Chapter 7: A festival battle
Juliana reluctantly accepts Carmine's battle challenge before the festival. Let's see how she does this time
All three kids gathered in front of the Community Center as a makeshift battlefield. They would've done it in front of Kieran and Carmine's driveway but their grandparents didn't approve.
"Feel free to be dazzled by how great I look in my jinbei. I'll win while you're distracted!" Carmine boasted while flipping her hair.
Kieran on the other hand sighed in exasperation, unhappy that his bossy older sister was challenging Juliana to a battle on the first night of the festival. "Y-You can do this, Juliana!" He cheered for the opposing side.
Juliana smiled. "Thanks Kieran!"
Carmine looked at him shocked. "What?! Again Kiki?! You're cheering for her over me?!" She couldn't believe her brother.
You're the one challenging people for no reason! Kieran thought in his head.
"Leavanny, let's go!" Carmine shifted her focus back to the battle and sent out the bipedal leaf hooded Leavanny.
Juliana scanned Leavanny with her Rotom-phone. "Leavanny. The Nurturing Pokémon. A bug/grass type and the final evolved form of Sewaddle. Leavanny gathers leaves and produces a sticky thread to make clothes for Sewaddle and other small Pokémon."
"Gabite, come out!" Juliana threw her dusk ball and sent out the Cave Pokémon, Gabite. "Gabite, use dragon claw!" She called the first move. Gabite's claw glowed green and speedily rushed towards Leavanny.
But Carmine was prepared. "Quick Leavanny, x-scissor!" Leavanny's arms glowed green and crossed her arms before running fast. X-scissor and dragon claw collided and sent both Pokémon back. "Use string shot!" Leavanny spat out a white thread.
"Dodge and use rock tomb!" Gabite quickly avoided the string shot and fired rocks at Leavanny and landed a super effective hit. It slowed down her speed too.
"Leavanny, use leaf storm!" Leavanny released a cyclone of leaves at Gabite, pushing her back quite a bit.
"You okay?" Juliana asked. Gabite said yes. "Then use earth power!" Gabite made the ground shake and erupt, hitting Leavanny and making it stumble.
"Leavanny, use x-scissor!" Leavanny ran forward with arms crossed.
But the timing was off. Leavanny was too far away. "Use rock tomb!" Gabite threw more rocks at Leavanny as well as stopped x-scissor. Leavanny fell backwards, knocked out with swirly eyes.
Carmine recalled Leavanny before looking at Juliana furious. "Is this about the mask?! Quit it with those super effective moves! Mightyena!" She quickly sent out her Mightyena who lowered Gabite's attack with its intimidate ability. "Use crunch!" Mightyena quickly leaped and bit Gabite's fin hard, hurting her. "Play rough!" Mightyena beat up Gabite in white smoke. The Cave Pokémon took heavy damage from the fairy move.
"Dragon claw!" Juliana commanded. Gabite used her green glowing claw and quickly swiped Mightyena just as hard to push it back.
"Use howl!" Carmine commanded. Mightyena howled to boost its attack.
"Gabite, sandstorm!" Juliana quickly called. Gabite summoned a sandstorm to the battlefield. The swirling sands hurt Mightyena a bit.
Carmine growled under her breath. "Mightyena, find Gabite!" Mightyena started sniffing for Gabite and ignoring the sandstorm. It locked in on Gabite's scent. "Play rough!" Mightyena ran forward.
But Juliana didn't slow down on moves. "Gabite, use dragon claw!" Gabite's claw glowed green and she quickly slashed Mightyena hard and landed a critical hit. The sandstorm cleared, revealing an exhausted Gabite and unconscious Mightyena with swirly eyes.
"What?!" Carmine was shocked at the results. She begrudgingly recalled Mightyena. "How am I down two Pokémon that quick?!"
Juliana saw that Gabite was getting tired and knelt down. "Thanks, Gabite, return." She recalled Gabite. "Rest up now."
"Come out, Morpeko!" Carmine sent out a yellow and black Pikachu look alike.
Juliana scanned Morpeko with her Rotom-phone. "Morpeko. The Two-Sided Pokémon. An electric and dark type. Morpeko finds seeds and stores them protectively until it gets hungry and eats them."
"Sewaddle, let's go!" Juliana sent out Sewaddle. "Use string shot!" Sewaddle spat out a white thread at Morpeko, reducing its speed harshly.
"Morpeko, lash out!" Carmine commanded.
