Unova. Aspertia City. Day.
Here at the Pokemon Baccer Junior Event, a Desire has awoken. While appearing faint for the most part, it was further triggered to show more of itself. Jay's Desire to have his team win, all for Pichu, was growing stronger. However, this was a new variant of the Desire. No longer was it unleashed an energy silhouette of the individual. Jay was practically in control of his Desire now.
During this match against the Lampent Orphic Team, the Desire reached a majority of Jay's teammates, making sure that their fear of the Ghost-Types would be staved off. The cosmic energy from the Desire affected the trainers and their Pokemon, minus Scootaloo, Gible, Axew, Aubree and Raboot. They were the only ones who weren't as intimidated as the others.
"Did he gain control of his Desire?" Rarity gawked at Jay. "That's not possible, is it? Usually, these things just fizzle out." Others were speaking about te strange energy around Jay, but it seems that something like this wasn't a part of the rules. Therefore, it was eligible, breaking no rules in Pokemon Baccer whatsoever. It was still rather strange seeing this energy around him.
"Jay? What's that around you?" Aubree asked as the brightness of the cosmic energy was almost blinding, but not quite.
"That's a Desire!" Scootaloo shouted. "I knew something was off!"
"A what?" Aubree looked over. She wasn't aware of this cosmic power. A majority of the population was never aware. Desires showed up for a while and went into hiding afterwards, staying secluded.
"Alright! Now, we're in full control of this game!"
"What's this all about?" The opposing team gawked at Jay, taking their focus away from the game for a while. "How come we don't have something like that?"
"Ah, who cares what it is? I bet it's just for the show. We don't need something like that when we're better than them already."
The game continued as the ball was still in the clutches of Banette while Haunter was right behind it. However, Jay's Desire did one last thing before the game could really continue. To ensure that his team wins, he would try and create the best possible skillset. And the Desire chose Raboot. The cosmic energy surrounded the Rabbit Pokemon, catching him off guard.
"Raboot?!" Raboot gasped, feeling the cosmic energy around his body, but it brought him no harm, thankfully. But what it did do was borrow his skillset. The skills of Raboot were passed onto the other Pokemon as the outline of the Rabbit Pokemon appeared around them. But this came with a cost that would soon show itself.
"Banette!" Banette continued the game, targeting the moving goal in the air. Haunter would continue to use Scary Face, just to startle and intimidate the opposing team by stunning them. But this time, it wouldn't succeed. Thanks to the power of the Desire, the Pokemon were made to ignore the intimidation tactics. This prompted Beautifly to act. By gaining a sudden speed increase, Beautifly swooped in to snatch the ball from Banette "B-Bane?"
"Beau!" After catching the ball, Beautifly was going straight for the goal, carrying the ball through the air by continuously headbutting it. Thanks to the skills of Raboot, Beautifly could consistently keep the ball in the air.
"Dusclops!" Dusclops used Gravity, preventing Beautifly from making any further advances with the ball. A field of gravity was formed around in the air, immediately weighing Beautifly down along with the ball.
"Purrloin!" Reversing this before the opposing team could do anything was Purrloin. By using Copycat, it mimicked Dusclops's Gravity, reversing the gravity on it.
"D-Dusc!" Dusclops felt Beautifly's pain as the ball would instantly touch the ground. The same went for Banette and Haunter, who were also forced down. As for who would achieve it, quickly rushing to it was Frillish. The Floating Pokemon used Whirlpool, creating a fierce vortex of water. This turbulent water came crashing in, pulling the ball towards it.
This Whirlpool also created enough force to push the opposing Pokemon back. Gible, Axew and Raboot were the closest as they felt their small bodies move back. The Whirlpool was also rather massive, being the strongest attack that has been used in this match so far.
"W-What do we do against that?!" A Member of the Pichu 11 asked.
"Don't be afraid," said Jay as his Desire would grow some more. He would stave away any more fears from his teammates, prompting the Pokemon of the Pichu 11 eleven to act against this. However, Gible would beat any of them to it.
"Gible! Dragon Breath!"
"Gi...Ble!" Getting back up, Gible held its breath in to unleash a fierce blast of draconic energy that would try and counter the Whirlpool. The ball was right in the middle of the Whirlpool, moving at high speeds. But not for long as Gible's Dragon Breath cancelled out the Whirlpool. The attacks combusted, sending out an azure explosion. The ball was seen being launched into the air by the outburst as it was the highest it's been so far.
