THIS IS IT! The last chapter before we get to the Dark Star Attack. It took me way too long to get here but hopefully this chapter will prove to be an exciting last stretch before we get to the juicy bits! Enjoy!
"Someday, that's going to be me!"
A young Diego looked over at Jack, who's house he was visiting in Hoenn. The two had just finished watching the Hoenn region Champion successfully defend his title against his latest challenger.
"Haha, yeah, well, you'll have to beat me first!"
The two young boys shared a confident smile before they each became lost in their thoughts of their futures. Perhaps one day, they would battle against each other...
And that one day was today...
Jack and Diego sat in their respective waiting areas in the opposite sides of the arena, both making the final preparations for their upcoming battle. Diego gave a confident grin while Jack took a deep breath as the two stepped onto the field.
'Something's definitely different this time. Nostra brought us all back much further than I was expecting, so that means it'll be a while before everything starts. But... why?'
"Hey."
A young boy's voice snapped the girl out of her thoughts. The girl had Cadet blue hair and wore a purple dress that reached her knees. She held a Jirachi doll in her hands tightly before looking over at the boy with her red-violet eyes. He resembled her greatly, with his hair and eyes being the same color as hers. He wore a white long sleeved shirt and black pants. The most striking difference, aside from their gender, was that the boy's eyes looked much more dull and exasperated.
"Anna, it's your turn." The boy said. The girl, Anna, looked at the table she was sitting by. A chessboard was sprawled out in front of her with various pieces positioned on the board while others off to the side, removed from play.
"she's probably seeing things again."
Anna's attention was now brought to the girl sitting across from her, playing the black pieces to her white. The girl had dark green hair and eyes and wore a grey shirt and pants. The look in her eyes conveyed various emotions, ranging from annoyance at having to wait for Anna's move to the frustration of having to stay in this place. Still, there was something beyond that. There was something hurting this girl across from her that she couldn't quite pinpoint, even with the entire time Anna had known her. But as much as Anna wanted to find out what that was, there were more pressing matters to attend to, both in that moment... and for what was to inevitably come.
"Right, sorry about that." She said, looking back at the boy. "I know you wanted to play, too, Noel."
Anna reached for one of her side's pawns, but just before she grabbed it, she noticed it suddenly appeared to be different from the others. It was now in the shape of a boy. A boy she didn't recognize, but yet Anna didn't look alarmed when she saw it. A quick glance at Noel and the other girl seemed to confirm that they didn't see the pawn differently.
"are you planning on going sometime today?" The girl asked.
Anna remained quiet as she grabbed the changed pawn and slowly placed it one space forward.
'Jack... When I saw this pawn change, that's the name that came to mind. But, I don't know anyone with that name. Is he the difference in this round?' Anna thought to herself. She looked at the other pieces on the field while her rival thought about her next move. 'I was planning on moving this pawn to the end of the board and turn it into a knight.'
Anna looked at the Jirachi doll on her lap with a focused look.
'Nostra... are you trying to tell me something? Do you know who Jack is? Why are we so far back from last time?'
Anna took one last glance at the girl, who had moved her own pawn close to Anna's.
'Lin... Just what are you planning?'
"Well, ladies and gentlemen, this is it!" Dallas began announcing. "Our last battle on this side of the bracket because we've finally made our way to the semifinal round!"
"And what a match we have to end with!" Juanita added. "Two best friends since childhood, graduating in the same class from the Vermilion Academy together, and traveling as part of a group to make it all the way here to the semifinal round!"
As the announcers introduced the two trainers, Julia and Renée sat with Cynthia, Verity, Sandra, Max, and Apollo, as per usual by this point.
"So, one of those two will go on to the final round." Sandra said.
"Mhmm." Renée nodded. "It would've been awesome if it was any of us instead, but, in a way, it makes sense for those two to be get to this point. They have the skill, pedigree, and passion."
"But, a lot of us are related to strong trainers."
"Oh, hey, Snow! Wow, looks like a lot of our class came to watch the battle!" Julia noted, seeing the younger girl with Pandora, Simon, Sinead, Ray and Ryan alongside her.
"Well, we wanted to give our support to those two. They were some of the best battlers at the school and they've either helped us out when we needed it or are just fun to be around!" Ray shrugged, giving a wide smile.
"Just goes to show how influential those two are. I know that a low of us have good connections, but those two..." Renée continued. "Those two are just on a different level from us, I suppose."
