Sigh. I have no more excuses.
Title: Battle Dance.
Pairing(s): Arthur/Merlin.
Warnings: Uhm. Very, very badly written contest scenes. Some slightly OOC behaviour.
Spoiler(s): Nope.
Word count: 3039.
Rating: PG.
Summary: Arthur is a Pokemon trainer, Merlin a coordinator. When Morgana deciedes to enter a contest, Arthur is dragged along for the ride. He just never expected to be entering it himself.
Author's Notes: Sigh. There are no excuses for this, and I am sorry. I've had this hanging around for a while now, and I finally got around to finishing it ( especially after that other Pokemon fic. This just called to be finished. ) It's all a bit weird and...yeah. Pokemon. I can't remember why I thought this would be a good idea, but I did, and Muffin ( or woodsgal, if you'd prefer ) helped me with some of the move combinations ( don't you dare deny it ) so I want to thank her. And thank the games for making me sad enough to write this. ( I haven't watched the anime for years. Mabye I should. )
“I’d like to enter a contest.”
“You what?”
“I’d like to enter a contest.”
“You are kidding me, right?”
No, she was not kidding. Arthur groaned and ran a hand through his golden hair. His sister, Morgana, wanted to enter a Pokemon contest. This was insane.
“No, Arthur, I am not kidding you. I’d like to try something different,” Morgana said, adjusting her bag at her feet.
“We are trainers, Morgana. Let’s leave the contests to those poncy prats that call themselves coordinators, shall we?” Arthur said sweetly.
“Arthur! Don’t you want to try something a little different?” Morgana asked. Arthur gave her a sarcastic look.
“Yes, because my Pokemon are just so suited to contests,” he said. Morgana rolled her eyes.
“It’d make you be…creative. Might do you some good, that.”
“No, it wouldn’t.”
“It might.”
“Trust me, Morgana - it would not.”
“Arthur and Morgana Pendragon?” Nurse Joy said.
They rose and went over to collect their Poke balls, thanking her before going back to their seats. Arthur reattached his balls to his belt and fell back onto the sofa with a heavy sigh. They were in Solaceon town, where the next contest was being held. They were meant to just be passing through, but then Morgana had decided that she wanted to try her hand at contests, of all things. Arthur was truly not amused by this - he wanted to go on to his next gym battle in Canalave city. But oh no, Morgana had decided that they were going to stay here, and since their father had instructed Arthur never to leave Morgana alone, he would have to stay with her.
“So you really want to do this?” he asked sceptically. Morgana nodded.
“Yes, I really do. And I think that you should, too.”
“There is no way you’ll get me to do it, but I’ll wait here with you while you enter your little contest. I can do that, at least,” he conceded.
“Aw, Arthur. You are too nice to me sometimes,” Morgana said, batting her eyelashes gratefully at him. Arthur merely rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, well. Don’t get used to it, okay?”
They sat there talking and chatting for a while. Morgana let her Glaceon out to groom it for a while, and Arthur sat back and relaxed, watching her brush Glaceon’s fur and listening to her babble away to her Pokemon. It was restful, in a way, to just watch and listen. He could do some real hardcore training before he took on Byron, and that would do him the world of good.
The doors burst open then. Since this was a fairly busy Poke centre - especially since this was where the next contest was being held - this was not odd. What was odd was the fact that a huge Luxray came bounding in, two people sat on it’s back.
“Lux Lux!” it cried, and the two people slipped of it’s back. It was a rather impressive Luxray, Arthur had to admit, and clearly a male one. One of the people returned it and they headed over to the counter to give their Pokeballs to Nurse Joy.
There was a girl and a boy, probably about the same age and Morgana and Arthur were. As they turned, the girl - who was pretty with dark skin and tight black curls - caught sight of Morgana’s Glaceon and her big brown eyes lit up. She said something to the boy - who was long, pale and skinny, with dark hair and bright blue eyes and the most ludicrous pair of ears Arthur had ever seen on anyone - and they started coming over, the girl looking excited and the boy looking reluctant.
“Hi there! I couldn’t help but notice that you have a beautiful Glaceon. I myself have an Eevee, and I’ve been thinking about maybe evolving her, but I’m not sure what into. I was wondering what Glaceon was like? I’m Gwen, by the way,” she said.
