Pre-chapter A/N; Since everyone is asking for one of these, here's a breakdown of the character names before we get into things
Broly - Kleavor
Quicksilver - Pidgeot (dead)
Kisame - Milotic
Igneel - Charizard
Kenpachi - Tyranitar
Ino - Gardevoir
Snorlax - Snorlax
Tsunade - Clefable
Gai - Hakomo-o
Magnezone - Magnezone
Hashirama- Trevenant
Special thanks to the folks on pa-atreon for making this possible. Now without further ado let's get into it.
My last battle for the day, and coincidentally, for this state of the selection tournament was against one of the other trainers who had managed to make his way through all his opponents, Bruno. Yes, that Bruno. Bruno of the elite four was my last opponent, and I was practically vibrating with anticipation. The nervous energy moving through my body made even Sabrina give up on calming me down.
My first battle against a member of the elite four. Sure, since we'd both won all our battles, there was no chance of either of us failing to qualify. The fact that it was an elite battle added all the tension that the lack of stakes was supposed to remove right back into the equation. If I wasn't the one preparing to battle, I'd probably have some wisecrack comment about how the people in this world seemed to care about the most minor of things like a battle with no real stakes beyond personal pride. But now? I knew there were stakes. I had to prove to myself that I had the strength to fuck around at this level. When I eventually got selected for the tournament, I didn't want anyone to have any doubts as to my strength. No, they should only doubt my sanity.
I was called up to the stage for the last, final battle of the day. It was either an extraordinary coincidence or someone was pulling a lot of strings, because Bruno and I had the last battle of the day. The participants had been weeded all through the day, as more people got disqualified for passing the maximum amount of possible losses and draws that would allow qualification, so as the day progressed, the battlers had become fewer and the battles had become more interesting. Apart from Sabrina, the only other interesting person to qualify for the next round was a trainer who used a Typlosion of all things and sent his opponents packing with nasty burns. Igneel would love to fight against that guy, and I hoped the matchup came to fruition.
Against Bruno, my options were numerous. I lost the coin toss and was slated to release first, so I prepared my choice and held the pokeball tightly in my hand. Logically, Ino was the best choice by a wide margin. Fighting types had weaknesses to both fairies and psychics, of which Ino was both. Of course, this world did not run on logic and Gai took the field. Of all my teammates, he wanted this match the most and to deny him the opportunity was to say I didn't believe in his strength. I doubted there was a quicker way to break a strong relationship with a pokemon than that. Well, apart from all the usual suspects like abuse.
Gai took the field with a calm, smug aura. He was ready for this, and I'd trust him to do what he did best. Bruno was going to be another notch on our belt by the end of this. Bruno gave me a look and said in his impressive baritone, "I expected that impressive Gardevoir of yours, but I guess the temptation to meet me fighter to fighter was too much to resist for one such as you. I've monitored your growth, and this will be the first lesson among many I will impart." His Machamp took the field and flexed its impressive muscles in warning to Gai.
I ran through both what I knew of the species and this particular one in my head. Massive, impressive muscles that only hinted at the terrible strength they had. Machamp was the physically strongest pokemon of them all, and Bruno's was the first among equals. I'd never seen it fail to bring that terrific strength to bear in battle. However, he was still only the second of the elite four. I've seen this Machamp bested a few times so I just had to prove Gai as extraordinary as all the pokemon that had managed the feat. No pressure.
He liked to ramp up, so I decided to go for broke from the beginning. "Third Gate. Gate of Life" I said, and Gai nodded as he prepared the combination of moves that symbolised the third gate. A month of training with Sabrina and her pokemon had allowed us to perfect the series of enhancement moves even further than we already had before. We could get all the way up to four gates now, and I had some ideas of what would symbolise the remaining four. With the combined aura of belly drum, dragon dance and Clangorous soul surrounding him, he pushed off the ground and left a visible crater. Bruno's machamp was able to move out of the way of the first punch, but the second one slammed right into its chest and sent it flying. It flipped and careened in the air, uncontrollably for a few seconds before two of its hands were able to slow its flight and allow it land on the ground. Gai didn't slow down his assault one whit, but this time the elite pokemon was ready and waiting. It caught the first punch in its hand, not even wincing from the force that moved it back a few inches. From there, its three remaining hands lashed out at Gai in concentrated punches. My fighting dragon simply allowed them to pound on his scales with no visible effect as he wrenched his hand out of his opponent's powerful grip. He moved in with his own attacks, and both pokemon just wailed on each other with no care for defence.
