Ch. 7

Proving Ground

Hope looked on wordlessly as he saw Maris futilely attempt to strike her opponent as it seemed to giggle in delight at her attempts to hit it as her attack passed right through its body. Hope shook his head disappointedly before giving a nod of his head to his pokemon and before Maris knew what was happening she was lifted off the ground from an invisible force and promptly smashed to the ground. This happened for a little while as Dmitri desperately called out commands to Maris which she seemed to not hear or ignore completely. Maris nipped up to her feet in a rage and struck out against her opponent again, which produced the same result as the previous attempt.

"Maris please if you would just listen to me-"

"(SHUT YOUR MOUTH!)" Maris roared at her trainer viciously as his face widened in shock.

"Maris what has gotten into you?" Dmitri asked sadly.

"(What's gotten into me is that this is a very important battle and I can't let you screw it up!)" Maris shouted at him bitterly.

Hope took notice of their conversation and halted his pokemon from attacking any further; wanting to see what would happen.

"What do you mean I'll screw it up?" Dmitri asked confusedly.

"(Oh do not act like you don't know what I'm talking about! The whole time we've been at that hellhole you've never passed any of the promotion tests and the other battles we've won were out of sheer luck! I'm fighting without your say-so because I can't trust you with to give me predictable commands in such an important battle!)" Maris yelled at Dmitri frustratingly.

Dmitri tried to fight back tears, but it was of no use as they slowly poured down his face before he looked up at Maris dejectedly. Delia shot a death glare at Maris which she seemed to ignore as her full attention was on Dmitri.

"If you don't have faith in my skills, why are you even still my partner? Why don't you just go with Delia since she is so much more skilled than I am?" Dmitri told her in a mix of pain and anger.

Maris started to regret what she said and was about to call out to him before shutting her mouth; not trusting herself to deescalate the situation. Maris hesitantly walked over to Dmitri before he stared right at furious eyes.

"Do you really think that those other battles we won were just a fluke?" Dmitri asked her in a tone she never heard him use before.

"(What does that-)" Maris started to say before she was cut off.

"ANSWER ME!" Dmitri screamed at her with such fury that it caused her to recoil and fall on her backside.

Maris just stared at the dirt below her before meeting his furious gaze once again.

"Don't you remember when we were fighting another battle rookie's emboar? Who gave you the command to dodge all of his attacks and letting him tire himself out before counter attacking" Dmitri asked her sternly.

How could she forget? It was one of the few battles she had fought that she actually felt control in. She remembered facing the school's self-proclaimed "Queen of Fire" and Maris remembered this girl was the most arrogant human being she had ever met, besides Zach. With her bright clothing and red hair to match she seemed certain she could beat anyone she came across. So of course when Dmitri was the first one on campus to turn an essay early she quickly sized him up and proclaimed her challenge to him.

Dmitri didn't even want to battle at first but seeing no Delia around to bail him out he unwillingly accepted her challenge. She sent out the Mega Fire Pig pokemon with Dmitri hesitantly sending out Maris to square off against him. She wasted no time in trying to end this fight quickly as she ordered arm thrust after arm thrust against the Martial Arts pokemon, but Maris would not be down for the count as quick as her opponent thought as she bobbed and weaved around the oncoming blows.

Instead of ordering her to attack like she expected, Dmitri ordered to just continue dodging and keep her distance. Trusting her trainer, she did as he said and as the fight went on she noticed her opponent get sluggish as it seemed he could barely raise his arms up to save his life. Maris's eyebrows raised a little before realizing why she wanted him to evade all her opponent's attacks before retaliating with a devastating jump kick attack, which not only ended the fight, but also earned a win for both of them.

"Maris, please, why did you listen to me that day?" Dmitri asked her.

"(Err…cuz I trusted your judgement alright?)" Maris answered him whiningly as she failed to realize how important this was.

"Right, because you trusted me to make the right choice. So please, can't you give me the same trust like you did back then?" Dmitri pleaded as he extended his hand to her.

Maris thought back to the day when those infernal scolipede attacked them and remembered what her younger self said.

"I'm going to get as strong as I possibly can in both body and mind so that way something like this never happens again!" Maris's younger voice shouted in her head proudly.

Maris closed her eyes shamefully as she realized ignoring her friend would contradict that goal as while she could get strong physically, she would still be left mentally weak. Maris's red eyes met Dmitri's dark brown ones as a tense moment passed between them as the leaves themselves didn't move an inch despite the fierce increase of wind.

Smirking, Maris took his hand in her paw as she said (C'mon old friend, let's show this freak who he's messing with.)"

Grinning from ear-to-ear, Dmitri whispered to her "bounce followed by dual chop" as she prepared for round two.

Like a lopunny on a sugar rush, Maris jumped high into the air as the sun blinded her opponent before coming down with two vicious chops on the sides of her opponent's neck which shut up the cackling pokemon as he tumbled to the ground in a heap.

