"Dawn's right. She'll give you a great battle." Casey smiles, "But lets get back to Ash and the others. I reckon they're over at Reggie's right now."
"Mon! Monferno!"
"See? Even Monferno agrees! Let's get going!" She says before taking off back down the way she came, Monferno and her friends rushing after her as she goes. As much as she wants to battle Maylene right away, she's proud of the fact that she made the right decision for her friend.
Besides, it'll be interesting to see Dawn in a full on Pokemon battle.
"Shoes...shoes...Ugh! Where are my shoes?!" Casey groans in frustration as she looks around the hotel room frantically, trying to find her missing shoes amongst the foray of items scattered around the room. She usually wouldn't be making so much as early as it is, but they were lucky enough to get their own rooms when they arrived at the Pokemon Center last night, which was particularly odd considering that they didn't arrive back at the Pokemon Center until late. Casey spent the rest of her afternoon along with Dawn and Brock, the former of whom was training alongside her Pokemon, whilst Ash spent some time with Reggie instead. The skilled Pokemon Breeder was helping Ash teach his Staravia how to use Brave Bird, an incredibly powerful Flying-Type attack.
Still, they all managed to get their own individual rooms, which is right now proving to be a rather bad thing for Casey.
She's trying to find her shoes, which see seems to have misplaced amongst all of her stuff. If she was staying in a room with her friends, then Brock would've made sure that her shoes were in a place that were easy to find, which would've eradicated the problem that she's currently facing. It's far too early in the morning to go and wake him up, so, unfortunately for her, she doesn't have Brock around right now to help her.
"Mon!"
She turns around abruptly when Monferno calls out to her, smiling at the sight of what he has in his hands. She may not have Brock around to help her right now, but at least she has Monferno.
"Thanks, pal." She smiles, walking over to her trusted partner and taking her shoes from his awaiting arms. She takes a seat on the end of her bed, talking to him as she puts on and laces up the newly found shoes excitedly, "You ready for some training, pal?"
"Mon! Monferno!"
"Yeah, well, we can't get too confident. Sure, Dawn's battling Maylene first, but it'll be our turn soon after. We can't drop our guard right now."
"Mon?"
Casey laughs at his inquisuitivism, "Maylene use Fighting-Type Pokemon, pal. They aren't going to go down without a fight."
"Mon! Ferno! Monferno?"
"Yeah, I could call in Xatu or Exeggutor to help us out, but I'd much rather win alongside the Pokemon that I've been training in Sinnoh." Casey replies as she finishes lacing up her shoes, jumping off of the bed with fervour and looking down at Monferno with a broad and confident smile, "So, you ready to go?"
"Mon! Monferno!"
"Your Fire-Type attacks are gonna be super effective against Lucario. We're gonna need to sharpen those up before we take her on." Casey explains to Monferno as they step outside into the cool morning air, the early morning sun warming them up from the chill.
Monferno replies enthusiastically to her suggestion, listening intently to his trainer without a hint of hesitation as they begin to make their way out towards the training fields nearby.
"I'm thinking of battling with Shellos and Dratini as well. Electabuzz's been working hard, but I think that it's Shellos' time to shine. Don't you, pa-?"
"Piplup, use Bubblebeam! And, Ambipom, you use Swift!"
Casey and Monferno both instantly pick up their pace when they hear a familiar voice yell out just around the corner. They rush around and onto the training fields, both of them watching Dawn train along side her Pokemon in admiration.
Piplup and Ambipom are the ones engaging in a battle right now. Piplup's Bubblebeam attack collides with Ambipom's glittering Swift, the two equally matched attacks colliding and erupting into an array of glistening sparkles. Most people would assume that they're working on a Contest move - it could be a Contest move, it's pretty enough - but Casey knows better. She knows exactly why Dawn's up this early in the morning.
"That was amazing, you two! Keep it up!"
Casey chooses to make her presence known at that moment, stepping forward and speaking up just before Ambipom and Piplup fire off their attacks again, "Working hard?"
"Casey!" Dawn gasps as she turns to face her with a startled expression plastered on her face, "I didn't think that anybody would be up this early."
"Monferno and I wanted to get in some training for our Gym Battle. We'll be going for it right after you." Casey replies, nodding her head towards Ambipom and Piplup, "You're both training really hard! Your moves are looking great!"
Both Pokemon cry out appreciatively at the praise. The three Pokemon soon begin to play about in the meadow as Dawn and Casey slip into a conversation, the two of them watching fondly as their Pokemon run around under the early morning sun being cast over the field.
