John's Team
Tyrant - Slaking
Vordt - Ursaluna
Smough - Snorlax
Klee - Blissey
Port - Mantine
Zephyr - Pidgeot
Klaus - Wyrdeer
Luna - Clefable
Pixel - Porygon2
Euphie - Eevee
Ornstein - D-Zigzagoon
The New Normal – 5-14 – Fighting Back
"WHAT AN AMAZING FIGHT EVERYONE! DESPITE BEING DOWN BY ONE POKEMON, CHALLENGER BRUNO HAS REALLY SHOWN THE WORLD HIS STRENGTH! I SUSPECT THAT THIS BATTLE HAS BEEN CLOSER THAN WHAT MANY WERE EXPECTING. LET'S SEE IF BRUNO CAN OVERCOME HIS DISADVANTAGE AND CLAW HIS WAY TO A SURPRISING VICTORY!"
I felt my eyes twitch as the announcer tried to hype up the crowd, but I managed to shrug off and ignore his words. Bruno might have pressured me more than I was strictly comfortable with, but now he needed to deal with my three strongest Pokémon with only two of his.
I wasn't going to make things easy for him. No, I was going to use Bruno to remind the world why I managed to beat Drake. He had a good showing against me so far, but with my remaining Pokémon, I was going to do everything that I can to crush Bruno so completely to remind everyone why it would be a bad idea to challenge me.
"THE 30 SECONDS IS NEARLY OVER!" The announcer declared, "TRAINERS, ARE YOU READY?!"
I took a deep breath to calm myself down before I nodded to the announcer alongside Bruno. "RELEASE!"
"Vordt, crush them."
"Hariyama, power through."
Vordt emerged with an earth-shaking roar as he proudly displayed his strength to the world that seemed to overshadow Hariyama's own presence. The ground tremored and shook as Vordt landed on the ground with an audible thump.
On the other hand, Hariyama appeared with a silent grunt as it emerged from its Pokéball, looking like a menacing wall of bulging muscles had just appeared on the battlefield. The muscles in its arms and legs were so thick that they seemed to have enough strength to smash through anything.
Time seemed to freeze as the two bruisers stared each other down. At their level of training, they wouldn't be intimidated by anything, but instead seemed to be taking each other's measure.
After a moment of silence, Vordt let out a growl, eliciting a snort from Hariyama. Vordt gave off a small nod, before turning to me.
"Ursa…Ursa…" He said to me, asking for permission. My eyes widened momentarily as I listened to Vordt's request, but I nodded to him after thinking it through. In the distance, Hariyama had clearly done the same with Bruno and received the same affirmation.
Then, almost in sync, flames began spreading across the two of them as they both ignited themselves, simultaneously triggering their Guts ability and boosting their attack. This was what our two Pokémon agreed upon, to fight to their utmost capabilities with their Guts boosted attack.
The two of them wanted to challenge the other at their best. And given Vordt's sincerity; I wasn't about to say no to that.
And thus, I knew that this upcoming battle was going to be a quick and brutal one. With both Pokémon's attack skyrocketing from Guts, and since they would both be slowly worn down by the continuous damage from the Burn, there was no chance to play things safely.
It was going to be all-or-nothing. There would be no opportunity to test the waters, or to simply scout things out. This was going to be a beatdown, one way or another.
"HEADLONG RUSH, VORDT! SMASH IT!"
"Close Combat, Hariyama! PUNISH IT!"
Vordt let out another bellow towards the skies before he shot forwards like a speeding flaming bullet with blistering determination, his eyes alight with fury. Vordt's charge created a trail of blackened gash in the arena as the ground was torn up in the wake of his assault before he crashed into Hariyama with his full weight behind him.
Hariyama let out a pained grunt as it bore the full brunt of Vordt's assault, skidding back a bit as the full weight of Vordt slammed into him. But it quickly reoriented itself and with a grunt of its own retaliated with a devastating series of punches that repeatedly smashed into Vordt's face.
