CHAPTER 28 - WHIRL CUP FINAL

The next morning, Misty woke up early. Today was her big day: the Whirl Cup final against Wallace. She did her daily morning routine of taking a shower, brushing her teeth, brushing her hair and putting her clothes on. Today, for this special occasion, she wore an elegant, strapless black dress that showed off her beautiful curves. Then, she went downstairs, to the big eating room in the hotel. There, Drew and Cilan were already sitting at the big eating table.

"Good morning, Misty," Cilan said.

"You look beautiful as always," Drew added.

"Thank you, guys!" Misty responded, while Brock and Lucy came downstairs.

"And, Misty, are you going to win today?" Drew asked.

"Well, I'm a little nervous, but that's normal for such a big battle. I rely on my Pokemon," Misty answered.

Then, Ash came downstairs, together with Pikachu and Togetic. "Misty, don't say a word like that again! There's no reason to be nervous! You and your Pokemon trained very hard, pretty much every day of our journey. And you battled a lot too! You are gonna beat Wallace today and that's that!"

"Ash, you were nervous for big battles too..." Misty teased. "Do you remember your first League battle ever, against Mandi in the Kanto League? You were nervous back then!"

"That was my first League battle, what else would you expect?" Ash snapped, while May and Max came downstairs too.

"And how about your Orange League final against Drake?" Misty asked.

Ash sighed. Knowing that his girlfriend was right, Ash didn't know what to say.

"Um... Misty is right, Ash," Tracey said. He, Daisy, Dawn and Zoey were just in time to hear the conversation about being nervous.

"Misty, what Pokemon are you going to use?" Zoey asked, in an attempt to change the conversation topic.

"Tentacruel and Dewgong," Misty answered.

"Why?" Dawn asked.

"Well, when it comes to sheer power, most of my Pokemon can't compete with Wallace's, but Tentacruel and Dewgong do have those amounts of sheer power," Misty responded, while Drew was staring at her chest.

"That's a smart choice," Brock complimented.

"That makes sense," Lucy stated.

Then, a pink Pokemon came out of a Poke Ball in Misty's bag. "Hoppip!" he cheered, while hugging his trainer.

"Hoppip, you'll have to be with Ash during the battle. I want you to listen to him. Is that understood?" Misty asked. Her Pokemon nodded.

One hour later, our heroes all were to the big stadium. There, they saw a big crowd of Wallace fans. "Wow, Wallace sure does have a lot of fans..." Misty thought. She was standing on her spot, just in front of the battlefield. Then, she looked at her friends, who were cheering for her. Dawn even wore her cheerleader outfit, while Pikachu, Togetic and Hoppip cheered more fanatically than ever before. Meanwhile, Brock and Lucy were playing childish kissing games on the stand.

"Do you think Misty stands a chance, Brock?" Max asked.

"I think so. But it won't be an easy battle..." Brock answered, while he saw Misty and Wallace standing on their spots in front of the battlefield, ready to battle.

Then, the referee stepped forward. "This is the Whirl Cup final! Both trainers will use two Pokemon. When both Pokemon of one Trainer are defeated, that Trainer loses. There is no time limit. Choose your Pokemon!"

First, Wallace took a Poke Ball from his belt, and hurled it in the air. "Ludicolo, I choose you!" he said, while a happy Pokemon stood on the small piece of land on the battlefield.

Then, Misty sent out the Pokemon she planned to use. "Tentacruel, go!" The strong, blue jellyfish appeared in the water.

"Begin!" the referee shouted.

"Tentacruel, let's start with a Poison Sting!" Misty commanded. The blue jellyfish released sharp, purple needles from his stringer, shooting these at the dancing Grass Pokemon, who wasn't fast enough to avoid this blow, and ended up being severely damaged.

"That's a great start!" Ash said on the stand, showing a big smile.

"Pi Pikachu!" his Pokemon added.

"Toge Togetic!" Misty's signature Pokemon cheered.

"Hoppip!" the Grass Pokemon shouted.

"Ludicolo, are you okay?" Wallace asked.

"Ludi!" the Pokemon shouted.

"Ludicolo, Energy Ball!" the Coordinator shouted. A green blast of power was shot at Tentacruel, who avoided at first, but eventually got hit, because Ludicolo kept firing Energy Balls.

