Wendy, Aiden and Hibiki had just finished eating their meal, and It was finally time for the event they had all anticipated for. It was just a few more hours until the Aggron Festival would be taking place. Upon learning that the festival would be held in the middle of the town square it filled Wendy with an undying nostalgia. She thought back to her childhood days to when she first went to the festival in her home town. She could already hear the laughter, the chatter and the smell of red bean paste pastries. On the outside Wendy appeared calm, but deep down she was very excited, she wanted to show Aiden and Hibiki just how fun festivals could be.
When they got to town square they expect to see a crowd of excited kids, parents, and young adults, but instead they saw a crowd of angry adults. The current entrance to the festival was being blocked off. This was a common occurrence that a festival might be blocked off later than it should be. Wendy found it odd why people were cranky. She looked over to Aiden and Hibiki. It seemed neither one of them wanted to ask, but Wendy just needed to know.
She walked up to the crowd and tapped on the shoulder of someone who probably wouldn't snap her in half. "Uh... sir, what's the hold up?"
The person she asked and turned around he let out a loud sigh. "These entitled idiots from the Perfection Cult are blocking the way. None of the adults here were able to best them in battle. Apparently we're not worthy to hold a festival that's purely just to have fun."
Wendy walked back to Aiden and Hibiki. It was obvious from her body language and expression that she was slightly scared. She looked her friends in the eye and said. "We should go back. Uh... I'm not exactly sure which regions you two are home too, but I'm sure there's organized crime. Here in Yava we have a cult named Perfection, if they're here we should go."
Hibiki took in a deep breath of air. "I wasn't going to say it, but... Wendy, I could tell you were really looking forward to the festival! C'mon let's take on who ever is blocking the way!"
Wendy instantly shook her head. "No, I am not dealing with something dangerous like Perfection. This isn't some tv show or movie where kids or teenagers have the strength to defeat an evil organization."
Aiden watched as the two girls went back and forth on what to do. He was nervous to step in, he wanted to input his own opinion into this argument, but he was scared that both of them would completely shove him aside. He twiddled his fingers together, but he knew he had to take action when he saw Hibiki starting to walk towards the crowd.
He grabbed her by the shoulders and she instantly turned around to face him. "Hibiki! I... I... uh... sorry I didn't mean anything by that. I just wanted to s-say... uhm..." Letting out a loud sigh he looked Hibiki right in the eye. "I think it would be best to wait for someone like the gym leader to get here."
Hibiki looked at Aiden with an expression of concern. "You guys, are really worried about this. Alright, I won't go in to attack them." As she said these words there was a sudden commotion at the front of the crowd.
While all three of them agreed not to take on Perfection, they decided to go ahead and look at was going on. Pushing through the cramped, smelly crowd they finally got to the opening to see who was blocking the way. Standing there were two men in Perfection Uniforms. Their height was average, but the emblem of Perfection, was no mistake. They wore simple white clothing with the emblem on their shoulder. The emblem itself was made from silver and gold, but it was engraved with a picture of Giritina, Dialga and Palkia shaping the world.
Emerging from the crowd was a little kid who was just over four feet tall. He had pale messy blonde hair and golden eyes. He wore simple clothing which was very similar to the people blocking the way minus the Perfection Emblem. He had some beige jeans and some white shoes.
In a very nervous voice he stuttered. "M-move out of th-the way!"
The two men sort of just looked at the kid and laughed. "What are ya going to do about it? Every adult here couldn't defeat us, what can a kid like you do?"
The kid clenched the brown leather bag around his shoulder. "I... if I beat either of you in a pokemon battle... Then you stop blocking the entrance, b-but if you w-win... well I g-guess that'd make you guys champions."
"I don't give a single fuck for whatever that means. Kid you're gonna wish you never stepped away from your house." The man held a pokeball in his hand and tossed it forward. The pokeball opened up and a bright orange light came out, from the sparkling light formed a Torterra. This Torterra was different, it was almost twice the size of a regular Torterra, and instead of being green in some areas it had turned completely red. The tree on its back was completely charred and devoid of life. "Be sure to take notes kid, this is a Grifta Pokemon. Basically it's a pokemon created through genetic editing, this is the embodiment of perfection!"