Without needing me to command him, Vordt immediately began reinforcing his head with Psychic energy, forming a protective shell around his flaming skull that blunted the impact from Hariyama's punches before letting out a roar as he smashed their heads together with a brutal Zen Headbutt.
Hariyama's body snapped backwards as it recoiled from the supereffective critical hit, and I swiftly capitalized on the opportunity.
"PLAY ROUGH, VORDT! NOW!"
"PROTECT AND COUNTER, HARIYAMA!"
A Protect shield quickly formed in front of Hariyama just before Vordt smashed into it. But the sheer might of Vordt's attack instantly shattered the Protect shield as it utterly failed to stop Vordt's ferocious momentum. Then, with a brutal swing of its Fairy-infused fists, Vordt savagely clobbered the retreating Hariyama in the neck.
Hariyama winced in pain and let out a groan as the Fairy type energy slammed into it. It tried to counterattack with the stored energy that it had gathered, but Vordt reacted quicker and grabbed hold of Hariyama with its arms in a vice-like clamp. Now desperate, Hariyama tried to break free and with a strike to the face, but Vordt let out a powerful roar before he lifted Haryiama's entire body as he threw Hariyama towards the psychic shields with a Seismic Toss.
"Stone Edge, Vordt! Follow it up!"
Not content to just let Hariyama fly harmlessly through the air, Vordt roared out once again as huge pillars of rocks impaled the vulnerable Hariyama while it was still in the air. Although the Rock-type attacks weren't very effective against the Fighting type Hariyama, it was enough to serve as a continuous distraction to prevent Hariyama from recovering from the attack.
All in all, this series of attacks had barely taken a few seconds. And Hariyama was already in a very precarious position.
Bruno looked surprised at the sudden turn of events. I saw that his eyes had widened when Vordt smashed through the Protect shield, and his fists clenched reflexively when Vordt tossed Hariyama into the air before it could land its counterattack. Did he underestimate the strength of Vordt? Or did he expect his Hariyama to be able to power through my attacks? If so, then I would punish him for his overconfidence.
Eventually, Hariyama smashed into the psychic shield and fell unceremoniously onto the ground, but I was unwilling to give the Hariyama any opportunity to reorient itself.
"Play Rough again, Vordt! Don't let up the pressure!"
"BLOCK AND CROSS CHOP, HARIYAMA! FIGHT OUT OF THERE!"
Vordt instantly wrapped himself in a thick, pulsing layer of Fairy energy that glowed a bright pink, before disappearing in a blur as he charged forwards, leaving a trench in the ground as he did. In the meanwhile, Hariyama pulled itself up from where it had fallen before its eyes refocused and it raised its arms as it took up a defensive stance, bracing for the incoming impact.
I noticed that this was the second time that Bruno had attempted to get Hariyama to block an attack before retaliating. He must have trusted his Hariyama's natural bulk to be able to tank through whatever attack was thrown its way. Such a strategy likely worked well against other opponents, allowing the enemy to get close enough to Hariyama that it couldn't avoid its counterattack. It was a good way to exploit Hariyama's natural bulk to make up for its poor speed.
Unfortunately, Hariyama wasn't bulky enough to stand against the pure destructive strength of Vordt. A Guts-boosted Vordt was NOT something you wanted to try your luck against, and Hariyama was about to take a beating for this mistake.
With a thunderous bellow, Vordt ruthlessly slammed straight into Hariyama, the force of which was so overwhelming that it forced its arms aside, the Guts-boosted attack proving too much for Hariyama to block. Haryiama's guard instantly shattered as it was unable to endure and block the supereffective attack, leaving it wide open and exposed.
Hariyama immediately moved to cover up this weakness, but Vordt's reacted quicker, pouncing on the opportunity as he struck Hariyama with a devastating strike with his paw, finding purchase in Hariyama's exposed belly.
