After Ash triumphed over a scientist's Hypno with his faithful Muk, It was finally time where Hau would face against the water type specialist, Misty. Both were walking down the hallway to the battlefield when they started talking.
"Hey Misty, that's a cool piece of jewelry there. What is that, a marble?" The male trainer asked, noticing a blue sphere with a red and black twirling strand in it which Misty used for her ponytail tie.
"Oh this? I found it on a beach. And believe me, it's more than just a decorative marble. You'll see, hehe." The redhead giggled, which confused her upcoming opponent. "Don't worry about it Hau. Just do your best like you always do." She encouraged him, to which he smiled.
"Same to you!" Upon reaching a fork, the two stared at each other confidently before going opposite directions to get to their positions.
"Our fourth battle is a face off between Kahuna Hala's grandson, Hau, and Kanto's water gym leader, Misty Waterflower!"
"What?! Gym leader?!" The native boy gasped, to which Misty sighed.
"We'll discuss this later Hau. Let's focus on the battle at hand! Gyarados, my steady!" Sending out her Atrocious Pokemon which had some headgear with a stone on its forehead, Hau grinned.
"You sure made a mistake Misty! Even if you're a gym leader, you should know I'm going to go with Raichu!" The young male shouted as he sent out his cool surfing electric/psychic type.
"Battle hard, both of you!" Ash yelled from the sides.
"Let's cheer for the both of them on!" Lillie added.
"Alright, battle begin!" Kahuna Oliva started the match.
"Hey Hau, remember when you said my accessory was cool?!" Misty asked her competitor.
"Yeah?" He asked wearly.
"Well, it's not just for show! Let me show you! Strong, valiant, powerful!" The redhead touched the stone, which started to glow. "And now my beautiful blue sweetheart; Mega Evolve!" Gyarados roared as energy surged between it and Misty. Its crest grew bigger, it gained more mass, and with a much more ferocious roar, the water/dragon type: Mega Gyarados! (I'm borrowing from my XYZ story of improved Mega Evolutions. Gyarados is better type wise as a water/dragon type than water/dark, even if the Pokedex entries fit that typing better.)
"What is that?!" Hau gasped from never seeing something like this before.
"Raiiiiii?!" His Raichu was just as terrified.
"Whoa, Misty used Mega Evolution to make her ferocious Gyarados even stronger! As if they weren't bad enough on their own, these Pokemon are destruction incarnate! Will Hau and his Raichu be able to survive this ordeal?!"
"Use Waterfall!" Misty took her first turn, the gigantic Pokemon surging forward with the full force of a geyser.
"Dodge it!" Hau pleaded, but as swift as Raichu was, the Mega Evolved Pokemon was just too fast as it almost ploughed Raichu into the ground, causing a watery explosion as the Mouse Pokemon survived by a very harsh grazing from the water, crying out as he fell to the ground. But despite the hit, he was not knocked out as he rolled onto his back, catching his breath.
"Now use Dragon Tail!" With a glowing green tail, it tried to crush Raichu, but Hau was able to retaliate.
"Counter with Psychic!" With its power, the electric/psychic type was able to barely stop the incoming move, which confused the offensive Pokemon before being slammed into the ground. "Now get on your tail and move as fast as possible!" Getting up onto his floating tail, Raichu tried to use speed to confuse the Atrocious Pokemon.
"That won't work! Use Dragon Tail on the ground!" With another glowing tail attack, it smashed the ground with enough force that it sent rock fragments flying everywhere. The Mouse Pokemon was hit by a flying rock, crying out from the impact, but was able to recover by getting to its feet on the rocks. It was too hazardous to fly now.
"Alright Gyarados! Finish this with Waterfall!" The water type specialist commanded. Needing an edge, Hau pleaded,
"Raichu, use Electric Terrain!" Charging up his power, which generated crackles of lightning bolts, Raichu gave a shout of his name as he filled the whole field with electricity. The air was so potent it even gave Gyarados pause it it stopped its attack, assessing what to do.
"No need to fear my steady! Waterfall!" Heading its master's whim, the water/dragon type continued with its attack, but once Raichu was on his tail, he vanished instantly which only left rocks for it to destroy. All the other rocks eventually crashed into the field.
"Huh?!" Misty was shocked by its sudden speed.
"What happened?" Ash asked Lillie.
"Electric Terrain is a move that, by itself, raises the attack power of electric type moves. But for Raichu exclusively, thanks to its unique ability Surge Surfer, its speed is doubled, meaning its become super fast."
"Whoa, that's awesome! It's like using Agility!"
"It must be the effect of this field." Misty reasoned. "I have to ground it out. Use Bulldoze on the ground to destroy the rocks!" Slamming its tail into the ground again, golden yellow energy spread through the earth of the field before it overall exploded, turning the upheaved rocks into dust, and making the air very dusty. However, it did nothing to the Electric Terrain.
"Nice try, but you can't get rid of it that easily!" Hau laughed. "Raichu, use your speed to make the dust into a tornado around Gyarados!" With its amazing speed, it zoomed around the water/dragon type with such velocity that the dust swirled around the Pokemon like a vortex, obstructing its view.
"No!" Misty gasped.
"Now use Thunderbolt!" Going up to the top where Raichu could see the Atrocious Pokemon, he sent a blast of lightning which shocked the Pokemon, dealing a good bit of damage as it shrieked. The vortex started to disappate, letting Misty see her Pokemon.
