Ch. 48
Round 3…FIGHT!
Ultima the Eternal Dragon: Indeed, what an opportunity to catch one's breathe.
Pokemon is the property of its respective owners
"Chimchar, firespin!" Paul ordered causing the fire monkey to release a stream of swirling flames at Medicham and Sparkplug.
Sparkplug protectively stepped in front of Medicham and encasing herself along with her ally in a bubble of electricity, she allowed the flames to hit the ground and surround them before forcefully expanding her bubble outwards which dissipated the flames. Before Ursaring or Medicham could launch any attacks, Sparkplug stomped her foot on the ground and let out a mighty roar the caused the entire stadium to go silent.
"(Medicham, Ursaring, back off! This is between me and Chimchar!)" Sparkplug bellowed authoritatively causing the ursine and the dual type to stare at one another intently before reluctantly nodding while Alex scoffed and turned to Dmitri.
"Alex, this isn't about honor or pride in combat; it's about empathizing with Chimchar and Sparkplug is the best candidate to do so," Dmitri immediately said the moment he heard those words leave Sparkplug's lips and upon hearing this, Alex grumbled and folded her arms, but nevertheless understood what her partner said and allowed the lioness to do what she wanted to do.
Slowly, the lioness advanced forward with her tail raised high in the air with her teeth barred while Chimchar, seeing his partner and his foe's partner not doing anything, cautiously moved toward the middle of the field. Sparkplug and Chimchar circled each other warily while the whole audience intently stared at the spectacle in front of them with complete silence before the lioness decided to break that silence.
"(Why follow Paul? He's just interested in taking advantage of your strength in order to make himself a strong trainer,)" Sparkplug began as Paul called for the chimp to use dig causing the primate to burrow underground with greats speed while the lioness just sighed and shook her head.
Attuning her senses to her surroundings, she heard the faint sound of rock being chipped away and wanting to keep up the illusion that she had no idea where her foe was, she pretended to frantically scan the battlefield in confusion. The moment she heard the ground underneath her shift, she twisted her body away like a ballerina and shifted her tail into iron while encasing it in a field of electricity to add more force to it. Time seemed to move slowly for Chimchar in that moment as he leaped out of the ground to uppercut his seemingly unaware foe only for Sparkplug to twist her body out of the way of Chimchar's punch and whack him in the side with her tail like a flail.
Chimchar eye's bulged out of their sockets before a sharp cry of pain escaped from the primate's lips where he tumbled across the ground like a rock falling down a hill before coming to a stop near Ursaring. The grizzly bear offered her paw to Chimchar who after some reluctance, gripped the bear's paw and felt himself being hauled to his feet while Sparkplug patiently waited for the primate to get back into the middle of the battlefield with a cool, but focused posture.
"(He doesn't care about ya Chimchar; he just see's ya as tool to use and be thrown away when it's not of use anymore. Whatever praise your hoping to get from em' isn't worth the trouble,)" Sparkplug continued as Paul ordered for his pokemon to use fire spin followed by flame wheel and just like at the start of the battle, Chimchar expelled a stream of swirling flames from his mouth toward the lioness.
However, Dmitri and Sparkplug noted the attack was being let out with much greater fury than before causing Delia and Lopunny to shake their heads.
"(He doesn't want what he's worked so hard for to be for nothing,)" Lopunny sadly pointed out as she let out a soft sigh and watched as Sparkplug allowed the flames to surround her like a raging inferno threatening to consume her.
"(It's more than that; I think that working so hard to get that praise was the only thing keeping him sane while working under Paul,)" Delia analyzed as she consolingly put a hand on Lopunny's shoulder causing the bunny pokemon to wrap one of her giant ears around the dragon tamer's wrist in response.
Sparkplug, despite feeling torrents of sweat running down her paws and wincing every now and then when the flames lashed at her body, stood strong as she saw Chimchar, with an expression of pure rage, form a pinwheel of flames the size of the bleachers and hurtle towards her with reckless abandon. Digging her feet into the ground, she encased herself in an electrical bubble of the same size and braced for impact as Chimchar clashed with her forcefully causing shock waves to resonate throughout the area which knocked some of the spectators of their feet.
