So sorry that it took so long to update. ^^;;;; The chapter was ready a few days ago, yet my beta needed a bit longer than usual. ^^;;; Yet, heads up, people, the next chapter is almost finished, so Part Two will be up very soon.
Just for the update, the two new shippings introduced in the last chapter were MindScrewShipping (Janine x Will), and BlueVelvetShipping/ArtemisShipping (Hunter J x Cynthia), the latter named by me and Zammr (though ArtemisShipping is my own idea..cookies to everyone who gets the name. 0=) )
Last shipping on the last will be introduced in this chapter.
5. Chapter, Part 1: Battles
The dining room of the league was again in quiet tension the next morning. Sabrina, feeling unusually unwell, was sipping her tea very slowly. Will hadn't turned up yet. She knew it was probably paranoid to think that he would go after another woman, yet she couldn't help but fear the worst. After all, Cynthia hadn't appeared yet, either.
To make the miracle complete, she had let Lucian sit next to her, who looked just as miserable as her. He had told her that he had managed to fight off Hunter J's Pokemon by himself, yet the three of them had escaped by the use of 'brutal force', as he explained it, surprisingly with a term Sabrina often used for the fighters' dojo next to her gym. More accurately described, it meant that Salamence had created a hole in the wall with its Hyper Beam, separating Lucian and Bronzong from them with the pile of rubble.
All in all, the league had a hell lot of public donations to get for the rebuilding of the post office, and the psychological therapy of the employees.
Lucian blamed himself for all of that.
And Sabrina marvelled just why she was even giving that agony aunt's role a try. She had better things to do, after all...hadn't she?
"Lance will surely be angry at us once he comes back today..." Lucian whimpered, playing with the coffee cup between his fingers in a way that made Sabrina wonder just why he was not able to burn his fingers, or let a single drop of black liquid fall onto the white tablecloth.
Yet, that was not the only thing that had her blink. "Lance is already coming back? I thought he would spend some more time with Claire..."
Lucian shrugged. "I just got a note this morning that we- Cynthia and I, are going to meet Lance this afternoon. Nothing else." Sabrina nodded, yet she wasn't really listening in. Her mind was elsewhere. And Will had still not arrived.
~~~~~~~
"...no serious battling, just give them some time to demonstrate their power- a bit of showing-off, you know? Give them all they want, all that will please them." Lance let his aching head rest on his equally aching wrist. He was tired, oh so tired, and yet this was not the only meeting that lied ahead of him. The league's head knew he should get a new secretary as soon as possible, but with the events surrounding his last one, he had to be more careful than ever, and had to take more time choosing one. Time he technically did not have. His timetable was already filled to the brim, days appearing to have more than twenty-five hours and still, he had so much to do, so much still on his plate.
And Claire dared to beg him for more romantic dates with her.
In some way, he could understand her. He wanted to have her around him more, too, yet she, especially she should know that the job he had was very important. There were not only a bunch of four talented idiots who lived off his renting and noble donations depending on it, but the whole land of Indigo, with its thousands of people and thousands of stacks of office papers.
"Understood?" he asked, the rings under his eyes even more visible as the light of the desk lamp fell diagonally onto his face. Lance looked old now, yet he was not even in his forties. The strain put on him had its consequences, even more after yesterday's...incidents. The post office getting attacked, the police not arriving soon enough so one of their
guests had to fight the assailant off, and the 'little argument' with Claire over his idea of bringing his laptop to the candlelight dinner.
"Yes, Sir, " both Will and Karen said in unison, nodding formally in front of their boss.
"You're dismissed," Lance answered, leaning back in his black chair. He looked so tired that Will, though there were many questions still raising in him, went out as soon as possible, Karen following him, in a way that made him wonder how the material of the heels of her shoes could take it, not to mention what kind of bone material her ankles had to be made of. Gravity must also have lost its effect on her, because he was sure any normal human being would have slipped, if its hip made movements similar to Karen's.
