an excited cheer. "That's the way to do it, Spyke! Now while he's down hit him with Vine Whip!"
The chestnut Pokemon hurriedly came to a stop and unrolled himself before extending two long vines from his neck that shot out towards Prince. The Riolu was just barely able to get to his feet before noticing the rapidly approaching vines, although by this time it was too late to evade as they unrelentingly lashed at Prince, sharply biting at the skin under his short fur until red marks could visibly be seen from the assault.
Prince snarled under his breath as he held his arms over his head to block most of the damage. With his energy slowly depleting each time he was violently snapped at by the coarse skin of the vines, Prince took a great risk by hastily using his Foresight and frantically grasping at the vines. By sheer endurance, Prince eventually managed to grab hold of one of the two vines and fiercely yank it back to cause Spyke to stumble forward.
With one vine in his opponent's grip, Spyke harshly dug his clawed toes into the turf and pulled back on his vine. Neither Pokemon let up on their tug of war, soon enough Dan called for Spyke to use his other vine to grab Prince's ankle. Biting his lip, Spyke lashed out with his second vine and tightly bound it around one of the canine's legs before immediately pulling it out from below him and bringing Prince to his back while his other vine was now freed from the Riolu's grasp.
"Pull him close and hit him with Tackle!" Dan ordered. Spyke quickly entangled his first vine around Prince's other leg and rapidly retracted his vines to drag Prince closer while simultaneously charging forward to attack.
Prince growled and looked at his bound ankles, sharpening his gaze as an idea came to mind. Altering the air around his legs and producing a specific frequency of aura at the same time, the young jackal's legs were spontaneously set ablaze which burned Spyke's vines and forced him to release his grasp lest he suffer excruciating damage.
Freed from his binding, Prince killed the flames quickly and scrambled to his feet. ("I must admit, Spyke. You are quite the adversary and I must commend you on your skill in battle.")
Spyke sheepishly rubbed his nose. "Thanks, buddy. You ain't too bad yourself. But right now isn't the time for talk, it's time for action!" The Chespin pointed at Prince with a sly grin before glancing over his shoulder and urging Daniel to give a command. Stumbling over his words, Dan blurted out for Spyke to use Tackle, his Pokemon smirking as he rushed forward.
Prince made no effort to dodge this attack and instead swiftly charged the center of his palm with his aura until his entire paw glowed orange. Sprinting forward to intercept Spyke, Prince thrust his arm out before him and slapped his fully charged paw against the Chespin's chest. He grinned at his opponent before releasing the stored energy and unleashing a powerful burst of aura that shoved both Pokemon backward. Prince skidded along his feet and dragged his paw across the turf to keep his balance while Spyke had unfortunatly skipped across the field like a stone across water until finally stopping at his trainer's feet with barely enough energy left to stand.
Daniel sighed and picked up his Pokemon. "Guess that's a good place to call it. Thanks for doing this, Spyke." The Chespin tried to rebuttal and say he could still fight, but he winced before he could get out even half a sentence and quieted down. "Heh, you are so fiesty. Don't worry, after a bit of a break to recover you'll be up against Stan." He assured Spyke who sighed and nodded in response.
"Hmm… Which one to choose… Hm?" Aura set down his shopping basket and opened the refrigerator to retrieve a modest white and pink box and peered through the translucent film on top. "Ah… Now that's what I'm talking about. She's gonna love this!" Aura grinned as he set the box containing a vanilla and pecha berry cake into his basket and continued through the store. "Now what to get her as a gift…?"
Aura walked down the aisles of the shop and browsed through the variety of niknaks, treats and many other cheap products. "Ugh, nothing here really says much other than how much money someone's willing to spend. I need to find something to really show her how much she means to me." While discussing Diamond's gift with himself, Aura turned the corner and had neglected to pay proper attention as he stumbled into someone else. "Ouph! Sorry about that… Wait a second… Gwen?!" Aura exclaimed upon recognizing the blonde girl dressed head to toe in black.
Gwen rubbed her shoulder and awkwardly smiled. "Heheh… Sorry, Aura. I shoulda been watching where I was walking. Anyway, how are you? Is Diamond or Prince with you?"
Aura shook his head. "Not this time. Prince is back at the Pokemon Center training with Dan and Diamond is resting after a tough battle with a Galvantula. So what about Kelsy?"
"She's just inside her Pokeball. She can be pretty excitable so it's better for her to stay in there while I'm shopping… hm?" Gwen leaned to the side and examined the birthday cake in Aura's basket. "Oh! I guess you're doing some birthday shopping? Who for?"
