John's Team
Tyrant - Slaking
Vordt - Ursaluna
Smough - Snorlax
Klee - Blissey
Port - Mantine
Zephyr - Pidgeot
Klaus - Wyrdeer
Luna - Clefable
Pixel - Porygon
Euphie - Eevee
Ornstein - D-Zigzagoon
The New Normal – 4-5 – Playing for the Crowd
Karen was expectedly very excited to hear about D-Zigzagoon's successful hatching, and eagerly came over the next day to check up on him. As soon as she laid eyes on Ornstein, she wouldn't let go of the little guy and spent a good moment just excitedly examining him.
"I want one of my own." She said immediately. I promised Karen that as soon as Ornstein was able to lay eggs, we could redo the process with another Linoone egg to hatch another D-Zigzagoon for her.
That wasn't the end of the surprises though, as she also proudly showed off her newly evolved Weavile. She told me that she had paid close attention to her Sneasel during her time in Mt. Silver and noticed that her Sneasel would frequently challenge other Sneasel's and pick up bits and pieces of other Sneasel's claws after every victory.
"I didn't see what happen after we won our 9th victory, since I was blinded by the blinding white light as my Sneasel began to evolve." She said to me, "Honestly, his evolution came by quicker than I expected, maybe because my Sneasel had long been ready to evolve. I probably spent more time trying to locate wild Sneasel to defeat." She remarked humorously.
She did ask when or if we were even going to publish these notes regarding Sneasel's evolution, and I figured that, due to the small sample size, we should probably just bring it up as a possible research topic and submit our notes as a data point. But that was for later.
The both of us spent the next few days acclimatising to the latest changes to our teams, with me having to split my focus between getting Ornstein to actually focus on training, while also trying to develop Euphie's Fairy affinity.
On one hand, Ornstein was too busy trying to get into fights and wasn't focused on my training, and while he was nowhere as disobedient as he was the moment he was born, he was still driven by his instincts to fight everyone and everything that he laid his eyes upon, especially Smough for some reason. I knew that this bad habit of his was going to take a some time to break.
On the other hand, Euphie was just a bit too playful and too easily distracted to really knuckle down and focus on training as well. I believed that she saw the training for developing an affinity for Fairy to be too boring, and so always wanted to distract herself by playing around with Whismur, Pixel, and now her new overly energetic friend, Ornstein.
However, I was determined to eventually get through to the both of them and actually make them want to train on their own volition. I knew that I had a fantastic opportunity in front of me with both the newly hatched D-Zigzagoon and Eevee to mould the two of them to create two more powerful and versatile Elite level Pokémon for my team, so I wanted to make the most of the early stages of their development to really get as much efficient training done as possible, since like with human babies, newly hatched Pokémon are most receptive to new techniques and training while they were still young.
And, judging by her natural curiosity, I was increasingly certain that Euphie was a rather newly born Pokémon as well.
In the meanwhile, Karen was spending most of her time testing out the strengths of her new Weavile. There was a little initial awkwardness between trainer and Pokémon, as Karen had to get used to Weavile's increased stats, but she was able to quickly adapt and give commands that matched Weavile's new capabilities.
As I watched Smough and Weavile duel once again, what was immediately noticeable was that her new Weavile hit a lot harder and quicker than before, and I could see that Smough was occasionally struggling to resist against so many quick and hard-hitting attacks, whereas before Smough could pretty comfortably shrug most of them off after a small break.
But despite the boost to his speed and attack, Weavile was almost equally as frail as it was before it evolved. Overall, his evolution still didn't really change his role in Karen's team, which was to be a fast and agile attacker that could deal large bursts of damage but was frail and easily knocked out.
Based on my observations, I judged that her Weavile was now easily her second strongest Pokémon, just trailing slightly behind her Houndoom. Though Karen and I did notice that during our testing with Weavile, Corphish was sending envious looks his way, likely eager for his own evolution. Karen immediately went to reassure him and promised that his evolution would come soon enough.
