Merry Christmas everyone, have an update!
Chapter 24: Righteous Asskicking
Keith was wrong about the battle, as it happens.
The battle wasn't just beginning when Vlad pulled off the double knockout.
It was actually already over.
"A powerful retaliate attack has dealt serious damage to Axel's charmeleon! It looks like Vlad's gumshoos is working hard to avenge his fallen comrade!"
"Fun combo, right? Sacrificing one of my Pokémon so that I can hit you even harder. Gotta put that loss to good use!" Vlad comments with a cruel smirk on his face as Axel visibly seethes.
Then several minutes later…
"Well wouldja look at that! Gumshoos just cut right through that magnemite's defenses with an endeavor attack, that's a pretty advanced move to pull off in a proper battle!"
"Figured I'd put all that damage gumshoos has taken to good use! Hey, why don't you smack him around some more? You'd be doing me a favor!"
"You twisted little-" Axel snarls as he struggles to maintain even a slight trace of calm.
Until finally…
"And just like that, rhyhorn is down! Axel's starter has fallen, and with that he's out of the tournament! What a shocking finale!"
"Hardly shocking at all. From the moment of the double knockout Vlad had complete control over the match. Axel's team had a clear advantage in power, but that meant little when Vlad was able to lead their trainer around by the nose. A clear example of the strength one can achieve by winning the mental battle," Koga declares with finality.
Vlad looks quite pleased with himself, until he notices the rotom drones closing in on him and immediately makes a panicked run for it. Even after pulling off the biggest upset of the tournament so far he's still taking the phrase 'camera shy' to the next level.
Axel on the other hand looks completely shell shocked. All throughout the battle he was practically radiating anger, but now that the battle is over he looks like he's woken up from some kind of trance. He calls Daisuke back and walks slowly out of the arena with his head hung in shame, defeated in every sense of the word.
Sara, Keith, and I all exchange a look and rush out of the spectator box together. A truce, if only a temporary one. Whatever just happened with Axel down there, it was completely unlike him, and we're all going to be there for him through things.
We find Axel sitting in one of the waiting rooms, staring at the floor.
"Hey Axel, you uh, you doing alright?" Keith ventures first.
"I'll be fine," Axel replies without looking up at us, "You three should go watch the next match. It could be useful."
"Nah, third bracket's still a joke," I dismiss easily, "Until Mint and Zachary finally face off in the next round there's nothing worthwhile going on there. We're more worried about you."
"I appreciate that," Axel says with a bit of a smile, lifting his head a little, "But I really will be fine. Losses happen. I will move on from this."
"Nobody's doubting that you'll bounce back from this Axel, it's just…" Keith shifts uncomfortably, "The way you were acting during that battle was a bit… concerning."
"We've never seen you get so worked up like that before," Sara adds, "What happened back there?"
"Something stupid," Axel says with a wince, "I have… problems with moves that require the user to take damage. Especially moves that make the user faint."
"And Vlad picked up on that," I conclude, "I thought his attitude towards his team was a bit off later in the match."
"He was playing it up, yeah," Keith nods along, "Still, even if he was acting up a bit, it's not like he was really abusing those moves. He was timing them all really well, and his team looked like they were happy to play along."
"I realize that," Axel replies, "Believe me, I'm not trying to imply that Vlad is abusing his team or anything like that. The problem is entirely with me."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Sara asks.
"I suppose I could," Axel leans back in his seat, a deep frown on his face, "You all know I come from the Almia Region, right? How much have any of you heard about news from there?"
"Not usually much from there," Keith replies thoughtfully, "I know the Ranger Union works out of the region though, and Koga's their primary contact in Kanto and Johto since he heads the Rangers over here. But really, Almia's pretty quiet. There hasn't been any big news from the region since the trouble with Team Dim Sun a few years back."
Axel's face darkens as soon as Keith mentions the group, "Team Dim Sun. They attacked my hometown, you know? I lived on a small volcanic island called Boyleland. And one day Team Dim Sun went there, and conducted a mass kidnapping operation. The island was small enough that they were able to abduct more than half its population of Pokémon. Daisuke was amongst them."
We all wince at that, and Keith follows up with a drawn out, "Shiiiiiiit."
"Yeah," Axel snorts at our reaction, "Not a pleasant memory. I wasn't officially Daisuke's trainer yet, but we were still close friends. Two of Almia's top Rangers were able to save all the Pokémon, but I still have resentment towards Team Dim Sun. And that extends to their methods."
"What about their methods?" Sara asks.
"They used these machines, they looked like suitcases. Called… something-remos, I think. Can't remember. The machines could brainwash any Pokémon that were nearby. Make them fight for whoever was using the machine. And when that connection was broken, they'd just toss their Pokemon aside like trash. Isn't that despicable? Even Team Rocket showed more care for their Pokémon than that!"
"I mean, Team Rocket also-"
"Not the time, Keith," I cut my friend off. I'm not convinced Team Rocket is better than Team Dim Sun either, but I'm not going to say that in front of a guy the latter group apparently traumatized.
"At any rate, I've had a… strong aversion to certain types of moves ever since then," Axel concludes, "Something about them just makes me think of those thieves, and I completely lose my cool. And like you said, Vlad realized immediately and exploited it."
"Ugh, what a gross way of battling!" Sara groans, "Just picking at your trauma like that is so screwed up!"
"It's not his fault," Axel shakes his head, "I can't expect him to know I have that kind of history. And even if he did, it would be wrong of me to expect him to cripple himself in a battle to spare my feelings. I knew I would need to contend with this problem soon enough… I suppose I just didn't expect it to come up this early."
"Yeah, moves like endeavor and final gambit are really advanced," Keith nods, "Vlad's really been hiding his skills up until now. Can't wait to battle him myself!"
"Yeah, make sure to take him down a peg when you do," I comment, "I love an underdog victory as much as the next guy, but I'm not going to be satisfied getting through this tournament without a rematch against you."
"You should be more worried about yourself!" Keith replies jovially, "Arthur's not going to be half as easy to beat as that puffed up asshole Leon was. As for Vlad, just leave him to me. I'll be sure to avenge your loss, Axel."
