Title: Alto Liebe: A Pokémon Rival's Journey
Summary: Part 2 of Pokemon Crossover. Title adjusted.
At the Academy entrance, I waited for the only person to have beaten me in a Pokémon battle. Leon Fou Bartfort had handily taken me down before the break. While I would like to claim that using my friends' loaner Pokémon was more of a handicap (a condition they asked me of me to express their disapproval of Leon's actions), I was under no illusion that I would have lost even with my original team.
I should have expected that Leon's skill would have been above mine before the break. As much as my battling skills impressed my friends, I sincerely doubted that I had been good enough to battle two tiers above my initial rank. With Leon's battling record and the rumors that he has never used more than one Pokémon in a match, he had to be battling at least three tiers above his status.
It was... frustrating. It wasn't even the fact that I had lost that bothered me. I could accept that fact and learn from it. I could have even accepted if he had been a bad sport about it.
No. It was how clinical it all was for him. The lack of heat or drive. The callius manner he treated his Pokémon. The absolute apathy he showed when his Iron Treads was struck. No words of worry or encouragement.
The attitude even exuded from his Pokémon. They just felt... soulless.
It was all wrong.
My thoughts were interrupted when I saw the man in question turn the corner.
"Leon, I've come for a rematch," I said.
Leon gave me an irritated look. He then flashed me an ID card.
"Unfortunately for you, I've gone up several tiers since before the break. I doubt you are eligible to make such a challenge."
He had gone up several ranks over the break. No doubt, Angelica was involved. He hadn't made moves for such promotions until after Angelica had gotten involved.
At the very least, he saw it as a task rather than something to pursue judging from his tone.
Still, he was wrong. I was eligible, if only barely. I smirked as I pulled out my trainer card, "Not everyone sees the battle system as a burden."
Leon narrowed his eyes. "Climbing three tiers in a month is no easy feat considering travel time, cost, and the number of battles necessary."
I grimaced. It had been an ordeal. Even as much as I wanted to be the best, the fervor I had placed on training my team had been... daunting, but it was worth it in the end as I had managed to stay within two ranks of Leon.
"Like you would know."
It was unfair that Angelica had given him that qualifier badge. It had allowed him to bypass so many conditions for promotions. It felt like mockery of my efforts.
Leon sighed and said, "Not like it's my fault. Your friends' insistence on punishing me forced Angelica and my hand. Can't have the founding families be found wanting by having their starters lose to someone at the lowest rung. Speaking of, no cheerleaders today?"
"As a matter of fact, no. They've had to visit their families at the end of break and have yet to come back."
"Duties or training to beat me?" Leon said with an unamused look.
"Is there a difference? After all, getting stronger will be in the best interest of the Kingdom."
He gave me a scoff. "It makes a difference for me if they decide to direct their efforts at me."
I rolled my eyes. "Like it matters to you. You no doubt could have raised your rank further but chose not to. After all, a few more ranks and they boys can challenge you."
"You know me so well," he said with a sardonic tone.
"But there's no avoiding me," I said as I drew out a ball.
"Fine. Format?"
"What?"
"You lot don't seem to care what I think or say, so format?"
"... Four-on-four," I said hesitantly. What ws he playing at?
"... Quite confident, aren't you."
"I'm not like last time. My Pokémon are on a completely different level compared to last time," I said before calling out my Sylveon.
"Iron Treads," he said lazily before tossing out the same Pokémon from before.
"Charm!"
"Stealth Rocks."
Sylveon posed and gave a wink to Iron Treads. It hesitated momentarily before letting lose a barrage of stones in the air that vamished from sight.
Huh? That was odd. Last time, Leon had gone on the offensive and wiped my team. It was why I had Sylveon lower Iron Treads attack power.
"Sandstorm," Leon said lazily.
Oh no! I was too distracted.
"Charm!" I quickly said.
Again, Sylveon let off another debuff, while Iron Treads shot out another support move. Only this time, the move had some effect on my Sylveon. She struggled against the buffeting sand in the air.
