Ch.18

Push Forward

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Karen aimlessly shuffled the halls at the battle academy as she was confused and surprised at her son's victory over Roark and tapped her finger to her chin. Stephanie glanced at her long-time friend and noticed that she was deep in thought about something; something that the grass snake knew all too well. Extending her tail to block Karen's progress, she coiled around her gently and placed her head on her friend's shoulder.

"(I know that you're concerned about Dmitri's earlier than perceived victory, but this isn't something we should worry about. This is only one showing of his skill and I'm certain the other gym leaders will cause him trouble, like they did for us when we were on a journey,)" Stephanie assured her concerned friend who shook her head and petted Stephanie while looking down at the floor.

"Even if you're right Steph, I'm not willing to take that risk. Even if they do defeat him once, twice, or even three times, he's going to keep coming back until he gets that gym badge. Also, you're forgetting about Delia, Steph; Roark told me she didn't defeat him, she destroyed him," Karen said worriedly as Stephanie rolled her eyes and snorted rudely at Karen's concerns.

"(I can handle whatever those two can throw at me. The only real contenders on Delia's team are Haxorus, who I easily crushed in her battle against us to show that she was at the same level as a champion, and her Hydreigon, who last time I checked, stopped listening to her after he evolved! Dragonite and Druddigon are just cannon fodder and will be dealt with swiftly in our inevitable rematch. And Junior, his only heavy hitter is Maris, Maris! The only other pokemon he's captured is a luxio who's probably not even close to evolving to her final form,)" Stephanie scoffed causing passing student's to look at the duo in surprise before Karen held out her hand calmly and shooed them away.

"And Catherine?" Karen inquired of her life long partner who scrunched her face and tilted her head to the side.

"(Who?)" Stephanie asked Karen confusedly as she waved her tail back and forth like a pendulum.

"Catherine Wayne, former potential heiress of Wayne Hotel which is a widespread chain of hotels expanding from the sinnoh region, the kanto region, the johto region, and just recently the unova region. I'm surprised you at least haven't heard of them; after all we did stay in one of their hotels during the lily of the valley conference," Karen replied as Stephanie's eyes lit up and grew a smirk on her face.

"(I remember now, their rooms had the comfiest beds I ever slept in! I can't believe those old coots decided to have yet another kid as they have like what…five now?"), the regal pokemon said incredulously as Karen couldn't help but agree with her partner.

"From what I gathered from witnesses from her battle aboard the cruise ship we sent Dmitri and Delia were on and from her recent victory over Roark she's actually quite good; not as good as some of her other siblings though," the former champion stated as she resumed walking down the hallways without a certain destination in mind.

"(So, what about Mrs. Priss's pokemon team; are there any good?)" Stephanie questioned Karen who shrugged and continued walking down the empty hallways.

"I head members of the Wayne family are given many exotic and rare pokemon to choose from so it wouldn't be a surprise if she had an entire army of pokemon at her disposal," Karen responded simply as she pushed open a door which revealed the blaring sunlight high up in the sky.

Ignoring it, she walked towards the outdoor dining areas where a battle was currently being held between two of Dmitri's earliest opponents; surprising the former champion as she thought they had transferred to one of the Battle Academy's junior schools.

"Emboar, brick break!"

"Golden Streak, dodge and use rock polish!"

Emboar stiffened one of his hands and curled his thumb into his palm and with great strength, brought it down on golem. Golem managed to sidestep at the last second and flashed a bright light into his foe's face, but it seemed it didn't do any good as a fist smashed into his face out of the white light which sent him tumbling across the grassy field. Golem panted and tried to get back on his shaky legs, but he didn't have the strength to and collapsed on the ground.

Golem's trainer sighed and returned his partner to his pokeball and thanked him for his efforts while Emboar's trainer happily ran up to her pokemon and caught him in a flying hug which he was very eager to return as he spun her around gleefully. After emboar had set her down, the two opposing trainer's approached each other in the center of the battlefield and shook hands as respectful smiles were clearly seen by all on each of their faces.