"Maybe." Sinead pondered before turning to the twins. "But that just means we've got some catching up to do!"
"Well, I believe that if you keep up that mindset, you'll be as tough as them in no time!" Cynthia smiled.
"Oh, it looks like they're about to start!" Simon called out.
From the field, both battlers took their places and gave each other a confident grin.
"Launch it!"
"B-But Mr. Agus, the boss ordered for us to launch our attack later in the evening, during the final match of the tournament!"
Tsar Agus glowered at the female Dark Star scientist, who hesitantly readied a cannon from their base and loaded it with what appeared to be a pale blue cannonball with electricity surging inside of it.
"A-Are you sure about thi-?"
"Sure, I'm sure! I need to see my sweet Styles again! This just speeds up the process! Think of this as a surprise attack!" Tsar Agus explained, finishing the loading process and prepping to fire.
"Wait!" The scientist called out, just as Agus pressed the launch button. "The EMP isn't fully charged yet!"
"Alright, looks like both boys are ready, now let's see what sort of field they'll be battling on!" Juanita exclaimed. The once plain field began to change at the press of a button, courtesy of Dallas. Various charms and religious symbols depicting legendary pokemon began sprouting from the ground, which began to glow a soft golden color.
"Ooh, it looks like they'll be-"
Dallas was suddenly cut off by an explosion that rattled the whole stadium. The modified battlefield began to spasm and glitch as the effects of the EMP took place. The field shifted to various forms including the Mirror field, the Ashen Beach, Starlight, and the Forest until it finally settled onto a field that resembled the Mirror field in that the audience could see from the outside. To Diego and Jack, however, all they could see was a mess of glitchy blocks, texts and binary code all arranged in a cubical dome like design. For just a moment however, Jack found himself in an arena that was unlike any he had ever seen.
It resembled outer space, with faraway planets in the distance and asteroids all around him, with Jack standing on one himself. Strangely, neither Diego nor the stadium itself were visible. But just as quickly as this vision came to him, it shifted back to the glitched field with everyone visible again.
"Woah, is everyone alright?" Dallas asked. "...Looks like we experienced a bit of turbulence there. Haha..."
'What was that?' Jack thought to himself. 'Did anyone else see that?... Maybe it was just my imagination.'
"Whatever just happened seems to have effected the field." Juanita added. "Diego and Jack were going to battle on the Blessed Field, but it looks like our field generator was scrambled into producing our Glitch Field. This field isn't properly tested, but Silph Co., who helped developed the generator, have tried testing this field to produce battle effects that are reminiscent of when pokemon battling first began centuries ago, before the Dark, Steel, and Fairy types were ever discovered!"
"That's not the end of it!" Dallas continued. "There's other things this field can do, but our two trainers might just have to re-work their entire strategies!"
"Well this is definitely something... different." Jack called out.
"Yeah, but does it really change anything? This is gonna be the best battle of the whole tournament, bro!"
"Haha, ah man, nothing ever puts you down!" Jack and Diego's friendly smiles hardened into confident ones as they both reached for their pokeballs. "Let's dance!"
With the two feeling as though they said everything they needed to, they both sent out their first team members: Mightyena on Jack's end and Diego using his Crobat.
'This field is supposed to emulate the time before Dark types were discovered, so Mightyena would have to be classified as a Normal type here.' Jack thought to himself. 'But at least with some of the other fields, every trainer was given a digital handout of what they were meant to do. I don't know what could happen here... But, neither does D...'
"Mightyena, use Ice Fang!"
"Going right for the jugular, eh? Well we can do that, too! Crobat, use Cross Poison!"
The Dark pokemon let out a snarl before charging forward, its fangs bared and quickly glowing with a frosty aura. With a high jump, the Bite pokemon sunk its freezing fangs into the Bat pokemon. The airborne beast hissed in pain for a moment, but both Crobat and Diego looked a bit surprised to see that the attack didn't do nearly as much damage as Jack was hoping, as evident by the stunned look on his face.
"Wha-? But Ice moves are effective against Flying types? What went wrong here?" Julia asked, just as shocked as the battlers.
"Hmm... It looked like there wasn't much power behind that attack." Cynthia pondered.
"But Mightyena has good physical strength, right?" Ray asked.
"Oh!" Simon called out. "I think I get it!"
"I think the crowd might be a tad bit confused!" Dallas announced. "Care to explain, Juanita?"
