To my surprise, I was actually able to buy a small tub of hydrochloric acid and safety gloves at the local supermarket slash pokemart.
Then I squeezed in a few more hours of training before Dawn literally dragged me off with her to watch her contest live.
"Hmm... Maybe... Maybe pokemon contests aren't so bad after all."
... Preposterous thoughts have invaded my mind ever since.
At the moment, I'm sitting in the small, local stadium of Chocovine Town. If it can be called a stadium. It has some raised bleachers, a smooth, sandy battlefield without any obstacles and around half the town is watching this live with me.
A bunch of dudes are just here to start the weekend off with a couple of cold ones and a few families are here to show their children live pokemon battles.
I'm a little miffed about there being a lot more viewers here than during my gym battle. I'll just blame it on the difficult circumstances of Canalave City. And not the fact that viewer-expectations were too low...
Only 10 people registered themselves today and only 2 were thrown out during the performance stage.
Ursula just barely made it into the first battle round with Dawn and 6 other trainers by displaying a short, sparkling light show provided by a chaotic use of Swift.
Since then, it has been pretty much just a regular tournament. The top 4 were about as good as Asshole, used to be during pokemon school.
I'm now waiting for a short break to end before the final fight between Dawn and Ursula.
"Overall, it really wasn't as boring as I feared." And my pokemon nod along in confirmation.
The group of drunk guys have turned into minor hooligans since their favorite coordinator has already lost. I heard one of them call her 'my sister'.
The announcer's voice rings out from a set of speakers built into the side of the jury's podium.
"Feel the port winds, the north winds, the worth wins, as they carry their songs and dances! It's contest time!"
The announcer stands in the middle of the battlefield right now. She is a woman with orange hair, blue eyes, bubbly persona and a mole under her right eye. Her dress is yellow with some pink highlights.
"Welcome back to the contest finale hosted by the town of great people, Chocovine Town!" A few cheers ring out from the audience as a Rotom drone flies in a curve around the battlefield to make a scenic shot of the announcement.
"As a reminder, here's the marvelous treasure that today's winning coordinator will receive!" Her hand holds a golden brooch with purple ribbon up high into the sky and Rotom can't help but fly in for a closeup shot. "The beautiful and coveted: Chocovine ribbon!"
"Without further ado, let me give an introduction of today's finalists: To my left, it's Dawn Berlitz from Twinleaf Town!"
As she slowly steps backwards, away from the center of the battlefield, my eyes land on Dawn.
Her contest outfit is a pretty, pink, princess dress and a large pink bow is tied together behind her back to tighten the ballroom gown around her waist.
Her blue hair is put up in a high ponytail and her dress features a rather large, empty decollete. Which reminds me that I still haven't given her the piece of jewelry that I got specifically for her from the Canalave City market.
"And to my right... Ursula Primrose from Floaroma Town!"
Her dress fits really well with her hair. A burgundy-red, layered, ruffled skirt; Matches her energetic-looking, pink hair. And her top is a tight, black, long-sleeved shirt with a large decollete. It's ruffled around her wrists. Around her neck is a black choker.
A flamenco dress?
Honestly, all together, it looks pretty hot on her.
The rural stadium hollers and cheers for the trainers. A few encouraging shouts for Dawn leave my own mouth but I doubt she can hear it over the noise of the other viewers.
"As always, the time will be 5 minutes... Begin!" The announcer says, but the stadium's display, which shows a timer and the contestants with some kind of HP-bar below them, doesn't change at all.
"Alright Prinplup! Humble them with your prowess!" Dawn throws a pokeball in a low arc and the ball pops open directly in front of her.
Out of a cloud of bubbles comes a rigid and aloof looking Prinplup. His eyes stare off between the bleachers of the stadium and peer off towards the horizon.
The bubbles pop around him, but he remains unaffected without a care in the world.
"Now Gible, go!" Ursula twirls on the spot and transitions into a low bow before stretching out and throwing the pokeball as high as she can. All in one fluid motion.
The ball pops open in midair and releases a falling Gible along with some holographic, musical notes that play a short piano melody as they land on the ground. Gible finishes the sequence off with his small, but heavy thump on the ground with his body, like a smack on a large drum.
It sounded like a familiar melody but I can't place where I have heard it before.