A blush washed over Aura's face as he scratched his cheek. "It's actually for Diamond… Her hatchday is coming up so I wanted to do something really special…"
Gwen clapped her hands together and cooed. "Aww~! that's so sweet of you…!" She trailed off when she noticed his melancholy expression. "I-is there something wrong? I thought you'd seem more excited?"
Aura shrugged and nodded. "Well it's just some personal things Diamond had to go through. She had lost her parents on her sixth hatchday and for ten years had to suffer from that terrible reminder… So as her mate I plan to finally give her something to look forward to from now on."
Gwen shared Aura's somber expression. "Well at least she has someone as caring as you to do this for her… But did you just say you two were mates? When did that happen?"
Aura rubbed his head. "Right, we haven't seen you for a while, but we kind of made it official while we were falling from Lumiose Tower."
Gwen's face twisted from empathy to complete shock. "Wait a minute! That was you?! How did you two survive?!"
Aura quietly looked around them as if checking if the coast were clear. "I'm not sure if Arceus wants me to just spread it around carelessly, but, truth is I'm actually an Aura Guardian." As if to prove his point and remove any disbelief, Aura held his palm up and conjured a small sphere which he then quickly dispelled.
Gwen's jaw dropped and she quickly held a hand to her forehead. "I… I mean I probably wouldn't believe it if you didn't just do that… So the Guardians really existed?!"
"Mhm. Apparently we do, but I didn't know either until recently. But like I said, I'm not entirely sure how Arceus would feel if all of a sudden the whole world knew about it… Though I guess she hasn't said anything about keeping it a secret yet but who knows."
Gwen nodded. "Sounds like the classic identity crisis fictional characters have. But don't worry, I'll keep it a secret just in case." She winked cutely at her acquaintance. "So anyway… Diamond's birthday… Would you mind if me and Kelsy came to celebrate with you? She really holds Diamond high on a pedestal after she helped keep her calm until you found me, plus I wouldn't mind getting better acquainted with a fellow trainer-oh! By the way, you weren't joking about Viola, Kelsy and I had to bring in some reinforcements before we were able to take down her Vivillon." Gwen pulled out her dark red badge-case and clicked it open to reveal the polished Bug Badge resting snuggly within the foam interior.
"First of all, congrats on the badge, and second, I'm sure Diamond would love to see you and Kelsy again too. Afterall, we're staying in town for the tournament which is also when I plan to have our little surprise party."
"What a coincidence, I'm competing too!" Gwen gave Aura a thumbs up and smirked. "Guess this means we're rivals. I'm looking forward to beating you this weekend!"
Aura laughed. "Whatever you say, but don't underestimate how excited Diamond is to win." sharing another laugh, the two eventually parted ways after Aura gave her the details for the party. Alone again, Aura sighed and lightly knocked against his scalp. "Okay, think about what Diamond likes! What have you seen her show interest in lately… Ah-ha! Of course! She's been wanting to learn how to cook! So what else but a cookbook!" Aura hurried to the register and paid for his things. "After I drop off this cake in Dan's room, I'll look for a good book store where I can find a cookbook with loads of good recipes…! But maybe I should get her something more, too… Hopefully I can find something else before then." Deciding to simply keep his focus on one thing at a time, Aura hurried back to the Pokemon Center where he snuck up to Dan's room and placed the cake in the refrigerator before hurrying back out to search for the perfect cookbook.
Once Aura had returned to the Pokemon Center with a rather pricey yet very expansive book containing well over a hundred different recipes, he wasted no time hunkering down in his friend's room to wrap it and set it aside with the rest of the supplies. Looking at the clock, Aura let out a sigh of relief as he managed to do everything within two hours and still had a few minutes to spare before checking on Diamond, though as he currently had nothing better to do, Aura went downstairs and met up with Daniel before finally heading to see his mate.
He knocked on the door to Diamond's room and stepped inside with a big smile. "Hey, girls. How's it going?"
The trio of females turned to him, Diamond beaming with happiness as she was fully rejuvenated and ready to continue training. "Everything's great! I feel better than ever and I'm more than ready to get back out there to train!" She cheered, pumping her fists.
"Haha! That's good to hear, and if you're really that full of energy then what are we waiting for? The others are out there waiting so let's start training!" Aura laughed, watching as Diamond threw the thin blanket off herself and jumped onto the floor, Aura silently thanking that no medical equipment was attached to her. As Diamond scurried into the hallway urging Aura to hurry up, he held the door open for Nessa and Missy who casually followed him outside and back to the training yard.
