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 30: Splitting The Party
Max had been chosen to select his Pokémon first, and he sent out ninjask, as he'd told them ahead of time. Danny, Serena, and Evan were sitting on the bench, with Chris and Ash somewhere in the audience because the rules didn't allow more.
Then Ivan sent his Pokémon out, causing Evan to snigger, and Danny could understand why. The Flying-type specialist had sent out a Pokémon that couldn't fly, and Max had. "Dodrio are weird," the oldest of the three said, shaking his head. "Three heads are good for dealing with ninjask, though."
The match started as anyone would expect. Ninjask flew up high, hiding in the summer sun, while dodrio down below on the grassy field waited for an opportunity to counter. Neither Trainer said anything either, until Max broke the silence with a terse "Now."
A trio of Shadow Balls came down from above, and while one head intercepted one with no hurt to itself, thanks to the Normal-type immunity, the other two crashed into the ground, throwing up dirt and grass as the Bug-type sped downwards. Dodrio took a step back out of instinct, and just like that, the first hit was Max's as ninjask raked over the brown body without any interference whatsoever.
Coming back for a return was cancelled when two of dodrio's heads individually launched a Tri Attack. They both missed miserably thanks to rapid adjusting of course, and then five ninjask appeared, all flying off in separate directions. "Huh, that's smart."
"Yeah," Danny agreed with Serena as the quintet of bugs came in from all sides. The speed suggested they were going for a set of Fury Swipes. "Four heads, five ninjask."
Which one was real wasn't figured out in time – the one that was intercepted, coming from dodrio's front right, was a fake – and the group swarmed all over and under Ivan's Pokémon, getting in three or four solid swipes and leaving bits of feathery fur behind, if the announcer's words were right.
Double Team vanished, revealing the real ninjask to be between dodrio and Ivan, but in the time it took the Triple Bird Pokémon to turn around, Max's Pokémon had gone into the air again. A pair of weaker Shadow Balls rained from above, both intercepted with a good split from the two heads on the side, while the middle one threw a Tri Attack into the air.
Too bad that there was no attack run incoming. Instead, ninjask pushed himself into an Agility, making it pretty much impossible for anyone to follow him between the speed and the glare of the August sun. Ivan recognised it, telling dodrio to wait and counter.
It would have to do better than it had done so far.
The Uproar was a counter Danny hadn't expected, and the waves of sound slammed into ninjask, turning his Slash into a crash, but as fast as the attack had thrown ninjask off, he was equally fast at getting out of Drill Peck range of an angry dodrio who had still not come off great itself.
Sure, ninjask was light, but at that speed? Anything hurt when enough speed was involved, and between Agility and the Ability of ninjask to only pick up speed the longer battles went, speed was not a problem.
They'd measured it recently. If already flying, ninjask could cross a full-size arena like this one lengthwise in two and a half seconds. Which was something like seventy feet per second. He couldn't do it all the time, but they were known for being fast and very manoeuvrable Pokémon.
Oh, and that was horizontal only. This was a half-dive.
Of course, crashing at that speed was also painful, but it came with the territory, and after a couple more exchanges, it became clear that dodrio really wasn't up to the task of stopping ninjask. It had tried Uproar twice more, but both times, Max's Pokémon had done some sort of roll that got him out of the way of dodrio before moving with the attack. It probably still hurt, but not as much as the slashes that he delivered once he was able to – Ivan's non-flying Flying-type couldn't fire off continuous Uproars, despite being able to form them pretty fast.
"Why isn't Ivan returning dodrio?" Serena asked as a Tri Attack sparked onto the grass near Max after missing ninjask by about ten feet. "Ninjask is too fast for it."
"He's hoping that he can get one more lucky hit, I guess," Danny said. Both of them knew that Max and his Pokémon weren't likely to make that an option. Not unless there was some other attack.
As it turned out, there was none, and when dodrio mis-stepped after trying to use Drill Peck, putting one clawed foot into a small hole created earlier by the Shadow Balls, ninjask pounced, slashing and scything and skimming all over Ivan's Pokémon, finishing by landing near its rear, biting down with Leech Life, and then zooming off when the left head came in with a Drill Peck that now hit a sore area.
"And that, Evan, is why Max's ninjask can be really hard to go up against," Danny told the teenager from Lilycove, getting a stuck-out tongue in response. "Sure, he can be countered, but if you don't..."
"Yeah yeah," Evan said, making a throw-away gesture. "Must be hard to get ninjask this disciplined though."
"It's worth it."
Ivan sent out a yanmega without too much hesitation, and Max immediately returned ninjask, not deliberating at all before sending clefairy out to combat Ivan's speedy Bug-type. "No aerial speedster battle here! Instead, the roles are reversed. Will Max be able to stop the onslaught that Ivan couldn't, or will speed carry the battle twice?" the announcer said before the referee signalled the second round to start.
The opening Metronome was a whiff, and clefairy abandoned the attack as soon as she could. Earth Power spread through the arena, making a mess of it, but that wasn't going to hurt yanmega anything, and the… What was yanmega's classification again? Danny got his Pokédex out while Ivan's green Pokémon started throwing out Sonicbooms like they were nothing.
Clefairy also blocked them like they were nothing; Disarming Voice being pretty effective at stopping them due to the wide area she projected it over.
Ogre Darner? Okay? Who'd come up with something that obscure?
In the arena, the roles had continued to be reversed, with yanmega throwing out attacks from range and clefairy successfully avoiding being hit one way or another. Flying rocks from Ancientpower she jumped away from, Air Slashes were blocked with Disarming Voice, and as Danny thought that, the Sonicboom was also blocked, yet again.
