I really am trying to keep up with this every other week updating schedule that I planned out, I promise. Things have been really hectic lately. My grandpa passed away this past week, and I've been really out of it since then. I've had this chapter half written since my last update, but I lacked the motivation to finish it. Until now, that is.

So my updates may or may not be a bit inconsistent for a while as my family plans the funeral and such.

Maybe I'm overthinking this.

Meh, when I update it, you'll know.

black angel's wing does not have anything to do with owning the pokémon franchise. All she does is play the games. And watch the show. And write this story. Cora's hers, and that is it.

Chapter Six

"Alright Pikachu, let's go!"

I smirked. How predictable. I shrugged Ralts off my shoulder, nodding at the grassy field between Ash and myself.

"You're up, buttercup. Let's show 'em a thing or two."

A determined cry escaped his lips as he tumbled gracefully to stand in front of me. I saw him take a deep breath and position his hands together in front of his face. I slid my pokédex out of my pocket and clicked it open.

On the screen I saw Ralts and his different moves, along with his ability, Trace. I waited a few more seconds, and the letters suddenly shifted. I grinned, slipping the pearly white device back into my pocket. Static was Pikachu's ability then. I wonder what I can do with that...

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

I chuckled softly and spoke swiftly, throwing my right arm to the side as I called out my counter.

"Use Psychic to deflect it!"

The beam of yellow electricity that had come from the little yellow mouse veered of to the left at an odd angle, striking the ground several feet away from my pokémon. He stood with his left arm outstretched, the smirk on his face matching mine.

"Our turn," I murmured. "Shadow Ball!"

The previously warm temperature dropped around us, and Ralts began gathering the dark energy in his tiny hands. It wasn't long before he held a large ball of it, the purple and black colors pulsating within it.

"Get in there with Quick Attack before it can fire!"

Did Ash think that Shadow Ball needed time to charge? I tilted my head to the side, curious. He was about to find out how wrong he was.

"Ralts," I spoke calmly. Pikachu was getting closer, becoming a blur as he bolted across the field. "Aim at the ground in front of it."

He complied without hesitation, slinging the ball in the direction of the other pokémon. Pikachu didn't have time to dodge, and was thrown into the air by the force of Ralts' attack on the ground.

"Magical Leaf," I commanded shortly. It would be interesting to see if Ash could get himself out of this.

Said trainer grit his teeth at the sight of the enchanted leaves headed toward his airborne partner. "Use Iron Tail to send them back!"

Send them back? That was a new one.

Pikachu's tail glowed as it batted away the attack, however, only one of the leaves actually headed back toward Ralts. He sidestepped it easily. Well, it had been a good idea.

Pikachu was now falling steadily back towards the earth, and I placed a hand on my hip.

"Bring it down hard with Psychic."

Ralts held up his hands, and Pikachu became encased in a shimmery blue light. My partner brought his hands down fast, smacking the dirt as he did. The pokémon under his control did the same, and Ash cried out as a Pikachu slammed into the ground in a cloud of dust.

Ralts released his control and crossed his arms with a firm nod.

"I have a feeling we aren't quite done yet," I cautioned my confident friend. He glanced up at me, his red eyes rolling. Regardless, he shifted back into a battle stance.

The dust was settling, and a shaky Pikachu climbed out of the small crater his impact had left. Oops.

Electricity coursed through its cheeks, and a stormy look entered its eyes. It was angry, and with an order from Ash, launched itself into a Volt Tackle.

I narrowed my eyes. I knew the effects of Volt Tackle. Ralts had also traced Static. But do I risk..?

"Dodge it, Ralts!" I decided. The odds of Pikachu actually becoming paralyzed as an effect of Static were slim, and the rewards didn't outweigh the risks at the moment. Maybe some other time.

Ralts jumped sideways at the last second, and was almost out of harm's way when Pikachu swung it's tail around and struck his leg, knocking him to the ground.

He rolled for a few feet before pushing himself up and glaring at his opponent. Pikachu shuddered, not from the heated stare, but from the jolt of blue power that surged through him as a result of Volt Tackle.

Ash and I stared each other down, our pokémon circling each other slowly, awaiting a command. Part of me thought I knew what his plan of attack was, and I decided to let him play his cards first. When Ash clenched a fist, my shoulders tensed up, wondering what his move would be and if I had read him right.

"Pikachu, Quick Attack!"

I nodded. I had assumed as much, and was calling out my counter before Pikachu could start moving.

"Alright, spin and use Magical Leaf!"