"Prinplup versus Gible! A story as old as time itself: The noble knight versus the mighty dragon! But who will win this time?"
Neither holds an advantage during this battle. Gible might be a ground type that is weak to water, but his dragon type makes up for it and turns it back into a neutral type.
Mawile would have been a better choice with her fairy type.
Prinplup really needs to learn Ice Beam. He still only knows water, normal and flying type moves.
The 5 minute timer starts ticking down.
---
Narrator-POV:
With a dance-like flourish of her body, Ursula makes the first move.
"Gible, use Dragon Breath!"
But Dawn already has a strategy in place. "Slide to the left!" She calls out.
A large plume of fire pierces from one side of the battlefield to the other. Purple sparks course through the flame and enhance its power with the might of a dragon.
"And Prinplup dodges with a creative use of Bubble!" Miriam Meridian, the announcer, calls out.
As fast as Prinplup could, he threw himself on the wet surface he created and slid to safety.
"Continue with Aerial Ace and then Bubble Burst!"
Still in his slide, Prinplup starts gathering the flying energy necessary for the attack that defies human understanding of physics.
"Use Bite, aim behind you!"
"With lightning reflexes Gible managed to turn around and grab a hold of Prinplup in the middle of his attack! But what's that?"
Prinplup manages to escape the hold Gible had on him by using Dawn's new and not-yet patented Bubble Beam variation.
"Another blast of bubbles burst forth from the beak of the marvelous knight! It pushed the mighty dragon across the battlefield!"
After tumbling once, Gible rights himself and bleeds off his momentum with a slide.
"Sand Tomb!"
Gible's short, stubby arms shine with a dim, yellow-brownish light before he tips over to touch the ground with all 4 of his limbs.
In almost an instant, the soft ground below Prinplup turns into energy infused quicksand.
"And Prinplup is stuck! The ground has begun to swallow him up! How will he escape?"
Dawn nervously pulls at one of her bangs as she struggles to think of a solution.
Aerial Ace flits into her mind but the choice is too obvious. Too overused. Not creative enough for a contest.
Instead... "Prinplup! Use Water Sport!"
"Water Sport? A move that weakens fire type damage? What could her plan be?"
Rivulets of water stream down Prinplup's body and liquidate the quicksand even further. His body dips even deeper into the puddle of mud.
But... "That's right! He can swim!"
With no trouble at all, Prinplup's flippers tear through the sand and he swims to stable soil once more. He even does a flip as he jumps out of the sandy liquid.
"Prinplup used Gible's attack to show off his own skills! Unbelievable! That's a hefty hit to Ursula's points! And they will keep falling if she doesn't find a way to turn the tides of the battle back around quickly!"
The heat is on Ursula. Her mind struggles to find the next option.
'Tackle... Sand Attack... Dragon Breath... Bulldoze... Bite... Another Sand Tomb... Nothing is going to get me anywhere... Unless?'
"Gible use Sand Attack! Aim for the air!"
The same yellowish glow appears again and a claw full of sand is thrown into the air. "Again!"
Quickly realizing what his trainer plans, Gible throws more and more sand high into the air.
"It's a miniature Sandstorm!"
But unlike a normal Sandstorm, the improvised move is too weak to deal continuous damage.
"Show them what we think of a little bit of sand! Prinplup, go in with Peck!"
"Befitting his role as a fearless knight, Prinplup charges beak first right into the danger! But-- But what is that!? It looked as if Gible disappeared at the very last moment!"
Once again Dawn is wrecking her brain to figure out what to do next as Prinplup runs after Gible's mirage within the sandstorm.
Her points continuously drop closer and closer towards 0.
In the meantime, Gible is free to toss more and more sand up to make his cover better and better.
"I got it!" Dawn eventually exclaims, not a moment too soon. "It's Sand Veil! Prinplup! Flood the field with Bubble Beam, like we practiced!"
Prinplup stops in his tracks and her points stabilize at almost 0.
He charges his next move as much as he can. "Priiin-" And a stream of bubbles begin to emerge from his beak. "Plup-up-up-"
Like a ballet dancer, he spins around on one of his feet. The force of his own move gives him the momentum to keep spinning with more and more speed.
Each of the bubbles that escape his beak have their very own spin. As the bubbles travel they align themselves in a wide circle with Prinplup in the center.