"Energy ball!" Juliana quickly called.
Morpeko moved too slow and was hit with Sewaddle's energy ball.
"Energy ball once more!"
"Use thunder wave!"
Morpeko released yellow electric rings and Sewaddle launched an energy ball. Unfortunately for Sewaddle, Morpeko dodged energy ball and she got paralyzed by thunder wave.
Carmine smiled and taunted her. "Should've stuck with Gabite. Things are finally going my way after all."
The insult stung Juliana, but she wasn't gonna let that stop her. "We're backing down! Sewaddle, string shot!" Sewaddle tried to move but the paralysis was getting to her.
""Use aura wheel!" Carmine commanded. Morpeko switched to hangry mode and slammed Sewaddle with a red and blue wheel and boosted its speed. It switched back to fully belly mode.
"Hang in there Sewaddle!" Juliana called out to the struggling. "Come on! I know you can do it!"
"It's over!" Carmine taunted Juliana. "Morpeko, use bite!"
All of the sudden, Sewaddle was glowing white and blue! Everyone was surprised. "Sewaddle?" Juliana asked.
"Sewaddle's evolving!" Kieran pointed out.
Sewaddle's body grew bigger, kind of a ball shape, and was wrapped in leaves. She also had two long leaves on the top of her head. It also looked like her paralysis wore off. Amazed at her newly evolved Pokémon, Juliana had to scan with her Rotom-phone. "Swadloon. The Leaf-Wrapped Pokémon. A bug/grass type and the evolved form of Sewaddle. Swadloon bundles itself up in leaves to keep warm from the cold and uses the leaves on its head to detect its surroundings."
"That's awesome you evolved Swadloon!" Juliana told her Pokémon affectionately, to which Swadloon chirped happily in return.
"Seems like you got potential after all…" Carmine gave Juliana a very dry compliment. She quickly snapped out of it and got back to the battle. "But you're still going down! Bite em' Morpeko!" Morpeko ran with its mouth open.
"Razor leaf!" Juliana commanded with a boost of confidence inside her. Swadloon quickly shot glowing green leaves directly into Morpeko's mouth, hurting it and pushing it back.
Morpeko was coughing up leaves. Carmine panicked and got concerned. "Morpeko, spit them out!"
"Use energy ball!" Swadloon launched a powerful energy ball at the distracted Morpeko and defeated it. Juliana smiled at the Leaf-Wrapped Pokémon. "You did Swadloon! Way to go!" Swadloon smiled back and chirped with joy.
Carmine recalled Morpeko in frustration. Why was she having all the bad luck? She trained during her field trip assignment. She pulled out her last poke ball and sent out her final Pokémon. "Let's do this, Sinistcha!" Sinistcha was the last one to appear.
"Let's go Swadloon!" Juliana said with passion. "Use string shot!" Swadloon spat sticky white thread.
"Dodge it!" Carmine commanded. Sinistcha easily dodged string shot. Swadloon spat more thread, but Sinistcha kept dodging. "Use shadow ball!" Sinistcha launched a spooky purple ball at Swadloon and hit her. Swadloon was getting tired.
"Can you keep going?" Juliana asked. Swadloon promptly got up and said yes. "Then use bug buzz!" She said with determination.
"Foul play!" Carmine was determined too. Determined to not let Juliana beat her.
Swadloon released loud soundwaves at Sinistcha, but the Matcha Pokémon ignored the move and charged straight for Swadloon and beat her up with its broken cup. Sadly for Swadloon, it was enough to knock her out of the match. She was left with swirly eyes.
"One down! Yay Sinistcha!" Carmine shouted, feeling relieved of her once losing streak. Sinistcha felt the same way.
Kieran on the sidelines felt worried for Juliana. Up until this point, she hasn't lost any Pokémon against his sister. Come on Juliana…show Sis what you're made of! He thought in his head.
Juliana recalled Swadloon and congratulated for her efforts. "Thank you Swadloon. You take a nice rest." Juliana sent out her next Pokémon. "Meowscarada, let's go!" The Magician Pokémon, Meowscarada made an appearance. "Let's win for Swadloon, kay'?" The bipedal cat meowed yes and was ready to fight.
"Hmph!" Carmine felt her desire for revenge against Juliana burned up. She remembered the last battle between her Sinistcha against Meowscarada. It didn't go well. "Not a chance! I'm gonna crush you and go to the festival feeling like a WINNER!"
