The Pokémon League Tournament was fierce. That was what Joseph found out when he had his first battle on the tournament. It was against a weird man who dressed on a purple suit with a white cape. He and Joseph had decided to meet before the battle.

"Hello there! My name is Eusine. Nice to meet you" The man smiled.

"Nice to meet you" Joseph smiled.

"So, do you really think you can win against me?" Eusine asked. "I've been training a lot to earn the favour of the legendary Pokémon Suicune! There's not a chance I might lose against you!"

"I've been training with my grandpa for almost a year. If you think you're winning... then you gotta think about it twice" Joseph boasted, confident.

They both went to the stadium's field. A RotomDrone came towards them.

"This battle shall be three on three! Switches between Pokémon are permitted" RotomDrone said. "Now, begin the battle!"

"Go, Delibird!" Joseph shouted, taking his Delibird out.

"Deli!" Delibird shouted, prideful on his strength.

"Go, Electrode!" Eusine shouted.

"Elec, trooode!" Electrode loomed happily over Delibird.

"Delibird, use Icy Wind!" Joseph ordered.

"Delibird!!!" Delibird attacked Electrode with Icy Wind.

"Eleeeec!" Electrode rolled over, flinching due to the attack.

"Electrode, use Charge!" Eusine ordered.

Electrode started charging electricity. Delibird looked at them, surprised.

"Deli?" Delibird wondered what they were doing.

"AND NOW, THUNDERBOLT!" Eusine ordered.

"Ah! Delibird, avoid it!" Joseph shouted.

Delibird tried, but the charged Thunderbolt hit him with strength, leaving him weak.

"Come back, Delibird!" Joseph said.

"AAAND JOSEPH SWITCHES DELIBIRD BACK! What Pokémon shall he use to get advantage over Electrode?" The commentarist shouted.

"Go, Latias!" Joseph commanded, taking Latias out.

"And it's... Latias! As to our reports, this Latias comes from the town of Altomare, and is capable of megaevolving!" The commentarist said.

"Mega what?!" Eusine asked.

"Exactly!" Joseph shouted, smiling, while activating his Keystone. "Come forth, Latias! We gotta go beyond!"

"LATIAAAS!!!" She shouted upon the surge of power.

"Use Psychic!" Joseph ordered.

"Latias!" Latias used Psychic on Electrode, who fainted instantly.

"A-ah! A mega-evolved legendary! This really breaks the fun! Go, Golem! Use Explosion!" Eusine ordered.

"What?!" Joseph was surprised.

Golem accumulated energy... and exploded, hurting Mega-Latias in the process. They fainted, and Eusine got him to his PokéBall.

"Go, Hypno!" Eusine shouted, getting Hypno out of his PokéBall.

"Hypno..." Hypno loomed over Mega-Latias, who felt too weak to answer with anything.

"Mega-Latias, are you ready for a little kamikaze?" Joseph asked.

Mega-Latias looked at him... and nodded.

"Lati!" She asked him to make it quick.

"Kamikaze...? Hypno, use Hypnosis!" Eusine ordered.

Hypno put Mega-Latias to sleep, and Joseph started charging Dragon energy, baffling Eusine.

"What are you doing?" Eusine asked.

"An overload!" Joseph said, transmitting all the charged energy. "Go super, Mega-Latias!"

She woke up due to the overload of power, and screamed, exploding with great strength and making both her and Hypno faint.

"AAAAAND JOSEPH HAS TWO POKÉMON LEFT WHILE EUSINE'S THREE HAVE FAINTED, SO JOSEPH WIN THIS BATTLE!" The commentarist shouted.

People celebrated, and Joseph felt his knees giving in due to tiredness and nervousness.

"I gotta heal my guys up" He said, getting Latias inside her Pokéball, getting up and saluting Eusine. "Good battle"

He stood there, astonished. He couldn't believe he had lost that easily.

While Latias and Delibird were healed, Joseph went to look other battles. Piter defeated his guys without much effort, all thanks to Nidoking's Horn Drill. It was a strong move that Joseph would have to find a way to counter. Well, he had one: Zygarde on his 100% form would be fast enough to defeat Nidoking.

But his next battle wouldn't be against Piter, but against Falkner. His weakness was the Electric type, and sorely refused to do something about that. So Pikachu would be enough. Four on four, huh. That would be fun.

Latias and Delibird were healed up just in time for his battle against Falkner.

"Falkner, Violet City's Gym Leader, has taken upon himself to become the best expert on Flying types. Although, he'll had to compete with Lance for that position" He joked.

People laughed a little bit, it was infamous that Lance, a Dragon Master, had mostly Flying types instead of Dragon Types.

"You don't have to have a Monotype to become a master of a type" Joseph said, looking at Falkner.

