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XXXXX- UNKNOWN
The entire thing had been insane. I couldn't even believe what was happening right before my eyes. I had released Hypno from his ball to make sure I wasn't stuck in some sort of illusion. First of all, Donnell Oak had lost control of his Pokemon, which had viciously maimed another competitor's Pokemon, and then Agatha had appeared out of nowhere like a vengeful spirit.
The crazy old coot had gone toe-to-toe with an actual Pokemon, and she hadn't just survived. She had won. She actually won. She beat Donnell Oak's Ghost-type and killed it. I didn't even know you could kill ghosts. As if that wasn't insane enough, she had then gone on to lay into Oak with the ass-whooping of the century. It was comedic and terrifying at the same time. Something about watching the old woman fight was tickling me the wrong way. She was too strong, too fast, and much too agile. I had a grandmother who had to be around her age, and there was no way Nanny Jill would be able to do any of that stuff. Any of the stuff we had seen Agatha pull off in this contest, really. I mean, I didn't actually know how old Agatha was, but she had to be in her seventies, at the very youngest, right?
I wouldn't believe her to be any younger, and this kind of fuckery at seventy should be impossible. Should be. Hmph. The more I watched elite trainers mess around, the more certain I became that they were all certifiably insane and most definitely inhuman. Now, the latest bit of insanity was the fucking shadow that ripped itself out of the ground before heading for Agatha with outstretched hands. It looked like a fucking angel of death or something. The woman noticed the attack, somehow, and abandoned her slow approach of the prone Oak to dodge out of the way. Her attempt failed, as it just stretched its hands, catching her in its grip and making her suddenly scream in pain as a black light flashed from it.
Fuck. Was I actually going to see an elite die before my eyes? The answer to that question seemed to be leaning towards the affirmative as Agatha's screams got even louder. I gulped audibly as her jaw looked to unhinge itself to give her more room to scream. And then, something ridiculous happened. A black cloud began to force itself out of her mouth. It looked grotesque and misshapen as it finally made its way out. The strange shadow Pokemon took a look at the cloud before stretching its hand and touching it. The entire thing imploded into itself in a flash of dark light. Huh, dark light. Well, that's an oxymoron.
The shadow Pokemon suddenly set its sights on Donnell Oak, ignoring Agatha as she slumped to the floor. I was actually beginning to feel bad for the guy. First Agatha, and now this fucking Grim Reaper thing. If there was ever anything that could discourage me from working to become an elite trainer myself, it was watching Donnell Oak's journey through the forest. Ma was right. More trouble than it was worth. I'd settle for a simple life with Jane down in the city. Much less stressful than all of this, I would say.
I watched Giovanni, my scowl deepening by the second. The man had been fighting everyone in the forest with his Rhyperior at his side and seemed unlikely to be stopped. Virtually everyone and their mother's cousin had sought him out, and virtually everyone and their mother's cousin had been sent packing to lick their wounds. It would have been impressive if it were anyone else. I had come here wanting to try my hand against him, but after watching him destroy Pokemon much stronger than mine, I was content to wait for someone with a true shot to approach him.
I mean, both Bruno and Agatha were here, along with that Donnell Oak kid. I had heard whispers that it was his Pokemon that created this forest, so he had to be packing some serious firepower. Hopefully, enough to deal with Giovanni. I didn't think I'd ever be able to forgive the League for just letting him get away with everything he did simply because he was a powerful trainer.
I had taken the people on Pokedit who first said it for fools, but now I was beginning to come to terms with the truth of the matter. We lived in a military dictatorship where might makes right. Giovanni had directly and indirectly killed thousands of people. He was the leader of the largest terrorist organization in our nation's history. He created Mewtwo, the greatest threat to our existence as a species since legendaries roamed the planet. He had done all that and still managed to get away with it because Kanto needed all the strong trainers it could get.
He was being pardoned for his role in ruining our society simply because he was a strong trainer, and it disgusted me. I watched his Rhyperior bait in his opponent's Blastoise by feigning damage from its Hydro Pump. It was a good actor, just like its master. I would have fallen for it if I hadn't seen it use the exact same trick against a dozen other Pokemon. When the Blastoise made the mistake of wandering too close, Rhyperior capitalised.
It shed its pretense of being harmed by the attack and pounced right on the attacking water type. The creature's scream, as a single drill hand smashed into its chest, was grating to my ears. It moved backward, ceding ground to the attacking rock type. And there, it made its third mistake of the battle. The first had been agreeing to fight the monster at all. The second was believing it could ever be harmed by an attack like its Hydro Pump. The third was letting it take a meter of space. Fucking insatiable, it was. If you gave that thing an inch, it would take a mile very comfortably. I'd seen it happen in real-time to so many challengers; it was beginning to turn into a routine.
