Chapter Eleven: Tourney Time

Chris woke up to the sounds of a parade. "Nooooo…." He stuffed a pillow over his head, trying to shut out the noise.

(Well, they're energetic.)

Chris said something, but his response was muffled by the pillow.

(What was that? Didn't hear.)

(I SAID they could go stuff themselves. I want another six hours of sleep.)

Mathrara sat down on Chris's pillow, warming it up. After a few moments, Chris growled, and slowly got up. "That's not funny. What time is it?"

(A bit after sunrise. Nice weather today – mostly clear.)

"Thank you miss weather forecaster. Did Cloudburst say anything?"

(Na. It looks like he's calling someone. Probably Zapdos.)

"Isn't that risky? Calling a legendary here?"

(Not likely. With the battle, everyone will be occupied. He'll probably have some information after the tourney.)

"Great." Chris got up, and dressed quickly. Even before he was finished, Kani was eyeing the door. "Geez. Where does this take place at?"

(Not far. Just go outside, and at least a few people will be there to make sure you go to the battle tournament.) Chris, finished, shrugged and followed Kani outside, and then the people sent to 'escort' him to the field. Mathrara trailed them warily, trying to stay out of sight. When everyone ignored him, he relaxed a bit.


Chris eyed the tournament board. "Sixteen people entered?"

(Fifteen. You don't count.)

"Whatever. That's four battles. Each of you is getting two rounds, I guess. Since it's one on one."

The judge for the battles called out for Chris to come forward, as well as the trainer he was to face. They were called to shake hands, then call forth their pokemon.

The girl chose a Ninorina. Chris glanced at his two, and Kani stepped forward.

The battle began.

And ended quickly. All Kani did was two confusion attacks (teleporting away from a Bite attack between the two), and the Ninorina went down. She came back, not even breathing hard. "Weak?"

(More or less. Poor girl knew she really didn't have a chance.)

"Well, it's not like Mathrara would have been any better. He'd just confuse her, hypnotize her, and then torch her."

(How did you know…)

"You talk to yourself when you're thinking something over. I could get enough to figure out your plan."


The same thing happened the next two rounds. A Butterfree and a Sandslash fell, one to Mathrara, and the Sandslash to Kani. Kani had gotten a decent fight out of the Sandslash, and was content with letting Mathrara having the last battle.

"Go, Clefairy!"

(Hey, I'm loose! Wait… oh dear.)

Chris looked at the fairy in interest. He'd never seen one before. Before anything started, he sent her an apologetic look. Then the battle started.

"Clefairy, Sing!"

Mathrara roared, disrupting the song.

"Clefairy, use metronome!

Mathrara glimmered with a ghostly color, then fired a confuse ray.

The ray hit Clefairy, confusing it. It finished the metronome, then hit Mathrara with thrash.

"Mathrara! You ok?"

The fox nodded, not turning his attention away from the battle. (More or less. But I'm annoyed now.)

Mathrara used heat wave, blasting the Clefairy. It flew backwards, then in it's confusion, attacked a nearby person.

The girl called back her Clefairy. She was blushing with embarrassment as the nearby man picked himself up.

Chris sighed. "Well, you two satisfied now?"

(More or less. I'm tougher now. I've even gotten flamethrower and safeguard. That Clefairy must have been in training for a while now.)

(Psybeam's mine. Kinda useful – now I can just disrupt any 'beam' attack with another beam.)

The judge declared Chris the winner, but he wasn't paying attention anyway. He was talking to the girl. Kani was tailing him, in case he needed to use their scam to be able to talk to the Clefairy.


"Hey, your Clefairy ok?"

The lass gave Chris almost tearful look. "What do you care? You won."

Chris sighed, "I'm worried about her. It seems like she wants to be let out more."

The lass (he thought her name was Joan, or something like that), just gave him a look. "What do you know?"

"I know that I heard Kani comment on how the Clefairy seemed to want more air. That sounds like she's not been getting out very much. You could just let her out more often…"

The girl seemed surprised for a moment, then released her Clefairy.

Chris bent down, and grinned guiltily. "Sorry about that."

(Oh… more or less, I'm just tired. Your Mathrara's attack was powerful, but I'm lucky enough that it seemed to glance off.)

Chris restrained a grimace, and used his telepathy to talk to her. (More likely he pulled the attack. I've seen him roast a Tauros in two attacks.) He almost sighed with relief when it didn't hurt.

(Oh… thank you.)

Chris looked over at Mathrara, who was getting some attention from a couple of girls (mostly petting him, exclaiming about how cute he was). (Well, I didn't do a thing. He mostly acts of his own free will. So I'd say go thank him, except that he's kinda busy right now.)

The lass cut in "What are you doing?"

Chris shrugged. "Nothing. Just listening to what Kani says she's saying."

"If you can have her translate, then why are you traveling? I know some people sell their services…"

"Why am I traveling? Not by my choice. My family died, I just couldn't take living at home anymore." Chris silently congratulated himself – it was true, so Kani wouldn't flinch. And it was such a nasty topic, people wouldn't pry.

She looked shocked for a moment, especially when she looked at Chris's face. He DID have a vague sadness to him… "I'm sorry."

Chris smiled faintly, "thanks. A bit of advice for you – not a lot of pokemon totally enjoy being inside their balls. Both mine like to stay loose, and apparently, your Clefairy would like some more time outside… well, leave it up to them, sometimes, if they want to stay out." After he said that, Kani nudged him, and Chris bent down again, gently stroking her. He gave her (the lass) a grin, then went to go receive the awards.


Chris shook his head, as he slowly slipped away from the post-tournament. He didn't want to talk to them right now, he wanted to talk to Cloudburst. The prizes were packed, and he wanted to get moving. Mathrara was following Chris and Kani – reluctantly. He'd wanted some more coddling. It appeared that the townsfolk had forgotten about his pranks (or that he was the prankster) – so he wanted the attention. "Kani, can you?"

(Sure.)

Chris picked up the reluctant Mathrara, and then Kani 'teleported' the three of them.

The trip through the void was short, this time. Only a matter of seconds.

They came out, right in the room that Cloudburst was staying in. "Hey Cloudburst."

(Hello. I've spoken to Zapdos, and he had no clue about your Kani's abilities.)

"Why do I have a feeling that Zapdos wouldn't know?"

(More or less, I wasn't surprised. However, I have his word that he would look for an answer about that.)

Chris nodded faintly. "Well, thanks for that. Any idea when he'll get back?"

(I don't know. I've asked him to just speak to you.)

(That's odd. Most legends prefer to hide themselves.)

"That's still creepy, sometimes. You know that?"

(I deemed the two of you safe enough. Give me your word that you will not attempt to do something stupid, and you will be fine.)

"I won't touch him. Zapdos is a legend… and it's not my place to go after a legend. Not to mention he'd easily win."

(I would never allow the balance of nature to be thrown off.)

(I don't care. I only respect the fire legends.)

"Mathrara, he wasn't talking to you."

(So? )

Cloudburst just laughed, and slowly fell into a slumber. Chris looked down at the sleeping figure, and shook his head. "Poor guy."

(He's lived for a long time. He's at peace. When his time comes, he will be ready.)

Chris nodded, and led the way outside, and out of town.