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 28: A Worthy Result
Gardevoir appeared on the field, and just the sight of him was enough to calm most of Max's remaining annoyance at himself for missing the obvious earlier.
The opponent was going to be a probopass. One of the heaviest Pokémon he knew of, but it didn't move very fast because of that. They sometimes moved around through Magnet Rise, but it'd be risky against a Psychic-type: the reduced friction that came from being airborne instead of on the ground could turn that into a free trip elsewhere.
Best Max could guess, it probably had a variety of attacks to use from range.
The start was something vaguely Steel-type looking; grey zooming towards gardevoir, who tried to affect it with some psionic energy. That didn't work the way he wanted it to, but a last-second hard block caused energy to whip at him.
Then, Max saw the Lock-On appear. "Block, then mental attacks."
A Zap Cannon was launched, meeting a sudden bright flare of blue. Both attacks pulsed before bursting outwards, displacing all the water in their vicinity and blocking Max's sight of the Rock and Steel-type Pokémon. Gardevoir wasn't hindered, though, and he sent forth a careful probe, seeking to get inside his opponent's head. Either to confuse and daze, or to inflict pain.
Max hadn't ever felt Psychic for himself, thankfully, but gardevoir was pretty good – if blunt – at making people doubt which way was up.
A bout of uncontrolled electricity – Discharge maybe – shot out from probopass, severing the probe, but the Embrace Pokémon took it in stride, switching from offence to defence effortlessly as a Tri Attack traced through the air. Again, he went for the heavy psionic block, overpowering it and causing the elemental energy to be snuffed out. He then tried for another probe.
He was looking to confuse and daze. Probopass wouldn't have reacted as quickly otherwise, nor would gardevoir levitate almost lazily.
Discharge again made sure that the attack didn't stick for too long, and Max realised the path into probopass's brain was closed for now. Not without creating a distraction first. It was also making sure that it wasn't offering up anything that gardevoir could use to redirect, excepting Zap Cannon, but that was – as Max saw happen even as he thought it – always preceded by a Lock-On that would force a block or a hit. Even through Teleport.
Which was weird, but okay.
"More precise blocks, slowly move to the side," Max said calmly, and gardevoir did just that, catching the implied command of not using Teleport.
The Steel-type attacks – Magnet Bombs, probably – were probopass's bread and butter, and as it launched more and more of them, they started coming faster and faster, as if it were done warming up and now shooting the projectiles at full throttle. A couple made it through, but deft movement was enough to create narrow misses in a few cases.
In total, two hit, glancing on the left arm and left wrist. It happened.
The most important part was that gardevoir now had his back to the water, and probopass had followed, turning very slowly to match the movement of Max's Pokémon. And what they hadn't shown yet, even if Cara should suspect it, was the ability to change place in an instant.
"Teleport opposite, and use water."
As he ordered, so it happened, with gardevoir waiting until the Compass Pokémon had launched another rapid-fire Magnet Bomb before switching to the other side of the arena, immediately turning considerable psionic might into grabbing and throwing an orb of water from the moat straight at the stationary Pokémon.
A blind omnidirectional Hidden Power impacted the globe, but not in time, and most of it still splashed probopass, and immediately, gardevoir pounced with another psionic probe, going in for a Psychic, and Cara's Pokémon let out a low and loud moan in pain, before trying again to dislodge the attack.
It worked, but the water fed some of the electricity back into itself, which caused it to visibly startle. "Go!"
Another Teleport, not quite directly behind probopass, and gardevoir pushed in with a Confusion that was blocked by Hidden Power. Undeterred, he launched another psychic attack, but Max could tell it wasn't the same, even from three quarters of a field away.
The spike shot through the defences with ease, landing on probopass's domed head, and making the heavy Pokémon wobble. This caused just a moment in which it was off-balance, first physically, and from that, mentally, and that's when the real Psychic struck.
A Discharge was launched, but gardevoir held on through it, and through the electricity that eventually struck him as the magnetism-aided Pokémon put more strength into it; blindly and almost helplessly in an attempt to make the pain stop.
But it wasn't enough, and it slumped after a good half-minute of a continuous mental barrage, and about fifteen seconds of slowly dying electricity. Which was something he was used to, having manectric as a usual sparring partner.
"That is one nasty Psychic. Sinking mental teeth into probopass, gardevoir got in and stayed in despite the Discharge. A disciplined show from this unshown Pokémon!"
The Psychic-type reappeared near Max, as close as could be to the moat. Up close, he looked a bit more battered than hoped, but there was no tired sagging from lack of psionic energy. He'd probably used up a lot, but as it turned out, even half a minute of Psychic was nowhere near as draining as keeping a four hundred and sixty pound Dragon flying at speed at bay for longer than that. He had a good bit left in the tank. "You know what to do."
Jolteon came out, as expected, and Max smiled.
Hopefully not a kind one either. This was going to be good. For him.
One: jolteon was lighter, though smaller, than manectric. That made getting grabbed psionically very risky, because you could get flung away easily. That led to two: it would probably rely on speed and continuous attacks to keep gardevoir on the defensive. Which was generally how a jolteon did best anyway.
But so did manectric and Ash's pikachu, and Max had plenty of experience with what made the strategy good and what its weaknesses were. He was ready.
The only snag in the plan was that jolteon opened with a Shadow Ball as it started running, which wasn't a problem at long range – and Max really didn't know why Cara had revealed it this early – but would be an issue because it would disrupt Psychic energy to the point where blocking might not work.
Following that, and with a burst of speed that made Max expect Agility was in play, the usual Electric Pokémon attacks began. Thunderbolt dodged, Thunderbolt blocked, then… Zap Cannon? He hadn't even known jolteon could learn that, but gardevoir wasn't caught off guard like he was, vanishing in a snap and reappearing ten feet to the right. "Stay near water."
Now getting fairly close, the yellow electric-type started mixing in white projectiles – Pin Missiles – and actually dangerous Shadow Balls. A couple of the former shot through after being angled around the block gardevoir put up, but the Ghost-type move landed in the moat, splashing water onto the shields to Max's right, thanks to a quick Teleport.
It had been expected. Jolteon used the moment of movement to stop and concentrate, and a blinding bar of furious Thunder erupted, moving fast and nearly catching gardevoir before he was able to throw up a block.
Then things went according to plan.
Moving forward, gardevoir collapsed the psionic energy into a shield around himself, and the electricity snapped and crackled around him, but there was no actual contact made. Once passed through, Max's Pokémon shattered the shield, sending the trails of energy outward, forcing jolteon to choose being hit or to go into the air – it chose the former – and then he went on the offensive.
