March 13, 2010
Motostoke Stadium, Galar
The Gym Challenge Exhibition Tournament has reached the semi finals as four trainers remain. The large screen shuffles the four trainers until it reveals that the two battles will be Alistair vs Viktor and James vs Bede. Vik then glanced over at Alistair who had a grin on his face.
"I'm excited to see what you are capable of, Vik." He comments as Viktor just gave him a nod.
"I suppose we'll see." Vik responds as the two step out into the battlefield.
"Alright you two, this will be a one on one battle. The winner will be the trainer with the last pokemon standing. Now reveal your pokemon!" The referee announces to the two as Alistair takes a deep breath before grinning at Vik.
"Let's get going Rookidee!" He sends out the tiny bird pokemon.
"Riolu! Standby!" Vik sends out his partner.
"I'll let you have the first move Vik! Come at me with all you got!"
"Right, Riolu! Begin with work up!" Vik commands as Riolu begins to hype himself up.
"You know what? Let's power up too Rookidiee! Use hone claws!" Alistair commands as Rookidee proceeds to sharpen its claws.
Riolu then dashes toward the opposing Rookidee with incredible speed and lands a quick attack. Rookidee takes the impact as it trades a blow and pecks at Riolu. After the peck, Riolu jumps back.
Right…flying type moves are super effective against fighting types. A head on attack like that will just lead to Riolu losing the trade. I need to figure out how to outsmart him…but how do you outsmart a champion level trainer? Vik thought as Alistair noticed some hesitation.
"Lower his defense by using leer!" Alistair orders as Rookidee gives Riolu an intimidating glare as Vik could see Riolu's demeanor shake for a moment before regaining focus. There is no room for hesitation in a battle.
"Use vacuum wave!" Vik commands. Let's keep our distance for now and see how he proceeds.
Riolu begins to whirl his fists together as it sends a wave of wind towards Rookidee before it starts flapping its wings to create a strong wind that actually sends the wave back towards Riolu. Riolu was shocked at the power from the bird pokemon, but was able to dodge his own attack in time. Rookidee then flies toward Riolu ready to unleash a barrage of attacks when Riolu ducks from its attacks and grabs Rookidee by the beak before rolling onto his back and throwing Rookidee behind him into a wall. Alistair stared in shock for a moment impressed by that maneuver.
That was impressive. He thought. "Now Rookidee! Pluck at Riolu's feet!"
Rookidee recovers from the impact as it flies toward Riolu again and strikes him with a peck attack against the back of his foot. Riolu kneels down from the attack as he was becoming tired from all the damage he has suffered. Vik was becoming more and more frustrated as he couldn't find a strategy that wouldn't cause Riolu to take super effective damage. Alistair could sense the frustration from his opponent.
He's trying to find a way to outsmart me…but the damage from my flying type moves is making him hesitate. Unfortunately a battle is still a battle. Alistair laments a little in his head as he still had a stoic look on his face. "Alright Rookidee, use another pluck attack!"
Rookidee flies in for another attack as it struck Riolu's leg again and caused him to faint. The referee rushes over to check on Riolu's condition.
"Riolu is unable to battle! Therefore the winner is Alistair!" He announces as the stadium lets out a loud cheer. Vik lets out a sigh as he recalls Riolu back into his pokeball.
"Dammit…that was humiliating." He mumbled out. "My family would just call me a failure if they saw this defeat. They would say that if I want to become a Pokemon master…that I can't afford to lose battles."
Alistair watched for a moment as he could tell something was on Vik's mind based on his body language. He walks over to him as Vik notices him.
"That was some good battling there Vik. I definitely see potential in you as a trainer, but I noticed you seem to hesitate during our battle. What was on your mind?" He says as Vik lets out another sigh.
"Isn't it obvious? I was in a bad matchup where I was screwed either way. Any kind of attack I would do, there was some simple counter or it would cause Riolu to take a super effective hit." He turns his head away from him. "Not that it matters. Defeats like that bring humiliation and dishonor amongst myself and my family's legacy."
Before Alistair could say another word, Vik walked away towards the locker rooms. Alistair frowned a little as he felt like there was something more beyond just his first defeat. He proceeds to follow him to the locker rooms as James was inside talking to his Dreepy.
"Alright mate, it's your time to shine. We'll make sure to kick that bastards behind and get revenge for Abby. I'll be counting on you." He says to the dragon Pokemon as it gave him a nod which James smiled at. "Good. Then let's do this."
Alistair heard the ending of the conversation as James recalled Dreepy and walked past him towards the battlefield. He sure seems confident. He thought as he sat down for a moment and watched the battle on the tv screen.
Bede was already out on the battlefield with his signature smug look on his face which bothered James a little. But he decided to ignore it as he stretched his arms.
