I own nothing. Kudos to whoever finds the game references, although it isn’t very hard.

Chapter 46

The air in the Hearthome stadium was so thick with tension one could cut it, butter it and slap it between two slices of white bread. May Birch and Josh Morris were facing one another, each of them having two Pokemon stood in front of them. Battling for May were her ever trusty Blaziken and Wartortle, a Pokemon no one had seen her command before. Fighting for Josh was Swampert and Rapidash. It had appeared that both Coordinators were going for the fusion of Fire and Water. The battle had already been going on for eight minutes when Wartortle and Rapidash took one another out with a combination of Aqua Tail and Iron Tail, leaving just Blaziken fighting Swampert with a massive disadvantage.

“Blaziken, use Blast Burn!”

“Hydro Cannon!” the two orbs of massive energy, one red and one blue, slammed into one another. However, after a struggle, Hydro Cannon burst through and struck Blaziken, knocking her out and winning the battle for Josh. The crowd erupted into applause as the two Coordinators shook hands. Tear’s poured down May’s face, but she kept her respectful smile as Joe and the other Grand Festival finalists stepped onto the stage to watch Josh be awarded the Ribbon Cup. It was a glorious object. It was gold in colour with two spiralling handles and four different coloured gems encrusted in the rim. A ruby, a sapphire, a diamond and a pearl. Along the bottom of the cup were two spirals of platinum that each had an emerald encrusted in them. Swampert, bloodied and bruised, shot a grin up at her master as he kissed the Water/Ground-type on the head before recalling her and held the cup aloft, allowing it to glimmer in the sunlight. The stadium, which had seemed to hold a collective breath as the cup raised into the air, exploded into applause. The finalists rushed up to Josh (albeit Ryan and Leaf going a little slower than the others) and hugged him, shook his hands or gave him a congratulatory smack on the back. Joe was totally taken back when the new Grand Coordinator of Sinnoh kissed him firmly on the mouth in the middle of the stage, getting hoots from the crowd. Up in the stands, Mick seemed to stop breathing and go bright red as the image of his son and the other boy kissing appeared on the big screen. Diane laughed hugging her husband, who seemed to have gone white. After a few seconds the boys pulled apart and hugged one another.

Outside of the stadium, the media were attacking the finalists like a Sharpedo swarm would attack a school of Remoraid during a feeding frenzy. Josh and Joe were the ones being attack, mostly because of the kiss more than anything else. The questions that were being thrown at them were getting nothing short of ridiculous!

“How long have you been sleeping together?”

“Are you having a civil partnership?”

“Is one of you pregnant?” Okay, so no one asked them that one. The author just got bored and thought he would warp the universe for his own amusment. After a while, the finalists managed to escape and ran to the Pokémon Centre, where Nurse Joy and a team of Chansey protected them from the press.

“So, according to the points I came third in the Festival” Joe said from the computer that he and Kelly were hovering over, looking at the Grad Festival leader bored. Even though he and Zoey had lost their matches, he had had more points than her at the end of the fight meaning he ranked third.

“That’s really good honey!” Kelly said, hugging her friend tightly. The two couldn’t keep their grins hidden as Lucas and Josh walked up to them. Lucas wordlessly took Kelly’s hand and lead her off into the Pokémon Centre as Josh gently stroked Joe’s arm.

“I believe we had a wager” he smiled.

“I believe we did” Joe said, barely above a whisper as their faces inched closer together. They were about to kiss when two jets of water soaked their bodies. They looked to see Swampert, her arm over Feraligatr’s shoulder to support herself, chuckling while the other Water-type winked at his master. The two boys smirked before the Water-types strolled into the Pokémon Centre garden to play with the other finalists Pokémon.

That evening, the two were sat in a cosy booth at the restaurant that all the Coordinators had first eaten at when the Festival was beginning. On the TV were highlights of the League championships. Joe was happy to see that Brendan had beaten Nathan in the finals, who had in turn beaten Myer in the semi-finals.

“So what are you going to do now that you’re the Grand Coordinator?” Joe asked

“Well for a while I’ll have to stay in Sinnoh to fill out the necessary paper work, but after I’ve done that I was thinking about heading to the Kanto Region. What about you, what are your plans?”

“Well, I was thinking about going to the Johto Region. You know that I came from Blackthorn City originally, and I’ve always wanted to take on Johto to prove my worth in my homeland”

“So we won’t be travelling together” Josh muttered, obviously disappointed.

“I’m sorry, but we both have different lives to lead. I failed in Sinnoh, but the Johto Ribbon Cup is mine for the taking!” Joe said enthusiastically. Underneath the table, Cherry and Skitty, who were eating from bowls of Pokémon food, both voiced approval at Joe’s determination. “I think the reason I failed was because I focused so much on my Gym training, meaning my Pokémon were practising brute force in battles more than style. If I focus more on Contest battle combinations than strength and speed then the next Grand Festival will be a cake walk!”

