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It was a rainy day for Hearthome City. A young trainer was traversing the city, with the hopes of fighting its Gym Leader for some “needed” training, as she’d call it. As she got to the entrance of the Gym, someone stopped her on her tracks.
“Sorry. Lady Fantina isn’t here right now. Come back tomorrow!” Said the man. Honoka stood there, appalled for a second. “Where am I supposed to look for then!?” She asks, as her face reddens a bit. “Eh… maybe the contest hall?”
And so Honoka went running to the hall.
She’s wet, and she’s already tired from running. She opens the doors, frantically. “IS FANTINA IN HERE?” She asks, without any kind of embarrassment in her tone. It’s almost baffling just how little she cares about image.
A purple dressed woman scoffs from far away. “Yes, she’s right here.” The lady seems mad. She was, in fact, mad. Honoka doesn’t realize this fact, and goes running to her anyway. “Perfect! Can we battle!?” She holds Fantina’s hands with hers, without any real consent.
“Ugh.” The good lady responds, whisking Hono’s hands away from hers. “Sure, sweetie. You’ll just have to wait until after the contests are done.”
Honoka groaned. But alas, the Gym Leader said so, and it was already raining outside anyways. So she actually stuck around for the contests, because why not?
It was during one of these that she spotted something that… intrigued her.
“And we have… Alouette from Kalos, with the ferocious Pumpkin the Granbull!” A crowd cheered as the black dressed teenager stepped into the limelight, with the faer beast alongside her. Honoka saw true power in the eyes of the beast, and for a second lost herself as she saw the girl’s face.
The show went on. Alouette never changed her expression from the usual bold one, but her Pokémon did most of the “showing face” job. As per usual for her, she ended up winning the whole thing.
After the contest ended, Honoka waited patiently in front of the gates until Alouette would come out. After the wait was done, the kalosian came out with a lot more casual wear, with a Murkrow perched to her shoulder.
Honoka wouldn’t waste a second to walk up to the other trainer. “Hello!” She’d open with, alongside a shining grin and a bit of a sparkle in her eyes.
Alouette, as they normally would, jumped back in fear. “Huh?” They paused for a second. “Who are you?... Leave me alone, please.”
“It’s just– I–” She struggles to muster the words. “I saw you on the stage… and your Granbull… It looked so strong, and I wanted to know if maybe–” She’s kind of trembling, and doesn’t know if it’s either from the rain that engulfed her minutes ago or something else.
“Can you get to the point?” Scoffed Alouette. “Krow!” A miffed bird sang alongside its trainer, firmly standing on their shoulder.
“IWANNAHAVEAPOKÉMONBATTLEWITHYOU!” She screamed, all at once, getting – red? all over her face. Actively embarrassed, somehow more than when she did all of *that* in front of an actual Gym Leader.
Ally jumped back a bit again, confused. “Huh– Uh? What?” She looks all around, even matching eyes with her bird, who is just as distraught. “You sure you’re asking the right person here, blondie? The gym leader just left, y’know?”
“I knowwww!!!!” Hono responded, a little agitated. “I’ll fight Miss Fantina later! There was… something in your performance that sparked curiosity inside me! Like I needed to know more! What better than a Pokémon Battle?!” She’s almost jumping in place as she says this, eyes gleaming with light.
Ally stood there, thinking for a minute. After doing so, she comes up with some words to say. “No.” Cold. Owch. She starts walking away from Honoka, like she was nothing.
“WHAAAAAAAT???” Her eyes water a little bit, and she just follows Alouette like a sad kitten. “How could you SAY that? You can’t turn a girl away like that! It’s mean! It's detestable! Evil, even! Diabolic!”
Her words did not pierce through the other’s heart, like at all. Alouette just continued walking away until they were outside, with the blonde still on her back. On the outside entrance of the Contest Hall, she insists.
“C’mon! C’mon! You’ll have so much fun, I bet! It’ll be great! Pinky promise!” She actually stuck her pinky out to Alouette, expecting her to reciprocate. They just stared at the finger for sometime, thinking. She whispered something to her bird, who then proceeded to whisper back with a humming “Mur, mur, krow, mur…” into their ear.
