When Haro returned to the room, he was greeted by sad frowns from Davin and Maura.

"Haro… I'm so sor-"

"Don't." he stopped Davin. "I'm ok."

"But aren't you sad, even a little?" Maura asked.

He shook his head. "It was for the best. I still have a lot to learn about being a trainer, and that loss was just because of my mistake. It's no big deal."

"If you say so..." Davin said unhappily.

Edric stood up. "Now it's my turn. And I have to face the toughest of the four."

"You shouldn't worry." Haro said. "With your skill, there's no doubt in my mind that you'll do great."

"Thanks." He nodded to him and headed towards the arena.


"Now for the moment you've been waiting for: The final battle of the Elite Four event!" The announcer said. "We have Edric from Cerulean City vs. the Dragon Master and best of the Elite Four himself, Drake!" The two respective trainers entered the arena, including the white bearded man in the picture seen the previous day, who wore the Poke ball sailor's hat along with an open black coat, no shirt underneath, and blue pants.
"The final battle will take place on a water battlefield." The field change was made and a swimming pool-like battlefield with big white, flat, circular objects in the water on both trainers' sides. "If the two trainers are ready, let the battle begin!"

"Go, Shelgon!" Drake released the Endurance Pokemon on to the floating white object.

"Vaporeon, let's go!" Edric's Poke ball opened to let out a light-blue quadruped Pokemon with a white collar around its neck, amphibian-like ears, and a tail-fin.

"What kind of Pokemon is that?" Davin looked to the Pokedex for the answer.

"Vaporeon, the Bubble Jet Pokemon. Vaporeon underwent a spontaneous mutation and grew fins and gills that allow them to live underwater. They have the ability to freely control water."

"Vaporeon, use Aqua Ring!" Its body started glowing as three rings of water surrounded it.

"Shelgon, use Rock Tomb!" It jumped and slammed on to the white circle it was standing on to make rocks fly out of the water and trap Vaporeon in an enclosed space around its circle. "Now, Dragon Claw!" Shelgon jumped over to the opposite side and was right above Vaporeon with its right front leg sticking out in preparation to strike.

"Use Haze!" Vaporeon exhaled black smoke at its attacker, temporarily obscuring its vision. "Strike with Aqua Tail!" Vaporeon jumped over the rocks as water spiraled around its tail-fin and it hit Shelgon with it to knock it into the water.

"Uh-oh!" Edric suddenly thought. "Since Shelgon has that heavy shell, it can't swim! Vaporeon, dive down and help it back to the surface!"

"Por!" It nodded as it went into the water; when it got to Shelgon, it went underneath it and pushed its body to the surface of the water. Once it was successful in doing so, it placed on to the circle, where it was revealed to everyone that it had fainted.

"Shelgon is unable to battle! Vaporeon wins!"

"Wow, talk about lucky." Maura said.

"Yeah. If Shelgon hadn't have fallen into the water, who knows if Vaporeon could've won?" Davin added.

Drake recalled Shelgon. "I'm grateful that you saved my Pokemon. Not most trainers would go out of their way to do that for their opponent."

"Well, I couldn't let a Pokemon who couldn't swim just drown now, could I? If it hadn't been saved, I couldn't bare to think what would happen." Edric stated.

Drake smiled. "All right. Go, Altaria!" The large blue bird with the cloud-like wings materialized into the air.

Edric thought for a moment and ordered, "Vaporeon, destroy the rocks around you with Aqua Tail!" With one swing, the rocks were shattered into pieces as they fell into the water. "Good. Now, return!" The Poke ball's red beam reclaimed it into its confinement.

"He's switching already?" Davin commented.

"He must've come up with a better strategy." Haro said.

"Manectric, I choose you!" His blue canine Pokemon appeared on the circle, electricity sizzling on the yellow parts of its body.

"Nice! Electric attacks are super effective against Flying types like Altaria." Maura said.

"Though the fact that its part Dragon may make things a bit difficult." Haro added.