Hariyama almost crumpled in on itself; the strike must have landed a critical hit. Recognizing the opportunity, I pushed to end the fight.
"FINISH IT!" I shouted.
"Reform your stance, now!" Bruno said, with a hint of desperation. The first time he gave off any sort of emotion in the fight thus far.
Hariyama threw its fists forwards blindly, hoping to catch Vordt off-guard and push him backwards. But whether it was something born out of pure technique or just luck, Hariyama managed to catch Vordt off-guard with a lucky punch that smashed straight into Vordt's face, landing a direct hit to the eye. Vordt stumbled backwards, a paw clutching his eye as he let out a groan of pain. And like a switch had been flipped, Hariyama's eyes flashed as it instantly shifted onto the offensive.
Not giving Vordt any time to recover, Hariyama stepped forwards with a powerful uppercut right into Vordt's chin, creating a loud crack as Vordt's head was snapped backwards. With the momentum on its side, and with its Guts-boosted attack, Hariyama then burst forwards and delivered a destructive series of punches with a supereffective Close Combat, each punch landing explosively as they impacted Vordt's center, before finishing off his combo of moves with a mighty Force Palm that knocked Vordt into the ground as he roared in pain.
"Ursa…" Vordt groaned out as he struggled to recover from the devastating onslaught of attacks, barely pulling himself off the ground. His once noble fur was now covered in bruisers, one of his eyes was sealed shut, and h was no longer able to stand on his legs.
In just a singular combo of attacks, Bruno's showed off Hariyama's devastating strength as he practically turned the fight around and evened the playing field, with both Pokémon injured and on a time limit as the Burn slowly leeched away their health.
But unlike before, I did not hesitate. Vordt may have taken a beating, but my earlier Play Rough against Hariyama proved that I could break through his defenses if I went all-out, which should be enough for me to secure my victory.
Not wanting to give Bruno any more to think, I made my move.
"Earthquake and Play Rough, Vordt! It's all down to this!"
"Counter, Hariyama. Flow like water!"
Exploding forwards in a blur of pink, Vordt rushed towards Hariyama as the latter braced itself for the attack as the ground cracked from the unleashed Earthquake. However, this time, Hariyama had adopted a slightly different stance, with one foot in front of the other, and had instead tried to narrow his frame as much as possible. All the while it had steadied itself to resist the incoming Earthquake, maintaining its centre of balance so that it didn't fall over and simply tanked through the tremors. I didn't have a chance to think any more of it before Vordt crashed into it with reckless abandon.
Hariyama instinctively flinched from the pain of the supereffective Play Rough, but this time, Vordt failed to break its guard as Hariyama took on a more flexible defensive stance. Immediately, Hariyama channelled all of that stored power from its Counter and threw it all back in a singular punch, slamming it straight into Vordt's jaw. A loud crack resonated across the battlefield as Vordt was sent instantly onto the floor from Hariyama's retaliation.
"HARIYAMA!" It shouted, grappling with the fallen Vordt as it tried to follow up as his other arm glowed with a bright light as it looked to finish the fight with a final retaliatory blow. But Vordt was not one to give up, and with defiance burning in his eyes, he forced himself through the pain and slammed the ground with his arms, sending powerful tremors that shattered the ground around him as he unleashed another powerful Earthquake.
The ground immediately began to shake violently as a spiderweb of cracks spread across the battlefield. Hariyama, this time unprepared to take the full brunt of the Earthquake, stumbled as the intense tremors coursed through its body and was unable to follow through with the punch. Then, while it was still unbalanced from the Earthquake, Vordt swiped an arm towards Hariyama's legs, causing it to stumble and trip over.
As Hariyama fell to the ground, Vordt fell on all fours and let out another deafening roar as he intensified the Earthquake, while rocks from all over the arena started to gather in the air. Then, before Hariyama could recover from the violent shaking and pull itself up, the enormous boulders all came crashing down like an avalanche, burying the Hariyama in a tomb of rocks.