"Thank you. All of you," Axel replies. He takes a deep breath, then smiles with some of his usual energy, "All right, I'm feeling more prepared to go back to watching the tournament. Let's go back to the stands."
By the time we return to the spectator booth the battle between Zachary and Kaz is almost over. Kaz has some tough pokémon, his ace being a crocalor that can take hits as well as it dishes them out… but his techniques are practically useless against Zachary's team. His Kirlia and Natu are both on the weak side in terms of power, but their teleportation is probably the most impressive display in the whole tournament. Very few pokémon in the tournament have the ability to compete with a movement advantage like that.
I don't bother paying attention to the following match. Compared to the behemoths that are Zachary and Mint, Kaz was the only one remotely capable of keeping things interesting against them. I take the time Mint spends obliterating their opponent to check up on the latest results from the Unova League. Those aren't much better, honestly. Cheren and Hilda continue to dominate their matches, and the League has more or less decided that the two meeting up in the finals is all but inevitable.
It's around this time that Valeria and Ulu get to their feet and leave the spectator booth to wait for their match. Ulu gives Valeria an intense look before he leaves, an unspoken promise of the righteous asskicking he intends to unleash. Keith and I both wish him luck before he leaves, knowing his intentions and finding them to be honorable and good. Valeria gives me a mildly betrayed look at my support of Ulu. I give Valeria a thumbs up. This will be good for her.
With those two heading for the waiting rooms, it's finally time for the next real battle of the day: Sara vs Goh. The most defensive trainer in the tournament vs the most adaptable, battling 3 against 3. The question now is what Goh's going to bring to handle Sara's endurance strategies.
Well, if the first round is any indication, not that much. Goh sends out a raboot, apparently thinking that Sara would lead with her ferroseed again. Instead he faces Missy the nidoran, a Pokémon far more capable of keeping up with the agile fire type than Goh had hoped. The mobility advantage is still in raboot's favor, but soon enough Sara manages to change that by limiting raboot's movement with toxic spikes. Missy manages to turn the battle around decisively once she finally closes the gap, though she's left exhausted and burned.
Goh's next Pokémon is a hypno, whose strategy is rather standard for the species: put the opponent to sleep and then attack their mind through their dreams. Missy is tired enough already that she immediately succumbs to the psychic type, even having her spike traps cleared away by the enterprising creature. That cleverness proves no match for Sara's next choice though. Hypno can't put a Pokémon to sleep without focusing on it, and focusing on a speeding jolteon is an exercise in futility. Stat manages to outmaneuver the hypno and bring it down while only taking minimal damage.
"Think Stat's gonna sweep from here?" I ask.
"Nah, Goh's got something up his sleeve still," Keith responds, "he doesn't look worried at all."
True to Keith's observation, while he's not thrilled with how the battle is going, he doesn't look properly concerned about losing either. He just shrugs his shoulders and pulls out a heavy ball. "I was hoping to wear you down more before pulling this guy out, just in case, but I'm still gonna win!" He declares, "My last Pokémon is more than strong enough to take on your whole team single-handedly! I choose you, golurk!"
There's a flash of light in the field as Goh's final pokémon is released, accompanied by a second flash of light here in the spectator's booth. Everyone jumps in surprise at the appearance of a Pokémon in the booth, and Keith exclaims loudly, "Ben, what are you doing?"
"I didn't do anything!" I protest, gesturing to Ogrim, "He released himself!"
"Golett! Golett let go golett!" Ogrim babbles excitedly, gesturing at the field.
"I guess he was really excited to see his evolved form," I explain, following the little dude's gaze, "He doesn't usually let… himself… out." I stare down at the field for a moment, not really believing what I'm seeing. After a moment I pull out my pokedex, activating the search function. "Pokedex, what is the typical height of a golurk?"
"The typical height of a golurk is approximately 2.8 meters!" My Pokedex's little electronic voice responds.
"Uh huh. Pokedex, what is the height of this golurk?" I ask, activating the camera feature.
"Analyzing. This golurk measures approximately 7 meters!" The Pokedex responds helpfully.
"Thank you, Pokedex," I reply shakily, putting the device away.
"Isn't this a rookie tournament!?" Keith yelps in alarm, "Bringing out something that big has to be cheating somehow!"
The folks in the spectator booth must have done some fact checking of their own, because Fern starts shouting something similar, "Incredible! Goh's just released an absolute monster into the field! That golurk is more than double the usual size!"
"Looks like an alpha pokémon to me! That's a rare find!" Surge calls out excitedly, "Looks like just the pokémon to blast through Sara's defenses!"
"It's certainly possible, though time will tell if Goh has the knowledge to utilize such a powerful pokémon to their full potential," Koga says.
The next round begins. Stat explodes into motion, striking golurk from a distance with a barrage of needles. At Sara's direction the attacks are focused on the legs, presumably with the hope of staggering the behemoth for long enough to create an opening.
Golurk responds by stomping its foot. Once. The ground shakes hard enough that I can feel it from up here. Stat, moving at top speed, feels the tremors much worse, crashing to the ground. At the rate he was moving the fall had to have hurt badly, and golurk capitalizes by moving in to slam a fist onto the fallen pokémon. Stat finds his footing quickly, scrambling out of the way just before the fist can hit. And once again the blow sends out a shockwave that sends the jolteon flying. This time he doesn't get up.
That's it, that's the whole battle. That golurk just knocked out one of Sara's best Pokémon in two blows and they didn't even need a direct hit to do it. Hell, I don't even think that was a proper attack. It was just pure, overwhelming power.
"That was…" Surge trails off, sounding uncharacteristically surprised. After a moment he chuckles, "Damn! This kid's really hitting outside of his weight class with this one!"
Surge's shocked reaction matches those of everyone in our little spectator's box as well. Goh's supersized Golurk is the most powerful pokémon seen in this tournament by a wide margin, completely eclipsing Mint's Lucario. I can't help but find myself staring at this absolute monster and comparing it to my own team and… yeah. I've got nothing for this. Best hope is for Dart to wear it down and outmaneuver it but against something this big and powerful even Dart's willpower likely wouldn't be enough. No doubt the rest of the group is performing similar calculations, and somehow I don't think their teams are measuring up much better.