I could practically imagine the fight in my mind's eye without even looking at it. Left punch, right hook, uppercut, body shot, swerve out of the line of sight, and move in with a trio of left-handed jabs. I predicted every move before it happened. It wasn't even bothering to try to hide what it wanted to do next. It was only a matter of time before the Blastoise was thoroughly overwhelmed, and what little defense it relied on crumbled like stones in an Onix's mouth. It slumped to the ground, knocked out, and the challenger didn't even bother with words as he returned his Pokemon to its ball and fled the presence of the rogue gym leader turned terrorist turned pardoned criminal.
I sighed to myself. I hadn't had high hopes, but some part of me had dared to dream. "Giovanni!" I heard a voice boom through the forest and was shocked to look up and see Bruno himself leaping from tree to tree like a monkey as he ran towards the Rocket leader. Yes. Finally.
"Bruno of the Elite Four. What a surprise to see you here," the traitorous bastard said as the Fighting Type Master came to a stop right in front of him.
"Prepare yourself. You will pay for the lives you reaped today. This shall be your reckoning," the man said in that booming baritone of his that just made me trust him. It made me believe that this was going to be the end of Giovanni's rampage in this forest. I mean, how could he hope to stand against one of the Elite Four? Strongest gym leader he might have been, but that meant nothing in the face of one of the league's outright strongest trainers. Some called him the second strongest in Kanto even, with Donnell Oak and Agatha tipped as a joint third.
His Machamp flexed its muscles as it prepared to head into battle. Giovanni's Rhyperior just watched it, unimpressed. "We shall begin," the Fighting Master said, giving his opponent fair warning. That's part of the reason no one could actually hate Bruno. He was just such an upstanding guy, really into fair play and all that stuff. The Machamp seemed to flicker in space, and the ground it stood on was shattered to pieces. The next thing I saw was it landing a terrific punch right in the center of Rhyperior's guard. I just barely avoided falling over myself in shock. Machamp wasn't the fastest of species, but that one had just moved too quickly for me to track. It had been nothing but a flash, and the space between seconds was how long it had taken it to cover that distance in its charge. The scary part was that Rhyperior had still managed to react in time to get its guard up.
I knew it was sandbagging in some of its fights, but to have been holding back this much was just something else. Something unbelievable, really. They remained locked together for a few more seconds before Rhyperior heaved and actually moved Machamp back a few inches. It then used that leverage to maneuver out of the lock and head in for a punch of its own. Machamp dodged with ease, and its return Spartan kick hit nothing but air as Rhyperior submerged itself in the ground.
Bruno was unimpressed. "Earthquake," was all he said, and his Pokemon began to lightly tap its foot against the ground before jumping a few feet in the air beyond what any human could do, and landing on the ground with the impact of a god's own hammer. Even from kilometers away, I could feel the tremors of the earthquake. Someone had referred to elite trainers and their Pokemon as natural disasters in the guise of human flesh on one of the forums. While he'd been quickly shouted down for the statement, I was beginning to see his point. The earthquake practically leveled that area of the forest. Trees collapsed instantly as the ground was torn apart. It was like an actual natural disaster had gone off in that section of the field alone. Even with that kind of attack, a part of me could tell the fight was nowhere near over.
That part was proven correct when Rhyperior returned to the surface right next to the four-armed pokemon's feet and started the second part of their engagement with a stab at one of his opponent's knees with its left drill. Machamp moved out of the way with ease, and so they began their dance. Except, this time, Machamp was clearly ahead: faster, stronger, and more skilled. He showed his dominance in every exchange, and it was only Rhyperior's nigh impenetrable armor that kept it from being battered into unconsciousness. Only that armor allowed it to remain in the fight the way it did.
I scowled as Rhyperior finally managed to end the pounding it was receiving from Machamp by going underground again. This time, it resurfaced before Bruno could order another earthquake. Now that it was no longer a blur of movement, I could get a good look at it. It had quite a few scrapes here and there, but it looked nearly unscathed. I whistled in appreciation. No matter how much I hated the trainer, I had to admit that that Pokemon could throw down.
This time, it seemed determined to maintain its distance. I guess after confirming he stood no chance against the literal fighting type master in close combat, Giovanni was exploring other options.
The ground type master's Pokemon stretched its hands, and several boulders around it began to float in the air. I waited to see how Bruno's Pokemon would deal with the rocks about to be tossed at it, but Giovanni's was the one to truly surprise me. Instead of just sending the boulders flying like any other rock type would do, it seemed to close its eyes in concentration. I watched in gobsmacked amazement as the boulders shattered into pebble-like pieces, and those pieces shot right at its opponent with so much speed I could not even keep track of the individual rocks. As they approached, Machamp seemed to take a deep breath before surrounding himself in the green bubble of a well-used protect. The rocks smashed against the shield with the sound of a gong. I watched as the green bubble seemed to shudder in on itself before stabilising and sending the rocks flying back in every direction.
