Special thanks to the folks on pa-atreon for making this possible. Now without further ado let's get into it.
Today's battles were going to be two-on-two engagements instead of the one-on-one we had yesterday. With 64 participants left, everyone would get two battles to cut us down to 16.
Silph's president didn't show up for today's ceremony, so the announcer started calling names for battles after welcoming everyone and explaining the rules for today. I searched through the crowd of trainers and noticed several familiar faces. Some people I'd battled against before were even in the crowd. I'd never expected to see them again, but it's truly a small world.
Sansa and Arya were seated to my left and conversing with each other heatedly. I turned away when Arya looked in my direction and focused on the first set of battles. They hadn't reduced the number of stages, so there were still ten battles simultaneously.
The only notable one for today was the trainer with the Rhydon. I watched her overwhelm her opponent's Mankey with superior defence and then duke it out against an Aggron.
The Aggron was a credit to its species, and I enjoyed watching it nearly overwhelm its foe with superior tactics and move spread. The Aggron knew moves that surprised even me. Its Flash cannon and mega horn were phenomenal to watch, but it proved to be fruitless at the end of the day. The Rhydon's trainer had truly mastered the art of simplicity.
I watched it use a protect to weather all the Aggron's attacks and then step out of the protect when the Aggron had tired itself. The Aggron's punch was caught and countered with a blow to its steel armour that echoed across the stadium. The Aggron moved back, and the Rhydon stepped into its guard. I wasn't the biggest fan of the species, but I was reminded of why I'd wanted one so badly when the Rhydon knocked out the Aggron with less than five punches to its head.
I joined the crowd in offering my applause to both trainers. The man's Aggron was good, but the girl was something else. I waited excitedly for the next round and almost facepalmed at what I saw. It was a stereotypical anime battle in every way that counted.
The two trainers, James and John, made the most ridiculous poses to start with and then moved from there to even worst battling. When I heard one of them shouting at his Nidoran to dodge, I actually facepalmed. When the same Nidoran defeated its opponent, an Ekans, shortly before losing consciousness, I was happy to see it over.
Their next pokemon were even more evenly matched. A Golbat and a Fearow. The pokemon weren't bad, but the trainers activated every cringe instinct I had. "Fury cutter", one of them would shout, "dodge it" the other would retaliate as if there was a single pokemon alive that needed a reminder to dodge incoming attacks.
I thought it was over when the Fearow managed to use aerial ace to smash the Golbat into the ground, but it wasn't an anime battle without the power of friendship. I watched in stunned awe as the Golbat's trainer shouted some sort of speech at it that made it stand up and evolve. A fucking Crobat, great.
I couldn't even muster up any shock when the Crobat somehow overcame all the odds and defeated the Fearow, even though it should have already been out for the count. The pokemon had been on its last legs before evolving and all Oak's studies on the process never even hinted at pokemon receiving some sort of second wind from the process.
Pure anime bullshit. I was so overjoyed to hear my name next that I practically ran out of the stands to get to the stage. I arrived to find my opponent waiting for me. A blond girl. She looked exactly like Astrid Hofferson from the How to train a dragon movies.
With that comparison in mind, I couldn't unsee it. She styled her hair the same way and had a scowl reminiscent of the one the Viking warrior had for much of the first movie.
The referee turned to us and offered the coin. "Heads," I said before she could open her mouth. I was feeling lucky today. He flipped the coin, and it landed tails. Fuck.
I sent out Kenpachi, and my displeasure disappeared after seeing my evolved partner. He and Snorlax were the only pokemon I'd shown off in the tournament so far, and I was going to try to stick to that.
She sent out a Nidoking of all things that had me re-evaluating her. No one knew about evolving pokemon with catalysts, so if she had a Nidoking, she'd most likely captured one in the wild. This girl was dangerous.
I wasn't worried, though. As dangerous as she was, we were worse. I allowed her the luxury of the first move as I relayed my strategy to Kenpachi through our bond. The Nidoking rushed forward with immense speed and the light of a mega punch shining on his fist.
Kenpachi took the hit directly to his head. He stepped back, and the Nidoking continued to wail on him. Kenpachi could feel the hits, but devastating punches felt more like taps with his armour. Eventually, the Nidoking realised it was having no effect and tried to gain distance to try a different move.
Kenpachi chose that moment to pounce. He stepped inside the Nidoking's guard and lashed out with his newest move, bide. The dark-type attack unloaded the force the Nidoking had been dishing out straight back at it. The poison-type pokemon flew backwards and landed on the ground.
