A/N: Don't say anything, I know it's been way too long since my last update. God, I can't believe it's been over half a year... I'm SO sorry you all, guess I just forgot about this fic but now I'm back with a new chapter. I hope you like it, it was nice writing this again :) Thanks a bunch to everyone who reviewed and put the fic on story alert, they really kept me going!
I'm not quite sure how often I can update during the next month because I have to study for my matriculation examinations but I'll try to write as often as possible!
Once again thanks to all my readers who've had the patients to follow this story! Oh yeah, and I'm sorry if the battles suck, they're clearly not my speciality ^^'
Chapter 6
The Luxury Ball snapped back into Paul's outstretched hand as the Pokémon it held started to materialize on the field. His face was completely emotionless as the Pokémon finally took its form.
Dawn gasped as she recognized the Pokémon; it was blue, four legged and massive. Really massive! Its eyebrows, neck and the underside of its tail were red and it had a grey armor-like belly. Its fangs and claws were long and sharp, which were more than enough to make it intimidating. The Pokémon eyed its opponent, leering at it whilst flapping its huge red wings.
"A Salamence…" she whispered in amazement, as did everyone else, a few trainers looking it up with their Pokedexes. Salamence wasn't exactly common in Sinnoh, to say the least.
The huge dragon Pokémon glanced quickly at its trainer, who gave it a swift nod, before it turned back to the Poliwrath and roared furiously. The Poliwrath took a few steps backwards and eyed its trainer a little discouraged.
Dawn couldn't blame it for doing so; the massive dragon simply screamed danger, even without its ability 'Intimidate'. Any sane being would've acted the same, heck she'd ran as far away from it as possible if it was her on the field! She wondered how Paul had the guts to order it around when the Pokémon could snap off his head in just one bite.
Kelley was done playing sweet and innocent; she knew this battle would be quick and gruesome if Paul had his way. She balled up her fists and looked at her Pokémon straight in the eye.
"Don't let that big show-off scare you! I know we can beat him even if we are in a disadvantage. I want to win this tournament and no one's going to stop me!" she yelled at it, giving it much needed confidence. The Poliwrath punched the air in agreement and turned around, ready for battle. It gave the Salamence its toughest look whilst the blue dragon hissed at it wildly.
Dawn now regretted a little for telling – no, more like demanding – Paul to destroy Kelley. Heck, she hadn't even known the male trainer would've even listened to her in the first place! As much as she hated Kelley, even she didn't deserve this kind of a beating… Well, maybe a little. But still, Paul's Salamence would utterly annihilate her Poliwrath and if it was lucky, wouldn't get killed in the process.
The referee glanced quickly at the two trainers before he swung a huge green flag towards the ground, signaling the battle begun.
"You attack first," Paul bluntly stated and crossed his arms, a fierce look in his eyes. He knew her Poliwrath wouldn't have any hope of even damaging his Salamence but he figured it would be more entertaining – at least for him. Since when had he really gotten to toy around lately anyway? All of his battles before had been too easy and he was slightly disappointed how weak all of his opponents had been.
Kelley shot him a forced grin before she started giving her Pokémon commands.
"Poliwrath, start off with Bulk Up and then use Dynamic Punch!" she shouted to the Pokémon with a determent facial expression. The tadpole Pokémon boosted up its attack and defense before it ran up to its opponent, fist glowing, and tried to land a punch on it.
The audience held their breaths as they waited to hear Paul's orders. And soon enough, with the Poliwrath not even half way through the field, Paul opened his mouth.
"In the air," he told the dragon, sounding a little bored but obviously focused on the battle.
The Salamence did as it was told and spread its huge red wings before rising ten feet in the air. Kelley commanded her Poliwrath to jump but the dragon was too high for it to land a hit on it. She figured her Poliwrath had no chance to attack it physically whilst the dragon was airborne, and quickly ordered it to back up a bit and prepare itself.
Dawn could see how concerned and angry she was about her situation, yet Dawn herself really only thought about the Pokémon. She could feel the rest of the audience start to take Kelley's side in the battle as the long silence was finally broken with murmuring and cheering.
"I sure hope that Kelley-girl wins, she's always been such a nice little girl," an elderly woman near by whispered to her companion and nodded to Dawn's direction.
"That loony girl sure keeps on giving Kelley trouble! It'd be best to send her to some clinic far away with all the things I've heard of…" she didn't even try to lower her voice when Dawn caught her eye. The two women gave her a glance before turning back to face the battle and gossip some more. Their conversation had been heard by several others who too gave her doubtful looks.
