"Woo! All the trainers and pokemon today have been giving it their all in their battles, oh yeah! We are now in our third preliminary round which will take the current 32 trainers down to 16. Let's see who'll be battling against who!"
I glanced up at the screen, wondering why anyone had thought it would be a good idea to have Professor Kukui as the announcer for the pokemon league. Dawn found me after her second-round battle ended and we watched the remaining battles to see if we could identify anyone we should worry about. I'd never had someone to talk to about my analysis of battles with before and I found that Dawn had done more than just practice since we'd been apart. It was obvious that she studied hard and oftentimes she would insert a comment that made me look at the battle in a completely different way.
While we were talking I noticed several guys glancing over in Dawn's direction and it had felt strangely exhilarating to slip my arm around her waist and glare at them. Dawn hadn't seemed to notice the attention she was garnering, but even so, she moved closer to me and seemed perfectly content with me holding her. When I glanced up at the screen above the bare dirt battlefield we were standing by I didn't see mine or Dawn's pictures on it.
Taking a step back I let my arm fall from her waist so I could take her hand in mine. We walked to the middle of the four fields, so we could see each of the screens, and I frowned when I saw that once again we were in the first round at different battlefields. I didn't bother to look at who my opponent was. Instead, I turned and squeezed Dawn's hand. She glanced over at me with a smile and I wondered if she knew that she had a tiny dimple on her right cheek.
"Don't lose," I ordered gruffly and Dawn rolled her eyes at me.
"Back atcha," she said with another smile.
Not being able to resist I ruffled my fingers through her bangs, causing her to yelp in annoyance and swat at my hand. I grinned as she ran her fingers through her bangs to get them to lay down prettily again and I waved, turning to go to my battle.
I was once again on a dirt battlefield and I regarded my opponent with interest. He looked a couple of years older than me, and his expression was calm and contemplative. We nodded at each other and the referee announced that I would have to go first. I wanted to raise an eyebrow at the referee since this was the third battle where I had to go first, but I shrugged and unhooked a Pokeball that I hadn't used in battle in a long time.
"Honchkrow, standby for battle!" I called and threw the Pokeball.
Honchkrow burst from the Pokeball and swooped around the battlefield, taking in the size and lack of obstacles before flapping down and taking a position in front of me as I caught the Pokeball that was falling back towards me. The trainer I was battling, who the referee had called Dale, looked at my honchkrow for a few seconds before selecting one of his own pokeballs and silently tossing it. I tried not to let my eyes widen as a huge Salamence burst from his Pokeball and roared intimidatingly. I saw Honchkrow take an involuntary hop backward from the pokemon and I gritted my teeth, realizing that Salamence's ability must be Intimidate and that was going to lower my Honchkrow's attack stat by a stage.
I watched the Salamence closely as it too made a circle around the battlefield before taking his position in front of his silent trainer. My eyes narrowed as I took in the healthy coloring of its skin and wings and I knew that if I didn't come up with a good strategy this was going to be a very difficult battle. Dale glanced over at me and I saw a smug smile cross his lips as if he knew that I knew that I wasn't up against a normal Salamence at all. I returned his smug smile and folded my arms.
Power means nothing if you don't have a strategy to back it up, I thought silently to myself.
"Battle, begin!" The referee called and I didn't waste any time.
"Honchkrow, use Perish Song!" I said firmly.
Honchkrow opened his beak and the entire stadium seemed to fall silent as he let out a keening bird song that swooped and dipped in a grim tune. Dark purple notes floated in the air and circled both Honchkrow and Salamence. Dale frowned as his Salamence shook his head violently and I was pleased to see he looked confused. The song lasted less than 30 seconds and as the last note rang out Dale's frown deepened as he looked around, as if trying to determine what the song had actually done. Then his eyes hardened and he pointed at Honchkrow.
"Use Flamethrower!" he commanded.
Salamence instantly launched himself into a controlled glide, streaking towards my Honchkrow and releasing a huge column of flame towards him.
