Something to note about this chapter, I had a small meltdown yesterday, and am just coming off of it this morning (it is a Saturday as I write this). As a result, this one may not be a good chapter, as I'm kind of forcing myself to write this at the moment in order to keep up with my schedule. It doesn't help that I sometimes struggle with writing Pokémon battles. Going into this I thought they would be similar enough to physical fighting, but I was wrong. Yet, I will get through this League. So, let's get back to it!
Chapter 90:
Bonnie vs. Trixie
After Max and Bonnie meet in the hallway and Max congratulates her, he leads her back to the stands where the rest of their friends are sitting. Each of them congratulates her in turn, and Meyer insists on taking everyone out to celebrate. Bonnie manages on talking him out of doing that by pointing out that if they did that every time she won a round of the League, it will diminish the celebration when she won the whole thing. Meyer nods in understanding. "Plus," he adds, with a teasing glint in his eye, "I want to save a proper celebration for when you two finally figure things out." The group laughs as Max and Bonnie's faces go bright red, with Clemont laughing the hardest. Without missing a beat, Meyer then adds, "I don't know what you're laughing at son, I'll be doing the same when you finally put a ring on Korrina's finger."
Now it's Clemont and Korrina's turn to go red, while Bonnie joins in on the laughter. In fact, Max can tell by the look on her face that Bonnie is about to ask Clemont when he's going to do that. So, despite the fact that he teases them about their relationship, Max decides to spare Clemont that and says to Bonnie, "Look Bonnie, the second match is about to start! Let's watch it." Bonnie immediately forgets about her question for Clemont and sits next to Max to watch it. Max sees Clemont out of the corner of his eye, and notices him shoot him a look of gratitude.
They spend the rest of the day watching the other matches occurring in the first round. Trixie also makes it through to the second round, which gives Bonnie mixed feelings. On one hand, it means that Trixie is actually at least somewhat good a battling. But on the other hand, it means that Bonnie has the chance to knock her out herself. As it turns out, she's going to get her chance to try. The screen above the arena shows who will be competing against who in the next round. To her shock, she'll be battling against Trixie. Scanning the stands, she thinks she spots her rival in the crowd, but she can't be sure. All she is sure of is, she'll defeat her tomorrow, and wipe that overconfident grin from her face.
Max and Bonnie spend the evening hanging around the dorms she's assigned for competing in the league. She isn't staying in them, preferring to stay with Max in a shared hotel room. The teo of them spend the evening quickly going over all of Trixie's pokémon that they remember her having, and trying to come up with counterattacks for them. Unfortunately, their knowledge of her team is limited, as they know of only 5; Emolga, Klang (which was probably a Klingklang by now), Pidgeot, Psyduck, and Swampert. But there's always the chance that she use none of them. They consider looking through every pokémon from both Hoenn and Kalos, but ultimately decide thst that would take too long. So instead, they go through Max's notebooks and read through the notes on some pokémon, and come up with a basic plan from those. Once they are satisfied with this, they head to bed.
The next morning, Bonnie wakes from an uneasy sleep. Despite how excited she is to fight and defeat Trixie in a League, she's also really worried about the upcoming battle. Because there's always the chance that she loses the battle against her rival, and be eliminated from the competition. She doesn't think she could stand Trixie's smugness if that happens. So, she sneaks out of her and Max's room and does a bit of early morning training. That is, until she hears a loud coughing from behind her. She freezes, then turns around, only to come face to face with Max.
"Thought I'd find you out here," he comments, walking over. "Worried about your battle against Trixie?" he asks, though she knows that he already knows the answer. "She's so frustrating to deal with," Bonnie rants. "If she loses she acts as though she let me win, and if she wins she's even more unbearable!" Max smirks at this. "Well she can't claim she let you win here," he says. "Not if she wants to make a fool of herself." Bonnie laughs at this, realising he has a point. "Yeah, I can't wait to see what excuse she comes up with for why she lost against me here." Max joins in on her laughter, then they head back into their hotel to go and get some breakfast.
Like with yesterday, as the two of them finish eating, the rest of their group start arriving. Ash and Serena are first down. They catch sight of Max and Bonnie sitting at a table, and immediately know what happened. Neither of them say anything, but Ash does throw Bonnie a sympathetic look as they sit down with their own food. A few minutes later, they're joined by Bonnie's family. Dawn and Zoey follow along not long after, with May and Drew bringing up the rear. They all gather round the table and wish Bonnie luck in her upcoming battle. Bonnie smiles at this, and feels her confidence grow a bit more.
