The final round approaches.
When Victor returned after healing both himself and his Pokémon in the locker room, the Pokémon doing better than the trainer, he returned to the stadium for the actual fights. Leon, waiting to actually open it, covered his microphone to give Victor a concerned look.
"You look like garbage," he commented, and Victor shrugged.
"You should see the other guy," he said with a pained smile.
"I have seen the other guy," said Leon, and he didn't say anything else before opening the competition. "Ladies and gentlemen, since Chairman Rose is unable to open these ceremonies, I have taken it upon myself to take that role." The crowd cheered for a moment but quieted down shortly to hear what their beloved champion had to say. "Churros. Rubber. Pickle barrel. Chimichanga..."
As the audience started to groan, Hop hid his face in his hands as he nearly died of sheer embarrassment. "How am I related to him?" he asked nobody in particular.
Leon's moronic babbling was interrupted by Victor as he practically climbed the tall man to whisper in his ear. "I'm making a total what of myself?" the champion accidentally asked into the microphone. Then realization struck him as he put down the microphone to keep from repeating the actions on an animated movie he loved as a kid. Once Victor was done, though, he brought the device back up to his lips. "Okay, it turns out that the words I'm supposed to say are supposed to have meaning to them. A heads up would have been nice."
"Leon ruins the finals before they begin," Piers said with a smirk, causing Nessa to give him a small amount of money, and Raihan collected his own winnings from Milo. Allister solemnly shook hands with Bea as the result of a similar bet he made with her.
Leon, desperate to end the awkward moment, quickly grabbed Victor's hand and raised it. "This is Victor Bradley. He stands here today because he kicks butt and proved it. I hope he gets far today, so everybody, cheer him on!" And so the crowd did, making Victor so excited and nervous that he almost felt like puking.
Victor was impressed to see every gym leader he met before, as well as a few he hadn't. Also, among the small crowd was a certain 'hot vampire' that managed to sneak her way in and was having a conversation with her brother.
"I'm going to win this without Dynamax, and It's going to give the people of Spikemuth hope that they can be amazing without it," Piers declared to his sister's amusement.
"And because you traded the Dynamax band the League gave you almost immediately," Marnie said as she rolled her eyes. "I forget if it was for cash or credit."
Piers just smiled. "Fruit roll-ups."
Victor turned his attention towards Gordie, who was talking to a woman with a large amount of white hair wearing a warm white coat and hat and a smile. "Good luck, sweetie," she practically sang as Gordie's face turned a deep red. The woman, almost obliviously, held up a paper bag. "I packed your lunch."
"I don't need you to pack me a lunch, Mum," Gordie said through embarrassment. "I'm a grown man."
His mother only held the bag closer to his face. "I packed apple slices."
Gordie hesitated for a second but then begrudgingly took the bag from her hands. "Thank you," he mumbled.
Victor's attention was drawn to a tanned girl with sand-colored hair that seemed to double the size of her head as she and her Machamp were warming up on the punching bag. "Hey, Bea," Victor said to the familiar face. "What are you doing here?"
"Finals," she bluntly answered, not taking her eyes off the bag. "It wasn't my year for the gym challenge, but I just won Allister's slot."
"Good," Victor smirked. "It might be interesting to have an opponent that I'm not familiar with in the finals."
Bea finally looked at him with a smirk of her own. "We'll see. Right now, Nessa's already waiting for you on the field."
For Victor, it was a Pokémon based adrenaline rush, but the show was rather short from Gloria's perspective. Nessa seemed like a tough battle, but he was able to squeak through with four of his Pokémon and used his Dynamax Grapploct against her Gigantamax Drednaw. After a wait where the group was able to grab lunch and goof off, Victor faced a new challenge in Bea, but her team was almost consistently weak to Victor's Flying-type. But now things were different because now, Victor was only one fight away from facing Leon.
"Are you ready for this?" Raihan asked in amusement.
Victor grinned without a trace of fear present. "I always am," he said as he put his hands over his Pokeballs.
Raihan sent out a Torkoal which tried to roar at the sky as steam released from its shell, rapidly entering the atmosphere and causing the stadium to feel the harsh light of the sun.
