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 29: The Individual Advantage
Hugo collapsed onto his bed, feeling amazed. He'd just used his room's computer and slow internet to finally watch one of the Kanto League matches of the heroes of Kalos.
And it had been really, really, really good.
Okay, fine, fine, he knew he was biased. Because Max had a gardevoir. Like him. But he had never even dreamed of those tricks. Teleport, sure, his gardevoir could do that. But toppling a probopass like that? Keeping jolteon under the water. Moving through that Thunder… Max hadn't been kidding when he said his gardevoir was powerful!
An amused and gentle squeeze made Hugo roll onto his side. His own gardevoir hovered nearby, radiating happiness, and the teenager sat up. "You want to try some of those tricks? I can ask Max in the letter," he asked. Gardevoir had seen it all with him.
She nodded, before pausing to think. She did that. Telepathy wasn't something she was good at apart from feelings and emotions and stuff.
She pushed against him gently, like the tiniest bit of wind. She also turned around, then mimed flying and falling back. "That pulse thing?" Hugo asked, and he wasn't really surprised. She was at her worst when there was some Pokémon close to her. "Isn't it just using power around you? I think baltoy did it too, and you've got more of it."
There was another push. This one pressed into his lower tummy, in two very specific spots. Just above where his pokéballs wer… Those were drowzee's and inkay's!
Gardevoir picked up on that, transmitting happiness. Hugo took a moment to try and translate that. "You want them to learn it too?" he asked eventually. The answer was clear as day. "Well, it's a Psychic Pokémon trick. And Max can probably make it understandable. He's good at that."
He made to stand up, but then he was helped. It always felt a bit weird, but the teenager knew why he'd been grabbed. He had been about to put weight on his wrist. Again. And he really shouldn't do that, but it was hard to remember that it was still healing. It hadn't hurt in two weeks, and the cast was the main way he remembered that it hadn't been that long.
It did itch. A lot. At least it wasn't all that hot. Meant he didn't have to take it off and put it back on every day after a shower or something. This Prudan summer was terrible, and everyone he had met said so too. It had been grey and more grey for nearly two weeks now! "I don't know what I'd do without you, gardevoir."
She rolled her eyes, physically and mentally too. It didn't stop her from giving him a hug that he was too old for from anyone else, but with gardevoir… It was just right.
~~§~~§~~
Norman and Caroline had barely sat down in the comfortable Birch living room after the traditional canine greeting when Gregory fired off the question Norman knew was coming. "So. Exactly how good are our sons?"
The answer of being good enough to get to the best eight or better was on his tongue, but the Gym Leader let it slide off. It was superfluous, and he had thought about this for a bit after the invitation had been made. "Good enough that I'd be bringing the full A-team against either of them. Though being honest, that was a natural progression from November."
"They weren't that good back then. You told us about who you used."
"And neither used a Mega Pokémon that time. But that's not the important point." Norman rapped his fingers on the chair's arm. "The more skilled Pokémon and Trainers are, the more a battle starts to hinge on small details that echo onwards."
"Like dusclops knocking out that lucario," Elizabeth said. It wasn't a query: she was certain of it.
"Danny's entire round of 16 match applies, just about. Spritzee being just fast enough to keep the combination going for that long, dusclops escaping the Foresight… Tiny things like that add up rapidly at a high level. The Destiny Bond was very welcome, but it fundamentally didn't change the direction of the match. Just the duration."
"And one moment of not paying attention can cost you too," Caroline chimed in, echoing the argument in the opposite direction of Max being uncharacteristically stupid.
He'd say they raised him better than that, but truth was that the recovery had been excellent and the gardevoir was both a surprise and a natural fit.
"So… They know how to get ahead by the tiniest margins. That's normal, right?"
"Yes… And no," Norman said, and the pleasure at throwing one of his best friend's sayings back was, as ever, good. "Most Trainers on their third – or a late second – League will know that these advantages exist, but will either not be able to effectively exploit them or need to come up with them on the spot. Which doesn't describe either of them that well."
"They are mostly unconsciously using that thinking. That is what you are getting at." Norman turned towards Elizabeth, surprised that she had gotten his thrust this fast. "It is a model I heard of at a training. Practice is the chief driver." She sipped from her glass; water, this early in the day. "Which I suppose your son picked up by osmosis and then proceeded to share with Danny."
A sound from the television startled Norman, and the wince told him exactly who was responsible for the loudness. "Roughly, yes," he said, choosing to ignore Gregory's fiddling with the remote.
"You're making this sound more one-sided than it is, Norman," Caroline said softly. "I haven't seen anything that makes me think their friendship is really different at its core. Danny helps Max in other areas. It's just that a tournament like this is Max's speciality. And wasn't there something in that interview they did?"
It took the Gym Leader only a moment to cotton on to what his wife was alluding to. "Makes you wonder who'd get further in a Double Battle League."
"Alas, the powers that be like their standard battles," Gregory lamented, not quite veering into theatricality. Too much. "But if our son is to be a sidekick, he is one with far more skill and importance than the average one in any of my tales."
Elizabeth, positioned very slightly behind the forward-leaning Gregory on the sofa, tilted her head almost imperceptibly, asking the silent but somewhat frequent question of 'See what I have to put up with?'. Equally so, there was a fond smile tugging at her lips.
"They are friends. And friendships are giving, taking, and balance," Caroline said from Norman's left. "Maybe Max is the better battler. Or maybe Danny was unlucky with his opponent. Marcus cruised through his match."
Norman had missed half of it thanks to administrative things taking up a bit more time than planned and Marcus racing to a three-to-one lead in no time flat. That scoreline had been repeated in the second half of the match. "It's probably a bit of both," he hedged. "But I think that what they say themselves is true. They wouldn't have gotten here without each other."
Eight eyes checked out one of the photographs on the wall; of their sons and a Kalosian girl standing side-by-side. Danny was in the middle in this one, with Max on his left, and all of them were wearing formal and well-fitting dress. Their awards were clearly visible, pinned or tied, and they wore smiles that looked tired from having to put one on their face a few times too many.
The arms around Max and Serena's shoulders, and the two somewhat reaching for Danny's, were proof enough.
~~§~~§~~
The second semi-final. His second semi-final. Max would be lying to himself if he wasn't a teensy bit nervous as he walked out of the catacombs into the loud cacophony that was the Silver Town Stadium. Cheers went up as the announcer – not the same as the one on the match before, nor of his quarter-final match – welcomed him to the field as the fourth and final semi-finalist.
