"We showed them!" Miltank exclaimed, fire burning in her eyes at the incredible win the team achieved against Candance. We were at the Pokemon Center, relaxing after Nurse Joy had healed the pokemon that had battled. I looked around the room with a smile, watching my friends, never happier to know that Ambipom had decided not to become a professional Pokemon Ping-Pong player. She truly knows how to brighten up a room, I thought as I watched her play and make the younger pokemon laugh. "I did not know Gym Battles were this much fun! I can't wait for the league!"
"Yeah... she fits with Tauros just fine," I heard Glalie comment, making me laugh.
"She is good," Paul's Magmar commented. "But she could not defeat my flames!" He finished, sounding as pretentious as his trainer.
"I love how much Paul and his pokemon have changed since the first time we met," my daughter told me, brightly as always. She had been much happier lately since his mom and I agreed to leave the past behind and move forward. I don't know if we'll ever be back together again, but we will try to get along better for the sake of our daughter. "It's nice to see their progress."
"What I find funny, is that if Ash and Paul would have met a few months earlier, Ash would have marked him as his rival and spent the whole Sinnoh Journey fighting him," I chuckled.
"Good thing they did not meet then," Ursaring replied, sighing.
"Yeah, we would have been toasted," Paul's Froslass commented floating around the room. So, many Froslass in a day, since when is she such a popular pokemon.
Suddenly, Paul rushed outside, leaving us all confused. We looked at each other perplexed by such an uncommon behavior from Paul but decided to follow him anyway. With Paul's pokemon being the first ones out. The first thing I heard was Torterra cursing. "Shit! From everyone, it had to be Brandon, the Battle Pyramid Master!"
"Oh, shit," I agreed. We all heard the story from Reggie, even with all the change Paul has been through in this journey, there's a lot of anger in him. He'll burst if they face off. Luckily, Reggie was not here to fuel that rage.
"Hey, guys! I finally found you!" Talk about Darkrai and he will come. I cursed in my head, while the rest of the pokemon cursed out loud. "What's wrong?" Reggie asked us, confused. Riley silently pointed up towards the flying pyramid. "Shit!" Reggie cursed in realization. Paul ignored us all and run towards the Battle Pyramid when it flew away, being followed closely by his pokemon. "Paul! Wait!" Reggie called out, following close behind his brother.
"Let's go!" Ash called out and started to run after them.
"Here we go again," I sighed, jumping on my trainer's shoulder. We got there just in time to hear Paul challenge Brandon to a battle. "This guy does not miss any time," I chuckled but froze when I heard Brandon accept the challenge. "You are allowing this insanity?! Distortion, what do I care? I love a good fight!"
"Hey, Brandon, how are you?" Ash tried to cut the tension after Reggie pulled his little brother away.
"Very good, I had just finished exploring the Snowpoint Temple," Brandon explained with a smile. "It was magnificent!"
"Are you really going to face off against Paul?" Riley asked the Brain Frontier.
"Yes, he needs this battle," Brandon answered with a calm demeanor. "I remember him from back when he was a rookie and saw his brother lose against me... he lost something that day. I hope he gets it back today."
"I think that this will lead to a regression on Paul's part, but it will also help him find closure," Lucario projected his voice to the humans.
Riley nodded his head solemnly, trusting his pokemon's words 100%. Dawn was jumping on her spot nervously, looking at us and at Paul with exceeding trepidation. Ash was smiling at him 'I am going to enjoy this fight' smile. The rest of us remained silently, following our trainers inside to watch the battle. Of course, Brandon did not go easy at all and chose Regirock as his first pokemon, with Paul going with Hariyama first. Ash leaned forwards with an expecting smile, from his vicious and eager expression I could see a clear influence from Lance. Ash is starting to behave more and more like a dragon lately.
