Violet victory
Though the three friends were all tired and bruised, nobody suggested staying right on the spot: they wanted to put as much distance between themselves and the ursaring as possible. About forty-five minutes later, they crossed a little stream and finally decided it was far enough. They went about setting up camp, with Bonnie getting water for Laura to cook with, and then joining Max in erecting their tents. Both also pitched in with the meal preparations, they were famished. While Bonnie set up the table, Max opened a new can of pokemon food, and distributed it in a number of bowls. Then the three trainers called their pokemon for dinner. They had all met Poliwag before, but not all had been present during the fight with Ursaring, so there was much rejoicing when they saw that the little tadpole would travel with them from now on.
Bonnie, Max and Laura were mostly silent during dinner, inhaling the noodle dish as if they had not had anything for days. Halfway through, Bonnie noticed that Chespin was hardly eating anything, which was very uncharacteristic. Interrupting her own meal, she went to him.
"Chespin, are you still feeling guilty for what happened today?"
"Chespin, ches!"
"Well yes, it wouldn't have happened if not for your gluttony, but it's ok, everyone makes mistakes. In the end, there was no harm done. Now you be extra nice to Poliwag, she really helped us today."
"Chespin!" The little hedgehog looked relieved. He looked at Poliwag, who had been eating with every sign of enjoyment and was almost finished with her food. Picking up his own bowl, he went over to her and, somewhat shyly, offered to share. Poliwag looked delighted, and both little pokemon went on eating. Bonnie went back to her own meal with a smile.
"Your chespin is a scamp, but he's a good one," Laura commented. She then turned to Max: "Say, should we go back to Violet City tomorrow then? I mean, you found what you were looking for, right?"
"Oh boy did I ever! Poliwag is amazing!"
Laura smiled, for the reply sounded much more like Bonnie than the usually more serious Max. Either their blond friend had rubbed off on him, or he was really excited about encountering Poliwag.
"Right. So?"
"Yeah, let's go back to Violet City. I won't challenge Falkner right away though, we need a few days to train as a team, but being at the pokemon centre will be helpful. I want to be extra sure I'm going to win before I set another foot in that gym!"
xxx
"What do you mean, Falkner isn't here?"
After returning to Violet City, Max had trained non-stop for three full days. The fourth morning, he felt ready, and they set off for the gym once more, only to be greeted with a nasty surprise.
"He left yesterday to meet up with his father, he should be back in a day or two," Arthur said. "I can put your name on the list though, so that you can challenge him first when he comes back."
"Yes, please do," Max replied, deflated.
They left the gym, wandering the streets for a while. Max was really disappointed, he had really wanted to show Falkner his skill, and to earn his first badge.
"It's not all bad you know," Laura commented after a while. "Two days isn't that long, and you can use the extra time for even more training."
"I know, I just don't like to be stuck in one place like this."
"Can't be helped this time."
"Hey, what's this?" Bonnie exclaimed suddenly, looking at a big ad plastered on the wall to their left. It read: Violet City Context – Come and See the Great Performances – Participate to Earn a Ribbon!
"There's going to be a pokemon contest here, apparently," Max said, shrugging.
"That's great! I've wanted to see one ever since my friend Serena first told me about them. Hey, it's on the 17th, that's today! So cool! Well, I'm going to watch it for sure! Max, Laura, wanna come too?"
"Sure," Laura replied with a big smile, but Max declined.
"I've seen a lot of contests already, thanks to my sister, I'd rather use the time to train some more."
After a quick stop at a bakery, because the muffins smelled too good and they could not not go in, they all went back to the pokemon centre. There was still time until the contest, so for the next two hours, Bonnie and Laura helped Max in his training. In the middle of the afternoon however, the two girls left their friend behind and went to find the hall where the contest would be held.
"This is a bigger event than I thought it would be," Laura murmured once they were seated, looking at the many faces around them.
"Yeah, it looks like contests are as popular in Johto as showcases are in Kalos," Bonnie agreed. She was turning her head in all directions, eager to see everything, and especially the differences between contests and showcases. It looked like there would be three judges for the competition, instead of the public voting, for instance.
Shortly afterwards, the judges arrived. Two men, who seemed to hold important jobs in pokemon associations, and a woman, whom the girls recognised instantly: Violet City's Nurse Joy. A second woman, with blond curly hair, came up on stage directly after the judges. She was very energetic, and her address to the hall left the public quite enthusiast.
