PWT Arc: Difficult
"You turned the tides pretty quickly..." Jacky admitted. "That's admirable... Okay, we can do this..." She reached for Luxio's Pokéball. "Luxio... it's all up to you now!" Snarling, Luxio landed on the field. Houndoom growled.
"Discharge!",
"Dark Pulse!" The attacks clashed against each other unchecked. Electricity and shadows flashed through the air. "Flamethrower!" Laslow commanded. Houndoom shot flames at Luxio, who dodged them. "Now Fire Fang!" Houndoom dashed off. "Thunder Fang, Luxio!" Luxio came toward it. It pranced back from Houndoom's snapping teeth, then leapt forward. It bit into its opponent's neck, paralyzing it. Houndoom growled and threw Luxio to the ground. The fire-type Pokémon lowered its head and sent out a dark aura. "Discharge, Luxio!" Again, Luxio fended off the shadows with his own attack. "Now Charge!" It lit up before charging towards Houndoom. "Thunder Fang!" Houndoom could not move due to the paralysis. Luxio bit into its leg and discharged all the accumulated energy it had. Houndoom fell to the side. "Rrrgh...!"
"Well done, Houndoom." Laslow withdrew his knocked-out Pokémon. "Okay, Mismagius, we'll handle it from here!" His Mismagius reappeared on the battlefield. Jacky took a deep breath. "Okay, Luxio... Use Discharge, over and over again!",
"Ominous Wind!" Dark winds came up and fought against the electricity. Luxio put all the power it had into it. "Keep going! Don't let up!",
"Rgh!" The attacks slammed into each other mercilessly. The entire air seemed to vibrate. "Charge!" Luxio charged again and then sent more energy into its attack. This time, it broke through and hit Mismagius. The ghost backed away, struck. "Now, use Bite!" Luxio leapt forward, but snapped into nothing as Mismagius teleported away. "Discharge!" Luxio sent out a wave. Wherever Mismagius would appear... The ghost-type Pokémon appeared, however, it did not writhe one bit upon being hit by the electricity. Briefly, Jacky saw something green flare up around it. "Protect..." she recognized. "Dang it, he repelled that one...",
"Magical Leaf!" Laslow extended his arm. Growling, Luxio leapt to the side, narrowly dodging the attack so that the leaves nearly shaved its fur. It hissed. "Again!" Luxio sent out electricity again, but Mismagius shielded itself again and countered with Ominous Wind. Luxio struggled to keep the attack away from it. "Attack directly! Bite, Luxio!" Luxio broke through the attacks and snapped at Mismagius. It managed to hit the ghost.
"Hold it there!" Mismagius squirmed, but the dark type of Luxio's attack prevented it from disintegrating. "Now Discharge!" Luxio discharged more electricity and Mismagius screamed. Luxio hurled it away and sent another wave of electricity after it. The ghost did not withstand this. Mismagius hit the ground, unable to fight. "Well done, Luxio!" Luxio jumped happily into the air. Laslow withdrew Mismagius. "Well... I guess I wasn't wrong about you. You're really strong. You may have lost to Chris, but that may be a thing that happens to the best of us. You don't have to be ashamed in any way. You won against me. If it were me you'd have met in the tournament, you sure would've passed the round."
"I really enjoyed that battle. You were good, too... I wasn't so sure I could win... And I am not sure I'll win against you next time, either." She blushed again.
"I'm glad you think so. However, there's always room for improvement. There's a lot I can do better..." He smiled and then approached her. He held out his hand to her. "Keep it up." She looked at his hand, and then chimed in. "I will...",
"Don't let the defeat get you down, okay? You have nothing to be ashamed of." He let his hands disappear into his jacket's pockets. "Well then. I'm sure we'll run into each other again sometime. Until then... See ya.",
"Bye..." Jacky nodded to him. Laslow nodded back. "Oh, and Mari..." He turned to her. "...Good luck tomorrow.",
"Thank you," the black-haired girl said. "Good luck to you too, against whoever you may face tomorrow.",
"Much appreciated. I'll leave you to what you wanted to do now. I will no longer interrupt." He smiled, turned away and left.
"You're as red as a Cheri Berry again," Mari commented as she looked at Jacky. Jacky hunched her shoulders. "Uh...",
"Come on, the river is waiting. Maybe, this will help you not to think about him for once.",
"Keep it down, Mari!" Jacky whined.
"What? You won't see him until tomorrow, and only from a distance at that. I'm here for you so you don't suffer from a broken heart.",
"You're really awful sometimes.",
"Tell me something new.",
"I'm not suffering from a broken heart nor is he my crush and now drop it!",
"Okay, okay. Sorry."
They took a swim in the river and enjoyed themselves quite much until evening came. They both went to bed early so Mari would be fit for the semifinals.
This time, they made it out of bed more or less on time and the two parted at the stands. Jacky wished Mari good luck before heading to the spectator stands, since the contestant stands were now closed to her, while Mari joined the remaining contestants Soleil, Chris and Laslow.