“Then I wish you all the best” Josh said with a smile as the two continued to watch highlights of the League championship battle and ate their meal.

“I’m so happy for you!” May said into her PokeNav. Joe, Kelly, May and Marina were hanging out in the park where the group had trained for the Grand Festival. She was currently chatting away animatedly on her PokeNav to Brendan, stood a few foot away from the other three who were sat on the bench. Wartortle, Cherry, Burn, Plusle, Sparky and Little Miss were all out of their Pokeballs and chasing one another around the park.

“So how did it go with Josh last night?” Marina asked slyly as Little Miss got the leg up on Plusle in their game of tag; grabbing the Electric-type with Confusion and holding him in place while she tagged him.

“Well, the date was really nice. But I don’t think we’re going to get together” Joe said with a smile and a sigh. Behind them, Plusle unleashed a Thunderbolt on Little Miss, clearly displeased with her cheating. Of course, the Ghost-type redirected the attack with Confusion and ended up frying Wartortle, Cherry and Burn (Sparky had luckily evaded the attack). Soon there was a full on Pokémon battle going on behind the oblivious Coordinators, attracting a group of spectators. The four Coordinators still didn’t notice this!

“We have different paths in front of us. I failed in Sinnoh, I failed my mother. I’m going to champion Johto and at least do my dad proud. He wants to go to the Kanto Region. Although the League’s are joined their, the Grand Festival’s are separate so we won’t be able to travel together. Plus it would be awkward, having to get the necessary amount of Ribbons between us we would lose too much time.” Plusle and Sparky flew through the air as they recovered from a double Shadow Ball from Little Miss and Cherry before sending a tag-team Thunderbolt down on the two. Waves of electricity were flying around like crazy as the two Pokémon were being blasted. One wave flew towards Wartortle and Burn, who were trying to avoid fighting. The two dodged the wave and winced as it struck one of the other Trainer’s Primeape. The hot-headed Fighting-type leapt away from its Trainer, running at Wartortle with a Focus Punch. Luckily, Burn sent a burst of fire into the Fighting-type’s face, further enraging and making him change target. Wartortle leapt in front of the Shiny Magby and summoned up a shield with Protect. The Water-type ran in the middle of the fighting Pokémon and tried to calm them all down, only to be hit by two Thunderbolts, two Shadow Balls, a Flamethrower and a Focus Blast. Seconds later, massive waves of water were shooting here there and everywhere, and all the local Pokémon were joining in the brawl. But, alas, our four Coordinators saw nothing at all.

“Well, you’ll still have Kelly to keep you company, right?” May said. She was done on the phone and was now sat with them.

“Um, yeah.” Kelly begun. “Professor Rowan has offered me a place as his assistant field researcher with Lucas, and I, well, I sorta decided to take it” the four were silent for a few seconds. In the background, Wartortle soared above the rest of the Pokémon with a Surf attack, bringing down a massive wave on everyone. Including the Coordinators!

Joe and Kelly, along with their families and Lucas, were stood at the Sandgem Town pier. They were all saying their farewells as the Dodgson family prepared to catch the boat back to Lilycove.

“This past year has been brilliant Kelly. Thank you for travelling with me and helping me overcome all of those challenges along the road” Joe said, hugging the ginger girl.

“You look after yourself, you big idiot” she said, tears rolling down her face as she held him against her. “I’ll be coming to the Johto Grand Festival to watch you win. So don’t you dare lose!”

“I won’t, I’ll win each of my battles for you” the two held one another as tears streamed down their faces. Lucas gently put his hand on Joe’s shoulder. The two pulled away from each other and Joe lightly punched the other boy in the chest.

“You look after her yeah? Don’t let her get hurt, and when she runs off to discover something make sure she doesn’t get eaten by an Aggron!”

“Don’t worry. I’ll defend her with my life” Lucas smiled. The families all said some teary goodbyes before the Dodgson’s got onto the ferry. Joe watched Sinnoh slowly disappear into the distance and felt his heart aching. So much had happened. He had fallen in love, he had fought for the planet, he had made true friends and now it was all over. He was alone again. Well, almost alone. This time, he had so many Pokémon with him. The next time he fought for the Ribbon Cup in Johto, he knew he was going to win it. For his friends, for his family and for his Pokémon.

Thank you so much for being an avid reader of Sinnoh Legacy, formerly Coordinator Legacy. The next stories title will be Coordinator Legacy: Johto Edition. I’ll see you all there. Please, please PLEASE check out my profile for the audition files. I NEED YOUR HELP!

Love you all

xo