A crackling layer surrounded Cara's Pokémon, but gardevoir wasn't going for anything that would grab just yet. Instead, he sent out psionic spikes, forcing the agile Pokémon to start moving. Then he added thin horizontal lines to the mix at leg height, designed to make small and agile Pokémon trip while running.
He gestured here and there, directing his attacks to annoy the jolteon, whose offence had completely vanished in the face of the threat. It and Cara both recognised that being flung onto the ground would be a problem, but they hadn't found a good counter yet. Time to press the advantage. "Corral it."
Helped by his opponent already being near the left-hand moat, gardevoir created a pair of oversized sweeps barely to jolteon's right, forcing the Electric-type to end up right near the water, into a corner.
And that's when he struck with Psychic.
It didn't connect for long, and the axiom of a cornered Pokémon being dangerous definitely applied, as a Thunderbolt shot forward even before the attack connected, but they traded hits, and jolteon jerked, nearly falling into the water.
A snap Teleport forward brought the green and white Pokémon just feet away from jolteon, and a psionic pulse pushed everything away from him. Including the Pokémon that was attempting to beat a hasty retreat.
It ended up in the water about fifteen feet away from gardevoir; further than Max had hoped for when he saw his Pokémon disappear and reappear, but it was close enough. As the first battle had ended, so did they intend to end this. "Keep it in!"
Another Teleport, avoiding a major stream of Discharge electricity but ending in a smaller one, and then Cara's last Pokémon was forced under the water's surface, even as it created a beautiful shot with the lightning from turbulent waters. The adjustment also took the Discharge off of gardevoir, which enabled him to keep going.
After fifteen seconds, Cara returned her Pokémon.
"As he started it, so does he end it! Amazing underhanded use of terrain in this match by the youngest contestant left, and the jolteon that looked raring to go is forced into a Technical Knock Out situation! In a straight up fight, its freshness would have beaten this gardevoir, but recognising that, Pokémon and Trainer expertly forced it into the water. Max Maple from Petalburg, Hoenn, is your first semi-finalist!"
The crowd roared, and Max's spirits soared. Back to back, and in a harder tournament to boot. This was what his Pokémon and him could do. "Amazing, as always," he said, returning gardevoir into the Friend Ball. "Take a rest."
Then he tried to put the ball back on his belt, only for the magnet to not hook onto it. Strange. He'd have to check that later. First, though…
Danny's smile split his face as Max walked up, pokéball shrunk in one hand. "That was awesome! How'd you even think of that for probopass?"
"Needs must, y'know," Max retorted, but he shared the smile. Danny's hand landed on his raincoat-covered shoulder with a wet squelch. "Had the idea last night. When Serena told me about the field. It's just normal environment use, but because probopass wasn't giving gardevoir any debris and because it would've done jack shit…"
"Yeah, it would've," Danny agreed, and there was something in his voice – and face – that Max couldn't identify. It was positive and warm, but maybe that was also the rain getting to him. "Not losing your head after that weezing was pretty good too." He smirked. "Though with who you had left, it'd be more surprising if you hadn't."
That was entirely too true. "Like you don't have the same for some of yours," Max shot back without heat. "And I don't know about you, but I'm going to take a shower. A long one."
"You've earned it," Danny said with a shrug. "Don't forget to smile and wave at your adoring fans."
A snort escaped him, but when Max did do just that, the controlled chaos of the five digit number audience turned into a mixture of cheers and applause.
~~§~~§~~
"Well," Keith said as the television cut to a quick news break. "Guess we finally have that answer about what it would've been like if Max did find that ralts. That looked unfai… What are you doing?"
His girlfriend had suddenly gone for her pack, taking out a sheet of paper and her pencils she used to start the process. "Had an idea. Finally. Now quiet."
"Yes, Ma'am," Keith muttered, just loud enough that he knew his girlfriend could hear it. That was it, though. He didn't dare stop her now that she finally had found the inspiration that she'd lacked for over two weeks with her drawings of everyone involved in Geosenge.
There was the one of himself, on the City Hall stairs. She'd finished that first, and Keith had shipped it off home moment they were in a town that stocked art supplies and travel tubes or whatever they were called. Max's had been next; a sideways profile in destroyed Geosenge under yveltal's shadow, a faint glow coming from a trouser pocket. Then she'd drawn Serena, scared but determined in an open indoor space. It was the museum in Durocor that the Kalosian teenager herself had suggested – after three minutes of trying to convince Jane that she didn't have to. Maël had been in a museum too, next to a window hinting at the destruction caused.
The last one before now had been Jane herself. Keith still didn't like that she'd drawn herself looking at her leg after the fighting was over in a heavily, heavily damaged room. It had been where she and Danny had held the line for a while, and she said she'd been trying to capture the wonder of finding out your wounds were just gone, but… It made her look weaker than she was, in Keith's opinion, and that wasn't fair.
But Danny, she'd not been able to capture. Which was weird, because they both knew him pretty well. Max would drag you into trouble, Danny would make sure you got back out. And he was always so content, so… okay with everything that went on. Keith knew that he probably wasn't, because nobody could be that perfect, but it was a tough wall to crack. And he still seemed sincere in everything.
Okay, maybe it was a bit too much for someone their age, but Keith could really see the future Professor in him.
He left Jane to her drawing, instead going outside into a pretty okay Sinnoh summer day. The wind kept the temperature down a bit, causing small waves on the water. The other side of Route 218 was visible in the distance.
They could have gotten to Canalave today. It wasn't that far away from where they were. But when one of your friends was this far in a League, you tried to watch. When two of them were, you dropped everything for it if you could.
Some small part of Keith hoped that they would be able to return the favour even a bit, but looking at it for real… They didn't have the quality. Sure, they'd improved a lot, and he was still a tiny bit sour that he'd faced the eventual winner in Kalos, but from what he'd seen… Getting an extension would be hard. It'd be impossible if it was put to the top 16, but top 32 wasn't too much better.
They could make it some more months until their grants ran out. There was the money from Kalos – some of it at least – and Keith had been careful to save as much as he could. After that, they'd need to return home and start preparing for the rest of their life.
Which was scary, but not as much as it could've been, he thought. Geosenge had seen to that.
A ball hit his shins, knocking him out of thought as it bounced away. Looking left, he saw two boys of probably just twelve, one of them coming up. "Sorry about that!" was shouted at him in a voice so high it caused Keith to shake his head that his had ever been that same pitch.
Oh, what the hell. It wasn't like he had anything to do. Jane'd get him for Danny's quarter-final anyway, and he needed to burn a bit of energy. "Can I join?"
