I do not own Pokémon.
Hubert was not messing around. The first Pokémon he sent out was-
"Magmortar!" The opposing Pokémon cried out.
"Huh. Should be easy enough. Hippowdon! Let's do this!" Hugo summoned his ground type once again, this time for the purpose of battle.
"SMOKESCREEN." Hubert ordered. Magmortar shot out a cloud of smoke. The smoke sorrounded Hugo and Hippowdon. As Ash and the other listened in, they could hear coughing and spluttering from Hugo.
"FLAME BURST." Magmortar summoned large bursts of flame where it thought Hippowdon was standing.
The smoke cleared, and Hippowdon was nowhere to be seen.
"That brainwash been clouding your judgment, bro?" Hugo mocked, and his Ground type partner didn't even need an order to know that now was the perfect time to surface with its dig attack. Magmortar was taken completely by surprise. A super-effective, critical hit. The fire type was sent sprawling through the air until landing on the hard dirt ground with swirly eyes.
"Wow." Commented Brock. "Hubert didn't make the best choices there, did he? Looks like a total mismatch in terms of trainer ability!"
"I wouldn't be so sure..." said Ash, in an uncharacteristically serious tone. "Maybe he wants Hugo to be overconfident? That's never good..."
"Says you!" Dawn stuck out her tongue. "The king of arrogance over here!"
Meanwhile, the big screen above their heads changed its display. There was now a 6 on Hugo's side and a 5 on Hubert's.
"LUCKY BREAK. NOW IT IS TIME TO LOSE." Hubert sent out his next Pokémon; Tangrowth.
"Easy. Shinx, let's do this!"
"POISON POWDER." Tangrowth throws out a purple powder.
"Dodge and use flamethrower!" Shinx acrobatically leaps out of the way, sending a powerful burst of flames towards Tamgrowth.
"The tall twerp isn't too bad is he?" Asked Jessie.
"Glad I've never had to battle him..." Replied James.
"What are ya sayin' ya bum?! Ya got a battlin' lesson from 'im back in dat tournament!" Meowth reminded him.
"Bah. That chapter was out like four months ago. Nobody remembers that now..." Replied James.
"REPEL IT."
To everybody's surprise, Tangrowth reached into the oncoming flames and used its long, powerful arms to split them up so they missed at either side of its body. Its arms suffered a bit, but its body was left unharmed.
"Very impressive manoeuvre!" Brock praised Tangrowth.
"Perfect! Now use vine whip!" Hugo seemed to have somehow expected this. Shinx quickly shot out two long vines and successfully wrapped them around Tangrowth's right arm. It used the vines to pull itself towards Tangrowth rapidly.
"BIND." Tangrowth swung around and grabbed Shinx with its left arm. It squashed Shinx between its arm and its body.
"Nice!" Praised Ash.
"Hey! Which side are you guys on?" Dawn asked them.
"Big mistake pal. Thunder!"
With Tangrowth literally surrounding Shinx, a powerful bolt of lightning shot down on Tangrowth. The electricity shot through its body, causing it to release Shinx from its grip. The Pokémon maintained a surprised expression as it was paralysed.
"No avoiding it now. Flamethrower!" Of course, Tangrowth could not survive the powerful attack. And it was soon on the floor, fainted.
"Woo! Go Hugo!" Cheered Dawn.
"That's it! You can do it!" Cheered Ash!
"Two down, four to go!" Cheered Brock.
"Bro, I'm doing this for you..." Hugo muttered under his breath.
(Two years ago, Village of Giants, before the discovery of Oblistrum)
"Shinx, nooo!" Hugo called out. It was too late. He'd been easily defeated…again!
"Yeah, we won! Awesome job Shinx!" Hubert jumped up, punching the air in triumph.
"That's the fourth time in a row!" Hugo sighed. "You're too good for me."
Just then, Hubert's Shinx began to glow in a bright light. Hubert noticed this, and quickly returned his partner to its pokéball.