"You did well, but it looks like I win our bet," the queen of fire said confidently as Zach rubbed the back of his head in response.

"Yeah, I figured you would doll face," Zach replied back with a cheeky smile as the girl fumed and broke off the handshake and stomped on the ground with a blush on her face.

"Don't call me that! I am Elise, the queen of fire and the strongest fire type trainer in all the land!" Elise blurted out as she flailed her arms viciously at Zach who could only laugh at what he was seeing.

"You two have gone under a drastic personality change; and one for the better it seems," a serene voice said behind the trainers as they slowly turned around to see who the voice belonged and their eyes widened in shock when they saw who it was.

Immediately bowing respectfully and keeping their heads down, Elise addressed the person in question.

"Mrs. Long, it's an honor to be in your presence! What's a teacher of this academy's greatest student's doing so far away from the battle master's outdoor dining area?" Elise asked nervously as she kept her head down in case her question infuriated the esteemed teacher.

"Guys, you can raise your heads and look at me. I'm not like the other battle master teachers who treat the ranks below them with contempt. And to answer your question, I can't walk around freely around campus without being gawked at? This is my campus too after all," Karen answered as the two astounded trainers looked up at her with beaming eyes.

"So, care to tell me what this bet was about, if you don't mind me asking though," Karen inquired of the duo who blushed at her question and of the two, Elise was the only one to respond.

"W-we made a bet that said that the victor would face Dmitri again to show him how strong we've gotten when we last faced him," Elise stuttered out bashfully causing Karen's eyes to narrow and her eyebrows to rise as she put her hands on her hips while Stephanie just coiled up and rested her head on her body.

"For what reason do you want to face my son again?" Karen asked curiously as Elise rubbed her foot across the ground while Zach put his hands in his pockets and looked around from left to right quickly.

"We want to face him to prove our worth towards him. We want to show him that we can be good trainers too and to show how much his battle against either of us helped us improve as trainers," Zach responded firmly as Elise sighed and nodded at her cohort's statement causing Karen to grin.

"So what you're basically saying is you want Dmitri to approve of your skills as a trainer since he defeated you guys?" Karen questioned the duo who vigorously nodded causing her to chuckle and fold her arms.

"If he saw what you guys were doing and how much you improved, he'd be really proud of you guys. Elise, you're learning to not just jump in to battle right away and carefully pick your attacks and Zach, you're learning how to be much kinder to your pokemon," Karen told the shocked duo as they suddenly grinned and high fived each other.

"(Hmph, any trainer Junior can beat, Delia can destroy. And any trainer Delia can destroy, we can annihilate,)" Stephanie muttered contemptuously as Karen rolled her eyes and unfolded her arms to let them rest at her side.

"Well you two, the only advice I can really give you guys is keep doing what you're doing and stay on this path you're on. As for me, I think it's time I reunite with some old friends," Karen said to the two as they bowed respectfully to her and Stephanie who just snorted in response and slithered behind her trainer as she began exploring the school once again.

"(Reunite with some old friends? You can't possibly mean-)"

"It's exactly what I mean Stephanie. Think about it Steph, underdogs have shown that they have a lot of fight in them so when faced with a superior force, they'll never back down. So later today I'm going to contact Professor Juniper about sending over some of your former teammates to resume our training together while we gather the rest at the Battle Academy," Karen said firmly causing the grass snake's body to tense up and her brow to furrow as she grew a frown on her face.

"(You don't need any of those guys with us Kit Kat. I'm perfectly capable of handling Junior's merry band of misfits by myself!)" Stephanie shouted indignantly at her trainer who smiled at her and petted her head.

"I know you can, but I'm not taking that risk."

"(I really hate you right now Kit Kat.)"

"Love you too. Let's start with dragon field in the northeast side of the campus to get back one of your dearest teammates back with us and then will go recruit our other friends to aid us in our mission," Karen said happily causing Stephanie to grimace and shudder at the memories of her "dearest teammate."

"(Fine, let's go see if that annoying old coot still has some screws left in that brain of his and then will go get that annoying flea from the garden,)" Stephanie growled through clenched teeth as Karen grinned and shook her head at her best friend's antics as she began to move toward a destination she finally had in mind.

