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| - The next morning, Brendan and May decided that it would be best to head out of Slateport City. If they wanted to continue on their journey, they would have to to north to the next city, Mauville. After they checked out of the Pokémon Center, they were ready to continue their journey. May in particular was excited about her journey. Even though she didn't win her first contest, she was extremely content with her results. She went out as an unprepared coordinator and still put up a score of twenty-five out of thirty. If anything, she exceeded her expectations by a longshot. Brendan, on the other hand, was quietly nervous. After watching the gym battle between Wattson and Latias's trainer, he wasn't so sure he was up to par in terms of competition for the Pokémon League. If there were trainers like her and Steven out there, then who knew how many other legendary Pokémon were resting up in a trainer's PokéBalls? Brendan would have to be prepared for any kind of challenge. Fortunately, Brendan had not experienced any nightmares over the night. Even though his dreams were kept intact for the time being, he was still thinking about what he saw the previous night. Was what he saw a warning for the rest of the world at what the two legendary Pokémon would do or did Darkrai just want to mess with him again? As they approached Slateport City's exit gate, they could see a familiar face training her Pokémon in a patch of tall grass. When they got closer to her, they could see that it was none other than Lisia training Ali, her Altaria. It looked almost as if she were fighting a wild Poochyena. "Alright, Ali, now use Dragon Pulse!" She commanded. On command, Ali fired a beam of purple light at the opposing Poochyena. There was a small explosion and the Poochyena was flung backwards. Weighing its odds, it quickly darted away from the scene into the trees. "That's how we do it, Ali!" Lisia cheered her Pokémon on and ran to give it a hug. "Hey, Lisia!" May said and approached the coordinator. "Oh, hey guys!" She turned around and smiled at the pair. "Like, what are you two doing here?" "We were just headed to Mauville so Brendan could get his next Gym Badge," May answered. "Afterwards, we were going to check out Verdanturf because I heard that there's a Pokémon Contest going on there in a few days." "Oh, you guys are headed there?" The contest star asked. "Mind if I tag along? I'm, like, headed there, too!" "Of course you can tag along!" Brendan blurted out before realizing how awkward he sounded. "Uh... I mean... yeah, I'm chill with that." "Umm, okay...?" "Yeah..." "So should we head out, then?" May asked, sensing the slight awkwardness of the situation caused by Brendan. "It'd be a good idea to get to the city as early as possible." "Yup, sounds good to me!" Lisia nodded. The three trainers and Ali traveled over the lengthy land bridge connecting Slateport and Mauville. The bridge was a long, winding road over the deep blue Hoenn sea that greatly increased travel time. While it was placed there artificially, wild Pokémon such as Poochyena still managed to make their homes there. The trio figured that since they had neither Pokémon that could swim effectively nor bikes to travel on the cycling road, their best bet would be to walk on the land. Since Brendan and May had traveled in Mr. Briney's ship for the past few cities, it felt weird for them to have to walk to the next city again. "My legs are killing me," Brendan groaned. "How much longer do we have to walk for?" May looked down at the map on her PokéNav. "Well, it says here that we still have a long ways to go." "Oh, come on!" Brendan complained. "There's literally nothing on this bridge other than a few stray Pokémon. They're not even Pokémon that I want to catch! I mean, my PokéDex picked up a Gulpin, for Pete's sake. I mean, what the hell even is a Gulpin?" "I have an idea!" Lisia exclaimed and stopped walking. Brendan and May stopped and looked back at her. "Like, how about the two of you battle? Wouldn't that be a good way to kill some, like, time and get a good rest for our legs? And besides, I wanna be, like, entertained right now!" Brendan and May glanced over to each other quickly. Lisia was right, maybe a quick battle was all they needed to have some fun on the long walk. And after all, Brendan and May had never even battled before. "You know what? I think that's a good idea," Brendan nodded. "I mean, after all these days traveling with May, we've still never had a battle." "Yeah, that's true," May agreed. "And