"I don't want to evolve Shinx." Hubert frowned. "That way, I can always look at my first partner and be reminded of all the great times I had with you and our Shinx, Hugo."
Hugo smiled. "Wow. That's a big decision to make… are you sure?"
"Absolutely!" Hubert smiled. "I wouldn't have it any other way!"
"Sorry to interrupt you two." A voice called over. It was Nurse Joy. "But I think what I just witnessed was very sweet. Here, I have something for you both."
"What's this? A pair of rocks?" Hubert asked.
"Teehee. No, they're everstones." Nurse Joy answered in her usual sweet tone. "They'll prevent your Shinx from evolving."
"That's perfect!" Hubert exclaimed, excitedly. "Thank you so much, Nurse Joy!"
(Present day)
"HMPH. NEXT ONE UP."
The next pokéball Hubert threw out contained a surprise. A big blue bird. It had a head crest with three dark blue feathers. Large wings that appeared to be made of ice. Its stomach was white – the only non-blue aspect of this Pokémon.
"What is THAT?!" Exclaimed Hugo.
"Wow! Haven't see that in a while!" Exclaimed Ash.
"What the-" Dawn pulled out her pokédex.
"Articuno, the freeze Pokémon. If you come up against this powerful bird in battle, you are probably going to lose."
"Gee, thanks Dawn's pokédex. Really fills me with confidence!" Hugo grumbled.
"I DO NOT PLAY GAMES." Hubert snapped arrogantly. "USE ICE BEAM."
"Waaaaaah – dodge it!" Hugo asked Shinx. Shinx jumped out of the way, narrowly avioding the attack.
"AGAIN." Another beam of ice was shot at Shinx. Again, the attack was narrowly avoided.
"Hugo! That thing is a legendary Pokémon! Be careful!" Brock shouted over.
"Most of Shinx's moves are strong against it. Shouldn't be too bad, right?"
"WRONG, FOOLISH BROTHER. YOU ARE NO MATCH FOR THE WRATH OF ARTICUNO." NOW, DESTROY HIM WITH REPEATED ICE BEAMS!"
One after another, Articuno shot many ice beam attacks. Shinx dodged every one, but in doing so, it was only tiring itself out and getting no closer to pulling off an attack.
"Return!" Hugo returned Shinx to its pokéball. "This ain't working, is it?"
"Let's try something else! Hippowdon!"
"Hippowdon!" The ground type cried as it returned to the batlefield.
"THE OUTCOME WILL BE THE SAME. CONTINUE WITH ICE BEAM."
"Charge into it and use fire fang!"
In a display of courage, Hippowdon sprinted directly into the ice beam attack. Although it was slow, it managed to get up close to Articuno and bite its foot as it was hovering above.
"Cunooo!" The ice-bird cried.
With its powerful jaws, Hippowdon swung Articuno around and slammed it against the ground, causing damage. The bird then broke free of its grip and immediately retaliated, looking irritated.
"HURRICANE." The bird flapped its wings and a powerless Hippowdon was caught in the middle of a powerful hurricane attack. It was slammed against the wall and its eyes became swirly.
"Wow. Hippowdon was no match for Articuno." Said Brock, sounding a bit nervous.
"Are any of Hugo's team gonna be able to compete?" Asked Dawn.
"I'm sure they will." Ash grinned. "This is Hugo we're talking about."
"Rotom, let's do this!"
"MIND READER."
Articuno gave Rotom an intimidating glare.
"Discharge." Rotom let out a large amount of electricity all around it. This move hit Articuno, but despite it being super-effective the flying and ice type didn't seem too bothered by it.
"SHEER COLD."
There was a flash, and everything went very cold for a brief moment. Next thing Hugo knew, Rotom was in an ice cube in front of him, and inside it had swirly eyes.
"Return. I knew we shoulda got you to possess something before coming here."
"Oh dear. Looks like it's four on four now." Commented Brock.
"Hey, where'd Team Rocket go?" Asked Ash, clearly not too concerned about the battle.
