Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. I do own my OCs.
The school year has ended and summer has begun. Topaz, Donut and Lou have grown closer, smarter and stronger over the last few months and are excited to show far they have come. The Little Cup Tournament is finally here and Topaz has made a vow to face Jade off in the finals. Will his team prevail or will their light be snuffed out? Let's see shall we?
~x~
Location: Sunyshore Elementary School Field.
It was a hot midsummer's day and there was a large crowd at the elementary school battlefield. Humans and Pokemon alike sat with interest as they absorbed the announcer's every word.
At the podium stood the school principal, Beachstreet, wiped his brow every few words as he spoke enthusiastically despite the heat. Personally, I found the heat perfect and the weather divine. I took in my surroundings admiring the various colorful trees and wild Starly flitting from one to the other.
The new rose garden the school had recently planted glistened with dew from its early morning watering. The grass was a vivid, healthy green and the wind blew through my hair calming my thoughts.
Truly a Sunyshore day.
"I would like to thank everyone for coming today! The school year has ended for now, but we all must remember to stay vigilant and diligent. It is always a refreshing sight to see my students begin training Pokemon and so we hold this tournament to commemorate and showcase their efforts in a controlled space. I have no doubts all of our participants will grow up to be exceptional battlers and strategists!" The crowd applauded Principal Beachstreet as he continued on with his speech about the Little Cup tournament.
There were more people than I expected around, but I suppose it makes sense as families want to see how their kids handle themselves in official trainer settings, even in something as juvenile as a Little Cup.
I sat next to Volkner and Roland who stuck out a bit as no one else amongst the crowd carried so much presence… except well Vika. She and her Electivire cast large shadows as well, but in a different light. Volkner is a gym leader, the strongest in the region, and he's come to watch me fight.
I won't lie. I'm a bit giddy to show him how much I've improved these past months with Donut and Lou. His team helps them train a little bit when they are free and he gives me tips, but as we are right now we wouldn't be able to handle his training. We have to show we're worth it and decimating the competition should be able to prove that.
Donut has gotten the hang of charging his electricity which means his electric attacks are much more potent and he's also mastered the premise of Rollout meaning he's got another highly useful physical move at his disposal.
Lou on the other hand has become an adept user of Spark and has grown a bit in size since I had caught him. Lou, while strong when I had first caught him, had a lot of hidden strength to be unlocked, but I believe he just needed a stable home life for a bit and he was able to grow in the way he desired.
Donut was vaguely paying attention to the speech inside my bag. Even though it was a hot summer's day he still didn't mind sitting inside it. I checked and the insulation is decent, but with all that fur he must be a little hot right? Either way, there was where he remained while Lou was by my feet.
I've had to warn people about him due to his small stature most people tend to not notice he's even there. I really do not want to deal with an angry Lou who had just been stepped on, but luckily he prefers to stay close to me. On the way over most trainers gave Roland a wide berth anyway, not necessarily out of fear… well that very well could be a factor, but I'd like to think respect as well.
Even if Donut became the strongest Raichu in the world I don't think he could exude that kind of presence unless he tried with all his might. Not like he'd care though.
"Today we have 8 participants in this Little Cup. They have all passed the examinations needed to compete and all have at least two Pokemon. We will have 3 rounds. The first round is a simple 1v1. The second round is a double battle. The finals are a 2v2. Your opponents will be chosen by random lottery," Principal Beachstreet stated as his assistant ran up behind him to hand him a box. He quickly thanked them before turning back to us with the box with a large enough hole at the top to stick your hand in.
"We have 4 pairs of color coded sticks. If you have the same color as someone else then that will be your opponent. Understood? If not, no worries I can explain again! If you do, please come on down and get your sticks!"
All 8 of us among the crowd got up. In the corner of my eye I spotted Jade's jet black hair in the background. He turned towards me and gave a cocky smirk that I returned in kind. Silently telling the other to not make a fool of himself before we could face off.
"Do what ya gotta do, Nephew," Volkner stated with a neutral expression while Roland simply grunted.
"Always," I smiled as I recalled Lou before heading down.
We all made our way to the box. I had gotten there 5th and every person before me had gotten a different color stick: Green, red, blue or yellow.