"R-Raboot!" Raboot wouldn't waste this moment to try and score. When he tried getting up, he noticed that his legs felt a bit weaker. It was strange since nothing had harmed his legs at all to hinder their performance. But even with this strange feeling, Raboot still and enough strength to lunge into the air. With all of his might, he kicked the ball, sending it straight towards the right goal.
And just like that, Raboot made the first score of the game. The ball passed by the opposing Pokemon going straight through the goal. The crowd cheered after the first goal was made. It took quite a lot of hurdles for this to happen, especially for a short match. The Pichu 11 had one point in this match, already gaining the lead.
"No way! They scored?!" The Team Captain of the opposing team was in disbelief. "They were so weak earlier!"
"Way to go, Raboot!" Fluttershy frantically applauded this successful score, proud of her Pokemon. So did Apple Bloom and the others.
"Woo. Even though the Desire's out there, things aren't spiralling out of control." Applejack said.
"I don't know...Raboot looks a bit off." Ash thought otherwise. He noticed Raboot's current stance and how it involved him twitching.
"Yes!" Jay pumped his fists. His arms would tremble in response to the pulsation of the Rift Energy. "This is more like it! First score of the match!"
"Man, I feel woozy..." But the effects of this new Desire Variant wasn't just affecting Raboot in a weird way. Jay's teammates felt dizzy as their heads were ringing. Raboot groaned, looking back at Jay, already realizing that the Desire was behind this.
The next part of the match continued with Lampet being the one to grab the ball next. The Ghost-Fire-Type struck the ball, sending it towards one of its teammates. In this case, Haunter. The Ghost-Poison-Type had both its claws out, ready to snag the ball and get its teammates back up to speed.
"Axew!" Axew and Gible would appear next to Haunter, blocking it from getting the ball. Once the object reached them, Gible and Axew collectively threw their heads forward. Both their heads struck the ball before Haunter could. With the two of them blocking the Ghost-Type, they successfully took control of the ball, with Axew being the one to hold it over its head
"Gible and Axew have such good synergy already. Did they train before this?" Rarity wondered after seeing the coordination of Gible and Axew.
"Nah. It's that connection between Dragon-Types." Lucas answered, knowing the reason for this smooth cooperation. "They may fight for dominance but they're good at forming teams with each other."
"Banette!" Both Banettes faced Axew who was moving with the ball, keeping it on its head. Together, the Banettes both used Hex, conjuring up a spectral energy out of thin air. This energy would fly at Axew, preparing to slow it down, only for Jay to influence one of his teammates.
"Corsola!" Corsola used Power Gem, summoning beautiful gemstones that sparkled with a great glimmer. These gemstones were then unleashed as rays, quickly meeting with the Hex. Even Corsola was faster than before. By using Raboot's speed, all of the Pokemon on the Pichu eleven were faster than ever. And this was shown by how Servine instantly showed up right next to Axew with a simple run.
"Dusclops!" Using Mean Look, Dusclops tried to slow Axew down, only for Servine to interrupt this By using Razor Leaf, it sent sharp blades of grass that would slash at Dusclops, runing its intimidation tactic. "Clops!"
"Axe!" Axew them leapt over Dusclops, continuing with the ball. But Axew couldn't get to the goal with its height. It needed someone else to get to that level, so it entrusted the ball to Spheal. Axew looked behind to see one of the Frillish emerging from the ground below, spraying water on the field. A torrent of water was summoned, ready to slow Axew down and possibly even cover it in water.
"Spheal!" Spheal was its own ball, being round and everything. And once this ball reached it, Spheal used Raboot's speed as well, moving so fast that it started rolling at high speeds. Everyone gawked at how fast Spheal was moving with all of that rolling. Far faster than how it should be. The speed it moved at allowed Spheal to hit the ball with plenty of force, sending it into the air.
"Purr!" And speaking of speed, as soon as Purrloin leapt into the air, it suddenly became a purple blur. The speed increase mattered in the air as well. Purrloin was airbone in an instant, hitting the ball with a Shadow Claw. "Loin!" The ball was sent flying at high speeds towards the goal. There to try and stop it was Lampent who used Inferno. A spiral of flames shot out to block the ball, slowing it down. But just barely. Lampent barely managed to slow it down as the ball nearly struck the Lamp Pokemon.
"Such speed! Purrloin is fast but has it always been this fast?!" The commentator bellowed with amazement.
"The Desire must be using Raboot's speed to boost them all!" Spike shouted as the speed these Pokemon were showing were not natural for them. They can be faster but not this fast. Raboot was technically the fastest Pokemon here, but so far, that didn't seem to be the case.