The only one in the box looking even slightly enthusiastic about the situation is Ogrim. He's just sitting up front, bouncing and cheering like crazy. At one point he starts pointing down at the golurk and babbling at me excitedly and it becomes all too clear that he's telling me 'I want to be just like that one day!' God I love this little guy.
"No way Ogrim, when the time comes for you to evolve I bet you'll be even bigger!" I say, reaching over to pat him on the head.
"Goooooo…" Ogrim gasps in wonder. Then of course he starts expressing his enthusiasm the only way he knows how: "Go! Go! Golett! Go! Go! Golett!"
"Well that certainly sucked all the tension out of the room," Keith remarks with amusement, "That's right Ogrim, dare to dream! When you're all grown up you'll be the biggest golurk around!"
"Golett!"
"A shame Ogrim can't do anything to ease the tension down in the field," Axel remarks, "Sara looks ready to pass out."
"That does not mean you should try to go down there Ogrim, stay put and watch the battle properly," I hastily remark.
"Golett…" Ogrim agrees reluctantly.
"She's white as a sheet," Arthur notes, "Does she have anything capable of beating that golurk?"
Axel, Keith, and I all exchange a glance. "Not possible," we all reply in unison.
"No beating something that big and powerful at our level without outmaneuvering it," Keith explains further.
"Right, and you'd need a pokémon that can fly to do that or else golurk can just shake the field and take you out while you're stumbling again," Arthur nods along, seeing where we're going with this, "Only one thing to do then…"
We all nod along, knowing full well what he's implying. Sara's got one path to victory.
Step one, hope that she brought the right pokémon to this battle for her third choice. Luckily she passes that stage easily enough, releasing her wigglytuff. If her ferroseed had come out the battle would already be over. Roper's mobility issues are too high to possibly escape even one of that golurk's punches.
Goh doesn't seem inclined to change up a working strategy, immediately commanding golurk to bring their foot down once more. Compared to Stat's disastrous tumble though, Poppy seems to weather the shaking ground much easier. She stumbles at the tremors but since she isn't moving at jolteon speeds she isn't hurt by them, confirming my theory that the shaking isn't actually an attack so much as it's just the golurk throwing their weight around. The minor stumbling that weight causes seems to be enough for golurk though, as they move in to capitalize with another heavy blow of their fist.
This is when Poppy decides to mix things up by launching herself into the air. Golurk's fist slams into the earth beneath her, but rather than falling back to the ground after the attack has been avoided, Poppy decides she'd rather just stay up there. When golurk straightens up after that punch, they find that Poppy is floating at eye level with them, her body expanded like a balloon.
"Would you look at that! Wigglytuff has decided to nullify golurk's earthshaking blows by inflating so much that she floats! What a daring strategy!" Fern calls out excitedly.
"Not gonna work well for her if McLain doesn't think of something else quick though! That wigglytuff is a sitting duck up there!"
Golurk seems to agree, reaching up a massive hand to spike Poppy into the dirt. And that's when Poppy really decides to pull out the stops. Right before golurk's hand can hit Poppy, she suddenly kicks out with her foot and launches herself through the air enough to avoid the blow. Another kick bounces her out of a follow-up attack, and I suddenly realize that Sara has apparently taught her wigglytuff how to airjump like something straight out of Super Smash Bros!
Golurk lets out a dissatisfied grumble at their inability to hit the strangely agile balloon, but Goh still seems to think he has a handle on the situation. "Enough of this! Golurk, make some distance and shoot that wigglytuff down with flash cannon!" He calls out, looking annoyed but not worried.
Golurk takes a big leap back, causing the ground to shake once more, and starts charging up the powerful steel-type attack. It takes barely a second, much faster than its powerful but ponderous swings. Which means Poppy is forced to step up her game to get out of the way. She does this by letting out all of the air she's holding at once, sending her flying straight at Golurk's face. The flash cannon attack, fired from Golurk's chest, proves unable to adjust to the rapid movement in time, firing just barely underneath Poppy as she rockets in like a deflated balloon from hell… to plant a big kiss right on the head.
Sweet kiss. A fairy type move that muddles with the opponent's senses, makes it almost impossible for them to focus. It's a difficult move for most new trainers to deal with, if you don't have a pokémon that can exploit confusion tactics like I do with the twins. For a trainer like Goh who doesn't spend much if any time working with his pokémon, who doesn't even have the benefit of his voice as a trainer for a scrambled mind to focus on? This poor golurk is going to have a much harder time than most.
The big golem reels backwards, head twisting around frantically, flailing its arms in the air. Poppy clings to its head throughout it all with surprising strength, shaken but not sent flying despite the powerful motions. And when she finally gets a moment to find her feet she puffs up nice and big and unleashes a sound attack right in golurk's… ear? Right where the ear would be at least, which is clearly not appreciated. The golurk grumbles in anger, swinging up a hand to crush the offending hanger-on. And like something straight out of a slapstick routine, smacks itself in the head at full power while Poppy bounces away through the air.
How do you beat a pokémon that's too powerful for you to hurt it? You trick them into doing the work for you. Sara can't beat this golurk. But if she plays her cards right she can make golurk beat itself.
Golurk staggers back even further, completely heedless to Goh's increasingly worried shouting. In doing so it crosses over its previous path, planting a foot right in one of the spots where it had been stomping around earlier, and… well, when something golurk's size stomps its foot, it leaves a mark. The crater in the ground wouldn't normally be a problem for a fully grown ground type like this golurk, but with its senses still addled from the sweet kiss attack, it isn't able to compensate for the unexpected drop. Golurk topples like a tree, hitting the ground with another earthshaking slam that covers the field in a cloud of dust.
"What an incredible performance by Sara and wigglytuff! This golurk can't keep up with them at all!"
"Yup, she's making that oversized Pokémon look like a real fool down there!"
"This battle is not over yet though. Sara's performance has been impressive, but even a single blow from this Golurk could be enough to earn Goh the win."
The crowd roars with excitement, and we're no different up in our spectator booth. Axel, Arthur, and I are all on the edge of our seats, and Keith has abandoned his altogether to join Ogrim in bouncing around in front of the window. Seeing his evolved counterpart on the losing side has done nothing to quell Ogrim's excitement; I don't think the idea of picking only one side to root for has crossed his mind for even a minute.