"I do not agree. You muddle your devotion by training other types" Falkner said.

"Meanwhile, Joseph's a Dragon Tamer, but only has three Dragons, and the rest of his Pokémon are a Heracross, a Delibird and a Pikachu! How crazy is that?" The commentarist asked, making the public laugh.

"Why is he such a jokester now?" Joseph asked.

"It's the last battle of the day, people are tired" Falkner said.

"Alright!" The RotomDrone shouted. "The battle will begin!"

"Go, Pikachu!" Joseph shouted, throwing his PokéBall.

"Pika!" Pikachu shouted, excited.

"Tsk! An Electric type... Go, Tornadus!" Falkner shouted.

"TORNAAA!!!" The Pokémon shouted.

Joseph's eye twitched a little bit. He had heard of the legendaries of the clouds and the winds while training with his Grandpa. He couldn't believe what a stickler Falkner was.

"For all of the Flying-type legendaries you could've chosen... OF COURSE you choose the ONLY LEGENDARY who does NOT have resistance to the Electric type" Joseph shouted.

"To be fair, it was a Mystery Gift your Delibird gave me while we were making your birthday cake" Falkner shrugged it off.

"Of freaking course" Joseph said. "I completely forgot that Delibird most likely had more Mystery Gifts from when he was with Father Winter"

"Unbelievable! Falkner has a Legendary Pokémon! How well will it fare against that Pikachu???" The commentarist shouted.

"Pikachu, we're going super" Joseph said, frowning while he charged energy... and sent it directly to his Pikachu.

"PIKA!" Pikachu felt the surge of energy, becoming Super Pikachu.

"W-what is that?!" Falkner shouted, seeing how, even if Pikachu's appearance didn't change, his presence loomed over Tornadus.

"A way to tip the scales in my favour! Pikachu, use Zippy Zap!" Joseph ordered.

"PIKA PIKA PIKA PIKA PIKA...!!!" Pikachu ran towards Tornadus, charging against him. "PIKA!!!"

Tornadus couldn't even see Pikachu's moves, he fell to the ground, fainted.

"W-what?!" Falkner shouted. "Unbelievable! Tornadus, come back!"

"And Pikachu has defeated Tornadus on one hit! What has happened to this Pikachu? Is this the hidden power of the Dragon Clan?!"

Joseph smiled.

"Go, Staraptor!" Falkner shouted.

"Pikachu, use Zippy Zap!" Joseph ordered.

Staraptor fainted. The crowd was cheering Joseph like crazy.

"Lugia, go!" Falkner said, sending his other Legendary Pokémon.

But Pikachu beat it with Zippy Zap.

"Pidgeot, let's go beyond evolution... with Mega-Evolution!" Falkner shouted, mega-evolving Pidgeot. "Come now! Use Mud Slap!"

Pikachu was hit with strength, backing off. Pidgeot, by mega-evolving, had matched his Super state.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Joseph shouted.

Pikachu tried to hit it, but he had mud on his eyes so he couldn't actually hit Mega-Pidgeot.

"Oh, no!" Joseph shouted.

"Oh, yes! How did you call it? I'm tipping the scales!" Falkner shouted.

"Not quite!" Joseph smiled. "Pikachu! Use Pika Papow!"

"Pika what now?" Falkner asked.

Pikachu jumped, throwing around electricity like crazy. It hit Mega-Pidgeot strongly, making him faint.

"Pidgeot is unable to battle! Pikachu wins! This victory is awarded to Joseph!" RotomDrone shouted.

"AAAND JOSEPH WON WITH ONLY ONE POKÉMON, GOING STRAIGHT TO THE FINALS!!! Aaaand that's all battles for today, the semifinals and the final will be tomorrow! Those who are seeing this on TV, stay tuned. Those who are here with us, please be soon enough, because these battles are on fiiire!!!" The commentarist shouted.

"I can't believe I lost that easily" Falkner said.

"I told you, didn't I? But I guess I can't change the past" The old man Joseph had met went towards them, with a sardonic smile on his face.

"Hey... what happened?" Joseph asked. "Why do you smile like that?"

"I took care of Team Rocket. They won't hurt anyone any longer" The old man said.

"When?" Joseph asked.

"While you were battling Falkner" The old man said.

Joseph nodded. He was uneasy by the old man's smile, but that brought him comfort.

Because he knew what was next, and he dreaded it would take away his victory.

To be continued


For those who will complain about not getting a true resolution of the whole Team Rocket thing... just keep reading. I have everything planned out for chapters to come.
Joseph's Team:
Dragonite (Male) — Level 85
Pikachu (Male) — Level 85
Heracross (Male) (Alpha) — Level 85
Delibird (Male) — Level 85
Zygarde (10%) — Level 85
Latias (Female) — Level 85