"It's simple, really. On this field, Ice is still super-effective against Flying types. But, as we said before, this field simulates the archaic systems from long ago, back before pokemon evolved to match attacks to their status of physical contact. In layman's terms; moves like Ice Fang deal damage based on Special Attacking power rather than their Physical Power."
"So what does this mean for Jack?" Snow asked.
"It means that he can't rely on his Mightyena's Ice Fang attack here." Cynthia hummed, bringing her hand to her chin and focusing intently on the field in intrigue. "This field is certainly quite tricky. While Jack may be dealing with a negative effect from it now, it's likely Diego will be dealing with the same issue soon enough."
"Is that all?" Diego huffed. "Now, Crobat!" Acting quickly, the Bat pokemon slashed Mightyena with its lower wings, which were now glowing purple. The strike knocked the canine back a fair bit, but with a stoic yelp, Mightyena regained his composure.
'Ugh, so Ice Fang won't be of much use to me here. So what do I do then?... Wait... The announcers said this field removes the Dark, Steel and Fairy types. That means that Mightyena would be typeless. But isn't that impossible? I mean, the only way a pokemon would be typeless is if it used Burn Up, and that can have some nasty after-effects for people who aren't prepared for them. But here... this is supposed to essentially be how battles were before pokemon in general continued to evolve. So if the type isn't being removed, then it was just changed? Man I wish this field was included in the data sheet! But if Mightyena really is typeless, then so are his Dark type moves...'
Jack's eyes lit up as he suddenly came to a realization.
'Then that means those moves are still my best bet!' He thought to himself. "Mightyena, use Crunch!"
With shocking speed, the Bite pokemon dashed forward and bit down onto Crobat's abdomen again, the attack doing more damage this time around.
"Thanks for that!" Diego huffed, earning a confused and concerned eyebrow raise from Jack. "Now we get to do this! Use Brave Bird!"
Crobat flew skyward, hissing in pain as Mightyena continued to chomp down onto the shiny bat's pink form, this time to prevent falling rather than intentionally causing harm. Suddenly, Crobat dove towards the glitchy ground, Mightyena could barely growl before Crobat turned again, narrowly avoiding the ground while scraping the hound's body along it. Mightyena could no longer take the pain as he released the Bat from his jaws. Now free, Crobat flew upwards again in a loop-the-loop formation in order to position its body towards Mightyena again.
With one more dive, Crobat slammed right into Mightyena! The tackle rocketed the Bite pokemon back towards Jack, and with one last whine, Mightyena fell unconscious.
"And Diego gets the first down!" Dallas exclaimed. "Seems like the field is working out in his favor so far!"
"Ah, but it looks like Jack fixed his mistake. Crobat doesn't look like it can take much more!" Juanita added.
'Alright, Jack, what are you gonna do on this crazy field now?' Diego asked himself. 'You always pull something...'
"I was hoping I could save my Mightyena for your Golduck..." Jack began. "But I guess things don't always go how we plan, so I choose you!"
With a flap of its wings to get it going, Jack's Fearow stretched her wings to rise into the air and meet Diego's Crobat at eye level.
"Looks like we have an aerial battle ahead of us." Juanita hummed.
"Y'know, for a pair of winged pokemon, it looks like we're getting a dogfight! Haha, get it?"
"Shut up, Dallas, you're not all that funny..."
"Those two are really something, aren't they..." Jack sighed.
"Yeah." Diego nodded. "And so are we, to a different extent. Crobat, Cross Poison!"
Crobat blitzed forward, wings once again seeped with toxins. But once it drew close to Fearow...
"Now! Dodge and use Double-Edge!"
In what felt like the blink of an eye, Fearow barrel-rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the slash before charging into Crobat. The tackle brought both winged combatants to the ground. The attack being so sudden meant that Fearow couldn't get much momentum into the strike, but it proved to be just enough to leave Crobat unconscious on the ground, croaking and wheezing ever so slightly.
"Yeah, that figures." Diego shrugged. "But I'm not gonna wait around! I know exactly what to do next!"
With a bit of pep in the toss of his pokeball, Diego's Krookodile gave a mighty stomp and a roar upon hitting the field.
"He didn't even give us a chance to say anything!" Dallas huffed. "Kids these days, no patience!"
'Krookodile's normally Dark-type, but this field changes that. But it's also a Ground-type, so that shouldn't change, right? Only one way to find out...' Jack thought. "Fearow, use U-Turn!"
