John's Team

Tyrant - Slaking

Vordt - Ursaluna

Smough - Snorlax

Klee - Blissey

Port - Mantine

Zephyr - Pidgeot

Klaus - Wyrdeer

Luna - Clefable

Pixel - Porygon2

Euphie - Sylveon

Ornstein - Obstagoon

Wraith - H-Zoroark

The New Normal – 10-17 – The Dual Champions

Lance and I walked off the battle arena together, though we both stayed silent. Not out of awkwardness or because we were uncomfortable, but because we both were thinking carefully about the battle that just happened.

Or more like we were both engraving it into our minds, and had still yet to snap out of the adrenaline and rush of the fight.

Either way, we weren't about to continue fighting in the remaining 2v5. That just wasn't on the cards right now – not with our strongest Pokémon either badly injured or fainted and because we were just both so out of it at the moment that we couldn't really concentrate on another fight.

It took me until we had left the arena entirely for me to regain some of my wits.

"…It was a good fight, Lance." I finally said to him, "I'm glad it happened."

My words seem to have snapped him out of his own thoughts, "Hm? Oh, yes. Apologies. I was thinking deeply about something." Then he extended an arm for me to shake, "I should have done this earlier. But you deserve it. Well done, John. I truly didn't think I would see Emperor lose in a battle of strength, but that just goes to show that I still have much to improve."

"Thank you, but that match could have gone either way." I did my best to remain humble, fully aware that the fight was an extremely close one. "You could have won the rematch."

"Perhaps, yet it was still your victory. I won't make excuses for myself." Lance shook his head, "You won fair and square. You matched me at my best and won. It was your undisputed victory, close as it may be. But it was your victory nevertheless."

He placed a hand on my shoulder, "I may be prone to indulging in my pride, but I'm not going to be bitter about this loss. I saw what your Tyrant could do. I saw his strength with my own two eyes, and I witnessed his every blow. His every attack. His every grunt of exertion. Tyrant truly is deserving to be the Pokémon that toppled a Champion."

I was taken aback by the honesty that I felt in his words. I had thought that Lance would have been a bit bitter at his defeat. Show match or not, it wasn't great for a Champion to ever lose a match. To anyone.

Even if the battle was between the two most powerful Pokémon anyone had ever seen in their lives.

I assumed he would be more upset at his loss, yet I couldn't be more wrong. He seemed almost proud of me, which I thought was odd, until I saw the excited gleam and hunger in his eyes.

I realized at that moment that he was excited because he finally had another goal. He had someone that he could test himself against. Someone that could serve as his rival and goal. Because before his defeat, he was at the top of the world. The Champion acknowledged by other Champions.

But it was lonely at the top.

So I smiled at Lance, understanding what he must be feeling. "Thank you, Lance. Truly. It means a lot to be acknowledged so highly by someone like you."

"Then take my words to heart, but don't let yourself grow stagnant because of it." He advised, "I will be looking for that rematch one day. And I do hope that your Tyrant will grow even further."

"He will." I promised, and we shared a silent vow with our eyes to fight once again in the future.

"…Good. But don't forget – you might have matched my starter in a battle, but in a proper fight you would still have to deal with the rest of my team." He pointed out, "So don't get too cocky."

I nodded firmly, "I understand." And truthfully, I wasn't entirely confident that I could defeat his whole team cleanly. I'd have a shot of winning, but not a very good one. I felt that his team were collectively more powerful than mine.

That was my new goal. With Tyrant having proven himself, I wanted my team to do the same. I might have taken down Lance's starter in a 1v1 fight, but I wanted to get my entire team to the point where they could comfortably defeat any of the Champions in a full 6v6 battle. I would ensure that my team, not just my starter, would be known as the strongest.

Yet there was one other thing on my mind, "Is this defeat going to cause you problems?" I asked him.

He chuckled, "It's nothing I can't handle. It would only be a problem if you intended to replace me as Champion, but I'm assuming you're holding on to your previous statements about not wanting the position?" I nodded, "Then I have nothing to worry about. The Blackthorns will continue to support me as always, and I know that the Committee don't have the spine to jump on this opportunity so long as you all in the Elite Four continue to support me. Nothing will really change after a week or two."

"At most I'll get trashed in the papers for my defeat, but that's hardly of consequence, especially not when it was you that defeated me." He continued, "I appreciate the concern, John, but I'll be fine."

Well since Lance seemed confident, there was nothing else I really needed to say. But there was still one more thing, "Also, just to give you a heads up, but assuming Cynthia also wins her match, then we will be making a public announcement of our relationship at the closing ceremony."