He glanced right, seeing the maximum of three people sit in the little dug-out for close friends. Danny was there, of course, and this time, Serena and Ash were also there. Turned out that the Kalosian hadn't known you could be there with three, and Ash had been doing something he was a bit silent on.
That didn't matter now. The only thing that mattered was trying his best to get to the final. Regina was going to be a tough opponent.
Who also said a ritual prayer to Giratina ahead of her every match, going down to her knees and bowing her head. It seemed a bit weird to him, but everyone had their own pre-battle ritual. If hers was to pray in the arena itself and not care that some stupid high number of people were watching you do that, why should he care about it?
He ran his hand over his new belt, bought the day before after the last one had a magnet fail. He could've had a replacement for the individual magnet, but when both Ash and the shopkeeper had said that they tended to break around the same time, he'd opted for a new one anyway. One maybe a size too big, sure, but he was going to have a growth spurt any day now. He hoped.
After that train of thought, and after the prayer, Regina was selected to send out her Pokémon first, and she released a durant onto the regular field.
Information flashed in his mind. Bug and Steel-type, surprisingly fast, but very physically oriented. He'd noted it the night before in the Pokémon she'd used. Vulpix could probably do a lot against it, but he wasn't going to lead with her.
This was the semi-final. He'd taken his four strongest Pokémon and two that were good against the Steel-types that would be her Gym's type in a few months' time. He would come out swinging. "Shelgon, you're up!"
And immediately, Regina signalled a substitution. Before the match even got underway proper.
It was allowed, of course. At a guess, she knew that shelgon could use Flamethrower and Ember, which would make a durant's life miserable. Shelgon had used those a lot the last time he'd been out to rumble.
The Pokémon she replaced it with was a magnezone. He held back a mutter about how he was seeing a lot of those Pokémon affected by magnetic fields against him, doing a quick analysis. Dragonskin was well-insulated against electricity; Dragon Pulse and Flamethrower had enough range if it hadn't been trained to work well specifically from long range, and Dragon Rush could be used as a way to move around in emergencies.
The match started, and shelgon waddled forward after his usual opening, while Max kept a careful eye on the magnezone. It went over the Dragon Pulse, leading with a jolt of electricity as it moved into range.
The Protect was perfect, to the point where Max could just about hear the fizzle of snap-grounded current. Magnezone vanished from shelgon's sight as dust was thrown up, but the Dragon shot a Flamethrower out anyway, along the path that the Steel-type had been moving on.
It was a direct hit. A whirring screech vaguely filtered through the shields as Regina's Pokémon lost height, and he saw a vague red glow on its under… belly?
Shelgon followed with a spray of Ember, but a grey reflective shield went up, and a blast of orange energy was returned to sender. A weak Dragon Pulse disrupted it, but magnezone was ready with a follow-up to the Mirror Coat; forming several grey-silver globes and sending them towards the immobile Dragon-type one by one.
Shelgon took three Magnet Bombs without caring before blasting a Dragon Pulse straight through the fourth one. The overwhelming power surprised everyone, including the audience and the opposing Pokémon, and the green attack half-connected with plenty of force.
Magnezone took the momentum and dove downwards, levelling with shelgon on the ground and firing off a Mirror Shot that pierced straight through the Flamethrower, also making sure that it wasn't set on fire again. Shelgon wasn't able to do the same, and he had to take the hit, not that the dragon cared too much.
A roar of challenge, and Max closed his eyes for a moment, making sure he kept his head clear. "Protect the Mirror Shots," he said calmly as a round of Ember missed entirely while magnezone put distance between the two Pokémon. "And follow."
A couple of Magnet Bombs were hurled towards him, but the first two vanished onto the Dragon Rush aura, and the other three grey projectiles only made shelgon annoyed as he launched a Flamethrower.
This time, that was Mirror Coated, but with minimal effort, shelgon blew that up as well. A wave of heat passed through the arena, which the Dragon-type was fine with.
He wasn't so fine with the Discharge that hit him a moment after, spitting out a blind Dragon Pulse and missing by a lot because the magnezone had adjusted paths, moving behind shelgon into a blind spot.
"Protect," Max ordered as a Mirror Shot came from somewhere shelgon couldn't see. It blocked the attack without a problem, but the next one hit and shelgon was too slow at turning around: magnezone could always stay behind him. Unless it couldn't. "To the corner!"
The Endurance Pokémon rushed forward, green energy surrounding him from any attacks that might be sent his way, but Regina didn't order an attack on him.
She ordered one on the ground ahead of him.
Max didn't see what the Mirror Shot did exactly, but it caused the controlled Dragon Rush to turn into a dragon tumbling, and with his defences down, magnezone dove down, yellow sparking into life.
The jagged bolt snapped forward, and Max ordered a Protect, but shelgon didn't do that. Instead, he wriggled as flames erupted underneath him, spreading outwards and…
Flipping him just in time for the fire to meet the onrushing electricity. Some had bled through to the white Pokémon, but most of the Thunderbolt reacted to the fire as most Thunderbolts did when meeting open flame. Violently, and a pressurised shock wave spread through the arena, flaring the shields near Regina and ruffling the dust near Max.
Magnezone was far enough away that it just rode the wave before starting to gather another round of electricity, and not a Thunderbolt either. Shelgon, being so near the explosion, had been hurled back, rolling to a stop…
In the corner.
Thunder rained from the sky, summoned by magnezone, but shelgon threw up a Protect in time. Max's eyes darted to the overhead screen, which showed the two attacks meeting in up close detail; green straining under the golden-yellow assault, even as the electricity bled off into the adjacent arena shielding and the ground.
Protect fell. Deliberately.
The remnant of the Thunder struck, and magnezone immediately pushed more electricity into the continuing attack, trying to deliver a crippling blow after the shield was down, but before the majority of the renewed current could hit, shelgon used Dragon Rush.
The Thunder disconnected. Shelgon had two seconds in which he had a clear shot at the magnezone before it could redirect aim. He shot a Flamethrower.
And it clashed with the Thunder.
This time, the explosion was near magnezone, and the roles were reversed. Max's Pokémon didn't care about the pressure, while Regina's had been bracing itself due to the Thunder. It was sent flying backwards and upwards, uncontrollably for just a moment, and a Dragon Pulse nailed the trajectory nearly perfectly, interrupting the recovery that had just started.
"Ember," Max ordered, and after adjusting his position while the Magnet Area Pokémon was falling uncontrollably, shelgon did just that, spraying the exact area where magnezone had just straightened itself from the tumble.