"Use night slash!" Juliana commanded. Meowscarada conjured a purple wand in her hand and sprinted towards Sinistcha.
"Use shadow ball rapid fire!" Carmine commanded. Sinistcha launched multiple shadow balls. Using her speed and agility, Meowscarada moved swiftly left and right to avoid the shadow balls. She critically slashed Sinistcha with the super effective dark type move and knocked it back.
"Don't back down, Sinistcha! Use matcha gotcha!" Carmine hoped to get Meowscarada burned like last time. Sinistcha launched hot green tea at Meowscarada.
"Dodge Meowscarada!" Juliana quickly called. Meowscarada dodged the tea by jumping in the air. "Flower trick!" She snapped her fingers, and a faux bouquet landed a critical hit on top of Sinistcha. "Now Acrobatics!" Juliana commanded. Meowscarada sprinted and landed multiple hits on Sinistcha in the air, dealing heavy damage to it. But Sinistcha toughed it out.
"Sinistcha, matcha gotcha!" In a last-ditch effort, Sinistcha launched more hot tea at Meowscarada while she was in the air. The tea splashed her, but it wasn't burned.
"Flower trick!" Juliana called. Meowscarada snapped her fingers and landed another critical faux bouquet on the tired and surprised Sinistcha. Once the pollen cleared, it revealed an unconscious Sinistcha, much to Carmine's shock.
"HEY! You're supposed to be enamored and distracted by festival style!" The red-haired girl ranted in anger. She quickly took a deep breath and got calmer. "Oh well! It's not like beating me was gonna cause another mask to magically appear. Now then, let me get MY mask…"
Moments later, the siblings met up with Juliana, who healed her Pokémon while she waited. They had plastic masks on the sides of their heads. Carmine had a Munkidori mask, and Kieran wore the ogre mask.
"How's that? Looks good, don't I?" Carmine asked with pride.
Kieran didn't like that his friend was left without a mask, so he took his mask off and attempted to give it to Juliana. "I-It's OK Juliana… You can just wear my mask."
Juliana was surprised by the offer. "Kieran? Don't you want–"
"WHAT?! No!" Carmine got angry hearing what her brother had said. She swiped his mask and forcefully put it back on over his face. "I already said it's first come, first served! And besides, that's YOUR ogre mask! You've always loved that mask best!"
Kieran gently lifted his mask up to make direct eye contact with his sister. "Yeah, but–"
"No buts about it!" Carmine shouted some more. "Juliana can just get her own mask at the festival. She's fine! Now move it! Let's go!" Carmine gleefully took off, not wanting to miss out on the festivities.
"Oof… Sorry, Juliana…" Kieran apologized with a heavy sigh of exasperation.
Juliana shook her head as she knew Kieran did nothing wrong. In fact, she was flattered by the act of kindness from him. "You have nothing to apologize for, Kieran. I'm not the one making a fuss over a mask," She smiled at him. "I do appreciate that you offered me a mask to wear."
Kieran gave her a small smile back. "I-I didn't want you feeling left out…And…" The smile quickly faded, thinking back to how his sister acted towards Juliana. "I know my sis seems kinda harsh, b-but she's really not that bad…" Kieran looked up and let out a stifled laugh. "Actually, she was tearin' the shed apart, tryin' to find a third mask for you before you got there…"
Juliana let out a soft gasp of surprise. "Really…?" she asked with genuine sincerity.
"Yeah…" Kieran laughed a little more. "O-Oh, but, uh, don't tell her I said that, Juliana!" The laughter eventually settled down. "The festival's held at Kitakami Hall. W-we should probably get going. Don't wanna keep my sis waiting. C'mon."
As the two were walking down Reveler's road, Juliana had some thoughts in her head. I didn't think Carmine would go out of her way to find a mask for me. Maybe she does have a soft spot for me… She did tell me to look out for Kieran when we first started the signboard assignment…, it was thoughtful of Carmine, perhaps she was warming up to the Naranja Academy girl. For now, Juliana wanted to enjoy the festival with her new friend, Kieran.
Note: Juliana gets another win against Carmine!
Juliana's Pokémon on hand: Meowscarada (F), Swadloon (F), Cutiefly (Shiny, F), Lucario (M), Espeon (F), Gabite (F)
Juliana's ride Pokémon: Koraidon
Pokémon in Juliana's boxes: Dachsbun (F), Lycanroc (Midday Form, F)
Next is Chapter 8 where the festival fun is.