Victor immediately sent out Drednaw to utilize type advantage, but his tortoise caught a Yawn from the other. Drednaw was able to defeat Torkoal with a Liquidation, but the Pokémon found himself too exhausted to stay awake, so Victor's only Water-type was out of commission when Raihan sent out Turtonator.
Fraxure was sent onto the field where the opposing Turtonator set up a Shell Trap. Victor countered that by ordering a Dragon Pulse, and the monster turtle was taken down.
Raihan decided to switch strategies by sending out his Flygon to kick up a sandstorm. Victor ordered another Dragon Pulse, but the Flygon was able to survive it and give its foe a Dragon Claw. Fraxure was able to survive giving the winged Pokémon a Dragon Claw of its own to finish it off. Unfortunately, the sandstorm was enough to finish the remaining dragon on the field.
The next round was Goodra vs Excadrill, but Goodra's Rain Dance proved that this was a serious mistake. But feeling that he should push his way through, he ordered a Metal Claw on Goodra, and it took obvious damage. Unfortunately, Excadrill didn't make it through the surf that washed in with the rain. Corvinknight was able to deliver a strong Drill Peck, but Goodra survived to send a Thunder attack to the armored bird covered in raindrops.
Dash was able to finish off the pseudo legendary with a Double Kick, and Raihan shrouded his final Pokeball with Dynamax energy. Victor briefly called Dash back to do the same, and the final match was set between a giant Cinderace and a Gigantamax Duraludon.
Cinderace was the faster Pokémon and attacked with a Max Flare before his opponent could even twitch. The skyscraper of a Pokémon stayed standing, however, and readied its own attack.
"Use Max Rockfall!" Raihan shouted. His Duraludon roared with a force that shook the whole stadium and sent a barrage of rocks down on the rabbit.
Victor's face fell for a moment, but he was able to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw that his partner was still ok. "One more Max Flare!" he shouted, turning back to his opponent. The rabbit complied, sending a burst of fire to the dragon's face.
Duraladon attempted to keep himself up, but the struggle was obvious. "He's just a little tired," his trainer said in mild alarm. "He can fight." The dragon then released the Dynamax energy and shrunk back down. "He's just a little shorter. He can still fight." The Pokémon then sank to its knees, then onto its face. "He just fainted a little. He can still-"
The moment of insanity was cut short by Victor putting a hand on his shoulder. The gym leader didn't even realize that he fell to his knees as well. Victor looked straight into the man's eyes and stared them down. "It's over," Victor said bluntly.
Raihan looked away from Victor, realizing what had happened. "I'm supposed to be Leon's rival," he said in a sad tone. "I'm supposed to be the one who beats him."
"Think of it this way," Victor said. "This can only mean that Leon's about to get his butt kicked."
Raihan began to laugh at that, and Victor soon found himself joining in. "What am I doing?" the dragon trainer rhetorically asked. "I'm a great trainer and Gym Leader. I don't belong on my knees." He got up and aggressively shook Victor's hand. "This is a clear sign that Leon's time is about to come to an end. Show Leon that he's not unbeatable!"
Victor laughed once his head stopped spinning. "I plan to."
"We've been feeding it Wishing Stars, just like you told us to," a Macro Cosmos scientist told Rose as the glass cracked on the dragon's prison. "But we might have overdone it."
Another red pulse of energy shot from the giant orb, and thick, dark smog seeped from the cracks. Red eyes glimmered in the darkness, and the beast growled at its surroundings.
"What do we do, Mr. Chairman?" Oleana asked, masking her emotions behind a calm face as usual, despite the sweat dripping down her face.
The Chairman wiped the sweat from his own brow and pointed at another employee. "Call the Champion and get him here immediately."
"I tried just a minute ago," she said with a gulp.
"And?"
She looked sheepishly at the floor. "He said to call back in an hour."
Rose grumbled a few curse words under his breath and pulled on his tie as if it strangled him. He then turned to Oleana, knowing that there was only one thing left to do. "Prepare a broadcast," he said. "We have an announcement to make."
The earth then shook violently as if to highlight his point, and the beast roared as it released more energy.
Victor: Dash (Cinderace) Corviknight, Drednaw, Excadrill, Fraxure, Grapploct
Gloria: Ace (Inteleon) Dishwasher (Obstagoon) Rogue (Thievul) Hattie (Hatterene) Harry (Grimmsnarl) Stabitha (Pawniard)