"Sure!"
The boys worked together against him – of course – but it was all fun. Crobat helping to get the ball off the roof after one of them punted it up there was the call for the game to stop and the questions to start. As expected. Being that new to travelling and having a friendly older Trainer available… Keith had asked a few questions in his time. He was glad to help others now.
Jane eventually came to get him. "Boy things?" she asked.
"New Trainer things," Keith replied, feeling sweat in his hair cool as the air conditioning started to work on it. "Best friends who left together from some really small mining town to the south. Homeschooled. Seeing crobat kind of surprised them."
"Why?"
Did he want to or not? "It's a mining town. They only really knew zubat as…" He paused, screwing up his voice. "Damn pests."
Jane giggled as they headed up the stairs. "Is that your impression of them?"
"It's my impression of them doing an impression of some adult. And they just wanted to know why I even captured a zubat."
"What'd you tell them?"
"The truth that I'd just wanted him out of my hair. Literally."
~~§~~§~~
The rain was definitely worse than it had been earlier when Max had been battling, and it was only going to get worse if the forecast that was being broadcast in the stadium was right. It was actually warning people that were sitting in the lower rows to move away or risk getting seriously wet – even more than they already were, probably.
Danny glanced a look over at the first semi-finalist, whose opponent had been decided in the match before this one. His best friend was sitting in the same spot as he had been earlier, but instead of keeping his feet on the ground, he'd settled in by using the bench as a footrest. Unorthodox, but practical – he probably didn't want to get soaked feet, and the wind was right enough that he'd get that normally, while his body would stay mostly dry. That hadn't changed in two hours.
Danny had to send his Pokémon out first. Ferroseed appeared on the grassy field that was already looking like it was turning into mud, and it was met with a wormadam. The Sandy cloak variety, if his memory was right. He didn't think he'd ever fought one of them – any variation – before, though he'd seen a few in Kalos. From what he knew, they disliked moving as well, but could be fairly nasty up close too.
Should be a fun match for ferroseed.
The Grass/Steel-type started by closing the distance with some Gyro Ball movement to make sure that he was resilient to anything that the wormadam might throw out, and he was proven right when several rocks impacted him mid-field; aim fairly easy because ferroseed was relying on his trick and defences to make up for the straight path. Which it did. "Pin Missile."
The moment that ferroseed stopped spinning, he launched a set of Pin Missile; a quartet of projectiles making their way to wormadam. A Rock Blast blocked these, but ferroseed added a blast of Bullet Seeds through the dust cloud.
Whatever happened, wormadam was able to throw in something that looked like Signal Beam – pink and bright blue standing out in the dreary grey-brown-green of the arena. Danny's Pokémon instinctively blocked it with a Protect, but that meant Earth Power wasn't able to be blocked, and ferroseed had to sit through the attack as the field rearranged itself slightly.
Wormadam had positioned itself up higher, maybe four feet, but that was an advantage with the sudden appearance of a small cliff. "Gyro Ball."
The spin started, and ferroseed moved forward faster than he had before, but instead of jumping up, he went for the rock itself, saving him from being hit by another Signal Beam and unbalancing wormadam. It didn't take a tumble off, but it did abandon its position after a second knock cracked the cliff. Ferroseed followed, mixing Pin Missile into the mix, and the projectiles hit the back of the retreating Bug-type.
Another Earth Power happened, and the tendrils of brown converged on Danny's Pokémon this time. He noticed in time, using a Protect, but behind it, wormadam was already readying a Signal Beam. "Seeds!"
They were barely enough to block the Bug-type move, but Marcus's Pokémon ruthlessly pressed the advantage, pelting ferroseed with a flurry of smaller Rock Blasts, using the attack like some of the weaker Shadow Bolt volleys that Danny and Max had taught their Pokémon.
The rocky assault gave no time to recover or mount a counter, and ferroseed was only able to disrupt it with a very short Protect that blocked just two projectiles, buying himself enough time to start Gyro Ball again, this time immediately mixing in the Pin Missile. They homed in on wormadam's position, but a small adjustment meant that only one of the four hit, and that an immediate counter was possible, taking the form of a Signal Beam.
The next spray of Bullet Seeds was way off, and Marcus's Pokémon pounced on that immediately, creating a Bug Buzz that reached ferroseed, adding pain to confusion and confusion to pain.
After five seconds, it became clear that wormadam was able to keep the attack going, and ferroseed wasn't breaking out of the confusion – he was generally pretty slow at that, too. It hurt, but… That's what it was for. "Ferroseed, Explosion!"
Despite the confusion, Danny's Pokémon was able to immediately initiate the devastating attack, and with quite a bit left in the tank, it was a destructive one. Wormadam was bodily picked up and flung back all the way into the shields, thirty or forty feet away, and ferroseed was left lying in a crater of his own making, at least five feet across and two deep.
It made returning him a bit hard, and Danny had to step out of his box for a moment to get a good angle.
Choosing who to send out in return was… Harder than he had anticipated. He had plenty of options – swampert and aggron would just punch it and be done, while froslass would just exploit the vulnerability to Ice that the Ground-type brought. But all of those, he felt, would cause Marcus to switch out and come back later. Maybe it wouldn't do much, but knocking wormadam out now and not giving Magnus a reason to return it seemed like a good idea.
Darn, he really had spent too much time around Max and his getting inside his opponent's head ideas.
And from that, he had an idea that was either brilliant or insane. Probably both. "Magneton, your turn!" he said, and immediately, he strained to listen to the announcer that he normally didn't hear.
"That is certainly an unorthodox choice from Danny, sending out an Electric-type into a Ground-type. But the levitation will definitely aid him, robbing wormadam of that Earth Power that gave it control over the field."
As it had been with Max's battle, the female announcer was on point with her analysis. And magneton had a new trick up its sleeve too.
But the Electric-type didn't start out with that. Instead, three Mirror Shot projectiles formed, one between each set of magnets, and with a little manipulation of bodily position, they were just out of sync with each other, which caused the attempted Rock Blast block to only work on the first one – the other two streaks of grey were able to push through the already weakened attack to strike straight at wormadam.
Magneton used the time bought effectively, moving in closer while wormadam recovered before doing the same trick again. This time, it caused a Protect to appear, and Danny smirked.
"Tri Attack!"
Fire on top, ice on the right, electricity on the left, spun together in an elemental attack that wormadam couldn't fully escape. Danny was uncertain which elements hit it – magneton's version kept the types separated – but with only one immunity and two vulnerabilities, any double hit was a good hit.
