After crossing the bridge, I used this small break to release all pokemon and heal them, some of them even had to be revived. Moment became the first victim of this fight… Followed then by Loser`s sacrifice. The third battle was very tense and hard, but we managed to overcome it. The next one is going to be even harder.
Finishing all the preparations, I headed forward through the next huge gate.
I entered the large room decorated to be somewhat of a mountain or canyon. The floor of stadium is all solid rock and boulders, once more reminding me of Brock`s gym. The main difference is lot of large sharp bones sticking out of the ground. Looks like an excavation site of some sort. I wonder what this challenge actually will be.
"And now, we are all r-ready to continue!" The commentator over me announced the end of break. "It`s a rare sight when challenger manages to reach this point, but here he is! Facing the last of Elite Four. How will this end? We`ll see."
I carefully reached the position of challenger and looked down. The field looks bigger and deeper than previous ones, at least, on the first sight. Floor is pretty rough and broken, like it isn`t suitable for fighting on it at all. This may become a problem for me.
But now my attention was attracted by the sound of elevating platform on the other side. That platform carried a tall man in dark-blue suit and large remarkable red cape. Since the very first second our eyes met I felt power in him. His brutal look pierced my soul, leaving no chance of escaping his glance…
"Ah! I've heard about you." He said with a small smile. "The rumors about some new trainer in our lands that invented a whole new style of battle… The style of tricks and cunning. I knew you would appear here one day. Seeing how you battle my colleagues I had no doubts that I recognized you."
"Well… I can consider this a praise, maybe?" I confusedly answered, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
The man closed his eyes and crossed hands on chest.
"I lead the Elite Four. You can call me Lance the dragon trainer."
Oh my god… The dragon trainer? I`ve heard about dragons a bit, but never encountered in person. That`s a type of pokemon even rarer than ghosts. And trainers that specialize on them… are even rarer. That means this battle will have EVERYTHING new to me.
"You know that dragons are mythical Pokémon." Lance continued. "They're hard to catch and raise, but their powers are superior. They're virtually indestructible. There's no being clever with them."
I feel him to be right, and this, honestly speaking, scares me.
"Well, are you ready to lose? Don`t think your tricks will work on me, but I wish to see you try. Your League challenge ends with me, Vengeance!" Lance opened his cape wide, revealing a belt with a set of five pokeballs. Grabbing the first one, he threw it down the field and released a massive figure of dragon-like pokemon. To my surprise, this figure was familiar to me - it was Gyarados. It`s not actually a dragon-type, but looks and fights like a real dragon, that`s for sure.
I`m sure that rough power will be needed later, so it`s better to keep Lei Sheng for now. Let Dumpling have some fun!
"Dumpling, I choose you!" I said, sending Charizard into the fight. Lance narrowed his eyes, seeing how another dragon-like pokemon enters the field.
"THAT is the spirit! Gyarados, start with Bite!" Lance gladly started the fight. "Come on, Vengeance, show me one of your maneuvers!"
I noticed the curious look on Lance`s face. It`s like he really wishes to see my maneuvers in action. I can grant him that wish.
"Heh, no problem. Dumpling, start with Iron Rogue maneuver!"
Opposing Gyarados opened his mouth wide to launch an attack and rushed to my Dumpling. But he is prepared already – on the close distance he spit a huge stream of dark smoke right into opponent`s mug to blind him and create a smoke veil over the field that hid him. Gyarados barely could touch the tail of my pokemon, but we left unharmed.
Lance showed a deep thought on his face. He thinks how to fight and counter us. That`s interesting – we`re giving a challenge to the Elite Four member! A thing to be proud of, I guess.
"Use Dragon Rage, Gyarados!" The opponent finally decided his move.
My pokemon already knew, what move he needs to execute now. Under the cover of smoke he flew up to the monster`s head and slashed it with steel-powered wings. Gyarados got a nice hit but also found out where Dumpling is hiding, and targeted his destructive beam right there, hitting the mark too.
The battle is heating up. Gyarados can be very dangerous when battling him close, so we need to act carefully and keep a distance.
"Let`s go up, Dumpling, use Fly!" I gave a command.
"Ooh, perfect! Use Twister, Gyarados!" With sudden excitement Lance shouted.