"Dig!" I cried out to have Sylveon take some shelter from the sand.
Leon raised an eyebrow. That was something different.
"Earthquake," he said calmly.
Darn it. I had forgotten that Iron Treads knew that move.
Sylveon had been knocked out in a single move despite Iron Tread's attack power being lowered by four stages.
I had finally taken down Leon's Pokémon. I was already on my third Pokémon. Togekiss had almost gone down immediately due to the previous setup by Iron Treads. I had been far too panicked due to Sylveon going down so quickly.
Leon had capitalized on my confusion and set up an Electric Terrain before immediately knocking out my Togekiss with an electric move.
It took me Mega Evolving Gardevoir to take down Iron Treads. Even then, it had tired her out.
"So you've managed to force me to switch out." Leon looked unimpressed. He just dismissed his Pokémon and called out his second. "Iron Valiant."
That's when that mockery came out. It looked much like a Mega Gallade, but it was a metallic mimicry. It was horrifying to see. It was so unnatural. It felt like an insult. A deliberate choice to say that he was the antithesis of me and everything I stood for. A personal dig at me.
"Use Psychic!" I roared in anger.
"..."
Without command, the monster casually flicked the oncoming attack to the side.
"Satisfied now?" Leon asked after his monster had dealt the finishing blow to my ace.
I was kneeling as I held my Gardevoir. It was so frustrating. That... thing had so casually swiped away my Gardevoir's attacks. Just lazily pushing away her strongest moves as if it were playing with a child. It was only after Leon gave a single attack command that it had sliced through Gardevoir's last attack and knocked her out simultaneously.
It was a humiliation.
"This battle is over," Leon said as he called back his Pokémon.
"This isn't over," I cried out defiantly.
Leon just looked at me and scowled.
"In addition to being deaf, are you also blind?" he spat.
"What?"
"In case you haven't noticed, your Pokémon is rather hurt. You should get her to the nurse as soon as possible."
"You can't end the match early! It'd be wrong!"
"And it'd be wrong to deny your Pokémon treatment, you callous woman," he jabbed back.
Taking a look back at my starter, I see it struggled to get up. I could tell it didn't want things to end this way, but it qas all futile. She was hurting herself to not let me down.
I couldn't stand the thought that I was causing her so much pain.
"... I forfeit," I said glumly before returning Gardevoir to her ball.
I found myself listlessly sitting in the waiting room. Frustrated over my loss. Frustrated over my negligence of my starter's health. Frustrated that Leon of all people had to slap some sense into me.
Despite all of my frustration, I felt confused. For the first time, I saw Leon care about Pokémon. He had been concerned about my Gardevoir. From everything I had gathered from him, I had thought he was incapable of such a thing.
The absolute apathy towards his Pokémon taking damage had suggested he held little concern for their wellbeing. The soulless exchange of commands ans complete obedience had suggested that they had been trained to absolute abuse. The lack of encouragement from him and the Pokémon's lack of desire for attention suggested no personal bond.
Leon should have been a callous monster who simply would have continued the battle until all my Pokémon were unfit for battle.
So why was he capable of getting angry for another's Pokémon.
It just didn't make any sense.
AN
1) A bit shorter compared to my usual length, but I feel it's sufficient as a companion piece to the previous. To make up for the word count, a bit more future building in the notes. These two Pokémon chapters seem to have quite of bit of that.
2) Obviously, Olivia is a bit overpowered if you consider that her journey is supposed to take the span of three years. If I were to try to take this attempt more seriously, I would have it so that she wasn't high enough rank to challenge Leon again until at least year 2. Even then, I'd have here rocking first stage evolution Pokémon and/or Pokémon that will evolve/have evolved using alternative evolution conditions. End of year 2 or beginning of year 3 would give her the game gimmicks, a legendary, and her one random ghost/dark type.
