"Alignment"

Rosa, this young woman was Unova's current champion, she had beaten Iris, the great dragon tamer! The trials along Victory Road had only pumped Stane up for the battle he had still to endure. His pokemon were ready and able, and he was proud to stand with them here, today. The Elite Four had fallen, and Stane was down to Lightyear, his electivire.

All that remained of Rosa's team was her samurott; this battle was going to be a cinch, Lightyear had the type advantage. The open, domed ceiling shined the rays of sunlight into the ring, illuminating the dusty, worn caverns that the quiet Rosa had transformed into her prized arena. Soon, though, it would be Stane's.

The samurott was no slouch, it immediately went to task on Lightyear, ramming its horn directly into the electivire's thick, furry belly. The bumblebee striped pokemon snatched his massive paws on the samurott's head, and prepared a charge attack. Rosa narrowed her eyes, watching as the samurott quickly lifted his head, unleashing a water cannon attack that hurled Lightyear against one of the stone pillars. Cracks filtered out along the stone as the electivire slumped to the ground.

"Come on, Lightyear," Stane whispered, gritting his teeth.

Stane's pokemon shook his head, escaping the confusion the attack had left him with, and just barely managed to jump away from the samurott's tackle, no doubt intended to put an end to the fight, and cement Rosa's victory. But it was not meant to be. When Lightyear found solid ground, he charged forward with a volt tackle.

But the whole arena started to shake, an earthquake! Tremors shifted the columns, releasing slabs of stone onto the battleground, that the samurott and Lightyear deftly maneuvered around. Rosa tensed, and Stane's face contorted into panic; would she call off the battle.

"We go on!" Rosa shouted.

Stane pumped his fist in excitement and nodded toward his electivire. Whatever the tremor was, it would just be part of the audition he was putting on for the league, at this point he was certain to gain endorsements.

The tremors continued only for another two minutes longer, evolving the desperate battle for championship into one of concentrated efforts; if it wasn't a pokemon hammering toward you, it was a slab of concrete from the domed ceiling. In a heated battle like this, two minutes felt like an eternity.

As the quake calmed, the arena's layout had altered, forcing Lightyear to adapt to a setting he hadn't been trained for. Like an ape, the electivire used his thick, powerful arms to navigate along the fallen debris, like a game of frogger. He scanned for the samurott, who had disappeared into the clouds of dust and dirt.

Stane nearly hopped out of his skin when both he and his pokemon were startled by the emergence of samurott; just as Lightyear bounded over another slab, Rosa's companion thrust itself from the ground, piercing Lightyear's chest and knocking the wind right out of him.

Stane watched helplessly as Lightyear fell to the ground and rolled along the arena like a tipped barrel, his arms flailing about. Had this been the nail in the coffin, would Lightyear faint here, so close to the championship? Stane bit his lip tautly.

Rosa was a blank slate, not even a drip of sweat fell along her furrowed brow. She was like a statue, one of the greatest opponents Stane ever had the pleasure of fighting. He would take that as reward enough, to come so close, he would not leave here empty. But even then, there was still promise, still hope.

"Come on," Stane muttered.

The dust only just started to settle, and samurott found a moment of repose. There were no cries of battle, no roars from the weakened electivire, so it was a chance to gain perspective, store energy. Lightyear was like a freight train, he suddenly came bursting through the chunk of concrete as if it were paper, slamming into samurott with enough brute force to toss Rosa's pokemon across the arena.

Sparks of of golden electricity emitted from Lightyear's body, his fur spiking straight out along his spine from the current coursing through his body. He was overcharged, but this wouldn't last long. Samurott attempted to attack, but it was paralyzed from touching the fired up electivire! He embarrassingly tripped over his fins and shot along the floor like a bullet.

Lightyear pounded the ground like a mad ape, he was excited, this was his time to exploit the opponent's weakness! He hopped across a discarded boulder and slung out his long, powerful arm, snatching the samurott up by its back and raising the pokemon above his head.

Stane and Rosa observed in silent awe as Lightyear called down a powerful thunderbolt that coursed through his body, and released along his arm and out samurott, exploding like thunder in the sky above. After the brutal attack, Lightyear swayed tiredly, dropping samurott simply because his arms had been reduced to noodles.

He was about to faint, and Stane knew it, just as samurott tried to raise himself to his feet. Who would fall first?

Samurott's body shook as he pulled himself up, Stane was biting his lip hard enough to draw blood at this point; he felt the skin break and the red fluid start to seep along his tongue, but he couldn't help it, this was the end! Whatever the outcome.

Lightyear's legs rocked violently, he stared his trainer down, making a silent promise with Stane, this would not be his ending. All their efforts and time for naught. Lightyear wobbled toward samurott, the two pokemon narrowing fierce eyes at each other.

And then- he fell. Like a heavy tower toppling over, a tree whose life had just given out. He fainted. The arena fell silent, the crowd gasped in hushed whispers, hand over mouth. How the mighty had fallen.

Samurott was defeated! Lightyear won! Stane jumped over the arena's railing and grasped Lightyear in the tightest hug they had ever shared.

"The winner!" Rosa declared, holding her arm out toward Stane.

Tears stained his cheeks, Stane was Unova's champion!

"We both are," he told Lightyear. "Thank you."

Stane left the arena with Lightyear hanging on his back. Both were easily excitable, and they had a right to be. Years of training and struggle had given the both of them this opportunity, this victory. Stane could hardly imagine his life without electivire, who had arrived to him as an eager elekid. Some kid from Johto sought one of the rare Unova pokemon, they wanted a snivy, and that had been the starter Stane chose when he was eleven.

So he accepted the trade, for an equally rare elekid; all those years, and Stane never would have guessed he would find such a companion in a traded pokemon. They loved each other, they were family.

But their greatest challenge was still ahead; There was a woman who had started in her home region, Sinnoh, traversed to Hoenn, then Johto, and finally Kanto. This girl was the reigning champion of the National Pokemon League, she was an icon, but she hadn't faced anyone from Unova yet. And Stane was going to find her, and defeat her!

….To Be Continued