CHAPTER 17 – REACT

A jubilant chant of "Strung! Strung! Strung!" rang out across the thousands and thousands of spectators in Stadium 5. A massive contingent of fans and otherwise neutral observers had hopped on the woman's bandwagon, cheering the model on in her second first-round match. They were all acting in unison, whether it be chanting her name, thumping the air with their fists or jumping up and down to rally more support.

The trainer herself swung her arms up a few times, playing on her popularity to rile the crowd up even further. She'd already secured her spot in the next round after just five battles, but she was enjoying herself way too much to slow down now, her face an image of pure joy as she rode the roller-coaster of noise being directed at her from the stands.

Her opponent wasn't so pleased with the proceedings. His two choices so far had been completely annihilated by Strung's, and the battle hadn't even lasted five minutes. He shot the beautiful woman a furious glare and made his last choice, hurling his PokéBall skywards with a backhand swing. "Venusaur, you can do it!"

With a flash of light to match the intensity of its trainer's expression, the boy's Venusaur stomped onto the field and sent a rough tremor through the stadium. He didn't want to use his strongest Pokémon this early in the tournament, but a whitewash here would put him at risk of dropping out in the first round. And under no circumstances was he going to let a girl be responsible for outing him from the tournament.

"Hurry up and make a choice already!" he howled impatiently, thoroughly flustered that Strung was paying more attention to her adoring fans than to him.

"Okay!" she laughed, clicking an Ultra Ball off her belt and sending out the Pokémon it contained. An enormous blue sea slug with a moss green carapace on its back plopped out with a sickly squelching sound. "Is this fine with you, little boy?" she asked brightly.

"Suits me just fine!" he answered arrogantly, smirking at the Gastrodon. Even if she was offering a mercy win by sending a Gastrodon out with such a type disadvantage, he'd take it without a second though.

"The final battle of this match will be Venusaur versus Gastrodon!" announced an elderly man with a long scar running down his temple. "Begin!" He thrust his flags into the air, signalling the battle's commencement alongside the ding of the starting bell.

"Venusaur, let's wrap things up quick! Knock that overgrown slug into next season with Leaf Storm!" the boy yelled, delighted at the chance to get some payback for his two earlier losses. With a bellowing roar Venusaur leant forwards, and a colossal burst of razor-sharp leaves scattered from the vast plant on its back. On command from their host, the thick swarm of leaves made a beeline for the motionless Gastrodon, the lethal projectiles whistling ominously as they sliced through the air.

"Gastrodon, Stockpile!" Strung giggled, having predicted the boy's attack. At once Gastrodon opened its mouth wide, sucking in a vast amount of air and inflating its gelatinous body to double its original size.

"Ha! You didn't even try to dodge my Leaf Storm?" taunted the boy as Venusaur's Leaf Storm made contact. The leaves mercilessly raked across Gastrodon's soft skin for several harsh seconds, the super effective strike bringing a cry of pain from the Water-type Pokémon. When the barrage finally ended, Gastrodon was covered in wicked scratches and cuts across the entire front half of its body, and was teetering on the brink of unconsciousness.

"Your turn!" Strung beamed, making the boy's head jolt up in confusion. "Gastrodon, Mirror Coat!"

"Oh, shit!" he yelped loudly. "Venusaur, get out of the way!" he shouted as Gastrodon sent an enormous sphere of pink light at his Pokémon. Venusaur's size made dodging a difficult task, but even then, the Mirror Coat's orb changed course when it noticed Venusaur's attempt to dodge. The boy's mouthed dropped open in sheer shock. He couldn't think of a counter order, let alone provide enough coherence to say it. With no further objections, the sphere crashed into Venusaur's face, exploding with the force of a bomb against it.

The explosion sent Venusaur's considerable bulk flying towards the boundary wall, but the Seed Pokémon was unconscious the moment its feet left the ground; all the boundary did was halt Venusaur's momentum and give it something to drop down from. Another tremor shook the stadium when the Grass-type plummeted into the hard ground, and the referee was as stunned as Venusaur's trainer as the one-hit knockout.

It took several seconds of thunderous applause from the crowd to snap the referee out of his trance, and with a flourish he snapped his red flag to attention. "Venusaur is unable to battle! Gastrodon is the winner, and Ms Strung receives a third point, taking her to eight points in total!"

"Woohoo! Great work, Gastrodon!" Strung cooed, dashing out to give her Gastrodon an enthusiastic hug. She made sure not to touch any of the Water-type's numerous cuts, and Gastrodon showed its gratitude by nuzzling its horned head against her chest. The boy just hung his head in shame, recalled Venusaur, and trudged off the field, humiliated by the whitewash.

