I laid comfortably on my trainer's lap as we waited to watch the last contest battle of the day. This was my first time watching a contest. I honestly had not known what to expect, but this was not. It's pretty interesting, and while this style of fighting did not suit me, I don't mind watching it. Quite entertaining if I am being honest. Stoutland would have loved it. Before I could get depressed by the reminder that my dad was no longer here, Pikachu distracted me.
"Don't get used to all contests being like this," Pikachu warned me from Ash's shoulder. "This is an important and big cup, the competition here is fierce, and coordinators came from all regions. Normally, half of the performance stage is a bore and repetitive. As for battles, not many of them possess the strength to back up their flashy moves."
"They don't train their pokemon's stamina and strength?" I asked him shocked. I've been watching the girls train their pokemon and their training is very similar to Ash's, the only difference is that it's lighter and they try extra hard to be flashy. "But how will they grow otherwise?!"
"Dawn and May were coached by Ash, so their training base is similar to Ash's. Jessie used to be a Team Rocket grunt. That's why they are different. They learned from the beginning that a pokemon with a good stamina and strength base will grow healthier and better. Most coordinators believe that control and grace are all their pokemon need for contests. That training their pokemon in strength will turn them into brutes and is something only trainers participating in the gym circuit should do." Pikachu explained.
"That's stupid!" I exclaimed, enraged by such dumb reasoning, and thanking that Dawn, May, and Jessie were not like that.
"Well, most humans are irrational and stupid," Lucario commented, making all the pokemon close-by laugh, and their trainers look at them strangely.
"I was not expecting that from you Lucario," Pikachu replied.
"Well, I like to keep people guessing," Lucario said with a mysterious smile.
Before any of us could have opened our mouths to reply, the last battle of the day was announced. James and Meowth jumped on their feet to cheer for Jessie, or Jessilina as she is known in the coordinating circuit. The rest of us were also cheering for her, but we were calmer about it.
"Seviper, Showtime" Jessie threw the capsule in the air, and with confetti raining down Seviper appeared.
"Lanturn, Dazzle them," Kyle threw his capsule, and with lightning flying everywhere Lanturn appeared and landed in the water. "Charge." Lanturn swam over to Seviper while glowing and charging power, which caused Jessie's points to drop. "Now use Thunderbolt." Lanturn jumped out of the water and landed the powered-up electric type attack causing Jessie's points to fall even more. However, Seviper did not react negatively and looked like it is hardly doing anything.
"Good luck trying to hurt any of our pokemon with an electric attack," James commented beside us. "Seviper was used to be way worse from Pikachu." We all chuckled at the comment, while Pikachu puffed his chest in pride.
That's so true!
"Iron Tail." Seviper lowered its head and raised its tail causing the electricity to travel to the tail and got discharged into the air until the move finished lowering Kyle's points to about the same as Jessie's.
"If electricity won't work try that Bubble Beam-Aqua Tail Combo." Lanturn jumped out of the water and used an Aqua Tail on the water to kick up a wall of water, then Lanturn launched a Bubble Beam that passed through the water wall and landed on Seviper causing her to lose more points. Lanturn rapidly retreated into the water.
"Why doesn't she use any poison attacks?" I asked.
"It is because she is being considerate," Meowth answered. "Do you know how long and how much effort it would take to either empty the water and replace it or remove the poison from the contaminated water?"
"That does make sense," I replied.
"Psybeam," from within the water, Lanturn launched the Psychic-type move that breached through the water and landed on Seviper lowering Jessie's points.
"You want to play territories? Well, let's play then. Seviper in the water." Seviper jumped in the water and using its tail like a propeller Seviper swam towards Lanturn. Lanturn tried to swim away until he swam directly upwards, which I realized was what Jessie was waiting for. "Dark Pulse." Seviper launched the Dark-type rings as Lanturn only had time to look behind before getting launched out of the water by the Dark-type move causing Kyles's points to drop.
"Jump out of the water and use Poison's Tail." Seviper propelled itself with enough force to jump out of the water and as the Lanturn was falling back down Seviper used the Poison-type move and sent Lanturn onto the ground away from the water. Causing Kyle's points to drop again. Additionally, Lanturn was poisoned and couldn't move.
Seviper landed back on land and looked at its opponent. "This just seems wrong. I am not going to kick a pokemon while it is down." Jesalina stated.
"Thank you. As there is nothing more we can do, I would like to forfeit." Kyle said, taking me by surprise. Not many trainers would decide to lose, so aid their pokemon.
