Chapter 81

Maple awoke at dawn to the dreariest day of the tournament. The sun was up, but it was well hidden behind the rain clouds over the island. She hated the rain. It made her tired and depressed, which was the exact opposite of what she needed.

As she waited for Mark and Cherry to wake up, she stared fixedly out of the window. She tried her best to will it to go away. Sadly, she didn't know Sunny Day. Even if she did, she knew it wouldn't last for very long and then the rain would be back.

She sorely hoped it would stop before the end of the day. She didn't want to have to fight Silver in the rain. She'd still win, but she'd be wet and unhappy.

Maple was sure she would fight him. Cherry would fight Shinobi and she would fight Silver. Mark would plan it that way. It would be the perfect time to knock some sense into Silver. She was ready. But first she would have to get through this dark, miserable day.

The sky was not much lighter when Mark and Cherry woke up about an hour later. The sight of the steady drops outside the window was not pleasant for either of them. Cherry's fire typing made water her natural enemy. Now that her only attacks were fire-based, every battle would be twice as hard.

Nevertheless, with only a single day of training left before their battle with Lily, there was no time left to slack off. Cherry needed to evolve into a Charmeleon. And now she needed to learn Slash.

"Aurum's going to be fighting his match this morning," Mark explained to the two Pokémon-girls, "we'll have to train by ourselves." Mark was glad to be training without Aurum's instruction. He worried if they were relying too much on the grumpy old man. Besides, if they kept training without him, maybe Aurum wouldn't scold him so much.

"So I get to fight Zap?" Cherry asked eagerly. Without the huge crowd of the concert around, she was back to her usual fiery self.

"Yes, you can fight Zap," Mark nodded, folding the tournament schedule back up, "but just as a battle. This isn't about revenge."

"Fine…" Cherry whined.

Before they left, Mark handed his only umbrella over to the two Pokémon-girls. The gesture initially confused the two since they had never used one before. However, their mutual dislike for the rain won out and they shared it while Mark went without it.

The rain hardly bothered Mark at all. It was such a light rain that it was more of an annoyance than anything. Several of the people that they passed went without umbrellas as well. Still, the streets were notably less busy. The rain had scared away at least some of the tournament-goers.

As they approached the square, Mark wondered if Zap might even show up if it was raining. He had mentioned that he was part of a group. If they were all human Pokémon children, playing in the rain would be a bad idea.

Mark had never seen the square so empty before. The tables and chairs outside the shops had been put back in their usual places, but they were all soaking wet and empty. Anyone getting food was taking it back to the hotel.

That made it easy to spot Zap and his friends milling about in the center of the square.

Including Zap, there were five of them, all human Pokémon no older than ten or eleven. Zap had the other four lined up and standing at attention. He was clearly the leader of the group, despite how bored and unhappy the others looked.

The group included a chunky Tepig boy, a skinny Meditite and a Panpour with comically over-sized ears. The only girl was the Eevee from last night's concert. She stood apart from the others, smiling happily at Zap. She was the only one.

"C'mon, Zap!" the Tepig whined, "It's cold and wet!"

"Yeah, Zap," the Panpour spoke next, "what's this thing you're supposed to show us?"

"It's coming!" the Pachirisu-boy assured the restless group.

"Well, what is it?" the Panpour spoke again, "at least tell us."

"Okay, fine!" Zap pulled his group into a small circle.

Mark could no longer hear what they were saying, but it must have had something to do with Cherry. She was undoubtedly what Zap intended on showing his group. But what did that mean? Something strange was going on.

The kids seemed to have formed their own little social circle. Mark even remembered seeing some of them from time to time. But where were their trainers? He saw only the Pokémon-children.

"Do you think you're ready for this, Cherry?" Mark turned to the Charmander-girl huddled next to Maple underneath the umbrella. They stood at the edge of the square. If they wanted to, turning around and leaving would be easy.

"Yeah," she nodded, "I'm ready."

"Okay," Mark agreed, "go on. I'm right behind you." Cherry stepped out into the rain and walked in front of Mark.

"Alright," Zap broke from the huddle, "but don't forget, I called dibs."

"This is gonna be awesome!" the Panpour-boy called out, but then he noticed Cherry coming towards them, "hey, Zap, is that her?"

The Pachirisu-boy turned and Mark watched his face light up with the same maniacal grin he had when he discovered Cherry was afraid of crowds.

Then Mark knew. This whole thing was a trap. A trap set by an eight-year-old human Pokémon and they had fallen right into it. Zap had arranged the whole thing so he could humiliate Cherry in front of all of his friends.

"Back for more?" he taunted sadistically, "I mean, you can play this time, right? Or are you scared of the rain, too?"

"Shut up!" Cherry snarled, "I am not scared!"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Zap turned back to his friends, "oh, you guys should have seen it! She was so scared of all the people she couldn't even move!"

"Really?" the Panpour-boy giggled, "doesn't that only happen to crazy people?"

"Sure does!" the Tepig-boy spoke next, "guess she's scared and crazy!"

