Ch. 16: Bryce vs. Stormie: The Buizel Showdown!

Haunter snarled at the Lucario, it was time to get serious about this battle. He covered his eyes with both claws as Stormie called out, "Night Shade!" He kept the claws on his eyes to keep the beams contained for as long as he could. When he put down his claws, the familiar black and violet beams shot out of his eyes, even larger than when he used them before as they raced towards the canid in a jagged trail.

"Catch it then Dark Pulse!"

"C-Catch it?" Stormie asked bewildered before he saw what the trainer meant. Her Lucario took his Aura Bone and spun it in front of him like a baton until the ends were nothing more than a blur. As the Night Shade approached, it caught the ghastly attack with the rapid spinning. When he finally stopped, she noticed that the bone was a mixture of pulsing black and violet as though it was corrupted by the Night Shade. He then held the bone out firmly in front of him, expelling the previous Night Shade into a wave of darkness directly at Haunter who was once again too surprised to react and went flying into a wooden pillar supporting the stage.

With a thud, Haunter hit the hard wood, arching his back in pain before he recovered and drifted back to the stage, eyeing the Lucario as it pushed both paws together to make the bone disappear. Stormie started to realize she was pausing between every attack, she usually expected her attacks to connect so this was different for her. As she looked up at the scoreboard, she realized while she had lost half of her points, Krystal still had all of hers and there was three minutes left on the clock. She grinded her teeth in frustration, Krystal always seemed to be a step ahead of her, she was the very definition of a strategist, but she knew that she'd have to make a move.

"Alright Haunter, we can do this!" She shouted to him, "Time to use Shadow Punch!"

With a malicious chuckle and a grim smile on his face, Haunter clenched his fist shut as his fist was enveloped in the same black and violet aura he used for his Night Shade. With the chuckle echoing throughout the stage, he vanished much to the surprise of the canid.

"Detect Lucario!"

This order couldn't have come at a better time. Lucario closed his eyes, his ears rising to sense the aura around him. A dim blue light surrounded him as he sensed everyone around him, to him, everything was outlined in blue. There was the girl in front of him, his loyal friend and trainer Krystal behind him, and there in the shadows on the top of the stage was the Haunter. As it came swooping down to hit him in the head, he ducked. "Don't stop Haunter!" The girl exclaimed as the Haunter continued its efforts, punching repeatedly at the pokemon, Lucario ducked and weaved around each and every one until he heard his trainer call out, "Foresight Lucario! Then Force Palm!"

With a final back flip, Lucario dodged yet another Shadow Punch and his eyes snapped open, the Haunter still outlined in blue. He grabbed his right arm with his left hand and let his paw drag along the ground, gathering the aura from around them into his paw before he reached the Haunter. He stuck his paw out on Haunter, open-palmed, and shot it out in one great burst which shot into Haunter's body. With a grimace, the ghost went flying off for the third time and hit the ground, this time it didn't get back up as the judges all entered an X in their podiums.

"And after an extraordinary battle, the winner of the Floaroma Contest is Krystal!"

Marian held up Krystal's hand in the air as recognition of the victor and the crowd went wild. Stomping their feet and applauding wildly while Lucario stood next to her with his arms crossed as if he couldn't care less. The judges stood behind them with smiles on their face. Mr. Suziko on the left, Nurse Joy on the right, and Mr. Contesta in the middle. After the announcement, Lucario and Krystal turned around to Mr. Contesta who held out a gold medal with two ribbon tags hanging off the side of it.

"I am proud to present you with the Floaroma Contest Ribbon." He said with a smile. Krystal returned the smile as well but pushed a hand out to close his fingers around the offered gift.

"Thank you, but with good conscience, I'm afraid I can't accept this. I don't intend to enter the Grand Festival, this was just for fun."

There was a questionable murmur and a bewildered look from Mr. Contesta and Nurse Joy while Mr. Suziko just murmured, "Remarkable..." Marian tugged at the collar of her vest before she spoke into the microphone again.

"Ladies and gentleman, it seems Krystal has decided to forfeit her victory rights. Which means Stormie from the Hoenn Region wins by default!"

The rain softly hit the window panes in nature's never-ending rhythm. Bryce woke stretching and yawning as he usually did. He rubbed his eyes and leaped out from the top bunk. He turned around to wake up Stormie but found she was already awake, with Psy next to her sound asleep and Haunter nowhere in sight. She was fully clothed and was staring at the Floaroma Ribbon in her hands with a sort of distant look in her eyes. Bryce snapped twice to catch her attention, but when he found this didn't work, he waved a hand in front of her eyes. She shook her head as if waking up from a dream and looked at him.

"Hmm?"