The bubble of electricity and the pinwheel of fire shoved and battered against each other relentlessly as Chimchar's flames erratically spewed from the pinwheel in all directions forcing Delia and the other's to jump in to protect the audience while Sparkplug's bubble of electricity, while still violently pulsating like a lightning storm, was contained within the vicinity of her bubble. The lioness, however, realized she was in quite a predicament; she couldn't exactly divert the energy and let the pinwheel pass by her as in Chimchar's crazed state, he wouldn't stop in time or wouldn't care about crashing into the audience. She also couldn't just overpower him as that would put Catherine, Luka, Ursaring, the audience, and Paul at risk from being overwhelmed by the flames despite her dislike of the purple haired trainer.
Just as no other options seemed to come to mind, Sparkplug grinned determinedly as she, like a football player pushing against the opposing linemen, stepped forward slowly and forced Chimchar back little by little before they were exactly in the center of the battlefield. Just as the people in the audience were wondering what the lioness was doing, their question was answered when a lightning bolt from the sky plummeted down toward Sparkplug's bubble and Chimchar's pinwheel.
Maris, Tomoe, and Medicham sprang into action as they grabbed Dmitri and Alex and hugged them protectively while Luka shielded Catherine with her body while Ursaring wrapped her arms around both Luka and the former heiress so her body was acting as a shield. Although Delia would have just been knocked onto her back and dazed a little from the explosion to come, Lopunny, acting on impulse, tackled the dragoness to the ground and covered her with her giant ears. Maya and Jet sent out their own pokemon to create a protective field around the audience just as the lightning bolt made contact with the two opposing forces causing an explosion that shook the whole stadium and caused cracks extending from the barricades to the entrance as debris flew in every direction.
Maris, Tomoe, and Medicham let out hisses of pain as debris from the explosion impacted their body like a hailstorm while the excess energy from Sparkplug and Chimchar's clash crashed into them like a whip causing thick abrasions to form on them. Every time a piece of rock or a jolt of energy collided with Ursaring it elicited a howl of pain from her, but she stood strong and endured the blows before the explosion finally ceased leaving a giant dust cloud in its wake.
"Lopunny, what you did was appreciated, but not needed," Delia informed her pokemon with a muffled voice as her face was covered by the bunny pokemon's gigantic ears causing Lopunny to blush and spring to her feet while helping the dragon tamer up.
Delia simply shook her head with a small grin on her face as she gave her pokemon a brief, but affectionate hug which the bunny pokemon returned before they both worriedly gazed at Dmitri and Catherine's trainer box.
"(Master, are you okay?)" Medicham concernedly inquired of its trainer who despite looking shaken from the event gave a nod in response causing the psychic/fighting type to help her to her feet while Maris and Tomoe looked over Dmitri for any injuries with their trainer doing the same.
"Thank you Maris and Tomoe," Dmitri gratefully told his two pokemon causing Maris to tiredly smirk while the samurai otter respectfully bowed to him as they helped the battle ace to his feet.
"Maris, Tomoe, go heal each other and then Alex and Medicham, okay?" Dmitri informed them and although both seemed to want to defy that order, they relented after a moment and healed one another before moving onto the battle girl and her pokemon.
"Ursaring, are you okay?!" Catherine shrieked concernedly as she tightly gripped the grizzly bear pokemon's paws while Luka cradled the bear's head on her lap while Ursaring took deep breathes in and out in order to mitigate the pain she was in.
Paul, thanks to Luka who hesitantly provided a skin tight shield of aura around him, managed to survive the blast despite being relatively close to it and was merely knocked onto his butt with just some scrapes here and there. Delia's Dragonite, just as the lightning bolt came crashing down onto Sparkplug and Chimchar's collision, snatched the referee and flew upwards to a safe distance where he witnessed the outburst of power causing a wide grin to come to Dragonite's face like a child having run of a toy store.
"(Splendid! Marvelous! Wouldn't you agree, Mr. Ref?)" Dragonite asked the terrified man as he slowly descended downwards and gently released the referee once they got back onto the ground.