It was a Contest move that we had been working on for a while, and I could see Ralts's smile from across the field. What better time to practice than now? Raising his hands, various scattered leaves became surrounded by a multitude of colorful, glimmering lights. Ralts began to spin in place, and the objects under his control followed. A tornado had formed, my pokémon at the center.

Pikachu, however, had been caught in the wrath of the storm, and was getting pelted by the flurry of sharp leaves. Unable to defend itself, it was subject to this torment until Ralts' attack subsided.

Several long moments later, it did. The mouse pokémon shook itself off and stood, wearily eyeing Ralts. He smirked back.

"Alright Ralts, Shadow Ball, one more time," I commanded. Pikachu was nearing the end of its rope, I could tell that by the way it was standing. That collision with the ground must have taken a lot more out of it than I thought.

The exhausted pokémon didn't have the energy to dodge like Ash had called, and the Shadow Ball struck it directly in the chest, knocking it back several feet. It lay there, still, for a few tense seconds before Brock, our referee, made the announcement.

"Pikachu is unable to battle. Ralts is the winner!"

Ralts jumped up and punched the air, thrilled with his victory. He pranced back over to me and tugged on my boot's lace. Grinning back, I knelt down and stroked his head.

"Yes, I saw Ralts," I humored him. "You did really well. I take it you like that move? Spinning Magical Leaf?"

"Ral Ralts!" he nodded enthusiastically.

"Perfect. We'll see if we can't combine that with something else later on."

I glanced back up at the battlefield. Ash had handed Pikachu over to Dawn, who had taken a break from training Piplup to watch the match. The penguin pokémon was sitting by her side, watching us a bit absently.

"Aipom, I choose you!" Ashe called out, releasing a pokéball.

Ralts looked back up to me with pleading eyes. I closed my own, shaking my head.

"Not this time, Ralts. It's someone else's turn." I pulled a small pokéball from its place in my belt and enlarged it. Ralts sat in the grass next to me with a huff. Grinning I tossed the ball onto the field. "Come on out, Willow!"

From the blue light burst my grass type. She stood tall and proud, just the way I advised her to be. Grinning at the Turtwig, I turned to face Ash again. It was my turn for the first move.

"Alright Willow," I called, "let's start with a Tackle attack!"

I doubted it would do much damage if it landed, but I wanted to see how her speed compared to the Aipom.

"Dodge it!" cried Ash as Willow neared the pair. Using the hand on its tail, the purple monkey pushed itself into the air, gracefully avoiding my pokémon's attack. Willow skidded to a stop, turning to glare at her opponent.

Ash balled a hand into a fist and smiled thinly. "Swift, Aipom!" he called out.

"Counter with Razor Leaf!" Experience let me know what would happen, so I thought about my next move. Synthesis wouldn't do anything but waste precious time; Willow hadn't taken any damage yet. I glanced up as the two attacks collided in a shower of sparks. That left me with Razor Leaf and Tackle. Great.

"Okay, Focus Punch!" Ash decided when he ripped his attention away from the gorgeous spectacle.

"Again, Willow, Razor Leaf!" I was hoping she could fire it fast enough to cancel out the Focus Punch before it charged the whole way. I wasn't disappointed.

The little monkey was pushed back several paces, and the glowing fist on its tail returned to its normal peachy color. It narrowed its eyes at my pokémon, chattering softly to itself as it shook its tense arms. Willow tossed her head in a flippant response.

"Double Team!"

I groaned as Aipom copied itself at its trainer's word. Defending Double Team was a pain in the butt if not trained specifically for the slight differences in the fakes, which described Willow at the moment. She was frantically spinning in a circle, trying to keep track of the slowly advancing Aipoms.

I took a deep breath. "Relax Willow!" She turned to me with wild eyes. I nodded to her, hoping that the look on my face was reassuring.

"Now, use Swift!"

I glared at Ash's confident smirk. The copies suddenly vanished, and the real Aipom revealed itself off to Willow's left. The stars that shot forth from the pokémon's tail collided with her side, knocking her down, and she landed on the ground harshly.

She stood shakily after a few moments. I felt my teeth clench together harder than before. What to do...

"Okay then, use Tackle!" I called out. The two were standing pretty close together, maybe she had a chance of landing another solid hit before I had to think about using Synthesis.

The plan worked, and Aipom cried out as Willow's head connected with its stomach. The force of the hit was carrying the pair through the air, and I could hear Ash call out to his pokémon.

"You just hang in there, Aipom! Use Focus Punch!"

My eyes widened when I saw the attack beginning to form. I balled my hands into fists. Why had I not seen this coming?

