A/N: So, this features the fifth round with Barry, but at the same time, it's not the fifth fight. What could I be talking about? Wait and see.
While Dawn's Kirlia using Teleport move was useful to get back to Hearthome City and save them days worth of time, it was still a slow journey as they trekked through Mount Coronet, and traveled from nearly the exact longitude center of Sinnoh to the most Western City of the region, Canalave City. However, it went by more quickly as they rode they paths they walked on their bike, and even still got some training in along the way by trainers Ash fought before having rematches. In just a matter of five days, they reached the port city with a canal cleaving it in half in five days.
"Dawn, time?" Ash asked his partner. She checked her Poketch.
"Five days, seven hours and 15 minutes."
"Oh yeah!" Ash cheered as he jumped off their bike. "We're going to beat the snow blockage leading to Snowpoint City at this rate!"
"Yeah, as long as we can get there before December, we should be right on track." The young girl agreed.
"Hey, how did you guys beat me here?!" A shocked voice called to them. They turned back to see Barry running up to them.
"Barry? How did you get here so quickly?" Dawn inquired, a bit perplexed. Barry shrugged as he replied,
"I just flew over with my Stara. We just landed outside of the city, and I was expecting to have to wait another week or two for you guys, but... you've beaten me."
"Yeah. That's actually more weird than impressive." Ash conceded, seeing the twist of the usual routine.
"At lease we caught a Mr. Mime on the way here." Dawn pointed out.
"Right. Say, how about we have a battle?!" Barry requested, getting excited again. Ash looked confused.
"Already? Have you gotten that stronger yet?"
"No no, I mean Dawn! I want to battle Dawn!"
"M-me?!" She asked, thrown off by the proposal.
"Yeah! All of my Pokémon are fully evolved now! I want to see how far you've been progressing under Ash's tutelage!" The rival explained, hopping from one foot to the other.
"Well, uh, we can certainly battle. No reason why not."
"Yeah! Let's get it on!"
At three thirty, with the sun nearly at the point of sunset, Barry and Dawn faced each other with determination in their faces. Plenty of people and dock workers were creating an audience around the outdoor battle field. Ash for once was the referee.
"This is an interesting position." He told himself in amusement. He coughed before announcing, "Ladies and gentleman, this has been a long time coming! Two of my best friends finally duking it out for the first time! Barry McDonald from Twinleaf and Dawn Berlitz from Sandgem! Only five Pokémon will be used, and there are no substitutions unless a Pokémon is knocked out! The winner is decided when all the Pokémon on one side is defeated! Let the battle begin!"
"Thorn, get ready!"
"Empoleon, I choose you!" Both shouted at the same time as they released their Pokémon. Barry's Thorn evolved from a Roselia to a Roserade, which was familiar, but Empoleon was new. She adopted a cooler navy blue and black color scheme with a white front. Her beak split up her face looking similar to a trident crest. Two fin like projections surrounded her neck that also lined down her white chest and belly. Her flippers were much wider and had three golden claws on the underside as her hands.
"Wow, so that's an empoleon!" Barry marveled at her intimidating beauty.
"That's right! Now all of our starters are fully evolved!" Dawn told him. From her bag, Spike peaked out and cheered at the excitement.
"Togepi!" He chirped, happy as he normally is.
"That's right, Spike! We're going to win this!"
"Yeah right! Thorn, start things off with Ingrain!" From Thorn's feet, roots started to take hold in the ground below him, anchoring him to the same spot.
"Empoleon, smack him with Metal Claw!" With her wings became shiny and grey as she charged forward and clobbered the Bouquet Pokémon over the head, looking painful from Thorn's perspective.
"Follow up with Toxic Spikes!" Aiming his flower hands around Empoleon, he shot out many purple thorns over Dawn's side of the field. Dawn grunted in annoyance from this action.
"Metal Claw again!" Like before, the water starter, bashed her metallic wing against the immobile grass type, looking heavily beaten down.
"Sleep powder!" Opening the holes in his flower hands, a green dust puffed right into Empoleon's face, causing her to sneeze.
"No! Hang in there!" But despite her master's calls, wooziness was taking its effect on the Emperor Pokémon, as she fell onto her back, asleep.
"Togi!" Spike cried out.