The defender's advantage of having to expend less energy to block something meant that yanmega would probably tire before clefairy would. Ivan recognised that as well, and a Bug Bite was ordered.
The green Pokémon ploughed into the ground under the sudden increased gravity, while clefairy used her mastery of the attack to exclude a small area around herself, allowing her to jump over the bug, starting a Metronome as she fully dropped the Gravity.
What came out was not an attack Danny had ever witnessed. It was a beam; vivid pink, from clefairy's hand. She barely held it under control, which meant it was powerful, and yanmega, who'd gotten up from the ground and was attempting to put distance between it and its opponent was hit on the tail. It was sent spinning, but no crash happened. "What was that?!" Evan exclaimed loudly from the other end of the bench.
The announcer was dumbfounded as well, asking the audience to come and tell him if anyone knew what the attack was before resuming the usual commentary.
Max ordered a Disarming Voice to follow up as yanmega went into the air, settling into a holding pattern, but the attack was weaker than it had been before.
It wasn't some kind of Hyper Beam or Frenzy Plant, or Disarming Voice wouldn't have worked at all, but the fact that Disarming Voice was weaker despite clefairy not being hit suggested it was one of the other moves that affected the ability to work with a Type. "Fairy-type Overheat?" Danny answered Evan's earlier question, not certain himself.
The weaker Disarming Voice was cause for yanmega to start a barrage of Air Slashes, and one of them connected with clefairy, though a bit of Gravity manipulation ensured that the second one missed as the Fairy-type dropped faster than she should've. It probably hurt, but better than to be hit by another attack and be juggled in the air.
A Sonicboom connected as she got up, about ten feet away from the lengthwise boundary, but that was the last, as she managed to push out a Disarming Voice that was back up to regular strength, or at least good enough to block anything that would come in from range.
And yanmega immediately went back to the plan of hitting the Fairy-type physically. This time, white energy enveloped it as it began its descent – Double Edge at an angle.
The Gravity manipulation wasn't enough. Clefairy did manage to get it to crash, but her jump was too late, resulting in her being clipped by the yanmega's tail. The momentum carried over, and because she was so close to the arena's edge, it caused her to not fly all that far, instead hitting a transparent wall.
And through the pain that must have caused, she still managed to generate a Metronome as she fell down.
The landing wasn't perfect, but she pointed one arm in yanmega's direction, and purple thread spun into existence. Familiar purple thread. "That's useful."
"Yanmega looks a bit dazed from the crash already," Serena said as a few threads hit the Bug. They were snapped a moment later by a violent Air Slash into the ground, but unlike diggersby, there was no barrier between Toxic Thread and skin for casual hits. Some of the poison had seeped in, Danny didn't doubt it. "You think it's not that strong?"
Danny shook his head minutely, keeping an eye on the yanmega, who'd gone on a rampage of an offensive with Ancientpowers and Air Slashes flying everywhere. Clefairy was barely managing to keep everything at bay, not helped by the shields to her back showering her with debris from stopped rocks. "It's strong, but clefairy is as big of a counter to flying Pokémon as Max has outside of manectric. If you can't break her Disarming Voice," he said as clefairy used that attack to counter an X-shaped Air Slash, "then you need to get in close."
"And then Gravity."
"Exactly." As he said that, clefairy got hit on the side by a rock. "She'll win it. Now it's just about minimising hits she takes."
Yanmega revealed a final attack in its arsenal: a Silver Wind that looked a bit untrained, but because Ivan's Pokémon was able to push out three or four waves of it in one go, Disarming Voice wasn't enough to block, meaning clefairy had to dodge it. Which she did, with a mighty jump, but that was all the time needed for the green to blur into an Agility.
"Metronome," they heard Max order, and Danny's mouth dropped open in surprise.
"What?!" Serena agreed with him. "Why?"
Danny didn't answer, focusing on clefairy and trying to keep an eye out for yanmega slipping into Double Edge instead of Agility. He saw the random attack start to trigger, but the Bug-type appeared above and behind Max's Fairy-type.
"Turn, up."
And the Freeze-Dry crashed right into Ivan's Pokémon. The attack caused yanmega to be displaced so that the Double Edge missed entirely. By inches, sure, but still a miss.
"That was close," Serena said as yanmega's picture was greyed out on the scoreboard. "That could've ended worse."
"Same as ninjask. Speed is a big factor, and Ivan knew how to use it. If that Metronome hadn't done anything..." He shrugged. "Bit of luck never hurts."
The next Pokémon from the Kantonian teenager was a fairly rare one, even not fully evolved. "Togetic? Huh."
Togetic, the Happiness Pokémon. It will shower kind-hearted people with happiness, but if it's not with kind people, it will become dispirited and leave.
There was no doubt in Danny's mind that Ivan and his togetic were good friends, as the two touched arm-to-shield-to-hand for a moment before the Fairy-type floated off to a ready position.
And both of the Pokémon started off with a Metronome attack.
The ground around clefairy exploded in ash and smoke, and a stream of superheated smog and fire erupted from Max's Pokémon – Lava Plume, Danny recognised. At the same time, a Gust was whipped up by togetic, and it was powerful enough to divert the smog and to hinder the fire, giving the levitating Pokémon time to get out of the way.
As a bonus, the grass was now smouldering, and as Danny watched, it turned to burning in one place. "Incoming bad pun."
Serena had enough time to make a surprised noise before the announcer said that the battle was really heating up now, and as one, the stadium groaned.
Clefairy and togetic weren't worried, having just moved to a different area of the arena. A Fairy Wind ruffled some hairs on Max's Pokémon, but the Disarming Voice that came out in return was only barely avoided. "Togetic doesn't look that fast."
