All right! You have no idea how hard that last chapter was to write. And I'm still not the happiest with it, but whatever, it's fine. And now I get to write more battles. Which is going to be exhausting. But that's what I get for making a coordinator character. This chapter took so much longer. But enough about that, let's get back to Pokemon! I don't own Pokemon.
Damien, back in his normal clothes, walked out of the contest hall feeling nervous. He had just gotten past the first battle round. That meant another, tougher opponent was next. He had already looked it up. The coordinator he was going to face next round was using a Mightyena, and he was listed as liking tough and cool moves. Damien didn't know what that meant, but he knew he was in for a rough time, pun unintended.
"Hey!" Karek said, running up to him. "You're doing awesome!"
"MIke's probably not happy." Damien said. "He hates losing."
"Congratulations." A voice said behind them. They turned to see Elizabeth, who was now in black tights, black slippers, a white shirt, and a gray hoodie, with her hair up in a ponytail. "You're doing very well. Don't go losing your next match, alright? I want to see you in the finals."
"Well, I'll try." Damien said. "But I can't exactly guarantee anything."
"See you later then." Elizabeth said, turning and walking down the street.
"She's friendly." Karek commented.
"She is." Damien agreed. "But let's go eat lunch. Come on, I know a place."
They stopped in front of a place called "Battle Diner". "So…" Karek trailed. "What is this?"
"Battle Diner." Damien answered. "We can pay for food, or battle for it. The last time I was here was after I beat Derek."
"So then we just go right in?" Karek asked.
"Yep." Damien said, striding inside, as Karek followed behind.
"Greetings." The waiter said, as they entered an indoor battlefield. On one side was the door they entered from, and on the other was a door labeled "Dining Room". "How will you be paying and what will you be having?"
"Shrimp alfredo." Damien said. "And this is his first time being here, he doesn't know what's available."
"Way to show me up." Karek muttered.
"I went through the same thing on my first time here. If I have to go through it, so do you." Damien joked. "But it's not exactly an extensive menu." The waiter handed Karek a menu.
"Um…" he said, looking at it. "I guess I'll have tilapia."
"And how do you plan on paying?" The waiter asked again.
"We'll be having a battle." Damien answered.
"Double battle or single battles?" The waiter asked.
"Two single battles!" Karek shouted. "I want to earn on my own power, not rely on someone to pull me through it." He turned to Damien. "Why do we order now?"
"The more expensive dishes mean more difficult battles." The waiter explained. "These battles will be one on one. Who will go first?"
"I will." Damien said. They moved to opposite sides of the battlefield. The waiter took out his pokeball.
"Lilligant, assist me." He said, tossing the pokeball in the air.
"Ivysaur, let's do this!" Damien said, tossing out his pokeball. "Now, use Seed Bomb!"
"Lilligant, use Sunny Day!" The waiter called. A ball of light formed in Lilligant's hands before it was tossed into the air and stayed there. Damien smirked. His Ivysaur's ability was Chlorophyll, meaning his speed doubled in the sunlight. But then Lilligant dodged the Seed Bomb.
"What?" Damien asked himself.
"Lilligant here has Chlorophyll. Her speed is doubled in sunlight." The waiter said.
"Ivysaur also has Chlorophyll." Damien said. "But still, I didn't think Lilligant could be so fast."
"Lilligants are naturally fast." Karek said.
"Fantastic…" Damien muttered. "Ivysaur, Poison Powder! All around!" Ivysaur shook himself and purple powder covered the battlefield.
"Lilligant, Sleep Powder." Lilligant spun around, releasing a green powder to block the Poison Powder. "Now, while it's hard to see, Energy Ball!"
"Ivysaur, Seed Bomb to clear it up!" Damien said. Ivysaur shot out the explosive seeds right in front of him, and the resulting explosion cleared out the powders. "Now, Take Down and Poison Powder!" Ivysaur charged forward, Poison Powder trailing behind him.
"Lilligant, jump." The waiter called, and Lilligant obeyed. Unfortunately, she jumped behind Ivysaur, right into the Poison Powder.
"Turn around Ivysaur!" Damien said. Ivysaur spun around on one foot, charging right into Lilligant.
"Lilligant, Quiver Dance!" The waiter called.
"Take Down again!" Damien called, knowing that the poison was helping to weaken his opponent. Ivysaur slammed into Lilligant again. Thankfully Take Down didn't do a lot of recoil damage. Ivysaur slammed into Lilligant, dealing more damage.
"Energy Ball!" The waiter called. Lilligant fired off the green ball of grass-type energy.
"Ivysaur, Take Down!" Damien called. Ivysaur once again charged towards Lilligant as the attack bounced off of him.
"Sleep Powder!" The waiter called again.
"He wants to play the obscuring game, we can play it." Damien said. "Ivysaur, use Poison Powder!" Ivysaur sprayed the purple powder around him once more, and the combination of Sleep Powder and Poison Powder covered the area in a dense fog, where Damien couldn't see a thing, and he knew Ivysaur would be just as blind. He needed to give Ivysaur a way to see without letting the waiter know where Ivysaur was.
"Ivysaur, use Seed Bomb right in front of you!" Damien called, hoping that Ivysaur would understand what he meant. He wanted Ivysaur to use Seed Bomb to clear up the area around him, but still be shrouded by the thick veil of powders in the air. But all he could do was wait.
"Lilligant, use Energy Ball!" the waiter called. Very quickly afterwards, an explosion of power was heard, and the powder was cleared away. Ivysaur was plastered onto the floor. Lilligant was standing tall. But Lilligants eyes had the iconic swirls of a fainted Pokemon.
"Ivysaur…" Ivysaur said as he opened an eye and stood up shakily.