Regirock moved first firing a Stone Edge, however, Hariyama blocks it easily. "Rock-type moves aren't very effective against Fighting types," Paul points out with a growl. "Is this a test? You Master Trainers love tests," Paul commented, glancing towards a smiling Ash.
Brandon smiled and replied: "You will have to find out."
"Arm Thrust!" Paul commanded and Hariyama charges forward with multiple hits, but Regirock shocked us all and hugged Hariyama to stop him in his tracks. Regirock then releases a Shock Wave, because of its close range it caused a surprising amount of damage. "Hariyama!" I could see Paul's growth from his scream filled with worry. "Force Palm!" But Regirock dodges it and throws a Focus Punch, which knocked Hariyama out cold. Paul recalls Hariyama with a frown. I almost forgot how strong Brandon's Regirock is... almost being the keyword.
"You are next Electabuzz!" Paul called out smiling.
"Why would he choose Electrabuzz?" Dawn inquired confused, worry laced in her tone.
The choice confused everyone... everyone but Ash went ahead and commented: "He'll use Brick Break, which is super-effective against Regirock." Of course, Ash ended up predicting Paul's strategy. However, Regirock showed no signs of letting up and fires Stone Edge, Electabuzz used Protect as a defense. However, the attack is so powerful that it breaks through the barrier and knocks Electabuzz down. I could see how great it frustrated Paul. Brandon showed no compassion and followed up with a Hyper Beam. Just like that Electabuzz was out. Paul recalls Electabuzz before Brandon recalls Regirock as well. "Good choice, that way Brandon does not have to deal with Hyper Beam's secondary immobilization effect." Brandon replaces Regirock with Registeel, and Paul sends Magmar back out. "That's also a smart move, fire is one of the few ways to deal with Steel-types. Arceus knows their defensive powerlessness is frustrating as Distortion World."
"Magmar, Flamethrower!" Paul commanded his pokemon managing to land the hit. However, to my amazement, Registeel takes the attack without much falter. If Charizard had been there, Registeel would have been down... Arceus did I really think that? I thought stunned. Did I just compare Charizard to a Magmar? I am so happy he is not here and I did not say it out loud.
"Iron Head," Brandon commanded calmly, totally collected and the complete opposite of how Paul was acting.
"Magmar block it and use Will-O-Wisp!" Paul ordered, but Magmar fails to block the attack and ends up flinching, unable to use any moves. Paul rapidly recalls Magmar and calls out his Nidoking.
Dawn frowned and asked confused: "Why did Paul choose a Poison-type pokemon? Steel-types pokemon are immune to poison attacks."
"Nidoking is also a Ground-type pokemon," Zoey replied. "Those moves are super-effective on Steel-types."
Registeel fired a Flash Cannon, bringing us back to the battle before us. I winced when it hit Nidoking squarely in the face, but Nidoking thankfully, recovered quickly and successfully counterattacks with Earth Power and Double Kick. Those were the first attacks that caused enough harm to make one of Brandon's pokemon stumble backward. I should know, Ash's favorite Ground-type move is Eath Power, making sure to teach it to every pokemon that can learn it. However, they were not good enough to defeat Registeel. But that did not stop either of them, Paul commanded Nidoking to launch a Thunderbolt (One that could use a bit of work, I'm just saying!) but Registeel used Iron Head to absorb the Thunderbolt (the same way Ash uses Iron Tail to the ground against electric attacks) and hits Nidoking, knocking him out.
It was then that Brandon began to taunt Paul, reminding him that he wanted to defeat the man who defeated his brother and put an end to his Pokémon journey. It was then that I realized what Brandon was doing. "Come on Paul, don't fall for it," Reggie murmured next to me.
