'How did she know?' Ash thought to himself with worry. Though, in the back of his mind, he knew he shouldn't be too surprised. His raven hair and very tan skin tucked underneath his cap is very recognizable, though his skin has gotten far darker after his time training in the Battle Frontier.
They all stood there like statues for the better part of a minute before Bonnie finally spoke up, breaking the tension in the air. "So is this a bad time, or...?" She muttered, trying to prevent this from becoming too awkward.
Ash suddenly instinctively flashed up his watch and called out his Scizor who formed a Metal Claw. Anabel also had her watch flash out her Metagross, who stood ready for anything.
Said actions quickly had the Kalosian girl on the defensive, as she was not expecting such hostile reactions, but then again, she shouldn't be overly surprised. Bonnie rose her hands quickly. "Woah! I'm not trying to start anything!" She promised before muttering under her breath. "And I thought this would be simpler..."
Ash rose an eyebrow. "What would be simpler?" He asked her, still not letting his guard down.
Bonnie took in a deep breath and let it out, finally managing to calm her racing heart somewhat. "Do you guys... have a few minutes?" She asked them in a small voice.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"So what you mean to tell me..."
Ash sat up from the ground he was sitting upon as they listen to Bonnie finish her story in the clearing. Scizor was still on guard, but Anabel was nice enough to return Metagross to help Bonnie not stress out about the amount of eyes on her. Both were wary too, but could tell there was complete truth in Bonnie's story.
"... is that you never wanted to betray me?" Ash finished.
Bonnie shook her head, a sad glance as she looked down. "Of course not. I just wish I had a say in what I wanted back then, but with Clemont basically taking care of me more than my dad does at times, and me not being a trainer, I had no choice. Especially with Dedenne at risk."
Anabel sighed frustratingly. "People are just cruel. To think they threatened you with a Pokemon to make you agree."
"Yeah..." Bonnie looked in her purse to see a sleeping little mouse in there. "I'm just glad Dedenne is with me permanently now. For an entire year after the others gave up on you, I felt like they had something over my head. After you left, I almost felt like Clemont was at my neck trying to make sure I had nothing to do with you anymore. He even attempted to get me to let him travel with me, which I am pretty sure I know why he wanted to now."
Ash nodded. "I understand, Bonnie. But now that you know, what about the others?"
Bonnie shrugged, an uncaring expression dotting her face. "Luckily they don't really care about me anymore. Clemont would care, but he is a day behind the rest of us, so he shows up tomorrow, and I'm allowed to have my own room at the Hotel. So if I can avoid him, then I can probably just stay with you two for a while."
Ash frowned. "If they're a day behind, then what about the ceremony?"
"The Kalos Gym Leaders, Elites, and Diantha get a by on the ceremony due to weather. The Lumiose airport is getting rained out according to my dad." Bonnie stated.
"Alright then."
Bonnie then gestured to the pair with a smirk on her face, eager to change the subject. "So what's up with you two and the whole calling each other dear and honey, huh?"
Ash and Anabel blushed. "We needed an act to fool Max, so I just decided to wing it. Luckily Anabel caught on."
"It wasn't the smoothest acting I ever tried, but it got the job done." Anabel shrugged, hoping Bonnie would drop it.
Bonnie laughed. "Could've fooled me. But what have you been up to anyways? I think I would've noticed you at some point on the statistics."
"Well not when I'm a Frontier Brain."
Bonnie almost froze. "W-Wait... you're a Frontier Brain now?"
Ash nodded. "Mhm. And besides my co-workers and a select few others, you're the only other one who knows."
She couldn't help but gaze at him in awe. "Wow... I never thought you would actually sit in one place long enough to get a title and run a battle facility. You used to be way more invested in travelling."
"Oh he still is. I don't even think I could get him to stop." Anabel joked. "We're just more discrete about it."
"Amazing..." Bonnie muttered. "I can only imagine the kind of damage you're going to do to the others."
"Yeah, I hear you, but kicking their butts is not at the top of my priority list right now. I'm just glad you're still on my side." Ash stated.
"I'm glad also. And now that gives me a job."
That made the former Pallet native frowned. "And that is?"
"Getting you two together!" She grinned.
Silence.
Ash and Anabel looked at each other and immediately blushed. Then they both turned to Bonnie, then back at each other. Normally they were both quick witted after being Frontier Brains for a long time. But something about what Bonnie just said took a second to process.
"WHAT?!!"
"Why is this suddenly your job?!" Anabel demanded, her face flushed in embarassment.
"Why are you two not together yet?" Bonnie countered with a cheeky grin.
"Why am I getting flashbacks to Kalos?" Ash groaned, facepalming.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The ceremony yesterday wasn't anything to gawk at. At least not to the Frontier Brains and many others like them. All they needed were the rules for later rounds before most of them tuned out Goodshow in an instant. Today, Ash and Anabel spent their time talking about strategy for the upcoming Tag Team rounds after the prelims for the regular trainers.