"Impressive, what should have destroyed their trust completely has actually made their bond stronger than ever and now there a force to be reckoned with," Hope analyzed silently as his pokemon quickly recovered from the surprise attack.

"This could possibly work," Hope thought as he pointed at Maris intently.

The shadow pokemon snickered slightly before sending out a wave of purple lighting towards Maris's feet.

"Maris use calm mind!" Dmitri ordered.

Maris quickly closed her eyes as the lighting struck her, but didn't show a pained expression on her face as she remained as still as a statue. Suddenly, the lighting dissipated to reveal a smirking Maris, her paw extended as she beckoned her opponent to come.

"Very good, instead of jumping over it and using dual chop like I expected he had her dodge it and then followed up by having her use calm mind. Excellent Dmitri, you've passed two out of the three tests I have for you so far now only one remains," Hope contemplated to himself as he was secretly proud of Dmitri.

"Alright then Dmitri, you've proven that the bond between you two is strong enough to withstand anything and you've proven that you can take the initiative against a distracted opponent. Now only one test remains, defeat me and you will promoted to a battle ace," Hope proclaimed to Dmitri.

"He can't be serious. While Dmitri has shown that he's vastly improved he's still no match for him. There's no way he can win," Delia thought solemnly.

"Alright Maris use swift then follow up with force palm!" Dmitri shouted to his partner as she already wound her arm back to prepare for her assault.

"What's he planning? Fighting type and normal type moves will have no effect on her so what exactly are you thinking Dmitri?" Hope thought as he raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Take the attack," Hope commanded his pokemon as it stood there giggling insanely as the sharp, yellow stars passed right through him before noticing Maris approaching with her fist poised to strike.

Dmitri smirked before saying "Switch to stone edge!"

Hope widened his eyes in shock as he quickly ordered his pokemon to dodge the attack and shot an impressed look at Dmitri.

"Outstanding, he knew that using stone edge from a distance would be a big risk so he knew he would have to close the distance to score a direct hit. This is definitely a different boy than who I'm looking at right now. No more fooling around time to end this," Hope stoically pondered.

"Gengar, use attack pattern omega!" Hope commanded his cackling partner.

Dmitri had no to wonder what a Gengar was as it shot a green sphere of swirling energy in front of Maris and then firing a dark, shadow like orb at both of her sides leaving her no choice but to jump backwards to avoid the attack. As soon as her back foot touched the ground Gengar appeared right in front of her with a mad smile plastered on its face. Her eyes flashed red before Maris suddenly felt really drowsy before yawning and collapsing on the ground with a tired smile on her face.

Her smile didn't last long as Gengar's eyes flashed red once again and Maris abruptly started to twitch violently on the ground as if she was writhing in pain. Dmitri looked on in horror as Maris was uselessly clawing at the air around her before making his decision.

"Stop, I yield," Dmitri said ruefully as he just wanted Maris's pain to stop.

Hope said nothing as he gave another wave of his hand which stopped Gengar's onslaught. Hope stoically looked at Dmitri before breaking out into a wide grin as he intently approached the depressed battle rookie. Hope patted his head, which caused him to look up at him, and said proudly "By showing great promise in the field of battle, I hereby promote you to the rank of battle ace," Hope said as Dmitri's and Maris's jaw dropped.

"But didn't you say-"

"That was just to test to see if you knew when to call it quits when Maris had no chance of fighting back. So please, bask in your moment of triumph as you certainly earned it," Hope told Dmitri proudly.

To say that he was happy would be lying. He was ecstatic, thrilled, and overjoyed at the news as he and Maris embraced with teary eyes. Delia grinned at this and simply clapped her hands at her best friend's achievement as she let him have his moment with Maris.

"We did it Maris! We finally did it!" Dmitri shouted happily to no one in particular.

Maris said nothing as words couldn't describe how happy she was right at that moment as she playfully threw Dmitri up in the air and caught him bridal style.

Meanwhile

"He did it; he actually managed to do it. Oh, I couldn't be more happy my beloved son," Karen said ecstatically.

Stephanie snorted before saying:

"(Was there really any doubt that he couldn't? Junior and Ragamuffin got stuff and they're only going to get better with time,)" Stephanie retorted to her trainer.

Karen ignored her friend's sassy tone as she responded with:

"Well, thoughts aside we should get down from this tree and personally congratulate Dmitri and Maris on their big accomplishment," Karen shot back towards Stephanie who was already uncoiling herself.

Stephanie slithered down the tree before gently wrapping her vines around Karen's waist and carefully placing her back down on the ground.

"(Hmm… yes, agreed,)" Stephanie responded back to her life-long friend.

Meanwhile

Hope decided to not spoil the moment by telling them the other meaning to his test as Maris continued to throw Dmitri up in the air like a ragdoll.

"So Mr. Hope you and I both know that there's another meaning to this test so why don't you just spit it out?" Delia told him warily.

