Disclaimer: Pokémon is still owned by The Pokémon Company, which in turn is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and probably others I forgot. The following fanfiction is me playing around in their sandbox, using characters they envisioned and created, except for the odd character that wasn't. I own nothing of this.
Chapter 12: Knowledge Is Power
Flygon was Reginald's choice, and that made Danny instantly wary. They were some of the dragons most vulnerable to cold. "Careful," he told his Pokémon as the referee gave the sign to restart. "Poke and prod for a bit."
Froslass, as was her habit, summoned Hail to aid her on the battlefield, but the dragonair immediately put paid to that, nullifying the weather with a glowing light from the bell underneath her chin, but not summoning anything else either. Sunny Day would have been bad, Danny knew, but neutral was fine.
Flygon, meanwhile, continued where druddigon had left off, moving forward and trying to get in physical with a Dragon Tail. He flew low by the ground, aiming for drapion, who looked ready and eager to meet him head-on.
Claws met tail, and the two Pokémon became so tangled with each other that any thoughts Danny and froslass had about sending an Ice Beam in to freeze flygon in place went away: there was too much chance to hit drapion instead. "Split up," Danny ordered as he saw a Poison Fang meet be met with a burst of Dragonbreath. "Don't let dragonair use Thunder."
Froslass could do that, immediately heading for the floating snake-like Pokémon and intercepting a Thunderbolt – not powerful enough for a Thunder – with a timely Shadow Ball that short-circuited the electricity on contact. Clair's Pokémon flew up, and froslass followed, charging up an ice Beam as she did so, and Danny turned away from the aerial fight to check on the tussle on the ground.
He noticed two things. One: the ground was shaking thanks to an Earthquake that drapion really didn't like, and two: there was a puncture wound near flygon's midriff, with purple oozing out of it. "Nice work! Don't give him time to recover!"
Dragons had some of the more resilient physiologies of all Pokémon, and given time, they could tough it out against most poisons. Not every Dragon-type could, but Danny was pretty sure any one of this skill level would be able to.
Another brawl broke out, Dragon Tails and Dragon Claws meeting Poison Fangs and Night Slashes, and Danny had trouble spotting who was getting out ahead when a pair of attacks came in from above as both of the other Pokémon decided now was a good time to throw an attack down to help their partner.
The Thunder and Ice Beam met just above the pair of Pokémon on the ground, and the resulting explosion forced them apart, flygon zipping off and folding wings around himself to shield from the biting cold that was coming in. Drapion was a bit worse off, unable to move as quick, but he took less of the attacks and was sturdy in general. His armour still looked intact. "Distract flygon," Danny told him as he tracked Reginald's Pokémon through the arena, keeping half an eye on froslass – who had resumed her attempts to hit the lithe blue Pokémon – as well.
The reason for flygon turned out to be a ferocious Flamethrower that nearly scorched froslass; Protect coming in at the last possible second, and a clever Poison Sting making sure dragonair couldn't follow up with something as she had to get out of the way or risk being poisoned herself. "Get down, prepare Blizzard."
The fight needed to stay in range of drapion. Blizzard forced dragonair and flygon to come in close to try and disrupt the attack, and flygon took the bait. One good jump by drapion saw both of them go to the ground yet again, drapion landing on the bottom but also managing to prod a claw into flygon's thigh.
Dragonair, meanwhile, had gone in close to froslass to stop her from finishing her Blizzard up, and froslass responded eagerly, landing an Ice Fang on the blue Pokémon, but paying for it as a Thunderbolt ran through her for a moment. It made her let go, and dragonair raced off to get away from the Ice-type, but she gave chase, charging up an Ice Beam as she went.
"Below you!"
Without looking, Froslass sent the Ice Beam down instead of straight, and just as Danny had planned, it was a direct hit on the two fighting Pokémon on the ground. Drapion had managed to be at the bottom again, and so flygon took the first hit, to visible pain and displeasure. It kicked off from drapion, summoning some of the debris as he did so, launching a hail of stones in froslass's general direction – which hit because she was forced to stay in place as a Thunder Wave temporarily locked her muscles up.
She was fine, though. "Focus flygon," Danny told his Pokémon as he kept track of it. "The poison is doing work."
An Icy Wind dropped the air temperature by several degrees, and Flygon sent out a Fire Blast to dispel the cold and to try and get back at froslass. She saw it coming, though, slipping into intangibility and heading down to meet up with drapion, who had just fired a Pin Missile that did absolutely nothing except force dragonair to move.
Flygon was visibly nearing the end of its tether, its flight hesitant and leaning in over in such a way to protect the wound on its midriff from exposure to an attack. A Flamethrower managed to block an Ice Beam from doing too much damage, but then another wave of Pin Missile got through, at least two of them striking right where it hurt, and down went flygon.
Dragonair was still fairly healthy as far as Danny could tell, but so was froslass, and drapion could still do a bit, even if the fight took place all the way up in the rafters. "Split up now, force it to defend from multiple angles."
