Chapter 17 Reconciliation

My words might've been a little cringy, but passionate words get the crowd invested. Also this battle isn't just about winning, it's about reigniting the sisters' passion for battle. Even if their main passion isn't pokemon battles, it doesn't mean you can't enjoy them. So far I've succeeded with Lily and Daisy. I was worried that I might've been too heavy handed with Lily, but seeing her determined after losing means I haven't failed.

Daisy stood on the platform and released her pokemon, "It's our time to shine Dewgong, let's show him the strength of Cerulean Gym!" Out of the ball comes a sea lion pokemon with a snowy white, furry body. It has two black eyes, a black nose, and two tusks coming from its upper jaw. With a streamlined body it has two front flippers and a long flowing tail. It has a fierce expression, showing that it's looking forward to battling. It gave out a battle cry, "Dew gong gong gong!"

[Dewgong ♂

Lvl.26

Potential: Gold grade

Ability: Thick Fat/ Fire and ice type attack damage are reduced by 50%

Favored Moves: Heabutt, Aurora Beam, Water Gun, Aqua Jet]

This battle might be a little tougher for Milotic because Dewgong has a pretty strong special defense, and Milotic mostly has special attacking moves which are resisted. However, Daisy is in the same predicament as me. I'll have to make this a war of attrition, with Milotic's healing capabilities I'll have the advantage. My time to strategize came to an end with Violet's announcement, "Both participants are ready to battle! We have Daisy's Dewgong, the sea lion pride of our gym, versus Rian's wave dancer Milotic!. Begin!"

Having learned that letting me attack first would be a mistake Daisy was quick to call out her attack, little did she know that was my plan. "Dewgong we can't let them have the initiative, hit them with an aurora beam!" Out of Dewgong's mouth came out a beam with the colors of an aurora borealis. Before it could make contact with Milotic I gave out the command to start our strategy.

"Milotic, send it back to them with mirror coat! Then use aqua ring!" Milotic quickly covered her fan shaped tail with psychic type aura and slapped the incoming attack back toward Dewgong with twice the power. The sudden counter caught him off guard, and was caught up in a small icy explosion upon impact. Using the time the enemy was recovering from the attack, Milotic began covering herself in rings of sparkling water. The rings were retracted into Milotic and she was covered by a slight aura of aqua ring. Not one to let go of the initiative in battle, I started the next step of my plan.

"Milotic use attract on Dewgong." After the explosion disappeared Dewgong broke through the dust with only slight injuries. But by this time it was already too late, Milotic winked at Dewgong and sent small floating hearts to Dewgong. Once hit, Dewgong's black eyes turned to a pair of pink hearts. Diasy saw this and started panicking, "Dewgong shake it off, don't get infatuated with the enemy!"

You could see Dewgong struggle to force itself from being immobilized by love, before any meaningful progress could be made I went on the offensive. "Milotic now wrap it with your tail and throw him into the air!" Milotic speedily made it to Dewgong tightly wrapping it with her tail. However, in Dewgong's eyes it was a romantic scene where their shy crush has boldly hugged them, as if declaring their feelings for each other. Milotic, seeing the weird look from Dewgong, snorted in disgust, crushing it tighter with her wrap attack. She quickly threw Dewgong into the air like tossing something repulsive. "Dewgong! Please, you need to snap out of it!" Hearing the desperate emotions in Daisy's voice Dewgong shook off the effects of attract, but I had them where I wanted already.

"Milotic blast it higher with a water pulse then jump above it and hit them with a dragon breath!" Milotic gave a cry as she started charging a sphere of water and quickly shot it at Dewgong, throwing him higher into the air as it gave a cry of pain. She quickly gave chase, building speed before performing a powerful jump to overtake Dewgong while she also charged up a powerful dragon breath. "Dewgong don't let them have their way! Fight back with a water gun!" Once Milotic was at the peak of her jump she released a powerful burst of purple flames, while Dewgong shot a strong stream of water at the same time. There was a small struggle between the two attacks as they tried to overpower each other, but we had the high ground. Which pushed Dewgong down creating a large impact when it hit the water. Being stunned from the impact it couldn't continue his attack, which allowed Milotic's attack to land, sending Dewgong to the bottom.

Milotic and eye stood ready, we both knew that our opponent was still not out for the count yet. Daisy had no way of knowing if this was the case or not, but she had a strong faith that Dewgong was still okay to battle. "Dewgong, we're no pushovers. Hit them with your Aqua Jet attack!" Showing his tenacity Dewgong jumped out of the water surrounded by a jet of water and headed straight towards us.

"Milotic stop it with a disarming voice." Milotic quickly releases its pink soundwave attack with an emotional cry. But Dewgong swiftly dodges it, showing off his impressive maneuverability trained from their water shows. It hits Milotic with a strong impact sending her backwards, dealing the first successful damage of the battle. The joy on Daisy's face from finally being able to turn the battle around from a one sided beatdown is quickly replaced by a doleful look. The sudden change to her expression was caused by the aqua ring that started healing the damage done by Dewgong. "Dewgong don't let them ruin our hard work, use heatbutt!"