"Oh," Bonnie said suddenly, "I almost forgot." She called up Litleo and Chespin. "I'm sure you guys will have fun watching this too!" She took Chespin on her knees, put Litleo next to her, and Dedenne decided to perch on her shoulder.
"Good idea," Laura agreed, and followed suit.
Then the contest started. In the first part, the contestants, dressed to the nines, called up one pokemon to do a routine on the stage. So far, it looked pretty close to the performances Bonnie had seen in Kalos, except, to her surprise, that about half the contestants were boys. And a few other details, like the fact that all pokemon started in their pokeballs. Some routines were pretty good, she found. There was a short pause when all the contestants were done, then the big screen in the back of the stage came to life, announcing the eight contestants who would go forward to the second round. No surprises there, the ones chosen were the ones which Bonnie had found the best.
"What's the second round?" Laura asked.
"I don't know, actually. Serena said something about being paired with another contestant and the one who won going to a semi-final, then a final round, but I'm not clear on what's expected at this point. Maybe you alternate your routine with your opponent's?"
The contestants were indeed paired up, and the first ones came up on stage. Again, it was one pokemon only per contestant, though the girls noted that both had decided to change their partners for this second round. A marill on one side, which both girls found adorable, and a noctowl on the other. On the screen, a big clock appeared, making clear that the round would be timed. When the clock started, Bonnie realized that the pairings had not just looked like the line up she knew from pokemon tournaments: it was indeed a battle! And the two trainers were fighting each other in earnest. Successfully attacking or defending made their opponent lose points. At the end of the five minutes, the trainer with the most points left, the one with the noctowl, was declared the winner.
Bonnie was amazed: up to this day, she had really believed that contests and shows were very much alike, and the battling part took her by surprise. This was so cool! The contest continued, with one of the battles ending in a K.O., but most being decided on points. The finals were a two-a-side battle, the noctowl from earlier and a cute chikorita against an ambipom and a crobat. Neither girl had ever seen the bat pokemon before, and after looking it up on Bonnie's pokedex, had watched with interest as the violet team, as they thought, proceeded to annihilate its opponent's team, who were individually quite good but obviously not used to double battles. The presenter then gave the violet-clad girl a beautiful lilac-and-white ribbon, apparently her second.
xxx
"So, how did you find contests?" Max asked when the girls came back.
"It was a great spectacle!" Laura replied. "But more violent than we thought, we hadn't expected the battling part."
"Oh, are performances in Kalos entirely without battles then?" the black-haired boy questioned, curious.
"Yes, the first part consists of different activities where you team up with one or more pokemon, like quizzes, dressing up your pokemon, or baking sweets, and the second part is the performance part," Laura explained. "And the performers take part in that round with their pokemon too."
"No battling at all? Sounds kind of boring to me," Max commented. "But then to each its own I suppose. What about you, Bonnie, did you like the contest?" He pursued. His blond friend has been uncharacteristically quiet.
"It was very surprising, to be honest. I hadn't understood the battling part, from the tales I heard from my friend Serena." Bonnie replied thoughtfully.
"You mentioned a Serena. I've got to ask: is she the rookie who took the Hoenn contest world by storm and won the last festival?" Bonnie nodded. "She's your friend? You know some interesting people!" Max exclaimed.
"Well, she may have been a rookie in contests, but she was already an accomplished performer. She had earned the right to battle the Kalos Queen, the best performer in Kalos, and if she had won she would have been the new Queen, you know. I haven't since her in action since then but I am sure she has only gotten better."
"That's pretty swell. Too bad my sister was in Sinnoh at the time, it would have been interesting if the two of them had met each other."
"So did you have a good training session while we were having fun?" Laura asked.
"Yes we did. I'm still finding how to best use Poliwag's move set, but she has some really good moves. She's quite feisty though, she doesn't like to listen to me when she thinks another move would have been better."
"Yes, we noticed that already!" Bonnie laughed, remembering Max and Poliwag's first battle together. He had ended up drenched after the tadpole strongly expressed that she thought his orders left something to be desired in terms of effectivity.