"Are you sure? I can have Seviper push Lanturn back into the water." Jessie offered, even when Seviper was already pushing Lanturn towards the water. I could see she did not like the idea to win a battle like this. Neither would I if I am being honest.
"It was my poor decision-making that got Lanturn hurt," Kyle responded as Seviper pushed Lanturn into the water. Lanturn quickly thanked Seviper and swam over to Kyle with an apologetic look. "Don't give me that, It was my mistake. You did well." Kyle said as he returned the Water-type pokemon.
We all smiled and cheered for Jessie's victory. It was a fun battle to watch! Though I am honestly quite happy that we are returning to James' house. I cannot handle Ash's fans anymore. Their pictures and autographs were taking a toll on me. Even when I am not even the one they wanted. I don't know how Ash and Pikachu can handle it. They are even asking Riley and Lucario! Thankfully, no one knows where we are staying yet. That would have been a disaster!
So, we secretaly left the Contest Hall and sneaked into James' limousine. As soon as we got to the mansion, James' parents asked Ash for a meeting, they wanted to talk with him about the benefit ball they were planning on doing. I rapidly jumped off Ash's shoulder and used agility to escape, no way I was getting involved in that! I decided to turn in for the day and sneaked into Ash's bed. Within a minute I had already fallen asleep. The next morning I found myself cuddled on Ash's chest, alongside Pikachu. Of course, there would be no way Pikachu would let go of his favorite sleeping position. However, he wouldn't mind sharing it.
After breakfast, before the semi-finals would start, we decided to go back to the hidden lake we'd found the previous week, for a little bit of training. Or at least, we tried. I was starting to get frustrated! No matter how hard I trained, I did not get any stronger. Ash had even taken me to the Pokemon Center. But Nurse Joy had found nothing physically wrong with me. So why haven't I gotten stronger? It wasn't long after a training session when an unfamiliar face showed up... at least for me, the rest seem to know her.
"Why hello Ash," Cynthia greeted as everyone turned to face her and Garchomp.
"Cynthia, how are you?" Ash asked as the two made their way to the group.
"Things are going well, I was actually on my way to Lake Valor to do some research." She answered.
"I see," Ash responded as Cynthia turned her gaze to Ash's newcomers.
"I see your family grew. A Litten, a Rowlet, and a Gligar. They are all adorable. How has training them been going?" Cynthia asked.
"It has been rough. I am still having issues with Gligar being afraid of flying and Rowlet napping all the time. Litten is a different issue." Ash admitted, making me lower my gaze to the ground in shame. Even though I knew Ash did not mind it, I knew he was starting to get frustrated by not knowing what was the issue.
"How so?" Cynthia asked. I flinched when I met her gaze, it was as if she wanted to experiment with me trying to get to the root of the problem.
"Do not be afraid young one, we are simply trying to help," Garchomp said. Despite being very intimidating and stupidly powerful, her tone was somewhat like a mother trying to help me relax.
"He seems to be struggling to get stronger since I got him. He has been training hard, but we haven't had much progress other than a couple of new moves. Nothing is physically wrong with Litten." Ash explained.
"How strange... what were the circumstances that led to the capture?" Cynthia asked.
"Well, Litten's surrogate father, an elderly Stoutland, sadly passed and his last wish was Litten joining me," Ash explained, I frowned at the reminder, still sad about it.
"I see," Cynthia and Garchomp shared a knowing look. Then looking around she said, as she took a few steps away from the group: "I think I can help."
"You can? How?" Ash asked.
Cynthia smirked, turned around, and pointed at Ash. "Garchomp and I challenge you and Litten to a battle!" Cynthia declared, shocking us all.
"Huh?!" Ash muttered stunned.
"Wait, you want to what?" Pikachu asked.
"Isn't that dropping the gun a little bit?" I asked. No matter how much I wanted to become stronger, fighting that dragon at my level is asking to be killed.
"Perhaps it is a little sudden, but I know what I am doing and so does Garchomp," Cynthia assured us, as Garchomp nodded in confirmation.
"What do you think litten? You want to try?" Ash asked me.
I looked at Ash, then at Cynthia and Garchomp. I could tell from a glance at the champion that something was up, and by the look, Ash gave me he knew it too. "Let's do this," I responded while nodding to Ash.
"Then we accept," Ash agreed for us.
"Very well." Cynthia nodded as everyone got into position. "Ash, you may attack first."
"Ember." I let loose a ball of fire that directly hit Garchomp, who didn't even flinch. "In that case, use Flame Charge!" I cloaked myself in flames and then tackled into Garchomp. Again not even making Garchomp flinch.