Dawn forcefully yanked her blue eyes to set back onto the field, where Paul had finally decided not to carry on the battle longer than it was necessary. She tried to focus on the battle but couldn't shake off the stares on her back.
Linoone gave her a worried look before turning to hiss at the people still staring at the blue haired girl. She grabbed the normal type Pokémon and placed him on her head.
"Linoone you don't have to bother, it's useless anyways…" she whispered to him as thing started to warm up on the battlefield, literally.
Paul had just commanded his Salamence to use Flamethrower on the part water type Pokémon and the huge dragon hit its mark with ease. Kelley was obviously counting on resisting the attack enough so that she could attack next. Her Poliwrath had taken the hit straight on but seemed to still have enough energy. Kelley's expression lightened.
"Now Poliwrath, use Ice Beam! Try to hit the wings so it'll be stuck on the ground!" she encouraged her Pokémon and pointed at the wide red wings that were obviously crucial for the dragon.
The Poliwrath shot the Ice Beam in the air towards its opponent, earning a disappointed sighs from the audience as it missed its target by mere inches. Dawn unconsciously let out a sigh of relief, the last thing this day would've needed was Kelley beating someone like Paul.
Paul didn't seem to be too surprised about the ice type move and gave his next order.
"Finish that pathetic thing with Dragon Claw," he merely huffed. Dawn noticed he hadn't moved a single muscle for the entire battle.
"Keep on those Ice Beams Poliwrath!" Kelley shouted and the water/fighting type shot several beams of ice towards the dragon though without much luck.
The Salamence hit it in a matter of seconds with its long sharp claws, finally knocking out its poor opponent. It stayed up in the air for a while before landing in the same spot it'd been released and gave out a loud shriek.
The audience sighed disappointedly as Kelley and Paul called back their Pokémon, with Paul disappearing soon after while Kelley stayed paralyzed on the other side.
Dawn could tell she was seriously upset about her loss but at the same time knew she'd known she couldn't match a Salamence, at least with a water/fighting type. After a moment she too exited the field, giving room for the next semifinal round.
Barry was as pumped up as ever as he took his spot on the field. He gave Dawn a huge grin and waved his hands excitedly upon noticing her and she replied with another thumbs up. On the other side the other semifinalist took his stand, looking just as enthusiastic as Barry.
Shawn from Hearthome was all in all quite similar to Barry, although having light brown hair and green eyes. He had a green jacket and loose black jeans, which he kept on with a light brown belt. His pokeballs were pinned tightly on one side whilst the other side had been taken over by various chains and gadgets.
Dawn smiled as she noticed how similar then actually looked like. She wondered if they shared the same personality as well. She chuckled at the thought of another Barry, it would've been more then Sinnoh could take.
The boys didn't seem to notice anything 'weird' about the other as they looked at each other before the referee signaled the battle to begin. All eyes were on the two, the events of the previous battle clearly forgotten.
Barry was the first to act sending in his faithful Empoleon, his challenger sending in his own starter Infernape. The two Sinnoh starters stared at each other intensely before their trainers started giving them orders.
"Okay Empoleon! Let's start off with a Hydro Pump!" Barry yelled enthusiastically as the dual water/steel type fired a huge water attack towards the Infernape. Shawn however was quick to counter the attack.
"Get out of the way and use Mach Punch!" he in turn yelled to his starter, balling his hands into fists and punching the air.
The Infernape managed to evade the super-effective attack and closed in the Empoleon with blinding speed.
"Use Aqua Jet to avoid it and then attack!" Barry ordered, trying to out-speed the fire/fighting type. Shawn however didn't seem worried.
"Don't think you'd ever out-speed my Infernape… Infernape, let's give them a taste of what speed's really about!"
Barry's Aqua Jet-evasion had worked but as his Empoleon was closing in to attack the Infernape, it wasn't there anymore. The crowd was in awe, no one had even seen the fire/fighting type move before it was gone. Barry gritted his teeth as he watched as his Pokémon stopped its attack. There was an eerie silence.
"Don't lose your guard! Get that Aqua Jet going as soon as you spot something!" he instructed his Pokémon as the seconds went by.
The Infernape suddenly appeared right by its wary opponent and before the water/steel type could react, the fire/fighting type hit it with a powerful Mach Punch, the force of it enough to send the Empoleon flying across the air. No one could deny the Infernape was fast as well as strong.
Barry raised his fists up in the air and jumped up and down annoyed.
"What the..? I'll fine you for that!" he shouted before focusing on the battle once more. He knew it took a lot more then one punch to beat his Empoleon and he took a step forward as he instructed his Pokémon.
"You okay Empoleon? Okay, let's even up the stats by using Ice Beam, let's go!" he shouted and punched the air.