"So maybe it's not the worst thing that Falkner was unavailable today," Max concluded grudgingly. "We'll be even more ready for him this way."
xxx
"Here we are," Laura whispered to Bonnie two days later. It was the middle of the morning, and the word had come shortly before that Falkner was back at the gym and taking on challengers. Max had been quite happy to hear that news, and had expedited breakfast before rushing to the gym. The girls had followed and were back in the stands. The gym leader had favourably answered Max's challenge, without mentioning the last one, which earned him some brownie points back in Bonnie's opinion. Though the way he had reaffirmed his birds' supposed superiority made her roll her eyes. Both opponents were now facing each other, ready to start.
"This battle opposes Falkner, leader of the Violet City gym, and Max from Petalburg City. Each trainer can use three pokemon. Only the challenger can switch pokemon between rounds." The referee, not Arthur but a boy around the same age, was repeating the rules. "And, start!"
Falkner called up his dodrio first, this time. Max sent out Poliwag. She looked quite eager to battle, and Bonnie hoped she would listen to Max. Falkner's first attack took them by surprise: the ground bird might not be flying, but it was fast. The quick attack sent Poliwag flying off, but she rebounded on her tail upon landing, seemingly none the worse for wear. Max had her use water gun in rapid succession on the three-headed bird, trying to prevent it from coming too close.
"And now an ice beam!" He called, but Dodrio dodged, and launched a peck attack at Falkner's orders. Poliwag blocked with her tail the best she could, and, listening to Max, managed to land a point-blank ice beam directly afterwards. The ice move was quite effective but not enough to finish off Dodrio, and Poliwag looked to be tiring. Suddenly remembering the fight against the wild ursaring, Max had an idea:
"Use ice beam on the ground!" The dodrio slipped, skidded clumsily, and landed on the ground. Without give it time to get out of the icy patch, Max had Poliwag follow up with attract. His bet paid off, and the Dodrio was affected. As the big bird looked quite incapacitated for the time being, Max dared to have Poliwag get up close. A double slap followed by a second point-blank ice beam were more than enough, and Dodrio was rendered unconscious.
"Dodrio is unable to battle, Poliwag wins!" The referee announced.
Next, Falkner sent out his noctowl. Max decided to stay with Poliwag, hoping her ice attack would work just as well against the flying pokemon, which, as he had noticed during Bonnie's battle, was decidedly on the slow side for a bird. But Noctowl proved more elusive than expected: Falkner had it follow an elliptic pattern with twists that made it hard for Poliwag to target the bird. The little tadpole was visibly tired now. Still, she gave it her all, and managed a direct hit. Noctowl wavered but stayed airborne, and Falkner smirked as Max rejoiced.
"Noctowl, roost!"
The effects of the move were not obvious, but the night bird visibly perked up directly afterwards, so it had regained at least part of its energy. "Now wing attack, and follow it by roost as soon as you hit that poliwag!" Poliwag managed to dodge the first one, but not the second. Max countered with ice beam, which hit, but seemed to do a lot less damage than before. "Noctowl, finish it with air slash!" The current of air was strong and too fast for Poliwag to evade. It made her fly off in Max's direction, and the boy jumped forward to catch her. She was out for the count.
"Poliwag is unable to battle, Noctowl wins!"
"You did not expect that, did you?" Falkner called out. "Roost causes its recipient to lose its flying type for one turn, so your ice was no problem for us."
"Good job Poliwag, you did great!" Max told her before returning her to her pokeball. "Treecko, it's your turn, buddy."
Falkner seemed on the verge of sneering when he saw the green lizard, but he glanced at Bonnie, who had Chespin on her knees again, and decided against it.
"Let's finish this one quickly!" He instead told his pokemon. "Wing attack!" Treecko quickly jumped to the side. "Bullet seed!" Max told him. The seeds did little damage, but Treecko was quite precise in his attack and kept at it, while Noctowl flew this and that way to try and evade it. "Air slash!" "Treecko, dodge it!" The lizard pokemon almost managed it, but the tail-end of the attack still hit, and he stumbled.
"Are you alright?" Max called out, worried.
"Treecko!" the little pokemon answered reassuringly.
