Chapter Thirty-Seven: An Eeveentful Afternoon

Celadon City was a busy city in a very different way from Saffron. Where Saffron City had seemed to be a city mostly of large businesses and offices, Celadon City seemed to be far more about the boutiques, bakeries, and other small stores. It was more like Kalos than any of the other cities Serena had been to in Kanto thus far, and she instantly felt at home there.

"This city is beautiful," Serena said, looking at a small patch of flowers surrounding one of the trees that lined the sidewalk. "There are so many colors everywhere."

("I guess that's why the badge here is called the Rainbow Badge,") Pikachu said with a grin.

Serena was so busy checking out all the storefronts and side streets as they walked past that it felt like no time at all had passed when they reached the stadium where the Exposition would be held, even though they'd crossed nearly half the city to get there.

As soon as she'd registered, she turned to Ash and said, "Let's go and explore! There were so many cute stores on the way here, and my guidebook said they have the biggest department store in all of Kanto here."

Ash smiled and said, "Sure, why not? We've got plenty of time."

Serena smiled brightly and grabbed Ash's hand, pulling him along with her. "Alright! Come on, that side street over there first…"

Even though Serena didn't end up buying anything in the many small stores they visited, she had a lot of fun browsing. As they explored, Serena noticed a lot of posters advertising the Game Corner, which she'd read about in her guidebook. Apparently they were making good use of the upcoming Exposition by giving discounts coins for the arcade and casino.

Ash noticed the posters as well and said, "Want to check it out? Arcades are usually fun."

Serena nodded. "Yeah, sure! I haven't been in an arcade in years, now that I think about it," she said.

"Well, all the more reason to go, then! Let's go!"

This time it was Ash who grabbed Serena's hand and pulled her along, and Serena suspected that it was at least partially to prevent her from going into yet another store without buying anything. He hadn't complained all afternoon, but she did know that he usually didn't enjoy shopping much — although she'd only ever seen that when Miette made him do it; he never seemed to mind with Serena.

The Game Corner was an ostentatious building, very different from the smaller, much more charming buildings around it, but clearly they were doing good business, as it was very crowded when Serena and Ash went inside. Fortunately, it was a very large building and there were many counters to buy coins, and so many different games that it almost seemed like the entire city at once could come here. And to think there was another floor for the casino, and even an arena in the basement where novelty tournaments were held, and which people could bet on.

"Oh, let's play that one," Ash said, pointing at one of the cabinets in the back of the arcade.

"Double Dragonite?" Serena asked, reading the name. On the side of the cabinet was a drawing of two angry-looking Dragonite, with their equally angry-looking Trainers beneath them.

Ash nodded enthusiastically. "Yep! The story is something about these two guys, Bimmy and Jimmy, and they need to save…I don't know, really. You just keep moving right and punching people, and if you get to the end you fight each other."

"So…what do Dragonite have to do with it?" Serena asked in confusion.

("It just sounded cool, I bet,") Pikachu said.

"No, there is a story," Ash said. "I, uh, just never really bothered to learn it. But it's fun, I promise."

Serena giggled. "Alright, then, let's give it a try," she said.

They inserted a coin into the machine and Serena grabbed one of the two joysticks, while Ash took the other.

"Okay, so how does it work?" she asked when the characters appeared on the screen.

"Move to the guys coming in from the right and press buttons until they fall over," Ash said, completely seriously.

Pikachu gave him an incredulous look. ("Ash, I know you use unorthodox strategies, but really? Just mashing buttons?") he asked.

Ash shrugged. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," he said.

To Serena's surprise and amusement, Ash's 'strategy' worked fairly well until they reached the first boss, who quickly made short work of them.

Ash groaned. "I used to be better at this," he said with a sigh.

Serena laughed, and Pikachu said, ("I am so glad you're not like this in battles…")

Before they could decide if they wanted to try again, an employee of the Game Corner approached them.

"Excuse me, would you happen to be Serena?" he asked.

"Yeah, I am. Why?" Serena asked nervously.

The employee didn't answer, and since he was wearing sunglasses, she couldn't see his eyes. He turned to Ash and asked, "Then you are Ash, the runner-up from the Kalos League?"

Ash nodded. "That's me," he confirmed.

The employee nodded. "Great! In that case, I have a proposition you might find interesting," he said. "We are currently hosting a Double Double tournament in our basement arena, and having such talented Trainers participating would be an honor."

"Double Double?" Ash repeated.

