Casey stands up from the grass and begins to walk back towards the group, doing her best to plaster a smile onto her face. There's no need to stress out and worry everybody else just because she's frustrated. Still, she can't help but be agitated that J got away for the second time now, and that's just what she knows of. Who knows how many other crimes the nefarious Pokemon Hunter has committed?
Casey just hopes that she can one day stop her once and for all.
"This is gonna be totally awesome! I can't wait to get into some battles!" Casey cheers, picking up the pace slightly as the stadium comes into view, "I'm ready to win it all!"
"You sure are excited about this competition, aren't you?"
Brock's remark is spot on. Casey, along with her friends, is currently heading towards the stadium holding the Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition. The group recently arrived in Hearthome City and were quick to discover, much to Ash and Casey's dismay, that the Gym Leader had left to go on a journey, simply leaving behind a note to inform trainers of that fact. Needless to say that both Ash and Casey were incredibly disappointed, but some good news did come out of the bad situation. Nando, who just so happened to be at the Hearthome City Gym in the hopes of challenging the absent Gym Leader, informed them all about the Hearthome Tag Battle Competition.
He explained that the competition was set to commence soon after the Hearthome City Pokemon Contest, which both he and Dawn were set to compete in. Dawn ended up getting knocked out right after the Appeals Round and was rather upset about it, but Zoey (who also competed in the Contest) talked to her and managed to dispel some of her sadness, even if just a small amount of it. She actually suggested to Ash, Casey and Brock to enter Dawn into the tag battle competition in the hopes that it would lift up her spirits after her Contest loss. They all agreed that it was a smart idea.
Now the group are heading for the Hearthome Stadium to compete in the tag battle competition, and Casey is fully prepared to give it all she's got.
"I sure am, Brock!" Casey glances over at her Pokemon Breeder friend with a broad smile, "Its been a while since I've battled in a stadium, so it'll be cool to experience the atmosphere again."
"The atmosphere?" Dawn asks, confusion written across her face.
"Right. There's this certain exhilarated feeling you get when your battling in a stadium. I haven't felt it since I competed in the Indigo Conference a while back."
"The Indigo Conference, huh?" Ash remarks, looking at Casey with innate interest. That doesn't surprise Casey. Anything to do with Pokemon Battles seems to interest Ash, "I competed there a while back, too. How did you do?"
"I got to the finals."
"Wow!" Dawn gasps, clearly impressed by Casey's declaration, "That's incredible, Casey!"
Casey smiles awkwardly at Dawn. She's never been all that good at accepting compliments, "Thanks, but I lost in the final round. Both me and my opponent were down to our final Pokemon, and it ended up being my Jolteon against her Golem. Jolteon put up a good fight, but we didn't stand a chance in the end."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Casey."
"I know just how you feel. I've entered plenty of leagues and tried my absolute best to win them, but I've fallen short in most of them." Ash says, a determined expression suddenly crossing his face. "But that's why I keep traveling around! I want to become even stronger so that I can one day become a Pokemon Master!"
Casey smiles over at Ash. If there's one thing you can always count on, its Ash unwavering spirit and passion as a Pokemon Trainer. Casey has to admit that it constantly inspires her to become even stronger.
"Are you guys ready to head on in?"
Casey looks around, surprised to find that they've reached the entrance to the stadium. She was so wrapped up in her conversation that she didn't even realise where she was. Still, now that she does know where she is, she is more than ready to head inside and compete.
"Yeah!" Casey cheers enthusiastically, "Let's do this!"
"Welcome Tag Battle Trainers to Hearthome City!"
The entire stadium seems to shake as the crowd cheers deafeningly loud, expressing their excitement for the tag battle competition that they are about to witness. Casey sure was right about that stadium atmosphere. It feels just like the Pokemon League from where she and her friends are standing, what with the thousands of Pokemon fans watching them excitedly from their seats. Casey's missed the rush of adrenaline and motivation she gets from being in such an environment.
"As you may know, our warm and kind Hearthome City is known as the city where hearts meet, and with this tag battle, those hearts include Pokemon's and peoples alike!"
