So now we have a special double battle
"The Champs are here!", Kat jumped off the back of Ribes and helped Bunny down. Ava had always wanted to compete against her best friend especially since Kat had always finished ahead of her in The Institute Cup. Arceus Kat had made the finals last year. Ava had always told herself that it was because Kat had gotten weaker draws. Ava got stuck facing the likes of Alex and James who say what you would about them had very strong Pokémon teams. Kat never had a draw like that. Ava had convinced herself that she was the better battler and she wanted to back it up. Kat and Ava had always talked about fighting one another, but had never done it until now. Sure they trained one another so Ava knew how strong Kat and her team were. "Excuse me Kat, but you lost in the final last year so I wouldn't call yourself a champ.", Ava smirked. Ava couldn't wait to fight Kat. As much as Ava loved Bunny, Kat was the true challenge that Ava could test herself against.
Kat shot Ava the middle finger, "at least I didn't lose in the semifinals." Ava mumbled something as Kat cackled. Catherine Kiner always knew how to get the best of Ava. This had been the case in training or when it came to snarky comments. Now Kat was confident she would add battling to it. Afterall she had discussed strategy with Bunny. Kat knew Ava better than Ava knew herself. Her observation skills were one of the reasons why Dr. Walkmen had selected her. Kat threw herself into studying opponent's strength and weakness so she knew Ava's style very well. Kat was more of a wild card in her style so Ava wouldn't know how Kat was going to come out. The only concern was Nikki. Kat had never seen her fight, but had heard she had a mega noivern. That would be an issue. But Kat was prepared and knew how to take the mega down. While Kat always wanted a mega, she knew they were hard to control. It took years of training and Kat was betting Nikki hadn't mastered it yet. She and Bunny would find out.
Bunny meanwhile was watching her Spritzee play with Junior. The Trapinch and Espurr joined the two. Bunny and Nikki watched on like proud moms. "Your spritzee is so cute, Bunny.", Nikki admired the fairy Pokémon. There was no harm in them socializing before they got into the Pokémon battle. "Have you named it yet?", Nikki asked. Bunny shook her head. She had been throwing out a ton of female names, but this Spritzee was a male. It was hard to come up with a name for a male Spritzee. "I don't know what to name him. He's not only a fairy type, but psychic too. So that adds to the complexity of naming him.", Bunny shrugged. Nikki looked at the Spritzee. It was a curious creature especially its unusual typing. Nikki put a finger to her chin. "Not even Kat could figure out a good name for him. I was thinking Poe or Edgar since his face looks insidious, but Alex already has a Pokémon named Poe and I don't want to copy him.", Bunny gagged. Alex wouldn't have shut up if Bunny used Poe as a name. Then something came to Nikki, "how about Doc? That would fit into your motif." Bunny smiled that actually made sense. Yes, that actually made sense. She smiled and nodded at Nikki.
"Can you two stop flirting and come here? We need to discuss the rules of the battle.", Kat and Ava waited on the practice field. Kat had her hands on her hips as Bunny and Nikki hurried over. Ava had a frown on her face as she just wanted to battle. But they did have to go over the rules to insure that Kat wouldn't cry about cheating once Ava and Nikki beat her and Bunny. Nikki was undefeated so Ava was confident they would win. "We will use two Pokémon each. Afterall Bunny only has two Pokémon that can fight. So two each would be fair. And of course no attacking each other. Standard rules of battling apply.", Ava told the three others. They all agreed to the terms. "Oh and please don't attack our house. This is where Kat and I live so please avoid damage to our property.", Ava's blue and red eyes trained on Nikki, the pink haired freshman blushed. She knew what Ava was getting at. She would never live what happened at Dexter's down. So of course Ava had taken A jab about what happened.