Eventually the dust starts to settle, revealing the fallen golurk. True to Koga's warning before, golurk is still in this fight, grumbling angrily at what's happened. Still, as it lies there on the ground, propped up on one arm while the other cradles its no doubt aching head, it doesn't look nearly as unstoppable as it did at the start of the fight.
"I think the confusion might have worn off," Arthur comments.
True to Arthur's observation, the way golurk's shaking its head does look like somebody regaining their senses. That fall might have snapped it out of its confusion. That bodes poorly for Sara and Poppy if so; confusion techniques are always at their most effective when the target isn't expecting them.
If Poppy is worried though, she doesn't show it, bouncing right up to golurk and practically laughing in its face. Golurk grumbles angrily at her, but she continues undaunted. She points, she laughs, and then to top it all off she starts inflating her body. Wigglytuff's biology is absolutely baffling, in that they can stretch to frankly absurd proportions by inhaling enough. By the time Poppy has stopped inflating herself she's actually managed to become large enough to look down on the golurk, her body so swollen with air that her feet aren't touching the ground anymore.
Golurk lets out an indignant bellow, swinging a mighty fist down on Poppy. Unlike every other time it's done this though, this time its hands are glowing with energy. A hammer arm attack, meant to squash Poppy into the dirt.
Poppy smirks triumphantly, their body suddenly glowing with energy.
Goh flails in a panic when he sees this, shouting frantically, "Golurk, stop! It's a trap!"
Unfortunately for him, Golurk is feeling much more motivated than it has been up until now, its arm moving with enough speed to make its previous swings look downright lethargic by comparison. Goh hasn't even finished shouting before golurk's fist smashes into Poppy, squashing her into the dirt. There's a brief second where everything seems to pause, as if the world needs a moment to register just how badly Golurk just got played. Then Poppy bounces back up with a counter attack so powerful, the average wobbuffet would be absolutely consumed with jealousy.
Golurk's arm snaps back with so much force that its entire massive body is lifted off the ground and sent spinning. They hit the barrier around the field with enough force that the League's barrierd are visibly scrambling to keep things contained, with this likely being the first time in the whole tournament that they've been made to exert themselves. There's yet another earth-shaking slam as Golurk bounces off the barrier and slams into the ground.
Poppy, in the meantime, is sent similarly flying as the counter attack is unleashed and all of her accumulated air is released. Compared to the last time she deflated this maneuver is completely uncontrolled, her body spiraling around in the air before she finally flops on the ground.
The two pokémon just lie there for a moment, unmoving. The crowd watches in utter silence, waiting to see which of the two, if either, will be the one to get back up. The referee looks back and forth, judging whether they'll need to declare a double knockout.
Then, finally, motion! A raised arm by golurk, slamming into the ground and propping the massive pokémon up on an elbow to regard its fallen opponent. After a moment, Poppy responds as well, sitting herself up on the ground despite still looking quite deflated. She's in a sorry state, but still gives golurk a defiant glare.
Golurk watches its determined opponent, then grunts in acknowledgement. It lets its arm slide and falls back on its back one last time. The message is clear: it cannot be bothered with this shit anymore. Goh attempts to cajole golurk into finishing the fight, but the giant, while not actually knocked out, plainly has zero interest. The referee calls the fight there, in Sara and Poppy's favor, at which point Poppy immediately passes the fuck out from exhaustion.
"Let this be a lesson to everyone," Koga comments, "Understanding your pokémon is key to winning a battle. Had Goh spent more time working with his team individually he might have been able to motivate his pokémon. Goh's ability to capture powerful pokémon is clearly impressive, but with the number of captures he has to his name he has placed himself in a position where he cannot possibly connect with all of them on a personal level."
"Yeah, that golurk of his was powerful, but not all that motivated. Not much fun punching down on somebody weaker than you. I would know!" Surge jokes, "Still though, gotta respect a rookie for having what it takes to bring a monster like that to the field in the first place! I oughta poke around the Cerise labs sometime and see what other crazy critters they're hiding over there!"
"Yes indeed, it was a spectacular performance by both trainers, with a brilliant climactic finish! And it looks like the crowd agrees, just listen to those cheers!" Fern continues, "As much as we'd like to keep that excitement going though, we're going to need to take a longer break than usual now to repair all the damage that golurk did to our field! After that though, we'll be getting to the last battle of the round, the battle which Surge has stated was the one he was most looking forward to! Coming up next, it's Ulu vs Valeria, in a battle to decide who will be the last trainer to make it to the quarterfinals!"
"Geez, Ulu's got a heck of a game face," Sara comments, watching the chef as he marches out into the field, "Looks like he's taking this one way more seriously than usual."
"He's preparing to unleash a righteous asskicking for the sake of helping Valeria grow as a person," Keith says, looking excited at the prospect. The other trainers in the booth all perk up at that, knowing as Keith and I do that this will be an important match.
"Does Ulu have what it takes?" Arthur asks, "Don't get me wrong, I think Ulu's a great guy, but his actual battle skill is…"
"Surge did say he hadn't shown off everything he's capable of," Axel replies thoughtfully.
"Surge was right," I declare, leaning forward eagerly as Ulu and Valeria ready their first pokémon of the battle, "Ulu's got a secret weapon that's going to blow everyone away, just watch."
Sara has a look on her face like she wants to comment on that, but thinks better of it when she sees me looking her way. Good. Valeria's going to struggle in this battle, of that I'm certain, but there's no doubt I'm still expecting her to win. She's got a stronger reason for battling than most of the people competing, with the skills to back that motivation up. Ulu's going to make her work for it, but he's still not as strong of a trainer as she is.
But Ulu's not fighting to win here. He's fighting to show Valeria what the soul of a pokémon battler is all about. To that end, he's starting things off immediately with his most reliable companion, his lickitung. That probably means he won't be using lickitung to unleash his Z-move. That's likely to be his grand finale.
This is taking me back to the time when Z-moves were first introduced to the game. Those things were rubbish for competitive for the sheer brainlessness typical in using them. That said, when two players really knew what they were doing there could be a real sense of tension in wondering when somebody would bust one out to nuke the opponent for maximum effect.