"So, are you ready for your battle today?"
"I'm...I'm not sure." Dawn replies tentatively after a few moments of deliberation, "I know that my Pokemon are working hard, but what if I'm not good enough for them? What if I can't bring out the best in them?"
"And what makes you think that that's going to happen?" Casey counters.
"I don't know..." Dawn sighs, "It's just...well, after what happened in Hearthome City and then in Solaceon Town..."
Casey feels a great sense of sympathy for Dawn in that moment. Of course, she heard yesterday just how much Dawn's Contest losses have been affecting her, but she knows that she can't let her friends doubts stop her from taking on new challenges. She knows that she needs to set the record straight for the disheartened Coordinator.
"Dawn, you need to understand that this isn't a Contest Battle that you're walking into. It's a Gym Battle. Sure, they have similarities, but they aren't the same. Gym Battles are about drawing the strengths of your Pokemon out with your own strength. They're about working alongside your Pokemon to best your opponents. They're about finding the power that you never even knew you possessed and using that power to your advantage."
"But what if you don't have any of that power?"
Casey sighs, "Dawn, can I give you one piece of advice?"
Dawn nods back, a sudden look of curiosity and optimism crossing her face at Casey's suggestion.
"Believe in your Pokemon. I know it sounds simple, but the first step towards winning a battle is believing in your Pokemon. If you believe in them, they'll believe in themselves, and if they do that, they'll fight with all they have."
"I need to believe in my Pokemon." Dawn murmurs, the bluenette taking a moment to consider what Casey's saying before replying. She looks back at her friend with a confident and grateful smile, "Thanks for the advice, Casey! I'll be sure to use it during my battle!"
Casey smiles back. Part of her feels like she should say more, especially when she thinks back to what she heard Dawn say to Maylene yesterday when they were by the stream. She didn't get the chance to properly talk to Dawn about it last night due to how late they got in. But, then again, she doesn't want to knock Dawn's confidence right now, not when she's just helped her pick it back up again. She can talk to her about it another time.
"So, can Monferno and I join in with your training session?" Casey asks, gesturing over to the playing Pokemon with a curt nod, "I reckon we could learn a thing or two from you guys."
"Of course! Though, I think that we're the ones who should be learning from you." Dawn replies as she begins to make her way towards the Pokemon.
"We'll see about that, Dawn." Casey chuckles as she follows on after her friend, "We'll see."
"Ambipom is unable to battle!"
Casey winces as Dawn solely returns her fallen Ambipom to her Pokeball, the Long Tail Pokemon having just felt the devastating blows of Maylene's Lucario's Bone Rush attack. The Aura Pokemon brandishes the glowing bone around before it dissipates, its trainer praising it for its performance in battle. Casey's in awe of Maylene and her Pokemon. She's been working in perfect sync with them all; Dawn's put up a fair fight of her own. Dawn's down to her last Pokemon whilst Maylene is still on her second. Despite having the advantage, Casey knows that Dawn isn't going to back down. She can still do this.
"That was incredible!" Ash gasps, his usual tone of excitement present as he keeps his eyes fixed on the battlefield, "Maylene and Lucario are something else!"
"When Maylene and Lucario are working perfectly in sync, lets just say that I doubt anyone will find any kind of opening. It looks like Dawn's reawakened Maylene's passion for battling and ignited her team's spirit." Reggie explains.
Casey listens intently to the Pokemon Breeder's insight. He seems to know Maylene quite well so she has no doubt in what he's saying, but she still has all of her faith in Dawn. She knows that her friend can pull out a win here as long as she continues to trust in her Pokemon.
With that in mind, Casey turns her attention back towards the battlefield, watching eagerly as Dawn selects her third and final Pokemon for battle.
"Now, Piplup! You're up next!"
The determined Coordinator throws Piplup's Pokeball out onto the battlefield with gusto. The Penguin Pokemon materialises from a bright flash of light with an excitable cry, clearly eager to get the battle underway.
"Alright, give me everything you've got!" Maylene calls out, moving into a steady stance as she prepares for the battle to continue on.
"I wouldn't think of doing anything else!" Dawn retorts steadily, keeping up a confident resolve as she quickly calls out her first command, "Piplup, use Bubble Beam!"
Piplup launches himself up into the air and flips his small body around. Judging by his theatrical movements, Piplup's clearly retaining some of his Contest style in this battle. The spectacle is almost mesmerising to watch, but his movements are soon forgotten when Piplup opens up his beak and releases a stream of bubbles at his opponent.
