Chapter 20
After a good night of rest following their victory in the preliminary rounds the day prior, Aura had prepared his trio of Pokemon a delightful breakfast packed full of nutrients and vitamins to make sure their energy would be plentiful for their upcoming match. Darlene, Daniel and even Gwen had all come by that morning to make sure Aura was ready for the second round, but he assured them there wasn't a need for worry and suggested they go on ahead and he'd meet them downstairs.
The remaining twenty trainers were expected to be present and accounted for by seven that morning since the third round would be taking place during the afternoon. With twenty minutes left before their seven o' clock deadline, Aura did a quick skim through the public tournament files for the other nineteen competitors while his Pokemon cleaned themselves up and took care of any business before they rushed out the door. Ten minutes remained until the second round was to begin as Aura and his team traveled down the hallway. All three of his Pokemon were in high spirits as they anticipated another victory and hoped to move on to round three.
The confidence in their walks were clear as day and brought a small smile to Aura's face. He chuckled and placed his hand on Diamond's back. "I don't want you guys to get too overconfident. Stan did super well in yesterday's fight, but it was still a clutch victory even though we had the type advantage."
Diamond stopped and spun around with a sparkle in her eyes. "Yeah, but the way you and Stan worked together so well and managed to learn a whole new attack just proves you're a super strong trainer!" She proudly grinned and slammed her fist into her hand. "You and Prince will get to round three no problem! I'm sure of it!"
Prince awkwardly tapped his chin and averted his gaze while Aura furrowed his brow and stared back at Diamond. He cracked a playful smirk and crossed his arms. "Oh really now? Hmm… I have an idea," Aura poked Diamond's forehead, "since you're so certain that we can't lose this round, why don't you take Prince's spot in our next fight?"
"Yeah! Yeah! Aura said you were super strong during your first gym battle and totally demolished the Gym Leader's Pokemon! If you fight with Aura instead then we'll totally make it to the top!" Stan bounced up and down cheerfully as sparks flicked off of his tail.
Prince forced a contemplative smirk and began to rub his chin. "Perhaps it would be for the best? Afterall you were the first of us to evolve so logically speaking you should be somewhat stronger than both Stan and myself."
Aura nodded dramatically. "That does make sense. Your stats are slightly higher, not to mention you managed to take down a Druddigon! So what do you say? Wanna take over for this round?"
Diamond's confident grin faltered and she began to nervously fidget with her necklace from the sudden pressure of these high expectations. However, she suddenly froze and dropped her arms to her sides, tightly closing her eyes and inhaling deeply. She smacked her cheeks and nodded before letting out a steady breath and looking into Aura's rather surprised eyes. "I'm not afraid to battle anymore like I used to be, and even though the thought of being watched by the whole world still terrifies me…" she suddenly scowled and lowered her gaze, "I have to get over these dumb fears eventually if I'm going to be any use for you in the League…"
She took another breath as the other three now looked somewhat concerned. Aura knelt down and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Sorry, Diamond. I was only teasing you. But if you want to sit out for the rest of the tournament too then I won't force you to battle."
Diamond surprised Aura by lightly grabbing his hand and shaking her head. "I know you were joking. But I want to get over these fears sooner rather than later." She forced a smile. "I was the one who really wanted us to enter this tournament. What kind of partner would I be if I just abandoned you when we've made it this far. If I can handle a pissed off Druddigon, I can handle fighting in front of a crowd!"
Aura swore he could hear a second voice just barely underneath Diamond's, but his instincts knew it wasn't something to worry about as his and Diamond's eyes suddenly glistened with a purple hue. Strangely enough and unnoticed by any of them, Aura and Diamond's eyes were not the only ones to experience this anomaly as both Stan and Prince's eyes sheened with the same violet hue.
Aura stood and clenched his fist adamantly. "Stan got us to round two and Prince is gonna get us to round three, after that it's your turn." He nodded at Diamond and turned to look down the hall. "Even if we don't win after all, we can still give it our best shot!"