They sat in the Frontier Brain exclusive box that Scott rented out for them. Each individual person was up to their own activities, and even some of the Brains weren't in the box at the moment. But Ash and Anabel had some battles they couldn't afford to miss.
"So are we sticking with those two?"
Anabel nodded. "They know each other like the back of their hands after all the recent practice. If we get a hard pool of battlers, then we can switch to Pikachu and Espeon. Don't want to take too many risks."
"Alright, I get that. Best to keep the amount of Pokemon we have unknown." Ash surmised.
"Right. Also, who are Bonnie and Lillie supposed to partner with?"
"Bonnie said something about running into Sawyer, one of my Kalos rivals, so unless Max tries to steal her, my bet's on him. And Lillie ran into my friends from Alola, but I don't know who she'll choose. Plus let's not forget they have to beat prelims first."
"Don't you have faith in them?" Anabel asked.
"Of course I do. After all, in a way, I taught them myself."
. . . . . . . .
Waiting in the hall for her battle to be called out, Lillie was unsure of what to expect from her opponent. She had never heard of the name Alice McKenzie before. That didn't mean Lillie planned for reckless actions, but she wasn't sure how cautious she had to act.
"Lillie Aether, your battle is about to start. Please step onto the platform."
Lillie walked onto the metal platform as it descended down in front of her. She fiddled with her Poke Ball as she prepared for what may await her above. The platform rose to the top, letting her hear the roar of the crowd and meet eyes with her opponent: a long haired brunette with blue eyes wearing a green jacket, black and white shirt, and black leggings.
The ref rose his flags. "Alright, this is a one on one battle between Lillie Aether and Alice McKenzie. Trainers, release your Pokemon."
Lillie went first. "Go, Venusaur!"
The Grass type starter roared as it hit the ground, establishing it's power as it hit the field.
Alice smirked cockily. "Bad move going first. Archeops, let's win this!"
The flying type fossil bird was released as it flew in a circle and landed on the ground in front of Alice, locking eyes with Venusaur before letting out a loud cry. Though Lillie and Venusaur were unaffected by such intimidation tactics.
Up in the Frontier Box, Ash shook his head knowingly. "That girl hasn't changed at all."
Anabel frowned. "You know her?"
"Alice lost to me five times last year. Never beat me once. She has a fat ego just cause she got runner up in the Vertress conference and top 4 in the Indigo conference."
Anabel nodded. "Well she must be strong." She said, trying to give her the benefit of the doubt.
"In a way."
Anabel tossed a confused glance at Spenser, who sat down on the other side of Ash. "Huh?"
"That girl fights dirty. She stays within official rules, but her tactics are dangerous and frowned upon in league format. She managed to beat me, but not by much. Her final blow to my Arcanine was a High-Jump Kick from her Scrafty, but even when my Arcanine was struggling to stand and I knew he had enough, she used Brick Break in the same spot where the High Jump Kick landed. Arcanine was out for two weeks." He explained. "The bottom line is she will do seemingly unnecessary attacks on her opponents if she thinks it will earn her the victory."
Ash nodded, agreeing with Spenser's synopsis. "She tried to pull that style on me, but she never got past my first Pokemon. She didn't have a true enough bond with her Pokemon to have been able to break through me. Not to mention that she's so cocky, it's painful. And it looks like nothing has changed."
Down on the field, the ref was about to start the match. "Alright, Archeops versus Venusaur. Begin!"
"Let's end this quick. Archeops, use Aerial Ace." Alice commanded in a bored tone.
Lillie wasn't having this, easily prepping for the aggressive options Alice displayed. "Sludge Bomb then Leech Seed when it goes down."
As Archeops was charging in, it suddenly caught a surprisingly fast Sludge Bomb with it's head and fell to the ground. Before it could respond, it was caught by Leech Seed and trapped in the roots it produced.
"What!? Archeops, cut it with Dragon Claw and get out of there!" She cried out.
"Track it and keep using Sludge Bomb."
As soon as Archeops was out, Venusaur was sending waves of Sludge Bombs at Archeops. After dodging a few waves, Archeops was hit, creating a domino effect, allowing the Pokemon to be hit again and again. After a second, Alice finally yelled out.
"Use Protect and rush in with it still up!"
Lillie frowned. This was a strategy she had never heard of, but one she wasn't going to let beat her. She also noticed how tired Archeops was getting and could only assume one thing.
"Use Acrobatics."
"Venusaur, stand your ground." Lillie ordered.
Most of the crowd widened their eyes at the bold strategy, but they didn't know some Pokemon like Lillie did. Archeops made the connection, causing smoke to occur at the moment of contact. Alice smirked, thinking she had won, but saw the result after the smoke ended.
