So, guess whose laptop is fucked six ways to Sunday and is forced to update his fics on his iPad for the foreseeable future? This loser, that's who! The reason I'm using my iPad rather than my phone is because I'm also updating this story on Wattpad, which doesn't allow me to update shit on my phone, but does allow me do do that on this device. What's the difference? I don't know either. But enough about my technological difficulties (emphasis on the no logic), on with the story.
Chapter 52:
Balancing Act
The day after Dawn and Zoey arrived at Petalburg, the show that the three girls would be putting on is officially announced. All across the region, and indeed, across the world, excitement buzzes, as people make sure to stay up-to-date on when it's happening and where. Dawn and Zoey decide to stay in Littleroot Town, in order to make it harder for Kenny to find them. "Once we get back on the road again," Max muses to Bonnie as she trains for Norman's return, "it'll be quite confusing to run into our friend Kenny after meeting Stalker Kenny." Bonnie chuckles. "Yeah," she agrees. "A lot of people we meet seem to share names with other people." "Tell me about it," Max replies.
Speaking of Norman, he finally returns to Petalburg the next day. Bonnie is ecstatic about this, and immediately demands a gym battle, which makes Norman laugh. "Just give me a moment to recover from the trip and reopen the gym," he tells her. "We'll have our battle right after that." Bonnie nods enthusiastically at this, then runs into the house to wait for him to be ready. Max joins her, eager to watch this battle.
After about 30 minutes of waiting, Norman is finally ready for his battle with Bonnie. When he informs the duo of this, the pair leap out of their seats and follow him into the gym. Ash, Serena, Pikachu, Caroline, May, Drew, Dawn and Zoey all come along to watch, which makes Bonnie more determined to beat Norman. She beat her brother after all, so surely she can beat her best friend's dad. The referee goes over the usual rules, then asks if all parties are ready. When they both confirm that they seem he declares the battle to begin. Norman and Bonnie look at each other, then Norman calls to her, "Don't expect me to take it easy on you just because my son likes you!" Bonnie blushes at this, but shakes it away. "Don't worry," she calls back. "I would've been insulted if you did!" Then, the two of them send out their pokémon.
First up from Norman's team is Slakoth. Bonnie sends out Dedenne first. Slakoth starts off with Scratch, but Dedenne is able to dodge it. Then, he launches a Thunderbolt back at Slakoth. It hits the Slacker Pokémon dead on, doing a lot of damage. But Slakoth doesn't go down just yet. It gets back up, then uses Hidden Power. Bonnie orders Dedenne to strike it with Quick Attack. Doing so allows him to avoid the attack and do more damage. Slakoth uses scratch again, this time actually landing the hit. Dedenne is thrown backward, but still manages to throw another Thunderbolt. Slakoth fails to dodge this too, and faints from the attack.
"Slakoth is unable to battle!" the ref announces. Norman can't help but grin at this. "Impressive," he tells her. "Probably should've expected my son's best friend to be a skilled battler. But don't think you've won just yet!" Then, he sends out his second pokémon, another sloth, which Bonnie's Pokédex calls a Vigoroth. Bonnie returns Dedenne for this, who has been weakened a bit from Slakoth throwing him backwards, and sends out Phanpy. Phanpy begins the battle with Mud Shot, but Vigoroth uses its long arms to swat it away. Then, it uses Hyper Beam, which successfully hits Phanpy. She stumbles a bit, but doesn't go down. Instead, she goes for an Earthquake, which damages Vigoroth, but not enough. Vigoroth uses Fury Swipes, each one striking Phanpy. She tries to fight back with Mud Shot, and though it damages Vigoroth more, it doesn't knock him out. Vigoroth uses Slash one more time, which throws her into a wall, knocking her out.
