Chapter 20: For Glory!
"It's decided! Epsilon beats Garchomp to net Team Slash a three-on-one victory! Team Polarna vatra's opponents in the finals have been decided! After a two-hour break, we'll meet again and decide this season's champions! Well-known veterans or the newcomers who took the league by the roots and never lost a single fight up to this point!"
It really wasn't a surprise. Apart from a few situations in Slash against Ironfist, most of the favorites' duels weren't even close. Epsilon, Zeraora and Tyrantrum had lived up to their rank and reached the finals. However, the biggest challenge was still ahead! Beat their rank and ruining Polarna vatra's flawless record. And all this in a battle format that seemed even more advantageous for the two-Pokemon team than the previous three-out-of-five. Instead, the format of the final duel here was the same as that used to be played out in Epsilon's old days in the Champion Duel.
"You were right, Epsilon! This time we can finally win! It feels so good to finally beat Ironfist after all these seasons! The first in almost ten tries!"
Zeraora did not share the Zoroark's worries. He was just excited!
"Don't be too optimistic. In most seasons, a win against Ironfist would be close to winning the title, if Nordika wasn't standing in the way. But this is the beginning of an era of Polarna vatra! The biggest hurdle is still to come!"
"You're the one saying that? Shouldn't the most important thing already be done for you? Polarna vatra will get their armor, no matter what. Honestly, the following duel is nothing else but a fight for glory. Which doesn't mean that I don't want that title, of course!"
Just a duel for glory... it was probably better that Zeraora didn't suspect anything, but his comment was still more than just incorrect. Of course, Polarna vatra had had to fight their way to get here! Epsilon had told them herself that the two of them could reach the top of the King's League. The big problem was that she wanted to encourage Polarna vatra, but she didn't really believe that it was actually possible!
Two more hours had to pass, a period that was actually meant for rest, but Epsilon doubted that she would find peace. Even less so since she had heard a single sentence... through which she already knew exactly what "favor" she would ask of Polarna vatra. But now that the name Polarna vatra was mentioned... they were also the ones Team Slash quickly met when they stepped outside Crowning.
It was obvious that satisfaction was an emotion that was very common in both teams. Epsilon was, as so often, the only one who didn't really feel the same.
"You did it! That was great! I haven't seen anyone beat Ironfist like that for a long time!", Aurora greeted.
"Didn't know you were absent when you beat them earlier this season.", Zeraora commented jokingly.
"That was a best of three, they hardly count, one bad warm-up and you lose."
"You don't convince me! Do you want to make us more careless so that you can win the finals?", Tyrantrum questioned.
"I mean, to be honest... what for? Basically, there's nothing left to play for except a title. We fought for the Plot Armor. And we have got it anyway, no matter how the finale turns out!"
"So what you are saying is, that you can just let us win!"
"Not in your dreams! Despite everything, we want the title too! Besides, you just want to win our bet!"
That would have been too easy...
"The time has come, the moment you've all been waiting for! Another season will end in the next minutes and new champions will be crowned! Facing each other are old acquaintances of the league, a long-standing top team, but so far without a title, Team Slash! They are facing close friends of the league's heads, a team that grew last season and has presented themselves as a force of nature since, despite the lack of team members! Polarna vatra! Both teams, send your first duelists."
There wasn't much to plan against a team as unbalanced as Polarna vatra. Tyrantrum would be best fighting against Kel, everything else was basically irrelevant. Despite the fact that Tyrantrum was the only one to actually counter an opponent, it was immediately certain that he would not start a round. Because although rock was also strong against Aurora, her fairy type changed things, so it would come down to who dodged better and dealt more damage. Both areas in which the dragon would be inferior to Aurora, which is why it would be almost certain defeat. So Zeraora or Epsilon would start, if Aurora fought in the first duel, Tyrantrum would follow, if not, then the other Pokemon of Zeraora and Epsilon would follow.
Team Slash's leader did not want to miss the very first appearance of this duel and Epsilon had no intention of fighting for this position in any way. And she also had the hope of not having to fight in the first round, since Zeraora was facing Aurora. No matter how this duel ended, Kel had to follow and hopefully Tyrantrum could win with that based on typing alone. If Zeraora had done his job beforehand, Team Slash would have already built up a lead straight away.
However, this was not the easiest condition. Zeraora was clearly a better fighter than when Team Slash only consisted of him and Epsilon, but Aurora was also a better league fighter than she had ever been in that time and her increase in power was significantly greater. What showed a strong trend, however, was Zeraora's simple possession of the lance, as Aurora also excelled in long-range combat. The ability to nullify any projectile and even use it for one's own benefit was simply a technique that completely nullified some fighting styles. In theory, Aurora was ready for close combat, especially since she had trained with Kel, a master of it, but that was exactly why Zeraora decided to just not deal with that. Although he didn't have any strong projectiles to keep him at a distance, his lance's range was greater than that what Aurora could cover with bites and claws alone. The Ninetales was clearly less prepared for such a medium-range fight. Although she still had a few tricks up her sleeve and gained a little more control as the fight progressed, it was too late to have a chance.
