Ch.17

Not Going Down

Pokemon is the property of its respective owners

"Luka, use metal claw!" a loud, demanding voice boomed at a nearby river as a scared otter like pokemon screeched in fear and ducked under the first strike as Luka's sharpened claws easily tore through a boulder like a hot knife through butter.

The otter pokemon quickly jumped back into the river and angrily shook its fist at the jackal pokemon who brought her paws to her hips and charged her aura into a condensed, navy blue ball and hurled it at the orange otter. His eyes widened in shock as he fruitlessly dived underwater with the aura sphere giving chase while Luka just crossed her arms and Catherine put her hands on her hips. The two best friends looked at each other and grew wide, mischievous grins on their faces as they said unison:

"3…"

"2…"

"1…"

A loud splashing sound was heard as Luka's aura sphere lifted the orange otter forcefully out of the water from the back and sent him careening back to the ground at Luka's feet. Groaning, he reached out with his paws to pull himself back up when he felt something warm and stubby which he knew wasn't the ground and with great reluctance looked up to meet the cold glare from Luka who gently, yet firmly planted her foot on his paw. Screeching in fear, he tried desperately to free himself to no avail as Luka lazily looked at her friend who quickly took off her backpack and rummaged through it like a zigzagoon. When she found the thing she was looking for Catherine let a triumphant grin grow on her face.

"Success!" the potential heiress shouted as she held up a pokeball as if it was a championship trophy.

"(That's great Catherine, now can you stop acting like you did something special and catch this buizel already?)" Luka barked irritably as her foe was now struggling violently under her foot while Catherine just stuck her tongue out at her in response and hurled the pokeball at her intended target; sucking him up in a bright flash of red light.

The pokeball shook and rumbled violently as the duo watched it intently while in the meantime Luka charged another aura sphere just in case it did manage to break out. After a few more tense seconds, the pokeball clicked one final time and halted its rumbling, causing Catherine to squeal and pump her fists in the air as she sprinted over to it as if her life depended on it and held up the pokeball with childish glee.

"Yeah, that's catch numero uno!" Catherine exclaimed happily as Luka rolled her eyes and folded her arms as she walked over to her friend and stood at her side.

"(So what now; do we go back and train for a little while before challenging the gym or do we keep looking for more pokemon to add to our team?)" Luka asked her trainer thoughtfully while Catherine tapped her chin, deep in thought, before she turned to Luka and said:

"Luka, we should-"

Suddenly, a booming caw was heard causing the duo to turn their heads to the sound and were surprised to find a Pidgeot zooming towards them with a piece of paper in its mouth causing Luka to grit her teeth and frown at the newcomer's impending arrival.

"(How did it find us?)" Lucario mused out loud while Catherine just shrugged and patiently tapped her foot on the ground.

The flying type easily closed the distance between them and when it neared the ground a mere flap of its wings was enough to halt its descent and gave curt nods to the duo as it extended its beak towards Catherine. Looking at Luka for help, the aura pokemon sent a shrug towards her as Luka was equally confused by this as her best friend was and with great confusion, Catherine reluctantly took the letter out of Pidgeot's beak. Its job done, it gave one final caw before quickly ascending in the sky and was quickly just seen as a streak in the sky while Catherine saluted the pokemon and read the letter with a grin on her face.

Luka took notice of how her face went from a cheerful smile as she first laid her eyes on the letter to a confused, depressed one before she clenched her fists and stared down at the ground with tears running down her face causing Luka to look at her concernedly.

"(Catherine, are you-)"

Shoving the letter into the aura pokemon's chest, she stomped towards a nearby rock, sat down, and ran a hand through her hair as she muttered some curses under her breathe while Luka quickly skimmed the letter and what she read caused her eyes to widen in shock and crumple the letter in her paw angrily.

"(So, what's our next move?)" Luka questioned her trainer curiously causing Catherine to look up at her teary eyed, but with an angry, determined expression on her face.

"We fight," Catherine responded simply as she wiped away her tears with her forearm.

