PWT Arc: The Grand Finale
"Dig!" she commanded, and Gabite disappeared into the ground. "Now, use Dragon Pulse!" As it shot out, it sent a wave of pure darkness at Xatu. Chris raised his eyebrows.
"It doesn't get any flashier than that, does it?" Xatu disappeared and reappeared somewhere else.
"A teleporter," Mari growled. "Damn it!",
"Miracle Eye, Xatu." Xatu appeared above Gabite and his eyes lit up.
"Come, attack," Chris urged her. "We're waiting.",
"You think I'm walking into a trap? Keep your distance, Gabite!" Mari shouted. "Heh..." Chris shook his head. "Xatu, Zen Headbutt!" It shot forward and attacked. It hit Gabite and Zoroark's cover disappeared as the attack took effect. Zoroark backed away, snarling. "Miracle Eye cancels the ineffectiveness of psychic-type attacks on dark-type Pokémon... I see.",
"You catch on quickly. Big respect." Chris nodded. "But you should really work on camouflaging those moves of Zoroark's better. The way they are now, it's pretty obvious you're playing tricks here. Training your partner to use certain attacks when you make certain commands is quite helpful and clever even, but it's not helping much when you can still see what move it actually is. If you're lucky enough, it'll cause confusion and give you the perfect opportunity to take your opponent by surprise. But to people who have some experience with or have already seen a Zoroark in action, it's not enough to fool them. Now use Reflect, Xatu!" Something shimmered up in front of Xatu. "Okay, Zoroark! Shadow Ball!" Zoroark fired off an attack. Xatu disappeared again in an instant.
"Dig!" Zoroark disappeared into the ground. Mari closed her eyes to keep her calm and focus on what she would do next. "Zen Headbutt onto the ground, Xatu! Force it to come out!" Chris shouted, and Xatu shot toward the ground. "Shadow Claw!" Zoroark burst from the ground. Mari's trap had snapped shut. Zoroark managed to land several hits on Xatu, but the damage it took was moderated as the effect of the Reflect from earlier weakened its physical attack strength.
"Finish it, Xatu! Zen Headbutt!" Xatu teleported and rammed into Zoroark from behind so hard that it collapsed. Mari sighed, "... Well done, Zoroark. Come back." She withdrew it. "Gardevoir, you're next!" With a twist, Gardevoir appeared on the field.
"Thank you, Xatu." Chris withdrew it. "Aerodactyl, you're next!" Roaring, the Pokémon appeared on the field.
"Moon Blast!" Mari commanded, and Gardevoir didn't waste a moment firing off an attack. "Iron Head!" Chris shouted, and Aerodactyl burst through. "Now, use Supersonic!" It let out a strange sound and Gardevoir held its head before it began to stagger heavily. "Oh no, it's confused...",
"Giga Impact!" Aerodactyl spread its wings and shot down at Guardevoir, hitting it full force and hurling it against the wall. "NO!" Mari screamed, covering her mouth with her hands. Gardevoir sank to the floor and gasped. Its body was shaking. Mari knew she only had a fraction of a few moments until Aerodactyl recovered from the recoil of this attack. "Get up, Gardevoir! Get up while it's not able to move! Come on, I know you can do it!" Gardevoir raised its head and slowly straightened up. "You need to get close to it. Teleport over it!" Despite the dizziness, Gardevoir managed to follow its trainer's command. "Ancient Power!" Chris commanded, and stones with a mystical aura rained down on Gardevoir as Aerodactyl's forced pause ended. However, the fairy disappeared and the attack missed its target. It reappeared above Aerodactyl. "Focus Blast!" Gardevoir balled up a sphere of energy, which it hurled at Aerodactyl's back with full force. It cried out and crashed to the ground ungently. "Keep going! Moon Blast!" Gardevoir sent another bullet at Aerodactyl, which was lying on the ground. It landed a critical hit that knocked Aerodactyl out. "Great, Gardevoir!" Mari exclaimed. Gardevoir smiled, but it was already mightily exhausted. "Get some rest for now, Gardevoir. Skarmpry will take it from here." Gardevoir nodded and let itself be withdrawn before Skarmory took its place on the field. Chris withdrew his Pokémon. "Xatu, we're going to pick up where we left off!",
"Swift, Skarmory!" Skarmory smashed stars at Xatu, who raised its wings protectively in front of it and gasped as the stars drilled into them. "Zen Headbutt!",
"Agility! Dodge it!" Skarmory screeched, lit up, and swung into the sky. Xatu's attack missed. "Now Steel Wing!" It dove down and rammed its wing into Xatu's back. The opponent screeched, but teleported before Skarmory could strike again. "Let's retaliate! Teleport again and again!" Xatu appeared and disappeared again and again. "Keep moving!" Mari shouted up to her partner. Skarmory started moving, not wanting to allow an attack.