Valeria's feeling the suspense as well, judging from the slight tension in her shoulders. She doesn't likely know what Ulu's big secret is; Alola's battling scene doesn't get recorded very often since it's so interwoven with their cultural practices and they don't have a League yet. Still, she knows from Ulu's attitude and Surge and my comments that the man's got some kind of trick hiding up the sleeves of that chef's coat he's always wearing, and she's determined to be ready for it. Her opening is more conservative, leading with a snorunt that hasn't really appeared in many of her battles so far. From the little flourish she gives on arrival the ice type strikes me as more interested in contests than battling.
When the ref calls for the battle begins… not immediately, but Ulu still calls his order out in a respectable time. His lickitung does what lickitung do best, snapping his tongue out to a ridiculous length to wrap it around Valeria's snorunt.
Valeria's reaction is rather muted by comparison, but only because she chooses to set a trap rather than go on the offensive. Before lickitung's tongue can connect her snorunt twirls out of the way, causing the attack to hit a big block of ice she left behind. The tongue starts to pull back and the ice comes with it, stuck to lickitung's glue-like saliva.
"Hold on to that ice, lickitung, swing for that snorunt!" Ulu calls out. An improvised ice hammer. Not sure it'll do much damage, but I gotta give Ulu props for resourcefulness!
Lickitung swipes at snorunt with the block of ice, but snorunt twirls away once more. This time though, instead of stopping, snorunt starts gliding across the ground. The air around snorunt seems to fill with mist as she effortlessly maneuvers around lickitung's attacks.
"An inventive combination," Koga notes, "Frost breath is being used to coat the ground in ice, while ice spinner is used to traverse it. Using the two moves together while moving at such speeds requires precise control."
"That control's certainly paying off!" Fern cheers, "That snorunt's moving too fast for lickitung to follow!"
Ulu frowns as snorunt effortlessly bounces and spins circles around lickitung, clearly unsure how to handle the unconventional movement style. "Lickitung, use… use supersonic!" he calls out, eyes lighting up as the thought occurs to him.
Valeria attempts to disrupt lickitung's attack by adding ice shards into the combo her snorunt is using. It doesn't achieve much though. Lickitung's greatest strength as a battler is the ability to push through a hit. The ice clearly hurts, but the supersonic attack is launched without any trouble… and apparently when used by a lickitung sounds remarkably similar to Mongolian throat singing. Weird.
The sound move hits despite snorunt's best efforts to escape it, and indeed seems all the more potent for it. Snorunt's twirling ice spinner evasions suddenly work against her as her sense of balance is scrambled, and she goes crooked in her movements and crashes to the ground. She spins in a little circle before coming to a stop, her feet kicking uselessly in the air as she tries to regain her sense of which direction is up. She doesn't manage it before the giant tongue has closed in on her once more.
The block of ice slams down on snorunt so hard that it shatters, and when lickitung's tongue rises again this time it's snorunt herself attached to it. Lickitung spit takes no prisoners! Ulu capitalizes on the opportunity quickly, having lickitung slam snorunt into the ground. They then repeat the motion several more times in a row for good measure. The onslaught knocks snorunt out, but lickitung doesn't get away unscathed; when he pulls his tongue back in it's gone blue from the freezing attacks snorunt unleashed in her final moments. Lickitung moans piteously and claps his claws to his head.
"Ah, brainfreeze," Arthur notes sympathetically.
At first glance, the situation remains in Ulu's favor, but honestly Valeria came out way on top in that match. Her snorunt lost the battle, but in exchange Ulu's best battler lost his favored weapon. Until lickitung has recovered from the ice that tongue of his isn't going to be useful. A good result for Valeria's weakest Pokémon.
Valeria wastes no time taking advantage of lickitung's weakness, too. She has her staravia out the instant snorunt has been returned, and sends the bird racing in the moment the referee resumes the battle. Lickitung tries to hit back, but only manages a few glancing blows before staravia's maneuverability overwhelms him. His arms and tail prove poor substitutes for the weight, reach, and dexterity of his tongue.
Ulu's expression is grim as he recalls his lickitung. His next choice is his poliwhirl, which immediately becomes disadvantaged just like lickitung was. Valeria's staravia is very much on a completely different level from her snorunt; he stays true to Valeria's elegant style but clearly loves battling. Poliwhirl attempts to lash out, hopping around and swinging for staravia whenever he gets close, but the bird simply has too much maneuverability.
"Poliwhirl, you need to attack from a distance! Use bubbles! And throw some of that ice!" Ulu calls out, desperate to salvage the situation. Poliwhirl obeys immediately, spitting bubbles into the air and grabbing at the pieces of ice left over from the block lickitung smashed earlier.
The ice doesn't come close to staravia, but the bubbles rapidly prove to be a problem. They don't move quickly enough to hit staravia, but they linger in the air for an impressively long time. The airspace around poliwhirl is soon filled with them, leaving increasingly small windows of space to approach in. Ulu looks thrilled at the situation, having poliwhirl create increasingly large bubbles to evade.
"Careful staravia! Try breaking them with a wing attack!" Valeria calls out. Staravia's wings begin glowing as he swipes through the air and bursts several bubbles. They make an unusually loud noise when they burst, but the coating of flying type energy on Staravia's wings protect him from harm. Seeing this Valeria immediately switches tactics, "Alright, let's clear the skies."
Staravia screeches in triumph, swooping around the edges of the bubble cloud. The bubbles burst dozens at a time, and staravia's intense speed means that he's cutting them down far faster than poliwhirl can create them. Ulu's advantage is bursting into thin air with nothing to show for all of poliwhirl's hard work…
Or so it first seems. There's a moment where staravia looks ready to rush in at poliwhirl once more and finish the job. But before he can do so, his wings begin to falter. He flaps his wings harder and harder, but seems to be losing altitude fast. The final straw comes when staravia's desperate flapping causes his wings to touch each other above his head, and they suddenly stick together. Staravia plummets from the sky, screeching in alarm, and barely manages to free his wings in time to slow his descent.
"Staravia! What happened?" Valeria yells in alarm, looking around at the battlefield, "What's going on with these bubbles!?"