"They're doing too good if you ask me. Time to switch it up with our signature formation!" The oppossing team knew they had to switch up their game plan. The Lamept Orphic all gathered together, preparing to unleash something that not even their opponents could retaliate against. At least, they were hoping for.
The Ghost-Types suddenly got into the formation of an X-Shape, standing and hovering in an orderly flashing. The Pichu Eleven looked around them to see their opponents taking different positions while the ball was currently in possession of Lampent.
"What is this?" Scootaloo uttered. What was the game plan here?
"Here's our tactic! Shadow Cross!" The Team Captain yelled as the Ghost-Types would all unleash a spectral energy from their bodies in unison. Once this spectrail energy appeared, the x-shape made sense. Afterwards, the Ghost-Types started moving across the shadows, using it as a way to travel. Similar to a wind tunnel, this was a shadow tunnel, giving the Ghost-Types some speed. The Pichu Eleven looked around them to see a swift stream of shadows moving around. Not only that, but the shadows struck them each, attemping to knock them over.
The kids of the Pichu 11 were befuddlded by what they were seeing. The Lmapet Orphic were rather skilled despite being young as well. This only solidified the fact that they had more skill than the Pichu 11, even with the Desires active.
Servine cried out after being knocked down by the moving shadows. Soon, Purrloin was knocked over as well. Then Axew. Then Corsola and next was Gible. The two Beautifly were safe, but when they tried approaching the field, the shadows pushed them away. It was both an offensive and defensive tactic.
Raboot growled, gazing at the Banette who had the ball. But with a strained body, even Raboot couldn't keep up with this. He tried using Flame Charge to retaliate, enveloping his body in flames, only for the stream of shadows to knock him over. The Banette then knocked the ball upwards, finally getting it through the goal. At last, the oppossing team scored, tieng things up.
But even after equalizing the score, the tactic did not fade away. They kept using the Shadow Cross to their advantage, not slowing down for a moment. The Pokemon of the Pichu 11 were struggling to retaliate. While their movement speed had increased, their reaction time was still the same. And even though the Pokemon of the Lampent Orphic were only using the Shadow Stream to move at this speed, the way the shadows were moving were erratic enough to throw them off their game.
"This is bad! They're knocking our Pokemon down! And I don't think we can do much!" Aubree gasped. "Both Beautiflys can't get in close!"
"Oh, yes we can..It doesn't matter what they do. We've made it this far to lose!" Jay roared as the Desire kicked in once more. This time, it was brigher than ever. The aura of the Desire grew to a size that far surpassed Jay's own size. Jay held onto his arm as his body started twitching. Clearly, it was also detrimental to him.
"R-Raboot...!" More of Raboot's strength was being borrowed by the Desire. Raboot groaned, feeling his strength leave his body as he got on his knee. The energy could be seen leaving his body, entering everyone's body next.
"Stop! You're hurting Raboot!" Scootaloo bellowed after seeing Raboot feel the effects. The Pokemon of the Pichu 11 were receiving boosts while the Trainers felt their heads ring more and more. By taking power from Raboot, passing it onto the Pokemon while also forcing his teammates to muster up courage, Jay was harming them.
"S-Sorry...! But we have to win!" But Jay's Desire to win was winning over easily. "This thing that I have has been a bunch of help and I can't let it go to waste right now!"
"What? You mean you've used the Desire before already?" Scootaloo pulled back.
"No way! This isn't the first time the Desire's shown up for him." said Ash. This was a shock. Not only did Jay have a different variant of the Desire, but it has emerged out of him before during a moment of weakness.
"Pika?!"
"I did...I used it on the Starmie Stars not too long ago." Jay confessed to it. "I was afraid we'd never make it to the Junior Event here at the Pokemon Festival. I really wanted us to. For Pichu. That's when this thing showed up."
The Desire showed up the same way it did today. Because of Jay's bond with Pichu and wanting to make her happy, the Desire responded to him, manifesting itself. And the first time it was ever used was against the Starmie Stars, who apparently, felt bad for the Pichu 11 after hearing about their Pichu. But now, it was revealed that there was influence involved.
"It made me change their minds and they went easy on us. I didn't wanna tell anyone about this because this was our chance. I was psyched to finally get the chance to join the event so that I could tell the news to Pichu." Jay groaned while holding his head. "They only went easy on us because of this thing around us forcing them too. I didn't wanna win like that, but I still wanted to win!"
"If you don't mind, we'll score again!" The Lampent Orphic said, taking the oppurtunity to score a second time. This time, it would be Dusclops who would try and score, using its strong hands to grab the ball.