"No," Danny agreed with Evan. "So it's probably strong in another way."
That other way turned out to be the ability to throw Ancientpower after Ancientpower at clefairy after deliberately being hit by a Disarming Voice to seize back the initiative. It was impressive to see, even if avoiding rocks was something that the smaller Fairy-type could do all day.
It was part of their regular training, after all. Slowly but surely, she started to close the distance with the togetic.
The wind was picking up a bit, causing the patch of fire to start spreading, and a haze to descend over the arena. It was still not threatening to clefairy in any way, but there was something about it that wasn't right.
With a quick jump, clefairy leapt towards togetic, summoning Magical Leaves at the same time. It flew out of the way, making clefairy land underneath it, but the leaves stopped it from getting an actual hit in with something.
Or not. A mirroring sheen overtook Ivan's Pokémon for a second, and unmistakable Magical Leaves flew from togetic to clefairy. "Oooh, good Mirror Move."
Serena was right. The Mirror Move couldn't have come at a better time, interrupting the concentration needed to execute another Metronome. Then the source of the wind became clear as a ball of blue energy appeared out of nowhere, and the Future Sight slammed into clefairy, sending her flying straight in the direction of the fire.
Togetic took immediate advantage, delivering a Fairy Wind that incidentally fanned the flames, and clefairy was less able to tank through it this time. She staggered, and Ivan pounced. "Barrage clefairy!"
She got in one more Disarming Voice before a rock hit her in the head.
There was no hesitation on Max's end. He immediately sent out ninjask, and it wasn't hard to see why. With the ground on fire – even if it was just a tenth of the arena – staying in the air was a smart proposition. And ninjask could probably take out the togetic, Danny thought. It didn't seem like it'd do well into the type of speed that the bug could use.
Though an Ancientpower was probably lights out with one hit. High risk, high reward.
Togetic was immediately put on the defensive, being forced to use rocks as defensive tools to avoid the Shadow Balls coming in from afar, but by the time that they could be used offensively, ninjask had vanished into Agility again. Danny had kept an eye on him, and was able to have an idea of where the Bug-type was, but togetic either wasn't or knew better.
Not that Max's Pokémon was ever going to get hit by a random toss of rocks.
Out of nowhere, ninjask reappeared, being all over togetic and slashing several times in a furious assault, before getting out of the way of rocks.
"Metronome."
It was strange hearing someone not-Max order that move, but togetic did waggle its fingers before becoming outlined in an orange glow, unmoving for a second before dropping it to float underneath a Shadow Ball.
Counter hadn't worked, but second time was clearly the charm, or at least that seemed to be togetic's thinking. This time, it produced a lot more. Maybe a bit too much more, in fact, as it inhaled before letting out a tornado of fire. A loose one, but still.
The Fire Spin did nothing to ninjask. The field… That was not so lucky. "At this rate, Max has to send poliwhirl out just to firefight."
That caused Serena to giggle and Evan to chuckle, even as ninjask blasted through a Fairy Wind to deliver a Slash – before nearly being hit himself by one thanks to a quick Mirror Move. A debris-filled Ancientpower did connect, but so did the Shadow Ball that broke togetic's concentration, and from there, ninjask delivered a painful-looking slice onto togetic's shell-pattern belly.
The wind picked up a bit, alerting all of them to an impending Future Sight, but Max didn't need to tell ninjask that it was coming. Instead, he ordered a full out offensive, and with a Double Team and a Slash, the Bug-type went to work.
Togetic fell down to the ground before the Future Sight could form, as it just didn't have enough speed at Ancientpower to effectively deal with the devilishly quick Ninja Pokémon. It wasn't out yet, and one last Metronome produced a weak Dragon Pulse that took Max's Pokémon by surprise, but the X-Scissor and just the velocity were enough to knock Ivan's Pokémon out.
Max returned ninjask, and Future Sight passed by harmlessly four or five seconds after that had happened, meaning he hadn't pulled his Pokémon out of harm's way.
Score three to one by break time, and one field on fire. A couple of Water-types emerged from Pokéballs to quickly stifle the flames as both Trainers headed away.
Unsurprisingly, Max looked pretty happy when he sat down beside the three of them after being thrown a bottle by Evan. "Looking good there," Danny told him. "Not sure how much use ninjask is going to be, though."
"Don't think it matters," was the reply. "If I'm right about what's next, he's still got one Pokémon ninjask is good against. I just need to hope Ivan doesn't send it out right now."
"What has he got left then?" Evan asked, leaning in front of Danny to see his cousin.
"Charizard, swoobat, gliscor."
Once, everyone not Max – Danny included – would've asked how he'd come by that statement, but now? They accepted it. From what Danny knew or could guess, it was pretty likely that all three were going to show up. The charizard was powerful and the gliscor was a forced inclusion to deal with Electric-types. Swoobat was a bit more of a hedge bet, but it had done a lot of work in the quarter-final and it was resistant to Max's Psychic type Pokémon.
"What are ya going to do about them?"
Oh, right. Evan didn't know about the trick xatu had up his… wings? Danny hung back, figuring that Max would deal with it. "Same thing that happened to Olympia and Falkner."
"Wha?"
The Pokédex was fished from a trouser pocket, and after two taps – had he really expected Evan to ask that specific question? – Max handed it over. "Read."
The wait wasn't long. "Fucking hell," the curse-happy teenager exclaimed, making Danny glad that there were no microphones on the dugout – and they didn't transmit the ones the Trainers were wearing during the breaks. "That… It..."
"Is a really nasty move," Max finished for his cousin. "Hard to learn. Feedback issues sometimes, and pretty niche on some Pokémon – like Exploud. But Flying is one of the most common Types to see, and turns out my opponent has a team full of them..."