"How!?" She cried. Venusaur was still standing and had Archeops wrapped up in a Vine Whip.
"Simple. Archeops has the ability, Defeatist. After taking so many attacks, it's strength dropped, meaning Venusaur could take Aerial Ace without breaking a sweat. You lost this match thanks to your overconfidence." Lillie berated.
"Archeops! Get out!"
"Checkmate. Close quarters Leaf Storm."
The attack took place so fast, that the next moment, Archeops was on the ground in front of Alice, who couldn't believe what just happened.
"Archeops is unable to battle. Venusaur wins. Lillie takes the match and moves on to the tag battle rounds."
Ash smiled. "Like I said, not much has changed with Alice. She thought Lillie had no way to counter Flying types."
Anabel nodded. "Lillie is going to be one to watch out for. She's about as innovative as you, but with more book knowledge."
"Yeah, I almost forgot about Defeatist. Lillie has it made when it comes to info, but she has to watch out for different strategies and styles from other opponents. That's her biggest weakness."
"You sure seem to know a lot about her. But I guess that's from training her like you said." Spenser commented.
"Yeah. She originally like our method of training directly with our Pokemon, but it's a bit late to stop us when we've done it for a long time now." Ash chuckled. "But after seeing the results, she decided to take initiative and asked for us to teach her how we do it."
"So Bonnie is supposed to be next, right?" Anabel asked.
"Ironically, yes. I still don't know why they got put right next to each other. But I don't know her opponent." Ash mused.
Spenser pulled out a pamphlet and began skimming through it. "Luckily for you two, Scott gave me a list of the battles to come."
"Thanks Spenser. So who is Bonnie up against?"
Spenser found Bonnie's name in a heartbeat. "Ah, this should be interesting. She's facing Damon, that one trainer from a few months ago."
Ash frowned. "The hotshot?" Spenser nodded in response. "Oh yeah, this will be interesting. That guy has been all over as of the last year or so winning isolated tournaments. Bonnie may have trouble with this one."
"Hopefully she can pull through." Anabel stated.
. . . . . . . .
Bonnie rose up on the platform to the battlefield. She did luckily know who her opponent was and some of his Pokemon, but how he battles is another story. Bonnie knew she would have to outsmart him if she wanted a shot at winning.
She eyed the black haired man with green eyes staring over at him. His hiker backpack was on his back and his black cargo shorts and his red shirt rang out with wild intent. He held a confident look on him as he looked over at Bonnie.
"You know, you could just make this easier on both of us and forefeit. I know your background. You wouldn't want to disappoint your brother and father, would you?"
Bonnie was already fuming. "Oh stuff it big head. We both know I don't plan to."
"Still, it would make it easier on both of us. Like come on, what about that one trainer I heard you traveled with a long time ago that almost won the league in Kalos? You really want to disappoint someone like him?" He stated with a sly smirk.
Bonnie was seething with anger. She wanted to go over and kill him for even considering that she could disappoint Ash by losing, but she realized what he was doing. She took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes, projecting a calm, yet scary tone through her voice. "You will regret battling me today."
Damon gulped at the tone. 'That was not the end result I wanted.' He screamed in his mind.
Up in the box, Anabel could see what was going on and can feel Bonnie getting angrier, but she was wondering just what Damon was telling her. "What are they saying?"
Spenser shrugged while Ash, who had his eyes closed responded. "Damon's taunting her, saying she should forfeit before she disappoints her family or even me by losing terribly. But Bonnie composed herself and changed her negative energy into constructive energy focused on beating Damon. I can tell her Pokemon can also feel it too. They're practically shaking in their Poke Balls with anger."
"How did you..." Anabel started, but noticed the small sapphire blue glow that encircled Ash. It was like an ethereal glow, but she could also feel how warm and calming it felt by sitting so close to him.
Spenser smiled as he witnessed what Ash did. "Glad to see you're putting that skill to good use."
Ash dispersed the glow and looked over at the Palace Maven. "Yeah. I'm happy to have it. Really comes in handy."
Anabel frowned, realization slowly dawning on her. "Is that what I think it is?"
Ash nodded. "Yeah. When I went under training with Spenser, he figured out I had it, then told me that I should practice it to learn to control it more. I used it recklessly a few times before, so I figured it would be a good move."
"And you didn't tell me this why?" Anabel questioned, slightly irritated.
"I asked him not to. I didn't want him to put you at risk. The training for this power is risky and requires much focus and discipline, and if you know Ash, you know those originally weren't qualities of his." Spenser stated.
"Hey!"
Spenser ignored him. "So I quoted a few old texts, observed his progress personally, and called in a friend of his to help him perfect it. And you see the end result before you now."