"This is more than a little familiar," said Ash as he and Ari repeated their post-match ritual from Luuyn's match. Stationed outside Stadium 18 as swarm after swarm of spectators and trainers milled past, they waited for a sign of the two trainers they were looking for. Or even a glimpse of red-on-green, for Ari had sent his Gallade back inside to retrieve them. Ash focused his ears to the dismissed crowd, catching a few auditory glimpses of conversation from a gaggle of young teenagers as they walked by.

"Did you see how strong that Blaziken is?"

"It was moving too fast for me to see it!"

"Still, you can't deny Anabel's got class, with how she handled that Mawile."

"Well yeah, but…"

"There they are!" piped Ari, nudging an elbow into Ash's side. Rather than pick up some more gossip from the masses, Ash tuned his senses towards the stadium, spotting the two combatants waving at him intermittently between the departing crowd. The pair seemed quite happy with the result, and were enjoying a quick laugh with Ari's Gallade as they made their way closer. Ari suppressed a chuckle when he saw Leoric's eyes briefly wander over a nearby woman in her late teens, his eyes casually focused on her chest. A playful slap in the arm from Anabel snapped him out of it.

"—one instead of everyone," Anabel tittered, making Leoric roll his eyes and stuff his hands in his pockets.

"I'm entitled to it," he retorted defensively, feigning indignation to Anabel. "Who wouldn't take it as a compliment if they saw mechecking them out?" he asked, thumping his chest with a fist and grinning.

"I wouldn't, because it'd be downright creepy," countered Anabel, giggling when Leoric's mouth comically fell open.

"That's because you've got other stuff on your mind most of the time," he said. His green eyes flickered across the two trainers in front of him. "Speaking of other stuff, I spy a fugly brown hat!" he snickered as he drew level with Ari, flicking the boy's hat in an attempt to knock it off.

"You prat," Ari grumbled, a hand shooting up to secure it. Wanting to avoid any potential hostilities this time, Ari gestured between Ash and Leoric. "Ash, this delinquent here is Leoric, from the Hoenn region. Leo, this is—"

"I know who he is," interrupted Leoric, lightly clapping Ash on the arm and smiling at the Kanto native. "I was up in the stands watching your battle with Ari earlier," he explained to Ash, whose head dropped a little in a mixture of shame and embarrassment.

"Anabel was there, too," added Ari, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder. Anabel's eyes briefly flashed towards the ground.

"Really? I didn't see either of you in the stands," Ash said as he racked his brains for memories of the match.

"Well you were a little preoccupied trying to deal with Ari," Anabel sighed, and she gave Ash a warm, apologetic smile. Beside them, Leoric hid a fit of laughter behind a sly grin. He raised an eyebrow at Ash, though the latter didn't notice it as he and Anabel talked about his opening battle. With those two occupied, he shot a sideways glance at Ari.

"I should be getting along now," Ari said sadly, not wanting to leave so soon. Leoric's grin widened.

"Oh, that reminds me!" Ash exclaimed suddenly, darting forward and catching Ari by the sleeve as the latter turned to leave. "How did I end up with your phone?" he asked. The question had been nagging at him ever since Anabel's battle had ended, an idea that had thoroughly perplexed him.

Ari shot Ash a surprised look, almost like he'd said something unbelievable. "I honestly thought you'd nicked it," Ari joked, shaking his head. "But thanks anyways for keeping a hold of it. Much better than it falling out of my pocket and some random thief stealing it," he smiled gratefully. One last look and a wave at Anabel and Leoric to say sorry for ducking off so quickly, and then he left, weaving seamlessly between the still-swarming crowds and blending in until he was indistinguishable from the general populace.

"Bye, Ari…" Ash muttered slowly, confused by Ari's parting comments. An uncomfortable silence ensued in the wake of Ari's abrupt departure, only punctured by the odd piece of wayward conversations drifting over from the passing crowds.

"So…" Leoric said, turning to Ash and Anabel with a cunning smirk on his lips. "Did you two ever… y'know…?" He gestured suggestively with his hands.

"What… LEO!" wailed Anabel, her face turning beet red at the idea.

"I'm not hearing a no," he sang, winking at Ash. "Come on, you can tell me what happened. I promise Ari won't hear a word of it!"

"A-Anabel, what's he talking about?" Ash asked nervously, completely thrown off-guard by a sly wink from Leoric.

"Aw, something happened between you two! I could cut the U-S-T between you two with a butter knife, for crying out loud!" he laughed, throwing an arm around Ash's shoulders and marching him over to Anabel before giving her the same treatment. "Now, I'm not one to gossip – usually, at any rate – but I just can't ignore something like this. So spill."

"Nothing happened!" Anabel shrieked, irritated by Leoric's insistent prying into her personal life. Or at least her lack of one with Ash. Leoric changed tact at the tone of her voice, rounding on Ash for answers.