After everyone finished eating, they gather their things and set off for the stadium once again. As they walk, Bonnie keeps an eye out for Trixie. She isn't sure she wants to see her rival before the match begins. She thinks she spots her a few times, but can't be sure. She ducks her head a bit in the crowd just in case it is her. Knowing that girl, once she spots her, she'll be over to her in a flash, acting like the friendly rival wishing her luck, before whispering her her ear about how she'll crush her in the upcoming battle, before cheerily running off again. Just thinking about that stick makes her blood boil. So, she tries to avoid it at all costs.
Eventually, they arrive at the stadium, and Bonnie separates from the group once again, heading to the changing rooms while her friends and family head to the stands. There are less people in the stands than there were yesterday, Max observes as they take their seats. Friends of those who lost the first round, he supposes. No doubt the changing rooms are also less crowded as well. As he and the others sit down, Max takes a look at the screen, to see whose match is first. Just like yesterday, Bonnie is going first again. As the stands fill up, Max can only hope that the two of them stay separated until the match starts.
But of course, that doesn't happen. As Bonnie finishes choosing her team, she turns around to head out to the waiting area, only to literally bump into Trixie. She spins around and glares at her. "Watch where you're going nitwit!" she snaps, before recognising who it was that bumped into her. She grins at this. "Oh, it's you," she says. "So nervous about facing me that you couldn't even look straight ahead huh?" Bonnie glares at her. "More like you're so irrelevant to me that I didn't even see you," Bonnie snaps back. "Why were you standing in the middle of the hallway anyway? Scared to face me?" Trixie scoffs at this, but there's something off about it. She doesn't meet her eyes as she does it. "Of course not!" she snaps. "I'm just worried that this might be too easy a win, that's all." Before Bonnie can retort, she storms off up ahead. Bonnie gives a frustrated sigh, then follows after her.
The announcer starts off the second day of the League by announcing that it is so, before showing the line up for today. Bonnie and Trixie's match will be going first, as planned. Max watches from the stands as his best friend and her greatest rival step onto the arena. There's a few cheers going up at this, which Max can tell makes Bonnie feel at least a little happy.
Back down on the pitch, Bonnie finds herself grinning as she hears people cheering when he name is announced by the commentator. She takes a few seconds to bask in it, before refocusing her attention on Trixie, whose gaze hasn't left her since they stepped onto the pitch. The two meet in the middle, where Bonnie says, "What excuse are you going to use when I beat you? Because 'letting me win' won't exactly stick here. Unless you're planning on letting yourself be eliminated." "I won't need an excuse," she says. "Because I will be the one winning here." "We'll see," Bonnie shoots back, before the two of them walk back to the opposite sides of the arena.
The commentator goes through the usual formalities of the League matches, then the screen chooses who will be sending out their Pokémon first. Unfortunately, it's Bonnie's turn to send hers out. So, she silently prays to Arceus themselves that Trixie doesn't have a Pokémon to counter hers. Then, she sends out Donphan. Trixie smirks at this, then sends out her Golduck. Bonnie swears at this, and hopes that she can at least get some decent damage in before Donphan gets taken out. So, she starts off with Earthquake. Golduck takes the hit, but it doesn't do much damage to it. Once the ground stops shaking, Golduck springs into action. It shoots a powerful jet of water at Donphan, which knocks her backwards a bit. Before she can get up, Golduck strikes her with another one. Donphan is weakened by this barrage, but she doesn't go down yet. She stays on her feet, and manages to shoot a Rock Throw at Golduck. Golduck flinches at the attack, then uses one last Water Pulse, which takes Donphan out.
Bonnie swears again, then returns Donphan and sends out Dedenne. She was hoping to save him for last, but considering her other option, that would be handing the win to Trixie. So, she takes the calculated risk of Mega Evolving Dedenne here. Once he's mega evolved, he goes in for a Quck Attack, followed closely be Spark. Golduck is majorly hurt by this, but tries to use Water Pulse. Dedenne manages to dodge the attack, then use Nuzzle, which paralyses Golduck. It tries to strike Dedenne, but ends up being unable to move, which allows Dedenne to use Thunderbolt, taking Golduck out.