"So, what is this all about actually?" he asked once they were out of the room and he had closed the door tightly, leaving Lance alone in his shadows and headaches.
Karen shrugged. "I don't know. How should I know? I'm no psychic, I can't read minds. If one of us should know what this was about, it's you." She grinned, licking her lips as she continued to walk down the hall. "Besides, what does it matter? Lance wants us to battle the two trainers and loose. That's not actually a big task, is it? Losing itself might be hard for some, as they've become so skilled at winning." Will had to think of Lance, yet Sabrina's image pushed itself into the foreground of his mind, confusing him. "Yet, seeing as we're only two lousy elite trainers below both the level of Cynthia and Lucian, I doubt we will have any trouble accomplishing that duty." She looked back at him with that glimmer in her eyes, that almost lustful glimmer that made him very nervous. He had a lot to make up for, concerning Sabrina and his unwanted rendezvous with Janine, and seeing Karen so close to him was no good sign. He had to end this now before anything more drastic could happen.
"Ehm, Karen..." He closed his eyes tightly. If only he could find the courage to actually tell her the blunt truth.
The dark trainer turned around and raised her eyebrows. "No need to tell me, Will. I know you love only her. I won't question that."
Leaving him behind, confused and a bit mad at himself, Karen walked down the stairs, readying herself for the test.
~~~~~~~
Lance leaned farther back in his chair. He wondered where he had left the Aspirin pills, yet he could not remember. The constant hammering in his whole head kept him from thinking clearly, and the world around him was swirling. He knew he should have refrained from drinking champagne and coffee together last night, but the expensive liquid had been left from the disastrous date; he couldn't just let it go to waste and coffee was what he usually drank at 2 am to keep himself from falling asleep on the keyboard. Of course, usually, he didn't combine it with champagne and so, he wasn't prepared for the effects it had on his mind, but he was quite sure even if he had avoided letting the alcohol-caffeine mix into his blood, today wouldn't be better.
A quiet knock on his door woke him from his near slumber and Lance realized, only half awake, that almost an hour had gone by without him doing anything, and his guest was already behind the door. Lance cursed silently. He was clearly behind schedule.
"Come in, please," he said as loud as he could without giving his condition away. It was one thing to appear unshaved, crumpled and sleepy before his own underlings, another one to embarrass himself in front of an equal.
The door knob was turned around and a slender, pale hand appeared, holding onto the door frame. With a few steps, the woman stepped into the room, her long, black coat wiping around her legs.
"It's my pleasure to finally meet you, Lance Gray of Blackthorn, leader of Indigo." Lance nodded. His eyes were getting wet from being strained too much; he could barely grasp the outline of the young woman in front of him, who had sat down and let her head rest on her hands gracefully.
"Yes, it is", he coughed. He hoped his breath didn't smell drunk anymore, but if it did...well, at least it would smell like a one hundred and twelve year old champions' champagne from Fuchsia, its price close to that of many expensive perfumes. "First, I have to ask...did you receive the welcoming gift I had bought for Sinnoh's league? The Eevee egg?"
"Yes," Cynthia answered, her smile as innocent as ever.
"Good." Lance took a deep breath. At least that had worked out perfectly. "Then I want to explain today's afternoon to you." She nodded, not commenting him yet, yet looking at him as if she had much to say on this matter. And that smile of hers...it was bewitching, in every sense of the word.
"You and Lucian are going to battle the two new elite trainers we have, William Bender and Karen Schwartz. Just a simple three-on-three battle, nothing more." He looked up. "It will be recorded and shown by some public channels, though. Are you okay with that?" Cynthia nodded without caring at all. 'For publicity, Lance would sell his soul and his mother's, if anybody asked. How...disgusting.'
"That's everything for today." Lance leaned back, stroking his shining hair. Might it be hair gel or the sweat from yesterday's stress, Cynthia did not care. For a seemingly endless moment, she stared at Lance with her pale, grey eyes and innocent, silent smile, then she walked over to his chair, grabbed his collar and lifted him up, unhindered because Lance had never thought of needing his bodyguards with another champion in the same room. And it had been yet another thing he had forgotten to organize after the last night.