"You could've at least told me you know. He was my student after all." Anabel pouted lightly.
"And he chose to study under me for 3 weeks." Spenser countered with a light jest.
"I didn't want to worry you with the details Annie. If you knew, then you would've worried to the point where you would've wanted to come out and help. Aura training is not easy and spectators would be put at risk. I didn't want you going through that." Ash tried to calm her down using her nickname.
"Aww. Look at you two."
Greta sat down in the row behind them. "It's nice seeing you both acting so protective of each other."
Anabel blushed slightly, but Ash was unfazed. "Of course I'm protective of her. I'm protective of all of you. Everyone worries about me enough as it is." He exclaimed.
Greta smiled. "With good reason though. Anyways, I thought she was on your bad list. What changed?"
"Turns out she was being blackmailed with one of her own Pokémon." Anabel said after she got over her blush.
"That's just too drastic." Spenser shook his head, disappointed.
"I can agree with that, old man. But Ash, are you sure you can trust her?" Greta quizzed.
"I would be able to tell if she was faking her emotions. It looked all good to me." Anabel responded.
"Ok then. If she is clear, then what is the guarantee she won't accidentally lead the others to you?" Greta questioned.
"She plans to dodge them since they supposedly don't care about her and she knows how to avoid her brother."
"Alright, stop. The battle is starting." Anabel said.
Down on the field, the ref rose his flags. "Trainers, send out your Pokémon!"
Damon smirked. "Machamp, let's go!"
Out came the four armed fighting type with a roar as he attempted to show off his power. Bonnie, however was not impressed.
She flashed a Poke Ball off her belt and threw it. "Meowstic, come on out!"
The white cat came out with a slight smile on her face, seemingly satisfied that she was chosen first. Bonnie felt confident, but she knew that Damon could pull anything against her. But she also knew she was not letting him come out of here with the win.
"Meowstic versus Machamp. Battle begin!"
"Meowstic, use Future Sight." Bonnie commanded, already setting up her game plan.
Meowstic tossed psychic energy into a portal, knowing it will come back later on.
Damon, however, could not keep himself from growing impatient. "Machamp, rush it with Bullet Punch." He commanded
The Fighting type formed its fist into metal and rushed quickly towards Meowstic.
"Hold your ground Meowstic. Watch him and learn his pattern." Bonnie whispered low enough for only Meowstic to hear.
Machamp rushed in a straight line, smirking as he assumed this would be a free hit. He came close to the Meowstic and prepared to strike, crying out as the distance was getting shorter by the second.
"Psychic."
In a heartbeat, Meowstic had Machamp in a Psychic hold and he was not moving. Damon gawked at what he was witnessing. "How is that possible?!"
"Throw it. Hard."
Meowstic didn't hesitate to toss the thing around like a rag doll. Machamp cried out in pain as he hit the ground multiple times, facing the full force of a pure Psychic type with a trainer as mad as Bonnie. Damon widened his eyes as he watched his Pokémon helplessly.
After several more hard throws, Bonnie had seen enough. "Toss it upward."
Meowstic tossed it upward into midair as Bonnie put a Purple crystal on a bracelet. She activated it and did a select few moves as Damon tried to call out to Machamp.
"Try a Focus Blast. Don't let them slip by unscathed." He yelled.
Machamp started forming a ball of blue energy in it's hand and launched it quickly from the air. But then Bonnie finished the pose. "With the power of our shared bond, the match is ours. You shouldn't have taunted me. Now Meowstic, use Shattered Psyche!"
The wave of psychic energy blasted through the Focus Blast and gripped Machamp, throwing it into invisible psychic walls before shattering through one and being launched up more.
Immediately, as though fate decreed it, the Future Sight attack from before descended upon the Machamp, striking it and covering its surrounding in a glow of smoke. Machamp finally started falling out of the smokescreen quickly. An easy look at it, and everyone could tell he had fainted. Damon fell to his knees in utter defeat.
"Catch it with Psychic. We don't need to be that cold." Bonnie muttered.
Meowstic obeyed and helped ease the fall of the Fighting type as he fell to the floor. The ref rose his flags.
"Machamp is unable to battle. Meowstic is the winner. Bonnie moves on to the next round."
Up in the box, Anabel and Ash sat there with widened eyes. In all of Ash's travels, he had never expected to see Bonnie battle so well, but so ruthlessly. From what Anabel knew about Bonnie, this shocked her as well. They shared a quick look at each other.
"Remind me to never tick her off." Anabel said with a wavering voice.
"Deal." Ash nodded quickly.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The champions are given their titles for a reason. Not only are they considered the best of the best in their region, but they are also the faces of the region from which they reside in. Not only do countless people look up to them, but they are also considered protectors of their respective regions.
And for once, all of them are gathered in one single spot.