"Protect," I said simply, knowing that Salamence would outspeed Honchkrow if I had him dodge.
The protective barrier shimmered into place around Honchkrow just as the flames were about to engulf him and I smiled.
"Use Dragon Claw!" Dale called.
"Meet it with Drill Peck!" I ordered.
Honchkrow flew into the air and the two moves collided. I growled as the two pokemon pushed against each other but eventually Salamence's physical strength won out and he slammed his glowing claw into Honchkrow's belly. As Honchkrow fell towards the earth I whipped out his Pokeball.
"Return!" I commanded and before Honchkrow could splat to the ground he was once again safely in my Pokeball.
To be honest, in the past I would have let him keep going. For some reason it made me feel strange now to sacrifice my pokemon that way. Before Dale could react to my switching out a pokemon I released Electivire, who materialized and growled up at the massive Salamence. I saw Dale shake his head and grin as if he thought I was an idiot and I rolled my eyes.
Don't act so cocky when you don't know what Perish Song is, I thought to him as Salamence roared and caused Electivire's attack to drop from its intimidate ability.
"Electivire, use Electric Terrain," I said confidently.
Electivire roared challengingly at the swooping dragon type above him. Instantly Electric shocks raced from his feet across the entire battlefield, creating a supercharged, crackling terrain that would boost all electric type moves for the next five turns. I took a small step back from the crackling battlefield, having made the mistake of actually stepping on an electric terrain field once before and not wanting to repeat the experience.
"Salamence, use Dragon Rush!" Dale said, his grin now having been replaced with a frown.
Salamence's body began to glow with purple and yellow steam and it streaked down towards Electivire, staying a foot above the electrified field.
"Protect!" I called out.
A shimmering barrier appeared around Electivire's hulking figure just as Salamence would have crashed into him. Electivire stood his ground and pushed the huge Salamence back as it tried to burst through the barrier. As they struggled suddenly an echo of Honchkrow's Perish song could be heard faintly on the wind and a black wave circled around Salamence's body. The purple and yellow glow from his last move disappeared and Salamence let out a moan before falling to the ground in a faint.
"What...?" Dale gasped, looking at his fainted Salamence in shock as the referee announced that Salamence was unable to battle.
I met Dale's confused gaze steadily and he glared at me, but returned his pokemon and seemed to study my electivire for a few seconds before selecting his next Pokeball. Again without saying anything he tossed his Pokeball and I narrowed my eyes when I saw that he had chosen a Probopass as his second pokemon.
"Use Discharge!" Dale commanded.
I raised an eyebrow and let out a small grin as the probopass let loose a powerful Discharge attack. Electivire looked back at me with wide eyes, as if asking me how he could be so dumb, and I shrugged. I didn't bother giving him a command and Electivire smiled wickedly. Raising his tails up he sought out the most powerful streams of electricity, that were boosted thanks to his electric terrain, and sucked in the electricity. A red line of power flowed from his tails into his body to signal that his ability, Motor Drive, had kicked in and now his speed was boosted. Dale's eyes blinked in confusion as he looked between Electivire and me and I shook my head.
"You should really study about pokemon's abilities," I said sarcastically before nodding at Electivire.
"Use Thunderbolt."
With a roar, Electivire's body exploded in a cloud of electric power which then shot directly towards Probopass. The move hit its mark and I watched with mild amusement as the large hat-like piece of stone on its head bobbled up and down rapidly from the power surge. Steam sizzled from Probopass's body after the move ended and Dale frowned.
"Fine, then use Earth Power!"
It was my turn to frown as the Probopass's large mustache like thing twitched and the earth underneath Electivire exploded in a geyser of power. To my surprise though the move didn't seem as powerful as Mirageon's Earth Power during Dawn's performance and I had to blink a few times to refocus on the battle in front of us. Electivire shook his head and growled at his opponent after the move ended and I narrowed my eyes, telling myself I shouldn't underestimate this Dale guy.
"Use Wild Charge," I instructed firmly.