Occasionally, some bubbles pop as they hit something in the sandstorm and each bubble chips more and more material away from the storm.
Eventually, a tornado of bubbles replaces the sandstorm completely. Reflected sunlight sparkles all over the place.
"And that's it!" Miriam's voice, followed by a loud buzzer, ends the fight.
The timer stops with over a minute remaining.
The bubbles pop one after another, leaving a misty shower of droplets behind. But a frightened look appears on Dawn's face.
Did she make a mistake that killed the final sliver of points she had left?
"The match ends by style-points..."
Miriam Meridian acts as if she needs to inspect the scoreboard closely to find out the results.
"Dawn Berlitz from Twinleaf Town is the winner!"
Digital fireworks celebrate the end of the match on the battle-display as the picture of Dawn expands to take up the screen.
Applause fills the arena and the crowd goes wild.
"What a beautiful display of skill and ingenuity, here in our quaint little town." The judges start a round of compliments, starting with the local town mayor. "I might not be the most knowledgeable about pokemon, but even I can identify that the fluid and practiced motions of Prinplup are indeed beautiful."
"Agreed." The small-town school teacher, who is responsible for teaching children about the very basics of pokemon, continues. "The mastery over Bubble to pull off custom moves as a beginner trainer is truly impressive."
And finally, Nurse Joy praises Dawn. "Prinplup's feathers are pristine, well groomed and in the right light, I can already see a silver shimmer. A very healthy specimen; Of course it results in a powerful display of strength and skill."
The pokemon in question swallows down his exhaustion and pretends to be as unfazed as possible. As if it was an obvious result for Prinplup to win. As if no other option was even possible.
Dawn hops up and down in joy over her first win of a contest until Mawile pops out from her pokeball to partake in the joyous display and jumps into a hug with her trainer.
Coincidentally, Mawile managed to prevent a wardrobe malfunction by stopping Dawn's skirt from flapping up and down during her wild jumping. But she does chomp down on her arm in return.
Meanwhile, a small lake of rage forms in the heart of Ursula.
The peach-pink haired girl has a mean streak trying to bubble its way to the surface.
But she holds it back and swallows her madness. She does not want to ruin the moment for her newest friend.
Still, she cannot help but seethe as her hand stretches out to congratulate her opponent and friend.
"You won't be so lucky next time, Dawn." She says through gritted teeth and her hand clenches the handshake harder than she meant to. "I'm going to Jubilife City right after this. Send me a chat after you're done with your date."
Only when Ursula spots the blush forming on her embarrassed friend's face, does she determine her revenge to be complete and she leaves without waiting for an answer.
"I will!" Dawn still shouts after her before turning to the approaching announcer.
Miriam hands over the ribbon and gives Dawn a reminder to play it up for the camera.
Dawn, put on the spot like that, completely forgets about her practiced victory phrases and starts to improvise.
She grabs the ribbon, makes a little heart with her hands and shouts to the Rotom drone, "I got the Chocovine Ribbon!"
And if one were to listen very closely, one could hear the word 'cringe' floating through the air.
"And that's a wrap! We have seen some brilliant displays today, here at Chocovine Town!" A round of cheering comes from the audience to support her finishing speech.
"It was my pleasure visiting this beautiful town full of beautiful people! And don't forget to tune in next Friday, when I will be announcing for this year's first dual performance in Floaroma Town with a special guest as judge!"
Once again the crowd goes wild and the adults finish off their drinks to start the weekend properly.
---
Swole-POV:
"What's taking her so long? Do you think I should check in on her?"
My pokemon are once again not helping me at all.
~"Yess. You should sspy on her."
I've been waiting for forever in front of the changing and waiting room of the contest stadium.
Could she have been attacked? Maybe someone sneaked in after her with malicious intent?
... I really should spy-- check in on her.
"Oh? Hey, Swole." Just as I was about to open the door, it opened on its own and Dawn emerged.
Almost running into me in the process. "... What is your hand doing there? Were you about to peep on me again?"
Her arms cross over just below her boobs.
"Uhhh, no?"
... Is she prettier than usual?
"I was just wondering what took you so long. Did you get lost?"
"In the changing room?" My grin is enough to give her the answer she doesn't want to hear. "Oh, ha. Ha. You comedian... Do you notice anything?"