"Altaria, use Dragon Dance!" Its body became outlined in red as it swung its wings in a sort of dance.

"Manectric, use Charge!" Yellow electric sparks appeared around its body as it began charging power.

"They're both boosting their power." Davin noted.

"They both must be planning to knock each other out with as fewer hits as possible." Maura added.

"Altaria, Dragon Breath!"

"Manectric, Shock Wave!"

Altaria exhaled a strong blast of air while Manectric fired a blast of light blue electricity from its mane; both attacks collided, but Dragon Breath proved to be stronger and it proceeded through the Shock Wave to hit Manectric.

"Are you alright?" Edric asked it.

"Tric!" It shook itself and got back into its battle stance.

"Aerial Ace!" Altaria flew towards the opponent at fast speed with its wings outstretched.

"Shock Wave, once more!" The electricity was shot, but Altaria easily dodged it and landed its mark to Manectric's body, knocking it into the water. "Manectric, no!" When it floated back to the surface, it was unconscious.

"Manectric is unable to battle! Altaria wins!"

Maura frowned. "Too bad. Guess the combined power of Dragon Dance and Aerial Ace was too much for Manectric."

"They sure don't call him the Dragon Master for nothing." Davin said.

Edric recalled Manectric. "Thanks, buddy. You did what you had to do." He threw his next ball. "Go, Arcanine!" The large, tiger-striped dog entered the battle.

"An Arcanine may be fast, but without the right strategy, it can easily be beaten." Drake said. "Altaria, use Aerial Ace!" It flew across the water, but electric sparks appeared around its body while doing so, making it stop in mid-air.

Edric chuckled. "Looks like I did come up with the right strategy. When Altaria used Aerial Ace to beat Manectric, its Static ability kicked in and paralyzed Altaria so that it can't attack as often as it wants."

Drake looked surprised for one second and smiled the next. "Not too bad, I guess."

"Arcanine, use Flare Blitz!" It used its speed to run across the water as its body became engulfed in fire. It hit the stunned bird, knocking it into the water and leaving it unconscious when it came back up.

"Altaria is unable to battle! Arcanine wins!"

"The water's really working to Edric's advantage. Everytime Drake's Pokemon fall in, they always come back up defeated." Davin said.

"Those were just the first two," Haro said. "The others won't be taken down as easy."

Drake recalled Altaria. "Kingdra, come out!" A large blue seahorse with small wings entered the water from the Poke ball.

Davin's Pokedex
"Kingdra, the Dragon Pokemon. It sleeps quietly, deep on the seafloor. When it comes up to the surface, it creates a huge whirlpool that can swallow even ships."

"Water against Fire is a bad match up." Davin said.

"Kingdra, Surf!" The tidal wave rised up from the water and headed towards its victim.

"Dodge with Extreme Speed!" Arcanine swiftly dashed away from the wave before it could be hit by it. "Now, use Dragon Pulse!" A bright green ball formed in its mouth and it fired a beam that struck Kingdra's body.

"Kingdra, use Smokescreen!" Thick black smoke escaped its mouth to prevent the opponent from seeing anything.

"I can't tell you how many times I've had to deal with this old trick. Arcanine, Heat Wave!" It breathed a powerful blast of flaming hot wind and it cleared the smoke in an instant while at the same time causing damage to Kingdra.

"Awesome! Heat Wave tore right through it!" Davin said.

"The smoke from Smokescreen intensified it and made it more stronger than usual, meaning that Kingdra is suffering a whole lot of damage right now." Haro said.

The top half of the seahorse's body was almost completely burnt. "Now, Arcanine! Hit it with one more Dragon Pulse!" The beam of dragon energy was fired and made contact with Kingdra again, making it topple over into the water and fall into unconsciousness.

"Kingdra is unable to battle! Arcanine wins!"

Drake recalled Kingdra. "The boy's not bad. He's used good tactics so far in this battle and he's near to winning. I'm almost impressed." He threw a Poke ball to reveal that his next Pokemon was a Flygon.