There wasn't enough time to defend with anything else than Mirror Coat, but that was exactly what Max had hoped for. "Full Dragon Pulse," he ordered the instant that he saw the reflective grey spring into being.
Shelgon obliged, launching a green globe about three quarters his own size. It was a bit slow, but it obliterated the reflected energy before clipping magnezone on the side.
That caused it to lose the last of its height, and for just a moment, there were two Pokémon on the ground.
Then one of them was engulfed in flame before going up in a red light.
"And Regina returns magnezone. Is it… Yes, she signals the concession. One-nil to the youngest contestant left!"
That really didn't say much, Max mused as shelgon slowly waddled over to his side of the arena. Regina let him take up position before sending out her second Pokémon of the fight.
Ninetales. Her starter. She had come up during the press conference, near the end.
The graceful Fox Pokémon turned around to her Trainer in a small ritual, but soon, golden-white and plain-white Pokémon were both ready.
Shelgon opened fire with a spray of Dragon Rage in front of him; the green – but more blue-infused that Dragon Pulse – intercepting the opening salvo that ninetales had sent out, which was a standard Flamethrower. The fire was more powerful, but the draconic attack was enough to disrupt it.
Heat washed over the arena, but neither Pokémon cared about that. Ninetales tried for a sneaky Confuse Ray hidden under the haze, but it was spotted and summarily Protected from.
Three rapid Dragon Pulses put the Fire-type on the defensive for a moment, but she was able to avoid the first two before jumping over the third with a strong leap, simultaneously unleashing a Dark Pulse that struck true. The payback was a wave of Dragon Rage in her direction, but she dispelled the energy lingering on her with a snap of the tails and Max saw eyes glowing purple-red.
Vulpix's Hex was either a spiral or a helix from an external ball. This one was ring-shaped from the eyes, and they connected with shelgon, who… Shook himself?
Wait. The eyes. "Don't let that connect!"
Dragon Pulse intercepted a second Hex-Hypnosis combination attack, but Regina's Pokémon adjusted her position, laying down a curtain of heavy smoke-generating fire around shelgon, blocking them from Max's sight and her from shelgon's sight.
For some reason, the Dragon didn't rush out immediately, and Max heard a muffled cry as something connected. Whatever it was, it caused shelgon to exit the flames to his right, and the barrier immediately vanished into nothing, and a Dark Pulse followed just after, hitting shelgon in the rear and causing another muffled cry.
But there was anger in there. Max could hear it and feel it. He took a deep breath as the Dragon-type fended off another Dark Pulse, which seemed to be the attack of choice. Then, once he was certain he'd be fine, he spoke up. "All out."
Ninetales blocked the first Dragon Pulse, but the second and third ones – weaker, but still plenty potent – connected, and with a roar of triumph, shelgon used Dragon Rush, trying to close the distance. He didn't get there, but instead transferred the draconic energy into an improvised Dragon Rage that lashed against one of the tails, even as a Flamethrower enveloped him.
Two more Dragon Pulses immediately followed, shelgon uncaring of his scorched state, but Hex-Hypnosis connected. He didn't fall asleep, but he did stagger, and a Dark Pulse slammed into him, nearly toppling the white Pokémon.
Rage roared, and the Dragon Pulse obliterated a patch of ground that the Fire-type had left. Twice. Dragon Rage mixed with Dark Pulse to create an explosion, followed by a barrier of flame and smoke. Dragon Rush forwards, through the fire, into ninetales. The fox landed safely, tails rising as she summoned unearthly purple flame.
Inferno knocked shelgon out, and Max bit back a foul swear.
He returned the Dragon-type, then took a couple of seconds to calm himself so he could think clearly. Then he took a few more to down half of his bottle to wet his throat – despite him not saying anything, it was extremely dry after shelgon had given in to the rage on purpose.
It had worked, at least. Ninetales had been hit, and though she sat there calm as anything, Max knew there was injury to exploit. She'd seemed more comfortable being the one attacking, too.
So Max would bring the fight to her.
"Your Pokém..." the referee asked, stopping when he saw Max grab a pokéball and release manectric. The Mega Evolution took place a moment later, washing away the remains of the anger and rage that he'd felt through shelgon.
He grinned, and he didn't care if it made him look a bit crazy, as Chris had said.
A snap-crackle of electricity zoomed through the arena. Twice. The first, ninetales avoided with a deft jump, and the second was diverted with an off-yellow Extrasensory, allowing her to land safely and summon another Inferno.
Not holding back, was she? "Thunder block!"
The reaction was powerful enough to tear a hole in the ground, sending debris flying everywhere and blocking vision as a curtain of dust settled. Manectric shot off to the left, loping, staying low to the ground and on the lookout. She tried to sniff the Fire-type out as well, to no avail.
But she was able to detect an incoming jet of flame in time to block it with a fast Thundershock. She made to run in that direction, but Max stopped that. "Don't."
He was proven right when a Flamethrower from a different angle went through where she would've been.
Finally, the dust settled, and with a howl, manectric went on the offence again, starting up the Quick Attack and immediately slapping a Discharge onto it. Ninetales tried to stop her in her tracks with a careful Dark Pulse aimed for her feet, but with a jump and a push Max could feel in the bond, she forced the Discharge to go in one direction, creating several bolts of lightning close enough to each other that one had to hit.
Two ended up hitting, and from there, manectric landed, focused, unleashed a Thunderbolt, and scored another hit. The Fire-type traded it for a Hex-Hypnosis hit, but the second part of that did nothing – though Max could feel the siren call settle in the bond.
Weird. But cool. And useful.
Max's canine was relentless in her assault after that had hit, not giving ninetales a chance to do anything that required any form of concentration. Snap Flamethrowers met quick Thunderbolts; a single regular Hex went out to block a Thunder Wave; and she took one Dark Pulse in order to get in close to unleash another Discharge that was then followed up with a ferocious Thunder. Fire Spin managed to cancel that out, blasting heat all over the place, and manectric slammed herself bodily into the Fire-type with Spark, getting out as tails snapped and summoned an Extrasensory that gouged the floor. Thunderbolt then forced a Dark Pulse block, but before that had even finished, a quick relocation allowed manectric to push another round of electricity and to hit.
Regina's Pokémon was good – Max could see the slight movement allowing her to stay in the fight far longer than most would have. A little bit of extra grounding against the electricity here, a slight sidestep there for a tiny bit of an easier time getting out there. She just wasn't good enough, as manectric landed a hit here, and a hit there, and all the while she avoided being hit with any and all flame. Not even the ring of fire worked – she just dashed out in time, shooting towards ninetales immediately after that. Quick Attack and Spark – her first combination attack – connected, and with a triumphant howl, she pushed away from the fallen fox.