Tyrantrum against Kel was a duel that was characterized by two things in particular: Tyrantrum's incredible type advantage and Kel's extremely superior skill. However, skill was not always all that was needed to win. This was clearly shown in this duel. Kel was more agile, his attacks had more power, he showed much more strategy, but Tyrantrum... simply didn't seem to care about the attacks, while his own actually had lesspower behind them yet still hit the target harder. It didn't help that the lion's preferred secondary weapon was his opponent's element itself. This showed a clear weakness in both Polarna vatra fighters. They had their fighting styles and alternatives, but if none of this helped, improvisation was clearly unsatisfactory. For the moment, the talented close-combat fighter couldn't think of anything except trying to use Earthquake from a distance. Which would just not be sufficient against a top level fighter!
"That's the first point for Slash! Polarna vatra are under pressure to act, if they don't do so quickly, this duel is over!"
Epsilon hadn't had her turn yet, so she started round two herself. And obviously her team's opponents had already seen through the strategy and guessed that Kel would be a smarter choice to start with. Even if Epsilon wasn't unhappy about this choice. Polarna vatra were only two and this weakness became clear here. It was already clear that Zeraora would face Aurora again and would probably win, simply because the two-man team had no options. Therefore, if Zoroark only won against Kel, the fight would already be decided.
However, the former empress immediately noticed that the deficit hardly seemed to bother Polarna vatra. Her enemy seemed confident and it quickly became clear why. Before anything could happen in the fight, the lion formed a small ball of fire, which now hovered in front of him. Epsilon only understood the meaning of this when she tried to get her blade out of the shadows. That small ball of fire immediately shot to the place where the shadows were and illuminated the area. Fire was an element, heat, but most importantly for Kel here, light. A change of plan was immediately necessary when the Zoroark struck at the fireball, which, however, seemed unimpressed. It was fire, you can't just hit it! Kel couldn't afford to use rocks or fire to attack, as both would create shadows if he couldn't control them precisely like the small ball, but if anyone didn't mind that, it was Kel. Being forced into close combat really didn't bother him. The same normally applied to Epsilon, but she didn't have her sword and her enemy obviously had no desire to let her have it!
So an alternative was needed. Epsilon could try to fight from a distance with Shadow Ball and if Kel responded with distance, she could gain shadow from it. If the current fight was meant to force closeness, Epsilon would not obey. What was problematic, however, was the agility of the opponent, who dodged every projectile completely unperturbed and hardly gave time to react after one. Epsilon would not win if she didn't somehow get a shadow! But Kel did everything to prevent this!
Thus, Zeraora had to equalize. He stepped onto the field opposite Aurora, confident of victory and determined. Aurora was clearly not surprised by her opponent's choice, but at the same time she didn't seem too uncertain. And it quickly became clear why. Improvisation at the moment was clearly not the duo's strong point, but the time in the locker room had definitely helped. Hail immediately fell from the sky and a strange veil surrounded Aurora as spikes of ice shot out of the ground. While Zeraora went straight on the offensive, Aurora was already ready to counterattack again. Another ice pillar, directly under Zeraora's feet, was supposed to deliver the hit and did so. Neither close combat nor projectile, but predictable. If Zeraora was now ready for it, such cheap tricks would lose all effect. The hail was annoying and the reshaped battlefield was also an obstacle, but fundamentally the fight should still proceed on the same basis as the first one.
And in theory this would be correct, at a medium distance Aurora had no real chance, but the Ninetales had clearly thought out a plan to avoid this situation. Agile jumps over the ice and almost invisible serpentine lines between them, combined with the fact that the space between the ice pillars was too small for the long lance, made it very difficult to use it effectively and maintain control over the situation.
At the same time, however, it was not an alternative to let it disappear and fight without a lance, as this would create a vulnerability to projectile attacks that you don't want against an enemy like Aurora. After she had settled into the fight a little, Aurora's main offensive began. Zeraora was now too cautious to run into ice pillars again, but Aurora could still use them as weapons by breaking them. But what came out of them was most important! Ice Shards! Ice Shards that were projectiles! And this is exactly what Zeraora noticed immediately as he prepared to send the attack back to the sender. Everything went according to plan. But not Zeraora's.
Because Aurora had expected exactly this move from the opponent, laying out the ice shards as bait. While Zeraora reflected them, Aurora jumped high and shot an Ice Beam. Another, much stronger projectile attack, for which Zeraora no longer had the defensive resource of the lance, as he had just used it to attack the Ice Shards. With no defense left, the Ice Beam hit with full force, leaving Team Slash's leader frozen. He would thaw out when he left the ring, and Aurora was generous enough to oblige immediately.
"Polarna vatra won't let the disadvantage get them down and immediately responded with a two-to-zero of their own to tie the score! One final round will decide this season!"