Wattson returned his Electrike. "Only one Pokemon left, eh? Wahahahah! This hasn't happened in a while!" He took out another Poke ball. "Although, this one is sure to give you trouble!"
Wattson threw the ball and a blue canine with a yellow mane and yellow clumps of fur on its hind legs was sent out. It had a fierce look on its face.
"What's that?" Davin took out his 'dex.
"Manectric, the Discharge Pokemon. Manectric is the evolved form of Electrike. Because lightning falls in their vicinities, Manectric were thought to have been born from lightning. In battle, they create thunderclouds."
Maura only smiled as she called back Minun and took out her fourth Poke ball. "Like I didn't see this coming. People who I ask about the Mauville gym always tell me about your so-called 'Ultimate Thunder Crusher', but this Pokemon will outshine it!"
She tossed the ball and a big and tall red Pokemon with a hooked beak, hair-like feathers sticking out of its head and red and yellow coloration on its body appeared in a flash of fire.
"Whoa! What is that?!" Amazed at how cool and powerful it looked, Davin flashed opened his Pokedex.
"Blaziken, the Blaze Pokemon. It learns martial arts that use punches and kicks. Every several years, its old feathers burn off, and new, supple feathers grow back in their place."
Maura smiled wider. "All right, Blaziken! You ready to win?"
"Blaaaaaaze!" It shouted as fire burned from its wrists.
Wattson was a little impressed. "A Blaziken, huh? It may look strong, but only battle will prove its strength! Manectric, use Quick Attack!"
"Blaziken, use Brave Bird!" It launched itself forward as a blue aura surrounded its body. Both attacks collided, but Manectric's Quick Attack was weak compared to Brave Bird and as a result, it flew into the ceiling upon impact.
"Now use Fire Punch!" Fire engulfed its right fist and as Manectric fell, it landed a blow to its body. When it hit the ground, Wattson encouraged it to stand, but the attacks proved too much for the electric Pokemon and it fell unconscious.
"Manectric is unable to battle! Blaziken wins! The victor of this battle is the challenger, Maura!"
"Yes!" Maura went to her Pokemon. "Excellent work as usual, Blaziken!"
"Blaziken." It nodded.
Davin was in awe and shock. "What the heck? She has a Pokemon that strong and she only has two badges?! That doesn't make any sense!"
Wattson recalled Manectric and approached the winner. "Wahahahah! Maura, you're one excellent trainer! You've obviously raised your Pokemon well."
"Thank you. I do my best." She smiled.
Wattson pulled out a badge that looked like a coiled wire. "As a result of the electrifying battle you gave me, I'm proud to give you this Dynamo Badge!"
She took it in her hand. "Thank you very much."
Davin walked over to them. "Congratulations, Maura." He half-smiled at her, feeling suspicious about her win. He turned to Wattson. "So when can you and I battle?"
Wattson frowned. "Well, as you saw, my Pokemon were defeated, so I have to go heal them. How's about we have our battle tomorrow, Davin?"
"Sounds good to me!" Davin nodded with a full smile.
A couple minutes later, Davin and Maura were sitting at a table booth in the Pokemon Center while Maura's Pokemon were outside of their Poke balls, eating. Despite the gym battle being kind of short, it was already in the afternoon, proven by the setting of the sun.
Both were silent until Davin spoke. "Maura, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure. Was is it?"
Davin turned his head to her Fire/Fighting Pokemon. "Well... your Blaziken is super strong and it took out Wattson's Manectric in two moves. How come your other Pokemon aren't as strong as it? And better yet, where did you get it?"
Maura just grinned. "Oh, that's an easy one. You see, Davin, I'm not from this region."
"You're not?!" Davin was stunned. "Then how come all the Pokemon that you have are native to Hoenn?"
Maura sighed. "I guess I'd better start from the beginning." She turned her head to the window as she spoke. "I was born and raised in Blackthorn City, which is in the Johto region. I always loved Pokemon when I was growing up, but I could never be a Pokemon trainer, which was frustrating for me. But that frustration disappeared when my tenth birthday came." She frowned. "Unfortunately, my parents were in debt at the time and they couldn't buy me a Pokemon. Plus the regional professor, Prof. Elm, was visiting an unknown region, so I couldn't get one from him either."
She smiled again. "Then, I came up with an idea and I asked my parents to call Prof. Birch in Hoenn so he could send me a Pokemon from there." She closed her eyes as she remembered via flashback at what happened next.
Flashback
One week after the call, Maura went to her mailbox and found a brown package that had "From Professor Birch" on it. She jumped up and down excitedly, grabbed the package, and ran inside.
"MOM! DAD! IT CAME! IT CAME!" She shouted at the top of her lungs.
Her mom entered the living room. "We're not that far away, honey. You don't have to shout so loud."
Her dad entered next, rubbing his left ear. "You can say that again. I could've suffered hearing loss from that."
Maura giggled. "Sorry. I'm just so excited! Can I open it now?"