"(But the letter from your parents-)"

"I know! It says I'm no longer part of the family after what I did to Alice so that means we can't inherit the family fortune. But I won't just stand idly by and let my family's name be destroyed. We collect all the gym badges, we compete in the league, and if we do good enough, they'll see how good of a trainer I am and will give me another chance to compete for the right to inherit our family fortune," Catherine snapped angrily at her partner who folded her arms and narrowed her eyes at her trainer.

"(You're willing to fight through this whole journey on the slim chance that your parents will let you fight for the family fortune?)" Luka asked her partner seriously who looked down at the ground for a few seconds before meeting Luka's gaze with an ice cold stare.

"It's the only thing I've got going for me now," Catherine replied bitterly as she got back up on her feet and took out her pokegear; searching through it thoroughly while Luka just shook her head at her and was glad her trainer didn't look up when she did.

"Let's head back down route 207 and go into some grass to see if we can find any other pokemon. If we find one, we'll go through intensive training and challenge the gym leader. If not, we'll train like there's no tomorrow and challenge the gym leader even though we'll be at a numbers disadvantage," Catherine told her friend bluntly causing Luka's eyebrows to rise and stare at her friend quizzically.

"(Catherine…)"

"Luka, you're with me right?" Luka's trusted friend asked her hopefully who didn't hesitate in grasping Catherine's hand, looking her straight in the eye, and giving her a slow, meaningful nod causing Catherine to pull the jackal pokemon into a hug.

Surprised by this, all Luka could do was wrap her arms around her friend's waist and rub her back soothingly as Catherine rested her head on her shoulder.

"Thank you," Catherine muttered softly into her friend's ear as she patted Luka's back and broke the hug and began to walk alongside the river forcing the aura pokemon to jog to catch up to her.

"(I'll always be there for you my Catherine. Even if it's for a small hope like this,)" Luka thought to herself solemnly as she felt her companion's aura turning turn from a vibrant light blue into a dark, bleak, pitch black.

Meanwhile

"Hydreigon, use dragon pulse!" Delia commanded her violent pokemon coolly as he roared to the sky and gathered the very essence of every dragon's fighting spirit into his wide maw and aimed it toward his foe.

Battered, bruised, and slightly bloodied, Rampardos panted and huffed as he stared at his foe nervously from across the battlefield as he awaited his trainer's commands.

"Rampardos, plow through it with head smash!" Roark screeched desperately as desperate times called for desperate measures.

Rampardos glared at his foe and gave out a war cry as his body was encased in whitish-blue aura as he lowered his head and charged at the oncoming blast without fear. The two mighty attacks collided with each other and were soon stuck in a bitter stalemate as neither side could overpower the other. Sparks flew dangerously around the arena as the combatants poured more and more power into their respective attacks until finally the strain proved too much for Rampardos as the blast of pure draconic energy overwhelmed him and sent him flying back into the wall with a loud crack.

"Rampardos!" Roark cried out worriedly as he leaped off his platform and rushed to his partner's side who was currently breathing loudly and had his puny arms lying limply at his side.

Thanking him for his efforts, Roark returned his fallen pokemon with his mining cap covering his eyes and roughly flung the badge across the gym at his now victorious challenger who caught it with ease in her palm of her hand. Delia thought about saying something, but decided against it and gave a polite bow to Roark who didn't even acknowledge it and sat down on the bleachers with his face buried in his black, soot covered gloves. Standing up, he looked at Delia for a brief second, his facing forming into a resentful scowl, and stomped past her and shoved open the doors; stunning both the referee and his conqueror.

"Is he going to be alright?" the battle ace asked the referee as she patted Hydreigon on the head and returned him to his pokeball; all without looking at the door Roark stormed out of.

"I think so, I guess that he still isn't used to being defeated by young trainers such as you and that young kid with that foreign pokemon earlier," the referee responded with a shrug as he walked towards the battlefield, a broom and pan in hand, and began sweeping away the debris.

"Dmitri won huh? Good for him, now we just have to wait for Catherine to battle so we can push onward with his journey," Delia pondered as she stepped out of the gym and walked back to the pokemon center with her hands in her pockets as she wondered how her friend was doing.