Hariyama repeatedly tried to break free, using its raw muscle strength to try to shatter the rocks that kept it pinned down, but Vordt's geokinesis was eventually able to overwhelm what was left of Hariyama's energy. The barrage of rocks kept coming, repeatedly smashing Hariyama back down into the ground, and Hariyama was never able to reorient itself as it remained entombed by the constant barrage of rocks.
And finally, Hariyama's spirit finally broke under the unending onslaught of attacks. It tried for one final struggle as it tried to shatter the mountain of rocks that it was buried under, but it no longer had the strength to break more than a few. Despite the exhaustion evident on his face, Vordt kept up the pressure with his unending onslaught of rocks until Hariyama was finally knocked out of the fight. And I let out a sigh of relief as I watched Hariyama's head slump to the ground.
The crowd broke out into a roar as Hariyama finally went down. Despite how close that match was, I didn't let any of that showed on my face as I shot Vordt a proud smirk. Seeing my expression, Vordt raised its arms into the air, ignoring his litany of injuries, and let out a victorious roar as it waved his flaming arms triumphantly into the air while standing over the unconscious figure of Hariyama.
Though it was a closer fight than I liked, Vordt's performance and strength once again impressed me. Hariyama was a worthy foe, easily one of the strongest I had ever had to face, but I had won. Vordt's strength was once again reaffirmed. And I was greatly satisfied with Vordt's victory.
"…WHAT A BRUTAL TAKEDOWN FROM OUR ELITE FOUR MEMBER! JOHN REALLY MANAGED TO SHOW OFF HIS STRENGTH THIS TIME! THERE WERE SO MANY REVERSALS IN THAT FIGHT THAT I WAS ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT THE ENTIRE TIME!" The announcer finally spoke up after he recovered, "BUT THIS PUTS THE SCORE AT 5-3 FOR JOHN! IT LOOKS LIKE THE CHANCES OF A REVERSAL GROW EVER SLIMMER FOR CHALLENGER BRUNO, AS HE IS NOW DOWN TO HIS STARTER! HE HAS 30 SECONDS TO MAKE ANY PREPARATIONS!"
As the crowd continue to cheer my name excitedly, I was about to withdraw Vordt from the fight due to its injuries before I heard Bruno speak up.
"Elite John!" He shouted out from across the arena, "I have a request for you!"
The crowd quieted down as everyone, me included, turned to Bruno, curious about his request. "And what would that be?!" I shouted back.
"I understand that I have likely lost this match, though I will not concede defeat quite yet." He said, eliciting surprised and shocked gasps from the crowd. "However! Before I face my inevitable defeat, I would like to challenge your strongest Pokémon with my own. I want to test how far I've come, and how far I need to go."
A grin split across my face as I heard his request. "I ACCEPT!" I replied immediately. If Bruno was so eager to challenge me at my best, then who was I to say no? "Can I assume that you would allow me a free switch to the Pokémon of my choice?"
"Of course." He nodded, and I gave a quick glance to the referees from approval. They nodded hesitantly since there was no explicit rule banning something like this from happening, which was enough for me to withdraw Vordt into his Premier Ball.
The announcer chose then to make himself known once again, "OH, WHAT A STRANGE REQUEST WE JUST GOT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! APPARENTLY, WE ARE GOING TO SEE BOTH OF OUR TRAINERS MAKE USE OF THE STRONGEST POKEMON! WHAT A TREAT!"
I ignored him as I patted Vordt's Premier Ball in apology; in my haste and excitement, I forgot to ask if he was okay with being withdrawn. Luckily, a slight wobble from the ball reassured me that he was fine with it.
I gave off a slight smile as I put away Vordt's Premier Ball before swapping him out for Tyrant's. My fists clenched with excitement as I prepared to release Tyrant to the world. He hadn't had much of a time to show off during my fight against Drake. Maybe this would serve as another excellent reminder.