The fake innocence held for a few seconds, before all of them burst into chuckles. "And you've probably fixed the feedback problems?" Serena asked.
"Mostly. Shows up on repeated use by now." A shrug. "Seems perfectly acceptable to me."
"Who else is here?" Evan asked, but before Max could answer, the time warning echoed through the stadium. Some water was quickly gulped down, and as it went down, Max tapped his wrist and heart in quick succession, before moving back. "Is that..."
"Yup. Seems like there was one good bit about Regina draining and stopping them yesterday."
"Because they're not tired from overtaxing," Serena added. "Can gardevoir even do that without doing what he did in Blackthorn?"
"Probably. But today's not the day we find out, I think."
Pokémon had to be sent out simultaneously, and it became a classic fire against water match-up. Specifically: the charizard Max had predicted to be there and poliwhirl. Who seemed to be concentrating deeply already.
The reason became clear immediately. As the charizard took to the skies before unleashing a Flamethrower, poliwhirl sent a globe of blue into the air above, and clouds rapidly started forming there in what would probably be a very localised shower.
The fire connected, but the rain started to fall, intensifying to downpour in the blink of an eye, and poliwhirl emerged from the attack not unscathed, but fine, and healing with every bit of rain she was soaking up. "Does charizard know Sunny Day?"
Dragon Rage rained down on poliwhirl, who dove and rolled out of the way before lobbing a Water Pulse upwards – one that was contemptuously swatted aside by a Dragon Tail. "Guess not," Danny told Serena. "If it did, Max would've returned poliwhirl, but now, he'll like her chances."
"Why?" Evan asked as Water Gun and Flamethrower created steam in mid-air.
"Poliwhirl can do this for a long time, and if charizard wants to do something, Flamethrowers aren't going to be enough. Not from this far," Danny said, before seeing an eerie glow build up in charizard's throat. "That counts."
The Inferno bore down on the field. The purple-tinted flame blossomed out as it hit the ground, scorching everything in a large area, but poliwhirl had managed to slide out with the help of the wet grass. She lobbed a Water Pulse up, but again, the Dragon Tail made short work of it.
Water Gun, at least, connected, but at that distance, gravity meant that it had lost a good portion of its strength, and another Inferno was starting to build up.
A repeat from before happened. Another bit of the arena was set aflame, with the rain quenching it, and the grass turning to ash and soot in the process.
And in it, Danny saw the plan. Charizard was just going to take away all movement options poliwhirl had so it could force a stand-and-trade. One that it expected to win.
Sure, they were generally boastful Pokémon, but that seemed a hard sell when it had to launch at least six more Infernos of equal strength.
But numbers three, four, and five all happened, the first two followed by a counter from poliwhirl and a Dragon Tail to smash the Water Pulse away, and one pulse of Rain Dance straight up into the clouds to keep the rain coming.
But then, charizard suddenly started moving, slipping into a dive and enveloping itself in flame – a Flare Blitz. Poliwhirl was caught off guard, but a Water Gun straight down gave her enough upward momentum that she avoided the full-on charge and instead only got hit with a wing flap upwards from the Fire-type, tossing her to the side.
Ivan's Pokémon banked before landing, and a Flamethrower came out, meeting a Water Gun that poliwhirl broke off immediately. The flame scorched the earth where she had stood, but she wasn't there any longer, and a Water Pulse quickly connected before she pushed out a Bubblebeam that met a Dragon Rage.
Flamethrower, Water Gun, Fire Spin, dodge, Dragon Rage, Bubblebeam. All while the charizard inched forwards, pushing poliwhirl into, roughly, a corner. It seemed to want to get in close for some reason.
And Danny had an idea of what it could be, but he wasn't going to look it up. He'd find out if he was correct soon enough.
Max had other ideas. "Water Pulse the ground."
Poliwhirl understood immediately, firing off a globe of water with high power. It hit the ground, breaking apart and splashing up like it was some kind of cannonball in a swimming pool. Dragon Tail couldn't block this, and a Flamethrower wasn't fast enough to catch the slippery blue Pokémon as she dove forward, looking to get near charizard's weakest point.
The tail.
A Water Gun hit its belly as the orange Pokémon adjusted to shield its tail from the concentrated water, and a challenging roar erupted. A Bulldoze went out, throwing poliwhirl off balance, and then the Fire-type lunged forward, with electricity on its left fist.
Yup, Thunder Punch.
The electricity grounded into poliwhirl, who managed to force out a Water Pulse to make the charizard shove off, but it had done a lot of work, soaked in rain as she was. "They can learn that?"
"It's basically a Dragon-type." And one of the Mega Evolutions actually gave it that typing. "I'm more impressed with the amount," Danny told Evan. "That's seven moves now, and all different and proficient."
Max ordered poliwhirl to go on the offensive again, and she did so immediately, switching to smaller Water Pulses that would be harder to block. The first one was slashed apart by Dragon Tail, but the second one was aimed perfectly, hitting near the tail and causing a roar of anger to echo around the arena. Inferno built up for a second, but Water Gun stopped that in its tracks.
"To the air," Ivan ordered, and under the covering fire of a Dragon Rage, charizard did so. Poliwhirl used the time to re-seed the Rain Dance clouds up above, turning the shower into a downpour yet again, before throwing a Water Pulse into the air.
Fire Spin turned both attacks into a heap of steam, and a Flamethrower pushed through to graze Max's Pokémon – who had probably seen it coming, but had misjudged the amount that charizard had adjusted its aim by. She got up regardless, throwing a Water Gun straight into another Fire-type attack, and a Water Pulse immediately after.
