Standing back in my area I faced Tobias with a careful eye, trying to read his aura. He was calm and not at all concerned, however he did seem mildly impressed by my Pokémon and by my skills as a trainer. Apparently it's very difficult for anyone to even reach this stage with him and as I understood it, only Cynthia had managed to defeat his entire team after he'd challenged the Elite Four and defeated them too.
Taking a deep breath I reached back and drew out a Pokéball, holding it tightly in my grasp. When we were called to select our next Pokémon, my hand instantly flew forwards. "Go Dragonair!" Tobias nodded his head approvingly before revealing his next Pokémon.
"Phione, it is time." No way! A Phione? Damn, this guy just doesn't give up. "Use Surf."
"Use Aqua Tail to break through, then use Thunderbolt!" I countered, flinging out a hand and Dragonair instantly set to work. She powered forwards through the Surf, breaking it with her tail then charged a Thunderbolt straight from above down at Phione, who yelled from the hit before collapsing, breathing heavily. I blinked. Uh…is that it? I thought it'd have more spunk than that.
"Use Ice Beam." Phione suddenly hopped back upright and used Ice Beam straight at Dragonair who artfully dodged out the way but Phione redirected the attack and this time, hit Dragonair full on with the ice attack and she then froze over, dropping to the ground like a beautiful ice statue. Uh oh. "Now use Aqua Ring." Phione called out in a mysterious voice, forming a sphere of water around it and instantly it began to glow blue, restoring some of its energy before focusing its eyes on Dragonair with a smirk.
"Come on Dragonair, you can break free of that!" I yelled to her. "Come on, struggle!" Her orbs began to glow and I smirked as the ice then melted around her, pooling into the ground before she rose back into the air, shaking herself off. "Alright! Way to go Dragonair! Okay, let's use Thunderbolt one more time!"
Singing upwards Dragonair began to crackle with electricity before aiming her horned head directly down at Phione who's jaw dropped open helplessly. With another Thunderbolt, Phione was knocked out of the competition, making Dragonair dip her head politely though I could feel a certain degree of smugness from her, patronising the young Phione for even thinking it stood a chance against her. I chuckled in response.
Tobias paused a moment, contemplating his losses before drawing out another Pokéball. I could feel him starting to grow concerned, so I maintained a calm expression on my face as he closed his eyes then tossed the Pokéball up into the air. To my surprise, it was a Latias. She was very similar to my own, only she was larger and also her facial features were different. Her eyes were more sloping, and their amber depths much darker than my Latias's golden ones.
Dragonair shook her head then focused, not allowing herself to mistake this Latias for her friend, who was safely tucked away in my Pokéball. "Use Ice Beam!" I ordered and Dragonair instantly obeyed, however Latias shot into the air with intense speed, though Dragonair was quick to give chase.
"Use Dragon Pulse." Tobias answered and Dragonair had to quickly dodge before exchanging the blow with her Ice Beam. The two Pokémon battled fiercely, however I was driven to the edge and used Outrage as a last resort, despite Latias still having plenty of energy left. Dragonair slammed against the eon Pokémon with her body glowing bright red, eyes intensely glowering as Latias cried out, taking several hits before using Zen Heabutt, sending Dragonair back down and this time, she didn't get up.
This is starting to look bad. I took a deep breath, weighing my options. Dragonair and Infernape were out, Charizard and Aurora were still recovering from their own battles which leaves me with my other two Pokémon. One was Scyther, my trusted Johto companion, however I was certain that my other would be better suited against Latias. "Let's go Gyarados!" I yelled, flinging his Pokéball forwards. "It's show time!"
With a roar Gyarados rose up and glared down at the Latias, who glared back fearlessly. Tobias arched his eyebrow before snorting. "Use Giga Impact." He ordered but I only smirked.
"Go Gyarados, use Bounce!" Suddenly my Gyarados sprang up into the air, rising so high that the Giga Impact missed and Latias looked around her in wonder before she looked up, noticing a shadow was growing steadily larger. With a gasp she darted out the way, however with her at a close range I quickly moved in for the next attack. "Use Crunch!"
Gyarados roared again and clamped down his jaws around Latias, lifting her out of the air and no amount of struggling could free her as Gyarados held her tightly. He shook his head, forcing Latias to go limp before he tossed her aside. "Now Hyper Beam!" With a close range blast, Latias slammed against the stadium wall then slipped to the ground, no longer able to battle. "Good work Gyarados." I said as he gave me a proud nod of his head.
Tobias's next Pokémon was also legendary, however I was not surprise this time. It was a Cresselia this time, and by now the audience were completely astounded by all these supposedly rare Pokémon that Tobias had managed to capture. "How did you get all these Pokémon?" I called out to Tobias who lifted his head slightly. "There's no way you could have caught all these legendary Pokémon by yourself, right?" He gave a little chuckle.