"Shadow Claw." Garchomp's claws turned purple and elongated. She landed the hit on me, causing me to be sent back tumbling in the air. Surprisingly, I was able to reorientate myself and land on my paws. Though, the pain was killing.
"Are you alright Litten?" Ash asked as I shook myself off. I nodded in confirmation. We knew something was up. it was just like the battle against the Tapus. "If power won't work then let's try speed. Acrobatics." I started to glow as I ran up to Garchomp with incredible speed. I then proceeded to hit Garchomp at high speeds multiple times. Garchomp was not even phased by as she took each hit.
"Dragon Claw." This time Garchomp's claw glowed green as I continued to barrage Garchomp with Acrobatics. When I was right in front of her, she slew the claw into me and sent me back again but this time I landed on the ground much harder.
"Litten!" Ash called out in concern. I took my time getting back up, I was hit hard but I could still fight.
Suddenly, a gentle breeze blew from across the battlefield. Cynthia looked up into the sky where the breeze went. "Take a look over there." Cynthia pointed towards the sky. We all looked to where Cynthia was pointing. My eyes widened as everyone else gasped. Up in the sky was a cloud that looked like Stoutland watching over us.
Ash walked up to me and knelt next to me. "It seems that Stoutland was watching over you," Ash said as I tried to process what was going on.
Litten was aware that Cynthia and Garchomp walked up to us, but I couldn't take my eyes off of the cloud.
"I believe that the ones we lose are never truly gone. They are always in our hearts. Moving on does not mean forgetting them, it means moving them to a special place in your heart. To be able to move forward while keeping their memory alive." Cynthia told me.
"It seems you understand now," Garchomp added I closed my eyes.
"My limit… This isn't my limit." I felt a power surge through my body, fire erupted from my body.
"Breakthrough," Garchomp muttered as the flames spiraled around me.
The flames then condensed into a ball around my neck as I felt myself grow. When the light died down a new me stood.
"He evolved," Ash muttered in awe as he got his Pokedex out.
It read: Torracat, the fire cat pokemon, Fire-type Amid the battle, the fire pouch on Torracat's neck rings like a bell and produces stronger flames than usual.
I looked at the cloud which seemed to smile at me and dissipated. Goodbye father, I said internally.
"Amazing Torracat!" Ash congratulated me, to which I nodded. "But what just happened?" Ash asked.
"Torracat was going through Grieving Heart Syndrome," Cynthia said to Ash. "Are you aware of Broken Heart Syndrome?"
"Yeah, my Sceptile had it," Ash answered.
"It is similar except the key difference is that pokemon is unable to use moves with a broken heart, while a grieving heart cannot get stronger. The same thing happens to Cubone when they lose their mother. In both cases, when a pokemon can mend a broken or grieving heart, they grow exponentially stronger than before and in some cases evolve. I know from experience. When I first met Garchomp as a Gible, she had lost her mother in an accident. She went through Grieving Heart Syndrome too." Cynthia explained.
"I see," Ash said
Cynthia and Garchomp took a few steps away and turned around. "The only thing now is to see, how much stronger did Torracat get? We are still in a battle." Cynthia declared as Garchomp roared.
"Ready Torracat?" Ash asked. I nodded as my bell started to ring telling Ash my determination. "What a beautiful bell sound," he commented, before beaming. "I hear you Torracat. Use Flamethrower." From my flame bell, a continuous flame landed onto Garchomp.
"Impressive, but we aren't done yet! Twister." Garchomp created a tornado from its mouth and launched it at me.
My bell rang again and Ash understood my message, we fought as one. "Fireblast." I launched an ember from my bell which I then hit splitting into the kanji for Fire and slamming into the twister causing both attacks to be neutralized.
"Well done Torracat!" Ash said. Suddenly the place he kept his Z crystals started to glow. When Ash took a look the Flyinium Z that he had was glowing. Incidentally, it was the only Z crystal compatible with me. Ash met my gaze and we both nodded. It was finally the time.
"Breakthrough number 2," Garchomp said quietly as Ash switched the Electrium Z, with the Flyinium Z.
"Ready Torracat?" Ash asked as he prepared the Z-move "Great skies above, come crashing down with full power!" Ash chanted as a periwinkle beam of light was sent from my trainer to me. I jumped with flames coming out of my bell and attaching themselves to my back forming wings allowing me the temporary ability to fly.
"Supersonic Skystrike/Supersonic Skystrike," we both shouted, as I gave off a light blue aura as I charged at Garchomp.