Lance could only stare with bright, open eyes at the young woman, before she pressed him against the wall and pressed her lips against his.
~~~~~~~
During the last hours, most of the clouds had decided to disappear, leaving a clear, bright blue sky above the Indigo League Champion's stadium. It was a perfect day for battling outside and so, Lance had of course taken the opportunity and reserved the best place for Pokemon battles one could find in the whole of Indigo, personal preferences not taken into account. Usually, the finals of the Indigo Tournament took place there, almost always at night, with thousands of people sitting on the seats placed around the battle field, screaming, laughing, celebrating, and cheering for their favourite, with maybe even double the amount of people watching it on television. Normally, two aspiring trainers stood there below the watchers and the glassy eyes of the cameras, facing each other, both ready to give everything they had, for this was the moment they had waited for, some for years, some for decades.
But today, it was strangely quiet.
As security measurements had increased heavily, no spectators had been allowed into the stadium, at least no one without a VIP identity card. And since these people were rare, and not even all of them cared enough to come, the stadium was almost left empty. Only a few of the gym leaders had decided to spend their free time there, though it was right to ask if they hadn't been blackmailed by Lance, who at least wanted to keep the image that the league trainers stayed together as much and were as close as possible.
Certain relationships between certain trainers only helped that along.
Sabrina shuddered, unusually cold in the warm April sun and the slight breeze blowing through the rows of seats. She hadn't seen Will all morning and that made her not only sad, but also increasingly nervous. What was up with him again? She knew his work took up a lot of time, yet she had hoped, maybe dumbly hoped that he would at least greet her and tell her what his absence had been about. Maybe it was delusional to hope that he would try to meet her when Lance had probably chased him around the whole time, yet... Sabrina sighed. Was it that wrong and selfish to worry?
Damn it, she already missed him.
Just how was this going to work out once she was back in Saffron again? She couldn't just travel to Indigo every day, and teleporting around would take a hell lot of energy.
"Don't worry, sweetie, he's alright." Sabrina jumped when she heard the sinister, snickering voice next to her ear, almost losing her balance and falling over the row she had been standing on. Glancing at her side, her heartbeat still way faster than what was healthy anymore, she recognised Karen, the dark trainer.
Glaring at her, not trusting her in the least, Sabrina replied darkly. "And you know how?" Karen grinned, tracing her pale lips with a black coloured finger nail. "Lance called us to a meeting this morning. He was there and afterwards, we were told to wait here and prepare ourselves for the battle. That's why he had no time to pay his little girlfriend a visit." Sabrina snorted. She didn't like the way Karen talked about her and Will. It wasn't that Karen had called her 'little'- okay, she wasn't tall, but that was nothing to mock her with. No, the unspoken words behind, the melody of the sentence, everything made her tense. Closing her eyes, Sabrina tried to calm herself down again. Karen was a darkling, and dark powers frightened her, even more after her injury.
Sabrina turned away from Karen. There was nothing she had to talk about with her anymore.
"Yet...I refused to battle today."
"What?" Sabrina wasn't sure if she had heard right. An elite trainer, even worse, a fresh, new elite trainer, refusing an order from Lance? Had the league's head finally turned senile or had Karen done something to him? The psychic gym leader backed away slowly.
Karen laughed out loud. "Yes, sweetie, I refused. Old Lance seemed to be a bit shaken up today. So I used the chance to snub out. I thought I would give someone else the chance to battle together with Will."
"What?" Sabrina knew that it looked dumb to ask the same, simple answer twice within a short amount of time, yet she couldn't help it. There was no other question she could ask right now. Her heart beat faster and faster and she could feel the warmth rising in her. If Karen was telling the truth, she suddenly had to prepare for a battle herself. Her, battling the Sinnoh Elite Trainer, alongside Will. It was a wonderful thought, yet it make her incredibly nervous. There was no way she they could win against Lucian and Cynthia, yet maybe it was worth a try. They had shown they weren't that bad of a team and if she had another chance of being close to Will, she would surely use it. It was at least going to make up for the loneliness she had felt this morning.