Maris caught Dmitri before carrying him over to Hope; wanting to hear the other meaning to their hard earned goal.

"You're definitely a smart one Mrs. Shiina so I'll tell all of you," Hope said as he cleared his throat.

"Dmitri…you're temporarily suspended from the Battle Academy," Hope told Dmitri emotionlessly.

A tense solemn moment passed by with none of the four saying anything before Delia decided to speak out against this unfair judgment.

"Mr. Hope, please! If this is about his battle prowess surely that battle you guys had earlier showed you he more than deserves to stay at this academy!" Delia whined to Hope like a crying toddler.

"Let me assure you this has nothing to do about competence as a trainer. It merely is a request made by someone very close to him," Hope told Delia as he hooked his thumbs in his pockets.

"He's right, it's nothing personal," Karen said as Stephanie flanked her from behind as they approached the group of psychiatrist and students.

"Mrs. Long, do you know who carried out this ridiculous demand?" Delia asked Karen with raised eyebrows.

"Sure do! It was me," Karen quickly shouted at the battle ace.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?! HE'S YOUR-"

"You don't think I know that? Dmitri, sweetie, do you honestly think you're learning anything at the Battle Academy?" Karen asked her son who was now standing on his own two feet, looking down at the ground.

"No…I don't. So…um…are you pulling me out to tutor me yourself?" Dmitri asked her hopefully.

"No Dmitri, you're going to have to learn for yourself what battling style you like and then, and only then, will you be ready to face me," Karen told her son firmly.

Hope smiled a bit at this before saying:

"That's why we're giving you permission to take the pokemon league challenge and explore the world for yourself," Hope added in.

"Because honestly, this school is meant for most aspiring trainers but there are the few who take years to flourish under our program, which will be you if you don't take this opportunity son. Also, it's too my knowledge that it took you just till now to break out of the habit of relying on book taught tactics right?" Karen asked her son bluntly.

Dmitri nodded and realized that if it took them just this long to be a battle ace; it would take longer just to become a battle master. Maris gripped his shoulder tightly before looking at him seriously and he just nodded at her.

"We both would like to take the pokemon league challenge," Dmitri told his mother respectfully.

"I thought you might say that and that is why when you have collected all eight badges you may return and challenge me to a battle to see whether or not you're ready for the rank of battle master," Karen responded politely.

"The headmaster approved of all this so don't worry about missing anything and one more thing you won't be starting your journey in Unova," Hope said to Dmitri matter of factly.

Dmitri looked at him with confusion before Stephanie rolled her eyes, cleared her throat, and saying:

"(Look Junior, Unova's pokemon league, while formidable, isn't the best out of all of them as our champion was given his rank by Karen when she got bored and decided to settle down. So Unova isn't exactly the best place to start your journey and that's why we're sending you and Ragamuffin to the Sinnoh region as they have top notch trainers and powerful pokemon, excluding yours truly of course,)" Stephanie stated arrogantly.

Delia contemplated what they were saying before adding in:

"I'm going with him. I'm not missing out on this chance to test my prowess outside of the Battle Academy the trainers who decided to travel instead of going to school," Delia said firmly.

Karen and Hope looked at each other for a bit before Karen said "Very well, you may accompany my son on his journey."

Delia would have jumped for joy, but decided against it and gave a simple smile in response.

"Oh yeah, don't forget these you two. You won't be able to get to Sinnoh without them," Hope said warmly as he handed them two small tickets.

Delia stared at him incredulously before Hope answered with "I had a feeling this would happen" and told them to hurry up or they'll miss their once-in-a-lifetime-chance.

"No problem about time as I have the fastest dragon alive! Dragonite come to my aid!" Delia shouted enthusiastically as a large, orange dragon materialized from the white light.

Delia petted Dragonite on its belly and gave a soft coo in response as it eagerly looked at its trainer and wondered what she wanted him to do.

"Dragonite, could you please take Dmitri and me to the docks. We have a boat to catch and we cannot be late. Is this understood?" Delia asked dragonite as it gave a simple "haroomph" in response before kneeling down and letting Dmitri, Maris, and Delia mount him.

"Before you leave take these you pokegears with you or you'll be left in the dark in sinnoh," Karen said to the two battle aces as she handed it to them hastily.

"They're already installed with mine and Karen's numbers so just in case if you need anything or just want to say hi call us," Hope told them quickly as he didn't want to keep them back any longer.

"Remember to go to Professor Rowan in Sandgem town to get registered as trainers or else you won't be able to get badges!" Karen told Dmitri dotingly.

"We won't mom. Thank you both for this chance and I love you mom," Dmitri said warmly to Karen.

"Alright enough time has been wasted dragonite use extreme speed and step on it because we only got thirty minutes before it leaves!" Delia shouted at dragonite.

As quick as a flash, dragonite floated off the ground before disappearing in a bright flash of light with a screaming Maris telling him to "slow down, for the love of arceus slow down!"