I thanked Arceus for giving me the wisdom to maintain my distance as the few trees that hadn't been destroyed by Machamp's earthquake were torn to shreds by the pebbles. Machamp dropped its protect the moment the rocks were gone and rushed straight for Rhyperior. The ground type stomped one of its feet on the ground and a spike of rock came shooting out of the ground right where Machamp was about to step over - Stone Edge. Somehow, the fighting type pokemon managed to dodge the spike by stopping at the very last second. A dozen more spikes appeared around him like magic, and I watched as Rhyperior lifted its hands again. The spikes tore themselves out of the ground before spearing straight for Machamp. This time, the fighting type pokemon decided that the best defense was a good offense and assumed a stance I didn't recognize. Small green balls of energy formed in each of its four palms, and each of them flew at one of the spikes, blowing it to smithereens. It repeated the same move three times till all the spikes had been destroyed, and then cocked its head at Rhyperior, as if to say, 'Is that the best you can do?'
Rhyperior seemed to understand the message as it roared in rage and took a step forward, moving towards Machamp. The fighting type pokemon took the opening its taunt gave it and exploded from the ground. Once again, in the span of a second, I was met with a completely different position. Machamp was underneath Rhyperior's bulk as if the armoured pokemon had somehow caught that blitz charge and wrestled its attacker to the ground.
"That attack of yours. It's not speed. It's strength. That's why you did not show it off against Donnell Oak. Against a pokemon fast enough to react, your pokemon becomes nothing more than a sitting duck as it hurls through the air at speeds it can perceive but not control. It's a genius idea, but one-dimensional," Giovanni said to the Elite Four member, and I resisted the urge to hang my head. Even Bruno fell for Giovanni's tricks? Was there any way to actually put down this bastard?
"Thank you for telling me, Giovanni. I will endeavor to make improvements before I face my next opponent. However, it is short-sighted of you to assume victory in this battle from a small but fleeting advantage," Bruno said, dragging me out of my thoughts. I watched in shock as, with virtually zero leverage beyond the ground they lay on, Bruno's Machamp began to lift Rhyperior as it prepared to stand. I watched, absolutely gobsmacked, as the Machamp actually managed to slowly but steadily make its way to its feet with a struggling Rhyperior held above its head by four straining hands. When the Machamp actually tossed Rhyperior away once it made it to its feet, I nearly cheered.
Of course, it just had to ruin the joy I was feeling by standing up almost immediately after another strong hit. The Rhyperior still looked unscathed and ready to keep going all day.
This time, both pokemon moved in unison. Machamp tried to close the distance, but an earthquake from Rhyperior slowed down its approach and gave the ground type pokemon the time it needed to prepare a charge of its own. It hunkered down and began to run forwards. Its drill moved at an extreme speed as it gathered a green aura around its body. I had little trouble figuring out what move was about to be used. Giga Impact was one of the most famous pokemon moves out there, after all. Machamp began its own charge, matching the ground type's move with its own. I braced myself as they were about to make impact, but it proved useless.
They crashed into each other, and the shockwave bowled me over almost instantly. From my place on the ground, I watched as the trees around me were sent flying. Without Venusaur keeping a good grip on me with her vines, I was sure I would have joined the trees in their fate. Donnell Oak's forest was nothing more than grass and ground at this point. Natural disasters, indeed.
When the winds finally died down, and I was able to look up again, I was unsurprised to find both pokemon still standing. Rhyperior seemed to have been forced back by the clash, but it was still standing thanks to the ungodly durability it sported. At this point, I had to accept that these pokemon would probably kill everyone around them in their attempts to put each other down.
Most amazingly, in my opinion, were the trainers. Both Giovanni and Bruno remained staring at each other, standing tall. Neither of them had even flinched from the impact, to the best of my knowledge. They were next to the epicentre and were perfectly fine. I had just endured a risk to my life, and I was over a kilometre away. Were these people even human? Could elite pokemon trainers still be classified as such? At this point, I was leaning towards no as my answer to the question. What the actual fuck was this? I ignored my desire to censor myself even in my own head and instead swore with abandon. Why should I prevent myself from swearing when the daughter whose innocence I had sought to protect was dead from the ambitions of a monster? A monster I could not slay. I had promised to protect her, and I had failed. I had promised to avenge her, and now with what I could see, I would never succeed. Something in me broke as I fell to my knees, and tears began to well up in my eyes.