Karen smiled at this and pointed downwards with a slender movement of her hand. "Look down."
Sabrina followed her indication, yet, she could feel her body getting colder again, the beat of her heart staggering slightly.
On the left side of the stadium, standing close together, were Will and Janine.
~~~~~~~
Will felt his hands trembling as he walked up the stairs to the challenge's podium. Janine next to him was chatting nonstop and grinning and laughing and clinging to him...
Boy, did he feel bad.
There was nothing he wanted more than just shoving her off and postponing that battle, yet it was impossible. Lance was watching, the other elite trainers were watching, cameras were watching, around 10% of Indigo's population were watching, the gym leaders were watchi- Will grinded his teeth.
The gym leaders were watching. 'Oh fu** it!' How could he have forgotten? Now he was really in trouble...
"Are the trainers ready for the battle?" Will turned to the left, where the judge had already taken his place and raised the flags. He really felt uneasy now, not very good for the coming battle, yet he couldn't stop but worry. Sabrina surely was watching him right now and for once, he was happy he couldn't read her thoughts. If he wasn't distracted already, Sabrina's thoughts would surely manage that.
"We are." Lucian answered for both himself and Cynthia, as the woman seemed to gaze disoriented around, admiring the scenery rather than concentrating on a battle. Will raised an eyebrow, wondering if the champion was even taking them seriously or, if not, what was wrong with her and why Lucian was not reacting to it. He stood directly next to her and yet, it was as if they were worlds apart. And they were really boyfriend and girlfriend? Sure, relationships worked different for different people, but what Will was sure of was that the flame of love had long been turned out for these two.
Which unpleasantly reminded him of his own dear again.
"Then, battle start!" The judge raised the flags above his head and the second he flicked them back at his sides, Lucian had already thrown his Pokeball, the movement almost too fast to be seen, yet pliant and rounded. He almost paraded his entrance, so well he seemed to have tested it out various times before. Well, he had been an elite trainer for some time now, longer than Will anyway and the masked man supposed that after years of practice, a certain routine crept in.
"Go, Medicham!" He cried. Will briefly wondered why a psychic trainer like Lucian would use a Psychic/Fighting Pokemon, yet from the gossip he had picked up, Sinnoh's elite wasn't so strict on using just the element a trainer had applied for. Heck, Cynthia had even decided not to rely on one single element at all!
Reason why she was rumoured to be the strongest champion of all. Being restricted to one element just made you weaker, more inflexible.
"Gastrodon, your turn." Cynthia's voice was calm and even, almost sleepy. Either she wasn't completely on this earth anymore, or she had taken something that had a creepy influence on her attention and consciousness.
Glancing at Janine, who was eagerly checking her Pokeballs and commenting each of their inhabitants, Will decided that it was time to choose his own battler. He was nervous; because this was his first official, albeit foretold, battle. He already knew Janine and he were going to lose, even if there wasn't the clear advantage the champion of Sinnoh had, Lance had ordered them to lose. Or, more accurately, had ordered him to lose. Janine was clueless, having filled in for Karen at the last second. Hence her enthusiasm. If only he could share those feelings...
Will closed his eyes. He didn't know much about Sinnoh's Pokemon, but Gastrodon looked like a Water Pokemon, with its snail like body. And Medichan was, of course, Psychic/Fighting. His Xatu would be of most use here.
"Go, Xatu!"
"Crobat, go for it!"
Will glanced again at Janine, slightly surprised. Apparently, she was playing along his lines, using a flyer as well. Maybe she had realized his tactic.
"Use Supersonic!" Or maybe not.
Will glared at her, yet he wasn't willing to scold the young ninja. He didn't want to talk to her, didn't want to have to do anything with her. Sabrina was watching, she shouldn't get the wrong impression.