"We're playing your game, aren't we?" Bruno suddenly asked and I looked at him in shock as he whistled for his pokemon to retreat. Machamp did not retreat. He was the spear of Bruno's team, always heading forward on the attack, what was this. My opponent, realising how much he was fucking with me, just smiled and stroked his chin. I resisted the urge to get lost looking at those muscles. No need to add feelings of inadequacy to the cocktail of emotion I seemed to be feeling everyday. "Don't relent" I told Gai and he moved in to continue his attack, scales clanging as he covered the ground.
"That 'third gate' of yours. Interesting name for a boring technique. You must feel so wise, stacking enhancement upon enhancement and watching your pokemon's power skyrocket. However, the tactic is good but does not belong at this level. Every opponent you face has seen it or even tried it before. It fails for one simple reason. No pokemon can keep it up for any long period. Have you ever heard the phrase, 'the candle that burns twice as bright dies twice as quick'?" He asked rhetorically, as Machamp began engaging in a series of hit and run exchanges with Gai. He'd retreat using teleport, which was a massive surprise on its own before waiting for Gai to catch up to him, exchange a few attacks and teleport away again. What he was doing was so obvious that I nearly facepalmed at the fact that I'd never even considered it.
I mean, when using the gates, Gai was too strong for 99% of the pokemon out there to try something like this, but Bruno's Machamp? It was child's play for it to bait him in and tire him out with continuous avoidance and minimal engagement. The worst part was that I couldn't even ask Gai to retreat and hold off, because the gates had a time limit. Deactivating the move wouldn't work either, because he'd crash, and badly. Dropping from that high was just something we hadn't trained enough to be sustainable. Bruno had just seen the gates for a few minutes, broke it down and discovered the weaknesses and was then poking and prodding at those weaknesses near instantly. I guess the distance between elite four and elite trainer was just that massive.
Fuck. There's only one possible solution. In for a penny, in for a pound, or so they say. "Fourth Gate; Gate of Pain" I proclaim and Gai adds agility and bulk up to the series of enhancement moves he was already using. The strain on his body and mind just quadrupled, and there was no chance of him keeping this up for even a minute, but it was a risk I had to take. 60 seconds to take down a fighting type master? More than enough time in my books. My smile was positively savage as Gai covered the space between him and Machamp so quickly that I couldn't even perceive his movement. I only knew he'd done it because I could see the fighting type pokemon flying through the air uncontrollably. Gai appeared right behind him and knocked him back towards the ground. From there, I got to see actual evidence that Ino was sharing my memories with the rest of the team. Gai was there waiting before Machamp could land, and sent it airbourne again with another punch. He was pinballing the powerful fighting type across the sky.
Machamp was able to gain some clarity and teleport away from him, but Gai was relentless and was back on it just as quickly. This time, Machamp wasn't even waiting to engage Gai for a few seconds, he was just teleporting any and everywhere he could within the field to get out of range of Gai's fists. The only issue with this strategy was that he was no psychic pokemon. It was admirable that Bruno had been able to teach a fighting type to use the move so well, but Machamp was still just that. A fighting type.
Eventually, he slipped up, unable to keep up with the strain and Gai capitalised on it. He hit like a truck and just bowled over the four-armed pokemon with his sheer power and aggression. Punch after punch landed, sending his adversary flying into the ground. Gai prepared himself for a final knockout punch, but his muscles suddenly seized. Fuck. A look at the clock on the wall told me it had been just over a minute since Gai used the move. Fuck. Machamp isn't done. No. Fuck it. Machamp stood up, slowly but surely. It was battered and bruised, but conscious. Gai was a different story. He'd fallen over, and all my mental shouts for him to get up were having precisely no effect.
I reached out with my aura. It had grown so large in all my time here. I had so much of it to use, and Gai's body was a willing recipient. I pumped all the power I had into him and hoped on a prayer. Machamp walked forward. More a series of stumbles than a walk, to be honest. But as he moved in to land a finishing blow and knock Gai unconscious, my pokemon moved. He lashed out with an uppercut. When compared to what he'd been throwing around throughout the fight, the punch was pathetic. But, it proved to be the most important one of the battle. Machamp slumped to the floor unconscious and Gai followed him barely a second later. The display on the wall flashed the word 'DRAW' and I just nodded, not displeased with the result. I'd do better. Next time.
"That was incredible" THe second elite four member said as he covered the field in long powerful strides on his way to me. He stretched his hand for a shake which I regretted almost immediately as his muscles clamped down on me. The look on his face didn't even show any recognition of what he was doing to my poor hand. Luckily, he let go after two pumps, and I did my best to act unfazed, even with my hand being one massive bruise of pain.