With even higher spirits than before; Aura, Diamond, Prince and Stan all marched down to the basement lobby to check in. Upon receiving his pager, Aura was told to join the other trainers on the field until the second round matchups were announced.
"Good morning ladies and gentlemen! Thank you all for joining us bright and early for the second round of our Festival of Good Harvest Pokemon tournament!" The crowd roared violently in applause. "Now we hope each trainer got plenty of rest after yesterday, because while the second round matchups are being decided we have a very special announcement for you all that will certainly raise the stakes!" Many of the trainers and audience alike looked at one another in curiosity.
A man wearing a green hat and overalls stepped onto the referee podium, he was delicately carrying a cylindrical object underneath a sheet. "Ahem! Good morning everybody! I am the head caretaker for the breeding pens at the Pokemon Daycare! As many of you probably know already, the winner of this tournament becomes a guest of honour at the Snorlax Festival we hold every harvest season, where we honour the Snorlax who visits us from the mountains for a share of our final berry harvest in the fall! However this year the winner will receive a second grand prize!" The caretaker unveiled the object in his hands and held it up for all to see. "Our Pokemon Daycare raises all sorts of Pokemon and many of them find a mate and eventually lay an egg. Normally this egg would be given to the trainer of the mother, however this egg was found mysteriously and is suspected to have been left behind or abandoned."
"Quite an unfavourable circumstance this is." The announcer chimed in. "That is why the owner of the Daycare had requested this mystery egg be given to the winner in hopes of being raised by a strong trainer!" The caretaker covered the egg with the sheet and stepped off the pedestal. "Currently we don't know what Pokemon will hatch from the egg, but that shouldn't matter so long as it is given a good home! Now without further adieu, please turn your attention to the overhead screens for the battle rosters!"
Just like the day prior, each photo fanned out before flipping over and being connected by white lines. Aura hastily scanned the monitor and spotted his photo in the fourth battle, though as luck would have it they would be going up against yet another familiar face. Aura and his party looked around the crowd as the announcer asked for the trainers to exit the field. Shortly after stepping off the battlefield, Prince tapped Aura's shin and gestured towards the familiar trainer approaching them, and as expected, Dewott was right beside him.
Matthew waved as he got closer and smiled at the rival trainer. "I guess you and me are gonna have that rematch sooner than we thought," he gave a quick thumbs up and laughed, "I'm looking forward to it!"
Returning the gesture, Aura nodded with a confident grin. "Same here." After exchanging a brief handshake, Matt and Dewott took off to the opposite side of the arena while Aura led his team up to where they were sitting last time, luckily finding his mom and the others there as well.
"I guess that boy is another friend of yours?" Kibbs inquired.
Dan shrugged. "Kind of? Aura and Matt only had one battle and that was after his Dewott almost hit us accidentally with her Hydro Pump."
Diamond suddenly shuddered from the memory. "Now I'm really glad that you're using Prince for this round."
"Well either way," Aura interjected, "we can't underestimate him just because Prince and I managed to beat them once already. Matt and Dewott had some time to train so we should probably stay alert."
The first two battles went by at a reasonable pace with neither of them taking longer than eight minutes despite the second ending in a tie. But as the third battle drew to a close, the crowd's deafening roar almost overshadowed the announcer as a Charmander managed to completely wipe out a Rhyhorn within only two minutes. On top of that the Charmander hadn't even taken a single hit.
As the announcer called for Aura and Matt to report to the battlefield, Aura and his team hurried down to the field and stepped into the red trainer box a few seconds before Matt and Dewott stepped into the blue one.
"The fourth battle of round two will be between Aura Borealis and Matthew Black! Both trainers will use one Pokemon each and the battle will be over once either side is unable to battle or the time limit is exceeded! Trainers, please send out your Pokemon in three… two… one…" A loud buzz rang through the speakers and in unison Aura and Matt thrust out their hands and called for Prince and Dewott. The scanner whirred above them and soon the status screens of each Pokemon were displayed overhead.