If she hadn't had it already.
"Xatu, Fly on Medicham!" Obvious scheme, yet, he wasn't supposed to win anyway.
"Medicham, Thunderpunch." Will reeled back. Who should have expected this Pokemon to know this move?! He was screwed, severely screwed. Well, him and Janine, but she wasn't so affected, still passionate over her battle. Well, seem from her point of view...
"Xatu, Confuse Ray, then Psychic!" The idea was simple. Confuse Medicham so it wouldn't be able to hit Xatu, then take it out with a simple Psychic. Will winced inwardly when he remembered that he used a similar tactic to battle Sabrina and wished his mind would focus on something else, just not her.
"Gastrodon, Stone Edge!" It might have been a mistake not to have practised double battles ever before, Will realized now. His attention had to be divided onto two Pokemon. Thankfully, Janine reacted as well. The Supersonic of her Crobat hadn't affected Medicham much, so now she focussed on Cynthia's Pokemon. With the result of Gastrodon's attack being blown away by Crobat's Wing Attack, and Will's Xatu being given the chance of attacking Medicham without distraction.
The violet spheres of the Confuse Ray, swirling away from Xatu's eyes, hit Medicham, whose own eyes turned into swirls as well. Stumbling over its legs, the Pokemon couldn't direct its Thunderpunch anymore- and hit its own partner!
Will wanted to smile, even though it was uneasy showing that while knowing that you were disobeying your own boss right now. Well, maybe that was the case, but Lance hadn't said how close the battle was supposed to be, right? Maybe they were allowed to deal a few hits.
But to his surprise, Gastrodon shook the Thunder Punch off like it had been nothing more than the simple static shock happening between woolly clothes.
Will frowned. Either Gastrodon was really strong or...no, this couldn't be the reason. Even though Cynthia was the champion and her Pokemon weren't to be underestimated, Lucian was an Elite as well and his Pokemon's attacks were just too strong to be simply shrugged off. No...Will came to another conclusion. Gastrodon was not only water type...but water/ground type! This made things a bit easier, knowing that ground attacks couldn't hit both of their Pokemon.
"Gastrodon, Sludge Bomb on Xatu." Will tensed. His Xatu was the worse flyer, so an attack requiring good aiming was better being used on the less mobile target.
"Crobat, Wing Attack!" Again, Janine tried to keep the projectiles away from his Pokemon. He had to admit, that girl wasn't so bad of a double battler. Either that or her obsessed mind came up with strange ideas...
Yet, it worked. The brown coloured sludge balls fell into pieces, creating a rain of dirty water.
"Gastrodon, Muddy Water." Gastrodon's attack got mixed into the already existing rain left from its last attack, making more and more small puddles on the battlefield. Biting his lip, Will wondered what Cynthia was planning. Both of their Pokemon were currently flying, so the slippery ground didn't affect them at all. Even worse, she had dug a possible grave for her partner's Pokemon, as Medicham needed steady movements to attack properly. Lucian apparently thought the same, giving Cynthia a confused, shocked and even slightly angry look, yet not facing the cameras as he did so. Cynthia just continued to smile and whispered something to her boyfriend that Will couldn't understand. Anyway, it didn't appear to lighten Lucian's mood.
"Again Wing Attack!" The psychic trainer was close to face palming. Yes, Janine was a rookie, but even new trainers knew that it was certainly no good strategy using an attack too often. Your enemy could prepare for that attack and chase you into a dead end.
Yet, this time, maybe he could let that slip. After all, it had done something good. The hard wind brushing against his body had caused Medicham to fall onto his back, landing directly in one of the many puddles. It was his chance.
"Xatu, Psychic Attack, now!" Noticing the dire situation, the Bird Pokemon didn't hesitate at all and shot wave after wave of blue light over the helpless Medicham. Sooner or later, this was going to knock it out.