Later, we spent some time compiling our shared notes for the D-Zigzagoon project, wrote up an article, and sent it off to the scientific community for it to get peer reviewed. Karen was very confused yet excited about the whole publication process, and while she pestered me with increasing impatience to publish it, she ultimately left it to me as I had the experience after I published my articles about both Ursaluna and Wyrdeer. She was clearly very eager to make her entrance into the scientific community.
I had double checked the article multiple times before I eventually submitted it, because I wanted to make sure our entire process was as detailed as possible to avoid criticism from those snobby and detailed-oriented scientists. Such a big discovery like this was bound to attract plenty of criticism and envy from some of the scientists, so I wanted to give them as little ammunition as possible.
Just like they did with Vordt and Klaus, I informed Karen that they were probably going to send a few scientists over to poke and prod at Ornstein to actually verify my claims, which was going to be annoying. Secretly, I hoped that Ornstein would bite one of the scientists if they ever got too nosy.
I also made sure to add as many warnings as I could fit in the article to remind all the undoubtedly overeager scientists about the inherent risks of the process. I knew that there were bound to be those that would ignore the warnings and incite tragedy, and there was nothing I could do about it, but I wanted to at least avoid being blamed for it.
However, now that it's been sent off, there was nothing I could do about it anymore. Thus, I tried to stop worrying about it and focus on the show match that was taking place later this afternoon.
I had done SOME preparation, and now it was just a matter of putting up a good show for the crowds.
"Are you ready for this?" Giovanni asked me casually. We were both standing backstage waiting for the announcer to call us onto the arena. Giovanni had temporarily redecorated and closed the Viridian Gym so that it could be used as the venue to host the charity match. He had also set up many charity stalls around Viridian City, effectively turning this one charity match into a city-wide charity event. Access to which was included in the ticket.
I even saw an impromptu tournament being hosted outside that anyone could participate in so long as they paid a small fee, everything except a small prize pool going to charity of course.
Still, I think Giovanni had underestimated just how many people would be coming to this show match, and he had really torn up his Gym in order to make more space for the crowd to fit in. Perhaps he overbooked the tickets?
"Yeah, sure." I answered distractedly, still looking around at just how many people were in the audience right now. It looked so crowded that I was worried we might have a few accidents from overcrowding. At least Karen wasn't here, she was busy doing something with Agatha at the moment.
"Hey, why are there so many people here? I didn't think that this many people would be interested in watching a charity match in person. Don't most people prefer to watch it at home?" I asked bewilderedly.
Giovanni coughed awkwardly. "I…may have suggested that I would buy and give away several tickets to the public as my own contribution…and I may have overestimated just how many people were going to come. Petrel has been running around in a panic trying to reorganize the Gym to fit everyone in."
I couldn't help but laugh at his admission, and luckily Giovanni took no offense and laughed with me. It was nice to see that even someone of Giovanni's status could make dumb mistakes like this.
"ANNNNND WELCOME TO TODAY'S CHARITY SHOW MATCH BETWEEN TWO OF OUR GREATEST AND MOST ESTEEMED INDIVIDUALS OF KANTO! THANK YOU FOR YOUR MANY DONATIONS AND CONTRIBUTIONS!" The announcer's voice suddenly boomed out, interrupting any further conversation as cheers rang out throughout the Gym. "NOW, PLEASE WELCOME, OUR GRAND HOST, AND ONE OF TODAY'S PARTICIPANTS, THE GREAT GYM LEADER OF VIRIDIAN CITY, GIOVANNI!"
Giovanni straightened up and walked out into the roaring crowds, easily basking in the attention and the limelight like he always belonged there. He waved evenly to the crowds as he walked slowly to his side of the field.
He looked every bit like your generous philanthropist, and a model Gym Leader. Oh, if only they knew.
The announcer waited for the applause to die down before he continued, "ANNNNND HIS OPPONENT, THE YOUNGEST MEMBER OF THE ELITE FOUR, THE HERO OF OLIVINE, ELITE JOHN!"