The employee nodded. "Yes. It's a battle where a team of two Trainers use two Pokémon each. It's a test of both the synergy between a Trainer's Pokémon and the Trainers themselves. The tournament is structured a bit differently from what you might expect, but we'll explain the rules further if you're interested in participating."

"How many participants are there?" Ash asked.

"It differs," the employee said. "That is one of the ways in which this tournament is a bit special. Each battle is counted separately and there is no real final. Instead, the audience votes on all the match winners of the day to determine who won the day's event, and you're free to have as many battles as you're able to agree on with other teams. Creating a winning streak will raise your chances of winning the audience vote, but losing might make them overlook you even if you get a spectacular win later. It all depends on your confidence, and the shape your Pokémon are in."

"It sounds like fun to me," Ash said with a grin. He looked at Serena and asked, "What do you think, Serena?"

Serena considered for a moment. On one hand, it would probably be fun, because the doubles tournament she and Ash had competed in before had been a blast. On the other, battling wasn't her main interest, and she didn't really want to risk injuring her Pokémon just days before the Exposition. But the memory of the battle with Houndoom came back to her, and she realized that she and her Pokémon would probably do well do battle more often, just in case they ran into another super-powerful Pokémon later on.

"Yeah, let's do it," she said.

The Game Corner employee inclined his head. "Wonderful. If you'll follow me, I'll take you to the registration desk."

The employee led them to the elevator and pushed the button for the basement arena. There seemed to be floors even lower, but the buttons for those floors had red lights next to them, marking them as disabled. Perhaps they were for storage rooms and the like. The elevator doors opened and they stepped out into a hallway, at the end of which was a set of double doors with a booth on each side. The one on the left had 'BETS' glowing above it, while the other said, 'REGISTRATION'. The employee led Serena and Ash to the registration booth and said to the person behind the desk.

"Two more participants. Ash from Pallet Town and Serena from Vaniville Town."

The woman seemed to recognize the names and said, "Alright. I'll enter them." She looked at Serena and Ash and said, "To arrange a battle, just find another team inside and talk to the man next to the arena entrance. He'll add you to the list and you'll be able to battle as soon as it's your turn. Waiting time at the moment will be around ten to fifteen minutes, I think. Good luck to both of you!"

"I'll be leaving you here, then," the employee who'd brought them downstairs said. "Have fun, and good luck."

He raised his hand and walked away, and Serena and Ash went through the doors, ending up in what appeared to be a lobby of some sort. A large window ahead gave them a view of the court itself, where a match was currently going on. It looked extremely crowded on the field, with eight Pokémon battling at once, but the audience seemed to love it. Along the left wall were more booths where people could place bets, and the dim lighting made Serena a bit uncomfortable, as if they were in some kind of illegal den, rather than in a Game Corner on a nice and sunny afternoon.

Before she could look around more, she and Ash were approached by two young women who looked like they were sisters, wearing the same shirt with a picture of an Eevee on it.

"Hey!" the girl on the left, whose hair was pink and black, said.

"Want to battle?" the girl on the right asked. Her hair was very light blue and green.

"Of course!" Ash said immediately.

"Cool! I'm Eve!" the girl on the left said.

"And I'm Vee," the girl on the right said.

("And you probably like Eevee, don't you?") Pikachu asked idly, even though they likely wouldn't be able to understand him.

"I'm Ash, nice to meet you," Ash said.

"And I'm Serena," Serena said with a small nod.

"We know you," Eve said. "We've seen you and your Sylveon in the Expositions. She's so pretty!"

"Thanks!" Serena said with a smile.

"Are you going to use her in battle today?" Vee asked.

Serena shook her head. "Probably not. She doesn't really like to fight. I was thinking of using Pancham and Misdreavus, actually."

"Aww," Eve and Vee said at the same time, clearly disappointed. Still, they seemed to accept Serena's decision, because they didn't go on about it, and Eve headed over to the employee near the door to arrange the battle itself.

Vee, meanwhile, said, "Eve and I were thinking of entering the Celadon Exposition as well, but we've never done anything like it. Is it hard?"

"It's difficult to come up with a good routine, but actually performing is a lot of fun," Serena said with a smile. "As long as you and your Pokémon trust each other, you can absolutely do it."

Vee smiled. "That's a relief to hear. We're pretty confident in our skills in battle, but this is so different…and you're competing, too! Eve and I are big fans, actually. It's so cool that we're meeting you here!"

She looked at Ash and said, "I also know who you are, but only vaguely. Your Exposition in Lavender Town was really amusing, though!"

Ash grinned sheepishly and said, "Thanks. I'm a bit better at battling than performing, I guess."