"Willow, you've got to get out of there!" I'm not sure how much damage this attack would do to my already tired Turtwig, and I could see the fire in Aipom's eyes as it swung it's tail toward Willow's head. It was angry, and it was swinging hard and fast.

"Cora's Turtwig is unable to battle," Brock decided after seeing my fainted pokémon. "Aipom is the winner!"

Sighing, I pulled out Willow's pokéball. Ralts reclaimed his usual spot on my shoulder, patting my head once he was situated.

"Willow, return." The red beam shot out and pulled her back for a break. "You did really well for your first battle. I'm proud of you," I praised softly. The capsule shook softly in my hand as a response.

Shrinking it back down, I replaced the pokéball in the pouch in my backpack before walking over to a celebrating Ash.

"Don't look to pleased with yourself," I chided as I drew near. "Ralts still beat Pikachu, remember?"

The boy grinned cheekily and scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, I know, I'm just happy that we tied."

I gave a shallow bow, smiling gently. "It was a fun battle," I admitted with a shrug, "and I learned a lot about Willow's style from it."

"And I learned a lot about you. Your style is sorta similar to Nando's," Ash commented as we started moving towards Dawn and Brock.

Was my style really that close to Nando? It would make sense, with the two of us warring over Contests and Gym Battles, to have styles that combined the two. Thinking back, I recalled Ralts's move with Magical Leaf, and purposely countering Swift with Willow's Razor Leaf to create that shower of sparks. Both things I had picked up from various Contests.

"I guess we do," I allowed after a moment's thought. Dawn nodded enthusiastically.

"Parts of your battle reminded me of the Contest Battles I've seen on TV! Are you sure you aren't a Coordinator?"

She had said it somewhat sarcastically, and I laughed nervously along with the others. My hand found it's way to the back of my neck. Do I tell them now?

"Ah, well, I actually am."

My mouth moved on its own when my mind couldn't decide, and I peered up through my eyelashes to see three startled faces.

"You're kidding, right?" Brock was the first to speak. When I shook my head, he ran a hand through his unruly brown hair, speechless.

"Wow Cora, why didn't you tell us that before?" Ash's tone was unusually low, and I played with the end of my braid, content with being mute.

"The next thing you know, she's gonna tell us that she's looking to compete in the Sinnoh League too," Dawn chimed in, hands on her hips. Ooh, she was not happy with me.

I shrunk in on myself a bit more. "Don't say it like that," I muttered. "It's not like it's the end of the world."

"But you could have told us sooner!" Ash exploded. Oh gosh, I had not anticipated this reaction from him. "We could have been training all this time if I had known!"

"This makes us rivals then, since we're competing for the same titles," gasped Dawn as the realization struck her. Her hand moved to cup her chin, and she held her elbow with her other as she sank into her thoughts.

"Is there anything you don't do?" Brock was the only decently one handling this situation relatively calmly, and I took an unintentional step towards him. However, I didn't answer his question. It seemed pretty rhetorical, and I feel it didn't warrant a response.

Instead, I reached into my backpack and pulled out two cases; one with a red and black swirled design, the other with changing shades of blue in alternating triangles. The former was my badge case, which I opened, then handed to Ash. The other, my ribbon case, I set in Dawn's hands.

They stared at the contents with wide eyes for a while. Brock, curious, moved to peek over their shoulders at my accomplishments. He whistled, nodding his approval.

"Three badges already, huh? That's pretty impressive." My cheeks heated up at the praise, and I kicked at the dirt. Ralts poked the side of my face, and I tossed him an unamused glance before returning my attention to the people in front of me.

"Aw man," Dawn was whining, "I'm two ribbons behind you."

I bit my lip. "I'm sure it won't be a problem for you to make up that distance, especially with the progress you've made in the past few days." With a bit of Brock's help, Dawn had successfully taught Piplup how to use the move Whirlpool.

She was glowing at the comment, and I gently took my ribbon case back from her. Ash had a thoughtful expression on his fave when he gave me back my badges, and Pikachu chattered lightly in his ear. The boy nodded absently a this pokémon. I narrowed my eyes. Were they talking to each other?

I replaced my cases back in their spots in my backpack and turned to the boy from Pallet Town once more.

"So I'll be challenging the Oreburgh Gym with you," I nodded sideways at Dawn then, "as well as the Jubilide Contest with you."

They both nodded intensely, their eyes burning with a newly lit fire.

"So that means a lot more practice battles," Brock commented drily. "Great."

It took them nearly an hour to accept the fact that I had hid such a big secret from them. I mean, they would have found out eventually, right?

We had just started packing up from our impromptu lunch break when a Buneary hopped out of the brush nearby. It blinked at us twice, it's ears scrunching up and unfurling slowly as it sized us up. Suddenly, it darted away, disappearing deeper into the forest.

