In the Spotlight 2: Jade's Sinnoh Journey

6

Jade blinked in confusion at the sudden challenge. "You...want to battle?"

"That's what I said," Jason said as he crossed his arms. "Unless you're too scared to."

"I mean...I'm not opposed to battling you." Jade said with a shrug. "This challenge just seems a bit sudden and I can't help but wonder why. I mean...don't you hate being around coordinators?"

"I'll prove to Rhyme that coordinators aren't as great as she thinks they are," Jason declared. "All people like you think is the appearance of a pokemon, and what the judges will think of them. But in a real battle, you wouldn't stand a chance. So let's battle here and now. If I win, you leave my little sister alone."

"If you're making those kinds of conditions up then I refuse," Jade replied with a frown, the situation getting a little too much like one she found herself in back at Hoenn. "Just because you two are family doesn't mean that you get to decide how Rhyme gets to go through her journey."

"You're just refusing 'cause you know that you'll lose."

Jade paid no attention to the taunt, turning to Rhyme. "Are you ready to continue? I could help you train again if we have some time after settling down?"

"Yeah, I'm more than ready," Rhyme said, glaring at her brother before shaking her head and walking forward. Jade followed closely behind. As the two passed Jason, he clenched his fist.

"Turtwig use Tackle!"

Jade turned around just in time to see the boy's Turtwig run at them at full speed. Though before she could react, Rhyme made the first move.

"Piplup use Peck!"

Piplup jumped out of his trainer's arms and dashed toward the Turtwig, meeting it head-on. The two collided but the force of the attacks forced the two starters to skid back. Though upon closer examination, Turtwig took a bit more damage.

"I've had enough of you!" Rhyme yelled. "You made it impossibly hard for me to make friends when we were in trainer's school! I spent all that time studying to be able to get my starter pokemon before or at the same time as you so I could finally get away! The last thing I'm gonna let you do is follow me around and attack one of the only friends that I've made!"

"I guess you're gonna be the one that I battle then? Either way, I'm not leaving unless someone is defeated. Turtwig, use Absorb!"

"Dodge it and use Peck again!"

Copying what Leafeon had done in their first battle, Piplup jumped over the attack and landed Peck from behind Turtwig.

"Now use Pound!"

The battle seemed to have been over as quickly as it started. Turtwig fell as Piplup used Pound, struggling to get up before giving up and letting himself plop on the ground. Piplup stood there out of breath, staring at his exhausted opponent. It wasn't long until Rhyme scooped her partner up in her arms.

"Good job Piplup. We won our first real battle," she said with a smile. "There's no need to push yourself any harder."

"Pip."

Rhyme then turned on her heel, not bothering to look at the defeated trainer behind her. "Now that someone lost this battle, you can leave now. But whatever you do, be very careful from here on out. Cause if you ever try anything else like you did...Piplup and I...as well as any other pokemon that befriend and join us, will give you an even worse defeat than this one."

She quickly stormed off.

...............

Once again, Rhyme apologized on Jason's behalf when she and Jade were settled in Floaroma Town.

"There's nothing for you to apologize for really," Jade assured her. "If we were forced into that battle, then Leafeon or Delcatty could've easily handled it."

"But still. He ordered his pokemon to attack you...when your back was turned even." Rhyme countered. "That should've never happened."

"True...but unfortunately I highly doubt that he's just going to take that loss sitting down. We're probably gonna have to prepare for more encounters like that unless he suddenly changes his thought process." Jade reasoned. "And I don't want you apologizing on his behalf. If the apology isn't coming from him, it can't be considered genuine."

Rhyme sighed and nodded. "I guess you're right. But there's no need for you to be dragged into this mess. If or whenever he shows up, let me deal with him. You gotta focus on your contests after all."

The moment she mentioned that Jade remembered that this was going to be the first contest that she would face off against Destiny.

'Rhyme is right. I really need to start focusing. But I'm not sure who should go against her. She knows both Leafeon and Delcatty almost if not just as well as I do...including their strengths and weaknesses. Should I start considering adding more pokemon to my team?'

"Uh...Jade, is something wrong?" Rhyme asked.

"No not really. Just realized that if I use Leafeon or Delcatty, then it's probably gonna be really hard to get through the battling rounds, especially if I go up against Destiny in the earlier rounds."

"Oh...that's right. Other coordinators are gonna have a good idea on what to do against them now since they were the only two pokemon that you have at the moment." Rhyme thought for a moment before coming up with an idea. "You could explore Eterna Forest tomorrow. There should be plenty of pokemon there that might be a good addition to your team. Looking there could help. That or see if there are any new moves that Leafeon or Delcatty could learn that could throw Destiny off guard."

Jade considered the options before nodding. "Honestly, doing both could really help in the long run. Guess tomorrow I'm doing some exploring and research tomorrow. Thanks for the ideas Rhyme."

Rhyme beamed and nodded. "No problem."

'Still, I can't help but feel a bit awkward about thinking about new additions to the team that aren't the pokemon that I caught in Hoenn.' she thought. 'After a period of people saying I should replace Azumarill...I can't help but be somewhat tempted to just send them here so I don't feel like I'm replacing anyone.'

Jade then shook the thought away. 'No, like how I was always reminded Azumarill, the pokemon I meet here are additions, not replacements. I just hope that I can shake the feeling when I'm actually going through these plans tomorrow.'

Jade

Leafeon (Ability: Leaf Guard) Leaf Blade, Magical Leaf, Nature Power, Grass Whistle

Delcatty (Ability: Cute Charm) Attract, Shadow Ball, Blizzard, Safeguard

Rhyme

Piplup (Ability: Torrent) Pound, Growl, Bubble, Peck