He grinned, "Ah, so it's finally happening then. Well, I wish you both the best of luck. Though considering your victory just now, I doubt you'd need it."

I smiled back, "Thank you, but for time being I want to get a better view of the fight." I said as I began walking out of the waiting room, "I'm going to head to the viewing area and try to find my family. Want to come along?"

He shook his head, "No, I'll head out by myself. I don't want to intrude on your time with them. My presence might make things a little awkward."

Accepting that, I gave a quick farewell to Lance before heading to the VIP viewing area where I believed my family was watching. As I looked around for them, I noticed that the next match had yet to start, because they were still tidying up our mess from the previous fight and quickly rebuilding a new arena because we had so utterly destroyed the last one.

Oops.

It took me some time to find where my family was sitting, especially with how crowded even the VIP area was, but I did eventually spot and sat down next to my family, who was also accompanied by Karen - all of whom greeted me with wide and large smiles.

"John! You did it!" My sister was the most excited out of everyone there, "You actually did it!"

"Why do you sound so surprised?" I chuckled, "Did you think I would lose?"

"Well, no…but that's Lance's starter Dragonite! Everyone knows how strong it is!" Whitney waved her hands desperately as she tried to explain, "Even if I knew Tyrant was strong – I really didn't think you'd beat it…but I'm happy you did!" She quickly tacked that last part on, almost like she had just remembered that she was speaking to her brother.

Despite her questionable support for my victory, I was still happy to hear her words regardless. Still, I had to tease her, "Tyrant would be disturbed if he heard about your lack of faith in him."

"Okay, let's not tease your sister. I think you got the point across." Karen spoke up and rubbed my sister's head, "Congratulations, John. It was the greatest fight I'd ever seen. The old hag agrees, even if she tried to hide it. She's still a little salty that you defeated her."

I grinned, "Tell her to not hold it against me, please. I had a battle with Lance that I had to get to."

Then my mom, who had been waiting around with increasing impatience, finally couldn't wait and pulled me into a really tight hug, "Oh I'm so proud of you John. I never thought that this would where you'd end up when you went on that journey all that time ago. We thought we failed you when you had a Slakoth of all things as a starter because we couldn't afford a better one for you."

I smiled in my mom's embrace, "It's fine. I chose him, remember? I could have taken another Pokémon, but I was confident that Tyrant was right for me."

"And he sure was." My dad nodded, "Who would have thought that you would end up beating Lance's starter in an one on one fight like that? Do you know how crazy and loud the crowd went when you won? It nearly shattered my eardrums."

"I wasn't really paying attention." I admitted, "I was still running on adrenaline."

"Yeah, bro, dad's right. The reaction from everyone was INSANE!" My sister explained, "It was like the world was holding their breath when Tyrant threw down Emperor for that last time. We all were waiting to see if Emperor would be getting up or not."

"I'm pretty sure you secured some serious fans for life." Karen added, "I know for a fact that everyone treated you as the underdog going in, thinking that you'd put up a good fight but still lose. But then you actually won. That basically cemented your reputation around the world as being one of the strongest trainers still active."

I couldn't deny that I was pleased to hear that. To be acknowledged like that was a dream come true. Not only for me, but for Tyrant as well. It was what he and I had worked so hard for, and he had finally, truly, gotten the recognition that he deserved.

What kept me grounded was the knowledge that I still had to get my other Pokémon up to Tyrant's level, which was my new goal. I was greedy – I wouldn't be satisfied with just Tyrant being acknowledged as the strongest Pokémon out there, I wanted EVERYONE on my team to be viewed the same way.

Then a pinch on the cheek forcefully dragged me out of my self-praise, "Don't let those compliments worm their way into your head." Karen reminded me, "You only beat him one on one. You still haven't defeated his whole team yet."

I pulled myself away from her, freeing my cheeks, "I know, I know. But it was nice to win anyways."

She rolled her eyes, "That I have no doubt. To be fair, if I was in your position, I would probably be too excited to sit down."

Then she coughed, "Anyways, enough about that. I think the battle that your girlfriend is fighting in is starting."

My sister passed me her drink as I sat down to enjoy the match in front of me. After that gruelling battle against Lance, it was nice to be on the spectator's side for once.

Plus, I had to root for my girlfriend. If I won, then it was only fitting if she won as well, right?

