Chapter 15 "Tournament Finals"

"Well, it's true. I've just got to figure out how to do the research first." I say, crossing my arms.

"Oh don't you worry," Gary says while laughing, "Gramps is already talking about what courses you and me are gonna be taking." He looks at John and says, "Sorry buddy, but your dad already decided what courses you are taking."

"Yeah, I figured."

We all laugh for a moment. To be honest, having hung out with John for this entire summer, I also figured out that while John's dad isn't super controlling he also has certain expectations. John probably already knew what classes his dad was going to sign him up for during his first year before he came to camp.

Of course, I had talked with my parents about this same subject as well. They only had two classes that I absolutely needed to take. Nutrition of Pokemon 101, and all of the Survival courses, but I had to start with Basic Survival and would increase to the others during the five years of school before I hit fifteen. However, all the others? We talked it over, and decided on classes that would help me figure out what I wanted.

Of course, that conversation happened only yesterday when it was essentially confirmed I would be going to Oak Academy. My parents were pretty proud of me, coming up with a choice no one had apparently thought of before.

Anyway, we talked for a little while longer, before I went to get ready with Danu. The match between Cynthia and I was scheduled for the afternoon, with the first half of the day being taken up by an open house of the Oak Academy. My parent's gave me a pass for that, because I was in the finals and I was already going to be attending the school.

*****

Twenty minutes before the match and Danu and I are just relaxing. We've gone over everything we've seen Cynthia and her Gible do. I've done my best to think up strategies for what she'll throw at us. Honestly, I doubt it's going to do me any good in the end, but I had to try. Gible is a bit of a monster to have as a starter pokemon, and it is clear that she has either plenty of money to spend on getting new moves or items to help Gible's growth. Or she is just that good as a trainer. Honestly, I'm thinking it's about half and half.

My parent's wished me good luck. So did Lucy, Gary, and John. In fact, when Lucy wished me good luck, she also kissed me on the cheek. Of course, she blushed up a storm after that, which was cute. But now, I had my head back in the game.

"You ready Danu?" I asked, looking at my partner.

She chirped at me, nodding her head. And so, with five minutes left, we headed out onto the battlefield.

*****

This one was a little bit different than my previous matches. Sure, my match against Gary had a decent number of people show up. But for this match, there was a lot more people. Everyone had showed up to see this. The stands were packed, and I couldn't even tell where my parents were.

I should probably get used to some of this I think to myself. Official Pokemon battle tend to be extremely popular. And if I compete in tournaments not to mention the getting the gym badges to compete in the League, I will need the experience of battling in front of large crowds.

Cynthia and I walk out onto the field, and this time things are a little bit different. Prof. Oak is there as well.

"Thank you everyone for joining us today. My name as you all probably know, is Professor Samuel Oak. I am the official director and Headmaster of this summer camp and the Oak Pokemon Academy. We are proud to have the families of so many talented youngsters with us today. After this, all of the families are invited to a little tradition we like to call the Summer Ball. It is the official last event of the Summer Camp, though it is not mandatory at all. We like to leave it as a bit of a surprise for the kids, though all of the parents should have been warned about it."

"Now, without further a do, we have the finals match of this tournament. On one side we have Cynthia Shirona of Celestic Town in the Sinnoh Region. On the other we have Arthur Goldenrod of Goldenrod City in the Johto Region. This will be a one versus one battle, with the first trainer to have their pokemon either faint or be recalled losing. Trainers, please call out your pokemon."

I toss Danu's pokeball up, letting her out. "Come on out Danu."

Cynthia similarly calls out her Gible, " Let's go, Sharky!"

Really? Wouldn't have guessed that she would name her Gible Sharky. Oh well.

Prof. Oak then says, "Trainers, are you ready?" Looking at both of us, he sees us nod, and then says, "BATTLE!"

"Danu, set the field!"

"Sharky, Sandstorm!"

Instantly, both of our pokemon use their signature opening moves. Ironically enough, they kind of cancel each other out, except Cynthia's Gible blends in pretty well with the Sandstorm. However, damage wise, Grassy Terrain gives Danu enough bonus energy to counter the damaging effect of the sandstorm.

"Danu, let's see if what we planned will work. Leaf Spin!"

The idea is for Danu to use a razor leaf in the same direction as the sandstorm's spin, thus adding the razor sharp leaves to it and hopefully causing some problems for Cynthia and her 'Sharky'.

And sure enough, when Danu launches the leaves into the sandstorm with just enough control to get them caught in the wind, it works. Then our plan starts to decline.

"Sharky, I don't like those leaves. Use Twister." Cynthia says.

That wasn't anticipated. She hadn't used that move before, so we weren't ready for it.

"Danu, set your defenses while she's busy." Probably our best bet at this point. If we can outlast some of her attacks, we can plan a counter.

While 'Sharky' is creating a second cyclone inside of the Sandstorm, Danu sets up Light Screen and Safeguard.

"Sharky, use dig!" Cynthia calls out once the leaves are gone.

"Danu, Leaf in the Wind!"

Danu is paying attention to the ground, so when a moment later, 'Sharky' shows up and launches herself at Danu's face, Danu is quick to dodge.

"Now, hit her with a Magical Leaf!" I call out, hoping we get the timing right.

And we did. Unfortunately, it doesn't matter as a moment later Cynthia calls out, "Flamethrower everything."

As the Magical Leaf is about to hit, Gible starts spinning and breathing fire. An impressive move to be sure, and with Gible so close in, there isn't much hope of Danu dodging this one. Thankfully she might be able to tank the hit because of the Light Screen, and she won't get burned because of Safeguard.

"Danu, Leaf Spin and slam into her!"

Danu promptly starts twirling the razor sharp leaves around her as she closes in to use Tackle on the Gible. Of course, this didn't go unseen by Cynthia or her partner.

"All right Sharky, time to show them who's in charge. Dragon Claw!"

Her partner pokemon promptly shuts off the flames, and gathers energy into one of it's small claws. Just before Danu gets there, our opponent lashes out with that same claw and connects with the energy Danu put into using Tackle.

A small explosion occurs, obscuring the battlefield even more. It also blows away the Sandstorm that was still going. For a moment, no one can see anything. I look at the cloud worriedly, but allow myself to hope that Danu is still standing.

However when the dust settles and clears, we see the end result. Gible is walking back over to Cynthia. Apparently she used up more energy than she expected. However, the end result was the same. Danu is lying on the ground.

"Chikorita is unable to battle. The winner is Cynthia and her Gible!"

I sigh. Danu put up a great fight, but we just weren't the match for these two yet. Though I am distinctly proud of one thing. Gible was walking.

None of the other trainers were able to do that. After the previous battles, everyone said that Gible was still a cheerful bouncing monster, that ran up to Cynthia after the battle was declared over. Now, she looks tired.

Cynthia looks at me and says, "Thank you both for giving your all in that. Sharky doesn't get tired out too often unless she's training with my grandmother's pokemon."

"No problem," I say, "Just realize that one of these days we are going to beat you."

She smirks at me, "Be good to Lucy. I'll be waiting for your challenge."