"Gastrodon, Stone Edge." "Argh!" Again, he had forgotten about the second Pokemon and now it was too late to dodge. Stone Edge was certainly going to be the final attack his Xatu saw...
"Crobat, intercept it!" With a sharp hiss, the bat-like Pokemon dove down, positioning itself between Xatu and Gastrodon. Yet, now without any defence itself, Crobat was hit by the swirl of jagged, accelerated minerals. It couldn't even withstand the assault for a few seconds before losing the strength to stay in the air. Finally, Crobat collapsed and landed onto the ground next to Xatu and Medicham. Using the small confusion for his advantage, Will let Xatu take flight again, the rest of the Stone Edge Attack hitting now Medicham, knocking it out as well.
The judge raised his flag, indicating a short break to give both trainer couples a chance to recall and possibly change their Pokemon.
"Come back, Crobat." Janine held out her Pokeball at arms' length, the red light consuming the fallen bat. "You did very well." She smiled at Will, blushing slightly. "You, too," she whispered. To his own surprise, Will nodded. They had actually managed to beat one of Lucian's Pokemon. 'Not bad, not bad at all.'
Lucian didn't say anything while recalling Medicham. He kept his eyes, hidden by sunglasses, on the Pokeball, before closing them and sighing. Again there was a short conversation between him and Cynthia, with Cynthia mostly staying quiet and only smiling now and then, yet Will really wished he knew what was going on on the other side of the stadium.
To both Will's and Janine's surprise, Cynthia recalled her Gastrodon shortly afterwards. The Pokemon didn't seem as if it had taken any direct hit and was still fresh for fighting, yet Will wasn't one going to doubt the judgement of a champion and, of course, the owner of the Pokemon itself. If Cynthia thought it was better to have Gastrodon rest, it was her decision. He would keep on using Xatu.
Again, the judge raised his flags, indicating that the battle was continuing.
"Go, Bronzong." Will had to smile. He had seen this bell-like Pokemon before, yet that didn't mean it looked any less weird now. 'Well, like Pokemon, like trainer, eh?' He glanced at his Xatu, stiff, calm, said to be staring into the future, present and past at the same time. '...'
"Gligar, your turn!" The psychic elite trainer just had to smile, no matter who was watching right now. Janine really tried to keep along with him, using a second flying Pokemon now. It may work, after all, their teamwork hadn't been so bad in the first round.
"Lucario." Both Indigo trainers turned their heads to the side. After Gastrodon, Cynthia had called out her Lucario, said to be one of her strongest Pokemon, behind her signature Pokemon, Garchomp. If Will had doubted until now that she wasn't taking them serious...well, he had been severely wrong. She was taking them serious.
Was that a good or a bad sign?
Shrugging it off, Will decided to focus on the battle once more. "Psychic!" Lucario was Steel/Fighting, at least one of these types was weak against Psychic. Sadly, both Pokemon they were fighting against were partly Steel, so Janine's Pokemon were at a complete disadvantage here. Briefly, Will wondered why Cynthia and Lucian hadn't used their superiority earlier. But then, maybe he was right with his theory. Maybe the first round had just been about testing their abilities as trainers and double trainers and now both Sinnoh trainers took them seriously and played their real trump cards.
"Gligar, Attract!" Will blinked. Now while attracting a Pokemon wasn't a bad strategy in itself, the chances of it working were only 50/50, depending on the other Pokemon's gender. He wasn't sure, but Bronzong looked clearly like a genderless Pokemon, a thing which even Janine should have noticed, so that meant her attack had to be aimed at Cynthia's Lucario. Yet...wasn't it common knowledge that most trainers only used Pokemon of their own gender? Conclusion, Lucario would be female as well. Now, either Janine was sure that her Gligar was male or...
The ninja girl smiled at him. "I read in the papers that Cynthia's only male Pokemon is Lucario." His eyes widened as he realised that Janine knew more about the champion than he did. A simple, new gym leader knowing more than an Elite trainer. Yet...maybe it was only because he had started to really despise yellow press papers recently, with all the rubbish they had been saying about Sabrina and him.