"…LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE ARE BACK! I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED THAT INCREDIBLE, NO, UNFORGETTABLE BATTLE BETWEEN LANCE AND JOHN, BECAUSE WE STILL HAVE ANOTHER FIGHT HERE FOR YOU! YOU'VE ALREADY BEEN INTRODUCED, SO LET'S NOT WASTE ANY MORE TIME AND GET STRAIGHT INTO IT!"

"IT'S CYNTHIA AND WALLACE VS DRAKE, DAISY, ROXANNE, CANDICE, AND PRYCE! AND IT'S TIME TO BATTLE!"

"THREE!...TWO!...ONE!...FIGHT!"

Wallace and Cynthia sent out their Milotic and Garchomp respectively. In the meanwhile, Drake sent out his Salamence, Daisy her Gyarados, Roxanne her Probopass, Candice her Froslass, and Pryce his Mamoswine.

They had all chosen their starters. This was going to be a fun fight.

(Cynthia POV)

As she expected, they all chose to send out their strongest Pokémon. But after watching the battle between John and Lance, she was extra determined to put on a performance worthy of what they had just seen.

If John could do that much, then there was no way she would be found wanting.

Her Garchomp had already burrowed into the ground while Wallace's Milotic took centre stage and drew attention to itself. A harsh Sandstorm was immediately whipped up around the arena.

In the meanwhile, Drake's Salamence had taken to the air, just as she expected. While that would put it out of range of most of her attacks, it also created distance between Salamence and her Garchomp.

And she was going to put that distance to good use.

Without any warning, her Garchomp came bursting out of the ground, catching Froslass completely by surprise as she had just finished setting up the Snow. Seeing its ally in danger, Mamoswine roared and rushed over to impale Garchomp on its menacing tusks, but Garchomp had already smashed a dizzying Iron Head into Froslass, before following up with a quick Shadow Claw that ripped through and savaged the dazed Ice type.

Froslass was given no quarter – no opportunity to fight back.

At the same time, Probopass was blasted by a powerful torrent of water as Milotic unleashed a Hydro Pump that hit it head on, with the Rock type taken by surprise as it was too focused on trying to hit Garchomp. Probopass whirled painfully as it was overwhelmed by the gushing tide of water, forcing it back.

Froslass was hardly doing any better, and the combo of attacks from Garchomp had nearly taken it out of the fight already. But then Mamoswine came charging in with its tusks gleaming menacingly in the Snow, forcing her Garchomp to meet the new challenger head on with a Brick Break.

But Pryce's Mamoswine wasn't an Ex-Champion's starter for nothing, and it shrugged off the Brick Break before it tried to impale Garchomp with its razor sharp tusks.

That was when another Hydro Pump came crashing into Mamoswine's side, suddenly knocking the Ice type away. This bought enough time for her Garchomp to burst forwards with a Dragon Rush and finish off the injured Froslass with a devastating Crunch, snapping down on the Ice and Ghost type hard with its deadly jaws.

Froslass tried to break free, but Garchomp was unrelenting, and another vicious Shadow Claw eviscerated the struggling Froslass.

The frail Froslass fell, not having achieved anything but set up the Snow and replacing the Sandstorm. Cynthia felt a little bad for her friend, but now wasn't the time for this.

This was the strategy that she had come up with Wallace. Being outnumbered as they were, they HAD to begin the battle with a blistering offense to take down their weaker foes and cut down their huge numbers advantage. That would be her role, while Wallace was in charge of stalling out one of the bigger threats that they faced.

That was the only way they could win.

Plus, knocking out Froslass didn't mean her starter would have a moment of reprieve. Turning to Milotic, she saw that it would no longer be able to assist her Garchomp with further Hydro Pumps – as it was now being entangled with both Gyarados AND Salamence pummelling into it from both sides.

As they predicted, Drake's Salamence was the real problem. Impressive though Milotic's defenses may be, Salamence hit very hard, and it was savaging Milotic with a relentless maelstrom of violence.

Each rake of Salamence's claws and each impact from its tail sent Milotic skidding back with a wince, while Gyarados stepped in with a Thunder Fang, assisting Salamence in their attempt to completely suppress Milotic.

Yet Milotic wasn't Wallace's starter for nothing. It had already set up an Aqua Ring that Wallace had previously informed Cynthia would heal far more than a regular Aqua Ring. Plus, despite the injuries that it was taking, considering how powerful Salamence was, the fact that Milotic was tanking through both their attacks at all was extremely impressive and a testament to its unbreakable defenses.