Well if those are the colors we've got access to…
I stuck my hand in the box and just as I thought I pulled out the yellow one. Jade went right after me and pulled out the green one.
Even the universe wants us to maintain our aesthetics.
"Now let's not waste any time! After meeting your opponent and offering your good sportsmanship, wait on the sidelines for your turn to battle. The order will be Green, Red, Blue and finally Yellow!"
I looked around for whoever had gotten the other yellow stick until the plain looking girl with brown hair came up to me holding up the yellow stick in question.
"Looks like you're my first victim, Topaz," She bragged pointing the stick at me.
I simply looked at the stick and her with vague confusion.
"Ummm… you are?" I could hear Donut chuckle a bit at my question.
"T-this is a joke right? We were in the 4th grade together! The very grade we just finished like a month ago! We sat next to each other during the last quarter!"
We did? I'm sure I would've remembered that. Right? I'll wing it.
"Oh yeah, I remember, yeah. You were the girl who uhhh you borrowed my pencil and never gave it back!"
She cringed and facepalmed. "No. You actually took my pencil and never gave it back after you lent yours to Leah," The girl whose name still escapes me said as she pointed to who I assume is Leah. An equally plain girl except with green hair who was talking to her opponent.
"Oh," Was all I could say. They didn't even look alike yet I got them mixed up. After some thinking they both seem familiar, but at the same time I really don't care.
"Since I'm guessing you forgot, the name's Maisy, by the way."
"Yeah yeah, good for you, I didn't come here to learn-"
"Relearn."
"Reforget your name. So how about we just fight it out and maybe I'll remember your name if you impress me," I compromised.
She simply scoffed and made her way to the sidelines where we were meant to wait in pairs. Jade was already standing on the battlefield staring down his opponent yawning as though he had not gotten enough sleep. Naturally his opponent (who is also a classmate whose name I cannot remember) looked pretty miffed about Jade's casual disinterest in what's supposed to be their first organized fight.
Hope they haven't amped up unsportsmanlike conduct penalties specifically for us or we'd have already lost.
The referee stood in their spot with their flags before announcing the rules.
"The rules are simple. This will be a 1v1 battle. Due to the rules of the Little Cup you are not permitted to use any Pokemon that has already evolved nor Pokemon with no known evolution. Victory is secured when the opponent surrenders or is knocked out. Understood?"
The referee looked at both sides who each nodded. "Then commence the battle between Tony Radworth and Jade Forest!"
Oh so his name is Tony.
"Snorunt, I believe in you!" Tony tossed his ball shouting (with a slight voice crack) and emerged a small, but confident looking Snorunt. Jade gave a quick chuckle before taking out a Pokeball.
"Shizu, make a scene!"
Emerging from the Pokeball was the new Pokemon he had acquired after our battle. An ebon black canine with a red underbelly and skeletal protrusions emerging from her body, Shizu the Houndour.
I frowned. I wasn't there when he caught her, but apparently he went to Route 214 where Houndour are commonly found in the hopes of finding one that could be easily convinced to join his team. Somehow, he managed to find a starving Shizu, fed her and promised a much more comfortable life if he joined her. Needless to say she leaped at the option.
Strange Jade of all people would offer the option at all.
Jade loves grass types and nature, so for him to willingly choose a fire type with cursed abilities seems… counterproductive. Especially as he still only has just Flax as his grass type. When I asked him why he simply said: "Come now Z, my tastes aren't so limited. We all have our preferences, but I intend to not limit my Pokemon choices by them."
I wonder how many accidental fires he's had to put out before his house and garden burned down after he told me all that.
"I leave the first move to you, MonoTony!" Jade mocked as Shizu growled at the Snorunt whose confidence waned in the face of the ferocious fire mutt. Shizu gave Snorunt a deep threatening growl.
I know she's still a bit wild, but I hope she doesn't maul them, yeesh.
"Shut up! Snorunt, show them your Powder Snow!" Despite their obvious apprehension Snorunt obeyed and let loose a standard Powder Snow.
"Hmmm, you're gonna be basic, then so shall we. Why show our cards so early into the day, right Shizu? Flame Charge through it," Jade nonchalantly stated.
