Ch.32

Second Round

Pokemon is the property of its respective owners

Stephanie was currently coiled around the couch flipping through television channels and briefly paused on a history show going over the brutal wars of the past before turning it off and staring blankly ahead, mulling in thought.

"(Is something bothering you Stephanie?)" a calm, stoic voice called out to her causing the massive python to glance behind her and nod respectfully at Lucario as he took a seat on the couch next to her and stared up at his teammate.

"(I know they were our enemies and they were threating to kill everyone, but even so it's hard not to feel bad about taking their lives away. Does…does killing her make me as bad as Cobalion?)" Stephanie sadly asked her teammate who pulled her into a hug causing the massive python to jolt, but eventually she returned it and stared down at Lucario who broke off the hug.

"(Stephanie, only an idiot would believe that and you're not an idiot. We both know that killing is wrong, but it's a necessary evil because we…we both know that some people never learn no matter how many chances you give them like Hunter J and Ghetsis,)" Lucario comforted his teammate who nodded in thanks for his reassuring words, but suddenly gave Lucario a confused gaze with a brow raised.

"(You didn't mention the Swords of Justice,)" Stephanie noted causing Lucario to blankly stare back at her and shrug.

"(Despite being the beings that began the Trainer Genocide and the Poke-Human War, they did this because they cared about their brethren despite their extreme attitude. While it's true that living on Earth they'd never change their ways and inevitably would initiate a second Poke-Human War, I believe being consulted by legendaries that had more critical thinking skills and emotional intelligence could have influenced them to change,)" Lucario answered causing Stephanie to snort at his comment and shudder, not wanting herself or her family to go through the tragedy of the Poke-Human War; just reading about it was bad enough.

"(Don't beat yourself up over it like you always do okay? We were getting worried about you so I decided to talk to you and I'm glad I did. I'll see in you in the backyard for training if you feel like joining us,)" Lucario said as he gave her another hug which Stephanie returned as she walked him walk away before picking up the remote again and resumed flipping through channels.

At one particular channel about a tournament in Hearthome, she set the remote down and decided to watch it to alleviate her boredom, but her eyes went wide when she was who was up next and quickly turned her head to the door leading to the backyard.

"(KIT KAT, GET IN HERE! DMITRI AND MARIS ARE ON TV!)" Stephanie shrieked at the top of her lung and in no time at all Karen jumped onto Stephanie's head and eyed the television frantically while the massive python calmly wrapped her vines around the former champion's waist and removed her from her head while giving the woman an unamused look causing Karen to rub the back of her head sheepishly while having a stupid grin on her face.

Shaking her head, the grass snake gently put Karen down on the couch next to her while the rest of their team eventually joined them and sat around the television set and intently studied the battle that was about to begin.

With Dmitri

"Kiera, time to fight!"

"Hitmonlee, go!"

When Kiera hit the ground, it sent out a minor tremor that shook the battlefield for a brief moment as Dmitri stood strong despite nearly losing his balance as Kiera sheepishly looked back at him with a blush on her face and clicked softly causing Dmitri to grin.

"Kiera, you don't have to apologize, after all you have…um…increased in mass?" Dmitri replied awkwardly while fiddling with his hands causing Maris to facepalm while Kiera cocked her head to the side with an unamused look on her face and trotted over to her trainer who rubbed the back of his head nervously while Kiera, who towered over Dmitri, continued to glare down at him before gently knocking him over with her head causing him to give out a surprised yelp.

Laughing, Dmitri pulled himself to his feet and dusted himself off while Kiera looked back at him and chuckled softly before going back to her same bored, determined stare that was fixed squarely on Brock's rugged Sudowoodo and Holly's swift Wingull. Dawn, of course, pulled out her pokedex along with a many others in the crowd to find out some information about Kiera, but was distraught to find there was no data on the foreign pokemon while Paul went wide-eyed upon seeing Kiera and clenched his fists tightly to the point that they went white. Out of all the trainers he didn't like, why did Dmitri, of all people, get to have a powerhouse pokemon?

"We finally get to see Kiera in action," Catherine remarked causing Luka to nod and could tell by Kiera's body language and aura that she was no amateur when it came to a fight while Delia stoically stared at the gigantic Scolipede and Lopunny was in awe at the sight of her.

"Jeez, she's a lot bigger than the average Scolipede; I'd say she's around 10'00" and maybe 700-750 pounds," Delia pointed out causing Lopunny to nearly choke on the air she was breathing and stared at Delia with surprised, anxious eyes while Delia looked at her with concern.