Charizard jumped high up and headed to the ceiling where Gyarados should not reach him. And he did not. But his damn Twister did! Opponent summoned a high destructive tornado of pure energy that reached my pokemon even there. Dumpling was caught in this madness and thrown right at the ceiling he was near, getting some decent damage.
"Great! Now Bite it!" My opponent shouted with determination.
In this round my pokemon needed to finish his own move, so Dumpling knew what to do. He accelerated from above, aiming to hit Gyarados right at his face, and so did the opponent – prepared to a collision too. Two pokemon struck each other with full might, but we got a bit of disadvantage – the enemy grabbed a tight bite on Dumpling`s tail and didn`t let to be thrown back after being hit with Fly attack. Instead of it, my Charizard got thrown back and his tail stretched, that was hurt too. But at the peak of tension Gyarados let his prey free, and damned physics sent my pokemon flying into the nearest wall.
"Ha-ha! Finish it with Hyper Beam!" Lance loudly shouted, laughing at us.
"Oh no-no-no!" I exclaimed. "Dumpling, stop him! Smokescreen!"
Getting out of a dent he made in the cliff was difficult, but Charizard made it. Just when Gyarados was about to unleash the powerful beam f destructive energy, Dumpling shot a cloud of black smoke in his face and knocked down his sight. The Hyper beam went barely near, striking the cliff and bringing down the ground above right on my clumsy Charizard.
"Dumpling!" I shouted with worry. "Are you okay?"
Very quickly the claw appeared from under the rocks, swept away the rubble, and then the whole body of angry pokemon appeared. My Dumpling is far from the end, at least, mentally. But his body starts to give up slowly…
"Quickly, get out! And use Steel Wing!" With a bunch of hope I shouted.
"Don`t let it get out!" Lance shouted to his partner. "Finish it with Hyper Beam!"
Dumpling had a lot of troubles with getting his body out of the rubble – some really large boulders blocked his tail. This angered him, but he could not do much. The powerful beam of destructive energy struck him and exploded a huge cloud of dust that enveloped the whole place…
The moment of tension made me shiver. I expected my pokemon to lie unconscious when the cloud faded… But he did not!
Instead, very angry and heavily breathing Charizard remained in the pile of rubble. Hyper beam freed him, but also opened his second breath – Blaze. Still, this won`t help us much…
Just if just he doesn`t do something amazing.
Releasing a wall-shaking roar, full of fury, Dumpling jumped in the air and burned like a star. The flame covered his body – even on the distance I could feel the heat. He turned himself into a blazing meteor that headed to Gyarados. On the impact the huge flame explosion threw back both battlers, sucking out the last strength of the enemy… and my pokemon. Dumpling performed an amazing new move, but did not withstand its destructive effect. He tried to stand up and roared, stating that he is still in the game, but unfortunately fell after this.
"What an amazing sight! Both pokemon are unable to continue battle!" Somehow, the commentator sounded inspired by these words.
Lance chuckled a bit, satisfied, and returned his fallen pokemon before paying attention to me.
"Heh, you seem to be surprised…" He addressed me. "Pokemon can surprise you even if you know them for ages."
"I know them for some months, so I got used to it." I answered to his comment and returned my pokemon too. I have just witnessed something really good happening… Gonna check it later after this battle, however it ends.
"Then you have much to learn. I`ll help you." With a cunning smile, my opponent replied and sent out his second pokemon on the field.
My next opponent appeared to be a long snake-like pokemon of blue color. The body was very thin and gracious, had small round crystals on tail and near head that was ornamented with small wings.
This is something new. Doesn`t look much of dragon, but looks can be deceiving. Maybe, this thing can fly and is very fast. I will need someone that can fly better and faster.
"Moment, let`s go!" I made a choice and threw my pokeball on the field, releasing a Golbat outside.
"Hmph…" Lance snorted, crossing his hands. "This is smart. Let`s see how you handle this. Hyper beam!"
Oh crap, this one knows Hyper beam too? We sure need to watch out for that.
"Dodge that, Moment! And after that use Poison Fang!"
My pokemon prepared to made his favorite spiral dodging technique when the enemy launched his powerful Hyper Beam. This destructive stream of energy barely missed my pokemon, but when Golbat reached him – the successful sound of poisonous fangs crunching the body of opponent pleased me and the viewers. We even managed to poison him! Isn`t that a good start?
