So, yeah, I've been nurturing this idea for a while now and I finally think the time has come to reveal it. The fic itself starts during the Sinnoh league quarter finals between Ash and Paul. Actually I came up with what seems like a theory of why Paul had really lost on Conference, therefore the fic may sound like a non-canon. Also some relative ties which are not canon to the anime, but I felt that they would bring some savour to the plot (no, Brandon is not Reggie's or Paul's father). The story will mostly take place in Veilstone city and Altomare.
Without further ado, have a pleasant reading and don't forget to leave reviews! =^_^=
Chapter 1. Pilot.
Hundreds of people were packed into a main circular stadium, cheering, booing and squirming in their seats trying to see past the person in front of them as they looked upon what had to be one of the most dramatic matches of the Sinnoh League Conference of the past few years.
Their gazes were all fixed upon the same thing; a large rectangular dirt battlefield. During the match, the arena had undergone several changes. Small chunks of rock and masonry were now strewn about the pockmarked floor of the field, while several large holes left from dig attacks brought additional information on the intense of the ongoing battle.
On one side of the rugged battlefield a young teen stood in the red trainer box; his dark eyes were focused on his foe's pokemon as thousands of watts surged through Infernape's body via one of Electivire's cable-like tails which had a tight grip on its opponent's right hand. The fire monkey was letting out agonizing cries, which should have given Paul that sweet feeling of a forthcoming victory. It didn't.
For him, it was more of an execution of a former discarded pokemon, one which hadn't fitted under his mother's teachings, which combined a team of power-packed pokemon with clever strategy. However, with five pokemon down, he began to doubt that never backing down strategy was the key to his own success. He was missing something important - no, it couldn't have been that pathetic concept of friendship that Ketchum was so devoted to. No, it had to have been something else, something which he should have realized before this stupid match.
Eventually, Electivire discharged all of its energy into the fire monkey. Unlike his opponent, Ash Ketchum didn't hide his emotions and gritted his teeth, unable to help his beloved pokemon in any way. A truly marvelous sight for Paul's ego…In order to prove a knock out, Electivire released fire-type's arm, which resulted in a crash of the literally barbequed Infernape forward onto his knees and then under the spectators' cheers, finally slump down onto the dusty arena.
"INFERNAPE IS DOWN!" the thunderous announcement of the commentator through stadium megaphone drowned out crowd's shouts at the unbelievable sight.
"Infernape is unable –" the referee – a young man in his early twenties came closer to the fallen fire monkey to announce defeat, was about to raise one of his arms and point a red flag toward Electivire and its trainer to symbolize their victory when a sudden roar from Electivire announced Paul's protest to finish the match. The electric-type pokemon waved its left hand at the face of the struggling Infernape who was attempting to get up and continue the battle. It was a risky choice. Paul realized that if not for a frivolity of his trusted companion, he would have been probably announced as a winner, but now he wanted to crush Ketchum's confidence even more, as opposed to simply progressing into the semi-finals.
"So I guess that's the best you can do then. You're pathetic, just like always." Paul threw his "moto" replica, before switching his sight away from his former pokemon, as if it didn't deserve its former trainer's look.
What happened next was mostly beyond anyone's expectations. As Paul's words reached the sprawling Infernape, the fire-type's bulging eyes opened wide. The pokemon's expression was now something it saved for those rare times it was truly enraged. Incidentally, all these times had occured whilst battling against his former trainer, Paul Evans.
"Afraid not." this comment of Ash's was enough to morph Paul's previous look of disgust into something which could be described as awe, disbelief and even horror. Before his own very eyes, Infernape got on its legs without any help of its hands, as if some supernatural force were pulling the strings of a puppet. Of course, any educated person on the stadium along with the competitors knew that it hadn't been just some sort of magic.
"All right, Infernape, time to show Paul just how strong you are!" Ash hastily remarked, watching the sudden revival of his last pokemon.
'Blaze…' Paul's fears were proven, when Infernape unleashed a pillar of flames straight into the sky, which were accompanied with the shrieks of pure wraith. The purple haired trainer spat out an oath quietly, reminding himself to keep his emotions under control until the end of the battle – a painful lesson he received from Brandon, during the battle against the frontier brain in Snowpoint city. That damn ability to pump up the fire-type, when the pokemon was on the edge of collapse had changed the complexity of the battle. Paul was no longer sure how to proceed further – attack fast and with agression or continue fighting defensively and let his enemy finally run out of steam. Both tactics seemed appropriate, as Electrivire had enough defensive and offensive moves at his sleeve, but at that time Paul decided to go into va-banque, as he was sure that protect would not withstand Infernape's blaze.
However, just when Paul was about to give a new command to his trustworthy pokemon, he realised that to his horror, Ash had beat him to the punch.
