"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" the announcer's voice sounded. It was an Alakazam in a nice suit, using his psychic powers to translate his speech. "The name is Hood-N, your favorite psychic type announcer. And today we got a treat. It is very rare for a trainer to reach Cynthia in the Pokémon League. But it's even more rare when they have a chance to put up a fight. Normally it would result in a very comical short curbstomp in the blonde bombshell of a Champ's favor…"
We go through footage of Cynthia's Garchomp grinding Paul's Torterra into the ground, and in the audience Paul's scowl seemed to be even more sour then usual.
"But today we got no one but Dawn Berlitz. She was a key player in taking down Team Galactic at Mt. Coronet and earlier this month she won the Sinnoh Grand Festival. A young girl…no, young woman of many talents and achievements. So this fight is promising to be interesting, and I didn't need to use Future Sight to determine that. So let's see how the first round of this tussle will…play out? Let the battle begin!"
"Legion, come on out!" Cynthia said as she summoned her Spiritomb. In a flash of light the keystone appeared, and it seems shadows from all around the battlefield seemed to flow into the keystone as a purple wisp came out, which began to flow and green lights started to etch themselves on the purple, as its face appeared.
"Khebhut, Spotlight!" Dawn said as she threw the Pokéball. The flash of white light transitioned into a blue one, courtesy of the female Lucario's aura blazed. The light died down as she manifested into view, howling as as she planted one of her front paws into the ground and growled.
"Legion, Shadow Sneak!" Cynthia said. The Spiritomb vanished in a burst of shadow.
"Khebhut, Metal Claw!" Khebhut turned around in time, the sneak attack not working as the spikes on the jackal-like Pokémon's wrist turned into wrist mounted claws of metallic light and struck the Spiritomb head on. It was still engulfed in a shadowy aura and pushed back against the silvery claws rammed into its face, its grin never leaving.
"Confuse Ray!" Unfortunately Khebhut was too close to it now to dodge the attack as Spiritomb spat out a flickering ball of light, and hit the Lucario head on. Khebhut started to stumble. Her vision blurred, sounds muffled, her thoughts scattered.
"And we already got one of Cynthia's patented techniques, Shadow of Befuddlement. Using Shadow Sneak's priority to get close and inflict Confusion to throw the foe off from the get go. A lot of opponents tend to fold right from the start due to this." Hood-N commented.
Khebhut roared and clawed the air as if to ward off invisible foes. "Khebhut, gather yourself…calm your aura…" Dawn noted. Her sight, her mind and her hearing was messed up now, but their connection was still there. Dawn had no skill to become an Aura Guardian and she had minimal aura potential. But like any good Lucario trainer, she did make the connection with hers, the one she raised from an egg…it was a strong bond. Khebhut felt her human mother's aura flare. She was reaching out. Parts of her mind started clearing. She stood still.
Cynthia was not about to give them a chance to do anything. "Will O' Wisp!" The Spiritomb was going to wear down the Lucario further, as blue/purple ghostly flames appeared around it, summoned by its ghostly powers, before they are fired at Lucario.
"Bone Rush!" Khebhut regained her senses and slammed her paw into the ground, pulling out a bone and spin it in front of her to block the ghostly flames. When they stopped spinning, the ghostly flames were caught on the ends of the bones, making her weapon even more awesome.
"Oh?" Cynthia said with a very mild surprise, though the amusement in her voice was more prominent.
"Lucarios as beings of aura, need to meditate a lot and learn to block out distractions. I knew you would use that Spiritomb to inflict that on me, so we have been meditating for long stretches of time."
Cynthia let out a hearty laugh. "Yes…I should have expected you to cover your bases. But plans don't always survive contact with the enemy. See if you can improvise…Double Team!" suddenly many more Spiritombs popped out of nowhere behind Legion.
"Oh, the newbie has shown that her mon's mental fortitude is as big as their physical one. And I have never seen Confusion as a status fought off like that, but one such trick is not going to be enough…let's see if the youngling can keep up!" Food-N commented, clearly relishing the view.
"Mother, I cannot sense which one is real…" Khebhut said through her aura link with her trainer.
"Of course not, it's a Ghost type, they don't have life force in the traditional sense, so of course their aura is harder to track." Dawn said. "Even tracking the clones through Shadows won't work, they all have them."