Brock and Dawn briefly glanced over at the cage next to them, to see that it was now empty.
"Let's not worry about that for now, Ash." Brock told him.
Hugo began pacing left and right. "Okay, now I'm gonna use… WOAH!"
The attack Articuno had just used had caused the surface to become covered in ice which had caused Hugo to slip. As he did, one of his pokéballs came loose from his belt. It hit the hard icy surface and smashed – the pokéball completely broke! Drifloon was forced out of it.
"Oh no! I'm sorry Drifloon, buddy, I didn't mean to do that! I'll have to get you a new one later!"
Dawn facepalmed. "This is helpless! Even if Drifloon weren't useless, it's up against Articuno!"
"Even worse, it has a type disadvantage." Added Brock.
"EASY. ICE BEAM."
"Loooooooon!" Drifloon exclaimed. It excitedly waved around its 'arms'. While it was doing this, the pokémon appeared to split into about ten different Drifloon. Articuno's attack hit one of them, causing it to disappear.
"ICE BEAM. REPEAT."
Articuno used ice beam again. Once again it hit one of the Drifloons and caused it to disappear.
"It's using double team!" Ash pointed out. "That's awesome!"
"USE MIND READER." Articuno glared at Drifloon.
"NOW YOU CAN'T MISS. ICE BEAM."
"Loooooooon!" Drifloon looked excited again. More copies of Drifloon appeared and they all floated around the battlefield in different directions. Articuno's ice beam managed to hit one, but once again it was merely a copy.
"This is awesome buddy!" Hugo cheered for his ghost partner.
"Loooooooon!" Drifloon exclaimed one more time. Turns out, this would be the last time ever – the ghost type began to glow in a bright light.
"BLIM!" The newly evolved Drifblim cried confidently.
"Incredible!" Said Brock, impressed. "Drifloon evolved!"
"Not only that, look!" Dawn pointed towards the air. There were still about twenty Drifloon copies floating around the battlefield.
"DOESN'T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE IF YOU EVOLVE. USE ICE BEAM."
Yet another powerful ice beam was shot towards Drifblim. Just as it was about to hit, one of the Drifloon copies floated in front and took the full force of the hit, before disappearing.
"Nice! Now use shadow ball, Drifblim!"
"Blim!" Drifblim cried as it shot a dark ball at Articuno. The attack hit the legendary bird directly in the face.
"Cuuuuu!" The bird cried.
"BLOW AWAY THE COPIES. USE HURRICANE."
With more powerful flaps of its wings, Articuno created a very strong wind. All the Drifloon copies along with Drifblim itself were caught up in the wind. All of the copies disappeared instantly while Drifblim was pushed towards the back of the room.
"I got an idea… Psychic!" Hugo called. Drifblim appeared to focus for a moment until, suddenly, the winds switched direction, and Drifblim was launched towards Articuno at an incredible speed.
"Gyro ball!" Hugo ordered as Drifblim began to spin faster and faster. A blue circle appeared around it as it slammed into Articuno at full force – super effective! Without giving Articuno any time to react, Drifblim glowed white and a huge explosion occurred. Both Drifblim and Articuno fell to the ground, unable to continue.
"YEEEEEEEAH!" cheered Ash, jumping up and punching the air excitedly. "Drifblim did it!"
"It took itself out with explosion. A very brave move..." Commented Brock.
"I never expected that! Out of all of Hugo's Pokémon, it was that Drifloon that took out a legendary Pokémon!" Dawn was surprised.
"Awesome job buddy! Maybe next time we can win without you sacrificing yourself, though?"
"Uh-oh.." Said Brock.
"What's up?" Asked Dawn, looking concerned.
"Up on that screen it says that both Hugo and Hubert have three Pokémon remaining."
"Yeah, so?" Asked Dawn.
"But Hugo only has two! Shinx and Kabutops! And to make matters worse, we know that Hubert still has his Oblistrum! Who knows what that terrible Pokémon is capable of?"
Ash and Dawn looked nervous for a moment as they realised how little chance Hugo had of winning.