Kenpachi let out a roar of dominance and turned to the pokemon before charging up a hyper beam. The Astrid lookalike chose not to return her pokemon, and I ordered Kenpachi to fire. I wasn't even surprised to find the Nidoking under a protect when the smoke of the attack died down.
"Ice beam," my opponent ordered her pokemon, and it started sending out blasts of blue energy at Kenpachi. They broke against Kenpachi's protect like water, and I wondered what she was hoping to achieve when she told her pokemon to continue firing.
It took four blasts for me to figure out what she was doing. Her Nidoking had frozen the front of the shield to eliminate Kenpachi's visibility. I calmed my pseudo-legendary pokemon with my aura and told him to wait for her next move.
The Nidoking started charging up a hyper beam, and I figured out her gambit. It's a shame it wouldn't work in this situation. Aura was so broken.
She expected Kenpachi to drop his protect so he could see the battlefield and would then have her Nidoking snipe him the moment he left his shield. I could wait her out by having Kenpachi stay calm and patient, but protect was a draining move, and I still had 3 more pokemon to fight today.
Kenpachi dropped the shield but twirled to his left the moment he did. The hyper beam flew right past him, and he ran across the battlefield as quickly as he could to slam into the exhausted Nidoking with a tackle. The Nidoking went down, unconscious, and Kenpachi drowned out the stadium with his roar of victory. I simply smiled and gave him a thumbs up while whispering my congratulations with my aura.
He turned to wait for his next pokemon, and the Astrid lookalike across from me bit her lips in thought before sending out an enormous Magmar. I was quite certain this was her strongest pokemon. It looked old and experienced. Not just old. It was aged. Its red fur had even begun to grey. I doubted it could even battle, but since she released it here, I had no doubts there was something I was missing at this stage.
The fire-type wasted no time in rushing at Kenpachi. I switched up our strategy for this fight, and Kenpachi swept out with his tail to prevent it from getting close and used earthquake to destabilise its footing and shatter the ground. The Magmar jumped backwards to escape the tremors. It was experienced enough to know that the tremors were more intense the closer you were to the pokemon using the move. Impressive.
It aimed its hands at Kenpachi and sent out two enormous streams of fire that Kenpachi stood still and tanked while manipulating the rocks in the arena to rise and hurl themselves at the fire-type.
The Magmar was forced to abandon its attacks to punch through the boulders flying towards it. I watched and waited before giving Kenpachi my next orders. He summoned two shadow balls in each of his fists and sent them flying at the fire type. The magmar ignored its trainer's orders to dodge and timed one of its punches on an incoming boulder, so the fragments of that boulder were what the shadow balls hit.
I could only gape in shock at the feat. There was no way the girl that looked to be about my age trained this pokemon herself. That kind of experience was unbelievable.
The Magmar seemed to take a deep breath before doing something that shocked me even more. I watched the arena explode into fire around it. There was only one move this could be, and for the first time since the fight started, I felt worried for my pokemon.
The referee also realised what was happening and waved a black flag that brought two more alakazam teleporting in to strengthen the barrier. I bit my lip and ordered Kenpachi to use protect.
All I could do now was hope for the best. The fire around the Magmar continued to build up as it approached a crescendo. After a few seconds, the move built to its critical point, and the arena exploded. There was fire everywhere.
After a few seconds, the smoke cleared, and I sighed relief at seeing my rock type still standing. His armour was smoking, and he even had some patches I recognised as burns. I turned my eyes to the exhausted fire-type and felt nothing but respect for the pokemon.
We'd send it off with respect, at least. Kenpachi charged up a hyper beam much slower than he did earlier in the fight and sent it rocketing at the exhausted pokemon. I was shocked when it managed to get up a protect. It was futile, though. As tired as Kenpachi was, the Magmar was even worse.
Kenpachi's hyper beam broke through its shield and sent it to the land of Morpheus. I allowed Kenpachi to enjoy his victory for a bit before I returned him to his Pokeball. I looked around for my opponent and couldn't find her.
A shame. I'd wanted to find out more about that Magmar. A pokemon like that had to be a legacy, and I wondered who she could have received such a powerful pokemon from. Even as old as it had been, it had pushed Kenpachi very hard.
I walked back to my seat to applause from the crowd. At this point, I'd had two impressive battles already. Tow battles I would have lost if I'd played to the stereotype of starting with weaker pokemon first. I couldn't think of any of my teammates that actually counted as weak. Even Magnezone could be a terror with the right motivation.
