Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, or it's characters. Blah blah blah I do own Sequoia, Jesse and Thomas. Some other stuff. This is a fan fiction that mostly follows my own cannon.
"Hey that was some pretty tricky battling! That guy was the champion from the Hoenn region, he even defeated their Elite Four!" Thomas exclaimed. Sequoia grinned, still gripping his Pokeball that held Charizard tightly, he could hardly believe that he had pulled a victory out of that battle either. It all seemed like a dream to him. They were outside of the stadium now, at the challenger's entrance Sequoia had gone through for his match. Thomas and Jesse were standing next to him and other trainers as well as spectators were running around trying to get things done before the next match.
"I really couldn't have done it without Charizard. That Dusknoir was really strong and I don't even think he was using his strongest Pokemon. I just got lucky that it wasn't the Pokemon he had on his team when he defeated Hoenn's Elite Four." Sequoia laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his head but Jesse shook his head.
"Hey man, you won that. Don't sell yourself short." Jesse laughed and patted Sequoia on the back. He walked passed them. "Wish me luck, my match is next guys. Don't you lose Thomas!" Sequoia and Thomas nodded and went to the stands to watch. They filed through the crowds of people until they got to the competitors box which was reserved for other tournament participants to watch from. It was a pretty great seat, Sequoia decided as he sat down.
Jesse was up against a trainer who had also done a Kanto Journey. She was much taller than them, and Sequoia decided she had to be in her twenties at least. She had long, flowing blue hair and a slim body. They would fight on a water battlefield. Sequoia wondered which Pokemon that Jesse had chosen for the match, but he supposed that he was about to find out anyway.
"The next match is between Jesse Kipcett and Ariel Gomez on the water field. The battle will be with three Pokemon each, free substitutions. When all three Pokemon are unable to battle or the other trainer forfeits the match will be decided. Let the battle begin!" The referee signaled for the trainers to let their Pokemon out.
Jesse threw his Pokeball out first, sending out his Quagsire, Dopey. Dopey dived into the water and Jesse lit a smoke, taking a long drag as he always did. People often told him he was too young to smoke but at seventeen he didn't care too much. Sequoia and Thomas often gave him grief about it. Ariel threw her own Pokeball sending out a Politoed. Politoed stood on a platform in the center of the water stadium.
"Politoed start off with Belly Drum." Ariel commanded, pointing at the green frog Pokemon. Politoed began to play a song like a war march on it's stomach, maximizing his offensive power but cutting his health points in half. "Dive into the water Politoed!" Jesse shook his head as he blew out smoke slowly before taking another drag and speaking.
"I would have stayed out of the water, if I were you. Dopey use Whirlpool!" Jesse's Quagsire began to swim in a circle rapidly, using it's tail to propel itself faster and faster. The water began to spin and soon a full on whirlpool formed, trapping the Politoed under the water. It did very little damage, but Politoed could not break free of the current. Politoed took this opportunity to use it's Water Absorb Ability, recovering the health it had lost from Belly Drum despite being trapped. "Now get on the platform and use Ice Beam to freeze the water." Dopey quickly dashed from platform to platform, firing ice beams and beginning to freeze the water solid. It was not long before Politoed was trapped beneath the ice and the whirlpool stopped.
"Politoed!" Ariel cried out. "Try Giga Impact to break the ice!" The super charged Politoed swam down deep before propelling himself forward toward the ice with the intent of a full body impact. Politoed's Giga Impact looked really strong and the ice had already begun to crack from the power coming off of it as the frog Pokemon neared the surface.
"Wait for it..." Jesse instructed. Dopey nodded and crouched low, knowing what Jesse had planned. "Earthquake!" Dopey slammed the ice with it's powerful tail causing the ice to shake and rupture. The ice broke just before Politoed could hit it causing the frog Pokemon to overshoot his target. He flew into the air out of the water. The attack dissipated from around him as it soared through the air completely defenseless. "Dopey, end it with Skull Bash!" The Quagsire dashed off of a piece of ice and soared through the air. Skull Bash connected with Politoed's head and Politoed was knocked out.