"Nothing happened?" he repeated to Ash, looking for confirmation.

"Well, we had a battle for my Ability Symbol," replied the clueless Ash. "Two, actually, since she gave me a bit of a walloping in our first battle. But I got her back in the rematch."

"Ah, so you're that Pikachu trainer who swept through the Battle Frontier a year or two ago!" Leoric exclaimed, redirecting the conversation to spare Anabel any more embarrassment.

Ash nodded affirmatively. "That's me. Anabel was my sixth symbol, right before I challenged Brandon."

"And beat his Regice with your Pikachu?" asked Leoric seamlessly.

"Has Ari been talking to you about my achievements, too?" Ash replied incredulously, a bit taken aback at how everyone he met seemed to know pretty much everything about him. It was seriously beginning to unnerve him, since he barely knew anything about anyone else at this tournament. Take Leoric for example; all he knew about Leoric was what he'd found out in the last thirty minutes, consisting of three Pokémon, his name, and his home region.

"Word gets around when you do something as impressive as beat the Battle Frontier, mate," Leoric replied with a shrug. "Especially when you take down a legendary Pokémon in a straight one-on-one battle. There aren't a lot of people that can brag about having done that. Though it seems to be something of a skill of yours, beating legendaries," he elaborated, and Ash knew Leoric was no doubt referring to his battle with Tobias at the Sinnoh League.

Am I the only one who doesn't do this research thing nowadays? he asked himself, subconsciously signing himself up for taking lessons on how to do it properly.

"Speaking of Pikachu," Leoric frowned, waving a hand through the empty space over Ash's shoulder, "where is the little powerhouse? He should've recovered from his battle with Electivire by now."

"Pikachu's still at the Pokémon Center. I was going to pick him up after my second battle, but then Anabel invited me over to this match, and I figured he could use a bit of a recharge," Ash answered airily. Gliscor and Infernape were still resting up, too, now that he thought about it.

"I was gonna say! Pikachu shouldn't still be out. It went down in a hurry, after all, so fatigue wouldn't've been a problem," commented Leoric. A scowl wound its way onto Ash's face at the obvious belittlement being directed his way. "Hey, I was at the match, remember? And no offense or anything, but you didn't really look like winning a point."

"Leo!" Anabel snapped, folding her arms across her chest and glaring furiously at him, prompting a motion of surrender.

"I said 'no offense'!"

"How do you two know each other, anyways?" Ash curiously asked out of the blue, breaking the tension between Anabel and Leoric. "I'm guessing Ari introduced you two to each other?"

"It's actually the other way around," Leoric corrected with a wag of his finger, drawing a surprised look from Ash.

Anabel nodded in agreement. "I met Ari a long time ago, even before I became a member of the Battle Frontier. About a year after I joined, I ran into Leoric, who was going around visiting some of the battle facilities. He and Ari were a lot alike back then, and they pretty much clicked once they hung out for a while."

"Geez, Ana, make it sound like I'm gay why don't you?" groaned Leoric, making a big display of shuffling away from the Salon Maiden.

"Wait, you challenged the Battle Frontier, too?" Ash blurted out.

"Something like that," he said unhelpfully.

A round of suppressed giggling from Anabel drew their attention, even managing to bring Leoric back into focus. "You two are a lot alike, too, you know," she smiled. A pair of raised eyebrows and a glance between themselves later, and Anabel resigned herself to explaining. "Neither of you can go two minutes without battles of some kind, whether it's being in one, looking for another, training, or just talking about them." She laughed and affectionately prodded Ash's cheek with a finger.

"Battling gives me and my Pokémon a chance to do what we love, so what did you expect? The thrill of the fight's just a bonus to us," Leoric grunted impassively.

"A real eye of the tiger, this one is," Anabel whispered mischievously to Ash, before she gave Leoric a gentle backhand to the stomach. Leoric expertly caught her wrist in a hand and guided it over to Ash, lightly slapping him in the face with it.

"Ooh, lovers quarrel," he cackled as Anabel murmured a quick apology.

Ash simply joined Leoric in laughing. His antics were a good contrast to the seriousness of the tournament. A childish firework. It was probably because Leoric was already through to the next round that he was acting like this, but a bit of comedy was always helpful. It just reminded Ash that the tournament wasn't all about winning. It was also about encouraging friendships, something which he'd noticed in all the other PLC tournaments he'd been to over the years.

A silent smile crossed Anabel's lips at the sight and sound of the boys' infectious laughter. It had been a stressful morning. In truth, she was just relieved to be in the second round. She admitted to herself that she needed to unwind, and maybe it was fate that she'd finally run into Ash only after her first-round matches had finished.