"Don't think I won't be training too my son. This isn't going to be like those movies we used to watch where the underdog triumphs over the champion after a hard fought battle. I'll crush your team and lay waste to Delia and Catherine as well!"

Meanwhile

"I still don't remember a time when we stayed at our rented room that you and Haxorus managed to fight each other yet again as he was in his pokeball during the time you guys said you bashed each other's skulls in and Delia still hasn't explained how that wound on her head appeared!" Dmitri cried out frustratingly as Maris shifted her foot uneasily on the ground and shrugged.

"(Well to answer your second part of your question me and Delia were fighting -)"

"WHAT?! You guys were fighting? Why?" Dmitri asked Maris in shock as Delia shot Maris a cold glare while she just held up her paws while rubbing the back of her head nervously.

"(Well…uh…um…oh! You see, the reason why Delia has a bandage on her head is because I accidently hit her too hard while we were sparring against each other. And before you say anything, Delia wanted to test out this new move she been practicing and needed to see if it worked against a trained martial artist. So she asked if she could test it out against me and I agreed to do so; and that's when things got out of hand. I easily slipped out of the hold she put me in and with my blood pumping and my adrenaline flowing one hundred miles a minute, I socked her right in the temple," Maris lied to save face as she put her arms to her side and looked right at Dmitri.

"Maris! How you could you punch Delia?" Dmitri exclaimed in astonishment at his friend's "violent act" while Maris hugged Dmitri and pushed his face into her chest; blocking his view as she intended and winked at Delia who rolled her eyes and folded her arms.

"(I know dude I said I was flippin sorry! Any who that's how Delia got the bandage on her forehead and to answer the first part of your question Haxorus heard all the commotion from his pokeball and when he saw Delia bleeding all over the place he kinda lost his marbles and attacked me! I acted in self-defense, but he got in a good claw swipe at my head which caused me to have a bandage put on my thanks to iguana boy,)" Maris answered hastily as she looked at Dmitri expectantly while Luka and Catherine had the most confused expressions on their faces.

"As long as you and Haxorus settled your differences it's fine with me Maris. But I want you to promise me that you'll show restraint in the future after what you did to my sister okay?" Dmitri told his best friend sternly who sighed in annoyance and after a brief moment of silence, nodded and broke off the hug.

"Delia?" Dmitri said to his best friend who tilted her head and looked at him with a surprised expression.

"Yes, brother?"

"Don't do something stupid like that again in the future okay? If you want to test a new move then just ask Luka for help. You know how rough and aggressive Maris can get," Dmitri chided his best friend who smiled at him warmly.

"Sure thing, Dmitri."

Maris, however, had her jaw hanging open and furiously stomped her foot on the ground while giving Dmitri a death glare as she had a deep blush on her face.

"(Whaddya mean I'm rough and aggressive?! I'm as fluffy as feathers and as sweet as sugar! Name one time, one time, where I did something that showed I was rough and aggressive!)" Maris yelled exasperatedly as she balled her paws in a fist and grinded her teeth.

"Well, there was that time when you destroyed the kiddy pool when you were a baby," Dmitri responded to his friend's question and Maris just scoffed and put her paws on her hips.

"And that time you were about to punch Zach's Golem right in the nose despite it not being able to fight back," Delia stated offhandedly causing Maris to groan and put her arms to her sides.

"Remember that time you slammed Luka face first during our battle against each other on the ship?" Catherine asked Maris who moaned and hunched over slightly with her arms hanging limp in the air.

"(How about the time you shot a wave of energy right in infernape's face?)" Luka replied to Maris's question causing the martial arts pokemon to kneel down and circle her paw on the soft dirt.

Suddenly, a burst of white light erupted from Dmitri's belt and materializing in that bright light was Luxio who had confused look on her face.

"(What about when you broke Infernape's chin Mrs. Maris?)" Luxio inquired of the martial arts pokemon who fiercely shot a chi ball at her teammate who mewled in fright and ducked under the attack as she ran behind Dmitri and growled at Maris.