I would demonstrate once again that, despite the devastating power of Vordt, Tyrant remained my ace and strongest Pokémon.
"TRAINERS, ARE YOU READY FOR WHAT MIGHT BE THE FINAL BATTLE!?" The announcer shouted out. We both stared each other down and nodded, determination firmly fixed on our faces. "BEGIN!"
"Machamp, time to show your training."
"Tyrant."
"SLAKINGGG!" Tyrant emerged with a humongous roar, which was powerful enough to kick up some loose pebbles and dust scattered across the damaged arena. He slammed both arms down against the ground, cracking the ground and forming small holes in it, a quick reminder of his devastating power that was just screaming to be unleashed. Bloodlust lined Tyrant's face as he readied himself for his first real battle in a while. However, he made no effort to charge forwards, instead choosing to hang back and observe.
Opposite him, Machamp shimmered into existence with its muscled arms already pre-crossed in a defensive guard stance. Its stance was as perfect as I could see, two of its arms were crossing defensively to protect its core, while the other two waited patiently behind, perfectly positioning Machamp to be able to land a clean counterattack if Tyrant approached, and it was a clear demonstration of the sheer level of training that Bruno must have put it through. But it was braced for an attack that never came.
After a moment, Machamp looked around warily before dropping its guard when it saw that Tyrant made no move to approach it. Instead, Tyrant merely chose to stare at Machamp with an amused look in his eyes, as if mocking him for being afraid.
In my head, I smirked at Machamp's pre-emptive defensive actions. Bruno must have done his research on how Tyrant preferred to immediately close the distance with his enemies before pounding them into the ground with his raw strength. And normally, Tyrant would have done exactly that.
Which was why I had specifically informed Tyrant before the match that if I ever needed to release him, he wouldn't simply charge forwards without a plan. His usual strategy of getting in close and pressuring the enemy would work against a lesser foe, or a trainer that wasn't used to dealing with threats at such close ranges. But I knew that Bruno was neither of these.
In fact, looking at our battle thus far, I thought that he might be the most proficient trainer at battling at close range. He was certainly the strongest that I had fought from a technical perspective. Thus, making use of Tyrant's pure battle-lust driven rage would not be smart.
Instead, I was going to make use of Tyrant's full move pool to completely overwhelm Bruno's Machamp, to remind the world that Tyrant was more than just my strongest bruiser. He was also my most trained Pokemon, and the one that I had dedicated the most time into perfecting into an utterly unstoppable force of nature. If Bruno was expecting a pure brawl, then he was about to be sorely disappointed.
This fight had been far closer than I had anticipated, so I was going to take no chances. Tyrant's victory would be absolute.
"Flamethrower, Tyrant! TORCH IT!"
Bruno's eyes widened in surprise as he realized what I wanted to do.
"Get in close, Machamp! Quickly!" He hastily commanded.
Machamp let out a grunt as it rushed forwards in a burst of speed, its muscled legs being put to use as it sprinted across the arena in a grey blur in hopes of pummelling Tyrant before it could charge up its attacks.
However, despite Machamp's impressive speed, Tyrant responded first, unleashing a scorching torrent of fire that was boosted by the harsh sun that still remained from after Klaus had set it up.
The stream of fire spread out in a wide cone, and while Machamp was able to quickly throw up a large chunk of rock to serve as an impromptu shield, the flood of flames quickly spread around the makeshift shield, continuing to engulf the charging Machamp in a coffin of flames.
"Push through it, Machamp! Drain Punch!
"Cancel it and Aerial Ace backwards, Tyrant. Kite it."
Machamp remained stoic, tanking through the Flamethrower as if it wasn't being affected it. Then, as soon as it got in range, a fist struck like lightning as it struck forwards with such speed that it was nothing more than a blur.