"Since I was a very young boy I have wanted to have the strongest team alive, so that I may be the strongest trainer. I knew that the only way to become that I would need invincible Pokémon, and none are stronger than those of legend, however you seem to be swiftly contradicting my thesis. You have strong bonds with your Pokémon, Ruby, and I admire that greatly about you." He said before a dark expression overcame him. "But this ends now! Cresselia! Use Psycho Cut!" Instantly she bombarded Gyarados with the attacks, causing significant damage as I hurried to counter.
"Use Hydro Pump!" He blasted at Cresselia with the water type attack, hitting her square on and she was forced backwards before she rose higher into the air and then used Future Sight at Tobias's command. "Crunch!" Gyarados roared forwards, catching Cresselia in his jaws and bit down on her, causing her to cry out before she used Aurora Beam, trailing a line of ice down Gyarados and he was forced to let her go, trapped in place before his powerful body smashed the ice. "Now use Hyper Beam!" He opened his jaws wider however Cresselia turned around and used Psycho Cut again, beating Gyarados to the chase.
He crumbled down to the ground, causing a large tremor in the ground and I grunted, trying to remain standing before I shook my head. "Get up Gyarados! You can do it!" I encouraged him determinedly, clenching my fists. "You can still battle on, you're not going to give up now, are you? Get up!" Gyarados groaned but complied, shifting before gradually lifting himself up. I had only just exhaled with relief when a vortex appeared overhead and instantly I gasped. "Hyper Beam NOW!" I bellowed but it was too late.
The Future Sight attack slammed against Gyarados at full force and this time, he didn't get back up. "I'm sorry Gyarados, I should have anticipated that. It was my fault." I told him after returning him to his Pokéball. Now I was getting angry. I did not come all this way to lose! "Okay Scyther, show me what you're made of!" I called and threw out his Pokéball, my old friend calling out determinedly.
"Scyther! Scyther Scy." With a ring of his blades and a thrum of his wings, I nodded my head.
"Let's go Scyther, use X-Scissor!" I ordered and Scyther instantly darted ahead with incredible speed, rushing at Cresselia and gave her no time to dodge and she took the attack full on.
"Use Psycho Cut." Tobias ordered.
"Dodge it, use Double Team!" I commanded and Scyther then surrounded Cresselia in a ring, causing her to pause in confusion before she started to attack at them all, sending each cut straight at a Scyther before it disappeared from sight until finally, there were none left. I smirked. "Now Scyther, X-Scissor!" Scyther came plummeting down from the sky, shrouded by the sunlight then struck against Cresselia, who cried out from the direct hit. "Again!" I slashed the air and Scyther immediately complied, hitting with another X-Scissor and Cresselia withdrew backwards.
"Use Future Sight!" Tobias ordered and Cresselia pulled herself together enough to sing upwards, creating a shimmering vortex which then disappeared from sight. The clock was now ticking. "Now Cresselia, Aurora Beam!" Cresselia darted forwards and gave chase to Scyther who smartly began to dodge her attacks, which switched from Aurora Beam to Psycho Cut with Scyther countering with X-Scissor and Air Slash to keep any hits from striking him.
"Hurry Scyther! Use Double Team!" I called and he instantly surrounded Cresselia just as the vortex appeared overhead. "Use X-Scissor!" Tobias narrowed his eyes as I cried out desperately.
"Lunar Song." The stadium filled with the beautiful singing voice of Cresselia, her body glowing a soft gold as the Future Sight struck down at Scyther, causing him to cry out and plummet with Cresselia and they both hit the ground hard, neither one stirring.
"Both Cresselia and Scyther are unable to battle." The referee and I exhaled softly.
"Thank you Scyther, you battled hard and I'm proud of you." I said to him as I returned him to his Pokéball, Tobias doing the same for Cresselia. Now all that was left was Darkrai, and if I was correct in knowing the effects of Lunar Song, he'd be completely reenergised by Cresselia's sacrifice. Taking slow, deep breaths, Aurora looked at me with a soft grunt. "Not yet." I murmured to her gently. "You're my best defence against Darkrai, I need you to recover a little more." I said to her so she nodded and began to meditate whilst standing, focusing her energy. "I'm counting on you Charizard, so let's do this." I said before calling him out to battle. "Use Flamethrower!"
"Dark Pulse." Tobias answered however as the two attacks connected in the middle, they exploded in a shower of fireworks, glittering red and purple brightly in the air between the two Pokémon, making smile slightly as I caught Charizard's wink. He secretly loved contests, I knew it all along.
"Now Charizard, hit with Giga Impact!"
"Use Dark Void." Darkrai spun out its ghostly hands and a wide disk suddenly went flying towards Charizard as he powered down straight for Darkrai. The disk struck and suddenly Charizard felt his eyes drooping, his mind slipping into darkness without his consent. He tried to struggle and fight back against the sleepiness, but it soon took over him and he plunged into the ground with a mighty crash, causing me to cry out in alarm.