"Dodge it!" Maylene counters, "Then use Aura Sphere!"
Lucaro listens directly to her commands, leaping out of the way as the stream of bubbles races towards it. The Aura Pokemon dodges the attack with ease, countering by pressing its palms together and firing off a blue sphere of energy at Piplup. The powerful Fighting-Type attack makes a direct hit on Piplup, sending the Penguin Pokemon flying backwards with a wail.
"That was a direct hit!" Brock gasps, watching in shock as Piplup slides backwards across the battlefield.
Dust kicks up off the ground as Piplup's foot slides across the ground; he desperately attempts to brace himself as he tries to recover from the attack. He picks his head up from the ground and glares angrily back at Lucario, surprising everyone when he corrects himself and stands tall as if the attack did absolutely nothing.
"It did nothing!" Maylene says in astonishment, her eyes wide as she looks over at Piplup. She clearly wasn't expecting Lucario's attack to do no damage, that's for sure.
Ash calls out enthusiastically to Piplup, praising him for his performance in battle. Piplup responds happily to his praise before focusing his attention of his opponent again, ready to rush into action when Dawn calls out her next command, "Piplup, use Whirlpool, let's go!"
Piplup's small body glows brightly as he raises his arms and open beak into the air. A small spout of water begins to form at his beak, and soon it progresses into a fully sized Whirlpool at the tip of his beak. He thrusts the Whirlpool towards Lucario and the Aura Pokemon becomes ensnared amongst the fast flowing currents, trapped within the powerful Water-Type attack.
"Alright! Lucario's trapped!" Dawn cheers triumphantly, taking action whilst she still has the advantage by calling out yet another command, "Piplup, it's time to use Peck! Let's go!"
Piplup jumps up above the Whirlpool as his beak glows brightly. He dives down into the vortex and begins to swim towards Lucario, his actions evidently mirroring a move that would commonly be seen in a Contest.
"Using Contest techniques to cover their bad matchup!" Reggie remarks, "Nice strategy!"
Casey keeps her eyes fixed on the action as Maylene orders Lucario to use Metal Claw immediately. The spikes on Lucario's paws shine brightly and extend out, forming sharp-bladed claws on the top of its paws. It swings out with its claws and cuts right through the Whirlpool, halting Piplup's attempts to get a close-up shot on Lucario.
"They're both doing great!" Ash says encouragingly.
"Maylene and Lucario are totally in sync, and it has everything to do with Dawn's passionate battling style stirring things up!"
"I'm thinking the same thing, Reggie." Casey adds, turning briefly away from the battlefield to look at him, "Dawn's really giving it her all, and it's inspiring Maylene to work just as hard. I'm not even sure who's going to end up winning this battle because it's so intense."
"Now, Piplup! Bubble Beam!"
Casey looks back to the battlefield as Dawn calls out yet another order to Piplup, who stands tall and fires off a onslaught of bubbles at Lucario. The Aura Pokemon runs between the bubbles and dodges them with ease, listening carefully to its trainer as she calls out an unfamiliar command to Casey and everybody else who's spectating, "Use Force Palm!"
Lucario strikes the flat of its palm out at Piplup, making direct contact with the tiny penguins body. Piplup stands there for a few moments, startled and confused as to what Lucario's doing, and its only when Lucario pushes its palm out that the Penguin Pokemon reacts. Lucario fires off an intense light green blast at Piplup, which sends him flying backwards upon impact with a wail. He lands back on the ground with a resounding thud, wincing heavily as small jolts of electricity crackle around his body.
"Whoa! What kinda move was that!" Ash gasps, a shocked expression on his face when he sees Piplup's body crackling with electricity.
"Force Palm, it's a Fighting-Type move." Reggie explains, "First, you get past your opponents defence. Then, you hit them with masses of energy stored up in your palm."
Force Palm, huh? We're going to have to keep an eye out for that during our battle. That paralysis could be a problem.
Casey's eyes flicker back to Piplup, watching with pride as the wounded Penguin Pokemon pushes himself up off of the ground and shakes off the paralysis. He stands tall, his arms extended out defensively as he stares down his opponent once again.
"Alright, Piplup! That's the way it's done!" Dawn praises.
Lucario grunts out a curt reply to Piplup's response; Maylene's quick to respond to what her partner Pokemon's saying, "You're right, Lucario! This battle is fun! I haven't been this pumped up in a while!"