There was a purple flash, and… And painful emptiness shot through the bond. The comforting static was far away. The life it echoed was… Dull.
The return and new Pokémon was incredibly speedy, and the gengar that came out was sent as far forward as possible. Immediately, it unleashed a wave of energy: red and purple, the same as its glowing eyes. Mean Look.
And when manectric tried to summon electricity, it didn't work.
She ate a Shadow Ball for that, while Max went for his Pokédex to try and figure out what the hell was going on.
He vaguely noticed gengar and manectric starting to exchange cautious blows – his Pokémon staying on the defensive while her Trainer figured out what had happened – and Regina's Pokémon trying to dispel the flames she was now using as her weapon with a variety of Ghost-type moves.
There was a glancing hit of something that felt like Night Shade, but that was it.
Eventually, he reached a move that looked like it was the one.
Grudge. This move disables and drains a Type's energy if used just before fainting, similar to attacks like Hydro Cannon and Blast Burn. Mastery over the Type will return gradually.
Idly taking note that the newest Pokédex upgrade had added voice lines for moves now, Max concentrated on the bond again, and he felt small prickles – and a surge of annoyance as one of manectric's spikes was hit by a Shadow Ball – coming back.
It was a damn effective strategy.
The roles were reversed now. Gengar was on the move, throwing attacks around incessantly. Shadow Balls and Night Shades were the main moves, with an occasional Dark Pulse for variety thrown in. Manectric, no fool she, tried to keep the distance between her and gengar fairly low so she could use Flamethrower effectively – something that the Ghost-type wasn't really willing to let happen, but Quick Attack made up the difference rather well at times.
Amusingly, a Hypnosis attack connected at some point, and again, manectric instinctively shook it off. Max wasn't sure how that worked, but asking Gary sounded like a plan soon.
Slowly but surely, the barrage of attacks started to overwhelm Max's Pokémon. For every ten Shadow Balls launched – and gengar was spitting them out at a pace froslass would've had trouble keeping up with – two or so connected, and only a few of the Flamethrowers sent out in return did the same. They did more damage, maybe – the Ghost-type was definitely sacrificing some power for speed, but the impact through the bond told Max that manectric was losing, long before she could do too much with the electricity, and long before Mean Look would wear off.
She had one attack's worth of electricity stored up, he thought. "Get close."
It took a few tries – though one of them included slightly crisp Ghost – but manectric managed to find herself close enough to gengar.
She reached for the electricity. "Thunder."
They traded blows, but the Thunder did far, far more than the Night Shade. Manectric pushed and pushed and pushed until…
Until the bond snapped, and she reverted.
But Max saw the crackles run over gengar's body; the paralysis that his Mega had caused. And he knew instantly how to take advantage.
Vulpix came out, vulpix ran forward, vulpix – at Max's order – used Hex.
Vulpix flew back thanks to a powerful Night Shade – movement was not really possible, but Night Shade didn't use it – but gengar felt the full force of the attack that fed on being incapacitated.
And gengar fell. Three to two. Max immediately returned vulpix – he wanted her available for durant in case it was Regina's last Pokémon – and walked over to the bench, where he caught a bottle of water.
Danny had thrown it. "So far, it's okay?" he guessed.
Max shrugged before downing half the bottle in one go. "It's close. I think it's going okay, but losing manectric like that stung. She could've taken gengar in full with power to spare." As the Thunder had showed – it just didn't seem too strong defensively. "I don't think she counted on shelgon, though."
"She counted on shelgon losing to magnezone," Ash corrected, and the fourteen year olds turned to the Frontier Brain as one. "Mobility and attacking from range is what's good against shelgon. If… If Drake taught me anything..."
Pikachu nuzzled his cheek to Ash's, and Max swallowed a sudden lump in his throat as he realised that Ash had lost a mentor of his.
Then the sorrow vanished from Ash's face. "Shelgon's resilience did a lot to help you, and knocking manectric out like that wasn't enough to make it even," he said, voice barely wavering. "You'll need to find a way to deal with durant. Regina will want to make sure it doesn't end up against vulpix."
"So… She'll use it now?"
"Probably," Danny answered Serena's question. "Max wants to let vulpix recover now. She didn't get hit too much after all."
"You know me too well," Max observed drily, to chuckles. "I think I'll throw gardevoir in next. See what she's brought to deal with him. Maybe not the best timing on a new field, but I can always switch."
A few minutes later, Max palmed the Friend Ball; keeping it hidden in his hand so it wasn't easily recognised by anyone. They had to send out Pokémon at the same time, after all, but gardevoir was his only odd pokéball.
As he had expected, durant came out.
As he hadn't really expected – what with durant having a Type advantage twice over against gardevoir – Regina switched it out again.
A bronzong appeared on the field to face gardevoir in a Psychic battle, and Max bit back a few words he shouldn't say on television. Of the Steel-types he'd been expecting, this was probably one of the worse ones to face in theory. She hadn't used it thus far, but a little digging had revealed its existence in a previous League. The levitation made baltoy's work a lot more annoying.
Sceptile had taken care of the previous two bronzong he'd faced in official battles, but he decided to leave gardevoir in for scouting purposes for a moment. Test defences, maybe try to bait out one or two attacks, that sort of thing.
Then a red aura materialised around the Steel-type, pushing out across the entirety of the arena in an instant. The psionic pulse that Max knew gardevoir had sent vanished into nothingness, and quick as a flash, a red beam went out.
Fighting into Imprison was a nightmare.
He sent out sceptile, and again, Regina signalled a substitution, laying bare her plan. She wanted bronzong to deal with gardevoir and wouldn't send it out unless forced to.
Durant was a poor match-up as far as typing went for sceptile. At the same time, though, baltoy wasn't much better, and he wanted vulpix to rest; now more than ever because fire was one of the few ways bronzong could be brought down with some ease. Some of them.
It'd have to do. And sceptile was a master in hand-to-hand. Hopefully that translated into hand-to-mandible well. As long as his starter got in enough hits, though, he still had the Pokémon advantage. "Stick to Night Slash and X-Scissor," Max ordered.
Sure, Steel resisted Bug, but sceptile was faster with it, making it better for quick blocks.
Durant dug underground immediately, and sceptile knelt, trying to feel the vibrations of the digging ant-like Pokémon as it did its thing.