But Lance didn`t look very worried about the poison.
"Dragonair, use Dragon Rage!" He commanded to his pokemon.
"Well, we will use Wing Attack!" I did so too.
Moment returned on a high speed back to his opponent to launch a powerful strike with his wings, hurting the dragon pokemon. This obviously was not enough, and the offended enemy avenged himself with a strike of Dragon Rage that temporarily knocked my Golbat down the air.
This creature is really strong, and seems to specialize on distant attacks. We could use this in our favor, if only…
The sudden glow of Dragonair distracted me from my thoughts. Firstly, I thought it is the effect of our poison causes such glow, but no – instead of suffering from our attack, the enemy… shook his body, just throwing down all ill-looking scales and returned back to normal!
Now we DEFINITELY need to find an advantage to this battle! If this pokemon can cure its own poison… What the heck else it can do?
"Dragon Rage, once more!" Feeling the heat of battle, Lance ordered.
"We can`t let this stay! Poison Fang!" I insisted on Dragonair staying poisoned.
Moment was glad to make it happen. The bat pokemon again rushed to his opponent with jaw opened wide and pierced him, spreading the poison on his body. Of course, Dragonair wasn`t glad with this and returned the favor with a blast of dragon power and threw Golbat back. This attack was really powerful and took much of strength out of my pokemon.
Damn it! He is really strong… Moment can`t withstand this for too long. I guess, it`s time to start gambling.
"Moment, use Confuse Ray!" I gave a command.
"Dragonair, use Hyper Beam!"
Golbat flew a bit back and launched a colorful ray of energy at the opponent, exploding the mind of Dragonair and confusing him. After some quick blinks, dragon pokemon still managed to find my partner and then launched a really strong energy beam that Moment could not dodge anymore. This struck him at high power and threw back into the rocky hill just where Dumpling recently was caught by the same move. But Moment did not survive this. The damage was too much for him to handle.
"Golbat is unable to battle! Dragonair wins the round!" The sad results were announced.
What did I do wrong? I can`t tell right now. Maybe, I was mistaken in relying on speed? Or I did not expect this pokemon to be able to take much more damage than Moment? Dragon type really is something unknown to me.
Eh, doesn`t matter now. The battle continues.
"Loser, finish the job!" I exclaimed loudly, replacing the fallen Golbat with Gengar. "Start with Hypnosis!"
This time we had some time to take control over the field, as Dragonair needs to recharge his energy after the use of Hyper Beam. So while the weird dragon pokemon breathes heavily and rests, my Gengar casted his spell to lay the opponent asleep. Our foe laid down and snored quietly and, have to say, cutely.
"Nice! Now strike him at full power! Shadow Ball!" I shouted to Gengar, feeling the close victory.
"This will calm you down." Lance calmly said to me, throwing a small bottle at his pokemon. It exploded on contact, showering Dragonair with medicine and immediately healing and waking him up. Damn it!
Still, she Shadow Ball from our side reached the foe and struck him hard. Angered dragon looked at us and growled menacingly. But now he can`t attack us with his damn Hyper Beams! What are you gonna do now, ha?
Lance thinks again. He knows that we took his super weapon away, and now he needs to act differently.
"Use Outrage, Dragonair!" I heard the command from the opposing side.
"Shadow Ball, Loser, once more!"
Our opponent roared loudly and rushed to us, enraged like a berserk. The dark ball from us hit him on the way, but this slowed him just a bit. He collided with Loser on high speed and threw him back. Gengar recovered after that and screeched in return.
This move looks interesting… And also Lance doesn`t seem to be going to give another command. It`s whether his Dragonair already knows what to do next, or… this move may work just like Rollout – repeating again and again until the enemy falls down. Then we can use a bit of ability to predict them. I looked at the energy screen to check whether we have a chance to implement this in life.
We can.
"Launch another Shadow Ball, Loser, give it your best shot!" I cunningly ordered.
Loser is extremely good at launching distanced attacks like this one – and it`s for a reason. The sphere of wild dark energy appeared in the hands of Gengar and headed to our opponent, striking him in the face and hurting like hell. Still enraged Dragonite survived this and gave an answer to this in the form of another Outrage. This hurts a lot too, but now we can have the final answer.
I can already see the tense on Lance`s face. He doesn`t expect what`s coming.