Matt pumped his fists and leaped into the air. "Awesome! It looks like this will really be a true rematch after all! But this time it's gonna end with me and Dewott taking you out! You'll see! We're gonna wipe the floor with you!"
Aura awkwardly stepped back and forced a wavering smile. He leaned over to Diamond and whispered, "Why do I get the feeling he's trying to prove a point or something?" The fox shrugged, also a bit taken back by the young trainer's sudden outburst, assuming it might be because Aura was a Guardian.
The referee and his Ambipom raised their flags. "Are both trainers ready?" Once both sides gave confirmation, the referee counted down from three before he swiftly swung his flags down and called out, "Battle begin!"
Matt pointed upward immediately and called his first command. "Start us off using Aqua Jet!" Dewott started to run forward and soon leaped into the air just as a column of violently swirling, highly pressurized water rapidly encased the otter, allowing her to rocket through the air at blinding speeds.
Aura responded by calling out for Prince to rush it with Quick Attack. The jackal lowered his body for a moment before tensing his legs and suddenly speeding across the field with a streak of white light trailing behind him. Aura thrust his fist forward harshly. "Now circle around and use Force Palm!" Doing as his master commanded, Prince made a hard turn shortly before him and Dewott would have collided and he practically phased out of Dewott's sight for a moment as he circled around and closed in on the Water type.
"On your left!" Matt shouted. Dewott glanced behind herself and just before Prince could land his Force Palm, Dewott veered off to her right while Prince quickly skidded to a halt.
"Don't let her get away!" Prince once again took off like a speeding bullet across the field and very soon was able to catch back up with his opponent.
"Right out of the gates things are not looking good for Matthew and his Dewott. With Aura's Riolu hot on her trail, Dewott will need to make quite the maneuver to escape!" Boomed the announcer.
With Dewott being forced to continue fleeing from Prince, Matt's confidence seemed to fall apart like in their last battle which allowed a clear opening for Aura to strike. "Take aim!" Aura called. Prince narrowed his gaze as a blue glow enveloped his body and his eyes turned completely red.
Matt grabbed at his messy brown hair in panic. Suddenly all of their training seemed to be in vain as Matt couldn't decide on how to proceed. But in that moment, Dewott shot past him and he swore it was gazing back at him with a strong trust in its eyes. He suddenly recalled how Aura managed to free himself from this exact situation in his battle yesterday, and a sudden idea crossed the trainer's mind.
"Dewott! Get behind Prince!" Dewott made a sharp turn and curved around until she was now following close behind Prince. "Yes! Now use Razor Shell!" Dewott quickly grabbed the two scallops on her hips and held them in front of her, each shell suddenly sprouting a razor sharp blade of aquatic energy that crossed over the other as Dewott gained a sudden burst of speed and violently slashed at Prince's back.
The Fighting type tumbled forwards as Dewott shot past the fallen Pokemon. Aura looked at the status screen and watched Prince's hit points drop to seventy percent. He scowled and called out to his Pokemon. "You good to keep going?"
Prince pushed himself back up and spat a small amount of blood from his mouth. "I'm fine, Master Aura. Don't worry about me and stay focused on the battle at hand!" He stood up and rolled his shoulder with a harsh scowl directed towards their foes.
They watched Dewott roughly land in front of her trainer as Matthew smiled proudly and was bouncing with excitement. "That was awesome, Dewott! All of our training must have really paid off! Let's keep this up and win the whole tournament!"
Aura grinned as he saw a perfect opportunity to teach the overconfident trainer a lesson. Prince seemed to have the same idea as he glanced over his shoulder and nodded. Not a single word left Aura's mouth as he simply nodded back at Prince and swung his arm to the side as though expecting Prince to know exactly what to do. He cleared his throat and whistled. "Just some friendly advice," Matthew looked across the field without realizing the distinct lack of a certain Riolu, "never be so quick to assume you've won! Now, Prince! Force Palm!"