But Tyrant was ready, having already launched itself into the air with a backwards jump as it cut off the Flamethrower, quickly separating himself from the Machamp.
"Bulk up, Machamp! NOW!"
Thinking that an airborne Tyrant posed no threat to his Machamp, Bruno tried to capitalize on the opportunity by boosting its Attack. However, I was quick to disabuse him of that notion.
"Thunderbolt, Tyrant. Disrupt it."
Even as he soared through the sky, Tyrant was still able to channel enough electrical energy to summon a bolt of Thunder to crash down explosively from above, striking the Machamp when it thought it was safe and cancelling its Bulk Up. Further bolts of lightning smashed down right afterwards, following up on the initial strike.
I grinned at the surprised look on Bruno's face. He must not have expected Tyrant to have such a wide arsenal of moves besides simple close-range attacks. And that was where he was wrong; while Tyrant certainly preferred fighting at close range, he had the speed and mobility to be a terrifying long-range fighter with his functional Special Attack.
Sure, he didn't hit nearly as hard on the Special side as he did on the Physical one, but Tyrant was more than just a brute. And right now, I intended to engrave this very fact into everyone's very minds.
Despite the surprise on his face, Bruno showed no sign of hesitation and he continued to push on the offense.
"Stone Edge and Mach Punch, Machamp! Close in and stick to him!"
Shaking off the lingering traces of electricity, Machamp broke into a charge as it shot forwards with surprisingly fast speeds that would have left an ordinary Machamp in the dust. In a blink of an eye, Machamp had crossed the distance and rushed into striking range, all the while it constantly shot rocks forwards like huge sniper rounds. Its' entire stance was completely defenceless as he recklessly dedicated every little inch of itself into its attack, a side effect of his No Guard ability.
However, I gave no commands and patiently waited for Machamp to get closer. Tyrant, almost unconsciously understanding what I wanted to do, dug his feet into the ground as he prepared himself, and dismissively bashed the rocks out of the air like they were mere annoyances.
Not realizing the danger it was in, Machamp's fist began to glow as it readied itself to deliver a devastating pummelling towards Tyrant. One that was sure to do some serious damage to even my Tyrant.
Which was exactly what I was hoping for.
"GIGA IMPACT, TYRANT!"
"BRACE AND COUNTER-"
Realizing what was about to happen, Bruno desperately tried to order his Machamp to cancel its charge and transition into a defensive stance.
But it was far too late.
"SLAKINGGG!" Tyrant let out a shattering roar as he exploded in an orange light as he erupted forwards, tearing up a huge trench in the wake of his assault. There was no warning. No charge-up time. It was just a complete and sudden shift, one that gave Machamp absolutely no time to react before Tyrant came slamming into him with the force of a meteor and collided into it with an ear-rupturing BANG.
The impact sent Machamp careening backwards that sent it flying through the sky. Machamp smashed into the psychic shields, crashing into them with such force that it left a crack in them from the backwards force alone.
Though Machamp fell limply onto the ground, it immediately tried to pull itself up and tried to reorient itself. But Tyrant's beatdown had only just begun.
Remaining completely un-winded despite just unleashing such a destructive Giga Impact, Tyrant immediately followed up on his attack by slamming both arms against the ground. The already shattered ground fractured even further as a violent Earthquake sent powerful tremors that coursed painfully through Machamp's fallen form.
The violent shaking forced Machamp onto its knees twice, but it still managed to pull itself up and tank through the Earthquake. But just before it could properly reorient itself, as if to add insult to injury, it was promptly knocked down again as huge rocks suddenly erupted from the ground, impaling Machamp from where it was trying to get up. The finishing 'gift' from Tyrant's Seismic Eruption.
Machamp let out a roar of pain as the rocks smashed into its body. In what was effectively 2 rounds of attacks, Tyrant had nearly knocked out of the battle. Yet, Machamp refused to fall. Not like this. Not so soon. No, the look in its eyes symbolized its determination to me, the flames of defiance burned brightly within. And I knew the fight wasn't over. Not yet.