I found my seat and noticed Arya staring at me. I turned to her and stared. Silently willing her to look away. She didn't. Not until her name was called, at least. Good. I'd finally watch her battle and see what was up with her team. I was curious about what kind of team she'd gathered in the past months.
Her opponent was a young blonde man with a black beard. Dyed hair? That wasn't actually as common as one would expect in an anime world like this one. It wasn't frowned upon or anything, but dyes were expensive. It's a holdback from the days when getting dyes was perilous, so they were rare.
I waited for the battle to start in anticipation, and the blonde didn't disappoint by releasing an Espeon. Impressive. Eevee was one the rarest pokemon alive today. They'd been hunted mercilessly by poachers for the large prices people were willing to pay for them.
Arya sent out a Crobat that looked more impressive than every other flying type I'd seen. I'd have loved to see Quicksilver match up against it. My heart twinged at that thought. The referee started the battle, and the Espeon shattered the stage around her with a blast of psychic power that had me gaping.
It started sending the rocks up at the Crobat, and the poison-type pokemon did its best, but it was clear that that wouldn't be enough after a few minutes. The Espeon never flagged. Didn't slow down for even a second. The crobat flew like a bat out of hell to escape the persistent attacks.
Eventually, it started looking like the crobat would fall soon. Arya shouted some words I couldn't quite pick up, which turned to the attack. It started using steel wings and shadow balls to break the balls as they arrived. Good idea, but too little too late. Even when the Crobat tried to attack the Espeon itself, the pokemon used protect to great effect to avoid even the most powerful of moves.
Eventually, the Espeon did something I'd never even seen before. It levitated a boulder in front of itself and, with as flex of psychic might, shattered it into fragments that it sent flying at the Crobat like bullets from a gun.
Arya recognised her defeat when the Crobat went down and returned it before it could suffer any additional damage. The next pokemon she sent out was one I was curious to see- her Venesuar.
It was a lovely specimen of its species. Nothing like Erica's, but still very impressive. She had it use solar beam and dig its vines into the ground. I was surprised the trainer with the Espeon allowed it set up like that, but that cleared up when his Espeon started firing solar beams at the stationary grass type.
I see. Allow your opponent to set up and then use the set-up against them. Nice idea. The Venesuar was no slouch, though and managed to block the moves with rocks it could lift with its vines. The bud at the back of the venesuar opened up, and a grey cloud started to cover the field.
I couldn't recognise the colour as belonging to any of the more well-known poison-type moves, but this was the power of Venesuars. They excelled at making new poisons in those buds of theirs.
The Espeon looked at ease with the rapidly approaching poison, and I knew why when its trainer returned it before replacing it with an Aggron that simply lazed in the cloud. I couldn't see Arya's face very clearly from her, but her body language told me enough. She was frustrated.
Her Venesuar reacted to her displeasure and threw everything it could at the Aggron. It made no difference, though. This was one of the most feared steel-type pokemon for a reason. It broke through the vines that tried encircling it and obliterated every boulder the venesuar sent at it with a massive flash cannon that had me blinking spots from my eyes.
When my vision cleared, I saw the Aggron in front of the Venesuar with a glowing fist cocked back. The Venesuar's instinctive protect shattered after the first hit and the second punch smashed it into unconsciousness.
I took a deep breath in shock at the display of power and savagery. The trainer. His name was a mystery to me, but I noted him down all the same. He was dangerous. More dangerous than I'd expected with his looks. He wore a three-piece suit and looked like he'd be more in place at a business meeting than at a pokemon battle.
He proved me wrong, though, and from the whispers I heard around me, it wouldn't be out of place to say he'd proved almost everyone in the crowds wrong.
I couldn't afford to dwell on his thoughts for too long because my name had been called again. I walked out with visible excitement. This battle was going to be phenomenal, at the least. We'd finally been cut down to 32 participants.
I wasn't disappointed when my opponent sent out a large Mamoswine on the field. The Ice/ground type pokemon was even larger than Kenpachi.
I hummed in appreciation while considering the pokemon I should use. Igneel, Kisame and Hashirama seemed like obvious choices, but I'd been trying to avoid giving away most of my team composition ahead of the later rounds. I slapped myself for my stupidity when I felt myself reach down to Snorlax's ball.
Turning down such an obvious advantage because of my desire to gain an advantage in future battles was stupid. I had no idea how strong this pokemon was. Could I risk that all for the element of surprise? The referee coughed pointedly, and I released Igneel to the field.
He'd been getting antsy either way. A battle would be good to settle him. I watched my opponent, a tiny girl that looked even younger than me narrow her eyes at Igneel before giving her first orders. "Blizzard" She screamed at her Mamoswine.