"Just don't let it hit you and we'll be fine!" Shawn shouted to his starter as his opponent shot a huge beam of ice at them. The Infernape dodged the move easily and Shawn wondered why Barry had even tried it out in the first place with ice being useless against his Pokémon. Empoleon kept launching frigid beams at the other without much success. Barry however didn't seem worried at all, on the contrary; the boy had a hard time controlling his smile as the field began looking more like a frozen lake then anything else.
Shawn soon realized his starter had less and less room to move without stepping on the slippery ice, forcing it to move slower and clumsier on the field. It looked like it was having difficulty even staying on the field for that matter as it started to slide on the ice.
"So that's his plan…" he murmured as he thought about a new strategy. He could always melt the ice but it would take too long and give his opponent a chance to strike back.
"There's just too much ice… Damn, if I'd figured out his plan sooner, now I'm stuck battling on a skating ring…" he continued to think out loud as he observed what his opponent would do next.
Barry grinned widely when his plan had worked and prepared for his next attack.
"Nice work Empoleon, now it's our time to show him who's stronger! Give him a Hydro Pump!" he ordered and pointed at the slightly baffled fire/fighting type.
With that Empoleon unleashed the powerful water attack and hit its opponent dead on. Barry smirked and turned to face Shawn, amusement covering his face.
"There's no way your Infernape could deal with an attack like that. Just goes to show who picked the better starter, huh?" he laughed. His joy was short as his opponent let out a smirk and the audience gasped. Barry turned his attention back to the battlefield and couldn't believe his eyes when the Infernape was still standing up. It glared at its water/steel type attacker with water dripping from its fur. The flame on its head was small but seemed to burn more violently then before. Barry gritted his teeth.
"How's that even possible? Fine, fine, fine!" he shouted in lack of better words.
Dawn felt sorry for her friend but couldn't hold back her amazement towards Shawn's Infernape. He'd obviously trained it well as it could withstand a super-effective attack like Hydro Pump. Barry's behavior though was beginning to get on her nerves; the boy just couldn't stand being wrong. She stood up from her seat and placed her hands around her mouth to amplify her voice as she encouraged her friend.
"Stop acting like a spoilt brat and focus Barry! You got this, just fight!" she shouted, her voice reaching his ears despite everyone else in the audience roaring and cheering. The two older women from before gave her a glance as they started to gossip again.
"So now she decides to cheer for a Twinleafer?" they mumbled but she just ignored them. The only thing on her mind now was her childish friend and she prayed he'd get his act together before it was too late. She knew he could very well lose the battle even though he had the upper hand.
Barry seemed to have heard her as he calmed down in an instant and Dawn could picture him mentally slapping himself. With a quick movement of his hand, he pointed at the Infernape and gave his starter his next commands.
"Lets finish this Empoleon, Aqua Jet!" he shouted confidently. He knew the fire/fighting type couldn't last another super-effective attack and he wasn't going to miss his chance to end the battle.
"Quick Infernape, counter it with Thunder Punch!" Shawn punched the air with a determent expression as the two Sinnoh starters collided. They both shrieked in pain as they both got electrocuted by the intense attack and got shot across the field in opposite directions. Infernape seemed to have survived the collision better then Empoleon, the water/steel type having difficulty standing up. Barry couldn't believe the outcome and was getting more irritated by the second.
"What? How on earth does your Infernape know how to use Thunder Punch?" he asked baffled whilst trying to estimate his Empoleon's state. It looked like both of the Pokémon would go down within the next strike and he was determent to be the one delivering it.
Shawn smirked as he watched his opponent get swept by his emotions.
"Guess I hit the jackpot when I realized Infernape had an additional egg-move when I picked him. Who'd you say had the better starter again?" he laughed and looked at his starter to give him his final orders.
"Listen up Infernape. Empoleon's done as long as we can land a hit on it," he said and his Pokémon nodded. Shawn gave him a wide grin as he decided his last move, not even needing to say it out loud as the Infernape understood what to do. It turned its attention back to the Empoleon that was struggling to stand.
"Come on Empoleon, you gotta get ready to counter what ever they throw at us!" Barry tried to encourage his Pokémon knowing all too well how the battle would end if they couldn't attack back. He knew his Pokémon was a born fighter and never gave up, usually helping them get out of tough spots with ease. The Empoleon found new strength from his trainer's words and managed to stand up straight right before Shawn gave his command.
"Let's finish this off with Flame Wheel!" Shawn shouted whilst smirking and watched as his Pokémon covered itself in fire before starting to roll right at its opponent in a blinding speed, the ice underneath melting away in a blink of the eye.