The young kid stared at the pokemon that stood before him. His face was stone cold and had a sense of unwavering bravery to it, completely different to the demeanor he had shown before. He smiled, pulled out a very old and damaged pokeball. From the pokeball a bright light shot out and formed into a tiny zigzagoon. Looking closer the zigzagoon had bits of fur missing and had the stench of garbage even from far away. Its eyes were pale and completely grey and it was obvious that this zigzagoon was very old.
"My name is Timothy Harth, and thank you for accepting my challenge!"
The older man looked at Timothy and smiled. "If we're introducing ourselves, then you can call me Bryant. Giving my name won't really matter, either way you're losing this fight." Bryant gritted his teeth at this young kid and took in a deep breath. "Torterra destroy this kid! Use Earthquake!"
Torterra let out a loud battle cry, but as it did a voice within the crowd yelled out. "Bryant stop!"
Torterra turned its head and bowed in respect for the person who walked out of the crowd. This person looked to be about six feet tall, he had some nicely coloured well kept blond hair. He had calming soft blue eyes, but his eyes also had a hint of cold intimidation behind them. He was quite muscular, and had a body that was practically perfection. His clothes mostly consisted of a unbuttoned white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Underneath the dress shirt was a dark grey shirt, he wore some beige jeans with a pair of simple white shoes.
He spoke in a soft voice to the people blocking the festival. "Bryant, our organization doesn't do this anymore. Please let the people of this town enjoy their festival, after all it was my mother's favourite festival, and I have fond memories of this place. Let the people of this humble town create fond memories with their friends and families as well."
What followed was an odd conversation between the guy with blonde two men whom were blocking the entrance to the festival. During the conversation Wendy could only pick out a few details as most of the crowd excitedly headed towards their individual booths. The tiny details were things along the lines of the blonde's name being 'Ross Valentino' other than that it seemed as the two men who blocked the entrance to the festival were very scared of him.
Wendy felt a soft tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Hibiki and Aiden sort of just staring at her. "Oh uh... sorry I was just spacing out."
Hibiki let out a soft giggle. "Yeah no kidding, you were staring at that blonde guy for a few good minutes. At least we know someone is into guys like that."
Aiden sort of rubbed the back of his head. "So you guys want to head into the festival now?"
The two girls nodded and excitedly headed into the festival. Stepping at the entrance, there was a well decorated wooden arch that had small grey bells that chimed in the slight breeze. The pillars supporting the wooden arch were two wooden statues representing Aggron. In the festival itself were many booths, each booth either had small games where you could win prizes, or buy food from. The soft orange lantern lights illuminated the whole area, and you could see children as well as adults having a grand time.
The gang decided to play a few games here and there, they ended buying a good amount of food, but near the end of their day it was very clear that none of them were good at a simple baseball throw.
"I swear to god that I will get that plushy!" Wendy yelled as she slapped a wad of cash on the counter. The elderly man who was running the booth had a wide grin on his face as he handed Wendy a few more balls.
She took in a deep breath, reeled her arm back and with all her might threw the ball, only for it to do exactly what it had done the dozen of tries before. She completely missed the stack of bottles. The same could be said for both Hibiki and Aiden who were trying to win the same prize.
Hibiki groaned and placed in her face in the palm of her hand. "How is it we're all pokemon trainers who are supposed to throw a pokeball can't do a simple thing like this!"
She felt a tap on her shoulder, and the voice behind her was semi-deep and smooth. "Hey, you mind if I try?" The guy behind her was tall he had smooth black hair, slightly tanned skin, blue eyes, and an unwavering smile. His clothing made him look sort of fit, but his slightly rounded face made her question if he was extremely fit or just barely average. He wore a t-shirt that was about three quarters blue and the rest of it was white, on top of that he wore an unzipped maroon sweater, some black jogging pants, and regular white and black sneakers.
