In yet another return to form, I have only got a basic outline for this chapter, one that I only came up with about an hour ago as I am writing this Author's note. As a result, this will probably be a short, shit, and pointless chapter, but it was quite literally all I could come up with in the short amount of time I gave myself to think of something. Don't worry, the next 2 chapters have a decent plan, with a 3rd also having an outline. Just got to get through this one first. Wish me luck, and enjoy.
Chapter 8:
Trouble on the Double
As they get closer to their destination, Max and Bonnie start seeing more and more people out in the fields training their pokémon. When Bonnie looks quizzically at these people, Max explains what's happening. "They're Pokémon Coordinators, like my sister. In Hoenn, we have these things called Pokémon Contests, similar to the Showcase in Kalos, except boys can enter them as well, and there's actual battling involved. There's a Contest Hall about a day's walk away from the City. In fact we should be approaching it." Bonnie stares in wonder at the Coordinators, watching as they try to make their pokémon's moves look flashier. "I remember you saying that May was a Top Coordinator," Bonnie comments. "So does that mean she won the finals last tear?"
Max can't but chuckle at this. "It's a little different here," he explains. "Instead of keys, they compete to collect ribbons. At the end of the season, whoever has the most ribbons wins the season." Bonnie nods in understanding, then resumes looking around, something that Max doesn't fail to notice. "If you're thinking of entering this contest, you're probably too late," he tells her. "Judging by all of the Coordinators here, I'd say the contest is happening really soon." Bonnie shakes her head at this. "Oh I'm so not thinking that!" she tells him. "Could you imagine trying to juggle contests and gym battles at the same time?!" Max laughs at that. "Good point," he says. "I couldn't imagine having to come up with strategies for you for both of those."
The two continue on their way, passing by more Coordinators, both returning and first timers. Max remembers that Tierno wanted to try them out, and hopes that they'll run into him and Shauna on their way. Even is they don't, he knows Bonnie well enough to know that she's going to want to watch the contest anyway, so he begins deliberately leading her towards the Contest Hall. When they're a few kilometres away from it, they here a voice call out to them. "Oi, you there! The blonde girl and the boy with glasses!" Both of them stop and turn to where the voice is coming from. Standing just off the path is a young couple, who look to be in their 20s. The man is tall, with light brown hair and sea green eyes, and the woman is short with long blonde hair and brown eyes. Neither Max nor Bonnie recognises them, but they decide to walk over cautiously to see what they want. "Sorry to bother you," says the man, "But we're entering the upcoming contest, and we'd like some people to practice with." The woman nods. "We've been practicing with each other, but we feel that if we truly want to get better, we'd spar with some strangers." The man nods. "So, we were wondering," he tells them, "if you'd have a double battle with us?"
Both Max and Bonnie look at each other, waiting for the other to decide. They'd battled together in double battles before, but that was always against Team Terra. They'd never really had a friendly one before. Plus, it would be good training for Bonnie's upcoming Gym Battle. So, the teo nod to each other, then turn their attention to the couple. "Alright," they say, "we accept." The couple beams at this and pulls out their pokémon. Thry introduce themselves as Jean and Eric, then they lead Max and Bonnie over to a field just off the path. Then, they all produce their pokémon. Jean sends out a Cloyster while Eric sends out an Onix (subtle, I know), while Max sends out Grovyle and Bonnie sends out Dedenne. "Lucky match up" Max thinks to himself. Then, their battle begins.
Onix immediately uses Dig, and burrows its way under the ground. When it's gone, Cloyster uses Surf, striking both Grovyle and Dedenne, while avoiding Onix due to it being underground. Both Grovyle and Dedenne manage to take the attack without too much damage. In response, Grovyle sends out vine Whip, protecting Dedenne just as onix bursts out of the ground. So, instead of seriously damaging Dedenne, it ends up getting attacked by vines. Cloyster tries to help Onix by using Razor Shell, but Dedenne uses Spark to redirect its attack. Onix manages to break out of the vines, and turns to confront Grovyle. It uses Rock Throw, but Grovyle manages to dodge it, then hit Onix with Razor Leaf, doing even more damage. Meanwhile, Cloyster is still struggling against Dedenne. It tries to hit him with Icicle Slash, but Dedenne dodges and retaliates with Nuzzle, stunning the Cloyster. While it's stunned, Dedenne rushes in and strikes it with Spark again. Cloyster cries out, then faints. Onix is enraged by this and turns it's attention to Dedenne. Grovyle quickly uses this moment of distraction to hit it in the face a few times with Leaf Blade, knocking it out as well.
Both Jean and Eric are shocked by this. "Wow," Jean exclaims, "that was somw impressive teamwork!" Eric nods in agreement. "Your relationship must be even stronger than ours!" It takes them both a few seconds to realise what the two are talking about. But when they do, they become immediately flustered and start denying it profusely. Jean and Eric apologise for their misunderstanding, and thank them for the battle. But, Max is so preoccupied by what Eric had said, that he fails to notice the fishing rod flying towards him. By the time he does, it's already latched onto his bag and begins tugging him backwards. Max spins around to see what's happening, and spots Sarah and Sam hiding in a bush, pulling him towards them with a rod. Max quickly orders Grovyle to use Leaf Blade on the rod, with releases him from Team Terra's grasp. Grumbling with defeat, the two of them emerge from the bushes.
