A/N: So, for the two reviews on the previous chapter, Ralts is male. I made sure to use male pronouns, for anybody else that's confused. Second, yes, I can admit that finishing up Jinchuriki Family took around a month leaving you guys hungry for more, but now that I'm working on two stories (Three technically but the newest one I can make and edit chapters in less than 24 hours after properly beginning.), I can now give you guys more chapters. I do apologize if the upcoming battle doesn't feel coordinator like or very stylish. With that out of the way, here we go.
"And now the moment you've been waiting for!" The voice of the announcer spoke to the crowds. Here are the 8 coordinators that made it through! These 8 have impressed our judges so much, they'll be advancing to round 2! And here they are!" On the TV screens appeared eight pictures of people. Four of them were random people, but three were recognizable as of Nando, Fantina and Zoey. And in the final picture... was Dawn!
"Yes, I made it!" The girl cheered as they all hopped up and down, with Ash accidently sliding off due to not having good grip. After regaining solid footing and dusting himself off, he smiled for his friend, having made it to the second round. He had to admit, this whole experience was... off putting? He frowned to himself, wondering why he was feeling negativity after participating from a family gro- family. He looked at Dawn surrounded by loved ones. All he had was his mother, and a somewhat neglectful one at that. She tried her best but... what about others? He didn't have any siblings, both of his parents based on what his mom said were only siblings so he had no cousins, aunts or uncles, both of mom's parents died in a plane crash shortly before he was born and his dad ran away from his parents before meeting mom, whom he never told where he came from, outside the fact he was from the East side of Sinnoh. Knowing this but having not actively thought about it for several years now, Ash realized that his family was... tragically tiny. Refocusing on reality, he looked at Dawn's family again. Was this jealousy? Envy? Or something even worse? This instantly filled him with guilt. He shouldn't blame Dawn for having a loving, constant family. He should be happy for her.
"Ash?" The trainer snapped out of his thoughts when Johanna noticed his standoffish behavior. "Is something wrong?" Not wanting to damper the mood, he put on a smile and made an excuse, though was genuine of the second half.
"Oh, sorry. I was just caught up in my thoughts is all. I'm glad Dawn made it through."
"Thanks Ash. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go prepare myself to battle." Dawn excused before heading back around back stage.
It was the quarterfinals now, and up next were Dawn and Zoey. The two faced off in their respective corners, ready to show their stuff.
"Alright, this will be an interesting matchup! Here we have Zoey Morrison vs. Dawn Berlitz! Let us see who will come out on top!" The announcer declared.
"Prinplup, Ralts; Spotlight!" Dawn shouted like before releasing her two Pokémon from before. Zoey grinned as she readied her two Pokeballs.
"You two ready? Go!" With that, she threw the differently colored spheres as they shot out tracing lights that gave her signature Glameow, and a floating ghost head called Misdreavus. Zoey went first.
"Glameow, straighten your tail out with Iron Tail! Misdreavus, use Confuse Ray on the iron tail!" The cat's curly tail shot straight up while gaining a metallic sheen while Misdreavus shot a multi-colored ray at the tail. It then went on the attack, pouncing toward Prinplup.
"Prinplup, keep Glameow at bay with Bubblebeam!" Dawn countered. Prinplup spat out fast moving bubbles.
"Misdreavus, counter with Shockwave!" Zoey ordered. With sparks erupting all over the ghost's type's body, it released a wave of blue electricity that zapped the bubbles, allowing Glameow to pave through with a nice sparkly mid-air pounce. Dawn's health circle lost 15% of its total. Moving too fast for Prinplup to dodge or counter again, the Cat Pokémon beaned the water starter over the head with its enhanced attack. Not only did Prinplup get knocked back, she was confused from the confuse ray lingering on the attack.
"Incredible! Not did Zoey negate a counter, she landed a physical hit that left confusion on Prinplup!" The announcer described while Dawn's health dropped down to 66%. The young Berlitz growled as she then thought of something.
"Ralts, confuse them with Double Team!" Getting in front of Prinplup, the psychic type created after images of himself up to two dozen of itself.
"Two can play that game! Misdreavus, use Double Team as well!" Like the psychic type, the ghost type made two dozen copies of itself.
"Interesting! Both sides are trying to confuse each other with Double Team! What could they be planning?!"
"Misdreavus, fly around the ralts clones!" Zoey instructed. The group of ghosts then swarmed with the gathering of the green headed Pokémon, making things very hard to spot clearly.
