A New Dream

The Sky is the Limit: Dawn's POV

I won't lose to anyone until I go up against Paul, I reminded myself and as the crowd once again counted us down to the start of the battle I smiled confidently down at my pokemon. Piplup, even though he was small and cuddly, looked ready for a fight and had a determined glint in his eyes as he looked back at me. Oricorio only glanced back briefly, her expression filled with her normal superiority, but I noticed that there was a competitive spark in her black eyes.

"START!" The crowd roared and I looked over to Traavi who grinned wolfishly.

"Double Tailwind!" he said, his voice being amplified by the small microphone taped to his cheek, just like my own. 

Before I could even speak his two pokemon shot up and began beating their wings together, perfectly in sync, and a massive gale of wind blew towards our side of the stage. I could feel my flowy skirt and faux sleeves flapping in the wind like crazy and I gritted my teeth as I saw Oricorio and Piplup desperately trying to stay on their feet.

"Oricorio, Mirror Move!" I yelled over the wind.

Oricorio flew up and began frantically flapping her wings towards the two bigger flying types. After a moment I felt a shift in the wind as she created her own opposing tailwind. The two gusts of wind pushed against each other and an almost imperceptible funnel of wind where the two moves were colliding began to form and gave me an idea.

"Use Hurricane, Oricorio!" I called while dropping my arms which I had been holding up to protect my eyes from the power of the tailwind. 

Oricorio instantly stopped flapping and held her wings out proudly as she dropped a few feet in the air. I watched as she gathered the power necessary and then slammed her wings down, releasing a Hurricane into the center of the two conflicting tailwinds. The moves strengthened the Hurricane and it grew enormous as it moved towards Traavi's side of the stage. I watched as Braviary got sucked into the whirling funnel of wind, but Talonflame had used Flame Charge to escape its destructive path.

"Brave Bird, Talonflame!" Traavi called out and instantly the large bird of prey began glowing blue as he streamed down towards Piplup, who was shaking his head from the sudden absence of wind buffeting him.

"Wait," I instructed. Piplup crouched, trusting me completely as Talonflame raced towards him.

"Surf, now!" I yelled. 

Piplup raised his flippers and a massive wave shot up from under him. Talonflame was too late to change his trajectory and he was swallowed by the wave, flopping around a few times before it subsided and deposited him on the ground.

"Piplup use Drill Peck on Talonflame and Oricorio, fly up and use Air Slash on Braviary." 

The Hurricane had subsided and Braviary was shaking his head roughly on the opposite side of the stage. Piplup leaped towards Talonflame, his beak elongated and spinning rapidly, but Talonflame recovered quickly and shot up into the air, easily dodging my landlocked Piplup. As Oricorio made her way towards Braviary he also recovered from his dizziness and flew up to meet her with an Air Slash of his own on Traavi's order. The two moves collided, canceling each other out and I was grateful that Braviary didn't have a high special attack stat.

"Talonflame, use Flame Charge on Oricorio. Braviary use Sky Drop on Piplup!"

Thinking quickly I swallowed and hoped that what I was about to do wasn't a terrible idea.

"Oricorio, use Mirror Move and dodge, Piplup stay still and let him take you," I said firmly. 

Piplup looked back and nodded at me and I felt grateful that he trusted I had a plan. As Braviary swooped down and snatched my little Piplup into his talons and made his way up into the air, Oricorio watched Talonflame coming towards her. After a moment she too burst into a Flame Charge and spun gracefully underneath Talonflames belly, avoiding his attack beautifully. Talonflame backpedaled midair to try and chase after his prey just as Braviary roughly threw Piplup towards the ground.