"No need to worry!" Dawn suddenly perked up. "I don't think anyone Hugo's ever faced has even tested his Shinx! He can pull through!"
"Dawn's right!" Ash added. "Giving up without even trying – that's not the way to go at all."
"We've got this, no sweat guys. Kabutops, let's do this!" Hugo's loyal Kabutops emerged from its pokéball looking eager for some action.
"HEHEHEHEHE. GO."
Hubert launched another pokéball and summoned his next Pokémon – Tyranitar!
Suddenly, a dark ray of energy shot out from one of Hubert's pokéballs and flew straight over to Hugo. Hugo immediately felt a powerful headache which caused him to fall to his knees.
Images began to flash up in Hugo's mind. Could these be memoires?
"My new partner, Larvitar!"
"Awesome job Larvitar!"
"Great work Pupitar!"
"I'm sure glad to have you around, Tyranitar!"
"This is it. We'll give it everything we've got, Tyranitar!"
All of these voices going through his head were too familiar. After a moment, Hugo realised something – this was his voice! This was his Tyranitar!
Back in reality, Hugo was still on his knees, feeling completely stunned. "Tyranitar..."
"What's happening?!" Asked Dawn, who was clearly feeling nervous this.
"Could it be-" Began Brock. "Oblistrum is teasing Hugo? Giving him tiny samples of his old memory. Little glimpses of the past."
"Hugo!" Ash called out. "Forget about it! Just try to win this battle!"
Hugo had never been someone short of confidence, but that wasn't the case here – how could he fight against his old partner?
"STONE EDGE."
Hugo was having so much trouble focusing that he couldn't even register what happened next. He knew what a stone edge attack looked like, but that didn't help. The next thing he knew Kabutops was getting back to its feet after receiving damage.
"C'mon, Hugo! Snap out of it!" Dawn shouted over.
"Um… use slash!" Hugo commanded with a sort of nervousness in his voice.
Hugo's emotions were reflected on his partner as Kabutops was low in confidence which resulted in a weak slash attack. Tyranitar didn't even bother to dodge the pathetic attack.
"Why does Hugo seem so reluctant to attack this Tyranitar?" Brock wondered, scratching his chin.
"YOUR SUSPICIONS ARE CORRECT." Hubert spoke, as if answering Brock directly.
"THIS IS INDEED THE SAME TYRANITAR THAT USED TO BELONG TO YOU."
"What?!" Exclaimed Brock.
"What?!" Exclaimed Dawn.
"WHAT?!" Exclaimed Ash.
"Pika Pi?" Asked Pikachu.
"Gah! How did you-"
"FOOL. HOW IRONIC THAT YOU 'FORGET' OBLISTRUM'S POWER?"
"So he's saying that this is Hugo's Tyranitar, but it doesn't remember any previous trainers due to Oblistrum taking its memory, which is how Hubert captured it?" Ash concluded.
"Wow Ash. I didn't realise you were that smart..." Dawn was impressed.
"That's terrible!" Ash realised.
"Hugo! Just focus on the battle, no matter who the opponent!" Were Ash's words of wisdom.
Hugo continued to stare blankly as his Kabutops received another powerful blow from Tyranitar's stone edge.
"RAAAAAA!" Tyranitar roared.
All of a sudden, Ash's words seemed to hit Hugo. He gave himself a slap around the face.
"Come on, Hugo! Snap out of it!" He told himself.
"You may be a powerful Pokémon but you've got no bond with this hypnotised buffoon! Kabutops use surf!"
A powerful wave was summoned which Kabutops simply jumped on top of.
"USE HYPER BEAM TO KNOCK IT OFF." Hubert commanded.
Back in the cage at the side of the battlefield, Ash smirked.
"RAAAAAA!" Tyranitar shot out a powerful ray of light which cut a hole through the wave. Unfortunately for Tyranitar, though, it wasn't even close to hitting Kabutops, who was moving way too fast. The rock and dark type was completely defenseless against the powerful super-effective attack.