"Alright! Now recover your health with Giga Drain!" Barry ordered happily. Opening the holes again, bright green beams of light shot from Thorn's hands, sapping Empoleon's health. Time passed as Thorn looked better and better while the water type became worse and worse. However, when it seemed like she was going to be basically sucked dry of health, she woke up, slapping away the energy sapping her health. Everybody was shocked to see the Emperor Pokemon get back up onto her feet, now glowing with a blue aura, and screeched from the overflowing power.
"Whoa, that's torrent!" Ash gasped.
"Oh yeah! Empoleon, use Brine!" With all of the added power to the attack by torrent and brine's special ability, Empoleon shot an ultra powerful blast of water that smashed into the stuck grass type, dealing major damage.
"No! Use Giga Drain!"
"Dodge with Aqua Jet!" Surrounding herself with water, she shot into the air dodging the green beams that might've finisher her. "Now use Metal Claw!" Falling from the sky, Empoleon slammed her metallic wing against Thorn's head, smashing him into the ground. He fainted from such a blow.
"Thorn is unable to battle! Empoleon is the winner!" Ash declared. Everybody cheered from such a display of power.
"Way to go Empoleon! I'm so proud of you!" Dawn cheered, so proud of her starter.
"Togepi!" Spike chirped as well, hopping up and down in the bag he was in.
"You did good, Thorn. Return." Barry praised his Pokémon before turning to his opponent. "That was a really good turn of events, Dawn! I'm impressed! But let's see you survive this! Stara, get ready!" Up next was his Predator Pokémon.
"Staraptor!" She screeched her name.
"Empoleon, use Brine!" Like before, She shot out a blast of raging water, but Barry crossed his arms only to throw them to the side, which was the order for Stara to use Double Team, creating afterimages as she spread her wings. Dawn grunted again from the faster Pavlov training. Barry rapidly punched, which prompted Stara to charge in. Dawn made a few popping noises with her mouth, the order for Empoleon to use Bubblebeam as she spat out a barrage of bubbles over a wide area, hitting many afterimages, but unfortunately didn't hit the real Stara as she came up close and beat her with Close Combat. With how weak she was already, the strong move was too much to endure as she was toppled off her feet, defeated.
"Empoleon is unable to battle! The winner is Stara!" Ash shouted.
"Return." The girl said as she retreated her starter, looking sad, yet proud. "You were amazing. Rest well." Taking out another Pokeball, she yelled, "Sparky, I choose you!" Out came her Luxray. However, she groaned from the poison entering her system.
"Well, might as well go down fighting. Use Take Down!" With a powerful charge, Stara soared as fast as she could.
"Use Thunder Fang!" Dawn countered. Her teeth sparking with electricity, Sparky sprinted forward as the two Pokémon rammed into each other, creating a powerful collision that created a small shockwave. However, Stara stood no chance to the electric type move biting into her wing and fell to the ground, fainted.
"Stara is unable to battle! The winner is Sparky!"
"Return. You did the best you could." Barry said to his fallen bird. "Nice, Dawn! But behold my latest addition! Heracross, get ready!" Once on the field, they got to witness the bug/fighting type. It was a bipedal beetle with a blue exoskeleton with a long, prolonged horn on its forehead.
"How interesting! Let's see if we can beat it, Sparky!" Dawn exclaimed in excitement. Sparky growled in agreement. "Use Charge!"
"Stop it with Brick Break!" Barry ordered. Heracross's horn glowed white before the beetle charged, slamming himself into the electric lion. She groaned greatly from such a strong attack, but did not allow herself to fall. The poison took its toll as Luxray felt more pain.
"Use Spark!"
"Finish it with Brick Break!" Wanting to settle this, both charged as strongly as they could with their respective attacks, clashing so strongly that they created a explosion, sending a shockwave that nearly blew everyone back. When the dust settled, Luxray was defeated, with only Heracross standing. Electricity zapped him, rendering him paralyzed. However, his yellow eyes glowed red and a crimson aura surrounded him, giving Heracross more power as he growled.
"Yeah, that's the guts ability!"
"Sparky is unable to battle. The winner is Heracross." Ash sighed. Returning her electric lion, Dawn said,
"Thank you Sparky. You did well. Kirlia, I choose you!" The Emotion Pokémon appeared onto the field. However, the toxic spikes poisoned him as well, making him yelp in pain. Spike wasn't sure how to react to Kirlia appearing, and then getting hurt.