I tried to keep my cringe from showing on my face as I walked out. Arceus, who wrote these nicknames? Luckily, the immense cheering from the crowd kept that out of my mind. Although I tried my best to not get a big head, I couldn't help but smile widely at all the attention I was getting.
This was finally the time where I could feel that I had finally made it in life, and that I hadn't wasted the Arceus given second chance in this life. My family was doing so much better now, my Pokémon were strong and respected, and I was a beloved figure in Indigo and was working hard to improve Kanto. A part of me, taking in the full excitement of the crowd, wanted to just sit back and rest on my laurels.
I took a deep steadying breath to refocus myself and reminded myself once again to not become arrogant. I knew that all of my successes could easily be washed away if I didn't remain diligent. I shook my head and began waving politely to the crowd just like Giovanni did.
Eventually, both Giovanni and I were at our positions, and we waited for the announcer to start the match. Unlike the match against Drake, I was completely calm. In my head, I treated this match as just another, slightly more intense, training session.
"TRAINERS, ARE YOU READY?!" The announcer finally calls out, and we both nodded our heads. "THEN LET'S COUNT DOWN TOGETHER!...THREE...TWO...ONE!" Giovanni and I threw our Pokémon out at the same time.
"Rhydon, do your best."
"Luna, give them a show!"
Our two chosen Pokémon could not be more different. Giovanni's Rhydon landed with an audible thump as it let out a powerful bellow, showing off its power and strength. Conversely, Luna emerged gracefully with a cheerful wave towards the crowds.
"Earthquake, Rhydon! Split the ground!" Giovanni ordered, wanting to start off strong. Rhydon gave out a grunt and stomped his feet repeatedly, causing a tremor of energy to erupt into a large crack in the ground that seemed to rush towards where Luna was.
"Tank through it and Grass Knot, Luna!" Despite the ground shattering around her from the Earthquake, Luna stood firm as her eyes glowed green, summoning small tendrils of vines that wrapped around Rhydon's legs, causing it to trip over and plant its face into the ground.
"Get close to it and Brick Break!" Despite this being a terrible idea in a serious fight, I nonetheless ordered Luna to get in close and start brawling. In the corner of my eye, I saw that Giovanni give me an odd look at the move, but Luna didn't even hesitate and began rushing towards the fallen Rhydon.
"Get up and Dragon Rush, Rhydon!" Rhydon broke free from the vines and sprinted forwards while surrounding itself with a Dark Blue glow as draconic energy rapidly formed around it. Seeing the move, I just smirked and ordered Luna to continue her assault.
The two Pokémon quickly collided together, but to the huge surprise of both Giovanni and the rest of the crowd, Luna came out almost completely unscathed by the attack and took advantage of Rhydon's surprise by landing a vicious chop to Rhydon's neck, causing it to stumble backwards.
"WAIT, IT LOOKS LIKE JOHN'S CLEFABLE JUST CAME UP UNSCATHED?! DID THAT CLEFALBE JUST PUT UP A PROTECT SHIELD?!" The announcer shouted out curiously, but I ignored him and continued giving commands.
"Drain Punch now, Luna!" Without allowing Rhydon to recover, Luna smashed a fist solidly into its face. Small particles of energy were extracted from the attack, healing up Luna from whatever damage it took from Rhydon's previous attacks. Giovanni eventually steadied himself and shouted out.
"Hammer Arm, Rhydon! Don't let yourself lose to a Clefable at close-range!" Rhydon forced itself off the ground and slammed one of his arms powerfully into the side of Luna's head. But to both trainer and Pokémon's surprise once again, Luna shrugged off what was supposed to be a supereffective hit.
"Drain Punch again!" As she was barely fazed by the attack, Luna was able to quickly drive her fist straight into Rhydon's stomach. Even more energy was drained away from Rhydon as Luna healed to full health once again.
"…what is going on here?! Never mind, Rhydon, Dig and get away from that Clefable!" Giovanni ordered, slightly flummoxed and losing his signature cool. Rhydon quickly separated from Luna and dug its way into the ground, safe from the power of Luna's fists.