From Johto to Galar (as Kanto still lacks a champion), each one of these individuals represents their region. And as they speak together, they speak without formalities. Almost like they were a small little family of their own.
"So what do you all think of the matches so far?" Hau asked the others. Despite him not being a champion for as long as them, he was still respected among all of them.
"Honestly, not a lot of these matches have been very close. Most of the ones we've seen so far have been landslides, like the battle between that blonde girl from Kalos and the guy with the Machamp." Lance, the dragon master of Johto stated. "If I had to say anything, it's that the only lack of trainers we've seen so far has been from your region, Leon."
The Galar champion chuckled lightly. "You're not wrong, unfortunately. There were not a lot of trainers from my region that stood out overall, so we did not get a crazy amount of invites." Leon informed them. "As of right now, the trainers off the top of my head that are in the tournament from my region are my brother, Tom Hawkins, and Sofia Laxton."
"Speaking of Sofia, she's up next I believe." The three champions turned towards Cynthia, who was holding a list.
Leon turned his head to the field and smiled as he saw who was walking out of the tunnel. "You're right. There she is."
Out walked a pale girl with silvery hair. She wore a light blue beret and had on a blue sweater with white pants. She walked with grace and poise as she moved towards her spot on the field. She closed her eyes as she listened to the voices of the crowd around her before opening them and marveling at the stadium around her.
"She has a lot of grace with her. I can see it from here." Cynthia remarked.
"Yeah, she does. She's also quite the trainer. Nearly beat Raihan in the circuit tournament for the right to fight me, but unfortunately she only narrowly lost. Regardless, she's plenty strong and knows her way clear around a battle." Leon inferred.
Next came a pale brunette with her hair tied up in a bun behind her. As she walked, she didn't walk with a sense of grace, like Sofia did, but more with a sense of purpose. While she walked up to her place on the field, Leon took note of her clothing, which was a yellow dojo outfit that looked remarkably familiar.
"Hmm..." Leon frowned to himself before he finally recalled where he had seen that outfit. "Oh wow."
"What is it, Leon?" The Alola Champion asked.
"That style on the other girl is Galarian as well. The outfit she has on is the dojo outfit for a nearby island that's really close to the Galar region." He told them. "But surely I would have known if one of the students of that dojo was going to be part of this tournament." He frowned slightly.
"Here, catch." Leon turned just in time to barely catch the list of preliminary battles from Cynthia. "Take a look and see if the girl's name is familiar to you."
Leon nodded and began to scan the list quickly until he found Sofia's name. "Here we go." He took a glance at the name next to Sofia's and blinked. Twice. A third time.
He gasped.
All of the champions in the box turned their heads towards the origin of the loud noise and started looking at Leon. However, said Galar champion did not notice, nor did he care. His hands started shaking slowly, but sped up until he could no longer hold the list in his hands. His eyes were wide and he shakily managed to make himself stand out of his chair. His entire body was trembling to the point that if he wasn't moving on his own, the others would think he was going into shock.
He took some steps up to the railing and stared down at the girl who was in the arena. He started scanning her up and down, trying to see if the name he just read was actually real, or simply just a fake. An image that had somehow planted itself in his brain to taunt him.
But as soon as the girl met his eyes, he knew.
"It's actually her..." He mumbled.
Lance, who had barely caught what Leon was saying, spoke the thought that was in everyone's head. "Leon, who is it?"
"That girl is the one battler that I never thought I would see again." He started. "Not only was she one of the few trainers in the gym circuit to actually push past Raihan during my win streak, but she also came so close to beating me, that I thought I lost my title." He sighed lightly. "And she was also my brother's rival and our childhood friend."
. . . . . . . .
Speaking of brothers, Hop was sitting in the Galarian gym leader box as he continued to study up on some of the books he had brought with him. His battle had ended long ago, so with a little help from Marnie, he was allowed up into the box so he could have a somewhat quiet place to continue studying and become a Pokemon Professor.
He continued to keep his eyes on his book, which was a book on forest Pokemon habitats by Professor Birch. As he continued to read and absorb the information, he heard a loud gasp come from the box that somewhat shook his concentration. "Oi, could you keep it down? I'm studying over here." He commented, scowling in the direction of the voice.
However, as he turned, he saw that the voice belonged to Marnie. And that worried him for one of two reasons. One was that Marnie never interrupted him while he was studying. Not even unintentionally.
Two was that she never gasped unless something absolutely shook her.
He gazed off towards the direction of where Marnie was looking and saw that she was staring at a girl in some yellow dojo outift. However, as he took an even closer look, he suddenly realized exactly why Marnie yelped, which prompted him to yell some as well.
"No flipping way! That's actually Gloria!?" Hop cried out, drawing the attention of many of the gym leaders in the box.
. . . . . . . .