I notice a lot of things. Like how modern civilization is struggling to sustain itself with the upcoming end of the world, or how despite that, there are still some assholes trying to profiteer from that...
But she must be talking about herself... Is her hair different?
It looks pretty good. But it's not new. It's the style that Maria did her hair after her massage. Two braids go around the back of her head and combine themselves into one.
Her lips might be fuller today... There are fewer imperfections on her skin and her lips are a shade darker... Her eyes seem deeper than usual...
"You're... wearing more makeup?"
"Don't say it like that!" She hits my arm. "Asshole."
"Haha! Alright, you're prettier! Are you happy now?"
"Yes. Yes, I am. Was it so hard to give out a compliment?"
"Yes. Yes, it was." She hits me again. "But try not to use so much of that stuff. It's bad for your skin, I heard. And you are pretty enough-- I mean, very, very pretty without it."
"Good catch." Dawn says. My shoulder is still a little sore from yesterday.
"That I am."
I can see the cogs turning in her head. But once she catches up, the gears shift away from her mind and clutch to her eyes instead.
Her captivating eyes roll in their sockets, baiting me to come closer.
"You're looking rather sharp today too. I have to say, Zoey and I did a really nice job choosing your gym outfit."
This time it's my turn to roll my eyes at her shameless self-praise.
But sweet Mew, she is rather beautiful today. I can barely keep my eyes off her.
"Let's go, the fish won't wait for us forever."
Oh! Right. The public aquarium. Where we wanted to go for our date.
I turn around and we're already there.
Guess her eyes really did captivate me.
The entrance is right at the docks. An almost deceptively unassuming building which features a sign, larger than the building itself that advertises for Chocovine's public aquarium.
"Tickets inside." A much smaller sign displays.
I lead the way and hold the door open for Dawn.
Inside is nothing but a stairwell that spirals down, with large windows facing west.
The first window shows just the wide ocean in front of us. Nothing but clouds, blue sky and water all the way to the horizon. Somewhere behind it all is the M.S. Anne.
The second window shows mostly the same. It aligns with the water's surface and 2 arrow-shaped markers indicate the low- and high-tide.
It's currently low-tide.
As the stairs spiral further down, the light dims and the 3rd window comes into sight.
"Wow!" Dawn exclaims and scares off a Finneon who swam just in front of us.
The water is crystal clear and without the refractions of the surface, we can see deep into the ocean.
There is a school of Finneon in the distance, to which this one has returned. Along the walls grow colorful corrals and slightly less colorful Corsola hide among them.
The local rangers are doing their jobs dutifully. No trash to stain the natural beauty of the ocean and no Mareanie to attack the local population of Corsola.
After a few more flights of stairs, we reach the bottom of the docks. The lowest window shows a view of the seafloor with a school of Remoraid and an Octillery relaxing around some rocks and anemone. A Krabby can be seen, munching on a dead fish.
The sunlight filters through the water and tints everything in a light blue light, including the white fish debris that floats off from Krabby's mouth.
A single Luvdisc looks around nervously. Separated from the rest of her school.
A shadow creeps along the ground and my attention aims up. Just below the water's surface, a Mantine floats gracefully through the water. Heading out towards the open ocean.
The school of Remoraid see her as well and hurry to swim after her, leaving Octillery behind with a longing look on his face.
"Wow..."
But all that natural beauty pales in comparison to the beauty beside me.
A blush spreads across her face as I think that. Her eyes stare ahead but flicker everywhere. Her body jitters just slightly and I could probably startle her if I touched her right now.
Her thumb repeatedly taps against her hand and I'm met with a sudden urge to grab and hold it.
I grab her hand.
Her entire body jolts at the contact and her blush gets worse. Her hand feels stiff, sweaty and tense, but small and dainty, almost brittle, at the same time. As if any harsh movement or strong touch could hurt her.
After a while of gently holding her hand and pretending to look through the window, she eventually relaxes a little bit.
"Want to continue?"
"A-already?!" Her voice trembles.
"Continue to go into the aquarium? We're kinda just at the entrance."
"Oh... Right. Yes, let's go."
We travel further inside the aquarium. The person at the ticket booth waves us through once he realizes that we are trainers.
My hand is wet. I'm not sure if it's only Dawn's nervous sweat or some of mine too.
The exhibits pass by in a blur. Most contain mundane animals, a few have access to the ocean and have their habitats adjusted according to their needs.