The guy said with a bright smile "S-sorry, uh do you think I could give it a try. Hey say if I win I'll let you keep the prize!"
"Y-yeah sure..." Hibiki stuttered.
Aiden took notice at the sparkle in Hibiki's eyes and the blush running across her cheeks. He took a look at Wendy who was still trying to knock down the stack of bottles with increasing frustration.
The boy with black hair held the baseball in his hands. His eyes widened up as he felt the weight of it in his hand. He let out a sigh as he stared at stack of five bottles. He thought to himself "This is unfair, those metal bottles are filled with metallic sand, and these baseballs aren't regular baseballs either, they're filled with nothing but air, the crust is only an inch thick." Taking in a deep breath he reeled back his arm, but as he did so a small faded light could be seen around his fingers. "It doesn't really matter how unfair this is I'll win no matter what." He quickly turned his body and whipped the ball as hard as he could, the ball made a whisking sound as it traveled through the air the ball soon hit one of the prizes knocking down the entire rack, in result knocking down every bottle there.
"Oops my finger slipped! But I did knock down the bottles"
The booth manager was clearly upset, he pulled the guy who knocked down all of his prizes close. He whispered "Look I already know who you are, you don't need to act so silly because there are girls around. Just pick whatever prize you want."
"Wow I've been blown, anyway just call me Justin, and don't forget to buy my merch!" He grabbed a moderately sized prize from the booth and handed it to Hibiki who still practically had sparkles in her eyes.
"OMG y-you're Justin Mendoza! I thought I recognized you. I saw you in totally cool interview with Yava Idol Hennacy! You're the Fighting Type master of the Elite Four!" Hibiki yelled.
Justin reached into his pocket and pulled out a slightly crumpled poster. "That'd be me! Remember to buy my merchandise. I sell clanenders, t-shirts, hats and even a energy drink. Also if you see me at a fan meet up, I might even autograph it for you." This is when his eyes locked with a certain red head who had her arms completely crossed.
Wendy let out an annoyed grumble. "Justin, what are you doing here?"
Justin slowly walked up to her and placed his hand on the back of his head. He let out a nervous chuckle "What's with the annoyed look, is that anyway to treat your next door? It's been so long since I've seen you! If you're here in Berry Grove you must be challenging Donny for that eighth badge right?"
Wendy glared at Justin and pushed him away with a forceful shove. Angrily she yelled out. "You didn't answer my question."
"Oh... I thought it'd be obvious. I'm here to uh... well. I'm here to enjoy the festival dumb dumb." Justin laughed.
"If that's all then. I challenge you to a battle! I'll win this time, you might be elite four now, but I know I can beat you. You only started your journey two years earlier than I did, there shouldn't be a huge difference in our skill!" Wendy yelled.
Justin let out a sigh. "You're always so straight to the point. Ok since we're friends I'll have a battle. I'll use one of my pokemon you're free to use however many you have in your party."
Wendy crossed her arms in frustration. "You better not pull your punches on me!"
Justin smiled in response. "Don't worry I won't"
The two of them found a battlefield which was relatively away from any large crowd. Despite them trying to avoid people for this battlefield there were quite a few trainers who did recognize who Justin was, and as a result there was a small crowd. The night sky had stars that glittered a feint light over the small battlefield, the bright sounds of the festival could be heard over the rustle of the night trees.
Wendy took in a deep breath and waited for Aiden to take his step as the volunteer referee. She gave Justin an intimidating glare, and thought to herself. "He only started his journey two years earlier than I did, there's no way in hell that he's stronger than me. We basically grew up together there's no way I'll lose to him this time." She clenched the pokeball in her hand and tossed it onto the battlefield.
"Riolu! Come on out!" When the pokeball opened up Riolu soon formed at Wendy's feet. Riolu took a good look at its surroundings and like usual noticed that it was a battle. He looked back at Wendy with a nervous expression.
Wendy yelled out in an angry voice. "Riolu, now is not the time to be scared you better give this your all or else!"
