Chapter 7: Double Visions

Disclaimer: Maecenas is finally back! And, as luck would have it, I still own nothing but Maecenas, Mycroft and the plotline. Here goes!

With an almighty crash that drowned out even the music, the wave broke, sending a jet of spray high into the air and blocking Alex's view of the battlefield.

"Rose!" she cried out in a panic, looking frantically around for any sign of what was happening beneath the raging torrent. Could this be over already? As the water went down, though, she saw her Pokemon still standing, looking a bit rattled, but its face set in a determined mask. Apparently it had managed to leap out of the way just before the bulk of the wave had hit, and had suffered little more than a mild soaking.

Alex sighed in relief and ran a hand through her hair. "All right, now try a Giga Drain!"

The two flower bunches on Rose's hands glowed with a sparking, bright green light, and with a sweep of its arms it seemed to remotely wrench a stream of similarly-colored energy from Xavier's Milotic, which reeled backwards as it was hit by the super-effective Grass-type attack. The drained energy flew across the courtyard back to Rose, who absorbed it in a bust of light and instantly looked healthier and more alert.

Well, that was one successful attack she'd pulled off, Alex told herself with satisfaction. The only reason that it had worked, though, was that she had told Rose to launch the attack right after the surf had hit, before Xavier had had time to launch a counterattack. How could she pull that off again?

Xavier Battles with rhythm, Alex told herself. He always launches attacks in time to the music that he plays. How can I turn that against him?

Listening carefully to the song, Alex heard the steel drums again beginning to build into the refrain, suddenly, an idea came to her.

"All right, Milotic, now try a"--

Xavier was interrupted by Alex, who shouted, "Now, Rose! Get out there and launch Petal Dance from a distance!"

By the time the sea serpent launched another powerful, perfectly timed attack-- a Dragon Pulse this time, as it turned out – Rose had already leapt into action, leaping and dodging around the edges of the courtyard and battering its opponent with a constant volley of flower petals, which swirled around the Milotic like an herbaceous tornado. Milotic tried to launch more Dragon Pulses, but they were all blown back by the Petal Dance and crashed into the concrete, sending chips of cement flying.

Then, suddenly, the plan seemed to go awry. Rose danced perhaps half a step too close to Milotic, whose tail instantly lashed out with the force of a whip, slamming into the much smaller Roserade in a direct hit and sending it flying into the air. Rose hit the side of a building with a nasty thud--which perfectly coincided with a high note in Xavier's music--and slowly slid to the ground.

"Oh, no! Rose, are you all right?" Alex called. Her Pokemon rose unsteadily to its feet, still conscious but looking heavily winded. Xavier saw his opportunity and seized it.

"Finish it off! Another Aqua Tail!" His Milotic was quick to comply, and Rose was again sent skidding across the pavement.

The two Pokemon took their positions and stared each other down, both looking heavily injured from the intense fight. It was clear, though, that the Milotic was in better shape by far. Despite being bruised, scratched, and plastered with flower petals, it still stood at regal attention, its scales sparkling and its beautiful magenta eyes glinting with boundless depth.

Then, suddenly, those eyes clouded over and the Pokemon toppled, hitting the ground full-length with a crash and raising billows of dust from all sides. The last guitar chords wailed off into the distance, and for a moment a stunned silence hung in the air.

Both Trainers gave cries of shock at the surprise knockout. A stunned-looking Xavier ran over to his Pokemon and recalled it, muttering, "Wha … How… How did you … How … No way!?! …"

Rose got shakily to its feet and grinned slyly, and the answer came to Alex in a second.

"It was Roserade's Poison Point," she explained. "When Milotic threw Rose into the building, it must have been hit with one of her thorns. Then during the face-off, the poison was sapping all of Milotic's energy. It didn't last long after that."

She gave Xavier her prettiest smile. "I did warn you not to underestimate me – if you do, you just might be taken down before you know what's happening!"

Of course,I didn't see that coming either, but never mind, she added to herself. Best to keep him guessing.

"Aaargh, lucky," Xavier grumbled. "I never could've pulled that off, no matter how hard I tried!"

Then he seemed to catch himself, and regaining his usual confident tone, said, "Well, you may have gotten lucky one time, but that's the end of it. From here on, this battle is all mine!"