"Politoed is unable to battle! Quagsire wins!" Jesse didn't do anything but finish his cigarette. Ariel returned Politoed to her Pokeball. Dopey climbed back up onto the trainer's platform and sat down. Jesse nodded and pulled out a new Pokeball of his own. He was in a great position now, since Dopey hadn't taken a single hit from Politoed. Ariel had played right into Jesse's hands and at this rate, he was sure that when he faced off against Thomas or Sequoia he would be able to defeat them and move forward.
Jesse and Thomas both won their first round matches, Jesse with only two Pokemon. The next matches didn't take place until the evening and since the first matches had finished at eleven o'clock that morning, the three spent the day goofing off while their Pokemon healed at the Pokemon center. They received the information about who their next opponents would be and then went to get lunch so that they could chat and decide upon their lineup for the next round of the tournament. It was in a little PokeCafe that wasn't very far from the stadium. There was an area set up for trainers that were battling in the tournament where food for the competitors was taken care of. The three of them eagerly went to a table and ordered as much food as they could get. After stuffing their faces for awhile Sequoia decided to take a look at who he would be fighting later that day.
"Well it looks like I'm up against a trainer from the Unova region... I've never even heard of most of his Pokemon." Sequoia muttered. Jesse shrugged as well. Thomas however, was from the Unova region. Castellia City to be exact. He had come to Kanto to start his journey but he had grown up around all sorts of Unova Region Pokemon. Thomas could help to inform Sequoia on his opponent without any issues. Sequoia thanked Thomas and listened eagerly at the chance to improve his knowledge on his opponent as well as Pokemon in general.
"He uses Emboar which is a Fire-Fighting Pokemon. Be careful, Emboar is the final evolution of Unova's regional starter Pokemon. But it looks like he used relatively the same types as you in the first match. Cofagrigus, which is a Ghost type and Emolga which is an Electric type. He also has a Scrafty which is a Dark-Fighting type, Braviary which is a Flying-Normal type and Vanilluxe which is an Ice type." Sequoia sat back and groaned. This was probably going to be a difficult battle.
"Oh man... Well I think that I'm going to go with my Gengar again." Sequoia wrote down, thinking about the different situations Gengar could be fighting in. It could handle Cofagrigus for him but Scrafty could be a big problem for Gengar. He wasn't sure if he would even use him but he hadn't used him in the last match so maybe he wanted to switch it up? Maybe he could counter that with another Pokemon? Sequoia just wasn't sure at this point.
"I think Crobat would be a good idea too." Jesse put forward as he looked over Sequoia's list of Pokemon. There was a good thirty or forty Pokemon he had captured worthy of battling in this tournament, Jesse couldn't help but be a little impressed. Sequoia nodded he had suggested just what he had been thinking about; oblivious to the fact that most people didn't train as many Pokemon as he had, but then stopped. "I dunno, actually. Two poison types? Doesn't that leave me wide open to a psychic assault?" Thomas shook his head, explaining for Jesse.
"White doesn't use any psychic attacks." After looking over White's Pokemon, Sequoia decided that he was right. Now he just had to pick his last Pokemon. He thought about the Pokemon he had on him, he hadn't used Golem or Floatzel yet but felt that Floatzel was a bad idea and so he opted for his Golem instead. The Rock Type Pokemon's unique mix of Defensive and Offensive capability could come in handy and if he really needed to, Explosion was excellent backup. It was his Pokemon's nickname-sake after all.
"Hey who are you guys fighting anyway?" Sequoia asked his friends, sitting back and sipping on his milkshake now that he had chosen his lineup for his matches that evening. Jesse and Thomas both shrugged. Neither of them had really checked yet but with Sequoia's question made them become curious as to who they would be fighting. Jesse picked his paper up and then frowned. He brushed his long black hair out of his face. Thomas asked to see the paper and Jesse showed it to him. The two grimaced, it was too early in the tournament. How could this happen? Jesse would be fighting Thomas in the next battle.