It hit, and poliwhirl dove forward, making sure to end up underneath the charizard before using a Water Gun straight up while she was lying on her back. The Flying-type banked in the air, slicing through the attack with its wings, but that didn't work as planned, and it lost some height.
Or perhaps that was its plan, because it was now in range of delivering a Dragon Rage before poliwhirl could counter. Ivan urged his Pokémon to take advantage, and another Thunder Punch was attempted – this one grounding into the soaked soil.
One Water Pulse connected, but charizard, it seemed, had had enough. An Inferno built up far faster than any that had happened before, and its flame grew two sizes in the span of the build-up.
Poliwhirl stood no chance, and Max returned her before the Inferno hit, instead immediately sending another Pokémon out. "Thunder!"
Charizard was on the ground, sure. But the ground was wet, and charizard was soaked from the rain and poliwhirl's attacks. Manectric was fresh, and she did not need a Mega Evolution for this.
One Flamethrower connected, but if the yellow Pokémon cared, she didn't show it.
"Poliwhirl was retired, and charizard was knocked out!" the referee announced after the Thunder finished.
"See what I mean?" Danny asked Serena, glancing over to his side for a change and being rewarded with a roll of her eyes. Evan looked on, but seemed a bit confused.
"Isn't that illegal?"
Danny shook his head at the naïve question from the youngest one there. "No. It's a habit," he stressed, "that there's a tiny break between rounds to allow for switching and adjusting and stuff. But you are allowed to do this if you're fast enough. If you wait too long, though, you have to wait for the referee to get it underway again."
"It's a window of opportunity," Serena added. "Now or never. One that Max really likes."
"He's competitive, what can I say?"
Ivan seemed a bit shocked still at the move, but shook his head and sent out his next Pokémon.
Which was a gliscor, and Max returned manectric, sending out xatu instead.
That, in turn, triggered a new Pokémon, which was the swoobat.
Danny couldn't see Max's face, but he could imagine the expression anyway. Glee would be front and centre.
Imprison came out, and xatu tentatively flapped his wings powerfully, to no avail. "Air Slash and general psychic powers are gone, then," Danny explained for Evan's benefit, because he was fairly sure there was a question coming. "He's going to try to lure the swoobat low, then Teleport behind and blast with Synchronoise."
"You make it sound simple," Serena laughed as the two combatants got to exchanging blows – Air Slash and Hidden Power meeting and doing a load of nothing in the dead space between. There was too much distance, but xatu wasn't going to close it - he was fairly powerless to defend against a psionic hold, so swoobat would have to make the move to close in.
But it seemed like Ivan wasn't particularly keen on doing that. He ordered more Air Slashes, and to mix in Shadow Balls too. At first, that wasn't a problem because the Air Slashes were vertically oriented, but then swoobat wizened up, turning them horizontal and making it harder for xatu to continue his previous work of dodging those and blocking the Shadow Balls.
But Max had an idea. "Ready Ominous Wind and then Teleport."
"You can do that?" Evan asked immediately.
"It's all mental preparation. Probably loses some strength, but… Surprise attacks don't need to be strong."
One Air Slash did connect, but the rest happened the exact way Max had probably hoped for. One Teleport to above swoobat – who was caught entirely unawares – and the Ominous Wind bore down on the flying Pokémon while xatu Teleported to the other side of the arena before going into a glide downwards to shed momentum.
That opened up the floodgates, and as the rain finally petered out, swoobat started living up to its name, swooping in the direction of where xatu was and unleashing a barrage of attacks – two Shadow Balls and an Attract – before visible flaring a psionic aura.
The Attract landed, but Danny felt xatu didn't make too much of an effort to dodge it, and he was proven right when there was no reaction whatsoever. "Looks like two same gender Pokémon here. Ivan's gambit backfired!"
The bird had known that, and with a deft split Hidden Power, he landed another hit on the swoobat, daring it to come closer to try and leverage its psionic powers.
That didn't happen. Instead, electricity formed in front of the Unovan Pokémon, and it seemed like a Shock Wave that went out. A quick adjustment made it swerve around the Hidden Power that xatu threw out to try and block, and the attack connected.
"No more games."
Xatu vanished, reappearing above swoobat, who immediately grabbed xatu, starting to assault him with Psychic. But the attack wasn't powerful enough to dislodge the coming attack from xatu's own psionic powers, and as one, both Pokémon started falling down, with xatu holding on to the attack despite his acceleration as gravity did its work.
But Teleport was a good trick, and the moment he judged swoobat likely to crash, he Teleported out to some place up high, before settling into a high speed glide on the other side of the arena.
Swoobat didn't crash, instead buffering his descent with a Confusion pulse that stopped his momentum enough for the landing to be okay, and another Shock Wave came out, but this time, xatu just Teleported out of the way, resuming his glide while swoobat redirected the attack from afar.
"Get physical."
Did Max mean what Danny thought he did?
Yes. Yes he did.
Xatu went into a dive, heading to the ground as electricity rushed to intercept, but when it nearly did, a quick Teleport turned the diving bird into a diving projectile that landed straight on swoobat. It wasn't pretty or anything, but it knocked both of them around, and Max probably thought his Pokémon would recover first so Synchronoise could be used again.
This was exactly what happened, and swoobat went limp.
"You know, I'm thinking that swoobat are even worse off against that," Serena said as Ivan went down to his last Pokémon – against four of Max, though ninjask and xatu had been battered a good bit. "Because it shares both Types?"
Danny nodded. It shouldn't have been over yet, after only a few exchanges, but if Serena's idea was right… It made as much sense as anything. Either that, or xatu had managed to get some kind of lucky hit, which he really didn't know how it would work for something like that.
