Asher's Team:

Lago - Rhydon
Crust - Golem
Sebastian - Nidoking
Selena - Nidoqueen
Seraph - Clefable
Barret - Dugtrio
Sonic - Sandslash
Death - Marowak
Colossus - Steelix

"What a fantastic turn of events folks! Death the Marowak has taken down Barry's Jynx and now Barry is down to his second pokemon!"

Barry stared at his downed Jynx for a moment and frowned before picking a pokeball from his belt and withdrawing the ice-psychic type from the battle. He then stared at the pokeball before placing it on his belt once again with Jynx now inside.

He then turned his eyes on me with a sharp look in his eyes." You are a strong pokemon trainer, but I cannot lose this battle." He picked up a second pokeball and spoke with a glare as he threw a pokeball." I have too much to fight for!"

Must be some story there. Sorry but I won't be stopped now. I've come too far to just throw in the towel.

The pokeball snapped open and released his Tentacruel, a pokemon that he'd used in his previous matches. I could tell that it was strong and briefly wondered if Death could handle him in his current state.

My keen eye analysed Death's current position. He looked like that Jynx had gotten a few good hits in but other than that he seemed completely fine. All of my pokemon have been trained to be stamina monsters so what he's feeling is more damage than anything else.

Death picked up his other club from the ground and stared back at me with a determined glint in his eyes and I could tell just from that he was far from down. I grinned back at him and he nodded as he shifted his gaze from me to his new opponent before getting into a fighting stance with his two weapons.

"And Barry's second pokemon is Tentacruel! Will Asher be able to overcome the type disadvantage!"

I wouldn't go that far really. Even if Tentacruel is a water-type it's also a poison-type and any ground-type attacks we use will be super effective so it's not really an uneven match.

"Battle start!" The referee yelled and I allowed myself to smirk at the fact I'd taken the lead.

Barry starts things off by yelling." Get in close Tentacruel and use Constrict!" Tentacruel acknowledges the order by nodding and the blue jellyfish seems to glide along the ground as though it were hovering to close in on Death.

That's another weird thing about some water pokemon like Kingdra or Seaking, they don't really have feet or limbs which allow them to walk so they just kind of... float. I have a theory that it has something to do with telekinesis that allows them to hover slightly off their ground using a miniscule amount of aura- given that those pokemon always seem stronger in the water, it'll be that way since their reserves aren't being used up in those conditions- and fight with their aura reserves being constantly drained away.

The people in this world however... they just don't really question stuff like that. I mean fair enough this wacky magical monster shit will be pretty standard for them but it's just like- argh.

You know what I'm done, I agreed not to question this stuff a long time ago. I should just focus on the match.

I simply breathed the order." Earthquake."

As much as I drill the idea of skill and technique into my team sometimes you just need power that crushes all. Pure and simple.

Death placed his hands on the ground and the after a moment the ground shook with immense force and the shockwave of the attack was going right for Tentacruel and would have landed a powerful hit if Barry didn't react in time.

"Protect."

Ah Protect. A classic in pokemon no matter what universe your in. The attack itself is simple but effective: block an attack from the opponent. Of course it's not perfect, if the difference in strength was high enough then even 'ultimate' protection like Protect and Safeguard can be nullified. However, the difference would have to be exponential for that to happen.

And unfortunately the difference between Death and Barry's Tentacruel just isn't big enough. A green barrier is conjured up and held strong under the assault of Earthquake and as our attacks faded the water-poison type was revealed to be unharmed.

However I noticed that Death was panting a little after that attack and allowed my worry to grow a smidge. Earthquake is a move that can consume a lot of stamina if you haven't trained the move to a higher level of mastery and Death isn't really made to be a bulldozer who crushes everything in his way, he doesn't possess a high level of expertise in using Earthquake so him using that move to such a large extent won't be without reprecussions.

"Use Hydro Pump."

I gritted my teeth at his words. At any rate it's not like they're weak, Death is feeling the toll from his previous battle and they aren't giving us a moment to catch our breaths.

Tentacruel immediately spat out a massive torrent of high pressure water which could definitely bully Death if he was hit. But given my Marowak's condition he'll need to conserve his energy for later if we want to counter attack.

"Death use Ice Beam!"