Even though I was broken, I kept my eyes fixed on the unfolding battle before me. The two Pokemon stared at each other for a few seconds before exploding into motion at an unseen signal. Another stone edge attack sent spikes of rocks blurring after the four-armed Pokemon, but this time, it didn't even bother trying to block with focus blasts and assumed a stance, destroying any rocks that got too close with its fists. Most of the spears had missed, but that seemed intentional as Rhyperior made a pulling motion with its outstretched hands, causing the spears that had sailed past the fighting type to come rocketing right at it. I gasped as Machamp barely turned around in time to see the attack coming for it. It couldn't even block the attack, and I watched, mouth agape, as the stone spears smashed straight through its body, tearing it apart.
The sight was gruesome, so I closed my eyes almost instinctively, but I was forced to open them again when I heard Rhyperior roar in pain. I looked over and saw it take a glowing fist straight to the head from Machamp. When I looked back at the remains of Machamp's body, I found it in the process of disappearing, as if it had never been there in the first place. Was it a substitute? Most likely. But if it had used that move, then that meant Machamp would be a bit more tired than its opponent. I guessed that explained the mad charge the duck Pokemon was making. The roar of pain from Rhyperior had come from an attack that broke the smaller horn on its head, leaving the larger one as its sole means of attack in that area.
Rhyperior's tail lashed out, but Machamp showed flexibility I had thought was impossible for its species by making a handstand on the tail, avoiding the bite and returning to its feet as the tail passed where it would have been. And from there, the violence continued. Machamp's fists glowed with amazing intensity as it pummeled its opponent, causing more and more damage and forcing Rhyperior to give ground. I dared not hope, and that was proven right when Rhyperior suddenly stumbled back from a punch and pointed one of its hands at its opponent. In a split second, there was a sound like a gun going off, and I was shocked to see Machamp with a hole going straight through its hand, which was in front of its head.
Fuck. I remembered the entry on Rhyperior in the Pokewiki. It's capable of shooting rocks out of its hands with the force of missiles. Machamp retreated instantly as two more sounds went off, and two more rocks shot out. Both of them missed this time, but the ground-type had accomplished its goal. Perhaps for the thousandth time today, I was awed by the craftiness of that Pokemon. It had hidden the ability, taken immense damage, and feigned weakness, all to get the possibility of a killing shot when its opponent's guard was down. And make no mistake, that had been a killing shot. If it had been able to go straight through Machamp's forearm, as muscularly dense as it was, it wouldn't have had much problem with a skull.
I watched as Rhyperior's outstretched hands clenched and multiple boulders smashed into themselves, combining into a massive one and launching straight at the fleeing Machamp with so much force and speed that it seemed to have been shot out of a cannon. The fighting-type Pokemon, with only three usable arms, turned to the attack and prepared a fighting stance. All three of its usable fists blazed with the intensity of the sun itself as it jumped right at the approaching boulder. It must have been at least five times its size, but when Machamp and the boulder clashed, it was Machamp who was left standing. The boulder was blown to smithereens in an impact that created a shockwave, almost knocking me off my feet.
Even after all that, they were still going? I asked myself as I took a good look at both of the fighters. Machamp was taking deep breaths, looking absolutely exhausted but resolute. Rhyperior was just a bit better, looking tired but noticeably less so, and also much less injured. A broken off horn was much better than a crippled hand, and Machamp's right upper arm was definitely crippled. It was still losing blood at an alarming rate and hadn't moved of its own accord since it took that bullet to save the head. I could already see the outcome coming together. Bruno was going to lose this. Somehow, someway, while no one paid attention, Giovanni had gone from strongest gym leader to a trainer stronger than one of the elite four. I could already imagine the reactions on television. News would carry on with all sorts of conspiracy theories and rabble-rousing. After all, it was all the rage to hate on the man now. I clenched my fist as I became sure it wasn't going to be here I saw my revenge.
Of course, like always, I was proven wrong as I suddenly heard the sounds of clapping through my earpiece. Someone else had arrived at the battle arena. I was surprised to note that I hadn't noticed their approach, and neither had either of the fighters. It was Donnell Oak, with a strange Pokemon floating at his side.
"Giovanni, Giovanni, Giovanni. Oh, how far you've come, but I think this is to be the end of the road for you. We have scores to settle, you and I," Oak said with a smile on his face that actually disturbed me a bit. How had he just appeared here without any one of us noticing?
A/N; New chapter, kids. Let's goooo. How's this looking? All will make sense in the end, I hope. Or it won't. That's life. Thanks for reading. We've got the next Seven chapters of this story, along with the first chapter of another Naruto insert I haven't uploaded yet (It's an Itachi SI) and 18 chapters of my other fic, all available on pa-treon, and you can read all of that right now just by heading to the link on my profile or searching for my username up there. Feel free to have a look.