Will winced, yet again reminded of the one spectator that meant most to him.
"Bronzong, Flash Cannon on Gligar!" Apparently, Lucian had seen through their tactics as well and was now preventing Gligar from attacking. There wasn't much Will could do, none of his attacks would really stop Bronzong. He would only try to change the direction Bronzong was aiming in.
"Xatu, Quick Attack!" Will could feel his Pokemon's pain at is crashed head first into the cold, blue-grey metal of Bronzong. 'I'm sorry, old boy, I'm sorry.' At least it worked the way he had wished for. Bronzong's aiming was completely off, not hitting Gligar at all, rather endangering Lucario. But to his surprise, the wolf-like bipedal Pokemon created a sphere or bright, blue energy between its paws and threw it in the direction of Bronzong, splitting the bright white beam with ease. It was quite close to hitting Bronzong itself with the attack, yet the Steel/Psychic Pokemon glowed seconds before the energy ball could hit it, which prevented the attack from dealing too much damage.
"That attack from Bronzong was Iron Defense...but what was Lucario using?" Janine asked, not really caring who answered her question in the end, because it wasn't Will.
"That was Aura Sphere, Lucario's signature attack." Both Indigo trainers looked up to see Cynthia smiling innocently at them, yet without a real emotion on her face. A simple fact, it was nothing more to her. She was very different from Lance, yet Will supposed that champions had the right to be a bit weirder than usual people.
"Bronzong, Flash Cannon again!" Will was startled, he hadn't expected Lucian to use their distraction, but then, this nasty tactic was to be expected from both sides. He glanced at Janine. "You take care of Lucario, okay?" She nodded, while Will was left to deal with Bronzong. "Quick Attack, then Psychic!" He had to avoid the Flash Cannon, for he was quite sure his Xatu wouldn't survive such an attack. If the Bird Pokemon came even close to Bronzong afterwards, it was a nice bonus, but not the main point.
He glanced at his side. Janine had clenched her fist, her attention completely consumed by the raging battle. Her Gligar had managed to hit Lucario with Attract, yet Cynthia's Pokemon seemed to be trying hard to shake off the effects, holding its head and having closed its eyes tightly, while Gligar was flying around its body, hitting it again and again with Slash. Cynthia just watched unmoved.
A loud screech caught his attention again. Xatu hadn't been able to hit Bronzong with Quick Attack properly, its claws rather just scratching the surface of the metal, creating this unbelievable nauseating sound. Will backed away, clapping his hands over his ears. It literally hurt him...
And then, it stopped. Will grasped the round steel restriction posts on their platform, supporting his week knees. "You're alright?" He blinked. Janine was kneeling next to him, rubbing his back with one of her hands. "Yeah, I think so..." the girl smiled. Getting up, Will looked around. Cynthia looked as indifferent and uncaring as ever, only Lucian appearing to be a bit unsteady on his feet, too. He wondered why he had been affected by that sound, yet he assumed it has something to do with his newfound powers.
"Let's continue." He whispered to both himself and Janine. The girl nodded.
"Gligar, Slash again on Lucario!"
"Xatu, Psychic attack!" There wasn't much use in trying to use weaker attacks; he had to go for it. His Xatu was already weakened; it wouldn't take that much more.
"Bronzong, Gyro Ball!" The metal on the Pokemon's skin- was it actually skin? seemed to melt, dropping at its front side into a growing ball of hot, white liquid. Will knew he had to act fast, that attack looked quite powerful. "NOW!"
The psychic waves and the melted metal shot towards each other at rapid speed, all while Lucario and Gligar were still having their own battle. Lucario was trying to claw its way through the slashes of Gligar, while the airborne Pokemon frantically tried to avoid them. Finally, Cynthia decided to change her tactic. "Aura Sphere."
In the end, no attack really hit the target it had been destined for.