Gliscor came out again, and the referee restarted the battle with the Ground-and-Flying type heading into the soil before xatu could grab it. "Just try to sense it."
Max's hint wasn't enough, and it became immediately clear why. Despite xatu trying to hold the gliscor off with a psionic shove downwards, it had come up with claws up front and both of them glowing with Night Slashes. The Dark-type energy worked to punch through the attack, delivering a hard hit on xatu, who was knocked to the ground.
He could Teleport away, but gliscor dove onto the soil, causing an Earthquake.
Max's Pokémon wasn't inconvenienced long, but Teleporting from a position on his back to essentially free-fall probably wasn't a fun thing to do. Especially when a Stone Edge assaulted him as he was gliding down – and the psionic shield he threw up wasn't enough to disintegrate the larger shards, forcing a hasty roll and a rough landing because of it.
Ivan's Pokémon rushed up, lifting up a Stone Edge as a distraction before creating a ranged Rock Tomb near xatu, who was busy trying to deal with the razor-sharp debris and didn't quite make it out in time. Another Teleport away saw history be repeated, but this time, a pulse threw all the debris sent upwards away.
Two Air Slashes carved furrows into the soil, but gliscor was underground. Xatu landed, but immediately went back into the air via Teleport as he sensed the Ground-type coming up – Night Slash up front. One Air Slash connected, while the other was batted aside by an X-Scissor.
Impressive, Danny had to admit.
But it wouldn't be enough. Xatu would probably fall – and as Danny thought that, Max ordered an offensive, meaning they were on the same wavelength, as usual – but gardevoir would clean up. It was a formality.
Hidden Power met Stone Edge, while the Rock Tomb was suppressed by a psionic pulse downwards, resulting in only a molehill being built. Confusion fizzled on Night Slash claws, and gliscor used Earthquake to distract before readying a Stone Edge, but miscalculating when xatu reappeared behind it instead of in mid-air. It cost him a moment of being assaulted with Confusion, but a wild slash downwards hit the ground, causing a slab of rock to appear.
A Bulldoze followed it up, and xatu wasn't in time to steel himself against it, allowing for the Fang Scorpion Pokémon to close the distance and bite down with Thunder Fang.
A few sparks of paralysis ran over gliscor's body, but xatu wasn't able to take advantage of it. Or do anything else. "Xatu is knocked out."
Twenty seconds later, Ivan tapped out. Gardevoir had come out, the referee had restarted, and a quick Dig into Night Slash had ended very badly with gliscor in a hold. That wasn't enough, but when a Stone Edge – which told Danny it was Confusion, not Psychic – was evaporated with a powerful psionic pulse, the Kantonian knew that there was no way out.
Consecutive third places. If anyone still doubted Max's skills… Danny didn't know what to think. His best friend rocked.
~~§~~§~~
Max had been tempted to sit with his friends when he'd learned that the VIP seats were only for the four Trainers battling on Sunday, but he knew that he was expected to be up there with probably all of the Elite Four and the Johto Gym Leaders.
Well, nearly all of them. Helena's eyes meant she probably wasn't in the box.
About three sets of stairs – he guessed – down from the box, he ran into his opponent looking a tiny bit lost. Reticent. "Hey Ivan," Max greeted the Kantonian, who started a little at his words. "You're going the right way."
"I know." The words weren't loud, but Max was paying attention. He'd seen enough of Ivan to know that soft-spoken was an understatement. "Congratulations. You really wiped the floor with me. Even without that manectric trick."
Max couldn't deny that, but something told him there was more to the earlier words. "I know it sounds a bit rude," he started, drawing on his memories of the year before. "But fourth place is a good result."
"I know," Ivan repeated himself. He glanced around before finally meeting Max's eyes. "But am I the fourth strongest Trainer here?"
It sounded like he'd already answered the question for himself. "And what if you're not?"
That took the blond teen aback. "Huh?"
"Maybe Cara is stronger," Max said, alluding to one of the two opponents both of them had met. Ivan had lost to her in the second group stage, but he, too, had been helped out by the format. "That's just the luck of the draw."
"My quarter-final opponent was a nervous wreck..."
Why did that matter? "And you weren't. Not then, not against Marcus or me. So why the doubts?"
"But I was," Ivan countered, surprising Max. "I… It's hard for me to start. I try to think and… Try to think of a way I can win. But I just start too slow. 'swhy I started with dodrio and why I used charizard then. They're independent. The Infernos were all charizard's idea."
"A classic example of thinking too much," came a voice from up higher, male, refined. A few footsteps and Will of the Elite Four turned the corner on the next landing. "Once you settle into your rhythm, your Pokémon and you react better to each other. A break disrupts that cadence." He started descending the stairs. "But make no mistake. Though variance is a factor, it generally only adds or costs you a single round in a tournament."
Ivan seemed to mull it over, but Max was lost. And he didn't like it. "What do you mean by that?"
"If you'd expect someone to get to the round of 16 based on their quality," Will explained calmly, "then in nearly all scenarios, the result will be either the round of 32, of 16, or of 8. The individual result depends on many factors, like how well the Pokémon match up, whose style is advantageous, and so on. That is the variance."
Max's mind jumped from Ivan to the other Flying-type specialist he had faced in Johto, and a comment he'd made to Danny beforehand. "So if Ivan was a Normal-type specialist, I would've had more problems, but because my Pokémon are well equipped to deal with those who can fly..."
"Accurately put." The Elite Four member turned to the blond. "Though it will not assuage your fears overly so, know that Falkner, whom I know you did not meet, predicted you to have a hard time based on his recollection of the Gym Battle Max had and common knowledge."