Detecting something, he jumped up, but nothing happened until he landed, at which point the durant surfaced, mandibles glowing with X-Scissor, but the Grass-type was prepared, getting in a parry with one arm and deflecting the small Pokémon away from his body.
The metal-covered Pokémon landed easily, immediately jumping forward again, getting in a quick slash against sceptile's knees, trusting in the armour to keep it safe from a retaliatory attack.
It did and didn't, as sceptile spun on his feet, slamming his tail into the durant. He wasn't too happy with that, Max thought, but the durant was forced back, and sceptile jumped up and away to create some distance, landing not too far from his Trainer as durant vanished underneath the ground again.
The second time ended worse for Regina's Pokémon. This time, Max's starter didn't jump up and land, instead moving as lightly as he could, and the durant surfaced a good distance away, right in sceptile's line of fire. A storm of Bullet Seeds greeted the Bug and Steel-type Pokémon. It wouldn't be more than an annoyance, but it was a signal that the digging strategy wasn't going to work.
A Sandstorm was whipped up, pushing the advantage of time to the other side of the court, and immediately, sceptile rushed forwards, two Night Slashes on his arms as he sought to get into a fight.
But durant ducked under the first two slashes before biting down on sceptile's tail with a Bug Bite. That caused a violent reaction, with the Grass-type slamming down a Dual Chop on the exoskeleton.
It released its hold, skittering off faster than Max had thought possible for them to move, but sceptile went on the chase immediately, jumping up and switching to lunges. The first one – a double-handed Night Slash – was blocked by an X-Scissor – and the second one was a full miss, though sceptile had anticipated that and pulled his left arm out of the slice at the last second, making sure that he could block the mandibles coming in for another bite.
Regina's Pokémon switched to an Iron Head, though, lowering its head just enough to go under the guard, butting into sceptile's ankle and unbalancing him.
In the time sceptile needed to not fall over, durant reared up, biting down with Bug Bite, going for sceptile's knee.
A soul-piercing shriek tore through the arena, and durant let go immediately, scurrying back as Max ran onto the field through a dying Sandstorm.
Sceptile's knee was… Not good. He couldn't see bone sticking out or anything, but something might have gone wrong inside there. He didn't know. He couldn't tell. He didn't know.
He shook his head as some medics entered the field, one kneeling by the Grass-type and one taking a look from a bit further away before walking over. "First time?" she asked.
"Yes. And yes," Max said, realising that she maybe hadn't asked if it was the first time for sceptile, but also for him to have a Pokémon be this injured. He took a deep breath. "Here. You'll need this."
The woman accepted sceptile's pokéball with a gentle smile, and her colleague joined her as two more people brought a stretcher on ratchety wheels. "It looks like a standard bite wound gone too far," the medic who'd checked the wound told Max. "Won't be an issue to heal, but your sceptile can't fight on."
"Figured that much," Max remarked, and for some reason, the medics smiled. "It happens. Don't like it, but it happens."
"A healthy attitude. We'll take it from here."
Sceptile left the stadium on the stretcher, to applause from the audience.
"As per the rules of the tournament, this constitutes a final warning against Regina," the referee told the entire stadium as Max walked back. "Any further injury that warrants mid-battle medic intervention will result in a disqualification."
Fair rules. Ones Max could get behind. Once was an accident. Twice was purposeful, and they weren't here to do blood sports.
Durant had vanished, but was still available. Somehow, though, Max suspected Regina wouldn't send it out immediately. Wouldn't make sense in many ways.
There was only one option for Max, and he sent out his second ever Pokémon. Baltoy was ready to face whatever was coming, and the fact that durant had dug up a few holes made life a bit easier.
The pelipper didn't, but it wasn't like he'd be able to switch out on account of the whole Imprison thing and vulpix into a Water-type. He'd just have to work with it. Baltoy could definitely make it work.
Max's Pokémon leant forward, moving to the middle of the arena as the referee signalled the restart of the match. Pelipper did something similar, but Regina's Pokémon attacked first; a Water Pulse globe appearing and being nailed by a spike before it even got halfway to baltoy, meaning that the water didn't hit.
Rock Tomb summoned several rocks; one of them blocking a Water Gun from connecting, before the Ground-type shattered them into tiny bits of debris.
Then pelipper used Hurricane, and while Light Screen took care of most of the gale-force winds that assaulted baltoy, it also got rid of all of its ammunition by shoving it all right up near Max, which was a bit far away to easily use. "Ancientpower then."
That was more of a problem for pelipper, who tried to get in a quick Water Gun, but baltoy could split attention well enough to summon a weak-ish Rock Tomb that blocked most of the water while still sending a heavy rock towards the flying Pokémon. It was a close miss, but the spray of rock chips that it followed up with did connect – even if it was only a few that had flown off of baltoy's weak block.
The Water-type, or Regina, realised that this was not going do much, and it soared up into the sun, going fairly high, straight above Max's Pokémon. There, it gathered strength for a moment, and a faint blue glow was visible against the blue-and-white sky.
"Rock Tomb and Light Screen above."
Baltoy layered them so that the rocks were below the Light Screen just in time as dove down, adding momentum of its own to the Hydro Pump.
It was impressive, doing the two at the same time.
Some of the rocks cracked, but none broke, but when baltoy dropped the rocks, a quick Water Pulse shot through, hitting the Psychic-type. Undeterred, a barrage of rocks soared through the air, clipping pelipper, but not forcing it to the ground. It was forced lower, though, and baltoy tried for a psionic grab, but missed.
Ice Beam made an appearance next, but baltoy was ready for that as well. The angle wasn't right to use a Rock Tomb block, so it created an uneven psionic redirect. The Ice Beam was tricked into landing nearby, freezing part of the ground instead of the Ground-type.
He vaguely heard the announcer say something about the trick itself, which wasn't all that common, but Max kept his eyes on the pelipper, who was flying just out of easy reach now. A Water Pulse was popped nearly immediately, making it rain onto baltoy, but that didn't do anything except be mildly annoying.
Then it had an idea. Or Regina had one, and with a mighty flap of its wings, it turned around, unleashing a Hurricane, and baltoy created a Light Screen.
But the winds didn't stop.
The shields around the arena started to flare as more and more wind was moved; more and more kinetic energy being thrown around, and while baltoy's shielding was good, it was also more power-intensive than an augmented flapping of wings. "Drop and counter."
An Ancientpower rock flew upwards behind pelipper, exposing baltoy to about five seconds of unhindered storm, but it kept in place before pulling the rock into the Water-type, which quit flapping its wings entirely for a bit, regaining control of its flight halfway down to the ground, where baltoy was waiting with a Confusion.