It was still a mistake. There were many things I could do at the moment, but I decided to play it to the crowd and make things more exciting. "Luna, Belly Drum! Start setting up!"
Making use of the space from Rhydon's retreat, Luna began beating her chest as she powered herself up and rapidly maxed out her attack. Her Belly Drum was a little sloppy but considering that I had only taught it to her in a few days in preparation for this match, it was good enough. I was certain that it was the right move though as I listened to the crowd scream in excitement; they loved the high-risk, high-reward battle style that they were seeing.
On the other hand, Giovanni's eyes tightened in both surprise and alarm as he watched Luna setting up. He probably never thought that I would use a Clefable as a brawler like this. I shrugged inwardly; he was the one who told me to showboat a little!
We both knew that he needed to think of something quickly before Luna became too strong to stop. If this was a proper battle, Giovanni was running the risk of having Luna being able to buff herself so much that she would be able to sweep through his team. However, I wouldn't have allowed that to happen since that would be boring for the crowd.
"Rhydon, come out and keep your distance with Stone Edge!" No longer wanting to contest my buffed bruiser of a Clefable, Rhydon leapt up and emerged from the ground on the far side of the arena, almost as far away as possible from Luna, before beginning to hurl rocks towards Luna.
"Luna, Rock Smash to break the rocks and get close!" In a very strange and unusual display of martial ability from what was basically a cute pink fairy-looking Pokémon, Luna continually bashed through the hail of rocks with her glowing fists, looking like an unstoppable pink juggernaut as she steadily made her way towards the Rhydon.
"Earthquake as well, Rhydon!" Showing off its training, Rhydon also created a powerful Earthquake while continuously firing rocks at Luna. The addition of the Earthquake caused Luna to occasionally lose her balance as the arena cracked and shattered around her, causing her to be struck by rocks as she failed to break them in time.
However, it was too late. Luna was now in striking distance for the finishing move.
"GIGA IMPACT, LUNA! END IT!" Luna let out a melodic cry as she suddenly burst forwards, moving faster than anyone expected, surrounding herself with a purple and orange aura that seemed to disintegrate the incoming rocks as she charged past them.
"BRACE AND PROTECT!" Giovanni tried, and Rhydon did try to get itself into a defensive stance, but it was too late. Luna smashed into it like a speeding comet, breaking past its hastily created Protect shield like it was nothing, and the force of the impact blasted Rhydon straight into the psychic shields of the arena.
The maxed-out attack Giga Impact was too much for Rhydon to handle, despite its normally impressive defenses, and it slowly slid down the psychic barrier, unconscious.
"ANNNND GIOVANNI'S RHYDON GOES DOWN TO WHAT WAS A VERY UNUSUAL BRAWLING CLEFABLE FROM ELITE JOHN!" The announcer called out amidst the cries of excitement from the audience, "I HAVE CERTAINLY NEVER SEEN SOMETHING LIKE THAT BEFORE! WHAT AN INTERESTING WAY OF FIGHTING FROM OUR ELITE FOUR MEMBER! GYM LEADER GIOVANNI NOW HAS 30 SECONDS TO SEND OUT HIS NEXT POKEMON!"
Luna was cutely hopping and waving to the audience, looking nothing like the terrifying monster that just took out Giovanni's Rhydon in one hit. I was more than satisfied with her performance since we had only decided to practice fighting like this just for this show match. It was not every day that you saw a Rhydon get knocked out by a physical attack from a Clefable, and the crowd was eagerly lapping it up. I allowed her to bask in the limelight a while before I withdrew her.
"I'm retiring my Clefable from the match!" I announced while looking at Giovanni, who just gave me a nod of understanding as he realized that I didn't intend to humiliate him by sweeping him with a Clefable. We both knew that I could.