"Garchomp block it!" Garchomp put her fin in front of her.
"Wings? How fitting. The weight in your heart is now gone. Fly free young one." Garchomp said as I slammed into her with all my strength. The force was so great that Garchomp was pushed back a meter before the ground beneath her gave way and kicked up dust. When the dust settled Garchomp managed to block the Z move with just her fin, with only a few scratches to prove there was an attack, to begin with. Even so, Garchomp and Cynthia looked amazed.
I fell over once the move wore off. Still conscious, just exhausted. "Torracat!" Ash yelled as he rushed to check on me, as Garchomp moved me out of the crater. Cynthia walked over as well. Ash took me from Garchomp. I could only nod my head, I was still exhausted.
"That last move took everything Torracat had. He just needs rest." Cynthia said as she looked over Torracat. "He will grow to be very powerful. Garchomp can take most Z moves much better than that. If this is what he can do as a Torracat, we can't wait for him to evolve and grow even stronger." Garchomp nodded her head. "For now take him to get checked out, the semi-finals will start soon. You do not want to miss them."
"You're right," Ash nodded his head. "Thank you for your help."
At the end, we did lose the first semi-final battle. May and Beautifly won against Zoey and Glameow. From what we were told it was a good fight. We were sad, but luckily the girls understood and we could always see the recorded version James' parents were sure to have back at the mansion. But we were right in time for Dawn and Jessie's fight. We had just taken a seat next to Riley when Marian took the stage.
"The second semi-final contest battle of the Wallace Cup is about to begin. On my Right is Dawn! And on my left is Jessilina!" Marian introduced as the crowd applauded."We got 5 minutes on the clock and begin!" Marian yelled as the timer started.
"Pachirisu Spotlight" Dawn threw her ball and a lightning bolt erupted from the Pokeball thanks to the ball capsule. When it hit the ground Pachirisu appeared from the lightning bolt.
"Mimikyu dear, it's time to play." Jessie tossed her ball and with a flurry of hearts, Mimikyu appeared.
"Pachirisu use Iron tail and electroball." Pachirisu's tail glowed as he ran up to Mimikyu. He then made a ball of electricity that started circling the tail, this reduced Jessie's points a little.
"Substitute," Jessie smirked as Mimikyu made a clone of himself. Pachirisu then hit the clone causing the clone to disappear, this reduced Dawn's points by a fourth. Mimikyu moved behind Pachirisu while the Electric-type was distracted. "Shadow Ball," Mimikyu launched the Ghost-type ball at Pachirisu which landed causing Pachirisu to be knocked forward and Dawn's point to go down to two-thirds left.
"Are you alright Pachirisu?" Dawn asked as the Electric-type nodded back. Dawn then had a thoughtful expression, which I learned to deduce as What would Ash do? She then looked at the water surrounding the stage and got an idea. "Pachirisu use Iron Tail and Discharge." Pachirisu first unleashed Discharge and then using an Iron Tail made all the electricity move into the tail making it glow like gold. "Quick Attack." Pachirisu sped up and stopped right in front of Mimikyu, before he could do anything, Pachirisu slammed the tail into Mimikyu releasing some sparks. This reduced Jessie's to match Dawn's. Mimikyu's head then slumped over as his ability kicked in.
"Don't let up Mimikyu. Shadow Claw." Mimikyu's claws glowed purple as he charged at Pachirisu. Dawn's points reduced a little.
"Sweet Kiss." Pachirisu sent a kiss in the shape of a heart that floated to Mimikyu, which reduced Jesalina's points a bit more than Dawn's. Mimikyu then cut the sweet kiss using Shadow Claw, dividing it into smaller hearts that surrounded Mimikyu which reduced Dawn's points to just under half.
"I thought that's what you would do. Discharge." Pachirisu sent the discharge to the smaller hearts and eventually, through the hearts it connected with Mimikyu shocking the Ghost-type and reducing Jessie's points to just under Dawn's. Dawn looked at the clock. 1 minute left. "Pachirisu, use Iron Tail on the water as hard as you can," Dawn ordered. Pachirisu looked at Dawn and then ran to the edge of the platform and jumped off it. Pachiurisu used an Iron Tail on the water causing a huge wave to form. Pachirisu was hit so hard that he jumped off the water and above the stage, which had a wave approaching it. Causing Jessie's points to drop a bit.
"Use Dark Pulse to dodge." Mimikyu released the Dark-type move on the ground launching Mimikyu over the wave causing Dawn's points to be reduced to just under Jessie's.