Her mom nodded. "Go for it."
Without wasting a second, she peeled off the tape that was sealing the opening and found an enlarged Poke ball along with five smaller ones and a Pokedex. She gently picked up the Poke ball and let out what was inside: An orange chick with yellow feathers sticking out from its head.
"AAAAAAAAHHHH! A TORCHIC!" She screamed. She picked it up and began rubbing her face against it, much to its discomfort.
"She's certainly happy." Mom told dad.
"Too happy, if you ask me." He said, rubbing his ear again.
Maura put Torchic down and hugged her parents. "Thank you so much for calling Professor Birch! This is the happiest day of my life!" She let go of them and went back to Torchic, laying down to meet its gaze and caressing the back of its head. "It's nice to meet you, Torchic. I just know we're going to be great friends!"
"Torchic, Tor." It grinned.
End Flashback
"From then on, I started my journey in Johto. I collected all 8 gym badges and entered the Johto league. Sadly, I didn't win." She turned to look at Blaziken. "It was on that journey that Torchic evolved into Combusken and then into Blaziken."
"So that's why its strong..." Davin said. "But that still doesn't explain why the others are weaker."
"I was getting to that!" Maura said, annoyed. "During my journey when I went to Olivine City, a Pokemon contest was being held there. Blaziken, who was Combusken at the time, and I watched the whole thing from the television at the Pokemon Center. Before that day, I thought contests were just dumb beauty pageants for Pokemon. But then..."
Flashback
"Only 4 minutes left in this magnificent contest battle!" The MC announced.
The battle was between a woman by the name of Fedora, who had long, bright green hair that reached her waist and was wearing a pink and black dress with red heels, and a young girl named Haley.
Fedora was using a Tyranitar and Lapras against Haley's Jumpluff and Skarmory.
"Jumpluff, use Bullet Seed! Skarmory, use Air Cutter!"
The Cottonweed Pokemon fired glowing seeds from its mouth while the Armor Bird Pokemon flapped its wings to release crescent-shaped wind blades.
"Tyranitar, Fire Blast!" The Armor Pokemon released a star shaped fire attack from its mouth, destroying both Air Cutter and Bullet Seed at once.
Fedora raised her hand in the air as she called out her commands. "Now, Tyranitar, use Sandstorm! Lapras, use your Blizzard!"
Tyranitar whipped its tail to create a sandstorm while Lapras released a blizzard from its mouth. Both attacks went into the air, creating a swirling and eye-captivating ice and sand combination.
"Oh my! Sandstorm and Blizzard combine to make a beautiful creation! It looks just like an exotic star from the milky way!" The MC said.
Maura was truly amazed. "That's so astounding! I never would've thought two simple attacks could make something so... so... Wow!"
The shining blue and brown star came toward the opponents. They tried to destroy it with Solar Beam and Hidden Power, but the attacks simply bounced off. Soon, an impact was made and Skarmory and Jumpluff were knocked out.
"That decides it! With only 3 minutes and 36 seconds to spare, the winner of the Olivine City Pokemon contest is Fedora from Ecruteak City!"
The crowd stood up and made thunderous cheers at Fedora's performance.
Maura was still amazed at what she saw on the screen. She turned to her Pokemon. "Combusken, wasn't that amazing?!"
"Combusk." It nodded.
Maura looked at the television again as Fedora was awarded the ribbon. "She's really good. Never have I known that Pokemon could be so amazing in competitions like this." She smiled. "Maybe I could be like her... maybe I can make my Pokemon just as beautiful... It wouldn't hurt to try..."
End Flashback
"From that day, I started to compete in contests; to my shock, I lost every one I entered. Until I came to Hoenn, I never made it past the appeals round, so I did my best to work on my Pokemon's beauty and skill while still focusing on their battle techniques."
"That's really cool..." Davin smiled. "But you still haven't answered my question."
"ALL RIGHT, ALREADY!" She shouted. Quickly regaining her composure, she continued. "A year later, I decided to go to Hoenn after my journey was over and I decided to leave all of my Pokemon, except Blaziken, at my house." She turned to her Pokemon. "That's when I caught these guys, so naturally they would be weaker than Blaziken." She turned to Davin, annoyed. "Happy?"
"Yes." He nodded. "But..."
"WHAT NOW?!"
"Since Blaziken's more experienced than your other Pokemon, why didn't you use it first in your battle against Wattson?"
Maura calmed down. "My goal for this region was to use Blaziken as less as possible in gym battles and only focus it on contests; I only used it to beat Manectric because I knew it was Wattson's strongest Pokemon."
"I see... One more thing." This earned Davin a scowl of annoyance from her. "If you're from Johto, what were you doing in that house you brought me to when I was passed out?"
"That's my aunt's house." She explained. "I used to visit and spend the night there when I was younger. That's why I have a room there; sometimes, I visit her now and then, which is why it was decorated to my liking."
"Oh..."
"Any more questions?" Her eyes narrowed.
"Nah." He chuckled. "That's it."
