Elemental War
Chapter 1: End of Purity
"Speech."
'Thoughts.'
The battle hosted by the legendaries every century always proved to be the main event overshadowed by none. Those chosen were praised and respected for their strength and courage, though only one will come out alive as the seventeen others are brutally killed off.
And that one person will be granted anything they wish for, whether it be endless wealth or astronomical power.
The contestants were all in their starting positions, each one tensed up in preparation for the signal to start at noon. This competition would be taking place in Johto's Goldenrod City, the largest metropolis in the region, with enough space for the destruction to come as the buildings still stood despite all its residents having been evacuated.
And with the roar that tore apart the sky that many thought to have been made by the legendary dragon himself, the contestants sprung into action, to find either resources, shelter, or their first victim.
But the pink-haired girl in the gym was the only one to remain unmoved, shivering and shaking in fear. She loved battle and proving how the cute pokémon she owned could take care of themselves in combat, but she herself had never fought another person before.
Though she had been granted supernatural strength and endurance given by her Normal typing, she had no combat knowledge nor experience. She felt trapped within her own gym, at the edge of the battlefield she knew like the back of her hand, too fearful of the outside to step out.
Whitney was but a frail girl, unsuited for such a tournament, the coaxing placed upon her had taken full advantage of her foolishness and naivety. She was told to be the representative to fight for peace, to be the one to lead by example for the greater good. As such, she played as the competition's pacifist, a role that the Normal representative usually received due to the nature of the pokémon they were associated with.
But such a role almost never won. How could one win a war without fighting? Words of peace mean little to the others, as they all tunnel and kill for the one promised wish.
She formed a tight fist with her hand, glaring down as she felt tricked into participating in the first place. The girly girl persona she possessed for the majority of her life vanished as she envisioned her own death, something unfathomable to her at that moment, standing in her own gym.
Almost anyone who knew of her beforehand would not recognize her as she glared at the large gym doors, ready to fight off the first one to dare appear.
And someone did exactly that, the doors slowly creaking open to expose the hot rays of the midday sun, a small part of it being blocked out by the figure of a tiny girl in a dress to form a shadow, an innocent being with tears in her eyes yet relief at seeing Whitney.
Acerola ran across the vast pink floors and up to her, hugging the surprised Normal representative. The little girl's huge eyes were drowned in tears as she wailed.
"Did th-they drag you in here too? They t-tricked me into coming here. I don't even want to hurt anyone...I swear!" Her words were muffled as she kept wiping her face into Whitney's chest, still holding onto the stunned girl for dear life.
The older girl's expression softened as she began to stroke the child's hair, trying to calm her, though inwardly relieved at not being the only one in fear of the others.
Though she couldn't quite recognize the younger girl as her face was masked earlier by shadows near the entrance, and she had now smushed it into Whitney's body, seemingly for reassurance. Seeing as how her shoulders stopped shivering in fear, the Normal-type began to talk quieting to calm her.
"It'll be fine. If we team up, we'll have better odds, right? Don't cry, you're too adorable and young to cry." It was as if she was back where she was meant to be, caring for young, cute, and adorable companions, whether they were other young girls or her own pokémon.
The girl looked back up at her, smiling in return, receiving a reassuring grin from Whitney. However, the child's next words placed her on edge as her tone switched to one of impossible, inhumane, cruelty.
"Representative of Ghosts, killing through deceit."
It was the line unique to every participant that must be said before commencing battle with another, the rule having been instated to prevent the abundance of silent killings in the past.
Whitney quickly shoved the girl away, launching her across the entire gym with superhuman strength, the body still managing to land on its feet.
"R-r-representative of Normals, k-killing th-through peace." Her voice shook, her mind blanking as she realized the severity of the situation, and how she had been fooled once more.
Her pupils began to dilate as the small girl's body bent unnaturally, falling over as dust was kicked up, leaving nothing but skin and clothes where it had landed on the ground.
Whitney's eyes bulged and she unleashed a cry as she felt a searing pain in her back, looking over as the smaller girl gripped onto her like a black raven with claws, forcing a rotating ball of haunting shadows into her spine.
She shook to the side, launching the girl off of her, though clenched her teeth as the exposed flesh on her back began to paint the floors in crimson. She glared at the face of the expressionless girl, who stared back at her with no motive except to kill. The child suddenly launched forward in immense speed due to her size, her right hand resembling a claw as purple shadows surrounded it, colliding with Whitney's arms that came out as a counter.
The attack left gashes in her forearms, Acerola knowing that her opponent would soon be dead if she kept up her fast-paced style. However, when she tried to pounce on her again, a protective sphere surrounded her, cutting her off entirely as she was flung back.
Within the sphere, Whitney held a face of concentration as her wounds began to heal and her cut clotted, using her typing's niche to its fullest potential. Once she opened her eyes, she used Protect once more to fend off the oncoming Shadow Ball, though the attack distracted her from acknowledging the absence of her opponent. As soon as the two moves met, the cloud formed by the collision fogged up the entirety of the gym.
She had to wait out the dust cloud, leaving herself vulnerable to attack. She kept the shield up as long as she could, though it eventually wore out as she regained her vision, though there was no sign of the child.
Underneath her, two slanted eyes formed in her shadow as the girl emerged from it, both of her small arms clutching onto a giant bone as she leaped behind the larger girl, swinging it as hard as she could, crashing it into Whitney's exposed back.
The victim painfully turned around to react to the next attack, preemptively forming the shield once more.
She was greeted with Acerola's smile, her first sign of emotion since before the fight had begun, as she cancelled the Shadow Ball in her palm and vanished completely into thin air, reappearing behind her opponent within a split second as her entire body became encased in shadow, her head shaped into that of a frightening dragon's. She utilized the legendary Ghost-Dragon's Shadow Force to finish off her target, biting down onto her exposed neck, eliciting a sickening crunch from it.
Whitney's body fell lifeless to the ground, her face slamming into the floor that hosted precious memories as all that could be seen were her torn clothes, bruised back, and eviscerated neck.
The Ghost-type's eyes became wide once again as she put on her false smile, prancing out of the gym as if she was truly innocent and pure.
'Only sixteen more to go...'
She looked back before closing the door, a sadistic grin forming at the pool of blood the body was drenched in, the first sincere emotion she had all day at killing the owner of the gym on her own battlegrounds.
Disclaimer: This is also based on Juuni Taisen, which I do not own.
Author's Notes: This first battle was meant to be one-sided, to show that not every contestant is battle-ready. Although, future fights with more powerful and relatively equal sides will be in much greater detail and be more entertaining to see. The action in this specific chapter was to weed out the weakest and most unprepared link, as well as to demonstrate Acerola's strengths.