Kat coughed, "there's one more thing. No using battle bond." She smiled widely as Ava cursed her out. Kat knew Ava was extremely tough with Battle Bond so saying no battle bond limited Ava. "Fine, but she can't use it either.", Ava pointed to Bunny as both Nikki and Kat's jaws dropped in surprise. Bunny blushed in embarrassment. Only Alex knew she had it so how did Ava know? Would Kat be upset now that she found out. Seeing Bunny's reaction made Ava feel like an asshole. She remembered when Alex had outed her as someone with Battle Bond now she had done it to Bunny. Ava looked at the ground, "sorry Bunny, I just got hyped up." Two hands fell on Bunny's shoulders. She looked and saw both Nikki and Kat smiling at her. Bunny especially looked at Kat, the 20 year old was like a big sister to Bunny and Bunny wanted her approval most of all. "I have the coolest mentee.", Kat said as Bunny sighed in relief.
"Alright now that the touching feely part is over, Nikki come over here and get ready to battle.", Ava cracked her knuckles as Nikki arrived next to her. Ava looked at Nikki as Kat and Bunny took their place directly opposite the two on the makeshift battlefield. Ava looked at Nikki, "you make the first move. I want to see what exactly Kat has in store." Ava knew how smart Kat was in terms of game planning. She was very talented so as a wanted to feel her out. To be truthful, Ava knew the freshmen would probably be knocked out first so that would leave Kat vs Ava which is what she wanted. Nikki looked through her Pokémon belt to see which mon would be a good starter then she found the pokeball she wanted. "Come on out Blaze!", the pink haired Kalos native tossed out her pokeball and out of the pokeball came a fox like creature except this one stood on two feet and carried a stick in its paws. "Delphox!", Blaze called as she twirled the wand.
Ava grabbed her pokeball, she was going to trust the Pokémon that was the most loyal to her and always gave it his all. "Come on out Vee!", Ava tossed the pokeball out. Out of the pokeball emerged an Eevee, "Eevee!" The feisty Pokémon said as he hopped around ready to fight. Kat covered her smirk with her right hand, she couldn't let Ava see that she was so happy that Ava hadn't changed. 'Come on Ava, always starting with Vee? You have to know better than that.', Bunny looked over at Kat with a grin on her face too. Kat had predicted that Ava would start with Vee when they were gameplanning. Bunny was so impressed with how smart Kat was. She seemed to know Ava even better than Ava did. Kat nodded to Bunny, Kat would send out her first Pokémon. "You going to just look into each other's eyes or are you going to make a move?", Ava tapped her foot in annoyance.
Kat did not select a pokeball instead she just whistled then whistled again. Nikki was utterly baffled. She didn't understand what Bunny's mentor was doing. Wasn't she going to select a pokeball? Nikki looked at Ava for any clues to what was going on. Ava titled her head and raised her eyebrows, "Scout, really? Why are you using a normal type?" Ava knew that Scout wasn't Kat's strongest or even third strongest. This was bizarre. Kat just held a finger up to her lips and shook her head. There was a reason why Scout would be perfect for battle and it involved that Delphox. The Herdier came charging from inside the house and onto the makeshift battlefield. The terrier Pokémon yipped at the Delphox and Eevee. Kat nodded to Bunny to round this out and select her Pokémon.
Bunny usually hated battling. She wasn't good at it at all, but now she was excited. Kat gave Bunny something her family couldn't: belief in herself. Kat was encouraging and included Bunny in her plan. Bunny just hoped that she didn't let her mentor down. Bunny fumbled with her improving left hand to unlock a pokeball. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Finally Bunny unhooked the pokeball from her belt and attempted to toss out the pokeball. Of course not being her best hand, the ball fluttered and curved in the air before releasing the Pokémon. Inside the Pokémon came out and stood in front of everyone. It was a beautiful four legged pink Pokémon with large blue eyes and two heart shaped ribbons. "Slyveon!", Aster said as she rubbed up against Bunny. The former Eevee had never left Bunny's side after the fight with Alex and their bond had only grown. Then one day Aster had evolved much to Bunny's surprise.
