Chapter 88

"Whoa…" Mark gasped as Teardrop's Surf attack finished. Some of the water was still sloshing around the edges of the field, searching for a place to soak into the already wet ground.

Next to him, Silph chuckled at his reaction. "Most people say that she's the weakest of the Four. Not that it means much."

Kim was out of her seat. She cheered at the top of her lungs, despite the wall of glass. Next to her, Volt covered his crescent-shaped ears while Cherry and Claire giggled to each other. Maple cheered as well, though not as loudly as Kim and certainly with fewer swears words.

"She seems a little…out of practice, to me," Silph added.

Mark wondered about that. So far, he hadn't noticed anything in RiverofTears' strategy that he would've done differently. In truth, he was actually rather impressed at her capability with the human Pokémon she used. Cincinno, Roserade and Milotic were not widely considered to be exceptional Pokémon. They were far from terrible, but most highly skilled trainers favored something tougher.

He was also having a difficult time deciding who to root for. He had met Cara only briefly, but he had no idea her human Pokémon were capable of going head-to-head with RiverofTears. Though RiverofTears had gained the upper hand once more, Cara had been able to take down two of her human Pokémon and keep herself from being swept away like so many others that fought the Four. It was an impressive showing for someone who was down by two at the match's start. Nevertheless, with only two left and one of them hurt and poisoned, her options were dwindling.

Cara probably wouldn't win, but the match was still far from finished. The wrong move at the wrong time could change everything.

"Ah, well…" Silph kept talking, "she seems to be having fun, now. Perhaps we should have had the meeting after her match…"

Cara whistled in awe at the destruction from Surf. She had seen it before, but the human Pokémon variant was a world apart. The wave had been colossal and was no doubt dangerous to use outside of a tournament battle. Wide-area attacks like that threatened trainers as well as the Pokémon. Cara rubbed her hands on the metal railing of her platform, gratefully.

She began to question her strategy up to this point. Sparks was what she needed to have a good chance of defeating the Milotic-woman, but Luxray was regrettably slow for the normally speedy electric Pokémon. There was a possibility that Teardrop would move first and she highly doubted that he could take a hit that powerful.

Ebony wasn't a better option. Much like Sparks, her best qualities lied in her ability to deal damage, not take it. A Sucker Punch could do a fair bit of damage, but she didn't believe it could finish what the triplets had started. And if Teardrop chose to use its Recover ability, then Sucker Punch would be useless since it relied on the small opening before an attack to be effective.

However, Milotic usually wasn't trained for that kind of power. The rain made her powerful, but it didn't make her invincible.

"Sparks!"

The human Luxray groaned as he came back out onto the battlefield, but he snapped to attention and grinned when he saw the Milotic-woman across the field.

"There we go," he cracked his knuckles again, "that's more like it."

"You wouldn't be saying that if you saw what just happened," Cara warned him, "take a look around."

It wasn't until then that Sparks noticed the destruction surrounding him. The field had been slightly muddy before, but now it was a thick, brown soup. Half of the grass had been washed away. It wasn't the rain that did that.

"What the hell happened?"

"Surf happened," Cara cautioned, "if you don't do this in one hit, we're done."

"Heh, who do you think you're talking to?" he asked her.

"A moody pessimist," Cara muttered too quietly for him to hear. Then, louder, she told him, "take her down and I'll let you smash a speaker…an old one that we're not going to use anymore."

"Sounds good to me," Sparks leaned forward, ready to run.

Across the field, RiverofTears felt more alive than she had in years. Beneath the cool, soothing rain with Teardrop at her command, she was a teenager again. She stopped worrying about her job and her future and instead focused on the battle before her. She pretended that it was the first tournament. Long before everything that was sweet and wonderful in life became bitter and poisoned.

A part of her knew it was temporary and that she had to come back. She'd have to grow up again, be strong and responsible, and remember why she wanted that. But she promised Teardrop that she would pretend.

Instead she thought about what to do against the Luxray. Though Milotic was naturally faster than Luxray, River had never trained Teardrop for speed. There was every possibility that he would be faster. What other options did she have? If she swapped for Luminous, he would definitely be faster, since she trained him that way. However, he'd take a nasty hit and have to deal with whatever came next. Still…

"Wild Charge!" Cara yelled, crossing her fingers that he was quicker than the Milotic.

Once again, Sparks rushed forward, charging up his electricity as he ran. This time he would get one. This time-

But as before, right when he was prepared to strike his target changed to something else.

This time, a well-dressed man with three candles burning on his head and each shoulder appeared to take the blow and defend his ally. However, the human Chandelure was not as naturally well equipped to counter him as the Roserade-woman had been. He staggered and dropped back from the blow as his partner vanished from the field.

But Sparks was no better off. His own attack rebounded on him once more and the poison running through his system made him cough up a mouthful of blood.