"Gyarados, use Dragon Dance!" However, a sparking zap across its body showed that it was paralyzed, leaving the water specialist horrified.
"There we go! Raichu, use Thunderbolt again!" With one last strike of powerful lightning, Raichu zapped the water/dragon type, causing it to scream in dismay just before glowing and reverting back to its normal form, crashing into the ground.
"Gyarados is unable to battle! That means Hau is the winner!"
"We saw power, we saw determination, but by the end of this, the standing winners are Hau and Raichu!" The crowd went wild as Hau laughed and hugged his Pokemon, while his grandfather smiled for his grandson. Misty sighed with disappointment as she returned her Pokemon.
"You were fantastic. Thank you." Misty was feeling down, having dropped out just as she reached the final 16, but Hau approached her and offered her a hand with joyful vigor.
"You were great! I never would've expected something like Mega Evolution! That totally blew my mind! Let's battle again after this with all our Pokemon!" Seeing him praise her so much, his contagious positivity rubbed off on her as she chuckled and shook his hand. "You did great too. That Electric Terrain really turned the battle around in your favor. Thank you for such a great match." They raised their connected hands into the air, and used their other to wave to the crowds which ate it up with how sporting it was.
"Super cool, both of you!" Ash cheered for them.
"What an amazing battle from them both!" Lillie laughed. During the break, as Lillie and Ash were walking to the waiting rooms so they could talk with Misty and Hau, someone they came across was Gladion.
"Gladion." The blonde girl uttered, stopping in her tracks. Both boys stopped to look at her, wondering what she was going to do. Remembering what her friends said, Lillie tensed her face while breathing in, and spoke, "Gladion? I have a favor to ask."
"What's that?"
"Please don't hold back during our battle." He raised an eyebrow to that, so she elaborated with a smile. "Yes, I know what you're thinking, that your battling skills are far beyond my own."
"Lillie-" He tried interrupting her, but she ignored him.
"But... I intend to give everything I've got. Me and my Pokemon! So I'm asking you to please do the same!" Gladion just stood there for a few seconds, before grinning.
"I promise. That was my original plan anyway. I wasn't going to hold back because you're inexperience or my sister." Pausing, he considered his next words before telling her, "Lillie, I heard you and the others. I'm already proud of everything you accomplished and how much you've grown, so you don't need to prove anything. Just focus on the battle, and beating me. That's my favor to ask of you." Lillie was surprised he heard that conversation, but hearing that filled her with more confidence so she nodded.
"Of course!"
"Next in the eighth match of the competition! It's a sibling showdown of the rich and famous Hartley family, it's Gladion and Lillie!"
"Snowy, get ready!" Lillie sent her Fox Pokemon out, while Gladion sent out his Lucario.
"Alright, battle begin!" Hapu declared.
"Snowy, use Hail!" Lillie went first so that her Fox Pokemon could change the weather, and create falling hair, which Lucario was finding annoying. Snowy's ability started to make a mist to make it harder to see.
"Useless. Aura Sphere." Gladion ordered as the Aura Pokemon formed a blue ball of fighting energy, and threw it at Snowy.
"Hide in the mist!" Snowy disappeared into the mist, which the Aura Sphere passed through no problem. It missed where the ice/fairy type stood, but it soon changed direction and exploded where she did stand, causing the beautiful Pokemon to take damage with a groan. Its fairy typing lessened the blow, but it did hurt. She managed to land on her feet.
"Aura Sphere."
"Use Aurora Veil!" Lillie pleaded. Snowy sang which created an aurora around herself. The fighting type move was halted at first, but its power was able to break through after a second and exploded against the Alolan Ninetales, dealing further damage as she yelped in pain. "If I'm going to win this, there's only one way I can do it. A Z-Move." Touching her Z-bracelet, she started to summon the power within, which shocked Gladion with what she was doing. "The falling snow from the skies! Crystals of water constantly shimmering! Lengthening the world with their trusty Z-Power! Together with my fiery spirit, I will win this match!" Enhancing her Ninetales, she shouted, "Subzero Slammer!" Snowy created a tall pillar of ice, and when it stopped growing, Snowy charged up a sphere of icy energy which she fired, hitting Lucario as a cocoon of ice surrounded the blue jackal, which glowed with power full of energy before exploding. Lucario was sent flying, its eyes closed like it had lost, but reopened them to show it was far from done, shocking Lillie.
"Flash Cannon!" Creating a ball of silver energy in his hands, the Aura Pokemon fired a beam of energy which hit Snowy fully in the back while smashing her through the ice pillar, creating an explosion when the two hit the ground.
"Snowy!" Lillie cried out. The smoke cleared to show the ice/fairy type was knocked out. She rushed to her Pokemon, hugging Snowy's head close to her chest. "Snowy, thanks so much." She said with a sad smile and a shimmering tear.
"Ninetales is unable to battle! Which means the winner is Gladion!" Hapu declared. Gladion patted his Lucario with a proud smile. Even though Lusamine wasn't there, she watched the whole match from a TV on Aether Paradise, proud of her children. She then thought about her husband, whom wished he could see how much their children grown. She also shed a tear. Gladion walked up to his sister, whom returned her Pokemon, and they shared eye contact. They stayed still for a moment before he smiled and offered her a hand. She returned the gesture and took it, raising to her feet. Even though she lost, she gave it her best effort. And she had fun too, so with that, it wasn't a loss to her, but a personal, confident win.