Shizu obeyed without hesitation, stomping the ground quickly before becoming engulfed in flames and charging through the Powder Snow as though it were regular snow.
Snorunt rolled out of the way at the last second before they were hit by the brunt of the attack, but as soon as she stopped Shizu turned around and spat a large cloud of Smog straight into Snorunt's face. The Icy Wind they were building quickly turned into a coughing fit before Shizu slammed into Snorunt with another Flame Charge.
"S-snorunt, you're okay right?" Tony asked shakily as Snorunt got up a bit burned.
The speed boost is already apparent.
"Good, then use Headbutt!"
"Are you sure about that?" Jade questioned as Snorunt launched himself at Shizu, but they merely fell through an illusion. Snorunt landed face first and before they could get up a dark energy laced paw came down upon their head slamming them into the ground.
Feint Attack, hm.
Shizu smashed down on Snorunt a few more times before picking them up in her teeth, breathing a slight Smog onto him and throwing back to his side of the field. Snorunt bounced several times before he landed on his feet, but judging by his wobbly movements the Smog had disoriented him greatly as well as his battle damage.
After a few more strained wobbles Tony simply recalled him out of mercy.
"Tony has surrendered, so Jade is the winner of the first match! Good showing everyone," The referee said as he waved his flags.
Jade knelt by Shizu and began to scratch underneath her chin. "Good girl, just like we practiced. I told you you were a natural at fighting."
Shizu's face had calmed drastically from her previous violent expressions to a more puppy dog look, panting excitedly. Houndour can be a bit more aggressive than more traditional canine pokemon such as Rockruff or Lillipup, but they are just as fiercely loyal, maybe even moreso.
Jade is her pack leader and she is eager to please him, they've formed a solid bond over the last few months. I couldn't help, but smile. The moment was cute and all, but my excitement was building up even more.
Can't wait to fight her. I hope Flax will be as much fun to face off against.
Jade recalled Shizu and made his way back to the sidelines. He gave me a satisfied smile which I returned with a quick nod. His opponent, Thomas the Tank Engine or something I already forgot, made his way to the Nurse Joy accompanied by a Happiny.
The next match was to begin immediately after some applause from the audience. Volkner simply looked amused by the show, but not really entertained. One sided beatdowns are more pitiful than anything. Not worth getting excited over.
Now I could tell you about the 2 other matches before mine, but let's be honest, we've had enough filler and I can't care enough to recall what even happened, so let's get back to what's important: Me!
I made my way to the battlefield, facing off against Maisy who stood confidently on the other side, as though she wasn't fighting the gym leader's nephew. Donut meanwhile sat in my bag watching from the sidelines.
Looks like I need to hammer in that living with a trained professional does have its perks. Time to show her what's what.
"Trainers release your Pokemon!"
"Lou, stand strong!"
"Let's go, Ducklett!"
We each tossed our pokeballs out at the same time and upon hearing her choice I immediately knew this was going to be quick. Before there was a 99% chance it was going to be quick, but now it's 100%.
Why would she choose a flying water type against the electric type user?
"Sksksk!"
I looked down at Lou who was already riled up. It's easy to imagine what he's saying judging by Ducklett's stunned face. Or do they always look like that? Either way it's prolly something incredibly profane due to his anti bird nature. Except finally he can act on it.
"Fly and then use Water Gun!" Ducklett took to the skies before taking a deep breath and letting loose a fierce jet of water at my little grub. Lou was so used to fighting aerial opponents that to give him orders as how to deal with this felt insulting.
"Handle it," Was all I said and handled it he did. I watched as he quickly dug beneath the ground to avoid the Water Gun. Ducklett remained in the sky searching for movement, but I knew it was a fruitless endeavor.
"What do you think you're doing? Guess your weird Alola bug succumbed to his instincts and fled," Maisy teased obnoxiously. "Ground moves don't work on Flying types! Plus if we really wanted to, we could flush him out."
"Lou's primary instinct is to attack any bird on sight and that is exactly what he's about to do. If you wanted to flush him out, you should've done so from the start! Now it's too late." Just as I finished speaking a String Shot burst from the ground and wrapped itself around Ducklett's wings, grounding them before they could realize what had happened.