Two on one was rarely fair, and this was much the same. Dragonair was forced to stay on the defensive, with only Twister as a move that could hinder Danny's Pokémon at the same time. It did use that attack judiciously, turning the arena into a whirlwind of dust and furrows, but slowly but surely, it lost ground and height as froslass methodically pelted it with Ice Beams, Ice Shards, and the occasional Confuse Ray just to shake things up, while Pin Missiles made way for Poison Stings as the dragon dropped lower and lower.
Then drapion saw an opportunity to grab dragonair as it was defending against an Ice Beam with a Thunderbolt, and he jumped upwards, trying to reach the blue Pokémon with his arms. Sudden movement caused that to fail, and a desperate attempt to reach it with his tail ended as he suddenly cried out in pain mid-air, without an attack hitting him, and his landing was very hard.
The Twister that followed knocked him out, but it was the distraction froslass needed to open up the full ice box as a heavy Icy Wind tore at dragonair. it continued for several seconds, and when the blue Pokémon did not attack in return, Clair returned her Pokémon.
Danny pumped his fist as he returned drapion with the other hand; froslass floating on the way down. "Drapion, you rock," he told his Poison-type earnestly. "Take a good long rest, you deserve it so much." He looked up, spotting froslass hovering nearby. "And I can always trust you. Thank you."
"Trust is an accurate summary," Reginald spoke up from nearby, making Danny jump. When had the Gym Leader crossed the room? "Beforehand, Clair and I agreed on a division of styles. My Pokémon would be more suited towards brawling; hers towards attacks from range. I did not expect both of mine to be knocked out before Clair's dragonair."
"Do you know which Pokémon she would have used second?"
"A noivern. Hurricane and Flamethrower to counteract the froslass Reginald warned me about," the female Gym Leader spoke up. "You have excellent instincts for fighting with multiple Pokémon. The ability to identify small advantages and switch priorities with a millisecond's notice is valuable in this format. A Rising Badge well earned and some excellent footage."
Danny accepted the badge and looked on the clock hanging nearby. It hadn't been too long either. "How long is it to the Dragon Holy Land?"
"It will be a while until they return. Lance's challenge will take more time, and I believe he wanted to speak about matters prior, rather than after, the battle,." Reginald revealed.
"What is Max going to face?"
Reginald told him, and Danny felt his jaw fall open. It was something that suited Max a lot – just as Double Battles suited him – and as he realised that, he had to ask. "Are you giving us challenges tailored to us?"
Both Gym Leaders smiled; Reginald enigmatically, Clair confidently. "The best battles I've had have been with young Dragon Clan Trainers, making their way in the world," the Blackthorn Leader said. "When you know someone, you can push them beyond what they might think they're capable of themselves, or punish their mistakes harder if the fight is acrimonious."
~§~~§~~
Lance's flygon dropped Max off in what had to be the Dragon Holy Land, near a weathered and marked building. Flowers and low vegetation surrounded it, with no big trees in sight. A bunch of Pokémon bustled around as well: furret, oddish, aipom, too many to count. Even a small group of stantler were nearby; the normally skittish Pokémon drinking from the nearby lake and only giving him passing glances.
Then Max turned towards the shrine itself again, this time focusing on the man casually leaning against it. "Not as beautiful as it once was, perhaps," Lance said as he moved forwards, "but there is beauty and resilience in rebirth." He gestured down a path. "Come."
A thousand questions ran through Max's mind as he hurried towards Lance, having to take three steps to keep up with Lance's two. "Why are we here? Couldn't we fight at the Gym?" he asked as they rounded a corner, into an area that hadn't been burned before, with trees suddenly reaching into the heavens. The leaves shielded them from most of the sun, leaving the forest almost cool.
"An interesting question to ask," Lance offered cryptically. "You're not wondering about why I am doing this?"
"It's part of your title, isn't it?" Max replied. "Wallace and Steven both used to do a good amount of challenges every year. The Champion before Cynthia too." And damn, he'd forgotten the name.
"Tyler did do so, yes," Lance said, helping Max out. "But did your school assignment note that the Kanto-Johto Grand Champion generally doesn't?" He gestured for silence. "I've done a couple, either to replace Clair or to cover long-term absences like the one in Viridian that got Ash the invite into the Battle Frontier. But even so, I've done less than half of Steven and Wallace in the same period. To answer your question, however… We go here because of the challenge I'm setting you."
"What is it?"
"You'll hear in a moment," Lance said, and Max could hear the smirk. "We need to talk first. About Hoenn."
That soured Max's mood. Nothing good came of people wanting to talk about Hoenn these days. "Do we have to?" he asked, barely managing to keep a whine out of his voice.
"Unfortunately, yes," Lance said, and Max could hear the regret. "I suppose this location is as good as any. Can you send your gardevoir out?"
"Is this why Clair asked me if I had gardevoir on me?" Max asked in return as he tapped the capsule on his belt. The Psychic-type came out, bowing slightly when he saw Lance, before joining Max in sitting against a tree. A quick look up revealed that no, there weren't any kakuna nests here.
"Partially. But more on that later." Lance sat down as well, lotus-style like Max had seen him do before. "Did you know your sister is in Johto?"
The mention of that traitor caused a stab of anger, but Max ignored it, and gardevoir bringing his arm to Max's helped as well. "I'm not surprised she is. She did like it here. She stayed after watching the Grand Festival? Beach holiday?"