Barry reacted to the attack within milliseconds, his mind set only in the battle as the audience started to roar and cheer even loader, the battle being the most exciting and interesting of the day. Dawn too yelled and cheered for her friend who seemed to battle for his life.
"Hydro Pump!" he yelled intensely as their opponent closed in. He was sure it couldn't evade the move anymore.
Empoleon launched a huge amount of water from itself, the attack advancing towards the equally huge ball of fire. Barry almost let out a snicker when Shawn shot his hand to the side and opened his mouth.
"Curve to the right Infernape!" he yelled, leaving Barry stunned as he watched the huge fire ball evade the powerful Hydro Pump by indeed changing its angle before smashing into the equally surprised Empoleon.
Barry could only watch as his Pokémon was flown twenty feet backwards from the hit before the water/steel type was encircled by a dirt-cloud. Everyone in the audience held their breaths as the cloud finally faded, revealing a feinted Empoleon.
After a moment the crowd acknowledged the winner and cheered as he raced onto the field to hug his Pokémon. Dawn too clapped; she couldn't believe she'd just witnessed such a battle. She had to give Shawn some credit despite beating her friend; it just showed who had the better attitude towards battling.
Barry returned his loyal companion back into his pokeball before walking up to Shawn. The boys glanced at each other before Barry stretched out his hand and gave him a bittersweet smile.
"I guess there's no point denying that you got me, eh? Anyways, great battle!" he congratulated the other boy as they shook hands.
"Yeah, great battle dude, haven't been challenged like that in a while," he grinned in response before they exited the field.
Dawn hold onto Linoone as she tried to find Barry from the packed festival area. The final would take place in about half an hour so the two finalists could prepare their selves and the audience could take a break to eat and such. Dawn would've preferred for the battles to continue as soon as possible and with nothing better to do, she figured she'd go cheer up her friend who'd just disappeared after exiting the field. She knew that under his supposedly calm outer shell he was probably really upset and needed someone to cheer him up, though honestly speaking the boy would be fine within an hour or two. She hadn't really thought about what she'd say or if she was even able to cheer him up but she figured she's give it a try.
Linoone squirmed in her arms as he tried to get down and walk by himself but Dawn didn't want to risk losing him in the crowd. The normal type looked at her seemingly a little annoyed and she sighed.
"Sorry that I have to carry you like this but there's just so many people here and I don't want to risk losing you. You could always get up on my head if you want to help look for Barry though," she told him and the Pokémon nodded in response, quickly climbing on top of her blue hair.
They spent the next ten minutes searching for the blond haired boy before Linoone spotted him at a nearby shop. As they approached him Dawn let out a sigh upon seeing the boy, happily munching on a hotdog. It looked like her services weren't needed after all as she seated next to the boy on a bench with an apprehensive expression on her face.
Barry turned to look at her and he smiled widely.
"Hey Dawn, thought when you'd show up. Want something to eat?" he asked cheerfully as he pointed at the numerous food stands before them.
Dawn shook her head.
"No thanks, I'm not really hungry…" she admitted, gulping as she thought about the upcoming award ceremony. It was probably a good idea not eating anything within the next hour or two just to be sure.
"You were amazing out there today, I don't think I've ever seen you battle like that before," she continued and waited for the boy to respond. The last thing she wanted was upsetting him again.
Barry grinned at her and rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand.
"Yeah, I guess we did give our best today, huh? Too bad it wasn't enough though, I'd really liked to battle against Paul and my dad," he replied before taking another bite of his meal.
Dawn smiled at the boy; he never let anything upset him too long before he was all smiles again. Guess all he needed was food and someone to talk to, to get him in a better mood once more.
"You know, you really surprised me when you froze the field. It was quite ingenious, where'd you pick that up?" she asked him and gave him a curious glance. The boy smirked in response.
"What, you don't believe it was my own idea?" he laughed and upon a knowing look from Dawn he sighed and grinned once more.
"Would you believe it, from a contest? Never thought I'd live the day to actually watch one of those but for once it paid off; there was this Dewgong that froze the field and it end up winning! I figured those kinds of moves would probably work in real battles as well so I started practicing it. Arceus it worked perfectly!" he sighed upon remembering his battle. The boy seemed to be living the whole thing once more and Linoone took advantage of the situation by taking a bite out of the boy's hotdog.
Dawn gave the normal type a slightly amused look before Barry landed from his cloud nine and started to talk again.
"Hey do you have any plans for the rest of the day? I was thinking we could go watch the finals and after that just hang out. It's been forever since I've last been to these kinds of things," he laughed and Dawn couldn't suppress a smile before frowning a little.