"As you can see, I cover my bases during training too…Now, let's see how long you can keep this game of hide and seek up! Will O' Wisp!" All the duplicates shot ghostly flames at Khebhut again, whom did her best to dodge them all, or block them with her bone. But with them coming from all directions and no way of knowing which ones were real, it was hard to avoid them all.
"Oh, she is turning up the heat, and I don't use that often outside of a battle involving fire types. Dawn's earlier lucky shot was perhaps just that, lucky. Can Dawn pick out the real one and keep on fighting, or is her five minutes of fame going to be over soon?" Hood-N commented.
Zoey clenched her hands into wrists. "Come on, Dawn. You're a clever woman, you can do this. You won't fall, not this early."
"I wouldn't count her out just yet." Barry said as he munched on some popcorn. I know her longer then most, I know she has a few tricks up her sleeve.
"She better or I would have felt worse having lost to her." Paul muttered.
"Would it kill you to smile, sourpuss?" Lucas asked.
"Maybe." Paul snarked.
'Come on Dawn, think, there must be a way to determine the real one. Which one of these glowing cinders is the real one…glow…' Dawn had to be extra observant, it was hard to determine…But she noticed one of the Will O' Wisps did actually glow, as it left a blue spot of light beneath it on the ground as it traveled. If she can determine which direction it came from…yes. "Khebhut, over there!" Dawn pointed at one of the duplicate Spiritomb.
The Lucario threw the flaming bone with all her strength at great speed, nailing the Spiritomb between the eyes with the flaming ends of the burning fossil, the Spiritomb screeching in pain. It also had a red aura and small flames and sparks could be seen, being burnt by the earlier Will O Wisp that had been hijacked earlier.
"Oh, it seems young Dawn is still in the battle and through some good bit of observation picked out the right target. The game is still on, people!" Hood-N said excitedly.
Cynthia simply smiled. She was enjoying this. Legion flinched as the burn took a small chunk of its HP "Pain Split!" she ordered. Legion's eyes glowed and Khebhut jerked as transparent purple images of Spiritomb and Lucario left their bodies, merged in the middle of the arena into a glob of energy, before splitting apart and entering their bodies. The damage had been spiritually divided. "Now Shadow Sneak and Dark Pulse."
Using Shadow Sneak to bridge the gap and sneak close, cancelling it to hit the Lucario head-on with a blast of black energy and knock her back. However, Khebhut got up quickly. The Spiritomb repeated the pattern using Shadow Sneak to get close and blasting with Dark Pulse. Luckily the Lucario was ready this time and started to avoid attacks. Cynthia wasn't worried as she smirked. "Will O'Wisp!"
The next few flames were fired, but easily dodged, they were sloppy. Like deliberately sloppy. Dawn looked and saw the flames didn't disperse. "Khebhut, look out!" A shadow Sneak and Dark Pulse combo from Spiritomb, and she couldn't dodge or risk running into one of the wisps…it was like the Toxic Spike one used by Aaron, but this time she wasn't in time to find a way around it. Khebhut was blasted, and was flung into one of the Wisps. She roared as she now was burned as well.
Khebhut was crippled in the physical department, but her special attack, she can still work with that…She can still change things around. She heard Cynthia hear an order for Dark Pulse again. "Dark Pulse!" Dawn said, deciding to fight fire with fire…or darkness with darkness. Khebhut put her hands together like a Kamehameha, creating a sphere of dark energy before thrusting it forward and create a dark energy beam. It clashed with Legion's. If any of them broke it off, it would allow the other a chance to retaliate, so they have to find a way to end this stalemate without giving one another the chance to strike. Dawn thought…
Most of Lucario's fighting moves, even its signature Aura Sphere should be useless despite the ability to never miss. But what if Aura Sphere wasn't a fighting move? "Khebhut, Aura Sphere into the beam!" Khebhut freed up one hand and quickly made an Aura sphere before putting into the beam. It allowed Legion to briefly push through, but once the Aura sphere travelled like a ball in a high pressure tube, it started to change color in dark purple as it travelled across.
"What?" Cynthia showed more genuine surprise then before. The Sphere traveled across the beam, and gathering the dark energy along the way it slammed it into the Spiritomb, sending it flying. The Sphere itself couldn't hurt it, but the energy it gathered along the way did.