“I’m Merlin,” the boy said, looking awkward.
“I am Morgana, and this is Arthur. He’s antisocial by nature, so just ignore him,” Morgana said brightly. Arthur glared at her.
“I am not antisocial!” he disagreed.
“Of course you aren’t. You just hate everyone,” Morgana said sweetly.
Arthur merely huffed and watched as his sister dove head first into a conversation with Gwen about the relative merits of all the different Eevee-lutions, leaving Arthur with the awkward looking Merlin.
“So. Nice Luxray,” Arthur said. Merlin smiled.
“Thank you,” Merlin said softly. “I’ve had him a while now. He’s a good Pokemon, but he doesn’t really like people.”
“Sounds like my Charizard,” Arthur chuckled. “He hates most everyone. Good in a battle, though.”
“You’re a trainer, then?”
“Yes. Why, are you not?”
“No. I’m a coordinator.”
“A coordinator, huh? With a big strong Luxray like that?”
“Yeah, well. He used to be a little Shinx, then he evolved a couple of times. I got attached. And he’s good in the battle part of a contest.”
“Eevee!”
Both boys looked over to see Gwen had let her Eevee out. Gwen’s Eevee was much smaller than normal, with the hugest brown eyes Arthur had ever seen on any Pokemon. She looked up at Morgana’s Glaceon part in fear and part in admiration.
“Oooooh! She is too cute!” Morgana cried, clutching her hands to her chest. Gwen’s Eevee blinked and ruffled her fur slightly, puffing out the little brown strands.
“Girls,” Arthur said, rolling his eyes as his sister and her new friends cooed endlessly over the little Eevee. He had to admit that it was very cute, but there was no way he’d ever let Morgana know that. Or anyone else, for that matter.
“Arrogant trainers,” Merlin said, rolling his own eyes. There was a challenge in them, and Arthur narrowed his eyes.
“Think that you could beat me?” he asked tersely. Merlin grinned.
“Probably not - I’m out of practice with battles, since I’ve been in contests for so long. But I bet you wouldn’t get past the first round of a contest,” Merlin said. Arthur narrowed his eyes again.
“I bet that I would,” Arthur said.
“You willing to put your money where your mouth is?” Merlin asked innocently.
“A thousand pounds says I get to the final.”
“A thousand says you don’t get past the first round.”
They shook on it then, and stormed away from each other, Arthur dragging Morgana away with him.
----
“So you bet him you’d get to the final?” Morgana asked.
“Yes! But if I get past the first round he has to give me a thousand,” Arthur grinned. Morgana sighed.
“And now you need some help, right? Well, it’s a good job I called him in…” Morgana muttered.
“Called who in?” Arthur asked. Morgana looked at him.
“I wanted to enter a contest and I knew you’d eventually let me, so I called in Gaius. He’s contest master and now a judge, so he knows what he’s talking about. He’s going to help us work out combinations,” Morgana explained.
Gaius was an old friend of their father’s, and Arthur was startled to remember that the old man with the intimidating eyebrow had actually been a coordinator in his youth.
“So Gaius is going to help me get to the final?” Arthur asked. Morgana smiled sadly.
“No. Gaius is going to help you get past the first round, at least. That will be the hard part - after that it’s basically battling, I think.”
Gaius soon dispelled that one.
“Contests are all about showing off your Pokemon to their best. You need to know what moves will show them off, make them look good. Even in the later stages, showing your Pokemon off is what you are aiming for. It is not all about draining your opponent’s Pokemon’s HP - you need to make your Pokemon look good.”
“My Pokemon always look good,” Arthur muttered under his breath.
“I heard that! Come on then, Arthur. Show me what you’ve got,” Gaius said, one eyebrow moving up towards his hairline.
Arthur released his Lucario. It felt odd to do this without a Pokemon to battle against, but he had a bet to win.
“You need to say something as you let your Pokemon out. Not just their name,” Gaius said.
Arthur returned his Lucario and thought for a few moments.
“Lucario, battle dance!” he cried. Gaius frowned but nodded.
“It’ll do,” he conceded.
“Extreme speed!” Arthur cried, and he watched as Lucario darted about the training field, so fast he was a blur.