"Phanpy is unable to battle!" shouts the ref. Bonnie returns her and sends Dedenne back out. He's still a bit hurt from his battle with Slakoth, but is raring to go. So, she has him use Play Rough. Vigoroth takes it, then uses Flamethrower. Dedenne's fur gets singed, so he rolls over a few times to put it out. During that time, Vigoroth slams its hand down on the floor, causing Dedenne to be thrown into the air. Then, it uses Scratch, throwing Dedenne away. He manages to get back up, but his lags are shaking slightly. Still, he rushes in with Quick Attack. Vigoroth tries to counter with Fury Swipes, but Dedenne avoids its arms and lands the attack. Then, he swaps to Nuzzle, paralysing Vigoroth. While it's paralysed, Dedenne uses a mixture of Play Rough and Nuzzle to whittle away at its stamina. But eventually, Vigoroth is able to break through the paralysis and stroke Dedenne hard. Dedenne flies backwards and hits a wall, getting knocked out. Vigoroth stands triumphantly, before toppling over as well.
"Both pokémon are unable to battle," calls the ref. "Meaning both trainers are down to their last pokémon." Norman grins again as he returns Vigoroth. Then, without a word, he releases his final pokémon, Slaking. Bonnie gets a bit nervous here. She knows that this is Norman's ace, it'll be a tough battle. But still, she has to win this, so she sends out her final pokémon. Braixen leaps out of her ball, ready for battle. She stares Slaking down, trying her best not to show fear. In response, Slaking starts off right away with Focus Punch. While it hits her dead on, it doesn't do much damage to her since she's a Psychic Type, but it still hurts her. Still, she starts throwing Slaking around with Psychic, then covering it with fire.
Slaking cries out, then fires Hyper Beam. Braixen blocks it with her Psychic abilities, but in doing so she lets Slaking go. It drops to the floor, then uses Earthquake. Braixen gets quite hurt from this, giving Slaking the chance to rush forth again with Focus Punch. But, Braixen dodges it, fires another Flamethrower, then uses Psybeam. Slaking is thrown backwards. It tries to get up, but Braixen uses it again and again. Finally, Slaking rolls out of the way and fires Hyper Beam right back at her. Both attacks clash in the middle of the arena, and starts being pushed back and forward. It looks like this could be anyone's match. Then, the clashing beams explode. Both pokémon are thrown back, but Braixen recovers quickly. She runs in with Flame Charge and hits Slaking dead on, knocking him out.
"Slaking is unable to battle!" the ref declares. "Making challenger Bonnie Citron the winner of this match!" Bonnie cheers loudly and hugs Braixen tightly. The spectators come down to the main gym to congratulate them both for the excellent battle. Norman nods in agreement, then pulls out the Balance Badge. "I believe you've earned this," he tells her. "Now, I need to hand this to you quickly, or else my son might snatch it from me." Max goes red at this. "Will you please just let me live that down!" he exclaims. Bonnie looks at them all curiously. Max glares at his family, as well as Ash, demanding that they not say a word. But, May ignores him.
"Back when Ash defeated dad, Max couldn't accept that our dad could be defeated," she explains. "So, before dad could hand it to Ash, Max snatched the badge away and locked himself in a room." Everyone laughs at this, and Bonnie looks at Max with a bright grin on her face. "Really?" she asked. Ash and the Maples nod, which makes Max go redder. "Well, you know what this means Max?" she asks. When Max says nothing, she continues, "It means, that you can no longer tease me about Laverre ever again." Max sighs. "Yeah that's fair," he admits.
Sorry that this one was shorter than normal, and also that it came out a day late, both are for the same reason. So, as it turns out, my laptop is more broken than I thought, and as a result, it may not work anymore. The thing is, saved on that laptop is the only draft of a book that I have been working on for 9 years. To put into context on just how devastating this loss is, I'm 20. This wasn't even a fan fiction, it was a proper, full length novel that I'm planning on publishing, all gone. So, as you can imagine I was pretty fucking devastated. But, I managed to get this out, and will probably not be able to upload again until Friday. So, I'll see you all then.