Giving a grateful nod to the dragon, the referee waited for the dust to clear and to everyone's shock, the battlefield was now just a giant crater with Sparkplug and Chimchar lying in the middle of it injured and motionless from the blast. After what seemed like an eternity, Sparkplug began to stir with her legs twitching and her eyes weakly fluttering.
"(Fucking ow,)" Sparkplug growled as she tightly shut her eyes and shook her head to and fro to clear up the cobwebs in her head before slowly climbing to her feet with some strain on her part.
Seeing Chimchar still unconscious, she nipped the scruff of his neck and proceeded to drag the primate out of the giant crater before gently dropping him in front of Paul with a look of disdain on her face while Paul, still shocked about what had just happened, looked down at his pokemon before looking back at the lioness with a scowl. Giving an angry snarl, she turned around and walked back to where Dmitri was with her head held high while Ursaring managed to get back on her feet with some wounds, but was still able to fight.
"Chimchar is unable to battle leaving the opposing team only one pokemon left to use," the referee shouted in a tone that was trying to be calm despite being nearly taken in by the blast had Dragonite not stepped in.
Looking over Sparkplug's wounds, he saw various bruises, gashes, burn marks, and bumps from her kamikaze attack, but noted that her breathing wasn't strained for the most part and didn't seem exhausted despite being at the epicenter of the blast.
"Sparkplug, I will withdraw you from the match if I see you can't keep up with the battle, okay?" Dmitri informed his second teammate with calm, but concerned tone over the injuries she suffered thus far.
"(Loud and clear chief,)" Sparkplug responded knowingly as she walked toward the crater and slid down so she was standing in the middle of it where she was joined shortly by Medicham.
Seeing this, Ursaring looked at her trainer with a blank expression causing the former heiress to rub her chin thoughtfully on the prospect of fighting Dmitri's second strongest pokemon and Alex's Medicham before letting out a sigh and putting her hands on her hips.
"If I see you getting your ass kicked, I'm throwing in the towel," Catherine told the grizzly bear while pointing her finger at her causing Ursaring to give a small smile and gave a grateful nod to her partner causing Ursaring to walk toward the crater, but not slide down it.
"Ursaring, belly drum followed by rest," Catherine ordered in a sweet tone and a playful smirk on her face causing Alex and Dmitri's eyes to widen while Sparkplug and Medicham, seeing their trainer's distressed expressions, rushed the bear in the hopes of preventing her from doing whatever she was trying to do.
Ursaring just got finished thumping her gut like a drum when she saw her two opponents rushing her so she sidestepped the lioness's bullrush, but this left her open to get harshly kicked in the face by Medicham's foot causing a loud smack to echo throughout the battlefield. A glob of saliva escaped from Ursaring's mouth as her head snapped to the side from the vicious attack where she was sent tumbling across the ground before she came to a stop near where the security wall was. Seeing the grizzly bear not moving, Sparkplug and Medicham looked at one another and raised a brow as they hoped the fight wasn't over yet until they head Ursaring letting out ear shattering snores.
Sparkplug sprawled on the ground and covered her ears with her paws while Medicham covered its ears with its hands in order to block out the sound while Catherine gleefully bounced on her toes at her strategy causing Luka to roll her eyes. Suddenly, Ursaring's eyes shot open and dusting off any piece of rubble or dust on her, she slowly got up to her feet none the worse for wear.
"(No…no; that was my most powerful move and she just took it like it was nothing,)" Medicham stuttered fearfully as it backpedaled away from the bear while Sparkplug scowled cautiously at the power boost the bear received from whatever belly drum was.
"(Fuck, if Sparkplug was at her full strength she'd be able to mop the floor with Ursaring, but as battered and bruised as she is now, Ursaring just might be able to beat the snot out of her,)" Maris concernedly stated as she clenched her fists and hoped her teammate could win while Tomoe, impressed even further by the endurance Sparkplug was showing, mentally cheered for the big cat and Medicham to win.