"Oh, that was insane, and I love it!" Hood-N shouted out. "That was thinking so far outside of the box, the contents were catapulted into space like an overpowered jack in the box!"
"FLASH CANNON!" Dawn shouted. Khebhut roared as metallic energy charged into her chest spike. Then she fired off a burst, an energy beam of metallic energy, which hit the airborne Spiritomb, creating an explosion. A smoking Legion fell from the dust cloud to the ground below, its purple spiritual form dispersing and leaving only a smoking keystone on the ground.
"Spiritomb is unable to battle, this round goes to Lucario!" the Announcer said. The crowd went ballistic.
"Holy moly! I haven't seen one of Cynthia's Pokémon being knocked out in battle since the early days of her Champion career. The fight is already turning out to be everything we hoped for…And more!" Hood-N said. "No matter how the rest of the fight will go, this round will be remembered for a long time."
"Return, Legion. Thanks for your contribution. Have a nice rest." Cynthia said as she recalled her Pokémon. "Well Dawn, I was right about you, you are really holding your own. But the fight has only just begun."
"That was just the appetizer, hope you are ready for the next course!" Dawn said with a smirk.
"Starving." Cynthia said with a grin.
"Yeah! You go, sweetie!" Zoey shouted form the audience.
"Knew she could do it!" Barry said.
"She still has five more mons to go, a single knockout isn't enough to determine the win." Paul said. "But so far, she isn't doing bad."
"I'm sure it will not be the only knocked out Dawn will score." Lucas noted.
"Come on out, Hesperia!" Cynthia summoned her next Pokémon. It was a Roserade. It was twice as big as Gardenia's. It also had thorny vines wrapped around her arms. The white fluff-like petals hung over its eyes and it had red lips. Not to mention instead of green, it was white, and the cape and collar were pink petals.
"That is not a normal Roserade." Barry noted. "It's not even a Shiny one."
"Cynthia has not only been known for her achievements in battle, but in adventuring. During one of them her Roserade got exposed to Infinity Energy and assumed a new form people called Burst Mode." Lucas noted.
"It has a rep for defeating many fire types. I saw it take a Magmortar down once on tv, and it wasn't pretty." Paul noted.
"Is that allowed?" Zoey asked.
"As much as my Aura form Torterra, or any Pokémon enhanced through PokéRus, EV training or Super Training." Lucas assured her. "Cynthia isn't holding back. She isn't allowed to, not if she truly sees Dawn as a future successor."
"I don't think Dawn would have loved to see her hold back either." Zoey said.
"Oh, Cynthia pulls out her special Roserade, that's a rare treat. This Roserade has truly blossomed into one powerful fighter. Every rose has thorns, but this one's reall, really hurt." Hood-N noted.
"Khebhut, you return. You already did great in taking out her Spiritomb. I'm proud of you." She said. The Lucario stumbled over to her. She still had her burn, but she put her head against Dawn's forehead as a sign of affection, even if it did sting. She was just happy to make her mother proud. Dawn returned her to the Pokéball and pulled out another. "Kentaro, spotlight!" The Infernape appeared, roaring as he pounded his chest and his flaming mane blazed.
"A fire type, especially as strong as that Infernape, is a good choice. I gotta warn you, Hesperia lives to put fire types whom think that can defeat her in their place." Cynthia said. Hesperia licks one of the thorns on her vines with a smug grin.
"Oh believe me, when we win, it is not only going to be because we know our types." Dawn said. "Let's get fired up, Kentaro." Kentaro grinned.
"How does it feel that she brought that Infernape to the League while you couldn't even bring out his potential as a Chimchar, Paul?" Lucas asked.
"Is it a 'dunk on Paul day'?" Zoey asked. "Because I'm all for it!"
"I hate each and every one of you." Paul said.
"Kentaro! Flamethrower!" Dawn ordered. Kentaro immediately let out a stream of flames from its mouth. Immediately the Roserade used her thorny vines, slamming them into the ground and launching herself upwards.
"Rain Dance!" Cynthia said. Hesperia, the funky Roserade did a twirl in mid-air and made a pose, as a raincloud manifested over the battlefield. The fire attacks are going to be way less effective now.