"Like I'd let you copy me like that! Prinplup, use Bubblebeam!" Like before, the Penguin Pokémon shot out bubbles, but they were heading the wrong way. "Ralts, use Confusion on the bubbles!" Concentrating, the bubbles gain a blue aura that were redirected that appeared to headed right towards the Feeling Pokémon, but happened to hit the real Misdreavus, causing the real one to fall to the ground, resulting in all of the ghostly clones disappearing. And so did the ralts after images.
"Remarkable! Dawn used her psychic type to sense where the real Misdreavus and used Prinplup's Bubblebeam to attack it! How ingenious!" Zoey's health dropped by 20%. But strangely, Ralts became scared and started to run away. Everybody was puzzled until Zoey commanded with a smile,
"Glameow, Shadow Claw!" From inside of Misdreavus, Glameow jumped from its hiding spot and struck the psychic type in the back with a claw made of shadowy darkness. Ralts was knocked out in one hit.
"Astounding! It looks like during the confusion, Glameow snuck inside Misdreavus and waited until the perfect moment to strike!" Dawn's health dropped to 33%.
"Oh no." Ash gasped, realizing that Dawn was pretty much done for. He squeezed Spike to his stomach, whom chirped from confusion. Dawn was starting to sweat. If Prinplup wasn't confused, she might be able to defend herself, but any plan was just as likely to miss. She had no time to think of a good strategy.
"Glameow, Misdreavus, finish this off with Shockwave!" Surrounding Prinplup from both sides, both went into the air and spun to create an expanding ring of blue electricity that arced downward to the water starter, zapping her while it looked like she was in two rings of lightning. Glameow and Misdreavus made a victory pose before the electrified area behind them exploded with lots of sparks left over. With Prinplup knocked out too, Zoey was the winner.
"How absolutely amazing! Not only did Zoey's Pokémon double team up on Prinplup, they shocked it with an electrifying performance!" While the announcer and judges gave their thoughts, Dawn solemnly returned her Pokémon and was about to leave when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Zoey with a grin on her face.
"You did good. Most people don't even land a scratch on me during quarterfinals. You say that you're not a coordinator, but from what I've seen, you certainly have the basic skill down." The researcher smiled in gratitude from her idol's words.
"Thank you for your kind words. While this was just a one time thing for my little sister, Lucy, I had fun."
"Tell her I said hello." Zoey requested as both girls hugged it out.
Dawn was back to wearing her regular beanie, heavy coat and boots when she came back to the lobby to find her family and Ash waiting. He set Spike down so that he ran to his mommy, chirping his name with glee. She giggled as she stooped down to her knees and picked up the Spike Ball Pokémon and hugged him with love.
"Hey Spike." She said endearingly, appreciating that she had a Pokémon that loved her so.
"You did great, honey." Johanna complimented her daughter, getting low to hug her.
"Yeah! You totally should have won, though!" Lucy said, looking happy but also somewhat annoyed that someone beat her older sister. Dawn giggled again as she patted Lucy's head.
"Oh, I just wasn't skilled enough is all. If I were a real coordinator, I totally would've won the finals."
"Now don't play yourself down like that." John said as he placed his hand on her head. "You reminded me of your mother when we first knew each other."
"That's right. A failure is only a learning experience. Never let it get you down." Will encouraged.
"I love you guys. So much." Dawn responded while tears were growing in her eyes before she started slowly crying of both disappointment and joy as her family wrapped her up in another family hug. Once again Ash was on the sidelines, but this time, he was genuinely happy for Dawn that she had a family as large and supportive as hers. It meant that she was never miserable or alone. Like he was. He couldn't wait to have a sense of that someday when he found his lucky one.
("I should call mom when I get the chance.") He thought to himself. A loud bang and a cry of pain startled everybody from what they were doing as they spotted Barry just outside of the automatic doors, opening up when he was flat on his back.
John was wrapping bandages over Barry's forehead after running into the doors.
"I can't believe you can run fast enough to smack into automatic doors before they open." He remarked, still taken aback at the teenager's speed.
"That's Barry McDonald for you. The Orange Bolt doesn't stop for anything until he runs into something." Ash jested.
"Haha, very funny Ash." Barry pouted. When John was done, Barry stood right back up, if a little woozy, and turned to his friend, Dawn. "Oh yeah, I saw your performance; loved it! I have something for you as a consolation prize!" From his backpack was a bouquet of a dozen tulips of various colors. But unfortunately they were smooshed and damaged from his fall.
"Oops. Uh, it's the thought that counts?" He nervously chuckled.
"You got these for me? I love it! Even if they're a little hurt. Thank you Barry." Dawn smiled thankfully as she took the flowers and kissed Barry on the cheek, unknowingly setting something off in Ash even though he successfully kept it to himself. Barry in return blushed heavily and laughed like a giddy school girl while practically skipping on the same spot. She then turned to her mom. "Mom, I don't have a reliable way to hold these, so I'm giving them to you."