Honoka just looked at them, pleadingly, pinky still out. Finally… “Okay. I’ll give you your fight.” She didn’t look too convinced, but it was something. And it sure meant something to Hono.
Honoka let out a loud, long squeak. She jumped, gleamed, raised her arms in excitement. After a bit, she calmed down. “Oh! Apologies! I forgot– My name’s Honoka! You can call me Hono if you’d like that!” She said, holding Alouette’s right hand with both of hers, a long smile on her face.
The contest star had a faint blush in her face that went unnoticed by the blonde– Although not by the snickering parrot on her side. “Alouette. My mom calls me Ally, I guess.”
“Great to meet you, Ally! Hope we can be good friends!” The grin stayed in her face, as she closed her eyes and rocked her head to the side. A soft bump, bump made its way in Alouette’s chest, but she chose to ignore it.
“...Whatever. What do you want to do then, blondie?” She asked her, taking her out of her smile and into a more thoughtful moment. “Huh…” Her finger scratched her chin, and she looked to the side for a bit as she came up with something. “What about a 3v3, real quick? We can do it right outside the city at Route 208!”
“...Okay. Right now?” “Yes, if you may.” Honoka quickly bowed down as she spoke– She was very serious about this. “I guess I may, yeah.”
And so the contest star and the battle freak went to the entrance of Route 208 and took ther spots.
“Okay, remember, this will be a 3v3! Friendly! No competitiveness to be worried about here!” Honoka told Alouette from their distance, although it may as well have been a reminder for herself too. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. You’ll probably win anyways.”
And thus the battle commenced.
“Let’s start this out, then!” Honoka pulled a Premier Ball from her belt. “Go, Hikari!” She said, as the ball was thrown out and a Togetic happily spiraled out of it.
“I see… Hope you’re up to this, Antonio.” Said Ally to the bird on their shoulder, as it did an affirmative grunt and flew up and into the battlefield.
“So an airborn battle it will be, perfect!” Honoka smiled at her opponent. “Let’s start it out strong! Use Swift!” And so the Togetic reciprocated the command. “Toge toge!” A rampage of star shaped light energy unleashed towards the crow as it awkwardly flew around.
“Shit– Dodge! And hit her back with an Assurance, or something!” She was a bit sloppy, but the move itself wasn’t bad– Antonio only moved as much as he could before getting struck by some of the energy, health rapidly depleting, but he still got around to nailing the opponent hard with one of its wings, making her recoil back a bit.
“Nice! Hikari, Swift again! It won’t take too long!” Confidence overflowed the blonde, and so the Togetic made its move, with a sore face after receiving the last hit; and the move could not miss the crow thanks to the proximity it had with her.
As the energy stopped shooting into it, Antonio’s wings gave out and he was swiftly knocked out. “Damn it all– He better be okay…” Ally said under her breath. “Fuck you! Pumpkin, get them!” She returned Antonio to the Moon Ball it almost never uses, and from out of a Love Ball came out her Granbull. Honoka almost passed from excitement at the sight.
“BULL! GRAN!” It screamed from the other side, already enraged. “Hit her with a Headbutt, point blank!” The dog ran towards the… bird? like an actual bull would, embracing its full body head on, hitting it so hard that Hikari flies into the closest tree.
The Pokémon falls defeated, and to its ball it returns. “You did a good job, ‘Kari. Don’t worry.” She saves her Premier Ball back to where it was, taking out a Quick Ball from the same belt. “Now’s your time, Yuki!” she said, and out from the ball came a Froslass.
“Lass…” Its voice entranced Ally for a bit, the beauty of it taking her off guard. “Icy Wind, now!” Honoka’s command broke them from that little trance, as the ghost generated an icy aura all around that harmed and slowed down the movements of the dog. “Whatever… Pumpkin! Bite!” The dog jumped right in front of the ghost, an almost terrifying look on its face; and it bit down the frozen soul’s body with its jaws. Yuki let out a squeal as it happened.
“Dammit– Yuki! Dark Pulse into its mouth!” Honoka screamed as her Pokémon did, for it to then do as it was told– Blowing all of the accursed feelings it was having at the moment into a twisted energy, using it to fire at the dog and free herself from its grasp.