With the propulsion of a fired bullet, Electivire dashed towards Probopass. Electricity billowed behind him, crackling loudly, and I almost felt bad as Probopass tried to move his awkward body away from the impending attack. Electivire slammed into him easily though, wrapping his large arms around the pokemon and tackling him to the ground in an explosion of electricity and force. After a few moments, Electivire backed away from his opponent, limping slightly as he stood.
"Probopass is unable to battle, the winner is Electivire!"
Dale glared at his probopass before returning it to his Pokeball. Without even pausing he selected his third Pokeball and released a massive Gigalith. As the Gigalith appeared it slammed one of its legs onto the ground and suddenly a sandstorm kicked up and began circling the battlefield. The electricity pumping through the battlefield was snuffed out and I raised an eyebrow, wondering why he hadn't done that in the first place instead of wasting an electric move on my Electivire
"Electivire, return," I called out calmly.
I couldn't help but chuckle when Electivire made a rude gesture towards the Gigalith before it disappeared back into its Pokeball. Electivire loved to battle pokemon it didn't have a type advantage against. I knew was probably annoyed with me for pulling him back, but got pretty beaten up from his last battle and I had another pokemon that would be perfect in a sandstorm.
"Torterra, standby for battle!" I yelled.
Torterra appeared in front of me and let loose an intimidating roar at the gigalith. The two behemoths regarded each other and I thought I heard a cheer coming from the spectators behind me. I wonder if they're cheering for Dawn? I wondered absently before refocusing.
"Use Earthquake!" I ordered.
"Iron Defense!" Dale yelled a heartbeat after.
A metallic sheen covered Gigalith's body as Torterra raised himself to his back feet and then slammed his front feet onto the ground, triggering an Earthquake attack that caused the battlefield to roll and buck violently. Gigalith staggered back and forth as the ground rocked beneath him but it stayed upright and I had to give it props. Its defense was pretty good if it could survive through one of Torterra's Earthquakes.
"Use Leaf Storm," I ordered and Dale gritted his teeth.
"Stone Edge, Gigalith!" he said, his calm mask beginning to slip slightly.
As Toerterra's tree leaves glowed and exploded into a funnel of swirling leaves that smacked into Gigalith, huge rocks sprouted underneath his belly and knocked him to the side, cutting off his attack. Gigalith's stone legs were trembling even from that small of a leaf storm attack though and I knew with one more move I could end this.
"I'm not losing 3-0!" Dale suddenly yelled and I squinted at him through the sandstorm. "I'm going to take at least one of your pokemon down with me!" he yelled and my eyes widened.
"Torterra, get ready with a Stone Edge shield," I said, not liking the tone that Dale was using.
"Use Explosion, Gigalith!" Dale yelled and I cursed under my breath.
"Stone Edge Wall, NOW!" I yelled as an inner light began to glow, shining through the red crystals on Gigalith's body and from his mouth and eyes.
A wall of stones surged from the ground in front of Torterra just as a high-pitched crack sounded and red hot heat exploded from Gigalith's body. I shielded my eyes with an arm and gritted my teeth as the wind and heat from the explosion rushed past me. After it died down I lowered my arm and glanced over at Torterra. His Stone Edge wall had been blown to bits but as I watched he slowly picked himself up and turned, giving me a tired smile even as the tree on his back smoldered slightly.
"Gigalith is unable to battle, which means the winner is Torterra and his trainer, Paul!" The referee called. I smiled quietly and returned Torterra to his Pokeball.
As the sandstorm died down I saw Dale had crumpled to his knees and was looking listlessly at his toppled Gigalith. Shaking my head I turned away from him and walked through the crowd. I ignored the cheers from the stands and the trainers who were trying to congratulate me and made my way toward the field where Dawn was battling. Glancing up at the screen I saw that the second match had already started and I smiled when I saw that in the corner Dawn's picture was still smiling down at me while her opponent's picture had a red X over it.
"Paul!"