"Do tell me how in the name of Arceus did you think that would work?" Max asks them. "In what universe would I not notice my bag being pulled away from my back." Sam holds his hands up defensively. "That's what I said!" he shouts. Sarah hits him. "That doesn't matter!" she exclaims. "It's time for plan B!" Then, they both pull out 2 pokéballs each. "The two of us managed to increase our teams since our last encounter," Sarah goes on. "So, if you don't hand your notebooks over now, we'll trounce you and take them ourselves!" Truth be told, Max does feel a little apprehensive about this. Sure, both he and Bonnie have 2 pokémon, or 3 in Bonnie's case, but both Grovyle and Dedenne are tired out from the double battle. As he weighs their options however, Jean steps forward. "I don't know who you are," she tells Sarah and Sam, "But if you're trying to steal this boy's bag, that makes you thieves. I don't tolerate thieves." Eric nods in agreement. "You have 4 pokémon you say?" he asks. "Well, there's 4 of us, so now this is fair!" "But we already beat your pokémon!" Bonnie points out. Jean giggles at this. "Did you really think we only had one pokémon each?" she asks. "What kind of Coordinators would we be if we did?" Then, they pull out a pokéball each. Grinning at this positive turn of events, Max redirects his attention to Sarah and Sam. He pulls out Gallade's ball and nods.
At once, 8 pokéballs are thrown into the air. Along with Sarah and Sam's Mr. Mime and Gourgeist, Sarah now has an Oddish, and Sam now has a Wurmple. Along with Max's Gallade and Bonnie's Braixen, Jean sends out a Weepinbell, and Eris sends out a Gyarados (again, subtle). The battle begins with Gourgeist using Shadow Ball on Braixen, but Braixen dodges it. She isn't so lucky a second time, when Gourgeist strikes her in the back with the same attack. She tries to go for that attack for a 3rd time, but Gallade stops her before she can by using Brick Brake. Mr. Mime tries to hit Gallade from behind with Psybeam, but Weepinbell stops him by using Vine Whip, tying Mr. Mime up. As he struggles to free himself, Gyarados, hits him with Waterfall, damaging him. Oddish rushes towards Gyarados and uses Razor Leaf, hurting it badly. It goes to do that again, but it's struck by Flamethrower before it can. Before it can properly recover, Gallade hits it with Slash, knocking it out.
Angered by this, Sarah tries to get Gourgeist to hit Braixen with Shadowball again, but Gallade gets in the way. He takes the hit, then strikes back with Psycho Cut. Gourgeist takes the hit due to being resistant to Psychic, but fails to notice Weepinbell coming up behind her. It hits her with Venoshock, which is super effective. Gourgeist falls to the ground, but doesn't faint yet. However, she does when Gyarados hits her with Gust. Now, only Sam is left standing. Max thinks he might give up here, but instead, Sam has Mr. Mime hit Gallade with Psybeam, greatly weakening him. Gallade tries to retaliate with Slash, but Mr. Mime blocks it with Reflect, then hits him with Psychic, knocking him out. Sam grins at this, believing that he can turn the tide. Unfortunately for him, Gyarados uses Bite, which almost knocks Mr. Mime out, only for Weepinbell to finish him off with Razor Leaf. Now, only the Wurmple remains. It tries to put up a fight but using Struggle Bug on Weepinbell, but it doesn't do enough to knock it out. Braixen uses a single Flame Charge, and ends the battle.
Both Sarah and Sam stare at the spot where the battle just occured. Then they look at each other. "Run?" Sam asks. "Run" Sarah confirms. Then, they turn on their heels and run. "We'll get that notebook Maple!" they call. "If it's the last thing we do!" Then, they disappear along the path. Max, Bonnie, Jean and Eric return their pokémon. "Sorry about them," Max says. "You guys are good." It's clear that both Jean and Eric want to ask about that, but thankfully they decide against it. Instead, Jean holds out her hand. "Thanks for the battle," she says. "Even though we lost, I feel that I've gotten stronger from it." Max shakes her hand. "No problem," he replies. "It was fun." With that, Jean and Eric set off, deciding to head to the nearest Pokémon Centre before heading to the contest Hall. Meanwhile, Max and Bonnie use the items in their bags to heal their pokémon, and Max takes the time to make sure nothing fell out of his bag. Once he's certain, the two duos say goodbye to each other, and go their separate ways.
Why yes, I do have a dirty mind. Just because I'm asexual doesn't mean I can't find subtle sex jokes funny. Also, anyone who got the joke in Jean and Eric's names has my respect. Also, those 2 aren't going to be reoccurring characters, because God knows I have enough characters to keep track of already. That's why there aren't as many characters or relationship tags on this work, because it means less characters to for me to keep track of and remember what they're doing. But anyway, I'm amazed I managed to get this out in time, and it turned out better than I thought it would. Don't worry though, next chapter will have a proper plan, once I rewatch a contest to remember how they work. See you on Sunday for that.