Ava's jaw dropped, "WHEN DID ASTER EVOLVE?!" Last she had seen the Pokémon she was still an eevee. Ava put her hands on her head, she had selected Vee partially because he could easily take out Aster. Vee had Shadow Ball and Aster didn't. The plan had been to focus on Aster then take out Ribes with the Delphox, but now Slyveon was a tank. Ava couldn't swap out Vee for Grace now that would be stupid. Ava actually didn't know what to do now. She was stumped. Kat, meanwhile, stuck her tongue out at her roommate. Bunny had told her about Aster on their way to the fight. She knew Ava didn't know about it which put Ava and Nikki at a disadvantage. Ava growled, "fuck it, Vee use Shadow Ball!" The fight was to begin.
"Aster, protect!", the Slyveon nodded as a pink barrier of energy surrounded him. While the ball of energy just bounced against it harmlessly. Ava snarled, she looked over at Nikki as she saw that Blaze was meditating. He was using Calm Mind which was part of the strategy. If they could take out Aster quick then the raised special attack of the Delphox would do some damage to Ribes. Then they could concern themselves with Kat's Pokémon. "Vee, quick attack that barrier won't work this time.", the Eevee nodded. He seemed to disappear in a flash as he charged at Aster. Vee would hit Aster right in the side with his head which crunched into the Slyveon. Yes Ava was happy that Vee had landed the hit, but her joy wouldn't last for long. Vee stumbled back after hitting Aster with the quick attack. His eyes were now shaped like hearts and he jumped around Aster. Ava gasped in horror.
"Cute charm!", she had forgotten about that. Now we was a sitting duck as he was infatuated with Aster. Ava just threw her hands up in annoyance. This had not started off well at all. Bunny could smell blood in the water, she didn't fully understand everything about Slyveon, but knew that Aster had some great moves. "Aster, use draining kiss?", Bunny hoped Syveon would have that. To be truthful she had not looked up what attacks Aster had now so she was just guessing. Aster sauntered over towards the in love Eevee and kissed him in the head, sure Vee felt pain, but that did not matter as his love had just given him a kiss. "Vee! Snap out if it", Ava began to clap to get the Pokémon's attention. Vee shook his head to try and remember where he was.
Nikki saw what had happened, "Blaze, quick use fire blast on that Slyveon to help Ava out." Blaze nodded at her trainer as a small fire ball formed at the end of her wand. "DelPhox!", Blaze cried out in pain. Nikki looked around and saw a tunnel that had been borrowed and Scout returning to his trainers side. He had used dig which obviously wasn't good for fire types. Nikki looked around and saw that Ava was confused on what to do. Her game plan needed to be tossed out the window. "Ava attack Kat, trust me.", Nikki whispered to Ava. 'Might as well nothing else has worked', Ava nodded. "Vee use bite!", Vee snarled as he showed his fangs. He charged right at Scout and was met with a wall of protection from the herdier. Vee slumped amd was then hit with a dazzling gleam from Aster. The Eevee skidded on the ground and struggled to get up. The distraction was what Nikki wanted.
"Grass knot now!", vines seemed to sprout from the ground and wrap around Aster. "Slyveon!", she cried out as she was pinned to the ground. The grass knot trapped the poor fairy type. "Scout!, go help out!", Aster was trying to get up, but couldn't. The herdier ran over, but was met with a shadow ball to his side which sent him skidding.the momentum had shifted now to Ava and Nikki. The two girls high fived each other as Ava stuck her tongue out at Kat. This was what Bunny had worried about. She felt useless and was holding a Kat back. It was her Pokémon that was in this situation in the first place. Bunny felt a nudge in the ribs and looked, "stop it Bunny. We'll get out of this." There was a reason why she had picked Scout. Scout had just learned an attack that Kat had taught him over break. She had researched if it were possible for a Herdier to learn this particular move and was glad when she found out that he could. Ava and Nikki wouldn't see it coming.