Once Justin's eyes met Riolu his instantly perked up. He thought to himself. "Wow, Riolu has really grown up from when he was just a little baby! Time flies huh." Composing himself he reached behind his back and clenched a tattered scared up pokeball. "It's your time to shine! Come one out Blaziken!"
As soon as Justin's pokeball opened up it was as if a atomic bomb had gone off on the battlefield. The immense heat radiating from the pokeball made the air unbearable to breath, the grass around the area had withered away which then soon charred up. Out from the pokeball stood a tall menacing figure engulfed in a pillar of flames, and just past the flames you could just barely make out the shape of a blaziken.
Hibiki, Aiden and the small crowd had gone wide eyed at the mere sight of this pokemon. There was just this presence about it that gave it an extremely ferocious aura. Wendy grunted at the sight of Justin's Blaziken as if she wasn't impressed. Riolu looked back at Wendy with tears welling up in its eyes.
Justin got into a wide spread stance, and as a result Blaziken did the exact same thing. The two of them were completely in sync. Every tiny movement Justin did with his arms, legs, shoulders, and even down to each individual breath Blaziken followed.
"Humph! Riolu use cut!" Wendy yelled.
Riolu stuttered back a bit, but knowing his trainer he did what he was told. He nervously placed both of his hands together, and started to form a blade in his hands. The bright white blade shone with a weak light, as if it was barely able to hold a shape. He held the blade in front of him and waited.
"Come on Riolu what the hell are you waiting for! There's no time to waste attack him already!" Wendy yelled.
Riolu nervously closed his eyes and ran towards Blaziken wildly swinging the sword. Blaziken stood there waiting for Riolu to approach. Once Riolu was close enough, Justin raised his hand and what echoed through the air was the sound of him snapping his fingers. In that instant Riolu felt a sharp pain shoot up through his spine, the pain wasn't too bad but, the hit itself was fast and hard. The blade held in his hand completely disappeared into thin air, and Riolu fell right to the ground completely unconscious.
"Riolu return." Wendy yelled. She bit the side of her cheek and whispered under her breath. "Fucking typical Justin using his cheap tricks." She looked him in the eye and yelled out. "Justin, I thought you said you weren't going to pull your punches with me!"
"What? Wendy, I'm not pulling my punches. I decided to end that one quickly cause it was very clear that Riolu didn't have the intention of fighting. Come on send out your next pokemon, I promise I'm not holding back." Justin explained.
"Fine then! If you're in such a hurry to lose! Pikachu come on out!" Wendy yelled.
Pikachu landed on the field and glared at his opponent and cried out a mocking laugh. He smacked his fist into the palm of his hand and taunted Blaziken. A violent amount of electricity was radiating out from Pikachu much in the same way Blaziken had a wall of flames constantly around it.
Blaziken looked back at his master and let out a angry battle cry. Justin nodded in response, but he soon called out to Wendy. "You're more than welcome to make the first move!"
"Fine then! Pikachu, use thunder punch! Don't give Blaziken room to breath!" Wendy yelled.
Pikachu yelled out a deep battle cry. Energy sparked around his body his fists were engulfed in electricity, and he quickly started dashing at Blaziken. He threw the first fist, but only managed to hit air. He landed on the ground and dashed at Blaziken once again.
Blaziken was beginning to notice that Pikachu had a great combat sense. He was watching his opponent with constant dodges, but even then he noticed that Pikachu was picking up on some of his own bad habits as a fighter. There were times where Pikachu would land small hits that would just barely graze his firewall.
"That pikachu is fast alright. Blaziken, you know what to against a fast opponent! Jump up into the air and fire off tons of embers at the ground!" Justin yelled.
Blaziken nodded, and quickly dashed back to distance himself from Pikachu.
"Not so fast! Pikachu use agility!" Wendy yelled.
Pikachu instantly closed the distance which Blaziken had made. The electricity surrounding Pikachu's fist had grown exponentially he slammed his fist into Blaziken's torso. Blaziken's back slammed into the ground, but he quickly got up and dashed around the battlefield trying to keep his movements unpredictable.