Sighing, she pushed aside these thoughts for now as she walked through the doors of the pokemon center and approached the front desk as she frowned at the fact the she had to wait behind someone with purple hair, his hands shoved in his pockets with his eyes closed and his head tilting slightly downward. Delia sighed and reluctantly took her place behind him as she impatiently tapped her foot on the ground as she wondered how long it would take for his pokemon to heal so she could get hers healed. A loud ding was heard, causing the young, purple haired boy's head to perk up as he looked at the counter stone-faced and watched Nurse Joy return with a tray of pokeballs with a sunny smile on her face.

"Here you are! Your pokemon are completely healed!" Nurse Joy exclaimed cheerfully as the young boy quickly took his pokeballs of the tray and attached them to his belt.

Bowing with a happy grin on her face, Nurse Joy recited how she wished to see him again and he just nodded at her and turned around to walk out when an excited little boy approached him with the widest grin Delia had ever seen on a little boy; his eyes beaming with joy.

"Hey mister, thanks again for the pokemon!" the boy shouted happily to the purpled haired boy who just nodded curtly and shoved his hands into his coat pockets.

Delia watched the little boy run out of the pokemon center with absolute glee while she just narrowed her eyes at the scene that took place in front of her. Angrily turning her head to face the boy, she folded her arms and shot him a death glare.

"Why did you give it up?" Delia questioned him accusingly as he stared back at her stoically.

"It was weak; it couldn't even beat one of Roark's pokemon, which is just pathetic. I have no need for weaklings on my team," was the simple reply from the boy as he glowered back at her intimidatingly, but all she did in response is lower her hands to her side and ball her hands into fists.

"Every pokemon has the potential to be strong. It just takes a trainer with dedication and patience to bring it out," Delia responded passionately as the boy rolled his eyes and put his hands on his hips.

"You sound like that Ketchum kid who beat me earlier today. He said I needed to care more for my pokemon and all that lovey dovey crap about friendship. Pokemon are just tools for us to use, nothing more," the boy stated apathetically as she shoved past her and the automatic sliding doors causing Delia to inhale and exhale softly as she curled and uncurled her hands into a fist.

"Yeah, you keep thinking like that. I'll be laughing when you lose a battle because your pokemon are unwilling to fight for you anymore," Delia snapped coldly just loud enough for Paul to hear as he grunted, but said nothing in response as he continued walking away while the battle ace just took the pokeballs off her belt and placed them on the counter in front of Nurse Joy.

"That young man I swear. He just came in here rambling about he lost to some trainer with a Pikachu and how it was his pokemon's fault that he lost. It's a shame trainers today are more inclined to think that pokemon are mere weapons of war," Nurse Joy mused sadly as she took Delia's pokeballs and put them in the healing machine.

After a few moments, a ding was heard and Nurse Joy walked over to the machine, took the pokeballs out, placed them on a tray, and handed them back to Delia who grinned and said a quick thank you to the esteemed nurse. Clipping the pokeballs to her belt, she decided to head back to the room her friend rented for a few days. When she opened the door, she grinned at how cute Dmitri and Maris looked as they both were snuggling up to each other and quietly set down her backpack on nearby chair. Sighing, she walked over to one of the spare beds and laid down on it, staring up at the ceiling with her hands behind her head.

Hearing the door opening, she turned her head lazily to it and found her two new friends coming through it. Initially she was happy to see them, but their crestfallen expressions caused her to look at them in concern.

"What's wrong you guys?" Delia asked her friends worriedly as she got up and sat on the edge of the bed.

Letting out a sad sigh, Catherine slowly approached her friend and handed her a torn, crumpled piece of paper which Delia looked at with furrowed brows and began reading it. Delia's eyebrows rose in shock at the news the letter beheld before she returned to her usual calm demeanor and pulled Catherine into a hug.

"It's okay, I'm here for you," Delia told her distraught friend sincerely as Catherine closed her eyes and buried her face into Delia's shoulder as the battle ace soothingly rubbed her back.