"Ready to lose just like your friend during the last round?" Bede asks smugly as James scoffs.
"In your bloody dreams. I came here to win." He takes out his pokeball. "Alright Dreepy, it's showtime!"
"Heh, what's a weak Pokemon like that going to do against me? That's almost as bad as the girls Zigzagoon!" He sends out a Hatenna. "I'll show you what I mean! Use confusion!"
Hatenna lets out a very weak telekinetic force that hits Dreepy as she struggles to break free from the psychic force. Bede continues to smirk watching the helpless Dreepy before Dreepy releases a visage of her own shadow which strikes Hatenna, causing it to flinch and release Dreepy.
That was astonish…good thinking Dreepy. James thought to himself, smiling at his Pokemon's solution to the problem.
"Hmph, to think that Pokemon would come up with a solution." Bede taunts a little. "Now use disarming voice!"
"Double team!" James commands as Dreepy creates eight duplicates of herself and Hatenna unleashes the fairy type attack in a sound wave. The disarming voice hits one of the duplicates as it disappears and Hatenna starts to attack each of the duplicates. "Now use bite!"
Dreepy dodges the attack and lands a powerful bite onto the top of Hatennas head as she held on tight. Bede becomes visibly frustrated at he orders Hatenna to shake off Dreepy. It tries so hard to shake off Dreepy, but she continues to hold on tight as she releases a sinister ray at Hatenna which causes it to become confused. Bede growled as he was losing control of the battle.
"Dammit! What are you doing Hatenna!? Snap the fuck out of it!" He yells out as Hatenna kept hurting itself in confusion by bashing parts of its body against the ground. The crowd was surprised by the sudden change in demeanor in Bede.
Hmph, not so tough now are ya? James thought seeing Bede's reaction to the current situation. "Use another astonish attack!"
Dreepy lands another super effective attack on Hatenna which knocks it to the ground. Dreepy floats back and watches as Hatenna tries to stand up but then collapses to the ground. Bede stood there in complete terror as the referee ran over.
"Hatenna is unable to battle! Therefore, James will move on to the finals!" He announces as the crowd once again cheers as James smiled seeing that he managed to win.
"You were great out there Dreepy!" He calls out as Dreepy glanced over at him happy to hear the praise. James reaches out his hand as she nuzzles it. "We got him, and it's all thanks to you."
Meanwhile Bede had an angry expression as he recalled back his Hatenna. He then glared over at James.
"Bastard got lucky. To think I would lose to something as weak as a Dreepy." He scoffed a little before angrily walking back to the locker room to where he was greeted by Alistair. "What the hell do you want? I don't have time to waste with faux champions such as yourself!"
"To think you took that loss with as much grace as a rabid Patrat. And poor sportsmanship to boot. Do you really see yourself winning the gym challenge and becoming champion with that poor attitude of yours?" He had his arms crossed and refused to let Bede brush past him.
"What's it to you!? I'm the trainer endorsed by the bloody chairman himself. I'm not going to lose to these weak trainers. None of them really matter to me…including you. All of you are just stepping stones for me."
"So that's how you see all of these trainers? Hmph, you'll never amount to becoming champion, let alone a gym leader with that poor attitude of yours. I would suggest you change your act if I were you. A true trainer wouldn't take that kind of loss in a humiliating fashion.
"Whatever. Just get out of my way." He then brushes past Alistair.
I suppose we'll see if he takes my words to heart or if will prove to be his downfall. But for now…it's just me and James. He thought to himself as he prepared for this last battle. James was also in the locker room as he was hyping himself up. Alistair approached him from behind as he put an arm on his shoulder.
"So, it's down to both me and you. Are you ready?" He asks James.
"Of course I am. To think I have the honor to battle another region's strongest trainer. I'm more than excited!" His expression changed to a more serious one. "My goal is to become strong enough to challenge Leon and be the one to defeat him. After becoming a champion level trainer, maybe I can finally prove them wrong after all these years."
"Hmm, that's quite a lofty goal James. However it won't be an easy road to follow. Many trainers believe themselves capable of becoming a champion…but their dream falls flat when they encounter a major challenge in front of them. At that point? Most would just quit trying to achieve that goal…but several will persevere through those challenges. Will you be one of those who overcome the challenge?" He says before leaving towards the battlefield.
Hmm…why do I get the feeling that there is more to what he said than he is leading on? He thought as he went towards the field.
Both trainers stand ready as the referee states the rules of the battle. Alistair stands ready with a rather calm expression on his face as James was grinning over at his opponent. Both trainers take out their Pokemon and send them out.
"Alright, let's get going Emboar!" Alistair sends out his most trusted partner, to the absolute surprise of James and the crowd.
So that's what he meant… James felt a little intimidated as he took out his partner. "O-okay Scorbunny, it's showtime!"