"Chandelure?" Cara wondered aloud. Now that was interesting. In his weakened state, Sparks would fall to it in a heartbeat. However, with the rain falling steadily around them, its fire attacks would be almost entirely useless. That meant…

"Shadow Ball!" River's butler obeyed his master's command at once. Dark energy flowed down from the candles on his body to gather in his gloved hands. But the sphere he launched at his opponent did not find its mark.

"Ebony!"

Another ally appeared to take the hit for Sparks. Though they fought outside of battle constantly, on the field they were friends. For the most part.

"Oww…" Ebony groaned, though she took the blow easily enough, "can't you do anything by yourself?" The Honchkrow-woman yawned tremendously before adjusting her fedora. She hovered a few feet off of the ground, flapping her large, black wings to steady herself.

"Not without you bitching about it," Sparks shot back before fading away.

Honchkrow, River thought, that's all of them. Luxray, Jynx, Dugtrio and Honchkrow. She wondered what the others would think if they saw her now, struggling with a Luxray, Jynx, Dugtrio and Honchkrow. Edge would laugh at a group like that and Tempest would likely blast through all of them on her own. Maybe her instincts really were starting to fade. She should've left Cashmere in. She should've made sure to defeat the Luxray and let Teardrop wash away the rest.

But how could she have known what was waiting for her? She couldn't blame herself for not knowing what was coming. She couldn't predict the future. The decisions she made were not ones that she regretted. At the time she made them, she had used everything she knew to make the right choice. And there was still a way to win.

River closed her eyes and smiled to herself. After all of these years, Pokémon could still teach her about herself.

"Will-o-Wisp," she ordered.

"Nasty Plot," Cara smirked. This would be her chance. If Ebony could strengthen herself enough, then she could wipe out the rest of RiverofTears' team all on her own. And a Chandelure weakened by the rain was the perfect opponent to begin with.

Undaunted by his opponent's advantage, Luminous hastily obeyed his trainer's order. The three flames on his head and shoulders drifted down to gather into a small, bluish fireball in his hands. The small flame hissed in the rain, but showed no signs of going out. He blew a small puff of air at the back of it, sending it whirling and spiraling through the air towards the Honchkrow-woman.

Ebony had plenty of time to watch the ghostly butler and study his weaknesses and sharpen her mind for her next move. She didn't worry about the tiny, slow-moving flame at all until it was within a few yards. Just before it reached her, she shot skyward to dodge it. She turned back, expecting to see it drifting lazily beyond her, but instead, the ghost-flame had picked up speed and was coming straight for her. It caught her left leg, badly searing it, even as the rain came down around her. She cursed under her breath at the wave of pain coming from her leg, but it faded after a moment.

"Alright, then," Cara hoped one Nasty Plot would be enough, "Dark Pulse."

"Hex."

Luminous smirked. In a moment, the calm, polite butler's passive expression became a devilish grin that horrified Ebony. She had nowhere to run as the burn mark on her leg began to give off a deep, violet light. Even with her natural resistance to ghost-type attacks, Ebony screamed at the pain, barely able to keep herself in the air.

But somehow she managed and began to gather her own dark energy for a counterattack. She flapped her wings forward as hard as she could. The movement sent out a shockwave of energy that was as black as her wings. It washed over the human Chandelure a moment later and Ebony breathed deeply as he sank to one knee and then collapsed entirely. The power boost from her Nasty Plot had been far too much for it to handle.

"Three…" Cara breathed a sigh of relief. Half of RiverofTears' team was down. However, she was far from safe. Ebony and Sparks were both badly hurt. It was about time for the Milotic to come back out, as well. She never expected the Chandelure to be capable of hurting Ebony that much. It was incredibly dangerous to underestimate RiverofTears.

"Teardrop!"

And there it was. Now what would it do? No matter what Cara did, she would be taking a massive gamble. Ebony could recover her wounds with Roost, attack with Dark Pulse again, or try a Sucker Punch. With her burn, the Sucker Punch probably wouldn't succeed. That left Cara with Roost and Dark Pulse.

And what would RiverofTears do? Would she have Teardrop Recover or attack? She had no idea. She took a gamble.

"Roost!"

"Recover!"

The two Pokémon-women squared off as the exchange passed peacefully and the two recovered from their wounds. Ebony landed gently on the ground to rest her tired wings while Teardrop sparkled with a faint light and healed her injuries. But the peace only lasted a moment.

"Dark Pulse!"

"Ice Beam!"

As both trainers predicted, it was Teardrop that moved first. She took a deep breath before spraying the jet of super-cooled water at her opponent. It streaked through the air, turning drops of falling rain into ice and snow. The blast hit Ebony's right wing as she took to the air again. The chilling cold made her yell out, but she just barely managed to keep to the air.