“Dragon pulse!” he cried once Lucario had slowed, and the dark pulses burst out from the dust.
“You can’t see your Lucario, so that isn’t showing him off! Try using dragon pulse and then use extreme speed to send the pulses flying,” Gaius said.
Arthur followed his instructions and marvelled in the way the pulses bounced off Lucario and he darted through them. The steel type in him meant that they just rebounded off his strong body.
“I think I’m getting the hang on this,” Arthur said proudly. Gaius rolled his eyes.
“It’s a start, but you still have a long way to go.”
----
The day of the contest, Arthur had allowed himself to be dressed in a white dress shirt and black tie, with black trousers and a black waistcoat and some ridiculous black shined shoes. Already he missed his jeans and Converse All Stars, his comfortable shirt. His usual clothes were folded up somewhere, because he needed to dress up for this stupid thing. Morgana had wearing a really rather spectacular dress in a shade of light blue that accentuated her eyes, and Gwen was sat in the audience, watching. She was a breeder, not a coordinator.
Merlin was wearing a white shirt, black trousers and black shoes like he was, except he had no tie and no waistcoat. Instead, he had a black trilby atop his head and the top button of his shirt was undone, revealed collar bones just as sharp as his cheekbones. Arthur was quite certain both could cut diamond.
“Good luck, Artie. You are going to need it,” Merlin teased on his way out. Arthur glowered after him - he hated being called Artie.
He watched closely as Merlin stepped up. Apparently, he was very good at this.
“Dragonair, centre stage!”
So he had a Dragonair. Arthur sniffed, sure that his Dragonite - his faithful, powerful Dragonite - would be much better.
Merlin’s Dragonair was shiny. Her long purple body glittered in the stars that came from the seal Merlin had used, and she called out, twisting her neck back then diving into the water, her head popping back up again.
“Dragon rush!” Merlin cried.
His Dragonair called out again and surged forward. The speed and power behind the move was immense, and a huge wave of water was created on either side. When his Dragonair leapt up at the other end of the pool, sparkling drops of water clung to her body and showered around her. Yes, Merlin was good at this - he knew how to show his Pokemon off.
“Dragon dance!”
Arthur watched, entranced, as Merlin continued to show off his Dragonair, with an incredible aqua tail and then a stunning safeguard. All four moves had been used, and he knew from Gaius that generally meant the coordinator wouldn’t use that Pokemon later on. The comments from the judges were very good, and the crowd was roaring for Merlin, who bowed, returned his Dragonair and went back into the changing rooms.
“Not bad,” Arthur said gruffly, nodding slightly. Merlin beamed.
“Let’s see you beat that, Artie.”
A guy called Mordred went next. He used a Vespiquen, and he did pretty well, though Arthur thought Merlin had been better. A girl called Vivian went next, but she botched up her routine with a pretty Gorebyss. Valiant and his Arbok were good. Leon and his Blastoise were incredible.
And then it was Morgana’s turn.
“Good luck,” Arthur murmured. She nodded, slipped a seal onto her Pokeball, and headed out to face the crowd.
“Glaceon, spotlight!” she cried, letting out her Glaceon.
“Glace!” he cried, fur bristling, the last of the blue confetti falling down around him.
“Hail!”
Morgana was good. The ice moves made Glaceon’s fur - pristine and shining as always - glitter, and showed off the power that Glaceon had. Arthur looked down at the Pokeball in his hand. He was up next.
“I hope you are ready,” he said to it, slipping a seal on and steeling himself.
“Good luck, Arthur,” Morgana said, giving him a brief hug before he strode out into the arena.
“Arcanine, battle dance!”
Arthur’s Arcanine appeared with a bark in a shower of flames from the seal. He landed, crouching slightly as he landed.
“And this is the first fire type we’ve seen!” the announcer called out. Arcanine barked again.
“Iron tail!” Arthur yelled, suddenly changing his entire plan for the performance. Arcanine looked at him.
“Ar?” he enquired.
“Through the water,” Arthur said, and that was when Arcanine understood.
He took a running jump at it and, his tail shining with the move, and stroked it through the water. The momentum of his leap took him to the stand in the centre of the water, twinkling droplets clutching at his red fur. The audience oooh-d and Arthur grinned.