"(Wait, you meant I might have to fight her in the tournament?)" Lopunny stated with a fearful stutter while Delia simply nodded in response and put a hand on Lopunny's shoulder to calm her down.

"Yes, you may have to, but you've fought Dragonite who's nearly as big as Kiera so I know you can handle her if the time comes," Delia reassured her causing Lopunny to look at Kiera unsurely before nodding determinedly.

"Battle begin!" the referee shouted causing Hitmonlee to jump onto Kiera's head while Kiera simultaneously brought her foot down causing a massive tremor that left large, gaping holes in the battlefield and caused Sudowoodo to fall onto one knee to try to endure the immense damage he was sustaining while Wingull remained unfazed by it and simply awaited orders.

Without missing a beat, Hitmonlee jumped off Kiera's head and onto the ground behind her as they both gritted their teeth when a blast of chilling wind hit them, but they paid it no mind as Kiera suddenly curled up into a ball and with a war cry, Hitmonlee mightily kicked his teammate like a ball causing the massive bug type to rocket towards her foes at a rapid pace.

"Not good, Sudowoodo use double edge!" Brock cried out causing the tree like pokemon to charge toward the spinning violet ball of death hurtling towards them while Holly noticed that Hitmonlee was sneakily keeping out of sight by running behind his teammate which caused her to shout out her own command.

"Wingull, aerial ace!" Holly called out causing Wingull to let out a cry and barrel towards the fighting type causing Alex to thrust her arm forward and point at her partner.

"Endure!" the battle girl yelled causing Hitmonlee stop in his tracks and enter a horse stance with his muscles tensed while Kiera and Sudowoodo finally collided with one another, Kiera almost immediately overpowered her foe which caused the rock type to feel tremors go throughout his entire body and let out a shout of pain as he felt all the feeling in his chest vanish while he lay on his back looking up at the sky.

Kiera winced and hissed softly from the pain of the collision, but forced it down just as Sudowoodo got back onto his feet and briefly glanced behind her to see that her partner was faring well against the flying type and thus focused her attention on the tree like pokemon who glared at her determinedly.

Immediately, Kiera zipped around her foe leaving afterimages in her wake which baffled the former gym leader as to how something so big could move so fast, but quickly countered Kiera's strategy.

"Sudowoodo, use mimic!" Brock cried out causing his loyal pokemon to begin moving around the battlefield rapidly and it too left afterimages, but its speed was nowhere near that of Kiera's who saw her chance when the rock type attempted to sprint again and bull rushed him.

Using her forward momentum, she quickly spun around and smashed her foe forcefully with her tail that had a silver sheen to it, but Sudowoodo managed to block it by bringing his arms up which sent him skidding backwards and also forced him off his feet. He had to block again when Kiera reared up on her feet and slammed her foot down onto her prone foe as Kiera gritted her teeth and strained her muscles as she was forcing her entire weight down onto Sudowoodo who struggled to force her off of him.

"Wingull, use supersonic on Hitmonlee and then use aerial ace on that…thing," Holly commanded causing her pokemon to narrow its eyes determinedly fire off an offsetting, transparent ring of energy at Hitmonlee who suddenly began stumbling around like a drunkard causing Alex to cry out concernedly to him while Dmitri clenched his fists tightly upon seeing Wingull fast approaching Kiera.

"Kiera, behind you!" Dmitri shouted causing Kiera to not even bother to look behind her to see what he was talking about and struck out with her head, which was illuminated by a vibrant green energy, like a spear which not only stopped Wingull dead in its tracks, but caused it to tumble and flip violently in the air before crashing to the ground with a brutal, bone crunching thud.

"Wingull is unable to battle," the referee yelled causing Holly to dejectedly sigh and return her pokemon and hoped that Brock could somehow pull out a victory against overwhelming odds, but fortunately for her Wingull's attack distracted Kiera enough that her weight wasn't pressing down on Sudowoodo as much anymore.

Sudowoodo immediately threw Kiera's foot off of him causing Kiera to yip in surprise and briefly fell to the ground before standing up again and regarded her opponent with the same blank look she gave others.

"Sudowoodo, fake tears!" Brock shouted causing his pokemon to kneel in front of Kiera and began crying like an over the top actor trying to wrench sympathy from the audience, but Kiera was having none of that and ferociously hit her foe across the face with her tail that once again adopted a metallic glow to it sending Sudowoodo tumbling backwards back to Brock's feet.