"Thank you, Bruno" I said, prepared to leave the hall. I could already see the vultures circling. The reporters had only bothered to begin streaming the battles about halfway through when things started getting interesting, but even with that every news channel seemed to choose a different battle to cover. I'll give you three guesses as to what battle all the reporters had covered at the same time. If Oak was here, I'm sure he'd advise me to say a few words to them, but I couldn't care less for people who would call me insane with one breath and ask me for my opinion on key matters in the other. THey seemed unable to make up their minds on what exactly was wrong with me.
Of course, my wishes were ignored as Bruno put an arm around my shoulder and led me straight to the vultures I'd been trying to avoid. We arrived at the reporters and they seemed to quiet down from our presence. Not our presence. Bruno's. Something about his aura just made people want to submit and behave themselves. "We'll be taking questions one at a time. I know most of you are dying to ask our young elite here a few questions, but I ask that you do your best to censor yourselves." He said, at the last bit, looking down on everyone and flexing his abs like he was down for a fight.
The first reporter to ask a question kept it simple and sweet, sticking to the battle we just had. "Analysts are confused at your choice of pokemon. All the professionals who speculated at the battle expected you to use either your Gardevoir or Charizard for that battle." He said, making a statement and acting like it was a question. If I was alone, I'd have told him to fuck off, but something told me the trainer with biceps large enough to crush my head like a watermelon wouldn't be pleased with that.
"At a certain level, type advantages begin to mean less and less. Bruno has definitely trained his Machamp on the best way to approach psychics and flying type pokemon. Gai, my Kommo-o was the best choice because he wanted it more." I said, moving on to the next reporter immediately, not giving him the chance to ask a follow-up. Just because I hated the press didn't mean I had no idea how to deal with them. My education at Oak's feet had been thorough.
"Do you think that contributed to your defeat here?" One of the reporters asked, and I quickly noted down his face to avoid in the future.
"There was no defeat. I'm sure we all saw the word 'draw' flash on the board" I replied, doing my best not to give them anything to latch on to.
"About your team, you possess a team of rare and unheard of pokemon, do you think it's fair on trainers who aren't children of champions for your father to help you so blatantly?" The next reporter asked, and I was already beginning to curse Bruno in my mind. Not even a few months ago, I'd have exploded at the question, but I'd made my peace with things. Plus Sabrina was whispering calming words in my head. Can't deny that she had some effect on preventing me from biting his head off.
"My father, Samuel Oak, has had no influence on the pokemon I caught or evolved. Every pokemon on my team was caught as a result of my own efforts and those of other members of my team. Luck played a factor, as luck always does, and I can't deny my incredible luck in building the team that I have." I said in reply.
"Surely, you don't expect us to believe that you just got lucky and built a team like this. Charizard, Tyranitar, Gardevoir, Milotic. All these pokemon are incredibly rare, and to even come across one in the wild has been the crowning achievement of many a trainer's careers. Not to talk of catching not just one, but all of them. Let's not even mention the other incredibly rare pokemon on your team that no one has ever seen before. Rare evolutions, and rare species form your team, Donnell Oak. You can't stand there and expect us to believe your father did nothing to aid that. Let's not even mention your carry limit" Another reporter pounced on the topic like a starving hyena. I just looked at Bruno, promising revenge before formulating my answer.
"Yes. If your question is whether my father's identity has affected my journey, then the answer is yes. I learned about pokemon before I could walk. I learned habitats, nutrition, training at the feet of the greatest trainer this region has ever seen. But that is the limit of his influence on my journey. I'll be taking no further questions on this topic." I said, neatly avoiding the question on my carry limit simply because there was no answer I could give that would change their minds on partiality.
"Your lawsuit against the league, will you be dropping it now that things have changed?" The next reporter asked, reading my mood and doing well not to dwell on the previous topic.
"What things have changed? The league still exists. The courts still exist, and what the league did to me hasn't changed one whit. What happened happened, and the league will not be allowed to get away with such a gross abuse of power. In spite of what League representatives might tell you, I do not do this out of selfishness or anything equally ridiculous. If it could happen to me, it could happen to anyone of you, and I think you can all agree with me that the league needs to face the consequences of their actions." I said in reply to that one and moving on.
"A bit of a personal one, Donnell" One of the reporters started out. Her use of my first name already told me that this would not be going in a very positive direction. " I am Linda, from Linda's Blog. You must have heard of me. My readers at home would love to know about your relationship status. Is the mighty Donnell Oak still single? Or has some lucky person caught your attention, maybe even the Gym leader of Viridian who you sat next to throughout the tournament."