“Flamethrower!”
The flames engulfed Arcanine then Arthur called for his Pokemon to jump. The sight of the great Pokemon leaping up from in the centre of the burning circle was a sight to behold, the last of the water drying on his fur as he shook it.
“Extreme speed!”
And Arcanine flew back over the water to where his trainer was standing, flinging water off his fur again and glittering in the lights.
Arthur went straight through to the next round, and he grinned smugly and triumphantly at Merlin, who dutifully started counting out the thousand he owed him.
“Save it for when I win,” Arthur said.
Morgana sent Mordred out, Merlin sent Valiant out, and Arthur sent Leon out with a well practised hyper beam from his Gyarados that sent his Toxicroak’s dark pulse flying, and the sparkle set off Gyarados’ scales perfectly.
In the next round, Morgana got sent out by Merlin and Arthur sent Sophia - the previous second favourite - packing. Morgana was upset but resigned to the fact that maybe Staraptor hadn’t been the best bet, especially against Merlin’s Lapras.
The final was Arthur against Merlin.
He paced nervously, back and forth, his Pokeball clutched in his hands, the seal already in place. His last Pokemon was a good one - a great one - but he still wasn’t sure how he’d fare against Merlin. The guy was good - he was practised and he worked perfectly in sync with his Pokemon. He’d taken Morgana out easily, and she was very strong. Of course Arthur was anxious.
“Arthur, good luck. You’ll be great out there, and if you don’t win, at least you got to the final. That is an achievement in itself,” Morgana said. Arthur nodded, running a hand through his hair and loosening his tie a little.
“Thank you,” he said softly.
He walked out with his head held high. Merlin stood at the other end, smiling at him from beneath the brim of his hat.
“Luxray, centre stage!”
“Charizard, battle dance!”
Both Pokemon squared off against each other in the after effects of the seal, thunder bolts from Merlin and smoke from Arthur, Arthur’s great, hulking shiny black Charizard staring down at Merlin’s Luxray with something akin to contempt.
“Lux Lux!” Luxray cried, and Charizard rumbled.
“Charge!” Merlin cried, and electricity sparked all over his body, crackling and sending his fur static.
“Flare blitz!” Arthur yelled, and fire poured off his Charizard in waves, crashing into Luxray and sending the electric Pokemon flying.
“Discharge!” Merlin cried, worry evident on his face. But his Luxray leapt back to his feet and discharged, sending built up electricity straight to Charizard’s wings. Pitting a flying type - even one that was a fire type too - was going to make going up against a electric type hard.
“Shadow claw!” Arthur yelled, even though Luxray had not finished. After Luxray was sprawling from the hit, the electricity crackling over Charizard looking stunning, and Arthur was pleased with himself.
They fought in vain for some time. Luxray was strong, as was Charizard, but even the electric moves Merlin kept pumping out were not enough to stop Arthur’s Charizard.
The end bell sounded, and they both froze. Their Pokemon froze, too, Charizard in mid flight, Luxray landing softly back down into his front paws. Arthur glanced at the points. It was close. Very close.
“And the winner is…Merlin and his Luxray!”
Merlin punched the air and Luxray cried happily, little sparks flying off his fur and into the air. Merlin threw his arms around his Pokemon’s neck, and Arthur watched, disappointed. Charizard landed next to him, head bent, disappointed in himself and obviously upset that he had failed his trainer.
“Charizard, you were great. We never really were suited to contests,” Arthur said, scratching Charizard’s side affectionately. Charizard rumbled, deep in his chest, but seemed content.
Arthur watched as Merlin received his ribbon. He was back in his normal clothes, as they all were, and he waited for the other boy to come back into the room.
“Hey, congratulations. You were great out there,” Arthur said to him. He hoped Merlin knew how hard it was for him to admit that, proud as he was.
“Thank you. That means a lot, coming from you. For a trainer, you did really well, considering it was your first contest. Consider me impressed,” Merlin smiled. “And I believe that I owe you some money.”
“Forget the money. I’ve thought of something I’d rather have instead,” Arthur said, Merlin’s smile having stirred something in him that had been long dormant.
Merlin looked at him curiously, and Arthur merely smiled and leant in until their lips met.
It was worth much more than the thousand pounds Merlin had offered him. Much, much more.