"Zen Headbutt!" Suddenly, Xatu appeared right in front of it and rammed its head against its chest. Skarmory screamed in fright and lost altitude, but managed to intercept itself with its wings before it had to pay a forced visit to the ground. Xatu rushed after it to attack again. "Aerial Ace!" Skarmory dodged its Zen Headbutt and hit Xatu with its claws. The Pokémon was able to break its own fall with its wings and regained altitude. That damn Reflect was still active. "Swift!" Skarmory attacked, but Xatu teleported away and began showing up again in various places.
Suddenly, Skarmory's body glowed brightly. "What are you doing?" Mari asked. As Xatu reappeared, Skarmory folded its wings and shot down like an arrow. Chris realized there was no chance to dodge. "Air Slash!" he commanded, and Xatu attacked, but in the next moment, was rammed so hard by Skarmory that it crashed to the ground and stayed down. Mari pulled out the Pokédex. "That was Brave Bird!" she noted. "Woah..." Chris nodded appreciatively. "A very strong attack, indeed. Xatu, come back." He withdrew his Pokémon. "All right, Shelgon! We're moving on!",
"Gabite, let's go! We'll leave that to you!" Mari withdrew Skarmory and sent her own dragon into the fray. "Iron Defense, Shelgon!" The opponent's body glowed silver.
"Dragon Rage!" Gabite growled, enveloping its opponent in blue flames. "Now Dragon Claw!" Gabite rushed off and slashed its foe. The iron defense, however, mitigated the damage considerably.
"Rock Tomb, Gabite! Don't give them a break!" Gabite growled, hurling rocks at Shelgon. "Break through with Double Edge!" Chris ordered. Shelgon's body lit up and it careened through the rocks like a Tauros gone wild. It bumped into Gabite, who slithered back and growled. "Earthquake, go!" The ground began to shake and Shelgon staggered. "Draco Meteor!" Chris commanded, and Shelgon shot a bright beam of light skyward before meteors appeared in the air and crashed down on the dragon.
"What the- Dodge, Gabite!" Gabite managed to evade the rockfall from above narrowly. "Give them our answer! Rock Tomb!",
"Twister!" A storm was unleashed, hurling the rocks off course and hitting Gabite. It bounced against the wall harshly and righted itself, snarling. "Raaaargh!",
"Aim for its face, Gabite! That's the only place it's not armored, you hear?" It nodded. "Dragon Claw, let's go!",
"Double Edge!" The two came toward each other and crashed into one another. Gabite backed away and spat a Dragon Rage right into its opponent's face. "Shelgon, Twister again! Finish it off!" The tornado struck Gabite and forced it to the ground. It tried one last, desperate time to get up, but it couldn't make it. It slumped and had to give up the fight. "You did great, Gabite. You gave it your all, take a rest!" Mari withdrew it. Her last two Pokémon, Gardevoir and Panzaeron, were both already battered, and Chris' Tyranitar hadn't even come into play yet. Did she even have a chance...? No. She definitely couldn't think that way. She had to stay focused. She saw that Shelgon was struggling to hold on. "Gardevoir! End it with Moon Blast!" Her Gardevoir appeared on the field and blasted a ball of light at Shelgon, finishing it off. It landed on its side. "You're holding up well. I'm impressed!" Chris withdrew Shelgon. Mari knew, however, despite his praise, that the serious part of the battlle was yet to befall her. "Tyranitar, it's time!" His strongest Pokémon appeared on the field and roared. Gardevoir narrowed its eyes with determination. "Let's do our best, Gardevoir", Mari encouraged it, receiving a resolute nod from her partner.
'This battle is going blow for blow...' Laslow thought to himself in the stands. 'Neither one of them is holding anything back. Mari is returning the brute force Chris is throwing at her, like an eye for an eye... How long will she be able to withstand it...? She tries to look cool, but I can tell how tense she is. She mustn't lose her ground in this altercation, otherwise, it will be over very quickly... At the moment, she's even in the lead, with two Pokémon against one, but things can go south from one second to the next... At this point, nothing is certain. This is going to get interesting...'
Jacky was strongly absorbed in the excitement, as if she herself was standing next to Mari on the battlefield. "Come on, Mari... You can do it, I believe in you!"