"Oh no you don't! Krookodile, use Stone Edge!"
It seemed strange that stones could even form within the digital walls of the glitch field, but yet they formed and looked normal. The stones even acted normal as they zipped through the air at the Beak pokemon, who swiftly dodged and flew past the attacks while her body began glowing a bright green. Fearow squawked proudly as the bird kicked itself off of the Intimidation pokemon. The moment Fearow rebounded off its foe, she had almost instantly vanished back into her pokeball.
"A strategic switch I see." Dallas hummed. "Jack certainly has options, based on what we've seen throughout the tournament."
'Jack wouldn't send out his Venusaur right now, so it's gotta be either Kingdra or Gallade.'
Diego's guess turned out to be correct as Jack soon sent out the former of the two. The Dragon pokemon took in the appearance of the field and, strangely, almost seemed to embrace it!
"Hah! If you think a type disadvantage is enough to make me run then you've got another thing coming, bro! You should know something like that won't stop me! Use Stone Edge, again!"
"Yeah, that figures!" Jack sighed. "Once you have your mind set one something, there's nothing that stops you. But we can at least slow you down! Kingdra, Blizzard!"
Krookodile sent another volley of jagged stones towards Jack's pokemon with a snarl. As the stones whizzed right through the air, Kingdra inhaled deeply, enough for the aquatic pokemon's body to expand just a bit before the Dragon finally exhaled with a blast of ice and snow trailing in its wake! Something seemed different about this attack however...
"Hey..." Ray piped up. "Is it just me, or does something seem, I don't know, off about that Blizzard?"
"It's not just you." Simon agreed. "It looks like the blast radius is covering a much wider range of the field than what's typical for a Blizzard attack."
"Look!" Verity called out. "The wind is slowing down those rocks!"
Just as the toddler called out, the force of the Blizzard slowed down the ferocity of the Stone Edge. The attack still pressed on and pelted Kingdra, but the Dragon was now left unbothered by the attack. As Kingdra finally allowed the Ice attack to die down, both the pokemon and her trainer were left confused by the absence of Krookodile until...
"Dragon Claw!"
Kingdra was suddenly smashed by a ferocious uppercut from Krookodile, who had somehow managed to crawl through the windstorm and get close to his opponent, bashing it with it clawed hand, now red with draconic energy. Krookodile himself didn't appear to be unscathed though, as patches of frost were scattered along the reptile's body.
Diego smirked to himself, proud of his pokemon for hitting a strong super-effective attack... until he saw that the attack appeared to barely phase Kingdra!
"What? How did that not work?!"
"Oooohhh, tough luck, kid!" Dallas commented. "But it looks like you made the same mistake Jack did with his Mightyena! Dragon attacks use a pokemon's Special Attacking power, not their physical ones on this field!"
"But that's not all~!" Juanita chimed in, a bit of a musical octave in her voice. "On this glitchy mess of a field, Dragon attacks hit Dragon pokemon for only neutral damage! Which means..."
"Which means you just gave me the advantage!" Jack stated. "Kingdra, blast him with Hydro Pump!"
Krookodile quickly tried to turn and run but couldn't get very far before being met with a crashing wave of water. The super-effective blast had enough force to send the Intimidation pokemon right back over to Diego with more than enough power to knock the beast out.
"And that major miscalculation cost Diego big time as he's now lost the lead to Jack!" Dallas exclaimed.
"Great..." The tanned trainer groaned. "I just love this field!" Regaining his composure, he looked over at Jack and his Kingdra. 'Still...' He thought. 'It's good to know that Dragon attacks don't really work on other Dragons anymore. But that Blizzard was definitely more accurate than they normally are. So what can I do now?'
As Diego considered his next move, he was barely able to notice Kingdra taking slightly labored breaths. 'Kingdra's getting tired. If I can put on the pressure while staying healthy, I might have a chance... That's it!'
"Alright, bro, you ready for this?" Diego called out as he sent out his Sceptile next. The Forest pokemon seemed overwhelmed by the sight of the field for just a moment before regaining its composure and focusing solely on Kingdra, silently taking a battle position as the two locked eyes.
"Sceptile? An interesting choice." Renée hummed. "We've seen Kingdra use Blizzard and Dragon moves don't really do too well against other Dragons here. What is Diego planning?"
"Kingdra, let's stop him before he can even get started! Use Blizzard, again!" Jack ordered.