3) Olivia will see Leon as her rival/antithesis (think Paul from the anime) and seek to correct his ways by showing him the power of friendship. This second encounter is supposed to reveal to her that Leon isn't the asshole she thinks he is. This causes her to ponder about the discrepancy in his behaviors. This then leads to her realizing several things such as Leon finding cockfighting as rather despicable a practice, that his callousness towards his Pokémon is a result of them not being real Pokémon, and that potentially supporting a society that involves having your pets fight in a bloodsport for your glory is a tad wrong. But adheres to the thought that with the world constantly at war, having the Pokémon battles as a core part of society is probably for the better. I feel this mixes the battle centric nature of Pokémon with visual novel aspects quite well.
4) Olivia could start develop feelings for Leon after realizing he is kind in a more meaningful way. This obviously rubs the five the wrong way. Leon wants little to do with the protagonist as he finds the casual enjoyment of cock fighting too much of a red flag. Eugenics for Pokémon contest, however, does not bother him.
5) Plotwise, there isn't a relationship. Mainly because Olivia is stuck in a one sided romance, the five heirs have been semi tossed aside. Angelica is still infatuated with Julius and is too wary of Leon to entertain a romance with him. Leon just wants to be left in peace and really doesn't want to get involved with battle maniacs. Pokémon contests are cool with him though.
6) Final teams (Some Pokémon have changed since the last chapter after some extra thought). Starter is obviously the first Pokémon, partner is the one they are closest with, and ace is their strongest. Explanations for some of the more interesting/confusing/duh kinda Pokémon.
Julius: King/Shield/Defensive Theme
Empoleon (starter)
Aegislash
Armarouge
Kingambit (partner): Follows the trope of getting stronger through his friend's sacrifice.
Salamance: Gains wings to fly the sky freely. Also hyper territorial.
Calyrex (ace)
Jilk: Shadow/Hidden/Explosion Theme
Decidueye (starter)
Shiftry
Corviknight
Galarian Weezing: Man was ready to make Leon die in a fiery explosion.
Hydreigon
Spectrier (ace): After falling in battle, Jilk would grant his Spectrier to Julius to combine with the Calyrex. Also, goes with his air biking hobby.
Chris: Sword/Knight Theme
Samurott (starter)
Doublade: Similar to Julius's Aegislash, but more offensive sword theme.
Sirfetch'd (partner)
Ceruledge: Similar to Julius's counterpart, but again, blade themed.
Baxcalibur: This pseudo-legendary is supposed to be a reference to Excalibur.
Chien-Pao (ace)
Brad: Magician Theme
Delphox (starter)
Alakazam
Mismagius
Milotic (partner)
Goodra: Honestly, the closest dragon pseudo I could think of that matches.
Uxie (ace)
Greg: Fighter Theme
Infernape (starter/partner)
Machamp
Gallade
Kommo-o
Annihilape
Urshifu (ace)
Leon (real):
Viggoroth (starter): Not fully evolved due to being sidelined.
Metagross (Cleare): Mostly benched as she prefers to so research.
Genesect (dormant): Cleare makes her own Pokémon too.
Floette: More of the family Pokémon. Supposed to be the Pokémon Ann gave Lea before he disappeared. Floette really likes Leon as he reminds her of her former master.
Leon (Paradox):
Mirraidon (Luxion/partner/ace)
Iron Tread
Iron Moth
Iron Thorns
Iron Jugulis: Counterpart to Jilk's to indicate their similar nature.
Iron Valiant: Seriously, this feels like an obvious one considering how Olivia has a Mega Gardevoir.
Olivia: Ethereal Theme
Gardevoir (starter/partner/ace)
Togekiss
Spiritomb (Ann)
Sylveon
Galarian Rapidash
Cresselia
Blissey (benched)
Angelica: Queen/Noble Theme
Skeledirge (starter): Fire princess from a family with grave in its name, sounds about right.
Ninetales (partner): Blonde, red eyes, highly sought out for beauty.
Rapidash: Counterpart to Olivia's.
Pyroar F: She was supposed to be Queen.
Dragapult: Cares for its followers but literally uses them as weapons and shows them tough love. Fits Angelica.