"Are you ok?"

Stormie shook her head warily but responded, "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine."

"I just can't get what Krystal said out of my head. 'Contest Battles aren't just about brute force. Although your appeal was impressive, you must do your best to show off both your pokemon and their moves. Otherwise it's no better than a gym battle.'"

She recited this word from word as if she had done nothing but thought about it ever since the girl's words have been uttered out of her mouth. Bryce shook his head in disbelief.

"You can't just sit around moping, you did win after all."

"By default."

"Well you did manage to beat all those other trainers."

"By ruthlessly attacking them with no regard of how my moves looked."

"But you did manage to beat them all with one pokemon."

"Only to have him KO'ed immediately in the last round."

Frustrated, Bryce pulled at his spikey hair and retreated into the bathroom to get dressed. No sooner had he closed the door, he ran out with a quick yelp. Krystal looked up at him, a little irritated that she'd been disturbed.

"What is it?"

"Why didn't you tell me Haunter likes to sleep in the mirror?"

"It's not funny!"

It was later the same day that Bryce had discovered the ghost haunting the bathroom mirror and he had decided to call his mother about the previous events but his mother along with her Empoleon, Stunky, Lopunny, Pachirisu, Mamoswine, Togekiss and Quilava had all heard and were laughing at his expense. His cheeks red, Bryce clenched his fists against his sides, it was frustrating watching his mother giggle with a hand covering her mouth in a bad attempt of hiding her amusement.

"Well hopefully you've picked up your father's battling skills." Dawn replied after she had calmed down and shooed the other pokemon out of the room.

"Yeah hopefully, but I meant to talk to you about something else."

Dawn raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yeah, it's about Stormie. She's been feeling a little crummy ever since the contest."

Dawn nodded as if she understood and Bryce went to retrieve the gloomy girl and went to watch TV while the girls talked.

"What's so funny?"

Stormie only shook her head and giggle some more. They were in front of the Pokemon Center, each with their own umbrella and she'd been giggling ever since she got off the phone with his mother, with one hand holding the umbrella and one under Abra. He scratched his head through his beret and shrugged, it must of been a girl thing. But deep down, he couldn't help but think that it was something about him.

"Well, it was nice to meet you Stormie."

Bryce said, extending his hand towards her to shake it. Instead, she pushed her hand out and pushed his hand away.

"I've been thinking," She started, looking at her feet. "Well, since I'm further into reaching my goal, maybe I could come along and give you some tips, and maybe your mom (being a Top Coordinator) could help me."

Haunter floated out through the Center's glass doors and made kissing noises before Stormie hit him with her umbrella. Bryce nodded, blushing even more than before and looking down at his feet while mumbling a few flustered, "S-Sure, I-I guess you c-can come."

Stormie beamed at him and gave her umbrella to the recovering Haunter and hooked an arm through Bryce's free arm, if anything to embarrass him. "So where're we going?"

Bryce looked away from her and looked off to the left of the town where a river was flowing under a bridge. He remembered from studying his map that morning that in the direction should be Eterna Forest and then, "Eterna City to battle Gardenia."

Stormie nodded and started walking off in that direction with the bright red Bryce in tow.

'Bui Bui!'

Through the rain a blue and orange streak flashed in the air, striking a blue fish with a tail that slightly resembled a Beautifly that had leaped into the air with the obvious intent to attack. The fish fell into the water with a "Plop!" While the streak dove into the water and poked its head out to make sure its opponent was out of it. To his disappointment, the fish poked its head out of the water and swirled around, its winged shaped tail facing the otter and started swishing its tail at a furious rate, a gust of wind building before launching it at the mammalian pokemon.

'Buizel!' The pokemon leaped out of the water once more and did a barrel roll, its tails launching a blade of wind towards the gust, breaking through the Gust and hitting the fish once more. Stormie and Bryce watched this spectacle from the sidelines and had their mouths open in awe, mostly at the Buizel. Bryce took out his pokedex and scanned both pokemon.

Buizel, the Sea Weasel Pokemon. It swims by rotating its two tails like a screw. This pokemon has a flotation sack that is like an inflatable collar.

Finneon, the Wing Fish Pokemon. After long exposure to sunlight, the patterns on its tail fins shine vividly when darkness arrives. The way its two tail fins flutter while it swims has earned it the nickname "Beautifly of the Sea."

At the last hit from the Sonicboom, the fish fell under the surface like before, but this time it floated to the surface with its eyes closed. Satisfied, Buizel inflated its collar and dove under the water, its two white spots on its back disappearing as it went deeper.