"Confused? My poliwhirl's bubbles aren't the same as you'll find in other water-types!" Ulu boasts, looking extremely pleased with himself, "By working together with my lickitung, poliwhirl learned how to make his bubbles extra sticky, just like his friend's super-sticky tongue! This secret ingredient has proven to be your downfall!"
"Oh man, our favorite battle chef buddy is busting out the cooking puns!" Keith crows, looking absolutely giddy, "That's how you know it's getting serious!"
"Leave it to a chef to mix up some weird ingredients to get a potent result!" Surge comments, "That's a useful combination he's got there!"
"Indeed, the bubbles aren't as adhesive as lickitung's tongue, but many of them combined have proven enough to make flight all but impossible for staravia for the rest of the match," Koga replies, "The glue mixture of the bubbles has provided both longevity for the bubbles and a dangerous trap."
Down in the field, Valeria watches carefully as staravia tries and fails to get airborne again. "I'll admit, that was a clever trap," Valeria declares, "Much more clever than I gave you credit for."
"Strategy is not my strong point, but I have a few tricks to play," Ulu replies, looking a bit bashful at all the praise.
"Yup, not bad Ulu," Valeria nods along. Then her eyes sharpen, her smile becoming something more vicious, "You probably should have pressed the advantage though, instead of getting caught up being surprised your trap worked!"
Ulu visibly deflates as staravia bursts through the remaining bubbles with a defiant screech and crashes into poliwhirl in a chaotic mess of talons and beak. Yeah, poor guy definitely got distracted by the response to his trick working. Now instead of using the sudden mobility advantage to blast staravia from a distance, poliwhirl is stuck in a straightforward brawl. A very rookie mistake, though I suppose this is the place for those.
Poliwhirl gives as good as he can in the face of staravia's assault, but the bird's got the better attitude for brawling in the end. Poliwhirl's sudden advantage has been drained to nothing, and despite his best efforts he just can't regain a lead. He slaps, he punches, he tackles, he even swings more pieces of ice at staravia's head. But staravia seems to just get more fired up the more fierce the battle becomes, until finally a piece of ice bursts against staravia's head just as the tip of his beak lands a powerful blow against poliwhirl's stomach. Another double knockout. Seems to be the theme of the day all of a sudden.
"I'm starting to worry that Ulu might not be able to make good on his plans for a righteous asskicking," Keith says, a look of genuine concern on his face.
"It's definitely looking tough for him," Axel nods along, "Ulu's lack of battling experience is beginning to show. This secret weapon of his will need to be very potent to turn the tides."
Very potent indeed. Especially given the final Pokémon Ulu and Valeria are releasing to the field. Ulu started with lickitung, his strongest Pokémon, and is finishing with a steenee, his weakest. Valeria, on the other hand, has done the opposite. Her floragato has every bit as much fighting spirit as her staravia, with far more tricks up his sleeves.
If they were both fully evolved it might be a more even match, but steenee are far weaker than floragato as a general rule. Some pokémon have less balanced development across their evolutionary line than others, and steenee's is particularly lopsided in favor of the final stage. Combine that with the difference in trainer skill and… yeah, Ulu's gotta work hard here.
Yet even though the battle's gone poorly for Ulu so far, his determination hasn't wavered in the slightest. He and steenee just face forward, stances unyielding, gazes so intense that you could almost believe they were the ones with the advantage in this match. It's a stark contrast from his usual carefree attitude.
It's not a simple desire pushing him anymore. It's a firm and ironclad resolve. It's confidence. That look on Ulu's face tells me that he isn't determined to teach Valeria a lesson anymore. He's simply going to make it happen. It's an expression that has surpassed aspiration to become truth. I can't help but sit up straighter in my seat looking at him.
The match begins. Floragato rushes in on Valeria's call. Steenee readies herself for the inevitable assault. Wickedly sharp claws come bearing down on her as floragato brings both his arms down.
Moments before the attack can land steenee moves, reaching up to slap floragato's paws to one side. She twists with the motion, taking herself completely out of her opponent's new trajectory, her hand moving back to hit floragato in a backhand as she does so. Then, as floragato is reeling from the unexpected counterattack, her hand comes back down on last time to slap him on the back of the head and send him tumbling.
"That… had to be the most impressive double slap attack I've ever seen," Keith says in awe as floragato bounces back to his feet, looking shocked at what just happened. The rest of us can only nod in agreement.
Down in the field, Valeria is similarly caught off guard. "Okay, that was pretty well done," she admits, looking uneasy, "But we're just getting started here! Floragato, let's get serious!"
"Flowr!" floragato yowls in readiness, running in once more. This time though, instead of readying his claws, he grabs for the flower bud on his neck and throws it at steenee. She ducks aside, letting it fly past her head, but the smooth evasive maneuver doesn't serve to disarm floragato for even a moment as he tugs on a long vine to pull the flowerbud back.
It doesn't take long before steenee is dodging a barrage of attacks as the flowerbud zips in and out over and over again. Steenee keeps dodging cleanly, but she's visibly pressured by the assault. Honestly it's a wonder she's staying out of harm's way this well; an assault like this would completely overwhelm Ogrim or Gauss if they were fighting it, and could likely even give the twins trouble. But steenee hasn't been hit once yet.
Floragato seems determined to change that. He snarls as steenee continues to survive, rushing in closer and closer even as he continues the assault. And then, once he's back in melee range, launches the flower bud point blank. This attack is followed up with a swipe of his other claw, which is narrowly avoided as steenee leans away.
That's when floragato reveals the trap: the claw swipe travels past steenee's face, twisting floragato's entire body into a clawing swipe of his back paw, which is aimed square for steenee's body. What's more, floragato reveals his claw swipe to be a feint, aimed not to hit steenee but to pluck at the vine attached to his flower bud in such a way that it curves in midair to fly backwards at steenee's head. An expertly timed two pronged surprise attack conducted with near-flawless timing and execution.
Steenee can't avoid either hit. She's already turned herself to avoid the initial blows, and can't adjust herself to dodge floragato's true attack in time.
So she doesn't bother dodging. She simply lets her momentum continue, turning away from floragato's first attack, and then turning further. And further. Indeed, she spins so fast that it becomes an attack of its own, her hands and the thick leaves on her head lashing out to swat floragato's kicking claws and sneaky bud attack aside.