Pairing(s): Arthur/Merlin.
Warnings: Uhm. Very, very badly written contest scenes. Some slightly OOC behaviour.
Spoiler(s): Nope.
Word count: 3039.
Rating: PG.
Summary: Arthur is a Pokemon trainer, Merlin a coordinator. When Morgana deciedes to enter a contest, Arthur is dragged along for the ride. He just never expected to be entering it himself.
Author's Notes: Sigh. There are no excuses for this, and I am sorry. I've had this hanging around for a while now, and I finally got around to finishing it ( especially after that other Pokemon fic. This just called to be finished. ) It's all a bit weird and...yeah. Pokemon. I can't remember why I thought this would be a good idea, but I did, and Muffin ( or woodsgal, if you'd prefer ) helped me with some of the move combinations ( don't you dare deny it ) so I want to thank her. And thank the games for making me sad enough to write this. ( I haven't watched the anime for years. Mabye I should. )
“I’d like to enter a contest.”
“You what?”
“I’d like to enter a contest.”
“You are kidding me, right?”
No, she was not kidding. Arthur groaned and ran a hand through his golden hair. His sister, Morgana, wanted to enter a Pokemon contest. This was insane.
“No, Arthur, I am not kidding you. I’d like to try something different,” Morgana said, adjusting her bag at her feet.
“We are trainers, Morgana. Let’s leave the contests to those poncy prats that call themselves coordinators, shall we?” Arthur said sweetly.
“Arthur! Don’t you want to try something a little different?” Morgana asked. Arthur gave her a sarcastic look.
“Yes, because my Pokemon are just so suited to contests,” he said. Morgana rolled her eyes.
“It’d make you be…creative. Might do you some good, that.”
“No, it wouldn’t.”
“It might.”
“Trust me, Morgana - it would not.”
“Arthur and Morgana Pendragon?” Nurse Joy said.
They rose and went over to collect their Poke balls, thanking her before going back to their seats. Arthur reattached his balls to his belt and fell back onto the sofa with a heavy sigh. They were in Solaceon town, where the next contest was being held. They were meant to just be passing through, but then Morgana had decided that she wanted to try her hand at contests, of all things. Arthur was truly not amused by this - he wanted to go on to his next gym battle in Canalave city. But oh no, Morgana had decided that they were going to stay here, and since their father had instructed Arthur never to leave Morgana alone, he would have to stay with her.
“So you really want to do this?” he asked sceptically. Morgana nodded.
“Yes, I really do. And I think that you should, too.”
“There is no way you’ll get me to do it, but I’ll wait here with you while you enter your little contest. I can do that, at least,” he conceded.
“Aw, Arthur. You are too nice to me sometimes,” Morgana said, batting her eyelashes gratefully at him. Arthur merely rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, well. Don’t get used to it, okay?”
They sat there talking and chatting for a while. Morgana let her Glaceon out to groom it for a while, and Arthur sat back and relaxed, watching her brush Glaceon’s fur and listening to her babble away to her Pokemon. It was restful, in a way, to just watch and listen. He could do some real hardcore training before he took on Byron, and that would do him the world of good.
The doors burst open then. Since this was a fairly busy Poke centre - especially since this was where the next contest was being held - this was not odd. What was odd was the fact that a huge Luxray came bounding in, two people sat on it’s back.
“Lux Lux!” it cried, and the two people slipped of it’s back. It was a rather impressive Luxray, Arthur had to admit, and clearly a male one. One of the people returned it and they headed over to the counter to give their Pokeballs to Nurse Joy.
There was a girl and a boy, probably about the same age and Morgana and Arthur were. As they turned, the girl - who was pretty with dark skin and tight black curls - caught sight of Morgana’s Glaceon and her big brown eyes lit up. She said something to the boy - who was long, pale and skinny, with dark hair and bright blue eyes and the most ludicrous pair of ears Arthur had ever seen on anyone - and they started coming over, the girl looking excited and the boy looking reluctant.
“Hi there! I couldn’t help but notice that you have a beautiful Glaceon. I myself have an Eevee, and I’ve been thinking about maybe evolving her, but I’m not sure what into. I was wondering what Glaceon was like? I’m Gwen, by the way,” she said.