"AND ELITE JOHN HAS ALSO DECIDED TO RETIRE HIS CLEFABLE! WHAT A DISPLAY OF SPORTSMANSHIP!" The announcer declared, "BUT NOW BOTH TRAINERS HAVE 30 SECONDS TO SEND OUT THEIR NEXT POKEMON!"
I didn't even have to think about it as I readied Klee's Premier Ball.
"TRAINERS, ARE YOU READY FOR ROUND 2?!" We both nodded. "ANNNND BEGIN!"
"Klee, do your best!"
"Nidoqueen, it's your turn."
Just like with Rhydon and Luna, there was a clear contrast between the powerful and intimidating Nidoqueen, and the seemingly innocent and weak Blissey. But unlike with Luna, I knew and predicted that this matchup would be absolutely terrible for Klee. Between Nidoqueen's Poison typing making her immune to Toxic stall, and Klee's horrible physical defenses, I knew that this was going to be an uphill battle.
Which was exactly why I had sent out Klee in the first place; it would serve as excellent training.
"Psychic, Klee! Keep your distance!" I knew that the only way for Klee to win this matchup was for her to constantly keep away from Nidoqueen while attacking with as many Special Attacks as possible to deter her from approaching.
"Dig to avoid and get closer to it, Nidoqueen!" Nidoqueen rapidly dug into the ground and just narrowly avoided being blasted by Klee's Psychic. Normally, I would instantly respond with an Earthquake to do double damage to a digging Pokémon, which usually would be an instant knockout. But, with Klee's pitiful attack, I wasn't sure if Nidoqueen would even feel the attack coming, forcing me to be a bit more creative.
"Reverse Gravity!" Klee shut her eyes in concentration as she began manipulating the surrounding gravity around herself. Demonstrating the sheer expertise in the move from hundreds of repeated uses when we were training, she surrounded herself with a pink glow and started to levitate herself into the air as she reversed the flow of gravity around herself, just in time to avoid Nidoqueen's Dig attack.
The crowd gasped in surprise and shock as they watched as Klee floated just far enough above the ground so that Nidoqueen couldn't reach her. Giovanni was equally as surprised as the rest of the audience as he stood momentarily frozen, with mouth agape, as he witnessed the absurdity of a flying Blissey.
Eventually, he shook himself out of his surprise and ordered, "Stone Edge, knock it out of the sky!"
"Don't let the rocks fly with Gravity! Keep them down!" I instantly countered, and Klee suddenly heavily intensified the Gravity around the arena, causing Nidoqueen to buckle on her knees and making it so that Nidoqueen's geokinesis was utterly crushed by the sheer intensity of the Gravity.
Seeing how futile it was to continue with this course of action, Giovanni switched tactics.
"Dragon Pulse, Nidoqueen! Shoot her down!"
"Light Screen, Klee!"
Infuriatingly, for Giovanni at least, Klee easily created a screen of light that shimmered into existence in front of her which had no problem blocking the incoming Dragon Pulse. I gave out a smug grin towards Giovanni, who looked like he was getting increasingly frustrated at being unable to deal with Klee. Sure, I hadn't actually done any damage to Nidoqueen either, but I was definitely winning the mind games.
Ah, the joys of having a fully trained Blissey.
In full fairness to Giovanni, he wasn't one to let his actions be dictated by his anger or emotions like a lesser trainer would. He quickly reigned himself back in and calmly gave the next order.
"Superpower. Launch yourself forwards, Nidoqueen."
"PROTECT!"
Quickly understanding what Nidoqueen was about to do, I urgently shouted out for Klee to form a Protect shield. But it wasn't enough. Nidoqueen was outlined in a light blue aura as she channelled energy into her arms and legs, before she leapt up like a rocket, seemingly ignoring the intense gravity trying to weigh her down and launched herself into Klee.
Nidoqueen devastated past the Protect shield, which put up a good, but ultimately insufficient resistance, before she grabbed onto Klee with both arms and forcefully slammed her down into the ground as if she was trying to vent all of her previous frustrations with that one attack.