besides, I can take you easily!" "So what do you say, two-on-two?" Brendan asked. "I'd say that sounds good," May nodded and stood on one edge of the land bridge. "Then let's get this show on the road!" Brendan smirked and stood on the other end. "Ooh, this is, like, so exciting!" Lisia squealed and stood at the edge of what appeared to be their battlefield along with Ali. Brendan and May each pulled out a PokéBall for their first Pokémon. Since Brendan knew May had the type advantage over his trusty Grovyle with her newly evolved Combusken, he would have to use strategy to cut it out. As a result, he slowly put away the PokéBall he initially drew and pulled out another one. "I've planned for this battle," Brendan told her. "You'd better be ready!" "Oh, I'm more than ready!" May announced and flung her PokéBall. "Combusken, I'm going with you!" May's Fire-type starter took her side of the field in a small flash of white light. It fell to the ground and cried out into the air before waiting for its trainer's commands. "Combusken, eh?" Brendan smirked and threw his PokéBall forward. "Magikarp, I choose you!" Magikarp emerged from Brendan's PokéBall in a flash of white. As it fell to the ground, its shining gold skin let out a flash of sparkles. "Whoa, you have a shiny Pokémon?" Lisia asked and observed Brendan's Pokémon. "Well, yeah, I mean it is golden after all," Brendan shrugged. "So I guess you could call it 'shiny'." "No, I mean you have a 'shiny Pokémon'." "What do you mean?" "Like, it's an insanely rare chance that some Pokémon are born with a color defect," Lisia explained. "Because of that, shiny Pokémon are super sought out after Pokémon collectors. You must be really lucky!" "Whoa..." Brendan marveled at his flopping fish Pokémon. "So you are extraordinary after all." "That's no matter!" May snapped. "I'm going to win this battle regardless! Combusken, use Overheat!" "Magikarp, use Water Gun!" Combusken charged its body with fire energy per May's commands. Magikarp, on the other hand, was happily flopping up and down. Combusken released the beam of fire from its body straight at Brendan's Magikarp. Magikarp continued to flop in one place regardless of the attack's damage. "Magikarp, why didn't you do anything!?" Brendan complained in frustration. "Don't tell me you're like Lairon!" "I told you Magikarp was utterly useless!" May laughed. "It can't use an attack like Water Gun. It can only learn four attacks: Splash, Tackle, Flail, and Bounce." "Are you kidding me?" Brendan asked angrily. "You're telling me a Water-type Pokémon can't even use a Water-type attack?" "No, I had to study one with my dad on one of his research trips," May explained. "Trust me, I know firsthand what a useless Pokémon it is." "Well, that doesn't matter to me!" Brendan told her. "I'm going to make sure I can use Magikarp's attacks to its strengths. Magikarp, use Flail!" Magikarp flopped all the way over to Combusken where it flopped violently in the Pokémon's face. Combusken tried to swat Magikarp away using its hands, but the fish Pokémon was far too fast for its reflexes. It did its damage and then flopped back over in front of Brendan. "See, Magikarp isn't useless!" Brendan pumped his fist. "As we just saw right there, it's fast as hell!" "Don't get too ahead of yourself, Brendan, Magikarp is only fast when there's moisture in the air," Lisia broke in from the sideline. "It's part of its ability, Swift Swim. We're standing in a patch of land that is surrounded by the sea, so it's no wonder that Magikarp is fast." May stood in thought of what to tell her Combusken to do. Clearly, Magikarp was at an advantage with the battle taking place with the sea surrounding them. May would have to find a way to play Magikarp into tiring out. For such a useless Pokémon, May had to scour into her brain to figure something out. "Now what if I removed that advantage?" May asked herself with a smirk. "Thanks for the info, Lisia, but I think I know what to do from here." "And what's that?" Brendan asked tauntingly. "You're playing in Magikarp's domain." "Combusken, use Sunny Day!" Combusken looked to the sky as its eyes glinted at the sun. For the area that the battle was taking place in, there was a small ray of intense light hailing from the sun. Combusken flexed its muscles as it felt the heat energy surge through its body. Magikarp, on the other hand, began to flop in worry. "Damn, May, it's so hot!" Brendan complained and wiped some newly formed sweat from his forehead. "You should learn when its appropriate to use that move!" "It's more than