A Water Pulse forced it to shatter that instead, but Max instantly saw it had been the wrong move. Pelipper started in a dive, unleashing an Ice Beam – blocked – and a Water Gun – blocked as well – in short succession, putting baltoy firmly on the defence.
But Rock Tombs were annoying, and one nearly nailed pelipper mid-flight while another was reduced to rubble, causing an improvised Stone Edge to be met with a single round of Hurricane; redirecting them to baltoy.
Max's Pokémon blocked those, and that was a mistake.
Hydro Pump appeared again; less powerful than the last time, but not by much, and baltoy wasn't in time to create a block. The powerful Water-type attack slammed into the Clay Doll Pokémon, interrupting the levitation and making it crash into the ground; hitting one of the holes that durant had created as well.
Stones gathered around baltoy, encircling it in three separate bands as the Pokémon righted itself. Pelipper was out of range, but moving in for an attack run again, and the moment that it came in range – shooting an Ice Beam – Max's Pokémon was ready.
The Ice Beam hit. So did baltoy's Stone Edge.
Pelipper crashed into the ground, with one of its wings struck heavily by the rocks. At the same time, though, baltoy had fallen over.
Max didn't wait for the referee to rule it out, holding up a hand to acknowledge it and immediately sending out vulpix with the ball he'd kept in there, having grabbed it the moment he saw that Ice Beam was unavoidably going to hit. "Same as before."
One Hex later, pelipper was also out. A bit surprising, Max felt, but then again, the rock that baltoy had bashed into pelipper mid-Hurricane had been pretty large.
"Brutal reprisal," the announcer commentated as Regina returned her Pokémon. "And nearly a victory against Type for Max. It's vulpix and gardevoir against durant and bronzong now. Winner goes to the final!"
Well, duh.
Regina opted for durant, as Max had been expecting. She really wanted to have bronzong at full strength to deal with gardevoir, meaning that she expected to beat him on that.
The question was if vulpix – who'd been slightly battered by gengar, but had a big Type advantage – would be able to defeat the fresher durant.
Durant headed into the soil, as expected. "Move around, be ready."
Vulpix broke into a dainty half-run, but somehow, this time, durant was able to find its opponent, and the Fire-type was launched into the air, where she immediately turned her head to unleash a Flamethrower straight down at the Bug-type.
Regina's Pokémon took it, instead going for an Iron head where vulpix landed, and following it up with an X-scissor on its mandibles as Max's Pokémon flew off, head in the wrong direction.
They were surprisingly fast, and again, vulpix got hit, though this time, she could fire back, and she gleefully did so, scorching the back half of the Steel-type with a ferocious Flamethrower as it headed into the ground when it saw the flame coming. It shot up not two seconds later, right underneath vulpix, who cried out in pain.
She coated herself in flame for the next time that durant tried to juggle her, but that wasn't enough to stop, and though durant looked tired and burned from just being hit with the two extremely effective attacks… Vulpix was out.
Yikes that was fast.
But if gardevoir could beat bronzong, durant was easy.
The Psychic-type sent a soothing touch across the barrier, let through by attentive lines-Pokémon, before steeling himself and advancing forward into his prison.
Magical Leaf, Disarming Voice, Echoed Voice, Teleport. Those were their tools. Magical Leaf was straight out except to maybe block. Gardevoir's skill with Fairy-type moves was pretty mediocre and it was weak into Steel to boot. That left Echoed Voice and the hope that it'd be good enough without a small amount of psionic aid.
Bronzong's eyes shimmered blue before bouncing into the ground, creating an Earthquake that gardevoir dodged over by Teleporting. He reappeared high above the field, taking a quick overview before going back down, landing slightly roughly from ongoing momentum and having forgotten that he couldn't buffer the landing as he would normally do.
One Echoed Voice was created. It was small, smashed aside by the wavy attack that surrounded the Steel-type as a barrier – a Psywave of some kind.
A Teleport to behind bronzong, and a second Echoed Voice. Larger, stronger, and faster moving, this one forced Regina's Pokémon to flare a psionic block into the visible spectrum after underestimating its strength at first. Magical Leaves connected with the bronzong in its wake, ringing the bell, but not doing too much more.
A third Teleport; to a position vaguely to its side, but not a third Echoed Voice. Instead, gardevoir tried a Disarming Voice as a test to see what bronzong would do with that. The answer came quickly and brutally, in the form of a Flash Cannon that obliterated the Fairy-type move.
A Future Sight appeared out of nowhere, but though it looked like gardevoir had vanished into the attack, Max knew better, and from above, an Echoed Voice rained down onto bronzong, who was forced to take the full third resonance head-on. The solid barrier – at least eight by eight feet – threatened to flatten bronzong into the ground. That wasn't going to happen, but a great amount of exertion was needed.
Sadly, gardevoir had to take a stumble onto the ground for that from the momentum he'd carried through the Teleports, but that was the right, and he immediately went back on the offensive, deliberately lapsing some of the resonance but keeping some of it to create something that looked like a mix between the second and third Echoed Voice; a six-by-six feet wall that looked like it thrummed with power even from behind the barrier.
A Shadow Ball curved around it, forcing gardevoir to Teleport out, and an Earthquake rocked him the moment that he reappeared; bronzong having taken the attack in order to get one in on gardevoir as well.
Max's Pokémon was okay, though, and with a quick Teleport out, he reappeared behind bronzong, throwing out a storm of Magical Leaves before leaving again.
But bronzong hadn't turned to face the leaves – it hadn't cared at all – and now the two Pokémon were face to face. A Hypnosis went out, and it hit gardevoir, who struggled to stay awake, even as his Ability triggered.
The match slowed down as both Pokémon had to shake themselves awake, and they did so at roughly the same time, resuming where everything left off with an Echoed Voice and a Shadow Ball.
And a Future Sight slamming into gardevoir. Shit.
Sometime when Max hadn't been able to see bronzong's eyes, it had used Future Sight again, and the delay ended up working against them. The Shadow Ball also hit, and the resonance of Echoed Voice was fully lost, though gardevoir at least could continue the fight.
An Earthquake rocked the arena as bronzong turned around on its axis, and Max assumed that meant there was another Future Sight incoming. The Embrace Pokémon was able to avoid the worst of it this time, instead using the time to rebuild his Echoed Voice pattern with a quick one-two. The second one connected; the first one fizzled on a patch of earth that was sent upwards from tremors.