The two of them crashed back down into the arena, and I knew that I had to get Klee away from Nidoqueen.
"Klee, get up and Psychic, NOW! Get away from her!" Despite her injuries, Klee managed to fire a blast of supereffective Psychic energy that knocked Nidoqueen off of her and, using that tiny window of space, managed to scramble away on her pudgy little legs.
"Brick Break, Nidoqueen! Don't let it get away and keep up the pressure!" Wanting to end the fight here and now, Nidoqueen recovered quickly, and her arms glowed brightly and threateningly as she chased after the escaping Klee.
"Icy Wind, Klee! Slow her down and keep getting away!" Klee let out a breath of freezing winds that wrapped around Nidoqueen.
"Break through it and Brick Break!" Frost crystals rapidly began to spread across Nidoqueen's body, but it wasn't enough to stop her advance as she continued to power through the Icy Wind. I could have ordered Klee to just cancel the attack and kept running, but I wasn't certain that I would have another opportunity like this to knock out Nidoqueen in the future. My win was guaranteed if I could just freeze Nidoqueen like this.
Yet, it was definitely the safer and more sensible option to just run and continue stalling out the Nidoqueen with Klee's plethora of regeneration and defensive moves, but it was also a lot more boring to watch. So, I decided to play to the crowd and take a risk, keeping silent and allowing Klee to continue her attack.
Thus, it was now a matter of seeing if Nidoqueen would freeze over first before reaching Klee, or if Nidoqueen could power through the freezing winds and knock out Klee with a supereffective blow.
The audience watched with bated breath as Nidoqueen slowly closed the distance as she pushed forwards through the Icy Wind, her face lined with exhaustion as she struggled through each step. Yet her arms were glowing ever brighter; the channelled power clearly visible and radiating outwards from her claws.
And Nidoqueen took another step forwards, one arm raised above her head.
And then she suddenly kicked forwards, giving her just enough reach to land a devastating Brick Break that struck down critically on Klee's head. I knew it was over.
Klee was unconscious before she even hit the ground. There was not even a need for a follow-up move.
"OH! AND WE HAVE A ONE HIT KO FROM GIOVANNI'S NIDOQUEEN! WHAT A RIVETING AND NAIL-BITING PERFORMANCE FROM BOTH POKEMON! WHAT A SHOW OF DETERMINATION! BUT NOW, ELITE JOHN NOW HAS 30 SECONDS TO SEND OUT HIS NEXT POKEMON!" The announcer's voice boomed out, inciting a deafening cheer and applause from the audience. I could even make out a few of the louder voices from the crowd.
"THAT WAS AMAZING!"
"IT WAS SO CLOSE, I THOUGHT JOHN'S BLISSEY HAD IT THERE!"
I smiled despite Klee's defeat. I was definitely going to find a recording of this video and show it to Klee later after she recovered; she would love to see just how happy she made people with her performance. I was confident that she wouldn't be upset by this defeat as we both knew going into this battle that it was supposed to be entertainment first. And what a performance she gave.
Of course, I would not dare do something like this with my more serious Pokémon like Tyrant or Vordt, or else they would lose all their respect for me.
"I'm retiring my Nidoqueen." Giovanni called out as he withdrew his Pokémon. I couldn't tell if he had done so out of sportsmanship, or if Nidoqueen was too frozen to fight whatever Pokémon I sent out next. I gave him the benefit of the doubt this time.
"AND GYM LEADER GIOVANNI RETURNS THE SPORTSMANSHIP BY RETIRING HIS NIDOQUEEN AS WELL! WELL, FOLKS, IT LOOKS LIKE ITS DOWN TO THE FINAL SHOWDOWN BETWEEN THESE TWO TRAINERS, WHO DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO WIN?!" The audience screamed and shouted once again, all of them calling out who they thought was going to win.
As I took in the excitement and the atmosphere of the crowd, I suddenly had an idea. I gestured towards one of the Gym Trainers who were currently employed to help run the event, and when he approached, I asked if I could have a microphone to address the audience. The Gym Trainer gave me a curious look but didn't say anything as he went to fetch one.