Igneel roared in irritation from his position in the skies when his visibility disappeared. I couldn't even see through the blizzard either, so I couldn't help him how I'd helped Kenpachi earlier.
Noises started coming from the icy cloud, and every few seconds, I'd see a bolt of red that showed Igneel was giving a good fight. I didn't have a pokemon's senses, and Igneel couldn't communicate with me the way I communicated with him, so I had no way of telling how things were going in the blizzard.
All I knew was that Igneel was still going strong. I couldn't even give orders because I feared I'd distract him from his battle.
I gritted my teeth as I heard Igneel roar in pain. The Mamoswine was supposed to be less of a threat with its Ice typing, but I'd forgotten to include one key variable in my calculations.
Igneel was a dragon-type pokemon. His official typing mattered little. He had all the traits of a dragon and was even the offspring of a champion-level Dragonite. I was the asshole who had neglected that part of his nature in training and battling. I couldn't wait for the tournament to be over so I could rectify that oversight.
My thoughts were blown away by what I could feel from Igneel. He was in pain. It tore at my heart to leave him in there, but this was what he needed. He'd grown too confident in his power. I hated the thought of losing more than anything else, but perhaps something useful could come from this loss. That was my hope, at least.
Things were getting even worse, and I couldn't resist the urge to give Igneel orders anymore. 'Fly up. Use sunny day and then blast burn the entire field. Full power.'
It wasn't the best plan, but it was the best I could think of at the moment, and when I saw the sun get even brighter and hotter, I knew Igneel had listened. I waited patiently for the next part of my plan, and I felt it more than I saw it. Heat washed across me. His Blast burn had managed to heavily damage the barriers, and while my opponent nor I had been hurt, it was a bit close.
The icy winds of the blizzard cleared out first, and then the smoke of Igneel's attack followed. When I could see the field clearly, I almost sobbed. Igneel was hurt. Badly so. One of his wings was bent at an angle, and only prodigious skill with flying-type energy kept him afloat in the air. His body was littered with scratches and bruises. He looked like he'd fought in a war, not just the ten-minute battle he'd actually participated in.
His opponent somehow looked even worse than he did. Igneel's blast burn had put it on its last legs, and it was barely holding on to consciousness. Its hairy body was burned heavily in some places, and it had several bruises on its body. One of its tusks was broken off, and the other was shorter than it had been at the start of the battle.
Both pokemon weren't giving up though. Even before my eyes, both straightened up and looked ready to continue. I looked at my opponent. She looked worried for her pokemon, and I understood the feeling.
"One attack. Let's end this in one attack. Give it your all, and I'll do the same," I shouted at her. I watched her expression shift from worry to excitement.
"Sure. You're on." Her voice filled the stadium in a way that belied her appearance. I had Igneel move from the sky to the ground for this final move. I could have sworn I heard a hush across the crowd as we both triggered our attacks. "Giga Impact" We both shouted at the same time.
Both our pokemon were surrounded by orange auras and started to approach each other. They started walking, and their speed grew as they got closer. At almost the last second, Igneel's aura turned from burnt orange to a fiery red as he channelled fire-type energy into the move.
They slammed into each other with an impact that shattered what remained of the barrier and sent the referee flying. I kept my balance by lowering myself to the ground and willing myself not to budge. When the winds died down and I could see the field, I smiled with pride. Igneel prevailed. His roar was loud enough to deafen me, but I laughed happily. We'd done it.
My opponent returned her pokemon with a smile and gave me a significant look. "Igneel, buddy. You've been marvellous. You can rest now." I said as I returned him to his ball. There was no way he'd be fighting again after that display.
She sent out her next pokemon, and I almost smiled. She was clearly a budding ice-type specialist. She'd sent out a terrifying Frosslass. I'd lost my best counter for an ice-type pokemon, but I had the perfect reply to the Frosslass' peculiar typing. Kenpachi appeared on the field with excitement. Even after his battle earlier today, he was still raring to go.
I updated him on the situation as quickly as I could. We didn't have a well enough code to say it all through aura, so I had to talk out loud. "Igneel's been taken down. Be careful. That pokemon is strong."
He straightened up at my words and stood in the rudimentary stance he'd chosen to adopt since his evolution. Arms ready at his side and legs far apart to give him a stronger base. His tail swivelled behind him, ready to do damage as required.
I turned and gave the referee a nod before he brought down his flag to begin the battle. Kenpachi tore apart the field even further with a full-power earthquake. I couldn't feel it from here since the Alakazam sustaining the barrier had been joined by two more of his species, and they were fully on top of things.
