Pokemon Shine Diamond

[EmeraldSky]

@Scytherwolf; @Soups;

Episode 85a: Another One Gabites the Dust! (part 1)


"Stormy, use Discharge!" Dawn commanded.

Ash watched as Stormy unleashed a sparkling blue explosion of electricity and applauded. "That was cool! I'd say Stormy's gained a great deal of power thanks to Tintri's and Tarina's advice..."

[Aw, it was nothin'.] Stormy yawned. [But I'm beat...]

Dawn nodded. "Who wants Poffins?"

Satomi warped by Dawn's side seconds later. You've worked hard, Dawn...you've earned a break for right now. If you like, I can pass out the Poffins to everyone.

"Of course you can." Dawn smiled as she hugged her Gardevoir. "Thank you for being so helpful."

Satomi nodded, and went to work organizing the Poffin tray by who preferred which type of Poffin. She did not, however, see that a yellow Poffin had rolled off the tray and into the grass.

Stormy, however, spotted the Poffin. [Hey, Satomi! You missed a--!]

She gasped as a Gabite stomped on the Poffin. [Hey! That was mine!]

"Jetsam, come here!" a female voice called, prompting the Gabite to hurry over to a young peach-haired lady's side.

The group did not notice that the admins were watching from the observation deck atop a nearby building. "That girl...I've seen her before, but I can't put a name to the face." Jupiter mused.

"Let it go--we've got a spy mission to do." Mars motioned for her partner to follow her back down the stairs. Jupiter nodded, forgetting about the Gabite's owner completely.

Back on the ground, Dawn tried to intervene as Stormy and the Gabite battled. "Stormy, wait! Can't we talk this out?"

Satomi gasped in horror as Stormy jumping caused Dawn to trip and fall. Dawn!

She warped over and caught Dawn in her arms seconds before Dawn could hit her head on a tree. There...are you okay?

"Yeah...thanks, Satomi." Dawn replied.

The boys braced themselves as Stormy's front teeth glowed white and grew longer. "Super Fang!" Ash recognized the move as the Gabite blocked Stormy with its fin.

"Stormy must have just learned Super Fang from her anger in losing the Poffin..." Brock mused before finding his referee's whistle and blowing it, snapping Stormy, the Gabite, Dawn, and the girl to attention. "Okay! Can we please find a way to work this out civilly?"

The young lady smirked at Dawn. "Your Pachirisu must not have been raised well if one of your friends had to step in..."

Ash, meanwhile, read up on the blue and red dragon at the lady's side:

"Gabite, the cave Pokemon. It loves sparkly things. It seeks treasures in caves and hoards the loot in its nest."

"No wondered it tried to swipe Stormy's Poffin..." Ash mused as he put away the Pokedex.

About then, the young lady noticed the Poffin splotch on her Gabite's right foot. "Jetsam! Why did you step in something THIS close to a Contest?"

"Well, that kind of Poffin is Stormy's favorite food, and so she got mad when your Gabite stepped on it." Ash explained

"Oh, I see...let me see if I can solve this problem..." The young lady offered Stormy a deep blue Poffin. "Want a bite?"

She gasped as Stormy turned away. "No? I spend hours making these!" the young lady screeched. "Ungrateful..." she muttered.

Just then, she spotted Kori by Dawn's side. "Wait...that Piplup...were you the winner of the Wallace Cup?"

"That's me." Dawn smiled. "One of my proudest wins."

"I don't see how you could be proud of that! You had to have won by accident!" the lady screamed.

"W-were you in the Wallace Cup too?" Dawn stammered, afraid of how the lady would react.

The lady sighed. "Name's Ursula, and yes, I was in the Wallace Cup too. I tried to get some good combos, but STILL scored low in the Appeal round..."

About then, the admins happened to overhear Ursula's rant as they walked down the street. "Oh yeah, I remember Ursula--had quite the temper, and twin Gabites named Flotsam and Jetsam. I remember seeing Flotsam in the Wallace Cup." Mars mused. "So she's using Jetsam in today's Contest."

"...her win was just a fluke!" Ursula finished her rant some minutes later.

"Now wait a minute!" Ash shot back. "Dawn's win was no accident--she worked hard, and it was her skill that won her the Wallace Cup!"

"You're right! Thanks to her I started working doubly hard, to become a better, more beautiful, more graceful coordinator." Ursula sneered, making Kori shudder.

She leaned up close to Dawn. "You know, I should thank you for defeating me, Dawn. Because of you, I am where I am today!"

Tarina shuddered as Ursula let out a sinister laugh. [She's almost as bad as her Disney namesake...]

"I'm curious as to why Ursula won't let her loss go..." Ash mused as Ursula continued to humiliate Dawn.