Alex winced, knowing that, for all his self-assured banter, Xavier was right. She had been totally overwhelmed by Xavier's rhythm and power before Rose's Poison Point had given her a lucky break. What could she possibly do to turn the battle around?

"All right, let's go!" shouted Xavier, shattering her reverie. His next Pokemon, an Umbreon, appeared in a blaze of light and sat at attention, swishing its tail hypnotically. A new song began on Xavier's radio, a sly, sneaky jazz tune with plenty of saxophones and snare drums that fit the Umbreon perfectly.

Suddenly, Alex's eyes lit up as an idea came to her. She recalled Rose and grabbed a new Pokѐball off of the chain on her belt.

***

On the other end of the battlefield, Xavier was getting nervous. He'd thought he was getting the upper hand, but then this Alex girl had surprised him and knocked out his best Pokemon from out of nowhere. He'd have to be extra careful not to let his guard down in the future.

Looking up, he saw that his opponent, who had previously seemed to be racking her brain for a strategy, had now straightened up and recalled her Roserade, looking confident. Realizing that Alex must have arrived at a plan of some kind, Xavier tensed, waiting for her to send out her next Pokemon.

"Go, Kirls!" Alex shouted, and a Pokemon appeared in a flash of light.

A Kirlia.

Xavier burst out laughing. "You're using an underevolved Psychic-type against an Umbreon? Well, this should be an easy win!"

Alex shot him a look, then bent down and whispered at length to her Kirlia, who nodded excitedly. Xavier didn't like that at all, but he resolved to press whatever advantage he had for the moment.

"All right, Kirls! Let's go!" Alex shouted, just as Xavier called to his Umbreon, "Shadow Ball!"

The mahogany irises of the Kirlia's large, expressive eyes suddenly turned the intense, vivid electric blue of Psychic energy, and it leapt into an elegant ballet stance, spinning away on the points of its feet just as a huge ball of black and indigo energy from the Umbreon exploded on the ground right where it had been, sending concrete shrapnel clattering across the pavement.

Kirls spun and dove around the arena much as Rose had before, narrowly evading one Shadow Ball after another from Xavier's Umbreon, who was perfectly in sync to the music as usual. Although Kirlia's eyes were still glowing blue and it seemed to be concentrating intensely, at the moment whatever psychic power it was exerting didn't seem to be having an effect. Umbreon dashed after it relentlessly, growling.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the song on Xavier's radio switched off and was replaced with a dreamy waltz, which just as quickly gave way to a mariachi song that it was easy to picture a Ludicolo dancing to. Xavier's Umbreon skidded to a stop, confused, and Kirls leapt to the opposite end of a courtyard.

For what seemed like the hundredth time that day, Xavier was shocked. "How did you…" he muttered, fumbling for his radio. As he stared at the display, it again began cycling through different stations as though possessed. His palms sweating, Xavier tried to switch it back, but something prevented his hand from reaching the dial.

Realizing suddenly what was going on, Xavier glared at Kirls, who winked at him innocently before returning to psychically changing the stations. Finally it stopped at an intense metal song, too loud even for Xavier's liking, and danced back to its trainer.

Xavier frowned. This didn't seem like the kind of music that an elegant, delicate Kirlia would enjoy…

"Great job, Kirls. That was perfect," said Alex brightly, patting her Pokemon affectionately. The Kirlia took a theatrical bow as it returned to its Pokѐball.

Xavier, gritting his teeth, realized that Kirls had only been there to set up for another of Alex's Pokemon, one undoubtedly more suitable for taking on an Umbreon. He had fallen right into Alex's trap, and all he could do was watch as she sent out her next battler.

"Go, Aron!" shouted Alex, tossing a fresh Pokѐball into the air.

Xavier laughed weakly. "An Aron? Why wouldn't you…"

He was cut off as a gigantic, muscular Aggron exploded from the ball with a roar. Its sky-blue eyes regarded Umbreon, who was looking considerably shell-shocked, with amusement.

"I just liked the name, so I decided to keep it the same when he evolved," Alex explained. "All right, I hope you're ready. Because now we're doing this our way!"

***

"Oh my gosh! Selphy, you have to get over here right now!"

A somewhat annoyed Selphy Renton looked up from the book she'd been reading, sprawled comfortably on a sunny park bench in the park located behind Pokѐtopia Tower, to see who had spoken. It turned out to have been Candice Isra, a sixteen-year-old girl whom she'd chatted with briefly at the banquet the previous night. As before, Candice was dressed in an array of bright red clothing and was looking exceedingly excited.