A Lock-On was prudent, as wormadam was now atop an unsteady-looking pile of earth, but it wasn't needed. Mirror Shot and Signal Beam passed by each other, the Bug-type move grazing the top of magneton's upper magnet, while the Steel-type attack hit with full force.
One each, and Marcus wasted no time in sending out his next Pokémon.
Scizor. Ooooh boy.
Part of him wondered what the bond was based on. A bigger part of him wondered if he could get away with swapping out magneton.
But he decided against it. Better to find out exactly how hard it hit and what it could do before sending in any of his Pokémon that could deal with it more effectively.
The answer to the first question was probably 'very hard', but that still didn't tell him much.
A quick Agility made the red Pokémon vanish from sight the moment it was allowed to, causing Danny to order a Thunder Wave attack, but that did absolutely nothing – or seemingly so – to the suddenly reappearing and punching Pokémon. In one blow, it knocked magneton back at least twenty feet, and after landing, it went straight for the Electric-type again.
Protect held. Barely. A Thunderbolt at least told scizor to back off for a moment, but it didn't really connect except grazingly; the energy grounding into the mud below as well. The Mega didn't appear to be hindered by the lack of solid ground, though, flying back up immediately with a blue-glowing pincer.
This time, Thunderbolt hit dead on, but Danny wasn't surprised to see his opponent's Pokémon just power through the electricity anyway, delivering a Bullet Punch upwards before zooming after and past magneton, aiming to go for a smash downwards. "Supersonic!"
That, at least, caused a pause of about a second. It was enough time for his Pokémon to gain control of its movement again, and the smash turned into a heavy punch that sent him to the other long end of the arena. Low by the ground, but magneton immediately tried to use a Lock-On, failing only when Agility made scizor vanish again.
By pure chance, Danny saw a whoosh of air. "Your left!"
Another full-on Thunderbolt as magneton pumped everything into the attack, but scizor did not care. With the bright light blue of X-Scissor on its claws, it brought down a ferocious crossing chop that sent magneton straight into the grass below, creating the second crater of the match as it flew back up before diving towards Danny's Pokémon again, enveloping itself in purple-yellow.
A Tri Attack evaporated in the face of the Giga Impact, and magneton was driven down into the ground so deep that one of the Pokémon responsible for the shielding had to lift it up to allow Danny to return it.
"You got some hits in. That's all I could ask."
Froslass didn't seem like a good idea. It was too fast – faster than he had thought – and trucks probably didn't hit as hard. He needed to fight power with power, and aggron was best for that.
But…
But the field was a mess, and aggron would be restricted to Danny's half of the field. The craters and Earth Power had seen to that. If Marcus returned scizor, then anything that could work from range would force Danny to do the same, and he didn't like that idea one bit.
Swampert, on the other hand, was right at home in the muddy situation. More importantly, the rain was forecast to increase as the match went on, which Marcus also knew. Sending out volcarona against magneton would've been the best idea, logically – later on, the fire would be weaker thanks to the downpour. The fact that it was scizor out now…
He was going to take a punt on it. "Swampert, you're up!"
Scizor started in much the same way as the previous round, by vanishing into an Agility, but this time, Danny was prepared, and he managed to spot the Mega fairly easily halfway across the field, where it displaced just enough dirt to be noticeable. "Incoming!"
Mud Shot missed the main body, but it did hit one of the claws. Unfortunately, it was the claw that wasn't coming in for a Metal Claw, and swampert found himself forced to block that with a strong punch of his own, and a swipe of his other arm denied scizor a hit underneath his guard, at which point Marcus's Pokémon used the locked claw-and-fist as a springboard to move back.
Swampert sent a Water Gun after it out of habit, but scizor went into the air before coming back down in an X-Scissor that met a shining Protect. The clash caused a wave of wind to pass over the field, tugging at whatever grass was left, but it held a lot better than magneton's had, and in response, swampert delivered another Water Gun; this one heading straight for scizor's face and sending it tumbling down.
The Bulldoze follow-up did nothing but rearrange the arena even more, and swampert moved back a few steps to avoid uneven terrain; time that scizor used to relaunch the offensive, going for a series of Bullet Punches that looked to try and overwhelm the Water-type's defences. It worked too; as he was unable to get enough blocks in, and counter-attacking himself was straight out.
"Ice Punch."
The cold did what normal blocks could not, forcing scizor to move back for a moment as it adjusted its position, before surging forward again in the relentless assault that it had going on. Another Ice Punch met a Metal Claw; a trade that swampert came out of slightly worse, Danny thought, but the Water Gun hit scizor in the abdomen, and it was sent flying backwards amidst the spray, regaining control of its flight in time to not land in the mud, but then forced to cross arms in front of itself to block a Mud Bomb from connecting with anything vital.
The guard dropped the millisecond it could, and up the Steel-type went, going for another Giga Impact to create yet another crater, but swampert dug underground at the first sight of purple appearing, which caused Marcus's Pokémon to let the energy go as it waited for the Ground-type to reappear.
Which he did about three feet away from where he had originally dug, bursting up into the air and unleashing an Icy Wind that didn't connect at all, but that was never the purpose. The attack allowed swampert to land on his feet without being interfered with, and by the time he was back on the defence, he had solid footing that enabled him to go blow for blow.
Punch, jab, even something that looked like a haymaker, all manner of fists meeting and inflicting damage were used, faster than you'd think either Pokémon should be able to move given speed and size, but they were fairly equally matched. Ice occasionally broke in, with swampert trying to weave it in against the X-Scissor-laced attacks rather than either Steel-type move that scizor had used so far, but success was middling at best.
Marcus's Pokémon was a monster. It could hit as hard as swampert did, or sacrifice a tiny amount of that power and hit as fast as sceptile could deliver blades, all while it could adjust position on the fly with copious use of its wings and a surprisingly nimble way of moving for a Steel-type. Danny had never fought a Pokémon like it, and despite taking two head-on Thunderbolts earlier, it seemed that it was outlasting swampert in the pure hand to hand combat.
But swampert had a trick up his sleeve, and with a loud roar, a deluge of water surged forward as blue erupted; the simple Water Gun looking more like Hydro Pump as scizor was swept away.
The Mud Fish Pokémon bounded after, moving across the muddy field like it was stone, and immediately bringing the fight to the red Pokémon getting up from a small mud bath with a ferocious Ice Punch direct to the head; one that wasn't dodged or avoided in any way, and a Bulldoze sent both of them lower into the ground where the fight was in Danny's advantage.