"W-what!?" Maisy stared in shock in an attempt to figure out where the string had come from and how she had missed Lou.
Just as expected.
Lou had dug through the ground, but he had no intention of emerging from a new hole. Ducklett was searching for new openings in the ground, but they had neglected to think about him simply reemerging from the already established one.
"Spark!" Lou's body charged with electricity as soon as the word left my lips. No longer did he need practice with this move, no he had mastered it. Like a Sharpedo in water he dashed through the dirt blazing with electricity as Ducklett attempted to break out of his string shot.
Unfortunately, while they did not completely succeed they managed to create a wall of feathers to soften the blow a fair bit. Upon contact they rolled through the ground, but managed to untangle the string and launch another Water Gun.
Feather Dance? Smart, but not enough.
"Grapple onto Ducklett and use Spark again!"
Lou jumped directly over the Water Gun and with pinpoint accuracy fired a String Shot straight into their mouth ending the attack. Not stopping there he began to reel himself in with the string as though he was retracting from a grappling hook.
"Cut him off with Wing Attack!" Ducklett quickly severed the string keeping them together and moved out of the way as Lou launched straight for them. What they did not expect was for Lou to simply drill his way into the earth once he made contact.
"He's going to attack again, ascend!"
"End it here, catch them!" I had full confidence in his digging abilities. Ducklett flew quite a bit into the air, but Lou shot out of the ground like a bullet, soared through the sky and caught Ducklett within his mandibles.
Ducklett tried to manifest a Wing Attack or Feather Dance to escape, but Lou simply squeezed harder and made sure as they descended that Ducklett took the brunt of the damage, ceasing the attempts at once. His tiny body charged with electricity one more time, frying the blue duck Pokemon without mercy.
Once he let go, Ducklett fell to the ground without any resistance, knocked out completely. Lou simply scoffed and looked into the sky as though this victory wasn't worthy of praise. This was just a part of his mission.
"Ducklett is unable to battle! Lou and Topaz are the winners!"
"Woo. That was a great battle, Maisy. Thanks," I complimented my opponent.
She simply gave me a stunned expression as she cradled her Ducklett before recalling them and nodding at me in acknowledgement. She didn't look happy about the loss, but she did look surprised I hadn't taunted her as usual.
Finally got a name right.
Putting that thought aside, I looked up to Volkner in the crowd who simply crossed his arms and blinked.
'That was a good start.'
That's what that look meant. That battle hadn't tested us enough, but nonetheless it was worthy of some praise. Lou made his way over to me and I smiled at him in thanks. He simply grunted in response before I recalled him.
We aren't done yet, there's 2 more battles left.
"With that concludes the 1st round! We'd like to thank the 4 other participants for trying so hard today! No worries there'll be other chances for victory on another day. Now we move onto the second round, double battles!" The crowd cheered after the principal made another one of his speeches. We got a 5 minute break to refresh our Pokemon before it was back into the fray.
Jade and the girl known as Margaret fought first after a riveting game of rock-paper-scissors to decide the battle order. Flax and Shizu worked in tandem to take her team down and move onto the finals. I on the other hand still had Leah to contend with.
"Challengers take your positions!" The referee called out. "This will be a double battle between Topaz and Leah. You lose when both Pokemon are unable to battle or via surrender. Any questions? Good. Please send out your Pokemon!"
"Donut, Lou, stand together!" I tossed Lou's Pokeball while Donut hopped out of my bag and right onto the battlefield.
"Bonsly, Baltoy, I need you both!"
Across from me appeared a walking bonsai tree and an ancient clay top. Unlike the previous match we were at a severe disadvantage as Baltoy is immune to Donut's electric moves, meanwhile Bonsly's rock moves are super effective against Lou.
The obvious and smart thing to do would be for her Pokemon to hone in on who they are advantageous against, but we can use that mindset to our advantage.
"Baltoy, use Confusion on Donut! Bonsly, Rock Tomb on Lou! Divide and conquer!"
Ugh psychic moves, it'll be harder to dodge that one if he's not careful.