Ho-oh (ace): Fire and revival bird.
Marie: Money Hungry/Femme Fatale/ Small and DeceptiveTheme
Meowth (starter): Payday money needed to get out of debt.
Skitty (partner): With how much debt she's in, two Pokémon with Pay Day is necessary.
Absol: Brings bad omens but ironically saves the day. Yup, sounds like Marie.
Salazzle (ace): Toxic female that sees men beneath her? Yup, sounds like Marie.
Stufful: Cute and will literally kill you with its strength.
Tinkaton
7) Not meant to be meta or well rounded. These are meant more to fit the character's nature.
8) Almost every team has a pseudo-legendary and sub-legendary. Only Leon, Julius, and Angelica have proper legendaries. Julis and Angelica because they are of royal blood. Leon because he found one.
9) Marie gets no legendaries or pseudos because she's too busy running her gym to pay off her family's debts after they dumped the responsibility on her. She also participates in a lot of unofficial battles to use Pay Day as much as possible.
10) Julius and Chris have very similar team composition, which is a sort of dig at the fact that they are both blue. Also, Holfort sounds very defensive, the opposite of a sword.
11) Leon's entire active team is full of artificial Pokémon, so he feels no qualms when they get hurt because they are just machines to him rather than living beings. This makes him appear callous to those not in the know.
12) Just cuz: Arcadia is Ultra Necrozma and Ideal is Iron Leaves or Ferrorthorn.
Review Response
Dragon Blaze-X: Megas XLR crossover would be amusing, but I feel like the visual gags are necessary to make it work.
Rodrigus: It's in this author notes if you skipped that section. It was quite long but easy to find.
Dimensionador: Honestly don't know. I barely watched it mainly because it aired at inconvenient times for me when I was a kid. I should consider watching some in my free time.
partner555: She believes it mainly because she has no reason to think the heirs are wrong. Plus, matches the simplistic nature of Pokémon games.
lupus23: Because there isn't meant to be a harem. It's more supposed to be an adventure story with unrequited love, or a tale between two 'rivals' with the backdrop of a noble society constantly at war. As for how I came up with the idea, five heirs one protagonist = six Pokémon. Dueling = battling. Pokemon rivals. Etc. It honestly has a lot of random elements that just fit. Plus, why Pokémon is a big enough franchise that a crossover isn't weird.
fangs of death: It's in this author notes if you skipped that section. It was quite long but easy to find.
Frosty Wolf: Eh, she's in a Pokémon game. She gets a pass, but she will eventually know better.
Rendfire: He became a noble from his assets and by discovering an island. Baronets, barons, adventurers, and battling enthusiasts are put in the same battle tier initially, but only barons would be nobles. Battle tiers, noble rank, and court rank are all separate things.
The SB fic was fairly good, but it felt too uninvolved for my taste. Like it makes sense, but I personally wanted a version in which the protagonist's world view is challenged, and that works better if Leon takes a more active role as the rival.
For starters, check the author's notes of this chapter if you skipped it.
While I do agree using Kirlia was probably overleveled for the time in the fic, I disagree about the characterization you proposed for Olivia. She is more inline with what I woild expect for game canon Olivia with the added bonus that being a Pokémon game would push her to be more active.
daimahou: We have a winner.
Worldbringer Joseun: Olivia in this fic is very much a product of Pokémon's simplicity, likely game canon personality of Alto Liebe, and not having a reason to distrust the heirs' perception.
Leon also does look suspicious to others mainly because, by all rights, he should be dead. The fact that he came back with Lost Pokémon that trounces anything that's been thrown at them is concerning. The odd manner in which he treats his Pokémon is also concerning because people think something must be wrong with him. Leon's rapid rise during the break did not assuage Angelica's fears.
FishEye101: Apparently, I agreed with you.
NewFanDamz: Sort of. Honestly, if you want to read such things, drakensis has a fic called Hate has a reason for everything: But Love is Unreasonable that does this and is quite good.