"My relationship status is, of course, a very private matter. Gym leader Sabrina and I started our journeys together and met at different occasions throughout. She is a close friend of mine, and I ask that you respect our privacy and her dignity in your publication." Perhaps the nature of the question had made me a bit more flustered than usual, because that answer was shit.
"I'm Lois Lane, from Daily Pokenews" One of the reporters started out before continuing, "My question relates to the present situation. What do you think about the Tournament of Power, and what do you think Kanto's chances are of prevailing?"
"The Tournament of Power is what happens when you mess around with forces beyond human understanding. My father and the League President might have granted Giovanni a temporary pardon to allow him participate in the selection trials and even represent Kanto if he manages to make his way through. But we must never forget that this is all his fault. He and his terrorist organisation created Mewtwo. They messed around with the power of the legendaries and now our very lives hang in the balance." I took a deep breath before answering the second part of the question, "As for our chances, Miss Lane, I think things are altogether very positive. Lance of Johto, as well as Stephen and Wallace of Hoenn are large threats, but Samuel Oak still remains the powerful trainer he was in his prime. He might have aged like a human, but his team has aged like fine wine. Against them, our chances are good. But for the Champion of Sinnoh, Cynthia, I honestly do not know. Her Garchomp had no trouble matching up against all three of Lance's Dragonite. However, if there is anyone who can match up against her, it's Samuel Oak. I won't say Kanto is a clear forerunner, but we have powerful trainers that can match up against the best of the other regions, like Bruno of the elite four, Agatha, also of the elite four, Gym Leader Sabrina, and even Giovanni the terrorist" I said, rounding up my answer with some name dropping.
"I noticed you did not mention your name. Do you not believe you will make it through the selection" Another reporter pounced on my perceived weakness nearly instantly.
"I just went through the first stage undefeated. I have the utmost confidence in my team and their strength. I didn't mention my name, because I let my battling speak for itself" I said with a savage smile that I couldn't quite stop from spreading across my face.
"What do you think of the chosen venue of the tournament? Do you believe it will aid or hinder the Kanto team?" Another reporter asked.
"I don't think the chosen venue will have much of an impact on any of the teams. Yes, the Islands are more predisposed to overcast weather and this might make moves like sunny day marginally more difficult, but any pokemon at the tournament is unlikely to be bothered by that. After all, these are the best trainers from each individual region. A bit of weather won't stop them from giving their all." I said finally, ending that out. "Last question" I proclaimed, pointing at a man that looked the least troublesome of all the ones yet to ask a question.
"What do you think of the Kanto-Johto separation for the tournament? Some are saying this ought to be the end of Indigo, are you one of them?" He asked, and I took a deep breath and wondered how I'd navigate such a tense topic.
"Mewtwo's threats were clear. I think we've all seen too much footage from the other regions to call them empty. Considering any region that doesn't win will be destroyed promptly, I doubt there is any remaining hope for a reunified Indigo at the end of all this" The reporter nodded, noting down every word, and I really looked forward to whatever my statements ended up being spun as. It would be an interesting look into the psyche of reporters, after all.
From there, Bruno ushered me straight to Sabrina, and I began to wonder if she'd suddenly changed specialisation in the last half an hour. Every word of greeting she gave to the elite four member dripped with poison, but he didn't seem deterred, sticking around enough to deliver some parting words.
"That was a draw, but I think neither of us has any doubt as to who the more powerful trainer here is. However, until you learn to use that head of yours, you'll never beat me. In terms of raw power, your team is stronger than mine. Even when you fought Claire, they'd been about equal with mine, but from your Kommo-o's performance, they've all grown even stronger. They've done their part. Now, you need to do yours. As trainers, we are both our pokemon's greatest weakness and their greatest strength. I believe you've spent too much time being the former, and not enough being the latter. YOu should probably get on fixing that." He said, and walked away from us, not even looking back.
I just turned to Sabrina and flashed her a smile as we made our way back to Viridian via teleportation. Alakazam and Ino turned it into a bit of a race, but expecting a Gardevoir to beat an Alakazam in such a contest was an exercise in futility. I ignored Ino's glare and made my way to where Sabrina had appeared. We'd gone through the first stage, now, after a day of rest we'd have to allocate the rest of our time to get ready. Broly had pointed out a massive weakness in Gai, and I had to make sure more of my team didn't have such weaknesses. I mean, the problem with the gates was one that 99% of the trainers out there would never be able to exploit, but people like Lance and his Dragonite, Stephen and his Metagross, or even Cynthia and her Garchomp? If I made it to the tournament, I'd be fucking around with the best of the world with stakes as high as they'd ever be.