"Oh it seems that like many times before Cynthia's Roserade is going to rain on a Fire Type's parade. Oh I remember the last fire mon that tried to step to her. That Rapidash isn't going to go near flowers anytime soon." Hood-N said.
"Sludge Bomb!" Cynthia ordered. Still mid-air, the Roserade's bouquet arms start to spin like grappling guns as they kept firing globs of explosive poisonous slime. Kentaro jumped around the battlefield to dodge the poisonous globs. "Weather Ball!" In the rain it would be a powerful water attack. She raised her arm and a blue sphere started to form, growing to ten times her own size before throwing it.
"Kentaro get out of there!" Dawn said. Kentaro jumped to a nearby wall and kicked off as the Weather Ball barely missed, impacted and created a watery explosion. He didn't get hit but the shockwave knocked him off course mid-air. But before he could fall down, he started floating as he was engulfed in a purple-pink aura.
"Extrasensory. Very useful against Infernape that other trainers tried to put against Hesperia." Cynthia noted. The Roserade had a sadistic smile on her face. "Forgive her, she likes playing rough."
Kentaro screeched and struggle in the psychic grip as the psychic energy damaged him. "Kentaro, Shadow Claw!" Kentaro's fists became engulfed in Shadowy claw-shaped auras. And Kentaro clawed the air, the psychic aura around him breaking and shattering like glass before it faded into sparkles. The Roserade grimaced, but from behind the fluffy petal bangs, her eyes glowed again. "Kentaro, Counter-Shield Shadow Claw!"
The Roserade tried to project more psychic energy at Kentaro, but Kentaro used a very impressive breakdance routine, alternating limbs whom gained shadowy claws, even the feet which are a second pair of hands, clawing at the psychic aura and slowly dancing closer. Cynthia knew getting up close with Hesperia would be a bad idea though, Poison Point would kick in. But she didn't know that Dawn didn't intend to get that close. "Flip the tables!" Dawn said. Kentaro dug his hands into the ground, like a Dig, but he lifted up part of the ground, the one where Hesperia was on, and flipped I over.
In mid-air, as the piece of flipped ground hung above her, blocking out the rain above, and Kentaro took aim, with a Flamethrower that didn't get filtered by the rain, pushing the Roserade away with a burst of flames. The piece of ground landed and crumbled, though not on top of Roserade, whom has taken a heavy blow from the fire attack. Dawn gave a thumbs up to Kentaro. Kentaro decided to be cheeky and give a thumbs up with his feet.
But the Roserade was still standing, a bit singed, but she got up and looked ticked. "One more, Kentaro!" Dawn said. Kentaro inhaled as flames formed in his mouth…But suddenly the Roserade sent out her vines, and they wrapped around the Infernape's neck, preventing him from spitting out more flames. Then the Roserade started to throw him around with her vines. Into the walls, into the floor, and overhead. It was quite an aggressive display.
"Oh, this flower hasn't wilted yet and is now throwing the Infernape around like a ragdoll. It is the Rapidash all over again!" Hood-N noted. "It appears that despite getting a good hit in, the Infernape may be another tally mark on this Roserade's count of defeated Fire types! Unless Dawn turns it around!"
"Leech Seed." Cynthia said. Kentaro was put down, dazed and hurt as Roserade sported three seeds from the bouquet on her left hand, ready to drain the Infernape's health. She shot out the seeds.
"Flame wheel!" the attack may be weakened in the rain. But it wasn't to do damage. Infernape curled into a ball and the fiery shield he created vaporized the seeds once they came into contact. "Now take her for a ride." Like a fiery Spin Dash out of Sonic the Shaymin, Kentaro shot forward, dragging the Roserade along. The Roserade managed to keep standing up, impressively enough, her feet planted into the ground, like she was jet-skiing on land. "Make spicy donuts!" Dawn noted as Infernape started to roll in a circle, also spinning Hesperia around like a record, baby, right round!
Finally Hesperia lost her grip, was flung about and into a wall. She slid down the wall and stumbled into the arena daze. It was at this point the downpour stopped. Cynthia knew she had to set up the rain again. "Hesperia, Rain-"
"MACH PUNCH!" Dawn knew it was a risk but couldn't let the Roserade set up the Rain again. Kentaro closed the distance and delivered a strong punch in slow-motion, which connected with the Rose Pokémon's jaw.