Xatu's Psychic was not strong enough to overthrow Bronzong's Gyro Ball, so the steel attack just kind of swallowed the weak psychic and aimed straight at Xatu. Yet, Gligar, fleeing in order to avoid Lucario's Aura Sphere, ended up straight in the Gyro Ball's flight path, getting hit instead of Xatu. And Lucario, trying to aim for Gligar, ended up shooting the Aura Sphere in its general direction, yet too far to the left to hit. Will knew he had to use the few chances he had been given, so he ordered Xatu to take control of the Aura Sphere with its psychic powers and aim it at Bronzong. He knew, there was no other way he and Janine would ever be able to beat Bronzong, not with their own Pokemons' attacks. So what else was there left but to take advantage of the enemies' attacks?
And he got rewarded. Bronzong was knocked out.
Again the judge's flags were raised, indicating yet another break.
Both Janine and Lucian had to recall their Pokemon, while Cynthia wasn't giving any sign if she would recall Lucario like she had recalled Gastrodon before. Will closed his eyes, thinking deeply. Would it be smart to recall Xatu? Probably not. It might have sounded cruel, but the most efficient way was to let the Flying/Psychic Pokemon deal as much damage as it could before being forced to recall it, too.
He smiled at Janine. They were doing quite well. The battle was still even, with both sides having lost two Pokemon so far. No doubt he and Janine were going to lose in the end, his other Pokemon weren't quite as strong as Xatu, yet, he felt unusually good, battling together with her and doing so well.
~~~~~~~
On the spectator's side of the stadium, a high, girlish squeal came from many throats, growing and ebbing like waves crashing against the shore, echoing against the stony walls. "Oh my god, isn't he just great?" "Of course he is, did you ever doubt that?" "He took out two of Lucian's Pokemon!" "He's so strong!" "He's perfect!" "My, what a battle!" "Janine's so lucky!"
Yes, Janine was lucky.
Others weren't.
Others felt their heart breaking.
Sabrina could only stare downwards. She hadn't moved at all since the beginning of the battle, only keeping on staring down. Staring without any word, without any sign that behind the cold mask she had built up over the years of psychic training, she had some feelings after all.
Because right now, she didn't want to feel.
And yet, she did.
She felt cold, colder than ever. Cold and...what was the word? Despair?
It hadn't been a lie after all. It had been the blunt truth. He didn't love her. He loved Janine. He had never needed her. There was nothing between them, their poor, pitiful little adventure only being an episode in both of their lives, nothing more. He had never loved her.
She swallowed, fighting back tears that tried to form. She couldn't cry. Not here. Not in front of all the other gym leaders, who only knew her as the strong, unfaultering psychic. Yet, even if she had been all by herself, with no one watching, she wouldn't have been able to cry. Not anymore. She had enough of crying. It wasn't herself to cry, not herself to break down. She wanted to cry and to break down, yet she couldn't, couldn't allow herself. She had to go on.
She had to live. Without him.
Without love.
Feeling someone nudging her, Sabrina looked to her side, recognising Erica. She looked at her with a compassionate smile. Apparently, she knew. As if it wasn't that obvious to see her pain. Yet...Sabrina didn't even want anyone to notice her misery. She didn't need the sympathy of any of these dumb, shallow girls. Even Erica was close to the line.
"What was his reaction to Xatu's scratching about?" Erica asked, glancing at the battlefield again. Sabrina sighed. She should have known...all they cared about was her knowledge about psychic powers in general, not what was going on inside her.
"Psychics are hyper sensitive towards certain frequencies. If they're hit with the right one...it hurts them psychically." Erica turned again towards her. "And why weren't you affected?" 'I doubt even a dark attack would have managed to get me out of this lethargy...' "It only works close ranged. I was too far away." That was a lie, but Sabrina couldn't care less about the truth right now when the blunt truth had just hit her straight in the face, destroying everything she had dreamt of.
"I see." Erica walked away, leaving her alone again.
How ironic. She was truly alone.