"I don't think so!" Jay growled as the power of the Desire would move all of the Pichu 11 Pokemon, minus Gible. They didn't even mean to leave the ground. It was Jay's Desire as the energy was picking them up instead. The Pokemon were all used as shields, blocking the ball from reaching the other goal.
"A-Axew!" But this was not pleasant to them. They had no control over their bodies and the feeling it gave them was truly uncomfortable. The power of the Desire wasn't just some random power that could manipulate reality. It had its bad effects, no matter the variant and they were showing.
After blocking the ball, the Desire would have Corsola strike it, sending it back down. By surrounding the ball with cosmic energy, the Shadow Cross was disrupted. Jay's Desire broke the Shadow Cross, causing all the Pokemon within it to fall over.
"N-Now we just have to score and we'll be in the lead again!" Jay grunted as he closed one eye. The Desire's Energy kept forcing itself to make the right plays just to guarantee victory. "But...not like this. Not when everyone's feeling this way." All the while, Jay was being harmed. Both physically and mentally. A part of him did not wish to do this to his friends.
"Something's really weong with Jay!" A worried Aubree said, looking at Jay and her friends. "And everyone else! What's going on?!"
"Okay! I think it's time I really stepped in! Aubree! Can you please help me free Jay from the Desire!" Scootaloo requested.
"Uh...I-I don't know how to do that or what's going on. But you said something about this being up your alley. Is this one of them?"
"Totally! I thought he had some control but I guess not. Raboot! Gible!" Scootaloo faced them both, needing the help of her friends. It wasn't something she could do on her own.
"Jay! You don't have to worry about that right now!" Scootaloo said to the Team Captain. "Even though you got here because of the Desire, you can still make progress without it! I heard everything from your teammates and they wanna do their best too!"
"D-Do they?" Jay grunted. He wasn't sure about that considering how his friends spoke to him. "They don't wanna be here and I brought them out here because of this thing! I was hoping no one would recognize it but...!"
"We're sorry, Jay!" One of the teammates replied. "We weren't confident in ourselves. We know when we're outclassed so we had to be honest with you!"
"We couldn't just lie and go with the flow! We had to pick our battles. But I swear, we didn't wanna dissappoint Pichu! She would've understood if she were here right now!"
"Well, she's not! Pichu always taught me to never give up and I wasn't about to do the same for this oppurtunity!" Jay shook his head.
"We should've tried talking to you about this, Jay. Coming along was our own mistake but not letting you know how we really feel was also pretty bad on our part! We want to improve so we can make it to the big leagues one day. But now's not that day!"
"I get what you're saying, you guys...but I don't think I can stop this thing!" Unfortunately, Jay's Desire had grown too strong. It was one of the strongest Desires Scootaloo has seen and it was coming from someone as young as her too.
Just then, the Desire would show an energy variant of Jay, much like the first variant of the Desire when it was just the silhouette. This was the part of Jay that wanted to continue using whatever resource there was to achieve victory.
"I can't do anything about this. The best thing to do is reach his mind or something! Do I even have a Pokemon for that?!" Scootaloo blurted. She's never dealt with a Desire before. She's only seen others handle it with other forms of power. Scootaloo didn't exactly have a Psychic-Type or anyone with Aura to assist. "Unless...Can any of you swap out your Pokemon, please?!"
"This is weird..." The opposing team had no idea what to make of this. This was certainly a sigh to behold for their first Pokemon Baccer Junior Event.
"Raboot!" Raboot had a better solution to this. He figured there was another way to knock Jay back to his senses. And that was with physical force. While he was weakened, he wasn't unable to continue. Holding his chest high, Raboot would approach the ball. "Ra!"
"Gible!" Gible was also free from the Desires control since it only targeted Jay's friends instead. It was just Gible and Raboot who were free to move. Raboot was counting on Gible to help him snap Jay back to reality and the ball would play a part in this.
"Boot!" Thanks to the confusion from the other team, Raboot could snatch the ball. After taking the ball, Raboot would kick it a few times with the strength he managed to muster. After building up power, Raboot would face Jay, kicking the ball directly at him. But the kick just wasn't strong enough.
"Gible!" That's where Gible came in. He used Dragon Breath on the ball, not only surrounding it in draconic energy but also giving it an extra boost in speed and power. The ball was going out of the field and straight for Jay.
"Huh?" Jay blinked as the ball struck him in the head. It was a direct hit too, right as the pure manifestation of his Desire was about to leave his body. But that never came into fruition. "Gah!" After being hit in the head, Jay would fall over, prompting the Desire to lose its focus.