"It needs to recharge! Finish it with giga drain!"
Kabutops briefly glowed green before summoning energy beams that hit the immobile Tyranitar. "RAAAAAA!" It cried, before falling to the ground with swirly eyes.
"YEEEEEEAH!" Cheered Ash, punching the air excitedly within the cage.
"CLEARLY, IT WAS NOT RAISED WELL. NEXT UP."
"Luxray!" Hubert's fifth Pokémon cried.
"WHAT?!" cried Hugo. "How could this-"
"GAAAAAAAAAAH!" Screamed Hubert.
"H-h-hugo, I-I'm sorry. I-it controls me. I can't… I couldn't stop it… my Shinx..." For the second time, Hubert sounded somewhat normal when he spoke. Obviously, he was trying to resist Oblistrum's control.
"Oblistrum did it, didn't it?" Said Hugo.
"Huh? Did what?" Asked Dawn.
"It took away what forged our bond. It all makes sense now. The reason everything happened. The reason behind everything..."
(2 years ago, Snowpoint City)
"I don't believe this!" one man yelled in disbelief. He was a generic Ace trainer.
"Don't give up, man! We can still win!" Yelled the man stood next to him, also a generic Ace trainer.
The two men were engaged in a double battle in the middle of a park. Their opponents were two identical looking young men.
"Kabutops, use slash!" 17-year-old Hugo ordered.
"Magmar, fire spin!" 17-year-old Hubert commanded.
"Piloswine, dodge it!" Generic Ace trainer ordered. But it was too late. Piloswine was caught in the swirling flames and defeated.
"Monferno, counter attack with mach punch!" Other generic Ace trainer commanded. Just as Kabutops went in for the attack, Monferno landed a low punch on its opposing opponent. Kabutops was knocked onto the floor with swirly eyes.
"Aw, man!" Hugo stomped his feet in frustration.
"Flamethrower Magmar!" Hubert ordered.
"Ha! My Monferno is a fire type. Let it hit you, Monferno!" Monferno nodded and stood its ground. The Ace Trainer folded his arms and smiled, confident the attack wouldn't cause damage.
After the flamethrower attack was completed, the Ace trainer saw his Pokémon lying on the ground with swirly eyes.
"What?! It was that strong?!" Ace trainer fell to his knees and put his head in his hands in disbelief.
After the battle, the two brothers approached the Ace trainers.
"Cheers for the battle lads." Hugo smiled.
"Yeah, no problem, we learned a lot. You're both strong!" replied one of the trainers.
"How pathetic." Snorted Hubert. "You guys are awful. You'll never accomplish anything fighting like that."
"Huh?" Said Hubert.
"Wow, geez. It was only a battle. No need to gloat so much, jerk!" Snarled one of the trainers as they both began to leave hastily.
"Um… sorry about that guys! Hugo called over as they were leaving. "I don't know what's gotten into him!"
"Hmph!" Hubert grunted as he began to walk away.
"Bro!" Hugo jogged to catch up to his brother.
"You're an incredible trainer. You're much better than me, that's for sure. You always have been. But what's gotten into you lately? That's the third time this week you've done this."
Hubert turned to look at his brother. But Hugo saw something about him that he knew wasn't right. He saw an expression, a glare, that he hadn't seen before in his brother.
"Shut up! You're always holding me back, you know?"
Hubert looked angry, and he threw one of his pokéballs, summoning his first partner, Shinx.
"In fact, you know what, forget our childish agreement!"
"Wh-what are you doing?" Hugo was scared by this point.
Hubert stomped over to Shinx, grabbed its everstone that it held within its fur, and threw it. His throw was accurate, landing it in a bin twenty metres away.
Immediately after doing this, Shinx began to glow.
"Why do I want a weak little Shinx? This is something I should've done as soon as possible!"
Hugo wasn't one to cry. If he were, this scenario would've probably brought him to tears. He managed to remain calm though.
"Hubert, are you sure about this? There's no going back..."