"Alright, Sceptile." Diego said, his tone just a bit more hushed. "This is gonna hurt, but I need you to get in as close as you can."
With another deep exhale, the field was hit with another frozen wave of air washed over the field. Despite the biting cold, Sceptile tried running straight through the storm!
"What?! What is Diego planning?" Julia asked in shock.
"To have a pokemon weak to Ice make a move like that... He must have full confidence in his pokemon!" Cynthia added.
"That boy truly is crazy!" Juanita exclaimed, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Crazy or not, he's putting on one heck of a show! Good luck, kid!"
Kingdra's Blizzard died down again, revealing that Sceptile, just like Krookodile, had gotten in front of Kingdra. However, the attack had taken a much heavier toll on the Grass pokemon.
"Yeet!" Diego cheered. "Now use Giga Drain!"
Sceptile's eyes began to glow a bright green as the reptile let out a mighty roar. A bright green dome of energy exploded out of the Forest pokemon's body. The sudden burst frazzled Kingdra, however the aquatic pokemon's confusion was quickly replaced with a searing pain coursing through its fins, gills, and whole body as she could feel all of her strength quickly leaving her. The seahorse pokemon let out a pained cry as Sceptile continued ushering its powerful shout. Slowly, the Grass pokemon retracted the energy dome, finally ending Kingdra's suffering, but the Water pokemon had long since given in to the pain as it collapsed onto the ground at the feet of Sceptile, who had managed to recover most of the damage it received from the Blizzard.
"Hooo! Now that was intense!" Dallas exclaimed.
"I don't think I've ever seen anyone willingly send their pokemon into an attack like that! But, you know what, it paid off! Things have evened up again!" Juanita added, an impressed smirk plastered on her face.
'Heh, only Diego would be crazy enough to do something like that and only he's the only one that's able to somehow make it work.' Jack laughed to himself. 'Still, even if he knows my team completely, I need to save some of my other pokemon for later. For now, I have a feeling I know what he'll do if I send out this next pokemon...'
Jack sent out his Fearow back into the battle, while the bird was still a bit banged up, she quickly took to the skies with a wicked squawk.
"I figured you'd send Fearow back out!" Diego smirked. "So we planned for this!"
"Oh?" Renée raised an eyebrow with most of the group with her doing the same or looking on expectantly.
"Sceptile!" "Fearow!" Both trainers called out. "U-Turn!"
Diego looked a bit surprised to hear Jack order his pokemon to do the same move while Jack himself merely smirked as the two watched their pokemon charged at each other. Both Fearow and Sceptile met in the center of the field, Fearow's talon primed to slash at the Forest pokemon. However, the strike was blocked as Sceptile caught the attack with a fist. The brief clash was broken apart when both pokemon suddenly zipped back into their pokeballs.
"Looks like we have a shake-up, ladies and gents! Let's see what pokemon these two will go into next!"
Back in the Dark Star base, the air had quickly changed to a frenzy as scientists ran around trying to charge another EMP blast.
"Who's responsible for this?!" Andromeda shouted.
"I didn-... I just- I... I..." The scientist stammered as she tried explaining to the second-in-command what Tsar Agus had done. But before she could trip over herself any more, Singularity himself entered the room.
"ENOUGH!" He called out, stopping the entire room and bringing about a deathly silence. "I don't care who's responsible, we're lucky enough to not have anyone at the Indigo Plateau actively investigating the issue. But we cannot take the risk of waiting any more we have to move NOW!"
"SIR, YES, SIR!" All the grunts and scientists saluted.
"Remember the plan." The boss said. "And have our associates on the line for when we return!"
Without any semblance of hesitation, the two boys threw out their next pokeball. If they couldn't predict which pokemon their opponent would use next, they would just have to wing it. Diego's Raichu stretched upon landing on the field and looking around the field before looking forward and seeing Jack's Banette staring back at it.
"Well this is an interesting match-up." Simon pondered.
"These two have been so even throughout the whole match." Ray added.
"It's like one mistake could easily cost one of them the battle, but they're so synchronized with their team that it seems like that won't happen." Sinead said in awe, her eyes locked on the battle.
"Precisely." Max remarked as Cynthia nodded.
"It's very unlikely that these two will intentionally make a mistake." The Sinnoh Champion began. "The only way for either of them to lose is if the field effects alter one of their attacks somehow or..."