"Oh wow," Dawn exclaimed as she rose to her feet. "A Buneary! I've just got to catch it!" She was on her feet and after it before the rest of us could say a thing.

Pikachu was actually the first to go after her. Ash glanced at Brock, who was still packing up all of our supplies, and the two boys met eyes. The one from Pallet Town was about to take off when Brock reached out and grabbed the back of his jacket.

"Oh no, I need your help cleaning up."

"But Brock!" Ash complained, turning to face his friend.

"Don't worry Ash," I called, already jogging out of the little clearing we had stopped in. "I'll go after them."

How he got stuck cleaning up I have no idea, but I didn't question it. I slowed to a walk, peering through the thick foliage, searching for Dawn and Pikachu. Ralts hopped down from my shoulder and scampered a few feet ahead of me, conducting his own search.

A flash of blue caught my attention, and I stopped in my tracks,

searching for the source. A pair of golden eyes blinked at me in the darkness of the shadows before disappearing, melting back into the landscape.

I shook my head and continued scanning the rest of the forest.

It wasn't long after the slight interruption that I saw a bolt of electricity pierce the air above the trees, along with the now familiar cry of a certain little yellow pokémon.

"Well there's Pikachu," I mused. Picking up my pace, I headed in that direction, Ralts at my heels. I was getting more nervous with every step I took. "What could he be attacking?"

Ralts was tense, an unusual bounce in his step was my first clue. He was anxious to know the answer as well. The electric attacks had stopped. Whatever it was, Pikachu wasn't attacking anymore, and that made me more wary than before.

Finally breaking out into a run, I came across a small break in the trees. Goodness, how many clearing a were in this forest anyways?

The strangest sense of déjà vu overtook me the moment I stepped into the clearing. A robot with huge, red claw-like arms stood before me, Pikachu in a small glassy ball attacked to the outside of the machine. What I guessed was the Buneary from before was in a similar prison as well, and both pokémon were pounding on the glass, looking for an escape.

Ralts had already slid off of my shoulder, and was standing angrily in front of me.

"Hey!" I shouted up at the people inside the robot. A glass panel was situated near the top of the contraption, and through it I could see the three members of Team Rocket. "Those pokémon don't belong to you!"

"Not like that ever stopped us before, twerpette," came the man's sly voice from a speaker somewhere.

"See, what's mine is mine, and what's yours is too!" the woman, Jessie, chimed in.

I rolled my eyes. Pikachu wasn't mine either. Holding my tongue and the trio laughed, I analyzed the situation.

Three pokémon thieves, two trapped pokémon, one huge robot. I glanced down at Ralts, then back up to the giant thing in front of me. This would be interesting.

Thankfully, I didn't have to actually attack. Dawn, Ash, and Brock came crashing through the trees at that moment, distracting everyone.

"Oh no, how did the get both of them?" Dawn fretted, a hand moving to cover her mouth.

"It doesn't matter," Ash decided, "because I'm getting them back."

From the corner of my eye, I could see one of the red claws twitch ever so slightly as Ash made a move forward. He was running at the robot when that arm shot out at him.

I gasped, and launched myself at the boy's back. We hit hard, landing roughly on the ground. The arm swiped just over our heads, snapping at air before retreating. I grabbed Ash's hand and pulled him out of its reach.

"Are you insane?" I shouted once my heart started beating again. "We have to think about this first! We can't just dive in head first and hope for the best!"

Ash's cheeks lit up in anger. "It's always worked for us before!"

"Hope is not a strategy, Ash!" I rapped none too gently on his head with my fist. "Use what you have up here to figure something out. You can't just expect everything to magically work out in your favor all the time."

He huffed and turned away from me, arms folded tightly across his chest. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I hadn't meant to loose my cool, but adrenaline was still coursing through my veins and I reacted without thinking. Just breathe, Cora.

One... Two...

I vaguely heard Ash call out for Pikachh to use Iron Tail.

Three... Four...

The sound of glass breaking.

Five... Six... Seven...

Engines revving to life. Startled gasps from all round me.

Eight... Nine... Ten.

I opened my eyes to the sight of Pikachu and Buneary attacking opposite parts of the robot, Thunderbolt and Ice Beam respectively. A small explosion rocked the metal contraption, and they moved quickly to the ledge, looking off with apprehension.

Wait, since when could that thing fly?

The top portion of the machine had lifted off of the base, and was climbing higher and higher into the sky. Actually, I'm not sure how I missed that small detail. The sound of the engines were loud in my ears; I could barely hear Ash yelling for the pokémon to jump, and he was only a few feet away from me.