"Yes, time for a real battle! Infernape, flamethrower!" Ash shouted, not hiding his excitement.
'Was it all part of his plan from the beginning?! To activate Infernape's blaze ability?! So he actually dared to use my own strategy against me…' Another silent self-reprimand left a purple-haired trainer's mouth for not including such important aspect in his strategy for this battle, while at the same time coming up with a countermeasure of his own.
"Infernape is more powerful than ever! So heads up! Thunder!" Electivire understood his trainer's plan and nodded loyally at the command, as the antenna atop its head buzzed into life and began to crackle with newly created electrical energy. The stream of electricity engulfed the pokemon in a mere second, creating a cloak of pure energy designed to protect it from Infernape's blaze onslaught and launch a counterattack at the same time. The electric-type raised the palms of its giant hands in front of it to meet the enemy's first wave of attack, while its tails burrowed deeply into the rocky earth of the stadium to prevent the possible recoil from the inevitable collision of two powerful attacks.
However, it seemed that even Paul wasn't prepared for the scale of the attack, as the now blaze-powered flamethrower attack, which distinctly resembled a hyper-beam move, destroyed Electrivire's thunder and reached the electric type effortlessly. The explosion of two attacks flooded the field with a huge amount of grey smoke.
"Mach punch! Go!" the purple haired trainer could only stare in disgust, as he heard his opponent behind the cloud, issuing the extremely fast attack. At the next second Electivire flew back out of the smoke in a great arc before crashing on the ground and even rolling backwards. However, due to his trainer's vigorous training, the electric type refused to give up so easily, grouping in the air and kneeling on its left knee. Unseen to anyone else, Paul gave a quick sigh of relief, though he knew perfectly well that it wasn't time to slack off – he endured the last two attacks, and now it was his turn to unleash a storm of his own.
"Let's finish this! Use thunder punch!" the Veilstone trainer barked, while unbeknownst to him, Ash Ketchum responded with the same strategy, issuing a powerful flare blitz.
Noticing how the opponent's Infernape lunged into the air as its fire mane incased the pokemon into one large fire ball while its flames changed into a light blue color, brought a skeptical raise of an eyebrow from Paul. Clearly he didn't expect such a bold move from Ketchum, as the fire type was on a verge of collapse with a poison status in addition. Though Paul also realized, how desperate the situation of his opponent was, which could have forced Ash to finish the battle with one final blow… or maybe he was just so dumb that he issued such a reckless attack.
Meanwhile, Electivire didn't waste time either. It smashed its fists together as a deadly electric arc ran through its arms. It was a 'standard' thunder punch modification, which made pokemon very proud. The principle was quite simple, while genius at the same time – using both its arms to double the damage output of the attack. However that was just half of a trick. The electric type was smashing its fists to create a powerful energy arc running between them, as if its arms were two working Tesla generators. Such combination of attacks now dealt twice as damage as a normal thunder punch would have in succession, but it also implemented a thunder shock effect, making it the most powerful close-quarters combat electric move ever known.
Finally, the two respected attacks collided, creating a what seemed to be a vortex of fire that was being restrained by the electric field that Electrivire had put out. The deadlock spawned another cloud of dust, sending it across the field in all directions and then at the aisles, blocking everyone's view. While most of the spectators and Ash Ketchum covered themselves from the dust storm hailed by the two pokemon, Paul stood strong, glaring at the sight, as his and rival's ways of training, caring for their pokemon and leading the battle crossed their paths in this final face off. Neither side was planning on giving up…
Electivire was repelling the devouring flames of flare blitz with its electrified fists when a sharp pain surged through its left leg. It fought to breathe steadily, but the previous attack had severely injured its left knee during the heavy landing - yet it couldn't lose, too much was at stake, it was its master's last hope, it would, no it could not fail. However, such thoughts proved detrimental as the distraction caused Electivire to wince from the pain, weakening its defense. The enraged Infernape immediately saw through the weak spot and with a deafening roar concentrated all the energy of its attack on foe's electric barrier, tearing it apart and dealing enormous damage to the electric type, while performing a front flip over the foe and landing just behind Electivire.
The elemental vortex burst out as Infernape emerged from it, standing still in a fighting stance, definitely suffering the aftermath effect of flare blitz, but the attentions of the audience were now directed toward the screams of agony and anguish of the electric type still being incased in the flames of flare blitz.
Audible gasps of astonishment and disbelief rushed through the stadium as the last wisps of dust dispersed in the air, revealing a severely injured - but still upright - Electrivire! The pokemon said its name proudly, but its wide eyes were telling a completely different story. However the very same could be said about Infernape. Both trainers and their pokemon faced each other, as the battle entered its final phase in a form of a staring contest.
Time nearly stopped for Paul; the battle had changed so quickly and yet it had seemed like ages ago when his Electivire had held Infernape's limp hand in his.