"Or?" Julia asked, with the other trainers looking to the Champion.
"...Or for one of these boys to outsmart the other."
"Raichu, hit 'em with a Thunderbolt!"
"Counter it with Gunk Shot!"
Raichu chuckled before launching one of the many spherical electric bombs that Diego had trained the Electric Mouse pokemon to use, in retaliation, the Marionette pokemon unzipped its mouth and with a wicked hiss, spit out a black and purple glob of slime that bubbled as it sped through the air. The two attacks collided and promptly exploded in a burst of smoke that dissipated surprisingly quickly.
"Huh?!" Diego gasped. The rest of the audience looked just as confused to see Banette had completely vanished!
"What's this? Has Banette run off?" Juanita pondered, an eyebrow raised and with a hint of a scowl on her face.
"Now!"
Raichu never saw the uppercut coming. With a twisted cackle, Banette landed on the ground where Raichu once stood before jumping back just a bit to gain some distance on Raichu, who was still recovering.
"Of course!" Dallas remarked, slapping himself on the forehead. "We should have known Jack would have his Banette use Shadow Sneak like that!... We all knew that, right?"
"Gunk Shot, one more time!"
Before Raichu could fully recover from the initial attack, the Electric pokemon was then blasted by another slime bomb and sent skidding across the ground over to Diego. The tan trainer could only look on in increasing desperation as the grime seeped into the fur of his pokemon, shading it just ever-so slightly purple.
"Ergh, come on, we can't deal with poison, too! Battling Jack is hard enough as it is! Ugh... Raichu, use Thunderbolt again!"
Fighting through the pain of the poison, Raichu shouted before launching another bomb at Banette. This time, the Ghost wasn't fast enough to counter. The power of the bomb sent the sound of a furiously strong ZZZZAParound the arena before exploding.
As the dust settled, Banette lay on the ground grimacing and groaning before slowly rising back to its feet.
"Now, fire!" Diego exclaimed. Neither Jack nor his Banette had time to react to the purple beam of electricity that rocketed out of Raichu's tail as it zapped its way through Banette's abdomen. The light from the phantom pokemon's eyes faded before it could even hit the ground.
"Ah, that was such a good display of aggression!" Juanita said with utter glee.
"Well that was definitely impressive! But honestly, it doesn't surprise me that Diego would pull something like that." Snow giggled.
"Yeah, he's always been headstrong in battles, even back at the academy." Ray added.
From back down on the field, Jack couldn't help but laugh aloud.
"Ah man, I should have figured you'd do something like that."
"Did you expect anything different?" Diego asked.
"Eh, not really, I just wasn't sure when you'd do that. But we both want to win this, so I guess we should expect the unexpected."
"What'd you have in mind?" Diego raised an eyebrow.
"This!" Much of the crowd gasped at the sight of Jack sending out his Fearow for a 3rd time that match, especially as he was putting himself in a type disadvantage.
"What is his angle?" Sandra pondered. "Jack should know better than to use a Flying pokemon against an Electric type."
The gang tried to think of a valid reason why Jack made his choice until Julia's eyes widened and a smirk grew on her face.
"I get it!" She exclaimed. "He said to expect the unexpected, so instead of doing what he would normally do, he's doing something Diego would do!"
"Using his own strategy against him. I must say, that is rather clever, even if Diego's strategy is just overpowering his opponent." Max stated. "Still, how does Jack intend to do that now?"
"Looks like we're about to find out." Renée said.
"Hah! I gotta say that's definitely unexpected, coming from you. Now that I think about it, so is egging on that one guy you battled earlier in the tournament."
"Yeah, well, I guess I learn from the best when it comes to getting a bit more aggressive in my tactics. But right now, that's not important. This is! Fearow, use Quick Attack to get in close!" Jack exclaimed. With a hoarse cry, Fearow flapped its wings and soared towards Raichu. The Electric Mouse pokemon tried to brace itself, but the burning it felt within itself from the poison ruined its concentration, giving the bird just enough time to smash its body into the bipedal pokemon.
The attack wasn't enough to knock Raichu out, but Jack wasted no time in his follow up attack.
"Now, Drill Run!"
With another dive bomb, Fearow spun right into Raichu, the Electric pokemon could only choke out a cry as Fearow's strong beak forced it into the ground. The force of Fearow's spinning body pushed Raichu deeper into the ground and closer to its trainer. Once Fearow was satisfied with its attack, the bird flew back towards Jack side of the field, leaving Raichu in an unconscious heap in the dirt.