"Synchronoise?"
"Got me the Zephyr Badge," Max answered Ivan's one-word question, filing away that Falkner had been watching. There was a question he wanted to ask of the Flying-type Gym Leader and Will combined.
"Now, let's cut this short. The final will start soon, and you will have to introduce yourself to everyone upstairs," the purple-haired man told them, putting one foot on the stairs down. "I shall see you soon."
"Where are you going?"
"The VIP box, alas, does not come with a toilet included off to the side."
~~§~~§~~
The ceremony for the end of the tournament was a lot like the one in Hoenn, Danny mused as he walked in alongside the other trainers who had been defeated in the quarter-finals. It made sense, of course, but he liked the Kalos version a lot more. It was a lot faster, for one.
One difference was that Johto called in the fourth place finisher separately, which was a bit strange. Sure, he had been okay with being fourth, but even then, being put on the spot like that was just not fun. If you weren't okay with the result, finishing just off the podium was the worst place to end up in.
The applause wasn't less for it, though, and Ivan perked up visibly as he walked to his solitary spot to Danny's left, between him and the actual podium.
Max was next, and the applause was deafening. Maybe it was a regular thing, or maybe it was just the fact that his record was stupid stacked for someone his age and the audience getting in on that, but it was, in Danny's very biased opinion, incredibly deserved.
They exchanged a high five in passing before Max stopped in front of the podium, on the far side.
Regina was welcomed next, with applause nearly as great as it had been for Max. The battle between her and Marcus had been amazing to watch, with both of them showing exactly why they'd advanced to the final. She'd taken out the scizor that had come out first without losing too much – just the magnezone and a few exchanges with her aegislash – but Marcus had been tenacious in defending his lead, always barely getting equal exchanges and showing that he, too, could bait out a favoured match-up for the last battle. Volcarona took out bronzong, despite the heavy rocks that were thrown around like they were pebbles.
The medal ceremony was a bit different, with Will, Karen, and Lance doing the respective honours, but after that, and the obligatory Sinnoh anthem, they came to the traditional last part of any Home Region League.
Mr. Goodshow's speech.
"Dear Trainers, young and old, another Conference has ended," the President of the Pokémon League said after the audience had fallen silent. In Danny's opinion, he looked a lot older than he had before – even at the Indigo Conference half a year ago. "Johto's champion has been chosen, not from Johto for the ninth time running, unfortunately for those who hoped for one. Perhaps the tenth time will prove to be the charm."
"We saw great battles here, under Ho-Oh's sacred flame and mostly clear skies. We beheld the ferocious tenacity of the young and the slightly older as they battled the elements that marked this tournament. Fire, as ever, was both friend and foe, lighting the path forward as easily as leading one astray. But if you were, don't worry. There is always another time, and no matter your results; that you are standing here, as one of not all that many, proves your worth as a Trainer."
Danny understood – he thought – but the clapping was decidedly muted. Too abstract or something? "To be a Trainer here, at the end of the Conference, means something. It's not just the eight badges you collected along the way. It's also not whatever position you reached. Mostly – I think a few people might disagree with me," Mr. Goodshow said, which caused a set of chuckles and laughs to pass through the crowd in the arena, dispelling a lot of some unseen tension. "They're fleeting things. What really matters are the experiences you had while getting to this moment. The elation when something went your way, and the dejection when something didn't. The moment you met your starting Pokémon, and the moment you had to watch one of your Pokémon in pain. These moments shape who you are as a Trainer."
"Use the knowledge you got from those moments. Fuel the fire within you. Fuel the fires of friendship and friendly rivalry, of camaraderie and passion. Make something of your life, and remember that even if things look bleak for a moment… As long as even an ember within you remains burning, you can always rise again, like Ho-Oh from the ashes. Be the best that you can be, wherever you go. Maybe that's here, in seven and a half months. Maybe that's elsewhere in the world. Or maybe that's at the Indigo Plateau, in a month and a half. But no matter where it is, always remember that little flame that burns in all of us."
The applause was polite, but the speech in Hoenn had been better. And the one in Kanto had been too, come to think of it. Something had felt off, but he didn't know what.
It wasn't until they'd gotten back to the Pokémon Center that the answer came, with a little help from other people chatting and discussing the same thing.
Mr. Goodshow had been fairly close to Drake, and with the Dragon Master's passing so recent… It was easy to sympathise with the normally excitable and enthusiastic man.
Maybe it was better to have loved and lost, as Danny's Dad sometimes quoted, but that didn't mean the loss part didn't suck. Arceus knew he'd seen that up close a bit too much for his age.
~~§~~§~~
Six teenagers stood just outside of Silver Town, at the path leading in the direction of the Indigo Plateau. It was not as busy as the other main path leading south, but other people leaving the location of the Conference behind were passing by somewhat regularly. A charizard had just been sent out and was currently acting tough while enjoying a neck scratch from Ash and a belly scratch from Serena, while the others were looking on.
Then the Fire-type lowered himself after nudging Serena away. "Well, guess my flight is leaving," Ash quipped, causing everyone else to chuckle, giggle, or laugh outright, charizard included. "Be seeing you in a few months, Max, Danny."
The five others took a few steps back, and with a flap of wings, a muted grunt, and a warm gust, charizard took to the air, rising rapidly to about seventy feet in the air; above all but the tallest trees in the nearby reserve. Then he started moving east, and Max stopped tracking him, instead looking at the remainder of the group. Just in time for Evan to speak up. "Why's he going east? Isn't his place south?"
"Probably visiting friends first." Or Lance, ahead of Drake's funeral. Ash couldn't go there still after everything that had happened. Not that Max or Danny thought they would be okay going back; not after what had happened in June. "You sure you don't want a lift?"