Dawn's definitely helped Maylene regain her battling spirit. Both her and Dawn are pumped up and ready to continue fighting, Maylene being the first one to make the next move, "Now, Lucario! Use Aura Sphere!"
Lucario pushes its palms together once again and forms yet another Aura Sphere. He thrusts his palms outwards and launches the sphere towards Piplup. Dawn acts quickly and orders a counter attack, "Piplup! Peck!"
Piplup's beak glows brightly as he rushes towards the Aura Sphere. His sharpened beak cuts right through the sphere as if it was a mere bubble of water, rendering the attack null and void. Piplup continues to rush towards the stunned Lucario and smashes into it with his beak, sending Lucario flying backwards much to the surprise of Maylene. Lucario braces itself on the battlefield, and Maylene checks to make sure that it's okay before directing her attention towards Dawn.
"Since Peck is a Flying-Type move, it's a good match against the Fighting-Type Aura Sphere." Dawn explains confidently, a proud smirk on her face at the mention of her strategy, "Of course that means that we can still win this thing!"
Maylene doesn't seem to be willing to let what Dawn's saying deter her and fights back with just as much ferocity, "Now, Aura Sphere, once more!"
"Piplup, use Bubblebeam!"
Piplup counters Lucario's approaching Aura Sphere with another onslaught of bubbles; a small explosion erupts when the two attacks collide. A cloud of thick smoke cloaks the battlefield, which prompts Dawn to take action whilst the cover is still available.
"And now, use Peck!"
Piplup rushes right through the cloud of smoke with his beak extended out. Casey and the others are caught off guard when he comes out of the other end of the smoke cloud without hitting Lucario. At first, Casey doesn't quite realise where Lucario's gone, but it all becomes clear when she notices that Lucario's jumped high above Piplup and is towering over him. Dawn notices too and she desperately calls out to Piplup, but it's too late by that point. Maylene's ready to give one last decisive command to draw the battle to a close.
"Force Palm!"
Lucario shoots down and strikes Piplup with its palm, resulting in a bright flash of light to erupt around the two of them. Dust kicks up from the battlefield and conceals both of them from sight, leaving Maylene, Dawn, Casey and all else spectating waiting anxiously to see the final result of the battle. When the dust clears and Lucario withdraws its palm, they all get the chance to see the outcome of the insanely powerful attack.
And it's not looking good for Dawn.
"Piplup is unable to battle!" Connally, who's acting as the referee for the battle, proclaims, "Which means the winner of this battle is the Gym Leader, Maylene!"
That's it. I guess Dawn lost.
Casey looks over at her bluenette friend, watching with a guilty feeling as she kneels down beside her fallen Pokemon and pulls him into her arms. She looks so crestfallen, and after all of that hard work she put in...
She follows Ash as he approaches Dawn, looking down at her with a reassuring smile as he tries to pick up her spirits, "You both battled really well! You should be proud, Dawn!"
"Thanks, but we lost." Dawn sighs, looking up at Ash with a feeble smile plastered on her face.
"C'mon, Dawn! That was an awesome battle! You sure got my psyched for my next challenge!"
Casey decides that she should join in with Ash in his attempts to cheer Dawn up and she echoes his sentiments, "Ash is right, Dawn. You really put up a good fight out there, and you brought back Maylene's battling spirit. You were awesome out there!"
"Thanks, you two." Dawn smiles as she stands up from the ground, still holding onto Piplup in her arms as Maylene and Lucario approach.
"I don't know how to thank you, Dawn." Maylene says gratefully, "I forgot all about my fears and about winning or losing. All I could think about was how much fun it was. Wow! It sure felt like old times!"
Casey can tell from just looking at Maylene that she's a changed person. Casey would've laughed if somebody would've told her that Maylene would act like this just yesterday. Dawn's battle really has changed her for the better; Dawn managed to bring Maylene back.
"That really means so much to me." Dawn replies earnestly, clearly appreciative of what Maylene's saying, "And, hey! I reckon you'll have at least as much fun when you have your battles with Ash and Casey!"
Maylene nods, "And after our battle, I just have to stay on as Gym Leader. Our battle reminded me just how much fun being a Gym Leader can be."
"That's the spirit, Maylene!" Casey replies determinedly, "I can't wait until our battle! I hope you're expecting a tough challenge!"
Maylene replies without a hint of hesitation, "I wouldn't expect anything less. Bring it on."