Mark ignored their taunts and studied the group. If Zap was the leader, the rest seemed to be little more than lackeys that would be fairly easy for him to keep in line. If Cherry defeated Zap, it was the same as defeating the whole group. Oddly, though, the Eevee-girl and the Meditite-boy did not join their taunting. The Meditite-boy watched Cherry without expression and the Eevee seemed to only have eyes for Zap.

"Are you going to fight me or not?!" Cherry challenged Zap, "or are you afraid of losing to a girl?!"

That did it. Zap ceased taunting and turned back to Cherry. He couldn't let anyone threaten him. He certainly couldn't let a girl that was afraid of crowds threaten him. If he did, they might not let him be group leader anymore.

"Alright, let's go," Zap grinned, but he became as cold as stone as he pointed straight at Mark, "But he can't be here!"

"Huh?" Cherry blinked, "why? We're battling, right?"

"Not like that!" Zap shook his head adamantly, "no trainers! Those are our rules!"

"Umm…" Cherry looked up at Mark, unsure of what to do.

"It's okay," he nodded, "you'll be fine without me." He put his hand on her shoulder before finishing, "I'll still be here if you get hurt."

"Uhh…" Cherry began to reach for him as he left, but she stopped herself. Still determined, she turned back to Zap.

Mark walked back to stand with Maple. He didn't like leaving Cherry alone, but he understood enough to leave this to her.

The "No Trainers" rule existed for good reason. Stating it was the only serious thing Zap had done since they had met him. It was the same as a human child's rule against tattling. It meant bringing an adult into something that was supposed to be between the kids. If Mark helped her win, that victory would not be Cherry's and they would only hate her for winning that way.

But Mark knew the rules. He had grown up with them. These children might be human Pokémon, but they were still children.

If Cherry was going to win, she would have to do it without running to an adult for help.

Still, watching his Charmander-girl fight and not being able to help was going to be hard.

"Ready?" Zap asked, once Mark and his own friends had backed away enough to give them room.

"Yea-OW!" Cherry stumbled back as Zap bounced off of her. The Pachirisu-boy did not give her the chance to be ready and began with a lightning-fast Quick Attack.

"Go!" Zap tittered, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Cherry lunged after him, her mouth filled with fire as she tried to catch him with a Fire Fang. But Zap was too quick. He bounced away from her and kicked her in the side with another Quick Attack.

"What the heck was that?!" he called out, "you tryin' to kiss me or something?"

Cherry lunged after him again, barely missing his arm this time. The Pachirisu-boy was too quick.

Dragon Dance, Dragon Dance, Dragon Dance, Mark thought, hoping Cherry would realize what she needed to do. Zap was just toying with her, keeping his distance and wearing her down. He was going to make a spectacle of beating her.

Zap dodged a third Fire Fang, grinning widely as an idea came to him.

"Well, if that's how you want it…"

As Cherry bit down on the air, Zap leaned in and kissed her quickly on the cheek. Cherry's eyes shot wide as she blushed involuntarily. But just a second later, her head started to feel foggy and began to hurt.

"Umm…Mark?" Maple asked, "what did he just…?"

"Sweet Kiss," Mark groaned and shook his head, "not good."

Cherry shook her head, trying to clear it of the fog left by Zap's Sweet Kiss.

"What's wrong?" Zap teased, "did I do it wrong? That's what you wanted, right?" He started to giggle.

Cherry responded by opening her mouth and firing a Flame Burst straight at him. The fireball exploded across his chest, knocking the boy off of his feet. He yelled out in pain, but somehow managed to right himself in mid-air. He landed on his feet, crouching down only slightly. Outwardly, he was no worse than before.

"Shut up!" Cherry yelled.

"Well, alright," Zap responded. He was no longer taunting her. He was actually going to start taking her seriously. The Pachirisu-boy had never expected Cherry to be an actual threat. "If you're that tough, then I'd better stop playing."

Cherry's head was still spinning as she watched Zap prepare his next attack. His body began to spark and glow with yellow arcs of electricity as he crouched low to the ground. The glow grew brighter and brighter until Zap was practically a living light-bulb. He dashed straight for her, trying to ram into her with his Spark.

The Charmander-girl tried to dodge his attack, but with her head still spinning, she stumbled and began to fall forward onto the pavement. Shoulder-first, Zap rammed directly into Cherry's stomach, sending her rolling backwards. The small girl cringed in pain from the new attack. She was much slower to get up this time.

"Done yet?" Zap called.

Mark was ready to agree with him. Cherry was losing and there was little hope for her to turn the battle around. There was no point in making the girl suffer. Let Zap have his playground victory, Cherry was more important to him, than that.

He began to feel the eyes of the other people in the square on him, as well. A battle between human Pokémon this young was a rare sight. And, for all the right reasons, watching it did not give the same reaction in the onlookers. They were watching a trainer put victory over the well-being of a child.

Mark had to agree with them. But if he stopped the battle early and interfered, Cherry would hate him. They were children, but they were Pokémon as well. It was not the first time, or the last time, Mark had to remind himself of the strange two-sided nature of human Pokémon.