"Ha! Don't you know that bug types rule over psychic types?! I'll finish this in one shot! Use Night Slash!" Heracross tried to attack, but he was zapped and unable to move.
"Lucky for us Heracross is paralyzed. Kirlia, use Psychic!" His eyes glowed red and a blue outline appeared around the bug/fighting type and threw him against a nearby tree. Heracross was knocked out.
"Heracross is unable to battle! The winner is Kirlia!" Ash cheered.
"Heracross may be a bug type, but they're also part fighting, and that's weak to psychic type moves." Dawn explained with a smug look.
"Dang it! Well, you did good Heracross. Floatzel, get ready!" Barry's Sea Weasel came onto the field, rearing to go. Kirlia lost some of her health from the poison, based from her pained expression.
"Use Aqua Jet!" Barry ordered. With a burst of speed, Floatzel slammed himself into the psychic type, pushing her off the battle field and skidding across the ground.
"Kirlia! Are you okay?" While it took some effort to get up, he was able to walk onto the field, gaining claps and cheers from the audience from his determination. He turned to his master and gave a pained smile while nodding. "You're doing great. Kirlia, use Magical Leaf!" Forming rainbow leaves from out of nowhere, she launched them at the water type.
"Dodge with Aqua Jet!" Barry pleaded. Using his water, he shot up into the air, but the leaves went upwards following Floatzel until they connected, exploding upon contact. The Sea Weasel fell onto the ground, but picked himself up.
"Just one measly grass attack won't put him down! Aqua Jet again!" With his superior speed, he rammed into the Emotion Pokémon, delivering the final blow. Kirlia was on his back, knocked out.
"Kirlia is unable to battle! The winner is Floatzel!"
"Return." Once he was returned into his Pokeball, Dawn said,
"You took out his Heracross. Good job. Be proud."
"Togepi!" Spike cried as he couldn't take it anymore. He jumped out of her bag and ran onto the field. Despite feeling the pain of being poisoned, his face was that of anger and determination.
"Spike! What are you doing?!" Dawn cried out for her baby Pokémon. However, nobody was expecting the Spike Ball Pokémon to form a white and black ball of energy right in front of it and fire it at the flabbergasted Floatzel, exploding upon contact.
"Whoa, what was that?! Barry complained.
"Ancient Power?" Ash mumbled to himself.
"Toooogeeeepiiiiiiii!" He chirped loudly as he glowed, starting to evolve. The round yolk in an egg gained an extended neck and legs in between his feet and body. When the process was done, Togetic stood on the field now.
"What is that Pokemon? Ash gasped, marveling at the simplistic, yet magnificent transformation. Floatzel waved the dust away, only to be shocked like everybody else.
"Spike?" Dawn uttered, having difficulty comprehending what is happening. Then something happened that stopped everything that the evolution did not before. Togetic started waving his arms back and forth. Everybody and everything was silent as the appendages went back and forth like a metronome, hundreds of outcomes possible when the wagging stopped. When Togetic finally did stop, he was surrounded by a yellow aura, and blue electricity surrounded the Happiness Pokémon and shot lightning at Floatzel in the form of Shock Wave, utterly zapping the water type to heck, crying out in pain until he couldn't take it anymore and fell on his back, unconscious. Togetic then suffered from the poison.
"Floatzel is... unable to battle. The winner is..." Ash couldn't continue for he didn't know this particular Pokémon's name. Dawn took out her Pokedex to scan her baby Pokémon.
Togetic: the Happiness Pokémon; It is said to appear in front of kindly people to scatter a glowing down called "joy dust." To share its happiness, it flies around the world seeking kindhearted people. Congratulations. Rotom complemented. Dawn started to tear up in pure joy, filled with so much exuberance that her little baby evolved.
"Spike." She whispered.
"Wow. Uh, I'm not sure what to do here." Barry admitted rather dumbfounded. "Most of the time when a Pokémon evolves, I see it as a challenge. But he's your baby. I don't want to-"
"Toge!" Spike chirped at Barry. He beat on his chest, expressing to come at him.
"You still want to fight Spike?" She asked the flying type. Spike turned to her and answered like a little warrior,
"Togetic!"
"Alright then Spike! Come on Barry! Bring on Infernape!" Dawn encouraged her friend, wanting to finish this.