"Well your move definitely did its job." Diego sighed. "But you're crazy if you think that'll work again! Or if you think I'm gonna bring out my best right now! If you're going to use a pokemon weak against the one I used, then I'll do the same!" The boy exclaimed before bringing his Sceptile back out onto the field.
"It seems Diego finally wants to end the war of attrition between those two pokemon." Cynthia observed.
"Both have taken a fair number of hits this whole fight." Renée noted. "I think one both of them need one good hit to get the next knockout."
"I know we both fought using pokemon that are naturally at a disadvantage, but are you sure you want to do it again?" Jack asked.
"Positive!" Diego smirked.
"Alright." Jack shrugged. "Fearow, use Drill Peck!"
Diego remained silent as he and his Sceptile observed Fearow lunge forward. As Fearow drew closer, the bird began rotating its whole body, gaining speed until it resembled an airborne drill. Once Fearow was about to hit Sceptile, Diego's smile grew wider.
"Now, use Dragon Pulse!"
With an almost uncanny quickness, Sceptile opened its mouth an exhaled a tornado-esque blast of energy at Fearow. The proximity of the attack left the avian pokemon with no chance to slow down or evade. The power of the blast sent Fearow flying all the way back to Jack's side before ultimately crashing onto the ground with no energy left to fight.
"Wow! Now that was a nice move on Diego's part!" Dallas exclaimed. "But this battle is going to be coming down to the wire folks! Don't touch that dial!"
"Gotta admit, that really was a smart move." Jack smiled.
"What'd you expect? I learned how to make moves at the right time from you, bro."
Jack couldn't help but smile at the praise his best friend was giving him, but he quickly regained his composure as he reached for his second-to-last pokeball.
"Well, thanks. It's good to know that we're learning from each other, even after all this time we've known each other. But right now we're rivals battling for a chance to be Champ! So let's turn it up to twelve!" He exclaimed, tossing his pokeball and activating his Key Stone. In a great burst of light, Jack's penultimate pokemon was revealed to be his Mega Evolved Venusaur.
"Alright! You're finally bringing out your best! But we've got the advantage, and we'll take all that we can get!" Diego exclaimed. "Use Dragon Pulse!"
"Sludge Bomb!" Jack ordered.
The Forest pokemon unleashed another burst of energy at the Seed pokemon, but Venusaur appeared to be more than ready as the Grass and Poison type unleashed a volley of brown globs of slime towards Sceptle. The bombs collided with the beam and burst upon impact. The confidence Diego had when the two attacks first collided faded very quickly when he saw the Bombs overpowering his Dragon Pulse. Before he could call out another attack, he noticed Sceptile tiring out before stopping its attack with a cough and proceeding to get bombarded by more Sludge Bombs. Once Jack called for Venusaur to stop, everyone waited for Sceptile to continue its attack, but once the smoke cleared it was almost a foregone conclusion that the Grass pokemon was in no condition to battle as it lay on the ground, taking labored breaths and twitching.
Diego sighed, shaking his head as he recalled his pokemon. "Yeah, should've seen that coming. You fought hard, Sceptile, but now it's time for us to turn things up! But I'm going to save my absolute best for last so..."
At this point many were doubting Diego's choices when he sent out his Golduck next. But while the audience was too far away to notice it, Diego clearly saw the gemstone on Golduck's head glow just a bit brighter upon hitting the field.
"Is he sure he wants to do this?" Juanita asked.
"Well it's a bit too late for him to turn back now." Dallas shrugged.
"Well, D, if you really want to keep going with this type disadvantage stuff, then be my guest! Venusaur, Spring Buds!"
"Golduck, use Psychic!"
Venusaur shook the flower on its back vigorously, launching a barrage of tiny seedlings towards Golduck at a speed that the Water type wasn't able to guard against. Thankfully for Diego though, while the attack appeared to do considerable damage, none of the seeds sprouted onto Golduck. Once Venusaur's attack finished, Golduck focused intently on the Grass pokemon, its gem now shining bright enough for all to see. With a wave of Golduck's hand and one more glint from the gem, Venusaur was suddenly blasted backwards by what appeared to be an invisible force that managed to make the Mega pokemon stumble a bit in both pain and shock. This shock carried over to the audience, who looked stunned at the power of the attack.