Selphy sighed, but set down her book and stood up to face Candice. "What's going on?"

Candice's eyes sparkled. "Totally hot guy alert! Just follow me, all right?"

That got Selphy's attention quickly. She turned and ran after Candice, who had dashed off without waiting for her answer. The two of them sprinted across the Colosseum in the middle of the park—Selphy remembered that it was called Sunny Park Colosseum and would be used for the tournament—and wound up hiding behind one of the vast, ancient trees near it, regarding the teenager standing several yards away from them. He was tall and somewhat handsome, with unruly dark blue hair and a pair of goggles pushed up onto his forehead.

Candice whipped out what Selphy recognized as a P*DA, or Pokemon Digital Assistant, onto which she'd apparently downloaded the Trainer rankings from the computer board, and began scrolling through the text. "His name is Maikeru Tapang, I think. He's been in a couple tournaments before this, has a really cool Pokemon team—my gosh, he's really cute," she added with a spacey giggle.

"So, are you going to go over and introduce yourself to him?"

"What!?" said Selphy incredulously. "All this insanity was your idea, anyway. You go!"

"No, you first!"

"No way. You!"

Before the argument could progress any further, a blast of electricity erupted from nowhere, frying both girls in a direct hit. Shrieking, they were flung back into one of the Dive Ball-shaped fountains that dotted the park, only to be hit with an Ice Beam, which froze the water instantly and glued them to the spot. Maikeru glanced over to where the explosion had taken place with a look of alarm, not noticing Selphy and Candice struggling to free themselves a few yards off, and walked hurriedly away.

"What was all that about?" Selphy complained, scraping at the ice that bound her to both Candice and the fountain.

My apologies, said a deep, smooth male voice somewhere above them, a voice that was refined, but bursting with barely suppressed mischief. Selphy, who recognized the speaker instantly, whirled angrily to see her own Gengar floating in the air with her Wartortle standing on the ground beside it, both grinning.

"What could possibly induce you to attack me out of nowhere?" she grumbled, freeing herself from the ice with a frigid crunch and striding angrily over to her Pokemon.

Well, we have to stop all of this flirting of yours somehow, don't we? the Gengar reasoned. After we realized what was going on, Wartortle here decided that the time was ripe for a bit of a prank, and for once I agreed. We hadn't meant to involve the other girl, but I'm afraid I can't concentrate my Thunderbolt that specifically. Hopefully she'll forgive me.

Candice stared incredulously at Selphy. "Those two would go through all that just to stop you from saying hi to some guy?"

Her companion rolled her eyes. "Welcome to my world."
***

Lucianne Delaray walked briskly through the crowds on the second floor of the spacious and extravagant Pokѐtopia Five-Star Mall, her arms laden with shopping bags. Although she wasn't usually much of a shopping type, she had found the mall to be excellent and well-stocked, and in only a few minutes she had managed to stock up on all of the supplies she'd needed after her previous journey. Now she was ready to find a nice, deserted corner near the trainers' village and begin training her team for the competition.

As Luce headed for the exit, though, a familiar sight caught her eye. A tall, lanky Trainer with his long, dark hair tied into a ponytail was standing at one of the vending machines near the doors.

After the disaster at the banquet, Luce wasn't about to let Kane get away from her this time. Spinning around, she dashed over to him angrily, growling, "All right, you…"

"What?" The Trainer faced her, and Luce discovered to her embarrassment that it hadn't been Kane after all. The boy facing her appeared to be about Kane's age and height, but he wasn't as muscular and his eyes were a warm blue. He was holding a can of Lemonade in his hand and regarding her with a puzzled expression.

Luce went violently red. "Ohhh, sorry! I thought you were someone else!"

He chuckled. "Well, judging from your tone of voice, I should be glad not to be that someone else. I'm Nick Brooks."

He held out his hand, and Luce shook it gratefully. "So, I take it you're here for the tournament as well?"

"Right. My name is Lucianne Delaray. I'm from the Survival Area. Umm, did you just get here?"

Nick inclined his head in a nod. "Ordinarily I'd be out battling already, but I ran out of Pokemon food on the trip and I don't think my Blaziken would forgive me if I didn't feed it right away."