"Now Pachirisu uses Discharge on the field!" Dawn said causing everyone, including Pachirisu, to realize her plan. The field was wet. It was the same strategy Pikachu used against Tapu Koko. Pachirisu used the Electric-type to move on the field causing electricity to spread all over the battlefield and the surface of the water. Mimikyu couldn't fly so he landed on the electrified battlefield. The combo made the ground glow.
"Time!" Marian yelled as the move stopped, making everyone look at the board. "After that exciting semi-final battle, the winner is… Dawn and Pachirisu!" Marian announced as the crowd cheered.
"We did it Pachirisu!" Dawn cheered as her pokemon jumped into her arms.
"Dawn," Jessie said as she walked up to her with Mimikyu in her arms. "I guess this is what they call a bittersweet moment. I am upset that Mimikyu and I lost, there is no going around that. But I am even more proud of you, for your first win against me. You have come so far since you started."
"It means a lot coming from you, thank you." Dawn thanked.
"Do your best in the final for me," Jesalina held out her hand which Dawn took into hers.
The crowd went wild at such a big show of good sportsmanship. However, it left me conflicted. May and Dawn will be facing each other during the final round... I don't know who to cheer for. And by the looks of it, neither did Ash and Pikachu. I tried not to think much about it, during the half-hour wait for the last round. I decided to focus on the delicious ice cream Riley had brought for us all. There was no way Ash could leave his seat without being mauled by the fans.
When it was finally the time for the last battle of such an excitement cup, I was so fired up that I did not even think about cheering for someone specific. I was just thinking of having a good time and enjoying, what will be a marvelous match!
"The final battle of the Wallace cup is about to begin. On my right is Dawn and on my left is May!" Marian introduced as the crowd cheered. "5 minutes on the clock and begin!" The timer started.
"Piplup, Spotlight./Kirlia take the stage." Dawn and May threw their ball and ball capsules at the same time. A bubble emerged from Dawn's ball and it grew, when it was big enough Piplup appeared inside, making the bubble pop. Meanwhile, May's ball let out confetti, and Kirlia appears underneath it.
"Ice Beam/Psybeam," Dawn and May ordered at the same time. Kirlia released a rainbow-colored beam and Piplup released the Ice Beam. The Ice Beam froze the Psybeam, which then dissipated making rainbow sparkles to be dropped on both Kirlia and Piplup. This reduced both of their points by an eighth each.
"Bubble Beam," Piplup released the garage of bubbles at Kirlia. Causing May to lose a few of her points, but she quickly countered with a Psychic. Kirlia did a pirouette spin and used Psychic to stop the bubbles just before they hit. Which caused Dawn's points to go down a little more than May's. "Drill Peck," Dawn commanded. Piplup's beak grew and then he jumped and started spinning towards Kirlia. Popping every bubble releasing pink and blue sparkles as Piplup popped them. May's points were reduced lower than Dawn's.
But she did not give up. "Disarming Voice," Kirlia released heart-shaped sound waves that hit the rest of the bubbles and knocked Piplup back reducing Dawn's points to be less than May's.
"Whirlpool," Piplup landed and then created a giant whirlpool.
"Psybeam." Kirlia countered, launching a Psybeam at Piplup.
"Use the whirlpool to block it," ordered Dawn. Piplup held the whirlpool in front of him blocking the attack and causing rainbow sparkles to bounce off the whirlpool. Both Dawn and Mays points dropped. It was now a battle of willpower. Dawn yelled: "Don't give up!" I could see that this filled Piplup with determination. Instead of blocking the Psybeam, he let the Psybeam enter the whirlpool causing it to be fused to the whirlpool turning it into a rainbow whirlpool, which caused everyone to be stunned into silence. Even May, Kirlia, and Wallace were speechless. Dawn was shaken out of her stupor by Piplup calling to her. "Now Piplup! Launch it!" Piplup launched the rainbow whirlpool at Kirlia who was still stunned.
"Beautiful…" May said before realizing it was heading towards Kirlia. "Kirlia watch out! Use Magical Leaf!" This snapped Kirlia out of it, Kirlia shot out glowing leaves which cut the whirlpool sending rainbow sparkles everywhere, shocking Dawn and Piplup.
"Time," causing everyone to look at the board. "The winner of this exciting round goes to…" May had a few more points than Dawn. "May and Kirlia!"
Now that was a flashy and exciting end to a fun cup. I pity there could not be two winners, I thought to myself as I watched Dawn and May shake hands. Then again, this means May already has all the ribbons she needs for Johto's Grand Festival. She'll surely win that! This has been a great day!