"Return, Arcanine!" The fire Pokemon disappeared upon those words. "Absol, let's go!" The Disaster Pokemon was let out on to the circle.

"Flygon, use Flamethrower!" A stream of fire was shot from its mouth.

"Absol, Double Team!" Copies of itself appeared on the surface of the water as the Flamethrower missed. "Psycho Cut!" The copies disappeared and the original one jumped at Flygon with the scythe on its head glowing pink.

"Use Dragon Breath!" A quick shot knocked Absol into the water, but it was able to resurface with no problem.

Edric smirked. "Absol, use Perish Song!" Still in the water, Absol began to sing a low melody as black and red music notes came from its mouth. Flygon flinched at the sound as its body became outlined in the same color as the music notes. "Keep singing, Absol! Don't stop until you're both down!" The dark Pokemon obeyed as its body was becoming the music notes' color as well.

"Come on, Flygon! Escape it!" As much as it wanted to, the pain of the song prevented it from doing anything. Eventually, the singing stopped and Flygon fell into the water while Absol keeled over in the surface of it.

"Both Pokemon are unable to battle! This match ends in a draw!"

Edric recalled his Pokemon. "Thanks, Absol. You lost for a good purpose."

Drake recalled Flygon. "Well, I'm down to my last Pokemon. Think you can beat it?" He tossed a Poke ball and it opened to let out his Salamence, who roared upon entrance.

"Drake's strongest Pokemon..." Haro said.

"It certainly looks tough." Maura added.

"Salamence..." Davin almost whispered. Flashbacks of Soar, his former Salamence, ran through his head; from the beginning when he caught it as a Bagon, to the time it evolved into Shelgon during his battle with Winona, and to the final time where it evolved into Salamence out of anger, destroyed its Poke ball, and just flew away. "I still can't figure it out... Why was he so mad at me? And... where is he now?"

"Venusaur, it's time!" The Poke ball he threw released his main Pokemon into battle.

Drake couldn't help but chuckle to himself at the odds. "Salamence, Flamethrower!" Fire escaped from its mouth to the grass Pokemon.

"Venusaur, Sludge Bomb!" Globs of sludge collided with the fire to cause an explosion, speading grey smoke over the field. "Vine Whip!" Two vines from the flower on its back lashed out, but caught nothing when the smoke cleared. "Huh?"

"Flamethrower!" A blast of fire came down from the sky and scorched Venusaur's body. It turned out that Salamence flew into air to launch a sneak when the smoke cleared. "Now, use Dragon Claw!"

"Catch it with Vine Whip!" As soon as the dragon's hand was raised, the vines restrained it from moving. "Now, toss it into the water!" Venusaur pulled its vines backwards, along with Salamence, and threw them forward to get Salamence into the water.

"Use Solar Beam right where Salamence is! Go!" Sunlight quickly gathered into its large flower and a clear white beam shot downward into the water. It caused an explosion, causing water and more grey smoke to rise from the field. When Salamence came up, it had fainted.

"Salamence is unable to battle! Venusaur wins! Edric advances to the semifinals!" Loud cheers, and a few jeers, came from the crowd.

"HE DID IT! HE WON!" Davin cheered.

"I can't believe how strong he is! Just awesome!" Maura added.

Haro simply smiled. "You're good, Edric. You're really good."

The winner of the battle jumped across the water and on to the white circle to congratulate his Pokemon with a hug. "You were great as usual, Venusaur! Thank you!"

"Saur~!" It said.

Edric saw Drake jump into the water and go to his Salamence to see if it was okay; he jumped in too and swam to them. "Is it alright?"

"Yes, it should be fine." Drake confirmed as he faced the boy. "I congratulate you, young man. You've used brilliant strategies and tactics in our battle and I can tell that you've raised your Pokemon with a lot of love and care."

"Thank you, Drake. Coming from you, that means a whole lot to me." He smiled.

Both of them shook hands, recalled their Pokemon, swimmed to shore, and exited the arena.