"Wing attack again!" Falkner shouted. Max waited until Noctowl was close, then: "Energy ball!" Again, the move was not very effective of itself, but at that short range, it did do quite a bit of damage. "Noctowl, roost!" Falkner called out. The bird regained its strength, but Max smirked: he had been waiting for that. "Launch bullet seed again, and don't stop!" Like the first time, the green lizard had no difficulty hitting its opponent, but this time, it looked like the move was doing a lot more damage. Falkner frowned when he understood that Max was using his roost against him to make Treecko's attacks more effective. "Noctowl, air slash!" He countered. The attack drove the seeds off trajectory. "Follow it up with a wing attack!" The hit was too much for Treecko.
"Treecko is unable to battle, Noctowl wins!" The referee called out.
Max thanked Treecko for his good work, then called on Ralts.
"It's just you and me now. Let's win this thing!"
"I admire your confidence," Falkner commented. Without further ado, he launched a wing attack, but Ralts dodged it easily and Max had him counter with a psychic move. Noctowl was knocked out on the spot.
"Noctowl is unable to battle, Ralts wins!"
"Alright, one pokemon each, things are getting interesting," Falkner commented. "But I won't let you win! Pidgeot, come out!"
Max had been expecting Fearow, and Pidgeot was a bit of an unknown quantity. That bird was big!
"Pidgeot, use wing attack!" "Ralts, safeguard!" The pidgeot bounced off Ralts' shielding orb, but Ralts flinched nonetheless, for the attack had been a strong one. "Now use psychic!" The big bird was quicker than Noctowl had been, and evaded the attack. "Pidgeot, use agility, then quick attack!" With agility to increase its speed, the quick attack was even faster, and Pidgeot landed a direct hit on Ralts, who unvoluntarily took two steps back. Max grinded his teeth in frustration: he needed a solution, and quickly! For all his bravery, Ralts would not be able to endure these attacks for very long. Falkner, on the other side, was smiling, victory seemingly in his grasp. "And to finish this, wing attack!"
Left without choice, Max played his last ace: "Ralts, use double team!" Responding to his trainer's call, the little child-like pokemon multiplied his effigy like never before. Confused, Pidgeot flew right at one of them, but it was only smoke. It then went for another of the ralts, which disappeared on impact. For a few seconds, Falkner, who had not been expecting the counter, let his bird without directions, and it flew around much slower than before. A few seconds was all that Max and Ralts needed. "Now Ralts! Use psychic!" Suddenly, Ralts was right above Pidgeot, and he directed his move right at him. The strength of the psychic attack brought Pidgeot crashing out of the sky. It hit the field heavily, struggled to get back up, but stumbled again. One second passed, then two...
"Pidgeot is unable to battle, Ralts wins. The winner of this battle is Max from Petalburg City!"
Max stared at the referee, mouth agape. Then he turned to Ralts, who had come back down next to him: "We did it Ralts! We just won our first badge!" He grabbed his partner in his arms with the biggest smile.
"Congratulations, you earned that badge. Using roost against me, and that cunning double team right there... well, I expected neither, obviously," Falkner said. The gym leader had come to his challenger with a badge in one hand. He extended the other one, and Max shook it. "But darn, my father's cherished bird pokemons... Oh well, it shows I still need to train a lot to become the greatest bird master! Anyway, here is the Zephyr badge. "
Bonnie and Laura had run down the stands, and both slapped Max on one shoulder, rejoicing with him.
"Where are you going next?" Falkner asked Max and Bonnie with some curiosity.
The blond girl looked at her black-haired friend, who shrugged.
"We're not sure yet," he replied.
"Well, in that case, I suggest going to Azalea Town. I think you'll find the gym leader quite interesting."
"Azalea Town it is, then!" Bonnie agreed.
The three friends exchanged smiles: their journey could now continue.
END OF CHAPTER
Hi guys! Did you like my account of Max's gym battle? And I have one question for you: how do you like my descriptions of pokemon battles in general? Too long, too short? And do I describe too many of them? I've been wondering about that in these last chapters were it felt like half the action at least was a battle or another. I wouldn't want to bore you!
Also, an "interesting" piece of information: when I started out on this journey (well, with this story, same difference!), I kind of mapped how I wanted it to go. By this early reconning, I should have been at the end of chapter 8 at this point... And that same map had more than 30 chapters on it, so I let you imagine how much that could mean on paper! This story is really ballooning, let's see where it takes us!