Then something red triggered, sending the blue Pokémon – about one and a half times Danny's weight – flying like he was weightless. The landing was okay enough, but it gave scizor the time to get back to the assault, and only a few very hasty blocks and a shimmering Protect kept the X-Scissor from swampert getting clocked in the head at least three times.
Another Torrent-fueled Water Gun connected, washing scizor away and allowing a moment's reprieve, if Marcus's Pokémon hadn't flown upwards the moment that the pressure on its body had vanished, and purple highlights already started dancing around its body.
"Stand!" Danny ordered instantly, rationalising the decision immediately. If Dig was too slow, then it was lights out with no counter play. "Everything you have!"
And everything he had, swampert gave. Blue built up in his throat, but he didn't release it until the Giga Impact was so close that there was no deviation possible, and at the same time, he met the powerful attack with an Ice Punch.
The two Pokémon vanished from sight completely as scizor buried both of them in mud; splatters flying up what had to be twenty feet, if not more, and though Danny saw the blue light of Torrent fade; the question was if scizor had also been knocked out, or if it had held on.
It hadn't, and he released a breath he hadn't noticed he was holding. Both Pokémon were fished out of their pseudo-graves, and half-time was called, which was the signal for Danny to move to the covered bench as fast as he could.
Max, cheater that he was, had sent baltoy out by now, which was keeping him dry. "Rain blowing in?"
"Yeah," Max said, gesturing, and the shield moved outward a bit. "I've also got a new raincoat for you."
Danny looked to the left, spotting the green item before taking a look at the matte colour of his own. "Not sure if these are made for this."
"Me neither," Max agreed as Danny pulled the old one over his head, instantly feeling at least several pounds lighter. "I think Greta might have been understating things, by the way."
"No kidding," Danny said, glancing at the scoreboard up high, with three greyed-out Pokémon on his side of the display. "How many Pokémon do you know that could fight it in pure hand to hand and come out ahead?"
"Maybe Mega aggron, but otherwise… Steven's metagross is the only one that isn't a Legendary that comes to mind," Max replied. "Not that it'd be hand to hand only, but..." Danny got the point. "Why not him?"
"Room. Didn't want to get trapped."
"So that means..."
"Uhuh."
Nothing more was said in the two minutes, Danny instead getting a bit of energy back with a quick snack in the blessed dry area, but soon enough, he had to walk back into the rain.
A deep, calming breath as their next Pokémon was asked for, and the annoyance of rain faded, replaced by the measured bond he shared with Mega aggron. The opponent was a leavanny. Bug and Grass, appropriate for the terrain. Some of them had the Bug-type version of Torrent, but Danny wasn't afraid of that.
Aggron would weather it as best he could.
The Steel-type broke into a run, each step making the ground tremble. A fresh field meant he could move for now while the water hadn't soaked in, and the rain wasn't as much of a bother.
He saw some form of green splash away from aggron. Razor Leaves, probably, but they did nothing, and leavanny had to jump out of the way in order to dodge.
A tail slammed into the grass, displacing mud and ground. Marcus's Pokémon was caught, turning brown, but ignoring it and releasing silver crescents from its arms. They hit aggron on the side, and he responded by snapping forward.
Leavanny jumped, trying to go over, but an arm intercepted her, throwing her away like a doll. It did not delay in getting up, unleashing a barrage of Razor Leaves that plinked off harmlessly.
It was clear the Grass-type didn't have the power to challenge aggron's defences, but Marcus kept it in. A Silver Wind did a bit more, but staying too long meant a Metal Claw sent it upwards. Too far, in fact, allowing leavanny to rally in the air. Vivid green tendrils mixed in with the heavy rain. "Protect."
There was going to be no Giga Drain on his watch.
Aggron jumped up, head glowing. It was only a few feet, but without a way to adjust path, leavanny had no chance. Iron Head connected. A sharp nod created direction – downwards – and light green appeared in the mud.
The Silver Wind crescents were appropriately larger. Aggron scratched at one of the impact sites before roaring; reverberating in the bond. He put his foot down, creating an Earthquake that hindered the Grass-type, before using his other foot to create a Bulldoze.
The movement didn't break leavanny's concentration, and specks of green started surrounding it as aggron bore down.
The Leaf Storm did connect, aggron disregarding his defences in favour of dropping over onto his opponent.
Being squashed by something twenty times its weight was too much for leavanny, and aggron got up easily, calmly returning to Danny's side of the arena. There were some marks on his armour, but he looked and felt ready to rumble for another round.
Galvantula could prove more challenging. They were some of the fastest Bug-type Pokémon, and in the rain, the electricity would do a number on aggron. They also had no real way to leave the ground except jumping, and they were light.
If aggron could connect a direct hit or two, he'd be in good shape. If not, he was in trouble. Plain and simple.
The start was the same as against leavanny. A rush downfield, head bowed. It started glowing to deflect the counter galvantula sent in, and Electro Ball shattered without aggron slowing down.
The Electric-type tried to skitter off, and an Earthquake locked it into place. The tremors didn't create and breaks near the small Pokémon, so aggron followed up with a directed Bulldoze, but that was avoided.
Electroweb kept aggron busy for a moment, but he was too strong to be deterred, slicing through with a Metal Claw. It allowed galvantula to sneak off, but Danny was keeping track, spotting a speck of yellow in the green and grey. "Behind left."
One foot kicked into the ground, and a Bulldoze travelled down the field, forcing galvantula into the open middle, where it was visible to all. It fired another Electro Ball as the Mega charged in, with Metal Claw slicing through it and the explosion unimportant.
Marcus's Pokémon jumped away, but the tip of a swiping tail hit it, sending it towards Danny. It landed well, summoning another Electro Ball that met the same fate as before before jumping upwards.
Discharge came out, actually hindering aggron for once. Not for long, and a Metal Claw was waiting for galvantula, but a sharp and slow-feeling spike went through the bond at the same time.
Any momentum aggron might have been able to get from delivering a heavy blow was nullified by the need to focus and overcome the paralytic effect of the Discharge. He had to take two Electro Balls to the back while doing so, and an electrified web stopped his movements further.
It was easily sliced through, but now, the Bug-type was at middle range, hiding far enough away that it could move out of Bulldoze and where Earthquake wouldn't do much.
Moving it was the right call. "Bulldoze."
Galvantula shot out from one of the holes that had been created, ready for the move and returning an Electro Ball, which impacted again, and this time, aggron definitely felt it. So did Danny, through the bond.
Aggron was being worn down. He wasn't close to his last legs, but against galvantula, that didn't really matter. There was a point where the speed difference would matter. It was up to them to make that never appear.
He zoned back into the fight as an Electroweb allowed for an easy escape, but the Bulldoze sent after forced an adjustment into the open. "Protect the next web."