"She did stay in Olivine first," Lance confirmed. "But last night, she checked into the Pokémon Centre in Mahogany. Reginald and I think it is not unlikely she's trying to find you."
"And drag me back to Hoenn? Pah," Max scoffed. "Both Danny and I are better Trainers and I know her style inside out. She doesn't stand a chance against either of us, let alone both."
"In a straight fight, you are likely right. Though I've not seen her battle in a long while, just the Mega capability alone would tip the scales," Lance agreed gravely. "But all it takes is one moment of inattention for her beautifly to paralyse you or put you to sleep. Battles need not be won through force alone."
Anger and embarrassment warred within Max. He had completely forgotten beautifly. He wasn't sure how, either, but before he could say that, he felt the psionic touch of gardevoir wanting to speak up. "How likely is 'not unlikely'?" was the question.
Max learned two things. One: gardevoir could apparently mimic voice and pitch near-perfectly in mental speech. Two: Lance had also heard the question, if Max read the nod right.
It caused the Grand Champion to think for a spell, and Max waited patiently as the trees and leaves rustled in a sudden breeze. "Probable, but nowhere near certainty," Lance eventually said. "It could be a regular holiday, though I am unaware whether she has visited this area before, or she could be looking for a rare Pokémon only found around here."
Max ran through the path May had taken through Johto the last time. "I don't think she went to the north-east," he eventually said. "She got a Ribbon in Violet, and one in some town just east of Ecruteak, but the others weren't here. It's possible," he conceded. "Don't know about Pokémon. She doesn't catch a lot of them. An Ice-type would be something for her, though, so… I don't know." He sighed. "We'll expand watch duty."
"Would that someone your age only needed to watch for nocturnal Pokémon, but such are the times," Lance said sadly. "The other point has to do with the original group that gardevoir belonged to. Satellite data revealed that a battle of some kind took place roughly where we know them to have been."
"When?" gardevoir interrupted Lance, urgency obvious.
"We're working on narrowing it down, but the leading guess is mid-December. Why?"
Max felt relief radiate out, but only because he was sitting next to the Psychic Pokémon. "The leaders of the congregation had planned to leave the island around the full moon after I left," gardevoir sent. "I believe your estimate is around the full moon after that?"
"It is," Max confirmed for his Pokémon. "But what could've caused it otherwise? If it's visible on satellites, I mean..."
"Questions I don't have answers to, sadly," Lance offered. "At least it seems likely no members of your gr… congregation were involved and captured."
That was something, Just thinking about finding another kirlia in a glass cage was enough to make Max's stomach twist in anger and disgust, and he felt it mirrored. "Wish we could just throw the ones responsible into prison. And throw away the key."
"I certainly understand the sentiment," Lance said, making to get up. Max did the same as a dragonite appeared in on the path. "Now, one last thing. About five minutes that way, you'll find where we'll battle. I am going to go ahead to make sure everything has been set up right, and I'll wait for you there. However," he said as he held up a hand to forestall Max. "This will not be a normal Gym Battle. Insofar as we have already established."
Was that dry wit? Surely not, Max felt: Lance didn't have a humorous bone in his body. "Something like an eighth badge challenge?"
"It could be one in concept, but you're familiar with it from elsewhere, to a degree." Lance put a hand on the dragonite's side, near the right wing. "The rules are as follows. One: you have to use both gardevoir and Mega manectric, as well as one other Pokémon of your own choice. Two: you cannot switch out. And three: this is the one Pokémon you'll face."
The Dragon Pokémon standing next to Lance let out a fiery snort; the embers not even reaching the ground. Then, it bowed, its gentle cry resonating, and Max returned the bow on instinct as thoughts raced through his mind at a hundred miles a minute.
One question kept popping up. Was this one of the dragonite he used in Grand Champion challenges or not? Max had read an interview at some point, and the paragraph in which Lance had revealed he'd actually raised five dragonite in total was vivid in his mind's eye, as well as the later mention that he only used three of them in his role.
"Take a moment to think," Lance said as he mounted the dragonite. "And I look forward to seeing what you can do."
The rapid rise sent up a small wave of dust that collided with Max's shins, but he didn't follow the dragonite's movement. Instead, he sat back down, mostly because he didn't trust his legs to keep him standing in that moment.
"What astounded you so?"
Gardevoir was curious, more than anything, no doubt reading Max's every emotion in detail, not that you needed empathy to read the shock and surprise. "That I get this challenge. Think it's the biggest regular battle I've had. And the most difficult."
"Yet, as you are fond of pointing out..."
"I know, I know." Max shook his head in amusement. "That's the thing. The dragonite could be one of his absolute best Pokémon. And if it is… He thinks we're capable of defeating it?"
"She seemed eager to find out."
Max chuckled softly. The famous need for dragons to fight. Even Serena's altaria had gotten in on it to some degree. "Well, it seems rude to keep a lady waiting." He jumped to his feet, finding his legs strong enough. "At least I was already planning for both you and manectric to have a battle here." And the third he wasn't sure about y… Hang on. "Lance used two dragonite in Geosenge: one was good with electricity, and one specialised in Ice-type attacks. Could it be..."