Sudowoodo, however, managed to get up with some struggling on his part, but had no time to recuperate as he was hit by a quick flash of silver light that struck him across the face and sent him back down to the ground again and again as Brock felt helpless watching his pokemon get pummeled, but suddenly Hitmonlee shouted at Kiera, surprising the bug type, who ceased her assault on her hapless foe.

Hitmonlee and Kiera briefly, but angrily conversed with one another while Dmitri, completely understanding what Hitmonlee was saying, shook his head in frustration and turned to Alex with an annoyed, confused look. Brock, however, was relieved that Sudowoodo was no longer under assault and watched his pokemon tiredly pull himself up and managed to get onto one knee while his foes continued to argue with each other.

"Alex, let's take down Sudowoodo together and then we win," Dmitri advised his partner who vigorously shook her head, disgusted at what he said, and folded her arms while giving Kiera harsh look.

"Dmitri, look, you have your way of training your pokemon and I have mine, but ganging up on a single opponent and hitting an unready foe is dishonorable combat. Tell Kiera to back off and let Hitmonlee face him alone," Alex replied passionately with fire in her eyes while Maris, with herculean effort, managed to resist the urge to groan in frustration and smack herself in the face when she heard what Alex had said.

A perfect opportunity to finish the fight and call it a day and this girl wanted to prolong it by fighting Sudowoodo one at a time? Maris hoped that within all of her being that Dmitri would ignore Alex's request and just finish this fight as she knew that Brock, the way he carried himself, is an experienced trainer and they couldn't give him any sort of advantage.

"I'm sorry," Dmitri murmured to her remorsefully as Kiera looked sympathetically at her trainer and reluctantly followed through with his request, knowing full well that this would break any trust that he had established with Alex, but she would defend him from this girl's wrath after they won.

Brock, seeing his reprieve was up, called out for one last desperate attack that would hopefully take down at least one of his foes down with him.

"Sudowoodo, hammer arm!" Brock shouted causing his pokemon to charge at the unsuspecting Hitmonlee with its arms reared back poised to strike and the fighting type, taken off guard, brought his arms up to defend himself from the sneak attack, but suddenly a purplish blur slammed straight into the inside of Sudowoodo's shoulder causing the rock type to howl in agony as it violently twisted in the air before hitting the ground on its neck.

"Both Wingull and Sudowoodo are unable to battle which makes Kiera and Hitmonlee the winners of this match!" the referee boomed causing the audience, who went dead silent after Kiera's attack, to erupt in mad chorus of cheers, but Dmitri was anything but happy as Kiera walked up to him and nuzzled his head, but moved in front of him when she saw Alex who was tending to her Hitmonlee and shooting Dmitri angry glares whenever she got the chance.

"Thank you for your help Kiera," Dmitri thanked his partner as he tapped her pokeball against her body, but instead of the red energy sucking her into the pokeball, it erratically pulsated and trembled before dispersing with a sound of shattering glass which surprised both Dmitri and Maris.

Kiera shook her head and brushed her body against his while letting out a soft coo, but shot Alex a furious, suspicious glance as she protectively curled her body around Dmitri's and rested her head on his shoulder all while keeping her wary gaze fixed on the battle girl. Maris also watched Alex intently, but with a blank, calm stare and just watched her to see if she would try anything and Alex, clearly getting the vibe that if she went off on him she would have to go through Kiera and Maris, grunted and walked to the middle of the field.

Sighing, Dmitri jogged to the center of the battlefield where he shook Brock and Holly's hands, thanking them for the battle, which Brock nodded at and focused on Dmitri intently, which Maris and Kiera took suspect to.

"Dmitri, when I first saw you battle back at Amity Square, I thought you didn't have any control over your pokemon, but now that I had the opportunity to face you, I was clearly wrong in that assumption," Brock humbly admitted to Dmitri who blushed lightly at the praise while Maris smirked and playfully punched him in the shoulder as Brock reached into the inside of his jacket and handed the battle ace a circular, gray object that looked reminiscent of a stone which Dmitri took and examined.

"I didn't beat you in a gym battle though," Dmitri said, not feeling as if he had earned it, but Brock gently pushed his hand away when Dmitri tried to return and with that Dmitri bowed in thanks for the badge which both Brock and Holly returned and walked away while Dmitri put his badge into his badge case.

"Hey wait, does this mean that Dmitri has more badges than us now?" Catherine asked aloud bewilderedly causing Luka to shake her head and fold her arms while knowingly staring at her girlfriend.