The command was understood, but galvantula's next way of stopping aggron's rampage was to use a Discharge. It didn't work out as planned; an Earthquake interrupting the flow of electricity and then the Steel-type kicked the Bug-type into the distance with great force, pushing it out of Danny's view.
He concentrated on the commentary, but got nothing from it. But he couldn't wait, and aggron agreed; moving forward into yet another Electro Ball. A push filtered through the wall that was their bond; the sign that aggron had ignored the pain in favour of continuing.
This time, there was a web, and a Protect, and then a Discharge that immediately caused a sharp spike of paralysis and pain.
The bond unravelled slowly, but surely, allowing Danny to steel himself for the moment that aggron was knocked out, but in his fall forward, there was one other emotion filtering through.
Triumph.
Danny shook his head as aggron went back to normal, returning his Mega immediately, but before he could send out another Pokémon, the referee on the side blew his rarely-used whistle. "Galvantula is also knocked out."
Well. That explained the triumph. Galvantula had been stuck underneath a fallen dinosaur, which had been a bit too much for it. The few hits that it had sustained must have been painful ones for it to not move out of the way, but Danny certainly wasn't going to complain about this. The Megas had tied things up, and now it came down to the two last Pokémon.
He wasn't surprised to see the ariados, but he was surprised to see Marcus keep it in against diggersby.
Danny's Ground-type went into the loose soil immediately, quickly digging his way over, but before he could erupt from the ground, ariados split itself into three through Double Team, standing ramrod still after that.
It had to be a trap, but in this match-up as the previous one, Danny's Pokémon had to be the one on the offensive, against what he sort of wanted. Spending time with Max as he had had taught him enough about the style that his Pokémon were comfortable with it, though.
Diggersby chose poorly, popping a clone, and the other two immediately spat out web. Purple-tinted web, and though Protect went up, it was too late as some of it got stuck in the grey-and-brown Pokémon's neck, above its furry band.
It proved to be incredibly painful for some reason, and diggersby doubled over, allowing more web to be spat out. "Block it!"
Mud Bomb did away with the regular amount of web, and a dive into the ground probably got rid of the worst of the sticky threads, but Danny knew better. He hadn't known it was even possible, but somehow, the ariados had infused some kind of poison into its webs.
The Kalosian Pokémon could probably feel the poison within him, as he came up almost as fast as was possible, hitting ariados from underneath, but that seemed to only be according to its plan, as it adjusted itself in mid-air, using a spray of web for balance, before spitting out a Sludge Bomb straight downwards that was forced to be blocked with a Hammer Arm pair.
The defensive move allowed a safe landing, and immediately, the spider went to work again, this time moving in physically, skittering across the loose soil rapidly – faster than diggersby or Danny held possible – and unleashing a Cross Poison that was only blocked at the last second by a thin wall of rock that sprung up from a hasty Rock Tomb.
That wasn't enough, and both of them were sent tumbling into the mud. Normally, Danny knew that'd suit diggersby fine, but with the poison as a threat, it wasn't. "Get it off!"
Several purple threads hung off of diggersby by the time the ariados was given a free trip through the air, courtesy of ear-arms providing the launch. A quick dip into the ground removed most of them, but ariados was ready for the resurfacing, immediately spraying the area with web and tying up the ears tightly with regular threads.
The moments it took diggersby to break the bonds were painful, as he was a sitting rabbit for the toxic web threads that followed up, and while he was busy with dislodging those, Marcus's Pokémon closed in with another Cross Poison.
This time, it met a Hammer Arm block, but in that exchange, Danny knew who would win, and it wasn't diggersby. Ariados were very resistant to Fighting-type moves. "Stick to mud for defence," he said, and a toss of some earth neatly disrupted the new round of rope coming in.
But there was no stopping, and though mud took care of six attempts at trying to tie him up, diggersby faltered on the seventh. Luckily, it hit him around the body instead of the ears, meaning he wasn't as hindered, but unfortunately, they were Toxic Threads again, and the poison was beginning to make itself known pretty obviously by now. Even from the distance they were fighting at – middle of the arena, give or take – Danny could see unhealthy veins popping up in his Pokémon's body: an antibody reaction to the toxins surging through the Ground-type.
He didn't have much time. "All you got."
And he got all of it. Diggersby abandoned all forms of defending except to blast or bat web out of the way, going for a heavy set of blows on ariados, but the spider was slippery, escaping after being struck once with an ear swipe and immediately turning around to spray a hail of Poison Sting needles to annoy and stop diggersby from following. Protect came out in time, but that only served as a way to serve him up to a Toxic Thread wrap-around.
Danny returned diggersby before the pain would be too much. He knew when he was beat, and he didn't want his Pokémon to suffer too much from the toxins.
Froslass would have to do. And she could.
"Watch out for the purple threads," he told his last Pokémon as she came out, swaying in the nigh-torrential rain that was by now coming down. No thunder – yet, probably – but the field was as much of a mess as it had been after the first half, just with smaller craters that had been created from Earthquake and Bulldoze rather than Giga Impact crashes. It would be a factor for ariados, but not for froslass.
Levitation had its advantages. As she showed by using three dimensions to avoid the first blast of Poison Stings and the follow-up Toxic Thread before moving with the wind and pushing cold and ice into it; creating a true Icy Wind.
Ariados didn't like that, splitting into several clones, but froslass snuffed out the real one in an instant with a dark orb that was stopped too close to the Bug-type's face. It probably still did some damage, but it recovered faster than either of them held possible, and a spray of webbing shot forth.
Froslass avoided most of it, though some stuck – but it was regular grey, not purple.
In response, she started concentrating, and a blue aura surrounded her. It lashed out at the Toxic Thread that was coming in as Danny's Ice-type showed her amazing control over her element, and soon after – also following a change of position to avoid a Signal Beam – the Blizzard was unleashed.
It froze a full third of the arena, with ariados in it, but a protective blast of web seemed to have shielded the Bug-type from the worst of it. Movement was definitely harder for it now, and froslass sought to capitalise with her new move: a Thunderbolt.
The reason for that became clear almost immediately, as it was able to surge through the blast of web, destroying the integrity of the projectile and making it splash harmlessly on her and the ground, and Marcus's Pokémon felt the sting of cold electricity before getting a reprieve just long enough to skitter away from an Ice Beam – barely.
The yuki-onna followed, moving to Danny's unfrozen half of the arena where ariados was now, swooping down and having to phase out to avoid a Poison Sting – Danny thought she got most of it – in order to deliver a close-range Confuse Ray. A Double Team stopped that, though, but with a twirl upwards, ice formed all around her before shooting out in all downwards directions, spraying both fakes and the real spider with painful shards.