It was only due to the addition of Gyarados' that kept Milotic pinned. It was clear to Cynthia that Salamence alone would struggle to overwhelm Milotic.

So with that in mind, Cynthia recognised that Gyarados was her next target. She knew from her research that it wouldn't be able to withstand more than a few Thunder Fangs from Garchomp and would go down pretty quickly.

But she needed to find a way to separate her Garchomp from the dogged pursuit of Pryce's Mamoswine. As she quickly ran through her options, Roxanne's Probopass had recovered from its earlier pummelling and valiantly tried to slow down Garchomp by unleashing its own volley of Flash Cannons and Earth Powers – yet they were little more than an annoyance to her Garchomp. Ultimately, Probopass was too slow and weak to be anything else.

Therefore, she realised that she couldn't afford to waste time trying to engage Mamoswine in a brawl. Even if she'd win that, it would take too long and Milotic would be knocked out way before that. Simply Digging away wouldn't do, because that was just asking to get annihilated by an Earthquake.

In the end, she decided to take something from the previous fight between John and Lance.

"OUTRAGE! RUSH THOSE TWO DOWN!"

Her Garchomp exploded with draconic energy as she instantly blitzed forwards, slamming hard into the Probopass before another Brick Break sent it crashing into the ground. Not even giving Probopass another look, Garchomp immediately pivoted on the spot, dodging past an Ice Beam, and rammed into Mamoswine – who was unprepared to take a powerful hit so soon and staggered backwards.

Then another Brick Break from Garchomp smashed powerfully into the top of Mamoswine's head, causing it to flinch and have its head bashed into the ground. An Earthquake instantly followed, causing Mamoswine to collapse onto its knees and fall over while also dealing some heavy damage to Probopass as well, even though it wasn't the primary target.

Without needing her to give any orders, her Garchomp instinctively recognised the opportunity in front of it and rushed down Probopass to finish it off with a final 4x supereffective Brick Break, shattering its defenses and taking it out of the fight.

"NOW! GO ON GYARADOS!"

"PROTECT, GYARADOS!"

Using the small window of opportunity that Garchomp's sudden burst of aggression provided, she turned on the spot and flew forwards towards Gyarados, who had pre-emptively set up a Protect shield.

Unfortunately for Gyarados, that meant that it was no longer attacking Milotic. Milotic took full advantage of that and fired a sweeping beam of Ice towards both Salamence and Gyarados.

Salamence was forced to pull up and cancel its next attack, while the Ice Beam bounced harmlessly off Gyarados' Protect shield as it was expended.

And that was when Garchomp crashed straight into the Water type, tackling it with fangs crackling with thunderous energy.

Gyarados let out a growl of pain as Garchomp crunched deeply into it, her fangs releasing a painful amount of electricity that surged into the Gyarados. Salamence instantly changed targets and dove into Garchomp's back, but Milotic moved with surprising swiftness to interrupt Salamence, putting itself in the way of the Dragon's charge – which it easily tanked.

Pissed off at being ignored, Mamoswine let out a roar and formed enormous spears of ice that came piercing down out of the sky in a rain of Icicle Spears that blanketed where the fighting was happening.

The spears of ice rained down indiscriminately, hitting both friend and foe with equal measure. Salamence was barely able to disengage and avoid the attack, but Cynthia had Garchomp commit to finishing off Gyarados as quickly as possible.

"Thunder Fang again, Garchomp!"

Garchomp managed to land another Thunder Fang on Gyarados just as the rain of ice came crashing down on her. The Icicle Spears dug deeply into her starter's back, which caused her to release Gyarados and let out an involuntary grunt of pain. Luckily, Milotic saved her from taking any further damage as she blasted Mamoswine with another powerful Hydro Pump, interrupting the Ice type attack before it could do more damage.

Still, Pryce's Ice attacks had done what it needed to. The Icicle Spears were a painful surprise for her Garchomp and had ripped through her health; a clear and powerful demonstration of why Pryce was known to be the Master of Ice.

While she had trained up her Garchomp to better resist Ice attacks, it was almost like all her training meant nothing in the face of Pryce's almost perfectly refined attacks.

Worse, the small moment where Garchomp had flinched in pain had given Gyarados enough space to start rampaging as all Gyarados were wont to do, and it began Thrashing about powerfully, tearing apart the surrounding area as it unleashed its full, mighty wrath.

Even though the Gyarados was nowhere near as well-trained as her Garchomp, the raw power of a rampaging Gyarados couldn't be underestimated. Its wild Thrashings may not be very controlled or disciplined, but it was an effective deterrence at driving her Garchomp back – if only for a moment.

