Driftveil Arc: Unfortunate Twist
"If we can't defend ourselves, we must attack!" Jacky said. Medicham manifested a blade in its hand and attacked. It jumped into the air, spun around its own axis and dove down on its foe. However, Kirlia sent it crashing into the ground with Psychic. Medicham groaned and got up again. It pretended to be unimpressed. "Dazzling Gleam!" Kirlia sent off another attack and Medicham dodged it before sending a counterattack with Shadow Ball. Kirlia teleported behind it and bombarded it with Magical Leaf, however, Medicham jumped back in time and escaped the attack. "Shadow Ball!",
"Dazzling Gleam!" Both girls shouted at the same time and their Pokémon both sent off an attack. The energy ball of pure darkness was hit by the beams of light and exploded with a loud bang.
Suddenly, Kirlia's body began to glow brightly and Jacky squinted her eyes. "A-ah...! That light...!" Mari backed away as the light grew brighter and spread out before it died away. In Kirlia's place now stood another Pokémon. "Woah...!" Mari was astonished. "You... evolved...!",
"A Gardevoir!" Jacky exclaimed, gobsmacked. Gardevoir looked over its shoulder at Mari. The latter was still a bit caught up in her amazement. "Awesome...",
"Hey, that's just great!" Jacky commented. "Now, we can see how strong your Gardevoir is!" Mari nodded. "Right you are..." She pulled out her Pokédex, which showed her Guardevoir's current attacks. Her jaw dropped. "What the heck...?! Its attack set has been almost completely changed!" Gardevoir winked at her. "Okay... Alright, let's see..." Mari stretched out her arm. "Shadow Ball!" Gardevoir formed a dark orb between its hands and sent it at Medicham. "Do the same!" Jacky ordered. Medicham returned an attack and the two balls collided. They exploded. "Focus Blast!" Mari shouted next. Gardevoir raised its arms and sent out another brightly glowing ball of energy. "Brick Break!" Jacky shouted, and Medicham destroyed the sphere with the edge of its hand. "Now Psycho Cut!" It opened its hand, formed a blade in it, and ran. It leapt forward and performed a spin before hitting Gardevoir on the hip. The latter backed away, the attack having left nothing but a slight scrape, before its eyes lit up and its Psychic seized control of Medicham's body. Medicham squirmed and doggedly fought back against the suddenly much stronger psychic powers of its opponent.
It was brought to its knees by the unexpected strength Gardevoir suddenly showed. It braced itself against the ground. "Now Shadow Ball!" Gardevoir hurled a ball at Medicham, hitting it directly; and with full force. Medicham gasped and propped itself up on its knee in an attempt to get up. "Focus Blast!" Mari shouted, and Guardevoir sent the next attack at Medicham. As it crashed into Medicham's chest, it gasped and lost its breath. It was flung through the air and hit the ground hard, kicking up dust as it skidded across it and finally came to a stop. "Medicham!" Jacky ran forward and knelt down by it. "Are you okay?" Medicham sat up slowly and carefully, but held its breath as if in pain. However, it nodded bravely and Jacky helped it to its feet. The Pokémon leaned on her. "I hope we didn't overdo it..." Mari muttered. "Your Medicham got a harsh beating right there."
Medicham raised his head and shook it. "It's glad Kirlia made it this far and evolved," Jacky said. "It's all right." She helped Medicham walk to the Pokémon Center and supported it. Mari and Gardevoir followed them, a little guilty. Medicham wasn't looking well, as if Gardevoirs attacks had done a lot of unseen damage. "That was unexpected..." Mari muttered.