It was about the resonance. Not the attack itself.
A Psywave assaulted gardevoir, who was forced to Teleport away yet again, but the pattern repeated itself, with another Earthquake, and without psionic powers, there was no way for him to actually stop this. Eventually, the shaking would take its toll and there would be some kind of fall or something that was just wrong. Or a Hypnosis scored a lucky hit.
Max had to force something, but he needed gardevoir to be near him to mention the plan.
Four Teleports, three blocked Echoed Voices, one unblocked Echoed Voice, and a missed Future Sight later, gardevoir reappeared right in front of Max, maybe ten feet away. "Get in close, then Echoed Voice."
They had to try. Or they would lose. The Imprison would fade, and with psionic powers reactivated, the durant wouldn't stand a ghost of a chance.
All or nothing. Win or lose. Gardevoir gathered his energy, Teleported, and…
Nothing. Because bronzong had been waiting for that moment, immediately grabbing gardevoir psionically and unleashing a Psychic assault to block him from Teleporting away. Without psionic powers of his own, there was no way he could fight it off effectively. A Disarming Voice tried, but in response, he was flung onto the ground, and then bronzong went in for the Heavy Slam.
Max returned gardevoir before that hit. The red of Imprison faded, and the announcer declared the winner.
Regina.
He had walked into the trap, but it had been lost with gardevoir not having access to anything good. Echoed Voice only did that much. "You did well," Max whispered into gardevoir's pokéball. "The fault is mine."
He looked up, and surprisingly, he saw Regina crossing the arena, not basking in the applause that was going on. She was moving at a good pace too. "You put me through my paces, Max. And I'd like to say I'm sorry for what durant did to your sceptile."
She sounded sincere enough, and had seemed it yesterday. "Why weren't you there in the middle?" he asked as he tucked gardevoir's pokéball onto his new belt.
"I had no intention of getting in something heated. You are a teenage boy, and I'm told you have tempers. Or something," she joked, before fixing him with a serious stare. "For real. I saw something like this before, and coming in if you're the Trainer of the Pokémon that just injured another can be volatile. Silence is golden in such a time."
Max wouldn't know. He'd have to ask Ash about that time in Sinnoh. Or someone else. But it sounded true enough. "Okay. That makes sense. I wouldn't have bit your head off, though."
"Not even my knee?" Jirachi, that was awful. And he couldn't stop the smile because of it. "Look, how about we grab some brunch tomorrow. My treat, as a bit of penance for what happened."
"Er… Sure?"
"It's a date, then," Regina said, and Max knew he was missing something there.
Then he realised they'd just had a private conversation in front of an entire stadium without hearing the stadium, and he glanced at the alakazam he knew was sitting off to the side, nodding in thanks.
The roar of the crowd came rushing back.
~~§~~§~~
Serena slipped into the room quietly enough that Danny almost didn't notice, except he spotted something in the reflection on the window as he was looking outside. She only did it this quietly when she wanted to talk about something. "Close the door."
She did so. "You're scary perceptive sometimes, you know that?"
Danny shrugged, turning around and seeing their Kalos companion bend to pick up something from one of their packs. "Why's this here?"
It was Max's old belt. "He needed a new..."
"I know that," Serena interjected, and the eye roll was audible. "He hasn't thrown it away yet?"
Another shrug. "He bought it Friday, but we had other things on our mind since." A moment of thinking. "Should probably do some cleaning out before we leave. There's a couple things that aren't really needed."
"I'm not sure I want to understand why you keep that around," the Kalosian girl said, adopting a put-on frown.
She didn't need to say it, but Danny knew what she was thinking. "Yeah, yeah, boys aren't as neat."
"You know it," Serena said, causing Danny to snort. "You surprised he's in the third place match again, but this time, you're not?"
That was a bit of a mood whiplash, and he sat down on the nearby bed, while Serena grabbed one of the chairs. "Y'know, Max asked the same question last night." A shake of his head showed what he thought of that. "Sure, we both put in a lot of work, but between the two of us, he's always been the more driven, and maybe more importantly, he's the one who's better at thinking on his feet and also out of the box."
"What do you mean by that? The latter, I mean," came a clarification. "I saw enough of the former in Kalos."
"I wouldn't have thought of the shove them underwater trick in the quarters. And not just because I don't have a Psychic-type. It's an underhanded trick and I just don't use those a lot." There were a couple of exceptions, but for every one of those, Max had pulled something at least five times. Including that one with vulpix against Regina's pelipper and gengar. "He's a lot more willing to fight unfair."
Serena mulled it over for a bit, and Danny let it happen, watching her to try and figure out something, but she didn't reveal any of her thoughts except the ones he already knew: she wasn't against it, but she was still a bit reluctant to admit that. "I mean, after yveltal..."
"I'm hardly blaming him," Danny said, smiling to show her that he was sincere. "But remember what we use to trigger our Mega Evolutions. He wants to stop things from happening, pre-empt whatever the opponent is doing. Using a Technical Knock Out like that is just a ruthless version of that. Attacking quickly into a disabled opponent is the same."
"Didn't see you defending a lot against Marcus."
He returned the stuck-out tongue. "It was pretty hard to. Always something or other that stopped it."
"He was good. You might end up being knocked out by the winner two times in a row."
Danny winced exaggeratedly. "Yeah, that's going to make me feel better," he said, rolling his eyes; Serena mirroring. "Kidding aside, that's what ten years of experience will do to you."
"Max nearly overcame that yesterday."
"Max told me that he suspected Regina might've underestimated him, late last night. Somewhere, or something. Just a hunch." Danny shrugged. "I think he's selling himself short again, but we've been over that plenty of times."
"Tell me about it." Both of them laughed softly. "Where is he now, anyway?"
"Figuring out if it's true. That's what they talked about on the field, yesterday – to talk a bit about the match." And more, Danny assumed based on what he had heard before the sound technicians had figured it was a conversation that was meant to be private. Or as private as possible. "Somehow, he always finds a way to make friends at tournaments." And come to think of it, he liked that side of Max a lot more.
"You just thought of something else," Serena pointed out, and after a moment's thought, Danny shared it. "That makes sense," she continued. "You told me about hating mopey Max, and we both don't like his secret keeping… And he did the same with Hugo and Chris." She paused. "I think it's sort of a..."
"A-what now?" Danny said into the silence that fell when Serena seemingly realised she couldn't really say what she was thinking. "C'mon. After all we've been through?"