The two stood up from the table, said goodbye to Sequoia and went in their opposite directions. This meant only one of them would even get to go through to the second round. Sequoia could only imagine the pressure they felt and how early they would be fighting such a difficult battle. He sighed because that also meant he wouldn't get to fight one of them. He paid for his food and left the restaurant; he was on the way to the Pokemon center to pick up Spooky (Gengar), Thunder (Jolteon) and Charizard.
His second match for the day began at 6:00 p.m. Sequoia entered the stadium to a much larger crowd than there had been in the morning, probably because of how early the first matches had been scheduled coupled with the fact that the weaker trainers had started to be weeded out. There would be one more special field battle for each set of trainers, this time on a rock field for Sequoia. He felt like he had the upper hand on a stadium like this, especially with Explosion on his team.
"This battle will be between Sequoia Reedwood of Scarlet Town just East of the Kanto Region and White Remm all the way from Numeva Town in the Unova Region! Three Pokemon each. Free substitutions. The battle will be over when all three Pokemon are unable to continue fighting. Let the battle begin!" The announcer proclaimed. The crowd roared loudly as the stadium changed and became a rock field.
"Go Crobat!" Sequoia once again started off with a strong Pokemon, this time with his Crobat, Kroh. He had worked hard to raise a powerful Crobat and with some luck and perseverance he knew that Kroh could defeat whatever came at it, regardless of the type. The bat Pokemon beat its wings and let out a high pitched screech as it prepared to fight for it's trainer. Along with Charizard he was the only Pokemon to never leave Sequoia's party.
"Emboar! Don't lose to this Pokemon!" White threw out his Emboar. The fire pig grunted and beat his chest. He lit his fists on fire with his flaming beard and ran toward the Crobat, letting out a deep grunt and a snort as it shifted its weight in preparation for White's first attack. "Hammer Arm!" Emboar smashed his fist toward Kroh. Sequoia's Crobat dodged with the move Agility, boosting his speed sharply. The flying Pokemon beat his wings too quickly for the naked eye to follow as he prepared himself for Sequoia's next command.
"Alright now use Confuse Ray!" Kroh's speed had risen drastically as it fired a beam into Emboar's eyes causing confusion. Emboar fell down in confusion when White tried to get it to use Heat Crash. "Now Air Cutter!" Razor sharp gusts of wind slammed into the Fire-Fighting Pokemon. Emboar snapped out of confusion and used Take Down this time, slamming into Kroh with it's huge body. The move landed, almost crushing the bat Pokemon beneath it's bulky frame. White grinned and prepared for the next attack, Emboar listened tentatively for his trainer's command.
"Emboar, use your Heat Crash attack again!" Emboar's whole body burst into flame and once again he threw his weight at Sequoia's Crobat. Kroh was prepared however and using the speed it had acquired from Agility it looked ready to dodge the attack quickly.
"Dodge it and use Poison Fang!" Emboar missed and Crobat dove into the opening, his poison covered fangs dug deep into Emboar's shoulder and the pig was badly poisoned. "Agility again Crobat, keep him from hitting you, let the poison take care of him!" Crobat flew quickly from the slow Emboar, dodging all of the attacks.
"Emboar use Flare Blitz!" With Emboar in such bad shape, his blaze ability kicked in and Emboar began dashing very quickly toward Kroh. He grabbed Kroh out of the air as it tried to fly out of the way before he let out an explosion of flame, knocking them both out in a fiery explosion. Sequoia was annoyed that Emboar had taken down Kroh but he praised him still for holding his own against the larger Pokemon who was indeed on the same level as Sequoia's own Charizard.
"Both Crobat and Emboar are unable to battle!" Sequoia recalled Kroh; thanking his Pokemon one last time for giving it his all, and sent out Spooky. The Gengar wailed and lashed it's tongue out, screeching menacingly and bouncing around. Spooky had a mischievous personality. White sent out Cofagrius. The two ghost Pokemon floated across from each other, eying each other down.