The move didn't affect the Frosslass as much as we hoped. Like most ghost types, they floated above the ground. I'd considered using Snorlax or Hashirama since the former would be immune to the ghost-type moves in their entirety, and the latter would have more moves likely to damage the ghost type. There were problems with both of those choices, though. Snorlax's move library consisted of almost entirely normal type moves, and Hashirama would be weak to the Ice part of the Frosslass' typing.
'Wait for them to approach', I communicated crudely to Kenpachi with our aura link. He settled back into his stance and kept his head on a swivel. My opponent's next orders had me growling in annoyance. "Blizzard" She shouted at her pokemon.
"Shadow ball" I did the same. This one wasn't as fast or well trained as the Mamoswine, so they spent more time trying to summon the blizzard than their predecessor. During that time, Kenpachi let loose with three shadow balls that the Frosslass had o move to avoid. That broke their focus, at least.
'Rock throw. Keep it on the ropes.' I ordered next. I watched in anticipation as the Frosslass was chased by rocks everywhere they went. Not even a second of respite was given to the Ice-type pokemon. Eventually, they tried shattering the approaching boulders with shadow balls and Ice beams, but even that didn't work after a while. It all came to a head when one rock smashed into the Frosslass from behind while another hit them right in the head.
This seemed like the last straw since the pokemon wailed in frustration. I had to cover my ears from the guttural sound. Kenpachi's situation was even worse. He thrashed about the field in pain as the Frosslass finally got the time to use their blizzard.
I watched Kenpachi disappear from view with frustration on my face. I was beginning to gain a new appreciation for the ice-type move. Like Igneel, I had full confidence in Kenpachi's ability to overcome a pokemon like this one, so I settled down to watch.
Unlike Igneel, Kenpachi's moves didn't cause as many visible displays of light that I could see from my position. Things finally came to a head when the blizzard began to die down after ten long minutes. I'd felt Kenpachi's frustration as the battle went on, and I'd felt his elation a few seconds ago. Something had changed.
The winds cleared up enough, and I whistled at the sight. Kenpachi looked unharmed as I'd expected. His armour was just too hard for most pokemon to breach. The Frosslass was much worse for wear. They didn't look particularly injured, but Kenpachi's tail around their throat told me that could change very quickly.
Even as I thought that I watched him lift his tail and slam the Frosslass into the ground repeatedly. I considered calming him down, but the battle wasn't over. Not yet, at least. I turned to my opponent and gave her a significant look. I tried to convey the sentiment that Kenpachi wasn't going to stop, and I wasn't going to stop him.
I must have done something right since she held her Pokeball and returned the pokemon. Kenpachi roared his victory, and I smiled at him before returning him to his own ball.
A/N; Thanks for reading. We're already halfway done with chapter 33 on the pa-atreon page. Feel free to join me there if you can. Same username as up here. The link's on my profile.
Name; Donnell Oak
Age; 15
Hometown; Pallet
Next of Kin; Samuel Oak
Account balance; 17000 Pokedollars
Pokemon.
· Kleavor (Nickname; Broly)- Male. Bug/Rock type
Moves; Signal beam, agility, fury cutter, quick attack, slash, swords dance, protect, stone axe, ancient power, hyper beam, and rock throw.
· Milotic (Nickname; Kisame)- Female. Water type.
Moves; Brine, ice beam, hydro pump, dragon breath, dragon pulse, water gun, protect, recover, hyper beam, iron tail, blizzard, and bubble beam.
· Charizard (Nickname; Igneel)- Male. Fire-type.
Moves; Ember, dragon breath, scratch, bite, growl, metal claw, flame thrower, protect, sunny day, solar beam, hyper beam, swift, blast burn and dragon rush.
· Tyranitar (Nickname; Kenpachi)- Male. Rock/Ground type.
Moves; Tackle, rock throw, bite, crunch, bide, shadow ball, leer, hyper beam, and protect.
· Gardevoir (Nickname; Ino)- Female. Psychic/Fairy type.
Moves; Teleport, psybeam, psychic, confusion, hypnosis, dazzling gleam, draining kiss, moon blast, and recover.
Trevenant (Nickname; Hashirama)- Male. Ghost/Grass type.
Moves; Sunny day, solar beam, protect, hyper beam, wood hammer, shadow claw, and destiny bond.
Snorlax (Nickname; Nil)- Male. Normal type
Moves; Mega punch, belly drum, hyper beam, protect, sleep talk, rest, earthquake, and snore.
A/N; Here's the complete chapter. How's it looking?