Gardevoir sent the equivalent of a clueless shrug, though Max was also pretty sure a bit of that was exaggerated, and they started moving down the quiet path.
If it was a hint, then his third Pokémon was a problem. Ninjask was fast, but trying to slash through dragonskin was hard enough when the opponent wasn't able to match airspeed. Swinub was weak at range. Sceptile was nearly worse, and all three of them were weak to Fire. Shelgon was the last Pokémon he had with him, which was a double-edged sword.
But maybe that was what he needed. A weak point thanks to some Dragon-type attack being very effective was useful. It had been how he had defeated Korrina in the same challenge, after all. It would be hard, but it was something to work towards.
They soon found the path sloping up, and a sudden end to the trees revealed a small plateau in the middle of the forest. It was level with the middle of the trees' crowns, give or take, and Max noticed that lines had been etched into the rock.
And that the rock on the inside of those lines was pockmarked and scarred. Whatever happened here, it involved heavy battling.
That was to figure out later. Dragonite and Lance were waiting in the middle of the arena, and after a moment's thought, Max sent manectric and shelgon out. "One on three," Max quickly told them. "That's our opponent, right there."
Manectric barked happily, and shelgon rumbled in anticipation. Together, all of them moved up to where Lance was, over lumpy, but stable, ground. "One of two arenas the Dragon Clan uses," the Dragon Master told Max. "One of them is going to record the battle, if you don't mind."
A glance left showed the same young adult that had brought Max and Danny to Blackthorn standing alongside a trio of mr. mime. "Who's going to watch it?"
"Just the six of us. Danny, Clair, Reginald are the other three," Lance explained when Max didn't respond immediately. "The other Gym Battle is also being recorded, and that will suffice for the Dragon Clan training."
"He's also doing referee duty?"
"We are both capable enough to recognise when our Pokémon are unable to fight," Lance replied, smiling down at Max. "And I believe we have covered everything that needed to be covered prior to our battle. Now then, Max of Petalburg. Show me what you've got."
Shelgon and dragonite stayed behind as the rest vacated the field. The moment manectric crossed the etched lines, blue flared in front of Max's eyes, coalescing into a shield that made the skin on his lower arms tingle from the sheer intensity. So strong was it that it tinted the field in blue even after staying in place.
He took one last deep breath. Dragonite was still on the ground, leaving the first move to shelgon. "Dragon Pulse."
Shelgon spat out three globes of green-blue draconic energy, giving spin to the first and third and sending the second straight at his opponent's head. She swivelled on her feet and jumped into the air in response, using her tail to attempt to return the last ball to sender. It didn't do so thanks to the spin that had been on it and shelgon moving, but it was a close-rung thing, throwing up dirt and sand to block shelgon's sight of his opponent.
She came into view earlier than expected, going into close range with a Fire Punch. The Protect that shelgon hastily threw up deflected the punch, but before he could do more, dragonite had already flown off, turning around basically in place, launching a wide fan of orange fire that failed to dissipate once it hit the ground nowhere near shelgon.
Then she unleashed the Hurricane, turning small flames into a firestorm that engulfed the entire arena in the blink of an eye.
Shelgon hadn't been caught out, encasing himself in a ball of flame of his own making. Between that and general resilience to fire, he weathered the blaze, and with a cry loud enough to make it through the barrier, Max's dragon launched himself forwards; the green of Dragon Rush bleeding into the fiery shield.
Dragonite dodged the jump with ease, but as shelgon landed, nearly skidding into the shields, Max saw him take the energy that he had been surrounded with, transferring it into an unstable Dragon Rage that was quickly fired off, hitting dragonite head-on as she had been coming in for some attack.
The sound of annoyance was met with a roar of challenge, and Max felt his stomach soar. He had been the first to land a true hit.
Retribution followed swiftly. Lance's Pokémon soared past a blast of Flamethrower and slammed a Dragon Tail into shelgon hard enough to cause him to skid back, following it up with a Fire Punch that glanced off white scales before making off, dodging a Dragon Pulse in the process.
The second one shelgon shot after her hit, though, and once again, Max's Pokémon roared a challenge, stirring something within Max himself.
This time, the roar was answered, in sound and in attack. A deep breath in, and then orange spewed out, forming a blazing-hot symbol. The Fire Blast forced a Protect, engulfing shelgon whole and blocking him from Max's sight. An explosion happened soon after, but it wasn't the Fire Blast that had done it, and as shelgon landed nearby, Max saw a crater in front of where his Pokémon had stood, orange fire dissipating slowly within. Dragon Rage, no doubt.
The distance was bad. "Fake Dragon Rush."
The trick had worked before, and it did so again. Dragonite dodged out of the way with ease, thanks to being able to fly, but the moment shelgon was underneath her, he spun on his axis, using the momentum to fire off the Dragon Rage that he had surrounded himself with. He had to roll, and to take a Flamethrower as dragonite weathered the attack, but he was fine, immediately retaliating with a powerful Dragon Pulse.
It was a near miss; dragonite diving past the globe and heading straight for shelgon. Flamethrower caused her to swerve upwards with a powerful flap of wings, kicking dust up and the flame down, and she created another Fire Blast mid-flight; the symbol rotated because of it.