Prinplup randomly got some fish to eat from a worker.
We even ended up lucky enough to spot a Huntail. They usually only hang around in the deep ocean, but apparently this guy couldn't resist the free food today.
The whole time we kept holding hands in silence. A single word about it could have ended the experience. Even a mutter or the reading of my thoughts, so I kept them pure and quiet.
I tried not to think about her beautiful hair, her enrapturing eyes, the way she dressed up for me or the soothing feeling of her hand gently held within mine.
Nope. None of those thoughts.
But for some reason, Dawn still kept blushing at random intervals while we walked.
... I should probably try to keep a conversation going, right? That's what I'm supposed to be doing on a date but any time I open my mouth, everything leaves my mind and not a single sound escapes me.
Dawn's stomach growls quietly and I subtly navigate us towards the aquarium's in-house restaurant.
While reserving our seats, the owner recognized my name from my dad and he told me he'd get the best table for us.
It's the best and most unique location I have ever seen.
The restaurant is covered by a glass dome and we are seemingly in the middle of the ocean. The coast is a kilometer away. And our table lies right at the edge of the dome.
The faintest light filters in from the sun and the rest of the done is illuminated by light-bulbs that are hidden in the floor and cast a soft, yellow light all around.
When looking outside, some kelp and other underwater plants grow on a few meters of sandy ocean floor, growing towards the light that the dome emits.
After a few meters, the ground suddenly drops down into an abyss. On the west side of Sinnoh lies a deep fault line trench.
It's where the Huntail must have come from and a Gorebyss currently glides on top of the gaping rift. Perhaps she is waiting for her mate to return from his excursion to the aquarium.
Everywhere one looks, there are pokemon to see. Krabby. Staryu. Wailmer. Clamperl. Wishiwashi.
The ocean is truly filled with pokemon... Makes me wonder why I got absolutely nothing with the fishing rod...
The table is romantically decorated.
A thin vase contains a single rose and stands in the middle. Candles are placed beside it, one on each side.
Cutlery is provided in groups of 3 on each side of the table. They even prepared some raised chairs for our pokemon, so they don't need to eat while sitting on the table again.
"Hm, I like this place." Dawn comments and I nod along stupidly. Still barely able to keep my own thoughts going, let alone to say something. "A lot better than the place we went to in Canalave City."
"Hm." I grunt out in agreement...
It can't go on like this. I need to say something. "S-so... Uhhh, want to talk about politics?"
I ask while I pull the chair back for her to get seated.
Shit! It's the one thing I'm not supposed to talk about! Damn it! "Uhhh, I mean, I don't think I congratulated you on your win yet! Congratulations! You did really well on the stage."
I repeat the process for Buneary and Salandit.
"Thanks... But I couldn't have done that without your advice and your... let's call it infectious work ethics."
"Haha, well you do have a tendency to just laze around when left to your own devices. Like a Meowth. No, better yet, like a Glameow."
"Hah, I just hope I don't turn into a Purugly when I'm older. Oi! What's with that face?"
I just imagined Dawn with obesity... I'd better purge that memory immediately.
There's no need to worry about that anyway. She will never become fat. She is too similar to her mom. Because her mom's a milf.
"What's a milf?"
"Nothing." Damn my leaky mind. "What-"
The server interrupts my lousy attempt to find a different topic to talk about.
He delivers us a salad to each of us as a starter. He stays quiet and places everything in a way that would be non-intrusive and would let us keep our conversation going... But it's still too awkward.
Buneary looks at me in disappointment because she doesn't realize there is more coming after the salad. It's also surprisingly the most expensive item from the full course meal.
"Uhmn, it tastes incredible! What is that?"
Dawn asks before stuffing another fork full of salad into her mouth. She only slows down after remembering where she is. Cute.
Surprisingly, Buneary has managed to develop better table manners than Dawn.
"Lotad salad. The large leaf that grows on top of them, which can regrow swiftly, is shredded into the salad."
"How come pokemon are so tasty?"
"I guess they are nutritious? Like how meat tastes better than salad."
"So it's meat-salad. Hm. What were we talking about before?"
Milfs. "I can't remember."
---
And so the rest of the meal continues. Filled with delicious foods and awkward moments.