Luce was just glad he hadn't been around the previous day to witness her attacking the contestants at dinner. At least there would be one other Trainer in the tournament who didn't hate her from the outset.

"Well, Lucianne, it's good meeting you," said Nick with a smile. "I'll see you again soon, I'm sure." He walked off, pushed through the sliding doors of the mall and disappeared.

Luce watched him go. It was a relief to meet someone nice after the nightmare that was Kane.

She allowed a smile to creep onto her face. Maybe this tournament wouldn't be so bad after all.

***

Mycroft Williamson walked down Pokѐtopia Main Street in an eminently good mood. He had just left Pokѐtopia Outfitters, and he was now attired in a crisp, brand new suit made exactly to his specifications. After some consideration, he had decided to take Maecenas' advice and give his old suit to the Welzz as an appetizer. The Pokemon enjoyed attempting to eat his top hat at the best of times, and after months of travel his suit had been sun-baked and crusted with salt until it had achieved the consistency of a potato chip. After eagerly consuming nearly two thirds of the outfit, the Whiscash had passed out in sheer nirvana and been recalled to its Pokѐball. Mycroft's signature top hat, however, had been expertly restored, brushed, and polished, and was currently perched at an unusually rakish angle on his neatly combed blue-gray hair.

Mycroft strolled past restaurants and hotels, contentedly taking in the sights and sounds of the familiar city. The titanic Colosseum that stood in the middle of Main Street was deserted in preparation for the battles taking place there the next day, but it was the only island of silence in a sea of activity. Street vendors shouted out their wares—"Get yo' Max Revives here!"—tourists crowded the shops, impromptu Pokemon battles were constantly breaking out in the corners—Mycroft had to duck to avoid being hit with a wayward SolarBeam at one point—and in general, the city was filled with the kind of bustle and activity that Mycroft loved.

Turning off into a side street, Mycroft headed for the contestant's village with the idea of letting his team out for some exercise. As he caught a glimpse of the grassy fields and the ocean beyond between two buildings, he thought he saw some sort of struggle taking place in the distance.

Frowning, Mycroft strode through the alley and out into the sunlight, arriving just in time to see an enraged Infernape wrestling with a young boy.

Alarmed, Mycroft dashed over and surveyed the situation. As he looked closer, it didn't seem that the boy was in any danger—he and the Infernape seemed to be wrestling playfully over a plate of Lava Cookies, which lay neglected on the ground. Only Mycroft's gentlemanly training prevented him from grabbing one of the delicious cookies, but he instead cleared his throat to get the combatants' attention—rather loudly, in order to be heard over the sounds of the struggle.

The boy and Pokemon both looked up in surprise, and Mycroft noted that the boy was probably old enough to be the Infernape's trainer, although he couldn't have even been five feet tall. "Excuse me," Mycroft began, "do I remember you from the banquet last night?"

Disentangling himself from his Pokemon and rising to his feet, the other nodded. "Right. I'm Varacei Alger. Sorry about the commotion, Firebrawl here and I were just having a bit of friendly competition over the Lava Cookies."

"I could see that," said Mycroft with a laugh. "So, where are you from?"

"Lavaridge Town, actually, although I've been traveling around a lot. I got here on my shiny Metagross, Ragnarok."

Mycroft inclined an eyebrow, one of the skills he had perfected over the years. "Really? I own a shiny Metagross as well. Rather a coincidence, isn't it?"

Varacei looked interested. "Definitely. You know, we should have them battle each other some time—see which one is the stronger, that kind of thing."

"How about right now?" asked Mycroft, gesturing around him to the ocean-side cliff. "This would make a fine arena, and I'll admit that you have me curious. Three-on-three, starting with our Metagross, perhaps?"

"Sounds like all you guys need is a referee," said a voice to their left.

Mycroft looked over in that direction to see Ferk Ramalo make another unexpected appearance, grinning as he ran in from the outskirts of the city to join them. "I've gotta see this one, so how about I act as an unofficial judge? Don't worry; I've done this a million times back on the Islands."

Mycroft naturally felt some trepidation, but eventually shrugged. "Oh, very well. Shall we begin, then?"

He and Varacei took their positions on the field, both of them already looking focused and determined. Ferk began his spiel.

