Going forward and beyond {Path of the Aura Ranger: Book I}

I Piplup's P.O.V

"Piplup. Spotlight!" Dawn threw the ball and I appeared with a flurry of hearts.

"Houndoom." The opponent coordinator said and with rainbow confetti, Houndoom appeared.

"Open up with Swift." Houndoom shot out rainbow-colored stars at me. reducing our points.

That hurt! I moaned in my head, as I received the attack.

"Catch the Swift with Bubble Beam." I fired off the bubbles and each bubble caught a star. "Spin and use Peck." I then popped all the bubbles and destroyed the Swift making rainbow sparkles fall around me. Making the other Coordinator's points reduced by triple that of Dawn's. Leaving about two-thirds left.

"Ultimate Rainbow Flamethrower!" Rick commanded clearly irritated that we countered so effectively. Houndoom launched the rainbow-colored flames but this time the flames reshaped into the head of Houndoom about to bite me.

T-that's scary! I shuddered. How is he doing that?!

"Bubble Beam. Extinguish the flames." I was about to do that when the head grew to a colossal size shocking me. Then the head bit down on me followed by the continuous stream of rainbow fire.

I screamed in pain. When the attack finally ended I was still standing but heavily damaged. As a water-type pokemon, the fire should not hurt me that much but the pain I felt was excruciating.

"Piplup!" I heard Dawn yell. from the corner of my eye, I could see that there was only one-third of our points left.

"Shadow Ball and Swift!" Houndoom launched a rainbow Shadow Ball and surrounded it with rainbow stars.

"Piplup, surround the stage with Bubble Beam." I jumped and started spinning, making a Bubble Beam vortex that destroyed the Shadow Ball-Swift combo, which then expanded and successfully hit Houndoom.

"All right!/All right!" Dawn and I yelled together, as we managed to land a hit.

For a second I felt in total synch with my trainer. Is this what Pikachu-senpai and Ash-senpai feel when they fight together? If so I loved it! I want to feel like this all the time. Though, we still have a long way before reaching the same level as our mentors. If we ever reach that level of synchronicity. I really hope so, I will work hard for it!

My joy was stopped short, by shock. By Dawn's gasp, I knew she felt the same. Shock from the scene before us: Houndoom began to glow a dim purple and a totally different pokemon appeared.

It looked like a fox with long hair. Everyone was in shock for a moment and some whispering to themselves, until the normally calm Mr. Contesta slammed both his hands on the table he was sitting at. "What is the meaning of this?!" He asked angrily.

"Zoroark, The illusion fox pokemon. They have the ability to make large-scale illusions and can make impossible things seem to happen and make other things invisible. It is because of that, Zoroark has been banned from all contests because it can appeal with little to no effort." Nurse joy added.

"So then the rainbow was an illusion?" Dawn asked finally getting it as people started to boo at the other coordinator if you can call him one now.

"What? You came for a show and I gave you one. It isn't easy to make appeals and be strong as well." The man replied to the boos.

"You should be ashamed of yourself!" Dawn said getting everyone's attention. I was startled for a moment. It was not rare to hear her shout. But I've never heard her snap like that, with so much indignation and barely contained anger. "Being a coordinator takes time, love, patience, and effort. Sure not all of us have the raw power of a league trainer, but that doesn't make us any less of a trainer. We take pride in our appeals and the work it takes to get them to work and wow the audience. The fact that you took an easy route and gave coordinators a bad name is a disgrace. And for what? Easy fame or money? A good coordinator competes because we want to show off our pokemon and we genuinely like performing. The fact that you had to use illusions and fake everything is just sad, and really tells us a lot about you as a trainer and a person in general!" Dawn concluded her speech. Everyone in the stadium was captivated by here speech and was rendered speechless.