Dewgong started charging forward ready to deal another strong blow to Milotic despite being tired and heavily injured. However, it was too late because Milotic had already recovered all the damage done. I was waiting for them to get close, because Dewgong could use an aqua jet to dodge our attacks if given enough time. Once it was close enough I called the move that would end this battle, "Milotic finish this with a full power surf!" Quickly responding, Milotic created a big wave which crashed down on Dewgong with great force. Sending it flying to the other side of the field until it crashed into the edge near Daisy.

"Oh no Dewgong! Are you okay!?" To my surprise Dewgong wasn't unconscious, he tried to get up with great difficulty only to falter soon after. Daisy quickly ran to Dewgong, hugging him with great affection, telling him how proud she was of how well he did. Meanwhile the crowd was cheering for both sides, some were cheering Dewgong for putting up a good fight. Violet then made her way to where Daisy was, giving her a comforting pat on the shoulder before taking the stage.

"The winner of the second battle is Rian and his Milotic. Daisy and Dewgong did a great job holding her ground in the battle, fighting back even when the odds seemed against her. Now it's time for me, Violet, to take the stage. Come on out Cloyster, we'll take whatever he can give us and give it back!" Cloyster is a black, pearl-like pokemon. It's encased in a light-gray shell, which is surrounded by a second blue-violet shell. It has a barb-like spike protruding from above its head, and multiple conical horns around its outer shell.

[Cloyster ♀

Lvl.29

Potential: Gold grade

Ability: Overcoat/ Protected from weather effects and powder moves (i.e. poison powder, sleep powder, etc.)

Favored Moves: Withdraw, Tackle, Spike Cannon, Ice Shard, Clamp, Water Gun]

"If Rian wins this battle he will officially win the battle, now what will he do? Will he continue to fight with Milotic, or will we see one of his other pokemon?" I look over to Milotic, even though she looks healthy as her trainer I can see that she is already pretty tired. She could definitely keep battling, but I think she's already done an excellent job and deserves some rest.

"Milotic, come here." Milotic comes closer with her lower body still in the water, she gives me a confused look. "Mii?"

I cup her face and put our foreheads together, "You did a great job so far, take a rest and leave the rest to our other companions." She happily nuzzles me with a jovial cry, "Mi!" With that I return her to her ball, and I will for my intimidation skill to stop. The music fades away, meanwhile the crowd is confused about where the music went, the sisters are baffled for a different reason. The guy who said cruel words to them earlier was treating his pokemon with gentleness and care they didn't expect from him.

I grabbed Zorua's pokeball and sent her out on one of the platforms floating in the battlefield. She came out with an adorable battle cry, "Kyuuu!" Then she took note of her surroundings before locking onto Cloyster who's half submerged in the water. The terrain will be a big disadvantage for us, but the experience of maneuvering around that will be invaluable. Quickly regaining her professionalism Violet continued, "Challenger Rian has sent out his next pokemon, according to the information provided. That pokemon is a Zorua, a rare pokemon that isn't native to the Kanto region. Don't worry folks, even though I'll be facing this mysterious pokemon, I will show the spirit of Cerulean Gym and its water pokemon!"

The crowd got out of their confusion and gave out cheers for the next battle. I saw something in the crowd that creeped me out, there was a gaggle of people raising banners with my name and face cheering for me loudly. I don't know how they made those so quickly, I'm not really well known. What weirded me out most is that I could faintly hear someone shout, "give me your babies Rian!" Ignoring that can of wurmple, I focus on the battle ahead. Even though Cloyster is a pokemon with high attack and absurd physical defense, I have a small surprise waiting for them.

Last night before heading to bed I tried teaching Zorua how to use aura. Aura is something all people and pokemon have, but not everyone is able to use it. But, being the highly talented individual that Zorua is, she was quickly able to learn it and created a small dark pink aura sphere.

While I thought aura was always blue because of the Pokemon games and shows, this isn't true. Everyone has different colors of aura, not entirely sure what it's based on but Zorua's is the same color as mine. It took me a little while to ignore that weird color of my aura, but pink is a manly color. I don't care what anyone else says about the matter. Her aura sphere isn't crazy powerful, but the best way to strengthen oneself is in the midst of battle. At least that's what the old knight captain back home had said.

I'm tempted to practice my intimidation skill, but this battle shouldn't be too long. Facing off against Violet and her Cloyster, I give her the signal that we're ready. "It's been fun so far, but it's time I finish this gym challenge."

"Don't think I'll make it that easy for you. I'll be the first to admit when it comes to battling we're not as good as you. But the Cerulean sisters will never give up until the end! Let's begin the battle! Cloyster use ice shard."

"Zorua use agility to jump over the ice towards Cloyster!" A flurry of ice chunks home hurtling towards Zorua at fast speeds, but Zorua speeds up and gracefully jumps from shard to shard before closing in on Cloyster.