Casey looks back over at the announcer, who is stood in a stand high above the battlefield in the middle of the stadium. Apparently his name his Enta, and he just so happens to be the Mayor of Hearthome City. Casey thinks that it's rather cool that he's the announcer of the event, especially considering that he's such an important part of the city. It really helps to distinguish the event as something unique to Hearthome City.
"Pokemon to Pokemon, and person to person! Bringing them all together is what this tag battle is all about! And so, for the next three days, this stadium will burn with that spirit!"
Fighting spirit is just what I plan on bringing to this competition! My Pokemon and I are going to give it all that we've got!
"So now, I want you to make sure that you have your registration cards!"
Casey and the others take this time to look down at their registration cards. Casey's still not entirely sure what it's for, but what she does know for sure is what number's on it. Hers has the number twenty four written upon it for some reason. She looks up from her card and back to Enta, noticing the fact that the large flat-screen behind him as flickered on, showing a matchup table similar to those used in regular battle competitions.
"On this screen, you'll find everyone's card number listed! Look for your number, and the one that's listed next to it! This will be your tag team partner throughout the competition!" Enta explains, reaching out to press a large red button situated just in front of him, "Alright then, time to see who's with who!"
As soon as Enta presses the button each of the individual squares on the matchup table begin to fill up with numbers, one number to each box respectively. Dawn's number appears first, showing her to be paired up with number nine in the A Block. Casey's number appears shortly afterwards, placing her in the C Block alongside number ten.
"Now, using this as a guide, find your tag team partner!"
Casey glances back over at her friends, bidding them goodbye before heading off to find her tag team partner. She holds up her card as she walks around the stadium, calling out for her partner as she walks amongst the numerous other trainers competing.
"Number ten! I'm looking for number ten!"
She continues to walk around the stadium in search of her partner, though she begins to grow worried when all of the other teams begin to pair up and she still hasn't seen her partner.
Where in the world is number ten?
She decides to take some initiative and ask around. It couldn't hurt, after all. She walks over to one of the teams who have already paired up and tries to find an answer to the question burning in her mind.
"Excuse me." She says politely, "Have either of you seen number ten? They're supposed to be my partner but I can't seem to find them anywhere."
"Oh, yeah. I've seem him." The boy in the team replies gruffly. He has quite the muscular physique, so his rough voice doesn't overly surprise Casey. He turns and points to one of the side walls of the battlefield area, where a boy is sat alone rather timidly, "He's over there. He's the mayors nephew, actually."
The mayors nephew, huh?
Casey thanks the muscular trainer for his help before departing, heading straight for the boy sat at the side of the battlefield. She's eager to meet him as she's walking over to him, but she suddenly becomes hesitant when she actually reaches him.
He's sat there with his shoulders hunched over, almost as if he's trying to hide himself from the world around him. His eyes are trained on the ground and he's twiddling his thumbs around rather frantically. He's nervous about something, that's for sure.
Casey figures that she might as well introduce herself.
"Uh...hi. Apparently you're number ten."
He doesn't respond, which only makes the situation more awkward. She coughs awkwardly, trying her best to come up with something that can salvage at least some of the conversation.
"So, yeah." She mumbles uneasily, "I guess we're a team."
This time around the boy does choose to respond, but it's in a way that Casey definitely wasn't expecting. The boy suddenly bursts out crying, and Casey has absolutely no idea how to deal with it.
"Ah! I'm sorry! Wh-what did I say?!" Casey shouts, stumbling over her words as she tries to piece together an apology, "I-I didn't mean to upset you!"
Enta starts speaking again, but Casey doesn't really pay attention to it. She's too focused on the boy in front of her, who's now wiping his eyes and looking up at her for the first time with tearful eyes.
"I-I'm sorry!" He sobs, "I-I di-didn't even want t-to en-enter this c-competiton! I-I'm go-going to make u-us lose!"
Casey looks at the boy sympathetically. He really has no self esteem whatsoever, "What makes you think that's gonna happen?"
"I-I can't b-battle!" He cries, his sobs reducing slightly the more that he talks, "M-my Pokemon don't listen to m-me! W-We're going to l-lose and it's all m-my fault!"