The Desire howled before re-entering Jay's body, unable to fully exit. While Raboot didn't have a way to remove the Desire from him like Celestia or Ash, he found the next best thing. Once Jay fell down, the Desire was gone, hiding back in Jay. And because of that, the energy of the Desire fizzled out.
The Pokemon from the Pichu 11 were dropped, free from the Desire's control. This also meant that the energy they were given was taken away and brought back to Raboot. The Raboot Pokemon took a deep breath as all of his strength was restorted. A pleasing smile met his face as this was a great relief for him.
"Oooh man..." Jay groaned while on his back.
"Huh. That works too, I guess." Scootaloo blinked. On this day, Raboot found a second way to deal with the Desires. While it doesn't get rid of them, it can shut them up for a while and it was something everyone can do.
"Jay! Are you alright!" Aubree kneeled as all of Jay's friends approached him while he stared into the azure sky. The crowd was just as baffled as the Lampent Team. What just happened? How did things get to this level for Pokemon Baccer?
"Sorry, you guys...I messed up." Jay apologized while staying on his back. "I should've told you about this Desire or whatever it's called the day I got it. I just really wanted us to make it this far. Even if it wasn't the way I wanted it to be."
"You were doing it for Pichu. Even if Pichu wouldn't be a fan of this, she'll at least be happy knowing how far you're willing to go for her." Aubree commented.
"She'll be so mad at me when we see her again though." Jay sighed. "If she were here, we wouldn't be in this mess because of me. But that stupid curse is still around..."
"You don't have to worry about that curse anymore." Scootaloo would join the group, peering her head over. She knew that the curses could be cured now so there was nothing to fear. "I wish I could've freed you from the Desire though. Who knew hitting was a good option too?"
"Thanks for trying, Scootaloo." Jay appreciated the help. "I just met you, but you're pretty cool. Plus, your Gible's really good at the game too. First time?"
"First time!" Scootaloo grinned.
"From now on, let's try and work on ourselves, Jay. We'll be even more honest with each other, but we won't laze around anymore." His friends soon helped him up.
"Thanks, guys. If we lose this match, I won't mind it. We'll have another chance. Three weeks of oppurtunities after all."
"On the bright side, at least we'll leave an impact after this match." Aubree giggled.
"So...Are we still playing, or what?" The opposing team said. Jay smiled, getting back up as he was willing to continue even after everything that has happened. He reconciled with his friends as they all came to a misunderstanding.
"Yeah! Let's finish this!" Jay adjusted his headband He didn't have the spirit to give up. But that wasn't enough to summon his Desire again. He wasn't going to let it overtake him. This time, Jay was going to play the way he wanted. His best game. And after making ammends with his team, their synergy was about to grow. Scootaloo was glad to hear this. Now, she could truly play Pokemon Baccer.
"Way to go." Ash, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash nodded in approval. Proud of Scootaloo, Raboot and Gible. They didn't even have to get involved at all. Not once.
15 minutes later.
In the end, the Pichu 11 lost their match to the Lampent Orphic. They were the better players at the end of the day. But the score ended up being 5-4, with a majority of those scores from the Pichu 11 being Raboot. That was just the talent of his evolution line. But even though they lost, they left a mark today, being the team that truly stood out.
Jay's Desire was soon freed from his body thanks to Ash and Lucario using the power of the Aura. Thanks to them both, they could easily remove it. Now, there was just one other problem to deal with that was the cause of the Desire appearing in the first place.
"So, you can really heal Pichu!?" Jay said with excitement as that was music to his ears.
"Daisy and Paradise can. When we reach them, we'll let them come to you." Ash explained. There was hope in all of this. Hope for Pichu and the entire team. Raboot was held by Fluttershy, needing some time to rest even with strength returning. The side-effects were still being felt.
"Best be going now." Rarity added as her friends would now depart. They wouldn't stick around for this match, but there was a good chance they would show up for another Pokemon Baccer event during this festival. "The rest of the Pokemon Festival is waiting for us.
"Scootaloo. Come play with us again pretty soon! Maybe when we're with Pichu." Aubree pleaded
"I will! It was a blast playing my first match." Scootaloo promised to do so, without a doubt. She had just found herself a new passion. And Raboot was also ready to return to this one day.
Quite the experience they had to today. They learned that there was another variant of the Desire roaming around. Jay was the first example and now, there might be more out there. But that was yet to be seen so far. The Desires were not the crux of this year's festival's wild event, it seems. As the journey continues.
Chapter 289 End.