"Scout use Surf!", water started to spout out of the ground which created a pool of water. Suddenly the pool of water began to rise and form a wave which Scout hopped into. The wave of water would come crashing down on Blaze the Delphox. "Del!", the Pokémon cried. Nikki stood there confused after seeing Blaze get hit by the surf attack. Ava too was stunned at what she had just seen. The black haired junior knew Kat was a strong battler and a genius when it came to Pokémon, but this was a whole new level. Scout was also stronger than expected. Kat had trained him well. Blaze got back to his feet and searched for Scout, but did not see him. He had disappeared again underground. There was only one thing that Ava could think of to do at this time. She looked at Nikki who nodded. It would suck for Bunny, but they had to do what they had to do. "Blaze use fire blast.", the injured Delphox's wand grew a fire ball at the tip of it and fired it directly at the Slyveon. "Vee, Shadow Ball!", if the fire blast had not knocked the pinned down Slyveon out the shadow ball would.
"Sly...veon...", the two powerful attacks had struck Aster perfectly. She was defenseless and all Bunny could do was watch in horror as the fairy type was burned and then hit by a shadow ball. Bunny hung her head in shame. She was so sick and tired of being weak. Of being picked on because she couldn't battle well. Of course Ava and Nikki wouldn't come out and say it, but they had picked on her because she was so much weaker than Kat. Bunny sucked. She fumbled with Aster's pokeball as she recalled the badly injured Slyveon. But in the process Bunny had dropped the ball. She turned red from embarrassment as she looked at Kat, "Kat I..." Bunny was cut off as Kat slapped her across the face. Bunny held a hand to her cheek and felt like she was going to cry. Kat glared at her, "you needed that. Bunny, no more pitying yourself. You have Ribes, who is super strong. Get out of your own head and continue to fight. My mentee does not make excuses. Plus, Nikki is about to lose a Pokémon too." Bunny turned to look at the battle.
"Delphox!", Blaze cried as she was battered by another dig attack from Scout. The Delphox dropped her wand and fell to the ground unconscious. Nikki hung her head, she had been outsmarted by Kat. She recalled Blaze and thanked her for such a good effort. The Noivernite necklace started to glow, a sign that Echo wanted to fight. 'No, not now!', Nikki shouted in her head. She hadn't used Echo since the Dexter incident. Truthfully, Nikki didn't trust Echo not to hurt anyone else like what had happened to JJ. It wasn't Echo's fault, but Nikki still had doubts about controlling the mega. Nikki instead reached onto her belt and pulled out a different pokeball. Something that could match up well to Ribes. "Longhorn go!", she tossed out her pokeball and out came her trusty Gogoat.
Ava was shocked. "Why didn't use your mega?", she asked her protégée. Ava had planned for Nikki to use Echo. It was crucial to Ava's strategy. But Nikki hadn't, Ava's eyes narrowed as she looked at Nikki. The pink haired freshman didn't return the gaze, "LongHorn is a better matchup for Torterra because of ummm...his sap sipper ability."Ava wasn't convinced. The way Nikki acted had shown that there was more to the story. Ava knew that look it was the look of not wanting to hurt more friends. She knew it well, but Nikki had to get past that. That was the point of the double battle. Nikki had failed the test and Ava was very disappointed. She had hoped Nikki could have gotten past the guilt she felt, but it was clear that she had not. She still distrusted her abilities which was a huge detriment to a trainer especially someone as strong as Nikki. Ava would have to really work on this with her. Just like Kat had to work with Bunny, Nikki needed her confidence boosted.
"EEVEE.", Ava's attention was drawn back to the battle by Vee's cries of pain. Ava turned back and had seen that Ribes had clearly used a leaf storm attack on Vee. The tiny creature's body had been torn apart by the leafs that had struck it. Ava grunted, "sorry Vee." The Eevee turned back to his beloved trainer and smiled. He had been through worse. "Vee, use quick attack and then keep pounding it with quick attack.", yes Ribes was quite strong, but he was slow. Ava knew that Vee had taken a pounding in the fight and wouldn't last much longer. All they could do was wear that Torterra down until they could get to Grace. Grace could then sweep the powerful grass type. Vee moved like a flash as he kept hitting Ribes over and over with quick attack. Ava just hoped this would work. It had to as it was part of the plan.