Shelgon blocked it with Protect on instinct, but danger flashed through Max as he did so. The fire didn't engulf the shield at all this time; not even half. "Dragon Pulse, block!" he yelled, guessing what was about to come.
He was right. A Hyper Beam tore through the air, and Max saw a Dragon Pulse slip out late – too late. It was powerful enough to block and explode instead of being obliterated, but an explosion right in shelgon's face still sent him up into the air, and dragonite was prepared for that, snatching him up with ease and taking him up high. Furious cries and flares of Dragon Rage didn't deter her, and once she was about eighty feet in the air, she threw shelgon straight down before summoning a bright orange orb that split into several smaller ones, all converging on where shelgon landed with a loud thud.
A glimmer of green blocked at least four shots as far as Max could see through the dust, and somehow, his Pokémon was still in it; launching an angry barrage of Dragon Pulses straight up into the air; small but potent.
The tail deflected a third, which then blocked another third, and most of the rest missed, but at least some got through. Max glanced down at shelgon, only seeing his back, but also seeing him heaving, reeling from the powerful attacks and blunt trauma.
Not a hair on his head thought about forfeiting this round. He'd have a snippy shelgon on his hands for weeks. "Hang in there!"
Dragonite flew up, but then looped down, heading straight for shelgon with Dragon Claw at the ready. Her left claw sliced through the Flamethrower that shelgon shot into her path, parting the flame, and the right swung back and hit shelgon as she came within range.
And that was the end of it for shelgon. He was still conscious, but Max could tell he was losing that battle, and so he returned his dragon. "You did great," he whispered into the pokéball before shrinking it and enlarging another in one fluid motion.
Time to bring the thunder.
Mega Evolution was almost an afterthought in effort, but Max couldn't – and didn't want to – suppress the grin that mirrored the happiness and the feeling of being alive that came with it. "No holding back, girl."
A blinding yellow-white bar of Thunder shot out, static sizzling before the shields intensified further; the thrum that had become background noise coming to the fore once more. The attack missed, crashing into the barrier near Lance and causing them to flare up as a second Thunder shot out, this one passing under dragonite as she flew up, leaving the safety of the ground by necessity.
Now she couldn't ground herself, or do something to interrupt what manectric was planning to do, and an Electric Terrain snapped into place immediately; a circle from which manectric was not going to move unless absolutely forced to or until the power that she had put into it was exhausted.
A Flamethrower was intercepted with contemptuous ease, a sharp Thunderbolt enough to cause a bright blue flare and a harsh, angry hum. Dragon Rage partially met the same fate; only a few of the flames making it down, and not nearly enough to cause a firestorm with the Hurricane, but dragonite went for it regardless, feeding the fires expertly with the gale-force winds.
The fiery winds impacted on manectric channelling a Thunder straight through to the dragon causing the winds. Little pinpricks of flame and electricity were a great trade for getting an unmitigated attack in, and it showed in the reaction, which was for dragonite to fly up high, straight into the sun's path to hinder manectric's aim, but the plan was obvious anyway.
The Electric-type was a match for it. Another bar of Thunder came out, blocking and then overpowering a Hyper Beam – elation surging through the bond as it did so, and dragonite barely got away unshocked.
"Let her come. Far shield Fire Blast."
Flamethrower and Hyper Beam would be blocked. Dragon Rage would be too, and the firestorm left the dragonite having to fan the fire in one place and vulnerable. That just left Fire Blast and up-close combat for options that dragonite had to deal with manectric, and that last would be fighting on their own terms; just the way Max liked it.
Blocking the Fire Blast took a visible chunk out of the electricity on the ground as manectric did as Max had told her to. That exhausted all the ranged options Max had seen the dragonite use.
Dragon Rush was a move he hadn't seen, but it wasn't unexpected. Manectric jumped into motion, but on a flat arena, there wasn't anything she could hide behind, and after a first pass missed, a second fly-by hit as the dragonite's tail slammed into manectric's flank, sending her flying – at the cost of a Spark being discharged into it. The attack caused the flight to waver, and the dragonite to grunt as she righted herself near Max, but then she shot up, letting the Thunderbolt hit the barrier right in front of Max, temporarily taking his vision away.
Two attacks – one Thunderbolt, one Thunder, Max assumed from sound cues – were used on manectric's end before his eyes ended up working again. A trail of fire across the ground revealed that dragonite had tried to set up for another Hurricane combination, but the Thunder had seemingly stopped it, as she had instead landed.
Max gauged the Electric Terrain. It was basically spent. "Discharge next."
A prickle told Max that manectric had understood. Dragonite came in close again, going for a Dragon Rush because it had worked before, and this time, manectric jumped over the dragon as she unleashed a torrent of electricity in all directions, drawing the limited reserves from the terrain upwards as well. It caused dragonite to fully crash-land, and with a howl, manectric got onto the dragon, eager to find skin contact to deliver electricity.
But the Grand Champion's Pokémon was fast. She managed to shift around enough that she was able to grab manectric by one of the spikes as she jumped in, prompting an angry and hurt yelp and a stab in the bond. In one fluid motion, the dragon sent manectric skywards, hurtling through the air, and a precisely timed Dragon Rage hit just as manectric was close to the ground again, interrupting her from bracing against the hard landing.