Casey sighs. At this rate, there's no way that this boy will be able to battle. He needs to find his confidence otherwise he'll just break down on the battlefield. He says that his Pokemon don't listen to him, but there must be a reason for that. If Casey can figure that out, then the rest of it should be relatively smooth sailing.
"What's your name?"
"Duncan." He mumbles, still wiping the falling tears away from his eyes.
Casey nods, moving down to sit beside Duncan on the ground. She extends her hand out to him, "I'm Casey."
Duncan reaches out, albeit hesitantly, and shakes Casey's hand. Casey smiles warmly back at him, "Now, why don't you and I show everybody at this competition just how strong we are?"
Duncan still looks hesitant about the entire situation, but Casey seemingly has managed to get through to him at least somewhat, as he musters up a smile and nods.
"Okay. Let's do it."
Casey leads Duncan out onto a training field around the back of stadium. They've still got a while until their battle, so now's the perfect time to come up with some strategies. They're going to need them for this competition. They have to be able to battle skilfully whilst being in sync if they stand any chance of winning this competition.
They come to a stop in the middle of the training field and Casey turns to Duncan, who still looks rather timid and reclusive. She hasn't quite figured out why he acts in such a fretful way, but she does know that his uncle suggested the competition to his parents, who practically made him enter. Apparently they figured that it would boost his self esteem or something. Casey's not entirely sure.
"Okay, Duncan. We've got a couple of hours until our first battle, so why don't we select our Pokemon and come up with some strategies that compliment them both?"
"I told you, Casey! My Pokemon don't listen to me!" He sighs miserably, "I'm useless!"
"Nobody is useless, Duncan. Now, come on, send out your Pokemon. I'm sure that we can figure out why they don't listen you if we just think about it."
Duncan still looks reluctant, but he relents and reaches into his jacket pocket, pulling out two minimized Pokeballs. He enlarges them and throws them out in front of him, albeit weakly, and his two Pokemon emerge from their Pokeballs, Casey shocked when she realises just what types of Pokemon they are.
He's got a Tyranitar and a Pidgeot!
Casey can't resist the urge to scan the two Pokemon into her Pokedex. She hasn't recorded the data of either one since receiving her Sinnoh Pokedex. She aims the device at Tyranitar first.
Tyranitar, the Armor Pokémon. Tyranitar has a heavily armored body that can withstand powerful attacks and is able to crush a mountain with one hand.
She directs her Pokedex at Pidgeot next, scanning its data into the device right away.
Pidgeot, the Bird Pokémon. The evolved form of Pidgeotto. It can fly at twice the speed of sound at an altitude of nearly one mile.
"Duncan, you've got some powerful Pokemon!" Casey gasps, turning back to the boy with surprise written across her face, "Did you raise them yourself?"
"They were my brothers Pokemon."
"Your brothers?"
He nods, "My brother's in the Kalos region right now taking a break and just sightseeing instead of training, so he left me some of his Pokemon to start my own journey with. The problem is, they don't listen to me."
Kalos, huh? I've never heard of it. I'll have to visit it someday.
"I tell them to attack but they just don't!" He groans, "It's just hopeless!"
"Alright, so what moves can they use?"
"I don't know."
Casey's eyes go wide as she looks at Duncan incredulously, "What do you mean you don't know?"
"I never asked my brother what moves they can use. I sorta just figured that if I told them to attack, they just would." Duncan shrugs halfheartedly, a sheepish expression crossing his face, "I suppose I didn't really think it through at the time."
Casey looks at Duncan pitifully. He's spent so long thinking that he's an awful Pokemon trainer, but he's really just been uninformed the entire time. If he can just understand his Pokemon a bit more, the rest should be smooth sailing. Luckily, Casey has just the thing to help out with that.
She points her Pokedex back at Tyranitar again, much to Duncan's confusion, "What are you doing?"
Rock Slide, Crunch, Thrash, Dark Pulse.
She makes a mental note of the moves that Tyranitar knows before pointing her Pokedex at Pidgeot, scanning it once again to learn its moves as well.
Quick Attack, Wing Attack, Protect, Double Team
Pidgeot's move set is seemingly more geared to a more tactical battling style than Tyranitar's moves, which seem to be geared more towards physical power than anything else. Based on his Pokemon alone, Casey has the feeling that Duncan's brother is quite the skilled trainer who can utilise a variety of strategies.