"Actually, I sort of have this thing I need to do right after the final but we can go watch the battle. I just don't know how long I can stay before I have to go prepare…" she sighed upon thinking of her unwilling responsibility. Barry gave her a curious look.
"Oh, what do you plan to do?" he asked and took another bite out of his hotdog, not noticing it had almost halved in size since his last bite. Linoone stared at the piece of food whilst licking its lips, a few breadcrumbs on his fuzzy cheeks giving away what he'd been doing for the last couple of minutes.
"My mom went behind my back and signed me up to give away the award for the tournament. Honestly I wish she hadn't, she knows I don't do well when I'm the center of attention…" she sighed and gave Linoone a sharp look upon realizing he wasn't leaving the boy anything to eat.
Barry smirked empathically, he knew Dawn hated crowds. He wondered if she'd ever been able to even battle if she couldn't stand people looking at her. Maybe that was the reason she hadn't set off in the beginning.
Suddenly remembering his earlier questions to her, he glanced at her feeling a little insecure. She caught his glance and turned to face him, the question written on her face.
"What's wrong?" she asked and Barry gave her an apologetic smile.
"Look, I'm sorry for upsetting you earlier even though I don't know what I did…" he told her, his voice turning into a whisper as he finished. His attention went back to his meal and he was surprised to see it completely gone. He looked at the content Linoone on Dawn's lap and sighed.
"Guess that really is Damien's Linoone, always stealing my food…" he smirked and to his relief got a smile from Dawn as well.
She shifted on her seat and hugged the greedy normal type a little tighter.
"Yeah, that's Linoone for you," she whispered.
There was a moment of silence between the two as they stared at the numerous food stands and shops around them. No one was really paying attention to them, their minds only in exploring the festival area.
After what seemed like an eternity, Barry finally opened his mouth, Dawn knowing all too well he couldn't keep it shut for too long. He seemed to have been thinking a lot what he was going to say and it looked like he was choosing every word rather then just blurting out the first thing that came to mind.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here when it happened Dawn," he weighed out his words and after seeing her nod, continued.
"I remember wanting to call you when I heard the news on TV but I didn't know what to say… I'm not very good with those kinds of things," he rubbed the back of his head and gave her an apologetic grin.
Dawn stared at him for a moment and sighed. She knew he was trying his best and she appreciated his attempt to apologize for his absence though he really didn't need to. Besides, he'd probably just gotten on her nerves after awhile if he'd been here. In a way she was glad he'd already been too far away to turn back.
"Nah, it's alright. And you don't have to apologize anymore, I just sort of freaked out earlier…" she laughed feeling embarrassed of her tantrum.
They were interrupted as the announcer asked for everyone's attention.
"Attention all festival-goers! I'm pleased to inform you that the final for the Twinleaf Tournament is about to start. The two skillful trainers facing each other are Shawn from Hearthome City and Paul from Veilstone City, so it'll be a face-off between two Sinnoh trainers! The audience is advised to take their seat near field number four, the battle will begin in five minutes!" he announced happily as the people started to hurry to the fields.
Barry was already standing as he grabbed Dawn's hand and began dragging her through the crowd.
"Hurry up Dawn before all the good seats are taken!" he hurried her as they began to sprint towards the field in question. They found a good place just by the field and sat down whilst evening their breaths. Dawn held onto Linoone as she let her eyes wander around the field, spotting the two finalists in question.
The two boys were already positioned on their own side of the field, both eyeing the other. Shawn seemed to be re-energized after his battle with Barry and he grinned widely as he took in the cheers from the audience as the two were being introduced. Paul was as emotionless as ever, although he did raise his hand up to acknowledge the audience. To the audience's great surprise, Palmer stepped onto the field along with the referee and they stopped the middle, signaling the finalists to come over and shake hands. Palmer lifted his hand up in the air to quiet down the audience before he started to speak.
"It's been a long, tiring day for us all but it's finally time to settle who the winner of the first ever Twinleaf Tournament is! As a reminder, the battle will be three against three with switching aloud. The winner of this battle will be presented with the Grand Prize and will also have a chance to battle against yours truly. Now, let's get this battle started!" he shouted and the crowd roared with excitement.
As Palmer exited the field and the challengers were ready, the referee swung his green flag to begin the battle. Paul and Shawn stared at each other intensely before both of them placed a hand on their belts, ready to send out their first Pokémon. With a confident smirk, Shawn decided to go first and grabbed a Great Ball before throwing it onto the field. He was going to make sure everyone knew his name after this.
~ Be kind and review! ^^