I stumbled slightly as a body crashed into my back. Familiar arms circled my waist and I couldn't help but smile as I placed a hand overtop of her clasped ones. Glancing over my shoulder I watched as she lifted her face from my back and grinned up at me.
"How did it go?" I asked with a small chuckle.
She squeezed me quickly before letting go and coming to stand next to me so we could look at each other easier.
"Great! I need to go heal my pokemon though," she said.
I followed her to the nurse's station as she described her battle to me. When she said that she had successfully used Firium Z during her battle I wondered if that was what had caused the big cheer in the crowd during my battle. As our pokemon were all being healed we grabbed a few sandwiches that the pokemon league provided for the trainers and I was surprised to see that it was already nearly three o'clock.
"Just one more preliminary round to go for today," Dawn said with a sigh and I glanced over at her.
"Are you getting tired?" I asked and Dawn smiled quietly at me.
"Yah. This kind of battling is really draining. There are so many things you have to account for when you go into battle. What typing is the opponent, what abilities could they have, how fast are they compared to my pokemon... It's mentally exhausting," Dawn said with a groan.
We had chosen to sit on the ground since the break room was pretty crowded and I blinked in surprise as Dawn smoothly turned and leaned her head on my leg. She closed her eyes and let out a relaxing breath through her nose as a slow smile spread across her lips. Cautiously I set the lemonade juice box I had been drinking to the side and slowly traced my fingertips down her cheek. She opened her eyes and looked up at me with a gentle smile.
"You're not tired?" she asked and I shrugged.
"Battling energizes me actually," I replied while still tracing my fingers along the contours of her face. "I know what you mean about it being mentally taxing, but when you win against someone who no one thinks you should have because you have a better strategy than they did... I love that feeling."
Dawn chuckled and her breath tickled my palm slightly.
"That sounds like you, Paul," she said and I was surprised at the adoration that filled her sapphire blue eyes. "I'm glad I could do this with you, but I think I'll stick to contests after this."
It was my turn to chuckle and I gently held her nose between my thumb and forefinger, shaking her head back and forth as she laughed at me.
"That's fine with me," I said and I was surprised at how much I actually looked forward to seeing her cream her competition now that she knew more about battle strategy.
An announcement went through the break room asking all of the final sixteen to return to the battle area. Dawn sat up, and allowed me to help her into a standing position. We picked up our healed pokemon and walked together to the middle of the four battlefields.
"Congratulations to our top 16 trainers! Everyone give them a hand, oh yeah!" Professor Kukui's voice called out and the whole stadium exploded in applause. "These last two rounds of battle will be the last for today's portion of the pokemon league, so please turn your eyes to the jumbo screens to see who will be battling who!"
I watched with interest as the trainer's pictures were flipped over and then shuffled across the four screens until there were four cards on each screen. As one they all flipped over and I blinked in surprise when I saw Dawn's and my pictures on the same screen. My excitement instantly faded though when I realized that Dawn's picture was in the row above mine, which meant that she would be battling on the same battlefield as me, but wouldn't be my opponent.
"Hey, now you can watch me battle!" Dawn exclaimed with a grin and I smiled down at her.
"Don't lose. I'm getting excited about winning our bet," I said teasingly and Dawn rolled her eyes.
"Please. There's no way I'm going to let you beat me," she said in a gruff tone and as her eyes twinkled with amusement I wondered if she had been trying to impersonate me.
"Trainers, please take up your positions," a calm female voice said over the loudspeaker and I followed Dawn to her side of the battlefield.
"Wish me luck," she said as she watched her opponent take their position on the other side of the battlefield.
"You don't need it," I retorted simply and she turned and looked at me with surprise.
Her expression softened and she raised up on her tiptoes so that she could press her lips against my cheeks in a light kiss. I backed away as she walked to the painted box where she would battle and I shoved my hands in my pockets, surprised at how much confidence this crazy girl could inspire in me.
A/N Have I kept your interest? I really hope so because there are still a few more battles to go! Who do you think will win in the eventual Dawn vs Paul battle?