“I’m Merlin,” the boy said, looking awkward.
“I am Morgana, and this is Arthur. He’s antisocial by nature, so just ignore him,” Morgana said brightly. Arthur glared at her.
“I am not antisocial!” he disagreed.
“Of course you aren’t. You just hate everyone,” Morgana said sweetly.
Arthur merely huffed and watched as his sister dove head first into a conversation with Gwen about the relative merits of all the different Eevee-lutions, leaving Arthur with the awkward looking Merlin.
“So. Nice Luxray,” Arthur said. Merlin smiled.
“Thank you,” Merlin said softly. “I’ve had him a while now. He’s a good Pokemon, but he doesn’t really like people.”
“Sounds like my Charizard,” Arthur chuckled. “He hates most everyone. Good in a battle, though.”
“You’re a trainer, then?”
“Yes. Why, are you not?”
“No. I’m a coordinator.”
“A coordinator, huh? With a big strong Luxray like that?”
“Yeah, well. He used to be a little Shinx, then he evolved a couple of times. I got attached. And he’s good in the battle part of a contest.”
“Eevee!”
Both boys looked over to see Gwen had let her Eevee out. Gwen’s Eevee was much smaller than normal, with the hugest brown eyes Arthur had ever seen on any Pokemon. She looked up at Morgana’s Glaceon part in fear and part in admiration.
“Oooooh! She is too cute!” Morgana cried, clutching her hands to her chest. Gwen’s Eevee blinked and ruffled her fur slightly, puffing out the little brown strands.
“Girls,” Arthur said, rolling his eyes as his sister and her new friends cooed endlessly over the little Eevee. He had to admit that it was very cute, but there was no way he’d ever let Morgana know that. Or anyone else, for that matter.
“Arrogant trainers,” Merlin said, rolling his own eyes. There was a challenge in them, and Arthur narrowed his eyes.
“Think that you could beat me?” he asked tersely. Merlin grinned.
“Probably not - I’m out of practice with battles, since I’ve been in contests for so long. But I bet you wouldn’t get past the first round of a contest,” Merlin said. Arthur narrowed his eyes again.
“I bet that I would,” Arthur said.
“You willing to put your money where your mouth is?” Merlin asked innocently.
“A thousand pounds says I get to the final.”
“A thousand says you don’t get past the first round.”
They shook on it then, and stormed away from each other, Arthur dragging Morgana away with him.
----
“So you bet him you’d get to the final?” Morgana asked.
“Yes! But if I get past the first round he has to give me a thousand,” Arthur grinned. Morgana sighed.
“And now you need some help, right? Well, it’s a good job I called him in…” Morgana muttered.
“Called who in?” Arthur asked. Morgana looked at him.
“I wanted to enter a contest and I knew you’d eventually let me, so I called in Gaius. He’s contest master and now a judge, so he knows what he’s talking about. He’s going to help us work out combinations,” Morgana explained.
Gaius was an old friend of their father’s, and Arthur was startled to remember that the old man with the intimidating eyebrow had actually been a coordinator in his youth.
“So Gaius is going to help me get to the final?” Arthur asked. Morgana smiled sadly.
“No. Gaius is going to help you get past the first round, at least. That will be the hard part - after that it’s basically battling, I think.”
Gaius soon dispelled that one.
“Contests are all about showing off your Pokemon to their best. You need to know what moves will show them off, make them look good. Even in the later stages, showing your Pokemon off is what you are aiming for. It is not all about draining your opponent’s Pokemon’s HP - you need to make your Pokemon look good.”
“My Pokemon always look good,” Arthur muttered under his breath.
“I heard that! Come on then, Arthur. Show me what you’ve got,” Gaius said, one eyebrow moving up towards his hairline.
Arthur released his Lucario. It felt odd to do this without a Pokemon to battle against, but he had a bet to win.
“You need to say something as you let your Pokemon out. Not just their name,” Gaius said.
Arthur returned his Lucario and thought for a few moments.
“Lucario, battle dance!” he cried. Gaius frowned but nodded.
“It’ll do,” he conceded.
“Extreme speed!” Arthur cried, and he watched as Lucario darted about the training field, so fast he was a blur.