"Well, you'll get to show it in a moment," Eve said, rejoining the group. "We're up next. When I mentioned your names, the guy said he'd move us up the order. It pays to be famous, apparently," she added with a grin at Serena, who smiled uncomfortably.

If she was getting preferential treatment here, people were bound to get angry, and then the odds of someone like Hadrian showing up at the Exposition would only increase, not to mention the possibility that people here might get angry of getting jumped in the queue.

She didn't get long to think about it, though, because the battle on the court ended, and she, Ash, and Eve and Vee were called in.

"Good luck!" Eve and Vee said at the same time.

"Thanks! You too," Ash said, and Serena smiled at both of them.

"Let's do this," Ash said, grinning his pre-battle grin when he looked at Serena.

Seeing Ash's expression pushed all the worries away from Serena's mind. Together, the two of them could handle anything; she was sure of it.

"Yeah!"

"Charizard and Meganium, I choose you!"

"Come on out, Pancham and Misdreavus!"

"Let's show them what we can do, Espeon and Umbreon!"

"Go have fun, Leafeon and Glaceon!"

("Why does this not surprise me?") Pikachu deadpanned from Ash's shoulder.

Serena wasn't exactly surprised either, with the sisters' hair color, shirts, and even names, and looking by types alone, she was pretty confident she and Ash had the upper hand. Pancham could take Umbreon, Misdreavus would have an advantage against Espeon, and Charizard had an advantage against both Leafeon and Glaceon. Only Meganium didn't have an opponent weak to her, but that didn't seem to bother her as she stared down her four opponents with a cocky grin.

("Bring it!") she yelled.

"Drain Punch on Umbreon, Pancham! And Misdreavus, Shadow Ball on Espeon!"

"Meganium, Body Slam on Leafeon! Charizard, Flamethrower on Glaceon!"

"Umbreon, use Snarl, Espeon, Psychic on Pancham!"

"Glaceon, use Ice Fang on Meganium! Leafeon, Swords Dance!"

Pancham dashed forward towards Umbreon, who deftly dodged the attack and Snarled, sending a purple ring of sound forwards that hit both Misdreavus and Charizard.

Misdreavus winced, but still managed to send a Shadow Ball at Espeon, who leapt aside to stay safe and trapped Pancham in a pinkish glow, before launching him across the arena.

Meganium, meanwhile thundered forwards. Glaceon lunged at her with glowing icy-blue fangs, but Meganium just barreled through him on her way to Leafeon, whose leaf had begun to glow as he swung it around. He didn't get to finish his move, however, as Meganium's Body Slam crushed him into the ground.

Charizard, who'd angrily shaken off Umbreon's earlier Snarl, had taken off and bore down on Glaceon with his Flamethrower, but Glaceon was just in time to avoid the attack and reset.

"They're agile," Ash said, but he didn't seem put out by it.

"Yeah…" Serena agreed.

It made sense that Eve and Vee would try to match up the fights in such a way that it would cover their weaknesses, of course, and if their agility was anywhere close to Sylveon's it would be hard for Pancham and Misdreavus to connect. Unless, of course, she used an attack that didn't need to be perfectly accurate…

"Misdreavus, Confuse Ray! Pancham, sunglasses and Dark Pulse on Espeon!"

Misdreavus nearly cheered as she flew slightly forward, and Serena averted her eyes against the flash of light that managed to catch both Espeon and Umbreon, who looked around dazed for a moment. When they spotted each other, their expressions became terrified, and they instantly began attacking each other, making them easy targets for Pancham's Dark Pulse.

"Espeon, Umbreon! Snap out of it!" Eve yelled.

"Glaceon, Ice Beam on Misdreavus!" Vee ordered.

"Meganium, stop the attack with your vines!"

Serena briefly wondered how on earth Ash planned to stop an Ice Beam with vines, when Ice would be super-effective against Grass, but she'd once again underestimated Ash's particular brand of battle insanity. Meganium did use her vines — to pick up Leafeon and throw him bodily in the way of Glaceon's Ice Beam.

Leafeon cried out in pain and Vee looked shocked, which Ash made good use of. "Charizard, Dragon Claw on Glaceon!"

Charizard blindsided Glaceon, who'd still been staring in horror at the fact he'd just attacked his partner, and the glowing Dragon Claw sent him skidding along the ground.

"Pancham, Drain Punch on Umbreon! Misdreavus, finish off Espeon with Hex!"

"Meganium, take out Leafeon! Headbutt! Charizard, Overheat!"