"Sucker Punch!" I gave the command to my partner.
After my words Elite Four Lance lowered his eyesight, already conceding defeat.
His pokemon rushed to mine to perform another wild Outrage move, but Loser used the moment of distraction to vanish into the shadows and appear right behind the enemy. A strong attack hit the head of Dragonair, making him lose the focus and fall on the ground with just a bit of strength. Not so much time after that the dragon pokemon was finally defeated.
"Dragonair is unable to battle, Gengar is the winner!" Loudly the commentator announced, and THIS is what I like more to hear. Judging by the sudden wave of cheers from the crowd, they like to hear it too.
"Smart thinking, mister Vengeance…" Lance said with an intriguing voice. "I wonder if you can find the secret of my next pokemon."
And he hurried to replace his fallen Dragonair… with another Dragonair. But this one was bigger and meaner.
Okay, now think… Try to predict this monster. Try to predict his master. His previous pokemon played aggressively and hastily – he tried to overpower me and my partner. Well, Lance himself looks like a person that just prefers to crush… with the use of his mighty dragons, of course. That means we should act carefully and play from defense.
"Okay, Loser, let`s start with Sucker Punch." I carefully continued the battle.
"Thunder wave, Dragonair!"
That`s how we failed. Gengar could not land a hit, but his opponent easily struck him with a light electric bolt and paralyzed his body.
He suddenly started playing smart! That is some cunning dragon trainer here… Now we got ourselves a paralyzed ghost on the edge of his second life. Only pure luck can help us now. But what if we can take another chance?
"Hypnose him!" I shouted.
"Heh… Safeguard, Dragonair!" With a smile, Lance said.
My poor paralyzed Gengar tried to focus on the opponent and hypnotize him, but Dragonair first summoned the energetic barrier before him that reflected our move. Safeguard, as I know, protects the enemy from all status effects… So we can`t use tricks anymore.
"Use Shadow Ball, Loser!" I commanded a full attack, knowing that the foe will do now the same. At least, this time he didn`t disappoint me.
"Outrage, Dragonair!"
But it was Loser`s turn to disappoint me. He tried his best to overcome the damn paralysis chaining his body, but couldn`t make it. He fell on his short knees and lost focus to throw dark balls. But Dragonair`s power was unmatched – the strong enraged attack hit my Gengar and pressed him into the cliff, crumbling the ground with his ethereal body.
Time is almost over… We have to make it.
"Loser… Speed Chant maneuver!" With all my seriousness I said.
Gengar also seriously nodded and prepared for this. Dragonair roared once more and rushed to him for another attack, but my pokemon turned into the shadow and appeared right behind the opponent… but did not hit him. The trick of this maneuver is to use Sucker Punch just to dodge the attack, our move itself is the Curse. So Loser luckily casted the dark energy that struck him, knocked him down and then moved onto the Dragonair. That is the least we could do now.
"What a sight! Gengar is sacrificed in the name of victory, but is no more unable to continue!" The host shockingly commented my move. "Dragonair emerges victorious for now… But for how long?"
Not for long. I swear it.
I returned Loser back into his greatball and then measured the depth of ass I got myself into. This monster will continue to rampage, and we need something to withstand it. My fastest and the most agile pokemon are down… Or maybe I can make another one agile? I just need him to survive a bit. With enough speed he will be able to destroy the opponent faster than falls himself.
That`s a decent idea.
"Reaper, come on out!" I loudly shouted, releasing my yellow monster on the field. "Use Agility!"
"Keep outraging, Dragonair." Lance calmly said, letting his pokemon to continue the rampage, and the monster gladly executed it. Beedrill prepared himself to accept this attack, but managed to warm up him muscles before both battlers collided. Agile Reaper turned up in the air and safely landed, ready to continue. But for Dragonair it was much harder to recover after this collision – the blind fury overcame him and caused a strong confusion. Of course, the curse remained upon him and brought even more suffering. Judging by the face of Lance, he didn`t like all that.
"And now let`s attack with Pin missile!" I squeezed my fist and kicked it forward.
"Stay strong, Dragonair!" Lance cheered his pokemon. "Snap out of it and use Hyper beam!"