"Tentacruel, Headbutt!" Misty commanded. The jellyfish swam at his opponent, but failed to hit it, because the Grass Pokemon evaded the attack by dancing.

"Now, use Ice Beam!" the Hoenn Champion commanded. Ice was shot at the jellyfish, who got frozen!

"Oh no!" Misty thought.

"Now, freeze the rest of the battlefield with Ice Beam!" the Coordinator shouted. The dancing Pokemon shot rays of ice all over the field, causing all the water to freeze.

Misty saw her Pokemon being frozen, in a frozen field of ice. What could she do? Tentacruel was stuck in the ice and couldn't move.

"Ludicolo, let's end this with Hyper Beam!" Wallace commanded. The dancing Pokemon started charging. Misty was afraid her Pokemon wouldn't survive such a strong blow, but knew the jellyfish couldn't move in the ice.

Then, she got an idea. "Tentacruel, use Mirror Coat immediately when the ice breaks, to counter that attack!" She hoped her Pokemon was able to hear her command while he was shrouded in ice. Wallace knew he was in trouble, but when Misty finished her command, Ludicolo already shot the Hyper Beam at Tentacruel.

As predicted, the attack shattered the ice around Tentacruel. Then, the jellyfish did what Misty told him to, countering the Hyper Beam back at the dancing Grass Pokemon. Then, an explosion caused a wall of smoke.

When the smoke was gone, the spectators, referee and battlers were able to see the consequences of the countered Hyper Beam. First of all, the battlefield wasn't fully frozen anymore. At the spot where Ludicolo stood was some water now: the Hyper Beam caused some ice to melt. In the water, the referee saw the Grass Pokemon, who was defeated. Meanwhile, Tentacruel lay on the ice, trying to get up.

"Ludicolo is defeated, Tentacruel is the winner!" the referee announced.

"That was awesome!" Max said on the stands.

"Don't be too happy, Tentacruel suffered a lot of damage. It wouldn't surprise me if Tentacruel would collapse in a few seconds," Brock responded. He looked worried.

"Misty, that was very smart of you," Wallace complimented his opponent. "But this battle isn't over yet. I've won a tournament like this in Hoenn, but not in Johto, and you can't keep me from winning this tournament. Milotic, go!" The Champion hurled a Poke Ball, from which a beautiful Pokemon emerged.

"Milooo!" the Pokemon shouted.

"Wow, it's so gorgeous!" May fangirled. "That would be the perfect Contest Pokemon!"

"Oh no, it's his Milotic!" Zoey murmured. She wasn't surprised, but was shocked.

"That Pokemon is so strong..." Dawn whined. "Do you guys think Misty can beat it?"

"I'm not sure... Tentacruel is pretty much done for," Lucy answered.

"She said she'll use Dewgong next. If there's one Pokemon of her who can do it, it's Dewgong," Cilan stated.

"And Dewgong will have an advantage on the ice," Iris replied.

"And Misty is smart," Drew added.

"Begin!" the referee shouted, after noticing that Tentacruel got up.

"Tentacruel can't do much more, but I have a great idea to help Dewgong!" Misty thought. "Tentacruel, make a small pool of water by smashing the ice with Poison Jab!" The jellyfish smashed the ice with his stinger, creating some water to swim in. Then, Tentacruel continued using his stinger to smash even more ice, leaving ice on top of the battlefield aside from two pools of water, with water under the massive layer of ice. Then, Tentacruel went back to his small pool of water on the surface

"Why is she doing that?" Wallace thought. He knew Tentacruel was better in the water than on ice, but he wasn't sure what the point of this was. "Anyways, Tentacruel is exhausted, too exhausted to evade an attack now," he thought. "Milotic, Hydro Pump!" Water was shot from a long distance at the tired jellyfish, who was instantly defeated.

"Tentacruel is defeated. Milotic is the winner!" the referee shouted.

"Well done, Tentacruel. Come back!" Misty complimented her defeated Pokemon, before returning him to his Poke Ball. Then, she took a Poke Ball from her bag. "Dewgong, it all depends on you now!" she shouted.

"Dew Gong Gong Gong!" the Ice Pokemon said energetically.

"Begin!" the referee shouted.

"Dewgong, let's start with a Horn Attack!" Misty suggested. Her Pokemon hopped at the opponent, giving it a harsh blow with his horn.

"Milotic, Iron Tail!" Wallace commanded. Dewgong jumped away just in time to avoid the tail, which was aimed at him.

