Chapter 57 - 57 - Grey vs. Rico of Kawayan City

Rico was being called by Grey to meet him outside at the outskirts of the sloped city for a Pokémon battle, testing his strength as a Pokémon Trainer. Rico, in response, accepted his challenge with determination to win it.

And by 1:22 p.m., after lunch, at an area with trees and an open field, they begin their Pokémon battle. Their Pokémon are Piplup and Flareon; other of their Pokémon are watching them battle. The atmosphere around them was calm, but a bit intense due to the battle, with a nice view of the city across a highway.

"Let's see how strong you are," Grey said to Rico in style.

"Alright then, take it," replied Rico back in cool and eager style. Piplup then responded with seriousness.

Then, as the sun sets towards the west, the battle had began.

"Flareon, use Flamethrower!" Grey commanded Flareon seriously. Flareon then jumped and used Flamethrower, opening its mouth and scorched an intense blast of fire towards Piplup.

"Piplup, use Hydro Pump!" Rico commanded Piplup in cool seriousness. Piplup then used Bubble Beam, opening its beak and released a stream of blue bubbles, extinguishing the Flamethrower with power and cut through it and strike Flareon, weakening it very much.

"Wow, so powerful," Grey thought in stunning. "Bubble Beam? It's like Bubble, but more powerful."

"Powerful, isn't?" responded Rico back. Piplup then responded seriously. Grey then snapped out from his stunning surprise, and replied back seriously, "Oh, yeah, even I had the disadvantage, I can beat you. Flareon, use Flare Blitz!" Getting up seriously, Flareon used Flare Blitz, cloaking itself in fire and charges at Piplup, striking it with power.

"Oh, no, Piplup!" Rico responded back in alert. Piplup was weakened, but manage to get up.

"What is that?" Rico asked in stunning surprise.

"It's Flare Blitz," Grey explained to him about that move, "it's a powerful Fire-type move that cloaks your Pokémon in fire and charges at the opponent." Flareon then responded with seriousness.

"Wow, so powerful and cool," Rico thought in his mind in amazement. But that didn't last long when Piplup stand up finally and used Bubble Beam, opening its beak and released a stream of blue bubbles at Flareon, striking it with great power.

"Wow! Piplup, you're still up?" Rico asked it in amazement. Riolu and Litleo then responded with asking. Piplup then seriously nodded to say yes. Flareon was nearly weakened to the ground by that strong Water-type move.

"Alright then, you wanna beat me?" Grey seriously retorted in response. "Then do it! Flareon, use Flamethrower, again!" Manage to stand up, Flareon used Flamethrower, opening its mouth and scorched an intense blast of fire towards Piplup.

"Quickly, use Bubble Beam!" Rico commanded Piplup quickly and seriously. Piplup then jumped high and used Bubble Beam, opening its beak and released a stream of blue bubbles, cutting through the Flamethrower and stayed at the same spot for a little while, contesting each other's power. Both Trainers are in serious pressure on which one of their Pokémon will win.

"You can do it, Piplup," Rico thought in his mind.

"Beat it, Flareon," Grey thought in his mind. Then, after a little time of balance, the Bubble Beam went through the Flamethrower and struck Flareon with great power, inflicting it so much pain Flareon got defeated by it. This shocks Grey a lot, and Rico became positively delighted by it. Flareon was defeated, and Piplup wins the battle. Sighing in defeat and without any retaliation, Grey commented, "Wow, you had defeated me. Well, that was an awesome battle." Looking surprised at this unselfish attitude, Rico responded, "What? Are you serious?" Calling his defeated Pokémon back, Grey replied, "It's alright, next time, I'll win against you." He then put his Poké Ball back in his Pokébelt.

"Wow, thank you," replied Rico back in positivity, "I thought you're like gonna mad about being defeated by me."

"It's okay, I don't usually act like that," Grey responded back positively. They all then became positively happy as the sun sets over the mountainous horizon.

For the rest of the afternoon, they gaze upon the sunset and the beautiful view of the city, walk around the city, and even experienced in a festival of books and literature, one of the longest festivals in the region, with a duration of almost 7 months. The main purpose of this is to promote literary culture of the east and south parts of the region to visitors from other places. Pokémon are often the subjects and themes of poems and short stories. Rico, however, had a fond of reading books, especially poems about Pokémon. Maneki is one of the long time patrons of this festival by creating colorful book covers and art cover displays every time he, usually with his father, visits. Theodora's themes are roses and strawberry shortcake to her art. For Rico, he decided to make his own theme for the festival tomorrow, working on with crayons, highlighters, and colorful pens. He decided to include his proposed Galenus kingdom ruins theme and his Pokémon's themes to his mix of art.

By night time, they, along with Maneki and his relatives, went out to eat up at a restaurant that offers Salted Curry and salted caramel brownies. It was quite almost salty as the sea, but it was worth it, with the night being clear and only had a few white clouds.