When Jacky came out of the treatment room, she went to Mari. "Medicham is slowly getting better. Nurse Joy is taking care of its wounds. However, it was particularly badly injured in the chest area after that immensely powerful Focus Blast... I think it probably won't be able to fight in the gym.",
"Oh... How long will it take to fully recover?",
"The nurse said it shouldn't be fighting until next week. Maybe even a little longer. I have to win the badge without it...",
"Does that also... mean it's out for the PWT?",
"Probably, yes. That's a week away, isn't it?",
"Yeah... Shoot, I'm sorry about that... I didn't know that Kirlia's strength would spike up like that after its evolution! At least not in this extreme manner...",
"That's not yours or Gardevoir's fault. I asked you to help me train, and I wanted to see how strong Gardevoir is... So it's more my fault. But it doesn't matter now... I think Medicham was happy to have an opponent stronger than itself. Gardevoir's powers have grown tremendously." Mari looked at Gardevoir standing next to her. "Yeah... Oh by the way, I haven't told you yet... I've been reading up more on the Junior Cup tournament. It's apparently spread over three days... On the first day there will be the qualifying matches. On the second day there are eighth and quarter finals and on the last day semifinals and finals. The tournament is structured like the big event in the Pokémon League.",
"How many Pokémon are allowed to participate?",
"All the Pokémon you have, even if you can only use one Pokémon per battle in the qualifiers. There will be two qualifying battles in total. There's no real limit in general, just a limit on Pokémon you can use per battle.",
"Hmm..." Jacky nodded thoughtfully. "I don't know if Noibat is strong enough for a tournament yet... With Medicham being out, I'm already somewhat limited, so if I'm unlucky, it'll just come down to Absol and Luxio...",
"That's not good. You need Noibat." Jacky sighed and pulled out her Pokédex.
"Noibat is evolving into Noivern, a pretty fast dragon-type Pokémon... We still have a week, maybe I'll manage to make Noibat strong enough by training it sufficiently... If I'm lucky, it will evolve before the tournament.",
"Then, I suggest some flight training." Mari commented.
"Doesn't sound bad. I'll train as hard as I can now to win this tournament. For Medicham.",
"That's the right attitude."
Jacky grinned. "Well... You're set up pretty well for the tournament with Gabite, Gardevoir, Zoroark, and Skarmory. I'll have to go for it. Noibat, come out!" Jacky released the bat from its ball. "So... we're going to do some flight training now, so you'll be fit for the tournament.",
"First, Noibat should work on its speed, in my humble opinion..." Mari put her fingers to her chin. "I think a race against Skarmory would be a good start there.",
"Are you sure that's not a bit too much already?",
"If Skarmory doesn't make use of its Agility... I don't think so.",
"Noibat is a good flyer, no question." Jacky muttered and Noibat demonstrated it by flying a few rounds over their heads. "...But it's also small. Skarmory has larger wings and therefore more wingspan.",
"But it's also heavier than Noibat. It's a steel-type Pokémon, and not the fastest, per say. Skarmory can pick up some speed, but is not really agile. However, it's sturdier.",
"You're right about that..." Jacky nodded thoughtfully. "Alright! Hard training requires dedication!"
They went outside into the open. Mari pulled out Skarmory. "Okay, Skarmory, it's up to you now! We're going to help Noibat and Jacky train! I gotta do my part to support them after taking out Medicham like this... So, race each other, but take it slow!" Skarmory nodded in agreement. "Give it all you've got, Noibat!" The bat nodded and whistled in amusement. "Well then! On your mark, get set, go!" Skarmory screeched and shot off. Noibat darted after it like a wild-eyed pigeon. It strained and flapped its little wings so vigorously that it overtook Skarmory, which was flying rather leisurely. "Okay, Skarmory, now put your back into it!" Skarmory nodded and flapped its wings to gain speed. It swept past Noibat and the little bat stretched as hard as it could, flapping its wings even faster. "Noibat should take advantage of Skarmory's slipstream," Mari recommended. Jacky nodded. "Right... Okay, Noibat, you need to fly behind Skarmory! His slipstream will make you go faster!" It made an effort and swung behind Skarmory. Slowly, it caught up to it and then fluttered eagerly over its back a little later. "Very good. Okay, Skarmory, let's kick it up a notch! Agility!" Skarmory's body glowed as it quickened its natural pace. More distance formed between it and Noibat, yet it continued to strain. Soon, however, it was panting with strain and trying to land, staggering. Jacky caught it. "Whoa. Are you okay?",
"Nrgh...", it gasped. Skarmory landed next to Mari. "Noibat is all messed up." Jacky informed the two. "But I think that helped a little. We still have an insane amount of work to do, but if you support us, we'll be fine.",
"You can count on our help!" Mari gave her a raised thumb.