"Dewgong, Aqua Tail!" Misty commanded. The Ice Pokemon jumped in the air, then he tried to hit the opponent with his tail.

"Milotic, Wrap!" Wallace shouted. The beautiful Pokemon wrapped his tail around Dewgong's tail, holding the Ice Pokemon.

"Dewgong, try to hit him with your Horn Attack!" Misty commanded. However, Milotic held the Ice Pokemon so far away from its body, that Dewgong was unable to do anything.

"Now, smack him down on the ice and then throw him away!" Wallace commanded. Milotic moved its tail up and down, smacking Dewgong on the ice multiple times. Then, it hurled its opponent away, making him crash down on the icy surface.

"Dewgong, no!" Misty shouted. The Ice Pokemon was trying to get up.

"Do you guys also think that Milotic is just too strong to defeat?" May asked.

"No! Dewgong can do it!" Cilan countered.

"I agree," Cilan said. ""Misty was able to turn the tables in previous battles, I don't see why she wouldn't be able to do that again!" Togetic, Hoppip and Pikachu seemed to side with Cilan, judging by their happy cheering.

The spectators looked at the battlefield, and saw how Dewgong was able to continue the battle. "Dewgong, use your Ice Beam to freeze the pool of water Milotic is in!" Misty shouted. And so, Dewgong caused his opponent to be stuck in one spot, limiting the majestic Milotic to long-range attacks.

"Now, Dewgong, Signal Beam!" Misty commanded. A colourful was shot at Milotic, who was stuck in the ice and unable to avoid getting hit harshly.

"Milotic, try a Water Pulse!" Wallace commanded.

"Dewgong, now go under the ice to avoid that attack, then smash the ice and hit Milotic with your Horn Drill!" Misty commanded. And so, Dewgong went under the ice, where Milotic was unable to see the Ice Pokemon.

"Milotic, when you notice the ice where you are is starting to break, use Hyper Beam!" Wallace commanded. His Pokemon started charging.

"Dewgong, turn back and don't hit him!" Misty commanded, knowing that her Pokemon would hurt himself if he'd come out of the ice and water if that would happen too close to Milotic. However, Dewgong wasn't able to hear it!

And so, Dewgong's horn shattered the ice. Then, Dewgong tried to hit Milotic with his horn, but got smacked down in the water by the strong Hyper Beam. Dewgong drifted upwards, and lay on the surface of the water.

"Dewgong, no!" Misty shouted. "Can you go on?"

"Dew..." her Pokemon muttered, attempting to get up after being hurt by another harsh blow.

"This doesn't look good..." Brock moaned.

"Pika Pika!" Pikachu cheered, backed up by Togetic and Hoppip.

"Come on, Dewgong, you can do it!" Misty shouted. Then, Dewgong got up. He knew he couldn't battle for much longer, but the encouragement of his beloved trainer helped him to continue battling. He wanted to fight. He wanted to fight for his Trainer, who rescued him from the torture of having to assist her sisters during boring shows, and enabled him to do that what he loved most: battling.

Then, Dewgong turned his head and looked at Milotic. His eyes looked like they were on fire. "Dewgong!" he screamed. He looked like he was furious, ready to take all anger out on Milotic.

Wallace looked at Dewgong and got frightened. However, he remained calm and confident."Milotic, let's finish this with Iron Tail."

"Dewgong, jump and use Lick!" Misty shouted. The Ice Pokemon jumped just at the right time to prevent getting hit, and then, his tongue came out of his mouth, hitting Milotic's long tail. The beautiful Pokemon looked terrified, the Lick shocked it.

"Now, finish this with Aurora Beam!" Misty commanded. Dewgong collected all of his effort, anger, determination and power in one strong, colourful beam, which was blasted at Milotic from a small distance. Then, the Hoenn Champion's Pokemon collapsed!

"Milotic is defeated, Dewgong is the winner. Victory goes to Misty, the winner of this Whirl Cup tournament!" the referee shouted.

In a wild state of euphoria, Misty took off her clothes and jumped into the water on the battlefield. She swam at Dewgong, giving her Pokemon a hug to celebrate the victory. "You did it! Thank you so much, you're so awesome!" she complimented her Ice Pokemon. Despite not wearing any clothes, she didn't feel very cold: the weather was very warm, so a big portion of the ice was molten during the battle.