It gave off a grunt of resolve before it ripped the rock spikes out of the ground, the crowd gasping as it did so, freeing itself from the impromptu cage and launching those rocks towards Tyrant as a return gift, and began stepping forwards to confront Tyrant once more.
Tyrant easily dodged out of the way of those rocks or simply smashed them out of the sky, before staring down at Machamp's approaching figure. Machamp was badly wounded, two of its arms hung limply at the side, and its eyes were almost sealed shut. Yet, it continued to move forwards, stalwartly ignoring its injuries as it continued to fight. Until the very end.
Bruno clearly thought the same. "MACHAMP, CHARGE FORWARDS! EVEN IF YOU LOSE, SHOW TO THE WORLD YOUR FINAL ROAR! YOUR LAST STAND!"
Machamp let out a defiant battlecry, one that was imbued with its full determination to see this through to the end. As if it was actively ignoring its injuries, it began to rapidly pick up speed as it broke out into one final sprint towards Tyrant.
It was a charge towards certain defeat. But one that was willingly sought.
I nodded at the display of willpower in front of me; I could have tried to kite it further with Tyrant and spam it down with ranged moves. Unlike with my non-bruisers, Tyrant had the sheer durability of being able to ignore Bruno's long-range options. Meaning that he was free to just slowly wear down Bruno's Machamp with ranged attacks until it was knocked out.
However, perhaps influenced by Bruno's martial spirit, I decided against doing that, even if it was the smarter choice. No, I felt that I should respect the effort that Machamp was putting in to land at least one good hit against Tyrant.
Thus, I simply said, "I'll leave this to you, Tyrant. End it as a warrior deserves." Tyrant let out an affirmative snort as it braced itself for Machamp's attack.
And then, Machamp slammed into the waiting Tyrant, putting every last bit of its energy reserves into unleashing a ferocious barrage of explosive punches, as if it tried to will every inch of strength and power into each of its punches. It refused to let its injuries blunt its attacks and used its unrelenting resolve as a warrior as fuel to allow it to continue driving one savage blow after another into Tyrant. Each punch landed explosively on Tyrant; each with enough force to shatter a large boulder. And Machamp was firing off a storm of them.
Tyrant roared out in pain as the devastating series of supereffective punches impacted his body, stumbling slightly from the impacts. To an unobservant viewer, it might have just looked like Machamp was about to suddenly turn the entire situation around and bring down the previously dominant Tyrant. A punishment for my arrogance.
Unfortunately, a turnaround was not going to happen. Despite putting its all into its final attack, emotion enough was not enough to bring down Tyrant. The attacks certainly hurt, but this was far from enough to bring down my starter.
And now, enough was enough. As soon as Machamp overextended itself with a punch, Tyrant let out a grunt and swung his arm in a powerful backhanded blow that simply overwhelmed Machamp's attempts to block it, and it knocked Machamp's arms wide, leaving it exposed as Tyrant stepped forwards and brutally bashed their heads together in a vicious Zen Headbutt.
Machamp instantly crumbled to his knees from the supereffective attack. And, not giving Machamp any time to recover, Tyrant took advantage of the momentary confusion and grabbed hold of Machamp's head in a crushing grip before he violently slammed Machamp face-first into the ground repeatedly. The ground cracked and shook each time Tyrant ruthlessly pummelled Machamp into the ground.
Not satisfied with that, Tyrant immediately pounced on top of Machamp, straddling its fallen body before releasing its full pent-up battle lust upon it in a barbaric series of punches with its Fairy infused fists. In an admirable display of discipline, despite having its faced repeatedly and painfully bashed in, Machamp tried to retaliate by thrusting blindly with its arms in hopes of landing a lucky strike against Tyrant.