Dewott and Matthew jerked as they heard a sudden howl come from the rafters above, they looked up and were shocked to see Prince jumping from atop the monitors and dive down with his paw brightly radiating with orange light. Dewott cried out in pain as Prince reeled back his arm just before making contact and forcefully slammed into the Water type Pokemon. Prince backflipped through the air and landed with a slight wobble a fair distance away. The overhead screens recounting the damage and dropped Dewott's health bar to sixty-five percent while Prince's barely slid down to sixty-eight percent.
Matthew scowled. "Dammit! We can't let our guard down like that again or we're finished!" Dewott slowly stood up and nodded. "Time to get serious! Use Focus Energy!" Dewott's body tensed as a blue light surrounded her body which then smoothly flowed into her scalchops. "Now attack with rapid Fury Cutters!" Dewott barked sharply as she began sprinting towards Prince with a dim green energy extended from her scalchops.
The very instant that Dewott reached Prince, she began to violently slash at the Riolu. Aura instructed him to block the attacks, but as he crossed his arms between them he was still taking considerable damage thanks to the added effect of the move. No matter how many of Dewott's furious strikes he managed to block, every time it made contact the move only grew more powerful.
"This was the same combo Matthew used to win his preliminary battle! But will it be as effective this time around despite the Fighting type having a natural resistance to Bug moves?!" The announcer commented.
Small amounts of blood and fur were gradually cut from Prince's arms as the jackal winced with every slice he withstood. "That's enough! It's time to send all that damage right back where it came from! Use Counter!"
Matthew's eyes widened. "Shit! Use Hydro Pump!" Prince's entire forearms flashed with a dark orange light as he let out a ferocious howl and drove his fist directly into Dewott's chest. She gasped, but ultimately endured the pain as she unleashed a torrential blast of highly pressurized water at point blank range.
A few short beeps echoed through the speakers as Prince's health bar flashed red and rapidly depleted to ten percent. "What outstanding power! After taking a direct hit from a point blank Hydro Pump, Riolu barely hangs in there! With that kind of endurance it's hard to say who will be the victor!"
Aura clenched his fists while Diamond and Stan stood in silence. "Dammit! I don't think Prince can take much more…" He watched as Prince continuously struggled to get back up, seeing the pain spread across his face each time he fell yet also feeling the ever growing determination with each attempt. "Prince depends on me to lead us to victory and trusts me to make the right calls, just like I'm depending on his strength and trust in his loyalty. It's that mutual bond and understanding that brings out our true power!" With their determination reignited, Aura's body was surrounded in a thin veil of blue light. "So long as we can continue fighting, we still have a chance to turn it around and win! Let's show everyone here what a strong bond can really do!"
Aura's words echoed through the stadium as a thin line of energy reached out from Aura to Prince, slowly enveloping him in the same glow as he finally pushed himself off the ground. He refused to tarnish the deep trust his Master held for him. Prince closed his eyes and the appendages on the back of his head slowly rose. He focused all of his will to grow stronger and the determination to overcome any challenge alongside Aura.
The blue glow surrounding Prince split off into eight spectral swords that quickly danced around the Riolu before crossing with one another and flashing away. Prince's body was then enveloped in a red aura that sent a massive wave of energy throughout his small body. As he opened his eyes, Prince could feel his strength greatly increased. With only a single glance back at his trainer and receiving an adamant nod, Prince glared at his foe before racing across the field with Quick Attack.
Matthew felt a lump in his throat. "D-Dewott! Don't let him get any closer with your Hydro Pump!" Dewott once again unleashed a vicious torrent of water from her mouth but it was effortlessly evaded by the jackal who drew ever nearer with a burning fire in his eyes. "C-counter it with Razor Shell!" Matt panicked.