Gloria did not take her gaze away from Leon for a moment, analyzing the look of complete shock and surprise on his face. 'I hope you're watching, Leon.' She stole a glance up towards the Galar region Gym Leader box, where she saw several of the gym leaders staring at her, including Marnie. Hop was also up there, staring at her like he couldn't believe she existed.
'You too, Hop. Marnie. It's time to show you how much I've changed.'
"If you're done marveling at the stadium too, I think it's time that we get to our battle. Don't you agree?" A silky smooth feminine voice spoke out to her with ease.
Gloria turned her head back to her opponent and lightly laughed. "Apologies. It's not right for me to keep an opponent waiting." She responded, grabbing a Poke Ball from her sash. "Let's begin."
The ref looked between them before raising his flags. "Trainers, send out your Pokemon!"
"Frosmoth, come out!" Sofia tossed a Poke Ball and revealed an icy looking bug type with blue eyes and a small body.
Gloria tossed her own Poke Ball. "Cinccino, double time." In a white flash, the normal type Pokemon came out and dropped onto the field, making a few people awe at the appearance of the cute normal type.
Sofia, however, appeared unamused. "A Cinccino, huh? Never thought I would see one of these in a battle."
Gloria simply said nothing, making calculations in her head about what type of move Sofia will try to start with before deciding on one that would be smart for Sofia to try.
The ref threw down his flags. "Frosmoth versus Cinccino. Battle begin!"
"Let's end this quickly. Frosmoth, use Icy Wind!" Sofia commanded.
Gloria narrowed her eyes, getting a quick grasp of the type of logical battler Sofia is. "Dazzling Gleam, and blind them."
Just as Frosmoth was launching an attack, Cinccino let out a blinding flash of fairy energy that struck the bug type, disrupting the attack and blinding Frosmoth in an instant. Sofia gasped at such an option while shielding her eyes from the sheer blindness of the attack.
When the light died down, Cinccino was nowhere to be seen, and Frosmoth was looking all around for any sign of the little Pokemon. Even Sofia was struggling to find the Scarf Pokemon. Meanwhile Gloria was not making any obvious moves, keeping her body language neutral so as to not give away her plan.
Sofia finally turned to Gloria. "What, is Cinccino just going to hide all day?" She taunted.
"Oh no. That would be boring, and it would draw out the match for way too long." Gloria responded calmly. "Iron Tail."
Sofia heard the command and started looking around frantically until she spotted a shadow on the ground and looked up. In a brief moment, she saw Cinccino rapidly approaching from the air with Iron Tail, already preparing the swing.
"Above you! Dodge it!" She exclaimed hurriedly.
Frosmoth quickly turned around and noticed Cinccino quickly enough to try and hover to the side and mess with Cinccino's aim.
Gloria was quick to respond however. "Tuck and roll. Then follow Frosmoth with Rock Blast."
In a glorious switch around, Cinccino let the steel energy on her tail disperse before tucking and rolling along the ground, transferring her momentum into the roll. As soon as she finished rolling, she started firing several blasts of rocks from where she was standing at Frosmoth. The bug type tried to dodge, but unfortunately was hit by the last rock that Cinccino threw out, as it did not expect so many rocks at once.
Frosmoth hit the ground, making Sofia call out with worry. "Frosmoth! Are you ok?" Frosmoth, in response to her trainer's call, managed to push itself back up into the air, although it was hovering weakly.
'The problem with a bug type like Frosmoth is that not only is it frail with it's defenses, but it is not one of the fastest bug types.' Gloria reviewed in her head. 'Add that to its numerous weaknesses, and that makes raising one for battle very hard. To take a rock type attack and still get up like that is somewhat impressive, but Frosmoth can't take another hit. I bet Sofia knows that too.'
"Alright Frosmoth, use Quiver Dance." Gloria didn't make any indication of worry, but an alarm bell rang in her head from the command that Sofia just gave.
"Cinccino, use Swift!" Gloria commanded swiftly in response. The Scarf Pokemon then launched a barrage of stars straight at the moth.
"Quick, use Protect." In response to the attack that Sofia knew couldn't miss, she decided to go for the safer option and put up a barrier instead to block it. The stars collided harmlessly against the barrier that Frosmoth put in front of itself.
However, when the Protect dropped, there was one noticeable issue.
Cinccino was gone.
And there was a hole in the field.
"Now use Dig!"
"Dodge it!"
Faster than most of the people in the arena could react, Cinccino tried to strike Frosmoth from underground using Dig. However, Sofia was quick to recognize the hole in the field and managed to avoid the attack. Because of the swift dodge, thanks to Quiver Dance's stat raises, Cinccino was left suspended in the air with no easy way down.
Sofia smirked inwardly. "Now use Bug Buzz!"