"I told you, didn't I?" Hubert snorted. "I don't want you to battle alongside me any more until you're good enough to not hold me back!"
Hugo turned around and began walking away at a pace. He couldn't bare to witness this moment.
"Lux lux luxio!" He heard a Pokémon cry in the background.
(2 Years ago, Village of Giants)
"I know what I need to do, Shinx, buddy." Hugo was in a quiet corner. He and Hubert had returned to their village for what was supposed to be a two week visit. However, Hubert hadn't really been home at all throughout these two weeks, and Hugo was about to cut his visit short too…
"I'm very sorry about this, buddy, but you might not get to battle now for a long time..."
"Shinx Shinx!" Shinx explained.
"I'm so glad you feel that way, buddy! Now let's do this!"
With that, Hugo set off on a journey that was going to change his life forever.
(Present day)
"THIS IS THE SAME KABUTOPS THAT DEFEATED THE MIGHTY OBLISTRUM? REVENGE WILL BE SWEET."
Luxray released multiple sparks of blue energy all around its body. Kabutops made an effort to fight back by leaping towards it, but it was easily hit by Luxray, and the shellfish Pokémon had no chance of withstanding the super-effective move. Kabutops fainted.
"MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA." Hubert Bellowed. "THE ONE THAT SLAYED THE MIGHTY OBLISTRUM HAS BEEN PROVEN TO BE ONLY YOUR AVERAGE POKÉMON THAT GOT LUCKY. THE MIGHTY OBLISTRUM CAN NOW SPREAD ITS WINGS WITH NOTHING TO FEAR."
Luxray was returned to its pokéball, and Hubert look very confident while he launched his last pokéball.
From his pokéball emerged a Pokémon like no other. It was a black creature – it appeared to be shrouded in darkness to the extent that it was difficult to see anything when gazing upon it. It appeared to have short, stubby legs. It seemed doubtful that this Pokémon used its legs often, as it was hovering in the air. Rather than feet, it appeared to instead have claws. Its head was the first thing that caught anyone's attention though, as the only part of it that possessed any colour whatsoever were its bright white eyes. The Pokémon appeared to be blinking very frequently as its eyes seemed to constantly disappear and reappear. It was very difficult to see the rest of its face but it had large horns above its head. These were black, of course, just like the rest of its body. Its wings were huge. At least twice the size of its body. Speaking of the Pokémon's body, it was like staring into a black hole. If you stared towards the middle of Oblistrum, it was impossible to see anything. And doing so momentarily made Hugo forget what he was doing here, and made him question whether it was Thursday or Friday today. The creature was huge. Roughly three and a half metres tall. Even the very tall Hugo & Hubert seemed like Dwarves in comparison.
"Is it Sunday today?" Ash asked.
"Naw, Tuesday." Brock replied.
"No need to worry, you two. I can reassure you that it is in-fact Monday.
Ash pulled out his pokédex. "Aw man. We were all wrong. It's Wednesday..."
"This Pokémon possesses incredible power." Brock spoke in a serious tone. "And all Hugo has left to fight it along with Luxray is his little Shinx..."
Ooh, a cliffhanger. Are you surprised by this? Really? I'm more surprised by us going a full chapter without Team Rocket reciting their motto… I though this was Diamond & Pearl not X & Y.
How did the trio escape their cage anyway? And will they be back? Surely Ash, Brock or Dawn might need the toilet by now? They've been in that cage for a while now! And how did Hubert train his Magmortar so badly?
Oh wait, nobody cares about that? You want to know who will win? How will Hugo fare against this legendary Pokémon? Will the missing pieces of the jigsaw of Hugo's memory finally be put together? What will become of Hubert and Oblistrum?
Find out next time! Thanks for reading.
(Note: I'm aware mind reader is supposed to guarantee a hit, but that would be a ridiculously broken strategy in the anime world where PP doesn't exist and battles aren't usually decided by one move. Therefore, since it hasn't been used in the actual anime anyway, I made up my own rules so that it merely increases accuracy.)