But it took more than that to knock manectric out, and she started moving, first slipping into a Quick Attack while subtle tugs told Max her follow-up plan.
Dragonite grossly misread the incoming attack, as it wasn't just a Quick Attack, or even a Quick Attack and Spark combination that Lance might have told her about. It was Quick Attack and Discharge; and for the first time, the dragonite howled in pain instead of just anger. A Dragon Claw managed to send manectric flying off, but she landed on her feet, immediately throwing out another bar of Thunder that was only blocked by a Flamethrower to explode the electricity, causing a hot and static shock wave to pass over the field.
Dragonite slipped into the air, avoiding a Thunderbolt and flying up high, preparing a Draco Meteor as she went up. A dozen projectiles swerved outwards, and manectric started the run to dodge them all as they fell.
She did avoid all of them, but as she took a turn left, a Hyper Beam suddenly cut her off, literally, not impacting her, but causing her to trip over the newly made furrow in the ground, and before she could get up, the dragonite was upon her, taking her into the air. "Discharge!" Max yelled after manectric had started doing that, but somehow, Lance's Pokémon was ignoring it as she flew higher and higher, before throwing manectric downwards, like she had done to shelgon earlier. Then she dove as well, going in with a Dragon Claw as Max's Pokémon cratered into the ground.
The impact nearly took the breath out of the bond, but it didn't break. Max could feel the desperation settling in as his faithful canine summoned every last ounce of electricity she had left, and then some, to try and stop the dragonite from knocking her out.
It hit, but it turned out that having a Pokémon four times Max's weight land on you was pretty bad as well, and the bond broke apart as dragonite climbed out of the crater she had just made larger, looking dusty and more than a bit battered.
But anything would've knocked manectric out at that point.
Max took a deep breath, slipping through the barrier to return manectric – the ground blocked his attempts to do so from the sidelines – and took note of dragonite while he could.
Her breathing was heavy, but not laboured, and she flapped her wings demonstratively as the energy went out to return her opponent. It kicked up a lot of dust and some earth as well, the grains clattering onto the ground.
A deep breath and a swipe at his forehead later – the bond breaking and the heat combined to have taken a lot out of him – he slipped back to his spot, draining half of the water he had remaining in a continuous swig.
He felt good about his odds.
Gardevoir gave a gentle psionic squeeze as he came out, and then, without warning, threw a Psychic attack that Max only noticed because he was watching. The barrier blocked the colour somehow.
Lance's Pokémon blocked it with a Dragon Rage before diving through the explosion and trying to grab the physically fragile gardevoir, but a quick snap-Teleport stopped that. The Embrace Pokémon reappeared where dragonite had just been, sending a quick Disarming Voice over to dissuade dragonite from turning around.
She went up instead, throwing down waves of Dragon Rage fire as she went, but when she went back down, she was met with a sudden expulsion of psionic energy raging against the Hurricane feet away from her. The winds turned in on themselves, buffeting the dragon, but also holding the Psychic at bay long enough to make a get-away.
"Spike," Max whispered as gardevoir reappeared near him for just a moment to reconvene.
The talk had consequences, though, as it allowed a full firestorm to be unleashed. Max saw gardevoir start to levitate as he tapped into the well of power inside, creating a double-layered bubble shield. It wasn't Protect, though – it was better.
The flame met the bubble, penetrating the first porous barrier and then crashing on the impenetrable second. Within seconds, gardevoir was lost to the eye as orange-red surrounded him; more and more of the dragonite's attack making its way into the bubble.
For a brief moment, Max feared it was too much to handle, but then he scoffed at himself. It was early on, and if there had been any uncertainty, there would have been a Protect instead of this.
The air cleared, and Max managed to get a glance over at the dragonite, though she was too far away to read the expression.
And then gardevoir returned fire.
The violent attack was whirling inside the barrier, and by opening a tiny opening, and with the help of copious psionic direction, the attack went return to sender in a far more concentrated form. It scorched dragonite's lower half as she took off before crashing on the barrier at the opposite end, blocking Lance's sight for a moment.
A Fire Blast made its way over to gardevoir from up on high, but that was easy prey for gardevoir, who dissipated the attack by spiking its core. The spike continued, impacting, and only tendrils of flame licked at gardevoir.
So far, so good.
A Dragon Rush did nothing at all except throw up dirt and dust as the flying Pokémon passed through at great speed, trying to use her bulk against the fragile and lighter Pokémon, but Teleport was faster, and by now, Max knew gardevoir had read dragonite's signature well enough to sense her everywhere she went. He had no idea how Lance and his Pokémon would try to stop the endless dodging and the wearing down, but they would have to try within the next few attacks, or attrition would just win.
It started with a Draco Meteor, way up in the air, higher than she had gone before except for the times she'd slammed Max's Pokémon down. She flew around as she summoned the attack, avoiding gardevoir's attempts at grabbing her in exchange for taking a longer time to summon it.