"Ralts," I called over the noise. He heard me somehow, and tilted his head curiously. "Do you think you can use Psychic to catch them?" I felt bad asking so much out of him, especially since he had been in an tight battle only an hour earlier, but I felt the need to help out Ash and that wild Buneary in whatever way I could.

He nodded somewhat wearily, and turned back to the rocket high above our heads. Pikachu and Buneary had just made the leap, and were now falling through the air, still holding hands.

A flickering blue light surrounded them weakly, and the pace at which the were returning to the earth slowed to a gentle free fall. I could see Ralts's hands up in my peripheral vision. They were shaking slightly, a sign of how tired he truly was. The poor thing needed a break from everything for a while.

His concentration finally broke, but Pikachu was close enough to the ground that Ash didn't have a problem catching it. The Buneary ended up in Dawn's arms, and was cuddling up to her face, cooing and grinning.

Team Rocket, on the other hand, had somehow managed to get away. There was absolutely no sign of them left in the little clearing.

I sighed, content for the moment, and scooped up my exhausted pokémon from where he had sat down hard on the ground after his control broke. He looked up at me with a tired smile and cuddled into the crook of my elbow.

I took a few steps to my left to nudge Brock with my shoulder. He had been quiet during the whole exchange, and raised his eyebrows at me. I grinned cheekily and sidestepped his elbow as he tried to nudge me back.

Dawn and Piplup had decided to try and catch the wild Buneary, and were now battling it in front of us. Ash sat on the ground off to the right of us, Pikachu curled up in his lap.

A soft snore from Ralts brought my attention back to the slumbering pokémon in my arms. Brock smiled slightly at the sight of him, and he spoke in a hushed tone when he addressed me.

"I didn't know you could yell like that," was his soft musing. He had his arms crossed now, and I could feel his questioning eyes on my face. He was probably referring to my short little shouting match with Ash.

I stared at him blankly for a moment before turning back to the battle. Piplup had just landed an attack, and the little bunny was knocked back several paces. The girl whipped out an empty pokéball and enlarged it.

"There's a lot you don't know about me," I finally answered, my tone quiet.

Dawn had thrown the capsule, and it was shaking on the ground, Buneary inside. We all waited for the familiar click that signified a successful capture, and she started dancing with Piplup when it happened after about a half minute of anticipation.

I walked up behind her to congratulate her first catch, leaving Brock to his thoughts. She had taken the little red and white ball in her hands, and was staring at it with wide eyes.

Ash had joined us, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Congrats on your pokémon, Dawn!"

I nodded along with him. "It's a lot of fun, having a bunch of pokémon to train and be friends with."

Brock snuck up behind us and stole Dawn's attention, offering his own congratulations and advice. I shifted Ralts's weight over to one arm and tapped Ash's shoulder with my free hand.

He looked over at me curiously, and I gave a sheepish half grin. "I'm sorry I yelled at you before, I was all worked up because of what was happening and I-" He cut me off with a wide smile.

"Hey, Cora, it's fine! I'm sorry for not thinking my plan through and making you worry."

I scoffed, trying to cover up the rising heat in my cheeks. "I-I wasn't worried. I was just," I faltered, scrambling for an excuse. "I was just testing your ability to be a pillow, is all."

Did I really just..?

Ash rolled his eyes and shook his head. "O-okay then Cora, whatever you say."

Brock interrupted us then. "Why don't we get back on track towards Jubilife City. Dawn and Cora's Contest is going to be coming up really soon, and we want to make sure we're in town by then."

I glanced at the sun. It hung low in the sky, just over the tops of the trees.

"I think we can be there by tomorrow," I guessed. Based on how much farther we had to go, and how much time was left today, it was a pretty safe thing to say.

"Oh my gosh, I can't wait to enter!" squealed Dawn. "My debut as a Coordinator. I'm so excited!"

I closed my eyes and chuckled along with Ash and Brock. I made eye contact with the latter and nodded at him.

"Lead the way, Brock-o!"

He stared at me, and Dawn giggled.

"Brock-o?"

So much glaring during pokémon battles. Ugh.

Why was this chapter so long. I don't understand.

So yeah, y'all got to see Cora battle in this here chapter. Fun stuff, right? And oh my gosh, she told them her secret! I was thinking about holding off on them finding out, but dramatic irony is not a favorite thing of mine. Well, I just don't like writing it. I get impatient.

Up next: Jubilife City! Finally

Bonus points to whoever thinks they can guess is following them around!

Lots of love! -black angel's wing