"I'm not giving up Delia. I'm going to show them I'm still worthy to be considered to inherit my parent's fortune and bring them financial stability," Catherine muffled out of Delia's shirt sleeve as she broke the hug and sat down on the edge of the bed with a hand on her head.

"You realize that this hope you're fighting for slipped through your hands like water and you have very little chance of getting it back?" Delia stated bluntly as Catherine closed her eyes, hung her head down, and nodded slowly.

"Despite all that, you're still willing to fight for this one-in-a-million chance. That takes heart and courage Catherine. I really like that in a trainer. No matter how much they get beaten down, they shake it off and get right back up," Delia mused to herself as she noticed two pokeballs attached to Catherine's belt.

"You got two new pokemon?" Delia asked out loud to her friend who couldn't help but let a small smile form onto her lips as she ran her hands over the two pokeballs.

"Yeah, I got a buizel and a geodude. These two were hard guys to catch, but I did it. I just came back to check up on you guys before I started training them to the extremes," Catherine told Delia who suddenly smirked smugly, confusing Catherine.

"What?"

"Nothing, it's just that we're waiting on you to get the badge so we can move on."

"What, you guys got your badges before me? Not cool, totally unfair!" Catherine whined playfully causing both Delia and Catherine to snicker until a pillow collided with the ex-heiress's head.

"(Would you keep it down? We're trying to sleep after Luxio and I got the sh** beaten out of us!)" Maris snarled at them as she tussled and turned on the bed with angry scowl on her face.

"Geez, what's gotten into you princess?" Catherine teased the martial arts pokemon who growled at her and burrowed herself further under a blanket.

"Luka, Catherine, why don't you guys step outside. Take sleepy head and his pokeball with you too. Maris and I need to talk," Delia ordered calmly as Luka shook her head, approached the bed, and gently heaved Dmitri onto her shoulder.

Catherine quickly pried open the door and impatiently gestured for Luka to pick up the pace causing the aura pokemon to shake her head and jog to the open door. Shaking Dmitri awake, he looked around in confusion before Luka explained to him the situation and his eyes showed concern for one of his most trusted companions.

"I should go see what this is about," Dmitri said concernedly as he started walking toward the open door, but Luka's outstretched arm prevented him from moving forward.

"(No, I don't think that's a good idea. This is something that concerns you and it would be awkward for you to be around when she starts venting,)" Luka explained to Maris's disheartened companion as best as she could.

Dmitri and Maris locked eyes with each other as the martial arts pokemon shifted her gaze at the ground and put her paws on her hips. Dmitri sighed and put his head down in defeat as he allowed Luka to lead away while Catherine put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and gripped it tightly.

Closing the door, Delia turned to an infuriated Maris who glowered back at her.

"So what's up? What got you all riled up?" Delia interrogated her friend with a frown as Maris folded her arms and turned her head towards the window, a light blush on her face.

"(I tried to tell Dmitri my true feelings and the a**hole fell asleep on me!)" Maris roared with white, hot rage as she huffed and puffed angrily.

"Okay, I get why you're angry, but that's no reason to snap at Catherine. She's just teasing you, no harm done," Delia replied with barely suppressed giggles as Maris growled and glared right at her friend.

"(Shut the hell up! This isn't something to laugh about!)" Maris yelled, flustered as she threw another pillow at one of her friends who batted it away with a smile on her face.

"Sorry, I just find your little situation cute as all. My advice, don't be afraid to tell him how you feel. I'm sure he'll recuperate your feelings as he feels the same way about you, he's just too shy to admit it," Delia admitted to one of her most trusted companions with a grin on her face while Maris's eyes widened in shock and caused her to fall down on the bed on her back.

"(All this time, I thought I was the one who-wait a minute! How do I know you're not just telling me what I want to hear?)" Maris questioned Delia suspiciously as Delia frowned and shoved her hands into her pockets.

"Maris, you're a smart girl. Haven't you realized how he glances at you when he thinks you're not looking? I'd thought you're ability to sense chi would have at least informed you of that," Delia tersely commented as Maris groaned and muttered the words "stupid," "stupid," "stupid," while pounding her head with her fist.