"Congratulations." The waiter said as the two of them returned their Pokemon. "You've won your battle. You may go in and wait for your meal."
"I think I'll wait for Karek to battle before going in." Damein said, and the waiter nodded. Damien walked over to where Karek was and said, "Your turn."
Karek ran over to the battlefield, and the waiter prepared another Pokeball. "Blaziken, let's do this!" Karek shouted, chucking Blaziken's Pokeball into the field.
"Darmanitan, assist me!" The waiter called, sending out his own Fire-type. "Now, use Belly Drum!" The large ape started slapping it's belly, a red aura flaring around it as it's attack maxed out, but at the cost of taking a lot of damage.
"Blaziken, Brick Break!" Karek called.
"Dodge!" The waiter called, and Darmanitan followed through. Blaziken's attack missed. "Hammer Arm!"
"Blaziken, jump!" Karek commanded. Blaziken's pushed off the ground, rising high into the air.
"Follow after it with Flare Blitz!" The waiter said. Darmanitan smothered itself in flames and leaped into the air after Blaziken.
"Keep it down with Brick Break!" Karek called. Blaziken clenched his fist and punched right down onto Darmanitan. The impact caused a large shockwave, but it was obvious who won. Blaziken stood proud over his fallen foe.
"Yes!" Karek cheered. Blaziken ran over to him and the two hugged each other tightly. Which was a little strange considering that Karek's face went up to Blaziken's stomach, but Damien wasn't sweating the details.
"Congratulations to the two of you." the waiter said. "You battled well. You may go in and eat."
The two of them walked through the dining room doors and sat down at a table. "How do you think they make any money?" Karek asked.
"I don't know. Maybe it's funded by taxes or something." Damien said. "Anyway, it's good. All we have to do is wait for our food to get here."
"How long is that going to take?" Karek asked.
"About as long as any other restaurant." Damien answered. "But yeah, I like this place."
"How did you find it?" Karek asked.
"You mean besides the big sign out front?" Damien said. "I found it after beating the gym here. Turns out travelling can be very helpful in finding things."
"I know I say this everytime you talk about your travels, but I really want to go on a journey."
"Well, Elizabeth dropped out to go travel." Damien said. "So it's not like it's entirely unheard of."
"Really?" Karek asked.
"But you should at least finish this year!" Damein said quickly. "Being educated is important!"
"Yeah yeah." Karek said.
"Besides, don't you like track?" Damien asked.
"I do, but that's kinda all that's keeping me in school, aside from my friends and money problems. But if I could go on a journey I would go without hesitation."
"It's pretty fun, but there are plenty of things to keep in mind while going, such as budgeting, travel method, hygiene, and food." Damien said. "Hence why I didn't go at 10 years old like everyone else. I stayed and waited until 13."
"But we're highschoolers!" Karek said. "I can do that stuff! I want to challenge gyms and compete in the Unova League! Pamira did and she got 2nd place! That's really good!"
"You realize second place isn't easy right?" Damien said. "And it's entirely likely you don't get it."
"I'm aware." Karek said. "But still…" he sighed, "I want to go so badly. And I mean look at you! You're still going even though you're attending school! You get to visit all of these cool places! Like here!" He gestured around him. "Look at it! It's so cool!"
"Karek…" Damien said.
"I don't want to stay in that stupid apartment on my own anymore." Karek continued. "I want to be able to do the things I want to do and the things I love! I want to travel, I want to gain experience, I want to live life without being stuck behind the borders of stupidly small Anville Town!"
Damien was quiet. He hadn't realized that Karek felt so trapped. And that he might want more than just being a track star. Damien suddenly felt really guilty about constantly telling Karek about his travels when he hadn't even wanted to journey in the first place. Now that he knew Karek had wanted to journey so much, his complaints seemed like they were making fun of Karek's dream. "Tell you what." Damien said. "After this school year, you and I are going on a journey. We're travelling. But we have to finish the school year, and finish right, okay?"
"What about next year?" Karek asked.
"What about it?" Damien said. "We'll simply keep travelling. Like you said, we're highschoolers. We can handle it." He held out his hand. "Deal?"
Karek took it eagerly. "Deal!"
So, yeah. Karek wants to travel. But now we are finally getting to the stuff I'm writing this for. Character story arcs and dealing with people's problems. It took a long time to get here, but we made it. Woo! I'm excited. Next chapter will be back to contest battling. But anyway, as has become the standard, we have a team evaluation. This time it's Thomas.
Character: Thomas
Team: Rowlet, Oricorio, Zubat, Yanma, Skarmory, Swablu
Rowlet:
Level: 10
Ability: Overgrow
Nature: Docile (Neutral)
Moveset: Tackle, Astonish, Razor Leaf, Peck
Oricorio:
Level: 13
Ability: Dancer
Nature: Modest (Up SpAtk, Down Atk)
Moveset: Air Cutter, Peck, Pound, Growl
Zubat:
Level: 21
Ability: Inner Focus
Nature: Hasty (Up Speed, Down Def)
Moveset: Confuse Ray, Wing Attack, Bite, Leech Life
Yanma:
Level: 30
Ability: Compound Eyes
Nature: Mild (Up SpAtk, Down Def)
Moveset: Pursuit, Sonic Boom, Supersonic, Detect
Skarmory: Fun fact, this Pokemon was Thomas's starter, not Rowlet.
Level: 35
Ability: Sturdy
Nature: Impish (Up Def, Down SpAtk)
Moveset: Steel Wing, Fly, Agility, Night Slash
Swablu:
Level: 10
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Quirky (Neutral)
Moveset: Peck, Astonish, Sing, Growl