Like when the main course of Magikarp fillets arrived and a Magikarp watched us from the outside of the dome with hunger clearly written in his face.
On second thought, isn't it a little mean to be eating in front of all these pokemon?
Maybe that's why Gorebyss sent Huntail to get food. She got jealous of watching people eat here. At least that's the head-canon I'm going with now. It's not like I can read their thoughts. Yet.
I don't have enough of a connection to strange pokemon for my aura to work. Or even known pokemon who aren't Buneary or Salandit.
"Hey, how much do you understand when you're talking to your pokemon?"
Dawn stops eating her desert. A spoon full of ice cream remains in her mouth until she starts answering.
"A lot actually... Like all of their yes or no answers. And sometimes it feels like I can understand them completely! Isn't that right, Prinplup?"
"... Prinplup." He responds while his flippers struggle to use the cutlery.
"Don't be rude."
His evolution has turned him into quite the arrogant, little prick.
"Sigh-- I mean, good grief, I hope he grows out of that phase eventually."
"A catchphrase doesn't work if you force yourself to say it."
She rolls her eyes. "... I just think it's funny."
"... It was funny. Totally."
~"Maybe I sshould return to my pokeball." Salandit pipes up. "Thiss iss cringe."
"Don't be rude, Salandit."
I flick her snoot and her tongue in turn flicks out to lick my finger. Her eyes widen in surprise and she gives me the cold shoulder again.
Good grief. I miss the way she used to be.
"You need to eat your ice cream before it melts away." Dawn reminds me.
...
And so my plan crumbles in front of my very eyes.
The plan was to use the restaurant to confess to her. But any time I try to speak the words for it, my mouth feels as if it's glued shut.
The meal ends and we leave the absolute best environment for romance behind.
We step up the spiraling stairs and the aquarium visit is over.
Pain stabs through my chest at the loss of the opportunity.
The evening light of the waning sun blinds me as I look towards Dawn. The wide, open ocean is behind her. We are walking along the empty harbor.
I need to say something. Once we are back at the hotel, the date is over. I can't let it end like that!
"Dawn--" - "Swole--" We say at the same time.
She continues to look ahead as we walk but a blush is clearly visible on her face.
She stops walking. "You say first..." She tells me but my mouth won't open.
This is terrible!
Come on! I'm going to be the Arceus damned champion but I can't even talk to Dawn!?
Fuck!
Fuck it! I'm just gonna do it!
One hand grabs her shoulder. I look her deep into her eyes. Her blue irises are dilated and her breath seems to catch in her throat.
"What--" She begins but startles again as my other hand moves to her cheek.
"W-what are you doing?" She asks but I cannot respond.
Her legs shuffle in place. Her hand searches for strands of hair but finds none. They are too neatly placed within her braids.
In the end, her hand rests upon mine as I hold her head steady.
She is smaller than me, so I close my eyes and lean down.
Her nose slides past mine and our lips meet together.
They feel so gentle and soft as they press against mine.
The hand upon her shoulder trails down and touches her waist. I pull her closer and she stands on the tips of her feet to get even closer to me.
I try to pull her chest against mine but Riolu's egg is in the way. Yet, we still press ourselves as close together as we can.
Both of her arms wrap around my neck and hold on tight while I caress her face with my free hand.
I feel her cheekbone with my thumb, the soft flesh of her cheek with my palm and her rounded jaw with my pinky finger.
My eyes open and I see her face in front of me. Her nose, her dark, painted eyelids.
I pull back slightly but her head follows to keep the kiss going.
Her azure eyes flutter open. They lock into mine and her face heats up.
She breaks the kiss but continues to hold on to me. A bright smile is plastered on her face, mirroring my own.
"Finally." Her breathless voice sounds out like honey in my ears. Her eyes sparkle in happiness and blissful radiance.
Relief washes over me. My tense muscles relax all at once, as if a Golem has been lifted off my shoulders.
The Clamperl over my mouth lifts itself. "Do you want to be my girlfriend?"
She hums in confirmation and buries her head in the nook of my shoulder. "This is the best day ever." I can hear her mumble.
We remain like this as the sun slowly dips behind the horizon.
"Let's get back to the hotel before it gets cold, alright?" I say as the last ray of sunshine catches in my eyes.
... "Huh?"
"What's wrong?" Dawn moves back.
Oh my Arceus! It's happening!