Chapter Twenty-Eight

In Hearthome City, her gym battle had actually taken place in the contest hall. As such, it made sense that there had been a room for her to prepare her outfit before stepping out to the field. However, the Canalave City Gym had no such accommodations. Her only options were to come dressed beforehand or to make an impromptu prep room in the gym's only bathroom. She decided to take the obvious choice; to get dressed at the hotel and endure the walk over.

She stood with her arms up and still as a mannequin as Liam flurried about. His hands never stopped moving and his mouth was full of safety pins.

The outfit he had chosen for her this time was a white dress whose structure at least was meant to imitate a naval officer's uniform. Everything else was fanciful; from the frilled skirt, to the puffy sleeves, to the numerous bows, ribbons, and accessories that covered it. The overskirt and matching collar were a deep blue trimmed in gold and embroidered with stars. The same star pattern had been cut into both the last layer of the white underskirt and the edge of the sleeves to tie the theme together.

Gold threads weighted with metal star shaped beads tied sections of the skirt together to protect any immodest accidents such as a strong gust of wind. A matching set of gold stars had also been used to make accompanying accessories; a layered necklace and dangling earrings. Finally there was a large brooch in the shape of a ship's helm, pinned first to a pink cloth for support, then affixed to the left breast of the dress. All that was left were her stockings, gloves, and the white sailor cap that she would put on herself.

Once Liam was finished with her, he started working on putting on the matching collars for her Pokémon. They were made of the same star cut lace and had a blue ribbon stitched down the middle and tied in a bow. It was held together in the center by a large golden button embossed with an anchor.

"Why the sailor theme," she asked him. "Didn't we do that before?"

"It's a canal city," he answered. "What else is there to do besides sailing? Plus being so far away from any major city and on the ocean, it's a good place to come and see the stars. Think of it as a two-in-one marketing technique."

She shot him a look of momentary disbelief, then sighed in annoyance. How could she have forgotten that he had the same motives as Keira. Even though he had spoke of it with such integrity before, the bottom line of being an idol was still money.

"More importantly," Liam asked, "are you prepared to face Byron?"

She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. She turned to look at her Pokémon. They had been glamorously done up as much as she was and gave off a lustrous glow. But before letting themselves be excited, they stood waiting to appraise her mood.

She showed them a wicked smile. "We're prepared to win!"

Her declaration was met by their various cheers. Even Liam caught their fervor with a small smirk. He grabbed his phone and began tapping away. Then he grabbed the duffle bag that held his camera and the rest of his equipment.

"Okay then. Let's get going."

Their walk to the gym was not a solitary one. Her costumed appearance received bemused looks from the locals as she passed. She waved back to them and gave her best smile in spite of her embarrassment. She didn't know if it was better or worse that most of the locals were either middle-aged dockworkers or elderly couples. By the time she made it to the gym, a small group accompanied her for the promised entertainment of her match with Byron. This was all according to plan for Liam. From the moment they had stepped out of the hotel, he considered her to be at work.

The pressure didn't feel quite real to Amira until she stood in trainer's box with Byron staring her down once more. That was when it hit her all at once. She was being watched not only by a physical audience but by a virtual one as Liam recorded the battle. However the battle was not only for entertainment. Byron had information she needed, information that might help her stop Team Galactic, and beating him was the only way to get it. Most important of all, she had her pride to defend.

"So," Byron began, "you're all dressed up to get beat down, is that it?"

Amira growled in anger but her forced smile never left her face.

"I hope you're ready to beg for my forgiveness, old man."

"Get ready to end up in tears again, little girl!"

Liam choked on air at their exchange. Neither gym leader nor challenger had made any attempt to hide their mutual animosity from spectators. Even the referee looked apprehensive. Once the beginning of the battle was announced, neither she nor Byron wasted any more time on taunts.

"Magneton, I choose you!"

"Aurora, let's go!"

Byron remembered Amira had used a Ponyta in their first match. He had anticipated her using it again as fire was a well known weakness of steel-type Pokémon. This time, he sought to cover for the type disadvantage by overtaking it in speed and power and so had switched out Bronzor for Magneton.

He had expected it to catch her off guard, however the self-assured look on her face only deepened. That Ponyta he remembered was now a Rapidash. An ill-tempered one that was restlessly waiting to attack. Aurora dug her hooves into the ground in between trotting in place as she moved from side to side. She snorted in quick succession, huffing, with her tail swishing and her ears turned back. Of the few Pokémon that could out speed her, Magneton was not one of them.