"Ursaring darling, can you pretty please use strength and superpower together and then use toxic on yourself?" Catherine requested politely and not one to just stand by and let this happen, Medicham threw the orb of poison high into the atmosphere just as Ursaring spat it up while Sparkplug began firing volleys of electrical javelins like a never-ending hailstorm.
Ursaring hissed with each impact of the projectiles that sent painful shocks up her body and dug into her flesh, but she endured the blows by crossing her arms in an x and remembering the short training sessions she had with her team, she inhaled through her nose and exhaled through her mouth causing the fat and muscle in her body to forcibly swell, but not to the point where she was hampered by them. With the combination of the two moves that greatly bolstered ones physical strength and endurance, the grizzly bear gave off a whitish-red aura which allowed her to shrug off all of the electrical javelins hitting her like thrown pillows attempting to break through a bullet proof wall.
"(By Arceus, she's nearly as tall as Kiera now and as big as the three-headed kaiju allied with the young dragon tamer now,)" Tomoe analyzed with a raised brow upon seeing the bear's increase in mass while Alex, unfazed by this, chuckled and pointed at the former heiress with a smirk on her face.
"Ha, even if Ursaring can use those two moves together, she can't be all big and burly for long! Medicham, don't be afraid! Ursaring won't be able to move very fast with how stoutly built she is now!" Alex shouted triumphantly, feeling that victory was assured, while Catherine opted to remain silent and gave one last order to her trusted pokemon.
"Sweetie, use toxic on yourself when you get the chance, m'kay? Other than that, go have fun," Catherine informed her pokemon in a soft, caring tone while Sparkplug and Medicham gritted their teeth and readied themselves for battle with the big cat having doubt worm into her mind.
Suddenly, Ursaring, who was standing on the opposite side of the crater with her paws held upright, disappeared from sight only to appear right in front of Medicham with her forearm coated in a black, sinister energy and poised to strike. Reacting just in time, Medicham managed to spin around Ursaring's forearm strike and knee the bear in the back while Sparkplug simultaneously speared the front of the grizzly bear's knee with her head which knocked the bear off of her feet.
Seeing their opponent still in the midst of falling on her back, Sparkplug and Medicham acted swiftly in that split second with the lioness jumping in front of Medicham and covering herself in a bubble while Medicham focused intensely on their foe before throwing its fist toward the bubble with tremendous force. Sparkplug crashed into Ursaring with such force that the impact caused the ground to split open, but Ursaring gave no signs of discomfort as she blankly stared at the big cat before Medicham brutally landed onto the grizzly bear's face with its feet and yet again, Ursaring didn't cry out in pain like it would have hoped.
Medicham leaped off of the grizzly bear just as Sparkplug began shocking Ursaring with all the reserve power she had left causing the bear's skeleton to be illuminated for all to see and yet again, although the bear twitched slightly, it didn't elicit a howl or shout from the bear. Just like in a horror movie, Ursaring, from her position on her back, snapped her paw forward with blinding speed and clamped it over the lioness's mouth causing Sparkplug's eyes to widen in shock while Medicham, seeing its partner in trouble, attempted to daze the bear by sending its senses into flux.
Ursaring did wince a little from the brief moment of bewilderment from being able to taste purple, but other than that she was fine as no matter how much Sparkplug clawed, swiped, kicked, or bite her paw, the grizzly bear's grip was like iron.
"(Let her go!)" Medicham demanded as it sent another pulse through the grizzly bear's head causing the ursine to wince at the head pain she was feeling giving Medicham the chance to throw a jab at Ursaring who amateurishly blocked it by leaning her head back using her spare arm to swat at her foe's arm like a fly.
This, however, was a distraction as the grizzly bear's attempt to protect herself left her midsection open and as if time was moving in slow motion, Medicham clapped its hands together and struck Ursaring's gut with its palm causing the bear to wince and stagger backwards. Medicham, still seeing things in slow motion, saw Ursaring take the tiniest step backwards from the palm heel strike and fired a forceful wave of pink chi at the bear who hissed at the power behind it while her feet dragged across the ground.