She turns back to Duncan and holds her Pokedex out to him, "Their moves are scanned onto here. Now that we know that, I'm sure that we can come up with a strategy."
I hope so, anyway.
She pushes her negative thoughts to the back of her mind and looks at Duncan with a confident smile, "So, what do you say? Are you ready to do this?"
Duncan still looks skeptical, but Casey's quickly learned to accept that her new friend always looks that way; he nods back and smiles slightly.
"I'm ready."
"Who's ready for our first match in the C Block!?"
The stands erupt into cheers at Enta's declaration, Casey wincing slightly at the sudden addition of ear-splitting noise. That wince is soon replaced by a smile though. This is the exact atmosphere that she's missed for so long. The cheers from the crowd are making her all the more eager to battle.
Dawn's already had her first round battle and came out of it victorious along with her tag battle partner, Conway. He seems to be a bit odd, but he has diverse strategies to spare. Combining his strategies with Dawn's contest moves secured their victory easily. Brock and his partner Holly, as well as Ash and his partner Paul (Casey was surprised when she learnt that the two of them had been paired up) are yet to have their battles, but theirs should be commencing not long after her's and Duncan's.
As the crowds cheers begin to die down, Enta wastes no time in reiterating the rules of the competition, just in case anybody missed them.
"Each trainer is allowed to use one Pokemon with no time limit! There will be no substitutions! Whichever team ends up unable to battle is eliminated from the competition! Then, tomorrow, the winners will proceed to the second round battles!" He explains, everybody watching him eagerly as he does, "Our next battle is the first in the C Block! All eyes on the battle field!"
That's our cue.
Casey and Duncan both reach for their respective Pokeballs, having already decided just what Pokemon they're going to use, but their opponents beat them too it. The first of their opponents, a girl who looks to be around their age, sends her Pokemon out first.
"Lombre, lets go!"
The girls Lombre appears on the battlefield. Despite its rather stoic facial expression, Casey decides that it's best not to underestimate the dual Water and Grass-Type. She can't afford to if they want to win this, after all.
"Vespiquen, you too!"
Their other opponent, a boy who looks to be a few years older than the three other trainers on the battlefield, sends out his Pokemon next, which just so happens to be a Vespiquen. Casey knows very little about Vespiquen, excluding its typing and the fact that it is the evolved form of female Combee, but she chooses to not let her lack of knowledge faze her as she sends out her first Pokemon.
"Dratini, get fired up!"
"Pidgeot, come on out!"
Both Casey and Duncan send out their Pokemon simultaneously; Dratini and Pidgeot burst out of their Pokeballs with fierce battle cries. They definitely seem more fired up to battle than their opponents, that's for sure.
"All right! Battle...begin!"
"Lombre, use Hydro Pump!"
"Vespiquen, Power Gem!"
Their opponents waste no time in firing their initial attacks. Lombre lurches its body backwards before unleashing a powerful torrent of water right at Dratini and Pidgeot. Vespiquen attacks simultaneously, generating a large glowing orb between her hands before launching it right at Dratini and Pidgeot, its power combining with that of Lombre's Hydro Pump. Most trainers would be concerned at the sight of such a powerful combination, but Casey and Duncan aren't. They have the perfect move to counter it.
"Pidgeot, use Protect, let's go!"
Pidgeot listens to Duncan's orders and flies down in front of Dratini, surrounding the two of them in a green aura-like shield just before their opponents attack reaches them. Protect, as the name of the attack suggests, protects both Pidgeot and Dratini from sustaining any damage from their opponents combined attack, much to the opposing trainer's chagrin.
"Time for a counter strike!" Casey points towards her opponents as the defensive barrier around Dratini and Pidgeot fades away, not wasting any time in fighting back, "Dratini, use Dragon Rage on Vespiquen!"
"Pidgeot, use Wing Attack on Lombre!" Duncan calls out, working in perfect sync with Casey's sudden orders.
Pidgeot soars towards Lombre at breakneck speed, flying so fast that the Jolly Pokemon doesn't have enough time to react to what's going on. Pidgeot's Wing Attack strikes Lombre directly, sending it flying back with ease.