At the end of the day, you had to be extremely confident in your Pokémon's ability to tank through hits before you could challenge a Gyarados while it was rampaging. So while she did trust that her Garchomp could have easily tanked through it to knock out the Gyarados in a 1v1, this was not a 1v1.

She still had two other opponents to deal with, so she would really like her Garchomp to avoid taking hits if it could be avoided.

Yet despite her thoughts, that was when Wallace's Milotic came barrelling straight into the Thrashing Gyarados, unperturbed by its powerful Thrashing about. Milotic's enormous defenses and constant regeneration meant that even as Gyarados repeatedly struck, smashed, and bashed into Milotic with a maddened flurry of powerful attacks, Milotic endured past all that with hardly more than a wince before a Dragon Tail from Milotic came hammering into Gyarados's side, hitting it hard and sending it flying away.

Cynthia immediately tried to capitalise on the opportunity with her a Dragon Rush from Garchomp, but Drake's Salamence landed in her way, standing in between Garchomp and Gyarados with a pulsating beam of blinding light charging up in its mouth.

"DRACO BEAM, SALAMENCE!"

"DIG AND GET OUT OF THERE, GARCHOMP!"

"Earthquake and punish it, Mamoswine."

"Hydro Pump the Mamoswine, Milotic! Don't let it Earthquake!"

"STOP THRASHING, GYARADOS!"

A series of orders were shouted out by every trainer as the battle descended into chaos. Salamence unleashed its apocalyptic beam of concentrated draconic energy, sweeping it across the arena as it annihilated all in its path. The unstoppable beam smashed into the reinforced Psychic barriers, straining them to the very limit as they struggled to contain the overwhelming power of Drake's attack.

Her Garchomp's speed and reaction times proved to be her saving grace, as she managed to burrow herself deep into the ground after only taking a slight glancing blow from that Draco Beam. She doubted Garchomp would survive if she was struck head on.

Seeing its target burrowing away, Salamence tried to fire his beam of destruction into the ground to chase after Garchomp, but she was long gone.

At the same time, Mamoswine had fired off its own Earthquake to punish Garchomp's hasty Dig, unleashing a violent and potent series of tremors through the ground. Cynthia grit her teeth as she knew her Garchomp was forced to take the full brunt of it, but fortunately another Hydro Pump from Milotic shot towards Mamoswine, disrupting the attack as soon as possible as Wallace accurately predicted Pryce's course of action.

Milotic's constant interruptions to Mamoswine's attacks were saving Garchomp's life. It was quite literally the sole reason her Garchomp was still in this fight. Cynthia was very impressed at this level of battlefield awareness and coordination from Wallace, where his Milotic was always doing exactly what needed to be done.

Plus, Milotic served as more than just a distraction. Anyone familiar with Wallace's battle strategies, which Drake certainly was, would know that his Milotic was just waiting for a Pokémon to hit it with a powerful Special move so that it could reflect it with a Mirror Coat. It was a move that had secured Wallace many victories over his time as Champion.

She wasn't ashamed to say that she had followed in his footsteps with her own Milotic.

Therefore, this was why Salamence had not suddenly turned its powerful Draco Beam onto Milotic. Not only was it very likely that Milotic could tank through it with its ridiculous endurance and regeneration, but because no one wanted a move that powerful reflected onto them. Another additional benefit was it limited Pryce to make use of physical moves rather than his wide area-of-effect Special moves, because it was too big of a risk to hit Milotic with those and have them reflected.

That was why Drake had Salamence cut off its Draco Beam soon after and instead rushed and slammed into Milotic with a Dragon Rush, once again entangling the two of them into a brawl so that it could no longer interfere with Mamoswine.

Except the brawl would go very differently this time, as Salamence had now unleashed its explosive Outrage, infusing it with an enormous burst of draconic strength as its aura flared to life. With the boost from Outrage, Salamence struck with an unrelenting flurry of blows that came faster and faster as it was spurred on by its endless wrath, and each and every blow that it smashed into Milotic rippled with raw draconic power.

This time, the look on Wallace's face told Cynthia that he wasn't nearly as confident about Milotic's ability to tank through this, and Milotic's injuries were building up quicker than they were being healed up.

However, that meant that Salamence was locked onto its chosen target, allowing Garchomp free reign.

Therefore, taking full advantage of this fact, her Garchomp came burrowing out next to the still-Thrashing, but now sufficiently weakened, Gyarados.