"Alright not bad, Blaziken get that pikachu off of your tail! Use flame dome!" Justin yelled
"What the hell is that move?!" Wendy thought.
The flame wall surrounding Blaziken had shot outwards in the form of a dome. The heat was extremely intense. As if the air couldn't become more unbearable, the heat waves in the air had begun to block Wendy's vision, but what she saw she couldn't believe. The floor of the battle field had completely melted into lava except for a few patches of stone. Pikachu was lucky that dome had stopped at his feet or else he would've been completely scorched from an attack like that.
"You didn't want me to pull my punches Wendy! Just be careful what you wish for!" There was a very clear field of energy dancing around Justin's body as he began to yell out loud. Blaziken did the exact same thing. Soon Blaziken's body began to glow with a bright white light. His body became much taller and his muscles became more defined. Long streams of flame erupted from his wrists, and the crest on his head had completely changed shape.
Standing before Wendy was a fully mega evolved Blaziken. She stuttered back a bit at the sheer amount of heat it was giving off. It was as if she was staring at the sun itself, and uncharacteristically, Pikachu looked back at Wendy with a face of pure fear.
"Blaziken! Take out your frustrations with that earlier taunt! No mercy close combat!" Justin yelled.
"Hold on Pikachu return!" Wendy yelled. She quickly returned Pikachu to his pokeball and fell to her knees. The image of Justin she had earlier had completely disappeared. She knew him as this goofy guy, but right now he was a killer. She knew that instant that she had a long way to go.
Once things were given a chance to cool off. Aiden and Hibiki helped out Riolu to recover, turns out the damage his body was very minimal. The two them felt bad for Wendy who had her back placed up against a tree, she was curled up into a ball, her arms were wrapped around her knees and her head was buried deep within her arms.
She looked up to the starry sky and was greeted with a water bottle towards her face. It was Aiden who wore a nervous smile. "Look you shouldn't take that loss too hard. Justin is a elite four member after all. He probably worked really hard to get that spot."
Wendy gladly took the bottle of water, and was pleasantly surprised to see that Aiden sat beside her. She let out a long sigh. "It just pisses me off so much on how he's so strong, and I'm not. Ever since I lost to Donny its just been loss after loss after loss. Justin and I, we grew up together we were next door neighbours, we went to the same school, which I ended up doing much better than he did. The only difference is that he's been on his journey for five years while I've only been on mine for three. How could two years be all that much when it comes to his strength."
Aiden folded his hands together and turned his head towards Wendy before quickly turning the other way. "I... I know you've heard me say this before, but please take it from a guy who has lost many times, too many times to count even. I'm not remotely special at anything, I'm completely normal, and when it comes to battling oh boy, I am terrible at it. Even though I'm terrible at things doesn't mean I cry and whine about it. I have to work my butt off to even do the simplest things. It took me a good three months to confidently say 'aristocrats' and even then it sounds pretty terrible."
Wendy let out a soft chuckle. "You know that joke doesn't really work through text."
Aiden sort of blushed from embarrassment. "What I'm trying to say is, don't let losing make you quit, trust me I know from experience." Aiden got up and held out his hand. "Come on there's still a festival to enjoy."
Wendy smiled and brushed her hair behind her ear. She got up as she felt her cheeks get slightly warm. "Thanks for the advice."
Author Notes: Well there we go! Finally done this chapter. I am really sorry for how long this took. I know I said last chapter that I wanted this one to come out relatively quickly, but life got in the way. Mainly has to do with school and getting prepared for what happens beyond school for me.
Anyway tell me what you thought. I was getting some concerns mainly from my beta on why he thought Wendy had an overwhelming overconfidence and I really hope that this chapter cleared that up. Also tell me what you guys think of the chemistry between the characters and maybe even the fight itself!
Also let me know what you guys thought on the brand new characters who were introduced. This includes. Timothy, Bryant, Ross and Justin.
Thanks for reading I'll see you guys in the next chapter!