Weathering The Storm... (A Pokemon OC Story)

Chapter 64: Yes, it does.

Ellie arose in the morning, as the sun began to seep through the blinds. She opened her eyes, only to find herself caught in a tight hug with Lucas. She blushed slightly as she removed her arm from behind Lucas' back with surgical precision, and removed Lucas' arm carefully from around her body. She managed to get up from the bed without waking up Lucas, thankfully. She was left with the thought of what she had done to get into that situation. But, she pushed the thought to the back of her mind, as she got ready for the day going forwards. It was still quite early into the day, so she could definitely get in some training to warm up her Pokemon before the big battle. She looked over to Lucas, snoozing peacefully on the bed. She considered lightly waking him up to do some training with her. But, he looked so happy to be asleep, that Ellie couldn't wake him up.

She gently opened the door, closed it as discretely as possible, and tossed a Pokeball into the air. Marshtomp appeared to her side, stretching then walked alongside her down the corridor and into the lobby of the Pokemon Centre. A few people were sat there in the lobby, including Harry, who looked up at Ellie and then promptly looked at his phone. Ellie awkwardly looked to the side, trying to see if he would say anything so she wouldn't have to be the one to approach him. But, he stayed silent. So, Ellie had to walk up to him and say,

"Hi, do you wanna do some training together?"

She looked timid to ask, but Harry shrugged it off and grabbed Grovyle's Pokeball from his pocket. Tossing the Pokeball onto the floor, Grovyle appeared, looking fired up and ready to battle immediately. Only, it found itself in the lobby of the Pokemon Centre, rather than the stadium battlefield like it had anticipated. Then, Harry said to Grovyle,

"Just gonna do some training with Ellie before our match, k?", Harry said as he turned to Ellie and said, "So, anyways, where's Lucas? Thought you guys were inseparable."

"Um, he's sleeping right now. Couldn't have the courage to wake him up.", she said. Harry was slightly confused by that, but simply said in response,

"Sure...", just as he thought, "Why was she sleeping in his room?"

He got up from the stool and walked to the edge of the battlefield, facing Ellie who stood adjacently. She had a look of determination on her face, one that Harry had not seen ever. But, Harry wasn't gonna give her an easy time, and Ellie knew it.

"Marshtomp, I choose you!"

"Grovyle, time to fight!"

Both starters stood adjacent to each other. They were both equally matched in terms of strength. But, in terms of typing, there was a clear advantage given to Harry. But, it didn't matter much to Ellie. She was gonna win regardless of the type advantages, as long as she had faith in Marshtomp.

"Mud Shot!", Ellie called out to begin the match. Marshtomp gained a swad of mud in its mouth and then shot it at high velocity all the way across the battlefield. However, Grovyle was more than ready to counter.

"Jump over it, Grovyle, and use Bullet Seed!"

Grovyle rained in pellets of greenery from above. But, Ellie and Marshtomp could combat them.

"Water Gun!", she yelled and Marshtomp let out a stream of water from its mouth that collided with the Bullet Seeds. Each attack was caught in a stalemate for a second before a thick layer of smoke appeared from the two attacks colliding. Ellie spluttered as the smoke passed through her direction, then by the time she stopped coughing, she realised that Grovyle had leapt through the smokescreen, looking to slam down from the air with a glint in its eye. Ellie was scared for a second, but kept her composure and yelled,

"Take the first shot, Rock Smash!", Ellie yelled and Marshtomp stomped its foot into the ground, producing a small rock that knocked Grovyle off balance as it appeared from the ground. Then, Marshtomp let out a mighty punch through the rock, knocking Grovyle back. But, Grovyle wasn't going to stand down for long and quickly regained its balance, then pushed forwards as if the attack had never happened.

"X-Scissor!", he cried out as Grovyle formed its arms into an X-shape before it pushed forwards, knocking Marshtomp back across the battlefield. But, staying mostly stable through the attack, it was able to quickly attack back.

"Water Pulse!"

"Leaf Blade!", Harry countered, with Water Pulse striking just as Leaf Blade struck. Both Pokemon were knocked back from each other, falling to the ground but being far from giving up. Both Pokemon raised themselves from the floor with a little struggle and a few scratches on each other's bodies. But, both trainers knew that their attacks, if they landed again like that, would knock each other out. And, the last thing they needed was an exhausted Pokemon battling in possibly the most important match of their life so far. But, Harry was too stubborn to have to call it off, so it had to be Ellie.

"Do you want to call it there?", asked Ellie and Harry smiled, responding by saying quite smugly,

"As long as it counts as a win for me."

Ellie rolled her eyes as she walked over to Marshtomp and tapped it on the head lightly, returning it comfortably to the Pokeball. Harry tossed his Pokeball leisurely at Grovyle, returning the Pokemon and then allowing the ball to bounce back over to him. Walking through the door to the Pokemon Centre, she went to Nurse Joy's desk and placed her Pokeball on it, alongside Harry's. Both Pokeballs were taken to the backroom, with Ellie thanking Nurse Joy before sitting down. She looked deep in concentration when Harry eventually sat down, but he interrupted her thoughts anyways,

"So, why were you sleeping in Lucas' room?", Harry asked quite nonchalantly, to which Ellie blushed with embarrassment. She looked to him, about to make something up on the spot, before realising that wouldn't work. She sighed and said sheepishly,

"I couldn't sleep. Felt too nervous about the tournament. So, I went in there, and he helped me through it."

"You guys just can manage to do that? Just calm each other down, pretty much instantly?", Harry asked, with his voice slightly faltering.

"Well, Lucas is more the talker. I can, but it takes a bit more time. But, with Lucas, I reckon he could do it with just about anyone!", Ellie said with a small chuckle before she returned to her thoughts.

"Guess that comes with being best friends.", Harry said, sounding slightly defeated and looking to the floor. Ellie looked puzzled though, as she asked,

"I thought you and Lucas were best friends?"

Harry let out a small chuckle, which elevated into a laugh, before he settled down and said, "Come on, I think we both know that isn't true. I thought we were. But, you guys have a better bond. Plain and simple."

"Does it bother you?"

Harry hesitated for more than a second, trying to answer honestly. But, before he could give his answer, a familiar figure appeared, running down the stairwell. Lucas looked over to Ellie and Harry and began to run faster down the stairwell, running through the crowd of people to give Ellie a hug.

"You feeling better, Ellie?", he asked as he embraced her warmly. Ellie took the embrace with a smile, but then she saw Harry looking at the both of them, with a forced smile. He sighed, mouthed 'good luck' to Ellie then walked out of the Pokemon Centre. She then responded,

"Yeah, slightly."

Lucas then turned around to find that Harry was completely gone. He pouted and said,

"Well, he's in a rush. I was hoping we could go together. So, I suppose we should get going, right?"

"Yeah, let's go.", Ellie said as they both walked out of the Pokemon Centre. Lucas felt fine, but a sinking feeling sat in Ellie's stomach, even after the thought of Harry was pushed out of her mind, as she walked out onto the arena's battlefield.

Notes:

Hey everyone, thanks for reading. Smallish chapter, very sorry about that. But, I felt it didn't need to be longer so there's no point in dragging it out. Plus, the next two chapters should be of a decent size. Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed and I'll see you later!