"I think I'm gonna take a leaf out of Ari's book and move my ass somewhere else so you two can be alone," Leoric said with a sprightly snigger. Before Ash or Anabel could protest he held a hand up to silence them. "I owe one of my Pokémon a joyride, too, and he gets upset if I don't hold up my end of our deals," he added affectionately, tapping a finger to the first PokéBall on his belt.

"I was meaning to ask you about that, now that you mention it," Anabel remarked, folding her arms again and staring at Leoric through narrowed eyes.

"About my joyriding?" he repeated, confused.

"I'm sure it's vaguely related to that," she asserted, "but I was actually talking about why you swapped PokéBalls when you saw Ari waving at you."

"It gave me a second to reconsider, and Mawile could use the experience of battling against a strong opponent. And before you accuse me of lying," Leoric raised his voice to shoot Anabel down the moment she opened her mouth for a verbal retaliation, "remember that I rarely use my stronger Pokémon until the third or fourth rounds of most tournaments."

"Did you throw that last battle?" she asked earnestly, cutting straight to the real question she wanted answered and not bothering to try and steer the conversation towards it.

"Does it matter?" he asked her with a passive expression. "Don't get too worked up over the 'what if's' is what I'm saying," he clarified as she gave him a look as though he'd just slapped her. He nodded at Ash in recognition of their first meeting, turned away and began to walk in the same direction Ari had.

"You should spend the rest of the day relaxing, Ana. Get Pash to help you out with that if you want to!" he laughed over his shoulder before he was swallowed up the last remnants of the crowd.

Anabel peeked at Ash as the latter watched Leoric leave, and a gentle pink blush crept onto her cheeks at Leoric's parting comment, knowing that he'd chosen that particular misconstruction of Ash's name on purpose. I'll have to sock him one for that next time, she told herself.

"Funny guy, isn't he?" she said, sidling up to Ash. "You'd think he and Ari were brothers with the way they carry on sometimes."

"He certainly seems like one of those older brother types, at any rate," Ash chuckled. He spotted one the island's many, many drinks vendors patrolling the plaza around them out of the corner of his eye. Naturally, his body chose that exact moment to tell him he was dehydrated. "Wanna grab a drink, Anabel? I'm parched from all this talking!"

"Sounds like a good plan," Anabel chortled, walking over to the wheeled cart with him. She was quite flushed herself, and she knew that it wasn't all on account of the high temperature and humidity.

"My shout," Ash said cleverly, doing the gentlemanly thing.

"You don't have to…" she pointed out, but nonetheless she accepted Ash's chivalry as Ash caught the attention of the vendor's owner.

"Two battles—I mean bottles of water, please!" he requested, and both he and Anabel burst into laughter at the slip of the tongue. "I guess I really can't stop thinking about battles!"

"Told you so," Anabel said cheekily, graciously taking the bottle Ash handed her. "Thanks…"

"What did Leoric mean with that whole helping you to relax thing, exactly?" he asked as they headed for the shade of the shop awnings off to the plaza's left.

"Uhh…" Anabel started, completely unsure of what to say. She didn't know exactly what Leoric meant either, though knowing him it probably had some dirty connotations to it. "Maybe he just meant we should go for a walk. That usually helps me relax."

"Why don't we walk over to the Pokémon Center, then?" Ash suggested warmly. "I need to pick Pikachu up from there, so you can say hi to him, too!"

Anabel didn't have any objections to Ash's notion, so she nodded and let Ash lead the way. Ash took a swig from his bottle and a handful of steps before something dawned on him, something that made him feel like an absolute idiot. He turned to Anabel with a sheepish look on his face.

"Which way's the Pokémon Center, again?"

So we get our first look at Strung in battle, eh? Only a glimpse, but you'll see more of her soon enough. Anyone keeping track of the tournament so far should be able to pick up on a few hints in that battle, too. And a little ship tease to boot in that last part. Fun, fun, fun.

Apologies for the delay, but what with Diablo III coming out recently, I figured it'd be better if I put this chapter out on Thursday. Not to mention I've been playing through a romhack of Pokémon Black (called Pokémon Blaze Black) which is pretty fricking awesome, if I do say so myself. You should all give it a look-over at the very least; if you plan on playing, my advice is to use No$GBA as your emulator.

Sorry, got sidetracked for a moment.

Anyways, Chapter 18 will be titled "Vis-á-vis" and, barring unforseen circumstances, will be released next Thursday, the 24th. It'll feature a throw-back to the International Police side of things, and it's the first of a two-parter that revolves around them. Hopefully it'll be as entertaining as the last IP double, too. Aside from Russ and Michaels making reappearances, a new character's going to be introduced.

A quick thanks on the side to Megalink1126 for his reviews this lsat week, which pushed Crown up to 100 reviews! I appreciate any and all input and/or thoughts on the chapters.

As always, keep reading, and don't forget to review~