"Oh thank you Dawn. How lovely." She accepted with joy as she took the scuffled flowers.
"Ash!" Barry yelled out, pointing at the startled trainer.
"I challenge you to a battle... tomorrow! I'd battle you tonight, but it's too late and I need my sleep for energy. Smell you later!" He explained before leaving, making sure the doors open before running off.
"We're going to go to our hotel room as well. It's getting close to Lucy's bedtime. When you're ready, we'll be at the Snorlax Inn. Say goodnight to Dawn, Lucy." Johanna told her youngest child.
"Night night, Dawn." Lucy said while hugging her older sister's legs. She giggled as she attempted to hug the young girl with Spike in her arms, having fallen asleep.
"Night night Lucy. Zoey says hello." Dawn replied as they separated and were alone in the lobby aside from counter attendants.
"It was nice... seeing your family." Ash commented, sighing contently.
"Yeah. I'm so glad my family likes you." Dawn agreed as she put Spike into her bag, which was extra cushioned by her dress. "So, what's next in our agenda?"
"I saw a park up North of here. We could go check it out." Ash suggested, only for both to blush how... date like the idea was. But the researcher shook her head and smiled.
"Sounds great. Let's go there." Ash gulped.
"Okay." And with that, the two teenagers walked out of the contest hall, left Prinplup and Ralts at the Pokémon Center to get healed up, and walked to the park called Amity Square in a moonlit night, half of the moon illuminated on the right side trying to peek through the many clouds. There appeared to be rocky cliffs that appeared to be accessible with man made tunnels in the rocks composing the North and East perimeter of Amity Square.
"This is a really nice park." Dawn observed as they went down a circular path that surrounded a small island accessible by floating bridges.
"Yeah. I could see this as their main feature if it weren't for the contest halls." Ash added, taking in the beautiful scenery of the trees and flowers. Both looked at each other for a few seconds before looking away, blushing yet smiling. Something he noticed however was something twinkling by the second bench under a light post they were walking up to. "Hold on a second." He asked of his companion before jogging to see what it was. When he got to his knees and inspected the shiny object, he couldn't believe it. It was a koban coin attached to a looped piece of leather with a latch on the back. Must be a necklace. A thought came to be in Ash's head and he grinned.
"What is it, Ash?" His female companion inquired. He stood up and showed her the metallic accessory.
"I think it's a necklace."
"Huh. I wonder if somebody lost it?" She asked curiously.
"How about this? You wear it, and if somebody recognizes it, we'll return it. If not, then consider it a gift." The girl beamed from not only his consideration, but also his integrity for other people's property.
"That sounds like a great idea. Let me." She said as she took time to remove her scarf and pulled her hair over her shoulder before turning it around, showing her his neck. He gulped as he took the necklace and delicately put it on her. She turned around again and asked,
"How do I look with this?" Getting caught up in her beauty again, he gulped again before answering,
"Majestic." Dawn giggled as she gave him a small, quick peck on the lips.
"Thank you. Consider yourself forgiven now." But it appeared that her words fell on deaf ears as he was in his own world, his eyes staring out into space, his mouth stuck open and cheeks blushing so heavily, they couldn't get any redder. The young researcher rolled her eyes, amused by the boy's inability to resist her charms before lightly slapping him across the cheek, bringing him back to the now.
"Careful, or a bug type may fly into your mouth." Realizing what she said as his partner passed him, Ash retorted,
"Hey, there isn't a bug Pokémon small enough for that." Dawn laughed from that as they continued walking.
As they walked farther into the square, they noticed a gathering of people around what looked like some ruins.
"I wonder what that is all about?" Ash pondered.
"Let's go check it out." Dawn suggested as they went to see what was so interesting. But what they found was more rather a who. Cynthia! And she was looking at some of the etched stone. "Whoa! It's really Cynthia!" Dawn cried out. Hearing a familiar voice, she turned to the two teens while eating a triple stack ice cream cone.
"Ah, Ash and Dawn. It hasn't been too long now, has it? I heard something happened to you but I couldn't check up." The people were astonished to see that Cynthia knew two of the people there. The two chuckled nervously from the bad memories.
"Don't remind us. We're fine though, thanks. We're just as surprised to see you here." Ash stated.
"What are you doing here?" Dawn asked.
"I'm just looking at some history. How much do you know about Dialga and Palkia, if you've done your research in Eterna?" The Pokémon Champion asked them.
"That Dialga is about time and Palkia is about space." The researcher answered.