No matter what she thought earlier, Cynthia knew that they had to start reducing their numbers.

An Aqua Tail from Gyarados quickly threatened to smash into her side, but even with her injuries from the Earthquake Garchomp managed to block the predictable Aqua Tail with one of her arms before her sharpened maw crunched down with another crackling Thunder Fang.

A painful injection of Electric energy surged into the fallen Gyarados, paralysing its muscles so that it couldn't even roar out in pain as its throat shut tight. Another Thunder Fang cut off the wild Thrashing in its tracks as all of Gyarados' muscles locked up from the overload of electricity surging through it, leaving it completely exposed like prey for her starter.

Daisy began to shout something, but she couldn't hear it over the sounds of the battle. Not that it mattered, as her Garchomp bit down one last time with a final Thunder Fang that silenced Gyarados for good – knocking it out of the fight.

Cynthia allowed herself to form a small, satisfied smile on her face, proud that her research had borne fruit. She had observed from her research into the Waterflower sister's previous battles that this Gyarados was all brawn with no endurance. It was used to being the biggest fighter around, and its unruly temperament meant that it wasn't used to taking powerful hits like this. Especially from Electric moves, which paved the way for her starter's swift takedown of the Water type.

It felt good having her gamble proven right.

"Blizzard, Mamoswine. Freeze it."

Of course, that was when a Blizzard suddenly formed right on top of her Garchomp – with Pryce having waited for this exact moment to catch Garchomp separated from Milotic. With the Snow already set up, the vortex of frost bit deep into her Garchomp, freezing it over as frost crystals rapidly began to spread across Garchomp's body, slowly turning the Dragon into a frozen statue as she was trapped within the shackling cage of ice.

Before her movements were forcefully slowed to a crawl, her Garchomp immediately unleashed a torrent of flames from her mouth, trying to burn away the Blizzard before the vortex of ice could transform her into a frozen statue. But Pryce wasn't some random Ice specialist that could have his Blizzard beaten by a mere Flamethrower.

Thus, the stream of flames were quickly being consumed by the hungry icy winds as frost crystals continued to spread like a rampant infection across her starter, biting and sapping away at her health as quickly as the Blizzard dropped the surrounding temperatures. Her Garchomp let out a pained growl as she rapidly began to freeze over and her legs began to give way.

She had to do something, and fast.

"Outrage, Garchomp! Help out Milotic!"

In desperation, her Garchomp drew into whatever remained of her reserves and exploded forth with pure draconic energy, buying just enough strength for her to force herself out of the Blizzard and break free before she succumbed to the cold.

Now free from her icy prison, Garchomp blurred forwards and rushed to join the brawl with Milotic and Salamence, hoping to use Milotic as a deterrent to prevent another Blizzard from trapping her.

Fortunately, the Dragon Rush and Outrage had burned off most of the frost that had built up on Garchomp's body, meaning that her starter had retained much of her speed as she came crashing into a surprised Salamence, slamming into it with her entire body before following up with a wide and powerful slash from her Dragon Claw.

Salamence fell back, but didn't flinch as it locked eyes with her Garchomp and swung down with a Dragon Claw of her own – until an Ice Beam from Milotic hit it square in the face.

This time, Salamence recoiled back in pain, giving Garchomp the opportunity to step forwards and savagely bash Salamence's face in with a Dragon-infused wing. Then, Garchomp latched on with both of her arms around Salamence and threw it hard into the ground, sending it crashing down.

Another Ice Beam from Mamoswine tried to interrupt Garchomp, but Milotic swayed in and blocked the attack before it could land. The Ice Beam was promptly reflected by Milotic's Mirror Coat, sending it back towards Mamoswine who easily tanked through it. However, this caused a frustrated Pryce to order Mamoswine to join in on the brawl, since he wasn't able to use his Special attacks when both friend and foe were so clumped up like this.

Having things devolve into becoming one big brawl was not what Cynthia had hoped for when the battle first begun, but tanking those Ice attacks meant that Garchomp was now too wounded to rush around and pick off targets anymore.

Plus, both Mamoswine and Salamence were not targets that her Garchomp could comfortably take down by herself – especially not with her starter's injuries. And Milotic simply didn't have the decisive power to secure quick knockouts by itself, even when it wasn't bogged down into a brawl against Salamence.