Aura furrowed his brow and extended his hand. "Sorry, Matt. But it's over! Finish this!" Dewott crossed its aquatic blades in front of its body, but Prince quickly fell back and slid right underneath Dewott's shells, his fist was suddenly enveloped by a swirling red and orange aura seconds before delivering a devastating uppercut directly to her jaw. Forced to let go of her scalchops, Dewott flew through the air with Prince in hot pursuit. He lunged after the otter Pokemon and delivered another nasty Power-up Punch to her abdomen that hurled her back into the ground with a mighty slam.
Just as Prince landed beside her and fell to one knee, an ear piercing buzz cried out with the referee raising his flags immediately. "Time's up!" he paused to allow the status screen to update, "by a difference of only three percent in remaining hit points, I declare Aura Borealis and his Riolu the victors!"
Daniel, Gwen, Darlene and all of their Pokemon jumped up and howled in praise followed by a deafening applause from the rest of the audience. Aura gazed over the crowd with a proud smile, but he soon shook his head and jogged out onto the field where his devoted Pokemon sat on his knees. He scooped the canine into his arms and hugged him. "Great work out there, buddy. With Swords Dance and Power-up Punch in our arsenal you'll be an even bigger force to be reckoned with!"
Prince nodded his head weakly with little emotion showing. "Thank you, Master Aura. I hope you are not disappointed that I was nearly defeated."
Aura shook his head and raised Prince's Pokeball. "Not a chance. Now get some rest and I'll have Nurse Joy patch you up soon." The Riolu was instantly engulfed by a red beam of light and was returned to the confinement of his Pokeball.
Once Aura got back to his feet he approached Matthew who had just returned Dewott to her Pokeball. The boy sighed and stood up with a smile. "It was a good battle, Aura. Even though me and Dewott lost, we're gonna keep working hard every day until we can finally take you and Prince down!"
"Haha! Good luck with that! We'll be looking forward to our next rematch!" Aura held out his hand and the two briefly shook before heading their separate ways. Aura, Stan and Diamond hurried up the bleachers as the next pair of trainers were called to the field.
Darlene quickly stood up as soon as Aura reached their seats and she hastily pulled her son close. "You and Prince really outdid yourselves in that fight! I could see the power behind your bond near the end that helped Prince learn Swords Dance and Power-up Punch!" She hugged him tight with a bright smile. "Your aura is getting to be so strong now that you'll probably surpass my own in just a couple months!"
For a moment, Aura had to remind himself that his mother has been a Guardian as well for all this time as he'd never seen nor heard of her using such abilities his entire life. But considering how he, the Grand Guardian, was her son, he had no doubt Darlene must be very powerful. Aura returned the embrace but pulled away rather fast. "Thank you, Mom. But could the congratulations and stuff wait for now? I want to get Prince healed up right away and there's a few errands I need to take care of," he looked over to Daniel and nodded, "think you could lend me a hand?"
Diamond cocked her head to the side curiously. "What errands are you talking about? Maybe I can come help too?"
Aura quickly shook his head. "Erm… A-actually why don't you just stay here with my mom and watch the tournament? It will take us probably an hour or so and I wouldn't want you to miss anything here."
"Don't worry, Diamond," Nessa said softly as she held Diamond's shoulder, "you know Aura wouldn't just ask you to stay here without a good reason."
The fox sighed and looked up at her mate. "Promise to be back before the next round?"
Aura knelt down and suddenly pulled Diamond against him for a hug. "I kind of need to be back in time if we wanna battle." He planted a firm kiss on the fox's lips and stood up. "We'll be back soon." The two boys hurried down to the exit and back upstairs to the main lobby. After quickly dropping off Prince's Pokeball with Nurse Joy, they rushed up to Dan's room to start transporting all the supplies to Aura's room to begin preparations for Diamond's special hatchday surprise.