"Right. Here's what they look like." She replied, walking back to allow the teens to look at the legendary Pokémon. One looked like a sauropod and the other a theropod dinosaur. "What's odd is that there's plenty of evidence these Pokémon existed, but nobody knows about these two aside from what they represent. It's like relics like these have been around so long, that humanity has forgotten the true history behind them, like the Babylonian Gardens and Stonehenge. Only remnants remain. That's part of what I love about history; finding out the secrets of the past forgotten long ago."
"When you put it like that, it does sound rather intriguing." Ash admitted, crossing his arms and nodding. The three remained silent for a few seconds before Cynthia asked,
"But enough about me; how has that togepi egg been doing?"
"Oh, he hatched a week ago, and thankfully we met someone who raised a togepi personally so we had an easier time raising Spike. He's been really great, making every moment travelling fun." Dawn told the champion with excitement.
"How delightful." Cynthia said, happy to see the person she handed an egg to handle it so well.
"And she participated in the contest a while back." Ash added. "Made it to the quarterfinals. Lost against Zoey Morrison."
"Interesting. I've watched a few of Zoey's contests but not consistently. Have you gotten the relic badge yet?" She asked Ash this time.
"Not yet. Fantina is probably still participating in the contest." The trainer shrugged.
"Hmm. Well, why don't we have a battle?" Everybody who hear that went silent, prompting Cynthia to laugh. "Oh, oh no. Not like an actual battle. It's more of a publicity thing for all these people to pass the time. We'll just use one Pokémon. You're not scared of fighting the champion with just two badges, are you?" Shaking off the shock, Ash became revved up from the challenge with a smile on his face.
"Against you? No way! Let's do it!" The champion beamed from his response.
"Alright." She then turned to the audience. "Everyone, for your entertainment, Ash Ketchum here who only has two badges will battle me with each of us just using one Pokémon!" Everyone cheered from this, standing back including Dawn as the two got away from the ruins so as to not damage them. Bringing out a Pokémon, Cynthia declared, "I'll use my weakest Pokémon. Gastrodon; battle dance!" From it came out a brown and pink slug the size of a dog.
"Grotle, I choose you!" Upon seeing his starter, Cynthia smiled, seeing how this was going to go.
"Sludge Bomb!" The pink slug blew out a brown colored mess of sludge.
"Grotle, jump forward and use Razor Leaf!" Not needing to move much, the Grotle Pokémon leapt out of the way to dodge the attack and the leaves on his back glowed before shooting many leaves at the water/ground type, landing a direct hit. Despite Grotle being much weaker, it appeared the attack did quite some decent damage.
"Counter with Muddy Water!" Cynthia commanded calmly as the Sea Slug Pokémon released a spiral of brown water that hit literally head on. Despite it being a water type landing on a 200+ lbs. Pokémon, it was strong enough to push the Grove Pokémon off his feet, crying out as he was sent into a tree, leaving a big dent in the bark. He slumped to the ground, defeated.
"What power." He muttered to himself in awe as Cynthia returned her Gastrodon. He turned to his starter and held out a Pokeball. "Grotle, return."
"Wait, I'll heal your Pokémon." Cynthia stopped Ash, offering her assistance.
"Really?" The young trainer asked incredulously.
"You earned it after managing to land a hit with a Pokémon so underdeveloped compared to Gastrodon. That wasn't half bad at all." She explained herself as she fished out a spiky yellow crystal. A max revive. The Pokémon champion walked to the grass starter and fed it to Grotle who managed to not only regain consciousness, but was back to full health, standing up. "You did a good job, Grotle."
"Grotle." He said in pleased acknowledgment.
"Whoa, thank you Cynthia!" Ash exclaimed with gratitude.
"You're very welcome. You know, I see a bright future in the path you're walking. Both and Dawn over there." Cynthia looked over with Ash turning his head to gaze at the researcher whose eyes widened from the attention. "I know we will meet again. Be safe for the rest of your journey." The Pokémon champion bid farewell as she stepped past Ash, walking up to Dawn to say, "And the same goes for you, Dawn. Take good care of him, as he takes care of you."
"R-right!" And with that, Cynthia walked off, to the next part of her journey, leaving everyone at awe as she left.
Greetings, readers. This is Rotom. :D. Do not worry; my involvement in these segments is not canon. Festivewillow69 just likes the idea of me and my humor so much, he wanted me to give you a Pokedex entry if I haven't done so in a chapter already. Here is #401. Kricketot, the Cricket Pokemon. It shakes its head back to front, causing its antennae to hit to hit each other and sound like a xylophone. How is that even possible? It's not like hitting a stick of variable lengths.