If Valeria is surprised by steenee's perfectly timed counter to her attack she does nothing to show it. "Pull back floragato, make some distance and use hone claws!" she calls out immediately. A move to increase power and precision; perfect for both surpassing steenee's absurdly good evasion and making sure every hit they score will be more effective.
In most circumstances taking a moment to power up and prepare would be a good call here. In a battle against a Z-move capable trainer with their back against the wall it's a fatal error. The moment floragato's assault stops steenee is moving, not to pursue her opponent but to make distance herself. Ulu's perfect chance to use his Z-move without getting interrupted has suddenly arrived.
"Wait, stop them!" Valeria cries out in a panic as she realizes that Ulu is finally using his secret weapon. Floragato stops moving away immediately, rushing back in to interrupt Ulu and steenee.
It's too late. Ulu brings his arms up, crossing them in front of his face. His sleeve falls to reveal his bracelet, which gleams in the sunlight, and…
Power.
The world seems to come to an immediate crashing halt as Ulu's and steenee's bodies seem to explode with energy. The crowd is struck silent. The rotom drones that have been zipping through the air all match freeze in place. Floragato skids to a halt, suddenly terrified to advance a step further.
Ulu brings his hands out in front of him, seeming to clasp them in prayer, curling up his body so that he's practically in the fetal position. The energy that filled the air a moment ago seems to vanish for a moment, before some unexplainable gut feeling comes over me and I realize that no, it's not gone, just condensed. Ulu has contained it all within his curled form, a tiny little bundle of potential power waiting to burst forth.
A seed waiting to sprout.
And when Ulu does start to uncurl that potential is suddenly unleashed. Ulu slowly stands up straight, his arms raising to the heavens, his body shaking with the power he's tapping into and the focus in his every gesture. And as he finally spreads his arms to the heavens, as steenee copies his movement and absorbs that latent energy that has exploded into the field, Ulu says the first words he's called since this final match of the fight began.
"BLOOM DOOM."
The entire battlefield erupts with color. A field of flowers has grown; a field so thick that not so much as an inch of the dirt field can be seen anymore. And it doesn't stop there, the flowers growing even beyond the lines of the battlefield to cover half the arena. The air, previously thick with the day's heat and filled with the myriad inexplicable and unpleasant smells that naturally come from packing this many people into a small space, is now refreshingly cool and sweetly scented. The center of this arena has become a place of striking beauty, such that I can only gasp at the splendor of it all. Down in the field Valeria is similarly stunned, looking about at the flowers with an expression of pure wonder on her face.
Of course the nature of this move is such that it only lasts a few short moments before the terrifying true power of the technique comes to bear. The petals of the flowers begin to float in the air, carried on the air to float around floragato. They circle him more and more, swiftly increasing in speed and number, until every petal that burst into life a moment earlier is now flying through the air. Floragato, now impossible to see in the center of this storm, lets out a panicked yowl as he begins to realize what's about to happen. But it's far too late to escape. The center of the whirlwind of flower petals glows with a vivid green light, and in an instant the entire battlefield explodes. A massive, fiery explosion that blooms like the petals of a rose, lingering in the air for a moment before fading away without a trace.
The battlefield is silent. The stadium is silent. DJ Fern makes an effort to say something in response to what he just witnessed, "That… that was…" But after a moment he seems to decide that he can't describe it adequately and falls silent once more.
There's a pair of soft thumps as Valeria and Ulu both fall to their knees. Valeria out of sheer awe, and Ulu out of sheer exhaustion. As for their Pokémon… steenee is heaving with exhaustion to match that of her trainer. Floragato is barely standing. I mean, he looks pissed as hell, like he wants nothing more than to go on an absolute rampage after the beating he just took from that attack, but the effect is somewhat ruined by the way he sways like a stiff breeze will knock him over.
This only serves to make Ulu's next move more baffling. "Excuse me… referee?" He gasps, waving to get the referee's attention, "I think… I think I need to withdraw myself from the match."
The referee gives Ulu an unfocused look, seeming to be as shellshocked as everyone else in the match. After a moment though he seems to snap out of it, looking at Ulu in surprise, then looking over to floragato. "Wait, are you sure?"
"I'm afraid so…" Ulu responds, grinning sheepishly even as he breathes so heavily his entire body is visibly heaving from the effort, "I am not… nearly as adept… at using that move… as my younger sister is."
"I see…" the referee responds, raising his flags, "Ulu has forfeited the battle! That means Valeria is the winner!"
"In-incredible!" Fern shouts, finally seeming to regain his senses, "It looks like Ulu bet everything he had on that… spectacular final attack, but when it failed to defeat his opponent he was forced to concede! Surge, Koga, what are your thoughts!?"
"An impressive showing of one of the Z-moves of Alola," Koga says calmly, "and a showing of what a double edged sword Alola's battle style can be. Through their spiritual connection to Pokémon battling, the trainers of Alola can unleash moves with unparalleled power, but such power is extremely taxing on its user."
"No kidding!" Surge replies, laughing excitedly, "Ah, still, I've been waiting all tournament to see Ulu bust one of those moves out, and it didn't disappoint! What a sight to see! You'd think a chef would know to save some room for dessert though! This is why betting it all on one big move is never the way to make it as a trainer!"
The crowd's reaction finally seems to catch up with reality as the announcers get back to business, with everyone roaring in excitement. This stands in stark contrast to the participants of that battle though. Valeria looks completely shell-shocked as she wanders off the field, and Ulu proves to be so physically exhausted after unleashing that Z-move that he needs one of Surge's trainers to help him to the back.
As the two trainers leave the stadium I slump down in my seat and let out a weary breath. "Holy shit," I comment, "It's one thing to hear about those techniques, but seeing them in person is completely different."
"That was incredible!" Sara agrees, looking thrilled, "I've never seen anything like it!"
"And yet, I wouldn't even call that the most impressive thing Ulu accomplished in that final matchup," Axel notes, looking to the rest of us, "You noticed it too, right?"
We nod along. Z-moves are all well and good, but the real achievement Ulu made was a lot more subtle in comparison. Throughout that whole battle, Ulu didn't command steenee out loud even once. The only time he spoke before his forfeit was to call out his Z-move.