'Hm, why am I not feeling as if I'm losing…' Paul wasn't able to develop this train of thought any further, because in the next second his last pokemon crashed on the dusty arena unable to fight any longer.
"ELECTIVIRE IS UNABLE TO BATTLE! INFERNAPE WINS! WHICH MEANS THAT VICTORY GOES TO ASH OF PALLET TOWN!" the judge wasn't so scrupulous with checking the electric type's official status, just like before he did with Infernape, and announced the final verdict, therefore earning an angry glare from a certain trainer.
The crowd went into an uproar at the sight; insults and degrading words thrown out like yesterdays trash - all aimed at the purple haired teen - at the sight of Paul Evans, 'The Veilstone Boulder' crashing to his knees in defeat. It made the day of many people within the confines of the stadium; finally someone had shown him the true meaning of friendship.
Paul grunted, conceding a defeat before glancing at his opponent though then quickly switching his attention to the humiliating sight of his beaten pokemon.
"Well, you got what you wanted. Still… thank you and good battle, Electrivire." the purple haired trainer approached his electric partner and told him these rare words of positive appraisal before recalling it in his pokeball. The outstanding moves which Electrivire was able to perform and defend from didn't go unnoticed by its trainer. Right now, however…
Paul looked at Ash, who was hugging his former pokemon. He threw a mischevious grin at Ash, not expecting much of a response. Instead, Infernape responded for its current trainer in form of a victory gesture, raising his right fist, but not before collapsing.
Paul smirked at the fire monkey and made his way to the participants' tunnel, realizing that despite the loss, his opponent suffered an extreme damage toll himself. Paul wasn't called the Veilstone bolder just for nothing.
-!-
The stepped walking path leading to the Sinnoh League Village was bathed in the last rays of the setting sun. However, the fact that he would have to make part of his journey to the sea port in the utter darkness hasn't stopped Paul from leaving the place of his public disgrace.
His thoughts were now on his further actions. Since he was out of this League, he was free to choose any region as his next destination. But first he would analyze his last defeat and come up with new methods to prevent himself from repeating the same mistakes over and over again.
Paul's attention was especially focused on the last duel between Electivire and Infernape. Back at the pokemon center, he received some shocking news from Nurse Joy. As far as she could tell, his electric partner had received a heavy injury on its left knee during the battle, yet it hadn't shown any sign of being hurt. Originally, the combo that consisted of flamethrower and mach punch would have been a serious problem even for a water or rock type; Electrivire had not only endured both attacks, but also had been able to respond quickly enough to handle Infernape's wrath for some time.
"Paul!" the Veilstone trainer winced weakly, immediately recognizing the speaker's voice. He slowly turned around to face his regional nemesis. He didn't want anyone to notice his departure, but then he remembered that he wanted to say something to Ash back on the stadium before he had left.
"Infernape has gotten a lot stronger." Paul confessed, something which he hadn't been doing for quite a long time.
"Yeah, he sure has, Paul! Huh, are you going?" the raven-haired boy asked the most obvious question. He probably wanted to see his rival to watch him battling against that low life cheater, Paul's own opinion about Tobias, who was able to get all eight Sinnoh badges with just one Darkrai. To the purple haired trainer he was yet just another person whose pokemon he would eagerly grind into the dirt. But now it had to wait for some other time.
"I've lost, Ash, haven't I? So there's no reason for me to stay here any longer. I'm going back to Snowpoint city and request another battle there with Brandon." Paul shielded himself with a first excuse he could come up with. Of course, the Veilstone trainer was planning to give a lesson of his own to that pompous ass Brandon for quite a long now, but again, that would be impossible without doing his homework first.
"Gotcha. Good luck, Paul." Paul nodded slightly as Ash threw him a parting phrase.
"Yeah, thanks, you too." A ship horn signaled the soon depart in a distance, reminding Paul of his bitter cruise back to Canalave city – yet a good reason for him to make a quick farewell with his annoying rival.
So, I'll see you." The Veilstone trainer continued his descent, burying his hands in the pockets of his grey full-length trousers and eyes half shut, not really carrying about the things that could lie ahead.
"One more thing, Paul! Let's battle again really soon!" the cheering words of a raven haired trainer - accompanied by happy announcements of his electric mouse - caught Paul off guard. The purple haired trainer decided not to show his pleasantly surprised look and just made a hand before digging back into himself and carrying on the stepped path down to the port.
A weak smile crept upon Paul's face as he was descending.
'This is far from over, Ketchum!' Paul promised himself. Next time he clashed the Pallet town trainer, there would be no mercy, and he would implement all of the techniques he stored for his battle with Tobias.
'Enjoy your victory until then, Ash…, because next time I'll prove this was no more than a fluke.'
After all, Paul Evans was not the one to roll over easily…