"(If she had muscle memory and the reflexes like Luka and I did, she would have been able to use Sparkplug as a meat shield,)" Maris pointed out while intently staring at the battle in front of her while Tomoe made a disgusted face at the battle tactic the martial arts pokemon suggested, but in the back of her mind saw some merit in it.
Ursaring, tried her best to resist being pushed backwards, but found her struggles futile and so she did the next best thing by twisting her body around so the chi blast was hitting her back and wrapping one of her stocky arms around the lioness's waist while keeping her other paw clamped over Sparkplug's mouth, she didn't fight back against the energy blast any longer. Medicham's energy wave catapulted Ursaring and her quarry forward like a rocket toward the security wall and when they hit it, Sparkplug let out a muffled, rasping wheeze as she felt the wind being knocked out of her. The impact left a deep indent in the wall with large, spider web cracks running up it while Ursaring, keeping her grip on her captive while Medicham unknowingly continued to press both her and Sparkplug into the wall with its energy blast, greatly increased the pressure on Sparkplug's mouth and waist.
The lioness let out a muffled howl of pain as she felt the bones in her jaw aching like a train was running over it while her ribs felt as if she was being into a car compactor all while she put her paws on the security wall in an attempt to resist being sandwiched between Ursaring and the chi wave. The lioness desperately called upon any reserve energy she had left in an attempt to break free from the bear, but when all Ursaring received was a slight jolt, the bear snorted irritably and slammed the lioness's head against the security wall causing the big cat to feel lighter than air.
"Alex, you have to stop this! You're just hurting Sparkplug!" Dmitri desperately pleaded with his partner and this was a sentiment shared by Maris and Tomoe as they both wanted to jump in to help their teammate with the otter's paws on the hilt of her seamitar.
Alex seemed torn on her decision as Medicham poured more energy into his chi wave which grew to the size of the grizzly bear which unfortunately did nothing but make the bear hiss while Sparkplug simply wasn't able to push against the wall any further in her weakened state and was crushed against between the wall, Ursaring, and the energy wave the dual type was continuing to fire.
Sparkplug now felt her whole body was being squashed by the tallest building in the world and briefly accepted the fact that there was nothing she could do until she felt her tail rap against the grizzly bear's leg. The lioness, with a little bit of her remaining energy, converted her tail into steel and began hammering the side of Ursaring's knee like a sledgehammer which caused a wince from the bear with each successive blow. Finally, the grizzly bear's leg gave away and she crumpled onto her side causing her grip to slacken ever so slightly, but Sparkplug immediately took advantage of this and broke free from the bear's grip.
Sparkplug let out guttural growls with each and every step she took as she ran back to her partner's side while Dmitri, Maris, Tomoe, Delia, and Lopunny were glad she was able to break away from Ursaring's torture hold.
"I'm sorry Dmitri, I didn't realize what I was doing more harm to Sparkplug then I was to Ursaring," Alex stated regretfully and just as Maris was about to cuss the battle girl out for her stupid decision, the grizzly bear was back on her feet with a bubbling purple aura around her.
"(Ursaring, are you alright?)" Luka inquired of her teammate who rolled her shoulders and stretched a little despite the poison slowly whittling away at her health.
"(Just fine,)" Ursaring responded as she brought her paws up to her chin while leaving her elbows sticking outwards while Sparkplug , despite everything she had been put through, was still fit to battle as she started to breathe with only some strain on her part.
Once again, Ursaring seemingly teleported in front of Medicham and taking note of what the fighting type did to her the last time, threw a somewhat forceful punch at the dual type forcing it to sidestep and pass it away from its body, but just as with Medicham, this was a feint. Using her other arm, Ursaring threw her forearm covered with a sickly green aura forward and brutally smashed it against the fighting type's face.
The force of the blow, coupled with the fact the grizzly bear's forced increase in mass boosted her strength and endurance, her attack being taken to its absolute limit, her ability increasing her attack when affected by a status infliction, a certain move that doubles in power if she is suffering, and the fact that using a move of the same typing grants a power boost to the user, the power behind it was absolutely devastating.