"Dew!" the Pokemon shouted, enjoying his trainer's hug.

In the meantime, Misty's support group was also euphoric. Ash hugged his Pikachu. "She did it!" he kept screaming. Meanwhile, Drew was staring at Misty and Dewgong.

"She and her Pokemon are so close!" May complimented, enjoying Misty's and Dewgong's swim through the battlefield, while Drew was focusing on something else.

"Wow, she's even better than my brother Cress, who is also a Water Pokemon Trainer," Cilan thought. "And if she would battle Chili, she'd beat the crap out of him."

"It wasn't easy, but she's the deserved winner," Lucy said.

"I agree," Brock replied.

"I wasn't expecting it anymore, but Misty is a great tactician and she surprised me several times during this tournament!" Max said.

"I had faith in this outcome all along," Cilan bragged.

"It's Cilan shuts up time!" Iris nagged.

"I said it before and I stand by my point, she'd be a great Coordinator!" Dawn suggested.

"I don't think she would want to give up battling. And even I as a Coordinator have to admit that that's totally right, she does what she loves and what she's good at," Zoey responded.

"I never expected this from Dewgong!" Daisy said, looking surprised. "Misty truly made him shine! Me, Lily and Violet were never able to do that."

"Is Dewgong originally yours or Misty's?" Tracey asked.

"Misty befriended him as a little kid on a holiday to the Seafoam Islands, so it's officially Misty's Pokemon. When she started travelling, she wanted to take him with her, but we needed him for our shows. So we didn't allow her and decided to keep him at the Gym. However, he didn't seem to enjoy assisting us in our shows, and really enjoyed battling. But we barely used him for battles. When Misty started traveling again, she took Dewgong with her, and now, we can say that it's exactly what Dewgong needed."

"Yeah, Misty sure is the perfect trainer for Dewgong!" Tracey agreed.

"It's because of her aquatic passion," Ash said.

Ten minutes later, Misty was wearing her clothes again and stood on a stage with Sea Priestess Maya, who was there to deliver Misty her prize. Dewgong was sitting next to his trainer.

Maya gave Misty a Mystic Water, and declared her a Water Pokemon Alpha Omega. "O, Great Sea Spirit and past Heroes of the Sea, continue to watch over the Whirl Cup Competition and safeguard the harmony of all humans and Pokémon alike," she spoke. The audience in the stadium gave Misty and her Dewgong a standing ovation.

One hour later, after answering questions from journalists, Misty reached the hotel, where her friends already were. She opened the door, entering the big eating room.

"CONGRATULATIONS!" her friends shouted simultaneously.

"Thank you!" Misty replied. "Did you organize all this for me?"

"I organized it, I knew you'd win!" Ash replied. "There's a jacuzzi, there's food, and there's a DJ who plays music from a lot of different genres, so everyone will like some songs."

She kissed him on the cheek, followed by a hug. "Thank you so much! I'm gonna hang out in the jacuzzi with Dewgong, Hoppip and Togetic."

"Misty, why did you take your clothes off when you jumped in the water after your battle?" her boyfriend asked.

"Well, I didn't want my clothes to be wet when I received the Mystic Water, and I wasn't even thinking straight anymore, I was so happy and wanted to celebrate this victory with Dewgong!" she answered.

"I understand," he responded. "And hey, we all do crazy things sometimes."

Then, the music started playing. While she was enjoying the guitars of one of her favourite bands, she took off her clothes, jumped in the jacuzzi, put her bikini on and sent Dewgong out of his Poke Ball, while Hoppip and Togetic followed her to the water.

"I did it!" she thought. "Finally! And all thanks to my awesome Pokemon, I owe everything to them! I should make them celebrate here too!" And so, she sent out the other Pokemon she had with her. Seaking, Seadra, Tentacruel and Marill came out of their Poke Balls. Then, Misty put a tube in the water before sending out Psyduck too, so the duck would be able to float and not drown.

Then, a blue-haired man opened the door of the room and entered the party. "Hey, guys, is it okay if I join this party? I want to talk to Misty." It was Wallace, the Hoenn Champion.

"Sure, Wallace!" Ash replied.

Then, he walked to the pool. He bended over, to shake hands with Misty, congratulating her. "Misty, now you won the Whirl Cup, what are you gonna do now?" he asked.

"Well, I heard there are tournaments like this in other regions too. I think it would be nice to participate in those!" she replied.