My partner aimed his stings at the enemy and tensed them to produce a pack of small but sharp pins that head right at the opponent and struck him mercilessly. One after another, the small bullets pressed Dragonair back, until he screamed from pain and launched a powerful laser. Both of us thought that our opponent is finished, and we didn`t expect that he still has strength to fight. Reaper was really caught by surprise by that and got the strike right into his small face.
After taking a hit he got up and buzzed really painfully, but also angrily. He survived the Hyper Beam, and now he is fully ready to crush.
"Come on, Reaper, strike with Twineedle!" I yelled with anticipation.
Reaper jumped forward and accelerated in the direction of enemy that tried to focus his breath and at least try to dodge the attack, but the sight of crazy bee coming upon his soul paralyzed Dragonair, and he took the hit effortlessly and fell on the ground, defeated at last.
"Dragonair is unable to battle, Beedrill is the winner!" The result was declared, and the sides were cheered on. Another one is down, still two more to go.
"This is becoming more and more interesting…" Lance quietly praised me. "Let`s see how you deal with THIS!"
And he released the next battler before me, appearing to be a pretty big Aerodactyl. I was pretty shocked by this sight, considering Bill earlier saying that these pokemon to be very rare. Seems like not THAT rare.
But what I also know about Aerodactyls is that they are really strong and fast. With Reaper barely on the edge, we can`t face him now. I need some fresh blood.
"You did a good job, Reaper. Go have some rest." I said to my pokemon while returning him. "Harry, you`re on!" With these words Victreebel entered the field and raised his gaze upon the hovering enemy. They greeted each other with blood-lusted cries and retreated to their positions.
"Looks like you made a mistake…" Lance shook his head disapprovingly. "Aerodactyl, use Wing attack!"
Ouch… I completely forgot that Aerodactyl is half-flying type. This means my plan to counter rock with grass failed miserably… Well, we will have to improvise once more.
"Fine! Start with Stun Spore then!" I commanded to my Harry.
The enemy accelerated in Harry`s direction to fight in a melee combat. Aerodactyl was fiercely swiping Victreebel with powerful wings, but Harry withstood this onslaught and launched a cloud of spores at the opponent, paralyzing his body. Aerodactyl snorted and retreated back, shaking with all his body. Despite getting the first damage, Harry roared at his foe like a dominator. I like this spirit.
"Don`t let him push you!" The opposing trainer scolded his partner for this retreat. "Push HIM! Wing Attack, once more!"
"Not gonna happen. Harry, use Flash!" I gave the command.
Paralyzed Aerodactyl lost all his advantage, and now we got the chance to strike first. The powerful flash blinded the fossil pokemon heading to us and took him off course. Aerodactyl missed and crushed into the ground right near Harry.
"Get up! Use Hyper Beam, right now!" Lance sounded to be really pissed off.
"That`s no use." I mocked him a bit. "Razor Leaf, Harry!"
Using the moment of delay, Victreebel launched some of small sharp leaves in the air and sent them into the poor Aerodactyl, still trying to get up from ground. The paralysis was blocking all his movement, and even dodging was impossible.
"Back, go back!" Lance directed his pokemon, feeling a bit worry. "Attack with Ancient power from a safe distance!"
Now they are playing safe. Fine, I can use it. We still have the same Razor Leaf! Of course, we also have Acid, but it won`t be that effective.
"You know what? Let`s try out Blade Tornado maneuver while he`s still nearby." I chose my next move.
Harry nodded and jumped to approach the enemy that tried to take off. Aerodactyl struggled, but slowly was actually getting up, so Victreebel stood right under him and began to send tons of small sharp leaves while spinning. Our foe was caught into the tornado and thrown high enough up just to be hit into the ceiling.
"Get yourself together! Attack him! Attack!" Lance was trembling with rage. He just couldn`t see his powerful dragon gets beaten by a Victreebel. Everyone underestimates Victreebels.
"Meet him with another Razor Leaf!" I gave the final command.
Aerodactyl barely got unstuck from the ceiling and headed down. Maybe, he was not actually flying but falling towards my pokemon over there, but he at least tried to put his wings in front to attack. But the stream of leaves struck him in his way, knocking down the enemy that… just fell down on Harry.
The impact raised the slight cloud of dust, from which my pokemon soon appeared, getting from under the body of fallen Aerodactyl. Victreebel was even surprised by this turn of events.
"Aerodactyl is unable to battle, Victreebel wins the round!" The announcement reached my ears, pleasing more than ever.