It was larger than ever before, turning into a veritable meteor shower, but even twenty of them wouldn't hit gardevoir. She followed them downwards as she cloaked herself in a Dragon Rush, but she didn't go straight for gardevoir, confusing Max for a moment. She couldn't predict where he was going to Teleport…
Then the meteors landed, and immediately, he understood part of the stratagem. Snap Teleports were based on sight, and all the Draco Meteor fragments threw up so much earth and dust that Max couldn't see anything any longer, and neither could gardevoir beyond a few feet. He saw a quick rush of air somewhere to his right where gardevoir was making sure he could see something, but dragonite wasn't visible anywhere.
Then all of the dust and earth suddenly rushed outwards into the barriers, and Max had but a moment to see why.
Gardevoir had been caught, and was forced to hold dragonite at bay psionically. The dragon was mere feet away; too close to Teleport – he would literally be hit in the split second it took him.
The earth fell fast, and Max saw the full bind that gardevoir had inflicted on the dragonite. She was held in place, with her tail specifically inches away from delivering a brutal blow to the side, while Max also saw an extra bind around the dragon's mouth, just to make sure that there were no other attacks being mixed in.
The arena was visibly straining under the Psychic powers that gardevoir was putting out, bleeding outwards as he was forced to summon every last bit of his considerable energy towards holding Lance's Pokémon at bay, and as Max saw topsoil being thrown up, he realised that the result of this struggle between the two Pokémon would decide the victor. No more stratagems. No more Teleports. Pure strength of will and body.
Time felt slower as Max waited for the battle to resolve itself. He wished there was a way in which he could help gardevoir; to give him more energy against the titan of battle that they had fought. He wished that dragonite would give up the ghost first, seared by the dragon's flame, shocked by the Mega Evolution's electricity, stopped by sheer Psychic might.
He wished he had seen the strategy coming. It was easy to reconstruct with hindsight – sensing Pokémon was done by their aura, and by suffusing the area with so much draconic energy from Draco Meteor and blocking sight, gardevoir had been flying blind while dragonite had noticed the expulsion of air to let him see more than a foot from his face. She was good, and Max was certain now that it was one of Lance's best Pokémon. There were too many tricks for it not to be. The Hurricane and Dragon Rage combination alone required immense mastery of flame at a level Max wasn't sure Ash's charizard had.
And he came within inches of defeating her, but he knew before it happened that it wasn't enough.
Gardevoir's levitation faltered, then failed, and what had been a tail going into a side, frozen in place, was now a tail going into a shoulder, snapping out of its frozen status. Gardevoir wasn't knocked out by the blow, but an attempt at getting up failed, the push faltering and forcing an arm to the ground.
His powers were all spent, most of them in the span of maybe half a minute.
Max returned him. and as his levitation had faltered near the end, so nearly did Max's knees. A wave of deep, satisfied, fatigue passed through his body, toe to head, burning away disappointment and calling it to the fore at the same time.
He hadn't been able to defeat Lance, but it had been far closer than he had dared dream against one of his ace Pokémon. She had sat down when he hadn't been looking, the direct area around her scorched from the absorbing barrier gardevoir had used, and Lance was moving up to her, walking… above the arena?
Something appeared near Max's own feet, stopping his thoughts, and he saw a small platform hovering above the boundary of the arena. It was a bit more sturdy than what gardevoir tended to make, Max found as he stepped onto it, and the mr. mime responsible extended it in the direction of Trainer and Pokémon in the arena.
Moving was harder than Max had thought. Thighs ached like they'd been shaking from flu, and once, he veered off-course, only for the Pokémon to anticipate it perfectly. His hands trembled when he pulled them up; not a lot, but still visible to Max's imperfect eyes. Sweat also dripped into them, and a quick shake sent it flying everywhere from his wet hair.
"I think that I'm going to borrow Bruno's dugtrio tomorrow," Lance said as Max was maybe twenty feet away. "This field is not fit for anything any longer. We did quite a number on it. In recognition of that, catch."
The first grab for the thrown object missed, but Max had tipped it up a bit, and his left hand managed to get it anyway. He turned the metal around, seeing a Rising Badge. "What?!"
"While dragonite can technically battle still, I am unsure she'll last even a minute at this point," Lance said, patting the orange Pokémon on the back. She responded with a soft and tired cry. "She is past the point at which I would forfeit her in most battles. For all intents and purposes, this battle was a draw, and it is my decision that you get the Rising Badge."
Max held back the acerbic comment that he was thinking of. Lance was one of the few he couldn't do that with. "Thank you, then," he said, before shaking his head as his vision wavered for a moment. "Damn, that took a lot out of me." He reached down, only belatedly realising that the nearly empty bottle of water wasn't there, but it soon flew up.
"First the dragon's resonance, then the connection that comes with Mega Evolution, and finally an empathic Pokémon whose kind are known for bonding with their Trainers; and the two of you go deeper through shared sorrow on top of that. I must admit, you look much like I imagine dragonite feels."
He rolled his eyes on instinct, but there was truth in Lance's words, Max knew. And still… "Wouldn't change it for the world."
"Nor should you," the Grand Champion said cheerfully. "The results are evident. Even with the handicap, it has been a very long time since any official battle has left me so in doubt as to whether I would win or lose. Truth be told, I didn't even know until I saw your gardevoir fail to get up."
Dragonite rose from her sitting position, and with only a second's warning, she hugged Max. Her body was warm, and infused with that unique draconic smell, but there was something primal running underneath.