"This is gonna be a totally awesome battle between Mycroft Williamson and Varacei Alger. Both can use, like, three Pokemon, and substitute as they deem necessary. A'right, you dudes ready?"

Varacei nodded tersely, Mycroft merely groaned at Ferk's announcing style.

"Then let's GO!"

A Timer Ball and an ordinary Pokѐball exploded on the grass, and the two titanic, shiny Metagross faced each other. Mycroft's Pokemon was considerably more lithe and thin than Ragnarok, who was a tremendous and burly Pokemon covered with dents and scars, with metallic fangs jutting ominously from its mouth.

"Earthquake!" shouted Varacei instantly, just as Mycroft anticipated him and called, "Carnegie, Magnet Rise now!"

Glowing with electromagnetic violet light, Carnegie launched itself awkwardly into the air, narrowly escaping its adversary's attack. Ragnarok's Earthquake opened a tremendous fissure in the ground with a roar, sending chunks of earth flying into the air, which drummed against Carnegie's metal underside hollowly.

Mycroft nonchalantly adjusted his spectacles. Varacei might not look it, but he was an incredibly skilled Trainer, and he seemed to be in perfect sync with his Metagross. This would be a tough contest.

He allowed himself a smile. There was nothing he enjoyed better.

***

Welcome back at last! It's Maecenas here, back from wandering around the Distortion World, completely lost and looking for Cyrus and Giratina, to write another chapter.

First off, happy Halloween to those who celebrate such things! It's definitely going to be a raucous night around where I live, particularly if the clouds clear up enough to give us the requisite spooky moon.

I really apologize for taking so long with the new chapter. I don't really have an excuse this time, except that battle scenes take me forever to write. Hopefully you guys forgive me?

Well, this was part two of three of the practice battles, with the epic finale coming up as fast as I can write it. Alex vs. Markus still has to reach its conclusion, as does Xavier vs. Alex and now the entirety of Mycroft vs. Varacei. Looks like we have a long and intense Chapter 8 ahead of us!

Heh-heh, the little scene with Candice and Selphy was plenty of fun to write, but I had to close my eyes when I typed "he's sooo cute." I'm still a little horrified at myself…

The titles of the practice battle chapters so far—"Opposite Attraction" and "Double Visions"—have both had multiple meanings. Can anyone guess them all? I'm still trying to think of a good title for Part 3, one with sufficient clever obscurity.

Another bit of food for thought: This fan fiction is certainly taking up a lot of my time right now, but that doesn't mean I haven't considered some other projects! Which of these sounds the most interesting to you?

-A: Another Pokemon fan fiction, featuring Maecenas and the gang. Trust me; this is NOT the only Pokemon fan fiction I'll ever write.

-B: An original Percy Jackson and the Olympians-based fan fiction. For those who don't know the series, it's a somewhat Harry Potter-based series involving the concept that the Greek gods of Mount Olympus are now living in America—Mount Olympus is now above the Empire State Building, etc.—and the heroes are the demigods, their children with mortals. The first book in the series is currently being adapted for a movie. For my story, I'm thinking of something about a trio of demigods, the children of Athena (the guy WILL be something of a self-insert), Aphrodite (priceless humor potential, trust me. Kane times a thousand), and Apollo (no comment.) I have a lot of really good ideas for this.

-C: An original Sherlock Holmes story (I've already started it) that works kind of like the Hound of the Baskervilles without the hound. Entitled the Problem of Sherringford Manor.

-D: Trying to organize a forum on for the Lilycove Tournament canon-which includes this story-and all of its readers.

Well, those are some of the ideas buzzing around that fertile mind of mine these days. You guys let me know what you think! I'll probably at least attempt all of these at some point.

In the news lately, LastPrelude, Xavier Omnik's author, has started his own tournament story, the Final Game Tournament. It's a really neat piece of work, and I've submitted Maecenas. Go check it out if you haven't already!

And now for the character credits:

Mycroft-Yours Truly

Alex-nellchan0013

Xavier-LastPrelude

Candice-PokeStarr

Selphy-DevoTheMadCashCow

Maikeru-OnyxShade7 (at last, he's in! And he'll be back!)

Luce-Kyuuketsuki Fang

Nick-Supreme Kimchi

Varacei-Startix

Ferk-SilentlySnowing

Well, there we go! Hope you all enjoyed! Chapter 8 coming soon.

Maecenas out.