"(No, badges from other regions aren't counted among the native badges of another region which is why you can't use Sinnoh badges to enter the Unova league and vice versa. So technically speaking we all still have the same number of badges,)" Luka answered her causing Catherine to nod in approval and watched as he and Alex locked eyes before the battle girl shook her head in disgust and walked towards the exit without batting an eye at him and only when she was completely out of sight did Kiera return to her pokeball.

Returning to his friends, Dmitri was congratulated for his victory with high fives and pats on the back as the announcer told everyone over the big screen that the day on this tournament has ended and will resume tomorrow causing the competitors and the crowd to disperse. Dmitri looked towards the exit his partner had left in, but felt a paw on his shoulder and turned to find himself staring directly into Maris's eyes and he got the message clearly as he walked off with his friends to get some rest.

Night time

"(Wait, maybe this goes here…no that's not right, OH! What if this went…wait, that's not right either,)" Dragonite muttered perplexedly as he fumbled with the tent and tried to set it up while Haxorus was reading the instruction manual on how to get it upright…upside down.

"(Hey, what if it goes like this?)" Druddigon suggested as he placed the tent on the ground and stretched it as far as it could go and smiled triumphantly at his work while Hydreigon cocked his heads and raised a brow while yipping confusedly and pointing to the tent with his heads.

"(What? Now Delia can sleep in a snugly, warm cocoon for the night,)" Druddigon responded causing Hydreigon to shake his head furiously and snatch the tent off the ground and float over to two adjacent trees where he tied the two ends together which was incredibly difficult considering he had no thumbs, but he managed to do it and grinned toothily at his accomplishment.

Dragonite floated over to the tent and inspected the makeshift hammock thoroughly while rubbing his chin, nodding and narrowing his eyes every now and then, and when he finished he turned to his companions.

"(This is shit,)" Dragonite deadpanned causing Hydreigon to snarl indignantly at his teammate who calmly backed off, not wanting to start a fight, while Druddigon snickered as Hydreigon laid on top of the makeshift hammock to prove that someone could sleep in it, but unceremoniously hit the ground with a thud causing both Dragonite and Druddigon to burst into hearty gales of laughter while Haxorus lightly chuckled from behind the manual.

"(Anyone want to remind me why Delia put us in charge of setting up the tent?)" Dragonite mused causing Haxorus to shrug as he set aside the manual and began setting up the tent by himself while answering his teammate.

"(I guess she just wanted to take a walk to clear her head with Lopunny; she is working with someone she intensely dislikes and that can't be good for her psyche, but she seems to be faring well as of now,)" Haxorus told his companion who nodded in understanding as Haxorus, despite all odds, perfectly managed to set up the tent causing Hydreigon to blush lightly and look away with a frown on his face and upon seeing this Haxorus got up and hugged the brutal pokemon from behind causing Hydreigon to blush even deeper, but the frown on his face remained.

"(What do you guys think of Ash?)" Haxorus questioned his teammates causing Hydreigon's frown to contort into a furious scowl, Dragonite to adopt a confused, but cautious gaze, while Druddigon had an unsure look when hearing the question.

"(In my opinion, telling Delia that she shouldn't call herself a pokemon trainer and saying that she's no better than Paul was uncalled for. True, she did say some unsavory things back to him, but he instigated it,)" Dragonite answered causing Haxorus and the jolly dragon to look to Druddigon who shrugged when all eyes fell upon him and put his claws on his hips.

"(Honestly, I don't know what to think of him. I mean, I don't like how he criticized Delia and Dmitri's battling style and I see the merits of his style too, but I just think that he needs to cross train with us and maybe he'll loosen up a little,)" Druddigon replied causing Haxorus to nod, understanding what his teammate was saying, as he too agreed with Druddigon that Ash needed to study their way of battling and he might learn something because of it, but suddenly perked up.

Without answering his companions, Haxorus broke off into a sprint in the other direction with concern clear on his face causing Hydreigon, Dragonite, and Druddigon to pursue him, adopting the same worried gaze he had, and when they finally came to a stop in a clearing, they found Dmitri kneeling on the ground with a face of pure, agonizing pain. Haxorus rushed up and inspected his friend, but recoiled when he saw Dmitri's body riddled with nasty, deep gashes and went pale when he saw that one of Dmitri's arms, all the up from the shoulder all the way down to his fingers, was badly burnt to the point that the limb went completely black.