But the strikes lacked momentum, and Tyrant's bloodlust was now in full display, the adrenaline allowing him to easily ignore the counterattack, merely grinning viciously at Machamp's efforts to fight back as he continued pummelling the helpless Machamp into the ground. Each strike of from Tyrant's monstrously strong arms cracked the ground beneath it, and Tyrant kept pounding ruthlessly onto the helpless Machamp until the ground beneath it cracked apart from the consecutive impacts and the two fell into a small hole of Tyrant's creation.
Despite not being able to see Machamp's body, everyone knew it was over when Tyrant suddenly stopped its barrage of punches and let out a triumphant roar to the skies.
"SLAKING!" He shouted victoriously, pounding his chest repeatedly as he posed over the unconscious Machamp.
The audience didn't even hesitate as they immediately joined in on Tyrant's cheering with their own. I let out a breath of relief that I didn't realize I was even holding at my victory, before shooting Tyrant a proud smile at his fittingly tyrannical performance.
"…AND BRUNO'S MACHAMP IS NO LONGER ABLE TO BATTLE! THE CHALLENGER IS OUT OF POKEMON! ELITE JOHN IS THE VICTOR!"
That only caused the excited cheers and shouts from the crowd to grow even louder. I was tempted to simply bask in the praise, but I had more important things to do. I turned to Bruno, who had withdrawn his unconscious Machamp and was now making his way towards me with a complicated expression.
"Well fought, Elite John." He said as he approached.
"Thank you. You did well too, Bruno. It was most impressive." I replied with a smile.
"I lost, but I was proud of my Pokémon's efforts." He said instantly, speaking shortly but firmly. "However, I did think I would have come closer to defeating you. Your Ursaluna and Slaking really took me by surprise. They were beyond my expectations and ability."
"I'll be sure to pass on your words to them." I said jokingly, "But I hope your Pokémon wouldn't take this loss too badly. I certainly struggled much more than I expected against you."
"Thank you, and no, they will not." He shook his head, "They knew that I had only challenged you as a way of testing their strength. They will not be too affected by their loss. In fact, I'm sure that it will only drive them to continue their training even further, as they now have a new challenge to overcome."
I let out a grin at the implied challenge, "I'm sure my Pokémon and I will be waiting for you. Don't keep your hopes up, I'm not one for neglecting my training either."
"Good." He nodded, "Then I hope to challenge you once more in the future. Well met, Elite John. And thank you for the battle. I hope we can meet each other again."
We shook hands and parted ways at that. As I walked out of the arena, I unconsciously glanced towards the VIP section of the spectator stands, where the other members of the Elite Four were.
I made a mental note to review the recording of the match to see what went wrong and how I could have done better, especially in the earlier parts of the fight. I knew I would be carefully thinking over this fight in the coming few days to see how I could improve. This victory was not as clean as I wanted it to be.
Also, I wanted to see how those on Pokénet were responding to the fight. As much as I enjoyed battling, training for these kinds of challenge matches required a lot of time and was a huge distraction from my political pursuits, so I hoped to not have to face many other challengers in the future.
But for now, my victory ensured that the world was reminded once again why challenging me was a foolish proposition.
A.N. And that concludes the battle against Bruno! I hope you enjoyed it! This fight had really gone through many revisions, but I can say that I'm satisfied with what I eventually finished with. I didn't even realize how long this chapter got!
I hope I showed both trainers' strengths sufficiently in this battle. And, more importantly, that while John is still extremely strong, he still has some ways to go.
Yet, I wanted to demonstrate that for all of Bruno's innovations, they wouldn't have been able to bring down Tyrant. Definitely not 1v1. Bruno's sniper rock shots would not work against the durable Tyrant, meaning Tyrant would have had free reign to spam down most of Bruno's team with relative ease.
This chapter has been BETAed by Allute! Big thanks! And to anyone who wants to support me, please check out my p atreon at CartecTNN where you can read 8 advanced chapters! Thanks to those who have supported me already!