"Magneton, hit it with Thunderbolt!"

"Aurora, Fire Blast!"

Aurora's whole body became engulfed in flames. They appeared to rage out of control but Amira new better by now. The blaze overtook even the bright lights of the gym and bathed everything in a orange glow. Aurora reared up on her hind legs, then slammed down her front legs and with a roaring neigh, sent the howling inferno straight for Magneton.

Magneton was still preparing to attack when it was struck by the wall of flames. The blaze didn't stop at its intended target. Due to Aurora's intensity, it kept going. If it weren't for the protective barriers that were put up around the field before each match, it would've struck Byron as well. A few people gasped at the sheer size of the flames as they licked the barrier before burning out. The crowd didn't even wait for the referee to make the call before applauding. Amira had taken the lead with a single attack.

The momentum and their animosity continued. Byron sent out his next Pokémon, Steelix. Although Aurora was still in fine shape, Amira switched her out for Bonaparte.

Byron called for Steelix to use its strongest attack right away.

"Use Earthquake!"

"Bon, Surf!"

In the time it took for Empoleon to summon a wave, the ground of the Canalave Gym had already begun to shake. Empoleon was only faster by a minute difference. An immense wave struck Steelix just as his body was crushed by thick jagged boulders erupting from the ground.

The audience sat on their seats waiting for what was sure to be a double knock-out but were denied. Steelix's high defense meant a single attack wouldn't be quite enough to knock it out. As for Bonaparte, Steelix's attack was weaker than the one he had suffered from the wild Graveler. It left him hanging on by a thread.

"Steelix, use Flash Cannon!"

"Aqua Jet!"

Amira smiled gleefully as Bonaparte's Torrent ability once again came into play as he shrouded himself in a veil of water. Steelix opened its mouth and fired a silver beam of energy. Bonaparte dodged it with a leap to the side and launched himself at Steelix as hard as he could. He crashed into it head to head. Steelix fell back and tremors shook the gym as it landed unconscious. Like Rapidash before it, Empoleon was the indisputable winner.

Byron gritted his teeth as the second match was called. He was down to one last Pokémon but the gap between them wasn't too far wide. He had knocked her Empoleon's health down enough that it wouldn't be able to take another hit. She still had a Rapidash but it was as good as glass if it didn't take out its opponent on the first hit. As those were her only two Pokémon that had an advantage over him, he was sure he could turn the battle around.

He sent out his last Pokémon, his ace, Bastiodon.

Amira recalled Bonaparte. Byron assumed that she was sending out Rapidash again. Liam too wondered if that was her plan. Empoleon's speed would have been enough to at least get in one good attack before sending Rapidash to finish the job.

Instead, she surprised them both. She sent in Luxor. Byron's anger boiled over.

"What the hell are you doing," he shouted at her. "Are you trying to insult me, brat!?"

"No more then you did me," she answered. "You chewed me out for going for the type-advantage last time! You said I battled without thinking of my Pokémon's true capabilities! Now I'm going to show you how wrong you are!"

"Hmph. We'll see... Bastiodon, use Stone Edge!"

"Luxor, use Thunder Fang!"

Luxor's lean body was faster than the bulky dinosaur by a mile. It was undoubted that his attack would hit first, the question was where. Luxray looked at Bastiodon with gleaming eyes. Being able to see infrared light was an advantageous trait for finding prey at night. In this case, it was for finding a weak spot of skin between Bastidon's thick plates.

Luxor ran towards Bastidon with spark trailing behind him and his teeth bared. Bastidon turned his head to catch the Luxray on his shielded face and throw him back. Luxor slid to the side and dug his claws and teeth into Bastidon's unprotected abdomen.

Bastiodon summoned flat stoned slabs to slam into him. Luxor was thrown off but he rolled over and shook it off. The result of their first attacks left neither of them worse for wear.

Amira had overestimated Bastiodon before. She knew now that Luxray was weak only to ground-types, not rock-types as she had assumed. Bastiodon was partially a rock-type and Byron had only taught him only rock-type moves. This also meant it wasn't unaffected by electric-type moves either. The only thing she had to worry about was Bastiodon's high defense. But for that, Luxray had an equally high attack.

She grinned with her teeth bared. Despite how daintily she was dressed, there was no hiding the far from dainty and slightly maniacal look in her eyes.