A powerful shock wave resonated from the force of the grizzly bear's strike knocking Alex, Dmitri, Catherine, and Paul off of their feet while some of the audience who were standing up to stretch were unceremoniously knocked back into their chairs as Medicham's head snapped backwards violently and caused the dual type to go flying backwards. Sparkplug swiped as hard as she could against the grizzly bear's leg while she was distracted which did cause the bear to wince, but lioness received a knee to the face for her troubles and was knocked aside like a chew toy.
Ursaring, moving tremendously fast for a creature her size, caught up with Medicham who was still flying back from her previous attack and gripped the dual type's ankles with her paws causing Alex's pokemon to howl in pain as when Ursaring forcefully stopped Medicham's forward momentum, the dual type felt as if the grizzly bear was trying to rip its legs from its sockets. Acting fast, Ursaring forcefully yanked Medicham towards her with her forearm ready to attack with it encased in the same sickly green aura as before and this time, the dual type had no strength to do anything to stop it.
Another shockwave and a sickening crack rang out as Medicham flew backwards and hit the wall next to Alex head first causing tremors to go up its body before unceremoniously landing on the ground on its belly where it lay still. Thanking her partner for her efforts, she returned Medicham to its pokeball and hoped Sparkplug could pick up the slack.
"Sparkplug is spent. She doesn't have any power within her-WAIT! Within her," Dmitri repeated in his head in awe before an idea came to his mind causing Maris and Tomoe to raise their brows along with Catherine and Luka who assumed the battle ace was going to forfeit the match now.
"Sparkplug, don't focus on your bio-electricity! Hone your senses to the electricity in the air and use them to recharge!" Dmitri ordered causing Sparkplug's brow to confusedly rise and this sentiment was shared by Maris and Tomoe who looked at the battle ace as if he was crazy.
"(Not happening,)" Ursaring mumbled as she rushed forward just as Sparkplug took a little bit of electricity from an external source into her and seeing the grizzly bear fast approaching, the big cat fired a hasty electrical bolt at her foe that spun around it, but the lioness simply narrowed her eyes which caused the bolt to detonate.
Ursaring hissed as she felt herself flip forward uncontrollably from the explosion until she let out a strangled gasp as Sparkplug rammed her head into her gut while being encased in her electrical bubble. The grizzly bear, however, stood strong and reaching behind the lioness, gripped her tail and hoisted her up in the air upside down like she was a rag doll while Sparkplug growled and forcefully swatted at Ursaring's face twice eliciting pained shouts from the bear. Ursaring, wanting to finish off her opponent before she could heal, bit down onto her tail causing Sparkplug to cry out until she felt herself being put upright only to hiss when she felt the grizzly bear wrap her big arms around her waist which trapped her front legs against the bear's chest.
Sparkplug shut her eyes tightly and struggled to break free when she felt similar pressure from when she was being crushed against the wall by Ursaring and her unaware partner while the grizzly bear released the lioness's tail from her mouth and subtly began charging a powerful beam of energy into her mouth.
"(A hyper beam is a bit much don't you think?)" Luka advised her girlfriend who raised one brow with one hand on her hip.
"We're talking about Sparkplug who survived being at the center of an explosion that turned an entire battlefield into a crater and you're asking me if a hyper beam is a bit much?" Catherine repeated causing Luka to snort at what her trainer said and folded her arms as she couldn't really come up with anything to say in response.
Sparkplug let out a strangled gasp for air and groaned in agony from the torture hold as she cracked one eye open only to gasp in shock when she saw Ursaring's open mouth pointed down at her with a large, orange energy sphere formed within it. Sparkplug quickly found out that biting her foe's chest didn't do anything nor did head-butting it and could only stare in fear as the grizzly bear prepared to fire the orange sphere of destruction which the lioness had no hope of dodging.
"Ursaring, please hold your fire! I give up, just don't hurt Sparkplug!" Dmitri yelled at the ursine causing Sparkplug to tiredly glance back at her trainer with a slight scowl while Ursaring looked to Dmitri with a blank look and then looked back at Catherine who unhesitatingly nodded at the battle ace's request.