But Bunny was prepared for this, her battle with Alex had taught her something about whenever someone tried to wear down Ribes. "Ribes, Toxic now!", the Torterra spewed some sludge at the Eevee directly. The sludge hit Vee as the Pokémon whimpered from the poison. Having experienced how bad a poison attack was herself, Ava's eyes began to fill with tears watching her beloved Pokémon struggle so much against the poison attack. "VEE!", she cried as she ran onto the practice field as everyone stopped. Ava cradled the Pokémon in her arms and held him to her chest. "He's done. He's out.", Ava looked at Bunny and Kat. Terror had crossed over Bunny's face. She didn't mean to be so brutal to Vee, it just happened. Ava would return him to his Pokéball and tried to refocu s on the battle. She looked at her pokeballs, she couldn't call out Grace, not with a poison attack in play. She had to figure something else out then she spotted it, "MiMi go!" Out of the pokeball came a Pokémon that looked like it had a fake pikachu covering its body. "Kuku", the mimikkyu said.
Once the battle restarted Nikki would face off against Kat. Kat was actually perplexed on what to do. She couldn't use surf and dig wouldn't be that effective against the Gogoat. Nikki had actually outsmarted her and before Kat could react, Scout was hit by a powerful horn leech attack that sucked him of some of his HP. Scout had gotten up and was panting hard, clearly one more attack would knock him out. Kat then got a bright idea, yes it would hurt Bunny, but it would hurt Nikki more. "Scout, go back", she said as the Herdier shook his head, he could still fight. But a Kat gave him a firm look that told him not to mess about. The junior reached into her belt, "Crystal, Go." Out of the pokeball came a magnificent looking Glaceon. Nikki let out a gulp as this was not the matchup she wanted. "Crystal, use blizzard!", the Glaceon nodded as the temperature dropped on the field, dark clouds formed over head as tons of snow covered the field. Longhorn let out a shriek of pain, but he wasn't the only one effected.
Ribes and Mimi had been engaged in a tough battle. Ribes had landed some good shots on Mimi that had cut into the disguise of the ghost and fairy type. Mimi had delivered some pretty powerful attacks of her own. It was a intense battle until Kat's Glaceon had used Blizzard. The snow had frozen Ribes in place by accident and Ribes was a sitting defenseless target. Bunny looked at Kat who looked in horror at Ribes. She hadn't expected this to happen. "Bunny, I am sorry, I wasn't paying attention. I'm sorry.", her voice quivered as she knew Ava was going to send a brutal attack at the Torterra. Bunny would be upset with a Kat and her carelessness. "Bunny, call him back.", Ava said. "I won't have Mimi attack him anymore. He's done. You're out.", it was just a practice battle afterall. Maybe Ava was getting soft, but after what had happened to Vee she didn't want another of her friends Pokémon to suffer. That was not right. Bunny nodded ever grateful to Ava for mercy. She recalled her big grass type and sat and watched what would happen next.
"Where is she?", Nikki and Longhorn couldn't see the Glaceon in the snow. Nikki squinted, but couldn't see the creature. Plus LongHorn was started to really be affected by the snow. This was not good for LongHorn or Nikki. "Ice Fang, Crystal!", Longhorn didn't have time to react as the Glaceon bit down on the skin of the GoGoat. "Goat!", Longhorn cried out in pain. He tried to stay conscious as as the pain and ice spread throughout his body. He couldn't let Nikki down, but the pain was too much as he collapsed in agony. Nikki hung her head as she was embarrassed. She had let Ava down, Nikki knew that Ava had expected more. Nikki had failed and felt like shit. She sat down to watch who would win between Kat and Ava. She just hoped that her mentor could pull it off.