It was gone as soon as she let go, and the sensation faded in memory as she did so, but from it, Max knew one thing for certain: she had thoroughly enjoyed that battle, with all the respect that came with it. And so he felt empowered to step back and look the dragonite in the eyes. "How much did you hold back on my behalf?"
She took it as he knew she would: well, respect rising. "Mainly using up close combat strategies for shelgon," Lance said, sounding unsurprised that Max had figured it out. "You've collected Winona's and Falkner's badges, and fought yveltal. Another lesson in catching a flying Pokémon seemed inappropriate."
"Good luck trying to catch a dragonite," Max said, a snort escaping him as well. It got him a proud smile from the dragon and a smirk from Lance. "Er, Lance? We're probably flying back, right? Can we leave from here instead of where we landed?"
"Xatu isn't here, I assume," Lance replied, immediately shaking his head. "No, he would have battled. Then yes, I think we'll leave for the Gym."
Dragonite was returned, another came out, as did flygon. "Why the Gym?"
"We have battles to watch. Yours and Danny's." Lance's tone made clear that he was looking forward to that a great deal. "Don't worry about your Pokémon. Clair will probably send one of her dragonair to the Center with a pouch. She does that."
That answered the last question Max had, and without saying anything else, he mounted flygon once again.
~~§~~§~~
Several hours after the flight back, Max and Danny walked into the Pokémon Center. Nurse Joy waved at them as they entered, lifting a tray from out of sight immediately. "Here are your Pokémon," she said as they came close enough to the desk. "Gardevoir, manectric, shelgon on your left, swampert, froslass, drapion on your right. They're mostly healed up, but manectric, gardevoir, and drapion need to take it easy for a few days."
"Planning on it," Danny said as he collected his Pokémon. Max did the same. "Nothing broken?"
"It was just a muscle strain. Rest is the main fix for that now, so if you don't need his help..." Nurse Joy suggested. Chansey piped up as well. "Oh, right. I have to ask: was that the first time drapion had one of those?"
Danny looked at Max, but neither of them could remember that particular injury happening before. "No. Why?"
"If it happens more often, then it's a sign of something systemic and it could turn worse, especially if it's the same cluster of muscles," the nurse explained. "What caused the sprain?"
"Drapion tried to jump up to reach Clair's dragonair. She was a bit too nimble."
A nod from both human and chansey. "Oh, okay. I'm assuming this was all the way of the end of the battle?" Danny confirmed that wordlessly. "It's probably a combination of fatigue, uneven footing, and maybe even just bad luck. It probably won't happen again, but if it does, go talk to one of us," she commanded. "As for you… I've rarely seen Pokémon so spent. Don't be surprised if they spend half their time asleep the coming few days."
That mirrored how Max felt himself. He had recovered a bit, but the mile and a half walk from the Gym to the Center would've been too much for him if Danny hadn't been entirely too perceptive and ordered an ice cream intervention. "I'm guessing manectric won't even need to discharge for a few days?"
"You know more about your discharge pattern, but it's unlikely. Now, off you go. Go celebrate your badges."
Max's heart was set on a shower, but the moment that Danny opened the door to their room, a musical ladder rang through the room. The piano barely made it into the first section of the song before Max pressed the button to accept the call. "Hello?"
"Finally! Been trying to call you three times now!" Evan bellowed from the other end, and Max took the Pokénav away from his ear a bit. He paid for that when his cousin continued in a softer voice. "Are you near Blackthorn?"
"We're in Blackthorn," Max replied. "Got our badges earlier."
"Fuckin' sweet!" Evan exclaimed as Max mouthed his cousin's name to Danny – who rolled his eyes, which told Max that he had figured that part out himself. "Wanna travel together for a bit? I'm like a day or two south-east."
Max wondered for a moment what path would've led to Evan presumably picking up a badge at the Dark-type Gym in that direction, or the Fairy-type Gym almost directly due east from Blackthorn, but he gave it up. "Can probably do that. Danny? Evan wants to travel with us."
"More people to tease you is fine in my book," Danny replied, turning his back on Max as he dove into the pack to find something. Max raised his middle finger anyway as he relayed the answer.
"Cool! There's this town called E-ni-on. E-ne-on? Whatever, find it on a map. I'll go there tomorrow."
And Evan ended the call. Max wasn't sure why his cousin was in such a hurry, or what made him forget the almost obligatory name-calling, but he didn't care. All he wanted was to clean up. He put the Pokénav down, opening his mouth to call dibs on the shower.
Then cloth hit him in the face.
He grabbed the towel on the way down with one hand, automatically adjusting his glasses with the other. "I'll come check if you're still alive in twenty minutes," Danny told him.
Entirely too perceptive, indeed.
~~§~~§~~§~~§~~
The Dragon Holy Land is one of Johto's most secretive locales. Access by anything but air is tightly guarded by the Blackthorn Clan and a natural mountain range surrounding the area, and even by air, many of the dragons present are likely to be hostile. Access has always been limited, and it is even more so after a mysterious blaze a few years ago. If you still want to visit this sacred place, a Dragon-type vouching for you is basically a must, so get to training one!
From: The Trainer's Guide to Johto.