Frosmoth quickly flew above Cinccino and let out a large cry as a wave of bug energy struck Cinccino hard. The Scarf Pokemon was sent flying into the ground, making Sofia smile at the handiwork that Frosmoth had created as her Pokemon started descending to the ground. In a mere moment, Cinccino had successfully collided with the ground.
However, instead of forming a crater, Cinccino disappeared in a poof of smoke.
"What!?" Sofia exclaimed.
"Aqua Tail."
A blur shot straight out of the first hole and flew right towards the unsuspecting Frosmoth, who was still as bewildered as it's trainer was. In less than a second, a spout of water that was forming from the base of Cinccino's tail struck Frosmoth downwards and made it strike the floor, forming a small crater in the ground.
When the debris had cleared, Frosmoth had swirls stuck in it's eyes.
"Frosmoth is unable to battle. The winner is Cinccino. Gloria moves onto the next round."
Gloria released a breath that she was not aware she was holding. She smiled and walked up to Cinccino, picking her up and hugging her gently. "You played wonderfully out there. I'm so proud of you." She told the normal type.
"Cin cinccino cin."
Gloria rolled her eyes with a smile. "Fine, I'll make you some macarons later, but you're not eating all of them in one go." She countered, which made Cinccino pout cutely. The Galarian native giggled and returned the Scarf Pokemon to let her get some rest.
"Gloria!"
She turned towards her opponent, who walked up to her with a smile. "Thank you for the wonderful match." Sofia exclaimed.
"No, thank you. It's been a bit since I've battled in such a... public setting to put it bluntly." Gloria responded in kind, doing her Isle of Armor bow, before realizing that she was doing it and pulling back up. The entire action confused Sofia, before Gloria placed a hand behind her head.
"Sorry. It's a habit from where I've been training to bow in respect after a battle, no matter the outcome." She explained sheepishly.
Sofia laughed lightly. "There's nothing wrong with that. I think it's cute." She told her before bowing back in kind, which made both girls laugh.
Once they stopped, Sofia bid her farewell and wished her luck in the rest of the tournament, to which Gloria accepted gratefully. She stole one last glance at the Galar Gym Leader box and the Champion's box before exiting herself, leaving an ecstatic crowd all too eager to see a match as fast paced as that one was.
. . . . . . . .
Hop, who was still in awe of how Gloria had battled, finally managed to snap out of his shock as Gloria glanced towards them for a second. Once Gloria started walking, he finally spoke up. "That was... incredible. From Cinccino's swiftness to Gloria's tactic of using Substitute in a hole to make Sofia lower her guard, it seemed like she was completely prepared for this match-up."
Marnie nodded in agreement. "I've never seen her that calm and in control. It's like she had a counterplay and a plan for everything Sofia threw at her." She stated. "Her style was like that before, but it was almost scary how unfazed she was by that battle."
Hop agreed with her before realizing that they still haven't seen her in a long time. "Come on! We need to find her!" He exclaimed, practically dragging the poor girl along behind him.
. . . . . . . .
"That girl was unfazed the entire match." Lance commented in mild awe. "Not only that, but she was very calculating and seemed to perfectly catch on to the type of battler Sofia was. It almost reminded me of your battling style, Cynthia."
"That's Gloria alright." Leon inferred. "That's always been her battling style. Calm, collected and focused. Always scanning her opponent for their next move and capitalizing on it. She's almost like a mind reader in that sense."
"So why did you say you were surprised to see her again, Leon?" Diantha asked curiously.
Leon looked down with a light frown. "Well the thing is that after our battle, she left the stadium while I was distracted. And nobody knew where she left to except for her mother, who refused to tell anyone." He stated. "I didn't even get to shake her hand after the battle."
Steven Stone, who had been quietly piecing the puzzle together in his head, spoke up. "Then that would be your fault, wouldn't it?"
Everyone turned their head at Steven, who was staring at Leon with a pointed look. "Nobody could have stopped you from walking up to her right after tending to your Pokemon and congratulating her. If I had to guess, you were waving to your fans in the stadium as they cheered your name, and that's how you got distracted."
"Steven!" Cynthia chided.
Leon sighed. "No. As dreadful as he sounded, he's completely right."
Everyone looked back at Leon again with shock written on their faces. The Galar champion had stood up and looked at all of them. "I messed up, my brother messed up, even a lot of Galar messed up!" He said firmly. "Nobody even bothered to talk to her after the match was over. Not me, not my brother, not the gym leaders, not even her best friend."
"So while everyone was celebrating your victory, nobody bothered to console her about her loss." Steven surmised, to which Leon nodded in affirmation. The steel specialist sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Poor girl. That must have been humiliating. Leon, I thought you knew better than that."
Leon turned back to the tunnel that Gloria had exited through. "So did I, Steven." He mumbled. "So did I."
. . . . . . . .