Scorbunny is sent out only to be greeted by the massive Emboar that he met only yesterday. Emboar had a stoic look on his face as Scorbunny felt a few chills run down his spine.
"Let's see how you plan to overcome this challenge. Emboar, use focus punch!"
Emboar begins to focus his energy into one attack as his fist glows blue and he launches a powerful punch attack towards Scorbunny. In retaliation, Scorbunny cloaks himself in fire as he tries to dodge to the side and dashes behind Emboar. Alistair watches as Scorbunny attempts to strike from behind.
"Redirect the attack! He's behind you!" He shouts as Emboar immediately turns around and uses the momentum to land a powerful focus punch onto Scorbunny. James was in pure shock from the power as his Scorbunny attempted to stand up. "Now go for rock slide!"
Emboar roars out as several rocks begin to manifest in the air and drop onto Scorbunny's location. Scorbunny manages to dodge the falling rocks and ramps up his speed with a flame charge. James tries to keep his cool as he knew Alistair would be controlling the pace of this battle.
"Go in for a quick attack!" James commands as Scorbunny dashes in.
"Counter with power-up punch!"
Emboar goes in for several punching attacks as Scorbunny dodges each one with incredible speed and lands a few blows onto Emboar. Alistair watches slightly impressed with his opponents capabilities. James could feel a nervous sweat drip down his face wondering what will happen next.
Okay…I need to use speed to my advantage cause brute force won't do anything for me. James thought to himself. "Use flame charge again!"
Scorbunny then cloaks himself in flames as he now dashes forward and begins to run circles around Emboar. The latter charges up a power-up punch and manages to land a blow onto Scorbunny mid-run. Scorbunny recovers from the impact as he then runs in for a kick to which Emboar counters with a blast of water that engulfs the small rabbit. Scorbunny falls to one knee feeling all the damage he has taken from Emboars powerful attacks.
Dammit…I don't think I can overpower him without taking so much damage. Just how can we do this? James feels a hint of doubt in himself as he turns his head away from the field, only to hear his partner's voice as Scorbunny proceeds to stand back up on his feet and act tough. He then turns to James and gives him a thumbs-up which surprised James. "Scorbunny…right. I'm not about to give up. We're not about to back down now. Let's keep going!"
Scorbunny gave him a side grin as his eyes began to glow red and he was engulfed in a bright blue light to everyone's surprise. James' Scorbunny proceeded to grow in size as his ears began to flop down to his sides. The blue light subsides and his partner lets out a loud battle cry. Alistair had a slight smile seeing how James' Scorbunny had evolved. James was in complete shock at the evolution.
"Scorbunny…no…Raboot. To think I would witness my first evolution so soon." His surprised expression changed to an excited one. "Hell yes! Let's go Raboot!"
Raboot releases another cry as he starts to dash towards Emboar. A tuft of hair on his head changes sky blue as a light of the same color surrounds him. He then nimbly strikes Emboar several times, dealing major damage to the fire boar. Alistair is taken back for a moment seeing this display of speed and power as Emboar is sent flying back.
"Woah…that was acrobatics. Nice going Raboot!" James calls out as Emboar stands up from the attack, weakened from the super effective hit.
"Not bad James, but me and Emboar are still raring to go. Use head smash!"
"Use acrobatics again!"
Both Pokemon charge towards each other as Raboot attempts to strike back at Emboars reckless headbutt. Emboar manages to overpower Raboot's acrobatics and sends him flying towards the wall of the stadium. Raboot attempts to stand up, but collapses to the ground.
"Raboot is unable to battle! Emboar is the winner. So the victor of this exhibition tourney would be Alistair!"
"Simply outstanding! So many trainers have fought so hard, but Alistair from the Unova region comes out on top! This gym challenge is bound to be very exciting!" Chairman Rose shouts through a microphone as the crowd cheers for Alistair's victory. James let out a sigh as he calmly walked over to his partner.
"You did great mate, I hope I didn't push you too hard." He says as Raboot feels ashamed of losing. "Don't be ashamed. We'll keep training so that you can get stronger."
Raboot gives him a small nod as James recalls him to rest. Alistair approaches him as James lets out a slight sigh.
"Well, I guess that was rather humbling. You are one tough bastard Alistair and I can respect that." He scratched the back of his head.
"That's what a bit of experience can do. But I apologize for testing you like that. I wanted to test your resolve to see if you meant what you said back there and I was certainly not disappointed. So keep working towards your goal in stride and both you and Raboot will go far." He had a slight smile.
"Don't you worry. We'll keep getting stronger for a rematch later. You can count on that."
"I'm looking forward to that challenge. But for now, let's go to the closing ceremony and the four of us will be on our way." He says as James nods as they head back to the locker room to await the closing ceremony.