"(I don't think I'll ever be able to tell him Delia, I just get this creeping feeling that he's going to flip out and reject me,)" Maris responded in a defeated tone as she hung her head low, causing the battle ace to gnash her teeth and clench her fists.

"Fine, you're too shy to tell him? Then I'll do it for you," Delia stated fiercely as Maris snarled and sprung off the bed so she was right in Delia's face; glowering at her with a face that said "Tell him if you want to die."

"(You'd better not,)" Maris threatened Delia as she balled her paws into a fist.

"Maris, I'm doing it because you guys would be so much happier this way. So logically speaking, it would be dumb of me not to do it."

"(The only living being who's going to tell Dmitri that I love him is me, NO ONE ELSE!)" Maris yelled ferociously at Delia who fearlessly stood her ground and calmly readdressed her friend.

"I can't trust your word on that Maris since you told me yourself you didn't think you'd ever be able to tell him. So know this, if a great opportunity presents itself to you to fess up and you let it slip by, and I'm telling him myself," Delia said icily to the shocked martial arts pokemon whose face scrunched up and she tackled her forcefully; causing Maris to land on top of Delia.

Maris attempted to pin her wrists down, but Delia head butted her and grabbed the side of her head and using her hips for momentum, threw the enraged Maris off of her. Delia's normal, serene black eyes changed to her outraged, pulsating red ones as she glared at her stubborn friend who was lying on her back and covering her forehead with her paw as blood dripped down from it.

"Feel like trying that again?" Delia asked angrily Maris who grunted and stood up on her feet while still clutching her head.

Delia sighed and calmly walked over to Maris who rolled her eyes and sat down on the edge of the bed with an apathetic look on her face.

"I have some bandages in my backpack that I'll use to heal that wound on your head. If Dmitri asks, just tell him you and Haxorus went at it again," Delia ordered Maris who let out a "humph" and turned her back on Delia who rolled her eyes and shook her head at Maris's immaturity.

After rummaging through her backpack for a little bit, Delia found what she was looking for and confidently approached her hurt friend who looked like she wanted to punch her head right off her shoulders.

"Here, let me see that wound," Delia said soothingly to Maris who relented and put down her paw.

It was dead silent for the entire time Delia patched up her friend as while she did feel bad about what she did, it was just so infuriating to her that her two of her greatest friends would be so much happier if they just told each other how they felt about one another. Delia put the finishing touches on her handiwork and gently wrapped some gauze around Maris's head while the martial arts pokemon stared blankly at her the entire time.

"There, all done," Delia said as she finished wrapping the gauze around the disgruntled mienshao's head.

Maris didn't say anything back to the battle ace; she just stared at the ground for a little while before shifting her gaze to the open window where the sun shone brightly in her eyes. Staring back at Delia, she sighed and put her paws on her legs.

"(You're right Delia; you don't have to worry about telling him. I'll tell him as soon as I can,)" Maris said matter-of-factly to Delia who just nodded in response and walked over to a chair and sat down on it while keeping her eyes on Maris who just continued to stare down at the floor.

"Maris?"

"(Hmm?)"

Delia sucked in some air and let it out as she walked over to Maris intently and knelt down so they were about the same height. Letting her arms rest on her side, she looked at Maris dead in the eye and said:

"Go ahead and head-butt me Maris. It's only fai-"

No sooner had these words left her mouth; Maris struck forward with the good part of her head and hit Delia right in the temple. Delia's world suddenly went blurry and fuzzy as she struggled to stay on her feet, but it was hard when her legs felt like jelly. Staggering around for a little bit, she finally righted herself against a cabinet and slowly faced Maris again who had a tired grin on her face.

"Okay, we're cool now Maris?" Delia questioned her friend who smiled at her and helped her up so they were sitting next to each other on the side of the bed.

"(Let's get you fixed up you idiot,)" Maris replied happily as she picked up the gauze and began wrapping it around Delia's head as the battle ace's ferocious, red eyes finally returned back to her black, peaceful ones.

Once again guys, sorry this new chapter took so long.

-Negative 97