"Oh right in the kisser, and what a clean one. Let's see that again in Slow-motion!" Hood-N said. Those watching on tv or the screens could see the satisfying slow motion punch, connecting and spilling a bit of liquid chlorophyll. "Ah, that never gets old!"
As the Roserade was dazed and thrown into the air by the punch again. "Fire Punch!" Kentaro jumped up, fiery fist raised, and this time Hesperia was too dazed, and would be too slow to counter it. The only thought she had for the moment was that it was going to hurt like the dickens. The Infernape's fiery fist slammed into the Roserade, whom was slammed into the ground and created a crater as fiery petals were launched in every direction.
"Oh, that was a great one. And see how nice it cratered. I have seen plenty of cratering blows in my day, and while this one won't make any top ten, it is a clean cratering." Hood-N noted. "I love that word somehow…cratering!"
In the middle of the crater, the Roserade lay down, motionless. But then it jumped up right again with a pissed off look on her face. "Holy Muk, its still standing? I thought the weeds in my grandma's garden were tough." Lucas said.
"That must be some really good Infi-whatchamacallit-Energy it is juiced up on!" Barry noted.
The Roserade pointed her left arm bouquet at the Infernape as it glowed with purple, poisonous energy. The Kentaro stared her down, small flames coming from the corners of its mouth. Hesperia suddenly dropped her arm, her anger fading and giving a smirk and a 'Heh…' She then leaned backward and fell onto her back.
"Roserade is unable to battle, this round goes to Dawn and Infernape!" the Announcer said.
"Whoa, that was tough, I haven't seen a grass type give a fire type so much trouble. No wonder she's the Champion." Zoey noted. But she looked at Dawn whom was hugging Kentaro. "But my Dawn will is the one whom is going to win it all."
Kentaro doubled over, a purple blush on its face as it coughed up some purple saliva. Dawn knew it either was the risk of the Mach Punch triggering Poison Point, or the thorny vines earlier poisoning Kentaro. But two times in a row, her mons were brought to low health and given status condition to take out Cynthia's Pokémon.
"Oh, what an awesome victory for the newcomer Dawn! It seems her Infernape threw a Mankey wrench in the winning streak of this Roserade. He totally went Nanab Berries on her." Hood-N said.
"You suck!" a voice said, clearly not happy with the bad puns.
"Shut up, Steve! Those puns were awesome, now continue to be a good Rotom Drone and keep filming!"
"Well done, Dawn. Hesperia hasn't lost to a Fire type since she got her Burst Mode. It seems you got this fight in the bag." Cynthia said, looking genuinely happy.
Dawn knew that it wasn't as close as people would think. She hadn't lost a single mon so far but none of them came out without being pushed to low health and without status conditions. One good blow of any new mon Cynthia sent out could even the odds readily. And despite how tough they were, the Spiritomb and Roserade were far from her strongest mons. "I am not counting my unhatched Torchics yet, I'm sure you'll continue to make me work for my victory."
"Good." Cynthia said, licking her lips. "You're not getting overconfident just yet. Which means this will continue to be fun. Ready for the next round?"
Dawn recalled Kentaro. She pulled out another PokéBall. "I was born ready!" Dawn said.
"This fight has become really exciting people. The views and ratings are through the roof, the money put on bets are nearing the million PokéDollar mark. The event where a worthy opponent for Cynthia has finally come, it is a showstopper! Continue to follow this exciting match because it can still go either way. Let's not hope Dawn has run out of steam. The battle of the two toughest ladies this region has brought forth in the last century! It is SO SUBLIME!" Hood-N said.
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TO BE CONTINUED
TRIVIA
I don't know why I decided to include an Alakazam as an announcer, but it seems fun, and to bring in some colorful commentary. Hood-N is named after Houdini and is a pun on Alakazam's Japanese name Foodin.
Burst Mode Roserade is inspired by Burst Mode Rosemon from Digimon. I already brought in an Aura-form Torterra and new evolutions. And I would not make Infernape's fight with that Roserade too easy, it's Cynthia. Her mons should cover their weaknesses really well.
Yes, the sponsor bit at the end is inspired by Kamen rider Gavv. I thought a sponsor joke would be fine and my mind jumped to it, as I just watched the new episode.
Also included a few reactions from Dawn's friends in the crowd. Paul still has a stick up his butt XD.