My ground-type knight immediately understood what I was planning and he opened his mouth whilst ice-type energy gathered and formed as frost on his boney maw.

The attack was unleashed at a fast rate for a non ice or water-type and a ray of light blue aura was unleashed from Death's maw and the moment it met the opponents attack the entire thing froze solid and shattered when it fell to the ground.

Barry once again visibly showed frustration at the lack of a direct hit but wasn't given any time to lament how the tides of battle were in his opponents favour as the Marowak immediately began to rush down his Tentacruel at his trainer's orders.

"Use Bone Rush."

Death responded to his trainer's command as he did his best to ignore the fatigue and tiredness he felt from his previous battle and all the attacks he's had to use as his bones pulsed with ground-type energy and he ran to attack his opponent.

Barry racked his brain about what he could do, that Marowak had turned out to be surprisingly tough, even after taking out his Jynx and tanking all those attacks it still looks ready and raring to go, like it could take on a whole team of his pokemon.

He's got to find a way to put it down for good. But-

Barry's eyes widened as he realised a strategy which he could employ into this battle.

"Tentacruel use Surf!"

Tentacruel followed the command loyaly and swiftly as a massive wave of water was suddenly conjured up under the blue squid's feet which immediately grew taller and taller until Death was dwarfed by the attack.

I just scoffed at the attempt, such a simple minded attack would never work against me." Part the waves with Bonemerang!"

Death nodded and after aiming carefully he threw his left club with a mighty cry. The attack hit the Surf right in the middle and as a result the waves crashed and fell as Death single handedly split the water in two with his bone attack. Tentacruel was forced to hop off his wave and high into the air in order to avoid losing balance and falling with his wave.

However, much to my surprise Barry actually smirked at that before quickly ordering his pokemon once again." Use Ice Beam to trap that Marowak!"

Wait what?!

Frosty rays of light instantly rained down on Death as his bone came back to him and the damp battlefield instantly froze him in place. Whilst that Surf had been stopped that probably wasn't the aim of his attack, he just needed to dampen the battlefield so that Death would be frozen on the spot.

Death realised that he was now trapped and constantly struggled to try and break himself free but before he could do that-

"Toxic!" Ohhh shit.

Tentacruel immediately spat out an oozy purple ball of toxic sludge which I knew would badly poison Death should it hit.

I could defend again it but I could also do something really stupid.

Seeing a way to win the entire thing in just one moment I quickly yelled." Death tank that hit and take them out in one hit!"

Hearing the codeword I'd ingrained into his head Death's eyes widened in surprise but to his credit he only took a second to act how I needed him to. He placed both of his hands on the ground and focused to pour all of his strength into his next attack.

However, Tentacruel's attack didn't stop this entire time and Death soon found himself completely drenched in the painful experience that was the poison that Toxic had delivered.

Death winced in pain as purple sparks jumped off him and he shook from nausea, however that wasn't enough to stop my Marowak. Death screamed from the strain and pain he was feeling and the ground began to break open all at once.

Barry's eye widened when he saw this." Fissure?! Tentacruel don't-"

However Barry didn't get to finish his sentence, the ground was violently torn open with rocks and pieces of ground flying everywhere, some even flew near me, however I simply moved out of the way and avoided them.

The barriers which were meant to protect the audience from any damage buckled and wavered as dust threw everywhere as a huge crack in the battlefield appeared and swallowed the Tentacruel whole and slammed shut causing a mist of debris to fly everywhere.

The audience and Barry were both shocked by the sudden attack but once they snapped out of it my opponent couldn't help but grit his teeth at the defeat of yet another one of his pokemon.

The crowd went wild at the sight of yet another one of Barry's pokemon going down and I hadn't even lost a single one yet.

"And there you have it folks! Asher has taken down yet another one of Barry's pokemon and that means Barry can only bring out one more pokemon! Could this be the end of Barry's run at the Indigo Conference?!"

At those words something inside of Barry seemed to snap and he glared at me with venom as he withdrew his Tentacruel and belted his pokemon.

Naturally I did the thing any rational person would do, I glared back. He can't seriously be mad at me for being better than him at pokemon battling, can he? If he really is then he can-

"I can't lose this."