"Yo." She greeted him. He turned to her and smiled. "Hi. Good to go?",
"Yes, very much. You really did Jacky a favor with that battle yesterday. She seemed to be in good spirits for the rest of the day. Thank you for cheering her up.",
"Ah... No biggie." He waved it off. "I'm glad I could help her feel better.",
"You're not half-bad. By the way, don't let her weird behaviors confuse you. She's a little awkward sometimes, don't think too much of it.",
"She did seem quite nervous yesterday... I was afraid I had made her feel uncomfortable.",
"You didn't. She's just... a very, very awkward person. But she's lovely, so... don't mind it.",
"I see. Looking forward to today's round?",
"Hell yeah I do. You?",
"Me too. Everyone that's left... is a tough opponent. So this might as well be the hardest part of this tournament.",
"I don't think you'll have much trouble after what I saw from you yesterday.",
"Don't say that..." He shook his head. "No victory from this point onward comes lightly, believe me."
"Welcome to the semi-finals of the Junior Cup tournament!" the presenter's voice announced from the loudspeakers. "Today, the participants for the exciting final will be determined!" The pictures of the remaining contestants appeared on the giant screen before they were shuffled and the pairings were revealed for all to see. Mari breathed a sigh of relief. "Soleil and Mari will fight the first match, Laslow and Chris the second and last for today.",
"What joy." Soleil warbled behind Mari. "Oh, I feel this will be a battle of emotions. May the better one win!",
"Right you are", Mari replied. "I will show you what I've got.",
"I hoped for this to happen!" Chris lit up like a christmas tree under the starry sky. "I'll finally get to test you out personally, Stew.",
"Heh... I figured you'd be happy about this.",
"I very much am, especially with our lady watching!",
"...wait, what? She's here?",
"Yeah! Just saw her today! Had a brief chat with her. She said she'll definitely watch the semi finals after she found out we're both in them. And she'll be even more delighted seeing the both of us contend.",
"Let's give her a good show to watch, then. Is her mother feeling better?",
"She said something about an improvement, so I think so, yes. She hasn't really been able to travel around much due to her Mom's illness. Hence why she couldn't make it to this tournament to begin with... but she said she would rather fall sick as well than missing the whole tournament, with us being involved and stuff.",
"I am glad her mother's starting to feel better. I'll say hi to her too when I run into her."
Mari made her way down to the arena and the big door. When it was opened for her, she entered the battlefield to loud cheers. Soleil smiled broadly as she entered. "How my fighting spirit cried out- for redemption in the form of a skirmish that will shake this arena to its foundations. But who is your opponent, this person with a heart of light?" She made a bow and pulled out a Poké Ball. "Soleil is my name. Your acquaintance delights my soul! I challenge you, Mari, maiden of the moon! Freeze before me and my Pokémon!" Then, she threw the ball forward with a flourish. "Froslass, appear before us!" Mari frowned. Soleil's euphoric ramblings were overwhelming her brain, which was still half-asleep. She looked a bit befuddled. "Uh... what?"
All of Soleil's weird speeches appeared quite... random. Or she was just too normal to understand anything of what she said. Froslass performed a spin. "Call out your partner and face the storm!" Soleil prompted. "Okay... Skarmory, let's go!" Screeching, the steel Pokémon landed on the ground in front of her. "Let's go, Skarmory! Aerial Ace!" It pushed itself off the ground and attacked, its claws enveloped in darkness as it did so. Soleil noticed. "This is not the attack you make it out to be. This is clearly a Shadow Claw. Your fighting spirit may be steely, but no Pokémon of its kind is granted an attack like this- born in the spiritual realm and formed in darkness. No..." She placed a hand over her heart.
"I see... and now again in English, please...?" Mari asked, confused.
"This is a deception. Froslass, uncover the true face of this Pokémon with Astonish!" Froslass floated toward Skarmory and all at once rammed into it so violently that it recoiled and lost altitude. At this, the illusion vanished and Zoroark landed awkwardly on its feet. "Rrrgh!",
"Not bad..." Zoroark's fur bristled. "Okay, I guess that didn't work out the way we'd hoped. But we won't let that bother us. Dig!" Zoroark buried itself in the ground and jumped back out in front of Froslass. It lashed out with Shadow Claw and hit the ghost with tremendous precision. It floated back wounded. "That was good," Soleil admitted, wrapping her golden blonde hair around her middle finger. "But our play has only just begun. Turn this barren field into a setting of your home, Froslass!" The ghost spread its arms and a fierce hailstorm erupted. Zoroark growled as some hailstones hit it. "Now Double Team..." Froslass created illusions of itself silently weaving through the storm. "Tch. Zoroark, we can do that too!" Zoroark generated illusions of itself without having to use an attack. A perfect mirage... "Night Daze!" Zoroark sent a massive wave of shadow across the field. "Your hour has come, Froslass!" It itself and its illusions dodged the shadows, after which they floated higher into the air and glided through the hailstorm, made nimble by the hail. "Snow Cloak", Mari growled. "That's annoying.",
"It's time for the drumbeat! Get ready for our secret technique-our dance of the mystical snowflake!" Froslass launched a Powder Snow attack that swirled around Zoroark throughout, sapping more and more of his strength. Zoroark hissed as it couldn't keep its illusions working in the middle of the storm. "Dig, go!" Zoroark saved itself to the ground, where the storm was nothing but a guess. "Its ability is a real problem..." Mari held an arm in front of her face. "This is going to be difficult..."