Ava and Kat stared at each other across the practice field. The best friends were the last two remaining, both smiled at each other. Kat cracked head neck and back as Ava did the same. This was the moment they had been preparing for their whole time at the institute, a confrontation between one another. "Loser buys the other one beer.", Kat called across the now ice filled field. Ava gaged, she hated beer. She liked her vodka and Kat knew this. Kat cackled across the battlefield and stuck her tongue out at her best friend. Ava mumbled something then looked to her Mimikkyu, "MiMi, use shadow sneak.", the ghost and fairy type disappeared into the shadows and headed towards Crystal. Kat did not seem worried or concerned about the incoming attack. In fact Kat and Crystal did not move at all which puzzled Ava. 'What is she doing?', Ava wondered to herself. It was weird from Ava's perspective that Kat wouldn't do anything. Mimi emerged from the shadows poised to attack the Glaceon and end the battle.
"Iron tail, Crystal!". As a could only watch in horror as Mimi was batted back like a bat by the steel attack. She was shocked as a Crystal had not had a steel type move in practice before. Kat must have added it on in the summer. Mimi came crashing down in front of Ava, "kuku.", Mimi said as she passed out. Kat and Bunny had won. Ava was still stunned by the fact that Crystal had used such a powerful steel type move. Ava didn't know how to react, she had firmly believed she was a better battler than a Kat. Now she had been proven wrong. She recalled Mimi as Bunny had jumped up for joy. Kat meanwhile was doing sort of victory dance that looked geeky, but Kat had outsmarted aa a so she had a right to celebrate.
After the battle, the girls made their way inside. Kat was still being obnoxious to her roommate/best friend as the freshmen followed along. "I actually thought you were going to be a challenge Ava, but Crystal just one shot Mimi. I didn't realize that Mimikkyu's could fly.", Ava's eyes twitched in annoyance. She had always wondered why Alex and Kat had been paired together last year. Now she understood the other side to her friend. Kat skipped over to the fridge and opened it, "oh look Ava we are out of beer. Better go to the store and get some.", Ava flipped Kat off. "You got lucky ok, I didn't know that Crystal had fucking Iron tail. That won't happen again. I'll keep it in mind next time we face each other.", Kat just shrugged she would still have a plan to beat Ava. She was just better and proved it.
Bunny and Nikki watched in confusion, was this how older best friends acted? The two freshman would settle into their seats. Both knew they had put everything into the battle, but had failed. Both Bunny and Nikki just wanted to avoid their mentors as they were ashamed of the performance. Both girls sat on the couch not speaking to anyone until someone leapt in-between them. "What's up with you two? You haven't said a word.", Kat had moved in between the two 18 year olds. They looked at her, but then turned away as both didn't want a tongue lashing. "Thank Arceus I wasn't like you guys when I was a freshman. So mopey. Listen, Ava and I are Juniors, JUNIORS. You weren't beating us, but you failed the test.", Bunny and Nikki looked at a Kat as if she was crazy. Kat grabbed Bunny's face and squished it. "You, my precious BunBun, need to get out of your own head. You're better than you realize. You need to realize this. Sometimes things don't work out, but you move on. I believe in you, but you need to believe in you.", Ava's hands landed on Nikki's shoulders which startled the girl.
"You need to forget that night at Dexter's. If you don't trust Echo you're going to lose him. I could sense it that he's very upset. He's sad and confused. He thinks you hate him now. You need to apologize to him and to yourself.", Nikki and Bunny both nodded, they're mentors were right. Ava smiled, "now go and change then come back here, Kat and I are having a party." That perked the young girls up.
Ooc: So there you have it, a showcase of Kat and Ava. I hope you enjoyed it. I couldn't tell you who was going to win before I wrote this because I didn't even know. But I thought the result added to the characters. Next chapter we will check in on Jer-Andy and JJ-Alex. Thank you all for the reviews I love and appreciate them so much.