"So, what did we learn today?" I ask, closing the door to the waiting room.
Valeria glares at me, "You were serious about that stupid quiz?"
I say nothing, just raising an eyebrow and continuing to watch her, until she finally sighs and responds, "Fine, I learned that I was being a bitter dumbass. Happy?"
"I can give you part marks for that," I prompt.
She glares at me some more, then looks up at the tv screen on the wall, silently playing highlights from the day's matches. Unsurprisingly this heavily features Ulu's Z-move, though I am gratified to see a brief clip of the twins snatching that bonemerang out of the air. "That attack, bloom doom? It was… I keep thinking about what I would need to do to replicate something like that. To bring out a technique with that kind of beauty and power in a contest, and… it's not possible. That move was something that could only have occurred in a battle. It was beautiful, but it was also a force of just… incredible destruction. It was pokémon battling brought to its absolute peak. All of it. From the moment Ulu and steenee started battling together… they were so in sync, I could barely keep up."
"Yeah, it was… there's this thing that battlers can do at the absolute highest level. It's like when regular athletes get into the zone, where they're absolutely focused. But when a high level battler gets into that state they can form a sort of… connection with their pokémon through aura. It's supposed to be the absolute pinnacle of battling."
"Well, I guess that means Ulu's the strongest trainer in the tournament then," Valeria says with a smirk.
"Honestly, at that moment, he probably was," I admit, "He wanted to show you what you were missing out on so badly. And he knew the only way he could do it was to surpass his limits completely."
"Yeah, well… mission accomplished," Valeria replies. She looks down at her hands, "After that battle, I was thinking back on everything I've done to get to this point and… It all just feels so half-assed in retrospect. I became a battler as a way of standing up and making the Pokémon League look at all the people getting ignored through their focus on battling, but that whole time I never considered that I should take a proper look at the other side in the process. It was hypocritical of me. And unfair to you and everyone else in the tournament."
"Hey, from what I've seen our side of things has been plenty unfair to coordinators too. So maybe we just call it even, yeah?" I reply.
"Well… maybe," Valeria allows, though she still looks reluctant to just let things drop like that. After a moment or two she seems to decide on what her proper response should be, because she gets to her feet to look me square in the eye, "Actually Ben, I don't think-"
The door flies open before she can finish her sentence. Both Valeria and I turn in surprise, neither of us expecting an interruption. Ulu's getting treated for exhaustion right now, and Keith said he'd make sure nobody bothered us while we were talking (mostly referring to Sara). Plus I'm sure I locked the door when I entered.
But the person at the door is someone who locked doors and Keith alike stand no chance against. Which is just a fancy way of saying it's Master Koga. Master Koga who is looking… extremely serious right now. He doesn't pause for so much as an instant, walking into the room and placing a hand firmly on my shoulder. "My apologies for the interruption, miss Eglamore. My student is needed elsewhere."
"Uh, okay, bye?" Valeria responds awkwardly, but by that point I've already been whisked out the door.
Koga starts moving immediately, and I'm forced to jog to keep up. After a moment Keith appears at my side, expression every bit as serious as Koga's. "What's going on, did something happen?" I ask, looking between the two of them.
"Not here. We'll talk properly once we're in private," Koga says firmly.
I look to Keith, but he shakes his head. "I don't know what's going on either," he says, "But Koga doesn't get like this unless it's something serious."
The three of us move in uneasy silence for a minute before Koga speaks again, "Keith, go get Axel and Sara, tell them to meet with us at the southwest emergency exit. If the reporters are unable to find me there is a chance they will attempt to corner the trainers I am sponsoring instead."
"On it," Keith responds immediately. He then seems to vanish into thin air, like one of those weird ninja blink moves they always use in anime.
Finally, Koga leads us into a small room, some sort of unused office space from the size of it. He calls out a foretress, instructing it to make a sweep of the room. The foretress grunts and starts running electricity across the walls. I raise an eyebrow at Koga, and he explains simply, "I've long since learned to never underestimate the resourcefulness of the press."
Once he calls his foretress back I immediately start asking questions, "Okay, could you please tell me what's going on now, Master Koga? What's so serious that it involves all of us sponsored trainers?"
"It does not, in truth," Koga replies, "As I told Keith, I merely wish to avoid the possibility of my sponsored trainers being harassed by reporters attempting to track me down. No, the only ones truly involved are you and I. Myself as a member of Kanto's Elite Four, and you as a resident of Unova."
I only need to think on that for a moment before I realize what he's getting at, "Wait, you're saying Team Plasma…"
"It is as you fear, Mr. Wilson," Koga replies, expression grave, "Vertress City was raided by Team Plasma. The Unova League has been attacked. And your friends were caught in the middle of it all."
A wild Plot appeared!
Yup, all you naysayers who were saying this tournament arc was going to take way too long... were totally correct! Yeah, I can admit this was starting to get out of hand. I enjoy writing Pokemon battles, and I like to think I'm pretty good at them, but when it comes to pacing that can honestly be a bit of a bad thing! Luckily I went into this with a plan already set in place.
The plan: Set Unova on fire.
Me: "That's good shit."
And that means that next time you'll be seeing a chapter which I have been waiting to write since the Throne of Mud began! It's gonna be an interlude featuring: Hilda. Because she is about to have an extremely terrible day.
The chapter is being worked on as fast as possible, since I only have like, a week and a half before I'm back at school and all my free time becomes dust in the wind once more. Can't guarantee the chapter will be done by then, but I can say for sure that I am making the most of this vacation.
As for recent life updates... it's just school. There is nothing but school, that is all I have done with my existence since last chapter. But school does seem to be going pretty well. Apparently at some point in the last ten years of not receiving any kind of formal education whatsoever I became a straight A student? Yeah, not sure how that works out, but I am getting the highest grades I've ever had in my life right now. There's some kind of moral about mental health being critical to a person's success there, I'm sure. So while the updates may be slower I can happily say I am putting that time to good use.
If you're looking for somewhere to spend your time and find some good fics (Pokemon or otherwise), I as always recommend checking out the Fanfiction Treehouse discord, a great community for cool people who like to talk about writing and stuff.
discord .gg/u89gx745fn