"That was amazing!" Bryce finally exclaimed before fingering an empty pokeball next to Lash's absentmindedly. Unfortunately, Stormie noticed this small movement and turned towards him with a grin, Haunter still holding her umbrella under his head.

"I hope you're not thinking about catching that Buizel."

Bryce turned to her and blinked, not fully catching on to what she meant. Stormie noticed the confused expression on his face and rolled her eyes.

"You can't catch a pokemon if someone already owns it!"

His eyes widened as he finally caught on. "No way! You already have three pokemon on your team!"

"Psy doesn't count, he can't battle yet."

Bryce grinded his teeth, it was enough that coordinators sent moves back at their opponents but their words? Stormie noticed his frustration and turned to him with a confident smirk on her face.

"How about this? Whoever can catch the Buizel first wins."

"What does the winner get?"

After thinking it over a bit she responded, "The satisfaction of owning the Buizel, or as he's soon to be called, 'Jet'"

Bryce nodded before raising a brow. "How do you know it's a he?"

"The two spots on its back, duh! Now ready, set, go!" She shouted before dashing off with the chuckling Haunter in her wake.

Bryce crouched in the bushes with his red and black hoodie covering his head. Both Lash and Grotle sat next to him, Grotle sitting quietly, soaking up the rain while Lash held his tongue over his head, reluctantly drinking the rainwater.

"So do you remember the plan?" Bryce whispered, still looking around for any sign of Stormie. They both nodded, Lash frowning as he experienced a slight hint of Déjà Vu at the pile of berries in front of them. He hated having to take off his sunglasses, but he had to put them in the pack, otherwise, they'd get dirty and the only thing he could clean them with would be his tongue. As they all watched and waited, a figure seemed to float out of the rain, its eyes red but as it approached them, Bryce realized it was just a trick of the light and what they had actually seen was the bright-eyed Buizel who leaped upoun the berries with relish. Bryce grinned, realizing how lucky he was that this had happened so early. In a hushed whisper he ordered, "Now Lash!"

Lash's tongue whipped out like a striking Ekans and went towards the Buizel, attempting to use Wrap to immobilize it, but to their surprise it went right through it. The Buizel turned around and flashed them a smile that was oddly familiar, but Bryce disregarded this and pointed towards it again.

"Ok Grotle, lets nail it with a Tackle!"

Grotle nodded and started to run, but it realized that this was the first time that it had actually needed its speed and stumbled over its feet. It turned out that it was hard to gain over fifty pounds and expect to keep its speed. Bryce frowned and rushed out into the open with Lash by his side.

"Lash, Lick!"

Lash's tongue darted forward once more, this time aiming towards the otter and licking it, slowly dragging its tongue across its body. In response to this attack, the Buizel stopped moving and started to twitch. That's when Bryce noticed something was off, were Buizel's always purple? His question was soon answered as the Buizel's body started to change, growing larger until it's hind legs receded into its body and it started to float in the air. Even though it was still twitching, it wore a pained smile.

"Haunter?" He asked surprised before dashing towards the riverbank, this whole thing was a diversion! As proof, he spotted Stormie with her umbrella and Psy in one arm. Combusken was out of her pokeball and stood poised in a Tai-Kwon-Do pose, it had obviously been fighting and both Buizel and Combusken were breathing heavily to prove it.

"Ok Combusken, I know it's hard for you to fight in the rain, but a little more should do it!"

Combusken nodded, still panting hard, this Buizel was fast, but both Stormie and her had known about its Swift Swim before challenging it so it was to be expected. Buizel was wearing a cocky smile, though on the inside, it was nervous. It obviously had the advantage, but the pokemon had it on the ropes, it couldn't last much longer and they all knew it.

"Now Combusken, Double Kick!"

'Combusken!' It cried as it leaped forward with its foot flying towards the orange mammal. Buizel leaped back, dodging the first kick and ducked, avoiding the second one. It gathered the rain around it to cover its body and went flying like a missile towards the fowl, hitting it directly in the chest. When this was done, the momentum caused it to ricochet off the flailing bird's chest into the air and it fired a Water Gun in nowhere in particular. Causing it to fly back towards the river.

"Oh no you don't!" Stormie cried as she hurled a pokeball in the Buizel's direction as it dove into the water. The pokeball's light turned a dim red, it had obviously caught something, this was plain to see. But would the Buizel stay in? It wiggled once, twice, then the light went out and the homing device in the pokemon caused it to fly back into the trainer's hand, just as Lash, Haunter, and Grotle arrived on the scene.

Stormie finally noticed the group and gave them a winning wink, and with a sigh, Bryce returned his pokemon.

Buizel poked its head out of its water and looked around. Had the girl left? With a satisfied smirk, the Buizel swam away to confront its next opponent.