"That's a good idea to get better and it's the best thing you can do to become a Water Pokemon Master," he said.

"Indeed. Even though I won this tournament, I'm not a Water Pokemon Master yet, and I'm definitely not finished. There's still a lot I can achieve," she responded.

"That's the right mindset. I'm going now, have fun and again, congratulations! And I'm glad your Pokemon are celebrating too, they deserve it! That Dewgong really impressed me!" he replied.

"Thank you so much!" she said. "Bye!"

Wallace walked back to the jacuzzi. "Wait, I forgot to tell you this: in Hoenn, there's a tournament in one and a half year. It's called the Sootopolis Cup. Are you interested?"

"Sure!" Misty replied. "I've never been to Hoenn, so traveling there would be nice, and that tournament also sounds interesting! Thank you for telling me. Bye!"

When Wallace left the party room, Ash came to his girlfriend. "Hey, Misty, shall I get you a beer?" he asked.

When he heard that, Drew came at Misty. "How about two beers?"

"I can bring you three!" Ash said angrily.

"Or four," Drew suggested, in an attempt to impress Misty.

"Stop it, you guys! I don't even want beer now!" Misty snapped. "And Drew, why are you acting like this?"

"He's a little tipsy, he already had a few beers himself," Ash said, laughing.

"Well, that explains it," she replied.

One hour of relaxing later, Ash came to the pool. "Misty, your favourite song will start playing in one minute. Would you like to dance?"

"Yes, if you come into the pool to have a water dance with me!" Misty suggested. Ash took off his clothes, aside from his underpants, and jumped into the jacuzzi.

Then, when "I Was Made For Lovin' You" by KISS started, Ash put his hands around Misty's waist. Tracey, Daisy, Brock, Lucy, Max, May, Drew, Dawn, Zoey, Iris and Cilan came to the pool to watch the dancing couple. While Ash was being clumsy as expected, Misty did somewhat better. But she was more interested in singing along than in dancing, something she wasn't that good at. And so, during the chorus, they gave up dancing, and Ash decided to sing along.

"I was made for lovin' you, baby!" he sung, while Pikachu and Togetic did a better job at dancing than Ash and Misty could ever do.

"You were made for lovin' me!" she sung happily.

"And I can't get enough of you baby! Can you get enough of me?" they sung simultaneously.

A few minutes later, they finished singing and burst out in laughing.

"Wow Ash, you suck at singing!" Max teased.

"And you suck at dancing!" Dawn said to Misty.

"We don't care!" Ash replied.

"Yeah," Misty said. "We just did this for fun."

"Well, Misty, one thing is clear: leaving the Gym and traveling with Ash again was the best decision you ever made in your life!" Brock said.

"I agree, you and Ash are a great couple, you made Dewgong happy and you won the Whirl Cup!" Tracey agreed.

"Misty, there's something I need to say to you , it's about what Tracey said. Again, is there anything I can do for you to make you forgive Lily, Violet and me?" Daisy begged.

"Well, I've thought about this a lot in the past week. And I decided to forgive you three. Holding grudges and hating you won't get me anywhere, so I'll forgive you three, so we can try to get on good terms and have a normal sister relationship," Misty answered.

"Thank you so much!" Daisy replied.

"That's very mature of you, Misty!" Tracey complimented. "And you made Daisy very happy!"

"Thank you," Misty responded.

"Togetic!" Togetic shouted.

Twenty-four hours later, the contrast was big. While their friends left to their respective regions, Ash and Misty arrived in Cianwood City after a boat ride. Instead of a skirt and a bikini, or a sexy dress, Misty wore jeans, a scarf and a long winter jacket.

"Ash, the past few days were the most awesome days of my life!" Misty said.

"I enjoyed it too," Ash replied. "But I'm also looking forward to winning a new Badge!"

"I understand. Have you already thought about what Pokemon you're gonna use?" Misty asked, while Pikachu and Togetic followed their trainers.

"Um... I'm not sure yet, but I'll certainly use Bayleef. Do you remember how Bayleef single-handedly won me the Badge here six years ago?"

"Of course I remember that!" Misty replied. "It's smart of you to use Bayleef!"

And so, our heroes enjoyed their stay on Red Rock Isle, but they are looking forward to what the future holds. Including Ash's upcoming Gym battle, a battle that would be perfect for Bayleef.