appropriate right now. Combusken, use Overheat!" "Magikarp, use one more Flail!" Combusken combined the new heat energy with its body and charged up a storm of fire within itself. Magikarp, on the other hand, flopped lifelessly over to Combusken. Before it could even hop up to its level, however, Combusken let loose its beam of fire at it. Magikarp flew back in burning pain and stopped flopping. "Magikarp is unable to battle!" Lisia announced. "May has knocked out one of Brendan's Pokémon already!" "No!" Brendan stomped the ground and called his Pokémon back to its PokéBall. He sighed and switched it out with another one. "Magikarp did the best it could, but I know Grovyle is capable of sweeping your team!" Brendan hurled Grovyle's PokéBall and sent his Grass-type starter in a flash of white. Grovyle took the field and hissed at its opposing Combusken. However, it felt the intense power of the sunlight and tried to cover its eyes with its hands. "Looks like I've got Grovyle weakened, too," May smirked. "This battle's gonna be easy street." "That's what Grovyle wants you to think," Brendan replied. "Grovyle, use Leaf Blade." Grovyle, despite listening to its trainer's commands, could only muster forming a Leaf Blade with one hand. It had to keep its other hand over its eye to prevent the sun from getting into it. Grovyle ran at Combusken and swung its one hand at it, but it didn't do as much damage as it was hoping to. "No!" Brendan shouted. "Grovyle, you've gotta be better than that!" "Combusken, use Overheat!" "Grovyle, get out of the way and use Leaf Blade!" Grovyle tried its best to listen to its trainer's commands, but the sunlight was too crippling for it. It wasn't able to attack properly and instead tried to defend itself to the best of its capabilities. Combusken, on the other hand, opened its mouth wide and let loose a powerful beam of fire, albeit this one being smaller than the previous one. "Why was my Overheat attack weaker?" May asked, puzzled. "Overheat weakens after each use," Lisia explained. "But it didn't weaken before," May tilted her head to the side. "That's because you had the Sunny Day to back it up." Grovyle fell to the ground as it felt its scales burn with Combusken's attack. Even though it wanted to make Brendan proud, it didn't have the energy within itself to stand up. It let out a deep breath and let itself be defeated. The intense sunlight subsided and everyone in the battlefield was able to feel the cool sea breeze again. "Grovyle is unable to battle!" Lisia exclaimed. "May is the winner!" "No!" Brendan growled and stomped the ground. "No fair!" "Hey, I used strategy to my own good," May shrugged. "I guess the better trainer just won." "But... but..." Brendan looked to the ground in defeat and brought his Pokémon back to its PokéBall. "But I'm supposed to be the Pokémon master..." Brendan felt an intense rage within himself. He wanted to be the best trainer he could possibly be, but with three straight losses coming from Steven, Aiden, and now May, he was seriously doubting his capabilities. How could he possibly take on Mauville's gym leader if he couldn't even take on one of May's Pokémon? "You're right, the better trainer won..." Brendan mumbled. "Hey, it's not the end of the world," May said softly and returned her Pokémon to its PokéBall. "I mean, now you know how to play to your Pokémon's strengths." "I guess so..." Brendan sighed in disappointment. "My Pokémon gave it their all, especially little Magikarp. I can't say I'm upset by the effort they put forth." "Hey, like, keep your head high," Lisia told him as she walked over to the two of them. "I'm positive you'll win your next battle." "You promise?" Brendan asked and looked over to her. "Promise." Brendan suddenly felt all of the anger leave his body. After all, it was May he lost to, not just some random trainer. If anything, he should have been proud of her for channeling the inner strengths of her Pokémon. She battled better, and there was no denying that. "Good job, May," he smiled and shook her hand. "You really did good. I'm proud of you." "That's the spirit!" Lisia exclaimed. "Thanks, Brendan!" She chirped. "It means a lot coming from you." "Yeah, well I'm just glad my friend was able to win a battle today." Brendan suddenly felt happy. He was truly proud of the fact that May was a capable trainer. Something about it was comforting to him. This way, he knew that if he were to ever run into trouble, he could look to May for help. After all, she had beaten him in a battle.
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