Donut got on all fours as his ears' twitched sensing when the psychic wave from Baltoy was going to strike and dodged. Bonsly managed to summon several large boulders to throw at Lou, but he managed to dig underground at the last second.
"We aren't falling for that! Baltoy, attack the ground with Psybeam!"
"Intervene with Tickle!"
Faster than Baltoy could blink Donut was all over the ancient toy tickling wherever he could. While they weren't a conventional organic Pokemon whatever Donut was tickling caused them to go haywire as they began spinning around letting loose loud distress signals.
Unfortunately, they still had enough sense to use Rapid Spin and knock Donut flying. To make matters worse Bonsly had time to sling a large rock at Donut sending him sprawling into the dirt.
Ouch.
Finally, Lou had reached his target and dug the ground from straight under Bonsly causing them to fall into his trap. It was filled with mud which I knew wasn't pleasant for an armless rock type.
Lou can handle that, but Baltoy…
"Donut, Rollout into Baltoy! Don't let them rescue Bonsly. Lou, use back to back Bug Bites to wear Bonsly down!"
Upon my orders the weary Donut made a mad dash towards Baltoy before he curled into a ball and began spinning towards them with his mastered Rollout. Lou meanwhile within the depths of his mud pit began slashing away at the defenseless Bonsly. Spark would be counterproductive in a mud pit, so this was the next best tactic.
Leah grit her teeth as she had to decide whether to stop Lou or Donut. In the end she decided to preserve her other Pokemon and ordered Baltoy to use Rapid Spin on Lou. I briefly wondered why she didn't just use Confusion to pick him out, but I figured it's likely because they haven't mastered Confusion without line of sight yet.
Either way, Lou was still beating down on Bonsly as they struggled and flailed in his mud pit. They could barely breathe, much less summon rocks to save themselves. Leah held on tight to Bonsly's pokeball with fear in her eyes. Even I was tempted to tell Lou to cease, but I had confidence he wouldn't let them drown in the mud. It seemed they were using Fake Tears to lower his spirit, but even then the mud was a whole problem in itself.
As Baltoy spun closer to rescue their teammate Donut attempted to cross off their path, but while Donut had mastered Rollout, it was hard to outspin a literal top so he had trouble catching up to their natural elegance and deftness. Baltoy was able to jump over the hole Lou and Bonsly were in and by using Confusion they were able to lift Bonsly out.
"Great job, Baltoy!" Leah cheered until she saw Lou jump up to catch his quarry once more. "Bonsly make him stop! Scream!"
Finally able to breathe within mud in their mouth, Bonsly let loose a powerful Uproar right into Lou smacking him back down into his pit. At the same time though, this caused Baltoy to lose their concentration and drop Bonsly haphazardly into Donut's path who smashed into him by pure luck.
Bonsly went flying screaming tears of regret before they face planted into the ground, unconscious. Donut tripped up due to not expecting to hit anything especially something so solid, but upon seeing Baltoy try to gain their bearings he took it upon himself to punch them in the face.
"Uh, great job, Donut! Seize the day," I cheered for him. It was a little messy, but it worked out. Leah recalled Bonsly angrily before she ordered Baltoy to use Mud Slap, gathering large piles of mud and hurling them at Donut who expertly dodged each attempt.
"Hmmmm! Aha! Throw mud where he's going to be and where he's going to land!" Leah offered the advice to Baltoy and they complied immediately, lobbing one mud slap at Donut himself, who dodged naturally, and the next where they predicted he'd land.
In a Double Battle you have to be aware of 4 Pokemon instead of 2 all at the same time. Forgetting that can cost you the match.
Right when they were about to throw, their psychic hold of the mud was interrupted by the ground falling from underneath them. Unlike Bonsly they were fast enough to avoid falling into the hole and tossed an annoyed Mud Slap right into Lou's face, but even if Lou's surprise attack failed this was the end.
"Finish it with Tickle and Mega Punch!"
Donut made use of Lou's distraction to crawl onto Baltoy for a quick Tickle, but just enough to ensure their defense was lowered enough before climbing to the back of their head and punching them straight into the ground. The clay doll pokemon bounced off the dirt several times before skidding to a halt. The referee quickly ran over to the motionless Baltoy before raising a flag.