“Dragon pulse!” he cried once Lucario had slowed, and the dark pulses burst out from the dust.
“You can’t see your Lucario, so that isn’t showing him off! Try using dragon pulse and then use extreme speed to send the pulses flying,” Gaius said.
Arthur followed his instructions and marvelled in the way the pulses bounced off Lucario and he darted through them. The steel type in him meant that they just rebounded off his strong body.
“I think I’m getting the hang on this,” Arthur said proudly. Gaius rolled his eyes.
“It’s a start, but you still have a long way to go.”
----
The day of the contest, Arthur had allowed himself to be dressed in a white dress shirt and black tie, with black trousers and a black waistcoat and some ridiculous black shined shoes. Already he missed his jeans and Converse All Stars, his comfortable shirt. His usual clothes were folded up somewhere, because he needed to dress up for this stupid thing. Morgana had wearing a really rather spectacular dress in a shade of light blue that accentuated her eyes, and Gwen was sat in the audience, watching. She was a breeder, not a coordinator.
Merlin was wearing a white shirt, black trousers and black shoes like he was, except he had no tie and no waistcoat. Instead, he had a black trilby atop his head and the top button of his shirt was undone, revealed collar bones just as sharp as his cheekbones. Arthur was quite certain both could cut diamond.
“Good luck, Artie. You are going to need it,” Merlin teased on his way out. Arthur glowered after him - he hated being called Artie.
He watched closely as Merlin stepped up. Apparently, he was very good at this.
“Dragonair, centre stage!”
So he had a Dragonair. Arthur sniffed, sure that his Dragonite - his faithful, powerful Dragonite - would be much better.
Merlin’s Dragonair was shiny. Her long purple body glittered in the stars that came from the seal Merlin had used, and she called out, twisting her neck back then diving into the water, her head popping back up again.
“Dragon rush!” Merlin cried.
His Dragonair called out again and surged forward. The speed and power behind the move was immense, and a huge wave of water was created on either side. When his Dragonair leapt up at the other end of the pool, sparkling drops of water clung to her body and showered around her. Yes, Merlin was good at this - he knew how to show his Pokemon off.
“Dragon dance!”
Arthur watched, entranced, as Merlin continued to show off his Dragonair, with an incredible aqua tail and then a stunning safeguard. All four moves had been used, and he knew from Gaius that generally meant the coordinator wouldn’t use that Pokemon later on. The comments from the judges were very good, and the crowd was roaring for Merlin, who bowed, returned his Dragonair and went back into the changing rooms.
“Not bad,” Arthur said gruffly, nodding slightly. Merlin beamed.
“Let’s see you beat that, Artie.”
A guy called Mordred went next. He used a Vespiquen, and he did pretty well, though Arthur thought Merlin had been better. A girl called Vivian went next, but she botched up her routine with a pretty Gorebyss. Valiant and his Arbok were good. Leon and his Blastoise were incredible.
And then it was Morgana’s turn.
“Good luck,” Arthur murmured. She nodded, slipped a seal onto her Pokeball, and headed out to face the crowd.
“Glaceon, spotlight!” she cried, letting out her Glaceon.
“Glace!” he cried, fur bristling, the last of the blue confetti falling down around him.
“Hail!”
Morgana was good. The ice moves made Glaceon’s fur - pristine and shining as always - glitter, and showed off the power that Glaceon had. Arthur looked down at the Pokeball in his hand. He was up next.
“I hope you are ready,” he said to it, slipping a seal on and steeling himself.
“Good luck, Arthur,” Morgana said, giving him a brief hug before he strode out into the arena.
“Arcanine, battle dance!”
Arthur’s Arcanine appeared with a bark in a shower of flames from the seal. He landed, crouching slightly as he landed.
“And this is the first fire type we’ve seen!” the announcer called out. Arcanine barked again.
“Iron tail!” Arthur yelled, suddenly changing his entire plan for the performance. Arcanine looked at him.
“Ar?” he enquired.
“Through the water,” Arthur said, and that was when Arcanine understood.
He took a running jump at it and, his tail shining with the move, and stroked it through the water. The momentum of his leap took him to the stand in the centre of the water, twinkling droplets clutching at his red fur. The audience oooh-d and Arthur grinned.
“Flamethrower!”