"(Who asked you anyway you runt!)" Maris shouted angrily at Luxio who brandished her claws viciously at Maris while hiding behind Dmitri's leg as he sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Guys, that's enough," Dmitri ordered firmly as Maris scowled and rolled her eyes, but nodded nonetheless. Luxio affectionately rubbed her head against her friend's leg and stuck her tongue out at Maris who stuck hers out in return.

"Geez, you guys are overpowered little kids I swear," Delia muttered as she flipped her hair behind her back as her comment didn't faze her friend in the slightest as Maris shrugged and took her place next to Dmitri's side.

"So guys I was thinking, after we get to Eterna City, why don't we all have battles against each other to see who gets to challenge the gym leader first?" Catherine asked her companions causing Luka to frown and lightly smack her friend in the back of the head.

"(Don't be foolish Catherine. We all know that Delia would reign supreme if we decided to have a tournament against each other,)" Luka barked at her friend who narrowed her blue eyes at her while tenderly rubbing the back of her head.

"Fine, what do you suggest then?" Catherine challenged Luka who sighed in defeat and shrugged as no alternative came to mind.

"(What about roshambo?)" Luxio suggested as everyone (except for Dmitri), gave her odd looks and shook their heads.

"No, we aren't playing a game that people can win just be chance," Delia said in an irritated tone as Luxio mewled in a sad tone before pawing the pokeball at her trainer's belt and allowed herself to be sucked back in.

"(Why don't we let Catherine go first since she was the one who got her gym badge last? I mean, it's only fair to let the slowpoke of our group be given a chance to go first,)" Maris said mockingly as Luka's eyes widened in shock before she narrowed her eyes at Maris and growled at her viciously.

"(Sis, choose your next words very carefully,)" Luka snarled at Maris with barred teeth while Maris held her hands up to calm her friend down.

"Actually Luka, I think that's actually a good idea. So how about from now on, the person who went last to challenge the gym in the previous town gets to challenge the gym first in the next one?" Dmitri said unsurely to his companions who just muttered to themselves before nodding in approval of his suggestion.

"Okay, sounds good guys," Delia said softly as she picked up her things she had placed on side of the trail and placed them on her back with her friends doing the same as they pushed forward to Eterna city.

In a strange sense of déjà vu, trainers once again avoided the group as they heard the rumors of the "bully dragon tamer and her friends" while Delia just rolled her eyes and ignored them, but the same couldn't be said about Dmitri and Catherine. They waved to the occasional trainers they saw on their journey, but all they would receive were harsh, cold glares in return. Delia was half expecting the same little boy who challenged her on their way to Oreburgh City to do so once again, but didn't see him among the trainers they passed by. The little rumor that was flying around, however, made it hard for the group to challenge trainers when they needed money or just to train as opposing trainers would deny their challenge or shield their pokemon and run away from them in fright.

When they finally got to Eterna City, they took in the view it showed them and were left in admiration for the aging, but still quite good looking city.

"I'll go on ahead and rent us rooms for a few days," Delia said hurriedly as she sprinted to the pokemon center; leaving Catherine, Luka, Maris, and Dmitri behind.

"Why was she such in a big rush?" Catherine asked bewilderedly.

"(Probably because she doesn't want to deal with trainers fleeing from her like terrified toddlers at the sight of a bully; which leaves me to wonder why Dmitri isn't the one getting heat from this rumor. I'm the evil foreign pokemon who knocked out that young turd's rattata after all,)" Maris mused out loud as Luka and Catherine couldn't help but agree at her statement.

"Delia is the most intimidating out of our entire group and Dmitri's so innocent looking so that's probably why people are aiming for her so much," Catherine stated as Dmitri looked down at the ground and groaned miserably.

"(She also was the one who was facing that young boy's brother's poliwrath and refused his challenge so he probably wanted to get back at her by saying she was the one who beat up his brother's rattata,)" Luka said to no one in particular causing Dmitri to sit down on the ground and bring his knees up to his chest.