XXXXX- THE SINNOH ELITE
"So what do we know about this Mewtwo?" The champion asked as she sat on her throne for the first meeting in the two weeks since the announcement of the Tournament of Power. I'd been inclined to ignore the psychic and finish our preliminary attack on Indigo, but Cynthia's orders had been irrefutable.
"We know his threats aren't empty, first of all" Lucian said, reading through the report from our scouting teams. All the previously identified regions were nothing but dust and smoke. They'd been taken, and hard. Even the wild pokemon there had been culled. Not completely exterminated like the humans, but their population had suffered tremendously. The entire thing shocked me quite a bit. I thought Cynthia's Garchomp was the peak of pokemon strength, but to think there's something out there that can lay waste to whole regions. Insane.
"Apart from that?" Flint asked with his head on the table. The idea of the tournament was wearing down on everyone, and considering the information had been released to the press by the damned psychic, we'd all had to spend many an hour reassuring aggravated members of the public. At least, their fantastical belief in Cynthia's strength was finally proving to be semi-useful. There was little real doubts about our ability to prevail, and footage of her fight against Lance had been released to reassure those that were beginning to doubt.
"It's bioengineered. Created by a terrorist group known as Team Rocket. The same group that Champion Lance of Indigo insists are responsible for Champion Gerald's death." Lucian spelled out again, reading from the same folder that I'd gone over half a hundred times since it had been sent to me this morning.
We all just sat there looking at each other, wondering about the elephant in the room that we were all delaying discussing. This Tournament of Power. I decided to bite the bullet and start it out.
"Luckily for us, unlike the other regions, we recently held Championship trials, so we are well satisfied that we are the strongest trainers in Sinnoh-"
"Are we?" The Champion interrupted. "No. Are you?" She continued. "I remember quite a few elites in this room suffering a defeat or two. Yes, I was the only one to beat all four of you, but there were enough defeats going around that public belief in our collective invincibility has suffered. No, we can not simply select the four representatives of the region from this room. I will be hosting a selection league to determine those that will represent us. This meeting is over." The Champion said and strolled out of the room, leaving all of us staring at each other.
"Well, we all need to get some training done," Flint said, looking right at Bertha and I as he spoke. What little pride I had chafed at his words, and that of the champion. I'd never had my strength doubted so openly and obviously since I'd ascended to the elite four. Lucian walked away shortly after Flint left, and Bertha followed their lead, leaving me alone in the room.
I picked up my computer and started to go through my team's graphs. I'd crafted a training routine months ago after I'd lost to Cynthia to help my team get even stronger, but never found the time or will to properly adopt it. Now? I had nothing but time and plenty of will. I'd prove them all wrong. They'd forgotten.
XXXXXX- THE DRAGON CHAMPION
"And our four representatives?" I asked the gathering of gym leaders and elite trainers. They gathered in the Blackthorne hall to hold the elections to determine those that would represent our region in the fight for our continued existence. When word of Kanto hosting a tournament had begun to spread, we'd considered doing the same, but considering we were also planning on using that tournament to spy on Kanto's possible representatives, the idea hadn't lived long.
Johto was the oldest and most civilised of all the regions. Disputes weren't settled with pokemon and fists. They were settled with words and debate. That was the major bone of contention between the citizens of Johto and their Kantoan overlords all those years ago.
We held an election among us, because who else will be able to decide the strongest trainers than the strongest trainers, and when someone had mentioned everyone simply choosing themselves, the idea had cemented itself even more. Surely whichever trainers managed to get votes from the others were guaranteed to be impressive. And luckily, in an election so important, people had been less inclined to play the political games that would have marked any other election for any other purpose.
"Lance, Claire, Pryce and Karen" The Blackthorne Chief read out the results from the ballots and I felt a smile break across my face. Of course, there had been no doubts about me being chosen, but it was good to see that my first choices had all made it through. "Good, now we must begin the training," I said, ending the meeting.
We had our representatives months before Kanto would manage to choose their four. With this kind of time advantage, could there be any doubts about our eventual victory? I'd finally get the chance to crush Oak beneath my feet, and that Cynthia of Sinnoh would also find herself beneath me, where she belonged. This was my chance.
A/N; Here you go. Another chapter. Sorry this one is a few hours late. I had a school dinner last night, and it was a load of fun. So much fun that I couldn't even open up my laptop by the time I got back to my dorm. I hope your weekends were equally enjoyable.
Anyway, as always, the next seven chapters are up on pa-treon, and you can get to read the first five of them by tossing three small ones my way. The remainder would take a bit more. I also wrote my first ever bit of smut for this story last week. Feel free to show up on Pa-treon and tell me what you think. Also feel free to guess who the smut concerns. Maybe the winner will get a cookie.