"Charizard!" He lay there motionless, asleep on the ground. Not good. Definitely not good.
"Now Darkrai, use Dream Eater." Darkrai suddenly faced Charizard and a shadow of itself went flying towards Charizard before it melted into his body, instantly causing to flinch and twitch as a nightmare took over him. He couldn't fly, he was plunging into darkness and not even his tail was glowing. He was cold, frozen over and he was all along.
You're not alone Charizard, I'm right here. I whispered to him, closing my eyes and as my voice entered his mind, he began to calm down though he searched for me wildly. You can't see because you have your eyes closed. Open your eyes Charizard, you need to wake up. I encouraged and he growled as Darkrai used Dark Pulse on his sleeping form before drawing back, waiting.
Charizard struggled, searching for the light and I gently guided him, leading him with my voice until his eyes shot open and with a rage filled roar, he flapped his wings and soared up into the air. "Yes! Atta boy Charizard, now that's some determination!" I yelled cheerfully as Aurora cheered beside me also, the both of us jumping up and high fiving one another with broad smiles before we turned and struck identical poses, punching the air in front of us as we both moved in sync.
We spread our arms like wings and Charizard flapped with our movements, our eyes closed as he spiralled around with our direction, focusing in on Darkrai before blasting with Flamethrower, which surrounded him completely before he managed to rise up out of the flames but Charizard gave chase.
With a flick of my wrist, Charizard whipped around and smacked Darkrai with Dragon Tail, forcing Darkrai to plummet but then Charizard grabbed a hold of him, refusing to let go as they sky dived straight for the ground. "Now Charizard, use Dragon Rage!" I called and Charizard spun over his head in a circle, flinging Darkrai down then blasted it with a sphere of large gold flames, striking Darkrai with all the power Charizard could muster before it exploded into an electric blue dragon head, which snapped its jaws around Darkrai and then plunged it straight into the ground where a crater was made deep into the earth.
Charizard rested his feet on the ground, watching as the dust settled to reveal Darkrai completely immobilised. "Darkrai is unable to battle, the winner is Charizard and therefore, the victor of the Ever Grande City Conference is Ruby Bates!" I blinked after a moment. Wait a second. We just won the…we just won the Hoenn League! No way!
"We did it!" I gasped as Aurora flung her arms around me and we spun together as Charizard approached then lifted us both into his arms, hugging us tightly as the stadium filled with roars of applause, streamers filtering down through the air as fireworks were let off in celebration.
Tears of joy streaked down my face as Charizard tenderly nuzzled my head and Aurora rubbed her face against my cheek, all three of us beaming from ear to ear until loud shrieks could be heard from behind us, where May, Max, Katrina, my parents and even Drew came running onto the stadium where Charizard kindly put me down so I could run to them, jumping up and down with elation until I turned and looked at Tobias.
His head was hung low and he wasn't smiling, so I pulled away from the others and they went silent as I approached him. "Hey." I said to him and he looked up, regarding me for a moment before he smiled.
"Congratulations Ruby, you were a formidable opponent. I shall carry this battle, and all the things I learned today in my heart for a very long time." He assured me before holding out a hand which I shook warmly, giving him a smile in return. "I understand now that it does not matter what type of Pokémon you use, it's how you use the time given with them. I expect to see great battles from you in the future, and I hope one day that you may permit me to challenge you again." He said and my grin grew further as we let go of one another's hands.
"You can be sure I'll look forward to it." Just then all my Pokéballs burst open and my Pokémon all crowded around me, rather beaten up and exhausted, but still smiling all the same as they cheered at Tobias, making him smile softly again. "We all will." I added before they suddenly swarmed me with hugs, kisses and deep affection which made me laugh and giggle as Max and May sprung on me again, chattering excitedly until I was brought forwards to the podium where I was handed the trophy for defeating the entire Hoenn League. I could scarcely believe it, even when I held it my hands.
As I stood with all my Pokémon around me, I couldn't help but feel unspeakably proud of them. They'd given it their all against different types of legendary Pokémon just for me. Of course it doesn't hurt that they're all amazingly strong Pokémon anyway but still, I know that they'd gone beyond their limits to help get us all here, and I was overwhelmingly grateful to them.
The fireworks continued to dance in the skies and I looked up to Charizard, who turned and looked down at me as well. Memories flickered through our minds in unison and I could see myself meeting him for the first time through his eyes as he saw it through my own. A montage of memories began to cascade between us, my Pokémon all sharing in the trip as I recalled meeting each of them and capturing them, as well as the times when they had evolved and the greatest moments of our time together as well as the worst, when we would draw closer together.
It was a beautiful moment, however it was not one you could capture on a camera but that was fine with me, as it was private. Something that I would share only between myself and my Pokémon.