It was definitely something embarrassing, judging by the blush, but the Performer slash Coordinator steeled herself. "Alright. It's sort of adorable. How he's so closed and makes friends so easily here."
"A.. Adorable?" Whatever he'd been expecting, that was not it. "I… That's not a word you use for boys." Not out loud past the age of seven. Though… There was this one time he'd rather forget.
"Well, I did so," Serena shot back, demeanour vaguely superior, despite the blush.
"You try telling Max he's that. See if you get out without getting ice cubes or something down your back."
"With this weather again?" Serena said, glancing at the stripe of sunlight barely making it into the room. It wasn't as bad as it had been, but it was still warm enough that the stadium was going to be pretty hot. "I'd be mad for about five seconds."
~~§~~§~~
The heat outside wasn't as bad as it had been, but slipping inside into the hostel Ash had been staying in was still more comfortable. He got a few strange looks as he moved through the building, and a slightly lisping boy with two half-missing front teeth asked if he could autograph something, but reaching the room Ash had taken for the time he was in Silver Town was pretty easy otherwise. The door was closed, but not locked, and he strode in.
"Oh, hey Max," Ash said, not looking up and staying focused on brushing pikachu's fur with a brush made for Electric-types. "Danny kick you out early or something?"
He didn't answer until he sat down on the bed, tilting his head and smiling at the obviously relieved rodent on Ash's lap. Who smiled back despite having his eyes closed. "Been out for a bit already. Talk to Regina about yesterday."
Two more strokes of the brush, and pikachu jumped laps, giving a tiny static shock as he did so. "Are you annoyed that you lost like you did?"
"At myself more than anything," Max admitted. "Don't know if I could've won after sceptile. Regina thought so,but bronzong and gardevoir..."
"You'll come up with something so it doesn't happen again," Ash said, sounding certain of it. "But that was then. Different battle today. Ready to clip some flying Pokémon?"
"Least I can use manectric," Max muttered with a glance at his wristband. "That Grudge was nasty. Never even heard of it, and I'm supposed to be the one of us who knows a lot."
"Uh-uh," Ash said, and pikachu's tail slapped Max's side warningly. "Today. Not yesterday."
"Right." Max took a moment to shove all of that annoyance away. Mostly. The best he could. "Manectric's an option. Ninjask and xatu are natural fits. Let's start with those three."
A short and hearty laugh shot through the room. "Just remembered that xatu knows Synchronise. That'll hurt anything that isn't a Dark-type," was the Pallet Town teenager's explanation. "That's your plan to deal with the charizard?"
"It's one way," Max agreed, mind flashing back to the redundancy that Regina had nailed him with. She had gone into a lot of detail on why she selected each Pokémon, and they'd ended up discussing each other's strategy. He'd come away with a bunch of good ideas. "I can probably include clefairy too. Gravity is a harsh mistress. Going to need two of my strongest Pokémon for the last slots, though..."
"And because you you went all-out yesterday, shelgon's too tired. Sceptile… Well, he's out for a week," Ash stated matter-of-factly. "Gardevoir can work but if I know you… Maybe not?"
"Third time in a row feels bad, y'know. And that swoobat probably knows Imprison too." Annoyance crept into his voice again when he mentioned that move and pikachu climbed up onto his left shoulder afterwards; the electric current so near calming and warning both. "Echoed Voice and Disarming Voice do a lot more here at least. Guess I can include him."
"It's not like relying on a Pokémon is bad." Max craned his head to look left, raising his hand to remove pikachu from his sight. Ash's starter took matters into his own paws and jumped shoulder to his right. "It's about who's best. And you and gardevoir are scary."
The thought of 'not nearly enough' remained just a thought. "You've convinced me. So that's five. Any more good ideas for the last?"
"What's left?"
"Vulpix, but she's tired from yesterday," Max started ticking Pokémon off on his fingers. "Baltoy's a third Psychic-type and tired. Meowstic's a third Psychic-type. Doublade is a Ghost-type, which counts as well for that. Deerling is too new and is Grass-type. Piloswine works best at short ranges and you can't close the distance into fliers." That was one hand and a thumb down, and with the other Pokémon he'd mentioned before that were bad, there was only one left over. "Guess it's poliwhirl by default. And that sounds bad."
"She's plenty strong, but Water-types are often a little tricky to use. Half of what she did in the quarter-final wouldn't have been possible in dry weather," Ash pointed out calmly. "And today's weather isn't as good for her. She can annoy that charizard, though."
"That's true."
"You managed to impress Misty with that show, by the way. And she was wondering if you'd given thought to evolving your Pokémon, because if not, she has some items to spare."
Max let out a chuckle, and Ash joined in. "Bet she does. She's got a politoed, right?"
"And a poliwrath as a Gym Pokémon."
"Not surprised about that either, but poliwhirl wants to stay one, so she's staying one." As it was for every Pokémon of theirs that could evolve through an item. Except dusclops, who was ambivalent. But Reaper Cloths were rare and hellishly expensive, and though money wasn't a real problem for them, it would be if Danny outright bought one. "And honestly, you're one to talk, mister bulbasaur in the Indigo final."
"Leech Seed was useful. As you said it would be."
"I do know things," Max replied, sounding self-important even to his own ears, and he recoiled a bit inwardly. "Wait. Was that how I sounded… Y'know… When we first met?"
"Pi-ka-pi."
~~§~~§~~§~~§~~
Sinnoh Showdown in Johto Finals!
After the two semi-finals, Sinnoh's own Marcus Palun and Regina Kumar will face off in the final of the Silver League Conference. Palun took care of business with a brutal 6-2 victory over Kanto's Ivan Hammet, while Kumar won 6-4 in a match that was marred by an unfortunate injury for her opponent's sceptile. Max Maple of Hoenn had been leading up to that point, but Kumar ended stronger than she started.
It is the sixth time the two will meet in an official match. Previous results are tied: 2-2 in League matches, and a tie in an invitational tournament last summer. With the impending resignation of Kumar and Palun prevaricating about his future in Pokémon battling as well, this could be the last time two of the strongest Sinnoh Trainers of recent times will face off against each other.
The match starts at approximately 4:30pm, local and Sinnoh time.
Author's Note: And that was Max's semi-final, ending on a sour note through no fault of his own or his opponent. It's the equivalent of playing sports and then twisting your ankle when you and someone on the other team clash a bit too hard. Shit happens.
That being said, there was more to it than just that, and the denial strategy (Grudge, Imprison) and multiple redundancies to Max's three strongest Pokémon were fun to figure out and craft into a coherent whole. Hopefully it went well.