"Hmph!" Lance snorted disapprovingly. "I see… You can make a warrior out of everyone. Nice performance. I actually was caught off guard."
This… somehow sounded like a praise, but didn`t feel like it. I didn`t care anyway.
"You managed to break through all my best pokemon… except for one." Lance brutally informed me after returning his last fighter back and getting an ultraball into his hand. "The best of the best. Dragonite, crush him!"
The thrown pokeball turned into an energy explosion that formed a tall and wide figure of a real dragon. The hard-looking orange body of a menacing monster, covered with small scales. It somehow resembled Dragonair with light curves of his body, but much fatter, I have to say. Also his head was ornamented with two very thin antennae. Overall I could call him a very fat Charizard. Still, it doesn`t take away the potential he emits…
"So, this is how the Dragonite looks…" I amazedly exclaimed. These pokemon are VERY rare, maybe even close to legendary pokemon. I heard some people call these semi-legendary for their rarity and power… And right now I`m going to stand against one of them. "It is an honor to have such opponent today."
"The same goes to me." Lance slightly nodded in reply and struck his hand forward. "Dragonite, use Wing Attack!"
"Harry, answer him with Flash!"
The dragon pokemon was not much faster than my Victreebel, but he managed to spread his wings wide and slash the flycatcher pokemon with full power, causing him to scream and retreat back. There`s not much he can do now, so after a successful use of Flash by my Harry I decided to save him and returned back.
"Now the real battle starts!" And I grabbed the greatball containing my biggest and meanest pokemon. In a bright flash and with loud roar Lei Sheng appeared. The crowd also loudly cheered us up, really awaiting for the return of this monster.
"Impressive. You have a style too." Lance said, observing the monster on my side. Realizing that finally he got a worthy opponent, he nodded with approval. "Let the strongest dragon win! Dragonite, use Safeguard!"
"Start with Dragon Dance, Lei Sheng." I calmly said, satisfied with this small prediction. He plays it safe – we play it safer.
Two pokemon began to cast their own spells – Lei Sheng warmed up his body and muscles to gain more speed and strength, meanwhile Dragonite created a magic wall protecting him from status ailments. But I wonder what status ailment he could expect from Gyarados, though?
"Perform another Dragon Dance, Lei Sheng!" I gave another command, trying to get as much power as I can. We definitely need it all. This battle starts slowly, but truly.
"Proceed with Wing attack, now!" Lance shouted at his pokemon.
Gyarados turned around himself a couple of times to empower himself even more, and then was hit with Dragonite`s wings in the face. Such a hit shifted my titanic monster away like a small boulder. But this will not stop us!
"Come on, Dragon Dance, once more!" With determination I gave another command.
"I see your plan… I`ll break it! Hyper Beam, NOW!"
Lei Sheng repeated the dance again, getting even stronger and faster from this performance. Just as he finished, the energetic beam of destructive energy reached him and threw back into the cliff, crushing the ground with really huge power. Lei Sheng is far from finished, but for now Dragonite has the initiative.
I noticed a drop of worry in the eye of my Gyarados. He is a really tough and hardy pokemon. but taking hits from Dragonite is really painful. Everyone has its limits. The ancient dragon ritual gave him ultimate strength, but still we need to use it until we`re done.
"And now… Begin to Bite him!" I ordered.
"Dodge that, Dragonite!" Lance gave an order too, perfectly knowing that after a successful Hyper Beam his pokemon won`t be able to attack for a while.
My Lei Sheng – a six-meter-long dragon – turned into a lightning and reached the back of for in a mere seconds, launching an attack that is barely impossible to dodge. He bit through his wing, dealing really good amount of damage.
"Get closer and use Outrage!" The leader of Elite Four yelled at his pokemon, squeezing his fists and even bending forward. I clearly saw his anticipation at its fullest – maybe he could jump there and battle himself, if he could. This - is a spirit of the real trainer.
Sometimes I feel the same myself. Sometimes I wish to be there, near my pokemon and battle together with them too. To feel the heat that our pokemon feel… But… such battle would be too weird, even for my standards. Or is it me who just likes too much to punch Arboks` mugs?
"Bite him again, aim for the legs!" I immediately returned from my thoughts to the battlefield.