It was to Cynthia's repeated surprise that Wallace's Milotic had been holding on as well as it did. Even in the face of Drake's overwhelmingly powerful Outrage, Milotic had held its ground, once again buying her Garchomp enough time to take down Gyarados. Yet, even as its once-pristine body now looked bruised and littered with injuries, with Salamence no longer focusing its attention on Milotic, its wounds were being repaired at a remarkable rate from all of its self-healing.

That Aqua Ring and whatever other self-healing moves that it knew were incredibly impressive.

However, now that things were all just one big brawl, it was impossible for any kind of strategy to form or give any sort of direct commands. It was all down to their Pokémon and their individual strengths now.

It was pure chaos.

Mamoswine came barrelling into the fight with its tusks gleaming menacingly, narrowly failing to impale Garchomp before an Aqua Tail from Milotic knocked it aside for a moment.

Then Salamence dove back in and rammed straight into Garchomp with a powerful Dragon Rush, trying to overpower her with its sheer strength. But Garchomp valiantly dug her feet into the ground and held her ground, blocking the incoming Dragon Rush with her arms as she locked eyes with her fellow Dragon and triggered her own Outrage once more.

Their clash radiated a blazingly bright blue as both Dragons flared their auras with burning intensity as they grappled each other in a contest of strength, both seeking to conquer and overpower the other.

But while both Pokémon were equally as wounded as each other, Cynthia's noticed that Salamence's aura was flagging as it had almost depleted its reserves of Dragon energy – having used Outrage to boost itself for far too long. Even though her starter had also expended a lot of it too, the fact that her Garchomp could toggle its Outrage on and off to conserve energy was paying off in spades right now.

With Milotic expertly intercepting Mamoswine's attacks and keeping it busy, this gave Garchomp the time to begin pushing back against Salamence. As its Outrage began to peter out, the disparity in strength only grew more favourable for Garchomp, and Salamence's knees eventually buckled as Garchomp pushed it down with pure strength.

"GARCHOOOMP!" Garchomp roared out with all of her strength as Salamence's Outrage finally sputtered out, causing it to be hit by a bout of confusion. Garchomp instantly exploited this, ferociously crashing their heads together with a brutal Iron Head that sent Salamence's head spinning. However, just as Garchomp was about to slash down with another vicious Dragon Claw – a volley of Ice Shards from Mamoswine came ripping painfully into Garchomp's back, interrupting her attack for just long enough for Salamence to recover and pull back.

However, Mamoswine's interruption did not go unpunished as Milotic came crashing into it with a Waterfall and Aqua Tail combo, knocking Mamoswine right into the waiting arms of an enraged Garchomp.

"CHOMP!" With her own Outrage still burning strong, Garchomp let out another thunderous roar and smashed Mamoswine with a hard Brick Break to the face, stunning the Ice type as Garchomp grabbed hold of both its tusks and, fully utilising the boost it got from Outrage, lifted it into the air and slammed it mercilessly straight into the ground and on its back, shattering the ground beneath it.

Salamence tried to prevent Garchomp's inevitable follow up attack but was once again intercepted by Milotic, who continued to serve as an immovable wall between Salamence and Garchomp since the Water type's wounds had somewhat healed up. And now, the tables had turned, with Salamence now exhausted and no longer able to use Outrage, Milotic was now the one on the offensive as it tried to bring down the tired Dragon with a barrage of Ice Beams.

Therefore, Garchomp was now free to unleash her full pent up wrath on Mamoswine uninterrupted.

Brick Break after Brick Break came ruthlessly hammering down on her foe – as if Garchomp was venting each and every bit of its frustration onto the fallen Mamoswine and getting revenge for all those Ice attacks. Even as Garchomp's Outrage began to fade out, Garchomp looked no less energetic as blow after blow pummelled Mamoswine deeper and deeper into the ground. Each strike of her fists further cracking the ground beneath them.

Mamoswine was being subjected to the destructivewrath of her Garchomp, and it was found wanting.

Even a quick volley of Ice Shards to the chest was not enough to interrupt Garchomp's unrelenting and enraged assault as she merely ignored her injuries. Cynthia knew that though her starter was usually tempered by discipline, her Garchomp had her own pride, and she would not allow herself to go down until she brought down her opponent first.

Especially not when Mamoswine had spent the whole battle harassing Garchomp and nearly froze her over.

And so, being pinned down and unable to withstand the unrelenting barrage of vicious blows from Garchomp, Mamoswine did its best to struggle to break itself free from the oppressive violence of Garchomp. Yet no matter what it tried, Garchomp's ferocious assault proved too much for the Ice type to handle, and one final Brick Break finally bashed the Ice type into unconsciousness.