The flames engulfed Arcanine then Arthur called for his Pokemon to jump. The sight of the great Pokemon leaping up from in the centre of the burning circle was a sight to behold, the last of the water drying on his fur as he shook it.
“Extreme speed!”
And Arcanine flew back over the water to where his trainer was standing, flinging water off his fur again and glittering in the lights.
Arthur went straight through to the next round, and he grinned smugly and triumphantly at Merlin, who dutifully started counting out the thousand he owed him.
“Save it for when I win,” Arthur said.
Morgana sent Mordred out, Merlin sent Valiant out, and Arthur sent Leon out with a well practised hyper beam from his Gyarados that sent his Toxicroak’s dark pulse flying, and the sparkle set off Gyarados’ scales perfectly.
In the next round, Morgana got sent out by Merlin and Arthur sent Sophia - the previous second favourite - packing. Morgana was upset but resigned to the fact that maybe Staraptor hadn’t been the best bet, especially against Merlin’s Lapras.
The final was Arthur against Merlin.
He paced nervously, back and forth, his Pokeball clutched in his hands, the seal already in place. His last Pokemon was a good one - a great one - but he still wasn’t sure how he’d fare against Merlin. The guy was good - he was practised and he worked perfectly in sync with his Pokemon. He’d taken Morgana out easily, and she was very strong. Of course Arthur was anxious.
“Arthur, good luck. You’ll be great out there, and if you don’t win, at least you got to the final. That is an achievement in itself,” Morgana said. Arthur nodded, running a hand through his hair and loosening his tie a little.
“Thank you,” he said softly.
He walked out with his head held high. Merlin stood at the other end, smiling at him from beneath the brim of his hat.
“Luxray, centre stage!”
“Charizard, battle dance!”
Both Pokemon squared off against each other in the after effects of the seal, thunder bolts from Merlin and smoke from Arthur, Arthur’s great, hulking shiny black Charizard staring down at Merlin’s Luxray with something akin to contempt.
“Lux Lux!” Luxray cried, and Charizard rumbled.
“Charge!” Merlin cried, and electricity sparked all over his body, crackling and sending his fur static.
“Flare blitz!” Arthur yelled, and fire poured off his Charizard in waves, crashing into Luxray and sending the electric Pokemon flying.
“Discharge!” Merlin cried, worry evident on his face. But his Luxray leapt back to his feet and discharged, sending built up electricity straight to Charizard’s wings. Pitting a flying type - even one that was a fire type too - was going to make going up against a electric type hard.
“Shadow claw!” Arthur yelled, even though Luxray had not finished. After Luxray was sprawling from the hit, the electricity crackling over Charizard looking stunning, and Arthur was pleased with himself.
They fought in vain for some time. Luxray was strong, as was Charizard, but even the electric moves Merlin kept pumping out were not enough to stop Arthur’s Charizard.
The end bell sounded, and they both froze. Their Pokemon froze, too, Charizard in mid flight, Luxray landing softly back down into his front paws. Arthur glanced at the points. It was close. Very close.
“And the winner is…Merlin and his Luxray!”
Merlin punched the air and Luxray cried happily, little sparks flying off his fur and into the air. Merlin threw his arms around his Pokemon’s neck, and Arthur watched, disappointed. Charizard landed next to him, head bent, disappointed in himself and obviously upset that he had failed his trainer.
“Charizard, you were great. We never really were suited to contests,” Arthur said, scratching Charizard’s side affectionately. Charizard rumbled, deep in his chest, but seemed content.
Arthur watched as Merlin received his ribbon. He was back in his normal clothes, as they all were, and he waited for the other boy to come back into the room.
“Hey, congratulations. You were great out there,” Arthur said to him. He hoped Merlin knew how hard it was for him to admit that, proud as he was.
“Thank you. That means a lot, coming from you. For a trainer, you did really well, considering it was your first contest. Consider me impressed,” Merlin smiled. “And I believe that I owe you some money.”
“Forget the money. I’ve thought of something I’d rather have instead,” Arthur said, Merlin’s smile having stirred something in him that had been long dormant.
Merlin looked at him curiously, and Arthur merely smiled and leant in until their lips met.
It was worth much more than the thousand pounds Merlin had offered him. Much, much more.