"Nah. Just going to get lost for a month, then end up at Indigo," Evan replied, and Chris nodded beside him. "You'll come watch."
"As if you need to ask," Danny replied for Max, ignoring that it was a demand in the first place. "Can't think of a reason why we wouldn't."
"I don't know yet," Serena piped up apologetically. "It's a long way away, and I don't have a travel service like these two. Gonna depend. If I get one or even two Ribbons, sure, but if not… I need that time."
"Oh. Okay." Evan shook his head, hoisting his pack onto his back a little more firmly. Something banged together in there, but it didn't sound too bad. "Right. See ya around, shorty."
Max rolled his eyes, but watched his cousin and new friend go off. The area north of Silver Town and the Indigo Plateau wasn't somewhere they'd ever been, but it was pretty thinly populated, and he was honestly not sure if that'd be to their liking.
But it was their journey, their choice. "Right, are we ready to go?"
They were, and with a bit of help from xatu, they reappeared in Enion. Ahead of the people leaving, but with enough distance to wherever they wanted to go for some training and actual travelling.
Their sudden appearance also caused some toddler twins to start crying, but Danny, xatu, and their father were quickly able to stop the tears and save the teenagers' ears. "Didn't know Danny was good at that," Serena said, sounding as if she approved. "I thought it was one of your other friends who was good with kids?"
Max shrugged. "Keith, yeah. I dunno either, but I'm not complaining. I sure can't."
"Weren't you the one with the younger cousins?"
Danny's youngest cousin was… Seven? Eight? Older than Max's youngest cousins for sure. "I've seen them maybe three times in the last five years. Then again, Danny didn't exactly have a lot of time to see his family either." Yule before last, Max thought. Unless there'd been some kind of lightning visit just ahead of having to flee Hoenn. "I'm blaming his Dad."
"Blaming?"
He chuckled at Serena's disbelief. "Kinda sorta. Gregory is a bit… I dunno. He likes to joke around a lot, act a bit. Stuff like that." A squeal of happiness caught Max's attention, and he watched as xatu gently lifted one of the young boys into the air. "Danny's been more like him since, y'know."
"Ah," Serena replied, telling him that she probably got what he meant. They lapsed into silence for a bit, watching xatu treat the boys to some fun. "Really hope I can meet your parents one day."
"So do I, Serena," Max said with a sigh. "So do I."
"So you do what?"
"Hoping to meet your parents," the Kalosian answered Danny's question as he rejoined them. Xatu landed off to Max's side with a slight thump. "I know I could go to Hoenn and all, but… It's not the same."
A dark silence fell between them. Max knew roughly what the others were thinking: Serena felt it unfair that they'd been put in this position, forced away from family, and Danny missed his parents and growlithe something fierce. They probably had guessed his as well: that he wasn't thinking about going back to Hoenn at all if he could help it.
Not seeing his parents sucked, and he missed a hundred other small things, but he'd lived with the first for years now, and he could cope with the latter; a little better every day.
"That's enough gloom for now," Danny broke the silence. "We can't help it, so let's just focus on what we can do. Like the Battle Frontier, and the Contest circuit."
"Actually..." Serena said, hesitating for some reason. "I was thinking… Maybe I should challenge a Gym? Just to see where I stand?"
"Curious after the tournament?"
"Yeah. And I'm weaker at that part of Contests, so it should be easier to improve, right?"
"Maybe," Max broke in. "But it's a good idea. Like you said, see where you are." He pulled an exaggerated face. "Just don't expect us to do a Contest."
Serena giggled, but Danny's hum sounded like he didn't agree. "We've seen enough and our Pokémon are skilled enough that we can probably do okay at showing off. Maybe a little practice, but… Could do it if we want to."
And Max didn't want to, really. But he saw the point. "Okay, fair."
His best friend smiled before turning slightly towards Serena. "You're going to Blackthorn and then west, right?" he asked, getting a nod. "Mahogany might work, but Ecruteak's probably better for it."
"Why's that?"
"Morty's a cool guy. He's probably the best for it."
"Morty or Bugsy," Max agreed. "Maybe Pryce too, but like Danny said, there's better options."
"You sure he'll be okay with it?"
Danny yielded to the Gym Leader's son. "Dad got a couple every year, I think. Never saw one because he never let me, but you're not the only one doing it. And that's with most of them probably going to Roxanne, too."
"She's a teacher, right?" Serena asked, sounding half-certain of her memory. "Makes sense."
Another spell of silence fell, but Danny broke it before too long. "Right. We should get going. Before we waste too much time and all standing here."
"Sure." The Coordinator walked up to them, hugging Danny and Max. It felt good, but a little awkward because of all the packs on their backs, he thought. "Good luck with the Battle Frontier!"
~~§~~§~~§~~§~~
Following the Silver Conference, Battle Frontier founder Scott announced that eight new Trainers had accepted his invitation. Scott, 39, cited this high number as an effort to make it more accessible and well-known to the public, remarking that previous invites had often been spur of the moment or limited to the top four of a Kanto or Johto League-level tournament.
All eight Trainers who reached to the quarter-finals were given an invite by default, as per the new standards. Marcus, the winner of the Silver Conference had already accepted his invite earlier in the year, while his rival Regina will take over the Steel-type Gym in Unova. In their place, two more Trainers were invited by Scott after on-site observations by him and two of the Frontier Brains.
Author's Note: And done with the League. There's a reason I had that line about Max's team working out better against flying Pokémon back in Chapter 6; this was sketched a long time ago.
Up next, a chapter unlike any other I've ever done.