"Cloyster clamp when Zorua gets close!" Cloyster patiently waits till Zorua is in range for her diamond tough shell to close in. I don't give Zorua any commands yet and she puts absolute trust in me heading straight towards Cloyster's attack. "Zorua counter now!"

Before Cloyster's shell can crush Zorua, she delivers a swift counterattack with her tail to Cloyster's most vulnerable spot. Getting hit in the face Cloyster is stunned and I use that opportunity to deal a significant blow. "Put you all into it, aura sphere!"

Charging a black and pink sphere of energy the size of basketball she shot it towards the stunned Cloyster. The power of the aura sphere sent Zorua back towards the platform. Meanwhile Violet was quick to help Cloyster recover, "Withdraw now!" Not thinking of anything else, Cloyster just closed its shell shut. The blast when Zorua's attack made contact sent Cloyster into the water.

Soon Cloyster resurfaced, the damage was done but she could still keep fighting. "Good job hanging in there. Now let's use the field to our advantage, fire spike cannon from afar." Cloyster begins firing spikes from her barb-like horn. Unable to think of a way to get close, I choose to buy myself some time to think. "Zorua use swift to cancel out the spikes."

For a while stars meet spikes, with neither side being able to get the advantage. Finally I have an idea, and I feel a little stupid for not thinking of this sooner. "Zorua shoot an aura sphere at the center of the water field. Then follow it up with illusion doubles."

The impact from aura sphere creates a curtain of water, temporarily blocking visibility throughout the battlefield. Using the cover Zorua begins to make illusions of herself and the platform throughout the field. The impact also made the platform bounce into the edge of the field changing the platform from its original location. Once the water clears Violet and Cloyster are confused because they can't tell which one is the real Zorua.

"Cloyster, it couldn't have moved from its original spot use water gun on the center Zorua!" What she doesn't know is that her assumption is wrong and she's left Cloyster wide open while she attacks a fake. "Zorua, this is our chance. End it with an aura sphere!"

The Illusion that was hit with water gun fades away hitting nothing. While all the Zoruas blast a small controlled aura sphere towards Cloyster. Completely overwhelmed, Violet is unable to salvage the situation while Cloyster isn't faring any better. Once the real aura sphere hits the illusions disappear, and Cloyster is sent flying out of the battlefield while unconscious.

"Cloyster… the battle is over, Cloyster is unable to battle. The winner is Rian and his Zorua." With the battle over the drone stops recording the battle and the crowd started cheering for both sides. Violet returns Cloyster to her pokeball before continuing to address the crowd. "Thank you everyone for coming today, and I hope you enjoyed today's performance. Please come again when we have our next performance or battle."

-After the crowd left-

There's an awkward atmosphere as the three sisters are in front of me unsure of what to say. I had already received the cascade badge from winning the battle along with 10k pokedollars. They were unable to give me more because the gym isn't doing well financially and the league doesn't provide them with TM prizes to give out to challengers. It wasn't a big deal for me because I had already completed the quest receiving the rewards after defeating them.

After the crushing defeat I could see their determination to become stronger. Even though they might deny it, they had a lot of fun battling me. So, I decided to be the bigger trainer and break the awkward silence.

"Lily, Daisy, and Violet. I'd like to apologize for the awful things I said to you earlier. I didn't mean it and only wanted to get you riled up to battle me with everything you had, even if it was because you wanted to beat someone you hated. I can see that all of you truly have a newfound appreciation for pokemon battling. I hope you don't forget that feeling. But you're still a million years too early to beat me. Maybe in the future I'll come to watch one of your performances, take care."

I left after saying my bit, I didn't really want to stay for a cliche scene. Where hate turns into a blossoming new friendship and all that mushy gushiness. Next stop is Vermillion city, where I'll get my 3rd gym badge. I wonder if I'll encounter anything interesting on the way…

-Meanwhile with the sisters-

The sisters were astonished, they were ready for the rude boy to make fun of them for barely putting up a challenge. The first to speak was Lily, "that was like totally unexpected… why did that guy have to be such a lovable jerk, trying to help us realize that battling could be fun too."

Daisy snorted in derision, "speak for yourself Lily, that guy was totally a jerk. He may have apologized, but I won't forgive him. I'll show him next time and wipe that smug look he had during battle."

Violet was the last to speak, "Say what you want Daisy, but if you never battled him you would definitely still have no interest in pokemon battles. We would probably be bummed out from losing to him normally and we would've further ruined the gym's reputation by not battling any more. But it's like he said, the last one standing wins and that's all there is to it. I think I speak for all of us when I say we want to be the ones who win."

Lily remained quiet while Daisy hummed thinking about something. "Misty left on a journey to train not that long ago, I wonder if she got any stronger. She's the one who actually inherited the gym leader spot from dad. I miss him and our little family…"

"I miss them too, let's make dad proud and protect our home until Misty comes back. Then it's our turn to follow our dreams, pokemon contests, yea!" Lily switches up the glum mood with her cheery personality.