The battle finally began to heat on for REAL. Lei Sheng once again moved behind the opponent and painfully bit him in the leg, making him slip and lose the focused strength. Finally, we caused the effect of flinching – we may still have the chance…
…or not, because Dragonite immediately recovered after the hit and regained all the power he prepared to launch an attack on my Gyarados and rushed to him, ramming into his body. With such incredible strength Lei Sheng was once more thrown back very far. Resisting the pain, my pokemon put all his strength to get up and roar loudly to state his ability to continue.
How could this Dragonite resist the effect of flinching? I have never seen anything like this before, the move Bite never failed us if had this effect at all.
Ugh, it doesn`t matter. This Outrage hit us really bad, and I know that there will be more. He won`t stop until one of us is done. We`re strong and fast, so maybe we can try some good old hit-and-run tactics?
"Lei Sheng, keep distance away from him! And use Hydro Pump!"
Gyarados agreed to me and headed back to the safe distance from Dragonite and prepared to launch an attack of his own. Enraged opponent quickly found his prey and rushed to him, read to unleash all his fury upon my massive partner. Yet he was stopped by a strong stream of water right into his face. With all might in his possession he overcame the Hydro Pump and reached Lei Sheng to land a hit, but it was definitely much weaker than Lance expected. Yet, it was still really strong. Even under such pressure Dragonite gives his best and trashes my Gyarados like a toy! Even a hard pokemon like this has limits.
So, what do we have? We buffed Lei Sheng`s strength and speed, but I fear to come closer to this monster – his short hands and head are too strong to underestimate. With the help of Dumpling and his Smokescreen we could get an advantage and cover, but now… We have to think of something.
I looked around me. The battlefield turned into a wasteland with hills destroyed and turned upside down… Many of them have prints of pokemon body here and there, reminding me of how we got there. What else could we do to protect us and weaken Dragonite? These huge bones?
…these huge bones! I`m an idiot, how could I not pay attention to them? They are like placed here just for this reason!
"Position command, Lei Sheng!" I ordered to my pokemon, pointing at the huge skull. I don`t think it is real, but it can help us a lot.
Gyarados actually headed to the destination and jumped into the huge prehistoric mouth, hiding behind the fangs. Hey, they actually look familiar. Maybe this is the skull of a huge Gyarados himself! How curious…
But Dragonite was not curious at all. Even without commands from his trainer, he kept rampaging all over the place. He followed my pokemon to the very hideout and crushed inside without hesitation.
"And now get on the top and use Water Pack maneuver!"
Dragonite slashed the place before him, but Lei Sheng was there no more. The agile monster already got to the top of the skull and after a short jump he erupted the powerful stream of water under him. Such strength made the fragile skull literally close itself… and the Dragonite in it. Gyarados was thrown back from the power of stream and landed on the hill nearby.
The dust raised high, covering the crime scene for a while. Everyone on the stadium hold their breath, awaiting for the answer – will Dragonite be able to survive after this?
Such was until the black figure appeared in the veil of dust and roared loudly and fiercely.
He did this.
"USE HYPER BEAM!" Lance shouted so loud like he was going to use Hyper Beam himself.
"No way! Hydro Pump!" I immediately countered that and looked at the screen.
Yes, the end is very close. For both of them.
Two pokemon launched their attacks at the same time, and powerful streams of water and energy collided together. No one was going to give up, no one was willing to lose. Each of them pressed up on their opponent, but the powers were equal.
But then, for a mere piece of second, I caught Lei Sheng`s eye on me. He was full of determination to win this for me. Just as I caught and raised him with hope and care, he got trust in me. When no one believed in him… I believed. The only one.
Professor said he had some remaining energy from previous owners. There were trainers that tried to raise him as Magikarp but gave up.
I did not. I had hope. And this is exactly what we need now. One last push.
Lei Sheng saw all that in my eyes in a single moment. He failed his previous trainers… but he never failed me. And he is not going to!
Gaining all the last strengths he still has, he opened his mouth wider and literally spit even larger and stronger stream of water that pushed Dragonite`s beam back. Our opponent tried to resist it, but he already lost all his energy, and the mix of both streams returned back on him, covering him in a huge but marvelous explosion that literally showered the very stadium with small drops of water.
Dragonite was defeated.