He quickly returned and passed me a microphone, and I walked into the center of the arena to address the audience, who gradually quieted down as they realized I was about to give a speech. I tapped the microphone a couple of times to make sure it was actually on before I began.
"Before we begin the final round, I would just like to thank every single one of you who donated money to help those who had been injured in the attack and with the rebuilding of Olivine City. As someone who was there during the attack, I can say with utmost certainty that every single Pokédollar that you donate will be appreciated, and I hope that I am not being too presumptuous when I say that your donations will have made a difference." That got a huge applause from the audience.
I gestured for Giovanni to come over as I continued, "However, I would be remiss if I did not thank Gym Leader Giovanni with coming up with and hosting this event. Giovanni is a paragon of what a model Gym Leader should strive to be, and his goodwill, hard work, and charitable intentions are all things we should strive to emulate! Please give a big round of applause for Gym Leader Giovanni!" This time, the cheers and applause from the audience threatened to break through the glass windows of the Gym as Giovanni received a standing ovation. It was so loud that I had to fight to keep a wince from showing on my face. But more importantly than that, I turned to Giovanni and studied his expression.
As he basked in the applause and cheers of the audience, he was standing a little straighter and looked proud, and dare I say it, even happy, at the attention he was getting. That was good; I wanted him to remember that doing good things could grant you the love and adoration of the people. He didn't need to always lurk in the shadows with underhanded deals, he could get what he wanted just by using his now massively improved public reputation to legitimately get things done.
As Giovanni bowed towards the audience, I hoped to have demonstrated to him that things had changed, and that he had no reason to turn to crime to get what he wanted. To the public, he was a hero in his own right, and there was no need to dirty his hands any further.
As soon as Giovanni stood up from his bow, I passed him the microphone in case he wanted to say a few words. As I did so, he patted me twice on the shoulder, and I felt that was all that I needed to know that I did the right thing.
"Thank you, John, for those very kind words. I hosted this event because John had told me about the horrific incident that happened in Olivine, and as any good Kantonian should, I stood up and decided that something must be done to help them. If Kanto is supposed to be joined in a union with Johto, then is this not the best time to prove our unity? To prove that Kanto will make the effort to support our friends in need? We may have had our differences, but Kanto will not standby and allow thugs to freely terrorise our great union!"
He waited for the applause to die down before he continued, "Once again, thank you to all those who have donated towards such a common cause. For those of you who want to contribute, but do not have the funds to do so, please consider volunteering for the Viridian Public Works Venture. We have many public works projects that require more hard-working hands, and you will be fairly compensated for your efforts! Thank you to those who have contributed already! You have done your region proud." He bowed once again as the applause and cheers hit the roof. Before he went back to his spot, he gave me a subtle nod that I returned.
We then both made our way back to our positions as the announcer said a few encouraging words as well. I ignored him and distractedly fidgeted with Klaus' Premier Ball. To be honest, I didn't really care at the moment if I won or lost the next round; seeing Giovanni's reactions had showed that I had already won.
But, for Klaus' sake, I would give it my all.
"TRAINERS! ARE YOU READY FOR THE FINAL ROUND?!" We nodded for the last time. "AND…BEGIN!"
"Klaus, just like we practiced."
"Nidoking, show them the power of the Viridian Gym!"
For the first time, my Pokémon's entrance actually matched the majesty and grandeur of Giovanni's. Both Pokémon were clearly strong and powerful, and both were great representations of their respective trainers.
"Agility, Klaus! Start circling it!" I began the battle as Klaus enveloped himself in a pink glow as he started picking up speed while continuously circling around the Nidoking, preventing it from landing an easy shot.
"Toxic Spikes, Nidoking! Spread them out!" Understanding that I was trying to make use of Klaus' increasingly boosted speed to overwhelm Nidoking, Giovanni decided to limit the available space by scattering Toxic Spikes everywhere, threatening to inject their poisonous barbs into Klaus.