Trixie glares at this, but doesn't lose her smirk. She sends out Emolga next. Dedenne's cheeks spark at this, eager to face off against his own major rival. Bonnie shares this sentiment, and orders him to use the Quick Attack Play Rough combo. Dedenne does this, though it's clear that Trixie has learned from her mistakes. Emolga goes in with its own version of this attack, Quick Attack followed by Air Cutter. Both attacks meet in the middle, with Dedenne getting hurt. But, he still manages to push through the attack and reach Emolga, striking her with Quick Attack, before moving in with Play Rough. Emolga falls backwards at this, so Dedenne rushes in with Moonblast. Emolga is thrown back, but manages to get some good hits in with Air Cutter before it his the wall. It's not quite down yet, so both Pokémon go in for one last Quick Attack. They meet in the middle and throw each other backwards. Dedenne manages to land on his feet, but Emolga hits the ground on its back, eyes swirling.
Bonnie can't help but grin as she pulls ahead. However, Dedenne is clearly on his last legs. All Bonnie can do is hope that whoever Trixie's choice is won't be a Water or Ground type. Then she makes her choice, and it's both. Because of course it is. Swampert steps out onto the arena and cries out ready for action. Bonnie swallows nervously. "Sorry to ask this of you buddy, she says to Dedenne, "but I need you to hold out for as long as you can." Dedenne nods wearily, then turns his attention to Swampert, sparking his cheeks as he does. Swampert immediately starts with Mud Shot, which Dedenne just barely manages to avoid. Then, he goes in with Spark and manages to do a lot of damage. He avoids another Mud Shot, then uses Thunderbolt. He tries to dodge a third Mud Shot, but his luck runs out, and out he's taken.
Now Bonnie's down to her last Pokémon. She's sweating bullets now, because her only Pokémon left is doubly weak to Swampert. Still, Dedenne was able to weaken it at least somewhat, so maybe she has a chance. With this in mind, she sends out her last Pokémon, Braixen. Trixie roars with laughter when she sees who Bonnie pulled out. "Well then," she exclaims, "you may as well forfeit the round! There's no way you can beat me now!" Hearing this, Braixen slumps. "Don't listen to her," Bonnie tells her. "You're amazing. We'll win, I just know it!" Braixen turns to her and nods, then stares Swampert down. Swampert launches a jet of water at Braixen, who retaliated with a jet of fire. Both attacks meet in the middle, and a back and forth begins.
As this happens, Braixen feels Bonnie's faith in her. That feeling allows her to push extra power into her flames, which causes her to glow, and change form. Soon enough, she's no longer a Braixen. Now, she's finally a Delphox. Delphox uses a blast of fire to knock the water away. Then, she uses Psychic to pick Swampert up and throw it around, before flinging it up in the air. As it comes crashing back down, Delphox covers it in Mystical Fire. Swampert hits the ground, burnt, but doesn't stay down. It gets back up, then sprays Delphox with Water Pulse. Delphox takes the damage, then uses Psybeam, finally knocking Swampert out.
There's a stunned silence following that match. Then, Bonnie can hear Max cheering for her. This causes the crowd to slowly start doing the same as the commentator announces that Bonnie has won. Trixie returns Swampert back to its ball, then leaves without a word. Bonnie notices this and follows her. She manages to catch up with Trixie right as she's about to leave, and calls her name. Trixie stops. "If you're here to gloat, just get it over with," she says bitterly. Bonnie shakes her head, though Trixie can't see her do that. "That's not why I'm here," she says. "I wanted to thank you for a good match."
Trixie turns to look at her. "Why would you do that?" she asks, her eyes watering a bit. "I would never do that to you." "I know," she says. "But I feel bad for whatI shouted at you the last time we battled, so I came to apologise for that as well." Trixie sighs at this. "I suppose I was also a bit harsh on you that time too," she admits. "Thanks for this, I guess." Bonnie nods again. After a few seconds of silence, Bonnie asks, "So, where are you going now?" "Back to Kalos," Trixie replies, though she doesn't sound too pleased by this. "I need to visit my f-... some people." With that, she turns to leave. But before she does, she says, "But know this Bonnie Citron, this won't be our last meeting. We will face each other again." Bonnie grins at this. "Count on it, Trixie Cadieux," she replies. Trixie lets a small slip, then turns around and leaves the stadium, while Bonnie goes to meet her friends.
Well, that took a lot longer than I thought it would. My weekend was really busy, so sorry I didn't get this out until now. But hey, Bonnie and Trixie's relationship is thawing more, and Braixen is finally a Delphox. So, good times all around. Now, something has come to my attention, and that is that I've been writing this League wrong this whole time. It's a double battle in this round, and I totally forgot about that part. But, I'm not going to change it for the next battle, because double battles are way too annoying to write. Anyway, with that, I'll se you all tomorrow with the next chapter.