After recalling Nidoking, Paul spoke up: "Once upon a time, I would have risen to the bait. Telling you that it is because you had defeated my brother that I am battling you now. Unlike my brother I am already aware of his true inner strength; my will. But that was months ago, I met another Master Trainer who truly taught me what's the meaning of inner strength. It's my bond with my pokemon." His words brought us all to a stop. We've all mentioned how much Paul had gotten better, but none of us truly knew how much he had. "I am not Ash, and I will never be like my brother who has kind words for everyone. My pokemon and I are lone Absols, all united under the objective to become stronger. However, that does not mean we do not care about each other. We do it our own way... I do not need to pass your ultimate challenge. I do not need your approval to know if I am right or wrong about if I had found my true inner strength... however, I am still Reggie's little brother and somewhat my brain is still stuck on the fact that after your battle my hero stopped battling. So, stop your tests and fight me!"
"Paul..." Reggie murmured touched, at the edge of tears, while Ash smiled viciously.
"I can't wait for him to grow up into the trainer he will be... Sinnoh is in good hands," Ash's words were spoken so softly that I believe I was the only one that had heard them.
"Paul the next champion?" I inquired shocked by my trainer's prediction... but not that surprised. "I kind of like that," I smiled just as viciously as my trainer.
"Lairon you are next!" Paul called out, ignoring Brandon's knowing smile.
Dawn proceeds to look up Lairon on her Pokédex: 'Lairon, the Iron Armor Pokemon, is a dual-type Steel/Rock Pokemon and the evolved form of Aron. For food, it digs up iron ore. It smashes its steely body against others to fight over territory.'
Brandon recalls Registeel and brings Regice out. Paul has Lairon use Iron Defense. "I guess Paul just wants to hang in there and wait for a chance to counterstrike," Reggie commented with a smile. "It's good to know he is less hotheaded from the time he had begun his journey."
However, his efforts are futile as Regice freezes Lairon with an Ice Beam, before launching a Zap Cannon that knocks Lairon out before it could even attack once. I am stunned that Lairon didn't even get to launch one offensive attack against Regice. "Brandon is not going easy at all, he is going for the kill here," Ash commented.
"Was he this vicious when you battled him?" Zoey asked us, clearly shocked by her tone of voice.
Ash and I thought it for a little bit before answering together with a deadpanned expression: "He was worse/He was worse."
I could see that Paul was growing increasingly frustrated. Not that I blamed him, I would too in his place. He then sent out Ursaring after recalling Lairon. "Hammer Arm!" Paul commanded.
But Brandon was quick for the counter: "Regice, use Focus Punch!"
Which created a massive backlash that knocked both Pokémon backward. I could see Ursaring preparing to use a Focus Blast, I smiled at the silent command there. Paul's pokemon no longer need him to hold their hands. But I knew it won't work, Regice proved me right when he used Zap Cannon before Ursaring can launch the attack, paralyzing him. Paul then recalled him. Brandon then substitutes Regice for Regirock, while Paul sent out his last pokemon, Magmar. I sighed, with the type disadvantage and massive difference in strength, I knew that Paul won't win. But I smiled with Ash watching the fight continue, we both loved trainers that do not give up and kept on fighting. What was much better, is the fact that both Magmar and Paul seem to be enjoying the fight. Battling people who are stronger than you is what being a trainer is all about. Paul was starting to learn that.
Predictably, Regirock easily endures Magmar's Flamethrower attack before knocking it out with Shock Wave. Brandon had a perfect 6-0 victory over Paul, a crushing defeat. However, Paul was in great shock, while Dawb and Zoey were dumbstruck at how completely Paul was defeated. Paul silently recalls Magmar, but afterwards he did something that shocked us all... he smiled, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
"Was this your true way of battling?" Brandon asked Paul.
"No... but I... we did have fun. Thank you... for your lesson," Paul asnwered, smile never leaving his lips.
Look at that, all grown up. I thought proudly.
I jumped off Ash's lap into the battlefield and started clapping. The boy deserved it. Soon everyone followed, even Brandon. Paul looked at us shocked, I noticed his eyes watering with unshed tears, but he did not let them fall. He stood tall, with his back straightened, as he should.
He should be proud of himself.
He did a good job.