"Oh my god, this is just SO TENSE! SO AMAZING! I have never seen such battle before!" The commentator was shouting in pure excitement. "Unbelievable, Gyarados finally overcomes Dragonite and emerges victorious from this round AND this battle, thus bringing his master Vengeance another victory in the Indigo Pokemon League!"
Stadium was swallowed by ovations and cheers. Viewers went completely crazy from the sight they saw, I was even stunned for some moment.
"That's it! I hate to admit it, but you are a real Pokémon master!" Lance clapped to me on the other side of the field. "Only the strongest can reach this point… To defeat the strongest of Elite Four." Then Lance made some steps back and pressed some button on the wall behind him. This immediately activated the bridge over the battlefield for me to cross. "So come, Vengeance! Let me congratulate you personally and shake your man hand!"
Without a second thought, I automatically returned triumphant Gyarados and moved forward. Very soon I actually reached Lance and shook his hand.
He was telling me something… but I didn`t hear him. I tried my best to pull my thoughts together, but it was tough.
Only when Lance released my hand, I finally snapped out of my confusion.
I… won? I have defeated the last of the Elite Four! How could this even be possible? This definitely is a dream…
"…five minutes to get prepared." Lance`s last words reached my ears. "Is it enough?"
"Y-yes." I replied, a bit lost.
"Then let`s get to it!" He tapped my shoulder and headed to the gates, awaiting for me.
Wait, is he going to lead me somewhere? I might have missed some vital information. Well, I guess, it`s time to heal my pokemon and move on.
I didn`t lose any more time and hurried to restore the strength of my team as fast as I can. Each battle we have more and more losses… Because each battle is twice harder than the previous one. No, triple harder… Four times harder! This is just indescribable.
But we break through it. We win. And I`m going to face any challenge that awaits for me now. Maybe, Dumpling`s new trick can help us…
The move he suddenly tried to perform is called Flare Blitz – an extremely powerful fire-type attack that is even hurt to execute. Well, Dumpling rarely plays safe… And we sure need all the power we can get now. So I used TM-case to fix this and returned to healing.
Noticed that I finished with bringing back my team to condition, Lance approached me again and sighed:
"I still can't believe my dragons lost to you, Vengeance." He honestly admitted and invited me to proceed forward, also opening the gates.
We went into a long hallway decorated with red plates and lots of torches. The even bigger gate awaits for us in the end, but on the way my companion decided to talk a bit.
"One day I was the strongest pokemon trainer in Kanto, you know? I was the champion." He bragged about himself.
"Really?" I asked him, expressing polite interest. "And how was it?"
"Pretty interesting job, but too much paperwork." He admitted and laughed kindly. "Still, you have to face strong trainers and even regularly battle members of the Elite Four that always hunger for you place."
"You must be a celebrity then!" I commented this.
"Yes, I was. Oh, I was. But you know what? By defeating previous champion, trainers become new champions." On these words he stopped and seriously looked at me. "Do you know what that means? You are now the Pokémon League Champion!"
This shock struck my head like hell.
"WHAT?!"
"…Or, you would have been, but you have one more challenge left." Lance smiled and softened his voice, stating that was a joke. "I said I WAS a champion. That means I`m no more. For you… there is one more Trainer to face!"
We reached the huge gates and finally entered the last battlefield.
This one looked pretty high-tech, covered with metallic plates all over the place, weird notchings on the floor and high columns near the corners of which, by the way, were many. This room was much smaller than previous ones and had a form of octagon. All tribunes here are positioned vertically, thus giving everyone the best view of the field… which is not lowered. The battlefield and trainers` positions are on the same level, like we are used to. Yes, this place DEFINITELY fits for a final battle with the champion himself. I just wonder who he is…
"Hey there, ScrewDriver! I was looking forward to seeing you!" The sudden familiar voice reached me from the very other end of field. It even made the whole my body twitch.
I looked far to realize who is the figure on the other side, I did not believe my ears. But then I stopped to believe my eyes too.
The one guy I knew for so long, since the very childhood. The one guy, that literally accompanied me on the whole my journey across the Kanto. The one guy, that I COULD NOT believe to see here at all. Definitely not on this place.
Even my eye began to twitch nervously. This is an illusion, right? This just can`t be right. This cant` be true!
It just cannot be true! There is no way that right now, right here on the place of champion, HE stands!
The one and only…
Douchebag.