As Gloria exited the tunnel, she found Callum already waiting on her, writing a few things on his notepad as he looked at his Pokegear Plus. As he was finishing up, he pulled his head up and smiled at Gloria, who was wearing a grin on her face.
"Great job. She didn't even land a hit." Callum commended, putting up his notepad and closing his Pokegear.
"Thanks. And with your victory over that Katie girl from Johto, that means we get to go to the tag battle rounds together!" She exclaimed in slight excitement, which made Callum chuckle.
"Glad to see you're enthusiastic. Our opponents won't know what hit them." He added. "Now come on. We should probably get Cinccino a quick check up at the Pokemon Center."
"Gloria!!!"
Both of them turned to see Hop and Marnie running down the corridor towards them. Gloria looked somewhat panic struck, as she was not expecting them to chase her down so soon. But a hand from Callum snaking its way into hers calmed her down. "Want me to teleport us out of here?"
Gloria nodded, closing her eyes and leaning her head against him. "Please?"
Callum smiled at her and pulled out a Poke Ball. He tossed it into the air, which opened and revealed a Porygon-Z from within. "Teleport us to the Pokemon Center, please?" He requested.
"Pory." The normal type nodded and latched onto it's trainer, teleporting them away from the stadium right in front of Hop and Marnie's eyes.
The pair slowed down as they reached where Callum and Gloria just were, blinking slightly in light surprise of what just happened.
"Where did she go?" Marnie asked. "And who was that with her?"
"That guy looked familiar, but right now, I'm not sure. But she probably went to the Pokemon Center to take care of Cinccino." Hop guessed.
Marnie agreed and sighed. "Looks like she's still upset with us."
"I don't blame her though." Hop exclaimed, crossing his arms. "She has every reason to be upset."
"Yeah but for this long?!" She exclaimed in light frustration.
Hop shook his head at her. "She wouldn't be upset in the first place if we actually paid attention. You know this."
"You're right." She relented. "But that doesn't make it any better."
Hop sighed. "We'll just have to keep trying. After all, the longer she stays in the tournament, the easier it will be to find her and confront her." He stated before looking back at where Gloria stood only moments ago. "Let's just hope we can get her to talk to us again."
. . . . . . . .
In their hotel room, at around 10 o'clock, Ash and Anabel were sitting on the couch in their night clothes watching a movie together. Ash was petting Pikachu on his lap while Anabel was leaned up against Ash's left shoulder with Espeon laying at the Salon Maiden's side. Ash would've said something, but this was Anabel. He knew her too well to be against it.
As they continued to watch the movie, Ash sighed as he was seemingly drawn away from the movie and lost in thought. That encounter with Max the other day was still playing in his mind. Max obviously didn't know it was him, but that may change tomorrow. He was among one of the early tag rounds as far as he was aware, so it's very likely that he'll be revealed to the world again.
And that idea of painting a target back onto himself was worrying. Especially with his friends also at risk of getting caught in the crossfire.
It took Anabel a minute to notice, but when she did, she nudged him a bit to snap him out of it.
Ash looked over at her. "What's up?"
"You looked pretty spaced out. Something wrong?"
Ash shook his head. "No, just... don't worry about it."
Anabel sat up. "Every time you say that, it never works. Just tell me."
Ash knew he wasn't winning. But after a few moments of pure silence, he conceded."I just don't want to have to face them. I know I can beat them no problem, but them coming back in to try and ruin what I have now is just stuck in my head."
Anabel sighed inwardly. She had a feeling Ash was having this struggle, but she didn't want to pry on pure speculation. She glanced at Pikachu and Espeon, who were both seemingly concerned for the Castle Guardian.
"I thought you would be worried about that. But Ash, you have the entire Battle Frontier on your side. On top of that, you outclass them as a battler and in several ways, as a person too. You shouldn't be scared of facing them just because of us. You're forgetting who we are." Anabel stated.
Ash simply looked down, not saying anything. Anabel wasn't having it and stood up in front of him. "Don't shove us out. The Battle Frontier is your family. Let us help you."
Ash didn't move again, so Anabel pulled him into a hug. "At least let me help you."
Ash returned the embrace. "Thanks. I... I just don't want you all to get so involved that you could regret it."
"We aren't going to regret it. We are going to face this head on together. Besides, we don't have a choice."
Ash rose an eyebrow. "What does that mean."
Anabel let go. "I saw our matchup... and I don't think you're going to like it."
"Oh boy." Ash sat up with a sigh. "What is it?"
Anabel paused briefly before relenting. "Us versus Serena and Clemont."
This one was tricky, not gonna lie. I added probably double the word count due to the side story I'm starting within this. It's not easy at all, but I would like to think that my detailing and explanations have gotten better. Hope you enjoy the new content.
-Bi0t0rch