Seeing her enemy finally knocked out, the adrenaline rushed out of Garchomp as the exhaustion and injures caught up to her. Garchomp quickly fell onto her knees, panting and breathing heavily – patches of ice once again littered her body, and her movements were stiff as she was slowed down by her plethora of injuries. She was at her limit.

However, with Mamoswine out of the fight, Cynthia could breathe out a sigh of relief. She trusted Wallace's Milotic to be able to deal with an equally tired Salamence by itself. And indeed it did.

In its exhaustion, Salamence faltered and allowed Milotic to strike with a Dragon Tail that came cracking like a whip, striking the Dragon type with such force that it fell over in pain. Then another Dragon Tail smashed into its face like a hammer, forcing Salamence's head to bash into the ground before another Ice Beam ended the last of its resistance – freezing the Dragon in a statue of ice.

That was it. The battle was finally over.

"…AND THE CHAMPIONS WINS! IN WHAT WAS A BRUTAL BATTLE BETWEEN ALL SIDES, THE CHAMPIONS SEEM TO BE ABLE TO CLINCH OUT A NARROW VICTORY WITH THEIR POKÉMON! WHAT A SURPRISINGLY DOMINANT PERFORMANCE FROM OUR NEW CHAMPION! HER GARCHOMP REALLY TORE THROUGH THE BATTLE ON THAT ONE! IT REALLY WAS THE MVP OF THIS FIGHT!"

As the crowd cheered and roared out their support for them, Cynthia held back a frown slightly as she listened to the referee's words. While she didn't disagree with the praise for her Garchomp, she felt that Wallace's Milotic was far more deserving of the title of MVP for this fight.

If it wasn't for his Milotic's sheer endurance to be able to distract the other Pokémon for so long, her Garchomp could not have done what it did. Of course, by the same token, if Garchomp hadn't whittled down the opponent's numbers then Milotic would have been swiftly overwhelmed. But in Cynthia's mind, Milotic was the star of the show here.

Her efforts were simply more flashy, but she firmly believed that Wallace did the heavy lifting today.

Though she would be remiss to ignore her starter's performance. Garchomp did everything she hoped she would – even if she still had more room to grow. She was proud of her Garchomp being able to overpower Salamence, but after seeing the battle between John and Lance she knew that there was still more to go.

"BUT WE'LL LEAVE ALL THAT TO THE ANALYSTS TO TALK ABOUT!" The announcer continued, "FOR NOW, EVERYONE GIVE A HUGE ROUND OF APPLAUSE, NOT TO JUST TO YOUR CHAMPIONS, BUT TO YOUR TOP 3 WINNERS! PLEASE STICK AROUND FOR THE VICTORY CELEBRATION AFTERWARDS!"

Nevertheless, that was for later. For now, she turned and shared a victorious smile with Wallace before she walked forward to congratulate her opponents. It had been a chaotic, but excellent fight. A 2v5 fight with little preparation time couldn't be anything else.

Still, she really needed to persuade Wallace to host more of these Tournaments for the future. These fights were too fun and too useful to pass up. Maybe this was something she could also talk to John about. Now that the battle was over, she remembered that he mentioned that his family had been here to watch him fight.

Perhaps it was about time to introduce herself to them.

But more importantly than that, with her victory, it meant that the two of them had an announcement to make to the public.

It was finally time.

A.N. This was another LONG chapter. Writing 2v5s are REALLY hard, and there were many, many, many rewrite attempts to get this right. So I hope you enjoyed that fight between Cynthia and Wallace and the rest of the Top 3 winners. It was definitely a chaotic mess since it's so hard for everyone to work together when there's so many moving parts, but I tried to keep the perspective focused on Garchomp so that the fight could still be understandable. Hope that worked out.

Unfortunately, neither Daisy's Gyarados, Candice's Froslass, or Roxanne's Probopass got much opportunity to shine, but I felt that was always going to be the case. Compared to everyone else, they were outclassed. And a raging Garchomp is no joke at all. Still, I hope the remaining fight was still what you hoped for.

Also, I wanted to shine some of the spotlight on Wallace and really demonstrate just HOW he managed to earn his place as Champion. I know he's had the least screentime out of all the Champions, so I hope he really got time to shine here.

And yes, the Pokenet Chapter will be coming soon! I haven't forgotten!

And to anyone who wants to support me, please check out my p atreon at CartecTNN where you can read 8 advanced chapters! Thanks to those who have supported me already!