Barry's words make me snap out of my inner thoughts as he stared down at a pokeball. Somehow he didn't look nearly as angry as before, he looked sad even. Usually someone like him would be labelled as just a sore loser... but I don't think that's it.

Regardless though." Sorry but I can't lose this either."

I stared at Death who was looking more than just beat up, he was poisoned, battered and hardly holding onto his clubs, a decently strong gust of wind would probably be enough to put him down permanently. So I made the call.

I turned to the referee and said." I'm retiring Death from this match. He can't do anymore."

Death heard those words and looked back at me, he was probably about to grunt that he'd be fine, that he could keep going. But we both knew that wasn't true. So I raised his pokeball and returned my Marowak to his pokeball where he could rest without being disturbed.

"Oh?! What's this?! Asher has decided to retire his Marowak from this match! That means that Asher is now down to two pokemon! Can Barry take down both of Asher's pokemon?! Or will he suffer a bitter defeat?!"

It's gonna have to be that second one buddy. I've come too close to stop now.

I pulled out a pokeball from my belt and pointed it at Barry. Whilst Colossus is probably my strongest pokemon in terms of raw power that doesn't mean he's my only powerhouse and this pokemon is going to prove that.

It's Sebastian's time to shine.

Sabrina watched the battle from above with her facial expression remaining the same as it was at the beginning of the match however her mind was wondering which pokemon Asher would choose to finish the match of the day. She deduced that he'd likely choose his Nidoking or Nidoqueen given that he used his gigantic Steelix in the last match and he wanted to save Lago for his final battle of the Conference.

She didn't bat an eye at her friends complete confidence that he'd win the Indigo Conference, he never made claims that he couldn't back up with action and he'd demonstrated the skill that one would need as a trainer in order to beat the best this tournament has to offer.

Asher has always been an oddity for her. Truth be told when she first layed eyes on him she honestly hated him, his existence made her uncomfortable, uncertain, since her powers just don't seem to work on him, he's a complete blind spot, she can't sense him, she can't read his mind and she can't read his emotions. During their Gym battle her battling was thrown completely off because she kept getting distracted by his presence. At first she thought that he was doing it on purpose, that he was trying to humiliate or mock her in some way, looking back she likely humiliated herself by acting in such a manner. Completely unbecoming of a Gym Leader, she may have only been thirteen at the time- and she only turned fourteen recently- but her behaviour was inexcusable.

However, much to her surprise he... apologised to her. He apologised for her discomfort and even explained in a very calm and simple manner that he wasn't doing anything to throw her off her game and that if she wanted he'd come back at another time to earn his gym badge in a more even manner.

Socialising has never been her strong suit, in fact she's even go so far as to say that it's one of the few things that she's very bad at, and that was mostly due to the fact that she had no friends up until that point. She didn't go to school and did nothing but train with her pokemon and do her duties as a Gym Leader. Such things like friendship never mattered to her before.

And that's what Asher is... her first friend. After their little encounter they got to know each other better and when he had to leave Saffron City in order to continue with his Gym challenge she was extremely disheartened, so much so that she left the Gym in the hands of her father so that she could continue to follow him and travel with him to various different places in Kanto. She didn't participate in the circuit however that didn't stop her from training and challenging her rival in order to become stronger, she is a Gym Leader afterall.

For years her powers did nothing but repel others, however Asher actually seemed to... like her powers. He's even called them 'cool' before. He's a strange one alright, almost as strange as her.

However, unfortunately he was someone with a bit of a sad past, he has no parents and earned his sponsorship at the Viridian Gym through nothing but his own merit and talent. He has no family but that didn't hold him back from being a trainer and doing his best to become stronger. His hard work and determination are showing fruit now, he's decimating the competition and doesn't show signs of stopping anytime soon. In a way she admires the boy.

She was almost tempted to gaze into the future however she restrained herself. A short while ago she was constantly looking into the future, always knowing what's next, life became so mundane that it was as though she weren't even living. Life is much more exciting if you don't know what's next. But honestly she didn't even need her foresight to know who would win this match.

So with her mind uncorrupted and unsullied by the knowledge of how the future would go Sabrina turned her gaze onto the battlefield where Asher was battling.

It's time to watch her friend win. She doesn't need to see the future to know that he will win this whole Conference.

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