"Bastiodon, Iron Defense!"

"Lux, use Spark!"

Bastiodon glowed in a pale white light. It drew its body close together in defense as Luxray tackled it again. Neither his claws or teeth could penetrate it this time but the electricity from his attack made it through.

"Use Spark again!"

"Metal Burst!"

Metal Burst was an attack that absorbed the opponent's energy then turned it against them. As Luxor attacked Bastiodon, he was blown back. He vigorously shook his mane as stars danced in his eyes. The attack only did a fraction of the damage it was supposed to. Although Amira hadn't chosen type-advantage, she hadn't chosen a disadvantage either. Luxray was resistant to steel-type attacks. She was prepared for a long siege.

"Luxor, keep going!"

Luxor's patience wasn't as long as his masters. With a roar, he set about attacking Bastidon again. His third attack at least was successful in paralyzing it. With stiff muscles, Bastiodon couldn't move about to attack or defend as freely as he could before. Stone Edge could only throw Luxray off but couldn't knock him out of the match. Luxray spitefully climbed atop Bastiodon and dug his claws into the leathery skin between his rocky plates.

"Thunder Fang!"

With all teeth bared and arcs of electricity spilling from his mouth, Luxor bit down on the back on Bastidon's neck. He closed his jaw with enough pressure to hear a crunching noise. He didn't stop discharging electricity until he could no longer feel Bastiodon struggle. He didn't dare let go, even at the thundering applause of the crowd, until he heard it announced that they had won the match.

He looked up see Amira's jubilant expression with a fist clenched in victory at her side. He let out a triumphant roar and trotted back to her side.

"Good job, Lux!"

She patted him on the head and ruffled his fur. Her smile was wider than his own and brighter than any he'd seen before.

"Good job," she repeated softly.

Amira walked out to the field to meet Byron in the center. His grim expression quickly dashed her mood. She ironically steeled her nerves against what he could possibly say. Instead, he stuck out his hand to shake. She took it and he shook it heartily with a boisterous laugh.

"That's what I wanted to see!"

"What?!" She was in utter confusion. "I thought you hated me!?"

"I thought you were too delicate to give me a real battle. But you not only took down my prized team of Pokémon, you even surprised me. You're one for holding grudges though, aren't you?"

She stayed silent instead of trying to deny that last part. She still thought it was still his fault in the first place for causing such a big fuss.

"I won't be getting on my hands and knees but here, " he handed her a small cushion and pinned on it was the Mine Bade

She smiled and held it up to hear the crowd cheer.

"I haven't forgotten our other deal," he whispered in a serious tone. "Come to my office when your little press conference is done."

As they left the field, Amira went to the lobby to meet with Liam. He had organized the rabble for her into a meet and greet. She was surprised that the older folks who had watched her battle actually fell for that kind of thing. She was even more surprised when they asked for autographs. She firmly drew the line at calling out her Pokémon though. She insisted on taking them to a Pokémon Center first.

As expertly as he had organized them, Liam was just as skilled at getting them to disperse.

"Thank you for coming to watch today. Please tune in to Jubilife TV for more exciting battles and quality entertainment," he told them as they left.

"How'd I do," she asked him as they walked back to the Pokémon Center.

"You're much better at playing a villainous role than I expected," he answered. "If you had told me, I could have prepared accordingly."

He said it as a joke mixed with some truth. If she had been any more ruthless, he probably would have put in his resignation.

"I wasn't that bad! Whatever," she pouted. "I won and I think I did great! So there!"

"Yes, you deserve your congratulations," he admitted with sincerity. "I'll have to edit out some of the strong language before the station will allow me to use it. But the audience response was overall very good. Most importantly, did you have fun?"

"That again," she muttered.

She wanted to be annoyed by the repeated question but this time wasn't. Yes, it felt good to win. Moreover, she felt a sense of accomplishment at having proven Byron wrong. Even if she wasn't ready to admit it, she also liked the pageantry that it included. She liked getting dressed up with her Pokémon. She liked the quiet time she spent grooming them and feeding them treats as much as she did training for battles. During battle, she particularly liked the jangling noises her costume made when ever she called her Pokémon's attacks.

Pokémon contests and contest battles weren't events which carried the weight of the world, but they weren't as vapid as she had originally thought they were either. They were events made for people and Pokémon just to enjoy. She had done just that.

"I guess so," she answered.