"Sometimes, people want something so much, they will stop at nothing to get it." Brock explained. "So when they don't get it, they turn their focus to humiliating and putting down their rivals. In extreme cases, this can end up in tragedy."

[I hope this Ursula doesn't steal Dawn's voice...] Tarina shuddered as the boys started off towards the Fantasy Stage theater near the Contest Hall.

"That was just a movie, Tarina..." Brock replied.

"Besides, I'm sure Dawn knows what she's doing." Ash agreed. "If she can beat Ursula once, she can do it again!"

Dawn making a retort to Ursula's teasing punctuated Ash's point. "Oh yeah? We'll see who's the most beautiful and powerful at the Contest!"

---------

In the backstage area of the Fantasy Stage theater, Brock noticed Tarina drawing on a piece of paper. "Interesting picture...what's it of?"

[It's a picture of Dawn as Ariel.] Tarina explained, showing her drawing of Dawn as a mermaid to Brock. [I'm hoping it'll inspire her if she wins, or cheer her up if she loses.]

Brock sighed. "I could use the pick me up myself--the Creative round was a disaster. How was I supposed to make a good story starring a pessimistic sculptor?"

Tarina spotted a glimpse of the scoreboard from a window, where Brock was on the cusp of taking fourth place. [You didn't fall that far--you can rally from a narrow fifth place with a good Free Performance!]

Brock smiled as he heard his number called. "You're right...I hope 'The Hero's Sword' will be enough."

[Break both legs!] Tarina called as she watched her master make his way to the stage.

"There was a man who had a son, who lived with him." Brock began. "The man was a hunter, but as the years went by and he grew older, he got weaker and weaker, and eventually had to tell his son--we'll call him Greg--that soon he would no longer be able to hunt for him, and it would not be long before Arceus called him to the heavens. Greg tried to comfort him, and assured him he would recover; but his father said no, if his time to die was really close, he had nothing to leave him. What money they had would be just enough for his own funeral. Yet he had one thing of value to pass on to his son. It was only a sword, and badly rusty at that, but it would cut down any foe that dared harm its wielder."

"Aw"s go up as Brock continued. "Before long the father joined Arceus in the heavens, and Greg had to sell what he left in order to bury him. All that he kept of his inheritance was the rusty sword. Now he had to find work to do, and this was not easy, since he had never learned a trade, and at best could only herd Mareep. So he went to the village, and had to content himself with work as a shepherd. His master sent him out with the Mareep, and warned him to keep away from three particular meadows, which belonged to three mountain trolls. They lived on a hill known as "Troll's Mount," and if one of his Mareep were to wander to their meadow, the mountain troll would come, and not only carry off the Mareep, but their shepherd as well."

He added as an aside "But Greg knew the master only said that to scare him."

Nervous giggles wafted across the theater as Brock continued "The new shepherd promised to take good care of the Mareep, and so he did; for he never lost a single one, and his master was very pleased with him. The one day, he happened to think of his sword, and figured it might able to help him should he run into the mountain troll. So one day, he intentionally let the Mareep stray into one of the forbidden meadows, and the mountain troll, raging and roaring, rushed up to him, and asked who had allowed him to let his sheep graze in that meadow. Greg replied that he had allowed himself to do it, and when the mountain troll threatened to carry him off with his Mareep, he attacked him and slew him with his sword."

Some light applause goes up at this. "Now the first meadow was his; but not long after the Mareep felt like visiting the second meadow, and Greg let them go. The second mountain troll rushed up to him in a towering rage, and Greg slew him, too. The same thing happened with the third meadow too, and Greg came home with his Mareep, singing all the while." Brock continued.

With that, he made a few laps around the stage. The audience and Tarina clapped along as he sang "The Hearthome Pilgrim".

Once back at center stage, Brock continued "Then he got the idea to see 'Troll's Mount,' and there he found three Ponytas, a normal one, one whose mane shone bright yellow, and a Shiny one, and the Legendary Beasts, Raikou, Entei, and Suicune, as well. Each Ponyta had a saddle, and a full suit of armor as well, and they, too, were red, blue and yellow. Besides, there was food for the Ponytas, and food for the Beasts, and gold and silver out the wazoo. Greg was understandably ecstatic with all the splendor that he had discovered, and went home singing."

With that, he made a few more laps around the stage, this time singing the jig "Ash's Welcome to Pewter".

When the song ended and Brock was back in his place, he intoned "Then his master had one of the hands tell Greg that although he was very happy with him, he wished he would stop singing. Greg was puzzled--what was wrong with singing? At first, the farmhand did not want to tell him the true reason, and said that he should stop because his master said so. But Greg kept bugging the farmhand to tell him why he was not supposed to sing, and the farmhand relented, after having Greg swear to Arceus he would not tell anyone else...."

To Be Continued...