"Spooky I want you to use Hypnosis!" Spooky hypnotized the mummy Pokemon and it fell asleep. "Now use your Nightmare attack! Follow up with a Shadow Ball!" Cofagrigus didn't have bad dreams from Gengar's ability because of Cofagrigus' mummy ability but Nightmare worked. Cofagrigus took damage in it's sleep. Gengar smashed it with a shadow ball and it nearly fainted.
"Come on Cofagrigus, use Destiny Bond!" Cofagrigus awoke and Destiny Bonded Gengar for the second attempt at suicide tactics. The coffin Pokemon had striking power, and Sequoia wondered why he hadn't used it. But decided that losing Spooky to a Destiny Bond would ruin his strategy right now, and if he wanted to use Explosion's Explosion attack he would need a Pokemon that could still fight otherwise he would lose the battle. Destiny Bond couldn't affect Gengar from his Pokeball.
"Gengar return!" Sequoia called back Gengar and sent out Explosion. Sequoia's Golem landed with a thud he really loved this Rock Pokemon who growled and flexed his arms. He slammed his fists together and stomped the ground twice. "Earthquake!" The ground ruptured, cracking and breaking under the Golem's massive weight. Explosion had tons of power in it, it had undergone special training with Charizard and Thunder to put a bit of extra power into it's attacks. It buried the coffin Pokemon in rubble and pieces of the land. Cofagrigus was defeated by the powerful Ground type attack.
"Grr... You're good. Alright Scrafty, you're my last shot! Give it your all!" Scrafty came out of his Pokeball and pulled his hood up over his head. He put his hands in his pockets and crouched low and Sequoia grinned. He had a little suicide tactic of his own now that could work just fine in this situation. "Hi Jump Kick!" Scrafty leaped through the air and kicked Golem hard, a hit that would usually have left the rock Pokemon knocked out in a single hit, however Golem was left with one health thanks to his focus sash. Perfect.
"Explosion use seismic toss to grab Scrafty while he's close to you and then use Explosion!" Golem gripped Scrafty tightly and leaped into the air. He whipped him into the ground and fell with a lot of added momentum, landing on top of him causing damage with his weight before he used explosion. Scrafty cried out as it desperately tried to escape pulling and trying to push the large Rock type Pokemon away from him. But It was no use and Scrafty was knocked out along with Explosion as the Rock Pokemon exploded in a flash of blinding light, winning Sequoia the battle and allowing him to move on to the next round.
"Scrafty is unable to battle! Victory goes to Sequoia!" Sequoia ran to his fainted Golem and hugged it. Now he would be moving on to the second round tournament! Sequoia returned him to his Pokeball; he had earned a good rest. He looked at the crowd and held up his arms, cheering loudly. The crowd cheered with him. He was making a name for himself in the Pokemon League, just like he had always wanted to. Dreams filled his head as he thought about the other regions he would visit next, the new Pokemon he would meet, the battles he would fight. He snapped out of it as his opponent approached him.
"That was an amazing battle!" Sequoia exclaimed. "I've never seen those Pokemon before, it was really awesome to get to see them battle and what they could do!" White congratulated Sequoia on a good battle as well and Sequoia shook his hand. The two exchanged Pokegear numbers and White turned to leave. Sequoia felt like he could take on the whole league now. The next match would take place soon between Thomas and Jesse, he remembered and so Sequoia left the battlefield through the entrance he had entered through earlier. Thomas was entering from this side while Jesse was coming in from the other.
"Good luck Thomas. I look forward to battling either of you." Thomas nodded as he walked passed him. He didn't know what to say so he pushed forward. The crowd roared as the trainers entered. The field changed through the use of machinery, they would be fighting on a grass field. The stadium opened up and the crowd cheered loudly as they prepared for the next match between Thomas and Jesse. The two of them stared each other down. It could be anyone's match.
A/N: There's quite a bit of this story left, but I felt like I did a good job on this chapter. If you want to see a particular type of trainer with a particular type of Pokemon, leave suggestions in the review. There are some random trainers whose teams I need to fill and I have no issue with doing so based on your suggestions. However at this point Sequoia's next opponent's line up has already been written, although there's still a bunch of stuff left, so yeah. Read and Review!
-Royal Conquest