A well-timed Protect got rid of Sludge Bomb, and an Icy Wind stopped web straight in its tracks, causing it to rain down alongside the regular torrential rain.
Ariados started to move away, narrowly avoiding an Ice Beam before using a Sludge Bomb to cover its retreat. It forced froslass to drop down for a bit, and a Shadow Ball was her follow-up of choice, hitting in the rear, but not doing much else.
A substitution was signalled, the heavy rain making it hard for Danny to see the referee's flag go up before he saw the red energy return ariados from a safe position as froslass headed on over to him.
She'd taken a few hits, and a few strands of non-toxic web plus some water had frozen on her body as she had used her Ice-type. Ariados had far been worse off by Danny's estimate, but the last Pokémon was fresh. It was a tactically sound switch for sure.
It was Marcus's volcarona. The same one he'd thought hadn't been here after the Sinnoh-born had reacted to magneton with Mega scizor and with the worsening weather in mind. And Danny knew that it knew Hurricane, and power contests weren't in froslass's favour. Nor was a wait-and-see counter-attack approach.
He'd have to make the best of it.
"Middle range and no Blizzard," Danny told froslass before she flew off as the battle got underway again. She stuck to that command diligently, shooting higher into the air before launching a few probing Shadow Balls.
Volcarona didn't care. Volcarona unleashed a Fire Blast in froslass's general direction that completely obliterated the Ghost-type moves. It missed by a good margin thanks to the distance, but it was a clear warning.
Another Fire-type attack followed; the concentrated flame of Heat Wave pushing straight through the torrential rain, landing a solid blow. It forced froslass lower to the ground, from where Danny saw her start to form an Ice Beam.
The light-blue energy connected with the Bug-type, but it didn't seem to care, glowing red momentarily before channelling the fire into another attack; a Flamethrower this time that froslass chose to block with a second Ice Beam to obscure volcarona's vision of her.
It worked, but it also worked the other way around, and as froslass attempted to get a Confuse Ray through to make the continued flame stop, the wind in the arena suddenly picked up, forming into a mighty Hurricane that beat on Danny's Ice-type. She held on for a moment, before deliberately letting go and letting the wind sweep her along. It caused a bit of damage, but not fighting into the gales helped, and she was able to start her own counter-offensive, drawing in cold to shield herself from the worst effects of the whipping rain.
She then had to expend all of that into an Ice Beam, blocking volcarona as it came in, surrounded by flame in a Flare Blitz. Marcus's Pokémon dropped lower, not quite crashing, and had to eat a Shadow Ball before recovering, firing back with another Heat Wave.
If it knew anything but flame and wind manipulation, it certainly wasn't showing it, but it was very effective, and froslass had to abandon her levitation for a moment to avoid the concentrated attack. She swivelled around, lobbing a weak Shadow Ball straight into the path Marcus's Pokémon was taking in her direction, which just splashed on its body undeterred.
Fire erupted, and this time, Danny's Pokémon wasn't able to avoid it, forcing out a Protect, but instead of bouncing off, volcarona leaned into the shield, trying to overpower it through sheer force.
And it worked. A flash of blue erupted as froslass tried to freeze the Fire-type over, but it wasn't enough, and she was sent to the ground below her, crashing and bouncing up a bit from the impact.
A tornado of fire appeared, engulfing her, and before it dissipated, Danny knew the result. She'd been knocked out through overwhelming force, and with her went his tournament.
There was only a tiny uncomfortable lump in his throat, and it was easily swallowed. Marcus was better, and apart from the one misjudgement that volcarona wasn't in the selected six… Danny didn't see anything extremely obvious that could've changed the battle's flow. A thousand tiny decisions, maybe, but that wasn't on the cards today.
And that was fine. He wasn't some kind of Champion-level prodigy, and to push Marcus to a 6-4 without big mistakes and with a tired ariados was just solid. No ifs and buts about it: just something that he could be proud of. Now and forever.
He executed a bow and exited the Trainer's box left, head held high.
~~§~~§~~
Max was the second to arrive in the antechamber in Silver Town's town hall. Which was also used for weddings, some seasonal religious stuff, and everything else that needed a room that could seat thirty or so people, if he remembered correctly from something or other he'd read a while back. This room was typically Johtoan, right down to some seating that was meant to be done lotus-style.
Something that the other Trainer already there was failing miserably at. "Just fold your legs underneath," Max said as he sat down, giving the white-blond-haired teenager – Ivan, who'd won the quarter-final after his own – an example to follow. "It's uncomfortable if you're not used to it."
Ivan did as Max showed, and he stayed upright. "Thank you," he said in a soft voice, before lapsing into silence.
The room didn't stay silent for long. The other two semi-finalists and a pair of organisers both entered the room at the same time, from opposite ends, about two minutes after. "Looks like everyone is here," a black-haired and flat out fat man said, giving them a once-over. "Who of you hasn't done a press conference before?"
Only Ivan raised his hand, and Max got a strange look from the fourth semi-finalist and his opponent. Or maybe that was the effect of her incredibly bright eyes. Whatever it was, he gave a grin before turning to the League officials or whatever they were.
"You know what's supposed to happen?" the other unknown person – a woman, very no-nonsense, in a way Max instantly liked – said. "Good," she continued at some unspoken signal. "We'll introduce you in order. Marcus and Ivan go first, Regina and Max second."
"Tall, then short," the man quipped, evoking an eye-roll from Max and a sigh from what sounded like Regina. "There'll be a photo session after, and there's all sorts of cameras on you, so keep smiling."
It was hard to resist the temptation to call it by what the man was making it sound like, but Max managed, and thankfully, the organisers left the room for a moment. "Really not helping," Regina muttered, and she moved past Max towards Ivan. "Listen. Smile or don't, it's your choice. Heaps of people don't like these. Is it your first time in the spotlight like this?"
"Yes, kinda."
"If they're good journalists, they'll pick up on I and go easy." Regina turned around, facing Max, and he realised that she wasn't that much taller than he was. And it wasn't because he'd had a growth spurt. "How much do you like these things?"
Max wanted to reply that he could put up with them, but when the door opened, he skipped that, instead raising his hand slightly and shaking it in the universal 'so-so' gesture.
"They're ready for you now."
As ever when entering a room for a press conference – and he fully realised that it was amazingly stupid that he had a normal for it – he was nearly blinded by flashes, but you didn't train Pokémon without picking up at least a bit of awareness of where to go when you couldn't see. It was a pretty small room – or maybe it just felt like that because it was packed full – but there were small microphones for them to speak into. He adjusted his a bit so he would actually speak into it while the man held an entirely too cheerful introduction of them all.