"Ah, I was hoping we'd see another instance of the field getting some usage!" Dallas said, rubbing his hands in glee. "In addition to altering the physical qualities of certain types, Psychic type attacks on this field receive a power boost!"
"Good to know..." "Good to know!" The two boys said simultaneously, with differing levels of enthusiasm evident by their facial expressions. Without another word, Jack recalled his Mega Venusaur.
"What's up? Don't think your ace can beat my pokemon?" Diego huffed.
"Not going to lie to you." Jack replied. "That's exactly why I'm switching out. This late into the battle, I need Venusaur to have as much strength as possible. So it's up to you, Gallade!"
The Blade pokemon extended its arms and glared right at the Water pokemon, who gave a stoic glare right back at him. But while Gallade was at full strength, both Jack and his pokemon were able to see that Golduck was breathing quite heavily.
"Well, if Psychic moves are boosted on this field, then I'd be dumb not to take advantage of that! Golduck, use Psychic, again!"
"You're not the only one who gets a power boost! Gallade, Psycho Cut!"
Golduck hurriedly placed its hands by the gemstone on its forehead and focused as much as he could while Gallade's forearms began to glow purple. The veins in Golduck's head began to bulge as the Duck pokemon began launching wave after wave of unseen power! Despite the attacks being almost invisible to the human eye, Gallade was easily able to slash right through the attacks, giving the waves a pinkish color for just a moment before the energy faded.
"Push forward!" Jack commanded. Golduck continued launching more Psychic attacks that Gallade continued slicing through, running forward as he did so before finding himself right in front of Golduck, who cringed while clutching his head in pain from the strain of its attacks. "Now use Leaf Blade!"
Gallade's arm instantly switched from a purple color to a deeper green one before the swordsman slashed Golduck alongside the abdomen. In one fell swoop, Gallade retracted its arms and began to walk back over to Jack's side, not even turning to look at Golduck as the Water pokemon collapsed onto the ground.
"Oh ho ho! Now if that didn't feel like it came straight out of an action movie, I don't know what does!" Dallas exclaimed, eating out of a bowl of popcorn that made Juanita turn her head.
"Where did you even get that? I didn't see-"
"Catering." The male announcer replied. Juanita continued to give him an incredulous look for a moment before responding.
"Are... Are you at least going to share that?"
"Oh man, this is it! It's almost over!" Ray said in excitement.
"Jack's Gallade may not have taken a hit, but having to attack while defending himself at the same time definitely took some energy out of him. So it's two pokemon that aren't at one-hundred percent up against Diego's Charizard, which he'll certainly Mega Evolve." Renée stated. "This might just be the closest battle of the tournament!"
"Alright Jack..." Diego began. "Remember how you said you were turning it up to twelve when you sent out your Venusaur?" He didn't give Jack a chance to say anything before he continued. "Well, now it's my turn! But we're going beyond twelve! We're turning it up to fifteen!"
The sky blazed a bright orange onto the field as the sun began to set. Diego reached for his Charizard's ball when suddenly...
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The lights in the arena suddenly shut off, the once glitched field short-circuited before the field generators turned off completely and retracted back into the ground.
"Uh... what's going on?" Dallas announced, his and Juanita's microphones and the cameras broadcasting this to the entire viewing world being the only electrical appliances still somehow operating. The light from the sunset was suddenly obscured by a massive shadow from above. Nobody was able to truly tell what it was until it began shrinking, with the shadow targeting the center of the battlefield! Jack and Diego called their pokemon back to their sides. It only took a second for the source of the shadow to slam down onto the field...
Jack, Diego, everyone in the audience, and everyone watching from around the world could only look on in bewilderment, shock, awe, and horror at the sight of the giant, Mecha-Dragonite that towered in the center of the field. Those from the second stadium were able to witness it as well. The crackling of a radio coming from the giant robot brought no solace as a voice began to speak from the machine.
"ATTENTION CITIZENS OF KANTO, JOHTO, TOURISTS WHO CAME FROM ALL AROUND AND EVERYONE WATCHING AT HOME! WE... ARE TEAM DARK STAR!"
THIS IS IT! CLIFFHANGER TIME! Starting next chapter we'll finally begin the confrontation you've all (hopefully) been waiting for! Things are about to get intense with the battles, character interactions, revelations, etc.! You might even see some faces that haven't appeared in a while and some you might not even expect!
Until then I would really love to see what you all think! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and are excited for what's to come!