"Baltoy and Bonsly are unable to battle! Donut and Lou are the victors, Topaz goes onto the final round!"
At the sound of that Donut fell flat on his butt and breathed a sigh of relief while Lou dug out of his hole and shook off all the mud that had gotten onto him… right onto Donut. In retaliation Donut gave him the dirtiest look possible before he kicked him back into his hole, while Lou began screeching in betrayal. I pinched the bridge of my nose while I could practically feel Volkner sigh in disbelief and Roland facepalm.
This is fine. Tantrums are normal in Little Cup. They won and that's what matters.
I take my hand away from my face to see them wrestling in the mud, loudly squeaking and screeching. I could feel my face grow red as I pulled out their Pokeballs and recalled both chastising their balls.
"So even the great Topaz, nephew of Volkner, can't control every action of his Pokemon," Leah noted. It didn't sound like she was bragging. More like a statement of relief that we have some relatable ground.
"Heh, there's only so much you can do after an electric type's fur gets ruined," I placed a hand behind my head and laughed awkwardly. Leah smiled in understanding before she made her way to the nurse. I quickly scampered off stage to do the same rather than face the crowd.
During the short break I handed Donut and Lou over to Nurse Joy and Happiny so they could get a little recuperation before the final battle. During my wait, Jade came up to talk to me.
"And as expected we each made it to the final round. 'bout time, I was hoping for a challenge today,``he boasted, stretching.
I frowned slightly. "I wouldn't call it unchallenging, per say. Leah was pretty good and Maisy's Ducklett was surprisingly durable."
"Yeah yeah, but don't expect 'pretty good' and 'surprisingly durable' from Flax and Shizu. Remember I have to keep my promise from our first battle. I vowed to you I would prevail in our rematch and here I am to show you exactly how I shall."
I smirked in defiance at his bold statement. "So you're actually gonna make me work for the win today? I don't want you crying if things don't go exactly how you wanted."
"I was going to say the same to you," Jade extended a fist and I returned with a bump. "I'll see you on the battlefield then."
"Best of luck to ya."
Jade made his way to the field while I turned to my thoughts.
This is it. Let's make it count.
~Chapter 10 Fin~
Trainer: Topaz Heart
Age: 10
Class: Youngster
Gear: Pokedex, 4 Luxury Balls, 3 Potions, Escape Rope, Cellphone, The Fool card.
Funds: ¥5,000.
Team: Donut (Pichu), Lou (Grubbin).
x
Donut (Pichu/M)
Moves: Thundershock, Thunder Wave, Mega Punch, Tickle, Charge, Rollout.
Ability: Static Chance to paralyze opponent upon physical contact.
Likes: Sweets, naps, relaxing, quiet, Topaz's bag.
Dislikes: Bitter food, stress.
Tactics: Maneuver (Creates a thunder wave barrier to sense attacks), Enhanced Tickle (Enhances his tickles with electricity to hit the nerves of sturdier opponents).
x
Lou (Grubbin/M)
Moves: String Shot, Screech, Mud Slap, Bug Bite, Dig, Spark.
Ability: Swarm Powers up bug type moves when at low health.
Likes: Bugs, war, battling, General Topaz.
Dislikes: Birds, bullies, condescension.
Tactics: Mud Pit (Digs a hole underneath the opponent and traps them in a pit of mud), Mud Spin (Digs into the ground and begins throwing mud all over around himself), Grapple Bug (Uses string shot to reel in himself or the opponent).
Allies
Trainer: Jade Forest
Age: 10
Class: Youngster
Team: Flax (Budew), Shizu (Houndour).
x
Flax (Budew/M)
Moves: Absorb, Spikes, Pin Missile, Toxic, Venoshock.
x
Shizu (Houndour/F)
Moves: Feint Attack, Smog, Flame Charge, Odor Sleuth.
Author's Note
Had to cut this chapter in half after I realized I wanted Jade's battle to be its own affair. The first arc will be ending next chapter (finally) and then we'll be able to pick up the pace. I'll go more into that later. I hope I'm able to stave off your curiosity.
Question: Do you prefer Little Cup or Ubers (Legendary tier battles)?