Umbreon, who hadn't taken much damage from Pancham's Dark Pulse, was shaking off the effects of Misdreavus's Confuse Ray, but Pancham had already reached him and slammed a glowing green fist into his side.

Meganium reached Leafeon, who'd gotten back to his feet, and slammed her head into his with a resounding thud, finally knocking him out at the same moment Charizard's Overheat connected with Glaceon and took him out of the fight.

A dark purple glow appeared around Espeon, who winced in pain. Misdreavus grinned widely. Her necklace glowed as she fed on the fear of her opponents, and her gleeful expression made Serena realize that even though Misdreavus was generally nice, she still got a thrill out of scaring others out of their mind. She looked so ravenous at finally being allowed to really feed again that even Serena was beginning to get scared of her again — and Misdreavus seemed to notice.

The glow in her eyes disappeared and Espeon fell to the ground, struggling to get up. Misdreavus shot Serena a worried look, and in her moment of distraction…

"Shadow Ball, Umbreon!"

Umbreon immediately responded, firing a dark purple ball, but just before it connected, Pancham intercepted it with an Aerial Ace.

("Are you okay?!") he asked Misdreavus, who nodded.

("I'm fine. Thanks, Pancham,") she said quietly.

Pancham now faced down Umbreon and raised his fists. ("You're going down,") he said.

"Great job, Pancham!" Serena yelled. "Drain Punch, let's go! Misdreavus…Shadow Ball, make sure Espeon doesn't get back into this."

"Espeon, counter with your own Shadow Ball, quickly!"

Misdreavus looked a bit uncertain, but she did fire a Shadow Ball at Espeon, who was too slow to react and took the full hit, meaning that now, only Umbreon was still standing. Both Meganium and Charizard stepped forward, but Ash said, "Leave it to Pancham, you two."

Pancham's right fist glowed green, but Umbreon was agile and managed to dodge nearly every strike. But when he made a backflip to avoid a particularly fierce attack, Serena yelled, "Stone Edge, now!"

Pancham instantly dropped the glow from his fist and stomped on the floor. A glowing pillar of rock burst from the ground and slammed into Umbreon, blasting him into the wall and ending the battle.

Serena breathed a sigh of relief and shot Misdreavus a guilty look. She'd nearly cost her own Pokémon the victory…

"You did really well," Eve said when they shook hands in the middle of the field a moment later. "I really thought we'd be able to take you, but you're too strong."

"But we had fun fighting you," Vee added, "and now we know what to expect in the Exposition! Thanks for the battle!"

"Thank you too! It was fun," Ash said with a grin.

"Yeah, you're strong," Serena said with a smile, still a bit distracted.

When they walked out of the arena, Ash and Pikachu went out to look for another opponent, and Serena looked up at Misdreavus and said, "Sorry about earlier."

Misdreavus shook her head. ("It's okay. I just…didn't think I'd scare you,") she said. ("What happened?")

"I…saw how much you were enjoying it," Serena said. "And I don't usually let you do stuff like this…"

("I wouldn't do it to you anymore,") Misdreavus said. ("But…I did miss this. More than I realized, actually…")

Serena nodded slowly. "Right…" she said.

("Let's talk about it later, okay?") Misdreavus said. ("For now, let's just be happy we won!")

Serena looked at Misdreavus, who didn't look scary at all anymore now, just her normal friendly self. She smiled.

"Right," she said, more strongly now.

Just in time, too, because Ash came back and said, "I've found another team to battle! Let's get ready!"

Once again, it was Ash's enthusiasm that really allowed Serena to focus on the present again. "Yeah, we've got this!"

Giovanni idly stroked Persian while he observed the battles in the Game Corner. It was nice that some of his 'employees' were capable of thinking on their own on occasion, and that one of them had spotted Serena and Ash in the arcade. The battles would be invaluable in gauging their strength and finding out how they had managed to best his experiments in the forest. He had noticed the momentary confusion in Serena's Misdreavus, and wondered what had caused it. Such a weakness might be worth exploiting, further down the line. He smiled. The Exposition circuit really was a gift that kept on giving, it seemed…

The bad puns return, but I remain unrepentant. I also keep making things difficult for myself with these odd battle formats, but they're fun to practice, at least. I haven't really found a flow I'm satisfied with yet, so there will be probably be some rough edges around fights like these as I work out how I want to portray them.

In any case, I think at this point it's safe to say this fic is on a two-day update schedule. Even though I have time to write, I'm also doing a lot of other things and a two-day schedule just gives me some more time to think about what I want to do with each chapter. So in all likelihood, see you on Tuesday!