Pumpkin was blown away by the attack, hitting against the concrete of the resting room that separates Route 208 and Hearthome City– Falling, unconscious.
“Okay… This’ll have to do it, I guess.” Alouette returned Pumpkin to the Love Ball, to then take out her Dusk Ball and throw it out, summoning another ghastly entity. “Fuck ‘em up, Grise! Shadow Claw” A Bannette formed itself from the shadows, and instantly jumped toward Yuki and slashed her away with its ghostly claws.
“Yuki!” Honoka looked, full of worry; as the icy spirit fell to the ground. “This… this is SO exciting!” She claimed, as she returned Yuki to her ball and took the last one. “It is now or never.. Let’s go, Joan!” A simple red Poké Ball shone as she threw it into the battlefield, with a Gardevoir popping out of it, full of elegance.
“Isn’t that weak to Grise? What are you even doing?” Ally asked, genuinely– Almost looking like she was invested in it all. “Oh, you’ll see! Joan, hit ‘em with Thunderbolt!” Hono’s confidence was through the roof, as the Gardevoir hummed in agreement, generating a bolt of lightning to fall upon the ghost, hitting it head on. “BAAN!” It screamed, as it fell down paralyzed by the attack.
“Wha– COME ON! YOU ASSHOLE!” Alouette was mad. “SHADOW CLAW!” And then Grise struggled to stand up and jump, to claw away at the psychic madam– Her move only hitting her slightly, as the other one danced around the movements of the ghost, eyeing it directly with a level of smugness that made its wicked heart wail.
It still hurt her, but Joan was up nonetheless. “Okay! Focus on the target! Lock on her well! MOONBLAST!” Honoka commanded with a smile as Joan complied, sending upon the ghost all the concentrated power of the moon, and nailing it to the ground in the process.
The light generated by the attack was blinding, and once it was done, Grise was in the ground, almost out. “Damn it… why do I even care about winning?” Alouette asked themself, raising up the ball to get Grise back. Before she could do so, and as the ghost was losing all energies–
“GARD—” The fairy was struck down by a shadowy arm from behind, and fell to the ground at the same moment the Banette had finally given out. “What!?” The two girls asked aloud, confused– Before Hono finally realized. “Shadow Sneak! Oh gosh!”
Gardevoir and Banette were put into their Poké Balls back at the same time, and Hono quickly ran over Ally. “THAT. WAS. AMAZING!!!!” She jumped to the other one, hugging her in the process. She quickly realized what she had done and broke the embrace, pink dying her face for a moment. “That was the best tie ever!” She said, after recollecting her thoughts.
Alouette, obviously, was just as flustered if not more, but she just shook it all. “It was… fun. I guess battling isn’t too bad.” She said, looking away. “I wouldn’t be opposed to doing this again in the future.” She covered her face with one hand.
Honoka, again, was gleaming with happiness and excitement. “So… does that mean…” Just like she did before, she held Ally’s hand with both of hers. “We’re… rivals?!”
It took Ally a moment to process the question. “...Yes. I suppose I’ll allow it.” And before Honoka could fully celebrate, she shut her down for a second– “But! You’ll have to try your hand at Pokémon Contests too. That team of yours would do wonders in regards to Beauty.” The way they claimed that about her team made Honoka feel… fuzzy inside.
“...Okay! I’ve never done one, but we can try! You could teach me a thing or two about it, Ally!” She said, a light smile drawn on her face. “Yeah, yeah… I’ll see what I can do.” Responded the dark haired one, avoiding eye contact.
Some seconds of silence passed. “Do you have anything to do now, Ally?” Honoka asked, breaking said silence. “Uh– No, why do you ask?”
“Well… we could spend some more time together! I’ve never looked around Hearthome much, and we both need to go to the Pokémon Center together, so what d’you say you show me around for a bit?” Again, that dastardly bump, bump made its way in Ally’s chest, and her head felt like it was heating up to Magcargo levels of hot. Nevertheless, she nodded.
“Alright. If that bores you enough to calm you down, I’ll help with it.” She responded, as the other one cheered gladly.