Cherry's head finally cleared as she turned to face Zap again. She could tell that she was hurt badly. One or maybe two more hits from Zap's Spark would be the end of it. She couldn't let that happen. But then she remembered something…something that could help her win.

Zap began to run forward, charging up his next Spark as he went. When he was only a few yards away, thick, black smoke began to fill the air. It stung at his eyes and his target seemed to disappear through the cloud. Still, she wouldn't have time to move and Zap launched himself at the spot where she had been.

But the space was empty and the girl was gone.

A moment later, Zap felt his side explode into fire as another of Cherry's Flame Burst attacks connected. Zap spun away, grateful for the rain that dampened the attack and kept it from burning him too badly. Still, the attacks were stronger than he expected. Now he didn't feel so good.

It worked! Cherry thought with sheer delight. The Smokescreen in the air partially blinded Zap, but with Spark active, he was an easy to find glowing orb. If she just kept moving, she could easily stay ahead of him.

That's what she thought, but Zap retaliated amazingly quickly. The glowing spot in the smoke shot straight for her after her Flame Burst. Cherry only had a moment to get out of the way, but it was enough.

Under the cover of the Smokescreen, she performed the quick spiral of Dragon Dance. Now it was her turn to humiliate Zap.

"Ooo, pretty!" she called to him, "you're a squirrel-shaped Christmas tree!"

"HEY!" the glowing spot of light shot forward again, but dodging was easier this time thanks to Dragon Dance. She performed another, careful to keep well ahead of Zap. A few moments later, the smoke began to clear and Cherry realized she had to finish the fight soon.

"There you are!" Zap shouted as he spotted Cherry. His eyes were red from the heavy smoke and he was indignant with anger. He was no longer the taunting, jeering little jerk Cherry hated him for. The change made her very, very happy.

Zap dashed at her with Spark, confident that with the smoke gone he could easily finish the Charmander-girl. At the last moment, Cherry spun away as she side-stepped him. The Pachirisu-boy stumbled forward, regaining his balance as the glow of Spark faded from his body.

He never expected what came next.

Zap felt his tail burning as Cherry bit down and clamped onto it with her Fire Fang. The pain was bad enough, but then he felt himself being lifted off of the ground. Cherry tossed him by his tail back to the opposite side of the square. He landed in a heap in front of his utterly flabbergasted group of friends.

"Ugghh…" Zap groaned as he sat up. A thin trail of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, "no more. No more! You win!" He whimpered on the ground, fighting back tears.

Cherry flopped back onto the ground. She started to giggle and cheer, relishing her first victory against a real opponent. She had won! And she did by herself!

"She beat Zap…" the Tepig-boy stared, "only grown-ups can beat Zap…"

"You did it!" Maple scooped Cherry off of the ground and hugged her, the umbrella forgotten somewhere behind her.

"Congratulations," Mark said more calmly, though his heart was still racing from having to watch her fight alone, "you did it all on your own, too."

"Yep!" Cherry beamed at him, "owowowow! Down, down!" In a rush, Maple set Cherry down on the ground and stepped back.

Gathering energy, Cherry flexed her hand and watched it become covered with orange-red scales and razor-sharp claws on each finger. She swiped it through the air with amazing speed and power. A soft whistling sound accompanied each swipe.

"Well," Mark started, "as cool as that was, I think you should forget about Fire Fang."

"Really?" Cherry asked, also a tad disappointed.

"Yeah…" Mark sighed, "Slash is better, anyway."

"Okay…" Cherry nodded. A moment later, she shook her head. "Done," she announced, "what now?"

Mark waited. This had to be it. If it wasn't going to happen now, then there was nothing left he could think of that could trigger it. Would she be a Charmeleon for tomorrow? Or would she be stuck as a Charmander?

So he waited…and waited.

"Umm…what's going on?" Cherry asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

AN: back again.

I overpowered Smokescreen a bit, but Cherry also missed with Fire Fang three times in a row, so, it kinda evens out.

Anyway, I wanted to talk about X and Y coming out, since it'll only be another month. You can pretty much expect the same deal as with the Black/White Pokemon. It'll take me a bit to really get comfortable with them, but there's still room for X and Y Pokemon to make it into the story.

The legendaries are, of course, the thing that could affect the story the most. But, I imagine they'll be something like Reshiram and Zekrom: they're really strong, but since they're not directly involved with Mewtwo or Arceus, I consider them to be separate. But, we'll see once the games come out.

It would certainly be cool if I can work in Mewtwo's Mega Stone evolution…..

Anyway, I guess that's it, for now. I have to apologize again for falling so horribly far behind schedule with posting, reading and responding to messages, etc. Work has been fairly normal recently, I'm just finding it tough to get back into a rhythm (this chapter took two weeks instead of my usual one). I imagine that has something to do with not having any time to write for months on end…

But, enough of my worries and I shall return as quick as I can!

Thanks for reading!