As the available safe space on the ground steadily shrunk due to Nidoking, I decided that Klaus had done enough setting up.
"Klaus, to the air and Psychic!" Using his old trick of creating Psychic platforms to leap into the sky, Klaus was able to jump from platform to platform while avoiding the Toxic Spikes on the ground and fire off repeated blasts of Psychic towards the Nidoking.
"Stone Edge, Nidoking! Fire them and block those Psychic blasts!" Nidoking roared out and lifted large stones into the air and launched them at Klaus and into the path of the incoming Psychic blasts, forming a solid wall of stone that threatened to crash into Klaus.
However, Nidoking clearly underestimated the power of Klaus' Psychic as that wall of stone shattered like glass as the powerful waves of Psychic energy ripped through them like they were barely an obstacle, before slamming supereffectively into a very surprised Nidoking and causing it to slide backwards from the impact.
"Again, Klaus!"
"Ice Beam, Nidoking! Target the platforms!"
Nidoking recovered quickly and immediately fired off a very fast beam of Ice straight at the platform that Klaus was standing on, causing it to break and Klaus to fall out of the sky before he could fire off another Psychic.
"MEGAHORN NOW, NIDOKING!"
"Psyshield Bash, Klaus! Meet it head on!"
Even after falling, fortunately not on any of the Toxic Spikes, Klaus managed to prop himself upright and channel Psychic energy into his horns just in time to block Nidoking's Megahorn. One horn met two antlers as the two Pokémon battled against each other in a competition of strength.
Klaus' legs were buckling slightly, but he held firm and pushed back against Nidoking's assault, his horns now slowly glowing a brighter pink as Klaus continuously channelled a veritable tide of Psychic energy into it. On the other hand, Nidoking's horn slowly began to dim as he lacked the ability to continually channel Bug type energy into it.
It was this difference in type familiarity and strength that decided the winner, as Klaus was more comfortable with using Psychic energy and had much greater reserves than Nidoking, allowing him to eventually overwhelm Nidoking and slam it backwards, leaving the Nidoking wide open to a follow up attack.
"Psyshield Bash again, Klaus! Hit it as hard as you can!"
"No! Prot-"
But Giovanni was unable to finish giving his command before Klaus rushed forwards, using all of that stored up momentum from having to push back Nidoking, and smashed into Nidoking with as much force as he could muster, instantly folding Nidoking in two and sending it flying backwards towards the psychic barriers of the arena.
"Psychic and finish it off!"
Wanting to make sure that Nidoking was down for good, Klaus fired off another blast of Psychic that exploded on Nidoking mid-air, knocking it out into unconsciousness.
"ANNND…THAT'S IT FOLKS! GIOVANNI'S NIDOKING HAS BEEN KNOCKED OUT! MEANING THAT ELITE JOHN IS THE WINNER! FOR THOSE INTERESTED, PLEASE STICK AROUND FOR THE OTHER UPCOMING FIGHTS!"
I waved and bowed to the crowd as they cheered my name and celebrated my victory while I made my way towards Giovanni.
"It was a good match, Giovanni." I told him as we clasped hands together.
"Yes, you fought well. Congratulations on your victory." He replied back, seemingly pleased despite his defeat. We made sure to smile for the cameras as our photos were taken. I was certain that our photo would end up on the headlines tomorrow.
A.N. Another big chapter, and I really hope that the speech that John gave with Giovanni was good. I wanted to show some character development; that Giovanni was changing from the villain that we all know to someone with slightly more noble intentions, beginning to understand that he can get more done through 'good' means than evil ones, which John was trying to show him.
Also, hoped you like the more unusual battle. John wasn't really trying that hard, but even while holding back there was very little chance that Giovanni's Nidoking was going to be able to beat John's Wyrdeer. It was heavily disadvantaged both in training and type matchup. And to anyone who wants to support me, please check out my p atreon at CartecTNN where you can read 8 advanced chapters! Thanks to those who have supported me already!