"(Dragonite, Hydreigon, go get help!)" Haxorus commanded causing both dragons to zip away to do so without any complaints while Druddigon set up his claws defensively and scanned the area left and right, knowing full well that someone had left Dmitri here for a trap.

"Catherine's sister…" Dmitri managed to get out despite the excruciating pain he was in causing Druddigon to tense his muscles, hearing about this girl from Delia, and causing Haxorus to help Dmitri to his feet and put his good arm around his scaly neck to support him.

"(Are those…teeth marks?)" Haxorus stammered in shock as he noted that Dmitri's legs had deep, painful bite marks from what he could assume to be from some sort of dog pokemon causing Haxorus to growl angrily as the thought of someone who could hurt one of his friends like this to be despicable.

Haxorus, however, didn't get a chance to think upon this further as he suddenly pushed to the ground by Dmitri and watched as he was hit by a searing hot blast of dark red fire that made even the coolness of the night feel like the bowels of Hell, but fortunately Druddigon managed to disperse the attack before it could do any more damage by slashing at it with his claws that emanated a sinister, pulsating blue draconic energy. Haxorus and Druddigon immediately stood at either side of their fallen, injured friend who was screaming in agony as his entire body felt like it was burning from the inside and Haxorus wanted nothing more than to help his friend, but he and Druddigon needed to defend him from any other attacks.

A multitude of pokemon emerged from the tree lines from all directions leaving no avenues of escape making Haxorus feel uneasy as something about these pokemon seemed…off. He couldn't quite put his claw on it, but something about them felt malevolent, as if a part of them was missing. A girl then suddenly strode out of the trees and slowly stalked towards Dmitri with a vengeful, angry stare that penetrated deep into his soul and the battle ace, noting who it was, gnashed his teeth and forced himself onto one knee where he glared at the girl who mockingly glanced at him in response, enjoying the pain he was in.

"Catherine gave you chance to walk away," Dmitri snarled at the girl who chuckled darkly and came to a stop in front of a dog with curved horns on its head resembling a demon and black fur that resembled the flesh of charred victims from a terrible fire as a sudden increase in wind caused everyone to look around for the source only for Luka to land in front of Haxorus and Druddigon while her team followed close behind as they formed a protective circle around the trio.

Furious shouts of rage echoed throughout the forest from all directions and almost immediately after Luka and her team arrived, so did Hydreigon and Dragonite carrying Catherine, Delia, Lopunny, Sparkplug, and Maris while Kiera rolled in like a runaway train and squashed any of the pokemon with the unnaturally violent aura; not even Hydreigon gave off the kind of aura that these pokemon were giving off.

"Luka, please take-"

"(NO, I'm staying right here,)" Luka firmly opposed her girlfriend's orders while Sparkplug walked over to Dmitri and released a light stream of electricity on him that began slowly healing his wounds, but the burn marks he had sustained remained causing her great concern while Catherine, overlooking the pokemon that Alice had at her disposal, widened her eyes in shock when she saw the faint flicker of dark, purplish light that came off of the pokemon's bodies while Luka gnashed her teeth furiously and settled into a fighting stance with her muscles tensed.

"Alice, you didn't..." Catherine trailed off solemnly as Alice barred her teeth and smiled like a wild, feral dog on the hunt as she too gave off the same dark aura her pokemon did and extended her arms outwards as if she wanted to give her little sister a hug.

"But I did dear sister; I have finally unlocked the true way to unleash a pokemon's full strength and with this new power, we can rule our family together as sisters Catherine, just like we were meant to," Alice offered to her sister with genuine happiness that drove the elder sister to tears and took a step toward Catherine, but her little sister backed away in disgust and accusingly pointed a finger at her.

"Alice, how could you? You know how dangerous the process Cipher uses to transform pokemon into these…these weapons of war so why would you revive something that our parents have tried to move on from?!" Catherine roared with white hot rage that could be felt from everyone near her while Alice, for the first time, frowned and depressingly stared at her little sister who simply glowered back at her.

"I did this so we could be together again Catherine, so why…why would you chose these freaks over me?!" Alice shrieked bitterly at her little sister who remained stone faced at her sister's tantrum as Alice suddenly composed herself and furiously glared at Dmitri's group with tears running down her cheeks.

Dmitri then suddenly stood up onto his feet, as if the extreme amounts of pain he was in didn't exist, and furiously glared at Alice who snarled at him and pointed her finger at him and his group of friends.

"Leave Catherine alive, but slaughter her precious "friends!"