Paul and Dawn: First Light

Chapter 31: Challenge

Chapter 31: Challenge

"Ant! Anthony! Get your butt over here, it's your turn," Daniel shouted to his friend. 

"All right." The other boy with light brown hair seemed nervous and wouldn't look me in the eyes. That was more like it. I was tired of people smiling at me. 

"Scared?" I asked him quietly. 

Anthony seemed startled, then smiled lightly. "Well, you just seem formidable. That doesn't mean my team can't beat you." 

I almost chuckled as I said, "We'll see." 

"Scotty." Anthony clutched a Poke Ball, throwing it. A large dog-like Pokemon I'd never seen in person appeared. I frowned, Must be a Stoutland. 

It looked really tough compared to the Swampert and Swellow I'd just battled. All I knew was that it was a fully evolved Normal type Pokemon. I wasn't sure of its full move pool, though most Normal types were capable of practically anything. 

I swore in my head, wishing I hadn't used Electivire to battle the Swellow considering it knew Brick Break. "Electivire, return. Honchkrow, stand by for battle." 

Honchkrow glided in the air, eyes gleaming maliciously at his opponent who growled, his hackles raised. 

Anthony smiled. 

"Night Slash," I commanded. 

Honchkrow sped towards Stoutland who remained still, not even attempting to dodge. 

"Ice Fang," Anthony ordered at the last second. 

The Stoutlands's fangs elongated and grew icy. Honchkrow veered to avoid the teeth, but Stoutland lashed forward and bit down on Honchkrow's wing, holding on tight. The ice grew as if it was alive and ended up covering a large portion of Honchkrow's feathers. He cried out and pecked at Stoutland's face, forcing the dog-like Pokemon to let go so he could fly away. 

I hadn't been expecting that move. Now Honchkrow couldn't fly properly. I frowned. "Sky Attack." 

Hoping that the energy would melt the ice, Honchkrow dove again at a breakneck speed. 

"Meet it with Aerial Ace," Anthony yelled. Scotty rushed forward, meeting Honchkrow square on. It seemed to do more damage to the Stoutland who winced and trotted into a more defensive position, limping slightly. Honchkrow flew away, the ice from his wing now gone from the heat. 

"Finish it with Wild Charge," Anthony called. 

"Meet it with another Sky Attack!" 

The two sped towards each other again. Stoutland jumped into the air covered in electricity while Honchkrow dove down, a blue aura surrounding him. They slammed into each other. Smoke erupted, billowing outward in huge plumes. We waited yet again for it to clear. 

Honchkrow was on the ground, unconscious while Stoutland stood, howling in triumph. 

Interesting. 

"Nice work, Scotty." Anthony patted his Pokemon on the head. He shook his tail in delight. 

"Not bad." I grunted, returning Honchkrow. 

Anthony gave me a curious look before retreating to his friends. "Amanda?" 

"I guess it's my turn." The girl that reminded me of Dawn smiled. "Felicity, come on out!" 

A Gardevoir floated gracefully in the air next to Amanda, humming a soft, peaceful tune.  

This would be easy. "Weavile, stand by for battle." 

Weavile came out of his Poke Ball, extending its claw-like hands threateningly. A Dark type versus a Psychic type-the match was over already even if Weavile didn't actually know any Dark type moves. Night Slash would come in handy, but still, it would make better practice to win without a complete upper hand. 

"Swords Dance," I commanded. 

Weavile began sharpening its claws quickly, but Amanda yelled, "Signal Beam!" 

The red gem-like horn along Gardevoir's chest emitted a green beam, blasting towards Weavile. He dodged it just in time, jumping out of the way.  

Before I could even give another order, the Gardevoir disappeared and reappeared behind Weavile, shooting another Signal Beam. This one hit him square on and he dropped to one knee. The Gardevoir stopped, seeming to think it was polite to wait for him to recover. 

"Get up," I spat. "Use Ice Beam." 

"Counter it with Thunderbolt."

The two attacks met with equal force. Gardevoir teleported again to get away, causing Weavile to lose his balance. 

A strategy formed in my mind as I studied Amanda's Pokemon. "Use Metal Claw." 

"Signal Beam." Amanda smiled. 

"Block it, keep running," I ordered. 

Weavile ran despite the amounting weight on his claws, which glowed from using his Metal Claw attack to deflect the beam. Right when he got to Gardevoir, she teleported. 

"Blizzard." I smirked. 

Right as Gardevoir appeared behind Weavile, he turned and fired the icy tundra, hitting the wretched Gardevoir. Snow whooshed past me and I shivered from the cold.  

In a couple seconds, it ended. A light flurry of snowflakes still drifted in the warm sun, but I could see the field clearly. Weavile still stood, but where was Gardevoir? 

I looked up- floating twenty feet above the ground was our opponent, humming, looking like it'd used Psychic to protect itself. 

Clever. 

"Shadow Ball," Amanda called. 

"Block it with Metal Claw and throw it back!" I yelled, suddenly feeling triumphant. 

The purple orb flew at Weavile and he did indeed send it flying back, but Gardevoir teleported and hurled another Shadow Ball. And another. And another. 

Gritting my teeth, I gave up on the idea of blocking them. "Use Ice Beam, then counter the Shadow Ball!" 

Gardevoir was distracted by the sudden offensive change of strategy and dodged the Ice Beam with a swift graceful flourish, but Weavile's counter Shadow Ball hit true. 

Gardevoir cried out and fell to the ground, its dress-like body wilting in the dirt. 

"Felicity! Are you ok?" Amanda hurried over, worried. 

Felicity stirred and hummed. 

"Thanks for the battle. You did so well. Return." Amanda returned Felicity to her Poke Ball before shaking my hand, "Nice job, Paul. I wasn't expecting you to counter Shadow Ball so well. You won without even using a Dark type move." 

The rest of her friends came over at this point to join in the conversation. I almost began grumbling about their inability to mind their own business, but kept my mouth shut.

Hello, Readers!

I can't believe I almost have 1,000 reads. Thanks to all of you that even took the time to read the first chapter and VERY special thanks to those of you that have liked, commented, and/or are following my story. It's much appreciated.

Hopefully you're enjoying Paul's battles as much as I am. More drama, humor, battles/Contest, and romance is soon to arrive.

Oh- by the way, I'm interested to know if you guys have any specific favorite Pokemon of Paul's, Dawn's, Hoenn Pokemon... any Pokemon, really. Thoughts on X and Y? You think the new cotton candy Pokemon is as creepy as I do? Either way, feel free to comment about anything Pokemon related. Or non Pokemon related.... Message me, follow me, comment, like the chapter, talk about golf carts, whatever you want :P Thanks again for reading and have an awesome day.

7/3/19 Note: I wrote this story before Fairy types were a thing (like we were still getting XY new designs before the games came out) so obviously a battle between Weavile and Gardevoir would have been different now. But I'm too lazy to rewrite soooo this is what you get.