What on earth was Scott doing in the background?
One of the dozen-and-a-half journalists in the room sitting stood up. "Congratulations to all of you for qualifying. The obvious first question: how far were you expecting to make it?"
There was a moment of confusion on which of the two on the outer ends – Max or Marcus – was to speak first, but the man nodded in Marcus's direction. "At least here."
"Round of..." Ivan said, trailing off and adjusting the microphone. "Round of 16."
"I'm with Marcus. Be a bit disappointing if I hadn't."
"I hoped for the quarter-final before everything started."
A nod of thanks, and the man sat down, and a woman stood up, asking a question about how they'd enjoyed the tournament so far, and from there the questions went, covering most of the things that surrounded the tournament or allowing them to speak in generalities about their battles. Standard fare.
That changed when a younger journalist – twenty at best, Max thought – stood up and smiled before speaking. "What were the hardest moments for you? And let's start on the other end."
She knew, Max realised, about what had happened in the first round. Some part of him was annoyed by being put on the spot like that, but another part felt that she wanted to get it out there for some other reason he didn't know yet. "Well, I lost my first battle," he said casually, and at least five pens were dropped or fumbled with. It was all he could do not to snort. "So a huge thanks to the format and that was one heck of a wake-up call."
They went down the line with fairly standard stories – unexpected knock-outs for Regina and Ivan, and Marcus pointing out the hot weather and his Bug-type speciality – but the follow-up question was both predictable and annoying because it singled him out. "Do you think it changed anything for you?"
He took a moment to think. "Course it does," he eventually settled on. "Everything does, right? You need an extra battle, and it's also a reminder that you can't be complacent and that you can't be distracted by other things."
"What happened to make you lose?"
Max grinned. "Fishing for information?" he shot back at his neighbour, not even needing to look to know that she was probably sharing his amusement. "Nasty Toxic-Attract combination and too much of a type disadvantage. Good trick the first time my opponent used it."
There was a bout of furious scribbling, and Max figured that he'd be seeing this again. Not a problem, really.
"For Marcus and Regina," said a balding older reporter, voice raw and raspy like he'd only just gotten it back after illness. "Do you like it that you can only meet in the final or third place battle?"
"The longer I can avoid him, the better," Regina replied airily, causing chuckles. "Seriously. Did the whole semi-final meeting twice now. It's cliché by now. There'll be much more on the line if we meet on Sunday."
"A strong opponent is a strong opponent. No matter when you meet," Marcus followed up. "One last battle for our rivalry."
"What's this? You're not coming to visit when the Gym's open? For shame."
"Speaking of that," the next reporter, a forgettable man in his thirties, asked after he'd been given the signal. "There haven't been too many Steel-types in your last two battles. Is there any reason for that?"
"Gotta keep everyone on their toes." Regina shrugged, before taking a sip of water. "For real, been a Trainer for a dozen years. I've got a lot of Pokémon who can walk the walk. I just choose what feels right."
"And what do you make of the two Trainers who do stick with their speciality?"
"They do them. Giratina knows everyone's got different paths to tread. Choose what you're best with. Max here excepted, of course. I'd like to get to the final without too much hassle."
"I'll tell you how it was being there at the prize ceremony," Max shot back. There was something about his opponent that set him at ease, and the banter came naturally after.
"Tough words. I'd ask if you could back them up, but I did my reading this morning. Remind me to ask for your autograph after the battle."
"Why?"
"Future League Champion autograph? My nephew's gonna love it."
~~§~~§~~
"There's been a complication," he said as soon as the door locked behind Raphael, early morning sunlight shining on it. "Though not an insurmountable one."
"I heard. Am I required in Hoenn, First Minister?"
The title; signalling that his partner in crime was thinking politically for the moment. "I think not. From my understanding, they will want the old and current guard, not the upcoming guard. A medical excuse like the one you've concocted should work." He thought for a moment. "Forgive me for asking, but is it a real risk?"
"It is a real affliction for a few cases every year. Inserting metal into the body carries risks," Raphael stated. "My brother has done the check-ups for this for years and he's never found any issue. That he'll find one now is… convenient for us."
"Quite," Santi agreed, flashing a small grin. "As is the upcoming funeral. How fast can you be at the location?"
"Four days from now at the minimum. Two of my agents are posing as tourists currently in Pewter. Why?"
"Someone of Drake's stature will draw invites from around the Home Regions, perhaps even further afield. Wait for the right time, and you can guarantee no intervention from Lance." Raphael looked up, cogs visibly turning. "Exactly."
"Which other members could be invited?"
Of that, he had no real idea, but he could engage in conjecture. "Given the recent extensive changes in the local Elite Four, it is unlikely that any of the new members have some form of working relationship beyond the standard. I'd posit that Bruno would be the only likely option." A light blinked on his phone, signalling that someone wanted to speak with him. He was reasonably certain as to the subject. "I'll have to cut this short."
"Understandable," the former intelligence officer said, leaving the room after a quick shake of hands.
Santi watched him go before glancing over at an innocuous briefcase in the corner of the room. Few people knew its relevance; fewer still knew its contents. With luck, some of the plans they had been formulating could come to fruition without having to resort to having to use those guardians now, even if striking close to the seat of power of the ones who were most likely to be in a position to stop them was a risky move that Cavendish and himself had weighed for months.
It was fortuitous that Drake would pass away at this time. Any decrease in defences for what was already a high risk mission made it more likely that they could capture their quarry, and through it, make Hoenn see the truth.
A new era would start soon, sprouting in the Tree of Beginning.
~~§~~§~~§~~§~~
Following a short battle with cancer, former Elite Four member of Hoenn Drake has passed away in his sleep, late evening of Friday August 15th. While a full statement of his family had not been released by the time this paper went to print, flower arrangements were already starting to appear outside Lilycove Hospice, where the Dragon Master had been sequestered for the past weeks.
In his thirty year tenure as a member of the Elite Four, Drake was a fervent advocate for using Pokémon to help children and adults with confidence issues, while also reminding Trainers on the regular that overconfidence is their worst enemy. More recently, he became a vocal supporter of people with epilepsy, after his lone grandson was diagnosed with it at an early age.
His wife, Amelia, predeceased him, and he leaves behind son Aiden, daughter-in-law Alicia, and grandson Owen.
Author's Note: And that was Danny's stop. Hope it came off right - I certainly had a lot of fun writing the scizor-swampert battle in particular.