She retaliated by flapping her wings in unison towards her opponent. The Dark Pulse washed over the Milotic-woman, doing severe damage. But Cara could tell it wasn't enough.

"Dammit…" her heart sank. She and Ebony had one more chance.

"Surf!"

"Sucker Punch!"

The column of water rose quickly, but Ebony's Sucker Punch was quicker. She flashed across the field, struggling to ignore the chilling pain in her wing and the searing burn in her leg. She struck Teardrop once in her pretty face, making her drop to one knee and spit up a mouthful of blood. But that was the best the Honchkrow-woman could do.

The column of water crashed down around her, leaving Teardrop entirely untouched. She tried flapping her wings to get out of it, but beneath the foam and surging water, she couldn't tell which end was up. The wave bashed her body as it tossed her end over end, finally dropping her back at the opposite end of the field.

Ebony didn't bother getting up. In fact, she was all too happy to go back to sleep.

"Dammit…" Cara muttered. It was worth a shot. But this was the end of the line for her. Even if Sparks was quick enough to outrun Teardrop, he'd never win the match in his condition.

Still, in a four-on-six match she came away with three victories against one of the strongest trainers in the whole world. Half of RiverofTears' team had fallen to Cara. She could've done a lot worse. Besides, it was fun while it lasted.

The band that gave RiverofTears a run for her money…not bad.

"Is she going to go down this time?" Sparks groaned. He was sick of attacking the wrong opponent.

"If you're quicker, sure," Cara shrugged.

"That's not very reassuring," Sparks looked back over his shoulder.

"We got half of her team," Cara smiled, "I think I'm pretty happy with that."

"Three that I didn't get," Sparks grumbled, "whatever. Let's do this."

The Luxray again. River was out of options, but even with two human Pokémon that were weak against electricity, she would win. Luxray's Wild Charge was a dangerous attack. It hurt the user as well as the target. Even if he hit Teardrop, the attack would finish off the weakened Sparks, as well. Whether Teardrop was still standing or not, this would be the last exchange.

"Wild Charge!"

"Surf!"

With the orders in, the human Pokémon set to work. Both were weak and exhausted. They moved a bit slower than they should be. The column of water rose and Sparks' electricity crackled around him. But before he was close enough to finish his charge, the water came crashing down onto the electric-type.

"Crap…" he muttered.

The ground was so muddy, Cara could feel it trying to suck her shoes right off of her feet. Whoever cleaned this up between matches had their work cut out for them after three Surf attacks. She grinned widely at the pretty woman that had ordered it as the two met in the center of the field.

Cara didn't feel as frumpy and awkward in front of her anymore. River's hair was just as ratty and matted as her own after their match in the rain. Surprisingly, rather than shake her hand, the other girl threw her arms around Cara and hugged her.

"I'm sorry about earlier," she apologized.

"Umm…no problem…" Cara hesitated, "are you sure you're okay?"

"Better than I've felt in years," River told her as the hug ended, "by the way, what's your name? I never asked."

"Cara."

"Well, Cara, I'm Rachel," she told her, "but call me River."

"Okay…" Cara nodded, "sounds good." She wondered how many other human Pokémon trainers knew RiverofTears' real name. "We should do this again, sometime," she added.

At this, River took a step back.

"Sorry…" she shook her head, "this was fun, but…I think this will be one of my last. I'm…retiring."

"Oh…" Cara nodded. She was torn between saying "so am I" and "sorry to hear that."

"This was fun, though," River repeated, "thank you so much."

"Anytime," Cara nodded.

The two trainers parted ways on the field, heading towards their own separate lives, once more.

As she went, River wondered if there was a way that things could be different. If she had made a different choice, walked down a different path, would she be happier? Would she have this and everything she earned for herself together? Somehow she thought not.

Maybe that was what growing up really was. Realizing that life is too short to chase after every dream and being strong enough to live with the path you chose.

She wondered about the others. What were Edge and Sky doing right then? What path did they choose through life? Did they wonder about her, as well?

Briar probably knew the answer to that. All River needed to do was ask her.

Then again…she was still feeling young and stupid. It would be more fun to be surprised.

She hoped that they would come see her soon.

AN: poor Sparks always gets the short end of the stick. He was the only one that didn't get one of RiverofTears'…

So…I still didn't do very much editing on old chapters…i'm being very lazy for that. Not sure why, since i do enjoy re-reading old chapters to see how much I've improved and I have a tendency to rewrite things a little bit whenever I go back over something I've written.

It's not a big deal, it just bugs me 'cause I said I'd do it and I haven't…maybe over the weekend a bit, once I've finally gotten 100 rare candies again…god, that takes forever…

Anyways, I guess that's it, for right now. See you again on Sunday

Thanks for reading!