"Well, if you want it, here it comes!" Barry declared, regaining his fighting spirit. "Infernape, get ready!" The last one to appear was his fire starter, Infernape. "Infernape, use Flame Wheel!" Spinning with forward momentum, he barreled down towards the small flying type.
"Counter with Ancient Power!" Dawn instructed. Forming another white and black ball of energy, Spike sent it at the incoming attack, creating an explosion upon impact. However, that didn't stop the fiery attack as he pushed through and slammed into the Happiness Pokémon, crying out in pain. Landing on his back, the poison took hold again.
"Spike!" Looking at the fire starter, seeing that Ancient Power alone wouldn't be enough, she said, "Spike, use Metronome." Getting up onto his feet again, he started waving his hands back and forth, quieting everything again. A few seconds passed until the wagging ended again, Spike glowed mahogany, and he ran up to Infernape to kick at him three times in mid-air; two in the chest and the third to the side of his face, which barely made him react. The flying type just floated there nervously when the Flame Pokémon grinned, as if to say, 'Nice try, kid.'
"Brick Break." With a swing of his arm, he swatted Spike away, flying right into Dawn's arms as she fell onto her butt, holding the whimpering Pokémon.
"There there, Spike. It's alright." She petted Spike's head, whom looked up to her with tears in his eyes. "I love you so much." Spike grinned, becoming happy before fainting. Ash was on the verge of tears as he sobbed,
"S-Spike is un-unable to battle. Th-The winner is-is... Infernape." Tapping a Great Ball against her evolved baby absorbed him, and waited for it to stop wobbling until it clicked. Placing him in her bag, she brought out her last Pokémon for this match up.
"It's time for your big break. Crystal, I choose you!" The gift that came from Bebe, Eevee has long ago evolved, and has become Espeon, a purple cat like mammal with a split tail, big ears, and a chakra crystal on her forehead.
"Espeon!" She cried out. Especially when she became poisoned like all the rest.
"Where did you get one of those?!" Barry questioned.
"A woman in Hearthome gave her to me. Let me show you what we have! Swift!" From the crystal on her forehead, a series of golden stars shot at the Flame Pokémon, bombarding the fire starter as he tried to defend himself. However, the attack was apparently enough to activate the blaze ability, making the fire on his head erupt and he screamed his name.
"Infernaaaape!"
"Man, it's like the only people that can actually push him that far are you two guys!" Barry noticed with glee. "Flame Wheel!" Like in the last battle she saw, the Flame Pokémon spun around with extreme and power as he rushed at the Sun Pokémon, smashing into her and sending her flying off the arena like Kirlia and bashed into a tree. If that wasn't enough, Crystal groaned from the poison hurting her even more. Struggling to get up, she actually failed to get to her feet and could barely keep herself awake.
"Crystal! Psychic!" The crystal on her forehead glowed as Infernape glowed blue before he started floating high into the air, flailing around as he tried to break free from the hold, but was defenseless. With her last ounce of strength, Crystal sent Infernape plummeting into the ground like a brick, crashing into the ground with serious force. Despite that, he stood up, his rage filled face stared at the weak psychic type, everyone standing still to see what would happen. Then, both Pokémon fainted, losing consciousness at the same time. The crowd wondered if it was a tie. Seeing that was what the outcome was, Ash concluded,
"Both Pokémon are unable to battle. By the rules of this battle, it is a tie!" Everybody present that watched the battle cheered and clapped from such an amazing spectacle. After returning their Pokémon and saying how well they have done, Barry whistled.
"Man, you're really good! I can't believe we tied!"
"Neither can I! I was actually expecting to lose that one." Dawn admitted, chuckling nervously.
"Well, you're certainly not weaker than me, just so you know! Put 'er there!" He complimented her as he offered a handshake. The researcher smiled as she took his offer, only to yelp when he pulled her into a hug. She lightly laughed again as she returned the quick hug.
"That was highly impressive." The two turned to see Ash looking the happiest he's been in a month. "That was awesome to watch. And Dawn... our little Spike evolved!"
"Yeah!" They all laughed and celebrated as they all hugged and jumped up and down for a few seconds. Once they broke apart, Barry offered,
"How about we have a real good lunch? My treat!"
"Thanks Barry!" Dawn accepted as the three friends went to a sea restaurant to celebrate a spectacular battle.
A/N: Oh my goodness! I've been waiting to write this for weeks! What do you think? Leave reviews down below.