"(Something bothering you?)" Maris said worriedly as she knelt down next to Dmitri and put a paw on his shoulder.

"Yes, Delia doesn't' deserve all this hate and spite she's receiving. She's a good person Maris!" her crush nearly sobbed out as he covered his eyes with his hands.

"(Catherine, Luka, can you guys please go on ahead and meet up with Delia? This is something we need to talk out,)" Maris ordered her friends who looked at them sympathetically.

"Are you sure?" Catherine asked in concern as Maris nodded vigorously in reply causing Luka and Catherine to look at each other and nod.

Jogging to the pokemon center, they left their two friends alone in the city with the moon shining down upon Maris and Dmitri.

"(Hey, why don't' we sit on that bench over there?)" Maris suggested to Dmitri who after a brief moment, nodded in affirmation.

After making their way over to the bench, Maris wrapped one of her arms around Dmitri's waist and looked at him dead in the eye.

"(You're not the only one who doesn't like the attention Delia's getting. Why can't those jerks realize that the rumor isn't true?)" Maris seethed bitterly as she balled her paw into a fist and smashed it against her leg in fury.

"I know Maris. I know," Dmitri sobbed openly as Maris rubbed his back soothingly with her other arm while she gritted her teeth in anger.

"(Those trainers made Dmitri cry. I'll make every single one of them pay for what they did!)" Maris thought to herself furiously as the sight of her best friend crying only intensified her rage.

Meanwhile

"Thank you so much Nurse Joy," Delia said gratefully to the nurse who smiled and bowed to her in return as Delia walked over to Luka and Catherine who were waiting for her in some chairs where Catherine was reading old magazines while Luka had her eyes closed and her arms folded.

Luka's appendages on the back of her head suddenly rose as she grasped her head and bit down on her lip; causing Catherine to look at her friend in concern.

"What is it Luka?"

"(Dmitri's pain, I feel it Catherine. I kept my aura sense on Maris and Dmitri the whole time as I didn't feel comfortable leaving them alone and right now, Dmitri is in emotional distress,)" Luka told Catherine solemnly as Catherine grabbed Luka's paw to ease the tension she was feeling.

"Should I check up on them?" Delia asked Luka in concern as Luka just shook her head.

"(I think whatever he's feeling right now; Maris can handle it.)"

Meanwhile

Maris simply couldn't take this anymore. She hated seeing her friend's in despair or in pain, especially the one who raised her like a big brother. Any inward conflict she had about her feelings towards Dmitri she pushed aside and with great tenderness, grabbed Dmitri's chin and forced him to look in her in the eye. Seeing some tears still in his eyes, she wiped them away with the sleeves of her paw gently and grinned at him to put him at ease.

"Why do I even have these sleeves on my arms? I hear my species uses them as whips in combat, but I never actually tried it; seems kinda impractical t-ugh! Why am I thinkin' about that right now! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! C'mon Maris, you can do this!" Maris thought to herself in affirmation as she gazed at her best friend's shy, dark brown eyes.

"(Dmitri, we've been best friends the moment I hatched out of the egg and as you can tell I'm really protective of you. It started out with just the thought of you needing someone to look out for you, but as the years went on, it developed into something more. We've both looked at each other when we thought the other wasn't looking and we both know what that means,)" Maris told Dmitri bashfully with a heavy blush on her face while he tilted his head to the side.

"(Here goes,)" Maris thought to herself determinedly as she shut her eyes briefly before looking at Dmitri again.

She wrapped her arms around Dmitri's waist tightly, but not too tight to actually hurt him, just enough to keep him in place and rested her forehead against his, causing him to look into her red eyes in confusion.

"Maris, what's this about?" Dmitri breathed out quizzically as he was confused at his best friend's actions and wriggled around for a bit.

Maris inhaled and exhaled quickly as she tightened her embrace slightly; causing Dmitri to gasp and look at her worriedly as he wondered if there was anything wrong with his best friend. He would put a hand to her head to see if she had a fever, but they were currently trapped by Maris's hug.

"(Dmitri, I…I love you!)"