"Lombre, no!"
Whilst Lombre's trainer calls out in concern for her Pokemon, who is struggling to get up from the ground, Dratini's Dragon Rage races closer and closer towards Vespiquen. Vespiquen's trainer chooses to react quickly and not fall prey to the same fate that his partner did, giving a command to Vespiquen in order to counter Dratini's fierce attack.
"Vespiquen, counter with Power Gem!"
The two powerful attacks collide in the middle of the battlefield, canceling each other out and causing a large explosion to occur. The explosion cloaks the battlefield in thick black smoke, though it dissipates just in time for Casey to see Vespiquen's trainer order yet another attack.
"Vespiquen, quick! Use Toxic!"
Casey, still rather dazed by the explosion thats just occurred, doesn't fully process the situation right away, and as of such doesn't know how to react as the thick purple sludge rushes towards Dratini. Usually she'd know just how to react to such a situation, but right now she's just completely out of it.
Luckily she has Duncan there to cover for her.
"Use Protect, Pidgeot!"
Duncan gives the command with surprising confidence, Pidgeot obeying immediately and swooping down to protect Dratini. Vespiquen's Toxic is easily blocked by Pidgeot's Protect; Duncan chooses to snap back into action in an instant.
"Now, follow up with Quick Attack!"
Casey catches onto what Duncan is trying to do and gives her own command, "Use Slam, Dratini!"
Both Dratini and Pidgeot manage to land their Normal-Type attacks on their opponents, sending both Vespiquen and Lombre to the ground upon impact. Dratini and Pidgeot move to stand in front of their trainers as Casey smirks.
This is just what we've been waiting for!
Casey turns and looks over at Duncan, her smirk changing to a confident smile as they look at each other excitedly,"Grand finale?"
"Grand finale!" Duncan nods with a smile, turning his attention back to the battlefield and pointing towards the sky with gusto, "Alright, Pidgeot, fly up!"
Pidgeot obeys Duncan's command once again. It soars up high into the air with a loud bird caw, practically disappearing amongst the clouds high above the stadium. That's just what they need. They need Pidgeot to be out of sight so that it can play its part in the grand finale.
"Now, Dratini! Use Draco Meteor!"
Dratini cranes her neck back as she generates a meteoric orb in her mouth, launching it high up into the air moments later. The orb disperses and soon numerous meteors rain down on the battlefield, Lombre clearly taking the most damage from the powerful Dragon-Type attack. The Jolly Pokemon tries its best to keep its footing, but it succumbs to the power of Dratini's Draco Meteor and falls onto the ground with a thud, the sheer power of the attack having rendered it unable to battle.
"Lombre is unable to battle!" The referee declares.
Time to wrap this up!
Casey trains her eyes onto Vespiquen, watching as the Beehive Pokemon struggles to get up off of the ground. Now's their chance to win this.
"Finish it up, Duncan!"
"Got it!" Duncan nods, facing Vespiquen with a steeled expression on his face, "Pidgeot, use Wing Attack on Vespiquen!"
It takes a few moments, but Pidgeot soon comes into view from high above as it swoops down towards Vespiquen, its wings glowing brightly as it approaches. It reaches Vespiquen in a matter of moments and strikes the Beehive Pokemon just as it's beginning to regain its footing, knocking it out cold with that single powerful hit.
"Vespiquen is unable to battle!" The referee declares, pointing a green flag towards Casey and Duncan, "And that means that the winners are Dratini and Pidgeot!"
"And that's the first battle of the C Block all wrapped up! Casey and Duncan will proceed to the second round matchups tomorrow!"
We did it!
Casey turns to Duncan and gives him a victorious hi-five as the crowd cheers vigorously, clearly impressed by the battle action they've just witnessed. Casey's rather pleased with both their and their opponents performance in battle as well, though she knows not to become too overconfident. They've still got a long way to go if they want to win this.
Hi, everybody! First off, I want to apologise for how long its been since my last update. I've been rather busy recently seeing family, catching up on work and all that good stuff, but my time is beginning to become more free as of late. I hope to return to regular updates ASAP.
Anyways, as always, please leave a review if you like a chapter. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about the story and I hope that you all have a nice day. Thanks for reading!