Nodding back, Ursaring fired her sphere of destruction up into the air as she simply just couldn't dissipate it as she didn't have the level of energy control like Luka did and releasing her grip on Sparkplug who landed on her feet and stared up at the grizzly bear. Ursaring stared down at Sparkplug without backing down before Sparkplug let out a soft sigh and extended one of her paws to the grizzly bear who seemed briefly shocked at this before extending her own paw to the lioness.
"(Didn't win,)" Ursaring reasoned with the big cat that shook her head vigorously at that statement and grinned up at the bear.
"(Nah, ya beat me fair and square,)" Sparkplug replied and respectfully patted the ursine on the leg before slowly walking back to her team while Ursaring inhaled through her nose and exhaled through her mouth which caused the forced growth of mass to ebb away until she was back to normal.
Staring at the back of Sparkplug's head briefly, Ursaring allowed a small smile to come to her face as Catherine sprayed an antidote over her while Luka, Floatzel, and Kricketune began healing her wounds while Graveler clasped her on the shoulder.
"(You should feel proud of what you did today; any one of us besides Luka would have been hard-pressed to defeat Sparkplug,)" Graveler complimented the grizzly bear proudly causing Ursaring to nod as tiredly as she sat down on the ground and took deep breathes in and out.
"(I'm sorry I couldn't win Dmitri; she was just too much for me in the state I'm in now,)" Sparkplug apologized to her trainer with her head downcast while Dmitri petted her head consolingly eliciting a content purr from the lioness.
"You made more than proud for surviving an explosion while being directly in front of it, managing to put up a good fight against Ursaring despite being tired, and being able to manipulate electricity you couldn't see," Dmitri assured his pokemon who looked up at him with warm grin and nuzzled her head against his chest causing the battle ace to smile sheepishly and gently wrap his arms around her neck.
Breaking off the hug, he stood up and narrowed his eyes at the battle girl and her pokemon who had their hands on their necks and stared down at the ground while Tomoe simply couldn't hold it in anymore.
"(What you two did was not only idiotic, but also gave your enemies the advantage and harmed one of your allies. Your sense of combat sickens me and you both should be ashamed to call yourself a pokemon trainer and a warrior!)" Tomoe angrily roared at the two of them and despite not being able to understand Samurott, Alex understood the meaning behind it while Medicham nodded knowingly at each hurtful word while Maris whistled under her breathe.
"(Geez, I'm flippin' mad at them too, but I think that's going too far,)" Maris replied offhandedly causing the otter to snort derisively, but didn't put much thought into it as she knelt down next to Sparkplug and began running water over her wounds causing Maris to kneel down as well and extended her aura to the lioness which slowly healed her injuries.
"Alex, Medicham, if Sparkplug forgives you, then I forgive you," Dmitri informed his partner and her pokemon who seemed hesitant to apologize to the lioness that glared at them from the corners of her eye before gathering up their courage and apologizing.
"(Don't let it happen again,)" Sparkplug snapped at them with controlled rage causing Alex and Medicham to flinch at her harsh tone while Maris and Tomoe nodded at their teammate's words, but Dmitri's extended hand prevented them from doing anything scornful to the battle girl and her pokemon.
"We…we wouldn't have won without your Ursaring," Paul reluctantly told the former heiress who did a double take on what the purple haired trainer said to her and even Luka was surprised at this as she raised a brow and scanned Paul's aura for any deceit, but found none.
Before Catherine could reply, the Veilstone native already began exiting the stadium with is hands in his jacket pockets while Catherine and her team shared glances at one another before shrugging. Seeing to it that Ursaring was fully healed, Floatzel and Kricketune returned to their pokeballs with Graveler in tow while Catherine gave the bear a big, hearty hug and a smooch on the cheek for her win while Ursaring grinned slightly before returning to her pokeball.
"We won against Dmitri, so that means…" Catherine trailed off as the realization hit her like a truck while Luka knowingly nodded and put a paw on her girlfriend's shoulder.
"(We're going up against Delia and Ash in the finals,)" Luka finished while trying to remain calm, but couldn't help but feel reluctant in facing off against arguably the two strongest trainers in the competition.